“Hey Nicole, this is Wallace. Wake your dad up for me ‘cause I’ve got some rubbing in to do.” Excitement was thick in his voice. Wallace was her dad’s longtime friend and fellow fishing enthusiast. She had always thought of him as her uncle because he was around so often when she was growing up.
“Um…I thought Dad was with you tonight.” A knot formed in her stomach as her mind began to race. “He left here around six saying he was going fishing and would be back around two. Are you saying he’s not with you?” panic started to fill her voice.
“James said he was going to go tonight but he never showed up. I just figured he decided to stay at home with you.” He paused for a second then added, “Are you sure he didn’t decide to go bowling with Paul or something like that? He might’ve slipped back in while you were sleeping.”
Nicole dropped the phone on the counter and ran toward her father’s bedroom. Thoughts were spinning franticly inside her head. He would’ve woken me up if he came in, I know he would have. Maybe he saw Luke and me together on the couch and decided not to wake us. Yes, that’s it; he snuck past us and went on to bed I’m sure of it. She let a bit of the panic go when she came to that conclusion, hoping it was true as she got closer to her dad’s room.
Luke had been standing silently in the kitchen doorway listening to her side of the phone conversation. He stepped aside to let her pass, then followed her down the hall. Nicole opened the door to her dad’s room without bothering to knock. She turned on the light only to find the bed empty and not a sign that James had come home or changed out of his fishing clothes to go out again. Luke watched Nicole as a range of emotions played out over her face. Her knuckles were turning white from her death grip on the doorknob. Her eyes were wide with fear as she stared into the empty room. He reached for her as she swayed on her feet, thinking she may collapse at any second, but she pushed him away.
She would not be weak, even with tears blurring her vision and her heart breaking into pieces, the words of the old woman echoed in her head. You are the only one left now, the last Keenan, you must be strong.
*****
The following day was chaotic for Nicole. The police department had tried to convince her to wait until the next day to start searching for James. They had given her the same line of bull shit she had given others time and time again about waiting a full twenty four hours, but she knew in her heart her dad was in trouble. The dream about the graveyard didn’t feel like a dream anymore and she had no trouble believing what the old woman…well her grandmother, had told her. “Blood had been spilt” was the phrase that she tried to focus on. Nicole was hoping she wasn’t the “last one” just yet. Maybe she still had time.
Kat had arrived the next morning soon after Nicole called her. Kat was a blubbering mess and not much help but it felt good to have a friend there to lean on if she needed it. Kat kept trying to reassure her everything was going to be okay but Nicole felt like she was wasting time waiting for James to just come home. Luke had not left her side since the phone call but she couldn’t deal with the thoughts of the intimate night they had shared crushing down on her so she kept a safe, platonic distance from him. It didn’t seem to matter to him. He wasn’t saying much and kept staring off into space, lost in his own thoughts.
Nicole stood in the living room, gazing out the window and down the long gravel drive. To the people in the room, she was sure it looked like she was waiting for her dad’s old truck to drive up but in reality, she was working out a strategy. I’m fed up with this fucking waiting! It’s time for action. She walked out the front door. Luke and Kat gave each other a knowing look, then followed.
“Nicole wait! What if he comes home while you’re gone?” Kat said in a panicked voice as she gently grabbed Nicole by the arm stopping her mid stride. Tears were filling Kat’s eyes again. “I think you should stay here and wait a little while longer, honey.”
“Wait?! Kat that’s all I’ve been doing for about six hours now!” She threw her hands up in the air as she paced back and forth in the dirt driveway. “These could be his last hours and if I wait any longer he could be dead! Do you hear me Kat? D- E- A- D.” She paused, taking in a deep breath as she rubbed her temples with her index fingers. She faced Luke who was still standing on the porch, watching intently. “Tell her Luke, tell her how important the first forty eight hours are and that we have already wasted six hours!” She pleaded with her eyes for him to take her side.
“I’m sorry, but I think Kat’s right. What if you’re gone when he comes back? He will be worried to death about you, especially after someone tried to kill you only a few weeks ago.” He shifted uncomfortably under her glare, stuffing his hands into his jeans pockets then leaning up against the porch railing.
“You are talking like he’s coming back on his own! If he was, he would already be home!” To Nicole this conversation was pointless to continue, so she turned away from them and started walking. They don’t know what I know so they will just have to get the hell over it. I’m doing this right now and I’ll be damned if anyone is going to stop me!
“I’m going to drive the route he would have taken to the lake, there has to be a trail.” She spoke to herself as she walked around her dad’s house to the small garage he had built years ago. Nicole opened the rickety roll-up door causing a small swirl of dust to roll around her feet. “He couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air and I’m going to find him.” With determination fueling her, she stepped inside the dark garage leaving Luke and Kat standing outside in the bright morning light. In a few seconds, a loud roaring shook the ground all around them. Head lights shone brightly in the dark building like a panther waiting to pounce from its cave. With a chest-rumbling growl, a shiny, black 1968 Chevelle SS pulled to a stop in front of them. Every part of the car was gleaming in the sun, the chrome, polished to a mirror finish, the interior, black leather and the car screamed to be turned loose with each lope of the motor.
“Well are y’all going or staying?” Nicole asked as she revved the car up again making her point loud and clear. Kat went around to the passenger side of the car to get in but Luke stood where he was.
“I’m going into the police department to check for myself if anything has been done yet. You have my number if you need me right?” Luke said as he reached out, touching Nicole’s shoulder. His face was full of worry and something else but it was gone before Nicole could figure it out. Maybe regret, but for what? Was he upset that she had pushed him away? Quickly she buried the thought in the back of her head because there were more important things to worry about. Her personal life wasn’t even a blip on the radar right now. Ha, who am I kidding! What personal life?
“Ok, we’ll let you know if we find out anything and you do the same for us…. thanks Luke.” She put the Chevelle into gear and gunned it down the drive.
*****
Nicole had not said a word to Kat since they left the house. She was still upset with both Luke and her over the scene in the front yard. They are acting crazy as hell! If it was Kat’s dad out there, she would have had me going door to door last night. She thought as she tightened her grip on the Chevelle’s steering wheel and began urging the car faster down the winding country road. After a few more miles of silence, Nicole let out a deep sigh then turned to face her friend. The look on Kat’s face had Nicole laughing with tears in her eyes in an instant. Kat’s eyes were as wide as saucers, she had one white-knuckled hand grasping the handle on the door and the other was pulling her seat belt as tightly as she could manage without cutting off the blood to lower half of her body.
“Are you okay Kat?” Nicole snickered, barely containing her laughter.
“Oh yes, just peachy…Would you slow the hell down, you’re gonna kill us!” She sneered at Nicole, not finding anything humorous in the situation. Her brows were pinched together in a stern glare and her normally beautiful bronze skin was two shades lighter.
Nicole glanced down at the dashboard noticing the reason for Kat�
��s state. She was going eighty on a road with many hair-pin turns and a speed limit of forty. She eased off the accelerator, shrugging her shoulders. “The car handles good so it didn’t feel like I was going that fast. Sorry Kat.” With a sigh, she focused her attention back on the road.
“You know your dad’s gonna flip when he sees you’re driving his baby.” A mischievous smile crept over Kat’s face. “You know, I think I’ll tell him you were treating her bad so he’ll ground the hell out of you. You’ll be stuck in that pink fluffy room of yours for a month.” She started to giggle at her own joke as she playfully poked Nicole on the arm. They laughed together at the image of a grown woman locked in her childhood room.
Soon, they made their turn onto the road James would have taken on his way to the boat dock. All smiles faded as they both went on high alert, looking for any sign of James or his truck. They drove slowly down the narrow road, walled on each side by large pine trees. Whenever a small trail would open up into the woods, Nicole would slow the car to a crawl so they could look for any clue the area had been used recently. Each trail was meticulously checked with the same result-nothing.
Before they realized it, they were pulling into the wide opening that housed the parking area for fishermen’s vehicles while they were out enjoying the lake. It must have been a peak fishing day because the lot was packed and there were also several people fishing along the bank, surrounding the dock area.
“Do you see his truck anywhere?” Kat asked hanging out of her window as they drove at a snail’s pace around the lot.
“Not yet.” Nicole was starting to feel a tug in her chest as tears threatened to blur her vision. She had hoped to see her dad waving from the bank as he hauled a stringer full of fish out of the water. In her imagination, she could picture the big smile on his face as she lectured him on not coming home at a decent time. Reversing the parent/child role would feel good right now but in all truth, she just wanted her dad to wrap her in a big hug and tell her everything was alright. He’s my whole world, I can’t lose him too. That one thought caused the dam holding her emotions in check to break. Nicole began to sob as she pulled into the first open parking spot. She couldn’t stop the tears even though she wanted to be strong for her dad and for herself but the thought of losing him forever crushed down on her.
“Oh Nicole, honey, it’s going to be all right.” Kat pulled Nicole into her arms trying to sooth her friend’s broken soul. “We will find him, do you hear me? We are not giving up until we do.” She hugged Nicole tighter in her arms trying to lend some strength to her friend. “For all we know your dad might have gotten a wild hair up his ass and flew to Vegas for a crazy weekend.” She smiled gently at her friend, praying the image of James gambling with a woman on each arm would give her hope.
Nicole gently pulled away from her friend and gave her a small smile. She debated deeply with telling Kat everything, the mind-reading, the woman from her dreams and about the hit man sent to test her. After all Kat had been her best friend most of her life. At that moment, Nicole realized how lucky she was to have Kat with her. After all, who else would make up such an outlandish story about her dad going to Vegas just to cheer her up?
“Kat, thank you for being here,” she said as she gave her a tight hug. “It means a lot to me. There are only two people I trust in my life and you’re one of them, my dad is the other. There are things I’ve told him that I have never told anyone else.” She paused trying to think how to word what she was about to say without sounding like some psychopath. She twisted her fingers around a curl and shifted uncomfortably as the image of Kat making a makeshift cross with her fingers and running in the opposite direction flashed into her head. God please let Kat see past what I’m about to say and not run away screaming. She prayed silently. “Um…Kat, there’s a good reason for how I’ve been over the past few years. You know, the whole not wanting to go out and do stuff with you and not wanting to date anyone.” Nicole met Kat’s eyes trying to gauge her reaction, which showed she was listening; curiosity was all over her face. Any other time the look on her face might have been comical.
“Yes, you’ve changed a bit over the past four or five years. For a while, I chalked it up to you losing your mother. I know that was, well, still is, hard on you. Then you became a cop and I just thought you were trying to be the best officer you could so you cut out your social life. Umm…so?” She said with dramatic hand waves trying to urge the words out of Nicole’s mouth.
“It was around four years ago when things started to change but there’s a good reason for…” The ringing of Nicole’s cell phone cut off her statement mid-confession. Great, now I’ll never get the courage up to tell her and I’m sure she will draw lines to something outrageous like I’m becoming a nun or that I was about to confess to being a lesbian and that I am deeply in love with her. Yep that’s for sure where Kat’s conceited mind will go with this! Just wonderful! She snorted at the thought while she searched the car for the intrusive phone.
Checking the screen, she noticed it was Luke and hurried to answer. Before she could say anything Luke spoke.
“Nicole, you need to come in to the police station. We have found your dad’s truck.”
Time seemed to stand still. She couldn’t form a response, a thought, an emotion, nothing. A flash of a familiar place went across her eyes. It was a recreation area on the opposite side of the lake from where she was now. Nicole’s parents had taken her there every summer for family camping and fishing trips. She could clearly see her dad’s truck sitting in the parking lot designated for picnickers.
“Nicole, are you there? Hey?”
Luke’s words brought her out of her haze. “Have they moved the truck yet? She asked.
“No, but…”
“Good, it will take me about twenty minutes to get there.” she hung up. She didn’t know why she wasn’t freaking out about what just happened in her head. She just knew what she was seeing was the truth and she didn’t have time to second guess herself.
“Kat we need to go. Luke has found Dad’s truck.” She put the Chevelle into gear as her mind added, “But not Dad"
*****
Nicole and Kat sat in a tense silence with both of them lost in thought. Nicole’s mind was running in different directions and she was sure Kat’s was doing the same. Now was not the time for Nicole to finish what she wanted to tell Kat. It would have to wait until later. They arrived at the campgrounds in record time without any complaints from Kat.
Nicole stopped the car outside the ring of yellow and black police tape. Sheriff Thompson, Luke and Detective Mike Spade turned to watch the two women approach. The scene was just like Nicole has seen in her mind. James’ truck was parked in a parking spot as if he was out enjoying the campground’s picnicking area. There was no sign from the outside of the truck indicating a struggle or any foul play.
“Nicole, I’m sorry but there’s not much to tell you.” said Sheriff Thompson with a sigh. “There’s no sign of your dad in or around the truck. The only thing inside was this hat.” He held up a brown hat with fishing lures placed all around the floppy bill.
“That’s Dad’s. He was wearing it when he left yesterday.”
Detective Spade cleared his throat drawing her attention. “It could be that your daddy is out here in the woods somewhere, Nicole. I hate to speculate the worst but with his fishing pole gone, it points to him hiking down to the lake through the woods. Maybe he had a medical problem, like a heart attack or maybe a snake bite, and collapsed somewhere out there. The man should know better than go out in these woods alone at his age, but we all make mistakes.”
The detective spoke to her in a condescending tone that made her dislike him even more. He had always been an uppity jerk in her eyes and he wasn’t doing anything to help out his case right now. She had never been around the detective enough to get a real gauge for his attitude before. He always seemed to exit the room when she entered. She wondered if she had offended him, but right now
she didn’t care what he thought or how he felt about her on a personal level. She needed him to hear her out if he was going to be any help.
“My dad is not out there in those woods. He was excited when he left about going fishing with Wallace. He wouldn’t change his mind like that.”
“Ever think your daddy might not tell you everything? Maybe he decided some time alone fishing would be better. After all, haven’t you been staying with him? A man who is accustomed to living alone will crave solitude, Officer Keenan.”
In the next second, Nicole was standing toe to toe with the detective. Her fists were balled tight at her sides and her jaw was set in a hard line. “Are you trying to push me?” she hissed. “You don’t know a damn thing about my dad! I don’t care how good you think you are, right now you’re not worth a shit to me until you find him. Do you hear me?” Her words slid through gritted teeth as she watched for one wrong move from the ass-wipe detective. She felt a warming sensation start building in the center of her body. Fury and anger seemed to be taking on a physical form within her. It began to radiate out from her chest to her limbs. Her palms started to warm with a power she had never felt before. She did not fear the sudden change but welcomed it like an old friend.
Burden Of Blood Page 6
