Read Strawberry Murder: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery - Book 13 (Frosted Love Cozy Mysteries) for Free Online

bottom close to
the edge and then over it, she slid carefully down to the floor, her knuckles
scraping against rough wood planks. She rested for a moment, and then,
encouraged by her progress thus far, began scooting along to her left, keeping
her back against the couch, looking for something that she could scrape her
wrists against to cut through the tape that bound her.
    She
bumped along the perimeter of the room slowly, running into various objects,
none of which had any sharp surfaces that she could use. She worked her way
along a wall next to the couch, noting that the surface changed from what felt
like a smooth type of paneling, to a stone texture that morphed into a
fireplace. The hearth of the fireplace had a sharp, rough corner that should
work nicely and she moved her hands up and down behind her back, trying to cut
through. The tape was thicker and stronger than she had anticipated, and sweat
beaded her brow before she finally heard the gratifying sound of threads
beginning to snap.
    Missy
heard what sounded like car tires crunching on a gravel road and her efforts
became more frenzied. There was no turning back now. If her captor came back
and found that she was attempting to escape, he’d either drug her again, or
simply kill her. Her survival depended on breaking through those bonds in the
next few seconds, and she pistoned her arms frantically up and down, tearing
through flesh as well as tape in a desperate effort to free herself. She heard
a key jiggling in a lock in a door to her left, and grunted out a last bit of
strength, finally tearing through her bonds. She had just torn the blindfold
from her eyes and removed the rag from her mouth when she heard the door open
and sunlight poured into the rough cabin.
    “Well
now,” said a man whose face she couldn’t see because he was so brightly backlit
while standing in the doorway. “This just won’t do,” he shook his head. “This
won’t do at all.”
    He
approached her slowly and reached toward her. Instinct took over when Missy saw
the stubby-fingered hand in her blurred field of vision, and lighting fast, she
reached out to the fireplace, grabbed a wrought iron poker tool, and swung it
as hard as her still-partially asleep arms would allow, striking her captor
soundly just above the ear, knocking him sideways. When he fell to his knees,
holding his head, she struck him again, knocking him out, her vision still
blurry from the blindfold. Blinking rapidly and not stopping to think, Missy
stabbed the pointer between her ankles, ripping the tape that held her feet
together. Jabbing again and again until she could tear the shreds of tape apart
with her half-numb hands, she worked the poker, then tossed it aside, rubbing
her ankles for a moment, before gingerly trying to stand.
    Looking
down at her captor, but still unable to see him clearly, Missy made a wide
circle around him to get to the door, thankful that he was still unconscious.
The door was open wide, the way that the evil man had left it, and Missy
hobbled out of it, wishing desperately for strength and a drink of water. She
saw a car parked in front of the tiny cabin and checked to see if it was
unlocked. It wasn’t and there was no way that she was going back into the cabin
to look for the keys.
    The
smell of marsh assaulted her nostrils, and trying hard to focus, Missy tried to
get her bearings. Apparently she had been held captive in the middle of a
swamp. The thought of facing snakes, gators and other dangers of a Louisiana
swamp was daunting at best, but the thought of taking her chances with the
creepy man in the cabin was even worse, so she set off toward what looked like
a stand of trees in the distance, hoping for some cover in which to hide and
some signs of civilization.
     

Chapter 13
    Adrenalin
coursed through Echo’s veins as Frank Capetti advanced toward her with a
determined grimace after dropping the smart phone into his pocket. Pushing
against the sturdy man’s chest, she