The Bridge (Para-Earth Series) (32 page)

             
An image appeared in Alex’s mind and he looked at the other two and smiled. 

             
“Did he land in your arms, or did you and Ronnie wait to see how many times he bounced?”

             
Startled Roy turned to him and asked, “How did you guess it was the two of us?”

             
Ronnie was about to say she’d told him the story once before, but Alex was quicker and replied, “There was a certain satisfaction in the way you told that part of the story.”

             
That seemed to satisfy his friend, while Ronnie gave him the silent thumbs up. 

             
“So what became of her brother after that?”

             
This time Ronnie answered, “Sent back to Juvenile Hall.  He stayed there for about seven months.  He got out shortly before Rachel disappeared.”

             
“And became the prime suspect, am I right?”

             
His lady nodded and sighed, “Unfortunately, we could never pin it on him though.  He had a solid alibi for that night by being in police custody on the other side of the state line.  He’d just turned eighteen and was caught drinking and driving.”

             
“Establishing the perfect alibi,” Alex mused.  “Of course he could’ve planned that all along and had some of his mates come and grab Rachel.”

             
“Suspicious little bastard, aren’t you?” Roy smiled.  “We wondered the same thing.  But there was no evidence of forced entry or tire tracks.”

             
“What about down by the bridge?”

             
A dark look crossed Peterson’s features, then passed.  “You’re wondering if they parked down there and then snuck up here.  Well we thought about that.  Unfortunately the rains washed away any possible tire tracks.  And Jason was out of town that night.”

             
“I see,” Alex nodded.  “Speaking of Jason, has there been any word on him?”

             
Roy shook his head. 

             
They had reached the end of the corridor where the formerly hidden door stood wide open.  

              A few minutes later, Alex found himself in the dark paneled corridor from his dreams once more.  Roy and Veronica had already entered the room that they suspected had been Rachel’s, while he remained in the hallway.

             
Staring down the corridor, he could see the investigators still clustered around the bricked up doorway.  From what he could tell they hadn’t started looking for any other hidden doors yet.  Should he tell them?  No, best to let them figure it out for themselves, he decided. 

             
Besides, there were no dead bodies hidden within any of them.  So why they had it been sealed in the first place?   Perhaps he should’ve stayed inside one of them during the dream?  But, the thought of being trapped inside with no escape was too much…
like what almost happened back at Harlequin House.
 

             
He shook his head.  Now was not the time to reflect on the past. 

             
“It’s hers all right,” he heard Ronnie saying, as she stepped out of the room followed by Roy.  “I recognize most of those things.  I helped her pack them up when she moved her out of her parent’s place.”

             
Roy was nodding, “I can’t believe we missed this floor. All these years it was just sitting here and we never knew.”  He turned to Alex, “I wish we’d had you around sixteen years ago.”

             
“Oh, I was around,” he replied.  “I was at my grand’s place.  But I wouldn’t have been much help.  I was only fourteen at the time.”

             
“I suddenly feel very old,” muttered Veronica. 

             
Without looking at her, Alex could sense just how self-conscious she was feeling at that moment.  So he decided to give her a look that could’ve gotten him arrested for its suggestiveness. 

             
The moment she caught it, she shook her head and said, “Then again, somebody’s not a kid anymore.”
After a moment she mouthed, ‘Stop it.’

             
Meanwhile, Roy was saying, “So you were in town when all this happened?  How come I never caught you over at the bridge?”

             
Alex shrugged, “My Grandfather had his second heart attack that summer and Gran really needed me.”

             
“That’s right,” his friend nodded, “She almost had to cancel the Policeman’s Ball that year.  But he insisted she go ahead with it. You didn’t go to that one, did you Rookie?”

             
“No,” Ronnie shook her head, “I was stuck covering the station that night, since you weren’t going to be around.  I gave my tickets to some of the teenagers at the high school…” her voice trailed off to a whisper as she finished, “Rachel had been one of them.” 

             
Roy must’ve remembered this, because his manner became more serious.  “It doesn’t look like she took anything with her that night.  But I don’t see any signs of a struggle either.”

             
“If she had been abducted, it would’ve happened downstairs,” Ronnie informed them, getting back into police-mode.  “I remember Graham gave her a room on the ground floor when the stairs became too much for her.  She only took a few things to her new room, because she didn’t want to move it all back after the baby was born.”

             
“So if she was taken by force, then someone could’ve easily gotten to her,” Roy began speculating aloud, “They find an open window, slip inside, and grab her.  But she manages to cry out.  Cyrus hears her and tries to intervene only to wind up having a massive heart attack.”

             
“And she was already eight months pregnant, so she wouldn’t have put up a struggle,” Ronnie pointed out.

             
“And with the rest of the staff out that night, Cyrus would’ve been facing whoever it was all by himself,” her boss nodded.

             
“How soon can we get a forensics team up here?” asked Veronica.

             
“Within the hour,” Roy replied firmly and glanced down the hallway.  “Any idea what that’s all about Youngster?” he asked pointedly.

             
Alex shook his head, “No, that paneling came down while Thompson and I were in Rachel’s room.” 

             
“Uh-huh, you two stay here.  I want to see what they’ve found.  Looks like they just broke through,” Roy instructed leaving the two of them alone for a few moments.

             
As soon as he was gone, Alex found himself being dragged back into Rachel’s room by his lady.  Once they were inside she said hurriedly, “All right, tell me what really made you come here?”

             
“Another dream,” he replied without ceremony. “I fell asleep while I was looking over the plans this morning back at our place.  Suddenly Jason was seated on the other side of the table telling me that not all the pages were there.  I woke up, looked at the numbers on the plans, and found one was missing.  That’s when I headed over to the Recorder’s office and looked over the earlier blueprints and found the same discrepancy and the stairwells.”

             
“So why did you go to Roy instead of me?” she insisted.

             
“I was afraid of what we might find, Luv,” he told her tenderly. “I didn’t know about the baby.  But I gathered from what Roy told me before that Rachel was important to you.  I didn’t want you to be the one to find her body, if she was still here.”

             
Once more he found himself slammed up against a wall, but this time it was because she was kissing him for all he was worth. 

             
“Thank you,” she told him once they’d stopped.  Then she looked around, “Can you sense anything else in here?”

             
“Only that she was happy, very happy.  She felt safe and even loved.  But, something isn’t right,” he frowned and sat down on the bed. “I can’t quite get my head wrapped around it exactly…”

             
Suddenly the world fell away or rather time did.  Staring around the room, the dust that had accumulated over the last sixteen years vanished.  And he was no longer on the bed alone.  Two others were next to him doing what only came natural when passions ran rampant.  He watched the couple long enough to get a look at their faces and suddenly jumped up.

             
The two were now gone and the dust was back along with a worried-looking Veronica. “Are you all right?” she asked anxiously, “Did you see something?”

             
He nodded, “I think, I just saw the fellow who might’ve been the father of Rachel’s baby.”

             
“Who was it?”

             
“No idea.  I never saw him before.  But he was an older bloke. Tall, broad chest, no wrinkles…” suddenly he stopped.  There were loud footsteps coming up the hallway.  He looked to his love and mouthed, ‘Later.’

             
A moment later Officer Thompson popped his head into the room and said, “Chief wants to talk to you.”

             
Veronica started to follow, only to have her fellow officer stop her.  “Sorry Sarge, he wants Mr. Hill.  He’s got some questions about the room they just opened.”

             
“And as second-in-command I need to know what’s going on.  Now lead the way,” she told him firmly.

             
“But the Chief said…”

             
“Who’s in charge of the duty roster?” Veronica asked casually.

             
The big officer’s face paled, “Aw, you wouldn’t put me on parking meter duty again would you Sarge?”

             
Alex watched his lady give a smile that made even him shiver. 

             
As for Thompson he suddenly said, “Right this way, folks.”  And proceeded to lead the two of them down the hallway to where Roy and several Firefighters waited.

             
If the police chief was bothered by his orders being ignored, he gave no hint.  “We checked the room, and there was no one inside.  Now I want to you take a look inside, and then tell me why you think this room was sealed away, Youngster.”

             
Steadying himself, Alex obeyed and walked into the room.  As he expected, it was the first room that had been shown to him in the dream.  The clothing, furniture, it was all there.  But unlike the dream, dust and cobwebs had accumulated over the years giving it an even more eerie appearance. 

             
After giving it a good once over he turned to Roy and said, “The family had a daughter who passed away and kept the room just the way she left it.  Eventually the reminder was too much so they sealed it up in order to try and forget?”

             
“Possible,” Roy nodded. “Notice anything else?”

             
Alex could see Veronica looked uneasy about what was going on.  Quietly he opened himself, just enough to sense what was bothering Roy. 

             
A moment later he pulled out his tape measure and checked the length of the room.  Then he stepped out into the hallway and measured the distance from the opening to the next door.   From there he came back to the newly revealed opening and did the same in the opposite direction.  “It looks to me like there might be another room sealed off right about here,” he announced in front of the dark paneling. 

             
His friend nodded, “That’s what I was thinking.  And from the look of the other side of the hallway, there’s probably a few rooms sealed off over there as well.”

             
“Undoubtedly,” Alex agreed.  “I wonder if the people who’d been in them died of a disease.  Scarlet fever or maybe they suspected the plague.  That might account for having the rooms sealed up.”

             
“That would make sense,” supplied one of the men from the coroner’s office.  “Trying to contain the disease and prevent it from becoming widespread.” 

             
This seemed to satisfy Roy who turned to his crew and said, “Okay, go ahead and tear down the paneling and let’s see those other rooms.”  Then he led Alex and Ronnie back to Rachel’s room.

             
Once there he looked around to make sure they wouldn’t be overheard.  “You’ve been a big help today son, and I appreciate it.  But, I’m not stupid either.  You know a lot more than you’re saying.  Now I’m going to tell you the same thing I told your lady here.  If you’ve been doing any private investigating, I want it to stop right now.  And you’re going to tell me all you know about what’s going on here.  In return I’ll overlook it this time.”