Outside Forces

by R E Swirsky

  ***

  Tawnie ran out to the car as Richard and Michelle arrived at the acreage, waving her arms frantically in all directions. A warm gust of wind curled some dust up the drive and whipped her hair across her face. Richard looked beyond her to the west at the clouds that were massing above the Rocky Mountains. A storm was brewing on the horizon.

  “Gawd, she looks terrible!” Michelle exclaimed.

  Tawnie’s face was dripping with tears and her eyes were puffed from crying. Richard exited the car and pulled Tawnie into his arms.

  “It’s okay, Tawnie. We’ll find him.”

  Her chest heaved under his embrace.

  They went inside and Richard had Tawnie recap the events multiple times until he was sure he had heard everything she had to offer.

  “It was that son-of-a-bitch Metcalf. It has to be.” No other explanation made sense to Richard.

  “What about Johnny?” Tawnie whispered. Her voice was still broken. “Michael was afraid of him, remember?”

  “I doubt it. Johnny never knew Michael was even there that night. It could only be Metcalf.”

  “C’mon now, Richard,” Michelle said.

  “You heard him earlier.”

  “But that was only three or four hours ago. He couldn’t possibly have had someone grab Michael that fast.” Her eyes drifted as she pondered her own question. “Could he?”

  “He asked where we live,” Richard replied. “And he even told Michael to stay at home. He thought Michael was here alone with Tawnie.”

  “I still don’t think.…”

  “They threw Michael’s girlfriend off a mountain, Michelle,” Tawnie said. She began to cry again. “If they can do that.…”

  “So what do we do now?” Michelle asked.

  Richard looked at her and anger spewed forth from a dark place inside him he wasn’t even aware of. “Goddamn it, Michelle! You just had to insist that Michael call him back this morning, didn’t you?”

  Michelle was taken aback by the outburst. Her hand went to her chest defensively. “Me? Don’t you try to pin this on me, Richard. This was all your’s and Tawnie’s idea from the very start.”

  He wanted to lash back but he held his tongue this time.

  “You two weren’t even off that mountain when Tawnie was already going on about some conspiracy,” Michelle added.

  Tawnie ceased trembling long enough to reply to Michelle’s accusation. “But it was true! All of it was true!” she shouted weakly. “Michael’s girlfriend died on that mountain.”

  Michelle apologized immediately. “Okay, I’m sorry for suggesting you caused any of this…and you were right from the start. I shouldn’t be blaming you.” She stared at Richard. “And you shouldn’t be blaming me, Richard.”

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I…just…it’s Michael, that’s all. Why the hell is this happening to us?”

  “So, what do we do now?” Tawnie asked.

  “I don’t know. Why would Metcalf, or anyone, want to take Michael? And they came right inside our home. What purpose could Michael serve anyone?”

  “Call him.” Tawnie suggested. “Call Metcalf again.”

  Richard chortled. It was a reluctant, almost evil-sounding laugh. “You weren’t there when Michael called him this morning. I don’t think he’d take kindly to me calling him.”

  “I think you have to, Richard,” Michelle replied. “How else can we know for certain if it was him or not?”

  “Isn’t that a bit like poking the sleeping dragon?”

  “If he took your son, then he’s already been poked. Taking Michael was his response. He’s probably expecting you to call him.”

  Richard gave her an unsettled stare. “Isn’t that almost exactly what you said before we had Michael call Metcalf earlier?”

  “Just call him. Maybe by calling him you can put a stop to this before it gets out of hand.”

  “Metcalf made it pretty clear that he wanted Michael to keep quiet about what he knew. If he knows more people know about it, he might react harshly. He could hurt Michael.”

  “Or just the opposite,” Michelle said. “He just might back off if he knows we know it was him.”

  “They grabbed Michael while he was calling Tawnie for help,” Richard said. “They didn’t even try to hide the fact that they grabbed him. They just wanted him. They didn’t care who saw.”

  Tawnie nodded her head. “They knew I was in the house.”

  Michelle looked over at Tawnie. “Maybe they were just sloppy, I don’t know. You were here. You saw what they looked like. Do you think your dad should call?”

  Tawnie pulled her shoulders in tight and clamped her jaw shut. She didn’t want anything to do with making this decision.

  “Okay, Michelle, I’ll make the call,” Richard offered.

  A few minutes later, the phone was ringing and Metcalf’s secretary picked up.

  “This is Richard Crowder calling. I’d like to speak to Harvey Metcalf, please.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Metcalf is not taking any calls today.”

  It was the same response as last time. Richard pushed to have his call put through, even offering up that the call was about Metcalf’s daughter. She put him on hold for only a moment before coming back with the same response. “Mr. Metcalf is not taking any calls.”

  “You told him who I was?” he asked her.

  “I told him your name. He said he’s not taking calls from anyone at the moment,” she replied and disconnected.

  “So what does this mean?” Michelle asked.

  “I don’t know. What else have we got? There’s still the police.…”

  “We could try the Senator?”

  “The Senator?” Are you crazy?”

  “He was with Kaito Hui. They were talking about all of this up there on the golf course patio.”

  “I think you’re going way off track now,” Richard suggested. “We don’t know anything for sure about those two.”

  “They were up to something. You know it’s true—you even said it.” She pointed her finger at him to make her point. “If Michael’s kidnapping has anything to do with Lucy, then those two are involved somehow. I know it.”

  Richard wanted to laugh as she suddenly seemed to be wholeheartedly onboard with the conspiracy theory, but the gravity of the situation had him grounded. “But kidnapping Michael? I still think you’re reaching a bit too far.”

  “I don’t think I’m reaching very far at all. What else have we got? Who else is there?”

  “We could sit and wait,” Richard said. He lifted the chair that had fallen into the corner and straightened it. One of the spindles on the back was broken. “Maybe whoever took Michael will call us.”

  “Maybe, but then again, maybe he’ll end up like Lucy.”

  Tawnie whimpered at the suggestion.

  “There’s always the police,” Richard said again.

  “You say that now, but every time anyone tried to suggest that before it’s always been a ‘no, no, no, they won’t believe us’ from you.” She made hand gestures and deepened her voice as she spoke, to mimic Richard.

  “I don’t sound like that. And it was Michael who insisted we not call at the start.”

  “You do sound like that, Richard. But at this point, I’m starting to think not calling them is best. We need to start making calls ourselves before we get the police involved. We have very little to support what we’re thinking, and what we do have conflicts with the overwhelming evidence the police have that Lucy’s fall was nothing more than an accident.”

  “Please,” Tawnie said. “We have to do something.”

  Richard dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his hands through his hair vigorously, making him look a lot like Kramer from the Seinfeld TV show. “So how would we even find this Senator Diamond?”

  “The spring session is out and they won’t be sitting again in Parliament until fall. But their offices are still open. They will know where he is.”

  “A
nyone at your office have connections back to Ottawa?”

  “A few people. I’ll get a contact for our affiliate in Ottawa and see what I can find out.”