To Journey's End Part Eleven

Beth arrived home pulling onto the circle of gravel in front of the house.  She knew Sam was only a minute behind her.  She sat in the car waiting for Sam and reviewed the previous hours.  It had been a longer birth then she had anticipated and to her surprise, Sam had been right.  Amy had delivered two healthy boys, identical twins.  Eli was one proud father.  He’d shown up looking to take Amy home and had ended up aiding Beth as his second son was being born.  Meanwhile Sam cleaned and bundled up his first son.  As a biologist, Eli was familiar with natural births, although in his case it usually involved the hamsters in the classroom.  Still he was right there for Amy and helped her through the final delivery.

She smiled as she recalled the moment when Amy’s Mom rushed into the office, her usually immaculate hair was flying all over the place and she looked like she had been in a tornado.  When she saw Eli and Sam both holding babies, she screamed and collapsed in a dead faint.  It had happened so quickly that it caught them all off guard and the situation was so out there.  The incongruity of Beth’s stalwart midwife fainting at the sign of twins was so funny both men began laughing.  Beth looked at them trying to control her own laughter. “Sam, Eli, behave yourselves.  It was just a shock.  Eli remember she’s you’re mother-in- law and those are also her grandsons.  Now, shush while I wake her up.”  She had gotten her smelling salts out and soon Amy’s mother stirred, waking up.

“Oh my poor, Amy.  Two of them at once, we never planned for this."  As she shook the cobwebs from her mind she realized she was on the floor and patted her hair back into place and calmly asked for Beth’s help in getting up.  She then ignored the two grinning men and went to check on her daughter.  Shortly thereafter the five of them were headed for home. Beth had given all the instructions they would need and Amy’s mother would take care of the rest.

Beth smiled to herself as she prepared to exit her car.  Yes it had been quite an afternoon.  She looked in the rearview mirror to see Sam’s car coming up behind hers.  She was starting to walk around her car to the house when Sam stopped her.

“Beth, hold up. Did you close the shades before you left?“

“No, I never close them.” She looked at her house and realized all the windows were shaded, the other thing that bothered her is that there was no light on.  “Maybe Todd closed them so that no one would see him.“

“Maybe, but would Todd have broken the front door?”

Beth gasped as she saw the broken pane. Someone had obviously broken in, “Sam, what about Todd?” She didn’t want to think of the number of possibilities. Todd had been alone in the house.  If someone had broken in for drugs, Todd wasn’t in the best shape to defend himself.

Sam carefully approached the door and tried the handle.  The house was open.  He looked over at his wife and she shook her head and mouthed.  “I locked it.” He nodded and pulled the door open slowly and entered the living room.  Looking around he spotted Red lying on the floor facing him, alert but quiet.  He realized someone was in his recliner and moved to get a look.  It was Todd.  He was so still, Sam was worried they might have been too late.  He reached to check his pulse and was relieved when Todd moved.

Beth had moved up to the door when Sam had entered and now she saw him reached toward a person in the recliner.  Her heart jumped to her throat as she feared Todd had been found and possibly killed.  She breathed a sigh of relief when the person moved.

Sam reached over and turned on the light by his chair.  Although Todd had stirred when Sam had touched him, he hadn’t awakened.  “Red, get out of the way.” Red arose and walked over to his bed by the front door.  He had done his job. ”Todd, hey pal, come on wake up.  What happened here?”

Todd slowly opened his eyes.  He raised his hand to block the light, as Beth had moved alongside, Sam and taken her penlight out to check him. “Sam? What...?” Then he remembered what had taken place earlier. “Sam, they were here.”

“Who, Todd?”

Todd shuddered as he recalled how close they had come to finding him. “The ones, the guys who held me. Baker and Kent.” he started shaking and Beth closed the front door and grabbed the comforter sitting on the couch.

“Todd, why didn’t they find you?” She tossed the comforter around his shoulders.

“I closed the shades after you left Beth, just to make sure no one saw me.  Then I heard someone come to the door, I tried to remain quiet and when I heard them talking, I recognized their voices.  I knew they wouldn’t just leave, so I did.  I slipped out the back door just as they broke in.”

Beth frowned, Todd was way too calm all of the sudden. She sensed he was trying to put on a brave front, so she and Sam wouldn’t worry, but there were tell tale signs how deeply disturbed he really was. Todd’s eyes were darting around the room like he was afraid to catch their eyes and his fingers were clenching the edges of the comforter. Beth reached over and covered his hands and Todd made contact with her eyes.  His voice dropped to a whisper. “That voice was so cold.  When he told Kent to eliminate me, make it all disappear.  It was like I was just a thing to him.  An experiment that had failed and he was cutting his losses.  There was only one thing I could do.  I ran.  I don’t even know how I made it out of there, it’s a blur.  I just knew I had to get away.  Today I wanted to run.  They hadn’t seen me, I thought I’ll just start running again, then it occurred to me they might find something here that would link me to you.” Todd paused and started shivering again.  “I just sat out there and watched the front door, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if they found out I had been here, but I knew I couldn’t let them leave with that information.”

Beth rubbed his hands, they were getting clammy and she knew he was close to shock from his experience . “Sam I think he could use a drink.”

Sam went and got a shot and handed it to Beth.

“Todd, I want you to drink this.” She held the shot glass to his lips and he took a sip much the way a child would.  His color began to return as the liquor warmed him up.

His hands moved from under hers and in turn engulfed them. “You two don’t need to be mixed up in this, I need to leave.  When those men walked out on that porch and I saw them in the clear light of day, I couldn’t decide what was driving me more. In that moment I both feared them and hated them.  A part of me was wishing I had had a way to kill them, but another part was saying, stay still, they didn’t find anything, they’re leaving, don’t draw attention to yourself. The fear won out. They’ve destroyed me, but I can’t let them get me back.  Only one thing is going to make all this go away, I want to go home.  I just don’t know where home is.”

There was such sadness in his voice. Beth started to tear up and Todd reached wonderingly to her face. “Don’t cry Beth. I’m not worth it.”

A hand dropped on his shoulder and Todd looked up to Sam. “Really Sam, sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t have been better If you hadn’t found me. My mind is a mess. I’m not sure if I’m even who I say I am.”

“Oh I can answer that one.  You’re Todd Manning all right.  Your fingerprints were identified by IAFIS.  That’s the good news.  The rest isn’t so good.”

“I knew it, I’m a criminal, why else was I in that place?” Todd slumped back into the chair.

Beth looked from Todd to her husband. “I think we could all use some dinner, before we get down to some hard to hear revelations.”

Sam nodded, “Beth’s right, It’s been a long day for all of us.  A hot meal will give us a chance to catch our breaths Don’t worry Todd, I won’t sugar coat anything, but it’s not all bad.”

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Our writers like to hear your feedback. Please leave a comment when you read.