Part Two

...James swallowed hard as he approached the vehicle. Nothing could have prepared him for what was actually in the trunk. He saw a boy, no older than eight years old, lying on his back in the trunk. His cheek was scraped and he had fresh blood on his temple.

            “What is it James?” asked Emma from the car.

            “It’s a little boy,” said James, “I think…I think he’s dead.” He inspected the trunk for anything or anyone else. He paced toward the trunk holding out his hand as if he were reaching towards a fire waiting to pull away when the heat became unbearable. He nudged the boy, trying to find any signs of life, but there were none. He moved the boy’s collar to check his pulse, using more force than anticipated due to the overalls tightening the collared shirt to the boy’s body. No pulse.

            “He did this,” said James through clenched teeth, “That’s why he ran off.”

            “Let’s get out of here and go get help.”

            “No,” said James as he walked towards Emma. “Listen to me baby, get out of the car and wait out here with him.”

            “What? Why?”

            “This isn’t right. How can he just run off like that? I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing I may have let a psychopath just run free. I’m going to catch him and bring him back here. He can’t get away with this.”

            James always did the right thing. He always seemed to take upon the duty of ethics when no one else would. That’s the James Emma fell in love with, but this time she was terrified that his moral obligation would get him hurt.

            “No baby! Please! Are you crazy? You can’t go after him! You have no idea what he’s capable of!”

            “If he were capable of anything less than cowardice he wouldn’t have killed that boy and he sure as hell wouldn’t have run off.”

            “James, please!”

            “The longer we stay here arguing the farther he gets!” There was a slight pause. He calmed down, then continued, “I’m going to do this. So you either let me go now or we keep giving him a longer head start.”

            Emma kept her eyes set on James’s. She remained silent as James reached in and gave her a soft kiss of reassurance on the lips.

            “Don’t worry. I’ll be back sooner than you think,” said James as he closed the passenger side door and walked Emma towards the driver’s seat of the Jetta. “You’re out of harm’s way. I’m going to lower the trunk but I won’t close it completely. If anything happens, the keys are still in the ignition, just drive along the highway and don’t turn back, got it?”

            Emma said nothing. She kept her eyes fixed on the ground. James gave her one last kiss on her forehead and headed towards his car.

*    *    *    *

            James sped down the highway for a half mile. The manner in which the wretched man took flight gave him at least a mile head start.

            Where are you, you animal? thought James. He slowed the car down and drove at thirty five. If he jumped over the railings of either side of the highway, he didn’t have much to run towards. To the left was the opposing lane and the river, to the right was grass for half a mile and then cliffs. He slowed down to thirty.

            No, there’s no way you escaped, he thought. Maybe it was best he got away. What if he really was some psychopath? What if he had a gun? A knife?

            And what the hell am I going to do if I find him? Uh, excuse me sir, you left a dead child back there. Could you please go back and turn yourself in?

            The adrenaline was wearing off, and James began to think twice about his current situation. What was he doing? What was he going to accomplish? Reality began to set in and James was ready to turn back when he saw something ahead just over the railings by the river.

            The sprinter was wearing track shoes and the reflectors on them caught James’s eye. A paroxysm of fury detonated in his chest. He accelerated trying to catch up, driving over the double solid yellow lines like a madman, reaching the shoulder of opposing traffic (still, not a single car to keep him company).

            James was finally parallel with vile creature. He stopped the car and left it idle. He opened his door and was about to jump out to begin pursuit when something caught the corner of his eye. At the foot of the passenger’s seat were the foam finger and the souvenir bat. Emma always seemed to find a way to make any situation better. He reached over and clutched the bat in a firm fist. He was now ready for pursuit...

End Of Part Two