Silver Threads

by Bette Lee Crosby

  “You think I ought to get something new to wear? Something like a dressy dress for when we go out clubbing?”

  Tired of all her prattle, Eddie gave a haphazard shrug as he ripped the tags off of the pants and shirt he’d bought at Walmart. She kept talking about what she might or might not need to buy. When Eddie pulled on the long sleeve black shirt, she stopped talking and looked at him strangely.

  “It’s ninety degrees outside. Ain’t you gonna be awful hot in that?”

  He shook his head.

  “They got air conditioning,” he said and pulled on the new black baseball cap. He glanced over at the clock: 8:05. Too early, he thought, but it was either that or sit around listening to Alisha yak while he was trying to think.

  “I gotta get going,” he said.

  “Okay.” Alisha thought perhaps he would take her in his arms and kiss her goodbye. When he didn’t she reached up and kissed his cheek.

  “Good luck with the deal,” she said and smiled.

  Once Eddie was gone Alisha started going through her closet, looking for outfits for Mexico. She tried on dresses that were a decade old and wondered if maybe they could somehow be spruced up.

  A scarf maybe? Or a brooch?

  After almost two hours the bed was covered with cast off dresses, jeans that had been a bit too tight and tops in colors that made her skin look sallow. Noticing that it was close to ten o’clock, she started scooping things up and hanging them back in the closet. When she picked up the jeans Eddie had been wearing, a receipt from Home Depot fell out of the pocket.

  Without thinking anything one way or the other, she picked it up and glanced at it. At first there didn’t seem to be anything special about the items listed, but the $149 for a folding ladder jumped out at her. She read down the list item by item. A knife. Duct tape. Plastic gloves.

  “Holy shit!” she exclaimed. “He really is gonna kidnap that girl!”

  Alisha felt as if her legs were going to collapse beneath her. This was way more than she’d bargained for. She was okay with partying and sex. She was even willing to look the other way if somebody lifted a wallet that didn’t belong to him. But she was not okay with this.

  Kidnapping was a federal offense. It was a crime that could have someone locked up for the rest of their life. It was something she wanted no part of.

  She walked back into the kitchen, picked up the phone and asked the operator to connect her to the Clarksburg police station.

  In Clarksburg

  Detective Hilbert rarely worked nights and was none too happy about working this one. He was sitting at the desk talking to Melanie Parks on his cell when the call came in.

  “Aw, crap,” he said. “We’ve got an incoming, can you hold on?”

  “Hold on to what?” Melanie tittered.

  Hilbert laughed.

  “Hold on to that thought,” he said and set the cell phone aside.

  He’d been dating Melanie for three months and was ready to take it to the next level. Tonight it was beginning to sound as if she might be interested in doing the same thing. He answered the stationhouse phone determined to make quick work of the caller and get back to Melanie.

  The first words out of Alisha’s mouth were, “I need to report a kidnapping.”

  Hilbert was in no mood for crank calls.

  “Who is this?” he asked sharply.

  “I’d prefer not to give my name,” she said. “I don’t want to get involved.”

  “Involved in what?”

  “I told you, the kidnapping.”

  “Why don’t you start over,” Hilbert said. “Who’s kidnapping who?”

  “Eddie Coggan, Tom’s brother, is planning to kidnap the little girl whose mother was killed in the drugstore holdup last February.”

  “What’s the girl’s name?”

  “I don’t remember her name. But I know it was her mother who was killed in that holdup.”

  “How exactly did you get this information?” Hilbert asked suspiciously.

  “I found the receipt where Eddie purchased a ladder and duct tape.”

  “That’s it?”

  “He also started talking about going to Mexico.”

  Hilbert was starting to think the woman on the phone was nothing more than a busybody with an overactive imagination.

  “Things like that could be nothing more than coincidence,” he said. “It doesn’t necessarily suggest a kidnapping.”

  Alisha gave a huff of impatience. “Eddie’s brother was killed in that robbery, and Eddie’s got it in for the family.” Her voice became heavy and grim. “If he hasn’t already grabbed that girl, he’s gonna do it tonight!”

  “So you know this Eddie Coggan is going to kidnap somebody tonight, but you have no idea who?”

  “I know who, I just don’t know her name,” Alisha said angrily. “But I do know that if something happens to that kid and you do nothing to stop it, the blame is gonna be on you!” With her heart banging against her chest, she slammed the phone down.

  Hilbert hung up and sat there feeling bewildered. Because Tony Niles was out with a sprained back, Lutz was working a double shift. Hilbert turned to Lutz.

  “You remember the name of that woman who was killed at Dunninger’s last February?”

  “Jennifer Bishop,” Lutz replied. “Funny you should ask, Rodriguez and I had a call out to her house this afternoon.”

  “What for?” Hilbert asked.

  “Turned out to be nothing. Rodriguez figured it to be some kind of post-traumatic memory flash, the kind his nephew had after Vietnam.”

  Forgetting about Melanie, Hilbert leaned forward and asked, “What exactly happened?”

  “The kid thought she’d seen the guy who killed her mama. Said he was coming to—”

  Hilbert didn’t wait for Lutz to finish.

  “Grab that address,” he said. “We’ve got to get out there.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Greenhaven was the kind of street where people parked their cars in garages and went to bed early. When Eddie pulled up a few feet in back of the Bishop house, his was the only car on the street. He parked in the shadow of a large oak, a place where even if someone peeked out the window it would be difficult to see. Dressed all in black, he himself would appear little more than a shadow.

  Moving slowly and with great stealth, he climbed from the car and gently eased the door shut. He circled around to the back, lifted the trunk and removed the ladder. The knife he stuck in his pocket and the roll of duct tape he slid onto his arm like a bracelet. He then tugged on a pair of the plastic gloves and pulled the lid of the trunk down, not allowing it to click shut. This way he’d be able to yank it open quickly when he returned with his package.

  For a brief moment he hesitated, looking up and down the street, checking that everything was as it should be. The glow of the nightlight came from the kid’s room, and downstairs a light was on in the back of the house. The kitchen maybe. He would have preferred the father to be in bed, but there on the far side of the house he’d be unlikely to hear anything anyway. The lights in the house next door were off, which was good. Three doors down a few lights were still on, but the remainder of the neighborhood was dark.

  Eddie picked up the ladder and eased his way along the shadowy side of the house, moving into position. He knew this was the right time; even the moon was cooperating. It was little more than a sliver, which gave him the ability to see without being seen. Section by section he slid the ladder open, and when each section clicked into the locked position he waited and gave the sound time to die away before moving on.

  Once the ladder was ready he steadied it against the house and started up the rungs. He climbed slowly, stopping every so often to cast an eye over his shoulder and make certain he was the only thing moving. When he was even with the window he could see the girl asleep. She was turned on her side with her back to the window.

  Without needing the penlight in his pocket, he could see the lock was slid over but only partw
ay. He quietly slid the blade of the knife in between the upper and lower frame. Bracing his arm against the siding, he pushed against the knife until little by little the latch slid open. Then he eased the window up.

  Eddie was partway in the room when the dog started barking, and that forced his hand. Being silent was no longer his biggest worry. He bolted across the room and whacked the pup so hard it sailed across the floor and hit the wall. Then there was only whimpering.

  The barking woke Brooke, but it was a few seconds until she opened her eyes. When she finally did she saw the figure hovering over her and let out an agonizing scream before the strip of duct tape slapped over her mouth silenced her.

  Drew heard her scream and thought she was having a nightmare. He ran from the kitchen and charged up the stairs. When he burst into the room, he saw the black clad figure trying to subdue Brooke.

  Charging to her defense, he leapt across the room and rammed his shoulder into the intruder. The knife flew out of Eddie’s hand and slid across the floor. For a moment Drew had Eddie pinned down.

  He looked over to Brooke and yelled, “Run, get out of here!”

  That brief lapse in the struggle enabled Eddie to push off, and they both scrambled for the knife. Instead of running as her daddy said, Brooke pulled the tape from her mouth and screamed again.

  This time Marta heard it, and the upstairs light in her home blinked on immediately. She looked out the window, saw the ladder and called 911.

  By then Hilbert and Lutz were already in the squad car headed crosstown. They were on Pine Street when the radio crackled and the dispatcher said they had a report of screams coming from the upstairs bedroom of 910 Greenhaven.

  “The caller said there’s a ladder on the east side of the house.”

  That’s when Hilbert turned on the siren. Seconds later the car careened around the corner of Greenhaven and screeched to a stop in front of Bishop’s house. The lights of the Feldman house were on, and Walter was standing on the lawn with a shotgun in his hand. Marta was on Drew’s front porch with the door already opened.

  “Upstairs,” she said as she waved an arm in that direction. There was no mistaking the sounds of a fight and screams of a frightened child.

  “Police!” Hilbert yelled and took the stairs two at a time. Lutz was right behind. Both had their guns drawn.

  Eddie heard them on the staircase. He’d already sliced Drew’s chest and given time he might have been able to take him, but now there was no more time. He knocked Drew to the floor and scrambled back out the window.

  Hilbert burst into the room and found Drew lying on the floor with Brooke clinging to him and crying hysterically. Lutz recognized Drew from earlier in the afternoon.

  “That’s the kid’s father!” he yelled.

  Hilbert bent over Drew, but before he could ask what happened two shots rang out and the sound of breaking glass filled the air.

  “What the hell was that?” Hilbert said.

  He looked out the window and spotted Eddie lying on the lawn. Walter was standing over him with the shotgun still in his hand.

  “Sorry about the window,” Walter hollered up. “My eye’s not nearly as good as it used to be.”

  Although Walter had been aiming for the intruder’s chest, he’d taken out the dining room window with the first shot and nailed Eddie in the leg with the second.

  While they waited for the ambulance to arrive, Lutz cuffed Eddie and recited his Miranda rights to him. It was unlikely Eddie heard much of what was said, because he was doubled over and howling about the pain in his leg. Lutz took the shotgun from Walter and said for the time being they had to hold on to it as evidence.

  “Anyway,” he added, “I think you’ve done enough shooting for tonight.”

  Hilbert remained inside with Drew. He assured Brooke the danger was over, but she continued to sob hysterically. He picked Lucy up and put her in the girl’s arms.

  “I think your puppy is more frightened than you,” he said.

  Still pushed up against her daddy, Brooke cuddled the dog in her arms and then sniffled, “Don’t be afraid Lucy, the bad man can’t hurt us now.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Drew and Eddie were taken to the hospital in separate ambulances. Drew’s injuries were not life threatening but bad enough to require twenty-six stitches and a night’s stay at the hospital. Although she still had the dog in her arms, Brooke refused to leave her daddy and Marta refused to leave Brooke. Once Drew was settled in a room, two reclining chairs were brought in and everyone spent the night there.

  Although the hospital had a strict no pets policy, when Brooke came through the hallway carrying Lucy all three night nurses looked the other way.

  As it turned out, Eddie had a shattered femur in his right thigh and would likely walk with a limp for the rest of his life. After the surgery he was placed in a room with a policeman standing outside the door. There were no visitors allowed, which wasn’t a problem because no one came anyway.

  Realizing what a vengeful nature Eddie had, Alisha became frightened he’d come back looking for her. That same night she called her married sister in Secaucus, New Jersey, and said she was coming home to stay. Before leaving she wrote a letter to her property management company stating that she’d been called out of town and would no longer need the apartment. She apologized for giving such short notice and then dropped her key into an envelope along with the letter. On the way out she slid the envelope under the apartment door of the building superintendent.

  The End of Halfway

  Drew was released from the hospital the next day, but neither he nor Brooke could face going back to the house. The thought of what had happened there was still fresh in their minds and too painful a memory. Although it was over, it wasn’t really over. There were questions to be answered, statements to be taken.

  “Had you ever met either of the brothers before?” the detectives asked. “What about your wife, was there a chance that she knew one of them, from years ago maybe?”

  Until they’d explored every avenue, swept the corners clean and poked into forgotten memories, Drew was asked not to leave town. So he and Brooke checked into the Marriott Suites where, with a small upcharge, dogs were welcomed. The suite had two separate bedrooms with a living room in between and a small efficiency kitchen tucked in the corner. For now it was home. Drew made a few trips back to the house to get the things they needed: some clothes, his laptop, Lucy’s bowls and leash.

  The morning after they checked in, he dashed off several e-mails explaining that there had been a family emergency and he would be unavailable for the next few days. In the afternoon, he and Brooke went to the pool together. At first she just sat on the steps and dangled her legs in the water. Then Drew carried her in and held his hand beneath her tummy as he taught her how to swim.

  Even after she’d learned to stay afloat with no trouble she remained by his side. If he walked back to the lounge for a glass of iced tea or to pick up their sandwiches she watched him with hooded eyes, never letting him go beyond her range of sight.

  That evening after Brooke had gone to bed, Drew placed a call to Jennifer’s parents in California and told them of everything that had happened. With Jennifer’s mother on one extension and her dad on the other, it became a three-way conversation.

  “I think you and Brooke should come to California and live with us,” she said.

  “Absolutely,” the father agreed. “I’m certain I could find some sort of job for you here in our firm.”

  “A law firm?” Drew replied. “I don’t think that’s a place where I’d fit in.”

  “No matter,” Daddy Green said. “If I tell them to hire you they’ll hire you, even if you do nothing but sit around and drink coffee.”

  Drew took a deep breath and held back from speaking his thoughts.

  Hire me as a useless hanger-on? No, thanks.

  “We have plenty of room,” Sylvia added. “You and Brooke would each have your own room, and I could hire a full-
time housekeeper to watch over her.”

  “I think right now Brooke needs more than a housekeeper to watch over her,” Drew said. “She’s frightened, and she needs to be with people who she believes will love her and protect her.”

  “Are you suggesting a bodyguard?” Daddy Green asked.

  “No,” Drew answered. “I’m asking if her grandparents would have time to spend with her. Do things like occasionally driving her to school or taking her to ballet lessons. Brooke needs to realize that she is not alone and doesn’t have to be frightened if she’s out of my sight.”

  There were a few moments of silence. Then Sylvia said, “Well, I suppose Edgar and I could take a week or two off, but with the case load I’ve got two weeks would be sort of stretching it.”

  “I understand,” Drew said, but the truth was he didn’t understand. These people were nothing like Jennifer. They were absorbed in their careers and worried more about the imposition he and Brooke might be, whereas Jennifer had been the most generous person he’d ever known.

  Drew closed his eyes and tried to imagine Sylvia Green bringing the next-door neighbor a box of taffy as a thank you for watering a few geraniums. The picture never came. Even imagining it was a total impossibility.

  “You know how much we love you and Brooke,” Sylvia said. “We’d be delighted to have you live here, but realistically speaking I do think we’d need full-time domestic help to take care of—”

  “No problem,” Drew cut in before she could say it again. “But I think it would be better if we just wait and come for a vacation. Next summer maybe. By then Brooke will hopefully be feeling more secure.”

  “That’s probably best,” Sylvia said. “If you let us know ahead of time when you’re coming, I can arrange a few days off while you’re here.”