Chapter 79

79

The cold cinder block cell had a shelf bed beside a stainless steel toilet. Colleen sat on the bed and rubbed at her left wrist that was cuffed to a bolt in the wall. The disgusting toilet had an attached water fountain that, even though she was getting thirstier and thirstier, she refused to drink out of.

She was at the Beckford station house now. She shook her head at the gray painted cinder block. It didn't seem so quaint anymore.

They'd caught her in the woods not two hundred feet from the telephone pole. It was some canine cop and his German shepherd and they about gave her a heart attack as they pounced on her, the dog nipping at her arms and head while the cop laid his knee in her back. His disgusting gloved hands on her, searching her pants all over, going under her shirt.

Then the fat chief showed up and gave her more of the same. She thought they would kill her right there and then.

But they hadn't.

Yet , she thought as she rattled the cold cuff on her wrist.

The door of the holding room opened. It was the dog cop. A square thirtysomething with a beer gut and a blonde copstache, his Beckford PD ball cap pushed back on his head.

He squealed open the cell and came in and undid her cuffs. And re-cuffed her behind her back.

"Let's go," he said.

He led her out of the holding area into a corridor and stopped at a door and opened it and put her in an interview room. He uncuffed her and sat her down behind a table and cuffed her to another wall bolt.

There was a bottle of water on the table. He cracked the cap.

With her free hand, Colleen punched it across the room the second he laid it back down.

Her fear was gone now. She was beyond pissed. Straight-up enraged.

The bastard stood and retrieved the fallen water and capped it. He took off his hat. She looked into his brown eyes. There was something bad in them. Something sneaky and malicious.

He interlaced his fat fingers on top of his square head and leaned back staring at her, smirking.

"Where'd you hide it?" he said.

"Hide what?" Colleen said.

"We know there was a phone. A phone with a video on it. Did you leave it in the woods?"

Colleen looked steadily into his mean eyes.

"The only phone I know about," Colleen said, "is a SAT phone I called my boss on. You're going to jail, you know that. You and every other cop in your department."

"Oh, yeah? For what?"

"Murder, attempted murder, false arrest. That's just off the top of my head."

He clucked his tongue and laughed quietly, smirking some more.

"Sure," he said. "Keep telling yourself that. Now, about that phone. Or should I bring Lacey in here? Lacey hasn't eaten. You want to spend some more time with Lacey?"

That's when his phone rang.

He looked at it, looked at her. Then he got up and left the room.

When he came back two minutes later, he seemed to be in a hurry. He unlocked the cuff from the wall and re-cuffed her behind her back.

"What now?" she said as they headed down the corridor for the front door.

"Shut up," he said.

There was a hint of light in the dark of the sky when they walked outside.

The terror came back now. The cop, his dog, the SUV.

Was this it? she thought.

"Where are we going?" she said as he put her into the car and they roared out of the lot.

"I told you to shut up."

They headed down Route 4 and a few minutes later, they passed the dealership where she'd buried Jodi's car.

When they turned into the town square, she saw the firetrucks. The fire in the old brick factory seemed to be out, but there was still some smoke as they continued to hose down the building.

As they came into the parking lot beside the ruined restaurant, she looked over at the bridge and saw the crane still blocking the road. The cop pulled in next to Mike's pickup near the museum. He got out first and then let her out and uncuffed her. Then he handed her his phone.

"What's this?" she said.

"It's for you," he said, rolling his eyes as he got back into the SUV and took off.

"Colleen? Are you there?" said a voice from the phone.

"Mike!" Colleen cried. "How...?"

"No, questions. I'll explain later. Are you at my truck?"

"Yes."

"My extra fob is on a magnet under the left panel."

"Got it," she said as she pulled it out and opened the door.

"Okay. Remember where we met yesterday?" Mike said as she pushed the ignition button.

At the coffee shop , Colleen thought.

"Yes," she said.

"I'm in the parking lot waiting for you," he said.