CHAPTER NINETEEN
"What do you mean he’s gone?" Alison asked.
"I don’t know how else to put it," Moore said with clear annoyance. "I just got the call. The patrol car just returned to Dr. Connor’s house, and he wasn’t there. The lights are on, and his car is in the drive, but no one’s home. Maybe he’s involved somehow, and we just tipped him off."
"No," Alison said. "His picture should have been on the wall in there, but it wasn’t. And we’ve had cop cars going back and forth to this house and his house today. She got to him first."
"Why didn't she kill him in his home?" Moore asked.
"She didn't come back and take his photograph from the wall," Alison thought out loud, "which means she took that with her previously, so Connor was always the next target. She must have come back at one point, seen the cops, and known she had to make a move. She must have got lucky. Somewhere between when Derek spoke to him and the patrol car got back there, Sarah got to his house. There’s no sign of a break in? "
"No forced entry. The cops broke down the door there, just like they broke it down here, but he wasn’t inside, and there was no sign of a struggle."
"She got to the house," Alison mused, "and she gained entry, maybe an open window, or the door was unlocked. She had her knife with her and got him out of the house and into her car. Then she drove off with him."
"Where to?" Moore asked. "She’s only killed them where she found them before."
"This has to be an important one to her," Alison said.
"Perhaps she even knew Dr. Connor from her time at the facility. He was the one who got her brother killed. He was the one who let her brother go after five years when she testified at his trial. If she’s not killing him at home, then where would she go? "
"Anywhere," Moore said. "If she knows we’re onto her, she’ll want to do it as quickly as possible."
"Then she would have just done it in his home, gone into a frenzy, and stabbed him as soon as she was inside. She was thinking straight enough to take him from there because she needed to take time with him. He’s a special prize for her, which is why he would take her to…
Riverside. The facility was closed down, right? "
"I believe so," Moore said.
"And what is it now?" Alison asked.
"I can find out," Moore said.
"That’s our best shot," Alison told her. "If it’s been converted into something else, she won't take him three, and if that’s the case, then I have no idea where she’ll take him, and he’s as good as dead.
However, if we find that the building is still empty and not used, then I think that provides enough poetic justice for the man who both released her brother and had him killed.
We have to hope the building is disused or we’ll soon hear about another death. "
***
Moore screeched to a halt outside the abandoned building, and she and Alison both rocked forward.
Alison reached out her hands and placed them against the dashboard to stop her from hitting her head.
When she rocked back, her hand lifted instinctually to point toward the car parked outside the building.
"That has to be her car," Alison said. "This building isn’t used anymore. No one should be here. That’s her car."
"Stay here," Moore ordered. "I’ll call in SWAT and tactical."
Alison opened the door and exited. Moore quickly got out on her side.
"We need to wait for backup," Moore told her.
"We both know that’s not happening," Alison said as she jogged towards the budding.
Moore matched her pace, dialing and pinning the phone to her ear to call for backup.
"She knows we’re after her," Alison said as they ran. "She could go into a frenzy and kill him at any time. She wanted to take him from his home and kill him here because it would take more time. But she won't hesitate. She’ll want to get out of here as quickly as she can in case we get here before she can leave. She hasn’t left yet, so there’s still a chance. "
Alison stopped talking and continued running as Moore talked to the team back at base to direct them on what they needed.
They reached the metal fence to find that some of it had been moved, and other parts had toppled. That wasn’t Sarah’s doing. People had gone into the abandoned building over time, and no one had come to rebuild the fence. No one cares about the building anymore.
You testified against your brother. You wanted him locked up for the rest of his life.
That must have been hard for you to do that, but you had to, didn’t you?
You knew him better than anyone else, and you had to make sure he wasn’t a danger to anyone else.
Do you love him and hate him at the same time?
Alison didn't know what she would think of Emma if she were not murdered all those years ago, but it had turned out that she had murdered someone. Would she still love her sister? Would she testify against her because it was the right thing to do? What would she feel?
Those were impossible questions to answer.
Her brother was treated in this building for five years. Alison thought a lot about that as they reached the closest door.
Moore was off the phone, and she stuck her arm out across Alison’s chest, stopping her from going first. Moore didn't tell Alison not to go in, but it was clear that Moore wanted to go in first, and by showing that, the obvious command after that was for them to remain quiet as they entered.
This is a symbolic location for you. The place that failed your brother, and in doing so, failed society. Did this place fail you, too, Sarah?
Moore drew her gun as she pushed open the door, slowly and silently.
It was hard to see into the darkness within, coming in from the light.
Moore stepped in first, followed by Alison, and it took a couple of seconds of them blinking in the dusty darkness for them to become accustomed to the lack of light.
Still, there was enough to see by. Light came from the partially open door behind them, filtering in through numerous broken windows and doors, as well as holes in the structure, reaching out like long tendrils of illumination into the not-so-far reaches of the building, leaving the main areas lit but not all the dark corners.
Moore made another gesture, telling Alison to stay behind her. Two women, two competent women in many ways, but in the dimness of the abandoned building, there was only so much Alison could do; she remained behind the armed detective as backup raced from elsewhere to aid them.
And she tried not to cough. Alison felt the stirring of dust in her lungs as they stirred the dust that may have already been stirred by Sarah and Dr. Connor. The only hope was that they were going in the right direction. Sarah would know she was somewhat in a race against time.
Would she take Dr. Connor to the room she’d been committed to?
Was it the same room? Or Michael’s room?
Perhaps they would go to Dr. Connor’s office.
They didn't know the location of any of those rooms; there had been no time to conduct a thorough refresh.
Nor did they have a map of the facility. They were working on instinct.
Moore stopped and gestured toward the floor with her gun.
There was enough light to see what looked like a footprint in the dust floor, along with a drag mark.
Still, it was impossible to know at a glance if the tracks were fresh.
Alison nodded, more to acknowledge that she’d seen the footprint than anything else.
They continued forth, Moore holding the gun out in front of her, and Alison following behind, both of them stepping softly, but it was easy to walk on the bare concrete floor.
They listened, but heard nothing, watched, but saw nothing, and all the time, tasted the old mustiness of the building.
With each breath came the tang of age, tinted by sterilization.
Alison couldn’t smell bleach or any other chemicals, but there was something in the air that suggested cleaning had been done in the past. Or perhaps her imagination was playing tricks on her.
Then she was there. Sarah was before them, rushing at them, a flurry of black and grey as Moore pointed her gun, ready to take her down by any means necessary, and the bright eyes, ordering in the gloominess, dark but with pinpricks of red that reflected what little light there was, and—
Birds!
Alison had almost creamed out, and might have if she hadn’t been in a similar position many times previously, exploring an abandoned building, or even a functional building, searching quietly for a killer.
To her credit, apart from some flailing, almost as much flapping as the birds produced, Moore didn't make much noise.
Still, the birds had made a lot of noise, a snapping of their wings against the air, amplified by the number of them, perhaps seven or eight, and that noise flew much like the birds, down the hallways in all directions.
Moore turned to look at Alison. The communication was clear. Sarah must have heard that, and if she did, did she only believe some birds had startled each other, or did she know they were coming?
Are you armed with more than just a knife?
You must have something with you, some weapon that you used to tease Dr. Connor from his home.
Could it have only been your words? Did you take the knife from your home when you took the photo?
Do you have more that you have used to silence your victims before stating them?
Moore continued down the hallway. Whether Sarah knew they were coming or not, they still had to confront her.
Alison didn't know the woman’s mental state.
There was some fracturing of the mind, that much was clear, but how would she react when they got to her?
If she had Dr. Connor still alive, would their presence in the building send her into a frenzy and fury and cause her to kill him right in front of them before they could stop her?
She was dangerous, that was all they knew for sure.
Sarah had kidnapped Dr. Connor, and she meant to kill him in the abandoned facility, but how did she intend to do it?
She could have easily stabbed him to death in his home before they got ether and had time to live if she had time to go in and get him out of his home.
It was a saving grace, as long as they got there soon.
She needed time with Dr. Connor, and that gave them a chance of saving him.
Sarah was in the building, and tactical would arrive soon to surround it, trapping her inside.
Alison had no doubt they would get Sarah Hartman now, but if they lost another life before that, it would feel like a hollow victory.
When she turned the next corner into a large area, Moore stopped dead, and her arms seemed to snap to attention.
She held the gun in both hands, using it almost like a divining stick, but instead of looking for water, they were looking for a killer.
Her arms straightened, and she pointed the gun more, straight ahead, right at Sarah Hartman.
"Drop the weapon!" Moore shouted, the words echoing around the room.