Where the Sun Sets (27 page)

Salvatore came bursting through the door of
the shack. “Who is it, who’s out there? I will find you. I will
track you down and fill my belly with the meat of your liver while
your heart still beats.” Josephine could not believe her luck. How
did he know she was there? She had never made a sound. She stood
still as she listened to him bellow, but when he fired his shot gun
into the air, she took to his bait like the wildlife he thought he
was talking to. She ran, and in doing so gave away her position.
His head snapped around, trying to locate his prey. Again he fired
his shot gun, in a vain attempt to hit his target.

Josephine ran until she could not run
anymore. She was off the dirt road by several feet but she was
pretty certain she could find it again. She just needed to sit a
moment and catch her breath. Reaching into her back pocket, she
pulled out her cell phone. She waited a minute longer, listening
for anyone or anything that may be approaching. When she was
comfortable enough with the silence, she turned on the phone. She
dialed Billy as she sat in the silence.

Chapter 30

“Whose phone is that?” Barsky was the first
to hear it ring.

“I got it.” Billy was quick to respond.
“Josephine? Hello Josephine, is it you? Are you alright? What? I
can barely hear you. Is your antenna full extended? Where? Where
are you?” Billy was covering his left ear with his free hand and
his right ear with the phone and as much of right his hand as he
could. His eye’s motioned the room for silence. “Right, Bernie? Why
would Bernie’s car be out there? Look, where’s Antonia? What? Fire,
there’s a fire? Josephine? Hello, shit, hello? Listen, listen to me
OK? I can’t hear you so just listen for a sec. Stay where you are,
do you understand? Stay...Josephine?” Billy slammed his phone shut.
“Her battery must be dead. Chloe’s suppose to make sure the phones
are fully charged. This totally sucks.”

“Well, what did she say? What were you able
to understand?” Barsky was beginning to feel the pull.

“She mentioned something about driving
Bernie’s car. She has my SUV, she would never touch Bernie’s car,
so she must have been talking about the guy who took Anthony.”

“Her father. Anthony’s father.” Harold
tossed.

“We don’t know that for sure yet
Inspector.

“I know it for sure.” Harold replied to
Barsky’s quip. He smacked his chest a couple times to show her how
sure he was.

“Bernie, Bernie the Ballerina. Could be his
car. They found his body this morning. Could very well be his car.”
Barsky was perked now.

“He killed Bernie? Why would anyone kill
Bernie? For Christ’s sake, Chloe and Bernie? Neither of them would
ever hurt anyone. Why would he kill them? Bernie? Just for the car?
It doesn’t make sense.” Billy was confused and starting to grow a
little concerned that they may not get to Anthony in time.

“We still don’t know that for sure. Perhaps
if we had the video at our disposal, but no. What else did she
say?” Barsky asked.

“She mentioned a service plaza. Right off of
interstate 84. And something about a trash fire. That might help if
we had an ariel view but...”

“I got her.” Banton had stayed with the
computer. Banging away at the keys the whole time. Never letting up
until he had completed his task. “Here, take a look. Doesn’t look
like it’s moving. If that’s you, US-44 is where we need to be, but
you’re looking at about 90 miles, give or take. Even in a squad car
it’ll take at least an hour or more to get there. And if she’s on
foot? Hell that’s Bear Mountain territory. If she’s in the woods,
there’s no telling.” Looking over to his Lieutenant. “What do you
think? What do you want to do?”

Harold jumped in, “Well, I for one can’t
stand here another minute. I have to get to Antonia. Billy, you
with me?”

“Hang on there, just a second Inspector.
Salisbury isn’t our jurisdiction. We can’t just go blazing into the
woods. I have to call ahead and let...” Her words drifted off into
the empty space she spoke them to. The guys were already out the
door. Banton, however, was still situated at the computer
screen.

“Well? What the hell am I supposed to do now?
Banton, call up to Salisbury. Let them know of the situation. Let
them handle it. Then get me the chief of staff over at Bart’s. I
want to see Daniels in my office in no more than ten minutes and a
complete report,” she adds slower “a complete report on my desk by
six am. Get me a print out of that.” Pointing her finger at the
monitor. “And a traffic history for Mr. Chippendale.”

Billy took the wheel of the doctor’s loner.
“She mentioned a fire. A trash fire. If it’s big enough, and dark
enough, we should be able to spot it from the air.”

“OK, but we’re not in the air.”

“Buddy of mine runs sky tours. He should be
able to hook us up with a chopper, cut our time in half at least.
You up for a night flight?”

“You fly?”

“Military trained, been a while but they say
it’s just like riding a bike.”

“They say that do they?”

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“Is your antenna full extended?” Josephine
pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it incredulously. “He’s
fuckin kidding me.” She knew she only had a couple of seconds
before the phone died, so she just rambled on into the receiver
hoping he heard something. “Listen Billy, Anthony’s here. He has
her in a little shack, out in the woods somewhere. Get on 691 West
in Hartford. Then I-84 to CT-8 to us-44. You have to hurry. He took
Bernie’s car, I don’t know how he knows Bernie, but I can’t believe
that jerks involved. There’s a small trash fire going in the yard,
hopefully it will still be burning when you get here. I’ll be
sitting in the SUV waiting for you. Please hurry Billy.” She pulled
the phone from her ear and noticed the light had gone out. The
battery was now dead and there would be no more calls for help.
“Please.” She whispered softly into the night air.

Standing up she placed the phone back into
the rear pocket of her jeans. Checking the weapon at her waist, she
searched with her eyes and ears to find her direction. It was just
too dark and too quiet for her to be able to think. She had no idea
where to go, which direction to head in, so she just walked. She
smelled the burning wood before she saw the fire. She had totally
reversed her direction and somehow managed to arrive back at the
shack. But this time she wasn’t staying for biscuits and tea. She
immediately set herself in the needed direction and headed once
again for the road. Not looking back to see if she had been
spotted. She walked a steady pace and tried to keep head clear of
all negativity. It wasn’t long before she was out on the main road
again. There seemed to be more light out here than she had
remembered, or perhaps it was just that the woods were so much
darker. At any rate, she was able to see the SUV without much
difficulty.

The gun was starting to irritate her so she
removed it from her waist band. She carried it in her hand until
she returned to the SUV. After opening the driver’s side door she
placed the weapon under the seat before climbing in. Then closing
the door she took a deep breath. Allowing herself to relax for the
first time all evening. But it was short lived. Within minutes she
was feeling as if she had crawled into a spider nest. Her flesh was
covered with goose bumps and the back of her neck broke out in a
cold sweat. Quickly she locked the doors. Maybe some music would
help. She had no idea how long it would take for Billy to arrive,
but she was hoping it wouldn’t be long.

She turned the key in the ignition and
started the engine, not wanting the battery to die because the
radio was on and noted the time on the dashboard clock as she
reached for the radio’s on-switch. A few minutes more and she had
some relaxing tunes and plenty of time. Leaning her head back and
closing her eyes, she tried to will away the nervous tumbling her
stomach was performing. ‘Come on Billy, where the hell are you?’
She let the sentence whirl around inside her head. Glancing into
the rear view mirror hoping for headlights.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

There was no time to scream. As Josephine
swung her head around in an attempt to prove to herself that she
was just seeing things, his left hand caught her hair and snapped
her head back securely between the headrest and the window. Her
hands went to her head but not before his right had brought up a
thick hunting knife, ready to slice open her throat. Her hands
froze in midair as she felt the cold blade upon her flesh. She
dared not swallow. Looking up into those eyes was perhaps the most
frightening experience she had ever had. Nothing but evil looked
back. Pure and honest evil. And the evil smiled at her.

“Fancy meeting you here. Probably thought it
was real funny, my thinking you were dead back there. Had a good
laugh at my expense no doubt. But hey, guess what, my turn to
laugh.” He let out an obnoxious chuckle, one that Josephine would
have given anything not to have heard. “You and me, were gonna
spend some quality time together, seeing as you have this
unyielding desire to be near me. You and I are going to get to know
each other in ways you have never imagined. And then? Guess what?”
He brought his face up close to hers. And then in little more than
a whisper, “I’m going to kill you.” Josephine’s heart slammed as he
then sucked the oxygen from her lungs through his own clenched
teeth, making a sound impossible to describe. In an even, hard tone
he added, “Third time’s a charm. Yes, to be certain, this time I am
going to remove your heart and bring it back for Antonia’s first
home cooked meal.” Pulling her hair with more force, he adds, “No
interruptions, no intrusions, no time limits to meet, no need to
rush. Just you and me.” He pulled her head up so that she was able
to sit up straight.

“Now you’re gonna put both hands on the
wheel. Slowly. And were gonna have us a little understanding.”

Josephine raised her hands to the wheel. She
watched them shake unauthorized until she had the wheel in her
grip. When she had a hold of the wheel, she could feel the shaking
run up her arms and into her shoulders. She stiffened, trying to
keep the shaking from reaching her throat and possibly causing it
to touch the blade at her neck. Slowly she let out a controlled
exhale, through tight lips, as if she were blowing into a
flute.

“We’re gonna drive down the road a bit. Since
you’re so good at driving without headlights, leave them off. Were
gonna go just a little faster than walking. I want to enjoy the
ride a bit. And maybe you could help me plan my next move. You see,
I put a lot of time and thought into your death. Took a week’s
vacation from work just to see it through and celebrate my
daughter’s homecoming. Took you just a couple of minutes to fuck it
all up. How you managed to pull Antonia into the line of fire is
still baffling for me. I mean look at you, you’re, well, so simple
looking. I bet Antonia could break you in two easily. Must have
caught her off balance. Used her own weight against her. Smart move
there, she was a little wobbly that night. Funny how a baby makes a
graceful woman clumsy,” tugging at her hair and then whispering
into her ear, “ain’t it?”

Josephine felt like she had been punched in
the gut once again. She could feel herself losing control. Now was
not a good time for a panic attack. She had to remain calm.

“I was away a long time, but I must have
really missed something big. I mean, how in the hell did you do it?
How was it my daughter ended up carrying your child? Makes me want
to puke my guts up just thinking of it, how about you?” He tugged
again at her hair to see if she was paying attention. Tears were
running down Josephine’s face. Her chest was starting to constrict.
The fog had almost made it in when the tug at her head caused it to
ripple away like a puddle. She had to stay alert. She couldn’t let
the fog return.

“It wasn’t like that.” She started.

“What? Did I ask you to speak? Just because I
question you doesn’t mean I want to hear your voice. Understand?”
He was twisting her hair, right at the nape of her neck. She could
feel several strands being torn from their place. He looked at her
from the right side now. She made him want to vomit. This was not a
woman. She did not look the way a woman should look in his mind.
Her hair didn’t even feel real. Felt like doll hair. She did not
seem to have any makeup on and she definitely could use some. And
now her nose was running and she smelled like a dog. He noticed her
purse, lying on the seat next to her. Reaching over, with the hand
that held the blade he dumped its remaining contents out. Josephine
used the moment to fill her lungs with air and calm herself.

He picked up a tube of lipstick. While still
holding her hair securely, he pulled off its top with his teeth.
Managing to manipulate the tube itself with just his one hand, he
extended the lipstick enough for use. He added the color to
Josephine’s lips. Replacing the top, he put the tube into his shirt
pocket and rummaged some more. He grabbed her wallet and flipped
through her photos with his free hand, hoping to find one of
Antonia for a keepsake. Not finding one, he removed her cash and
tossed the wallet to the floor. “How is it you don’t carry a photo
of Antonia?”

“She never...”

The knife was back at her throat in an
instant. “Were you talking? Did I hear you speak? Do you wanna die
right now? This minute? Do you want to miss out on all the fun that
lies ahead?”

Josephine let her eyes focus on Billy’s hood
ornament, mentally removing herself from the interior of the SUV.
She did not want to die. Not here, not on the side of this road, in
the middle of nowhere. She let herself think of Anthony and how she
was going to make this up to her. Here she was, a grown woman and
mentally perceiving more fear than she could ever had believed,
after being with this monster for just a few minutes. How must it
have been for Anthony. Just a little girl. A very tiny little girl.
This monster must have curdled her insides every waking minute. And
the baby, Anthony had carried her baby. How many people would have
gone through that for someone they loved?