Character Sketch

Chapter 13 - Search

Chapter 13


Search





         Jake paced liked a caged tiger.  Every minute of waiting, of inaction was excruciating. Michael had phoned a few minutes ago and said they were on their way with the blue prints of the catacombs and a search plan. Each building on campus had its own security guard and these had been elicited to search their buildings and the grounds around them. The local police had been notified and they had located Mitch’s car in the alley by Kaitlin and Elizabeth’s apartment. This meant unless Mitch had another car he was on foot somewhere and campus was his familiar haunt. The Character Sketch notebook and backpack they found at the student union were the only clue they had and it seemed to point to the catacombs.


         Jake and an officer had gone down the stairs and along a corridor but as soon as the hall branched off they went back. The officer convinced Jake unless they had a map they would get hopelessly lost within a few minutes. Three hours, she had been gone nearly three hours, knowing what the other girls had suffered at Mitch’s hands twisted Jake’s gut into knots. He walked the length of the student union lobby and back when he turned again toward the doors relief washed over him as he saw the police cars pull up.


         Sergeant Yeargin, grim faced came through the doors followed by several uniformed policemen, and Calvin, Jake’s roommate. Jake was glad also to see his friends from the research team trail in behind the police.


         “Hey, Calvin thanks for coming, how did you know?” Jake asked.


         “Your roommate found this taped to your apartment door.” Sergeant Yeargin handed Jake the Polaroid.


         Jake stared at the photo taking in the details. The look of terror on Kaitlin’s face, bruises, handcuffs, the bed and the bright red words written across the white margin at the bottom of the photo. ‘BY THE TIME YOU FIND HER SHE’LL BE DEAD!’ He felt his knees go weak.


         “s***.”


         Calvin grabbed Jake’s elbow. Jake’s worst nightmares were all realized in that picture.


         “Has Michael seen this? Hey, where is Michael?” Jake asked scanning the crowd.


         “No he hasn’t seen it, Sylvia, Elizabeth and he have gone to the municipal airport to pick up Mrs. Moore.” Sergeant Yeargin replied.


         “We aren’t going to loose another minute though, so here’s the plan.” He handed out copies of the catacombs. At the top of the maps were team numbers and the corridors each team was to search.


         “We are going out in two man teams, do not loose track of one another. Each team will search for one hour and then meet back at the stairwell of this building. Cell phones and walkie-talkies are not going to work underground so it’s imperative we rendezvous every hour. Officer Allen will be at the rendezvous point; I need a volunteer to wait in the lobby for the Moore’s.”


         Ben one of the guys from Jake’s research team volunteered to wait in the lobby.





         The teams consisted of a civilian and an officer equipped with flash lights and permanent markers. They would investigate every door an X above the door knob would indicate a locked door and an O would indicate unlocked and investigated. The corridors were actually fairly well lit with shop lighting overhead. It was just a matter of turning on switches. Six teams headed out in three different directions, talk was subdued and tension was high. Jake and Sergeant Yeargin walked together; they had taken a right at the first intersection while the team they had started with went straight. Off in the distance they could hear someone bang on a door and call out Kaitlin’s name. They came to their first set of doors and tried the knobs, the doors opened inward.





         The corridor stretched on for about 50 yards then ended with a dog leg to the left to her right another corridor branched off into the darkness. Kaitlin looked behind her at the scar etched in the cement floor. A nice trail for rescuers to follow but the only person who knew she was down here could follow it just as easily.  Her arms ached from the vibration and weight of dragging the heavy metal head board. She leaned against the wall to gather her strength and give her pounding head relief from the hideous scraping noise. The abuse she suffered had reopened her wounded scalp and knees, but the flow of blood was now stopped.


         She must frustrate Mitch’s attempts to find her. He said he wouldn’t come back but she didn’t know what outside forces might set him off and bring him here to finish the job.


         It was too awkward to carry the headboard in her arms. So she maneuvered it across her back and bent half way over. She proceeded down the corridor to her right. She thought she would not be able to carry it far but with her back doing the work the headboard seemed lighter to carry than to drag. It was also a relief not to have the noise that accompanied the dragging.


         She had not eaten since 2:30 and with all the trauma she was weakening fast. A set of stairs presented itself and Kaitlin decided it would be just as well to camp on the landing to give her some rest. A locked door stood at the top of the stairs.


         Kaitlin leaned the headboard against the door and sat down on the metal grate. The handcuff was able to slide down the side bar so she did not have to keep her arm elevated which was a blessing.


         She tried to close her eyes to rest but she was antsy. It was hard to just sit and do nothing when the danger felt so eminent. She said a little prayer asking for help and that someone would find her.


         A commercial popped into her head. It was one she remembered seeing as a little girl. A sink full of pots and pans; first just one or two started tapping and then it progressed until the whole sink of pans would clink together; tap, tap, tap,..tap…..tap…..tap…tap,tap,tap. three short, three long and three short. S.O.S. for the SOS pads.


         Who remembered Morris code?  Maybe someone would. She grabbed hold of the headboard and tapped it against the door. Three short, three long, three short, and then she repeated it again and again. She did it for a few minutes and then rested. How much time had passed? How late at night was it? Even if this door lead to a building it more than likely would be empty. She could not keep up a constant barrage but she would keep at it periodically until she felt rested. Tap, tap, tap….tap……tap…..tap…..tap,tap,tap.





         Mitch rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. He could hear voices echo through the corridors. He backed around the corner and stopped to listen. They were calling out her name. The rage burned, he had to get her before they did. He took off at a full run as he backtracked and circumvented the corridors near the student union building. He got lost twice when he found himself at a dead-end that he was sure would take him where he needed to go.  After a while he was able to get his bearings and was only a few turns away from his target. His mind registered the stripe on the floor running down the right side of the hall; he could not remember seeing it before. The final turn brought him up short because the door to the generator room stood open and the light in the hall was turned on. He ran into the room and flipped the switch only to remember he himself had broken the light. The light from the corridor was enough to show him the mattress leaning against the generator and the headboard missing from the frame of the bed.


         He let out a primordial howl as his rage boiled over. He ravaged the room hoping she was hiding behind the mattress or in the dark corner. He stood in the doorway looking down at the scar along the floor of the corridor. His laugh was unearthly and like a blood hound on the scent he bolted down the hall after his prey.





         The anatomy lab was a spooky place in the bright light of day for a lot of people but late at night it gave most students the creeps. Tracy had come to get in some time dissecting when she could work at her own pace. She was getting ready for the class she TAed she would be showing the musculature of the face. She pushed the pedal under the table that brought the body out of the fluid. She laid back the sheet that covered the cadaver only enough to expose the face. She put the instruments she would need to work on the tray.


         Tap, tap, tap. It startled her to hear a noise from the hall outside the lab. She pulled off her gloves and opened the lab door. The noise was louder out in the hall. Tap…..tap…..tap….. It was louder coming from the left. She followed it to a maintenance door.  Now she could hear a rhythm; three short taps, three long taps and three short taps. It stopped, someone was playing a joke she was sure. She turned to walk away. Tap, tap, tap. This time she knocked on her side of the door. Suddenly there was pounding, ‘help me, please help me.’ A voice came through the door. Tracy tried the door knob but it was locked.


         “I have to go get help.” She cupped her hands to be heard through the door.


         “Please hurry.” The voice came back.


         The sound of panic convinced Tracy it was not some kind of prank.          


         “I will,” she assured.


         Tracy scoured the morgue floor with no success; there was no one in the area. She returned to the door.


         “I can’t find anyone.” She yelled.


         “Please he’ll kill me if he finds me,” the voice said.


         “Who is trying to kill you and who are you?”


         “My name is Kaitlin Moore; I was kidnapped by the campus mugger, Mitch Roberts. Please can you get the police?”


         “I’ll do better than that.” Tracy walked over to the wall and pulled the fire alarm, the shrill bell sounded up and down the halls.





         Sergeant Yeargin looked around at the crestfallen group standing in the ballroom. They were waiting for the last team to come back. Mrs. Moore arrived with Michael, Elizabeth and Stacey. They stood huddled around Jake Perry talking. Yeargin marveled that the Moore’s had gotten so chummy with Jake.


         Officer Wilkes and Will Hardy came through the door.


         “No luck, sir.” Officer Wilkes said.


         “We covered a lot of ground and we can cover a lot more so lets get back down there we will work through the night as needed.” Sergeant Yeargin tried to sound positive. The more time passed the slimmer Kaitlin’s odds were.


         They stood over the maps and each team got their assignment. Mrs. Moore and Elizabeth protested when they weren’t included.


         Just before the first team started down the stairs Sergeant Yeargin’s radio crackled.


         “The fire alarm in the science building has been set off and we are sending an engine and paramedic unit over to investigate can you send a patrol car or two.


         “They’re on their way.” Sergeant Yeargin responded.


         “I’m sorry but I’ll have to pull Officer Wilkes and Officer Cortez to run over there.” He said to the Moore family. “I’ll have to stay topside incase it’s a major emergency.”


         “Then can we help with the search?” Mrs. Moore asked.


         “I’m afraid not ma’am, we have skirted regulations letting these boys accompany my officers. I can’t risk you or your daughter if Mitch Roberts feels cornered and reacts violently.”


         The radio crackled again.


         “Stand down, Sergeant Yeargin. It’s just somebody trapped in a maintenance closet on the bottom floor of the science building. We’ll handle it.” The voice on the radio said.


         “We’re at the student union if you need us. One of the coeds has been kidnapped and we are searching the catacombs for her.”


         “Kidnapped! The girl in the closet claims she’s been kidnapped.”


         “Did you get a name?”


         “Kaitlin Moore.”


         “Get her out of there, what ever it takes. We’ll be there in five minutes.”