by Liz Bradford
The service began, and they all stood and began to sing. Becca had her eyes closed as she worshiped the Lord singing a song she knew by heart. She jumped slightly when her phone vibrated on her hip. She pulled it out and saw a new text from Amy.
Jared looked at her questioningly as she opened the text and held it where they both could read it. “Callie fell and is hurt. She wants you immediately. In east hallway by the practice room.” She looked up at Jared and without saying anything to each other they began to leave. Jared leaned over and whispered to Caleb who had grabbed his arm as they started to leave. They rushed to the back of the sanctuary where Jamison and Miller met them.
Becca explained, “Callie fell. We need to check on her. You guys can wait here. We’ll be back shortly.”
They nodded.
She and Jared took off walking quickly towards the practice room. They stormed through the double doors that led towards the practice room and down the hallway. About halfway down the short hall, she said, “What on earth? Where are they?”
But before Jared could respond Becca heard a pop followed by a zapping sound. Jared hit the ground. She inhaled and let it out as she turned towards their attacker, but before she could turn an electrical current shot through her body. Her entire body seized up, stopping any counterattack. She couldn’t get a breath in.
She knew that feeling from her police training – a Taser. The sensation didn’t last long but as soon as it stopped she felt sinewy arms wrap around her and the soft cotton of an old t-shirt cover her face. She tried not to breath, but she needed air. She tried to fight, but his grip was too tight, and her muscles were too weak from the unexpected jolt of electricity. The sweet smell of the chloroform filled her nostrils. The whole world went black.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Caleb sat down as the worship leader instructed. Where were they? The kids were going to come out soon. Surely Callie wasn’t so hurt that she couldn’t sing. She had practiced the songs over and over again last night. Nothing would stop her from singing. The worship leader prayed for the tithes and offerings, and then the kids came out. But there was Callie, she didn’t look hurt, and there was Amy. Why were Jared and Becca not back yet? Maybe they were watching from the side door. Caleb caught Amy’s attention as she was seeking his out. She lipped a question about where Becca was. “She’s not back there?” he mouthed back pointing to the side. She shook her head. Something was wrong.
He jumped from his seat and all but ran to the back. Jamison and Miller were standing there. “Something’s wrong. Which way did they go?”
“This way.”
All three men took off running towards the double doors that Becca and Jared had gone through not five minutes ago. As they burst through the doors Caleb’s eyes instantly came to rest on Jared’s body lying, seizing on the ground. He ran over to him. There was a Taser still attached to him. The gun shaped unit had a zip tie around the trigger, keeping it engaged. Caleb grabbed the stun gun and yanked it pulling the probes from his brother’s back. Jared was unconscious. A stun gun shouldn’t render someone, especially Jared’s size, unconscious. And he wasn’t breathing. He checked Jared’s pulse. He couldn’t find it. He turned Jared over and began CPR. “Rick, grab the AED. Adam, call 911.” He could hear Adam call it in while he worked on Jared.
“Come on, Jared!” He said as he started compressions. Jared took in a sharp breath. “Oh, thank you, God!”
“BECCA! He took her. NO!” Jared sat up as he yelled.
“Jared, calm down. Your heart practically stopped from being attached to that Taser for so long. Lay down on your side.”
Jared grabbed his sleeve. “Caleb, I have to find her.”
“And you will. But lay down, now. You need to breathe and let me make sure you are all right first.”
Rick came over with the AED, “Jared, what happened?”
Jared submitted to Caleb’s command and lay on his side as he spoke. “I’m not entirely sure. We were coming down the hallway. I had a bad feeling about it especially once we didn’t see Callie or Amy, but figured she was in the rehearsal room. Then out of nowhere we were being tased from behind, both of us at the same time. I tried to turn to see what was happening as best I could. I fell to the ground as I think he put a rag over her face; I’m guessing chloroform again. He lifted her and carried her out that door over there. Then I passed out. How long before you guys found me?”
“You weren’t gone more than five minutes tops,” Caleb said.
“Well, get out there! He couldn’t have gotten far,” Jared yelled at Rick.
“Jared, they’re gone,” Adam said as he walked back in the door.
Caleb looked at the guys, “How did he get you both at the same time?”
Adam bent down and picked up the Taser. “Looks like there are teeth marks on the zip tie. He must have had it ready to go and just pulled it tight with his teeth as he got Becca.”
“What’s that over there?” Rick asked as he walked a little further down the hallway then leaned over and picked up the object and turned around. “Looks like someone just dropped their phone.” He held out the phone with a bright blue case.
“That’s Amy’s phone,” Caleb said.
“So that’s how he got us back here!” Jared said.
Jared let out a tense breath through his rigid jaw. He was angry, and Caleb and the EMTs poking at him wasn’t helping one bit. “Enough. I’m fine,” he barked at them through his teeth.
“Jared, you let them make sure you are okay, or I’m going to let them take you to the hospital, do you understand?” said the Captain, who was holding the ambulance door with one hand while the other hand was on his hip.
“Yes, sir.” Jared took a deep breath and let them finish. “I need to go see Amy and Callie,” he added in the calmest voice he could muster.
Caleb took the monitor probes off him as he said, “All right, we’re done, Jared. Everything’s fine – you’ll live. How about I go with you to talk to Amy and Callie?”
“Please, Caleb,” he said as he climbed out of the back of the ambulance.
The Captain put his hand on Jared’s shoulder. “We’ll be out here when you are ready. I think we’ll head back to the station after we grab what we worked on yesterday from your hotel.”
“Jared, give me the key, and I’ll take care of the hotel for you and meet you guys at the station,” Jamison offered.
“Thanks,” he said and handed him the motel key from his pocket. He and Caleb went back into the church, and one of the officers told them that Callie, Amy, and her family were in the pastor’s office. As Jared stepped into the office, Amy came running to him. He embraced her. “We’ll find her. I promise. Every cop in Hazel Hill is looking for them.”
She pulled away wiping her tears away. And as Amy returned to Tom’s arms Callie walked over to Jared and tugged on his sleeve. Jared dropped to his knees. His anger was overrun with grief as he looked into his daughter’s sweet face. “Daddy, what’s going on? Where’s Mommy?”
He bit his lip. How do you tell a five-year-old that her mother has been kidnapped by a deranged killer? “Callie… Mommy is… missing… but I’m going to find her and bring her home, okay?”
“Okay. I know you will.” Tears fell down both of their cheeks, and he pulled Callie into his arms and sat back on his legs as he held the little girl.
Callie eventually loosened her grip on Jared, forcing him to do the same.
“Princess, can you stay with Aunt Amy while Uncle Caleb and I go find Mommy?” She nodded. “I love you, Callie.”
“I love you too, Daddy.” He kissed her forehead and then left.
“Are you going to be okay, Jared?” Caleb asked as they walked back outside. He could feel the anger mounting again.
He shook his head; his jaw clenched tight, “Not until Becca is safe in my arms.”
Jared paced back and forth across the conference room at the police station. They had every detective from almost every department
who was available today in there, so there wasn’t much room, but everyone was staying out of his way and letting him pace. The Captain had taken charge of the case and was running through everything they knew that pertained to finding Becca. But as Baker started talking about the timeline and what they knew about what he did to his victims over the course of the three days, Jared felt himself growing sick. The rage burned within him. He had not felt this angry since Carl had been killed. As Baker mentioned that the killer tortured his victims by throwing rocks at them, Jared turned and punched a hole right through the drywall.
Every eye turned to him. Since Caleb was personal friends with the Captain, Baker said Caleb could stay with Jared for moral support. Caleb approached Jared and said in a quiet and calm voice, “Outside, now.”
Jared grunted but obeyed his little brother; he yanked the door open with no attempt at calming down.
“Jared! Get a grip, right now.” The five-inch difference between the two of them vanished, and it felt as if Caleb was towering over Jared. “You have always had an anger problem, but I know you’ve worked through that in the last two years. I also know right now, you have the absolute best reason to be as angry as sin, but you have to pull it together and focus that energy into brain not brawn.”
Jared was breathing hard, like an angry bull, but Caleb was right. Oh God, please help, he closed his eyes and prayed as he ran his shaky, uninjured hand through his hair. Help me to channel my anger into useful energy. And please, God, I implore you, please help us find Becca before that dirty rotten excuse for a man causes her any harm. Jared could feel peace trickle into his being. He met Caleb’s eyes. He gave his brother a curt nod.
“Can I look at your hand? You hit that wall pretty hard.”
“Yeah, not looking forward to that conversation with the Captain.”
“Pretty sure Keith wants to punch the wall, too.”
Jared grabbed the first aid kit and handed it to Caleb, who cleaned up his bloody knuckles. “Doesn’t seem to be bleeding too bad. Band-Aid or no Band-Aid?”
“None. I’ll be fine. Let’s get back in there. I need to be useful.”
The brothers re-entered the conference room, and this time Jared took a seat, too.
Becca woke up confused and disoriented. Her head screamed in pain, as if a thousand nails were being pounded into her forehead. Where was she? What was going on? Everything was so muddled in her head. She tried to move her hands to rub her eyes, but she couldn’t. She was restrained. Oh wait, she remembered. The hallway at church, the Taser, the cloth over her face – she had been drugged. He had her!
NO!
Despite the struggle, she forced her eyes open. She looked around the cinderblock room. The ten by ten room was dimly lit with a single, low wattage incandescent bulb hanging bare from the ceiling. The unfinished ceiling had soundproofing foam stuffed between the rafters. No one would hear her scream…
She took in the rest of the room. An ominous pile of rocks sat on the floor across the room. The floor was concrete, like a foundation. A drain in the center of the room gave the indication that she was most likely in a basement, but that knowledge did her no good. Jared was the one that needed that information. Oh, how is he going to find me? She blinked back tears; she needed to focus.
The walls of the room were covered in pictures. The pictures were arranged on the wall with great care. Along the wall on the right side of the room were pictures of Michelle, Tonya, and Crystal, the first three victims. The pictures taken with telephoto lens were of them going about their everyday lives. Coming and going from their homes, their jobs, their children’s activities. The opposite wall held the pictures of the next three victims, Angela, Samantha, and Cindy. Becca closed her eyes; the tears were more than she could blink away now. These women had died in this room. They had been murdered senselessly. Her stomach churned and threatened to empty itself. The wall opposite of where she was had a door in the center. On either side of the door were more pictures. To the left of the door were pictures of her. Pictures of her in the church parking lot. One specifically stood out: it was from the day she had felt someone watching her, back when she had been dating Caleb. Her mind replayed the memory. The picture came from the direction where she remembered seeing an old green car. The Pontiac! That was him? She had seen that car a lot. How did she not realize it was something more nefarious than a neighbor? Her stomach lurched, but she was able to swallow it. She shouldn’t have been surprised by the pictures since she knew he had been stalking all of them since the summer. But it was still unsettling.
On the opposite side of the door were pictures of Jane Monroe, Stuart’s wife. No doubt lingered in Becca’s mind. Jane had to have been Stuart’s first victim.
A chill shook Becca’s body. She looked down at herself. He had removed all her clothes except her bra and underwear. She was cold, sitting nearly naked on the concrete floor leaning against the cinder block wall. She looked up at where her hands were restrained above her head. Each hand was tied separately to the same rope that ran through a ring that was screwed into the wall. She tried pulling on the ropes, in hopes that the screws were not anchored well into the wall. They didn’t budge. She closed her eyes and focused her mind. She wasn’t going to give up so easily. Next, she tried to untie the rope around her left hand with her right. The thin white rope was tied into knots that were intricate and tight. She couldn’t get her fingers in between the layers of the rope. She pulled her legs up under herself. Pain shot through her knees as she rose on them to bring her hands to her face. She tried biting at the ropes and struggled with them for a few minutes. Nothing.
Her head throbbed. The pain made her dizzy. She lowered herself back down and leaned back against the wall. The coarse wall bit her back. How was she going to get out of here? Even if she could get herself free from the rope, there was no window; the door was the only way in or out, and she suspected that it was locked.
She was alone… no one knew where she was. She was helpless… She was afraid. Her nose tingled as more tears pooled in her eyes. She had to get out of here and get home to Jared and Callie.
Oh, how she hated being alone. It was truly her greatest fear, had been since she was a child and had gotten lost when she had unknowingly wandered away from her family while they were camping in Sequoia National Park. She remembered the sequoias towering over her like giants as she sat on a log and cried. The wind and birds had laughed at her six-year-old self. Tears escaped her clenched eyelids today as she remembered the feeling of loneliness she had felt so long ago.
She hated feeling this way. The pounding of her head was making it difficult to fight the emotions that overwhelmed her. She pulled on the ropes again. She had to fight; she had to get out of here. But her struggling was only making the ropes tighter around her wrists. She was helpless. Her mind wandered to another memory. The time in her life when she had felt most helpless. It had happened so fast yet in slow motion. From under the banker’s desk she watched, alone, while a would-be bank robber shot her father execution style, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were there an hour later than they had planned, all because she wanted to hang out with her friends before going to sign loan papers for her new car. But she was helpless to do anything to help her daddy. All she wanted to do was hold her dad, but she was alone under that desk instead. She couldn’t do anything. Just like now. Helpless. Her body shook.
She hated being alone. She longed for Jared. For Callie. For Amy. For her mom. She needed her family. The ache she felt reminded her of how she felt as she drove the 2400 miles to her sister’s after Jared had left her all alone in that little apartment.
Her life had been marked by loneliness. Now, she was going to die alone, too. She clenched her eyes shut.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE, MY CHILD. I AM WITH YOU.
Tears fell. She was not alone. She didn’t do anything on her own. Christ had reached into her heart and embraced her. Never alone again. He was there. Right now.
Oh, Becca. But you aren’t alone. Tears coursed down her cheeks. But these weren’t the tears of fear they had been a moment ago. Courage swelled in her heart. Joshua 1:9, she quoted in her mind, “This is my command - be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
There may be absolutely nothing she could do right now to get out of this situation. But she could pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for being here with me. Please help me. Keep me alive. Help me get home to my loves. They both need me. Help Jared find me. Give him guidance. Help him control his anger so that he doesn’t hurt himself. Help him to use the rage I know he is feeling to focus on the important information that will lead him here. Guide the entire team to find me. Help us to bring this sick lunatic to justice.
She then started quoting the 23rd Psalm.
The Lord is my shepherd…
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff they comfort me…
Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
She knew that Stuart would come through that door at some point, and he would start torturing her, but rather than letting that drive her mad, she kept praying and kept quoting scripture. Eventually, the headache imposed sleep upon her body.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“So, we know his wife’s family has roots back in this area. But how does that connect to him coming here after they left Delaware? That’s the question we need to answer right now.” Jared looked around the room. All eyes were on him as he spoke. “Dig deep. Dig broad. There has to be something.”
“Do you suppose her family owned land around these parts?”