Outrunning Villainy

Chapter 8: The Police Snitch

Chapter 8: The Police Snitch





Evan had finally drifted off the sleep. The stress of the day drained him, but his mind was far too excited to sleep. Slowly, though, sleep overtook him. He’d forgotten to turn off his cell phone. It made its usual sounds. Groggily, he leaned over and answered.


“Evan, it’s Andrew.”


Evan was instantly awake, “Where are you?”


“I’m in North Dakota.”


“Why?”


“I thought we were going to be arrested.”


“You were.”


“Then it was good we left when we did.”


“Are you guilty?”


“No.”


“Then why did you run away?”


Andrew sat quietly on the other end. He had to phrase his reply exactly to avoid further damage. He weighed the options.


“I was afraid. I don’t want to go to prison.”


“If you are innocent, you won’t. You are innocent, right?”


“Yes…I didn’t do anything wrong.”


“Except to run away. This makes you look guilty even if you aren’t.”


“I know. I know. I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly.”


“You planned ahead enough to buy a car for the getaway.”


“How did you…the account.”


“Yes…the account.”


“Did you tell the police about my offshore account?”


“Yes. I had to. I wasn’t about to withhold evidence. Besides, they still think you are guilty. They’re going to find you, Andrew. You can only run and hide for so long.”


“Why do they still think I’m guilty? Aren’t they smart enough to find the real culprit?”


“I’m not so sure you aren’t the real culprit.”


“Evan! Why do you think I did it? You should know me better than that.”


“They found her, Andrew.”


“They did? That’s great.”


“Oh really? They found her in your self-storage unit.”


“What?!?”


“That’s right. If you are innocent, you have got a whole lot of explaining to do. You’re going to have a tough time tap dancing your way out of this one.”


“I had no idea.”


“Engrid’s not really involved is she?”


“No. I convinced her that she would go to prison for the rest of her life if she stayed behind. She didn’t want to leave and she had absolutely nothing to do with the kidnapping and neither do I.”


“Then come home, Andrew. If you’re innocent and you promise me you had nothing to do with this, I’ll stand by you.”


“Really?”


“Of course I will. I love you. I want to help you. But you can’t go running off to North Dakota or wherever every time something bad happens. If we’re going to fight our battles together, we can’t be a thousand miles and half a dozen states apart. If we’re going to stand by each other, we’ve got to be together.”


Andrew breathed an audible sigh of relief, “At least you believe me.”


“I do. Now come home.”


“But what if the police don’t believe me? If someone put her in my self-storage unit, they know who I am and they are trying to get me in trouble. Who in the world would try to do something like this?”


“I don’t know. I can’t imagine what you might have done to have enemies who would do something that bad just to get you thrown in prison.”


“Engrid and I are leaving in the morning. We’ll be home soon.”


“I’m glad to hear it. I’ll see you when you get here!”


“Thanks for sticking with me.”


“Get some sleep. You’ve got a long drive ahead of you.”


“Good night.”


Andrew flew out of his room and down the corridor. Engrid had the door open and was fishing cash out of her billfold to pay the pizza delivery guy. Andrew blew past him and into the room. She handed the guy $30 and he thanked her and left.


“We’ve got big problems.”


“What now?”


“They found Amanda.”


“That’s great! Why is this a problem?”


“They found her in my self-storage unit out on Route 5.”


“What!” She whispered loudly, still holding the hot pizza box in her hand.


“I know. I have no idea how she got there. But I just talked to Evan and the police really think I did it. I think I convinced him that I’m innocent. He was ready to believe that you’re innocent. I don’t think anyone really thought you would do something like this.”


“Of course I wouldn’t. And neither would you.”


“So, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”


“I was all excited to go home.”


“You are going home. I’m taking you to the airport first thing in the morning and putting you on the first flight out of here.”


“Oh. Then what are you going to do?”


“I have the rest of the night to decide. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep going or if I’m going to go back too.”


Evan rolled back over to go to sleep. He had a gnawing feeling that Andrew was lying. After all the thinking he did earlier in the day, he wasn’t so easily convinced that Andrew was as sweet and innocent as everyone had assumed up until the recent events. He picked up his cell phone. He took a sticky note out of the nightstand and wrote down the number that Andrew had called from. He dialed the phone.


A sleepy voice answered, “Richard Sørenson…who is this?”


“This is Evan Grayson…I received a phone call from Andrew. I have the number if you want to trace it.”


“Sure…let me get a pen.” Agent Sørenson wrote down the number and thanked Evan for the information. He phoned it in. Jimmy was on duty at the front desk.


“I can run it through Google if you want me to.”


“Yes…do that. Tell me if this number comes up.”


Jimmy typed the telephone number into the search engine and pressed ‘search.’


“It’s a Holiday Inn hotel in Fargo, North Dakota,” he reported back.


“Get the Fargo police on the line. I want to talk to them immediately.”


Jimmy put Agent Sørenson on hold while he ran another search to get the phone number for the Fargo police department.


“Fargo Police.”


“Hello…this is Jimmy Behr with the Deerfield police in Deerfield, South Carolina. I have Agent Richard Sørenson on the line from our State Law Enforcement Division.”


“Who does he need to speak to?”


“I’m not sure. We are pursuing a suspected kidnapper and we have reason to believe that he is in Fargo.”


“I will get the Chief on the line. Hold on a moment.”


Music played in Jimmy’s ear as he waited for whoever was at the front desk of the Fargo precinct he’d called to rouse the chief of police. A minute later, another sleepy voice was being beamed through the telephonic system.


“Chief Pendergast here.”


Jimmy switched the lines over. Agent Sørenson explained the situation to the police chief who then dispatched several units to the Holiday Inn out by the interstate.


The police sirens screamed through the North Dakotan night as Engrid and Andrew nervously munched on their freshly delivered pepperoni pizza. Little did they know that Evan was now a police stooge and no longer on their side. Little did they know that Dora had become convinced of Andrew’s guilt and Engrid’s complicity as well. Their high hopes about returning home to exoneration were squelched by Andrew’s ill-fated telephone call. Now it was a toss-up whether or not they should go back. Engrid’s disappointment was magnified because she had finally allowed herself to believe that this whole mess would be over shortly when Andrew barged through her hotel room door and informed her that life had just gotten a lot worse.


         “I’m going to go get more ice,” Engrid said as she retrieved her bucket and walked off down the hallway towards the ice machine by the stairs, “I’m still thirsty.”


         Andrew nodded his agreement and off she went. Engrid stood by the ice machine holding the button. Over the cacophony of the ice machine, she thought she heard something. She released the button and silence returned to the small alcove by the stairs. It was police sirens. They pierced the night. Engrid’s pulse raced. Were they after her? Were the police going about their business responding to some 911 call? The alcove with the ice machine was at the end of the hallway. There was a window that overlooked the surrounding neighborhood and the parking lot below. She cradled the ice bucket and watched from the 3rd floor window. She could see the faint flicker of red and blue lights. Hopefully they were responding to an unrelated 911 call.


         Her hopes were permanently dashed when three police cars zoomed into the parking lot and screeched to a halt. Engrid threw down the ice bucket and ran as quickly as her ancient legs would carry her back toward her room. She slammed her key card into the door and threw open her door.


         “We’ve got to get out of here.”


         “Why? What’s happened?”


         “The police are outside! We’ve got to hurry.” She threw her things in the suitcase and zipped it up and ran out of the door. Andrew went back to his room and did the same. The pair zipped down to the end of the hallway and into the stairwell. Once the heavy metal door slammed shut, they listened intently to the silence. Hopefully the police would just take the elevator. They could hear faint noises down below. Was it the police? Was it a member of the staff doing routine duties? What could that sound be? It was the sound of boots on the stairs. The police were coming up the stairs. Surely they were watching the elevators too.


         Engrid’s face was a contorted mix of fear and horror, “What do we do?”


         Andrew opened the stairwell door and motioned for her to follow him out into the corridor. He ducked around to the ice machine alcove and looked through the window at the police cars and the sea of red and blue lights flashing below. There was a small door at the back of the ice machine’s space. Mercifully, the janitorial closet was unlocked. Andrew and his suitcase rolled into the closet followed closely by Engrid and her suitcase.


         Andrew whispered, “I’ll conceal the suitcases, you find a good hiding place.”


         Engrid scrambled around looking for a place to hide from the police. How had all this happened? 72 hours ago, she was a retired schoolteacher quietly living out her life in a small southern town. How had her life become such a disaster area so quickly? She looked around and found a large, partially empty box of toilet paper rolls. The flaps were still in place.


         “Andrew!”


         “What?” He whispered back, as he hid the suitcases behind some boxes under a tarpaulin.


         “I’m going to get in this box…fold the flaps down so it won’t look like there’s anybody inside. Please?”


         “Yeah, sure, get inside.”


         Engrid stood on an overturned bucket and climbed into the cardboard box. The interior was not as spacious as she’d hoped or as spacious as it had looked. It would have to do since it was the only option she could find for a hiding place.


         “Where are you going to hide?”


         “I don’t know yet. Are you okay in there?”


         “It’ll have to do, I guess.”


         “I’m going to go hide now. Be very quiet!”


         She scowled, “Oh really? I was going to sing opera while we waited to be arrested.”


         Andrew didn’t reply. He grabbed a few towels off the shelf and hurried out of the janitorial closet. He soundlessly closed the door. He could hear the police milling around down the hall. He dared not peek around the corner to see what they were up to. Their rooms had been compromised. Andrew, quietly as he possibly could, lifted the lid off the ice machine. He unfolded the towels and threw them in on top of the ice. Listening to make sure the police weren’t approaching, he climbed inside the ice machine and lowered the lid back into place. His heart was racing a mile a minute. The warmth of his body was melting the surface of the ice and its coldness seeped through the dampened towels. His legs started to get cold. Within moments, he was shivering. While it seemed the only option, he now wished he’d tried to find another hiding place. The ice machine was creative but uncomfortable.


         Engrid kept adjusting her weight as the edges of the toilet paper rolls were not as soft as one might imagine. After a while, her weight pressed into them and she tried to burrow out a space where she wasn’t exposed to what were, when laid on their end, surprisingly unforgiving paperboard spools. She wondered where Andrew might be hiding. She’d heard him leave. Surely the police were up here by now. They were only on the third floor. The only place she could imagine he might hide would be in the ice machine…if that was even possible. Unless there was a ledge outside and he’s crawled out of the window. She decided he couldn’t do that because the police cars were directly beneath and so he would have been spotted instantly by onlookers. She clutched her purse to her chest for dear life. It was the closest thing to a safety blanket she had at the moment- even though it now contained ID claiming her to be Rebecca Peterson, married to a cute, wiry 25-year-old guy.


         The cute, wiry, 25-year-old husband of octogenarian Rebecca Peterson was still hiding in the ice machine hoping beyond hope that the police would think they’d missed the perpetrators and report back to South Carolina that they were gone. He could still hear the muffled rustling of the police moving down the hallway. The faint rustling was getting louder. They were approaching. He could hear their voices. They were instructed by their commanding officer to search the hotel room by room if necessary. He could hear them pause and the voices stopped. What was happening out there? He could hear the boots tiptoeing past him. They were headed for the janitorial supply closet.


         Andrew muttered under his breath, “Just let them not find her…don’t let them look in that box…pleeeease.” The sweat from his nervousness turned instantly cold when it hit the air of the interior of the ice machine. Engrid was still trying to find a comfortable position. She’d been lying still for a while but her hair rollers were stabbing into the back of her head. She’d forgotten in the fear and panic of the moment, that’s she’d put her hot rollers in her hair after she’d finished her shower. She failed to hear the janitorial closet door opening. The police were being excessively quiet hoping to catch the suspected kidnappers.


         Andy van Uuden stood motionless, he waved to his comrades. He’d thought he’d seen a large box moving slightly. It was an ever so slight motion, but it was enough to get his attention. The others gathered behind him and Andy reached towards the flaps of the cardboard box. He yanked them open and Engrid shrieked with surprise. Andrew rolled his eyes…so much for hiding. At least Engrid didn’t know where he was hiding so she couldn’t give him up when interrogated by the police.


         Andy looked surprised too, seeing a woman of such advanced years with a head full of pink hot rollers hiding in a toilet paper box. “Engrid Matthews of Deerfield, South Carolina?”


         “No…my name is Rebecca Peterson of Davenport, Iowa.”


         “I’ll need to see some ID, Ms. Peterson.”


         “Of course…”she fished around in her purse and withdrew her new license. She glanced at it first to make sure she wasn’t going to hand over the driver’s license that said, “Engrid Matthews, Deerfield, SC.”


         Andy took the license from her. He examined it. It did look like an official Iowan driver’s license.


         “What are you doing hiding in here?”


         “I’m afraid of my son.”


         “Has he hurt you?”


         “Yes.”


         “What’s your son’s name, ma’am?”


         “Gary Atchison, sir. We live in the same house. I made a run for it and I think he might have caught up with me and my husband. He beats us both but mostly he attacked Andrew!”


         “Why does he do that?”


         “He doesn’t like my husband. He thinks he’s a gold digger.”


         “Is he?”


         “No…he’s wealthy…I’m a retired schoolteacher. If anything, I’m the gold digger.”


         “Ma’am, get out of that box. We’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt you anymore.”


         “Thank you.”


         “Where’s your husband hiding?”


         “I’m not sure, I’ll find him though. I’m sure you have more important things to tend to.


         “We’ll make sure you’re both safe.”


         “Thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver. What’s your name?”


         Andy was flattered, “Andy van Uuden. I’m from right here in Fargo.”


         “That’s nice, Andy. I’m originally from Sioux Falls and my husband is from Minneapolis. I moved to Davenport a few years ago and my 50 year-old son moved in with us not long after that. Then I married Andrew and so Gary, my son, got really mad at me and that’s why we’re here. We were going to leave him behind. Once time, he called the police on us claiming that we had kidnapped someone. It’s was bizarre. I ended up spending the night in jail…it was just awful. So, when the police showed up, I figured Gary found out where we were staying and pulled the same stunt again. I just couldn’t stand the idea of going to jail again, so we hid in here hoping you would go away on your own.”


         Andy looked apologetic, “I’m sorry we bothered you ma’am.”


         “It’s okay. It’s not your fault…not at all.”


         “Well, I think we’d better leave. We’ll call your son and let him know that we are on to him and if he tries to do this again, we’ll have him arrested.”


         “You don’t have to do that. I’ll give him a good chewing out later.”


         “Are you sure? I don’t mind calling him.”


         “No, no that’s okay. I’ve been dealing with him for many years. If you call, that will only make him angrier and more determined”


         “Well, okay then. If you’re sure…we can report domestic violence.”


         “It’s not violence. That’s such a terrible word…it just sounds nasty.”


         “It is nasty. Are you sure you are okay, ma’am?”


         “I am. Thanks for asking, though, that was really sweet of you.”


         Andy commanded his troops, “Alright guys, let’s get out of here and let this nice lady get some sleep.”


         “Thank you for following up. It was a mistake this time, but you boys keep up the good work and keep the streets safe for little old ladies like me.”


         “We will ma’am, you have a good night.” Andy shook Engrid’s hand and his crew turned and left the janitorial closet.


         She dusted herself off and retrieved the suitcases from behind the gray metal shelving. She poked her head out of the door. She tiptoed over to the edge just in time to see Andy and his team step onto the elevator and the doors glide closed.


         “Andrew!” she whispered to the side of the ice machine, “It’s me, Engrid…are you in there? It’s okay- I got rid of the police.”


         The lid of the ice machine rustled a little bit. Andrew’s eyes peered over the edge.


         “What did you tell them?”


         “That I was hiding from my abusive son.”


         “And they believed you?”


         “Hook line and sinker.”


         “Good. But it is best if we go ahead and leave.”


         “I agree. I guess we won’t be going back to Deerfield, eh?”


         “No, I don’t think that would be a wise choice.”


         “I’ve got our suitcases; I guess we’d better go directly to the car.”


         “It’s parked around back. As long as the police are all out front, we should be able to get away without being spotted.”


         “Let’s go!” Engrid grabbed the handle of her suitcase and rolled out into the corridor.


         “I still can’t believe they fell for it.”


         “You asked for divine intervention,” Engrid smiled.


         “I didn’t expect this.”


         “God works in mysterious ways,” Engrid stated.


         Andrew followed quickly behind as they hurried toward the back stairwell that led to freedom. They might actually be able to get away after all. They hurried down the stairs to the main floor and scooted down the hallway towards the hotel’s rear entrance. Engrid kept glancing over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed and hadn’t been spotted by any police who might still be roaming the scene. Andrew hit the metal bar and the door opened. They rushed across the parking lot. Andrew unlocked the trunk and threw the suitcases inside. Once in the car, they crouched down to make sure the coast was clear. Neither saw anything or anyone prowling around. Andrew started the car and backed out of the space. As they turned around the corner of the hotel, Andy was standing in front of his patrol car talking on his cell phone.


         He noticed their car and thought it odd that they were leaving while she was still in her nightgown and curlers. Engrid made a point not to make eye contact as they drove past the gaggle of patrol cars. Andy noticed that the man driving couldn’t be her husband. He was a young guy, not much older than himself. The officer from South Carolina said that it was an old woman traveling with a much, much younger man. As the little Toyota turned onto the street, Andy got all the confirmation he needed. There was a South Carolina license plate staring back at him, palmetto tree and all.


         “Holy crap!” Andy exclaimed, snapping his cell phone shut, “After them! Those are the folks we’re after!” His look of astonishment faded into anger when he realized that he’d been duped. He’d been fooled by a little old lady in a toilet paper box. He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation with his superior when it was revealed that he’d shaken hands with the suspect and even had a conversation with her and she still got away. If this cost him a promotion, he really would be outraged at the little old biddy from South Carolina.


         Andy jumped in his cruiser as the rest of his crew got in their respective patrol cars and sped off after the suspects. His face burned with the humiliation of her deceit. He guided his white Ford Crown Victoria onto Langenhouven Avenue and down the dark Fargo streets, lights and sirens blaring.


         Andrew looked in the rear view mirror and was mortified to see that the police were after him. He floored it and tires squalling flew out onto I-94 eastbound and made a beeline for the Minnesota state line. If they could just evade the Fargo Police for just a few more minutes, they could buy themselves a few more minutes before the Minnesotan police could get in gear to block them.


         Andy van Uuden radioed back to headquarters to report that the suspects were on the run. The staff sergeant on duty called the chief of police yet again.


         “These people are starting to piss me off,” Chief Pendergast growled into the phone, “Get a hold of the Moorhead police and let them know what’s going on. I’m going to come into the office. I guess I’ll have to oversee this little fiasco myself. I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” He slammed down the phone.


         Andrew kept the little Toyota moving as fast as he could as the police cars rapidly gained on him. They pulled alongside and Andy shouted into his loudspeaker, “Pull over your vehicle immediately!” Andrew and Engrid looked at each other then back at him.


         “Do it!” Engrid said, “I hope to God he still thinks I’m Mrs. Rebecca Peterson. I might be able to talk him down again.”


         “Andrew Michael Garrison and Engrid Mae Matthews of Deerfield, South Carolina…pull your car over this instant. I will not ask again!”


         “Oh my goodness he’s angry,” Engrid observed.


         “Thank you Captain Obvious. I think he’s figured out who we really are.”


         “Now what are we going to do?” Engrid frantically tried to think of something, but her mind was a blur and she couldn’t seem to force herself to focus.


“This isn’t going well…not well at all,” Engrid shook her head, dismayed.


“We’re almost to safety.”


“What does that mean?”


Andrew pointed up ahead, “Look. I just hope they mean it.”


Engrid looked up ahead to see what Andrew could possibly be talking about. It took a moment for her to realize what she was seeing. The sign said, “Minnesota Welcomes You!”


“I hope they mean it too…we could sure use some welcoming right about now.”


Engrid and Andrew’s car lurched to the side instantly after a loud pop.


“They just shot out our tires!” Andrew shouted as their car careened dangerously close to a concrete barricade. He managed to keep the car from crashing into the barricade, but only be inches. The car slid to a stop about three feet past the “Minnesota Welcomes You” sign.


Andy slammed on his brakes and the car came to a halt right on the North Dakota side of the state line. He leapt from his vehicle and drew his weapon. He pointed it at the back window of the stationary Toyota.


“Get out of the car with your hands up!” he shouted, the anger evident in his voice.


There was no immediate response from inside the vehicle.


“This is your last warning. I will take it as an act of aggression and open fire if you don’t exit the vehicle immediately.” He knew he couldn’t really do it, but he was hoping they wouldn’t call his bluff. Technically, they were in Moorhead, Minnesota so he couldn’t do anything…but he hoped they didn’t know that. The passenger and driver’s side doors slowly opened and the two fugitive escapees stepped out of the car and placed their hands on top of their heads. The jig was up…they’d been caught.





                                                 #





After he hung up the phone from talking to Agent Sørenson, Evan felt guilty. He realized that he’d just ratted out Andrew. He wondered how long it would take before Andrew was captured. Evan suddenly had a mental image of Andrew being pulled out of a cave all bedraggled like Saddam Hussein when he was finally captured by American troops after the second Gulf War. He pulled out this cell phone. He was curious about the area code. Why would Andrew being calling from Fargo? He keyed it into the browser of his phone and got the confirmation that that is where he was calling from.


Evan scrunched up his face at the phone…Fargo, Cass County, North Dakota?


“Oh Andrew, don’t tell me you were planning to leave the country? You must be guilty otherwise why on God’s green earth would you run so far so fast?”


Evan got out of bed and paced around the room. He still felt a little guilty even though all rational reasoning indicated that Andrew was completely and utterly guilty of the crimes of which he’d been accused. During the time when Amanda went missing him and Engrid were unaccounted for except for the fact that they were going to Columbia to find her…what they were actually up to, no one but them would know for sure. Then Amanda turns up in his self-storage unit and Andrew high tails it towards the Canadian border.


Evan picked up the phone and dialed Dora’s house. She answered the phone as if she was expecting it to ring.


“I hope I didn’t wake you.”


“No…I’m in the living room reading. I tried to sleep, but I’m just too upset. So I’m reading a little bit out of Ecclesiastes.”


“I’m upset too…I got a call from Andrew.”


“Really? Where is he?”


“Fargo, North Dakota.”


“What on earth?” Dora sat up in her armchair.


“He must have been on his way to Canada when his conscience caught up with him.”


“What did you say?”


“I’m not sure…it was dead to the world when he called so I’m a little fuzzy on who said what. I tried to convince him to come home and I think I succeeded.”


“Do you think we should tell Agent Sørenson about this?” Dora inquired.


“I already did. He’s following-up to see if they can find him.”


“You mean arrest him,” she clarified.


“As much as I hate to admit it, yes, they will probably arrest him.”


“I hope he and Engrid don’t get hurt. If they get more desperate and scared, who knows what might happen.”


“You don’t think the police would shoot them, do you?” Evan sounded genuinely worried at that prospect.


“I don’t know, Evan. At this point I guess anything is possible.”


Evan was silent for a moment. It never occurred to him in his dazed, sleepy state that turning Andrew in to the police might result in his death at the hands of a bullet. The thought that he might have inadvertently gotten Andrew killed was terrifying. While he hoped Andrew was innocent, he was afraid that he might be guilty. If he was guilty of kidnapping that young girl and stuffing her in tiny self-storage unit, he ought to be shot. If that was true, Andrew ought to be shot through the head like a rabid dog.


“I hope it doesn’t come to that. I keep hoping I’ll wake up and this will all be some terrible dream. I keep hoping that I’ll wake up and Andrew will be home and none of this will have happened.”


“Kind of like that time that Engrid dreamt that Grant murdered you and Andrew.”


“Yeah…except that Grant really did try to kill us. It’s just that Andrew was prepared and shot first. This is different though, I don’t want this to be a premonition. I want it to be just a standard dream from which you wake up and it takes you a few minutes to convince yourself it wasn’t real but ultimately it’s just a bizarre psychic discharge.”


“That would be ideal…but I think that’s the fantasy.”


“Unfortunately, you’re probably right.”


“I guess we don’t have a way to call Andrew to warn him, do we?”


“No. I don’t want to call the number back because I don’t want to implicate myself. That wouldn’t help and I don’t want to end up in jail or even under suspicion as an accomplice.”


“That sounds wise. So, are you going to work tomorrow?”


“Yeah…I have to. I need to get my mind off what’s happening here.”


“I understand.”


“Why are you reading Ecclesiastes? That’s such a depressing book, isn’t it? You should read something happier…more optimistic.”


“It is optimistic…sort of…it at least reminds you to keep your priorities in order”


“Oh.”


“It’s like this situation, it seems bleak and hopeless, but things will soon turn around and end up working out for the best.”


“I guess so. Doesn’t it start out saying something like, ‘"Meaningless! Meaningless! Says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.’”


“Very good, Evan. What’s the last chapter about?” Dora smirked a bit, testing Evan’s Bible knowledge at 2am.


He scratched his head momentarily, “Something about the dust returns to the earth from which it came and the spirit returns to the God who gave it.”


“Yes. I thought of poor Andrew and the rest of us when I read the first part of the chapter where it says, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them"- before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain.”


“See, that’s depressing to me.”


“I suppose so. I find it reassuring because to me, it’s the part of the Bible where the writer is talking to me. The rest of the Bible is the writer telling a story about other people and what happened to them…but Ecclesiastes is written to me. Then the very end says, ‘Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. God will bring every deed into judgment- including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.’ I just hope Andrew hasn’t done anything that would bring judgment.”


         “I don’t know, Dora. What if he has?”


         “It’s in God’s hands, then. We can’t do anything about it.”


“It’s in God’s hands,” Evan repeated, “On that note, I’m going to sleep.”


“Me too.”


“Good night.”


Evan hung up the phone and rolled over in bed, churning on what Dora had said. Dora sat in her armchair in her living room, churning over what Evan had said.





                                       #





Rather than his mind, it was Andrew’s stomach that was churning. He stood on the side of the interstate highway with his hands on top of his head as the police rapidly approached. He looked over at Engrid, who looked panic-stricken as well.


He felt the cold, prickly hands of fear running their bony hands up and down his spine. He looked at Engrid again and muttered, “Where is God now?”


Engrid shrugged.


Andy grabbed Andrew, spun him around and splayed him across the hood of the car. Pulling his hands back and handcuffing them firmly, he said, “You are under arrest for the kidnapping of Amanda Riverside.”


Engrid ducked down behind the cover of the car. The police were so focused, guns pointed at Andrew, they didn’t notice for a nanosecond that Engrid had ducked out of sight. She slid under the guardrail and slipped and stumbled down the gravel embankment to the surrounding neighborhood. Andy had pressed his luck enough stepping out of his jurisdiction into Minnesotan territory so he was afraid to pursue Engrid.


“Stop!” he shouted to her backside. He lifted his pistol in the air and fired a warning shot.


Engrid almost peed on herself when that gunshot pierced the night. She just knew they were shooting at her. She got onto the street as quickly as she could and disappeared into the night. He didn’t want to be in the center of some national incident of police overstepping their bounds. That would definitely be the case if she was eventually found innocent. Engrid was now out of sight. Andy’s radio crackled.


It was the police chief Pendergast. “Are they in custody?”


“Andrew Garrison is in custody.” A fellow officer escorted Andrew to the cruiser and shoved him into the backseat and slammed the door.


“What about the other one?”


“She got away.”


“She what? You mean to tell me that you couldn’t catch a 90 year old woman?”


“We were focused on the guy…she’s spryer than you think, sir.”


“I don’t care if she’s an Olympic track star, you catch her…tonight.”


“I can’t.”


“Why not?”


“She’s in Minnesota.”


“Then get the Moorhead police involved. Do what you need to; I want that woman back in South Carolina before the sun comes up.”


“Yes sir,” Andy replied. He turned back to his team…they’d heard the entire exchange.


Andy picked up his cell phone and dialed the Moorhead, Minnesota police.


Engrid hurried onto a quiet residential street. She looked behind her as she strode along. The police weren’t following her. They were still up on top of the embankment looking angry and distraught. She must be on the Minnesota side of the line. She had to get out of sight before the Moorhead police turned up to catch her. Once she was out of sight of the police-covered embankment, she slowed her stride so she wouldn’t draw too much attention. The October air in west-central Minnesota was chiller than she would have liked, her old nightgown didn’t retain much heat as a light breeze cut right through down to the skin. She still had her pink curlers in her hair. She hadn’t had an opportunity to change since their mad dash from the Holiday Inn in Fargo. She would soon have to get more clothes, since she had no way of retrieving her old ones from the car. It would surely be impounded and her stuff confiscated. She made her way through the neighborhood of tract houses until she got to the main road that went past the subdivision. The road sign she saw identified the road as US Highway 10.


“Okay, God, Andrew doesn’t believe in you the way I do, but he asked a pretty good question, where are you? This would be a good time for some help. I’m out here stranded in a strange city thousands of miles from home walking around in my nightgown in the middle of the night. My clothes are gone, I have no transportation, no place to sleep, no people who will help me…what do I do?”


She walked along the highway, not sure what she should do. The cold night air was settling deeper into her bones. She would have to find clothing and shelter soon. Her elderly body wouldn’t last long out here in the elements.


“What do you want me to do?” she kept asking God, “Please help me find some clothes…I’m getting so cold out here.”


She came to an intersection. It was where Highway 10 intersects 34th Street. She looked around, uncertain where to go from there. Looking up 34th street, she saw the most merciful thing she’d seen all day. It was a sign that she would be provided for. She dug around in the pocket of her nightgown. She’d somehow put her cash and a credit card in that pocket. She didn’t remember doing it but at some point she must have slipped it in there. Now she was grateful it was there. She walked quickly north on the street towards the blue sign that made her heart sing that dark, cold night.


“Wal-Mart Supercenter 24 Hours…” Those were the most beautiful words she’d ever read on a sign in her life. Her pace quickened as the cold continued to settle in. She rubbed her hands together to create as much frictional heat as she could to keep away hypothermia as the temperature dipped into the 30’s, the hem of her thin nightgown flapping in the increasing wind. To some it would not seem a miracle, but to Rebecca Peterson, nee Engrid Matthews, it was nothing less than divine intervention. She passed other shopping centers, dark and closed for the night, but the Wal-Mart stood brightly aglow, as though a mirage on a cold, deserted evening.


Engrid came into the parking lot and slipped behind a dumpster. She at least had to get the curlers out of her hair. While she was running short, she did have some dignity and personal pride left. She slipped the curlers out of her hair and fluffed her hair with her fingers a little bit to make it less obvious that her hair had not been properly coiffed. She stuffed the pink curlers into the pockets of her gown and moved back around to the front of the store. The automatic glass doors slid back effortlessly to reveal the bright, colorful, fluorescent lit interior of the mammoth big-box retailer.  Engrid tried not to make eye contact with anyone. She was embarrassed beyond words to be seen in public in such a terrible state of disrepair. However at that late hour, it was an injustice she would just have to suffer.


Once inside, she walked around the racks of clothes finding things that were about her size and were actually not bad looking. After she’d found a thick sweater, a pair of jeans, a tuque, a pair of gloves and a coat, she went and selected some athletic shoes and thermal socks that would help her begin her life as a bag lady in Minnesota. Engrid took her new outfit along with a few cozy undergarments to the check-out register.


The clerk behind the counter didn’t seem concerned until he looked down. He clicked on the flashing light to indicate that he would be requiring some assistance. Engrid looked around. There were no other customers about and thus she wasn’t sure what was going on. Her blood pressure spiked as it dawned on her; the police had already caught up with her. It seemed so obvious now…the police knew she was dressed in a nightgown and they knew that she would probably stumble onto the local Wal-Mart, they’d contacted store security and so they knew the instant she walked in who she was and what was going on. Her face reddened as the fear of being caught settled in on her. When was that poor old woman going to catch a break?


A stern looking woman approached, the cashier turned and ushered the stern looking woman to just out of earshot. They had a whispered conversation while glancing furtively in her direction. It was clear that neither was completely sure how to handle the situation. They were probably stalling until the police came blazing through the door and hauled her away. She thought about running, but maybe this was just some silly mix-up that would be easily solved.