In Memory's Shadow

by Linda Wisdom

  She glanced at the clock as she stretched the kinks out of her back. It was as she turned to look at the time that she noticed something seemed different on one of the walls. She stood up and walked over.

  “Oh, my,” she whispered, tracing the edge of two photographs that had been added to the collage. One had been taken of Lisa and Steffie the afternoon Keely and Steffie had tried to teach Lisa how to in-line skate. She had started to fall and Steffie reached out to grab her, only to fall with her. Keely had grabbed a camera and snapped the moment. The other photograph was a complete surprise to her. She and Sam had been sitting on the deck, each holding a glass of wine. Keely was seated on the deck floor with her legs propped up on the railing while Sam sat against the railing facing her. What hit her hard was the expression on his face. He hadn’t said he’d loved her when that picture had been taken, but the expression on his face had said it all. She traced the line of his lips and face.

  “Oh, Sam,” she said in a breathy voice. “It was all meant to be, wasn’t it?”

  She had no idea how long she stood there until the telephone rang. Still thinking about the man in the picture, she picked up the receiver.

  “Hello?”

  “Keely.” The whispery voice sent ice sliding down her spine.

  She clutched the receiver tightly. “What do you want?”

  “I really want you, but I have something almost as good. Something very dear to you. Can you guess what that is?”

  “Oh my God, you can’t.” For a moment, she forgot to breathe. “There’s no way. You’re playing mind games with me.”

  “No mind games, Keely. Denim shorts, a red T-shirt and a denim vest with red patchwork on it. Does that sound familiar?”

  Keely’s fingers touched her lips as if to hold back her cries of anger.

  “There’s more. Green shorts and a green-and-white T-shirt.”

  Keely slowly lowered herself to the floor.

  “Let them go. They have nothing to do with this.”

  “Oh, but they do. After all, you care for them a great deal, don’t you? By my having them, I know you will come to me. I haven’t liked you staying with the sheriff. I haven’t been able to see you as much that way. So I’ll make a bargain with you. You come to me. Don’t call the sheriff, don’t alert the deputy parked out front. You come by yourself.”

  Keely almost crawled to her computer. She pulled herself into the chair and sat at the keyboard.

  “I will. Where am I supposed to go?” As the whispery voice gave her directions, she typed them out and pressed the print button.

  “Don’t tell anyone, Keely or something very bad will happen to them,” the voice warned.

  “If you hurt one hair on either of their heads, I will kill you.”

  Laughter was the answer to her cold threat

  “We’ll see who will die first Don’t be late, Keely.”

  It was a few moments before Keely realized she was listening to a dial tone. With her back stiff with resolve, she stood up and headed for the kitchen. With a broad smile, she took a glass of soda out to the deputy and a piece of cake.

  When she returned to the house, she headed straight for Sam’s gun cabinet. She knew where he kept the key and soon had it unlocked. She chose a weapon, loaded it and locked the cabinet back up. She figured she’d seen enough cop shows on TV to know what to do with it. Afterward, she quickly changed into jeans and a loose cotton shirt to hide the gun nestled against her back, and pulled her hair back in a ponytail. She was going to be ready for a fight.

  Sam soon had more answers. As he drove down the street, his mind was racing with thoughts. As the radio crackled and his name was spoken, he picked up the microphone.

  “Yeah, Freda?”

  “Sam, Rob hasn’t checked in and when I tried to reach him, he didn’t answer,” Freda told him.

  That was all he needed to hear. “I’m on my way. Keep trying to reach him.”

  As Sam sped toward his house, horrifying pictures kept intruding. He didn’t dare think of the worst as he kept increasing the speed, even going so far as to turn on his siren. If anyone hadn’t pulled over in time, he would have driven over them without a second thought.

  When he saw his deputy’s body collapsed on the front seat, he did fear the worst, until a further check showed him the young man was sound asleep. The empty glass and plate showing only a few cake crumbs gave him the idea what might have happened. Sam raced inside the house.

  “Keely!” The moment he was inside, he knew there was no one there. “Damn it!” He saw the weapon missing from his gun cabinet and knew only one person could have taken it. He started for the kitchen in hopes Keely had left him a clue when he noticed her computer was still on. He glanced at the screensaver characters dancing across the screen and tapped a key. There was his clue in neatly printed letters detailing the message and the directions Keely had been given by the caller.

  “Oh, damn,” he muttered, before hitting the print screen button. As the printer spit out the paper, he returned to the gun cabinet. Within seconds, he had a high-powered rifle with scope and his favorite handgun.

  With a grim expression marring his face, Sam was soon on the road, traveling at high speed. He only wished he knew how long it had been since Keely had left, but he couldn’t imagine it had been very long. As he drove, his mind raced with ideas on how to sneak up without being seen. He glanced at the radio. Would backup be a good idea or not? Keely and the kids were involved. Damn it! His hands tightened on the steering wheel so hard it almost seemed to crack under his grip.

  Keely had had only herself for protection thirty years ago and somehow survived. He wasn’t about to let her take that chance this time.

  When Keely parked her truck in the dirt parking area, she noticed no other vehicles around. As she slowly climbed out, she tried to reach out with all her senses to see who might be there.

  “Mom!”

  “Keely!”

  The two young voices galvanized her to action. She ran down to the lakeshore. What she saw took her breath away. Steffie and Lisa were tied up together and sitting in the middle of a rowboat that looked as if it could fall apart at any moment And if it did…. She forced herself not to think of what might happen.

  “We’re sorry!” Steffie shouted. “You told us to be careful, but we didn’t know!”

  “Hello, Keely.” The disembodied voice called out

  She spun around but only saw the empty picnic tables and trees.

  “Why are you doing this?” she shouted. “You said they would be safe.”

  “And they will. As long as they don’t rock the boat.” The chuckle sent chills down Keely’s back.

  She resisted the urge to reach for her gun. She didn’t want him to know she had it yet.

  “You’ve been a coward hiding behind a phone and in shadows. Why not step out here and show yourself,” she challenged.

  “Oh, Keely, do you think you can anger me with puny words like that? I know better. But I will be showing myself.”

  As she heard the rustle of bushes to her right, Keely quickly spun in that direction.

  “Mom, be careful!” Steffie shouted.

  Keely understood what she meant when a figure stepped out into the open.

  “Not you!” She couldn’t stop staring, not even noticing the weapon pointed directly at her.

  “Amazing what a voice changer can do, isn’t it, Keely?” Chloe asked, holding up a small black box in her free hand. “I admit it’s been amusing tormenting you all this time, but now it’s time for you to pay up.”

  “But the cigars,” she stumbled over the words.

  Chloe looked proud of herself. “A nice trick, wasn’t it? I wanted you to think it was a man. I wanted you to think Edgar Willis had come back to kill you. You thought you were going to die that night in your house, didn’t you? Perhaps I should have killed you then, but it was more fun to frighten you. And I did frighten you, didn’t I?”

  “But why would yo
u do all of this?” she asked, still confused.

  Chloe’s face hardened. “Because you ruined my family. Because of you my father was sent to prison and my mother took us away from all we’d ever known. I loved this town. It was like something out of a book or a movie. Everyone helped each other. I felt safe here even if my father didn’t always make me feel safe. But then he was stupid enough to kill your parents and people looked at me as if I were something they’d wipe off the bottom of their shoes.” She sneered. “So we ended up in some stupid town where my mom worked as a waitress and brought home men. My brother left home as soon as he was old enough and I wanted to do the same. I wanted to come back here. But not as Carole Willis. So I gave myself a whole new life.” She straightened up, although the frightening light in her eyes never dimmed. “I was welcome here. I was treated like someone important.” She glanced quickly behind her and shouted. “Come on out and see what I have for you.”

  Keely wasn’t sure what to expect when a bearded man walked slowly out and stood beside Chloe. She hadn’t expected to see Mr. Rainey, who owned the hardware store, staring back at her.

  “You’re Edgar Willis,” she whispered.

  He shifted uneasily, but didn’t answer her. He turned to Chloe. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Why am I doing this? I’m doing this for you. For all of us.” She waved her gun around. “She ruined our lives. She sent you to prison. Mom took us away from the only home we knew!” she shrieked.

  Edgar-Rainey reached out to her. “I did something wrong. I paid for it. Don’t do what I did, Carole.”

  “My name is Chloe! I don’t go by that other name anymore!”

  Keely felt as if she’d stepped into a honor movie. Sam had mentioned Willis had had plastic surgery in prison and thought he’d had more when he’d gotten out. Obviously, he hadn’t. Instead, he’d grown a beard to hide the scars. Just as Chloe had returned, so had he. And now so had she. As if they were all meant to finish what had started thirty years ago.

  “Chloe.” She purposely kept her voice low and even, non-threatening. She didn’t want to give her any reason to fire the gun. Keely was afraid she was the girls’ only hope. “I was a small child back then. I only answered questions and told the truth. You lost your father, but I lost both of my parents. And I lost my memories of them.”

  “You were the poor little girl who suffered,” she snarled. “I was the murderer’s brat.” Her face was a tight mask of fury. “You were adored. I was hated.”

  “Chloe, you’ll only ruin your life the way I did,” Rainey implored, reaching out to touch her arm. “Honey, please don’t do this.”

  “Stop it!” She shook him off. “She deserves it. I could have run you down that day in Rick’s truck. The bastard forgets that many times he leaves his keys in the ignition.”

  She smirked. “And then that day in your house. You were scared spitless, weren’t you? You were scared of me and I was glad. Every other time I saw you and had to act the part of your friend only made me sick to my stomach.” She glanced at the lake. “I guess you didn’t warn the girls very well, did you? It was easy to lure them away from their friend’s house. Good ole Chloe doing Sam a favor by picking them up because they’d caught the intruder.”

  Sam stood back among the trees listening to Chloe’s story. Here he’d been looking for a man and it turned out to be a woman creating hell for Keely. He’d always thought of Rainey as a cantankerous old man. He’d had no idea he was actually Willis.

  He fitted the rifle stock snugly against his shoulder. All he wanted was one clear shot. Except, the way Chloe was standing, if he missed her he could accidentally hit Keely. He couldn’t afford to take that chance.

  He felt the sweat pouring down his forehead into his eyes. He wiped it away with his sleeve and peered through the scope again. He feared he would have only one shot and he would have to make it good.

  “Mom, the boat is filling with water!” Steffie cried out with panic in her voice. She and Lisa struggled against their bonds.

  “Don’t move!” Keely ordered. “You might tip yourselves over.” She looked back at the couple. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill them?”

  The old man shook his head. “I’ve had thirty years to think about it, dream about it, and I can’t give you an answer. They said I would have killed you if you had been awake.” His face twisted in sorrow and old regrets. “I wouldn’t have hurt you. I couldn’t.”

  “Then why are you allowing her to do all this?” Keely demanded, waving her hand to encompass Steffie and Lisa. “Why did you let her put me through hell all these months?”

  “I didn’t know,” he explained. “I didn’t even know Carole was here until she came to me. Somehow she figured out who I was. She brought me out here today saying she had something special to show me. I had no idea it had to do with you. I just wanted to be left alone.”

  “You need to finish this!” Chloe screeched, looking put out she had been ignored this long. “She destroyed our family. We’ll destroy hers.” She lifted her gun, pointing it at the boat.

  Keely guessed her intention the moment the gun swung away from her.

  “No!” She reached behind her but before she could pull the gun out of her waistband, a rifle shot rang out. Chloe cried out in pain as she dropped her gun and grasped her shoulder. Red dripped down her fingers. She fell to her knees, crying and cursing.

  “Mom!”

  Keely didn’t think twice. She was barely aware of Sam walking out of the woods as she ran to the water’s edge, toed off her shoes and made a shallow dive. The cold water hit her like a shock wave, but she didn’t stop her steady pace toward the rowboat that was listing dangerously.

  “Listen to me,” she panted. “We have to keep the weight as balanced as possible to avoid tipping while I try to untie you.” They shifted over slowly while Keely carefully pulled herself up on the side of the small boat. She gave a sigh of relief that the knots weren’t too difficult to loosen. Just as the rope dropped off the girls, the boat started to tip dangerously. “Jump out!” she screamed.

  Both girls dove over the other side at the same time that the boat rolled over. They swam around to Keely and awkwardly hugged her.

  “You said not to trust anyone and you were right,” Steffie sniffed.

  “We’re sorry,” Lisa also sniffed.

  “Let’s just get back to shore,” she said, wanting nothing more than to haul them into her arms and never let them go.

  By the time they reached the shore, Sam had Chloe’s uninjured arm handcuffed to a post and Rainey squatting down beside her, patting her hand in a clumsy manner. The woman’s tears mascara tracks along her cheeks and under her eyes. Her gaze fell on Keely, who walked up to her. Keely had an arm around each girl.

  “It isn’t fair!” she screeched, jerking at her handcuff. “Why should you win this time, too?”

  Keely could only feel pity as she looked down at her. Even looking at Rainey and realizing who he was didn’t inspire any anger in her. She only felt sad for the damaged lives.

  “Did all of this make your world any better, Chloe?” she asked softly. “Did it?”

  “It would have if you were dead! And don’t look at me that way! I don’t need your damn pity.”

  “No, I guess you wouldn’t want it” She turned to Sam, who reached out for all three of them.

  “Do not ever scare me like that again,” he said hoarsely, hugging them tightly. “I’m too old for this.”

  “You saw the note,” she murmured. “You saw it” Her shoulders shook as she broke down in tears. “I was so afraid.”

  “You weren’t the only one.” He kissed the top of Lisa’s then Steffie’s head. “I’m calling someone else out to pick Chloe up.”

  “What about Rainey?” Keely asked.

  “He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  “Miss Keely.”

  She turned her head but remained in Sam’s arms. Rainey stood nearby, looking uncertain of her r
eception.

  “I was an angry man back then,” he said in halting words. “And I hurt people. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  Keely managed a tentative smile. “Thank you, Mr. Rainey.”

  It took a moment for him to realize she hadn’t used his real name. His shoulders seemed to slump with relief.

  “I came here to start over,” she said. “You came back because it was all you knew. I won’t tell anyone. As far as I’m concerned, Chloe tried to drag you into her scheme because she thought it would upset me.” She looked past him at the woman who still pulled vainly at the handcuff. “No one will believe her.”

  Rainey looked at Sam, who nodded.

  “I’ll be getting back to my store then. That Dunlap boy has a habit of putting the nails in the wrong bins.” He walked off, limping slightly. He looked over his shoulder a few times, as if he couldn’t believe what just happened.

  “Whoever said small-town life was boring had no idea,” Keely said in a choked voice.

  By the time reports had been filed and Chloe booked and jailed, Keely and Sam were exhausted. Steffie and Lisa ate fast-food hamburgers and dragged themselves off to bed with the puppy close behind. Keely changed into a nightgown and walked out onto the deck.

  “It’s just me,” Sam said, coming out holding two glasses of wine.

  She turned her head and smiled. “Hey, just you.” She accepted the glass he held out.

  “How do you feel now that it’s over?”

  “Relieved, sad, tired,” she confessed. “I had no idea it was Chloe. All this time I thought it was a man.”

  “I did, too. She covered her tracks pretty well.” He sat down beside her. “She’s not talking now. Rainey called and said if she didn’t have money for a lawyer, he’d pay for one. He also said he hopes some therapy will be suggested. I told him I’d see what I could do.”

  “So many twists and turns,” she mused.

  “What now?”

  Keely looked at Sam. She could swear he looked as if he were steeling himself for the worst.

  “I was thinking that if I sell the house we could use the money to add on a few rooms here,” she said. “The girls aren’t going to want to share a room full-time. And we could expand the master bedroom into a suite. I’ve always had a hankering for one of those big sunken tubs with Jacuzzi jets. A tub big enough for two.” She set her wineglass down and looped her arms around his neck. “What do you think?”