Chapter Eleven: Footstep
November 15th
Catherine ditched the bottle of Deep Currant hair dye into the rubbish bin in one of the many rest stops heading along the highway out of Florida. Red wasn’t exactly her color, but she was left with little choice. She could sense them creeping up on her, yet her trained sense still couldn’t tell her how it was they came to be chasing her.
She’d not began her forthcoming torrent meant for Faith, yet they knew. She put it plainly down to luck, they realized she was no longer checking in with a probation officer, figured she would head down to Florida, and per chance stumbled across her. That was the only thing that made sense.
She hopped back into the car and started the engine then something laying in the gutter that caught her attention. Simple footprints, left by a shoe other than hers. She didn’t care whose they were or how long they had been there, they merely sparked a thought in her brain, and she realized she couldn’t leave Florida, not just yet, for something had just occurred to her.
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Faith rubbed her temples as the sedatives they’d given her began to wear off. She smiled weakly at Brian who sat bolt upright in the chair next to her, his eyes bounding across the room, searching, looking, wondering.
“Maybe you should stay in here, or a place like this, till the baby’s born” Brian remarked, his eyes focused this time on the window behind the bed.
“That’s about 2 months away” she sighed, “Plus we have things to do at home”
“But, it’s safer in a place like this, Mercy Hospital is supposed to be nice”
Faith closed her eyes to release a tear.
“I wont hide” she whispered
“And I wont let you die” Brian announced standing quickly
“If Catherine wants me then Hospital staff and white washed walls aren’t going to stop her” Faith cried, her mind a sore with possibilities
“What do you propose we do?” Brian questioned, his tone softening as he sat back down and scooped Faith’s hand into his own.
“I don’t know” Faith whispered
“Get some rest” Brian encouraged, sliding his hand gently across her forehead.
She nodded slightly as he leaned in placing a softened kiss upon her temple.
“I love you Faith” he said under his breath, “I wont let her hurt you”
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November 20th
The tree snapped like a toothpick and it fell with little flare to the ground below it. That was the last of them, the final part of the work would take much more effort then cutting down a few trees and feeding an old man to an alligator, the next job would be by far the hardest and one that relied solely on timing.
“Soon” the wind echoed, “Soon”
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Faith looked behind her as the car moved slowly out of the Hospital grounds. Brian was less than happy at her leaving but she wouldn’t hide from Catherine, she wouldn’t be shut away. In fact for all she knew Catherine might have left Florida long ago when they first found out about her, after all she’d left no nasty surprises in showers or killed any animals lately, so perhaps they would never hear from Catherine again.
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Catherine watched the car pull into the drive across from where she feverently plucked weeds from the expanse of Gardens in the Martin residence. The usual gardener was down with an awful stomach bug, laxatives in overdose will do that to you.
Her new shiny red hair was hidden beneath a green Home Care cap, and her eyes shielded with sunglasses.
The automatic gates opened to allow the car passage, then closed again shortly after the car had driven through it. Spot lights littered the property and a high iron fence surrounded the property. She bet there was no entry through wire fencing as she acquired access to their other house. They’d sure stepped up security, and she was willing to also bet the white van parked down the street on the opposite side of the road was surveillance. She ripped a flower from its roots as she pondered when she would go in there, she would worry about how to, soon.
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Darkness enveloped Catherine as she eased along the road edging opposite to the Littrell house. The darkness changed the objects she’d spent all day memorizing, but she’d spent a fair chunk of her time ‘away’ working to focus her mind. She’d learnt much while ‘away’ and the art of focusing ones mind to one point and one point only was a subject she’d aced.
She pinpointed the most likely entrance point. The iron bars in the fence were spaced around 6 inches, the lengths of the fence were set out in 1 miles lots, the area it fenced was at least 3 miles square, which meant they joined in 3 places. The joins gave a bar gap of 10 inches enough for a small person like herself to slip through. The first join was on the left side of the gate and was covered by 2 spotlights and a motion detector, she wouldn’t be surprised if it also was linked to a security camera. The second join was in the right side of the gate and just as covered, leaving only one more join, which was also in a highly lit area, but at the far left end of the property. It would be no easy task, and she bet the area would be covered with some sort of netting, but nothing that would withstand wire cutters. She eased her way along the adjoining property, their security was minimal consisting only of a few spot lights, set above the height of the dogs they locked up in a dog house. Meaning she could easily scoot past the lights without been detected. She assumed they’re internal alarm was of some substance but it mattered not, she wasn’t breaking into their house, merely using it as a path to another.
She reached the point she’d calculated to be the 3rd join, and unsurprisingly it was covered with a thick mesh wire, and for look purposes, a line of shrubs with messy branches and thorns.
“Rose bush” she smiled reaching for her wire cutters. She pulled on the wire and a gap appeared. She starred at the wire intently, then notice the ground below her and remembered the footsteps at the rest stop.
“Oh my god” she whispered, before darting from the fence.
The plan had just taken a different turn.
Chapter 12
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