Untraceable (20 page)

The trooper was
down on his haunches, resting his hand on Micah’s shoulder, “I’m
very sorry. People tried to get to her, but…” The officer stopped,
he couldn’t finish telling the rest of the horrific
story.

With tears
streaming down his face, he rose shakily from the floor, still
holding Kimmy against his chest and he carried her back into the
house. He could hear the television. He could hear Nadia’s
incessant wailing. He could hear the trooper trying to console her.
What he wasn’t prepared for was the image on the television. A news
helicopter was shooting footage of a car, still engulfed in flames
as emergency crews attempted to put it out. Her car had a carbon
fiber body; you could take a blow torch to it and not destroy it.
Although the paint had burned away, it was Leese’s car, Micah was
sure of it. His beautiful wife and his unborn son were
gone.

All the colors
from Micah’s world turned to shades of gray. He had witnessed the
deaths of hundreds of people, but nothing ever affected him the way
losing Annalisa was doing. She was gone and it was so unbelievable
to him that she would never draw another sweet breath of air. She
would never sing another song. Her beautiful smile had been removed
from the world. And, the heart that she helped him discover beating
inside his chest had such a gapping, massive wound that he knew it
had to be fatal; it couldn’t possibly keep beating without the
reason for its rhythm.

Nadia was becoming
hysterical, but he couldn’t comfort her. He could only watch as the
officers tried to console her. He couldn’t move. He was holding
Kimmy and she was clutched against his chest shivering in her sobs
as the realization that her sister, just like her father, would
never come home. He found the strength to wrap his arms around her.
He was shushing her as he rocked her ever-so-slightly as he held
her.

He didn’t know how
long he sat there in his state of shock, but eventually the
officers calmed Nadia and she began to compose.

“We’re so very
sorry. We have to go, but someone from law enforcement will be
getting in touch with you as soon as—”

“I have to see
her,” Micah spoke the words, but his lips felt
numb.

“Could we speak
with you outside for a moment?”

Nadia tried to
take Kimmy, but she began to scream and grip Micah with a tenacity
and tensile strength of a full grown adult. He smoothed her hair
away from her soaked cheeks and kissed her temple. “Please Kimmy,
just for a few minutes. I promise I’ll be back inside after I speak
with the policemen.”

Her eyes had a
vacant glaze as she stared at the place where her head had rested
on his shoulder.

“Look at me,
sweetheart,” he said, turning her chin toward him and kissing the
tip of her nose. “I have to do this and then—”

“Don’t leave me,”
she cried out. “Promise me you’ll come back—don’t leave—I
can’t—stand for anyone—else to—leave me.” Her sobs were punctuating
her words.

“I won’t leave.
Please, stay here with your mom until I come back inside. I promise
I’ll hold you for a while after that, okay?”

She nodded and
released him and slipped onto Nadia’s waiting lap. They latched on
to each other like magnets pulling together as Nadia broke down
once more.

Micah’s walk felt
stiff and mechanical as he followed the officers out onto the
driveway. “When can I see the—the body?” he asked, trying not to
choke on the words.

“I’m afraid that
won’t be possible until the investigators—”

“Was it an
accident or not?” Micah’s question was clearer than his
last.

“We don’t know
right now. But they did want us to ask what kind of fuel she ran in
her car. Did she run on methanol or nitromethane? Did she carry
nitrous tanks in the vehicle?”

“No. It ran on
regular, premium gasoline. Please, tell me why they wanted to know
that.”

The older of the
two officers rested his hand on Micah’s shoulder, “You saw what
they showed on the television—it was an unbelievable explosion, and
the fire was… Well, it wasn’t a normal gasoline fire. They couldn’t
seem to get it out. I wish I could soften this for you, but I’m
afraid there isn’t going to be anything left to identify. I’ve
never, in my nineteen years on the force, seen a fire that hot. The
carbon body on her car absorbed a lot of the crash impact, but it
also absorbed a lot of the impact from the explosion. The doors
blew slightly out, but because of the way the hinges are designed,
they didn’t blow off. The damn thing was like a crematory. We’ll
have an investigator get back with you as soon as they determine
what exactly happened. They’re still reviewing all the interstate
camera footage.”

“I—I have some
experience—in this sort of thing. I’d like to work with the
investigators. I’d like to see the car and—”

“I’m sorry, but
this is strictly for law enforcement. You understand we can’t rule
anything out right now, so allowing you to handle anything that
could be considered evidence just can’t
happen.”

Things were adding
up quickly. It was no accident. Leese had been murdered and he
would be listed among the suspects. But he knew someone who could
get him the information he needed.

“I understand,” he
said has he turned and began walking back toward the house, already
dialing a familiar number on his cell phone. He heard the doors on
the vehicles close as his sister answered her phone. “Gwen,” he
choked out, “I—I need your help. How fast can you get to
Florida?”

When he walked in
the house, Nadia was on her phone, still holding Kimmy in her lap.
She was talking with David. “He wants to speak with you,” she said,
holding out the phone with a trembling hand.

“Yeah,” was all he
could say into the receiver.

“Ah, man, tell me
it ain’t so little brother. Nadia said the troopers just left, but
are you sure it was her?”

“David, I’m not
even sure I’m breathing right now. But, from everything they’ve
told me—yeah, they’re pretty sure it was her. They won’t give me
too much information and they won’t let me look at what they’re
finding, so I called Gwen. She’s on her way to the airport right
now. I—I’ve just got to have some answers,” he said breaking down
again.

“Has anyone called
Mom and Dad?”

“No. We just found
out ourselves. Nadia called you?”

“No—it’s already
on the national news about the wreck and who they think was
involved. As soon as I saw it, I called her. I’ll call Mom and Dad
before they see it on the TV. I’m—I’m in the middle of something
here so I can’t get there for a few days, but hang in there. You
know that’s what Leese would want.”

No sooner than
Micah closed her phone and handed it back, his phone was ringing.
Hope against hope told him that when he looked at the display it
would be Leese and this would all be some huge mistake. But it
wasn’t her; it was Ryan’s number. This was going to be harder than
talking with David about what happened.

“Hello?”

“You’re gonna tell
me she’s home, right? I saw something on the news about an Aero
crashing in West Palm and they… God, Micah—please tell me that
she’s home.”

“No—she’s not here
and she was driving her Aero—she’s gone and I don’t know what I’m
going to do without her.” He was trying to stop all the sobbing,
but he couldn’t hold it back as every moment the pain inside him
sharpened. He could hear Ryan cussing and yelling, crying and
growling at the same time.

“I thought you
wanted her to get rid of that damn car! She’s freaking pregnant,
man! She shouldn’t be driving it! She shouldn’t…” Everything he was
saying was in the present tense, as if she was still around and
somehow Micah could grab onto her and stop this from
happening.

Micah could no
longer recognize what Ryan was saying as his words melted into
emotions of anguish, pain, and loss. He heard him take a long
breath, and then Ryan spoke clearer. “She can’t be dead,” he
finally whimpered. “It wasn’t her time—God should have given her
more time. What can I do? Is there anything I can do to help you
and Nadia?”

“There isn’t
anything that anyone can do, but I do appreciate the
offer.”

“We want to be
there for the—the funeral. You will call me, right? I could fly
down tonight, but I imagine you’re—you’re going to need some
time.”

“We’ll call you.
She’d—she’d want you here.”

“Micah—I’m sorry
if I said anything… I mean, I know this wasn’t your fault. I just
freaked out for a minute, but… I hope you don’t think I’m frigin’
stupid, man, but I love you—like a friend, a really good friend and
I know how much you loved her. I finally realized that when you two
came back here; you never wanted to hurt her. Please, take care of
yourself. Okay? I’m not gonna hang up until you promise me that
you’re going to be okay. Leese would hate me if I wasn’t just as
concerned about you as I was about her when she really needed a
friend.”

He didn’t know
what to say. He’d never had another man tell him he loved him. But
Ryan was the genuine article—he was a good person. He was the
‘other’ guy in Leese’s life who would have lain down his life for
her. Still, he couldn’t return the deep compliment. He knew Ryan
was waiting on a promise not to do anything stupid, but right now
all he wanted was to do something stupid so he didn’t have to feel
this searing pain that was enveloping him.

“Micah, I mean it.
If you need a friend, I’ll head to the airport right now. You can
make it through this. Promise me you’re going to
try.”

“I—I appreciate
the offer. I’ll be okay, I promise. I’m just kind of stunned right
now. I’ll call you when the arrangements are finished.
Goodbye.”

He wanted to be
alone like he’d never wanted to be alone in his life. The thing
that pissed him off at the moment was that his guns were gone. He
really wanted a gun at the moment. He needed a gun at the moment.
And, if his wife didn’t love him so damn much, those guns would
still be here and all this pain would be abbreviated and he would
be with her right now. He was standing there wishing for an end
when he felt warm arms around his waist.

“You promised,”
Kimmy said quietly.

Micah picked her
up and headed for the recliner. She was pretty intuitive, so he was
wondering if she was speaking about his promise to hold her, or
that he’d just promised someone that he would try to make it
through the worst tragedy he’d ever faced.

She laid her head
against his chest as she clung to him, whispering that she loved
him. He had never noticed before, but when Kimmy said those words
softly, she sounded just like Leese.

His phone rang
again. Kimmy never moved as he jockeyed it from his pocket to look
at the caller ID. It was Jonathan. Micah was sure he’d seen the
news. “The hell with you, asshole,” he snarled as he hit the silent
feature and slipped it back into his pocket. As far as he was
concerned, this mess was Jonathan’s fault. He never should have
asked Leese to go out to the property. He wrapped those strong arms
around the tiny girl and let the silent tears
fall.

Gwen arrived a
little after eight p.m. She’d brought one of her best forensic
investigators with her and the two of them were getting ready to
head for the Sheriff’s Office where the vehicle had been taken, but
she needed to see her brother first. Kimmy was asleep on his lap,
still hanging on to him tightly. He had tried to lay her down, but
she began to cry so he just reclined in the chair and let her sleep
against him. They only spoke briefly in whispered words, then Gwen
leaned forward and kissed her baby brother’s color drained forehead
and was gone.

Eventually, Micah
rose and carried Kimmy upstairs and placed her in her bed. Her eyes
fluttered open as he tried to leave the room; she asked him to
stay. He pulled the covers up to her chin and said he’d stay for a
little while.

“Will you say
prayers with me?” she innocently asked. Someone always tucked her
in, usually Nadia or Leese, but whoever did would stay and say
prayers with her. He’d been in the room before when Leese would put
her to bed so he knew the prayer she always said. He closed his
eyes and began, “Now I lay me…”

Kimmy joined in,
“…down to sleep. Pray the Lord my soul to keep. Guard me Jesus
through the night and wake me with the morning light. And special
prayers…” She always had special prayers at the end. It was usually
a list of people, but tonight it was only one. “…for my sister. I
know she’s in heaven with you, and I know she’s happy to be there,
but please tell her that we’d like her to come home. I know you
usually keep who you take, but we’re not happy without her. She was
my sister, but she was my friend, too. Mommy and Micah miss her
really bad, and I know they wish she was home. Thanks for listening
and, if you can’t let her come home, would you please just let her
be an angel so she can watch over us? Oh, and please tell her we
love her and said goodnight. Amen.”