“Let me out!” Emily Stratton yelled
as we cleared the corner, her hands shaking as she reached for the handle of
the van door.
“Emily, wait,” Clisty soothed intently. “Becca will
hold your hands until we stop. It could be dangerous if you opened the door
while the van is moving.” She looked at Clint. He was filming it all.
“Ezra will see that I’m gone! I shouldn’t have left,”
Emily sobbed.
“I’ll pull to the side of the road so we can talk,”
Jake offered in a smooth strong voice. “But, remember, the Freedom Temple has
fallen. Ezra’s scheme he worked to build so hard over the years, is crumbling
around him. He may be in a rage, looking for whom to blame. Our head start is
to our advantage. Are you sure you want Ezra to catch up to us?”
“No, no, drive on!” She rubbed her hands across her
eyes and buried her face in the palms. Her head suddenly popped up. “He’ll
search the house for me first, in the kitchen, upstairs in our bedroom, in
Joslyn’s room. He knows how much I’ve grieved since Joslyn and Pooky left.” She
looked at Clisty with fear in her eyes. “He won’t have to go in the office
though. When he sees I’m gone, he’ll know. With the Temple abandoned, he’ll be in
escape mode.”
“There weren’t any other cars in your driveway at
your house. There was no one else around,” Jake observed. “Where were you
supposed to meet him? How would you get there?”
“Ezra told me to put the files in a wheeled suitcase,
but that was upstairs. So I took the valise. I know I did wrong,” she sobbed.
The others waited until she could pull herself together. “I was to walk to the
Metro line, take the train into Chicago and meet him at the station there.”
“So ... maybe he’ll go to Chicago first before
starting a search elsewhere,” Jake thought out loud.
“It will never occur to him that I won’t be at the
station,” she said weakly. “I’ve never disobeyed him before.” She wiped some
more tears from her eyes. “It was poor Joslyn who got all the beatings for
disobeying The Guardian.”
Clisty’s voice caught in her throat. “She was
beaten?” Anger and grief rose up inside her.
“Many times,” Emily whispered.
“Why didn’t you stop him?” Clisty demanded. She tried
very hard to not let her anger come through her voice. She was sure Emily would
not cooperate with them if she became critical. Clisty suspected the woman had
been criticized enough to last a lifetime.
“How could I stop him? He thought I rebelled one time
because I had protected Joslyn. He twisted my arm until it broke.” She rubbed
her upper arm as pain-memory seemed to return. “He’s big and he’s strong.”
“We can put you in a safe house. We’ll make the
arrangements when we get home,” Jake assured her.
“Where? Where is home?” Emily had turned again, her
eyes fixed on the empty street behind them.
“Fort Wayne, Indiana,” Becca said.
“Fort Wayne?” Her eyes brightened; her body
straightened. “Will Joslyn and Pooky be there? Ezra adopted Joslyn in Fort
Wayne and brought her home to me after our Rosie died,” her eyes glazed as
though she had drifted into her memories. “Ezra prayed and prayed that Rosie
would live. When she didn’t, he was never the same. He became mean and
controlling. Why did God take her?”
“He didn’t take her, Emily. He welcomed her,” Clisty
assured her with words she believed. As she thought, some pieces fell into
place. “So ... you didn’t know how Ezra came to adopt her?” she asked as she
continued to build the news story and Jake’s case.
“No,” Emily whispered. “He said he called a friend in
Chicago to go with him to Indiana because a little girl was ready to be
adopted.”
“It sounds like he was going to pick up a puppy,”
Clisty quipped sarcastically.
“Was his name, Melvin Dean Fargo?” Jake asked as he
gripped the steering wheel.
“It’s been so long ... he was a childhood friend of
Ezra’s. But, yes, I think that was his name.”
“Do you know if Ezra has heard from Fargo in the last
few days?” Jake asked.
“Yes and ... I thought it was strange. I don’t think
Ezra had heard from him in years. Melvin did call. He said he was in jail in Fort
Wayne. I forgot that,” Emily reported.
With fear and foreboding, Clisty watched dark clouds
gather in the east, “Then, Ezra knows where Faith is.”
• • • • •
They pulled into the parking lot of WFT at 5:30 p.m.
Clisty had prepared for the six o’clock news before she left in the morning. A
dress shirt, suit jacket and makeup kit waited in her office. “Becca, Clint,” she said as she hopped out of
the van, “we made it in time.”
Jake got out and came around to Emily’s door. “Mrs.
Stratton, if it’s alright with you, I’ll take you with me to the police station
where I will arrange a safe house location for you.”
“Will Joslyn be there?” Emily asked.
“At police headquarters?” Clisty turned before going
into the TV station.
“No,” Emily said. “Will she be at the safe house?”
Clisty looked at Jake for an answer. The wording had
to be right. “She is safe someplace else,” Jake explained. “We will make
arrangements for you three to get together tomorrow, if Joslyn and Pooky want
to see you.”
“Why wouldn’t they want to see me? She’s my daughter
and Pooky’s my granddaughter.” Emily’s expression was confused. She seemed to
be totally unaware of what Ezra and Fargo had done eighteen years ago.
“It isn’t you, Emily. Fa— Joslyn has been very
stressed emotionally for the last few days.” She looked at Jake. “Emily, Joslyn
had been held captive, as a hostage, by a bank robber during a standoff with
the police. She was in the hospital for several days.”
“Oh dear God!’ Emily gasped. “Is she alright?”
“Yes, well ... she’s improving,” Clisty said. “I have
a newscast to report right now. Jake can take you to the safe house, and then pick
me up after the program and we’ll come over and see you.”
“You can watch Clisty’s broadcast at the station
while we set things up for you, if you want to,” Jake offered.
“That would be nice. While we’re at your police
station, can you find a place to safeguard Ezra’s papers? He wouldn’t want me
to lose any of them,” she said. “If I can leave them with the police, that
would be great.”
“Jake and I will read them over and see if we can
figure out what happened at the Temple,” Clisty said casually. But what she
felt inside was a mixture of excitement and revenge. Mixed together, they
frightened her.
• • • • •
“Today, the Mayor announced a new schedule for a
vital spot in our community,” Clisty spoke into the camera toward the end of
the broadcast. “Beginning May 1, the Historic Old Fort will be open every
Saturday from 2 pm to 4 pm through July. An influx of volunteer re-enactors and
requests from the community, have made it possible.”
“Any additional volunteers should contact the
Historical Society,” Dan Drummond added.
Clisty continued. “We are continuing to gather
information regarding the suspect and the circumstances around the robbery of
Fort Wayne Bank. The news crew and I traveled one-hundred sixty miles to
investigate other threads to the story that began at the bank. As you know,
there was a possible witness to the crime, who Melvin Dean Fargo later held as
a hostage. The network has asked me to pursue the details and history of this
young woman. That is what we began today. I will bring you her story when we
have all the facts collected. In the meantime, we will protect the identity of
that woman and the people around her. I am happy to say, she is home and safe. We
continue to uncovered important leads in the case and will report them as it is
safe for all those involved. Be sure to tune in each evening. As we find
information, we will bring it to you. Catch the first glimpse of our research
on the News at Eleven. Thank you for watching. That’s the early news from the
Fort.”
“Good job everyone,” Becca announced. “Thanks for
another great newscast.”
Dan paused at the news desk. “Do I have to wait until
eleven to hear what you found out today, too?”
“Yes,” Clisty teased, “but that’s only because we
haven’t planned what to say first, and on what kind of schedule we’ll release
it. This whole thing has grown far beyond what we knew we would find so quickly.”
“You had a three hour drive back to Indiana. Did you
all sleep?” he joked.
“No, we had someone with us. The wife of the man who
kidnapped Faith was in the car during the entire trip. It appears she didn’t
know anything about the whole thing. She thought her husband had come to
Indiana, all those years ago, to adopt a girl to replace the daughter they had
just lost. I don’t know what kind of person she was before she met Ezra
Stratton, but, right now, she is an empty shell. She only does what he tells
her to do and only goes where she has asked permission to go. She doesn’t
drive. She doesn’t even answer the phone at home unless the caller ID shows
it’s her husband.”
“What? How can that be?” Dan shook his head. “What
century does she live in?”
“Emily lives in the Century of Ezra and Ezra’s whole
world is about him.” Clisty removed her lapel mic and stood up. “She is so
fragile we couldn’t discuss the case in front of her. Becca is coming over to
my apartment and we’ll write the news story for tonight.” She stopped and
turned back to Dan. “There are many twists in this story and we’ve already
turned a very dangerous corner. Please ... say a prayer for us.”
• • • • •
“Come in Becca,” Clisty said. “Jake will be here in a
few minutes. We have to know what we can report before Ezra is caught. We can’t
accidently give him information that would aid him in finding Emily, Faith and
Pooky.”
“Clisty, that’s right. We have to balance our news
story with the prosecutor’s ability to nail this guy.”
“We’re investigating the story and have every right
to report it. But, Becca ...” Clisty wrung her hands, “I want him caught so bad
I can’t stand it.”
The door buzzer rang. “If you’ll make some coffee,
I’ll get Jake,” Becca offered.
“Sure,” Clisty agreed and had the pot on by the time
Jake had his jacket off. “Go ahead and sit down. I’ll be right over,” she said.
She got some mugs out of the cabinet and smiled. Her
dirty cup from breakfast and cereal bowl still sat on the black granite. A week
ago, she would not be able to tolerate dirty dishes anywhere. Something or
someone was freeing her from her obsessions. “You like a little milk in your
coffee, right?” she asked Becca.
“Right.”
“Hi Babe,” Jake went over and kissed Clisty on the
neck while her head was down preparing the cups.
“I’ll spill this stuff if you keep that up,” she
laughed.
“I’ll clean it up,” he joked. “It’ll be worth it.”
“Hey you two,” Becca teased, “save the play for
later.”
Clisty was embarrassed and felt her cheeks grow warm.
Carrying Becca’s cup to the conversation area, she tried to shake off her
self-consciousness and nearly spilled the coffee. “Here,” she handed Becca the
cup. “Let’s get busy. I’ll get you a napkin. I splashed a little.”
“That’s okay. Oh, I forgot, you don’t want a drop on
your table,” Becca apologized.
“Don’t worry about it,” Clisty said as she wiped up
the spot and left the crumpled napkin on the table. She looked at it there on
her high-shine polished table and laughed to herself.
“First, how long do you want the segment for the
eleven o’clock news?” Jake asked. “And, do you plan to use any of the video
Clint shot today?”
“Let’s back up,” Clisty began. “I was
thinking about all of this in the van on the way home. There are several
stories here that are interconnected. There’s the bank robbery; Faith’s
kidnapping; Fargo’s connection to Ezra; the abuses at the Stratton home; and the
corruption at the Freedom Temple.”
Jake took out his small notebook and pen.
“Actually, there are only two cases we have jurisdiction over. The bank robbery
and Faith’s kidnapping. The other offences will be charges in Illinois since
that is where they happened.”
“I hadn’t thought about that,” Clisty
whispered.
“First, we have to keep Faith, Pooky and
Emily safe,” Jake began. “For now, Emily is being settled into a safe house.
She’ll have an officer with her at all times. Faith and Pooky are at the
Sterlings’ home.” He thought for a moment and then added, “I would think it
best for you not to show pictures of Ezra or Emily. I can’t tell you what to
do, freedom of the press and all. Maybe Ezra will think that our case is still
about Fargo, his bank robbery and holding Faith as a hostage at the time of the
police standoff.”
“Okay,” Clisty processed, “If we focus on
Fargo for tonight’s broadcast, we can use the pictures of Chicago Clint took as
we drove through. We can ask questions more than give answers for tonight’s
broadcast.”
“Right,” Becca agreed and opened the
e-tablet she had brought. “Why was this Chicago resident, Fargo, in Fort
Wayne?”
“Did he know the woman he held captive
before coming to Indiana?” Clisty added to the list.
“Was there any connection between Fargo
and Faith’s abduction eighteen years ago?” Jack offered.
Clisty looked up from her thoughts, “Will
that jeopardize your other charges and investigations?”
“No,” he answered, “We already know he’s
connected by helping Ezra abduct her so long ago. You don’t have to get ahead of the story. You
can ask the question.”
“That helps Jake, thanks,” Clisty said. “We
can show the clip of Fargo coming out of the house behind Faith. Becca, please
write this down. ‘We went to Chicago seeking information about the bank robbery
suspect, Melvin Dean Fargo.’ Then, we show the clip of the city and some of the
scenery from Fort Wayne to Chicago. Next, we ask our questions. That’s a
beginning.”
“Great,” Becca continued to enter data
and smiled. “The video showing the burning of the Freedom Temple that came in
from the NNC station can wait for the entire News magazine story to be
completed.”
“That sounds good,” Clisty began, and
then slowly formed a new thought. “Jake, Indiana can’t charge Stratton for
crimes in Illinois, but can we dig up the information and present whatever we
find in the final broadcast?”
“If you’re careful, you don’t want to
taint the jury that will hear the case over in Illinois. If you document all
your findings I would think that would be alright.”
“I didn’t think about that,” she drew out
slowly. “We have all of that material that Emily had you lock away in the
police station. We’ll comb through any of that and develop a second Heartland
story, centered on the charged in Illinois.” She jumped up and paced back and
forth. “We haven’t even started yet and we already have two great programs for
Stories from the Heartland.”
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