Page 30 of No Escape

Valerie pulled him closer, her voice now quivering with rage. “Why did you just attack me? Why? Who are you?”

Valerie’s grip on the man’s shoulder tightened as she growled, “What were you doing in that house?”

He stammered, “I was… I was squattin’. Thought you were here to evict me.”

Valerie stepped back and studied him, her eyes narrowed. His clothes were worn and tattered, his face gaunt and pale. Clearly he had been living in these hard times for some time now.

Tentatively, she released him and said, “Alright. Just… Just go…”

The man nodded, his eyes briefly meeting Valerie’s before he scrambled to his feet. Without another word he turned and ran off, disappearing around a corner.

Suzie appeared at the side of the embankment, her cheeks red from running.

She said, “I’m sorry I couldn’t help, Val. I… I tried.”

Valerie smiled at Suzie’s apologetic expression and said, “It’s alright. You did your best… He just wasn’t John Murphy. He was a squatter.”

“Do you think it was him that broke the lock on the door?” she asked.

Valerie nodded. “Yes.”

Suzie sighed, looking mournfully at the sky above. The clouds were gathering. “Where do we go from here?”

Valerie sighed and said in a weary voice, “The police will still be looking for us. No doubt someone saw me chasing that man. We need to lay low until I figure out what we’re doing next.”

She wished she could be more positive, but right now she was running on empty.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Will leaned against the hood of the car in the morning sun, tiredness in his bones, watching as Charlie paced back and forth in the open field, holding his phone up in the air like a divining rod.

“You know,” Will called out, “we did have a lightning storm last night, you might not want to hold your arm up so high in a field.”

Charlie shot him a glare. “This damned thing.”

Will pushed himself off the hood and walked over to Charlie, hands in his pockets. “Perhaps it’s something on Jackson’s end?”

Charlie rolled his eyes. “No, I’ve got it. It’s fine, this area’s signal is just patchy.” He continued waving the phone around, frustration evident on his face.

Will smiled, unable to resist poking fun at his friend. It was good to feel a little brevity, given the dire situation. “You wave your arms like that any longer and a plane is liable to land here.”

Charlie sighed, finally lowering his phone. “We’ll need to drive further along the road, see if we can get better reception.”

He reached the car and Will heard a buzzing sound.

“Maybe we caught a break,” Charlie said. “It’s Jackson.”

“Don’t move, you might lose the signal.”

Charlie swiped the screen on his phone and tapped the call button. “Jackson, it’s Charlie and Will. Can you hear us?”

Jackson’s face appeared on the screen, looking disheveled and worried, which was very unlike him. Will could see that his suspension must have been taking its toll. He had been first removed as head of the Criminal Psychopathy Unit, then put on leave, and all because Director Heinlein had some unknown vendetta against him. Heinlein wanted to ruin Jackson, investigating every inch of his leadership hoping to dig up dirt, but Will still didn’t know why, and Jackson refused to explain it.

“Yes, I can hear you. We’re not supposed to have any contact while we wait on the investigation into our unit. I assume it’s a dire situation then… What’s going on?”

“We need your help, Jackson,” Will said, moving closer to the phone. “Valerie is in trouble. John Murphy has escaped from custody and Valerie is out there trying to stop him, but the press is reporting that she’s a possible accomplice. She’s obviously refused to contact us because it would put us in a tricky situation.”

“That’s left us trying to anticipate where she might go,” Charlie said. “We know that John Murphy is killing his family members again. Valerie will have the same thought. We’re not sure where she might be headed next, but it’s likely to be where she thinks John Murphy will go.”

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