“She’ll never be that with you.”
Stalk chuckled. “Sure, she will, since you’ll be dead and out of her life…forever. Come to think of it, I could have a two-for-one killing special,” he said. “I could say I tried, desperately tried, but in the process, I got stabbed and almost died. The puncture wound nearly severed an artery in my heart.”
Aspen scooted backward.
“She won’t buy it. What happens when she finds out it was you that killed us? What then?” Abbott asked.
“I’ve covered up many things, son, and I have no guilt about any of it, but…let’s say she did suspect me, well, that would be a shame for her. You’d want to keep her safe, right?” he asked. Stalk stepped backward and stood on Aspen’s fingers.
She screamed.
“You shouldn’t try to get away from me. You know better, girl.”
Abbott growled and attempted to move his legs but feared that any movement on his part would make Stalk hurt Aspen more. He couldn’t harm his daughter. “She’s just an innocent little girl. Your issue’s with me.”
Stalk grinned at him. “You’re right. It’s our issue.” He took his foot off Aspen’s hand and she held it in her lap. “But I have both distractions in the same place, and getting rid of you will be so easy. And quite sweet.”
Abbott grimaced, breathed in heavily, and lunged for his gun on the floor. He grasped it and turned around, aiming it directly at Stalk, who had his arm coiled around Aspen’s neck. She gasped for air. “Put her down.”
Stalk tightened his arm around her neck.
Abbott’s hand shook as he held the gun. “I’ve always admired your wit. You’re always two steps ahead of everyone else, Lieutenant. It’s a good quality to have.”
He loosened his grip on Aspen’s neck. “Got to get what you deserve, you know.”
“I do. It’s true, and that’s why I’ve failed, and you’ve succeeded here. I let my emotions take over, and it’s got me nowhere,” Abbott said. “I lost everything all on my own because of my choices, but…you’ve been smart.”
“Son, don’t be so hard on yourself. Women are just vain creatures who want someone to provide for them. I have everything your wife needs—power and money,” he said. “She sure does like high-end items.”
Son of a bitch.
“I have money I can give you in return for letting Aspen and I go. We’ll leave town and never come back. You’ll be free and clear, living a luxurious life with Peyton.”
Stalk barked with laughter and placed his hands on Aspen’s shoulders. “I’ve already been taken care of for life, by a very wealthy provider, or maybe we can call her a sponsor since I’m doing all her dirty work.”
Bigger fish in the sea.
Abbott kept his gaze on Stalk and examined his body language. He seemed pleased with himself and the situation. “Like I said, you’re clever.” Locking his gaze on Aspen’s face, he lowered the gun. “Baby, I’m right here.”
She pouted and nodded again.
“Let me help you get out of this, and you can walk away,” Abbott said. “You’re involved somehow with the Rushners. I can take the fall, just let her go.”
“Wow. I’ve really done a number on you. Yes, the Rushners don’t even have a clue what they’re in for.” Stalk pushed Aspen forward.
Abbott held her hand and brushed her cheek. “I love you so much. Can you hold something for me?”
“Of course, I can.”
Taking off the bracelet that said Daddy, he placed it around her small wrist.
Aspen smiled. “You still have the bracelet I gave you.”
“I wore it every day since you gave it to me. Now, it’s your turn to wear it and keep it safe.”
She clung to his leg. “No, it’s yours. I’m not keeping this. You’re staying with me.” Aspen stared up at him with tears streaming down her face. “Daddy, please. Don’t leave me again.”
“Enough, already. This reunion has been rather joyous. To see you in pain, to lose everything, get some of it back again, only to lose it once more.” Stalk aimed the gun at Aspen’s head. “Time to die, little one.”
“No,” Abbott screamed and shoved her backward.
“I don’t think so,” a voice said. Stalk spun around and hit the ground hard at the same time as a tire iron.
Abbott tipped his head back and closed his eyes. “Thank you.” He stood and outstretched his arms. Aspen sprang into them, holding tight around his neck. He pressed his cheek against hers and breathed in.
Cache surveyed the bedroom. “Adaline wasn’t hallucinating. This resembles our girls’ bedroom back in Owling.” He grabbed the tire iron and held it between his fingers.
“We’re not golfing with the lieutenant’s brain, put it down. He’ll get what he deserves,” Abbott said.
Letting go of the tire iron, Cache’s hands shook. He stared at Aspen, then back at the room again. He put his hand on the doorframe and clutched his stomach. “That’s your daughter?”
“This is my Aspen.”
Cache glanced away. “She looks exactly like my daughter.” He swallowed hard.
Grief tugged at Abbott. He could feel what Cache was going through— to see a man’s daughter and wish for his instead. He tried to pretend that it didn’t hurt, but every part in him ached, standing near them—with her. “I’m sorry.”
Stalk began twitching his arms. “He’s waking up. Please watch Aspen while I handcuff him.”
Moving toward them, Cache smiled at Aspen and stepped in front of her. “I’m here to help you take him down in any way that I can.”
“I know, brother.” He retrieved the handcuffs and put them on Lieutenant Stalk.
Stalk began squirming, peering around, and coughing.
Abbott kicked him hard in the side. “My wife is not an object or a piece of meat, and she’s never needed a man to prove her worth, you jackass.”
Stalk grunted and then chuckled. “You boys just made a big mistake. Now they’re all dead.”
Cache’s eyes grew wide. “Who?”
“If I don’t show up, you’ll never see them again,” Stalk said.
Abbott shook his head at Cache. “He’s bluffing. He’s looking for a way out, and you’re who he’s targeting. Don’t.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You have your daughter.”
The front door slammed, and a parade of officers came through, two men making their way toward Abbott.
“Sir. A call was placed by a Mr. Rushner requesting backup,” Officer Keaton said.
Abbott glanced at Cache. “Take the lieutenant and find a nice lock up for this animal.” He pushed Stalk toward the officers as they directed him outside.
“Wait.” Cache tried maneuvering past the other officers. “Who’s now dead?”
“It’s too late, son. It seems everyone around you dies,” Stalk said.
Cache grabbed at the officers to let him through, but they kept him inside. “Let me go.”
“Daddy, look,” Aspen said.
Abbott gazed down and brushed her cheek. “What is it, honey?”
She gave him a piece of construction paper with a drawing of three little girls, holding hands, and a woman with no face sitting on the grass not far away. The sky contained a blue sun, and colorful specks fell from the clouds, while a large house towered over them with owls perched on the roof. The saying “Remember the Owls” was off to the side, and a fire burned on the left side of the picture. The fire had a smile.
“Is this a happy emoji in the fire?”
“Yes.”
“What’re the colors raining from the clouds?” Abbott asked.
Aspen giggled. “They’re sprinkles.”
Cache halted and shook his arms from the officer’s restraint, turning in their direction. “Did you make that picture?”
She shook her head. “My friends did before they never came back.”
Abbott watched Cache’s face drop. “What friends?” he asked.
“They lived
here with me for a while, until their mommy was naughty and they had to leave.”
Cache clenched his jaw and stared at Abbott. “My girl, Eliza, always drew pictures with a blue sun and sprinkles raining from the clouds. She was five.”
Abbott stared at the picture where the blue sun smiled back at him. The paper shook in his hand.
Could it be?
“These are your friends?” Abbott asked, pointing to the picture of the three girls.
“My best friends.”
“You should look at this,” he said to Cache, presenting him a picture filled with utter horror and realization.
He grasped the picture and examined the portrait. Cache’s eyes dropped, and a whimper escaped his lips. “Eliza.” A tear dropped on the page, and he clung to it like it might blow away and never be seen again. Wiping his face with his hand, he paused and glared. “Who’s this woman?” he asked.
Aspen shivered and pulled away. “She’s a monster. The fire eats people that don’t obey, and she creates the fire.”
Abbott rubbed her back and held her hand. “If we can stop the monster, would you want to do that?”
“Yes, she killed them.”
“Who is she?”
She gripped his hand tighter. “She pretends to sell houses, but she’s really my friend’s aunt. Aunt Arlene.”
Abbott closed his eyes and bowed his head before he surveyed Cache’s state.
“Adaline’s aunt killed the girls. Arlene Williams.” Cache’s blood vessels popped in his forehead and he screamed.
Standing slowly, Abbott placed his hand on Cache’s shoulders. He shrugged away from him, grabbing furniture, and throwing it across the room. “They were alive.” He punched the wall multiple times. A few officers held guns at their side, and Abbott motioned to put them away. “My wife told me, and I didn’t believe her. I could’ve had a raincheck, but I didn’t listen.” Cache combed through his hair as he marched around the room.
“She didn’t kill your parents. It was Dr. Lynchester.”
Cache turned around and gazed in the same direction as Abbott. Sam stood in the doorframe. His arms hung limply by his side, and his voice cracked as he spoke. He peered at Aspen and covered his mouth. Sam bent down and clung to his knees, staring at the ground for a moment.
“Bro, are you okay?” Abbott asked.
Sam slowly got up and looked at him with sincerity before pulling him in for a hug. “I’m so happy for you.” He leaned down and lightly touched Aspen on the nose. She giggled.
“Dr. Lynchester killed my parents?” Cache asked. His shoulders tensed and he pressed his lips together.
“Yes,” Sam said. “I didn’t know until a few hours ago.”
Cache’s nostrils flared. He examined Sam and began to pace the floor. He laughed, and then his laughter turned deliciously joyful. “This is great.”
Sam moved toward him. “Here’s a letter from Lynchester that clarifies everything, but we need to go.”
Cache grinned and continued laughing. “I thought my wife killed my parents.” He bunched his fists.
“That doesn’t matter,” Sam said. “You have a chance to save her…now.”
Abbott clung to Aspen’s hand and noticed Sam nod to Cache. Sam’s shoulders curled forward, and he avoided eye contact. “What’s up?” Abbott asked.
Sam put something in his hand. “Partner, I have something I need to do,” he said. “Stay here and spend time with your beautiful daughter.” He whispered in his ear. “I guess you were right about the girl.” Patting Abbott on the shoulder, he dragged his feet to the door.
Cache followed behind. “Take care of your girl, Abbott. You’re okay.”
He watched as the officers, Cache, and Sam all left, and a black mist of poison and clarity left with his friends.
“They’re not coming back, are they, Daddy?” Aspen asked.
Abbott gulped and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
Sixty-Two
Cache Rushner
Friday, November 12th
3:00 p.m.
Faces of people and objects faded quickly in the distance, but time stood still. A week ago, he would have been in the car with Adaline, driving on the same road. He’d watched all the shops gather together with uncertainty and promise, and now the stores brought feelings of pain, guilt, and regret. Cache attempted to text Adaline a few times, warning her about her aunt, but had no reply.
“How did Adaline get away from you? Weren’t you with her?”
Sam smacked the dashboard. “She ran. Clearly, she doesn’t trust anyone…including us.”
“Have we really given her a reason to?” Cache asked.
“Listen, I was wrong about you. I thought you were trying to kill my best friend. I know different now,” Sam said. Grabbing a file folder from the dashboard, he threw it in Cache’s direction. “If Dr. Lynchester believed in you, then that’s how I’ll leave it.”
Cache opened it and gripped each page before turning to the next. “You knew all of this?”
“No. I had no idea about Adaline’s aunt being involved, but it makes sense.”
“I never did the job she wanted on Adaline years ago, and now she’s getting back at both of us,” Cache said.
Sam nodded in agreement.
He returned to reading and paused. “Why are you showing me all this? You could’ve easily gotten rid of this and rode off with my wife.”
“She’s always seen me like family, a big brother, but never as anything more. I just kept hoping that would change.” He paused. “Adaline loves you. I know what my role in her life is. Yours is to take care of her and to always respect and treat her with the love and appreciation she deserves.”
“Or her big brother will kick my ass,” Cache said.
“Damn straight, but there’ll never be an or with Adaline. Got it, buddy?”
He glanced away. “I fucked up by not believing her. We could’ve figured this out days ago.”
“Like I said, we’re making things right, now,” Sam said.
Cache closed the folder. “Did Adaline read this?”
“All of it, before she bolted,” he said. “It’s hard to have a different take on things when you’ve been focused for so long on one, and only one, perspective . . . your own.”
Cache swallowed. “Yes, it is. For you, too?”
“I understood clearly a few hours ago that it’s no longer about what I want, but what I can offer instead,” Sam said. “You need to know that she went to Owling without you, not because she didn’t believe you, but because she got a threat that you’d be in danger if she stuck around. Here we’re thinking we’re protecting her, when honestly, how many times has she watched out for the both of us.” He started laughing. “When we were eleven, my older sister Jean kicked down the Lego tower Adaline and I made. I was devastated. I had perfected all the doors and windows, there was even a hatch to a secret entrance for the building. When she knocked it over, I just sat there in complete despair, and Adaline stood quickly and pulled on my sister’s ear. She got in her face and had a lecture with Jean about being kind and not taking her anger out on my toys just because she had a rough day.”
Cache laughed with him.
“Next thing I know, my sister is crying while picking up my Lego pieces. She apologized, and then she sat next to Adaline and they talked. Rather, my sister talked, and Adaline listened,” Sam said. “Just another moment that made me fall in love with her even more. Fierce and gentle.”
“That’s her.” Looking down, Cache gripped his elbows. Adaline always reminded him of the strength, will, and goodness that lived in him every time he forgot. She saved him from a life of self-destruction and brought him to a place of unconditional love, acceptance, appreciation, and sheer joy. With her, he was home.
Home.
They left Owling for all this. She never wanted to go. Cache clutched his elbow tighter and clenched his jaw.
Could the girls be alive?
The blue sun a
nd sprinkles falling from the clouds infested his thoughts. He held his head and closed his eyes. “Where are you taking us?”
Sam rolled down the window. “We’re making a trade,” Sam said. “You for Adaline. I’m sorry, man.”
“They have her.” Cache gazed at his phone again, understanding why she never responded. He bunched his fist around the phone. “You think they’re going to do a trade?”
Sam was silent.
“You don’t, do you? We’re going on a suicide mission.” Cache covered his face.
“We’re protecting Adaline at any cost. Yes.”
He nodded. “How does Officer Abbott connect to all of this with his daughter Aspen?”
“No idea. We’ll figure it out, only later—we’re about there,” Sam said.
Cache looked out the window. “I should go with you.”
“Not yet. I need to be able to see Adaline before I send you to them.” Sam pulled over to the side of the road, hiding his car in the fields from the view of passing traffic. A red Volkswagen bug parked further down. The location was secluded, out in the middle of nowhere, with vast meadows and a few horses in the distance. “Any wrong move and they could shoot Addi.” He unbuckled his seatbelt. “Stay here, please.”
Taking his gun out of his holster, Sam moved toward the Beetle. A thin-framed lady with curly red hair, standing about 5’4”, got out of her vehicle and walked toward the back of it.
Their neighbor.
Sam followed her, and Cache watched as she opened her trunk and reached in to grab something. Cache quietly got out, closed the door lightly, and bent down before someone saw him.
“Where’s Adaline?” Sam asked.
“I was instructed to give you this first,” she said, planting a big manila envelope in his hands. He glared at her and ripped open the package, taking out what appeared to be pictures of some sort. Sam covered his mouth.
What did he see?
Cache knelt lower on the ground and moved through the field toward the red car. He peered toward Sam, who put something in his pocket, and noticed the red-headed woman wasn’t with him any longer. A cold object pressed against the back of his neck.
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