by J. L. Drake
Seth’s face was in mine. He said something, but I couldn’t hear him. He seemed scared, even panicked. Perhaps I should have been too, but instead I was calm, relaxed, and totally content with staying right where I was. The blue sky was beautiful. Then everything turned black.
***
Seth
I leaned over Emily to check her pulse with shaky hands. What the fuck? I couldn’t believe how close that had been.
Garrett handcuffed the man as Davis pointed a 40mm at his skull. “Is she all right?” Garrett shouted over the man’s groans.
“She fainted.” I picked her up, cradling her against me. A small crowd had begun to form. “Let’s get out of here.”
The Channel Six news team was already in a hustle to get out of their white van, scrambling to get the latest story. Davis used his body to shield me as I slipped Emily into the squad car. Garrett made sure the camera got a good shot of the man’s face, hoping Lasko was watching. As I left Emily with Davis, I roughly pushed the old man into the back of Davis’s car and slammed the door. An EMT was on the way.
“Officer, what can you tell me about what happened here today?”
“Not now, Lilly,” Garrett warned the ever-so-pushy news reporter.
“I heard this girl was being forced into a car, and this man was going to rape her. Can you confirm this is true?”
Garrett had to stop me; I was ready to tear a strip off Lilly. I pushed the microphone down away from her mouth. She watched as I leaned in close to her ear. “Of all the stories you report, Lilly, this is the one you’ll need to watch yourself on.” She swallowed hard as she met Garrett’s angry eyes and my haunted face.
“Got it,” she answered with a nervous nod.
Garrett stepped forward and pulled her hand back up and put the mic to his mouth. “The only information we have is that a man tried to attack a young female, but with the help of the quick-acting University Security Team and the OPD, we were able to catch him before any harm was done.”
I smiled briefly at Garrett. He knew the university would be happy with the shout out to them, even though they had been nowhere to be found during the whole ordeal.
Lilly then turned to her camera guy, who moved his attention to her. “A scary moment here at Orange University. Just goes to show you monsters don’t only come out at night. Reporting live in Orange, I’m Lilly During with Channel Six News. Back to you, Steve.”
***
Lasko
I lifted my finger, raised the needle, and gently rested it in on the black spinning vinyl. Tchaikovsky flooded the small dining room as I went over the inventory laid out in front of me. Adler was in the corner, sitting perfectly still, with his eyes fixed on his master. Divine.
I ran my fingers along the smooth blade, grasped the handle, and picked it up for a better inspection. I saw my reflection in the blade.
Suddenly I flashed back to where I sat in the hall closet with my hands over my ears when I was seven. My father was beating my mother with a belt.
“Shhh, it’s okay, Jimmy,” she said from the shadow of the closet. “Let me take the pain away.”
My phone buzzed and brought me back to the present with a jolt. I wiped the bead of sweat from my upper lip and mumbled, “What?”
“Are you fucking crazy? Do you have any idea what has happened?” the voice screamed at me from the other end of the line. Fuck off.
I rolled my eyes. I did not need this shit right now. “Must you scream? My head is killing me.”
“Must I?” There was a pause. “Yes, I fucking must! You and your dumbass ideas are going to give me a fucking heart attack! Fuck!”
“Okay,” I sighed, preparing myself for yet again another lecture. “What did I do now?”
“Hank got caught and is now in police custody.”
My entire body went on high alert. Oh fuck!
“Ohhh, Jimmy, you better have been fucking right when you said you could trust him. Why on earth would you send a second man in when you can do the job yourself? It’s not like this is the first time, but I can fucking promise you this—it’s gonna be the last.” The line went dead.
I stood and stared at the table. Suddenly, I turned and whipped the knife full force at the wall.
I started to dig through my pile of shit on the coffee table. I knew it was here somewhere! I tugged it free and read out loud Hank’s home address. That fucker better keep his mouth closed.
***
Emily
I could hear Seth’s voice, but it sounded far away. “She’s been out a long time.”
“Huh?” A bright light flashed in one of my eyes, then the other. Voices started to flood my ears and bring me back.
“It’s her body’s way of coping with a traumatic situation,” a stranger’s voice said. “She has been through a great deal of stress these past few weeks.”
I tried to tune them out, to fight my way back to where everything was nice and calm.
“Seth,” I whispered as I wandered through the darkness. Every room looked the same, every window was painted black. It was just so quiet.
I felt warm lips brush over my hand. “I’m here, baby.” His soft voice made my eyes flutter open. “Hey.” He brushed a piece of hair off my face. “There’s my girl.”
“Where am I?” My eyes met a stranger’s face and then Garrett’s. “What happened?” I tried to sit up, but everyone shot forward at once, which made me curl back onto the couch.
“Take a minute, Emily,” the stranger said. I could see my reflection in his large, oval glasses. He must have caught my puzzled face. “I’m an EMT and a friend of the sergeant’s. He asked me to come in and check on you.”
I nodded slowly.
“Emily, can you tell us what happened?” Detective Michaels asked as he pulled up a chair and took a seat.
I sighed, then swung my feet to the floor. My body felt like lead, but I forced myself upright. Seth moved swiftly to my side and wrapped his arm around me. I leaned my head into his neck and sought his comfort.
“Umm, yeah, I think.” I rubbed my face and tried to answer Michaels’s question. “I was at the library with Scott and Vince.” I quickly looked at Seth. “Is Vince all right?”
“Yes.” He stroked my back. “He’s at the house.”
“Okay.” I sighed then and gave them a play-by-play of what had happened. Michaels interrupted a few times and asked me to repeat parts to make sure I was clear on my timeline. I was shocked to hear that Garrett had received a text from Lasko about me. The fact that Lasko had been in the library as he took a picture of me gave me the chills. I ran my frustration through my hair and used my fingers to soothe my scalp. “And who was that old man? It wasn’t Lasko! Are there two psychopaths out there?”
“We don’t know yet, but he’s being questioned. Hopefully we’ll have answers soon.”
“Why me?” I whispered. I knew there was no answer yet. Maybe never.
“He’s fallen for you,” Michaels said.
“No, he’s not in love with me.” My voice was laced with disgust. “That’s not love.”
Michaels leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs. “You’re right. Jimmy Lasko is a psychopath. He is incapable of loving anyone properly. However, I think he truly believes he’s in love with you, and that you belong to him.”
I blanched.
“We will get him.”
“But why does he play games? Why not just take me? He’s had endless opportunities.”
Michaels shook his head. “It’s not so much that he can take you anywhere or at any time. It’s that he knows he can. It’s the messing with your head. He makes you fear him. He never lets you know what’s waiting around the next corner, and that is what he enjoys. It’s the control, the upper hand, the thrill of the hunt.”
“Hunt.” The word rolled off my tongue. I let it dangle in the air for a moment. To be chased, to be pursued with force and hostility for the purpose of being caught and/or killed. Great...
&nbs
p; Seth stiffened next to me. I coughed and swallowed. Deciding to clear the charged atmosphere in the room, I declared, “Then we need to know who that old man is!”
Minutes later, Garrett handed Seth a file. He opened it on the table in front of me. “Hank Wallace, age thirty-five, lives in Culver City with a wife and three kids.” I stared up at him blankly. The picture of the man looked nothing like the old man who had approached me. Seth seemed to be reading my mind.
“It’s amazing what people can do with prosthetic makeup.”
“Is he saying anything yet?”
“No, not yet. But he will.” Seth’s voice sent shivers up my spine.
My phone started to ring in my purse, and I reached for it. Oh, come on! I didn’t have the energy for this, but... “Excuse me,” I said as I rose to my feet. At least I wasn’t as dizzy. I opened the door and slipped out. I left the guys in Michaels’s office and found a quiet corner, then answered the persistent ring.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Emily, dear, am I catching you at a bad time?”
Always.
“No, Mother. How are you?” My voice was flat, no emotion. This was what she brought out in me, and I hated it.
“It’s rude, dear, to let the phone ring for that long if you intend to answer it.” Only my mother could find a way to scold me on how many rings I let go before I answered. I wondered if near-kidnapping victims got cut any slack. Probably not.
“Mom, it’s been six weeks since I’ve heard from you. Is this really how you’re going to start the conversation?” I was tempted to ‘drop the call,’ but I knew she’d call back and have even more of a mouthful to say.
She sighed heavily into the phone. “I wanted to know if you called the real estate agent. I emailed you her information last week.”
Really? I’d been a little busy.
“No, because I’m not selling our house, Mother.” I was in no mood for this conversation right now.
“You’re impossible, Emily!”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to calm my nerves. “The house is mine, Mother. Dad left it for me. You haven’t lived in that house for the past seven years. When you did live there, you were barely home. I understand it isn’t such a big deal for you to see it go, but it is for me, Mother!”
There was silence. I leaned my back to the wall. Shit.
“You need to stop living in the past, grow up, and realize he’s not coming back. You don’t need the constant reminder of him. You need to move on!” Her words lashed out at me and struck me the way they always did.
“What are you talking about? My house is a reminder to me of family and warmth. But that’s something you wouldn’t understand because you were never really involved in the family,” I said in a low voice. I felt like the burden I was to her. Never good enough, never enough for her.
“Emily, don’t be dramatic. You know that’s not what I meant. Just a moment…” I heard someone ask her a question. Her chin must have been over the phone, since it sounded muffled. “Emily, I need to go. I’ll call you when I can.”
The line went dead. No “good bye.” No “I love you.” Just silence. I breathed in deeply, pushed my feelings into the Mom Encounters box, and slammed it shut.
“Everything all right?” I turned to find Avery leaned against the wall. He looked good in his uniform.
I shrugged. “Yeah, all things considered.”
He scrunched up his nose like he was in thought. “Heard you elbowed the guy in the face.” He smiled slightly. “Bad ass, McPhee.”
“Was aiming for his chest.”
He laughed, which made me smile. He put his hand on my shoulder as he walked by me. “Glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks, me too. Avery?”
He turned. “Yes?”
“Do you think I could have handled the sting operation? You know, been able to face Lasko by myself?”
He folded his arms. “Yes, I do, but I understand that they’re nervous about putting you out there. It’s a big risk, and Lasko’s smart. We’ll get him.” His name was paged over the PA. “Stay safe, McPhee.”
“Thanks, Avery, you too.” I watched him walk down the hallway.
“Always.”
“That’s my line!”
He turned and winked at me.
I made my way back to Michaels’s office just as Seth came around the corner. “Hey, baby,” he said as he tried to read my face. I held up my phone. “Mom.”
“Jenny always has such impeccable timing.” Seth closed his eyes briefly as he stepped forward and hugged me. “Sorry,” he whispered.
“It’s fine, nothing new.”
“It’s okay not to be okay.”
“Yeah.” I sighed and hugged him a little tighter.
He kissed my hair. “Come on, we’ve ordered dinner, and you need to eat something.”
***
Seth
I set Emily up with some dinner and asked Johnnie to watch over her. Then I went to find Garrett and Michaels. I stepped into the room with the two-way mirror and watched as Michaels sat across from Hank Wallace.
“Anything?”
“He’s asking to see her,” Garrett said with disgust.
“What?”
“He says he only wants to talk to her.”
“No! No.” I felt sick. There was no way I was putting Emily through that. I ran my finger along my tie. It felt like it was strangling me. I don’t like any of this.
As I moved closer to the window, I watched as Wallace sat perfectly still and listened to Michaels go over his personal file. His face never showed any emotion. Jesus, did the man even blink? Suddenly, Wallace’s eyes shifted and made direct contact with mine. Jesus! My heart leapt to my throat and a bead of sweat broke out over the back of my neck, even though I knew Wallace couldn’t really see me. It was like he could sense me.
“Holy shit,” Garrett yelped, jumping back.
“You hear me?” Michaels said, forcing Wallace’s attention back to him.
“I do, but I will not talk until I see the girl.” Michaels quickly stood up, collected his files, and headed for the door. Wallace entwined his fingers together on his lap, sat up very straight, and stared at the wall.
Michaels shook his head at me as he entered the room. “He won’t crack, he’s too stubborn. But this is a huge break for us. I…” He paused. “I think we should at least see if Emily would be open to the idea—”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” I snapped and took a step toward him. “Absolutely not! No way.” Garrett jumped in front of me to shield Michaels from the anger that boiled off me.
“I’ll let that one slide, Connors,” Michaels warned, “but you need to see that this could be our first break.”
I knew he was right and turned toward the wall. “Fuck!” I slammed my fist into the filing cabinet.
***
Emily
I dipped a piece of bread into my soup. It tasted good, and my stomach seemed to respond well to it.
“I’ve always wanted to do that.” Johnnie shoveled a spoonful of potatoes in his mouth. “My sisters tried it before, but I couldn’t get the time off work to join them.”
“Well, the next time we go out, you should come.”
“Em?” I turned toward Seth’s voice. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”
He led me by the hand along a hallway, down the stairs, and through two doors.
“Just know I’m dead set against this,” he muttered as he pushed open the door and held it for me.
I cautiously stepped inside. Michaels and Garrett were deep in conversation. They looked as unhappy as Seth did.
“Um, hi?” I said and stepped closer to Seth as I felt the vibe. He squeezed my hand. “Oh.” I sucked in a breath when I saw the man I assumed was Hank Wallace at a steel table on the other side of a window. His face looked badly bruised. He sported a few bandages and a small stitch was laid over his left eye and his nose. My fingers hooked over the lip of the win
dowsill as I pushed my shaky legs into the wall to steady myself. “He looks so…normal.”
Michaels’s refection came into the window behind me. “They usually do.” He sighed. “He only wants to talk to you.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” I felt the ground shift beneath me.
“It’s really our only way of knowing how much he knows about Lasko. I know this is a lot to ask, but—”
“I’ll do it.” The words shot off my tongue so fast I barely thought I said them.
“We need to go over a few things first.”
“No, we do it now or not at all.” I couldn’t allow myself to think about what I was about to do, or I wouldn’t be able to do it.
“Fine,” Michaels agreed. “Just don’t divulge any personal information, don’t let him be in arm’s reach of you, and try not to show you’re scared. He will play on your weakness.”
I turned to Garrett as Michaels slipped out of the room. “I need some ice.”
“Ice?”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay.” He looked at me funny but reappeared a moment later holding a Ziploc bag full of crushed ice. “Here.”
“Thanks.” I turned to Seth, reached for his swollen hand, and handed him the ice. “Thanks for being there. I’ll be all right.” I smiled at him. “I need to do this.”
“I know.” He shook his head, and I knew he was nervous. “But I’m not happy about it.”
Michaels returned. “Okay, he’s ready.”
“We’re right here, baby,” Seth said quietly as he opened the door for me.
“Okay.” As I followed Michaels out of the room, I felt like I had slipped into a robotic state.
Michaels stopped outside the room. I could tell he was uncomfortable with this too. “Remember, no weakness, he can’t hurt you, and head up.” He gave me a confident look. “I’ll be right here with you the whole time. Ready whenever you are.”
I sighed as I pushed the anxiety aside. I wanted to prove to myself I could do this, stare fear in the face. It wasn’t like it was Lasko on the other side of this door. He opened the door, and I followed.
