Chapter 3

“Hell of a way to start a weekend,” Officer Rennish said to Karena as he handed her a paper cup of water from the office water cooler. She nodded as she accepted the cup from him, but sat silently in the chair next to his desk. “I can’t give you a specific estimate on when we can expect results back from the lab, but from the information we have now, we don’t think the cause was accidental.

“We’re treating it as a probable arson. While it’s possible that it was a random act of violence, that isn’t the most likely scenario. To move the investigation in the right direction, it will be important to develop possible motives, and that includes developing an understanding of who might have wanted to do this to you.”

Karena looked at him and raised one eyebrow. “You want a list?”

“You have some ideas for possible suspects?” he asked, sounding surprised.

“Should we limit it to just people in this state, or look nationwide?” Karena asked. The police officer frowned at her heavy sarcasm. “Look,” she continued, “anybody who thinks I was helping Dan Starney with his little plans for a revolution, or any family or friends of Paul Johnson who might think I knew what was going on when he was on trial, might want to do something to hurt me. I’m probably going to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life thanks to Dan.”

Officer Rennish leaned back and looked at Karena appraisingly. “Did you know about the RALA, or that Johnson was innocent?”

“You mean, would I like to incriminate myself?” Karena shot back. “No, officer, I didn’t know what was going on. I did suspect that there was more to the story than Dan was telling me, and it seemed far-fetched that Paul would be at the head of the RALA, but no, I didn’t know. I also didn’t ask. Apparently I should have.”

“You suspected, so why didn’t you ask?”

Karena shook her head. “I’d love to be able to answer that intelligently,” she said, “but it’s really not that rational. By the time he was arrested, I had strong feelings for Dan, and I was becoming more inclined to trust him than others. I trusted that he would tell me what I needed to know.” Karena gave a short bark of a laugh. “Obviously I put my trust in the wrong person.”

Officer Rennish looked away and tapped absent-mindedly on his desk with the tip of his pen. “Somehow I don’t think anyone will appreciate the ‘ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies’ characterization of your relationship with Dan,” he finally offered.

“No kidding?” Karena felt no inclination to hide her growing hostility.

“No,” he said, turning back to face her, “definitely not kidding. We can help you with some things, like investigating what happened to your car, but we’re not going to be there to look over your shoulder for you. If you want to get to a point where you don’t have to do that, you’d better get straight with yourself, get your head out of the clouds of emotion where you’re circling now, and then maybe you can make some kind of public statement that accepts responsibility for being taken on a ride by Mr. Starney. If all you can focus on is how unfair this is to you, don’t expect too many people to care what you say.”

Karena looked at him silently for a moment, and then looked away. “So, about my car.”

“Do you have specific suspects in mind?”

Karena shook her head. “Specific? No,” she answered without looking at him, “other than maybe friends and family of Paul. However, before Dan made his statement about Paul’s innocence, I was in here telling you about a possible break-in at my apartment. I’m sure you remember. As I told Sergeant Fisher, I also received an anonymous phone call that was my first source of hearing that Paul was dead and the caller also said that Dan might be next. Maybe there’s something to all that, and maybe I’m affected because Dan and I were seeing each other when he went to prison.”

“So you think there’s a threat to Dan that existed before he came forward about his real responsibility regarding the RALA, and that it’s connected to Paul, and connected to you too?” Officer Rennish asked for clarification.

“Right.”

“Who would do that?”

Karena finally looked back at him. “I have no idea. Dan accused someone of setting up Paul. If that’s true, maybe whoever did that is involved, but I don’t know why I would be drawn into that. I didn’t know about that until Dan’s announcement from prison, and there’s nothing I could do anyway. So that person, if there is such a person, doesn’t seem likely as a suspect to me. But regardless of who might or might not be a likely suspect, don’t you think it’s odd that the sudden chaos in my life in the past few days started well before Dan made his public statement of guilt?”

“Odd if it’s all true, yes,” the officer agreed. “Convincing that things are as you say they are? Not really. As for Dan’s claim about Paul being set up by somebody working with the government, I’m sure it will be investigated, but do you really believe that? To me, that just smacks of….” His voice trailed off when another police officer caught his attention and beckoned him away from his desk. “One moment please, I’m apparently needed for something else.”

“Fine,” Karena said, rolling her eyes in frustration. Officer Rennish stood and followed the other officer. While he was gone Karena looked around her surroundings, feeling a mixture of boredom, impatience, and anger. She took note of the photos on the desk, which showed the officer with a young woman whom Karena guessed to be his wife or girlfriend. It appeared that the officer also had a chocolate Labrador Retriever of which he was quite fond. When the young police officer returned, Karena was surprised at the tension in his expression.

“I’m afraid I won’t have more time to discuss your car fire right now,” he said tersely. “You will need to come back later. If you do not have a ride home, you can ask at the front desk and they will call a cab for you.”

“What happened? What’s going on?” Karena asked.

Officer Rennish shook his head. “I’m not at liberty to discuss it, but you might want to tune in to your evening news, there may be coverage you will want to follow. Also, you should stay close to home. This is not a time to be leaving town.”

Despite virtually begging for him to clarify, Karena was unable to get any additional information from him. She finally gave up and returned to the front desk, where she asked a female officer to call for a cab. When the taxi arrived, Karena promptly left the police station and directed the driver to her apartment. Although she still didn’t feel safe there, she had no intention of going back to Dan’s house. Karena tried calling Donna again on the way home. She left another voice message, but she also noticed that the greeting was different, giving her hope that Donna at least knew that Karena was trying to contact her.

Karena turned on the TV as soon as she got home, but she had already missed the early evening news and it was too early for the later news. She considered looking for news online, but the thought of the acidic comments people post on news stories kept her away from her computer. Karena turned the TV volume down so that she could keep track of it without the prime time show distracting her.

She moved to the sliding glass door that led onto her balcony but only looked through the glass instead of opening it. Although she could not see the blackened area where her car had been, she could easily picture it in her mind, along with the damage that had been done to the car next to hers, and the stump of the tree that was too damaged by the fire to leave standing.

“I can’t think of too many weeks that have been worse than this one,” Karena said to herself. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so alone in all of my life.” She saw other residents moving about their daily routines in the apartment complex but she paid little attention to their movements. She knew she should make some food for herself, but she didn’t feel hungry despite having missed her dinner amid the day’s events. The soft sound from the TV droned on, and Karena felt like it was taking forever for the evening news to come on.

The sound of her mobile phone startled Karena out of her thoughts. She had forgotten to take it out of her purse, so she moved quickly to be able to answer it before it went to voice mail. She glanced at the Caller ID and smiled in relief to see DONNA FIRENZA on the display. “Donna!” she exclaimed as she answered the call.

“Good evening, Karena,” Donna replied. “You left eight voice messages for me. Even if I had not heard the tone of your voice I could have guessed at the urgency of your attempts to contact me. I apologize for the lengthy delay in responding, I just got back from Brussels this morning. I have been running errands ever since, including tracking down my missing luggage. So, what has my friend Karena so upset?”

“Oh, Donna, I hardly know where to begin,” she answered. “Wait. Belgium? What were you doing in Belgium?”

“I was there for a conference. My employer sent me,” Donna explained. “It was mostly a waste of time. However, did you know the Belgians make some really fantastic chocolate? That made the trip worthwhile.”

Karena laughed. “Yes, I am familiar with Belgian chocolate. I thought everybody knew that.” The smile on Karena’s face faded. It was a relief to talk about something trivial with a friend, but her bigger concerns pushed their way back into the spotlight of her thoughts. “Have you heard the news about Dan’s confession?”

“Yes,” Donna answered after a slight hesitation. “Is that what this is all about? Are you in trouble?”

A scowl darkened Karena’s face. “Trouble? You mean, was I in on it and are the police ready to throw me in prison?”

“That is not what I said,” Donna said flatly. “However, your connection to him and his admission that he was at the head of an organization that was intent on overthrowing the government is not likely to be good for you.”

Karena was silent for a moment. “All right, I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s been a rough week and I guess I’m getting a little too sensitive about some things. I definitely did not know what Dan was up to regarding his little army, and I would not have ever become involved with him if I had known that. Donna, I know you just got back in town and have a lot going on, but is there any chance you could come out here, maybe tomorrow? I have so much to tell you, and I really don’t want to be alone. If I could teleport you here in an instant, I’d do it. I know you’re not big on hugs, but I’d make you hug me! So what do you think? Any chance?”

“Oh,” Donna answered hesitantly, “that would be a substantial change in plans.” Karena rolled her eyes at her friend’s reaction. Donna tended to be precise in all matters, including planning, and when they were in college together Karena had always found it difficult to get Donna to do anything on a whim. “It would be substantially easier for me to adjust to having you come here instead. You might like to get out of that small town anyway.”

“True, I would like that,” Karena agreed, “but I can’t. I mean, I really can’t. I don’t have my car anymore, and the Branner Glen police have advised me to stay in town.”

“Oh,” Donna said again. “That really does not sound good. Let me see if I can rearrange some things, and I will get back to you as soon as I know. Is that okay?”

Karena smiled faintly, glad that her friend would at least consider it. “Yes, that is more than okay, that is perfect. Thank you, Donna, I really do appreciate it.”

After reassuring Karena that she would call her back soon, Donna ended the call. Karena glanced at the clock on her microwave oven and saw that she still had almost an hour before the evening news would be on. Hoping it would help her relax, she sat down on her sofa and turned up the TV. Karena promptly changed the channel when she saw that the current show was a police drama. She continued channel surfing while she waited for the news, but she did not find anything that truly took her mind away from her troubles.

“In our top stories tonight,” the news announcer said when Karena turned the channel back to her preferred news source in time for the evening report, “we will be covering the disappearance today of history teacher turned revolutionary Dan Starney, and…”

Karena’s mind blanked out the rest of the news teasers. “Disappearance? That can’t be right.” She bit her lip impatiently as a series of advertisements ran between the teasers and the news report. “Come on,” she said in frustration as another commercial began. “I tuned in for the news, not this drivel.”

“Once a Branner Glen High School history teacher,” the announcer began again, “now a convicted felon, Dan Starney disappeared today en route from his prison to another facility where he was scheduled to debrief federal agents on additional details about the revolutionary army that we now know was his brainchild. We go now, live, to Brenda Koriosky who joins us with Special Agent Angela Royden for more details. Brenda?”

The video feed switched to show the female reporter and another woman. There was a slight pause due to communication delays, after which the reporter replied, “Thanks, Curt. We’re here with Special Agent Angela Royden. Agent Royden, you just finished giving a press conference and I know you have many things demanding your attention, so I won’t keep you long.

“You said in the press conference that Mr. Starney was being moved from prison to a secure federal facility for questioning. On the way to that location, according to witnesses, a truck laden with building materials suddenly entered the road and slammed into the car that was transporting Mr. Starney, forcing the car off the road and down into a river. The truck left the area immediately and it has not yet been located. The car has been recovered and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene, but there’s no sign of Mr. Starney. Do I have this all correct, and, if so, can you tell whether this was a planned escape attempt or simply a tragic hit-and-run accident?”

Agent Royden nodded. “Yes, that is correct, but at this time we are not able to answer the question about whether it was intentional or not. Police are actively searching for the truck as well as searching the river for any sign of Mr. Starney. We are interviewing witnesses, and we are also asking anyone who knows anything or saw anything to come forward. If we find the truck driver or if we find Mr. Starney, or his body, we should be able to determine whether this was an escape attempt or an accident. At this time it is too early to speculate.”

Karena was distracted by her mobile phone ringing. “This is Karena,” she said absently as she kept her eyes on the TV.

“Are you watching the news?” Donna asked.

“Yeah.” Karena felt her throat tightening and tears burning in her eyes.

“What’s going on, Karena? Do you know something that should be reported to the police?”

“No!” Karena snapped. “No, Donna, I’m finding out about this just like you are. I don’t know what’s going on, but this is a continuation of my whole week. Donna, the reason I don’t have my car anymore is that someone lit it on fire. It was completely destroyed! I think… I think it might be connected to what is going on with Dan. I don’t believe this was a coincidence. But I also don’t think Dan was trying to escape. I think someone was trying to kill him.”

There was a long pause. “That seems far-fetched, Karena. Who would do that? And who would have the information to know when to intercept him like that? And are you sure your car was set on fire, instead of having some kind of electrical short? Who would do that to you, anyway?”

“I don’t know who would do that to me. Or to him,” Karena answered. “I really wish I did. It’s all so confusing. That’s why I wanted to see you in person, it’s not easy to get it all across on the phone. Can you come this weekend?”

“I didn’t get a chance to rearrange anything,” Donna answered, “but I will do what it takes. It’s obvious you need some help there and it’s more urgent than what I have planned.”

Karena thanked her friend profusely and then ended the call. She watched numbly as the news coverage rehashed what they had already reported before moving on to a different story. Karena wondered if Dan was dead, and what she would really feel if that was the outcome. Despite feeling incredibly betrayed by the way he hid his true involvement in the RALA, she knew there were things about Dan that had drawn her in and she couldn’t dismiss her feelings as easily as she wanted to. As she sat in her living room swamped by her own thoughts and feelings, the sudden ringing of her home phone startled her. She moved slowly to answer it, wishing all the while that the world would just leave her alone.

“You need to learn to keep your mouth shut.” The click of disconnection ended the call as abruptly as it began.

“What the hell is wrong with everything?” Karena sobbed. She could not tell if the voice was the same as the message that first told her about Paul’s death, and her answering machine deleted that message before she thought to mark it to be saved. She checked the Caller ID and saw the PRIVATE CALLER log entry. Karena suddenly felt so tired that she almost collapsed. Giving up on the day, she checked again to make sure her door was locked, then checked her sliding glass door, and finally retreated into her bedroom.

When she was almost ready for bed, she went back to her front door, dragging a chair with her. She tilted the chair against the door, and then set up a small wall of canned goods on the chair so that if the door opened, the chair would drop and the falling cans would hopefully make a lot of noise. Satisfied that she was as secure as she could make herself, she returned to her bedroom and climbed into bed. Once she was under her covers, she wept quietly until she drifted uneasily to sleep.

In the morning, Karena looked at her chair and cans at her front door as she walked to her kitchen to get some food, and she shook her head. “Silly,” she chided herself. “If that’s the best I can do for security, I need to get out of here, at least until everything blows over.” She continued on into the kitchen and prepared a simple breakfast, muttering quietly about how bad her weekend was even though it was just getting started.

Karena heard her apartment phone ring shortly after cleaning up her breakfast, but this time she did not answer it, opting to screen it through her answering machine instead. It rang several times before being picked up by the answering machine, but the caller did not leave a message. A few minutes later, it started ringing again, but again Karena did not answer it. She knew that if it was Donna, she would eventually call her mobile number, which she hoped the anonymous caller would not have.

Once again, the caller disconnected without leaving a message on the machine. She waited a few minutes to see if they would call again, and when the phone remained silent she moved to check the Caller ID. The number did not look familiar to her, but it also did not indicate that the Caller ID was blocked, unlike the anonymous calls. Karena considered calling the number back to see what voice answered, although not calling from her own phone, but decided against it. If it was someone she wanted to talk to, they would almost certainly get in touch with her eventually anyway. And if it wasn’t, it was no loss to not make any contact at all.

In the early afternoon, Donna called Karena’s mobile number to let her know she was leaving and when Karena could expect her arrival. A few hours later, at almost the exact time specified by Donna, Karena heard a polite knock on her front door. For the first time in days she actually felt good as she went to answer the door. Preferring to err on the side of caution, she quickly peeked through the peephole to make sure it was safe, and then threw the door open and almost jumped on Donna in her eagerness to hug her good friend.

“Careful, there,” Donna said with a little laugh, “let’s not throw off our center of gravity too much!”

“Ah, Donna, what would I do without you?” Karena laughed. “Come in, come in.” She took Donna’s overnight bag from her and motioned for Donna to follow her into her apartment.

Donna promptly excused herself to the bathroom, pointing out that she had not stopped on the long drive. Karena went into the kitchen to put together some finger foods so they would have something to snack on while she related everything that had transpired in the preceding week. When they were both back in the living room, they sat down and Karena began to tell Donna all of the details of her week. For the most part, Donna sat quietly and listened, although at times she shook her head slowly in disbelief and disapproval of her friend’s experiences.

“Let’s get you out of here for awhile,” Donna said after Karena was done. “Let’s go grab some dinner, maybe see a movie, and then, well, I don’t know. But you need something to distract you from all of this, and I need some time to process it all.”

Karena nodded glumly. “It would be good to think about something else. It’s a bit early for dinner, though, and we’ve been sitting here snacking.”

Before Donna could respond, the ringing of Karena’s phone caught their attention, and in unison they looked over at the phone. With a scowl, Karena stood and went to look at the Caller ID display. She shook her head when she saw that it matched the calls earlier in the day. Karena thought about letting it go to the answering machine, but she figured the caller would not leave a message again. She was increasingly curious about who was trying to reach her, so she picked up the phone before the answering machine took the call.

“Hello?”

“Karena,” a very familiar voice said.

Karena’s eyes widened in surprise. She looked over at her friend, who sat watching her intently. “Dan,” she mouthed silently, eliciting a shocked look from Donna.

“I need your help,” Dan said.

The strain in Dan’s voice made Karena wonder if he was injured or in some other immediate danger. At first she couldn’t think of anything to say. “You need something, all right,” she finally said, her anger taking hold. “You need to get yourself to a police station and turn yourself in, and you need to forget looking to me to be on your side! I can’t believe what you’ve done! And you just let me float along after you. Did you think I’d never find out? And you let Paul go to prison for something you did? What were you thinking? Were you even thinking at all?”

“I understand your anger,” Dan said, “and I don’t blame you. But right now I can’t just walk to the nearest police station and turn myself in. I need your help.”

“Why not? And what do you think I’m going to do? Because I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,” Karena fumed. “As soon as I hang up on you, I’m going to call the police and give them everything I know about you right now, like the fact that you’re alive, and the phone number you’re calling from.”

“Please, Karena, don’t hang up. You don’t understand.”

“I don’t want to understand, Dan,” Karena responded. “I want you out of my life. I want my life to go back to normal when I don’t have my neighbor telling me that strange men broke into my apartment, and when I don’t have to find out that somebody has torched my car.”

There was a brief silence on the line. “Somebody on the inside is trying to kill me,” Dan said, “and they got a lot closer than you probably realize. I’m lucky to be alive.”

“Are we lucky that you’re alive, Dan?” Karena snapped, although tears were starting to stream down her checks. Donna moved quickly to her side with a box of tissues. She then sat down again to give her friend what little space she could.

“I understand your anger, Karena,” Dan said again, “but it was not my idea to put Paul on the hook. It was wrong for me to go along with it, I know that, don’t think it doesn’t weigh on me every day. It did before he died, and it’s a hundred or thousand times worse now. But I think whoever started that ball rolling is behind his death and everything that has happened since then. To me and to you.”

Karena shook her head. “So this is a great excuse for me to distrust the police, and trust you instead? I don’t think so.”

There was a longer silence on the line and Karena thought she heard a stifled groan. “I’m almost out of time on this phone,” Dan finally said. “Think about it, Karena. What did I ever have against Paul? Other than that whole vandalism thing, which we still can’t know was really his doing, nothing that happened was really his fault. He had an art showing, the community freaked, and everything went downhill. I had no reason to hold a grudge against him for what other people were doing.

“So think about it. I’m injured, I need help, and I can’t turn to the people that society trusts to do the right thing. I’m going to hang up and save what few minutes are left. You can either call the cops and know that you’re probably signing my death warrant, or you can call me back and I can give you specifics on what I need for you to do. Please think before you act. I understand that you don’t feel the same, but I still love you Karena.”

When Karena didn’t answer, Dan disconnected from the call. For several moments Karena simply stood there, shaking from the stress and barely wiping away the tears that streamed down her cheeks. She finally took several deep breaths to calm herself, and shakily related to Donna everything that Dan had said. Donna’s expression darkened as Karena shared Dan’s plea for help and his suspicion of someone in law enforcement trying to have him killed.

“I hate to say it,” Donna said finally, after Karena sat down next to her again, “but there is some logic to it. I don’t know why Dan would have gone out of his way to make Paul the fall guy for his actions, although going along with it once someone else started it was just basic selfishness. The question is, who would have set up Paul, and why? If we can’t answer those questions, then it’s basically impossible to try to determine what motive they might have to kill Paul and go after Dan or you. Or why they would only harass you when they’re apparently capable of killing. Do you have any information about how Paul was set up?”

Karena shook her head. “No, I have no idea how that was done. It seems crazy that the someone who had no involvement could end up taking the fall as the leader. To me that says it was done by somebody with some significant influence. That does tie in with Dan’s claim about it being somebody working with the government, but there has to be more to it than that. And, well, I think I might know who Dan was talking about.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Well, maybe. It wasn’t until today that I remembered a passing comment Dan made after his conviction, and I pieced that together with what is going on now. In the final hours before he went to prison, he made an oblique reference to one of his students, Trevor, and from the tone of the comment I now think Trevor might be the person who infiltrated his ‘army.’ If that’s true, and if Dan was telling the truth in his press statement, then Trevor somehow set up Paul. I have no idea why, and this is all conjecture anyway. Maybe Trevor wasn’t the person working with the government. Or maybe he was but Dan was lying. I… I just don’t know.”

“I see. Do you think Trevor would have been up to something like killing a person? Or having someone killed, since we can assume he wasn’t in the prison with Paul?” Donna asked.

“No idea. I don’t know anything about him,” Karena said with a shrug.

Donna stood up again and moved to look out through the sliding glass door. “Dan has definitely put you in a bad position,” she mused quietly as if more to herself than to Karena. “The right thing to do legally,” she continued, turning back to her friend, “is to call the police and give them everything you know. That keeps you from being dragged in as an accomplice. However, if he is right about somebody on the inside being after him, his not-too-subtle guilt trip about signing his death warrant might be more than just personal dramatics.”

Karena sat back and closed her eyes. “I thought my life might go back to normal after Dan went to prison. I never expected this. He held back a lot of information from me that would have made me choose very differently before his arrest. I wouldn’t be in this position at all if he had been open and honest with me.” She opened her eyes again. “It’s not my fault if he dies, Donna. He’s the one who mixed himself up with these people. It’s not my fault. I’m calling the police and getting myself out of this.”

Donna nodded. “I can’t blame you. It’s sad that things had to end this way, but you’re right, it’s not your fault. He brought this on himself.”

“That’s right,” Karena said, although she realized she was trying to reassure herself about her decision instead of voicing agreement with her friend. “He brought it on himself.”

With her mind made up, Karena moved quickly to the phone before she might change her mind. She dialed the main phone number for the local police and was soon talking with Sergeant Fisher. She quickly relayed to him everything that Dan had told her, without leaving out any details, and gave him the number Dan had called from, which she believed to be a mobile phone based on his reference to how many minutes he had left. When she was done, she let out a sigh of relief that she immediately realized was probably audible to the police sergeant.

“So that’s everything?” Sergeant Fisher asked.

The tone of his voice made Karena wonder what he was thinking, but she tried not to care.

“That’s all the information I have,” she confirmed. “I got the impression he would not be calling me back, he was waiting for me to call him. So he probably has the phone on, if that helps you with finding him.”

“I appreciate your candor and your help, Ms. Walsh,” the sergeant said. “If we have any additional questions, may we call you at this number?”

“Yes,” Karena agreed, “but I may be going out to dinner with a friend who just arrived in town today, so you may need to try my mobile number instead.” After verifying with him that he had her mobile number, Karena ended the call, and sighed in relief again.

“Hopefully that can be the end of it,” Donna offered.

“Yes,” Karena said with a nod, not commenting on the skepticism she detected in Donna’s voice. “So, how about dinner? And drinks? I could use a drink right now!”

Donna laughed. “Cocktails! What better way to celebrate getting together with a friend?”

Karena paused. “Should I warn Dan?”

“Why would you?” Donna asked, surprised. “Do you want him to get away? Would giving him a running start make you feel better?”

Karena shrugged. “I guess that’s all it is. I don’t really want him dead.”

“But it’s not your fault if that happens,” Donna reminded her. “Come on, I hear a margarita calling me!” Not wanting her friend to delay any further, she grabbed their purses and handed Karena’s to her. Karena said nothing, but gave a quick glance at the phone as they headed toward the door.