The Book of Elements by Cynthia Woods

Author:Cynthia Woods [Woods, Cynthia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-07-23T04:00:00+00:00

"Ma’am? Ma’am, are you still there?" the voice asked.

"Yes, I’m still here," Caeli spoke along with the tape as she called up the memory.

"The police are here now."

"Ma’am, can you get to the officers? They don’t know where you are."

Silence filled the room again.

This time the captain waited patiently until she opened her eyes again. Caeli was looking at him as if she were trying to look through him to see what lay beyond. He sat still and waited for her to work it out. The more she could recall on her own, without any taint from his words, the more likely he would be to discover some overlooked detail or perhaps an entirely new one.

"It was you. You were one of the officers that night. I heard your voice when you were apprehending the man in my closet."

"Yes, that was me. And we spoke downstairs in your living room afterward. Do you remember any of that?"

"Not much. At least, not yet. Thank you, Officer Erickson. Thank you for all of it," she replied.

The way she looked at him seemed to make him feel as if she were thanking him for more than recent events. Ben thought he knew what she was referencing when she called him Officer. Back then, he had only been a patrol officer. He was surprised that she would recall it now. Ben never did get a chance to speak with her to wrap up her case ten years ago, after the death of her grandmother. Thinking about it now caught him off guard.

"What?" Ben could not come up with a better reply.

"Thank you for showing up that night. I’m not sure if they would have found me or not, but I know they would not have left until they did. Thank you for coming to my aid." Caeli did not directly mention the past event.

"You’re welcome, Lass," the unexpected affection broke through his formal police detachment, causing him to reach out and pat her hand as they talked, "but I was just doing my job. What makes you think they were specifically after you?" Captain Erickson returned to the matter at hand.

"I heard them talking."

"That’s the same as you told me that night. Do you remember hearing a name? A location maybe? Do you know where they planned to take you?" He rose from the chair and began pacing slowly between the bed and the window, rubbing his chin as was his habit when concentrating on important or puzzling details.

"Not that I can recall."

"That’s ok. Can you tell me, Mrs. Harding, what you did…?"

"Caeli," she interrupted him.

"What’s that?"

"Caeli. Please, call me Caeli. When you call me Mrs. Harding, I feel the urge to wash the gray out of my hair," she smiled at him. He laughed at her good mood.

"You amaze me, Mrs.…Caeli. After everything you’ve been through, you’re sitting over there worrying about being nice to an old police dog like me. You’ve a kind heart little lady."

"Well, you probably just caught me on a good day, and even so, I can’t answer your question very well.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.