Scene of the Crime: Mystic Lake

by Carla Cassidy

  Where were they? Where was the man who had turned her world upside down? Where was Max? She felt that if another minute went by without her seeing her son, she might die. Pressure pulsed inside her stomach, rising into the back of her throat to make her feel nauseous.

  “Max?” she called softly, her heart begging to hear the sound of his voice.

  “Stay where you are,” a deep voice said from someplace in front of her. She froze, the gun still gripped in her hand. If he took a single step from the shadows, she’d shoot him, but first she needed to know that Max was still okay.

  “Where’s my son?” she demanded.

  “Right here.” A tall man, his face hidden behind a ski mask, materialized about twenty feet in front of her, and held like a shield in front of him, Max, his eyes widened with fear.

  “Hey, Max.” She forced her voice to be soothing and soft. “Don’t be scared. You’re going to be just fine.” Even as she said the words, a sense of despair swept through her. As long as the masked man held Max, she didn’t dare attempt to take a shot.

  “Let him go,” she said, a new harshness in her voice. “He’s an innocent child who has done nothing wrong.”

  “I’ll trade him for you. Drop your gun and come closer and I’ll let him go.”

  She hesitated. While she wanted Max free, that required two things: that she trust the man in front of her and that she relinquish the only weapon she had.

  “How do I know you’ll let him go?” She tried desperately to identify the man behind the mask, but the darkness made it nearly impossible.

  The only thing she could tell was that he was tall and slender, and even though he was obviously attempting to alter his voice, something about it rang hauntingly familiar.

  “Because I said I would,” he replied. “It’s you I want, not him. Throw your gun away and get down on your belly with your arms and legs outstretched. You do that, and I’ll let him go right now. I swear to you.”

  She quickly considered her options and realized she had none. She tossed her gun as far away as she could and then got down on her belly. “Now, let him go,” she said, aware of her own vulnerability and only hoping that once Max was free she would be able to somehow get herself out of danger.

  Suddenly, he released Max, who stood awkwardly frozen as if unsure what to do next. “Run, Max,” she cried as the masked man raced toward where she was on the ground. “Run, baby, run as fast as you can away from here. Be safe and remember always that I love you.”

  She trembled with relief as Max took off running and disappeared into the darkness of the night. Safe. He was safe and, even though it was late at night, he was smart and she knew he’d find somebody to help him.

  At the moment, she had to focus on saving herself. She rolled over on her back as the man reached her side. She reared her legs back in hopes of kicking him, but before she could do anything to defend herself, she heard the distinctive sizzle of a Taser. The next thing she knew, the Taser pressed into the side of her neck. Sharp, electric pain shot through her and when he hit her again with it, there was blessedly nothing.

  THE MINUTE COLE TOLD Sergeant Davis that Amberly was missing, he sent men out to search the streets for her. They really had no idea whether they were dealing with another kidnapping or if Amberly had left of her own volition.

  Cole’s biggest fear was that she had gone to meet the killer, that Max had been used as dangling bait to draw her out alone.

  Dammit, why hadn’t she come to him? Together they could have figured something out that would have hopefully kept both her and Max safe. But instead she’d gone out like the Lone Ranger, and he didn’t know how he’d survive losing another woman he loved to a horrible death.

  As he stood at the front window, flashes of visions of the dead women filled his head, and he nearly groaned aloud as he thought of Amberly so still, so lifeless and with a dream catcher hanging over her head.

  Finally he could stand it no longer. He had to get outside and join the hunt. As he stepped outside, his heart felt as black as the darkness of the night.

  He should have taken the opportunity to tell her he loved her. He wished he would have taken a chance to speak of his feelings for her. He wouldn’t have expected anything back from her. He knew where she was in her life, what she wanted and didn’t want; he simply wished he’d let her know that she was loved and his love held all the passion and desire she hadn’t known before, hadn’t believed existed.

  He stood at the end of the sidewalk, looking first in one direction and then the other, wondering which way to go that would take him to her, the path that would allow him this time to be there to save the woman he loved.

  He saw several officers down the block on the right, and so decided to go left, wishing he had more than a little bit of bloodhound in him.

  The night was silent and cool, but a sweat broke out across Cole’s forehead. Timing was everything and he couldn’t afford to be one minute too late.

  He took off at a jog, not knowing where he was headed but feeling the need to do something, anything to find Amberly and Max. He was afraid to call out for them, afraid that the killer would hear and know he was close. That might prompt things to go from bad to worse.

  Each darkened house or business he passed, he paused to see if there was any sign of anything that looked out of place, that might signal danger. But there was nothing except the beat of his heart, growing more frantic by the minute.

  She couldn’t have gone far without a vehicle. Sergeant Davis had checked before Cole left the house to see if any taxis had been dispatched to anyplace in the area, and there had been none.

  She could have called a friend for a ride, but somehow Cole didn’t believe she would have done that. She wouldn’t have involved anyone else in whatever drama was happening. He knew in his gut that she was alone.

  And what worried him more than anything was the fact that he wasn’t even sure he was going in the right direction. As far as he knew, each footstep he took carried him farther and farther away from her and Max.

  He felt as if he’d been walking forever when he saw the boy running down the sidewalk. Instantly, he recognized him as Max.

  “Max!” he yelled as the boy drew closer. Cole’s heart nearly stopped. If Max was out here, then where was Amberly?

  “Max, I’m Sheriff Caldwell, a friend of your mom’s.”

  These words drove Max right into Cole’s arms. He burrowed his face into Cole’s belly as a deep shudder worked through him. Cole held him tight. “It’s okay, you’re safe now,” he said, reminding himself that this was a six-year-old boy who had been through who knew what kind of horror.

  As he picked Max up, the little boy wrapped his arms tightly around Cole’s neck. Cole’s heart constricted as he felt Max’s unconditional acceptance. Cole quickly used his cell phone to contact Sergeant Davis with their location so Max could be picked up by a patrol car and taken back to the house.

  When Cole was finished with his call, Max raised his head and gazed up at Cole with frightened eyes so like Amberly’s. “You got to find my mom. The bad guy has her and she’s in bad trouble.”

  “I know.” Cole stroked a reassuring hand down Max’s back. “Max, which direction did you run from?”

  Max frowned and pointed behind him. “But I jigged and jagged, and I don’t know where Mom is now.” Tears welled up in his eyes.

  “Max, your mom told me you were really, really smart, and the two of you always play a game kind of like I Spy.”

  “I’m good at it, too,” Max exclaimed, obviously eager to please.

  “That’s what your mom told me. Can you think about it now, Max? Think about where the man had you and where he might have your mom now. Tell me everything you remember about it.”

  Max frowned thoughtfully. “There was a fence and little houses. Is my dad okay?”

  “He’s fine, but he took a pretty good hit on the head, and so he’s going to stay in the hospital tonight. What do you remember about t
he man who hit your dad?”

  Once again, a little frown rode across the boy’s forehead. “He had on a mask, you know, like you wear in the wintertime.”

  “A ski mask?”

  Max nodded. “And he was wearing jeans and a blue short-sleeved shirt. He talked in a funny, low voice and pretended to be somebody else, but he was wearing the shoes he always wears when he works out in the yard, and I saw his mole when he moved his arms and his shirt opened a little.”

  “You know him?” Cole asked, his heart beating a thousand miles a minute. A mole? He remembered seeing a distinctive mole. “Was it your neighbor, Max?”

  “Yes, it was Mr. Gershner. I don’t know why he hurt my dad or why he pretended to be somebody else and took me. I pretended not to know who he was, because he was scaring me and I thought he might get mad if I told him I knew.” Tears began to fill Max’s eyes once again. “Please find my mom, Sheriff Cole. She needs you.”

  At that moment, a patrol car pulled up. As Max got into the backseat, Cole quickly told the officer behind the wheel what Max had told him and then watched the patrolman pull away.

  He knew that, within minutes, the cops would be swarming Ed Gershner’s place and looking for clues. In the meantime, Cole wanted to find a place with little houses and a fence before Amberly wound up stretched out somewhere with a dream catcher over her head.

  AMBERLY REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS to find herself bound at the wrists and ankles and in one of the storage units. A bare lightbulb hung from the ceiling, and through the slits of her eyes, she saw Ed Gershner working on a large dream catcher in the corner of the small room. He’d removed the ski mask that covered his face.

  Shock stuttered through her at the sight of him. Ed? Friendly, neighborly Ed? Ed who played chess with John so often? What was he doing? Why was he doing this? Her head pounded with a nauseating intensity, but not so badly that she didn’t realize she was in terrible danger.

  He glanced in her direction. “Ah, I see you’re awake. Won’t be long now, just got to put the finishing touches on this dream catcher. No cheap Made In China one for you, Amberly. You should feel honored you’re getting the real deal. ’Course I had to read up on how to make one of these dream catchers on the internet. Amazing, isn’t it? The kinds of things you can learn from a website?”

  She felt like she was staring at a man she’d never seen before. “You killed those women in Mystic Lake?” she asked, knowing it was probably useless to scream, for there was nobody around to hear her cries.

  “I did what had to be done.” He wove the string with nimble fingers, creating the web of the dream catcher. “I needed you drawn away from home, to a place where nobody would suspect me. Mystic Lake was just close enough, yet far enough away from the city to accomplish what I needed. I figured the dream catchers would do the trick and get you involved, and I was right.”

  “But why?” She struggled with the rope that bound her hands in front of her but found it tight and well tied.

  Ed stopped what he was doing and rose to his feet, his face twisted with a rage Amberly had never known before. “Why? Why? Because you have to die, that’s why. It’s the only way John will ever be able to live again. As long as you’re anywhere on the face of this earth he’ll remain nothing but a shell of a broken man.”

  She stared at him with horror mingling with a strange sense of wonder. For John? He was doing all this for John? “Ed, this is crazy. John will be fine. You need to let me go before anything else happens. We can get you some help.”

  “I don’t need help,” Ed scoffed. “I know just how John feels. I was married once and I loved my wife just like John loves you, with every fiber of my being. We had a son and then she got some fancy job and worked all the time. Eventually, she told me she wasn’t happy in our marriage anymore and then she took my boy and left me. Just like you did to John. I know just how he feels, he’s slowly dying inside from wanting you and not being able to have you.”

  “Then how is it going to help him if I’m gone?” Amberly asked desperately.

  “Because he’ll finally have to give up any hope that you’ll ever get back together again. Because he’ll have Max to himself without having to share him with you. He’ll get on with his life because he’ll have no choice. But as long as you’re running in and out of his house, eating dinner with him and keeping the connection alive, you’re torturing that poor man.”

  Amberly had never seen the light that shone from Ed’s eyes, a zealous righteousness that frightened her more than anything else she’d ever seen before. He truly believed he was righting a wrong, fixing a friend he obviously cared deeply about.

  He’d killed three innocent women in his mad quest to get to her. There was no reason to believe that anything she said would make him change his mind about killing her.

  As he returned to his work on the dream catcher she struggled more frantically against the ropes that bound her. Somehow she had to get free.

  She had to fight for her life.

  She couldn’t let Ed win. She refused to become nothing but a distant memory to the son she loved.

  “Does John know what you’re doing?” she asked, noticing that each time he talked he stopped his work on the dream catcher that would become her tombstone.

  Once again, he straightened to his full height. “Of course not. John could never hurt you. As far as he’ll know, you’ll be just another tragic victim of the work he hated you doing. He’ll mourn you for a while, but eventually, he truly will be able to move on. He’ll be happy again and that’s what I want for him, that’s why it’s necessary that you be gone.”

  Be gone.

  Oh God, she didn’t want to be gone. She wanted to live. She wanted to raise Max and find love…the kind of love Cole had shared with his wife, the kind of passion he’d shown Amberly did exist in the world.

  She wanted to make love to Cole one last time, to hear the sound of his soothing voice when things were stressful. She wanted to look across his kitchen table and smile at him as they shared a morning cup of coffee.

  Tears blurred her vision as she remained helplessly bound and the dream catcher was nearly finished. She knew that when it was done, the end result was that her stabbed body would be found someplace in Mystic Lake with the dream catcher hanging over her head.

  “Done,” Ed said as he tied the feathers into place. As he rose to his feet and smiled at her, Amberly’s blood went cold as she realized there was now nothing to stop him from finishing with his final victim.

  THERE WAS NO WAY FOR Cole to second-guess how Max had run from wherever he’d been held. A fence and little houses, that’s what Max had said, but it made no connection in Cole’s brain, and he had to remind himself that no matter how bright Max was, he was still a terrified six-year-old. A fence could mean chain link or picket, and little houses could be dog houses.

  An urgency rocketed through him as he looked first in one direction and then another. How could he possibly know which way to go? It had been sheer luck that he’d run into Max at all.

  At that moment, his cell phone rang. He answered to find Sergeant Davis on the other end. “We’re in Gershner’s house now. We’ve found enough evidence to link him to the murders in Mystic Lake and we also found a receipt for a storage-unit rental at U-Store It. It’s on the corner of 95th and Baylor. Three months ago, he rented unit eight.”

  As Sergeant Davis got Cole’s location, he gave Cole directions to the storage place and said he was in the process of sending officers to the scene.

  As Cole clicked off, he was already running. According to Davis, he was only two blocks away. Two blocks from Amberly. There was no question in his mind that the storage unit was the kill place Gershner used, and then he transported the dead women twenty miles to be left in Mystic Lake.

  He’d effectively thrown Cole off the track, making him assume the killer was local to Mystic Lake. According to Amberly, Ed Gershner played chess often with John. Ed had nearly played a perfect game here for reas
ons Cole didn’t know. The only mistake he’d made was letting Max go, underestimating the ability of the child to recognize him despite the ski mask and his attempt at disguising his voice.

  He reached the storage business and stopped at the slightly opened gate, his gaze seeking the numbering on the buildings so he could find unit eight.

  Fourth building in on the left, he discerned. As he drew his gun, he approached as soundlessly as possible, praying that any patrol cars that might be on their way would not come in with sirens blaring and lights flashing.

  If Amberly was still alive, then they might spook Ed into doing something deadly. Besides, if she was already dead, then all the flashing lights and screaming sirens would be for nothing.

  His heart positively clenched at this thought. In fact, his guts wouldn’t unclench again until he held Amberly safe and sound in his arms.

  As he moved past the other units to reach number eight, he noted that the sheds had openings like garage doors in the front but each had a side entrance that was a regular door.

  He also noted that a car was parked behind unit eight. He assumed it was Ed’s car, ready to move his latest victim to his town. The last place Cole wanted Amberly found tonight was in Mystic Lake.

  The fact that the car was still there was at least a little bit encouraging. He hadn’t moved her yet, and that meant there was still hope, and he clung tightly to that hope.

  There was no way he could open the rolling garage-style door at the front of the building. The minute it began to open Ed would be warned and there was no way to predict how he might act.

  Cole moved to the side door and wished it contained a window so he could peer inside and see what was going on. He prayed that it was unlocked, that Gershner hadn’t been expecting company or any interruptions in his macabre work. He held his gun with deadly intent, ready to do whatever necessary to save Amberly’s life.

  The knob slowly twisted beneath his hand at the same time he heard the sounds of cars approaching the area. Thankfully, the police had arrived as silently as possible, as if knowing their arrival might force an explosion that could end in Amberly’s death.