Light in the Shadows

by Hillman, Eva;

  When they opened the pantry door, the light was on the cookbooks, all of them from Beth and Chris’s mom. Beth loved those books she got from her mom and kept them with her when she moved into the house. Beth made a special place for them inside the pantry. On the inside of the pantry door she made many shelves for the cookbooks.

  When Chris and Stewart looked at the cookbooks they realized that would be the best place to keep the formula. They could not believe they didn’t think of it themselves. They looked at the cookbooks and the light told them which one the formula was in.

  As they got the book and took it out to the kitchen counter, the light disappeared. They knew they had the formula. As they looked through the cookbook, they were able to see all the pages that Christopher put together. Christopher had worked very hard for many long years trying to come up with the formula and when he finally did he was killed for it. Now it was up to Chris and Stewart to take care of it.

  It was important for them to do it right. They were even doubtful to take it to the place that Chris’s dad thought would be good. The best thing they could do right now was to hide it. It needs to say hidden, then no one would suspect they had found it.

  As they thought about this the light came back; they knew that where he showed them to hide it, it would be the right place. The next thing they saw was the light going back into the pantry. The light went to the cookbooks. Chris took the cookbook that had the formula in it back into the pantry, and placed it where it was; the light left.

  Chris and Stewart put everything back in the kitchen. They made it look like nothing had changed. They were both worried about Beth. She was a very special person. Beth was very special to both men. They were undecided whether to tell her about the formula. The formula was of such great value and many people would like to have it. Greed ruled with the formula and whoever had it would make many millions of dollars. They knew it would be dangerous for anyone who had it. It could only go to our government and only to certain people there; no one should know that it was possible to take care of the nuclear waste in our world.

  They wondered about telling Beth because of the danger. Chris and Stewart knew about it, as it was part of their job. But even then, they were not sure about taking it to their team. They didn’t know what to do with the formula. It was dangerous to anyone because of the greed it would create.

  Both of the men decided that they would not tell Beth they found the formula and they would convince her that would still have to look. They had never spent time with all of the books that Beth kept from their mom and dad. They were just put in the den and no one had ever looked at them. That would be the story for Beth and the men would have to search there while Beth was at work each day. In the meantime they would decide how to get the formula to the right people.

  When Beth came home from work, she was very tired. The house, her work and her guests had taken all her energy. She just wanted some time to rest, to run and to do the normal things she used to do. The men told her that they agreed with her and didn’t have to search in the kitchen. They had looked some of the regular places, but that was all as Beth had just remodeled it. They told Beth that they had one more place to look. Chris and Steward told her the only place they hadn’t searched was the books. They thought it would be the easiest place for Beth’s dad to hide the formula. They decided it would be the best place to search. Beth wouldn’t have to be involved. Just go to work and rest, run, read, whatever she wanted. The two men would search. Beth agreed with them. She knew they had to look. She felt bad that she didn’t want to search with them.

  Maybe after she rested she would feel different; they three of them went out to eat and to just let it all go for this night. They went to an upscale restaurant and drank some wine with their meal. They relaxed and talked about everything besides the searches, the letters, and the trip they took to the old home. The only thing on their minds was the light.

  They knew about Eric, but they didn’t know much about him except what their parents had told them. He was a very special person in Christopher and Maud’s life. They loved him, and he loved them all of the years since they were kids, they were such good friends; never once was there a disagreement with Eric and when he got married with his wife as well.

  Neither of the three was sure that the light was Eric but it was easier to believe that it was he. None of them believed in ghosts or spooks or any of those things. But they did believe in the light. They knew he was here to help them. They all believed it was Eric.

  The next morning, they decided it was a good time to run. Neither of them had time to run much these past few weeks. They all loved to run and now was a good time, they got their running clothes on and took off. They ran to the park and then took off on another trail that they hadn’t run before. It was a great time for all three of them to run together. They had become good friends and loved being together.

  They got tired and walked home. It was a very special day for all of them and they were looking forward to making breakfast. When they got home, they went in and could not believe what they saw. Someone had been in the house to search it. The person didn’t care if anyone knew and didn’t care about the mess. Every room in the house was a mess. They really didn’t trash it, they just looked and didn’t care where they put anything they looked at. The only things they didn’t touch were the books. That didn’t make any sense to them. Maybe they scared them off before they looked in the den.

  With what they thought would be a great Saturday, became a mess to clean up. They were so disappointed that someone was still searching. They had hoped it was all over. But not with the formula still not found.

  They decided it would be a good time to get some cameras in the house and place them in strategic places. After they cleaned up the mess of the house, made breakfast, they decided to just sit and talk. It seemed like it had been all too much. The people that believed there was something in Beth’s home would not stop. They needed to catch them.

  The boys decided that is what they were going to do from now on, is to catch the people that were coming in the house. Apparently, they knew when they were gone, knew when they could enter the home and not get caught searching. They also believed the formula was there in that house.

  With the credit cards that Stewart had from his job, they decided to go to the electronics store to see about cameras. With Chris and Stewart’s knowledge, they knew what to do and what to buy. It turned out to be a big purchase. They never skipped on anything. They thought this was too important, as they did the high-tech electronics.

  They had already talked about the stamps that their dad had bought, and they would take care of the credit card debt with the stamps when this was all over. In the meantime, they spent part of a day deciding where to place the cameras and how many they should use. Not a problem; Chris and Stewart were ready for anything. They knew without a doubt that this was getting close to the end of this mystery. Too many things have happened and it all started with dad and his job. He was an amazing person and was an amazing scientist. Christopher had worked his whole life to develop this formula that would be a future for the entire world. He gave his life for it as well as his wife. Now it had to be finished.

  With the cameras up Chris and Stewart went to the den to start searching books. Beth went into her room to rest. She was tired of all of this, but she was as stubborn as the boys. She wanted it to end. She was sure that whoever was searching the house was connected to her Dad’s job and his search for the formula. Probably this person would be the one that killed her dad and mom. She lay down on her bed and picked up a book that she had been anxious to read, and started with the first chapter. She read the first page several times and then realized she was not paying attention to the book.

  With that in mind Beth decided that maybe she should go shopping, as there still some of the things that the house needed after the remodel. She didn’t say anything to the boys, as they were searching the books in the den; she took her purse and
left the house. She was hoping a shopping trip would take care of her not paying attention to most of what was going on right now.

  She started down the sidewalk, not running, just walking and thinking about what was still going on. Not paying any attention to anyone else, Leon came out of his house and walked up to her and started walking with her. Beth realized that he was there and moved to another part of the sidewalk, then Leon came up to her with a gun in his hand, hidden in his shirt as no one could see he had a gun. He told Beth they were going into his house and sort of pushed her to walk in that direction.

  Beth was scared, but didn’t let Leon know it. She did go into the house, knowing that somehow, she would get away from him. Leon put her in a chair and tied her hands on the arms and her feet on the legs of the chair. When Beth was tied up, Leon told her that he just wanted the formula, and when he had that he would let her go and she would not hear from him again. Beth told him that they had not found the formula anywhere in the house. She said they were still searching, but have not found anything. Beth said if she knew where it was she would tell him, as she was tired of this hunt for the formula.

  Leon didn’t believe her, and he said that he was going to look again in the house, but if he didn’t find it, he would torture her to tell him where the formula is.

  Chis and Stewart were in the den looking in the books, and Beth would believe their lie, but they decided to stop for coffee after a couple of hours of searching. They wanted to talk to Beth. Stewart went to the kitchen to make coffee and Chris went to wake her up. When he got to the bedroom, he found she was not there. He looked around and realized her purse was gone as well.

  To Chris it would mean that Beth left the house without telling them. Chris was very scared about Beth; Chris and Stewart started looking in the cameras to see if they could find out anything. They did see Beth as she left the house. She was alone as she walked down the sidewalk. Chris and Stewart took off to walk down the sidewalk to see if they could find her. Then they ran, and they looked all over but didn’t see her anywhere.

  Howard was close to the house wondering when he could go into to search. He really believed the formula was in there and he thought it would be in one of the books from the den. He just needed time to search. As far has Howard knew, Leon died in the fire at the old house where Christopher and Maude lived. With all the people that he had killed, there was just him left to look. He was happy about that. He knew somehow, he would find the formula and he would be rich. He had a lot of plans for the money and he still had to find the formula.

  He was hiding near the home when he saw Christ and Stewart come out of the house and run down the sidewalk. Now Howard thought this is a good time to go into the home. He went through the backyard and to the patio doors, which weren’t locked, and went to the den and started searching. He knew the men were searching there as they left things undone. Howard knew he could search until they came home and he would hear them and get out as he was close to the patio door.

  About the time Chris and Stewart went running down the sidewalk, Leon was just coming out of his home. He made sure Beth was secure and he was going into the house to search. Very carefully he went into the front door, without anyone hearing him and he went to the kitchen. He was going to look there first.

  When he just started looking, he heard a noise. He didn’t think there was anyone here, so very carefully he started looking in the other rooms. When he got to the den, he saw Howard. He was very angry with him that he tackled him and hit him in the face. He broke Howard’s jaw. Then Howard started into the fight to put Leon away as he had picked up the poker and was going to hit him with it. Leon was the much stronger of the two and would have murdered Howard, and would have liked it, but as he was going to swing, a bright light was on his face, and he couldn’t see anything.

  The next thing was that Howard was going to swing at Leon when a bright light was in his face. Both stopped what they were doing. They couldn’t see anything. They both tried to move from there and the light kept staying on their faces. They were pretty much blinded, and didn’t know what was going on. The light pushed them to the chairs and they both sat down. The light was on them. No matter what they tried to do, the light stayed with each of them. They were blinded with the light; they were not sure what to do next. They knew they needed to get away from the light, but was not sure how to do that. It just stayed with them.

  Chris and Stewart ran and searched the park, then into any of the stores they run across and anywhere they thought Beth could have gone. They were worried about Beth and decided to go home and start from there.

  They had called her when they were home, but they didn’t even have they’re cell phones with them now. They needed to start over and to try to decide what to do. When they went into the house they heard a noise coming from the den.

  What a great surprise for Chris and Stewart. There were two bloodied men sitting in chairs the light was holding them there. Chris asked them if they were the ones searching the house? Neither of them answered. Stewart asked them if they blew up the old house where Christopher and Maude and the kids lived. Neither of them answered.

  Then Chris asked did they want the light to take care of them. Both looked scared. Neither of them knew about a light or what the light could do. Chris asked them for their IDs.

  Both said they didn’t have any IDs. But Stewart checked into Leon pockets and found a key. He asked Leon about the key. Leon looked at the light and said he didn’t know.

  The problem was the light knew he was lying. Stewart asked the light what is next. The light turned a concentrated light on Leon’s heart and Stewart told him that would be next.

  Leon said, “It is a key to my house.”

  “Where is your house?” Stewart asked.

  Neither of the men would talk.

  Howard didn’t know Leon had a house and he was angry that Leon was not dead, like he thought he was. Both men knew they were in trouble, but they wanted to blame the other one.

  Howard told them that Leon was the one that blew up the old house, but Leon told them that Howard has set up the plan for the house to blow up. They both knew that Chris and Stewart were not giving up. With the light as their weapon, they could take care of anything.

  They got some duct tape and tied Howard and Leon to the chairs in the den. The chairs were large someone in the den could relax to read. With the men tied to the chairs, Chris and Stewart knew they could find the house and maybe find something about the men. But first they needed to find Beth.

  She was important to each of the men and they knew before anything happened she would have to be found. While they were getting everything ready to go to search for her, they heard the front doors open. They rushed into the front room and there was Beth. She was all right, but she was scared about what was going to happen to all of them. Her hair was a mess, her clothes were torn and she looked like she had been somewhere that wasn’t clean.

  She was afraid that Leon had done something to Chris and Stewart. When the men saw her they both ran up to her and hugged her. They were glad to see her, and Beth was just as happy to see both men. When Chris stepped back, Stewart hugged her more and kissed her as well. It was such a joyous occasion to have her back as they had such fears that she was not going to come back. They now knew that Leon was the one that had kidnapped her and wanted the formula.

  Before they could tell Beth how much it meant to them to have her safe, she told them, “let’s finish this.” She was a mess, but didn’t care; she just wanted it over with.

  They went into the den to see the men that had created all of the chaos that Beth, Chris and Stewart had lived with it for such a long time. But the best part of it all is that the light was there to protect them. He always said he would do that and he was shining his light on the men that were to blame for it all.

  The three of them sat down to talk. Chris called his superiors to tell them that they had it all under control and would like them to come to get Ho
ward and Leon who was responsible. Chris said he would write the report and they would know about all of the mystery that had happened, except in the report the light would not be mentioned.

  But both Chris and Beth needed to know who killed their mom and dad. It was very important to them. Howard didn’t say a word. Leon told them that Howard hired him to find the formula. That was all he would say about himself. He would not admit to anything.

  When Chris and Stewart’s agents came to take Howard and Leon into custody the light was not there. Both Howard and Leon were telling the authorities that the light was the one that caught them. Of course, no one believed them. There were two units from two different departments there to make sure that the men could not escape, and they would have to answer for their crimes. Probably both men would get the death sentence. They were not going to be taken to a regular jail; they had special places for people that were traitors; the government men had taken them there.

  When they were taken away, Chris and Beth and Stewart just looked at each other. They couldn’t believe it all over with. Amazing that the three of them that worked very hard to figure it out. They decided it was a good time to run. Beth got a shower and her running clothes on and they all started out to run. When they got to the park they found a nice place to sit under some cottonwood trees. They started talking about what just happened.

  Beth told them about Leon and how scared she was and when he had tied her up to the chair and then left to go to her home to search, she knew she had to get loose. She was tied to a chair, but right by the chair was an old table. She scooted her chair up to the table and was able to see an opening in the wood, maybe where you could put a leaf in the table. With her hands tied to the chair, she was able get the tape on her arm into the opening and move it around. It looked like it wouldn’t do anything at first, and then it started showing that it was wearing on the tape. Beth kept going. Her arm muscles were aching, but she kept going. She figured that it would eventually tear.