Author: K.L. Barnes
Category: Suspense
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/kl-barnes/page,9,22563-pay-attention.html
“Okay, do you know if she left the parking lot alone or was she with someone? Did you happen to see her drive away?” Worth continued his interrogation.
“Well yeah, I guess. I came in to talk to my dad for a minute and when I went back out she was getting in a white truck with some guy and then they drove away. And that’s pretty much it.” Jason finished.
“Detective,” interjected Ben. “Is this woman missing? We’d like to help if we can.”
“It seems Ms. Tidewell and her two daughters were last seen Monday night when she was talking to a desk clerk about a dinner reservation. Or when she talked with you I guess now” explained Worth.
“Ms. Tidewell drives a white Nissan which we haven’t found in the parking lot, or anywhere else for that matter. If she got in a truck, I have to wonder if she came back later for her car.”
“What kind of Nissan?” Jason asked, completely involved in the conversation at this point.
“A 1995 240SX Coupe.” Worth handed Jason another photo of the mother and two girls standing in a driveway next to a white sports car.
“I saw the car, sweet ride,” Jason said. “That’s why we noticed it, me and Mark I mean.”
“But she wasn’t driving it,” he hurried to clarify. “A guy about my age was driving it and we were saying it must be really cool to drive around in a car like that.” Jason answered in a tone laced with admiration.
“Are you sure about this, Jason?” Worth’s expression held more than a trace of skepticism.
“Well, it was pretty dark and I’m not positive, but I‘m pretty sure, yeah,” he came back defiantly.
“It sounds like she probably just went off with a boyfriend or something.” Worth hypothesized but there was tension in his voice and he didn’t sound convinced.
Detective Worth took their personal information and asked about their plans for staying in town. Then he thanked them for their help and moved off to talk with the uniformed officers who were still working the lobby.
Ben almost stopped him, but what could he say? “Oh, by the way, I’ve dreamed about this woman and a cabin in the woods, maybe you should check it out?” Not likely. Worth would think he was some kind of crack pot and arrest him for interfering in an investigation or something.
“What say we rent a four wheel drive and go back up on the Mesa today?” Ben said absently before he’d even had a chance to think about what he was saying. “We can get some poles and check out the great fishing I keep hearing about.”
“Awesome!” Jason settled the matter, a renewed enthusiasm for the day shining in his eyes.
Detective Worth tried to put all of the pieces together and figure out how he could have ended up with not one, but four missing people in the matter of a few days. He had just spent the last hour with Maeve Tidwell’s family. Aside from being extremely emotional, and demanding the usual answers that he had no way of providing, they were good people and he was filled with regret at the thought that they might never see Maeve and her girls again. He was a little worried that her father, stepfather really, might take matters into his own hands. He was a tough, intense sort of man who seemed to live by his own code. Worth wouldn’t blame him if he started on some vigilante quest to find his girls, but it was his job to make sure everyone acted within the law.
It was time to start working on connections between Makula and Tidewell, but there was more than fifteen years difference in their ages and so far they appeared to run in completely different social circles. He would request a subpoena of the doctor’s patient records and see if he could find anything significant there, and in the mean time he had put out an APB on the white Nissan.
These people hadn’t fallen off the face of the earth. They had to be somewhere, and he had every intention of finding them before his missing persons cases turned into murder investigations.
*****
He came in the early hours of the morning and led Maeve to a set of stairs rising to a small enclosed loft. Joseph opened the door and ushered her in, then turned silently and closed the door behind him. Maeve jumped as she heard the lock slide into place. The room was filled with forty-eight candles; the number she had asked him for during their talk the day before. She had read somewhere in numerology that forty-eight was significant in that the two numbers totaled twelve which was divisible by three, and that somehow three represented nine which was a powerful number in the universe. At least she had thought it sounded good.
A circle of bamboo sticks was arranged on the floor with a star painted in the center. She had assured him that these items would be necessary for the ritual she needed to perform if she were to call up the powers of the universe and endow the doctor with the power to heal.
What the hell, she thought, it definitely couldn’t hurt.
A dark shape rose from the corner and walked hesitantly into the candlelight where Maeve could see him. Dr. Makula looked tired and nervous. His face was deathly pale but otherwise he seemed to be holding up okay.
“Well,” he said. “Here we are. Now what?” He was obviously as baffled by the situation as she was and she was dumbfounded as hell.
Maeve had given hours of thought to their predicament during the night and had come to some conclusions, right or wrong, that might lead them to a solution.
She had talked with the girls for a long time and told them what she thought was going on. She very firmly told Torei that whatever was happening with her, she didn’t want her touching Faye again. Torei had stubbornly insisted that she couldn’t just watch Faye get worse, and besides, it wasn’t hurting her, it just made her feel tired. Maeve was torn by the depth of compassion in her child. She was proud and afraid in equal parts and still didn’t know what to do.
“Doctor Makula, are you alright?” Maeve was terribly concerned about him, not knowing if he had even been given food or water. He was obviously exhausted and his clothing was filthy. He wasn’t wearing any shoes and his feet looked as bad as the rest of him.
“I’m as good as can be expected under the circumstances.” His reply was curt and didn’t encourage any further questioning.
Let’s start at the beginning,” she suggested. “What exactly is wrong with Joseph Jr. and Faye? I’m assuming you’ve been treating them for something specific.”
Glenn stood in thought, considering what he might say and still maintain his clients’ confidentiality. After a while he decided that, under the circumstances, he would damn well share any information he wanted so long as it kept him alive.
“I started seeing them about six months ago. They had been receiving the most up to date treatment for a rare blood disease,” Makula assured her and nodded as he explained, “that is only common in cases of familial inter-marriage.”
“Are you saying that those children’s parents were closely related?” Maeve was astonished at the idea of brothers and sisters or even cousins having children together. She would have thought that sort of thing was a thing of the past.
“That would be like animals inbreeding.” She hadn’t meant to speak out loud but the thought was distasteful to her and she considered it highly irresponsible for anyone not to factor in the possible dangers to their children.
“That’s rather a vulgar term, but yes, essentially families in certain remote parts of the country marry cousins or sometimes even sisters and brothers. The children often are born with some illness or abnormality.”
“So what happened?” she pried.
“I’m not exactly sure,” he shrugged and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “They moved out of town a few weeks ago and then one day Joseph showed up for an appointment without the children. He has always made me feel uneasy but this day he became agitated and accusatory, saying that if I truly were a healer, as I’d proclaimed, then his children would be healed and they wouldn’t need treatment any longer.
He doesn’t seem to understand that at this point in time, there is no cure for their illness, but their symptoms can be controlled th
rough diet and supplements as well as regular injections of healthy red blood cells.”
“So he withdrew them from treatment, and the kid’s health regressed.” Maeve finished for him.
“That’s it,” said the small thin man whose skin still showed the fading tell tale signs of adolescent acne. Deep lines grooved his cheeks on either side of the goatee that was showing definite signs of gray and his eyes were magnified to an owlish gaze by his round glasses. He had obviously been wearing the same clothes for some time, dirt and sweat stains showing among the wrinkles in the khaki fabric of his slacks, and like Maeve, his feet were bare. Joseph had taken their shoes presumably as a deterrent to them running away.
“For some strange reason, Joseph wants us to think he believes that I have the power to somehow manifest the ability in you to heal. Why he thinks this is beyond me, but he’s holding my two daughters as insurance against our joint cooperation.” Maeve told him all of this as calmly as possible.
“So the candles, the bamboo, the drawings on the floor; they’re your shrine or whatever it is you’ll use to conjure up this ability for me.” It was a statement, not a question and was laced with disbelief.
“Look, I didn’t know what else to do, so I let him think I believed what he was telling me and I gave him a scenario I thought he would believe in order to buy some time. We have to appear to be working together on this until we can find a way out of here.”
“And exactly how do you propose to do that?” Makula demanded she give him an answer that she didn’t yet have. He was literally shaking with indignation at the injustices he’d suffered.
“Have you seen the rifle he keeps close at hand, not to mention the guns the boys carry around and the fact that our hands are tied and our feet shackled like animals?” He carried on. “I don’t know about your accommodations, but mine don’t even offer so much as a glimmer of light, let alone an open doorway to freedom!”
Maeve had remained silent, letting the doctor rid himself of at least some small measure of pent up frustration. She wasn’t sure she cared for this odd little man at all. His antagonism was nearly overpowering in the confined space.
“Are you a healer?” Maeve surprised them both with the question.
“A healer?” His tone was dripping with sarcasm. “I’ll have you know I completed many years of medical school as well as advanced training, have been published in several distinguished medical journals and have dedicated myself to my profession for over twenty years!”
“Yes, but are you a healer, Dr. Makula? Do you believe you have what it takes?” Maeve challenged without having any clue where the thought had come from.
Glenn stood and stared at her in disbelief, his pompous attitude not diminished in the least. He dropped his head, shaking it from side to side, then looked up and issued an exaggerated sigh.
He lowered himself to the floor then, putting his hands down to ease his body into a sitting position, the outline of his bony knees showing through the fabric of his slacks.
His legs probably weren’t as big around as her arm and she almost wasn’t able to stifle the giggle that bubbled up on her from out of nowhere.
Where did that come from? She thought and then mumbled, “Well, at least I still have a little of my sense of humor left.”
Maeve sat down cross legged in the center of the bamboo circle, and with candles flickering all around her, she began to say a silent prayer.
*****
Chapter 15
Claire woke with the odd feeling that she was being watched. She slowly opened her eyes and scanned the room, her gaze landing on the rocking chair in the corner where Faye was seated with her feet tucked under her.
“Good morning.” Claire almost didn’t hear Faye’s shy greeting and she was beginning to think that the girl couldn’t speak above a whisper. Suspicion registered in Claire’s mind and she sat up in front of Torei, ready to protect her sister from whatever threatened her.
“What are you doing here?” There was a sharp edge to her voice. Somewhere along the line her friendly outgoing demeanor had disappeared and in its place reared a forbidding presence she hadn’t been aware she possessed.
“I just wanted to check on Torei and see if she’s alright.” Faye seemed truly concerned and Claire softened slightly toward the girl.
“I’m feeling fine.” Torei said from behind Claire. “How are you this morning?” She asked, searching Faye’s face for any sign of how she might be feeling.
“It’s weird,” Faye said, “but I think I feel better this morning, stronger if you know what I mean.”
The girls had talked at some length the evening before and Faye had explained the symptoms of her disease. The constant weakness and exhaustion, the pain in her eyes and inability to do things that other kids her age took for granted.
Torei had seemed to understand, but Claire still didn’t trust this girl. After all, she had helped her father bring them here and she wasn’t about to forgive her for that just yet.
“What I don’t understand is why,” Faye mused. “What did you do that would make me better? I hope it didn’t hurt you when you touched me. I mean, it never hurt anyone before, but nobody else is like you.” She spoke in a rush to Torei with a trace of wonderment in her voice.
“It didn’t hurt me at all.” Torei assured her, flipping over on her stomach and swinging her feet back and forth. “It was kind of like – I could feel what you feel, I think, and then it was moving up my arm and into my body. Then I just thought about stopping it and it stopped part way up my arm and then I was really tired. And that’s all.” Torei finished with a shrug, not seeming all that surprised by the whole thing.
“Well, I don’t think you should do it anymore,” Claire stated adamantly. “Mom would be really upset if she thought Faye was doing something to hurt you.”
“But she’s not doing anything to me, okay?” Torei tried a nudge and a smile but Claire just crossed her arms and turned away.
“Besides, Mom would never be pissed at me for helping somebody. She would help too if she could you know.”
“Don’t say pissed. You know Mom hates that word!” Claire was just arguing for the sake of arguing now. They both used words that their mother didn’t like now and then.
Torei ignored her as she got up from the bed and walked over to Faye, then lowered herself to sit on her knees beside the chair.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” she said. “But it feels like something that maybe I’m supposed to do for you. If you want we’ll do it again now and see what happens.”
Claire felt her face go red and her stomach turn inside out at the thought of her sister doing something that could hurt her, but she didn’t know what she could do to stop her.
“Please, Faye,” she begged with tears starting in her eyes. “Don’t let her. What if she gets sick too?”
“I don’t know.” Faye looked from one sister to the other, torn by indecision. She had come to care about them a great deal in the short time they had been there and she was agonizing over the part she played in bringing them here. On the one hand, if she could regain some of her strength, she would have a better chance of helping them escape. On the other, she might be hurting Torei without realizing it and that would be just as bad as them being locked up down here.
“We’ll just try it this one time,” Torei cajoled. “And if it doesn’t work, or if I start feeling bad, we can stop.” She looked at Claire, willing her to understand.
“If I can do this for Faye maybe I can do it for Joseph too, and then we could all go home.” She tried to appeal to the logic of what she proposed, but the truth was, she really wanted to see if she could do it again.
“He likes to be called Joe,” Faye said with obvious affection. “He’s not like Carl and my dad, he’s gentle and smart and I think he has a crush on you,” Faye said to Torei with a teasing smile that turned in to a full grin when she saw Torei’s neck flush pink at the comment.
&nb
sp; Claire sat thinking in silence for a while, then she seemed to reach a conclusion.
“Okay, but I’m not going to let you hurt her, Faye. No way. I’ll be right there holding on to Torei and if it seems like she’s not doing okay, I’ll make her stop.”
They all looked around at each other then and slowly moved into a circle, each holding on to the other.
*****
Maeve didn’t pray often but she figured it couldn’t hurt under the circumstances, so she closed her eyes and begged the Lord up above for deliverance from this hell and finished with a hearty “Amen”. She opened her eyes to find Makula staring at her with look of disdain for her behavior.
“Have you got a better idea?” She snapped and stood up looking around the room.
“Why don’t you just use your voodoo powers to conjure up a swat team?” Makula sneered at her and wiggled his fingers in the air while he rolled his eyes.
“That’s not a bad idea.” She said it more to herself than to him and started pacing the room with a distracted air.
“What are you going on about?” He demanded. “You don’t seem to be taking our situation seriously here. We’ll be very lucky if Binyon doesn’t come in here and kill us both!”
“Are you always this negative?” She couldn’t figure out how such an educated man, a physician no less, could possibly have such a fatalistic attitude. “If you can’t say anything positive then just be quiet for a minute and let me think.”
Makula was shocked into silence for a few long seconds before he started in again. She proceeded to ignore his blustery stammering as she circled the room.
Recalling the man who had occupied her dreams over the past couple of days, Maeve searched her thoughts for any hint of meaning in the vision.
“Dr. Makula,” she started with a hint of excitement creeping into her voice. “In all your years of medical training did you study anything about the power of the mind in overcoming illness?”
Makula looked at her as if she had two heads. After a few moments he conceded that he had in fact seen and read about cases of patients who were miraculously healed without any medical explanation.
“Would you mind explaining to me what this has to do with our situation?” He demanded, raising his arms and then dropping them to his sides in a defeated gesture.