Silent Scream by Maria Rachel Hooley, Stephen Moeller Read Free Book Online Page A

case; they don’t have squat.  They’re not going to find him.   He opened the truck door and slipped inside.  “They’re not going to catch him.”
    “How optimistic of you,” Ramsey replied as Gabriel pulled away.
    Although a soft jazz number crooned from the radio, Gabriel turned the knob and the song abruptly died, leaving only the hum of the engine as he drove.  He’d always loved jazz, but right now he longed for silence, hoping it would allow him to think, to prepare for something he wasn’t sure he could ever prepare for.
    At first, he drove at a good clip down the country road heading back to town, but then, as he saw a broken tree to the left, he knew by Ramsey’s description  he’d reached the spot where Maddie had hit the truck.  Decelerating and then stopping, he looked at the snowy landscape, so pure and white it was hard to believe it had witnessed a woman’s brutal attack.  Gabriel turned off the engine and stepped out of his truck, ignoring the ringing alarm that said his keys were still lodged in the ignition.  The slamming of the door echoed loudly, like the rapport of a gun, leaving Gabriel to wonder why the neighbors hadn’t heard something that night.  Maybe they had.  But if so, why hadn’t somebody, anybody, done something?
    Folding his arms across his chest, he looked out at the landscape, unsure of what he searched for but knowing just the same the clues had to be present.  He squinted, his eyes aching from the brilliant reflection off all that the whiteness, and tried to imagine Maddie out here alone, driving home in the middle of the night.   He closed his eyes and conjured the image of a pick-up, and the faceless man who grabbed her.  She’d tried to scream but couldn’t.  There’d been no time, and she couldn’t fight someone twice her size and strength.
    Even as the scene played itself out in Gabriel’s mind, Maddie’s delicate features melted into Jessie’s, and he watched, transfixed in horror, as the attack became one and the same assault that had ended his sister’s life.  Gabriel shook his head, and his eyes flew open, unwilling to see anymore.  There were still things he couldn’t bear.  Droplets of sweat beaded on his forehead, threatening to spill down his temples.  He could feel perspiration on his back, dampening his shirt.  His throat tightened, making it difficult to swallow.  His fingers curled inwards, forming fists.  He stepped away from his truck.  A handful of crows, which had rested in the gnarled branches of the tree, scattered, cawing wildly as they flew. 
    Gabriel’s steps faltered, and he watched the birds soaring against the grey heavens until they disappeared.  Then he faced the tree, its thick, barren arms reaching toward the sky with small, twisted digits like outstretched fingers.  Without the birds, the tree, the road, the landscape appeared dead, buried beneath a layer of whiten that flashed brilliantly in the afternoon light.  The only sound he heard was the pounding of his heart, frantic and wild.  Small wispy flakes tumbled from the heavens, adding to the blanket on the ground.  A few flakes landed on his coat, and he brushed them away.
    There was nothing here.  No clues.  Just a landscape that could never tell him what had happened.
     “What did you think you would find?” he muttered.  Defeated, he slumped his shoulders and headed back to his truck.  Opening the door, he climbed in on the driver’s side and drove away, still wondering what Maddie had seen and how he could help her.
    Although Gabriel had expected to drive back to the house, he found himself heading to the hospital instead, knowing there was a good chance David and Steve would probably be paying Maddie a visit.  He tried to tell himself his interest was purely professional, but he couldn’t separate his feelings about his sister’s murder from Maddie’s assault.  It didn’t matter that the two women had suffered at the hands of