SACRIFICES (39 page)

              Mr. Dulles holds up his hands. “This is all we have for now. Thank you.”

              The TV screen goes back to Dennis Martin. “As you just heard live for the county courthouse Mr. Steve Howard from Bloomington, Illinois has been arrested and charged with the double murder of Beth Townsend and Troy Denton. The state will be seeking the death penalty and he will be held without bail. Thank you for joining us today we now return you to your regularly scheduled program.”

              Brad looks away, as does Todd. Veronica sees the guys look away and lose interest in the TV so she turns it down. Todd looks toward the ceiling. “That’s going to sew it up for the missing couple isn’t it?”

              Brad remembers what the chief said and shakes his head in agreement. “Looks like it.”

              “I say we find this fucking guy that’s been raping and killing and put his ass away. What do you think about that?”

              Brad nods his head. “I’d say your right.”

TODD AND BRAD HEAD BACK TO THE STATION TO GET STARTED

             
Brad walks to his office and looks into Tammy’s room. She’s not there. He walks over to Stacey’s desk and asks.

“Where’s Tammy?”

              Stacey looks at him like he’s the
Grinch
that stole Christmas and sarcastically says. “She went home, she didn’t feel good,” She walks away and mumbles. “…not that you would care.”

              Brad looks down and walks away. He had no idea how Tammy felt. The thought of her really liking him never entered his mind,
ever
. He thinks to himself that he should give her a call later to see how she’s doing. Maybe explain to her that he doesn’t want her to leave and to not worry about her feelings, its ok.

              Todd walks in and says. “Why don’t you go home and talk to Jenny. You don’t need to be here. Actually right now I’m you and you’re no one because as of Saturday I took over your job. And you don’t take over the chief’s job until Tuesday. So if you think about it. Right now you’re nobody.” Todd smiles and walks over to Brad’s desk.

              Brad frowns and then smiles. “I guess your right. So maybe I should go home,” Brad stops and says. “Wait a minute. I thought we both started on the first.”

              Todd leans back and puts his feet on the desk and lights up a cigarette. “I’m on a roll, so get out of here Brad. Go tell that girl you love her. And since you don’t actually have a title right now and I do. That’s an order.” Todd winks.

              Brad smiles and quickly walks out. He looks at his watch and sees it’s almost two o’clock so he realizes that he will have at least four or five hours with her before she leaves.

              He walks to his jeep and gets in. When he starts it he smiles thinking to himself about her and him and everything that’s gone on as of lately. Brad hopes that she’s given the move a lot of thought and she wants to move here to be with him.

BRAD ARRIVES AT HOME AND NOTICES THAT HER CARS GONE

             
He parks in the driveway behind his son’s car and walks in the house. He sees that her suitcases are not in front of the door like they were this morning. So he walks to the kitchen to see if she left him a note.

              He sees a note on the refrigerator and smiles. He figures she’s telling him she’ll be back in a little while. He also thinks to himself that she probably had some last minute things to get so she just packed early. He takes it off and he starts to read it with a smile:

              Dear Bradley,

I’m writing you this letter to tell you how much you mean to me. You are a special man that I will always care about. I started to feel a little nervous about picking up my life and moving away. At first it seemed like a great idea. But when I thought about it more I got scared, really scared. We’ve been together for a little while now and neither one of us ever used the word love. That’s ok. I know you really loved your wife and maybe I rushed things for you by coming on so strong at first but I couldn‘t help myself. Maybe if I would have let you make the first move then things might be different for you. I never said it when we were together but I did fall in love with you along the way. I don’t know if you did or not. It felt like you did to me. But I’m not going to put words into your mouth. Moving to the big city is something I need time to think about. I need time to think about us as well. I do love you very much and I hope by me leaving this way you’ll be able to find it in your heart to forgive me. I need time to myself to put my life into perspective and with the incredible attraction I have to you it would make it tough to make that decision around you. You’re just too irresistible. Please understand and don’t be mad at me. Let me get a hold of you after I figure out what I’m going to do with my life. If you call me or see me my decision might be based on lust and not what’s best for me. I think after some time away from you I’ll be able to make a decision I can live with. I will call you soon. But please don’t call me. I hope you understand what I mean by this. It’s not good-bye, it’s I’ll see you soon. 

                                                                                    Love Jenny xoxoxoxo

            
 
Brad starts to tear up as he sits the note down on the table. His knees feel weak and he’s trembling. He takes some deep breaths and sits down. ‘Why?’ He thinks as he holds his face in his hands. “You can’t do this to me damn it.” Brad yells.

Brad walks around the house and starts to look for her. Maybe this is a joke and she’s just waiting to jump out and yell
‘Surprise.’
But he knows it’s not. His thoughts about losing her came true.

              Brad sits on the edge of the bed and uses his sleeve to wipe the few tears away. He lies back down and grabs the pillow she slept on and holds it to his face and hugs it while he lies there sad, and feeling incredibly lost.

              Brad lies on his bed as he thinks about how stupid he was for not telling her he loved her. He can’t believe it actually happened but he fell in love, and now she’s gone. He couldn’t take the sadness anymore and went to sleep, not wanting to but it just happened. He tosses and turns.

              It’s dark when he wakes up. He leans up quickly and runs downstairs. He hopes that he had a nightmare and she’ll be waiting for him in the kitchen with her beautiful smile and her gorgeous red hair.

              But it’s not a dream. He picks up the letter and reads it again, and then again. He looks at the clock and notices that it’s almost nine o’clock. He sees his answering machine blinking and pushes the button hoping it’s her.

              “
Beep...Hey Brad this is Todd. I just wanted to know how things went with Jenny. It’s about seven now give me a call when you get back buddy, bye.”

              That was the only message. Brad picks up the phone and dials Todd’s house. He doesn’t know what to tell him. Brad needs to talk to someone and who better than Todd.

              “Hello.” Todd says as he picks up his phone.

              “Hey.” Brad replies while he sniffles a little bit.

              “How’d it go buddy?” Todd asks hearing a touch of sadness in his voice.

              “Well, it didn’t go to well. She left me Todd. She’s gone forever.” Brad sniffles and covers his face as he sits at his dinning room table.

              Todd quickly asks. “What are you talking about?”

              Brad sniffles again trying hard to hold back the tears he‘s been fighting all night.

              “She left me a note. It said she was leaving and she didn’t want me to call her or anything.”

              Todd covers his face and says while he stands up and starts to put on his shoes. “I’ll be right over buddy ok?”

              Brad nods his head and says. “No...Thanks anyway but I think I want to be alone.”

              Todd takes a deep breath. “I understand. But what if I came over for just a few minutes and maybe had a beer with you,” Todd continues to tie his tennis shoes.

“How’s that sound? Plus I wanted to get out of the house for a while...the wife’s been getting on my nerves a little.”

              Jessica overhears this. “What are you talking about?”

              Todd covers the receiver. “Jenny left him for good.”

              Jessica covers her mouth. “No…she didn’t.”

              Todd takes his hand off of the receiver and nods his head to Jessica. “What do you say buddy? How about I come over for a little bit?” Todd can sense by his voice he’s devastated. So instead of just letting it go he’s coming over whether Brad wants him to or not but he’s hoping Brad wants him there.

              Brad sighs and explains. “If you want to go ahead but I don’t think I’ll be good company.” Brad wipes away a few tears and sighs.

              Todd stands up and says. “I’ll see you in a little while.” He hangs up.

              Jessica walks over and gives Todd a hug. “Do you want me to go with?”

              Todd smiles and gives her a kiss on her little button nose. “I think it might be better if I went alone. You know, guy talk.”

              Jessica walks him to the door. “Poor baby, I bet his heart is broken. Tell Brad how sorry I am and if he needs me for
anything
to call me ok.”

              Todd smiles and says. “Ok babe. I’ll be back in a little while.”

              Todd drives to Brad’s feeling terrible. He wants to help him through this because he can tell by his voice that he’s really hurting. Brad really did care about her and if she’s gone forever it’s going to be a while before he gets over her.

CHAPTER 19

BRAD HANGS UP THE PHONE FROM TODD AND LOOKS FOR HER NUMBER

             
“I have to call her.” Brad says as he looks for the letter she left with her cell phone number on it. He frantically pulls paper off the counter and looks. He looks on the kitchen table and thinks. ‘Where is it damn it?’ Brad stands there with his hands on his hips and thinks. ‘Oh yeah, I put it in my room.’

              Brad runs upstairs and reaches into his drawer next to the bed and smiles. ‘Maybe she’ll answer the phone and I can tell her how I feel?’ Brad thinks as he walks back downstairs to call her cell phone. Brad stands at the kitchen counter and dials the number. He anxiously waits. The phone rings and rings some more. Then he hangs up and thinks. ‘I can’t call. She said not to.’ He takes and hits the cordless phone against his head softly as he fights back the desire to call her.

              Brad starts to pace the room again feeling like this whole thing is his fault. ‘I should have told her. I should have told her. It’s my fault. Wait a minute. I’ll call her and tell her. If she still feels like she needs more time at least she’ll know how I feel.’ Brad smiles for the first time thinking to himself that maybe if he calls her and tells her then she’ll decide to move to Chicago now instead of thinking about it.

              Brad mixes himself a screwdriver while he waits for Todd. He’s beginning to feel a little better thinking that all he needs to do is to have just a few minutes of her time to tell her how he feels. Then everything will be ok.

              He walks into the living room and sits in his chair in the dark. He can see some headlights cross over the curtains as Todd pulls into the driveway. Brad grins feeling that after talking to Todd he’ll feel better.

              There’s a knock at the door and Brad yells.
“Come in.”

Todd opens the unlocked door and Brad turns to him and smiles.

              Todd sees his drink is filled with diluted orange juice and assumes that vodka is the reason it‘s diluted. “You know what they say about people who drink alone?”

              Brad smiles. “What’s that?”

              Todd walks over wearing a T-shirt and jeans and a pair of Nike tennis shoes. “They say that whoever walks in and sees this should go make himself a drink so the other guys not drinking alone anymore.” Todd smiles and walks over to Brad and puts his hand on his shoulder as he stands behind him in his recliner.

              Brad looks straight ahead and nods his head. “I’ve never heard it put
quite
that way...but if that’s what it means you know your way around. Make yourself at home.”

              Todd walks into the kitchen and starts to make himself a drink. When he sits his glass on the counter he notices a hand written note and picks it up and begins reading it.

He doesn’t say anything while he reads the note and mixes himself a drink. He remains quiet.

              When he finishes making the drink and reading the note he walks into the living room and sits down across from Brad on the sofa-sectional and can’t help but notice that Brad appears to be in much better spirits then he was earlier on the phone. “So how are you big guy?” Todd smiles a little trying to feel him out better now that he’s face to face.