by Dave Dykema
Dan grew quiet. “What did you say?”
Jerry thought back to yesterday, and how he was interrupted grading papers. “I don’t know how he got it out of me, but the man’s got a way with words. He twists them, leading you through a maze of obstacles until you’re hopelessly lost, and the only way out is to spill your guts…” He looked at the ceiling, trying to avoid Dan’s eager eyes again. This wasn’t easy. He finally decided to just be blunt. “Dan, I told him about your stalking.”
Dan didn’t throw a fit like he expected. In fact, he seemed almost calm.
“I figured you’d say that. It’s the only thing that explains why he came to my door last night.”
“No, no! It’s much more.” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple clicking in his throat. “I also told him about how you almost raped Janet.”
“What?!” Dan exclaimed, incredulous.
“What’s going on in here?” Melissa said, towel drying her hair as she entered the room. “You boys seem excited about something.” She turned to Jerry. “The shower felt wonderful. Thank you. And thanks for letting me borrow your robe.”
Jerry stole a quick glance her way, damning her timing. He hoped to get this all covered before she returned. Dan was so knocked for a loop that her presence didn’t seem to matter.
“I did what?” Dan repeated.
Melissa’s brow furrowed in puzzlement. Unsure, she inched closer to Dan for comfort.
“What’s going on?” she asked, looking back and forth between the two men.
“Are you sure you want me to continue with Melissa in the room?” Jerry asked.
Dan put an arm around her waist and said, “You can talk in front of Mel.”
Jerry looked uncomfortable, wishing Melissa wasn’t there to hear this, but carried on. “Remember the day I left town I had lunch with Janet? While we were eating, she told me you tried to rape her once.”
Melissa instinctively recoiled from Dan, shocked. Dan’s ears glowed red with anger.
“And you believed her?”
“No…Well, maybe a bit at first. You had just seen Stalker and were acting kind of weird then. She said it was during your last dinner date.”
Dan couldn’t believe this was happening. To his recollection, it was she who mauled him before leaving in a huff. He turned to Melissa and spoke earnestly.
“This didn’t happen. Believe me.”
“I do,” she said softly, but not completely convincingly.
“Why didn’t you mention this before?” he asked Jerry.
“I almost did, when I first got into East Lansing. Her statements floored me so much it took some effort to call you, but I finally did.”
“I remember.”
“And after talking to you, I was sure that she was the one who was screwed up, not you. At the time I thought she was vindictive, but now I know her whole life was a mess.” He looked over at Mel, sensing her doubt and not wanting more guilt on his hands. “Believe him, Melissa. Her story was just that: a story. Like I said: Cameron has a way. It just came out. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean for any of it to.”
“I know you didn’t,” Dan said, his tone finally softening. “And in the long run that probably wasn’t a big factor in Cameron coming to arrest me. Attempted rape is a serious crime, but the stalking is what did it. I don’t blame you for telling him that. I knew from the night I showed you that you were uncomfortable with it.”
“Well anyway, I’m still sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Dan said, forgiving his friend.
Jerry found peace watching Melissa return to Dan’s side, nuzzling. It was clear to him that they were in love and he knew Dan had accepted his apology fully.
Maybe things weren’t going to turn out so bad after all.
*6*
When Dan returned from the shower Jerry brought up the idea of hiding the two of them at his cabin.
“No. Impossible.”
“Why not?”
“We’ve involved you far too much already,” Dan continued.
“That’s not a problem,” Jerry said. “I’m happy to help.”
Dan slumped and looked at Mel. She raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders. He relented. “How do we get there?”
“I’ll do better than give you directions. I’ll show you myself.”
“That’s not necessary—” Dan began.
“Are we going to go through this every time I offer to help?” Jerry asked. “Because it’s pointless to resist, and frankly, I’m getting tired of it.”
“What about your classes? Who’ll teach them?” Melissa asked, shrinking back and wishing she hadn’t when Jerry whirled around on her, almost glaring.
“Please! Forget about me!” he declared. “My next few classes are already prepared. My teaching assistant can teach them if I’m not back. All she has to do is read from my notes.”
“What if—?”
“Look, I’ll call in and use some of my sick days. I’ll get you settled in. I can be back before my sick time runs out. Problem solved, okay?”
Melissa and Dan had nothing more to say. They both faced Jerry, their mouths slacked open, as if searching for the perfect argument, but falling far short of it.
Jerry took their expressions for victory.
“Good. It’s settled then. Get your stuff together, go to the bathroom if you have to, do whatever it takes, but this bus is leaving in ten minutes.”
With that, there was really no point in arguing further. Melissa realized they’d made a wise choice in coming here. Jerry and Dan shared a strong, solid bond. They would clearly do anything for each other. She only hoped that by involving himself Jerry wouldn’t get dragged into their nightmare any more than he already was.
On the Road
*1*
Kim ran up to a pay phone she found across the street from Jerry Stevens’s apartment building and frantically pounded Stone’s number into the keypad. She heard the phone ring through the earpiece and willed him to answer it.
Pick up. Pick it up!
A momentary fear gripped her as she envisioned a scenario where Stone went off in another direction, misled by one of his followers, leaving his office empty and the phone unattended.
He had sent his people forth after last night’s meeting to look for Melissa and Dan. Most stayed in town, perusing hotel lobbies and trying to fetch a peek at the guest book. Stone’s select few were offered meatier assignments, looking up family and friends. And that was precisely why she was sent to East Lansing. Jerry Stevens dedicated his final piece to Dan, and Jerry now worked as an instructor at Michigan State.
Answer the phone, God dammit!
She wished Melissa and Dan had been there when she knocked on the door. Then she could have given Reverend Stone the news he truly wanted: that they were dead. Jerry Stevens too. He’d be dead from guilt by association. Reverend Stone said there’d be hard choices to make, sacrifices to be endured, but she was willing to go through with them for him.
“Hello?”
“Reverend Stone. Thank God! I didn’t think you were there.”
“And you are?” His voice sounded curt, annoyed.
“It’s me. Kim. I’ve found them.”
Suddenly he was anxious and excited. “Where are they?”
Disappointed, she had to backtrack. “Actually, I’ve found Dan Freeman’s car. It’s parked at Jerry Stevens’s apartment. They took the license plates off, trying to hide it, but I recognized it.”
“Have you seen them?”
“I knocked on the apartment door, but no one answered. Also, Jerry Stevens didn’t teach his class today. I went there first to check on him.”
“Do you suppose they’ve gone somewhere together?”
“That would be my guess.”
He was silent. Kim wondered what was going through his mind. She tingled with nervous anticipation. She felt as she did the night Stone first came to her in her bed.
“Kim, I’m very proud of you,” h
e finally said. “How did you find all this out so quickly?”
She looked down at the crumpled paper in her hand with the WKBC logo in the corner, Jerry’s address scrawled in Dan’s handwriting on it. They’d recovered it out of Janet’s pocket on the night they killed her.
“I went to the Communications Office and flirted with a student aide until he showed me the class schedule and where Professor Steven’s class was taught. When I saw he wasn’t there, it was just a matter of finding his apartment.”
“Excellent work, Kim. I want you to wait for us back on the campus, at the Student Union. That should be easy for us all to find. I’m coming up there!”
“Yes, Reverend. See you soon,” she said. Her hand trembled as she hung up the phone, but not from fear—instead it was an overflowing joy at the prospect of his coming.
*2*
Jerry shot his car up one of the main veins north, U.S. 27, a road that split the Lower Peninsula of Michigan almost exactly in half. It was slow going at first as the snowstorm continued to bluster in and around Lansing. Once they reached Mount Pleasant the snow began to thin as much as the population. Driving became easier.
Melissa and Dan were in the back seat, leaning against each other, sleeping. Jerry felt like a chauffeur on prom night. Every few miles he checked his rearview mirror to make sure they were okay.
On his next look he saw Melissa start to stir.
“Where are we?” she managed.
“About sixty-five miles north of Lansing.”
“We’ve only been asleep that long?”
“Oh, no. You’ve been asleep three hours. It’s just the driving that’s taking so long.”
She sat farther up in her seat and looked out the window, breathing steam on the glass.
“I remember leaving Lansing, but not much after that. Thank you for driving through all this crap. With all the snow I’m sure it wasn’t easy.”
“You guys were tired. You needed some sleep. Don’t worry about it.”
“One of us can trade with you, if you want. We came awfully early this morning.”
Dan stirred from the sound of their voices, opening his eyes slowly against the brightness outside.
Melissa turned to him. “How’re you doing, sleepyhead?”
“Okay, I guess.” He yawned, his mouth opening like a chasm. “Wow! I guess I needed that!”
“No surprise there,” Jerry said. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah. Food sounds good.”
“I know a good place to eat. I sometimes stop there on the way to my cabin. It’s a greasy spoon, but it’s tasty. It’s just up the road.”
*3*
“Another coffee?” the waitress asked. “You look like you could use it.”
Jerry held up his cup. “Thanks, Caris. It’s murder driving out there.”
“I should think so!” She looked away from his cup as she poured, squinting her eyes against the glare, sizing up the storm. Melissa feared she would dribble steaming hot coffee down Jerry’s hand. “Thank heavens you had the good sense to stop. If you ask me, anyone who’s out there now is a bloomin’ idiot! And that’s comin’ from someone who’s lived here all her life with a stern constitution!”
“So you’re used to it,” Melissa said, watching Jerry set his full cup back down, thankful to have his hand.
“Damn straight! I had to drive through it this mornin’ when I came in. Some truckers said it’s still pretty bad south of here. Up north it’s all over the place already. It’s treachery out there…treachery!
“By the way,” she said, turning her attention to Jerry, “Caris rhymes with Paris. It’s not like a car. But thanks for takin’ the time to read it off my nametag and tryin’ to be social. Strangers don’t usually do that here.”
“I’m sorry, Caris,” Jerry said, pausing a moment to make sure he pronounced it correctly. Melissa couldn’t help but let out a little snicker. She buried her head in Dan’s chest so the sound wouldn’t let out.
Caris heard anyway, and disregarded her with a huff. “I’ll go check on your orders now.”
She turned on her heel and marched off as the three of them sat watching. “She’s colorful,” Dan commented.
Jerry nodded. “I’ve never seen her before. Very talkative. I would’ve remembered her.”
Melissa smiled, but didn’t really feel like discussing the waitress for the next five minutes. The sooner they were out of the restaurant and back on the road the better. “What’s our next move?” she asked.
“Really nothing until we get to the cabin,” Jerry replied. “We’re just traveling fools now.”
“What about supplies?”
“There’s a small five and dime I can go to once we get you two settled in.”
“What about—” Dan began, but cut himself off upon Caris’s arrival with plates of food running up her arm. She shot him an apologetic look, knowing she intruded into something that wasn’t meant for her ears and kicked herself, wondering what her blunder would do to her tip.
“Food’s here! Get it while it’s hot!”
They didn’t reply, so Caris passed out the food quickly and efficiently, but still took enough time to notice Melissa snuggling closer to Dan.
“Love birds?” she asked, smiling down upon them like an angel from heaven.
“Yeah,” Dan said, “I suppose we are.”
She gave Melissa a knowing look, a look that said I know what you’re goin’ through, my dear. Love him anyway, even though he doesn’t sound so confident. Men are just that way. Matters of the heart trip their tongues every time…
Melissa nodded back, and Dan picked up on the communication between the two women, although he had no idea what is was about. He reasoned it must be a skill gleaned after all those visits to the ladies room in droves.
“Good for you,” Caris said, and winked before walking off back to the counter, whistling and moving with a slightly lighter step.
Dan blushed like a schoolboy at Caris’s behavior. Melissa noticed and kissed his cheek, whispering, “I love you, too” before turning her attention to her food.
Twenty minutes later they were back on the road.
*4*
They looked an odd lot: five adults grouped together among hundreds of young students.
Kim retold the story to Reverend Stone, who listened intently even though he’d heard it before. To Stone’s left was Bill Cambridge, eager to right the wrong he suffered in Dan’s apartment hallway. Stone brought along two others: his men from California, Jeff Goodall and Paul Rogers.
When she finished, Stone said, “They’ve gone to Stevens’s cabin.”
Kim turned to him, her face puzzled. He ignored her confusion.
“It’s north, by Traverse City somewhere. He bought it only recently.”
“We could head up there, make some calls to real estate companies…” Goodall offered.
“Yes. That’s a start,” Stone said. He paused to look at his watch. It was a few minutes after six. “But at this late hour businesses will be closed. They won’t be answering any questions for us today. Besides, the roads are still terrible. Let’s get hotel rooms and rest for tomorrow’s mission. We’ll leave in the morning.”
“Should we ride up together or separately?” Cambridge asked.
“We’ll go up in two cars. You three ride together. I’ll go with Kim.”
The men ran off to Cambridge’s car. Stone walked slowly with Kim, a man confident.
“Which way to your car?” he asked.
“It’s right over there,” she pointed, “just beyond Bill’s.” She held up her keys. “Do you want to drive?”
Stone smiled. “You made it up here fine by yourself. I’m sure you can manage.”
Kim felt self-conscious as she slipped the keys back in her pocket. She felt foolish, small, like she had irked him by asking. She was afraid asking him her next question would irk him more, but she was confused, and wanted an answer.
“How did you know about Prof
essor Stevens’s cabin? Did you know they were here all along?”
Stone stopped and turned to her, a big grin on his lips. “No. The crystals aren’t prophetic. They only provide strength. I can’t know everything. That’s why everyone was sent forth unto the land, to seek them out.”
His smile comforted her. Impulsively, she stroked her crystal. She felt better almost immediately. “Then how—?”
He cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Simple coincidence. A matter I only now remembered. I overheard that cocksucker Dan Freeman talking about it once in a hallway. Now that we know they’re in Michigan, it only makes sense they would go there.”
The Cabin
*1*
Laura Danvers paced the newsroom, fretting. The shootout in Dan’s apartment hallway led WKBC’s morning news, just like it did on all the other stations. WKBC could not claim any exclusivity on this one, even though it involved one of its employees.
What the press knew was very limited: an apparent confrontation in a hallway, leading to a shootout; Sergeant Miles Cameron lay in a coma at the hospital; two officers were dead. The door to Dan’s apartment was ajar, leading to speculation that he was involved. But he was missing, so he could also be dead for all anyone knew.
It was a perfect story for sweeps, and the other stations played up the sordid angles. Laura felt sick to her stomach. They did all the right things—the lives at noon, the follow-ups, the interviews—but her heart wasn’t in any of it. When Melissa didn’t show up for work she really began to get concerned. She found it hard to develop a plan of coverage, so she left most of that to Fred, the assignment editor.
While talking to Fred she had an idea. Suddenly she felt useful again.
“What about this, Fred. Melissa’s missing. We know that. The local papers and police know that. But no one outside our viewing area knows that.”
Fred shrugged his shoulders, not really following.
“We need to get one of Melissa’s stories on the network feed. Get her face plastered on as many TV screens as we can. Hell, it works for America’s Most Wanted, why not us?” She clapped her hands together in triumph. “I’ve got a friend who owes me a favor at the Midwest satellite uplink. I bet he can get it on.”
