Mixed Messages (A Malone Mystery) (45 page)

He
decided to go to bed early. He
was tired
and a little depressed; thinking about the past and what might have been often left him feeling that way.
The only thing that had kept him going all those years was his belief in God. H
e had a deep
, unwavering
faith; after all, hadn’t God gotten him through the war and brought him safely home? Hadn’t He given
him
the power to quit drinking and watched over him in so many dangerous situations on the job?

If there was one thing
h
e believed with all his heart it was that everything happens for a reason.
He didn’t claim to understand the reason why he had fallen in love with Olivia if they weren’t destined to be together but he’d long ago given up control of his life; it was in God’s hands. He had to trust and he had to accept; it had taken him a lot of years to come to that realization.

He walked through his apartment, leaning on his cane, as he turned off the lights and lowered the volume on his police scanner for the night.
He
got
into bed and fell asleep almost instantly. That night, he dreamed of
his lovely
Olivia and the beautiful orchards behind her father’s house.
He held her in his arms
beneath the old Osage
o
range tree
and
whispered in her ear
that, no matter what, he would never leave her again.

Chapter
4
3

ANN WAS SO TIRED
that it was an effort to climb the front steps to the porch
.
I wish I had their energy, she thought, as Danielle and Davey raced ahead of her, sprinted up the steps and barged into the house, slamming the storm door behind them
.
When she walked into the
foyer
, they were already sitting on the floor in front of Olivia’s wheelchair, sorting through two huge mounds of candy.

Olivia looked up and smiled as Ann
went
over to them
.
“Looks like these two made quite a haul
tonight
,” she said, laughing.

“These two,” Ann said, “had better pick up their candy and say ‘good-night
.’
”

Danielle and Davey looked up at their mother
.
“But, Mom,” they said in unison.

“No buts
.
Now,” Ann said, pointing to the door to their apartment.

Olivia and Ann watched as the children scooped up their candy and tossed it back into their bags.

“Oh, to be that young again,” Olivia said, sighing.

“I know what you mean,” Ann said. “I feel about a hundred years old right now. It was
tough, keeping up with them.”

“Well,
you’ll
feel better after a good night’s sleep,” Olivia said.

“
Thanks
again for doing this.
I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

“No problem
.
I’m
tired
too
but it was
well
worth it
.
I had so much fun
.
I haven’t had that much fun in years.
I am ready to call it a night though.”

“Me too,” Ann said
.
“I think we’ve had enough excitement for one night
.
” She turned to go into her apartment and then turned back around. “
Oh, Liv, do you mind if I lock the front door tonight
?
With Lawrence and David gone, I think I’d feel more secure.”

“That’s a good idea,” Olivia replied as she
guided her wheelchair
toward the electric lift
.
“Good-night
, Ann
.”

Ann turned off the porch light, secured the deadbolt on the front door and then
went
over to where Danielle and Davey stood rummaging through their bags of candy
.
She opened the door to their apartment, ushering the kids inside
.
“I want no arguments,” she said sternly
.
“
It’s late.
Time
to get ready
for bed.”

A few minutes later,
she
walked down the hallway to her daughter’s room
.
Danielle was sound asleep, her long, brown hair spread out across the
pale
pink
pillow
case
.
The light from the hallway streamed into the room, accentuating the golden highlights in her hair.
She looks like an angel, Ann thought
.
She’s so beautiful
.
Some people might consider Dani a tomboy because she climbs trees and plays sports as well as any boy but one look at her bedroom with its pink walls, lacey white curtains and shelves of dolls in frilly dresses would convince them that she’s all girl.

She
smiled as she
closed the bedroom door and tiptoed across the hall to Davey’s room
.
She
was surprised and relieved to find Davey also asleep, hugging his teddy bear
.
You can be a handful, she silently said, but you are precious
.
He looks so much like David, she thought
.
Someday, he’ll grow up to be a handsome man, like his father
.
Oh, but please, God, she prayed, don’t let him have all the problems his dad does
.
She closed her son’s bedroom door and went back to the living room
.
She turned off the lamps and collapsed onto the sofa.

Lying there in the dark, she thought about David
.
She wondered if he was still in jail or if Louise had managed to get him out. Was he sleeping on a cot in a cell
tonight
?
O
r
,
was he at his mother’s house
in his old room,
in his old bed,
being
pampered by his mother
?
She
promised herself that, in the morning, she would call
her mother-in-law
first and then, if necessary, she would call
every police department in Indiana if that’s what it took to find her husband
.
“Dear God,” she whispered in the silence of the old house, “please bring my husband back home to us
.”
Tears welled up in her eyes
.
“And God,” she added, “please help our family to be happy and whole again.”

The front doorbell rang, startling her
.
She jumped up
.
Who in the world could that be? she wondered
.
She flung open her apartment door and stepped out into the hallway
.
She
went
over to the door and
peeped
out one of the sidelights
.
It was pitch black outside. She squinted her eyes and finally saw that t
he person standing
on the porch
wore a long, black trench coat and a grotesque rubber mask
.
Teenagers!
she
thought
.
There really should be an age limit set.

She flipped the switch to turn on the porch light.
“Aren’t you a little old to be trick-or-treating?” she asked as she pulled open the door
.
“And Halloween hours were between six and eight
.
It’s way past eight o’clock.”

“Candy!”
he bellowed.

“What?”

“Candy
!
I want candy!”

“Now, listen here, young man
.
Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“Candy
!
Candy
!
Candy
!”
He reached out and yanked open the storm door.

“
Fine
!
I’ll give you some candy
.
”
She reached behind her, grabbed a handful of candy bars from one of the bowls on the hall table and stuffed it into his duffle bag
.
“There
.
Now, please, just go.”

“More
!
More candy!”

“Listen here
.
I gave you candy
.
Now go home!”
she
said, trying to sound assertive even though she was beginning to be a little frightened.

He took a step in
.
“Candy
!
More candy!”

“Fine
.
Fine
.”
She
picked up the bowl and dumped all of the contents into his bag
.
“Now, are you satisfied
?
I’ve given you all the candy I have.”

“More
!”
He took another step toward her.

She
tried to shut the door in his face but he pushed hard against it and sent
her
tumbling backwards
.
She regained her balance and ran toward her apartment door
.
The man
pounced at
h
er and grabbed her wrist, twisting it
.
“Stop it
!”
she
yelled
.
“You’re hurting me
!”

He shoved her into her apartment and slammed the door behind them.

She
stifled a scream
.
Please God, she prayed, don’t let the kids wake up
.
Please help me
.
Is this him? she wondered
.
Is he the Westwood Strangler
?
Am I his next victim
?
What can I do
?
I don’t want to die!

“What do you want from me
?
I don’t have much money
.
You can have it
.
You can have anything just, please, please don’t hurt me!”
she
pleaded as she backed across the room, away from the intruder.

“Who else is here?” he demanded.

She
thought of her two children asleep in their beds
.
“No one
.
I’m home alone,” she said.

“Liar!” he roared
.
“I know your kids are here and I know the old lady’s upstairs
.
Why don’t we take a little walk and go visit her
?
I’m sure she’d like to have some company
, don’t ya think?
Do what I say and nobody gets hurt.”

She
pictured Olivia, alone, sitting in her wheelchair, defenseless
.
My God
!
I can’t let him go up there, she thought
.
But what can I do
?
I’ve got to protect her
!
I can’t let him get to
her. I
won’t let him get to her
!

She continued to back slowly away from him but he kept
coming
toward her
.
There were only two choices
:
run or fight
.
She knew that she couldn’t run; even if she could manage to get away, she couldn’t leave her kids and Olivia at the mercy of this ma
niac
.
She
felt the edge of the ironing board hit her back
.
Terrified, she realized that she’d backed herself into a corner
.
As the man reached out to grab her,
she
grasped the cord of the hot iron, pulled it toward her and swung it as hard as she could at him
.
He screamed out in pain and fell to the floor,
clutching
his neck
.

She
saw the phone across the room
.
If I could get to it, she thought, I could at least call for help
.
But, just as she started to move, he staggered to his feet
, coming toward her
.
Ann jerked the cord of the iron back toward her, ready to use the only weapon she had
.
All of a sudden, he
lunged
at her
.
She grabbed
hold of
his mask
and
yanked
it
up, revealing his face
.
H
is features
were
contorted with rage
and his eyes glared at her
.
She
tried to back away but she had nowhere to go. He reached out,
wrenched
the iron’s cord
from her hand
and wrapped it around her neck.