Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

 

Out of breath and still terrified, she had made it from the car to the tree line marking the beginning of what looked to be a very dense forest. Casey had no trouble with the run; passing her mistress when she let go of her collar, but circling back around every so often to keep close to her. Grace had not looked back once, though now she wanted to make sure that Michael was not nipping at their heels. Crouching down behind a leafy bush, she pulled her dog close; holding onto her collar so tightly her knuckles were white. She peeked through the leaves to see if her kidnapper had discovered his prisoner was missing yet. Still seeing him nowhere, she couldn’t understand what he was doing that he had left her unattended for as long as he did, though she didn’t much care; caring only that she was free for the time being and trying to stay free.

She didn’t want to stop and rest for very long; just enough time to catch her breath and make sure she wasn’t being pursued. So she tugged on her dog’s collar to let her know they were taking off again and started back in the direction she was heading; the opposite direction of her car and the situation in which she had found herself; bound and stuffed into the trunk of her own vehicle.  Careful to be quiet until they put a little distance between them and that situation; she pulled the poor dog along with her as she made it up to a slow jog. It was difficult terrain to navigate; tree branches acting like whips on her face and body as she ran past them. At least she had on long pants to minimize the effect on her legs.

After what felt like forever, she began to see a clearing in the trees up ahead; hoping very much that she would find an occupied house or cabin when she reached it; or at the very least a person. She could hear waves breaking in the distance, so she knew she was almost to the beach; the lapping sound of the water comforting to her for some reason. Even if she found an empty beach, at least it would point her in the right direction; back to some sort of civilization. All she had to do was head away from the water and she had to come across a road or a town eventually. Her estimation of her time spent travelling in the car was probably about thirty to forty minutes at the most, though it was difficult to be certain. It was going to take some time and a lot of effort, but she vowed to make it to freedom. She wasn’t going to let her tormentor find them; whatever she had to do she would make sure of that.

Back in Aurora, her best friend was really beginning to worry about her whereabouts. It was well into the afternoon and he still had been unable to reach her by phone. That was enough to tell him that something wasn’t right. She wasn’t the most responsible person in the world, he knew, but this was too far out of character - even for her. She had been in contact with him daily since that first phone call she made to him from the hospital and he couldn’t think of a reason good enough to make her disappear the way she had…just disappeared. It was unsettling and he was going to do whatever he could to find her. He just didn’t know where to start.

So he did the best thing he could think of to do in a situation like this one; he went to the police station to report his friend missing. Yes, she was an adult and she was free to go wherever she pleased; even if that meant simply vanishing without a trace, but he could feel in his gut that something was wrong. He was truly hoping Detective Scheffield shared his views, because – under the current circumstances – that might make him forego the twenty-four hour wait before he could officially report her missing. As deeply as she was involved with the murder and the case; he thought perhaps the police would move to find out what happened to her sooner rather than later. The detective had to understand how unlike her this behavior was; he would make him understand; he would make him find Grace.

Jesse walked into the police station and quickly up to the counter, behind which sat a rotund man in a police uniform that was nearly busting at the seams, “Hi. I need to speak with Detective Matt Scheffield. Is he in?” he asked; speaking as fast as he could.

After getting on the phone and making a quick call to the homicide department, the short, round officer turned back to him and said, “Sure thing. You just go through the double doors and make a left at the end of the hall. Second door on the left.”

“Thanks.” he tossed back at the officer over his shoulder as his walked briskly down the hall and through the doors as he was directed.

It wasn’t hard to find the detective’s office; which wasn’t really an office; just a large open room with a maze of desks piled high with unsolved case files and phones that seemed to never stop ringing. Detective Scheffield was on the phone and gestured for him to sit down in the chair in front of the desk. He did as he was directed; waiting as patiently as he could for him to finish with his call. Finally he hung up and turned his attention toward his visitor.

“Hello Mr. Durant. What can I do for you today?” he inquired in a pleasant voice; doing his best to conceal his agitation over having to gather evidence against a person he did not believe was responsible for the crime.

“I think something may have happened to Grace. I haven’t been able to reach her by phone all day; it just goes straight to her voicemail; which is really out of character for her. I’ve been by her house – even spoken to her neighbor…uh…grandfather, Herbert Mullins – and I can’t find her. Her car is gone and the house is empty.” he got out as fast as he could relay the information.

“When was the last time you spoke with her?” the detective asked him; a serious expression replacing the one he had worn to greet his guest.

“Last night. We had dinner. I left about…10:30, 10:45 at the latest. When I called early this morning her phone didn’t ring; it just went to voicemail. It’s been like that the entire day; still no answer and no return call.” he informed the detective, “I’m telling you something is wrong. She wouldn’t leave now – with her cousin still in the hospital in a coma; she simply wouldn’t. Not like this.” he explained.

“Yeah, I think you might be right. I don’t know of any plans she had to leave town; now or in the near future. I don’t think she would leave now without telling someone something.” he said in agreement, “I’m going to have my guys put out a BOLO – uh…be on the lookout for – on her car and see what we can come up with. Then we’ll go from there; if nobody can locate her car around town we’ll have to widen the net a little.”

Not feeling much better, but resigned to the fact that there wasn’t much more the police could do at the time, he said, “Thank you, detective. You’ll give me a call if you find out anything?”

“As soon as I know something, I’ll let you know right away. You have my word.” he promised, adding, “Don’t worry, Mr. Durant. We’ll find her. Just keep your phone close.”

He thanked the detective and turned to walk out; not feeling any relief at all. How would the police even begin to find her? he wondered. If they couldn’t locate her car at home or anywhere in town, he couldn’t fathom how they started the process of locating a missing person. Where would you look first? he asked himself; wondering how it was done in a situation such as this one. He tried to imagine what clue they could discover that would even help them to locate her, but he came up empty. Perhaps the detective would be able to obtain a search warrant for her house; searching the property once again, yet looking for completely different clues for a different reason.

By this time, Grace had reached the small beach on the other side of the trees; disappointed to find it devoid of any houses or people. She wasn’t going to allow a minor setback such as this to deter her, though. It was late afternoon, she could tell by the position of the sun, and she knew if she could manage to find a road there was a pretty good chance it would have some cars travelling on it at that time of day on a weekday.  So she did the only thing she could think of and switched directions; careful not to double back by mistake and take the chance of being found by Michael.

It was a hot day and she was getting tired and desperately wanted to stop and sit down for a while to rest her legs; which by this time felt wobbly and weak, but she kept thinking he was eventually going to catch up to her and Casey if she stopped for longer than it took to simply catch her breath. She had run back into the trees, so she was at least partially concealed while she was on the move. It didn’t feel right to be out in the open; as much as she desired not to be hit in the face and body with stinging branches that were whipping her as she jogged at a steady pace; trying to conserve what little energy she had left in case she really needed to run.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed since she and her faithful pet had bolted from the car; only being able to gauge the time approximately due to the sun’s position. The things she knew for sure were that she was tired, thirsty, bruised and scratched, and terrified of her kidnapper. He had clearly had some sort of break with reality; imagining that he would get away with taking her by force; as if it were a normal occurrence. He didn’t seem to grasp the fact that she didn’t want to be with him; either that or he simply didn’t care. He actually believed that he could just take her off to a new life with him; regardless of how she felt about that; regardless of the fact that he was breaking several laws. What was he planning to do with her to make her stay when they got to where they were going? she wondered. Then when her mind began coming up with scenarios – all of which were unpleasant and would probably end badly for her – she wished that she hadn’t thought about it in the first place.

By this time, her captor had returned to the car to retrieve her from the trunk and discovered that – not only was she no longer bound at the wrists and ankles – she was no longer in the trunk or anywhere around the car; and neither was her dog. He cursed under his breath as he dug the keys out of his pocket and got in the car; starting the engine. The only thing he could think of to do to look for her was double back down the dirt road he had driven to get there; to a small abandoned cabin he had found where he felt confident they could stay for a night or two without being found. So he drove slowly away from the cabin, peering into the trees on either side of him; hoping he would find the pair crouched down in an attempt to hide from him.

When this plan failed, he moved on to the next one; which was to park the car and head into the trees on foot in the hopes that she hadn’t been gone that long and couldn’t have gotten that far. He was fairly certain she had no idea where he had taken her; him having driven some unnecessary roads in an attempt to further confuse her; as if lying bound in the trunk of a car wouldn’t be confusing enough for the victim. In reality, they were only twenty miles from her house – and one town over. He hadn’t been planning to stay there permanently; only long enough to feel sure that the police were not right on their heels – and to gather supplies they would need when they reached their final destination. Had Grace stayed and taken her chances with him rather than run; she would have been on her way out of the state and up into the Blue Ridge Mountains; in a cabin his grandfather had left him years ago in his will. A place where they wouldn’t be disturbed – or even seen – by anyone.

Now Plan B was in effect; with him traipsing through the woods on foot searching for her and Casey; pissed off because he was quite used to things going his way. He was a handsome, young, and rich doctor; the rich part due to an inheritance, not an incredible work ethic and years of hard work and dedication. All he knew was things were definitely not going his way presently and he was about to change that. He had the gun with him; needing some way to gain her compliance if he found her. Fortunately for him, he had picked the right direction in which to head. Unbeknownst to him, Grace and her dog were only three quarters of a mile from him; he just had to keep heading in the right direction. He felt confident that there were no people around – certainly not within earshot of him – so every so often he would call out her name; hoping she could hear him; wishing for her to be frightened enough to stay put if he got close – so he could find her and punish her for running from him; teach her what happens to girls who have the audacity to try to escape.

All she could do was keep moving – now more slowly – in the direction she hoped would eventually bring her to a house or a road…or anything that would put an end to her plight. She thought a few times that she heard someone off in the distance, but wasn’t sure and didn’t want to scare herself any more than she already was. She had resorted to walking; thirsty and tired and quickly running out of energy. The sun kept sinking lower in the sky; letting her know it was getting late. She knew she would probably be stuck once it got dark for the night; afraid of being found by him, but also afraid of any wild animals she might come across out here in the middle of the forest.

She and Casey walked until they came across what was essentially a small cave; hidden because one had to climb down a steep hill to even see the opening. There was no longer the sound of the breaking waves, not even in the distance, so she felt comfortable that she was travelling in the right direction. The one thing she didn’t know was how far away from her captor she had managed to get. Climbing cautiously down the hill – not sure if an animal could be inside the cave – she got to the opening of the small cut-out and saw that it was empty; no nests or anything else of the sort to tell her that it was the home of some kind of animal. She stepped all the way inside to see if the space would accommodate her and her dog for the night. Confident that it would suffice, she looked up at Casey, still on the hill, and told her quietly to jump; holding out her arms to catch the very big dog when she did.

The poor dog knocked her down when she jumped, but Grace managed to catch her so she didn’t get hurt in the process. The act did make a bit of noise; her quickly putting her finger up to her lips; letting the dog know to be quiet like one would a person. The pair got as comfortable as the small space would allow; her not wanting to be too comfortable so she could try her best not to fall asleep during the night. She wasn’t sure how confident she should be yet; not really knowing if he was behind her chasing her or not. All she could do was hold her pet close to her so she didn’t make any noise and keep her ears perked up, listening for any sign of him coming for them.

Michael was walking through the trees; clipping along at a good pace. To her detriment, he was finding broken branches and snapped twigs on the ground; using them almost like breadcrumbs to lead him to her. He came to the clearing she had been through much earlier; just an empty beach, but enough to throw him off a little; him not sure in which direction she had run from there. So he stopped and thought about it for a moment; walking along the tree line to see if he could find any more clues to lead him in her direction. Not finding anything to make him certain she had re-entered the woods at a specific point, he headed straight back – away from the water. She didn’t know it yet, but he was getting closer and closer to her every minute that she stood still.

It had now gotten dark and the police around town did not report seeing her car anywhere in or around Aurora. Detective Scheffield had a bad feeling; knowing that something was desperately wrong. He didn’t know Grace extremely well, so he couldn’t say for sure that she hadn’t left on her own, though he could feel in his gut that things didn’t happen that way. Now he had to figure out where to start looking for her; where she could be; having had time to get pretty far away if she had been gone since that morning – whether she left of her own accord or was forced by someone else to do so. That one he was going to have to give some thought; for he honestly had no idea where to begin.

Nobody knew this yet, including Grace, Michael, and the people in town looking for her, but a sheriff’s deputy from the neighboring town had just pulled down a dirt road that teenagers sometimes used as a lover’s lane…and found her abandoned car. Michael had not returned to the car; still deep into the forest searching for her – and quite determined to find her. He had no intention of letting her get away that easily; no longer thinking rationally; unaware that her vehicle was now being called in by the deputy to see with what he was working. At that time, there had been no reports to neighboring towns or counties about her and her car being missing, so he assumed it simply broke down or something of that nature. He wouldn’t know until the following day that he had just found the first clue on the way to finding a missing person.

The deputy got no report back of the car being a stolen vehicle, so he called a tow truck to come and haul the car to the police impound five miles away. While he waited, he searched the unlocked car; finding bags packed with clothing and toiletries that one would take if they were going on a short trip. This only added weight to his belief that the car had simply run out of gas or broken down; the occupants walking back the way they came in search of a gas station or possibly a cheap motel they could stay at for the night; bringing back gas or a tow truck themselves the next day to retrieve the car. When the tow truck driver finally found the officer standing at the abandoned car, he hooked it up and towed it to the police impound; forgetting all about it as soon as he got it unhitched. The deputy merely went back to his night; patrolling the empty area; not even coming upon another car or person for the rest of the night.

Grace leaned against the cool stone wall of the small cave; happy to be resting her aching legs and feet; not to mention the multitude of scrapes and scratches she had gotten along the way. She was careful to be very quiet and to make her dog do the same as they sat in the darkness; wishing for the night to be over and for the sun to come up so they could get moving again. Several times during the night she heard movement close to the little cave; convinced each time that it was just an animal when the noise finally moved away. It had been a few hours – she was sure – when she heard more movement off in the distance; this time the sound getting louder and closer. Then, without warning, she heard his voice; directly above her.

“Grace!” he called out in a sing-song voice, “Where are you, Grace? You know there’s nowhere to go out here. I’m going to find you, Grace.” Michael threatened; the unstable tone of his voice scaring her very much. To her it almost sounded like he was enjoying himself.

He walked around on the hill directly above her, calling her name in all directions; even absent-mindedly kicking a tuft of loose dirt from the hill on which he stood – it landing on the ground three feet from where she and Casey were sitting. One thing was certain; he didn’t appear to be giving up very easily. She was so afraid of being found; her heart pounding in her ears, so loudly she feared he could hear it; her breath held in anticipation. She just wrapped her arms around Casey and held on tight; careful not to move a muscle; fearing he would hear her and that would be the end of her run for freedom. It could possibly even be the end of her life. She no longer felt he was someone with whom one could reason, so she didn’t want to be put in that situation. She just wanted him to give up and go away.

She held her breath until she simply had to let it out; almost giving her location away when she did so. It was just luck that – though he had heard some kind of noise – he eventually turned in the opposite direction and began to walk away from the cave; still calling her name as he went along. It felt like an eternity before he finally walked out of earshot; his voice becoming just another noise in the night; fading more and more. She still had no intention of moving until daylight, but at first light she planned to be on the move again; positive that she had to come upon a road at some point. She had moved in a straight line, away from the water and – having grown up in a coastal town – knew that would land her back in a town eventually. She had covered a lot of ground before she stopped for the night and she couldn’t possibly have that far to go.

The night took forever to pass; her not getting a wink of sleep. Her muscles ached from being cramped up in the small opening in the hill; sitting in exactly the same position the entire time; too afraid of the night in general. There were definitely wild animals running around in the quiet of the dark – she could hear their footsteps and their sounds here and there, though none came very near the tiny cave. It had been several hours since her near miss with her tormentor and she knew the sun had to be rising soon; putting an end to her uncomfortable accommodations. In her life, she had never known such fear; fear that was so real that the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she found it hard to breathe from the adrenaline which still had not stopped pumping; despite her stopping and resting for the night. It was what kept her awake and alert the entire night; her not dozing off even for five minutes.

She could tell her poor dog was beginning to tire of being cooped up and unable to move; though she seemed to understand the gravity of the situation somehow, for she was quiet as a mouse and moved very little throughout the long night. Grace finally allowed herself to stretch a bit; careful not to move too far outside of the cave; though she felt confident that Michael was nowhere close to them at this point. Her actions brought new meaning for her to the phrase “better safe than sorry”. She knew if they were caught by their captor that at least she would be a whole lot more than sorry; trying not to imagine the implications of that statement; things like being tortured, raped and killed; worries she prayed would never become a reality for her.  

After sitting quietly and listening for about another hour – she supposed – the sun finally started to rise; bringing with it new hope as well as the new day. She and Casey were going to make it out of the woods, and out of this horrible situation, today, she promised herself silently. She petted her dog and whispered to her; telling her as if she understood that they were about to get moving. There was no fear of the dog not keeping right by her side; she had proved that the following day. Most people consider a dog of that size to be good protection, but Grace felt like it was the other way around for her; like she was protecting her beloved pet. Although she was certain Casey would fight to protect her if someone attacked her physically, she couldn’t bear the thought of her getting hurt or killed in the process. She couldn’t lose her – she was the only friend she had that she could trust without question; a loyal companion that she knew would kill for her. What human friend did she have that she could say that about? she asked herself. She was finding out the hard way that she couldn’t always trust the people close to her; between Michael and her Uncle Chris and the awful things they had done.

Crawling slowly out of the small cave that sheltered them for the night, she looked around carefully to see if it was safe to leave. Not hearing or seeing anything – much less Michael – she grabbed her dog by the collar and helped her to the top of the hill above the cave before climbing to the top herself. She could see precisely where he had stood the night before and it made her shudder actually visualizing how close he had been. He had been less than five feet from the two of them and hadn’t found them. She looked up to the bright blue sky with its puffy clouds and thanked God for that; for she could come up with no other explanation for not being caught by Michael; not when he had been so close. It wasn’t luck, she reasoned; having never really had much luck that wasn’t bad.

There was no running today. Her legs simply couldn’t take it. Plus she was fairly confident she had gotten away from her captor for good. He had to have given up at some point, she thought; having had no good luck himself in finding her. Casey stayed right by her side as they walked along in the direction they had been heading the day before; no longer having to worry about being whipped in the face or body with the stinging branches, which was a great relief. She was sure she looked a little worse for the wear and she felt it, too. Every muscle in her body ached and she didn’t remember ever in her life feeling so tired. In reality, the walk probably did her good; working her sore muscles loose again. Her faithful dog didn’t even seem phased by the physical activity of the previous day; making her just the tiniest bit jealous, yet also giving her something to smile about. She struggled to recall the last time she had smiled; thinking there wasn’t much to smile about when one is bound and stuffed into the trunk of a car. She never wanted to have to go through that again.

Happily, she did not come across Michael during her walk to find help. She didn’t come across anyone for the first two or three hours. At long last, Grace began to see the light of a clearing off in the distance; starting to walk just a tad faster to get there. She was certain she had walked in a fairly straight line away from the beach – and knew she had been doing that for a very long time – so she knew it had to be a house or a road; guessing it was the latter because the line of light extended straight for a good distance; not squared off like the yard of a house. Honestly, she didn’t care which it was as long as it had people there or led her to somewhere there was someone that could help her. It gave her a shiver when she wondered whether it was possible she was walking right back into the clutches of her kidnapper.

She shook that thought off and kept walking; holding her dog by the collar – more out of fear than as a protective measure. She looked all around her as she walked; thinking that she was going to see him somewhere, but never coming across him. There was still no one when she and Casey reached the clearing; which turned out to be a road. She had never been so happy to see asphalt as she was now; knowing that a car had to pass by her eventually. There were no people or houses as far as she could see, but it gave her hope that it wasn’t a dirt road. Careful to stay off to the side of the road in the trees, she just kept walking; trying to forget the pain shooting through her legs and the exhaustion she was beginning to feel – now that the adrenaline wasn’t pumping quite so hard. Still, she walked, pulling her dog along with her; telling herself with each step to keep going; that it was only a matter of time before they reached help.

After an hour or so, she finally heard the hum of a car’s engine in the distance. It kept getting louder; letting her know it was coming. She imagined the disappointment she would feel if the car turned out to be her car – and she was right back where she started. Putting that thought out of her head, she pulled Casey down behind a big tree and the two sat there; crouched down to remain hidden if necessary. The car was not hers, thankfully. It was a red, compact car and – as it got closer – she could see that it was a young woman driving. She leapt from behind the tree and desperately waved her arms for the woman to stop, but to her disappointment the car sped up as she got closer; disappearing around the bend in the road. She couldn’t really blame the woman; she probably wouldn’t have stopped either if she saw another woman leap from behind a tree and wave her arms wildly at her.

Disappointed but still determined to get to help, she went back into the trees and kept walking in the same direction until she eventually saw another car pass – and another – and none of them would stop for a woman in distress. What kind of world do we live in? she asked herself; thinking that people were too jaded and desensitized to all the violence and horrors that they saw every day on the news or in television shows and movies. She wished more than anything to go back to a world in which people cared about people; one in which people helped others in need. She kept walking and was actually so deep in thought when the next car appeared that she almost didn’t see it slowing down as it approached.

In Aurora, Detective Scheffield was getting an early start to his day. He was already at the police station; ready to take the next step in the process of finding Grace. He sent the BOLO on her car out statewide and was shocked when he got a reply quickly. It was from the town of Weston; one town over from Aurora. There was a report of her car being found close to the beach on a dirt road, but it was found unoccupied. This news truly worried him. Where could she be if she weren’t with her car? he wondered. Now he wasn’t sure what to do. The best thing he could think of was to get in the car and drive over to Weston himself to see what he could find out. So that is precisely what he did.

It didn’t take long to get to Weston; him heading directly to the address he had listed for the sheriff’s department. He parked his car and walked through the door; identifying himself to the first person he saw, Deputy Sam Mitchell. It was not the same deputy that had found the car the previous day, but he had all the information collected already in the computer. He pulled up the report for the detective, who had explained to him in detail the situation with which he believed they were dealing. Walking outside, the deputy hopped in his car and told Detective Scheffield to follow him; that they were going to the impound lot to check out her car.

The car appeared at first sight to be in good shape. It was clear that it had not been involved in an accident and he pondered the reasons for it to simply be abandoned. He searched the car thoroughly; finding some bags packed with her things, but also finding a bag packed with items that obviously belonged to a man. This puzzled him, though he had not known about her reasons for being in Aurora in the first place. He wasn’t aware that she had left behind a fiancé two states away and he certainly wasn’t aware that this fiancé had had a psychotic break and kidnapped her; or that she had escaped on foot with her dog and was desperately trying to find help; walking mile after mile to get away from her captor.