Vengeance

23 MEDINA FALLS, ARKANSAS

Walking home in the dark after her evening shift, Sarah’s thoughts dwelt on Jake and the woman who had come to town looking for him. That the woman was someone important and powerful was obvious, but her relationship with Harrison, and for what reason she had come to see him in Medina Falls, was unclear.

Sarah looked around at the strange houses along the street, suddenly realizing she wasn’t on her way home. While lost in her thoughts, she had subconsciously headed toward Jake’s cottage. She was only a block away now, so she decided to stop by, attempting to conjure a reason for her visit. Perhaps she could ask if he liked the desserts she had baked for him.

As the cottage came into view, she noticed that the only illumination inside was a night-light, faintly illuminating the kitchen and dining room. Perhaps Jake was already asleep or out somewhere. She knocked on the door in case he was home and still awake, reading or watching TV in his bedroom. But there was no answer. Peering through the window, she spotted her pie and cookies on the dining room table. He hadn’t touched the pie and it looked like he hadn’t eaten a single cookie.

There were several lights on inside Miss Potter’s house, so Sarah knocked, hoping she knew where Jake was. The elderly woman answered the door.

“Hi, Miss Potter. I was wondering if you knew if Jake was home or out somewhere.”

“Oh, he’s gone. He left this afternoon with another woman. He said he wouldn’t be back.”

Sarah’s heart sank, accompanied by a knot in her throat and ache in her chest. The physical reaction must have been evident, because Miss Potter’s face softened.

“My dear, I’m certain that Jake was quite fond of you. He gave me a message for you.”

Sarah brightened at the news. “What did he say?”

“He wanted me to thank you again for the pie and cookies, and tell you he was sorry that he didn’t have time to enjoy them.”

Jake’s message didn’t really help. He was gone and wasn’t coming back.

After bidding Miss Potter goodnight, Sarah headed home, fighting back tears of disappointment. She tried to turn her grief into anger, telling herself that her interest in Jake had been a fool’s errand. What had she been thinking, being interested in a man twice her age? She’d been fortunate that nothing had come from it. In fact, she wished that Jake had never come to Medina Falls.

A few blocks from home, Sarah spotted a strange car parked alongside the curb, in the shadows between the two nearest streetlights. A man emerged from the vehicle as Sarah approached.

“Excuse me, miss,” he said. “I’m looking for a friend of mine named Jake. Can you tell me where he is?”

As Sarah prepared to answer, Jake’s last words to her flashed in her mind: In the future, don’t be so unguarded around strangers.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know anyone named Jake.”

“That’s strange,” the man said as he moved onto the sidewalk, blocking the path to her house. “Several people told me that you knew him well. He stopped by the diner every day. A new guy in town, tall, about my build. Ring a bell?”

Sarah felt a deepening uneasiness, and seriously doubted the man was Jake’s friend. After pretending to think for moment, she replied, “Nope. I don’t know anyone named Jake or matching your description.”

The man offered a tight smile.

It was at this moment that Sarah realized the man was wearing a light jacket, even though it was a warm evening. Looking closer, she spotted a bulge under the jacket on his left side. She had seen enough movies to realize the bulge might be a pistol in a shoulder holster. The man followed her eyes, then his smile faded as he reached inside his jacket.

Sarah bolted to her left, running from a man who likely had nefarious intentions. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted him sprinting after her.

She cut through a neighbor’s yard, hurtling over a low chain link fence, hoping to reach her house before the man caught up to her. But she hadn’t had much of a head start and he was gaining on her. He was only a few paces behind her when she realized it was hopeless — there was no way she could escape him. She started screaming for help, but seconds later, the man tackled her on the grass and pinned her body beneath his, clamping one hand over her mouth as he placed the pistol barrel against her head.

“I only want information,” he said. “Nothing more. Understand?”

As her heart thumped inside her chest, she nodded.

“I’m going to ask you one more time. Where is Jake? I stopped by Miss Potter’s cottage and he wasn’t there. Where is he?”

He removed his hand.

“I don’t know,” she said. “A woman arrived today and he left with her.”

“This woman, what did she look like?”

“A white woman in her forties. Beautiful, with auburn hair and blue eyes.”

The man scowled. “Chris,” he said under his breath.

He stood, offering his hand to help Sarah up.

Afraid to decline his assistance, she took his hand and he pulled her to her feet.

“Listen up,” he said. “You’re going to forget everything that happened tonight. That I came looking for Jake. Understand?”

Sarah nodded vigorously. “Never saw you,” she said.

“Good. Now why don’t you run along?”

She stood there for a second until he gestured with his hand. “Get going.”

Sarah started toward her house, only a block away. After a few steps, she began running, hoping to put distance between her and the man as soon as possible.

As Sarah sprinted away, Mixell pulled a suppressor from its holster, screwing it onto the pistol barrel.

There was only one way to ensure Sarah told no one about what happened tonight — that he was hot on Harrison’s trail.

He straightened his arm, aiming at his prey. Just before the woman disappeared into the darkness, he pulled the trigger. The woman’s head jolted forward as the bullet drilled through the back of her skull. Her limp body hit the ground face-first, leaving a bloody smear on the grass as she slid several feet.

It had been a quick and painless death, Mixell noted to himself. And Harrison had once accused him of being a heartless killer.