Noah Barnes bent down and gently kissed his wife on the forehead. She’d been waiting up for him and had fallen asleep on the couch watching one of her favorite movies, Mildred Pierce, starring Joan Crawford. It was still playing in the VCR. Mildred’s daughter, Veda, had just had been revealed as Monty Berrigan’s murderer, which meant it was almost over.
Sarah slowly opened her eyes and smiled. “Hi, sweetie!”
“Hey, babe,” he said. kissing her on the lips this time.
“Get a room, you two,” a voice said.
Noah laughed. “By the way, honey, we have guests.”
Sarah stood up from the couch. She knew that voice could only belong to one person. “Zacasaurus!” She ran over, tackled him, and began tickling him mercilessly.
“AHHHH!” he screamed. “Lemme go! Lemme go!”
Sarah stood up and pulled Zac to his feet.
“You better watch it, Noah,” Zac said with a smile. “I think your wife wants me.”
“You know it, Zac!” she said.
“Hey, Sarah,” Isaac said.
She gave him a warm hug and smile. “You know, Ike, if it wasn’t for this ring on my finger, I’d be after you.”
He blushed.
“Hey!” Zac said. “I thought I was the only man for you.”
“Oh, you!” Sarah said, mussing his hair. “So, where’s your brother?”
The smile disappeared from Zac’s face and Sarah thought she saw tears come to his eyes. Isaac just looked at the ground.
“What’d I say?”
“Sarah, honey, Taylor was kidnapped tonight,” Noah said.
“What? You’re joking, right?”
He put his arm around her. “I’m afraid not.”
“But how?”
Noah launched into the story of Taylor’s kidnapping. Sarah quickly noted that he told it like a newspaper article – telling the most important details first, then finally ending with the most miniscule. When he mentioned the part about the FBI agents tackling him to the ground, Zac snickered.
“What are you laughing at?” Noah said with a smile.
“You,” Zac replied. “You looked like a life-size Beanie Babie all sprawled out on the floor like that.”
They all laughed. “Thanks a lot! This is the thanks I get for buying you a hot fudge sundae.”
Sarah’s smile faded. “Oh, by the way, Jesse called for you tonight.”
“Jesse?”
“Yeah, he sounded all freaked out about something. He was in a panic to talk to you and when I mentioned you went downtown to do a story on Hanson, he hung up on me.”
“That’s really strange. I should probably call him back.”
“In a minute, okay, honey?” Sarah said with a serious look. To Isaac and Zac she said, “hey, guys, I need to talk to Noah for a second. There’s some cold pizza in the frig if you’re interested.”
“PIZZA!” Zac screamed.
Ike just rolled his eyes as they both walked off to the kitchen.
Noah shook his head. “Almost two hours ago that kid was crying over his ice cream – and Ike was breaking things. How do they bounce back like that?”
Sarah smiled. “Kids are tough. That’s how they cope, Noah. I see it all the time at the hospital.”
Noah quickly got up from the sofa. “Oh, crap! I gotta call Jesse.”
“Can’t that wait, Noah?”
“You said yourself something was wrong. It’ll only take a minute.”
“Fine.” Sarah had no problem hiding her anger.
Noah picked up the phone and dialed Jesse’s number. The line was busy.
“Busy,” he said. He grabbed his keys from the end table. “I’d better ride over there.”
“Dammit, Noah!”
He stopped. He got that confused look on his face that Sarah normally found adorable – just not right now. “What’s your problem, Sarah? He’s my best friend.”
“And I’m your wife!”
Ike and Zac, who weren’t exactly out of the conversation due to the open kitchen, both looked at each other.
“He only lives a few minutes away. I’ll be back before you know it. We’ll talk then.” He opened the door to leave.
She stood up from the couch. “Noah,” she tried to sound calm but there was an edge to her voice. “I haven’t seen you all day, you just brought home two guests,” her voice began rising in volume, “and I have something VERY important to talk to you about.” She realized her tone and corrected it. “Besides the fact that it’s very late.”
He started to protest.
“If Jesse needs you that badly then he’ll call you again. Until then, I need you to please sit down and listen to what I have to say.”
Noah dropped his keys into his pocket and gently took his wife by the hand. “Uh, guys?” he said, a little embarrassed. “Sarah and I are going to step outside for a minute. Make yourselves at home.”
Walker Hanson had finally drifted off to sleep when he heard a light tap on the door. He muttered something unintelligible as he rolled off the bed. Things had finally gotten quiet with the two boys gone and he was trying to get some rest. He’d been trying to place the kidnapper’s voice but hadn’t been able to. He knew he’d heard it before but it just wouldn’t come to him.
He stumbled to the door and opened it, rubbing his eyes. “Inspector? Anything new?”
Doubleday offered a weak smile. “Why don’t you call me Frank, Mr. Hanson? We need to talk.”
Walker put his finger to his lips. “Diana is finally asleep. We’ll have to talk out here.”
He shut the door and stepped out into the hall.
“A witness has come forward.”
That got Walker’s attention. “Really? What did they say?”
“I’m afraid it’s not much. They were able to ID a white van in the vicinity of the park. Someone claims to have seen a man looking awfully suspicious.”
“Did they get a tag number?”
“No, I’m afraid not. But we’re checking the computer for white vans registered in Douglas County. We think that’s where this guy is since he asked you to meet him there. Not very scientific reasoning but this guy is no pro.”
“You know, something has been really bugging me about this guy.”
“What’s that?”
“His voice – I swear I recognized his voice. I just can’t remember where from.”
“Is there anyone you can think of who might hold a grudge against you?”
Walker thought for a moment. “I seriously can’t think of anyone. Well – not that would take it this far anyway.”
“Any names would help, Mr. Hanson. We’ll run a check on the van and get back to you, okay?”
“Okay, thanks Frank.” Walker opened the door and stumbled back to his bed. He lay staring at the ceiling, racking his brain. Nothing would come. Before he knew it, he’d drifted back to sleep.
Abraham had literally dragged his son up the stairs and into the living room. He’d thrown Jesse onto the couch and went back to lock the basement door. Setting the bat onto the coffee table, he took another drink from a new bottle of Jack Daniels.
“What the hell did you think you were doing down there, huh?”
Jesse just stared at his father with bitter hatred and rage.
“You tryin’ to play the hero – turn your crazy old man in?”
Jesse’s eye was red and swollen. Blood was coming from his nose. Anger seethed through his entire body, but he kept his mouth shut for now.
“You never could appreciate anything I ever did for you. I loved your Mother, Jesse, but she spoiled you rotten. I tried to tell her but she wouldn’t listen.”
He got up and took another drink.
“You’ve done nothing but defy me since the day she died. I’m your Father, dammit, and I –“
Jesse raised himself up. “You’re not my father, you freaking psychopath! The man who was my Father died five years ago. As far as I’m concerned, he’s buried in the ground with my Mother.”
Thud!
Abraham’s fist connected with Jesse’s jaw, sending Jesse to the floor.
“You just don’t quit, do you? I guess I’ll have to teach you a lesson.”
Abraham reached for the baseball bat. Jesse, fueled by adrenaline, stood and rushed at his father. “Nooooooooo!”
Jesse collided with his father, knocking him to the floor. He violently began punching for all he was worth. His fist connected with any body part he could find. His father, stunned by Jesse’s attack, began to laugh.
“You little son-of-a-bitch!”
As strong as the hatred that fueled Jesse’s anger made him, he was still no match for his Father. Abraham grabbed him by the arms and effortlessly tossed him away. Jesse landed square on the coffee table, which collapsed to the floor.
“Damn you to hell, you little shit!” Abraham said. He kicked Jesse in the stomach. “I’ll teach you to turn against your own flesh-and-blood!”
Jesse’s body sang with pain. He saw colors and shapes before his eyes. His body pleaded with him to give up – to shut down. But the anger seething through his veins forced him to stand and fight. He rolled over on his side and made himself stand up. Jesse looked his Father straight in the eye. “I hate you.” He swung his fist with all his might, connecting with his father’s eye.
Abraham fell into the recliner, knocking it backwards. He did a somersault before landing with a thud to the floor. Dazed and confused, he slowly stood and grabbed the small, wooden stand that sat next to his chair, scattering its contents. It was small and flimsy, only about two feet high. He swung it hard. It splintered when it connected with Jesse’s weak body, sending Jesse to the floor again.
Abraham walked over and grabbed his son by the hair again, lifting him up onto the couch. “Now you sit there and listen to what I have to say, dammit. You keep your freaking mouth shut.”
“Look, Sarah, I’m sorry,” Noah began. They’d been standing outside in the muggy evening, their clothes beginning to stick to them, for almost ten minutes without one word spoken. “Its just that with Taylor being kidnapped, and Marshall asking me to write that story, which I refuse to do, which will probably mean losing my job, I’m just a tad preoccupied.”
Sarah sat down on the steps. The expression on her face told nothing.
“And now with Jesse,” Noah continued, “I don’t know if I’m going or coming. This whole thing is just so overwhelming.”
She laughed.
“What?”
She stood up and walked away from him. “You can be pretty selfish sometimes, you know that?”
He stopped. “Come again?”
“I brought you out here to talk about me and you’ve done nothing but whine and complain about your own problems.”
“You haven’t said anything! We’ve been out here for ten minutes and you haven’t said a word.”
“Maybe I was waiting for you to ask me what was wrong. Maybe I was hoping you’d take your eyes off of yourself and look at someone else for a change.”
“That’s not fair, Sarah.”
She turned to face him. He had that clueless look again. He just didn’t get it. “Fair? Jeez, Noah! What’s not fair is you caring more about your best friend and three teenage boys more than your own wife!”
“For crying out loud, Sarah, Taylor was kidnapped! He’s gone! And I’m gonna lose my job if I don’t betray everything I believe in to write a story about it. Do you have any idea what those three kids mean to me?”
“Well, maybe you should have married them instead.”
“I can’t believe you just said that.”
“And I can’t believe you’d be this insensitive.”
Noah threw his hands in the air. “Alright, Sarah, I give up. Will you please reveal the Final Jeopardy answer so we can move on with our lives!”
She didn’t miss a beat. “The category: Major Jerks in History. The answer: This inconsiderate cheesehead refused to listen to his wife while she was trying to tell him she was pregnant. The question: Who is Noah Barnes?”
Sarah turned and walked back into the apartment and slammed the door behind her. Noah stood there for a moment in shock, not knowing what to think. He finally took his car keys from his pocket and walked up the stairs to the parking lot.
Abraham and Jesse sat opposite one another amid the mess they’d created during they’re fight. Their eyes were swollen and their faces red from the beating they’d both taken. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut into slices and serve up on a platter. Anger filled the room like the smell of garbage baking in the summer sun. It was Abraham who finally broke the silence.
“You know, Jess, I did this for you.”
Jesse looked at his father like he’d grown another head. “What on earth are you talking about? What do you mean you did this for me?”
“He ruined our lives, Jesse.”
Jesse was astounded. “Taylor Hanson?”
Abraham shook his head, taking another hit of Jack. He’d calmed down considerably since their fight, a sign that the liquor was beginning to lull him into the comatose state that Jesse had become so familiar with. “Not him. His father.”
“Come on, Dad. Tell me why you did this. You owe me that much.”
Abraham stood up. Jesse coiled back, ready for another fight. Instead, his father walked past him to the front window. “You remember when I worked for Helmerich and Payne, right?”
“Of course, I do, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, I gave them fifteen years. I had five years seniority over that clown. But he comes in, kisses a little butt, and gets promoted ahead of me. He got this job with our office in South America – a job I was up for. Hell, I made such a stink about it that they fired me. That’s when everything went wrong. The job market in Tulsa sucked and your mother had family here and I had hope of finding a job.” He stopped and looked to his son. “Well, you know the rest – your mom, bless her heart, she just couldn’t deal with it.”
He walked back to his recliner and sat down.
“And every time I see those little Hanson fairies on television, it twists the knife a little deeper. That piece of crap Walker Hanson. He killed your mother.”
Jesse sat silent for moment, trying to register it all, trying to make sense of the madness. The more he thought about it, however, the more ridiculous it seemed. He’d heard more logical reasoning to prove the existence of UFO’s and that Elvis was still alive. All he could do was laugh – a hearty, bellowing laughter from deep within his soul. It hurt immensely, but he couldn’t help it – he couldn’t stop laughing.
“What are you laughing at?”
Jesse shook his head. “You’re crazy, Dad. You’ve completely and totally lost your mind. All I hear is some pathetic old man with a lot of regrets blaming everybody but himself for the crappy hand he’s been dealt. You know something, Dad? It doesn’t work like that. If you taught me anything in my life, it was to take responsibility for my own actions.” His voice was growing louder with each breath he took. “But that’s not what you’re doing here, is it? You’re using that fifteen-year-old kid in the basement as an excuse to keep from looking at your own sad, pathetic life and realizing that you were ultimately responsible.”
Jesse waited for his Dad to protest, to hit him – anything. When he didn’t, Jesse continued. “I’m sorry you lost that job to Walker Hanson and I’m sorry that Mom died. But he didn’t kill her. She died Dad – people die. And even if he had shot her in cold blood that does not give you the right to beat the shit out of someone who had absolutely nothing to do with it! What were you thinking when you took him, Dad? Huh? What could have possibly been going through your mind? It’s insane! You need to get your head out of your ass and realize how incredibly stupid all this is.”
He stood and walked towards the kitchen – there was a wall-mounted phone next to the basement door.
“Where do you think you’re going, Jesse?” Abraham said, standing up from his chair and retrieving the baseball bat in the process. He followed his son to the kitchen.
“I’m calling the cops, Dad. This has got to end here.” He picked up the phone.
“Put down the phone, Jesse.”
“Forget it, Dad. It’s over.”
Thud! Smash!
The telephone exploded into a million pieces. Jesse stood there in shock, still holding the receiver in his hand. Fear paralyzed his body – he couldn’t move.
Abraham threw the bat down and grabbed his son, shaking him. “You traitor! You’d actually turn your own Father in! I’m ashamed to even call you son.”
Abraham wrapped one arm around Jesse and unlocked the basement door. Jesse squirmed to break free, but his father’s grip was strong. Abraham opened the door and threw his son down the stairs. “There. Stay down there until I figure out what to do with you.”
Jesse tumbled down the stairs and landed, hitting his head on the concrete. His mind was spinning in a million different directions, his body was shutting down – the fear and the pain had taken their toll. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Taylor Hanson, standing in the shadows, terror plastered on the young man’s face.
Sometimes she just doesn’t get it!
Noah Barnes had absolutely no idea where he’d planned on going when he’d stormed up to the parking lot with car keys in hand. For the last ten minutes he’d been sitting behind the wheel thinking about his discussion with Sarah. Sometimes she just didn’t get it. Why did she have to be like this? Didn’t she understand everything that he’d gone through in the last few hours? What was fair about her attacking him like that? Didn’t she understand what he’d been through that day?
What is her problem?
His father, before he died, had always joked that women never made sense. Noah never fully realized what he’d meant until he’d gotten married. It was like he’d woken up the day after the wedding married to a totally different person.
Will the mystery guest please sign in?
He snickered. Sarah was so wonderful but he just didn’t understand her sometimes. Why she expected him to be a mind reader was beyond him. But it seemed that he always was missing out on some piece of the puzzle. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d been tempted to ask her if he could buy a vowel. He knew better -- when she was in those moods his sarcasm was not appreciated.
I’m selfish sometimes? What about her?
Apparently it didn’t matter to her that his best friend was suffering from some unknown crisis, another one of his friends had been kidnapped, and he was about to lose his job. Those things had completely and totally gone above her head. He was selfish?
Come on, Sarah, it works both --
He stopped. What had she said?
Pregnant.
Surely not.
Pregnant.
He must have been mistaken -- he must have misheard her.
Pregnant.
There it came again -- that word.
Sarah is pregnant!
A smile crossed his lips. He grabbed the keys from the ignition, got out of the car, and rushed back downstairs to his apartment. When he opened the door, he noticed Zac and Ike seated on the couch, the pizza box opened in front of them. Zac was cramming a slice into his mouth with one hand and holding an opened can of Coke with the other. Noah laughed to himself as he realized the deadly combination of Zac Hanson and caffeine.
They had rewound the movie and both seemed engrossed in it. Mildred’s first husband Burt had just been seen by Veda and Kay, Mildred’s daughter’s, packing his car and driving away. Zac looked up to him and laughed.
“Man, you must have really screwed up -- she’s furious! We’re talking flowers, candy, and one of those diamond tennis bracelets!”
Ike slapped his brother on the head. “Shut up, dork!
Noah smiled -- he was giddy with excitement. “Sarah’s pregnant, guys!”
Zac choked on a pepperoni, going into a coughing fit. Isaac whacked him on the back. “Thanks, man,” he said. “You saved my life.”
Isaac smiled. “That’s great, Noah. Congratulations.”
“Yeah, cool! A little kid running around. You can name it Zac!”
Noah laughed. “Thanks, guys.” He turned to walk down the hall but stopped. “Oh, Zac?”
“Yeah?”
“The movie -- Mildred Pierce. Veda is the killer.” He offered a smirk and walked down the hall toward his bedroom, where he knocked on the door. Zac could be heard yelling, “D’oh!”
“Sarah?” He said knocking on the door. He opened it and stepped inside. Sarah was sitting on the bed clutching a pillow. She’d been crying. He walked over and sat down next to her. “Sarah, honey, I’m so sorry.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s just that with everything going on with Taylor, Jesse, and Marshall, I didn’t take the time to think that something might be wrong with you too. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.”
“Noah, baby, I’m sorry too.” She pulled him close to her in a tight embrace. “I was just so scared that you were going to hate me --”
Noah pulled away from her and looked her in the eye. “Why on earth would I ever hate you?”
She wiped the tears from her face. “Well, when I brought it up not too long ago you went crazy. I thought you hated the idea of having a baby.”
He smiled, remembering the conversation well. She had freaked him out -- and he had overreacted. “But I thought you were talking hypothetically, Sarah. It’s a whole lot different when it’s really happening.”
“So you’re not mad at me?”
“Oh, honey, no,” Noah replied. “Granted this isn’t the best time for us to be having a baby but we’ll manage. I think it’s wonderful. Although --”
“What?”
“Zac wants us to name it after him.”
She busted out laughing. Noah loved to see her laugh. “Come here you!” he said, pushing her down onto the bed and kissing her longingly.
“Watch it, Romeo,” she giggled. “This is what got us into trouble in the first place.”
“I love trouble,” he said between kisses. “I excel at trouble. Trouble is my middle name.”
He kissed her again but was interrupted by a knock at the door. The door opened and Zac appeared. “Oh, man, are you guys at it again?”
Chapter Seven
Chapter Five
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