by Terri Marie
“Emma, could you send this guy a copy of the contract he signed before he has a stroke? I’m sick of dealing with him, and Vinnie’s tied up in court. Here’s the key to Elissa’s file cabinet.” Tyler opened his drawer to withdraw the key, when he heard his door fly open.
“I need to see you, Ty. Right now.” Vincent stopped in his tracks. “Oh, good morning ladies.” He gave Emma and Renee his brightest smile.
“No way in bloody hell, Vinnie,” warned Renee, as she stood up from the sofa.
“It’s business, ladies, relax. Contract issues. Boring shit. Really.” Vincent waved his hand as if to deny his outburst was of any importance to them.
“This better not have anything to do with Brian. If it does, and you’re keeping anything from me, I swear to God—”
“Relax, Baby,” Tyler interrupted. He had to get her calmed down. He knew the look in Vincent’s eyes. He flew in here because he had information that wasn’t good. “It’s over this contract and the jackass’s threat of a lawsuit.” Tyler pointed to the email on his screen. That really was what the email was about, and normally he would have been concerned, but this guy made the same threat about every three months. He intentionally left the email open and followed Vincent into his office.
Once inside, Vincent closed the door and locked it. “Ty, we’re in trouble. I called Frank to make sure Shirley was still in town. Well, she just left the police station and is on her way back…to Ohio. She’s going back to her house, Ty…as in this morning!! Hellooo!! How in the hell are we supposed to find out if Sean and Elissa are in her home or not? I’m pretty sure they’ve already illegally entered it!! I told you that this harebrained idea was a dumbass thing to do!” He began to quickly pace. Tyler had to put his hand on his shoulder to make him stop.
“Just listen to me for a second, Vinnie, and stop panicking. Ralph Charles has already established contact with me, so it wouldn’t be weird for me to call him back and check on the ‘packages.’” Tyler used his fingers to make quotation symbols in the air.
“That’ll work for Carrie and Brian, but how the hell is that supposed to help Sean and Elissa. If we create any connections, and Shirley makes a report of a break-in, providing she hasn’t already shot them to death, the cops will know exactly who to pin it on!”
“Ralph can get to the property before Shirley gets home, so he can warn Sean and Elissa. When I checked the map, Laurel is actually very close to Mosby. If we lose our heads now, Vinnie, we’re going to put the lives of everyone at risk. Now, do a search on Ralph Charles, and hope he’s listed. If not, we’re going to have to borrow someone’s phone to get ahold of Sean directly.”
“…Tyler, so help me God—” Vincent muttered as he pulled his laptop from his briefcase.
“Renee’s already tried the threats, Vinnie, against me, and you, but she don’t actually follow through. You’re still breathing, I still sleep in my bed and my gonads haven’t been removed by a sword. You’re safe.” Tyler patted his back.
“She scares the hell out of me, Ty. Renee gets madder than a protective mother wolf over its cubs, when it comes to Brian. And don’t worry about your balls. I’ll hack those off for her.” Vincent began to type.
“Point taken.” Tyler read the only listing in Laurel, Ohio for a Ralph Charles. The address was the same one that he’d been given by the man when he’d called, and luckily the phone number was listed as well, since Tyler had forgotten to grab his phone off of his desk when he left the office.
“Come with me. Hurry!” Vincent ran from his office and took the elevator to the basement. Tyler ran behind him, close on his heels, as he led the way to the shipping and receiving office.
“Hey, Tommy. Listen, I need to use your phone for just a few minutes.” Vincent walked behind the counter, lifted the phone from its cradle and handed it to Tyler.
“And this is why you’re so awesome in the courtroom, Vinnie.” Tyler smiled, as he began dialing the number written on the slip of paper that he’d crammed in his pocket. Suddenly, Tyler realized that Tommy was standing there staring at them.
“Take five, Tommy. This is a call about a surprise package my brother’s sending to his fiancee’.” Vincent winked at him.
“Yeah. She’s pretty unhappy with me for firing my brother.” Tyler laughed, while wishing the guy would just leave.
“No prob. Take your time.” Once Tyler saw Tommy walk through the receiving doors, he re-dialed Ralph Charles. On the third ring, he heard the man answer.
“Ello.” Tyler couldn’t hear any background noise.
“Mr. Charles?”
“Yes, this is he.” Tyler heard Ralph’s voice become serious.
“This is Tyler Montclair. I was just passing through our shipping department, and I wanted to call and tell you about a couple more packages that should already be in Ohio.”
“I don’t hear anyone else on the line, so I’m free to talk. If you’re talking about Sean and Elissa, then yes, they were here. We met them briefly last night. They left to go search Brian’s parents’ home. He’s such a sweet boy, that Brian.”
“I’m not sure it’ll have enough postage for you to return them if you add anything to the boxes. Could you go to their destination and check?”
“I’m not following you, Tyler,” said Ralph. He could be heard opening up a drawer. “Brian and Carrie are safe here. Is this about Sean and Elissa?”
“Yes, very much so. Someone there has the exact address to the place, but if you could go there and remove the packages so they aren’t baking somewhere in a corner, I’d appreciate it. We wouldn’t want the waters to come bursting through the ceiling and ruin everything. Water damage is very common at that warehouse. I’m sorry to cause you any problems.” Tyler could hear the phone being passed to someone.
“Tyler, this is Carrie. I could hear most of what you said to Ralph. Is Shirley on her way home?”
“Yes. It should arrive in about three hours or less.” Tyler felt relief as soon as he knew Carrie would be handling things on her end.
“I’ll get them out. Anything else?”
“Send our love to Brianna, and tell her Happy Birthday.”
“We’ll be in touch. If you don’t hear from Ralph, just know that we got them out and everyone’s safe.”
Tyler hung up the phone, just as Tommy came back through the doors.
Vincent thanked him, and when they were out of earshot, he turned to Tyler. “Would you like a drink before I make you into girl?”
“That’s cold, Vinnie. Real cold.”
CHAPTER 10
THESE ARE ALL clear,” said Sean, as he slid the last drawer back into place.
“The cupboards are as well. Get ready for some serious stench. It’s garbage pail time,” warned Elissa, as she crinkled up her nose and lifted the lid.
“Damn,” replied Sean, as he looked down at the full garbage bag. He began removing each bit of trash, as the bile rose up the back of his throat. “Help me out, Elissa. Let’s get this over with before I add my stomach contents to this shit.”
Sean wanted nothing more than to close that lid down over the garbage. They still had a few more places to look in the kitchen, so he’d have to endure the stench for a while longer. The tile on the floor was all intact, and none of the walls looked suspicious. He tipped the stove and pulled out the dishwasher so Elissa could look under and behind them. Nothing.
“We’re going to have to check out the refrigerator,” said Elissa, as she opened up the top door. “At least nothing will smell in the freezer, so let’s start here.”
“Take out each item and set it on the counter.” Sean stood there, looking over the top of her head.
Elissa removed each bag of vegetables and carefully inspected the packages. “The meats have all been divided up into small portions and vacuum-sealed.”
“Why not just buy smaller portions?” Sean was having a hard time controlling his irritation. So far their search of this house wasn’t going to help save Bria
n, at all.
“I know that all this is getting to you, Sean, but try and stay focused.” Elissa began lifting each vacuum-sealed bag, slowly turning them over in her hands.
“Elissa, I really don’t think we need to take all this time inspecting a bunch of meat—” She cut him off as she lifted a two pound package of ground round. “So all of these meats have been divided up and resealed, except this one. Look. The original wrapping has been opened, and then just refolded underneath the styrofoam. The meat is all freezer burned.”
“So, they let it sit in there for years. Let’s go through the fridge now.” Sean began to lift the items off the counter and place them back in the freezer. Looking at this food, and realizing that they couldn’t even bother to give their child one little morsel of it, was boiling his insides.
“Stop it! Something’s clearly wrong here. This meat has been molded over the top of something. See the finger prints where someone has pushed around the base of the hamburger? It almost looks like the top of a pie crust.”
“Let me guess. We’re going to thaw it out.” Sean rolled his eyes.
“Turn the hot water on.” As he turned around to turn on the hot water, there was a tapping sound on window. He quickly spun around to see Ralph standing there. Sean rushed over to the window. He unlocked it and slid it open an inch.
“Get out of the house. Shirley’s on her way,” Ralph whispered, before turning to run back through the tall grass.
“Shit! We have to get out of here, Elissa!” he directed, as he tossed the other items back into the freezer.
“We can’t get out through Brian’s bedroom window, Sean. We might be seen.”
“We’ll leave through the sliding door. You’ll have to crawl so you’re no higher than the top of the grass. Go!” He looked at the hamburger in Elissa’s hands. “Leave it!”
“No! It has to be checked. Come on.” Elissa unlocked and opened the door, then slid over the edge on her stomach. Sean did the same.
Once they made their way through the backyard, he helped Elissa up and ran into the cover of the trees. “Run like hell. Stay in the trees. When the coast is clear, we’ll walk out by the store and get in the Equinox,” he whispered.
“Got it.”
It seemed that the parking lot was much further away than what Sean remembered. Maybe they were just full of adrenaline, but damn, if Shirley busted them, they’d be up shit creek. Then it hit him. “Damn it!”
“What?” Elissa’s eyes got big.
“I left that gun on the counter.” Sean wanted to run back, but he knew he could be confronted by Shirley and shot. Now they had to keep Brian away from her, or die trying.
Once they reached the clearing, Sean took Elissa’s hand and began swinging his arm. “Act like we’re a happy couple, just out for a stroll.”
Elissa looked up at him, smiled brightly, and nodded her head.
As they approached the Equinox, he was grateful that Elissa had the package of hamburger meat in her hand; it made it look like they had just come out of the grocery store. He opened up her door and let her in.
“That was too flippin’ close!” Elissa sat the hamburger package below her on the floor mat.
Sean knew he now had another dilemma. “We can’t stay in this town. We’re going to have to head south. The cops are on high alert, so heading back to Ralph’s place in broad daylight will be a big mistake.”
“Let’s go then. Roll the windows down and blast the heat to the floor. We have to get this meat thawed.” She moved the hamburger meat towards the top of the mat, underneath the vents.
Sean knew they were lucky. They’d searched the majority of the house, so all they needed now was to find a place to stay and regroup. He rolled down the windows and blasted the heat on the floor. It didn’t take long for his lower legs to feel like they were melting. At least Elissa was small enough to tuck her feet underneath her on the seat.
Sean stayed on the back roads to avoid the cops who frequently patrolled the turnpike. Elissa did her best to guide him from the map, but most of the towns they went through were way too small. Folks there would be able to quickly pinpoint that a stranger had arrived in town.
After an hour of driving, Elissa put her finger on the map. “We’re heading into Luckland. It’s a fairly large town. We’ll get a room. I hope Ralph and Carrie aren’t scared that we didn’t make it out on time.”
“They’ll know we got out. Besides, there’s no way I can contact him. I can’t risk making that connection.” Sean would have to come up with a different means of communicating with Carrie. Right now though, his head was pounding and he couldn’t concentrate. He hadn’t slept or eaten since God knows when, and if the hamburger meat started to smell foul, he’d toss his cookies all over Elissa’s steering wheel.
Downtown Luckland was busy enough. The first motel to catch his eye was the Luckland Inn, and it had a restaurant across the parking lot. “We’ll stop here,” Sean said, as he pulled up to the office. “I’ll go inside and rent the room, while you wait here.” He knew that Elissa would probably feel more comfortable having her own room, but they had to portray a happy couple.
Once the room was rented, Sean backed the Equinox up to the door. He was happy that no one could see the license plate, without walking around to the back of the vehicle. With the room being on the first floor, they could quickly flee if the need arose. Once inside the room, Elissa took the hamburger meat into the bathroom where a complimentary hairdryer was attached to the wall. She set the meat in the sink, and turned the dryer on it.
“Is any of that thawing?” asked Sean as he walked into the bathroom.
“Yeah. Give me one of those cups. I’m going to try and scrape the top of it.”
Blood was starting to collect in the cellophane and was now dripping. Elissa carefully pulled the wrapper off, and tried to pry the meat away from the styrofoam. With a solid pop, it released.
“Oh my God, Sean…” She held up the meat so he could see the partial bottom of a CD case in a vacuum-sealed bag.
“Bingo! Don’t pull at that case. You might bust it. Keep going at it with the hair dryer, but don’t aim the heat on the case at all.” Sean threw his fists in the air to celebrate.
“We got you now you, bitch!” laughed Elissa.
“Nothing’s written in stone yet. This CD could contain anything, so we’ll have to watch it to be sure. Keep the heat going and I’ll dig at the hamburger.”
“Do you have a pocketknife?” Elissa asked.
“We’re not going after this CD with a pocketknife. We could end up snapping the thing in half.”
Finally, Sean was able to carefully pull at the exposed vacuum-sealed bag, until it separated from the meat. He then retrieved his small knife from his pocket and made a slit in the bag and pulled out the CD case. The case was clear, and no writing could be seen.
“Sean, there’s a DVD player in here.”
He walked to the television and got it all set it up. Just before he was about to put the CD in, his hands began to shake so much that he had trouble holding onto it. Sean quickly set down the CD, and ran into the bathroom. He began to vomit violently.
Elissa placed a cold, wet washcloth on his face. “Sean, are you okay?”
He stood up and wiped off his face. “I just don’t know what’s on this CD. I might have to see exactly what that boy went through, and then I’ll probably race over to that house and tear her to shreds.”
“We promised to do anything and everything necessary to save Brian from her. This, right here, is the most challenging thing we’ve had to do so far. You hold me up, and I’ll hold you up through it. But like you said, anything could be on the CD.” Elissa gently tugged on his hand. “We may have in our possession the only hope Brian has left. Whatever it takes. We have to do whatever it takes.”
Sean walked back into the other room and placed the CD in the player. He pulled the chair up in front of the television screen, and sat down. Elissa, surprisingly, s
at on his lap. He had a feeling that it wasn’t to comfort her, but rather to keep him from getting up and running back out the door to Mosby.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Tyler sat at home in the recliner, staring out the window. The clock seemed to be ticking extra loud and the floor seemed to squeak more than it did yesterday. He knew Renee was just wandering around aimlessly, looking for something to keep herself busy. He’d done his best to explain the situation to her at the office, but he knew she was worried that Sean and Elissa hadn’t gotten out of Shirley’s house in time, just like he was.
“Can’t you just call Ralph so we’ll know something?!” snapped Renee.
“Honey, the fact that we haven’t heard anything is a good thing. It means that nothing bad has happened. Please try to relax.” If only she knew how tempted he was to pick up the phone and call Sean so he could stop worrying himself to death. The ringing of his cell phone made him jump.
“Ty, have you heard anything? I have Jacob with me, and he’s on the edge of his seat,” Vincent blurted, before Tyler even had the chance to say hello.
“No, I haven’t. I can’t call them, so we’re just going to have to wait.”
“Listen, Ty, if you don’t find anything out, we’re going back to the shipping and receiving desk in the morning, before Tommy gets to work. On a good note, Robert’s next court date is in a week. Let Renee know for me. I’ll give you the rest of the details tomorrow.” Tyler knew that his brothers were sick with worry, but he had no way to ease anyone’s mind, especially not his own.
“I’m going to bed, Tyler. If you hear anything, regardless of the time, you’d better wake me up right away.” Renee went up the stairs, shutting their bedroom door rather loudly. Going through this pregnancy and being worried about Brian, was making him afraid she’d be pushed over the edge. Now, he had no choice but to make that call to Ohio.
Tyler closed his eyes. He needed to have his family back intact, and he couldn’t just wait for fate to make that happen. What if something had happened to Sean and Elissa? What if no one knew they were missing yet? Shirley was home by now, so why hadn’t he received any information? He got up, quietly grabbed his keys, and went into the garage. Hopefully Renee was either in a deep sleep or had the television on.