Hearts Divided (Cedar Cove #5.5)(54)

He glared at her. “That’s what I said. Outside. Now.”

She pulled open the door and stepped into the empty hallway.

Jake, please be listening.

Eight

“He’s taking them to the Bell Tower at Liberty Hall.”

“Which end of the building is that?”

Jake visualized the map he’d used to find Chloe’s office the first day he’d taken her to lunch. “South end. I think there’s a ground-floor entrance.” He checked his watch. “Damn it. We’re still at least fifteen minutes away.”

Gray looked at the traffic around them and turned left, accelerating up a residential street. “Maybe we can shave a few minutes off the time.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell phone, handing it to Jake, then quickly downshifting while scanning the intersection ahead of them. “Call it in to the PD. And tell them to alert UW campus security that we have a hostage situation at Liberty Hall.”

Dodd waved Chloe and Winifred ahead of him into the tower. The room was octagonal, and each wall had wide glass windows, giving it the appearance of a lighthouse tower. The ceiling had a round opening, and high above, the automated bell hung, silent. A deep window ledge created a waist-high shelf that circled the room.

Chloe’s gaze swept the space as she searched for an advantage, but there was nothing. No furniture, no drapes or blinds on the windows.

Only one object sat in solitary splendor on the window ledge directly across from them.

Gran’s birthday clock. How did it get here? Puzzled, she looked at Dodd and found him watching her, a small smile on his thin lips.

“Ah, you recognize the clock, Chloe?”

“Yes, it was a birthday gift for my grandmother. How did it get here?”

“I brought it, of course. I took it from the house before I intercepted the limo driver and appropriated his car to collect Mrs. Abbott from the cruise ship this morning.” He nodded approvingly. “Most accommodating of you to make plans that fit so perfectly with mine. Sit down on the floor, Mrs. Abbott.” He waited until Winifred complied, then turned to Chloe. “Turn around and cross your wrists behind your back.”

Chloe reluctantly obeyed, conscious of his firm, unwavering grip on the handgun.

He slipped a plastic tie around one of her wrists and threaded a second through the loop before he yanked the first one tight. Then he circled the second around her other wrist. Chloe winced at the pinching and bit back a cry of pain when he pulled it snug.

“Sit on the floor next to your grandmother.”

Chloe did, and he swiftly looped and tightened nooses around her ankles, binding the ties together with a third length of plastic. Then he did he same thing to Winifred.

George Dodd stood and smiled down at them. “I suppose it’s only fair that you understand what’s going to happen to you.” He glanced at his watch before walking to the rosewood clock. He turned the clock so they could see the back and opened the small door to expose the intricate workings. A whitish-gray substance now filled the entire space and a small object with wires leading from it was attached to the flashlight battery installed for the alarm.

A sense of dread overwhelmed Chloe. “What is that?”

“Dynamite. More specifically, dy***ite from Jake Morrissey’s company. It needed to be Jake’s dy***ite that destroyed you, Chloe, just as it was his dy***ite that killed my son. You see the importance of the continuity and connection, don’t you? Revenge isn’t complete without all the parameters clearly defined.”

Oh, God. He’s completely crazy. Jake, are you listening? Hurry!

He checked his watch again. “I must leave you. It’s time. You have precisely ten minutes. When the hands on the clock reach twelve, the battery will send electricity through the alarm to the detonator cap and set off the dy***ite.” He smiled benevolently. “Don’t worry. You won’t feel a thing. Only Morrissey will feel—he’ll suffer when you’re gone. I’m sorry to have to use you, but this was the only way to punish him.” He looked out the window. “The Bell Tower at McGyver Hall has a perfect view so I can watch Jake Morrissey as his world explodes.” He turned and walked to the door. “Goodbye, ladies.”

And he left, quietly closing the door. The sound of his footsteps as he moved quickly down the stairs faded away.

“Gran, reach into my pocket.” Chloe rolled to her knees and shifted closer to Winifred.

Winifred didn’t question her. Instead, using both hands, she pulled the cell phone out of the square pocket of Chloe’s full skirt and held it steady while Chloe bent over.

“Jake! Jake, are you there?”

“Chloe, thank God! Are you all right?”

“Yes. But Dodd put dy***ite in Gran’s clock and set it to go off in ten minutes.”

“I heard.” Jake’s curse carried clearly over the phone. “Can you get out of the room to safety?”

“Our hands and feet are bound together. I don’t think we’d make it down the stairs and away from the building in time.”

“Tell me about the clock.”

Chloe studied it. “Antique, glass face, musical figures on top. And it was modernized with a battery-operated alarm at some point.”

“He’s using the battery for ignition.” Jake’s mind raced. “You said it has a glass face?”