by Elle Klass
She nodded. “When I read your book I knew I had to find you, that my case was your case.”
“And Burke...” I asked, my body tightening in anticipation of her answer.
She nodded again. “He only has one date next to his name.”
What did that mean? Was he abducted? Did he get away? Was he the perv’s next victim? Fetch leaned toward me and placed his arm behind my back. I swallowed hard, sucking back the pain inside me and the tears that burned behind my lids.
Rox closed her eyes for a second longer than a blink. “I don’t know what that means,” she said as if reading my mind.
I couldn’t hold back any longer as my leaking eyes gave way to streams of tears coursing down my cheeks. “Why not tell me from the beginning?”
“I didn’t think you’d help me. I figured you’d send me home and I wanted to figure it out, but I needed help to.” She sighed and wrapped her arms around her legs, bringing them towards her. She twisted her lips and nodded as if she knew exactly how I would react.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and showed her the milk carton picture of herself. She gasped then, folding her hands against her legs and said, “I shouldn’t be surprised, huh. I’ve thought for a while you probably knew my story was bullshit. I’m not a good liar.”
I shifted my gaze to Fetch who sat quiet, the fire reflecting off the silver in his eyes. He nodded and I shifted my gaze back to Rox. “I called your parents.”
“So where are they?” she asked in confusion.
“Nobody answered, so I hung up. I think you should call.” I handed her my phone.
“Not yet. We’re too close. This guy, he’s an invalid, and the other guy is his nurse. He can’t kill anymore but shouldn’t live his life in peace after killing so many young boys. It’s the same guy, I know it is. After I found the journal I searched every past year book and maintenance guy who ever worked at the academy. He’s older but I recognize his face,” she pleaded.
“You’re eighteen today, an adult, but your family needs to know you’re safe,” Fetch urged.
She took the phone from me and dialed her parents, then walked away a few steps as she talked in private.
Fetch ran his fingers over my arm and wrapped the other around me as he gently kissed my cheek. “You care more than you show. You’re going to miss her.”
I sunk into his embrace. “I will. I’ve grown attached to her.” We stayed in that position. The fire crackling in front of us until she returned.
The phone in hand, she walked back to the fire and dropped onto the ground. “They’re taking the first flight out in the morning and will be here tomorrow night. We have to wrap up this case before I leave.”
What a Day
Muted sun drifted through the window as I blinked my eyes open. Fetch’s warm body wrapped around mine. I snuggled into him then glanced at the clock when I heard movement in the living room. Seven o’clock. It was early for Rox to be up. Her usual time was between nine and ten.
I pulled a robe over me to take the chill off my shivering arms and pushed the door open.
“Where are you going?” mumbled a half-sleeping Fetch.
I turned towards him. “I can’t sleep.”
He stretched and lifted upward. Covers dropped, exposing the defined muscles in his chest. Within minutes he slipped on a pair of sweatpants and we dragged into the living room and beelined into the kitchen where Fetch readied a pot of coffee for himself since everything I read said to avoid caffeinated drinks during pregnancy. A low voice carried from the opening between the living room and kitchen. “I could use a cup.”
Startled, we turned on our heels and I shifted my eyes toward the unknown voice. Thin chestnut hair was trimmed short above his ears. Blue jeans held up by a belt with a flannel shirt tucked into them and running shoes didn’t give him a frightening appeal even though my heart beat fast and bile rose in my throat. The living room was large, but how did we both miss seeing him?
“Carry on,” he encouraged, sauntering into the kitchen and taking a seat at the table. “You weren’t hard to find. Well, you lost me a day or so after switching vehicles.” He tented his hands. “I’m a P.I. your brother hired to follow you.”
“What?!” He couldn’t? He didn’t? I fumed. How dare he hire someone. I could so handle myself and had plenty of help with me. I didn’t need this guy. “Whatever he told you, I don’t need you. Leave!” I pointed to the door.
He punched out his lips and let out a long breath. “No can do.”
Fetch placed a cup of coffee in front of him but didn’t sit, moving to my side. “Can we help you?” he said, calm as a summer night.
The P.I. took a sip. “Yup. Tell me what you’re up to. Make my job easy.” He leaned back in the chair, relaxed with an arm over the side, dangling against the rungs as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
I spotted Rox creeping toward us and bore my eyes into hers in an attempt to send her a message. She appeared to get it as she pointed at the door and made a key turning gesture. She was wide awake for this early hour. The P.I. hadn’t noticed her from his peripheral as Fetch moved away from me and towards the sink. The P.I.’s eyes followed him.
Rox disappeared then flashed across the opening, stopping long enough to dangle the keys in her hand. The P.I. continued, “He said you were stubborn. Listen, I’m here to help.”
Through the windows, I spotted Rox reach the van and slide inside, taking a seat in the driver’s side.
Fetch threw me a sideways glance then tossed the scalding hot coffee pot at the P.I. who screamed a mouthful of obscenities. Fetch grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the front door.
“Stop!” shouted the P.I. When we didn’t, he lunged for me, grabbing the bottom of my robe, it fell off my shoulder. Fetch halfway out the door, Rox circling the van and bringing it to the front door. I yanked on my robe to keep it from sliding off as the chilly air rushed against my skin. If it wasn’t for the weather I’d let him have the robe. I fisted my hand and hit the top of his head. He let go of the robe and grabbed for my arm. I pulled it back and with a thrust was being pushed into the open van.
“Leave her alone!” Fetch fumed, then caught the P.I. in the jaw. He stumbled backwards then reeled forwards and swung back as Fetch dodged it and fell backwards into the open van. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled. The P.I. lunged again for Fetch and he kicked him in the face.
“Go!” I shouted at Rox. Without hesitation she hit the gas and we sped off. The man picked himself off the ground. Blood dribbled from his nose and over his lips. He sprinted to his car. “He’s going to follow us.”
Rox sniggered. “No, he’s not. I took care of that by slashing one of his tires.”
“Smart girl. I knew we kept you for a reason.” Fetch chuckled. “That was crazy!”
“Insane!” I fell against him. “You see, danger finds me.” The whole situation tickled me and I couldn’t help my inappropriate laughing. The man never pulled a weapon, said he was there to help, yet we fought him as if he was the bad guy. The problem was he didn’t give up or we could have heard him out. Nah!
“Do you think your brother really hired him?” asked Fetch.
Rox pulled the van over. “One of you needs to drive. I don’t know where I’m going and don’t have a license.” She grabbed something out of the dash cubby and tossed it to me—my phone! I loved this girl and her quick thinking and ingenuity.
Fetch and I eyeballed her and busted into laughter. Between chuckles he said, “Since when do you care if what you’re doing is legal?”
She leaned her head around the seat and shot him a brown-eyed glare of death. “You’re right and you can drive.”
He climbed into the driver’s seat as she took shotgun. He cleared his throat and his lips twitched as small giggles attempted to work their way out.
I gave Rox the address and she punched it into the GPS. We arrived at the house. “Now what?’ he asked.
“I’m going in. I want
to know. The guy’s in a wheelchair. He can’t hurt me,” I stated, waiting for the argument, but it didn’t happen.
Fetch blew out a breath. “It’s your show.”
Rox waited inside the van and Fetch and I hid between the trees. The bright sun didn’t do much to squelch the chill in the air. I was still in my robe and slippers and Fetch topless; his chest, proportionate and chiseled, was beautiful under the sun’s radiant light. His sweats hung loose over his hips, displaying his lower abs. He was gorgeous.
About fifty feet from the back door of the house was a man in a wheelchair and the darker man, tall and bulky. “That’s him,” I whispered.
We edged closer, careful not to crunch the leaves beneath our feet. With so many on the ground, it wasn’t easy. The tall, bulky man walked towards the house, leaving the wheelchair man, Johns, alone. “I’m going,” I whispered to Fetch. I pressed the record button on the cell phone in my pocket.
“Right behind you,” he whispered. Our breath forming vapor with each exhale. The leaves beneath our feet so moist they didn’t crunch and give us away. About ten feet from him, we reached the deck. The large, bulky man still inside, I made a run for it.
“I hear you. Might as well face me,” he called. A sweater covered his arms and chest as he sat, staring ahead at the water.
Fetch stood at my side, grabbed my hand and laced his fingers through mine as we strode towards him. Johns’ upper half shifted in his seat as if he was trying to get a glimpse. When we reached him we took a stance on either side of the wheelchair.
“Aren’t you two cute,” he stated. His green/blue eyes scanning our appearance. “Did you wake up from bed and say I’m going to irritate that old cripple who lives on the water?” He huffed, making no effort to hide his disgruntled attitude.
Of course he had no idea who we were or why on earth we were there. I sucked in a breath. “I know who you are Mr. Johns.” His brows shot upward and eyes widened. “I know all your crimes, everything you’ve done.”
“So you’re here to face me,” he seethed, narrowed his eyes, and pressed a button on his chair. “I’m already paying my price.”
I crouched on my feet to meet his eyes and grabbed the side of his chair. His hand swiped over mine in a gesture to shove mine away but lacked the ability. I lifted the cell phone out of my pocket, leaving the recording on, opened the gallery and went to the picture of Einstein and his friends at the Academy. “Remember all these boys?”
His narrowed eyes became slits. “You have the wrong man.” He shifted his head away from the picture and gazed at the twinkling, still water below.
I tilted my head and enlarged Einstein. “Do I? What about this boy?”
He pursed his lips and rocked them back and forth, not shifting his eyes to acknowledge the picture. The back door swung open.
“Who are you?” called his nurse as he rushed towards us.
“We’re renting a couple houses down,” called Fetch as he walked towards him as if this was a normal situation of any kind.
I held my ground. “I want to know what you did to him,” I demanded in a quiet, eerie voice. I studied his face and shoved the phone towards it.
He swatted at it and the phone landed on the ground beside him. “Cole!” he called in angst.
“What’s going on here? Who are you really?” the nurse, who I guessed was Cole, shouted.
Fetch said something, his back to me I couldn’t read his lips, and far enough away I couldn’t hear it. The man stopped and Fetch offered his hand in a shake. As the nurse returned the gesture, Fetch pulled him into his chest and wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug. They tussled for a minute, then another voice rang through the air.
“Get away from him!” Judge Feeney marched towards me, older and whiter, with a larger gut swelling over his pants as he advanced towards me, bypassing Fetch and Cole who were still struggling.
I didn’t have much time. “Look at the picture. What did you do to this boy?” I insisted, no games, nothing. I simply wanted an answer. I needed to know what he’d done to Einstein.
Johns stared ahead at this point, not even acknowledging my presence. “He was a friend of mine. Please tell me.”
“Why?!” roared the judge as he approached us. “You broke into my house and now you’re here. Why? What do you want?” The ice in his voice cracked as he leered at me.
I stood my ground and lifted up. “You’re as guilty as your step-brother. No one’s above the law. He killed at least twenty-four boys. How can either of you live with yourselves?” The disgust in my voice obvious.
Feeney grabbed hold of the wheelchair’s handles and pulled him backwards a few steps. “My step-brother has a degenerative genetic disorder. He struggled through school, children always made fun of him because he was slow. They ridiculed him. Someone had to protect him. Be there for him.”
Fetch had the nurse firmly between his arms but he wasn’t fighting him. It was as if they’d both stopped to listen.
A drop of sweat trickled across the judge’s brow. He was nervous and at this point I was on the other side of the chair between them and the edge of the cliff. I took a step to the side. “So you felt bad and jeopardized your own career to help this man?”
Feeney rocked the chair and Johns shifted his gaze from the water below to me. He grabbed the arms of the chair and squeezed, then lifted his torso towards me. The strain of the actions evident in gritted teeth and scrunched forehead. “He’s the... one that... got... away.”
“The blond one?” I asked.
He blinked his eyes slow and leaned toward me as far as he could. “He fought... and got away.” Then fell back into his chair.
“You idiot!” screamed the judge as he pushed the chair towards me. I jumped out of its path, falling to the ground as it slipped past me and over the edge.
Johns fell out of the chair and dropped, smashing onto a rock on the shoreline beneath us. The judge was going down and I couldn’t let them both die. Feeney was every bit as guilty as his step-brother. Two twisted souls tied together as family but not by blood. I couldn’t let him off. “No!” I screamed, grabbing the judge’s arm and tugging with all my strength. His weight and the bulk of the wheelchair still in his other hand dragged me forward. I glanced for something to brace my feet on but there was nothing. They dangled over the edge and I felt my legs slipping over it.
Then a strong arm laced itself around my midsection and dragged me backwards. The judge wiggled his hand to loosen it from my death grip and I slid forward a bit then was dragged back again. “Let me go!” shouted Feeney, his life hanging in the balance of my arm strength.
My glance shifted from his puffy face to the man lying motionless on the ground below. It wasn’t that maybe he didn’t deserve death it was more seeing his frail body smashed below me. Everything in my stomach shot out of me in projectile motion onto the judge’s face until dry heaves shook my body. He spat at me, his hand sliding through my vomit-wettened grasp.
“Let go of him, Cleo,” ordered Fetch in a ragged breath, pulling me backwards. “He’s not worth your life.”
Another arm grabbed the upper half of the judge’s arm and dark eyes met mine—Cole. Together we pulled him up, over the edge and along the dirt. His fluffy belly leaving a trail. Cole pulled him to his feet. He forced Feeney’s hands behind his back. “What are you doing, crazy fool? You killed your step-brother!” he hollered, his voice shaking in anger.
“This, this is why I was hired!” shouted a voice, an arrogant voice.
My breath caught and I watched as two men ran towards us. The P.I., his bloody face dried, and another dressed in a light blue suit.
Fetch grabbed my shoulders. “I love you!” He pulled me to his chest. I allowed his fear and love to swallow me and I sank my face against him.
Sirens blared in the distance and Rox sprinted towards the crazy scene. “Cleo, Cleo!” She reached us before the two men. Shoving her way into our embrace she purred, “I love you guys. Don’t
scare me again.”
The police questioned us all and suit man was an FBI agent that caught on to us when Rox hijacked a drone to spy on the house. He said she left some type of footprint. The two had a long discussion and he gave her a card and said ‘Call this number when you graduate in the spring. We prefer to keep the best hackers on our side’. She beamed with pride.
They hauled the judge off after reading him his rights. He glared at me as the police car pulled off and prickles ran up and down my spine. The P.I. gave me and Fetch, but especially me, an earful and so did Will when he handed me his phone. I never guessed it would end this way. Fetch and Will were right, I shouldn’t put myself into such situations. I was soon to be a mom and my baby needed me. From this point forward I vowed to myself and child that I would settle down and enjoy mommy-hood.
The Shewers
That night, shaken but steady on our feet, we were escorted by the police to the airport to meet Rox’s parents. Departing and arriving flights and gate numbers boomed over the speakers. Kiosks lined the walkways, selling coffee, snacks, and other goods for last minute shoppers.
We greeted Rox’s parents. She was the spitting image of her mother from her thick brown tufts of hair to her freckles. Her father was a stout man with broad shoulders and a stern face. He looked like a Marine.
Her father cleared his throat as her mother wrapped her in loving arms. “Are you OK? You’re not hurt? I’ve been so worried. What were you thinking? You’re lucky this nice couple found you.” She showered her with words of love and fear as she switched from hugs to inspection.
“Thank you for watching after her. She doesn’t look it, but she’s a handful,” he said, grasping Fetch’s hand then mine in his firm grasp. I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side.
“Da-ad,” Rox coaxed as she wrapped her arms around him.
He looked her square in the face. “What were you thinking?” His firm voice made me quake.
Her happy mood vanished and her eyes shifted to the ground. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it. You’ve been worried sick.”
