by J. L. Drake
“Vince, where’s Emily?” I shouted.
Vince stared at me, confused. “Um, I don’t know. She was here a minute ago.”
The girl from the coffee cart leaned over. “You mean the blonde girl he was with? She just walked out with an old man. He needed directions…”
My heart sank. I charged out the library doors. I looked all around and finally saw her. She was walking with the man toward The Goose.
Shit, baby, no!
I full-out sprinted toward her. “Emily!” I shouted. She was so damn close. She didn’t hear me, so I shouted again, louder.
***
Emily
I slowed my pace when something caught my attention. “What’s wrong, dear?” the old man asked.
“I thought I heard my name.”
He pulled on my arm. “You’re such a sweet girl for walking a poor man to his family.”
I smiled, and we kept our pace. I saw a green car pull in a few yards away from us. The man’s grip got a bit tighter on my arm, and I started to get a strange sensation in my gut.
“Emily!”
Okay, this time I heard it. Something caught the corner of my eye. It was Seth in a full-out sprint toward me. The old man pulled on my hand to keep going.
“Wait!” I said, confused by Seth’s body language and by the old man’s persistence.
His eyes went from old to youthful.
“If you know what’s good for you, my dear, you’ll keep moving.”
I heard his words, but my brain was in stuck in a spin. It was almost as if I knew what was about to happen and my brain just didn’t want to accept it. The old man’s voice was different, and his face was different—what the hell? I stepped back and saw the green car as it rolled toward us. The man’s eyes were locked on mine. “You’re going to anger him, Emily.” His voice was calm, but his words were rushed.
Fear instantly replaced the calm as my free hand flew over my mouth.
The man looked at Seth, who was pretty close now, and then back at me. He was trying to decide what to do. I saw a glimpse of panic as he lunged for my arm and started to drag me toward the car.
My braver side screamed at me to fight, but it took me a moment to let the scenario kick in. Then I twisted my body and elbowed the man in the face. I was actually aiming for his chest, but who the hell cared? The sound of squealing tires told me I’d scared off his help.
The son of a bitch stepped back and let me go. He cursed as his hand covered his bloody cheek. A second later, Seth slammed him to the ground, football-style. Seth was punching the man’s face. By about the fifth blow, I began to realize he wasn’t going to stop. Shit.
“Seth!” I screamed to get his attention. “Stop! We need him alive!”
Seth’s fist stopped midair. His breaths were heavy and his chest was heaving rapidly. His face was that of a man about to commit murder. The man’s limp body didn’t move as Seth hovered over him, and I could tell he was in a debate whether or not to continue. Seth took a good look at the guy and realized he wasn’t Lasko. Who the hell was this man?
Garrett and Davis caught my eye as they ran toward us. Their mouths moved as if they were shouting something at Seth. Everything had turned into a slow-motion, silent film. My ears started to ring. Everything tilted slightly as I gradually slumped to the ground.
Seth’s face was in mine. He said something, but I couldn’t hear him. He seemed scared, even panicked. Perhaps I should have been too, but instead I was calm, relaxed, and totally content with staying right where I was. The blue sky was beautiful. Then everything turned black.
***
Seth
I leaned over Emily to check her pulse with shaky hands. What the fuck? I couldn’t believe how close that had been.
Garrett handcuffed the man as Davis pointed a .40 caliber at his skull. “Is she all right?” Garrett shouted over the man’s groans.
“She fainted.” I picked her up, cradling her against me. A small crowd had begun to form. “Let’s get out of here.”
The Channel Six news team was already in a hustle to get out of their white van, scrambling to get the latest story. Davis used his body to shield me as I slipped Emily into the squad car. Garrett made sure the camera got a good shot of the man’s face, hoping Lasko was watching. As I left Emily with Davis, I roughly pushed the old man into the back of Davis’s car and slammed the door. An EMT was on the way.
“Officer, what can you tell me about what happened here today?”
“Not now, Lilly,” Garrett warned the ever-so-pushy news reporter.
“I heard this girl was being forced into a car, and this man was going to rape her. Can you confirm this is true?”
Garrett had to stop me; I was ready to tear a strip off Lilly. I pushed the microphone down away from her mouth. She watched as I leaned in close to her ear. “Of all the stories you report, Lilly, this is the one you’ll need to watch yourself on.” She swallowed hard as she met Garrett’s angry eyes and my haunted face.
“Got it,” she answered with a nervous nod.
Garrett stepped forward and pulled her hand back up and put the mic to his mouth. “The only information we have is that a man tried to attack a young female, but with the help of the quick-acting University Security Team and the OPD, we were able to catch him before any harm was done.”
I smiled briefly at Garrett. He knew the university would be happy with the shout out to them, even though they had been nowhere to be found during the whole ordeal.
Lilly then turned to her camera guy, who moved his attention to her. “A scary moment here at Orange University. Just goes to show you monsters don’t only come out at night. Reporting live in Orange, I’m Lilly During with Channel Six News. Back to you, Steve.”
***
Lasko
I lifted my finger, raised the needle, and gently rested it in on the black spinning vinyl. Tchaikovsky flooded the small dining room as I went over the inventory laid out in front of me. Adler was in the corner, sitting perfectly still, with his eyes fixed on his master. Divine.
I ran my fingers along the smooth blade, grasped the handle, and picked it up for a better inspection. I saw my reflection in the blade.
Suddenly I flashed back to where I sat in the hall closet with my hands over my ears when I was seven. My father was beating my mother with a belt.
“Shhh, it’s okay, Jimmy,” she said from the shadow of the closet. “Let me take the pain away.”
My phone buzzed and brought me back to the present with a jolt. I wiped the bead of sweat from my upper lip and mumbled, “What?”
“Are you fucking crazy? Do you have any idea what has happened?” the voice screamed at me from the other end of the line. Fuck off.
I rolled my eyes. I did not need this shit right now. “Must you scream? My head is killing me.”
“Must I?” There was a pause. “Yes, I fucking must! You and your dumbass ideas are going to give me a fucking heart attack! Fuck!”
“Okay,” I sighed, preparing myself for yet again another lecture. “What did I do now?”
“Hank got caught and is now in police custody.”
My entire body went on high alert. Oh fuck!
“Ohhh, Jimmy, you better have been fucking right when you said you could trust him. Why on earth would you send a second man in when you can do the job yourself? It’s not like this is the first time, but I can fucking promise you this—it’s gonna be the last.” The line went dead.
I stood and stared at the table. Suddenly, I turned and whipped the knife full force at the wall.
I started to dig through my pile of shit on the coffee table. I knew it was here somewhere! I tugged it free and read out loud Hank’s home address. That fucker better keep his mouth closed.
***
Emily
I could hear Seth’s voice, but it sounded far away. “She’s been out a long time.”
“Huh?” A bright light flashed in one of my eyes, then the other. Voices started to floo
d my ears and bring me back.
“It’s her body’s way of coping with a traumatic situation,” a stranger’s voice said. “She has been through a great deal of stress these past few weeks.”
I tried to tune them out, to fight my way back to where everything was nice and calm.
“Seth,” I whispered as I wandered through the darkness. Every room looked the same, every window was painted black. It was just so quiet.
I felt warm lips brush over my hand. “I’m here, baby.” His soft voice made my eyes flutter open. “Hey.” He brushed a piece of hair off my face. “There’s my girl.”
“Where am I?” My eyes met a stranger’s face and then Garrett’s. “What happened?” I tried to sit up, but everyone shot forward at once, which made me curl back onto the couch.
“Take a minute, Emily,” the stranger said. I could see my reflection in his large, oval glasses. He must have caught my puzzled face. “I’m an EMT and a friend of the sergeant’s. He asked me to come in and check on you.”
I nodded slowly.
“Emily, can you tell us what happened?” Detective Michaels asked as he pulled up a chair and took a seat.
I sighed, then swung my feet to the floor. My body felt like lead, but I forced myself upright. Seth moved swiftly to my side and wrapped his arm around me. I leaned my head into his neck and sought his comfort.
“Umm, yeah, I think.” I rubbed my face and tried to answer Michaels’s question. “I was at the library with Scott and Vince.” I quickly looked at Seth. “Is Vince all right?”
“Yes.” He stroked my back. “He’s at the house.”
“Okay.” I sighed then and gave them a play-by-play of what had happened. Michaels interrupted a few times and asked me to repeat parts to make sure I was clear on my timeline. I was shocked to hear that Garrett had received a text from Lasko about me. The fact that Lasko had been in the library as he took a picture of me gave me the chills. I ran my frustration through my hair and used my fingers to soothe my scalp. “And who was that old man? It wasn’t Lasko! Are there two psychopaths out there?”
“We don’t know yet, but he’s being questioned. Hopefully we’ll have answers soon.”
“Why me?” I whispered. I knew there was no answer yet. Maybe never.
“He’s fallen for you,” Michaels said.
“No, he’s not in love with me.” My voice was laced with disgust. “That’s not love.”
Michaels leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs. “You’re right. Jimmy Lasko is a psychopath. He is incapable of loving anyone properly. However, I think he truly believes he’s in love with you, and that you belong to him.”
I blanched.
“We will get him.”
“But why does he play games? Why not just take me? He’s had endless opportunities.”
Michaels shook his head. “It’s not so much that he can take you anywhere or at any time. It’s that he knows he can. It’s the messing with your head. He makes you fear him. He never lets you know what’s waiting around the next corner, and that is what he enjoys. It’s the control, the upper hand, the thrill of the hunt.”
“Hunt.” The word rolled off my tongue. I let it dangle in the air for a moment. To be chased, to be pursued with force and hostility for the purpose of being caught and/or killed. Great...
Seth stiffened next to me. I coughed and swallowed. Deciding to clear the charged atmosphere in the room, I declared, “Then we need to know who that old man is!”
Minutes later, Garrett handed Seth a file. He opened it on the table in front of me. “Hank Wallace, age thirty-five, lives in Culver City with a wife and three kids.” I stared up at him blankly. The picture of the man looked nothing like the old man who had approached me. Seth seemed to be reading my mind.
“It’s amazing what people can do with prosthetic makeup.”
“Is he saying anything yet?”
“No, not yet. But he will.” Seth’s voice sent shivers up my spine.
My phone started to ring in my purse, and I reached for it. Oh, come on! I didn’t have the energy for this, but... “Excuse me,” I said as I rose to my feet. At least I wasn’t as dizzy. I opened the door and slipped out. I left the guys in Michaels’s office and found a quiet corner, then answered the persistent ring.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Emily, dear, am I catching you at a bad time?”
Always.
“No, Mother. How are you?” My voice was flat, no emotion. This was what she brought out in me, and I hated it.
“It’s rude, dear, to let the phone ring for that long if you intend to answer it.” Only my mother could find a way to scold me on how many rings I let go before I answered. I wondered if near-kidnapping victims got cut any slack. Probably not.
“Mom, it’s been six weeks since I’ve heard from you. Is this really how you’re going to start the conversation?” I was tempted to ‘drop the call,’ but I knew she’d call back and have even more of a mouthful to say.
She sighed heavily into the phone. “I wanted to know if you called the real estate agent. I emailed you her information last week.”
Really? I’d been a little busy.
“No, because I’m not selling our house, Mother.” I was in no mood for this conversation right now.
“You’re impossible, Emily!”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to calm my nerves. “The house is mine, Mother. Dad left it for me. You haven’t lived in that house for the past seven years. When you did live there, you were barely home. I understand it isn’t such a big deal for you to see it go, but it is for me, Mother!”
There was silence. I leaned my back to the wall. Shit.
“You need to stop living in the past, grow up, and realize he’s not coming back. You don’t need the constant reminder of him. You need to move on!” Her words lashed out at me and struck me the way they always did.
“What are you talking about? My house is a reminder to me of family and warmth. But that’s something you wouldn’t understand because you were never really involved in the family,” I said in a low voice. I felt like the burden I was to her. Never good enough, never enough for her.
“Emily, don’t be dramatic. You know that’s not what I meant. Just a moment…” I heard someone ask her a question. Her chin must have been over the phone, since it sounded muffled. “Emily, I need to go. I’ll call you when I can.”
The line went dead. No “good bye.” No “I love you.” Just silence. I breathed in deeply, pushed my feelings into the Mom Encounters box, and slammed it shut.
“Everything all right?” I turned to find Avery leaned against the wall. He looked good in his uniform.
I shrugged. “Yeah, all things considered.”
He scrunched up his nose like he was in thought. “Heard you elbowed the guy in the face.” He smiled slightly. “Bad ass, McPhee.”
“Was aiming for his chest.”
He laughed, which made me smile. He put his hand on my shoulder as he walked by me. “Glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks, me too. Avery?”
He turned. “Yes?”
“Do you think I could have handled the sting operation? You know, been able to face Lasko by myself?”
He folded his arms. “Yes, I do, but I understand that they’re nervous about putting you out there. It’s a big risk, and Lasko’s smart. We’ll get him.” His name was paged over the PA. “Stay safe, McPhee.”
“Thanks, Avery, you too.” I watched him walk down the hallway.
“Always.”
“That’s my line!”
He turned and winked at me.
I made my way back to Michaels’s office just as Seth came around the corner. “Hey, baby,” he said as he tried to read my face. I held up my phone. “Mom.”
“Jenny always has such impeccable timing.” Seth closed his eyes briefly as he stepped forward and hugged me. “Sorry,” he whispered.
“It’s fine, nothing new.”
�
��It’s okay not to be okay.”
“Yeah.” I sighed and hugged him a little tighter.
He kissed my hair. “Come on, we’ve ordered dinner, and you need to eat something.”
***
Seth
I set Emily up with some dinner and asked Johnnie to watch over her. Then I went to find Garrett and Michaels. I stepped into the room with the two-way mirror and watched as Michaels sat across from Hank Wallace.
“Anything?”
“He’s asking to see her,” Garrett said with disgust.
“What?”
“He says he only wants to talk to her.”
“No! No.” I felt sick. There was no way I was putting Emily through that. I ran my finger along my tie. It felt like it was strangling me. I don’t like any of this.
As I moved closer to the window, I watched as Wallace sat perfectly still and listened to Michaels go over his personal file. His face never showed any emotion. Jesus, did the man even blink? Suddenly, Wallace’s eyes shifted and made direct contact with mine. Jesus! My heart leapt to my throat and a bead of sweat broke out over the back of my neck, even though I knew Wallace couldn’t really see me. It was like he could sense me.
“Holy shit,” Garrett yelped, jumping back.
“You hear me?” Michaels said, forcing Wallace’s attention back to him.
“I do, but I will not talk until I see the girl.” Michaels quickly stood up, collected his files, and headed for the door. Wallace entwined his fingers together on his lap, sat up very straight, and stared at the wall.
Michaels shook his head at me as he entered the room. “He won’t crack, he’s too stubborn. But this is a huge break for us. I…” He paused. “I think we should at least see if Emily would be open to the idea—”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” I snapped and took a step toward him. “Absolutely not! No way.” Garrett jumped in front of me to shield Michaels from the anger that boiled off me.
“I’ll let that one slide, Connors,” Michaels warned, “but you need to see that this could be our first break.”