Breaking Free

"Stop. Stop," Joe yells, springing out of his bed. He scans his surroundings to find he's standing in the middle of his small bedroom. It was only a dream, he thinks, relieved. He'd dreamt Janet was chained to a dirty concrete floor. A couple of thugs were taking turns torturing her. I've got to find her before they do. He gets a whiff of his BO. "After I take a shower."

Joe is heading across the room when his cell rings. Darting back, Joe scoops up his phone. "Hello," he answers, hoping for the best but bracing for the worst. "Did you say two murders?" The captain's voice echoes across the line. "Within the last half hour, sir?" Joe asks, thinking that couldn't possibly be right. Murder seldom happens in his sleepy little town. "Rachel and I will be there in ten." Joe dials the detective's number. Putting it on speaker, he lays his cell aside.

"Hello?" A soft, sleepy voice replies.

Joe imagines the detective's round freckled face in his mind. I bet she looks adorable with her tussled hair and soft, sleepy eyes. Joe's had a crush on her for years but never acted on it. He often tells himself he's too old or that she only sees him as a friend.

"Hello?"

Friends are all we'll ever be, he sighs, pushing the thought from his mind. "Rachel, it's Joe. The captain wants us at the station ASAP." Scooping his jeans off the floor, Joe realizes how messy his apartment has become. How did that happen? He thinks, surveying the disaster he calls home. I need a maid. He shakes his head and thinks, I don't know if anyone will be willing to touch this mess.

"Why does he want us to come in so early?" Rachel groggily asks, throwing her feet over the bed.

"He said there have been two murders within the last half hour. So he's calling in the troops." Joe slips into his pants and then snatches up a shirt. Gagging from the stench, Joe tosses it aside.

"Two?" She asks.

"You heard right. So get dressed. I'll pick you up in five, and Rachel?"

"Yeah."

"Bring some of your liquid speed."

"Will do, Sergeant." She laughs. She gave Joe coffee with shots of Expresso a few weeks back. It wired him so much that he called it her liquid speed.

Splashing on a handful of cologne, Joe heads out the door.

Joe pulls up and finds Rachel sipping on a steamy mug on her apartment steps. "Here's that coffee you ordered." She says, handing him a cup. Rachel totaled her car a few weeks back. A suspect ran her off the road. She's saving for a new one but on a cop pension that may take a while.

"I'm going to need all of this I can get."

"Good thing I brought more." Rachel pulls a thermos from her bag.

"That'll keep me wired for months."

Rachel laughs again. "You said there are two murders?" she asks, turning to face him.

"That's what the captain said. To think that I wasted all our resources on roadblocks when we should've been searching the town."

"You only did what you thought was right. Even the captain agreed with your call."

"I should've known Janet wouldn't take off like that, leave her kid behind. Now two people are dead because l didn't listen to my gut."

"Who's to say we'd found her if we did search the town? Besides, you don't know Janet is responsible for these deaths. You're the one who keeps saying she didn't kill her hubby, Right? So if you're right, why would she kill them?"

Slamming on the brakes, Joe turns to her and says, "Stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Stop trying to comfort me."

"I'm not, Joe. I'm just stating what I see. Only the facts, ma'am," she adds, then giggles. Joe and Jerry are always reciting movie quotes, so it's nice to be able to get one in for a change. Show him she can play their game.

"The fact is, I let a killer escape, and two innocent victims paid for my mistake."

Rachel and Joe enter the station to find the team gathering in the main squad room.

The captain turns towards his weary detectives, an apologetic look on his face. "I hate to wake you, but there have been two murders. One is at the Barry residence and the other at Wild Bills."

Shaking his head, Joe says, "I knew he'd go off on her one day. I just knew it."

Is Steven detained yet, captain?" Rachel asks.

"That's where things get tricky." He hands them the crime scene photos, waits until they thumb through them, and then says, "We have two crime scenes, the house and the barn. We took DNA from both. One matches Steven, and the other one Beth."

"So you're saying they both died? A possible homicide, suicide scene?"

"Maybe, Joe. We've located Beth but haven't found Steven's yet."

Joe runs his fingers through his hair. "He fled the scene?"

"On foot, of all things. Both cars are in the garage, and tree limbs were blocking off their drive when the first responders arrived. I figure it's probably from the tornado we had a few nights back."

"So, Steven has to be out there, somewhere."

The captain waves his hand across the room. I want the team to start a search ASAP." He turns toward Jerry and adds. "I want you to head over to Wild Bills."

***

Oh my God, I just killed a man. Horrifying images flash through her mind as Janet darts across the parking lot. She first pictures brain matter scattered across the cab and then the big gaping hole in his forehead. The atrocity of it all comes back with such force that it causes her to puke again.

Janet looks back to find the police pulling in. I have to keep going. Wiping her mouth with her hand, she darts into the highway. "Help me. Please, somebody, help me, she cries, waving her arms around."

A driver skids to a stop at the edge of the road. "What the hell are you thinking?" He screams, waving his arms around.

"Please, mister. Please save me," Janet begs, darting toward the truck. "The man tried to rape me. He tried to rape me in his cab." She sobs.

The driver suddenly recalls what his granddaughter went through a few months back. Leann was beaten, raped, and left in a ditch to die. Fortunately, a good samaritan found her before it was too late. "Climb in," he instructs, pointing to the back.

Jumping in, Janet covers herself with hay. Sirens wail all around her as they speed away. Please, God, please get me out of this, she begs, squirming deeper into the dried grass.

The old farm truck stops at a rickety shack on the north side of town. Janet digs her way out and nervously glances around.

Hopping out, the farmer walks to the back. "So now you're not on the verge of becoming a buzzard's next meal. Explain to me what was going on," the driver says, leaning over the cab.

"I was trying to hitch a ride to see my sick mom when this trucker forced me into his cab. He said he'd kill me if I didn't have sex with him. He even held a gun to my head to make sure I complied. I bit his."Blushing, Janet cleared her throat, looked down at his crotch, and added, "You know. He screamed, and I ran. I didn't want to hurt anyone, mister. I didn't, but it was the only way to escape." She pretended to cry.

Putting his arm around her, the farmer pulls her close. "Now, now, child, it'll be alright."

Recalling a cop show on TV, Janet frightenedly pulls away. "I have to see my mamma before she dies. I just have to. I'll never forgive myself if I don't."

"You will. You will. I'll make sure of that."

Janet dries her face. "That's very nice of you."

"It's the least I can do." He points to the house. "Why don't you go in and have a little breakfast while I get ready for our trip? My name is Henry, by the way," he adds, crossing the yard.

"I'm Jackie, ah, Jackie Blackstone."

"Nice to meet you, Jackie," he smiles.