by J. Thorn
“Involved in what?” I asked.
He ignored my question, and they turned to go. I was about to call after them when Carla stopped me. “Let them go,” she said.
I looked down at the card. Nothing but a phone number. No name, no military insignia. I tried not to think of conspiracy theories. “Do you believe me now?” I asked her as they stepped into their Lincoln Town Car. Black, of course.
“I believe something. One thing is certain, though, your brother is in some deep shit. You, too. And now, probably me. An accessory after the fact.”
“Welcome to the club,” I said.
“Thanks. We need to figure out what the hell is going on.”
“We?” I said.
“Hey, we’re in this together.”
“Sounds romantic.”
She snorted. “Mostly, we need to get your brother some help.”
I nodded, my grin faltering. My poor fucking brother. Jesus, what had he gotten himself into? My crime investigations were often nature-related, or gang-related. But I still had what it took to solve mysteries. Maybe I needed Carla, maybe not. Either way, I had to look at my brother as a case. Take my emotions out of it. I also had to take care of Anna. That these clowns knew enough about me to know about her enraged me, but it didn’t surprise me. I had to be as tough as they were. And smarter.
I took a deep breath, centered myself. “Okay. First things first. I want to check on Anna. For what it’s worth, do you have time to do a little snooping around?”
Carla smiled, and for the first time she took my hand. “It would be a pleasure, Mr. Carter.”
Chapter Twelve
“I love you, too, Dad.”
Anna hit “end” on her iPhone, then shoved it into her jeans pocket.
Jared looked at her expectantly. “Well?”
“I’m supposed to stay here, and later, I go home with Brice when he’s off work.”
“What about your uncle?”
“My dad and a lady cop friend are going to try to get more information about what’s going on. I think. Honestly, he didn’t say much.”
“He probably didn’t say much on purpose,” said Jared.
Anna nodded. That seemed about right.
They were quiet. Jared knew that Anna only put on the angelic facade for her father. He knew better than most that Anna was much more independent than her dad believed or imagined. Jared, for instance, could tell by the look on his friend’s face that the wheels were turning inside that pretty head of hers.
“That gives us four hours,” she said.
“You mean before Brice is off?” he asked, catching up.
“Right.”
“You want to do a little research yourself?” he asked.
Anna smiled. She knew Jared was a whiz when it came to computers. “Yes, and I want you to help. How do you search the Internet without being tracked?”
“It’s not that hard,” he replied confidently. “Easier if you have a large database, one that’s accessed by more than one person.”
“Not my laptop, then?”
“Right.” He had an idea. “How busy are the observatory offices today?”
“Tuesday afternoon? Should be fine.”
“Can you get us in? Without seeming...obvious?”
“Of course. I’ll just say I’m working on my astronomy project.”
“Ah, the mysterious Dark Matter.” His voice took a sinister tone.
“Oh, shut up. It’s important research. Did you know that there is ten times more dark matter out there than there is regular space? That—”
Jared held up his hand. “Save the lecture for later, Einstein. As long as we can get in there, uninterrupted.” Jared suddenly thought of other uninterrupted times he’d like to have with Anna and blushed mightily. Fortunately, she didn’t see. She was, to his frustration, thinking of something else. As always.
“First, I want to go home,” she said.
“But your dad told you not to.”
“No. He specifically said that I shouldn’t come near my uncle. There’s a difference. Besides, how can we research anything if we don’t know what we’re looking for?”
“Anna, he sounded pretty serious about that. This is no ordinary situation.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, and patted him on the face. “I’ll protect you.”
What could he say? The girl he loved was in the middle of a bona fide mystery. And she’d confided in him—and only him. Jared liked that. It made him feel good. He also decided that he didn’t want to let on that he was more than a little uneasy about the whole situation. At the very least, he had to act as bravely as her.
“Okay,” he said, hoping he sounded as calm as she did. “We’ll just pop in for a few minutes.”
She smiled and nearly hugged him. “Maybe Uncle Joe and his friend won’t even know we’re there. You know, if they’re really that sick and all.”
“Remember, we have to get back and to the observatory in time to get on the computer—”
“We will. We can get down to the house within a half hour, and ten, fifteen minutes, tops, to see them. By the time we get back to the observatory we’ll still have about an hour and a half on the Net.”
“Glad to see that you have this worked out,” said Jared, rolling his eyes.
They gathered their books and made their way to the zoo’s exit, then along the small trail that led down the countryside to her home below.
Chapter Thirteen
Jared was getting a bad feeling about all of this.
He often got bad feelings about things—and more often than not, bad things happened. A friend of his at school thought Jared might be psychic. Jared thought his friend was nuts.
Still, a bad feeling was a bad feeling...and Jared’s stomach was practically turning somersaults.
At the moment, he said nothing and blindly followed Anna behind the spacious back yards of some of the wealthiest homes in Los Feliz. Like Anna, Jared had grown up unconventionally. Also like Anna, he’d been home-schooled by parents who worked with animals more than they did people. He thought his parents were crazy, but loved them. Both he and Anna knew Griffith Park—and the surrounding Los Feliz, for that matter—like the backs of their hands. Anna, in particular. In fact, she might have even known the area better than him—especially since she often worked with her dad. Jared was often amazed that Anna knew not only the little-known trails some hikers used, but could follow the paths of wild animals. She knew them inside and out.
Soon, they found themselves behind Anna’s own massive home—her part-time home, as she sometimes referred to it. Anna quietly unlatched the back gate and, once through, led the way quietly through the expansive back yard, past the koi pond she loved so much, and to the key hidden under the third potted plant from the door.
The house was dead quiet. Her father was off working with Carla, the cute cop that she knew her father had a crush on in kind of the same way that she knew Jared had a crush on her.
Two love birds, she thought, and nearly giggled.
That is, until she heard the moan from below.
“What was that?” whispered Jared. He was nearly on top of her.
She didn’t know, and only shook her head. They continued through the big house, moving quietly. Like mountain lions, thought Anna. She loved the local population of mountain lions, and wanted to do all she could to protect them.
Think about the cats later, she admonished herself. Good idea.
Anna assumed that her Uncle Joe and his friend were upstairs, resting in bed, which was where she led Jared now, climbing the stairs as quietly as possible. When they reached the second floor landing, she stopped, puzzled. The hall was in disarray. Pictures were crooked, rugs were askew.
A stone was covered with blood.
Jared stepped forward. “Jesus, is that blood?”
Anna didn’t know for sure. She didn’t know what to think, either. She hurried down the hallway, and pushed open the door to the gues
t bedroom. Uncle Joe was gone, and Mike’s room was empty, too.
“Where are they?” asked Jared.
Anna jumped at the sound of his voice. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe your dad took them to the doctor.”
“Maybe,” she said.
Anna checked her own bedroom. Nothing had been touched. That gave her some comfort. Her father’s room seemed all right, too.
“Well, what do you want to do?” asked Jared.
Anna stood with her hands on her hips, taking in the trashed hallway, the empty rooms.
Something’s wrong, she thought.
When she didn’t immediately answer, Jared said, “Hey, you got anything to eat?”
“Are you kidding?”
“What can I say? I’m a growing boy.”
Anna tried to push away the need for caution that she was presently feeling. The two black-suited weirdos at the zoo had freaked her out a little. And now this...this mess. And where the heck were their house guests?
“Please,” whined Jared. “Anything. A Pop-Tart maybe.”
She hated when Jared got all whiney. Like a kid. Anna wasn’t a kid. She was almost an adult. At least, she felt like she was almost an adult. She turned to him and forced a smile. “Fine. How about leftover spaghetti? I can nuke it.”
“Sounds good.” He didn’t mean to say it so loud. The place was like a tomb; it seemed to call for silence.
The two headed down, where Anna placed a large portion of the leftovers into the microwave and hit START. Jared liked having Anna wait on him. It almost felt like they were a real couple.
As they waited, Jared said, “So, what were you expecting to find?”
“You mean here?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I wanted to see for myself what my dad told me,” she said. “I never thought my Uncle Joe could be dangerous to anyone. I’m glad my dad took them to the doctors’ office.”
“If he took them to the doctors,” Jared said, for reasons he didn’t entirely know.
“Of course he took them,” she replied. “Just like you said upstairs. It makes sense. You have to make sense once in a while.”
“Ha ha.”
“Anyway, where else would they be?”
“They could be howling at the moon,” Jared said lightly.
“Stop it. Besides, it’s daytime.”
Anna was getting paper plates out for them when Jared, on a wild whim, reached around her and tickled her. Anna squealed and faced him. “You’re in big trouble now!”
She playfully pushed him as he grabbed her and held on, pulling her in close. The disorder upstairs momentarily forgotten, she lightly pushed him away and darted around the kitchen table. He chased her. Running around the table, laughing, he finally caught her and they ended up crashing to the floor. He rolled on top of her and locked her arms above her head.
“Stop!” she laughed.
“Make me.”
Anna felt a rush of passion, something she’d been denying for many months now. But with him on top of her, looking at her with those big puppy eyes, well, she finally gave in to him. She was certain he was going to kiss her. She welcomed it. Wanted it. Her first kiss...
* * *
That moment, sweet and pure as it was, was suddenly broken by sounds from below. Not just sounds but...grunts and growls. Wild animals? Anna instantly knew that the noises were coming from the cellar.
The romantic moment fled as quickly as it came.
“What’s that?” Jared was suddenly alert.
“I don’t know,” said Anna, getting up. “But it came from the cellar.”
Chapter Fourteen
If I’d known Anna had gone home, and alone with Jared—a father’s greatest fear; that is, a daughter alone with a love-struck teenaged boy—I never would have gone with Carla. Anna’s actions set off a complex series of events that could have been avoided. But then again, maybe it was all inevitable.
Carla took me to her base station, the Sheriff’s Department on Hollywood Boulevard. It was a fairly busy station on the cusp of true Hollywood, but Carla had a small cubicle of her own, where she kept track of the goings on in her jurisdiction, mainly, the observatory and its surrounding neighborhoods. Carla had a pretty sweet beat, compared to some of the other deputy sheriffs. Sure, she was required to keep tabs on the local gang and vandalism activities, break up the ritzy Los Feliz noisy parties, and she occasionally worked with crime detectives in the never-ending violence that ensconced the area. But she maintained a fairly local region. She couldn’t have had it much better.
Carla inconspicuously led me to her cubicle and slipped out of her jacket. I sat in the small office chair meant for the occasional witness or colleague.
“Okay,” she said quietly as she booted up her computer. “What do you need, specifically?”
“How about searching for an APB, for starters?”
“Your brother?” she asked, not missing a beat.
“Gee,” I said. “You must be a cop.”
“Shut up. What’s his full name?”
“Joseph Bradford Carter.” I rattled off his birthdate and residence address as she entered the search. “Can you check his friend, Mike?”
“What’s his last name?” She started typing again.
“Mendoza.”
Carla looked at me. “Carter, do you know how many guys named Mike Mendoza there are? It’s like searching for John Smith.”
I sighed. I next asked her to check any alerts or bulletins that might be coming across her desk. It took only a few clicks before she started nodding. “Bingo. There’s a warning about scattered illnesses in the military. Quote: ‘Yellow alert: soldiers displaying flu-like symptoms. If found, keep distance and contact local military base. Medics will be dispatched to remove and retain any affected persons.’ Huh.”
“Flu-like sounds about right,” I said.
“And keeping a distance.”
I nodded and felt sick to my stomach all over again. God, what had my poor brother gotten himself involved with?
Carla announced a discovery. “Here’s your APB.” She clicked a few buttons and picked up the freshly printed pages from a printer next to her desk. “The APB is not only for your brother but his friend Mike, too.”
She handed the pages to me. “AWOL,” it read, followed by another acronym: “A&D.” Which meant, of course, “Armed and Dangerous.”
I stood, hardly believing what I was seeing. Armed and dangerous meant, of course, that officers could shoot at will. “I need to see him—”
Carla wisely grabbed my hand and pulled me down. “Quiet, Jack.” She was right, of course. This was the last place to make a scene.
My head pounded. Worse, a wave of dizziness threatened to overtake me. I took in some air, and focused my breathing. What should have been a nice visit with my brother had spiraled completely and totally out of control. Into something unimaginable. An APB for his arrest? Armed and dangerous? AWOL?
“I don’t know what to do,” I heard myself say, and it might have been the first time I’d admitted something like that in a long time. I was good at my job. Busting up gang activity, drug activity and handling wild animals in my parks seemed to be right up my alley. Dealing with this...not so much.
“I don’t either,” said Carla. “But let’s get out of here and figure something out.”
I couldn’t have agreed more.
Chapter Fifteen
Anna and Jared tiptoed toward the cellar, ears attuned to the noises on the other side of the door, neither hardly daring to breathe. In fact, for both of them, making noise of any type suddenly seemed like a very bad idea.
Had a wild animal found its way into their basement? Anna wondered. Not unheard of, especially since their house backed up to the looming hill. She listened hard, but whatever had made the sound had fallen silent.
As she listened, her ear pressed against the door, she considered calling her dad. But then that would mean admitting she had c
ome home, directly disobeying him, and she hated disappointing him.
So, for now, she waited and listened, with Jared pressing close to her. Maybe a little too close. And he was smelling kind of sweaty. She wrinkled her nose and pressed her ear harder against the wooden door, listening. The house itself seemed to be waiting, very still, as if preparing for a storm. Then again, her dad always told her she had an overactive imagination. Anyway, whatever had made the sound seemed be—
Wait, there it came again.
It was a grunt. A human grunt. Worse yet, it sounded like it could have been from...
“It’s my uncle,” she declared.
“Wait, what?” whispered Jared.
She reached for the cellar doorknob. “Uncle Joe. I know it’s him.”
“What are you doing?”
“I have to see. He won’t hurt me. He would never hurt me.”
Jared moved between Anna and the door, still whispering. “That didn’t sound like anything close to normal. You should wait for your dad.”
“What, so he can forbid me to see what’s going on? Whatever it is, I can handle it.”
Jared understood her well enough to know her stubborn streak, and tried to be noble. After all, Jared would have done anything for Anna...even go down first into a creepy basement filled with strange and guttural but human noises.
He said, “At least let me go first. Oh, and get a kitchen knife.” He raised a hand in peace at her protest. “Just in case, Anna. Maybe it’s not your uncle, or maybe he’s in trouble. Either way, we’re stupid to not have a weapon.”
Anna crossed to the counter, still tiptoeing, and retrieved the largest knife she could find. “Don’t you dare hurt my uncle. Maybe I should go first.”
“Let’s go together. Side by side.”
It didn’t help that the door creaked open. They both jumped at the sound; indeed, the creaking seemed to reawaken the groans from below, too. Anna always hated the fact that the chain-pull for the light was at the bottom of the stairs. She hated it even more now.
