by Jill Cooper
His words gutted me and I felt as if I was falling into an abyss. “I’m going to take it to the police tomorrow. Prove what I did. What she did.”
“You’ll lose your job. Maybe your license. Maybe even worse.” He narrowed his eyes.
I nodded. “I should’ve done it a long time ago, but Jay…”
He raised his hand. “You’re on your own. I thought I wanted to stay and help you, but maybe there is no helping you.” His gaze was so severe, it cut through me like a knife.
As he turned for the door I called out to him anyway. “Where are you going?”
“With the way that storm is coming down? Nowhere soon, but I’m going for a walk down the hall. This room is way too crowded.” Jay smacked his hand on the doorway on his way through. His footsteps pounded down the hall.
I collapsed into a chair. Time to set the record straight. Time to do the right thing. I knew that, but it was going to be so hard. I’d be branded in town even worse than I already was. I might even need to leave. Probably should leave. Nothing would ever be right for me there.
The flash drive in hand…I had what I needed, but what I wanted just walked out the door. Any chance of reconciliation, well, I just ruined it with the truth. Jay probably would never be able to look at me again and it’s what I deserve.
But my heart, no matter what, was crushed.
Chapter 12
Clyde
His deepest memories, his most treasured possessions, his home, it was all consumed by flame. Like his marriage had been since his boy’s death. Like the shambles of a life he had left.
Fire and rescue arrived on the scene before he did, but it wasn’t going to matter. It would be lost just like everything else.
My God, was Terri home? Was she trapped inside?
That would be just one loss too much.
Clyde rushed from his pick-up truck. Barely remembering to slam the door closed. "Terri!" His weary soul screamed out in pain as he rushed for the front door.
He couldn't lose her, too. Clyde couldn’t stand the pain of losing anything else that year. Maybe even in the years to come.
The baby’s nursery was in there. Bobby’s room, even though he never made it home. Now it was burning. Burning! Clyde couldn’t take the tight clenching in his chest. His vision went dark, but still Clyde’s legs carried him on as he lunged for the front door.
The firefighter chief, Earl, was faster than Clyde was. The tall, burly man with a thick mustache and apple cheeks hooked Clyde's arm as he barged forward. "The whole place is going up. You can't get anywhere near there!"
Already a small crowd had formed on the street. Mostly concerned neighbors, but Clyde couldn't focus on their faces. His heart raced too fast and his mind already sealed Terri's fate.
"My wife—." Clyde's voice broke and he couldn't even ask. Broken promises, wedding dances, so much swirled through his mind that he couldn't even fathom her once sweet face...Her once sweet face that turned stoic with heartache and pain charred to death in a fire?
The Chief shook his head. "No one's home, Clyde. No car in the driveway. She's gone."
So relieved, Clyde took a long shaking breath and closed his eyes. It wasn't until Earl cleared his throat that Clyde knew he wasn't off the hook yet. "What else is there?"
Earl wiped his mouth clean of spittle. "This fire got big, fast. Listen, I'm only telling you this because you and I go back. Way back. Nothing's official yet, so don't go quoting me."
"For God sake's, Earl. Spit it out!" Patience wasn't on Clyde's side today.
"Accelerant, I suspect. So do a few other guys, but we won't know more until we put this out and we're able to get an investigator in there."
Numb.
All the feeling went out of Clyde's hands and his feet. He knew he nodded, didn't feel in control. Maybe he walked away, but it felt as if he floated and through his mind Clyde searched and wondered.
Did this have something to do with what Jay told him? If Karen was attacked at the hospital by someone could that person be responsible for this house fire?
Clyde needed to know more. More about what Karen knew and what happened the days following his son's death. He needed to find Jay maybe worse than he needed to find Terri, but that didn't keep him from calling her.
Ring after ring.
Voice mail picked up and then nothing. The line faded to black like Terri was there, but just wouldn't speak. Couldn't hear her breathing, but Clyde thought she might be there. Might be listening.
"Damnit, Terri. The house is burning. Burning!" He shouted into the phone, but there was no reaction. No sound.
Maybe Clyde was the one going insane. Or maybe he was just going to join Terri there after a long ride.
First things first, find Jay. If he was on his way to the hospital to speak to Karen, well, that's where Clyde was headed.
****
Roads were slick and the windshield wipers worked overtime to keep the window clear. The truck crawled along and Clyde questioned his intelligence as the rear end fishtailed around a corner.
Slowing down, Clyde was about halfway to the hospital. He might make it there in twenty minutes if he could edge his speed up a bit, but in this weather that wasn't very smart.
By then, Jay might have already left. He could call him, sure, if he had his number, but he didn't. And finding a cell phone number was harder than just calling the operator.
Clyde swore under his breath as he approached an intersection. The light was red and as he applied the break, the truck skidded to a stop.
Right before he hit a small blue sedan. Talk about your close calls.
Meekly, he raised his hand in an apologetic gesture. When the light turned green, he edged forward and saw a car on the side of the road. It was up on what would've been the curb if it wasn't covered in a mound of snow.
Green, in the need of a new rear bumper. Clyde recognized it in an instant.
Jay's.
He pulled over behind him and cut his engine. Applying the emergency break, he slipped his jacket collar up around his ears and stepped out into the snow.
Jay was crouched down besides the front wheel and appeared to be trying to change his tire. Trying was the key part to that phrase.
"Car trouble?" Clyde asked.
Jay barely looked up, but Clyde could see his eyebrows were covered in snow and his lips held a slight tremble. Whatever happened, he'd been working on it for longer than was safe in this weather.
"Wouldn't you know it? Hit the curb wrong or something. Now these bolts won't come off."
"Man's work," Clyde joked and gestured with his head. "Let me give it a try. You step over."
"Thanks, Clyde. I owe you. I do."
It was no trouble at all. "I could do something like this in my sleep." Clyde jacked the car up a little higher and rolled the spare donut closer.
"It's cold," Clyde said. "Less than a block from here is a donut shop. Head in and get warm, if they're open. I'll meet you there in five. We'll get warm together." Clyde made fast work of loosening the bolts around the tire rim.
"You sure?" Jay's face was wrought with questions.
"Trust me, after my day I could use a relaxing cup of coffee. See you there in a few minutes."
Jay slapped him on the back. "I owe you one. Thanks."
As he left for the donut shop, Clyde watched him go. He chewed on the inside of his lip. Jay might not have owed him, but Karen did.
And Clyde was going to get his answers. One way or another.
****
Jay was a good guy. Clyde didn't know him well, but knew he was respected. Nice. So, Clyde felt a little guilty when he strolled into that coffee shop.
Jay waved Clyde from a table in the back, with two coffees sitting in front of him.
Clyde took off his hat as he approached. "You didn't need to do that."
"It was my pleasure. You helped me out of a real jam. I can't give you anything else."
Clyde saluted him with his coffee
cup and took a sip. Hot and strong, just what he needed to get through the conversation. "Were you able to find Karen?"
If Jay objected to the topic, Clyde couldn't tell. "I did."
"Is she..."
"She's okay." Jay's eyebrows cocked up high together and a glimmer of something reckoned in his eye. "Physically. Shaken up, but who wouldn't be?"
So she wasn't hurt that bad? That was a relief. "Did she know who attacked her? Does it have to do with..." Clyde couldn't even bring himself to say it.
Did it have something to do with his son? His family? How could he had been so blind to what was going on?
He had discounted everything Terri thought and felt. Why? Why hadn't he just listened?
"Man, I don't think it's a good idea for us to..." Jay sat up straight in his seat as if to retreat from the conversation, but Clyde needed it to happen.
Clyde gripped his wrist. "Jay, if you know something that has anything to do with us... My house is burning to the ground. I can't find my wife. I think it's somehow all related to that night in the hospital."
Jay's eyes widened. "Your house? I'm sorry, Clyde. So sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Give me something." Clyde licked his lips in anticipation and waited for Jay's answer.
Jay nodded and his knee bounced beneath the table. He was nervous and those jitters couldn't be contained. "Karen has evidence. That she can use against Sylvia for...mistakes that night in the hospital."
Mistakes that ended up with his son dead? Clyde felt the urge to be sick. He wiped his hands on his jeans and tried to stay calm, but the idea that someone knew and did nothing...
"Sylvia wants it back and her boy...Condran." Jay fiddled with his cup.
"The judge?" Clyde's eyebrows furrowed.
"Karen took a...." Jay sighed as his cheeks flushed. "She took a bribe to lie under oath. I can see how angry you are, Clyde. Trust me, I get it, but I just found out tonight. I'm sorry, man. If I had suspected anything...I just thought Karen was being hard on herself. I didn't..."
Clyde held up his hand and swallowed back his pride but instead he wallowed in grief. "Terri's had her suspicions all along, but I never..." His voice trailed off. "If they went after Karen, I have to warn Terri. I have a lot to make up for." Clyde stood and pushed his chair in.
Jay stared down at his coffee. "Karen is going to the police tomorrow. Soon as she can. She's going to turn herself and the evidence over."
"Good." Clyde said, but the words felt hollow and flat. For over a year Terri had been torturing herself, him, and anyone that got in her path because she was certain things had happened that shouldn’t have.
So what, Karen couldn't handle the guilt anymore, and she was going to do the right thing? Clyde couldn't exactly give her a good citizen's award, could he?
But if Terri heard about this, maybe even heard it from Karen herself, maybe they could start to put it all behind them.
And just maybe begin to heal. If only he could find Terri. If only...
Chapter 13
Terri
The stairs creaked but not loud as I walked up to the next floor. The house didn’t seem that large from the outside.
My legs moved shakily. Killing Condran had slammed me through a more intense orgasm than with Sanderson probably because the judge had deserved it. And revenge was the best aphrodisiac, I was learning.
The slick surface of the railing didn’t encourage confidence as I climbed into the darkness. I’d never been in that house before.
A soft click from downstairs made me pause mid-step. I cocked my head, listening. My breath huffed softly into the dark, not even the whir of a fridge or fan to break the stillness.
After a moment, I continued upstairs, holding on with one hand while feeling in front of me with the other.
At the top, the scent of sex assaulted my nose and I swallowed. Sylvia was dirty. I knew it, but to have it so roughly shoved into my conscious after I’d just suspected it made me sick and renewed my rage to a new level.
I didn’t bother hiding the sounds of my footsteps as I pressed forward into the darkness.
She was locked into the dark just as I was, except she was more familiar with the layout of the floor plan. No matter, I had surprise on my side.
I half-expected to find her naked, and the thought had me reaching for my flashlight. But she didn’t need any hint I was there.
My fingers brushed against the frame of a doorway and I stopped to listen. Nothing.
So I went in, pulling out my flashlight and sweeping the beam through the room.
No sign of anything.
The room in the middle revealed the same thing. But the one on the end had a plethora of sex toys, things I’d never have considered appealing or even had an inkling of knowledge about before.
Before, when my life hadn’t been sullied by loss or greed.
Or deceptive people hell bent on destroying everyone else.
I turned from a closet. She wouldn’t have hidden in there anyway. No, Sylvia was brazen about her sins. She didn’t hide anything unless she was going to have to deal with consequences.
A light glowed from the stairs and I ducked to avoid any potential flashlights or lantern glow. But none of that moved by me.
I recognized that light. The way it flickered and moved, grew brighter and then faded only to grow brighter again.
No way. Condran had been trying to build a fire. I hadn’t noticed any flames loose.
I ran to the top of the stairs. Light crept up the hallway from the fire. The utter darkness welcoming any to dissipate the gloom.
Heat pulsated upward, chasing away my dreams of escaping through the door.
Sylvia. She had to be out there. She had to know.
She probably set the fire. When she’d seen my work with Condran.
She knew I was coming for her.
In moments I’d lost the element of surprise. No, problem. I could get her. An amount of excitement soared inside my stomach. She knew and now I didn’t have to hide my attacks.
The hunt was truly on.
She had nowhere else to go.
The stairs were blocked and I wiped at my brow. Before I could go after Sylvia, I had to get out of there myself. I had nowhere to go either.
But Condran’s home was old school. He’d have easily accessible fire escapes. I ran to the window in the master bedroom, smashing through the window with the butt of my light.
While glass tinkled at my feet, I searched the balcony. But when my gaze drifted past to the street, I leaned forward and gripped the window frame.
A silhouette ran down the road not too far from the house. I couldn’t make out details, but it wasn’t hard to assume the person was Sylvia.
I clambered onto the small balcony and further onto the guard railing. If I could get down and follow her, it would only be a matter of seconds and I’d have her. I’d be on her.
She’d die.
And my heart would finally find peace.
I couldn’t see the ground, but it couldn’t be that far down. I had jumped one story before.
Puffing in and out to psyche myself up, I waited another half second and then jumped from the balcony.
The force from my jump slammed me into the snow-covered concrete below. My knees gave easily and I crumpled to the ground.
I shook my head, pushing up from the snow and ice; I ignored the pain in my shin and ankle and stood, almost falling again.
Broken or not, I had to get to Sylvia.
Sprained or not, I still had a list to kill.
Injured or not, my plans had to work. Things were spiraling and she was so close to me.
I was so close.
I limped forward, anxious to catch her.
Why did everything want me to fail?
But I wouldn’t fail. I wasn’t failing. Judge Condran was done. I’d gotten rid of him. And I’d done a really good job. True, it wasn’t my first, but it had almost been as sloppy.
My leg stung in th
e worst way and I clutched the poles of the fence, watching through the snow laden branches as Sylvia’s form disappeared into the dark snowy night.
Could I take a break? Could I take care of my injury? A flash of Bobby’s blue-tinged lips crashed through my mind. His eyes had never opened. At least they’d let me hold him before taking him away from me forever. His soft hair. I closed my eyes.
I couldn’t let him down. I had to find him some justice. My son. My little boy.
I forced myself away from the stability of the fence. My leg creaked, the bones grinding together. I leaned my head back and groaned.
The hospital wasn’t that far. I would have to put my need for vengeance on the wayside. At least until I could get a drug that would numb the limitations of my injury.
Nothing could hurt as bad as losing my son. That was pain. The irritation in my leg was physical. I’d cut the limb off, if I needed to.
No questions asked.
The snowmobile would have to carry me there. Only a few steps stood between me and the sled. I jostled myself upright onto my good leg and moved forward. Then crumpled to the snow. Black spots covered my vision and I blinked to clear it.
I pushed up on my good leg and hopped through the snow to the snowmobile. The dark dissipated under the light of the growing fire that spread upwards, moving and eating and destroying the house Condran had claimed as his own.
Gasping and panting, I started the engine and ignored the rushing in my ears as my injury struggled against my determination. One thing I had was will power. I could suffer when I was dead.
Somehow I reached the still glowing lights of the hospital. My shortened breath and tightly held muscles spasming with the pain.
I parked behind the emergency bay where the employee entrance was and soaked in the stillness. Could I muster enough strength to get inside?
I leaned forward, clenching my jaw. Leaning my cheek against the warm plastic above the gas tank, I prodded gingerly along my leg through the nylon legging under my pants. Nothing was out of alignment, but I winced just the same. There had to be a solid break. Tendons or my muscles or something held them together. I had to get inside and get it wrapped before it clean snapped in two.
