The Chase by Amber Riel (story reading txt) 📖

smiled while my eyes filled with tears.  I hadn’t known her too long but she was kind of motherly and friendly.  I would have liked to spend more time with her.

          “Well, now I guess I’ll be going home soon.  It’s about that time for me anyways.”  Her words were haunting knowing she wasn’t actually talking about going home.

          “Ron and Annie would want to see you first though,” Louis replied, giving her more reason to live.  “Not only that but Lainie will need you around…. She’s loves you like a grandmother….”

          Kathleen sighed as she locked eyes with Louis.  “I know but my time is up.  They’ll understand and Lainie will too one day.  Samantha, it was good meeting you and a joy helping you find your room.”

          I nodded, feeling the tears fall from my eyes.

          Louis removed his hand from mine and wrapped his arm around me.  I had the feeling that he knew I wanted to burst into tears but he was letting me know that everything was going to be alright.

          We watched as the two guys who were carrying the stretcher worked getting it into the ambulance.  Once the driver was in the vehicle and all of the doors were shut and locked the ambulance drove off.  E-er-e-er-e-er.  The loud sound from the sirens indicated that a person was in need of medical attention as soon as possible which was good news in a way knowing that the maid was still alive even if she wasn’t planning on staying on earth for too long.

          By the time I looked at the mansion, whole place was burnt and damp from the hose the firemen had used to put out the fire.  It looked so broken and ruined.  “What are Annie and Ron going to say?”

          “There’s no telling…. Come on, I have to go talk to my boss…. You can meet him.”

          I kind of nodded as we locked hands again and we walked down closer to what use to be the mansion.  “Are you a fireman?” I asked.

          Louis shook his head.  “No but if I’m around and they need help then I will.”  He led me toward a bunch of cars and a few of them were cop cars but most of them were all the same or looked to be the same.  The cars were all black and small even though some seem to be a little bit larger than others but pretty much they were alike.  I knew he wasn’t a cop because he already told me he wasn’t but I was trying to figure out from the scene what kind of occupation he was in.

          A tall man with brown hair walked over to us.  He looked to be about somewhere in his fifties.  He looked good for his age considering.  He had some grey in his hair but it wasn’t too noticeable.  He was dressed up in a nice suit which made me think he was an undercover cop or something like that.  “Louis, good to see you.”

          Louis nodded.  “Good to see you too, sir.  How’s Annie and Ron?”

          “They’re good.  We already have them waiting for you, Lainie, and Annie’s sister.”  The guy looked at me and smiled.  “Why hello, Miss?  Who might this be?”

          “Believe it or not this is Annie’s sister, Samantha.”

          “Samantha?” the man asked, nodding.  “That’s a beautiful name for a beautiful young lady.”

          “Thank you, sir,” I replied.

          “So are you two together?”

          Louis looked at me and smiled then to the man.  “I believe so or we’d look pretty strange holding hands.”

          The man laughed.  “That’s true.  You better hold on to her, Louis, because I might steal her from you,” the man joked.  I could tell by the way the man talked that he didn’t mean anything by it…. It was just his way of joking.

          “I’m not planning on that happening, sir.”

          “Good, then.”

          “Sam, this is George Mann my boss.”

          “It’s nice to meet you,” I told the man.

          “Nice to meet you too,” George replied.  “Now, back to business,” his tone changed from a joking to a serious as he spoke, “we’re assuming that whoever broke in is the cause of this.”

          Louis nodded.  “I agreed.  Thomas told me that they found foot prints around here somewhere making them believe that it was arsonist.”

          George nodded as well.  “That’s why we believe that whoever it was to set the fire had to deal with the break in.  Oh and that taxicab driver you told us about well we did a background check on him and it turns out that he rapes and murders young women and children as well.  We’ve been searching for him for a few years now and thanks to you we’ve finally found him.”

          “Yea if I hadn’t been there then Sam wouldn’t be here right now because that guy was in her hotel room.”

          George turned his attention toward me with grim eyes.  “I’m so sorry that you’re vacation isn’t turning out to be a nice one…. And that must have been scary for that guy to have found his way into your room.”

          “Yea but it does add a little excitement in a way,” I replied.

          George nodded.  “That’s true too.  Well, do you want to see what we’ve found so far because I’d hate that you had to drive all of this way for nothing?”

          “Of course,” Louis replied.

 

        We followed George over to a tree and he pointed down at the tracks on the ground.  The dirt and grass had revealed that someone had been standing there for at least a little while.  “We had a feeling that whoever was here wanted to make sure that the mansion wouldn’t last too long and of course by the time the fire trucks arrived, the ambulance arrived, and we all arrived the person was already gone.  Oh I heard someone say that there was a person in the mansion during the fire earlier.  Do you two know who it could have been?”

          “It was Kathleen,” Louis replied.  “I rushed in as soon as I heard that someone was trapped inside.  They had to rush her off to the hospital.”

          George nodded.  “Of course.”

          “Was there anything else that I needed to know?”

          “Oh I forgot…. That taxicab driver he came clean when we interrogating him he had admitted that he was the driver of the break in.”

          The words sent a chill up my spine as I remembered the first day I had met the man.  “We’re going to the Williams’ residence…. You know where that is?” I heard my voice ask.

           “Yes I do,” the taxicab driver’s voice echoed through my mind.

          “Sam, are you alright?” Louis asked.

          I looked at him and moved a little closer to him for safety.  “Just the thought about the taxicab driver being here is creepy.”

          Louis sighed and lightly kissed my left temple.  “You’re safe with me,” he whispered into my ear.

          I nodded.

 

          It was late when we arrived back at Carmen’s cabin.  I sat in the car staring at the dashboard as Louis climbed out of the car and closed his door.  He walked around and opened the door for me as I unbuckled.  I couldn’t help but think about the mansion which was no more.  “Come on out,” Louis whispered to me.

          I kind of worked my way out of the car slowly as I thought about everything that had gone on that day.  It felt surreal to me as if it were all a dream but I knew deep down inside that it wasn’t.

          Louis closed the door for me and took my hand in his as he led me up the steps.  “I’m used to seeing that kind of stuff happening all of the time.”  He opened the door quietly and we noticed that the only light on came from the living room.  When we were both inside he closed the door as quietly as possible and locked it, he didn’t want to disturb anyone who was sleeping.  “Go into the living room, I’m sure that Carmen’s in there waiting for us.  She worries about me when she knows what I have to go through during the day…. Her husband actually is one of my colleagues so she kind of worries a lot about him too.  I’m going to get some water.  Want anything?”

          I nodded.  “I’ll have some water too please.”

          “Okay.”  He nodded as his hand slid from mine and we both went separate ways.

 

          As I walked into the living room, I noticed that Carmen was sitting on the couch and Lainie was sleeping on her lap.  Imhotep was on the floor and lifted his head to stare at me, still trying to get to know me.  I noticed a small pregnant orange little cat sleeping under the coffee table.  Carmen looked up at me with a worried look on her face.  “Is Louis okay?”

          I nodded.  “He went to go get us something to drink.”

          She nodded as she sighed in relief.  “I figured he would be but knowing the kind of job he does is worrisome.”

          I nodded with agreement, thinking back to how worried I was when I had to watch him run into the burning building.

          “Lainie wanted to stay up to see you two when you two got back but she didn’t make it past nine,” Carmen told me with a smile.

          I kind of smiled as well as I looked down at Lainie.  “I could see that…. Did you tell her about the mansion?”

          Carmen shook her head.  “With her being so young I didn’t want to worry her and knowing that she’s been through so much already I couldn’t do it.”

          I kind of nodded and sat on the opposite end of the couch.  Imhotep stood up and walked over to me.  He started sniffing me again and then laid his head on my lap, hoping I would pet him.

          “Imhotep, leave her alone…. I’m sure she doesn’t want you to bother her.”

          The dog lifted his head to look at Carmen for a moment then looked back up at me with his beady black eyes and rested his head on my lap again.

          I kind of laughed while Carmen shook her head.  “Sorry about him.”

          “It’s okay, my dog’s like this too.  I’m used to it.”  I placed a hand on the dog’s soft furry head and slowly slid my hand down his neck and onto his back as I lifted my hand to repeat.  His ears laid off to the side as I slid my hand down his back.  “Does that feel good?”

          Imhotep kind of stuck his tongue out as if he were letting me know that felt good.

          Louis walked into the room with a couple of cups and handed one to me.

          “Thank you.”

          “No problem.”

          Carmen kind of started to stand up, trying not to disturb Lainie.

          “I’ll take her,” Louis told Carmen as he set his cup on the table and moved over to Carmen.  He carefully took Lainie without waking her up and started to walk out of the room.

          “Thank you,” Carmen told him.

          “Not a problem, sis.”  He left the room.

          “How bad was the mansion?” Carmen asked.

          “It was horrible.  When we first arrived, the place was slowly starting to fill of flames…. Louis ran inside before it burst into completely…. I guessed he saved one of the maids.”

          “That’s so scary…. Louis doesn’t realize how worrisome that could be either…. Him and Eric both…. I don’t know how they do it.”

          “Louis mentioned that your husband works with him is that how you met him?”

          Carmen shook her head.  “No…. I met Eric from school…. We were eighteen when we married…. High school sweethearts actually…. It just so happened that him and Louis both went into