Chapter twenty eight
When the Lincoln hit the water main and went airborne the driver’s side door flew open and Sean was thrown thirty feet down the canal. He hit the surface and skipped like a stone. When he came to a stop, he sunk to the bottom with the wind knocked out of him. Although unable to breathe, he fought his way to the surface. He came up gasping for air, and luckily for him, there was a moored rowboat between him and the crash scene. It took him some time to get his breath and orient himself
Eventually he got himself together enough to peek around the boat. What he saw did nothing to calm his frayed nerves. There were at least five squad cars with flashing lights, and numerous cops milling around where the Lincoln had entered the canal. He figured it was just a matter of time until they came looking for him. He moved over to the shore which consisted of a low sea wall. Above the sea wall was a huge azalea bush. He climbed up into the bush. It scraped the hell out of him but at least it offered cover. Approximately fifty feet from his hiding place was a modest house surrounded by various kinds of flowering shrubs. There was a small screened lanai facing the canal.
Sean hadn’t been in the bush for more than a few minutes when a large snake slithered across his leg on its way to the canal. It was a harmless black snake, but Sean had grown up where snakes can be deadly. Having no idea what kind of snake this was he almost let out a yell. Having managed to keep his wits enough not to give himself away, he decided it was time to move on.
Sean watched the cops until it seemed that none were looking in his direction and made a run for the lanai staying as low to the ground as he could. When he got the lanai between himself and the police, he realized that he was beside a door to the lanai. It was only a screen door but when he tried the handle, it was locked. He took a jackknife from his pocket and cut the screen next to the latch, reached though the hole and opened the door. After he was inside he ducked under the kitchen window and tried the sliding door. It was locked and the drapes were closed.
He looked around. The lanai was quite small, no more than fifteen feet long and ten feet wide. The furniture consisted of a wicker couch, chair, end table and coffee table. The only other furniture was a twenty-one inch TV on a small stand. Sean rightly figured that no one was up in the house yet. He went over, crouched down in the corner nearest the outside door and waited. He was wet and cold.
There was a low stucco wall on the backside of the lanai between Sean and the back yard with screen above it. Every once in awhile he would raise his head and look at the activity by the canal. He had seen cops walking along the sides of the canal in both directions from the crash site. He patted himself on the back for being wise enough to leave the bush. He figured that had he stayed there he would now be cuffed and on his way back to prison.
The early morning temperature was hovering around fifty degrees and the lanai was unheated. He looked around desperately for something to dry himself with, without luck. He was so cold he was shaking, of course part of that may have been fright although Sean would never have admitted that. At any rate, he was extremely cold and very anxious to get off of this porch.
An hour elapsed before he heard the rustle drapes opening and the click of a lock. He was ready to spring if the slider opened, but it remained closed. He crept over and peeked inside. He couldn’t see anyone so he slid open the door as quietly as he could until he could slip though it. There was an old lady at the kitchen counter with her back to him. He crept toward her as quietly as possible, but when he was almost to her, she turned and opened her mouth to scream. Sean hit her hard just below her left eye and she went out like a light.
Sean searched the house, first for other people and then for any thing of use. He found two hundred and thirty dollars plus change in her purse, but little else of use to him. He picked the old lady up and sat her in a kitchen chair. He thought Christ she doesn’t weigh a hundred pounds. First he tied the old lady to the chair and then stripped off his clothes and climbed in the shower to warm up. When he got out of the shower, he found the thermostat and turned the heat up. He thought, Christ how can that old woman live in this cold. He then went to the refrigerator to see what she had to eat.
When she came to, she was gagged and tied to a chair and there was a stark naked man sitting at her table eating. There were two wadded-up bath towels on the kitchen counter along with various food containers. In spite of her situation, her first thought was of how rude, not to mention unsanitary, it was to place a used bath towel on the kitchen counter. After that, she started wondering if she was going to make it through this day alive. Oddly enough, she wasn’t awfully scared.
When he realized she was awake, he looked at her and asked, “You got a gun lady?”
She just looked at him as if she was confused. He said, “Lady I asked you a question.”
She shook her head vigorously. He picked up an old deer rifle that was leaning against the table, walked over and stuck the barrel against her forehead. Suddenly she was very afraid.
“Lady I already found one so I’m going to ask you again. If you lie to me, I’m going to blow a nice round hole through your head. Is there any other guns in the house.”
She shook her head, closed her eyes and waited to die. She waited for what she considered a lifetime and opened her eyes. He was back at the table. When he was done eating, he went in the living room and turned on the TV. He couldn’t find anything about the shootout so he snapped off the set, and was on his way back to the kitchen when the timer went off on the dryer. The buzzer startled him, but then he realized what it was, he retrieved his clothes and got dressed.
He said to the lady, “I sure hope you got curious friends otherwise your going to die where you sit.” Sean took her keys, went the garage, raised the door and drove away in her old Buick. He made sure to close the garage door as he pulled away from the house.
The old woman didn’t depend on curious friends. She immediately set about getting loose. The first thing that happened was that she tipped the chair over and knocked her self out. It was after noon when she came to. She was desperate. She figured that she had been tied to the chair for at least five hours. She didn’t know how long a person could last without food and water, but she figured at her age it wasn’t very long. She thought for quite a while about what to do and concluded that her only chance was to knock over the kitchen table and break something made of glass. The kitchen table was small and not very sturdy. She remembered that he had drunk something from a glass that morning while he was eating at the table.
Her problem was that she was now lying on her back with her feet in the air and wasn’t sure if she could move herself and the chair. She wondered if she should try to tip the chair over so she was on her side. She decided that was the best plan, and tossed her legs until she tipped over. She then found that she could push herself along with her feet. Luckily, he hadn’t tied her feet to the chair, only her torso. She had noticed earlier that he had ripped the cord off the blind above the kitchen sink. The good thing was that the cord was fairly light nylon and would be easy to cut. It took her what seemed like a very long time to work her way to the table.
She kicked at the leg of the table and found that her strength was almost gone. She said out loud, “dear God please don’t let me die like this” and then gave the table leg another kick. Every time she kicked the table leg, the table moved a few inches. The table finally came to rest against the kitchen counter.
She was so tired and worn out that it was all she could do to keep from giving up and going to sleep. She kept going by telling herself that if she went to sleep now she would likely die. She kicked the table leg with all of her might and thought she felt it give. After three more kicks, the leg tilted in and the entire contents of the table landed on top of her. A diner plate hit her in the forehead and opened a gash above her right eye. The glass rolled across the floor in one piece.
It took another half hour to get a hold of the glass and break it. She finally managed to get it up against the wall and kicked it until it broke. It took another half hour to maneuver herself around, and get her hands on a good-sized piece of the glass. Regardless of her thoughts that the cord would be easy to cut, it took her almost two hours of hacking and scraping to free herself. She had to hold the glass in such an awkward position that her hand kept cramping and she would have to rest.
She was almost ready to give up when she felt the cord give. Her hands and wrists were bloody and covered with small cuts. She had been unaware of cutting herself. She went to the bathroom, took off her clothes and put everything she’d had on in the hamper. She then took a shower, bandaged the worst of her cuts and put on fresh clothes. She combed her hair, making sure that it was just right and carefully applied her makeup. She then went to the kitchen and called 911. When she got off the phone, she went to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of milk. She then went to the living room and sat down on the couch to wait for the police. When they arrived, five minutes later, she was sound asleep.