Fatal Decision

by John Greenwood

  "What?" I'm looking up at the window. My emotions are shooting through my brain.

  "There was movement up there. I saw it when we were walking up." I'm suddenly not sure if I should cry or break down the front door, but I remain standing next to Stanton until all of a sudden the front door opens. Stanton pulls his gun slightly out of its holster and we see an elderly man appear in the doorway.

  "Can I help you guys?" His voice is soft and raspy. It looks like he has just woken up. His clothes are wrinkled and his hair is strewn all over his head.

  Stanton holds up his badge and identifies himself. "We need to ask you a few questions."

  "About what?" I hear some shuffling behind the man. I see Stanton lean forward until a large Golden Retriever makes his way through the opening. "Stay here Buster."

  "There were two men here just a few minutes ago. I want to just ask them a few questions."

  The old man turns around and looks back inside. "There's no one here but me and Buster." I feel my blood pressure building up inside me. It feels like I'm going to explode.

  "They were just in the backyard." I say.

  The old man shrugs his shoulders, "just me and Buster."

  Stanton steps closer to the old man. "Would you mind if we took a look around just to be sure?"

  The old man throws up his arms and steps out of the way. I follow Stanton into the house. We step into a giant lobby with a dual staircase coming down on each side. The house is immaculately decorated. There are small statues and figurines placed all over. Stanton turns right into a dining room area with a large table and the walls lined with antique collections of plates and silver that must be worth a fortune. I look back and don’t see either the man or the dog. We continue walking into the next two rooms which are both living rooms decorated very formally. I feel like I am in a museum. Stanton doesn't seem to notice. He keeps walking. We come to the kitchen. It is the biggest kitchen I have ever seen. There are three large islands and two large stoves and more cabinets than one could ever fill, but no sign of Tommy or the two men. The kitchen looks out onto the pool area where I saw the two men talking but they don’t appear to be out there anymore. We continue searching through the first floor of the house and don't find anyone. We come back to the lobby and slowly walk up the stairs. There's no sign of the old man or the dog. The front doors are still open. We arrive at the top of a long narrow hallway and Stanton turns right. I feel the excitement and my nerves squeezing every muscle in my body. I almost can’t breathe. I keep imagining one of these rooms contains Tommy. Stanton quickly opens the first door and we see what looks to be a guest room. There’s an unmade bed in the corner. We continue down the hallway and reach the master bedroom; no sign of the room I saw on the video. Stanton stops and looks into the master. We see ruffled sheets where someone had been recently sleeping. I follow him into the room as he checks the closets and large bathroom area, but there is no sign of anyone. We start to leave the room and head back downstairs when I suddenly stop. I quickly walk towards a dresser and grab a framed photo. Stanton comes bounding towards me seeing what I’m looking at. He pulls out the photo of the man at the school with Tommy from his pocket and holds it up to the one on the dresser. They are one in the same.

  "That's him." I shout. Stanton grabs the framed picture tucks it under his arm and almost trips over Buster when we hear a loud bang outside. I quickly follow him down the staircase. He has his weapon out in front of him and his eyes are scanning in every direction. We reach the bottom of the stairs and step into the massive foyer. He waves at me to hold up as he slowly peeks outside the open door. At the time same time, we hear a car's engine and tires moving on the driveway. He quickly disappears out the front door. I slowly walk out and see him bent down over the old man. He is lying in the middle of the driveway in a pool of blood. I quickly turn my head as Buster brushes past me and heads toward his master. The dog stops and sits vigilantly at the man's head. I can see Stanton checking his neck for a pulse and talking into his radio mic. One of the BMW's is gone. I look up the road and don’t see anything moving. I assume Stanton has already given out the information that the suspects are in a BMW. He waves at me to come over.

  "Mr. Smith. Did you happen to get a look at the other car?"

  I shake my head no. "Other than it was a dark colored BMW. I don’t know. I think it was bigger than that one." I point at the dark green car behind Stanton. I think it is a 500 or 700 series, but I'm not sure. I can already hear sirens off in the distant. Stanton stands up and walks behind the second car. Buster remains in the same place.

  "He's gone." Stanton looks at the man and shakes his head. "I can’t believe this. How did this happen?"

  I shake my head and approach the dog. I scratch his neck and try and keep my eyes off the man. Stanton walks back into the house. He’s writing something in his notebook. About two minutes later, piercing sirens and flashing blue lights overtake the scene causing a thick blue-flashing haze. I remain next to Buster as two EMT's and kneel down beside the man. The dozen or so officers follow Stanton into the house. I can hear him directing them all over. Two or three of them quickly turn around and head back out the door and walk around to the back. I think I recognize one of them from being in our house over the last few days. I watch as the driveway and circle fills with emergency vehicles, and people rush by Buster and me, everything seems blurry. It’s all happening so fast. The paramedics have apparently finished trying to resuscitate the old man, because they are standing up and watching a police officer take pictures of the body. I can hear a description of the BMW being blasted on all the radios, but I haven’t heard anyone say they have seen it. A few minutes later, I feel a tap on my shoulder and a man dressed similar to Stanton asks me if he can ask me some questions. He leads me over closer to the front door.

  "Detective Milken." He shakes my hand. "So can you tell me exactly what happened before Detective Stanton arrived?" I describe all the events and finish talking about being chased and jumping in the truck with Michelle. "Are you sure this was one of the men?" He holds up the picture that was on the dresser.

  I suddenly think about Michelle, and realize I better get a hold of her. "I'm pretty sure it was him. I was a little distance away, but that was who I thought it was as soon as I saw him." He writes something down in his notebook. I pull out my phone. "Excuse me. I need to call my wife."

  "No problem. This will only take another minute." He looks back at his notebook. "Did you happen to see where the two men went after you left?" I close my eyes and try and visualize what happened again.

  "I think they were on the road when we were driving away." I point down the driveway and he nods.

  "Do you think they were close enough to see what kind of vehicle you were driving?"

  "Probably," He closes his notebook.

  "Okay, just stay close by in case we need you. I know Detective Stanton will want to talk to you." I watch as he hurries back into the house. I dial Michelle's phone hoping she has it with her. Luckily, she answers right away. I explain what happened and she tells me she'll be right over here. I slowly walk back to Buster and begin to scratch his neck again. A few moments later, an officer approaches me and tells me Michelle is here. I didn't even notice the crime scene tape until now. I can see her on the other side. I run over to her and duck under the tape. We are standing next to the driveway on the grass. I explain to her what happened. We sit down on a large rock and watch as the man's body gets wheeled down the driveway on a gurney and then disappears into a chaos of flashing blue and red lights. Buster slowly stands up and begins walking in circles. His eyes and head are pointing downward. I clap my hands and he reluctantly walks over to Michelle and me. He sits down beside us, so I begin to scratch his neck again until he lays his head on my shoes. I think I see Michelle try and smile, but I’m not sure. I'm not sure how much longer we stay there, but sometime later Stanton comes out and talks to an officer who points at us. We watch him duck under the tape and walk towards us.


  "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Smith, sorry about all the confusion that went on here."

  "What happened?" Michelle asks.

  "Well first of all, it looks like the BMW is nowhere to be found. We have no reports of anyone calling in seeing it or anything." He shakes his head. "Second of all, apparently the man that was shot was the father of the two guys you saw?"

  "They shot their own father?" I move my hand to Buster's back.

  "It looks as though they didn’t want him to talk, so they shut him up; nice sons huh?"

  "Is this the same guy from the school?" I ask.

  "We think so."

  "But there's no sign of Tommy right?"

  Stanton looks at Michelle. "That's right. We have searched the place upside down and there's nothing that indicates he was ever here. We have the techs going through it now." He looks back at the house. "The weird thing is it looks like there are no personal items at all in the house except for that photograph you saw on the dresser."

  "So what do we do now? Do you know who this guy is?"

  "As you know his name is Frank Harris and his brother's name is Shane, but other than that we don’t know much about them. In fact, it's like Shane doesn’t even exist. Neither of them have a record or anything. The man they killed is Frank Harris Sr." He looks towards the driveway. "He is apparently a retired judge. We are talking to some of the neighbors, so hopefully we'll get more information soon." I look down at Buster who looks like he's sound asleep. "Why don’t you guys head home and I'll update you in a little bit." He looks at the dog. "Take him with you if you want. I don't think anyone else is going to care for him."

  Michelle nods. "We'll watch him until we can find a home for him. We slowly walk back towards the truck with Buster tailing behind us, when my phone begins to vibrate. I look at the text message and it reads. "No greater love than that between a father and son…ha ha".

  Chapter 14

  We arrive back home. We're both exhausted after all the suspense. I take Buster out in the backyard for a few minutes and then fall asleep next to Michelle on the couch. I wake up a few times during the night feeling a wet tongue on my face, but I just rub Buster's back and we both go back to sleep. Next thing I know, I wake up to a knock on the door. I look at Michelle and Buster. They slowly rise up to the sound. It is morning and the sun is shining brightly through the windows; one more day until I’m supposed to pull the trigger. I feel my stomach toss around at the thought. I quickly open the door to both Detective Stanton and Adams. They both look fresh and awake. I wave them in and Stanton hands me a bag full of donuts and two large cups of coffee. He looks at Michelle and Buster standing on the other side of the living room near the couch.

  "How was the dog? I found this and thought you could use it." He hands me a green nylon leash.

  I tap my leg to call him over, Buster bounds across the room and stops at my feet. I rub under his collar. "I think he's doing okay. I'm sure he's a little confused about what happened. Come sit down." I walk back towards the couch and set the bag of donuts on the coffee table and hand Michelle one of the coffees. Buster sticks his nose near the bag and then turns away. He places his head on my feet when I sit down. I reach in a grab a glazed donut. Stanton and Adams sit opposite us and each take out a donut as well. Michelle just stares at the bag.

  "Well we found the car. You'll never guess where it was?"

  "In front of Sorenson's house right?" They both nod their heads.

  "There was nothing useful in there except for this." He pulls out a piece of paper with some numbers written on it. "It's definitely some kind of code for a combination or something." I lean in closer and gasp for air when I read the numbers. They're for the storage compartment where the gun is located I'm supposed to use tomorrow. I can't believe it. "Does this mean anything to you guys?" We both shake our heads. "I've got some guys checking some of the local storage facilities, but with the amount around here, I doubt we'll have any luck." He looks directly at me. I feel a band of sweat forming on my forehead. Buster rustles his body below me. "By the way, some of the neighbors have reported seeing the two men in the vicinity of their father's house before, but no one has spoken to them and the next door neighbor has limited eyesight, so she won’t be much help."

  "Do we know anything else about them?" Stanton looks at Adam's.

  "There is no record of either one of them. They have never filed taxes, held a job, served in the military or anything that we can find." He looks at Stanton. "We can't even find birth certificates for them. The only record we have of them is from Sorenson."

  Stanton pulls his chair closer causing Buster to quickly turn his head. "We think these are the guys holding Tommy and responsible for the teller and the boy, so we really want to find them." He looks at our TV. "We have broadcasted the photograph we found…or actually you found and are hoping someone will have seen them. I mean they're not invisible. I think despite all that happened last night we caught a big break with you being there and spotting them. I just wish you had called us first."

  I look at Michelle. For the first time, I can see a hint of the sparkle in her eyes coming back. "So what do we do now?"

  "We're staking out the house in case they decide to come back, plus we're dusting and checking through the car for any more clues. With any luck someone will recognize one of them." We both nod. They both grab another donut and let us know they'll be back with any more news. I walk them to the door and thank them. Buster stays directly behind me the whole time. It's as if he's watching over me like he did with his owner. We spend the rest of the morning just hanging around and not really talking to each other except a couple of comments about what the detectives said. Things do sound more promising than they did a week ago. I can’t believe that much time has gone by. You really have no idea of time or anything when your child is missing and is in danger. I can't stop thinking about tomorrow, despite the fact that if I can do it Tommy will be back. How can I shoot a man? Especially, one who went out of his way to give us a possible break. I just hope they can find the guy before tomorrow comes so I don’t have to go through with it. I can't imagine Tommy being killed for something I don’t do. I look at Buster and he stares back at me with his big sad eyes. I try and imagine myself holding the gun and pointing it at Sorenson and shooting him. I just can't get past the shooting part. How can I pull the trigger? I've shot enough guns in the Army to know what they can do. I don’t think I can live with the alternative of knowing Tommy will be killed because I was too afraid to do something. I place my hands on my head and shut my eyes. I feel Buster curling up around my feet as if he knows I'm upset. A minute later, I’m drifting off to sleep when I suddenly wake up in terror full of sweat with the last thought of me pulling the trigger and Sorenson falling over backwards. I'm not sure how long this goes on, but eventually Michelle taps me on the shoulder and tells me I have a phone call. I slowly sit up and stretch my arms before answering.

  "Hello."

  "Hey Shelton. It's Jim." I feel my oxygen levels come back to normal knowing it isn’t the guy or the police telling me they have found Tommy. "Brian has made some progress. I just wanted to give you an update." I pull the phone closer to my ear. "We have traced the path through the Internet. I'm not sure how he does it, but he has found the original computer that placed the virus on both our servers and the website."

  "Really? Was it Sorenson's?"

  "No, his was just the one that was used to launch the attack from. Weird thing is the person who was using Sorenson's was almost trying to let it be known he was using that one. Anyway, the computer was one in the public library. Brian is down there now going over the computer and talking to the staff. I think we are on to something."

  I look down at Buster. His eyes are closed tight. "That is great news. What do you think the chances are he'll be able to get anything?"

  "I think they are very good, because the same computer was used in both attacks and you have to sign up and show ID to use it." I think back to Law
rence's license being used to get Tommy out of school.

  "Thanks so much for all you guys are doing. I owe you everything."

  "No…no, anytime, we want to help you in any way. I'll call you back as soon as he is finished with the computer. We're also still working on those webcams." I hang up the phone and update Michelle on what they are working on. I feel pretty good having two separate paths to this guy, one by the police and one by Jim and Brian. I just hope one of them can get there before tomorrow. I decide to take Buster out for a walk. I hook up his leash and head out the front door. By the time we get to the bottom of the driveway, my phone begins to vibrate. I see it's a phone call so I answer.

  "Why hello Sheldon, I see you have been busy the last few days. I hope you are ready for tomorrow's activities."

  "Look, I'll do anything you want, but killing someone is beyond my grasp."

  I stop and Buster lifts his leg on a small bush. "Sheldon we made a deal and when I make deals I stand by them. Here's the plan, Douglas Sorenson will be home alone from seven until nine tomorrow night. His wife and daughter attend a dance class together, so I need you to pick up the weapon beforehand and head over to his house." Buster starts pulling me to move forward. "You can tell him you just want to talk, and then when you get inside all you have to do is pull the trigger and your property will be returned within ten minutes."

  I don't say anything. I just follow Buster as he pulls me down the street in search of the next perfect bush to mark his scent on. "Please there has to be another way."