Connections:
Chapter 5:
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Chris had been working on his computer balancing his checkbook, paying bills and completing some case reviews, all mundane tasks but necessary and perfect for dreary days, even Saturdays. By the time he finished all those it was mid-afternoon. Clearing his lunch dishes from his desk where he had eaten his meal he headed out to the barn to check on the horses, especially Peso's injured leg.
Walking across the yard he noticed the dark clouds bunching over Denver in the distance and saw some flashes of lightning, it was getting to be more than just a drizzly day. After checking the horses, picking out their stalls, freshening their water, tossing them each another flake of hay he took Peso out of his stall, unwrapped the leg and cleaned the wound again, there was a slight amount of heat and some swelling so he ran cold water over the area for about 20 minutes, recleaned and rewrapped the injury and settled the horse back in his stall. Chris only paid passing interest to Peso's complete compliance throughout the treatment.
Walking back out Chris checked the sky again and was surprised to see that the dark clouds now with significant lightning flashes continued to mass over Denver in the distance and didn't appear as if the storm had moved at all. Curious at the unusual weather Chris headed to his office and switched his computer back on and then checked the local weather radar trying to get an idea whether the storm was headed his way or not.
There were a few outdoor chores he hadn't completed due to the rain and they would hold but, if a violent storm was coming, he wanted to at least secure a few items. Surprisingly when the weather radar screen came up all it showed was the normal green for rain, and a light amount at that, such that he was currently experiencing. There was no forecast for any severe weather nor was there any record of any such weather currently in the Denver area, at least not according to the radar.
Chris decided he'd give Vin a quick call to see if his friend could give him an up close and personal view of the weather. Grabbing his phone he dialed Vin's apartment first, knowing that Vin wouldn't be working on either his jeep or his motorcycle in this kind of weather since he had no inside place to work on them.
After five rings Vin's answering machine clicked on and Chris left him a quick message to call when he got in. Then thinking perhaps Vin was crazy enough to be outside in this bad weather he dialed his cell phone. A twinge of unease crept across his skin as he heard the familiar discordant beep and then the recorded voice of the operator coming on – "We're sorry, the cell phone customer you are trying to reach is currently not in the area."
That made no sense to Chris whatsoever so he hung up and then tried again. This time the recording was about halfway through its message when a loud eruption of static burst in Chris' ear and he heard silence and then the rushing sound of wind, a crackle of lightning and then the sound of a voice calling---Cowboy---
Shocked Chris almost dropped the phone. He pulled it back and stared at it and then pressed it firmly to his ear hoping to hear more but all he heard was the sound of the recording rattling off its message again "We're sorry, the cell phone customer you are trying to reach is currently not in the area."
Chris listened in vain to the recording three more times but nothing happened. Damn. Grabbing his gun, badge, wallet, truck keys and jacket Chris headed for his Dodge, climbed in and headed to the city, lights flashing accelerator hard to the floor.
The voice was a woman's, a woman's voice with a noticeable Texas twang and she had called him Cowboy. Who was she and where was Vin?
Pressing the gas pedal harder to the floor Chris hit speed dial on his phone.
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Seven.
The lightning, wind, thunder and rain continued to assault the house and although Vin was protected from the rain, the wind was tearing at his clothes and the thunder was deafening, the flashes of lightning were helpful in that the house was plunged into full blackness but the flashes were irregular and nearly blinded Vin when they occurred so unprepared for them were his eyes.
Eight.
Needing to stop for a moment to catch his breath Vin decided to try his cell phone to see if he was far enough above the concrete walls of the basement. Unclasping his phone from his waist he waited for the darkness to be illuminated by a flash of lightning, when that happened he quickly hit the speed dial attempting to reach Chris.
Once again nothing happened, no bars, no sign that there was a signal not even the LCD light came on to show that the phone was working.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
Vin leaned his head down on his right arm that was once again braced on the handrail, cell phone grasped in his hand and attempted to calm his breathing and organize his scattering thoughts. Another crash of thunder reverberated through the body and rumbled in his chest such was the intensity and he wearily and painfully straightened up prepared to tackle yet another step.
As he was securing the phone at his waist a crash of thunder coupled with a downward burst of air and blinding flash of lightning startled him and unbalanced him from the force of the wind, the phone slipped from his fingers as he grabbed for the railing to save himself from falling backward.
The cell phone fell between the steps to the basement floor below. Not paying it any further mind as it wasn't working anyway Vin concentrated on rebalancing himself and then pushed and hopped his way up another stair.
Nine.
This time when the crackle of thunder rumbled through the air Vin thought he heard another smaller crack after the echo died away.
Ten.
Feeling the handrail wobble under the pressure of his weight Vin stopped momentarily and waited for a flash of lightning to illuminate the area. He didn't have long to wait and the resulting flash clearly showed the source of the smaller creaking and snapping sound he thought he had heard, the railing was detaching from the wall. In a moment Vin was going to lose this support.
Eleven.
Snap!
Vin felt the railing give way and barely managed to fall face first into the step in front of him, throwing out his right hand he managed to catch hold of the step and stop his fall. With nothing on the right side to hold onto and his left arm out of commission Vin faced seven more stairs to overcome to free himself of the basement.
Another fork of lighting crackled through the air and seemingly struck the house, the structure shuddered and the air filled with a sizzling sound as if massive sparks were erupting from the strike.
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Ring. Ring. Ring.
Nettie grabbed the phone on the third ring. "Hello?"
"Ms. Nettie."
"Well, Josiah, good afternoon, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I was at the Community Center this morning, well, actually only just left a little while ago so I guess that makes it most of today since it's mid-afternoon, anyway, there was a young boy there that only recently arrived. His name is---
"Tommy, yes, I've spent some time with him, heartbreaking truly it is."
"I know, it never gets any easier. Anyway I was wondering if you and I could compare notes about the boy. I managed to make a little headway with him today, got him to sit quite close to me during storytime and even got him to look at me once or twice."
"I'd say that's quite a good bit of progress, Josiah. The only thing I know about the young boy is that his father was quite abusive, and as such he doesn't trust men at all, especially tall men like yourself."
"Yes, there doesn't seem to be much information on him at all, Father Spence did mention that he was picked up from a rundown home, in Purgatorio, I think the name of the street is Florestan – yes, Florestan Avenue."
At the mention of that street Nettie drew in a sharp breath that had Josiah on the alert.
"Did you say Florestan Avenue?"
"Yes, Nettie, is everything all right?"
The silence unnerved Josiah.
"I don't know, funny thing is JD was here most of the day, only left a little while ago and he was working on Casey's computer, kept getting an error code, Casey got to playing 'secret agent' and decoded the numbers and they spelled out the word Florestan. I heard them talking and mentioned that Florestan is one of the main characters in an opera which happens to be a favorite of Vin's."
"An opera? Fidelio? The one that's playing at the Proctor's for the next two weeks?"
"That's it exactly. Well, JD, Casey and I didn't give it anymore thought except I'm going to call Vin and ask him if he wants to go. We haven't seen it in several years. But that's neither here nor there, you didn't call for a discussion of opera and Florestan and Vin's secret hidden admiration for Beethoven, now let me check my calendar and we'll set up a time to meet about young Tommy."
After setting time for the following week Josiah disconnected the call and continued his drive home. As he drove he couldn't help but repeat parts of his conversation with Nettie; Vin liked the opera. Hmmm. Well, not that he was that surprised, Vin hid an amazing array of talents and interests.
As he drove his thoughts switched to the young boy he had spent time with tat the community center. Remembering how much the boy had reminded him of the picture of Vin a bit younger than that he again found himself chuckling over the idea that Vin liked opera, perhaps he'd ask him to tell him about it.
As if on cue Josiah found himself stopped at a red light directly in front of the Proctor's Theater. A huge screen was projecting advertisements for upcoming events and for the current show that was playing. Josiah watched idly hoping to see ticket prices and times thinking maybe he would take in the show when all of a sudden the screen dissolved into an image of Vin and a young woman in period garb.
Startled Josiah looked again and realized that it wasn't actually Vin but rather the image of the actor portraying a part. A small slide show scrolled on the screen showing images of the actors giving their real names and then showing the name of the character they portrayed. Josiah felt a chill creep up his spine as he realized that the actor that resembled Vin at first glance was portraying Florestan in the opera.
Not a man to ignore prophetic messages Josiah signalled and then pulled his car to the curb and sat with the engine idling while he sorted the events of the day. Carefully filtering his thoughts he pieced together the hurt little boy, his conversation with Nettie, the name of the opera character, Florestan, as well as the uncanny resemblance of the actor to Vin, and then the final piece that clicked it all together was the reappearance of the name Florestan, first as the location of where the abused little boy had been found and now as the character in Vin's favorite opera played by an actor that, when dressed in period garb with long hair befitting a prisoner during that time, looked so much like Vin.
Reaching under the passenger seat Josiah pulled out a street map for the City of Denver, checking the index and then turning to the indicated page he located the location. See that it was in Purgatorio sealed the prophecy as far as Josiah was concerned.
Turning his car he pointed it in the direction of Purgatorio. He noted with increasing unease that the rain shower he was currently in was nothing compared to what he saw massing ahead of him, the sky in the direction of Purgatorio was a roiling mass of black clouds filled with lightning and showing all signs of a torrential downpour being unleashed.
Grabbing for his cell phone he hit the number to dial Vin and waited, after several rings the line clicked to the recorded message indicating the customer was not in the service area. Cancelling the call to Vin Josiah hit another speed dial number and while that call was going through he reached for the dashboard, flicked on his rotating red light and pressed harder on the accelerator as cars dutifully moved aside allowing him to pass.
TBC….