by K. J. Emrick
“It’s all right, Mom,” Kevin told me. “Grab your torch, and let’s go find him. We can ask Alistair all about his nefarious plan later.”
I nodded, because I couldn’t laugh at Kevin’s little joke without starting to cry again. He was right, my theory had a few holes. Maybe it wasn’t Alistair after all. Maybe it was Hudson Snow from America, just like James had thought. Had the police talked to him yet? In a way it didn’t matter. We were here now, and we were about to search for the caves that might be where James and Rory were being held. Maybe Stevie, too. Alistair couldn’t have kidnapped Stevie if he was still in the hospital, sure, but if I was wrong and the bad guy was really Hudson Snow…
Then she might have been kidnapped after all.
My knuckles went white around the shaft of the five-cell torch. One thing at a time, Dell. Find the caves. We had to do that first. Time was running out for James and the others.
We stepped out of Kevin’s car together and he pressed his little fob button to lock the doors. His blue Toyota Camry had been bought for him with Lakeshore tax dollars to use as his patrol car. He didn’t want it stolen off some back road at the edge of Tasmania.
“All right,” he said. “Where do we start looking?”
“Honestly? I don’t know.”
Instead of poking fun or getting mad, he simply brought out the sensible logic that served him so well as a senior sergeant. “Well, let’s look at it this way. If Alistair kidnapped James, and he had his accident here, then that didn’t leave him much time to stash James before you found him. So that would mean wherever James is, it’s close by.”
“And if Hudson is the kidnapper and he really did ambush Alistair here?”
“Same thing,” Kevin reasoned. “Hudson wouldn’t want to be walking through the woods with a kidnapped James Callahan, right? So James is somewhere nearby. Let’s get looking.”
I love my son. Always there to give me clarity when I lose my focus.
The night was unnaturally quiet, except for the hum and whir of the insects. “Where’s the tracking dogs and the firemen that were supposed to be searching?” I wondered out loud. “They were supposed to be here.”
“That was hours ago Mom. Plus, it’s pitch black now.” He flipped on his torch and panned the beam of it around into the crowded growth of the trees. “They probably begged off for the night and they’ll start again in the morning. Let’s see if we can beat them to the punch.”
The edge of the ocean was close by here, just like it was everywhere in Port Arthur. I can see why our distant ancestors chose to put in here and start a town that would later become a prison, and then a century or two after that become the scene of several kidnappings… Well. Looking at it that way, I’d just as soon prefer they all took off across the Pacific for America and dumped their criminals there.
Anyway, the quickest way down to the shoreline was through the woods to our left. If there were caves nearby, we were both banking on them being down there. Kevin led the way and I followed, shining my light on the ground as much as I did ahead of me. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss a footprint, or a broken twig, or anything that might tell me I was going the right way. I did find several heavy boot impressions, but Kevin pointed out that those were most likely the footprints left behind from the volunteer firefighters tramping through here earlier. Soon enough, even those disappeared entirely. There had to be something here. There had to be!
When Kevin grabbed my wrist and pulled me back a few steps I had my torch pointed down at my feet again. When I turned to see what his problem was, he pointed off in front of us.
I swung my light out that way, and the ground just disappeared.
“Cliff,” he said, his voice barely audible.
Oh. “Thank you,” I whispered back.
“No worries.”
“Why are we whispering?”
Turning his torch up so I could see his smile, he answered. “Because I think we’re close. Listen.”
I did, and now that I was paying attention I could hear the gentle crash of waves against rocks from down below the edge of the overhang. All well and good, but there were lots of rock ledges along the shore in these parts. The Remarkable Cave, the Tasmanian Arch, and the Penguin Rocks, just to name a few. How did we know this was the right set of rocks to find these secret caves we were looking for?
As if anticipating my question, Kevin swept his light over to our right. A few dozen yards in that direction I could see where the ground split and dropped off at a slow angle right along the edge of the cliff. It formed a sort of natural ramp leading down, covered with grasses and moss after countless generations, and completely hidden from sight unless you were looking for it.
“You think Alistair took his victims down that way?” I asked, trying to picture it.
Kevin shrugged. “Someone at gunpoint will go just about anywhere they’re told. Or, since Alistair is a doctor, maybe he injected his victims with a knockout potion first and then carried them down over his shoulder. Maybe he’s got an elevator on the other side of these trees.” He shrugged again. “Let’s go down and check it out.”
“Yeah, sure. No problem. You first.”
He smiled at me and reached into the waistband at the back of his pants for a small revolver I know he keeps holstered there. “Of course me first. I came dressed for the occasion, after all.”
The slope was a lot sturdier than I imagined it would be and the wall on our right provided a good handhold. The ground under our feet was slippery and kept wanting to tear away from the rocks underneath, but it wasn’t steep and with a little care we were down at the base of a twenty-foot-high cliff in no time. Down here there was a sandy strip of beach not much wider than a grown man is tall, and it ended in both directions not far from where we stood. Kevin’s light disappeared against dark water after that. There wasn’t any way to access this place short of a boat or the narrow strip we’d just walked down.
“Well,” I said, “there’s no elevator.”
“Look,” Kevin told me, pointing out into the water along the path of his torch.
Out in the water and not far from where we stood, several tall limestone spires rose up. They were irregular towers twice the height of a man. I’d seen the like of them before along the Huon Highway. Remnants of what Tasmania’s shoreline used to look like. Here they would create a barrier to any boats trying to get close. So, scratch my earlier thought. The only way down to this stretch was by walking down the cliff itself.
“No wonder no one knows about this place,” Kevin commented. “Anyone looking down from above would see just a tiny strip of beach. Nothing interesting.”
I turned around, shining my torch along the cliff wall. “Nothing interesting,” I repeated, “and no cave.”
Now Kevin looked, too, and if it was possible to feel disappointment hanging in the air, this is what it would feel like. Along the rocks, digging into the sand for whatever moisture they could find, trees and vines grew thick and tangled. The leaves were starting to turn from green to reds and browns now in late Autumn, an ugly riot of color. Other than that, the rocks were bare and solid and mocking.
The look of shock on Kevin’s face when he heard me swearing would have been comical under other circumstances. Here and now, I was not interested in laughing. I wanted to scream. I wanted to swear with every bloody oath I’ve ever heard anyone say, ever. I think I came pretty close.
“Didn’t know you even knew most of those words,” Kevin muttered, shifting on his feet and looking away from me.
“I save them for moments like this,” I said. “When we’re completely screwed. There’s supposed to be a cave right there!”
“Mom, it’ll be—”
“No. No! Don’t you dare tell me it’ll be all right, Kevin! I just lost your father again and I can not lose James too!”
My angry words hung between us, and I swear to you I could see them echo in Kevin’s eyes. There it was. There was the thing that had been needling
under my skin for weeks now. If I could lose such a perfect, fantastic, bonzer man like my Richard to a maniac, if my own husband could be murdered and buried right under my own nose, then what chance did I have of holding onto another good man like James?
Obviously, I didn’t have any chance at all. I’d lost James. He was gone, just like my Richard was gone. That’s why I’d kept shoving him away on this trip, while at the same time trying to cling to him so tightly. I wanted desperately to let him love me, but I was afraid of what might happen if he did.
A woman’s mind is a crazy maze of contradictory rules. Doesn’t matter. To us it makes perfect sense.
“I’ve lost him, Kevin.” I clenched my torch with both hands and brought it up tight to my chest as if it was a lifeline to my sanity. The light cascaded over my face and cast odd shadows around my eyes. “There’s no cave here. This was my last chance to find him and… and… there’s nothing there!”
“Maybe we just need to look in a different spot,” Kevin offered, trying to be helpful.
“Or maybe,” a familiar voice said to both of us from above, “you just need to open your eyes to what’s right in front of you.”
Both Kevin and I stabbed our torch lights up at the ramp on the cliffside. I knew that voice. It just couldn’t be him. Not here. Not now.
Alistair raised his hands up as he stopped where he was, halfway down the rock ledge. Or rather, he raised one hand. The other was in a sling and cinched in place by straps that went around a simple white t-shirt. His jeans and hiking boots seemed out of place for him. I was used to seeing him wear slacks and dress clothes all in black. I guess when you’re dressing to climb a rock slope you don’t wear your Sunday best.
“Hold it there,” Kevin ordered him, aiming his revolver along the side of his torch. “Come a step closer and my finger might just slip on this very sensitive trigger.”
Alistair sniffed at that. “Quite. I suppose you’re the son from Lakeshore that James told me about. The senior sergeant?”
“Right,” Kevin answered, not lowering his gun one inch. “The uniform tipped ya off, did it?”
“Sure. Well, Senior Sergeant, I could stand here all night, I suppose. Or, I could show you and Dell the entrance to the cave you’re looking for. May I call you Dell now?”
“Don’t be daft,” Kevin told him. “There’s no cave down here.”
“You just don’t know where to look,” Alistair assured us.
The moment stretched. “What do you think?” Kevin asked me.
“I don’t know…” I didn’t. I really didn’t. I’d gone back and forth on Alistair and only recently decided that he wasn’t actually involved in the kidnappings, only to have that conclusion turned on its head after James was taken. So what did I believe now?
“Senior Sergeant,” Alistair said, drawing my attention back up to him. “I know I offered to stand here all night if it would make you and Dell feel better, but I really can’t do that. I’m in more than a little bit of pain here and I think if I don’t get off this ledge soon I’m going to slip.”
I’d noticed the sling, of course, and the white gauze taped to the side of his neck, but now as I looked I saw the row of stitches across his forehead. He was swaying on his feet and color me a fool if I didn’t believe he actually would fall down if he stood there with his hand up in the air much longer.
Taking hold of the unicorn pendant on its necklace for reassurance, hoping I was doing the right thing, I nodded to Kevin. “Let him come down here.”
“You’re sure?” my son asked me.
“No, but you’re the one with the gun. I figure even if there is no cave we’ve still got the upper hand.”
He chewed that over, and then motioned with the tip of his pistol for Alistair to lower his arm. “Just one question. How’d ya get out of the hospital this fast?”
Awkwardly, Alistair shrugged. “Left against medical advice. I am a doctor, after all, and I know if I’m well enough to leave a hospital. It was a bit difficult, driving with one hand, but I managed. I’m parked behind your Toyota, I believe.” He waved his good hand about and with a small smile playing about his lips he said, “And before you ask I borrowed a car to get here. See, the Federal Police didn’t want to believe me that there was a cave hereabouts to search. They seemed more interested in asking me about a few old cases that my name’s associated with. Your handiwork, I assume?”
Kevin smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“Quite. Well. Here we go, then.” He put his hand to the wall again, and with a shuddering breath, started the rest of the way down.
At the bottom, he stumbled, his feet digging into the sand, but he caught himself before he fell. Good thing, too, because I wasn’t planning on helping him until I was sure this wasn’t some sort of trap.
He was sweating as he turned to us again, holding the elbow of his injured arm as if it really hurt him. If this was a ruse, he was doing a really good job pretending to be in pain.
With a wink directed at us, he went over to the trees and the vines in front of the cliff face. He studied them for a moment and then asked Kevin to shine his torch over a bit to the right.
When the light shifted that way Alistair smiled and thrust his good hand into the leafy canopy and pulled an entire section aside.
Behind it, a deeper darkness defied Kevin’s light. It was hard to see how tall or how wide it was, but Alistair had been true to his word. There it was.
A hidden cave.
“This runs right under Port Arthur,” Alistair informed us. “Not quite as impressive as the Hastings Caves, but a tad more extensive. As I say, I used to play inside these tunnels when I was younger. They branch off every which way. I recommend we go and find a few Federal Police who will listen to us, and come search this place properly.”
Kevin turned to me, and we exchanged a look. Neither of us wanted to be the one to go off to find the authorities, leaving the other here alone with Alistair.
With an exasperated sigh, Alistair hung his head. “I see I’m not quite trusted yet. Fine. Dell, I’m doing this to help you find your boyfriend, remember.” Craftily hanging the vines and branches aside, he reached into the pocket of his jeans. Digging for his mobile, I assumed. “I like James. He and I have become good friends. At first I was hanging around just because the two of you were the only ones trying to solve this mystery. After, I found I enjoyed his company. Yours too, Dell. He loves you, just so you know.”
That caught me off guard. “Did he… did he tell you that?”
“Yes. He did.” He brought his hand out of his pocket. “He had a lot to say about you and him. For instance—”
Two gunshots rang out, magnified by the yawning opening of the cave and pushed back to us by the waves at our backs. I could see Kevin’s entire body tense as my heart lodged up into my throat.
Alistair stared at us, his eyes wide, as the mobile phone he’d pulled from his pocket fell to the sands at his feet. Dark red spots bloomed on the front of his white t-shirt.
From behind him, Stevie stepped out of the cave. The gun in her hand was huge. A tendril of smoke coiled off the end of the barrel. Her pretty face, where I’d been able to see so much of James before, was now all sharp angles and shadows in the light from the torches. Her smile was thin and vicious.
“You talk too much, mate,” she said to Alistair.
With a little shove of her free hand, she sent him toppling to the sandy ground. He didn’t get back up. He didn’t move.
“Now,” Stevie said, in a cheerful voice that made her smile that much creepier. “Let’s go inside, shall we?”
Chapter 9
“Stevie!” I blurted out. “You shot him. You killed him!”
“Annoying man,” she answered, shaking her head as if that should have been obvious. “Besides, he was about to call the cops to come here. That would spoil my fun.”
Kevin took half a step, putting himself between me and Stevie. “Fun?” His gun was still up, still ready,
but it didn’t seem to be bothering Stevie one bit. “What fun have ya been having down here, exactly?”
Her eyes swept over him, ending on his senior sergeant badge. “Oh, look. The cops are already here. Well. There’s tons of fun to be had here, Mister Senior Sergeant Kevin. I found this cave the last time I was here in Port Arthur. It’s the perfect place to misbehave. Dell, I’m gonna let Senior Sergeant Kevin here live, but only because he’s your son. Tell him to drop that gun of his, just so there’s no trouble.”
“Mom,” Kevin asked me without taking his eyes off Stevie, “how does the crazy lady know my name?”
“She’s been stalking James. She knows a lot about me and my family, don’t you Stevie?”
She shrugged, but her smile deepened.
Stevie was the kidnapper. Once I understood that lots of things began clicking into place. Like why James was kidnapped. Stevie had unfinished business with her father.
So now… turn the question around, I suppose. Why’d she kidnap Rory Hunter?
Why did she kill Charlotte Tebo?
“Dell,” Stevie said, stressing her words, “I’m sure I said for your son to put down his gun. He’s still holding his gun, Dell.”
“Not gonna happen,” Kevin told her. “There’s just me and you, and I figure even against that cannon your carrying, I’m the better shot. I wouldn’t give a plug nickel against those odds. Now, how’s about you put down your gun and we can talk—”
This time the gunshot didn’t just make me jump. It made my heart stop.
The flash from the end of the barrel was further back in the cave. A second person was in there. A second shooter. My mind went into a sort of overdrive, processing all of that information in the time it took for the bullet to travel across the tiny beach and strike Kevin in the chest.
My son lurched backward, past me, falling to the ground like he’d been in the path of an invisible wrecking ball. He landed spread-eagled on the sand, staring up at the stars above us in the night sky. My son… my son had been shot.