Ding Dong!! Is She Dead?

by Alathia Morgan

  He was watching Mike to make sure that he approved of the methods that he had used.

  “Were you able to see Sally? Was she with that woman?” Mike asked.

  His friend fidgeted while he tried to explain, “No, Mike. Man, I’m sorry, but when she left the hospital there was no sight of Sally. I listened at the briefing this morning and they said that Sally wouldn’t be returning to school until this had been resolved. I don’t know what they think you were going to do to your own daughter. I mean really, if Megan hadn’t tried to escape what she had coming to her then you wouldn’t be in this mess.”

  Listening to him ramble on, Mike realized that this was the very reason that the local and state police hadn’t caught him yet. They were just too incompetent to deal with someone that had real police training. He knew that since his little visit to Megan’s hospital room, they had been chasing their tails trying to find out where he was.

  “Do you have anything else that you want me to do tomorrow, Mike? I could plant a bomb in the woman’s car so that it takes her out for being so meddlesome?”

  He looked so hopeful that Mike would give him permission to hurt Allie.

  “Not yet, dude. You have done such a great job that I don’t want you to get caught or you might have to come hide out here with me. You know if we do too much too soon, then they could figure out what we are up to. I don’t want to cause any trouble man. Let’s see what they do tomorrow about it. I would love to see those pictures though, so put this new SD card in the camera and I will look at those later.”

  Mike wanted to keep his friend happy, but not give him more information than he really needed. Mike got up to walk him back to the truck.

  “You head on home. Otherwise your wife will be wondering where you are. I know that you are getting lots of overtime, but we don’t want to give her any reason to check up on you right, man?”

  Mumbling he climbed into the truck and promised to text Mike if anything new developed.

  Mike was so relieved when he left. He knew that the odds that he would be able to get his family back together were almost nil. Instead, he planned to punish Megan until he could get Sally away from her. There were always places for a man with his kind of connections to go.

  There were places that were off the grid, but he didn’t want that horrible woman to have his daughter any longer than necessary. As for that bitch that was helping his wife, he had plans for her, but it would take some planning to get her away from all of the police protection that was surrounding her at the moment. Since his friend had managed to scare them, it would allow them to chase their tails looking for him on cameras and trying to find him when he hadn’t been closer than 10 miles from that woman all day.

  Mike sat back on the porch and grabbed another beer to help him clear his head to better plan how to get back what was right fully his.

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  Allie hung out at the hospital for the rest of the day and then they snuck out later that night to go back to the hotel. Since Megan was going to be released tomorrow, they would go shopping to get anything that she would need while she recuperated.

  They were not going to remove the lockdown security from the hospital so that Mike would not be able to tell when Megan left. Hopefully he would be looking for her there instead of immediately searching the area.

  They were hoping that would it give her a few more days to get on her feet without having to worry about when she might be attacked again.

  Sally was super excited that her mother was going to be hanging out because she had really missed her. They cleaned up the hotel room and packed up all of the stuff because they would be moving to an extended stay hotel.

  Karen was with them and they were becoming good friends as they got to hang out and get to know each other. They went to the store for groceries that could be microwaved or meals that could be easily fixed, like sandwiches.

  There was no way to get Megan’s clothes from the storage unit so Allie bought her some comfy pjs and t-shirts. She wouldn’t have to worry about how she looked while she was recuperating. Sally was helping pick out the outfits so poor Megan had Minnie Mouse on one set and Tinkerbell on another. They got her some plain shorts and then found lots of T-shirts to choose from, but Allie made sure that all the sayings were kid friendly. If Megan hated them then they could always return them or let Sally have an extra night shirt.

  They grabbed some lunch while they were out and then Karen went to check into the new place while they waited in the car.

  Once she had the room keys, they unloaded the car. It took several trips since they were all staying together so that neither Sally nor Allie were left unprotected.

  There were two adjoining suites so that Karen and Allie would be in one room and Sally and her mom would be in the other. Knowing how much Sally had missed her mom, she would be cuddled up in bed with her once she got settled.

  They were going to sneak her out through the ER like they had before. They were going take her to one of the nursing homes first and then take her out the back in a regular car so that he wouldn’t be able to watch the whole building at one time.

  All of the extra precautions that the police were taking seemed a little excessive, but with all of the crazies that had taken guns and started shooting up places they did not want a repeat of those types of incidents in their town. Especially since, Mike had been one of the lead officers in the Sheriff’s office it would allow him to put on his old uniform. People wouldn’t think twice by allowing him in to a crime scene. Most people respected the uniform and didn’t think to look at the person’s identification. Mike’s I.D. was still current so even that wouldn’t help catch him.

  It was late Wednesday afternoon before the car showed up with Megan. Officer Karen went down to help her from the car to the lobby and up to their rooms that way the other car did not linger for very long. Megan looked exhausted from the trip up the elevator, so they helped her straight into bed. The hospital had given her scrubs since her original clothes had blood on them, and had been cut off when she arrived.

  She had been in bed for over a week and was feeling better, but she needed a lot more recovery before she did more than go to the bathroom on her own for a few more days at least.

  Sally was so excited that she was there, she told Megan about everything they had done to get ready for her arrival. Allie finally convinced Sally that her mother wasn’t going anywhere so she left her to go in the other room to do her homework while her mother rested.

  Allie had picked up a few books to read when she was at the store so she got started on one while there was a chance to enjoy the quiet.

  Officer Grayson, Julie, would be coming over later that evening to give Karen a chance to go out and rest from the constant surveillance.

  It was a going to be a simple evening since Megan had over extended herself. Moving so much and to several vehicles so quickly, she was completely exhausted.

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  After Julie arrived, Karen left for some rest. They decided that sandwiches would be the easiest to prepare since Sally wanted to be in charge. Allie watched over the proceedings to make sure that everything they put together was edible.

  Wheel of Fortune was on, so they had a fun time trying to guess and solve the puzzle. While they were trying to decide what to watch next, a phone began to ring. Knowing that Officer Julie was the only one with a phone, they were puzzled.

  Megan pointed at her bag, “I think I put the phone in there.” Sally quickly found it and brought it to her mother.

  “It’s David Jones. He thought that I should have a prepaid phone in case we need to call him or the police. It won’t be as easy to trace as the hotel phone numbers would be.”

  Megan called him back and they talked for a few minutes.

  “I think that someone is being very helpful, don’t you?” Allie grinned at Julie. “I think we need to find out what David Jones is up to with our Megan. I don’t believe she has any idea that he is
completely smitten with her.”

  Julie agreed, “He was there most of the weekend just making sure that she had company. Not that I wasn’t right there, if she needed me. I mean, you would think that she would be skittish around a guy, but who knows?”

  “Do you think that he is a good guy? I mean I would hate for her to be taken advantage of in a new situation before she can recover emotionally.” Allie kept glancing at Sally to make sure that she was occupied.

  “I think that he is from a really great family. They are well known in the community for helping others and being Christians. If he can give her enough space to work through it all, then I think it might be okay. She has a long road ahead of her and is still in shock that this could happen to her.”

  “I don’t think that ‘you know who’ is done yet. It could get even worse than it already has up till now. He has a vicious streak which is why he hasn’t been promoted even though he had all the right credentials.”

  “David will have to be very patient and let her grow her own wings before she will be able to accept that anything could be going on. They may friends for a long time.” Julie had been watching the way that Megan accepted David’s friendship.

  “I think that Megan is still so naïve that she will not see what he is offering and then she will be so embarrassed that she didn’t see it coming. It should be fun to watch and see how this progresses.”

  “Well, I think he seems okay so far, but I am not a very good judge of men either.” Allie hadn’t had more than a few dates since she had come to Texas, and there just hadn’t been any sparks with any of the guys she had gone out with.

  “Maybe we just don’t need to dream about the fairytale, because those guys don’t really exist. I mean I have found some nice guys, but who knows what they are really like when they are at home? This whole situation is one reason that I haven’t tried to look very hard. I’m just too cynical about what men really want to have a good relationship.”

  Allie agreed with Julie knowing that she really didn’t even know what to look for since there had never been any good examples when she was growing up. She had been lucky that all of her foster families had been fairly decent to her. Family, with them, had meant stay out of the way and we won’t hurt you or send you to the next home. If you are good, we will let you have some dinner and then you get to go to your room until school in the morning.

  “Well I hope that this guy doesn’t hurt her, but how anyone could hurt her worse than Mike is hard to imagine? Anything would be better than him, right?”

  Allie would just watch and see how things played out. What did she know? This guy might really only be trying to help her. Yeah, right.

  Megan hung up and turned her attention back to them, with a blush on her cheeks.

  “He was just checking to make sure that we were all settled in and that there hadn’t been any problems. I assured him that besides being tired, we were doing just fine.”

  They voted to watch You’ve Got Mail since it was appropriate for Sally as well. By the time it was over, both Sally and Megan were out; so Julie and Allie tucked them in. Julie checked to make sure that the doors were secure while Allie went to take a shower.

  Allie felt like she was escaping to the bathroom because it had been days since she had been totally alone. She showered and then filled the tub to just soak in the peace and quiet. She had been under so much pressure that the warm water helped soak out all of the stress.

  Allie had no idea how long she could stay in this hotel cooped up with three other women. She sincerely hoped that they would let her go to work on Friday because she needed an outlet to release these pent up emotions.

  At this point she would have taken house arrest just to have a day to herself. She had never realized exactly how much she had closed her world to exclude everyone. When she was out or working she interacted with people; but once she got home for the night, she was simply a lonely person.

  Allie thought to herself that, “Geez, I should have gotten a cat to start a collection that would fit in my old lady lifestyle. I definitely needed to change some of my habits to include more friends and some time out with them.”

  Julie finally knocked, “Um, Allie are you going to stay in there all night? I was hoping that you could stay out here and keep an eye on things while I showered. It’s almost midnight.”

  Hearing the knock had startled her out of her self-reflecting pity party.

  “Sure, I’ll be right out.” She jumped up and started the tub draining while she quickly dried off and threw on her jammies.

  Opening the door, “I’m sorry it was so peaceful and I got carried away by Calgone.” Allie tried to say it with a straight face, but didn’t succeed.

  Julie burst out laughing and quickly covered her mouth when she remembered those sleeping in the other room.

  “I remember those old commercials, ‘Calgone take me away’ and then the lady would put her hand on her head and sigh. Oh, thanks, girl. That takes me back.”

  Allie realized that while this time would always be remembered as a stressful era in her life, she had grown roots and made some friendships that would last long past the crisis that they were going through.

  Allie checked on the other room while Julie was in the shower and then went ahead and got in bed. She was asleep before Julie got out and didn’t hear anything until Sally jumped on her bed the next morning.

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  Trying to be considerate of Megan, they let Sally stay in their room from 7 a.m. when she jumped on Allie’s bed until 11a.m. when they just couldn’t keep her quiet any more.

  Since she had the undivided attention of two ladies, her homework was quickly finished and Allie started her on a puzzle that only took two hours to complete.

  Julie helped Megan get up and into the shower while Allie helped Sally get ready for lunch. They spent the day watching movies and painting nails, just having a regular old girls day in. Other than a few calls to make sure that they were okay, nothing happened.

  Friday, they were all sick of each other and were very glad when Officer Karen showed up to switch out with Julie.

  Allie collected all of her things and headed back with Julie so that she could catch up on her work and get ready for the evening at the bar.

  Hugging Megan and telling Sally to be good for her mom, she left promising to get a new cell phone and call them to make sure that everything was going okay.

  Almost skipping out to the car, Allie was very ready to head home. Julie looked around and didn’t spot anything remiss so there was a good chance that they were still hidden.

  They got to discuss the situation in greater detail since they didn’t have to worry about Megan and Sally. The trip seemed to go by so fast that they arrived quickly up at the hospital where Allie picked up her car.

  Julie continued to follow her to her house and then made sure that everything was still safe. Everything looked the same, so Allie promised to stay inside until 5 o’clock when it was time for her to go to work.

  Resetting the alarm, the first thing that Allie did was to spin in circles; she was so excited to be back in her quiet house. She got started on work, answering e-mails and returning phone calls.

  She had explained the situation to her team in an e-mail letting them know that it would be a little while longer. Also, that she would be able to have a team meeting soon to make sure that they could make their goals for the next quarter.

  Allie made herself lunch and then took a nap so that she would have enough energy for the evening ahead. Sleeping more soundly than she had all week, Allie was certain that just being in her own bed had something to do with it.

  Feeling refreshed, Allie got dressed and put her makeup on while waiting for her escort to show up. Waiting was difficult because they were hoping that Mike would follow her to her job or make some kind of move since nothing had happened in several days. They were thinking that he really had no idea where the girls had been and was just waiting for a ch
ance to find out where they were hiding.

  Allie took out all the old food from her fridge and collected the trash since she hadn’t been home and needed to fill the time until they called.

  When Kevin called and said that Julie was ready to head out, she grabbed her keys and placed her wallet in her backpack so that she could carry the trash out. Placing it right outside the door, she set the alarm and locked up. Picking up the trash, she walked around to the dumpster while keeping an eye out for anything unusual.

  At her car she got down and looked under it to make sure that there weren’t any bombs under it just waiting to go off. Then she opened the door and popped the hood to make sure there wasn’t anything in there out of place. Knowing that she was being really cautious, but she hadn’t seen anyone around her vehicle while she was inside. Allie went ahead and the car started with no problems.

  Arriving at work Allie parked her car under the lamp, where it could be seen from the front door. Allie was so thankful to be at work. She wasn’t worried about Julie who was going to be looking out for her, but knew that she could count on her to protect her. She felt safe here because it was her own environment that was simply an extension of home to her. Sure it was only a bar, but some days it felt like the Cheer’s bar where everybody knew your name. Allie had never had a real home and this was the closest to that feeling that she had ever had.

  Talking to her coworkers, Allie could only say that she had been out of town with friends. Soon there wasn’t time to worry about it because the bar got busy as the evening progressed, a normal Friday night.

  Allie was pulling double duty by making drinks and waitressing at the same time because they were short staffed. That’s why about 10 p.m. she noticed a new set of people come in and take their place around the pool tables that had been vacated earlier. Since, there were guys and girls in the group, Allie didn’t really give it much thought until she turned to get the last person’s order running straight into his chest.

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