Savage (A Blood Feud Novel)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Dad, do you know where's mum?" Emily asked Fraser.

She had just come downstairs from her bedroom and had a bag of chips in her hand and a glass of Pepsi in the other.

Fraser rose from a sofa inside the sitting room. He was reading the local paper, Aignéis Daily.

"I don't know sweetie-cakes," Fraser said. "She might be at your aunt's. It's the weekend. She visits there often."

"Yeah, but she had been gone for days," Emily said.

Emily was seventeen years old, had sandy hair and was pretty. She shared more of a resemblance to her father. She stuffed her mouth with Doritos chips.

Fraser wasn't approving of his daughter's eating choices but kept his mouth shut about it. He and Sheila were living separately since they broke up a few months ago.

"Why don't I text and call your mother," he suggested.

Emily who

"Yeah, okay, you can do that," Emily said. "Also, can you ask her if she's got the Twisters that I asked for?"

Fraser went upstairs. He went inside the bedroom, sat on the bed he and Sheila once shared. He glanced around the room. Not much had changed.

He dialed Sheila's number. There was no response. Fraser wondered if she and Vivian were up to something. Maybe the two sisters had gone up someplace for the weekend and Sheila didn't want to hear from Fraser.

A few more minutes went by before Fraser dialed Sheila's number again. The call went to the answering machine. Fraser began to get worried.

He came back downstairs. Emily was still sitting in the sitting room, her head glued to her iPhone. She didn't notice her father standing over her.

"Sweetie," Fraser said, to which Emily perked up and turned her head.

"Dad, I'm sorry but I'm talking to someone. Can this wait?" she said.

Fraser sighed.

He figured Sheila was still at Vivian's and the two were spending the whole Halloween weekend together.

It was ten after nine. Fraser grabbed a can of Pepsi One and a loaf of banana rye bread. He sat at the kitchen table. He started with the rye bread.

"Dad," Emily said as she popped in. "What's the deal with mom?"

Fraser turned and said to Emily, "Your aunt has my number blocked from her phone. I guess the two are out someplace and are avoiding me."

"No dad," Emily said. "I just spoke to Aunt Vivian. She says mom hasn't been at her house at all. I'm worried."

There was a concern in her voice. Fraser started to think about what was happening. Was Sheila seeing someone already? Emily had the same thought as well. She turned and left the kitchen.

Fraser stood from the kitchen table, his hand still holding a remaining piece of the loaf and went upstairs again. When he came into the bedroom he glanced at the drawers. He opened one of them and dug into the contents. There was nothing he could find.

He sighed. He turned and saw Emily standing inside the door with her arms folded. She stared at Fraser for a moment, and then left the room.

Ten minutes went by before the doorbell of the house rang. Emily went to the door. She opened and standing in front of her was a handsome younger-looking man in a navy blue policeman's uniform. For a second Emily was swayed by him. She quickly cast that aside and let the officer in.

"Hi, your father, is he here?" Officer John Leary said.

"Yeah, he's upstairs, I'll go get him," Emily said.

She couldn't help but be transfixed by Officer Leary's good looks. He stood and waited patiently.

Fraser came down and saw the young officer. He smiled at first, but his expression quickly changed when Officer Leary appeared to have been holding something in his left hand.

Further inspection saw that it was a mobile phone, one similar-looking to Sheila's. Fraser grew suspicious. Emily stood alongside. She saw the expression on Fraser's face.

"Dad, is mom alright?" Emily said.

Officer Leary cleared his through and sighed. He said to Fraser, "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Emily folded her arm and glared at the young officer. Fraser remained calm. It was a bit uncomfortable for Officer Leary. He continued on.

"We've responded to a call this evening, at around ten-thirty," he said. "Fraser, I'm terribly sorry for you and your daughter. Your partner Sheila had been run over and left for dead. We believe this is her cell phone."

Emily screamed, "No!"

Fraser's shoulders slumped.

Officer Leary said, "We ran the cell phone to confirm it belonged to her. At this point, we can't determine if it was an accident or if it was intentional."

Fraser felt the floor collapse from underneath. Emily broke down and ran upstairs to her room. She slammed her bedroom door and screamed and wailed more. Both Fraser and Officer Leary stood there in silence.

"John," Fraser finally said. "I'll take the phone, if you don't mind. I'd like to talk this over with you later. I don't like that you had to come here without giving me notice. My daughter is graduating from high school in less than six months. This isn't how I envisioned she would finish her last year. Do you understand?"

Officer Leary wasn't sure how to respond to that. It was Chief Clancy who had sent him to the house. Officer Leary was relatively new to the squad. He had only been there for a year. He wasn't thrilled about Fraser's words but he didn't show it. He tried to be empathetic. He was failing at it and Fraser could tell.

"Fraser, I'm deeply sorry," Officer Leary said.

Fraser intensified his look at the young officer. He said, "John, you've been with the squad for, say about twelve months, am I right?"

Officer Leary slowly nodded his head. He didn't want this conversation to go longer. He hated that Chief had picked him to deliver the devastating news.

"I supposed you thought this was going to be a just another routine night, right?" Fraser said.

Now Officer Leary was nervous. He knew Fraser was an intimidating figure, but never had he felt this small in front of the man.

"I want you to go home tonight and think about what you just did to my daughter and her mother," Fraser said, his voice breaking. "Leave, now."

Officer Leary turned his back and went back to the car. He sighed; the lastthing he wanted was to be in the bad books of such a reputable officer. Hewould have to do something to make up for it.