The Encounter (5 page)

It felt like everything was happening in slow motion and I could literally hear my own heartbeat and the clock on the wall ticking at the same time.

The door swung open and they pushed Mike into the foyer. “Hey, what’s the big… what the hell is going on here?” He had stumbled in and dropped the bag of groceries on the floor at my feet. There was a smashing of glass and there went the sauce for the lasagna.

They were pointing their guns at the two of us and that was when I noticed that Chance had disappeared.

* * *

FIVE

* * *

I certainly didn’t think of my mystery man as a coward, but the undeniable fact of the matter was that he wasn’t there. Having no idea where he had gone, I was now presented with another problem in the form of two men that didn’t look at all happy to be here.

“Just take whatever you want and just… AHHHHH.” The man that I had seen at the hospital must’ve been the leader, because he was the one that slapped Mike across the face with the butt of his gun.

“I really don’t have time for this and as long as you are honest with me, then I see no reason why you both can’t live. However, if either one of you decides to lie, I will unfortunately have to make an example out of one of you to make the other one talk.” They were both impeccably dressed in dark suits and sunglasses, but you could see the hardness in their eyes, not unlike what I saw in Chance’s when he first appeared in front of my car.

“I don’t know what you want and, Cecily, and I don’t know anything.” There was a trickle of blood on the corner of his mouth and the other guy, who didn’t look very comfortable with the situation, began to search the house. His gun was drawn and he was clearing each room, until I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was heading upstairs.

“If everything goes according to plan, my friend and I will be out of here in a few minutes, so why don’t you just tell us what we want to know. We are looking for this man and we have reason to believe that he was in this area and possibly in your house.” He showed us a grainy photo of Chance that he held in front of our faces. “One of your neighbors was kind enough to inform us that she had heard noises like screams coming from inside this house.” That meant Diana had loose lips and she was always trying to make trouble.

“Cecily and I have just recently gotten home and we haven’t seen anything.”

Mike was still sitting on the floor touching his chin and grimacing with the slight pain that was now radiating from his wound. This guy with the crew cut blond hair came over and stuck a gun in my face not more than a couple of inches from my mouth. “I think I believe him, but I have yet to hear from you.” I could literally smell the metal of the gun and he moved forward to press it up against my lips, so that I was kissing it. “I think I would like to hear from the young lady and, believe me, I will know if you are lying to me. That is one thing that I will not condone and if you lie to me, then there’s going to be major trouble. You should be aware that this man is very dangerous and it would be in your best interest to cooperate.”

I remembered an old trick that I had seen in movies and television and I casually put my hand in my pocket and pinched myself as hard as I could. “I got a phone call from my neighbor saying that there was some kind of a commotion in my house, but when I got here nothing seemed to be out of place. I can’t say for sure that anybody was in my house, but I can say that I don’t think they are here anymore.” He was looking at me intently, most likely trying to read my body language and eye movements and then he smiled.

“I believe you, but I think that I will take the precaution of having the place searched nonetheless. He could still be here and you could not even know it. Nevertheless, we will find him, as he is wanted for questioning in two murders.” That last word caught me by surprise and even though I knew that he was probably capable of such an act, didn’t mean that I thought that he actually did it.

“You’ve heard what she said and there was no need to get physical. If we knew anything, we would tell you, because we don’t have anything to gain by doing otherwise. I’m a lawyer and so far you haven’t done anything that you can’t take back. You haven’t killed anybody and I certainly am not going to press charges for what you did to me. We would just appreciate that you finish what you are doing and then get the hell out of our house.” Mike was showing that he was not going to take things lying down and this was certainly a side of him that I had not seen. He was all about turning the other cheek and I could respect the fact that he would want to settle things with words instead of actions.

“Look, there’s no need to get defensive and I had to be sure that you were telling me the truth. It’s been my own personal experience that people tend to open their mouths when they feel that their lives are in jeopardy. Don’t take it personally; this is just business and something that we have to do in order to make sure that this man doesn’t escape.” A couple of minutes later, the other guy came back with his head shaking back and forth.

“I checked this place from head to toe and there’s no sign of anything. I did find that there seemed to be somebody in the basement at one time, but either he left when we arrived or earlier. I can’t imagine him getting too far, because it appears that he has been injured. There are bloody bandages downstairs and a couple of bloody prints in the bathroom, where he supposedly took a shower and shaved. I found a damp towel in the bathroom and a window open down the hall with those same bloody prints on the windowsill. I would say that we just missed him by a few minutes.”

The guy with a blond crew cut turned and said, “We are going to leave and it would be a good idea that you keep this to yourselves. If I get wind that you called the cops, I will be back and next time I won’t be so friendly.” He took a moment to run the barrel of the silencer around my lips, sticking it in an inch and then pulling it back out with this evil sneer that made my entire body tremble with fear.

The man with him mouthed, ‘I’m sorry’ behind his partner’s back, as he followed him out and back to the black sedan sitting at the curb still idling. They climbed in, but the blond crew cut made one final inspection of the house with his eyes from the outside. I think that he was looking for any movement upstairs and if he had seen a curtain displaced or a pair of eyes looking back at him, he would’ve come back in and then did something more terrible than just hitting Mike in the face.

Going over to the window, I peered through the frosted glass to see that they were driving away, but they were doing so slowly and no doubt still looking for a wounded man on the run. “I don’t know what gives people the right to do these things and I’m going to call their supervisor and have their badges.” Mike was angry and wanted to lash out by calling the police, which was the last thing we should do, considering that they had just said that they would know. “I am part of the legal system and for them to deny us our rights and treat us like that is unconstitutional.”

I could see that he was reaching for the phone and I put my hand on his hand before he could lift it to his ear. “Mike, I think that we should calm down and think about this before we do something foolish. There was no license plate on that car, they didn’t show us any badges and we only assume that they were some kind of law enforcement, but what if they weren’t? I can’t say for sure that they will know if we call the police, but are we willing to take that chance? They were quite adamant about us keeping our mouths shut and I would rather put this behind us and forget it even happened.”

I was behind him and he could hear me whispering into his ear, but I could see that he was still angry to the point that he wanted justice for what had happened here. He finally relented, releasing his grip on the receiver of the telephone and then turning to take me into his arms. “I wanted to do more, but I think they would’ve killed me. I don’t think it’s a good idea that we leave this alone, but I can see how much this has affected you. I still think it’s a bad idea and we can’t allow people like that to get away with an abuse of power. If you are right and these people are not law enforcement, then whoever they are after is in terrible trouble.” I was thinking the same thing and my mind began to conjure various images of Chance bleeding to death in an alley or in some kind of ditch.

“We just can’t take the chance and why should we stick out our necks? I don’t want anything to happen to you, Mike, and as long as they keep their word, we should be perfectly fine. They obviously have something more important to deal with, because if they didn’t, they would’ve stayed here and grilled us for a little bit longer. I think that they thought that they could catch up to him and it wasn’t like he had a whole lot of time to get away.”

He opened up his phone and found nothing but dead air and reached for the landline to see that it was nothing but a dial tone. “Cecily, have you noticed that the phones are dead? With those two men and the phones being dead, I just don’t believe in coincidences and maybe we should get out of here and go to a hotel for the next couple of days.” Had it not been for the possibility that Chance was still in the house somewhere, I might have taken him up on his offer.

Thinking quickly, I tried to mask my fear and stand defiantly in front of the danger that had presented itself. “I don’t think that we should give them that kind of satisfaction and I’m sure that once they realize that he is no longer in the area that they will make sure that the phone is back in working order. It’s not like we have anything pressing and I assume that since you are home early that the jury has already reached its decision. Being out of touch with the outside world is not a bad thing and maybe we can just be with each other and not worry about technology getting in the way.”

“The jury deliberated for less than 3 hours before they came to a unanimous decision. Joseph Quinton has been found guilty of multiple murders, even though he professes his innocence, which between you and me, I’m not sure if he’s telling the truth or not. It doesn’t matter, because the legal system has decided that he’s guilty and tomorrow morning he’ll be sent up to the state facility to spend the rest of his life behind bars with no possibility of parole.”

“At least it’s over, Mike, and you can put it behind you.”

“It has been a very taxing few weeks, but making sure that he stays behind bars will make my career for me. I’ve already been asked to run for District Attorney of Chicago. Who knows what that could mean in the future and it’s a possibility that I could be running for politics before I know it.” That had always been his dream, or maybe it was his parents' dream for him and he has just too caught up in it to realize that it wasn’t his dream to begin with. I’ve often thought that he was being pulled like a puppet on a string by his father, but I didn’t have the heart to voice my opinion without sounding like I didn’t support my man.

“So, I think it’s time for you to relax and what better way than to become unplugged?”

He smiled, while at the same time putting his hand around my waist and pulling me to him for a kiss. I couldn’t help it, but my mind was still thinking about Chance and for that one moment I envisioned that I was kissing him instead. The passion was undeniable and the feel of his tongue exploring my mouth was igniting a blaze between my legs that felt like nothing could put it out. “Wow, that was amazing and you haven’t kissed me like that in I don’t know how long. Maybe you’re right and having this time to be alone isn’t such a bad idea after all. I can still make the lasagna and then we can have a candlelight dinner, before adjourning to the bedroom for a night of lovemaking that you will never forget.”

For some reason I felt like I was cheating on him, even though I hadn’t done anything to deserve that moniker. “I guess I got carried away and I’m just relieved that they have left the house. We shouldn’t have to take something like that and if I thought it would do any good, I would make the phone call to the police myself.” I was using reverse psychology, which I knew he was a sucker for.

“I know you’re right and the best thing to do is put this behind us. It just didn’t feel good to feel helpless like that.” My hand was lingering in his and our fingers were now entwined in a loving embrace. I could feel the heat of his skin touching mine and it made me feel safe to be near him. The kiss was just a gentle reminder that we had these deep and lasting feelings for each other that wasn’t about to go away because of some long hours at the office.

“They were dangerous and we are lucky that they just didn’t kill us on the way out. I know that that cut underneath your lip can’t feel very good, but it’s a lot better than a bullet to the head. You really shouldn’t have done that and they could’ve just shot you on principle alone. I think that we should get that looked after before it gets any worse and I’m sure that we have some kind of antibiotics in the cabinet upstairs.” I wasn’t about to take no for an answer, because he had literally put his life on the line for me and didn’t ask anything in return.

Dragging him up the stairs, I made sure to keep my eye out for any sign of Chance, but so far he had become invisible. It was probably a good thing, because I doubt that those men were going to just question him. Their intention was very clear and if they did find him there was no doubt in my mind that they would have ended his life.

“You really don’t have to fuss over me and it doesn’t hurt all that much.” He was putting on a brave face, but most men had the tendency to keep their feelings bottled up. It didn’t matter what it was, showing weakness was not an option and his masculinity was on the line. “I have to admit that your concern is attractive and tonight is dedicated to you and me being in the same place at the same time. I know that has been very rare, but I promise that next month, I’m going to take a vacation someplace hot with you. I’ve already been doing my research and I’m thinking maybe Cuba or possibly even Jamaica.” He knew that I had a special interest in Jamaica and I actually went down there for a week to help out with those that were suffering in Haiti. He wanted to go with me, but he had a huge case pending on waste dumping at a playground to take care of.