by Matt Hilton
He took out his cell and returned Decker’s call.
‘Change of plan, Jer. Start walking towards me.’
‘Sure, I’ll—’
‘You’ll do nothing but what I tell you to do. Listen up. Do you know what serendipity is?’
‘Coincidence?’
‘More like one of those happy accidents that happens because of other random shit, when you’re almost convinced somebody up there really is looking after you. If you had done what I asked in the first place, I wouldn’t have been forced to come fetch your ass. But then this wouldn’t have happened.’
‘Yeah? What’s happened, Caleb?’
‘We’ve just been given an advantage, and we’re going to make the most of it. You ain’t going to believe who’s walking towards you, man.’
Actually, it didn’t take too much imagination for Decker to guess.
‘You’ve got eyes on Elspeth and Jacob?’
‘I don’t know how they come to be here, but it’s them. Once you reach the through road you’ll see them. In fact, stay back so’s they don’t see you till I’m ready. We’ll time it so we pinch them between us. You grab ahold of Jacob, I’ll take Elspeth into hand.’
‘I’m unarmed,’ said Decker.
‘You need a gun to control a ten-year-old kid? He gets vocal, bust his goddamn lip.’
Decker didn’t answer.
‘Don’t fuck this up, Jer. This is a golden opportunity we can’t waste.’
‘You can rely on me, Caleb.’
‘Good. Now I’m rolling, you get ready.’
Caleb started the pickup crawling along the street with his main beams doused. The truck was big, with a gutsy engine, but it was also practically brand new, so it purred rather than grumbled. Elspeth was intent on gaining distance between her and whatever she was fleeing, and was verging on a trot as she dragged Jacob along. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she was unaware of the pickup gaining on her. It was Jacob who happened to look back first, but to him the unfamiliar pickup meant nothing, and he wasn’t alarmed. Within the darkened cab Caleb was unrecognizable too. His mother tugged Jacob on.
Caleb checked for possible witnesses. This was a quiet, leafy suburb, where people expected peace and quiet: homes were set back from the roads on private plots of land. There was nobody in sight, and Caleb hadn’t seen another vehicle on the road since first following Villere and the others back here. The circumstances had stacked in his favor, and he was now a believer that the concept of serendipity was the real deal.
‘You at the road yet?’ Caleb asked.
‘Right here,’ Decker confirmed.
‘They’re almost on you.’
‘You want me to block their path.’
‘Wait … wait … wait … do it now!’
Caleb hit the gas one second and the brake the next, sweeping in to lock Elspeth and Jacob on the sidewalk. He was aware of Decker lunging out from the next corner and spreading his arms wide like a goalkeeper, but there was still a gap between the pickup and him. Caleb dumped his cell phone and threw open the door. He pounced out and grabbed Elspeth even as she back-pedaled in horror from Decker. Caleb grasped her thick hair and tugged her off balance. Jacob was wrenched out of her grasp. Caleb clamped his hand over Elspeth’s open mouth, while Jacob dithered. The boy’s mind was in flux, unsure what to do. He wanted to protect his mom, but this was his dad, and he knew what he’d got whenever he had tried to man up in the past. Under Caleb’s palm, Elspeth shrieked. Before Jacob could do anything, Decker grabbed him around his waist and buried him under his bulk as he steered the boy towards the pickup. Jacob struggled, and he let out a plaintive yell.
‘Shut him up before he wakes the goddamn neighborhood,’ Caleb snarled.
Decker slapped a hand over Jacob’s mouth. Instantly he let go, with a curse and a shake of his fingers. ‘The little shit bit me.’
‘Then do what I told you and bust his goddamn lip. Disobedient little shits need shown their rightful place.’
Hearing his proclamation, Elspeth struggled against Caleb. She flopped and kicked to try saving her son. Rather than beat the boy, Decker jammed his palm over his mouth a second time, this time grinding the edge of his hand down to mash Jacob’s lips against his teeth.
Caleb shook his head in disbelief. Sometimes action was a better example over words. He twisted Elspeth’s hair, craning her head around. ‘Want to get mouthy with me, bitch?’ he snarled into her ear. ‘This is what you get.’
He slammed her face so hard it was wondrous her jaw wasn’t broken. Her eyelids squeezed shut, and she moaned at her core: she verged on unconsciousness, and that suited Caleb. He jostled her to the cab, yanked open the rear door and threw her headfirst inside. He grabbed her legs and forced her knees to bend, and gave her another heave so she was forced across the bench seat. Decker was beside him with the boy. ‘Throw him in on top of her, then you get in. Here’ – Caleb drew his pistol and held it out to Decker – ‘keep them out of sight and keep them quiet till I can get us outta here.’
Decker threw Jacob on Elspeth’s back. He took the gun gingerly, but without argument. Then he squeezed inside the extended cab, wagging the gun at Jacob, an index finger to his lips. He sat on Elspeth’s legs, and drew shut the door. Elspeth couldn’t get up, but she tried. Decker shoved the gun’s muzzle in the small of her back. ‘Don’t make me hurt you,’ he warned.
‘If she shouts, screams, does anything, you have my permission to hurt Jacob,’ said Caleb as he slid back into the driving position. ‘D’you hear that in the back? I’m talking to y’all.’
Jacob had scrunched down so he was between his mother and the back of the front seats. He folded over her, as if to shield her. Decker prodded him with the gun. Jacob cast a tearful glare at him, and Decker grimaced at the sheer hatred aimed at him. He said, ‘We ain’t going to get any trouble from them, Caleb.’
‘Good. You keep things that way till we meet with Darrell.’
Caleb checked all around. The abduction had been swift and mostly without fuss; nobody had witnessed it. He set the pickup moving again, with a plan to circumnavigate and cut Darrell off before the van reached the city limits. He grinned at his fortune; yes, somebody up there certainly liked him. The only downside was that Villere and Pinky’s comeuppances would have to happen another time and at another place.
He drove sensibly, taking it easy as he wended their way out of the neighborhood. He had made a couple of turns before Tess Grey drove Pinky Leclerc’s GMC down the same road where the abduction had taken place. By then there was no hint whatsoever that anything untoward had happened.
THIRTEEN
There was probably little rationality for Elspeth in choosing her direction of travel. Familiar with Po’s neighborhood, Tess knew the most direct ways out towards the major routes into Portland whereas Elspeth could have little inkling. Elspeth had last resided in Portland more than a decade ago, and as far as Tess was aware it wasn’t out here in the burbs: she doubted she knew her way back through these winding streets. Trying to avoid the mindset of a motorist, Tess put her mind on foot, and tried to imagine the twists and turns that Elspeth might follow, being mindful she was accompanied by a young boy. There were lanes and cut-through paths inaccessible by car, but unless Elspeth knew they existed, and to where they led, she’d be unlikely to follow them. Trying to think like a frightened mother, Tess stuck to the open roads, ranging further out each time she made a sweep of the neighborhood. The further she traveled, the less confident she was of picking up Elspeth’s trail.
She checked the clock on the car’s dashboard. It was a quarter of an hour at least since Elspeth had dragged Jacob away from the ranch. How far could the two have walked in fifteen minutes? Tess thought that she would have caught up to them by now if they had stuck to the streets. The options for their complete disappearance were few: Elspeth had hailed a cab or they were currently hiding somewhere behind Tess and she’d missed them during her search.
Pulling the GMC to the curb, Tess rethought her strategy, deciding it was time to work her way back towards the ranch in the hope of coming across them. Another thought struck her: Elspeth had rung her cell phone earlier. If only she had access to the same locator app she’d used when tracking Po that afternoon, her search would be over in minutes. But there was hopefully another way of locating Elspeth and Jacob, and that was by asking. She dug out her cell phone from her back pocket and brought up the received calls log. She found Elspeth’s number and hit the call button.
The ringtone rang out a number of times, then fell silent.
Tess hit the call button again.
This time the ringtone only sounded once before it cut off.
She wasn’t for giving in so easily. If she was persistent she might get an angry response from Elspeth, but it would be a response, and from there she could hope to draw the woman into a negotiation. She hit the call button again. This time she received an automated message informing her that her call couldn’t be connected. Elspeth must have switched off her phone.
‘Damnit!’ She shouldn’t have been so persistent after all, and spaced out her attempts to allow Elspeth time to think and maybe respond differently. She set her phone on the passenger seat, for easy access to it should Elspeth have second thoughts and return her call. She turned the GMC in the street and began a reverse search towards home.
The closer she approached the ranch the guiltier she grew. There was a part of her that was relieved that Elspeth had given her the slip. Already Elspeth had accused her of being envious over her previous relationship with Po, and it irked to admit that she wasn’t totally wrong. There was also the issue that Po might be the biological father of Jacob, and despite her denials given to Po about her feelings towards the issue, there was also part of her that wished to have his baby, and it to be a unique soul brought into the world by them. She felt no ill towards Jacob, but she wanted any baby of Po’s to also be hers. Why had Elspeth shown up now and brought this dilemma with her? Why hadn’t she run elsewhere instead of to Portland where there was always the chance of running into her past? Things would be so much simpler for them all if she had never left that damn commune!
Tess braked hard.
She sat gripping the steering wheel, breathing heavily, her eyes prickling. She felt guilty before, now she felt ashamed. It was not in her nature to think like that. Instead of wishing Po had never laid eyes on them that afternoon, she must accept that he had and the clock couldn’t be turned back. Elspeth and Jacob needed help. They were both fleeing horrible abuse at the hands of the person who should rightly be the one to protect them: Caleb Moorcock had failed them terribly, so they needed somebody else to stand up for them. When she had encouraged Po to speak to Elspeth, she had not only aligned to support her man, but also had extended the hand of protection to the woman and her son. Broaching the subject of Jacob’s parentage had been perhaps too soon for any of them to handle with anything except emotion, as such it had been a blunt approach guaranteed to receive a blunt response. Supposedly in a safe environment for the first time in how many years, Elspeth must have felt attacked, cornered by them, felt threatened as she had numerous times by her abusive husband. It was little wonder she’d taken Jacob and fled. Now they were both out there, unprotected, afraid and probably with no idea where to turn to next.
Tess rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger, then pinched the bridge of her nose. Her cheeks were damp. She dabbed at them with the pad of her thumb, then checked her reflection in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glassy, the sclera pink. ‘Get a grip, Tess,’ she warned aloud, ‘you’re helping nobody sitting here like this.’
She shifted her backside in the seat, steeling herself. Then she reached for the cell phone again. Perhaps there’d been a glitch in the service earlier and that was why her last call had been unable to go through. She tried Elspeth again, but with the same result as before: her call couldn’t be connected. She was disappointed but unsurprised; Elspeth’s phone had been switched off.
Po and Pinky were on the porch when she returned home. Pinky was on the swing seat, his elbows on his knees, feet braced on the floor to keep it from moving. Po stalked back and forth, smoking in sharp inhalations. The cigarette burned down as rapidly as the fuse on a stick of dynamite. As she drew the GMC to a halt in the yard, he flicked aside the burning stump and practically jumped down the steps to greet her. He craned to see if she had any passengers. She shook her head at him and his shoulders drooped. She gathered her phone, got out of the car and Po embraced her.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.
‘I’m fine,’ she lied.
‘You don’t look fine. Have you been crying?’
‘No, of course not.’ She turned aside and contorted her face a little, feeling dried tears crack apart on her cheeks.
‘You didn’t find them then?’
‘I drove out as far as Pine Grove Park, and checked all points between, but there was no sign of them. I doubt they’d have been able to walk further than that. Elspeth must have called a cab to take them back to the hotel.’
‘That’s right! She called your phone—’
Tess held up a hand, stopping him. ‘I tried ringing and after a few attempts she switched off her phone.’
He thought for a moment. ‘Did you try ringing the hotel to check they got back safely?’
‘Not yet. Do you want me to do that?’
‘Our decision to wait till the mornin’, I’ve been thinking about it. By morning Elspeth might have gathered her things and left already.’
‘I’ll ring,’ she offered.
‘I’d prefer it if we went there.’
Tess looked over at Pinky. He only offered a tight smile. The men had obviously talked things through while she had been searching, and come up with a plan of action should she return empty-handed.
‘I don’t want her to skip town before I get the honest truth about Jacob,’ Po said. ‘If we call the hotel it might push Elspeth into running immediately, and who knows when we’ll see or hear from her again?’
‘If that’s what you want,’ she said, and dangled the GMC’s keys in Pinky’s direction. ‘Is it OK with you if I go with Po?’
‘It’s important that you do go, you,’ said Pinky.
‘We should have somebody wait here, incase Elspeth has a change of mind and comes back.’
‘I’m comfortable right where I’m at, me.’ He sat back to emphasize his point, lifted his heels off the deck and let the swing go.
Po headed for the Mustang.
Tess underhanded the GMC’s keys to Pinky and he snatched them out of the air, then she mouthed a thank-you for giving them some privacy as they worked through the issue.
Po drove them at a slower pace than was common for him, and Tess joined him in visually scouring the side streets they passed for any sightings. Once they were beyond the three-ways intersection of Auburn Street and Allen and Washington Avenues, he deemed there were too many alternative routes Elspeth might have taken back to town, so he hit the gas and made haste for the hotel. Unfortunately, when they arrived, mother and child were not there. Begging a favor from the night clerk, and twenty dollars slipped to him by Po, a brief ‘welfare check’ of Elspeth’s room found some soiled clothing and a few bare essentials left behind: the room had apparently been abandoned, but this in itself was not an uncommon occurrence they were told. To Tess and Po it was very worrisome indeed.
FOURTEEN
It had grown too chilly for wearing a T-shirt and shorts by the time they arrived back at the house. Tess shivered as she left the warmth of the Mustang and trotted up the steps onto the porch, her arms crossed over her breasts: goose pimples were raised on her forearms. Pinky was still on the swing seat, though it was doubtful he had assumed that position the entire length of time they’d been gone. Hearing via a call from Tess that they were heading back, he must have come out to welcome them home.
‘No luck, eh?’
&nbs
p; ‘I’m going to put on something a bit warmer,’ Tess announced and went inside. She returned less than two minutes later, having shucked off her shorts in favor of full-length jeans, and she’d pulled on a sweatshirt emblazoned with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s department logo. She still shivered, partly from the chill of the early hours, partly through the disruption of her circadian rhythm: she should have been tucked up in bed, nice and warm, asleep for several hours by now. Po had joined Pinky on the porch. He braced one arm on the rail, his other hand held a cigarette he’d lit. His eyebrows formed a V as he scowled out into the darkness.
‘Shift up,’ Tess said, and then snuggled in alongside Pinky, pulling her feet up under her backside. His warmth was very welcome.
Po turned, resting his backside against the rail. He dragged in smoke then averted his face to blow it out again. For now, he nipped off the ember and dropped it over the rail. He set the unsmoked end on the rail itself. Tess knew he was in need of his nicotine crutch, but he would forego it on her behalf. ‘Light up again,’ she urged him, ‘the smoke doesn’t bother me.’
Actually, if she was to be honest with him, she would kill for a cigarette. It was years ago that she gave up the habit, but there were occasions where she still craved the hot hit at the center of her chest, followed by the cold wash of adrenalin. She resisted the temptation to hold out her hand for a pull on his cigarette.
‘I’m good for now,’ he said. ‘Got more on my mind.’
‘They just dropped off the face of the earth, them?’ Pinky asked.
‘When we discovered they hadn’t returned to the hotel we checked out a few of the obvious places, but there was no sign of them,’ Tess explained. ‘We checked the train and coach stations, and also some bus stops in the town center and over in South Portland.’ They’d crossed the Casco Bay Bridge and checked the bus transit hub there on the off-chance Elspeth had taken a taxi across the water to put some distance between them. There was no sign of Elspeth or Jacob, and when Tess described them to a ticketing clerk she’d drawn a blank. She looked earnestly at Po as she added, ‘I’m going to ring around the local taxi firms and ask if any of them picked them up and where they took them.’