Don't Scream

Chapter 81

The doll in the culvert was a Benoit that Amy Chaney had once had. Dark hair, dark eyes, and....mutilated. She was supposed to be apart of the mother daughter collection, but in her hands she clutched a bar of a baby carriage, empty.

"Fuller take this," Dean said handing him a fresh shirt. Brian had red dye all over it. "You gotta pull your self together son. Stop looking at the damn doll and carriage.:"

Brian forced himself to look up. They's commandeered a waiting room at the hospital where he had been taken by chopper. The woman from the culvert, Gretchen Aaron, was down the hall, getting her cheek stitched up. She had been a trooper. As soon as Brian was convinced her to put the gun down, they come up with a plan to reenact the whole thing, exactly the way Brandon wanted it to happen. This time they did it on camera. Jamie Dunn, the photographer who had scuffed with O'Ryan was called back in. He video taped the whole thing over the loud and bogus objections of the FBI. He relished the idea of shooting something forbidden. And when it was over, dangled the tape like a solid gold carrot to the tv station that had fired him.

Brian was stripping off the ruined shirt when his phone rang. Eddie.

"It's Abby. He has Abby!"

"What? No. The world crumbled.:"Ah God...."

"What is it?" Dean asked. "Is that Brandon?"

Brian tried to control the frantic drumming in his chest, ignoring Dean as he listened to Eddie. By the time Eddie  finished talking, Brian was in shock. The same cold, physical shock he had experienced when they told him McKenzie was dead.

"Fuller, talk to me dammit," Dean yanked the phone from his hand. "Who was that?"

"Eddie," Brian answered in a fog. He wasn't sure his voice could even be heard over his heart beat. "Brandon has Abby."

The room went still. Dean sank into his chair. "Oh Christ."

Brian went to Max. "Brandon just called Sarra's phone and Eddie answere___"

"OK I am on it." Max said, punching keys in a rush. The rest of the room held its breath. "Trace is coming from. Hold on, I 'll get sound."

"Jesus." Harrison said. "What did Brandon say?"

Brian cleared his throat. Stay sane. Stay in control. Dean could still throw him the case. "Brandon has Abby. He took her from the yard at Fosters and want Sarra to meet him."

Dean ran a hand over his head. "Get a APB that when they find that car, there is a little girl in it.:"'

"At least we know what car he is driving now." Harrison said. " Gretchen Dunn's black Monte Carlo. Got a chance this time."

A chance, but not a big one.  It was getting dark. and they would be two minutes behind Brandon.

And Abby. Brandon and Abby.

Brian grabbed fistfuls of his own hair, then pounded his hands against the wall ."Fuck!"

No one else said a word, that one seemed to sum it all up. When he finally caught his breath again, he said. "I have to go to Sarra. She is asleep. Eddie hasn't told her about Abby." He peeled away from the broken blood capsule taped to his chest. His fingers were still red where he clutched it when Gretchen fired blanks at him.

Stard walked in while he slid into a fresh shirt. She had been talking to Gretchen.

"Is she telling the truth?" Dean asked her.

"Absolutely." Stard said. "Gretchen Dunn is cool as a cucumber. Her husband is the one who is falling apart now. That doesn't make sense."

"No,no. Brian shook his head. God. Eddie had told him Abby was gone, and Brian forgotten everything else." Eddie said the first girl, Michelle Dunn is OK. She ran up at Foster's when Abby disappeared. Brandon managed to pull a switch using the two girls and Sarra's dog."

"Dog? The dog is back, too?"

"Brandon sent the Michelle girl running out with the dog. The guards fell for it, thinking it was Abby just long enough that Brandon got her out of there."

Stard started for the door. "I have to tell the Dunn's that their daughter was found. she's safe? she is OK?"

Brian nodded. "Eddie was at Foster's. He said she is shaken, but not hurt. Mrs Foster's has her decorating cookies."

"Oh boy." Stard said. " So we got one mother and one daughter back. That is some good news, anyways."

But it didn't feel that way to Brian.

"She hasn't budged man."Eddie said when Brian arrived at the apartment with the doll. "I checked on her an hour or so ago, then she burrowed down in the covers like she was cold, and told me to leave her alone. She was out, last I looked." He paused. " Any word on Abby?"

Brian shook his head. "No"

"Hey for what it is worth man, you looked good on TV. I would of believed it myself if I hadn't known it was a hoax. Brandon took it hook, line, and sinker. He talked to me about it on the phone. Gloating."

"Yeah I heard."

"OK. So you think Sarra can figure out where he has taken Abby?"

"we are about to find out."

He sat down the box in which he carried the damaged doll and pushed Sarra's door open. The room was dark, silent. too silent. The hairs on his arms stood up.

He went to the bed and sat down beside the mound of covers. Sarra didn't move. He laid his hand gently on top of the quilt, on what should of been the top of her hip.

And then he knew.

she was gone.