by Carter, Dawn
Planks cracking above, it sounded like the ceiling falling around then. The thick wood cracked and popped as the bright flames slowly ate away at the house around them which turned it to black ash. The shadow woman corrupted its lively essence and left them trapped while the dancing fire licked and spat at the curved ceiling of the hearth with its glowing, bright golden flame, and its red base shimmered across the wood like a dawn upon a summer morning.
“We should have called for back-up,” she said allowing what she thought and looked at him.
Her comment was so out of character, so far from what he knew of her, he just stared at her open mouthed. His brain formulated no thoughts other than to register that he was shocked. He closed his mouth then looked at his feet before glancing back up to catch her eye. “I’m sorry I got you in this,” was all he could say.
Darkness washed over her sending another chill down her spine. But it wasn’t a chill of passion. It was a chill of fear. The same fear she had before she lost his parents
The rich oaky smell of the fire permeated the room, wisps of silver grey smoke curled and danced their way through the thick, hazy air as if excited to escape its cage. The smoke hung on the air ready to greet whoever opened the front door seeking to escape the bitter gusts of winter wind that howled around the cottage style house at this time of year.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
The scenic route back into the city was crowded by weekend travelers. Danni drove along, singing to the songs on her radio. She smiled as the thought of the heart wrenching moment she had the honor to share between father and daughter who had been separated for years but brought back together by tragedy. She had only been driving for five minutes when her phone buzzed, she had only said hello when Patricia’s voice came across on the other end. She thanked Danni for giving her back her life and bringing her father to her. She explained when she left; he broke down and told her he did not care what the public thought. He never wanted to lose her again.
“One good deed done,” she said aloud, smiling.
An hour passed before she saw the sign letting her know she was only thirty five miles away. She could hear her stomach rumble in time with the music, and then it occurred to her. She promised to pick up food. She recalled the last row of signs indicating a gas station and a Taco Bell were approximately three miles away. Back in the car, she was about to pull out of the parking lot then it occurred to her, she had not heard from either Frank or Annabel in three hours. Surly she thought they would have called and updated her even if there was no news. Then she laughed when it occurred to her that she may not have heard from Frank but Annabel would have called.
She dialed her phone several times, but there was no answer. A little taken back she called Frank, but it went straight to his voicemail. She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong. She peeled out of the parking lot and drove back onto the interstate. She turned on her flashing light and moved through traffic, and when the traffic moved she accelerated, but to her left a woman was talking on her cell and did not notice Danni trying to pass her and geared into her lane. Danni swerved to the right trying to avoid the collision, but when she over corrected the Silverado flipped several times before skidding to the other side of the road into oncoming traffic. She must have hit her head because when she came too, blood ran like a stream down her neck covering the front of her shirt.
She tugged and pulled to release the seatbelt, and when it came undone she fell against the door. She could smell smoke, she thought fast and she turned her ignition key off and squirmed to free herself. She twisted and tried to stand up, but she could not get a strong enough grip to pull herself up.
Cars stopped and people exited their cars to help, but the first to reach her was a truck driver who pulled off to the side of the road when he saw her truck first roll. He directed the men around to help him flip the truck back on all four wheels. With a loud thump it bounced in one spot several times. Danni held onto the steering wheel to avoid smashing her head into the window.
“Are you okay?” he huffed out of breath.
“I think so,” she grunted visibly shaken.
He lowered himself enough to grab her hand and with all his strength, he pulled her out.
The sat on the cold ground and looked around, all she could think about was getting to Annabel. When an ambulance arrived, they treated her wound. The one EMT told her she would be just fine and insisted she go to the hospital and let a doctor look at her. She declined instantly. All she could think about was making it back to town and to Annabel. She needed to call for back-up but she could not find her phone. A few of the stragglers left helped her search the area, but it must have flown out the window when the truck flipped.
She was desperate and when a State Patrol unit arrived, Danni looked over at him then to his squad, she flashed her badge, and asked the officer to give her a ride to the station. She promised to give him a full account of the accident along the way. He was hesitant at first but when she explained she was in the middle of apprehending the Night Walker murderer, he quickly led her to his car. He could feel his own blood race through his veins as he sped along the highway. She urged him to go faster and he did as she asked. With the click of a switch he put on the flashing lights and swerved through traffic.
“Your job is more exciting than mine.” He confessed he was bored with the typical traffic stop. He admitted he took pleasure in joining in on the occasional drug bust when a drug trafficker was finally pulled over.
Only half listening, Danni sat forward and locked her fingers through the bars. She was grateful he was taking her but she wished he would just shut up and drive.
“So what do you think?”
“Think about what?” Danni looked at the back of the head and gritted her teeth. She had stopped listening to him. She focused on the cars in their path that accommodated them in their pursuit by pulling to the side of the road.
“About me changing jobs and becoming a city cop.”
“Then you should apply for a city job,” she offered hoping he would stop talking.
“I just might do that.” His smiled faded when he looked through the rearview mirror and saw the urgency in her eyes. He knew he talked too much and this was not the time or the place to seek happier employment.
Relieved when they pulled into the police station parking lot, she let out a deep sigh and stepped out of the car as he held the door open for her. “Thank you for getting me here so fast.” She smiled and took his hand in her own and looked at the name on the badge.
“Trooper O’Brian, how would you like to you join me?”
“I would love that, but I have to get back to work.”
“Tell them I commandeered your vehicle.” She laughed when she saw the look of contemplation on his face.
“Okay!” was all he said and stepped back in his car.
His eyes lit up as she walked off and climbed into her unmarked car. He followed close behind and radioed to his dispatch explaining his squad was commandeered by the FBI and local APD. They told him to be sure to get it in writing when he returned. He was sure Danni would cover the details for him.
Time seemed to stand still as she drove to the destination. She could not shake the feeling of dread. Something was wrong, she could feel it. Danni radioed to O’Brian to park behind her as they pulled up to the house. She looked to her left and saw Frank and Annabel’s abandoned vehicles. When she did not see them, panic set in.
She looked at the address on the note pad and walked the half a block towards it, that was when she saw smoke and flames coming from the house. Instinctively she radioed her location to the fire department, possible officer and federal agent down she repeated several times.
She took two steps forward, but O’Brian called her back. “The fire department is on the way,” he assured when he heard the sirens in the distance.
“That’s my partner in there!” she yelled and looked around the perimeter but all the win
dows had bars on them, there was no way to get in, and O’Brian already confirmed the front door was locked.
“Maybe they’re not in there,” His answer came across more like a question.
“They’re in there, I know it!” she screamed and pointed to their cars, and he understood without her saying another word.
She watched on in horror, was he right? Could they be somewhere else, but then why are they not answering their phones. She needed answers. She turned and ran towards their cars and reached in her pocket for the second set of keys she kept on her key ring, but the car was not locked. “It’s unlocked,” she said to O’Brian who had followed. The door opened and she looked around in the usual spots that the phone would be cradled. She sighed when she could not find it. She climbed out and took the few feet to Frank’s SUV, but it was locked. How predictable she thought. She looked in the window, and there on the dashboard cradled in its holder was his phone.
“Shit, they’re in there.” She turned and ran back towards the house.
People from the surrounding homes stepped out and watched and waited for the fire department to arrive. The elderly man that lived in the house next door pulled his water hose from its harness and started to spray the side of his home and roof. He feared the home next to his would catch his house on fire too.
O’Brian took it upon himself to start asking each person if they had seen anyone in the house. The lady who lived across the street said she had seen a man and a woman go in the house. He looked over to Danni who had not heard the statement and pulled the lady further away from earshot.
“Did you see anyone else?”
“Just that big scary lady who’s renting the place from old man Jamison, she’s been in and out all day.”
“Do you know how I can contact the owner ma’am?”
“I thought it weird when I didn’t see him, and when I told my daughter she walked across the street when she saw the woman and asked her.” She scratched her head trying to remember. “She told my daughter he rented the house to her, and he moved to Florida.”
“Did he ever tell you he was going to move?”
“That’s what I thought weird; he just finished laying a new lawn and said he was going to plant some flowers over there in the flower bed,” she said and motioned her hand to the fresh turned dirt below the living room window. “I had coffee with him every day for fifteen years and I thought I would be the first person he would tell he was moving.” She crossed her arms and stepped back.
“Thank you ma’am, if I have any more question can I call you?”
“You sure can, come by when my daughter Sue is home. She can tell you what that woman said.”
He stepped back and returned to his spot next to Danni. He didn’t have the heart to tell her she was right, but he couldn’t keep it from her. He knew either they were already dead, or they were trapped. Either way, he had to tell her.
“Pacelli, you were right,” he said, but she did not look at him. Her eyes were glazed over transfixed on the house.
The only hope now was when the fire department arrived. He could tell by the sirens they were getting closer, but not close enough. If it was not for the bars on the window, and the security doors locked tight he would have already broken in.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
He expected a flood of tears and an avalanche of screams, but she remained calm. She had a plan. She paused for a bit staring at in his eyes but seemingly straight through them. Her reaction was perhaps strange but it was it was expected, she knew they were about to die. Their attempt to gain freedom failed as they fought against the ropes that bound them
Frank looked at her grimly. “We are not going to make it out of here,” he finally admitted holding back the tears.
Annabel sat numb she seemed to find herself at the brink of death more often than not. In that moment, she came to the conclusion that she had never been a good cop, maybe a researcher, she could find anything or anyone, but a skilled police officer she was not.
Frank broke loose the gag around his mouth. He ordered her to try and untie his hands, but they were as tight as her own. The harder she pulled the tighter the roped cute into his wrists. “Stop, it’s no use,” he cried.
She coughed as the smoke filled her lungs. She looked at him and in that moment he seemed to know what she was thinking. He nodded his head and then pounded it against the wall behind him. “FUCK!” he screamed.
She blinked back in fear and the tears ran down her face. The ash combined with tears painted a streak down her face, “It’s only a matter of time Frank.”
Frank was thinking the same thing but needed to keep his mind off of it.
“What made you become a cop, Flanery?” he coughed out the question.
She looked at him but didn’t want to talk, not now, she wanted to escape and run, not die talking about the reason that brought her there. She took a shallow breath and the way her lungs burned as they did, death would be sooner than she thought. “I… I grew up in the house next to Danni, and I admired her, I wanted to be just like her.”
She said what he already knew. He had researched her and his heart saddened when he learned about the fire.
“There was a fire, and my mother’s sister moved me to Wisconsin with her and her husband at the time.” She frowned. “I joined the junior officer’s organization to straighten me out.” She giggled at the memories that kept her out of jail. “One night when I was eighteen I was allowed to shadow one of the other officers to see if becoming an officer of the law was in my future.
“That’s a good program, I’ve heard of it…” his voice trailed allowing her to finish.
“It was, and the night I decided I wanted to be a cop we were called to go check out a report of a dead body. When we got there, we found a dead body but it was not just any dead person which I had seen before, it was a little boy no older than twelve who had been sexually molested.” She shook her head remembering how repulsed she was.
“That must have been horrible for you.” The sympathy in his eyes told her he had seen his share of battered, abused and murdered children.
“It was, but I made up my mind that day, that they needed more good officers to track down and arrest the scum bag who were hurting innocent kids,” She sighed. “But it did not turn out like it was supposed to, I applied for special crimes on numerous occasions, but they never accepted my application. Then one day, my Chief called me in the office and asked me if I was still interested in transferring back here to Amarillo. I was ecstatic,” she recalled. “It was not in special crimes, but it was better than where I was. I still remember the day we found the boy; once the forensic team arrived I listened as they worked the scene. His murderer already gone, but they still did everything they could to collect all the evidence that would end in his capture.”
“It doesn’t always work out that way.” He looked away knowing he had a stack of unsolved crimes on his desk.
“I know and I was naive at the time, I remember the officer I was riding with telling me in his opinion that the police would not find this guy.”
There was a period of silence while as he took in everything she told him.
“What about you?” she looked at him needing to know there were crimes that could be solved and the bad guy would not always win.
His eyebrows came together as he looked frustrated.
“Are you ok?” she asked, not understanding why he wasn’t answering her.
“Sometimes light must camouflage itself with darkness to win the battle of the night,” he repeated a line he once read in a poem that never made sense to him until now.
He thought for several second trying to remember what finally made his decision. He looked at her and smiled. “My reasons were not as simple. I am third generation law enforcement, it was expected of me.” He laughed. “But I was not planning on following my fathers’ or grandfathers’ footsteps, so I enrolled in college and was planning on becoming an actor.” He laughed. “Imagin
e me as an actor?”
Annabel laughed at the question. “I think you would have made a great anything you set your mind on.”
“You’re delusions may have convinced me then, but everything changed my senior year.” He pictured that night, still stinging his heart. “There was a pounding on my dorm room late one night. When I opened the door there was a naked girl standing there. The look on her face was confusion, pain, and most of all fear. It was clear by one look that she had no idea what had happened to her or where she was. I didn’t stop to think I grabbed the phone and dialed the police, I told them a naked woman showed up at my door, bruised and bloody,” his voice became low. “I sat her on my bed and handed her my robe. It was a small town, so before I could do anything else they stormed my room and took her away.”
“Did you ever see her again?”
“A few weeks later, I was working out with my trainer and I thought I heard her voice. I looked around but the gym was packed so if she was there, I did not see her.” He looked at her then fixated his gaze on the floor. “I couldn’t get her out of my mind, and I was struggling to concentrate, so when my trainer clipped me from the side and I stumbled back, I had to stop myself from knocking her on her ass.” He laughed. “We already didn’t get along, and to be honest if she wasn’t being paid so handsomely by my parents she would have quit the first day she saw my scrawny ass walk in the gym.”
“Was she there that day?”
“Who?”
“The girl.”
He had to focus; he could feel his mind slipping as the smoke filled his lungs. He shrugged off the fog that was already clouding his brain. “Yes, the girl. I did not see her that day, but I wanted to find her, so I went down to the sheriff’s office and asked.” He coughed, and then cleared his throat. “They wouldn’t tell me anything so I just left, and one day after working out I was heading to the locker room, and there she was at the water fountain. I couldn’t believe my eyes.” He went on to explain how they became instant friends, and then she finally confided in him what happened to her that night. He asked her how bad she wanted revenge. She looked at him and didn’t say anything, she didn’t need to. He knew the reason she worked out so hard, revenge would be hers one day, but she was no killer. She told him she was content with that fact he was already in jail waiting for his day in court and when that day came she would stand in front of him and take her power back.