A Silent Fury

by Lynette Eason

  “You’ll just let him go, but you don’t know what they’ve done.”

  “Then tell me. What has he done?”

  Coach Dillard interrupted. “Nothing. Billy’s distraught. He needs counseling.”

  “And you’re going to need a doctor if you don’t tell me where my sister is!” Spittle flew from his mouth as he screamed at his coach.

  Joseph intervened. “Billy, come on. We can’t settle anything if you have that gun.”

  “He’ll kill me,” he practically sobbed. “He killed Tracy and he’s got Kelly.”

  “Who, Billy?”

  “Him!” He waved the gun at Coach Dillard.

  Catelyn watched a look of frustration pass over Alan’s face. He held his hands up as though in surrender. “I don’t know where he got this idea or why he’s chosen me, but I can assure you, I had nothing to do with anything happening to the girls.”

  “Liar!” The gun waved wildly and Catelyn’s heart clamped at the thought of shooting this kid.

  “Billy, Billy,” she soothed. “I promise, we’ll work it out, just put the gun down.”

  She wondered if she was going to have to call in the hostage-negotiation team.

  Joseph met her eyes. He was thinking the same thing.

  “Here, look.” Billy’s hand reached for his pocket.

  “Wait!” Joseph hollered. Billy froze.

  “What are you going for?” Joseph asked a little more calmly.

  “Pictures.”

  Catelyn saw Alan Dillard’s body tense. She asked, “What kind of pictures, Billy?”

  “Pictures of Kelly.”

  Joseph’s mind raced. What if the kid was telling the truth? He’d noticed the subtle change in Dillard’s posture. A sudden awareness that this situation might not go in his favor?

  The tension, already thick, just tightened a bit more.

  “Billy…” Coach Dillard started.

  “Be quiet,” Joseph ordered the man. He turned back to Billy. “Show me the pictures.”

  The kid reached into his pocket with his left hand and pulled out several snapshots. “He sent me these. I know he did.”

  “How do you know? Did you see him?”

  Billy’s brow creased even further. “No, but it had to be him. No one else knows what I do.” He motioned with the gun for the coach to move back away from him. Then he walked forward and threw the pictures on the table just inside the door.

  Unfortunately, he stepped right in front of Joseph, turning so the gun was pointed away from Alan for a brief second.

  Alan took advantage of that and launched himself at Billy as the kid stepped back. The gun went flying, only to land inches from Billy’s fingertips. He screamed and scrabbled for it.

  Catelyn and Joseph reacted immediately. She went for the gun while Joseph went for Billy. Catelyn knocked the weapon from his grasping fingers.

  Alan Dillard had him pinned on the floor. Several SWAT members swarmed the large office, guns pointed at everyone not wearing a badge.

  Joseph pushed the man off Billy and hauled the youth to his feet. “Please, please, believe me. I promise you’ll understand. Just look at the pictures.”

  Catelyn’s skeptical look didn’t escape Joseph’s notice; however, she seemed to make a conscious decision to deliberately soften her stance and walked over to pick up the photographs.

  A gasp escaped her as she studied the first one. He handed Billy over to one of the uniformed officers and crossed the room to look over her shoulder.

  “Whoa.”

  “What’s the date on that newspaper?”

  “Yesterday.”

  Hope leaped within him as he studied the face of the terrified young girl glaring at the camera holding a newspaper. “She’s still alive.”

  “Looks like it. But for how much longer?”

  Joseph told Coach Dillard. “All right, fellas, let’s head down to the station and see if we can hash all this out.”

  Alan narrowed his eyes. “Is that necessary? You saw who had the gun.” He looked at Billy. “What happened, Billy? Why would you do this?”

  Not giving Billy a chance to respond, Joseph said, “Yeah, it’s necessary. I want to know why he thought he needed a gun to confront you and why he thinks you sent these pictures of his sister.”

  “Can we do this here? I’d prefer it if we could keep the media from getting ahold of this.”

  “Sorry, we’ll expect you in our station within fifteen minutes.” He didn’t have any reason to arrest Alan—yet. But he still wanted to talk with him.

  “Are you arresting Billy?” Alan demanded.

  “Absolutely. You can’t just go around waving a gun at people. But I also want to hear his story.” He turned to one of the officers. His name tag read Bud Bridges. “Will you see Dillard gets to the station?”

  “No problem.”

  “All right. You ready, Catelyn?”

  She nodded, her eyes still on Billy, a frown creasing her forehead. Joseph asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” She shook her head and rubbed her nose. “I…Nothing. Let’s go.”

  They headed for the station, Joseph praying that they could finally resolve this case in the next few hours. His churning gut told him it probably wasn’t going to be that easy.

  Catelyn stomped into the interrogation room. She was starting to feel like she should move her bed into one of the rooms and change her address.

  Billy fidgeted, crossing his arms in front of him then fiddling with the sleeve of his plaid shirt. He plucked a button from one cuff and it rolled to the floor. He didn’t even blink.

  Catelyn sat across from him and his parents who flanked him on either side. “Mr. Franklin, are you sure you’re feeling up to this?”

  The man nodded, weariness and despair oozing from him in almost visible waves. Catelyn took a deep breath and laid the pictures of Kelly out so they were visible for all to see. Mrs. Franklin sucked in a deep breath and studied her daughter. Then she said, “But this is good, right? It means she’s still alive.” Hope gleamed in her eyes.

  She turned the tape recorder on, went through the list of introductory questions having him verify his name, birth date, etc. Once done, she said, “Start talking Billy. What happened? Where have you been?”

  Tension had his body nearly vibrating. “I need to find Kelly. I’ve tried and tried, but I can’t…I just…can’t. I’ve run out of ideas and…time…”

  “Who took her?”

  “Coach Dillard did.”

  “You say that with absolute certainty. How do you know?”

  Billy swallowed hard. “Because she called and told me she saw him kill Tracy. She didn’t know I was just a minute away from the school. She begged me to help her then her phone got cut off.”

  “Why call you? Wouldn’t she text message you? And don’t say she did, we already checked her records.”

  “Normally she would have text messaged me—if she’d had time, but she sounded desperate and scared. She might be deaf, but she can still talk.”

  Catelyn murmured, “I did some checking on her. Her hearing loss is a lot like Marianna’s.” Joseph’s sister couldn’t hear much, but she had excellent speech.

  Joseph nodded. “Okay. So she called you.”

  “Yeah. When Kelly didn’t come home, I went looking for her. I figured she was probably meeting Dylan, so I went to the deaf school. They liked to meet there and hang out with the other kids before curfew.”

  “Did you see her?”

  He sighed and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Yeah. When I got there, it was already dark. I saw Tracy lying on the ground—” his Adam’s apple bobbed once “—dead, I think. Behind Tracy, I saw a man. He was arguing with Kelly. Kelly was hysterical, screaming that he’d killed Tracy. He was trying to get her shut up. He had her by her left wrist and she was trying to kick and hit…” He swallowed again. “He lifted the bat to hit Kelly and that’s when I stepped out of the bushes and told him to put it down.”
/>
  “Who was it, Billy?” Joseph pressed, leaning in to stare the kid in the eye.

  “Coach Dillard. I told you, he killed Tracy and grabbed Kelly.”

  Catelyn jumped in. “Why haven’t you told us this before now?”

  He swallowed hard. “Because Coach said if I told anyone he’d kill her! I couldn’t let him hurt Kelly.” He swallowed again. “While Coach was dragging Kelly away, she signed, ‘Coach and Tracy lovers.’ And something about a secret room.”

  “Whoa.” Joseph sat back. “Alan and Tracy were having an affair? What about this secret room? Did she say anything more about that? Where it was, who it belonged to? What was in it?”

  Billy blinked at all the questions then said, “I guess they were having some kind of affair, I really don’t know. And I don’t know about a secret room, but that’s what she signed. I wanted to go after her, but—” he rubbed his head “—I didn’t dare. He was serious about killing Kelly.”

  “So, you just watched him put her in his car and drive away?”

  “Yes.” Shame flashed, then impatience stamped his face along with worry. “I thought I could find her! I thought I could…get her away from him and then go straight to the police, but he was too good, too smart for me, too…Look, you’ve got to find Kelly. He knows that I’m going to tell you all this and he’s going to kill her!”

  “Relax, Billy,” Joseph said. “We’ve got him in a room down the hall. He can’t get to her right now.”

  The boy sat back in his chair with a huff. He rubbed his arms and his sleeves slid up.

  Catelyn reached out and grabbed his wrist. “What’s this?”

  Billy jerked away from her. “Nothing, I scratched myself.”

  She sat back with a thump. “Scratched yourself, my eye. That was you in my house! You tried to kill me?”

  Billy leaped to his feet, fists clenched at his sides. “You’re crazy.”

  Catelyn eyed Joseph who kept a watchful eye on things.

  She planted herself in front of the boy. “You tried to kill me. Don’t try to deny it. I pulled the mask off your face, you’ve got the scratches on your arm that are going to match up to the DNA in the system. Why don’t you just come clean and tell us everything?”

  Billy buried his face in his hands and let out a sigh. He seemed to wither into himself as he slumped back into his chair. “He told me I had to get rid of you. He said you were getting too close, interfering in everything.” He looked up and had tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry, but he said he’d kill her if I didn’t do it.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell someone?”

  “Because who would believe me?” He exploded. “Coach is like a god. Everyone in this town thinks he’s the greatest thing in the world. And me?” He shrugged. “No one would believe me. Coach even laughed at me when I said I would tell. Then he said he’d send Kelly to my parents…bit by bit.” His Adam’s apple bobbed again. “I believed him. I couldn’t take the chance. I…didn’t want to hurt you…I didn’t want any of this to happen…I just didn’t know what else to do!”

  Catelyn stood and paced, ignoring the boy’s shocked parents. She looked at his ear. He’d removed his earrings. Billy’s mother cried quietly. His father stared at the son who’d just confessed to attempted murder.

  She whirled back. “Were you in on the break-in at my house that night? Stealing my stuff?”

  “Yeah. I was there.”

  “And your backpack in the shed?”

  He swallowed hard again. “I told Coach I’d had enough. I wanted him to let Kelly go and I promised I’d keep quiet, I’d keep Kelly quiet, too, but I couldn’t keep doing what he wanted me to do.” A tear leaked down his cheek. “He gave me the flip-flop. Said if I didn’t obey him, the next thing of Kelly’s that he gave me would be a finger. I had the backpack with me when we unloaded the stuff. I guess I left it there in the shed.”

  “Maybe hoping someone would find it? And force you into a confession?” Joseph questioned softly.

  Billy shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “All right.” Joseph sat back and crossed his arms. “You’ll have a hearing, and your parents can post bail for you—if you make bail. Attempted murder of a police officer is serious stuff.”

  Billy was already shaking his head before Joseph’s last word. “No way. I want to stay here. I’ll be safe here. Coach is going to be so mad. He knows I’ve squealed on him. If you let me go, he’ll kill me.” His lips tightened. “I just couldn’t figure out why hadn’t killed Kelly and me both yet. That’s the thing. I kept thinking what’s he waiting for? Why does he keep dragging it out? Then it hit me. He’s waiting for the big game. He’s waiting for me to win it.” This was said without any cockiness whatsoever. The kid was a brilliant ball player and he knew it.

  And he was probably right. Coach Dillard wanted to move up in his career—and felt he couldn’t do it without Billy’s help.

  Leaving Billy in the hands of jail personnel, they made their way to the room where Dillard was supposed to be waiting. Catelyn looked in. “It’s empty.”

  Joseph frowned. “Try the other one.”

  She marched to the next room and gave a disgusted grunt. “What is this?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s empty, too.”

  “Who was the officer we left him with?”

  “I think his name is Bridges.”

  “Great.” Joseph headed for the information desk. Catelyn followed.

  He asked the officer behind the computer, “Could you page Officer Bridges, please? I need to speak with him.”

  The man nodded and picked up the phone. A minute later, he hung up. “He’s not answering. Let me call him on his phone.” He punched in a few more buttons and asked for the man. “No answer there, either. I don’t understand. Let me just get into this program…” More typing on the computer. Then his brow shot up. He looked up from the screen. “He called for help about five minutes ago, declaring an officer down.”

  Catelyn nearly screeched. “What?”

  SIXTEEN

  Joseph and Catelyn bolted for the door and raced for the car.

  He told her, “We need to find Dillard. If everything Billy is saying is true, he’s going to go after Kelly. I should have told Bridges to cuff Alan.”

  “But we had no reason to place him under arrest,” Catelyn protested as she yanked her car door open.

  “Yeah, I know. Guess we do now.” His jaw clenched, he slammed his door and cranked the vehicle.

  Catelyn buckled her seat belt. “He knew he was busted as soon as Billy opened his mouth. Attacking and injuring an officer is the least of his problems if he’s caught.”

  “I have a feeling we’re seriously running out of time to find this girl alive.” Wheeling out of the parking lot, he asked, “So, where to first? The coach’s house or back to his office? Where would he go?”

  “I’m going to get someone to cover all the bus stations, highway exits and the airport. There’s no way he’d go back to his office or his house—would he?”

  Joseph hesitated at the stop sign. “You wouldn’t think, but if he’s got Kelly at one of those locations, he’s going to have to go there to get her.” He grabbed his phone. “I’m going to get units covering both places immediately.”

  She nodded. “Sounds good.”

  He placed the calls then gripped the steering wheel. Finally he turned left.

  Catelyn added, “But something else is bothering me.”

  “What?” He wondered if she was going to confront him about his actions in the gym earlier.

  There went her teeth again, digging into her full bottom lip. He looked away. Now wasn’t the time to notice how attractive she was. Instead, he focused on her words, which were about the case, not his faux pas—the one where he stepped in front of her. Relief flooded him. Maybe she was going to let it go.

  He wasn’t going to hold his breath on that one.

  She said, “Those pictures of Kell
y. They’re really nagging at me.”

  “Okay, let’s go over them.”

  Catelyn pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. “She’s sitting in some, standing in others.”

  “And she’s holding a newspaper in all of them, pointing to the date.”

  “What kind of room is she in? There’s something about the room.”

  Joseph pictured the frightened teen and his gut clenched. They really needed to find her. “I couldn’t really tell anything about it. It was a pretty close-up picture.”

  “Paneling.” She snapped her fingers.

  “What?”

  “That’s it, it’s got to be. It’s the paneling, the wall behind her.”

  He was confused. “That stuff is very commonplace. Nothing special about that.”

  “But it’s the same as the paneling that was in Coach Dillard’s office.” Her eyes had the satisfied look of someone who’d just figured out a difficult puzzle.

  “Well, if that’s where they took the pictures, she wasn’t there earlier when we came in on Billy threatening them with the gun.”

  “But what if they have her nearby? What if she’s being held at the school somewhere?” Catelyn’s excitement started to grow. Joseph could see it in her snapping blue eyes.

  “How would that be possible?” Joseph played devil’s advocate as he took a left turn to head for the school like she’d suggested instead of the coach’s house. “There’s a cleaning crew and people there practically around the clock. Someone would have seen or heard something.”

  “Just think about it. Alan Dillard’s office is set apart from the main school building. It’s on a back hall in the gym. All he has to do is put a sign on the door asking for maintenance not to enter his office. And remember, Billy said something about a secret room.”

  “Someone would get suspicious.”

  “Maybe not. Baseball season is intense right now. No one would question him spending a lot of time at the school or in his office after hours. So—” her words slowed “—tomorrow’s the big game, right?”

  “Right.” He wondered where she was going with this line of thought. With Catelyn, he was never sure, but she usually made sense in the end. So he listened.