31. Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Dylan
F or the last thirty minutes, my voice had sounded like a choking seagull. Where had Elise gone?
The second we finished our last song, I handed off my guitar to Candace, our violinist, and rushed out the door Elise had disappeared behind.
Had she gone after Tara and that Sven guy on her own?
Seeing her leaning against the side of the building, yelling into her phone, I clutched my chest with relief.
“What’s going on?” I mouthed to her when I reached her side.
She shook her head. “This is serious. You’re really not going to do anything? Could you at least send an officer over that way at ten-thirty?”
Growling, she lowered her phone and ended the call.
I wrapped an arm around her waist and relaxed into the feeling of knowing she was beside me and safe while she calmed down.
“Tara’s meeting Sven at ten-thirty at her store,” she finally said. “I phoned the cops, but they said their officers are all out on other calls, and there’s no evidence of any imminent danger so no-one’s coming.
“I don’t know what to do.” Her voice was so small.
Hugging her closer, I kissed the top of her head. “I don’t know either.”
“I have a can of bear spray and a flashlight that doubles as a taser in my car.” She straightened.
“Remind me to never tick you off.”
Elise pulled me toward the door. “Let’s get your stuff put away and get over there. We can at least sit in your car and watch to make sure nothing bad happens.”
“And if it does?”
“We call 9-1-1 and hold onto the taser and bear spray.”
We had to be crazy. Crazy and stupid. Parked in the darkest edge of the nursery parking lot, Elise and I watched for any sign of movement. Tara’s Jeep was already sitting by the side entrance when we arrived, and we’d spent a few minutes debating theories on where she’d been hiding out before eventually falling silent.
“Too bad this had to happen the night I’m wearing heels and a stupid dress,” Elise griped, breaking the silence.
I brought her fingers to my lips. “You look amazing though.”
“Thanks, but I’d rather be able to make a quick getaway without tripping on this thing. I think the whole reason there were ever any damsels in distress is because they were completely helpless under those wads of heavy fabric.”
“You’re probably right,” I agreed with a chuckle. “Do you want to trade your bear spray for my taser?”
“Nah, I have no idea how to work that thing. I’ve actually used this before.” She shook the can, giving me a wicked grin.
“I need to hear this story.”
“Not right now you don’t. We need to be on the alert in case Sven shows up early.” She tapped her phone screen, illuminating the time. Ten nineteen.
We both slumped lower in our seats and watched the store entrance. Seconds later, a woman’s scream sounded from that direction. Elise reached for the door handle, but I laid a hand on her shoulder.
“We can’t go rushing in there. We don’t know what’s going on.”
“Then it’s time to call 9-1-1.”
“Not yet. A scream isn’t enough to get them over here, and if they think we’re just a couple of paranoid kids, they might not send help later when we actually need it.”
A dark figure bolted out of the side entrance. They hurried up the lawn in the direction of the fitness center, disappearing behind a row of trees.
“Now do we call?” Elise asked.
“Um…” While I weighed our options, Elise jumped out of the car and ran in the direction of the building.
I hurried to follow. Even wearing a dress, that girl was fast. She reached the entrance, and the automatic door slid open. Before I could catch up, the door closed, and Elise disappeared into the darkness.
It took a few seconds for the door to open again. When it did, I hurried into the dim store, scanning for the girl. Shadows of plants and supplies looked like monsters from a horror film reaching out to grab me.
“Elise,” I whispered. If we weren’t alone, I didn’t want to give her away.
There was a distant clicking sound, like heels slapping against tile. I followed the noise to a dark hallway. At the end were slices of light outlining the shape of a door.
“Dylan, come quick!” called Elise’s voice from the other side of the door.
I rushed to her, yanking the thing open. Beside Elise on the floor was a woman who was shaking violently.
Tara.
Elise already had her phone to her ear and was probably calling 9-1-1. I knelt on the other side of Tara. What should I do?
In elementary school, an EMT had come into our class and talked with us about basic emergency safety. Weren’t we supposed to move any sharp or hard objects out of the way when someone was having a seizure?
Nearby was a desk and a chair. Should I pull Tara further away from them before she banged her head against one of the legs?
While Elise gave the man on the other end of the phone our location, I carefully slid Tara away from the desk and turned her to her side.
Tara’s clothes were soaked. Why was she so wet?
“The ambulance is coming,” Elise said, squeezing my shoulder. “They’re about eight minutes away.”
I gritted my teeth. I’d never liked Tara, but seeing her like this, staring at nothing while flailing wildly… I didn’t want her to die.
Elise continued to speak into the phone, and I couldn’t do anything other than follow Tara’s movements and pull her back when she got too close to something.
Five, eight, maybe ten minutes later, the paramedics arrived. Once they were sure everything she could bump into was out of Tara’s way they fired their questions at us. Well, one of them did while another used a small pump to suction Tara’s throat. Had she taken any drugs? How long had she been seizing? Had there been more than one seizure?
Our answers were useless. The lady who’d been talking to us walked over to the guy who was trying to slide a blood-pressure cuff onto Tara’s arm. She said something about “status epilepticus,” then hurried out of the room.
“Is she going to be okay?” Elise asked the guy, hugging her arms around her middle. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
“Can’t say. Right now, our best bet is to get her loaded up and to the hospital.”
Getting Tara onto the gurney wasn’t pretty, and the EMT’s waved me away when I tried to help.
I tried to shield Elise from the sight, but the second my hands moved over her face, she smacked them away. My bad; I should have known she wouldn’t want to be coddled.
With straps finally wrapped around Tara’s shaking body, the paramedics raised the gurney. Each of them kept one hand on the woman to keep her from falling.
Elise and I went ahead, holding open doors to let them through. We stood and watched while they loaded the stretcher into the ambulance and drove away.
“Do you think she’s going to die?” Elise asked as she shivered in my arms.
“I honestly have no idea.”
Technically, this hadn’t been a date, but after what happened tonight, I was definitely going to make sure Elise made it home safe.
When I parked next to her in the driveway, a shadow stumbled out from between the hedges. A guy with long hair and a beard walked right up to Elise’s car and knocked on the window.
Aw no you don’t, bro, not after what she’s already been through.
I jumped out of my car and motioned for Elise to stay put.
“What’s up?” I asked, trying to sound casual, even though my hands were already balled into fists.
“She needs to leave. They both do.” The words were slurred, and the guy’s breath reeked. Okay, so this must be the druggie neighbor. Maybe I could get the dude talking while he was slammed.
“Were you the one who left that torn painting on their porch?”
“Yah, what’s your point?”
“Did you murder Dave?” Dang, I probably should have built up to that question.
He snorted. “That guy deserved to die. I got sent to juvie because of him. He ruined my life.”
“What’d you do to get sent to juvie?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’d’ve never gone if Dave would’ve backed me up.” Flailing his arms, the dude sprayed a ton of nasty spit on my face.
“Sounds like you did that to yourself. When we make stupid mistakes, they eventually come back to bite us. Sorry, bro, but that’s life.”
The guy reached out and shoved me to the ground. “Shut up; what do you know?”
He reached for Elise’s door handle.
Nope, not a chance, dude.
I knocked his arm out of the way and was up in a second. “Leave her alone!”
Wham!
His fist slammed into my cheek. I staggered to the side, blinked, then hit him with a right hook that knocked him backwards.
Before he could recover, I kneed him hard in the stomach. He doubled over. I stood ready to give him more, but the guy limped away with his hands around his middle.
“This isn’t over,” he wheezed before staggering around the corner.
Once he was out of sight, Elise’s door slowly opened. “Is he gone?”
“Yeah, you can come out.”
Her hands cupped my face. “Are you alright?” She turned my head from one side to the other, and I tried not to wince.
“I’m doing better than that guy, that’s for sure.”
She didn’t laugh. “He tried to open my door. What do you think he was going to do?”
I wrapped an arm around her. “Don’t worry; I won’t let him hurt you. Let’s go inside where we can talk.”
As soon as we walked in the door, Bessey rushed up to greet us, her tail banging against the wall.
“Hey, Girl. Did Grandma go to bed already?” Elise whispered.
Putting a hand to her lips, she gestured for me to follow her into the dark house. After flipping on the light, she hurried to the kitchen to get an ice pack for my face.
Holding the pack to my throbbing cheek, I waited on the sofa while she got changed. Bessey was happy to stay by my side, rubbing plenty of golden fur on my rented tux until Elise reappeared wearing her old track sweats.
She sat down next to me, then laid her head against my chest. I breathed in the floral scent of her hair and leaned back, adjusting the pack. What a night.
“You doing okay?” I asked, squeezing her arm.
“I honestly don’t know. I don’t know what to think of any of this. We have no idea if Tara’s going to make it, and my neighbor keeps getting creepier and creepier. What if he does something to Grandma while I’m gone?”
“Are you still using that app to monitor the cameras like Austin showed you?”
She burrowed deeper into my side. “Yes, but I can’t watch them while I’m sleeping.”
“What if I slept on your couch tonight?”
Elise lifted her head. “I don’t know if you’d get much rest. This thing is ancient.”
“I can sleep anywhere. Besides, I’ll sleep much better if I know you’re safe.” I kissed her hairline.
She shuddered. “I don’t know how much rest I’m going to get tonight. I can’t stop seeing Tara shaking on the floor.”
“I know.” Nothing I said or did would erase that memory.
“Let me get you some of my Dad’s clothes so you don’t have to sleep in that. Even though it looks amazing on you.” She ducked her head as she said that last part, then hurried away.
I pumped my fist in the air. That made the rental worth every penny, even if I would lose my deposit thanks to all the dog hair.
That wasn’t my only victory. Elise was letting me help her. The girl who let no-one in and did everything herself was going to let me watch over her and her grandma so they could sleep.
Now that I finally had Elise, I needed to find a way to keep her safe—a nearly impossible job since the whole world seemed to be filled with psychopaths who wanted to hurt her. We needed to find her dad’s murderer before they targeted her next.