I wandered around just inside the entrance to the cave. There was no point in leaving yet. The storm was buffeting the Chevy outside and I had no desire to do battle with the wind and the rain. I’d bonded with enough weather related elements last night and the day before.
I plopped down in a spot far enough away from the entrance to feel safe but close enough to ward off claustrophobia and watched hail swirling through the trees and shrubs. When my foot showed signs of going to asleep and possibly remaining unusable for hours, I uncurled from my “zee’ position and resituated myself.
Something slightly sharp, square-shaped and small, about four and three-quarters inches from side to side and from top to bottom was poking into my lower back. I reached directly behind my left hip and picked up the object, brought it back around, then shone the flashlight on it.
The photo had been made almost exactly ten years ago, but looked amazingly new inside the plastic cover. The drummer resembled Lord Bryon;the keyboardist looked more like a young Beethoven with better-styled, sandy-colored hair. The lead guitarist, whose hair resembled a used scrubbing pad, was smiling at the petite, blue-eyed blonde seated directly in front of him on a stool. Barely a foot away sat another girl, with long auburn hair. She held a tambourine and, while she was obviously younger than the others in the picture, she looked comfortableas if she’d only just realized she belonged.
Pieces Together. The alternate cover for the half-finished cd.
We’d made only five copies of the cover. One for each member of the band. Glenn had handed them out the night Marigold had gone missing. I still had mine, although I’d shoved it into a box out of sight when I moved to New Jersey.
I remembered my first night back in Texas nearly a week ago when the members of Pieces had reunited and grouped around the “current” cover with a practice cd inside. Dusty, Cam and Nic had all mentioned at some point or other during the evening they’d kept the old cover case. My copy was still in New Jersey. This case was clean. It looked nearly new, as if someone had kept it in a cherished place for years. Ten years.
I looked slowly around Spice Dreams and oddly felt certain about two things. One was the name of the person who’d abducted the three girls. The other was knowing Marigold Blume had been in this cave long after she’d gone missing. Ten years after.
Chapter 37
The rain had stopped and the sun was shining again, so I left the cave and headed back via the Highway toward I-35 for Bobbie Joe’s studio, which was where Pieces had recorded the first cd and part of the second. We’d shot our original cover photo at Bobbie Joe’s. I might be crazy but I felt certain the cd case with the photo had deliberately been left in the cave to point me in this direction.
There were no vehicles in the parking lot and none down the street. There were no garages on the block where a car could be hidden. I figured it was safe to snoop for more clues.
I found a spot behind two large trees about halfway down the block, then headed for the back entrance of Bobbie Joe’s and carefully tried turning the door handle. Locked. No great surprise there.
Next up was the basement. Roberta and Joseph had stored a lot of inventory down there where it could stay cool. I’d never roamed through it but I remembered there were outside doors on the ground like storm-cellar doors in the Midwest, and they were on the north side of the building near the dumpster.
I found and tested them. They weren’t locked with a key; just a slide bolt. I opened the right side and took a tentative step down. The stairs were solid and enough light poured through from outside to guide me down each step until I hit the basement floor, which consisted of one huge storage area.
Boxes were piled up to the ceiling. Four office chairs stood in a circle, all showing extensive water damage dating back ten years. Ruined wiring equipment had been strewn across the floor. There were two huge refrigerators shoved against the wall on the east side and what, from where I stood, appeared to be a couple of sturdy tables and kitchen chairs. I was about to head for the refrigerators, I guess with some wacky idea that clues might be stored inside, when a sound stopped me. A voice.
“Bebe? Is that you?”
I whirled around. The sound had come from behind me, near the west wall. I heard it again. A female voice crying, “Bebe? Please! Help.”
I knocked aside about six boxes stacked so poorly they now fell with only the slightest push from my shaking hands. I ran toward the voice.
“Marigold! Oh my God. It is you. You are alive. I sensed it but . . . well, no matter. Are you okay?”
Marigold Blume was lying up against a sturdier set of boxes. One leg was twisted beneath her. The look on her face told me she was in pain. I quickly knelt beside her and tried to get the obviously busted leg into a more comfortable position.
“Bebe? Tell me I’m not crazy. Tell me this is real. You’re here. You found me.”
“Shhh.” I smiled at her. “You’re not crazy. Well, you are but we’ve known that forever. It’s okay. I’m going to call for help and get you out of here.”
“You know who did this, right?”
“I do.”
She sighed. “You figured it out.”
“I did. But not until I was in the cave this afternoon. You’d always said, ‘All in the music.’ I was certain you meant Chasm, but I couldn’t figure out who you were referring to. I finally remembered Spice Dreams was the cave. I was inside and I began to go through various spices or seasonings and it hit me. Basil Annatto is Stone’s real name. Plus, you’d included all those references to rocks and quarries. ‘Traitorous rivalry.’ You and Stone always tried to outdo each other in everything. Those words kept pounding in my head while I was watching the rain and I knew.” I glanced down at her. “The big mystery, at least in my mind, is why.”
Marigold began to cry. “My fault. My own stupid fault.”
“No. Don’t go there. Honey, you didn’t ask for this.”
“I did. I flirted with him like he was twenty-five instead of fifteen. I teased and tormented him until he developed this insane lust for me. It was wrong and it was awful. My own adopted brother, obsessed with me for years while also competing with me as to how much trouble we could get into without getting caught.” Her voice grew hoarse. “Bebe, I’m so ashamed. I turned Stone on to cocaine. Me, who knew so much better. He started using and then started experimenting with other stuff. A month before the Beta dance I found out he’d been dealing to high school kids he knew. He’d turned sixteen by then but I considered that to be a kid. I was furious. Yet I’m the person who pushed him down one disgusting and nasty path. My fault. ”
My feelings were swinging between disgust, fury, fear and sincere joy at knowing my friend was alive. I forced myself to be reassuring. “Marigold, you were lost on those paths, too. You can’t beat yourself up.”
“I can.” She swallowed hard. “There’s more. I knew how Stone felt about me. I mean, yeah, we weren’t related biologically, but he still was my teenage brother. Things went way out of control and he . . .shit, I don’t know if you could call it rape or not. The first time it happened we were both so high I barely knew who I was with. No excuse. But I couldn’t tell anyone, so I acted like a bitch toward all my friends. The only thing I could do was put it all in the music.”
There wasn’t much I could say after hearing this confession. How do you comfort someone when you know she’s right? My friend and my mentor. Nic had warned me years ago not to idolize her because my feelings could only lead to despising her when she toppled from her goddess status.
“Bebe, Stone refused to believe I didn’t love him. And there I was, feeling pressured about marrying Cam and about the band and making the biggest hit record in the history of the world. I was snorting coke again and Stone was right there with me and things kept spiraling out of control.” She coughed as tears dripped down her cheeks. “Then I got nuts and started chasing after every male on the planet. Stone was furious because by then he considered me his possession. I
thought if I wrote Chasm it would shame him into stopping. Shame us both. He knew I was going to sing it at the dance. He was sure everyone would hear those lyrics and realize he was obsessed with me. He couldn’t let the song be heard. He still can’t.”
“What happened at the dance?”
“Stone drugged me with something while I was outside pacing around trying to work up the nerve to even sing the stupid song. It must have been less than a minute after you’d gone back inside. He shoved me into the van, drove off and stuck me in the cave. Spice Dreams. Tied me up and left me. The whole thing was done on impulse. But I was terrified because if he was insane enough to abduct me he might just be insane enough to kill me. I somehow managed to untie the ropes and I made sure he wasn’t outside. Then I ran.”
“Where?”
Marigold sighed. “Far south into Mexico. I hitched a ride the same night with some trucker. He was getting out of the country to avoid paying alimony to a very greedy wife. I was escaping my entire life. I didn’t care anymore.”
I stayed silent for a long moment while violently mixed emotions warred inside me. Finally I took a breath and asked,
“Marigold, why Daria?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I was long gone when he took her. I didn’t even hear she’d gone missing until a few years ago. I’ve theorized it was to try to convince people some loony serial kidnapper was out there. Or maybe he was so obsessed with me he thought it was one way of still having me. I had no idea he would hurt anyone else.”
“How long have you been back here?”
“Not sure. Maybe eight days? I was originally coming back to confront Stone and get him arrested for dealing, which he still does, only on a much larger scale. And then, I had this odd feeling Stone might have buried Daria not too far from the cave. Stone and I were both weird kids. I loved the cave. He loved the cemetery. I found the grave pretty easily since he’d actually put a marker on it. Then I learned Pieces was back in Georgetown for that ridiculous reunion dance.” She stared at the floor. “I insanely blamed Pieces for everything that happened with Stone. I know. It made no sense. But I decided to stick around and see if anyone still cared about me, but without revealing where I was. I was too scared to confront Stone. I wanted to tell you I was here but couldn’t figure out how to contact you in private. You were the only one I was always sure I could trust even though I lied to you and pushed you away.”
I bit my lip and kept silent. For ten years Marigold had let everyone believe she was dead. And a young girl had died because she couldn’t face her mistakes or be courageous enough to confront Stone directly or even turn him in for dealing. But this wasn’t the time for recriminations. Marigold was physically weak and hurt and she didn’t need more guilt or my anger heaped on her head.
“What happened the night of the first rehearsal? I mean last week? Do you know?”
She nodded. “Stone grabbed Arianna. He took her to Spice Dreams. I was outside the cave. I thought he’d gone and snuck inside to rescue her but he came back and found us both. I managed to leave the cd cover in case you remembered about the cave and came looking. Anyway, ten years had turned a boy into a twenty-six year old man who was smarter, stronger and a lot deadlier. He knocked me out. I honestly have no idea when he moved us here. I might have been in here two or three days. He sort of popped in and out bringing food and I’m pretty sure he added some stuff to beverages. At any rate, there’s no clock in here and my entire system is so far out of whack I have no clue as to days. So, how did you figure out where I was?”
“I figured it out from the album cover photo. I had a feeling Spice Dreams held some answers to the song. But when I found the cover I knew you were alive and then remembered this was where we’d recorded it. I came here looking for more answers, figuring you’d been leaving covers and who knew what else like breadcrumbs. I honestly never imagined I’d find you.”
Chapter 38
“You’ve also found Arianna.”
“What?”
“Bebe, she’s here.”
“She’s here?”
Marigold nodded weakly. “She’s tied up somewhere behind a huge speaker system. About ten feet over.”
“I see it. Let me try to move the blasted thing.” I didn’t add, “and hope she’s still alive.”
“She is. At least she was.”
“What?”
Marigold repeated, “Alive. It’s what you were wondering, right?”
“Damn. You and Nic. How do y’all do that? Know what I’m thinking all the time?”
“We love you,” she replied. Then she sobbed, hard and ugly and loud and my heart ripped apart.
I hugged her, rocking for a moment, then gently said, “I’m going to go check on Arianna, okay?”
“Yeah.”
I dropped my bag next to Marigold, rose, ran to the speakers and managed to push them over to the side. They seemed huge and heavy but I was angry and scared and my adrenaline was flowing. Arianna Prentice lay on her back, arms folded peacefully and eerily like someone in a coffin. But her eyes were open and still held a brilliant blue color. She stared up at me with lively interest and solid hope. Her hands and feet were tied and a scarf had been tied around her mouth but her breathing sounded good. Still, she needed out of here. Both girls did.
Arianna was small but she was also dead weight since she couldn’t support herself, so I struggled for a few minutes trying to get her upright where I could lean her against one of those speakers and untie her. I took the scarf off her face. She took a breath and quietly said, “I’m okay. But I think Marigold is in bad shape. I heard her scream when she fell or . . .whatever happened.”
“Got it.”
I started to head back to Marigold and my bag where my cell phone, hopefully, was still charged and ready to dial 9-1-1.
I made it all of two steps.
Stone walked out from behind another stack of boxes about six feet from Marigold.
“Bebe. Damn but I’m truly sorry you’re here. You can’t be here. Do you understand? Look, I hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone, but everything’s just gone too far. Why couldn’t you have stayed put in the park until tomorrow? I wouldn’t have hurt you. I’d’ ve let you go once the dance was over and you hadn’t tried to sing Chasm. It wasn’t a long time to wait.”
He was loony. Or perhaps high on a few of his own strange drug cocktails. He wasn’t thinking through from one hour to the next about what he was going to do. The amazing thing was how lucid he’d been all the times he’d listened to us play over the last couple of days. How concerned while looking for Saffron. Maybe because he knew he hadn’t taken her. I almost laughed thinking of Saffron’s supreme spunkiness. Heaven help the fool who would ever try to grab the tough soprano and spirit her away.
I wasn’t sure logic would penetrate his foggy brain but I had to try.
“Stone. Listen to me. Marigold’s okay. Looks like she twisted her ankle but hey—sprains happen going for a walk around the block. Arianna is alive and unhurt and if we can get her to the hospital she she’ll be fine. I’m—sure.” Stone would still have to answer for Marigold’s assault and abduction ten years earlier, Arianna’s kidnapping and Daria’s murder.
It didn’t matter what I said. Stone was very aware of what he’d done.
“Bebe. I didn’t kill her. Daria. It was an accident. She woke up after I brought her to the cave and started to freak out and I had to punch her to keep her quiet. She fell on one of the rocks.”
I decided it would not be prudent to point out he’d just confessed to manslaughter and kidnapping. I nodded. “I understand. This can all work out. Just let me call the first responders and we can get Arianna safely to a hospital. And Marigold, too. She’s weak, Stone, and hurt.”
“No! Sorry. I’m keeping Marigold.”
My blood chilled. He’d made the comment much the same way a small child announces he’s keeping a toy he found in the street.
He sounded angry so I decided to go with
the time-honored technique of asking an attacker questions to keep him calm. “Stone? Why Arianna?”
He bit his lower lip. “I grabbed her to throw everyone off since this whole stupid ten year reunion thing was getting everyone talking about Marigold again. She looks like Marigold. I’m not an idiot. I figured if the cops focused on three similar girls they’d theorize some serial freak nabbed them. Arianna was no real use to me once Marigold came back.” His tone was matter-of-fact and very slightly regretful. “But now there’s you. I’m so sorry, Bebe. I always liked you. You were the only one in the band who never treated me like the uninvited guest or the tag-along kid brother who was occasionally helpful loading equipment.” He smiled. It was not a kind or happy smile. “But, I’m going to take Marigold with me now and you can’t come and you can’t follow.”
He took a step toward me. I didn’t see a gun or a knife so for a moment I was relieved. Maybe he meant to tie me up again and take off? Then he picked up a baseball bat from on top of a stack of boxes. I had the ridiculous thought it was a truly stupid place to put it.
I stumbled backwards, tripped over some small object, then fell down flatly to land on my butt on the concrete floor, dumbly staring up at someone I’d always liked who was going to kill me. I was mad at myself for not trying to call Nic again the instant I first discovered Marigold was in this studio.
The irony was I didn’t have time to beat myself up over that mistake. Stone was planning to do it for me.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Arianna move to help me, even though she was still tied up. The movement was slight, it was small, it was pathetic and it filled me with sheer rage. I’d be damned if Stone was going to get away with this. I couldn’t let him kill an innocent girl because of drugs, sex, and a truly mad obsession.
I stayed down on the floor and let Stone come to me. Three steps, two steps. He was right above me. I shot my legs out straight and slightly up and knocked his knees literally out from under him. He went down about six inches from my foot. The bat went sailing.
Pick up the Pieces Page 23