Chapter Nine
Marilyn was trying to lift a pail full of glue when the lights went out. She placed the pail back on the floor. “Bonnie?”
No answer, although Bonnie had been working at the table saw, cutting thick pieces of cardboard into brick-sized dividers. Lois was working downstairs.
I hope no one is stuck in the elevator, she thought.
The shower of hail was growing in intensity, the stones smacking against the roof. The sun was beginning to set, but enough daylight remained for Marilyn to find her way to the staircase. When she reached the ground floor, she didn’t see anyone else.
She weaved her way through the machines in the near-darkness, looking for Lois or Bonnie. The hail was starting to sound like fireworks as the larger stones hit the roof; some bouncing and hitting the windows. Marilyn came closer to the window above the dented spot where Cole had driven into the wall with the hi-lo. She thought about the knot spell, how they all thought the attempt with the toy sword and cigarette butt seemed amateurish, although effective. None of them would have tried it, or so they said. Ruth had wondered if someone was trying to set them up. Max? He wouldn’t be so stupid. Brenda? Only if her talent had grown while no one was looking. Ruth was certain that Colbie had no ability. Joshua? Marilyn was sure he couldn’t remember his own talent, and Max and Brenda would make sure he remained clueless until the baby was born.
Marilyn continued to listen to the hail. She yawned and stretched, arching her back. She wouldn’t mind going home, but she knew she should wait out the storm. Bonnie and Lois had to be around somewhere.
“Marilyn?”
Lois’s voice, the sound coming from the storage area. Marilyn started walking, nearing the baler. She was standing beside the machine when she called out to Lois. No answer. The silence and dim light slowed her step, making her look all around. She had worked at Max Packaging for sixteen years, but never liked being alone in the place.
She heard a buzzing noise, followed by air blowing through the vents. The lights came on, one by one, above her. She sighed in relief.
“Hey! Lois!” she called.
She heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw a figure in a camouflage hunting jacket and black ski mask. Marilyn was grabbed by the front of her work shirt and lifted off the ground, dragged toward the empty baler. She screamed the words, “No! No! Stop!”
She took in the medium height, broad shoulders, with the strength of a healthy man. She looked into the eyes behind the ski mask, and saw something she had not seen in a very long time.
Harvester accepted Davey; even if he was sick. We didn’t know Joshua was diabetic then. Harvester wouldn’t have favored either child, but Elizabeth had made her deal, and we all had to go through with it, then Max offered to help us all...
Marilyn was still staring into that dark, frozen gaze when the man’s other hand gripped her ankle. She tried to shift her weight and wiggle out of her work shirt by swinging her arms. However, he was swift and Marilyn was a petite woman. He managed to flip her over and she landed hard into the bin.
She tried to straighten herself, crying,”Stop! Don’t! Please!” He was pushing the gate down, but Marilyn grabbed on to it, her fingers getting slammed between the gate and the bin.
He pressed a green button to the side of the machine. Marilyn screamed, her death slow but certain, the baler/compactor’s ram crushing her neck and back first. Blood began to leak from the bottom to the floor. Her killer walked off before the compactor finished its cycle.
Lois stayed underneath a machine near the conveyor belt. She had seen the man walking behind Marilyn. She had hidden because she knew what he was going to do. Maybe kill all three of them during the power outage.
Lois, her legs trembling, emerged from her hiding place and took the elevator upstairs. She found Bonnie standing there when the doors opened. Seeing Bonnie’s concerned expression made Lois cry out, and Bonnie put her arms around the other woman as she sobbed.
Bonnie called Max first, then he called 911. The police appeared, followed by Max and Brenda, who allowed Joshua to come with them.
The baler was surrounded by crime scene tape. The blood had yet to be washed away, Marilyn’s body taken to the Falls River morgue.
Joshua had returned home by the time Max received the call from Bonnie. She had stayed calm as she tried to explain what Lois had seen, that Marilyn was dead downstairs.
Joshua looked around the area while his father talked to the police. Bonnie and Lois were nearby, Lois still trembling and crying, a thick jacket around her shoulders. He noticed how Max did not approach them, and neither did Brenda. Colbie had chosen to stay home, not wanting to see what had happened.
Word had got around town following the hailstorm, and some employees were already hovering in the parking lot.
Anna parked her damaged car and joined the rest of the crew. Jay from the office and his wife were standing by their truck.
“Jesus,” Jay said. “What next?”
Jay’s wife was smoking a cigarette, wrapped in a pink camouflage print coat. “Who would hurt poor Marilyn? She never harmed anyone...”
No one else was allowed into the building. Anna was starting to wonder why she came. The police would see her cracked windshield. She could end up with a ticket.
“Marilyn was crushed to death,” Jay said. “All someone had to do was push the button...”
“Someone?” his wife asked.
“Someone psycho enough to throw a woman into a baler.”
Anna walked to the front doors, seeing Joshua standing near her desk. He unlocked the door from the inside, letting her in.
“Is it true?” she asked.
“Lois witnessed it. All she saw was a guy in camo and a ski mask. Lois said he lifted Marilyn like a doll and threw her in the machine.”
“No spell this time.”
“Bonnie and Lois won’t come back here, I’m sure of it.”
“They must be terrified.”
“I think whoever killed Marilyn knew she and Bonnie and Lois would be here alone. The power outage was a disadvantage, because the compactor could only be used—“
“As soon as the power came back on.”
“He couldn’t throw all three women into the machine. They were in three different places in the plant. Bonnie was on the other side of the floor upstairs from Marilyn. Lois was downstairs. But he chose Marilyn. Why not Lois? She was downstairs the whole time.”
“I don’t know what this psycho was thinking, Josh, but is he connected to everything else that’s going on?” Anna asked.
“I think so. And it’s only going to get worse. The merger is definitely going to be effected by this. Some of those people outside are not going to come back to work.”
“No. If anything, they’re worried about this place shutting down for more than a day. Those people need to work.”
“Not if they’re scared.”
“But they don’t know about—“
“They don’t have to. The merger is being sabotaged for some reason.”
“But that doesn’t tie in with Leo disappearing or when you found your crystal—“
“I think it all ties in, Anna.”
“You have to think about your own safety, Josh.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me until the baby is born.”
“What will happen to you? Consider Marilyn and that Cole guy. He only worked here one day; Marilyn and Leo were here from the beginning. If Ruth is smart–and I know she is–she will leave town. Same with Bonnie and Lois.”
“No. They’ll stick around until Colbie has that baby.”
“Your baby.”
“Right. I’m going to be a dad. And good fathers protect their children.”
The Witch Box Page 10