 
Alice...forever bad

By Joan Y Perkins
Malice

Joan Y Perkins

Copyright 2013 by Joan Y Perkins

Smashwords Edition
To my husband and children for all their love and support.
Cover created by Joan Y Perkins; Illustration on cover by: Gielis Dimitri - <http://vector4free.com/vectors/id/277>

All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

To contact the author, you can email her at serialauthor@gmail.com

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Purchase only authorized editions.
Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36
Prologue

Tick tock, along the clock

The walls are falling down.

See her run without her gun

No one else around.

Time goes fast into the past

Pulling at her heart

Her killing spree will only be

As much as she can cart.

The rhyme ran through Alice's head over and over again. She was going mad and she knew it. Her memories were only faint ones. The grasp on reality quickly lost its hold on her. How she managed her daily life was a mystery even to her. One thing she knew and knew well, she hadn't always been a serial killer. But now she was and she knew that to be a fact.

Shoving the Browning into her purse, she made her way down the back stairs out into the alleyway. Her shift was over and she was headed home. While at work, she kept her gun inside the back of her jeans. To be sure it wasn't seen, she wore an old Chambray shirt that was two sizes too big over her tank top at work. She never knew when she might find an opportunity to kill. Working for the Blue Eagle Nest on 6th Street was a way to meet lonely people. They freely gave up information about themselves in their drunken stupor and she was quick to inquire about relatives, loved ones, anything that would tell her whether they would be missed or not. That was very important. If no one missed them, she had no problem killing them.

It would be awful to hurt someone's feelings. She couldn't imagine the pain she would cause if someone she killed had a person that would grieve for him or her. That would stop her instantly from killing. Her victim had to be alone in the world, with no one that cared about them. That was a prerequisite for murder.

#  Chapter 1

## Saturday, August 22, 2009 - Austin, Texas

Frustrated and disillusioned, Alice threw her keys on the table. Her plans had failed. The guy was a no-show. The desire to bludgeon someone was stronger than ever, but here she was in her living room with no one to kill. Sixty hours of chatting online and the bastard never showed up.

Pulling out the keyboard to her computer, Alice began logging in when someone knocked at her door. _Ah maybe I'm in luck_. She shoved the keyboard back under the computer and grudgingly went to the front door. Placing her hand next to the peephole in the door, she peered through it. On the other side she could see a young man with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. _Who the hell's that?_ Yanking the door open, she stood looking face to face with a total stranger.

"Good afternoon, miss. I live across the hall in apartment 819. Is it possible you have any coffee filters I could borrow, not that you can really borrow coffee filters? I ran to the store earlier, but forgot to get some and really hate to get back out in the traffic." She could tell he was sizing her up and that he wanted more than damned coffee filters.

"My name is Jack Henley, by the way."

"Well, hello Jack Henley, I'm Alice. Come on in – I have filters if you don't mind the brown ones." Alice was a petite 5'2" with raven black hair and green eyes.

She hadn't always been a killer. One day, she was sitting next to a large window in Starbucks, sipping on her coffee when she witnessed a man grab a young girl off the street, shove her into a car and then drive off. Probably her dad pissed off at her for something or the other. Two days later, that little girl was on the front page. The article stated that she had been abducted and later her body found in a dumpster. Alice had unwittingly been the witness. It triggered a memory inside her that had been buried for years and years. In fact, when she started remembering things, she thought they might be false memories, so, off to the shrink she went. Under his guidance, she was hypnotized and the past started unraveling too fast for her to handle.

"Thank you so much, you really don't know what a big help this is for me. I have a ton of homework to get done tonight and just running to the store would have thrown me off an hour." Jack watched as she reached into the cupboard to retrieve the filters. He couldn't imagine the agency had this right. Alice was so tiny. How could a little woman such as this be a murderer?

Jack was Special Agent in charge of criminal investigations in Austin, Texas. He started with the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a lab technician in 1984. He worked in several posts, including assistant special agent in charge roles in Houston and in San Antonio, Texas. He'd only been living in her building a short while but hadn't noticed anything unusual about her comings and goings. As she turned, and before he could react, she swung a meat cleaver down and it lodged into his forehead. She watched as he fell to his knees, then on his side onto the kitchen floor. Blood began to pour down his nose, pooling onto the floor.

"You won't ever touch another little girl you sick bastard." Alice didn't see Jack Henley, instead she saw Uncle Ralph falling to the floor. As she grabbed kitchen towels from the drawer next to the stove, she could hear the neighbors banging on the wall – "quiet down in there" – it was muffled, but she could hear them. They were an obnoxious elderly couple who watched and heard everything. She had two neighbors that she had to be careful of. The elderly couple and Harriet, the neighbor across from her apartment. She had never intended to kill anyone in her apartment, but when she saw Uncle Ralph's face, she couldn't resist the urge.

As she knelt down and pushed the towels around the cleaver, she realized it wasn't Uncle Ralph at all. The bleeding stopped and the man began to moan. _Holy crap! What am I going to do?_

Alice wasn't afraid. Why should she be. After all, this wasn't her first murder. She was just caught off guard. As she began to drag the limp body to the bedroom, her doorbell rang.

_Great! Who's at the door now?_ Not wanting her victim to regain consciousness, but not ready to kill him either, she decided to ignore the bell. I have to start killing smaller men - I'm getting too old for this crap.

Now the banging and pounding began, repeated by doorbell rings. Alice didn't want to answer the door, but she knew if she didn't, whoever it was wouldn't go away. She had a feeling it would be the cops, after all, the neighbors banged on the wall and were famous for calling the cops on everyone. Dragging Jack's body into the bedroom was not the easiest task in the world, but she didn't have an alternative at this moment. She pulled him to the back side of the bed and left him there. Looking down at the floor, she could see a small trail of blood. There wasn't time to clean, so the hall runner would have to do. She pulled it from the hallway and placed it strategically over the blood.

She went back into the kitchen, grabbed a knife, stabbed herself in the hand, and wrapped it in a kitchen towel. Then she laid a pot on its side on the floor with the knife.

She quickly sat down on the floor and sopped some of the blood up with the kitchen towel, smearing it on her shirt as she re-wrapped her wound. She then took her shoe and streaked it across the blood.

"I'm coming, I'm coming – geez – hold your horses!"

Alice quickly lit a cigarette and while puffing on it, she unlatched the chain and three deadbolts later, the door swung open.

"Hello, I'm Harriet, your neighbor across the hall. I saw Jack come in here and wanted to ask him a question." Harriet tried to push herself through the door into Alice's apartment, but she stepped in front of Harriet and shoved her foot against the door.

"Excuse me. I don't recall inviting you in. If you have a question, for Jack, it will have to wait." Alice began to shut the door when Harriet put the palm of her hand against it to keep it from closing.

"It's a quick question, unless you have something to hide." It was obvious to Alice that she had just met the nosey neighbor the landlord warned her about. She was either going to get rid of her, or be forced to 'get rid of her'. Harriet's head stretched upward and she tried poking her head over Alice's to peer into the apartment.

Before Alice could respond, a door opened in the hallway to apartment 819 and a gentleman in his robe bent over to pick up his paper. "Why, good morning Ms. Maze. I see you are already trying to butt into someone else's business this morning. What's the matter? Did Jack slam the door too hard in your face this morning?" He smirked as he stood there rolling the rubber band from his newspaper, watching Harriet squirm.

Alice looked over at the new face and smiled as Harriet let go of the door. Hissing at him, she walked back to her apartment. "I'll have you know he didn't slam the door!" With that, she went inside and slammed her door.

Alice giggled and introduced herself. "I'm Alice Spence. I just moved in two weeks ago."

"Oh, I know. Harriet has apprised everyone of your every move since day one. I'd keep my distance from her if you know what I mean. I'm Charlie Greenburg, you can call me Charlie – knock on my door anytime – for coffee, to chat, or if you have any troubles with Harriet. Harriet refers to me as the gay-blade." He winked and smiled at Alice as he went back into his apartment.

Alice felt good. She liked Mr. Greenburg. But, Harriet? She could be a problem. Her hand began to ache as she closed the front door and re-latched everything. As luck have it, she stabbed herself for nothing. She picked up the knife and pot off of the floor and threw them into the sink.

Taking a draw from her cigarette, she leaned against the sink and started un-wrapping her wound. _Damn, I cut it deep_.

Knocking at the door startled her. Tossing her cigarette into the sink, she quickly wrapped the rag back around her hand and went to the door. Once again, Alice unlatched the chain and three deadbolts. Opening the door, she found herself facing two police officers.

Her heart started pumping fast. You couldn't tell from the exterior that she was panicking on the inside.

She smiled slightly at them and asked. "Can I help you?"

"Ma'am, we were told that there was a loud crash in here, some sort of disturbance." The two men stood at her doorway in grey uniforms. A small box rested on the right shoulder of the officer in front. She assumed it was one of those radios they used for dispatch.

Swinging her arm out and around the room, Alice said "Does it look as though anything has been disturbed in here, other than me cutting the shit out of my hand? I just threw a pot and knife in the sink because I was pissed off. Is that a crime?"

"No, ma'am, but we still need to come in and check things out, you know, take a look around."

"Whatever floats your boat." With that, Alice gave them a bow and waved them inside. Once inside the door, she began putting the chain latch back on and bolting the door.

"No need to lock the door ma'am, we're the police."

"Yes, damn it, I know!" Alice swung the gun out from under her shirt and popped off four rounds into the two un-suspecting cops.

Standing over them, she was pissed off. She would have put plastic down over the carpet had she known she was going to murder someone in her apartment. Now she had these two bleeders and a huge mess. She completely forgot about Jack. She was thankful that she still had the silencer on the gun and hadn't removed it from her jeans. The flowing blouse she wore was perfect for keeping the gun hidden. It took her a while to find someone who could alter a silencer for her that was short enough that it wouldn't poke her when she sat.

Laying the gun on the kitchen table, she pulled out two of her largest pots and filled them with water. There was a mess to clean up. Then she went to the bathroom, plugged the tub, and turned on the cold water. Sitting on the toilet, she smoked her cigarette, puffing and thinking about what to do next. As the water neared the halfway mark, she reached over and turned it off. Laying her cigarette carefully on the sink, she yanked her T-shirt over her head and pulled her pants off. As she climbed into the tub, she took a last draw from the cigarette and flicked it into the sink.

Somehow the cold water seemed to calm her down. Laying her head back against the cold tile, Alice began to fantasize how to take care of the two dead cops. She sunk her hand under the cold water and watched as the blood spread across the water, twirling and mixing slowly. She could chop them up and go around the city dropping of body parts into dumpsters, or she could reduce them to ashes in the basement incinerator. Neither sounded like it would work. She would probably get caught doing the dumpster thing because there was too big of a chance of someone seeing her car or her putting something into the dumpster. The incinerator was out because of the elderly couple.

Reaching behind the claw-footed tub, she grabbed a wash rag and pressed it against her hand. She closed her eyes and continued analyzing her dilemma. Damn it, how was she going to get them out of the apartment without those two or Harriet seeing her? They spied on everything anyone did, especially Harriet. _I have to get out of this place._ Then it hit her. She would eat them. Just cut them up like a pork roast and cook them. She had heard that human flesh was the best meat, now she would find out. She sank down under the water and opened her eyes staring up at the ceiling through the red-tinted water.

#  Chapter 2

Lying across the floor, Jack began to come to. "Good Lord, why does my head feel like it's cracked open?" Feeling his forehead, Jack was startled to find a something metal with a handle wedged into it.

_That crazy psycho bitch! She tried to kill me!_ Grateful to still be alive, Jack looked around the room. He reached up and grabbed the bed post as he staggered to get up. He felt blood trickle down his nose. He turned to the dresser mirror and couldn't believe he was looking at himself with a cleaver in his head. Blood began to get into his eyes and he knew he needed to get out of the apartment before she came back.

He slowly opened the bedroom door and could hear the water in the bathroom running. That's when he saw the two bodies on the living room floor. Crap, what the hell? He didn't have time to figure out when or how she off'd the two cops, he just knew that he needed to get out of the apartment as fast as he could; especially before she returned to finish him off.

Making his way across the living room and around the two officers, he slowly unlatched the chain, then the first deadbolt, the second and lastly, the third. He didn't quite make it opening the door. His head started spinning and he could feel his knees giving out from under him. As he grabbed for the hat rack, he lost his balance and fell face first, shoving the meat cleaver deeper into his brain. His body twisted and jerked as the life slowly drifted from his body.

Alice jumped from the tub and wrapped herself in a towel. In the living room lying next to the front door was Jack. She had forgotten about Jack. She was a bit relieved that she didn't have to finish him off. It looked as though he did that himself. Pounding on the wall started again and she could hear the neighbors yelling. "That's it! I've had it with you two." Grabbing the Browning .22 pistol from the kitchen table, she went into the bedroom, pulled a T-shirt out from her drawer and a pair of jeans from the closet. Taking another dish-towel from the drawer, she wrapped her hand to ensure that the bleeding wouldn't interfere with what she needed to do. She didn't think twice about shoving the loaded gun into the front of her jeans as she walked barefooted to her neighbors' door and began knocking lightly on it.

"Who is it?" A course elderly voice queried from behind the door.

"It's Alice, your neighbor." She stood in front of the door rubbing the gun under her shirt, waiting impatiently for them to open up. "I need a bandage for my hand, I cut it with a knife. Do you have one?" She leaned close to the door so as not to disturb any other residence. She already had three dead bodies and was about to have two more. She had more than she could handle at the moment, but was so mad, she felt she had no other choice but to get rid of them as well. It was their own fault, she decided.

The door cracked open just enough for the little old lady to peer out and ask to see her cut. Alice unwrapped it and shoved her hand forward and the elderly lady was taken aback from the deepness of the cut. She reached up and unlatched the door, so Alice could enter.

"Oh, my precious little girl. You poor little thing. How did you do this? Please, sit down, and I will get my emergency kit. Joseph, go get my kit. She's cut really bad." Alice looked at the old lady and suddenly felt guilt. Something she hadn't felt in a very long time. No one had ever spoken to her with such kind words, at least not since Freddie and Marie. Her hand shook as she extended it forward for the little old lady to look at.

Alice watched her as she lovingly looked over her hand and gently pressed on it. She figured the woman to be in her mid to late eighties. She hadn't had this much attention since she lived with uncle Freddie and aunt Marie. That seemed like ages ago.

"You're going to need stitches in this. Can you drive, or do you want Joseph to take you to the emergency room? I can bandage it up, but that won't take care of the wound. It's way too deep. I feel bad now that we were banging on your wall. Sometimes Joseph gets grumpy and he just takes his cane and whacks the wall." She leaned into Alice and whispered "He really pisses me off sometimes. Makes me want to knock him in the head! My name is Ruth and he's Joseph, my son. Everyone but me calls him Joe."

"Yeah, I've had those days too. Thanks for offering to drive me, but I can drive myself to the emergency room. You don't know how much I appreciate you fixing me up and I'll try to be quieter and not disturb your son. I should probably go now." Alice started thinking about the mess she had to clean up and suddenly felt the need to leave. Two more would be too much. Besides, they were harmless people. And the lady was nice to her.

Joe reappeared with a first aid kit and sat on the foot stool in front of Alice. "You weren't thinking of leaving before me bandaging you?"

Alice looked at him and shook her head no. She really did like them. They were both good people like her aunt and uncle.

Taking her hand gently, he looked at the wound. "Momma, can you get me one of those metal mixing bowls from the cabinet? I need to pour some Hydrogen Peroxide over this."

Alice fought the urge to run out of the apartment, there was a mess next door that also needed attending to. She watched Joe's face as he looked at her hand. He was bald, but looked as though he shaved it bald instead of being naturally bald. He was pretty muscular for an old man. She surmised he was in his sixties.

"I can be an ass sometimes, but I'm not really all that bad once you get to know me. Maybe you should come over and have dinner with us sometimes. It's always good to know your neighbors. Can never be too careful, especially with that serial killer on the loose. The police say they have a suspect in mind. I just watched it on the news."

Slowly pouring the hydrogen peroxide over her cut, he watched as it bubbled up . He continued washing the wound until the bubbling stopped. Ruth took the bottle of peroxide from him and handed him some sterile gauze pads to dry it. Gently pressing them over her hand, he could see that Alice was anxious. She seemed like a nervous little woman to him. He put a butterfly band-aide over her cut to pull it together. "This really should have a couple of stitches put in. I don't mind taking you to the ER."

"I hate doctors. I'm good with this."

"Well, let me at least put a wrapping of gauze around it, so it won't come undone for a while. If you need it to be re-dressed, come back over and I'll be happy to do it for you, cause I know it's hard trying to bandage a cut in the palm of your hand."

She watched him as he gently wrapped her hand and pinned the gauze. She was glad she decided against killing them. They were nice. _Crap...I have to go home and cut up bodies!_

Joe finished wrapping her hand and handed the metal bowl to his mother. "Now, that should hold you for a while. It should be re-dressed tomorrow. Don't feel awkward about coming over and having me re-dress it for you. We love the company and like I said, it's good to know your neighbors." He helped Alice from the sofa and told her to wait. Picking up a pen and pad from the end table, he quickly wrote their phone number and names on it.

"Take this in case you need anything. It's my cell number and our names. We're right next door and I'm good at fixing anything." He handed her the paper and saw the smile spread across her face. She was beautiful. Her beauty was so natural. No makeup, just pure beauty. Reminded him of snow white.

Alice said her goodbyes and excused herself from the apartment promising that she would come back when it needed to be re-dressed. Joe and his mom stood at their front door as Alice went back to her door.

"Honey, why don't you come over this evening for dinner? Ruth asked.

"I would, but I have a lot of work to do this evening." She hesitated at the door, knowing that behind it were Jack and the two officers. She didn't want them to see the bodies. She kept standing and waving at the frail old lady as she fumbled with her keys. Joe offered to come help her open the door. "No, you know what...I need to go check my mail. I'll be right back." With that, she turned and got onto the elevator.

"Honey, you should wear your shoes!" The elderly woman said as the elevator doors shut.

#  Chapter 3

Damn it, I hope they aren't still waiting there when I get back. Alice took the elevator down and walked down the corridor to the mailboxes. She inserted her key and opened the box. One small letter and a slip of paper were inside. She grabbed them out and headed back to the elevator.

She didn't see the man slip into the elevator until it closed. She felt something cold pressed into her side. As she started to look, he pressed harder and told her not to look if she didn't want to die in the elevator.

"My day has been shit, now it's just getting better!" She said as she tried holding her breath.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" His breath stunk and he was right up against her. She hated every minute of it and couldn't wait to get the son-of-a-bitch in her apartment.

"Don't worry about it, in fact, I'm sure you won't be as you're about to rape and kill my ass, you piece of shit!" Alice's mind switched off. It was fight or flight for her. Either way, he was not going to have her alive.

"Look, bitch, you don't know what I'm about to do to you. You'll wish that's all I did to you." Just as he got that out, the elevator doors opened. "This yo ur floor?"

"Of course it is ass-wipe, and that's my apartment right there." She started walking towards it when the next-door neighbors' door opened.

Joe peeked around his door . "Sorry, just wanted to make sure you're ok. Guess you have company now. Maybe he can get you to go have stitches." Joe smiled as he checked the guy out. He opened the door enough so his mom could look out too.

Seeing that he was giving the guy a long hard look and getting the impression that he was going to give her the third degree, she smiled at him and said "Oh, this guy? He's nobody really – just a co-worker. He's in the same field of work that I'm in and I'm going to show him some of my work that I brought home." Laughing, she continued. "He has no influence over me when it comes to going to the hospital, but thanks for your concern. Oh, by the way, I may take you up on your offer to have dinner later, if that's ok?"

Ruth and Joe's faces lit up. "Oh that would be wonderful. Joseph will set the table for three...or four if you'd like to bring your friend." Ruth was looking long and hard at the guy, trying to figure out what kind of business he and Alice were in. He looked disheveled and his brown eyes were dilated as if he were on drugs. She liked Alice, but was unsure of this guy. She immediately regretted asking if Alice wanted to include her friend.

"He won't be able to make it. He's going to be gone soon. But thank you for asking....right George?"

"Yeah, right." The man was pressing the gun so hard against Alice; she knew she was going to have a bruise in the morning.

"Well, I'll see you around six. Is that a good time?" Alice wanted to end the conversation and get her newly acquired friends back into their apartment so she could open the door.

"Ok, that's when we will have dinner ready. See you then." They closed the door and Alice could hear the latch slide across and the deadbolts engaged, locking them safely inside.

"Ok, bitch, fun time." He stood behind her as she unlocked the door.

"Oh you just don't know how much fun you are about to have." Alice opened the door, and walked inside, stepping over Jack's body. The man stood there with his mouth gaping open. He quickly shut the door and bolted it.

"What the fuck. " The dead bodies on the floor mesmerized him. Walking around them, and scratching his head, he chuckled. "Damn, bitch....this is bad-ass!" He reached over and grabbed Alice by the back of her hair and as he kissed her she brought a knee up into his groin. She could have just as easily pulled her gun out and popped him, but she had plans for his ass.

"Mother-fucker! You have a death wish, bitch!' He fell to the floor and lay next to jack, writhing in pain as he stared face to face with the dead man who still had a meat cleaver in his forehead. As he held onto his private parts, Alice walked over to him and started knocking on her door.

"You're crazy."

"Yes, George, I am what I am....if that's crazy, then so be it. You, on the other hand are a known serial killer, I'm the victim here. You forced me into my apartment, the cops showed up because the neighbors called them and you wacked them. But first, poor unwitting Jack showed up to borrow some coffee filters and you didn't like the way he looked, so you knocked the shit out of him with a meat cleaver." Alice walked back and forth taunting him and smiling. She knew her gun was in her pants with the silencer on it. It was about to be her surprise for "George". She just needed to buy some time so that the time frame would fit.

"Hey, you know, we could be a team, you and I. I don't have to off you."

She laughed at him hysterically. It struck her funny that he thought he still had the upper hand. That's when she realized he still had his gun. He was staring at her and pointing his gun at her, looking at her as though she was some kind of crazy person or boogie man that was about to do something to him. Well, he was right about that.

"You are stupid, George. You know that? Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"My name's Henry. Not George. How you figure I'm stupid, when I got the gun and you have three dead bodies in here? Looks to me like you're the stupid one."

"Well, the way I see it ....Henry....is that you forced me into my own apartment at gunpoint – now we both know that's a fact. I'm a petite little woman. There is no way that I could possibly overpower someone as big as you. Let alone Jack there, and the two police officers. I mean, look at them! They're huge men!" She began walking back and forth as she talked, making Henry nervous.

"Stop walking, bitch! Sit down on the floor before I shoot your ass!" He was beginning to sweat as he tried to figure out what he wanted to do. Normally, he knew. But, he had never run into anyone like Alice before. And to stumble upon a pool of death was incredible. He loved it. Nothing was going as he planned it. If he shot her, the couple next door would call the police....and look what they would find. Damn it!

"Hey now, I was being serious about us being a team. You were right about us having the same vocation and all. We both like the same things. I don't have to kill you, and could help you get rid of these three before you get caught."

Ah, now she had him. She could smell the fear in him. He was in bargaining mode. She crawled over to him and got right up to his face with her face. He leaned back onto the floor as she crawled on top of him.

"You know, Henry that sounds like a plan to me." As she spoke, her right hand pulled the pistol from her pants, but she left it under her shirt. "Hit me. I like it rough."

"You're crazy. I'm not going to hit you."

"Hit me asshole! I said I like it rough." With that, she kneed him again in the groin. He screamed and cursed her. He swung the gun across her face hitting her with the butt of it. As she fell backwards, her arm flew out from under her shirt and she lay there with the gun in hand, stretched out to her side, exposed for him to see. She watched, waiting for him to face her. The cut on her cheek stung. Blood began to drip from her cheek to the floor as she waited. Then she decided to just shoot him. She brought it up in front of her and as he lay on his side in pain looking the other way.

"Yeah, baby...that was good for mama....was it good for you?"

"You crazy mother-fucking bitch! I'm going to kill you!" Just as he started to turn towards her and raised his gun, she shot him in the arm. His gun went flying across the room.

"Look, baby. You want to be partners or not? When mama says she likes it rough, she doesn't like to be called crazy."

Alice was happy that she still had her silencer on; otherwise her neighbors would be banging on the wall again.

Rubbing his arm, he squinted at her. He wasn't so sure that she was telling him the truth. What was she planning on doing? He didn't trust her that's for sure. But, it would be more fun to have someone to share with. It would make things a lot more interesting to have a partner.

"I think we could work something out. But this rough stuff, I'm not so sure about. I get rough and want to kill. You sure you want to take that risk with me, cause I can't promise you that I wouldn't want to kill you at some point." He sat up and looked around for his gun. It had landed about two feet away from him. Not too far that he couldn't grab it if he had to. He began to plan his escape route if he needed one.

"Well, I can't guarantee you that I won't want to kill you either." No sooner than the words parted her lips, she walked over and retrieved his gun from the floor. It's as if she could read his mind, but then she threw her gun at him.

"Now, let me see you shoot two cops. So I know that you are for real. Pop the dead cops."

Oh, she was cunning. It stunned him as he picked up the gun and looked at it. He thought for sure when she got his gun, he was going to be dead. She was bad to the core like him, but a bit more twisted. He really liked this one.

"Why not with my gun?"

"Cause, stupid....mine has a silencer." He looked at the gun. Then a big grin came over his face. The game just changed in his favor.

"How you know I won't shoot you instead?"

"I don't. This is where the fun shit begins. Either you shoot them and I see you really do have balls, or you shoot me. If you shoot me, then what the fuck does it matter if you have balls or not?"

Henry decided he really, really liked her. She was way more messed up than he was. They were going to pair up and no one would be able to catch them. He figured they could work faster and watch each other's back. What did he have to lose? Getting to his feet and feeling weak from being kneed twice in the groin, he walked over to the first cop and shot him once. Then he walked over to the other one and shot him. For good measure, he shot jack in the back of the head.

Alice smiled at him as he came towards her. They were a team now. One for all, all for one. He reached behind her head and grabbed a handful of hair and just as he was ready to press his lips to hers, she shot him. Then she shot him again. As he fell to his knees and onto his back, he got off one round into her leg.

She shot him again and again until there were no bullets left. Throwing the gun down on top of him, she messed up her hair and started screaming like a crazy person. She went to her door and opened it wide.

#  Chapter 4

She limped to the elderly couple's apartment and banged loud on the door causing as much noise as she could.

Doors opened up all along the hallway. "Hey, did you hear gun shots?" Harriet had poked her head out and could see inside Alice's apartment. She let out a blood-curdling scream as she held her chest. "Oh my God! Oh my God!" Was all she could say.

"Open the door, open up! Help me. Please, God....someone help me!" Alice forced the tears to come out. She didn't have much trouble doing that. All she had to think about was uncle Ralph and she cried.

"Oh, my God!" Harriet was still reeling from seeing the dead bodies in Alice's living room. The hallway began to explode with people coming out to see what was going on.

"Mr. Greenburg, call the police!" Harriet Maze from Apartment 821 stood in her doorway with her hands over her mouth. Alice wondered why people covered their mouths when they were afraid. Was it because they didn't want to scream?

"You've got blood running down your jeans. Are you ok?" Harriet ran to Alice as the door she was knocking on opened.

"Alice! What happened to you? Oh, my dear, you have blood all over you. Joseph!" No sooner did his name part from her lips, Joseph was there picking Alice up and carrying her to the sofa. Harriet tried to enter into the apartment to no avail. The little old lady stood in her way and before she shut the door, she gave Harriet a "this is none of your business" look.

Alice began to really cry now and put her face into her hands as she lay on the sofa. Her stomach hurt and she felt like she was blacking out.

Joe took one glance at her leg and realized that Alice was really hurt. He told her to lay back on the sofa as he lifted her leg and put a pillow under it.

"I'm going to have to cut your pants leg to take a look. Are you ok with that?" He noticed how pale Alice was and knew that he needed to stop the bleeding. "Look, it doesn't matter whether you like it or not, I have to stop the bleeding or you, my dear, are going to go into shock."

Alice couldn't speak. She just nodded her head yes. Ruth ran into the bathroom to gather up bandages, scissors, gauze and antibiotics. By the time she got back, Joe had already ripped her jeans up to an inch past the wound. He could see it was a bullet wound.

"You've been shot! Looks like it went clean through. Lucky for you, it looks like it missed the bone. You're going to be ok. I just need to get the bleeding stopped and wrap it until the paramedics get here." Joe drew from his knowledge of being a paramedic in the Marines during the Gulf War. He'd seen many bullet wounds and had dug his share of shrapnel out of wounds. Although he had a cane, he rarely used it except to bang on the walls. He had lost his balance once, and the very next day Ruth returned from grocery shopping with one, insisting that he should start using it. He used it to appease her. Thankful he didn't have to dig shrapnel out of this beautiful girl, he put pressure above the wound to stop the bleeding.

While wrapping Alice's leg , he asked Ruth to open the door so that he could keep an eye on Alice's apartment. He wanted to make sure no one disturbed anything before the police got there.

Ruth had no sooner opened the door than Harriet Maze poked her head in. "Mr. Greenburg says there are four dead bodies in her apartment! Four! Two of them are cops. I didn't see any cops go into her apartment. Poor Mr. Henley's in there too, dead as a doornail. Has a meat cleaver in his head. Mr. Greenburg says. . ." Before she could finish her sentence, Joe stood up and put his arm around Harriet.

"Mother, put pressure on the bandage while I take care of something." Joe walked Harriet out of their apartment and down the hallway to Harriet's apartment. Leaving her there, he continued over to Alice's apartment. Reaching in, he shut her door. "No one needs to be going in there or disturbing anything. This is a murder scene and if you want your asses hauled down to the police station, that's exactly what's going to happen if you go in there. You want your DNA found in there? I think not. Go on, go back inside your apartments. I'm sure the police will be by to visit all of you."

"Who do you think you are telling us what to do?" Harriet Maze stood in her doorway in her housecoat and slippers. Her hair up in rollers and a hot cup of coffee in hand, she motioned towards Alice's door and said, "I knew that woman was trouble the day she moved in. I saw that she only had one suitcase. Never brought anything else in there."

"You spend too much time peering out your peephole Ms. Maze. You need to get yourself a man to distract you from your nosiness."

Harriet slammed her door shut and the whole hallway filled with laughter. They all knew Harriet was nosey, but no one had ever told her to her face to mind her own business except for Mr. Greenburg.

Joe turned to the others and asked "Does anyone else have a problem with me shutting Alice's door?" The hallway cleared out as people returned to their apartments and shut their doors.

Charlie Greenburg remained in the hallway. "I called the police and an ambulance. I saw all the blood on Alice and was afraid she may be hurt. They've dispatched both. I stood in the doorway so that I could give them whatever details I could. If you or Alice need anything, I'll be inside. Please, let me know how Alice is doing."

"Alice has a bullet would. The bullet went through her leg. I've stopped the bleeding for now. Thanks man, for calling the paramedics. I was hoping someone did while I was working on her. I better get back and make sure it doesn't bleed more until they get here. I'll keep you posted."

Returning to his apartment, Joe left his door open so that he could keep watch as he finished mending Alice's leg.

This might be the end of her killing spree. She wasn't sure. All she knew was that she was beginning to have emotions that she never had before, or at least not for a very long time. Memories were flooding back to her faster and faster. Her rage had boiled over into a killing spree that she had no control over. Now she had a mess of dead bodies in her apartment. Four dead men. She wasn't sure she could get out of this one. She would do her best though.

Alice began to cry harder as Ruth tried to console her. She cuddled Alice's head to her bosom and stroked her hair. "It's going to be ok, honey. You're ok now. Joseph and I are here for you and no one is going to hurt you." Alice melted into her arms and cried.

Joe disappeared into the kitchen returning with a tray filled with hot tea and cookies and sat them down on the coffee table. He knelt down beside Alice and poured her a cup of tea. Pressing the cup into her hand, he told her to drink it. "Tea is great for calming the nerves, and I've never known a person that couldn't use a cookie!"

She forced a smile at him and thought how glad she was that she hadn't hurt them after all. They were good to her and for her. She sipped the tea and nibbled at the cookie he handed her. It was obvious that he took pleasure in making other people happy. Why hadn't she had parents like that growing up? Instead, she had Uncle Ralph who was sneaking into her room at night and doing things to her. He made her promise not to tell or else he would slit her aunt's throat from ear to ear. For a split second, she remembered Freddie and Marie and baking cookies. Then it was Uncle Ralph's face.

#  Chapter 5

The elevator doors opened up and people began to pour out. First out were two paramedics with a gurney. The second set of elevator doors opened up and ten people walked out. Once again, the hallway began to fill with people and noise. Knocks on doors, people talking, equipment being sat down, gurney's brought in, and flashes of light filled the hallway from pictures being taken. Her thoughts were brought back to the present when she heard her name.

"Hello, I'm detective Strout of APD. Are you the people who called? Whose apartment is 818? Is that Alice Spence's apartment? The lady in 821 told me I could find her here."

Detective Strout stood in the doorway of the elderly couple. He was a husky man and stood about five ten. He didn't look very threatening to Alice. He had a baby face with a clef chin and dimples on each cheek. She wondered if he would believe her or if he would see through her and know what really happened in the apartment.

Jumping up from the edge of the sofa, Joe extended his hand. "Hi, I'm Joe Camarillo. That's Alice Spence's apartment. She's been shot, so if the paramedics are here, they need to take a look at her leg. I've stopped the bleeding and wrapped it up." Joe shook the detective's hand as he spoke. He then nodded towards Alice's apartment and told him about shutting the door to keep onlookers out.

"Would you mind walking with me to her apartment? I have a few questions for you." John took out his notepad and pen as he turned to walk to Apartment 818.

"Sure thing." Joe followed behind as he reached back to shut his door. On second thought, he left the door open so that the paramedics would know where to go.

The hallway was exploding with people and equipment, each one assigned to a different task, some taking pictures, others gathering physical evidence, bagging, tagging and sending the evidence off to the labs for analysis. Pushing past police officers, paramedics, forensic teams and the medical examiner, three paramedics came towards Joe and John pushing a gurney, with a medical box on top. Behind them, more paramedics were entering Alice's apartment along with the medical examiner who John figured would immediately pronounce the poor souls dead, all of them being poor souls except for one. Joe pointed back to his apartment and told the paramedic the extent of Alice's wound and her state of mind, and that he believed she was in shock.

Before John could question Joe, Carl poked his head out of Alice's apartment. "Hey John, come here. You have to see this. I think we finally caught our serial killer!"

Carl "Barney" Baker stood in the entry way excitedly waiting for John's response. Everyone started calling him Barney the day he shot himself in the foot with his own gun, which he thought was unloaded. They made fun of him and kidded him about unloading his gun and told him to keep one bullet in his pocket, just in case he needed it.

Five years was a long time to be harassed, but he did his best to make light of it and started cracking back at the guys "Nip it! Ya hear me? Nip it!" The whole department would roar with laughter when he did the Fife quotes.

It didn't help matters that he stood 5'10" and was only 140 pounds, looked a lot like Mick Jagger, and was high strung. He got excited easily and death excited him more. That was the reason he joined the police academy. He aspired to being something that his dad could boast to others about. In his head, he could still hear Dick Chastain saying to his dad; "That wimp kid of yours sure is scrawny. I don't think he's going to amount to much, Baker. Yep, I think he should have been a girl, don't you think? Looks like you got stuck with a runt." His dad would tell Dick that he didn't care what Carl ended up being when he grew up, just so long as he grew up with morals and was healthy and happy in what he chose as his profession. He remembered Dick's face getting red when his dad refused to get angry at his comments, turning the tables on Dick, making him feel like an ass.

Sam Baker would always end his conversations with Dick with a handshake, a pat on the back and his favorite saying; "God bless you Dick, may you live a long, fruitful life." He believed in karma, that nothing good ever came back to you for doing something bad. So, he lived his life accordingly, never getting angry at someone else's way of handling things. He saw only the good in people.

Over the years, Dick's son, Charlie, had ended up in trouble with the law several times. Six years ago he was busted for possession of illegal substances. He had spent three years in prison for that. Now that Carl was in law enforcement, Dick hardly spoke to his dad.

#  Chapter 6

Stepping over Jack Henley, John saw the suspect laying face up, eyes wide open with a look of surprise on his face. "How on earth could a little woman like Alice over take a huge man like this? Poor thing must have been scared to death." John looked down at the suspect and wondered how he managed to get inside Alice's apartment and on top of that, how in the world the other three ended up in here and dead.

"Looks like he shot each officer three times. He shot this guy over here once and lucky for Miss Spence, she only got a shot to the leg. Not sure why he chose a meat cleaver on this guy and then shoot him in the back of the head." Carl was quickly giving John a run-down on each victim as John walked around the room.

"Does anyone know who the meat cleaver guy is?" John walked around Jack to get a better look and noticed a wallet in the back of his jeans. Pulling out a kerchief, he worked the wallet out of the back pocket and opened it. Inside were several credit cards, library card, key card to the apartment building and an FBI card.

"Jack D Henley." Folded up behind one of the credit cards were eight one hundred dollar bills. John handed the wallet and its contents over to the forensics team so that they could process the wallet.

"What the hell is an FBI agent doing in this building?"

"I can tell you." John looked up and saw a tall slender man in a pinstripe suit standing about six feet inside the door. Who the hell wore pinstripe suites anymore and who let this guy in?

"Who let you past security? A nod of his head and John's men knew he meant for them to boot the guy out and retain him until he could speak with him.

Pulling a bi-fold from his breast pocket, he opened it up to show them his FBI badge. "I'm Special Agent Gene Farris. That's my man there on the floor, and if you don't mind, this case is now a Federal investigation."

"Well, since you asked, I do mind, and what the hell is that supposed to mean, 'This is a Federal Investigation'?" John could feel his blood pressure rising. Nothing pissed him off more than to have done a lot of hard work and then have to hand it over to some dim-witted agent. They come in whenever they think they can take credit for something that will put them in the spotlight. Months of hard work, handed over to the FBI? Nope, not going to happen, not on my watch. But more than that, he recognized the voice. It was a voice from his past that he hated.

"Carl, show the man out."

"We'll be talking soon. I expect all the files to be turned over immediately. Your captain will let you know who to make them available to." Farris didn't put up much of a fight as Carl led him out of the room to the elevator doors.

John waved his hand over his head and never looked up. He wanted to bust the guy's head open. He also knew that he had no choice in the matter if his Captain told him to turn over the files.

Standing at the elevator doors, Carl noticed Gene scribbling his name on a notepad. "I hope you aren't going to hold this against me for removing you from the room. I'm just doing my job you know. John's been working overtime trying to find this guy and you have to admit that it's upsetting when you've put that much hard work in and then have to give up all you've done to another agency that hasn't been upfront with you about having an on-going investigation. Why do you guys do that? Why not just tell us in the beginning so that we can all put our resources together?"

Gene looked over the top of his glasses at Carl and gave him a long hard look, then went back to writing in his notebook.

"Asshole." was all Carl could mumble. "Fucking asshole."

"What did you say?" Gene removed his glasses, folding them and returning them to their case and then into his suit pocket. "Did I here you call me an asshole?"

What a fucking arrogant schmuck. Then next thing Carl knew, he was in the guys face and yelling "YES...YES I called you an ASSHOLE, motherfucker!"

This was so out of character for him, but he found himself out of control and wanting to pound the guys face. He hadn't realized his blood pressure was building up from the time he started talking down to John until he gave him the long hard stare like he was nothing. It was the disrespect that got under Carl's skin. He was sick of it. Sick of being bullied at the station and this guy's smug demeanor was the last straw.

Poking his finger in the guy's chest, Carl's screaming could be heard down the hallway back to Joe's apartment. Joe rushed down to Carl and pulled him away from the agent just as the elevator doors opened. Gene quickly got in, straightened his tie, and told Carl "YOU...You will hear from me again...count on it!" The elevator doors shut as the agent was running his fingers through his hair trying to straighten it back out.

"Son, I don't think that was the smartest thing you could have done. You may have just sabotaged your own career." Joe had his arm wrapped around Carl's shoulder and was guiding him back towards his apartment. "I think you need to come in and have a cup of coffee and settle down a bit."

"You're right. I've never lost control like that in my life. That guy was just so damned smug about everything and the way he talked down to John just pissed me off. When I asked him a simple question, he looked at me like I was a piece of shit standing too close to him. I just lost it. But you know, I have to say, it made me feel good to get in his face. I think that's the best I have ever felt in my life." Carl emotions were mixed, worried about being reprimanded but happy that for the first time in his life, he stood up to someone and let them have it.

"Coffee sounds good, man, but I have to get back to work. Thanks for showing up, I may have pounded the guy into the ground if you hadn't stopped me. I owe you one." Carl shook Joe's hand and started making his way back through the crowd of onlookers and officers to Alice's apartment.

About mid-way down, he saw the paramedics coming out of Joe's apartment rolling the gurney with Alice in it. He stopped them and assigned one of the officers to go with them to the hospital and stay with her until he or John could question her.

Alice began to cry uncontrollably now. Ruth and Joe were beside her trying their best to console her. "It'll be alright honey; we are going to meet you there and won't leave you alone." Ruth smoothed Alice's black sweat soaked hair back out of her eyes.

"Am I in trouble?" Alice's mind was a blank. She knew she was in pain, but suddenly didn't know why or where she was. She was afraid...very afraid. "Please don't leave me alone."

# Chapter 7

John walked over to the two cops lying on the floor. One was face up, the other face down. One had a bullet between his eyes, the other, a bullet to the back of his head. The other bullets were in their chests, entering the front and exiting the back. They had definitely been shot again after they fell.

As Carl walked back down the hallway towards Alice's apartment the pungent odor of death stung his nose. It made him anxious, like a hound-dog on a hunt, all excited and ready to get this investigation in front of the court so that all the dots would finally connect. This dead guy inside met his justice through Alice. His DNA alone would solve many of the serial killings around town. Processing the apartment would take a while. Everything had to be done perfect so they could prove this was indeed the serial killer they'd been looking for.

Standing in the doorway were two CSI agents. They were tagging the bagged contents they had collected. They smiled at Carl as he walked pass them, the girl agent gave him a wink as he went by. She had heard the commotion in the hallway and saw Carl in the FBI's face. This was a second first for him. A woman flirting with him was out of the norm. He couldn't help but be a bit distracted by her attention.

"Carl, take a look at this. These two were shot twice in their chest, and then sometime later one took it between the eyes, the other in the back of the head. The other guy took a meat cleaver to his head, causing death, but was also shot later in the back of the head. So, we have three murdered men who somewhat later were each shot one more time. Well, at least in the case of the two cops. Henley over here only got shot once. Looks like an after-thought."

"You're right. Wonder what killed the cleaver guy, the whack to the head, or the bullet? " Carl Baker had been the first officer on the scene, and was sharp. He was reprimanding himself for not seeing something before it was pointed out to him. He took pride in being the one in charge, telling everyone what he found, and showing off his honed skills. Now, he was the one being shown something that he missed.

"Won't know until the autopsy comes back. Until then, we need to interview Ms Spence to find out what the hell went on in here. I'd like to know the order of the murders in here.

"You say they were all killed, then shot again later? How can you tell? That's kind of morbid."

"Well, the bloods are different. See over here? This pool is coagulated, and this pool is different, not much blood around this wound. The victims were already dead when they were shot to the heads, all except for this one." John pointed down at the suspect who's facial expression showed how caught off guard he was when he got shot. "I'd say that it's about thirty minutes or so apart. Therefore, I'm wondering why the bullets to the heads. If they're already dead, why shoot them again? Something is a bit off here. Don't you think so, Carl?"

Looking down at the suspect, he asked, "Why would you shoot someone you already killed? Were you tormenting Alice? Is that it, trying to make her so frightened that you could do anything you wanted to her? I guess she showed you, you piece of shit." John smiled at Carl because he'd never heard him speak that way before. There was a little tiger in there after all.

The forensic team administrator came over and tapped John on the shoulder. "I think I know why. I need to show you something. This was in his waistband." His gloved hand held up a long strand of black hair that had part of a scalp still attached. "I think this belongs to victim number eleven, the scalped victim. This bastard never did anything the same. That's why it was so hard to catch him. I think he did everything he could to change it up, to throw us off. That's why the double shooting. Kill them, and then later shoot them again. This guy is better off dead. It keeps him out of the system and out of my damned pockets."

John also hated the fact that the justice system had turned the prison systems into nothing but a glorified spa for criminals. Their food was handed to them, they had cable TV, a gym, a library, education, medical, dental, pretty much everything freely given to them at the tax-payer's expense.

"Bag it. I need to go to the hospital and talk with the only survivor. Does anyone here know which hospital they took Ms. Spence to? "

"She went to Seton Hospital. The ambulance just left. Mr. Camarillo and his mother went to the hospital with her and I assigned an officer to stay by her side until we could question her. She seemed incoherent when they were wheeling her out."

"Ok, let's go." Pointing to the guy bagging the scalp, he added "Don't forget to send me a report on all this - and I want it on my desk ASAP - MY DESK - not anyone else's." Shaking his head, the forensics guy knew what he meant. He didn't want it to go to the FBI first either.

#  Chapter 8

Alice watched the police officer as he sat next to her in the ambulance. The two paramedics tried to make light conversation with her on their drive to the hospital, but Alice wasn't up for small talk. She was wondering where she was and how she got hurt.

"Man, I don't know how you managed to overpower that guy. He was at least six three and weighed about two fifty." Alice grimaced and shut her eyes. Maybe if she shut her eyes the questions would go away. Maybe she would pack up as soon as she left the hospital and leave this city. But, where would she go. She had no one. Uncle Ralph was long gone and he would be the last person she would even ask for help. Her parents were dead. They had been killed in a car accident when she was six years old. It was at that moment that her life changed forever.

"Hey guys, don't ask her questions. That's for the detective. I don't want her saying anything until he has a chance to talk to her." The officer sat on the small bench in the back of the ambulance with the two paramedics. The rest of the ride was in silence.

****

On February 3, 1977, Alice's parents were to go to Dallas for their tenth anniversary. Theodore "Teddy" Spence's twin brother Fredrick "Freddy" and his wife Marie agreed to watch Alice for the week. Marie was sweet and wanted badly to have children, but was never fortunate enough to get pregnant. She was excited about having four year old Alice stay with them for a whole week. She already had plans for them to bake cookies, build a dollhouse, go shopping in town and have lunch by themselves at a special restaurant she had picked out just for them. She wanted to make this time was just as special for Alice as it was for her parents and of course relish in having a little girl to dote on.

Alice woke up around 3 am on her first night there. She was confused and didn't know where she was, so she began to cry. Freddy woke up and shook Marie. "Marie, I think I hear Alice crying. Listen."

Marie went into Alice's room and got under the covers with her. "Hi honey. It's Aunt Marie, are you homesick for mommy and daddy?"

Alice looked at her and with her little hand rubbed Marie's face "Nope. I just di 'nt know where I was. I was dreaming that a monkey came and got me and put me in a cage. When I woked up, I di 'nt know where he put me, so I got scared til I saw you. Then I membered where I was."

Marie smiled at her, thinking how cute she was and how cute her pronunciation of didn't had its own little accent. She cuddled against Alice and told her she would stay with her the rest of the night so that the monkey wouldn't be bothering her in her dreams. Within minutes, Alice was fast asleep.

Marie helped Alice pass the time by letting her help make cookies. They would sit at the kitchen table and roll out the dough. Marie handed Alice the box of cookie cutters and told her to pick out her favorite. She chose the star. She said she liked the story that her daddy read to her about the stars in the sky and how she could make a wish and it would come true. So, she chose the star.

They must have made over three dozen cookies when the phone rang. Uncle Freddy picked up the phone and said "Yeeelllowww.......what? When? Where? Which one?" Lowering his voice, and turning his back, Freddy leaned against the door frame. "I'll be right there. No, she's here with us. Yes. Ok. No, don't worry about that. I'm leaving right now." He hung the phone up and his face was ashen. Alice had never seen him look sick before, but he really looked sick now. Tears began to run down his cheeks as he knelt beside her.

"Honey, you are going to be spending the night with us tonight. Is that ok with you?" He smoothed Alice's hair as he moved her star aside so that he could pick her up. Alice knew something was wrong, but she didn't know the full impact that it would have on the rest of her life.

Alice wrapped her small arms around her uncle's neck and said "I love it here, can I make some more star cookies for mommy and daddy for tomorrow when they pick me up?"

She felt her uncle start to shake as Marie took her from him. She could see his eyes were red and tears were falling fast down his now red cheeks. She reached over and touched his tears. "Don't cry, uncle. I'll make you some cookies too!" She leaned over from her aunts arms and gave him a big kiss on his wet cheek.

Marie put Alice at the table and asked her to roll out some more cookie dough. She told her that she and Uncle Freddy needed to go have a talk and she would be right back. As Alice began to roll out the dough, she could hear her Aunt Marie scream and then start to cry. That's when she knew that something bad had happened. She got down from the chair and crept to the hallway to listen.

"What happened?" Marie was covering her mouth with a handkerchief and was visibly shaken. Uncle Freddie sat her on the sofa and sat next to her.

"They don't know. Elizabeth is in the hospital and they can't find Teddy. They are going to drag the river where the car went in. I'm going to head to the hospital to see about Elizabeth. It doesn't look good, Marie....It looks really bad." Freddy began to cry again and they sat there for what seemed a lifetime holding each other. It wasn't until Alice tried to slip back into the kitchen that Freddy noticed her.

"Hey, pumpkin, come here." Freddy clapped his hands together as he always did for Alice and held his arms open wide for her to jump into his lap. Alice stood at the doorway, hesitating.

"It's ok, baby. Sometimes adults get sad and cry. I promise you, we are ok. Come give Uncle Freddy a big hug and kiss because he could sure use one right now, and so could Aunt Marie." Alice ran to both of them and kissed them both over and over again. It made her feel good that her kisses would make their tears go away. Just like when her daddy would kiss her skinned knee and make her pain go away. She could do the same for them. She loved that.

#  Chapter 9

## Seton Hospital

Hospitals weren't Alice's idea of fun. She looked around the room as they wheeled her into the ER. The waiting room was lined with people waiting their turn. The décor was the standard bland blues and greens for a supposedly calming effect. She hated the smells. As she lay on the gurney, she took inventory of the people sitting in the chairs. One had a blood-soaked towel wrapped around his hand. A Mexican woman with long black hair was bouncing her baby on her knee and jabbering in Spanish with two other women. Across from them was a man rocking back and forth, his hands crossed in front of his chest. A line formed in front of a desk and above it was a sign that read Surgery check-in.

Alice's head began to ache. She looked back at the women and imagined killing them. Then she focused on the man in the corner. His hair was thinning on top. His jeans were filthy and ragged. She figured he was a homeless person. Their eyes met for a brief second, then he jumped up and ran out of the ER. Wonder what his problem is? She didn't know and right now, she didn't really care. Her gut hurt more than her leg from worry. How was she going to get out of this one? Then she heard it, echoing in the room, spilling out of the speakers... "All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, you better run, baby run, faster than my bullet....." The room started spinning and her head fell back on the gurney, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. Her whole body began to convulse.

"Hey! Hey, no..." The paramedic picked up Alice's arm and started rubbing her arm. "I think she's going into shock." The nurses grabbed the gurney and pulled it through the double doors into the ER. As the orderlies and the nurses grabbed the sheets under Alice and transferred her from the gurney to a bed, her body began to convulse even more violently.

"What the hell? She was shot in the leg!" The paramedic looked at his clipboard and back at his partner. They both stood there stunned. Neither had checked her for any other wounds. As far as they knew she had none other than the leg wound and hand wound. They had asked her the routine questions and they were all negative.

The ER Dr ordered them out of the room and checked Alice's vitals. "I want a Prolactin blood test done immediately to determine if she has epilepsy. Is any of her family members in the waiting room? " He looked at the officer who was standing just inside the ER.

"I'm officer Johnson. I know that her neighbors who live next door to her are here, but I don't believe any relatives are. They're the Camarillo's.

"Can you go get them for me? They may know some of her medical history." The doctor nodded towards the door but the officer didn't budge.

"I've been assigned to stay with Ms Spence and I can't leave her until my supervisor relieves me. The Camarillo's are a son and his mother. He's in his sixties...and she looks to be in her late eighties. You can't miss them, he's a bald headed guy about 6' 2 and his mother is about 5'4 with solid white hair."

"Ok. Mark, can you go find them and bring them in here?" He asked the orderly who had helped put Alice in the bed.

"Sure thing, Doc." As he left to retrieve the neighbors, another person came in with a tray full of tubes and syringes.

"Hi, honey, I'm here to draw blood." He looked down at Alice but received no response. He looked back at the Dr. "I hate drawing blood when they're un-responsive. Makes my job harder." It was unnerving to him to draw blood from someone who was either in a coma or in shock, but he managed to do it.

Dr Burman pulled the covers back away from Alice's leg and examined it. He gently pulled the gauze away from the wound and inspected the opening. "Looks like her tibia may have been fractured. I'll need an x-ray to be sure. It may not require surgery but. at least the bullet went straight through." He put fresh dressing around the wound. When he was done, he placed the blankets back over Alice. He then examined her hand and determined it needed two stitches.

"Poor girl. She looked like a frightened little rabbit when they were wheeling her out of the apartment." Officer Johnson unwrapped a piece of gum as he watched the Dr stitch up her hand.

"How did she manage a bullet through the leg?"

"We don't know yet. Just a lot of assumptions right now. Seems as though the Sixth Street serial killer got more than he bargained for when he got into her apartment. He's dead now - thanks to this little woman." Johnson smiled and wished he could have had a birds-eye view of what went on in that apartment. "This guy's been hard to catch, and it took a tiny woman to bring him down. But, we are all thankful he's off the streets."

"Wow. I'm sure she's traumatized. I think I'll have a resident Psychologist come in and talk to her."

As the technician gathered up his samples after labeling them, he left, passing the orderly and the Camarillo's.

"Hey Doc, this is Joe and Ruth Camarillo."

Joe extended his hand out to the Dr and asked how Alice was doing.

"I was hoping you could give me some medical background on her. She had a seizure about ten minutes ago. She's sedated right now and I've ordered blood tests to determine if she has epilepsy. The wound will heal in time. Right now, I'm unsure if the tibia has been fractured, and have ordered it to be x-rayed. I may need to do surgery if it's splintered. Can either of you tell me anything about her medical history? If not, do you know how I can contact a relative?"

"We just met her today. She's only lived in our apartment building for about six months and pretty much keeps to herself. I've never seen anyone come to visit her. I'm sorry, I don't know any more than that." Joe looked over at his mom who had made her way over to Alice's bedside. She was holding her hand and telling her that everything would be ok.

"I should have baked some cookies and gone over to her apartment when she moved in and introduced myself. What kind of a neighbor am I? Poor little thing, all alone with no one. Not even a neighbor that cared enough to welcome her."

"Come on mom, let's go back to the waiting room. " Joe took his mom and started out of the room. "Please let us know when she's taken to a room. We aren't going to leave her. We promised her we would stay by her side. She was so scared."

Alice lay there, aware of people around her, but she couldn't focus enough to understand what was being said. As hard as she tried, she couldn't open her eyes. She felt the needle drawing blood, the Dr examining her leg and muffled talking What's wrong with me? Why can't I move?

In her head she sang All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, you better run, baby run, faster than my bullet. Fading into sleep, Alice began dreaming. Her dreams brought her back to Aunt Marie and Uncle Freddy. Safer times, loving times.

#  Chapter 10

The drive to the hospital was a short fifteen-minute drive. Taking Mopac to 38th street, Carl told John about his incident with Agent Farris. John was impressed. He couldn't help but smile and wish he had been in the hallway when that went down. But then, he had to wonder how much of this on Carl's part was exaggerated. He knew how much Carl wanted to fit in. Smacking the back of Carl's head with his open hand, John said "Way to go my boy!"

Carl was smiling. John noticed him smiling from the time they left the apartment complex. He couldn't help it. As he stopped at the ticket machine to get his parking ticket, he said "I don't know what got into me. Guess maybe just being sick of being picked on." He looked straight ahead hoping that John wouldn't start on him like he did hundreds of times before. John had been there for him so many times to defend him from the other guys, encouraging him to stand up to the guys and tell them to shut their pie-holes. Carl could never muster up the courage to do that. He only wanted to work in a peaceful environment. Not being a fighter, he never understood the mentality behind being mean as a way of male bonding.

John didn't say anything. He was busy looking over his notes and jotting down a few questions he didn't want to forget to ask Alice. The parking garage was pretty packed. They ended up parking on the roof of the garage in the sun. When you think of heat waves, you don't actually expect to see them, but today, they were visibly shooting out from the cars lined up in a row on the top of the roof. It was hot outside. Carl reached back behind him to pull out the sun-shield that he spread across the window to keep the car cool.

"Why do you do that? I have never understood why anyone would take the time to put one of these things up. Does it really make that much of a difference?" John was more annoyed at the time it took to put it in the window and flip down the visors than the device itself. It didn't help that Carl hit him in the head with it when he took it out of the back seat.

"Sorry, man. I didn't mean to hit you with it."

"No problem. I'm just in a pissy mood. Guess you can figure out why. Let's go find Alice."

It was a short walk from the car to the exit. They could either go down the stairs, or take the elevator. Carl pushed the button to the elevator in the garage. It was too hot to go down the stairs. As they entered the elevator, a stocky man stepped out, gave John a glance, then grabbed his arm and said "HEY! John! What are you doing here, man? I thought you would be dead by now. After dumping Marissa last year, I thought her brother would have found you and kicked your ass." His massive arms wrapped around John giving him a bear hug as his laughter echoed in the garage.

"Hell, man - you didn't tell me Marisa was a psycho! I had to dump her. She was talking marriage on our second date and kids on the third. I couldn't run fast enough."

Carl noticed the tattoo on the man's arm. It was a rose on the inside of his forearm with vines wrapping around the upper part circling back towards his elbow. Beneath the rose it said ASS. He had an eye for details. He wondered what the significance of the tattoo was and why would anyone have ass tattooed underneath a rose? Didn't make much sense.

"Oh, Gillis... This is Carl Baker, my rookie trainee. Carl, this is Gillis Williams."

"Oh, yeah...I heard a lot about you." Carl stuck his arm out to shake Gillis' hand.

Taking his hand, Gillis gave John a look then said "Well, you can't believe everything this guy tells you. It can get you into serious trouble, you know."

As much as Carl would have liked to say I know him pretty good, he couldn't honestly say that since he'd only known John for 6 months. In those six months, he only knew three things to be true about John. One, he had been married once, two, he was very dedicated to his job and three, he had a temper that was just underneath the surface that he could see would eventually explode some day. He didn't know when, but he knew it would happen. He saw flashes of it here and there. The last flare he saw had occurred just hours ago at Alice's apartment.

"Don't ever get on John's bad side. If you don't know that by now, I should warn you - he has a hell of a temper and if he's mad at you, you will be the first one to know it. I know, I've been on his bad side many a time, some from misunderstandings, and others from my own stupidity. Then there is this one time...." Gillis let his voice fade off as he raised his eyebrow and looked at John.

"You don't need to bring that up again." Gillis could still push John's buttons. It didn't take much to get his blood pressure to rise. "It's good to see you again, Gillis. We're on our way to interview an almost victim of the 6th street serial killer. She's the one that got away. In the process, she killed his dumb ass."

"Really, how the hell did she manage to overtake a serial killer? He really messed up on this one. Is the girl going to be ok? I know this guy was changing it up every time except for the fact that he chose the victims that worked, visited or lived near 6th street." Gillis missed being John's partner.

"Well, if you'll slow down a minute, maybe I can answer. Why don't you walk with us while I fill you in?" They all three got into the elevator and as it made its way down to the ground floor of the parking garage, John began to bring Gillis up to date on everything he knew at this point.

"What did you say her name was again?" Gillis' heart began to race and he began to get dizzy. Upon hearing the name Alice Spence, his whole demeanor changed.

"Hey man, are you ok?" John grabbed Gillis' arm as he leaned against the doorway of the elevator.

"Yeah, I'm under a Dr's care still for this high blood pressure. That's where I just came from, my Dr's office \- damned heart thing. You know I was in the hospital for a week and had a stint put in one of my valves."

"No, why didn't you call me. I would have come to see you. You are such a hard-ass sometimes. No point in taking any chances man, so why don't you go back and have your blood pressure checked again." John saw the sweat pouring down the sides of Gillis' face and him wringing his hands. "Seriously, I think we need to go right now to your Dr's office. I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but you look like shit my friend. I'm sure one of the pretty nurses wouldn't mind checking it for you while we're questioning Ms Spence."

"Did Alice say how long she's been living in Austin?" Gillis pulled out a note pad from his suit jacket.

"I didn't have chance to ask anyone that question. They were pretty much wheeling her off before we could get a statement. Gillis...do you know something about Ms Spence that we don't know?" Carl began to wonder about Gillis' questions. They seemed out of place. Almost as if he knew something about the case and wasn't giving up his information.

"I might know something, but not intentionally. If it's the Alice I think it is, then you guys are in for a treat, and you better not take her off your suspect list...that is if you ever had her on it! She's very slick and cunning"

"Has she ever seen you? How do you know Alice, if it's the Alice you're talking about?" Carl couldn't help being inquisitive. He was the best at what he did and wanted all the details he could get. He would do anything to help John keep his case and not have to hand it over to the FBI.

"Oh, yeah...if it's the Alice I think it is, she's going to squirm like hell if I walk in the room. Best if you two go in there first to get what you can out of her. Then, let's go get something to eat and when we come back, I'll go in and question her.

"That sounds like a plan to me." John and Carl left Gillis standing at his Dr's office and headed for the emergency room.

The waiting room of the ER was full of people waiting their turn. Some were listening to iPods, others reading magazines. One couple held a small child with a bloody towel wrapped around his hand. You could see he had been crying by the tear steaks down his dirty little face. He was being amused by a little girl standing in front of him making faces, doing her best to make him giggle.

John went directly to the glass window where several women were wandering about, one entering data on a computer, another using the copy machine and another standing directly in front of the glass window waiting for the next person to help. He didn't get in back of the line, instead he went directly to the window, excused himself and showed her his badge. After a few questions, he and Carl headed back towards the corridor and to the second set of elevator.

"They sent her to X-ray and want to keep her overnight to evaluate her mental state. So, they'll be taking her from there to her room. It's my understanding that she may have to be operated on. If so, she'll go in once they schedule it. In the meantime, they'll put her in a room. So, let's go see if she's in her room yet."

On the ride up, the elevator stopped and a man entered. Honing his skills, Carl took note of the guy's clothing. Plaid shirt with torn elbow. Yellow buttons that looked like they were once white, but had been traumatized in a dryer that had gotten too hot. He had on a pair of Levi's. A square worn imprint on the pocket of his pants outlining the wallet he kept there. The man's boots were Rockies. They were scuffed up. Not the usual everyday wear kind of scuffing, but the kind you get walking through dense woods. A hunter, maybe. Or possibly a construction worker. Curly hair fell past the collar of his shirt hitting his shoulders. His green eyes gazed straight ahead at the brushed chrome elevator doors.

John was too busy flipping through his notepad to look at the man. He wanted to go over all his notes and prepare questions for Alice. Had he looked, he would have known the man.

On the sixth floor, the elevator came to a halt and all three men got off.

#  Chapter 11

"Knock, knock." John stood in the doorway to the hospital room. He wanted to make sure Alice was decent before entering the room.

The nurse was making the bed and getting things ready. "Are you here to see Ms Spence?"

"Yes, is she on her way up here?" John looked around and saw nothing to indicate that she was or had been in the room. "We were told this was her room."

"Oh, yes, you have the right room. I just checked on her status and they told me she's in X-ray and should be here in about twenty minutes or so. They're looking to see if she needs surgery. Either way, she'll be brought to her room before surgery. I know there are three surgeries ahead of her - that is, if she needs it. The Dr ordered an X-ray to make sure her tibia hasn't been fractured. If it is, then he'll schedule her for surgery. You're welcome to sit here and wait, or there is a waiting room at the end of the hall-way. If you go out the door, turn right, you will see an open doorway at the end with glass walls. That's the waiting room. There is a coffee bar in it that's free."

"Tibia? What's a tibia? Is that a bone?" Carl was fascinated with the new word, but more fascinated with the nurse. He was grateful for the nametag. Julia Cross it read.

"Oh, that's the shinbone – the larger of the two lower bones in your leg – it's also called a shank bone." Carl surmised that she was about 26 years old and cute as a button. Freckles splattered across the bridge of her nose. Her reddish blonde hair glistened in the sunlight that was filtering through the blinds on the window. She busily readied the bed and pulled out a fresh water picture, Kleenex, and sat the phone closer to the bed. "If you gentlemen would like, I can show you where the kitchen is. There's a refrigerator in there with fruit juice that you can have if coffee isn't your thing. There's also some snacks in a vending machine in the waiting room. The coffee and filters are kept in the kitchen and there are a few supplies in the waiting room - but if you run out, just go to the kitchen and get what you need. I'll be at the nurse's station if you need me. Oh, and there is a restroom right outside the waiting room on the right if you're walking towards the waiting room – you can't miss it."

"Coffee sounds good to me. I think we'll go to the waiting room and get some. Will you let us know when they bring her up?" John was writing in his notebook again, this time jotting down the nurse's name, not so much for the investigation, but because he saw the interest that Carl was taking in her.

"My shift just started, so I'll be here for the next ten hours. I'll be more than happy to come and get you as soon as they bring her to her room. If you need anything before that, please let me know. Oh, yeah...before I forget...Ms Spence had a seizure in the ER, so the Dr had blood drawn to see if she is epileptic."

She picked up the old sheets and a bag that was filled with trash and as she started out of the room, she looked back at John and Carl. "Would you like me to show you where the kitchen is now?"

"Oh, sure, Julia, I got that right didn't I?" She smiled at Carl and acknowledged that it was correct. John scratched her name out of his notebook. Seems Carl was at the top of his game. They followed her down the hallway to the small kitchen that was almost two doors down and across from the room Alice was to be in.

"Here's where the coffee filters, coffee and cups are." She opened the fridge and showed them the different juices inside. Then as quickly as she was in the kitchen, she was gone.

"She's a cute one, isn't she?" John looked at Carl as he stood in the doorway watching the nurse make her way to the nurses' station.

"Yes. You think she'd go out with me if I asked her?" Carl was thirty years old and had never been married. He was busy with his career and saving for a huge down payment on a house so that when he did buy one, it would bring his payments down to an amount that he could afford. He was lucky that his parents let him live at home. His payment to them was taking care of the lawn, taking out the trash and grocery shopping, which he loved to do.

He took pride in learning to cook different dishes, so he didn't mind at all going to the grocery store for them. It gave him a chance to buy the things he needed to create whatever new recipe he had gleaned from the internet. He would Google a recipe he thought sounded good and print out the ingredients so that he'd have the list with him when he went to the store. If it came out good, he kept the recipe. Otherwise, he would delete it. It was a delight to cook for his parents. They enjoyed his cooking. Tonight he was going to make jambalaya. His dad's favorite.

"Why wouldn't she? You're a nice enough guy. And not bad looking either." As they poured their coffee, Carl noticed a post-it note on the bulletin board inside the doorway. It was a list of the nurses, with phone numbers and their shift hours. He wasn't sure if the phone numbers were to the nurse's station or their personal phone numbers. Not caring, he quickly wrote down Julia's number and hours.

As they left the kitchen and walked down the hallway, they spotted Gillis in the doorway of the waiting room talking to someone on his phone. As they neared him, he flipped the phone shut and returned it to his coat pocket.

"How'd it go in there? That didn't take you long at all."

"She's still in ER. If you want coffee, it's in the waiting room - if not, there's juice in the kitchen." John pointed back over his shoulder. "How's your blood pressure?"

"All is good. It was a little high, but I think hearing Alice's name caused it to shoot up. Juice sounds perfect. Let me go get something to drink and when I come back, I'll tell you all about the Alice I know."

"I'll show you where it is." Carl volunteered "Besides, I'll get to see that cute nurse again when I pass by her station.

"Anything to help a brother out. Gillis smiled and put his arm around Carl's shoulder as they walked down the hallway. John shook his head as he entered the waiting room. He could hear Carl telling Gillis that he was thinking about asking her out, and his opinion on how soon would be too soon to ask.

#  Chapter 12

Sitting inside were the Camarillo's. The room was stark except for the scattered black vinyl chairs and an occasional end table. The television in the corner against the ceiling had Daffy Duck bouncing around entertaining the two small boys that were laying on the floor staring up at it.

Joe jumped up as soon as he saw John walk in. He rubbed his hands down the sides of his jeans as he extended his hand out.

"Hey. What have you heard? Anything?"

"Not much. The nurse said she was still in having x-rays. Did you know she had a seizure?

"Yes. We visited with Dr. Burman. He wanted to find out if we knew her medical history or any of her relatives. Do you know anything about her yet? I feel badly that she's in here and there's no one to contact."

"I think there's still a crew at the apartment. I'll place a call and see if someone can find a purse, diary, address book...or something that will give us some information." Pulling his phone out, it immediately started ringing...startling him. "Hello? What? What does that mean? No, don't you give that asshole anything. Run him the hell out of there. Unless he has a warrant or proof that he is in charge, he can be run off."

There was a slight pause. "Gene? You waited until I was gone to go back in?" There was a longer pause and then..."You're an asshole, you know that? Don't even talk about my guy getting up in your face. Yep. Uh - huh...Whatever makes you feel good about yourself. Nope. Not going to happen. I'll see you there...you can bet on it. Now put my guy back on the phone."

"What the hell!" Joe pushed the button on his phone and called back. "Frankie! Has he left yet? Yep. Ok..good. Do me a favor. Look around and see if you can find an address book, or a purse, or wallet...anything that may have phone number in it or ID. We need to try and find a relative for this girl and let them know she's in the hospital. Call me back as soon as you find something. Thanks. Yep...no problem. I'm not worried about that ass-wipe." John looked over at Ruth and mouthed "I'm sorry ma'am." "Ok....talk to you later, and thanks again."

Taking out his notepad, John again sat down in front of the Camarillo's to get their statement. " Did either of you see the killer enter Alice's apartment? Do you know how he managed to get in?" Ruth and Joe glanced at each other.

"Killer? George was a killer? Did he do that to Alice?" Ruth looked at Joe and said "I told you there was something fishy about that guy. I didn't think Alice was acting right. I thought she ended our conversation too quick."

"Mom, I don't want you being nosey like Harriet, or jumping to conclusions either. We don't know if he's even talking about George." Looking at John, he had to ask. "Are you talking about George?"

"I don't know who George is. There was a man in there and we've identified him as Henry Burch. We believe him to be the Sixth Street serial killer."

"Wish you had a picture I could look at. Then I could tell you for sure." Joe was sitting on the edge of his chair wishing he had insisted on taking Alice to the ER to have her hand stitched.

"Would you mind coming down to the morgue? I need you to identify he's the guy you saw with Alice. There were three other people dead in the apartment - two police officers and an FBI agent. The agent lived in your apartment building. His name was Jack Henley."

"Jack? No....Jack?" Ruth gasped and started to cry. Joe quickly put his arm around her and handed her his kerchief.

"Jack was such a nice young man. He came over the day he moved in and introduced himself to us. He was a decent person. About mid forties, brown hair, blue eyes. He asked us about Alice and we told him we didn't know her and had never met. We thought he was interested in going out with her. He visited us at least once a week, usually on Thursdays."

"How long has Jack lived in your apartment building?"

"About six months. no, a little less than that because he moved in a few weeks after Alice. And, I'll be glad to come down to the morgue and verify if your guy Henry is George." Joe removed his arm from his mom and stood up. He walked over to the coffee pot and refilled his cup.

John got up and followed Joe. He poured himself a cup of coffee, stood next to the bar and stared down into his cup. What would an FBI agent be doing in Alice's apartment and why was he inquiring about Alice?

"One more question. Did you see the police go into Alice's apartment and if so, do you know what time it was?"

"We called the police before we met Alice. We heard a loud noise in there and I thought maybe someone had fallen, so Joe called them to check on her. That must have been her cutting herself and dropping something. Because it wasn't long after that she came over here asking if we had any bandages. Joe wrapped her hand up and offered to take her to the ER to get it stitched up. I forgot all about that...with everything that happened." Ruth wiped her eyes

"Jack must have gone to her apartment after her and George went in. Then he killed Jack. Oh...poor Alice must have been terrified. I heard knocking on her door a few times, but I don't remember what time it was. One must have been Jack, the other the police. I'm not sure who the other knocks were from...seems like it was twice more." John could tell that Joe was trying hard to remember. "Man, it's hell getting old."

"Hush your mouth! I'm older than you and I think my mind is still pretty sharp. Someone knocked on her door before we called the police, then again after we called the police. Right before Alice came over, there was another knock at her door. Then again, after she left. No, that can't be right. The police would have had to knock on her door after she left here and so would Jack...but no, I know I'm right. Twice before, she came over and twice after she left. NO, I mean three times before she came over and once after she left! Oh shoot! Maybe I don't remember...." Ruth was agitated that her son was right about failing memory. Hers was getting worse. She had to be wrong. The sequence didn't fit otherwise.

John wrote down every detail they gave him - whether it seemed accurate or not. It could mean something later on...right now, he wasn't sure, but he was thorough.

"Hey John! Alice is being wheeled into her room." He looked around the waiting room and didn't see Gillis. "I thought Gillis would be in here."

"He left with you. What made you think he would be in here?"

"Cause he got his juice, then said he was heading back to the waiting room. I got hung up at the nurses' station." Carl blushed a bit but tried covering it up. "I saw him get to the doorway of the waiting room, then I went started talking to Julia again. He must have gone to the restroom. Want me to wait here for him while you go talk to Alice?

"No Carl, you're coming with me. Mr. Camarillo, I know you and your mom want to visit with Alice, but do you mind waiting here while we question her? I'll let her know that you're here and will let you know when we're done."

"No problem. We aren't going anywhere. I'll let your friend know where you are if he comes back. I saw you walk in with him earlier, so I know what he looks like."

Julia came to the doorway and asked them if they could wait five minutes so that she could get Alice settled in.

"We'll be here - why don't you just come and let us know when she's settled in. It may take you longer than five minutes and we are anxious to get the interview done. I don't want to interfere with your job." Carl couldn't help himself. He wanted to impress her.

"I appreciate that. I'll be back to get you." With that, the nurse headed down the hallway to Alice's room, but not before she winked at Carl.

John and Carl sat down across from the Camarillo's to wait.

#  Chapter 13

As they wheeled Alice into her room, she started coming to. The nurse filled her picture with water, checked her IV and left the room. A police officer stood outside her door waiting for the nurse to leave. After she left, he went in and sat at the foot of her bed for a minute or two, then picked up a magazine and sat down at the side of her bed.

Alice felt safe, but scared. It was only a few moments after she shut her eyes that she heard scuffling. The drug in the IV was starting to have an effect on her and she tried desperately to force her eyelids open. Forcing them open, she saw him. Uncle Ralph! Larger than life, he was hovering over her. She opened her mouth to scream, but his hand came down over her mouth too fast. He taped her mouth shut and quickly ripped the IV out of her arm and lifted her out of bed. She tried struggling but her body wouldn't cooperate. Her arm wouldn't do anything but dangle.

As her assailant carried her out, her eyes met those of the officer lying on the floor. She could see duct tape wrapped tightly around his legs and hands. Lying on his side with his hands behind his back, he struggled to loosen the tape. She knew he wouldn't be able to free himself in time to help her.

Her abductor went to the edge of the door and peered out. Seeing that all was clear, he quickly rushed to the stairway and entered it with Alice in his arms. The drugs had kicked in causing her to have moments of unconsciousness. Her leg was pounding and hurting. She felt like a sack of potatoes being lugged around. The next memory of consciousness she was being put down on a gurney and rolled down a hallway. Then all of a sudden, the gurney stopped. He disappeared for a few minutes, and then reappeared in scrubs and continued to push her right out of the Hospital. Why was no one stopping him? Oh God...just kill me!

It seemed like it took forever rolling through hallways, going down the elevator and no one stopping them. People passed them, said hello several times, but never questioned him.

She felt the gurney lift up and slide into the ambulance. "Thanks for helping me buddy, my partner had to go to the bathroom in a rush. Too much partying last night." She heard him chuckle as the doors slammed shut on the back of the ambulance. She heard him talking, but couldn't make out what was being said. It was hard fighting the effects of the drug. As hard as she tried to stay conscious she couldn't manage it.

The next thing she knew, the ambulance was moving and the siren was blasting. She felt the vehicle list to the right, then the left. She did her best to keep track of directions, but all that faded to black as she passed out.

Her kidnapper drove towards Mopac. He was determined to get Alice to Houston before it was too late. He knew he'd have to find a safe place to pull over and drug her a bit more to keep her knocked out for the next three hours. Right now, he needed to put distance between them and the hospital. He couldn't let her be found. Not now. He was too close to figuring everything out. As he turned onto 183 from Mopac he heard her moan. Damn! She's not going to be out very long.

He put the siren on and sped as quickly as he could to Highway 71 and headed Southeast toward Bastrop. If he could make it a little past Bastrop, he could pull over at the little gas station in Smithville and take care of two things at once; get gas and medicate Alice.

Sweat began pouring down his face and he felt as though he was going to pass out. He reached into the small white sack and retrieved his medicine. He popped two in his mouth and drank some water. He didn't have time to be sick. He had to take care of Alice's problems first.

Alice tried to move, but couldn't seem to make her body work. Her mind was foggy and she was so confused. Flashes of people around her, cops, stinky breath, doctors, bandages - everything danced around in her head while she tried desperately to make sense of it all. Pain began to shoot up her left leg. She tried to touch her leg, but couldn't make her hand work. Again, the darkness came and peace fell over her.

The sign read 'Bastrop 15 miles'. Not much longer and he'd be where he could take care of his problems. His stomach started growling and he realized that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning. He was consumed with Alice. She knew he had been on her trail for a while now, but what he didn't understand is why she kept calling him Ralph, and running away from him. She held the key to his identity. She knew who he really was and he needed her to tell him how she knew him.

****

Why does she keep calling me Ralph. She must know who I am. Maybe my name really is Ralph.. Mike Nales was found clinging to life on the Pedernales river near Spicewood 10 years ago. He had amnesia. A fisherman found him lying on a bank close to Mona's place. His fingerprints were put into a database but nothing came back that matched. No missing persons matched him, no dna matches, no one came forward when they featured him once a year on the news.

"Some people would love to have a blank slate and start over." That's what the authorities told him. They helped him acquire a social security card, birth certificate, all the things a person needs in order to obtain a job and make a living. His birth certificate listed him as being born February 13, 1976. Everyone came to the conclusion that he was about 26 years old and he got to choose his birth date. Since that was the date he was found, he chose that day and month as his birth date. He chose is name too. Nales as his last name for the Pedernales where he was found and Mike because it was simple. They gave him three thousand dollars and put him in a half-way house so he could get on his feet. The doctor that examined him said he had Retrograde Amnesia. He may never remember who he was. And even if he did find someone that recognized him, they could tell him all they knew and that would not necessarily bring his memory back. He didn't care, he needed to know if he had a family so that he could move forward. Without that information, his life was on hold.

He had spent years reading about amnesia. He could retain information from the time he was found up to now. Anything past that was gone forever. Then, he ran into Alice. He was sitting inside Buffalo Billiards on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas minding his own business, drinking a beer. He heard a scream and when he turned, a hand came down hard across his face. He was stunned. Standing in front of him was Alice. She was screaming at him to stay away from her and calling him every name in the book.

The bartender looked at Mike and said "Man, what did you do to that chick?" Gillis rubbed his face and said "I honestly don't know. I don't remember ever meeting her."

"How could you forget a looker like that?" He mopped the bar up from the drink she had knocked over. That's when it hit him. Someone recognized him! Or, maybe mistook him for someone else. No, she recognized him. You don't react that strong unless you are sure it's the person you think it is.

****

There were several gas stations in Bastrop, but too many people around. His first instinct was to pull into one, but didn't want to risk it. He stayed his course and ten minutes later, he was in Smithville. Pulling into the Shell station, Mike jumped from the ambulance and swiped his card. He unscrewed the gas cap, inserted the handle, and locked it into the open position. As the gas pumped into the tank, he climbed back into the cab and into the rear of the ambulance to check on Alice. She lay there motionless.

Lifting her arm, he took her pulse. He then put the blood pressure cuff on her arm and began squeezing the bag. He slowly released the pressure to take a reading. All was good. He didn't need to sedate her. Obviously, they had already sedated her at the hospital and she was finally under. He didn't want to over medicate her. Especially since he didn't know what was in her system.

He heard the click of the gas handle so he climbed back out. The wind was picking up and dark clouds were beginning to accumulate. A huge thunderhead lay to the southeast of them, right where they were headed. Putting the fuel nozzle back on the gas pump Mike yanked the receipt from the pump and put the gas cap back on. He jumped back into the ambulance and checked Alice once more before heading down Hwy 71.

The scanner was on and it was set to the police frequency. He had spent the last two months finding the perfect old ambulance, remodeling it and installing everything necessary to contain Alice if needed. If he could have only talked to her without her freaking out. It wasn't his desire to kidnap her. After he took care of the officer, he realized he had to take her. Sitting in the hospital room and chatting with her was not an option anymore.

Several calls came over the scanner, one having to do with a drunk who was passed out in the middle of the road. Another came in several minutes later saying to be on the lookout for a man with a plaid shirt, baseball hat, and ropers. That would be me.

He glanced over to the seat next to him, and on the seat lay the plaid shirt, baseball hat wig and the roper boots. Scanning the country side as he drove, he began to look for fires. He would have to burn these items, and with all the burn bans lately, people had a lot of garbage and brush to burn. Now that the burn ban had been lifted, he felt it wouldn't take long to find a fire going somewhere. As he came up to La Grange, he saw a small house with an old farmer sitting in a lawn chair watching his brush pile burn.

He pulled to the side of the road and drove into the farmer's driveway.

"Hello there, can I help you?" The farmer looked to be about 70 or so and had a crippled leg. His hands were knotted up from Rheumatoid Arthritis, but he made his way to the drive way to greet Mike.

"You sure could. I have a bag of stuff that I'd like to burn if you don't mind. I am driving the ambulance back to Houston. I picked it up last week to take to Austin for repairs. I meant to throw this trash out before I left. I saw your fire and thought if it was ok with you, I could just burn it."

"What's in the bag?" The farmer started waving his hand up in the air. "You aren't trying to hide something are you? I had a guy come by here one time a wantin to burn some stuff and I ran him off after I found out he had bloody clothes. Found out later, he murdered three kids up the road there. He was full of shit. So, show me what's in the bag and if I think its harmless, I'll let you burn it."

Mike wished now he had kept driving until he found a better place to dump the stuff. But then, he thought it wasn't anything with blood on it and it was just old clothes. If he acted like he had something to hide, the old man would become suspicious. "I have a torn shirt and an old pair of jeans. I also have a hat and an old Halloween wig. Also a pair of boots. I was going to drop them off at the Salvation Army, but time got away from me. Guess I could just hold on to them and take them later.

"Well, I don't mind if you want to throw the shirt, jeans and hat in, but the boots and wig would release chemicals in the air. I don't believe that would be good for the environment. If I were you, I would hold onto them until I could drop them off at the Salvation Army. There's a lot of poor folks out there that could use some gently worn clothes, you know."

"You're right. Kind of makes me feel a bit guilty that I was going to just toss them in a fire because I didn't want to take the time to go by Salvation Army. Thanks for putting my head back on straight. I'm a bit tired from being up all night. Now I have the drive to Houston ahead of me. Thanks again."

He climbed back into the ambulance and backed out of the old farmer's driveway and headed back down the road. He would have to think of something else. He glanced into his rearview mirror as he was driving off and saw the old man on his cell phone. Hopefully he wasn't calling the police. Maybe it was a relative calling him to check on him.

He decided to keep driving and hope for the best. Looking at his Garmin, he could see a lake off to the east, but realized the power plant was located there and that wouldn't be a good place to dump the stuff. He decided to get off of Hwy 71 and take the back roads. He exited off Hwy 71 onto 159 and headed towards Warrenton. From there, he'd weave his way into Houston on the back roads. This would be the best way to go in case the police were looking for him. Luck had been on his side so far, and hopefully it would stay on his side.

#  Chapter 14

Twenty minutes had gone by before the nurse came to the waiting room to tell them that Alice was in her room and settled in. As John was getting up, they heard a loud crash down the hallway. Carl and John looked at each other and before anyone could speak, they bolted down the corridor to Alice's room.

Lying on his side, officer Johnson had managed to turn over the chair he had been sitting in, knocking it into the nightstand. The water picture and phone that had been on the stand fell to the floor. His hopes of creating enough noise to bring someone into the room was soon realized.

Carl rushed over and removed the tape from the officer's mouth.

"What the hell happened in here? Where's Alice?" John was already on his phone calling for backup and putting an APB out for her.

"A guy came in and asked if this was Rebecca's room. When I told him no and stood up, he started some small talk with me. I turned to put my magazine down and that's when he hit me over the head with something. Next thing I knew, he was carrying her out of here."

"You should have been sitting in a damned chair outside her room! And not let anyone that wasn't authorized in here! She's not only a victim, but the only person in that apartment that is alive and can tell us what happened. According to some of my notes, things aren't adding up and she might just be a suspect as well!"

The nurses helped the officer into a chair and as one looked at his head, the other went for some antiseptic and bandages.

"Carl, you go check all the rooms on this floor and start questioning anyone you see. I'll stay here till forensics gets here, then I'll be right with you. Johnson, did you get a good look at him - what was he wearing?"

"Plaid shirt, scuffed up boots and jeans. He had on a baseball hat, but I saw that his hair was long and curly. Looked to be in his thirties."

"John! That's the guy who rode up the elevator with us!" Carl recalled the details of the guy as John wrote them down.

"You need to go down to the ER and have a doctor look at this. You could have a concussion." The nurse finished wrapping officer Johnson's head with gauze and picked up the tray while the orderly started to strip the bed.

"Hey...don't move anything." John was irritated and his voice was a bit louder than even he intended it to be. "We need to have our team come in and check for fingerprints."

The orderly asked if he could at least mop up the spilled water.

"No, we need to make sure there isn't any shoe prints that we can pick up and if you start mopping, you could damage any of those. I'd appreciate it if everyone would just leave the room right now and no one come back in until it's been fully searched and inspected by forensics. I apologize for any inconvenience, but this is a kidnapping investigation now."

Officer Johnson agreed to have his head looked at, but didn't want to go to the ER. He said his family Dr was only a few blocks away and he would go there as soon as he was relieved of duty.

Carl began his sweep of the floor, searching room by room, including kitchens, supply rooms and utility room. No room was left unsearched and he had every person he ran into go to the waiting room so that they could question them all. John asked the nurses if they could help by standing at the stair wells and the elevators - not letting anyone enter the floor or exit unless they showed a badge. They quickly agreed to do their part.

Within ten minutes, there were officers swarming the sixth floor. John went back to the waiting room to let the Camarillo's know so that they could go home.

"Who the hell would kidnap that poor girl?" Ruth was agitated and worried.

"We aren't sure, but we are going to do our best to find her. Right now, I would appreciate it if you kept an eye on her apartment - in case whoever took her goes there. We don't know why anyone would kidnap her. None of this makes any sense." John's face was drawn and his back was beginning to ache a bit. As he leaned back to stretch it out, he noticed the hospital camera in the corner.

"Damn! Video surveillance! They should have everything on video!" He rushed to the nurses' station and asked where their security office was. Julia told him she would call security and have them come and escort him to their office, it was easier than trying to tell him how to get through the hospital maze.

I'll be glad when this day is over. A good long hot shower will feel good. He ran his fingers through his hair as he went over the days notes and waited for security. A gravely voice from behind made him grimace. He recognized that voice. It was Gene Farris.

"Lost your victim already, John? You're work is getting sloppy old boy." Gene had a smirk on his face as he straightened his tie and smoothed it down with the palm of his right hand. He was still wearing the ugly pin stripped suit.

John didn't turn around. He kept reading his notes, ignoring Gene, and doing his job. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He spun around grabbing the thumb of the hand on his shoulder and pulled it backwards to the wrist. Gene fell to his knees. "Don't you ever....and I mean ever think you have the right to lay your nasty paws on me. You may have seduced my wife and you may have busted up my marriage, but you keep your fucking hands to yourself and your nasty ass out of my way."

Joe went over and leaned down to look into Gene's face. "I think maybe you need to stay out of this for now. Give the guy some space. He's got a lot on his plate at the moment and your stupid comments are for one, unprofessional and two, provoking him to a breaking point. If that's your goal, I'll back away and let him at you. Otherwise, I think an apology on your part and an exit of this place would be the appropriate thing to do right now. Unless of course, you want an ass-whooping."

The smirk that had been on his face was now a grimace. Without opening his mouth, he managed an "I'm sorry."

John let go of him and shoved him forward into the wall causing him to stumble and almost fall. He turned back around and started going over his notes again. Gene was visibly shaken, but indignant. He spattered out some threats as he walked almost at a run to the elevator doors.

It wasn't easy to let go of Gene. John wanted to bash his head in. His career was the last thing he had left and he wasn't about to let him take that away from him too. If given the opportunity to whip his ass legally, he would be on it in a heartbeat. But a hospital wasn't the arena for that. He knew Gene for the scum he was, the type who did things for the thrill of it, to score, prove to himself that he could win even if it meant playing dirty. John knew he was a dirty cop, even before he moved to the FBI.

Carl passed Gene in the corridor and was surprised by his demeanor. He was rubbing his hand and looking disheveled as he got on the elevator. Carl looked his way, nodded and said "Have a nice day." Gene replied "Asshole." just as the elevator doors shut.

"Wow, who pissed in his cereal?" Carl asked as met up with Joe and Ruth. They laughed and told him about his encounter with John.

"I thought that boy was going to snap his thumb off. Great move on John's part. One little bent thumb and that guy was about to wet his britches We're headed home. Here's my phone number. Would you mind giving us a call and updating us on Alice? We'll keep an eye on her place and let you know if anything unusual happens there." Joe handed Carl a folded piece of paper. Carl assured them that he would do his best to let them know anything he could about Alice. He made sure that they understood that some things he might not be able to tell them since it was an ongoing investigation.

The elevator doors opened up, Joe and Ruth boarded the elevator as two security guards got off. Carl headed to the nurses' station behind the two guards.

"Hi, I'm Dan Clark and this is Robert Banks. I understand you want to take a look at our security footage. If you'd like to come with us, we have some you'll be interested in seeing. Unfortunately, there aren't any camera's in the patient's rooms because of privacy, but there are several in the stairwells and the outside of the building. I'm sorry it took us so long to get up here. We were stopped by the FBI."

"I need to get the tapes from you to...." John stopped in mid sentence. "Did I understand you to say the FBI?"

Before John could say anything else, Dan told him that an FBI agent had already taken the tapes. He could see John's about to blow a gasket.

"But, we make two tapes of everything - in case one system fails. So, I can make a copy from that for our records and give you the original." Dan handed John a form. "This is a copy of the release that I had the FBI sign. I thought you might want it. I worked 40 years in the Austin Police Department and I've had my stomach full of those guys. Not sure how you feel, but just in case, I made you a copy. I don't like how they keep APD in the dark sometimes. I know they're just doing their jobs and they have higher-ups they have to answer to, but it's still all political."

John read that there were three tapes in all, two from the stairwell and one from the ER entrance. He stared down at the signature on the paper. It read Gene Farris.

"That smug son-of-a-bitch!" John folded the paper up and put it in his coat pocket. "Let's go make a copy guys."

They followed the two security guards to the elevator and rode down to the basement. Several long corridors and two sets of double doors later, they entered the main hub of the security room.

John and Carl, watched for the next two hours as Dan made a copy of the tapes. John paced back and forth like a caged animal. He was fuming underneath. Had he known what Gene had done, he would have torn his thumb off.

#  Chapter 15

Gillis had been standing at the nurses' station asking about Alice when he saw a man carrying a woman to the stairwell. He didn't say anything to the nurse, but excused himself. As he calmly walked towards the corridor, he walked quickly, but not fast enough to draw attention to himself. He peered into the glass window on the door that led to the stairwell. He saw the guys head as he was descending the stairs.

Careful to open the door quietly, Gillis entered the stairwell, but kept his distance. He followed them down until they reached the bottom floor. He lingered inside the stairwell watching as he man lay Alice on a gurney and started pushing her thru the hospital. Exiting, Gillis followed them to the Emergency Room entrance. He could see two ambulances outside. One was an EMS blue and yellow, while the other was white with the standard red markings.

Gillis decided to walk faster and pass them and head outside, where he was sure they were heading. He didn't want to be obvious or have the guy think he was being followed. Once outside, he pulled out his cell phone and started his video recorder. He place it back into his shirt pocket just so that the camera lens would be exposed and recording. As he leaned against the stone post, and checked his watch, the guy rolled through the doors with Alice.

He went straight to the red and white ambulance, opened the doors and put the gurney against the back of the truck.

"Hey, you need some help there?" Another EMS worker was by the other vehicle and could see the guy was about to load her into the truck.

"Oh, sure. My buddy had to run to the restroom. Thanks."

Gillis watched as he loaded her up. He heard him tell the guy that she didn't have insurance and he was transporting her to a charity hospital. He patted the guy on the back, thanked him and got into the ambulance. He started the motor, but didn't leave. Obviously, he had to wait for his "buddy in the restroom."

Gillis walked out to the EMS guy and asked him if he could try and detain the ambulance for ten minutes. He showed him his badge and told him it was police business, he couldn't go into details, but it would help a lot if he could go chat with the guy for at least ten minutes and try to keep him from leaving. "Don't let him know the he's being watched or followed." Gillis wasn't sure that he should have said anything, but he was afraid he'd be too far gone before he could get back through the hospital and to his own vehicle.

"No problem man. I was just going to ask him if he had any extra forms cause I'm out. I can keep the talk going for ten minutes. And, I won't say anything. He's not dangerous, is he?" He hesitated before going towards the truck.

"No. It's a divorce case." Gillis hated lying, but he was desperate.

The guy smiled and said "No problem." He turned and headed to the driver side of the truck. Gillis could hear him talking as he headed back inside the ER, through the hospital, and out the back side to where his SUV was parked. It took him almost the entire ten minutes to drive down the parking garage, pay his parking ticket and get back around to the ER side. Just as he was approaching, he saw the EMS truck turning left and the red ambulance beginning to pull out. He pulled into the parking lot across from the hospital and made a u-turn. Now he was facing the hospital and could go either way the ambulance went.

Guilt nagged at him as he followed the ambulance. Weaving in and out of traffic, but keeping his distance, Gillis thought about calling John. How do I explain Alice to him? How do I tell him that she's my niece? I have to take care of her and protect her.

Gillis was Elizabeth's older brother. It hit him hard when Elizabeth died. All he had left of her was Alice. He did his best to visit Alice when she was small, but his career kept him busy. By the time he was done for the day, it was 2 in the morning. He kept grueling hours that prevented him from really bonding with her like he wanted. None of that mattered to him, she was his sister's daughter and the only thing he had left of his sister. He would protect her no matter what.

His sense of duty and his sense of loyalty to family had his stomach gnarled up inside. Family first. He stuck by that, even though it made him ill knowing what Alice had been doing for the last fifteen months. Up until then, she was a normal happy woman. She went from a high tech job to working in a bar. He tried to talk to her about it, but she clammed up on him. The more he questioned her, the more distant she got from him. He didn't want to push her away, he wanted to be closer to her and find out why her life was headed towards a ditch. He staked outside her apartment and began honing his investigation skills by trailing her and surveying her apartment. What he found in her wake made him nauseous. He wanted to know what triggered her murder spree.

Traffic was bad on 83 heading south. Several times he found himself at a complete stop next to the ambulance. He never looked over at the driver. He didn't wanted the guy to suspect that he was being tailed. When he did get a glance or two, he could see him checking his side mirrors more than normal. At one point, he saw him taking something and drinking some water. Please don't let this guy be some drug addict. What the hell does he want with my niece? Trying to figure that out was next to impossible.

They looped around to 71 and headed southeast towards Bastrop. Gillis looked to see how much gas he had. It was at a little over a quarter of a tank full. He hoped this guy wasn't going too far. He needed gas, but he couldn't risk pulling over and losing them.

"Breaking news....the 6th Street Serial killer is dead. From what we are hearing, a woman in her late thirties, early forties, shot and killed him when he forced his way into her apartment earlier this morning. When the police arrived, they not only found the serial killer dead, but three other bodies in her apartment. Our sources tell us that somehow this petite little woman managed to shoot and kill him, but not before he shot her in the leg. If this wasn't bad enough, they rushed her to the hospital where someone kidnapped her right from under the police's nose. They don't have any leads right now as to who the kidnapper might be. We will keep you informed as we receive news on this latest story." Gillis turned the radio off. He didn't want to hear anything else.

Bastrop was just ahead and the gas gauge was at an eighth of a tank. Come on guy, pull over before I run out of gas! They stayed on 71 and went through Bastrop heading towards Smithville. Regardless if the ambulance stopped, Gillis would have to pull over at the next gas station before he ran out. Just about four miles past Bastrop was a little Mexican restaurant with a gas station next to it. He pulled in and quickly filled his gas tank. The thought crossed his mind to just put a few gallons in, but he didn't know how far they were going to go and he needed to be prepared.

He watched as the ambulance disappeared in the distance. Hwy 71 was a straight road and fairly flat all the way to Interstate 10 which led to Houston. Unless he turned off somewhere else and wasn't headed to Houston, Gillis felt confident he could catch up with him. Putting the nozzle back on the tank and screwing the gas cap back on, he jumped back into his SUV and spun his tires on the gravel as he left the dirt parking lot. He turned on his undercover led flashing lights that were hidden in his front grill, but left the siren off. He knew he wouldn't be pulled over with his lights flashing. so he raced as fast as he safely could to catch up to the ambulance. He reached speeds up to a hundred miles an hour. Within ten minutes, as he topped a small hill, he could see the ambulance pulling into a gas station.

Gillis quickly shut the lights off and slowed down. He pulled into the station and went inside. Grabbing a coke and three bags of salted peanuts, he approached the counter to pay for them as he watched the ambulance through the window. The driver's side was hidden from view, but he saw the driver get inside and go into the back of the ambulance. A few minutes later, Gillis was getting his change and heading for the door.

Just as he got back into his SUV, the ambulance drove back onto hwy 71. Gillis put the SUV in reverse and slowly pulled to the edge of the parking lot giving the ambulance some distance.

He could see the ambulance as it disappeared around the curve, so he pulled onto 71. As he got to the curve in the road, he saw the ambulance. He would not let it out of his sight again. They traveled about another thirty minutes when he saw the right blinker flashing on the ambulance. It pulled to the side of the road and stopped. The man got out and walked up the driveway to an elderly man. Gillis passed them and continued on to the small candy factory about 400 yards away. He pulled into the driveway and parked. Pulling out his binoculars, he watched as the two stood there talking. He noticed a bag in the guy's hand. Finally after only a few minutes, the man turned and went back to the ambulance and left.

The elderly man pulled out his cell phone and called someone. Was he part of the kidnapping? Gillis wanted to go back to talk to the old man, but he didn't want to lose the ambulance. So, again, he pulled out of the parking lot and got back on 71 to pursue the ambulance. He no sooner pulled onto the highway when he saw it exit.. It traveled down the feeder to the red light, the left blinker came on and he saw him turning under 71 going northeast on 159.

Where the hell is he going? Gillis began to wonder if he had been spotted and he was trying to take odd roads to see if he was being followed. So, he purposely missed the exit and traveled another mile or so to the next exit. He made the u-turn and headed back to 159. Again, he sped up, but this time without his lights. He was on back roads now and didn't feel there would be police anywhere around this area. It didn't take long before the ambulance was in his sight again.

Springtime is beautiful in Texas. All the Bluebonnets were out and in full bloom. Waves of blues and reds filled the fields along the back roads. Indian Paintbrushes were almost always found growing close to the Bluebonnets. He enjoyed the drive as he followed some distance behind. Fifteen minutes into the drive, he ran into traffic. He was a bit stunned by the number of vehicles that were accumulating. He wasn't sure where they had all come from. He was forced to slow down to a crawl as they traveled into Warrenton.

#  Chapter 16

The small town of Warrenton was busy this time of year with their Antique shows and events. It's one of the most popular areas for antique dealers. Known for its stretches of roads lined with antique dealers, people come from as far as Asia to the yearly event. Tents line up both sides of the road with people milling around. Some come to buy, some to just look and others to sell what they have. Several small towns dotted along this area including Round Top, Fayetteville, Shelby and Carmine hold their spring and fall Antique shows and events every year.

As Mike got closer to Warrenton, he noticed cars parked along either side of the road and people meandering everywhere. He drove slowly through the crowd of people looking at the billowing tents with wind chimes hanging from some. Antique doors lined the side of one building . The porch of a clapboard house had shelves of pottery and glassware. People were going in and out of buildings, houses and tents, moving from one structure to another.

Something smelled good. He couldn't discern if it was barbeque from the many pits along the roadside, or hamburgers at the little stand where people where lined up waiting to order.

The next thing he knew, a man was beating on the side of the ambulance screaming for him to stop. "My wife's having a heart attack! Please stop!"

Mike pulled the ambulance to the side of the road and got out. He couldn't keep going. If he did, it would set off all kinds of signals. He asked the man where his wife was.

Taking him by the arm, the man took him to the big blue tent that was about ten feet from the road. Inside, laying on the ground was a frail elderly lady. Mike knelt down beside her and lifted her arm. He took her pulse, but found nothing. He then pressed two of his fingers against her neck, but again didn't feel a pulse.

"I'm not getting a pulse. Has anyone done CPR on her?" Mike looked around at the crowd and everyone started talking at once.

"No, it just happened. She grabbed her chest and collapsed." Mike tilted her head back and made sure nothing was in her mouth and that her passageway was clear. He began CPR on her. Compressions, breaths, compression.....he did this for several minutes, then checked her pulse once more. There it was, it was weak, but it was a pulse.

"Someone needs to call an ambulance right now!" Mike looked around and everyone was staring at him in disbelief. "I'm not an EMT. I'm a mechanic. I work on ambulances, and was driving that one back to Houston when you flagged me down. I can't legally transport her. So, please, someone call an ambulance now!!"

A younger lady about twenty five years old stepped forward and said "I've already called them and they are on their way."

"Good. I'll stay and keep doing CPR until they get here. " Mike began compressions again and mouth to mouth. Her husband stood there frantic and holding her hand.

"My sweetheart, you hang in there. Don't you leave me. We have some good years left." Mike couldn't help feeling bad for them. He wish that he really was an EMT and could take care of her. The CPR classes he took last year were now paying off and that made him feel good.

Signs all over the place advertising the annual antique event were scattered along the road. He could smell all types of food and was getting hungrier. He never made it to lunch with John and Carl. Suddenly all the traffic stopped, and he saw the ambulance pulling over. Gillis quickly pulled into the parking area and found a place to park about four car lengths away. He watched as an old man took the driver by the arm and led him to a blue tent.

If he was going to help Alice, now was the time to do it.

Gillis got out and ran to the back of the ambulance and opened the doors. He quickly climbed in and scooped Alice into his arms. He struggle a bit, not because she was heavy, but because he was out of shape. He got to the end of the ambulance and realize he would have a problem getting out with her in his arms, so he climbed in and picked her up. He carried her to the back and laid her down at the back of the ambulance. He jumped down to the ground and again picked Alice up.

Alice heard voices but couldn't open her eyes. She was locked inside her body. Totally helpless, she felt someone picking her limp body up. Whoever it was struggling to lift her. She could hear them grunt. Trying desperately to open her eyes, they wouldn't budge. Like glue, they were sealed shut. As much as she tried to fight the effects of the drug, she was on the losing end.

As Gillis started walking away from the ambulance, two men stopped him.

"Hey dude, what are you doing? Did you just take that chick from the ambulance?"

"Yes, I did. I'm a private detective who works with the Austin Police Department. I need to get this woman to the hospital right away. You could help me by closing the ambulance doors and opening my door. Then I'll show you my id."

The smell of barbeque filled Alice's nostrils. Several men were talking to the person who was carrying her, but she couldn't understand a word they were saying. Her ears failed her as well. Everything was muffled, yet loud. She could hear cars and children. A gust of wind blew her hair across her face as she was being carried. It didn't take long before she was placed on a hard surface, and covered with something that felt like a blanket. Her muscles wouldn't work, her eyes wouldn't open. What good was her body if it wasn't going to cooperate....

The men followed Gillis to the SUV and helped him put Alice in the back seat. He placed a blanket around her and then pulled out his wallet.

"Here's my ID. I'm a private detective now, but was on the Austin Police Department for over thirty years. I currently work with the department to solve cold cases." He showed them enough proof to satisfy them. They left him as he got into his SUV to leave.

Doors slammed shut and within a few minutes a motor started and she could feel herself moving again. She drifted back off into never-never land as the vehicle came to a stop, then made a turn left.

Gillis had turned left, heading back to Hwy 71. It would take three hours to get Alice to his ranch in San Saba.

The faint sound of sirens could be heard and one of the women in the crowd said she would go stand in the road so they'd know where to go. Within ten minutes, they had her on a stretcher and loading her and her husband into the ambulance. The crowd patted Mike on the back and told him he was a Godsend for saving her life. He told them he didn't think she was out of the woods yet, but was glad he could help.

Excusing himself, he climbed back into the ambulance and started back down the road. He turned the scanner back on to see if there were any news about a kidnapping or if anyone was looking for an ambulance yet. He knew he had to make it to Hempstead where his van was waiting. He would then abandon the ambulance and travel the rest of the way in his van.

Luckily he didn't hear much. There was one call for an accident on 71 in Smithville and later another one came across saying a burglary was in progress at a gas station in Ulm. The clock on the dashboard read 7:15 pm. It would be getting dark soon. According to his GPS, he should be in Hempstead in another 48 minutes. To pass the time, he turned the radio on and tuned to a local station.

Willie Nelson was singing about Luckenbach, Texas, Waylon, and the boys. He loved country music. His memory would be the thing he loved the most, though if he could just remember his past. It still haunted him. He couldn't sleep, night after sleepless night, wondering if he were some kind of bad person, wondering if he had a family that was grieving over him. Did he have children? A wife? His life was stuck on hold because he couldn't move forward without knowing his past. Even though everyone told him it was ok to go on with his life, how could he. The not knowing if he did find someone and got married, wondering what would happen if he suddenly remembered that he already had a wife with children? He couldn't imagine hurting anyone that way.

It seemed like he'd been driving forever when he spotted a sign in the distance. It read: Hempstead 10 miles ahead. A sigh of relief came out unexpectedly as he read it. He hadn't realized how tense he was. Kidnapping was a felony and he knew it. It was eating at him that he had stooped to this level to find out who he was. One thing he knew for sure. Alice knew who he was and he wanted to talk to her. He would make her understand that he wasn't out to hurt her but to let her know his memory was gone and his only wish would be for her to tell him about his life.

Pulling up beside the parked van, Mike put the ambulance in park and shut the engine off. He climbed into the back to find an empty gurney. His heart was pounding in his chest as he frantically looked everywhere. Even though he knew she couldn't be hiding anywhere, he looked anyway. He looked under the gurney back into the front, under the blankets. No Alice. She was gone. Oh my God. She must have gotten out in Warrenton. Damn!

He grabbed his bag of medicine, unplugged the scanner and stuffed it in a cloth bag. A set of headlights bounced off the window as a car pulled into the parking lot. Great....someone is going to see me. He sat behind the wheel of the ambulance and pulled down the clipboard. He began writing gibberish on it, trying to look busy.

The car made a circle and pulled back out of the lot heading back the way they came. They must have needed a place to turn around. That's all. Nothing to worry about. He grabbed the bag, got out of the ambulance and into the van. As he was pulling out of the parking lot, he remembered the shirt, wig, boots and hat. He put the van in reverse, and backed up alongside the ambulance. He quickly got out and grabbed a bag from the back of the van to put the stuff in. After getting everything he needed and doing a last minute check of the ambulance, he got back into the van and headed back toward Warrenton.

It was now a little after 8 PM and it would be after to 9 PM before he reached Warrenton. The thunderhead had finally split apart and torrential rain fell on the van as he headed west on Hwy 290. He was glad that he had installed new wipers last week. Now his gut began to hurt. Reaching into the glove compartment, he pulled out a bag that contained his Prilosec. It was a generic brand but he could never remember the name....ome or oma something. He popped one in his mouth, opened a fresh bottle of water and downed the pill. Now his stomach started growling. He had to wait at least thirty minutes before eating. He decided to wait until he found Alice, then he would buy them both dinner.

She must have regained consciousness in Warrenton and got out of the ambulance. With everything that was going on and the crowd surrounding him, he couldn't see the ambulance. There wasn't any reason to keep watch on it since she was drugged. At least, that's what he thought. It was imperative that he find her and reason with her to come with him. His intentions were pure. He never wanted to kidnap her, but on the few occasions that he tried to talk to her, she freaked out and ran.

When he heard on the news that Alice had killed the 6th Street serial killer, he knew this was his chance to talk to her. He'd tried to find her, but without a name, he couldn't track her down. If he could make it into her room without any interference, he thought he would be able to convince her that he had no memory of who he was. Who was this Ralph person to her and why did she hate him so much. He didn't go there with the intention of kidnapping her. It was a last minute decision. One he was already regretting.

A loud clap of thunder startled Mike as lightning reached across the sky in front of him. The sun was beginning to set. To the South the sky was blue. The west was dark with burnt red and orange clouds that were moving and mingling with black dirty clouds..Still, the rain kept pounding the windshield. The clapping of the windshield wipers gave rhythm to his thinking. Al-ice, Al-ice, Al-ice.....Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.

How long before they caught up with him? How long before they figured out who took her? His mind wouldn't shut off. He needed to think about what he was going to do when he found her. She's obviously conscious. So, he had to have a plan. Especially since she would run the minute she saw him. She was afraid of him and he didn't know why. What kind of monster does she think I am that she would hate me so bad?

#  Chapter 17

## Seton Hospital

The tapes verified Carl's gut feeling. It was the same guy who rode up the elevator with them earlier. They watched him go down several flights of stairs and as he loaded her into the ambulance. Luckily they got the license number off of the ambulance and immediately put out an APB on it.

They rewound the tape so John could watch again. He wanted to gather as much information as he could. He wanted to look for a tattoo, scar, anything other than clothing that they could use to identify the guy.

"Hey! Back up the tape! I don't believe it! That's Gillis in the stairwell!" John leaned forward in his chair. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He quickly dialed Gillis' number. It went straight to voice mail. "Gillis, I know you're on Alice's trail. Why haven't you called me. Call me as soon as you get this!"

They put the last tape in and sure enough, there was Gillis again. He was leaning against the column outside the ER. They watched as he took his phone out, dial some numbers, but then he put it in his pocket. "Rewind that!" John got closer to the screen. "Look, he put the phone in his shirt pocket instead of his pants, and I don't think he was dialing anyone. I think he is recording a video of what's going on. Gillis is slick, but I'm not sure why he didn't stop the guy."

"He knows who this Alice is. According to him, she's really evil. I think there's more to all this than he told us." Carl was beginning to dislike Gillis and John picked up on it.

"If Gillis didn't stop the guy, he had a very good reason. He's a professional all the way. You would do good to watch and learn from him. Don't be so quick to judge. Let's go back to the station. We both have paperwork to fill out." John took the tapes from Dan after he popped the last one out and put them in their cases. "We need to get these into evidence."

Carl shook the guards hands and thanked them. John was standing in the doorway trying Gillis' number again. Closing his phone, he put it back in his pocket. "Let's go back up stairs and see if they found anything up there, then we'll go grab something to eat before going to the station. My gut is screaming at me for not feeding it."

"Sounds like a plan." The security guards led them back to the elevator on their way back up to the investigation. As they approached the elevator, the doors opened and two police officers got off as they were about to get on.

"Hey, John." The blonde officer smiled at John as she walked towards him.

"Hey, Stewart. You looking for us?"

"Yep. Seems like you pissed of some guy with the FBI. There's FBI agents swarming the sixth floor right now. As soon as I heard the name Gene Farris, I took liberty of hiding this in my shirt." She reached inside and pulled out an envelope. John took it and looked inside. It was a yellow button. Like the ones that they saw on the man's shirt in the elevator earlier.

"Great job, Stew. You know you could get in trouble for this."

"They never saw me. As far as they know, I had already been there and left. As soon as I heard the name Gene Farris and that he was on his way up, I grabbed this and left. I told everyone else to get their stuff and leave and take whatever evidence they got to the lab. Hopefully most made it out before he and his men got there. Looks like it's officially taken over by the FBI."

"Nope. Not official until I see the paperwork on my desk. Until then, I don't know nothin'! Looks like you and I are headed out the back way, Carl. Let's go grab something to eat."

Dan could see John's vein bulging in his neck. "I can show you the freight elevator. It goes to the loading dock at the back of the hospital. If you parked in the garage, it'll bring you up right across from it. It was obvious to Carl that Dan didn't like Gene either.

"Thanks, man. That's perfect!" John shook his hand and followed the security guards to the freight elevator. They all got on and headed up to the first floor.

It was a short ride. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. John no sooner stepped out of the elevator than Gene Farris shoved an envelope into his chest. "Read those and weep!" He said with a smirk on his face. "I figured you'd try and sneak out the back way. Looks like I'm right." Chuckling and looking to his fellow FBI agents, Gene walked around John and got on the elevator. "Make sure you have everything on MY desk by this evening....got that?"

The elevator doors started shutting as John took the envelop and ripped it in half so that Gene could see him. He let go of the two pieces of envelope and they fell to the floor. Gene couldn't react soon enough to get the doors back open. John turned to Carl and said "Let's go."

Carl didn't question anything. He looked back at the two officers and saw them looking down at the envelope then at John. They turned and walked the other way leaving the pieces of paper on the floor.

The ride to Rosie's Tamale House was quiet. John was wound up tighter than an over-wound wrist watch. The vein in his neck was still popping out. Carl was unsure what to say, so he kept quiet. He figured if the wrong thing was said, John might literally explode. Rosie's parking lot was full which meant they would have to wait for a table.. As Carl pulled into the parking lot, a truck was backing out, so he waited to get the parking spot. Once he got pulled in and shut the motor off, John took his fist and started pounding the dashboard. Carl about jumped out of his skin.

"Damn, man....my car didn't do anything to you. Take it easy."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck.....MOTHER FUCKERS!" John took a deep breath, pursed his lips and blew out, took another one and blew out again.

Carl opened his door. He wasn't thrilled being inside a vehicle with someone going berserk. John had snapped. As he stepped outside the car and glanced back inside, he saw John's clenched fists and red face. Unsure as to what to do. He shut the door and waited for John. Just as the door shut, his phone began to ring.

"Hello?" Carl ran his hand through his hair as he held the phone to his ear. "Not sure where he is......no, what makes you think I would do that? Go to Hell!" Carl snapped the phone shut and slipped it back into his pants pocket. It began to ring again. Her retrieved it and turned the ringer off and returned it to his pocket

Turning towards the car, he started kicking the hell out of his tires, and slamming his fists on the top of the car. How in the hell did this son-of-a-bitch manage this? How was he going to tell John that they were re-assigning him to work with the FBI? He was sure Gene was behind this. What was the history between Gene and John?

John's door swung open and he got out. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to act like me now? Let's just shake it off and go eat."

Carl wasn't too sure he wanted to tell John about the phone call, but figured it would be better to just tell him than to let him hear about it later. He sure didn't want John's anger directed his way. "I just got off the phone with the chief. The FBI has requested that I be lent to Gene Farris. I told him to go to hell and turned my ringer off. I'm probably going to get fired now. I'm not working under that ass-wipe!"

"Now, wait a minute. Take the position. It'll give me a set of eyes inside of their operation. Just make sure they're not feeding you bullshit to bring back to me. You need to go in there hating me and bashing me to Gene. Can you do that? This is perfect!"

"You gotta be kidding me? I hate that son-of-a-bitch. He's just jerking me around and trying to get at you!"

"Well, then, let's beat him at his own game. Call the chief back and tell him I was in a pissy mood and you're sorry. Tell him you'll take the job. Now!"

Reluctantly, Carl pulled his phone out and called. "Let me speak to the chief. I know ..... I know...just put him on the damned phone!" Beads of sweat popped out on his forehead as he waited. "Yes sir. Yes sir.....uh huh... I'm sorry for how I reacted.....yes.....um, yes....ok. No, he's here. He was beating the hell out of my car, and I was upset when you called...and I know that's no excuse. I'm really sorry. I know...ok....ok...here he is." Carl handed the phone to John. "He wants to talk to you."

Taking the phone, John put the phone to one ear and his hand over the other to block out the noise of the traffic whizzing by on hwy 71. He started walking towards the restaurant while he was talking. As he entered the building, he stopped just inside the doors in the foyer of the building. Double doors entered on into the restaurant giving him a quieter place to talk.

"I told him to take it. Yes sir. No, I'm not going to do anything... I'm good with it. He's still a green one anyways. You know me. Awe now...you think you know me that good? Ha! Ok, we'll see. Sure thing. We'll be back in later, we're eating dinner. We missed lunch already. No, we should be back at the station around 6. What time is it? Five? Ok, make that 6:30. Alright then....bye."

"Was he reaming you out?" John asked. He believed Carl's face told it all. He was visibly shaken and upset.

"No, he told me he expected me not to be happy about it since I was your partner. He said that Gene's director from the San Antonio field office requested the transfer, not Gene. But between you and me - it was Gene. He's out to get me because of the incident early this morning at the elevator. Maybe that sounds a bit paranoid, but that's what I'm thinking."

John put his arm around Carl's shoulder and said "We're going to fix that son-of-a-bitch...just you and me! Let's go in and eat."

#  Chapter 18

## San Saba, TX

The smell of leather burned Alice's nose as she lay on the back seat. Coming out of her drugged state, she opened her eyes slowly. She wasn't sure where she was. Flashes of being carried, a cop on the floor, Uncle Ralph, people talking and her being carried again raced through her head. The first thing she saw as a blanket in her face. She realized that she was underneath a blanket. Slowly moving her hand, she began to feel around to try and make out where she was without drawing attention to herself.

Her leg was throbbing. She was in a lot of pain, but needed to be still until she could figure out where she was and who she was with. The vehicle she was in slowed down and turned right. Light filled the back seat for a few seconds, then it got dark again. The car came to a complete stop. She heard the door open and could feel the car lift as someone got out. The door shut and she heard the alarm being set. She slowly pulled the blanket off her head and looked around. She was in the back seat of an SUV.

She raised up enough to peer out the window and could see a stocky man going into the convenience store. He had parked on the side of the building where it was dark. Alice unlatched the door and slid out. She limped to the back of the SUV and looked around. Unsure of where to go, she started hobbling to the rear of the store. She wasn't too happy that she still had on a hospital gown. It was hard enough hobbling without having to hold the gown shut. As she leaned against the wall at the rear of the store, she heard a vehicle pull up on the side of the building. She leaned over and looked around the building. It was an old Ford Bronco with tinted windows. She watched as a man got out and walked around to the front of the store.

Half running and hopping, she made her way to the truck. She tried the back door, but it was locked. She tried the driver's side and it was unlocked, so she climbed in. As painful as it was, she climbed over the seats all the way to the back of the Bronco. It was clean inside. It had a vanilla smell to it, the kind of smell they spray in your car at the car wash. She quickly felt around in the back to see what she could find to defend herself with in case she needed to. A blanket was folded neatly in one corner, a box sat at the very back and a tire iron was laying against the wall on the side. She covered herself with the blanket and held onto the tire iron.

It didn't take long before she heard two men talking and laughing. Then she heard the truck door open and someone get in and start the truck. Unexpectedly, the passenger side door opened and another person got in.

"Hey dude...look at that guy over there. He's beating the shit out of his SUV. What's he doing man? What the hell?" The guy sounded Hispanic to her as he talked.

"Looks like he lost something. Roll your window down and ask him if he needs some help."

"Fuck you Miguel, he looks pissed off."

"Naw man, really.....roll your window down. I know that dude. It's Gillis Williams. He's my neighbor. He's cool man." Miguel was laughing at his friend for being so paranoid.

Miguel reached over and hit the power button and rolled the window down himself. "Hey Gillis...did you lose something?"

Gillis turned and saw Miguel looking past his friend through the window at him. He couldn't tell him what was really wrong. "I just bought a full bred Boxer and I guess someone took her when I went in the store. I was hoping she was in here somewhere. I'm going to walk around and see if I can find her. Maybe if I call and whistle she'll come to me."

Alice's heart leapt to her throat. Uncle Gillis! She should have stayed in his SUV! Crap. She couldn't very well get out now. So, she lay still as they backed out.

"Are you still going to Brenda's tonight?"

"No, man. I gotta get up early in the morning. I have to go to Bertram in the morning to pick up my brother. You wanna go with me?"

"Hell no. I'm going to sleep in. Thanks for picking me up tonight."

"No problem man."

That was all that was said for the next twenty minutes. Then they turned onto a gravel road that seemed to go on forever. Finally Miguel's friend said "Hey thanks again man, for picking me up and bringing me home. I'll catch you later."

"Hey, don't forget Friday night....poker! Bring the crown and I'll bring the girls!" She couldn't make out what his friend said because he had already shut the door. But she could hear him laughing as he was walking away.

The truck began to back up and turn. She could tell he was turning the truck around. Again, it was a long ways down the gravel road, then they came to a stop. He didn't turn the motor off, but opened the truck door and got out. She could hear him outside the back of the truck peeing. A few seconds later, the lid to the back of the Bronco lifted up and she heard him digging into the box. He shut the lid and got back inside the truck.

They turned right and went a short distance and then turned right again. They were going up an incline. Not long after going up the incline, he parked the truck and got out. Again, he opened the lid to the back and he pulled the box out. Alice lay still, hoping that it was dark enough that he didn't see her. The lid shut and she heard him walking away from the truck. She sat up to see where she was.

She watched as he unlocked the front door and went inside. He left the door open and a few seconds later, came back out to the truck. She quickly lay back down and covered up. He opened the back door up and reached over into the back where she was. He felt around and grabbed hold of the blanket and pulled it over the seat. Her heart went into her throat. He screamed, and she wacked him as hard as she could with the tire iron. Getting onto her knees as fast as she could, she continued to hit him in the head until there was no life left in him.

She dropped the tire iron an got out of the truck. She limped around to the side and pulled his lifeless body from the truck and struggled to drag him inside the house. She went back to the truck and shut the doors . The wind was picking up and she could smell the clean air of the country. It always smelled fresh after a heavy rain. She looked around, but could see no lights in the distance. They must be in a remote area. That meant they must be in San Saba close to her uncle Gillis' ranch.

She headed back inside the house. It was pitch black. She felt around looking for a lamp, or light switch. Finding a lamp, she turned it on and looked around. She quickly locked the front door, then pulled his body underneath the front window. On the sofa was a granny square blanket. She took it and covered his lifeless body. His eyes were still open and it was beginning to creep her out.

Alice began looking around for some clothes. She found a pair of jeans and some T-shirts. The jeans were a size too big, but they would have to do. In the top dresser drawer, she found some socks. Luckily, his tennis shoes fit her pretty good. She put on three pairs of socks to make them fit snug enough. All she could think about was sleep. Killing made her tired, but she was more hungry than tired. She found a bag of chips on the counter. Inside the fridge was a six-pack of beer, a couple of bottles of water and three diet cokes. She opted for the beer.

Sitting on the sofa, she twisted the cap off the beer and tossed it at the TV. She ate chips and drank the beer until it was gone. Her eyelids got heavy and she began to nod off. I am not a bad person. I'm just having a lot of bad luck.

She finished the beer, folded up the bag of chips and lay down on the sofa. She was exhausted. Sleep took over quickly and dreams of baking cookies filled her head. As she lay sleeping on the sofa, the wind began to pick up outside. A crack of thunder boomed and shook the windows, but Alice's dream couldn't be disturbed. She rolled to one side and didn't move again for six hours.

Bam! Bam! Bam! The pounding at the door startled her. Light filtered through the curtains as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. Again, pounding at the door. This time it brought her to her feet. She quickly looked around and had to think quickly. She kicked off the tennis shoes and removed the socks. Then she took off the jeans. She grabbed the now stiff body and pulled it into the hallway just out of site.

She left the chain latch on the door and cracked it open. There on the front porch was a small Mexican man. "Hey, where's Miguel? Who are you?"

Alice peered through the crack of the door and said, "I'm Carmen, and you are?"

"I'm Joe. Miguel was supposed to pick up his brother this morning. He called me and asked me to go check on him. I can see why he's running late now." Joe looked up and down Alice's body and grinned.

Alice could feel her blood pressure going up. She hated men like this. She reached up, unlatched the chain, and invited him in. Standing there in the T-shirt and her underwear, he could see her leg bandaged up.

"What happened to your leg?"

"I got shot." She smiled at him.

"No shit? Naw...you're jacking with me." He smiled at her and noticed the one beer on the coffee table and the bag of chips.

"Nope, not kidding. A guy broke into my apartment and after I got the fourth bullet in his ass, he managed to get a round into my leg." Alice raised her right eyebrow and smirked at him.

"So, what happened after that? Did you call the cops?"

"Nope, I went to my neighbor's and they called the cops. I was in the hospital until some guy kidnapped me. Then another guy kidnapped me from that guy, so I escaped and climbed into Miguel's truck at the store last night."

"No way! Miguel gave me a ride home last night and there wasn't anyone in his truck! Who are you...really? And, where's Miguel?" Joe started looking around.

"Oh, well I guess I didn't hear him tell you to bring the crown and he'd bring the women then, when you got out of the truck?" She smiled at him as he turned to look at her.

"Hell, you really were in the truck! So, all this other stuff - that true too?"

"What do you think? You think I'm lying?"

"Well, think about what you're saying. If I came up to you and told you what you just told me, would you believe me?"

Alice hesitated a minute and said "Probably not. So, you won't believe me when I tell you that I bludgeoned your friend to death in the truck and then drug his body in here and slept on the sofa all night."

"You're scaring me. Where's Miguel?"

"He's dead - I told you. I killed him."

"You said you drug him in here. I don't see him."

"Well, look in the hallway dumbass."

Joe decided it was in his best interest to leave and not look. "I don't believe anything you're telling me. Of all the wacked chicks he's brought home, you top them all. Tell Miguel to go get his brother and that I'll call him and tell him he'll be late." Joe was beginning to believe everything she said. He just wanted out of the house so he could call the police.

"No, I told you he's dead. Tell his brother he's dead and won't be picking him up."

Joe just shook his head and waved his hand over his head as he walked out the front door. "You're fucking nuts."

Alice walked to the hallway and bent over. "Hey, Joe!"

Joe turned just in time to see Alice pulling a pair of legs towards the living room. He ran back inside to the hallway. Grabbing Alice, he threw her aside as he check on his friend. Alice stood up and picked the beer bottle up off the coffee table. She limped over to the hallway. Leaning against the wall with the bottle in her right hand, she watched as Joe mourned over his friend.

"Awwww, so now you believe me."

"You fucking bitch!" Joe turned and tried to stand up, but lost his balance. Alice quickly rounded the corner and beat him in the head with the beer bottle. He grabbed her arm and held it away from him as blood trickled down his face.

She let out a scream and grabbed her leg with her free hand as she fell backwards into the living room. He took the beer bottle out of her hand, let go of her arm, and stood up. Pulling out his phone, he dialed 911. "Hello? This is Joe Rodriguez. I'm at 89454 Rocky Creed Trail. There's been a murder and I have the murderer here. Her name is Carmen. I'll hold her until you get here. Please hurry! It's my friend. Miguel Alvarado. Yes...yes...please hurry."

Alice scooted up between the wall and the end of the sofa as she watched him talk on the phone. She had to get out of here before the police arrived. He never took his eyes off her.

"You're bleeding." She smiled up at him.

"Screw you." Joe touched his forehead and felt a gash. "Why did you kill my friend? What did he ever do to you?"

"I panicked. I was hiding under a blanket. When he pulled it off me, I panicked. Once I hit him, I just couldn't stop until he was dead. I need to pee."

"What?"

"I need to pee." Alice struggled to get up. Joe walked over to her and pushed her back down to the floor.

"Piss on yourself for all I care. You aren't going anywhere."

Alice leaned her head against the wall. She felt weak and defeated. Her eyes roamed the room searching for anything she could use to overtake him. That's when she spotted it. A pistol lying behind the sofa, half under it. As she slid her hand behind the sofa, Joe put his foot on top of her wounded leg. She screamed. "You bastard! You'll wish you never did that to me!"

"You're not going anywhere, till the police get here to haul your ass off." Joe didn't trust her and knew that he had her trapped. Her leg was bleeding and hurting, so he knew she was not as big of a threat as he first thought. Tears began falling down her cheeks.

"I only wanted to lean against the sofa. I feel like I'm going to pass out."

"Good, black out. Easier for me if you do!" Joe held the bottle in his hand like a weapon, ready to hit her in the head if she came at him again. Tires against gravel let them both know that someone was driving their way. Joe went to the curtain and pulled it back as he watched Alice. He took his eyes off her for a split second to see who it was. That was just enough time for her to retrieve the gun. When he looked back, it was pointed at him.

"It's not loaded." Joe tried acting smooth as he lied to her. He knew that Miguel kept five loaded guns all around the house.

"Wanna take a chance on that? Cause I figure when you live this far out, you're going to keep all your weapons loaded." Alice got up from the floor, leg throbbing and all. She got her balance and then shot Joe.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" He screamed as he fell to the floor holding his thigh.

She walked over to him and kicked his wound. "How's that feel, ass-hole?"

He was in so much pain; he didn't see her leave the room. When she came back, she had on jeans and tennis shoes. She was carrying a sheet.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"Don't worry about it."

"You're going to kill me, aren't you." It was more of a statement than a question for her.

"Hell! You didn't care if you hurt me by stepping on my leg after I told you I had been shot. Why should I care anything about your ass? You can just sit and wonder what I'm going to do. Suffer, fret, worry, I don't give a shit."

She started tearing the sheet into long strips. After she had several torn, she walked over to him and made him put his arms to his back.

As she knelt down next to him, she pointed the gun at his head and said "I have a trigger finger. Just thought I'd tell you that. You move in any what that makes me feel threatened and I'll just shoot you dead, because it doesn't matter to me one way or the other."

She stuck the gun in his back and said "Put your hands behind your back."

"No...I don't want to be helpless when you kill me."

"You're already helpless. Now, give me your hands and stop being difficult or I may as well just shoot you and be on my way." She pushed the gun hard against his back making him involuntarily scream.

"Ok, ok. Please don't shoot me." He quickly put his hands behind him. With one hand on the gun, she used the other to looped a strip of sheet around and around his wrists. Once she felt he couldn't undo it, she put the gun next to her as she tightened it and tied several knots.

His arms were now bound them behind his back. Balling up the socks she had been wearing earlier, she put them to his mouth and told him to open up. He refused to open his mouth.

She took the gun and put it against his temple. She pulled the hammer on the gun back. "Now? You want me to end this shit now? I'm not even going to count - either open your fucking mouth, or it ends right now!"

He opened it, so she released the hammer and shoved the sock into his mouth then tied a strip of sheet over it so he couldn't scream or spit it out. Checking every knot, she made sure they were secure. Then she stuck the gun back against his temple.

"Get up! We're out of here."

He mumbled as he struggled to stand up. Damn it, this was going to be a bit harder since she shot him. She was crippled, he was crippled. She didn't care. He didn't care about her, so she didn't give a shit. Yanking on his arm, she helped him to a standing position.

They both limped to the door. Grabbing the keys from the TV stand, she opened the front door and shoved him out and led him towards Miguel's SUV. She opened the back door and made him climb into the back. She shoved him to a lying position and bound his feet with more sheet strips. She looked up and down the road. She could see quite a distance away since the house was sitting on top of a hill. There were no vehicles in site, so she shut the back door.

She jumped into the driver's seat and started it up. She backed out onto the lawn and turned around to head forward out of the driveway. She turned right. She remembered how they came in the night before and knew that turning left was the way back to town. She needed to go the other way. The gas gauge said it was full, so she wouldn't have to stop anytime soon. Joe began to moan in the back seat, so she turned the radio on and soon found a station she liked. The more he moaned the louder the volume got until she drowned him out.

#  Chapter 19

Gillis spent two hours scouring the area for Alice. He knew she couldn't have gone too far on foot, so he finally decided she must have hitched a ride somehow. Once again, she eluded him. His heart was heavy knowing that he was failing her. He wanted to help her, but without having her in his care, it was difficult. There was going to be a point in time that he would no longer be able to help.

He didn't want to believe that Alice was capable of murder. Feeling defeated, he drove to his cabin in San Saba. As he neared his cabin, he noticed Miguel's truck in his drive. The porch light was still on, but the house was dark. Gillis pulled up to the edge of his driveway, then on second thought decided to just go on to the cabin. He wanted to ask Miguel if he noticed anything when he left the store, but figured he was already in bed asleep. He needed to get to the cabin and call John to let him know what was going on. There was no reason to keep this from him any longer Pulling off the road into his drive, he stopped just beyond the metal gate. He walked up the drive, unlocked the gate and swung it open and looped the chain around the post to hold it there. As he walked back, he noticed the stars were hiding behind what was left over from the storm. There were normally thousands upon thousands of them sprinkled above. He loved sitting outside on the cabin porch watching the shooting stars in the evening sky. Not tonight. Even though the storm was over, the clouds hung low in the sky, blanketing the view. Every once in a while, the full moon would shine through the clouds, lighting up the ground.

Gillis got back in his SUV and drove up to the cabin. There wasn't much he could do tonight, so he called John.

The phone rang once before John answered. "Hello?"

"Hey man, what's going on? This is Gillis. " Before he could say anything else John started in on him.

"We pulled the security tapes. Guess who we saw on them? YOU! Why the hell didn't you call me? What were you thinking? We could have stopped the guy in his tracks. Hell, YOU could have stopped him in his tracks."

"John! Stop talking and let me talk. Alice is my niece. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the murders and thinking that she could be responsible for them. I know that you think she's a victim here, but as much as I hate to say this, I think she's a serial killer. I think she's the serial killer you've been looking for - The Sixth Street Serial Killer. " Gillis caught his breath and immediately regretted betraying Alice. His sense of right and wrong had been wavering between loyalty to his career and family. As much as he loved Alice, he couldn't let her continue to kill.

"How long have you known this?" John was stunned. He knew that Gillis had family, but he never talked much about them. He knew that his sister was killed in a car accident years ago. But that was about all he knew. "Where's Alice?"

"I don't know. I lost her."

"What do you mean you lost her? I know how great a detective you are, so right now I'm thinking you're covering up something."

"I'm not. I followed the guy in the ambulance to Round Top. He was stopped by an elderly man. It looked like they had some kind of emergency and stopped the ambulance. I took advantage of the situation and as soon as he left the ambulance, I grabbed Alice out and put her in my SUV. I was going to bring her to my cabin here in San Saba. I got as far as three miles from my place and stopped at the corner store. She must have gotten out while I was in the store. I thought she was still drugged. When I got back to my vehicle, she was gone. Man, I looked for her for over two hours! The only thing I can think of is that she hitched a ride with someone. But who the hell would pick up a woman in a hospital gown!"

"Why would you want to take Alice to San Saba?" John asked. "And answer my question....how long have you suspected her of being the serial killer?"

"Honestly, I thought I could get her to talk to me. Alice is a sweet girl. She's never been in trouble. She called me a year ago and told me that she was having these flash backs. I asked her to talk to me about it, but she said she was seeing a psychiatrist. So, I let it go. Then I stopped by to visit her one day and she had moved out of her house. All her furniture was still there, but her clothes and pictures were all gone. I found it odd and was worried that something happened to her. My detective instincts kicked in. Look man, I would rather talk about this in person...not over the phone."

"I understand. Carl and I are going to head back to the station, but I'll head to San Saba first thing in the morning. Stay put."

As John hung up, Carl started quizzing him. After filling him in, Carl shook his head in disbelief. "There's no way that little woman killed all those people. It's not possible. Is it?" He looked at John for his expertise. The thought of someone as meek as this woman seemed didn't register with him as being capable of murder. Then again, it's those you least expect that bubble up to the top.

"I need to drive to Gillis's place first thing in the morning. We both need a good night's rest so we can think clear. Not a word of this to anyone....I don't need that bastard Gene nosing around. Gillis is my friend and he won't do anything that isn't legal. He's being cautious. I'm honored that he thinks enough of me to tell me what's going on. Since you're my partner I want to keep you informed, even though as of tomorrow you are going to work with Gene. You need to keep an eye on Gene for me and apprise me of his every devious move. Don't disappoint me!"

"I'm not going with you? They didn't say I had to start first thing tomorrow!"

"I want you to be available starting tomorrow. The less you know about what Gillis and I are doing, the better. I'm not saying I don't trust you keeping quiet, I just know how manipulative Gene can be. The job you'll be doing is more important for me than you working with me right now. Gene's slick, but stupid at the same time. Let's make this work to our advantage." John slapped Carl on the back and said "Let's pay the bill and head to the station."

"I still don't get it. Why would he tell us that if Alice was the Alice he thought she was, that she was very cunning? Did he think then that it could be his niece? I bet that's what ASS stands for!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"ASS...it was tattooed under the rose on his arm. Alice S Spence, that is.....if S is her middle initial. That would make sense wouldn't it?" Carl watched as the cashier took John's money and handed him back the change.

"Well, that's a good guess, but no. ASS does not stand for Alice S Spence. Although I don't know what Alice's middle name is, I do know what ASS stands for on his arm. It stands for ass! It's a long story, but I was with him when he had that tattoo done and it has nothing to do with the Rose and vine on his arm....two separate tattoos done for two separate reasons. You, my friend do have an active imagination!"

Carl felt a bit deflated. He didn't much like being wrong, but now he wanted to know what the purpose of putting ass on your arm served. John could see the wheels turning in Carl's head and instead of telling him what he knew he was dying to know, he just smiled and put his wallet back in his pocket.

As they stepped outside of Rosie's, they could see it had rained while they were eating. The roar of thunder echoed off in a distance while flashes of light illuminated the night sky showing off the menacing thunderheads.

"We sure need this rain. I haven't had to mow my yard once this year."

"You're not going to explain ass to me....are you?"

"Well, it's a personal story, and I could never tell it like Gillis could. Feel free to ask him what possessed him to tat ASS on his arm." John chuckled as he walked to the car.

"Why do I feel like I'm being set up here?"

"Now, would I do that to you? Naaaaaawwww....." John laughed out loud and he got in the car.

Carl got in and put his seatbelt on. "You know stuff like this drives me up the wall. Why do you torture me?

They pulled out of the parking lot onto Hwy 71 and headed to Alice's apartment so John could pick up his car. The drive didn't take twenty minutes.

It'd been a long day. John got out of the car and stretched his arms above his head. He walked around to the driver's side and told Carl that he would see him later.

"You aren't going to the station?" Carl couldn't imagine him doing any more work tonight.

"No. I'm going inside to visit the Camarillo's. I have a few more questions that are bugging me. I'll be at the station in a little while. Go ahead and clock out if you want and we'll talk tomorrow. Thanks for the ride back." John hit the top of Carl's car and turned to leave.

"Hey, John!" Carl yelled out the window. "Don't forget, I'm on your side!"

John wave his arm over his head without looking back acknowledging he'd heard him. He gave a thumbs up too just as he got to the entryway.

The dank hallway inside the apartment building smelled of mothballs. The elevators were located on the right side and flanked by two half mooned lamps. He pushed the up button and waited. Taking in the smells, he got a whiff of Chinese food mixed with barbeque. His mind was all over the place. The time frame didn't fit. Somehow, he needed to see the coroner's report before Gene. His experience told him that the cops died first. Two guns in the apartment, one with a silencer on it. From what he saw, it looked like the silencer was the main gun used and the other gun must have been Alice's. Luckily she got to it in time to defend herself. But, he would know more once the ballistics report came back. Again, he needed to get to it before Gene got his grubby hands on it.

The ding of the elevator bell which sounded conspicuously like that of a palm bell that sat on the check-in counter at most Hotels brought him back to his task at hand. Startled at the sound that came next made him jump backwards. The doors shook as though something on the other side wanted to rip through them. They opened up to two men pounding each other with their fists. The taller man was on the floor with the little guy on top punching his face.

John pulled out his badge and flashed it at the two. The guy on top stopped punching and stepped back with his hands up.

"Hey man. I don't want any trouble. That's my dumb-ass brother." He said as he nodded towards the man who was still on the floor. He was holding one hand over his nose trying to stop the bleeding. John reached into his back pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to him.

"You better go have that checked. Looks like it's broken." John stepped into the elevator and pushed the 4th floor button. "You gonna ride up with me, or wait for me to arrest you for disturbance of the peace? If I were you, I'd call a truce and take your brother to the ER. There's too much shit going on in the world for brothers to be acting like you two." John smiled as the smaller one help his brother up. They couldn't get off the elevator fast enough.

Voices of the brothers talking loud could be hear as he rode the elevator up to the fourth. By the time the doors opened, they were faded. He imagined they were headed to their car and the ER. Looking across the hallway, he saw the yellow tape across Alice's door. He tried the knob and found it locked. The Camarillo's apartment was next door, but since it was on the end, their door faced the hallway. Before he could knock on the door, another door opened and out popped a red-headed woman.

"Hi. I'm Harriet Maze. I saw you here earlier. No one wanted to talk to me, but I have a lot to say about what was going on in that there apartment. That girl is trouble. T R O U B L E! She wouldn't let me in this morning. And if it hadn't been for the gay blade next door, I would have gotten in there! I knew something was up. She sure didn't want me to come in. I saw Jack go in there. I told her I wanted to talk to him. She told me in no uncertain terms that I could wait. Why, she even put her foot against the door so I couldn't push it open! Can you believe that? Why, I never! And then..."

Before she could say anything else, John stuck his finger to her lips.

"Shhhhhh." He was overcome with her prattle. No wonder Alice tried to shut the door on her. He wondered when she took a breath and if he hadn't shushed her, how much longer would she have rambled on.

She was indignant. She threw her shoulders back and turned back to her apartment. Before she went in she got in one last sentence. She looked back over her shoulder and sneered at John.

"Well, I hope for your sake you don't let that ass Gene Farris get his grubby hands in this 'cause he's a bastard!" She quickly entered her apartment and slammed the door.

John stood there staring at her apartment door wondering what the hell just happened. He noticed light coming through the peephole, then it went black. He knew she was peeping out at him. It creeped him out, so he went down the hall to the Camarillo's apartment. Before he reached the door, Joe opened it and welcomed him in.

"I was about to take the trash out when I saw Harriet coming out of her apartment. I guess you got a taste of what she's like. She's nosey alright. If you haven't interviewed her yet, you need to. She is constantly looking out that peephole of hers - spying on everyone. She'll literally try and push her way into your apartment if you let her.

"Do you think she exaggerates, or that she's pretty accurate?" John sat on the sofa next to a pile of books. Ruth picked them up and sat them on the coffee table.

"Would you like some coffee?" She asked as she headed towards the kitchen.

"That would be great. Creamer only please." John settled back on the sofa and took in his surroundings.

"How is half-and-half?" Ruth reached into the cupboard and pulled out three cups, placing them on a tray. She went to the refrigerator and pull out the half-and-half, and poured some into a creamer. She sat the coffee pot in the center of the tray.

"That'll be Great." John pulled out his recorder and placed it on the table. "Do you mind if I record our conversation?"

"Not at all. And yes, to the question about Harriet. She may be a busy-body and overly nosey, but she gets her facts right." Ruth sat the tray down on the coffee table and poured three cups of coffee. She handed john his and the creamer. Joe reached over and got his and leaned back in his easy chair. Ruth picked hers up and sat in the rocker at the end of the coffee table.

John leaned over and hit record.

"I need to start by asking you to repeat the time sequence. What time did Alice come to your apartment, how many times did you hear knocking on her door and if you can remember the approximate time." He poured the cream into his coffee and sat the creamer back on the tray. He took a sip. "This is really good. Flavored coffee. Is this Taste of Houston from HEB?"

Ruth was impressed. "Yes, one of my favorites."

The room was brighter than he remembered. The curtains were pulled back revealing the hills off in the distance. Beyond the curtains was a deck with two chairs and a glass table. An umbrella protruded from the center. A bouquet of yellow roses sat to the side along with three candles.

"Well, let me see. Being as its Saturday, I usually get up, make coffee and watch the morning news. I always wake up around six. This morning was no different than any other one. Um, around noon, a movie came on that I wanted to see. I remember it was during a commercial that I heard a loud noise, so I took the cane that mom bought me and tapped it against the wall. I hollered at them to quite down. We had never met Alice, so I figured she may have invited friends over and I was trying to warn them that I wouldn't tolerate the noise. Guess I should have just walked over and done the neighborly thing." He ran his finger around the edge of his coffee cup. The look of regret spread across his face.

"So, how far into the movie were you when you heard the noise?"

"I remember it was the first commercial. So I'd say about fifteen minutes or so." Setting his coffee cup down, he continued. "I was a bit aggravated, because I'd been wanting to see this movie and was looking forward to a quiet Saturday when I heard what sounded like people banging into things next door. But, I didn't call the police on her. I just banged on the wall and yelled."

"You didn't call the police? For some reason I thought you did."

"No. I assume it was Harriet. She calls the police on everybody. And for some reason, mom and I get blamed for it." Joe ran his hand across his bald head. "That woman can be so aggravating at times."

"Do you know who "gay-blade" is? She told me that he interrupted her from going into Alice's apartment today." Ruth reached down and poured more coffee into John's cup before he could finish his thought. He was going to ask for the guy's apartment number, but Joe answered before he could finish.

"Oh...that's Harriet's next door neighbor, Charlie Greenburg. He lives in 819. I saw the police talking to Harriet and Charlie this afternoon and I overheard Harriet telling them she'd give a statement but not at the station. So, an officer stood in the hallway with her for quite a while. Gene was hovering up and down the hallway barking orders at everyone. They all left about thirty minutes ago." The disgust on Joe's face when he talked about Gene was apparent. Gene didn't rub anyone the right way. He only knew how to make enemies. Even Harriet didn't like him. He must have been his usual dry self with her.

"After you banged on the wall...."

"Tapped...not banged. Well, maybe I did bang. Sorry, go ahead...." Joe grinned a bit, then apologized for interrupting.

"After you tapped on the wall, how long was it before you heard anything else?" John smiled at Joe and could see that he didn't want him to think he was an ass.

Joe let out a sigh. "I went back to watching my movie. It was near the climax when someone knocked on the door. Mother cracked the door open to see who it was. We've learned to keep the safety latch on because of Harriet. It was Alice. She'd cut her hand and so we spent the next twenty minutes or so cleaning it and trying to convince her to go to the emergency room for stitches. After she left, the credits for the movie was rolling. I missed the ending."

"What happened next?"

"Well, I shut off the TV. Mom and I started talking about how sweet we thought Alice was and how vulnerable she looked. I don't think we were talking long before momma decided I should go check on her. That's when we opened the door and Saw Alice with George at her apartment door. We inquired who he was and she said that he worked with her. We never asked her what she did for a living, but took her at her word. That guy looked out of place. My gut told me he was bad, but Alice played it off that he worked with her and took us up on having dinner with us. Hell, we even invited him to eat with us. Now, that makes me sick. To think that we invited a serial killer to come sit at our table and share our food." Joe shook his head. The hair on his arms bristled as goose bumps ran up them.

"So, from the first noise to the time "George" came into the picture - would you say that two to two and a half hours passed?"

"More like three hours. It was a two and a half hour movie. Ok, maybe about two hours and forty five minutes."

Ruth sat her cup on the tray along with Joe's. She picked up the tray and took it in the kitchen. When she returned, she said "Someone knocked on her door around noon. I remember that because I was baking cookies and had just set the timer for twenty minutes. The clock said 12:03. And, I was taking the cookies out of the oven when Joe as banging on the wall. So that means it was 12:23 when he banged on the wall. Now those times are set in stone. I remember that much!" Ruth was proud of herself for being able to give accurate information.

"Ok, so, now it's around a quarter 'til three and Alice is with George going into the apartment. Did you notice anything unusual other than him not fitting in or having a gut feeling about him?"

"I did see Alice wince at one point. Makes me wonder if he didn't have a gun in her side because he was right up against her, which I thought was a bit unusual if they were only co-workers and not boyfriend/girlfriend." Second guessing himself, it was obvious that Joe wished he could redo the whole day.

The air conditioner kicked on and the cool air blew the curtains into the room, Ruth got up and pulled them more to the side so that the air could circulate around the room.

"I think Joe's right. She was really calm, but something was off. " Ruth walked back to her rocker and sat down. "That guy was disheveled, like a homeless person. As much as I dislike Harriet, you should go talk to her. My memory isn't as wonderful as I'd like to think, but I could swear I heard knocking on her door before she came over with her hand cut and before Joe knocked on the wall. If anyone would know if that's correct, it'd be Harriet. Nothing goes on in this building that she doesn't know about!" Ruth laughed. "Besides, I don't think my memory is that great, even if I want to believe it's perfect."

John reached out and picked the recorder up. He shut it off. Putting it back in his pocket, he stood up, drank the last bit of coffee and walked into the kitchen to rinse out the cup.

"Guess I better get going. I'll get with Harriet tomorrow. I'm sure she's excited about letting someone know what she's seen. Thanks again for taking time to give your statements." John walked to the door as Joe got up.

"Hey, I just want to let you know that I told Farris that you had already taken our statements. I didn't want him to know anything more than what you know. He wasn't too happy with me but I didn't really care. Let us know if we can do anything else. If you find Alice, we would like to know. I'd like to get my hands on whoever took her."

John wanted to let him know what he knew, but couldn't tell him. He thanked them both and headed down the hallway to the elevator. He'd no sooner got to Harriet's door than she poked her head out.

"Good Lord, woman, you could give someone a heart attack!" John wasn't startled so much by the door opening as he was from her loud voice.

"Hey! I want to make a statement to you. Not that dirt-bag Gene Farris! I grew up with him you know. He was God-awful in school and hasn't changed much. I tried to force me but I told him a thing or two. I bet he is as mean and hateful at work as he was back in high school. He was the school bully, you know."

Trying hard not to interrupt her, but needing to go, John finally put his finger to his lips and said "Shhhhhh"

She looked at him with disdain, then humor. She smiled really big and said. "I like your style. You got manners, boy. I know I yap too much, but you're sweet about it. Ok....when would you like my statement?"

For the first time, she stood there waiting for him to say something without a word. She put her fisted hand on her him and said "Well? Cat got your tongue?"

He smiled at her and said "No, you caught me a bit off guard. Would you mind if I came back tomorrow to get it? I've got some urgent business to take care of. I have to go out of town in the morning, but should be able to get a statement from you by four or so. I will give you a call and set up a firm time with you."

"Ok, well then....I shall see you tomorrow!" With that, she turned around and went back inside.

As the elevator doors shut, John called Carl. "Hey buddy...anything new on your end?"

John listened as Carl got excited. "Hey, slow down. So, you ran into Gene. That son-of-a-bitch! Look, I don't want to talk about him. I just wanted to let you know that I've taken the Camarillo's statements. Looks like there may be a discrepancy in the time the cops got to Alice's and when the killer got there. We may have two serial killers on our hands. One of them being Alice. I'd hate to think that Gillis' niece was a killer, but right now, my gut is telling me something else. Did Gene have anything new to add?" Before John could say anything else, Carl jumped in. He listened and couldn't believe what Carl was telling him. "No shit! What the hell were you thinking?" Somehow Carl had managed to get himself deeper into trouble.

Before he could say much else, Al Baker was on the line. It made John feel better knowing that Al was on top of things. He listened intently as Al caught him up.

"I'm headed over there." John was about to say more when Al told him the house was being staked out. They both agreed it was a bad idea.

"I'm going to head home then, I have to get up early and head out of town. No, I don't need to talk to Carl. Tell him to be careful. I don't want him doing anything else. Stuff like this can get him kicked off the force. I'll call you tomorrow so we can arrange a meeting somewhere off of Gene's radar, if you know what I mean. Sure. Ok. Later, man."

John put his phone in his pocket and pulled his keys out. He'd already left the elevator and walked out into the parking lot before finishing his phone call. He didn't notice the green sedan sitting on the north side of the parking lot. He unlocked his door and got in.

He started the motor and turned the radio on. Creedence Clearwater was singing Up Around the Bend. Seemed to be an appropriate song to be on since he felt like he was on a chase. Turning around the next bend. It put him in a better mood. He backed out of the parking spot and as he put it in drive, he noticed a set of lights turn on. I'll be damned. He knew if Carl was being followed, it made sense that Gene was having him tailed as well.

Well, he could follow him for all he cared. He was only going home and to bed. He had an early start in the morning. The guy was just going to waste a night with nothing to report. He would shake him in the morning. Now that he knew he was being tailed, he'd take his other vehicle which was parked on the other side of his house.

John's house backed up to an alleyway. There was a driveway in front leading to the garage, but also a driveway in the back that had another garage that he built for his motorcycles and another car. The drive home was fun. He went all over Austin, enjoying the music and watching to see how well he was being followed. Toying with the sedan was fun. It was obvious the guy wasn't good at it. Several times John almost lost him without trying. Tomorrow would be a piece of cake.

#  Chapter 20

## Warrenton, TX

Mike Nales made it back to Warrenton just as the disc jockey on the radio announce the time to be 9:25 pm. The streets had quieted down a lot from earlier. Vendors had covered their wares, or completely packed them up. Not many cars lined the street. There were greater choices of parking than before. He pulled onto a gravel drive and parked his van next to several trucks. He thought it would be dead by now, but there were the vendors still sorting and cleaning up. Dusk had already fallen, but street lights and Christmas lights strung in trees and around buildings lit up the area.

Not sure where to start, he decided to ask a few venders if they remembered the elderly lady having a heart attack earlier in the day. The first few venders told him that they heard about it, but didn't see anything. Mike looked around and tried to figure out the location he had been at when he was flagged down. That's when he saw the blue tent. Right....that's where they had the lady lying down. It wasn't too far from where he had parked, so he decided to walk the distance in order to stretch his legs. They were stiff from all the driving he had done today. Before he reached the tent, a voice called out to him.

"Hey mister! Mister!"

Mike turned in time to see a young woman walking hurriedly in his direction. He waited and watched as she approached him. Throwing her arms around him, she hugged him hard, catching him off guard. She let go and he could see she was crying.

"Thank you so much for saving my mother's life today. You left so suddenly, no one got your name. The doctors said if you hadn't been there and did all you did, she wouldn't be with us right now. She's going to be ok. I can't thank you enough. Oh, where are my manners! I'm Sadie Purcell. I run the Broken Button. It's a vintage store. Please, won't you come with me and let me fix you some coffee. I'd like to know something about the man who saved my mother." She looped her arm thru his and guided him towards a small house surrounded by a short fence with a gate. The little house sat behind the Broken Button.

"Why aren't you at the hospital with your mother?" He asked her as they walked up the sidewalk. She smiled up at him beaming with joy.

"I was earlier, but mother needed a few things, so I came back to pick them up. It's a good thing I did!. She was taken to Smithville Regional Hospital where they stabilized her. I stayed there until they told me she was going to be ok and that they were transferring her to Brackenridge. So, I decided to come here first and it's a good thing I did! If I hadn't, I would have missed you!"

"Then I don't need to waste your time making me coffee. You should be on your way back to the hospital." Her smile was infectious. He couldn't help smiling back at her as she insisted that twenty minutes wouldn't make that big a difference. Instead of listening to him, she pulled the carafe from the coffee maker and began making coffee. He watched her move about the kitchen with grace. She wasn't the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but she was sweet and there was something about her that intrigued him. How could he broach the subject of Alice with her without freaking her out. Maybe by giving her some background information about himself, he could get her sympathy.

Sadie sat down at the table as the coffee began brewing. "Well, tell me a little about yourself. How long have you been a paramedic?"

"Oh, I'm not a paramedic. I've taken courses on CPR, but I'm far from a paramedic. Otherwise I would have loaded your mother in the ambulance and drove her myself to the hospital. I'm a mechanic and work on the hospital fleet. I was transporting the ambulance back to Houston when someone flagged me down. I let them know right away to call an ambulance because I was not medically educated to care for your mother other than to give CPR." He looked down at his hands and wondered how he could tell her his background when he himself didn't know. Ten years was a long time of not knowing and wondering about yourself. He took in a deep breath and let it out.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." Sadie reached across and touched his hand. "I've made you uncomfortable and that's not my intention. I just think you must be one of the kindest men to stop and help another human being. You don't need to tell me anything you don't want to. Just know that you've made a friend for life here." Her smile was warm and her chestnut hair fell a little past her shoulders. He noticed that when she got nervous she would pull on a strand of hair and twirl it around her finger. He found that endearing.

"No.....you didn't make me uncomfortable....not at all. I'm just trying to figure out how to tell you something that I know nothing about." Again, he looked at his hands. He did that a lot. When they first found him, he had a white ring mark around his wedding finger. They figured he must have been married, was married, maybe divorced.....it was all speculation. Without knowing, he felt his life was in limbo. How could he expect to ever be in a relationship. He didn't want to hurt anyone. Now he found himself in a big mess. His desire to find his identity led him to kidnap a woman who might know him.

"What does that mean?" Sadie got up and pulled two cups from the pantry and poured the coffee. She sat the cups on the table, then retrieved the sugar and cream from the cupboard and placed them in front of Mike with a teaspoon.

"Ten years ago, a man was fishing in Lake Travis and found me on the bank. He thought I was dead at first. But, I wasn't. Just my memory was dead. I've had my picture on TV, in the local and national news, but no one has come forward to identify me. I don't know what happened to make me lose my memory. I don't know what my real name is. I don't know how old I really am. I don't know if I have a wife or children. I feel like I'm on an island by myself and I can't have a life." He took the cup in front of him and added to teaspoons of cream. Stirring the coffee, he added "Every time I meet someone I could be interested in, I have to remind myself that there may be another woman looking for me, wondering where her husband is. It's a hard thing you know. To not know. "

Sadie was still standing and put her hand on his shoulder. "Well, you don't have to be alone. No one would expect you to be lonely, not even your wife if you have one. Ten years is a very long time. You will always be welcome here in our home. Count us as family if you like." She sat on the chair across from him and took a sip of coffee.

"What about you? You have children? A husband?" He asked because he couldn't imagine that someone hadn't already claimed this jewel sitting in front of him.

"Nope. Never been married. Not because I don't want to, but because......" She stopped in mid sentence. Her face blushed as she fumbled for the right thing to say. "I'm different and I don't think any man would want me if they knew the truth about me." She couldn't believe she felt this comfortable with this stranger sitting across from her. But, she did.

"I don't see anything wrong with you. You're very pretty and I can't imagine that some guy hasn't already claimed you for his own." Now he felt his own face getting hot. He said more than he intended. He just didn't want her to think that there wasn't a man out there that would not want her. The truth was, the more he talked to her, the more he liked her. "What could be so bad that you would think no one would want you?"

"Oh my." She placed her hands on her cheeks because she knew she was blushing. "I'm so embarrassed. I blush too easily, which makes me blush even more! You know, people can be so cruel. Especially in a small town like this, where everybody knows everybody and their business. If I tell you, you have to promise never to tell anyone. Promise?"

She was adorable. Nothing she could tell him would make him think any less of her. What on Earth could be that different about her that she shied away from men?

"Ok....I promise." He smiled at her and as he drank his coffee, she fidgeted a bit in her chair.

"This is so embarrassing. But, you're the first person that has made me feel comfortable enough to tell this to. Ok. Here goes. I was born with only one nipple. I had to have a breast implant on one side of my chest when I started developing because the side without the nipple never grew." She shook her head and laughed nervously as she drank her coffee and looked at him.

The biggest grin came over his face. He threw his arms out and brought his hand down on the top of his head and said. "Lordy girl, here I thought you were going to tell me you were a he/she or that you had some devastating disease. You mean to tell me you've shied away from men your whole life because of that?" He chuckled and reached across the table and took her hand in his. "I think you are cute. And you sharing that with me was very special. Seriously...any man would be a fool not to fall head over heels for you. Don't you dare let that little minor thing stop you from finding love!"

Mike drank the last bit of coffee from his cup and told her he needed to let her be on her way. "I've detained you from getting back to your dad long enough. I need to go talk with a few townspeople and see if anyone saw a girl getting out of the ambulance I was driving. I've got to track her down. She holds the key to who I am."

"Why didn't you say that when you first got here? I know who took her. Nothing happens here without everyone knowing about it.....remember? It was a detective with the Austin police department. He said she needed to be taken to the hospital right away. Howard and Bob Jenkins helped him put her in his vehicle. He showed them a badge and his ID. Matter of fact, his name was Gillis Williams. That's what Howard told me. We all figured he was escorting you to the hospital and since you were flagged down and helping us, he was going to just go ahead and take her himself. Now that I think about it...and knowing what I know, none of that makes any sense." She could see he was beginning to get uncomfortable. "Look, I'm not trying to pry or anything. But you can confide in me if you need to. I don't like the gossip around here and that's one thing I don't do."

Mike thought about it and decided he didn't need to involve her in anything illegal that he'd already done. "No, there's nothing to tell. Not right now anyways. Gillis Williams you say?"

She shook her head yes. "That's what Howard said was the name on the ID he gave him."

"Ok. Well, I guess I better go find Mr. Williams in Austin. I need to track down the woman and ask her some questions. You....You need to get back to your mom. Tell her I'm glad she's going to be ok. Also, tell her I'll make a point to stop by in a few weeks to see how she is. Thanks for the coffee, and don't be so quick to shut men out of your life. Give some of us credit for being human!" He leaned over and gave her a hug.

Sadie stood in the doorway watching as he crossed the street and got into his van. As he drove down the road, she picked up the small bag she had packed for her mother that sat by the door. She locked the house up and headed to Brackenridge.

Mike was happy. He had a lead and had another chance at finding Alice. This was the best he had felt in the past ten years. For once, he felt hope. Maybe, just maybe he would find out where he came from so he could move forward with his life.

#  Chapter 21

## Austin, TX

Mike drove into the parking lot of the Austin Police Department. He was nervous about going in, but he needed to find Gillis. As he shut off his headlights, he noticed a lanky man getting out of the car next to him. It was the guy on the elevator at Seton hospital that rode up to the floor Alice was on. A police officer.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled the handle of his car door and opened it. The man turned and their eyes met. Before Mike could say anything, the officer walked quickly towards him. Oh, hell....maybe this was a big mistake.

"Excuse me, but were you at Seton Hospital earlier today?" The man extended his hand as he introduced himself. "I'm Carl Baker, with homicide. I was there investigating the killings at Alice Spence's apartment."

"Yes. I went there to talk to Alice. I'm here to find Gillis Williams. Do you know him?" Mike hoped he wasn't a suspect.

"Look, I know this is going to sound strange, but could you come with me? It wouldn't be in your best interest to go inside right now. It's a long story, but I can explain everything to you if you'll just get in my car and wait while I go inside and sign out for the night. I know that you took Alice. I also know that you no longer have her. I'm going off duty and want to ask you some questions "off the record" so to speak." Carl was excited to find the guy who took Alice. Now he was even more puzzled. How did this guy know Gillis. Were they in this together? Things were beginning to fall into place, at least he thought they were. Right now he wanted to do whatever he could to help John and keep Gene in the dark. He detested that man. A part of him wished he'd gone ahead and punched him in the elevator this morning.

Mike was a bit confused, but he needed someone on his side right now. If this officer was offering to help, he then he'd better take it.

"Sure. I may have gotten myself in more trouble than I intended. I have a lot to tell you too, if you'll help me." Carl opened the door for Mike to get in his car. Taking his clicker, Mike locked up his own vehicle, then got into the car.

"Are you sure you want to help me? I am the guy who took Alice from the hospital." He couldn't believe he was admitting to an officer that he was a kidnapper. This could only get bad. His gut told him otherwise.

"I know. That's why I need to help you. I'll explain as soon as I get back." Carl shut the door and headed inside the station.

"Hey Trisha, anyone looking for me tonight?" Carl reached across the divider and grabbed a mint from her candy dish.

"No, you're good to go." Trish smiled at him and handed him a folder.

"What's this? I thought you said I was good to go?" Taking the folder, he opened it and frowned.

"A gift from your favorite person." She pushed her chair back and stood up. "I'm glad you made it back before I left. I'm headed out, do you want to go grab a bite?"

"Crap. You know how much I can't stand that guy! " Carl closed the folder up and handed it back. "Can you hold onto this until tomorrow? I can't do dinner, I already have plans. How about tomorrow?"

"Sure. I'll put this on your desk. He doesn't need to know you've seen it yet." Trish took the folder and walked down the hallway. Carl pulled his time-card and punched out.

Just as he got to the door, he could see Gene's car pulling in. He pushed the door open and walked towards his own car.

"Hold up there, young man. I got something for you to do." The smug look on Gene's face made Carl want to punch it. Instead, he took a deep breath and walked over to him.

"What's up, Gene? I'm not on the time clock right now. I'm officially of duty and already have plans, but I'll give you the courtesy of listening." Carl made a point to stand between the station and Gene's car so that he'd be facing away from his vehicle. He looked past Gene to his car to see if he could see Mike. It was apparent there was someone in the car, but from this angle, it would be hard to determine if it was male or female.

"I got the preliminary results back from the surveillance video. I did a run-down on the guy in it. He's a friend of your station here. Did you know that?" Gene's question was confusing.

"What are you talking about? What guy?" Carl caught himself. He almost slipped up and asked if it was the guy putting her into the ambulance or the one helping him to put her in it. If Gene didn't know that he'd already seen the video, he didn't want to be the one who told him.

"Mike Nales. He's an amnesiac who was found ten years or so ago. You guys tried for years to help him find his identity. But like everything else, you failed. Looks like he's a kidnapper." Gene was waving his arms about, indicating that the whole worlds problems rested on the shoulders of the APD.

"Well, ok then. I'll see you tomorrow. Like I said, I'm off duty. By the way, I don't appreciate your trashing our department. I may have to work with you, but I don't have to listen to you on my time". Carl walked past him. The crunch of gravel under his shoes helped to muffle Gene's ranting as he walked to his car. He didn't look back, but could hear him bitching and knew he'd just pissed him off. Carl got in his car, put it in reverse and left Gene in the middle of the parking lot waving his arms and yelling like a mad man.

"Who was that?" Mike inquired.

"That was an asshole. So, you are Mike Nales?" Carl glanced over at the man sitting in his passenger seat.

"Yes. How do you know my name?" Mike turned sideways in his seat.

"Well, that screaming asshole back there told me. Lucky for you, he didn't know you were in my car, otherwise, you would be in the police station right now being booked for kidnapping." Carl smiled as he drove towards Spicewood. "There's a great little hamburger joint off of hwy 71 in the Spicewood area. I doubt we'll run into anyone out there. It's small and quiet. I think we can talk pretty open there without any interruptions.

Carl headed southwest on Springdale to E Cesar Chavez Street. As he got to I-35, he could see the traffic backed up, so he continued on Cesar Chavez heading to Mopac.

Why do you want to find Gillis? How do you know him?" Carl was doing his best to wait to ask questions, but his inquisitive nature was getting the best of him.

"I don't. I was told that he has Alice. I think she knows who I am. I've spent the past ten years going nuts trying to live a life, without knowing if I have another one somewhere else. I could have a wife, or children. Hell, I could be some deviant or criminal! If I could kidnap a woman from a hospital, what else am I capable of?" Mike put his head in his hands. He felt dizzy from all the emotions running through him.

He decided not to tell Mike that Gillis had lost Alice, that somehow she had escaped his vehicle. The most important thing right now was getting information from him that would help John with the investigation. He needed to filter it to John and Gillis before Gene could intercept it.

Mike reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a bottle of pills. He popped the cap off and shook two out into his palm.

"What are those for?" Carl was glad the department knew this guy and tried helping him. At least there were records that he could reference to make sure this guy was on the up and up.

"I have mild anxiety attacks if I don't take them. I started having them two months ago when I first ran into Alice. When I realized someone knew me, I started getting more anxiety attacks. It's a blessing on one hand and scary as hell on the other. But, I need to know so I can move on." He looked around in Carl's car, then realized he was looking for his bottle of water in his own car. "You think we could stop at a store for some water?"

"Sure, there's one on Bee Caves. I can cut across that road to 71 with no problem." They had just come to the crossover to Mopac, so he had plenty of time to take the Bee Caves exit.

Carl was proud of himself. He had the kidnapper in his car, pissed Gene off and was helping John. Life was good.

They pulled into a small convenience store. Carl shut off the motor and looked around the parking lot to make sure it was clear of any cops. He told Mike they needed to get in and out as quickly as possible.

The short brown-skinned woman behind the counter was watching a small TV as she waited on customers. K-eye news was on. They had just walked up to the counter when a picture of Mike flashed across the screen. Carl quickly turned to Mike and took his water, and whispered to him to get in the car and keep his face covered.

Mike wasn't sure why he was insistent, but went with his gut instinct to trust him. He left the store and got in the car. The store lights lit up the inside of the vehicle. He looked in the back seat and found a news paper. Reaching back, he took it and opened it up in front of his face as though he was reading it.

Carl looked around the store to see if anyone showed any indication that they recognized him before he got out. No one seemed to notice. A lady with her small daughter were at the counter laying down candies and soda pop. The burly cowboy who'd come in behind them was pulling a six pack out of the cooler and now heading up to the counter. The only other person in the store was himself and the short woman behind the counter.

He let out a sigh of relief. Standing behind the cowboy, he could see the TV. The sound was just up enough that he could hear them saying that Mike Nales was wanted for the kidnapping of Alice Spence. They were offering a reward of $10,000 for information leading to his capture.

Carl's turn came to pay for the water. He handed her the water and swiped his debit card. She asked if he'd like to have it bagged and when he said no, she handed him his receipt. A flash of light from outside caught his attention. He looked through the glass window in time to see a large Hummer had just pulled in next to his car. A group of hunters got out and clamored into the store passing him as he made his way to the car.

Starting up the engine, Mike asked. "What was that about? You see someone you know?"

"No, your picture was being flashed over the TV and I wanted to get you out of there quickly. Look, we can't go anywhere right now without the possibility of someone recognizing you. How does McDonald's sound to you? We can grab something through the drive through and go back to my parents house." Carl was almost embarrassed to say he still lived with his parents.

"Your parents? Do you want to get them involved?" Mike felt uneasy for the first time. He didn't want to pull anyone else into his problems. He already let Carl in, now Carl was pulling his parents in and he didn't like that at all.

"No, I live in the basement. I have my own entry. They'll never know you're there. You can stay there until I can talk to John. In the meantime, my stomach is telling me to feed it....how about yours? My treat."

Reluctantly, Mike agreed. They both got a Big Mac meal deal and headed to Carl's parent's home.

"I didn't think they had basements in Texas." Mike hadn't seen one in his ten years of existence.

"Most homes don't. My parents were from upstate New York. When they moved here, they couldn't believe there weren't basements. So, my dad had the bright idea of building a house with one. He's regretted it more than once. Several floods in the basement, repairs, installing a sump pump, re-landscaping with a slant....I couldn't name all the things he had to do to keep that basement air tight, but he finally figured it all out. So, his home is a rare one." Carl couldn't wait, he opened his bag and started eating the French fries.

They were only five minutes from his house. They were both ravenous. Mike hadn't realized how hungry he was until Carl started eating the fries. He opened his bag and consumed the burger. Carl laughed and said "Hungrier than you thought, huh? Hey, would you mind getting mine out and opening it? Not a bad idea to eat before we get home."

Mike opened the bag and pulled out Carl's burger. He opened the box up and sat it next to Carl on the console. "Thanks, man." Carl reached down and picked up the burger as he came to a red light. "Nothing like a Big Mac when you're starving. Just wished they wrapped them in paper like everyone else. Makes it easier to eat and drive."

He ate as much as he could while sitting at the light. When it turned green, he placed the left over burger back in the box. He had enough to make his stomach stop growling. He'd wait til he got home to finish it. Two more turns and he was pulling on to his street.

"Here we are." As he pulled into the driveway, his dad was backing out.

Rolling the window down, Carl told his dad he had a friend who needed a place to stay for a few days and that he wouldn't be cooking dinner tonight. He held up his McDonal's bad and laughed.

"Ok, son." He looked past Carl and introduced himself. "Make yourself at home. I'll be back soon. I need to talk to both of you." He looked at Carl. "I'm heading to the drug store, need anything?"

"No. I'm good." Carl pull on up the drive to the garage doors. He got out and told Mike to stay put until he made sure they hadn't been followed. Mike sunk down in his seat. He became nervous thinking about what he'd done, and on top of that, not knowing who he was, or the possibility that he could have done worse in his unknown life.

Carl walked to the end of the drive, opened the mailbox and pulled out the mail. He glanced down one end of the street as he slowly looked through the mail. On the left side of the street was a black Toyota Avalon. He thought he caught a glimpse of movement on the passenger side. As he turned to go back up the drive, he checked the other side of the street. Nothing. He went to the back door on the passenger side and leaned in to pull out his backpack. As he did, he told Mike to lay down in the seat until he could check out the car down the road.

Mike didn't question anything. He lay across the console and waited as Carl took his backpack and shut and locked the car. Carl pulled his house key out and entered through his parents front door.

"Hi son, did you forget something?" His mother was sitting in her favorite chair, crocheting an afghan. It was her favorite past time. She made them for the homeless, along with quilts and sandwiches.

"I thought I'd take Chester for his night walk. I saw dad leave and figure he hasn't done it yet." She laughed.

"You know your father well! I think the leash is on the hall table".

Carl walked the short distance to the hall and picked up the leash. As soon as Chester heard it, he came running from his bed in the corner of the living room jumping up on Carl's legs and doing flips. He was part Rat Terrier and part Jack Russell. Chester had been a member of the family now going on ten years and still acted like a puppy.

He clipped the leash onto the dog's collar and led him out the front door. He walked to the end of the sidewalk and headed left up the street towards the Avalon. It didn't take long to reach it. Sure enough, inside the car was one of Gene's agents. Carl recognized him from the meeting they had earlier. He had been briefed on what his part would be in the investigation.

Just like Gene, this guy was smug and had an attitude of being above the local police department. Carl walked up to the car and as much as the guy tried to ignore him, he finally had to roll his window down.

"So, what brings you to my neighborhood? You investigating me now? " The guy reached down and picked up his cup of coffee and took a drink.

"Nope. I got word that Alice was near. So, I thought I would come get you to ride with me. I didn't have your street number, but did have your street name. I was just texting Gene to get that from him." He turned his phone so Carl could see the text. Although it looked legit, he didn't buy it for a minute. He didn't like this guy or Gene.

"Well, I'm off duty and have plans with my parents tonight. You can't handle this on your own?" Carl waited for him to answer, knowing it would be some smart-assed one.

"I heard you were a real go-getter, you know. Someone who liked to be right in the middle of the action. So, I thought you'd want to be with me when I caught up with Alice." His smile produced a gold tooth along with bad breath.

"Sounds to me like you are out to catch Alice, not her kidnapper. Is there something I don't know?" Carl leaned against the car watching Chester as he sniffed around the sidewalk and walked into the grass.

"Just thought you'd want to ride with me. But, if you don't, that's ok too." He sat his coffee cup back in the holder. "Look, I know you hate Gene. I heard he's been an ass and that there's something going on between him and John Strout. Other than that, I'm just here to do my job. Don't put me in the same category as Gene. I'm sure you think there's some type of conspiracy going on here. I assure you that there isn't." He looked up at Carl and as he did, he reached inside his suit pocket and pulled out a business card and handed to him.

"What's this?" Carl asked as he took it and flipped it over to look at it. It read Deputy Attorney General - Markus B Chambers. "Deputy Attorney General?"

"Yes. I'm investigating Gene Farris. I know you don't like him and can't say I blame you. I'm only telling you this so you won't treat me like I'm the enemy. I need to be involved in this case to see how he handles things. I've heard that he's dirty. I could use your help."

Carl just looked at him. He slipped the card into his shirt pocket. "Like I said, I do have plans with my parents. But, after that, I can give you a call and if you still want, I can ride with you then. It shouldn't take me more than an hour. Is that going to derail you?"

"No, that's good. I'll just go grab a bite to eat and come pick you up. Which one is your house?" The deputy was pointing across the street, panning his hand from left to right to left again.

"It's the one I came out of. I'm sure that didn't get past you." The look on the deputy's face was of frustration. Carl realize that he really didn't know. "I'm in the colonial. It's the one with the large oak tree and lavender around the mail box."

"I'll see you in an hour then." Chester barked and tried to run as the car drove away. Carl reached down and patted him on the head. "It's ok boy. I know he's a bad man and not the Deputy Attorney General. But, we'll let him think I believe he is."

Carl strolled on down to the end of the street to let Chester do his business. When he got to the end, he saw car lights coming up the next street over that ran parallel to his. He walked Chester to the edge of his neighbor's garage and stood in the shadows with him as he watched to see whose car was coming. It got to the intersection and turned towards his street. He could see Mr. Chambers as he drove past. He went down the road and made a u-turn, shut off his lights and parked on the left side of the road.

I knew it! That son-of-a-bitch! Carl walked around the garage and across three back yards, then up another drive and across the street to his house. Opening the door, he saw Mike in the living room with his parents.

"Ok, son. Before you get all excited, when I drove back in the drive, I I opened you car door and found Mike in it. He's explained everything to me, and a bit more than he's told you. I pulled your car into the garage and we came in through the laundry room." Carl loved his dad. He had a sixth sense about him. He was strong, wise and a man that everyone looked up to. Al Baker was an honest, hard working man. He had worked for the CIA forty years before retiring eight years ago.

"Thanks dad. You know that I've been taken off duty with John Strout because of Gene Farris. Well, Gene now has some goon following me. He's parked at the end of our street. He tried to bullshit me and tell me he was the Deputy Attorney General."

Carl's dad busted out laughing. Mike looked confused and Chester started barking again. Chester jumped into Al's lap and began licking his face. He calmed the pup down and began stroking his back as he curled up in his lap.

"The Deputy Attorney General is my half brother. Carl's uncle. So, he better know what he looks like!" He didn't want to keep Mike in the dark. He had already been through a lot today. Although he did an impulsive and stupid thing by taking Alice, he had already heard a lot about Mike from his friends at the Austin Police Department. He knew he wanted to help him.

"Are they that stupid? They must not have checked out who's related to the Attorney, otherwise they wouldn't have used that name or distinction." Mike took the cup of coffee that Mrs. Baker handed him. As he sipped it, he began filling Carl in on the events of the day. He told him how Alice kept calling him "Uncle Ralph" and that he only wanted to figure out how she knew him in order to find out his true identity. He'd been trying to find her since his encounter with her at Buffalo Billiards in Austin. It wasn't until he saw the news and her picture on the news that he knew where to find her.

"It never ceases to amaze me how Gene Farris' mind works. He gets it in his head that he knows everything and is above the law. Well, he isn't. Mike, you are welcome to stay here as long as you need. We're going to get to the bottom of all this. Carl, you need to give John a call and see where he is."

"I left him a while ago. I dropped him off at his car, at Alice's apartment. He was going to interview the Camarillo's."

Before Carl could finish what he was saying...."Well, speak of the devil...it's John. Hello? Awww, you wouldn't believe! I ran into Gene as I was leaving the station" There was a long pause, then "No, man. No...hey, listen up. I ran into the guy who took Alice! At the POLICE STATION! He's with me right now. Yes. Uh-huh. I don't give a shit. No, Gene didn't see him. I had already put him in my car and told him to lay low. What? No, at my parents house."

Al got up from his easy chair and took the phone from Carl. "Hey, John, Al here. I've got Mike in my house under my care. Do you remember a few years back when they brought that homeless guy in the station. Yep, that's the one - no memory. He took Alice."

Al listened patiently for about a minute then said. "There is a lot more going on than you know about. No, don't come here. The house is being staked out. No, we brought him in through the garage. No one saw. Ok, buddy. Ok. Will do. Do you need to talk to Carl again? No? Ok...cya!"

"I think you two better go get some rest. You're going to have a long day ahead of you tomorrow." Al sat back down and patted his lap for Chester to jump into.

"I can't, I'm supposed to meet up with that fake Deputy Assistant Attorney."

"No, you're not going anywhere with that shady character. You call him right now and let him know you know that he's been sitting at the end of our street. You also let him know that you know he isn't who he says he is and that you're home for the night. I don't know what kind of game he and Gene Farris are playing, but it's about to come to an end and I don't want you in the middle. Besides, you have bigger problems right now." He nodded towards Mike.

"I feel like I'm getting too many people involved with my problems. Maybe I should just go." Mike stood up and rubbed his sweaty hands down the length of his jeans.

"No, you sit your butt back down. You're not going anywhere. You're probably in the best place you could be right now. Like I said, you two need to go get some rest. I have phone calls to make." Al got up and headed to the kitchen with Chester in tow.

"You boys need any food? Carl's mom smiled at them as she got up.

"No, mom. We just ate. Thanks though. Dad's right, it's been a long day for both of us. I'm exhausted." Carl looked a Mike. "And from the looks of this guy, he's had it rougher than me. I think we're headed downstairs for some good old shut-eye." Carl leaned over and gave his mom a hug kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight guys" Al yelled from the kitchen.

#  Chapter 22

## San Saba, TX

Gillis laid across his bed and fretted over Alice. No matter how much he tried going to sleep, sleep wouldn't come. More than that, he worried that he had failed her. Freddie and Marie had done an awesome job of raising Alice. She graduated top of her class, gotten scholarships for college and bought her own home. What had gone wrong? This was out of character for her.

Alice made it through some tragic events in her life. The death of her parents at such a young age and having to adjust living with her aunt and an uncle that was an identical twin of her father's. Then in college, she lost the love of her life in a tragic accident. His name was Vincent Paulson. They had only been engaged four months when she headed home to Austin for Christmas break and he was to drive there two weeks later to pick her up and drive to San Antonio to his parents home. He never made it. He was just outside of Austin heading south on I-35 when he lost control of his car and slammed into a concrete barrier. They said he died on impact.

Now this. He couldn't wrap his head around her killing anyone. Something was wrong and he needed to figure out what. His last thought before finally drifting off to sleep was seeing Alice dressed in black at Vincent's funeral. She took a handful of sand and sprinkled it in a cross fashion over the head of his coffin. She collapsed into a heap at the foot of his grave.

Sleep came, but included dreams of Alice sinking in a pit of quicksand. He was there with his hand outreached to her, but he couldn't get quite close enough to get hold of her to pull her to safety. He frantically searched his dream for a limb, a pole, or anything to help him reach her. His heart raced as her screams for help drowned out as her head went under the sand.

Gillis tossed and turned in fitful sleep all night long.

## Austin, TX

John woke up a 4 am. He'd set the coffee pot to start at 3:45 am. Pouring coffee into his thermal cup, he walked to the back of the house and into his guest bedroom. His computer sat on a small table under the window facing the back yard. He shut the bedroom door and turned the computer on. Logging into the department computer, he did a search to see if anything had been updated. Nothing. So, he logged back off and shut the computer down.

Taking his coffee, he slipped out the back door and got into his 2010 Ford Mustang. It was special ordered. It had a 4.6 Liter V8 engine with a manual transmission. It didn't get the best gas mileage, but he didn't care. Loaded with all the new electronic gadgets. IPod input, Bluetooth, satellite radio, it was only missing one thing; someone to sit in the passenger side. He had it painted a midnight blue metal-flake and ordered tufted leather seats in cream. The illuminated clock on the dash red 4:30 am as he started the engine. He figured he would be in San Saba around 6:30, depending on if he stopped for breakfast. Seven at the latest.

He had led lights installed in the front and rear of the car. No more old-timey putting the round light on top of the car to chase criminals. All he had to do was flick a switch and it was good to go. It was his personal car, but he lived and breathed chasing bad guys.

As he backed out of his drive with his headlights off, he looked between the houses towards the front yard and could see the green sedan parked across the street from his next door neighbors house. The street light lit the car up. What kind of idiot parks under a light when he's doing surveillance? He drove down the alley, turned right and made the block so that he could pass his street from behind the vehicle. He looked and saw it still in place. He knew the guy was still waiting for him to leave. He smiled as he made his way to Hw 71.

It didn't seem long before he was at 281. He had intended to go straight and through Llano, but decided instead to go thru Marble Falls and stop at the Bluebonnet Cafe. They opened at 6 am. He had plenty of time. He didn't figure Gillis would be up before 9 AM. So, he turned left onto 281 and headed to the Bluebonnet Cafe.

He pulled into the parking lot at 5:55. Workers were already there preparing breakfast. Several other cars were in the lot with him. Patrons sitting in their cars waiting patiently for the doors to open. If you came any later, there would be a line out the door wrapping around the side of the building. That's how good this place was. Once the first car door opened, the others started opening and people headed to the door to wait. John decided to do the same.

Once inside, he ordered the western omelet with hash browns and Texas toast. It wasn't until the waitress sat his plate of food down that he saw Gene Farris. He was sitting towards the back of the restaurant. John sat closer to the side door in an adjacent room and unless you were looking for someone, you wouldn't readily spot him. He got up and took his plate of food and moved deeper into the room so that his view of Gene wouldn't spoil his appetite. The waitress asked him if anything was wrong. "No, I just see someone I don't want to deal with this early in the morning."

She laughed. "Well, here. I got your silverware for you and your coffee. Who is it, and if I see him or her coming this way, I'll distract them."

John immediately like this woman. He leaned forward and pointed Gene out to her. "Oh...that asshole! He's been giving my waiter a hard time. He's been in here several times. No one likes him. We can never get his order right. He always wants it free." She crossed her arms as she looked towards Gene. "You know, some day that man is going to collect his due if you know what I mean?"

"Well, it can't be soon enough for me!" John cut into his omelet and took a bite. It was every bit as good as he remembered it.

"He's getting up. I'll go see what he needs." With that, she took off in his direction.

John didn't want to peer around the wall, but he was curious. He could see Gene's face all red and hear him ranting about something the poor waiter did. The waiter was standing there all flustered. Double doors swung open and the cook came out with a ladle in one hand. He had one hand on his hip and the other one swinging the ladle back and forth in Gene's face.

Gene got louder. The owner came from around the counter and told Gene to take his business elsewhere. The waiter walked away and went outside through the front door. The cook went back into the kitchen.

"No sir! You are not going to come in here one more time and brow-beat my staff. We've been in business longer than you've been alive and we'll continue to do fine without the likes of you in here. Please leave."

John couldn't make out what she said next, but he could hear Gene pitching a fit. He was refusing to leave and asking her if she knew who he was. Her voice got even louder. She threatened him with the police. That seemed to work. Gene took his wallet out, threw some money on the table and said something to her before he stormed out the front door.

The waitress came back over to John laughing. "Lordy! I wondered when Sue was going to ban him from this place! Thank God she did! Now you can eat your breakfast in peace. Who is that guy anyways?"

"Well, you got it right the first time. He's an asshole. He was a police officer years ago. Now he's with the FBI. He's power hungry. Ever since he's joined the FBI, he's gotten worse, if that's even possible. He's always been a prick." She poured some more coffee into John's cup and smiled at him.

"I'm glad we won't be seeing him in here anymore." She turned and left. John sat there and ate his breakfast in peace. He finished up and left a big tip for the waitress and went to the counter to pay his bill.

"There's no charge. the guy I threw out threw a fifty on the table and told me that he was paying for your breakfast. Your friend is crazy." Sue looked at John as if he were to blame for Gene's actions.

"Hey....that guy is no friend of mine. You take that fifty and keep it. I don't take hand-outs from garbage like that." He handed her his money and bill. She looked at John over the top of her glasses as she rang him up.

"I believe that. I don't see that guy having ANY friends." She handed John his change. "Come back and see us again."

John walked out the side door and looked around for Gene. He knew that he'd be hiding out somewhere waiting to follow him. Why the hell was he having crappy luck. Gene knew this was his favorite breakfast place. John's gut told him he was being watched.

He unlocked his car and climbed in. Clasping his hands in front of himself, he inverted them as he stretched his arms out in front and rolled his head around several times so he could look around without being obvious. He turned his radio on and drove out of the back of the parking lot. It was now 6:35. He couldn't go to San Saba with Gene on his trail. He'd spotted him in a white Toyota Tundra sitting in the front of the parking lot.

As he turned left onto the side street heading back to 281, he saw the white truck start to pull around and then stop. John took a right on 281 and headed to Hwy 29 in Burnet. If he could lose him before Burnet, he'd head on to Llano. If not, he'd turn right on 29 and head to Bertram and circle back to Austin.

He hadn't gone very far when he saw the Toyota door swing open and Gene get out. Standing in front of the cafe was the waiter. He was watching Gene. He turned to go back inside and made the cross sign, kissed his hand, raised it to God as he entered. Gene stood their waving his arms around as he kicked the tires. John realized that they had flattened two of the tires.

John headed to San Saba.

## San Saba, TX

Around 8 AM, a loud bang caused him to sit straight up in bed. It took a few minutes for him to realize someone was inside his house. He had fallen asleep with his clothes on, but had taken his should holster off and laid it on the night stand next to the bed. He reached over and slipped the gun from its holster. Taking the safety off, Gillis slowly lifted himself off the bed.

His door wasn't shut completely giving him a full view of the hallway leading into the living room. Easing the door open, he made his way down the hall. The sound of the refrigerator door opening and shutting, the spew of a can of soda opening, the silverware drawer being ransacked....someone was making themselves at home in his kitchen! Leaning against the hall wall, he peered around the wall in time to see Alice taking a drink of soda.

"I'll be damned!" Gillis came from around the corner startling Alice. She quickly drew the gun from behind her and fired off two shots. The first whizzed past his head barely missing his right ear. The second one splintered the corner of the wall connecting the hallway to the living room.

"Alice! It's Gillis!" Gillis had fallen face down to the floor as soon as the first bullet passed him.

"Uncle Gillis! Oh my God! I'm sorry....I didn't mean....I don't know why I did that!" Alice laid the gun on the counter and started crying.

"It's ok hun." He stood up and touched the wall on the way to the kitchen. Wrapping his arms around her, he felt her shaking as she sobbed. "Alice, you want to tell me what's been going on with you? I've been trying to catch up with you. First I find out that you sold your home and moved without letting anyone know. So, I go to your job only to find out you quit that high paying job to be a bar keep. Now, for some reason, this moron kidnaps you from the hospital. What's going on?"

"I don't know. My life is a wreck and I don't understand what's going on. I'm out of control. I lose track of time." She pushed away from him and stood staring down at her feet. "These shoes don't belong to me. These clothes I have on don't belong to me. I don't even know how I got in your house!" She crumbled to the floor and pulling her legs up, she wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her head and wailed.

Gillis reached down and picked her up. He placed her on the sofa and sat next to her. Pulling her against his chest, he smoothed her hair as he thought about how to broach the subject of her injury and how she over took the serial killer in her apartment. The clock on the wall seemed louder than usual. Each tick meant that time was nearing for John to show up. Knowing John as well as he did, he knew he would be in San Saba before nine. Unsure how she would react to a stranger at this moment made him nervous. He needed to let her know that John was on his way to help..

"Alice." Gillis spoke her name gently.

Sniffing, she looked up at Gillis with her green eyes full of tears. She waited for him to say something. Tears streamed down her face as she looked to him for help. He reached over and pulled three Kleenex from the box and blotted the tears on her face.

"I want you to know that I am here for you and will fight for you. I don't know what kind of trouble you're in, or how you got there, but I'm here now and I have friends who are willing to help as well. You have to trust me." She sat back on the sofa and took the Kleenex from him and blew her nose.

"I do trust you. I have flashes of memory. Some guy came into the room at the hospital and the next thing I knew he was carrying me out of the room. My next memory is someone covering me up. Then I woke up and got out of an SUV. My next memory is being hungry and standing in your kitchen." Her eyes again filled with tears as she put her face in her hands. "I'm going bloody mad!"

"Why did you sell your house? I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I have to ask you a lot of questions in order to figure this all out." Knocking at the door startled them both and Alice immediately ran to the counter and picked up the gun. Gillis couldn't move fast enough to keep her from firing the gun towards the front door.

"Alice!" Gillis screamed at her as he took cover behind the swivel chair next to the sofa. "Alice...put the gun down....stop shooting!"

He heard the gun being laid on the counter and once again, found Alice on the floor with her arms wrapped around her legs wailing.

"Gillis! You ok in there? Gillis? Answer me!" John had his weapon drawn and was leaning against the right side of the front door.

"John...that you?" Gillis didn't open the door. He wanted to make sure it was John and no one else. He'd have to figure a way to get rid of whoever it was unless it was John.

"Yes man. Open the door." He kept his position to the right side of the door, being cautious.

The door opened and Gillis pushed the screen door out. He looked over at John and said "Sorry man. It was Alice. She's really messed up. I need your help. I don't know what's going on with her. None of this is the Alice I know. Something isn't right with her. Whether it's a tumor on her brain, or some chemical imbalance....I don't know. I just know I need your help getting to the bottom of it, before that asshole Farris makes more out of this than it really is."

"I agree. We need to get her to a safe place and have her leg tended to." John opened the screen door and entered into the living room. "Where is she?"

Pointing to the kitchen, Gillis put his finger to his lips and then pointed to the sofa and motioned for him to sit down. "Alice, my friend John Strout, is here to help. Do you think you could come in the living room and tell us everything you remember?"

"I saw Uncle Ralph." Her bottom lip quivered as she released his name.

"Uncle Ralph? Alice, I'm the only Uncle you have besides Freddy. Who's Uncle Ralph?" Alice's eyes rolled to the back of her head and her whole body began to convulse. Her arms thrashed about as her legs kicked. She fell from her sitting position on the floor onto her side. Her right leg kicked the wall then went straight and shook.

John quickly ran into the kitchen and knelt down next to her. He held her arms and told Gillis to call an ambulance. "No. I can't do that. They'll call Farris and she'll be back in police custody. We need to help her. Damn it! What's wrong with her?"

"Look, Gillis....you're not thinking clear because she's your niece. From what I can see, she needs serious medical attention right this minute. She may be having a stroke with long term repercussions if we don't get her medical help right now! So, move your ass and dial 911. We can deal with Farris, but we need to keep Alice alive in order to help her. Otherwise, she may die or be paralyzed for the rest of her life, and how are you going to help her then?"

Rubbing his hands through his hair, Gillis found himself pacing back and forth in the kitchen. He flipped his phone open and dialed 911. "Yes, this is Gillis Williams. Can you send an ambulance to 89498 Rocky Creed Trail. My niece is having convulsions. Can you get here quick? No.....she's not responding to me ..........I don't know.......I'm not sure.....Look, just get an ambulance here NOW!" He shut the phone and slipped it back into his shirt pocket.

Alice began to calm down with a few tremors here and there. John picked her up from the floor and gently placed her on the sofa. He took the crocheted afghan off the back of the swivel chair and covered her with it. He then lifted one eyelid and found only white....lifting the other one, he found the same thing. Both eyes were rolled to the back of her head. He wasn't sure this was a good sign.

"I thought you couldn't find her?" John looked over at Gillis. He was pacing back and forth between the living room and kitchen. He had a small home with an open floor plan. It was nice and clean and great for entertaining a small group of friends. It wasn't fancy by any means, but it was good enough for him.

"I woke up to noises this morning and found her in my kitchen. When I came in here, she got off two rounds.....which were aimed at me by the way. Then she shot at the door as soon as you started knocking. I'm so confused. You know, John, this girl has been though hell and back. Her parents were killed in a tragic accident when she was just four years old. My sister and her husband raised Alice. Sadly, my brother-in-law was Alice's father's identical twin. Sure, she knew the difference, but I can't imagine how a four year old mind would be able to separate the two after a while. Then, while in college, she met a wonderful young man who was studying law. They dated for about three or four years. The next thing we knew, they were engaged. I don't think I've ever seen Alice so happy. When she came home that Christmas she was bubbly. She couldn't show her engagement ring off enough. I could tell she really loved this fellow. That happiness lasted two days. Christmas Eve, he was driving to Austin to pick her up. They were going to drive to San Antonio. Instead of Vincent ringing the doorbell, it was two officers. He was killed in a car wreck while on his way to pick Alice up. She never married or dated anyone after that. I don't think she ever got over Vincent."

John looked down at Alice and took her hand in his. He laid his other hand over hers enveloping it. He immediately knew he had to help her and his friend.

Sirens could be heard in a distance.

"I'm going to go stand at the end of the drive so they don't miss the house." Gillis told John. He left the front door open. The screen door slammed shut as he walked out onto the porch. He could see the flashing lights on the truck coming up the road. As he stood at the end of the driveway, he noticed the tail end of a vehicle jutting out from the back of his detached garage. He didn't have a good feeling about it, but he needed to wait for the ambulance before he could investigate it. Gillis waved the ambulance down and headed back up the driveway as the ambulance drove ahead of him to the house. By the time he got to the house, they had the gurney out along with their gear as they headed to the front door.

Gillis followed them into the house. They started an IV and took her blood pressure and pulse. One paramedic asked Gillis the usual questions as John walked into the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of water and that's when he saw the gun on the counter. A stack of newspapers lay next to it, so while watching to make sure no one was looking, he place one of the newspapers over it. He didn't want anyone seeing it and asking questions.

Within five minutes, they had Alice loaded on the gurney and headed out the door.

They told Gillis they were taking her to San Saba Hospital and that he could meet them there. He told them he would be there shortly. As soon as they shut their doors, and headed down the driveway, Gillis told John about the vehicle behind the garage. They headed to the back of the garage.

Once Gillis got to the truck, he recognized it. "That's Miguel's SUV! What's it doing here? It was at his house last night. I saw it when I passed by. Oh shit! He must have picked up Alice! He was parked next to me at the store. Those clothes she was wearing. I thought the shirt looked familiar. It belongs to Miguel. He must have let her wear it." Gillis had a look of confusion. He began to wonder why Miguel would pick up a girl he didn't know, especially if she was wearing a hospital gown.

Suddenly, they both heard a muffled sound coming from the SUV, then a bumping noise. They both looked at each other and then ran to the vehicle. Opening the back door, they saw a man bound and gagged in the back seat.

"Shit! That's the guy that was with Miguel last night!" Gillis reached into the back seat and took the gag off his mouth.

He started rambling a bunch of stuff off in Spanish. It wasn't until Gillis started untying his legs that he notice the blood.

"Damn! You're hurt? What happened. Do you speak English?"

"Fucking crazy bitch shot me! She killed my friend and is going to kill me too. We need to get out of here before that psycho bitch comes back! I called the police. They should be at Miguel's place. Oh God...my dear friend is dead." He started crying.

"John, help me get him in my SUV so we can take him with us to the hospital. You stay with him while I check on Alice. I'm praying to God she didn't do this." Gillis was trying hard not to believe she was capable of hurting anyone even though the evidence was staring him in the face.

"Let's just put him in my car and I'll drive him. You go on and check on Alice. If she's responsible for this, then we need to get to the hospital fast." John put the man's arm around his neck so he could help him to his car.

"No man, the bitch's name is Carmen. Carmen shot me and beat Miguel to death." Joe hung his head and cried. John felt sorry for him. It was one of the hardest things in this line of work. Seeing people hurt and crying. He handed him the handkerchief from his pocket.

Gillis opened John's door and helped him get Joe into the car. John reached across and pulled the seatbelt across the injured man. He buckled him in. "What's your name?"

"Joe." He was shaking and John saw how pale he had become. He knew the guy was close to going into shock.

" Gillis....we need to get to the hospital quick. He's about to go into shock. We could ride together, but I may have to leave and wouldn't want you to have to leave Alice to bring me back to my car." He looked down and saw the blood running across Joe's hand that he was pressing against his leg. "He's still bleeding and we don't know how much blood he's lost. I'll see you at the Hospital."

"Ok. follow me." Gillis shut Joe's door. Joe looked at him and said "I'm going to miss my friend."

"So am I." Gillis tried hard not to let his emotions show. He choked back the tears as long as he could. He went to his vehicle and started it up. Before he backed completely out of his driveway, the tears were streaming down his face. He wasn't just crying for Miguel, he was crying for Alice.

The hospital was only five minutes from his house. They passed Miguel's house, but no police cars, no crime scene tape, no activity going on at all. John looked at Joe and asked "Are you sure you called the police? And are you positive that your friend is dead?

"Well, I saw him laying in the hallway and he wasn't moving and he was all bloody. I was taking his pulse when Carmen attacked me. Yeah, sure..he was dead. I'm sure of it. Oh, God...what if he wasn't? I called 911 and gave them the address. They should have been there. Maybe we should go take a look."

"No, I need to get you to the hospital. Once you're checked in, I'll go back and check it out. Does he keep a spare key anywhere?"

"Yes." Joe was holding his leg. It was obviously causing him a great deal of pain. "It's in a fake rock to the right of his front door. But I don't think that crazy bitch locked the door." As they pulled into the emergency room parking area, Joe got excited and started screaming something in Spanish with Carmen mixed into the sentence.

"Calm down....speak English." John tried to get Joe to be still.

"That's Carmen on the stretcher over there." He was looking through his side window and pointing at the ambulance that was parked in front of the emergency doors.

John's heart sunk. It wasn't Carmen, it was Alice. "Ok, let's get you in and have you looked at. I'll go check on Carmen."

They got out of the car just as Gillis pulled in next to them. Joe began telling Gillis that he saw Carmen being wheeled into the emergency room. John could see the strain in Gillis's face.

"Gillis, I'll take Joe in and have him checked over. You know I have to make a call on this one. It's not our jurisdiction and he's already called the police to Miguel's place."

"Look, don't make the call yet. I'll go to Miguel's house. I didn't see any police, crime scene tape or any signs that anyone had been there. You know as well as I that if someone was dead and they were called to a death scene, that place would have been crawling with cops. I'm thinking he may not be dead. I need to go check before we do anything." Gillis eyes pleaded with John.

"Ok....but keep me posted. I am going to check Joe in and then go check on Alice." John put Joes arm over his shoulder and helped him through the ER doors. As they entered, Joe asked him who Alice was. "She's Gillis's niece. Let's not worry about her, we need to get you looked at. We'll wait for Gillis before we call the police."

"Why wait? I was shot by a psycho! Someone needs to arrest her before she hurts someone else! And she killed my friend!" Joe was irritable and in pain.

"You're right. She does need to be stopped. But to tell you the truth, I think I know who this person is. And, if it's who I think it is, she is mentally unstable. I've been on her trail for quite a while. I don't want to get other jurisdictions involved if I don't have to. Please trust me on this. I want to catch her as badly as you want her caught! And, if that was who you saw on the stretcher, it's almost a done deal." This seemed to appease Joe and he calmed down.

A man in blue scrubs brought a wheel chair out to them and John helped him into it. They asked him for his insurance card and information, then wheeled him through two double doors. The man in the blue scrubs told John he could wait in the waiting room. John looked around the room and decided to go outside instead. He retrieved his phone from his pocket and called Gillis.

#  Chapter 23

## Austin, TX

Smell of bacon permeated the air as Carl woke. The alarm clock read 9:00 am. Mike was sitting on the edge of the sofa where he slept all night. He was running his hands through his hair. Carl could see how worried he was. He had his pills sitting on the coffee table.

"Hey man, everything is going to turn out ok. Trust me, trust my dad. This is the best place you could be in."

"I don't doubt that. It's just that sometimes I don't want to be here anymore. I'm not living, not really. I don't know who the hell I am, I can't move on with my life not knowing. I thought that by now I'd have a memory breakthrough, or that someone would come forward who knew me. That's why I got so excited when Alice recognized me. But, she kept calling me Uncle Ralph. I still can't figure that one out. Maybe my name is Ralph. Maybe I'm her uncle. The more I tried to talk to her, the more frightened she got. What did I do to her? Am I a really bad person? I couldn't take that." He turned and looked at Carl. "Do you know what I mean? I would want to die."

"Hey! Don't talk like that. You can't blame yourself for your past when you don't remember it. You're putting things in there that may not even be true. Alice seems to be one messed up chick. She may be delusional. You may not even be the person she thinks you are. So, stop this crazy talk. I'm hungry. You hungry? I'll go up first to make sure everything is clear. I'll be right back.

Carl ran up the stairs. He wasn't gone more than a minute and hollered back down for Mike to come on up. Mike reached down and picked up his pills. He slipped them into his jeans pocket and ascended the stairs. His stomach was already rumbling from hunger.

As soon as he opened the door at the top of the stairs, he was looking up into the barrel of a shotgun with Gene Farris at the other end of it. Mike was startled and lost his balance. He fell backwards tumbling down the stairs. Gene yelled at one of his cronies. "Jack! Get down there and get him. Bring him up here now!"

Jack was the stockiest of the men. He laid his weapon down on the table next to the basement door. He quickly ran down the stairs. Mike was laying face down. He was conscious, but didn't want them to know. Jack put his fingers against Mike's neck to check for a pulse.

"He's still alive, Gene."

"I didn't ask you to check to see if he was alive! I said to bring him up here! Damn it! If I want something done, I have to do it myself!" Gene started down the stairs. He got two steps down and tripped over a bottle of pills. His head hit square on the wall at the landing knocking him out. Jack looked down at him and put two fingers against his throat. Still alive, but out.

Trying to figure out which one to bring up first, he decided on Mike. Mike was lighter. Easier to carry. He threw him over his shoulder and went up the stairs. He laid Mike on the rug in front of the sofa.

Carl was sitting next to his mother on the sofa. A man in a black jacket was tying his hands behind his back. Al and Carl's mother were all bound and gagged, sitting on the sofa staring down at Mike. After he finished binding Carl up, he stationed himself at the front door. He was holding a semi-automatic and looking out the curtain that had been drawn. Another man was in the kitchen pouring coffee and shoving a piece of bacon in his face.

"Hey! Where's Gene?" Stuffing his face with more bacon, the man in the kitchen looked around.

"He fell down the stairs and knocked himself out. Want to help me bring him up?" Jack slapped the last piece of bacon out of his hand. "What the hell are you doing? We're not here to eat!

"I was hungry!" He wipe his hands on his jeans and followed Jack to the basement.

"Hey you two, there's a police car driving up the driveway. Get down in the basement and keep quiet. See if there's a way out down there. Oh shit! They're getting out!. Run....hurry up get down the stairs! All three men rushed to the basement shutting the door behind them.

Al could hear them running down the stairs. In their haste, they left one gun on the table next to the basement door. Mike got up from the floor and started taking their gags off. "I faked it. Was just waiting for the perfect time to do something. Looks like the police showing up was it!" The tape was too tight and tough to tear, so Mike ran into the kitchen and retrieved a knife to cut it from their hands and legs. He froze when the doorbell rang.

"It's ok, Mike. They're friends of mine. They know you're here. Go let them in before Gene and his buddies can get away.

Mike ran to the door as Al freed himself and started working on Carl and his wife. He opened the door and saw Officer Donner. He was the officer who had been working with him all these years trying to find his identity. Another man was with him that he didn't recognize, but he opened the door wide for them to come in.

"What the hell's going on?" Before Donner could say anything else, Al pointed to the basement and motioned for them to be quiet. He got up and pulled his gun from the top drawer of the entertainment center. He motioned for Carl and Mike to cover the basement door as they went around to the garage entrance into the basement. Carl ran to the door, grabbed the gun on the table and stood against the wall. Mike flanked the other side.

#  Chapter 24

## San Saba, TX

"Hello?" Gillis sounded out of breath. "John, that you?"

"Yes. I got Joe checked in and called to see what you've found."

"Miguel is alive....barely. I've already called for an ambulance, so they should be here any minute. I found him on the floor in the hallway laying in a pool of blood. Could you let Joe know that he's not dead? He's in really bad shape. I'm going to have a look around once I get him on his way to the hospital." Gillis had left the front door open so he could listen for the ambulance. The hot wind blew through the living room and brought with it the faint sound of sirens.

"Sure, I'll go tell him. Did you have any problem getting in the house?" John asked.

"No, the door was unlocked when I got here. When I came in, I saw his feet sticking out in the hallway. My heart sunk until I took his pulse and found a faint heartbeat. He's unconscious, but alive. I've got to go, the ambulance just pulled up." Gillis closed his phone and opened the front door.

Gillis met them at the door and told them the house was a crime scene, and for them to try not to touch anything they didn't need to touch. He went outside to his car and got his camera. He took a video of them working on Miguel. He wanted to document everything so that he could review the scene later.

The paramedics started work on Miguel, checking his head, and blood pressure. They communicated with ER doctors at the hospital and together decided to start and IV. Once they got the brace around his neck and placed him on a their backboard, they lifted him onto the gurney. Gillis walked with them as they pushed him out to the ambulance.

"I took the liberty of writing down all the information for you. His name, insurance information, and my name and number in case the hospital needs to contact me before I get there. I'm going to secure the house and then head there." Gillis handed the paramedic the slip of paper and walked back to the house.

Once inside, he began to look for any sign that Alice had been there. He walked into the kitchen and found nothing unusual. He opened the refrigerator, looked in the sink, raised the lid to the trash , but found nothing. He walked to the hallway and side-stepped the pool of blood on the floor being careful not to disturb anything.

As he passed the bathroom, he noticed linen laying on the floor. He didn't go in, but leaned inward enough to see that the closet door was open and the linens had been disturbed. This must where she got the sheet she used to rip into strips and used to tie Joe up with. Continuing on to Joe's bedroom, he found a dresser drawer open. There were socks and underwear lying on the floor. Someone had been digging through it looking for something. The closet door was open. He walked around the bed to the closet and that's when he found the hospital gown. It was in a heap on the floor.

It was tempting to pick it up and put it in his car. That was his first instinct. To cover up for Alice. But he couldn't do that. The question had been answered. Alice was Carmen. Somewhere, somehow, there was a cause for Alice's actions. He didn't know what it was, but he knew that the sweet Alice he loved so much would never harm anyone. Something caused her to change and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

The air conditioner kicked on as he walked back down the hallway. His stomach began to churn. Other than the open bag of chips and can on the coffee table, nothing looked disturbed in the living room. Then he noticed the blood on the wall under the front window. He surmised that's where Joe had been shot. He took pictures of every room as he walked through it, including the hospital gown lying on the floor. When he was done, he locked the front door and headed back to the hospital.

John hung up and went back inside the Hospital. He asked the admittance clerk if he could possibly see Joe. She pointed to the doors to his right and told him she'd meet him there and take him to see him. He followed her down a long hallway then turned to the right. They passed wheel chairs, gurneys, laundry bins and patients behind curtains. She stopped at the foot of one curtained section and pulled the outside curtain to one side. John could see a young doctor attending to Joe's wound. He had given him a local and was extracting the bullet from his leg.

"Please make sure you bag that for evidence." The Dr looked up at John.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm John Strout with the Austin Police Department." He pulled his badge out and showed it to the doctor. "I've been tracking a serial killer and believe that she may have shot this man with the intention of killing him later. I need to send the bullet to our lab to see if it matches some that we retrieved from an apartment in Austin." John looked at Joe and continued. "How are you doing, Joe?"

"I'm good. But, I can tell you this bullet was from Miguel's gun. She pulled it out from under his sofa. You won't be able to match it to any crime. Poor Miguel." Joe hung his head as tears fell silently down his cheeks.

John walked to the side of Joe's bed and touched his shoulder. "I have some good news for you. Miguel is still alive. Gillis called an ambulance and they're on their way here right now. I'm going to go back outside and wait for Gillis to get here and as soon as I have an update on his condition, I'll let you know." With that, John left the ER and walked back outside.

Joe sighed a sigh of relief and shut his eyes to pray.

John stood outside the ER doors watching for Gillis and the ambulance. Cold air hit his back as the doors slid open and an elderly couple walked past him. He watched them as they crossed the parking lot and got in their car. An ambulance pulled into the ER entrance with sirens blaring. The doors flew open on either side of the ambulance. Orderlies came out through the glass doors meeting the ambulance and helped to off load the patient. John could see that it was a man. He walked over to the ambulance and asked if it was Miguel.

"Yes. Do you know him?" The attendant asked as they wheeled the gurney through the glass doors.

"No, but I know he was headed this way." He showed his badge and explained the circumstances of Miguel's injuries the best he could.

"Man, whoever did this was brutal." The orderly was guiding the gurney through the ER . "He's about to crash and burn people! Let's get him to the ICU!"

John felt like he wasn't of any use to anyone, so he went back outside to wait on Gillis. The goal was to prove Alice innocent and derail Gene. He sat on the edge of the concrete wall that encased flowers and bushes as he checked his messages. There were at least eight from Gene. He listened to the first two, then shut the phone. His voice ground against John's nerves. Somewhere out there was a beautiful woman who'd gotten sucked into Gene's web of lies. His wife. She meant everything to him. Then, along came Gene. As is mind began to wander back he saw Gillis pull in and park. He seemed to be in a hurry as he got out of his car and half ran, half walked across two rows of cars towards John.

"Damn....if we're lucky, they'll be able to save him. I can't believe Alice inflicted so much damage to this guy. He's a bloody mess." Gillis pulled a pack of gum from his shirt pocket and offered John a stick. "What happened to the police? Why didn't they show up?"

John pulled a stick of gum from the pack and unwrapped it. "I don't know, maybe Joe got the address wrong, otherwise there would have been police crawling all over the place." As he shoved the stick of gum in his mouth, a question popped in his head. "What are we going to do about Alice? I know she's your niece and all, but she's got to be contained until we can figure out what's going on with her. Maybe some psychiatric evaluation?"

"I'm grateful they weren't there." Gillis said. He took his phone out and dialed a number. He didn't say anything. He shut his phone and put it back in his pocket.

"Who were you calling?" John's curiosity peaked.

"I called Marie and Freddy, but no one answered. I thought they might have some answers. They need to be included in this. I'm afraid they'll be crushed when they hear what I think Alice is doing. Would you like to go with me to their house later?"

"Let's see what happens here." Gillis followed John into the waiting room. They showed their badges to the admittance clerk who was sitting behind a glass wall.

"Could you take us to see Miguel Alvarado?" John was patient as she checked the computer to see what room he was in.

"They're getting him ready for surgery. I can take you back to see him for a minute or two, but then you will have to either wait out here in the waiting room, or leave your phone number so I can contact you as soon as I know something. It looks like he's going to be in surgery for at least three hours."

"Yes. It's urgent we see him and try to talk to him in case he doesn't make it." John put his wallet back in his back pocket and went to the double doors that she pointed to. Gillis followed.

Gillis was anxious to see what Miguel remembered before any other police were called in. "I'm going to post a police officer at his room. Could you make note that he is to be guarded by us until we find out who attacked him?" He handed the admittance clerk his business card. "I put John's name and number on there too."

He didn't want anyone calling the police before he could find out what Miguel remembered of his attack. Joe obviously wasn't there, so he wasn't eye witness to it. Maybe Alice was delusional and didn't know what she was saying or doing. Until he knew, he had to handle things carefully.

The last person he wanted to know about this was Gene. John was his friend and he knew he could count on his help. He knew the whole story about Gene Farris and John's wife. There was bad blood between those two.

They follow the clerk into the ER. As they passed through the double doors, Gillis saw Joe in one curtained off sections. Doctors were swarming around Miguel in a room off to the right side of the hallway.

"We need to get this man up to surgery right now. He has swelling on the brain, his eyes are blown and he's bleeding internally. Move it people!" The short stocky doctor barked out orders as he examined Miguel. John and Gillis stood off to the side out of the way watching and hoping that he would be ok.

"Who are you two?" The doctor walked over to them. "What happened to him?"

"We're not really sure." Gillis was quick to answer before John could open his mouth. "We found the other guy over there in his SUV bound and gagged with a bullet in his leg. He told us his friend had been murdered. He also said the police were called. I brought him in, then went back to check and found no police or ambulance. I know Miguel." Gillis nodded towards the patient in the bed. "When I saw no one there, I let myself in his house and found him lying in the hallway, beaten and with barely a pulse."

John quickly interrupted "I'm John Strout with APD. I'm investigating a serial killer, and have every reason to believe he's one of her victims."

"Her?" The doctor was taken aback. "A woman serial killer? I don't believe I've ever heard such a thing. I don't know what's happening to the world anymore. It's gone off-kilter. You hear that people taking bath salts of all things to get high. Now it's body powder. Maybe your lady-killer was hyped up on something like that. It makes them crazy and super strong."

"For now, we have every reason to believe it's a woman doing the killings, but sometimes evidence can take you in different directions. For now, we're running down a lead we have. We either have to find enough evidence to prove this person is the killer, or rule her out. It's critical that we get to speak with Mr. Alvarado as soon as possible." John pulled out a business card and handed it to the doctor. "This is in case you hear anything that could help us. In the meantime, we will be here until he comes to."

" I'm Dr. Edison, by the way." He took the card from John and slipped it into his lab coat pocket. "It's going to be a long wait. Your friend has subdural hematoma which means he has bleeding on the brain. We'll be taking him to surgery to relieve some of the pressure. He had a seizure in the ambulance on the way here which is common when there's fluid on the brain. I can't guarantee you what if anything he will remember when he comes to. Memory loss is common. We also need to do a laparotomy for abdominal bleeding. So, if you need to, you can leave and I will give you a call as soon as he's settle into a room. There's nothing much you can do here."

His stethoscope hung around his neck lopsided. John found himself staring at the top of the doctor's bald head. He was counting the light bulbs reflecting off of it. The nurses were busy putting a new drip bag on his IV, taking blood pressure, while a lab tech was drawing blood. He had been intubated as soon as he'd come in because he was struggling to breathe.

John hated hospitals. The smells, the sick people, being around God only knows what kind of germs. It wasn't his favorite place to be. He wanted to leave, but getting an upper-hand on Alice was much better than letting Gene get it.

"We won't be going anywhere. We have two others in here to speak to and that will keep us busy. You have my card, but we will also be checking on his status throughout the day." Gillis and John left the doctor and went to Joe's section. They hadn't been there a minute when Miguel was wheeled past them heading to the O.R..

Joe was alert, sitting up in the bed chatting with the orderly. "Hey, amigos!" He seemed happier than before and excited that his friend was still alive. "How's Miguel?"

"The doctor said he has swelling of the brain. They're taking him to surgery to relieve the pressure. He didn't go into details. He sounded pretty optimistic about his recovery. He wasn't too sure about his regaining memory though. We'll have to wait and see." Gillis was getting anxious and John could see it.

"At least he's alive, which means he has a chance to recover. Right? That Carmen was vicious. I never saw a woman so cruel. And spiteful! She shot me in the leg cause I told her I didn't care if she was wounded and hurting. I did take my foot and push on her wound to keep her on the floor....but hey man, I did that cause I was scared of her. Rightly so! First chance she got, she shot me in the leg!" Joe was excited and chatty. John was trying to figure out if it was his nature, or if it was the drugs they gave him.

"We think Carmen and Alice are the same person. We need you to verify this. The girl you were pointing at when we brought you in was Alice, Gillis' niece. Are you positive that was the girl who shot you and told you her name was Carmen?" John watched Gillis cringe as he asked the necessary questions.

"Yes...I think so. From a distance, she had the same hair, and it looked like her. If I saw her up close, I could tell you for sure."

"Good, we are going to wheel you to her room and have you ID her if you can." Gillis looked startled and jumped up from his chair.

"I don't think that's a good idea. She's fragile right now. I think we should talk to the Dr. about it first." Not wanting to agitate his friend, John agreed.

"Ok, let's go find Alice and her doctor to see what he says about it. I want to get to the bottom of this. If she is a killer, then we have to re-examine the murders in her apartment. It may not have been as innocent as first thought."

Going back towards the double doors, Gillis asked John what room they put Alice in.

"I don't know. I got Joe settled in and you called me before I had a chance to check on her. Next thing I know, you're here with Miguel and you know the rest. Sorry, man. Let's go to admittance and see where she is. I didn't see her in the ER, so they must have her in surgery."

The small waiting room was dank and in need of repair. Wallpaper began to pull away from where the seams met. John hated the smell of hospitals. It must be the type of disinfectant that they used. All hospitals and clinics smelled the same to him.

A Hispanic woman sat on the other side of the wall typing on a computer as they approached the window. "Can I help you?" She never looked up. Flipping the chart over, she began typing more information into the computer.

"Yes, we would like to know where they took Alice Spence."

"Just a minute and I'll look that up for you." She closed the chart and put it aside. Her fingers danced over the keyboard. "Did you say Alice Spence?"

"Yes ma'am. Alice Spence." Gillis was anxious to see her.

"Well, it looks like she has already left. According to our records, she had a seizure at her home. They brought her in and examined her. She told them that she had epilepsy and it wasn't uncommon to have those. They let her go five minutes ago." She looked up from her computer in time to see two grown men look as though they were going to cry.

"She had me call her a cab. She may still be waiting just outside those doors. That's the way she left. I have the cab company's number if you need it."

"That would be great." John got the number as he watched Gillis rush through the doors.

By the time John got outside, he could see Gillis running for his car. John ran for his. He got to his car as Gillis passed by. Pulling out, he raced to get behind Gillis and followed him out of the parking lot. John searched the street ahead looking to see if he could spot a cab. Sure enough, five cars ahead was a yellow taxi. He couldn't make out the passenger, but he could tell that there was one.

Gillis was the third vehicle ahead of him, so he kept an eye on his vehicle, turning when he turned. It wasn't too difficult keeping track. They came to a sudden halt. Road construction ahead. It was down to one lane. A pacer truck guided cars down the long road, turned around, then guided the next set of cars pack up the road. It was turning around getting ready to take their line up the road. John could see the yellow cab, a large dump truck, two small cars, Gillis's vehicle and the truck in front of himself. The line started moving. Cars and trucks in front of the cab, the cab and then the dump truck. Moving about ten feet, the dump truck stalled. You could hear the motor being turned over and over.

Gillis watched at the cab got smaller and smaller down the road. He laid on his horn. John turned on his flashing police lights and went around the vehicles in front of him and honked at Gillis to follow him as he passed. He saw Gillis pull out of line and get behind him. They sped up to try and catch the back of the line. By the time they got there, the cab was not in sight. John kept his lights on as he raced down the road passing cars, searching roads.

Where the hell did they go? They raced about 25 miles further down the highway before stopping at a Quick-Mart. Gillis pulled in behind him.

"Did you see anything? Did I miss something?" John was excited. Gillis was visibly upset.

"I don't understand why she would leave the hospital. Why the hell would they let her go? You even told them she was a suspect!" Gillis was out of his car pacing back and forth kicking the gravel under his feet. He pounded his fists on the top of his SUV. "Damn it!"

"Gillis, I told the doctor that was treating Miguel she was a suspect. He wasn't in charge of Alice. So, he didn't know. Quit beating yourself up. Let's go back to the hospital and see what we can find out. There's nothing we can do out here. Where you gonna go? Up and down each road? Hell, she'll be miles away if you do that. There may be a lead we can use back at the hospital." John rested his hand on Gillis' shoulder trying to give him a little comfort.

Gillis shrugged and reluctantly decided he was right. They both got in their vehicles and headed back to San Saba.

#  Chapter 25

"Thank you for pulling in behind the Dairy Queen. I thought I was being followed." Alice was sitting in the back of the cab wringing her hands.

"Are you ok, miss?" The cab driver looked into his rear-view and could see she looked disheveled. Her hair was dirty and sticking to her face. Mascara was streaked down her cheeks. She looked like a homeless person with oversized clothes and shoes that didn't fit.

"I am. I just need to get to my apartment in Austin. My purse is there and I can pay you when I get there. Please, can you take me?" Alice could feel tears running down her cheeks. She tried to control them, but lately, she wasn't in control of any of her emotions.

"That's my job, to take you where you want to go. Are you ready to leave now, or do you want to sit her a bit more? He was turned in his seat with his arm across the back of it. "You see that road right there? It dead ends into a road. If you go right on that road, it'll take you through Llano, if you go left on it, it'll take you towards Lampasas. I think we should head towards Llano. If someone's following you, they're going to think you were headed to Lampasas. I'll go whichever what you want to go." He waited for her to answer.

"Llano, please." She leaned against the door and rested her head against the cold glass. Exhaustion overcame her and she fell into a deep sleep.

The cab driver drove to the end of the parking lot and turned right onto FM 580. He turned the radio on, but low so he didn't disturb her sleep. It didn't take ten minutes to come to the end of the road. When he turned right onto FM 501, he glanced into his rear-view mirror. He didn't see Alice, so he glanced over his shoulder. She was laying across the back seat in a fetal position. Although he didn't like driving with his passenger unbuckled, he could see she needed the rest, so he didn't bother waking her.

Storm clouds were gathering over the hill country. The radio weather man said there was an eighty percent chance of rain. The temperature had dropped from 87 down to eighty within a ten minute span. Large drops of rain struck the windshield of the cab. First a couple of large drops, but not enough to engage the wipers, but enough that if he did engage them, it'd muddy up his windshield. He decided to turn them on and spray water over the existing drops to wash off the dirt. It was a mistake. There wasn't enough water in the reservoir to wash off the dust, but just enough to muddy up the windshield leaving it impossible to see out of.

The minute he sprayed the windshield, he regretted it. His vision was totally blocked by smeared dirt. The blades scraped across the glass making scratching noises.

"What's that noise?" Alice sat up in the back seat rubbing her eyes. "How can you see to drive?"

Before she could say anything else, the cab driver pulled over, reached into his glove compartment and pulled out some Windex and pulled a roll of paper towels from under the passenger seat. "I'll be right back. I always keep these in my cab just for times like this. You'd think I'd learn by now to check the fluids before heading going to work. First time this happened to me, I was lucky enough to have just stopped with my fare at their house and I used their garden hose to clean the window."

Alice watched as he got out and squirted the windshield with cleaner and wiped the grime off. She contemplated on what to do next. She wondered if anyone would be at her apartment still investigating. Right now, she didn't care, she needed her car keys and money. All the rest didn't matter. It'd be nice to have her cell phone as well. She figured the police would have that and her purse.

The cab driver got back in and they were once again on the road headed to Austin. She looked out the window and saw Paleface ranch. About thirty more minutes and she'd be at her apartment. "How long you been a cab driver?" Alice was trying to make the time go by faster. She didn't want to seem too anxious.

"More years than I care to count. I started driving in New York when I was twenty five years old. I got tired of all the snow and moved to Texas. I moved to Austin in 1981 on my thirtieth birthday. I worked there for twenty five years. Then I moved to San Saba where I bought a small farm and bought my own cab business. Business isn't the best, but I'm retired and do this part time now. I've been here ever since. I fell in love with the music in Austin. I never could get over that any music you wanted to hear was on one street. Go in one bar for rock and roll, the very next one could be jazz, country, rap. You name it, Austin has it! Boy, has it changed in the last thirty years! Worked for Yellow Cab starting the day I moved there." He glanced in the mirror at Alice. "What about you? Are you a native of Austin?"

"No. I'm a native of Texas, not Austin. I was born in a little town called Tyler. My parents were killed in an automobile accident when I was four. That's when I moved to Austin to live with my aunt and uncle. I've been living there since 1976. Right before my fifth birthday." Alice looked down at her hands and recalled that day. Baking cookies and being so happy. Then it seemed like all went black that day. She was having a hard time remembering much from then to about a month or so ago.

"If you don't mind my asking, what's your story? I mean, you're a beautiful lady and all, but you seemed all banged up. Were you in an accident? Is that why you were at the hospital?" He glanced at her in his mirror to see if the question irritated her. She had her head hung down, but was looking up at him, almost like a crazed wolf ready to attack their prey.

He didn't get scared easily, but the way she looked at him sent a chill through his bones. Clearing his throat, he added "Really, it's none of my business. I know better than to ask my fare questions like that. I really apologize." Her head lifted up and she smiled a sweet soft smile at him. It was like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde was in his back seat in female form.

"No. That's ok. I have these black outs. I've been going to a psychiatrist who's been helping me. My life seems to have spiraled out of control. One minute, I'm fine, but just as I start to recall something, it all goes black. The next thing I know, I'm in a kitchen making a sandwich, or at the hospital, or walking down an unfamiliar street." She put her head in her hands and started crying lightly.

He figured she was a mental case. Great, that's all I need. I probably won't get paid. He decided to keep a keen eye on her. Nothing much was said after she started crying. Not much more than her giving him a few more directions. He left her to her pain. Prying seemed to bring something out in her that made him uncomfortable.

As he pulled up to her apartment, Alice leaned towards the back of his seat and asked him if he could wait while she went to get his money. He told her he'd wait. She got out of the cab and ran down the long sidewalk that entered into the center courtyard of her apartments. She disappeared into the complex. She entered into the lobby and walked past the mail boxes. As she came to the corner of the hallway leading to the elevator, she peered around it to see if anyone was there. The hall was empty. Half running, she went to the elevator an pushed the up button. Luckily, the doors opened right up. No one was in the elevator, so she stepped in and pushed floor 8.

When the elevator door opened, Alice realized that she didn't have keys. As she stood at her doorway, the other elevator door opened and the superintendant of the apartments stepped out. As he came out, he saw Alice and walked over to her.

"I heard you were kidnapped! What happened to you?" Before he could finish, Alice started crying.

"I've had a rough twenty four hours. I don't have the key to my apartment, I escaped from my kidnapper and I need to pay the cab downstairs. I need a shower and fresh clothes and then I need to go check myself into the hospital so they can look at my bullet wound." She pleaded with him to open her door. He grabbed the keys off his belt and unlocked it.

"Try not to move anything around, other than getting your clothes and taking a shower. The police told me not to let anyone in, but I think they'd make an exception in your case. I can pay the taxi if you want. " He could see she was tired, dirty and in need of food.

"That would be great. Let me get you some money." She looked around for her purse, but it was missing.

"They came and got your purse so they could search it for your next of kin. They also took your address book. I can pay the taxi and collect from you later if you like." The apartment was pungent with the smell of blood. Alice stood at the edge of the rug looking across the room at the mess.

"Oh. No, I have money. I'll be right back." She went into her bedroom and pulled her top dresser drawer open. Underneath the perfumed liner, she pulled out three one hundred dollar bills. She wasn't sure how much the taxi bill was going to be, but figured three hundred should cover it.

There was blood at the foot of her bed. How did that get there? Nothing made sense. Her head felt foggy. She just wanted to lay across her bed and sleep, but she knew she couldn't. She had a burning desire to run. From what, she didn't know. She just needed to run.

"Miss Spence?" The superintendent was standing in the bedroom doorway. Alice jumped at the sound of his voice. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't startle you. I shut your front door because I heard Harriet's door latch. I didn't want her to come over here. But, knowing her, I wouldn't be surprised if she saw me let you in." Alice liked him. He was always helpful when she needed anything. When the burner on her stove went out, he was there within ten minutes fixing it.

"Here, this should be enough to cover the cab." Alice handed him the three hundred dollars.

"Damn! How far did you drive?" He took the money and spread the three hundred out. "You could have flown for this amount!"

"Well, I didn't fly, I took a cab. I'm not sure how much it's going to be, but it's better to have too much than not enough. Give him a twenty dollar tip. Thank you for doing this for me and letting me in. I have an extra set of keys, so I can lock up when I leave." She dangled the set of keys she had pulled out of the same drawer as the money.

He turned to go, but stopped at the door to look out through the peephole. He didn't see anything but was still cautious when he opened the door. He looked to the left and right, then hurriedly left her apartment.

Alice went to her closet and pulled out a duffle bag. She threw in four sets of clothes, underwear, socks and the basic hygiene products. She stripped down and went through the living room avoiding the blood soaked rug. The cigarette butt was gone from the sink. She surmised they took it as evidence. There were two towels on the shelf. Flipping the toilet seat down, she lay them on top and turned the shower on. The water felt nice running down her back. As she soaped up her body, her mind tried to sort out the evens of the past twenty four hours.

She had gone to her therapist, picked up groceries and was driving home. It was around noon time. No...that was two days ago. She remembered because her appointment with the therapist was Monday. Today is Wednesday. It was Wednesday....wasn't it?

She shampooed and rinsed her hair. Reaching over, she picked up one of the towels and wrapped up her hair. It didn't take her five minutes to get dressed, grab the final few things that she needed and head to the door. Like the superintendant, she looked out the peephole to make sure no one was in the hallway. Slowly opening the door, she crept out and shut it behind her. She locked it and walked to the elevator. Before she could punch the button, the doors opened. For a second, her heart stopped.

She was grateful that no one was inside. She pulled her suitcase onto the elevator and pushed the down button. The elevator stopped on the fourth floor, the doors opened, but no one was there to get on. They must have gotten on the other elevator. Once the doors shut, it began its decent. This time, it went all the way to the first floor. Right before the doors opened up, she could hear voices. She knew someone was waiting for the elevator. Hoping it would be someone she didn't know, she braced herself. The doors opened, but no one was there. The elevator doors next to her elevator shut as she got off and she could hear the laughter on that elevator as it went up. Hopefully, her luck would hold out.

She didn't see anyone in the foyer, so she pushed the large wooden door open and peered around it to see if anyone was in the courtyard. Nope. Not a soul. Once she was at her car, she felt relief for the first time. She unlocked the door and got in. Before she could shut her door, a small ugly dog jumped in her lap, then into the passenger seat and over into the back seat.

"You little bastard! Get out of my car!" Alice's mood changed. She was so angry she shook. Turning around in her seat and getting on her knees, she did her best to grab the dog, but it was small enough to avoid her by scooting underneath the passenger seat.

"I don't have time for this shit!" It was hot outside and she was sweating now. She sat back down in her seat and started the car up. She shut her door and turned the air on. "You little bastard. You better enjoy the ride, cause it's the last one you're going to have. She pulled away from the curb and drove off towards downtown Austin. Without thinking, the next thing she knew she was at the therapist's office. As she got out of the car, the ugly dog popped up and jumped on the back seat and started barking at her.

"I hope you suffocate you little bastard!" She shut and locked the door. It jumped at the window and snarled at her showing her its eight teeth. There were six on the top and two on the bottom. She tapped the window and showed it her teeth. The dog whined and curled up on the back seat with its ears pinned back. Alice turned and walked into the building.

"Good evening, Ms Spence." A young woman was sitting behind the glass window. "I don't believe you have an appointment today. Unless you or Dr. Curtis changed it and didn't tell me."

"No, I don't have one. But, I really need to see him. Can I see him? I really need to." Hearing the desperation in her voice, she told Alice to have a seat and she'd check with the doctor.

"Ok, thanks." Alice picked up a magazine off of the table and blankly flipped through it as she sat on the sofa. Nothing caught her eye. The Bee Gee's "More than a Woman" filled the air. The volume was barely audible. Just loud enough to hear it, but not so loud to be irritating or interfering with any conversation.

She looked around the room and saw a man sitting across from her. Uncle Ralph! Alice panicked and ran from the room. She ran out the door, down the sidewalk and into the parking lot. She looked around for her car and ran to it. Opening the door, she could smell the foul odor of a dirty dog.

"Aaaahhhggghh! You disgusting piece of shit! Get out of my car!" Alice crawled in and chased the dog from the passenger side to the back seat. Again, the dog wiggled under the seat and she couldn't get at him. She was in a frenzy now. Running around to the other side of the car, she yanked the passenger door open and slid the seat forward. The dog yelped. "Good! I hope I squashed your nasty little ass!"

She shut the door, opened the back door, and got in. It stuck its ugly head from under the seat at her and bared its teeth. She reached down to get it and it bit at her. Her patience snapped. She got out of the car and opened the trunk. Inside was a bag of charcoal and some lighter fluid that she had picked up and had left it in the trunk. She grabbed the lighter fluid.

Slamming the trunk shut, she went back to the side door and looked in. The dog was still baring its teeth at her. She took the tip off the lighter fluid and squirted the dog. It yelp and tried to come out, but was too scared of her. She squeezed the can and lighter fluid hit the dog in the side. It quickly got out from under the seat and ran to the corner on the other side of the back seat. She continued soaking it with lighter fluid as it shook and growled.

Putting the tip back on the can, she sat it on the pavement outside the car as she sat down on the back seat. She dug in her jeans pocket and pulled out a cigarette lighter. Flicking it open, she struck it and turned the flame to high. She tried reaching close enough to the dog to set it afire but it bit at her and growled. It took several tries before the dog's fur caught fire. The dog screamed and ran across her and out of the car.

"Bye, mother fucker!" Alice then realized her back seat was on fire. She grabbed her blue jean jacket from back of the passenger seat and beat the fire out. What in the hell was she thinking? She got out and stood there watching as the dog ran to the end of the parking lot. It jumped the curb and began rolling around screaming in the grass. Smoke and flames was what she saw as she turned and headed back to the Dr's office. The back door to her car was still open.

Walking up the sidewalk, she saw the nurse talking to the receptionist. She opened the door and entered.

"Where did you go? Dr. Curtis said he'll see you in ten minutes." The nurse had pulled her chart and was looking at it. Alice looked at her confused.

"What? I didn't go anywhere. I just walked in. How did he know I wanted to see him?" Realizing that Alice was delusional, she told her to come to the back with her. She opened the side door, took Alice down the hallway, and put her in an empty room.

"You can lie on the sofa and Dr. Curtis will be in here shortly. I'll be back in a minute to check on you." She didn't want to leave Alice in the waiting room. She saw her jump up and run out of the office earlier only to return in five minutes as though she'd never been in today.

"Do you smell smoke?" The nurse asked? She got close to Alice and said. "You smell like smoke. It smells like hair burning."

Alice gave her a look that sent chills down her spine. She decided not to say anything else, instead she left Alice in Dr. Curtis' therapy room.

Alice sat on the sofa and scanned the room. One wall had medical certificates framed. The one behind the sofa had huge hooks that held medieval weaponry. A breastplate, gauntlets, two shields, two hand axes, a halberd, and a pike hung randomly over the sofa. She took one of the hand axes from the wall and stuffed it between the back of the sofa and the cushion. Leaning back on the sofa, she waited.

The nurse went down the hall to where Dr Curtis was with another patient. She lightly knocked on his door.

"Come in." He was sitting behind his desk. He looked up and smiled at her as she opened the door. His patient was sitting across from him in an over-stuffed leather chair. Normally he would be in the overstuffed chair and the patient would be sitting on the sofa.

"I'm sorry to interrupt. Alice is here. I put her in the other therapy room until you can see her. I think she's in really bad shape."

"Ok." He pulled the middle drawer to his desk open and pulled out a small bottle. He popped the lid off and poured out two small pills. "Give her these and a little water. It'll calm her down. Tell her I'll be in to see her in about ten minutes."

"Hey...." The young man sitting in the chair nervously twisted around in his chair. "When did you guys start giving hand-out pills? I mean, I thought you had to keep a record of what you give a patient. Isn't that illegal or something?"

Dr. Curtis got up, walked over to the young man, and placed his hands on his shoulders. "No, Brian. It's not illegal to give a patient placebo pills. I give them all the time to anxious patients who influence easily. It calms them down ninety percent of the time. Especially when told it will calm them down."

The nurse took the pills and left to go give them to Alice.

Brian said "Oh. Ok. I thought it was weird seeing you just dump pills out like that. I thought you kept stuff like that locked up, but if they're fake, then I can see why they're in your drawer. Hey, is our session done? I feel like it's done. I don't have anything else to talk about. Do you?"

Brian stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Ok, if you feel comfortable, then I will say we're done for today." Dr. Curtis laughed and walked Brian out to the lobby. "I'll see you again same time next week."

"Ok, doc." The lanky young man walked out the door and headed to the parking lot.

As Brian walked to his car, he noticed a car with its back door open. He looked around for the owner. Thinking it was weird to be open, he again looked around and when he didn't see anyone around, he shut the door. He felt he did his good deed for the day. No sooner had he turned to leave, a dog jumped up to the window of the door growling and barking. It startled him so bad that he half ran to his car. It wasn't so much the barking that startled him as the way the dog looked. It had smoke coming out of what little fur it had left on it. One of its eyes bulged out more than the other.

Dr. Curtis took the pen from his pocket and picked up Alice's chart from the nurse's station. He opened it up and lifted a few pages, then closed it up. He tucked it under his arm and headed to the therapy room. Inside, he found Alice laying on her back on the sofa staring at the ceiling.

"Good afternoon Alice, how are we doing today?" He sat across from the sofa in an overstuffed suede chair. As he crossed his legs and opened her file, Alice sat up.

"I'm going crazy, doc. I have black outs. I think I may have killed some people. I don't know. I see uncle Ralph a lot, but I don't know who uncle Ralph is. Am I going crazy?" She pulled at her fingers with her other hand. Pulling on each one from the base to the tip, she pulled each one from the thumb all the way to her pinky finger.

"Who is this uncle Ralph? Is he someone from your past?" He wrote a few lines in her chart as he waited for an answer. When none came, he looked up at her. "Alice? Did you hear my question?"

"I don't know who he is. But, when I see him, I'm terribly afraid of him. I know he's a very bad person. He's a child molester. I do know that much." She had switched hands, now pulling the fingers of her right hand.

"How often do you see uncle Ralph?" He flipped the chart closed and picked up his tablet.

"I saw him in my kitchen. Then I realized it wasn't him, but it was too late. He kidnapped me from the hospital yesterday too. What does he want with me?" Alice looked at the Dr waiting for an answer. He must know. He has to know. Otherwise, she had to be going crazy.

"What do you think he wants from you, Alice?" He was writing in his tablet and didn't look up.

Alice was getting irritable. Anger spread from the tips of her toes to the top of her head like a fever spreading through her body. Her face felt flush. She blinked away the tears, then looked at him. "You're the fucking doctor here you son-of-a-bitch! Quit answering my questions with questions. This isn't a damned merry-go-round!" Her hands were balled up into fists at her sides. She could feel the pills in her hands. One in each hand.

Dr. Curtis smiled at her and said. "Do you feel like having a hypnotherapy session today? You always feel better afterwards." He leaned towards her in his chair tapping his pen against the tablet.

Normally, she would let him because it did relax her and she always felt better. But today, her gut told her no. Not today. Nor tomorrow. Maybe never again. "No. I don't want any more hypnotherapy sessions. I don't think I need them. What I need is, is to know who uncle Ralph is!" She folder her arms across her chest waiting for him to give her the answers she needed.

"Alice, you know about uncle Ralph because of the hypnotherapy sessions. The best way to explore who he is and why he has such an impact on your life, is to continue with these sessions. We can go as slow as you like. I would never let you get too frantic and would bring you immediately back out if I thought you were too stressed and couldn't handle it." He reached over and took touched Alice's knee. She flinched.

"I think I better go now. I need to go call my uncle Gillis. He's probably worried about me." She wasn't sure why she felt the urge to run, but she did. She needed to get out of this place quickly. Her head began to fog up and she could feel her body relax. Just as she began to go under, she felt the doctor lift her legs onto the sofa and place a pillow under her head. Then everything went black. Her hands relaxed and the pills fell to the floor.

#  Chapter 26

## Austin, Texas

Carl watched as the knob to the basement door slowly turned. He looked at Mike and motioned for him to grab the knob and yank it open. On the count of three, he grabbed it as Carl took a stance with the loaded gun.

The man was startled to see Carl with his gun in his face. He quickly threw his hands up. Mike was still standing behind the door as Carl motioned for him to keep his hands up and move to the living room. Mike went around the door and headed down the basement stairs. He found Gene still knocked out on the stair landing midway down. He stepped over him and looked around. That's when he noticed the door leading up to the garage open. He went to the base of it and heard voices.

"Hey, did you guys get him? Mike called up.

"Yes. Where's the other two?" Al came to the top of the stairs and started descending them with his gun in hand.

"Carl has one upstairs and the other one is still knocked out." Mike stepped back as Al came through the door.

Al went up the first flight of steps to where Gene was out cold. He grabbed one of his arms and pulled him down to the bottom of the stairs into the center of the basement living room floor. He went through his pockets and as he emptied them, he threw what he found onto the coffee table. He then rolled him over on his stomach and handcuffed his hands together.

"Here, help me get him up on the couch." Mike took one arm, Al the other as they lifted him into a half sitting position on the sofa. He fell sideways and Al let him stay that way. "There's some rope in that closet on the top shelf. Can you get it, please?"

Mike opened the closet door and found the yellow nylon rope. He pulled it from the shelf and brought it to him. Al wrapped it tightly around Gene's legs. Then he thought for a moment and decided to hog tie him. He deserved to be treated like the pig he was.

As he finished the last knot, Gene started moaning. Al slapped his face with the back of his hand a few times. "Hey! Wake up! You have some talking to do."

Gene's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out again.

"You don't think he's seriously hurt do you? Maybe we should call an ambulance. I'm in enough trouble already." Mike was pacing back and forth. The basement was small, and it seemed to be closing into him. He was about to have a panic attack. He dug in his pocket, but couldn't find his pills. He patted his pants but they weren't there.

"You lose something?" Al asked. He could see the panic look on Mike's face. "Hey, it's all going to be ok, Mike. Don't worry about all this. Gene brought all this on himself. He's been on the CIA's radar now for a year."

"No, it's not that. I have panic attacks. That's why I was looking for my pills. When I start having flashes of memory, I get them, or when I feel closed in, I get them. I put my pills in my pocket when I got ready to go up to eat.....Oh, maybe they fell out when I fell down the stairs." He walked over to the stairs and looked around. He found them lying in the corner of the landing where Gene had been laying. The plastic bottle was cracked, but still in tack. He opened the bottle and took one out. "I'm going up to get some water. Do you need anything?"

"No. As a matter of fact, I'm hungry. Let's go check on Carl and make sure the other two are secure." He put his arm around Mike's shoulder and they headed up the stairs. "This guy isn't going anywhere for now." He nodded towards Gene.

Carl was sitting in his dad's easy chair with the gun laying on the end table next to his coffee. The two men were handcuffed and had their legs bound. His wife was back in the kitchen pouring coffee for officer Donner and his partner.

"Would either of you like some pancakes? I'm making pancakes for us and have plenty." She loved cooking breakfast. The smell of bacon still filled the air. She pulled a large bowl from the cabinet and a measuring cup. A dozen eggs were already on the counter. Before anyone could answer, she was busy mixing up the batter and heating the skillet.

"You know she's not going to take no for an answer." Al laughed as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"Mike, there's cold water in the fridge, or bottled water in the cabinet above the coffee maker." He saw that Mike was at the kitchen sink, looking around.

"Thanks." Mike took one of the bottles from the cabinet and unscrewed the cap. He popped the pill in his mouth and washed it down with half a bottle of water. He sat the bottle on the table and sat down with the other three men.

"Hey, Carl! Are you going to come eat with us or are you entertaining yourself with those two?" Al laughed as he got up and pulled a coffee cup from the cabinet. He reached in to get another cup and asked: "Mike, would you like a cup?"

"No, I'm good. I have water. Never was much of a coffee drinker. At least not for the past ten years." As soon as the words came out, he had a flash of memory. He was in Starbucks. Drinking coffee! He had a frown on his face. Why did he frown when he remembered something....it drained him. He couldn't force the memories and when they came, he wanted them to continue, but they would just fade off.

"Did you just remember something?" Officer Donner looked at Mike. "It's good if you're beginning to remember."

"It's just flashes and I'm not sure what they mean. I was sitting in a Starbucks....drinking coffee. That's it. Nothing else. As soon as I see a flash, I try hard to remember and it just disappears." Mike was frustrated. He took another drink of water.

Mrs. Baker sat the table with plates, forks, knives and spoons. She brought syrup to the table and butter. She looked at Al and said. "What about those men in there?"

"I'd say they got their fill on bacon and can wait for jail food." Al sat his cup down and took the plate of pancakes from her. He sat them in the middle of the table and said "Dig in guys."

Carl walked into the kitchen and pulled one pancake from the top of the stack, put a pad of butter on it and rolled it up. He stood there eating it like a burrito.

"Son, that's no way to eat. You need to sit down and have a real breakfast." Al pulled the chair out next to him and pat it. "Sit."

"Dad, I'm not four years old. I don't want much. You know how I am when I get excited. I'm ready to take these guys in. They need to be interrogated." He went ahead and sat in the chair and put the remainder of his pancake on the plate sitting in front of him. It unfurled, exposing the not quite melted butter.

"I'm waiting on a phone call. Then, we'll proceed from there. I called your uncle and he's going to use his contacts to find out what's going on with the FBI investigation. If what I'm thinking is true, then Gene is going to be in big trouble, along with the other two in there." Al had a huge appetite. He finished off the four pancakes he'd put on his plate and as his wife sat more in the platter, he pulled two more off.

Mike jumped from his chair and yelled "Uncle Ralph!" He looked at Al, then officer Donner. "He kept telling me to kill Uncle Ralph! But I don't know who he is. I'm having more flashes. I was sitting in a coffee shop. It was Starbucks. I was drinking a Mocha Latte. I drink that every morning before work. Yes! I drink MOCHA LATTE! Then this man walks in and sat at my table."

Mike was pacing back and forth in the kitchen now like a caged fox. He started hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Crap! Why can't I remember more?" His head felt like it was going to split open.

"Sandy, have you heard any of this before?" Al looked at officer Donner. Sandy Donner had taken Mike all over Austin, held media conferences to get his face out there, and posted flyers in three nearby towns trying to find where he came from.

"No. This is all new stuff." Sandy took another bite of his pancakes.

"Honey, do you have a headache?" Mrs. Baker asked Mike as he held the sides of his head.

"Yes ma'am, I do." He started rubbing the temples of his head as he watched her go to the cupboard.

"Well, we have Advil, Tylenol, Bayer and Advil Migraine. Which would you like?" She was pulling them all out as she was asking.

"The Advil Migraine. Two if you don't mind." He walked over to the counter and she poured two of them into the palm of his hand.

"Oh, hell no!" Carl jumped up from the table and ran to the living room. One of the men had managed to stand up and was hopping towards the front door as the other one watched.

Al and Sandy got up and helped Carl bring the guy back to the sofa.

"Ok, boys. Do you want to start talking now, or do you want to wait for the Deputy Attorney General to fill me in? Either way, I'm going to find out why you thought you could come in my house and tie my family up." Al shoved the guy down onto the sofa.

The other guy who was stuffing bacon in his face earlier looked at Jack, then Al. He opened his mouth, and before he could say anything, Jack threatened him. "You keep your trap shut!"

The little guy looked again at Al, then Jack, then back to Al. "This was all Gene's idea. He said we could find the serial killer and make points. We would have to bend the rules some, but in the end they would over look all that and promote us.

"Shut it! You hear me?" Jack was furious. Even as mad as he was, the little guy kept talking.

"I didn't want to be involved, but Gene said he would tell my wife that I was cheating on her. I've never cheated on my wife. Somehow, he had pictures of me that looked like I was kissing some woman. I wasn't kissing her. She had dropped something. I picked it up, and she kissed me on my cheek. However, from the angle of the camera, it looked bad for me. He's a bad person, that Gene. I didn't want to be here. I really didn't. I should have just told my wife that he was trying to frame me. Now look at me! I'm tied up on somebody's sofa. I'm a criminal. God, I'm ashamed of myself!" His eyes welled up as he spoke.

"What's your name?" Carl asked the man.

"I'm Simon. Simon Manning, and I'm awful sorry for any pain I've caused you." He lifted himself up a bit and tried to scoot away from Jack.

Jack was fuming and glaring at him. Al stood up and pulled the handcuff key from his pocket. He untied Simon's legs and told him to lean forward so he could un-cuff him.

"Dad, do you think that's wise?" It made Carl nervous to see his dad un-cuff someone who had just broke into their home not two hours ago and had them tied up.

"Carl, I'm just going to un-cuff him and move him away from Jack. Put them in separate rooms. I think Simon will be more comfortable away from Jack." He unlocked the cuff from one hand, but left it on the other. He took Simon by the arm and sat him on a barstool in the kitchen. He went to the wet room off the kitchen and came back with a bike chain. He handcuffed Simon's hands in front of him, then looped the chain between his hands and around the post at the end of the bar.

"That should be a bit more comfortable." Al sat down at the table, took two pancakes, and put them on a plate. He poured syrup over them and placed two pieces of bacon on top. He picked up a fork and took the plate over to Simon. "You looked like you were starving this morning. Here, eat this." He sat the plate on the bar and watched as Simon managed to eat with the cuffs and chain dangling between his hands.

Mike had a blank stare on his face as he watched everything going on. His vision had narrowed and he seemed to be in a tunnel. On the other hand, maybe it was what they called tunnel vision. He didn't know. It was as if he was passing out in slow motion. The room was getting darker, yet he didn't feel light headed or that he was going to pass out. He was startled when Sandy touched is arm.

"Are you ok?" Sandy had noticed Mike leaning against the kitchen sink. He wasn't moving, or looking around, just standing and staring out at everyone. "How's your head? Are you remembering anything else?"

"No. I feel funny though. Like I'm blacking out. Maybe I should sit down." Mike took a step and fell to his knees on the floor. His body began to shake as he fell forward flat on his face. His whole torso bent backwards as his convulsions worsened. Sandy knelt down beside him and tried to roll him over onto his back. Al and Carl grabbed his legs and helped Sandy roll him over. They held his legs as Sandy held his arms to keep him from hurting himself.

"Someone call an ambulance!"

Mrs. Baker dialed 911 and requested an ambulance. When she hung up, she looked at Al and said: "Honey, don't you think you should do something about the men who are tied up before the ambulance gets here?"

In all the commotion, Al didn't even think about them. "Carl, you and Pete take Simon and Jack down to the basement while Sandy and I take care of Mike." He threw the handcuff key to Carl. Make sure you tie Simon back up just as well as Jack. Try to separate them.

Carl undid the chain and cuffs on Simon and re-cuffed his hands behind his back. He grabbed the rope from the sofa in the living room and walked Simon down the basement stairs. He could hear Gene cursing as he got to the bottom.

"Well, look who's awake!" Carl took Simon to the bed and tied his feet together. He propped some pillows against the headboard and let Simon lay on the bed sitting against the headboard. He took Simon's shoes off before lifting his legs up on the bed.

"What the hell are you doing, you dumb fuck? I'll have your job for this!" Gene's face was beet-red and spit flew out of his mouth as he spoke. "You can kiss that career of yours goodbye. John put you up to this. He did, didn't he? You don't have to answer that. I know he did." Gene had managed to roll off the sofa. He was writhing around trying to free himself. No matter how hard he tried, the rope stayed taut.

Carl opened the top drawer in his dresser and pulled out a pair of socks. He rolled one up and stuffed it in Gene's mouth. As he looked around for duct tape, Gene spit it out and was angrier than before. "You little bastard, don't you ever put another nasty sock in my mouth!"

Carl grinned, took the second sock, and shoved it into Gene's mouth. He held his hand in front of his mouth while pulling a strip of tape off. When he was done, Gene couldn't say anything. Nothing but muffled sounds came out.

He went over to Simon and before he started putting tape over his mouth, he asked, "Do I need to put a sock in your mouth?"

"No. I'll do anything I can to help you. I will tell you everything that I know. But, if you don't trust me, I'll understand and I'll still tell you everything." He lifted his head so that Carl could tape his mouth.

"I'm going to just tape your mouth. I don't think a sock is necessary in your case." Carl taped his mouth shut. He laid the tape on the dresser and headed back up the stairs. Gene was wiggling all over the place. He'd have to secure him to a chair when he came back down.

Pete already had Jack in a standing position. He decided to leave him completely tied up. He wasn't comfortable loosening up the ropes. Carl reappeared from the basement and moved the coffee table to the side.

"You grab under his arms and I'll take his legs. Here's the plan. If he gives us any problems going down, just throw his ass down the stairs. I don't think he'd think twice about hurting us if the tables were turned." Carl grabbed his legs after Pete slipped his arms under Jack's and around his torso.

They made it down the stairs with no problems from Jack. Gene had wiggled his way past the coffee table and was lying against the door leading up to the garage.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Pete asked.

"Yep." They sat Jack on the floor and laid him on his right side. It took both of them to drag Gene on the floor next to Jack. They hog-tied Jack as Gene did his best to wriggle away from them. They stuffed a sock in Jack's mouth and put tape over it. Pete grabbed Gene's legs and pulled him back to where Jack was. If he didn't have a gag, they'd both be getting an earful of nastiness. Gene was writhing like a venomous snake. They both looked down at the two. Jack lay still, succumbing to his status, while Gene kept scooting all over the place.

"Well, I think we need to do one more thing. He drug Gene next to the closet and opened the door. He swung him around and pushed him through the door. Gene fell across shoes lying on the floor. Carl shut the door.

They looked around the room, felt like all was secure enough, and headed up the stairs. Al and Sandy had Mike lying on the sofa. His convulsions had stopped, but he was still out. Carl's mother was standing at the front door looking and waiting for the ambulance.

"Here it comes." She said as she stepped outside. The blare of the sirens shut off as it pulled up to the drive. The EMS crew got out and pulled gear out of the back. Carl stood in the doorway as they walked up the sidewalk.

"He's in here on the sofa. One minute he was fine, then he said something about feeling light-headed and that he was blacking out. Then he went into convulsions." Al moved away from the sofa so the team could get at Mike and do what they needed to do. They pulled his eyelids up, checked his blood pressure and heart rate.

"Has he ever had convulsions before?" One of the men asked.

"I don't know. I just met him last night. Sandy, do you know?" Carl looked at Sandy who was talking to his wife at the front door.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, he had one about three months after we found him. The doctors never could find a cause though. He was good within an hour. After that, I can't be sure. I know he has panic attacks and has medication for that. He did say he had a headache about fifteen minutes before the convulsions. Maybe that's something to look into?" Sandy pointed to Mikes pants and said "Look in his pants. His pills should be in there. You might want to give that to the doctor at the ER."

"Ok, let's load him up and head out." They went back outside and retrieved the gurney from the ambulance. Carl went to the basement door and cracked it open. He listened to see if he could hear anything. All was silent, so he shut it back.

Al slid the clip on the storm door's pneumatic door closer so that it would stay in the open position as the medic's walked up the sidewalk with the gurney. They pulled the gurney past Al and lowered it beside the sofa. They gently picked Mike up and placed him on it. One of the medic's covered him with a sheet, then reached under the gurney, as did the other one and they both pulled on it to raise it back up. It took five minutes to load him into the ambulance and drive away.

"I'll go to the hospital and stay with Mike. If anyone asks, I'll say that he's in my custody. Since we don't know who all knows he kidnapped Alice, we aren't even sure if anyone other than Gene and his goons were looking for him. Pete, you stay here and help Carl with whatever he needs. Call me and let me know what your brother says, Al." Officer Donner walked out to his car and backed out of the driveway. He turned his siren on and headed to the hospital.

Mrs. Baker was in the kitchen loading the dishwasher and clearing the table. Maple syrup filled the air as she raked the left over remnants of breakfast into the trashcan. Carl and Peter went down to the basement to check on their uninvited guests. Simon had managed to lay over on his side and was sound asleep. Jack started making noise as soon as he heard them enter the room.

"You trying to say something? Here let me help." Carl yanked the tape from his mouth and he spit the sock out.

"I have to go pee...really bad!" Jack looked pretty desperate, but Carl was going to be cautious.

"Look, I'm sure you probably do. Tell you what. We'll take you in the bathroom and un-handcuff your hands so you can go. But, you will be flanked by the two of us. No funny stuff." Carl untied the rope that pulled his legs up to the handcuffs. He and Peter stood the guy up and carried him into the bathroom. Carl un-cuffed him so he could do his business. They stood on either side of him.

"Are you kidding me? You two are going to stand there while I pee? I don't know if I can." Jack stood 5'10 and probably weighed 170 pounds. Carl wasn't amused with his whining.

"I'm not kidding you. If you have to go as bad as you say, you'll go." He thought about it for a second and changed his mind. "I tell you what. I'll do this for you." He took the dangling handcuff and cuffed it to the towel rack. He then motioned for Peter to turn around and he did the same. "How's that? It's the best I'm going to do for you." Two seconds later they could hear him relieve himself.

"You're not going to hog tie me again. Are you? Jack tried to zip his pants up with one hand. "Hey, can you help me here?" Carl un-cuffed his hand from the rack and let him zip up.

"No, we're taking you back upstairs." He re-cuffed his hands behind his back. They picked him up as before and headed upstairs.

Al was in the kitchen helping his wife clean the counters. He had a dishtowel draped across his right shoulder. "Jack, are you hungry? If so, I'll make you a sandwich. It'll be another hour before the FBI sends some clean agents over here." He stood in the arched doorway of the dining room. The window shades were open and sunlight filled both rooms. A large orange tree was in full bloom outside the dining room window. Fragrance from the flowers filled the air as the breeze blew through the open window.

"I'm good. I ate before leaving to come here. Thanks." He thought a moment then asked. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"I'm not being nice. It's just common courtesy to ask." He pulled the dishtowel from his shoulder and hung it through the refrigerator handle.

"Let's go get the other two." Peter said as he headed to the basement door. Carl followed behind..

#  Chapter 27

## San Saba

John and Gillis walked through the doors of the San Saba Hospital. They showed their IDs to the woman behind the glass window.

"Is Miguel Alvarado out of surgery?" John folded his wallet up and slid it into his back pocket.

"Let me check for you." She went to the computer at the other end of the counter and punched in some information. "No, he's still in. It looks like he will be there for at least three hours. I can go get one of the attending doctors to come talk to you if you want."

"No, we'll wait. Can you also check on Joe Rodriguez? He's in for a bullet wound." John watched as she looked up the information.

"He's been moved to a room. He's in room 210A if you'd like to go see him." She pointed to John's left at some double doors. "If you go through those doors, about half way down is the elevators. He's on the second floor. When you get off the elevator, go to your right and he's the second door on the left.

"Thanks." Gillis and John headed through the doors and found the elevator.

"I feel like I'm wasting time here. I need to be out looking for Alice!" Gillis was visibly shaken. "She's injured, ill, and sick in the head. I don't know what she's capable of anymore. I need to get to her before things get worse."

"I know. You're one hundred percent right. But where would you look? She made her way to you once before, don't you think she'd do the same thing? Let's go check on Joe and see if we can get any more information out of him that might help. Then we'll head to your house. I need to call Carl soon to find out what's going on with this Mike person." The elevator doors shuffled open and they stepped out.

"Did she say right or left?" John looked both ways.

Gillis pointed to the sign on the wall. One said Rooms 201 through 206 with and arrow pointing to the left. The one below it had 207 through 212 with an arrow pointing to the right. They went right.

The door was open to his room, so they walked in and found Joe with the remote in his hand scanning through the stations on the TV that hung in the corner of the room. The first bed was empty. Joe had the bed next to the window. His leg had gauze wrapped from his thigh down to his knee. He seemed to be in a calmer state than before. A nurse was pushing medicine into the tube of the IV that hung by his bed. She gathered her things and smiled at them as she left the room.

"How long did the doctor say you had to stay in the hospital? Gillis went around the foot of the bed and sat in the chair next to Joe.

"Well, I think they're going to let me go tomorrow. It didn't hit any arteries, but I did lose too much blood, so they hooked me up some hemoglobin. My doctor said I was lucky. The only medicine I will need is antibiotics and maybe some pain pills. If the bullet hadn't gone straight through, I would have had to have surgery. All he had to do was clean it up and suture the wound in the ER. I just have to keep it elevated." The head of Joe's bed was raised and he had pillows propped under his leg to keep it elevated. "Hell, I'm enjoying the nurses in here. Have you seen them? They got some really cute ones."

John stood at the foot of the bed. He saw a different nurse coming in the doorway with a tray in hand. She walked to Joe's bed and said "Hello Mr. Rodriguez. How are we feeling right now?"

"Great. My leg is throbbing, but nothing I can't handle." His smile revealed two gold teeth.

"Well, that's good. I brought you some antibiotics that the doctor ordered for you. Here you go." She handed him the small paper cup and a glass of water. He took the pills. and drank them down with the water she gave him. "Is there anything you need before I go? I see you have visitors. Friends?"

"No, well I guess they are now. They saved my life. This is Gillis. I didn't catch your last name..." Joe smiled at Gillis and continued..."He's a friend of a good friend of mine."

Gillis stood up and shook her hand. "I'm Gillis Williams and this is John Strout."

"I'm glad he's got someone to visit him. Sometimes we get patients who have no one. You're welcome to stay as long as you want. Visiting hours are a bit lax in his situation."

"Ok, thanks." John smiled at her as she turned to leave. She was nice looking and not married. "Joe, I wanted to ask you a few questions if you feel up to it."

"Sure. I don't know what I can add to what I told you though." He pulled the covers up on his chest and turned the TV off.

"Well, let's start from the beginning. When did you encounter Carmen?" John looked at Gillis who was surprised he didn't refer to the shooter as Alice.

"When I went to Miguel's house right before dawn this morning. She answered the door. Miguel was supposed to pick his brother up and hadn't showed up. He called me and asked me to go check on him." He looked at Gillis. "You know how consistent Miguel is. You can set your watch by him. We were both worried."

"So, she answered the door? Where was Miguel?" John was writing in his tablet as Joe talked.

"Yep. I knocked on the door and this woman answered. At first, I thought it was someone he knew and had stopped and picked her up. Either that or she showed up after he dropped me off at my house. I even told her I knew that's why he was late. She was standing there with nothing on but Miguel's shirt and her underwear. I saw her leg bandaged, so I asked her about it. That's when she gave me this bullshit story about being shot in her apartment, but not before she shot the guy four times before he shot her. I didn't believe her, so I asked her if she called the cops. She said no. She was so matter of fact about it. She said she got her neighbors to do it. You know what the biggest lie was? She said they took her to the hospital, then some guy kidnapped her."He laughed, then said: "And then she said another guy kidnapped her from her kidnapper. She's crazy! I told you!"

John flipped the page and wrote down some more. "Did she say how she got to Miguel's house?"

"Oh yeah, she told me she was in his truck when he took me home. I called her on that because I didn't see her in there. That's when she told me about a conversation we had. So, she was definitely in the truck. I guess Miguel must have left the door unlocked when he came in the store to pick me up. I work at the convenient store here in San Saba and he gave me a ride home. That's when we saw you, Gillis."

"That's why I couldn't find her anywhere." Gillis looked at John. "She was in Miguel's truck."

"So, if she was in the truck, how did you not see her?" John didn't have much time to look at Miguel's SUV when they found Joe in it.

"She must have been in the very back. Because I sat Miguel's beer in the back floorboard and I guarantee no one was back there."

"I'm guessing she climbed into the very back and hid. Hopefully Miguel will be able to fill us in on what happened after he dropped you off." John closed his tablet and said: "I'll be right back. I need to go find a restroom."

"There's one on the other side of the bed next to mine. You can use it." Miguel looked at Gillis. "Why would you be looking for Carmen? Do you really think Carmen and your niece are the same person? If so, how come she is so bad? What happened to her?"

"I've never seen this side of Alice. That's why I'm trying to find her so I can get to the bottom of all this." Gillis got up from the chair.

"What does that mean? Go find her? I thought you said Alice was here in the hospital? If Carmen and Alice are the same person, then don't you think you should be out looking for her instead of in here talking to me?" Joe pressed the button to raise his head more. He was anxious now that he knew she was on the loose.

Gillis rested his hand on the foot of the bed. "Joe, I will find Alice. I promise you that I'll get answers for all of us. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that it's even possible Alice could have hurt Miguel the way she did."

Joe could see the pain on Gillis' face. "I don't doubt you will. Please be careful though. Even though she's your niece, if she's the same person I ran into this morning, she's very cunning."

John came out of the bathroom. He had heard the entire conversation. "I think we need to go back to your place, Gillis and go over Miguel's car. First, I'm going to check in with Carl and see how he's doing with Mike. I haven't had a chance to tell you, but Gene was trying to follow me this morning." John smiled thinking about Gene standing in the parking lot with two flat tires. "I got away from him with some help. Seems like he wasn't the Bluebonnet Cafe's favorite customer. Long story, I'll fill you in later."

"What about Miguel?" Joe inquired.

"I won't leave before I get an officer here to take his statement when he's out of the operating room in case I'm not back before that happens." John pulled a card from his wallet and handed it to Joe. "Here's my name and phone number in case you remember anything else. Any small detail that you may not think is important could be very important."

Joe took the card and laid it on the nightstand. "You guys be careful. Thank you for everything you have done for me. Oh, before you leave, can you make sure someone here will let me know when Miguel is out of surgery?"

"Sure thing, bud." Gillis patted Joe's good leg as he walked past the bed and headed out.

John stopped just outside the room and dialed Carl's number.

Carl's phone started buzzing on the kitchen table. Al reached over and picked it up. It showed that John Strout was calling.

"Carl, John's calling you!" Al carried the phone into the living room, and saw that the basement door was open, so he answered his phone. "Hello, John. This is Al. I think Carl just went down to the basement. Hold on and I'll get him." Al descended the stairs. As he reached the landing, he could hear the shower running. "Oh, he's in the shower. Do you want me to have him call you back? Did you find Alice?" Al wanted to tell him what was going on, but figured with everything that happened this morning, there was a possibility that the house may be bugged.

"I'm headed to Gillis' place, then back to the hospital here. There was an attempted murder this morning on Gillis' neighbor. We believe it was Alice who may have left him for dead. Actually there were two men involved. She kidnapped the second man and had him in the neighbor's car. We're leaving the hospital now and going back to look at the vehicle and see if we can find anything there to help us locate Alice. I'm not sure what time I can be at your house. I need to get back here as soon as I can and talk to the neighbor if he survives and can remember anything. " John headed to the elevator with Gillis in tow. "Alice was at Gillis' house when I got there. She went into convulsions and we had to call an ambulance. She was discharged from the hospital before we got to her."

"Mike was taken to the hospital about thirty minutes ago. He was having convulsions. You don't think there's a connection there do you?" Al's mind was shifting gears now. No detail went by him. "Right before the convulsions started, he started having flashback and yelling something about drinking coffee, and Uncle Ralph."

"No shit! Uncle Ralph???" John looked at Gillis. "Alice kept talking about Uncle Ralph. Who the hell is this Uncle Ralph? Maybe if we find him, we can unravel this mess. I need to get back to Austin. How am I supposed to handle this situation? I need someone here to question Miguel as soon as he is able to speak. I know that Gillis isn't going to want to hang out there. He's wanting to find Alice and so do I."

"Don't worry about that. I think I can talk to Donner about getting someone over there." Al walked back upstairs as he spoke to John.

"What about Gene? If he sees anything suspicious, he'll be all over it." John and Gillis got off the elevator and headed towards the glass doors leading out to the parking lot.

"Don't worry about him. That's what I need to talk to you about. You need to get here as soon as you can. Look, I need to go. I'm waiting on an important call. Do you want me to have Carl call you back?" Carl asked.

"No. You pretty much filled me in. I'll see you as soon as I can. Let me know when someone is coming this way. I won't leave until I know there will be someone here. See you in a few hours after I get that call." John closed the phone and looked at Gillis.

"Looks like "Uncle Ralph" is someone we need to talk to. We need to go check out Miguel's car and hopefully by the time we're done, Al will call me back with news that someone is headed this way to interview Miguel." John dug in his pocket for his car keys. He pulled them out and unlocked his car.

"Are you coming back here tonight?" Gillis asked.

"You bet I am. I want to talk to Miguel in person. I also want to talk to Mike, and I'm sure you want to do the same. Do you want to ride with me to Austin? We can leave your SUV here." John rested his arm on the open door as Gillis walked around to the passenger side.

Gillis smiled at John. "You could always read me my friend."

#  Chapter 28

## Austin, Texas

Dr. Curtis pulled his chair closer to the sofa. He leaned over and whispered in Alice's ear. "Alice, when you wake up, you will not remember anything except agreeing to a hypnotherapy session. You will wake up relaxed and calm. There will be no more memory of Uncle Ralph. From this moment on, you will live your live as you did before you first came to me for help."

Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. He wiped them off with his handkerchief. Alice didn't respond or move. She lay still on the sofa. Her lips were chapped and cracked. He knew something was wrong. The placebo pills were Thorazine. But, she hadn't taken them. Why was she out? He needed to do hypnotherapy on her to find out what she had been doing. He needed to know if everything was going as planned.

Lifting her arm, he placed a cuff around it and took her blood pressure. It was normal. He held her wrist and found her pulse to be the same. A knock at the door startled him.

"Come in." The nurse appeared with a slip of paper.

"Dr. Curtis, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I just got a call from Brian. He's sitting in his car very upset. He said there's a dog outside that is smoking. I tried to make sense of it, but he insisted it was smoking. Do you want me to sit with Alice while you go check on him?"

"No, she'll be fine. Just give me a minute." He waved her out of the room and turned back to Alice.

Alice had reached under the cushion and with a firm grip on the axe handle; she pulled it out and started swinging it at the doctor. The first blow hit him in the neck, severing his carotid artery. She didn't stop with the first blow. Had she stopped, he would have died. Her rage drove her to sever his head completely from his body. She grabbed his hair, lifted his head up, and faced it to her. "You will never, I mean never ever, do to anyone else what you've done to me."

His eyes were wide open and lips slightly parted. The look of surprise frozen on his severed head. She walked over to his wastebasket and dropped the head in. Her shirt, jeans and shoes had blood spattered on them. She kicked her shoes off, slipped off her jeans and shirt. She looked down at her bra, but could see no blood. Peeling off her socks, she threw them on top of the head, along with her jeans and shirt. Her keys were still in her jeans, so she retrieved them and walked to the door. Cracking it open, she saw no one in the hallway.

Slipping out of the room, she half ran towards the exit. She heard someone coming, so she opened the first door she saw and went in. The doctor's office was in an old Victorian house that he had converted the bottom into his office while he lived in the upper half. She looked around the room and could see her car outside the window. Running for the window, she pulled the curtains back enough to open the window, kick out the screen and jump out. She made it to her car without anyone seeing her.

As she drove out of the parking lot, she smelled smoke. _What in the hell...?_ That's when she heard the low guttural growl of a dog. She adjusted her mirror so that she could see in the back seat. There in the middle, sat the ugly, nasty, stinking dog she had set fire to earlier. "You little bastard, what don't you understand? I don't want you in my car, I don't want a dog, and I will kill you!"

Sensing she was serious, he ran to the right side of the seat, curled up in a ball, and was quiet. "Good, I don't have time for you now...so you just be a good boy and I'll deal with you soon." Alice readjusted the mirror to see traffic behind her. She headed down the back roads to a place she knew that she could dress without anyone seeing her. The oak tree lined street was shaded. Children were playing kickball in the middle of the street. They moved to the side as she passed. She could hear one of the boys yell, "Hey, did you see that? She only had on her underwear!" His voice faded as she drove further down the road.

Alice rolled her window down to air out the smoke stench. Her irritation with the dog was beginning to fade, as did the smell. Around the curve, she pulled into a large parking lot that surrounded an old abandoned building. She drove behind the building that backed up to the wildlife preserve. Before she opened her door, she surveyed the area for anyone. Not seeing a soul, she quickly got out and grabbed her suitcase. She opened it and pulled out another pair of jeans, socks and a T-shirt.

Before she could pick up the jeans to put on, the little dog in the back started barking and going crazy. He growled and showed the few teeth he had in his head. "Shut up!" She screamed at him. Before she could do anything else, someone grabbed her and had a knife at her throat.

The man shoved Alice face first into the car and started ripping her underwear off before she could react. The little dog jumped on top of Alice and bit the man's penis. He wouldn't let go as the man jumped back screaming. The knife fell from his hand as he grabbed at the dog. The dog had a good grip and his head twisted back and forth doing his best to rip it from his body.

Alice reached into her glove compartment and grabbed her gun. After pulling her underwear back up, she calmly walked towards the man, raised her gun and shot him in the head. "You, dog, get a reprieve for saving me. Come on...we have to go." He let go of the penis and ran after her.

In her haste, she threw the gun on the seat and quickly dressed. It was then she realized she didn't have any other shoes. Damn it! She looked back at the man lying on the concrete and ran back to him. Sticking her foot up against his shoe, she surmised they were not that much bigger than her feet. After she got them off, she smelled them. Not too bad, they must be fairly new as they had little wear on them. She slipped her foot in the first one and knew right away that it was too big. So, she threw it on top of him and walked back to the car. The dog was lying in the back seat, curled up in his corner.

Not wanting the boys that were playing in the street to see her again, she took a different route out of the neighborhood. She headed to a thrift shop in Leander, Texas right outside of Austin. She could by shoes there and no one would ask why she was barefoot. As she pulled up to the red light, a police car pulled up beside her. Glad that she had on her large sunglasses and baseball hat, she smiled at the officer. His radio started crackling and a voice came over saying "We got a report of a 187 at 659 Wilson Creek Rd." She couldn't make out the rest because he turned his siren on and raced through the light. He made a u-turn, headed back towards her, and sped past in the direction she had just come from.

"Hey, dog! Wonder what 187 means. I thought at first it meant u-turn, but that's a 180 right?" She giggled when she realized she was talking to a dog.

The warm summer breeze blew through her hair as she drove down hwy 620 towards Interstate 83. A few homeless people stood at the corner with their signs begging for money. One sign was brazen enough to ask for beer money. What is the world coming to?

Not far ahead, she could see the sign for the thrift shop. She put her right blinker on and made her way over in the traffic to the right lane. As she pulled into the parking lot, the little dog jumped up and began barking. "Shut-up, dog! You know, dog. This is where you get out. You stink. I do appreciate you helping me back there, but Lord...you stink." It stopped barking and cocked its head to one side and retreated back to its corner curling up and shutting is eyes.

She got out of the car and decided to deal with the dog after she got some shoes. The bell on the door rang as she entered. Going straight to the shoe section, she glanced at all the tennis shoes on the rack. Only one pair fit her, so she took them to the register. As she paid for the shoes, she heard a woman behind her talking about a murder in Austin.

"I heard they found a man with his penis just about chewed off and shot in the head." The woman was talking to her friend as they stood in line.

Alice turned and commented. "He must have really pissed the girlfriend off."

They laughed and the younger one said, "That's awful. At least Lorena Bobbitt cut her husband's completely off and left him alive. But, to mangle it and then kill him. That's so bad."

"Next." The lady at the counter interrupted the conversation. Alice put the shoes on the counter and after being rang up, paid her and left the counter.

She stood at the door and put the shoes on before going out. _Nice fit_. They felt good on her feet. As she left the store, she saw an AT&T store three doors down, so she walked to it. She looked around and while trying to figure out what to get, the salesman came up to her to see if he could help. "Are you looking for anything specific?"

"Well, I lost my phone, so I need to replace it. I guess I need to change the number too." Alice kept looking at the different models.

"Well, this one is really a good quality phone." He picked one up and started showing her the features on it.

"Can you look up my account and tell me if I'm due for a new free phone?" She couldn't remember when she replaced the last one or when her contract was up.

"Sure. I can help you over here at this counter." He walked behind the tall counter and started typing on the computer. "What's your phone number?"

After giving him her number and information, she found out that she could get a brand new phone and not pay anything. She chose an I Phone and got a new number. They shut to other number off. He packaged up her new phone and handed it to her.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" He smiled at her.

"No, I think this'll do. She took the bag and left the store. As she walked down the sidewalk, she could see the little dog barking at a woman standing at the car next to hers. Alice hurried towards the car when she noticed the woman taunting the dog.

"Hey! You...stop bothering my dog, bitch!" Alice could feel her body heat rise. The woman stepped up on the curve and started moving her head back and forth as she stuck her finger out at Alice.

"Don't you be calling me a bitch, BITCH!" She no sooner got the word out than Alice swung the back with the phone in it and hit her across the face. The woman lost her balance and fell to the ground. Alice took her foot and stepped across her throat.

Looking down at the woman, Alice said, "I call what I see. You are a bitch. You want to mess with me some more? Cause if you do, I'm in a mood to deal with your ass."

A crowd was gathering around. A young man walked over to Alice and took her arm. She pulled away from him and drew her hand back ready to swing the bag. She realized it was the man from the store.

"Need some help?" He smiled at her. He stepped closer and whispered in her ear. "This woman is mentally handicapped. Most people around her know about her and ignore her. Let it go...ok?"

Alice took her foot off and smiled at him. The woman on the ground got up and walked into the thrift shop as if nothing had happened.

"That was weird. I figured she would have wanted to try and kick my ass." Alice laughed.

"No. She doesn't realize half of the stuff she does. I'm not sure what her condition is called, but she's harmless. Is this your car? He pointed to the car with the dog.

"Yes. I guess I better be going. Thank you so much for all your help. I'm just having such a bad day." Alice unlocked her car and got in. She rolled her window all the way down and said, "Maybe it'll get better. Now I have a phone."

She backed out of the parking space and waved at him as she drove off. Just as she was about to turn out of the parking lot, she smelled something like barbeque waft through the air. It smelled so good. Looking right, then left, she drove out of the lot onto the street. She took a right and headed to the stop light. As she sat at the red light, she looked around for a place to eat. That's when she saw the little Mexican restaurant in the strip mall to her left.

When the light turned green, she went through it and made the first left she could into the strip mall. She went in and asked if she could get a dinner to go and some beef on the side in a separate container for her dog. They handed her a menu and she chose the Jose plate from the menu that had two burritos, a taco, rice and beans.

As she waited for her dinner, she took the phone out and programmed Gillis' phone number into it. Then, she called him.

"Hello?" Gillis didn't recognize the phone number, but decided to answer it in case it had something to do with Alice.

"Uncle Gillis?" As soon as she heard his voice, she began having a meltdown. "I don't know what's happening to me. I killed two more people." She was whispering in the phone with her hand covering her mouth to keep anyone else from hearing what she was saying. "Help me. Please help me."

"Ma'am, your order is ready." A heavyset woman in a Mexican dress sat a bag of food on the counter and smiled at Alice.

Alice hung up on Gillis and shoved the phone in her pocket. She could feel it vibrating repeatedly as she paid for the food.

The little dog was asleep on the back seat as she climbed into the car with the food. As soon as he smelled it, he jumped up and started whining.

She looked back at him and a pang of guilt hit her. His fur was half burnt off and his skin was pink from being burnt. She pulled the two containers from the sack and opened the one that said beef on it and sat it on the back seat. He looked at the food, backed away from it and then looked at Alice. "Eat, stupid!" She pointed at the food and he half way dove into the bowl devouring all of it.

She opened her container and her plastic silverware. Eating just enough to make her stomach feel better, she put the lid back on and put the rest in the sack. Somehow, she needed to find a safe place to go. She knew something was wrong. Her life was over. Becoming a murderer was never in her plans. How did this happen? She tried to think back to the first murder. Why did she kill the first person? She couldn't remember who the first person was that she murdered. Laying her head on the steering wheel, she began to weep.

The little dog crept up to her side and licked her arm. She jumped and he yelped as he ran back to the rear of the car. He stood in the corner quivering as he watched her. She called to him, but he refused to come. "Look, I fed you. What more do you want? You know it's time for you to leave." She got out of the car and went around to the back passenger side where he was huddle up and opened the door. He ran to the other side.

"Get out! Come on, dog...get out of my car!" She knelt down and coaxed him. Nothing worked. He still stunk. "I don't have time for this bullshit, dog. Please get out of my car. Ok, you need a name. I can't keep calling you dog. Maybe that's the problem. What's your name? Nemo? Here Nemo...come here. Spike! Here, Spike...come here. You don't like that? Do you like Butch? No? "She stood back up and thought about it. "I know what your name is. You keep showing up and I can't seem to get rid of you. So, your name is now Boomerang!"

No sooner than she said Boomerang, he jumped up and wagged his tail at her. "Oh, so you like that name? Ok, Boomerang...get the hell out of my car so I can leave." He curled back up on the far side of the seat and closed his eyes. Alice slammed the door shut in frustration and got back in the driver's seat.

Her phone started vibrating again. She pulled the phone out and saw it was Gillis. _How did he get my new phone number_?

"Hello?" Alice heard a click on the other end. She hadn't answered it fast enough and he hung up. She laid the phone next to her leg and started the engine. She thought for a few minutes and decided she would take the dog to the vet for his burns. She picked up her phone and Googled 'veterinarian' so she could locate one near where she was. Two blocks over was a veterinarian office.

Getting there was easy. It was getting the dog out of the car that was going to be a problem. Feeling like she could kill two birds with one stone, Alice left the dog in the car and went inside.

"Good evening, can I help you?" The young girl behind the counter had a pen in her hand. She was filling out some paperwork before Alice entered.

"I hope so. I found a small dog that looks like he's been badly burned. He ran and jumped in my car and I can't get him out. He's scared and growls at anyone who tries to get near him. But, he needs medical help." Alice looked pleadingly at the girl. She figured if she could just get him out of the car and into the office, that she could leave him there. She would be more than happy to pay for the treatment needed.

"Well, let's go take a look. I'm Dr. Addison." The doctor had come from a doorway behind the counter. Her hair was up in a ponytail. "Becky, can you come help me?" She called back to her assistant who was in the back of the lab out of Alice's sight.

They all walked out to the car. The little dog had curled up and fallen fast asleep. The vet gently opened the door so as not to startle the dog. She gently reached in and lifted him up. He let out a yelp until he realized Alice was there. He jumped from the Dr's arms into Alice's arms.

"Ewwww. You stink so bad!" As bad as she wanted to throw him down, she didn't. It was her one chance to help him and leave him behind. They all walked back into the office.

"Come this way and we'll check him out. Alice wanted to throw this ball of stink down on the floor. The smoke stench filled her nostrils. He did come to her rescue. She at least owed him this much.

"Would you mind holding him while I check him out? He seems to be attached to you and it will be easier on him if you're with him while I treat him." Dr. Addison could see Alice grimace, but figured it was from the smell.

"Ok, only if you have a bathroom I can clean up in afterwards." She followed the Vet to the examination room. Alice gently placed him on the cold steel table, but kept her hand on him. The vet lifted the dog's upper lip to check his gums.

"This is good. They are pink, so he's not in shock. His fur is scorched, but not pulling out, so it looks like mostly first degree burns. We need to clean him up and dress the wounds. Most of them seem to be on his back." Dr Addison tried to pick him up from the table, but he snarled at her.

"Can you carry him into the bathing room? We need to bathe him and clean him up. He's infested with fleas, so that needs to be addressed too." She opened the door and asked her assistant to get some sterile gauze and ice packs ready for her.

Alice wasn't happy having to handle the dog. "I have an appointment I need to go to. This isn't my dog, it's a stray. I'll be more than happy to pay for anything he needs, but I don't want him. Can I just leave him here?" _Just take the damn dog and let me leave_.

"I see. Well, we do have a rehabilitation facility where we rehabilitate dogs and find them good homes. Are you sure you don't want him? He seems to love you." She nodded at the dog who was looking up at Alice and seemingly hanging on every word she said.

"No, I'm not an animal person. I'm too busy to take care of anything besides myself and sometimes, I don't do well with that!" She chuckled as she gently picked the dog up. "I've been calling him Boomerang because I can't get rid of him. He keeps jumping back in my car."

Alice sat him down in the large metal sink where Becky had cool water running. They used a mild medicated soap to clean him gently. It contained flea medicine to help rid him of the fleas. He looked pitifully thin when wet. Alice's heart sank as she saw him shiver. She started crying.

"See, I knew you loved this little dog." Dr Addison touched her arm.

"No. I was remembering a puppy I had once that died when I was about ten. I loved it so much. It ran out in the road and a car hit it. I don't ever want to get that attached again." Alice turned and walked out of the room to keep her emotions in check.

She went to the counter and inquired how much she needed to pay to leave the dog and have it taken care of. Her heart was pounding fast as she waited for an answer. She was emotionally spent over a small dog.

"Why don't you take a seat and I'll talk to the vet. I'll be right back. What's your dog's name?" She asked as she opened the door to the back rooms.

"Boomerang." Alice said. "But it's not mine." She added.

The office had benches that lined one wall with a long table in front of it and a black leather sofa that sat across from it. The floor was polished concrete. She supposed it was easier to take care of with all the animals that passed through. Dog pictures hung on a bulletin board. She looked through them and saw a basket full of Labrador puppies that were for sale. There were other pictures of lost and missing dogs and kittens. One man had his Australian Sheppard on a leash. He was stroking the dogs back and talking to it like a father to a small child.

Dr Addison came in and called Alice to the counter.

"We're putting ice packs on him and have him in a cage. We gave him a sedative so that we could handle him and ease his pain. I think he'll be good as new in a few weeks. Are you sure you don't want to come back in a few and pick him up?" She could tell that Alice didn't want to be attached, but was.

"No. I'm sure. I'll just give you my credit card number and you can charge whatever it costs to get him well, and his food and board until he's adopted. I don't have my card on me, but I do have the number memorized. I hope that's good enough. I was in such a hurry this morning, I ran off without my purse." Alice leaned against the counter as she waited for an answer.

"That's fine. Give Becky your information. If you want, you can leave your phone number and we'll give you an update." Dr Addison patted Alice on the back and left to go check on Boomerang.

Alice found herself giving them her phone number after she gave them the credit card number. She left the office and stepped back out into the heat. Her hear sunk as she left the drive without the mutt in the back seat.

#  Chapter 29

"Hello?" Gillis answered his phone. "Alice? Where are you! What? You did what! Tell me where you are so I can come get you. Hello? Hello? Damn it! She hung up on me!"

John drove down the highway as Gillis tried calling her back. "She's not answering."

"Well, keep trying. At least you know she somehow managed to get a phone." John pulled into Dairy Queen. He was getting hungry and knew if he didn't get something to eat, he would be in a foul mood.

"I'm glad you stopped. I needed a pit stop and my stomach has been growling since nine this morning." Gillis put his phone up and headed inside to the restroom.

John called after him "Hey, what do you want and I'll order for you!"

"You know what I like...just order and I'll be good with it." He didn't miss pace heading to the restroom. He felt like his bladder was going to burst.

John stepped up and ordered two hunger busters with fries and two large drinks. He paid and took the drink cups that were handed to him. Gillis was walking back out by the time John got to the drink fountain. They both filled their cups and sat down to wait on the food.

Gillis tried calling Alice again. He listened as it continued to ring with no answer. Disconnecting it, he tried again. When he couldn't get an answer, he sat the phone on the table and picked up his drink. John saw the pain in Gillis' eyes. He was staring at the phone willing it to ring.

"Hey man. She called you, right? She'll call again. She might be in a place where she can't call. Maybe she turned the phone off to keep it from ringing because she's hiding. Quit calling her and let her call you. I'm sure...no, I'm positive she'll call you again." John sat across the table folding and unfolding the receipt as he waited for their food.

"You're right. I might be putting her in jeopardy by calling her. It's just so hard to wait without knowing if she's ok. She still has a wound that needs to be taken care of." He put his phone in his shirt pocket and let out a sigh.

"Number 54, you're order is ready." John got up to take his receipt to the counter.

"You want some ketchup?" He asked Gillis.

"Sure. Get some pepper too. Hell, I'll get that while you get the food." Gillis got up and got the condiments and some napkins. Just as they both sat back down, Gillis felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it from his shirt and saw Marie's name. He pushed a button on his phone that would play a pre-recorded message at the end telling the caller that he was on another call and would call them back as soon as he could. How could he tell Marie about Alice? Once he found her and had her in a safe place, he would call Marie and Freddy back.

"Who was that?" John asked as he took a opened his burger up. Loading it with pepper, he closed it back up and took a bite. Gillis was busy doctoring his burger; pulling off pickles, squirting ketchup on the inside bun and putting a ton of pepper inside.

"Marie. I can't talk to her right now - not without being able to tell her Alice is safe. Whether that be having her in a mental facility, in jail or in a safe house somewhere until we can figure this mess out." He got up from the table and went to the counter. John forgot that he liked jalapenos. He came back with a small container of them and a bottle of Tabasco sauce. Once he got his burger just right, he started devouring it.

"Man, I thought I liked my food hot, but you just added Tabasco. That's crazy hot." John dipped a fry into the ketchup he had squirted on a napkin then decided to put a little Tabasco in the ketchup. He swirled it around with a few more fries and ate them. "Damn! That's hot!" He quickly ate several more fries to try to kill the heat in his mouth.

Gillis laughed at him. "You're such a wimp! I put six times that amount in my burger and you don't see me breaking a sweat."

"Whatever. Hot is one thing, but Hell is something else!" John finished eating his burger and fries less the Tabasco mix. He picked up the tray and all the trash off the table and shook everything off into the trash. He placed the tray on top of the trashcan. Gillis followed behind him stopping at the drink fountain long enough to refill his drink.

Heat waves were coming off the pavement creating mirages of water pools in the black tar. The humidity would catch anyone not from Texas off guard. It could suck the breath out of a person not used to it.

"You ready to check out Miguel's SUV?" John asked as he opened his door.

"You bet. I know you're just as anxious as I am to get to Austin, but let's not rush it. I don't want to miss anything." Gillis opened his door and got in. John started the engine and backed out of his parking space.

Country farms dotted the roadside as they traveled to Gillis' place. A large iron gate stood stately in front of one ranch. Ten foot fencing stretched out on either side of the gate enclosing the ranch. In a clump of trees, a pack of zebra drank from a wooden trough. Several Alpaca's wandered around near the drive that led from the gate and curve to the right over a hill.

It was a short drive from there to Gillis' house. Gillis got out and unlocked his gate. He swung the massive gate open and latched it to a single fence post protruding from the ground. He motioned for John to drive on up and he would walk. He enjoyed his land. His Longhorn herd was standing near the cross-fenced property. Bevo was his favorite bull. It was braying for him to put out more hay.

"Awe, shut up, you got fed yesterday. I put out enough hay for a week." Gillis walked over to the stately bull and grabbed one of the horns. Bevo shook his head and Gillis let go quickly and laughed.

"Ok, you got my attention. He unlatched the gate and walked in. He checked the trough and found the water was low. It was on a timer, and should have water to the brim all the time. He checked it and found a squirrel had gotten into the tank and drowned. Its body was tangled up in the float keeping it from maintaining the correct water level. He reached in and got the squirrel out. As soon as it was out, the water started pouring into the trough.

"Hey, Gillis, are you going to mess with your cattle all day, or help me over here?" John was standing on the front porch in the shade. It was a sauna standing in the shade. He saw Gillis reach down and pick something up as he came through the gate and latched it back.

"What's that?" John couldn't make out what he was carrying. It was all bloated and stiff in an odd shape. Gillis stopped about fifty feet from the house and tossed it into the trash can.

"It was a squirrel. It was all balled up in my cattle trough floater. It must have drowned trying to get a drink out of the tank. I have to wash my hands and then we'll go check out the SUV. Do you want anything to drink?" He walked past John and unlocked the front door.

John followed him in. "Water sounds good."

Gillis washed his hands and got two bottles of water from the fridge. He pulled out some freezer bags from the pantry and some rubber gloves from the drawer. "In case we find anything." He smiled at John and headed towards the back door. John followed him to the SUV.

After going over the SUV with a fine toothcomb, they could see that Alice had hidden in the very back. They found strands of her hair. They also found blood spatter all over the back of the seat and door. It was consistent with someone being struck hard. There was blood on the seat where Joe had been laying. They knew Alice shot him in the house, so the spatter must be Miguel's blood. This is where she had attacked him. They didn't move anything. Their detective skills led them to observe and leave what they found as is. They couldn't afford to contaminate any evidence. They decided instead of bagging anything themselves, they would leave it for the forensic team.

"Well, we know that she got out of my car, slipped into Miguel's SUV while we were all in the store. Sometime after he dropped Joe off, he opened the back door and that is when she attacked him. She must have dragged his body into the house." Gillis looked at John. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

"Yep, I think so. We need to go to Miguel's and look at the ground for blood evidence.

Since Miguel's house was less than a mile away, it made sense to go ahead and check it out before going to Austin. Gillis shut and locked his gate after they pulled out of the drive. Less than two minutes later, they pulled into Miguel's driveway. They drove up it and parked close to the garage. The sidewalk split from the drive and led to the front door. A concrete pad connected the house to the garage with a cover connecting the two buildings. A door led into the garage off one end of the pad. At the other end, the sidewalk met the pad close to the front door.

As soon as they stepped out of the car, John could see dark stains on the sidewalk. Not many...not until he reached the front door did he see a pool of blood. "Gillis, didn't you notice this earlier?"

Gillis walked up the walkway to where John was and looked. "No. I was in such a state of shock and was so intent on finding Miguel that I didn't see it. I remember getting out of my car and running to the front door. As soon as I tried to open the door and it opened, I didn't waste any time getting in and checking on him. I was so busy with the paramedics that I didn't even think to look outside. I did look around the house though after they left. There's a pool of blood in the hallway and Alice's hospital gown is in his bedroom. I left it there. You don't know how tempting it was to take it."

"Hey, I understand. She's your niece and you are a good man, Gillis. It's all going to work out one way or the other. There's nothing else to see here. Let's go to Al's and find out what's going on there. I'm anxious to talk to Mike. If he is talking about Uncle Ralph and Alice is talking about Uncle Ralph, he has lost his memory and she has blocks of memory missing...then I believe something serious is going on. They are connected in some way." John walked over to his car and said, "Let's go get answers."

They pulled out of the driveway and drove south to Austin.

****

## Austin, TX

Gene's mind was spinning. He had to figure a cover story before Al's connections got to him. He could tell them that he heard they were hiding a fugitive and he was holding them until he could get help, just like they were holding him hostage. Yes, that would work he surmised.

Al looked at Gene and realized he needed to call John. He didn't want Gene to know who he was calling, so he walked down the hallway to the master bedroom and called John to see how close they were. He wanted him there before his contacts got to the house. Not because he wanted to hide anything, but because he wanted to talk freely with John and Gillis in case there was something he didn't know that needed taken care of. He was confident there was nothing to hide, but he wanted to be on the safe side.

"Hello?" John answered. He was grateful for the Onstar system in his car. He could just push a button and his phone would answer through the radio system. He wasn't sure how it all worked, but was grateful it was hands free.

"Hi, John, I was just calling to see where you are. Donner has already arranged for someone to go to the hospital and stay with Miguel." Al walked around the bed and sat on the edge as he spoke to John.

"We should be there in a couple of hours. We are just now leaving San Saba. How's Mike doing, have you heard anything?" John put his blinker on and turned right on State Highway 16.

"I haven't heard anything yet. When I talked to Bonner earlier they said he was still unconscious, but didn't want to call it a coma. He said they drew blood to see what was in his system. They are talking about doing an MRI on his head. I guess to see if he has a tumor. Look, I don't want to distract you from your driving, so I'll let you go. Just wanted to see if you were headed this way. I'll talk to you soon." Al got up from the bed and walked back down the hallway into the living room. He winked at his wife as he listened to John.

"Ok, man. I'll see you soon. Later!" John said. Al closed his phone and laid it on the end table next to his recliner.

"Have I told you lately how much I love you Janice?" Al looked at his wife as she knitted away. He never knew what she was knitting. Usually it was an afghan or baby blanket for a neighbor. She was still beautiful to him after nearly forty years of marriage. .She didn't care if her hair was white as snow. She wore it well. He wouldn't change a thing about her.

"No, honey, not for at least thirty minutes." She looked up and smiled at him.

"Geez, a guy can't go an hour in this house without you two getting all gooey on each other. One would think you were just married or something." Carl loved it that his parents never fought, and were always deeply in love with one another. He love to pick on the about it. He hoped to have a relationship just like theirs.

"Oh my goodness, you caught us! Yet again." His mother's laugh was like no other, at least that's what he thought. When 'That 70's Show' came out and the mom on the show laughed, he couldn't believe his ears. It was like hearing his own mom laugh. It would make everyone in the room laugh.

Al walked to the window facing the street and pulled the curtains open. A little girl on a pink bike rode by. She saw him and waved. He waved back at her. Standing there, he could see Carl as a small boy riding his bike. Where had all the years gone? Life went by too fast.

"Shouldn't I shut these windows?" Carl asked as he went in the breakfast room.

"Oh...please, honey. I forgot we opened them this morning. It was just so nice out earlier. I bet the temperature has gone up twenty-five degrees since then." Janice laid her knitting down and got up. She walked over to the thermostat on the wall and it read seventy degrees. "I bet the air conditioner has been running overtime!."

"It's ok dear, I knocked the air down to seventy degrees. It was on eighty. It started getting warm in here when the paramedics had the front door wide open. I was trying to cool it back off. I'm the one who opened the windows this morning, and should have closed them." Al walked over to Janice and kissed her on top of her head.

Carl shut and latched both windows in the breakfast room and poured himself a cup of coffee. "Would anyone else like some coffee? I'm making a fresh pot." He went to the edge of the door to see who wanted any. The three bound up men all said yes.

"Well, of course you do." Al lightly slapped the back of each one's head as he walked behind the sofa. "That would mean we would have to un-cuff you. That's not happening."

"You're an asshole!" Gene spewed. "You are treating us like we're the criminals here when you know good and well that you've broken the law! I'm going to have your ass thrown in jail. NO! I'll have it UNDER the jail!" His face always got red when he talked. Anger was imbedded in every fiber of his body.

"Oh, is _that_ your story?" Al walked around to the front of the sofa and sat across from them in his easy chair. "I'll have a cup, son. Thanks for asking."

"I'd like one too." Peter added.

"You come into my house. Let me re-phrase that. You BREAK into my house, scare my wife half to death, tie us both up, tie up my son and _you_ are going to play victim here? I don't think so. You had no warrant, no justification in tying any of us up nor were you invited in." Carl's phone rang as he was about to say something else.

"Hello? Yes.....absolutely! That's correct. No. Do you know how to get here? 1425 Whitley Drive. Ok. How soon? Perfect, I'll see you then." Al closed his phone and slipped it into his shirt pocket.

"Who was that?" Gene asked.

"You'll know soon enough." Aroma of coffee filled the air as it percolated. Al got up and as he headed to the kitchen, he asked "Simon, do you want a cup of coffee? I trust you enough to un-cuff you."

"Oh, that would be great, thanks." It made him happy to know that Al believed him. He figured answering to his wife was the least of his worries right now.

"Honey, how about you? Would you like a cup?" Al put his hand on his wife's shoulder.

"I think I'm all coffeed out, but thank you." She reached up and touched the hand on her shoulder.

"You're a prick." Gene looked at Simon and added "And you are going to be written up. I'll have your job. We'll see how that sits with your old lady!"

"You sure talk big, Gene, like you have some kind of power over people's jobs. Do you really think you're that important? Let me assure you, you are not." Al went into the kitchen and grabbed a tray from the pantry. He sat three cups on it along with sugar and cream. The coffee maker was making its last sputter as he placed the third cup on the tray. He poured three cups of coffee and pulled a spoon from the silverware drawer. He went ahead and put two scoops of cream in his coffee, and stirred it.

Carrying the tray into the living room, he sat it on the coffee table. Peter picked up one of the cups and took a sip.

"Lean forward and I'll un-cuff you." Simon obeyed. Leaning forward, Al found the hole to insert the key and unlocked the cuffs. Simon rubbed his wrists before taking his cup of coffee.

"That feels so much better. Thank you so much. You're kind when I don't deserve it." His eyes welled up and tears ran down his cheeks. He tried to contain them, but he couldn't. "I'm sorry I'm so emotional. I can't believe I got myself mixed up in this mess." He reached down and got his cup of coffee. He put a teaspoon of sugar in it and leaned back to enjoy it.

Janice handed him a Kleenex. "Here, you wouldn't want you to ruin your coffee with salty tears, now would you?" She smiled at him as he took it to wipe his cheeks.

"Oh good God! For crying out loud! You're a grown man. Stop your blubbering. I should have known better than to recruit you." Gene leaned forward so he could yell at Simon and to make sure Simon could see his face.

Al got up. "Ok, that's enough of your mouth." He picked up the sock and torn sheet and walked behind Gene.

Gene pursed his lips tight, clenching his jaw. Al took the sock, rolled it into a ball, and put it to his clenched mouth. With his other hand, he pinched Gene's nose shut. Gene shook his head trying to break free of Al's grip on his nose. He knocked into Jack who fell into Simon making him spill his coffee. Simon screamed from the hot coffee hitting his arms. It was hot.

Peter jumped up and Carl ran to the sofa. The both grabbed Gene and held him as Al put the sock in his mouth and tied the sheet around his head to keep him quiet.

Janice went into the bedroom, returned with some gauze and headed to the kitchen. She got some ice out of the freezer, put it in a zip-lock bag and wrapped the gauze around the bag as she walked back into the living room. Placing it on Simon's burnt arm, she said, "Looks like a first degree burn. You'll be ok." She smiled at him. He held the bag to his arm and leaned back on the sofa.

Gene kept writhing around to the point of pissing Jack off. "Stop it, you son-of-a-bitch! Simon's right. You blackmailed both of us to do your dirty work and look where that got us!"

Gene's eyes got big as if someone punched him in the stomach. He quit moving around and stared at Jack. It was a stare of disbelief, of betrayal. He shook his head as if he were ashamed of him and rolled his eyes. Jack looked away from him and shut his eyes as he leaned back on the sofa.

"Well, looky here. Looks like mutiny to me. The've all jumped ship. You had better rethink your plan, Gene. You have no one to back you now." Al sat back in his easy chair and picked up his coffee cup. "How's your arm feeling, Simon?"

"Much better, thanks. The ice helped a bunch. I'm sorry I got coffee on your sofa." He grimace a bit looking at the stain on the sofa arm.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Dawn liquid soap gets stains out of everything!" Janice giggled her famous giggle and went back to knitting.

#  Chapter 30

## Seton Hospital, Austin, Texas

A crew was at the door to meet the ambulance as it backed in. The paramedics got out and pulled the gurney from the back. They rolled Mike through the automatic doorway into the emergency room.

"What do we have here?" The ER doctor looked at Mike and lifted on eyelid. He found only white. The other eye produced the same. "How long has he been unconscious?"

"According to the people at the house, he's been out now for about twenty minutes. He started having convulsions and when that stopped, he never regained consciousness. There's a police officer on his way here who has all his information." The other paramedic was busy signing off on the patient and filling out paperwork.

They rolled him into a room an off-loaded him onto a bed. "I want to have blood drawn and a work-up done to make sure he's not over-dosed on some drug. Let's get him on a heart monitor and ready for an IV if necessary." One nurse was busy taking his blood pressure while another wheeled in a heart monitor and started hooking it up. By the time the technician came into draw blood, Officer Donner appeared.

"Who do I need to give his information to? His family doctor is Dr. White. I have his wallet and I'm sure his insurance card is in it." He pulled the wallet from his shirt pocket and started digging through it to find the card. It didn't take long before he found it and gave it to the registrar of the hospital.

She took all his information and then took him to where Mike was. He walked in and saw the room filled with nurses, technicians, and doctors. There were three beds in a row all curtained off from each other. Mike was in the third one from the door.

"Am I going to be in the way in here?" He asked.

"No, come in. We're just getting him settled in. I want to leave him her for at least an hour to see if he comes to. If not, then we'll get him a room and I'll probably schedule an MRI to rule out any brain tumors. Do you know who his next of kin is?" The doctor was writing in Mike's chart as he talked to the police officer.

"He was found ten years ago with amnesia. His doctor is Doctor White. You might want to consult with him since he has all his records. He never regained his memory. I have his phone number if you need it." Officer Donner took out his pad, wrote down the number, and handed it to the doctor.

"I'll give him a call. He may know if he's had seizures before. Are you going to stay with him? If you are, I'll have someone bring in a chair for you." He closed Mike's chart and took the number Sandy handed him.

"Yep, I'm going to stay. I appreciate the chair offer." No sooner did he have those words out, Mike spoke.

"Where am I?" He tried sitting up in the bed. As soon as he did, he lay back down and was out.

The doctor went to his side and rubbed his arm. "Mr. Nales, can you hear me? You're in Seton Hospital, Austin, Texas." He waited for a response, but got nothing. He went to the foot of the bed, took his pen, and ran it up the bottom of Mike's foot. There was no response.

"What's wrong? He was just awake. Is he in a coma again?" Sandy was surprised. One minute he was awake and talking, the next, non-responsive.

"It's not unusual for a person who's had a seizure to go in and out a few times before they fully wake up. This is a good sign. I'd still like to talk to Doctor White about him. Update him on what I know and have him come here. I'll go see about that chair for you."

Sandy asked, "Is there a cafeteria around here that I can get some coffee and something to eat?"

"Yes. Go back out the double doors, past the admittance desk, go left, and follow that hall to the elevators on the left. Take the elevator down one floor and you'll see signs guiding you to the cafeteria. I'll have your chair by the time you get back." They both walked out together.

Mike's eyes opened to an empty room. "Hello?" No one answered back. He looked around the room. An IV drip was hanging above his right shoulder. He reached over, pulled the tape off the needle, and pulled it out of the back of his hand. _How did I get here?_

Sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, his rubbed his face with both hands. He got up and looked around the room for his clothes. He found some nearby in a closet, but didn't recognize them, Since he didn't see anyone else in the room that they could belong to, he put them on. A pair of loafers sat under the edge of the bed. He slipped his foot in one to see if it fit. It did, so he put the other one on.

Mike walked out to the hallway and looked around. Men and women wandered around in scrubs, going in and out of rooms and talking to doctors.

"Excuse me, can someone tell me what I'm doing here?" A young doctor turned and saw him standing in hall next to his room.

"Mr. Nales! What are you doing out of bed?" The doctor walked over to Mike and took him by the arm to guide him back into his room.

"What? What did you just call me?" Mike looked confused.

"You've had a seizure and we're running some tests to make sure you're ok. I need you to get back in bed. I'm Doctor Fields." They walked towards the bed, but before they reached it, Mike stopped and cocked his head to the side.

"You called me Mr. Nales. My name is Jason Cambridge. Why did you call me Mr. Nales?"

The doctor realized that his memory may have returned with no recall of the past ten years. "Mr. Cambridge....I think you better sit down. I'm not your regular doctor, but I need to get him here to talk with you."

"Dr. Van Zant? Why would you call him? I've never had seizures in my life. In fact, I don't know how I got here!" Jason felt his jeans and asked. "Did you put my phone and wallet somewhere? I didn't find them laying around in here."

"Your police officer friend has them. He's the one who brought you in. Please, put your hospital gown back on and I'll have a nurse come in and hook your IV back up. I'll get your doctor in here right away to explain things to you. I'm afraid, not having your records, that I would just confuse you more. I'll go give him a call. In the meantime, will you please undress and get back in bed?" The doctor picked up the gown and handed it toward him.

"What police officer friend? I don't have any police officer friends" He looked at the doctor then threw his hands up. "Oh....maybe it was my brother Nick. He's a Patrol Guard for CPS. I can see how you'd mistake him for an officer. Where is he? Is he in the waiting room? If so, can you tell him to come in here?" Jason sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'll make a deal with you. I'll go get him, if you put this on and get back in bed. I want to keep you overnight to make sure everything is ok and I want to bring your doctor in to talk to you too. Deal?" He raised his eyebrows and held out the gown. Jason took it and laid it beside him on the bed.

"Ok, it's a deal, but answer a question for me. How long have I been in here?" Jason unbuttoned his shirt and then pulled his shoes off and pushed them under the bed.

"You were admitted a few hours ago unconscious, so we ran a series of tests on you. We're waiting for those to come back. I'll go get the officer that brought you in and send a nurse in here to hook you back up." Before Jason could respond, the doctor went out the door.

He gave orders to one of the nurses to have the IV put back in and to make sure Mr. Nales was in bed. "Don't call him by Mike, he's saying his name is Jason. I don't want to upset him. See if you can get Dr. White on the phone for me please. If you can, give him my cell number, I'm headed to the cafeteria to get Officer Donner." He handed her the slip of paper with Dr. White's phone number on it before he left.

Sandy Donner was sitting in the cafeteria eating a ham sandwich when the doctor walked in. He had a ripped bag of potato chips sitting next to his plate and a large drink. A man was sitting across from him, drinking coffee. Neither were talking, but watching the TV screen showing the NFL scores of the previous night's game.

"Mr. Nales woke up. He says he is Jason Cambridge." Sandy looked at the man sitting across from him. They both looked surprised. Sandy pointed to the man and introduced him to Dr. Fields.

"Dr. Fields, this is Dr. White. I called him when I sat down to eat and he was sitting around the corner there eating lunch. I was just catching him up on Mike." Sandy pushed a chair out for Dr. Fields to sit in. He sat down and shook Dr. White's hand.

"I'm not sure if he's remembered who he is and forgotten he had memory loss or what. This isn't my field. Would you mind coming up and looking at him since you're his doctor? I need to tell you, he didn't recognize your name when I mentioned it. He said his Doctor was Van Zant. He also said the last thing he remembers was driving from Houston to Dallas. And, he has a brother that's a Patrol Guard. He thinks that's the officer that I was referring to. I believe he said his name was Nick."

Sandy pulled his phone out and called the station. "Can you run a check on one Sandy Cambridge who lives in the Dallas area? See if there is a missing persons for him, if there is, get pictures and any information you can and get back with me ASAP!" He hung up and then said. "Hope we get an answer soon. I'm done here...Let's go check on Mike...Jason, or whoever he might be."

Sandy pushed his chair back under the table after he got up and grabbed his tray. He shoved the remainder of his lunch in the trash and sat the tray on top of other trays on the shelf next to it. He followed the two doctors to the elevators and got on.

"I know a doctor Van Zant in Houston. I don't think it'd be him. Wait, why are we assuming he's from Dallas? He said he was driving from Houston to Dallas. He could be from Houston, or neither!." Doctor White pushed the up button and continued. "Sandy, I think you need to stay in the waiting room until I examine him. I don't want him getting agitated."

"No problem. I need to call Al and update him anyway." The doors opened up and they got off. Sandy held the door for an elderly couple to get on. When he turned around, the doctors were already going around the corner to the ER. He picked up his pace to catch up with them when he heard someone call his name.

He looked back and saw John and Gillis walking down the hallway. "Hey! What are you guys doing here. You need to go to Al's and I mean now! I was just about to call him and update him on Mike. But, I'll update you and you can fill him in when you get there. We think his memory has come back. He's saying he's Jason Cambridge and that the last thing he remembers is driving from Houston to Dallas. Doctor White and Doctor Fields are in his room examining him. I'll stay and call as soon as they come and give me an update."

"What the hell is going on? I think somehow this Mike or Jason is connected to Alice. We need to run a check on the new name and see what pops up." John pulled out his phone, but before he could call anyone, Sandy told him that he'd already put the call in.

"Are you sure he said Jason Cambridge?" Gillis stood there, his face ashen. "Jason Cambridge is the scientist that went missing years ago. Back in 2002, ten years ago. It fits. There was an article in the Austin Statesman, front-page news. There was a $400,000 reward for his whereabouts."

"Are you sure about that?" John asked. "Do you remember what the guy looked like? Did they have a picture of him?"

"Yes. They had a picture, but I don't recall what he looked like. I know he was a young guy. Way smart for his age. He'd invented a device for the military and he along with the invention went missing. I think we need to go check the Austin Statesman's archives." Gillis pulled his phone out and Googled Austin American Statesman. He got the number and dialed.

"John, I know this is important, but it's more important that you go to Al's. I'm probably overstepping here, but Gene is hancuffed and gagged over there." Sandy grimaced as soon as the words left his mouth.

"WHAT??? What the hell? What's going on?" John and Gillis looked at each other and Gillis shut his phone as someone on the other end said 'hello'.

"I can't tell you more than that. Go talk to Al. He'll fill you in. I've already said too much. I need to go wait for the doctors...and you two head over to Al's!"

"Ok, let us know as soon as you know something. Come on, Gillis...let's go." John and Gillis left the hospital and drove towards Al's house. It would only take them ten minutes to get there.

#  Chapter 31

Alice drove towards Houston. The Mexican food sitting in the passenger seat now smelled old. She pulled off the highway into a gas station and dumped the meal in the trash. The heat was almost unbearable. She went inside the gas station to get a drink, chips and pay for gas. The air-conditioned station felt good as she walked around gathering what she needed.

At the counter, an Indian woman with a jewel dotting her forehead waited on people in front of her. She had on a floral Sari made of what Alice supposed was silk. It was Alice's turn at the counter, so she placed her pickings on the counter and asked for sixty dollars worth of gasoline.

A small TV hung in the corner above the clerk. The newscaster was talking about a murder in Austin. They had found a man dead in the park near downtown. "Serves the bastard right." Alice said as she watched the news.

"Pardon?" said the Indian woman.

"Nothing." Alice said as she took her change and bag of goodies and left the store. She put the bag in her car and pulled the handle from the gas pump. She hung the gas cap on the lid and inserted the pump. As the gas flowed into the tank, she took surveillance of her surroundings. There was a Wendy's a few yards ahead and the on-ramp another few yards from that. A burger sounded good to her. She didn't eat much of the Mexican food earlier.

She topped off the tank, and replaced the handle and the gas cap. Her hands smelled like gas, so she went back inside to wash them before going to Wendy's for a burger. It didn't take long to locate the bathroom. As she walked towards it, a few kids passed her. One started giggling and grabbed his friend. She could hear him tell the other one "That's the lady we saw naked in her car!"

"No it isn't fool!" The other one taunted his friend. "You think every woman you've seen since this morning is _that woman_."

"Shut up! It's her. I mean it this time." He kept looking back at Alice as his friend pulled him along the aisle by his arm.

Alice went inside the restroom and washed her hands. She pulled her hair back and braided it. She realized she had nothing to hold it, so she let it go and went back in the store to look for some rubber bands. It was too hot to leave hanging down over her shoulders. The two boys had already left the store and were outside looking at her car. One was raising his arms all excited while the other one kept grabbing at his friend to go.

She decided her hair could wait, but the boys couldn't. She needed to take care of them now. She shoved the glass door open and walked straight up to the two boys.

"Hello. You are right." She shoved her finger into the animated boy's chest. "You saw me butt assed naked this morning. My boyfriend is an ass-hole who shoved me out of his apartment in that condition this morning. It's not something to laugh about...understand?" She dug her finger deeper into his chest as if it were a knife penetrating to his heart.

His face went from lit up crazy laughing to somber and just a bit scared. "Hey, lady, I'm sorry. I didn't mean any harm. It's just us guys messing with each other. It's a guy thing, you know." He stepped backward to get her finger out of his chest. He had his arms up as if being arrested.

"Let me tell you something. You're going to cross the wrong woman one of these days and it won't end pretty. Hook some balls on that body of yours and grow up!" She opened her door and got in. She drove out of the station and got back onto the highway. Food never entered her mind nor did her hair. She was pissed off.

She hadn't driven very far when her left rear tire blew out. She weaved a little across the lane, but regained control quickly before pulling over to the side of the road. Traffic zipped past her as she sat in the car waiting for it to clear enough to get out. She was one exit away from a gas station. As the last truck passed, she got out and surveyed the damage. It was flat, but she felt like she could drive slowly and get to the station and have them change it. Then she worried that it might bend the rim, so she opened her trunk and pulled out the spare tire.

She found the jack and put it under the rim of the car and jacked it up. That was the easy part. When she tried taking the lug nuts off, they wouldn't budge. She stood on the tire iron, kicked the tire, and punched the car with her fist. Her anger was out of control. Throwing the tire iron back in the trunk, she slammed the trunk lid down and got back in the car.

No one stopped to help, they kept zipping by which increased her blood pressure. She started the car and the put it in drive. The car lunged forward falling off the jack stand. She didn't care, she drove the car at full speed to the gas station, got out and walked into one of the bays.

"Can any of you change a tire? I probably damaged my rim, I don't care, I need a new one if I did, I don't care...whatever it takes to get me back on the road." She was on the verge of crying.

A burly man in overalls came out and walked over to her car. He took a red rag from his back pocket and wiped the grease off his hands. He knelt down to look at the tire. "I think it'll be ok. But you're going to need a new tire. This one is shredded."

"Ok, how long will it take you to change it?" Alice couldn't stand still. She had so much nervous energy she felt like she was going to be ill.

"You don't look so good. You want to go in and wait for me to put a new one on? It shouldn't take long. There's a place for you to sit with a tv and coffee. I'll show you." Alice followed him to the waiting room. She picked up a magazine and as she went to sit down, her body started convulsing. The magazine flew one way and she fell the other. He broke her fall as she fell to the floor.

"Maam, Maam...are you ok?" He started patting her face as her body rose and sunk. He screamed. "Charlie! Call 911!" He sat on the floor and held Alice as her body convulsed. He wasn't sure what to do for her, except to make sure she didn't hurt herself with all the flailing she was doing.

As he was holding her, he saw her phone sticking out of her front pocket. He pulled it out and while holding her, he turned it on and started going through her contacts. On her key chain was the name spence, so he scrolled down looking for that name. He found none. There were only four contacts on there. He dialed the first one he saw. It was Gillis Spence.

He dialed the number. "Hello, Alice? Where are you!" Gillis was excited that she was calling. He had added her number in his phone the last time she called. John looked over at him as they pulled into Al's driveway. He motioned for John to go ahead and go in while he talked to Alice.

"No sir, this isn't Alice. She's sick and I'm not sure what's wrong with her. She's at a gas station here in Smithville. She's convulsing and I've called for an ambulance." He was glad that he was talking to someone who knew Alice. She finally began to calm down, but was still shaking.

"Have them take her to Seton NW in Austin. I'll head that way and meet them there. I don't care what the cost will be, let them know that's where I want her to go. Even if she comes around, and wants to leave, don't let her - delay her in any way you can. Take my number down, call me, and let me know if she's put in the ambulance, or if she tries to leave. This is very important. Don't let her know that you called me. I'm her uncle and she's not well physically or mentally right now." Gillis was excited. He opened the car door and headed to the front door to get John's keys.

"No problem. I have her car in the bay right now to have a new tire put on. She can't go anywhere until it's fixed." He looked down at Alice and noticed her eyes were rolling to the back of her head as her eyelids fluttered.

"Ok. I'll let you go. I'm on my way now." Gillis shut the phone and went inside Al's house. John was standing there looking shocked as he surveyed the three men bound and two of them gagged on the sofa. Gene was wiggling and through the gag it was obvious he was making threats towards John, Al and Carl.

"Look, I don't know what's going on here with this bunch, but I need to get to Seton Hospital right now. John, I need to talk to you in private." John understood that he didn't want to talk about Alice in front of anyone at this point, especially Gene.

They went down the hallway out of Gene's sight and Gillis told John about Alice. John said, "Al, can you come here for a minute?" Al went into the hallway and joined them in their conversation.

"What's up?" Gillis looked at John with pleading eyes.

"We came here in one car, and Gillis needs it for an emergency. Do you think you or Carl could give me a ride to my apartment to pick up my other car when we're through here?" John handed his keys to Gillis before he finished his sentence.

"Hell, that's a given man. Gillis, go do what you need to do. We can handle things on this end." Al patted him on the back as he passed by him.

"Al, what the hell's going on? This is a federal offence. You're holding FBI agents against their will." John couldn't believe he was looking at Gene all bound up and gagged. Although it did his heart good to see that son of a bitch where he was.

"They're bound and gagged because they broke into my home this morning and tied my family and Mike up. If it wasn't for Mike, I don't know what they would have done to us." Al continued filling John in on the details of the morning.

"Now what, you just keep holding them here? John was worried. Although he hated Gene, he didn't want to be involved in any federal offence.

"I contacted my CIA buddies. They're on their way over here now to take all three into custody. It seems they are involved in a conspiracy involving our National Defense. I don't know all the details right now, but we'll know soon enough. They should be here any minute. Would you like some coffee? I just made a pot not too long ago."

"Sure." John followed Al to the kitchen where Carl and his mother were sitting. Janice got up and pulled out a cup for John to use.

"Are you hungry? I can fix you a sandwich if you want one." She handed the cup to John and showed him where the sugar and cream were.

"Awe, that's sweet of you, but I ate on my way over here." He fixed his coffee and sat at the table with Al and Carl.

Carl's phone rang making everyone jump. He answered. "Hello? Oh, yes. Yes sir. Yes. Uh huh.....no. Ok. That won't be necessary. Ok, sure, I can do that." The conversation was short. He hung up and put the phone back in his pocket.

John looked at him. They all looked at him. "What? Can't I have a personal conversation? "

"Ohhhh....that tells me you got something to hide. What is it? Not a girl cause you wouldn't say "Yes sir" to a girl. Mmmmm.....maybe her dad! Trying to make points with her dad." John goaded him and watched as Carl's face turned beet red.

"Nooo-! Good grief!" Carl tried to brush it off and drank some coffee. He could feel his face hot and knew it must be red. He hated that he blushed easily. Knowing that John wouldn't let go of the teasing, he decided to just tell them who it was.

"It was one of the doctors at Seton. Dr. Madison. I met him when I was talking to Julia, the nurse at the hospital...you know...the one I thought was cute." He could feel his face getting redder. "Anyway, I asked him to do me a favor and find out which number I wrote down was Julia's. He told me he could just ask her which one it was. I didn't want him doing that. She might think he's wanting it for himself! Then he wanted to know if I would like to go have a beer with him and some friends one night, that Julia was going to be there and that I could maybe ask for her number that way. Now, are you happy???" Carl was watching his mom's face light up as he was revealing his interest in someone. It made her happy to know that he was beginning to look. He'd spent enough time taking care of them. She wanted him to move forward with his life, get his own place and give her some grandchildren. He knew she would be giving him the third degree later.

"Sorry pal...you need to learn to keep a poker face. You need to just say ' that's none of your business' if you don't want to go into your personal stuff with anyone. I'd be the first one to understand and back off.

"Well it didn't seem like I was going to win between the three of you. Anyway, it wasn't that personal. You already know I like Julia. I just hadn't had time to tell my parents, and no, mom, I'm not ready to talk about it right now." He got up and hugged her and poured himself another cup of coffee.

A thud came from the living room. John leaned back in his chair so that he could see the sofa. Gene had wriggled himself off the edge of it and had fallen onto the floor. Al got up to look. He shook his head. "I'm not getting you up from there again. You can stay on the floor.."

"Hey. Did I just hear car doors?" John got up and headed into the living room with Carl and Al. Carl opened the front door and there stood his Uncle Markus.

"Hey....Uncle Markus!" Carl hugged him as soon as he got inside.

His uncle grabbed his shoulders and held him at length. "Damn, boy. You've grown since the last time I saw you. What were you? About twelve or so? You turned out to quite a handsome young man!" He let out a belly laugh that engulfed the entire room. His baritone voice thundered as he spoke. "Janice, good to see you. Lovely as ever!" His 6'4" frame bent down to give her a big hug. He grabbed Al's hand and they did the criss-cross hug that men do - hugging with a barrier in between.

"Markus, this is John Strout. John, this is my brother, Markus. He's the Deputy Attorney General for the state of Texas.

"You don't have to tell ME who he is! You old son of a bitch! John stepped forward and the two of them shook hands and laughed at the fact it caught Al and Carl off guard.

Markus put his arm around John's shoulder and said."This one used to bug the crap out of me and his brother. I'd come to pick him up in my old Chevy and there'd be John. "Can I go? Can I go with you? Pleeeeeeeese!!" Markus tried to make his baritone voice high pitched but it came out sounding like twelve year old who's voice was beginning to crack.

"You're still an ass hole!" John laughed jokingly. Before he could say anything else, the sofa lunged back a bit from Gene kicking it with his bound up legs.

"Oh....what have we here?" Markus looked at the three men all tied up. "Before you answer that, let me introduce you to my CIA buddies. This is Carmen Pruitt and Lester Jackson. They're here to take this bunch off your hands."

Al, John and Carl shook their hands and helped to put Gene back on the sofa.

"Is there a reason for the two being gagged and the other one not gagged?" Carmen was soft spoken. Almost whisper like. He walked over to Gene and untied the rag. No sooner had the rag been untied, he spat out a sock and started cursing everyone in the room.

"I'll have all of you thrown into the bottomless pit called prison. I'll make sure none of you see the light of day. You sons of bitches are on my shit list. You don't know who you're messing with. You'll regret the day you messed with Gene Farris I tell you!" Gene's ranting and spitting quickly got on Markus' nerves. He walked over, grabbed Gene by the lapel and pulled him off the sofa with one hand.

Face to face with him, Gene's face turned bright red. It was either from the way Markus' fist was twisted around the lapel against his throat, or the fact that Gene was furious, John couldn't tell. "Let me get this straight. In that pea sized brain of yours, you have the delusion that you are king of men, ruler of all? Well, let me set you straight. You have been fired from the FBI as of two hours ago, you have a warrant for your arrest in my shirt pocket and who did you say was never going to see light of day?" He let go of Gene just as quickly as he picked him up, shoving him backwards into the sofa.

Gene went silent after that. He never said another word. Markus looked at the other two. "Either of you have anything you want to say?" They both shook their heads no. "Well, ok then. Let's read them their rights and haul out the trash."

Lester and Carmen handcuffed all three and with John and Al's help loaded them in the back of their car. A bar barrier separated the back seat from the front along with Plexiglas. Once inside the vehicle, they cuffed them to the bar that ran across the front of the seat. It ran from one door jamb to the other one. and was secured with legs running into the floor of the car.

Al and Markus went outside and watched the CIA men drive off with what John called 'the three stooges' in the back seat.

"Ok, boys. It's time for serious talk now. Let's go inside. I don't want any nosey neighbors over-hearing anything said." Markus followed Al inside with John and Carl close behind. They shut the front door and sat in the living room.

"From what I have read, Gene Farris is involved with the kidnapping of Jason Cambridge. He was working with a psychologist by the name of Dane Curtis. Dane's headless body was found in his office three hours ago, his head was in the trash can. The nurse said he was in with a patient. One Alice Spence. She was the last one to see him alive, but when his body was discovered Ms Spence was nowhere to be found. All that remained of her was every stitch of clothing she had on - down to her underwear. We believe she was met with foul play as well. We've got the weapon and are running fingerprints on it now."

John felt uneasy sitting in the chair across from Markus. He knew now that Jason and Mike were the same person. He also knew that Mike/Jason and Alice were tied together somehow. He just couldn't quite fit the pieces together. They both had convulsions and they both referred to Uncle Ralph. He fretted on what to say. Should he turn over what he knew, or wait to see what Gillis could find out. If it weren't for knowing Markus as well as he did, he would have kept quiet. But they could use all the help they could get.

"Well, I have a lot to add." John cleared his throat. His voice was raspy from lack of sleep and he didn't figure he was going to get much more this afternoon.

"What?" Carl was on the edge of his kitchen chair. Like a little kid hanging on every word.

"First, tell me what all this has to do with National Security? John didn't want to show his hand quite yet. He wanted to make sure he didn't betray Gillis before he had a chance to see Alice and try to figure out that end of things.

"Jason Cambridge was working with Homeland Security. He had discovered or invented a genetic altering drug to use in warfare. I don't know all the details. I only know that in the wrong hands, it could be a nightmare. There's not been any complete testing done on it. We do know that Jason had given himself one shot. He didn't want to harm anyone else and didn't want to use animals for testing. He said the alteration to the genes would only work on humans. There were two other scientist that were there to observe and make sure he had medical treatment if needed or to be secured if he got violent. He'd taken the shot and within five minutes, two men broke in with assault weapons and kidnapped him." Markus looked at Janice and asked, "You don't happen to have any of that famous coffee of yours with some Bailey's in it?"

"Oh, where's my manners! Of course I do. I'll get it for you right now. Does anyone else want any coffee?" She headed for the kitchen. Everyone else either had a cup or didn't want anymore.

"So, no one knows what the result of this drug was suppose to do? Wasn't there any notes?" John was fidgeting in his chair. Tapping his notepad with his pen and scribbling things on it from time to time.

"Yes, he kept great records. The altering gene was to turn on a section of a person's brain that had never been tapped into before. The side effects are unknown. His theory was that if given to our soldiers, the would be able to know what the other person was thinking in war. It was a section of the brain that scientist believe hold all of our psychic abilities."

"Well, I don't think it worked, and I believe I know where Jason Cambridge is." John watched as Carl jumped to his feet.

"Where?" Carl was excited and reminded John of his Labrador. When she heard the leash rattle, she jumped up wagging her tail and was ready to go. Carl was that excited.

"He's in Seton Hospital. Officer Donner is there with him now." John looked at Al. Al's face lit up like someone flipped a switch.

"Mike? Mike is Jason?" Al stared in disbelief. "He's lost his memory. So, the theory didn't work. It made him lose his memory!"

"Hold on, I don't think that's the case here. Markus, you said he was kidnapped. Could they have roughed him up, maybe hit him in the head causing trauma? Al, do you know any of Mike's medical history?" John was throwing out his theories trying to tie it all together. But he still couldn't fit Alice in.

"I never met the guy before last night. Neither did Carl. So, no. We don't know any of that. But, Donner does. He's known him since they found him!" Al was loving the excitement of being back in the investigative part of police work.

Janice handed the cup of coffee to Markus and put her hand on Al's shoulder. "You are not coming out of retirement." She raised an eyebrow at him and he smiled.

"Now honey...you know I wouldn't do that. I get enough excitement watching Carl chase the bad guys." He chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

Markus took a sip of his coffee and said. "The surveillance tape that was taken from the lab the day kidnappers took Jason went missing. We know they took it. What the kidnappers didn't know is there was a second tape. The only problem with that tape was the angle. On the second tape, you could see them grabbing Jason and subduing him with what we believe was ether. One of the reached up to the camera and ripped it down. Then once it was down, he removed his ski mask. It was Gene. We couldn't tell who his accomplice was because he kept his mask on and was screaming at Gene for taking his off."

"What an idiot" John's disdain for him was more than apparent. The mere thought of him made him ill. _How many lives could one man screw up._

"I think we need to go to the hospital and talk to this Jason." Markus sat his cup down. "I don't want to waste anymore time or give Gene any excuses to get out of this. I'm going to cal Judge Shane for a warrant to seize all of Gene's bank accounts and to enter his hotel room. Al, do you want to go with us? I know, Janice. You don't want him coming out of retirement. I'm thinking about you here. If he comes, then it might be enough to get it out of his system."

"Oh, alright. Go. Have your fun." Chester jumped into Janice's lap as they all got up to leave.

"Where have you been?" She asked. He began trying to lick her face. She pushed him to the side and turned him around and made him lay on her lap.

"Oh, poor Chester's been locked up in the guest bedroom all morning. Poor thing was shaking and laying in his bed in the corner. I opened the bedroom door when John got here, but he wouldn't come out. So I left him where he'd feel safe. Some kind of guard dog you are!" Carl reached down and scratched his head and tussled his floppy ears.

"We can all go in my van." Markus took his clicker out and unlocked it for everyone to get in. They buckled up and headed to Seaton.

#  Chapter 32

The ambulance pulled into the gas station within five minutes of receiving the call. The driver got out and went inside the station as the other attendant opened the back and climbed inside. A few seconds later he jumped out with his medical bag.

They found Alice inside still unconscious. Her eyes were rolled to the back of her head and she didn't respond to any of their prodding or questions. They decided to load her up.

"Make sure you take her to Seton Hospital. That's where her uncle is waiting. He said her doctors are there and he'd have them waiting for her."

"Ok, we need to call that in, but we'll call while heading that way." He pushed the stretcher along with the help of his attendant to the ambulance and put her in.

Within a few minutes, they were headed to the hospital.

The manager who had held Alice kept her phone. He dialed Gillis' number again.

"Hello?" Gillis was just pulling into Seton when his phone rang.

"Gillis?" The manager wanted to make sure he dialed the number right before saying anything. He didn't want to be telling a wrong number that an ambulance had just picked up their niece.

"Yes. This is Gillis." He looked quickly at his phone and realized the call was from Alice's phone. "Did you get Alice in an ambulance?"

"Yes, sir. They just left here. It'll probably take them forty five minutes to get there. I wanted to give you my name and address so you or someone could come and pick up her car after its fixed and her phone. I didn't see a purse inside the car, or a wallet. But, there was six thousand dollars in an envelope. I've put it in my safe until you get here." He was an honest businessman and was known in Smithville for taking care of his customers.

"It'll probably be a couple of days before I can get there. I had to borrow a car because mine is in San Saba. But, I'll be there to pick it up and pay you." Gillis was thankful that he had gotten her in the ambulance.

"My name is Henry Glover. I own a Stewart's Station on Hwy 71 in Smithville. You can't miss it, it's the only one. I'll keep her phone with me so you can just call me on that phone. It's like mine, so I can keep it charged up.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll see you in a few days. And thank you so much for all you've done." Gillis was indeed grateful.

"My pleasure. Let me know how she's doing...ok?" Gillis could tell the guy was sincere.

"I sure will. Thanks again. Bye." Gillis hung the phone up and got out of the car. The attendant at the ER asked him if he was there to see someone, if not, he'd have to move his car from that area.

"I'm meeting an ambulance that's headed here from Smithville with my niece in it." Gillis showed the attendant his badge. "It's also a matter of police business, not just personal."

"Ok, Here's a ticket to put on your dash so it won't get towed." He handed Gillis a card that was punched. He took it and placed it inside the car on the dashboard, locked the car back up and headed inside to wait.

He no sooner sat down than his phone rang. "Hello?"

"Hey Gillis, John here. We're headed to the hospital"

"Did you say anything about Alice? Gillis' heart was pounding fast.

"No, I told Al's brother about Mike being Jason. Don't go anywhere - or better yet, call me as soon as you get things settled so we can talk. Markus - Al's brother, updated me on this Jason guy and I want to update you. It's some vital information. I'm still trying to put pieces together and I know with your expertise, we can get this solved. Look, I won't keep you 'cause I know you're busy. Just wanted to give you a head's up." John could hear him breathing heavy. He worried that his blood pressure was going to shoot up again.

"Ok. Can't wait to hear what's going on. Alice is on her way here in an ambulance. I'm just waiting in the waiting room. Maybe you can break free and meet me down here." Gillis heard an ambulance pulling in. He jumped up and walked to the doorway. They offloaded an elderly man with an oxygen mask over his face.

"I'll do that. Keep me posted on what's going on at your end, ok? And don't let your blood pressure go up." John fussed at him.

"Ok, daddy!" Gillis laughed and hung up.

Gillis looked around and saw officer Donner sitting two rows over. He went over to talk to him. "Hey. Have you heard anything?"

"Hey! I thought you and John were headed to Al's?" He looked a little flustered that Gillis was in the waiting room and not with John.

"Oh, we went, but I had to leave and head back here. My niece had an accident and she's headed to the hospital. So, I came back to meet her up here. She should be here in another twenty minutes or so." He looked at his watch as he'd done many times before since he got to the hospital.

"No. I haven't seen Dr. White or Dr. Fields. I thought they would have been back by through by now." Donner got up and went to the admittance station to ask the nurse if she could check for him.

Gillis picked up a magazine and walked to the seating area facing the ambulance port. He wanted to watch for the ambulance with Alice in it. He flipped through several pages. Nothing caught his eye, so he threw it down. Sitting in a chair next to him, someone had left the Austin American Statesman. He looked around to see if anyone was headed back that way or if it was just left behind. Figuring on the latter, he picked it up and started thumbing through the sections.

He read an article about the new hospital being built on 620 near the Travis High School. That would be nice to have a hospital in that area. He used to live in Dripping Springs and the nearest hospital was over twenty miles away. This would have made his life easier had it been built when he lived there. He turned the page and saw an ad for four wheelers. His eyes scanned across the obituaries page. No one he knew had died lately. Finally he reached the sports section. He wasn't a big fan of any particular team. He always rooted for the under-dog. It didn't matter to him in the end who won.

Officer Donner came over and sat across from him. "Looks like they're going to be a while. He got a bit anxious when he saw Doctor White. She said he got so confused and went into another bout of convulsions. They sedated him and put a drip on him to keep him sedated until they can figure out what's causing the convulsions. She said they'd be out here in a little bit to up date us."

"Did the doctor say he'd ever had convulsions before?" Gillis asked.

"No. Not in the last ten years that he's known him. Said he was healthy as a horse. That's why this is so baffling. None of it makes any sense." Donner stretched his legs out and shut his eyes. "Think I'll catch a few while I wait." It didn't take two minutes before he was gently snoring.

Gillis heard another ambulance coming in. He didn't figure it would be Alice. It was too soon and they only turned the siren on if it was life threatening emergency. Hopefully it wasn't her. If she came in on a silent one it would mean that it wasn't serious, or at least not life threatening serious. He watched again as another ambulance backed in and unloaded. It was a woman screaming at the top of her lungs. Her head was bloody, Doctors and nurses ran to the gurney and pulled her through the double doors. As she went by, Gillis could see she was pretty mangle up. He figured an automobile accident at least.

Her screaming could be heard even behind the doors. It went on for a good ten minutes. Finally it eased up until there was no more sound piercing his ears. A family ran in and up to the desk. They were excitedly asking questions. Gillis couldn't make out what was being said. Finally they came over to where he was and sat across from him. The woman was about thirty years old and crying. Two boys flanked her sides. One around sixteen, the other not far behind. They did their best to console her, but he could see the worry on their faces as well.

A doctor came out and sat next to her and explained that her sister had been an accident, but they had her stabilized. She'd lost her right arm and were going to take her into surgery to see if they could re-attach it. Either way, he assured her that she would recover. She thanked him profusely and the boys hugged her after the doctor left.

Gillis heard a beeping noise and looked up in time to see another ambulance backing in. He stood up and walked to the double doors. As the opened the doors to the back of the ambulance, he couldn't tell who was on the gurney. They pulled it out and down, then through the double doors. It was Alice.

"Hi, I'm her uncle Gillis. Gillis felt a bit awkward as he watched two nurses take the gurney and roll it through the double doors. As they went down the hallway, Gillis saw two doctors standing in the doorway of one of the rooms. When he glanced back, he saw John just inside the room with Al, Carl and another man..He continued following behind Alice's gurney to a room where they transferred her onto a bed.

He stood back as they worked on Alice. The doctor couldn't get any response from Alice. He ordered a battery of tests. A technician came in and drew blood. As the doctor looked at Alice's bullet wound and re-dressed it, he asked Gillis "Did you find out who kidnapped her?"

Gillis didn't want to answer the question, since he didn't want to obstruct John's investigation in any way, nor did he want anyone looking any harder at Alice as being the serial killer.

"I'm not on that case. I belief the FBI has taken over and they don't share anything even with me. I haven't heard from them. Luckily, a man from the gas station called me about Alice. He found my number in her phone, so I had him send her back here, How's she doing, doc? Is she going to be ok? Do you know what's causing the seizures?" Gillis was worried. "There's no history of epilepsy in our family. None on her dad's side either."

Gillis' phone rang, so he stepped out into the hallway. He saw John on his phone and saw that it was John calling him. So, instead of answering it, he walked over to him and said, "Hello?"

John turned around and saw Gillis standing behind him. "Hey! " He lowered his voice. "Is Alice here?"

"Yes. She's right over there in that room. What's going on with Mike?" Gillis looked over John's shoulder at the big guy standing in the doorway of Mike's room. "Who's the big guy?"

"That's Markus, Al's brother. He's ok. He had the CIA with him and they hauled Gene and the other two guys off to jail. But, Mike or Jason is another story. He IS the scientist that was kidnapped. And Gene's the one behind his kidnapping! He developed a gene altering drug that affects a certain section of the brain to activate psychic activity. He was working for Homeland Security when Gene and a doctor named Curtis nabbed him. He said he doesn't remember much, but that they had also kidnapped a woman and made him inject her. Al and I think that could be Alice." John looked over at the doctors and Markus. "I think we need to come clean to Markus. He's here to help us. If that's what's causing Alice to go on a murder spree, then it's involuntary, she has no control."

"Are you fucking kidding me? They'll still lock her away! There's no guarantee that's the cause, nor that she will ever stop. What kind of research was done on this damned drug?" Gillis was agitated and posturing himself. His face was turning red.

"Look, you trust me....right?" John tried calming him down.

"Yes, you know I trust you with my life." Gillis kept watching Markus as they spoke.

"Well, my gut is telling me that we need all the help we can get. Markus is the Deputy Attorney General and he has a lot of pull in this state. Who better to be on our side? If we try hiding anything from him, we could both lose our license and Alice could be left hanging by herself with no one. Is that what you want to happen?" John could see his lips purse and knew he was getting through to him.

"Ok. But, I'm not leaving her out of my sight. She's slipped through our fingers too many times. Now I don't know what she's capable of with this mind altering drug. Who knows if it wears off, or if it's permanent. You have my permission to fill him in, I'm going to be with my niece. Just keep me informed on what we need to do to help her." Gillis put his right hand on John's shoulder and squeezed. He turned and went back to Alice's bedside.

John saw Markus waving at him to join him and Al. The two doctors were walking down the corridor. One stopped at the nurses' station while the other continued through the double doors. Markus shook his head. "I have never heard of anything like this in my whole life. I just received a call from the President of the United States. He wants me to fly to Washington and be there first thing in the morning. Somehow he knows we found Jason and wants me to bring him with me. I think everything is about to get hush hush if you know what I mean. I wouldn't be surprised if agents suddenly showed up and kept us from talking more to Jason. So we need to relocate him now to a secure area and find out all we can before he's wisked away. I want you and Carl to take him to this place." Markus handed John a piece of paper. "You're not to tell anyone about this. Not ANYONE. Not Al, not your friend Gillis, not your mother, NOBODY.

Markus handed John a phone. "You're to use this phone and no other one to contact me. Never tell me your location. Just call to let me know all is well by saying the pigeon is ready for flight. If anything happens, you'll say the pigeon has flown the coop. I will let you know what to do as soon as I speak with the President. I've got to go now, and you need to get him move right now." Markus didn't stay long enough for John to tell him he had more information. He quickly walled down the corridor to the double doors and disappeared.

Al and Carl came out of the room with Jason fully clothed. "Leave through the back way. I've called a cab and he should be out there waiting for you and Carl. I'll catch a ride with Gillis, or get Janice to come pick me up." Al quickly shook John's hand and said. "Go on...get moving!"

Jason turned around and said. "I'm not leaving without officer Donner. He's the only person who has been close to me since my memory loss. Even though I can now remember who I am and my past, I can't remember him or the last ten years, I have questions that only he can answer. I still can't believe ten years of my life is gone."

Officer Donner looked to John for permission to join them. "Come on. We need all the help we can get."

The three men left as quickly as they could. They had no more turned the corner than Al spotted two men in suits coming through the double doors. He went in where Alice was and found Gillis. "Whatever you do, you don't know anything. Two men in suits are headed this way. You haven't seen John or Carl. You don't know anything." He no sooner got those words out and the two men were in the room looking around. They drew the curtain back to where Alice was laying.

"Who the hell are you?" Gillis demanded as he stood up. He was irritated that they would just barge into her room as if they owned the place.

"Sorry, wrong room. We're looking for a male." They said no more, just turned around and left.

"What the hell was that all about?" Gillis talked in a low whisper.

"It has to do with Nation Security, Jason, Alice and the President." Al whispered back.

"The President?? For real? This just keeps getting worse." Gillis picked up Alice's hand and kissed the back of it. He brushed the hair away from her brow. "I'll make sure you stay safe, sweetheart."

"Look, I'm going to call Janice to come get me. As soon as I hear back from Markus, I'll let you know to come to the house. I think you should bring Alice to our home to recuperate when they release her. She'll be safe there. You're welcome to stay as well." Al didn't know much about Gillis, but he knew if John trusted him, he did too.

"I'm thinking my place might be better. No one knows where I live. I have a house in Austin, but my ranch house in San Saba would be better to hide her out in. Has anyone heard anything on Miguel? I've been so worried about Alice, I haven't had time to call and check." Alice move a little bit, turning her head to one side. She started moaning and then went silent. Gillis reached over and pushed the button to call a nurse.

"Don't worry about Miguel. I'll check to see how his surgery went and let you know. I'll stay here with you until I find out. I'm going to go get some coffee and call Janice. Would you like a cup?" He stood up and stretched his arms out.

"That sounds good. I appreciate all you're doing to help, and thanks for not arbitrarily telling your brother about Alice. I did tell John it was ok to do so though. So, if you talk to Markus first, fell free to update him. We don't want to hide anything and get anyone in trouble. I just want what's best for my niece." He felt Alice squeeze his hand and turned to look. Her eyes were open and she smiled at him.

"I'll be back and I'll make sure a nurse or doctor is headed this way." Al left the room. A nurse was running down the hallway towards Alice's room. She passed him and he looked to see if that was where she was going. He was right, so he headed out to the waiting room and called Janice.

"Hey, honey. How are you feeling?" Gillis place his hand against her face.

"What are you doing here? I got shot. I was in an ambulance and then I found a dog. He was injured and I took him to the vet. I keep having flashes of different things. I was naked and driving a car. I would never drive a car naked! Would I? Wait! I had a flat tire. Somebody held me down and stuck a needle in me or was someone taking my blood? I can't remember. I remember being in the back of a vehicle and being scared. Am I going crazy? What's wrong with me?" Tears fell down her cheeks as she tried to find her sanity. "Where am I?"

"Honey, you are in Seton Hospital. They are running tests on you. You've been having seizures and yes, you were shot by a man who forced you into your apartment. He killed three other people before he tried killing you. Do you remember any of that?" Gillis wanted to know what if anything she could recall.

"I remember going to my doctor's appointment. Then the next thing I remember was being on a gurney. After that, it's just flashes of memory. Nothing solid. Maybe I was just dreaming. Maybe they gave me some kind of drug that caused me to dream." She looked worried.

"You were shot, then brought to the hospital. Before you were settled in good, you were kidnapped. Do you remember who kidnapped you?" Gillis wanted desperately for her to remember something, anything that would help him help her.

The nurse came in and said "Well, look who's awake." She stuck a thermometer in Alice's mouth then pulled the cuff off the wall and put it around Alice's arm and took her blood pressure. She wrote down the results, pulled the thermometer out of her mouth after it started beeping. "The doctor will be her shortly. I'll give him a call and let him know that you're awake. Blood pressure and temperature are normal. It shouldn't be long before he's here." She raised the head of Alice's bed so that she could sit up and enjoy her Uncle's visit. "Would you like another blanket? You seem to be shaking a bit. Are you cold?"

"Yes ma'am. My feet are cold." Alice pulled the covers up around her shoulders as she spoke.

"I'll get you one out of the warmer." The nurse left and Gillis pulled his chair closer to Alice's bed.

#  Chapter 33

Carl and John got in the front as Sandy and Jason got in the back of the van. The windows in the back were tinted darker than the ones in the front. John started the motor up and looked at the paper Al gave him. He passed it to Carl. "Do you know this place?"

"No. Never been there. Well, let's get going. I'll look it up on my phone." Carl started to Google it when John reached over and grabbed his arm.

"No! We don't know what's being traced. I know the area, and we can find it by driving around. It's better to do that, than risk someone following us."

"You don't need to look it up, I'll tell you how to get there." A voice from the seat behind Jason startled him. Markus sat up and laughed. "I had to jump in the van when I spotted the agents pulling in. The emblem on their car gave em away. You'll need to drop me off at Al's house so I can get my car. I kind of feel bad for the cabbie sitting at the hospital waiting for me. Anyone have a piece of paper? I'll draw you a map to where I need you to take Jason."

"Yep. Dad keeps a pad and pen in the glove box." Carl opened it up, pulled them out and passed them back to Markus.

Markus drew out a simple map and passed it back up front. Can you read it and understand it?

John glanced at it and said. "Oh, hell! I know that place! I know exactly where it is. I had a field trip there as a kid." John pulled onto -38th and drove northwest to Mopac, then on to Al's house.

"Father Louis will be there to meet you and take you to where you will be staying. I've already phoned him and made all the arrangements." Markus hung over the back seat like a little kid. "I've cleared it with your station, so you three don't need to check in. Your job right now is to ascertain as much information as you can and protect Jason. The Chief of Police only knows that this has to do with Homeland Security and that you, Carl and Officer Donner are assigned a special task through the CIA. I'm sending a professional hypnotherapist there in a few days to see if he can hypnotize Jason to help him remember what led up to his memory loss.

"Well, we're here." John pulled into the driveway next to Markus' car. John parked the van and got out. He walked Markus to his car.

"I need to talk to you about Gillis and his niece." Markus smiled at John, but patiently listened as he spoke.

"I don't know how much Al told you about Alice Spence." John hesitated. He felt as though he was betraying his friend, but they needed help too.

"Al told me everything he knew. Which wasn't a lot. What does Alice have to do with Jason? If nothing, it's not anything I need to know." Markus dug in his pocket for his keys and unlocked his car.

"I think her case and his case are tied together somehow. Call it a gut feeling, but they both had seizures, the both have some form of amnesia. The only difference is, I think Alice is a serial killer. But, if it has to do with whatever this gene thing is that Jason created, and if she somehow got injected with it, maybe it changed her in some way." He knew he was grasping at straws now. There was no proof and he felt lame as soon as the last sentence came out of his mouth.

"I will see what I can find out, but I haven't heard anything said about a girl being involved. But, then I'm not done digging around yet. You take care of your end and I'll take care of mine. Maybe something will fall out in the middle that will unravel all this." They shook hands and John got back in the van. He started the van and headed to San Antonio.

"I'm going to call Gillis before we get out of town." John pulled his phone out and called Gillis' number.

"Hey, how's your niece? Don't say her name in case we're being listened to. and keep this under a minute." John wanted to make it short and sweet so he could make sure the call wasn't traced.

"She's awake and they're moving her up to a private room. I'm not leaving her side until they release her. They are going to keep a watch on her over night, then release her in the morning. You know where to find me. Keep me posted and be safe." Gillis hung the pone up.

"Who was that?" Alice asked.

"It was my friend. He's been helping me to find you." Gillis smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "I'm so glad I finally caught up with you. You had me worried sick."

"Why am I missing time? I have gaps that I don't remember. I keep thinking about this poor little puppy that I took to the vet. It was like I was watching from above. Not really there. Maybe I dreamed it. It's so surreal to me." She pushed herself up in the bed and reached over to get the plastic glass of water on the night stand.

Her mouth was so dry and her lips were cracked. She didn't know when the last time she ate and she was starving.

"Can you get me something to eat?" Alice pleaded to Gillis. "I'll be ok til you get back."

"No, I am not leaving you. But, I will call the nurse in here and see what I can do for you." He reached over and pressed the button to call the nurse.

Before anyone responded to his call, three orderlies came in. One started moving the IV as another went around the bed and let down her railing. The third one was pushing a gurney in to transport Alice on.

"I bet you'll be glad to get out of this busy place and in your own room. We're here to take you up to your room." They un-clipped the IV and re-clipped it to the gurney. They pulled the bed next to Alice and lifted her up with the bed sheet onto the Gurney. "You're welcome to follow us so you know where she's going."

"You bet I will follow. I'm not letting this one out of my sight." Gillis picked up Alice's clothes that were in a bag along with a pair of shoes. He looked around for anything else that might belong to her, but saw nothing. He followed them to the elevator and got on with them.

"Hey, do any of you guys know if I can get some food for her brought up to her room?" Gillis was determined to get her fed without letting her out of his sight.

"Yep. As a matter of fact, they should be bringing food around in about ten minutes. If she doesn't get a tray....." his voice trailed off. "You know what? I'll check with the nurses' station and make sure she is getting one. No sense in waiting to see. I'll just make sure she gets one.

Alice looked up at the man talking. He had a nice chiseled chin. She surmised he must be about her age. He smiled down at her and lightly squeezed her arm.

Gillis was immediately relieved that he didn't have to go in search of food. "Thank you. Do you think they will let me stay with her tonight?" He didn't want to flash a badge, but would do so if necessary.

"Oh sure, I'll bring you one of those chairs that lay down into a bed and some sheets, a pillow and blanket. They aren't the most comfortable things, but working here, I've learned to adjust. They're better than sleeping on the floor."

The elevator reached the fourth floor and they got off . It took them less than five minutes to get her in bed and settled in.

There was only one bed in the room. It was small, but private. There was a bin in the corner half full of sheets. He supposed they had changed her bed to get it ready and would be back to remove it. Gillis checked out the restroom to see if it was private or shared. It was private.

"Looks like there's already a pull out chair and I won't have to get you one. My name is Casey if you need anything. I'll be working on this floor. Your nurse is Susan and her name is on the whiteboard along with her extension if you need any pain medication." He walked over to the whiteboard and wrote his name and extension on the board. "And this is me - if you need to laugh or just want anything out of the norm. I'm a volunteer."

He smiled and left the room.

"What a nice guy." Alice smiled at Gillis. He hadn't seen this side of her in quite a while. _Maybe she was interested. Wouldn't that be nice_.

"I saw him smiling at you and leaving his number on the board. I bet he doesn't do that for all the patients!" Gillis teased.

"Hah. I bet he does". Alice suddenly got a serious look on her face. "Uncle Gillis?"

"Yes, dear?" He took her hand and held it to his face.

"Do you think I'm crazy? Is there any kind of schizophrenia that runs in our family? I lose time, but then I have flashes of memories that make me nervous." Tears began well up in her eyes and roll down her cheeks.

"No, honey. Not a single person has ever been diagnosed with that in our family. John and I are working on a theory. We can't be sure, so, I don't want to say anything until we know more. Lay back and try to rest until they bring in your tray." She leaned back on her pillow and shut her eyes as Gillis wiped the tears from her face with a Kleenex. He stroked her hair and admired her beauty. She was the spitting image of his siter.

The door swung open and a large bin rolled in with racks of trays on it. A young girl in a green outfit pulled out a tray and checked the name on it. "Alice Spence?" She questioned as she looked at Gillis.

"Yes. Here, I'll take it." Gillis took the tray of food and put it on the hospital tray that rolled across the bed. He pushed it up to where Alice would be able to sit up and eat.

She was already raising the head of her bed up getting ready.

"Oh wonderful...hospital food! Just what I wanted!" She sneered up her nose when she uncovered the plate. There was waxed beans and a chicken breast with mashed potatoes and gravy. Jello and a slice of bread sat off to the side of the plate. "I can't complain. It's not that bad." She chuckled as she opened her plastic silverware and started eating.

Casey entered the room with another tray of food . "I thought you might be hungry too, so I grabbed you a tray. Now, just cause I brought it in here, does not mean you have to eat it."

Gillis was grateful. He didn't realize how hungry he was until he smelled Alice's food.

"Thanks! I'll take it. That was nice of you to think of me. Wasn't it nice of him, Alice?"

She had a mouthful of chicken and could only shake her head yes and smile. She quickly chewed the chicken and swallowed. "Yes, thank you for making sure I got fed. I was...am starving!" She stabbed the chicken and took a bite out of it.

He smiled at her and said "Got to love a woman who knows how to eat."

Gillis winked at Alice as Casey walked out of the room. "See, I told you he's interested."

She ignored him and turned the tv on so she wouldn't have to listen to him trying to match make.

"We apologize for breaking into your program. We want to bring you the latest news we have just received on the murder in the park this afternoon. Three boys said they saw a naked woman driving down their street towards the park where the murdered man was found around one pm this afternoon. They called the police after they heard the news and said that they saw the woman again in Bastrop at a gas station. One of the boys said she threatened him. If anyone has seen a woman in her late thirties with black hair driving a late model Toyota, they need to cal APD a the number on the bottom of the screen. The police aren't saying she is a suspect, they just want to question her to see if she saw anyone in or around the park when she drove that way. We will continue to follow this story and keep you up to date."

Alice's eyes were frozen to the TV. She had stopped eating and sat in her hospital bed looking at the news. Gillis noticed that she was fixated and tapped her tray with his fork.

"Are you ok? He asked.

"Did you hear what they said? They described me and my car! Could they be talking about me? Did I do something to that man? Oh my god! Was I driving around naked???" Her voice was shrill as she spoke. She was anxious and very upset. Gillis put his tray down and put his arms around her.

"Honey, you would never do anything to harm anyone. I believe that with all my heart." He said that knowing that she had very likely been the one who killed him. She did call him earlier and told him she'd killed two more people. That indicated to him that she'd killed more than two. His heart sunk.

"You go ahead and tell yourself that, but my instincts are telling me that something grips my soul and I wreak havoc on people when it does. I have glimpses of blood and me being bloody. I really don't see how that can be a dream. And, what about the dog? That can be checked out, can't it? What if you use your detective skills and see if I took a dog to a vet? Please....I'm going mad if I don't get some answers." She pushed her tray aside and laid her fork down. She'd lost her appetite. She cried in her pillow uncontrollably.

Feeling helpless, Gillis got the number off the board and called the nurse. He stepped just outside Alice's room to make the call. "Can you give Alice Spence something for anxiety? She's very depressed, won''t eat and is crying. I'm really concerned about her well being."

The nurse told him she would call it in to the doctor and once he ok'd it, she'd bring her something. He went back in the room as he closed his phone. Alice was not in her bed. He knocked on the bathroom door but got no answer, so he opened it. She wasn't there. The IV wa hanging loose. She had unhooked herself from the IV. He squatted down and looked under the bed. He panicked until he saw the bin. Quickly removing the sheets, he soon realized she wasn't in it.

He reached over the bed and pushed the nurses button. He was baffled. He went back into the bathroom and pulled the shower curtain aside. She wasn't there. There was no way in hell she could have gotten past him. No way! He walked out into the hall and waited for the nurse.

As soon as Gillis left the room, Alice climbed off the window ledge from behind the curtain. She climbed into the bin and covered herself up and waited.

The nurse came down the hallway and met Gillis at the door. "Alice is gone. I don't know how she got out of this room. It's just not possible. I called from just outside her door, so I know she didn't get past me. She's not in the bathroom, in the shower, under her bed. I even looked in the bin! She's now where!

"Let's go look. I had a patient once that got between the mattress and hid." Her smile calmed him a little. They went in and she lifted the mattress. Alice wasn't there. She reached over and pulled the curtains back.

"I just wanted to make sure the glass wasn't broken. It would have taken a lot to break one of these and I think you would have heard it. Are you sure you didn't face away from her door for a few seconds? That's all it would take to slip out." She asked as she too looked under the bed. An orderly came into the room as they were searching and pulled the bin from the corner. He went in the bathroom to get any dirty towels, found none and wheeled the bin out of the room.

"She must have ripped the IV out of her arm as soon as I walked out...I never thought she would leave. I was just her for a minute. Just one minute, that's all. I think I'm going to be sick." Before he could say anything else, he ran into the bathroom and started throwing up. He felt dizzy, so he sat on the floor. The nurse got a wash rag and wet it with cold water and pressed it to the back of his neck.

"You hold that there for a few seconds. Then when you feel up to it, I want you to come sit in the chair and let me take your blood pressure. Your face is bright red. Are you on blood pressure medicine?" She asked.

"Yes. I forgot to take it today. But, I have it in my pocket. He pulled out the bottle and gave it to her. She poured him a small paper cup of water and gave him his pill. He took it and then stood up. He was still a bit dizzy.

"Ok, mister. We're going to put you in Alice's bed and take your blood pressure. I'm going to call security and have them look for her. You need to calm down and get this under control before you have a stroke." She was firm with him. He knew she'd give him a hard time if he didn't do what she said, and it wouldn't do him a bit of goo trying to find Alice if it ended up putting him in the hospital with a stroke. What good would that do.

She took his pressure and saw it was high. "Ok, it's elevated, but that's understandable, what with the excitement of losing you niece and not taking your medicine. That should kick in and you should start feeling better soon."

****

Alice could feel the cart moving , so she stayed as still as she could. She heard the elevator doors ding and then she stopped. She heard another ding and she was moving again, but only a few feet. There were people all around the bin laughing and talking. A minute later, she was being pushed out of the elevator. This time she was pushed quite a ways before stopping. "Here's some more for you." She heard a man's voice speak. "You finished with the laundry for floor five?" She couldn't make out more than that. Their voices seemed to fade off in the distance.

She climbed out of the bin and looked around. Large commercial sized washers and dryers lined both sides of the wall. Folding tables were centered in the middle. One one of the tables she found a stack of scrubs and hospital gowns. She stripped off the gown she had on and quickly dressed in a pair of scrubs. She found some footies to put on and made her way to the the door next to the end dryer.

She went through the doors like she knew where she was going. She hadn't a clue. Three turns later, she found some elevators. She pushed the button and waited. A man in a white coat walked towards the elevators. She felt panicky but held her ground.

"Hello. You must be one of the new interns. Did they put you on laundry duty? I hated that when I interned." He was soft spoken and smelled nice.

She shook her head yes and looked at the floor. She hoped he wouldn't notice that she didn't have on shoes, but he did.

"Hah! I see you don't have shoes on. Don't let them catch you like that. What happened...you fall asleep and when the shouted your name, you ran out without them? I've done that before. I ended up doing bed pan duty for a while for that." He seemed to relish living those days again.

"You're not going to turn me in are you?" She glanced up at him.

"Nope. Been there. Just stand behind me in the elevator in case anyone gets on that knows you." She liked him immediately The doors opened up and they entered.

"What floor?" He asked.

"Ground." She replied. "I need to go get my shoes from my car. He pushed ground and 4th floor. When the doors opened up for ground, she quickly got off and walked fast to the exit. He shouted after her. "I didn't catch your name!"

She smiled as she spun around to look back. "Alice! Alice Spence!" She went through the doors and breathed in the air of freedom. She hated the hospital. It depressed her. She saw the attendant in the parking lot and walked over to him.

"Do you have a phone I can use Or, can you call me a cab?" She asked him.

"Sure. I'll get you a cab." He went inside his small one man building and she watched as he called her a cab. She wished she had shoes. But, she ddn't. She'd get the cab to take her to her car . She had money, and hoped that no one found it and had taken it.

"They've dispatched one here. He's two blocks over and should be here any minute.

****

Gillis was pacing back and forth. He went to the window and looked out. He could see the restaurants across the street from the hospital. The ER was below her window with the parking attendant's booth. He watched as an orderly and the attendant chatted with each other. He looked a bit closer. Was it his imagination, or was that Alice? He didn't have time to wonder. He ran out of the room and raced down the stairs to the entrance. As soon as he got through the doors, he saw a cab leaving the parking lot.

"Hey! Did a woman in scrubs just get in that cab?" Gillis asked the attendant.

"Yes. She asked me to call one for her. It was weird though, I noticed she had on footies without shoes underneath.." He shrugged his shoulders. "These orderlies do some strange things sometimes."

"Did she say where she was going? Gillis was hoping against hope that she had.

"Yes. She said she was going to pick up her car and go buy some shoes. Said her name was Alice if that helps you any." He walked over to a car that had pulled in and leaned in to talk to the man behind the wheel. He pointed to an empty parking spot and gave him a ticket to place in his window.

"Hey, aren't you that guy from earlier who was here to see your niece?" He turned to look over at the car Gillis drove up in. "And, that's your car, right?"

"You have a good memory. Yep, that's my car. Well, not MY car, but the car I drove in with. Was that the cab that just left she got into?" Gillis was already pulling the car keys out of his pocket.

"Yes. I heard her tell him to drive to a nearby food drive through because she was hungry. She told him to pick one, that she didn't care. Hope that helps." He walked back to his booth to speak to the next car that had driven up.

Gillis got in the car and pulled out and headed in the same direction as the cab did. He found himself scanning fast food places. Then he realized that it would be better to call the man at the gas station and let him know what was going on, and drive as fast as he could there. Maybe he could beat her there and be waiting for her.

The phone rang several times before it was answered. "Hello? Gillis?" There was a woman on the other end of the phone. It took him by surprise.

"Yes. I was looking for the man who helped my niece today." He wished he had gotten his name.

"I'll go get him for you. He's out in the shop and was afraid he wouldn't hear the phone ring, so he left it with me. His name is Bert. Hold on and I'll go get him." He could hear the noise get loud as she walked out into the shop area of the garage. Air tools used to tighten lug nuts, metal tools hitting the floor.

"Hello?" Bert's voice was loud. He could barely hear, so he said. "Hold on a minute while I go inside." He walked across the bay and stepped into the office shutting the door behind him. "Ok, that's better. This Gillis?"

"Yes. Alice slipped out of the hospital and got in a cab. She's heading your way. I need you to stall her for as long as you can. Take the tire back off and tell her you found that she has a bad brake or something. Just keep her there. I'm not five minutes behind her, and if I'm lucky, I'll get there before she does. I'm already passing Bergstrom airport." Gillis pushed the gas as the light turned yellow. He didn't want to get stuck at a light. He made it through and continued on 71 to Smithville.

"I'll keep her from leaving, no problem. Is she going to be ok? She sure worried me with that seizure she had." Gillis could hear the sincerity in Bert's voice. He was glad he would help.

"I don't know. I can't seem to keep her in the hospital long enough to get results back, or have a psychiatrist look at her. I'm not sure if the seizures are causing her to act irrational. I appreciate your help. I better get of this thing and concentrate on my driving." Gillis noticed as he drove and talked that he drove slower. That's the last thing he wanted to do right now.

"Ok. I'll see ya when I see ya." Bert hung the phone up and gave it back to his bookkeeper. "Thanks, Kelly." He went back to the bay and told one of the men to drive Alice's car back in and take the wheel back off that they had just put on and leave it up in the air.

#  Chapter 34

John decided to take highway 290 to highway 281 into San Antonio. Jason sat behind the driver seat. He pulled out a magazine that was left in the back pocket of the passenger seat. It was an old hot rod magazine. As he thumbed through it, his mind wandered. He had so many questions. Memories were flooding back. He remembered a padded room and being locked up in it. Gene's face screaming at him. Then there was Uncle Ralph. Why did that keep popping in his head. He had no memory of "Mike" but he could remember his family and school. He graduated college, move into his own apartment. Lived there for four years. Met Susan. They dated off and on for eight years. Then, she broke it off. She didn't want to be with someone who spent so much time in the lab.

He stared at the magazine pages, but didn't see anything. It was just something to do to try and get his mind from wandering, but it wasn't working. He put the magazine back in the pocket. "They didn't find anything on me when they found me? No car keys, no wallet?" Jason broke the silence with questions.

Carl turned in his seat to look at Jason. "From what I heard, you barely had on any clothes. Some fisherman found you in Lake Travis. They ran a battery of tests on you. Put your picture all over the news. No one called or contacted the department to identify you."

"That's so odd. Why wouldn't my parents have called. Or my sister? They had to have reported me missing! Ten years? Really? Ten years of my life just gone. Like that?" He snapped his fingers.

"You have a sister?" John asked. "What's her name?"

"Patricia, Patty for short. She went to Baylor like I did. She's a pediatrician and has her own practice in the Dallas area. I went in a different direction. I love identifying protein-coding genes and their functions. That's how I figured out how to alter the brain. We are nothing more than computers really. We're all programmed. Some differently than others, some with defects."

Jason realized that it'd been ten years since he discovered that. "Holy shit! That's why I was kidnapped! They wanted my formula! Damn it! Oh God! Oh no." He stopped talking and just stared out the front windshield.

"What! What's wrong?" Carl asked.

"I didn't want anyone getting their hands on my formulas, so I altered a few things in case someone got it. I can't remember much about the kidnapping. They broke into the lab and the next things I remember are really messed up, like I was on some sort of psychedelic drug or something. What if they developed the screwed up one? I never tested it. I don't know what the hell it would do to a person. If they did test it, hopefully it was on an animal. What if they tested it on me! Maybe that's why I lost my memory..." Carl noticed that Jason talked a lot differently than Mike. Mike was meek and his voice was a bit subdued. Jason on the other hand talked with confidence. He was a bit louder and had a convincing tone about it.

"When the hypnotherapist puts you under, I believe we will find out a lot." John said. He put his blinker on as he approached highway 281.

"What the hell would Gene want with a formula that would make someone psychic?" Carl asked.

John laughed. "He's not that smart, Carl. There has to be someone who's pulling his strings. He's an idiot. I'll give him credit for being stupid, but not for planning a kidnapping and not getting caught for ten years. That has to be the work of someone cunning." He was about to say something else when his phone rang. He looked at it. He knew he shouldn't answer, but it was Gillis. John pulled the van over before answering. If they were being tracked, at least the vehicle wouldn't be on the move, so they wouldn't know which direction he was headed.

"Gillis, what's up?"

"She's gone! But I know where she's headed, so I'm hoping to get there before she does so I can get her back." Gillis sounded desperate.

"I thought you weren't going to leave her alone." John couldn't believe she escaped or that Gillis left her long enough for her to escape.

"I don't know how she got out of her room. I was standing just outside her door so I could call the nurse. Alice was crying and depressed. I didn't want her to hear that I was going to have them give her something to calm her down. For God's sake! I was standing just outside her door! I didn't see her leave." Gillis was ready to cry.

"Hey. She's very smart. She out-smarted you somehow. I think when you find her this time, you need to handcuff her for her own sake. I know she's your niece, but if she is killing, then it's the right thing to do. Don't let your emotions get in the way. You can't help her if she keeps running." John wished he could turn the van around and go help, but he knew that helping Jason remember my help Alice.

"I better get off the phone. I will text you when I find her. I know you aren't supposed to be on the phone. I'm just putting you and Jason at risk." Gillis changed lanes to avoid the traffic that was backing up ahead of him.

"Ok. I'll look for your text. Be safe." Both men hung up. John continued to San Antonio, Gillis to Smithville.

"Don't tell me that Alice is on the loose again." Carl knew the answer. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Seems he left the room for a minute and she escaped." John sounded a bit deflated. "But, knowing Gillis, he'll find her again."

****

Gillis went through Bastrop and knew he was only minutes away from the gas station. He looked in his rear-view mirror and couldn't believe it. Right behind him was a yellow cab. Sitting in the center of the back seat was Alice. He slowed down forcing the cab around him. Then he tailed it all the way to the station.

Once it pulled in, Gillis pulled in behind it. Alice got out, dressed in scrubs. Gillis quickly got out and ran over to Alice. "Alice! What are you doing?" He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. He couldn't believe what he saw. Her facial expression was unlike Alice. For a second, he didn't think it was her.

"Leave me alone you old fuck! Get a life!" She pulled away from him and walked into the station. Gillis stood there stunned.

Her voice was different. Not sweet nor loving. It was evil, pure evil. He reached into car and got a set of handcuffs. He now knew that John was right. She had to be handcuffed. He went inside the station and saw her yelling at the attendant.

"Why the hell isn't my car fixed! It's just a flat tire for cying out loud!" She was waving her hands and looking around the room. Gillis moved quickly and grabbed an arm, cuffed it and struggled with her to get the other one behind her back and cuffed. She was so strong he almost didn't get them cuffed together.

She jumped up as he held her and kicked the attendant back against the wall. Gillis grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the ground. He tried carrying her to his car, but she put one foot one either side of the door and he couldn't get her through it. He turned around and backed out of the door with her kicking and cursing.

"Alice! Calm down!" Gillis was a big man but he was having a hell of a time controlling this petite woman. She fought him all the way to the car. She wriggled, kicked, screamed and cursed. The attendant ran behind them and opened the back door. Gillis tried to put her in the car, but couldn't. He finally fell forward in the car with her. He ended up laying on top of her on he back seat. His weight kept her from moving, but not screaming and cursing.

He calmly talked to her. "Alice, I'm not going to move until you calm down. You have to calm down. I can't help you if you don't."

"Who the fuck ARE you?" She screamed. "I'm going to call the police on you for kidnapping!"

"You know who I am, Alice. Uncle Gillis." His face what against her head as he spoke into her ear. He didn't raise his voice. He realized she was mentally off. "I love you Alice, and would never hurt you. I'm taking you to the hospital where you need treatment. Please don't fight me." Her body went from stiff to limp.

Unsure whether to believe the sudden change, Gillis laid there. The attendant had gone back into the station to get Bert. They both returned and Bert was carrying some rope. "I thought you might need this to restrain her. I don't want to hear that you were driving when she somehow caused you to wreck the car."

Gillis was still laying on top of Alice, too worried to move. "I need some help here. I'm afraid as soon as I get up, she's going to go nuts again."

Alice started crying. "Uncle Gillis? Where are we? What's going on?" Gillis couldn't be sure if she was deceiving him, so he held onto her as he got out. He pulled her limp body out of the car. He turned her around and saw the sweet gentle face of the Alice he knew.

Sitting her down on the seat, he cried as he tied her ankles together. He tightened it tighter than he wanted to. He then swung her legs around so that she was sitting in the back seat.

"I don't think that's going to hold her good enough." Bert was worried after seeing how strong she was. He handed Gillis the money he'd found in Alice's car. "I don't want to be responsible for this. Oh, and here's her phone and my card so you can reach me. Let me know when you can pick her car up. I'll keep it locked up in the shop at night.

Gillis took the money and looked back in at Alice. "Do you have more rope? I'll put her in the front seat and tie her to the seat so she won't be able to move around."

"I sure do." Bert went back to the bay and opened a drawer. He pulled out a long rope and brought it to Gillis. He helped him tie her up. Gillis put the money in the glove compartment along with the phone and card. He turned around and shook Bert's hand. How much do I owe you for fixing her car and storing it for a few days.

"Just give me seventy bucks and don't worry about the storage. You got enough problems. Be safe, and hey...would you let me know how she's doing?" Bert was sincere. He saw two sides of her. He hoped for the best for her and her uncle.

Gillis paid him and promise to keep him updated. He got in and looked over at Alice. Tears were streaming down her face. She looked at him and said. "I AM going mad."

He reached over and patted her leg. "I won't let you go mad. We'll figure this all out. He drove towards Austin and to the hospital. This time Alice would be contained. No escaping until this was all figured out. He felt good about everything. He had her next to him and she was safe.

****

John found Mission Concepcion and pulled into the parking area. An unassuming man walked to the car and greeted them as they got out.

"I'm Father Louis. I've got dinner ready and waiting for you. If you need to freshen up, I'll show you the restroom. After dinner, I'll show you to your rooms."

Jason shook the Father's hand and introduced himself to him. John asked, "I'm John Strout, and this is Carl Baker and Sandy Donner. Is there a place around here we can go buy a change of clothes or two?"

"I have clothes for all of you. Remember, this is a mission and we have a building set up for poor people that need help. It's full of clothing, furniture, kitchenware, those types of things. I'm sure we can find you something to fit. We also have new under clothing that are donated, so don't worry about having to wear any hand me downs." He laughed as he walked into the mission yard with the four men.

The crossed the courtyard and entered into the main sanctuary. Off to the side were a set of wooden doors. He opened them and they went down a long hallway. The smell of onions and bell peppers wafted throughout the building.

"Man, I didn't realize I was hungry until now! That smells good!" Carl rubbed his stomach. He couldn't wait to eat. He loved Mexican food.

Father Louis laughed and opened up another door that jetted off to the left of the hallway. Inside were rows of tables and benches. At the other end of the room there were three women working. One was frying onions and bell peppers and fajitas while one was making tortillas. The third woman was filling the tins with corn, beans, cooked chicken, pico de gallo, and sauces.

"Good evening ladies." The father said as they walked up to the counter. "These gentlemen have traveled a ways to get here today. Do you think you have enough food to feed their hungry bellies?" He smiled as they spoke to him in Spanish.

"Maria says you four will be welcome to eat as much as you like. Theresa says that she thinks you are handsome, John." Father Louis patted John on the back. "Señor, I think she likes you."

John blushed and picked up a tray and silverware. As he went through the line, he couldn't help but notice Theresa batting her eyes at him and being more than helpful. "You like this? How about this? No? Then this?" Her English was broken, but she helped his plate with everything he asked for, but bigger helpings than he could possibly eat. He smiled and thanked her.

They all sat at one of the long tables with the Father at one end. He said the blessings before they ate. When John opened his eyes, Theresa was standing behind Carl smiling. She sat a candle in the center of the table and lit it, then walked back to the counter.

"I told you...she really likes you." Father Louis laughed as he picked up his burrito. They ate in silence, especially John. _Why me?_ He wasn't ready for another relationship. She was cute enough, but long distant relationships never worked out. His phone buzzed. He picked it up and looked. All it said was. _Done. Handcuffed. Seton bound,_

"Looks like Alice is headed back to the hospital. Jason, you said something about Uncle Ralph when you were having a seizure at Al's house. Do you know who that is?" John couldn't wait to start questioning him.

"I know WHAT it is. It's the code name that Homeland Security gave my project. They wanted to test and develop it for the military to use in combat. Psychic ability would give them the upper hand on knowing what the other side was up to. I injected myself with one round and had immediate results. I only had to think about someone and would instantly know where they were, and what they were thinking and doing. Unfortunately, that's when Gene and three other guys busted in and kidnapped me. I couldn't foresee that. Because I wasn't thinking about them because I didn't know them. From that point to waking up in the hospital are big gaps. I have flashes of weird stuff though. I'm not sure what any of it means, but I think you may want to use a recorder when tell you. I don't know what was done to me, so I don't know how long I'm going to stay in this state of knowing who I am or if I'm having planted memories." Jason took a bite out of his taco.

Carl said. "How cool would that be! I'd love to know what people are thinking sometimes!"

"Carl, you already know what people think. They pick on you all the time. Why would you want to know more than that?" John realized as soon as he said it, that it hurt Carl's feeling. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Those guys at the station are mean and can be assholes sometimes. I just think you wouldn't want to know."

"Oh, I was thinking more on the lines of women I meet." Carl felt better knowing that John had his back and his best interest at heart.

"Yeah...well, I think I'd rather NOT know." John said as he nodded towards Thereasa.

They all laughed. "So what was so scary about Uncle Ralph? Alice has mentioned Uncle Ralph several times and she's petrified when she say the name. Do you think she could be connected in any way to the program?" John got serious. "Do you think it's possible she could have stumbled across something or been kidnapped by them and given the altered formula?" John knew he was grasping, but he urgently needed to figure it out before anyone else got hurt.

"Who is Alice? And what is she doing that makes you think she might have been given the formula injection?" Jason leaned in towards John, his interest peaked.

John was hesitant to say much. "She's a woman I know. One minute she's this sweet woman that couldn't hurt a fly. The next, she's acting irrational, crazy and doing things she'd never normally do. She has time loss. I guess that's what you would call it. Memory gaps that she can't piece together. Do you think that formula that you altered could create that in a person?"

Jason clenched his jaw. He didn't want that to be the result of something he did, but then it was possible. "It could be. I didn't test it, so I can't say for sure. I hope not. If they did, they could have created a monster. My expertise was on the Thalamus in the center of the brain. The messed up formula affects the Frontal Lobe. That's where behavior, attention, emotion, intellect, judgment, personality...I could go on and on...it controls so much! I figured if they created a nightmare, it would backfire on them and they'd think I didn't have anything worth taking. It was to protect Homeland Security. I never meant to harm anyone though."

"Is there something that can be done if it was given to someone? Is there a way to reverse its affect?" John asked.

"I'm not sure. It's all R&D you know. That's what science is. Trial and error." Jason finished his food and shove his plate aside. "I wish I had access to my lab. Maybe there I could do a few experiments and see if I could help. It could take a while."

Father Luis said, "The hypnotherapist will be here at seven. Maybe it'll help after he puts you in a trance."

"I sure hope it fills in the blanks for me." Jason said. "And I'm sorry about your friend, Alice. In a way, I hope it was an injection instead of her just being a crazy person. At least she would have a chance maybe to recover. I know that sounds weak, but I can't promise anything. I can just be hopeful."

#  Chapter 35

Alice was handcuffed to the hospital bed. She was back in her room with the IV reconnected to her hand. She didn't know why they had to put it in the most painful part of her body. Her hand was black on the backside from having IVs stuck in her more times than she could count in the past two days.

Gillis was sitting in the chair next to her bed reading a news paper. The TV was off and she couldn't find the remote. "Hey, can you turn the TV on?" Alice asked.

"No, last time it was on, something on it triggered you to go berserk." Gillis was firm but loving. "You need some rest. They're going to give you a sedative so you can sleep."

"I don't want to sleep!" Alice screamed and yanked on the handcuffed arm. Luckily, he had cuffed both arms and her legs. He wanted to be sure she was secure. The doctors weren't happy about it, but he convinced them it was necessary for her health and the health of others.

The nurse walked in with a syringe and small bottle. She inserted the needle into the bottle and drew out its contents. As she started to raise Alice's sleeve, Alice moved the best she could in the other direction. Although she could move a little, it wasn't enough to avoid the sting of the needle when it punctured her arm.

"There you go." The nurse swabbed her arm with alcohol and put a piece of cotton and Band-Aid over it. "That should put you right to sleep."

"But I don't want to sleep!" Alice tried to fuss, but it was fast putting her under.

The nurse looked at Gillis and said, "She'll be out for a while. I think when it wears off, she'll continue to sleep. She's worn out."

Gillis stood up. "I think I'll go get something to eat. I'm tired and hungry. I'll be back in a little while."

He left feeling good about leaving her this time. There was a deli on the first floor of the hospital. He went in and bought a sandwich and coke. He sat next to a window looking out at the gift shop. His eyes were drawn to a small white teddy bear. When he finished eating, he went into the gift shop and bought the bear for Alice.

His heart started beating fast as he headed to Alice's room. The anticipation of finding her bed empty suddenly struck him. He picked up his pace until he was standing in front of her door. Pushing it open, he saw two police officers and a doctor in the room.

"Hey, what's going on?" Gillis asked.

As he walked further into the room, he saw three boys lined up looking at Alice. "What the hell? You all need to get out of here. She's been though a lot today."

One of the officers asked the boys. "Is this the woman you saw driving naked through your neighborhood?"

"Yes sir! That's her. And we saw her later and she poked me in the chest and threatened me."

"Ok, all of you...OUT. This isn't a court. It's a hospital if you haven't noticed." Gillis looked at the officer and said. "Do you have a warrant or court order to be in here?"

The officer said "No, we're just running down some leads and it led us here."

"Well, unless you have any legal documents showing you have a right to be here, then I suggest you get out." Gillis stood to the side and pointed to the door. "All of you, out now!"

He was grateful that Alice was asleep. She looked peaceful. He leaned the chair back into a bed position and threw a sheet over it. He put the pillow and blanket on the chair and then laid down and covered up. Twenty minutes later he was sound asleep. He was exhausted.

****

Jason lay on the sofa as directed and listened as the hypnotherapist directed him to relax and concentrate on the small gold coin that hung from a chain in front of him. He could feel his body relax and then his mind. Guiding him backwards in time, five years, ten years, then eleven years.

"Tell me where you are." The therapist sat the coin down. John and Carl sat nearby. John had turned on the recorder before the session started and it was sitting on the table next to the sofa.

"I'm on vacation in Hawaii. My sister and parents are there. We are celebrating her engagement." Jason spoke in a sleepy voice.

"Ok, let's move forward six months. Where are you now?"

Jason was silent for a moment. Then he got a scowled look on his face. "I'm in the lab. Some men just busted the door off its hinges. What? What do you want?" His body jerked to the right. "No! Don't do that! Don't touch that! Those are my papers!" He was more agitated. Before he said anything else, the doctor told him "Ok Jason, I need you to move forward a day. Where are you now."

Jason suddenly became calm. "I don't know. I'm in a room by myself."

"Look around the room, what do you see." The doctor prodded.

"There's a lamp and an overstuffed chair. The bed I'm sitting on but no windows. I see a door." He seemed puzzled as he spoke.

"Go to the door and see if you can open it." The doctor looked over at John and Carl. Carl had dropped his phone. He motioned for them to be quiet.

"I can't. I'm handcuffed to a ring coming out of the wall." Jason said.

"Ok, then let's move forward a week. Where are you now?" John walked over and sat in a chair next to the doctor. He'd written a question on a piece of paper that he wanted him to ask.

"Who are you?" The doctor read from the paper.

"I'm in a car. My head hurts really bad. I don't know the men in the car. I don't know who I am. I keep asking them who are you. They start talking among themselves but I can't hear what they are saying. They're taking me out of the car. My hands are tied together. I'm scared." Jason started to panic. "One of them has a gun!"

The doctor touched Jason and said. "Ok, let's go back one day. Where are you now?"

Jason calmed down. "I'm in a lab. It's not my lab. They want me to inject the formula in a man. They want me to create a new batch. I refuse. They told me they had my family. They have my family! No! I'm fighting with one of the men and he picks up a baseball bat. I feel pain. I can't remember anything now. I can't remember."

The doctor could see him getting more agitated, so he decided to bring him out. He touched Jason's arm and said. "When I count back to the number four, you will wake up. " He started from ten and counted backwards.

Jason opened his eyes. He felt on edge all of a sudden. "What did I say? Did I remember anything?"

The therapist asked him "Do you recall anything now?"

Jason thought for a moment. "I feel edgy about something. I can't put my finger on it. It's like I need to be somewhere or do something urgently. Tell me! What did I say?"

Carl blurted out, "You said they had your family!" John and the doctor turned around and looked at him in disbelief. Carl sat there with his hand over his mouth. The minute it came out, he knew he shouldn't have said anything.

Jason looked at Carl, then the doctor and john. "My family. Yes. That's right they told me they had my family and I had better get the formula done or they would murder them. Oh my God!" He jumped up and reached for his wallet. Then he remembered. He'd lost ten years. There was no Jason Wallet.

"What's my family's number....what's the number?" He started hitting his head with his fist. Then he looked at the therapist. "Put me under! I need that number! I need to call them!"

The therapist said. "Ok, we can try, but there's no guarantee."

Once again he put him under. He took him back to the time in Hawaii. Then he asked. "What is your parent's phone number?"

Jason smiled and said "It's area code 214, then my birthdate!" He looked happy. Again the doctor brought him back to the present.

"Did I remember? What is it." John handed him the piece of paper that he wrote the number on.

Jason looked at it and said, "What?" Oh ..ok. Let me borrow your phone."

John looked at him and said "I can't - remember? Someone could trace it."

Father Louis handed him his phone. Jason dialed the number. A voice recorder came on saying 'you have reached the Chen family. Leave number we call back.'

He hung up. He felt sick to his stomach. What had become of his family?

"Look, what we do know is that your formula may be the answer to our serial killing. Is there any way to trace that in someone's system. To prove they were injected?" John waited for him to answer.

Jason said. "Absolutely. Get me a DNA sample and I can prove it."

John took the phone out that Markus gave him and called. "Hey Markus. Can you get a lab available for Jason to use? I might have solved my serial killer case, but need him to prove it. Yes. Uh huh. Ok." John continued to listen without saying anything. Then he said, What? Are you sure? That son of a bitch. Sure thing. Ok." John hung up.

There'll be a car here first thing in the morning to pick us up. Seems that Gene is spilling his guts. Your family is being held in Mexico. They're in a compound owned by the drug cartel. Their lives for your formula. When the found out that Gene botched the job, they told him they better go back and find you. The only hold they have on you is your family. According to Markus, they're still in the compound. Looks like Gene has been searching for you for ten years."

"How could he not find me sooner? My face was plastered all over the place. Officer Donner here was there with me through the whole ordeal." Jason stopped. He realized he could remember his past and his present. It was all blending together. He looked at Donner and hugged him.

"Father, can I borrow your phone. I need to call a friend of mine." John asked. Father Louis handed the phone to him and John called Gillis.

Gillis woke with a start. He grabbed the phone off the table and said. "Hello!"

"Hey Gillis. I need a DNA sample from Alice. Can you get a DNA kit from the hospital and have it Federal Expressed to us? Jason has his memory back and we know what the possible cause of her erratic behavior is."

Gillis sat up and said. "I'm on it!" He hung up and went to the Nurse's station.

"Who do I need to talk to to get a DNA sample kit?" He asked the nurse sitting at the desk.

"I'll call the doctor and get him to order you one." She said.

He pulled out his badge and said. "I need it now! This is police business. It's a matter of life and death and catching a serial killer."

She looked perplexed, but didn't argue with him. She got up and pulled a set of keys out of the drawer and went to the medical supply room. When she reappeared, she had the kit i her hand. "You have to sign for this." She said.

"Ok, give me whatever I need to sign. Do you know how to use this?" He asked.

"Yes sir." She handed him the paper. He signed it and handed it back to her.

"Follow me. I need you to get DNA from my niece. It has to be sent Fed-Ex tonight." He walked quickly to Alice's room with the nurse in tow.

She ripped the bag open and swabbed the inside of Alice's mouth. She placed the swab in the container and sealed it. She handed the container to him and said. "Do you need a Fed-Ex package? I have some at my desk.

He followed her back, got the Fed-Ex box and put the container in it surrounded by bubble wrap. Then he realized he didn't have an address. He hit redial on his phone to call John back.

"Hello?" Father Louis asked.

"May I speak to John?" Father Louis handed John the phone.

"It'd help if I had an address..." Gillis said. He wrote the address on the package as John read it to him. "Ok, it will be there in the morning. Thanks John for everything.

He hung up and went back into Alice's room. He pulled out all the things from his pocket and laid back down. He fell into a deep sleep.

Alice opened her eyes. She moved her arm and realized she was handcuffed. _Son-of-a-bitch._ She looked around and saw Gillis sleeping next to her bed. On the stand was his wallet, change, car keys and handcuff keys.

She moved her hand up along the rail slowly towards the table. She reached as far over as she could but could barely reach the car keys. She finally managed to get the tip under her finger enough to pull it towards her. It hooked onto the handcuff keys and she drug it slowly until she could pick them up.

She watched Gillis as she worked the key in her hand into the key hole of the cuffs. After five minutes of working it, it finally popped open. She quickly unlocked the other three cuffs and slid out of bed and pulled the needle out of her hand.

Not wanting to risk waking him up, She reached across the bed and gently lifted the car keys. Gillis move a little and she froze in place. He pulled the blanket up to his neck and rolled over facing the window. She breathed a sigh of relief and slowly backed away from the bed.

She tiptoed to the door and peered out to see if anyone was around. The hall was clear. She half ran down the hall to the stairway. She had the car keys in her hand and ran as fast as she could for the car. No one stopped her.

As she drove John's car onto the Interstate 35, she remembered Boomerang. She pulled the phone out of the glove compartment and called the vet.

"How is my dog?" She asked.

"What's your dog's name?" The woman on the other end of the phone asked.

"Boomerang." Alice said.

"Oh...you're the lady who brought the little dog in that was burnt. He's doing well. He's up and moving around. You can pick him up if you've changed your mind."

"I will be there in about twenty minutes. I can't get out of my car though. I was in the hospital and left in my hospital gown. I know that sounds weird, but I was in an accident and they misplaced my clothes. I'm ok, and hate hospitals, so as soon as they left me alone, I left. Can you bring him out to my car? I'll call you when I get there.

"Sure, that's not a problem. I understand about hospitals. I hate them too. Hope you didn't get hurt too bad." She said.

"I'm ok, just a little bruised, but good. I'll survive. Yep. As soon as I left the dog, I realized I wanted him. Well, I will see you in twenty minutes." Alice hung up and drove to the Vet's office.

Within thirty minutes, Alice had Boomerang at her side and they headed down I-35 towards anywhere but Austin. She didn't know where she was going. She just knew she was on a mission and would play it all by ear. Boomerang curled up in the seat next to her and slept. They were both happy now.
Chapter 36

Alice hadn't driven very far before her phone rang. Boomerrang sat up in the seat next to her and cocked his head to the right as if questioning what the noise was about.

"Hello?" She answered in a startled voice. She couldn't imagine who would have the number. She'd just replaced the phone and hadn't given the number out yet. Then she remembered. She'd called Uncle Gillis.

"Alice, honey, where are you?" His voice sounded haggard. It seemed strained and so unlike him. He was always upbeat. She couldn't imagine why he sounded so bad.

"Uncle Gillis? You sound awful! What's wrong?" Alice held the phone to her ear as she looked down the road for a place to pull over. She didn't like driving and talking on the phone. A small driveway entrance on the right with a mailbox seemed liked the perfect place to stop. "Hold on while I pull over so I can talk to you."

Alice steered the car to the driveway and notice a curved gravel area that she could park in without obstructing anyone's driveway, so she parked the car there.

"Ok, I'm parked. What's going on? How are you?" Alice was oblivious to the fact that she had murdered 2 police officers, an FBI agent, a psychiatrist, and a pervert all within the past 48 hours.

"Alice, where are you?" Gillis' throat was dry. He was tired and worried.

"I'm not sure. I'm driving, but now that you ask, I don't know where I'm going. Wait. Who's car am I in, and whose dog is this?" She looked over at the pitiful half burned mutt that was now curled back up, but watching her cautiously as she spoke.

She immediately began to panic. Gillis could hear her breaths getting heavier.

"Take a deep breath, Alice, and tell me what's around you or what you've passed so that I can come and get you.

She looked around and saw nothing but farmland as far as she could see. She tried to remember the past day, past hour, the past minute, but failed to recall anything. She reached over and opened the glove compartment and found the envelope full of money and a gun.

"What have I done? Tell me. I'm scared. I think I have a brain tumor or something. I have blocks of time missing. I don't see anything around me that looks familiar. I'm in a blue mustang, with thousands of dollars and a gun in the glove compartment. There's an ugly dog in the seat next to me. I'm so scared." Alice began to cry.

"Honey, listen to me. Drive to the nearest town and find out where you are. Call me back as soon as you get there and let me know. I will come and get you, and fill you in on everything that's happening." She could hear the desperation in his voice and immediately knew that he was worried. Something must be wrong for him to be this worried.

"Ok. I will talk to you soon." Alice hung the phone up and pulled back onto the road. She drove another thirty minutes before she saw a red light ahead. As she approached it, she saw a sign that read Bryan 10 miles. She pulled into the small gas station and called Gillis.

"Hello? Alice?" Gillis' voice sounded hopeful.

"Yes. I still don't know where I am, but I do know that I'm ten miles from Bryan. I'm going to drive into Bryan and find a place. But you can go ahead and start driving there. I'll let you know when I find a place to meet." Alice was feeling better knowing that her uncle would be headed her way. "Did I steal someone's car?" She added.

"You borrowed it. It's a friend of mine's car. I told him you have it and he's ok with it." Gillis lied. He hadn't had time to speak with John Strout to let him know that Alice and escaped the handcuffs he had her in or that she'd stolen the keys and taken his car. He knew that John would be upset, but he also knew that he wouldn't press charges.

"Ok. I was afraid that maybe the police were looking for me or something. I wasn't sure if I stole it. That makes me feel better. I love you. I'll call you back. I'm going to fill the tank up and head to Bryan." Alice hung the phone up and got out of the car.

She went inside and told the man at the counter that she was at pump 4 and wanted to fill the tank. She handed him a hundred dollar bill and said "This should cover it."

He smiled at her and placed the bill next to the register. "Don't forget to come back for your change."

"Ok." She said as she walked out the doors.

She put the nozzle into the tank and started filling up the tank. A black car pulled in and three men in suits got out. One of the men nodded at her and smiled as he swiped his car and began filling the tank. The other two men went inside the station.

The handle clicked and the pump read sixty-seven dollars and thirty-eight cents. Replacing the nozzle, she headed back inside the store. There was no one behind the counter and the two men in suits were not in sight. Alice walked to the back of the store towards the beverages and opened up the cooler and pulled out a Sprite. She saw the reflection in the door just as it began to close. It was Uncle Ralph! Her heart began to race as she stood there facing the shut door.

Flashes of memory bombarded her head. She stood frozen in place, too scared to move, too afraid to breathe. The hair on her neck stood on end. Her arms prickled and she could feel his breath on the back of her neck.

"Are you ok miss?" A deep resonate voice penetrated her ears. Alice jumped and let out a scream.

She dropped the can and ran out of the store to the car. She heard voices behind her, but couldn't make out what they were saying. All she knew was that she had to escape. She had to get out of here as fast as she could.

She shook as she tried to open the car door. Panic set in. The man in the black suit filling his tank walked over to her and opened her door. She looked up at him and again saw Uncle Ralph. She screamed louder this time and jumped in the car and locked the doors.

She watched as the man walked back to his car shaking his head.

_What's wrong with me?_ She started the car and left the station. She kept a constant watch on the rearview mirror, sure that they would be following her, but saw nothing. _I must be paranoid._

It didn't take her long to reach Bryan. She drove a little ways into the town and saw a restaurant she could stop at. She parked in front and turned the motor off. Picking her phone up, she noticed the dog was gone from the passenger seat. She turned to look in the back and found him huddled in the far corner shaking.

"Hey puppy, you ok?" She said in a sweet voice.

He looked at her and laid his head back down. The shivering subsided.
