Chasing Shadows

by Wendy Meadows

  “I see it,” Sarah said squinting through the darkness. Don was nowhere in sight.

  “Hang tight,” Conrad whispered. Without saying another word he vanished into the brush, silent as a mouse. He eased over to the BMW, felt the hood, and then made his way back to Sarah. “Hood is cold. Boy hasn't been on the road in the last few hours.”

  Sarah pulled her gun out. “Pete should be having Bonnie Street making the call any minute now.”

  “Okay, here's the plan,” Conrad whispered, “we're going to situate ourselves behind the cave, okay. When Don comes out of the cave, you'll take him from the right side and I'll take him from the left side. If we hear any screaming from the hostage from within the cave we charge inside.”

  “Agreed,” Sarah whispered back. She followed Conrad through the brush, positioned her body on the left side of the cave, and waited as silence began to buzz in her ears. A couple of agonizingly slow minutes later, she heard Don's cell phone ring.

  Don answered the call. “Yeah, mom, what is it?” he griped. Don's voice echoed up to the entrance of the cave, letting Sarah know that the boy was standing in the back of the cave. Any chance of a surprise attack was minimal.

  “Please, let me go,” begged a scared, elderly male voice. “I ain't done anything wrong to you, son. Let me go and I won’t tell a soul, please.”

  “Hang on, mom. Shut up, old man,” Don hissed and the sound of scuffling reached their ears, as if he had kicked a scree of loose rock towards the old man. “You're going to be dead soon enough, so stop moaning in your drool.”

  “Please, son,” Mr. Rhodes continued to beg, “I ain't never hurt you, have I?”

  “Listen, old man,” Don hissed again, “I'm going to collect a little package and split town in a couple of hours. When I do, you'll be dead. So stop begging for your miserable life, because it's really starting to annoy me.” Don focused back on the phone call. “Look, mom, I don't want to argue with you anymore. Either do what I tell you or I'm going—”

  A shaky, female voice interrupted Don. It was loud enough that Sarah and Conrad could plainly hear her words over the cell phone. “I've been arrested, son,” Bonnie Street informed Don. “The cops know that you killed Tom and Rebecca.”

  Don's voice went weak and shaky. “What?” he asked. “No, this can't be...how?” But then he paused. “Detective Garland!” he screamed. “She betrayed me!” Don spun around and they heard the sound of dirt being kicked at Mr. Rhodes again. “I guess your life means nothing to a cop, old man,” he roared in a fury.

  “Son, please, turn yourself in,” Bonnie pleaded with Don, her voice crackling but loud. “The J&P Brothers, Don, they're going to testify against me in court.”

  “Impossible,” Don gritted out in a hoarse growl. “Those two old men wouldn't dare risk their reputation.”

  “Murder is involved, Don,” Bonnie explained in a desperate tone. “It’s gone too far. J&P Brothers would rather be fined for rigging their books than have their reputation ruined with murder.”

  “Impossible!” Don screamed. “I need everything…the scene has to be...everyone has to be in their places!”

  “Don, it's over,” Bonnie said. “Son, turn yourself in. I've already told the police everything I know. I told them that you killed Tom and Rebecca. I told them...” Bonnie paused, trying to breathe and steady her shaking voice. “I confessed to setting Tom up to be murdered…oh Don, Tom didn't kill your father. I made you believe he did because you needed to believe that.”

  “Shut up!” Don yelled at his mother. “Shut your mouth! Shut your lies!”

  Sarah listened as Don began to come apart at the seams and cautiously eased her head forward and looked through the broken tree branches covering the cave’s entrance. She spotted a small fire burning near the back of the cave. Don was standing near the fire. Unfortunately, the boy was too close to the hostage to get a clean shot. It could very well ricochet and his Mr. Rhodes, if they weren’t careful. “What to do?” Sarah whispered and then had an idea. She leaned back against the left side of the cave and waited.

  “Don, we both know it was an accident. Your father was working on the roof of the stage house...all you did was call out his name. It wasn't your fault that he turned around and tripped on the ropes.”

  “Shut up!” Don hollered. “I didn't kill my dad!”

  Bonnie Street sobbed. “I was wrong to cover up his death,” she told Don. “I was worried...that the cops might take you away from me.”

  When Sarah peeked cautiously into the cave again, she saw Don gritting his teeth as he kicked a burning piece of wood out of the fire. The wood flew through the air and struck the left side of the cave wall. “You're lying...this is a trick...the cops don't have you...”

  Sarah ducked back behind the branches and then she heard a familiar voice echoing over the cell phone in the cave. “Boy, you're speaking to a Los Angeles Police Department Homicide Detective,” Pete said in a stern tone. “I have your mother in cuffs as we speak. Now, you better listen to what your mother is telling you and let us help you before you do anything stupid.”

  Don hollered at the top of his lungs. “Bring it on, cop!” he threatened Pete and then came the snap of the cell phone as he ended the phone call.

  “Now,” Sarah said, brought out her cell phone, and called Don.

  Don answered almost immediately. “So it's you,” he hissed. “You betrayed me, cop, so now the old man dies.”

  Sarah carefully moved away from the cave in order to hide her voice. “Don, give it up,” she said. “We're mobilizing our forces as we speak. Even if you kill the hostage, there's no chance of escape. Don't add a third murder to your record.”

  Don was silent. Sarah could hear his breath quickening as panic took over his anger. His plan had failed and now he would be forced out of attack mode and into survival mode. “I'm not afraid of you, cop.”

  “Don, we know you're hiding in a cave and we know the location of the cave. We're going to be at your location in less than ten minutes. The main roads are being blocked off. There's no chance of escape. Please, give yourself up before anyone else gets hurt.”

  Don swallowed loudly. “I can escape on foot,” he yelled at Sarah in desperation. “I'm not going down without a fight!”

  “Don, you killed two innocent people. We're not going to let you escape,” Sarah promised.

  “Come and get me, cop!” Don yelled and she heard a smashing sound that told her he had thrown his cell phone up against the cave wall and smashed it.

  Don stood very silently as panic and fear swallowed his mind. “What am I going to do now?” he whispered and looked toward the cave's entrance where hope stood dark and fleeting.

  Chapter Eight

  Sarah motioned at Conrad to work his way over to her. Conrad carefully peeked his head around and took a look inside the cave and then moved around to Sarah. “Okay, so you have the boy freaking out. Now what?” he whispered.

  “We'll stand out here until he makes a run for it,” Sarah whispered back, feeling the chill envelop them as the heavy drape of night fell on her shoulders.

  Conrad threw his left thumb at the BMW. “He's most likely still going to make a run for his car,” he told Sarah. “I'll go hide behind the hood. You take that tree over there.”

  “Got it,” Sarah agreed. Conrad smiled at her, gently touched her chin, and moved into position. Sarah hurried to a large tree close to the BMW, reluctantly moving out of hearing distance from the cave. She only hoped that he took the bait and fled, and did not take out his anger on the old man.

  “Please,” Mr. Rhodes begged Don, “let me go, son. I ain't ever done nothing to hurt you.”

  Don swung around and cast his deadened gaze at the old man he had tied up. Suddenly, the old man seemed like a liability instead of a valuable pawn on the chessboard. His mind warned him that if he killed the old man the authorities would set every man and woman in the state on a manhunt for him. “I can't take him hostage because he'll sl
ow me down,” Don muttered in a jittery voice and began pacing around the cave. “I gotta move. Police are on their way. Gotta think—”

  “Please, son,” Mr. Rhodes begged. “Let me go.”

  “Shut up!” Don tried to holler. Only his voice came out in a scared, strangled groan instead of a threatening bellow. “I need to think, so just shut up!”

  Mr. Rhodes swallowed. He could clearly see that his captor was panicking and panicking wasn't a smart road to take. Panic made a man to make stupid and rash decisions. So he decided to be smart and throw one last plea into the air. “I know another way out of this cave, son.”

  “What?” Don asked. He ran over to Mr. Rhodes, bent down, and grabbed him by his shirt collar. “Where?”

  “Over there,” Mr. Rhodes nodded towards the far back corner of the cave. “There's a little tunnel under that rock.”

  Don looked over at a rock about the size of a kitchen table. The rock seemed a normal part of the rock wall in his eyes. He hadn't thought about a second entrance being hidden anywhere inside the cave. As far as he could tell, the cave had one entrance and one exit. “Don't lie to me, old man,” he growled in Mr. Rhodes' face.

  “Go see for yourself. Us kids used to play in the tunnel before the men in town pushed that rock over it and threatened to tear our backsides off if we ever stepped foot in this cave again.” Mr. Rhodes shook a little with Don’s livid face threatening him so closely.

  Then Don bolted to his feet, ran over to the rock, and shoved the rock forward with all the panic-fueled strength he could muster. A cold draft shot up from a dark hole and struck him square in the face. “Where does this lead to?” he demanded.

  “Out to the river,” Mr. Rhodes explained. “Tunnel twists and turns some...goes for maybe a quarter of a mile, if I remember right. You'll have to crawl on your belly or walk low on your knees, son.”

  Don bit down on his lower lip. He felt hope surge back into his panicked chest. “Old man, you just saved your life,” he said and quickly yanked a penlight from his jacket pocket and put his gun at the ready. “Somebody will be along shortly to untie you,” he said nonchalantly and without wasting another breath he slithered into the dark tunnel.

  Mr. Rhodes breathed a sigh of relief and began fidgeting with the ropes holding his wrists and ankles together. He was an old man but he wasn't weak. Besides, the boy who had tied him up wasn't very experienced in knot tying. Mr. Rhodes was. After serving four years in the Navy he had learned to tie a whole bunch of different knots. “Darn kids,” he muttered to himself, “ain't right to treat us old folks the way they do,” he said and managed to slip his right wrist free and then began untying himself. Once free, he hurried to the entrance of the cave, pushed the broken tree limbs away, and stepped out into the night. He studied the darkness with the eyes of an experienced woodsman, and began walking down the trail.

  “Freeze!” Conrad yelled and exploded up from behind the hood and ran at Mr. Rhodes.

  “Hands in the air!” Sarah hollered, covering Conrad's rear. “Hands in the air!”

  “Don't shoot!” Mr. Rhodes cried out and threw his arms shakily in the air.

  Conrad ran up to Mr. Rhodes. “This isn't the kid,” he said in frustration. “With it being so dark all I saw a shadow—”

  “Don't kick yourself,” Sarah told Conrad. “All I saw was a shadow, too.” Sarah focused on Mr. Rhodes, who was shaking all over like a leaf. “Mr. Rhodes, I'm Detective Garland and this is Detective Conrad Spencer.”

  Mr. Rhodes lowered his arms. “You two nearly scared the life of me,” he complained.

  Sarah cast her eyes at the cave entrance and pulled Mr. Rhodes down beside the driver's door of the BMW, expecting gun fire to erupt from the cave at any second. “Sir, where is Don Street?”

  Mr. Rhodes felt anguish permeate his mind. “Oh my, oh my,” he said in a sorrowful tone. “I done went and let the snake go free to save my own hide.”

  “What do you mean?” Conrad insisted. “Sir, where is the kid?”

  Mr. Rhodes shook his head. “All I wanted was a few fish for supper and look at the mess I done went and got myself into,” he said in an exhausted voice.

  “Please, sir, talk to us,” Sarah pleaded.

  “I told that snake about the old tunnel hidden under the big rock,” Mr. Rhodes told Sarah and looked through the darkness into her face. “He was going to kill me, sure enough as I'm standing here, he was going to kill me. I had to try and save my life, now didn't I?”

  “Go,” Sarah yelled at Conrad.

  Conrad shot to his feet and ran into the cave with his gun at the ready. A few minutes later ran back out. “There's a tunnel under the cave floor,” he told Sarah. “Sir, where does that tunnel lead to?”

  “Down to the river, “Mr. Rhodes explained. “Tunnel twists and turns a bit...goes about a quarter of a mile...big enough for kids for mighty tight for an adult. That boy won't be moving at super speed.”

  Sarah looked at Conrad. “We have to hurry,” she said in a quick voice. “Sir, what location at the river does the tunnel end?” she asked.

  “Oh...if I remember right, close to the old swimming' tree us kids used to play by in the old days,” Mr. Rhodes explained. He pointed into the night. “Go that ways until you hit the river and then follow the current down until you come upon a huge old tree with an old wooden swing tied up in its limbs...can't miss it...one of the biggest trees in the county and—” As Sarah and Conrad started to step away in the direction he indicated, Mr. Rhodes suddenly stopped talking and grabbed his chest. “My...my...heart...” he whimpered in a pained voice.

  Conrad caught Mr. Rhodes in his arms and laid the old man down on the ground. “Stay with us, sir,” he said in a loud, stern voice. “We're going to get you help.”

  Mr. Rhodes didn't answer Conrad. Instead, he dropped into unconsciousness. “Call for help,” Sarah begged Conrad and cast her eyes back into the darkness, “I'm going for Don.”

  Conrad wanted to argue but knew better. It was Sarah’s unsolved case that had reared its ugly head from the past and this was now Sarah’s killer to catch. The woman he was falling in love with needed this final closure. “Go…but know that...you're really taking over my heart,” he said and looked at Sarah with worry. “Come back to me, okay?”

  Sarah bent down and touched Conrad's cheek and then kissed his chin. “You're a good man, Conrad Spencer,” she whispered and then ran off into the night, leaving Conrad behind.

  “Okay, girl, let's focus and depend on your training,” she urged her mind and cautiously worked a trail back to the river. When the sound of the river reached her ears Sarah slowed down and eased forward through the night until she came to a steep embankment. She turned right and began following the current, working her way past trees, fallen logs and through bushes, feeling confident she would be able to reach Don in time.

  The steep riverbank allowed her only a narrow ledge to pass by in some places, which was perilous in the dark. But then tragedy struck. The narrow spot Sarah ran on suddenly crumbled out from under her. “No,” Sarah cried out, throwing her arms forward in the hopes of grabbing a tree limb to stop her from fall. But her hands came up empty and her body tumbled down a rough embankment and splashed into the river. Sarah felt her body sink down into a deep, dark, watery abyss of a pool in the river and then began kicking her legs. A few seconds later she emerged from the deep and began swimming toward the shoreline. As she did, a dark figure appeared above her.

  “Well, well,” Don growled and aimed his penlight and gun directly at Sarah. “What do we have here?”

  Sarah stopped swimming and let her legs fall. She felt her feet barely touch the river's bottom but quickly pretended she was still treading water as her mind absorbed the hopeless situation. She was still gasping for breath after her fall. Don had the element of surprise and he was also holding the higher ground. “Don, give yourself up,” she ordered, forcing her voice to remain calm and in control. She couldn't let Don know he was
in control – keeping the killer's confidence shaken was vital.

  “You cops and your drama,” Don hissed down at Sarah. If prison bars were his destiny than he would take Sarah down with him. She had defied him, betrayed him, and now if he was caught in this manhunt he would never get the right people back in their places to solve his father’s murder, as he still, desperately hoped would be possible.

  Besides, killing a cop, he thought in his sick mind, was far different than killing an old man. Who knows, maybe he might be hailed as a hero in prison for whacking the world-famous Detective Garland, the woman who single-handedly took down the Back Alley Killer. Sure, Don thought, as his hideous murderous rage resurfaced, he'd be a hero and who knows, maybe someone might make a movie after him. Everyone would know his name.

  “Don, don't make matters worse for yourself,” Sarah replied desperately, wondering how fast she could swing her right hand out of the river and get a clean shot at Don. Not fast enough, she lamented, staring at the gun Don was aiming at her. Don had admitted to being a horrible shot – and maybe his words were true – but Sarah didn't want to risk being fired upon at such a close distance. “Don—”

  “Shut up!” Don yelled at Sarah. “I told you, you're going down, cop! You think I’m scared by your little manhunt? No way. After I kill you, I'll be famous! If I land in prison, I'll be a hero! Even if killing you means a harsher punishment I don’t care...you have to die!”

  “The way your father died?” Sarah asked Don.

  Don snarled, his insane face contorting like a furious viper preparing to spit acidic poison at Sarah. “Don't you ever mention my dad's name...ever!”

  “Your father was practicing a very dangerous stunt, wasn't he?” Sarah asked, playing for time. “He didn't see you arrive. When you called out to him, you caught him by surprise, he tripped, got the ropes he was working with tangled around his body, and fell off the roof.”