Chapter 4
First order of business, find Steven Lloyd, Rosalyn thought. If and when she found Michael, she would have to come up with something to catch his attention. Steven was perfect. Poor boy. How old would he be now? About to turn seven, I suppose. The idea made her sick, but it was the only way.
Finding Steven wouldn't be a huge problem. She had, of course, covered the 1995 story and Tommy had told her some things as well. She had notes on it somewhere.
She riffled through her papers and at last came to a folder labeled, "1995 Murders". She opened it and found Steven's profile. There it was, the name of the orphanage.
"St. Francis' Children's home?" Rosalyn frowned. "God, Tommy, you sent him to a Catholic home?"
Now there was the question of whether or not he was still there. Tommy would probably know the answer to that. He and Kara still kept tabs on the boy every now and then, though Kara sometimes seemed reluctant to do so. Rosalyn had met Kara once or twice and she'd never liked her very much. She'd been very rude and indignant and it seemed to get worse every time they saw each other. At first she told herself it was because Kara had been so bothered by reporters and didn't want another journalist breathing down her neck, so she refrained from talking about Steven and Smith Grove altogether. It still didn't help. Kara didn't like her and that's all there was to it. Pity. She seemed like such a nice person the way Tommy talked about her.
The phone rang, interrupting her train of thought. "Hello," she answered as she resumed going through her papers with the receiver on her shoulder.
"I know who you are and I know what you're trying to do."
Rosalyn froze. She took the phone back in her hand and shakily demanded, "Who is this?"
"I see your little scheme. So if I were you, I would just put that file away and get on with the rest of my life. This has nothing to do with you."
"This has more to do with me than you think," Rosalyn said through clenched teeth. There was a chuckle on the other end of the line.
"Rosalyn, Rosalyn. I remember you, Ms. McLeod. Still sticking your nose where it doesn't belong after all these years? I thought you would have learned your lesson by now. But no- you're still the naive little half-bake you always were and always will be."
Rosalyn couldn't think of anything to say. Who was this person? How did he know her?
"Put the file away, Ms. McLeod."
"Go to hell." Rosalyn slammed the phone back down in its cradle. How dare he threaten her? Just then her rational thought kicked in. She looked around. Someone was watching her. She hurried over to the windows and pulled down the shades. She turned off all of the lights and waited.
She jumped when the phone rang again. "H- hello?"
"Ros? Hey it's me."
"Oh, Tom hi," she said relieved.
"You okay?"
She took a deep breath. "Sure, I'm fine." She happened to glance across the room at one of the now shaded windows just as a shadow passed over it. "Oh my god! Tommy, I'm not okay. Someone is watching me. I just got a strange phone call and I think I just saw someone- "
"Stay put. I'll be right over."
Rosalyn hung up the phone and huddled on the floor in the corner. She hadn't heard or seen anything more, but she still tried to make herself scarce. Just when she began to relax, there was a crash and a hailstorm of glass rained down over her head. Through the downpour she caught a glimpse of a hand reaching from the window above her head. She scurried away from it into the middle of the room, screaming louder than she ever knew she could.
"Rosalyn!" Tommy was there! At the sound of his voice, the hand disappeared from the window.
Whimpering and sniffling, Rosalyn stood and hurried to the door. She threw it open and rushed into Tommy's arms. He tried to understand through her sobs what had happened.
"He's here! He tried to kill me! The man on the phone threatened me and then he came and he tried to grab me and- "
"Hold on, Ros. Slow down. Okay, maybe you should come back to my place."
Rosalyn agreed and they hurried back to Tommy's, apparently oblivious to the dark figure watching them both from the shadows. Without warning, it began to rain.
TO BE CONTINUED...
~*~