The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag 00 - Swept Under the Rug

Sierra knows now, since I chloroformed her after encouraging her to call you. She and the others in this building will be sacrificed for the greater good. Fifteen minutes from now, they will be nothing but corpse buried under mountains of rubble.”
    “Why kill everyone? Valentino’s your target; no one else has to die.”
    “Oh, but I want them to die. I want to feel their mortal lives ending, to acquire a piece of their souls and make it my own. Just like my father’s. It’s my destiny.”
    “I thought your destiny was to take Valentino’s place.” Nothing worse than a psycho who couldn’t keep his story straight.
    Garner shrugged. “I’ve learned to multitask, I can be both.” With that, he stepped back into the darkness, directed the light in my face, interrogation style. “The end is upon you Margaret Sampson Phillips. If you choose to repent, I will hear your sins.”
    “Freaking drama queen!” I shouted into the darkness. “You’re nothing but a sneaky snake in the grass. You’re pathetic.”
    In all the books I’d ever read, this kind of goading would see some volatile reaction from the antagonist. Garner laughed his creepy, girly laugh again.
    “Oh, Maggie, still fighting the good fight. I admire your weak attempts to unhinge me, but they are all in vain. I have a plan you see, a flawless plan.”
    “From what I understand, every tech geek and his brother are racing to find a way to make solar technology a living reality. What makes you think you’ll get there first?”
    “I’ve been siphoning off money from under Valentino’s nose for several years now. I’ve sent the little file Sierra phoned you about to the police. When he goes to jail for murdering his wife, I’ll be ready to run things in his absence. And I’ll be sure to visit him, to let him know who was behind it all. For a man as arrogant as Valentino, no torture could be worse than realizing he was had by one of his drones.”
    He chuckled, the flashlight bouncing maniacally as his body shook with raptures.
    “They’re going to investigate. Someone will discover you set the explosion.”
    Garner, still laughing softly, moved off and I panicked, trying to get my feet under me. Whatever he’d jolted me with still had my muscles twitching to the point my body felt like unset jell-o.
    “Since I told Markus that the s maintenance staff was an unnecessary expense, he fired the lot when rough economic times struck. The hot water heater is going to overload, just another tragedy which could have been avoided with proper maintenance. Believe me; no one will bother looking further than Markus Valentino.”
    “You’re wrong. Detective Capri won’t be satisfied with a tidily wrapped case and coincidence. She’ll find you.” So would Neil, but I didn’t want to make him a target.
    “Ah, Maggie, I’ve enjoyed our chat. Try and take comfort in the fact that your essence will live on, through me.” The light clicked off and I heard his footsteps fading away. A high-pitched whistling disrupted the gloomy quiet; bringing a distinct change in air pressure.
    Panic snaked through my brain, muddying my thoughts. If this lunatic had his way, I’d never see my family again. They needed me to act, just as the innocent people in this building needed me to get off my keister and stop Garner. I didn’t have a plan but one thing was clear, no way would I let him waltz out of here. Rocking to my feet, I stumbled toward the mechanical whine. Footfalls sounded to my left and I dogged him, hoping to take him by surprise.
    Still unable to see, I focused on my other senses. The humidity had increased, similar to the feeling in the air right before a major rainstorm. Sweat trickled down my neck, chaffed the fabric around my bound wrists. The blood pounding in my ears roared, commanding too much of my attention. I stopped, focused on breathing through my nose and listened. The footsteps were gone.
    Clink, clink, clink . The noise, too random to be mechanical was coming from my left. Was Garner there? I had no weapons and my hands were bound, sorry odds against a nut-job and his Taser. The rubber soles of my sneakers made no discernible noise so I might have surprise on my side, as well as a rabid desire to live. The metal on metal sound grew louder and this weird deja vu sensation tickled my brain.
    “Hello?” I called out. “Is someone there?”
    “You fool,” My mother’s voice hissed in reprimand, “ He’s there!” I ignored her