“Whatever you have to do, Jack, you do it. That woman is the best thing that ever happened to you.” She disappeared into the kitchen, leaving me alone with her words.
She hadn’t said it harshly, or with anger, but with love. She felt in her soul that Mandy was the one for me, and I hoped she was right, because the feelings I had for Mandy ran deep into my soul.
*******
I had just pulled away from my mother’s house when my phone began to vibrate. I answered it without checking the ID and was met by a familiar voice.
“Jack?”
“Yeah, Nate.”
“I got the autopsy on Tracy Adams back from the coroner, and thought you might be interested.”
“Sure enough, what’s the verdict?”
“The coroner says accidental drowning. The toxicology won’t be back for a couple days, but she had water in her lungs, and there was no sign of defensive injuries.”
“Huh! That is interesting. I appreciate the call, Nate. The case really just struck me when I read it in the paper.”
“No problem.”
“Take care, Nate.”
“Hey, Jack?”
“Yeah, Nate.”
“When are we gonna play some racquetball again?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t played in a while.”
Nate laughed. “Good, maybe I’ll beat you this time!”
“Not a chance! I’ll call you as soon as I can break free.”
“Sounds good. Bye.”
An accidental death didn’t help me much. If it was an accident, then her reason for becoming a Runner may not have been tied to her death, and I may have a tougher time tracking her down.
I looked at my watch. Nine thirty. The sun had already set now that October was right around the corner, and the days were growing shorter. I’d planned to go stake out the Adams’s home again, this time overnight, to see if Tracy showed herself.
I had an early morning appointment with Rachel, so I couldn’t be there all night, but I figured to stay until at least one in the morning.
While on the way to my stakeout, I checked my voice mail. No message from Mandy, nor was there a message from Sarah Daniels. I called Mandy again, got her voice mail again, and hung up without leaving a message.
Maybe there’s a reason you’ve been single all this time.
*******
I pulled up in front of the Adams’s home at ten fifteen. The lights were on inside the house, and occasionally I would see a figure pass by the curtains, forming a dark image. There was still no sign of my Runner, and no sense of her being here, either. Bear was sleeping in the seat next to me, and with my headlights off, I slid down in the seat to wait.
chapter 8
My phone’s ringer startled me awake.
Where am I? Oh, crap, I fell asleep!
I grabbed the phone. “Hello?”
“Jack?”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“It’s me, Sarah. I’m sorry to wake you.”
“No, not all. Is something wrong?”
I could sense more than hear her smile through the phone. “Buddy’s awake!”
I sat up straighter. “Sarah, that’s great! How is he?”
“Pretty groggy and a little confused. He doesn’t understand where all the time went.”
“I guess that’s normal?”
“Yes. The doctor said he was very pleased with Buddy’s responses.”
“Sarah, I’m tied up right now, but I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay, Jack. I’m sure Buddy will be happy to see you.”
“Not as happy as I’ll be to see him. Bye.”
I hung up and looked at the time. Five thirty. The sun hadn’t started up yet, and apparently nobody had called the police on me, so I started the car. Bear stood on her seat, wagging her tail. She was glad to be going, this stakeout stuff was probably too boring for her.
I had a last look around, still unable to sense Tracy Adams, but then I may have missed her while I slept.
Way to go, super private eye!
I headed home to clean up.
*******
After a shower and a change of clothes, I downed a bowl of Raisin Bran and fed Bear. As I got ready to leave, I realized I still had time to go see Buddy before picking up Rachel. Bear was getting tired of being left behind, and I didn’t like being without her, but there was nothing I could do. Some places just aren’t dog friendly.
I arrived at the hospital around seven and went to the ICU waiting room, but couldn’t find Sarah. A platinum-haired nurse saw me looking up and down the hallway. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, please. I’m looking for Sarah Daniels, her husband was in ICU.”
“Mr. Daniels was moved to a regular room on the second floor.” She consulted a chart. “Room 201.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it.”
I took the stairs down one flight, and came out into the hall right next to room 201. I tapped lightly on the door.
“Come in.”
I pushed the door open and entered to find Sarah sitting next to Buddy’s bed, holding his hand, and smiling broadly. “Hi, Jack.”
I kissed her cheek. “Hey, Sarah. This patient giving you any trouble?”
Buddy was entombed under all the bandages. I touched his hand. “Nice to see you, old man.”
“Do I know you?”
I looked at Sarah, startled by his reaction, and she nodded back toward Buddy. When I turned, his face was split into a smile. “Got ya!”
I laughed. “You’re a bad person, Buddy Daniels.”
He squeezed my hand. “How are things?”
I knew what he meant. How’s Harbinger, Gary, Journey Church, and everyone else? I wasn’t biting. “You worry about you. Everyone else is just fine.”
The thought of Brother Edwards reminded me to ask Sarah. “Did you call Gary?”
“Yes. He was sharing the news with the church, and said he would be by later.”
“Good.” I looked at the big clock on the wall. “I’ve got an appointment, so I need to run, but I need to ask a favor.”
“Of course. What is it?”
“I’m going to be doing some training, and I was hoping I could use Buddy’s gym.”
Without a word, she turned to her purse and extracted a house key. “Here, I don’t think Buddy will be using the gym for a while.”
I took the key. “Thanks, Sarah. I’ll be back later to see how he’s doing.”
When I looked at Buddy, his eyes were closed, so I crept out of the room without saying goodbye.
*******
I arrived at the Ramada Inn just one minute past eight. Rachel was on the ground floor, leaning against a railing and checking her watch.
I smiled at her teasing. “It’s just one minute!”
“Hey, late is late. Just saying!”
“Oh, I see how it is. The whole drill instructor thing has started already.”
She got in the car wearing a black spandex body suit, orange Nikes, and had her hair pulled up into a pair of matching pigtails. “Do you have a place you like to train?”
I pulled out into traffic. “Actually, I borrowed my mentor’s gym. It’s in his basement and should be perfect.”
“I heard Mr. Daniels is awake. That’s great!”
“Yeah. I’m excited for Sarah as much as anybody.”
“Why did you call last night to schedule training immediately?”
I paused, looking at Rachel. “Harbinger left a note for Sarah at the nurse’s station.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “I see. What did it say?”
“That he was there.”
We drove in silence the rest of the way to Buddy’s, and it was nice. I didn’t feel any awkwardness, which I’d expected with a new training partner, and I began to get excited about what Rachel might be able to teach me.
We pulled up in front of the house and got out. Rachel stood at the end of the walk, sizing up the place with her hands on
her hips. “Cute. It has a good spirit around it.”
I looked at her, curious. “You say it like you can see an aura or something.”
“No, not see, feel. Don’t you reach out with the Spirit to determine the nature of a place or person?”
“I have sensed people, like when I look for a Runner’s presence.”
“Well, it’s no different. You know how going into a church gives you a sense of the Lord’s presence?”
We were standing in front of the house, pointing at it, and I thought we might be mistaken for robbers casing the place. “Sure, I know what you mean.”
“Okay, so when I got out of the car, I reached out with the Spirit to feel for the presence of the Lord. It was immediately there.” We started up toward the house. “You should try it, Jack.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
Rachel stopped on the front step. “Now, Jack.”
I turned to look at her after unlocking the door. “Now?”
“It’s part of your training.”
“Okay, but can we go inside?”
She shook her red hair emphatically. “No, in fact, let’s go back out to the car.”
Rachel walked off and stood by the Ranchero. I let the screen door close and followed her. When I reached the car, I turned and looked at the house. “Okay, now what?”
“Once you learn to do this easily, you can do it with your eyes open, but for now you need to close them.”
I did as she said. I could sense her next to me, almost vibrating with intensity, and it was distracting. “All I can sense is you.”
She smiled and moved away. “Try again.”
I did, reaching out as I would when trying to sense Harbinger. It took a few minutes, but eventually I began to sense a welcoming and peaceful feeling. “I feel it!”
“Excellent. Now open your eyes, walk down three houses, and do the same thing.”
“Uh, don’t you think someone might call the police?”
“Maybe,” she laughed. “But do it anyway.”
I walked down the block and stopped in front of a small brick house. Closing my eyes, I reached out toward the home. I felt it quicker this time, a fear magnified by hopelessness. I shuddered and retreated to where Rachel stood. “I felt such a cold, almost despairing, atmosphere.”
Rachel studied me with those green eyes. “Which home would you be cautious entering? It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“Sure.”
“You can learn to do this whenever you come to a new situation. In fact, it will become automatic. For the time being, though, you need to practice it.”
Rachel headed for the front door, and I followed her, beginning to see what made this lady so special.
*******
We worked the rest of the day on physical fitness, taking advantage of Buddy’s gym, and the privacy it gave us. It was much easier to focus when you weren’t surrounded by other people. Rachel pushed me to get in as good shape as I could. “You must be able to outlast a Runner, to make them go back to spirit, before you run out of energy.”
By the time the late afternoon arrived, I was exhausted, but Rachel looked like she was just getting started. She tossed me a towel and went upstairs, returning with two bottles of water. She handed one to me, and sat on the floor, gesturing for me to join her.
I sat down, cross-legged, opposite her. After a long drink of water, her face took on an even more intense look than when she was training me.
“Jack, we need to talk about the list you gave me the other night.”
“Did you find something out?”
“Yes, and it’s what I thought.”
I took another drink. “What you thought?”
She wiped her face with the towel. “Yes. When you handed me the list, I was pretty sure I recognized the names. It turned out I was right.”
Does this woman take lessons from Buddy on ‘getting to the point’?”
“Right about what?”
“Each of those four names belongs to a long-time Runner.”
I stared at her. “Long-time? You mean like Harbinger?”
She nodded. “In fact, all four are considerably older than Harbinger.”
“Does older translate as stronger?”
She nodded. “Stronger, and usually more cunning.”
Oh, great! That means even if I defeat Harbinger, he’s probably just a warm-up.
“Why would Harbinger have those names?”
“Our guess is, although we’re not certain, he might have been contacting them to come to St. Louis.”
I closed my eyes and flopped onto my back. “Great news, Rachel!”
She laughed. “I know, but we don’t have any evidence they’ve made it into town, yet. For the time being, we focus on Harbinger.”
I sat up. “We?”
“Yes, we. I told you, I’m here to help you reach your potential.”
I smiled. “You sound like an Air Force recruiter.”
“Not a bad analogy.” She grinned. “Except we fly by a different method!”
She reached over and took my hand, the energy that was Rachel Tanner, surging through her hand to mine. “Come on, we need to finish with prayer.”
*******
After prayer, I showed Buddy’s office to Rachel. Buddy had revealed the office to me in the days before our last confrontation with Harbinger. He had all of his mentor’s research, as well as what he had gathered, stored in this little office under the stairs.
Rachel examined the photos of Harbinger, including the ones Buddy had taken at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, and then went over some of the documents. She spotted a full-year calendar hanging on the wall. There were three dates highlighted. “What are these dates?”
“They relate to Harbinger. Buddy discovered three dates, significant to Steve Mason, before he became a Runner.”
“Really? How did he do that?”
“He found out, through his research, that Mason had a mother and sister who died in a fire.” I pointed at the first date. “The fire occurred on this date, April second.”
“And the other two dates?”
“Birthdays. One is the mother’s and the other is the sister’s.”
Rachel was obviously impressed. “That’s good work. What did he do with the dates?”
“Well, the mother and sister were buried under the same headstone, and Buddy would stake it out on each of the dates. Without fail, Harbinger showed up to visit the graves.”
The light bulb inside Rachel Tanner’s head lit up. “So, you and Buddy confronted him on September nineteenth, is that it?”
“That’s right.” I reached over and tapped October tenth. “And I’m going to be there on this date to face him again.”
Rachel found a red pencil in the desk drawer, and began making X’s through each date from September nineteenth to today. “I hope Buddy won’t mind.”
I looked at the blank days between the last X and October tenth.
“I’ve got just about two weeks to be ready, and I intend to be. By that date, I’ll be Harbinger’s worst nightmare!”
It sounded good, anyway!
chapter 9
I went by the hospital on the way home. Sarah, still in the print dress she’d put on the other day, was sitting by Buddy’s bedside. I didn’t know the last time she ate. I kissed her forehead.
“Sarah, do you want me to sit with this old man while you go home for a little while?”
“Do you mind?”
“Certainly not.”
Buddy opened his eyes and smiled. “Do I have a say in this?”
I looked at him and laughed. “Hey, I know I’m not as pretty as Sarah, but you can suffer through for an hour!”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
Sarah kissed her husband, patted his hand, and gathered her purse. “I’ll be back shortly.”
After she left, I took her seat by Buddy. “How you doing, my friend?”
“I’ve certainly been better, but cons
idering the alternative, I’m doing okay.”
He fell quiet, and I was still tired from my training, so I just enjoyed the opportunity to sit in my mentor’s company.
My thoughts wandered to Mandy. I’d checked my messages on the way over to the hospital, but still nothing from her. I needed to be patient, but I was used to talking to her nearly every day, and I missed her.
Rather than allowing myself to wallow, I switched gears, concentrating on the Runner. Tracy Adams.
I still didn’t have a hint where she would be, and I didn’t know what to do next. The ruling of accidental drowning was bothering me. A murder, and the emotions tied to such an act, is much more likely to spur someone to run.
What if it wasn’t an accident? Where would I be if I was the Runner and I knew I’d been murdered?
The answer for me would probably involve tracking one of two people. Following around the person responsible or the person who could right the wrong. I’d already staked out the person most likely to be guilty, if it was murder, and not found the Runner. The person most likely to right the wrong would be Detective Nate Talbot.
I need to visit my friend.
I took out my phone and called Nate.
“Hello?”
“Nate, it’s Jack.”
“Hey, Jack. What’s up?”
“I thought we might schedule that racquetball game, what do say?”
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning, say nine o’clock at the Y?”
“Sounds good. See you there.”
*******
I was out the door by eight thirty the next morning. I had called Rachel and explained to her why I would be late for training today. She understood, and said she would meet me at Buddy’s later. I called Mandy as well, but still got no answer.
The YMCA Nate and I usually played at was in Chesterfield, less than fifteen minutes from my house. I arrived just as Nate was getting out of his car.
The first thing I did was try to sense my Runner, Tracy Adams, and to quote Yukon Cornelius from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, I got “Nothin’!”
DESTINY (THE CHASER CHRONICLES Book 3) Page 5