Oh, no, not again, thought Toby. Sweat poured from his pores like someone had dumped water over him. Something warm ran down his leg. He waited for the crushing pain of Smith’s grasp on him. But it never came. Instead, Smith gestured toward the woods like a gentleman sweeping his lady into the ballroom, civilized, genteel, graceful of hand. Deadly to Toby.
“Yes sir.” Toby began down the path with Smith and Barry following. After several steps he turned. “Maybe you don’t know about the wild pigs around here. They’ve got tusks over four inches long, top and bottom. Longer on the boors.”
“Interesting. Don’t you find that interesting?” Smith asked Barry.
“It’s just a damn pig,” Barry replied dismissively.
“Oh, you have no idea how mean they can be. This one had piglets. She was riled.”
“Keep walking, Toby,” said Smith. Again that tone of voice, even, smooth, almost sensual and beneath it, Toby knew, was black ice.
The night was eerily still. The moon had come out and a breeze blew the clouds away. They nestled in the sky to the east, gathered above the hammocks that lined the field.
“Here we are.” Toby paused at the edge of the sinkhole.
Barry peered into the darkness below. “Can’t see crap down there.”
Smith joined the two of them as they tried to penetrate the dim chamber.
A screaming wail split the night air, and a sinister shape charged out of the brush.
Smith grabbed the husband and shoved him in front of him using him as shield against the oncoming animal. He struggled against Smith’s steel grasp. Toby took one step backwards and fell into the hole.
“Where am I?” Lewis came to, aware his head rested in someone’s lap. Certainly not Donald’s or Worley’s, he knew.
“We’re going to take you to the hospital, sweetie.”
Oh, crap. It was his ex-wife, what’s-her-name. His focus was on Emily’s safety. He cared little for the comforting arms of Adrienne who always disappeared when things got tough and reappeared when he got a raise, a promotion, more money. He was on leave, and he might be demoted back to foot patrol, so he couldn’t figure what she had in mind this time.
“I don’t know what your scheme is, Adrienne, but I know you’ve got one. Right now, however, I’ve got more important things to consider. I’ll talk to you later.”
Shaking her arms off him, he got to his feet and shoved open the door of the car.
“The ambulance will be here soon,” said Donald. “You get back in there with your wife until it arrives.”
“First. She is my ex-wife. Second. Donald, there is the matter of Emily’s safety. You do want to help her, don’t you? And you can’t without my cooperation because only I know where she went.”
“Tell me.”
Lewis stood toe-to-toe with Donald. I can’t let Emily die, thought Lewis, even if I have to give her up to this bonehead bass fisherman.
“You going to help me or let her die?”
“You might as well go along with what he wants. I know this guy. If he says he’s going to do something, he will.” Worley’s face wore an expression of surrender.
Donald walked over to where Adrienne stood in front of the police cruiser listening to the conversation between the men.
“You wanna get out of the way?” Donald’s voice was polite, but firm in its request.
Adrienne pressed herself against the front bumper.. “I’m not going to let my husband…”
“Ex-husband, I believe.” Donald’s voice took on a sterner note.
“As I said, I’m not going to let Lewis chase after that floozy. You’ll have to run me down first. Kill me with my own car. Go ahead.”
Oh, boy. I hope she moves, thought Lewis, or…
Donald snatched her away from the bumper, lifted her off her feet and tossed her to Worley. “Hold this for a while, would you?”
Worley tried to catch her, or at least Lewis thought he did, but the captain dropped her. She landed with a thump into the sand at the edge of the road. A look of pleasure crossed Worley’s face for a half second, but it disappeared when Worley reached out his hand to her. “Sorry about that, ma’am.”
She slapped his hand away and burst into tears.
“Let’s go.” Lewis and the three men headed for the police cruiser.
“What about me?” wailed Adrienne.
“Better get into the car, darlin’. Hear that?”
She quieted herself and listened. “I don’t…”
“Male gator looking for a mate,” said Donald.
Lewis heard her yelp then begin a keening wail. When he looked back, he could see she’d gotten into the car.
“I hope she doesn’t follow us.” said Lewis.
Worley held up his fingers from which dangled Adrienne’s car keys.
Chapter 21
The piglet continued to let out squeals and run after Emily. She made it to the still, up the slope to the shed, but the exit door was bolted shut from the outside. Her only escape was to climb onto the still and use the T bar to lift a ceiling section off the sink hole. Then she could climb onto the roof and out of the sink hole. Except she had no idea how she could do all that with her hands tied behind her back. A faint returning squeal came from the end of the sink hole she’d just traversed. Mama wanted her kid, thought Emily. If the mother decided to jump in to rescue the little ham, Emily was in danger. Neither the pigs nor Emily could get out. Emily would be trapped in an enclosed space with an enraged mother who was better armed than Emily. How long could she last dodging those tusks? Long enough for the kid to age and grow tusks of his own? She couldn’t wait for that.
“Hey, you, lady.”
The utterance came out of the darkness only feet from where Emily stood. She couldn’t see him, yet she knew it was Toby by the wheedling sound in his voice.
“What are you doing here? The last time I saw you, you were running for safety.”
“I fell down here. Just like you did. Can’t get the door open?”
“No, I just like it here so much I thought I’d hang around for a while. Undo my hands and maybe we can figure out how to get it open.”
“Heh, heh. No deal.” Toby hesitated, then continued, “I’m sure my pals will be showing up any minute now to get me out of here.”
Emily picked up a note of uncertainly in Toby’s voice.
“Heh, heh yourself. If your pals were coming to get you out, they’d be here by now. Maybe they don’t know about this end of the sinkhole? You forget to tell them?”
Toby was silent.
From the sound of the piglet screaming for his mother, Emily could tell it continued to run around the still, brushing past their legs. Then the howls would recede as it dashed back down the tunnel and returned to squeal once more.
“Hey, you still there, little man? Untie my hands, and we’ll get out of this together.”
“Yeah, then what?”
Emily could tell Toby was reviewing his options. If his buddies didn’t show and he helped Emily out, then what? He probably figured Emily would turn him in, and that’s exactly what she planned. She had no intention of telling him that.
“I think your guys have deserted you, and you’re a wanted man. All the cops in the county will be looking for you. You need me. I’m your ticket to reduced jail time. I can testify you helped me.” She let Toby think this over for a moment.
“What’s your plan?”
Emily wasn’t about to share her idea for escape with him, or he’d do it without her help.
“Untie me, Toby and I’ll back your story to the cops.”
A commotion at the far end of the sinkhole caught Emily’s attention. The piglet’s cries faded once more as it fled down the tunnel. Soon its squealing was joined by a lower and louder grunt. It was as Emily feared. Mama finally took the plunge and jumped into the sink hole. Soon she’d head this way looking for escape. Emily’s time had run out.
“Quick, Toby. Untie me now. The sow’s coming,
and she won’t be happy to find us here with her young’un.”
Emily could feel his hesitation.
“Now!” she yelled.
He fumbled with her ropes in the dark. The cries of the two pigs seeking a route out of their prison got louder. Mama may have found her lost one, but now she was separated from the rest of her litter and eager to get back to them.
Emily flexed her wrists, reached out her hand and located the still. She used the pipes coming off it for handholds and climbed to the top.
“Where are you?”
“Up here. Can you find the back wall? Go over to it. There’s a wooden T bar leaning against it. It’s for lifting the ceiling off this hole. Hand it to me.”
Emily listened as the pigs continued to rustle and run around the far end of the tunnel. Could the baby tell mom there was another end, one with humans in it?
“I get it now. I can just push this up and remove the ceiling.”
“No you can’t. You’re too short. I can do it from here. Hand it to me.”
“I’m coming up there too.”
“There’s no time. I’ll move the ceiling, then you can crawl up.”
Emily heard movement from below, a grunt followed by some swearing. “I told you. You’re too short.”
The pigs’ cries got louder.
“Oh, God, they’re coming. I’m going to get eaten by a pig. Eaten alive.”
“Hand me the damn T bar or I’m coming down there and kick you in your boys.”
The T bar hit her hand. Emily grabbed it and maneuvered it toward the ceiling. Grunting noises came from below. She couldn’t tell if it was Toby trying to get on top of the still or the pigs had come into the still room. She pushed and felt the ceiling move. The bar was heavy for her to handle, and it was awkward moving a section aside, but inch by inch she slid the covering off and moonlight shone into the room below.
“I can’t get up there.”
She dropped the bar and balanced herself on top of the still. She stood on her tiptoes and reached above her head until her hands touched one of the heavy roof beams. By walking herself across the top of the still using the beam for balance, she could just reach the floor-to-ceiling support pole. It was made of a hand-hewed tree, rough enough that she could use the cut-away nubs of branches to pull herself up.
“Help me,” she heard Toby say from below.
She couldn’t look down or she’d lose her nerve and her balance as she shimmied up the pole. “I’ll go out and open the door.”
“Don’t leave me here with these pigs.” Toby screamed something else, but Emily couldn’t make it out. Now at the top, she hopped across the roof beams and ran toward the shed.
Emily slid the wood through the brackets and opened the door.
Toby fell out onto the ground. Emily slammed the door before the pigs could follow.
“She got my shoe.” Toby was sobbing.
Emily reconsidered her save. It should have been the pigs, she thought.
“Quit your bawling. You’re safe now.”
She watched his face in the moonlight as the realization of how close he’d come to being taken out by a wild pig swept across it.
Emily stood with her hand still on the wood, prepared to slide it back through the handles to secure the door. She felt a nudge and knew the sow was leaning her weight against it. As she was about to slide the wood home, her eye caught movement at the edge of the clearing.
Two men, one she recognized as Naomi’s husband, the other unfamiliar to her walked out of the woods. She knew now what Toby’s game was, and fear paralyzed her.
“What have you done with my daughter?” she asked.
The stranger smiled, and Emily thought she was looking into the eyes of a reptile.
“She’s safe for now.”
Emily stepped in front of the door, her hand on the wood.
“What’s in there?” asked Barry.
“A still,” she replied.
“A still. I’ve never seen one. Move away from the door. I want to take a look.”
Toby stepped forward. “There’s a p…”
Before Toby could finish what he was saying, Emily smiled and flung open the door swinging it so that she stood behind it.
The sow and piglet rushed out. Disoriented by losing its mama, the piglet ran straight into the husband’s legs. He stumbled and fell as he raised his gun to fire. The shot went high, and the piglet retreated to the cover of the woods. But the sow wasn’t finished with the humans who had separated her from her offspring. She turned sharply and rushed him. Before he could redirect his weapon, her tusks caught him in the thigh. He yelled and grabbed his leg.
As suddenly as the attack began, it was over. The sow dashed for cover. Emily could hear her and the piglet running through the grass and brush.
“Emily,” came a voice through the thicket. Lewis, supported on one side by Worley and the other by Donald, struggled into the clearing. Naomi brought up the rear. Emily rushed to embrace her.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
“My creepy husband and that other man threw me into the back of their car and drove me out here, then left me in the back seat while they ran off into the woods. I was struggling to get my ropes free when Donald, Lewis and Captain Worley drove up.” She glanced at her ex lying still on the ground. “I think he could use a hospital.” She murmured the words in a matter-of-fact manner, no emotion in her voice. Worley used his cell to call for an ambulance.
Toby looked at the gathering crowd of those who were not his friends, groaned and sank down onto a mound of dirt.
The shadow that was the man with Barry slipped back into the woods and disappeared.
Emily turned to Lewis. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but what about you?”
Before she could speak, Toby jumped up from his seat on the dirt mound and let out a yelp of pain. Soon he was dancing around the clearing slapping his body and yelling.
“Ants. Fire ants.” He ran off into the underbrush. They heard him for a while, then everything got quiet for a minute.
“The pigs are out there, Toby.” Emily chuckled.
Several seconds passed, and Toby’s yells got louder once more as he rushed back into the clearing.
“Pigs. Wild pigs.” Toby ran past them and through the open door. Emily slammed it shut and slid the wood through the brackets. Through the door they could hear rustling and sobbing.
“That should keep him for a while.” Emily slapped her hands together as if she were dusting them off.
“I explained to Adrienne that you would be placed on foot patrol, demoted and receive a reduction in pay. She decided to return to Georgia and her friends and family.” Worley walked out the hospital door beside Lewis who sat in a wheel chair pushed by Emily.
“That was a gross exaggeration, wasn’t it, Captain?” Emily helped Lewis into Stan her sedan.
“We’ll see.” Worley clapped his hat onto his head and gave them a salute goodbye.
“I’ll probably need a lot of care,” said Lewis.
“We can all help with that.” Emily pulled the car out of the lot.
“Where are you taking me?”
She ignored his question. Emily had pigs on her mind this morning after last night’s pursuit by them.
“You know I’ve been thinking about that mother pig. She was not going to let that baby go even if it meant risking her own life by jumping into the sinkhole. Humans are kind of like that too. They will do almost anything to protect their children.”
Last night while the medical staff examined his shoulder, Emily told Lewis about Amy Bushnell’s daughter.
As Emily drove out of the parking lot, Lewis took up the matter of Ms. Bushnell.
“So you think Amy Bushnell…”
“I do not. She threw Everett Pratt out of her life, something his wife could not do. Ms. Bushnell took care of her daughter that way. What could Melanie do?”
“You think Melanie Pratt was
protecting her daughter-in-law? She’s a grown woman.”
“Did you forget that Melanie has a granddaughter?” Emily’s hands gripped the wheel tight enough she could almost hear the plastic crack beneath them.
She saw Lewis’ jaw twitch when she said this and knew he was feeling an anger that matched her own.
“Let’s pay them a visit.”
“You’re on leave. You have no authority to question them.”
Although she tried to hide her intentions from him, she knew he caught the implication in her statement.
“Try to remember you have no authority to question them either.” He crossed his arms over his chest and wore a pleased look.
She pulled up in front of Lewis’ small house. A truck sat in the driveway.
“You’re leaving me in care of Donald?” Lewis’ look of happiness was replaced with one of anger and disbelief.
“He’s not going to hurt you. I have to work this afternoon, Clara does too. Naomi’s leaving this evening to go back to her parents in West Palm, and Vicki’s playing bridge. Who else can I get?”
“I don’t need anyone.”
“Ha.”
Lewis maneuvered himself out of the car and walked toward the house. Without a word of hello, he passed Donald, leaning against his truck. Donald shrugged, spit out the toothpick he’d been twirling around in his mouth and followed Lewis. The two men entered the house without acknowledging one another’s presence.
That’s done, thought Emily. She felt a little guilty lying to Lewis, but only a little. It wasn’t a matter any longer of who could solve this murder. She knew only she could because she had the right credentials. She was a woman and a mother.
As Emily hoped, Jasper’s truck wasn’t in the driveway. She assumed he was off with his friend reconnoitering a new still location or perhaps doing some barbeque business thing. The granddaughter would be in school. Emily had Melanie and her daughter-in-law to herself.
Emily pieced together most of the story. Everett Pratt liked young girls, liked them younger as he got older. She knew that from his interest in Amy Bushnell’s daughter. Either his wife or his daughter-in-law Stacy poisoned him to prevent him from abusing the child in his own home, his own flesh and blood. Which one did it?
Grilled, Chilled and Killed Page 21