Sorry for not updating quickly! I work full time and do different shifts - it's hard to find time to sit and write, it takes me ages! But I am constantly thinking through this, so thanks for previous reviews - please keep reviewing, it encourages me all the more! I'll try to update sooner!
Kris and Sabrina later left Bosley at the office and despondently went back to Sabrina's apartment to think things through. At the office, they had not come up with any satisfactory reasons as to why Kelly should be taken against her will. Charlie had checked on some of the most likely suspects who had or were currently doing time for their unlawful activities, courtesy of the angels, but there was nothing to suggest why someone would single Kelly out. But then as always, with kidnap cases, they realised it was up to the kidnappers to make the first move. Charlie was also in touch with the local police and so had suggested they go home and wait for his call. There was nothing else they could do. But still, Kris and Sabrina had hung around the office for a couple of hours more, keeping Bosley company and waiting for the phone to ring, wanting to somehow be of use. It was a miserable couple of hours. Finally, Charlie insisted the angels should go home - he would call them when something happened.
Kris suggested they try back at Kelly's just to double check the surroundings and look for anything at all that would leave a trail. As they drove back away from Kelly's house, however, they failed to spot a black Lincoln parked far down the avenue, under shade of a tree.
Kris fidgeted with a utensil as she stood near Sabrina in her kitchen, making coffee .
"I don't like this hanging around and waiting, Bri - I feel stupid, like we need to be out there doing something!" She tapped the spoon on the worktop and looked at Sabrina, waiting for Sabrina to agree with her. Sabrina looked over her shoulder as she poured the coffee into two mugs.
"I know Kris, I know - I feel pretty useless too…but Charlie's right, there's nothing else to do but wait, for now."
She turned back, stirred the drinks then handed one to Kris.
"Go, have a seat." She motioned towards the spacious living room. Ordinarily, Kris would comfortably browse through Bri's family photographs displayed here and there, but today, she could do nothing but sit on the edge of a chair and fidget, feeling uptight and uncomfortable. Sabrina sat opposite Kris on her couch and sat forward a little, also feeling wound up, unable to relax. How the hell were they just supposed to sit around and wait while Kelly was in trouble?
Kris sipped her coffee then spoke again. "Do you think she's okay, Bri?" She asked, knowing that Bri was sharing her own stomach-knotted anxiety. Sabrina looked at Kris worriedly and Kris saw the uncertainty she also felt. "I hope so Kris… remember, somebody wants something from Kelly - or us. So logically, she won't be harmed if they want to bargain." She shrugged slightly then looked down into her mug, feeling quite inept, yet knowing that what she'd just said was most likely true. She looked back at Kris, who was now gazing into her own mug.
"Kris, you okay?" Sabrina prompted.
Kris looked up and gave a half smile. "Yeah, just thinking about something."
"Penny for them?" Bri prodded.
"Oh, just…well… you know earlier this year when I was kidnapped by that crazy British girl and you ended up having a - a heart attack…?"
Sabrina gave a small sound and nodded. "Boy, sure!"
Kris continued. "Well after Kelly had …you know, brought you round…" Sabrina nodded again and her expression became dark. "…well I said to Kelly then, that I couldn't ever lose any of you guys - I mean it Bri!" Kris felt a lump come into her throat and she gulped back the tears she could feel brimming. She sniffed and took a few swallows of her coffee to try and hide her emotions. But Sabrina wasn't fooled. She stood up and put her coffee to one side, then went over to where Kris was sitting, and knelt down in front of her, taking her hands.
"Look at me Kris, huh?" Kris did as she was told, knowing that looking at Sabrina right now would cause her emotions to go into overdrive, yet, even so, she desperately wanted to keep a strong face in front of Bri. Sabrina looked at Kris's eyes, and saw them glisten with her fears. Even though Kris had grown professionally and emotionally so much over the past year, Sabrina still saw a younger, somewhat more vulnerable version of her older sister Jill, in Kris. "We are going to find Kelly, and she will be okay. You just gotta believe that, okay, Kris?" Sabrina smiled reassuringly at Kris and squeezed her hands. She needed Kris to know that Kelly was not being abandoned.
Kris looked back at Sabrina with searching eyes. "How can you be so sure?"
Sabrina sighed and thought for a moment before answering. "Okay, my faith is not exactly a science…but I do have faith…"
Kris seemed taken aback. "Since when did you take up a belief in the Almighty?"
Sabrina smiled a little. "Well, honestly? The jury is out on my religious beliefs, but I do believe in us, Kris…that's what keeps me going, you know?"
"Yeah, you're right. We always come through, hey?"
Sabrina stood up and pulled Kris up with her. "Absolutely! Here, help me make something to eat?" Kris shook her head. "I'm not hungry Bri." Sabrina returned the head shake. "uh-uh! You are going to eat something, because a, I bet Kelly can hear your stomach growling from wherever she is and b, we're gonna need all our energies to help her, okay?" Sabrina walked towards the kitchen then stopped and waited for Kris to follow. Kris knew Bri was right - again. She sighed and walked towards the kitchen, pondering, slightly amused, on the fact that Bri always seemed to be right.
They ate and talked half heartedly for a while, then Sabrina suggested that Kris stay the night. Kris at first declined the offer, but Sabrina was worried about their own safety too - it made sense for them to stick together. Kris reluctantly agreed then but needed to go back to her beach house to pick up a few things, so Sabrina and Kris made their way down to the parking lot, got into Sabrina's Pinto and headed out to the beach. As they drove along the beach road, Kris noticed smoke rising up into the usually clear Californian sky. She checked her watch - it was only just gone four-thirty - a bit early for barbeques. Sabrina also saw the smoke.
"Someone having a very large hog roast?" She joked. But as they got nearer, they both realised that something larger was burning, there was too much black smoke billowing into the air. Kris was now nervous. She craned her neck forward to peer intently through the window to get a better look. The location of the smoke seemed to be in an unnervingly familiar position. Sabrina cast a worried glance at Kris as she drove.
"I don't like this…" Sabrina muttered. As they drove around the last bend in the road before Kris's home, the view became all too horrifyingly clear. Kris gasped in shock.
"Oh no!" She whispered.
Kris's home was up in smoke. So many people were milling about, yet only one fire crew seemed to be in attendance, still dowsing the almost quenched flames. And police were keeping bystanders back and asking questions. Sabrina pulled the car to a halt on the roadside, and put her hand on Kris's arm, looking at her friend. This couldn't be happening, she thought, her mind reeling. Kris's face was white with shock. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the awful scene playing out before her. As though she was watching something from a movie. Surely this was not her house on fire? Had they mistakenly drove to the wrong part of the beach? Was this someone else's house? But Kris knew that these errant thoughts were just the result of her own shocked mind trying to come up with plausible reasons why her house should not be on fire.
"Oh, jeez, Kris, your beautiful beach house! I'm so sorry!" Sabrina interrupted Kris's dazed thoughts. Kris snapped out of it and got out of the car, hurrying over to the nearest uniform.
"I'm sorry miss, you can't go past here." The officer put his hand up to stop Kris.
"That's my house that's burning!" Kris responded angrily, trying to push past the police officer and waving her arm at the ruin of her home, consumed with rage at this chilling chain of events, rather than at the officer himself.
The officer looked apologetic. "Oh in that case miss, I'm very sorry. But it's too dangerous for you to pass! I'll get the Fire Department to come and speak with you." Then he added, "Then we will need to talk to you too."
He turned and left in search of the Fire Chief and Sabrina drew level and put her arm around Kris's shoulder.
"I don't know what to say Kris, this is just terrible!"
"I'm sure glad I wasn't in there at the time though Bri…" Kris dug her hands into her jeans pockets and took a deep breath as Sabrina agreed. "I guess someone is trying to warn us."
"Yeah, it sure looks that way." Sabrina watched as a helmeted man came away from the scene and walked over to them.
"I'm really sorry about your home, miss…?" He waited for a surname.
"Miss Munro - Kris Munro" Kris provided.
"Miss Munro. So far, we've come across nothing to suggest foul play. So can you tell me anything about the house? Did you have any electrical faults in the house, or leave anything turned on?"
Kris shook her head. "No, I know there was nothing wrong in there. There was no reason for this to have happened…." She let the sentence trail off, aware that there was a very plausible reason, but there seemed to be no proof.
The Fire Chief looked steadily at her. "You sure?"
Kris looked back at him with a glare. "I'm very sure! There were no problems at all with my house, and everything was switched off and locked down tight! I always leave it that way." She looked over at the smouldering ruins. "I did" She said pointedly. "I think someone started this deliberately - are you sure there's no sign of arson?"
The chief looked back over his shoulder then back at Kris. "As much as we have established so far. But we aren't done yet. What makes you think it was arson, miss?"
Sabrina stepped into the conversation. "Uh, we're private investigators, and we believe that someone in connection with a case we're working on, could have started the fire."
Kris nodded.
"Hmmm…" The Fire Chief gave them a slightly disbelieving look. "…Okay, well like I say, things could change. That's it for now ladies, thank you. The department will be in touch. Can you give me a contact number where I can reach you?" He looked enquiringly Kris then at Sabrina. Sabrina got the message.
"Oh sure, Kris you can stay with me for as long as you want…" She continued to talk to the Fire Chief but Kris had already zoned out and was staring abjectly at what was left of her and Jill's home.
Kris and Sabrina spent another hour giving details and answering more questions from the police, then finally, they were allowed to leave.
They were both very sad, but yet also glad to be away from the depressing mess and the throat-burning smell of smoke and ashes. After they informed Bosley of the recent development, they drove back to Sabrina's apartment in almost total silence, each lost in their own thoughts and each trying to reconcile the burning down of Kris's house with Kelly's disappearance. After arriving back at the apartment, Kris couldn't settle at all. Sabrina wondered if Kris felt like talking, so she made each of them a stiff drink and sat down again with Kris in her lounge and tried to get Kris to open up.
Kris accepted the small measure of Bourbon and soda from Sabrina.
"Kris…" Sabrina began, a multitude of thoughts clamouring to heard out loud. But Kris stopped her short.
"Bri, I'm sorry…I can't talk right now… I think I just need to get some sleep. Okay?" She looked at her friend and wondered if Bri thought she was blocking her out intentionally. She wasn't…she just felt a little trapped somehow. A little let down…more than a little frustrated. She just needed to think things through alone. She took a sip of her drink and looked down into the seemingly innocuous liquid, knowing that if she drank too much of this she would be no good in the morning. She took one more sip then put the glass down, fully aware that Sabrina was watching her. She looked back up.
"I'm sorry Bri. I don't mean to be rude or ungrateful. I guess everything is just catching up with me…" She suddenly felt a little awkward under Sabrina's gaze - and that in itself was so very unusual.
Sabrina also put her own glass down.
"Look Kris, it's been a hell of a day for both of us - you especially. Let's get some sleep, huh?" She said, not unkindly. "The spare room is second on the right through that door," she pointed, "just holler if you need anything." Sabrina stood up, ready to retire for the night. Kris then stood up also, still feeling slightly awkward. This was the first time she had ever slept over at Sabrina's place - and an old feeling had returned to nag at her. But now probably wasn't the time to bring it up.
Sabrina astutely fastened onto Kris's quite apparent awkwardness. "Kris…are you okay?" She watched Kris hug herself in a defensive move and felt a tiny prickle of unease.
"I - nothing, I'm fine…just tired." Kris moved away from the couch and walked towards Sabrina and the door.
"It's okay Bri really - like you said…long day!" Kris sent a tight smile to indicate she was done for the night and Sabrina took it as such.
Sabrina watched as Kris exited the room, then followed her out, ready for some sleep herself. Whatever else Kris had on her mind, she had decided to leave it for another day and that was fine with Sabrina - there was so much else to focus on. Kelly was out there - all alone - without backup - Sabrina wasn't about to let Charlie have it all his own way.
The next morning, Sabrina was up early, making breakfast, before Kris had surfaced. As Kris awoke, and adjusted sleepily to her surroundings, then more alarmingly to the memories of the previous day, she smelt comforting smells of cooking wafting into her room. She turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling of the bedroom for a few minutes, trying to take in yet again, the fact that her house had been burnt down. Had been burnt down, her mind repeated. She sighed, agitated and anxious. She needed to call Jill. She took a deep breath and smelt more generous aromas of eggs, sausage… and coffee. Okay. First, she had to get up.
"Good morning!" Sabrina greeted Kris as Kris entered Sabrina's kitchen, yawning and smoothing her hair out of her face, after her shower.
"Morning Bri - my, this all smells so great! What ya cookin'?"
"Eggs Benedict! Coffee?" Sabrina smiled good naturedly, as she popped toasted muffins on a plate.
"Hmm, you read my mind!" Kris took a seat at the breakfast bar as Sabrina busied herself around her kitchen, bringing the eggs off and checking the sausage.
"You didn't have to go to all this trouble you know…" Kris said, as she gratefully accepted a cup of coffee.
"No trouble, Kris!" Sabrina chirped, as she began to pile their breakfast on two plates. "It's good to have your company" She shot Kris a glance. "I'm just sorry it's just such bad circumstances…and we've got a big day ahead…" She delivered the plates over to the breakfast bar and they both began to dig in. They ate quickly, both eager to get back to the office to talk to Charlie and discuss ways of tracking down Kelly's whereabouts. Yesterday, it was all quite a shock. Today, ideas were beginning to surface. After breakfast had been cleared away, the two angels were dressed for the day and headed down to the parking lot, to Sabrina's Pinto. As they crossed the lot, Kris stopped and let out a sigh.
"Oh Bri, I'm sorry - I just remembered - I left my car keys in your room…"
Sabrina shrugged "Well it's okay, you probably won't need them…"
Kris shrugged also. "Oh I'd better go get them - you never know! Sorry Bri, be two minutes!"
"No problem!" Sabrina tossed her apartment key back at Kris. "I'll wait in the car!"
Kris caught the keys deftly then jogged back towards the apartment building, whilst Sabrina continued her way to her car. But just as she got to the Pinto and proceeded to unlock the door, an anxious thought struck her. She shouldn't have let Kris go back alone. Damn. She turned…
"Miss Duncan."
Sabrina almost jumped out of her boots…she turned to see who was addressing her. Two immaculately dressed men in dark suits had approached while she wasn't even aware. She cursed herself crossly.
The nearest of the suited men spoke up, in a distinct accent.
"Miss Duncan - I have a message for you." He looked at her coolly, portraying their intent not with set stances or aggressive approach… but with an air of professional intent. Sabrina realised immediately how much trouble she was in.
"Look uh, thanks for dropping by…maybe you could leave a magazine and I'll read it!" she smiled nervously then tried to dive into her handbag for her gun but her assailant saw it coming and ruthlessly grabbed her arm .
"Don't even try it!" The first of the men warned, stepping up close to Sabrina and drawing his own pistol as he came.
"You could have just left a note…I can read, you know?" Sabrina valiantly tried for humour to alleviate the situation a little but her aggressors were apparently not humoured. The foremost suit smartly dealt Sabrina a backhand across the face without even blinking. Sabrina stumbled back, grabbing at her car for support. Yet before she could even recover, she felt an iron like fist drive deep into her abdomen, causing immense rupturing pain. She doubled over, gasping breathlessly, seeking refuge and air on the ground, away from her attackers fist, knowing already, that this blow had caused desperate untold damage. And even as she hit the ground, recoiling in unbelievable agony, feeling the cold concrete meet her face, she felt more and more severe destructive blows being dealt her body and more and more pain. The second man kept an eye on their surroundings, even as he watched impassively as his colleague kicked viciously at the form on the ground.
"Okay that's enough - we don't kill them." He removed a small envelope from inside his jacket and let it drop on top of Sabrina.
"There you go Miss Duncan, read and digest."
The two men strode away, not looking back.
Kris hurried back across the parking lot. She was impatient with herself for forgetting her car keys. After almost giving way to her innermost feelings with Bri last night then clamming up, she felt decidedly stupid this morning. All she wanted to do was clear the air with Bri…ever since she had joined the Angels, she felt a little like she didn't measure up to Bri's standards somehow…but after recent events, Bri had been every bit the supportive 'sister' that Jill had always mentioned she was. And if she thought harder, Bri had never practically made her feel unwelcome…was it just her own personality playing tricks? She just needed to clear a few things up was all….
Kris kept on hurrying round to where the Pinto was parked, fully expecting to see Sabrina sitting waiting patiently in the drivers seat. Instead, as she neared the car, it was empty. She Slowed down and frowned, then as she came around the front side of the car, she gasped in cold fear as she saw Sabrina on the ground, unmoving, blood splashed and smeared on the concrete near her head. Kris groaned and knelt to check Sabrina's pulse, fearing the worst …it was… steady….just…