The next morning Miranda woke up and wandered into the kitchen to start the coffee. She glanced over and saw the machine light blinking. She sighed and pushed play. The messages were from Christopher. And you could tell when they were before the break up and after the break up. The final message was the most chilling.
"Listen bitch, if you think that you can just walk away and leave me and think that I won't bring you down in flames, you've got another thing coming. I know where you sleep, I know where you eat, I know your every little move and don't THINK for one second that I'm just going to let bygones be bygones. You had better look both ways before you cross the street, you had better be careful starting and driving your card and you'd better damn sure think before you speak because at any minute, you could be gone."
Miranda shivered. He had a temper, but now was he seriously threatening her? Or was he just pissed off and venting? She shook her head and went upstairs to get ready for work. She turned on the shower and stepped in. Last night had been really great until the whole breaking up with Chris happened. It just soured her mood for the evening. And now with these weird messages…she knew she needed the day to start off good and make the week even better. It was a short work week, Thursday night after work she'd be flying out to Boston for Liz's wedding.
By the time she finally finished getting ready the coffee was done. She poured it into her favorite to go mug and added her cream and sugar. Then she grabbed a Pop-Tart and her purse and headed to work. On the way she let herself space all of Chris's psycho messages, and concentrated on the fun she had with Randy all weekend. Plus it was nice to be with someone who actually liked spending time together and with family.
Monday mornings were always busy, so she was far too busy at work to even think about anything but work. Right before noon she was in the back putting gowns away when she heard the door. "I"ll be right with you!" She called.
When she walked out, Randy was standing there leaning against the counter looking cocky as ever, but holding a bouquet of flowers. "Hey Carebear."
Miranda smiled, "What are you doing here?"
"I just thought I'd stop by and see how your Monday is going." He said with a smile. "I'm on my way back to the doctor's office so they can take more x-rays to compare and see what's going on. And how long I'll be out of action."
"I'm just getting ready to go home for lunch. I'll bring them home and put them in a vase and they can brighten up my kitchen."
"Any chance you'd wanna do pizza, beer and Raw tonight?" Randy offered. "Your place or mine works fine."
Just as she was about to respond, a look of concern crossed her face. "We'll see. I'll get back to you."
"He comes back into town today, doesn't he?" Randy asked.
She nodded. Randy still had no idea that they had broken up. She didn't want to get him involved in the mess if she didn't have to. Plus, she wanted to be able to take her time and move at her own pace with their rekindling relationship. "Yeah, he does."
"Look, how about this. I'll stop back here after my appointment and you can let me know. How's that?"
Miranda nodded, "Yeah, that should work."
He put his sunglasses back on and smiled, "Well I'm glad you liked the flowers. And by the way, your mom called my mom first thing this morning to tell her about what a great time we had last night. So now my parents have invited us over for dinner. We just have to tell them what night of the week works best. And mom would prefer before we go to the wedding."
She burst out laughing, "Boy they waste no time do they?"
He shook his head no. "They sure don't." Then he leaned across the counter, "Can I kiss you goodbye?"
Miranda bit her bottom lip and smiled, "If you want to."
And he kissed her sweetly. "I'll see you soon."
Miranda smelled her flowers as he left. She couldn't help but smile. She had to admit, he was definitely doing things right so far. She waited for the last patient to arrive before her lunch. Then she grabbed her flowers and flew home.
Randy parked and walked towards the chiropractor's office. He glanced around, but he didn't see Miranda's car anywhere. He walked inside and looked around. She wasn't at the desk, and there was just a sign that said "Please have a seat, I'll bet with you shortly." And it had the doctor's name on it.
"Miranda?" He called out quietly. The office wasn't very big, it was only the doctor and her there all day long besides the patients. He grabbed his phone and tried calling her cell phone, but there was no answer. Then he also tried the house phone, but there wasn't any answer there either.
Randy walked out of the office confused. He began to head home, but then remembered she had said that she would be going home for lunch to put the flowers in a vase. He quickly turned around and headed to Miranda's house.
The apartment building that Miranda lived in was almost more like townhomes. There was one large parking lot and then there were separate entryways for each unit. He drove to the end of the lot and found Miranda's car. The door to her unit was wide open. Randy ignored the pain and ran inside and then stopped in his tracks. The flowers he had given her were scattered on the floor. Her purse was thrown off to the side and everything in it was all over the floor. The apartment was trashed as if someone broke in. "MIRANDA!" He called out frantically.
Randy was mumbling swear words as he ran through the place. Every room was trashed, even the bathroom. And there weren't any traces of her anywhere. As he ran back to his truck to grab his cell phone to call 911, he stopped and dropped to his knees. On the ground by the driver's door was her cell phone, half kicked under the car. He didn't touch it, he got up and with tears streaming down his face he ran and grabbed his cell phone and called 911. Upon their answer he cried, "I need your help. My ex-wife has been kidnapped."
