by Heidi Angell
Clear struggled to pull herself to her feet. Grant pulled her up, letting her lean on him. “She is at his flat. Well, near his flat. Come on, let’s go get her.”
All Grant wanted to do was to run to his daughter, but looking at Louis he knew that they had to do this right, or Kat and Clear would always be running from this psychopath. He led Clear outside away from the monster and leaned her against the wall.
“You’re sure she is ok?” he asked, looking deeply into her eyes.
Clear looked away from him. “She is alive. She… she is a very strong girl… but, no she is not ok,” Clear whispered.
“Is she in immediate danger? I mean, as long as we have him and Bryce has his dad? Do we have time… time to get her right?”
Clear looked at him a little confused. “I… I don’t…”
Louis began screaming from inside. “I will kill you, you fucking witch! I WILL kill you and that little whore! I swear!!! You will never be safe from me!!”
Grant rested his hand on the hilt of his gun and Clear looked from the gun to him. “Yes,” she said firmly. “She is not in immediate danger. Get your warrant or whatever it is you have to do. She will be okay until we get what we need to lock him away for good.” She sighed. “I… I also know where Bella is. And he wasn’t careful about it.” She shivered. “He will get nailed for that as well. Trust me. He isn’t going to ever be able to hurt Kat, or anyone else, ever again.”
Grant could feel himself relax as she spoke. He pulled out the cell phone and called Bryce.
Bryce was very caught up in the mess back in Peoria, but he got Grant in touch with his partner, a newer detective. Detective Inman listened to the story that Grant and Clear had created to protect Clear and prevent the whole Fruit from the Poisonous tree from biting them in the ass.
They were sitting in the precinct and could still hear Louis screaming down the hall. Detective Inman looked at them both pointedly. “He’s denying everything you are saying.” he sighed. “He says he didn’t tell you anything.”
“Then how would we know this stuff?” Grant asked casually.
Inman shook his head. “Well, according to him, Ms. Angel here is a witch and pried the information from pictures and his own mind.”
Clear chuckled, “Well, it would appear that he is trying to build an insanity plea.” She shook her head. “Although, I suppose that profilers might seem like witches magically getting information from the guilty.”
Inman frowned. He looked to Grant. “You know, you should have brought him in for questioning here,” he said reprovingly.
Grant resisted the urge to punch this insolent little pup, but he put on a contrite face. “We could only have done that if he was an actual suspect. At that point he was only a person of interest, at best. I can’t help that he gave us so much information on-site that we had to proceed there. There wasn’t really time to bring him in or to call you in. Not really.” Grant hoped the kid wouldn’t call his bluff.
The detective rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Do you know what Bryce is up to in Peoria?”
Grant looked to Clear and they both nodded. “We have a fairly general idea, yes,” he responded.
“Well, I think that information should be enough to corroborate your story. I submitted for a warrant. We should get something back soon. I have already started mobilizing a task force.” He stared hard at Grant again. Inman leaned into Grant and Grant leaned in as well. “Look, I get that this is your daughter. I also get that cops look out for each other. But between you and me, there is more to this than you two are telling me. I just want you to know that I know that. And I’m pretty sure Bryce knows it. “ Grant stared him down as hard as he was staring at Grant, not flinching, not even blinking.
The man suddenly leaned back sighing, “And given that we have already found five bodies… I’m guessing nobody else will really care about a junior detective’s opinion that there is more to this. No sense rocking the boat, I suppose.”
Clear took a deep breath and Grant realized that she had been holding it. He glanced at her as Detective Inman answered the phone. She gave him a brief smile. “He really means that,” she whispered. “He won’t say anything.” Grant nodded to her curtly.
“Alright, that’s our go,” Inman announced loudly as he hung up the phone.
Clear and Grant were with Detective Inman as they entered the flat. Grant kept an eye on him so that Clear could do her thing unnoticed. They moved quickly, and Clear was obviously doing her thing quite well. They reached the back stairwell and Clear stopped them. She knelt down and noted some scraping on the ground in front of a book case. Grant and Inman grabbed either side of the shelf and moved it forward. There was a door behind it. The door handle had been removed. Grant reached into it and pulled it back carefully.
The door revealed a room under the stairs. Grant flashed his light around the room. There was nothing else. Clear dropped to her knees feeling around. Grant shone his light down for her to be able to see.
“Here,” she murmured, pointing to a small ridge in the floor board. Grant looked around the room. There was a coat hanger on a hook. He handed it to Clear and she pried the hook up under the lip. As she pulled it up, Grant slipped his flashlight under the ledge then he and Inman grabbed the edges lifting it up. Clear had caught his flashlight so that it would not fall. She was already getting ready to climb down the ladder that had been revealed, but Grant stopped her with a shake of his head. Inman pulled his gun out, and headed down slowly, keeping his light pointed down the whole time. Grant and Clear followed suite.
They reached the bottom and Grant could hear noise. It was muffled. He looked to Clear and she nodded. It was Kat. But where was she? They moved down what appeared to be the space between the walls and suddenly Inman stopped. He indicated a door. Grant came up next to him, following police protocol, despite Clear’s assurance. Inman took one side of the door and Grant took the other. Grant turned the knob, pushing it open and Inman shown the light into the room, taking in all directions quickly. He gave Grant the all clear sign and Grant entered the room, with Inman right behind him. They had entered an old basement area as far as Grant could tell. His light bounced around the room until it alighted on the far corner. There was a large bed and on the bed a girl was flailing frantically. Her arms and legs had been tied to the poster poles and there was a bag over her head, but Grant knew it was his little girl.
He ran to her and pulled the bag off her head. Her face was screwed up in anger and violence and he could tell that she was saying some very nasty things, though he couldn’t understand her shouts because of the rag binding her mouth. He was suddenly bathed in light. Clear had found the light switch. As he reached behind Kat’s head to remove the gag, he saw her suddenly process what she was seeing. Her face went lax with surprise, the muffled cursing stopping. Her eyes went wide with comprehension and she began to sob.
“Shh, sweetie! It’s ok. I’ve got you,” he murmured as he pulled the binding from her mouth and went to work on her arms. He got one free and she wrapped it around him, making it harder for him to get the other hand free. She was sobbing uncontrollably and it took him a moment to realize that she was saying something. As he got the other arm free, she locked onto him and he couldn’t even move. He hugged her back and realized what she was saying.
“I knew you would come for me! I knew you would come for me!” He stroked her hair reassuringly, his throat so tight he couldn’t really speak.
“Of course,” he tried to say, “Of course I came for you.” It was all he could croak out. He clung to her as hard as she clung to him. He was only vaguely aware that Inman was speaking into his radio. “Subject has been recovered.” He didn’t care about anything else, as long as he had his little girl. He knew that they would have to move her soon, but he couldn’t stop hugging her and she wouldn’t let go of him either.
Inman tapped his shoulder. “Alright.” He put his hand on Kat’s shoulder, very gently. “Let’s get you tw
o out of here, yeah?” He smiled at her gently and she just sobbed harder. Grant suddenly realized her legs were free and with effort he scooped her up as he had picked her up a million times when she was little. She wasn’t so little anymore. She wrapped her legs around him and buried her head in his neck still sobbing.
He didn’t know how he did it, but he managed to get her out of that house without putting her down. Out front there was an ambulance and it took all his strength to get her to let go and let the EMT’s check her out.
“I promise, I’m not going anywhere. They just need to check you out.” he whispered soothingly as he held onto her hand. In the early morning light he got a good look at her. She was pale and drawn. Her hair was matted and filthy. She had easily lost ten pounds, ten pounds that she didn’t have to lose. Her clothing was rumpled and falling off of her. He patted her hand.
She wiped at her face with dirty hands smearing more dirt across her face as she wiped her tears away. “I must be a mess.” she whispered through cracked lips. He could tell that the sedative the EMT had given her was starting to kick in.
“No… you are the most beautiful sight in the world!” he assured her, cradling her face in his hand. “You are alive and…” He almost choked with the emotion. “And you will be fine.” He smiled at her. “You haven’t been more beautiful since the day you were born.” he whispered. She threw her arms around him to the EMT’s agitation. Grant shrugged at the guy and he nodded back.
“Well,” the EMT said. “We need to take her in to check her out properly, but.. you’re right. She is going to make it.” He reached out for her. “Come on miss, let’s get you to the hospital.” The panic and terror flashed through her eyes and the EMT said soothingly. “Your dad can ride with you. No problem.” She looked to either one then nodded. The EMT helped her in.
“Just a second,” Grant said. “I need to call your mom. What hospital are we headed to?” Grant asked the EMT.
“Northwestern Memorial.”
Grant nodded and pulled his cell out. “Hey Laura. We got her. She is ok. Meet us at Northwestern.” He hung up and climbed up into the ambulance with Kat.
As they pulled out Grant looked through the back window, hoping to see Clear. He knew that she was probably leading them to Bella’s body now. He hoped she was ok.
Chapter Nineteen
Clear was emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted. She had led them right to Bella’s body, just as she knew that she could. She sat dully watching them load the poor girl’s body into a body bag. Louis had not wanted to keep the bodies as trophies like his father had done. He did want to be able to visit the girls every now and again, though.
As sick and twisted as he was, he had a certain fondness for Bella. He had kept her close, burying her near a koi pond in the shared courtyard behind the flats. Clear couldn’t fathom how he had been able to bury her with no one noticing. But the smell was not noticed because of several garden boxes put in by the other citizens. The freshly mulched dirt stunk. Anyone smelling her would have assumed it was from the boxes. He had buried her near a tree and that may have provided extra cover in the dark, then he had covered the burial site and the whole base of the tree with stones. His contribution to the beautification project; his neighbors had thought he was so very generous.
Clear shook her head, fighting back tears. She felt someone standing behind her and turned to find Inman watching her.
“Well, I guess our job is done here,” Inman said matter-of-factly. Clear nodded, watching them take Bella’s body to the ambulance.
“So, where to? Do you want to go to the hospital?” Inman looked around, obviously uncomfortable with the fact that she was about to cry again.
Clear sighed. She didn’t want to intrude on Grant and his family at this time. She knew Laura despised her. “You know, it has been a really long week,” Clear said. “Can you take me to a motel?”
Inman looked at her for a moment then shrugged. “Yeah, I think I can arrange that. Then what will you do?”
Clear shrugged. “Sleep. I don’t really have any plans past that.”
Inman helped her up and they got into his SUV. “You know you will have to come back for the inquest,” he said as he turned onto a side street.
Clear nodded. “I suppose.”
“I think I have everything else we need until then. So, how long are you going to stay in Chicago?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Clear murmured. She didn’t want to drive back to Montana with Grant. Besides, she didn’t think he would be leaving any time in the very near future. She certainly couldn’t see herself hanging around as he took care of his daughter. Kat was tough, but she had been through a lot. She was going to need him for a while.
“If you don’t need me for anything else, I’ll probably leave tomorrow or the next day.” She rubbed her eyes and could feel the grime. Shower, then the bed. Definitely.
“Any preference on a hotel?” Inman asked, eyeing her.
“Somewhere reasonably priced,” Clear sighed. How much would it cost to get a flight out of Chicago? Maybe she would be better off getting a rental. The thought of that long drive by herself was even worse.
“This is cheap, but safe. No ordering in, though.” Inman looked to her and she glanced up. It was your typical motel.
Clear turned to him with a smile. “I think I’ll be fine. Thanks.”
Inman came in with her and got her a police discount on the room. “Thanks,” she smiled. “Well, until next time, I suppose.” She headed up to the room. She didn’t have a change of clothes or any food. The little soap and hair products did not look promising, but there was a cheap robe made of the same material as the towels.
Better than putting on dirty clothes, she figured. Clear sighed as she turned the water on full blast, stripped down and climbed in the shower. The water wasn’t hot enough to scrub away the filth she had felt in that man’s mind. But it slowly released all the built up tension in her shoulders. She scrubbed her hair thoroughly with the cheap products and then scrubbed her skin until it stung, but she still couldn’t feel clean.
Settling for just standing under the water and letting it rinse her body, she leaned against the wall and cried. When she realized she was starting to fall asleep in the shower, she forced herself to turn the water off, wrap her hair in a towel and slip the robe on. She stumbled blearily into the room and collapsed on the bed, too tired to even climb under the blankets.
Chapter Twenty
Clear awoke to someone banging on the door. She was extremely cold, and realized that was probably because her hair was still damp and the towel had slipped free. Pulling the robe tighter around her body, she stumbled to the door, feeling like death. Peeking out the window, she was surprised to see Detective Inman. He had her bags. She slipped the lock and opened the door, keeping it tight and just poking her head out.
“Um hi,” she said groggily. The smell of hot greasy food greeted her nose.
“Hi,” Inman nodded. “I’m sure you are probably still pretty tired, but I figured I should bring you some clothes and food for later, if you want?”
“Wow, um… thanks.” She felt very rude not letting him in, so she opened the door, standing behind it. “Come on in, I guess.”
He walked in and set her bags on the bed. “I.. well, I got food for both of us… but if you’re not up to it, then… I’ll just get mine and go.”
Although it was very forward, Clear admired his blush and realized that he was extremely nervous.
“Uh, no. It’s fine. I.. just… well, let me change. I’ll be right back.” She pulled her bag open and grabbed some clean clothes then bolted to the bathroom. She threw the clothes on quickly and gave herself a once over in the mirror. She tried to fluff her hair out, but it was still completely soaked. She threw it back up in the towel. Sadly that looked better than the alternative.
She came out of the bathroom, a little embarrassed, but starving.
Inman smiled at
her. “You look…”
“Like crap?” Clear scoffed.
“… No, like you’ve been through hell,” Inman said with a wry grin. She could feel herself flushing. He was too perceptive and that scared her.
“You don’t really do this much? Do you, ranch lady?” he asked, forcing a casual tone.
“I would have thought you would have your hands full with everything… yet you found time to go researching me?” Clear tried to seem glib, but was pretty sure he wasn’t buying it, with his piercing eyes. She was somewhat surprised that the only thought going through her head was that his eyes were like a stormy sky. She kind of liked that.
“Well, I guess the cop in me just won’t quit.” He bit into his sandwich offering her one as well. She sat on the bed next to the table, not comfortable sitting so closely to him.
“Thanks,” she murmured. Ignoring his questioning gaze, she bit into the burger.
“So?” he pulled her attention back to him.
“So?” She returned his steady gaze.
He smiled and offered her a drink. She took it.
“Really?” he asked.
She just shrugged.
He chuckled, “Come on, you aren’t gonna give me anything?”
“I don’t make that a habit, no,” Clear replied tightly.
He sucked air through his teeth. “Hmm… so, you won’t even tell me why you came here? Why a smart girl with a Doctorate in Psychology, turns all that education away and instead runs a horse ranch?”
Clear leaned back on the bed, gazing out the window. “There’s good money to be made in horses.”
He stared at her, waiting.
“Why?” she asked flabbergasted.
“Because… I’m curious about you, Clear Angel.”
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Clear murmured.
“Ahhh… but satisfaction brought him back,” Inman replied cheekily.
