^^
Ending her call with Joe, Rachel immediately dials her father. She explains the situation and adds, "I wanted to let you know because he might target you next. We'll have guards outside our house. Joe wants an officer to stand outside you and Bonnie's home as well." She takes a quick breath as she finishes speaking.
"Joe thinks we all might be in danger?"
"The killer implied a threat toward my kids, making me believe any one of us could be next."
"Bonnie and I are leaving for our trip soon, but there's no way I'm going, knowing my family's life is at risk." There's mumbling in the background. "Hold on a second, Rachel, your mother is trying to tell me something. What was that, Bonnie? That's a wonderful idea, hon." Returning to the phone, Max says, "She has a marvelous idea."
"What's that, Dad?"
"Why don't we make this a family vacation?. We haven't had one of those in years, and Joe could use the extra manpower to find the killer instead of trying to keep us safe."
"It won't be much of a second honeymoon with two toddlers, an infant, and four grown adults running around. Besides, you and Bonnie have been planning this for far too long to change it all now."
"Be firm, Max," Bonnie whispers in the background.
"You're all going with us, and that is final. Your mom and I insist."
There's shuffling on the phone, then her stepmother says, "You either go or we're staying put."
Rachel rolls her eyes as she sighs. "Why do you two have to be so damn stubborn?"
"Because we have a stubborn daughter." They simultaneously say it, then laugh.
"So stop your damn arguing and get to packing," Bonnie adds.
Tapping her arm, Jerry whispers, Witness protection.
Nodding, Rachel says, "How about if we compromise on this?"
"That'll be the first," Bonnie chuckles, recalling the arguments they've had in the past.
Max sighs and asks, "What is it, Rachel?"
"I'll move into witness protection until they catch the killer."
Picturing it in his mind, Max asks, "You promise to have guards around the clock?"
"Yes, Dad."
"You'll move everyone when?"
"Today, I promise."
"We'll agree to this on one, no, two conditions."
Rolling her eyes, Rachel asks, "What is it?"
"I want daily calls from each of you letting me know you are alright."
"Ok."
"And if I don't hear from each of you…"
"You two will be on the first flight back." Rachel finishes.
"Exactly," they say.
"What's your second condition?" She hears shuffling, and then Bonnie says,
"You'll have everyone moved over before we leave."
"Deal." Rachel disconnects the call; she turns towards Jerry. "I better call Joe and tell him about the change in plans."
"Do you think he'll agree to it?"
"He will if he knows it's coming from Dad."
Max made it perfectly clear that he wouldn't interfere if his daughter is well taken care of. But if he feels the need to step in, his word would be final, no questions asked. Wanting to marry Rachel more than anything else in his life, Joe agreed without a bit of hesitation.
She starts to dial when her phone rings. She glances at the caller ID to find a strange sequence of twelve numbers, not the normal ten. Her hands begin to tremble as she tries to decide if she should pick it up or let it go to voicemail. The call rings a second time and then a third.
Jerry looks over to find Rachel shaking beside him. "What's wrong, sarge?"
"I have a bad feeling about this call." The phone rings a fourth time, then stops. "It was like something was telling me not to answer, a premonition of sorts," she anxiously explains.
"Did they leave a message?"
"No."
"I'm sure it's just a telemarketer then."
"I have been getting a lot of those lately. Since Joe Jr. downloaded a bunch of games on my phone."
"He knows how to do that now?"
Rachel rolls her eyes. "Thanks to my sister, he does." Her cell rings again. "It's the same number, Jerr." She says her voice is as shaky as her hands.
"You want me to answer it?"
Taking a breath of courage, she says, "I've got this."
"Are you sure?"
"It's probably a robocall or a telemarketer, like you said. Sergeant Bower."
A deep, gravelly voice echoes over the phone. "You're next." The call disconnects.
Seeing Rachel trembling in her seat, Jerry asks, "Are you alright?"
"The killer. He just threatened my life." Hearing a loud cracking noise coming from outside, Rachel looks up to see something large tumbling from the sky. "Look out," she screams, pointing straight ahead.
####
The captain walks over to the detective's desk and asks, "Have you heard from Jerry or Rachel, Kirk?"
"I talked to both of them about an hour or so ago. Why?"
"I just got an ass chewing from her dad."
"Why, sir?"
"He said Rachel should be in protective custody, not out running around. He said that I need to get them to safety. I tried to call Rachel to see if she knows what's going on, but her phone goes to voicemail, and Jerry's too."
"I can trace them through GPS, sir."
"I already tried that, and they're either in a dead zone or their phones are off."
"That's it, sir."
"What is it, Kirk?"
"With Rachel in the dead zone, your calls can't go through."
The captain chuckles. "You're right, it would. I was so worked up over the conversation that I overlooked the obvious."
"That happens a lot to me too. I overthink the simplest things, making them harder than what they really are." He grabs a piece of paper from his desk. "I have a list of the 2012 victims, sir." He hands Joe the list. "There are ten in all, six girls and four boys."
Joe's mind goes back to that horrid time not so long ago. "I'd been on the force nearly twenty years when this took place." It was the hardest investigation in my entire career. The heartbreak of it all. Trying to find missing babies without a single witness or any leads. It became so bad that a lot of town folk threatened to leave; a few actually did."
"It was a horrible time for me too, sir." He points to the top three names on the list and says, "We were all close, like siblings, really. They'd often tell my sister and me about things that would happen at home. Shelly has a drunk, abusive dad; Monica was raised by a drug-addicted mother; and Leslie, oh poor Leslie, had a handsy stepdad."
"Didn't anyone report this?"
"My parents did, numerous times. DFS came out to investigate and then said they couldn't find anything to substantiate the claim."
"I don't see how that's possible."
"My parents didn't either. So they kept reporting, hoping the caseworker would find something eventually. Then DFS brought charges against them for filing a false claim. The girls were kidnapped shortly after. Mom blames herself for what happened, saying if she hadn't reported it, they would've been at our house instead of wandering the streets alone. We kept telling her it wasn't her fault, that she only did what she thought was right, and there was nothing more she could've done. Poor Mom still blamed herself even to this day."
"You don't know the other seven?"
"I know of them by name. I saw them around school in the neighborhood, but I don't know anything about what their family life might've been like. Why are you asking, sir?"
"I want you to run their names and see if DFS was ever involved in their care."
####
Lifting his head from the steering wheel, Jerry slowly glances around. He soon realizes he's sitting upright at the bottom of the cliff, wedged between two large trees. The car's front end looked like a ruffled potato chip; all the windows were cracked, but at least he survived. Jerry suddenly recalls the sergeant beside him. He looks over to find her lying motionless beside him. "Sarge, Sarge," he says, gently shaking her arm. She didn't respond. Grabbing her shoulder, he tries again.
She groggily lifts her head from the seat and asks, "What happened?"
"We took a nosedive off a cliff."
The horrid sequence of events suddenly comes to mind. "What was that thing?"
"I have no idea."
Rachel recalls the terrifying call. Her face pales. With a look of horror on her face, she asks, "Do you think the caller set whatever it was up to fall on us?
Rachel nervously glances around, then says, "We're sitting ducks if he decides to finish the job." She tries to open the door only to find the trees have her barricaded in. "I can't get out, can you?"
Jerry tries and finds the same. "I can't even move my legs with this dash on my lap."
Rachel glances behind her and says, "We'd have to cut through the cage to get out the back."
"We have another problem, Rach."
"What's that?"
"We're in a dead zone again."