by Tamie Dearen
He took the stair steps, two-at-a-time, as the blessed sound of sirens floated into his hearing.
Please, God. Don’t let me be too late. Don’t let him hurt her. Help me save her!
At the top of the landing he discovered two doors. One was standing open, and a cursory glance revealed an empty bathroom. Firming his grasp on the scissors, he kicked at the closed door, flinging it open to slam against the wall. He stepped inside, raising his hand, weapon at the ready. The room appeared to be empty.
“Elyssa? Are you in here?”
A weight slammed into his back. He fell forward, twisting to his side before hitting the floor. The scissors slipped from his fingers on impact, bouncing away. A bulk landed on top of him, pinning him to the floor. He struggled to move, but the man pulled his arm back with amazing strength.
A gravely voice screamed in his ear, and he choked on the putrid odor of the man’s breath. He butted his head backward, eliciting a cry of pain, and felt the restraining mass shift, freeing his arm. He swung his elbow back in a vicious blow, connecting with ribs. Groaning, the man rolled away.
Jaxon leapt to his feet, retrieving the scissors. The man lifted his grungy face, his lips pulled back in a livid snarl revealing multiple rotted teeth. Jaxon judged his size at over six feet, but he appeared thin, malnourished, despite his apparent strength. As he made to rise, Jaxon kicked his knees, knocking him back to the floor. He screeched in pain.
“Where is she? Where’s the girl?”
The man rolled onto his back and released a sickening cackle. “She was a sweet thing. Was she your girl? Too bad!”
Jaxon felt bile rising in his throat. “Where is she? What did you do to her?”
He laughed, his wild eyes dancing. “Too bad for you. Too bad for her. Such a sweet young thing.”
“Shut up! Shut up!” Jaxon kicked him again, but he chortled despite the blow. “Shut up!”
Jaxon reared back to kick him again, but strong arms pulled him away. He twisted against the policeman’s hold. “He got to Elyssa! I can’t find her!”
“Are you the one who called?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m Jaxon McCall. I have to find Elyssa. Elyssa Rose. This is her place. He got to her before I could save her.” He was horrified to find his face wet with tears.
“Okay, okay. We’ve got him. Calm down, and I’ll let you go.”
Jaxon stopped struggling, and the officer released him. Two other officers were handcuffing the intruder.
He spotted a door and threw it open. A closet, crammed full of clothes.
“Elyssa!”
He dropped to the floor, searching under the bed. Nothing.
Where could she be?
A man called from another room, “I found something! In here!”
Jaxon hurried to find the officer pointing to another door in the landing area—one he hadn’t noticed when he’d first come up the stairway.
“The door’s locked, but the lock is on this side. And look… There’s blood on the handle.”
Part 16: Bloody Rose
TRIPPING AT THE TOP of the stairs, pain shot through Elyssa’s left ankle. Scrambling to her feet, she limped to the door leading to the rooftop stairway and grasped the knob. Locked. Of course it was locked, but why wasn’t the key in the lock where she always kept it? No time. Hobbling as rapidly as possible, she pushed the lock on the bathroom door and shut it. She hurried into her bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. Anything to slow him down. She hurried to her window and climbed through onto the fire escape. Outside on the metal platform, she shut the window behind her and crouched to the side.
A loud slam told her he’d knocked one of the doors open. If he opened the window he’d see her. Options? Lower the fire escape ladder? But the noise would attract his attention. She’d never get away in time. In the distance, she heard the wail of sirens. Maybe Jaxon had called nine-one-one. Could she climb over the rail and hide under the metal landing until help came?
Slipping up and over the metal bars, she winced at the pressure on her left ankle. Blessing her jeans and sensible footwear, she slid down the metal bracing beneath the balcony, leaving some skin from the palms of her hands on the rusty railing. Reaching the wall, she was able to maneuver onto the top side of the brace. Resting on the biting metal, her muscles trembled from the effort. Or maybe they trembled from adrenaline.
She heard the window open above her, and a raspy singsong voice chilled her to the bone. “Where are— you—?”
She froze. Could he see her through the open weave of the landing? The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She held her breath. The keening sirens grew closer. The window creaked. Did he close it? Or had he opened it wide to climb outside?
She tried to gauge the distance to the alley below. It was too far, even if she could hang from the bracing. She listened. Muffled screaming and shouting emanated from her apartment. Is that Jaxon’s voice? What if he hurts Jaxon? I shouldn’t have called him.
She dared to look toward the window, craning her neck, but she couldn’t see inside. The sirens stopped. Are the police here? Twisting, she pushed up with her arms, raising her head for a better angle. But the only thing she could see through her apartment window was the ceiling. How would she know when it was safe to climb back up? If the police caught the crazy guy, surely they would look for her. Would they think to open the window and look outside?
She shifted her hands for a higher hold, inching up the brace. The metal bit into her shins as she pushed up.
A muffled voice called inside the apartment, “Elyssa!”
Is that Jaxon? It has to be him. The crazy guy didn’t know my name.
“Jaxon!” Her voice dissipated in the alleyway. She strained, scooting up the brace. Reaching the bottom of the platform, she realized she needed to turn around to climb up the outside. She locked her legs around the brace and shifted her weight, flipping to the underside of the bar, ignoring the abrasion of her hands. The sharp iron bit into her calves and her left ankle throbbed, but she held tight. She was almost there. Holding tight with her right hand, she reached with the left to grab the edge of the platform. Why does it seem so much harder going up than when I climbed down?
She moved her right hand to the grasp the floor of the balcony. Her fingers slipped.
*****
“Can't we bust the door in?” Jaxon felt sick at the sight of the blood on the door handle. Please don’t let it be Elyssa’s.
“No, the door opens this direction. But we might be able to take it off the hinges.” The young officer, who was examining the door, bounded down the stairway.
“Can’t you blow the lock off with your gun?” Jaxon paced, imagining Elyssa lying in the next room, bleeding to death.
The gray-haired officer shook his head. “No, you can’t really shoot a lock off—that doesn’t work except in movies."
“Here,” called the young officer, as he rushed back up the stairs with a hammer and flathead screwdriver.
He made quick work of the three hinge pins, and the men grappled the door open.
“It’s a stairway. It must go to the roof. Maybe she’s up there.”
“But he came back inside and locked the door,” Jaxon reasoned. "Why would he lock her on the roof?”
The grey-haired policeman shrugged. “I don’t know, but she has to be somewhere. Jennings… Cooper… Check out the roof. The rest of you, fan out and look for her.” He turned back to Jaxon. “Could she have made it to her car and driven away?”
He shook his head. “Her car is parked in its usual spot. And the back door was locked from the inside. Wait—maybe she went out the fire escape. Maybe she got away.” His heart leapt for joy as he rushed to the window and flung it up. He leaned outside and peered at the landing. His throat closed up.
The officer stared over his shoulder. “Oh, the ladder’s still up. That’s too bad. I was hoping…”
Jaxon crawled out onto the small balcony.
“Elyssa!”
No answer.
A voice called out from above. “There’s no sign of her up here. And the escape ladder leads down to your platform."
Where could she be? Could she have climbed down somehow without using the ladder? He leaned over the edge. What was that dark lump on the street below?
“Elyssa? Elyssa! No! God, no!”
He pushed down the lever on the fire escape ladder, jumping from foot to foot while it clattered to the ground. He didn’t remember climbing down, but found himself kneeling on the street beside Elyssa’s unmoving crumpled form, with tears streaming down his face.
“I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry… I didn’t get here in time… Oh, God. No, no, no…”
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He lifted his wet face to the gray-haired officer. “Is she… Does she have a pulse, Mr. McCall?”
The policeman knelt beside him and reached out to lay his hand on her neck. Jaxon waited. And waited. Too long, he waited.
Part 17: Forget-Me-Not
“OH… I’M SORRY… Excuse me.”
Jaxon apologized as the man he'd bumped grappled with three coffee cups balanced in his hands, one of which tumbled to the floor to splatter the nearby seats in the emergency waiting room. At least those particular chairs were vacant, the recent occupants having relocated in response to Jaxon’s incessant pacing.
“That’s okay,” he replied, his words belying his irritated expression.
“I’ll… uhhh… I’ll find something to clean this up. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
Jaxon surveyed the area and, spying a sign for the men’s room, started toward the door. Surely he could find paper towels to sop up the mess. But his attention was drawn to the emergency room doors as they opened and a man in scrubs emerged.
“Family of Elyssa Rose?”
“That’s me!” His cleanup quest forgotten, Jaxon hurried to hear the news.
“Hi. I’m Dr. Ireland. You’re related to Ms. Rose?”
“Uhmm… Yes… Well, we’re not related, but we’re really close. I’m Jaxon McCall. I haven’t had time to actually contact her family yet.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t give you any information unless you’re related. Do you have a phone number for someone in her family?”
“No, but… Actually, we’re engaged. Does that count as family?”
“You’re engaged?”
“Yes… Well it just happened. We haven’t even told her family yet. Please, I have to know… Is she okay?”
He must have looked the part of worried fiancé, because the doctor relented.
“Tell me your name again?”
“Jaxon. Jaxon McCall.”
“Mr. McCall, she’s bruised and scraped up, and she has a concussion, but miraculously, she doesn’t have any broken bones. I understand she fell from a fire escape?”
Jaxon’s relief turned to fury. “Maybe she fell, or maybe she was pushed. Either way, it’s that criminal who almost killed her.”
The doctor raised his eyebrows. “The man the police brought in here in handcuffs? The one with the broken nose and the busted knee?”
“That’s the one. So I broke a knee, huh? Wish I’d broken both of them.” He smiled in satisfaction. “But you were saying, she just has a concussion? So she's not going to die? For sure? And her head is okay? There was a lot of blood...”
“Yes, head wounds bleed a lot, but her chances of survival are excellent. We'll have to watch her closely, but her MRI was clear of intracranial bleeding. She’s awake now, but she doesn’t remember much about what happened.”
“Amnesia?”
He cocked his head. “It’s probably just a little temporary memory lapse from the concussion.”
“Can I see her? I just need to see for myself she’s okay.”
“Sure, you can come back. But then I think you need to contact the rest of her family.”
“Thank you. I promise I’ll do that right away.”
*****
Elyssa squinted at the bright lights as she tried to concentrate on the officer’s questions. She hurt from head to toe—especially her head. She turned to the side to take the pressure off the knot on the back of her skull.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t remember what happened. You say I fell off the fire escape?”
“I’m saying we found you underneath the fire escape. But we don’t know whether you fell or someone pushed you. You can’t remember anything that happened? Do you remember someone breaking into your shop?”
Her pulse began to race. “Someone broke in my shop? Did they steal anything? I don’t keep much cash in my register.”
“Ms. Rose, as we understand it, you were in the shop when the break-in occurred. A man smashed through the glass in your shop door. Does that sound familiar?”
“No!” Her blood pounded with terror at the thought. If that happened she was glad she didn’t remember.
The officer turned as the doctor she’d met earlier entered the curtained area, followed by someone else.
“Jaxon! You came!” Her heart turned a somersault. Why was she so relieved to see him?
He moved beside the bed and picked up her hand to sandwich it between his. Had they held hands before? After an awkward glance at the doctor and the policeman, he bent to kiss her forehead. Did she want him to do that?
The policeman spoke to Jaxon. “She doesn’t remember anything. She doesn’t even remember him breaking through the door.”
Jaxon's jaw hardened and his nostrils flared as his grip tightened on her hand. “You don’t remember calling my cell phone? Don’t you remember? You told me someone had called your landline at your shop. I guess he read the phone number off your sign.”
The doctor interrupted. “I’m sure it will come back to her later. It’s not surprising after a severe concussion."
“Ms. Rose, I’ll come back tomorrow to get a statement. Maybe you’ll remember what happened by then.” The policeman tipped his chin and started through the curtain.
“Wait,” she called. “Did you get him? The man who broke into my shop? Or is he still out there somewhere?”
“No ma’am. We have him in custody. He won’t ever be bothering you again.”
She blinked at tears of relief that sprang to her eyes.
The doctor smiled at her. “Yes, and you’ll be happy to know your fiancé broke his nose and his knee. So, maybe that guy will think twice before he attempts something like this again, assuming he gets out of prison."
Her gaze locked with Jaxon’s huge rounded eyes.
“My fiancé? We’re engaged?” She almost choked as her breath caught in her throat.
The doctor hurried to intervene. “Elyssa, don't be alarmed. Mr. McCall explained you’d just gotten engaged. With the trauma and the concussion, this type of memory loss is common and only temporary.”
The doctor’s face swam in her tears. She felt Jaxon squeezing her hand and turned back toward him. His eyebrows arched together, and he bit his lips.
“Elyssa, it’s okay. I mean, I understand you don’t remember. We can back up and… and it’s okay.”
He looked so earnest, she felt like a heel. Why couldn’t she remember? She couldn’t remember anything that had happened. He’d rescued her and beaten up her assailant. At some point, he’d asked her to marry him, and she must have agreed. She wracked her brain. She remembered kissing him. In fact her entire insides warmed at the memory, as if she were reliving the moment. That must be it. He must have kissed her right after he asked her to marry him.
She didn’t know what had happened but she knew herself. She was cautious and sensible. She wouldn’t have agreed to marry him if she weren’t convinced it was the right thing to do. She couldn’t remember any of it, but he didn’t have to know that.
“No, I remember now… well, sort of. The details are little fuzzy, but I remember. But Jaxon, I think we should have a long engagement. We haven’t known each other that long.”
&nb
sp; His mouth opened and closed a few times, and she saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down. His voice was scratchy when he replied. “Okay.”
Part 18: Shaken, Not Stirred
“SHE’S SLEEPING right now, but she’ll be relieved to see you. She’s pretty shaken up.” Jaxon punched the third floor elevator button repeatedly. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course I came—I’m her brother. But tell me what happened again. I was sound asleep when you called, and I didn’t hear much after, ‘She’s in the hospital, but she’s going to be okay.’ I made the one-hour drive in about half the time. You say someone broke into her shop?” Scotty rubbed his hand through his hair though it did nothing to tame the disarray.
“Some freak broke through the glass door. She was downstairs getting stuff ready for a wedding. She either fell off the fire escape or that guy pushed her. They say she’s lucky she survived the fall, much less without any broken bones.”
“Did he… Did he hurt her? I mean… Was she assaulted?”
Jaxon swallowed a lump in his suddenly dry throat. “I don’t know. I hope not, but I didn’t ask the doctor. She doesn’t remember anything at all. I think I got there before he had time to… to do anything.”
Scotty frowned. “How did you know about it?”
“We were talking on the phone when he broke in. I heard her scream, and I called nine-one-one on the way to the shop.”
The elevator door opened on her floor, and Jaxon led the way to Elyssa’s room. Outside the door a hand gripped his shoulder. He turned to face Scotty’s scrutinizing stare.
“So what’s going on between you and my sister? If my calculations are correct, it was pretty late to be chatting on the phone together.”
“Nothing! I mean… We’re dating… kind of… We’re friends.”
“Elyssa doesn’t do casual dating. In fact, she hasn’t had a date since high school. And the last time I talked to her about you, she didn’t describe you as a friend.”
