214 Palmer Street(55)
Downstairs she peered through the window of the back door and her breath caught in her chest. Someone was out there. She saw the outline of a large figure, a man, as he rose up out of the bomb shelter. She opened the inside door and heard a heavy clang of something metal coming from the backyard. Without thinking, she yelled, “Hey!”
The man’s head rose like a deer sensing a predator, and quickly he turned and ran into the woods before she could get a good look. Even though she was safely inside, her heart pounded in her chest. She’d heard the sound of the door leading into the underground shelter clang shut, hadn’t she? Had someone gotten wise to her mission and gotten there first? Or was it just teenagers, out in the neighborhood creating havoc? She remembered the days of TPing friends’ houses or sneaking into backyard pools. It could very well be something innocent, couldn’t it?
But deep down inside she felt that something was very wrong, that it wasn’t kids at all. The figure had looked like a man. From what she saw he was a big guy, larger than Kirk, and he’d moved quickly too, as if he’d been caught in the act of doing something serious. If nothing else, she’d called out to him and now he knew she was in the house. This thought made her uneasy. She’d known from the start she was breaking the law, but had justified it by thinking she’d leave the house exactly as she’d found it. No one would know. If there were one or two meals taken from the freezer or the level of shampoo was a bit lower, who’d be the wiser? After a month away, Josh and Cady would probably dismiss these inconsistencies as lapses in memory. Now she’d possibly outed herself as an intruder. A shiver of fear came over her.
THIRTY-TWO
He’d been trained and knew what he was doing. Discharging the weapon—while done impulsively—was no accident. Still, after it was over, the possible repercussions were not lost on him. When Gavin trotted up the shelter stairs, his heart raced while his mind shuffled through all the ways he could cover up this latest transgression. In the eyes of the law he’d committed a crime, but was it really a crime when he’d been pushed to his limit? He thought not. He’d given her plenty of opportunities to cooperate. It’s like she picked out the bullet herself.
Damn Clarice. She’d made him do this and now he was left to pick up the pieces.
As he closed the doors of the bomb shelter, the back door squeaked opened and a woman called out, “Hey!” He recognized the voice.
Instinctively, he turned and ran, disappearing into the thicket of trees, thankful for the protection of the dark and for the foresight to have left the car in the park. He crashed through the underbrush, not taking care to be quiet. His only objective was to get back to his vehicle. From there, anyone seeing him drive away would assume he was on patrol.
Once he’d made it back and was safely inside the squad car, doors closed and locked, he called Kirk. “I found your wife.”
“You did?” The relief in his voice was palpable. “Put her on, I want to talk to her.”
“She’s not with me but I know where she is. I’m in the car and coming to pick you up.”
“To take me to her?” Kirk’s voice rose in excitement.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Time for you two love birds to be reunited.”
“Where is she? What did she say?” When he got excited, his voice rose an octave. Kirk was so easy to manipulate. He loved Sarah, that much was clear, and Gavin knew he could use that to his advantage.
“I’ll be in your driveway in ten.” He hung up before Kirk could say anything else. Besides hating to wait he also hated being peppered with questions he had no intention of answering.
Gavin sighed in aggravation. He knew it was time to take control. He was tired of covering for everyone else, but there was no way around it. Clarice had forced his hand and made him pull the trigger. Too bad because they’d been friends for a long time and it had been beneficial for both of them, but that was life. You win some, you lose some.
And now it was clean-up time. He came up with a plan in short order, something that would end all of this once and for all.
It wasn’t going to be easy to pull off, but it was necessary. He started up the car, and pulled onto the roadway, headlights leading the way. Soon it would all be over.
THIRTY-THREE
Sarah went into the living room and sat on the couch, weighing her options. Five minutes later, she got her backpack and riffled through the compartments, double checking the contents. It wasn’t too late to pack up and go home. Call for an Uber, ask Kirk for forgiveness, and resume her normal, lovely life. At her core, she was an honest person who always thought the best of people. She didn’t want to believe that her husband and his friend were murderers. Wasn’t it possible that Jeremy ran away, and that sometime after he’d left, he’d come across the wrong person and was murdered by a stranger while on the road?
Or maybe he’d taken up a new identity and was now living happily in Montana with a wife, three kids, and an adorable, fluffy dog. She fervently hoped this was the case.
Yes, she decided, she would leave tonight. She hefted the backpack onto her shoulder and headed to the front door, but once her hand was on the knob something stopped her. She sighed, knowing that as much as she wanted to go, there’d be no rest until she knew for certain what was inside the bomb shelter.