by Diane Burke
Erin got there first. With every ounce of strength remaining, she rolled out of his reach. Jumping to her feet, she pointed the gun at the man’s face. “Don’t move.”
Peters grinned and started to rise.
“Go ahead, you filthy piece of slime. Give me an excuse to pull this trigger.” Tears of rage, mixed with blood, poured down her face. One of her eyes had swollen shut, so she had to tilt her head to keep him in constant sight.
“You wouldn’t shoot me.”
“Try me.” She forced the words through a mouth so numb and swollen it felt like she’d had Novocain. Images filled her mind. Carol begging for her life, pleading to be able to return to her daughter. Newspaper pictures of three other women, lost to their families forever. Tony lying in a pool of blood. Amy crying and asking for her mother. Rage pulsed through her body. Her finger tightened on the trigger. She steadied the weapon with both hands.
“Don’t,” Tony whispered in her ear. He leaned heavily against her back as though it was difficult for him to support his own weight. His arm wrapped around her waist and his right hand slowly moved over hers. “Please, Erin. Give me the gun.”
She couldn’t let go. Her finger twitched against the trigger. She could easily kill this man and that self-knowledge scared her.
Help me, Lord. Help me remember judgment is Yours, not mine.
Erin stared at Peters. “Why? Make me understand.”
“I did it for the children. Don’t you see?” Pride shone in his eyes. “Now they have a chance to be adopted. To have a real family with two parents. They have a chance to be happy. I would have been happy if someone had adopted me, if I had had a dad.”
Erin blinked in astonishment, her stomach churned. “What?” The shock of his words combined with this afternoon’s trauma took its toll on her nervous system and her body trembled. “You killed these women because they were single parents?” She couldn’t keep the incredulity out of her voice.
“Single moms of special needs kids,” he spat out in anger. “Why do you keep us? You know you hate us. You can’t do the things you want to do when you have us around all the time. Who wants to babysit ‘special’ kids? Nobody. So you lock us in closets with coloring books and a flashlight and tell us to be quiet. If we make noise, if we ask to get out of the closet because we have to go to the bathroom or because our flashlight doesn’t work and it’s dark and we’re scared, you beat us.”
He pounded his head with his fist. “You think we don’t peek under the door and see you with all those men? You know how much we want a dad. So we sit in the closet. We wait and we hope. But the men don’t stay. They throw money on the table and leave. You tell us it’s our fault because nobody wants to be saddled with a handicapped kid. But that’s not true. If there was a dad in the house, the kids would be happy. I need to give the kids a chance to be adopted. I need to give them a chance to find a dad.”
Erin saw true pain in the man’s eyes.
Peters lowered his head. His voice became a whisper. “Did you know most people don’t close their curtains at night? I like to look inside. I see the dads playing with their kids. I see families eating dinner together. Everybody is happy. Nobody is locked in a closet.” His eyes hardened when he looked up at her. “Kids deserve a chance to have a real family. Even a foster family would be better than a mother who hates you.”
Erin tried to imagine what it must have been like for Peters. To be a child locked in a closet in the dark. Even though she still despised him for all he had done, she knew she couldn’t hurt a child, no matter what the age. Slowly, she released her grip.
Tony grabbed the weapon and moved to her side. He held the gun in his left hand, his sling torn, his right arm hanging at his side. Perspiration coated his forehead. His eyes radiated pain. “Don’t give me a reason, Peters, to pull this trigger. At this moment, it’s the only thing I want to do.”
“Go ahead. Kill me. Do it.”
The front door banged open. Within seconds, the room filled with cops, weapons drawn. Winters hurried to Tony’s side, holding a gun at ready, while Spence cuffed Peters and dragged him away.
Tony collapsed back against the wall, his legs barely holding him up.
Erin rushed to his side. Her fingers moved gently over his chest as she checked the extent of his injuries. “We need to get you to a hospital.”
“Me? Have you looked at yourself lately?” Gently, he tilted her face. He grimaced at the sight of the angry discoloration on the whole left side of her face. Her eye was completely swollen shut. But he paled when he saw the red ribbon of blood seeping from her sliced throat. “Erin?”
Her hand flew to her throat. “I’m okay. It wasn’t deep.”
“You guys gonna make it?” Winters’s expression made Erin realize how bad they looked.
“I guess I got your friend hurt again, didn’t I?” Erin teased the detective.
“Naw,” Winters replied. “From the looks of it, the two of you saved one another.” He looked steadily from one to the other, and then nodded at Erin. “You did good, ma’am.”
Erin tried to smile, but knew from the odd twisting sensation in her lips and the horrified expression on Winters’s face that it didn’t look much like a smile. Matter of fact, she was certain of it when Winters dashed to collect the gurney and the EMTs personally.
The excruciating pain in her jaw made talking difficult, but there were things she needed to say. “Thank you,” she whispered to Tony through clenched teeth. “He would have killed me if you hadn’t gotten here when you did.”
His eyes glistened and his voice grew husky. “I was supposed to protect you. Instead, I left you alone which made you a prime target for a killer. Some job I did, huh?”
She cupped Tony’s face. “You couldn’t have known. No one knew.”
“I’m the detective, remember? It’s my job to know.” Tony couldn’t hold back anymore and his tears flowed freely. “When I think how close I came to losing you.” He swiped a hand across his face. “I prayed, Erin. I prayed a million times on the way over here that God would protect you and help me get to you in time.”
Erin curled against Tony’s uninjured side. “God answered your prayers, Tony…and mine.” She sighed. “I can’t believe we made it through this. It’s been a living nightmare.”
Tony nodded, drew her close and rested his chin on top of her head. “I’ve been thanking the good Lord from the bottom of my heart.” He kissed the top of her hair. “It’s over now. You won’t need me to protect you anymore.”
Erin raised her face so she could look into his eyes. She saw the doubt, the wondering if there would be a place for him in her life now that the crisis had passed. “I will always need you, Tony Marino, to love and protect my heart.”
Their lips barely touched in the softest of kisses. But it was the kind of kiss that did all the talking for them, a kiss filled with hope and love and forever after.
Dear Reader,
Authors are frequently asked where they get their ideas. My son, David, is responsible for the birth of this one. After the unexpected loss of my husband, I found myself having a difficult time transitioning to my life without him. In an attempt to lift my spirits, he encouraged me to get back to writing. I had a partial manuscript aimed at sweet romance and another manuscript started about a serial killer aimed at romantic suspense. However, I had had a major case of writer’s block for a long time and was unable to finish either manuscript.
My son suggested I combine the two. I said, “You can’t combine a sweet romance with an edgy, dark suspense.” He asked, “Why not?”
Why not, indeed?
The wheels started turning. People know bad things happen to everyone—but evil is supposed to happen to somebody else. What if evil moved into small-town America, stalked a single mom, raising her handicapped child, and brought terror and loss right to her doorstep? And what if this single mom had just found the Lord? Would her faith be strong enough to turn to Him for support or would he
r faith be too new and weak to sustain her, causing her to turn away? One question led to another, resulting in the story you hold in your hands.
This is my first published book and I would love to hear from my readers. You can reach me at [email protected]. I will answer as quickly as possible.
I hope you enjoy Midnight Caller.
Diane Burke
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
As a child, Erin felt abandoned by her constantly working father and later in life she was deserted and betrayed by her husband. How did these experiences impact her adult life?
As a child, Erin was beaten and abused by her mother—so was the villain. How did child abuse impact their lives? What do you think made the difference between them as they chose opposite paths in their adult lives?
Erin’s mother was an alcoholic. Alcoholism impacts an entire family, not just the person with the disease. Do you know anyone with this problem? How has this impacted their lives?
Erin is a strong, independent woman satisfied with the direction of her life. However, she comes to realize Tony fills an empty place in her life. What qualities draw her to him?
What draws Tony to Erin?
Erin had just found the Lord when she was forced to face significant trials in her life. Do you think her faith strengthened her? In your opinion, what forges a strong faith?
Tony was afraid to become a father because he knew the importance of the job and was afraid he’d fail. Do you think Tony demonstrated characteristics of a good dad? Do you think it was brave of him to admit he was afraid of failure? Have you ever been afraid to fail? What did you do to overcome the fear?
Tony told Erin that God hears her prayers even if they are merely whispers in the dark. Have you ever wondered if God hears your prayers?
Erin was drawn to the biblical passage “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.” Do you believe God is always with us even in our hour of need? Do you have any examples in your own life?
God often puts people in our lives to help us when we need it the most. What roles did Tess and Patrick play that might make you think they were part of God’s plan?
Is there anything in Erin’s story that inspires you in your own life?
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5067-7
MIDNIGHT CALLER
Copyright © 2010 by Diane Burke
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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