The Chase
Kevin felt his heart in his throat when he heard the sound of his baby brother’s voice. He tried his best not to sound alarmed or panicked so as not to upset the child, but it was a difficult task because Kevin was feeling a little of both.
“Nicky baby, where are you?”
Kevin’s father was now standing right next to his son, his eyes filled with anticipation.
“I don’t know.” Was the short answer he received.
“Is there anyone there with you?”
“He left to go to the store. Kevin can you pick me up? I want to go home.” That question brought about a huge sense of relief since that meant he probably didn’t feel like he was in any danger at all. Nick asked so casually it was as if he was asking to come home from a friend’s house.
“I need to know exactly where you are.”
“I think I am at your friend’s house. He keeps telling me you’ll be here any minute to get me but you still aren’t here.”
He tried to control his anger at the mention of his friend’s name, “You mean Matt?”
“Yes,” Nick then giggled which seemed so out of place, “He is silly Kevin he stood on his head and juggled for me.”
Kevin placed his hand over the phone receiver so Nick couldn’t hear what was going on, “We need Matt’s home address now!” He said to his father who shot into the house the second it was said.
“That sounds like fun, so he was nice to you then?”
“Yeah but I want to go home, I miss mommy and Brian. I don’t miss AJ though because he’s mean to me a lot and of course I miss you too.”
“We miss you too.”
“He wouldn’t let me call home.”
“Is he letting you call me?”
“He doesn’t know, I snuck out of my room and am using the phone now.”
“Your room?”
“Yes the room I have been staying in, he usually locks the door because he said he doesn’t want his dog to eat me but when he left he forgot to lock the door so I snuck out. You aren’t mad are you?”
“No,” Kevin said wanting to reach through the phone and hug his brother, “I’m not mad at all.”
“I don’t even see a dog; I think he was lying to me. I’m bored Kevin I want you to get here soon.”
A minute later Kevin’s father came running out, “We have the address,” He said as Howie and Maria came running out shortly after.
“Okay Nick we are on our way.”
“Kay.”
“Nick did he play any other games with you?” Kevin was trying to get out of his brother if he was hurt or not.
“No, we played Candy Land but I kept winning. He’s kind of dumb.” He said cracking himself up. Kevin loved hearing that laugh again even though he was terrified that Matt would come in and catch Nick on the phone.
“Nicky listen to me, if Matt comes back you have to pretend that you didn’t use his phone can you do that?”
“But that’s lying.”
“I know but I’m giving you permission to lie. Please don’t tell him you had the phone and also you need to go back into your room if you hear him coming.”
“Why?”
Howie and Kevin senior were having a discussion on how long it would take to get to Matt’s house and Kevin frowned when he heard at least fifteen minutes. That was too long to wait. Ignoring Nicky’s question, he went on to ask another instead.
“How long has Matt been gone?”
“I don’t know. I watched Finding Nemo, I love that movie. My favorite part is…”
“Nicky not now okay? Is Matt the one that you left the house with while AJ was babysitting you?” He was losing his cool he felt it and so did Nick.
“What’s wrong? Why are you mad at me?” Nick asked suddenly with a hint of sadness in his voice.
“I’m not mad at you baby okay? I just need you to tell me that right now.”
“I wouldn’t go with him unless he said the word. Is that why you’re mad?”
“No, I’m not mad Nick; I need to know who you wouldn’t go with was it Matt or someone else?”
“Because I don’t want you to be mad…” Suddenly he stopped talking.
“Nicky?”
“He’s back.” The little boy whispered.
What he heard next made his blood cold. “Give me that!” Followed by his brother crying before the phone clicked off.
“Nick!!” Kevin screamed in desperation on the phone. “God hurry up!! Matt found him!!”
Howie put his foot to the accelerator and started speeding full force down the highway, swaying in and out of traffic like a pro. Kevin felt his hands shaking as he held onto his own phone praying for a call back and hoping to God that Matt wouldn’t hurt his baby brother.
They made it to Matt’s about ten minutes later and before the car even stopped Kevin hopped out and up the flight of stairs with his gun ready. He kicked the door down and wasn’t surprised to find no one there. The place was totally barren, not a thing anywhere in sight.
Taking his phone out he looked over at his father, “Is there any way to trace the call using my phone even though it was a private number?” He was so aggravated he wanted to punch his fist through the window.
Maria went to grab for the phone, “I can take it to the lab I’m sure they have a way.”
“But I need it, in case he calls again. I don’t want the phone to be in the lab.”
Then suddenly the phone rang and Kevin picked it up in a split second, “Hello.”
“You’re brother was not very nice.” He was expecting Matt’s voice but closed his eyes and grimaced when he heard the other one instead.
“Where is he I want to talk to him now!”
“I have him in time out for being a bad boy!”
“You son of a bitch.”
“Yes I was but that’s besides the point…” He said smiling at Kevin’s anguish on the other end of the line.
“What do you want from me?”
“I already have what I want from you and now you’re going to want to know about your poor friend Matt. You know Kevin it’s a good thing you don’t work for me because I do not tolerate mistakes! You can find Matt’s body at 1243 Altamont Drive,” Kevin grabbed a pen from his jacket and jotted the address down on his hand as the serial killer continued; “He made a sloppy mistake so I fired him. You might also want to know that the address I just gave you is the same one I am calling you from now.” He hung up abruptly.
“We have to get to 1243 Altamont Drive now! He’s there!”
“Kevin I doubt he would give you his address.”
“No Howie, I think he wants to be caught this is a game and he’s bringing it up a notch. He’s bored with how things are going.” Kevin senior said calmly.
“Altamont is back the way we came,” Maria said as they all ran to the car and jumped in once again. Howie wasted no time in turning the car around, tires screeching as he did. They started heading back up the highway going as fast as they could go.
“He said he has what he wants from me already.” Kevin told his father.
“Nicky.” His dad replied.
Kevin nodded, “I’m pretty sure, he also said we’d find Matt’s body there.”
They were being jerked by the speed of the car as Howie continued to go in and out of cars in order to make up as much time as possible. “You think he will hang around then, if he wants to get caught so badly?” Kevin asked his father with a look of hope in his eyes.
“I don’t know son…”
“Well I guess we’re about to find out because we’re here.” Howie said turning off the highway right onto Altamonte Drive.
“We have to be extra careful, this may be a trap.” Kevin senior warned as he readied his gun.
About halfway down the block they came to the huge house that bore the number 1243. All the lights in the house were off with a huge ‘for sale’ sign hanging in the window. They drove into the driveway and shut the lights off on the car but kept the engine running. “Maria you should stay in here just in case you see him come out okay?” Kevin senior said as he jumped out of the car.
“We are going to check the perimeter of the house, I’ll go round this side and you two go around the other.” He motioned for Howie and Kevin to walk around the left side as he started for the right.
As they started towards the side of the house, Kevin felt an odd sense of déjà vu. This house reminded him of the one they had called the Devil’s lair back when they were certain everything was going to be black and white. It had the same architecture and color scheme even, from the outside at least. They didn’t make their way inside just yet.
Howie paused and snuck a peek into the living room window, to see nothing. No furniture no rugs or anything. “It’s completely bare,” He said to Kevin as they continued to scoot against the side of the building towards the back of the house.
Finally as they reached the corner of the house Kevin counted to three and placed his gun in front of him as he rounded the edge. All he found was his father waiting for him. The backyard was barren except for the overgrown lawn and a broken and rusty swing set.
“Now we go inside.” He said walking up the rotting back steps of the patio careful not to go through the wooden floor.
When all three men reached the top, one of them stood at the backend of the door while the other two stood with guns drawn as they opened the screened one. Kevin felt that same exhilaration race through his veins whenever he was about to go into the unknown. He counted to three silently and then kicked open the door to the sound of silence.
The moon was providing the only light from the huge uncurtained windows, revealing nothing but empty space. Luckily Howie had a flashlight so they used that to shine their way through the kitchen and into the living room. “If this place was booby trapped we’d never know it because it’s so dark.” Kevin senior whispered, doing little to settle the fear that was growing inside of his son.
“I hope he doesn’t have Nicky here, he’s afraid of the dark.” Kevin said when they reached the living room.
“Nothing in here either.” Howie said flashing his light across the room and the floor.
“Maybe upstairs?” Kevin senior responded starting for the steps.
With each step there was an accompanying creek of a floor board. The whole house had such a spooky vibe. “Nicky are you in here?” Kevin called out to the blackness as they approached the top of the steps. He could see the deranged mind of Scott Wilson leaving his baby brother all alone somewhere as creepy as this. Part of him was hoping for that.
There were about four rooms on the second floor all the doors opened except for the last one down the hall. They walked into the first room where they saw a white sheet lying on the floor. “Here we go.” Howie said as they got closer.
It looked as if there was blood on the sheet sending shivers down Kevin’s spine as he remembered the hell he went through thinking his brother was dead. It seemed like ages ago even though it was less than a day ago.
“There’s nothing under that sheet.” Howie said placing gloves on his hand before moving it away to reveal a word.
Warmer, it said. Written in red just like every message the kidnapper seemed to leave.
“Warmer? What’s that supposed to mean?” Kevin senior said crouching down next to the word written on the floor.
“Maybe it’s like that game you know that hot potato game where you say whether or not your are getting warmer or colder.” His son answered, ready to move onto the next room.
They ventured into the next room where once again a sheet was on the floor. This time they wasted no time with particulars since they knew this was a game, and were not at all surprised to find another word under the sheet. This time it said warm.
“That means we are getting farther away from it?” Kevin’s dad asked.
Kevin didn’t answer and instead ran into the next room and pulled up the sheet that awaited them, cold it said. “Yes, we are going the wrong way, probably back down the stairs.
“This son of a bitch.” Howie muttered under his breath.
Once they started for the steps Kevin senior asked for the flashlight. “Look,” he said as he pointed to the steps. They didn’t see them going up but going down you couldn’t help but notice arrows pointing downward. Each step had a letter on it which all spelled ‘getting even warmer now.’
“He’s in the basement.” Howie said as they once again walked past the living room and through to the kitchen.
“I hate basements.” Kevin admitted, remembering the fear in his voice as he told Howie to check the basement in his own home for a dead Nick. Maybe this time that fear would be realized. That fear in fact almost paralyzed him and froze him in his spot as Howie opened the creaky door that lead down below.
It had a musty and murky scent the second the door opened but in the air was something else, something that all three detectives knew well and that was the metallic smell of blood. “He’s down here.” Kevin senior said taking the flashlight and the lead as he descended the stairs.
There were more arrows drawn along the cement wall as they climbed downward finally ending with the word ‘hot’ once they reached the ground. Flies were heard buzzing around and quickly it became easy to locate the body which was lying on the floor underneath an old clothesline.
Unlike the other sheets this one was a black tarp. All three men put on gloves before pulling the sheet back to reveal the body of Matt Shoals. He had been strangled with a wire it appeared since his head was almost off his body completely. “Oh my God.” Howie exclaimed as he quickly turned away. Howie was never very good at being around the dead.
Kevin senior walked away for a second to call Maria so this way she would know what was going on, while the younger Kevin crouched down to examine the body. Matt’s eyes were opened and bulging out of his head with fright. “Hell of a way to die.”
“To me any way is a hell of a way to die.” Howie said finally gaining his composure and joining Kevin closer to the body.
Matt’s shirt was torn off of him and written on his chest in probably his own blood were the words, ‘good job want a cookie?’ with an arrow pointing towards his mouth.
“He left something in Matt’s mouth.” Kevin said moving his hands up there and prying the dead man’s jaws open.
In his mouth there was a plastic bag with a note inside of it, Kevin handed it off to Howie who carefully opened it up.
“I can’t get a signal down here.” Kevin senior said walking back towards the boys.
“We’re almost done.”
“What did you find?”
Howie pulled the note out of the bag and handed it over to Kevin’s dad, “This.”
By the time you read this I’m sure I’ll be far gone since it takes you such a long time to figure things out. Too bad you’re too slow, I hope that won’t come into play on your next task.
I’m on my way to 1300 University way.
See ya there maybe?
Nicky is not very happy at the moment, he won’t seem to stop crying…
Kevin senior crumpled the paper up in his hands, “I am going to kill him.”
“We need to get to 1300 University Way.” Howie said trying to bring the Richardson men back to the here and now instead of allowing them to dwell on what they just read.
They ran back up the stairs and outside where they saw Maria lying on the ground where their car used to be. “Jesus.” Kevin’s dad said as he ran towards her but stopped running when he saw without a doubt she was dead. There was a knife sticking out of her chest and blood was running down the sides of her mouth.
“He was here the whole time, that bastard was here while we were inside. We left her to die.” Kevin senior said grabbing her cold hand in his, “I’m so sorry Maria.”
Both Howie and Kevin were beyond words, grief stricken and anxious. “We need a car.” Kevin finally said after a few minutes of silence.
“You should call Rob.” He answered, “It’s too risky for me to do that. Maria always did that for me.”
Kevin grabbed his phone and made a call to Rob.
He briefly ran down all that had happened and ended with Maria’s demise and their lack of transportation. “I am coming back from dropping your mom off at that woman’s house.”
“How far away are you from here?”
“About ten minutes.”
“Okay well, any idea how far away you are from University Way?”
“Maybe after I pick you up about another twenty minutes why do you ask?”
“Because that’s where he told us to go next. He said that’s where he was heading.”
“He did?”
“Yes”
“Kevin, what was the address?”
“1300…why?”
There was a long and uncomfortable pause before Rob whispered, “That’s the hospital!”
Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'll be back on Wednesday with the next chapter :O)
