"Mrs. Marlowe, are you ok?" Lieutenant Beasley pounded on the front door. "Mrs. Marlowe, I'm coming inside!" He shouted, pushing the door open. A vast doll collection outlined the shelves of her otherwise cozy house. Thousands of painted glass eyes stared blankly at him. Watching him. A half-finished sweater lay on the rocking chair, needle still attached to the yarn. He'd never known her to stop a project half complete.
"Mrs. Marlowe!" He shouted a bit more frantic than the last. He felt guilty it'd taken him so long to arrive. She'd called hours ago. Who was he to decide it wasn't an emergency? This could be the one time she needed him, and he'd decided that finishing paperwork was more important.
"I'm down here." A pitiful voice squeaked from the hallway, "Please hurry."
Beasley hustled towards the sound of the voice that kept repeating, "I'm here, I'm down here," over and over.
"The door's locked," Beasley said calmly. "Please unlock the door, so I can help you."
"I can't," she said, "You have to kick it down."
"I'm not able to just kick it down you're going to need to—"
"You have to." She whined. "Kick it down!"
Beasley let out a sigh. He wasn't as young as he once was. His joints ached, his bones creaked. Alaska had made him old. "Stand back," he warned. His knee quivered as the back of his boot collided just beside the door's handle. He cursed under his breath and let the throbbing pain simmer. He connected a second time, and much to his surprise, the door cracked.
Beasley got one look and had to look away. There she was. Eighty-eight-year-old Miriam Marlowe sprawled out on the bathroom floor in all her naked glory.
"I fell off." She explained as Beasley pulled a towel from the cupboard and tossed it over the wrinkled body. He helped her to her feet, her bony body as fragile as glass. The two walked to the bedroom, where a dozen more dolls stared at them from the old ladies bed. Beasley turned away as Mrs. Marlowe slipped into the bathrobe she'd used for the past half-century.
"Is anything broken? Are you in pain?"
"I didn't slip." She confessed.
"You can't keep doing this!" He yelled at her.
"It's been a while since a man held me like that." She pulled a doll from the shelf and cradled it in her arms. "Just imagine, we could do this every day for the rest of our lives."
Beasley sped away from the house. This was the last time. The last time! If she ever called again, he wouldn't go. He didn't get paid enough to deal with this. What's wrong with this place? Too cold in the winters, too bright in the summers, the strangest people imaginable.
"Beasley, are you still at Marlowe's?" Captain Holt's voice broke through the radio.
"No, just leaving."
"Was she undressed again?" Beasley could hear the amusement in the captain's voice.
"I decline to answer."
"Well, since you've had your fun, I need you to get to Moose Pass. Hunter's kids are in town at the lodge, breaking and entering. Someone held the girl at gunpoint last night, stole the car with her inside, and then dumped her on the side of the road."
"On my way."
Beasley holstered the radio and flipped an illegal U-turn. He couldn't help feeling a bit excited, almost even pleased. Breaking and entering, finally something good that didn't include wildlife.
Twenty years in New York, he'd seen enough action for a few lifetimes. He'd had one too many close calls and decided it was time to move on. When he'd looked for openings, he was hoping for quiet and peaceful. A place to grow old and retire. Divorced twice, no kids, no family left, Alaska seemed like the perfect place. It turned out to be everything he'd hoped it would be. He hated it.
The Wellington's cabin was twenty miles past Moose Pass. Meeting in the small town made little sense to Beasley as he drove down the windy road. It was Hunter's cabin now, although he remembered it best when Hunter's father Theodore lived there for the last few years of his life. As part of his job, he'd been required to check in on the old man during the winter months. Isolated from civilization, the old man somehow stayed completely sane through his last breath. At first, Theo had been a bit grouchy complaining he didn't need a babysitter. Over time he'd opened up, and they'd became acquaintances. Theo never let Beasley do the handiwork, but after an extensive protest, he would allow Beasley to help.
It was a shame that such a beautiful property had turned into a seldom-used vacation home. The family was friendly. Hunter was respectable, but the property deserved a permanent resident, one like himself.
As he pulled past the town's lone monument, an old ax grinder, he immediately spotted Hunter's kids. It was simple with Elle's bright, fire-red hair. She had been just a child when he first met the family. Now she was a young woman acting as a constant reminder that he was growing old. She was pacing nervously, twirling her hair around a finer. The camera around her neck bounced with each step. Behind her, Thor stood slouched against a wall. He'd always been insecure even as a child, frequently needing validation. He looked like a grown man, but held himself like a teenager.
When Elle spotted the police vehicle, she stopped moving and waved both arms wildly above her head. Beasley pulled the car next to the curb and slid a small pad from his pocket.
"I'm sorry to hear what happened," Beasley said, clicking his pen, "Before we get started, is everyone alright? Where is Hunter and Elizabeth?"
"They're at the cabin." Elle quickly answered, "The two men took our rifle. I don't know why, but it sounded like they were going to murder someone. Or someone was trying to kill them." She was speaking nervously fast, "They were arguing in the car—"
"Elle, slow down." He raised both hands, "Let's start at the beginning. What time did they break-in, and why did you come down here to call?"
"We found them in the woods. We—we," her body was shivering, "We let them into our house. I was with one of them when the other stole the rifle, then our car. Stuart wasn't happy with him for doing it, but they said they needed to kill someone. They cut our phone lines, we had to take the dinghy down the river to make a call. It took a few hours," She pointed towards the dock.
Beasley shorthand scribbled in his notepad. After rereading to make sure the notes were legible, he looked up from the pad, "Do you know the license plate of the vehicle? Make and model?"
"Well, that's the thing," she pointed, "It's right there. Thor has a key on his keychain. We opened it, and they didn't take anything."
Beasley was getting excited, "Holt, this is Beasley, do you copy?"
"Copy." The radio echoed back.
"We have two armed suspects in Moose Pass. To my knowledge, they're on foot. Requesting back up."
"Do you have visuals?"
"Negative."
"Hold tight."
Beasley turned his attention back to Elle. "We'll hold until the other's arrive. When they get here, you two need to go back to the cabin. We need to take their only mode of transportation," He let the order sink in then continued, "Now to the best of your ability, what do the suspects look like?"
"Like this." She looked down at her camera and flicked through a few photos then lifted it to the officer.
He examined it intensely, "How did you get these?"
"They let us. Something was off, they didn't seem like bad people."
He held his phone to the tiny screen and snapped a photo.
"I'm sending photos of the suspects." He said into the radio.
"Noted, hold tight, it'll be at least thirty minutes before backup arrives. Stay put."
Beasley looked through the camera. She'd taken a plethora of photos of both suspects. The images didn't even seem hidden, the suspects had allowed her to take them, especially the one she referred to as Stuart. He'd also posed for a few photos shirtless in the river. It didn't make any sense. It had to be drug-related, one of them took something last night, tweaked out and stole a car. When the backup arrived, he wouldn't be surprised if they found the two passed out a few yards into the woods.
"They're here," Thor spoke up for the first time.
"They could've stolen another car for all we know," Elle replied, rolling her eyes at her brother.
"No, they're here!" He shouted, pointing.
Beasley's head snapped up from the camera. They were impossible to miss. Fifty yards down the parking lot in a dead sprint running straight for the woods.
A gunshot suddenly cracked through the air echoing around the town. Elle let out a scream as Thor fell to his knees in terror.
"Get in the car and leave now! Go back to the cabin!" Beasley shouted at them. He picked up his radio, "Suspect's spotted running into the east woods, shots fired, shots fired!"