Roadkill

by Cheryl Bradshaw

  Juliette slowed the car to a stop, letting it idle on the side of the road. The man driving the other car stopped behind her.

  “Good,” the masked man said. “Now turn the ignition off.”

  “What if another car comes? We just can’t sit here like this. We’re too close to the lane. I’m not even all the way off the road.”

  She reached a hand out, attempting to switch on the hazard lights.

  “Don’t.” He tapped the back of her head with the barrel of the gun. “There’s no need to concern yourself with anything other than what I’m telling you to do right now.”

  He was crazy. If they stayed there, they’d all die.

  “What about the other cars? What will happen if—”

  “There’s no need to worry. We won’t be here long.”

  She heard the sound of the gun cocking. Hands trembling, she switched the car off. “I’ve done what you asked. Now let us go.”

  He lowered his weapon, flattened a hand, and pushed it toward her. “I’ll need those keys for a minute.”

  “Why?”

  “No more questions, just hand them over.”

  She pulled the keys out of the ignition, placing them in his palm.

  “And now your cell phone,” he said.

  Her cell phone. She glanced at the cup holder. It was gone. Searching for it, she said, “I can’t reach it. It’s wedged between the seat.”

  “Push your seat back if you have to. Figure it out.”

  She pressed a button on the side of the seat, scooting back until she could reach beneath it. The cell phone grazed her hand. She grabbed it and passed it to the man, wishing she could hurl it at him. He shoved the keys and the cell phone inside his pocket and then undid the buckle on Nora’s car seat. He wrapped an arm around her tiny frame, pulling her into his arms.

  “No!” Nora screamed. “Mommy! Mommy!”

  Frantic, Juliette whipped around, reaching for her daughter. “What are you doing? You can’t do this! You can’t take my baby! Stop! Please! Kill me if you have to, but spare my daughter. She’s just a child. She doesn’t need to be caught up in all this.”

  “I need you to calm down,” he warned. “You’re the one who’s scaring the little one.”

  Desperate, and with nothing left to lose, she said the words she’d been keeping inside. “I know who you are. Your voice is deeper, like you’re trying to make it sound different, but I still know it’s you. I can’t believe you’re here, doing this to us.”

  He was quiet for a moment. He sighed and then said, “Figured as much. Don’t make this harder than it already is, Juliette.”

  “Call him. Call him right now. Tell him I’ll come back. I’ll do whatever he wants. I won’t leave again. I promise.”

  The man exhaled a lungful of air. “I’d take you back if I could, but I can’t. You ran. He doesn’t trust you anymore. It’s too late to change the course of things now.”

  “It isn’t too late. I’ll talk to him. I’ll fix this. He’ll understand. He loves me. He’s a reasonable man. I know he is.”

  “We all have choices in life. You made yours. It’s out of my hands now.”

  “It isn’t out of your hands. Whatever he’s asking, you don’t have to do it. You have a choice. Please!”

  CHAPTER 5

  The masked man opened the car door and slung Nora over his hip, issuing a warning before he walked away. “Stay in your seat and don’t move.”

  No way. Not a chance she was staying put.

  Even if he shot her, Juliette wasn’t about to let him walk off with her child. She jerked on the door handle, attempting to get out of the car. The man spun around, cracking her on the side of the head with the gun. He pushed a hand against her chest, shoving her back into the driver’s seat.

  Nora’s blood-curdling screams rang through the canyon.

  “I told you not to move!” he said. “Sit there and shut up. Don’t make this harder on yourself.”

  Harder?

  Nothing could be harder than this. Nothing could be worse.

  Head pounding, she reached for Nora again. “What are you doing? Where are you taking her? Tell me!”

  He didn’t respond. He walked to the other car, opened the door, and put Nora inside. The driver threw his hands in the air and grunted several words at the other man, but it wasn’t loud enough for Juliette to hear. The masked man replied, “Don’t worry about it. I have seniority. It’s my decision. Shut the hell up, and let me handle it my own way. Got it?”

  He closed the car door and tossed Juliette’s cell phone to the ground, smashing it with the heel of his boot. He picked up the fragments, walked to the guardrail, and chucked them over the side. Then he walked back over to Juliette. Inside the car, Nora panicked, repeatedly shrieking, “I want my mommy!”

  The driver turned around, yelling at her to keep quiet. Seeing the man scold her child enraged Juliette even more. She attempted to bolt from the car once more, but the masked man wagged his gun in front of her face, stopping her. She flung her head around him, glaring at the driver of the other car. “Don’t talk to my daughter like that, asshole! Leave her alone!”

  The man shouted back a string of expletives, causing the man in the mask to whip around and say, “The kid’s scared. Leave her alone.”

  “Screw you,” the driver said.

  “Screw me?” the masked man said. “Talk to me like that again—see what happens.”

  The driver started to speak but then stopped.

  The masked man shifted his focus back to Juliette. “Where were you headed?”

  The blow from his gun had split the side of her head open, causing droplets of blood to splash against the side of her face.

  Through panicked sobs, she said, “I don’t know yet. I was just trying to get out of there. I hadn’t made a decision. I just got in my car and started driving.”

  He grunted a laugh. “Don’t lie to me. You’re a planner, which means you have a plan. Probably had it in place for months. I’ll ask one more time—where are you going?”

  “Nowhere without Nora.”

  He aimed the gun at her face. “Where, Juliette?”

  A million cities ran through her mind. She could have lied again, but he seemed to know she wouldn’t. He had Nora. There was no point to lie to him now. “Why do you want to know? What are you going to do when I tell you? Kill me? Kill both of us?”

  She balled her hands into fists, drilling them into his chest, using him as a punching bag as she pounded out her tears. For a moment, he stood still, allowing it.

  “You were my friend! You were our friend.”

  “I still am.”

  “No you’re not. I hate you!” she shouted. “I hate all of you! Give me my daughter! Give her to me! You can’t do this.”

  “I don’t want to do it. I have to. Understand?”

  No. She did not understand.

  “I thought you were different. You’re not. You’re just like everyone else—just like all of them.”

  With one hand, he grabbed hold of her wrists, squeezing them together. “Stop it. Tell me where you’re headed and who else knows your plans, and your daughter lives.”

  The caution she’d taken, all the secretive planning she’d done to escape—it was all for nothing. Nora might live, but she wouldn’t. Could she believe him? Trust he was telling the truth? Her head was pounding now, pain shooting in all directions, blurring her vision.

  She leaned against him, wailing uncontrollably. “How do I ... how do I know you’ll keep your promise? How do I know you’ll let Nora live if I tell you?”

  “You don’t. But think about it. Do you really think that’s what I want?”

  “You’re here, aren’t you? You have a gun. You’ve ripped my daughter away from me. I don’t know what to think anymore.”

  She backed against the car, turned toward her daughter, and let the tears flow. Nora’s panic-stricken face stared back. And although Juliette felt helpless, she needed to be s
trong, for her daughter, more than anything.

  “It’s okay, sweetie,” Juliette said. “Mommy loves you. Don’t cry, okay?”

  There was only a slim chance Juliette would make it out alive, but she had to believe Nora would be spared. The men had been sent to retrieve her. Of this, she was sure.

  “I was on my way to Colorado,” Juliette whispered.

  “Where in Colorado?”

  “Creede.”

  “Why? What’s in Creede?”

  “Nothing. It’s small. I didn’t think he’d find me there.”

  “He would have found you no matter where you went, Juliette. Who else knows where you’re going and why you left?”

  “No one. I kept it to myself.”

  She wasn’t sure if what she’d just said was smart or stupid. Other people knowing where she was meant they’d know she was missing. It would also put the lives of those most important to her in jeopardy. For those reasons, she thought it best to keep it to herself.

  “You can’t expect me to believe you didn’t talk to at least one person—a friend, your husband ... your sister. Come on now, Juliette. Who else did you tell?”

  “I mean it. I didn’t talk to anyone about it. Do you think I’m an idiot? I knew if I said anything and my plan failed, anyone I told would be in danger too.”

  “What about Seth?”

  “He knows nothing.”

  “Why does he think you left?”

  She thought of Seth, wishing now she would have chosen her backup plan instead of this one. She should have confessed when she had the chance. She should have told him everything. “He doesn’t know I’m gone yet. At least, I don’t think he does. He was sleeping. Leave him out of this, okay? He doesn’t need to be hurt any more than he already will be when he realizes I took off.”

  “Do you think I want to hurt him? Do you think I want to hurt you? I warned you not to leave. You should have listened.”

  “I had no choice. I know who he really is now, who you all are. I can’t be with him anymore, and I knew he’d never let me go because—”

  The driver of the other car yelled, “Enough talking! We gotta go. Last thing we need is a car coming around the corner and her making a scene.”

  Juliette looked up, staring the masked man in the eye. “He could have sent anyone after me. Why you?”

  “I’m sorry, Juliette. I really am.”

  He turned, heading toward the other car.

  “Please, I’m begging you. Don’t take her.”

  He slid into the passenger seat and put the window down, tossing her car keys out the window. “Go.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I mean leave, head to Colorado. But just know, I’ll be watching. If you stop, if you try to flag anyone down or talk to someone about what happened here, I’ll kill you.”

  “I don’t get it. You’re just leaving? You’re letting me go?”

  He pointed toward the road. “You best get going before I change my mind.”

  She raced toward his car, knowing she’d rather die than watch them drive off with her child. She yanked on Nora’s door. It was locked. Frustrated and out of options, she pounded on Nora’s window. “I can’t leave without my daughter! You know I can’t!”

  The masked man reached out, jerking her toward him. He cradled her face in his hand. “You don’t have a choice. If you’re dead, you’ll never see her again anyway. Ten seconds.”

  “Ten seconds?”

  “To start your car and get out of here. Grab your keys and go, Juliette. Now.”

  “I can’t! Not without her! Don’t do this. I know you care about me. You’re not this person. We can work something out. He doesn’t have to know. Tell him you didn’t find me. Please!”

  It was a level of crazy Juliette never knew she was capable of, until now.

  He started the countdown. “Ten, nine, eight.”

  When he reached three, Juliette did the only thing she could do. She wiped her tears, listening to the sound of her daughter’s screams as she turned the key in the ignition, and drove away.

  CHAPTER 6

  Sheets of light shone through the slatted blinds on my window, cascading rectangular patterns across my bare legs. They looked like various shapes of trapezoids—acute, rhombus, obtuse. They were one of the only things I still remembered about geometry class in college, aside from the fact that my teacher, being well aware many students were inept when it came to mathematics, offered an extra two hundred points to any student who didn’t miss more than two classes during the semester. I never missed one.

  It raised my grades by a full letter ... and I still ended up with a C plus.

  I’d nodded off on the couch, thinking a few minutes of shut-eye would do me some good before Juliette arrived. But I’d overslept. It was daylight, and my sister, who prided herself on punctuality, was nowhere to be found.

  My house had a dual aroma going on—coffee and a decaying floral bouquet I should have thrown out days ago. It was especially pungent this morning. Pushing myself into a sitting position, I realized the time had come for me to do something about it, but first I reached for my cell phone on the coffee table and checked the time. It was seven in the morning, and Juliette was late. Several hours late.

  I dialed her number and waited. It rang a few times and then went to voicemail. I ended the call and tried her number again. Still no answer. I made a third attempt, and when she still didn’t pick up, my mind wandered, compartmentalizing plausible excuses so I wouldn’t do what came naturally to me at times like this—panic.

  Instead of calling again, I opted to text, hoping for a better result. I started with a simple: Where are you? Why aren’t you here yet?

  Two minutes later, I sent: Why aren’t you answering your phone?

  And then: Is everything okay? Call me as soon as you get this. I mean it.

  Fifteen minutes later, nothing.

  My heart raced, my anxiety switching to full freak-out mode. When I tried texting again, the simple sentence I wrote was littered with typos. I deleted it and tried again. I’m freaking out, Juliette. Call me!

  I needed to calm down. Instead, I stared at the phone like a mother waiting to hear from her teenager who’d missed her curfew. Juliette never went anywhere without her cell phone. I’d even teased her about it in the past, always joking about it being the third person in her relationship. It wasn’t like her not to answer, and it wasn’t like her not to reply.

  So where the hell was she?

  CHAPTER 7

  Seth rolled over, sliding his fingers through what he thought would be locks of his wife’s hair. He touched something stiff and crunchy instead. He slid an eye open. Juliette wasn’t next to him, but something else was—a piece of paper. He reached over, flipped on the lamp, and rubbed his eyes, yawning.

  He stared at the note. It was white, folded in half, and had his name written in blue ink on the outside. His stomach flip-flopped, and although he didn’t know what the note was about, he found himself not wanting to open it.

  He took a deep breath in and unfolded the note.

  Seth,

  After several months of being unhappy in our marriage, I have decided I just can’t do it anymore. I can’t be with you. I stayed a lot longer than I planned because you are a wonderful man. You’ve always been so kind to me. And you’re a wonderful father. In many ways, you’re the guy every woman dreams of, but I just need something different right now, and I need time to figure things out. Once I’m settled, I’ll be in touch. Until then, please don’t come looking for me or for Nora. I say this knowing you will anyway, I know you’re upset right now, but I promise this is for the best. You deserve better than me. A lot better. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. And I know it’s hard for you to believe right now, but I do love you. I always have.

  Seth stared at the cursive words, struggling to believe it was real, that this was actually happening, that she was gone. A rush of memories raced through his mind li
ke a magician flipping a stack of playing cards into the air. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to silence it, trying to get a grip on the reality of what was happening. His thoughts shifted, focusing on one thing—Nora.

  He leapt out of bed. Surely, she wouldn’t take Nora from him too. He sprinted to his daughter’s room, whispering, “Please, please, please. Please, God. Please let her be here.”

  But when the light went on, and he looked at Nora’s bed, she wasn’t in it. And Seth couldn’t help but think about how much the room reminded him of the ones he’d seen on television where a devastated family left everything untouched for years after their child went missing.

  He slammed a fist into the wall, shouting, “No! No! No!”

  No.

  It couldn’t be happening.

  Not to him.

  His family was so much more than a statistic.

  He leaned his head against the wall, smacking a fist against it, and the tears came. “How could you, Juliette? How could you do this to me? To us? To our family? How could you?”

  On Nora’s nightstand was a family photo in a Disneyland frame. The three of them were all smiles, posing for the camera just outside the It’s a Small World ride. He walked over to it, clutching the frame in his hands, running this thumb over the brown spot on Nora’s sleeve where her chocolate-dipped ice cream had fallen from the cone, landing on her dress and then the ground. He remembered how hard she’d cried when it happened and how happy she’d been when he’d bought her another, even bigger one.

  The photo was only five months old.

  Looking at it now, he wondered how something so right went so wrong so fast.

  CHAPTER 8

  My phone buzzed. I snatched it up, hoping Juliette was finally calling me back. I glanced at the name on the caller ID. It wasn’t Juliette. I groaned and said, “Hello?”

  “Hey, Raine, how’s it going?”

  Seth’s voice seemed emotional and panicked like he was trying keep himself under control.

  “Hey, Seth. It’s going, I guess.”