Russell's Return (18 page)

“I’d love to,” she smiled.

Russell fiddled around with his phone
and music started, a nice instrumental piece. He helped her to stand then took
her into his arms. They danced around the yard, not speaking; Russell, nervous
and excited about what he was going to do and Emily nervous and excited about
what he had planned for her.

The song ended and there was a long
pause.

“Em?”

“Yeah?”

“After Vivienne left, I figured I just
wasn’t cut out for relationships. I figured I would be dedicating my life to
Miranda. But then you…”

He looked into her eyes. “The other day
I was going through my mom’s music collection and came across a song. It was
exactly what my subconscious had been trying to tell me since we met up in that
parking lot.  It’s coming up next. Listen to the lyrics.” He pressed a
button on his phone and music started to play again. ‘The Next Time I Fall’ by
Peter Cetera and Amy Grant came out of the speakers.

“Emily, it’s happened. The next time I
fell in love, well, it
was
with you.
I love you,” he whispered in her ear. “I don’t know how the hell it happened,
but I love you.”

“I love you too, Russell,” she sighed.
“It just happens sometimes. There doesn’t need to be a reason.”

“I…I didn’t know if you felt the same
way.”

“I do, Rusty. Hell, I probably have for
a long time. Our senior year, all I wanted was you, but I was afraid you’d
treat me like Chuck had. It wasn’t hard to pick up those feelings again after
you kissed me that first time.”

Russell pulled her close and kissed her.
“Shall we continue this inside?”

“Yeah,” she grinned. “Let’s do that.”

CHAPTER
15

By the time Russell was shown into
Emily’s office, the doctor was wrapping things up with Miranda. She’d been with
the child for nearly three hours.

“It was nice to meet you Miss Miranda,”
Dr. Jacobs said with a warm smile.

The little girl looked at the floor and
mumbled something back to the woman.

“Miranda can you look right here and say
that louder please,” the doctor ordered.

She looked up at her father with an
expression of discomfort on her face.

“You’re dealing with me right now,
Miranda,” the doctor stressed. “Not your father.”

The girl looked at the doctor and said,
“It was nice to meet you too.” Her voice was quiet but easily understood.

A smile broke over the doctor’s face and
she reached out for the girl’s hand. “That’s great! Thank you for doing that.”

Russell saw joy in his daughter’s eyes
at the praise and put a hand on her shoulder as further encouragement.

“You can go back to class now, kiddo,”
Emily said, standing up to show her out of the room. When she returned to her
seat, she invited Russell to sit next to her and introduced him to Dr. Jacobs.

“So, now what?’ he asked looking from
one woman to the other.

The doctor was the first to speak.
“Well, an official diagnosis takes time,” she stated. “I’ll need to see her a
few more times and she will need to be observed by counselors in social
settings for a definitive answer. However, based on the statements of Dr. Ethan
Mannon, Miss Zane and Mrs.
Platski
, I’m leaning
toward a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome.”

Russell reached out for Emily’s hand as
the doctor continued to explain the varying levels and degrees of the autism
spectrum and why she thought Miranda fell into it where she did.

“I have a few questions for you Mr.
Harper. So we know what ‘symptoms’ we will need to treat. Although I hate to
call them that myself.”

“Of course,” Russell agreed. “I’ll tell
you what I can.”

“Okay, let’s start with this. We all
agree that help is needed in managing Miranda’s meltdowns.”

Russell’s head shot up. “Meltdowns…Yes.
I like that term much better than tantrums.”

“As do I Mr. Harper. Now can you tell
me, does Miranda have any sensory issues?”

“Sensory issues? I’m sorry, I’m not
familiar with that.”

“Most parents aren’t,” she admitted.
“What I mean is, well, does Miranda hate bright lights, loud sounds, certain
textures, or other stimulating things like that? To the point of having a
meltdown, of course.”

“Yes! Absolutely.” It was as if
something clicked in his brain. So much of the last nine years was starting to
make sense. “When she was younger she was terribly bothered by lights and
sounds. Now it’s just loud sounds most of the time. She hates elastic against
her skin, especially from her thighs down. Certain foods ‘feel funny’ in her
mouth. Jesus! It all makes sense now.”

“Water!” Emily exclaimed. “Russell has
she…”

“Yes. She’s always hated baths, or
spilling on herself. She’s not afraid of the water, she doesn’t like how it
feels.”

Doctor Jacobs cleared her throat. “A lot
of pieces will fall into place now, Mr. Harper. Miss Zane, has Miranda had an
IQ test since she’s been here?”

“No, she hasn’t. We’ll make sure to set
one up.”

“An IQ test?” Russell questioned. “Why
is that important?”

“Miranda is most likely highly
intelligent. We just kind of want to get an overall feeling for where she is
at.”

“Highly intelligent? I always thought
she was, but her grades are not so good.” He was confused as to how a C student
could be considered highly intelligent in an academic setting.

“Organizational skills, Russell,” Emily
said, squeezing his hand. “Sometimes kids on the high functioning end of the
spectrum have poor organizational skills which keeps them from finishing or
turning in assignments, or even keeping track of them long enough to get them
home to do for homework.”

“Oh… her messy backpack, desk and
bedroom.”

“Don’t sound so sad, Mr. Harper. These
are all things we will be working on with your daughter. With the right therapy
and attention, Miranda will be okay.”

Russell looked at Emily and smiled.
“She’ll really be okay?”

“Yeah,” Emily smiled back. “We’ll make
sure she is.”

“Things won’t always be easy for her,
Mr. Harper, but she’ll be able to function just fine.”

The next hour was spent going over
future appointments, treatment plans and Miranda’s general health history. When
Doctor Jacobs stood to leave, Emily and Russell stood also. He wrapped his arm
around his girlfriend and pulled her close, which didn’t go unnoticed by the
doctor. “I assume Miranda will be getting a new counselor?” she asked.

“Yes,” Emily answered. “Lena Driscoll
will take over her case immediately.”

“Very well. Tell her I’ll be in touch.”
She shook hands with the couple then left the room.

Russell turned to Emily with a big smile
on his face. “Thank you!”

“For what?”

Russell looked at her like she must have
lost her mind. “For saving my little girl. I’d all but lost hope until you came
into our lives.”

“Sweetheart, I was just doing my job,”
she stressed.

“Oh no,” he said with a chuckle. “Admit
it, you took an interest in her the moment you saw her melting down in that
parking lot. Before you even knew she was a student here.”

Emily shrugged. “Well yeah. I was drawn
to her immediately.”

“You saved my family, Emily,” he
murmured, “and for that I will forever be grateful.” He took her in his arms
and swung her around before planting a kiss squarely on her lips.

“Emily, Lana Driscoll is on line one,”
came Mary’s voice over the intercom.

She hurried to her desk to respond.
“Mary, tell her I’ll call her back in five minutes.”

“I’d better get back to work,” he said.
“I’ll see you tonight?”

“Yeah. Ethan invited me over for dinner.
And I’m inviting you over to my place for dessert.”

“I’ll be there,” he grinned. “Tomorrow,
you, I, and Miranda will go out to celebrate her ‘almost’ diagnosis. Sound
good?”

“Yeah. I love you, Russell.”

He felt like he was grinning like a big
idiot, but he couldn’t help himself. “I love you too, Emily.”

When he turned around to leave, Mary was
standing there in the open doorway with her own grin. He winked at Emily and
left her to call Miranda’s new counselor. Before he reached his truck, his
phone buzzed.

“Hello?”

“Hey Russell,
it’s
Jack.”

“Oh hey, what’s up?”

Jackson cleared his throat before
continuing. “Miranda said you guys had been out by the lake house recently.”

“Yeah, we went swimming a few days ago.
Why?”

“Did you notice if any windows were
open?” Jack asked in his usual over-calm tone.

“Sorry man, I didn’t really pay
attention. What’s with all of the questions?”

Jack sighed. “I don’t know. I just got a
strange feeling when we were there. Don’t mind me, it probably just
subconsciously reminded me of something from my war days. I’ll talk to you
later, Russell.”

“Okay Jack. Bye.” The old man was probably
right. The war was just haunting him now that he was out of the comfort zone of
Alaska and his hometown.

Russell got into his SUV and headed to
work. He couldn’t wait for dinner that night. His uncle and Jack were going to
tell the story of how they’d met forty-five years before at the Heart of Alaska
Lodge near Denali National Park. It should be a fun night. From everything he’d
heard, the beginning of the friendship between the two men was an unforgettable
story.

CHAPTER
16

Halfway to work, Russell decided he had
better check on the lake house. Grabbing his phone, he called and let his
Assistant Manager know what he was doing and that he would be late. After
hanging up, he tossed the phone onto the passenger seat and it slipped off to
fall beside the console.

“What could be wrong?  After all,
Jack thought it was most likely nothing. But it’s probably best to check it
out,” Russell reasoned out loud to help convince himself that he would truly
find the lake house locked up tight.

Coming to a stop in the parking area
behind the cabin, Russell got out of his SUV. Noticing an earring on the
ground, he bent to pick it up, and before he realized what was happening, his
door closed. Damn it! His keys and phone were now locked inside. Sighing, he
turned toward the path leading through the trees to the lake house and pocketed
the earring. He briefly wondered where it had come from. It didn’t look like
something his mother wore, but then again, he hadn’t seen his mother’s jewelry
in years.

 As he jogged up the path, his mind
on his now inaccessible phone and keys, he never heard the soft sound when a
blonde haired woman stepped out behind him and began to follow quietly.

**********

“I’m telling you Jack, this meal will be
fantastic,” Ethan said as he pulled ingredients from the cupboard. “It’s my
sister’s best recipe for fresh caught fish.”

“Shouldn’t she be making it then?” he
replied as his fingers drummed on the table. “It is
her
recipe.”

“Normally, I would agree,” Ethan said as
he turned around to look at his friend. Seeing the faraway look in the former
Marine’s eyes, he suddenly felt cold. “What’s wrong Jack?” When he didn’t get a
response, Ethan slammed a frying pan down and repeated. “What’s wrong Jack?”

Turning his attention to Ethan, he
slowly stood. “When we were near the lake house something just felt out of
place. I couldn’t figure out what. Probably because I had never been there
before, but my gut tells me something is wrong.”

“What exactly do you mean?” Ethan asked,
confused.

“I swear we were being watched. It could
have been an animal but…” Jack’s voice trailed off. “Damn it, it was just too
quiet.”

“Too quiet? I heard birds singing not
too far off,” Ethan replied.

“Not close enough. Something, or more
likely someone, was closer,” Jack said as his eyes went blank. “Stay here. I’m
going for a walk.”

As Jackson walked through the front
room, Ethan saw him grab his gun belt and put it on. The sound of an
approaching car put his friend’s strange behavior on the back burner as Emily
and Miranda pulled into the driveway. A few seconds later, the little girl
burst into the kitchen and ran by, tears flowing from her eyes.

**********

At the end of the school day, Emily and
Miranda ran down the day’s events. The upcoming conversation was one the
counselor was not looking forward to. “Randi, I have something important to
talk to you about.”

“What is it, Miss Emily?”

Concentrating on the road and trying to
ignore her gut feeling, Emily breathed in and out steadily. “After talking with
Principal Dave and Doctor Jacobs, we all feel it would be best for you to see
another counselor.”

Miranda smiled. “I don’t mind having
another counselor. It will be fun to have two. I just hope she’s nice.”

Emily blanched. “Randi, you won’t have
two, just one.” Her voice was quiet. “I won’t be your counselor anymore.”

“What? Why not?” Miranda shouted. “Why
not!”

Emily took a deep breath before
continuing. This was all going south quickly. “With your dad and me getting so
close, we think it best…”

“No, no, no!” Miranda screamed as she
began rocking back and forth in her seat. “You can’t stop. You can’t!”

“Sweetie, I’ll still be around, I just
won’t be your counselor,” Emily tried to explain as they pulled up to the
house. “Please listen to me.”

“No, I won’t. I hate you!” Miranda
yelled as she jumped out of the car. “I wish Daddy had never met you.”

Emily slumped in her seat and began to
cry as Miranda burst through the back door into the house. She put her head
against the steering wheel and laid her hands on the dashboard. Emily was sure
that the little girl was just upset and didn’t mean what she’d said…wasn’t she?

**********

When Russell reached the lake house, he
went right to the back door. When he tried the handle it turned and started to
open. That was strange, he’d figured he would have to break in since he didn’t
have a key. Stepping back in shock he turned to look around and found himself
staring at his ex-wife and the pistol she was holding.

“Did you miss me, Russell?” she asked with
a cruel smile. “Or has your little slut put me totally out of your mind?”

“Vivienne, what the hell are you doing
here?”

“Go inside and we’ll talk. We don’t want
to air our dirty laundry out here,” she said, motioning with the pistol. “Now
be a good boy and do what I say.”

Russell turned and walked slowly into
the house. He briefly considered slamming the door on her until he realized she
hadn’t come onto the porch. As he looked around he saw his dad’s old solid oak
arm chair sitting in the middle of the room. Hanging from each arm was a pair
of handcuffs. He slowly walked into the room.

“Yes Russell. I remember you always
wanted to play like that,” Vivienne said from the doorway as she finally
entered. “Now sit down and cuff your right arm.”

“Come on Viv, there’s no need to…”

“Do it now,” she said with a hint of
malice in her voice. “Don’t make me shoot you,” she giggled.

Looking at her eyes, Russell believed
she would do exactly what she said. Sitting down, he was reaching for the
handcuff when she cleared her throat. Stopping, he looked at her, worry in his
eyes.

“Take off your clothes first,” she
demanded. “Get naked and cuff yourself.”

“Seriously? You want me to get naked?”

“Yes. Now do it!” she screamed, the
pistol shaking in her hand.

His conversations with Emily about what
had happened in Seattle came back to him. Vivienne was nervous, which made her
even more dangerous. Not wanting to be shot, he followed her command.

“Now that’s better,” she said, putting
the pistol down on the table. She walked over and cuffed his other arm.
Stepping back to admire her handiwork, she put her left forefinger into her
mouth and swayed. After a moment she knelt in front of him and sighed. “What
did I ever see in you? You’re so…tiny!”

“That’s not what you said the first time
you saw it,” Russell snorted in reply. “You thought it would rip you in half.”

“I was a naive virgin. I didn’t know
better,” she said batting her eyelashes. “Or maybe I fed your ego, you fucking
fool!”

Russell stared daggers at her. She only
laughed at the look. Reaching out she cupped his testicles and ran her acrylic
nails across his ultra-sensitive skin.

“You still like me, it seems. Or at
least you still want me.”

“Not hardly. I would like
anyone
who did that.”

“It’s even smaller than I remembered,”
she said, standing back up and walking to the table. Swaying silently for a
while she turned to him. “How dare you take my daughter away to this
place!
” Her hiss was sudden and violent.

Russell didn’t show his shock. “But… you
left us; we cramped your style, you couldn’t have fun.”

“Shut up!” she screamed. “I was always
the one there. You were at your precious restaurants.”

“But that’s all you wanted – for me to
be rich and successful. Your wish was my command.”

“And here you are, back at Mommy’s. A
failure!”

He felt his temper rising and knew it
could get him shot but he couldn’t help but egg her on a bit. “I still own my
restaurants and run the one here. I’m
more
successful.”

“You moved back to this shithole town in
this shithole state and you’re more successful? Oh well, none of that matters
anyway. The fact is, you brought
my
daughter here,” she screeched as she
picked up the pistol. “And now I’m going to make sure you can never keep her
away from me again.”

“Viv stop! This won’t get her back,”
Russell pleaded. “You’ll go to prison and she won’t be with you.”

She cackled. “They won’t know it was me.
I have people using my credit cards at home,” she replied with a laugh. “I’m
not the bubble-headed bimbo you thought I was.”

“I never thought you were a
bubble-headed bimbo,” he said softly.

“Time to die, Rusty,” she whispered as a
calm, motherly look came across her face. “You’ll finally be at peace with
Ben.”

Russell closed his eyes. “Please take
care of Miranda,” he said as he waited for the shot to come. Suddenly there was
a loud crack and a flash that burned through his closed eyelids.

**********

Emily walked into the kitchen a few minutes
after Miranda. She smiled at Ethan who was sitting at the table with a nervous
look on his face.

“Both of the ladies crying can’t be a
good thing,” he said as she walked in. “Everything okay?”

“I had to tell her that I wouldn’t be
her counselor anymore.”

Ethan looked at her sympathetically “I’m
going to assume it didn’t go as well as you had hoped.”

“You could say that,” she replied with a
wan smile. “She is more upset than I anticipated.”

“I’ll talk with her in an hour or so.
Give her time to digest the news.”

“Thank you,” Emily said as she sat down.
“Hopefully she’ll come around.”

“You might have to be ready to rebuild
her trust,” Ethan said softly as he reached over and put his hand on her
shoulder. “It’s possible that it could take some time.”

“Do you think we will go back to the way
it was?”

“It could be the same, or better, or
worse,” Ethan replied. “Only time will tell.”

“Thank you Dr. Mannon. I appreciate your
help.”

“You’re welcome and I think it would be
fine if you called me Ethan or Uncle Cowboy.”

“Okay, Uncle Cowboy it is,” Emily said,
laughing. “Is it just me or does it sound awfully quiet?”

“You’re right. It is way too quiet for
an upset nine-year-old and a puppy,” Ethan agreed. “I think I’ll go check on
her now.”

“I’ll go with you,” Emily said as she
got up. “This is all my fault.”

“Nothing and no one is at fault,” Ethan
said, heading up the stairs.

When they reached Miranda’s room, Ethan
knocked quietly. “Miranda, can we come in?”

When there was no response, he knocked
again.

“Even if she won’t answer, shouldn’t the
dog be reacting?” Emily asked, concern coloring her voice.

Ethan pushed the door open and entered
the empty room. Quickly crossing, he opened the closet and found it empty.
Dropping to the floor, he looked under the bed. Miranda was nowhere in sight.
“She’s gone.”

“My God!  There’s blood on the
window sill, and the fire escape ladder is hanging down,” Emily cried in alarm.
“What if she’s hurt?”

“Call Russell and let him know Miranda
is missing. I’ll try Jack,” Ethan said as he thought about the conversation
they’d just had about someone or something watching them.

**********

As soon as he left the house, Jack began
to jog toward the lake. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they had been watched.
Who was it and what did they want? Hopefully it was just some animal, but he
knew deep down inside that it wasn’t. Why hadn’t he checked earlier? God, he
was getting old and soft. He should know to always trust his gut. It pulled him
through his first tour unscathed.

As he neared the parking area, he spied
Russell’s SUV and slowed down as he approached it. It was empty.

 Pulling his phone out, he dialed
Russell’s number only to hear the phone ringing from inside the car. Hanging up,
he started to follow the path that led up through the trees. There were recent
footprints.

About a third of the way up, he stopped.
Russell’s prints had been joined by an additional pair. The new prints were
smaller and left less of an impression. Whoever else was in the area was either
small, or a skilled stalker…or both. Jack’s blood ran cold.

Slipping into the trees, he began to
slowly move toward the house. He moved silently from tree to tree, keeping the
trail in view. Jack’s mind slipped into a place it hadn’t been in over forty
years. He was once again the hunter of men. He was Death.