Home Invasion

Home Invasion1


She met him first in the park, it was spring and all the animals were out to get all the hand outs they were used to getting. Emilie usually bought a bag of feed, or mixed nuts to scatter among them. They were not afraid .The desire for food over came their shyness, after all they hadn't seen her since last fall. They would have to get reacquainted.2

A stranger approached her and her feeding friends, He said " Hello" she answered " Good morning to you". He ask if he could join her for a short time.
She could not come up with any reason to say no. Except she had come to watch the feeding, and think of something to get started on her computer,
She wrote for a free lance company, pay was good, worked at home which could be either good or bad. It depended on how many people just had to talk to her, she was thinking about turning the answering machine on while she worked. She didn't anticipate any emergencies, with half her family not speaking to her.3

The stranger was nice looking, smelled good also. He was wearing one of those not quiet spring but not winter either suits, she would bet on a fitted shirt, and the shoes looked hand made. He was handsome, no doubt about that. Curly brown hair, cut close, no glasses, no smoking. His nose turned up just the least bit. He was clean shaved, his skin looked as smooth as a baby's. She caught her self wanting to touch his face just to see if her finger would sink into the soft skin.4

He ask her if she was in the park every morning. She told him every morning she needed to get her mind in writing gear. This had been one of those mornings.5

Her muse had gone on vacation with out telling her, so here she was trying to get inspiration from Mother Nature . He introduced him self. Handed her a business card, which was the same as he had said his name was. Hank DeSalva, Attorney At Law, with a down town office address, and a near by resident number, she stuck it in her pocket. She never intended to see him again. Why go through the introductions she told him she was Emily Noble.He ask her if she wrote under an other name, she told him most of the time she did. Pretending she was some one else made her closer to the subject she was writing about. He ask her such as? She told him mystery's, books for the children, she didn't do well if told to write a particular story .He said so she didn't like having a boss, she had to laugh, he was dead on with that one.6

He said he had an appointment at ten which was thirty minutes away but in the vicinity. She told him she was glad they had met, maybe they would cross paths again sometimes. She wished she had brought the dog. He didn't get out enough but he wore her out, he was so into every thing. He would have climbed the tree to get at the squirrels, and the poor birds would stay in the air after he ran through them a few times. She was sated, ready to go to work, full of jubilation, a great subject in mind if she didn't lose it before she could write it down. That had happened before, but she had learned if she got the title down she would remember the rest. A story was as good as finished when she got the right title.7

She loved her little apartment, it was the basement of a very nice home. Her own entrance, parking place, patio and use of the family pool. She thought she would bring her laptop out to the patio to work for a while. She wasn't likely to get side tracked since she had had her run in the park. The house belonged to a banking magnet, he was old and didn't go out at all, unless he let the nurse take him out on the balcony. He could not see her, he probably didn't know anyone lived under him. It was a quiet place for a collage town,the University was just around the corner. Thank goodness all the traffic from the school went the other way.8

She fixed some lunch while she was inside to get her laptop. Had to let the dog out for a while, he was good to stay around the back yard. The old man would throw a fit if he saw the dog, they would have to pretend they called the dog catcher and he took the dog away. He was a good dog she had got him when he was a pup, had all the necessary things done. He was a Border Collie, beige and white, collar with his and her name Dixie on it. Inviting trouble and she knew it, but if he didn't have a collar with tags the dog catcher would have him down town.He chased the rabbits and squirrels, always coming back to her for a treat. He loved peppermint candy, he just couldn't open it up. He was tired now, wanted a place in the sun to sleep for a few hours. The patio chair looked inviting, he made him self comfortable and gave her that, be quiet look.9

The story was going good, the words just seemed to flow like deep water in a winding river. She loved rivers, had grown up near one, learned to swim there and jump from a vine right into the center which was the deepest part. But her book wasn't about rivers or handsome men. Why couldn't she shake him off her mind? Did he have to be so darned good looking? She didn't trust good looking men and would not be caught with a ugly one. He had on a suit, she couldn't judge his butt. She would decide if he was worth fooling with after she saw his butt. That was her rule of thumb in judging a man. 10

She wondered if they were the same, probably the breasts were their first target. She had no reason to rule her self out on that one. She could turn his brown eyes green, if he had brown eyes. Now she had shot her whole afternoon. Ten minutes with a guy she probably would never see again unless she went looking for him, which she wasn't past doing. Did he have a ring on? She didn't notice, he didn't try to hide his hands, she just didn't look. How stupid can one grown woman be? He probably has a wife and three sets of twins, and his wife controlled the money.Yes, good basis for another story, she wrote the thoughts and flagged them. 11

She would find a way to get that information, she might just walk down town and drop by his office to see if he would like to have coffee with her. At this point she wouldn't be hurt if he turned out to have feet of clay, but later on she could leave her self wide open for a big hurt. When she hated she hated with the same passion she loved with. It had never happened but one time, she would not set herself up for it to happen again and she wouldn't be going to see if he wanted coffee either. If she saw him , she saw him if not it didn't matter.12

The weekend, book not half finished,so what, she hated deadlines. But she had gone through these days before and sprang back to do some of her best work.May be she was like the laptop, had to be unplugged to get its drives and internal organs arranged. She decided to take the rest of the day off, took a shower and sat down with her favorite book To Kill A Mocking Bird.13

A few days later she met Hank again in the park, she ask him if he lived under a bench. He said no it would be a sight better than where he was living. He didn't laugh so she took him seriously. She ask him if he lived in a rat hole by choice or for the lack of time to find a better place. He tried to ignore her, but you don't ignore Emilie. He said more for the lack of time than anything else. But look at the money he was saving. She told him she would help him hunt reminding him of the card he gave her. 14

She told him if they were going to meet this way on a regular basis she needed to know a couple of things. He said ask away. Are you or have you been married? Avery definite No. Did he have any children or dependent persons? No again. Did he make a decent salary, own a car, or have a mistress? No again and very firm. She told him they would definitely meet in the park. He said how about going out to dinner on Friday night, she agreed. 15

She hadn't gone out since Billy had died, at the time she thought she told him she would never cheat on him. But he died and left her a lone in a city where she knew absolutely no one. He ask why she had stayed.
She didn't have a good reason, except it was a nice town, she had a good place to live, the nurses who sat with the old man had told her they would watch out for Dixie if she wanted to go away for a week end or even a week. It was a load off her back, he hated a dog pen so much. And made her feel guilt every time he whined at her, oh he was quiet the actor, he would ham it up if he had an audience,but let the wrong sound go to his ears he was up inspecting in an instant .And he would not turn lose until she told him.16

The part of town Emilie lived in was quiet most of the time. Patrol cars checked the neighborhood two to three times at night. Mostly the families were back down to husband and wife, or just one or the other. Big homes were needed when they had children at home. They had many grand and great grand children. They were hanging in the hall in the order of birth .17

Emilie didn't go up stairs very ofter. Her apartment was under a part of the house no used, so she didn't hear walking and children's foot steps, but neither could they hear her. She had told the Mrs. There would be a car in the parking space from time to time. She said she would never look to notice .She just wanted to look out for them as others had done for her when she had to be away,18

Thanksgiving was two weeks away, not that it mattered to her. Hank had said something about going camping on a long week end. She could take her laptop, and he could get caught up on his history's and case final forms.. He was waiting to hear a date set for a big trial in two weeks. He said he wouldn't have time for anything until that was over, he would either prove he was a good lawyer, or prove he wasn't any good at all. Emilie wasn't big on living out of doors, if it had a bathroom and lights she would enjoy taking her work to a quiet place in the woods. She might even see fairies or a pixie around the plants called Johnny Jump Ups .Beneath the wild fern.19

Emilie, had not had camping equipment in years, a pair of walking shoes would do with jeans and sweat shirts. She needed a bed roll. A big jug of water, and throw away plates glasses and forks, Hank was buying the food. He said they could drive right up to the camp, but their space was a little away from the parking area, he might get away with taking the jeep back there if it didn't rain20

Emilie loved the rain, the smell after a rain was so fresh and clean. It was a beautiful forest, clean and not one stump from a tree. The leaves had made a multi color carpet. The camp site was famous for a water fall and natural bridge. The water falls she would enjoy but no natural bridge across a lake. The rush of the water made her ears ring, which made her unstable on her feet. Some one would think she was drinking. She wasn't yet, but the thought stayed just on the edge of her tongue, Emilie wasn't a big drinker, in a bar she could nurse one drink all evening .The idea of getting drunk and losing control didn't make a night enjoyable. Hank drank but very little. He said if he drank it would be at home where he couldn't hurt anyone else. Had been a drinking fool in collage, he probably would have done it if he had been some place else. 21

There was no alcohol in Emilie's house and would never be. Her Dad had become a drunk when he retired from his job, or was retired by the company. Needed the room for new young men and women, four of them had been retired at the same time. It had almost killed her Dad, one of the others died soon after the little episode. Her Dad had done something she had never dreamed of doing at the ceremony, when the speaker was finished, some one ask if anyone had any words of wisdom. Mr. Noble had stood up, slowly poured the rest of the wine at their table in a plant. He said "You might say I have something to say. I have been in this company for twenty five years. Longer than most marriages last. I may look old to you or to some twenty year old who's Mother still buys his under wear. I do not feel old enough to be put out to pasture. I worked hard, I learned how the company runs, I learned some things that made me ashamed to say I worked here, but I didn't make a story out of it.Like the other older work men, I just let it go, it wasn't my business any way. Not anymore, the guilty ones know I know who they are. So if I get a bomb thrown through my windows I will know who was behind it. I leave some of you with a heavy heart, the others I just leave.The room was totally still as he took his coat off the back of his chair, his wife held his arm going out. Then the applause started, the building rang with the sound of truth in the air. A month later some of the same people attended his funeral.22

Emilie enjoyed the camp out, it put pink in her cheeks. She got up in the morning to see the sunrise then back to bed for as long as she wanted to stay.When they returned to her apartment they sensed some thing wrong, some feeling others call a sign. Neither of them was Physic, but they knew doom when they knew it was there. Hank told her to stay in the car let him go take a look himself with the gun at the apartment. He was back in a minute, He had to go up stairs to look through a window, she told him she could run as fast as he could she was going, she had her cell phone back on, it had power. She made sure all the buttons were on either pause or very low. His had been off all the week end.23

Some week end it had been, she didn't know much more about him than she had before. A little more about his passion for life and progress,living in grand style was not on his list of Must Haves. They made their way up the sloping lawn,the side they used. Emilie ask what he thought was wrong, he just motioned her to stop talking, There was an old jeep parked on the drive way in front of the house, Their car was in the carport. Who would be out here in a truck like that?They could hear the sound of people shouting, nothing distenct24

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A bath room window had been pushed open, a trash bucket lay on it's side. They were not coming back out this way. The shouting was not clear enough to make out the words,some one sounded very angry, a sound like a chair being broke over some thing. Poor Dixie, He would never live this down. But there was time yet, he had to get in the house, Hank told Emilie not to have a fit right now, but he had a gun fully loaded in his back pack, with bullets in a box, run and get it.She didn't have a fit or any reaction, she just took it that it was meant for him to have a loaded gun on this day. She was back before he knew it. He took the gun asking how to get in the house from her apartment, she said just up the closed in stairs the door opened into the hall, from there to the kitchen, or the other way to the dinning room and library or sitting room.25

There was a mirror which reflected on the library and sitting room, he ask if there was any kind of safety lights or calls to the Police. Yes there was, a line that ran into the Police dept. No sound if they rang back, there was a light flashing on the phone to remind them the phone had been ringing. He could see a young woman, and a child. The old man and his wife. He slipped up further to try and hear what they were fighting over. The voices were clearer from there.26

Someone demanded to know where the key to the night deposit was. The Old man just looked like he didn't have any idea about the key to the safety deposit box .He was almost deaf but shouting was not the way to get him to know what was going on. He knew something was very wrong but it left him. The dog, the girl's dog where was he? Did he get out? She would be so hurt if something happened to him. Maybe he needed to go to the stairs and call to him. No that would never do. The two men would get mad and hit him again, they had also hit his wife, oh that made him mad, he swore vengeance on them when they got caught. Then he saw the door knob on the basement door turn very slowly. He wheeled himself up to the other side of the door to give whoever it was some shelter when they came in the door.27

It was a man, he was absent minded but he wasn't crazy. He stuck his hand in the crack of the door, a dog's nose hit his hand with a big lick. The woman's dog, he was a good dog, after today they would have a dog, a big one who liked to fight. Yea a guard dog, maybe two.The man made a plunge through the door, The other two men came for them, they were not ready for a man with a gun, a woman with a knife and a dog showing a mouth full of sharp teeth. 28

The two men were down and bound up before they knew what hit them. Hank wanted to ask questions, he read them their rights, promised a lawyer as soon as possible. There wasn't a lawyer behind every door. Hank roughly sat them against the hall wall while Emilie called 911. The dispatcher had units on the road in double fast time. The Old man was all right, just rattled, his wife wasn't rattled as he was, she had forgotten who she was, where she was, and what were these strangers doing in this man's house. The ambulance took the old man to the hospital, he had suffered a small stroke, the wife went with him,she didn't want him out of her sight. His words were slurred and slow, but there was feeling in his extremities, he could swallow, wanted water right then. Emilie was given the keys to the house and per mission to do as she pleased.29

Dixie won over every heart, he had been so brave, going after the man with the gun, Collies are smart dogs,Emilie was so proud of him. The media were there of course, wanting answers Emilie didn't have for them, they started making pictures, Emilie told them to make pictures of the real hero Dixie, what he did took guts. And something he didn't have anymore. He would protect Emilie with his life. Every one had to go down town to give statements, except Dixie, but he went any way, he loved the blue and red lights.30

Much was made over the incident,buying guns and house alarms, several got dogs, big dogs, the little cute dogs were a joy to have around but when danger is near go for the big dog every time.31

During questioning the criminals gave up the names and where abouts of several other house breakers. He made no plea for mercy, only that the judge not let the mob out side get hold of him and his sidekick. Emilie was amazed how different they looked after a good clean up. The media thinned out, by night they were all satisfied they had every crumb of the story. However they had in their quest for top place with their reporting over looked the biggest hero of all. Hank DeSalva, was a undercover cop, he was also a member of the Crime Unit, and SWAT team Being a lawyer just made him more perfect for the job.32

He was a vet of Desert Storm and grateful he was not forced to go in the Iran farce. Over four thousand dead and he didn't know why. He did know the USA can't spread out and cover these third world countries forever with out cutting America short of coverage. He believed in talking care of Americans and America first. Hank and Emilie talked a long time that night about the condition of the world, the loses we Americans are taking to keep our country free. Free isn't given, it is earned , it has been earned before and push comes to shove it will be taken back again.33

Emilie didn't have to ponder what she would write about when the present book was finished, or maybe revised to cover the feelings of the people right now.She was her own boss, almost, of course she now had Hank to back up Dixie.He intended to remain in the same place, he would never know when he would be moved, on another job, but she just had to carry her laptop and be gone.She thought they had agreed to be a couple, even though it hadn't been consummated as of yet, it would be before the night was over. A whirl wind romance the likes of guns and red roses.34