Relentless: Three Novels

by Lindsey Stiles

  Before stopping at the bathroom, she walked down the hallway to check on Katie. Katie was fast asleep in her Disney Princess bed. As Nikki looked at her daughter, she longed for her to stay that young forever, to always be her little girl, her little princess. She shut Katie’s door and headed to the hallway bathroom. She opened the bathroom door and flipped the light switch.

  To Nikki’s surprise, the old toy telephone was on top of the sink. Katie must have left it in here, she thought to herself. Still, there was something eerie about the phone on the sink. Nikki got the feeling that it was as if the phone had been waiting for her. She knew it was a crazy thought, but she couldn’t help feeling that way after the incident that had happened the other afternoon. She recalled the dream and her mother’s last words in that dream: “Call me.”

  After she used the toilet and washed and dried her hands, Nikki decided that she was going to use the phone again. After all, it was only a child’s play toy. Her own toy from when she was young. How could she be afraid of it when it was hers all along? And her mother’s toy phone before that?

  She picked up the receiver and dialed her old telephone number again. The phone was silent, just as she thought it would be. Nikki began to take the telephone away from her ear, but she gasped at what she heard. It was in her mother’s voice, “Nikki, I enjoyed our time at the garden.”

  “Mom!” Nikki said, her voice choking up. “How does this work that I can just call you on the toy phone?”

  “You just have to believe, like when you were little. Remember how we played with your phone and you could hear me talking in it, even if I was not in the room?”

  “Yes,” Nikki said softly, the back of her neck prickling because she was talking to a spirit. “Are you okay, Mom?”

  “Yes, sweetie. I am okay.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I am here, yet I am not here.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Nikki.

  “You will only understand when your life passes away to this other place.”

  She gripped the phone tightly. “Where’s Daddy? Where does he live?”

  “Live?”

  “Yes, Mom. After you died, I never saw Daddy again. Where does he live?”

  “He’s dead, Nikki. Didn’t you know?”

  “No. I didn’t.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “When did he die?”

  “The same day I did.”

  “How? Who? Where?” Nikki asked.

  “You have to call him,” Deborah said.

  “I don’t know his number, Mom. Tell me!”

  So Deborah told her. Nikki hurriedly wrote it on her palm with an eyebrow pencil, because she was still in the bathroom and it was the only thing to write with.

  “I have to go, Nikki. This is quite tiring for a spirit to talk on a toy telephone.”

  “Mom, don’t go. Please!”

  “I have to, but call me tomorrow, after you talk to your dad.”

  “Wait! Why is his number different than yours?”

  “Because he’s not here. He’s stuck there…where he died, just like I am stuck where I died.” Her mother’s voice trailed off and then there was a click and silence.

  “Mom! Mom!”

  But she was gone. Nikki looked at the number in her hand. It looked familiar but she couldn’t place it. And then, suddenly, she could place it. In fact, she knew exactly whose home number it was.

  Nikki screamed a bloodcurdling scream and collapsed to the floor. Brad awoke from his sleep to find his wife sitting on the bathroom floor with her head in her hands, sobbing, holding the toy phone in her hand.

  “Nikki, what’s wrong?” Nikki looked up and gave her husband a terrified stare. This began to worry him even more. “Nikki, are you okay?”

  She couldn’t make any words come out of her mouth, so she nodded to him.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  Realizing if she told her husband he would think she was crazy, so she decided to make up a lie. “I saw a spider.” Brad knew that his wife was deathly afraid of spiders.

  “Nikki, you’re terrified.”

  “A spider was on me. It crawled up my leg as I stood up from the toilet.”

  Brad gave his wife a fierce look. “Stop lying!”

  “Fine, but I can’t talk about it right now!”

  He grabbed the toy telephone out of her hand. “This is over!”

  “No, I need that toy phone, Brad!”

  “You’re making yourself sick over this thing, Nikki. I’m taking it away from you.”

  “No, please! I have to call my dad.”

  “Your dad? Your dad who killed your mom and ran off?”

  “He didn’t. He’s dead! He was killed the same day as my mom!”

  “How do you know this?”

  “My mom told me, just now.”

  “Oh, Nikki. Stop this madness. It’s nearly two in the morning and we have to get up in a few hours.”

  “Don’t destroy the phone. I need it.”

  “You’re ill, Nikki. Did you take your meds today?”

  She bit her lip, but didn’t answer.

  “Nikki, what are you thinking?”

  “Exactly that. Thinking. I can’t take them and do well in school. They make me too tired and forgetful. I can’t think when I take them. Do you get that?”

  “I want you to leave this toy telephone alone and take your meds until such time as you consult your doctor for the proper adjustment to your regimen.”

  “Fine, I’ll call him soon. You know that the toy phone does contact the spirit world. You heard it yourself.”

  “I don’t know what I heard.”

  “Brad, you heard it that one time and you know it.”

  “All I know is, you have been very upset ever since you brought that toy phone home and the other stuff from your old house, too. It stirs memories you need to forget.”

  “I’m sorry I screamed.”

  “You scared me out of a sound sleep, Nikki. So, next time, don’t scream like that. Just call me if you need me. I thought you were being murdered or something.”

  She cringed.

  “Okay, that was a poor choice of words, for which I apologize.”

  Nikki nodded her head again.

  More gently, he said, “Come here. Come to bed. I’ll hold you, baby, so you don’t need to be scared.” Brad reached out his hand to her and she accepted it. Hand in hand, the couple headed back to their bedroom. Climbing into bed, Brad fell right back to sleep with his arms encircling her, while Nikki stayed awake. She knew her mother was trying to reach her from beyond the grave and tell her something important. She knew it was her and she knew it was real.

  Deborah’s murder had remained unsolved for so many years, and Nikki knew it was time to re-open the case, and the way to do that was to prove that her dad was dead. There had to be something that the police had looked past, something that only Nikki could solve and bring her mother’s killer to justice. She decided that she would go down to the police station and talk to an old high school friend who worked there. She hoped maybe he could help her.

  She was way too terrified and shocked to even try to call that phone number, even on a toy telephone. In the moonlight that streamed in through the window, she looked at the phone number written on her hand and shuddered.

  That’s where Daddy is…

  She almost screamed again. It took all of her strength not to.

  Chapter Nine

  Nikki woke up early the next morning.

  The toy telephone was nowhere in sight. Brad must have hidden it. She was miffed, but not miffed enough to call him at the hardware store and make drama. Wherever he had hidden it, she’d find it, or they would talk about it later, when he got home. For all she knew, it was with him in his truck.

  She went into the kitchen and poured cereal for herself and Katie. The two of them sat down to eat and afterward, Nikki was relieved to see that Katie was playing with her old dollhouse and dolls, something that Tara had nev
er cared to play with.

  While Nikki had her cellphone in her hand, Katie was amusing herself nicely. Nikki tapped on the web search icon. She typed in the name of her local county police station. She was determined to solve her mother’s murder and she took the first step by contacting her old friend. She found the number on the website and pressed the icon to dial the phone number. The phone rang a couple of times and someone answered.

  “May I please speak to Detective Don Allen?” Nikki asked.

  “I’ll connect you.”

  Nikki waited for a few seconds until she heard the phone ring once more.

  Don picked up the other end and said, “This is Detective Allen.”

  “Hello, Don. It’s Nikki Thomas.”

  “Nikki, hello. Long time no talk to. How are you?”

  “I’m good. I just need your help on something.”

  “Sure. What’s up?”

  “Well, as you know, my mother was murdered when I was a kid.”

  “Still a cold case, and still looking for your father as the prime suspect. I remember.”

  “I know that the police department had a strong suspicion that my father did it, because he disappeared after the murder. However, as far as I am concerned, the case was never solved. I wanted to know if maybe I can look into it myself?”

  “I don’t see why not. You are her daughter and you have access to the files, though, off the top of my head, I don’t think there has been a new lead for years.”

  “Thanks.” Nikki smiled to herself. “I was wondering if maybe you could help me go through them?”

  Don paused for a moment. “Yeah, I have some free time this afternoon if you want to stop by. Say 1 p.m.?”

  “That works perfect for me. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome.” He paused. “Nikki, you haven’t ever heard from your dad, have you?”

  “No. I swear, I haven’t.”

  “Okay. You tell us if he contacts you or Tara. He’s wanted for murder.”

  “I know. It’s just the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mom’s death and it seemed like a good time to ask you to revisit the case with me. I still don’t think my dad would have done this.”

  “Understood,” he said gruffly. “I know you’ve said as much when we spoke about this previously.”

  “Yes. Goodbye, Don. See you later.”

  Nikki hung up the phone and dialed Tara’s phone number. She knew it was her sister’s day off and she needed a favor.

  “Hello, little sister, and this better be very important,” Tara said very sleepily. “Like a stiletto sale at Macy’s.”

  “Very funny. You know I don’t wear that kind of stuff. Tara, I need a favor. Actually, two favors.”

  “Nikki, it’s 9 a.m. on my day off.” Tara yawned. “Tomorrow, I have to bake three wedding cakes, plus my regular baking.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot of work. I’m sorry for waking you up. I just need you to watch Katie for a couple of hours this afternoon.”

  Tara sighed. “What time?”

  “I can drop her off a quarter to one.”

  “I guess so, Nikki, but it can’t be for too long. Ted and I are going out this evening.”

  “I will pick her up at 3 p.m. sharp. I promise.”

  “Okay, but I don’t do diapers and you know this.”

  “Well, it just so happens that Katie’s potty trained now and has been for more than two years.” Nikki realized the last time had Tara watched her daughter was when she was only a few months old. Nikki had had to have her gallbladder taken out and Tara was the only one who Nikki could trust to watch her at the time. Brad had been out of town on a business trip that was so important that Nikki had asked him not to fly back, that she would be fine. And she had been.

  Tara was not the least bit motherly and Nikki would normally never leave Katie with her unless it was an emergency, but it had been an emergency. Katie was older now and was a lot less reliant on Tara. All Tara needed to do was put on Spongebob SquarePants and give her some crayons and a coloring book and she would be good for a couple of hours. Nikki thanked her sister and hung up the phone.

  Nikki dropped off Katie and Tara’s place and arrived at the police station at exactly 1 p.m. She checked in with the receptionist and told her she was there to see Detective Allen.

  “He told me you were coming. May I see some ID, please?”

  She showed her driver’s license and the receptionist printed out a visitor’s badge to clip to her shirt collar.

  The receptionist led Nikki into the detective’s office and told her that he would be with her momentarily. Nikki sat down on the visitor side of Don’s desk. She looked at his family pictures. He had married Tammy Rogers, a girl from their class. They had been together almost as long as she and Brad. She glanced at the pictures of their children. They had two boys, and they looked to be around six and seven. There were pictures of them in a Christmas setting, and one that was taken at a beach. They seemed to be a very happy family.

  Don walked in and gave Nikki a hug. “Nikki, it’s so good to see you.”

  “Hi, Don. Good to see you, too. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to help me.”

  “No problem. Anything for an old friend.” They smiled at each other. Don sat down at his desk and opened up an old file. “I took the opportunity to go over your mother’s file at lunch.”

  “Thank you for that. Did you find anything out of the ordinary?”

  “I wish I could say that I have. Everything looks pretty legit. Your mother was killed by a single stab wound. There wasn’t any of the killer’s DNA found on the knife. Then again, that was 25 years ago and forensics technology has advanced a lot since then.”

  “So, do you think there’s a chance that some DNA can show up? Or some other sort of evidence?”

  “There may be. I can’t make any promises, but it’s definitely a possibility. I can order another test on it.”

  “Yes, please. Hopefully, we can find out something.”

  “Well, we might not.”

  “Why not?”

  “The killer could have been wearing gloves.”

  “Gloves? What kind of gloves?”

  “Any kind.” He shuffled through the papers in the file. “In this case, there were some fibers found on the knife handle that did indicate that gloves may have been worn by the killer.”

  “So, not latex gloves or surgical-type gloves?”

  “No, fiber.”

  “Like wool or something?”

  “No, cotton, probably from gardening gloves. And there were traces of peat moss and cow manure. Grass clippings.”

  Nikki froze. “Oh, okay.” She cleared her throat. “Like potting soil sort of stuff?”

  “That’s right. You look like a deer in the headlights. Scared.”

  She nodded. “You do know my dad never did yard work, right?”

  “No, I didn’t know that. Why not?”

  “He had bad hay fever like Tara has. Someone else had to care for our lawn and yard.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “I guess I was not able to articulate too well after it happened and so many police officers were asking me questions. Mr. Matthews down the street ran a lawn care service in the neighborhood, if that matters.”

  He made a note on a Post-It and stuck it in the file. “I’ll check him out.”

  “Thanks, Don. I would appreciate it.”

  “Nikki, you were five years old when it happened, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is there anything you remember?” he asked.

  “No. I just have a vague memory of Mom taking my sister and me to the city bus stop, but when we got to the bus stop, my mom realized she forgot her bus pass and we had to go back home to get it. As soon as we walked in the door, something happened, but I can’t remember it. Like a fight of some sort.” She paused and suddenly, things were coming back to her and she felt as if she was going to vomit. “You’ll…you’l
l have to forgive me, but something happened that I didn’t understand at the time. I think I do now, though.” She took a deep breath and let it out. She gripped onto the arms of the chair where she sat. “I’ve never asked this before, but was my mother…sexually assaulted?”

  “Yes,” he said quietly.

  “Oh, my God,” Nikki said. “Why wasn’t it in the file or ever discussed with me?”

  Don blinked and checked a sheet stapled to the back of the file folder. “That part of the report was checked in and out many times by various detectives who were investigating.”

  “Was a DNA test done on…what happened internally to my mom?”

  “Yes. It was not sophisticated testing like we have now, though.”

  “But you have the results, right?”

  He looked in the file. “Right.”

  “I brought something.” Tara opened her purse and took out something in a plastic bag.

  “What is that little leather case?”

  “It’s my dad’s manicure kit. Nail clippers, beard trimmer, that sort of thing.”

  “You gotta be kidding me.”

  “He didn’t do it, Don. I was a little girl, but out of all the people in the world that I knew, which wasn’t many, granted, I trusted my dad the most.”

  “Fine. Hand it over,” he said and pulled a form out of his drawer. “Did you open the kit?”

  “I unzipped it and looked inside, but I only touched the outside. I noticed little hairs and tiny fingernail and toenail clippings. I feel sure that if you compare his DNA with the DNA inside my mom from the crime scene that it will clear my dad of the sexual assault, at least that.”

  He sighed. “Anyone else use this manicure kit?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, we’ll give it a comparison with the bodily fluids from your mom’s sexual assault and I’ll let you know what turns up.”

  She sighed in relief. “Thank you for believing me about my dad.”

  “I don’t believe anything until the evidence speaks for itself.” Don frowned. “Why are you digging into this now, Nikki?”

  “I went to see my old house on the twenty-fifth anniversary of my mom’s death and my dad’s disappearance.”

  “And it started churning in you again?”