Burn Out

by Traci Hohenstein

  Stacy tried to get a better look. The figure was dressed in long pants and a baseball cap. It was hard to tell whether it was a man or woman. Whoever it was collapsed as soon as Stacy pulled the truck over. She quickly checked her cell phone. Still no signal. Cautiously, she got out of truck and walked over to the side of the road.

  “Are you okay?” She got a little closer.

  The figure emitted a low moan that reminded Stacy of a cat when it goes in heat. She bent down next to the person and repeated, “Hey, are you okay?”

  Suddenly, the person grabbed her wrist and pulled her down hard. She looked into a pair of eyes that made her spine tingle. It was Paul.

  He forced her up and held a gun to her back. Shit, she thought. She was in trouble now.

  “Walk slowly to the truck and get in. No funny stuff or I will shoot you. And I won’t think twice about it.”

  Stacy thought about her options. She was still a couple miles away from the highway and didn’t know the area very well. She tried to remember if Mike had left the gun in the truck or had taken it with him.

  Paul made her get in the driver’s seat. “Let’s go. Pull out nice and slow.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Just drive. I’ll let you know when you need to turn.”

  Stacy pulled back out onto the road. She wondered how long it would be until Mike and Rachel knew she didn’t call the police.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “You feel up to going to the other cabin?” Mike asked as he helped Rachel up.

  Rachel got her balance and tested her legs. She was a little unsteady on her feet and her ankle throbbed.

  “We can rest for a bit,” Mike offered.

  “No, let’s go. I’m ready.” Rachel felt like their time was running out. Like Sam’s time was running out, was more like it, she thought. She grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. Looking back at where the cabin once stood, she said a silent prayer. Please let Sam be alive.

  They retraced their steps from the day before, carefully making their way around the lake.

  “Watch your step. Stay close behind me,” Mike said as they headed through thick brush.

  “What do you think happened at the cabin?”

  “I don’t know why Paul would blow up his own cabin. Unless he was hiding something from us.”

  They found the cabin again. It was still locked.

  “Now what?” Rachel asked.

  Mike pulled out his gun. “Step back.” He aimed the gun at the lock and pulled the trigger. The lock blew off and left a small hole in the door. He pulled the door open and looked inside.

  “It’s dark. Hand me the flashlight, please.”

  Rachel handed over the flashlight and he stepped inside.

  “What do you see?”

  “Looks like they are using this place for storage.” He shone a light around the area. Rachel could see a couple of ATVs and storage shelves that were neatly stacked against wall. They held several rows of storage tubs.

  Rachel and Mike walked deeper inside. Rachel figured the room was about ten feet wide and thirty feet in length. The flooring was made of old pine wood.

  “I guess this is where Paul stores all his hunting gear,” Rachel said as she walked to the back of the room. “He sure likes everything neat and orderly.” Rachel began to look inside one of boxes.

  “I wonder why he built a storage area so far away from…Hey, wait a sec. Did you hear that?” Mike asked, shining his light near the back of the shed.

  Rachel took a step back and listened.

  A faint noise seemed to come from beneath the flooring.

  “What is that?” Mike shined the light on the floor where Rachel was standing.

  “An animal? It sounds like it’s coming from underneath.”

  Rachel got on her hands and knees and felt around the floor. She brushed away some debris. Her hand felt something rough.

  “I think this is some type of cellar.” She found a handle to the door and gave it a tug. The door wouldn’t budge.

  “That’s strange. It’s almost impossible to build anything underground in this area,” Mike said. “This must have been built into a hill. It’s hard to see with all the foliage surrounding it.”

  “I wonder if this was the original cabin. It looks older.”

  “And turned this one into a storage place. Makes sense,” Mike said. “Here, let me help.”

  Rachel got out of the way and Mike gave the handle a hard yank. The door slowly creaked open and he pushed it all the way down.

  “Hand me the flashlight.” She passed him the flashlight. He shined it down the dark hole.

  “Jesus.” Mike let out a sigh.

  A small room, no bigger than six by eight, held a small cot, jugs of water, a bucket and a shelf with canned goods. It was the smell that turned Mike’s stomach. A mix of sweat, urine and fear.

  Rachel peered over the top of the hold and felt a sense of dread. They were too late. Her gaze followed the light of the flashlight. Someone was curled up in a tight ball in the corner. Not moving. Mike quickly climbed the ladder down into the cellar with Rachel right behind him. He got to her first.

  “It’s Sam. She’s alive.” The sweetest words she ever heard.

  ***

  Rachel limped over to Sam. “Are you okay?”

  Sam looked up at her with tears in her eyes. She nodded her head yes.

  “I’m Rachel Scott with Florida Omni Search. We have been looking for you for a few days. Your mom asked us to find you.”

  “Do you think you can make it up the steps?” Mike asked her.

  “I think so.”

  Mike helped her up. “You are going to be okay.”

  Rachel said, “Why don’t I go back up first, then you follow with Sam the rest of the way.”

  When they got outside, Rachel found blanket in her bag and covered Sam up.

  “Where is the asshole?” Sam asked shivering.

  “Paul? I don’t know,” Rachel answered her. “We haven’t found him.”

  “I wonder what is taking Stacy so long. She should have been back by now,” Mike said.

  “How did you find me?” Sam asked Rachel.

  “We got a lead and went to Millers Lake. I found your heart charm necklace.”

  Sam looked shocked. “You found my necklace?”

  “Yep. Your friend Tammie told me about the necklace a few days ago. We just got lucky and found it. I knew you must have left it there on purpose.”

  “The asshole made me wear it again. It was his half of the necklace. He took me back to the lake a couple of days ago to look for the money that Ken hid. I took a chance when Paul wasn’t looking and hid it in the tree.” Sam took a deep breath. “He had this silly plan that we were going to get back together. I don’t know what happened to Paul. He just cracked. I was afraid I would never see my kids again. I hoped one day Ken would find the necklace and know what happened. That I didn’t leave our kids.”

  “I think he knows that. After we found the necklace, we came up here to talk to Paul. We haven’t been able to find him yet.”

  We need to head back up to the cabin. Do you think you can walk?” Mike asked Sam.

  “Yes.”

  “Paul’s cabin actually exploded.” Rachel explained to Sam what happened.

  “What? That crazy bastard blew it up?”

  “We don’t know what happened. We had just pulled up and were walking toward the cabin when it exploded.”

  “That must have been the noise I heard. The ground shook really hard.”

  “We don’t know what happened to Paul,” Mike said. “A friend of ours, Stacy, went to call the police after the house went up in flames.”

  “Hopefully she’s waiting for us there,” Rachel said.

  It took them longer to get back to the cabin. Sam had to stop a couple of times for a break.

  The cabin finally came into view. Or what was left of it. Sam gasped when she saw the large smolder
ing black hole where the cabin had been.

  Mike’s truck was nowhere to be found.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Stacy tried to keep her cool while she was driving. She wondered if he was going to risk going back to his house. They were heading that way.

  She tried to make small talk. “How long have you lived around here?”

  Paul sat in silence. She sneaked a peek at him. He was sullen and lost in thought. She tried another tactic. Maybe he didn’t want to talk about his transgressions. “My dad used to own hunting land in Alabama. He would shoot anything that moved. From deer to dove to turkeys.” She came to a fork in the road. Left would take them to the interstate and towards Pensacola. If they went right, it would take them back to Santa Rosa Beach.

  “Take a right.” Ahhh, so we are heading back to town, Stacy thought. This could be a good sign. Maybe he would drop her off at the nearest gas station.

  In anticipation of getting there and also worried about her friends, she pushed on the gas pedal and watched her speed slowly increase.

  “Keep it within the speed limit.” Paul finally noticed she was going faster.

  Stacy eased off the gas pedal. They were getting closer to the beach. The Clyde B. Wells Bridge, which crossed over the bay, was looming up ahead. They would be at the beach in a matter of minutes. She wondered what Paul had in mind once they got to where they were going.

  ***

  “Stacy should have been back by now. She would’ve gotten cell service up by the main road. What should we do?” Rachel asked Mike.

  “Do you think you will be okay here? I can start walking that way and call for help as soon as I get service,” Mike offered.

  The sound of a truck coming down the drive got their attention. It was an old red Chevy. Not Stacy. It came to a stop and an older man in blue jean overalls got out. “What the hell happened here? You can see the smoke all the way up at my farm!”

  Mike stepped forward and introduced himself. “The cabin exploded as soon as we drove up.”

  “Huh. Where’s Paul?” The man looked suspicious.

  “We have no idea. We saw someone running off towards the woods right before the explosion. It could have been him.”

  The old man took off his hat and rubbed his hand through his thick gray hair. “Huh.” He seemed to be at a loss for words. Welcome to the club, Rachel thought.

  “Did you happen to call the fire department?”

  “Yep. But it will take them a while to get here. Volunteer.” He looked over at Sam. She was still huddled up in the blanket. “What happened to her?”

  “Long story,” Rachel said.

  “Did you pass a black Dodge Ram on the way here by chance?” Mike asked him.

  “Nope. Sure didn’t. I thought…” Sirens howling in the distance interrupted his thoughts. “Huh. That was faster than I thought.

  They watched as a fire truck and ambulance pulled up to the cabin. The firefighters immediately pulled their hoses and started attacking the fire. There wasn’t much left of the cabin, but they were concerned about the fire spreading into the surrounding woods.

  Rachel directed the paramedics to Sam and waited while they tended to her.

  “You are going to be okay,” Rachel said to her. “The police will find Paul.”

  “I hope so. I’m worried about my kids.”

  “I’ll give your mom a call and let her know to meet you at the hospital,” Rachel told Sam as the paramedic loaded her in the ambulance.

  Sam grabbed her hand. “Thank you for everything.”

  Rachel smiled. “Take care of yourself.”

  Mike was giving the police officer the details of what happened at the cabin. The officer put a call into Chief Gladstone and told them he was on his way here.

  “We also put an APB out for your truck as well as for Paul Hart,” the officer added.

  “There is a lot of land to cover here. Paul may still be hiding out somewhere,” Rachel said. “We should go back to the hotel and get the team together to look for him.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Gripping the steering wheel hard, Stacy knew she had to come up with a plan. The odds of Paul just letting her go were slim. He had obviously gone off the deep end.

  “Where we going?” Stacy asked again.

  Paul let out a sigh. “Don’t you ever shut up? We are going to get my money and then I am taking off.”

  “Taking off where?”

  “That is none of your business.”

  “Are you planning on letting me go?”

  Paul seemed to think this over. “As soon as I let you go, you will call the cops. So what do you think?”

  “I think you’re crazy. That’s what I think.” Stacy regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. Paul got red in the face and slammed his fist in the dashboard.

  “I think you better shut the fuck up and not say another word or you will be swimming with the fishes soon.” He hooked his thumb in the direction of the water.

  They were just coming off the bridge. “Take your next right. We are almost there.”

  Stacy knew he lived somewhere off this road. Rachel had mentioned it when she asked Red to drive by Paul’s house last night. Maybe she would get lucky and Red would be staking out the house. Rachel and Mike may have called the police by now, too. She had been gone for over an hour.

  “Take a left here. Third house on the right,” Paul snarled at her.

  She drove up the gravel driveway to a nice brick house. The house was actually in good shape. No way of knowing a psycho lives here. She put shifted the gear into to park and waited. “Now what?”

  “Shut off the truck and get out. Don’t think about running. I will put a bullet in your back. Don’t tempt me.”

  There were plenty of houses around, although his house was far back from the main street. She didn’t want to risk it just yet.

  She got out of the truck and walked up to the front door. She would wait until the right time to make her move.

  While the outside of the house was nice and orderly, the inside was a complete mess. It was obvious he was remodeling. The flooring was covered in paper and there were sheets covering all the furniture. It still faintly smelled of wet paint. Empty beer bottles and pizza boxes littered the kitchen countertop and the trash can was overflowing. Stale beer, wet paint, and sweat – the smells made her stomach churn. She wondered why he would go through all the trouble of fixing up a house if he was planning on skipping town. Something must have happened recently to make him go nutso.

  “Nice place. I like the paint color.” She tried to make nice.

  “Sit down.” Paul uncovered a wooden dining chair. After she sat down, he picked up a roll of duct tape off the kitchen bar. “Put your hands behind your back and sit real still.”

  He had to put the gun down in order to tape her up. It was now or never. She heard him place the gun on the countertop. As soon as she felt him starting to go down behind her to bind her hands, she sprang up and knocked over the chair, causing Paul to fall backward into the countertop.

  “Fucking bitch!” Paul slipped on the paper covering while trying to stand back up. Stacy lunged for the gun on the countertop. Her hand hit the cool metal of the gun just as Paul put his hands around her waist, trying to pull her down.

  “Let me go you mother fucker! I’ll shoot your balls off.” Stacy tried to fight him off. Paul was still trying to drag her down. She tried to remember the defense moves her ex-boyfriend taught her. She swung her left elbow back and connected with Paul’s nose. He still didn’t let go, but his grip slacked enough for her to turn around.

  She pointed the gun at him and pulled the trigger.

  Chapter Forty

  Rachel called Nora to let her know Sam was being transported to the local hospital. She was overjoyed Sam was okay. Rachel told her she would stop by the hospital later to see her.

  Chief Gladstone and Jeff Stanton met them at the cabin. Mike and Rachel explained to
them what happened. Chief Gladstone said they would send someone over to Paul’s house to check it out. An APB was already out for Mike’s truck and an arrest warrant for Paul was in the works.

  Rachel was becoming worried something happened to Stacy. She used Jeff’s phone, which was the only one that had service, to call Stacy’s phone several times, but it went to voice mail each time. “Something went wrong,” Rachel said.

  “The police are out looking for my truck and Stacy. She will turn up,” Mike tried to assure Rachel.

  “That was Paul who ran. He set fire to the cabin as a distraction and he ran. Somehow he got a hold of Stacy when we went looking for Sam. I know it. I can feel it.”

  “Jeff is going to give us a ride back to town. We will go back to the hotel and get your truck. We’ll find her,” Mike said

  * * *

  Stacy stared at Paul, then back at the gun.

  Paul laughed. “Guess the joke is on you! The gun wasn’t loaded. Stupid bitch.”

  Stacy was so stunned she didn’t have time to react when Paul swiped the gun from her hand. He pounded the gun into her temple and she crumpled to the floor.

  “Time for a little burn out.”

  He had to work quickly. He knew he didn’t have much time before the cops were crawling all over the place. Too bad things didn’t work out according to plan. He really wanted to have a new life with Sam and the kids.

  “Oh well, Plan B,” he said out loud to no one in particular.

  In the garage, he hauled a couple cans of gasoline into the house. He started pouring gas around the furniture, splashing some on all the walls.

  “Such a shame. I had big plans for this house.” No one would probably find Sam for a long time –she was hidden away. He hesitated and thought about letting someone know where she was. But then again, if he couldn’t have her, no one else should be able to. Mack was taken care of. Ken was in jail. She would be all alone anyway. What was another murder? He would be far, far away by the time they discovered both bodies.