Innocent Blood; Blood Money; Blood Moon

by Michael Lister

  “Okay,” Battle said. “That helps. And the kid’s name is Brandon?”

  “Brandon Wright.”

  “And you’ve searched all the normal places?” he said. “All through the building, every room, every nook and cranny, every hiding spot on the playground and property?”

  Ralph was nodding vigorously before Battle finished. “Everywhere. We wouldn’t’ve called you if we hadn’t. The boy is not on the premises.”

  “Who’s been here?” Battle said.

  Ralph handed him a sheet of paper. “I log everybody––parent, teacher, student, visitor––in and out on my log.”

  I glanced at it over his shoulder. There were only four names.

  “This is everybody?”

  He nodded.

  “Who are they?”

  “These two are parents. One dropped off her child late. The other picked his up for a dentist appointment. The other one was a delivery––food and kitchen supplies–– and this last one was looking the place over, trying to decide whether or not to send his kid here.”

  “His?”

  “Recently divorced single dad.”

  “What’d he drive? Got a phone number, description, anything?”

  Ralph’s eyes grew wide as he shook his head.

  “Did he sign his kid up?” Battle asked Ida. “Leave any info?”

  She shook her head.

  “What about the food delivery person?” he asked. “Y’all know him?”

  “Her, and yes. She’s been doing it for several years now.”

  Two Dekalb County patrol cars pulled into the driveway.

  “I don’t want any panicking. Everybody calm down. I want you to make sure the kids are okay, that they have no idea what is goin’ on. Can you do that, while also asking if anybody knows where Brandon is or saw him leaving?”

  Both Ida and Jordan nodded.

  “Okay. Go do that. And do another search for him inside. We’re gonna start looking around out here.”

  “Come on, Mom,” Jordan said, and led her back to her home become daycare where this had happened before.

  “I wanna head up the search,” Ralph said. “I know this area better than anyone. And the kid. And this happened on my watch.”

  “You can help,” Battle said. “Stick with me and John. But I also need you comin’ up with a description and vehicle for the man who stopped by to check out the school.”

  The four cops from the two patrol cars joined us, and Battle explained the situation and divvied up the search assignments. “Let’s find him,” he said. “Alive.”

  As the officers headed in various directions, I said, “I want to start with LaMarcus’s hideout. If he’s not there, then the drainage culvert.”

  “Was thinkin’ the same thing,” Battle said.

  “Oh my God,” Ralph said. “Do y’all think . . . Please God no, not again.”

  Battle and I rushed to the backyard, Ralph following behind as best he could.

  When we reached the spot where we had been reenacting LaMarcus’s abduction just a few months before, we slowed just enough to keep from falling as we pressed in through the bushes and stepped inside the child’s hideout become crime scene.

  There was nothing there. No child. No body. No evidence. No sign anyone had been here since we were last.

  Relief washed over me but only momentarily.

  I took off for the drainage ditch and the culvert where LaMarcus had been laid out, Battle beside me, Ralph falling farther and farther behind.

  Rushing through the small wooded boundary at the back of the property, we jumped the fence and came out into Flat Shoals Estates.

  Not waiting for Ralph, not sure if he could make it over the fence, we ran down the sidewalk, through the cul-de-sac, and into the woods beyond, no sign of Ralph as we did.

  We stumbled down the slope, around the drainage area, over to the culvert, and looked inside.

  It was empty.

  Thank you. Thank you for that, I prayed as relief washed over me again.

  “That’s good,” Battle said. “But what’s it mean? Where can he be?”

  We turned and walked back up the incline, through the woods, out the cul-de-sac, and up the sidewalk toward Safe Haven. There was still no sign of Ralph.

  44

  When we were in the backyard again, we walked over to the window and motioned for Jordan.

  “Any sign of him?” Battle asked.

  “No. We’ve searched the entire building again.”

  “How’s everyone holding up?”

  “The kids are fine. So are the other workers. Mom and I not so much. I can’t believe this is happening to us again.”

  I reached up and took her hand, rubbing her fingers around her brace.

  She looked down and tried to smile but when she did tears started coming.

  “Do you mind callin’ the two parents who picked up their kids?” I said. “Just feel them out. See if they know anything. See if maybe Brandon hitched a ride somehow.”

  She nodded.

  “Where’s Ralph?” Battle said.

  “Haven’t seen him lately. He's acting so . . . flakey today. I mean more so than usual. Do you think . . . He . . . He may be at his house. He was back and forth for some reason earlier.”

  “Shit,” Battle said. “Come on.”

  I squeezed her fingers. “Hang in there,” I said. “I love you.” And then followed after him.

  When we came around to the front, Frank Morgan was pulling up and Ralph was standing at his guard stand at the front gate.

  “Ralph,” Battle yelled. “What the hell you doin’?”

  “Couldn’t keep up with you two,” he said. “Didn’t realize it was a race.”

  “Did you come up with anything on the visitor for me yet?” Battle said.

  “Workin’ on it now.”

  We walked over to Frank and filled him in.

  “What can I do?” he said.

  “Help us with this fat fuck right here,” Battle said. “Your boy here thinks he might be the doer.”

  He nodded nonchalantly.

  “No . . . the doer.”

  “Oh.”

  “Tell him,” he said.

  I did.

  “Can’t believe we missed that,” he said.

  Battle radioed the other officers for updates. No one had turned up anything yet. He told them to expand the search in every direction, including the Flat Shoals Estates subdivision.

  “Which one is fat boy’s house?” Battle asked me when he was off his radio.

  “Right there.”

  He then turned and walked back over to where Ralph stood.

  “Who lives there?” he asked.

  “I do.”

  “You?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “We need to search it. Makes it a lot easier being yours. I had no idea. Toss me your keys and we’ll check it out.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “What? What don’t you understand?”

  “Why you need to search my house. It’s locked. He can’t have gotten in.”

  “We’ve got to search everywhere. You know that. You used to be on the force, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then you get it.”

  “Sure. Yeah. Come on. I’ll take you over.”

  Battle motioned for me and Frank, and the three of us followed Ralph over to his house.

  The small red brick house smelled of starch and mothballs and mildew. Mostly of mildew.

  It was dirty and in disrepair, cluttered and not cared for, but more in an inept bachelor than a serial killer way. It was what you’d expect from an unhygienic overweight slob, which didn’t mean he wasn’t a serial killer.

  “It’s a mess, boys,” he said. “Maid’s day off. Wasn’t expectin’ company. Been workin’ extra hours at Safe Haven.”

  “It’s fine,” Frank said. “Looks about like my place when company drops in unexpectedly.”

  We split
up and searched the small house, which didn’t take long. While doing so, I asked to use the bathroom and let water run in the sink while I rifled through the medicine cabinet, drawers beneath the counter, and small linen closet.

  I found a pharmacy.

  Most pills weren’t in bottles. Most of the ones that were no longer bore a label.

  When I walked out, Battle was saying, “What about the basement?”

  “Can only be accessed from outside,” Ralph said.

  “Then let’s go outside and access it.”

  As Ralph led the way and Battle followed, Frank and I took our time.

  “Anything?” Frank asked.

  “Everything,” I said. “Never seen so many pills in one place before.”

  “If this is our guy, where’s the body?”

  “He could be the guy and have nothin’ to do with Brandon being missing,” I said. “Or he could’ve hid him somewhere other than his home.”

  By the time Frank and I reached the backyard, Ralph had a key in the padlock in the hasp on the cellar doors and was jiggling it, trying to get it open.

  The once white doors were covered in green mold and black mildew and needed painting. They were on the back right side of the house and stood about four feet high.

  “My key’s not workin’,” Ralph said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in here but I’ve never not had my key work.”

  “Got bolt cutters?” Battle said.

  “In the basement. But hell, if I can’t get in, no way a little boy did. You know?”

  “Does the daycare?”

  He nodded.

  “I’ll run grab ’em,” I said. “Be right back.”

  I ran over to Safe Haven as fast as I could.

  When I opened the door, Jordan rushed over to me.

  “Find him?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Not yet. Anything here?”

  She shook her head.

  “I need bolt cutters. Ralph said there were some here.”

  She nodded. “Come with me.”

  She led me to what used to be the house’s garage. It was filled with all manner of interior and exterior tools and supplies and equipment.

  I found the bolt cutters on a shelf next to a couple of padlocks still in packages and one old one that had been cut, not far from an ax, sledgehammer, and hedge clippers.

  As we were about to leave, I eased the door shut, took Jordan in my arms and kissed her.

  “God, I needed that,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “More where that came from. Let’s reconvene as soon as we can.”

  When I turned to open the door, she swatted my ass. “Such a great ass.”

  I rushed back over to Ralph's house with the bolt cutters and, though Ralph reached out for them, gave them to Battle.

  “I’ll buy you a new lock,” he said to Ralph as the bolt cutters pinched one part of the metal lock bar in two.

  As I removed the lock, Battle tossed the bolt cutters to the ground, and then we each grabbed one of the doors and yanked, and there on the ground was the curled-up body of Brandon Wright.

  45

  Frank and I ducked down into the basement as Battle tackled Ralph to the ground and cuffed him.

  “He alive?” Battle yelled from behind us.

  I couldn’t tell yet if he was dead or just sleeping.

  “IS HE ALIVE?” Battle yelled.

  Frank felt for a pulse, moved his hand around to make sure, then shook his head.

  I began to scoop up his small body to carry him out, but Frank stopped me. “Nothing we can do for him,” he said. “It’s a crime scene now. Let’s slip out and preserve everything for the techs to process.”

  “Come on, you sick piece of shit,” Battle was saying as he jerked Ralph to his feet.

  “Why’re you doin’ this?” Ralph said. “I didn’t put him in there. I’m . . . I didn’t do anything.”

  Battle shoved him and he started stumbling back toward Safe Haven.

  “We didn’t make it in time,” I said to Frank.

  “We rarely do,” he said. “We rarely ever do.”

  Battle then radioed the other officers, two of whom rushed over and grabbed Ralph’s arms and ushered him toward their car.

  “Guys, stop. Listen to me. I swear to God I didn’t do it. I swear. I have no idea who did that, who put him in my basement, but it wasn’t me. Are you listening? LISTEN TO ME. I DIDN’T DO IT. Please, God, you’ve got to believe me.”

  “How many have there been?” Battle asked.

  “What? None.”

  “Was LaMarcus the first?”

  “What? No. God, no. I didn’t kill LaMarcus. I haven’t killed anybody. I swear. I would never. I could never. John, tell them. John? John, please.”

  As we reached Safe Haven and passed by the place where Ralph stood watch every day, something across the street caught my eye.

  There, across Flat Shoals Road, in the driveway of a house on a hill, Larry Moore, in street clothes, sat in his black Trans Am, the window down, his feathered hair waving in the wind. Or maybe this last was my imagination.

  I walked up to Ralph. “Was Larry Moore here this morning?”

  He looked confused, then nodded.

  “Why isn’t he on the list?”

  “He didn’t go inside. Was just out front for a little while. John, I didn’t do it. I swear. Please believe me. Please help me. Tell Miss Ida and Miss Jordan I’m sorry. Tell them I could never hurt anybody.”

  As Ralph was shoved into the backseat of the patrol car by the two cops, Larry cranked up his black sports car and slowly drifted down into the traffic on Flat Shoals and disappeared.

  I rushed up the walkway toward the daycare center to tell Ida and Jordan, but before I reached it the door opened and they stepped out.

  “You found him?”

  I nodded. “In Ralph’s basement.”

  “Jesus, no,” Ida said.

  “Is he okay?” Jordan said.

  I shook my head. “We were too late.”

  Both women began to cry, shaking as they fell into each other’s arms.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said. “So, so sorry.”

  46

  Still can’t believe he did it,” Ida said, tears still occasionally trickling down her dark cheeks. “Ralph.”

  It was later in the afternoon.

  All the kids were gone.

  All but a few of the workers released too.

  GBI’s crime scene division was working the entire area––Ralph’s house, the daycare, the grounds, the neighborhood.

  “All this time,” she said. “I just can’t . . .”

  We were sitting by the front windows, Ida, Jordan, and I, in the art project area, watching all the police and forensic activity outside.

  We each had coffee. None of us had touched it.

  “Thinking back on it now,” I said, “anything stand out about Ralph? Anything come to mind that didn’t seem suspicious at the time but now seems . . .”

  They both seemed to think about it for a long moment.

  Eventually, Ida shook her head and Jordan said, “Nothing. I still can’t believe he did it.”

  “Did Larry come by this morning?” I asked.

  “Here?” Jordan said. “No.”

  Ida nodded. “He did too. Saw him out back. He came to talk to you––or stalk you or whatever the . . . I told him if he didn’t leave I was calling the police.”

  “You saw him in the back?” I asked. “Just standing in the backyard?”

  She nodded. “Why?”

  “Ralph said he was in the front but didn’t come in. I wonder if he drove around and parked in Flat Shoals Estates and walked in through the wooded area.”

  “He’s done that before,” Jordan said.

  Ida shook her head. “He needs to be in custody too.”

  “Did y’all know Larry when LaMarcus was killed?”

  “Not really know,” Jordan said. “He used to come around with his
dad some.”

  “His dad?”

  “Did our yard,” Ida said. “Handyman too. Helped out a lot after I lost . . . after we lost Jordan’s dad. That’s how they met. Can’t believe Larry turned out the way he has.”

  “Did either of you see Ralph with Brandon this morning?”

  They both shook their heads.

  “Were they close?”

  “Not particularly, no,” Ida said.

  “Ralph was awkward around all the kids,” Jordan said. “But he tried to interact with them. Some more than others.”

  “Did he spend time with LaMarcus? Do you remember him being around?”

  Ida shook her head.

  We all fell silent a moment.

  “Safe Haven,” Ida said to herself, shaking her head. “No one will ever send their child back here. It’s . . . over. I’ve . . . lost . . . everything.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  Jordan began to cry again.

  “Should’ve never opened it in the first place,” Ida added. “Not me. Not here. It’s cursed. I’m cursed. Can’t take care of my own child, gonna take care of other people’s.”

  A cop came to the door. “Detective Battle said you can go, ma’am. He’ll call or come by later.”

  Ida nodded absently.

  “And he’d like to see you, sir,” he said to me.

  I nodded. “Thanks.”

  And then he was gone.

  “Ralph never had kids of his own, did he?” I asked.

  Ida shook her head.

  “You ready to go, Mom?” Jordan asked, reaching over and rubbing her arm.

  Ida shrugged.

  “I’ll get the car and pull up,” she said. “You’ve done it enough times for me.”

  “Can you drive with your sling?” I asked.

  She nodded. “I’m fine to drive. Thanks.”

  She then got up, gave me a kiss, and grabbed the keys from her mom’s purse.

  If Ida noticed the kiss, she gave no indication.

  “Did Ralph have any nephews or nieces? Ever have any kids over?”