Dinner with the Blakemores (The Blakemore Files Book 5) Read Free

Dwight collapsed on the floor.

Chapter 3. A cry in the darkness …
     
    Dallas, TX
    The burgeoning rays of a new morning penetrated over the horizon and peeked into the window of the Blakemore home signaling Saxton’s body that it was time to rise. It would be nearly an hour before his wife, Odessa, would awaken, but a kicking fetus had its own hours.  When dawn broke through the darkness, slapping at night’s oppressing hand, it too wanted others to awaken.  It appeared that someone else desired the same thing.
    Saxton’s phone vibrated on the nightstand. Almost in stealth mode, he grabbed at the spot where he thought he had laid the black item, which was on the corner of a dark table in a near pitch-black room. Grab it before it wakes her .  Odessa had slept little in the past two weeks because no matter how hard she tried, either her mind or their son would not let her rest. Initially, they had believed she would be having twins, but it turned out the second heartbeat was only gas. She still had nearly three months to go before the pregnancy came full term, but the way the little fella was carrying on, you would have thought he was with his grandmother Dora at a towel sale.
    The phone buzzed again as he located the mini idiot box and slipped out of bed.  In the bathroom he slid his finger across the screen and jammed the phone to his right ear.
    “Blakemore,” he said in a hushed tone.
    The voice on the other end was muffled through the sound of tears.  Saxton pulled the phone away from his ear to look at the caller information.  It was Ryanne.
    “Ryanne, are you okay?”  Fear flooded his heart as he had a flashback to getting a similar call many years ago from his sister.  A call from Belva that also came in the wee hours of the morning. A cry in the darkness for help.… He changed his tactics and chose his next words carefully.
    “Are you in immediate danger?”
    The sobbing voice mumbled, “No.”
    “Are you hurt, Ryanne?”  He wanted to know. Yes and no answers were easy, even to a person entering into the early stages of shock.
    “I’m not hurt, but he is.…”
    Saxton inhaled deeply, his mind slapping about ideas, scenarios, answers, and what ifs as he thought about flight times. It would take his brother, Connard, at least an hour and a half to get the plane to Dallas.  The flight from Dallas to Corpus Christie was another hour and some odd minutes. It would take the police that long to stop scratching their asses.
    The next question was critical. “Ryanne, is Dwight dead?”
    More sobs.  A gasp of air. “No …” she mumbled into the phone. “He is bleeding a lot....”
    Saxton the big brother went into overdrive like he had when Belva had called him years ago with a similar plight.  He spoke slowly. “When you hang up, take the chip out of the phone and crush it.  Call 911 from the house phone and try to stop the bleeding.  Do not open your mouth when the police arrive and pretend like you are in shock.  Do not say a word until we get there. We’ll be there in three or four hours.”
    She was still sobbing.  Saxton’s tone was firm. “Ryanne, repeat what I just told you.”
    Odessa was standing in the doorway listening to his voice as her sister mumbled back the words in the phone.
    “Ryanne, three hours, we will be there in four hours max,” he told her.
    The muted rays of November light broke through the curtains in the bedroom, shining fresh new light into the room and the current situation. Odessa was scrambling to find a pair of pants, shoes, and throw some water on her face. Saxton was calling his brother.
    “Connard, I need the plane sent to Dallas with a continuing flight on to Corpus Christie. Four going out, five returning,” he told his very groggy little brother.  Connard did not ask any questions as he could count on two fingers the number of times Saxton had requested the use of his private plane.
    As he dressed he asked Odessa, “Have you awakened your