Hunted: A Suspense Collection

by J. L. Drake

  “If he was so good, then why was he here?” He had told me the one thing he knew would hurt Jessi and me the most and didn’t even think before he said it! He had us believe Garrett was dead.

  “You’re the one that said there was a house in the woods! He must have found it!” James spat at me. I could tell he was angry because one of his friends had died, but I wasn’t going to stop.

  “Then where is his car?” I retorted.

  “Maybe that’s the car that drove off before we got here! Did you ever think of that? Maybe your little boyfriend killed him, thinking he was a bad officer, and then jacked a cop car!” James yelled at me, with pure anger filling his words.

  “Garrett wouldn’t kill anyone, especially a cop!”

  “How would you know? Isn’t he the one that said some of the cops are in on this? Didn’t he come up with that theory? If he was so afraid of cops, then he could have done it and you know it!” James yelled so loud that it echoed through the house.

  “Garrett didn’t kill him!”

  “Where’s the proof, huh?” James asked, stalking off toward the room I had been kept in, leaving Jessi and me with the body. I could hear him moving stuff, and I didn’t want to stand by while he searched for something to incriminate Garrett for killing a police officer.

  “Jessi, cover your eyes for me and don’t open them again until I tell you to, okay?” I asked her, knowing I had to find out where Garrett was.

  Jessi nodded and covered her eyes as I took her by the shoulders to lead her into the room. I moved her as far away from the body I could as we walked toward Garrett’s room. The body was contorted at an awkward angle, one leg bent wrong, extending away from the body and allowing the bone to protrude slightly from the flesh. The arms were the same, except they had substantial cuts from a blade. His face was beaten so badly; I’m amazed James could tell who it was. If I had to guess, the cheekbones must have been broken because the skin on his face sagged slightly in those areas. Dried blood covered the officer’s lips from a broken nose and the cuts to his face. The clothing was bloody with slashes from where the blade sliced through the fabric with ease. That sight would be with me forever.

  I quickly pushed Jessi toward Garrett’s room and shut the door behind me, so she could open her eyes. I had never been in Garrett’s room before, and if I hadn’t known better, I would have guessed no one ever lived in this room. The bed was made, as if it had never been slept in, the walls were bare, and the only furniture was a desk and a bookshelf. There was nothing on or in the desk except a slip of paper with the drawing of a black dog. At least I think it was a dog; it had a circle for a head, long floppy ears, and a stick body.

  “Well, Garrett, I guess you’re not an artist,” I stated to myself, as I started to look through the bookshelf.

  There were books stuffed into every possible spot that Garrett could have found. Even children’s books that we had read to Jessi for the last month were stuffed into a spot. The books progressed as Garrett aged, but suddenly stopped in his early teen years. There was nothing past that to challenge him in reading, something caused him to not get any more books and he was forced to stop.

  “Look, Mommy, a doggie!” Jessi stated with excitement, as she pointed under Garrett’s bed.

  I glanced underneath the bed to find a book titled “A dogs’ life: The autobiography of a stray.” I had read this when I was in middle school; it’s about a dog that had been abandoned by many families over the years and was forced into a stray’s life. Eventually, as an old dog, he found an old woman to live with until they both passed away. It was possible that I was thinking too deeply about it, but the drawing of the dog and this book was enough to convince me that it wasn’t just a coincidence...I had hidden many things in my books while growing up and had learned to face the pages toward the ground and flip through them simultaneously. A note fell from between the pages.

  I picked up the piece of paper and tossed the book aside.

  In case you come back here Anna and I’m gone, I hope he didn’t catch you first off, but I also want to tell you that I love you. I am going to check Jessi in Charleston as soon as I can, then I will find you over state lines. I know this beating is going to be the worst. So don’t expect me for a while, and in case he caught you, just know I love you and I will find Jessi. I’m sorry, I will try to send help, but you know how cops are...

  Good-bye Anna.

  I heard the door open slowly behind me and turned to see James standing there with a videotape in his hand. His mouth hung open slightly and his eyes were wide with shock.

  “What’s on the tape?” I asked. His movement was very sudden as he pulled Jessi and me from the room and the tape dropped onto the floor in a clunk. He pulled us so hard I thought my arm was going to pop out of its socket when I bent down to pick up the tape.

  “James!” I yelled in shock, as we almost fell down the hardwood steps.

  “We have to get out of here!” He glanced around as he regained his bearings and remembered where we were.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, as he pulled us through the woods toward the direction of the car.

  “We need to go back to the police station, they need to know!” he answered, although I wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or me.

  “What was on that tape?” I yelled, as James came to a screeching halt outside of the police cruiser and started flinging doors open to push Jessi and me in.

  “I’ll explain when we get there! Just buckle up!” he said, as he hopped in the car and floored the gas pedal. Dirt flew up from the rapidly spinning tires as the car did a tight U-turn and sped off down the road. James hadn’t answered me about the tape, but now I knew Garrett was out of the house. He had made it out, and he would find us soon, I hope...

  Chapter 22

  I could smell burnt rubber from the speedy take off. The screech of the tires and blaring police siren barely covered Steve’s angry scream behind us.

  “What’s going on, James? Did you know he was there?” I asked as we sped past the five-mile sign and safely out of Steve’s reach for the time being.

  “I didn’t know he was there, but I know what he does now. I’m so sorry for what you went through, Anna, and I can’t believe there are police officers, ones I work with, allowing that to happen.” His voice seemed distant, haunted by whatever he had seen on the tape.

  “What was on the tape?” I asked as I touched the tape in my pocket. I had to make sure it was still there and that I didn’t accidentally lose it in the dash back to the car. “What did you see, James?”

  James didn’t answer right away, creating tension in the car. Jessi was even starting to pick up on the feeling as we waited for his answer.

  “Everything.”

  “Everything?” I repeated in confusion. What was everything?

  “Everything,” he repeated with the same distant voice. He continually glanced back in the rearview mirror to make sure we weren’t followed

  We pulled into the police station a few minutes later thanks to James excessive speeding. If James wasn’t a cop, we would have gotten pulled over the second we hit city limits. James ran into the station, and we followed close behind as he went to the center of the large room.

  The station had a large center room for all the cops, and then little offices for the higher-ranking officers, but those were the ones that wouldn’t believe us. They’d find a way to take me back to Steve, to keep me quiet so their secret didn’t get out. So we had to find a way of showing the majority of the officers the video at the same time without the ones working with Steve stopping us.

  James pushed us toward a bench right outside the chief’s office and ordered us to stay. I glanced nervously towards the chief’s door. James just sighed and repeated the order. He forced himself onto a desk in the center of the large room and spoke to the policemen and women who were present in the room.

  “Can I have your attention please? Everybody, listen up!” James yelled over the
bickering crowd.

  It took a few moments, but eventually silence reigned over the room. James waited until there wasn’t a sound, even a squeaky chair wheel, before he began to tell them what happened to us. He walked around some of the details and got to the point of his speech as quickly as possible.

  “After Anna went upstairs, I followed her. She claimed there was a body, and there was. It was Officer Allen Garrett, a lifelong friend of mine, and a fellow officer of the law. He had been beaten, cut open and seemed to be shot from all the blood that was around him.” I was thankful he skipped over accusing my Garrett of killing the cop.

  “Upon entering one of the rooms I discovered a closet. Inside the closet I found chains and other objects, along with a video camera.”

  My eyes widened with fear as I realized Steve had done more than take photographs of us to keep for himself. He had recorded everything he had done to the girls, and he could have recorded what he did to me. I felt my stomach clench as James continued his speech.

  “I’m not asking you all to watch it, because frankly it’s not pretty. I am asking you to police that area, close down the house, and find its owner. He is the one we are looking for. He is the one who has taken the girls, and it’s not just Jessi and Anna. It’s time we put a stop to this and—”

  “I think it’s time we put a stop on you, James.” A dark voice stated from behind me.

  The chief stepped forward out of his office, each step made his belly jiggle, as he made his way toward James. The officers that had been listening to James speak, immediately sat down at their desks and pretended to go back to work. The chief stepped forward to the desk James was standing on and ordered him down with a wave of his finger.

  “You preach to these fine people and get them ready to execute a mad man, but you offer no proof. We cannot simply go after a man on circumstantial evidence and you know that, James. They have no need for stories, just the remembrance of how Jessi and Anna looked when they first arrived here is enough to know that the man is wrong in the head. Why make it worse?”

  “Because it is worse! I do have evidence as well!” James yelled in frustration.

  “Then where is it? You’re not showing it in your hands, that means you haven’t produced it yet,” the chief said calmly, attempting to diffuse the situation, but there were beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead.

  “Anna, bring me the tape,” James called to me as he held out his hand out.

  I stepped forward as all the attention turned on me. I dug the tape from my pocket and quickly placed it in James’ hand before sitting out of sight again.

  “This is all the evidence you’ll need,” James stated matter-of-factually as he waved the tape in front of the chief’s face.

  “Then hand it to me and I will watch it to make sure,” he said snatching the small tape from James’ hands and sauntering off.

  “No, you can’t!” I screamed as I jumped up from my seat, putting myself between him and the door to his office. I couldn’t leave him alone with the tape, he would destroy it somehow, and then no one would believe what happened to us no matter what we said.

  “Excuse me?” The police chief glared daggers into my chest for stopping him.

  “You should let everyone see it at the same time, that way everyone knows exactly what happened,” I said, fabricating an excuse as best as I could.

  “I don’t think that would be fair to them, what if they don’t want to see it?”

  “They have a right to see it, with everyone present, so they know the man they are looking for. That way they only have to see it once and then they don’t have to see it again,” I said forcefully, hoping that it sounded convincing. My point swept around the room like a windstorm. They wanted to see the tape, only once, but at the same time.

  Some naturally didn’t want to see it and I couldn’t blame them. Some may be working with Steve and voted against it so the tape wouldn’t be seen as a group, but also others didn’t think they had the stomach to tolerate what Steve had done to us. It was clear that the ones with children had mixed feelings, they wanted to know what we went through, but feared what would happen once they knew.

  “Yeah, Rivers! Let’s watch it together. We need to know, we can’t just have you tell us what it is, we need to see it for ourselves,” an officer said, voicing the opinions of those around him.

  Police Chief Rivers pressed his lips together hard into a tight crease as he tried to think through his options. He was stuck either he showed it and had to admit that Steve was a monster or the officers would become suspicious of him, and that wouldn’t be good for him if Steve was caught.

  “Fine, we will watch it together, but remember what James said. It won’t be pretty,” Chief Rivers stated, as he handed the tape to James with a frown on his face. “Get the thing set up,” he sneered as he forced his way past me and back into his office.

  James ordered a television brought into the room and hooked up, and then turned to us. “That was quick thinking, Anna. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t grabbed the tape from the house or convinced Chief Rivers to watch it with the group.

  Jessi pulled her knees to her chest and hid her face as she spoke quietly, “I don’t want to watch the tape.”

  “You don’t have to Jessi, I’m sure you can stay with some of the officers instead,” James said in an attempt to comfort her. I could see the happiness on his face when his daughter didn’t pull away from his touch. She was healing, and soon she may even move on from our nightmare.

  “But what if they are bad too?” she questioned, as the television was wheeled into the room and a few officers started to hook it up.

  “There are some that I know are good and would be happy to watch you for a little while, Jessi,” James stated with a smile, as he kissed Jessi lightly on the forehead.

  “Daddy used to do that to me too...” she stated sadly.

  James looked hurt again, he didn’t like her calling someone else her father. It must be difficult to hear that someone else had to protect your daughter because your wife gave her up, but I think he understood that she did it to cope with what happened to her. “Then he was a good daddy to you, Jessi. I’ll find him for you so we can thank him together.”

  Jessi’s face lit up, “Really?” she asked so loud that other police officers turned to look at us. Her voice had cracked slightly, and it sounded more like a scream; they were checking to make sure she was okay.

  “Yes, really. We will find him together,” James promised.

  “Television is ready, James,” a male officer called over his shoulder.

  “Thanks, Jeff,” James called back, as he took Jessi by the hand and led her toward a pretty policewoman. “Hey, Leigh, would you mind watching Jessi during the showing? She doesn’t want to watch it.”

  “I can understand why she wouldn’t. I’ll be happy to watch her,” Leigh said as she led Jessi off toward James’ office.

  James walked over to the old television set once Jessi was behind the closed door and put the tape in. The tape needed a VCR in order to play, and those went out of style years ago when DVD players were produced. VCRs lost popularity when I was young, and I only knew about them because I still have some of the Disney movies on VHS tapes, but now I can get them on DVD. I’m not going to get whatever comes out after DVDs because I don’t want to start my movie collection over again.

  James pressed play and a stunned silence descended as the tape revealed a young girl with bleached-blonde hair in the frame. The first girl on the wall of photos appeared on the screen with a forced smile on her face, and ties around her wrists.

  “That’s Kelly Hagerman!” an older officer exclaimed.

  The name caught my attention—Kelly, the love of Steve’s life, and Garrett’s mother. She was the first one he took, the one that started it all. Now all the officers had to watch in what happened when the police didn’t intervene and help save her life.

  “Now do you take me, St
eve Bennett, to be your husband?” Steve’s voice asked from behind the camera as he walked into view and approached Kelly. Steve appeared to be in his early twenties. There was no signs of age, no wrinkles, no tired expression. He was in his prime and ready to marry the girl of his dreams. ”Well, Kelly? I do, or I don’t?” Steve asked in a calm voice.

  “I do,” Kelly said, with tears as the words left her mouth. Her cries were covered when Steve crashed his lips to hers in the sealing kiss. The tape focused on the kiss, the sealing of her fate and claiming her as his, just as he had done to me, and then there was a loud crack as the tape cut to a different scene.

  The tape cut to them a few years later, judging by the aging on their faces. They seemed to be a happy couple and even had a young child, no more than seven or eight, with them in the shot. “What’s his name going to be, Kelly?” Steve’s voice asked from behind the camera again.

  “I like the name Garrett,” she said with a smile that didn’t look the least bit forced. She had accepted her fate, and accepted the fact that no one was going to find her. She had given up fighting and embraced the life she was forced into. The tape cut again, but this time to a funeral. The camera was just angled at the tombstone, which read:

  Kelly Bennett

  Loving wife and mother

  The tape cracked again, this time the frame focused on a new girl. She was second on the wall of photos that had been in my room, and unfortunately for her, she looked just like Kelly. She was tied to the chair that all the girls were put into. Her hands held down and her feet strapped to the legs of the chair. Her legs were spread apart, causing her skirt to rise up.

  Steve fiddled with the camera for a moment behind the lens, before he placed it down and came into view. I watched in disgust as he ran his hands all over her body, like he had done to me and probably every other girl that had been forced into that house. He talked so quietly that the camera couldn’t clearly record was being said, but I could take an educated guess. When Steve got down to her skirt, you could hear the dark chuckle that escaped from his lips.