The second Donny opened the door, Alex landed a punch on his nose. There was a crunch as the cartilage broke. Alex punched him again in the jaw, sending him reeling back into the living room. She was about to throw one ore when he stepped to the side and dodged it. He pulled the gun on Alex, his hand shaking as he threatened her with it. "You don't think you're going to shoot me, do you?" Alex taunted as she stepped closer.
Donny, whose nose was bleeding profusely, was surprised by her reaction to the gun. It amazed him that she was still going to fight. "Don't you realize I have a gun? I could shoot you and kill you right now!" Alex laughed coldly, "You sound as if you need to reassure yourself. That little toy won't do you much good against me." Donny pointed it at Melinda. "It'll work on her," he threatened. Alex's smile faded. "Damn, I didn't think he'd pull that."
"Alright, unless you want her brains out on the floor, you'll sit down quietly. And give me your cell phone. Don't bother denying it either, I can see it in your pocket." Donny still sounded nervous, but Alex didn't take chances. She sat down next to Melinda and thrust the phone at him. "Good, now you two stay here, unless you want to die. I'm going to clean my nose."
Both captives were quiet as her exited the room, but as soon as he was out of sight, Melinda began to whisper. "Alex, please tell me you got into this mess on purpose. I didn't want you to be taken hostage too."
"Relax Melinda," Alex replied. "This is all part of the plan," she added, indicating her head.
"Oh, and what plan might that be?"
"The one I'm working on."
"Great."
"Don't worry about it. I'll get you out of here."
Meanwhile, David was searching for Alex. He had good news. His boss didn't need him, so their date was back on. The only problem was that he couldn't find Alex, and she wouldn't answer her cell phone. He drove his red Chevrolet Cobalt to the antiques shop, but was surprised to find that it was closed. He then drove to Alex's house, but when he knocked on the door, there was no answer. "Where are you Alex?" he thought desperately. "I know I shouldn't worry, but I can't help but think…something is wrong."
He began to search around the front porch until he found what he was looking for: a spare key. He put the key into the lock, turned, and was again surprised when he pushed the door open. The house was empty. I looked as if no one had been there all morning. He walked over to Alex's refrigerator, which had multiple scratches of paper with dates and phone numbers written on them. He soon found the one he wanted: Melinda's business card. He didn't bother to call the store, as it was closed. Instead he called what was sure to be Melinda's home phone number.
He quickly dialed the number and waited for an answer. Someone did pick up, but it was a male voice that said 'hello.' "Hello," Dave replied. "Is Melinda there?"
"No, she's not,"
"Do you know where she is? I'm trying to find Alex, she's not answering her phone, and Melinda's the only person that she'd be with right now."
"Oh, right. Melinda told me about Alex. Hang on, I'll try Melinda's cell phone number." Dave waited quietly as he was on hold. A minute later, he was back to talking to Jim again. "Melinda isn't answering her cell phone either."
Dave got a sudden chill. "I might be wrong, but I can't shake the feeling that something may be wrong. I'm going to find Alex."
"Here, let me give you my cell phone number and I'll go out and look too. If you find them, you can call me." Dave was worried as he scratched the number onto a piece of paper. "Alright. Thank you. Goodbye," he said as he absently closed his flip phone. Without thinking, he ran to his car and began to drive around town, looking for Alex's or Melinda's car.
Jim did the same. There was no way that Melinda and Alex weren't answering their phones without something being wrong. "And why was the store closed?" he wondered. There just had to be a reason.
Back at the house, Alex and Melinda could hear voices as someone else came into the house. A short, heavy-set woman walked into the hallway. Her hair was also short. It was red and curly, exposing her pale face. "Marla Paulson," Alex guessed. The woman shot Alex a dirty look. "Yes that's me." Alex immediately recognized the voice. "You're the one I talked to on the phone last night! Why you no-good, rotten…"
"Shut up!" Donny cut in. Alex refused. "So you took a job at the child services agency so your husband's bad habit wouldn't be exposed. When I called, I'm guessing that you were able to trace the number back to Grandview. So you knew who I was calling about. You knew I was coming."
"I said shut up!" Donny repeated as he pointed the gun at Melinda. He was squeezing the trigger when Marla screamed. "Don't shoot her here with me, you idiot! I don't want to be a witness! I'm going to leave until you find something to do about all this. And please, don't kill them too quickly. Those two and the kid are the only bargaining chips you've got."