“I’m heading to campus police,” Colin replied. “Can you have it faxed there?”
“I’ll do it right now, Colin. And I do hope Josh is OK. Let me know.”
“Thank you, Your Honor. I won’t forget this.”
It was going on nine by the time Colin bolted from his house. He broke every Virginia speed law getting to the campus police station. When he arrived, four officers were already suited up, and Ray had the court order in his hand. “Here you go, Colin.” But as Colin took the paper, Ray grabbed his wrist. “Listen to me. You’re not a cop. Letthemhandle it!” He tilted his head toward the four officers. “Understood?”
Colin sighed and nodded, then followed the officers to their squad car. He sat in the back as they drove to the Alensworth residence. He held the court order clutched tight in his hand, his head low. He hoped and prayed he’d find Joshua there, alive and well, but deep inside him a warning bell tolled. Something just didn’t feelright.
At the house, Colin stood in the rear as the policemen knocked. This time Dale Alensworth answered the door and Colin surged toward him. “This is a court order to search your house and property,” he said, his voice a rough rasp in his throat.
“Forwhat?”
“Because my husband is missing, and you’ve made threats against his life!” Colin blurted out. He shoved the paper into Alensworth’s hand.
“I haven’t gone near him since I got the restraining order against me,” Alensworth protested.
“And I’m supposed to take your word for that I suppose,” Colin sneered, then he took Alensworth’s arm and guided him to a chair. “Sit your ass down and stay there while these guys do their job.”
He kept one eye on Alensworth while the police officers searched the house. Finding nothing, they went over every inch of property and still came up empty.
“Colin,” one of the officers told him as they tramped around the Alensworth property one final time. “Honest to god, man, I don’t think he’s here.”
Colin stared down at the dark ground beneath his feet. “I don’t either.” He hissed out a harsh breath. “Goddammit!”
Chapter 15
Closer to God
Joshua – 7:15 p.m.
The car began to move, and Joshua focused with almost painful intensity on every sound he heard as the car moved along the road. Each bump and jolt brought searing pain which he pushed to the back of his mind.
I have to remember!
But another part of him urged that he close his eyes and slide into unconsciousness.This guy’s going to kill me. Why bother? Go to sleep and it’ll be all over.
NO!Joshua’s mind shrieked.I can’t give up!I won’t give up! Colin will come! He’ll come!
The pounding of his captor’s fists had left him drowning in the taste and feel of his own blood. His arm throbbed, and adding to the suffocating sensation of the gag in his mouth, a grinding pain in his chest made breathing difficult. But he forced himself to listen. To focus on every sound. To catalogue every turn in the road.
He tried to recall the streets surrounding the Culbreth Theater, to make a map in his mind of where he was being taken, but after a while he was forced to give up. There was no way to mentally record the car’s many twists and turns, and despairing of ever being able to recreate his captor’s route he began to sob in hopeless anguish. A bump and mild jolt suggesting railroad tracks snapped his mind into focus, and he heard the distinctive sound of gravel crunching beneath the tires.
He tried to estimate the time since his abduction but found it impossible. Some parts of his ongoing nightmare seemed to last for hours while others flashed by too fast to recall. He focused his thoughts on his husband, and he felt the salt of his tears sting the many wounds covering his face.He’ll come,Joshua’s mind insisted.Colin will come! Stay awake! Don’t give up. He’ll come!
Suddenly, the car jerked to a halt. The trunk opened with a harsh metallic sound, and he was dragged from the vehicle and dumped onto the ground. He cried out in pain as his injured arm twisted beneath him. He felt and heard his captor’s harsh breath close to his ear as he manhandled Joshua to his feet and dragged him forward. Joshua heard the sound of a creaking door being forced open, then he cried out in pain once again as he was thrown to the floor.
The place reeked of musk and mold, and even through the shroud covering his face the faint scent of leaves also touched the air that surrounded him. Through his pain and semi-conscious haze, he heard his captor laugh, then heard him speaking. His voice was surprisingly young, but his words were ground out as if he spoke through clenched teeth. “She talked to the police, the fucking bitch!” his abductor ground out. “And I’m going to make her regret it. She doesn’t know shit about me or my life! Right now, I’m closer to god thansheis!” The voice grew dimmer as the man spoke, as if he were walking away from the spot where Joshua lay.
He fought off the nearly overwhelming urge surrender to the nightmare and dissolve into sobs. Again and again, he forced himself to think of his husband, and like a mantra the words reverberated through his mind:Stay alive!He’ll come! Colin will come.I just have to survive until he gets here. I have to stay alive for him. He’ll come! Colin will come!
* * *
Colin– 9:32 p.m.
Back in the campus police station, Colin wandered into the locker room and collapsed onto a bench. He felt every atom of his body crawling with fear. Repeatedly his mind called out:Josh, where are you! Where ARE you, baby!
Trying to ward off rising panic, he called David and reported everything he had learned. “David, I’m scared! Something bad has happened. Iknowit! Josh wouldneverbe this late without reaching out to me. Never!”
