Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2) (17 page)

“Take a breath…” suggested Jenna, but before Angie could take her advice, she was gone.

***

Prom ended at midnight and as the students and chaperones flooded into the parking lot, Angie sat on a picnic bench holding hands with Hunter.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” said Angie in an overly sweet voice, pretending that she didn’t want to rip her sister’s up-do off of her perfectly shaped head.

“My curfew’s in ten minutes… so I gotta go.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Angie said with a smile. She leaned in to kiss him goodnight.

Joey and Jenna waved to them from the parking lot as they wandered back to his house so he could drive her home. Joe had his arm wrapped around her shoulder and was listening intently as she talked. Suddenly, Tiffany and Ethan burst out of the auditorium doors. Tiffany looked irate.

“Fine, be that way, Ethan! But that’s the end of it!” yelled Tiffany as some of her hair escaped her up do.

Ethan laughed as he waved goodbye, “See ya!”

“No you won’t!” Tiffany threatened.

Angie smiled darkly. Karma really was a vindictive bitch.

***

Angie and Tiffany only lived two blocks from the school so they decided to walk home. The road was dark and due to the late hour, there was barely any traffic on the road. A car full of students whizzed past them, causing Tiffany to jump.

She screamed in protest, “I’m the prom queen! Why should I have to walk?!”

Angie rolled her eyes.

“Oh, shut up, princess! Get over yourself! Let me know when your pumpkin carriage arrives!”

“Humph,” groaned Tiffany as she crossed her arms over her flat chest.

The road became eerily quiet. Angie got a strange feeling; a feeling that they weren’t alone. They had to get home. The only sounds she could hear were her sister’s sighs and their heels click-clacking against the hard asphalt road. Angie glanced over her shoulder nervously. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being followed. Angie nearly fainted when she saw a man’s silhouette in the road just twenty feet behind her. Panic rose from the pit of Angie’s belly. She was frozen still for a moment. Finally, quick thinking prevailed. She ran forward and grabbed Tiffany’s hand.

“C’mon!”

“Why are we running? Ow!” complained Tiffany.

“We’re being followed!” said Angie urgently.

“Followed?!” spat out Tiffany hysterically, “Is it that creepy guy from the other night?!”

“I don’t see anyone, Ang!”

“Just c’mon!”

Angie and Tiffany crossed the tree line into the Forest of York. They were just minutes from home. If their speed continued, they could outrun him. Angie ran ahead of Tiffany. She was always the faster of the two sisters. She could hear someone approaching in the background. Angie whipped around to get a better look. The figure ducked behind a tree so that their identity remained hidden. Tiffany ran as fast as she could. Angie gasped as she watched the scene unfold before her. Tiffany got her foot caught in the brush and she went down vanishing from sight.  As she went down, Angie swore she could make out the faint outline of a man standing over her sister.

Wide eyed and nervous, Angie screamed, “Tiffany!”

Chapter              11

June 18, 2000

Morrow Manor

Fox Hollow, PA

7 A.M.

Jack slammed the phone into its cradle with such force that a framed photograph of Shane and Blake fell off the wall and smashed to the floor. Frank, who was already awake and eating a bowl of cereal, gave Jack a worried look. The milk from Frank’s cereal dribbled down his chin. He brushed it off quickly with a flick of his wrist.

“You’re not gonna believe this…” said Jack as a look of disbelief grew across his face.

“What?” asked Frank with a mouth full of cereal. He chewed loudly as he waited for Jack to continue.

“Hell just broke loose on Mountain Road,” Jack said with a serious tone of voice.

Frank pushed away his cereal bowl as a look of anger began to emerge. Jack clearly had his full attention. Jack took a deep breath before speaking, as tension rolled off his shoulders.

“Courtney O’Mara was found dead outside of Monte’s. A bullet to the back of the head.”

Frank’s chair skidded loudly against the hardwood floor as he shot up out of his seat. The muscles in Frank’s jaw, arms, and chest flexed as tension coursed through his body. He rubbed his massive hands over his face as he tried to gain some composure.

“Shot?!” Frank yelled, still trying to come to grips with the news.

Jack nodded somberly.

“Jesus Christ, is nowhere safe?! What the hell are you gonna tell Tommy?!” Frank exclaimed, clearly upset about the news.

Jack considered Frank’s question for a moment. He couldn’t just come right out with it. Tommy obviously had some feelings for the girl. How deep remained to be seen.

Jack replied, “The truth, but I’m going to need your help keeping him calm.”

“No kiddin’… Kid’s got a nastier temper than his ol’ man!” Frank joked trying to lighten the mood.

Jack replied, “Oh, shut up. At least we had a reason to be ticked off.”

Frank chuckled as his mind roamed back to yesteryear.

“Consider where we were in the summer of ’77…” Frank said with a raised eyebrow.

Jack gave Frank an agitated glare.

“I hate when you do that,” Jack said to Frank referring to his little trip down memory lane. Even Jack had to admit that Frank had a point. At Tommy’s age, Jack was married with a family. He and Frank were going to war with Kendricks for harassing Catherine. They were also engaged in a separate war against the Traffords when Harry Trafford stole Angus’ car right outside of Monte’s café. The families had not seen eye to eye for a very, very long time.

“If you recall,” Frank added, “We had our fair share of drama, too. Besides, Tommy has every right to be pissed off.”

“Yeah…”

“Did you know that Jesse Trafford was harassing Tristan at work?”

“What?!” Jack yelled, furious that he was just now finding out about this occurrence.

“She didn’t tell you?”

“No! She did not!” said Jack, enraged.

“Well, guess what? Trafford was also bothering Courtney at her house last week. Tommy handled Trafford yesterday. Cornered him behind Quiver’s.”

“My aching nerves… Then there is the whole Hunter McCord issue.”

“McCord has a rap sheet as long as a roll of toilet paper.”

Jack sighed. It was true that Hunter McCord was one of the low-lifes that gave Elkhart residents a bad name, and as far as the Traffords went, they made some of the criminals at Pennington Prison look tame.

“Shit…” said Jack as he stormed out of the kitchen with Frank on his heels. The same thought rolled around in both men’s minds.

What if Tristan was next?

Jack shuddered at the thought.

The two men climbed to the third floor, causing the old wooden stairs to creak loudly under the pressure of their weight. They crept into the boys’ bedroom where they found three teenagers sound asleep. Jack bypassed Blake and Shane’s beds where they were snoring loudly, and approached Tommy’s bed. The blankets rose and fell peacefully. Tommy was so high strung lately, it seemed a shame to wake him; especially with such horrible news. Jack knew he must be the one to tell him, though.

Jack shook the mattress first, hoping to wake Tommy. When he didn’t stir, Jack tried nudging Tommy in the shoulder. Suddenly, the blankets rumpled off the bed and fell to the floor. Jack quickly realized that he did not find the person he intended. Tristan shot up in bed with a highly disgruntled look on her face. Her curly hair stood on end and her scarlet Steeplechase Mustangs t-shirt was wrinkled badly from only a few hours of restless sleep. Angry from being woken up so early, Tristan yelled at Jack in a hoarse voice.

“Dad!”

Jack had a perplexed look on his face.

“Why are you out here? And where the hell is Tommy?!” Jack asked in an annoyed voice.

Tristan rolled her eyes as she got out of bed.

“Have some consideration for other people’s need for sleep! Just because you’re up at 4 AM every day, doesn’t mean that I want to be, too!”

Jack looked taken aback by his daughter’s grouchy demeanor.

“Err… Sorry, but I need to find Tommy,” Jack said in a sheepish voice.

“Oh, please! He was in my room on my phone arguing for half the night with Courtney. I got him to hang up for two seconds so that I could call Cole. Then I came out here so I could get some sleep. He was yelling til at least three in the morning!” Tristan complained in an agitated voice.

Frank shook his head in agreement and said, “I had to come up here three times to tell him to simmer down. I could hear his voice through the damn ceiling.”

Jack’s face grimaced in frustration. Tommy’s actions in recent days could portray him in a very negative light. He needed to understand that his actions and reactions carried a heavy weight; especially in light of what happened to Courtney O’Mara. Jack reached to open Tristan’s bedroom door, but was met with resistance.

Jack growled, “Locked! I hate locked doors in my own house! Tristan, where is the key?”

Sleepily, Tristan replied, “It’s in my room hanging on the wall. I never use it. Does anybody want to tell me what is going on and why I’m awake at 7 AM on a Saturday?”

Jack ignored her question and instead issued an order of his own. He barked, “Go wake everybody up and get them in the living room in ten minutes.”

“But-“Tristan protested.

“Please stop asking me questions. I’ll explain downstairs,” Jack pleaded.

Jack was growing more agitated. Just as he was ready to kick the bedroom door in, Frank grabbed a large set of keys from his belt loop. He flicked through each key slowly as he looked for the correct one that would open Tristan’s locked bedroom door.

“Oh, where is the bloody key…basement… storm cellar… shed… barn… work shop… guest house… boy’s bedroom… office… Ah, here it is. Tristan’s room,” Frank rambled. Jack looked at his oldest friend impatiently as his scowl deepened.

Frank shook his head as he handed the key to Jack, “Always ready to jump to conclusions… I see where the boy gets it from. Here ya go…” Frank said as passed the key to Jack.

“If he’s not in there, we’ve got a real problem on our hands,” said Jack with a worried look in his eyes.

“He’s in there. I locked his motorcycle in the barn last night.”

Jack let out a sigh of relief as he inserted the key into the lock and twisted hard. The door swung open slowly, revealing Tristan’s neat and tidy bedroom. The bed was still made, the desk was uninhabited and there were no signs of Tommy anywhere in the room. Frank and Jack raced into the room with frantic looks on their faces. They scrambled around the room looking for any trace of Tommy. Suddenly, the bathroom door swung open and Tommy was standing in the doorway with a miserable look on his face.

“There you are…” said Frank relieved.

Tommy looked as if he hadn’t slept at all. Jack clutched his chest in relief, but it wouldn’t last long. Jack had some terrible news to share. He addressed Tommy in a firm voice, “I need you to come down to the living room.”