“Of course not.”
“It was you, wasn’t it? You took the towel with my locker key pinned on it that day.”
“Guilty.”
“But you didn’t steal anything.”
“I needed to know everything I could about where I might be able to find you. Plus, I’m not a thief.”
I scoffed. “Of course not. You only steal people.”
“I’ve been paid very well to get you and Colin to safety.”
“Yeah? The only people with the money to ‘pay very well’ are my brothers, and I know they aren’t behind this.”
“No, they’re not.”
“Who, then? Who would do—”
A cell phone buzzed. Dominic pulled a phone out of his pocket and spoke into it. “Yeah?”
Seconds seemed to stretch into hours as Dominic presumably listened to whoever was on the other end of the line.
“Could you untie my ankles now?” I asked Dave, adding a slight eye-batting for effect. “Please?”
He looked to Alex. She shook her head.
Obviously flirting wasn’t going to work on her.
“Hanging in there, Colin?” I asked.
He nodded, though not convincingly. “My father is behind this. He has to be.”
“If what Dominic says is true, that they’re trying to keep us safe, it’s probably not your father. Unless you’re wrong about him.”
“I’m not wrong about him. I’m just not sure these people are telling us the truth.”
The thought had crossed my mind as well. But Dominic and the others hadn’t hurt us. Other than knocking us out, tying us up, and abducting us, that was.
I had a lot more questions for Colin about his father, but I didn’t want to say anything with Alex and Dave hovering over us.
Dominic finally ended his phone call. “That was CJ. Food’s on its way.”
“Thank God,” Dave said. “I’m starved.”
“How you eat the way you do and stay looking like a scarecrow is beyond me,” Dominic said.
Dave did indeed resemble the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, right down to his straw-colored hair.
“All right,” I said. “Someone paid you to take us. Who?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” Dominic said.
“Of course you’re not,” I said. “That would make this whole thing too easy. Whatever they’re paying you, I can pay more. I’m Marjorie Steel, remember?”
“Not in this for the money,” Alex said.
“Well, maybe a little,” Dave offered.