by Andrew Gruse
“Yeah, I know all that,” Zack said, but she cut him off.
“No, no, it gets better. Your business is done. Darnell will go back to jail for skipping bail and leaving the state. Dre, I’m sure will go to jail as an accomplice or something and Michelle,” Julie scoffed, “she’s in prison for sure as will be her uncle. Then let’s look at Captain Ted Barnes. Remember Ted? We just had dinner with him and his wife. Ted will be ruined. The cases you helped with will be overturned, and those criminals will be set free. It might go deeper than that. And then there’s your son. If anyone figures out he is your kid,” Julie stopped and looked at him. “Wait, is that what you’re thinking about? Do you want to meet your son?”
Zack shook his head. “No, of course not. The last thing I want to do is get in his life. You know how I feel about kids in general, but me in that kid’s life, all things considered, is one really, really bad idea.” He looked at her. “Trust me, Jules, I would not be a good father.”
“That’s just stupid talk,” Julie said. “You’ll be a great father.”
“I saw my dad with a bullet hole in his head. I held a girl in my arms as she died. I have seen what the death of a child does to parents. I don’t want to deal with that fear.”
Julie frowned. “Stop it, Zachary. That won’t be us. I want kids. You know that.” She stopped. “Oh,” she laughed and gently slapped his chest. “I see what you did. Let’s keep focused here, love-of-my-life. You can’t go back to Michigan City, Indiana. Not even for the pizza from that Italian joint.”
“I’m sorry,” Zack said at length. “Now, being stuck here.” He shook his head. “I really just wanted to get away with you, see some birds, get closer to you, you know,” he trailed off.
“I’m close to you now,” she whispered and lightly kissed his lips. “You need to take your mind off this case,” she said.
“I’m not sure I can,” he said.
She leaned forward, nibbled, and kissed his earlobe and whispered, “I bet I can make you. Want to watch?” She moved expertly down his chest and stomach, kissing all the way and then…
…his phone rang.
Michelle.
Julie sat back up next to him on the bed. “I swear sometimes that woman wants to break us up.”
* * * *
Zack grabbed his phone and. “Hey, ‘Chelle. What do you got?”
“What do I got?” Michelle let out an exasperated half yell. “I swear, you,” she let it out again. “Are you going to tell me what is going on?”
“I will. First, tell me what you found.”
He heard a loud exhale from Michelle. “The phone was at the high school, or that area, yesterday morning at 10:52. That’s the last place it pinged any towers,” she said.
Zack was silent. They arrived in Clyde just after eleven. Zack realized he may have been in the school at the same time Derek was. It made him feel worse.
“Now, why are you working when you are supposed to be on vacation? You have Dre and Darnell freaking out that you’ll end up pissing off the wrong cop or something.”
“Actually, sweetheart,” Zack said, “the police are on my side this time. I gotta go. Thanks, ‘Chelle. Bye.” He hung up and looked at Julie. “Well, that was not good news.”
She looked at him, her disappointment from the timing of the phone call gone. “We need to tell Orbison.”
Zack nodded. “You want to come with me or stay here?”
“Oh, I’m coming with. I’m not letting you alone until this is over.”
CHAPTER 13
The two got back in the car and drove to the station. After dark on a Sunday in Clyde, the street was empty. Had they not actually seen people earlier, Zack and Julie would have believed the town was vacant. There were few lit porches with no light visible through windows. The few streetlights were all that illuminated the area.
“Fells Point doesn’t even come alive until dark,” Zack said out of the blue.
Julie looked at him with a smirk. “Ok, sweetie, you’re making a point. What is it?”
“Just pointing out another difference.”
She rolled her eyes. “I just meant that it wouldn’t hurt you to be a little more open-minded sometimes. I swear, honey.”
“I’ll work on it, but you know me.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re pacing yourself.” She shook her head with a smile and gripped his hand.
A police vehicle sped the opposite direction on Main Street. It passed quickly. Zack pulled to the side, did a quick U-turn, and followed the flashing lights.
“What are you doing?”
“That was Orb. We want to talk to him, don’t we?”
They followed Orbison, watched Orbison turn left off Main, but Zack stopped at the corner and shut off his vehicle.
“What are you doing?”
“Molly lives down there,” Zack said. He saw Orbison’s vehicle pull into Molly Lockett’s driveway with his lights flashing.
“And your sudden interest in her is why?”
Zack appreciated her jealousy but knew it was unfounded. He looked at her. “Because we don’t believe in coincidences. Orb rushed there for a reason. Now, what was it?”
In the distance, two blocks down the street, a dark figure emerged from the shadows and dashed across the road. “And the dog’s name was Bingo,” Zack said. “Wait here. I’ll be back.” Zack exited his car and ran down the sidewalk. A voice told Zack to not get involved, that was Julie’s from the car, but another voice, a louder voice inside his head, screamed at him otherwise.
Zack reached the area where the person disappeared into the darkness and waited. The sounds of the night kept him alert. Zack stood in front of an open lot with trees, overgrown shrubs and grassy weeds. Behind it was a new neighborhood, filled with ranch houses and split-levels. Zack spotted a narrow path through the lot.
He stepped off the sidewalk into the lot. Zack noticed the sounds of the night silenced. Was it because of him? Or something else? His eyes absorbed as much light as they could, but it was dark. Zack heard a twig snap to his left. He looked. The hairs on the back of his neck stood. He was not alone.
Zack tensed and stepped forward. Suddenly, he heard a rush to his right. Zack turned, felt a sharp blow on his head; Zack fell to the ground, dazed. His head throbbed. Zack’s world spun, he wanted to get up; a dark figure, or was it two? The person ran off into the night and disappeared, but he couldn’t right himself. Zack lowered his head and closed his eyes. Get up, Zack. Damnit.
He got to his knees, checked in all directions, and grabbed the pain on the back of his head. No blood, but the bump would be evident with his short hair. Zack stayed there a few minutes and watched, but there was no movement anywhere. He stood defeated when a police Tahoe screeched to a halt in front of him, blue lights flashing, and a big man stepped out with his gun pointed squarely at Zack.
“Don’t move, or I’ll drop you!”
Zack held up his hands. “It’s me, Sheriff. Relax,” he said. Julie stopped their car right behind Orbison’s. She got out and rushed to Zack.
Orbison holstered his weapon. “Stack, what the hell are you doing here?” He pointed his flashlight at the two. “What the hell are both of you doing here?”
“Just out for a late-night stroll,” Zack said as he held his head.
Orbison looked around the area, his flashlight beam hitting the houses far away, then he focused it on Zack. “See anything?”
“If you were after a creeper at Lockett’s house,” Zack pointed, “he ran off that way.”
“I was.” Orb flicked off the flashlight. “Your Captain Barnes also said you have a bad habit of sticking your nose into places you shouldn’t. Suddenly I think that my best course of action with you is to employ you.” He looked at Julie. “I think that’s the best idea with you, too.”
Julie saw Zack hold the back of his head. “Are you Ok? What happened?”
“I’m fine,” he said softly to Julie. “Sending us out of town would be wiser,
” Zack said, still shaking the stars out of his eyesight.
“Too late for that. What else aren’t you telling me?”
Julie walked Zack to Orbison’s vehicle, and he leaned against it. “Your fire investigator isn’t going to be happy.”
* * * *
Zack tied his shoes and stood from the bed as Julie finished her hair early the next morning. Zack could hear birds sing, and the sun brightened the area. Had it not been for the weekend’s events, it was a beautiful spring day. After spending time with Orbison at the station, they got back to the motel room. Zack spent the next hour convincing Jules he didn’t need an X-Ray and wasn’t concussed.
It wasn’t the night Zack and Julie planned.
Julie finally finished her hair and walked into the small room. She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “I’m worried, Zack. I worry about you, I worry about us, I worry about your job and our future.” Julie let out a frustrated, angry yell.
Zack walked to Julie and put his hands on her bare hips as her panties and bra the only articles of clothing on her body. “Jules, darling, it’s ok,” he said. “We’ll be fine. It’s just a little bump. I don’t have a concussion, there was no blood, not even a headache. I mean, whoever did it was small and kind of weak. I’m not worried about it. No one is coming after us.” He moved closer and wrapped his arms around her bare stomach. “Please don’t worry, ok?”
“How can I not? In the last year you’ve been shot, stabbed, ran off the road into a river and almost drowned, shot again, knocked out, shot again, and shot again after that, you were in the hospital, in the emergency room twice and even Barnes is worried about your past haunting all of us. And I’m the damn fool that is in love with you and is planning to marry you. What kind of dumb am I?” She shook her head and knocked his arms off her.
He smiled and put his arms back around her. “Let’s just focus on the part where you are in love with me, ok?” He kissed her neck, and she shook her head.
“It’s a curse,” she said, the frustration gone from her voice.
“I’d say a blessing,” he whispered into her ear and kissed her lobe. “You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, Julie Fletcher.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Honey, I need you to quit getting injured and in gunfights and attacked and all of that, ok? This vacation is supposed to be about us. We need that, and you running off to save the day isn’t my idea of a vacation.”
“I know.” He kissed her. Their tongues met, and she pressed her body against his harder. “We’ll take care of what we have to do here, get the hell out of this place, and start a new vacation. How about that? Beach, bikini, margaritas, and solitude. Just you and me. How does that sound?”
She stared into his blue eyes and smiled. “Turks and Caicos. How soon can we get to the beach?”
He kissed her, and she kissed back. Her hands ran down his back and under his shirt, and her bra hit the floor. She pushed him back to the bed and had his shirt off as she straddled his legs, and he squeezed her buttocks.
She moved her mouth to his neck; her hot breath ran down his neck onto his chest. “I want you right now,” she breathed into his ear. “Right now.”
But then she stopped.
“Except now on, no more solo act, Ok? I don’t like you disappearing and,” she stopped and kissed him. “Just trust me. I need you with me.”
Zack stared into her eyes. The meaning conveyed in the beauty of her eyes told him everything she needed him to know. Listen to her.
Julie didn’t wait for an answer. She twisted, so he slid atop of her and skillfully maneuvered, so he was inside her. They tangled in the comforter, rolled across the bed, her hair wild, his hands all over her, their mouths pressed tight against one another. Zack didn’t know if it was five, seven, ten, or twenty minutes. All he knew was that Julie smiled when she left the bed, and he was spent. He heard the shower turn back on. Zack laid on his back while his breathing calmed.
Julie, with a devilish tone from the bathroom, stuck her head into the room. “The water is hot. Are you going to join me?” She disappeared.
Zack smiled. “Wow,” he said to himself. He stood and took a breath to steady himself. “I thought I was the one hit in the head. She’s acting strange, but I like it!”
CHAPTER 14
Gary Pritchett arrived at the high school site early that Monday morning. As the chief fire inspector, it was his job to determine the cause of the fire. And the city of Clyde and School District of Clyde depended on him to decide quickly. After all, the site needed to be cleaned so construction could start immediately. Pritchett understood the importance as well as anyone.
His red Chevy full-size Silverado truck parked at the edge of the cordoned-off section around the school, Pritchett sat inside, listened to a news-talk radio station and sipped his coffee. He watched as Sheriff Orbison arrived in his police Tahoe with Deputy Sam Bilford as a passenger. The Tahoe stopped alongside the Silverado, so the driver’s side windows were side by side.
“Morning, Gary,” Orbison said. “How’s the search going?” Orbison seemed less than pleasant as no one searched the burnt down school.
“Oh, the guys are on their way.”
Orbison shook his head. “Gary, you do understand we have a missing kid possibly buried in that school, right?”
“Orb, there was no one inside the building. Principal Bloom confirmed that.”
“He wasn’t the only one in the building. Did you even talk to the guy who saved Molly Lockett? Or talk to Molly?” Orb took a deep breath to steady himself. “Damnit, Gary, this is serious business.”
“Relax, Orb. We’re on it,” Pritchett said. He sipped his coffee nonchalant as if there were no hurry to even get out of the truck that morning. Pritchett saw the urgency on Orb’s face. “It’s an unstable site,” he said. “Possibly dangerous with all the asbestos and stuff.”
“Wear a damn suit then. I have a missing kid, and if he’s buried in there, I need to know now. The last thing you need right now is for his grandmother to find out you didn’t want to find the boy because your coffee would get cold.”
Pritchett nodded. “There’s only twelve of us. It will take some time. You offering anyone?”
“Sam will help. I have two other deputies helping the search west of town. I’m tapped. I still need a police presence in town. Make sure you start in the back. The kid’s car was seen there. As soon as you find it, notify me immediately. And I mean immediately.”
Pritchett slowly nodded. He liked his position, and he already decided he’d move at his own pace. “We’re on it, Orb. See you later tonight?”
“We’ll see.”
Sam Bilford exited the Tahoe, and Orb drove away. Then, a car door shut, and a man in khaki pants and golf shirt walked towards the truck. He drove a white Malibu.
The car had an emblem on the door, but Pritchett couldn’t see it clearly. The man carried a clipboard under his arm, wore black-framed glasses, was thin and six feet tall. To Pritchett, he was an average white guy in a parking lot of a high school.
“Can I help you?”
“I hope you can. Are you Gary Pritchett?”
“That’s me,” said Pritchett as he unlatched the truck door and stepped outside.
“Good, the chief said I’d find you here.” The man extended his hand. “My name is Brian Sedowski. I work for the underwriter of the insurance company that insures this school district.”
“Oh,” Pritchett said. “How can I help you?”
Sedowski looked past Pritchett at what used to be the high school. He scanned it for a moment before he whistled. “Man, that looks like it was some fire.”
“It was,” Pritchett said. “Unfortunately, a farmhouse about ten miles up the road burned at the same time. We were all there putting that out, or else we could have gotten here sooner. Nothing is salvageable here.”
Sedowski nodded. “Yes. Well, I need to get a look at it.”
“A look a
t what?”
“Everything in your report,” Sedowski said.
Pritchett nodded. “I’ll release the results as soon as I verify them,” Pritchett said.
“What about a list of witnesses. The people you interviewed, eyewitnesses, people on the scene, first responders. I need their names.”
Pritchett looked at the building. It was a heap. A shell existed on the south and east walls, and two walls of the gym still remained. The original building, along with the maintenance building, was leveled. “Oh, sure. When I’m done. Look, Brian, it was faulty electrical in the maintenance building that caused a fire that ignited the fuel oil reserve.”
“Good. I’ll need all the evidence you have to support that claim.”
Pritchett’s face remained motionless but lost color. “Ok. When I’m done, you’ll get it.”
Brian shifted his weight from one side to the other. “Mr. Pritchett, I’m not here to undercut your findings. I’m here to verify the cause of that fire. The place burned down Saturday morning, and by dinner, we received paperwork for a large claim. A substantial claim,” Brian Sedowski said. “There is pressure here to wrap this up quickly so this district can get the money to rebuild. Your superintendent William Bloom was adamant about that. But we don’t just write checks for seventy million dollars based on your good word. Do you understand me?”
“Well, Brian, I went to that school, and I was a first responder. I’ve done inspections on that place for a few years now after I became the fire inspector here. I know full well it was electrical. Hell, last week a transformer malfunctioned outside the school. It was supposed to be replaced today. What horrible luck, huh?” Pritchett shrugged his shoulders. “It was warm the end of the week, and the teachers turned on their AC units. Electrical wires couldn’t take the surge from the transformer, and the place burned to a crisp. You can send a hundred inspectors here, and they’ll tell you the same thing.”
