Paul had his gun firmly in his grip now, and he walked into the apartment behind the larger sheriff. Tyler was calling for Emma to come out, but there was no answer.
“Stay here, Paul. I’ll sweep the place. She comes out, stop her.” Tyler made it sound so easy. She was a seventy-year-old woman, but if she was bonded to the Schattenmann, who knew what kind of advantage she might have?
Paul stood nervously by while Tyler entered the bedroom, then the bathroom. He checked the closets and returned empty-handed. “She’s not here.”
“Damn it,” Paul said.
They entered the hall, where the neighbor was still standing, a fresh smoke lit in his mouth. “Is there anywhere else she could be in this building?” Paul asked the man, who was leaning against the wall as if gravity was too much for his frail body to bear.
The man thought for a moment, squinting his eyes so hard, Paul thought he might pull something, then he nodded. Slowly at first, then with a finality Paul felt in his gut. “The storage unit. She’s always going into it. God knows what she does in there, but she does have a lot of stuff. I told her to sell her crap, help make ends meet.”
Paul met Tyler’s gaze, and they grinned. They might have found the nest, and they both knew it.
_______________
Tom raced down the highway. God, how had he been so stupid? The woman, Emma. It all seemed so obvious, but there was a saying about hindsight, one he couldn’t recall at that moment. His wife used to always say it, and as a result, he’d pushed it from his memory. The only things he wanted to remember about her were the good times. She didn’t take up much space in his brain’s file cabinet.
“Dad’s not answering his phone!” Taylor said.
Tom grabbed his radio and reached out to Rich and Tyler. “Come in, Red Creek. This is Bartlett.”
No response.
“Come in, Red Creek. What’s the situation? We’re en route to the orchard. What’s the status?” Tom was about to try again when Rich’s youthful voice carried through.
“Tom, we’re holding down the fort while the sheriff and Alenn nab Emma.” Rich sounded happy about it all.
Tom checked their location and was relieved to see they were within miles of the condo. “We’ll be there in three minutes. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Over,” Tom said, and smiled at the Alenn girl in the passenger seat. She was obviously nervous, worried for her father. Tom didn’t blame her. All the shit that orchard had put her family through, it was no wonder they believed in monsters. He probably would too.
As soon as they hit the gravel road that led directly to the orchard, Tom pressed the pedal down firmly, speeding up. Taylor gripped the handhold above her seat, and stared straight forward.
_______________
It all happened so fast, Paul didn’t have time to comprehend what was going on. He and Tyler were on the main level, about to head underground to the storage facility below the building, when the door pressed open, hitting Tyler in the hip with the handle. His gun went flying, and an older woman, who could only be Emma, ran from the building with a speed belying her age.
Paul didn’t hesitate. His legs pumped forward, his hands pressed the glass door’s push bar, and he ran after her. She was moving quickly, faster than humanly possible, and Paul knew this was a race he couldn’t win. Still, he had to try.
Rich was running after him now, but he was falling behind, even though he was twenty-something years Paul’s junior. Paul wanted to shout at Emma, to tell her to stop, but he knew she wouldn’t. For all he knew, she was running from something worse than the police.
She was starting to slow, and Paul thought he might catch up as he passed through the gates and onto the gravel road that led out of the orchard and towards town. Headlights shone from a half mile away, and a distant part of Paul’s mind wondered if that was Taylor and the detective.
Emma was shoulder-checking every few minutes, seeing how close he was, and Paul knew he almost had her. He kicked it into high gear as the car ahead cranked the wheel to skid horizontally across the road. It was a hundred yards away, and she kept moving for it.
He saw the glint of a gun in her right hand, and she stopped finally, bringing it out in front of her.
“Stop where you are!” Emma said in a threatening voice. It dripped with malice and hate.
“Freeze! Gilden PD!” Tom Bartlett shouted from behind his car. Paul saw his daughter crawl out of the driver’s seat, and the other two in the back were ducking behind the vehicle at Tom’s behest.
Paul glanced over at Emma, and even from twenty yards away, he could see her eyes darting around frantically as she considered her next move.
Paul noticed it then. A blackness lifted from inside her, rolling away from her shadow cast by the passenger side headlights glow. It was coming toward him. Tendrils of darkness rolled and swam over the gravel, and Paul had the urge to run from it, but found his legs were planted firmly.
As the last bit pushed out of Emma, he saw everything about her face change. Her jaw went slack, her rigid posture loosened. She moved her gun away from pointing it at Paul and turned it on herself. Everything slowed as Paul watched her and her shadow at the same time. The attachment to her had vacated her body, and now she was going to kill herself. It was so obvious, but Paul didn’t know how to stop it.
“Don’t do it!” he shouted, as if a tiny part of him understood what would happen if she died.
She twisted toward Paul, and mouthed two words. “I’m sorry.” The trigger was pulled, and
