Just a Memory (34 page)

"I'm no rookie, Caro," Mac said as he closed his eyes. "Damn. I have a hell of a headache."

"Maybe the fever?"

He raised his good arm and ran his fingers through his hair toward the back. "Ouch! That's why."

"Turn your head." Carolyn leaned over to inspect the swollen ridge behind his ear. "You've got a good bump, but there's not any blood there."

"Good." Mac tried to lick his dry lips.

"I've got some lip balm in my purse. Should I put some on your mouth?"

"That sounds good."

She retrieved her purse from where she had dropped it by the door when she first saw Mac. Harry stopped her when she started back toward the Mac.

"I'll take that." He grabbed the bag and dumped the contents on the foot of his bed.

"I just want that," she said, pointing to the small tube.

He picked it up and tossed it to her. Seeing a roll of breath mints, he took them and sat down again, popping them into his mouth. Carolyn covered Mac's lips generously with the moisturizer and sat down next to him again.

Mac took her hand. He cursed himself for not realizing the danger to her. "What's next, Harry?" he asked in a louder voice. "And what the hell is she doing here?"

No answer. Harry was watching the movie with seemingly total disregard for them.

Mac used the opportunity to test the strength in his limbs. He bent his legs and then stretched them to find them in working order, though one ankle ached. His good hand held Carolyn's. That arm was okay but weak like the rest of him. His other arm was useless and in pain all the time that got much worse when he moved it. He had no idea how much blood he'd lost. He might even be too weak to stand up.

Harry was ignoring them but Mac gambled on the way to get him talking. "At least you can tell me when he's coming…when Brown Eyes is going to get here."

The music came up louder on the television, signaling the end of the program. Harry laughed and stretched. "So when did you figure it out, pretty boy? It's been a fun game, ya know: Guess the day Mac will remember. We had money down on what date that would be. But nobody won nothin'. We all figured it'd be long before now. I've had to stick around this god-forsaken town for weeks, just waiting for the day to come."

He looked Carolyn up and down and his laugh became lecherous.

"I guess you found something to keep your mind off the old case, huh? That was a big mistake, Mac, the first big mistake I've seen you make. You never got involved before. But you know that's what made you so hard to get at before, don't ya?"

Harry laughed and the sound made Carolyn shiver. "But we got you now; we got you now," he said happily. Then with an evil sneer he added, "'Cause we got
her
."

Late Sunday morning, Hines sat on the edge of Mac's desk in the Lakehaven Police Station punching the redial button on the phone. "Any word?" He swung the mouthpiece up away from his mouth and gritted his teeth to retain control so he wouldn't say what he really wanted to say. He listened again, all at once very attentive. "You're sure. The blood's a match." He listened only a moment longer. "Yeah, I know. You'll call as soon as you have something."

He hung up the phone and stood up to stare out the window at the snow falling. They'd found Mac's blood staining the deck outside his dining room sliding doors. Some of his hair had been pulled from the wood of the doorframe, but Mac was nowhere to be found. He and his gun, even his handcuffs, were gone, but not his coat. It still hung in the closet. So wherever Mac had gone, he'd gone without a coat. In this frigid, snowy weather? Not willingly.

Hines hit the window frame with his fist as he made his decision. He turned again to the phone. He punched a set of numbers and waited for an answer. "Ellie?"

He waited a moment and then spoke, interrupting her. "Not yet, but the blood is his. Listen, I need you here. We're not going to leave a stone unturned and I'm not waiting to hear it from the Sheriff."

He nodded as he listened and then ended the conversation with a simple "Thanks." He flipped open the file numbers of the two other part-time patrolmen in the Lakehaven force and called them. Four people could do what had to be done a lot faster than one. When he had reached all of them, he punched in a long distance number and listened for twelve rings before he slammed down the phone. Morris was still out.

The phone rang as he rose to study the map on the wall. He dove back to the desk and snatched it up. "Lakehaven Police."

"Detective Hines, this is Jean in the Sheriff's office. We just got a call from a neighbor of one Mrs. Carolyn Blake," she said, saying the names maddeningly slowly so Hines would be sure to get it. "He said the front door of her house is wide open. The storm door glass is broken and the frame bent. He rang the bell and called out to her, but no one answered."

"When was this?"

"They saw it just a few minutes ago. They live across the street from her house and saw it when they were driving past on their way home from shopping."

"Did they go in?" Hines asked.

"Yeah, the husband did. They were afraid she might be hurt. He walked through the house, but didn't see anything. The side kitchen doorframe was splintered as if broken in, and there were smashed pieces of cooked potatoes on the kitchen floor. More on the counter. They left everything without touching it and ran home to call us."

"Good. I've been getting no answer there or at her store," Hines told her.

"We're sending out a car now to check the house. We'll let you know what we find."

"Have someone check her store, too–The Costume Nook. The landlord's name is Elliot White. He should be able to get you inside if you get no response."

Hines called the neighbors who had spotted Carolyn's broken door and asked them for all the details again and made a note of the time they found the door open.

"We have to tell you, officer, we couldn't just stand there looking at the door. We had to go in to see if she was okay. But there was nothing. She wouldn't leave food out like that, and she would never leave the door open."

"Could she have run to the neighbor's?"

"We thought of that, so I called around. Her daughter is still at Judy's where she's been all night, but no one has seen Carolyn. Someone did say they thought she had company not long before we got home. They saw a gray car in the driveway."

Hines's silent epithet would have melted the phone if he'd said it out loud.

There was a muffled sound as the woman put her hand on the phone, but didn't completely cut out her voice. "Should I tell him, dear? I don't want to send them on a wild goose chase if it wasn't her."

Someone responded with words that Hines couldn't make out. She came back to tell him that they saw someone they thought was Carolyn Blake going east on the highway outside of town.

"It was starting to snow pretty good, and we were both watching the road and other cars in case one skidded. We weren't going fast, though, and I'm sure it was her. I didn't see who was driving except I know he was white and had dark hair."

"Was it a gray sedan?"

"Why, yes, now that you mention it, I believe it was."

Hines took down the time and all the details she could remember about the gray car and the driver. He asked for Judy's full name and phone number before ending the conversation. He called Judy to let her know what was happening. They agreed not to worry the girls by telling them Carolyn and Mac were missing.

"I'll keep Terri here until I hear from you. You'll call me as soon as you learn something?"

"You got it."

Hines wrote the time the Martins thought they saw Carolyn on a small flag-type pin and stabbed it in the location of the sighting on the map of the county just as Ellie arrived at the station.

Ellie didn't like the look on his face. "Is there any news? Is Mac okay? Please tell me he's been found."

Hines sighed heavily and shook his head. "More bad news. Now Carolyn Blake is missing too."

Ellie's hand flew to her mouth but failed to muffle the tiny shriek completely. "Dear God…"

Harry looked out the window and then let the drapes fall closed. "Shouldn't be long now 'til Morris gets here, unless this damn snow slows 'em up. God, I can't wait to get out of this one-joint town."

"I hear your boss got a promotion," Mac said to get him to talk.

"Yeah. Big shot with more power. He's in a much better position to get things done on the inside now. So when he says he's coming, we wait." Harry leaned back against his pillows, his attention back on the television.

"Mac, he's been following you all over," Carolyn said. "That's how he knew about me and where I lived. He came to my door for directions a couple of weeks ago."

"What?!"

"I guess he wanted to make sure I lived there," she responded with a shrug.

"God, I'd bargain my soul to the devil for you not to be involved in this," Mac declared. He turned away from her, covering his eyes with his palm as he massaged his temples with the fingers of his good hand.

Carolyn took his hand back in hers. "Here, let me do that." She held his hand between her breasts with one hand and rubbed his temples and forehead in small circles with the other.

After a few moments Mac spoke again. "Hey, Harry, what've you got her here for anyway? She's nothing to you now that you've got me. I'm all Brown Eyes wants. In fact he'll probably be madder than hell that you got her involved. I'll bet he's not going to like finding her here at all."

But Harry refused to take the bait. His voice was sharp when he answered. "Shut up over there. I'm trying to watch a little TV."

"Harry, you've
got
to let her go." Mac's voice was threatening, but he had nothing but his voice to threaten with, and they all knew it.

"I don't
gotta
do nothin'."

Mac tried a different tack. "When they take you all in I could tell them you let her go so she wouldn't get hurt. They're sure to take that into consideration."

"Cute. Real cute. Nobody's goin' nowheres. Now shut the hell up. Both of you."

Mac knew trying to get Harry to release Carolyn was a dead end. But his body was sending him signals that gave him an idea. He wanted to see how much strength he had left in him and it would give him a chance to see the other rooms in the cabin. This was no time to be delicate. "At least you can let me use the bathroom."

Harry looked at Mac and must have figured Mac couldn't escape in his condition anyway. He shrugged and turned back to the TV.

Carolyn stood as Mac painfully rolled onto his uninjured side and tried to sit up. She pushed the spread out of his way.

"I don't think I can walk, Harry. Can you give me a hand?"

"What I got her here for? Lean on her."

Mac could see Harry wasn't taking any chances getting anywhere near him.

Carolyn picked up the cloth that fell from his shoulder. She took his uninjured arm in her hands and slowly raised it over her shoulders so she could help him to stand. "Come on. I can get you there," she promised.

He managed to get up and leaned heavily on her as dizziness hit him.

"Steady!" she pleaded.

He swayed and fought to stay standing. He tried to raise the other arm to hold her and the pain canceled out some of the dizziness for him. His head fell down on her shoulder.