The Season of Sin (Peace In The Storm Publishing Presents) Read online

  She sheltered herself behind the door. “What’s wrong?”

  He rambled so fast she could only make out “baby”.

  “Calm down. I can’t understand you. What’s happening?”

  He sobbed. “My baby!” He struggled with his accent. “My little baby! She’s in my van! My van won’t start.” He caught his breath. “My daughter…she’s not breathing!”

  “Are you sure she’s not breathing?”

  “I live on the other side of town. I was on my way home when she started shaking real bad.” He jiggled his arms. “Then she was kicking and then she just went still. Her eyes are up in the air! She’s diabetic and I think she’s having a seizure!”

  “Oh my god. Uh…” Dylan twisted and turned. “Hold on okay?”

  “My phone’s not working.” He pointed to the building. “I went to the apartments but the security guard didn’t let me in.” He pulled at his soiled sweats.

  “Shh. Okay, wait.” Dylan got her phone from her purse. “You can use my phone to call nine-one-one.”

  “I already did that! Please help. There’s no time!”

  “I thought your phone wasn’t working. How did you call them?”

  “Earlier it worked.” He scratched his head. “They said an ambulance is coming or told me I could take her to the nearest hospital. That’s all the way downtown. Please help me. She could die!”

  “It’s best to wait for the ambulance if…”

  “She won’t make it! Please just come help me. I don’t know what to do. She might already be dead. Please.”

  “Look I wanna help you but it would be best if we tried nine-one-one again. They might already be at the van.”

  “I’ve been waiting forever. Please. You’re the only person out here. I’ll give you money.” He dug in his pockets. “How much?”

  “Put your money away.”

  “My van is not far from here. I just need someone to help me. Please. I beg you.”

  Something didn’t seem right but she had to help him. If she were desperate she’d want someone to help her. What goes around comes around. She might be in the same situation one day. She couldn’t let her fear stop her from helping his baby.

  “Okay.” She overlooked him and prayed in silence. “Get in.”

  He directed her from Shannon’s apartment building to a homely area not far away with raggedy streets and abandoned apartment buildings. Her trembling hands made it difficult to drive but she didn’t let on.

  “Down there.”

  She went across the train tracks and ended up on a street with graffiti-stained houses and buildings with boards on the windows and doors.

  “That’s my van.” He gestured to a crusty van parked on the street between dilapidated row houses.

  He jumped out when she stopped. She almost choked on the stench of weed and mildew in the air.

  She didn’t do drugs but knew how weed smelled thanks to Bruce. Back in the day he’d done marijuana like a religion. She’d broken him of that. Too bad she couldn’t change all his bad habits.

  She got to the van.

  “Come on.” The man climbed inside. The van rocked from his weight. “Come on. She’s in these blankets.”

  “Is she okay?” Dylan crawled in on her knees. “Is she breathing?”

  He bundled a bunch of blankets in the corner of the van.

  Dylan crawled past garden tools and pieces of metal. “Is she all right?”

  “Yeah.” He reached his hand back. “I need you to put your hand under her head. You know how to hold a baby right? Give me your hand.”

  She hesitated.

  His voice seemed more relaxed than before. Calm as if he’d never been crying.

  “Give me your hand.” He wiggled his fingers.

  She glanced over his shoulder. He’d piled blankets on top of each other.

  Not a baby in sight.

  She backed away. “What…what is this?”

  He grabbed her arm. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Let me go. What are you doing?”

  “You and me are gonna have some fun. Hmm?”

  “No.” She crawled back. “Stay away from me.”

  “Come on.” He pulled her to him. “We’ll have tons of fun.”

  “Someone help me!” She jiggled the handle on the sliding side door.

  “I’ll help you.” He bent her wrist back.

  “Owww!”

  He slid the door shut. “You’re staying for this party whether you want to or not.” He held her against him. “You’re so pretty.” He gripped her butt with one hand and her neck with the other.

  “No!” She twisted in his arms. “Someone help me please!”

  He flung her one way. She swung herself the other.

  “No!” She reached for the shovel behind the driver’s seat.

  “Be still huh?” He sucked her neck and moved his hands inside her coat.

  “No!” She struck his chest. “Help!”

  “Don’t bother yelling.” He threw her down flat and got on top. “It’s just you and me out here. We have plenty of time to have some fun.”

  “No! Noo!” She sobbed and kicked. “Nooo!”

  “Come on.” He tried to pull her coat off her shoulders but her movements stopped him from getting a good grip. “Settle down and you might like it.”

  His weight pinned her as if she were under bricks and steel.

  “Help me!” Dylan swatted but he held her arms down. “Please! Stop! Don’t do this!”

  His stiff crotch poked her thighs.

  “Settle down or I’ll hit you!”

  She almost choked from his rank breath.

  “You wanted to be so helpful before didn’t you? Ha, ha! You fell for it didn’t you?”

  “Stop! Get off me! Help!”

  He stuck a small knife under her chin. “I said be quiet. I’m gonna do you so good, baby.” He unzipped her pants.

  “No!”

  “I’ll show you what a real man is all about.”

  “Get off!” She got one arm free. She swung it around. She didn’t know what she hit but she kept reaching. The shovel fell over. The hoe plopped into the front seat. She knocked over a pail of old paintbrushes.

  He pulled her pants and underwear down to her ankles with the look of pure malice in his eyes.

  “I said cool it.” He pierced her chin with the knife.

  She’d have to kill him. It would be the only way she would get out of here.

  He unfastened his belt.

  She slammed her knee into his crotch.

  “Ahhhh!” He rolled off of her.

  Dylan snatched the knife. “Stay away!”

  “You’re not getting out of here alive.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “I’ll bet…” The man’s tongue ran across his yellow teeth. “You wouldn’t know what to do with that would you?”

  Dylan blinked to see through the tears. “I just wanna leave.”

  “And I want you to stay.” He slid toward her. “Who do you think’s gonna win?”

  She swung the knife at his face. He grabbed it and knocked her down face first.

  “No!” She reached for the door handle.

  He pulled her arm back. “If this is the way you want it…” He rolled his hard center against her buttocks. “Hey it might even be better doing it this way huh?”

  Dylan closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle or whatever came first.

  The van door slid open. “Hey what are you doing?” A man with glasses asked.

  “Get the fuck outta here.” The attacker kicked at the man. “It’s none of your business!”

  “No don’t leave! He’s trying to rape me!”

  “She’s lying! Uh she’s my wife. She’s high see? Delusional you know? I’m trying to calm her down. She’s having one of her spells.”

  “It’s not true!” Dylan broke free and crawled to the corner of the van. “Please call the police!”

  She stared at the midd
le-aged stranger. He was a handsome man with black hair and dark brown eyes that glowed from underneath his glasses.

  “If she’s your wife how come you have a knife?”

  “I won’t say it again!” The rapist raised the knife. “Get the fuck outta…”

  The stranger snatched the attacker by his jacket. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to treat a lady?” He put the rapist in a chokehold. “When a woman says no your ass better listen.”

  The stranger slung him down.

  The rapist acted as if he’d put up a fight at first. Instead he climbed over to the front of the van.

  The stranger grabbed the rapist’s leg. “Hey get back here!”

  The rapist knocked the stranger back with one kick. “Fuck both of you!” He hopped out the van through the driver’s side.

  The stranger tumbled over. “Hey!” He struggled to his knees. “Come back here!”

  The rapist ran behind the row houses.

  “Here’s my phone.” The stranger threw it to Dylan. “Call the police. I’m gonna see if I can find him.”

  “No!” Dylan reached for him. “Please don’t leave me alone! Don’t leave me please!”

  “But he’s getting away. I gotta…”

  “I don’t care if he gets away.” She put her head between her knees. “Just don’t leave me alone. Please. Please just stay with me.”

  He climbed in. “Are you all right?” He caressed her face. “Did he hurt you?”

  “I prayed for you.” She threw her arms around him. He covered her with one of the blankets. “I prayed and you came. You came.”

  “Shh. You’re safe now.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Dylan!” Jasmine jumped from the couch when Dylan walked in.

  “Dylan where you been, girl?” Zoë set her coffee cup on the living room table and ran to her best friend. Brianna and Steven sat on the two-seater by the window.

  Dylan nestled the man beside her. She’d already gotten use to his warm embrace.

  “Dylan?” Jasmine looked her over. “What happened to you?”

  “We’ve all been worried sick.” Zoë hugged her. “We’ve been calling your phone and you hadn’t gotten back with any of us.”

  Jasmine shook her. “You’ve been gone for hours. Where have you been?”

  “Just let her catch her breath all right?”

  Jasmine looked at the stranger from head to toe. “And who are you?”

  “I’m a friend.”

  Jasmine flipped him off. “Dylan I want an explanation. And before you rant about being grown you can save it. A grown woman doesn’t disappear without letting people know where she is.”

  “What happened to your clothes?” Zoë opened Dylan’s coat.

  Dylan closed her coat.

  “Dylan what happened to you?” Steven asked.

  “Are you all right?” Brianna walked to her.

  “This is why I didn’t wanna come home. People don’t shut up long enough to listen. I just want someone to listen to me tonight. Just one person to hear what I say and know I mean it.”

  “What happened?” Steven pulled her from the others.

  “She was attacked.”

  “Attacked?” Jasmine gaped at the stranger. “What are you talking about?”

  “If you hadn’t jumped down her throat and took the time to pay attention, you could’ve figured it out. You’re the aunt right?”

  “Yes I’m Jasmine Hudson.”

  “A man tried to rape your niece tonight.”

  “What?” Jasmine covered her mouth.

  “I went with her to the police station. We’ve been there since eight something.”

  “Oh my baby.” Jasmine held her. “I’m so sorry, honey.” She kissed Dylan’s tears. “I didn’t mean to come down on you. I had no idea. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I wouldn’t ever want anything to happen to you.”

  “I know.” Dylan stuffed her face in Jasmine’s bosom.

  “I love you so much, sweetie.”

  “I know.”

  “What exactly happened?” Zoë took Dylan’s hand.

  “I was so stupid. So stupid.”

  “No you weren’t.” The stranger put his arm around her shoulders. “You did what any normal person would’ve done.”

  Dylan clenched her coat. “It happened by Shannon’s neighborhood.”

  “That’s a horrible area,” Zoë said. “You shouldn’t have gone there alone at night.”

  “I went to see if I could find answers. I wanted to talk to the people in her apartment building but apparently Shannon’s missing or ran off or something.”

  “I told you to leave it alone.”

  “I can’t just leave it alone, Zoë. Anyway I was in the parking lot.”

  Steven moved in front of Brianna. “Someone attacked you in the parking lot?”

  “No. He came up to me in the parking lot. Damn it! I was a fool.”

  Jasmine hugged her. “Whatever happened, it’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong.”

  “I was so stupid. I thought I was helping him.”

  Zoë put her arms around her. “What did he do?”

  “He lured me to this van. Said his baby wasn’t breathing and that his van didn’t run.” She closed her eyes. “He was so convincing, crying and everything. He was a very good actor.”

  “So he didn’t rape you right?” Brianna asked. “You okay?”

  “As okay as I can be. We called the police and they ended up acting like I’d done something wrong for being there at night.”

  “I’m sorry for that,” Steven said. “It’s definitely not your fault. A woman should be able to go anywhere any time of day without being attacked.”

  “They of course said they’ll look into it but there wasn’t any physical evidence or anything. I described how he looked and that’s it.”

  “Dylan was too shaken to really go into a lot of detail. Plus it’s very hard to prove attempted rape. She made a report, gave a description and we waited at the station for the cops to go check out the area.”

  “And you…were with her all this time?” Jasmine pointed a quivering finger to the man.

  “Yes.”

  “Who are you?”

  “He’s my friend, Aunt Jas.” Dylan took his hand. “If he hadn’t been there I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

  “Believe me I’m just glad I got there in time.”

  “Well you already know I’m Jasmine Hudson. I still don’t know your name.”

  “Nick Sebastian.”

  “Nick.” Jasmine shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “I wish it were under better circumstances.”

  “So the police knew nothing about this guy at all?”

  Nick turned to Zoë. “No. They traced the license plate of the van and turns out it was stolen.”

  “Don’t give up.” Brianna got her coat from the two-seater. “They’ll keep trying.”

  “Right. The police barely do things against suspects you can identify.”

  “Not for lack of trying, Jasmine.”

  “I’m sorry, Detective Morris. I didn’t mean to offend. I’m just upset.”

  “I just wanna forget about tonight and go to bed.”

  Jasmine helped Dylan out of her coat. “Let’s go upstairs. I’ll bring you some tea and something to eat.”

  “Wait.” Dylan stopped before she got to the stairs. “What are you guys doing here?”

  Steven put on his coat. “We wanted to see if anyone had seen Shannon ourselves. Guess we got our answer.”

  “I know you want to do all you can to help but let us handle it, Dylan.” Brianna fixed her coat collar. “This is nothing to play around with. The man who tried to rape you could have something to do with Nadia’s murder.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “You really believe that, Detective Morris?”

  “We can’t take any chances, Zoë.”

  “I’m really glad you’re a
ll right, Dylan. Bree and I are gonna do all we can to help.”

  “Nick?” Dylan hugged him for the thousandth time. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

  “I’m glad I was there.” He kissed her cheek. “I want you to get some rest. You got my number if you need it.”

  “Yes. Thank you so much.” She hugged him again.

  “Come on, sweetie.” Jasmine pulled her away. “Go on upstairs and I’ll be up in a minute.”

  She went upstairs.

  “I hope she’s gonna be okay.” Zoë gathered the coffee cups. “I’m gonna take these to the kitchen.”

  “Good job I’m doing of protecting Dylan huh? I swore to Nadia I’d always look after her. I’m already screwing up.”

  “Jasmine it’s not your fault,” Brianna said. “Who could’ve known this would happen?”

  “What’s happening around here huh? Did we do something to deserve this? Is this payback for something?”

  “Jasmine you gotta hold yourself together.” Steven put on his gloves. “Call me and Bree if you need to all right?”

  “You think Shannon ran off or do you think something happened to her?”

  “You know her better than we do,” Brianna said. “What do you think?”

  “No telling with Shannon. She’s a master at disappearing.”

  Zoë came back in. “Who’s a master at disappearing?”

  “Oh we’re just speculating about Shannon being gone,” Jasmine said.

  “Oh.” Zoë patted her hair. “I’d put my money on her passed out somewhere dead drunk.”

  Steven hid his grin.

  “The last person we need to be worrying about is Shannon. I don’t know why Dylan thought she’d know something anyway.”

  Steven zipped up his coat. “It’s not impossible to think she might have had something to do with Nadia’s death. If you guys find out anything let us know.”

  “We will.” Jasmine motioned to the door. “I appreciate the attention you’re giving this case.”

  “Have a good night, everyone.” Steven titled his head to the lovely woman beside Zoë. “It was nice seeing you again.”

  She put her arms behind her back. “You too.”

  Jasmine escorted them to the door. “Thank you so much.”

  “Bye.” Brianna waved.