by Ellie Mack
I would have never had the confidence to pursue my dreams if it had not been for you. I love you, Mom. Someday we will be together and be able to laugh and hold each other. Until then, just save a place for Tara and me, and we will see if we can add to our numbers.
I moved to the next section with the big header, Luke. I held the pen, waiting for the right words to say.
This sure is not how I saw things playing out. I am angry with you, for leaving me. I have finally come to grips with the fact that you are gone for good.
Suddenly, I was overcome with guilt from kissing Devon. I couldn’t write to Luke with Devon on my mind! I set the journal on the coffee table and went to get the box of his things out of my closet. One box full of stuff was all that I had to remember Luke.
I opened the box, taking his hooded fleece lined jacket off the top, sniffing it. A warmth washed over me as I breathed in his scent that was so Luke, but it was unsettling. I took out the pictures. It had been too painful to look at them before now. It didn’t feel right to display them, but I wouldn’t part with them either.
Next were some of his favorite clothes. I decided that those could go to charity. I went to the kitchen to find a trash bag. I transferred the neatly folded clothes into the trash bag and tied it securely, setting it in front of our sliding glass patio door.
There was a layer of books and notebooks. I had no desire to keep his law books, making a mental note that I should ask his mother if she wanted them.
There were a few trophies that had Luke’s name on them. I didn’t know what they were for. I would keep them for now, but I had no connection to them. A few more personal items were scattered in the box, most of which were knick-knacks and keepsakes.
I fished around in the box and rubbed my hand over something soft and fluffy. I grabbed it and pulled it out. It was the little bear that I had given him, Nino Diablo. I clutched it to my chest. Tears welled in my eyes. Of all the things left of Luke, this was the only thing that I cared about. I held the plush animal to my chest, closing my eyes letting the tears fall.
I lay the bear on my chest as I picked up the journal and began to write. I poured out my heart. I said all of the things I wanted to say to him, but never got the chance. I told him how hard it was without him and that I felt like I needed professional help. I made up my mind that I would start seeing a counselor the next week.
Suddenly, I was hit by inspiration and flipped to a section of the journal towards the back that I had labeled songs. I began writing out my thoughts, disjointed as they were, onto the pages. I could tweak them later. I wrote one about the monster based on the dream I had while grieving Luke. I wrote one about Mom’s journey with all its ups and downs.
I wrote about training woes, trying to reach the goal and getting knocked back down. I wrote several about losing your true love. I wrote one I called, The Pit. How losing everything left me in the pit, and I was trying to claw my way out. I could see sunshine above, but I couldn’t quite reach it. I could hear other people laughing but I couldn’t laugh. I needed a boost and he gave me the push so that I could see beyond the rim.
A quick rap on the door and someone was pushing it open.
“I think you have the wrong apartment.” I tried to dismiss him but he kept walking towards me. “Can I help you?” I asked nervously.
“You’re Roxanne, right?” He asked in a gruff voice.
He wore black trousers, grey snakeskin pointed cowboy boots, and a white button up dress shirt. His belt buckle was silver with a scorpion on it.
“The Boss wants to talk with you.” A wicked grin spread across his face, revealing that he had a broken front tooth.
“The Boss? You mean Mike? Is this some kind of joke?” I tucked the little bear back into the box and tossed the blanket on the sofa as I rose.
“No. Not Mike. The Boss. My Boss. Luke’s Boss.” He reached for me, grabbing my arm.
“Let me go! Luke is dead. Get your hands off me.” I squirmed, pulling away from him, but he had a vicelike grip on my arm. He held so tightly that his grasp hurt my arm.
“Stop fighting or I’ll have to use the drugs.” He somehow managed to pull me tight against his body, facing out.
My jaw clenched. I didn’t know who this person was, but he wasn’t going to waltz in here and grab me. I kicked back with my full force, hearing his knee pop as I made contact. At the same time, I threw my head backwards into his nose.
Most men would have crumpled to the ground, but not this guy. I felt a needle jab onto my arm. “You fucking, bitch!”
Everything pitched forward and went black.
CHAPTER 32
“Finally coming around I see. Good.”
It was hard to focus. I could barely open my eyes more than a slit. My head throbbed and my hands and knees burned. A slight moan escaped as I tried to open my eyes further. My hands had been tied behind my back and I could feel the steady rocking of being in a car.
I forced my eyes open, taking another minute to focus.
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience. I tried to tell Anjelo that persuasion is better than force. Old habits die hard apparently, and he resorts to physically overpowering.
I glanced to the form beside him. Slowly he came into focus, the man who grabbed me “What do you want?”
“There is a little matter unresolved that Luke was involved with. I can only assume that he transferred my merchandise to you.”
“I don’t have anything of yours. I don’t even know who you are.”
“Let’s not be rude, Miss Winters. I know that Luke conveyed information to you. That information is privileged and I can’t afford for it to get out.”
“Luke didn’t give me anything. He died in a plane crash before I ever got to see him again. So,whatever you think he had went up in flames on that plane.”
“It’s not that simple.” He adjusted his cuff links and his expression grew sterner. “I had such high hopes for Luke. The plane crash was indeed a tragedy. However, what he took form me are files. He downloaded them somewhere. I just need to know where. “
“I don’t know. He had his computer with him.”
He let out a frustrated sigh. “Don’t play coy with me, Ms. Winters. You’re about to exhaust my patience.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
He leaned forward. “Files, Ms. Winters. Files. My files. Files that could implicate, never mind. He put it on a flash drive or something. Where is it?”
My mind reeled. I didn’t remember seeing any of Luke’s flash drives in the box. “Maybe his Mom has it.”
“Want me to loosen her up, Boss?” Anjelo leaned towards me threatening to hurt me again.
My head was throbbing. The pain was intense. I started channeling that pain and the pain in my knees and hands to a focused point. My jaw squared as I clenched my teeth. This was real life; there was no mouth guard to protect my teeth. I clenched my hands into fists. I couldn’t use my hands since they were tied, but I had practiced before with my hands tied in order to perfect my kicks.
I had no idea where we were or where we were headed. I had one chance to make a break for it and if I failed, well I didn’t want to think about that. I had no interest in being on the news at eleven.
Anjelo moved to the edge of the seat reaching for me, I twisted, grabbing for the door handle, as I kicked him in the head with both feet. I didn’t think, I just acted.
I didn’t think about the possibility that Mr. Boss might have quick reflexes. I didn’t think that more than likely there were automatic door locks since it was a limousine. I hadn’t taken into consideration the amount of blood spatter from Anjelo’s broken nose. I prayed that the door was not locked from the front as I lifted the handle, propelling myself out of the moving car travelling around seventy miles per hour.
Correction: the Chad episode paled in comparison to the stupidity of this move. I bounced off the pavement, rolling down a steep embankment. I felt my shoulder snap as I landed
and began to roll. I screamed as I continued to roll. I couldn’t see what was below me in the darkness. Maybe this was the day I died.
Oomph!
I came to an abrupt stop against a fallen tree. I could feel my body settle into a wet squishy spot. I tried not to let my imagination get the better of me, but failed miserably as I envisioned all sorts of disgusting insects that thrived on rotten wood. I tried to move and felt the trickle of blood run down my forehead. Throwing yourself out of a moving vehicle was not on the list of activities to refrain from on Dr. Brinker’s list, but I was certain that he wouldn’t approve. Then again, being killed wasn’t on my approved list either. I struggled, trying to get to my feet, which proved impossible.
My hands were still tied and my shoulder had lodged under a broken off branch.
“Go down there and get her.” I could faintly hear Mr. Boss over the constant roar of traffic. Cars: I was on or near a major highway.
“She ain’t movin’ boss. She was convulsing right after hitting, but then she went still. There’s a lot of blood.” Anjelo’s voice was closer. “Aggh!” It sounded like he slid on wet grass towards me.
I lay as still as I could.
“She ain’t breathin’ neitherr.”
I heard Mr. Boss swear a string of expletives and make a reference to Ricky.
Ricky? What did Ricky have to do with anything? I held my breath hoping that Anjelo would leave.
“That’s two people that you’ve killed today that could have saved our asses.” He didn’t sound too happy about it.
The next sound was the blast of a gun, and Anjelo’s body slid into me, pinning me further against the tree.
How would anyone find me now? I was smashed between a thug and a dead tree. They would not find me until they rolled his decayed corpse off me.
I needed a miracle.
I fished around in my back pocket and started pushing buttons. I could only hope that I called someone and they would go to the apartment to check on me.
Maybe somebody heard a gunshot and reported it. Maybe someone saw what happened. I opened my eyes to pitch-blackness.
My last bit of hope deflated. I imagined the reporter’s words “Former MMA fighter and Blues singer found dead on the side of the road. Story at eleven.”
The adrenaline rush quickly faded and was replaced with intense pain. I was certain that I had reopened the wound on my head in addition to adding some new ones. I knew my shoulder was broken, I just didn’t know how badly.
Thinking about my decision earlier that day for regular counseling, I smiled at the irony. Didn’t it figure that I made my decisions too late?
Who was this Mr. Boss and what did he have to do with Luke?
I lay there for a few minutes thinking that I would slip into unconsciousness, but I didn’t. Of course not, then I wouldn’t get to enjoy the mind-bending pain!
I fiddled with my phone some more trying to swipe anything I could across its screen. A good cheap flip phone would be more useful!
Mr. Boss, a file, Ricky, Anjelo. . . I tried to remember what Luke had told me when he called and was so upset. He had seen something he shouldn’t. He was going to quit the company.
Suddenly it clicked. I had to get to the files to give to Devon. I didn’t know how that was going to happen, but I began to squirm and try to get out from under Anjelo and the log.
I crunched in pulling my feet up, then shoving myself away from the log and pushing the weight of Anjelo’s body away as well. I groaned under the strain. It’s a good thing it was dark and I couldn’t see what I had been laying in. I was already creeped out with a dead guy on me.
I pushed with my legs again, straining. I felt light headed. I saw lights coming towards me. I guess this was it. I laughed aloud. “Don’t go near the light.” Making a joke to myself right before I lost consciousness.
CHAPTER 33
“The signal is coming from right around here.” Devon held the tracer in his hand as he shone the high-powered flashlight back and forth in front of him.
“Body. I’ve got a body,” Raul yelled to his partner.
Devon cringed. Those were not the words he wanted to hear in a search for Roxanne.
“Male, ponytail. I think we found our perp.” He moved closer towards Anjelo. He bent down checking for a pulse and as he turned him over, saw the blood covering his lower face. “Oh! That must have hurt.”
Raul stood shining his light around the area. It was hard to see anything in the thick underbrush that grew off the highway embankments.
“Hey, Devon over here. So, if you are falling down this embankment, wouldn’t you roll all the way to the tree before you stopped?”
“Unless, our guy here didn’t fall down the embankment, but dropped where he was shot.”
Raul bent down inspecting the ground by the tree. “Unless there was something that obstructed your fall and stopped short.” Raul observed the debri on Anjelo’s shirt and trousers, the bits of dead grass in his hair. He stood, following a trail of disturbed leaves. It was hard to see anything in the pitch black darkness. A lump of mud was just a few feet away. Raul stepped around it trying to follow the trail but he lost it.
“Well, damn! I thought I had something. I . . .” He turned back around and saw white flesh poking out of the mud pile. “Here! I’ve got her.”
Devon rushed to Roxanne, first checking for breathing then gently rolling her over on her back. He was on his phone dialing. “We need an ambulance on Hwy 76, south bound, mile marker 247. Send the CSU, we’ve got a shooting and a live one.”
She was alive. Barely, but she was alive. How in the world did she end up out here?
At first, he thought that she had butt dialed him. He texted back and she didn’t respond. When he was leaving Alex at the lab, he called her phone and it was busy. She wasn’t in her apartment and the door was left wide open. He knew she wasn’t supposed to drive and her car was still in the parking space but she was nowhere to be found.
That was when he called in to the station and set a trace on her GPS location, which led him here. The whole drive, Derek felt sick that she might be dead. For a while, the tracer showed her moving on the highway at a high rate of speed but then it stopped suddenly at this spot. He thought for sure he would find a corpse.
She wasn’t far from it. The gash on her head had reopened. There was a great deal of blood on her mixed around with the mud. The question was, was it hers or the perp next to her and how did he end up dead alongside her?
Raul was scouring the area for a weapon and allowing Devon to stay with Roxy.
CHAPTER 34
“No, Devon. This is what I was afraid of. Whatever this mess is with the homeless people, you have put Roxy in danger. Now she’s laying in there half dead thanks to you.” Tara was furious. When Devon shared that the perp that killed the trainer was found next to Roxy, she lost it.
“I think Luke is the one who put her in danger. I sent the items found in Ricky’s locker to the lab. Alex had some interesting findings. The sports drinks that were made by the company that Luke was working for had traces of this designer meth in them. We don’t know if he doctored them up or if they came from the company.”
“Oh, sure, Devon, blame the dead fiancée. Luke was a good guy. He wouldn’t have been involved in anything illegal.” She crossed her arms and stomped back to the ICU room where Roxy was still unconscious.
She turned to him with a scowl. “If I lose my sister because of you, I will have your badge.”
He started towards the room and thought better of it.
“Please, let me know when she wakes up. I care about Roxy. I wouldn’t knowingly put her in danger. I only left her alone for a half an hour because I had a call.”
She turned on him, arms crossed hugging herself, her jaw jutting out, lips pursed “You always get a call. The whole time we dated, you always got calls. Sometimes, it seemed like you were more excited about the call than you were about the date. Look, I get it, we didn�
�t work. We weren’t working, but you are a cop. You always answer your calls. Yes, it makes you a good cop, but it makes you a real shitty boyfriend.”
Tara’s head pounded with tension and fear. This scenario was all to familiar to her.
“I knew from day one that you still carried a torch for Roxy. Have you ever told her? Have you even tried to talk to her? Explain why you broke it off? NO! Because that would mean that you’d have to think of someone besides yourself.”
She turned her back to him and moved to Roxy’s bed.
Devon turned towards the elevator. As if to prove a point, his phone went off. He turned back to see Tara sneering at him as if to say, “told you so.”
*****
At seven twenty-three a.m., Roxy stirred in the bed. Tara jerked awake feeling her squeeze her hand.
Soon she was groaning and flailing in the bed.
“Nurse! She’s coming around.”
Instant panic. I had to get out of here. I had to get the information to Devon before anyone else gets killed. I tried to shake off the grogginess. My shoulder hurt, I knew it must be broken or dislocated. I strained to open my eyes, I could see that it was light. Maybe now I could get someone to help me.
My memory cleared a bit so that I remembered having been sandwiched between the rotten log and the dead thug Anjelo. I blinked furiously trying to shake off the sleepy confusion and make my eyes focus. I had managed to push Anjelo away enough that I could crawl away from where I had been. My mind raced, recalling the events.
Anjelo had showed up at the apartment after Devon left and before Tara had arrived home from work. I had no idea how much time had passed or what time it was, but I know I had been going through Luke’s things. The bear- Nino Diablo! Where was it?
