She made it into the foyer before he caught her again, and this time they were both on the floor. He wrestled her down until he was straddling her body, with her hands pinned above her head.

“Stop it! Stop fighting!” Hoover said. “All I want is your car.”

Melissa was gasping for breath and praying Sully would get here in time to keep her from dying.

“Then take it!” she cried.

“Where are the keys? I need the keys!” he said.

“In that dish on the table behind you. Just take them and go.”

He rose up just enough to see a ring of keys in the dish, and when he did, she got one hand loose and clawed the side of his face with her nails, trying to kick free.

“You’re dead!” he screamed, and drew back his fist and knocked her out.

He staggered to his feet, dripping blood from his elbow and his face, and grabbed the keys. The dish they were in shattered as it fell to the floor. “Oops,” he said, and started out the door, then looked back at her again. A hostage might come in handy. So he ran back to the kitchen and got some dish towels, then came back and tied her hands together, and then her feet. He hauled her limp body up off the floor, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her through the house to the door that opened onto the portico, then outside to the car.

He unlocked the car doors and pressed another button to open the trunk. When the trunk lid popped up, he dumped her inside, slammed it shut, and jumped in the car. Within minutes, he was out of the neighborhood, taking back roads to get out of town.

* * *

The moment Sully got in the car, he called Melissa to warn her, but she didn’t answer. He started the car and headed home, calling her over and over while telling himself everything was fine. He believed that until he neared the house and saw that her car was gone. As he pulled up in the drive, he noticed the garbage on the ground near the trash can and then looked toward the house.

When he saw the door under the portico was ajar, he got out in a panic, running up the steps and into the house, calling her name.

He found broken glass and blood all over the hall and followed the trail of blood into the kitchen, shouting her name as he ran. But when he reached the kitchen and saw more evidence of a struggle, and the back door open as well, he called 911 and started praying. All he kept thinking was that he couldn’t lose her, too.

Within three minutes, the yard was full of police cars, and Chief Pittman was getting the particulars on the make and model of car Melissa had.

“It’s a blue 2019 Chevy Equinox. I just put the new tag on her car. The number is CYG 777,” Sully said.