by Orren Merton
I really was going to kill this asshole when I found him.
“What loose ends?” I asked.
“Nice try,” he chuckled. “You should never have gone snooping into matters you didn’t understand. You should never have gone looking for my acquaintances.”
The nausea turned into a huge knot in my stomach. I felt so sick I had to hold onto the car. Even through my flaming eyes, I could feel tears start to form.
“Where’s Debbie?” I asked.
“When she betrayed me, her usefulness—”
“Where is she?”
“With my House,” he answered.
“You’re a monster!” I growled, hoping my anger hid the quiver in my voice.
“You know the deal,” he said. “Sit tight for a few days, and I release Linda to you. Otherwise she suffers the same fate as the others. Have a lovely day.”
And with that, he disconnected the call.
33
I just stood beside the passenger door of Jake’s Subaru for a while, staring at my phone and at my reflection in the car window. I watched the reflection of the flames coming off my hair twist and warp like I was looking into a funhouse mirror. I noticed how the tiny little flames coming off my eyeballs obscured my irises and pupils. All this power…and I was totally helpless.
“Um….”
I looked at Jake, who was now turned around looking behind me. I turned around. A greasy, smelly bearded guy in dirty, oversized clothes stared at me from about ten feet away. Even from this distance, you could smell the booze. His mouth hung open dumbly.
“What?” I shouted testily. “Never see a chick with flaming hair before?”
He hazily shook his head.
“Well now you have,” I scowled.
He nodded just as hazily. He slowly held up his hand to wave.
“Bye,” Jake said.
The man slowly dropped his hand to his side, turned, and began to stumble away.
“We should probably leave…return to the Kelleys’ house,” Jake suggested.
I closed my eyes and regulated my breathing until my Sedu self was back inside. Then I opened my eyes and nodded.
I opened the car door and looked at the headrest of the passenger’s seat. It didn’t look like I’d burned through the cloth, but it was covered with black soot. I frowned.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jake said as he climbed into the drivers seat. He reached over, pulled a rag from the glove compartment, and sprinkled some water on it from a half-empty bottle of drinking water rolling around the floor of the back seat.
“See? It’s not that bad,” he said as he wiped the headrest. Most of the soot came off, but you could still see a dark brown stain where my head had been.
“I’m really sorry, Jake. I’ll pay for it to be cleaned.”
“Seriously, don’t worry about it,” Jake repeated as we drove out of the gas station and back to the freeway. “I wanted to upgrade the upholstery anyway. I’ll make sure that whatever I get is flame retardant.”
I let out a single rueful chuckle. “Still sure that you want me as your girlfriend?” I asked sourly.
“Absolutely,” he said, looking into my eyes with that genuine expression I couldn’t resist.
“Thanks,” I whispered. I reached up and caressed his arm.
“Besides, it’s that assbag’s fault,” Jake said. “He was deliberately pushing your buttons so you’d get upset and he could run the conversation. He owes me a cleaning, not you.”
A tiny grin escaped my drawn face. But a moment later, the tears started falling.
“I just wanted to help…to do good…to stop the murders, and now I’ve gotten Debbie and Linda…”
“No,” Jake insisted. “First of all, whatever happens to them, he is the one doing it to them, not you. Debbie was as good as dead the moment she picked up with that guy. He was always going to kill her when he was done with her. She was just a ‘loose end’ to him.”
I nodded as I sniffled and wiped my eyes.
“And Linda’s not dead. Not yet…”
I looked over and could see the pain in his face. Not only had he lost his mother to this guy, but now he was about to lose the other woman he thought of as a mother.
“If I hadn’t been staying with the Kelleys…”
Jake shook his head. “He would still have gone after Rachel.”
His knuckles were white and shaking as he squeezed the wheel tighter and tighter.
“We can’t let him get away with this,” I said.
“No we can’t.”
“So what now?” I asked.
“Well, when we get to the Kelleys’ house, we should call Detective Godinez. Then we’ll take it from there.”
I nodded.
We sat in silence as I went over everything that the Seduman had said to me, everything I had said back, everything I wished I’d said.
“And I would never have that assbag’s babies, I don’t care how powerful they’d be!” I blurted out without meaning to.
“I know you wouldn’t,” Jake said. Then I noticed him squirm a bit, like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how. “But…I mean…in general…not with him…but like, later on…”
I smiled and started caressing Jake’s arm again. I faced him so he could see that I was not upset. “How about we go to dinner and a movie sometime before we start planning our future children?”
Jake chuckled silently and nodded, his face slowly getting redder and redder.
“You have the lamest boyfriend…” he said, his embarrassment obvious.
“No I don’t,” I said. “He’s perfect.”
When we arrived at the Kelleys’ house, Bonnie was excited and jumping all over both of us. It was sweet, but we were in no mood.
We plopped down on the couch, and Jake pulled out his phone and called Detective Godinez. He held the phone in front of us on speakerphone.
“Hey, Jake,” he answered. “Something new?”
“Some really bad news,” I said. “The worst.”
“Okay,” the detective said, his tone somber. “Let me have it.”
I told him everything that the Seduman from the House of Raum had said to me. I told him about Linda. I told him about Debbie. There was a long silence after I finished.
“I’m grateful that you’re coming to me with this so quickly. And Alex, I want you to know you did the right thing. I’m very proud of you.”
“Proud of me? For what?” I asked.
“For not doing anything rash or saying anything that would cause him to retaliate against Linda Kelley.”
Jake rubbed my back. I smiled, thankful for the support.
“So now what do we do?” I asked.
“This case is my top priority,” Detective Godinez said. “There is a hostage and a ticking clock. I’m going to give this case all the resources I have to bear. We’re going to find this guy, Alex. Even if it takes a SWAT team or the National Guard, we’re going to get him.”
I frowned, not because of what he’d said…but because of what he didn’t say. “But what do Jake and I do?”
“You two have done a fantastic job. I couldn’t have asked for more. But now it is imperative that you both sit tight and don’t do anything that could endanger Mrs. Kelley’s life.”
I knew that’s what he was going to say, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating.
“But you know he’s going to kill her. We can’t just—”
“No, Alex. I don’t know that,” the detective corrected me. “We have every reason to believe he might. And he’s without a doubt capable of it. But we don’t know what he’s going to do. But more importantly, Alex, we do know that Linda Kelley was alive at the time of the call. If staying put is what you need to do in order to not give this guy a reason to kill her, then that is what I need you to do.”
“I’m losing everyone close to me…” I pleaded. “I have to help look for her.”
“I understand, Alex,” Detective Godine
z said, his voice more compassionate than it had been before. “You know how much Norm meant to me, too. I know that what I’m asking of you is difficult. But we both want the same thing, which is this guy caught and Linda Kelley home safely. For all we know, he has people watching your every move right now, and the minute you leave the house, they kill her. Or maybe a car will tail you, and if you look like you’re investigating, they kill her. Neither of us can be sure.”
“Can you check if this house is under surveillance?” Jake asked. “We’re supposed to pick up Emma Kelley and Rachel Silver from school in a couple of hours.”
“Don’t do it,” Detective Godinez advised. “Call the school and tell them to hold the girls until later this evening. I’ll send some officers by to check the area first. Don’t leave to go anywhere.”
“Okay,” Jake said.
“Now I’m going to get moving on this. Please continue to let me know if you hear anything from this guy or if anything changes, but stay put. You can check in with me any time you like. Can you do that for me?”
“Just keep me informed, okay?” I said. “This is…well, I was going to say killing me…”
“I know what you mean,” Godinez said. “We’ll be in touch. I promise.”
The detective disconnected the call.
Jake put his phone on the coffee table. “I noticed you avoided the question when he asked you to stay put.”
I nodded.
“So…do you have a plan?”
“Yeah,” I said, “to ask for help.”
34
“Before we do anything,” Jake began, “I need to call Steve Kelley. I want him to hear about this from me first. I think maybe I can be more sensitive than the police would be. And he can tell the school to hold Emma and Rachel until tonight.”
I nodded. Jake slowly reached for his phone. He held it in his hand, his expression getting more and more crestfallen by the second. “God…I don’t want to make this call.”
“I know,” I whispered. I slid over so my upper body was behind him. I ran my hands through his short hair, then rested my head on his shoulder and my arms around his waist.
He turned slightly with a dim smile, caressing my arm with his own free arm. He swiped a few times and held the phone out a little from his face but close enough to my head that I could hear too.
“Hi…Mr. Kelley?”
“Speaking. Is this Jake?” he asked.
“Yes. I need… Would you call Tustin Middle School and tell them to hold Emma and Rachel?”
“Linda can’t get them today?”
“No.”
“Jake, would you mind—”
“I want to,” Jake said. “But I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“I think we should talk about it tonight,” Jake said, the discomfort in his voice obvious.
“Is Linda all right?”
“I’m not sure. But hopefully tonight…she can explain everything.”
“So she’s not…she’s not missing or anything?” Steve asked, clearly worried.
“She called us about half an hour ago and asked us to pick up Emma and Rachel…but we can’t. I hope we can later. If we can’t you may have to pick them up really late, when you’re off work.”
Jake was near tears. I could tell he hated this. I started gently and slowly rubbing his chest, not so much as to be distracting but enough to hopefully share my strength with him.
“Jake, I know you well. I know you’re trying to dance around something. Please, this is my wife we’re talking about. The mother of Jill and Emma. I need to know what’s going on. I just tried to call her, and it went right to voicemail.”
Jake suddenly perked up. “Your phone location!” he exclaimed.
“Excuse me?” Steve said.
“Your family is on the same account with AT&T,” Jake explained. “We don’t know where Linda is. But you can call AT&T as the owner of the account and ask them to provide you with the current location of Linda’s phone. Yes, Mr. Kelley, we’re not sure where she is. And we’re not sure if she’s in trouble. But this isn’t…this isn’t like my mom,” Jake swallowed. “Linda is around. Please call AT&T to locate her phone, and I’ll tell the authorities.”
“My wife…has been kidnapped…hasn’t she?” Steve asked, his voice unsteady.
Jake responded with so much determination, I almost believed it myself: “We’re going to get her back. I’m actively working with Detective Sergeant Hector Godinez—I have his direct number and can get right in touch with him. But we need your help. We’ll find her. We know she’s okay now, and we’ll find her.”
There was a pause and a long sigh. “Okay. So…uh…you need me to call my daughter’s school, and then ask AT&T what exactly?”
“To locate Linda’s phone. And call me back immediately.”
“Okay. Then what do I do? I can’t just sit here,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I think we all have to sit where we are,” Jake sighed. “We may all be under surveillance. If any of us moves from our current locations, it could be really bad for Linda. The police are checking it out now. I’m so sorry Mr. Kelley.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. I could tell that Steve was trying to control his breathing. “Jake?” he finally said.
“Yes sir?”
“Please….”
“I will. We will. Linda’s like my second mom…my only mom left…”
“I know,” Steve said, trying to hold it together. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Thanks,” Jake said, and they ended their call.
He placed his phone on his lap and pivoted to face me.
“That sucked,” he said.
“I know. But you did great.”
“And if Steve can get through to AT&T, they can tell us the last known location of Linda’s phone.”
“Do you think Detective Godinez is looking for that same information?” I asked.
“I’m sure he is. He’s probably getting authorization to get that information from AT&T right now. But if we can get it faster, we can give it to him. And…well…if he gets it himself, I’m sure he won’t give it to us.”
“Good thinking,” I nodded. I rose from the couch. “I’m going to get a glass of water. Do you want anything?”
“Water sounds great, thanks.”
I went to the kitchen and filled two glasses with water. By the time I returned, Jake’s phone was ringing again.
“Hi Steve….”
I put down the two glasses on the coffee table and sat back on the couch, this time not crowding Jake.
“That’s great, I’ll let you know if we are cleared to pick them up by then. Did you also…”
Jake closed his eyes and exhaled, clearly relieved. “And where did they find the phone?” he asked.
“Palo Verde and Bellflower in Long Beach. Perfect. That’s a huge help, Steve. I feel—I hope that we’ll have this all figured out really soon. I can’t tell you how sorry I am…okay…talk to you soon.”
Jake ended the call.
I looked at him expectantly.
“The last known call from Linda’s phone was at a gas station in Long Beach. I’ll bet they threw away or destroyed her phone there. I’ll tell Detective Godinez.”
“Okay,” I said.
Jake called Detective Godinez and put the phone on speakerphone in between the two of us.
“Jake,” Detective Godinez answered. “What’s up?”
“I found Linda Kelley’s phone,” Jake replied, and he explained what he’d done.
“We just got the same information a little while ago, and I’m heading to the station now with a few officers to investigate. I’ll let you know when there’s a breakthrough. And remember, I know you guys don’t want to sit still, but I need you to keep staying put.”
“I know that’s what you need from us,” I said.
“Thanks, you two,” Detective Godinez said, then he
ended the call.
“So he already had that info,” I sighed.
“Yeah, but it’s still good that we have it. I was thinking…I can use that location to do some figuring—and some hacking.”
“Hacking?” I asked.
“Yeah—look,” Jake said, pulling up a map on his phone. “Linda had to be taken from work, and she works here—” he pulled up the location of her Pilates studio and tapped the screen to drop a pin on the digital map. “The gas station is here—” Jake pulled up that location on the map, and then had the application calculate directions from one to the other. “So depending on traffic, the kidnapper had to go thirty to forty-five minutes north to the station. I’m betting that the Seduman who spoke to you wasn’t the one who did the kidnapping, so he met one of his men there.”
“I’ll bet you’re right,” I agreed.
“I’m pretty sure that he wouldn’t want to sit there half the day waiting for his thug to arrive.”
“So you think that his headquarters is somewhere within half an hour or so from that gas station?” I asked.
“I can’t be sure, but it’s the best lead we have to go on. And if we’re going to be stuck here, at least we can do something.”
“That’s…the hacking is illegal, right?”
“Some of it is,” Jake admitted. “I’m going to have to grab lists of calls made near the Pilates studio parking lot, and then find out where those numbers called. To do that, I’ll log into the major phone service providers central systems.”
“You can do that?”
Jake nodded. “Me and my friends used to do this for fun in high school, just for bragging rights. We got lists of logins, instructions for accessing internal servers, all that good stuff. As long as the guy wasn’t using some tiny provider that I don’t have any information for, I should be able to find out what numbers were called. From there, I can buy phone records online…I’m pretty sure that’s not legal, either.”
Jake stood up and looked around. “I’ll be back in a second.” He walked outside, and I heard him unlocking the trunk of his Subaru. He returned with a small computer bag. He sat back down on the couch and pulled out his MacBook.