Level Five

by Carla Cassidy

  The kinds of memories she had of those moments in the parking lot were amazing. The scent of her own blood had been thick in her brain, but beneath it she could smell the clean scent of the rain. The asphalt bit into her bare feet as she’d stumbled and wobbled to safety, sounds escaping her lips that no human being should ever make.

  As she stood at the living room window, she sensed rather than heard Frank approaching. His arms wrapped around her as he bent his head forward. “You’re safe.”

  She leaned back against him and closed her eyes, savoring the words, warmed by his strong embrace. “I know.”

  “The storm will pass and the sun will shine again tomorrow.”

  She turned in his arms and faced him, seeing the edge of worry darken his eyes. “I’m fine,” she assured him and placed her hand on his cheek.

  “And I’m glad you and Edie don’t have any sessions set up for the next week,” he replied. “It’s been so hard on you, dredging up the past, remembering all those emotions.”

  “It has been hard,” she agreed as she stepped out of his embrace. “But, it’s also been cathartic.” She moved away from the window and sank down on the nearby sofa. “I worry about Edie. I think this has been as difficult on her as it’s been for me.”

  Frank sat next to her. “She cares about you.”

  Colette nodded. “She’s become a good friend.”

  “I wonder why she and Jake haven’t tied the knot yet. They make such a great couple.”

  Colette frowned thoughtfully as she thought of the woman who had entered her life as a business partner and had also become a friend and confidante. “There’s a darkness in her that I recognize, that speaks to me. I don’t think she’s resolved issues from her past, from her sister’s murder.”

  “Have you talked to her about it?”

  “I’ve tried, but she’s pretty closed off on the whole topic. I get the feeling she never dealt with the past and instead has shoved a lot of things into a box. She keeps it tightly locked inside her.”

  For the next few minutes they talked about Edie and Jake, about the baby that would make Colette and Frank a real family and summer plans to take a vacation to Branson, Missouri.

  She suddenly smiled at Frank. “You’re a sneaky one, Frank Burgess,” she said as she realized what he’d done. He’d kept her talking, kept her engaged while the storm outside had spent its fury and moved on.

  “You ready for bed?” Frank asked.

  Colette nodded and together they got off the sofa and headed for their bedroom. It took only minutes for Frank’s snores to fill the air, but sleep didn’t come so easily to Colette.

  She tossed and turned as a gentle rain pattered against the window pane. Thoughts of Edie haunted her as sleep remained elusive.

  The crimes that had occurred in each woman’s life were different in nature. Edie had been a peripheral victim instead of an intimate one, but many of the devastating aftereffects of those crimes were the same.

  What worried Colette was that she knew in her heart, in her very soul that she was a survivor of what had happened to her. She had a feeling Edie was still a victim, that the events that had occurred so long ago still had firm fingers around her throat. If Edie wasn’t careful the past would slowly squeeze the heart and soul from her.

  Part 2

  Inside The Hoard

  Chapter 17

  By noon on Wednesday Edie was already having a bad day. An early morning phone call from her father had prompted a trip to the motel where she’d found her father naked and drunk and in the middle of the bed weeping because he’d lost his lucky bottle cap.

  It had taken Edie over an hour to calm him down and finally get him into the bed and asleep. When he’d finally fallen into a troubled slumber, she’d remained at the motel room door for several long minutes before leaving, seeking signs of the man she’d believed him to be when she’d been young.

  There was nothing left. The grief, the booze and drugs had all eaten him from the inside out, leaving nothing of the man she’d once known had existed.

  As she locked and closed the motel room door behind her, she wondered what Jake would think if he knew that her father hadn’t died but rather lived a minute-by-minute existence in a seedy motel seeking any substance that would remove him from his life, from the painful essence of his soul.

  Jake would be appalled. First he’d be upset that she’d lied to him. It had seemed such a little harmless lie in the beginning.

  It had been on their second date that Jake had asked about her family and she’d told him that her parents had divorced, her mother had relocated to Florida and her father had died in a car accident.

  At that time she hadn’t known that Jake would become an integral part of her life. She’d only known the need to protect her father, to protect herself from any judgment and shame.

  Over time the lie had expanded, like a piece of grisly meat in her mouth, growing bigger and bigger with each bite until it threatened to choke her to death. It felt as if it were too late to spit it out and so she kept swallowing it, hoping it would eventually go away.

  She locked the door and pulled it closed behind her, as always wondering if this would be the last time she saw her father. She worried about him all the time. It was possible that one day he would take one drink too many, take a hit of some street drug that would instantly stop his heart.

  She’d mourned her father long ago, in the days after Francine’s death when she recognized that things had changed forever.

  She knew then that the father who had smelled of Old Spice cologne and had danced with his daughters was gone. Francine had taken him to the grave with her.

  A restless energy gripped her as she returned home. She didn’t feel like working. She thought about calling Colette to meet her for lunch but immediately rejected the idea. The whole point of taking off a week from the interviews was to get some distance from the woman with the scarred face and the crime that had gotten far too deep into Edie’s head.

  She felt as if the storm that had passed the night before still lingered in her veins, making her feel edgy and somehow off center.

  She’d just pulled out the makings of a salad when her cell phone rang. A glance at the caller ID let her know it was Jake. “Hey handsome,” she said.

  “Hey beautiful,” he replied. “What are you doing?”

  “I was just about to make some lunch. What about you?” She sank down in a kitchen chair and hugged the phone closer to her ear.

  “I’m sitting in the car outside a convenience store waiting for Teddy to come back out.”

  “Don’t tell me, he’s loading up on soda so he can serenade you with burp songs for the rest of the day.”

  “Apparently Snap ate her bowl of cereal this morning and then belched Twinkle Twinkle. Lisa went ballistic. There’s a new household rule that nobody burps anything that remotely resembles a song.”

  Edie laughed. “Good for Lisa. I’m surprised she hasn’t made Teddy quit that awful habit before now.”

  “Unfortunately, Teddy has decided that means he has to burp twice as often while with me to get it all out of his system before he goes home each night.”

  Edie laughed again. “You’re a big boy. You’ll deal with it just fine.”

  There was a long pause. “There are a lot of things in my life right now that I’m not dealing with just fine…like us.” An edge of irritation crept into his voice.

  Not now, Jake, she thought as she rubbed a hand across her forehead. A headache had threatened since the moment she’d stepped out of the motel room door. “Jake…” she began, a soft plea in her voice.

  “I’m serious, Edie,” he said, interrupting anything she was about to say. “Just tell me, Edie, how long are you willing to just play at us having a real relationship? Give me some sort of a time frame so I know what to expect. Tell me what’s it going to take for you to really commit to me?”

  “Jake, now isn’t a good time.” She felt as if she still had th
e stink of her father’s motel room on her. She had a book to finish. Surely the topic warranted something different than a discussion while he was parked at a convenience store waiting for Teddy to return to the car.

  “That’s the problem, Edie. It’s never a good time with you.”

  She heard the unbridled anger in his voice, something she’d never heard before and a cold wind of fear blew through her. Before she could say anything he continued.

  “You needed a break from Colette this week and I think I need a break from you. I won’t be around this weekend. I need to take some time to figure out where I’m going, with or without you. Here comes Teddy, I’ll call you sometime next week.” The click of his abrupt disconnect stunned her.

  The trembling began in her lower lip and worked down to take over her hands. As she closed her cell phone her eyes blurred with tears. Deep in her heart she wasn’t surprised. In the back of her mind she’d always known Jake would eventually leave her.

  That’s what happened with the people she loved…they all went away. Francine had been stolen from her through a horrible crime. Her mother had decided to walk away and replace her and her father with a new husband and children. Her father had chosen his dead daughter over his living one and spent his life mourning her loss to the exclusion of everything and anyone else.

  She shouldn’t be surprised Jake wasn’t in it for the long haul. A small part of her had expected this.

  He’d promised he’d wait forever, but she’d known in her heart that he’d eventually leave. Nobody stayed forever.

  She put her salad stuff away, no longer hungry. Work. She needed to work. The writing was the only thing she could really depend on, the only thing that was a constant in her life.

  If she immersed herself in Colette’s pain she wouldn’t feel her own. Angrily she swiped the tears that had fallen to her cheeks and went into the formal dining room that served as her office.

  As she began to work, she quickly lost herself to the world of darkness and forced all thoughts of love and Jake out of her head.

  Teddy slid into the passenger seat, carefully balancing a huge drink, a chili dog and a giant sized Hersey’s chocolate bar. “You sure you didn’t want anything? These convenience stores are becoming mini restaurants with all the food they have ready to heat and eat.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Jake replied. He held Teddy’s drink while the big man pulled the seatbelt around him and snapped it into place. “What’s wrong?” Teddy asked as he took the drink back from Jake.

  “What makes you think anything is wrong?” Jake backed out of their parking space.

  “You’ve got that knot in your jaw working overtime. That only happens when you’re pissed.”

  Jake released a sigh. “I’m not pissed. I’m frustrated and I think I just did something stupid.”

  “What did you do?” Teddy talked around a monster bite of the chili dog.

  “I called Edie and told her I wouldn’t be over this weekend, that I needed some distance from our little arrangement.” Jake tightened his hands on the steering wheel.

  “Wow. What did she say?”

  “Not much. I didn’t give her a chance to say anything.” Already he regretted the call. The emotions had momentarily snapped out of control.

  “Maybe it’s a good thing.” Teddy grabbed a handful of napkins and wiped a glob of chili off his chin. “Maybe she needs to get shaken up a little bit to appreciate what she’s got. It’s not unreasonable that you’d want more after all this time.”

  “I don’t want more…I want it all. The picket fence, the children and my ring on Edie’s finger. I want her as my wife, not just my part-time girlfriend.”

  He straightened in the seat, fighting against the regret that made him want to call Edie back immediately and tell her he’d be over as usual tomorrow night. “It’s time for change.”

  “Shit or get off the pot,” Teddy quipped.

  “Exactly,” Jake replied. He hoped that the ultimatum of sorts would force Edie to examine their relationship and realize it was time to move forward, that a static relationship eventually grew stale.

  Still, it worried him that he had no idea how she would react, that there were secrets in her life she hadn’t shared. He had no idea if this would move them forward or if he’d just inadvertently forced Edie out of his life forever.

  Anthony glanced at his wristwatch for the fifth time in as many minutes. Just after two. The minutes of the day crawled by with agonizing slowness. He could hardly deal with the anticipation of what was going to happen when he got off work.

  Today was the day. Before night fell, he’d have Edie in the center of his hoard. Excitement that he struggled to control swelled up inside him.

  He wanted to do leave work now and begin the work that would ease the pain that screamed inside him, that begged for sweet release. But he couldn’t leave work early. There would be too many questions.

  He’d spent the last week stalking her after work. All weekend, he’d watched her routine, disappointed to discover she seemingly had no specific routine.

  The one thing he had discovered was that her boyfriend, Jake Warner was a detective. He stayed with her three nights and then on Sunday night had left the house. He hadn’t returned since.

  The idea of taking Edie away from her detective boyfriend only added to Anthony’s anticipation. Jake Warner would probably break down doors, move heaven and earth to find his beloved Edie. He’d quickly discover she’d vanished without a trace, just like all the women who were now in Anthony’s back yard.

  Edie would be the first he took from her home, but he was confident of his success. Sitting on his passenger seat at this very moment was a nice juicy steak seasoned with an inordinate amount of poison. That would take care of the dog named Rufus. Once the dog was down, it would be relatively easy to get into the house through the back door or one of the windows.

  She’d never hear him coming.

  She had no idea that their destiny was intricately bound. That destiny would begin tonight.

  Chapter 18

  She’d always known it was coming.

  Edie had always known that she’d only borrowed Jake for a while. Eventually he’d tire of her inability to commit and he’d leave her. He’d finally snapped. It felt like the end to her and her despair was nearly overwhelming.

  She stood in the kitchen, her forehead leaning against the window pane as she stared unseeing at the back yard. It was almost five. She should fix herself some dinner but she wasn’t hungry.

  Numb. The conversation with Jake had left her numb. He’d said he needed some time away from her to think things through. She knew in her heart this was really the beginning of the end.

  Outside the window the late June sunshine was bright. The yard held the vibrant green of summer grass. She should plant some flowers. It was a forced thought, an attempt to distract herself from the pain that simmered just beneath the surface in her heart.

  Just give him what he wants, a little voice whispered inside her head. Just tell him what he wants to hear. Marry him and then he’ll be happy.

  Even as these thoughts whipped through her head, she knew she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t tell him about her father. He’d be disgusted not just with the older man, but also with her for her enabling actions. Beyond that road block was a bigger obstacle. The frustrating part was that she wasn’t sure herself what it was.

  She just knew she was meant to live alone. Jake had managed to get beyond part of her defenses and she’d been satisfied with their arrangement. But, she’d also recognized his unhappiness and had known when the pain of being with her overcame the pleasure, he’d be gone. Apparently that time had finally come.

  She started to move away from the window but paused as she saw Rufus standing nearby, eyeing the locked doggie door that was rarely used when she was home.

  “You need to go outside?” He answered her with a sharp bark. She opened the back door to let him out. As he raced off the deck
and ran circles in the grass, Edie unlocked the doggie door and went back into her office.

  Work. It had always been her escape from life. She needed it now more than ever. She and Colette had nearly come to the end of the interview process. Edie had stacks of tapes to transpose and integrate into the manuscript.

  The book was coming together with an ease that was surprising. It wasn’t just a fascinating chronicle of a survivor, it also held survival tools that might help somebody who found themselves in Colette’s position or a similar one in the future.

  Edie hoped no woman would ever have to go through the kind of nightmare Colette had lived through. There were few women who would be strong enough, smart enough to stay alive and stay sane.

  Focusing on Colette’s life allowed her to not think about the shambles of her own life. Jake, Rufus and her work were the only good things that fate had thrown her way. Now Jake was gone, leaving her only with her furry friend and the writing that had been her mainstay since that time so long ago when Francine had been murdered.

  She stopped working at six and got out of her chair to stretch. She knew the dangers of spending too much time in her chair, the lower backache, the numbing in her legs. She’d always been vigilant about getting up occasionally and doing stretching exercises.

  Even though she hadn’t really expected it, she was disappointed that she hadn’t gotten another call from Jake, a call telling her he’d just been teasing her, that she’d somehow misunderstood his previous call.

  She suddenly realized she hadn’t seen Rufus since she’d let him out the back door earlier. He hadn’t come back in through the doggie door and she hadn’t heard him scratching at the back door.

  “Rufus?” She wondered if the dog had come in and found a nice spot in the sun to take a nap. She listened but heard no sound to indicate that the dog was inside the house.

  Heading toward the kitchen, she realized she was hungry. Apparently heartbreak didn’t halt the body’s needs for basic necessities. Rufus was usually glued to her side at this time of the day, hoping she’d make something scrumptious for dinner and that she might share a crumb with him.