Chapter Thirteen ~
"Jackson, look at this note."
Jude shoved it at his friend as if it was possessed by the devil himself.
Jackson took the note and read it. He
looked up at Amy and said, "Go out and tell Maria to pack some bags. You
can all go down to the cabin until this is over."
"They need someone to guard
them, don't they?" Jude asked.
"Yes, they'll need a guard but
it has to be someone we know we can trust," Jackson returned.
"I can see if my partner will
drive them down. She's an excellent marksman."
"Could you call her, Jude?"
Jackson asked. He wanted to get them out of the house before the killer got to
them. If she'd managed to get in once she could surely do it again, and it
would be easier now that she knew exactly what to do.
Jude called Lauren Estepp and when
she answered the phone in a groggy, 'I'm asleep' voice he said loudly,
"Lauren, wake-up."
"What is it Jude?"
He walked out into the hallway and
said, "I don't have time to go into it right now but could you take Amy
and the children down to their cabin in Southern Utah? The killer was in the
house and she's threatened their lives. I have to figure out who she is before
she hurts them, but I can't do that if they're in danger.”
"I guess I can do that...for my
partner." Lauren got up out of the chair she’d been sitting in and pulled
her gloves on. She had things to do.
"Thanks Lauren, you don't know
what it means to me," Jude said emotionally.
"Oh, I think I do," She
returned before ending the call.
Jude went back into Angie’s room
where Jackson was holding Amy in such a tender embrace it brought a tear to his
eye. He squelched a sliver of jealousy as it rose up to attack him. What kind
of person begrudged their friend a loving wife? He cleared his throat to get
their attention. “Is everything okay?”
“I have a bad feeling, Jude. I don’t
want to go anywhere with Lauren. She gives me the creeps.”
“Amy, I wish you would trust me. I
would trust her with my life.” Jude was angry that she was being so obstinate.
Not everyone would get up and take someone three hours away in the middle of
the night, in the winter.
"Lauren is taking you to the
cabin Amy, and that's how it has to be," Jackson finished firmly in
exasperation.
***
Lauren arrived at the Jackson Estate
a few minutes later. She waited downstairs while Amy finished last minute
packing.
"Amy, are you about ready?
Lauren has to be back in time for work in the morning," Jude called to
her.
"I'm coming right now," Amy
called back as she picked up her bag and headed out the door. She ran into
Maria, who was carrying Teenie, and Jude, who was carrying Benji. "We've need
to get the little ones out there without waking them up," Amy said softly.
"I know. Benji didn't make a
move when I picked him up. He's out like a light."
"Teenie is, too. She's running a
slight fever. I think she must be teething," Maria said. "I packed
what clothes and toys I could get in their bags, Amy. I can come with you if
you need me to."
"Thanks Maria, but the men
wouldn't know how to handle not having a woman around to take care of them. If
I thought you were in danger, you know I would insist you go."
Jude felt bad that there was a
'thing' between them now. He didn't know what was up with her unless it had to
do with her pregnancy. She was like a sister to him, and he loved her dearly.
The chasm that lay between them was hurting him as much as it was affecting
her. He needed to talk to Jackson about it and see if he could stand in as
mediator until they worked out the problem.
"I see how you are," Jude
said in a teasing voice.
"How do you see me?" He
could hear the anger in hers.
"Why are you angry at me?"
He asked. He couldn’t stand her anger a moment longer.
"You didn't 'do' anything Jude,
and I'm not angry at you," She answered.
Jackson was out at the SUV waiting on
them. He kissed Amy as if she would be gone forever, and helped her in the car.
"I love you Amy."
"I love you Jackson," She
returned.
"I'll keep in touch. You
remember the spots that get reception, don’t you?"
“I do, don’t worry.” They pulled away
and headed south.
***
Lauren followed behind Amy and the
children, watching for anyone else who might be watching them. It looked clear
to her so she settled back for a boring middle-of-the-night three-hour trip.
Her phone rang and she answered it on
the first ring. "Hello?"
"Hey, this is Max. You remember
me, don't you?"
"Yes, what do you want?"
"Why didn't you kill those
brats?" He asked without preamble.
"It isn't as easy as you think.
Those people are all over them, all the time. The president probably doesn't
have that much security, it isn't my fault."
"It is your fault. I told you
to kill them and you didn't. You know what’ll happen if you don't comply with
my wishes." His voice rang in her ear for several minutes afterward.
"Goodbye, Max. This conversation
is pointless," She said quietly, and then pushed the end button on her
phone. It immediately rang again, and again, and again. He was angry. Oh well, this would all be over soon...
***
Jackson went to the living room where
all the men had gathered. They still hadn't watched the video from the neighbor
and they needed to get through it to see if they could tell who it was.
He walked over, picked up the remote
and said, "Let's pray we can tell who this is." He pushed the button
and watched as the woman walked up to the car, opened the back door and fired
on an amazed-looking Justy. She took a step toward the front and methodically
shot the two officers in the front seat before they had a chance to react. She
turned and pulled off her wig first, and then her gloves. She shook her brown,
pixie-style hair and began to walk back the way she'd come. Jude Johnson gasped
in horror. "Oh no Jackson, I've made a terrible mistake. That's Lauren."
Jackson looked at it closer, he
couldn't tell. "How can you tell so quickly?"
"She's my partner Jack. Even if
I didn't recognize her face in that grainy video, I'd recognize that sashay
from a hundred miles away. We have to go after them, man."
"Do you mean to tell me we just
sent my wife and children away for safety's sake, with the killer?" Jackson asked incredulously.
"Man, your choice in women
leaves a lot to be desired," Scott said.
"This isn't a time to play
around Scott. That lunatic has my wife." He punched in her number. It rang
and rang, but she didn't answer.
"No worries, dude. I took the
liberty of tracking both cars." He held up two tracking devices. He turned
them around to show them the little red lights were beeping, one right behind
the other. "She hasn't done anything yet."
"What made you decide to do
that?" Jackson asked. He dialed Amy's number again, but there still wasn’t
an answer.
"My sister is a sensible woman,
Jack. After all, she married you," Scott said with a smile. "She made
it a point to tell everybody she didn't like Jude's partner. She even went so
far as to tell you she gave her the creeps, but no one wanted to listen to her.
I decided I better track them just in case. It’s totally unlike Amy to feel
that way about anybody because she gets along with pretty much everyone. She
was even ready to be friends with Justy, remember?"
Jackson leapt across the floor and
tackled Scott so hard he almost toppled over. He hugged him ferociously and
said, "Thank you Scott. You're a good brother to Amy. I can't say the same
about her husband." He let the big man go. “She tried to tell me, but I thought
she was just being paranoid, and all along she was right.” He called her yet
again, but there still wasn't an answer.
"Man, don't be so hard on
yourself. We've all been emotionally strung-out trying to figure this out,"
Jude said.
Amos came back into the room from
outside in a big rush. He'd received a phone call and had stepped out to take
it. "I just got a call that the two policemen in the cruiser were in on
the abduction of Justy Sanders. They knew what Lauren planned to do to Justy,
but she wasn't supposed to kill them.
They traced a whole bunch of calls from Lauren’s phone to Justy's, and to the
two policemen that were killed. She even left a message on Officer Overstreet's
phone telling him the pay had gone up ten-thousand if they could get Justy in their car."
"Did anyone else's number come
up?" Jackson asked.
"Yes, there was some guy named Max
Sanders on her records. There were over a thousand calls to him in the last six
months, and just about as many from him to Lauren's phone," Amos said
quietly. "That's a sad thing. I hate it when cops go the wrong way."
"I don't think she just got lost
in direction, Amos. I believe she started out bad. She had me totally fooled,
just like Justy. Why does she hate
me?" He threw his hands up in the air.
"It's hard telling Jude. When it
comes to a psychopath, who knows what they think? We know they don't feel
anything, at least emotionally, but we don't know what they think, or why they
think it," Otis said.
"Max Sanders is Justy's cousin.
Or at least that's what they told me at the hospital that day. He seemed really
nice and boyish, you know, immature?" Jude said.
"This whole thing is getting
weirder by the minute. We need to get on the road and catch up to Lauren before
she tries something on Amy and the kids," Jackson said. He didn't wait for
a reply but headed to the door. Chester stood there holding his coat out for
him. "You need to get some rest Uncle Chester. It's been a long day."
"No longer than yours, my lord,"
Chester returned as he walked back to the kitchen.
"We’ll go in the SUV,” Jackson said.
"That sounds good to us, boss,"
Scott said in a funny accent. He was awfully light-hearted for someone whose
sister was in the hands of a serial killer.
"Why are you in such a good
mood?” Amos asked.
"I don't know, dude. I just
prayed to God and asked Him to save my sister, and I have this over-powering urge
to believe He’ll do it. I love God, ya know? He's been so good to me."
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