***Chapter 2***
***Hart Industries***
Jonathan was finished with his meeting. He thought Jennifer would have been there by now.
He busied himself with some paperwork, and kept checking his watch. At 11:30, he called the house.
"Yeah, she left about an hour ago, Mr. H. She should be there by now".
"Ok, I will call and change our reservations. If you hear from her, let me know, Max".
"Will do, Mr. H."
Jonathan called and changed their reservations to 1.
When she still wasn't there by 12:30, he grabbed his keys and went to look for her.
He was calling her car phone, but no answer.
So, that means she was stopped somewhere and not near it.
He was heading towards the house when he saw it, and pulled a u-turn right there in the middle of the road and pulled up behind it.
The driver's side door was open, her keys were in it. Her purse was on the front seat. Everything was perfectly like it should have been, except she wasn't in it.
He ran back to his car, and used his car phone to call the police.
"Yes, I would like to report my wife missing".
***Los Angeles***
Jennifer was sitting on a couch, with her hands tied behind her back.
She was trying to figure out if she had seen her captors before.
They were staring at her, but they weren't saying anything to her.
She realized that she had seen him at the auction. He had packed and wrapped her items for her, and helped her to her car.
He finally spoke.
"Here's the deal. We are going to trade you for what we want".
"What do you want?"
"Something you bought at the auction yesterday".
"I had that wrapped to give to my husband. He isn't going to know where it is, I hid it".
"Well, we will give him a choice. He can give up the object, or he can pay us what it's worth".
"If you wanted money, you should have robbed a bank".
"I don't think you are in a position to be cute, Mrs. Hart".
"I don't think I'm trying to be. But I'll be damned if you are going to take something from my husband and I for your own selfish purposes".
"Look, I'm not playing. Either you call your husband and tell him where the item is, and we make the trade, or he can pay us what it's worth and we will make the trade, or you will suffer the consequences".
"I don't even know what item you are referring to".
"The one you bought at the auction!"
"I bought 4 things at the auction, you will have to be more specific".
"The painting".
"If you are waiting on me to call my husband, you might want to start by untying my hands".
"How about you give me the number?"
"555-1624".
***Willow Pond***
Jonathan had just come in. He had spent the afternoon talking with the police. They were going to put an APB out for Jennifer, and had promised to keep him posted. He had taken the day off, and Kelly promised to call him at home if anything serious happened.
He was sitting on the couch, telling Max about how he found her car.
"They took it to the impound lot so they could dust it for fingerprints and inspect it. We can probably pick it up tomorrow".
"Where do you think she is, Mr. H.?"
"I haven't the faintest idea. I think someone got her though, she wouldn't leave her purse in the car like that, or leave the car like that. Plus, she told you she was leaving and coming to my office so we could have lunch. She wouldn't just abandon that".
Max made him some coffee and started dinner.
Jonathan poured himself a scotch and sat back down on the couch. This one was really puzzling him. Normally, he could figure out who it was before the police were ever involved. But this time, there was literally nothing to go on. He hadn't been working on a business deal that was contentious in the least bit, they hadn't had an argument or anything that resembled one in weeks. Their life had been picture perfect for a good bit.
He was staring straight ahead, when the phone rang.
"I got it Max".
He reached over and picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Jonathan Hart, please".
"Speaking".
"I believe we have something you want".
"Where is my wife?"
"She's safe, for now".
"This conversation will go no further till I speak with her".
"Very well. She has something to tell you".
He passed the phone to Jennifer.
"Hi darling, I'm alright. Yes, I promise. Listen, darling, there is something I need you to find in the house. It's in the guest room, behind the headboard. It's a large painting, it's wrapped in pretty blue paper with a red shiny ribbon. I need you to get that and bring it to wherever this guy tells you".
"I love you, Red."
"I love you too, Jonathan Charles".
The phone was yanked away from Jennifer then.
"Bring the painting to 7755 Tracker Drive. It's a row of warehouses, go around the back, park by the red truck and honk your horn once. Don't bring any guests and don't pull any tricks".
The line went dead.
***Warehouse***
Jennifer wanted to cry, but she wasn't about to give him that satisfaction.
"Ok, back in the chair you go."
"Please, before you do, can I please go to the bathroom?"
"I guess."
He motioned to it across the room.
She went over there, and closed the door. The room was dimly lit, and had no window. There was a sink and a vent fan.
She turned the water on so he couldn't listen to her.
She looked for anything she could find that she could use to protect herself if she needed to, but there wasn't anything in there.
After she was finished, she washed her hands and came out.
"Can I have a bottle of water, please?"
"Yes, I will bring you one with your lunch, in just a bit".
He tied her hands in front of her this time, and then attached them to a big steel ball.
He turned the TV on for her, and was nice enough to hand her the remote, before he left the room. She thought her heart was going to break as she heard the lock click.
"Jonathan….please come save me".
***Willow Pond***
Jonathan unwrapped the painting. There was a note attached to it.
"For my love….always, Jennifer. Hart to Hart".
He examined the painting. He couldn't figure out why they wanted it. He called his art curator friend, Walter, and asked him to come to the house right away.
Walter stated he would be there in about 15 minutes.
Max buzzed him in, and Jonathan had the painting laying on a sheet on top of the piano.
"Hi Walter, thanks for coming".
"Sure, how can I help you?"
"Well, Jennifer acquired this painting and now there are several people who want to acquire it from us, and I am trying to figure out what it is worth".
He examined the painting, and made some notes.
"This is a replica of a Jackson Pollack. It appears to have another painting underneath it, and it looks like they layered a textured material over the canvas and then painted the replica on top of that. I would say the value at this point, is $200, and that's being extremely generous".
"Thank you, very much Walter".
Max saw Walter out, and Jonathan headed upstairs and went into the guest room closet. He grabbed some old paintings of his, and selected one that was about the same size. He brought it downstairs, and took the other one out of the frame and put his in the frame, and then wrapped it back up.
He went to meet them where the man had said.
***Warehouse***
Jonathan pulled up to the warehouse and parked by the red truck and honked once.
Jennifer was inside on the couch and heard him honk.
She picked up the ball and carried it to the door, but couldn't get the door to open.
She used the ball to smash the window next to the door, and then reached through and unlocked her door.
She picked up the ball with ease, and headed outside.
She stopped in the doorway. She could see Jonathan, but the gunman couldn't see her. He had a gun pointed at Jonathan.
"Hand over the painting".
Jonathan held it out a little, and the gunman took it. Jennifer lunged forward and tried to hit him in the head with the heavy ball, but she missed. He grabbed her, the ball fell to the ground and he wrapped an arm around her neck and put the gun back on Jonathan.
"Get in your car and drive away".
"Not without my wife. I gave you the painting, so you give me back my wife".
"You aren't in a position to make demands Mr. Hart".
Just then, Jennifer threw her elbow into his stomach, and flipped him over her shoulder.
Jonathan lunged forward and tried to subdue him, and tried to get control of the gun.
They struggled, and Jennifer was off to the side trying to get the handcuffs off.
Jonathan had the upper hand, but then the gunman lurched forwards once more, and the gun went off.
Jennifer grabbed her stomach and fell to the ground.
Jonathan punched the guy several times, and then ran to Jennifer.
She was conscious, but barely speaking.
"Hold on, darling. Hold on, don't leave me".
He got up and went to the car and called 911 on the car phone.
"Please hurry, my wife has been shot". He gave them the address, and told them to come to the back of the building.
Jennifer laid there, trying to hold pressure on the gunshot wound.
Jonathan returned to her and cradled her in his arms as best he could.
"You are the best part of me, I love you so much. Help is on the way".
"I'm….sorry….darling".
"Shhh… nothing to apologize for, darling. Save your strength."
She nodded.
She blew him a kiss.
He heard the sirens coming but he stayed right there with her staring into her eyes.
He leaned down and kissed her a couple times and then the paramedics took over.
He held her hand as they loaded her onto a stretcher.
"I love you, I'll meet you at the hospital".
"We will see you at Cedars Sinai, Mr. Hart".
"Please be careful. My whole life is in that ambulance".