Branded for Murder (37 page)

Chapter 90

I couldn’t remember the road I had just driven, but I had to get to Lisa’s dorm right away. Minutes might mean the difference in Lisa being attacked or worse. I didn’t bother to find a parking place, just double-parked in front of the dorm. I scared the hell out of the female guard as I burst through the door.

“I’m looking for Lisa Anderson. Have you seen her?” The guard was just staring at me, not responding. I noticed everyone in the reception area was staring at my entrance. Judy was there too. I ran over to Judy, with the guard trying to catch up to me. “Judy, have you seen Lisa?”

The guard yelled she was going to call the cops.

I yelled back at her, “Please call them, and tell them you have an emergency.” I looked back at Judy, asking, “Judy please. I think Lisa is in danger. Have you seen her? Is she in her room?”

“I saw her earlier. I don’t know where she is. She’s probably in our room.”

I headed up the stairs, thinking the guard was going to faint.

“You can’t go up there. Stop. I said stop!” She was yelling, running to her desk to use the phone.

I didn’t stop, I couldn’t. If Jimmy was going to go after Lisa, this is where he would try to get her. I thought about what she said, about the guard that gave her the creeps, and the room behind the dorm. I rushed into their dorm room and she wasn’t there. I went over to the newspaper covered window and looked across the alley. The lights were on over there.
I remember what she had said about watching the display from their future dorm room.

I left their dorm room, running to the end of the hall. The annex door which I expected to be locked opened when I pushed on it. I went running into the annex and noticed how dark it was. I was feeling for the hand rail and wall, climbing the stairs two at a time. I was at the top floor before I knew it. Something ran between my feet and I froze in place. I could make out the outline of a big rat who must have been as scared as I was judging from how it scampered away.

I went down the hall as quietly as I could, seeing the flickering light under the door. My eyes had adjusted some to the low light. I could read room 516 on the door plate. I feared the door would be locked. I was not going to take the chance. I was going to turn the handle and push my weight against the door—one way or the other I was going to be inside the room.

*.*.*

The handle did turn. I went flying into the room and wound up on the floor. I saw two glistening bodies on the small bed, before I fell to the floor. One of them was a man and the other was Lisa. I saw her head jerk in my direction with fear registering on both of their faces. The man moved quickly. Before I could get up, he was punching me with both of his fists. He then grabbed my coat by the collar, making his swings count, landing against the side of my head. My ears were ringing and the room was spinning. I braced myself against the cot, trying to get up to throw my own punches.

I hit him with several punches. I then tried to push him, but my hands slid off his body like he was a greased pig. He lost his balance, bouncing off the side of the bed with a crash. In one quick motion he charged. I felt my head hit the cabinet, the sounds were muffled. I could feel my body slipping down the wall. The pain was incredible and everything in the room was spinning. The figure was only a shadow now. He looked quickly at me then back at Lisa. I lost sight of everything at that point.

*.*.*

I couldn’t say how long I was out, but when I came to, I could hear Lisa whimpering on the bed, trying as best she could to try to get loose. The room was now freezing instead of the heat I felt when I first entered. I remembered how hot it was in the room, and the smell of the candles. I managed to get off the floor. I went over to Lisa, removing her gag. I looked at the back window, which was open, thinking Jimmy might be coming back.

I rushed over to the window, expecting to see Jimmy. When I looked, there wasn’t anybody on the fire escape. Some of the candles that were on the window sill were lying on the fire escape. The rest of them were on the ground next to Jimmy’s still burning body. He was face down, obviously dead from the fall. I went back to Lisa, taking off my coat to cover her. I untied her hands, and then her feet, and she threw herself into my arms. We were both crying now.

“Lisa he’s dead. He must have caught on fire going out the window, slipping to his death off the fire escape.” I hugged her with all my might.

“Scott, I was saying some silent prayers that you would sense my call for help. He was doing awful things to me. He was going to brand me, and then kill me. He killed those other girls because they branded him. He had a brand made with my initial and his.” She sobbed into my shoulder as I hugged her.
I realized how lucky we were to be alive.

*.*.*

I heard the commotion in the hall, turning to see Mike and Paul charge into the room. He looked at us, then went over to the window and stood there for a moment. He came back to the doorway and guided Paul out with him. I helped Lisa get dressed, and heard him say, “Well Scott, it’s just another case where you are one step ahead of us. We’ll be downstairs checking out what’s left of Jimmy. Lisa, I’ll call your parents to let them know you’re okay. This is beginning to sound like a broken record—nice work Scott!”

*.*.*

“Scott, how did you find me?”

“Well Jimmy called your parents to tell them he was going after you. They called the Derry Police to alert them, and then called me to tell me what he said he was going to do. When I got here, Judy didn’t know where you were. When you weren’t in your room, I remembered what you told me about the display in the next building. When I moved the newspapers and saw the light on in the building behind yours, I thought you might have gone to see if you could see who the man was in the room. Had you not told me about what you witnessed, I would not have known about your future room in the annex.”

I could feel Lisa’s body shaking, and saw the tears cascading down her face.

“Scott…it’s obvious by Jimmy’s actions that he planned for a long time to; kidnap, rape, brand and kill me to make my mother pay for not paying more attention to what happened at camp. If you hadn’t met me in the library that day President Kennedy was killed, I might have been…”

I put my lips to hers kissing her with all of the love I had inside me.
I thought about the prince waking sleeping beauty. I thought about my cousin Jackie and what she was missing. And I thought about what my life would be without Lisa in it.
I couldn’t hold back my tears and they joined Lisa’s.

We stood up, wrapping our arms around each other. As we turned to leave the room the candles were still burning brightly. I spotted a coin on the floor, next to where I was knocked out. “Lisa, look at the quarter on the floor—it’s ‘heads up.’”

She bent down, picked it up, and then brought it to her lips. “Scott, I guess the day is what you make it. I will always have a ‘heads up’ kind of day with you in my life. How appropriate my life is yours. Please take me to the
Skywalk,
I want to enjoy every moment of my life with you.”