Escape, Dead End

by David Antocci

  “Good. We’ve got to run now, alright?”

  Grabbing her daughter’s hand, the two made a sprint for the woods behind the restaurant where they disappeared, just as a fire truck pulled around back.

  ***

  As Donny’s eyes opened, he found himself on a gurney in the parking lot, a safe distance from the burning restaurant.

  It took a moment to realize that he was looking at Bryce, sitting up on another gurney ten feet away and speaking with a fireman.

  He sat up a little, trying to hear what the fireman was saying.

  “So a bunch of people are saying that some woman threw candles at you, and that’s what started the fire?”

  Bryce nodded his head. “They were the little glass lamps with the oil and the wick.” He shrugged.

  The fireman continued. “No one saw her exit the building, but you’re saying she’s not in there?”

  “No,” Bryce shook his head. “She ran out the back, through the kitchen. I saw her. Must have ran off that way.”

  Donny tried to sit up. He knew full well that Abby wouldn’t have left without Ava, nor would she have left Bryce alive. What if she’s still in there?

  “No, you don’t, sir,” a heavyset woman behind him put her hand on his shoulder and eased him back onto the gurney.

  Donny grabbed at his mask, ripping it off to speak, but started choking immediately.

  The woman put the mask back on. “There you go. Rest a few more minutes, OK, honey?”

  He glanced at Bryce and they locked eyes. No doubt Bryce knew Donny didn’t just happen to be there, and would kill him with his bare hands right now if there weren’t so many witnesses around.

  The fireman continued speaking with Bryce. “That makes sense about the oil candles. This thing got out of hand really fast. It’s an old building, and she was literally pouring fuel on the fire. It’s gone, you know.” He shook his head.

  Donny looked around trying to figure out what the fireman was talking about. The hoses weren’t pointed at the building, which was simply a thirty-foot tall bonfire by now. They were pointed at the wooded areas around the building. Other firemen directed cars away from the building. The restaurant was too far gone to save, and they were going to let it burn to the ground. Their only concern now was keeping the fire from spreading to the nearby trees and reaching the homes beyond.

  Donny looked at Bryce and saw what he could only describe as a twinkle in his eyes. Abby had to be in there, and he was letting her burn.

  That son of a bitch!

  Donny forcibly sat up and ripped the mask off, but couldn’t catch his breath to speak. The fireman looked over as Donny waved for him to come over.

  “Are you OK, sir?” the fireman asked.

  Donny shook his head no. He tried to speak, but only coughed, unable to catch his breath.

  The fireman looked back at Bryce. “Who is this guy?”

  “I dunno,” Bryce lied. “I assume he was here for dinner like everyone else.”

  Donny managed to shake his head no while he gathered his breath to speak. I’ll tell them the truth. They’ll go in after Abby, and get the cops here to take care of this piece of shit.

  Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he felt the throwaway phone in his pocket vibrate. Only one person in the world had that number. Donny looked at the fireman, the heavyset paramedic, and Bryce, all waiting for him to speak. He gasped and coughed a few more times, then meekly managed to say, “I was here... for take-out.”

  ***

  Matt had left Buffalo minutes after speaking to Agent Vines, but found himself stopped on the street across from Buena Sera, unable to enter the parking lot being blocked off by a line of firemen. Apparently he had already missed something important, but he wasn’t sure what. His badge would have gained him entry, but Agent Vines said to lay low on this for now, so he thought better of it.

  He parked and walked into the parking lot from the side, going up to a large group of onlookers. “What’s going on here?” he asked to anyone listening.

  The beefy man who had stopped Donny from running into the building earlier spoke up. “Some crazy woman was screaming at the owner and chuckin’ candles at him. Place went up like tinder. She was yellin’ something about their daughter. Must be an old girlfriend or something.”

  Matt nodded his head. He spoke with a couple others and got the same story. He also gleaned that the fire department intended to let the place burn, as everyone had gotten out and it was too far gone to save.

  He called Vines to fill him in.

  On the other side, Vines was quiet, processing the news.

  “You get a good look at him?” Vines asked.

  “Yes, sir. I compared him to the photos you messaged me. Different haircut, different glasses, but it’s definitely the same guy. You found your man.”

  “Good, good.”

  “You want me to take him into custody?”

  Vines thought about it. Bryce was going to be a huge get, the biggest of his career. He intended to redeem himself just in time for his retirement with this story. But Bryce and Abby would be an even bigger story if he could get both of them. Technically, he didn’t have enough evidence for a warrant on Abby, but just bringing her in for questioning would be enough of a story.

  “No, let him walk, but don’t lose him. Abby’s out there somewhere, and she’s not gonna be far away. Once she shows up, we’ll grab both of them, OK?”

  “Yes, sir. Tail him, don’t lose him. Got it.”

  “Call me if anything happens. I’ll be there in less than an hour.”

  22

  THE PARAMEDICS INSISTED on transporting Donny and Bryce to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. Bryce successfully argued against such measures and signed a waiver. He had been up speaking and walking around for quite a while.

  Donny, on the other hand, barely had his breath and could not argue his way out of a trip to the hospital. He found himself in the back of an ambulance bound for Mount Saint Charles hospital twenty minutes away and one town over.

  After the ambulance pulled away, Bryce turned to see his restaurant’s roof entirely collapse under its own weight. The fire had obliterated the support structure below.

  The fire department now insisted on clearing the parking lot entirely and made quick work of moving the rest of the onlookers out.

  The chief came up to Bryce, who stood and watched the blaze.

  “We’re trying to get everyone out of here, sir. You can keep an eye on things from the street if you want.”

  Bryce shook his head without taking his eyes from the fire. “No. I can’t bear to watch this. I’m going to head out.”

  “We’ll be here until the structure is gone and it’s just smoldering. It’ll make the demo easier for you. We’ll douse it then, probably another couple hours at most the way this thing is raging. There’s supposed to be a big storm coming tonight—a few inches of rain at least—so we’re not too worried. Just want to make sure it’s out before we call it a night.”

  Bryce looked at his watch. “Late night for you guys, huh?”

  The fireman shook his head. “Naw. We’ll tape off the scene. Probably be out of here sometime between midnight and one. Not too bad.”

  Bryce nodded. “That’s good. You don’t need me for anything else then?”

  “Not tonight, sir. From the interviews we’ve done, the cause seems pretty straightforward, but the investigator will want to interview you in the morning anyway. Your insurance company is going to want that report, if nothing else.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be home. He can reach me there.”

  Bryce handed the fireman his card, got in his car, and set off for home.

  As he drove, he thought about Donny showing up with Abby. How long have they been in it together? He wished he could have jumped across the gurney and choked the life out of him right there in the restaurant parking lot. No matter. He’d hunt Donny down and take care of him in good time. His first order of busin
ess was to take care of the two bodies in the wreckage of Buena Sera before any insurance investigators or demo crews showed up.

  He glanced at the clock in the car to see that it was just after 9:00. The fireman had said they would be there for another few hours, so he began working on a plan. He’d grab some power tools and his truck before returning to the restaurant. He wasn’t sure exactly what unburying the bodies would entail, but was optimistic that if there was any heavy debris to move, like beams or chunks of concrete, he could lash a rope around it and pull it off with his truck.

  He knew what corner they would be in. As he had lain there on the floor of the bar, dizzy and unable to stand, he heard Ava screaming, too. He saw Abby run back to the office and knew she would find her. She was a smart woman—that much he had learned. She never came back out, and when the support wall in the hallway and the ceiling collapsed to block the only exit from his windowless office, he smiled and decided he could die happy, knowing that those two bitches would burn, too.

  When the firemen dragged him out, it was just icing on the cake.

  Thinking ahead to disposing of the bodies, he realized that he didn’t really have to alter his original plan that much. He would need another bag, another length of chain, and a few more cinderblocks, but those were all items he kept stocked in his garage for just such occasions. With his background, and living on one of the Great Lakes, he figured he would never regret keeping these things around. He had buried more than one body out at sea in his relatively short time in the area and was fine with adding two more to the total.

  He smiled as he pulled into his driveway. Abby and Ava will be at the bottom of the lake by sunrise.

  His secret would be forever buried with his dead ex-wife.

  ***

  Donny had spent the past forty-five minutes on a gurney in the hallway of Mount Saint Charles Emergency Room. It was a busy enough night, and with the exception of a nurse who took his vitals when he arrived, no one had looked his way.

  He spent the twenty-minute ride over, and the first half of his time here, with an oxygen mask strapped to his face. Wondering if anyone was paying attention, he slid it off about ten minutes ago, and no one gave him a second glance. He had been wondering how his breathing would be without it, and determined that it was good enough.

  His right pocket started vibrating again, and he immediately answered the call.

  “Abby?”

  “Oh, thank God you’re OK!”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. They took me to the hospital, but I’ll be all right. Where did you go?”

  “Long story. We got out the back and ran through the woods. I couldn’t just walk around the front of the restaurant.”

  “We? So you got Ava?”

  “Yeah, she was in the restaurant. I’ll fill you in later. Can you meet us?”

  “Of course. Where?”

  “Remember the truck stop right before the exit where we got off?”

  “Yeah, sure. You’re there?”

  “Yeah. We came out of the woods by the highway and I recognized the sign, so we went this way. Ava’s a little shaken up, but she’s tough, she’s OK. We cleaned up in the ladies room and are going to have a bite to eat. How fast can you get here?”

  Donny thought. The car they had stolen from the accountant was back at the restaurant parking lot, but he could certainly procure another one in the parking lot of the hospital one way or another. “Twenty-five, maybe thirty minutes, tops. So what’s the plan? Go back to your sister’s across the border? Or do you have another place? Either way, I’ll get you where you need to go.”

  “It’s not over, Donny.”

  “What are you talking about? You got Ava back.”

  “I did, and now I’m going to end this. He survived the fire. According to the news, they pulled two men from the blaze. One of them was your dumb ass, and there was only one other person in the place.”

  “Yeah, Bryce lived. I saw him. So we’re going after him?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to end this once and for all, OK?”

  “OK. I’ll be right there.”

  Stuffing the phone into his pocket, Donny ditched the mask and the oxygen sensor on his finger and walked out of the front door without anyone even raising an eyebrow.

  ***

  In a quiet booth at the rear of the truck-stop diner, Abby slid the phone into her pocket and smiled across the table at Ava.

  “You OK?”

  The girl nodded her head, staring at her plate of food without looking up.

  “Hey,” Abby said, putting a finger under Ava’s chin to lift her head. When their eyes met, Abby melted. Her daughter had her soft brown eyes, but they were glassed over as she struggled not to cry.

  “Come here.” Abby stood, gesturing for her daughter to stand up for a hug. Ava practically leaped from her seat into Abby’s open arms, where Abby stroked her long brown hair while the little girl sobbed into her mother’s shoulder.

  “It’s OK baby, it’s OK. It’s over now.”

  Ava wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at her mother, “No, it’s not. We have to go to the police or something. He should be in jail!”

  “Shhh, keep your voice down. Let’s sit. We need to talk.”

  “What do we need to talk about? He tried to kill me; he tried to kill you. Why isn’t he in jail?”

  “Can we sit, honey? Come on.” Abby gestured to the booth.

  Ava looked at the seat across the booth from her mother and had a thought. “Can I just sit on your lap?”

  “Sure.” Abby smiled as her little girl snuggled in. “Ava, sweetie, we need to have a talk.”

  “OK, what about?”

  “About your... I can’t even call him your father.” Abby sighed, “About Bryce. This is a grown-up talk, but I think you can handle it. Can you?”

  Ava nodded her head gently, staying serious to show her mother she was ready.

  Abby took a deep breath. “Ava, honey, we can’t go to the police.”

  “Why not? Auntie Sarah always said that if I got in trouble I need to find a police officer. They stop the bad guys. They’ll help us.”

  Abby nodded her head. “Well, that’s good advice. If you’re lost, a police officer can help you find your way home. If you’re hurt, they can get you to the hospital. But they can’t help us with this.”

  “Why not?”

  Abby thought a minute. “Honey, have you ever known a mean dog?”

  She nodded her head, “Yeah, a couple houses down from Auntie Sarah, there’s a really mean dog. His name is Bear. He’s scary; always barking. When they let him out, sometimes he chases and bites at the kids. He’s the worst.”

  “OK, and what do the owners do so the dog doesn’t chase the kids or bite them?”

  “I don’t know. They usually have him on a chain in the backyard or put him in the house so he can’t get to anyone. Why?”

  “Well, think about it this way. They chain him up or keep him in the house, but every time Bear gets out he goes chasing and scaring the kids again, right?”

  Ava nodded her head.

  “Well, honey, if we call the police, they’ll bring Bryce to jail, but he won’t be there forever. It could be a few days, a few weeks, a few years, but eventually he’ll get out again.”

  Ava nodded her head but didn’t really understand. “But why?”

  “Because that’s how the system works sometimes. While your... while Bryce waits for a judge to send him to jail, he’ll be free, and we can’t let that happen. We have to do something about it or he’ll hurt us.” As Ava pondered her mother’s words, Abby continued. “Honey, if that mean dog down the street keeps chasing kids and scaring them every time it gets out, what do you think the owners should do?”

  The girl didn’t need to think about it. “Get rid of it. That’s what all the kids keep saying. Get rid of Bear so we don’t have to be scared of him anymore.”

  Abby nodded her head. “Do you understand what I’m talking about now?”


  Ava thought a moment, but eventually shook her head no. “Sorry, I don’t know, Momma.”

  “Honey, Bryce is like a mean dog. If we call the police, they’ll take him away, but he’ll get out again. He always does, and then we have to be scared again.”

  “So we have to get rid of him, like the dog?”

  Abby nodded. “Exactly. Then we don’t have to be scared anymore. He can’t hurt us anymore.”

  “How?”

  “You let me worry about that, OK, honey?”

  “OK,” Ava wrapped her arms around her mother and buried her face in her neck. “I love you, Momma.”

  “I love you, too. But now you need to eat something, OK?”

  Abby reached across the table to slide Ava’s plate of burger and fries from the other side, and the two ate in silence, huddled next to each in the protective corner of the diner. Both had been deprived of food for so long that they were past being hungry, to the point that they hadn’t even felt hungry when they sat down. However, once they started, they devoured their dinners in a matter of minutes.

  The little girl leaned against her mother. “Momma, have you ever not been hungry at all, and then once you ate something, you’re suddenly starving?”

  “Yup!” Abby smiled. “That’s what dessert is for!”

  She flagged down the lone, aging waitress, and five minutes later mother and daughter were gorging on warm apple pie a la mode.

  Satisfied, Abby leaned back. “There’s nothing better than diner pie with my little girl.”

  Ava planted a big kiss right on Abby’s lips and spoke to her staring into her eyes from just a few inches away, as only children can do. “There’s nothing better than diner pie with my little momma!”

  The two laughed though Abby quickly held her daughter close so she wouldn’t see the tears that had sprung from her eyes. She was overcome with joy, but she also felt a hole in her heart where all of the memories with her little girl should be.

  She had missed so much over the past two years and didn’t want to miss another minute, but knew they had to part ways again, hopefully only briefly. Abby knew that if she could succeed in getting rid of Bryce, they could lead normal lives from now on. The possibility that she could fail, and never see Ava again, was in the back of her mind, though she refused to acknowledge it.