Convictions: Kelly and Stephen (17 page)

But don’t be jealous.  She’s gone now and you and I will have a great time too; especially if you like experimentation.  Just don’t go getting pregnant on me.”

“Untie me first Marv then I will let you do anything you want to me.  I promise that I can be trusted.  Stephen told me that you were evil but I never believed him.”

He was almost drooling as his hand went to work on her shirt buttons.  After he had exposed her breasts she licked her lower lip seductively and whispered “untie my hands, I want to do things to you too.”

“No wonder Stephen moved you in so fast; you are a wild cat.”  He released her hands, his erection now full.  She was so close to vomiting she could taste it.  But she had to keep him distracted, had to convince him that she wanted him.

“Now come closer” she begged and as he bent his head to over her, Kelly’s hands latched onto the lamp on the bedside table.  It was solid.  Before Uncle Marv knew what had hit him it was lights out.  She pushed him to the floor, readjusted her clothes, and went to work on the duct tape.  It came apart quickly once she found the end. 

Kelly glanced down at Marv to make sure he was still out, and headed for the bedroom door.  She flung it open, took a look around and located the outside door.  It wouldn’t open.  He had a dead bolt installed which took a key from either side.  She looked around, on the tables, on the hooks for a key but could see none.  She ran back into the bedroom, knelt on the floor beside his limp body and began to search his pockets, retrieving a key chain from his front pants pocket as he began to stir.  She had to hurry.

Back through the main room to the door, she fumbled with three different keys.  It wasn’t the first or second, her luck, but the third key finally slid into place.  She turned it and swung open the door.  Her eyes did a quick scan to find that the front door exited onto a screened in porch, from which another door led out to the yard. 

As she stepped out onto the porch she heard his voice behind her.  “Kelly, where do you think you are going?”  She turned to find him just out of arms reach behind her.

“You shouldn’t be in such a hurry to leave me.  Where will you go now?  Certainly you don’t think that Stephen’s will take you back?  Even if he does get out of jail, you have betrayed him, you turned him in.  Besides, Amanda was always his one and only love.  He never really got over her.  You were just a distraction for him.  And when he finds out about you and me, well, he won’t even be able to look at you for his disgust.”

“Marv, let me go now.”

“Kelly, you tricked me.  I knew I shouldn’t trust you but you’re so luscious; I couldn’t help myself, I got distracted by your curves.  Come back in and we’ll talk.  Then we can finish what we started.  I promise you that you will enjoy it and that I will make you forget all about Stephen.”

She noticed that in his hands he held the ropes he had used to bind her hands, and that he was slowly inching forward.  There would be no talk, there would only be unspeakable acts of repulsion.  With that she made run for it, flinging open the screen door she took off for the woods, but before she could get three steps in he caught up to her and grabbed a handful of hair.  He was faster than he looked, and stronger. 

Her eyes were wild when she turned on him, kicking and screaming with all her might.  The pain from her head where he held her hair was excruciating but her will to escape was greater than any pain he could inflict on her.  With every ounce she had behind it, she landed a solid kick to his groin, with just enough force to double him over, and causing him to release her hair.  It wasn’t much but it was the head start she needed as she turned and ran into the woods.  Not knowing where she was she had no sense of direction so she let instinct take over.   

As she stumbled through the rough terrain, she was suddenly thankful for the extra hours of sunlight that this time of year provided.  She still had no idea where she was but she kept moving forward for what seemed like hours.  Up ahead she spotted tall pines, much like the ones Stephen had showed her on one of their last Sunday hikes.  It was the day that he had declared his unending love for her, a love she was sure would be long gone by now, words she knew he would surely be regretting. 

She disparately hoped that they were the same pines because that would mean that she was near the boundary of his land.  Although, she wasn’t sure why it would matter; there was little doubt that Stephen would be in jail by now.  And even if he were not, even if he were home, why would he want to save her.  She had betrayed him.  He would have returned to find her gone, saving him the trouble of asking her to leave.  She was certain that rather than help her, if he were to find her he would take her right back to Uncle Marv and she wouldn’t blame him a bit.

Yes, now that she was under their protection, she was certain that these were the same pines.  Without Stephen as a guide though, she had no idea in what direction to go from here.  She hadn’t been paying enough attention to the surrounding landscape the last time she was here.

It was then that she heard the sound of an engine behind her somewhere; it sounded like a four-wheeler and it appeared to be coming in this direction.  Had he guessed correctly in what direction she would go?

              She cleared the pines as the sound of was getting much closer.  If she could get back to the cabin, to her cell phone, she could call for help.

Just where the trail out of the pines started to get steep, she remembered the cave that Stephen had pointed out on their way back to the cabin.  Stephen said that there was probably a bear using this as a den, and in the winter for hibernation, that we needed to steer clear of it.  But at this point she didn’t care; she’d gladly take her chances with being mauled by a bear over what Uncle Marv had planned for her.  She located the cave and ducked into it.

After a moment or two the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.  Feeling as if she wasn’t alone she turned slightly to get a better look at what might be in the back of the cave.  Before she could turn a hand clamped down on her mouth and another around her shoulders.  She screamed but no sound emerged from behind the hand.

Stephen paced the room for what had to have been the one hundredth time.  Knowing that Kelly was in trouble, at the mercy of an evil creature like Marv, and that there was nothing he could do to help her was eating him alive. 

They had returned to the cabin, he and Detective O’Brien, to find that Kelly was gone.  Max was in the cabin barking and carrying on.  As soon as Stephen had opened the door Max had bolted out, ran a few steps and turned back to look a Stephen.  His eyes were imploring Stephen for help and Stephen knew at that moment that Kelly was in trouble.

Whatever pain or anger he had carried at Kelly’s apparent betrayal was lost at that moment.  His blood ran cold.  If Marv were to do anything to hurt Kelly in any way, Stephen would strangle the life out of the old man and enjoy every second while doing it.

Kelly’s Jeep was still in the driveway, locked, and her keys and cell phone were on the table near the front door.  Detective O’Brien agreed that something was not right, and that Kelly might be in trouble.  They all loaded back into the two police cruisers and headed up the road to Marv’s house.

Stephen was the first one out of the car but O’Brien put a hand on his arm to hold him back.  Let the deputies secure the house first.  It was then that Stephen spotted a rope in the driveway.  There were other signs in the gravel also indicating that some kind of struggle had taken place.  Marv’s garage door was open.  Looking inside they found his car and an old blue pickup much like Stephen’s, parked inside.  But the space normally occupied by a four-wheeler was empty.

The deputies came out of the house having found it empty.  They handed Detective O’Brien a roll of duct tape and some ripped off pieces that they had found in the bedroom.  There was no way of knowing how long Marv had kept Kelly there or what he might had done to her but the official theory was that somehow Kelly had gotten away.  Marv was most likely in pursuit on the four-wheeler.  Kelly could be anywhere, lost in the woods.

Stephen’s guts were on fire and his eyes burned like black coals.  He was ready to bolt for the woods when O’Brien once again stopped him.  Detective O’Brien stood several inches taller that Stephen, and carried thirty, maybe forty more pounds.  He didn’t want to have to use his size advantage to restrain Stephen, but he would if it came to that.

Pacing the cabin now, Stephen had to agree that the detective’s plan had made sense.  If Stephen got to Marv first, justice would not be served because Stephen would have killed him.  Better to let the police handle it, and to have his name cleared for once and for all.  Stephen was confident that Kelly could find her way back, and she was stronger than she looked.   But the waiting was killing him and his guts churned with fears over what Marv had done to her.

He stepped outside onto the patio.  The deputy that O’Brien had left here immediately stepped in front of him, hoping that Stephen was going to try to bolt for the woods.

“Relax Buck.  I just needed some fresh air.” 

Just then the deputy’s radio crackled, O’Brien’s voice could be heard through the static saying “he’s headed your way.  I found her; she’s fine.”  Stephen’s shoulders slumped in relief.  All of the pent up fear and frustration that he had been carrying for the last two hours fell away in an instant, replaced by only the need to have Kelly back home.

***

Kelly was surprised to see the face of Detective Timothy O’Brien.  With his hand still over her mouth he released her shoulders and put a finger to his mouth, asking her to be quiet.  She nodded yes and he removed his other hand.   The noise of the four-wheeler grew very loud, slowing and stopping somewhere very near the cave.  Kelly and the detective held their breath.  A few moments later the engine re-fired and the four-wheeler continued on, in the general direction of their cabin.  As the engine noise faded Detective O’Brien pulled a small radio device from the belt at his waist and whispered into it “he’s headed your way.  I found her; she’s fine.” 

After “ten-four” crackled back, Kelly whispered “What are you doing here?  How did you know?”

“What, that it was Marv and not Stephen?  I think in my gut I knew it all of the time but the evidence just didn’t point that way.  I’m sworn to uphold the law, and go where the evidence leads me, not my gut.  But when Stephen and I pooled our information last night it became crystal clear that Marv, not Stephen, was the person I should have been looking for. ” the detective admitted.

Kelly explained “Marv told me the whole story while he had me tied up.  It had been Marv’s plan all along that when Amanda was old enough he would marry her.  When Amanda announced her engagement to Stephen, Marv went off the deep end.  But that’s not why he killed her.”

Before Detective O’Brien could continue they heard what sounded like a distant gun shot, two actually, in rapid succession.  O’Brien’s small two way radio crackled before another voice spoke into it “Detective, we got him.  He’s down but still breathing.”

Detective O’Brien answered back “damn, I would have loved to have saved everyone the cost of a trial.  The scum bag doesn’t deserve it but you’d better call for an ambulance.”  They both climbed out of the small cave, rubbing at muscles that were not responding from the length of time they had been hunched over in the cramped quarters.  O’Brien helped Kelly maneuver the steep incline as walked back in the general direction of the cabin, using each other to fill in the remaining blanks.

“She was pregnant, you know?”  Kelly offered.

“Yes, it was in the ME’s report, about six weeks.  I’m not sure though whether or not Stephen knew.”

“I think he knew.”  Kelly had a hunch.

“Well, he never mentioned it to me and I saw no official reason to cause him more pain.”

“It’s just a hunch I have but being a divorced mom you’re always fear that any serious new love interest your lucky enough to find will find out that you have a child and run for the hills.  A lot of men don’t want to deal with someone else’s child.  I was looking for that kind of reaction with Stephen the day I told him about my son, but his reaction was different.  His conscious self left the room for briefly, he went to another place.  It was the look of a parent who had lost a child.  I didn’t know that then, but now looking back that’s exactly what it was.”

“Well, I’m sure that losing a child or even the expectation of a child must be the worst thing that can happen to a person.  Stephen would have made a fine father.  Maybe he’ll get another chance someday?”

“We’ll see” Kelly whispered under her breath, and then louder she continued “anyway, that’s why Marv killed her, Amanda that is.  He went with her that day for the hike.  He wasn’t gray then, his hair was the same color as Stephens, and he’s just as tall so that witness you had, the one who described the man from the back was right, but they were describing Marv, not Stephen.”

“Yes, we had figured that out too but it’s good to have confirmation.”

“He followed her there, to the park that day, to try to talk her out of marrying Stephen.  She told him she was already pregnant with Stephen’s child.  Marv exploded.  He wanted to hurt her because in his twisted mind he thought she had betrayed him.  That’s when he pushed her.”

“Yes, he is twisted alright.  Did he say anything about why he killed Stephen’s father?”

“Yes, because the elder Mr. Long found out that Marv had killed Amanda.    He found her missing windbreaker in Marv’s trunk.”

“That’s where it got to.  That was a piece of evidence that I never told anyone, it was my ace in the hole because had I been able to find the person with that jacket, or new about it, then I would find the killer.  When I questioned Stephen last night it was obvious that he knew nothing about it.”

Kelly continued “Marv overheard Mr. Long on the phone to Stephen.  He said he was on his way over with important about Amanda’s death but he didn’t want to discuss it over the phone.  Apparently, Marv planted himself on the side road just in front of a dangerous curve, and shot out Mr. Long’s front tire when he passed by.  Mr. Long didn’t have a chance.”

“That’s another piece we didn’t share, we found the shells by the side of the road and buck shot inside the front tire.  We knew someone had shot out the tire causing the accident, we just didn’t know who or why.  Unfortunately for Stephen not only did he lose his father that day, but the evidence that Mr. Long had against Marv died with him when the car exploded.”

“So now what?” Kelly asked.

“It’s over.  The cases will both be reclassified as homicides and closed.  If he survives, Marv will be going to jail for a long time.  Kelly, there’s much more to the story than you know, probably more than you want to know.  Marv is a sick man.”

“Yes, I know” she said quietly.

“He was a suspect in many cases, cases of rape, kidnapping, and other unspeakable acts.  Did he do anything to you, hurt you in any way?  We need to know everything in case there are other crimes we can charge him with.”

“No, not really.  He might have eventually gotten around to it but I didn’t give him much chance.  I’m fine, really.”  She added when his eyes fixed on her with concern.

“Marv was sick but also smart and had been able to elude justice for many, many years.  Stephen knew it, but without proof he couldn’t get help from the police.  I’m ashamed to admit that we just missed it.  Marv had done a great job of staying under the radar while implicating his nephew in his future maniacal plans at every turn.     

Marv left town a day or two after Mr. Long’s death no one noticed because no one was looking at him as a suspect.  When Stephen left town after him, our cases went cold.  Stephen left no trace or clue as to where he was going but that was because he didn’t himself know.  Stephen was out to find Marv.  It took him a few years to finally locate Marv in Alaska.  Had we known Marv was here we would have known that eventually, so too would be Stephen.  After too many failed attempts at getting the proof he needed to convince police, Stephen decided to take matters into his own hands.  He bought the land adjacent to Marv’s, set up shop, and patiently waited for Marv to make a mistake.  I’m guessing that he didn’t count on you coming along.  I don’t think that Stephen would have ever intentionally put you in harm’s way”

“He warned me about Marv, many times.  I guess he thought that I would listen to him.  In hindsight I should have.  No I look back at Stephen’s warnings and I can see the genuine fear that Marv caused him but at the time, to me, Marv just seemed so harmless.  I guess that’s how he got away with his crimes.”

“Kelly, Marv planted doubts in your mind about Stephen on purpose.  That was his plan.  You won’t want to know what other plans he had for you when and if Stephen was out of the way.  He planned to use you to repay Stephen for taking Amanda away from him.”

“Yes, I know, and I stepped right into his trap.  Good for me” she commented dryly.  “Little does Marv know that with my help he’s already achieved one goal.”

“What’s that?”

“To split up Stephen and me.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Oh come on detective, I led you right to Stephen’s doorstep.  If it hadn’t been for me you wouldn’t have known where he was.”

“But it all turned out ok for him in the end.  His name’s been cleared.”

“That doesn’t excuse the fact that I betrayed him.  I didn’t believe in him.  There’s no reason for him to ever forgive me.  Conviction of soul is one of Stephen’s strongest traits.  For me it’s a character flaw.”

“Kelly, I spent many hours with Stephen yesterday.  I don’t get the idea that he’s like that.  The Stephen I got to know yesterday is honorable and committed to you.  There’s more to him than you give him credit for.  Besides, I was here, with him, when we got back and found you gone.  His fear at what might have happened to you was real.  I had to physically restrain him from coming after you.  Give him a chance.  Give yourselves both a chance.”

“I can only hope that he’ll give me a chance.  So how did find me, here in the woods.  How did you know that Marv had me?”

“After Stephen and I had put the pieces together, I borrowed a few deputies and followed him back.  Our intention was to check in on you and then head down the road to Marv’s to serve a warrant for his arrest.  But at the cabin we quickly figured out things weren’t right.  Stephen immediately suspected Marv so we went straight to his house.  If you two had still been there I think Stephen would have killed Marv and we wouldn’t have been able to stop him.  But you were gone, and so was Marv.  There was evidence in the driveway of a scuffle, and we found a rope, presumably he had used it on you?”  She nodded affirmatively.

“It was then that we made our plan.  The four-wheeler was gone so it wasn’t hard to imagine that you had escaped and he was on the four-wheeler trying to find you.  Stephen hoped that you would find your way back to his property but we left a deputy at Marv’s just in case you or he circled back, and then we went back to Stephen’s. 

Stephen told us about the places he had shown you, those that would be the easiest for you to get to and that you might recognize and we took it from there. 

Stephen wanted to be the one to find you but I insisted that no more civilians be put in harm’s way.  He wasn’t happy but I didn’t give him a chance.  I convinced him to stay at the cabin in case you got there before us and I left another deputy there to take care of Marv should he be dumb enough to head that way.  We hoped that he would assume you would head to Stephen’s, and if he still believed Stephen to be in jail then he would have no reason not to follow you there.  I guess we were right on that score.  Anyway, Stephen should still be at the cabin waiting for us.  You heard me radio ahead to them that I had you.”