Neon Nights Chapter 31

On the other side of the venue, Carly hadn't fared much better than Marc.

Alec's long gone. I would be if I were him.

The crowd clamored to make sure it could find a square foot of open space on the lawn for DJ Night Owl, as the massive LED screens to the left and right of the stage lit up and a message scrolled across them:

SILENCE FOR THE NIGHT … SILENCE FOR THE NIGHT

…

A hush fell over the crowd as everyone craned their necks to see what was taking place on the stage. Petite girls clambered onto their companions' shoulders to the best seats in the house, much to the detriment of anyone standing behind them. The stage went dark, and there wasn't so much as a peep from the crowd for an eerie minute.

Carly stood transfixed by the entire scene, eagerly awaiting whatever was next with the crowd.

A series of soft keyboard notes accompanied a guttural screech that rang out across the night as a blaze of purple and white lights from

every corner of the stage flashed like a machine gun in an epileptic person's worst nightmare.

SILENCE FOR THE NIGHT OWL!!!

The stage exploded with light as DJ Night Owl appeared suddenly at his kit, dressed in a dark brown suit with a barn owl mask over his face. The crowd collectively lost its mind in response, and the noise reached a previously unexplored decibel level.

When Carly reached the office building, there were no lights on, and she wasn't even sure she could find a way in. She tried the front door on the south side of the building with no success and worked her way clockwise around the perimeter, tripping several times in the darkness on branches and bushes.

No luck.

No luck.

Each door was the same.

She reached the east side loading dock and finally found a glimmer of hope. Through the small window panel on the door next to the roll-up garage doors, a light flickered. She pulled on the door handle, and to her surprise, it opened.

She kept her hand over her holster and walked inside. "Hello."

Nothing.

"Hello," she said, louder than before.

Even with the light on, there were no other signs that anyone had been there recently.

Maybe someone was just in a hurry and forgot to turn off the light and lock the door.

The hallway was dark, save for the reddish-orange glow of the exit sign above the interior of that door. She took the two-way radio off her belt and keyed the button, hearing only a shrill low battery warning signal.

Perfect.

She pulled her phone from her front left pocket and tried Marc's number.

No answer.

There's no way he could hear a ring over there or even feel a vibration.

She fired off a text to Marc.

The main offices had warehouse doors open. I’m headed into the building now.

She drew the Glock from her holster and walked into the dark hallway.

The sign on the trailer door read, DO NOT DISTURB! IN THE ZONE.

Marc knocked anyway.

A man in a pair of white boxer briefs with a lit cigarette in his right hand answered the door, pissed.

"Can't you read the sign, man?" Marc flashed a relaxed smile at him.

"I ignored your sign because I was in a hurry. Have you seen Alec Davidson?"

Marc heard a woman's voice from the back calling him back to the room, but he couldn't make out the man's name from it.

"I haven't seen him," he said curtly, slamming the door in Marc's face.

Marc knocked again on the door. No response.

He paused for a minute and weighed his options. "Oh, what the hell."

His boot connected with the area just to the left of the doorknob and his insides instantly chastised him for his temper, that type of motion generally reserved for those that hadn't just had a car accident.

The door burst open, and Marc walked through the entrance like he had been invited all along.

"Hi, I'm Detective McKinley with the East Bay Police Department. We spoke a moment ago."

The man and woman jumped out of the sheets and up against the headboard.

"Man, you can't do that. Do you know who I am?"

"Not interested. When did you see Alec last?" Marc asked.

The woman scrunched the covers over her bare chest and tried to look anywhere but Marc's eyes.

The man's accent had a hint of southern drawl to it.

"I just got off stage thirty minutes ago, and he was up there watching for a bit. He even came up and performed with me for a minute. Told me it was his swan song. He gave me a big hug and then dipped out."

Marc nodded.

"That wasn't so hard to say, was it?"

The man grabbed a piece of gum from the nightstand and didn't bother to offer anyone else in the room some.

"Guess not. Did he do something wrong?" the DJ asked.

Marc left his card on the kitchen table. "Nope, just need to give him some news is all. He comes back here or calls you, you shoot me a message, okay?"

"Okay."

"Y'all carry on," Marc said with a grin as he walked out the door.

He knocked on a few more doors, but most performers had left town, were on the main stage, or hadn't seen Alec in a day or more.

Marc checked his phone but didn't have anything new from Carly. There was no service on his cell, but no surprise there. He tried the

two-way radio, but no one picked up. Maybe the battery was dead on Carly's?

Frustrated, he walked back out the gate where he had come in. No Dave to be found.

No one to be found.

Marc walked back around the grounds toward the entrance, a much easier task since everyone was on the main stage. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and looked at it.

Carly: Main offices had the warehouse doors open. I'm headed into the building now.

He jogged to the east side of the building and found the unlocked warehouse door with a light flickering. He drew his weapon and walked through the corridor, his eyes scanning back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.

He poked his head into each office along the walls, wondering which one Alec would have occupied with his staff.

Nothing.

Suddenly, he heard a thud like a large piece of furniture had fallen on the floor above him. He snapped the safety off the pistol and ran as fast as he could to the stairwell.

He attacked the steps with everything he could muster, pain spreading throughout his body with each impact.

When he reached the top, he was caught off guard by Alec's lanky frame barging through the door. Marc felt the door slam into his left

side as he reached for the handle, and the impact sent him flying back against the safety railing, his gun sliding across the ground.

Alec, wild-eyed and equally stunned to have run into someone, briefly made eye contact with him, then took off again.

Marc extended his leg just enough to trip up Alec as he moved toward the stairs, sending him to the ground with an awkward slam on the top two steps. Marc scrambled to tackle him but only managed to grab his t-shirt by the time Alec got back to his feet. With his height advantage, the taller man fired two blows at Marc's head and cheek. Stunned, it sent him back to the ground, but he kept a death grip on Alec's shirt.

Alec hit him again. This time though, the blow glanced off his right temple, and Marc was able to use his leverage to slam his shoulder into Alec's midsection, driving him into the railing and causing both of them to lose their footing with the impact. They tumbled hard down the steps and hit the landing below with a crash that echoed in the confined space of the stairwell.

Marc didn't know how long he had been out.

All he could remember was the start of the fall and his failed attempt to catch himself on the railing. He knew his ribs hurt exponentially worse than earlier, and his face was sore from Alec's punches. He managed to get to his knees and looked over at Alec's body, where a pool of blood had formed around his mouth.

He reached over and checked his pulse.

Still ticking.

"Shit … Carly!" Marc said as the details of the night rushed back to him.

He took out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed Alec's long left arm to the red railing above.

He got to his feet and tried to steady himself as nausea and exhaustion swept over him. As fast as his battered body could take him, he ran up the steps, collecting his weapon from the ground as he went by.

Private offices ran around the perimeter of the bullpen area, and long folding tables filled the middle of the room. A mishmash of dirty plastic plates, aluminum food pans, and half-empty jugs of lemonade lay scattered about, happily welcoming all of Mother Nature's critters to the buffet.

Marc scanned the room in the faint light, and in the far right-hand corner of the office, he saw a bookcase lying on the ground, with its contents strewn about the floor.

And a mop of dirty blond hair underneath it.

A faint voice came from the corner, strained and short of air. "Marc, help, please."

His adrenaline kicked in, and he sprinted to Carly. With every ounce of strength he had left, he lifted the bookcase and pushed it off her.

She took a breath deep into her lungs, gasping as she tried to pull it in, and rolled to her side. Marc backed off to give her some room to breathe.

"What hurts the most?" he asked.

She motioned to multiple places with a smile.

He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a serious look. "Seriously, are you okay?"

"Hell yes, I'm fine," she said with a groan.

He helped her sit up against the wall and plopped onto his butt to join her.

"Where is he?" she asked. "Cuffed to the stairwell railing." She shot him a quizzical look.

He shrugged.

"We ran into each other."

She nodded and put her head back against the wall, rubbing at her neck and wincing at the pain.

Marc motioned at the mess around them. "Quite an impression you left in here, huh?"

"Well, I started to search around this floor for him. When I walked past the last office, he jumped out and slammed into me. Then we crashed into the bookcase, which fell on top of me and pinned me down."

"At least it's over," Marc said with a sigh.

She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. "Amen to that."

They shuffled back down the steps, using each other for support, and saw that Alec had finally come to.

"Well, you made that difficult, didn't you?" Marc said. Alec kept his eyes on the ground.

"Did you hear about your stepson and his friend?" Carly asked. The man closed his eyes and still said nothing.

Marc jumped in.

"You've caused quite a lot of pain here in a very short time. By my count, all your associates are dead or in jail,"

The man still had nothing to say.

Marc's voice rose as he challenged the man again.

"You had everything, celebrity, a huge business, money. What were you missing that you had to tear so many lives apart? And for what? Greed, ego?"

Alec didn't muster a response and stared at the floor. Then a single tear escaped his right eye, and it only took a second before many others joined in.