BLOODSTAIN (Det. Jason Strong(CLEAN SUSPENSE Book 2)

by John C. Dalglish

  Jason smiled to himself. He figured John Patton wouldn’t be asleep, but he didn’t expect him to be at the station. He should know better, Lieutenant John Patton would not rest when one of his own was in danger.

  It was no more than three minutes when the lieutenant came back on. “Norman Lasiter. Age 22. No priors. Last known address is 125 Rio Grande.”

  “You’re kidding me!”

  “No. Why?”

  “That’s two blocks from Marcie Walker’s house. I’ve driven past that street probably ten times in the last week.”

  “I’m on my way with the S.W.A.T team.”

  Jason, already pulling out of the parking lot, headed back toward the neighborhood he’d left an hour ago. “I’m going there now.”

  “JD.”

  “Yes?”

  “Be careful. No unnecessary risks until I get there.”

  “I’ll be careful.”

  Jason hung up and gunned the engine.

  Chapter 17

  Exhaustion had finally taken over and Vanessa had dropped into a fitful sleep. She twitched and moaned as a dream moved through her.

  The nurse helped her onto the birthing bed. Vanessa was so relieved to be alive, and to see Rob standing there with her. They’d survived the ordeal, and now it had come time for them to meet their baby.

  “Let me take a look,” the nurse raised the sheet and did a quick exam. “Looks like we’re almost ready. I’ll get the doctor.”

  Vanessa waited for a contraction to end before smiling at Rob. “Our baby will be here soon!”

  The nurse returned to the room with the doctor following behind. Vanessa’s heart leapt into her throat. It’s him. Her abductor, with the birthmark on his face.

  She started to panic, but Rob seemed unconcerned, and the doctor acted as if he didn’t recognize her. She was hit with a major contraction, and when she opened her eyes again, he was on a stool below her. “Okay, Marcie. Push the next time.”

  Marcie, he called me Marcie. She looked at Rob, but he was still smiling. Didn’t Rob hear what the doctor just called her?

  Another contraction came, and she pushed. She felt the baby being born.

  “It’s a boy!” the doctor said, and held the child up toward Vanessa.

  A large birthmark covered the left side of his face!

  Vanessa screamed.

  She awoke to the sound of her own scream, and found her abductor staring down at her. Her heart pounded in her chest, and despite being naked, she was sweating.

  “Sweet dreams?”

  Vanessa ignored the comment and wrapped her arms across her chest.

  “Get up.”

  She didn’t move.

  He pulled his gun and pointed it at her. “Get up now.”

  Keeping one arm across her chest, she pushed herself to her feet. Weak from no food or water, the room spun as she stood. For a moment, she thought she might fall. He reached out to steady her, but she pulled back, forcing herself to stand.

  “Hold out your hands.”

  She did as she was told and he produced another zip tie. Looping it around her wrists, he pulled it tight. The plastic cut into her wrists but she held her tongue. She wasn’t giving this animal any more satisfaction.

  Grabbing her by the zip tie, he pulled her along behind him, out of the room, and down the hall toward the garage. He opened the door, and she started down the steps, almost pitching forward face first onto the floor. He jerked her upright, before she could fall, and put her into the back of his truck.

  He reached into his pocket and produced another zip tie, this time proceeding to pull it tight around her ankles. The metal truck bed was cold and hard. Every way she turned hurt her.

  Lastly, he put a strip of duct tape over her mouth. Shutting the tailgate and pulling the topper door down, he twisted the latch shut, and left her there.

  Vanessa was glad to be out of the room, but being put in the truck, meant one thing. He’s moving toward the last step in his ritual.

  He’d prop her up against her own tree. The one she would die against.

  *******

  Norman locked the topper door and went back in the house. He suspected every cop in the state was looking for his pick-up, which was why he was going to take ‘Marcie’ out in the middle of the night. His preferred place to kill was a forest, but at two in the morning, he couldn’t be traipsing through a forest with a flashlight. It’s too risky, especially since they knew where he normally went.

  Sitting in a chair in the living room, he tried to come up with an alternative. He saw the old photo of him and Mark Jensen. Mark had been his only friend in high school. The picture was of the two of them in Arnold Park. It was their favorite place to hang out, when the weather was hot, mainly because of all the shade trees.

  Of course! Arnold Park. It’s perfect. Trees and enough light from the surrounding area to see. I’ll have to get away in a hurry, the gunshot will be heard, but it’s perfect.

  He took the picture off the wall and looked at it. He remembered telling Mark he was going to ask Marcie out, and Mark warning him not to do it. His friend was right, of course. She had rejected him. Norman had made her pay. In fact, he made them all pay.

  Arnold Park is a good choice for this Marcie.

  Norman laid the picture on the table and went out to the truck.

  *******

  Vanessa heard Norman get into the truck. He started it and activated the garage door opener. She listened as the chain pulled the door all the way up and braced herself as the truck started backing out onto the street. She was shaking from the combination of fear and the cold truck bed. Her face is still sore from the blow against the wall, but otherwise she was unhurt from her ordeal. She knew that was about to change.

  Vanessa continued trying to stretch the zip tie restraints, but was only hurting herself. They weren’t going to come loose. She examined the inside of the truck, each passing streetlight giving her a brief glimpse. She needed something sharp. Anything that might help her get free.

  Come on girl, think. You know you’re headed to the woods. He’s gonna’ undo your feet to make you walk. You may be weak, but you can still fight back, you have to. For Rob, for the baby. You’ve played it soft, counting on Jason to find you. Now, it’s up to you. You can’t wait for anybody to come. You have to give it your best shot.

  The pep talk made her feel better, a little less helpless.

  The truck began to slow and finally came to a stop.

  *******

  Jason had blown stoplights and ignored speed limits to get back over to the neighborhood where both the Walker’s and Norman Lasiter lived.

  Jason guessed the suspect lived in the same house he grew up in, just blocks from the people whose daughter he murdered. Somehow, he should have figured it out.

  As he turned down Rio Grande Street, he slowed to a crawl. He didn’t want to alert Lasiter by flying down the road, but everything in him wanted to do just that. To go barreling into the driveway, rush the house and if drawn on, put this animal down.

  It was too risky. He controlled himself, and moved down the street slowly until he got to one-twenty-five. His heart sank. The garage door was open, and the black truck gone.

  Jason wheeled into the drive and called the lieutenant, informing him he was at the house, and the truck was on the move. He got out, went into the garage, up the steps, and slowly opened the door. Pausing, he drew his gun, and listened for any sound. None came.

  “Police!”

  He waited. Nothing.

  “Norman Lasiter, this is the police!”

  Still nothing.

  He was struck with a wave of nausea, the smell in the house turning his stomach. From the garage door, he made his way into the kitchen. The filth and odor were overpowering. Having cleared the main house, he started down the hall toward the bedrooms.

  The door to the first was open, and the room was a mess, like everything else. He cleared it and moved to the second door.


  The second door was closed, and when he opened it, he found what was apparently the bedroom of Norman’s mother. The bed was made, dust covered everything, and it was the only room so far that wasn’t a disaster. In fact, it looked like it hadn’t been touched since the last time she was there.

  Jason opened the third bedroom door, flipped on the light switch, and stopped. The walls were covered in multi-colored writing, and it took him several tries before he could make sense of it.

  “I will never call you bloodstain again.”

  Each time he saw a different handwriting, he would read it aloud.

  “I will never call you bloodstain again.”

  He realized he had said it three or four times before it dawned on him what he was doing.

  This is what Stephanie Morris was talking about.

  At the far end, in green marker, was a handwriting he recognized. Vanessa’s, and his knees nearly buckled from thinking of her there, forced to write something over and over, that she probably didn’t understand. He saw the closet at the far end, just as Stephanie had described, but it had a lock on it.

  The mattress caught his eye. His mind began to picture Vanessa on it. He turned and walked out. He still had a job to do, and focusing on anything else wasn’t going to help.

  Moving back into the living room, he began looking for any clue that might tell him where Norman Lasiter had taken Vanessa. The lieutenant was already on his way to the state forest that had been Norman’s previous drop site. Jason doubted he would go back there.

  It’ll be somewhere new, probably close.

  He scanned the room. No computer. No open books or maps. He checked by the phone for notes and found none. He went into the kitchen, checking for notes stuck on the fridge. He came up empty.

  Jason walked back into the living room and scanned again.

  There has to be something. Wait, what’s that?

  On the far wall was a white spot, unusual in the grime surrounding it. Something had been there until recently. He searched the entire room for a frame the size of the white spot and found one.

  Jason picked up the photo of two boys. One was obviously Norman, the Port Wine Stain told him that, but he didn’t know who the other boy was.

  Why is this off the wall? Did he go to this boy’s house? Did it have anything to do with where Vanessa is?

  He examined the picture closer and something in the background caught his eye. He flipped on his flashlight and wiped the dust off the photo with his sleeve.

  Arnold Park. The picture was taken at Arnold Park. Is that where he took her? I know where that is!

  It was all he had, so he ran with it. As he went back to his car, he called the lieutenant.

  Chapter 18

  The hatch door to the truck topper swung open. Vanessa could see trees behind Norman, but no streetlights. The tailgate dropped, and Norman grabbed her feet, pulling her toward him. Her skin complained as it was pulled across the bed of the truck.

  Norman reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folding knife. He opened it and cut the zip tie around her ankles. She felt instant relief to have her feet separated, but blood oozed from the gouges left by the tie.

  He pulled her, by both feet now, making her sit on the tailgate. Vanessa looked at her surroundings. She recognized where she was. Arnold Park on the south side of town. They’re parked on the long road that does a winding loop, from the entrance of the park to the back, and then around to the entrance again. Vanessa had driven it many times on patrol, both at night and during the day. She got a jolt of adrenaline from the knowledge she’s on familiar ground.

  Norman pulled his gun out and bent over to pick up a bag laying on the ground. Vanessa saw her chance. As he straightened up with the bag, she kicked out with both feet at Norman’s groin. She could tell she was on target by the “umph”, followed by a groan. Norman fell to the ground and she took off running.

  Vanessa was a fit person, but running with your hands tied and no food or water for almost twenty-four hours, was more than her body could deliver. Even with the adrenaline coursing through her, it was only a short distance before she was winded and slowing.

  The footsteps behind her got louder, and she could hear his breathing, and she knew he was right behind her. A blow to the back of her head sent her reeling into the grass. When she gathered her wits about her, Norman was standing over her in a rage. “You’ll pay for that, Marcie.”

  The duct tape on her mouth had come loose. “I’m NOT Marcie!”

  He didn’t appear to hear her. He slipped behind her and she felt herself being lifted by her arms. He placed the gun to the back of her head and forced her to walk back toward the truck. When they got there, he opened the passenger door, and grabbed an oily rag sitting on the seat. He turned, ripped the remaining duct tape off her mouth, and stuffed the rag in. She choked.

  Taking her by the arms, he led her to the back of the truck, and picked up the bag he’d dropped. He steered her toward the trees next to the road.

  Vanessa struggled to get loose, but it was no use. She didn’t have enough energy left, and he wasn’t going to be caught off guard again.

  They were only ten yards or so into the trees, when he jerked her around to face him, and pushed her to the ground.

  Her back was pressed up against a large tree.

  *******

  Jason shut his lights off just before getting to the park entrance. As he went through the small gate, he turned off his engine. The car coasted to a stop on the grass and he climbed out the window. He didn’t want to alert Norman to his presence with motor noise or door closings.

  When he was on the ground, he stood very still, listening. He didn’t hear anything that didn’t belong. That wasn’t to say it was quiet. Crickets and frogs played a non-stop symphony, something he usually enjoyed, but tonight they just interfered with what he needed to hear.

  After a few minutes, he began to move up through the park. The night was warm, and a quarter-moon offered a small amount of light. He stayed on the grass, moving as silently as he could.

  It figured Norman likely took Vanessa to the back of the park, but it was just a guess. In truth, he didn’t even know for sure she was here.

  After several minutes, Jason had made his way nearly half way back into the park with still no sign. He slowed to a walk as doubt began to set in. He looked at his watch.

  It glowed 3:45.

  Vanessa’s been missing nearly twenty-one hours.

  If he’s guessed wrong about the park, and it looked more and more like he had, and Norman didn’t take her to his previous dumping ground, he’ll run out of time.

  He was thinking of what he would tell Rob when the light in the cab of a truck came on. It was less than three hundred yards away, and it illuminated two figures. Jason dropped to the ground in a crouch, drawing his weapon.

  Is that Vanessa? It had to be. I’m not too late! Gotta’ move fast.

  A door slammed and the light went off.

  Where was that light exactly?

  He pinpointed in his mind the spot where he’d seen it and began moving in a crouch. Circling around to the tree line on the other side of the road, he moved up toward the spot where he last saw the two figures.

  In the woods, the moon wasn’t much help, but it did reveal the truck. As he got closer, moonlight reflected off the hood.

  They should be in the woods opposite the truck.

  Coming up on the back of the truck, he used it as cover, and peered into the woods. Not ten yards away, he could see Vanessa sitting at the base of a tree, and Norman pointing a gun at her chest.

  *******

  Vanessa looked down at the gun resting on her chest. She didn’t look at the man who was going to end her life. She didn’t want his face to be the last thing she saw in this world.

  The smell of metal and gunpowder coming off the gun drifted up her nose.

  What will it feel like? Will she hear the gun go off or will things just suddenly go black?<
br />
  She hoped it wasn’t too painful. She’d been shot once before, a flesh wound really, but it still had hurt like crazy.

  Vanessa realized it was taking Norman a long time to pull the trigger. She looked up to see him staring back at the truck.

  Her heart leapt. Is someone there? I didn’t hear anything.

  She scanned the darkness but didn’t see anything. All at once, the park filled with noise.

  “Police! Freeze!”

  IT’S JASON!

  The gun left her chest and fired. The deafening sound made her ears ring. Norman fired again. She gathered herself enough to understand Norman was firing at Jason.

  Oh, no you don’t!

  She mustered all the strength she had left and thrust both feet out at the man standing in front of her.

  She heard a loud crack as his knee gave way. He tumbled on top of her with a scream, his gun dropping to her side.

  Vanessa’s hands were still tied and his weight pinned her. He groaned as he felt around for his gun. She watched in horror as his hand fell on it.

  “You twitch, and I’ll blow your head clean off!”

  Norman froze. Jason’s gun was on the back of his head. Norman slowly withdrew his hand from his gun.

  Jason grabbed one arm and pulled it behind the man, putting cuffs on one, and then the other. Jason then rolled him off her. Norman groaned as his knee twisted.

  “Vanessa? You okay?”

  “I am now.”

  He took his shirt off and wrapped it around her. Picking up his phone, he called the lieutenant. Within minutes, sirens filled the air, seeming to come from everywhere.

  Jason cut her wrists free, and she threw her arms around him. Jason wrapped himself around her.

  “It’s over.”

  Epilogue

  Jason turned his car into the station parking lot. He’d just returned from the preliminary hearing for Norman Lasiter. In the four months since Norman was arrested, very little legal work had gone forward due to poor health. Actually, his health was fine, but his knee wasn’t. It had required surgery and traction.