A Silent Terror (13 page)

“What kind of cloth?”

“A very small piece of leather.”

“Oh, well that could belong to anyone.”

“And the fingerprint we found matched up with your brother, Alonso’s, so I guess we’re at a dead end there.”

A frown marred her forehead. “Alonso’s print was on my car?”

“Yeah.” He took a few more bites of pizza and looked over at the team of girls, who were laughing and chatting, signing exuberantly, oozing life. Two of the girls were busy texting on their Sidekicks. Ashley would have loved…

Don’t. Go. There.

Ethan grabbed the check from the table. Marianna’s hand covered his. When he looked up, the sympathy in her eyes told him that, once again, she’d read him as easily as a First Steps reader.

His phone buzzed, sweeping relief through him. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Catelyn. The boss has called a meeting and wants you here.”

“I’m off the clock,” he groused.

“Not anymore. We’ve got a hostage situation and he wants you to take care of it.”

All the way home, driving the nice little rental her insurance company had provided, Marianna couldn’t get Ethan’s words out of her head. Alonso’s fingerprint had been found on her car. Usually, that wouldn’t be something she’d worry about. But she’d just had the car detailed that very day, and Alonso hadn’t been anywhere around it since then. Or so she’d thought.

Aside from her spiritual well-being, there were several things in life she considered important enough to take care of. Her dog, her house and her car. Once a month, someone from Darren’s Detailing came and picked up the car while she was at work, and by the time she was ready to go home, she walked out to the parking lot and climbed into a spotless vehicle.

With everything going crazy, she’d kept the appointment as a way of keeping something in her life consistent. It would sound dumb to anyone else, but for her it had been important. Something normal in a world gone nuts.

Anxiety dogged her steps as she headed to her parents’ home.

Fingers gripped her steering wheel with extra force as she wondered whether she should confront Alonso and ask him why his print had been found on her car. Or if she should just forget it.

Okay, that wasn’t an option. Maybe she should tell Ethan and see what he came up with, what advice he could offer.

But if Alonso found out, that would put him on the defensive.

Maybe he had a reason to be, she argued with herself. Marianna worried Alonso hadn’t quite given up the wild friends he’d used to hang with. But even if he’d started hanging around those guys again, why would he vandalize her car? His sister’s car?

She parked on the street so her father could leave in the morning to meet up with his breakfast buddies. Every Friday, barring illness or family chaos, he was up and out the door by six o’clock to head down to The Skillet.

Motion to her left caught her attention. Something on the edge of the driveway, then a shadow darting around the side of the house.

Had her mother let Twister out to do his nightly business?

A glance at her watch said eight thirty. No, that was too early for it to be Twister. Besides, he would have run up to greet her.

Unease settled between her shoulders; her gut churned with anxiety. Chewing her lip, she pondered her options. Get out and investigate?

Dumb idea.

Make a run for the front door?

Maybe.

But what if someone lurked ready to pounce? And what if running for the door just led the danger inside? The darkness closed in, suffocating, igniting all kinds of images of danger, the memory of the attack in the gym.

She double-checked the locks on her rental.

Get out? Stay in? Call the police? Call Ethan? She gripped her phone.

Oh Lord, what do I do?

Then the shadow appeared at her window and a scream ripped from her throat.

Ethan punched his pillow and flipped the lamp on. By the time he’d gotten to the hostage scene, the situation had been resolved. All that adrenaline for nothing. Ethan couldn’t decide how he’d felt driving over to the place where a young father had taken his wife hostage until she promised to let him see their children. Ethan had been anxious, nervous, with scenes from his last hostage incident movie running through his mind.

It had only been two weeks since Ashley’ s funeral, and he’d been going mad sitting around staring at the wall, reliving her death. Insisting he was fine, he’d gone back to work just the day before the incident. He hadn’t been on call that night, but, owing to various reasons, he’d been the only one available with crisis negotiation training. Knowing he should refuse, he’d agreed to go.

The images still haunted him.

The gun at her head, Ethan on the phone, the man yelling his demands, the woman turning, fighting, refusing Ethan’s orders to be still.

The gun going off…the young woman bleeding to death on her kitchen floor.

And later, his desperate desire to know if he’d done something wrong even though everyone assured him he hadn’t. But he knew what they didn’t. He’d been drinking. So the thoughts haunted him. If he’d stayed away from the alcohol, would he have said something different, something that would have given everyone a different ending? He didn’t know, couldn’t know. But he’d made a vow never to place himself in that kind of situation again.

So Ethan had put in for a request his boss had honored. No more hostage stuff.

Until tonight.

But this time, only minutes before Ethan had arrived, the woman had managed to say all the right things and the incident ended peacefully. He breathed a prayer of thanks.

Unfortunately, he was still keyed up and couldn’t sleep.

The Bible on the nightstand patiently waited for him. Instead of picking it up, he bowed his head and prayed out loud. “God, You died so I don’t have to. You took on the sins of the world so I could be spared punishment. Mentally, I know this, so why do I keep beating myself up? How do I stop punishing myself, and forgive myself?”

Not getting an answer, he dressed and went for a cold midnight

jog.

Marianna knew if her heart beat any harder, it would explode. The figure at her window stumbled backward at her hysterical scream.

And she recognized him. Fumbling with the car door, she ruptured from the vehicle signing and yelling, “Alonso! Are you crazy? What do you think you’re doing scaring me like that?”

Shock twisted to guilt, and his eyes slid away from her. Fury pulsed through her. “Oh, I get it. You’re sneaking out.”

The guilt left his face so fast she wondered if she’d imagined it. His lip curled into that sneer only a rebellious teenage male can manage.

He signed, “You’re not my keeper. Stay out of my business.”

Immediately Marianna forced herself to calm down, to push aside her initial fear and subsequent reaction to it. She rubbed a weary hand over her eyes. “I’m sorry, Alonso. You’re right. I’m not your mother or your keeper. I’m your sister and I love you. I really don’t want to see you get in trouble, okay?”

Remorse flickered at her words. Hope ignited inside her that he’d just go inside the house. Because if he didn’t, she’d have to be a tattletale. Not her favorite role.

“You’ll get me in trouble if I leave, won’t you?”

When would this kid start taking responsibility for his actions? “No, Alonso, you’ll get in trouble all by yourself. It’s your choice.

You’re the one breaking the rules.”

The word made her wince, but she didn’t berate him, just walked away, praying he’d make the right decision – for once. Questioning him about the fingerprint would have to wait until she had a handle on her nerves – and her temper. If she started in on him now, the neighbors would probably end up calling the cops for domestic disturbance.

And speaking of cops…

Ethan’s face leaped immediately to mind. And her heart warmed.

She liked him – a lot. Slipping into the house, she greeted her folks.

Her mother stepped back into the kitchen, and her dad lay stretched out in his recliner, Twister at his side and a basketball game playing on the television. When she sat on the couch near his chair, he pressed the mute button and asked, “Got a winning team this year, huh?”

“Seems that way.” Twister ambled over to her and sat at her feet. She leaned over to scratch his head, avoiding the white bandage that decorated him as a hero. His eyes closed in bliss. “The girls did a great job tonight.”

“Did your young man show up?”

An immediate flush made its way up and into her cheeks; she could feel the heat climbing, so she lowered her head and kept her gaze on Twister, then forced herself to look her dad in the eye. “He’s not my young man. He’s a cop.”

That made her father frown. “I know. Have they made any progress on finding Suzanne’s killer or who attacked you?”

“I think so. A little, maybe.” She didn’t think it necessary to go into detail. Her parents were already nervous enough about her safety.

Downplaying everything seemed to be the best route to go, although with all of their experience dealing with Joseph’s job, she didn’t think she was pulling anything over on them. “Where’s Gina?”

“Out with her friends. She’s leaving tomorrow to go back to North Carolina. Her vacation time is up.”

“You hear from Joseph?”

Her father snorted. “Every other hour or so, checking on you.” He nodded to the BlackBerry he kept by his side.

“Keep telling him I’m fine, okay?”

Anxiety flashed and he reached over to grip her hand in a tight squeeze, signing with the other, “Are you fine?”

She sighed. “Yes, I think so. Alonso scared me to death earlier, but…” Marianna paused, debating whether to say anything about her younger brother’s nocturnal activities. No, she’d talk to him herself, first. “G’night, Dad.” She leaned over and placed a kiss on his balding head. “I love you.”

“Love you, too, sweetie.”

She made her way upstairs to her bedroom, thinking about Ethan She noticed she spent a lot of time doing that lately…thinking about Ethan.

The haunting she saw in his eyes when he didn’t realize she was looking made her wonder if it was a result of Ashley’ s death or something else. The man sure had his secrets. As if he had things he needed to deal with. His sister’s death had certainly been hard, but she had a feeling his angst went deeper than that. Twister jumped up on her bed to settle at the foot of it, snout resting between his mammoth paws, but he perked his ears and watched her movements.

Stepping over to her closet, she pulled out clothes to wear to work tomorrow and hung them on the hook on the door. Turning back, she noticed Twister had shifted his attention, his head cocked, his brown eyes trained on the window. She reached to close the miniblinds and stopped. Leaned closer. Twister leaped to the floor and moved under the window. Marianna laid a hand on his head, feeling the rumble of his growl.

A shadowy figure darted behind the bushes to her left. Anger and frustration warred within her. Alonso. She’d hoped her brother would have chosen to do the right thing. Obviously, he’d decided to go his own way, regardless of what his big sister thought.

Immediately, her teeth clamped down on her lower lip, chewing. Resolve stiffened her spine. Turning her lip to mush by pondering her next move would accomplish nothing except for a sore lip. Spinning from the window, she shot from the room, pulling the door shut behind her. No sense in letting Twister out when he was still recovering. She bolted down the steps, bypassing the den where her father now dozed, the kitchen where her mother still puttered, and out the door.

Not bothering to yell because Alonso was totally deaf, she sprinted to the bushes where she’d seen him disappear. A small skipping stone walkway led from the bushes next to the house, to the back part of the yard. Two oak trees towered over her, casting her into the shadows now that she was away from the outside lights of the house.

The walkway connected to the neighbor’s backyard. Once in their yard, it was an easy jaunt around to the front of the house, where he could hop in a waiting car.

Only she was too late. The front yard lay empty, the silence surrounding her; the darkness pressing in. Clenching her fists in frustration, she retraced her steps back to the house, walked in the door and stopped.

Alonso’s favorite jacket hung on the coat rack. Trepidation bloomed. Her brother wouldn’t leave the house without that coat. But just to make sure…

Marianna took the steps two at a time, made a right at the top of the stairs and stopped at the first door on her right. It was cracked open, a sliver of light snaking its way out into the hallway.

She peeked in and gasped.

Alonso lay on his bed, texting on his Sidekick. No doubt complaining to one of his friends about Marianna’s interference in his after – dark plans.

When the fear leaped up to grab her, she had no defense, no excuses, no arguments with which to chase it away. Because if Alonso wasn’t the person in her parents’ backyard, who had she just sought out in the dark?

Friday morning finally brought some news for Ethan. Catelyn had spent time with the crime lab, pushing, begging, being obnoxious – and getting results. The DNA found at Marianna’s house had come back, and the man was in the system because he’d been arrested for DUI. A Gerald Chambers.

The name meant nothing to him, but it might to Marianna. Which was why he was on his way to the school to see her. He didn’t want to text her and break the news to her without being there to be a sounding board for her questions. None of which he probably had the answers for. He was hoping she might provide him a few. Like who this guy was.

Texting her, he said, “On my way. I have something I need to discuss with you about the case. Can you meet with me when I get there?”

A few seconds later he read, “Sure. It’s a teacher workday. No problem meeting. I’ll see you when you get here.”

Five minutes later he pulled up to the side of Marianna’s building. She waved to him from the window and motioned for him to come up. At the sight of her, his heart did things it shouldn’t be doing.