OBSESSED WITH TAYLOR JAMES

by Toye Lawson Brown

  “Then, what if whoever did this is watching and wants to finish the job? Now he has two more people to take out?”

  “I doubt whoever did this to him stuck around. If he had, he would have killed us already after listening to your idiotic ramblings!”

  “We gotta let 5-O handle this. I repeat…I ain’t trying to die tonight!”

  Mario sighed heavily; in a roundabout way, Edward was right. The police had to be called since a man was shot inside Taylor’s residence. “All right, you win. Help me get him outside.”

  Edward carried the man’s feet letting Mario haul his bloody torso. Safely away from Taylor’s house, they hurried to the front yard of the house across the street. Laying him on the grass Sabrina hopped from the car.

  Hysterical, she pushed the men aside. “Was Taylor inside? I called the police when I heard yelling coming from the garage.”

  “We didn’t get a chance to look for her yet.” Mario recognized the man once under the bright street lamps. “This is Taylor’s neighbor, Sebastian. He has a gunshot somewhere in the upper chest area. There is too much blood on his shirt for me to locate the wound.”

  Sabrina removed the scarf from around her head. “Find it! We have to stop the bleeding.”

  “Y’all the police are coming,” Edward said noticing the blue and red flashing lights headed in their direction.

  Police cars zoomed in as Mario and Sabrina worked to save Sebastian. EMS took over the duties once they arrived. Wiping his hands on the lawn, Mario got off his knees. Tossing the purse in the car, he started across the street. “I’m going in to look for Taylor.”

  A police officer stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Mario did not waver and answered curtly, “I’m going to look for my girlfriend in her house.”

  “No, you’re not. Until we secure the scene, no one is allowed inside except law enforcement.”

  Narrowing his eyes, Mario pressed. “You don’t understand what’s at stake—Taylor James is likely in danger. We found that man shot inside her home and no signs of her!”

  “We’re investigating so please stay behind the yellow tape. It would be big help to us if you’d kindly go with this officer and give him your statement.”

  “You can get my statement later! Right now I’m going in for clues to where Taylor may be and who might have taken her.”

  The officer refused him entry and secured his arm re-igniting the flares of pain to his shoulder. “Don’t make me cuff you. You and your friends are suspects until we verify who you are and why you are here.”

  Riled, Mario roared at the officer. “I told you who I am! This is her sister and brother-in-law! If this were a woman you cared about, would you be content standing behind some damn tape instead of doing whatever you could!”

  “Sir, I sympathize with you. Unfortunately, this is how it works. Stand behind the tape or go to jail…the choice is yours.”

  Sabrina wiped her hands on her pants tugging Mario away when the officer reached for his handcuffs. “Mario, sit down. I can’t afford to have you thrown in jail.”

  The blood on his hands transferred to his face after rubbing it. “Why didn’t she listen to me instead of pushing me away?”

  Sabrina held onto Edward. Her bright yellow tank shirt and white cotton pants were covered in blood also. “Because she is Taylor and does what she wants.” Her cell phone rang. “Oh no, it’s mom. What am I supposed to say to her?”

  Mario lifted his head looking around. There weren’t any news crews on scene, but neighbors were lining the sidewalks gawking. “Sabrina, if she doesn’t mention Taylor, don’t you mention anything about her missing. I want to talk to Dillon later. Maybe he has seen her.”

  “Okay.” She put the phone to her ear. “Hi, Mom; what’s up? What! Mom, when did it happen? I’m not with Taylor now, but I will tell her. Bye.”

  Sabrina closed her eyes. Mario waited patiently for her to repeat the conversation, when she didn’t he asked. “What was that about?”

  Curling her fingers under her nose, she sniffed. “You can cross Dillon off the list of suspects. He is in the hospital listed in critical condition. Mom said Dillon collapsed at his home earlier today. She is looking for Taylor to let her know.”

  Chapter 21

  Mario entered the front door of his house throwing the keys in the dish on the table. Frustrated and perplexed twelve hours had passed with no trace of Taylor or any evidence of who she might be with. He scratched his fingers through his low-cut hair. His body hurt; his stomach growled from hunger, and the police were more concerned about his and Taylor’s relationship rather than her disappearance.

  Detective after detective questioned him about his relationship with Taylor. They wanted to know how and why the car accident happened. His background in criminal investigation had him understanding it was standard routine, but it nonetheless left him appearing he was the main suspect in her disappearance. Even though he offered to front the reward money for her safe return, police advised him not to leave Cleveland.

  He kicked the magazine stand sitting by his recliner across the room. He sat in the chair propping an elbow on his knee caressing his forehead with his fingers. Where are you Taylor? Where in the hell can you be?

  He stood up taking the cell phone from his pants pocket. He’d taken it from her purse before handing it over to police. Mario turned it on hoping it wasn’t password protected. The screen opened with a picture of them together set as her wallpaper. He scrolled through the text messages looking for anything received before she left work, or any unusual texts such as the one she’d told him about. There weren’t any text messages after 2:30am that morning. The only call she made was to Yellow Cab. There were several missed calls, a few from a repeated number he could not locate in her contact list. Those could have been work-related calls. He would check on those tomorrow at the office.

  He laid the cell phone on the table next to the chair and leaned back. The dominance of exhaustion took over forcing him to close his eyes. Taylor’s likeness appeared. She seemed scared and calling to him for help. Drifting off to sleep that was his last image of Taylor James.

  *****

  Mario’s eyes opened hearing the loud noise. He’d heard the steady pounding in his sleep thinking he was dreaming. He pulled the lever sitting the recliner upright to get to the front door. “Hold your horses…I’m moving as fast as I can,” he said limping to the door. Sleeping in the chair had stiffened his muscles to a state where every step he took was a major feat to accomplish.

  He opened the door stepping backwards from astonishment. “Taylor?” She took one step forward falling into his arms. He held onto her, not dropping her weight from his sore arms. “Jesus, Taylor, what happened to you?” He looked up to see three more women standing in the doorway bloody and terrified. “What the fuc….”

  She cried against his chest. “Mario, I’m glad to see you. I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

  He hugged her grateful she was alive. “Hold, on, baby; I’m calling for help.”

  “No,” she rebutted. “You have to help them first.”

  “Baby….”

  “Mario, listen to me, we had to leave two women behind. They were too injured for us to move them; we have to hurry before they die.”

  Mario could not make sense of her conversation and believed she may have been drugged, and was incoherent. “Okay, I will get them help. Let me get you all to the hospital. We can get help for the others on the way.”

  She grabbed his shirt, on the verge of hysterics. “You have to help them now! He was stabbed, Mario. We aren’t sure he is dead. You have to get those women out of there if he isn’t dead.”

  “Taylor, give me the whole story. I can’t put what you are trying to tell me together. Slow down and tell me what happened to you? Who did you all kill?”

  “There was a man in my house. The bastard shot Sebastian in front of me!” She covered her mouth crying.

 
; Mario went to the bar and poured three glass of water handing a glass to each of the frightened women. He returned to Taylor, he asked. “How did you get here?”

  “We took his van and got the hell away from that house.”

  He waited for her to take a few sips and calm down. “Baby, I have to call the police. I know you don’t want me to do that until we get help for the others, but they are looking for you…all of you. I have to let them know you are safe.”

  “Call them. Those women need help before they die from their injuries. I couldn’t help them, Mario.”

  He tried pacifying her by picking up the phone and dialing. She began taking off her torn clothes. “Taylor, don’t take off any of your clothes; just sit still, okay. I’m calling the police now.”

  Mario called the number Detective Diego gave him. He then called Sabrina to let her know Taylor was at his house. Thirty minutes had not passed before Detective Diego, and his partner was on his doorstep. They wanted to speak to Taylor and the other women alone. Mario gave them access to his home office to conduct an informal interview.

  Sabrina and Edward entered his house with her parents in tow. “Where is Taylor? She asked in a frantic voice.

  “She is with Detective Diego in my office. I have to warn you she arrived on my doorstep with three other women.”

  Sabrina crinkled her brow. “What three other women? Mario, could those be the women that went missing a few weeks ago?”

  Mario nodded. “From the way they look, I would say so. Taylor said there are two more women in the house they couldn’t free because of their injuries.”

  Mr. James paced. “Is my baby girl hurt, Mario? Did that asshole beat her?”

  “Mr. James, from what I could tell she has been in a fight. She has cuts and bruises on her body.”

  Mrs. James collapsed to the floor crying. “Oh, my lord, my baby!”

  “Mom, she is alive.” Sabrina cried cuddling her mother on the floor.

  Detective Diego came into the living room. “Mr. Infante, can I speak to you alone, please?”

  Mario followed the detective to the kitchen after seeing Mrs. James sitting under her own power. “What’s wrong?”

  “Ms. James is going to take us where she was held. She’s only going if you come along with her.”

  Eager to be of assistance, he said, “Let’s go.”

  Detective Diego held up his hand. “She’s pretty adamant the abductor is dead.”

  “She mentioned that to me. She also mentioned two other women are seriously injured. Did she expand on that?”

  “Yes. From what she has told us, we believe she her abduction is connected to the recent disappearance of women on the eastside of Cleveland. We recently received a report of a woman missing from the westside; that woman is here.”

  “Detective Diego, so this has nothing to do with the cameras found in her house?”

  “I don’t believe it does. Did anyone bother to check the front door to Ms. James house?”

  “I didn’t, why?”

  “That is how he entered her house. Forced entry was made through the front doors. That is the same condition we found the other homes have in common. The perpetrator would hide and wait to pounce. Everything she described is exactly what each woman described happened to them.”

  “Damn. I don’t know how I missed that.”

  “You’re not a trained police officer. Anyhow, we have zone cars in the area looking for the house to rescue the other two women.”

  Mario scrubbed his hands over his face. “This is unreal. Well, if she is ready to go, so am I.”

  “I assume those other people are family members?”

  “Yes. They are Taylor’s parents. The other women have not asked for anything but to use the phone.”

  “They are pretty shaken up and wish to stay here until we return. Is it okay with you if they stay and contact their families and wait for them to arrive?”

  Mario nodded. “Sure. I will ask Sabrina to look after them until their families are contacted.”

  *****

  Detectives and police officers searched the property of an abandoned house located on a residential street with only three or four houses actually occupied. The rest of the run-down homes were waiting for a brisk wind to knock them over. Treading through the trash strewn about the house Taylor claimed she was held, two women were found inside beaten violently but alive. The suspect was found in a bedroom with multiple stab wounds to the neck and torso. The paring knife remained embedded in his jugular.

  Detective Diego poked around the man’s body for a pulse. He shook his head looking at his partner. “He’s gone.”

  Detective Franco smacked the gum he was chewing while writing in a notebook. “She’s a hero. She saved those women who could not escape on their own. If she hadn’t initiated the fight, all of them would be dead.”

  “Yeah, but one of them killed him. That won’t be easy to live with. I’ll talk to the boyfriend to see how she will react to the news. Also, I don’t want her to see the coroner removing his body. Tell him to hold off until we clear the area.”

  *****

  Mario was standing against the car. He straightened his body when Detective Diego approached him. “Well?”

  Detective Diego looked inside the car. Taylor had her head down with her hands folded in her lap. The woman had been through hell and lived to talk about it. “Do you speak Spanish,” he asked.

  Mario screwed his nose turning his lips to the left. “I am Latino.”

  “Bueno.” He said preferring to speak in Spanish.

  Mario asked. “Que encontraste a dentro?”

  “Encontramos dos mujeres, pero el sospechoso esto muerto, que tanto creses Ms. James va ha recivir la noticia?”

  Mario shook his head. “Ella es una mujer fuerte. Ella va a creer lo que ella hizo es correcto y acepto la resposabilidad.”

  Detective Diego folded his arms across his chest. “Tenemos que llevarla a la estacion. Ella nova a ser acusado da nada, Pero necesitamos su declaracion en el expesiente. Sespues de eso, llevala al hopital para un chequeo.”

  “Gracias, Detective Diego.”

  *****

  The clock ticked to 7:00am with the alarm promptly blaring. Mario swiped his hand across the night table searching for the button to turn off the annoying noise before it woke Taylor. He had finally laid his aching bones down a few hours ago. After leaving the police station and the hospital, he tended to Taylor by bathing and feeding her before going to sleep himself. Silencing the alarm, he turned over in bed slowly; she was gone.

  He rubbed the crust from his eyes sitting on the side of the bed. Dragging his robe from the chair, he went in search for Taylor. He followed the aroma of coffee once in the hallway.

  Taylor sat at the kitchen table nursing a tall mug of hot coffee. She had corn-rolled a long braided to the back of her head. Mario sat opposite the table from her. “Hey, why are you up so early?”

  “I couldn’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I get an instant replay of what happened. God, how will I live with this?”

  Mario held her hand. “Taylor, it was self-defense for all of you. The four of you saved two lives because of what you did.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I know and I would probably do it again if I had to. There was no other way out, Mario.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  She lowered her eyelids. Her heart panged with guilt for taking a life to save her own. “It happened so fast. He forced me into a windowless van and handcuffed me inside a dog cage.”

  “Taylor, did you know the man?”

  She shook her head. “No. I have never seen him before. He had to be from around the neighbor. He knew I ran and what time I usually did my runs.”

  “They haven’t identified him yet. The police are hoping someone will report him missing; otherwise, they will have to wait for DNA results to come back.”

  “I don’t care who he is. I want to forget his face. I want t
o forget how he shoved me in a closet and left me there for hours. I don’t know where he went or if he was in the house somewhere torturing those other women. I will never get the smell from my nose. The place stunk of trash and dead animals. It was awful.”

  Mario moved over one seat next to her. Embracing her, he said, “Baby, you are safe. You are home.”

  She nuzzled her head against the bulk of his shoulder. “I am not home. I will never be able to go home again. The kitchen will be a constant reminder of Sebastian on the floor gurgling. I’ve never seen so much blood drain from a body.”

  “Sebastian is alive because of Sabrina’s quick thinking.”

  “She used to be a nurse. Do you have any word on his condition?” She asked leaning away to wipe her eyes.

  “Last I heard he is in guarded condition. He is fighting to live.”

  “If it wasn’t for me he wouldn’t be fighting for his life. He is a nice person willing to help his neighbors. I had the nerve to be scared of him when he was only trying to help me.”

  “Taylor…”

  “I’ve managed to hurt any man that has had any contact with me lately.”

  “Sweetheart, that is not true. Do you want to go on or is talking about this too painful?”

  “I have to get it out before the media comes knocking.”

  He held her hand. “I’m listening.”

  She rocked back and forth to stop her stomach from quivering. “I heard one of the women screaming. It scared the hell out of me. I had no clue if he was coming for me next or saving me for later. All I knew was I had to get out of there. That fucker was not going to take my life.”

  “It was smart to arm yourself. Where did you hide the knife?”

  Her widened and her nose flared. “I was terrified he would find the knife before we left my house.”

  Mario hesitated to touch her too much in her fragile state. She had not revealed the full impact of what happened to her inside the house of horrors. “When you were in the closet, you could hear everything he was doing and realized you couldn’t leave without those women.”

  “I had to help them. Mario, if you could have heard the chilling screams it would have made you sick. I felt the knife poking me in my side and reminded myself that what I was thinking of doing was legal. I was protecting my life and saving those women if they weren’t already dead.”