BREAKING STEELE (A Sarah Steele Thriller)

by Patterson, Aaron; Ann, Ellie

  Joshua hurried to catch up with me.

  “Don’t think for a minute you’re going to leave me in the car,” Mandy said.

  “Fine,” I said. “But you have to be quiet. I know how you like to talk when you are scared.”

  “I don’t talk when I’m scared. I mean, maybe a little but it’s ‘cause it calms me down, gives me something to think about, something to take me mind off whatever I’m scared of and—oh, god, I’m doing it right now.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, that … don’t do that.”

  We came to the barn and stood together. More police tape stating CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS lined the barn doors. I pulled it free and I touched Mandy on the shoulder, making her jump and mutter a curse.

  “This is where it happened,” Joshua said in a haunted whisper. His black eyes glanced from one corner of the property to the other, taking it all in.

  “Are we even supposed to do this?” Mandy asked, her voice shaking. “Is this legal?”

  “Give me some credit,” I said. “I called the P.D. before I came and got permission. Nobody wants to come out here anymore.”

  I motioned to Joshua and he helped me slide the heavy double doors open. They groaned on their hinges and the sound stopped the crickets’ serenade.

  On my right was the horse trough. The one where Tracy died—drowned all alone and scared. On my left was the grain closet, the one where he’d kept her all day while he was gone. My heart was pounding so hard in my ears I swear Mandy could hear it.

  I went to the middle of the barn and stood there. My mind always worked best when I was still. Imagining the barn as it was when they were in it, I looked it over, trying to notice anything that had changed. I put myself in Williams’ shoes. Where did he go? What did he do? And what kind of evidence would he have left?

  Joshua started near the horse trough and scoured the area one foot at a time. I bet he recognized most of it from the crime scene photos. Mandy stood with her back against the wall, looking frightened.

  Breathing through my nose, I concentrated on the scene playing out in my head. He’d park out front, come through the double doors, walked to the grain closet, and dragged her out. She’d been bound, and too weak to struggle. And then where would he take her?

  One corner of the barn was littered with rotten wood, rusty tools, and hay. It looked like it hadn’t been touched in twenty years. Another corner held a gutted tractor. Another had a small door leading to the back. And the last corner … that was where he would take her.

  There was a clear path in the dust and hay to that corner. It was where the horse trough was. There had been a ratty blanket there, which had been taken for evidence. A pitchfork and shovel leaned against the wall. And then there’d been a stainless steel bucket with granola bar wrappers in it. The autopsy had revealed granola bars and water in Tracy’s stomach, the only things he’d given her to eat.

  The police had combed the area with a fine-tooth comb. It’s where they had collected most of the DNA. Joshua started pacing up and down the area, blocking my view of it.

  My gaze strayed to the back door. I walked over and knelt in front of it. It was getting darker, so I yelled for Mandy to get the flashlights that I’d left in my purse in the car. She complied with a scowl.

  There was something interesting about this back door. A groove lined the floor, and the lock was busted as if it’d been forced open. If Williams always parked in front, why would he need to get out this door? I hadn’t seen anything in the police report about it, so I walked through.

  There was a field in the back. And only a field. A narrow dirt drive circled the barn and led here. Kathleen, the neighbor, hadn’t mentioned seeing two cars. But what if someone had parked back here without her seeing?

  It was the first time I’d thought about it. What if Williams wasn’t the only one there?

  I went back to the doorway and got on my hands and knees. Any evidence I found would be eleven months old. What could survive eleven months out here? I found dead grass, clods of dirt, fresh animal droppings, ancient animal droppings, and tidbits of fur, all stuck around the entrance.

  Mandy came with the flashlights. She didn’t say anything, just held up the light and made the area bright. I murmured a thank you, but didn’t take my eyes off the floor. There were no cigarette butts, no old footprints, or litter of any—wait. I scrambled to the very corner of the barn.

  “I think I found something,” I shouted at the exact same time as Joshua.

  Joshua hurried over. “You go first,” he said.

  I pointed at a candy wrapper lodged in between a crack in the floor. “This might be his.” I looked up at them, and their eyes lit with the significance. “Some people open candy wrappers with their teeth. There might be some saliva on it.”

  Joshua nodded. “That’s good.”

  “It’s so old, and wasn’t caught by the police.” I sat back on my heels. “It’s basically void, but maybe something will come of it.”

  Mandy peered closer. “I think it’s a Jolly Rancher wrapper. Cherry.” She handed me the flashlight. And then she picked up the camera that hung around her neck and started snapping pictures.

  “This could mean Williams wasn’t the only one here,” I said.

  “I don’t know if we could jump to that…” Joshua said with reticence.

  I shrugged. It was just a gut feeling I had.

  “What’d you find?” I asked Joshua when Mandy was done.

  His eyes lit and he led us towards the horse trough. “I think the detectives covered everything, except for what I found on this wall.” He pointed to an area beside the blanket and we stood before it, looking at the rotting slats. I could barely make out something different in the texture. A darkened line or two.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I think he peed on the wall,” Joshua said. Mandy wrinkled her nose. “And then the dirt collected on the liquid and created that pattern.

  “Hmm,” I said. “If it dribbled to the ground, maybe forensics could collect a sample from the ground, too.”

  “I think they should saw off this whole section and see if they can get anything out of it,” Joshua said.

  Urine was a long shot, as the only DNA found it in was from endothelial cells, and they might not be present in the sample after this long. Not to mention the fact that the court would never trust evidence discovered by us. But a long shot was better than no shot. I grinned widely. “You get extra points in your intern scorecard,” I said.

  “There’s an intern scorecard?” Joshua said, adjusting his glasses.

  “No,” I laughed. “But if there was, you’d be a winner.” Joshua accepted my compliment with a smile. “Let’s call the reinforcement in,” I said, taking out my phone. I had to get the detectives out here to collect the evidence.

  “If we did this much in an hour,” Mandy said, snapping pictures of the wall. “I can’t imagine how many cases we’d solve if we worked at it full time.”

  “Yeah, I think we’re in the wrong line of work.” I winked at Joshua. “Let’s go into the private investigator business … hello?” The detective on the case answered and I explained what we’d found. After grumbling about the late hour, and me chiding him that if he’d done his job right in the first place he wouldn’t have to come out here again, he said he was on his way.

  The crickets got quiet again. That was strange. I bent my ear toward the open door. Gravel crunched, a vehicle was pulling into the driveway. And coming fast.

  Mandy frowned. “How could the police get here so fast?”

  Breaks squeaked, and a car door opened. Someone was running towards the barn.

  I did not have a good feeling about this. Joshua froze. I jumped up and ran towards the door. My palms were sweating and I held back the fear creeping up my spine.

  As I neared the door, I heard glass shatter and the door erupted in flames. Mandy screamed. I smelled gasoline, and then heard another crash and a small section of wall exploded with
fire. The wood was dry and rotted, the perfect food for a ravenous flame. Within a second it got so hot that I had to move back, away from the heat.

  I heard another thump against the outside of the wall, and a crash of glass, and flames started climbing up the other wall. It was a near smokeless fire, the wood was so dry. The blaze was going straight for Mandy and Joshua—and the new evidence.

  Grabbing the shovel before flames encased it, I ran for them shouting, “Go for the back door.” My heart slowed and I stayed calm. The more intense things got, the more awareness came to me. It was what being an attorney taught me.

  Mandy shot towards the back. Joshua stayed near the evidence, looking at the wall and then back to the flames as if torn about leaving it. “Go,” I ordered him.

  “Watch out,” he said with panic in his voice, pointing to the approaching flames. A heat wave pinched my skin and curled the hair on my face.

  As I neared the wall I raised the shovel and aimed for the top of the board. With a cry, I slammed the shovel into the wood. It splintered in two, right above the urine stains. The board was ajar, leaning at an awkward angle. I grabbed the bottom of it and wrenched it sidewise, tearing it from the wall just before the flames reached it.

  I followed Joshua at a run. He moved surprisingly fast for his hefty frame. I saw him take out something from his coat jacket—a handkerchief. The fire raged behind us. I heard beams crashing and walls collapsing. Just as he passed the door, in one fluid motion, he bent down and picked up the candy wrapper with the handkerchief.

  The fire reached the door before I did. Sparks shot out of some electrical wires, and I flinched. I wasn’t going to make it in time. Taking a deep breath, I leaped hands first through the exit.

  The doorframe collapsed behind me. A spark landed on my arm, singeing my sleeve, then burst into flames. I clapped my hand over it, quelling the fire. Pain seared my palm.

  I sucked in deep breaths of clean air. Mandy stood at the end of the field, eyes wide and pierced with panic. Beside me, Joshua clutched my arm and pulled me away from the barn.

  It felt like I coughed out all the air in my lungs before breathing felt right. We turned to watch the pillar of smoke rise to the sky. I heard sirens in the distance.

  Collapsing to the ground, I saw the barn fall in. It had been destroyed so quickly. Setting the board down gently beside me, I was thankful we had at least found what we needed. Joshua still held my arm, as if needing a presence near him.

  I trembled, and looked up at Mandy. She was scared, but there was a hard, angry edge about her eyes. I recognized it because it was the way I felt at the moment. We had been so close to dying.

  I wanted to scream, but I was frozen. Orange flames licked up the remaining barn walls and I knew who was behind this. But there was a difference between what was true and what could be proven in court.

  “Is everyone okay?” Joshua tore his eyes from the blaze and looked Mandy and me over.

  “I’m fine,” Mandy whispered.

  Joshua cleared his throat, and looked into my eyes. He didn’t need to say anything; we both knew what the other was thinking.

  Chapter 15

  THE DETECTIVES CAME THE same time the fire engines did. There was no barn left for the firemen to save, so the firemen sprayed down the yard and border of the fields to make sure the fire was contained.

  We handed over the evidence to the detectives, with detailed descriptions of where we found it. They watched as Mandy loaded the pictures onto her phone, emailed each one to them, and then deleted them. We had to make sure no one could suspect us of tampering with the evidence, although I knew we most likely wouldn’t be able to use it. They promised they’d write in their report that they collected the evidence at the scene of the crime so we’d have a stronger case. It was a flat-out lie but I was not feeling like playing by the rules at the moment.

  We rode back to town in silence. Joshua had a soft Hawaiian song playing, almost like a lullaby. He loved Samoan music and had just about every CD ever recorded in Hawaii, it was one of the only parts of his heritage he clung to. The singer crooned us into a near-sleep state.

  My body felt like a train had hit it at full speed, and then backed up to finish the job. My lungs hurt, my eyes ached, and my head felt swollen.

  “Want me to stay at your place tonight, Sarah?” Mandy asked. It was kind. I did want her to stay, but I knew that she didn’t need me right now. She needed Rick. So I refused, saying I’d sleep like a log whether she was there or not. We dropped her off at her house and then Joshua and I went back to the office. We were covered in soot, sweat, and grime. I just needed to pick up my car.

  “You’ve got that meeting with Hannah Williams in the morning,” Joshua reminded me.

  I nodded. “We got a lot covered today. Hopefully we’ll take a few more steps closer tomorrow.”

  Joshua adjusted his glasses and turned to leave. For some reason I reached for him and gave him a big hug. I melted in his arms, and he felt good, and safe.

  Without another word, we went our separate ways.

  I soaked in the bath until my fingers and toes looked like prunes. I went into the water smelling like a cloud of smoke, and came out smelling like vanilla. A layer of grime lined my tub when I drained the water.

  After drying off and brushing my hair I just laid in my bed. The covers were soft and warm against my naked skin.

  I was feeling restless. Although I was tired, I was nowhere near falling to sleep. The adrenaline was still in my body, waking my thoughts. The events of the day reeled through my head like a movie. There were several things I wished I had done, things I would change.

  I wished I had run outside the barn as soon as I heard the car pull into the driveway.

  I wished I’d been there when Williams had got out of his car with those Molotov cocktails.

  I wished I would’ve taken the gas bombs from him, kicked him back into the car, and thrown the bombs in after him.

  This evening I’d been reminded once again what he’d done to Tracy Mulligan—had seen where he raped and beat and killed her. And then he’d tried to kill my friends and destroy the evidence. I had no proof, but I knew it was him.

  One side of me wanted him to come to justice the modern, slow way—through the judiciary system.

  The other side of me wanted him to see justice the ancient, blood-feud way—and watch him burn.

  Chapter 16

  SWEAT POURED OFF THE tip of my nose as I pounded the stair climber. Eminem ripped my heart out in my earbuds and I lost myself in the sound. This was my escape, my world to bend and create what I wanted.

  I had barely slept, and now I was up and doing an early morning exercise. I had a weight problem when I was a kid. I just couldn’t lose the baby fat. And getting made fun of at school led to more eating and at my highest weight I began to have some medical problems. I also ate when I was stressed. And my home environment was the opposite of stress-free.

  I wanted to be healthy, and then that day came …

  It still hurt so much, but in a way, my mom going away on a life sentence was the best thing that ever happened to me. I didn’t like to think about it. But when I worked out, in the middle of punishing my body, I let it drive me.

  Thinking about my mom made me think about my father. He’d never left me, but he’d never been there for me either. In the midst of mom’s craziness, he never stood up for me. That’s why that night … I had done what I did. And even though I longed for him, I knew that I was longing more for the idea of someone than the real person.

  My mom was gone, too, for all intents and purposes. She’s still angry. When I call her, she answers me in monosyllables then hangs up after a minute. I tried to see her the first year but she would not come out of her cell. And it was hard for foster parents to get me there, anyway. So I gave up and took to the gym.

  One hundred pounds later, I was in the best shape of my life. For the first time, men noticed me, and it took me about a year to figure
out how to handle male attention. Most just wanted one thing, and I was not into one-night stands.

  “Just gonna stand there and watch me burn …”

  My legs screamed and I pushed harder, the more they hurt the louder the music, the easier it was to drown out my thoughts. Was it healthy to try to bury all my feelings? Probably not, but I wasn’t ready to stare that monster in the face.

  The song ended and I eased up for a full minute. When my heart rate slowed a little I cranked up the resistance and hit it as hard and fast as I could.

  I thought about Hank Williams and how he was trying to break me. Why? What did he have to gain by pushing me to the edge? Was he really planning to kill me, or was he just scared?

  The worst kind of criminal was one with money and nothing but time on his hands. And Hank Williams had both.

  Chapter 17

  THE DOORBELL RANG AND I jumped. It was barely six in the morning and I’d just stepped out of the shower. Grabbing my robe from the hook on the back of the bathroom door, I wrapped it around me. Who could it be at this hour?

  Peering through the peephole I saw a mass of flowers. Sighing I turned and leaned against the door. My hair was wet and I felt naked, wait … I was pretty much naked under my robe.

  Unlocking the door I smiled as a tall, thin man handed me the roses. A dozen of them, and a card. He had me sign for them and walked away after checking me out. I blushed and shut and relocked the door.

  Who would be sending me flowers? If it was Dan I was going to have to talk to him again, he couldn’t flirt with me like this. He was married and I was not going to sleep with him no matter what he tried.

  I set the vase down and breathed in the wonderful scent. They were amazing, red and full, all in bloom. Taking the card I slid it from the envelope and turned it over. It had a puppy on the front with huge eyes and a silly smile. I laughed in spite of myself and opened it.

  You think you escaped, but all you did was sentence yourself to death. Enjoy the roses.

  HW