One Big Mistake - Jennifer Youngblood Page 0,3

Allie had never made it into her yoga class, but her car was in the parking lot of the gym. Unfortunately, there were no surveillance cameras on the outside of the gym.

Ramsey stayed with Edison until the evening when he ran out to grab them both something to eat. Shortly after midnight, they turned in for the night. Ramsey wished there was something he could do to help Allie. He couldn’t imagine being in Edison’s shoes. If anything happened to Allie, Edison would never get over it. The only thing Ramsey could do was pray that the Posts would be able to get Allie back tomorrow morning when they dropped off the ransom money. The kidnappers had still not named a drop-off location, but the police told Bitsie that was to be expected, as the kidnappers would not want to risk the Posts mapping out the location ahead of time.

It seemed to take forever for Ramsey to drift off to sleep. He kept thinking of Allie, hoping that she was okay. Ramsey wasn’t sure how long he was out before something woke him. He opened his eyes against a curtain of darkness. Then he heard whispering. Edison was on the phone.

“Are you alright? I told you not to call me … I’m on my way.”

Where was Edison going? Ramsey lay in the bed, motionless, as he closed his eyes, trying to act as though he were asleep. He heard Edison’s light footsteps and then the soft opening and closing of the door.

Ramsey sat up, his mind racing. He reached for his cell phone. It was 2:20 a.m. Before his head could fully process what he was doing, he jumped up and got dressed in a mad dash. A couple seconds later, he was out the door. He sprinted down the hall and raced down the two flights of stairs to get to the bottom floor. He ran outside just in time to see Edison going to his car. He jumped back, not wanting Edison to see him. As soon as Edison got into the car, Ramsey darted to his car on the other side of the parking lot. He watched the direction that Edison turned. He waited a couple seconds before pulling out so he could keep a good distance between them. He kept his eyes trained on the taillights of Edison’s Toyota. Edison maneuvered through the city streets before getting on the freeway.

“What’re you up to?” Ramsey said aloud. This was strange. Was Edison involved in Allie’s kidnapping? A cold shiver ran down Ramsey’s spine. Surely not. Edison was madly in love with Allie. He would never do anything to hurt her. However, Edison’s behavior was suspicious. Something was obviously going on, and whatever it was, Edison didn’t want Ramsey to know about it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sneaked out of their dorm room.

With sinking despair, Ramsey looked at his gas gauge. The needle was near empty, but the light hadn’t come on yet. That meant he had a good thirty miles that he could go. A few minutes later, Edison exited the freeway and turned off on a rural road. They were going way out into the country. Ramsey slowed down to put even more distance between them. On the freeway, with other cars around, he could get closer. Now, however, Edison would realize he was being followed. Ramsey hoped he was staying far enough back so that Edison wouldn’t get suspicious. There were no other cars on the road, just the two of them. What was Edison up to? He replayed Edison’s whispered conversation over and over again in his head.

Ramsey saw Edison’s headlights shoot a sharp right and realized that he’d turned into what looked to be a long driveway. He pulled alongside the road and turned off his headlights and engine as he watched Edison’s long cylindrical headlights move like wands through the thick clusters of trees. The lights went out, signaling that Edison had reached his destination.

Ramsey got out of the car. It was early October. The humidity seeped a chill into Ramsey’s bones as he hugged his arms, wishing he’d thought to bring a jacket. He followed the road to the gravel driveway. As he went down the long road, he glanced up at the fingernail sliver of the moon. Slithery shadows lurked in the woods amidst the intermittent squeaks of insects.

He made his way down the driveway to where he spotted Edison’s Toyota parked in front of a small cabin. The lights