VANISHED, A Romantic Suspense Novel (Edgars Family Novel) by Suzanne Ferrell Read Free Book Online Page A

black-framed glasses. Had he ever known she wore glasses?
    Before leaving, he turned off the light. Tomorrow he’d get an answer to his question about the datebook. Only he had a feeling he wouldn’t like what he heard.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Even with her eyes swollen shut, Brianna knew the room was dark. If her captors thought to frighten the information out of her, they’d miscalculated. Darkness didn’t scare her.
    The familiar metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. Ignoring the reflexive gag, she swallowed. Her parched throat needed something fluid down it, even if only her own blood. The last time she’d had anything to drink was when she’d gotten home from work today. Or was it yesterday? How long had it been? She couldn’t remember.
    Throughout her life she’d had her share of beatings—at least before she’d been adopted. This one ranked as the worst. She hadn’t told them where the disk was, had she?
    Her mind was fuzzy. How much blood had she lost?
    She forced herself to take a deep breath. It hurt to breathe. That couldn’t be good.
    Voices murmured in the distance.
    Were they in the room with her? No, there wasn’t anyone in the room. She didn’t know how she knew, she just did.
    She strained to hear what they said.
    “Did you get her cell phone?” a raspy voice asked.
    “No, I left it on the table with the rest of the junk from her purse. It doesn’t matter anyway. She’s tied up,” a deep voice answered. “Besides, she’ll be dead soon. No one can survive that kind of beating. Especially not a broad.”
    A click sounded, followed by a pause in the conversation.
    Brianna’s heart jumped two extra beats, skipped one, then jumped two more. Please don’t let them come back. She just couldn’t take anymore.
    Fresh-burning tobacco tickled her nose.
    A man coughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. By tomorrow she ain’t gonna be a problem to no one,” raspy voice said.
    The words changed to a muffled murmur as they moved away. Finally, in the distance a door closed.
    Brianna struggled to take several breaths. Their words rang in her ears. She’d be dead tomorrow. Did that mean they’d be back to actually kill her? Or were her injuries so bad she’d just slowly bleed to death here tied to a chair in the dark?
    What a disgusting way to die. Helpless. Restrained. Broken. A sticky-gooey mess. Worse, she’d dragged Abby into this, and had no way to warn her.
    Abby. Poor frightened-of-her-shadow Abby. The image of a gangly, rail-thin girl sitting on the bench outside Sister Compassionatta’s office with her dark brown hair hanging down to her shoulders and almost covering her face flashed into Brianna’s mind. They’d both been sent to see the principal of the orphan school that fateful afternoon. Abby for crying when one of the boys teased her, Brianna for talking to the boys too much.
    “ You know it’s silly to cry when the boys tease you,” she’d said in her snootiest voice. “It only makes them tease you more.”
    The frightened mouse turned her big green-and-gold-flecked eyes on Brianna. There was no malice in them, only an honest stare. “At least they aren’t nice to my face and talk mean behind my back.”
    In that moment, Brianna found the one thing she’d never had in her life. Someone she could trust to always be honest with her. They served detention together that day and until the day Brianna was adopted, they were inseparable.
    She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Everything seemed fuzzy. She wasn’t sitting on the bench outside Compassionatta’s office. Her ears rang again. She struggled to inhale. God, her chest hurt.
    What had she been thinking about?
    Oh, yeah, Abby. She needed to warn Abby.
    How?
    The cell phone. Didn’t they say they left her cell on the table in the room? It might as well be ten miles away as just across the room. Tied to this chair, she had as much a chance of getting there as she did going to the moon.
    She struggled to inhale once