Lilly’s shoulders sank as she remembered just how much pressure was weighing on them. The entire case hung on her. All of Henderson’s future victims depended on her testimony, on her ability to stay alive and stop this monster from continuing his murderous rampage.
“Hey,” David said, rubbing her upper arm. “You’ve gotten pale. I know this is scary, but I’ll get you through it. Don’t lose hope.”
“I’m trying to stay positive, but what happened yesterday showed me how serious this guy is about killing me. He really, really wants me dead.”
David continued the arm rubbing. “And I really, really want to keep you safe. I haven’t lost a witness yet and I don’t intend to start now.”
“You’ve lost no witnesses? Honestly?”
“Honestly.”
“Thank you,” she said, raising a weak smile. “I know we don’t agree on everything, especially where parenting Astrid is concerned, but I appreciate your care of us. It’s important for me to say that.” She shivered involuntarily, suddenly cold. “We need you.”
“And I’m always here for you.” He pulled her against his torso, rubbing her back gently. “You can rely on me.”
Lilly breathed in David’s citrusy aftershave scent, closing her eyes and letting her limbs relax one by one. But her peace was broken by Astrid padding into the kitchen in her pajamas and socks and staring at them openmouthed.
“That’s gross,” she said. “Nobody needs to see old people hugging.”
Astrid took a carton of juice from the refrigerator and a glass from the shelf, then left the room. David pulled away from Lilly, showing a surprising resolve to stick to his new rule by smiling and shrugging in a laid-back way.
“Old people?” he questioned playfully. “Did she really call us old people?”
Lilly was pleased to feel a laugh rise from her belly, the first one in a long time.
“Yes, she did, but anybody over the age of twenty-five is ancient to her.”
“Well, actually I’m only twenty-four, so she’s in for a...”
He stopped mid-sentence as a wailing sound filled the kitchen, a high-pitched screech that flooded Lilly’s senses with panic and dread.
It was the fire alarm.
* * *
David almost collided with Goldie in the hallway as they both rushed to the front door to assess the situation.
“It could be a scheduled test,” David shouted above the noise, peering through the spy hole. “Can you check please, Goldie?”
She nodded, slipping her cell from her pocket and walking into the kitchen, finger in one ear.
“What’s going on?” Astrid appeared in the living room. “Is there a fire?”
“We’re not sure, honey.” Lilly went to her daughter’s side. “But you need to get dressed in case we have to go outside.”
Lilly led Astrid into her bedroom and closed the door, leaving David to wonder just how to proceed. Was there a need to leave?
“It’s not a scheduled test,” Goldie said, returning from the kitchen. “The maintenance manager wants everybody to evacuate. The fire department is on the way.”
Instinctively, David knew that evacuating the apartment was a bad idea.
“Let’s give it a little while,” he said. “The last thing I want to do is take Lilly and Astrid out into the open.”
“That’s better than being trapped in a burning building though, right?”
“I don’t think there’s a fire.” He sniffed the air. “It’s almost certainly a false alarm.”
“Do you think it’s been triggered by Henderson to flush us out?”
“I don’t know.” David felt an acute pressure to make the correct decision. “I just don’t know.”
Goldie checked her watch. “I recommend we give it three minutes, and if the alarm is still sounding, we’ll leave. But it’s your call.”
“That’s a good plan,” he said, turning the locks to open the front door. “I’m going to check the area. Stay here with the door locked and I’ll be back in three minutes.”
He slipped out into the hallway, which was deserted after other residents had presumably left the building. The cacophony was even louder in the corridor and he took his gun from its holster as he walked along the carpet, skirting the wall, knowing he would never hear an attacker coming up from behind. He strained to listen for the sound of movement behind the apartment doors, checked the empty elevator, raised his nose in an attempt to sniff out any smoke.
Clangs and bangs began to emanate from the stairwell, barely audible above the screeching alarm but a certain sign of someone in the complex.
Approaching the stairs, he checked his watch, noting that almost two minutes had passed. He would need to maintain careful timekeeping in order to ensure that Lilly, Astrid and Goldie didn’t become trapped by a potential fire. Lilly’s perfume still lingered in his nostrils, having transferred onto his shirt after their embrace, and he tried to put her out of his mind. Becoming too close to a witness in his care was dangerous, and he knew it would affect his ability to do his job. He couldn’t quite work out how Lilly had snuck into his thoughts so frequently. They exchanged far more words in argument than agreement, so exactly why was he so keen to spend time in her company?
A clash resounded up the stairs, followed by a shout.
“Who’s there?” he called, peering over the edge of the stairwell. “Identify yourself.”
The alarm suddenly ceased, leaving behind a tinny ringing in David’s ears. He shouted again.
“Who’s there? I’m a federal agent.”
A reply came from somewhere below. “It’s the fire department just checking things out. Looks like a false alarm.”
He didn’t want to take any chances. “I’m coming down where I can see you.”
He holstered his weapon, but kept his fingers curled on the handle, and began walking down the stairs. After two flights he was met by several firefighters, fully kitted out, two with hoses rolled over their shoulders.
The fire chief pointed to a smashed alarm activator on the wall. “Somebody set it off on purpose,” he said. “But it looks like a malicious report because we can’t find a fire.” His eyes dropped to the weapon on David’s belt. “Did you say you’re a federal agent?”
“Yeah.” He had to think quickly. “I’m here visiting my elderly mother.”
“Well, you can tell her not to panic. We’ll spend another hour or so making sure there’s no danger, but experience tells me it’s probably some kids up to no good. It happens sometimes.”
David wanted to believe that this was the work of delinquent kids, but it seemed too much of a coincidence. He checked the stairwell for security cameras. None.
The chief turned to his colleagues. “Okay, guys, let’s split up and carry out the necessary checks.” He stopped, leaned over the handrail and called down to a masked firefighter lingering at the bottom of the stairwell. “Hey, you! Get your butt up here for job detail.”
But the uniformed man instantly vanished, slipping through the exit door without acknowledging the order. David’s eyes snapped to the large stairwell window overlooking the parking lot, to watch the guy ambling across the asphalt. Something about this man’s flat-footed gait was eerily familiar. Henderson walked in exactly the same way, and David’s heart lurched.
The chief shrugged, counting his men with an extended finger. “He must be from the South Side station. They arrived just after us.”
David’s stomach twisted into a vine of knots, doubting that the masked firefighter really was from the South Side station. It was likely Henderson, attempting to blend in with the fire department to move freely through the building and seek out his targets. And this could only mean one thing.
They had been found yet again.
* * *
David reentered the apartment, looking pen
sive and strained, as if a million different worries were running through his mind. Lilly and Astrid were standing in the living room, both dressed and with bags packed, ready to leave immediately.
“The alarm stopped,” Goldie said. “Did you find out what happened?”
When David failed to respond, she clicked her fingers in the air. “Hey! What’s up? Talk to us.”
“Sorry.” He seemed to snap out of his trance. “It’s a false report. The fire department is checking the building to make sure there’s no danger, but it looks like somebody set off the alarm on the third floor without good reason.”
Lilly squeezed Astrid’s hand. “Do you hear that, honey?” she said with fake cheer. “It’s a false alarm so you can go back to your room and unpack your things.”
Astrid wasn’t that easily placated. “But who set off the alarm?” she said. “It could’ve been him, right? It could’ve been Henderson?”
Lilly didn’t want Astrid to know about the dread that had gripped her, so she took a deep breath and plastered on a smile.
“And it could’ve been a bunch of bad kids who think it’s funny to waste the fire department’s time.” She pinched Astrid’s cheek. “Which one do you think is more likely?”
“Henderson,” Astrid said flatly. “Without a doubt. Stop trying to protect me, Mom.”
“There’s a very good chance that it was Henderson who activated the alarm,” David said, ruining Lilly’s plan to shield Astrid from the truth. “And I think he was masquerading as a firefighter to try and entice us out, but he got scared off when a fire chief challenged him.”
“Should we leave?” Goldie asked.
“Not yet. He clearly doesn’t know our exact apartment, so let’s stay put for now and get some extra police patrols in the area. It’s the least risky option at this stage, because we’ve seen what can happen when we go out into the open.”
“I’ll go organize the extra patrols,” Goldie said, leaving the room, cell in hand.
Astrid clasped her hands together anxiously. “I think we should leave now. We shouldn’t be taking chances. It’s too dangerous.”
Lilly exchanged a glance with David. Astrid was wound up tight. But it was little wonder she was afraid, considering that a huge truck had tried to run her down not long ago.
“I know you’re scared,” Lilly said, running her fingers through Astrid’s long hair. “But you’re safe here with us.”
“You can’t really believe that,” Astrid shot back. “This guy is like a supervillain.”
Lilly thought she would try to inject a little humor. “Does that make David the superhero?” Her joke fell flat.
“No, it doesn’t,” Astrid said. “He’s not a comic book hero.”
“That’s a shame,” David interjected. “Because I look fantastic in tights.”
Both Lilly and David began to laugh. David seemed to instinctively know when to introduce a little lightheartedness, perhaps because he had raised two children of his own.
“I can’t believe you two are actually laughing,” Astrid said, folding her arms. “Somebody is trying to kill us and you think it’s funny.”
“Trust me, I don’t think it’s funny,” Lilly said. “But we can’t live in fear every second of the day. It’s not healthy. We have to trust that everything will be okay.”
“I’d rather trust my own judgment if it’s all the same to you. I want to go home. I want to see Noah and go back to school. I want to stop being scared of every little creak I hear at night.” She let out a moan of frustration. “I want to get back to normal.”
“We all do,” Lilly soothed. “Just hold on for a few more days.”
Astrid’s eyes pleaded with her mother. “Why can’t I leave without you? Henderson would never know I wasn’t here. I could sneak out in the middle of the night and go stay somewhere else, somewhere with Wi-Fi and all the movie channels.”
Lilly was floored for a second or two. Did Astrid really want to split up at this most dangerous time of their lives?
“But where would you go?” she asked.
Astrid stared down at her feet. “I could go stay with Dad for a while.”
Lilly really didn’t want to revisit this conversation. “I already told you that he’s on vacation. He’s in Florida right now with his family.”
Astrid’s face fell at the mention of her father being with his family. After all, Astrid herself was his family, yet he spent next to no time with her.
“But if you called Dad and made him see how serious my situation is, he’d go back home to California right away and let me stay there with him until this is all over.” Even Astrid didn’t appear to fully believe her own fantasy. “He would want to look after me and keep me safe. All you have to do is ask.”
Lilly and David were silent, neither of them wishing to address the elephant in the room. They both knew that Rylan would worm his way out of responsibilities, claiming a lack of time or resources.
Finally, it was David who spoke. “I think your mom and I would rather you stayed here with us.”
A shiver fell down Lilly’s spine to hear David say your mom and I. He phrased their situation as though they were a family, a tight-knit, happy family with two loving parents. And she liked it, however much she told herself not to.
“You only want me to stay here so you can order me around like you did with your own kids,” Astrid challenged. “You want to turn me into a Goody Two-shoes, who obeys your every command.”
“Astrid, stop it,” Lilly said, her stress levels rising. “You can’t leave the safe house because Henderson might come looking for you. I won’t allow it.”
Astrid obviously had another theory behind her mother’s reluctance. “Is it because you don’t want me to spend any time with Dad? Are you worried I might want to move to California and live with him instead of you?”
Lilly pushed the heels of her hands into her eye sockets. She couldn’t keep going over this same old ground time after time. “No, that’s not true. I’m worried that your dad wouldn’t take care of you properly. I don’t trust him to keep you safe, not like David does.”
“That’s a chance I’m prepared to take,” Astrid said, turning to David. “Can we call him?”
“No.”
“How dare you stop me from calling my dad,” she said, her color rising. “You’re overstepping your boundaries.” This was clearly Astrid’s attempt to sound grown-up and persuasive. “It’s not your job to interfere in my family life.”
“I used to know a girl like you, Astrid,” David said calmly. “She was rude and difficult and thought she knew it all. I wish I’d had the courage to be straight with her, to tell her the truth about her deadbeat boyfriend and how he was no good for her. But I let her down because I gave her too much freedom. I thought I was giving her independence, but I was actually hurting her, because she never saw the danger around the corner.”
“What are you talking about?” Astrid questioned. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t want to repeat the same mistake with you. You need to know that your dad isn’t the man you think he is. He’s a shirker who doesn’t deserve to have you as a daughter. I’m telling you this for your own good, to stop him hurting you any more than he has already.”
“David,” Lilly rebuked. “Astrid is right. You’re overstepping, and I want you to stop.”
“My dad is a good person,” Astrid shouted. “He loves me, and if you call him up, he’d let me go stay with him for as long as it takes.” She stopped, apparently expended of energy. “He loves me.”
“Sure, he does, honey,” Lilly said, seething with anger at David. “Why don’t you go unpack and I’ll join you in a couple minutes, okay?”
Astrid gripped the handle of her case and wheeled it away without another word. When her bedroom door clicked closed behind her, Lilly rounded o
n David.
“What is your problem? What on earth makes you think it’s a good idea to tell a teenage girl that her father is a shirker?”
“She needs to accept the truth, Lilly,” David said. “She knows it in her heart anyway. It makes no sense to pretend that her father will look after her and protect her, because he won’t.”
“This is about your own daughter again, isn’t it?” she asked. “Somebody she loved hurt her, didn’t he? I’m guessing it was the deadbeat boyfriend you mentioned.”
“Yes, it was, and every day of my life I regret not doing more to prevent it. I should’ve made Chloe see that he wasn’t worth her time and effort, just like Astrid’s dad isn’t worth her time and effort either.”
Lilly sighed. “I had hoped that you and Astrid would clear the air between you today, but it looks like the air just got significantly worse.” She folded her arms. “I expect both of you to apologize to each other later. This can’t go on.”
He threw his arms in the air. “I’m trying to help you here, Lilly.”
“Well, stop trying to help.” She turned and stalked from the room. “So much for your new effort to be laid-back, huh?”
She walked to Astrid’s bedroom door, took a moment to calm herself and knocked before entering. Glancing back, she saw David standing in the living room, shaking his head and raking his hands through his hair in apparent frustration.
She was secretly pleased to see his reaction, hoping that she had given him a lot to think about.
* * *
The hush of nighttime was always David’s favorite part of day. It was when he enjoyed solitude and peace, communing with God and letting his troubles be cast away.
But tonight was different. Tonight, his troubles refused to be cast aside, and they needled away, reminding him that he had failed in his one most important job—keeping his daughter safe. He thought he had learned to live with Chloe’s injuries, to accept her situation and move forward. But since meeting Lilly and Astrid, he realized he’d been dead wrong. He was nowhere near accepting the past.
Safe House Under Fire Page 8
