Character Sketch

Chapter 12 - Escape

Chapter 12


Escape





Kaitlin lay on her back eyes open looking into the pitch darkness. She felt the ache in her shoulder, the bruises on her ribs and the metal of the hand cuff cutting into her wrist.


‘Count your blessing, Kaitlin Moore.’ She heard her father’s voice counsel her.  She had been devastated when she came in second at the State speech tournament her sophomore year of high school. ‘You beat out a lot of kids that have been doing this for more years than you and you still have two years to get that prize. Not to mention all the things you’ve learned.’


Count your blessings. Mitch hadn’t beaten her up or even worse raped her like she feared. It would be eleven hours before the generator started up again but she didn’t plan to wait. She had put together enough beds to know she wouldn’t have to drag the whole bed with her when she made her escape. She sat up on the edge of the bed and heard the crunch of glass under her feet. ‘She would have to be careful of that.’ Feeling down the edge of the metal pipe of the head board she touched the connector between the headboard and the bed frame. This side would be straightforward. The other side was going to be tough to reach because of the bars on the head board prevented her from sliding the handcuff very far. She decided to do the hard side first. First order of business was to get the mattress off. It was ungainly and she was doing it with only one hand by feel. Soon it lay against the generator. She stepped between the bed braces and with her cuffed hand she held the headboard steady, a foot on the cross bar of the head board held it down while she jerked loose the bed brace. The frame twisted so when she tried to pull out the other bed brace it jammed.  She went back to the far brace and rested it on the brackets of the headboard. Back at the near brace she was able to pull it loose and as she did the other brace clattered to the floor. A relief washed over her as she grasped the headboard with one hand and reached out in the dark to find her way out.


She dragged the head board as she groped around the wall. The door was simple to find and she sighed with relief when she saw it wasn’t locked. Out in the hall she saw a faint light off to the left.  She relived the struggle before they entered the room to determine which way to go. Toward the light seemed a likely direction.





Mitch jogged across the grass toward the main entrance of the library. It was one of the few buildings on campus open 24 hours with multiple exits. You could only enter through the main entrance after 10 pm. He hoped the girl who knew him would not be manning the checkout desk. The sub floor three was his goal. He knew every entrance to the catacombs and this one was easily accessed. He walked passed the unmanned front desk, his first bit of good luck, down three flights of stairs to the reference area. The door to the walkways under campus was between two sets of study cubicles. A ‘Maintenance Access Only’ plaque was at eye level on the door. Mitch got only a passing glance from the young man studying at one of the cubicles as he opened the door into the dark hall.





Sergeant Yeargin read the letter again. It was a resignation from Mitch, it stated reasons for the termination as wanting to be closer to his sick aunt and finding a new job near her.


Yeargin found the letter on his desk when he came to the office after the call about Kaitlin Moore’s disappearance.


Police were dispatched to the Student Union, Mitch’s apartment, the dorm where the Moore girls were staying temporarily and their apartment as soon as Michael Moore had received the call from Jake Perry.


Michael went with the unit that was going to the dorms so he could break the news to Elizabeth and phone his mother.


Jake met the police at the Student Union. They found Kaitlin’s composition notebook and backpack in a utility closet off of the ballroom, the closet lead to a hall with stairs descending into the catacombs under the college.


Yeargin was waiting for a map of the catacombs so they could begin a systematic search.


Mitch had been on Yeargin’s list of suspects but it was hard to coalesce the picture of the quiet respectful kid on the night shift and this monster that brutally attacked young women.


You never knew what went on in people’s heads. What was behind the mask they wore everyday for the public. He thumbed through the personnel file he had pulled looking for a clue. There was no mention of an aunt or any relative. Hopefully the officers searching his apartment would find something.


The phone rang at the same time as a tentative knocked came from the door.


“Come in,” he said as he picked up the phone. A dark haired young man poked his head in through the open door.


Yeargin held up his finger to the visitor as he said ‘Campus Police’ into the phone. The voice on the phone said a currier was running over copies of the blue prints and should be there in about 5 or 10 minutes.


“He’s here now,” was Yeargin’s response


“That’s impossible sir she just left.”


“Did you say she?” Yeargin’s voice tightened.


“Yes, sir she should be there in just a few minutes,” said the voice on the phone.


“You sent a woman across campus at night by herself?” his voice now had a definite edge.


“Is there a problem?”


Yeargin slammed down the phone.


“Follow me.” The sergeant said to the wide eyed young man. They walked out into the well lit but empty station.


“Where is everybody?” Yeargin bellowed as he scanned the office and then stormed out the front door with the confused student still in tow. Yeargin searched the stretch of sparsely lit lawn in the direction of the library hoping to see the young women. Sidewalks crisscrossed the turf but he only saw a few students with backpacks heading in other directions. A car pulled up in the Police Station parking lot and Yeargin didn’t realize how tightly he was strung until a petite brunette stepped out of the car and he chuckled. ‘Why had he assumed she would be walking?’


“I’ve got the boxes back here.” She opened the trunk.


Yeargin pulled out the first long flat box and handed it to the young man who had been following him. He took the second box himself, thanked the girl for her promptness and headed back toward the station. A patrol car pulled up just as they reached the door.


“Sergeant, we found a duffle bag and a hiker’s backpack in the bottom of Mitch’s closet all packed and ready to go. He was definitely planning on leaving. We also brought some documents that might help.” One of the officers reported.


“Great! go through all of it with a fine tooth comb and see if you can see anything that will help us find Kaitlin Moore.” They walked back through the station and into Sergeant York’s office.


Yeargin finally turned to the young man carrying the box for him.


“Sorry, you got caught in the middle of something.”


“I know, Jake Perry called me and asked me to bring you this.” He sat the box on the desk and pulled out a manila envelope he had been carrying under his arm.


         “It’s information we gathered on Mitch Roberts; sir there is no record of previous employment we assume a name change and are still investigating.”


         “Thanks, uh?” Yeargin paused not knowing the boy’s name.


         “Will Hardy, sir”


         “Thanks, again Will.”


         “I was wondering if you could use a few extra bodies, sir, to help in the search?”


         “We can’t put any students at risk.”


         “We’d really like to help if we could.”


         “We?”


         “Jake put together a research team to try to figure out who this attacker was. It’s just the four of us but I think we could be a great help.”


         “Our first priority is to find the girl.”


         “Yes, sir.”


         “If you get in the way.”


         “We’ll go straight back home, sir.”


         Yeargin called in one of the officer’s and together they set about organizing the blue prints to come up with a search pattern for the catacombs. Will went to call his research partners.


         Michael and Elizabeth showed up with their police escort. They had news of their mother who was being flown up on an express shuttle and arriving in less than an hour. Yeargin looked down at his watch 10:15 pm, the girl had now been missing for just short of three hours. He just hoped she was still alive.