Taken! 13-18 (Donald Wells' Taken! Series)
Page 12
“You’re crazy!”
He got back in his car. When he put it in reverse, he went too far and clunked into a small tree, before fishtailing along the driveway and out towards the road.
Jessica punched a number into her phone and soon had her call answered.
“Chief, Jack, there’s a problem,”
***
Callaway was pulled over a mile from his house. When they tested him, his blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.
Chief Dent arrested Callaway and had him sleep it off on the sofa in his office, and then later released him when his sister came to pay the thousand-dollar fine. It was his first offense, but as an officer of the law, the repercussions would be serious.
After dinner that night, Jessica discussed Callaway’s visit with her husband.
“I’ll go have a talk with him, and one way or another I’ll get the truth from him about those flowers.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“You may become too... enthusiastic in your questioning.”
“I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
The phone rang; it was Rob Stevens.
“Hi Jessica, I heard about Callaway’s little visit, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Rob, but tell me, have you had a chance to look into Callaway’s record?”
“I did. Before joining the force here, Callaway worked on the Springfield, Illinois’ force, he did a year on the bomb squad and then moved to vice. When his parents died in a car crash, he moved back here to take care of a younger sister.”
“He sounds like a good cop, and Chief Dent says that this DUI is the only trouble he’s ever been in.”
“Maybe so, but you never can tell. I’m on my way now to have a talk with him. I’ll let you know what happens.”
“Thank you, Rob, and give my love to Juliet.”
When she hung up the phone, she filled her husband in on the call.
“Maybe it’s better that he questions Callaway. You were right, if I go see him, my... enthusiasm might get the better of me.”
Jessica stood up from the sofa and offered him her hand. When he took it, she guided him to stand.
“This enthusiasm you feel, perhaps we can direct it towards other purposes?”
He smiled.
“Most definitely,”
Jessica laughed, a moment later she found herself being lifted into his arms and carried up the stairs to their bedroom.
***
Just after midnight, they awoke in a tangle, as the alarm system warned them of an intruder.
He ran downstairs in just his boxers with a gun in his hand and found the dog scratching eagerly at the door. He opened the door and the dog bolted up the driveway, as he followed close behind.
When the dog reached the end of the drive, he sniffed frantically at the mailbox post, as atop the box, a new bouquet awaited.
Jessica joined him with shotgun in hand, just as he was reading the card.
YOU REFUSED MY LOVE, AND NOW YOU’ll PAY!
“Do you have your phone on you?” he asked her.
Jessica reached into the pocket of her robe and brought it out.
He pointed up at the tree.
“We can access this camera with the same code we use for the others; it’s listed as camera twelve.”
It took her a minute, but soon they were watching video of her stalker’s arrival. A figure clad in black entered into view carrying a bouquet. The figure continued down the drive and out of the view of the camera, but once the security lights were triggered, it drifted back into sight and sat the flowers atop the mailbox, before turning and staring directly into the camera.
However, no face was revealed, as the hooded figure hid their visage behind a black mask that kept even the eyes hidden.
Next, the figure pointed up at the camera in a menacing fashion, before stomping off out of camera range.
Jessica shook her head.
“I don’t understand. If he’s so angry with me, then why bring me more roses?”
“Take another look,” he said.
Jessica gave the roses more attention, and this time she saw it.
The flowers were wilted, wilted and dead.
***
When the police arrived at Callaway’s house they found the lights on, the front door open, and Agent Rob Stevens lying bloody on the living room floor.
Stevens stirred as one of the cops touched him, and then moaned from the pain of the wound on the side of his head. Scattered on the floor, were the broken pieces of what once was a heavy glass vase.
Stevens told Chief Dent his story while sitting in an ambulance, as a paramedic treated his wound.
“I came to talk to him, and he was calm at first, that is, until I mentioned the flowers. I must have hit a nerve because he went into this tirade about women and how they like to look good, but only to tease. When I tried to calm him down, he punched me. We struggled some after that... and then I woke up and saw your officers.”
“We tracked his phone, which did us no good. It’s inside there on his bedside table. Now we have an ABP out on him and I sent Officer Vargas over to talk to his sister.”
“You’ve got to find him, Chief; he’s out of his head.”
“We’ll find him; sooner or later we’ll find him.”
***
Days passed and there was no sign of Callaway.
Wedding day arrived amid bright sunshine and the melting ice of Lake Sherman glistened as it faded under spring’s resurgence. Still, the remaining ice was too much for the old island ferry, and so as planned, the wedding guests were flown from the roof of their hotel, to land near the grounds of an old chapel that had been on the island since it was first settled by a Catholic sect in the 1700’s.
The building sat upon a hill facing the water and its stained glass windows were works of art.
Rob was already in attendance, along with all the guests, while Juliet was to make a grand entrance on the arm of the man giving her away, Jessica’s husband.
***
Rob and Juliet had kept the guest list small, and as Jessica chatted with the dozen or so other guest waiting for Juliet’s arrival, she was approached by one of the servants from the main house, a young woman in dark slacks and a beige jacket.
“Excuse me, but are you Dr. White?”
“Yes, I am,”
The woman handed her a manila envelope.
“This arrived with yesterday’s mail along with instructions to deliver it to you here today.”
“It did? That’s odd,”
“Yes ma’am,”
“Well, thank you for bringing it to me.”
“You’re welcome,” the woman said, as she departed.
Jessica opened the envelope as Rob walked over.
“What do you have there?”
Jessica whispered, “Oh no,” as a card fell onto the floor face up, upon it were written eight words in big block lettering.
YOU’VE RUINED MY LIFE, NOW I’LL RUIN YOURS
Rob took the envelope from her and scooped the card back into it.
“It looks like Callaway has resurfaced.”
Jessica took the envelope back from him and stuffed it into her purse.
“To hell with him and his stupid games; this day belongs to you and Juliet. I’ll make sure that the chief gets this when I get back.”
“Thank you,” Rob said. “Now, where’s my bride-to-be?”
Jessica took out her phone and called her husband. When he answered, she could barely hear him.
“What’s that noise?”
“We’re about to get in the chopper. We’ll be there in a minute or so.”
Jessica hurried outside and gazed off towards the mainland, up above, in the distance, she could see the roof of the hotel. She shouted into the phone.
“I’ll see you soon, love you,”
“I love you too,” he shouted back, and she put her
phone away, as Rob walked out to stand beside her.
As they gazed across the lake, a small shape lifted off the roof of the hotel and soon grew larger as it approached the island.
Rob Stevens gestured up at the helicopter. “Here comes my future.”
Jessica smiled, while reaching over and giving Rob’s hand a squeeze.
An instant later and they watched in horror as the helicopter began to drop like a stone towards the icy water. When it crashed, it broke through the thin ice and sank.
Jessica clutched onto Rob and moaned, “Oh God, no,” as tears began rolling down her cheeks.
***
12:47 a.m.
Jessica stood between Rob Stevens and Traci Vargas upon the shore of Cove Island and watched as the searchlight on the rescue ship went dark.
Hours into the search, they located the doomed chopper with the pilot’s body still aboard, however, there was no sign of either Juliet or of Jessica’s husband.
“Why are they turning the light off? They haven’t found them yet,” Jessica said.
Chief Dent walked over with the head of search and rescue.
“Jessica, Rob, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but we have to suspend our search for the night.”
“What? But you haven’t found them?”
The leader of the rescue teams was a man named Burns. He looked over at Jessica and Rob with a sorrowful expression.
“I’m sorry, folks, but my dive teams have been in the frigid water so long that they’re beginning to suffer from exhaustion and hypothermia, and with the darkness... it’s just too dangerous to keep going.”
“But you’ll continue your search at first light, right?”
Chief Dent went to Jessica and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“Jessica, honey I’m sorry, but we’ve searched every inch of the shoreline and found nothing but debris.”
“What are you saying, Jack?”
“I’m saying, I’m saying they’re gone. Honey, I’m so sorry, but they’re gone. No one could survive this long in that water.”
Jessica stepped backwards while shaking her head vehemently.
“No! no, no, no... nooooo...”
A moment later and she collapsed to her knees in the sand and released a great wailing sob of grief, as the truth sank its fangs into her heart, and despair clawed at her soul.
THE END
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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DONALD WELLS
SEX POEMS FOR VIRGINS - POETRY - 2011 (Written between 1988-2009)
A MINOR ERROR IN JUDGEMENT - 2011 (Written in 2002)
FIRST DATE - 2011 (Written in 1991)
TO EACH HIS OWN - 2011 (Written in 1992)
COMPETITION - 2011 (Written in 2002)
ANGER MANAGEMENT - 2011 (Written in 2006)
THE MANY AND THE ONE - REYNOLDS FAMILY SAGA - BOOK 1 - 2011 (Written between 1988- 2002)
DOUBLE OR NOTHING - 2011 (Written in 2002)
SINS & SECOND CHANCES - REYNOLDS FAMILY SAGA - BOOK 2 - 2011 (Written in 2003)
DRY ADULTERY, WET AMBITION - REYNOLDS FAMILY SAGA - BOOK 3 - 2011 (Written in 2004)
OF TONGUE AND PEN - REYNOLDS FAMILY SAGA - BOOK 4 - 2011 (Written in 2008)
THE FIX-IT MAN - 2011 (Written in 2008)
AS A SOUL, MOLESTED - POETRY - 2012 (Written between 1988-2010)
ALL GOOD THINGS - REYNOLDS FAMILY SAGA - BOOK 5 - 2012 (Written in 2009)
INDIE: A HUMOROUS LOOK AT INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING - 2011
WHISPER IN THE PINES - 2012
MONSTERS - 2012
TAKEN! - 2012
TAKEN! 2 - 2012
TAKEN! 3 - 2012
TAKEN! 4 - 2012
TAKEN! 5 - 2012
TAKEN! 6 - 2012
BLUE STEELE - 2012
BLUE STEELE 2 - 2012
BLUE STEELE 3 - 2012
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY - 2012
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 2 - 2012
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 3 - 2012
ANSWERED PRAYERS (With Melissa McCallen) - 2012
TAKEN! 7 - 2012
BLUE STEELE 4 - 2012
BLUE STEELE 5 - 2012
BLUE STEELE 6 - 2012
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 4 - 2012
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 5 - 2012
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 6 - 2012
LITTLE WHITE SINS - REYNOLDS FAMILY SAGA - BOOK 6 - 2012
TAKEN! 8 - 2012
TAKEN! 9 - 2012
TAKEN! 10 - 2013
TAKEN! 11 - 2013
TAKEN! 12 - 2013
TAKEN! 13 - 2013
TAKEN! 14 - 2013
TAKEN! PRELUDE! - 2013
TAKEN! 15 - 2013
TAKEN! 16 - 2013
TAKEN! 17 - 2013
TAKEN! 18 - 2013
TAKEN! 19 - 2013
TAKEN! 20 - 2013
TAKEN! 21 - 2013
TAKEN! 22 - 2013
TAKEN! 23 - 2013
TAKEN! 24 - 2013
THE THIRTY-NINE - 24A - 2013
EVERYTHING NEW IS OLD AGAIN - REYNOLDS FAMILY SAGA - BOOK 7 - 2013
KIDNAPPING THE DEVIL - 24B - 2013
HIT SQUAD - 24C - 2013
THEORETICAL - NICK REYNOLDS - 2013
THE LIGHT OF DARKNESS - REYNOLDS FAMILY SAGA - BOOK 8 - 2013
MONSTERS 2 - 2013
MONSTERS 3 - 2013
MONSTERS 4 - 2013
MONSTERS 5 - 2013
MONSTERS 6 - 2013
TAKEN! 25 - 2013
TAKEN! 26 - 2013
TAKEN! 27 - 2013
TAKEN! 28 - 2013
TAKEN! 29 - 2013
TAKEN! 30 - 2013
TAKEN! 31 - 2013
THEORETICAL 2 - NICK REYNOLDS - 2013
THEORETICAL 3 - NICK REYNOLDS - 2013
THE GRANDFATHER PARADOX - NICK REYNOLDS - 2013
THE TWIN PARADOX - NICK REYNOLDS - 2013
AULD LANG TIME - NICK REYNOLDS - 2013
THE GRANDSON PARADOX - NICK REYNOLDS - 2013
RETRIEVAL - AULD LANG TIME 2 - NICK REYNOLDS - 2013
TAKEN! 32 - 2013
TAKEN! 33 - 2013
TAKEN! 34 - 2013
TAKEN! 35 - 2013
TAKEN! 36 - 2013
TAKEN! 37 – 2013
JAKE CALIBER – THE LEGEND BEGINS - 2013
BLUE STEELE 7 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 8 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 9 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 10 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 11 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 12 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 13 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 14 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 15 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 16 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 17 - 2013
BLUE STEELE 18 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 7 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 8 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 9 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 10 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 11 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 12 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 13 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 14 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 15 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 16 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 17 - 2013
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 18 - 2013
CHRISTMAS 1984 - 2013
TAKEN! 38 - 2014
TAKEN! 39 - 2014
TAKEN! 40 - 2014
TAKEN! 41 - 2014
TAKEN! 42 - 2014
TAKEN! 43 - 2014
BLUE STEELE- FIRST CAPTURE - 2014
JAKE CALIBER - PRIVATE EYE - 2014
TAKEN! 44 - 2014
TAKEN! 45 - 2014
TAKEN! 46 - 2014
TAKEN! 47 - 2014
TAKEN! 48 - 2014
TAKEN! 49 - 2014
TAKEN! 50 - 2014
MURDER! -
PARKER & KNIGHT - Book 1 - 2014
HOMICIDE! - PARKER & KNIGHT - Book 2 - 2014
GAME OVER! - PARKER & KNIGHT - Book 3 - 2014
REDEMPTION - 2014 (Began in 2012, completed in 2014)
CALIBER DETECTIVE AGENCY 19-24 - 2014
JAKE CALIBER - PRIVATE EYE 2 – 2014
JAKE CALIBER - PRIVATE EYE 3 – 2014
BLUE STEELE- BOUNTY HUNTER 19-24 – 2014
BLUE STEELE 25 – 2014
JAKE CALIBER – THE LEGEND CONTINUES - 2014
JAKE CALIBER – VENGEANCE – 2014
TAKEN! ALPHABET SERIES – 26 Original TAKEN! Tales - 2014
About The Author
Donald Wells is the author of numerous short stories and novels, including The TAKEN! Series, The Caliber Detective Agency, Blue Steele, Monsters & The Reynolds Family Saga.
He lives deep inside a writing cave in the wilds of New Jersey.
However, the cave does have Internet access, and so, you can contact him at:
www.donaldwells.com
Also, be sure to check out:
www.takenseries.com
www.bluesteele.com
www.thecaliberdetectiveagency.com
www.thereynoldsfamilysaga.com
If you’d like to be kept aware of new releases, please send an email to:
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Thank you!
COPYRIGHT
TAKEN! 13-18
Copyright © Donald Wells, 2013
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Did you love Taken! box set - books 13-18? Then you should read Taken! Box Set - Books 19-24 by Donald Wells!
By Donald Wells
The Author of The Reynolds Family Saga
Taken! Box Set - Books 19-24
Taken! 19 - Dr. White, Widow — It's now days after the deadly crash and Jessica still holds out hope as the bodies of Juliet and her husband have yet to be recovered.