Haunted by the Past Ch. 14

It was just another warning that he wanted to come after her.

Perhaps this time he's going to break into the house...

But it could also be from the fact that she'd just removed her dress as she headed toward the closet. She snorted a laugh and shook her head...I hate feeling this jumpy...

Ed Hood stayed deathly still as she walked into the closet and hung up her dress and slip not four feet from where he was hiding. She was wearing just her bra and panties. Then she slipped on a pair of slacks and a sweater. He breathed silently and stifled the urge to growl when he caught her scent as she passed by him on her way out.

He heard her voice at the other end of the house along with the voices of her girlfriends.

She's the only one I intend to punish. Damn it...how long will I have to wait for them to leave? Patience... I must have patience. Surely God is on my side! Everything will start to work in my favor soon...

**********

Someone else living in the Brentwood area noticed a vehicle that had been parked on the side of a road for most of the evening. They wondered if it had been abandoned, so they phoned it in to the police and told them where it was. The local precinct sent out another patrol unit to check it out.

The patrol officers radioed the Oregon license plate numbers in to the station to check them out. The patrol unit knew this area was close to where one of the other units was assigned on a watch. They took a drive up to where the other officers were parked and told them about the vehicle and that they'd let them know what they found out.

**********

At about 6:45, one of the records investigators at the FBI received a return call from the sheriff in a remote county in Oregon. They had called the sheriff to ask him to contact Betsy Hightower. The investigator took the information and handed it to Assistant Director Peter Woods.

Woods scanned the information and muttered, "Oh, my God...what the hell is going on? Get me the address where Agents Seldon and Richards are right now. And call Agents Jones and Brinkley and tell them to meet me there on the double!"

He grabbed the file they had compiled on Ed Hood and headed out the door as fast as he could.

About twenty minutes later, Woods pulled up to the building where Charles and Tom were positioned to watch the import/export company's warehouse. He burst through the door.

"That vehicle registered to Betsy Hightower that was following you two is here in L.A. because she loaned it to her nephew... Edward Hood. Why the hell would he be following the two of you? What could he have possibly wanted?"

Charles jumped up and roared, "WHAT?!! I have no fucking idea why that bastard would be following us! Why would he do that?"

Woods laid Hood's file on a table in front of them, opened it and showed them the information that the sheriff had given them.

Tom picked up the photo of Hood in the file and studied it for a moment. "Oh, shit! I've seen this guy! He followed us into that diner Monday. He sat down right behind you, Charles, and he only stayed for a few minutes. You remember? He got up and left, saying he'd forgotten about a meeting or something. What had we been talking about while he was there?"

Charles and Tom thought back and repeated their conversation. Charles remembered the comment he'd made about Diana being mad that he wouldn't be home until late this evening. That was when Hood had gotten up and left... He thought Diana was going to be alone this evening! But she wasn't...

"We need to call the police station so they can radio the patrol unit to be on the lookout for him because he's bound to be lurking around. But maybe Hood spotted the patrol unit and changed his mind. No one has called the office to report that any trouble has occurred, so maybe he's given up!" Woods suggested hopefully.

As soon as Agents Jones and Brinkley arrived to take over the surveillance, Charles, Tom and Woods left to find the nearest phone.

Charles called Detective Jonathan North's precinct and asked to speak to him. Charles knew their friend was on duty that evening and this information involved his wife as well.

"Jon, it's Charles. We've found out something that indicates Hood might try to make a move on Diana tonight." He related the information to Jon.

"I'll contact the local precinct so they can relay the information to the patrol unit. Then I'll contact Rick's precinct so they can get a message to him and then I'll call your house and tell Barbara what's going on. We don't want to frighten Diana unnecessarily."

Charles replied, "Right. We're headed back to the FBI office first and then to my house. If you hear anything in the next thirty minutes, call my office. OK? Thanks, Jon. Bye."

Jon called the local precinct and was concerned to hear that a vehicle with Oregon license plates had already been spotted parked in the area. He had his precinct contact Officer Rick Estevez's precinct to radio him since his wife Dawn was also with her girlfriends at Charles and Diana's house.

Rick called Jon a few minutes later and asked him to keep him posted. Jon assured him he would.

Then Jon called Charles and Diana's house. "Barbara, love, I don't want you to upset Diana; so don't say anything, just listen to me. We have reason to believe that Ed Hood is somewhere in the area tonight and will try to come after Diana. He thinks she's alone. But he may have already seen the police unit outside and he may not even try anything. We've already radioed the patrol unit to keep an extra lookout. I just want you to do the same from inside... OK?"

"OK, Jon. We'll be at least another couple hours here so there's no rush. I'll see you later at home. Bye, darling. I love you, too!"

**********

It had been over an hour and Ed Hood was getting tired of waiting for the other women to leave.

If I can't take care of this quietly, then your girlfriends will just have to serve as witnesses to either your redemption or your trial and execution! I won't need to kill them. Everyone will know it was me and I don't need their blood on my hands...

He heard the phone ring. It was for one of her girlfriends. He heard her say that she expected to be there for at least a couple more hours.

I can't wait that long...it's time to get this over with...

As soon as the phone conversation ended, he walked out of the bedroom door and crept down the hallway toward the kitchen with the gun in his hand.

Dawn walked out of the kitchen toward the china cabinet in the dining area and pulled out a serving dish. She turned around and stopped dead. She screamed loudly and dropped the dish onto the hardwood floor, shattering it...

**********

The police officers stationed out front had received the radioed message that the vehicle the perp was known to be driving had been found just a half a mile away. And it had been sitting there since late afternoon. The officers looked at each other.

That's not a good sign...

They immediately got out of the car and headed toward the house to take a look around outside.

There was no access to the backyard at the sides of the house. It was surrounded by trees and dense brush. One of the officers pulled out his flashlight. There were no trails through the brush that they could see. They checked the other side of the house and found the same thing. The perp would've had to gain entry through the front of the house...but there were no signs of forced entry.

What the hell?!!! Where could he be...

The officers looked at each other with puzzled expressions. Just as one of them was about to say something, they heard a loud scream and the sound of something breaking come from inside the house...

Both officers instinctively drew their guns and stealthily crept along the front of the house. They headed toward the picture window. They could just barely see figures through the sheer curtains and could only hear muffled voices. They backed away from the window so they could see through the sheers better.

Their worst fears were realized when they saw a man standing in the dining area pointing a gun toward the women.

One of the officers said quietly, "You stay here and watch how he reacts. I'm going to knock on the door and say that we heard a scream and just wanted to check on them."

The officer moved to the front door and knocked loudly. "Mrs. Richards? Mrs. Richards! We heard a scream in there. Is everything OK? Let us know if everything is OK!"

His partner flinched. He looked at him and shook his head. He indicated with his hand that the perp had his gun pointed at someone's head. Then he indicated that they were moving toward the door.

The officer at the door put his gun back in his holster.

Diana was doing her best to remain calm as the bastard dragged her to her front door with his gun pointed at her head.

"All right, bitch...you'd better think of something to tell that police officer to get rid of him or I'll kill you and all your girlfriends! And don't you dare say anything that might make them suspicious like trying to send them away. Then they'll know something's up!" Hood growled. He positioned himself behind the front door as she opened it.

"I'm so sorry for worrying you officer. One of my friends spotted a mouse running across the kitchen floor and it scared her. She screamed and dropped one of my best pieces of china, too! I'll have to make her pay for that!"

Diana slid her eyes to her right.He's standing behind the door, officer...

Amazingly, the officer gave a solemn nod with his head, as if he already knew Hood was there.

The officer said calmly, "Well, maybe you need to get yourself a cat, Mrs. Richards. And tell your friend not to scream like that and scare us any more. We'll be right across the street if you need us to come in and chase any more mice away for you."

He indicated to her with hand signals.We're calling for backup...

OK...stay calm. Help will be here soon! Please call my husband...

"Thank you, officer. We'll let you know if we see any more mice. Good night." Diana shut the door.

Hood grabbed her and dragged her back over to the dining area. "You and your friends sit at that end of the table."

He sat at the other end across from Diana. His back was to the front picture window but he was facing the windows looking into the backyard. He banged his gun on the table three times.

The women jumped.

"Court is now in session. Diana Maitland Richards, you have been charged with the heinous crimes of sinful sexual conduct for a single woman; teasing and misleading the man who was sent to redeem your soul for those sins, and condemning another innocent man's soul for loving you despite your wicked ways. How do you plead? Guilty or not guilty?"

Hood stood up and declared, "She's guilty, your honor!"

Diana winced.Is he serious? He's acting like he's putting me on trial...

But it sounded like he'd already decided the outcome! And since he had a gun in his hand, he'd probably already decided the punishment as well...

Death...

Diana closed her eyes and mentally screamed.

CHARLES!!!!