Katie tried to stand but was unable.
Banging resounded all around them—like several hammers trying to pound the container.
“What is that?” she said with her hands over her ears.
“Someone is trying to get to us.”
“Is that the good guys or bad?” She tried to make light of it, but the truth was she was scared. Pushing to stay focused, she kept her mind at how to get out of their predicament.
“I’m putting my money on the good guys,” he said, bringing Katie’s mind into the present. “But we’ll make prep as if it’s the bad guys.”
“Like what?” Katie didn’t really want to know but she needed to hear his voice to keep calm. The darkness was unsettling, making her cold and jumpy.
“You know,” he said above the scraping sound of him moving something out of the way. “Good news, I found my gun. It actually hit me during the tumble. Normally, I would make a joke but I’ll just leave it as is…”
Katie smiled.
“Keep talking,” he said. “Let me get to you.”
A huge bang rammed the side, shaking the entire metal container. Then it stopped, followed by a strange hissing sound. Muffled voices. Then more hissing.
Katie then saw the flickering light of an oxyacetylene torch, used to cut open heavy metal. Someone was there to help.
“Katie?” McGaven said.
“How’d they get here so fast?”
“Maybe Chad?”
“You’re right.”
“Hey! We’re in here!” she yelled.
“We’re right here. Help!” McGaven followed Katie’s example.
“Help!”
There was no reply from outside.
McGaven reached out to touch Katie and she startled beneath his hand. “Sorry,” he said.
The flashing orange-and-white lights had stopped.
“Take my hand,” he said. “Show me where your foot is stuck.”
Katie moved his hand to what appeared to be a block of wood.
“Okay,” he began. “I think this is part of the mantel that broke in half.”
“Can you move it?”
“I’m not sure,” he said and his voice sounded funny, weak and wheezy.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just a bit dizzy.”
Katie had forgotten all about his chest injury. “Gav, just sit still and relax—breathe slowly and conserve your energy. Someone will get to us.”
McGaven was quiet.
“Gav? Gav, you okay?”
He didn’t respond.
Katie twisted her body and tried to reach him. She was able to contort herself to lean against him. His body was limp under her touch. She felt for his pulse—it was erratic, but still strong. Listening for his breath, it was ragged and uneven. She knew his chest injury must be causing a restriction—it could mean his lungs were filling up with fluid.
“Gav?” she whispered. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but we’re going to get you out of here.” She stifled a cry and kept her focus. It wasn’t just about her—if too much time passed McGaven could suffocate from his injuries. She wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Help! We need medical attention! Help!”
Almost on cue, there was the sound of a chainsaw along with flickering lights. In the strange light, she could see McGaven slumped to the side and his face looked ashen. The flames became larger and the trail of light burned in a circular shape as it inched closer, so Katie shielded them as best as she could in case of injury. She said a quiet prayer.
McGaven murmured something that Katie couldn’t quite hear.
“Don’t talk. We’re going to be okay,” she said, not knowing for sure but she had to believe it.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the ear-piercing scrape of metal on metal. Daylight pierced into the metal container causing Katie to shield her eyes.
“Katie?” said a voice.
“Chad?” She barely spoke.
“She’s okay!” yelled Chad back to the others.
“We need medical attention for McGaven immediately!” she managed to yell back.
With a bit more scraping, the end of the metal storage container peeled back like a can of soup and two firefighters Katie didn’t know climbed through the opening to assess how they would pull her and McGaven out safely. Relief flooded through Katie’s aching body.
“Can you move?” said one of the men to Katie.
“My foot is caught. I’m fine. Please… please take McGaven first. He was pinned earlier by a door pressed against his chest. He had trouble breathing, there’s bruising… and…” she explained as she caught her breath. “And there was some blood on his chest…”
The firefighter nodded and made his way to McGaven who was now lucid and awake. He checked his vitals and took a quick look at his chest. Turning back to the other emergency personnel, he said, “We need to get him out ASAP. Possible pulmonary contusion.”
“Is he going to be okay?” she said.
“We won’t know more until an x-ray is done to find out if his lungs have been compromised.”
The seriousness hit Katie hard and her worry turned to despair, as she twisted to move as best as she was able to let them do their work.
It took about fifteen minutes before they were able to get him out of the container.
“Hey,” said Chad, trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal. But his eyes couldn’t hide his fear.
“Hi.”
“You doing okay?” He leaned down.
“I’ll be better once I’m out of here.”
Two of the firefighters tried to move the wood but it was too wedged for them to move it manually.
“Did they catch him?” she asked.
“Who?”
“The guy who locked us in here and decided to bulldoze us.”
Chad didn’t meet her gaze. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. He got away, didn’t he?”
“They haven’t found him—yet,” he said. Someone spoke to him from outside, but Katie couldn’t quite hear what they said. “Okay,” said Chad. “We’re going to have to cut you out.”
Katie’s eyes grew big.
Chad nodded to his co-workers. “Okay, I’m going to be right here with you, Katie. I’m going to cover your face and body, and Rodney here is going to cut the board. Okay?”
She didn’t know quite what to say, but nodded in agreement and tried not to squirm.
Chad gave her a reassuring smile then gently laid heavy tarp-like material over her, covering her face as well. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it to help reassure her that everything was going to be alright.
The chainsaw screamed to life. As it approached closer to Katie, the sound deafening, she flinched and squeezed her eyes shut. As the chainsaw made contact, woodchips and dust flew everywhere and the pressure against Katie’s leg caused her to cry out. She tried to stay still as she could, though every nerve in her body wanted to pull away from the revolving blade so close to shredding her leg.
The noise stopped abruptly, leaving Katie’s ears ringing and unable to hear anything. Chad was talking to her but she couldn’t hear him. It was as if she were floating underwater and slowly being pulled up to the surface.
As she reached the daylight, she opened her eyes; everything was blurry at first, and then she saw a crowd of people waiting for her arrival—or so it seemed. It appeared dreamlike, as if the entire universe downshifted into slow motion.
“I’m okay,” Katie said, feeling a bit woozy. “Really, I’m fine,” she insisted, trying to break free of Chad’s grip.
“Take it easy there,” he said.
“Where’s McGaven?” she said.
“He’s doing much better. He’s over there being checked out but he wouldn’t leave until he knew you were okay.” Chad pointed to an open ambulance where McGaven sat inside with an oxygen mask on as one of the paramedics was taking his blood pressure and vitals.
Katie started to w
alk over to him.
“Katie, wait a minute. You need to be checked out,” Chad persisted.
“I’m fine. I need to talk to my partner first.”
Some of the people in the crowd watched as she sat down next to McGaven. “Is he going to be okay?” she asked the medical tech.
“He’s going to be fine, but he still needs to have his chest x-rayed just to be sure that there aren’t any other complications.”
She turned to McGaven. “You know this is my fault. I know, I know. I hardly ever admit that I’m wrong.”
McGaven shook his head and was about to take off the oxygen mask. “No, it isn’t,” he said, muffled from the mask.
“Just listen for a moment, okay? I know I’ve already apologized, but I’ve got to get this out before I lose my nerve and get my wits back.”
McGaven quieted and patiently waited, still breathing fresh oxygen.
Katie glanced at the paramedic who appeared not to be listening—but obviously was. Katie didn’t care, she continued, “I know there’s been a lot of drama during our time as partners, but I would like to think that there have been great times too. Ever since you were assigned to work with me, I’ve managed to get us into some… serious predicaments. Saying I’m sorry isn’t good enough, but I want you to know that I love working with you. You’re the best partner anyone could ever ask for. And, because of my stupid curiosity today, I led us right into a trap inside that metal container. I would never be able to live with myself if anything happened to you because of my overzealousness. I never had a brother or sister… and…” She paused as she saw the paramedic smile. “Excuse me, could you give us a minute?” she said.
“No problem,” he said, still smiling, and left them alone. The other officers and emergency personnel left them alone as well. McGaven waited until she finished.
“Like I said, I never had a brother, but if I did, I would hope he would have been just like you. I’m sorry about today. I’m sorry about the previous stuff. And, I’m sorry about being so mushy now. I just wanted you to know.”
McGaven took the oxygen mask off and breathed some of the natural air. “Are you done?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks.” He looked directly at her and said, “You know it’s mutual, right?”
“Really?”
He pushed her gently on the arm.
She smiled and said, “Thanks. That means a lot, Gav.”
He hugged her tight and whispered in her ear, “Never stop caring like you do. And never stop pushing the investigations. I have your back—always.”
Katie was overwhelmed as she returned the hug, quickly wiping the tears from her face.
“Katie,” said Sheriff Scott as he approached quickly.
She stood up. “I’m fine, Uncle Wayne. Really, we’re fine.”
The sheriff took Katie and held her tight. “I was so worried when I got the call from dispatch. What were you guys doing here?”
“We had gone for a run today and then decided, well, I decided, we needed to check out the house after seeing the blueprints in the archives. And then on our way out, we checked out the one container that didn’t have a lock.”
“It was a trap?” the sheriff said, motioning to a couple of the deputies.
“I don’t know… maybe an opportunity?” she said.
“I want this property locked down—tight. Everything searched again. Fingerprints taken on the containers, construction equipment, and anything else. Call John and have him go over everything. There must be something that will give us some answers.” Sheriff Scott reluctantly left Katie’s side and surveyed the property, giving more orders.
“Go get checked out, okay?” she said to McGaven.
“I will.”
She slowly walked to Chad who had been patiently waiting for her with Cisco at his side. “Hi. Thank you for saving us.” She petted Cisco who had some bandages on his legs.
“Just my job,” he said, trying to force a smile, but it was clear that he was concerned and relieved all at once.
She bent down to examine the dog. “Is Cisco okay?”
“He’s fine, just some minor cuts trying to get out of the vehicle.”
Katie hugged the dog tight—she realized how close she could have been to losing her partner and dog.
“Looks like you were all lucky.”
“McGaven is going to get checked out at the hospital.”
“And you?” he said.
“I will go too.”
“Are you?”
“Yes, I promise.”
Sheriff Scott had already made his rounds and came back to Katie and Chad. He said, “That crazy bastard is still out there. Chad, I want you to stay with Katie until all this is over. Understood?”
“Absolutely, sir. You have my word.”
“I’m not a little girl. I’m a police officer, remember? And I have Cisco too.”
“I would feel better. Is that too much to ask?”
“Of course not,” she said as all the heavy feelings of juggling everything alone came tumbling back.
Thirty-Three
Monday 0745 hours
Katie drove Chad’s extra Jeep to the sheriff’s department, her mind whirring with fresh ideas. Chad hadn’t let her lift a finger to do anything for the entire Sunday as he fussed around her doing all the cooking and cleaning, sternly instructing her to rest. Even her uncle checked in twice to make sure that she was following explicit orders—his and the doctor’s. So thinking was all she could do under the circumstances.
Katie had to admit that she did feel rested, even with a few more bruises than usual, but she felt recharged and ready to tackle all the evidence and leads on these cases. She had jotted down a few notes over the past day and wanted to get started immediately.
McGaven had called her Saturday evening and told her that he was fine—no serious damage to his lungs or organs—just bruising. He was supposed to rest for a few days and he didn’t say for sure if he would be in on Monday morning.
Katie parked and made her way to the office, running scenarios of the case through her mind as always. She had some follow-up questions for Tanis Jones and wanted to talk to her as soon as possible, and she also wanted to get someone tracking Keller’s movements.
Opening the door to the cold-case office, she was surprised to see McGaven sitting, as usual, at his laptop keying in search parameters.
“Hi,” she said, amazed that he had decided to come to work.
“Hey, partner,” he said not looking up from the computer.
“I thought you’d be taking a few days off.”
“For what?”
“To rest.”
“Nah, I’d just be sitting at home thinking about stuff here. So at least I’m sitting here at work being productive.”
“Okay, great.” She put her things down and retrieved her notebook. “Have we heard anything from forensics taken from the bulldozer and container?”
“No. But I don’t think they’ll be much—at least according to John. I ran into him this morning.”
“Oh,” said Katie disappointed. She had thought they would have found something—anything—fingerprints—anything of interest.
“I’ve been trying to find the other girls from the foster home and it’s been frustrating. Terry Slaughter has had so many aliases it’s next to impossible to track. And Heather Lawson moved to Kansas, but there’s no information found: death certificate, job, social security, owning anything. Nothing.”
“If she’s alive, it’s clear that she’s staying off the radar. Perhaps she’s homeless.”
“No arrest records either.”
“Hmm… she might have decided that she didn’t like Kansas and moved to another state.”
“I’m checking now. But it will take some time.”
“What do we know about her?” she asked.
“Not much.”
“I want to talk to Tanis Jones again—maybe she might have some answers?”
&nbs
p; McGaven turned in his chair and grimaced.
“What’s wrong? You okay?”
“Yeah, just sore. The doc said I would be hurting for about a week to ten days.”
Katie sat down in her chair and rolled next to McGaven. “You sure you don’t want to go home and rest?”
“Katie, I’m fine. I’m just not going to be running for a while though.”
“Okay,” she said and stood up, studying her whiteboard. “What do we have now?”
McGaven swiveled in his chair and began skimming the lists. “Well… we have new information about the Elm Hill Mansion.”
“Yes, we do… Now, more than ever, Elm Hill sits at the center of the two homicides.” Katie paused, thinking that there was something blinding that she wasn’t seeing about the mansion. “What about the employees at Elm Hill? Anything?”
“Okay, I was able to track down Margaret Adler, the housekeeper, she’s since retired and is residing at Bella Vista—old folks’ home. Elmer Rydesdale, maintenance and groundskeeper, is still working and I have an address for him. And, finally the tutor, Tatiana Wolf, only worked there for a few weeks before she transferred to Boston for a teaching position.”
“Ms. Wolf will probably not be too much help, but let’s call her and see what she says—perhaps there’s a reason for her leaving that we need to know about.” Katie stood up and studied the county map. “Okay, Bella Vista is close. Where’s Elmer Rydesdale located?”
Reading his notes, McGaven said, “Over in Crowley Creek, about twenty minutes from here.”
“I think we need to get a better idea of what was going on at Elm Hill before it shut down. What better way than talking to ex-employees?”
“No doubt. You just have to know how to ignore the personal BS and get to the root of the matter.”
Katie laughed. “I’m still waiting to hear back from Dr. Samantha Rajal, Mary Rodriguez’s doctor, and see what she has to say about the abortion and the drugs she was taking.” She leaned back in her chair. “Oh, anything new on ‘hunter-gatherer’?”
“Let’s see.” McGaven keyed up several chat rooms and social media sites. “Not much. You know there are people who transcribe every time a certain phrase is used in movies, TV, and even radio shows. I checked that. If I have to read more about what someone thinks of a book, I’m going home.”
Last Girls Alive: A totally addictive crime thriller and mystery novel (Detective Katie Scott Book 4) Page 17
