Desperate Rescue

by Barbara Phinney

  “And it hurts now?”

  It did, but not because he was remembering his grandmother’s criticism. It hurt because it was true. He was as driven as Noah, as callous and pushy, even, determined to have his own way, at any cost. The only difference was that he covered his manipulative nature with a thin veneer of civility. Of Christianity, too.

  Lord, why haven’t You changed me, like You promised You would in Your Word?

  “Eli, cut from the same cloth is just an expression and Noah used it to get your goat, as my grandmother used to say.” She tipped her head to one side to study him. “And Noah knew you would connect the phrase to her and how critical she was. I’m sure Noah let you take the blame for all the mischief.”

  He smiled softly. “How did you know?”

  She grinned. “I was a kid once. This sort of thing isn’t just for boys, or even brothers, for that matter. Being accused of doing something you didn’t do and getting into trouble for it can scar a kid for life. Just like not owning up to something can haunt a person for life, too. I know that from experience, believe me.”

  She was trying to make him feel better. It would have worked, too, if the question of what Noah was doing here didn’t still linger. He’d had the opportunity to walk right into Kaylee’s home. Yes, he toyed with people, planted evil whenever possible. So why suddenly turn pious when the opportunity to hurt her was handed to him on a platter?

  Noah was up to something. Out there on that deck. What was it?

  Eli spun on his heel and strode out the sliding door. The tiny deck was much like any other found on a house. Kaylee’s bungalow was small and the land behind her house dipped sharply. The basement had a walkout door, giving the appearance of a larger, two-story home from the back.

  Eli trotted down the deck stairs. As he surveyed the short yard, Kaylee stepped onto the deck.

  “What are you doing?” she called down.

  “I’m looking for what he might have been up to.” He pointed to the back door that led into her basement. “Do you ever use that door?”

  She shook her head. “No. The landlord is storing a bunch of old furniture down there. I don’t need the basement, so he gave me a cut on the rent, if he uses it as storage. He’s actually blocked that door with a huge wardrobe. He said it’ll help keep the heat in during the winter.”

  Eli moved under the deck. He could see some scuffing in the dirt, but nothing clear. One or two marks looked deep, and in front of them, the ground was spotted and the sparse, dormant grass appeared bleached.

  He knelt, studying the grass. It was burned. He pulled out a small pocketknife and dug into the soil, then drew the stick up to his nose. The faint smell of rotten eggs.

  “What do you see?”

  He looked up through the planks of the deck at Kaylee. “I don’t know yet. Can you get me some water and baking soda?”

  “Baking—Okay.” She disappeared into the house and returned with a two-pound box of soda and a plastic squirt bottle of water. “With Jenn being sensitive to so many chemicals, I’ve grown used to cleaning with this stuff.” She walked down the steps and under the deck.

  Eli sprinkled some of the soda onto the patch, and dribbled water on it. The soda fizzled and bubbled slightly.

  “What is it?”

  “I think it’s battery acid. Sulfuric acid, to be precise. Baking soda neutralizes it.”

  “How did you know what it was?”

  “It smelled like rotten eggs. It’s a sure sign.”

  “But how did it get here?” Kaylee looked up and Eli followed her gaze. It was dim under the deck, hard to see, but directly above the patch was the evidence he was looking for.

  A section of rotting wood. Straightening, he reached up to nick the soft wood with his knife. It crumbled and danced down to their feet. Taking the soda box again, he sprinkled the white powder onto the flakes. He added water and like the patch of dead ground, it fizzled.

  Kaylee gasped. “It’s up there, too. The wood is rotten!”

  “Not quite. Noah was vandalizing the wood. He was taking his chances, too. This kind of acid can burn when it comes in contact with paper or wood. A spontaneous burn, too, if I remember my chemistry classes. Working with any corrosive chemical is dangerous.”

  “Where would he have got it, then?”

  “Sulfuric acid is used in car batteries. It’s easy enough to get a hold of.”

  “It smells like a match that’s just been struck.” She drew in her breath. “Noah had that smell about him. He must have been eating candy to cover it, because he also smelled like sweet mint. I remember now.”

  They both fell silent with Eli staring up at the wood deck. A candy smell? Had Noah been in the rec center? Why? How did he get in?

  It wouldn’t be hard to pick the locks. Or slip in and wait until it was closed at night to do laundry, shower, browse the office to read things like Kaylee’s schedule…or about the new washer and dryer.

  Was this possible? No, he wasn’t going to make accusations that could scare Kaylee. Eli poured the water onto the ground and handed her back the small bottle. “Didn’t you tell me that your car was acting up?”

  “Yes. I think it’s the cold weather. It hardly turns over anymore.”

  “Or the battery’s dying because it’s lost acid. Do you lock your car?”

  She looked sheepish. “I can’t. The driver’s-door lock is broken. I just don’t keep anything valuable in it. No one would want an old junker like that thing.”

  “No, but someone would like the battery acid, I’d guess. And with the car unlocked, it would be easy to pop the hood.” He walked out from under the deck. “We need to call Reading.”

  “What about the deck? Is it safe to walk on?”

  Despite the bright day, under the deck was dark. “I don’t know how far he got before you stepped out. We’ll have to get a flashlight and check it completely, but I’d say the rain washed away most of the acid before it could do a lot of damage.” He pulled out his phone and a small business card.

  He watched Kaylee grimace as he dialed. She said, “I just want to get so mad, to do something now to stop him. He’s tormented me for two years and he’s still doing it.”

  She looked at him as he drew the phone up to his ear. “I was ready to fall apart, but not now. If Noah was really using my battery acid, there’s got to be proof of that. He wouldn’t be carting it around like a bottle of water.”

  Eli watched her sweep past him and around the house. He followed, only to be delayed when Officer Reading answered his call. Quickly reporting what had been discovered, Eli nodded when Reading told him he’d be there shortly. Hanging up, Eli walked to the front of the house.

  Kaylee had already popped the hood of her car and was peering at the battery. “I have no idea what to look for, but it does look as if someone has touched my battery.”

  Eli leaned over the grille. Several cells of the old battery had seen their caps recently popped off. The green eye in the center of the battery was black, too, a sure sign it had lost cranking power.

  “He must have siphoned it off with something,” Kaylee said, turning and searching the ground. “And since sulfuric acid is corrosive, he wouldn’t want to take it too far.”

  “Then the container should be here,” Eli answered before she moved toward the back of the house again. He liked the determination now sparked in Kaylee. She was fighting back, ready to stop Noah and reclaim her life again. Much better than the denial he’d seen before. But would it last when the truth finally sank in?

  They had to find Noah before he killed her.

  “Eli!”

  FIFTEEN

  His heart leaping into his throat, he tore around the bungalow.

  Kaylee knelt at the back corner she shared with Lois. Eli caught a glimmer of something in the bushes.

  “Here.” She pushed away some leggy weeds under a crabapple tree. He came close to peer down. A glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and a syringe. The surrounding groun
d showed signs of a chemical burn.

  Eli searched the area, finding broken branches and scuff marks scaling the ravine. The prints indicated that Noah had moved upstream. “Where does this go to?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve never followed it. There’s a culvert under the road halfway to the motel, then on the other side, I think there’s a path through the woods. I’m not sure where it leads.”

  “The path goes up to the highway. And it connects with the path from downtown that starts by the rec center.”

  She frowned, a thin veil of suspicion cloaking her expression. “How do you know that?”

  “I’ve checked it out.”

  “I’ve never been on it. Jenn told me to avoid it. It’s a hangout for teenagers and drunks. I think they have parties there. In the summer, I think they go there to be alone, if you know what I mean.”

  He did. He’d seen the evidence along the pathway and was glad Kaylee took her boss’s advice and avoided it. But he’d had to check it out, see if there could be any evidence that Noah might use it. Hadn’t Hec Haines mentioned the trails to Noah?

  “So, it’s possible that Noah slipped down the ravine, then across to the trail.”

  “Trails,” Kaylee corrected him absently. “They split off in several directions. He could have gone anywhere.”

  Her voice had turned soft, thoughtful. She stepped back from him and the evidence they’d found. “Noah heading into this corner would have been enough to send Pepe into a frenzy, if he was outside. He must have been here several times.”

  Eli said nothing, choosing instead to refine the plan he’d formed, to mentally weigh the pros and cons.

  “Eli, I don’t know how much more I can take! This is crazy! Why is this happening to me? Sure, I said some awful things this past year. I did some things I’m not proud of, but there are others out there that do far worse and their lives are a piece of cake compared to mine. Besides, I had to do those awful things in order to stay alive!”

  He listened patiently to her rant. “You’re asking me why God lets bad things happen to good people?”

  “Yes!” She ran her hands through her hair, a rare gesture for an introvert. “Why?”

  She waited for his answer. “Tell me, Eli. Don’t walk around the subject like you did at the hospital. I want the straight facts. The ones you believe in. Why does God let awful things happen?”

  “To give us a chance to minister to our fellow Christians. To show us that we’re not given any more than we can handle. Or perhaps God is preparing us for something greater.”

  “Greater? Or do you mean worse?”

  “It may get worse, but the Lord will be with you if you ask Him to be.”

  She let out an exasperated noise. “Well, I can’t handle any more! I can’t handle what I’ve got now!”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I can’t! Because…”

  Calmly, he waited for the rest of her answer. When it didn’t come, he asked, “If you couldn’t handle it, where would you be?”

  Her mouth dropped open and she found herself lost for words. “Dead?”

  “I doubt that. Kaylee, you aren’t the kind to kill yourself.”

  “Nor was my sister.” She tightened her jaw. “But they said she did it anyway.”

  “Police are fallible, too. Just remember that you haven’t, nor will you ever, be given more than you can handle. God has plans for all of us. And all that happens to us is boot camp for God.”

  She frowned. “What’s that?”

  “It’s what a pastor friend called any training for His work. Like the army’s boot camp.”

  “Well, I’d get drummed out for sure,” she snapped.

  Eli knew his expression showed doubt. “I have an idea.”

  “What?”

  He took her arm and guided her into the house. Once inside, he said. “I have a plan, if you’re willing.”

  “What kind of plan?”

  “To lure Noah here. He’s already been in your yard. He’ll be back. He believes he’s fooled you.”

  “He did.” She pressed her fingers against her lips, then dropped to the couch.

  Eli sat down beside her. “But this time, I’ll be outside waiting for him. Officer Reading told me to call him if I thought of a way to help you. Together we could lure Noah out of hiding.”

  “How?”

  “Where are the places you’ve been lately, that you’ve announced that you’ll be alone? Noah showed up here when you were alone. He tricked you into coming out on the deck.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. He could have knocked on my door.”

  “And risk you seeing the difference between us in brighter light? But in the dark, you wouldn’t.”

  “We still don’t know why.”

  “To unnerve you. To toy with you. To play with you or even with me.”

  She shut her eyes.

  Eli barreled on. “How do you think he knew you were alone? Who did you tell?”

  “I don’t know. You. Some of the people at church may have heard. And we stopped by the rec center so I could pick up my paycheck, but nobody was there yet.”

  He rose and walked to the phone. Confused, Kaylee just watched him. He called someone, talking softly into the phone for a few minutes. She heard Noah’s name, the rec center mentioned and a few words that made no sense. Then she heard him hang up. Returning to the kitchen, he said, “I talked to Reading. I think if you mention that you’re home alone at the same places you did last Sunday, we can stake out your house to see if Noah comes.”

  “So what if he does? We can’t do anything about it.”

  “Reading can arrest him. He’s wanted for blowing up his compound.” His expression hardened. “We’ll get him this time, Kaylee. I promise.”

  Half an hour later, with his long black flashlight, Reading was peering up at the wood, along with the ground beneath it. Without speaking, Eli handed him the baking soda and water. He’d already mixed them together in a small squirt bottle.

  With a squeeze, Reading sprayed the liquid out on the wood. Before dropping to the ground, the milky mixture fizzled and spat. He lifted his eyebrows.

  “My kid learned about sulfuric acid in school. Made me nervous, he did. Before I left, I quizzed him on the dangers. It can eat through wood, he said. I remembered they did an experiment on an oak plank. It took a few hours but it rotted it right out.”

  “And it can spontaneously burn.” Eli bit back his impatience. This was Kaylee’s deck they were talking about. And if the circumstances had been different, the acid would have eaten right through the wood and she’d have stepped out onto it, to have it collapse under her.

  He hadn’t mentioned all of this to Kaylee, but he suspected she would guess as much if she sat down to think about it.

  Yeah. Despite her show of defiance, she’d ignore it.

  “Good thing not much got on the wood—and that we had a big rainstorm to wash it away.”

  “I’ll show you the container we found.” He led the officer to the small glass jar. With his pen, Reading lifted the jar and dropped it into a clear plastic bag. “I’ll see what I can find out about this.”

  “I’m sure it’s sulfuric acid. Kaylee’s battery was dying.”

  Reading tilted his head. “Someone’s been stealing her battery acid?”

  “Easiest way to get it. That way, he didn’t have to travel far.”

  “He?”

  “Noah. It all points to him.”

  The officer reflected on Eli’s words. They were harsh, judgmental, but he wouldn’t temper them when they were talking about Kaylee’s safety. “I’ll take this and let you know what I find. I’ll take the battery, as well.” He swept one last look around the yard before adding, “I’ll ask one of the carpenters in town to check your deck out. In the meantime, stay off it.”

  “Before you go, I have an idea of how to get Noah.”

  Reading glanced around. “I’m listening.”

 
; Two nights later, Eli shifted in the seat of the car Reading had borrowed for him. The cul-de-sac lay quietly before him. Too quiet, he thought irritably.

  He sat in the first driveway on the dead-end street, outside the circle of the streetlight. He had an excellent view of Kaylee’s house and could see her neighbor, Lois, peeking out of her curtains occasionally. He wished she wouldn’t do that, but expected Reading to call her on the phone to tell her so. Reading was located across the street in a small, unlit bungalow. The owners had volunteered to visit family in the city for the night.

  Another officer, also a member of the church, watched the other side of the ravine. Two more police officers were on standby.

  He scrubbed his face. All they could do now was wait for Noah to show up.

  His thoughts moved from the op to the results of the tests on the jar Reading had taken. The police had confirmed it was battery acid, probably taken from Kaylee’s battery. The carpenter had come by and recommended two planks and a crossbeam be replaced; the rest would be sealed with a preservative.

  But they had nothing, no hair, fingerprints, nothing they could pin on Noah.

  He hadn’t wanted Kaylee to stay alone in the house, but Reading was adamant. If Noah realized a policewoman was there with her, he’d never come. Kaylee agreed.

  Just another difficult task he’d dumped on her. Guilt seeped into him and he gritted his teeth to fight it off. He had never intended to put Kaylee through this.

  His heart constricted as he realized how much Noah frightened her. How much he’d frightened her.

  Lord, do something.

  He grimaced at his blunt demand. His mind had been on so many details lately that he hadn’t spent enough time in prayer, but now, sitting in the car watching her house, he knew he could take the time to pray.

  But the words wouldn’t form in his head.

  Angry with himself, he slumped down and folded his arms. He didn’t want anything to happen to Kaylee. He wanted her to stay the way she was and he wanted to capture Noah and, most importantly, find Phoebe. Save her. Take her away and convince her how wrong she was about Noah.

  His wants felt hollow—selfish, as Phoebe would say.