Daniel Palmer - Helpless

Adriana walked over to Roland as calmly as she had approached the now very dead Frank Dee. She stood over her injured husband. Tom and Jill huddled together only a few feet from where Roland lay. Adriana had smartly positioned herself so that Tom and Jill stood directly in front of her, with Roland in the middle. She’d be able to get off a shot quicker than Tom and Jill could get to the trees.

But the woods weren’t their only escape option.

Tom took a small step backward.

“Roland,” Adriana said, poking at Roland with her feet. “Are those drugs?”

“Adriana, help me….”

“You’re dealing drugs, too? On top of destroying innocent people’s lives, you’re also a drug dealer?”

“Please… Adriana… help….”

“I didn’t frame Tom because of greed. I did it to save our son,” Adriana said, the tone of her voice pure venom.

“You framed me?” Tom said incredulously. “It wasn’t Roland? It was you?”

Adriana seemed to forget about her husband for a moment. “Tom, dear Tom… I’m truly sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

“Why?”

“To protect my family. To save my son. Someone had to take the fall. You.”

Tom was shivering. He held Jill close to him for warmth. Tom wanted to keep Adriana talking, buy himself time. He made Jill take another small step backward.

“But why frame me?”

“You fit the suit,” Adriana said. “You worked with girls. You’ve been the soccer coach for years. You’re handsome. Girls are attracted to you. It was believable. Simple as that. I knew eventually the police would come after Mitchell. And eventually they did.”

“You did this all just to protect your son? He’s a criminal. You’d destroy my life to save his?”

“I already lost one son. I couldn’t just stand idle and watch Mitchell throw his life away. But before you judge me,” Adriana said, “ask yourself this. How far would you go to save your daughter?”

Putting all the pressure she could manage on the gas pedal, Rainy couldn’t make her sedan go a mile faster. The lone red strobe light on the roof of her car warned what little traffic she encountered on the quiet streets of Shilo to stay out of her way. Carter made sure he had the GPS coordinates entered right. They didn’t trust Mitchell Boyd to give them directions. But the closer they got, the more it seemed that Mitchell had told them the truth. Mitchell had insisted his mother would be at this place called the Spot, and his father, too. She had to believe that Tom and Jill would be there as well. If Mitchell told the truth about one thing, he was confessing to it all.

Rainy’s police radio crackled. Carter replied to the state police inquiry with their current location.

“ETA is about five minutes,” Carter said to Rainy.

“That might be five minutes too late,” Rainy said.

Roland groaned.

“Secrets… ,” Adriana said, looking down at him. “We kept so many secrets. I guess both Roland and I did what we believed was best to protect what we had. We knew the same horrible truth about our son but didn’t tell each other. Instead, we tried to fix it.” Adriana pointed Dee’s gun at Roland’s head.

“Adriana, what are you doing?” Tom cried.

“You disgust me,” Adriana said to Roland. “I did everything I could to save our son. And you? You’re dealing in the same crap that killed my Stephen. Were you just going to peddle this garbage to somebody else’s kid? You’re a callous, sick man, and the reason Stephen is dead.”

“Adriana… help….”

“Did my son murder Lindsey Wells? Is my Mitchell a killer?”

“No… no… Lindsey was alive when Mitchell brought her to me,” Roland said, struggling to speak. “But she had to die. You understand. To save our son, she had to die.”

“You killed her?” Adriana asked.

“No. It was Dee. I had Dee kill her. Adriana, please… we can fix things.”

“Nothing can be fixed,” Adriana said. “But maybe I can start over.” She knelt down, placing the barrel of Dee’s gun inches from Roland’s head.

“Good-bye, Roland,” she said.

Adriana pulled the trigger.

Adriana stood from her crouched position quicker than Tom anticipated. Even so, he was ready to act. He’d been whispering in Jill’s ear while Adriana kept herself occupied with Roland. Jill assured him she was ready. She squeezed Tom’s hand with a strength he didn’t realize his daughter possessed.

Adriana raised her gun higher. Her face, savage with a gruesome covering of blood splatter, contorted into a vicious snarl.

“I’m sorry, Tom. I’m going to have to disappear. I don’t see any other way.” She aimed the weapon at Jill.

Tom shoved Jill backward, hard as he could, coiling and uncoiling his hips to enhance his leverage. Jill’s feet lifted off the ground. Tom prayed they had taken enough backward steps that he could shove her far enough out to clear the railroad ties below. He dove to his right at the same instant Adriana fired her shot. Tom heard the bullet slice through the air, then a loud splash. Tom rolled twice, getting closer to Adriana with each revolution.

Please… please be all right, he thought.

Another shot rang out. Then another. Pop! Pop! Tom rolled again and, in a single motion, sprang back to his feet, within striking distance of his target. Tom didn’t attack right away. He couldn’t make his decisive move until he knew for certain Jill was safe.

The delay gave Adriana precious seconds to get herself reoriented. She aimed the gun point-blank at Tom’s chest.

Finally, Tom heard what he’d been waiting for.

“Green! Green!”

Jill’s songbird voice echoed off the quarry walls and filled Tom’s heart. He lunged at Adriana, clutching her in his arms before she could get off a third shot. They grappled together, spinning around several times, as though in a frenzied dance. Tom lost his grip on Adriana’s arm. He felt the gun barrel digging into his abdomen. Tom somehow maneuvered them close to the edge of the quarry. He kept hold of Adriana as he fell backward. They tumbled over the lip of the quarry’s steep cliff with their arms wrapped tightly around each other.

Time slowed. Tom sensed himself floating above the water. The darkness below appeared infinite, and their bodies felt weightless. The fall shouldn’t have taken Tom by surprise, but it did. A ripping wind howled in his ears as he plummeted downward, shattering the momentary stillness. As Tom fell, he heard Adriana’s loud screams puncturing the night, and the explosion of a gun.

Rainy reached the path before the others. She sprinted ahead of Carter, who didn’t have nearly enough leg strength to keep pace. Off in the distance, Rainy heard the sound of sirens, screeching as though the whole town of Shilo were on fire. She could hear cars pulling to a quick stop, doors opening, then slamming shut. She heard the sputter of radios crackling as more sirens arrived. She pushed ahead, sprinting at full speed with her gun drawn. She felt dizzy with adrenaline. Her thoughts were spinning.

Why had Adriana left Mitchell? Why did Roland bring Tom to the Spot? Where was Lindsey Wells?

Rainy broke free of the woods and stumbled into the clearing. It was just as Mitchell had described. She looked around and saw two bodies on the ground. She heard a gunshot, followed by a splash.

Still falling, Tom heard Jill cry out from somewhere in the water below, “Dad! No!”

The railroad ties, the ones Tom had prayed Jill would clear, emerged from the darkness like a predator about to strike. Tom struck the water and twisted his body to avoid a direct hit. He heard the sickening crack of bone, felt Adriana’s skull crack against his own. Blood splatter sprayed his face like seawater called up from a fast-moving boat.