Forget to Remember (30 page)

In Los Angeles he followed her in a taxi,
found out where she was staying, and then abducted her in a rental
car. He tied her up, and they drove around Los Angeles for hours...
The image ended. Michael was speaking.

“Let’s let bygones be bygones.”

“I want to, Michael. Believe me, I do. But
it’s hard. After all, you shot at me in California and then tried
to kill me at the motel in North Carolina.”

“Who’s been filling your mind with that
crap? It’s Grandma, isn’t it? She’s poisoned your mind against
me.”

“No, no.” This was taking an ugly turn.
“Grandma likes you. She didn’t say anything bad about you. Besides,
she thinks you’re dead.”

Carol hoped Michael would believe Grandma
hadn’t told her about the phone call from him. Michael’s voice
became soothing.

“I’m in room one twenty-five. Come to my
room and we’ll get this straightened out. We need to talk face to
face.”

“I’m scared, Michael. You’ve tried to kill
me four times.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The
motel—that was a misunderstanding. I just wanted to explain
everything to you. I wasn’t going to hurt you. You ran off before I
had a chance.”

“So you admit that was you at the
motel.”

“What? Are you trying to trap me?”

She had to calm him down. If Ivan heard
anything incriminating, he said he was going to call the police and
have Michael arrested. He might be calling the police now. Carol
had to keep Michael from getting too suspicious and bolting.

“Maybe you’re right. I want to believe you
were just trying to explain everything to me. You’re also right
that we need to talk face to face. What if I come to your
room?”

“Room one twenty-five.” A pause. “What did
Grandma tell you about me? Did she tell you I was still alive? Did
she tell you I was trying to take over the estate?”

“No, of course not. Grandma would never do a
thing like that.”

“That lying old bitch. I knew she’d turn
against me. First you, then Dad and Mom, and now Grandma. I’ll take
care of her.”

The connection was broken. Carol didn’t know
what to do. She couldn’t leave the room and risk running into
Michael. She couldn’t call Ivan. He had heard everything and would
be trying to stop Michael from escaping. She would have to wait for
a call from Ivan.

CHAPTER 38

Minutes went by as she paced the floor.
Carol had to do something. She couldn’t stand it any longer. She
decided to go outside and look for Ivan. First, she’d call his cell
phone. Her cell phone rang before she could punch in his
number.

“Hello.”

“He got away. He must have gone out a
different door. I used the other card key to get into his room.
Empty.”

“I think he’s on his way to North Carolina
to kill Grandma—Mrs. Horton.”

“You think so? It’ll be well after midnight
when he gets there.”

“He’s impulsive. You said, yourself, he’s
not acting logically.”

“All right, we’ll go after him.”

***

Going after him involved filling the gas
tank. Otherwise, as Ivan pointed out, they’d never make it to
Chapel Hill in the Jeep. While Ivan pumped gas and then negotiated
the road system until he was on I-95 southbound, Carol made phone
calls. She called the security service that was watching Mrs.
Horton’s farm and told the supervisor to be on the alert. He said
he would double the patrol.

Next Carol called Paul. He didn’t answer his
cell phone, so she left an urgent message. While waiting for what
she hoped would be a callback from Paul, Carol worried about how
she would get Mrs. Horton away from the farmhouse to where she
would be safe. Calling her would only scare her, but Carol knew she
couldn’t convince the old woman to leave her house with a phone
call. Carol hoped Paul would go over to the farm and physically
remove her.

Carol thought about calling the Chapel Hill
police, but she had no credibility with them. It would be too
complicated to explain the situation. Ivan doubted they would do
more than drive by the road to the farm, periodically, which
wouldn’t do any good in stopping the cagey Michael.

Meanwhile, Ivan was rolling along I-95 well
in excess of the speed limit, passing semis as if they were
standing still. If Michael was doing the same thing, they probably
wouldn’t catch him, and even if they did, they didn’t have a
description of his car. At the motel, he’d parked out of Ivan’s
sight. At night it would be hard to tell who was driving a car.
Their best hope was to beat him to the farm and be ready for him
when he showed up.

Carol’s phone rang. It was Paul. “Paul,
where are you?”

“I’m…out of town. What’s happening?”

“We’re on the way to Chapel Hill. We think
Michael’s going to the farm to kill Mrs. Horton. I was hoping you’d
get her out of the house.”

“I’m not in a position to do that. Have you
called Wrightguard?”

That was the name of the security service.
“Yes, they’re doubling the patrol.”

“Good. I’ll try to activate the Chapel Hill
Police. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Fear gripped Carol. What if Michael beat
them there and got past the guards?

***

Carol suspected they’d set some sort of a
record for driving between Fairfax, Virginia, and Chapel Hill,
North Carolina. She was glad Ivan was a good driver, but even so,
at times she hadn’t dared to watch as he maneuvered around other
vehicles. She also wished they could go faster. They slowed down
while passing through several cities, the last one being Durham.
Ivan said it wouldn’t help if he were stopped by a cop or had an
accident.

Several times during the drive, when they
passed another speeding car, Carol shone a flashlight in the
window, aiming at the hair of the driver, trying not to blind him,
trying not to antagonize him. She hadn’t seen anybody with hair
resembling Michael’s.

As they drove along the dirt road that led
to the farm, they didn’t see any sign of life. The gate in the deer
fence around the farmhouse was closed. Ivan pushed the button and
it opened, agonizingly slowly. Carol chafed at the wait and looked
around.

“Nobody’s guarding the fence.”

Where were the guards? Where were the
police? They drove through the gate and slowly among the trees. It
was like being inside a painting of a night scene. Everything was
still. The trees stood like statues. They approached the original
house on the property. It was in bad repair, and the dark made it
look haunted with its unpainted board frame and broken windows.
Maybe it
was
haunted.

The driveway split just before the old
house. Ordinarily, Carol went to the left on the stretch that led
to the garage. The problem with that route was the garage was on
the side of the house. They would have reduced visibility after
they got out of the Jeep. Carol told Ivan to go to the right, which
he did. The trees and garden prevented them from getting close to
the house in this direction.

Ivan stopped the car with its headlights
pointed toward the house on high beam, enhancing the brightness of
the outside lights shining from the house. The trees between them
and the house cast shadows, however, and there were still plenty of
places to hide.

They sat in the car and surveyed the scene.
Even with the windows open the only sound they heard was distant
traffic noise from the Interstate. Ivan produced a gun from
somewhere on his person. “Call the house and see if you can get
anybody to answer. Tell them we’re coming in and to turn off the
lights.”

Carol entered the number, apprehensive,
wondering whether she wanted to know the answer to the question of
whether Mrs. Horton and Audrey were all right.

Audrey answered on the fourth ring.

“Audrey, it’s Carol.”

“Is that your car out there with its lights
on? We’re frightened out of our minds.”

“Sorry. We didn’t mean to scare you. Are you
okay?”

“Except for being scared. Bob is here with
us.”

“Who’s Bob?”

“He’s one of the security guards.”

“You haven’t seen Michael?”

“We haven’t seen anybody.”

“I’m here with a detective named Ivan. We’re
coming in. Turn off the all the lights and tell Bob not to
shoot.”

They turned off the lights of the Jeep. The
house lights went out. It was almost pitch black in the trees. They
got out of the car and walked slowly and carefully through the dark
with Ivan in front, trying not to stumble on the uneven ground. He
kept his gun at the ready. Carol carried the flashlight but didn’t
turn it on. They trampled on some of the flowers, but that couldn’t
be helped.

They could hear Butch barking as they
approached the house. Audrey opened the front door when Carol
tapped on the glass. They ducked inside as she closed and locked
it. Butch nuzzled Carol. Carol quickly introduced Audrey to Ivan. A
flashlight illuminated them from under the stairs. The guard was
crouched there with his gun visible.

Carol asked Audrey where Mrs. Horton was.
They were keeping her upstairs where she’d be safe. Audrey shifted
her gaze between Carol and Ivan. “Bob got a call from his
supervisor that Michael might be coming to hurt Mrs. Horton. His
boss told him to stay in the house with us in case Michael tried to
break in.”

“He told me he was going to put another
guard on duty. We didn’t see anyone outside.” Carol looked at
Bob.

Bob came out of his hiding place and stood
up. “They called Tim to help me. He’s supposed to be watching the
gate. I tried to reach him when your car came in, to make sure he
knew who you were, but he didn’t answer. I tried him a couple of
times after that with the same result. Your car with its lights
unnerved me. I was prepared to shoot anybody who came into the
house.”

“How about the police? Have they come?”

“No. We didn’t call them, figuring this was
too hypothetical and that we had the situation under control.”

Ivan said, “Call Tim now.”

Bob had a two-way radio. He used it to
attempt to raise Tim. There was no answer. Ivan took the flashlight
from Carol and looked around.

“You’ve got a good defensive setup here. I’m
going out to find Tim. It may be nothing. Batteries or something
like that. Leave the lights off.”

Carol said she was going with him because
she knew the grounds. Audrey started to argue, but Ivan told her
they’d stick together. They went out the front door and quickly
moved off the patio in the opposite direction from which they’d
approached the house. This route took them toward the garage.

They carefully looked around the corner of
the house at the garage door. It was closed. Audrey’s car was
parked in front of the garage. They walked along that part of the
driveway, watching for movements in the dark. Clouds covered the
moon and stars. They approached the old house cautiously. It looked
eerie.

Carol saw the outline of the well that stood
beside the old house and had furnished water for it. Ivan was
letting her turn on the flashlight for a couple of seconds at a
time, but not long enough for someone to get a bead on it. She
flashed it toward the well.

She spoke softly. “It’s supposed to have a
cover on it so people don’t fall in. I don’t see the cover.”

They walked the few feet to the stone well.
Sure enough, the wooden cover was lying on the ground. Carol shone
her flashlight down the well. The hole went down about fifteen
feet. The flashlight beam hit something. She turned it off,
observing the two-second rule, before she realized what it was. She
turned it back on.

A person was jammed into the hole that was
too small for his rotund body. Carol saw his white face and
unblinking eyes with horror. “Tim.” No answer or movement from the
body. She called again.

A shot came from the shadows of the old
house. Ivan pulled Carol down behind the well. She had left the
flashlight on too long. She turned it off.

“Michael?”

No answer. Carol called again. A strange
voice answered.

“It would have worked. The plan was
foolproof. It would have worked if you hadn’t screwed it up. Cindy,
Cindy, fat and windy. You’ve ruined everything. That’s the story of
my life.”

“Michael, are you hurt?”

“It should have worked, anyway. I came in
through the gate above the creek. That asshole was between me and
the house. Without Grandma, you can’t prove who you are. I snuck up
on him with the knife, trying not to make any noise. I stepped on a
twig, damn it. He turned and I didn’t get a clean strike, but I
hurt him. We wrestled. I tried to dump him in the well. He’s heavy;
it’s a good thing I’m a weight lifter. Just as I got him over the
edge, he grabbed my knife and…”

His voice trailed off.

“Michael, we’ll get you help.”

A shot went right over their heads. Carol
cringed and crowded against Ivan.

CHAPTER 39

“Michael, throw your gun out in front of
you.”

Ivan used his most authoritative voice.
Michael’s answer was another shot. He wasn’t going to
surrender.

Ivan whispered, “He’s still dangerous as
long as he has the gun. We’ve got to stop him. Shine the flashlight
over the top of the well, but don’t expose your arm. Look around
the side with one eye so you can see to focus the light on him.
I’ll get him from the other side.”

It was cold-blooded. Strangely, Carol didn’t
feel anything, even though it was her brother they were talking
about. She peeked around the left side of the well and
simultaneously turned on the flashlight, holding it just above the
stone surface, so her hand was minimally exposed. It took her a
couple of seconds to find Michael and shine the light on him. He
was sitting, sprawled, with his back against the side of the
house.