Running on Insulin

Chapter 14

"What do you mean we can't go home?" I asked her.

"Officer Davis doesn't work on Thursdays. It's his day off," Samantha said.

"But wouldn't he call if there was an issue, even on his day off?"

"Probably not. Someone on duty would. Please?  We can't go home right now. It's my dad. I swear."

"Okay, okay," I said. "Well, he knows we're at the mall, so we still have to leave."

I grabbed our bags and we headed out to the car.

"Where are we going to go?" Jenna asked.

"We'll go to a hotel. Then, I'm going to call Officer Davis, because I have his card, and I'm going to confirm whether Samantha's dad made bail or not. Then we'll figure it out from there."

I looked back at Samantha sitting in the back seat. She was curled up, her knees to her chest, and shaking like a leaf.

"It's going to be okay, Samantha," I said. "We're going to keep you safe."

Her eyes were unfocussed.  I wasn't sure she could hear me.

I pulled up to a hotel I knew and parked underground.

We went to register and I used a fake name that I used on tour. It's a name registered with the hotel already. They know what it means. The staff is always discreet and known not to put calls through. No matter who it is.

We went up to the room.  Jenna was leading and pulling Samantha more than Samantha was moving on her own.

Once we were up in the room, I pulled out Officer Davis's card and called his cell phone.

"Good evening. Officer Robert Davis," he answered.

"Officer Davis, it's Tyler Joseph,"

"Good evening Mr. Joseph.  How are you?"

"We're not doing to great. I received a phone call earlier that Samantha's dad made bail. The caller said they were you and that we needed to head home right away.  I need to confirm that caller either was or wasn't you."

"It wasn't me. It's my day off. Someone else on duty would have called you. Where are you now? No. Don't tell me.  I'm going to make a couple of calls. And I'll call you back on your cell phone."

"Okay. Thanks."

"And I will get a couple of units sent to your house. Lay low, stay where you are. Are you safe?"

"I think so," I said.

"Is Samantha okay?"

"She's currently curled up on the couch and is scared. But we're with her.  We'll be here with her."

"Okay. I'll call back as soon as I have more information."

"Okay. Thanks," I said, hanging up.

"What did he say?" Jenna asked.

"He didn't call. He's going to find out what is going on. And send some units to the house."

"Are we going to be okay?"

"We will. I promise," I said.

I sat down beside Samantha on the couch and rubbed her back. She cringed, so I moved back.

"Samantha, Officer Davis is going to find out exactly what's going on. He's going to call me back."

"He's going to get me back. He's going to take me back."

"I'm pretty sure impersonating a police officer is a big charge. Samantha, we're going to do everything we can to keep you safe."

We turned the TV on for some distraction... and found out Samantha's dad hadn't made bail. He'd escaped.

"He's coming to kill me," Samantha said, crying. "He's going to find me and he going to kill me."

I looked at Jenna. What were we going to do?  We couldn't live in a hotel. But we'd do what we could to keep Samantha safe.

My cell phone rang. This time it had Officer Davis's name on the caller ID.

"Hey Mr. Joseph," he said. "Normally I block my caller ID, but this is important enough for you to have my name pop up.

So, it turns out Mr. Deitz did not have his bail hearing. Somehow he just walked out of the jail. He's been seen in the area of your house, in and out of the woods. We have a city wide manhunt under way. I'm actually going in now.

We will catch him, and he will not be able to escape again because he will be going to prison until his trial. He's committed federal offences and he hasn't got as many buddies in the federal system.

Try to avoid watching the news if you can. Lay low. I'll be in touch as we keep searching."

"Okay. Thanks," I said and hung up.

It was getting close to dinner time and we were able to coax Samantha to get something to eat. Not eating and letting her blood sugar drop would not be good.

Since we'd come with just the clothes on our backs, we didn't have anything to change into. I'd gotten us toiletries from the front desk, so we could all brush our teeth at least. Samantha was so scared, she slept, fitfully, between the two of us. Her sleep, and therefore ours, was punctuated with nightmares. The poor kid was terrified.

At one point she woke up screaming that her father was in the room. I had to turn the lights on and walk her through the room to show her she was safe and he wasn't in the room. None of us slept very well.

In the morning, we ordered breakfast up to the room. Samantha was marginally better. She was still skittish and definitely scared, but she seemed a bit more relaxed.

My cell phone rang. It was Officer Davis.

"Good morning, Mr. Joseph.  Turn on the news," he said, sounding pretty happy. "Make sure Samantha watches."

"Okay," I said, turning on the TV.

"I'll call you back in fifteen minutes or so," he said.

"Samantha, Officer Davis says you should watch this, too," I said. She looked up from her breakfast.