The Homecoming

You can read part 1 The Emergency
And part 2 The Runner
Part 3 The Questioning
Part 4 The Drive

Carrie accepted the call with fingers shaking on the cell phone, but didn't speak.

"Where is the money, Carrie?" A raspy male voice growled in her ear.

Carrie's breath quickened but she didn't speak.

"We want the money, and David better have it or he's a dead man, and your a dead woman."

The line went dead. Carrie tossed the phone into her purse like it burned her hand. She looked around the car and up the drive toward the long shadowed walk to the apartment where a lone yellow bulb lit the apartment steps. The space felt like miles, but in actuality the distance was mere yards.

Carrie sat holding the driver's side door handle for long long moments. Her mind raced...what if someone is waiting in the shadows? Carrie studied the trees near the house and the space between the garage where David repaired cars. Nothing was moving to indicate anything was amiss. The dogs inside began barking in welcome to the sound of Carrie's motor.

Cautiously, Carrie opened the door and sprinted to the front steps. Her breath coming in short gasps. Her heart pounding in her chest. She grabbed the house keys out of her left coat pocket and frantically stuck the key in the lock. "Dammit!" she wailed in the dark when it slid from the lock. Looking furtively into the dark, she tried again to get the key to turn and this time the lock clicked and the handle turned beneath her shaking fingers. Carrie pushed the door open with the key between two fingers like her self defense teacher taught her in high school so many years back.

Stan, the mixed rottweiler bounded at her feet letting out deep woofs in greeting and Parna, the Siberian Husky, howled in joy at pending dinner. Carrie sidestepped the dogs to flick on the entry way light.

She moved as though dreaming through the apartment, turning on her cell's flashlight to scan each room for signs of intrusion. Circling back to the bedroom she went to the bedroom closet and reached up past sweaters and boxes for the square safe. Spinning the code lock she heard its lid release and pulled out the loaded handgun David put there for intruders.

Carrie returned to the front of the house and grabbed a can of dog food and divided it between the joyous dogs winding around her feet adding a cup of dry food for each bowl from a bag by the pantry. The dogs dove in with customary zeal, snapping occasionally at one another when their mate got too close to their bowl.

Carrie sat in the dark for long seconds listening to the dogs wolfing dinner and trying to decide what to do. She only reached for the phone after the dogs were licking their empty stainless steel bowls that clattered on the smooth linoleum tiles.

The line picked up and her father's voice boomed in her ear. "Carrie, where the hell are you?"

"Daddy, please!" Carrie dissolved in heart wrenching sobs.

SRC

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