by Karen Rose
Ford had insisted that he be allowed to listen. He’d earned the truth, he’d said.
Daphne didn’t think he could handle the truth. I’m not handling the truth.
Joseph agreed with Ford and now arranged a few additional chairs in her son’s hospital room. A minute later Daphne was facing what felt like a tribunal. Joseph, Hector, Agent Novak and Detective McManus. Pittsburgh Agent Kerr had returned from setting up the search for the missing girl, Heather Lipton, and squeezed in Ford’s room with them. And then it was time.
Joseph hadn’t looked at her after that first stunned, furious reaction. The others wore expressions of horrified disgust. All but Ford. He looked heartbroken. Betrayed, even. And he didn’t even know about Kimberly yet.
You knew and you never told? No one had voiced the question aloud, but she heard it just the same. It was written all over their faces.
Daphne pressed her fingertips to her temple. Her head hurt. Her heart hurt because Joseph still wouldn’t meet her eyes.
And Beckett had another girl. Another girl. The words were like knives.
It’s been twenty-seven years since he took Kelly and me. How many had he taken in between? There was so much blood on her hands. Dear God. There could be no coming back from this. No forgiveness. What have I done?
She drew a breath that hurt, her chest was so tight. Get it over with. And then you’ll have to accept the consequences.
‘I thought he was dead,’ she said flatly. ‘I searched for him and received a death certificate from the county courthouse. I just want you to know that before I begin.’ She looked at each of the men in turn. ‘So you don’t think that I’m a total monster.’
Joseph looked at her then, the rage in his eyes now mixed with surprise. And regret. But regret for what? Being angry? Being with me? She wished she could ask him, but there were too many people here. And this wasn’t about her anyway.
It was about Beckett’s victims, however many there had been.
‘I never thought that,’ Joseph murmured and she so wanted to believe him. ‘Not once.’
‘Neither did I,’ Hector said.
With an effort, Ford sat up enough to take her hand. ‘I’ve known you a long time, Mom. You’re not a monster.’
The others remained silent, watching. Withholding judgment. It’ll have to do.
‘Thank you, Ford.’ Her voice wobbled and she had to clear her throat. ‘Okay.’ She let out a harsh breath. ‘I have to tell you about my family. So you’ll understand. My father was a musician but he worked in the coal mine to put food on the table, just like everyone did around here. We got by and we were pretty happy. Mama was one of five, and her family lived all around us. All except Vivien, Mama’s oldest sister, who had a sales job that kept her on the road all the time. Vivien was Kelly’s mother. I don’t know if anyone knew who Kelly’s father was.
‘I remember Vivien having a lot of boyfriends. My parents would whisper about it, how it wasn’t healthy for Kelly, having all those men around. When Vivien was on the road, Kelly stayed with us. It got to where Vivien was only home on weekends so Kelly had practically moved in. Then Vivien surprised everyone by getting married to a guy she’d met on the road. A preacher of all things. The family was so happy that she’d finally settled down and got her heart right.
‘She had a church wedding, but I got a cold and couldn’t go. I heard all about it later, because it did not turn out the way Vivien planned. Kelly showed up in a short skirt, got tipsy and flirted outrageously with all the men there. At seventeen years old that would have been bad enough, but then she actually disappeared for a while with the groom’s brother and they were caught having sex in the baptismal pool. Vivien was so angry that Kelly had spoiled the wedding. Kelly was out of control, her behavior “not appropriate for a minister’s daughter”.’
‘Sounds like she just wanted her mother’s attention,’ Joseph said.
‘I’m sure she did, but it didn’t work. After the wedding, Kelly lived with us even on weekends. Vivien wanted no part of her “drinkin’, whorin’ ways”. I mean, hello, pot meet kettle, but Vivien didn’t see it that way. And neither did I. But I was only eight years old.
‘It was Kelly’s job to walk me home from school and that day I couldn’t wait to get home. My cat had just had kittens and I wanted to play with them. But Kelly dawdled and I kept telling her to hurry. A car passed us, turned around and came back. The man asked if we wanted a ride. I said no, I didn’t ride with strangers. But Kelly told me it was okay, that she knew him, that she’d met him at her mother’s wedding. The two of them laughed, like it was a joke. It was Beckett, of course, but I didn’t know him.’
‘She’d arranged to meet him that afternoon?’ Hector asked, very softly, as if Daphne was breakable. Daphne figured she probably looked that way.
‘She might have arranged it. I never knew for sure. I knew about the groomsman that she’d disappeared with at the wedding. I thought this was him. I didn’t know that much about sex, but I knew enough to know that it wasn’t right for Kelly to have done what she did at the wedding when she was only seventeen, and in the baptismal pool at that. I also knew never to get in anyone’s car that I didn’t know. I pulled Kelly’s hand, told her I wanted to go home, to my cat.’
‘Fluffy?’ Ford asked in a strained voice.
‘Yes.’ She patted her son’s hand. ‘This isn’t going to be pleasant. Nobody will blame you if you leave. I’ll be honest and tell you that I don’t want you to hear this.’
Her son met her eyes. ‘I haven’t left you before. I’m not starting now.’
Her throat closed. ‘Okay. So . . . Kelly got annoyed. She wanted a ride home and I was making her walk. Her job was to walk with me and maybe she’d figured I’d tell on her to my parents. So she told me that if I didn’t want a ride that I could just walk alone and she got into the car with him. I didn’t know what to do, so I just started walking home. A few minutes later, the car stopped again and the man got out. He wasn’t so friendly looking anymore.’ She swallowed hard. ‘I was eight years old. I tried to run, but he caught me. Pressed a hankie over my face . . .’
She closed her eyes. ‘I woke up in a garage and it was cold. I was tied up and gagged. There was a trap door that went underground. The trap door was open and I could hear Kelly crying, screaming from down below me. She screamed for help, mostly. Then it was just screams. I don’t know how much time passed. Beckett would go down the stairs to the room with food. Every time I’d hear him say, “I’m back. Did you miss me?” And then she’d scream some more. But nobody came to help. Nobody came but Beckett.
‘He took my gag off so I could eat, but stood there, watching me with a knife in his hand. Told me if I made a sound he’d kill me. I believed him. When I’d eaten, he’d gag me again and go back into the basement room and Kelly would scream some more. I wondered why he kept me gagged and not her, then I realized he liked the screaming. But other than to take off the gag, he never touched me.’ She looked at Ford, but his eyes were closed. ‘Do you understand me, Ford? He left me alone.’
Ford nodded unsteadily. Said nothing.
‘For maybe a week, Beckett would go down the stairs saying, “I’m back. Did you miss me?”’ She closed her eyes. ‘Always with the trap door open. Eventually she stopped screaming. She must have gone into shock. But I could still hear her screaming inside my head. I still can.’
‘God.’ It was a horrified whisper from Agent Novak.
‘I think it was at the beginning of the second week that he took me to the cabin. I thought he was going to do to me what he did to Kelly, but he didn’t.’ She shook her head, laughing incredulously. ‘He made me clean his cabin. Told me if I tried to run, I couldn’t get far. The next town was forty miles away and there were no neighbors. If I tried, he’d kill my mother. He laughed and said he knew where she lived.
‘He felt confident enough that I wouldn’t escape to go out to the garage and leave me in the house. He’d locked me in and
locked up his knives. One day he was in the garage and the phone rang. I wanted to answer it, but was scared it was a trap, that it was him and he’d kill my mother. He had an answering machine, and the volume was turned up. It was the gas company telling him they were coming to fill his tank that afternoon. He had one of those old steel tanks outside the house.’
‘He still does,’ Ford said dully.
‘I wish you didn’t know that,’ she said, looking at her hands. But then she took a deep breath and went on. ‘It was the first time anyone had come to where we were, the first contact with anyone outside since he’d taken us. I knew that would be my only chance to get away. I didn’t have a weapon, but Beckett kept hornet spray under the sink with the cleaning supplies. I waited until he’d opened the door.’ She cocked her jaw, still feeling the grim satisfaction of the moment, all these years later. ‘He said, “I’m back. Did you miss me?” and I sprayed the hornet spray in his eyes and ran as fast as I could. He was coming, thundering after me.’ Her heart still raced at the memory. ‘I knew there was nowhere to run, so I climbed a tree to hide. I was a tomboy in those days, thankfully. He was still crashing around, screaming, tears streaming down his cheeks. He couldn’t see me because his eyes were burning.’
‘Good for you,’ Hector said fiercely and made her smile a little.
‘I got to the top of the tree and looked around and he was telling the truth.’ Her tiny smile faded. ‘There was nothing for miles. Just trees and mountain.’
‘Still is,’ Ford muttered and she patted his knee.
‘I stayed in that tree for hours. He went back to the house and came out with a gun – and Kelly. He was dragging her, the gun up against her head, yelling for me, calling my name, saying that he’d kill her if I didn’t come out. I almost did. But I was too scared to move. And I figured he’d kill us anyway. He passed right under me as he dragged her through the woods, looking for me. I was sure he could hear my heartbeat. And then Kelly yelled, “Run!” He hit her in the head with the gun but she yelled again, this time that she was sorry. That he’d told her I was dead. He hit her again and she went really still. He dragged her back to the garage.’ She sighed. ‘And that was the last time I saw her.’
‘That’s why he kept you gagged,’ Joseph said quietly. ‘He didn’t want her to know you were there.’
‘I figured that out, much later. After a while he got in his car and drove away. I guess he figured I’d made it down to the road. While he was gone, the gas truck came and I got down from the tree. It was a guy with a pickup truck and he hauled the tank with a hitch. I’d almost run up to him for help when Beckett came back and asked if he’d seen a girl running around. Said his sister had left her brat with him and that I’d run off again. The gas man said if he saw me, he’d bring me back. So I said nothing, just waited until Beckett went back into the garage and the gas man took the hose around the back to fill the tank. Then I climbed into the bed of the man’s truck and hid under a tarp. I didn’t breathe until the truck started and we’d been driving for a while.
‘The police report said you were found in Dayton, Ohio,’ Novak said. ‘How did you get there?’
‘The gas man stopped at a convenience store. I got out and hid in the next truck over. It had a camper top so I opened the hatch and crawled in. I figured I’d wait till the gas man drove away and then I’d find help. But the driver of the camper came out at the same time. I was too scared to come out and then the camper was moving. Didn’t stop for a long time. I fell asleep. Next I knew, we were at a rest stop and it was night and I was so cold. I climbed out when the driver went to the men’s room and I went into the ladies’ room where it was warm.’
‘Why didn’t you ask the driver for help?’ Hector asked kindly.
‘I don’t know. I think I was so scared at that point . . . I didn’t want to go with a man and I didn’t know how far I’d gone. I was afraid they’d take me back to Beckett. A few weeks in isolation can mess with your mind.’
‘Not to mention the trauma,’ Agent Kerr murmured. ‘Who found you?’
‘A nice lady. I don’t even know her name. She called the police who told me I was in Dayton. They asked me what had happened, but by then all I could hear was Beckett’s voice in my head, telling me he was going to kill my mom. I was too scared to talk. They didn’t have Amber alerts then, so it took a while for them to figure out who I was. Once they did, the police took me home.’
She pressed her hand to her stomach. This was one of the worst parts to recall. ‘My parents were waiting for me in the living room with Aunt Vivien when the sheriff brought me home. And in the kitchen doorway was Beckett.’
Baltimore, Maryland, Wednesday, December 4, 9.30 P.M.
‘I don’t believe you,’ Cole whispered, but Kim didn’t answer. After telling him all kinds of lies, she’d gone unconscious, or maybe was pretending to be.
He didn’t believe a word she’d said. Couldn’t.
But deep down he knew some of what she’d told him had to be true. He prayed all of it wasn’t. Although he knew it probably was. She said Mitch had killed people. Enjoyed killing people. And was apparently pretty damn good at it.
She’d told him she’d met ‘Doug’ in September, fifteen months ago. That’s when he and Mitch had just moved back here from Florida. Mitch had been one mean SOB to live with. He was on the run again, although he pretended it was just another job change.
But a week after they’d moved back into this house, something happened to Mitch. Cole had come home from school to find his brother sitting at the kitchen table, pale. He’d been reading an old book which he’d whisked out of sight when Cole came in the room for an after-school snack.
The book and Mitch disappeared to the garage. Probably he came down here, Cole thought. Mitch came down to the bomb shelter to remember their mother.
Cole didn’t need to come down here. The memory of this place was branded into his brain. I hate this house.
The day after Cole had found him reading the old book, Mitch was a changed man. Calm. Happy. He’d even whistled. He’d gotten his HVAC license, bought some equipment and started a business. Gone straight. Or so Cole had wanted to believe.
But he’d peeked at Mitch’s ‘license’. It was not in his own name or any combination of his names. His brother couldn’t get a license with his felony record, so he’d bought a fake ID. If Mitch got caught, he could go to jail for that, too.
I’m so tired of being afraid. Of cops, of school, of the kids. Of my own family.
‘I wish I was adopted,’ he muttered.
‘Not always an improvement,’ Kim croaked. ‘Do we have water down here?’
‘Yeah.’ He brought her a bottle and held it to her dry, cracked lips as she chugged it down. ‘Easy.’ He pulled the bottle away and capped it. ‘You’ll make yourself sick.’
‘Thanks. I was so thirsty. Can you untie me?’
He hesitated. Then shook his head. ‘No.’ Not until I can figure out what’s true.
She sagged back to the cot. ‘Have you at least been thinking about what I said?’
Yes, and I still don’t want to believe you. Don’t want to believe my brother could do those things. That he could kill in cold blood.
‘Why did you say adoption wasn’t always an improvement?’ he asked instead. ‘Are you adopted?’
‘Yeah. Me and my little sister.’
‘The one my brother kidnapped.’
‘Yeah. Her name is Pamela. We’re not really sisters but we were both born in China. I’m telling you, kid, your brother is not who you think he is.’
His brother who went by Doug. Aunt Betty’s last name was Douglas. Cole knew that everything she’d said was probably true. Damn you, Mitch.
Cole sighed. ‘He’s exactly who I think he is. I’m just not sure who you are.’
‘We’re wasting time. We need to get out of here before your brother comes back.’
‘Sorry, no can do. We’re down here until Matt tells me to come bac
k up. Mitch won’t be back till tomorrow. He had a job in an office building. They do a lot of the HVAC at night.’
‘You still think he works an HVAC job?’ She coughed and Cole held the water bottle to her lips again. ‘Thanks. He worked with me, kid. We steal stuff.’
‘Like what?’
‘Guns mostly.’ She went on to describe every one of the guns in detail. They were the same ones Mitch had hidden in the basement storeroom. ‘We steal from cops.’
Which actually made sense. Mitch hated cops. I guess most ex-cons do.
‘The HVAC job is a cover,’ she said when he didn’t say anything. ‘He’s got some plot to take down a state’s attorney. Montgomery.’ She spat the name.
‘That doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t even know any state’s attorneys.’
Kim laughed which made her start coughing again. ‘He knows her. He hates her. I hate her too. That’s how he reeled me in.’
‘Why does he hate her?’
‘You’ll need to ask him that question. He never told me.’
Cole wasn’t sure he believed her. ‘Then why do you hate her?’
‘Montgomery stabbed me in the back. Best deal she’d give came with a conviction. Now I’ve got a record and I can’t get a job. Bitch.’
Okayyy. ‘You said my brother killed people. How many?’
‘That I know of? One. Directly.’
Cole swallowed. ‘Who?’
‘A cop who was guarding the guy I was with two nights ago.’
‘I thought you and Mitch . . .’
‘Doug and I . . . Well, we were a couple. But never again. I was with the other guy – his name is Ford – only because Doug wanted him. At first. I was supposed to bring Ford to meet Doug, so they could talk. They were just supposed to talk. But . . . I didn’t want to do it.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because . . . Ford’s a nice guy. I started to feel sorry for him, not to want Doug to talk to him at all. That’s when your brother kidnapped my sister. She’s just a kid, about your age. I don’t know where she is.’