by K. J. Dahlen
“Shhh, don’t try to talk,” Sable told her friend. “Nick’s coming. We’ll get you to the hospital and you’ll be just fine.”
Brandi shook her head. “No, I think we both know that isn’t going to happen. Just don’t let the bastard win. Don’t let him escape justice.” Brandi raised a bloody hand to grab Sable’s shirt. “Promise me you’ll catch this creep.”
Sable pulled Brandi’s face closer to her own. “I promise, but you have to hang on. Please don’t go, not yet. I need you to hang on.”
“I can’t.” Brandi whispered. “I’m so tired.” She closed her eyes, seemingly against the pain she was feeling and her hand fell to her lap. Brandi’s body arched one last time and as she exhaled it was as if she released the pain and accepted death.
“No, please don’t go,” Sable cried out as she struggled to find Brandi’s pulse. When she couldn’t find one, Sable yelled, “Nick, where the hell are you?”
“I’m coming,” she heard her boss answer.
“Follow my voice, but hurry. Brandi is fading fast.”
Minutes later Sable glanced up to see a flash of light coming her way. “We’re here,” she called out. Nick came around the corner, and they were joined by three other officers. Nick knelt beside Sable and checked Brandi’s body. He looked at Sable and could see her distress. Her face was wet with tears and her mouth was rigid with pain. She had backed away when the others got there but retained her connection with Brandi by keeping her hand in hers. He saw Sable’s grip on Brandi and gently tried to break the bond between them.
“Honey, give her to me so I can help her,” Nick spoke softly. He held out his arms to take Brandi from Sable. When he had her away from Sable, Nick turned and handed her to the officers. He turned to Sable and helped her to her feet. The officers had left the cave and Sable moved to join them but Nick held her back.
Sable glanced at Nick. “I have to go with Brandi. I promised her I’d get her to the hospital.”
Nick tightened his grip on her hands. “Honey, Brandi is gone.”
Sable tried to shake Nick's hands loose. “No, the others have her. They are getting her out of the caves. Come on, we have to go.”
“Sable, listen to me,” Nick reached to pull her closer. “Brandi is gone. She won’t know you didn’t get her to the hospital.”
Sable stared at him for a moment before what he was trying to tell her sank into her mind. She started to shake her head then leaned closer to Nick’s embrace. “No, she can’t be dead. She just can’t be.” Her tears wet the front of his shirt and she accepted the comfort of his arms.
Nick pulled her closer and held her. Then he tipped her head back to look at her face. “Are you alright?”
Sable felt the tears running down her checks. “No, I’m not, but I have to be, don’t I? I have to clear my mind in order to catch this creep. I can’t let Brandi die in vain.” She stepped away from his embrace and took a deep breath. “I won’t let her death become meaningless.”
Nick watched as Sable shut down her feelings and became a different person. She covered her face with her hands and the tears stopped. Her body shuttered briefly and then she lowered her hands. Gone was the gentle side of Sable and the Sable that had taken her place looked cold and unfeeling. The only thing that showed on her face was the rage in her eyes. Sable turned to glare at him. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.” She turned and led the way out of the cave.
Outside the opening, she found the officers covering Brandi’s body with a jacket. Marie stood beside Mason and Sable walked over to them. “We have to get back to the hotel and figure out where Noah is.”
Marie looked at her with tears in her eyes. She didn’t understand Sable being totally sober. “What about your friend?”
Sable refused to look at Brandi’s body. She knew if she did, the façade she projected would break apart. As long as she was the target, she was okay, but Noah had taken the life of someone Sable cared about. She didn’t want her friends to die in her place. “The sooner we find Noah the sooner we’ll be able to stop him.”
“How are you going to find him now?” Mason asked.
“The same way we were going to find him before,” Sable said. “By using every resource we have. He’s here for a reason we just have to figure it out.”
She looked at the blood on her hands and clothes. “I need a shower then we'll hunt him down using everything in our power.”
Chapter Seven
By mid-morning they were back at the hotel going over the evidence from Maggie’s death. Mason and Marie were running down the names Micah had used in the past against property sales, while Sable and Quentin were checking on Noah’s past. Nick had gone to the hospital with Brandi’s body and he wasn’t back yet.
Joe was studying the physical items they collected from Maggie’s room. There weren’t many personal objects and he had separated them from the motel’s items. He was going through her clothing when he found a large manila envelope. He sat down on the sofa and opened the envelope. Inside he found several pictures and hand written letters.
“I think I found something,” he called out as he began reading one of the letters. It was from Noah to his mother.
Sable got up from her computer and walked over to the sofa. “What did you find?”
Joe handed her the letter. “This kid really didn’t like his mother much. In fact I think he hated her.”
Sable took the letter and began reading the words Noah had written. She had to stop after a few minutes. Noah's letters to his mother spoke of damning condemnation. “He was listening to his uncle. Micah poisoned him against everyone but himself. Micah told Noah that Maggie murdered his father and everything she told him was lies. Noah fell for Micah’s lies and blamed the wrong person. He’s still blaming the wrong person for the way his life turned out.” Sable was about to drop the letter on the coffee table when she noticed a picture amongst the papers. She picked up the photograph and moved closer to the lamp to look at it. It was a photo of three young boys. They were all around the same age and they all had the same colored eyes; cobalt blue, the same color as her eyes.
“I think we have a likeness of Noah,” she called out as she stared at the photograph. She glanced over at Quentin and held out the picture. “There are three guys in this picture and two of them are my brothers. The third must be Noah.”
Quentin, Mason, and Marie joined them and she handed Quentin the photo. He took it back to his computer and scanned the photo. Then he began running an aging program. He needed to find out what Noah would look like at his present age. When he was finished, he began running a facial recognition program. While it was running, he checked the real estate records. They had a hit. One of the aliases Micah had used in the past appeared in the records as belonging to the owner of a warehouse on Third Street. It was an older warehouse that used to be owned by a furniture company. “We got a hit on the real estate, "he announced.
Mason came over and glanced at what he found. “I know that building. It’s only about three blocks from here.”
“Let’s see if it’s the place Noah told me about.” Sable was reaching for her weapon when the door to the room opened and Nick joined them. She looked at her boss and could tell he had bad news. “What did they find?” She braced herself to hear the news of what Noah had done to her friend.
Nick looked at the group. “Brandi had a head wound but she died as a result of slowly bleeding from fourteen stab wounds. Each knife wound was placed to do the most damage without actually killing her. The coolness of the cave actually kept her alive little longer than she should have been.”
No one said anything as the knowledge sank in. Sable walked over to her room and closed the door behind her. She just needed to be alone for a few minutes. She went over to her bed and sat down on the edge. Tears welled in her eyes and fell silently down her face. The knowledge of what Noah had done to Brandi was threatening to crack the façade she was using to keep the pain away and she couldn’t let it
. She had to be strong until this new nightmare was over. She would have all the time in the world to mourn her friend’s death when Noah was dead.
She reached for the key around her neck. She knew deep down Noah was a bastard and the key was what he was after. What the key unlocked, he considered his birthright and Sable was bound and determined he would never get it.
She wiped the tears from her face. Getting up, she went into the bathroom. Grabbing a tissue, she blew her nose and splashed some cool water on her face. Taking a deep breath she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Only her eyes gave away her secret pain and she knew she would have to bury her pain deep in her soul, at least for now. Then she rejoined the others.
Nick looked at her and was going to say something but Sable shook her head. Before she could comment, her phone rang. When she answered, it was Noah on the line.
“Hello, Sable.”
Sable had to grip the phone as a sudden flash of rage hit her. “What the hell do you want now?”
“I’m calling to arrange the trade, Brandi for the knife.”
Sable’s eyes widened. She had forgotten Noah wasn’t aware they’d found Brandi already. She turned to look at Nick. Nick stepped closer to her and Sable tipped the phone so he could hear the conversation. “You want to arrange a place for a trade?”
“That is what you wanted earlier, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, I remember,” Sable said.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it and I found the perfect place to make the exchange.”
“Wait a minute. I want to talk to Brandi. I want to know she’s okay before I agree to this exchange.” She waited for the excuse she knew was coming.
“Brandi isn’t here right now. I told you earlier, once I had the knife I would let you know where you could find her. You spoke to her then and she was fine. Why would that have changed?”
“Maybe because I’m beginning to know you and I don’t trust you.” She sighed deeply. “Where do you want to meet?”
“I want you to meet me at a little park for the exchange. You give me the knife and I tell you where Brandi is.” Noah hesitated, “There is one condition. You must come alone. If I see anyone with you, I will not hesitate to walk away then you will never know the fate of your friend.”
“You are crazy to think I would meet you anywhere alone,” Sable told him.
Noah chuckled. “Then you can send that cute little cop I saw you with yesterday at the motel where Maggie was staying.”
Sable glanced at Nick and turned her attention to Marie. “I won’t put her in your path either.”
“I’ve got no reason to harm her. At least not yet.”
“What does that mean?” Sable asked.
“All I want is what’s mine. Give me my father’s knife and I’ll leave town. You won’t ever hear or see me again,” Noah assured her.
“And if I don’t give you the knife?”
“Then I come and get it myself. You and your team will not deny me what’s mine. I’ll kill anyone who stands in my way.”
“That sounds more like Micah than you.”
“What would you know about Micah or me?” Noah scoffed. “Micah was a good man and you don’t even know me.”
“Micah was a coward and a murderer.”
“If that’s what you think, you couldn’t be more wrong,” Noah told her. “Micah had his own set of rules he lived by, and they were good rules.”
“Oh, I know all about his seven rules to live by and they went against everything our society has set for rules of common behavior. There are laws we have to follow and Micah enjoyed breaking them all. He enjoyed murdering people for little or no reason. Instead of making a difference by believing in the law, Micah used his own screwed up version to justify being a murderer.”
“And you murdered him for what he believed in. What does that make you?” Noah snarled.
“I’m a cop, a very good cop. I uphold the laws we’re supposed to live with.”
“And common every day people break those laws everyday. They rape and murder their fellow human beings and they use those same laws to get away with their crimes. Micah was simply taking back his rights by punishing those who broke the laws.”
“No, he just liked to kill. There was no rhyme or reason to his methods.”
“I’m not here to argue with you. I’m here to get my father’s knife back. Now are you going to give it to me or not?” Noah asked. “Remember your friend’s life is at sake.”
Sable had almost forgotten about Brandi. Flashes of finding her friend and realizing what she went through flitted through her mind. She was surprised and dismayed by Noah’s assumption Brandi was still alive. She wanted so much to tell him to go to hell. “First, tell me where Brandi is and you’ll get the knife.”
“Bring the knife to Myrick Park. When I have the knife, I’ll call you and tell you where Brandi is,” Noah insisted.
Sable sighed. “Where do you want me to leave the knife?”
“Just bring it to the park. I’ll contact you there.” The line went dead and Sable slowly closed the phone. She looked at Nick then faced the room.
“Noah still thinks he has a chance of getting the knife back. He doesn’t know we found Brandi already,” Sable told them.
“Where does he want you to meet him?” Mason asked.
“Myrick Park. He said he would contact me at the park.”
“That’s not too far from here,” Marie said.
Sable looked at Nick and back to Marie. “When I said I wouldn’t meet him, he wanted you to bring the knife. I told him I wouldn’t give him another possible hostage. He said he didn’t have any reason to hurt you.”
Marie cocked her head and looked at Sable. “What does that mean?”
“He noticed you and it worries me.”
“Why should he worry you?”
“Noah is a killer and the fact he noticed you makes me uncomfortable. He might come after you in order to get to me.”
“What is the obsession he has with his father’s knife?” Mason asked. “I mean every time he calls he mentions it.”
Sable turned and went to her bedroom. When she came back she was holding the knife Noah wanted. “When Maggie posed as my mother, she brought me a box of items she took with her when she disappeared shortly after I was born. This knife was in the box. Also in the box were my real mother’s journal and my baby book,” Sable told them.
“We traced the knife back to Richard. The blood on the knife was Richard’s. Micah used Richard’s knife to kill him.” Sable took the knife out of the evidence bag and laid it on the coffee table. Then she reached for the key around her neck. “What you don’t know is Richard hid a key inside the handle of the knife. A key with four numbers etched on it.”
“How do you know that?” Mason asked.
“Because I found the key. Do you remember when we found out about Micah and Richard robbing banks?” Sable asked. When Marie nodded, Sable told them, “I think there is a safe somewhere with all the money they stole. Noah needs the key to open the safe. He feels the stolen money is his birthright.”
“Well, that makes sense,” Nick said.
“Granted my reasoning is just a theory, but it’s the only thing that makes Noah’s obsession work. He also doesn’t know we found Brandi yet. He thinks he’s got all the power.”
Nick’s head popped up. “What are you planning on doing?”
Sable turned to stare at him. “I plan on taking his power away from him.”
“How are you going to do that?” Marie asked.
Sable turned to Quentin. “We need to find the warehouse Micah bought. I have a feeling the safe is in the warehouse. If we can find the safe, we can take away Noah’s power.”
Quentin hit a few keys on his computer. “We might have three possibilities. I know I said we got a hit before but since then we have two more possibilities. The other two are on the north side of town.”
Sable turned to Marie. “Where did your
parents end up after they left their farm this morning?”
“They are staying at my place. Why?”
She turned to Mason. “You need to get a couple officers over there. If Noah noticed Marie, he might have followed her home. If he realizes we know about Brandi, he might take her for an extra edge.”
The radio on Mason’s belt began beeping. He plucked it off and read the message. He snapped his head up and stared at Sable. “That was a 911. Apparently someone tried to break in at Marie’s house. Marie’s dad struggled with the burglar and was stabbed. The burglar got away and Marie’s mom called the police.”
“Oh my lord,” Marie cried. “Is my dad okay?”
Mason shrugged. “The officers are still there and your mom and dad are on their way to the hospital.”
“You’d better take her to the hospital,” Nick told Mason. “I’ll talk to the police and find out what happened.” He turned to Quentin. “You stay here with Sable. Do not for any reason leave her alone.” He grabbed his keys out of his pocket then looked at Sable. “Don’t try anything stupid. I don’t want to lose you too.”
“I won’t.” She assured him. She watched as everyone left then turned to Quentin. He had taken his weapon out, laid it on the table, and was busy at his computer screen. He looked up at her. “What do you suppose he’s up to now?”
“I think he figured out we know about Brandi and he’s coming here after the knife.”
“Are you serious?” Quentin asked.
“Oh yeah,” Sable said.
“What makes you think that?”
“Because that’s what Micah would have taught him to do. If he can’t get what he wants one way, create chaos to sneak in the back way. He broke into Marie’s house to get the local police on the case. I don’t know if he was expecting her father to be there, but Ben Thomas might have gotten a piece of Noah.”
“What do you think he’ll do next?”
“I think he was outside watching to see everyone rush off. Once he knows everyone is gone, he’ll try to get the knife.”
“But not everyone rushed off. You and I are still here.”