While Everyone Was Sleeping

by Donald Collins

  He didn’t want to disturb Susan, but she had complained that she had trouble going to sleep on some nights lately and he thought she might want some company if this was one of those nights. He pulled his phone from his pocket when he got out of the car and called Susan as he walked to her building.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Susan stirred when her bedside phone rang. Matthew stepped back and slipped into the shadows as she pulled the mask from her face and groped for the receiver.

  “Yes, I’m awake,” she said and then laughed hearing Danski’s voice. “I am now anyway. No, it’s not too late. Yes, of course, come on up. I’d really enjoy seeing you.”

  When she rushed from her bed to the bathroom to freshen up Matthew snuck into her closet and hid behind a long row of dresses, blouses and sweaters hanging on a metal bar.

  She hurried through the hallway and pulled her apartment door open seconds before Danski rang the buzzer. After he stepped inside the apartment, she closed the door behind him and twisted the lock. She then stretched her arms out and pulled him close. They kissed passionately until she took his hand and led him to her bedroom.

  Who is this guy? Matthew wondered as he watched Danski climb into Susan’s bed alongside her and listened to them pant and groan. He wasn’t able to see much from behind the louvered slats on the closet door, but he heard her familiar muffled moans and finally a joyous exclamation, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  Already sweating heavily, Matthew hoped Susan’s lover wasn’t going to spend the night. If that was the man’s intention Matthew would be forced to spend hours in the closet waiting until they both fell asleep before making his escape. But Susan suddenly kissed her man and patted his backside. Matthew was very familiar with that move. It was Susan’s way of saying their love-making session was over.

  “Until next time,” she said with a lilt in her voice as she padded off to the main bathroom.

  “There’s another bathroom in the hall,” she called out over her shoulder.”

  “Yes, I know,” Danski told her as he dropped his legs over the edge of the bed and then stood.

  With them off to separate bathrooms Matthew had his chance to slip out of the apartment and he took it. When he reached the hallway, he hurried to the stairs rather than stand in the hallway waiting for an elevator to arrive and risk being seen. When he got to the ground floor, he was once again careful to avoid the security camera as he hustled across the lobby and out the door. He climbed into his van and let out a loud sigh as his head fell back against the headrest. He remembered reading in one of the newspapers covering Jake’s kidnap five years ago, that Susan had become so distraught that investigators were worried she would take her life. For that reason, she was forced to spend a few nights at Bellevue Hospital undergoing observation and therapy. That information would naturally be part of her medical history and he wanted to take advantage of it. By staging her suicide, he’d be able to do away with Susan in a way that would not open a new police investigation or lead back to Jake’s kidnap.

  Seconds later he sat up tall and gripped the steering wheel tightly; he had made his decision. He had already missed one opportunity to do away with Susan, and couldn’t afford to let another one pass. He was not a violent man by nature and had never killed anyone before, but it was necessary to do away with Susan if he was going to remain a free man. He considered Susan a kind and gentle woman as well as a devoted mother when Jake was with her, but he couldn’t let her live and be able to point her finger at him. He pushed his door open again and got out.

  A light rain fell as he reached Susan’s block again. He walked close to the buildings and remained in the shadows until he reached a doorway across from her building. He glanced up at her terrace as he waited to see if her lover would spend the night or leave.

  While he hid in the closet his vision was almost totally blocked as Susan and her new boyfriend made love. He couldn’t get much of a look at Danski, only his outline. Peering through the angled two-inch slats he estimated the man’s height at six-feet, maybe slightly taller and his weight at two-hundred pounds. When Danski tossed his clothing on a chair near Susan’s dresser Matthew saw a red and white pullover shirt and dark pants.

  Fifteen minutes into his watch a light went on in Susan’s apartment. Matthew recognized it as a living room light. It told him that Susan and her lover were saying goodnight and having one last kiss - at least that was the way he and Susan usually ended their afternoon romances.

  He stepped deeper into the darkness when the front door to Susan’s building opened and the man in the red and white pullover stepped out onto the sidewalk and walked slowly to a dark-colored car parked near the corner. Matthew’s eyes widened when he realized it was an unmarked police cruiser.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Matthew waited for the apartment to become dark again before leaving the doorway and entering Susan’s building for the second time that night. When he reached the third floor he twisted his key in the locks and tip-toed into the living room and then through the hallway to Susan’s bedroom where he found her sound asleep and curled into a fetal position. She was naked except for the sleep mask. She woke suddenly and pulled the mask from her face as he stood over her. She tried to scream when she saw him, but quickly lost consciousness when he held a chloroform-laced rag to her mouth.

  He rolled her in her bedsheet and then lifted her from her bed and carried her limp body on his shoulder out of her apartment to the service elevator on the north end of the hallway. When they got to the roof, he let her body slide from his shoulder to the tar surface near the ledge overlooking 67th Street.

  ***

  Otto Fischer’s apartment was twenty feet from the service elevator. It was considered off-limits to tenants except when accepting deliveries. Servicemen delivering appliances, furniture or extremely large and heavy packages were permitted to use the service elevator after the tenants made arrangements with Otto. There were no deliveries allowed after six at night. Otto was woken by the noise of the elevator doors opening followed by the interior scissor-gate opening and closing with a clang. He grabbed his pants from a chair at the bottom of his bed and then pushed his feet into his heavy-duty work boots. He grabbed a short-sleeve shirt from the door knob and pushed his arm through the sleeve as he hustled out of his apartment. When he reached the hallway, he saw that the elevator was already enroute to the roof. He rushed to the passenger elevators in the front of the building. Fortunately, an elevator was waiting. He took it to the top floor.

  As Matthew was about to pull the sheet off Susan and toss her body off the roof, he heard Otto’s heavy footsteps on the stairway behind him. He left her body sprawled on the rooftop and hurried to the service elevator and took it back to the first floor.

  ***

  Danski’s phone vibrated in the console as he pulled into his driveway. He put the phone to his ear after viewing the Caller ID. “Hey, Otto. What’s up?”

  “I found Susan on the roof again, Detective,” Fischer said breathlessly.

  Danski was confused. “On the roof? Is she all right?”

  “Yes, she’s all right, thank God, Detective. She’s a little dazed, but she doesn’t seem to be hurt.”

  “You think she attempted suicide?” Danski asked.

  “I can’t tell?” Fischer answered. “She’s incoherent.”

  “I’m on my way,” Danski said as he backed out of his driveway and activated the emergency lights in his grill and dashboard as he raced to the corner and made a right turn. It was two-forty in the morning according to the clock in his dashboard.

  Twenty minutes later the cruiser came to a screeching stop in front of Susan’s building. Danski got out and raced to the door and into the building. Fischer was waiting in the lobby and had an elevator waiting. He was speaking with someone on his phone when Danski joined him.

  “Where is she?” Danski pleaded as Fischer closed his phone and shoved it in his pocket.

  “She’s in her apartment,�
�� Fischer answered. “My wife’s with her. I just called to let her know you’re here.”

  “Any change in her condition?”

  Fischer nodded grimly. “My wife said her condition has improved slightly. She’s been asking for you, Detective.”

  ***

  Danski rushed ahead of Fischer to Susan’s apartment and pushed the door open. “In here,” Roberta Fischer shouted when Danski called out Susan’s name. “We’re in the bedroom.”

  Danski sat on the edge of Susan’s bed and held her shoulders firmly as she shook her head and blinked trying to clear her thoughts. “What happened?” he asked.

  Susan looked down and saw that she was wearing a warm bathrobe. “Thank you,” she whispered to Roberta, apparently realizing that she was naked when she went to bed and Roberta must have dressed her. Using both hands, she grabbed the sides of the bathrobe collar and held them to her throat. “I can sit up now,” she said softly and then looked to Danski as she struggled to sit up and cross her legs.

  “Take your time,” Danski told her as she assumed a yoga position that seemed to relax her. “Otto told me he found you on the roof. Did you go up there to kill yourself?” he asked sadly.

  “No, no, that’s not what happened,” Susan answered and then moistened her lips. “When you left, I went back to sleep, but I woke up and found Matthew standing over me. I tried to scream, but before I had a chance, he put something over my mouth and that’s the last thing I remember until I woke up here in my bed with Otto and Roberta tending to me. I don’t know what happened in between.” She shook her head and tried to focus. “I have no recollection of what went on.”

  “I think we can go now,” Fischer said. “You don’t need us any longer.”

  “Thank you for your help and everything you’ve done,” Danski said as Otto and Roberta left the room and went through the hallway. Danski held Susan’s hand as they heard the door to the apartment close.

  Danski told Susan what he knew. “Otto said the noise from the service elevator gate and the doors opening and closing woke him. He didn’t realize at the time what was going on, he just wanted to find out who was using the service elevator after hours.”

  “Thank God he did,” Susan said.

  “When he got to the rear of the building, he heard the car going to the roof so he rushed to the lobby and took the passenger elevator to the tenth floor and then climbed the stairs to the roof. When he got there, he found you lying on the tarmac.”

  Susan blinked and shook her head. “I don’t remember being on the roof.”

  “But you’re sure Matthew was here in your bedroom?”

  “Oh, yes, I’m positive about that.”

  “Something just dawned on me,” Danski said. “When you opened the door to let me in, I only heard you open one lock. Don’t you generally double-lock your door?”

  “Yes, I always double-lock it, and I’m sure I did so tonight,” Susan responded and then thought back. “Oh my god, you’re right. Only one of the locks was engaged. I guess I was so glad you were there to see me that it didn’t occur to me that something was wrong. Her eyes suddenly widened. “Oh my god!” she gasped and then held her hands to her chest and panted. “That means that when you and I made love he was in here watching us.”

  Danski thought back to their first meeting when Susan told him she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. He remembered thinking it was paranoia at the time, but he now considered it a great possibility.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Matthew was feeling the heat of the chase for the first time since the night he snatched Jake from his bedroom. Susan had apparently given the detectives enough information to figure out that he was the one who kidnapped Jake five years ago and that he had just tried to kill her to keep her quiet. After learning that the police had been to his previous address asking about him, he knew he couldn’t remain in the metropolitan area any longer and expect to remain a free man. The police were closing in on him and it was only a matter of time before detectives found out where he lived and were at his door.

  “Hurry!” he told Audrey when he rushed in the back door of their house. “We’re going on a vacation. Take only what you need. Everything else we can get when we return.”

  “We can’t leave,” Audrey moaned. “Jason is sick again.”

  “What do you mean, he’s sick again? I thought everything was under control.”

  “I thought so too,” Audrey answered. “But we were wrong. He’s the same way he was five years ago when we brought him to the hospital and he was there for five days. Remember?”

  “Yes, of course I remember,” Matthew growled. He was not in the mood to placate Audrey. That was Jason, you dumb twit! he wanted to shout. This is Jacob.

  “He was vomiting,” Audrey said frantically. “He had abdominal pain all morning and he had difficulty breathing.”

  “For Christ’s sake, Audrey. You mean he’s been sick since this morning and you did nothing about it?”

  “I was waiting for you to get home before I did anything. I called, but you didn’t answer.”

  Matthew raced down the hall to Jason’s bedroom and found him lying in bed pale and listless.

  “I’ll never forget the doctor’s face when he came out of the operating room the last time he was sick. He told us Jason put up a great battle, but his condition was too far gone to save him. Oh, but thank God he was wrong!” Audrey said. “The doctor couldn’t save him, but God brought him back to life a week later and sent him back to be with us.”

  Matthew ignored her and cursed himself for not recognizing the signs earlier that Jake was in danger. He should have taken action immediately when Jake began to show the same symptoms Jason had shown before he died. He lifted the boy from his bed and carried him out to his van in the driveway. Audrey slid the side door open and quickly climbed in. Matthew stretched his arms across the rear bench-seat and rested Jake alongside her. Matthew then raced around the front of the van and climbed in and started the engine. He called Hillsdale Hospital as he drove. He wiped the sweat from his forehead as he thought out loud while he waited for someone to answer.

  “We’re taking a big risk bringing him to a hospital,” he said over his shoulder as he raced along Beech Channel Drive. “They might call the police and then we’ll have to give him back.”

  “Give him back! What are you talking about?” Audrey shouted. “Give him back to who? We’re his parents. You’re Jason’s father and I’m his mother. He’s our son. It was almost ten years ago but I remember giving birth to him like it was yesterday. I was in labor for five hours I could never forget the pain and later the joy when the nurse rested him on my chest. I breast-fed him. I taught him his ABC’s. I took him to the park. I . . . ”

  “But then he got sick,” Matthew growled.

  “Yes, he got sick and the doctor said he died, but he only went to heaven for a few days and then he came back to be with us again. It was absolutely miraculous,” she said and hugged Jake tightly. “There’s no other way to describe it.”

  Audrey held Jake close to her as they crossed the Cross Bay Bridge, an eighty-year-old bridge that connects the peninsula to the rest of Queens. Twenty minutes later he pulled into a small court-yard outside the emergency room entrance and got out quickly. He rushed to the passenger side, slid the door open and reached in for Jake. As he carried him into Hillsdale hospital, nurses in the ER told him he should have called 911 and waited for EMT’s to arrive.

  “I called the hospital and let them know we were on our way,” he said.

  “Yes, but you should have remained where you were and waited for EMT’s to get there.”

  He knew they were right. He should have waited at home for the medics to arrive, but they would have taken him to the Seacrest Hospital in Far Rockaway where they had originally taken Jason and sadly, Seacrest doctors were unable to give the specialized treatment Jason needed. Matthew knew from experience that Hillsdale Hospital was the best place
for Jake to be. Hillsdale was known for its pediatric diabetes center. The only problem was that when the clerk entered Jason’s name in her computer flags would be raised. It would tell her that something was wrong, but he had no choice but to register him as Jason Adams.

  “My wife and I noticed he wasn’t himself lately,” Matthew told the ER doctor. “He’s been sluggish the last couple of days and he hasn’t had much of an appetite. We thought he was just tired and worn out from playing soccer and getting up early for school. We didn’t think it was anything to worry about.”

  “Symptoms can surprise you a lot of times,” a seasoned emergency room doctor said as he checked Jake’s vital signs. Finally, he looped his stethoscope around his neck and puffed his lips. “Let’s get him over to pediatrics right away.”

  Two hours later they were told that Jason had Diabetic Ketoacidosis “It’s one of the most serious complications of diabetes,” a young, scholarly-looking doctor said somberly.

  Matthew closed his eyes briefly. Doctor Weber had said the same thing about Jason. The only difference was that Jake hadn’t gone into a coma like Jason did – not yet, anyway.

  “People don’t actually die of diabetes itself, you know. In most cases they die from one of the myriad medical conditions that can arise when diabetes is not kept under control.”

  “But we tried to keep his condition under control,” Audrey pleaded. “We kept him on a healthy diet and kept him active. We did the best we could.”

  “Yes, I’m sure you did, but it’s hard to predict what might happen. Patients as young as Jason often have strokes, heart attacks and kidney problems. Children have been known to develop skin conditions where bacterial infections such as sties, boils and infections of hair follicles develop and then worsen.”

  “Are you saying he’s going to die?” Matthew asked as he fixated on the initials TFW stitched in red thread above the pocket of the doctor’s long-sleeved white shirt.