A Silent Fury (14 page)

“Catelyn…”

“Yeah?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. Let's go find Billy.”

Catelyn crawled into the passenger seat of the car and let
Joseph drive. She leaned her head against the back of the seat and sighed.
Please, Lord, let us find Kelly before it's too late.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, just tired.”

“We'll find her.”

She gave him a weary smile. “I sure hope so.”

He cranked the car and pulled away from the curb to head for the Franklin house. They'd called ahead, but had gotten no answer. Which was really strange considering the family was desperate for news about Kelly.

Joseph let the car idle in front of the dark, empty-looking house. “Huh. Wonder where they could be?”

“Do you have cell numbers for the parents?”

“Yeah.” He pulled the mounted laptop around in front of him and typed a few keys. As he rattled off the first number, Catelyn punched it into her phone and waited. She looked at Joseph. “Voice mail.”

He frowned and gave her the next cell phone number. “That's the dad's number. Bryan.”

“Got it.” She waited again. “Voice mail.”

“I'm not getting a good feeling about this.”

“Do you have any next-of-kin numbers?”

“I can find out. Hold on.” He tapped a few more keys on the keyboard and gave her another number. “It's Kelly's aunt, her mom's sister. She lives on the west side of town. Libby Darlington.”

Catelyn dialed it and perked up when someone answered. She pressed speaker so Joseph could listen in. “Hello? Mrs. Darlington? This is Detective Catelyn Clark with the Spartanburg Sheriff's Department. I need to…”

The woman interrupted. “Have you found Kelly?”

“No ma'am, we haven't. I'm sorry, but I need to ask you if you know where Mr. and Mrs. Franklin are.”

“They're at the hospital. We think Bryan had a heart attack.”

Catelyn gasped. “Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that. I'll call if I have any news on Kelly. Thank you so much.”

She hung up.

Joseph raised a brow. “To the hospital?”

“Yeah.”

T
he first person Joseph spotted when entered the waiting room was Alan Dillard. The man saw him and Catelyn coming toward him and rose from his seat to greet them.

After handshakes all around, Joseph asked, “How's Mr. Franklin doing?”

“We're still waiting to hear.”

“Is Billy here? We need to talk to him.”

“No, I haven't seen him. He's really the one I came down to support. Mrs. Franklin called me and asked if Billy could stay with me while they were here at the hospital. I came to pick him up, but…” The man shrugged. “I haven't seen him. Which is really strange.”

Catelyn and Joseph shared a look. “Well, if you hear from him, will you give us a call?”

“Absolutely.”

Joseph handed his card to the man then turned to Catelyn. “Why don't we go check on Zachary while we're here?”

Coach Dillard spoke up. “You can check on him, but I just came from there. There's been no change. Stacy, my wife, is up there, too, with Zachary's family.”

Joseph thought for a moment. “I guess we'll see if we can track down Billy.”

“I've already been calling all his buddies and no one's seen him. I hope he hasn't snapped.”

“What do you mean?” Catelyn asked.

“I've seen some symptoms of depression. I've tried talking his parents into letting him talk to a counselor, but they're not having any part of it. They're consumed with finding Kelly. And now this…” He lifted his hands, palms up then dropped them to his side. “I don't know. I have to say, I'm worried, though.”

Joseph shook the man's hand again. “Thanks for your help. If we find him, we'll let you know.”

Alan nodded and returned to his seat.

Joseph turned to go and caught sight of two familiar figures walking arm in arm toward the exit located just ahead. They'd come from a different part of the hospital that shared the exit with the heart center. It was his sister and her husband.

“Marianna? Ethan?” he called.

Ethan turned, pulling Joseph's sister to a stop. He spotted Joseph and nudged the woman, signing Joseph's name with a crooked pinky twisted next to his right eye. She whirled, her long black hair fanning out behind her. Excitement lit her face and she ran to throw herself into her brother's arms. Joseph gave her a gentle squeeze. He pulled back to sign, “You've gained some weight, little sister.”

Marianna whacked him on the arm. “Thanks a bunch.” Then she smiled. “It's so good to see you. What are doing here? Is everything all right?”

Joseph held up a hand. “Whoa, whoa. Yes, everything's fine. Just a case we're working on.”

Ethan approached with an outstretched hand. Joseph shook it while Catelyn hugged Marianna. Ethan said, “Good to see you. We just got back from our mini vacation and haven't had a chance to let everyone know.”

“What are you doing here?” Catelyn asked, signing so
Marianna could easily follow the conversation rather than have to try to read lips.

Marianna and Ethan exchanged a look. Ethan cleared his throat and shrugged. “Just paying someone a visit. Nothing major. Anyway, we're headed over to see your parents. We both head back to work tomorrow.” His gaze sharpened as he zeroed in on Catelyn. “Anything I need to know about?”

She snorted. “Captain has work waiting for you, don't worry. And I'll fill you in when I can, but right now, we really need to get going. We've got a missing girl to find.”

Marianna frowned. “When can we get together?”

Joseph rubbed her back with one hand, signing with the other. “After this case is finished, I promise, we'll all go out for some fun. Maybe dinner and a movie, okay?”

Marianna, used to Joseph's and Ethan's workaholic ways simply rolled her eyes and linked her arm back through her husband's. With her right hand she signed, “Come on, you're not going back to work until you have to. And that's an order.”

Ethan looked torn, but finally succumbed to the soulful, dark brown eyes peering up him. He shrugged. “Catch you later.”

Joseph and Catelyn said their goodbyes and left the hospital to climb back into the car. Two hours later, Joseph slapped the wheel.

“It's almost midnight. He's not at any of his friends' houses. Where could he be?”

“I don't know.” She rubbed a hand across weary features. “He's got that big game coming up. Surely he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the team's chances for winning the tournament.”

Joseph shrugged, thinking she might be right, then said, “If he is depressed, he might not be thinking clearly.”

“True.”

“Okay, so I'm going to call in a BOLO for Billy and then
I'm going to take you back to your car. There's really nothing more we can do tonight.”

“Right, let's grab a few hours of sleep and meet back in the morning.”

He drove in the direction of the station. Pulling a water bottle from the cup holder, he uncapped it and asked, “Are we going to finish our conversation?”

“What do you mean?”

“At the restaurant before we were interrupted. You were telling me about your parents.”

Catelyn drew in a deep breath and Joseph held his. Had he stepped over the line in asking? He took another swig of the water as he waited to see what she would say.

“My father killed himself when I was seventeen.”

Joseph choked, spewing the small sip of water he'd just taken. Catelyn didn't look in his direction, just stared out the window. He said, “I never knew that. I just thought it was an accident with his gun.”

“That's what everyone believed. But the official report was he ate his gun. I've hated him ever since. I think I've had a lot of suppressed anger, too.” She spoke in a calm, deliberate way, almost as though talking about someone else. “But now that I've figured that out, I'm going to be able to deal with it. I'm going to
have
to deal with it.”

“Catie…” he whispered.

“Don't.” She held up a hand. “I don't want your sympathy right now. I'll start blubbering.”

“You never told me.”

“I…couldn't. Until today. Because of my mother.” She shook her head. “Amazing.”

 

The numbness faded leaving a gaping wound in her heart. She felt the tears surface again. “Anyway, after he…died…my
mother…she, um, she just…she kind of withered away. Quit the force, quit life, quit…me.”

He reached across to take her hand. “I don't know what to say.”

Catelyn pulled away. “There's nothing you can say. Your home became my haven. My escape. If your family hadn't treated me as one of your own, I don't know where I'd be today.” She gave a short laugh. “The only reason I never tried alcohol or took anyone up on those many offers of drugs was because of your parents. I…didn't want to blow a good thing. I knew if I got caught up in that kind of stuff, your parents wouldn't let me back in their home.”

“That's not true. They loved you and would've helped you, would have still treated you like one of their own kids and gotten you any help you might have needed.”

She gave a small laugh and brushed at nonexistent lint on her khakis. Then she nodded. “You're probably right.” Her eyes finally lifted to his. “I do believe you're right.”

“See, God was looking out for you after all…in spite of the parents you were born to.”

Tears flooded her eyes again and she sniffed, desperate to turn them off, but not quite succeeding. He changed the subject and she gave a grateful sigh.

“But why become a cop?” He turned into the parking lot and pulled the unmarked cruiser to a stop beside her car. “Why this profession when it seems to be the reason your parents messed up so completely.”

This time the laughter that escaped her had a harsh ring to it. “Because I thought it would help me understand. I thought if I
became
them, if I walked in their shoes, I could somehow find some answers.”

“And have you?”

She shrugged. Had she? With a start, she realized that those
few moments with her mother today had gone a long way toward dispelling the raging fury she'd carried in her heart for so long. More so than working as an officer had. “I don't know. I don't know if I'll ever know.”

“I want to be there for you, Catie.”

“And I want you to be there, but I don't think I'm capable of having a relationship with another cop.” She stared into his eyes and took a deep breath. “No matter how much my heart might want to.”

With that, she climbed out of his vehicle and into her own, not bothering to look back. Because if she looked back, she knew he'd be watching her and she'd cave in to the urge to run into his arms, eating her words and throwing caution to the wind.

And with visions of the screaming matches she'd grown up with flashing in her mind, she knew she just couldn't do that.

Arriving home, Catelyn pulled into her garage this time and went in the back door. A quick inspection told her no one had been in the house during her absence except for the professional cleaning service she'd called in to repair what the vandals had destroyed.

Her house looked good, finally back in order—if missing a few electronics. She'd get an insurance check for that soon enough. No time to watch TV anyway.

She kicked off her shoes and looked longingly toward her bedroom. Fatigue gripped her, numbing her mind, pulling on her body. The day had been an eternity what with the visit with her mother, telling Joseph about her father, avoiding her feelings for Joseph and trying to stay on top of this case.

Now, she just wanted to sleep for a few hours before starting all over again.

But first she checked all the doors and windows one more time. Just to be sure.

Not usually nervous about turning the lights out, she realized she didn't want to be in the dark tonight.

Leaving the hall light burning, she crawled into her bed and prayed.
Lord, You've shown me some pretty incredible things about myself lately. I'm not sure what to think about everything, to be honest. Especially this thing that seems to be between Joseph and myself. I guess I'm going to have to leave that for You to figure out. And as for today with my mother—thanks. I needed that. I still don't understand why my father did what he did, I don't know why You couldn't have just…

She cut off the prayer feeling the anger rise back up in her. It would take time, she figured. Time to process it all again. Maybe she'd never be at peace about it. The thought terrified her because more than anything, she wanted peace.

Peace, Lord. Please give me peace…

She must have drifted off because something awakened her. She lay still, wondering what it could have been. Usually once she fell asleep, she slept until her alarm went off.

Something had disturbed that. The air in her room seemed different. A smell that she didn't recognize. A combination of body odor and cigarettes?

Then she realized…

...someone was in here with her.

Her nerves bunched. Frozen, her eyes probed the shadows. Very little moonlight made its way through her heavy curtains. Usually she liked to sleep in pure darkness. The light from the hallway was out. Now the night seemed to press in on her.

Her heart pounding, her palms slick, she pondered what to do. How to react. Which way to move. Where was he? Not daring to move to alert whoever was in the room that she was awake, she calculated how long it would take to roll to her left, grab open the night stand and palm her gun.

The shadows shifted.

He was beside her bed.

She tensed her muscles to roll to the right.

Without warning, something soft fell across her face and pressure from above kept it there.

She was too late!

Flinging her arms up, she tried to push the object away. Felt hard fists clenched into the fabric.

She couldn't scream, couldn't breathe!

Someone was trying to kill her by smothering her with her own pillow. She kicked, bucked, turned her head and managed a small gasp of air before the small opening closed.

God, help me!

Churning her arms, she tried to punch. Her feeble blows fell on a bare arm. Panicking, she dug her fingernails in.

The arm flinched away from her and she managed to push the pillow to the side while her attacker fought to maneuver it back into place.

Another gasp of life-giving air. Then the pillow returned heavier than before. Brain racing, she frantically brought both hands up and felt a head, ears. She pushed, but couldn't budge the person above her.