Chapter 18
The tall picturesque girl zipped up her wind breaker
as she got out of her old car. Wisps of auburn hair blew into her heart-shaped
face and she brushed it aside. She
looked both ways before she crossed the street, looking not only for cars, but
for possible followers. She had slipped
out saying she needed a smoke. The others thought she was going around the
block, in their territory. In a few
minutes they would realize that she had left.
She shuddered thinking about what the Boss... or Brendan might do to
her. She sighed as she thought about Brendan, her love. She rubbed a tender
area on her wrist where he had grabbed her the night before. He was always
rough on her, and hit her sometimes, but he did it out of love. He needed to make sure that she was
faithful. She was! Ariella was a
faithful girl, unlike her mother. She entered the small convenience store
trying to look inconspicuous. She was
faithful, and caring... How had she gotten mixed up in this act? She had overheard Brendan talking on the
phone with the soon- to- be Boss of the kidnapping operation. When he realized that Ariella had then
become a material witness he began to tell her stories about the better life
they would lead. He filled her head
with images of being rich and anonymous. She would no longer be the Whore’s
daughter. He convinced her to go along with the plan. Ariella never believed it
would come this far, she couldn’t believe how easy it had been to hijack the
tour bus. She felt a rush of power until she heard the first shot fired and saw
the two bodies of men go down. That was when she knew that this was not a
game. They could go to jail for murder,
all of them.... And the last thing she needed, she thought nodding to herself,
was for one of those Boys to get sick... She had horrible nightmares about
jail... maybe she would meet up with her mother? No, no, she shook the nasty
thought from her head. She’d kill herself before then.
She grabbed a hand held shopping basket and walked
down the pharmacy aisle.
Officer Darren Meade was doing his routine patrol
that morning, although he would rather be working on the big case going on
right then. Five singers from a teen
group had been kidnapped, and the Feds were swarming all over the Evanston,
Chicago greater area, looking for a location that the Boys could be hidden in.
Meade groaned as he turned off the ignition to his car, he parked on the
curb. He glanced at the mildly
weathered car parked in front of his with a frown. The town was so small he knew just about everyone, but he did not
recognize this particular car. He went
inside the convenience store planning to ask Murray, the store owner about it.
Maybe someone was passing through.. Which was rare, but it happened sometimes.
Hardly anyone ever stops in this dead end town, he thought bitterly. He never
saw any action. He had become a cop just for the action part, and he thought
back upon the highlights of his career... the most interesting thing he had
done was chase a few teenagers down for littering. He walked into the store and
was struck by a vision of loveliness. A
tall slender young lady with fiery hair was wandering the aisles. He kept his eye on her as he ventured to the
check out desk. Murray, an old man of
60, sat behind the register staring at a small black and white television. “Hey
Murray.”
“Oh hiya Darren,” Murray smiled seeming genuinely
glad to see him.
“I see you’ve got yourself a new customer,” Meade
commented nodding towards the girl.
Murray smiled, “She’s a pretty one ain’t she? She’s
probably just passing through though. Not many people who aren’t born here
choose to stay.”
Meade sighed audibly and nodded, “I don’t blame
them.” He looked back to the young
woman quite mesmerized with her agile movements. In his gaping he wasn’t aware
that she had seen him staring and was now starting to show signs of anxiety.
“Oh no,” Ariella wanted to cry, the police officer
was watching her. She avoided making
eye contact with him by looking down into her basket filled with Dimetapp and
aspirin. She didn’t know what else to get. She began to throw some random
things in the basket too. She grabbed a
few fruit snack boxes, some juice, a box of cookies... She knew she couldn’t
stay in the back of the store forever no matter how much she wanted too. She
was going to have to make her purchases.
The others would start getting anxious soon. She slowly made her way to
the desk, hoping she had enough money to pay for everything.
“Good morning,” the officer spoke in a pleasant tone.
Ariella forced herself to look up into his face and smile. He wasn’t bad
looking. Brown eyes, brown hair, straight white teeth, and young too.
“Good morning,” she echoed him and began to lay down
her purchases side by side on the table.
“Are you passing through?”
“Huh?” Ariella looked confused.
“Are you visiting someone who lives in town?”
“Oh... ah... yeah,” Ariella said, hoping she hadn’t
stuttered to much, she never could lie.
She saw the officer frown at her, “You got
allergies?”
Ariella looked stunned, then looked down at her
purchases finally realizing just how many things she had put in her basket for
allergy relief, “Um... um yes. My.. My
grandma too. That’s who I’ve come to see.”
“Oh, your grandmother? What’s her name, and I can
tell you what she’s said about her lovely granddaughter. I know everyone in town, and I’ve heard
every story about every grandchild. Are
you one of Lucy’s grand kids? You sort of resemble her a bit... oh no wait,
Thelma’s grandchild!”
Ariella flushed, she hadn’t realized one little fib
could get her into so much trouble. She
heard the register tallying up her total price and she almost moaned in
relief. She looked at the bill and
quickly slapped down the money. The old
man behind the counter smiled and winked at her, he began to slowly count out
her change, “No that’s ok. I don’t need it, I must be going...”
“Maybe I can escort you...”
“No, it’s ok. I’m, I’m gonna drive around for a bit,
then I’m gonna go to grandma’s.. Um thanks anyway,” Ariella said in a rush
almost fleeing from the store and the scene she left behind her.
“Was it my breath?” Meade asked staring after the
still swinging door the girl had left out of... Something wasn’t right with
her. Now that he thought about it... he
never recalled seeing anyone with any pictures that even vaguely resembled that
girl. In fact she looked clueless when
he had asked who her grandmother was... Boredom was really making him
paranoid... or not. He bid Murray good
bye and slowly crept out to his car.
The girl was pulling away and driving at a moderate speed away from the
store. Meade was careful not to follow
her too closely, but he wanted to see where she could be going. As he drove he pulled up current police
reports and files.... the kidnapping case was the one that stuck out
prominently in his head. It was the most interesting thing that had happened
since the slinky in this town. He drove
and deliciously read over the details daydreaming about being on the
assignment, about being a member of the FBI. That had such a nice ring to it,
Agent Meade. He frowned as he stopped at a stop sign reading over something he
had never really found very interesting in the files before...but suddenly they
were very captivating, Nickolas Carter’s recent medical records. “Suffering from severe allergies. Mild
bronchitis, sinusitis, and ear infection have developed as a result...” he read
the list of complications and prescriptions for multiple drugs. His mind flashed back to the dozen different
brands of allergy medication the woman had bought. No, he shook his head clear. Perhaps she had bad allergies too,
and was experimenting with brands. A
simple coincidence. He gazed back at the file again, maybe too much of a
coincidence. The Boys had been missing for four days, if the kid was that sick
he wouldn’t last long without any kind of medication. He turned and saw the mint colored car again now coasting down a
back alley and leaving the limits of the town.
Out of pure curiosity and boredom he followed. He trailed her for 20
minutes through zigs and zags until she finally pulled up into an old
motel. She exited the car and moved
towards a beat up old shed, but no sooner was she to the shed when the door to
the motel flew open. A very angry seeming red haired man stalked towards her
grabbing her wrists harshly and binding them behind her back. He slapped her across the face once and
proceeded to yell at her. The girl, who
had to be crying, was trying to explain something to him. The man struck her again, and began to pull
her into the motel. The door slammed
closed, leaving Meade to stare at the scene that had unfolded in front of
him. Well, Darren old buddy, your
thirst for action.... well it looks like you’ve finally gotten a sip.