Notes:
1. Thank you for your reviews. I hope that this chapter will get some reviews too.
2. Thanks for Danielle Anderson and Lainie Smajovitz who agreed to Beta read this chapter. I'm sorry I wasn't patient and posted without waiting for you two to review, but thanks anyway.
3. I hope you're going to enjoy this chapter. I'm sorry if I have any mistakes here, but as I said, I wasn't patient enough to wait few more days for my beta readers' replies.
Chapter 2: Finding suspects
Zoe and Dan knocked on the door of a big villa. An old woman opened the door and looked at them with sadness.
"Mrs. Sanderson?" Dan asked.
"Yes, that's me." The old woman replied.
"I'm Dan Lennox and this is Zoe Busiek. We're investigating the graveyard mutilation at Hillside cemetery." Dan said.
"Come in, please." Mrs. Sanderson said and they stepped into the house.
"We understand that your husband's grave was mutilated too. Am I right?" Dan asked.
"Yes." Mrs. Sanderson answered.
"Do you have any idea who did it?"
"I don't know." Mrs. Sanderson said.
"Did the people who mutilated his grave took his coffin out of the ground?"
"Yes. They broke it apart."
"Did the police find the body?"
"Not yet."
"Do you think your husband hide something inside the coffin that may have a huge value? Jewelry? An important document, maybe?"
"I have no idea."
"One last thing. Can you please tell us who made the coffin and give us the phone number of the burial service?"
"Yes. The man who made the coffin is Ian Smith."
"And the phone number of the burial service?" The woman went to another room and then gave them a piece of paper with the number.
"That's all. Thank you for your time." Dan asked.
"You're welcome." Mrs. Sanderson said and they got out of her house.
They continued to the next house and the answers were the same at all ten families. The only thing that was different was the names of the coffin makers. A man called James Lawrence built four of the coffins and a man called David Gray built three of the other coffins. Now they were standing in front of James Lawrence's door and waited for him to open it.
"James Lawrence?" Dan asked the man who opened the door.
"Yes. How can I help you?"
"We're investigating a graveyard mutilation at Hillside cemetery." Zoe said. "You happen to be one of the coffin makers that made some of the coffins that were broken."
"I'm sorry to hear that such thing happened to my customers, but I'm not the one who makes the coffins. I'm the owner of the coffin making company. The man who makes the coffins is Daniel Harrison." James said.
"Oh, thank you very much." Dan said and they went back into the car.
"Well, I guess we'll have to continue tomorrow." Zoe said.
"Yep." Dan replied.
"Dan, do you want to come for dinner?" She asked.
"Yeah, Sure. When?"
"At 19:00. Don't be late." She said.
At seven o'clock, Dan knocked on the door of the Busiek – Woodal House. Zoe opened to door and let him in.
"So, what did you make for dinner?" He asked.
"A salad and pasta." Zoe said. Dan followed her to the kitchen.
"Taylor, Cliff, Hannah! Dinner is ready." The kids came downstairs. They all sat down and started eating.
"I went to the cemetery today." As she said that, she felt how six eyes were staring at her with questioning looks.
"Did you visit Mommy?" Hannah asked.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you take us with you?" Cliff asked and it was easy to hear the sadness in his voice.
"I didn't know I was going to be there." Zoe felt a need to apologize.
"What did mommy say to you?" Hannah asked.
"She said she loves you and misses you very much and that she's proud of you all." Zoe tried to stop the tears from falling on her face.
"I miss mommy." Hannah said.
"I know, Honey. I promise I'll take you with me next time I'm going there." Zoe stroked the little girl's dark hair. They ate in silence. More than few times Dan looked at Zoe. For a moment he thought he saw her sending him a shy look that he had never seen on her face before. She looked so pure and innocent and he wanted to see that side of her that she had never reveled to him. He didn't know if Marcos got a chance to take a peek on that side of her, but he hoped that he didn't. He wanted to be the only one who gets to know Zoe's gentle and calm side.
"Aunt Zoe?" Hannah asked.
"What?" Zoe raised her head and looked at the little girl.
"May I be excused?"
"Ummm... Yeah, sure, kid." Dan could clearly see that Zoe was thinking about something else at the moment. Hannah went out of the kitchen and her siblings followed her. Zoe and Dan got up of their chairs too. Zoe picked the plates up from the table and put it in the dishwasher. Then she and Dan went to the living room.
"Please, take a seat." Zoe said and they both sat on the couch.
"It must have been hard for you to tell them," Dan said.
"Yeah... You know what's funny? When we were eating, I kept hoping that Taylor wouldn't leave the table or something..." Zoe stared at the floor. "Sometimes she gets... crazy. I can't blame her... with all the things she went through... her father's leaving and then Sue's death... and then... I came here and took over the role of her mother!" Dan wasn't sure if Zoe's laughing or crying. It actually seemed to him that she did both at the same time because he saw her rubbing her eyes but she had a smile on her face. "Can you imagine me as an aunt? Even worse, as a mother?" She asked.
"Well, I can't imagine you as my aunt, but I can imagine you as their aunt." He said. "You don't have to go crazy over it. I'm sure they love you very much and appreciate you."
"I'm sorry. I'm kinda tired so please excuse me for going crazy. It's been a long time since the last time I went crazy." He looked at her. If he didn't know that Zoe wasn't keeping alcohol in the house, he would swear that she was drunk. It's been a long time since she went crazy? Didn't she go crazy when they were in the mausoleum?
"Aunt Zoe," They heard Hannah's voice.
"She probably wants me to come and give her a goodnight kiss... I'll be right back..."
Dan glanced at his watch "No it's ok. I'd better get going anyway. It's getting late and we have to work tomorrow." He said and started doing his way to the door and Zoe followed him.
"Good night." She said as he opened the door.
"Good night and don't come with your pajama to work tomo --" As he said the last word, she lightly kissed him on his lips. They stood there in shock for a moment. Both of them couldn't really understand what just happened. Although it wasn't their first kiss and Dan hoped it wouldn't be the last, Zoe's kiss surprised him. "--row..." He completed the word. She smiled and watched him as he entered his car and drove away. Then she closed the door and went upstairs to give Hannah a goodnight kiss. Later that evening, Zoe was sitting in the kitchen, going over bills and writing her plans for the rest of the week in her agenda. She looked if she had any special plans for the weekend. She wanted to take the kids to the cemetery, like she promised. She turned the page and saw that Dan will celebrate his birthday the next day. She recalled the kiss they shared earlier, the excitement she felt in her stomach and the last time she felt like this: when they kissed in the elevator.
In the next morning, Zoe and Dan went to Daniel Harrison's coffin making factory.
"Hi, Mr. Harrison," Zoe said. The man stared at her for a moment.
"Zoe, I haven't seen you for..." He paused. "For almost ten years." Dan looked at Zoe with shock.
"Oh, my God! Daniel, I can't believe that I didn't recognize your name! You changed a lot since we last saw each other." She said.
"So, how have you been?" Daniel asked. "I thought you left the country."
"Yeah. I went to Vegas." Zoe said.
"You did? I knew you'd do it in the end... you wanted to be an actress and a dancer." He said.
"Oh, yeah. I can't believe you still remember that!" She said.
"So, what brings you back here? Are you visiting your sister?" He asked.
"My sister died earlier this year. I came back here in order to take care of her kids."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Zoe."
"Umm... Zoe..." Dan said.
"Oh, Sorry, Dan. Daniel, this is my partner, Dan Lennox. Dan, Daniel is my ex-boyfriend." Zoe introduced them both.
"So, you have a partner..." Daniel said.
"Yes, I'm working in an insurance company."
"Insurance company? That's interesting. What are you doing there?"
"I'm a fraud investigator."
"I'm sure you're very good." Daniel said.
"I am." Zoe smiled.
"So, what are you doing in my factory?"
"Last week, the Hillside cemetery was mutilated. Someone took 142 coffins and bodies out of the graves. 10 of these graves were insured at our company. Your company made few of the coffins. We just want to ask you some questions." Dan said.
"Sure. Ask whatever you want." Daniel said.
"Do you know who may want to take these coffins out of the ground?" Dan asked.
"No." Daniel answered.
"Do you have any idea if some of the people you work with have any intention to hurt you or your business? Or maybe just use a coffin in order to hide something?" Zoe asked.
"No. But you can ask them yourself. I employ 3 workers. One of them is on vacation and he'll come back next week." Daniel said.
"Can we ask them some questions too?" Zoe asked. Daniel nodded. They asked the workers the same questions they asked Daniel, but all the answers were the same. They had to come back to the office and do some work there, so they left and said they'd call if they have any more questions.
On their way back the office Zoe was very silent. She usually talked a lot, and Dan sensed that she's afraid that he'd start talking about Daniel or about the kiss they shared in the night before. He could only imagine what was going on with the kids after she left. He didn't know them as good as Marcos did, but he was pretty sure that Taylor got very angry with Zoe and that Hannah had nightmares again and he could also see Zoe crying in her bed after the kids fell asleep.
"Zoe," He gently said her voice.
"What?" She almost got off the road when she heard his voice.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah... why wouldn't I be?" She felt the desire to hide what she feels from him.
"I don't know. You just look tired. I mean, you had a rough day yesterday with all the emotions you had to face. Maybe this assignment is too much for you. Maybe we should tell Sophia that we're not able to do this job."
"When did you become a psychologist?" Zoe asked. "I want to continue working on this assignment."
"Zoe, don't you think that it may be better for you? I mean, I watched you in the last two days and it seems to me that on that time, you had to face with so many things. Maybe it will be for your own good if we quit and let someone else do this." Dan said.
"I know what you wanna say. You're saying that I should not work on this assignment because I get emotionally involved." Zoe blamed him.
"No, Zoe. What I meant is that you met this guy now, and had to face with your sister's and parents' deaths once again and the kids and..."
"Dan, I appreciate your concern, but I want to work on this." She said and looked into his eyes.
"Whoa, watch it!" Dan said when she got off the road again. She turned her look away from him and looked at the road. Then she stopped the car on the side of the road. "Dan, can you please drive... I'm tired." She said to him.
"Yeah, sure." He replied and they switched seats. Few minutes later she fell asleep and when seeing this, all Dan could think about was her, lying in her bed, in her dark room and crying uncontrollably. He never felt pity for someone like he felt now. He knew that if Zoe knew that, she'd kill him.
(The next day)
It was 4:00 PM. Dan and Zoe were just finishing some paper work and about to get out of the office when Zoe's phone rang.
"Zoe Busiek," She answered.
"Zoe, It's Daniel." She heard his voice.
"Hi, what's up?" She asked him.
"Zoe, we have to talk. It's very important." Daniel said.
"Come over tonight and we'll talk, ok?" Zoe said.
"Fine." Daniel replied. Dan looked at Zoe with a questioning look when they entered the elevator.
"It was Daniel. He wants to talk to me about something." Zoe said.
"I don't trust him." Dan said.
"Why? He's a friend and I know him for a long time." Zoe said.
"That's what scares me. What if he thinks you're still together?"
"Dan, it has been ten years since we last saw each other. I don't think he has any thought that we're still together." Zoe grinned.
"Whatever." Dan shrugged. The elevator stopped in the first floor and they got out it and started doing their way to the parking lot.
"Dan," Zoe gently said his voice. He turned around to face her. "Can you give me a goodnight kiss?" She said with a smile.
"Do you mean like the one you gave me two days ago?" Dan asked with a slight confusion.
"Yeah." Zoe replied.
"If you promise that you'd beware of Daniel." Dan said.
"I will. Don't worry." Zoe promised. They stood there and she could sense that Dan wasn't sure about what he was doing or maybe wasn't sure that she'll keep her promise. He slowly pulled her closer to him and their lips locked. She felt his tongue moving in her mouth. Suddenly she felt someone grabbing her hands and pulling her away from Dan. She tried to move, but the man who held her shook her until she fell on the floor, powerless. She has made a huge effort to look up and saw two muscular men punching Dan in the face.
"Dan," She saw his unsuccessful trial to fight back the men. He sent her an apologetic look. She knew he was trying to say that he's sorry for not being strong enough. The men tied his hands with a rope and pushed him into the back seat of a car.
"Help!!! Som..." The man that held her put his hand on her mouth in order to keep her quiet. The other men tied her hands too and pushed her into the back seat of the same car they pushed Dan.
"Hey, there's no need to be aggressive!!!" She yelled and heard the men's grin. One of the men got into the car and started driving.
"What do you guys want from us?" Dan asked.
"Shut up there!" The man yelled at them.
"Where are you taking us?" Zoe asked.
"I told you to shut up. Another word from you two and your brains will be on the floor!" Zoe looked at Dan. He had a sad look in his eyes.
Few minutes later, the man stopped the car. "Don't you two even dare to move!" he yelled at them. His voice made Zoe shiver. No one had ever threatened her before. The man took a cell phone out of his pocket and called someone.
"London, I'm in Paris. Where are you and Rome?" The man asked the man on the other side of the line. Dan assumed that they were talking in codes like he and Debbie used to do.
"Ok, thanks." The man said and hanged up his phone.
"His name must be Amsterdam..." Zoe whispered into Dan's ear. He smiled. Even when kidnapped she had a good sense of humor.
"Stop talking there!" The man slapped Zoe. She looked at him with a slight shock that he interpreted as fear. The man smiled with satisfaction. Suddenly the door of the car was opened and someone's hand caught the collar of her shirt and violently pulled her out of the car.
1. Thank you for your reviews. I hope that this chapter will get some reviews too.
2. Thanks for Danielle Anderson and Lainie Smajovitz who agreed to Beta read this chapter. I'm sorry I wasn't patient and posted without waiting for you two to review, but thanks anyway.
3. I hope you're going to enjoy this chapter. I'm sorry if I have any mistakes here, but as I said, I wasn't patient enough to wait few more days for my beta readers' replies.
Chapter 2: Finding suspects
Zoe and Dan knocked on the door of a big villa. An old woman opened the door and looked at them with sadness.
"Mrs. Sanderson?" Dan asked.
"Yes, that's me." The old woman replied.
"I'm Dan Lennox and this is Zoe Busiek. We're investigating the graveyard mutilation at Hillside cemetery." Dan said.
"Come in, please." Mrs. Sanderson said and they stepped into the house.
"We understand that your husband's grave was mutilated too. Am I right?" Dan asked.
"Yes." Mrs. Sanderson answered.
"Do you have any idea who did it?"
"I don't know." Mrs. Sanderson said.
"Did the people who mutilated his grave took his coffin out of the ground?"
"Yes. They broke it apart."
"Did the police find the body?"
"Not yet."
"Do you think your husband hide something inside the coffin that may have a huge value? Jewelry? An important document, maybe?"
"I have no idea."
"One last thing. Can you please tell us who made the coffin and give us the phone number of the burial service?"
"Yes. The man who made the coffin is Ian Smith."
"And the phone number of the burial service?" The woman went to another room and then gave them a piece of paper with the number.
"That's all. Thank you for your time." Dan asked.
"You're welcome." Mrs. Sanderson said and they got out of her house.
They continued to the next house and the answers were the same at all ten families. The only thing that was different was the names of the coffin makers. A man called James Lawrence built four of the coffins and a man called David Gray built three of the other coffins. Now they were standing in front of James Lawrence's door and waited for him to open it.
"James Lawrence?" Dan asked the man who opened the door.
"Yes. How can I help you?"
"We're investigating a graveyard mutilation at Hillside cemetery." Zoe said. "You happen to be one of the coffin makers that made some of the coffins that were broken."
"I'm sorry to hear that such thing happened to my customers, but I'm not the one who makes the coffins. I'm the owner of the coffin making company. The man who makes the coffins is Daniel Harrison." James said.
"Oh, thank you very much." Dan said and they went back into the car.
"Well, I guess we'll have to continue tomorrow." Zoe said.
"Yep." Dan replied.
"Dan, do you want to come for dinner?" She asked.
"Yeah, Sure. When?"
"At 19:00. Don't be late." She said.
At seven o'clock, Dan knocked on the door of the Busiek – Woodal House. Zoe opened to door and let him in.
"So, what did you make for dinner?" He asked.
"A salad and pasta." Zoe said. Dan followed her to the kitchen.
"Taylor, Cliff, Hannah! Dinner is ready." The kids came downstairs. They all sat down and started eating.
"I went to the cemetery today." As she said that, she felt how six eyes were staring at her with questioning looks.
"Did you visit Mommy?" Hannah asked.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you take us with you?" Cliff asked and it was easy to hear the sadness in his voice.
"I didn't know I was going to be there." Zoe felt a need to apologize.
"What did mommy say to you?" Hannah asked.
"She said she loves you and misses you very much and that she's proud of you all." Zoe tried to stop the tears from falling on her face.
"I miss mommy." Hannah said.
"I know, Honey. I promise I'll take you with me next time I'm going there." Zoe stroked the little girl's dark hair. They ate in silence. More than few times Dan looked at Zoe. For a moment he thought he saw her sending him a shy look that he had never seen on her face before. She looked so pure and innocent and he wanted to see that side of her that she had never reveled to him. He didn't know if Marcos got a chance to take a peek on that side of her, but he hoped that he didn't. He wanted to be the only one who gets to know Zoe's gentle and calm side.
"Aunt Zoe?" Hannah asked.
"What?" Zoe raised her head and looked at the little girl.
"May I be excused?"
"Ummm... Yeah, sure, kid." Dan could clearly see that Zoe was thinking about something else at the moment. Hannah went out of the kitchen and her siblings followed her. Zoe and Dan got up of their chairs too. Zoe picked the plates up from the table and put it in the dishwasher. Then she and Dan went to the living room.
"Please, take a seat." Zoe said and they both sat on the couch.
"It must have been hard for you to tell them," Dan said.
"Yeah... You know what's funny? When we were eating, I kept hoping that Taylor wouldn't leave the table or something..." Zoe stared at the floor. "Sometimes she gets... crazy. I can't blame her... with all the things she went through... her father's leaving and then Sue's death... and then... I came here and took over the role of her mother!" Dan wasn't sure if Zoe's laughing or crying. It actually seemed to him that she did both at the same time because he saw her rubbing her eyes but she had a smile on her face. "Can you imagine me as an aunt? Even worse, as a mother?" She asked.
"Well, I can't imagine you as my aunt, but I can imagine you as their aunt." He said. "You don't have to go crazy over it. I'm sure they love you very much and appreciate you."
"I'm sorry. I'm kinda tired so please excuse me for going crazy. It's been a long time since the last time I went crazy." He looked at her. If he didn't know that Zoe wasn't keeping alcohol in the house, he would swear that she was drunk. It's been a long time since she went crazy? Didn't she go crazy when they were in the mausoleum?
"Aunt Zoe," They heard Hannah's voice.
"She probably wants me to come and give her a goodnight kiss... I'll be right back..."
Dan glanced at his watch "No it's ok. I'd better get going anyway. It's getting late and we have to work tomorrow." He said and started doing his way to the door and Zoe followed him.
"Good night." She said as he opened the door.
"Good night and don't come with your pajama to work tomo --" As he said the last word, she lightly kissed him on his lips. They stood there in shock for a moment. Both of them couldn't really understand what just happened. Although it wasn't their first kiss and Dan hoped it wouldn't be the last, Zoe's kiss surprised him. "--row..." He completed the word. She smiled and watched him as he entered his car and drove away. Then she closed the door and went upstairs to give Hannah a goodnight kiss. Later that evening, Zoe was sitting in the kitchen, going over bills and writing her plans for the rest of the week in her agenda. She looked if she had any special plans for the weekend. She wanted to take the kids to the cemetery, like she promised. She turned the page and saw that Dan will celebrate his birthday the next day. She recalled the kiss they shared earlier, the excitement she felt in her stomach and the last time she felt like this: when they kissed in the elevator.
In the next morning, Zoe and Dan went to Daniel Harrison's coffin making factory.
"Hi, Mr. Harrison," Zoe said. The man stared at her for a moment.
"Zoe, I haven't seen you for..." He paused. "For almost ten years." Dan looked at Zoe with shock.
"Oh, my God! Daniel, I can't believe that I didn't recognize your name! You changed a lot since we last saw each other." She said.
"So, how have you been?" Daniel asked. "I thought you left the country."
"Yeah. I went to Vegas." Zoe said.
"You did? I knew you'd do it in the end... you wanted to be an actress and a dancer." He said.
"Oh, yeah. I can't believe you still remember that!" She said.
"So, what brings you back here? Are you visiting your sister?" He asked.
"My sister died earlier this year. I came back here in order to take care of her kids."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Zoe."
"Umm... Zoe..." Dan said.
"Oh, Sorry, Dan. Daniel, this is my partner, Dan Lennox. Dan, Daniel is my ex-boyfriend." Zoe introduced them both.
"So, you have a partner..." Daniel said.
"Yes, I'm working in an insurance company."
"Insurance company? That's interesting. What are you doing there?"
"I'm a fraud investigator."
"I'm sure you're very good." Daniel said.
"I am." Zoe smiled.
"So, what are you doing in my factory?"
"Last week, the Hillside cemetery was mutilated. Someone took 142 coffins and bodies out of the graves. 10 of these graves were insured at our company. Your company made few of the coffins. We just want to ask you some questions." Dan said.
"Sure. Ask whatever you want." Daniel said.
"Do you know who may want to take these coffins out of the ground?" Dan asked.
"No." Daniel answered.
"Do you have any idea if some of the people you work with have any intention to hurt you or your business? Or maybe just use a coffin in order to hide something?" Zoe asked.
"No. But you can ask them yourself. I employ 3 workers. One of them is on vacation and he'll come back next week." Daniel said.
"Can we ask them some questions too?" Zoe asked. Daniel nodded. They asked the workers the same questions they asked Daniel, but all the answers were the same. They had to come back to the office and do some work there, so they left and said they'd call if they have any more questions.
On their way back the office Zoe was very silent. She usually talked a lot, and Dan sensed that she's afraid that he'd start talking about Daniel or about the kiss they shared in the night before. He could only imagine what was going on with the kids after she left. He didn't know them as good as Marcos did, but he was pretty sure that Taylor got very angry with Zoe and that Hannah had nightmares again and he could also see Zoe crying in her bed after the kids fell asleep.
"Zoe," He gently said her voice.
"What?" She almost got off the road when she heard his voice.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah... why wouldn't I be?" She felt the desire to hide what she feels from him.
"I don't know. You just look tired. I mean, you had a rough day yesterday with all the emotions you had to face. Maybe this assignment is too much for you. Maybe we should tell Sophia that we're not able to do this job."
"When did you become a psychologist?" Zoe asked. "I want to continue working on this assignment."
"Zoe, don't you think that it may be better for you? I mean, I watched you in the last two days and it seems to me that on that time, you had to face with so many things. Maybe it will be for your own good if we quit and let someone else do this." Dan said.
"I know what you wanna say. You're saying that I should not work on this assignment because I get emotionally involved." Zoe blamed him.
"No, Zoe. What I meant is that you met this guy now, and had to face with your sister's and parents' deaths once again and the kids and..."
"Dan, I appreciate your concern, but I want to work on this." She said and looked into his eyes.
"Whoa, watch it!" Dan said when she got off the road again. She turned her look away from him and looked at the road. Then she stopped the car on the side of the road. "Dan, can you please drive... I'm tired." She said to him.
"Yeah, sure." He replied and they switched seats. Few minutes later she fell asleep and when seeing this, all Dan could think about was her, lying in her bed, in her dark room and crying uncontrollably. He never felt pity for someone like he felt now. He knew that if Zoe knew that, she'd kill him.
(The next day)
It was 4:00 PM. Dan and Zoe were just finishing some paper work and about to get out of the office when Zoe's phone rang.
"Zoe Busiek," She answered.
"Zoe, It's Daniel." She heard his voice.
"Hi, what's up?" She asked him.
"Zoe, we have to talk. It's very important." Daniel said.
"Come over tonight and we'll talk, ok?" Zoe said.
"Fine." Daniel replied. Dan looked at Zoe with a questioning look when they entered the elevator.
"It was Daniel. He wants to talk to me about something." Zoe said.
"I don't trust him." Dan said.
"Why? He's a friend and I know him for a long time." Zoe said.
"That's what scares me. What if he thinks you're still together?"
"Dan, it has been ten years since we last saw each other. I don't think he has any thought that we're still together." Zoe grinned.
"Whatever." Dan shrugged. The elevator stopped in the first floor and they got out it and started doing their way to the parking lot.
"Dan," Zoe gently said his voice. He turned around to face her. "Can you give me a goodnight kiss?" She said with a smile.
"Do you mean like the one you gave me two days ago?" Dan asked with a slight confusion.
"Yeah." Zoe replied.
"If you promise that you'd beware of Daniel." Dan said.
"I will. Don't worry." Zoe promised. They stood there and she could sense that Dan wasn't sure about what he was doing or maybe wasn't sure that she'll keep her promise. He slowly pulled her closer to him and their lips locked. She felt his tongue moving in her mouth. Suddenly she felt someone grabbing her hands and pulling her away from Dan. She tried to move, but the man who held her shook her until she fell on the floor, powerless. She has made a huge effort to look up and saw two muscular men punching Dan in the face.
"Dan," She saw his unsuccessful trial to fight back the men. He sent her an apologetic look. She knew he was trying to say that he's sorry for not being strong enough. The men tied his hands with a rope and pushed him into the back seat of a car.
"Help!!! Som..." The man that held her put his hand on her mouth in order to keep her quiet. The other men tied her hands too and pushed her into the back seat of the same car they pushed Dan.
"Hey, there's no need to be aggressive!!!" She yelled and heard the men's grin. One of the men got into the car and started driving.
"What do you guys want from us?" Dan asked.
"Shut up there!" The man yelled at them.
"Where are you taking us?" Zoe asked.
"I told you to shut up. Another word from you two and your brains will be on the floor!" Zoe looked at Dan. He had a sad look in his eyes.
Few minutes later, the man stopped the car. "Don't you two even dare to move!" he yelled at them. His voice made Zoe shiver. No one had ever threatened her before. The man took a cell phone out of his pocket and called someone.
"London, I'm in Paris. Where are you and Rome?" The man asked the man on the other side of the line. Dan assumed that they were talking in codes like he and Debbie used to do.
"Ok, thanks." The man said and hanged up his phone.
"His name must be Amsterdam..." Zoe whispered into Dan's ear. He smiled. Even when kidnapped she had a good sense of humor.
"Stop talking there!" The man slapped Zoe. She looked at him with a slight shock that he interpreted as fear. The man smiled with satisfaction. Suddenly the door of the car was opened and someone's hand caught the collar of her shirt and violently pulled her out of the car.