Don't Scream

Chapter 82

Sarra stood at the pay phone, shivering. Hurry, Hurry. She fished coins out her purse. Thank god she had her purse in the bedroom, even if Eddie had her gun and her phone.

Eddie had answered her phone, and in a instant, Sarra knew it was Brandon. A minute after the call Eddie called Quantico and relayed what Brandon had told him.  He had Abby.

It had taken every ounce of her strength not to sink to the floor and scream in hysteria when she heard it. Abby had run after Justice, but the other little girl, Michelle had came back.

Abby was gone. Dear god.

Brian. Her first impulse was to talk to him. But she couldn't. Brian was dead. Abby was gone.

Sarra had forced herself to keep listening. The doll was the key, Brandon had said. Something about the doll would tell her where Brandon had took Abby.

Nothing else mattered anymore. Brian was dead. Abby was with Brandon.

Do something.

Evan.

She didn't have enough change to call long distance. So she punched in her calling card number, how long until the FBI would discover it had been used. It didn't matter. They probably didn't know she was gone yet. Eddie thought she was sleeping. She had to figure out where Abby was. and the FBI obviously didn't let her plan to see the doll.

Damn them. Brian promised.

Brian is dead.

Don't think about it. Dial.

Waterford answered on the third ring, and Sarra nearly sobbed in relief."Daniel, its Sarra Jane, please I need your help."

Silence. She could feel his confusion.

"Please Daniel. This isn't about your collection its not business. please talk to me."

There was another instant of silence. Sarra could picture Daniel frowning. His voice came over the line sounding hesitant."The news is reporting that no one knows where you are right now Sarra."

Oh no they had already found her missing. Think.

"That is because the FBI took me in. I am in protective custody."

"Protective custody?"

"Please Daniel, I need to know about a pair of dolls."

She racked her brain for what the insurance report had said." an 1868 Benoit baby doll and mother doll. It was a pair owned by Larousse."

"Larousse?"

"I don't have time to explain now, but it is important. I am not the expert you are, and there is something about those dolls Brandon James wants me to figure out."

Pounding sounded in the background at Daniel's end of the line, two or three dogs started barking.

"Hold on Sarra," Daniel said "Someone is knocking at my door."

"Wait, Daniel!" Sarra glanced at her watch. Charleston was in the same time zone. It was late for visitors. She tried to hear what was going on through the phone lines, hindered by the sounds of traffic and the night surrounding her.

"Sarra." Daniel was back. He sounded nervous. The FBI is here they want to talk to me.'

Oh god, "Did you tell them we were talking?"

"No. I just said I had to finish a phone call and came in then kitchen. God almighty Sarra what is going on?"

"They are just going to ask you the same things I am asking you. Daniel tell me first. There is something about these dolls I need to know, or about Chadborne. Daniel, We both met Chadborne at the same time in Dallas . Do you remember? Brandon James has been stalking me at Chadborne since then."

"I know I have been following the news." Daniel's voice dropped. " For gods sake Sarra I don't know what to tell you. I talked to that fruit cake in Dallas , just like you did. but I never seen her dolls. Ive never seen the Larousse dolls. Chadborne came to my booth after you told her not to buy the retro. She actually threatened me, saying I had been cheating people. Muttering that her mother got away with fooling everyone for years and she didn't appreciate it. I told her to go fuck herself. Then she ordered that same doll from me last week."

Sarra tried to make sense of it. Brandon's mother got away with fooling everyone.

Don't you hear it? Mother's singing. She does that so she can't hear Christie cry. Scream Bitch. Make mother stop.

They talked around it for another minute, Daniel narrating what he recalled about Chadborne, and Sarra trying to pull it all together with Brandon's hatred for his mother, for what Sarra was supposed to recognize in dolls she never seen. All the while she scanned the streets for police cars and grey sedans with government plates. The news is reporting that no on knows where you are right now. It sure hadn't taken them long to discover her missing.

"Sarra?" Daniel's voice. "That is the only time I ever met that woman. Er man, I guess. And I don't know anything about those particular dolls. No one has seen the Larousse dolls, except in photographs, for decades."

Sarra's mind was spinning. Nothing. She had nothing to go on.

Daniel had gone silent, then his voice squeezed back within hearing." Hey Sarra."

"Yes."

"Is it true the condition of the mother doll they found?"

"I...uh..well, I'm not sure how much they are reporting."

"They said she was mutilated terribly, a hole drilled between her legs, and the baby doll missing."

A wave of nausea almost buckled her knees. "Oh well I guess that is true."

"God almighty. That is one sick son of a bitch."

She hung up. Think. No, don't think about what Brandon did to the doll, or might do to Abby. Just think about Brandon. And how she is supposed to find him.

She slipped back into the car, driving with caution. She took corners slowly, making sure her stops were complete enough that the car she had taken from Foster's lurched gently backward before she accelerated again.

She had chosen the Green Taurus  Evan suggested. Evan, whom she hadn't wanted to get involved But who's voice was choked with fear and regret after loosing Abby. and would do anything for Sarra. For Abby.

She had to be right. He had gone home. so Sarra could make his mother stop singing.

Please god just let him leave Abby behind.

Alive.