The Window Shade and the Author -

With Anna on her way to the hospital, Jason had time to focus on the black car. There wasn’t anyone in the car, however it was beat up pretty bad, as was Anna’s car. A quick inquiry proved that the car had been reported stole from a neighboring town a couple of weeks back. Other than the CD in the player, which appeared to be home burned with no label, the car looked pretty clean on the inside, no apparent signs of blood, and no personal items inside. Jason would have it dusted for prints once it was towed back to the station. A tow truck was called to remove Anna’s car from the side of the road too. Her car had black paint streaks all over it, and the driver door was bashed in something awful.

When Jason got back into the county issue jeep, he carefully placed the CD into his radio player to see if anything was on it?

"The problem with Scotland, was that it was full of Scots!" The problem with Scotland, was that it was full of Scots! The problem with writers, was that they were full of words!" No. "The problem with authors, was that they authored! No”

“Hmm”, Jason hummed to himself as his eyes squinted. It was strange, the voice on the CD spoke in an unsettling tone, and obviously the recording was that of a man’s voice. Jason needed to get on the road; carefully he ejected the CD, touching only the sides, so he wouldn’t disturb any fingerprints if any were present? He would listen to the entire CD once he returned to the station.

He glanced up; saw the tow truck approaching over the top of his steering wheel, Jason got out of his jeep, spoke briefly with the driver, returned to his jeep and pulled away from the scene.

Jason felt compelled to swing by Anna’s house on his way back to the station, perhaps he could gather some evidence, maybe piece a few things together from there. His brain was churning from Anna’s frantic phone call earlier.

As deputy Burke pulled into the long driveway at Anna’s the first thing that caught his eye was that the front door was wide open. He didn’t know Anna very well, but he was confident that she would never leave her front door wide open like that while she was away from her house, although he saw no apparent sign of a forced entry.

Cautiously he entered her home; he did have his gun draw just in case someone was inside. The entryway looked normal, typical, living room to the left, a coat closet on the right. He was thankful that no one was hiding in the closet. He made his way straight back through a lengthy hallway, noticing a set of stairs on the right, a small bathroom on the left, and then back to the kitchen, and dining room. There was a rather large patio out back of the dining room with an overabundance of large potted plants, for the most part, all flowers – pretty flowers too. Everything seemed to be in order here. Jason admired how Anna’s home was well kept, clean, smelt nice and fresh, with no chaotic clutter like some other houses he had been in. He turned to check out the upstairs.

As Jason crested the landing he saw four bedrooms. The first room was obviously a guest room with some very nice antique pieces of furniture, a beautiful quilt on an antique brass bed frame, and then an antique washbasin with a big pitcher and basin bowl. Eclectic pieces, but they all looked nice together. Under the bed, clear… as was the closet.

The second room was perceptibly a hobby room of sorts; mostly it appeared to be a sewing room from what he saw. There were a couple of nice glass cases with sliding doors full of yardage, an unfinished quilt in the works next to Anna’s sewing machine, and the closet in this room was full of miscellaneous Rubbermaid bins with lids all neatly stacked, all full of fabric and threads in every color imaginable.

The office was that of an office, comfortable with all the necessary equipment that any working office would have, some nice oak book cases against the far wall full of books, a manuscript on the desk and the computer monitor had what appeared to be a novel in progress up on the screen. This is where Anna writes he books Jason thought to himself. The office was systematic; everything was nicely organized in this room. A nice desk in front of the large window so as to see out over the entrance of her property, with a big comfortable padded desk chair sitting on a plastic floor mat.

Jason glanced into the hall bathroom, checking behind the shower curtain as he made his way to the master bedroom.

The master bedroom was rather large and had a sitting alcove with a chair and lamp table. Above Anna’s headboard there was a beautiful oil painting of Anna, exquisitely dressed in a wedding gown. Clearly the artist had captured Anna well in the painting, she was breathtakingly beautiful on her wedding day. Jason noticed that her bed wasn’t made proper per say, just pulled up, with a robe neatly lying across the foot of the bed. Her bedroom was rather inviting, with a faint scent of Anna’s perfume lingering in the air. It was pleasant, peaceful even, with a monochromatic white color scheme.

The master bath was remarkable, truly. There was a large Jacuzzi tub with a diverse array of candles around the rim of the tub. He noticed an empty wine glass also sitting on the tile rim of the tub, probably from Anna’s last soak. He let his mind drift a little picturing Anna soaking in a warm bubble bath, he envisioned himself there with her. He shook off the notion, heck even Bill had taken to teasing him about crushing on the widow, and perhaps he was? He would have to be careful, and keep his business regarding Anna as neutral as possible in front of Bill.

There was no evidence of anything out of order anywhere upstairs, none that he could find anyway. He turned to exit Anna’s room, pausing briefly at the door to look over his shoulder once more, taking it all in.

When Jason got downstairs he finished his walk-through of Anna’s house with the living room. Upon entering the living room that was when all of Anna’s hysterical jumbled words made sense. It was hard not to miss the written words on the window shades, written... of course, in Lipstick! He took some pictures of the shades, NOW IS THE TIME TO DIE ! BURN IN HELL ! HANGMAN"S NOOSE FOR YOU! Strategically wrote across them.

Jason was really worried for Anna. This was real, real bad.

He glanced over his shoulder to the overstuffed chair on the opposite wall from the windows. There on the table was a coaster with a glass full of what appeared to be iced tea, with condensation trickling down the clear glass.

Next to that was a note pad. It was Anna’s notes of the similarities between the black car novel and her own house & situation. His keen eye was immediately drawn to the last word written on the note pad was “the Barn”. He would check the barn next.

Jason lifted the big wooden lever to open the barn door. Once inside, he noticed a stuffed dummy of some kind, looked like burlap with black X for eyes, a series of small red X’s for lips and a hangman’s noose around the neck dangling from the rafters. The severity of this case was really starting to hit him. This was serious! No wonder Anna was scared out of her mind. Jason, snapped a few more pictures inside the barn and called for a team to come in and process the crime scene.

When Burke returned to his office, he placed the CD into a player on his deck to have to closer listen to its message. Near the end of the message he found something pretty troubling –

"The problem with Anna, was that she was Frances!" "The problem with Anna, was that she was Frances!"

Twice repeated, Jason shouted, “Who the hell is Frances?” Perhaps Anna could offer some insight into that question. Jason grabbed the keys off his desk and headed to the hospital.

Deputy Burke inquired at the admitting desk asking the clerk “Can you tell me what room Anna Wohlberg is in?”

“Yes, one second” said the middle aged woman as she typed into the computer in front of her. “Ah – yes, Anna Wohlberg is in room # 309. Take the elevator up to floor 3”

Very nicely Jason cut her off -
“I’m familiar with the hospital. Thank you Ma’am”

He turned and headed toward the stairs well. He always took the stairs whenever possible.

When Jason arrived at Anna’s room she was sleeping pretty peacefully. He didn’t want to disturb her quite yet, plus, he heard from her nurse that she had been combative downstairs when she came to, so they were forced to give her something to sedate her. She probably wouldn’t wake up for a long while. Jason took a seat in the chair next to her bed and jotted down some questions he has for Anna, for when she comes out of sedation.
He tried to relax a little, it had been a long day, and his jaws were tense from the stress of the day. Slowly he opened his mouth and wiggled his lower jaw back and forth to relieve some stress.

Before he came over to the hospital he had inquired about all the check inn’s for the day. No one other than a couple of senior citizens, aside from Anna, had been admitted to the hospital. All hunches must be checked out if he was going to catch this creep before he hurt Anna any further, or worse, killed her.

Every once in a while Anna would twitch in the hospital bed, and softly whimper. He was glad his shift was over for the day, and he was glad it was his Friday…he wasn’t about to leave her side. He promised her he would keep her safe & he intended to follow through with that promise.

Burke eventually dosed off in the chair next to Anna’s bed. He awoke a while later as he heard Anna stir.

“Hey there she is” he quickly said. “How are you feeling Anna?”

Anna looked up at Burke, who was now standing over her. She was having a hard time keeping those drowsy blue eyes open. “Sleepy” was her reply.

Jason quickly asked her “Anna, I need you to tell me who Frances is? Can you do that for me? And then I’ll let you get back to sleep.”

Anna speech was slurred much like that of a drunken person, but she did answer the question before drifting off to sleep. She said,

“I am Frances”

Looking through the trees leading to her house bothered him in a sense, as he sometimes felt like a peeping tom.
But he had to find out if she was getting his messages. He watched the tow truck driver release her car and lower it to the ground, unhook the chains, and finally drive away. The car had taken quite a beating. He wondered if she had gotten this latest message ! Stupid woman ! Maybe, just maybe, she'd GET IT !

He was in love with Frances, and this woman, this user of minds, was intent on destroying his life !

"Will the real . . . Evan Colby . . . please stand up ?" (He heard the crowd's applause).

"Well come on down, Evan Colby, come on down to the real nitty-gritty !" (Applause) He began to pace.

"Do you know, Mr. Colby, that somewhere . . everybody . . has a double ?" "Do you Mr. Colby ?"
"Do you have your own personal double . . and do you know where it is ?"

He choked back a scream. "Yes, yes I know where he is. He's . . . in the book !" "And Frances is in there too, and this Anna, she wants to take it all away, to change things, . . . and I can't let that happen, I can't !"

Again he heard, "Will the real . . Evan Colby . . please stand up ?"

He fought back tears but they came anyway, running down his cheeks. He went through the motions of . . . . . .
standing . . . and heard the applause again.

When Anna woke, Jason was there to greet her with a smile. “Good afternoon! My you sure do like to sleep in Anna! …Frances? Wohlberg”.

Anna felt fairly refreshed upon waking, no pain so to speak, starving and a little tugging and an itching sensation on her head.

“Good morning” she replied.

“Well, it looks like you can check out of here today” Jason noted “Aside from the exhaustion you were suffering …” Jason smiled “You have no life threatening injuries – stitches, yes, but nothing else…”

“So, tell me about you? Frances? If you will please?” Jason questioned.

“What’s there to tell? Anna said as if she had no idea why her birth name even entered the picture.

“Anna is just a play on my birth name, Frances, Anna, Wohlberg… my publicist felt that using the name Anna was…well, a more attractive name, strictly a strategic business move.” Anna looked at Jason oddly.

“Why are you asking me all these questions about Frances anyway?” Anna questioned, slightly annoyed. For crying out load couldn't he see that she needed some coffee before all this prodding took place.

“Ah, yes...sorry. I should have made my investigation a little clearer from the start. It’s something I found in the black car” Jason pressed his lips tightly and nodded.

“But, we can talk about that once we get you out of here” Deputy Burke concluded.

"We gonna have a good time, good time, good time, we gonna have a good time . . . in old 309!"
"309 . . it's your time . . here I come and I feel fine . . . . . (but you won't) . . .

It wasn't that difficult to find out where they had taken good old Anna.
It wasn't that difficult to find room # 309.

But it was difficult to get at her with that damn deputy sitting right there beside her.
But when he nodded off . . .

A harsh blow to the back of the head dropped the deputy like a sack of potatoes.

He went to the bed, tied Anna up with a hospital-issued robe, stuffed a white washcloth into her mouth, duct-taped it securely, and prepared to leave. He threw Anna over his shoulder and was heading for the door when the damn deputy started moaning. Another kick to the ribs rendered him silent and unconscious.

Outside it was darker than usual but he made his way through the parking lot to the van without seeing another
soul.

Rolling down through the gate and out onto the highway, he began to sing. "309 . .it's your time . . here I come and I feel fine . . ."

As he drove, his demeanor changed from assertive to cautious. Had anybody seen him ? Was anyone following
him ? He checked his speed as he made his way through town, noticing the light traffic and lack of pedestrians. But it was getting late, so things appeared to be as normal as normal can be in this one-horse town.
Ten minutes later he turned down the dirt road leading to the house, parked inside the barn, and began to move the still unconscious Anna from the van to the back door of the house. Holding her up with one arm, he found his key and unlocked the door, propping it wide open until he was sure they'd both be able to get in. The door led to the kitchen and he immediately sat Anna down in one of the huge chairs, tying her up securely before making his way back to the barn. There he shut off all the lights, closed and latched the barn doors so as not to draw any attention to the area, and quietly returned to the house.
Soon it would be time to talk to Anna . . soon. He just hoped she'd listen.

She was standing very close to the edge, but it was dark and she couldn't quite remember how far to go . . and she couldn't see . . . and then she was falling . . . . falling from a considerable height it seemed . . . falling and falling . . . and . .
She woke immediately when the icy cold water was poured over her head! Her eyes adjusted slowly to dim light
coming from a single bulb swaying over what appeared to be a kitchen table. Anna felt the urge to lunge from her chair quickly but realized that she was securely restrained and would be lucky to move an inch in any direction !

She was unable to move her head at all. It felt like her forehead and neck were duct-taped to the back of the chair, severely duct-taped. She was only able to gaze straight ahead. Nobody sat in the empty chair across from her, but
she could hear movement coming from behind.
Again, the icy cold water poured down onto her head and streamed down her back ! Icy cold !

And she heard laughter.

*I will add to on Monday...work, work,work!!*

He stopped laughing when he saw her struggle to scream, as the water shocked her once again. "Don't scream Anna, I don't want to hear you at all until I'm ready !" "I mean it . . don't scream . . I want you fully awake, that's all, awake to hear what I have to say . . your undivided attention . . but no screaming !"
Listening now with all of her senses, Anna took a deep breathe through her nostrils and waited.

Slowly a towel or something was lowered over her eyes, and she could see nothing.

Minutes went by . . and the towel was lifted. There on the table in front of her was . . her life ! She looked at her strange life and wondered where exactly had it gone wrong. Books sat on the table ! Books she recognized. Best sellers. Paperbacks, and one or two hardbound copies. Stories. Her stories ! ANNA WOHLBERG ! AUTHOR EXTRAORDINAIRE !!

Carefully she eyed her work. Most of the books appeared to be well worn, as if they had been handled and read
many times over. Some had bookmarkers sticking out above the pages, highliting something important in this chapter, something else important in that chapter, and so on. But all of the books had been written by her. They were her job, her income, her pain, and her pleasure . . . all sitting there on the table. She began to panic when her breathing became difficult. She watched his hand bring the knife towards her face . . . and with two quick flicks . . he cut air holes through the duct tape, enabling her to inhale without laboring.

"Anna, I would like to introduce myself. My name is E.Colby. Does that ring a bell ? Colby ? "

Anna was frightened by the revelation of her captor’s name. Clearly this man was unhinged. Moreover…. he was psychotic! Evan Colby was a character in her current novel. He was not real. He didn’t exist. He was a figment of Anna’s imagination. Anna wondered how this man knew about Evan Colby?

Her eyes darted back and forth as she searched through her thoughts trying to make sense of this whole thing. He must have stolen the manuscript from her desk? or tapped into her computer somehow? The novel was still in development. No one should know anything about Evan Colby except her. How could this be?

Anna looked carefully from side to side, trying to get a glimpse of this man. He hadn’t really allowed himself to come into Anna’s full view, not as of yet anyway, nevertheless his voice was familiar to her. It was the voice from the phone calls. The I’m watching you voice.

“Why are you doing this to me Mr. Colby?” Anna asked strictly for fear of not saying anything at all.

Anna hoped that someone from the hospital knew she was missing. She trusted that deputy Burke knew of her disappearance . Anna prayed that he would find her soon, before it was too late.

Anna’s nurse, nurse Margaret, came strolling into Anna’s room to deliver her lunch tray – that was when she noticed deputy Burke was lying on the floor with a bloody laceration on the back of his head. She quickly sat the tray of food down on the hospital tray table as she yelled for help.

Deputy Burke was starting to stir as the nurse squatted by his side. She began checking his pulse when he opened his eyes and flinched with a startle. Jason rolled over and got on his knees to lift himself, he put forth a painful moan as he clutched his rib cage, followed with a heavy sigh.

“WHERE is ANNA?” he asked still confused from the blow to his head.

“I don’t know,” said Margaret as she spun in a circle looking for Anna. Next, she checked the bathroom in Anna’s room “It’s empty!” she said in a perplexed manner.

Jason stumbled to his feet and gradually headed toward the door. He knew he had to find Anna quickly before that mad man hurt her. He dialed the Sheriff, Sheriff Bill Johnstone. He needed back up.

“Where do you think you are going deputy? Get back here now young man!” Nurse Margaret firmly said, “You need medical attention, you’re hurt!”

Jason ignored her as if he hadn’t heard her at all; he kept walking toward the elevator holding his rib cage.

“I said DON’T SPEAK!! I don’t want to hear what you have to say Francis,” he yelled, then quickly recovered and regulated his voice down into a softer tone.

Anna nodded her head to acknowledge that she understood she should keep her mouth shut. It was hard to speak clearly anyway with tape over her mouth, if it weren’t for the small slit in the tape, her words would have been garbled gibberish. Anna was unsure of how she should proceed; she didn’t want to further agitate this man. If only she could see him – perhaps she could sense his emotions, read his facial expression.

“You’re all mine Francis, You are MY Love, and the deputy can’t have you! He WILL never have you…he will never find you… I already took CARE of HIM and his meddling into OUR…. AFFAIRS!” through clenched teeth, stated the delusional man who thought himself to be Evan Colby.

Anna knew she had to do or say something. If what he said was true, Jason might well be dead? Anna decided to play into his fantasy; it might be her only chance for survival.

“Evan....? Please love, please take this wretched tape off my mouth, it's hurting me... my love” Anna said softly and lovingly, "Please talk to me Evan.” Anna waited to see how he would respond. She could hear him behind her talking to himself under his breath.

“Come near to me Evan, I want to see your handsome face,” Anna softly pleaded.

“I’ve been waiting a lifetime for you to come for me Evan… don’t you know that love?” Anna slowly continued on. “Thank God you got rid of that deputy, thank god Evan, I was afraid Evan, I thought you’d never come for me Evan”

Methodically Anna employed the use of the name Evan over and over so he would know that she accepted, that she knew....that he was Evan Colby.

Jason raced towards Anna’s house for he didn’t know where else to look first. Perhaps there was some indication at Anna’s that would lead them to her? Possibly that crack pot took Anna to her own house? That was highly unlikely, but there was a chance…

“I don’t know where else to look first?” Jason said to Bill, who was on the other end of his cell phone. “Maybe we missed a clue in the barn? All I know is we have to find Anna before this nut kills her.”

Jason pulled his jeep to a stop a quarter mile short of Anna’s property line. He needed to creep in carefully just in case they were there. As Jason slipped through the back wooded section of Anna’s acreage, he noticed a fully functional campsite several acres behind the barn, the small fire pit was still smoldering. It was clear that someone was camping here. He drew his gun, and hid behind a huge fir tree as to not be seen, just in case anyone was in the tent. He painfully kneeled down to pick up a golf ball sized stone and deliberately chucked it toward the coffee pot hanging from an iron tripod over the fire pit producing a loud clank, then patiently he waited to see if there was any movement from the tent. He waited several minutes, and detecting no movement he proceeded toward the tent to have a look around.

Inside the tent there was an army style cot with a milk crate stood on end acting as a nightstand next to the cot. On top of the crate there was a lantern. He noticed there were books inside the milk crate… books by Anna Wohlberg. Beside the crate on the floor was a set of blue prints for a large house, homemade blueprints at that with some writing notations to the side that called for a huge deck with a 10-foot tall privacy wall. Jason was baffled as to what these blue prints stood for? But then again, Jason was completely unaware of the content of Anna’s current novel.

As he exited the tent, he noticed a man made clearing off in the distance. It was marked quite well with wooden stakes that had red tape tied to the top of each stake, had it not been for a slight breeze he might not have noticed the red tape flap in the wind. He walked over to the stakes to take a closer look. Obviously 'someone' intended to build a house here.

Evan rushed around in front of her allowing Anna to finally see her captor. He was rather disheveled, his hair was tossed and greasy, his hands were dirty as were his close and his eyes were brown, yet, wild-eyed. His frame was sturdy… noticeably he was strong as an Ox. Anna was certain that he must have been a hard worker before he had gone made.

“Don’t play coy with me Francis!” Evan whispered unsympathetically”. He quickly retreated to the other room, returning with something in his hand…. It was something Anna recognized. It was her manuscript!

Evan slapped down in front of her the document and then barked…

“How are we ever going to have a life together Francis if you intend to kill me? Can’t you see how hard I’ve been working for us? I’ve already started on our house… it’s right by the pond just like you wanted it so you can see the ducks”

Anna hadn’t the foggiest idea what he was talking about at first thought, and then she caught herself, and synced her mindset to Evan’s hallucination. Evan was living in the document that he had slammed on the table before her.

She knew she had to do some quick thinking, she had to find a way to convince Evan that she was wrong, that she would not kill him out of her novel.

Nice. Will reply tomorrow. (You were busy).

Evan Colby slipped in and out of different thoughts . . and was now keenly aware that his Francis had joined him in this effort to thwart Anna Wohlberg. Looking around the kitchen, he saw no one but Francis. Someone had tied her to a chair with duct tape ! His eyes misted over and he sank to his knees, crying. His very bad headache had returned, causing him to see red and black spots everywhere he turned his head. Summoning all his strength, he stood up and stumbled over to Francis's chair, yelling for Francis to sit still as he began to yank the duct tape from her neck and body.
Removing duct tape is never as easy as applying it. Anna screamed as the tape stretched her skin and pulled out her hair. She screamed when he violently ripped the strips away from her face ! And just when the last of it was gone from her head and neck, and Evan was ready to untape her hands and arms . . . . he stopped !
Moving slowly from behind the chair, Evan closed his eyes again as he stopped he front of her. His hands went to his temples, and pounded away at them. Guttural sounds escaped through foamy lips. He opened his eyes.

YOU . . . . IT'S YOU ! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH FRANCIS ? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER ?

Anna listened with growing fear as Evan Colby ranted. She watched as he repeatedly caressed the manuscript. He would look away from time to time but always returned his gaze to the manuscript, like it was holy, or magical.

"You created me Anna, and then . . then you want to destroy me ? Why ? Why can't I live, like you do ?"
"You created Francis, and I fell in love with her, and now you want to end our relationship?" "Are you mad ?"

"I've done alot of thinking Anna, and if YOU were taken out of the picture I'm sure that Francis and I would find a happy ending we deserve!" "We don't deserve what you have planned for us. We don't!"

Evan's hands went up to his temples again, and he roared with pain. His eyes were now completely bloodshot and
he lisped as he spoke. "Anna, I have to kill you to bring back Francis, you know that don't you ?" He walked over to the counter, opened a drawer, and brought out a large butcher knife.
Anna's heart raced as Evan came nearer. She gasped for breath. Quickly she began to beg.

"Evan, it's me, Francis! Don't do this Evan ! It's me, Francis! Evan! EVAN ! EVAN !!!