Through the Fog

by Michael C. Grumley

  Then he blew it. She wasn’t ready when he returned the affection. He should have known better. He should have waited. She clearly needed more time to dissolve her marriage, but he rushed it. God, he was so stupid.

  It was when she stopped seeing him that he panicked. He had to explain. He had to make sure that she knew; that she knew he understood. He was foolish and had made things difficult for her. He had to make sure she knew that he would wait as long as it took. He wouldn’t pressure her again. It could all go back to how it had been.

  Then came the restraining order. It was more than unnecessary; it was devastating. He couldn’t understand why she would do that. Why, after what they had together, would she want to hurt him? He couldn’t call her; he couldn’t see her. He was angry. Eventually it dawned on him. He remembered that he was sitting in his basement when he realized what happened. She hadn’t given up on them. She probably didn’t even want to issue the restraining order. It was her husband. Obviously, he had discovered something and become jealous. He realized Shannon had stronger feelings for another man and couldn’t stand it. And he was a cop, so he would have no trouble getting a restraining order.

  Roa had pieced it together. Her husband was afraid of losing Shannon, so he gave her an ultimatum. And what does a man use against a woman to make her stay? Her child.

  There was only one flaw in her husband’s plan. Roa was not going to let Shannon’s husband do that to her. He and Shannon had a relationship that no one else did; it was a bond that no one else could even understand. He would not sit idly by and watch her be manipulated and controlled by a jealous husband, a piece-of-trash cop.

  Roa paused when he noticed the note in his hands, glowing in the light from the fire. It had been pinned to the wall with all the pictures. It was the note. The one he used to get Ellie.

  Written in Shannon’s own hand, the small, yellow notepaper simply read, “Come to my office,” and was signed “Dr. Mayer.” She had once left it for him on the front door of her office suite when her receptionist was gone. Roa saved it, just as he saved everything else she’d given him.

  Roa became committed to getting Ellie away from her manipulative father, and finally, after months of planning, he had done exactly that. He found out which police department Dennis Mayer worked for, then found the calendar for Ellie’s school online. By studying the calendar and asking a few questions, he found the ideal day to get Ellie. It was one of the busiest days of the school year and one that also fell on the day Dennis Mayer normally picked her up from school.

  Roa studied up on Mayer’s top cases, and when it was time, he made an anonymous call with enough leading information to distract Mayer and his team. It bought Roa just enough time to find Ellie at school. Fortunately for him, she always waited for her parents around the corner from the main pickup area, where there was less of a traffic jam. Dressed in a suit, Roa got out of his car calmly, approached Ellie, and explained that her mother had sent him to pick her up. He showed her the note her mother had written. It was enough to get Ellie into his car. They were on the freeway before Ellie began to suspect something was wrong. By that point, it was too late.

  He held the yellow note in his hand and felt it for the last time. That was eighteen months ago, an eternity to wait for Shannon. But he was patient. Love was worth waiting for. He had to allow time for the public to forget about Ellie before he could get her out of the country, to a place where Shannon could finally meet them. When they were safe, he planned to call her from a public phone in South America and let her know that they had made it. Then she could finally join them and have the kind of family she deserved, just the three of them.

  Roa was elated; his hands began to shake. There had been so much to do. So much preparation, and now it was almost over. Everything was packed; everything was cleaned. In less than an hour they would head to the Los Angeles Airport and buy two one-way tickets to Miami.

  Security for travelers in the United States had never been tighter, but there were still ways to get out unnoticed. Ellie had promised to cooperate for obvious reasons. So with new passports and a disguise they should have no problem getting to the East Coast. From there, they would leave through one of the last unsecured routes left: the Florida Keys.

  A sailboat was reserved and waiting in Key West for a John Hernandez and his nine-year-old daughter, both citizens of Saint Kitts. They would sail due south and land in Havana, Cuba, by nightfall, where they would then board a plane and fly directly to Chile.

  He thought again of Ellie and how she was finally opening up to him. She was so pretty and looked just like her mother. The same hair, the same eyes, even the same mannerisms. She looked so much like Shannon. So very, very much.

  Roa tossed the note and the last of the pictures into the fire and watched them burn. It was a fitting end. In just a few days, the entire house would be bulldozed to the ground, and he and Ellie would be long gone.

  It was the site of the first commercially successful oil well in the western United States, dubbed Number 4. The drill would eventually take its place in history, becoming the longest continually operating oil well in the world, not closing until over a hundred years later. In the 1870s, the sheer production from the drill spawned the birth of a nearby town called Mentryville, named after the well’s original and extremely charismatic driller, Charles Alexander Mentry.

  It was Mentry’s original team that established the area, building houses along the ridge of the large canyon. One team member was Charleston Roa, an Irish immigrant who built a large house for his young bride; a house that would stay in the family for generations.

  The dozens of old roads and trails running through the canyon also meant there were multiple ways out.

  Sam Roa was still standing by the fireplace, watching the last of the embers die out, when he heard it. It was a sound he knew well.

  Living alone on twenty acres of land held several very distinct advantages, one of which was the ability to hear cars coming up the long dirt road from very far away.

  Roa turned toward the front window and, in a smooth motion, reached back to retrieve his gun from its holster. Then he turned off all the lights.

  Shannon’s BMW quietly rolled to a stop. She turned off both the engine and the headlights, staring at the silhouette of what appeared to be a large, old house. Everything suddenly became eerily quiet.

  “Is this the house, Evan?” she asked in a low voice.

  Evan sat up in the back seat and peered through the front window. “Yes.”

  Shannon could feel her anger quickly replaced by fear. She was so intent on getting here that she hadn’t given much thought to what she would do when she arrived.

  “I think Ellie was in the basement,” Evan added.

  Shannon looked out the driver’s side window and could just make out the dark shapes of a small barn and a water tank. Closer to the house, she could clearly see a car parked beside the porch. It was facing them, but appeared empty. She took a deep breath and reached into her purse next to her, pulling out the small handgun she’d taken from her husband’s collection. God, where was Dennis?

  Shannon knew she should wait for the sheriffs, but had no idea when they would arrive, or if they would show up at all. The deputy who’d answered the phone there told Tania they would send someone out, but that was all she said. It could take a while, and the house already looked deserted. What if he’d already left with Ellie? Shannon wasn’t about to keep waiting in her car knowing it could give Roa an even more significant head start.

  Shannon nervously slid the gun into her coat pocket and took the keys out of the ignition so the car wouldn’t make any sound when she opened the door.

  She put her hand on the door handle before pausing to glance over her shoulder at the silhouettes of Evan and his mother. “Wait here. I’m gonna go have a look around.”

  In the dark, she couldn’t see the worry on
Evan’s face. “I don’t think you should do that,” he whispered. “I think this man is dangerous.”

  The outline of Shannon’s head didn’t move. “I know that. But if he’s already left with her, then every minute counts. I’ll be careful. If I hear them inside I’ll come back, and we’ll wait for the sheriff.”

  “Do you promise?”

  “I promise.”

  With that, Shannon quietly opened the door and eased her foot down onto the dead grass beneath the car. She stood up and gently closed the door, carefully pushing it shut with her hip. Only the faintest click could be heard. She scanned the area but couldn’t see anything other than groups of trees and the road she’d come in on.

  Shannon took her first step and cringed at the crunching sound the ground made under her shoe, even with the thin layer of grass on top. She moved more gingerly with her second step and managed to make significantly less noise.

  Stopping several times to listen, she delicately tiptoed across the open area, heading for the left side of the house, where the car was parked. When she reached it, she stopped to listen again and then peered through the car’s side windows. She couldn’t make much out in the dark: several plastic bags and what looked like a larger duffle bag on the floorboard. Shannon stepped back and took in the whole car. It was a silver Honda Accord. What she didn’t know was that that make and color was one of the most common cars in the United States.

  Shannon looked over the roof of the car to the house. She couldn’t see any lights or hear anything inside. Her heart began to sink. Were they already gone? Had she gotten there too late?

  She continued moving past the car toward the back of the house. The area was unkempt, with old tools leaning against the side of the house and a lawn that was long gone. Hearing nothing, she approached the stairs to the raised back porch, gently placed her right foot on the first step, and cautiously applied pressure. It remained quiet. Gradually, she increased her weight until she was sure the board wouldn’t give her away and then tried the next one. One step at a time, she made it to the top without any problems. But when she got close to the back door, one of the wooden planks let out a loud squeak. She froze. Not because of the squeak itself, but because the noise had come from a board behind her, not the one she was standing on.

  In the car, Evan whispered nervously to his mother. “We have to do something.”

  Although obscured by the darkness, his mother shook her head. “No Evan, we don’t. We need to wait until the police get here.”

  “And what if they don’t? Or they take too long? What if the man is still here? Dr. Mayer is all by herself.”

  “Evan, we can’t get help if we’re all caught together.” His mother reached into her purse and retrieved her phone. “We stay here. But if the police don’t show up in ten minutes or we hear something, we call 911. Okay?”

  Evan remained silent. She couldn’t tell whether he agreed or not.

  Shannon remained frozen. She could hear a heavy footstep behind her. She gasped and held her breath when a gun barrel was pressed into the small of her back.

  A voice whispered in her ear. “How many?”

  “Just me,” she lied.

  There was a long pause as Roa looked around the yard. “Turn around,” he instructed.

  Shannon turned slowly, almost shuffling, until she was looking directly into his dark eyes.

  “Shannon!” Roa exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  The sight of him made her stomach turn. She had once thought she would never have to see him again. “You know what I’m doing here,” she sneered.

  He was both surprised and excited to see her. It was not the reaction Shannon was expecting.

  “You’re here,” he said. “You’re finally here!”

  “What?”

  The glee was spreading across his face. “We’ve waited so long. I wasn’t expecting to see you, at least not yet. My God, you’re so beautiful!” His tone was becoming almost giddy, as he returned his gun to the holster at his back.

  Shannon narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What . . . are you talking about?”

  “You knew,” Roa smiled. “Didn’t you? Of course you knew. I knew you would understand what all this was about. But I certainly didn’t expect you to just show up,” he added with a chuckle.

  Shannon’s mind was racing, but she tried to keep her attention on his words. She just wanted to know about Ellie, and to figure out how to get them both away from this lunatic alive. Where was Ellie? Was she all right? She just wanted her daughter, but her gut was warning her about Roa’s ramblings. He didn’t seem nervous or afraid. He looked . . . elated. How could that be? How could he be elated if he just got found out?

  “I have everything together,” he said excitedly. “The trip, the house, everything. No one is going to find us.”

  “Us?”

  Roa nodded. “I have to admit, Ellie . . . had a little trouble for a while, but she’s coming around now. She’s talking, asking questions. She’s even started calling me by name. Of course, once she sees you I’m sure she’ll come out if it in no time.” He took an excited breath and grabbed her arm with his large, rough hand. Shannon tensed.

  “It’s okay!” He smiled. “Don’t worry, everything’s fine. Everything’s planned.”

  “Planned for what?”

  “For us.” He gave her a playful frown. “Don’t tell me after all this time you didn’t know what I was doing.”

  Shannon didn’t answer. She was getting a very sick feeling.

  “Look,” he continued, “I know this is probably a little overwhelming, but don’t worry. I’ve got everything worked out. Like I said, I wasn’t expecting you, and honestly it was lucky you showed up when you did. I was—” Roa suddenly stopped, with his last words almost ringing in the air.

  He remained still, staring at her, and slowly raised an eyebrow. He tilted his head slightly. “Wait a minute, how did you know I was leaving with Ellie tonight?”

  Shannon’s heart was still racing, beating faster each time he said Ellie’s name. And while he talked, Shannon had been wondering how long it would take before he pondered that very question. Clearly there was something demented going on in his head, some kind of “plan.” She didn’t know what it was, but he’d referred to the three of them as “us” and was clearly excited she was there. Regardless of his intentions, Roa was now realizing that Shannon wasn’t there for the reason he thought.

  “I knew you understood why I took Ellie,” he said. “That you knew what I was doing: removing her as leverage for your husband to use against you. Your silence over the last eighteen months showed me that you understood. That you believed in me. You knew it was a necessary evil, until we could be together.” Roa’s eyes now displayed a look of worry. “You knew all that, right?”

  Again, Shannon didn’t answer. Her mind was spinning, as she tried desperately to figure a way out of this that wouldn’t get them killed.

  “But if you knew that, and were waiting for me to contact you . . . why are you here, and how did you know tonight was the night?”

  Shannon recognized she had to do something, and quickly. She cleared her throat and blurted out, “I couldn’t wait.”

  Roa’s eyes opened in surprise. As she saw him begin to process her answer, Shannon quickly reached out and put her hand on his arm.

  The physical contact distracted him. He looked down and then back up at her with a swelling sense of joy. “I-I didn’t . . . expect you.” He smiled broadly. “But it doesn’t matter. We can still go. We can all go together.” He put his arm around her and turned them toward the old wooden door. “Come on, come on!” He opened the door and nudged her forward affectionately, stepping in behind her and turning on the inside light.

  He watched as Shannon nervously scanned the room. It looked deserted. Only the small green table and chairs remained,
pushed neatly into the corner. When her eyes circled back to him, he caught sight of her face in the light. “You look so beautiful, Shannon.”

  “Thank you,” she said, playing along. Shannon quickly changed the subject. “Where’s Ellie? I can’t wait to see her.”

  Roa grinned. “And she can’t wait to see you. Come with me.” He walked past Shannon and led the way through the rest of the darkened house, turning on lights as they went. As he flipped on the living room light, Shannon noticed the plastic-covered furniture.

  Suddenly Roa turned back around. “Wait! I just realized we need to rethink our story here. Your passport is under your real name.”

  “Oh, uh, right.”

  Roa thought to himself for a moment then held out his hand. “I have an idea. Let me see your passport for a minute.”

  Shannon’s eyes widened with nervousness. “What?”

  “Let me see your passport,” he repeated. “I think I know how we can do this.”

  “I . . . uh.” Shannon hesitated and took a small step back.

  Roa rolled his eyes. “Shannon, just show me your passport. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  She nodded and slowly reached into her coat pocket. She had no passport, and when he found that out he would know that she hadn’t come there to join him at all.

  Inside her pocket, she wrapped her hand around the grip of the gun, fumbling as she snaked her finger around the trigger. When she pulled it out, it would have to be fast. Her element of surprise would only buy her one or two seconds tops.

  Ellie was in the house. And now a demented Roa was the only thing between them. She was running out of time. She had to do it. She had to do it right now! She took a quick, deep breath and then all at once yanked the gun out.

  Unfortunately, the tip of the gun’s hammer caught on the corner of her coat pocket.