Crazy In Love (Secrets of Suburbia #3) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,49

what kind of damage these stairs could do. All I had to do was push him. If I was lucky his skull would crack open. Not only would I get Detective Torres out of my hair, I'd also scare the shit out of Noah. He'd tell me anything I wanted. Kill two birds with one stone. A pretty sick saying for the sick thing I was about to do.

But my body didn't move as Detective Torres took the first step. It was like I was frozen in place. I watched him take another step. And another. My heart was racing too fast. I felt like I was going to faint. And for some reason Baby it's Cold Outside started running through my head at a super slow pace. It almost sounded like the song was skipping on an old record player. The eerie scratching echoing around me, like the song was dying slowly. Detective Torres kept descending the stairs as the rendition of Baby it's Cold Outside haunted my reality. In a few seconds he was too far away for me to push him to his death.

"Cute reindeer," he called from the bottom of the stairs. "Do you want me to bring him up?"

I waited for his reaction to seeing Noah tied up. A scream. A curse. Anything.

And I waited.

And I waited.

"Ensley?" he said. "Did you hear me? Do you want me to bring the reindeer up? What other decorations are down here?"

Snuggle Muffins barked. An actual bark. Not a whimper or a sigh. It was like he was trying to pull me out of my trance. Like he was trying to save me. I shook my head, trying to get the haunting tune out of my head.

What the hell? Why wasn't Detective Torres talking about the fact that I had Noah tied up shirtless to a chair in the middle of my basement? Next to a litter box and a plate of bacon? For a second I considered slamming the door and locking it. But Detective Torres would find a way out. He wasn't tied up like Noah was.

I'd missed my chance at pushing him down the stairs. I had to suck it up and tase his ass. Before I ran out of time. And I was definitely running out of it. He was probably down there radioing the police station this second. Whispering so I couldn't hear him. I couldn't let him get that call through. I needed to end this. Now.

My feet finally started to move. Snuggle Muffins whimpered from behind me when I didn't bring him along for the show. But I didn't want him to see me do this. I didn't want him to look at me like I was a monster too.

I put my hand in my back pocket and gripped the taser. My plan was to tackle him from behind and then tase the side of his neck before he could react. I was ready to jump off the stairs and fly through the air. But when I reached the bottom of the stairs I knew why Detective Torres hadn't said a word about my hostage. It wasn't because he was secretly calling the police station.

No. Detective Torres hadn't said a word because there was nothing to say. The chair that Noah had been tied to was empty.

Chapter 16

Sunday

I blinked. Something must have gone wrong with my brain. A faulty wire somewhere. Maybe something had short-circuited. I blinked again, but the chair was still empty. Noah was nowhere in sight. The chair was also pushed against the wall instead of in the middle of the basement. It looked like it hadn't been used in years. I swore it even looked a little dusty. The plate of bacon was missing. It was like it had never even existed. Even the litter box was pushed to the side. Out of sight, out of mind.

I tried to take a deep, steadying breath, but it felt like I was hyperventilating. There was no way I'd imagined kidnapping Noah and trapping him down here. So...where the hell was he? I glanced at the small window above the shelves. Noah's shoulders were so broad. There was no way he could fit through that. Right?

But I wasn't sure. If he twisted just so it was possible that he could get through. All the boxes on the shelves beneath the window looked untouched, though. If he had struggled to fit through a teensy window, he surely would have wreaked havoc on