Finding Scarlet

by Holly C. Webb

  I didn’t want to admit that the shooting had changed me, but it had. I could never be who I once was. If I was honest, I really didn’t want to be.

  Then I remembered the look on Oliver’s face when my dad said Allister was my fiancé. He looked devastated. I couldn’t even look at him because my heart was already breaking. I didn’t know how to feel, much less what to think. I felt even more lost now then I had ever been before.

  Then I thought about Allister. There was a time I believed I would spend the rest of my life with him. He was my best friend. Or he had been until the night before I had left for the States.

  We had this huge fight. I accused him of cheating on me. He denied it of course, which was exactly what I knew he would do, but I knew in my heart I was right. I had told him that night that I needed some time and space. That I would be in touch when I had made my mind up. He tried to call me over and over, but I refused to take his calls. That was until the night before I met Dean. He wanted me to come home, I said I still had work to do, and I would be back when I was good and ready. I asked him not to call again.

  Suddenly, there was a soft tap on the door, and I knew before I even asked who it was, that it would be Oliver. I was right.

  “Hey,” he said as he nervously stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. “Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know, to be honest,” I replied, giving him a nervous smile. “It’s a lot to take in, I guess.”

  “Yes, it is,” was all he said, as he still stood by the door. He looked nervous, worried almost and I really couldn’t read what he was thinking.

  “I remember,” I said, not knowing what else to say. I really wanted him to come and hold me, but he just stood there. “Everything, it’s just…all there now.”

  “I am glad for you,” he said still making no attempt to come closer to me. “I was wondering if you needed some help, you know, to pack or…”

  “Oh,” I said feeling completely thrown. I had assumed he would want me to stay. I knew that’s what I wanted. I really didn’t know what to think now. “If you think that’s best.”

  “I guess you belong back with your family,” he said, and I could hear the hurt in his voice. “If that’s what you really want.”

  “I don’t know what I want,” I replied as hot tears stung my eyes. “I don’t know how I feel. This is all such a mess.”

  “Beth…” He began but I quickly stopped him.

  “Don’t call me that,” I snapped angrily as the tears began to trickle down my face. “That’s not who I am any longer. I don’t know who I am, but I am not her. I can’t be her anymore, too much has changed. Too much has happened. My name is Scarlet.”

  Finally, Oliver hurried towards me. He sat down next to me on the bed and wrapped me in his arms. I pressed my face into his chest and sobbed.

  “Please don’t cry,” he whispered against my head. “I’ve got you. Everything will be okay. We’ll figure this out together.”

  “I’m scared, Oliver,” I sobbed quietly. “I’m not the person they are expecting me to be.”

  “Then you just be who you are,” he replied. “Be the girl I love. That’s all you can be. That’s all you should be.”

  “Do you still love me, Oliver?” I asked feeling very uncertain. I leaned back and looked up at his face.

  “Of course, I still love you,” he replied, holding me at arm’s length. “Why would you even ask me that?”

  “Then please don’t make me leave,” I begged. “I love my dad, I do. But this is where I belong now. “

  “You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to,” he said holding me tighter. “You can stay right here, forever if you want.”

  “Do you promise?” I whispered.

  “I promise,” he breathed against my forehead before he softly kissed me. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent. It was the only thing in this world that made me feel truly calm.

  I woke with a start and was surprised to find the room cloaked in darkness. I had no idea how long we had been asleep, but it had been awhile. I sat up slowly in the bed and watched Oliver sleeping. He looked sad, and I knew it was because of me. He was filled with so much doubt because of Allister and it didn’t really matter what I said to him, he was worried.

  I need to make things right. After everything he had done for me, I needed to do this for him.

  I slipped off the bed as gently as I could. I knew Oliver would stop me from going but I needed to see Allister. I needed to tell him we were over. I needed to tell him I loved Oliver now. It was the only way I could prove to Oliver it was him I wanted.

  I let myself out of the bedroom and as quietly as I could, headed for the stairs. I paused when I reached the bottom. I could hear voices coming from the kitchen. I grabbed a jacket from the stand next to the door and slipped out of the house.

  I ran down to the police car parked in front of the house and banged on the window.

  “Scarlet, what’s wrong?” One of the officers asked as he quickly pushed open the door. “Has something happened?”

  “I need you to take me here,” I said and handed him the piece of paper with the name of my dad’s hotel on it.

  “Does Olly know you are doing this?” The officer behind the steering wheel leaned over and asked me.

  “I don’t need his permission to do anything,” I replied sharply. “And last I checked; I was still a free woman. I am going whether you take me or not, I was just saving you the trouble of following me.”

  I turned and set off down the street not giving them a chance to argue with me. The officer in the passenger’s seat jumped out of the car and came after me.

  “I can’t let you go alone,” he said as he caught up with me.

  “Then take me there,” I replied, matter-of-factly. “But I am not waiting for you to get permission and start a lengthy discussion with Oliver. I am going now, with or without you.”

  He stared at me and released an irritated sigh before he turned back to the squad car and motioned for it to come to us. When it reached us, the officer opened the back door and turned to me.

  “Okay,” he sighed. “Get in.”

  I climbed in and he slammed the door behind me. As I sat in the back of the car, I thought about the night I met Dean. He seemed nice and very normal, just like the two officers in front of me. When I left the diner and saw my two tires were flat, it never occurred to me that it had been done deliberately. I thought I was beyond lucky when Dean offered to take me to a local garage to have them fixed. How wrong was I?

  I was relieved when we reached the hotel. I knew these officers were nothing like Dean, but I was glad to be out of the car and away from them. I took the lift to the sixth floor and made my way along the corridor, having to stop halfway along for a short rest. I scolded myself for not taking my walking sticks with me, but in my hurry to leave the house I didn’t think. I was grateful however, that I had slipped into my flat shoes instead of the heels, Oliver’s sisters, had bought me to match the beautiful dress they had brought me.

  When I finally reached the door, I paused for a moment before I knocked. I waited for a response but there was none. So, I knocked again.

  I pressed my ear against the door, but there wasn’t a sound inside.

  Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I thought to myself. I stood there for a moment thinking what I was gonna do next. I knew the officers would be downstairs waiting on me. I could just go back down and ask them to take me back to Oliver.

  Oliver! I thought to myself. I knew he was going to be mad as hell when he realised that I sneaked out of the house without even telling him. I thought that when I got back and told him I ended it with Allister, he would have gotten past his anger once he realised I did it for him.

  I decided I would sit on the floor, next to the door and wait for my dad to come back, thinking he couldn’t have gone that far. As I sat there, I went through what I was going to say Allister over and over again.

  After twenty minutes I
began to feel a little nervous. I knew my dad would be back sooner rather than later, but I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being watched.

  I knew it was my mind most likely playing tricks on me, but every moment that passed, I was becoming more and more nervous.

  Finally, I stood up. I realised I had made a stupid mistake and sitting there longer was just going to make a bad situation worse.

  I turned and made my way back along the corridor towards the lifts at the far end. I pressed the button and waited for it to come. As I stood and waited, I could hear someone hurrying along the corridor behind me.

  I froze, completely filled with fear as my heart raced faster and faster. Suddenly the lift pinged, and the doors sprung open. I was about to step in when the man beside me spoke.

  “I thought I was going to miss it,” he said breathlessly. I turned to find a middle-aged man standing before me. He smiled at me warmly before he held out his arm, indicating for me to step into the lift first.

  “Actually,” I said as the realisation that I would have to stand in a confined space with this man I had never seen before, suddenly hit me. “I think I forgot something; I will have to catch the next one.”

  “Oh, okay,” he said before he stepped inside and pressed the button for the ground floor. He smiled at me before the doors closed.

  “YOU IDIOT!” I shouted at myself for being so stupid. I took a deep breath and pressed the button for the lift once again.

  “Beth,” a voice suddenly said from behind me. I spun around and came face to face with Dean Harris. My stomach heaved and my fight or flight response kicked in.

  I turned to run, but it was too late. A blinding pain hit the back of my head and I instantly fell to the floor. I could hear him move around me and I tried to get up, but I couldn’t seem to get my body to respond.

  “This time, I will make sure no one disturbs us,” he whispered as he leaned down over me and pulled my chain from my neck. “Don’t worry, it’s almost over now.”

  Chapter 32

  Oliver

  I woke up and immediately sensed Scarlet was no longer next to me. I sprung up in the bed, as a sickening feeling hit me in the pit of my stomach. Something was wrong, I could feel it in my soul.

  She’s just downstairs! She’s just downstairs! I mentally tried to reassure myself, but it was no use. In my heart I knew something had happened. I couldn’t explain it, but it was like something deep inside told me she was in trouble.

  I reached the kitchen in record time and quickly looked around. I was greeted with the bewildered faces of my family, who looked at me in unison when I rushed in. My stomach heaved when I didn’t see Scarlet.

  “WHERE’S SCARLET?” I shouted as I frantically ran from the kitchen back out into the living room and then into my father’s den, but there was no sign of her anywhere. “SCARLET!”

  “Oliver, calm down,” Dad said as he followed me into the den. “What’s going on? What do you mean, where’s Scarlet?”

  “She’s gone,” I said trying to calm myself down so I could try and think rationally. Where the hell was she?

  “I thought she was upstairs with you!” He replied looking at me in confusion. I hurried to the window and looked out at the street. I was surprised to find that the patrol car was gone.

  “The protection detail is gone,” I said as I rushed to the front door. I quickly swung it opened and hurried out to the front yard. There was no sign of Scarlet or the squad car.

  I stood there and tried to form a thought, any thought, but my heart was racing so fast, I was struggling to catch my breath.

  “Oliver,” Dad’s voice came from behind me and somehow it grounded me. I turned and looked at him. “You need to call the station. Dispatch could put you through to the officers that were stationed here. Find out what’s going on. All I know is, no one came to the house, so if she left, she went alone.”

  I nodded, knowing he was right. I ran into the house and grabbed my car keys, then I turned and ran back outside to my truck. Once I was inside, I grabbed the radio and made the call.

  “Dispatch, come in,” I said trying to keep my composure.

  “This is Dispatch,” a familiar voice came back through the radio.

  “Dispatch, this is Detective Oliver Caldwell,” I explained. “I am at my parents’ house, out in Redmond. There should be a cruiser outside the house, but it has vanished.”

  “Olly,” the voice came back once again through the line and I realised it was Jo, one of our long serving dispatchers. Everyone knew Jo. She was like a mother to all of us. The calming voice on the far end of the radio. “What’s happened, sugar?”

  “Scarlet, I mean Beth…” I stammered, telling myself I needed to remember who she really was. “Beth Wells, she is staying at my folk’s house. She has vanished and so has the patrol car stationed outside the house.”

  “Okay, sugar,” Jo said is her usual calm, motherly voice. “Give me one sec, I will see where the car is now.”

  The line went quiet and I knew Jo was checking what car had been outside and was trying to contact them. As I waited, the only sound I could hear was my own heart drumming loudly in my ears.

  “Olly,” Jo’s voice finally came back across the line. “I have Officer Curtis Daniels on the radio, he was one of the officers on patrol outside your folk’s home. He said Ms. Wells emerged from the house a little over an hour ago. She insisted she wanted to be taken to a hotel in Bellevue. He said he wanted to check with you, but the young lady seemed determined, so they accompanied her as their detail was to protect her.”

  “Are they still with her?” I asked, hopeful that at least she wasn’t alone somewhere. Again, there was silence on the line.

  “Olly, that’s a negative,” Jo finally replied, and I could hear the worry in her voice now, also. “Officer Daniels said the young lady said she was going in to speak to her family and she would be straight back out. They are still parked outside the main entrance, but the young lady hasn’t returned yet.”

  “You tell them not to move,” I snapped angrily, completely confused by Scarlet’s behaviour. “I am on my way.”

  Before I could even explain what was going on to my dad, he was climbing into the passenger side of my truck.

  “What are you doing?” I asked as I looked at him in surprise. I knew my dad was concerned too; it was written all over his face.

  “You are going after her, aren’t you?” He said as he fastened his seatbelt, before he turned and looked me straight in the eye. “I assumed that’s where you are headed.”

  “Yes,” I nodded, still staring at him in confusion.

  “Well, you aren’t going alone,” he said and looked straight ahead. “I am not about to lose my son to some mad man.”

  “What about Mom and the girls?” I asked, worried about leaving them alone with Dean still on the loose.

  “Harrison is with them,” he said still looking straight ahead. “I have told him to make sure the house was secure. But I can’t sit there and let you go alone. Now, are you going to drive this damn truck, or do I have to?”

  “Yes, sir,” I said with a half laugh as I started the truck and quickly backed it out of the driveway. I looked over at my dad and smiled. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure, Son,” he replied and nodded. “Let’s go bring her home.”

  When we reached the hotel, I spotted the patrol car still sitting in front of the main entrance of the hotel. I quickly pulled in behind it and jumped out of the truck.

  “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?” I shouted as the officers climbed out of the car.

  “Olly,” Mike Malone, the only one of the two I knew, began to say.

  “Save it, Mike!” I snapped angrily as I walked past them both. “You better hope she is safe, or so help me God…”

  I didn’t even wait for a response, instead I just headed for the glass doors at the front of the hotel.

  Showing the girl behind the reception my badge as I walked up, I as
ked what room Sebastian Wells was staying in, then made my way to the bank of elevators on the back wall of the lobby, followed closely by my father.

  As we rode up in the elevator, I was sure I could smell her perfume, but I knew it was most likely my mind playing tricks on me. When it came to a stop on the right floor, I barely allowed the doors to open fully before I was out and off down the corridor in the direction of Sebastian Wells’ room.

  “Oliver,” Dad said as he followed close behind me. “You need to calm down before you go in there. Going in all guns blazing is not going to help anyone. You don’t know why she came here. There could be any reasonable explanation.”

  “You think that’s what I am upset about,” I asked, stopping dead in my tracks and turning back to look at him. “That she has picked that Allister guy over me?”

  “Isn’t it?” He asked calmly.

  “She could have got herself killed, that’s what I am angry about,” I replied defensively. “If she picks him, so be it.”

  I turned back and continued on down the corridor, trying my best to appear unfazed by his comments, but the truth was, he had hit a nerve. My first thought, of course was Scarlet’s safety, but as we got closer to the room, there was a part of me afraid of what I was going to find there. What if this meant she had changed her mind and she wanted Allister?”

  I reached the room and pushed all those thoughts away before I knocked on the door. I held my breath and waited for an answer. When the door didn’t open immediately, I began to bang harder.

  “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH…” Sebastian exclaimed when he finally opened the door but stopped mid-sentence the moment, he realised it was me. “What’s happened? Where’s Beth?”

  “Isn’t she here?” I asked as a cold shiver ran down my spine. “She came here about an hour ago.”

  “Allister and I were out for dinner,” Sebastian replied, just as the door across the hallway opened and Allister appeared in the doorway. “We are not that long back.”

  “Is she with you?” I asked Allister, but from the look on his face I already knew the answer.