The Girl in the Rain

Apart from the odd exception, distance to and from work dictated our way of living with weekends together and Wednesdays alternating as whatever came about.

It was a Monday evening when I got a rather late call from Steffi. She often did that if and when she was working or simply longed to hear my voice so I answered the call with a laugh in my voice but quickly swallowed it when I heard the concern in her voice.

"What's up?" I asked sharply and she sighed heavily.

"I'm not sure what to make of this Derek," she started and I could hear her take a deep breath. "Donald was here just now."

"And?"

"He was drunk. He did lose his job as I predicted and he blames it on us."

"It figures. So what does he...."

"He basically threatened to get even."

"But how long has he been out of a job?"

Steffi took a deep breath. "I have no idea but he looks terrible. That whole suave veneer seems to have washed off and he looks like a tramp. Apart from being drunk, he also looked and smelled like he had skipped a few baths."

"Was he alone?"

"There was somebody in the car Derek," she mused. "It seemed as if the driver of the car was in a hurry to get away as he kept on flashing his lights."

I smiled. "Keep the doors locked. I'm on my way."

I could hear the relief in her voice as we ended the call and I hurried to my car. Even driving a little fast in low traffic, it took almost an hour to get to her house and I made a quick decision. Until this thing is sorted, I will be staying with Steffi every day.

Parking outside seemed like a decent idea. Show Donald that I was close to Steffi and maybe he would simply give up. I was wrong. It took a week for action to start. I woke up one morning to find my car's tyres slashed and even though the Police came around there was nothing they could do without concrete evidence.

I hoped that Donald had extracted his pound of flesh and would go away. I was wrong again. While Steffi was doing some shopping a few days later, her car was keyed extensively and a skull and crossbones was painted on the door with a permanent marker.

That night I made Steffi take me to Donald's house. I had no clear cut idea of what to do once there but we found it deserted with no sign that anybody had been there for quite some time. We went home and tried to have a relaxed meal but it failed. Donald was getting to us. I was angry but Steffi was starting to scare and it took a lot of soft talk to get her to relax.

We went to sleep and just after two o' clock my phone made the crashing alarm I programmed it to call me when my cameras at home picked up something inside. I jerked upright and with the phone in my hand I sat and watched as three hooded men moved around the house, setting fire to whatever they found to burn quickly.

I was stunned and still sleepy so I missed the golden opportunity before it hit me that the DVR with all the evidence would also go up in flames. Roaring with anger I fumbled with the phone but at last got it to record the footage from at least one camera. By then Steffi was wide awake and we both sat there looking at my house starting to burn. There was a brief moment when a figure was seen running but that was all we got.

While Steffi phoned the Fire brigade and Police I phoned Hester, my friendly neighbour, to sound the alarm. We raced to my house and were in time to see the last few flames being put out. What was left was crumbling walls and piles of smoking remains of whatever. Everything that counted as my 'life' was gone. No photos, letters, paintings or clothes. The acrid smell that wafted up into my nostrils as I picked through the glowing ashes would stay with me for the rest of my life and I stood there wishing I had taken Donald to pieces when I had the chance. So much for being a nice guy.

The sky was turning grey when we walked into the Police station. I showed the video to the investigating officer and as the figure flashed across the screen again, I heard Steffi gasp.

"That shirt!" she cried and gestured at me to re-run the video. As it ran again she yelled at me to stop it. We needed to make it play back a short bit but then it was clear. On the back of the shirt was a picture of a yacht on what appeared as water and some some palm trees on a distant island. It was not very clear but unmistakable.

"I had that shirt printed for Donald about a year ago when he went on a sailing course," Steffi hissed. "It is a photo of a painting in my parents' house."

"Are you sure Miss?" the officer asked as he squinted at the picture.

"Positive. It is a painting done by my mother when she was still studying. There cannot be another shirt like it anywhere."

"Know where we may find this character?"

I spoke up. "We were at his house yesterday. It seems deserted." I mused for a second. "What about John?"

"No idea," Steffi shrugged. "If my hunch is correct, they may have been fired together so it makes some sense for them to hang out together but I have no idea where John stays."

The officer gave me an askance glance. "They were fired together?"

I gave him a short version of events leading up to my confrontation with John at the restaurant and ended with a shrug. "Steffi kind of..uhh.... had the idea that they may be fired if the story reached their boss' ears. I guess it did."

The officer chuckled. "You stole his girl and he may have lost his job on top of that. I have investigated murders for less."

Months ago I may have laughed at that but right then it had a sinister ring to it and all I did was to nod slowly. Donald had turned into a nightmare I never would have thought possible. For a few seconds I tried to put myself into the shoes of women in an abusive relationship. It had to be hell and even more difficult than it was for us to make Donald go away.

"Parents?" the officer asked and Steffi slapped herself.

"Of course!"

"You have an address?"

Steffi shook her head in disbelief before speaking. "254 Pritchard street, Granite hill."

"The Crags?" the officer asked with his eyebrows knotted and Steffi nodded as the officer mumbled; "Rich?"

Steffi almost grinned. "Rich enough to brag about it and live in debt but very pleasant."

"Think he'll be there?"

Steffi looked up at the ceiling. "Quite honestly, I doubt it. His parents are the definitive prim and proper and the way he looked when he visited me would not have happened if he was with them. They would have made him clean up. They may know...."

"... where he may be?"

"Yip. I have their phone number."

Steffi gave him the number and he left, leaving us to sit in his office looking at each other. She had dark rings below her eyes and when I leaned forward to kiss her she whimpered and then cried softly. As the officer returned she pulled away from me and wiped her eyes. She looked haggard but managed a lame smile. The officer looked angry and I crooked my eye at him. He blew through pursed lips.

"His mother answered the phone. When I told her who I was she wept and pleaded with me to find Donald and arrest him before he got into more trouble. She knows about the tyre slashing but I could not get myself to tell her about the arson on your house."

"So, she knows he is a bad apple," I thought out loud. "But where to find him?"

The officer got up and showed us the door with a smile. "Hate to chase you out but I have work to do. If you hear anything, and I mean anything, you phone me immediately. Got it?"

We left and on our way to Steffi's house she phoned Jacqueline to share the news. Needless to say they were waiting for us when we arrived. Jacqueline was shaking with anger while Joe simply sidled up to me.

"I have some big machines that dig very deep holes very quickly. Get my drift?"

I nodded. In the back of my mind was a conviction of seriously damaging Donald and his friends should I ever get hold of them before the Police did. Jacqueline was on the phone getting something done to have Donald arrested, shot or burnt at the stake while I had a shower and set off to work.

After that I saw to it that I was home before Steffi and it seemed to work. A couple of times the odd marble was catapulted through window glass at some ungodly time some mornings and I became quite good at replacing window panes. We reported every incident to the Police and eventually they had patrol cars stationed nearby on some nights but it seemed as if Donald and friends had decided to become ghosts. They would appear, do some mischief and then disappear into thin air. I had beams installed and they quickly found them to be a method of great fun. They would trip them at any time of night and it didn't take long before the regular waking and checking had me worn to a frazzle.

And then it stopped. Dead. Nothing. For almost three months not a single incident and like fools we became complacent. The rebuilding of my house was taking up a lot of my time and attention and many days I came home rather late after the typical altercations with the builders. At first Steffi would visit her parents until I got home but eventually that too got watered down. At least Steffi had the security doors locked at all times and never got out of her car in the garage until the doors were closed and secured. We felt safe....

A spate of armed robberies shook the area and one day a security cam got a rather clear shot of one of the robbers. Even wearing a beanie and mask it was clear that it was Donald. The Police hunt heated up and we relaxed a little more. With the Police out actively looking for Donald and his friends we considered ourselves out of the firing line. Big wrong.

Hind sight is perfect science but the law of averages says it had to happen some day. Most times the warning is just that tad late but sometimes it kick starts you into being ready. I was lucky.

I had had a rather loud tiff with with the builders and eventually the main contractor and I sat down in my car and had a good yelling match with neither of us making headway and it was rather late when I pulled in at Steffi's house. Movement in the corner of my eye registered but I was still busy thinking about the argument with the builder and dismissed it without even giving it a thought. My luck was that subconsciously it primed me for action. When Steffi opened the door for me and unlocked the security gate I saw her eyes grow large with fright. Instead of turning to see what was behind me I dropped down fast. I heard something crash into the trellis of the security gate, inches above my head. Steffi's scream rang in my ears as I turned on the balls of my feet with my fist already moving at a target behind me, unseen as yet. Dark blue pants filled my vision and I grunted as I swung with my left hand to clear the path and I punched at the V of the pants. The blow was not perfect and my wrist got one hell of a jolt to the side but I felt my knuckles going through soft flesh before coming up against hard bone with a jar that sent an almost paralysing shock into my shoulder.

The assailant dropped to the side clutching his groin howling like a mad wolf as I noticed another shadow close to me. Something glittered in the dim light and instead of making space, I moved in and made a mad grab at it. I almost made it but my grip was off target and I felt the knife cut through my palm just as my other hand closed around a wrist. I put all my weight behind it and pulled down. The body followed and we crashed onto the pathway with me desperately trying to get possession of the knife as we fell but I heard it clatter onto the concrete pathway.

Adrenaline is good fuel. I had a grip on this guy's arm and maintaining the momentum of our fall I rolled over him and jerked myself upward. Using his own strength I pulled him with me. He followed and I took him over my shoulder to swing down with him, slamming him down onto the concrete much like you would do with a pick axe. The smack of his contact and the oof of his breath leaving him came at about the same time as a blood curdling scream from Steffi.

I turned to the sound and watched in horror as I saw Donald raise a knife and plunge it into her. I started to gather my muscles to run to them when I felt a terrible blow against my back and a lightning pain flashed through my chest as stars flashed in my eyes. I felt myself falling and then.... I felt nothing.

************************

I heard somebody call my name, gently shake my shoulder but that was all. I was really tired and simply wanted to sleep so I tried to roll onto my side only to be brought up short by somebody restraining me. Through the mists of semi-consciousness I started to complain about being awakened when my brain slowly ground into gear. As if in a disconnected dream a jumble of voices and pictures ran around my head and then a crystal clear picture of Steffi being stabbed jumped at me. I roared and heard the wail of somebody pleading with me to calm down. My eyes opened to white. White bedding. White ceiling and a lady next to me mostly clad in white desperately trying to restrain me. All of it slightly out of focus.

"Mr Smythe! Please calm down," I heard her say in a voice that was soft but sharp.

I turned my head to her and slowly her face came into semi-focus. She looked concerned but there was also a wisp of a smile. Once again the scene of Steffi being stabbed ran through my mind and I desperately looked around me.

"Where's Steffi?" I croaked with vocal chords as dry as the Atacama desert and then I roared; "Where is Steffi?"

"Please calm down Mr Smythe," she begged again and I roared my fear.

The nurse leaned closer and gently turned my head to the other side. "She is right here Mr Smythe."

My eyes still refused to focus properly but I could make out a bed next to me with a body in it. I took a few deep breaths and my vision started clearing. Steffi was there. Tubes ran into her nose, her mouth and I could see at least two IV's dripping away. A contraption next to her made a wheezing sound and I followed a thick hose running from it into a bandaged area around her throat.

I lay there looking at her and then a sob racked through me. It came without warning and it was the preliminary of more to follow. I tried to stop it but it simply got worse. I wept loudly while desperately reaching out to her. The nurse held me and as my breakdown wound down she gently hugged me.

"She will be ok Mr Smythe but for now please be careful. You are still heavily drugged."

I simply nodded and then reached out to Steffi again. She was too far away for me to touch her and I looked at the nurse. "Is there any way I can get close to her? I need to just touch her."

She smiled and started fiddling with the multitude of tubes and wires. She leaned out the door and I heard her call. Soon another nurse came walking in and after some soft talk they very carefully pushed my bed close enough to that of Steffi's to allow me to at least touch her hand. It was cold but when I gently squeezed it I could swear I felt a soft squeeze in return. I broke down again.

The damn drugs made me fall asleep again but when I woke some time later I felt a lot better except for a dull pain in my upper back that I thought was new. To my dismay I found that my bed had once again been moved away from Steffi's and I started looking around to find out how I could get out of bed. My struggles dislodged some thingy from my finger and the monitor behind me decided to wake the city. I heard running feet and then a different nurse came barrelling into the room. I feebly tried to smile my apologies and she shook her head while replacing the thingy on my finger.

"You have to be careful Mr Smythe," she admonished with a glint in her eye. "Your body is still mending and things can go badly wrong if you misbehave."

I looked around at Steffi and it was obvious that she had not moved since I last saw her. I wanted to know about Steffi but fear of the truth made me keep my silence.

"Your parents are outside Mr Smythe. Would you like to see them?" she asked softly while checking on Steffi.

I nearly jumped out of bed. "Please. That would be wonderful."

I watched her lean out the door, say something and then my mother almost ran into the room followed by my father with an amused expression on his face. My mother's threatening hysteria as she stood next to my bed, clutching my free arm with enough force to make me wince while babbling incessantly was what I expected but my father's smiling face was a little confusing.

"Is Steffi ok?" I asked as I felt my throat choke up and my father nodded with a smile as wide as the horizon.

"A little worse for wear but she's mending well."

"He stabbed her."

"And badly, as well," my father mused, "but not badly enough. He nicked the aorta and cut into her heart but both were shallow enough to prevent her bleeding out. Even so, she was barely alive when you arrived here but the people in ER were superb and she made it through."

My chest felt tight and movement was slightly painful. I turned my head to look at Steffi next to me and a joy I never thought possible, filled me.

From the door I heard Joe's booming voice call out. "Remind me never to anger you young man," and I whipped my head around to see them enter. It caused a hot jab of pain to travel through my chest and my breath caught in my throat. It took some careful breaths to recover while the nurse gently pushed me back onto the pillows.

"Just in case you don't know it Mr Smythe," she admonished again. "You are still in great danger so movement has to be limited and gentle. Please remain still."

I crooked my eye at my dad. "What happened to me?"

He looked over at Joe and then chuckled. "Three men attacked you outside the house while Donald went inside. You dropped two but the last man standing tried to kill you by hitting you with a cricket bat."

"Wow."

My father waggled his index finger. "And that's not all! It had a nail driven through it, flattened and sharpened to cut like a knife. It ripped through a rib and punctured your lung. It seems all your guardian angels were there so when you fell the nail simply pulled out without ripping the lung but it shattered the rib quite badly. Two vertebrae are cracked."

I lay there thinking. How could a man like Donald go from an apparently decent guy to a criminal gang member and murderer?

"Donald?"

I caught the elders sharing a look and then Jacqueline took my free hand in hers. "He will never do anything again Derek."

"How?"

Joe rubbed his chin. "When you get home you may find good cause to take a walk across the street and thank Steffi's gun totin' wannabe cowboy neighbour."

"David?"

"None other. Like most of those around you they knew of the problems you were having with Donald and so when the screaming started most of them came running. Dave tells that he saw Donald taking aim at you with a gun when he ran up the pathway and shot him."

"Dead?"

My dad wheezed a little. "That canon he wears does some serious damage."

"John?"

My father chuckled. "What did you do to him?"

I started to shrug and quickly made my muscles relax. That hurt! "The only one I recognised was Donald as he stabbed Steffi. The rest were just bodies attacking me so I have no idea what I may have done to whom."

"He is in ICU and possibly will be for a long time," my father said softly. "He suffered major concussion and is still in a coma.

A dim memory drifted by. "Could have been him who came at me with a knife. I slammed him to the ground over my shoulder."

"Yeah, and nearly lost the use of your hand my boy," my father growled while pointing at me. "The doctors had to do some fancy stitching there but they seem happy with the result." I absently flexed the fingers of my left hand. It was slightly painful but a tight bandage made movement difficult anyway so I made do by trying to move each finger individually.