Light in the Shadows Read online

  LIGHT IN THE

  SHADOWS

  EVA HILMAN

  PO Box 221974 Anchorage, Alaska 99522-1974

  [email protected] www.publicationconsultants.com

  ISBN Number: 978-1-59433-831-1

  eBook ISBN Number: 978-1-59433-832-8

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2018965384

  Copyright 2018 Eva Hillman

  —First Edition—

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in any form, or by any mechanical or electronic means including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, in whole or in part in any form, and in any case not without the written permission of the author and publisher.

  Thanks to Charlette Campbell that helped me with this book. She is a wonderful editor as well as a good friend and was always there when I needed encouragement. Her knowledge as an editor and what should not be in the book was a great help.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  At 2 AM Beth woke up in her dark bedroom. She had been sound asleep, but something woke her up. She lay in her soft bed knowing something was not right. Realizing someone was in her home made her afraid, but she told herself she had to do something rather than lay there.

  Forcing herself, she grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand, turned on the light—just like she would do if she were alone—went to the bathroom, and shut and locked the door. She flushed the toilet, turned on the water and called 911.

  Beth told the emergency operator that someone was in her home. She stayed where she was and knew the intruder would have to get past her lock on the bathroom door. She waited for the police. Finally, she heard a siren. Beth somehow knew she was alone and the person had left her house. She went to her bedroom, put on a housecoat, and waited until the police knocked on her door.

  Beth was shaking, breathing hard and still afraid as she opened the door. When the two police officers came in she felt safe. Beth had looked around her home, and she knew someone had been there because things were just not the way she had left them. Living alone, it is easy for a person to get used to everything being in the same spot. She knew someone had been searching for something. She didn’t have any idea what they wanted.

  The police couldn’t find a way a person had entered or any evidence that someone was ever there. The police told Beth that she must have dreamed someone was in her house. Beth told the police, “I live alone, and I know where everything is.” Her home was so clean and orderly the police wondered if she was right.

  She explained that someone had been searching but she did not know what they wanted. She could see it in how things had been moved, just a little but enough for her to be sure. The police said they would keep a look out on the house and left.

  Beth made a pot of coffee, poured herself a cup, sat down on her sofa and started thinking about her life. She wondered what had changed for her to have someone in her house to search it for something they thought was important. She could not think of anything she had that was worth them breaking in for.

  When she moved to Phoenix she found a place that she knew was right for her. She was proud of her home. Each and every room was her design. She wasn’t a designer, but she knew what she wanted in a home, her home. It meant a lot to have her own place. The living room was comfortable with off white walls and a caramel sofa and matching chairs. Beth had put in tables and lamps and lots of colorful. Pillows, afghans and the curtains matched it all. She really didn’t collect anything, but she had everything she wanted to keep. Things from her mom and from Katy.

  The house seemed like a doll house. She kept it very clean and orderly and she knew where everything was in her home. Now she needed to get to work but she didn’t want to leave her home. How could she work and not think of why someone was in her home? She loved her home and it felt safe when she got home after work after dealing with the people and traffic she encountered each day. When she got home she was able to relax and was able to feel calm and safe.

  As Beth was thinking about all of this she realized she used the word safe over and over. Did she not feel safe? Why was it the word she used? Safe. It meant that she didn’t feel safe. Safe is what she thought when she was in her home. She needed to think about it and she needed to get to work.

  Beth checked the locks and went to the shower and get ready for work. After the shower she looked at herself as she fixed her hair. She was slender and had pale blond hair. She was not small, just toned. You could tell she exercised. She had a beautiful shape with high breasts and small waist. All her clothes looked good on her. She didn’t shop much, but what she bought was classic and would last for several seasons.

  Beth ran. When she was uptight, when she was worried, when she needed to think about things she ran. She ran several miles a day but today she did not want to run. She didn’t want to leave her home at all. She wanted to stay in her home and not feel like as soon as she left, someone would come into her house again.

  She didn’t know what they were searching for or who it was, but she was afraid. She called her work and left a message that she was sick and would not be in today. It would mean that she would have to work many hours the next day, because she was the only one who did her job. She worked in a doctor’s office as a medical coder. Without the codes the insurances companies wouldn’t pay for the visit. The insurance companies did not accept anything except codes for the things that the doctor had done for each patient. It was not a hard job, but it was something she had to do everyday. It was a lot of work, but she loved it.

  Beth sat on the couch with a cup of coffee. She was thinking why someone would come into her house to search. Beth didn’t think that she had anything that was worth taking. She was thinking about her life up until then. She knew that if she thought long enough, she would figure it out. It was a long time ago, as young as when she was 15 years old that things had changed in her world. Before that everything seemed just like it should be. She had friends, she had a guy she liked, she just went to school, did homework, helped at home putting dinner on the table for when her dad came home from work. Everything seemed “normal.”

  Then one day, her dad did not come home from work. He didn’t come home at all. Her mother was beside herself, but she pretended like it was all right for Beth and her younger brother, Chris. Both of them knew somehow that things were not good. Beth loved her dad, although she didn’t know him well. He was a very quiet man. He was very quiet about what he did for a living. He worked for the defense industry. Her mother stayed home and took care of the home and the children.

  Although she hadn’t heard from her husband when he didn’t come home for dinner she thought the job just took longer than they planned, and he would be home that night. When he didn’t come home that night the kids could see how much it took from her. She was very worried about her husband.

  The second day, she got a telephone call. She didn’t recognize who called her, but he told Maud he was Christopher’s boss. He told her not to worry and that things were all right with her husband. Christopher was at work and it was a very important job and he would contact her as soon as possible.

  The next day when her husband had not contacted her she called Christopher’s work. She was never supposed to do that but today she didn’t care. She asked them about Christopher and they said they would get back to her as soon as his boss came in. No one called. Then she started to get scared about what happened to Christopher and what was going on.

  While the kids were at school, Maud got into her car and drove down to where Christopher worked. She told them in the office that she was not leaving until she talked to him. It was a big mistake. She never came out of the building. Wh
en the kids got home from school that day there were police at the door waiting for them.

  The police said that both of their parents died in a car accident coming home from Christopher’s work. The police said that they were going around a sharp curve and just went off the road. The car crashed down a long ravine killing both of their parents. They said they would release the bodies, and then they could make the arrangements.

  It was a long time before anything made sense for both kids. The only family they had that they knew about was their Aunt Katy. She was their mom’s sister. She lived in Atlanta, Georgia. Katy came and stayed with them. Katy was there to help them with everything that needed to be done. She stayed at the house with them and they did all the final things. It was scary to not have any parents. It was very scary about how their lives had changed. The funeral was very special as all the people from the job and friends and neighbors came as well.

  Katy stayed at the house with them and Beth and Chris went back to school. It was not a good idea, but there was not much else they could do. Their grades went down, their homework was not finished. The meals were not eaten and eventually they were told that the house had to be sold.

  Katy said they could come and live with her in Atlanta. She had a condo and said there was enough room for the kids. They packed up everything except their clothes, and put it all in storage. Then went to Atlanta to live with Katy. That was such a long time ago thought Beth. She had got used to not having anyone except Chris in her life. One time she had fallen in love with what she thought was her destiny.

  Josh was tall, and handsome and he said he needed her. She thought she could live with that the rest of her life, but he didn’t have a job. Josh said he was waiting for a company to call him and that he was excited to work there. But they never called him, and he had an excuse for that as well.

  Next, he was going into business with a friend. They were going to make special tools. Tools that mechanics would need with the new model cars. It was going to be such a success and he was glad to have had that opportunity. But that never happened either.

  Then there were the construction jobs that he was waiting to get. It was always some reason why he didn’t have a job.

  Finally, Beth realized that he would never work, and she would support them and that was unacceptable for her. She needed a man that was dependable, but Josh was not dependable. She loved him, but she knew she would come to hate him eventually if she married him. Although it would hurt her, she had to let him go. She told him she would not marry him and why. He was not happy about it, but said he understood. They parted ways and it broke her heart.

  She didn’t date after that. She was afraid of getting hurt again. Beth decided she could live alone as she moved from Atlanta to Phoenix, Arizona. It was very different from what she was used to but she liked the dry heat. She didn’t like the humidity in Atlanta. She got used to living in Phoenix and was able to get a job. Her job was not hard to find because it was something most people didn’t know how to do. Beth made a good living and loved what she did.

  Now all she had to do is to figure out what they were searching for. That was the problem. She didn’t know what her mom or dad had that someone wanted. She didn’t think it was something she had. She just wasn’t sure. She sat back on the sofa lost in thought and eventually she fell asleep. She slept most of the morning. When she woke up she decided to get the locks changed on her doors. She called a locksmith and they said they would be there about 3:00pm.

  Beth decided to run. She had always run when she needed to think, to figure out things that were bothering her. It was a good day if she had time to run.

  She looked around because she was worried. But she couldn’t see anyone watching her house, or her. She then took off to run. She ran to a park that was about two blocks away from her house where there were walking-running trails. She ran. It was great to run. She ran and thought about what she was going to do. She had to have a job. She couldn’t stay at home to protect herself. She needed to work; she needed to live life just like she had always done, and she decided she needed to find out just what they were searching for. What did they think she had that was important to break into her house to search for?

  She ran for about three miles. When she stopped she realized that she had not had anything to eat all day. She decided to go back to her house and to wait for the locksmith and fix her something to eat. When she got to the end of her block, she knew they were back. She knew they had been watching her. She just kept running in a different direction; then they would think she was still out running. She took a back alley to the next house and went in a back way to her home. When she got to the back yard, she stopped to see if she could see anything. As she couldn’t see anything from where she was she went onto her back deck. There were a lot of boxes of books she had kept that were from her parent’s home.

  Beth hid behind the boxes and was able to look into the window. She could see them. Two men; she didn’t recognize either one of them, but now she knew what they looked like. Neither of them looked like anything special. Just nondescript men, nondescript clothing, shoes, hair, and height. They were someone you would never notice unless you had a reason too. They knew about her house. They knew places in her house to look. The thing Beth realized right then, was they were looking for something small. The places they looked were not where you would keep something large

  It didn’t help her realize just what they wanted, but she knew they were dangerous and she knew they would try to make her talk. She knew she had to figure out just what she had, what they thought she had that was special to them. Another thing she thought about was why now after all this time. She knew she needed some help. She had to think about who would be good to help her. She thought of her brother, Chris. He could help her if he wanted. He was in a very special government position. Beth didn’t really know what he did, but because of her dad and his position, she didn’t ask questions.

  Beth and her brother were very close because of what they went through when their parents died. The loss and suffering bonded them together, and they really loved each other. They had different lives and didn’t call each other very often, but they always knew if they needed something, the other one would help. Now she needed to call him. She went running around the block and up the path to her home. When she got to the door; she paused there to get her breath back.

  The men were gone. She knew that. She went inside, but as usual, nothing looked like it had been touched. She knew it, but no one else did. Beth went to the phone to call Chris. She knew the number, although she didn’t call it very often. His answering machine was on and Beth left a message. She then went to shower to get cleaned up. She put her hair into a ponytail and put on some sweats pants and a tee shirt.

  About that time, the locksmith arrived. Beth let him in and he changed all her locks. She told him to put in a dead bolt, main lock, and one other lock she could only use from the inside of the door.

  She thought that maybe she could sleep if she was sure no one could come in. Then she cleaned up her kitchen, although it was clean. She needed something to do so she made an apple crisp. It was a recipe that her mom made, and it was very good. She had the recipe memorized. She didn’t need to look it up. Beth had kept all her mom’s recipes books. Maud was a good cook, but she liked to try different things to cook. Beth always had apples in her kitchen, because she ate one each day. She didn’t make the apple crisp very often because there was only her to eat it. Sometimes she made it to take to the office. Her co-workers thought it was wonderful. The whole house smelled of cinnamon, apples, and just baking. She got a cup of coffee and a plate of apple crisp and went into the front room and sat on the sofa to eat and think. She again thought of how her dad and mom liked what they did and were they all right with the extra stress put on both them and their kids, as Christopher was searching for the formula at his job.

  It didn’t seem like they had money. It seemed like they were like everyone else she kn
ew—money enough to pay everything and enough money to go on a vacation and buy clothes in style at school. Everything seemed normal, and just like every other person she knew. I guess there were poor kids at school, but she didn’t remember them if there were. Her life seemed easy. Nothing much to think about, nothing that stood out as unusual, until that day when her dad didn’t come home from work. That was all she could remember about her life with them. Very normal; much like everyone else.

  Beth realized she was tired and decided to go to bed. It was still early, but maybe she could read for a while. She checked her doors and her locks. She felt very safe this time with the new locks that had been installed that day. She got ready for bed. She got a book she had been going to read and climbed into her bed. Put the pillows back against the headboard and settled back to read. The next thing she knew it was night. When she looked at the clock, it was three o’clock in the morning and someone was pounding on the door. She couldn’t believe she had slept that much, and she couldn’t believe someone was at her house.

  Beth put on a bathrobe and went to the door and looked outside. There were two men standing there. She couldn’t see their faces, but they were not hiding. They just wanted in. She called to them to see who it was.

  Chris answered her. “Let us in.”

  She opened the door and Chris hugged her and twirled her around and gave her a big kiss on the lips. Beth was shocked to see her brother. She just hung onto him and was very glad to see him. Today she needed him and here he was.

  There was another person with Chris. Chris introduced Beth to his good friend, Stewart. He was not handsome, but he had an interesting face. He was more than six feet tall and slim with dark hair and a body that looked like he spent time in the gym. Both were tall, with good looks and very much a man’s, man. They said they just got through with a job and needed time to unwind.