Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 03:29:00 UTC From: Desiree Carroll Okay, this is my first attempt at posting an FK story. All comments are welcome! Send them to C.MADDEN3@GENIE.GEIS.COM. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Darkness Desiree Carroll "HELP!!!" Carrie screamed. She felt around trying to find her purse. If she could find her purse, she could use the cellular telephone she carried with her to call the police or somebody. "Help!!" She screamed again. "Somebody help me . . " Carrie whispered as she tried to find the door. Then, she felt a thud from behind and she became very dizzy. After that, all she felt was the floor beneath her. "Lady? I heard you screaming outside and . . ." the man saw Carrie laying on the floor and rushed over to her to see if she was hurt. "Hey lady? Are you okay? Hey . . ." "Oww!! Oh, I'm fine, or atleast I will be. Someone must have hit me on the back of the head with something." Carrie rubbed the back of her head and neck. The man was very quiet and she wasn't sure he was even here still. "What is it? Hello?" "I think this guy over here is dead. I'd better call the police. I'll be right back. I have to go find a phone." "Wait! I have a phone in my purse. Wherever my purse is . . ." Carrie started to crawl and reached out, feeling for obstructions in her path. "Hey, what's wrong with you? How bad did that guy hit you?" THe man walked over to where Carrie was kneeling. "I'm blind." The man was silent. "Hello? Are you still here?" Carrie waited. "I'm still here. I just found your purse." The man walked over to Carrie again and handed her purse to her. "That dead guy over there looks familiar. Got any ideas as to who he is, or was?" "Well, all I can tell you is that his voice was familiar." Carrie heard the man's footstpes walking away from her. 'Don't leave me now,' Carrie thought. He was silent for what seemed like hours, but when he finally spoke, he said, "Hey, I recognize this guy. He's Patrick Taylor. You know, he's the guy who owns, or owned, all those high-rise apartment buildings." "Oh, Pat Taylor as in Taylor Towers and Taylor Manor. He also wrote that book _Pat Taylor's Guide to Your Financial Heaven_. Are you sure he's dead?" She asked, but she knew that he *was* dead. She wasn't quite sure how she knew, but she knew. "yeah, he's dead. No pulse and no breathing." The mystery man said something else that carrie coulnd't quite understand. She isghed. "By the way," the man said, "I'm Aaron Price." "Carrie Louden." She stretched her hand out and Aaron caught it and shook it softly. "Well, Carrie, I'd better call the police. Where is your phone again?" "In my purse. Here, I'll get it," she said and reached for her purse. "No, I'll get it." Aaron picked up Carrie's purse and rummaged trhough it until he found her phone. among other things. A few minutes later, Aaron handed the phone back to Carrie. "The police will be here any minute. I told them that there was a dead guy here that looked a lot like Patrick Taylor, so they're sending a couple of dtectives over, too." Aaron was silent. He looked at carrie, and wondered what it was like in her world of total darkness. Totally out of the blue, Carrie asked, "Aaron, what time is it? I've been here since 8 o'clock and I'd like to know how long I've been here. I would consult my watch, but I've lost it." "It's about 9:30, so you've been here about an hour and a half. What were you doing here anyway?" He sat down beside Carrie. "I was waiting on my ride home. A friend of mine works in the building next door. Plus, I was here because I'm thinking of buying this place." Carrie smiled. "Why? It's an old warehouse or something, Why would you want this place?" It was a good and legitimate question, or atleast he thought so. Why *would* a blind person want to buy a big old warehouse? "This might sound strange, but it's easier for me to live in big open spaces. That way, I have a lesser chance of hurting myself." Carrie fell silent. "Aaron, I think I just heard a car pull up outside." Carrie started to get up, but Aaron laid a hand on her arm. "I'll go check. You stay here." Aaron got up and walked outside. Carrie was right about the car, she had to be. About five minutes later, she heard footsteps inside the warehouse and they were heading towards her. 'Please let it be the police,' she prayed. "Ma'am, I'm Detective Schanke and you are . . ." an unfamiliar voice said. "Carrie Louden." Carrie put her hands on the floor and gently pushed herself up. The detective didn't say anything else, and neither did AAron. "Helo? Are you two still here?" Then, Carrie heard whispering. "Aaron, I'm sure the detective could've figured out on his own that I'm blind just by watching me move around." Carrie laughed. She realized that there was a new smell in the warehouse. Souvlaki? Was that the wonderful new aroma here? Yep, that was it. Large souvlaki with extra unions. "Could you tell me what happened Ms. Louden?" Schanke asked. "Sure. I was waiting on my ride home to come and pick me up. Shelly works next door. I was here with a real estate agent because I'm thinking of buying this place." carrie opened her mouth to say something else when Schanke interrupted her. "Why would you want this old warehouse? I would expect that a blind person would want a nice, small apartment. I mean . . " carrie interrupted. Why did everyone assume that? "No, I want this place for the exact opposite reason. It's big and spacious. Anyway, the agent had a family emergency and had to leave, so I used my cellular phone that I carry with me to call Shelly and she said that she'd be here around 9 o'clock. She never showed up, but three other men did. Patrick Taylor and two other guys. I don't know who the two other guys were, but I *did* recognize soemone else's voice besides Patrick Talor's voice. This guy did all the talking; I recognized his voice from T.V. or the radio, I think. He was quiet and calm wherever I'd heard his voice. The men were fighting about something and after about fifteen or twenty minutes, I heard a gunshot and the guy who did all the talking yelled something like 'You should've trusted us and kept your big mouth shut.' I musted have screamed or something because someone hit me with something on the back of my head or neck, but I didn't really pass out, though. That's when Aaron came in and found me, found Patrick Taylor's body and called you." Carrie stopped talking. She heard two or three cars pull up outside and new footsteps inside the building. "And? Ms. Louden what else?" Schanke asked. He saw that Carrie's attention was elsewhere, but still tried to question her. "There's someone else in here, Plus, I just heard two or three cars pull up outside." Carrie had barely finished talking when a new voice spoke. "Hey, Schank. What's goin; on?" Nick slapped Schanke on the back. 'He must've jumped five feet in the air when this other man spkoe,' Carrie mused. 'He didn't know that there was someone behind.' "Knight?! Don't do that!" Schanke snapped. Nick looked around. He saw Patrick Taylor's body laying on the florr. One bullet in the chest was the probable cause of death. "This the victim?" Nick asked. "Yeah. Nick, this is Carrie Louden, the. . uh . . witness. Carrie, this is Detective Nick Knight," Schanke said, scribbling down some notes about the crime scene. "You're blind?" It was more of an observation on Nick's part than a question. He took Carrie's hand and shook it. "Yes, since birth." Carrie had never volunteered that information to anyone she didn't know until now. All of a sudden, she felt safe. Carrie rubbed the top of her heard and felt something wet. 'It's probably sweat,' she thought and took no more notice of the wet spot. "You're hurt," Nick said as he saw the line of blood run down her face and fought to keep from wiping it off. "Here, this man will see thst you're taken care of." He grabbed the arm of a nearby sargent and told him to make sur ethat a medic looked at the cut on Carrie's head. "Nick!" Natalie called from where she was examining the body. "Just a second." Nick turned around to hand some paperwork to yet another nearby sargent. "Yeah?" "How do you fell today?" Nat asked, still leaning over Patrick Taylor's body. "Better than yesterday, Why?" Nick knelt down beside her, pushin his black overcoat out of his view of the body. "You just look a little tired, that's all." Natalie was careful not to get any of the victim's blood on her gry suit or white blouse. Nick sighed. He *was* tired. When Schanke called and told him about this, he barely had time to pull on the turquoise turtle neck and black jaket out of his closet and pull on a pair of black jeans and deck shoes before he had to get out the door. "I just didn't sleep good, Nat. That topped with the fact that Schank called about this and said I had ten minutes to get here." He looked over to Carrie. There were certain things he couldn't help wondering like how she knew what to wear in the mornings. Like the outfit she had on now; how could she tell that she'd put on a pair of tan slacks, a white dress shirt and tan shoes? How did she know that she was color coordinating her clothes? After almost 800 years, there were still some things that fanscinated Nick. Ah, well, that was a query for another time. "What's the story here?" Nick asked. "Gunshot . . ." Nat was about to finish when Nick interrupted her. "Point blank range to the chest, right?" "Yeah. How did you know that?" Nat looked up at him. "Come on, Nat. You've heard the rumors about his connections with the Mafia and the underground. It's common knowledge that Mafia hit men use point blank chest as their 'methodof disposal'." "Well, I can't tell you much more than that until I get a look at him in the lab. All right, guys, load him up." Nat motioned for the other medics to bag the body and take him away. "What's the story with her?" Natalie looked toward Carrie. "She's kind of the witness." "Why kind of?" "She's blind. The only thing she knows is that she recognized the voice of one of the other guys that were in here besides Patrick Taylor. Carrie told Schanke that wherever she'd heard the guy's voice, it was calm and gentle. One thing is for sure, there was atleast one other person in here besides Patrick Taylor." Nick looked down at the floor. There were muddy footprints everywhere. There had to be more clues around here besides those footprints. The prints were so muddy that you couldn't really see any outline of the under side of the shoe. "She could know about there being more than one other guy besides Taylor and the mystery man beng in here. Blind people have to live without one sense, but their other four senses become extraordinarily sharp, especially there hearing." Nat said and walked off. Nick knew she was right, but the fact that the only witness was blind would make this case that much harder to solve. If there were just one more witness . . . Maybe there was another witness. "Schanke!" "Yeah, what's up?" Schanke walked over to where Nick was standing. He put the little note pad that he carried with him back in the inside pocket of his dark blue suit. "There was a guy that found the victim's body and Carrie, right?" "Yeah. A guy named Aaron Price. Why?" "Is he still here?" "Yeah, I think he's around here somewhere . . ." Schanke looked aroun for him. "Apparently, Mr. Price slipped out unnoticed. Why did you want to talk to him?" "Did anybody ask him how much of the murder he saw?" "I don't think so. Carrie told me that she was alone in here after she heard the gunshot until that Price guy found her. You think this guy knows something?" Schanke asked. Sometimes Schanke sounded like a kid asking about his Christmas present when asking about possible leads on a case. "I'm not sure, but make sure he's uestioned. He may know something." Nick walked away from Schanke and over to Carrie."Ms. Louden?" "Please call me Carrie, Detective Knight. I've never like being called Ms. Louden." "All right. Carrie, are you sure you were alone until Aaron Price showed up?" "No,I'm not sure. Someone hit me on the back neck and head with something and I sorta passed out. Other than that, I don't know much. Except for the shoes." Carrie had let that slip out on accident. "What about them?" "They made an awful racket. Like they weren't shoes, but boots. Cowboy boots. One of the men had on regular shoes, but they didn't make much racket because he probably came in the back way and it's all muddy back there. His shoes were probably covered in mud. I'm sorry if that doesn't help." Carrie stifled a yawn and let her head fall backwards. "You look really tired. Why don't I take you home?" Nick took hold of her hand gently. "That would be very nice of you, Detective." Carrie smiled. "Call me Nick." "Okay, Nick, but don't you have an investigation to do?" "My partner can handle things while I'm gone." Nick grinned. Carrie reminded him of Vivian. Carrie was in almost the same position now that Vivian had been in over two hundred years ago, but he was determined that Carrie's ordeal wouldn' end the way Vivian's had. "Nick?" Carrie asked again. "What?" "I think someone's calling you." Nick turned around and saw that Natalie was calling him as well as Schanke. "What is it?" "Do you want me to arrnage for someone to take Ms. Louden home?" Schanke asked again. "No, I'll do it." "Well, I was just going to tell you to ,ake an appointment with me for afterwhile," Natalie said and hit Nick playfully on the arm. "Okay. Let me take Carrie home and I'll call you. You can handle things while I'm gone, can't you Schank?" Nick teased. "I'll manage," Schanke sneered as Nick escorted Carrie out to the Caddy. About ten minutes later, they pulled up in front of Carrie's apartmnt building. Nick got out and opened Carrie's door for her and helped her upstairs to her apartment via the buildings elevator. "Well, I'd better be going," Nick said. Carrie fumbled with the lock on her door. Nick took the key out of her hands, unlocked and opened the door for her. "Do you have to go? Can't you just come inside for a minute or two?" Carrie pleaded. She did get lonely and it would be nice to have someone besides Christy or Shelly to visit with. "Sure. Do you have much company?" Nick walked in the apartment. It was kind of small. From what he could see, there were only four rooms; kithen, living/dining room, bathroom, and bedroom. It looked to Nick like Carrie lived alone. "Non other than my sister, Christy, and my best friend Shelly. It's very, very seldom that I have what I consider 'outside company' and unsually it's one of Christy's friends that don't know how to react to her having a blind sister." Carrie felt her way around the end table in the middle of the living room. "Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" "No, I'm not hungry. Do you live alone?" "Yeah. I have since I was in college, but my best friend lives down the hall and my sister lives right next door. Most of the time, if Christy hears a bump or thud, she runs right over to see about. It's strange to have you little sister take vare of you instead of vice versa." Carrie walked into the kitchen and got a Coke out of the refrigerator. "What about your parents? How do they feel about you living alone?" Nick saw a picture of two teenaged girls and an older man and woman standing next to them with a Braille card on the bottom of the picture. 'Probably to tell her who's who in the picture,' Nick thought. "Well, Mama died when I was little. If you're looking at my picture in there, the woman is my Aunt Jane standing next to Daddy. Now, Daddy doesn't really like the fact that I refuse to live with Christy, but he tolerates my decision. That's one reason I wanted to buy that building; I want to bring Daddy to live with me. When I moved up here from South Carolina, Daddy refused to come with me, but I made him promise that when I got a big enough place to live that he'd come and live with me, but I had to promise to let Christy move in, too. Christy's registered nurse so she could sorta take care of Daddy and me. Plus, she gets lonely living by herself. Sorry if I'm boring you. For some reason, I feel at ease talking to you. Usually, I don't feel comfortable talking to strangers." She sipped her soda. Nick looked around the apartment. "What about you? I've been busy talking about my family, but you've said nothing about yours." "I don't have any real family. I guess you could call me an orphan." Nick thought oof Janette, and as much as he hated to, of LaCroix. Once, both of them were his family, but not any more. "Listen, about the murder. Can you remember anything else? Did any of the guys have any kind of accents?" "The guy who talked the most had an accent, kinda. It was hard to place, but it sounded sorta Italian, but I'm not sure. I really am soory that I don't remember much more than I do." Carrie turned her head away from where she thought Nick was standing. He knelt down beside her. "It's okay. I've been needing a challenge and here's a good one. It's not your fault. If you remember anything or if you need anything, call the police station and ask for me. Promise?" He asked. She nodded. "Okay. I've got to get back. Are you going to be okay? Can your sister come and stay with you?" "Yeah. She gets home at ten o'clock. What time is it now?" "Ten minutes to ten. Get Christy to stay with you tonight just in case, and if you need anything, call. 'Bye." Nick walked out and closed the door. "It's not your fault, Vivian. Renald would've killed Thomas sooner or later if he wanted. You sending word to Thomas to come to the garden that night to see you did not kill him." Nick tried to pursuade Vivian not to feel guilty. She looked so beautiful in that golden dress standing in the moonlight. Nick, on the other hand, seemed to blend in with the night in his black top coat., white ruffled shirt, as was the fashion, black breeches, white socks and black shoes. "I wish I could convince myself of that, Nicholas, but Thomas was in the garden that night because ofme He didn't know that Renald was looking for him, but I did. I should've warned him to stay at home where he was safe." She sat down on the stone bench and started to cry, Vivan and Thomas's love was a secret to be kept from Vivian's fiance, Renald. Only two people knew about it; Brittany, Vivian's sister and Nick. Renald had beocme terribly jealous after he'd found out about the twoo lovers and went after Thomas. Vivian had sent word to Thomas to meet her in the garden that night to plan thier flee from thier families and both their fiances in order to be married, but Renald got to the garden before Vivian did. He'd found Thomas and killed him, and Vivian heard it all. She didn't see any of it becuase she was blind. "Vivian, it was not your fault. It's not your fault that Thomas was early getting to the garden, or that Renald was in the garden, or that you didn't get there in time to stop the fight and save THomas. If you'd have gone out there before Renald left, you'd be dead, too. I am going to arrnage for you to vacation out of the city until Renald is caught and sent way, all right?" Nick held her two small, trembling hands in his. He wiped away a single tear that ran down her cheek. "Renald knows that I was listening that night and he's going to kill me." Vivian manged to stutter out. "No, he's not. He wouldn't be that stupid." "Nicholas, hear me out, I pray you. I was walking with Brittany the other night and she disappeared for a second and I heard Renald say, 'No matter where you run, I'll be there. You can't hide from me,' and he was gone anmd Brittany was back. Nick was about to answer when he heard, inside his head. There was d no doubt who it was; LaCroix. "Vivian, I'm going home, all right. Brittany!" NIck called her sister. "Brittany is going to take you back inside. Get some sleep and I will see you later." He kissed her ahnd and watched as Brittany led her back inside. That was the last time he saw Vivian Strand alive. When Nick got back to the station, he had a message saying that Schanke was looking for him. "Knight!" Schanke called. "Yeah." "You get any more details out of the witness?" "Carrie. Her name is Carrie, and no I didn't get any more details from her. Actually, I wasn't trying." Nick looked at the other detective. "Yeah, I could see that at the crime scene," Schanke said raising his eye brows. "Is that all you ever think about, Schank?" Nick knew the answer. "No, not all the time. Don't tell me that you never think about it, though." Nick didn't say anything. In a way, he didn't have to/ Schanke liked answering his own questions. Especially where Nick's personal life was concerned. "You know, Myra has this friend who has a sister that's single . . ." "Did you find anything else at the crime scene?" Nick decided to change the subject before it was too late. "Huh? Oh, no. Other than a few muddy footprints. My feeling is this. If one of the murderers knew that Carrie was in that warehouse even part of the time, they;re gonna come after her sooner or later," Schanke said. He had a point. "okay, get a couple of guys over there and have two officers over tehre twenty four hours a day." Nick got up to leave. "Where are you going?" Schanke asked. "Back to the warehouse to do some investigating of my own." Nick left. On the way over to the warehouse, Nick thought about the conversation he'd had with LaCroix that night. As hard as it was for Nick to believe, LaCroix had actually tried to stop Thomas's murder. Not because he was concerned for the man's life, but because he felt that both men could meet death in a much better and quicker way. "Protect her if you must, Nicholas, but I'm here to tell you that if this Renald wants her dead bad enough, even you won't be able to stop him." As always, LaCroix was gone as fast as he'd appeared. "I'll stop him. Even if I have to kill him." But it didn't work out that way. LaCroix had tried to tell him that it was useless, but Nick wouldn't listen. Nick walked around the warehouse after he'd arrived. There had to be something he was missing. Carrie had said that it sounded like the three men were in the center part of the main open room. THat was consisten with where the body was found, but not the muddy footprints. They were all over the place. There was a small patch of almost completely dried blood where Carrie said she fell and there were muddy footprints there, too. Well, Carrie had said that she was hit on the head from behind, but these footprints weren't behind where she said she fell. These muddy footprints were in front of where Carrie said she'd fallen. Nick was too tired to think about that now. He called Schanke and told him about the footprints around where Carrie had fallen and told him that he was going home and to tell Nat not to worry if she couldn't get him on the phone at home because he was going to get some sleep and wouldn't be answering the phone. Vivian's memory was making him tired when he was already exhausted. If he was too tired, Nick wouldn't do anybody any good on this case. He needed to rest. Carrie had called Christy and had her come stay with her for the night. She really did feel better having someone else with her. The night was going pretty good until she got a threatening phone call. "Hello?" Carrie had answered the phone. "Carrie, no matter how many cop cars are out in front of your apartment, I'll get in and then, you'll end up just like poor Patrick Taylor." "Who is this?!" Carrie demamded, but she only got a dialtone. "Who was that, Carrie?" Christy asked. "Wrong number, that's all." Carrie hung up the phone. She hoped she didn't sound as scared as she was. Carrie'd typed Nick's number in Braille after Christy'd found it for her and Carrie would make sure she knew where that number was from now until the police caught the guy who murdered Patrick Taylor. When Carrie headed for her bedroom, her sister got worried. "What's wrong?" "Nothing. I'm just really tired. I think I'll go to bed now. Would you mind spending the night here tonight?" Carrie asked. "Of course not. You just go to bed and I'll sleep on the fold out couch in here. You know what a light sleeper I am; if anybody tried to get in, I'll wake up automatically. Get some sleep, all right?" "Okay, goodnight." But there was nothing good about it; nothing at all. Carrie went to her room and got ready for bed. She listened very carefully; she felt as if someone was watching her. 'Nonsense,' she thought, and went to bed. Back at his loft, Nick decided to try and get some sleep, too. He went upstairs, put his pajamas on and went to bed. As he slept, he kept dreaming of the last time he'd heard Vivian's voice. She'd been crying for help, but he'd gotten there too late. Nick arrived to see Renald standing over Vivian's lifeless body. "What have you done?!" Nick asked furiously. He moved slightly closer to the mortal. "She never should've been seeing that, that, BOY!" Renald exclaimed. "You never should've killed him. You had no right." "I had every right. I took revenge upon the man who digraced me by stealing my fiance from me. It's not my fault that the stupid fool was not armed." Renald shrugged off his crime. "But what of Vivian?! You had no right to kill her." Nick's temper was on the verge of getting the better of him. "She was going to turn me in to the authorities. I couldn't let her do that." He was almost regal in his defense. "It's too late, Renald. You don't have to worry about the authorities now. Now, you have to worry about me." Nick moved even closer still to Nick. "This is none of your concern, Nicholas. It was a personal matter that is now finished." Renald turned away from Nick. Nick couldn't control his anger anymore. "Why don't you explain to Vivian why you killed her." Renald turned around to see Nick's eyes yellow and fangs bared. 'Finish him, Nicholas,' LaCroix's voice said in Nick's head, but LaCroix was a bit too late. Nick had already sunk his teeth deep into the mortal man's neck and was slowly draining him of life. "Explain yourself to Vivian," Nick said and flew off. He never looked back. Carrie tossed and turned all night long. She kept dreaming of a big warehouse and loud noises, but she couldn't tell what the noises were, just that they were just loud. Plus, she couldn't see anyone. She could only see the warehouse. "You should've kept your mouth shut," a voice said. "I'll get in, and then you'll end up just like poor Partick Taylor," the same voice said. So familiar. The next day, Carrie stayed in bed for the most part. She listened to the TV and the radio for most of the day. She tried to remember who's voice she'd heard in that warehouse, but it was no use. She was 'reading' a book when she heard Aaron Price's voice on the radio doing a campaign advertisement. That's it. That's where she'd heard Aaron's voice before. 'What time is it?' Carrie thought. She found her watch and read it. 'It's night time already? It's 9 o'clock,' she thought. She got up and went to her bedroom door and listened. Christy was asleep. Good, Carrie could call Nick hopefully without Christy interrupting. She felt around for her address book, found it and Nick's phone number, and then felt around for the phone. When she found the phone, she called Nick. "Knight," Nick said as he picked up the phone. "Nick? It's Carrie Louden." Carrie tried to hid the small sense of urgency she heard in her voice, but didn;t succeed. "Carrie, what's wrong?" Nick sat down behind his desk. Something was wrong, or Carrie wouldn't sound so scared. "Could you do me a favor?" Carrie asked. "Sure. What?" "Well, for starters, since the murder, I've had the feeling that I'd heard Aaron Price's voice somewhere. Plus, I had a feeling that I'd heard one of the other men's voice the same place I'd heard Aaron's and tonight, about ten minutes ago, I was listening to the radio and I heard him doing some kind of campaign advertisement for somebody. So, could you please check Aaron Price's background for me? I've got this funny feeling about him." Carrie crossed her fingers that Nick would do this favor for her. "Let me get this straight. You think you heard Aaron Price's voice during the murder and you want me to run a background check on him." Nick wrote down Aaron Price's name and a note to himslef to check this guy out. "That's it, but there's one other thing. I wasn't going to mention this, but I got a threatening phone call last night. It kinda sounded like Aaron's voice. That's actually why I called. He said that no matter how many police cars there were in front of my apartment that he'd get inside adn I'd end up just like poor Patrick Taylor." "I'll get right on that background check. Carrie, if he calls again, call me immediatley, okay?" "Okay. Nick, thanks for doing this for me. I appreciate it." "That's my job. Get some sleep. 'Bye." "'Bye." Carrie hung up the phone, crawled back into bed and went to sleep. "Schanke, I think I just found the killer," Nick said about an hour later. He'd done a background check on Aaron Price and found several interesting things. Aaron had spent two years in prison for tampering with election results and the attempted murder of a would-be Senator in New Orleans. After he'd found that, Nick had Aaron's phone records checked and Carrie Louden's phone number showed up there as a recent call. "Oh yeah, partner. Who?" Schanke sat down opposite Nick. "Aaron Price. I ran a background check and look what I found." Nick tossed the report at the other detective. As Schanke read it, his eyes widened. "Can you believe this? Man, I'd say that Mr. Price's gig is up. This is enough to get a warrant. This and the fact that his fingerprints were found on a gun outside the warehouse. Forensics found it this morning. It matched the gun used to kill Mr. Patrick Taylor. Nat just messangered the test results while you were on the phone." Schanke smiled. "A positive match?" "Yep. The guy's prints were all over the gun. There was another set of prints, but Natalie's still working on them." Nick just sat back in his chair. All they had to do now was get a warrant for Aaron's arrest and Carrie would be safe. A warehouse; that's what Carrie saw in her dream. The warehouse that she was supposed to buy. She wasn't alone in the warehouse. She saw two men walking towards her. How could she be seeing this? Unless she was somehow looking through someone else's eyes. Carrie used to do that all the time growing up, but she hadn't done that in over ten years. "You should've kept your mouth shut, Pat." Aaron. It was Aaron she was looking at. He killed Patrick Taylor?! That's why he got into see about her so fast; he was already in there. Carrie sat up screming. She expected to hear Christy burst through the door any second, but she didn't. Christy didn't burst through the door. Something wasn't right in the apartment. Carrie grabbed the phone and dialed the police station. "Police station," a man said. "My name is Carrie Louden. I need to talk to Detective Knight right away. It's an emergency." Carrie was on the verge of being hysterical. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but Detective Knight is out right now. Can I take a message?" the officer asked. "Is there any way he can be reached? This is a really big emergency. He was supposed to check out a guy named Aaron Price's nackground because he's been harassing me and I think he's in my apartment *right now*! Please," Carrie pleaded. "You said your name was Carrie Louden?" "Yes." "Detective Knight left a message for you. He said to tell you that he was on his way to Mr. Price's house and not to worry." "Can you please call his car os something; Aaron Price is in my apartment but someone was trying to get in. Nick and Schanke were driving to Aaron Price's house when Nick got the sense of danger. He'd made a special detour to drive by Carrie's apartmetn building on the way, but didn't see anything strange. That's where he was picking up danger right now. "Hang on, Schank." Nick jerked the wheel hard to the left and drove back to Carrie's apartment building. "Stay away!!!" Carrie yelled. The officer at the poilce station said that he would call Nick on the radio and tell him what was going on, but it would be a few minutes before he could get there. Now, Carrie was alone in her bedroom praying that who ever was out in the living room would go away. "Carrie, you shouldn't have talked to the police. I didn't want to hurt you, but now I'm going to have to." "I didn't tell the police anything! Go away, please!" "I heard you, Carrie. Those two cops from the warehouse are on their way over here right now, but when they get here, I'll be gone and you'll be dead." Aaron kicked the door. "Aaron, stay away!!!!" She cried. She ran to her bathroom to hide. "Please!" "No. Here I come!" Aaron kicked the door one final time and it swung open. Carrie could hear his footsteps getting closer. "Come out wherever you are! You can run, but you can't hide." 'God, please let Nick get here quick!' Carrie prayed. She didn't know how long it would would take Aaron to find her, but how ever long it would be, it wouldn't be long enough. Nick pulled up to the curb in front of Carrie's apartment building. She was in danger. "Schanke, call for back up! I'm going up there." "Be careful, Nick. This Price guy is a pro," Schanke said and got on the radio for back up. "There you are!" Aaron pulled the door to Carrie's bathroom open and saw Carrie balled up in the tub. "Come on, Carrie. We have some things to talk about!" Aaron pulled her forcefully out of the tub and pressed a gun to her head. Carrie didn't im for any special spot, she just slapped him hard. She hit the side of his face and he returned the gesture. Carrie's head flew around and she landed on the bed face down. Nick was almost to Carrie's door when he heard her cry out. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Carrie!" Inside, Carrie heard Nick and tried to answer. "Nick! Help!" "Shut up!" Aaron slapped her again. "Aaron, give up. Let Carrie go and I won't hurt you," Nick yelled through the closed door. Silence. Then, "No! You'll do something worse than hurt me; you'll arrest me!" Schanke had appeared on the opposite side of the door. Nick whispered, "They're in the back in the bedroom." Schanke nodded. "Go in on the count of three?" Schanke asked. Nick nodded. "Okay, one, two, THREE!!" Nick went in first and headed for the bedroom. He noticed a woman laying on the couch unconscious. "Schank, check her pulse." Nick whispered. "Stay away, cop, or else!" Aaron yelled. Nick edged ever closer to the open bedroom door. "It's okay, Aaron. See, I'm putting my gun away." Nick slid the gun back into it's holster. "Let Carrie go and we'll talk. I promise I won't hurt you if you'll just let Carri walk over here to me," Nick said slowly. "You won't hurt me? We'll just talk, right?" "That's right." Aaron looked from Nick to Carrie and back to Nick. Slowly he let Carrie go and aimed his gun at the middle of her back. "NO!!!" Aaron cried. "Carrie, MOVE!!!" Nick yelled. Carrie tripped over the edge of the bedspread on her bed and fell just as Aaron pointed his gun and fired. Instead of hitting Carrie, he shot Nick. Nick lunged at Aaron and knocked him out the bedroom window and into the garbage dumpster behind the building. Aaron was knocked out. "Carrie, are you okay?" Nick asked quietly. "I think so. Is Aaron . . .?" "No, he's just unconscious and in the garbage dumpster. He won't bother you anymore." Nick helped Carrie up and helped her into the living room. "She's gonna be fine," Schanke said pointing down at Christy. "He just knocked her out with some chloroform. Where's Price?" Schanke looked around. "He's out back in a dumpster. Go down and make sure he's still there." Nick hoped Schanke got the hint. He did and walked downstairs. "Thank you. You saved my life," Carrie whispered. "It's my job." Nick smiled. Carrie could tell, but still wished she could see him smiling. "No;what you did tonight was more than just 'your job.' If you hadn't gotten here when you did, Aaron might have killed me. There's something special about you, Nick, that I just can't put my finger on, but whatever it is, don't ever change it." She smiled. 'I may not have been able to save Vivian all those years ago, but atleast I stopped another innocent woman from being killed,' Nick thought. Somehow, Nick knew that'd he'd earned Vivian's forgiveness by saving Carrie, and that was all that he needed.