“You mean, the animals? We weren’t doing them. We’d find things once in awhile, but it didn’t have anything to do with our group.”
“You know that?”
“I suppose it’s more an opinion, but as far as I know, none of those guys were capable of doing what we were finding. If they had been, I would never have invited Barbara to join the group.”
“You asked her?” Foster asked.
“Sure did. She was sort of giving me the eye, and I wanted to be super cool, so I started talking about my group, and … well, I invited her. Talked it over with the other guys and they were all fired up about having a female member. I never would have done that if they’d been killing cats and dogs. Babs was a real animal lover. She would have freaked.”
“Okay, so she gets invited in and then what?” Todd pressed.
“We let her attend a few meetings and then made up an initiation. The one we made the guys go through was too rough.”
“Let me guess, you decided to leave her alone in the woods.”
“How’d you know about that?” he asked Todd, his eyes squinting in curiosity.
“Her mother, Midge.”
“Oh, right, right, right. Good old Marjorie. Very nice lady, but she really was out of touch with her daughter, and that is the understatement of the century,” he emphasized. “So we met up and made Babs recite some of our incantations.”
“Incantations?”
“Just some Latin phrases, or was it Italian? I don’t even know, anymore.”
“And where did you get them from?”
“The rites? By the guy that formed The Innocents.”
“And who might that be?” Todd asked, prepared to write the name down.
“Irwin.”
“Irwin who?
“Don’t know. I don’t,” he insisted.
“Okay,” Todd said, sliding his notebook back in his pocket. “Go ahead.”
“So Barbara was ready to leave, but we told her to stay put. You see, we bought this Halloween mask that looked like a skeleton. Gus had a cape with a hood, and so he brought it along to scare the shit out of her. If it got out of hand, we’d tell her, but before then, we were going to hide and watch the fun.”
“Okay,” Todd said.
“So we left her, but she didn’t stay where she was supposed to. She started walking. We followed, thinking that it would be even better this way. Death was actually supposed to meet people on paths they walked. It was perfect. The problem was that we had to get Gus in position, and it was dark and we were having trouble seeing.”
“And you couldn’t turn on a flashlight because ...” Foster stated.
“She’d see us. Exactly. So we were following and we got separated. Next thing I knew, Gus approached her and said our phrase—only it wasn’t Gus.”
“How did you know?”
“Costume was all different, but the kicker was when Gus came up next to me.”
“What?”
“Yeah, the mask was in his hands, and he whispered about someone else getting to her first.”
“And who did?”
“Don’t know.”
“It wasn’t a member?”
“Nope. That’s what Gus thought at first. It’s why he found us—to check to see if the plan had changed, but it hadn’t. We were sort of stunned and trying to figure things out when she freaked out. Ran away screaming bloody murder. Course we were idiots. We thought it was pretty funny. Until …”
“Until what?” Todd inquired.
“Until we met him for ourselves. We were trying to find Barbara, when that guy approached us. He was wearing a hood and black cape and …” he said pausing, running his fingers through his gray hair.
“And what?” Foster asked, intent as Todd was in finding out the answer.
“Well, he started out by using our phrase. ‘Momento mori.’ When he’d done it with Barbara, we hadn’t thought much about it, but when he repeated it to us, we got mad. I mean, who the hell was this guy to go around saying lines from our secret rituals? Anyway, at some point we remembered that we had our flashlights with us. So we turned them on, and one of us, I think it was Dougie, shines his right into this guy’s face to see who he was—but he didn’t have one.”
“Didn’t have one what?” asked Todd.
“A face. He was a skeleton.”
Todd and Foster exchanged glances, refocusing on Manny. Todd’s brows tensed, almost meeting in the center, while Foster scratched his hairless chin.
“He must have been wearing a mask, don’t you think?” Todd rationalized.
“Had to be. Skeletons don’t walk or talk,” Foster agreed.
“This one did. I know what I saw, and it was a skull. We ran out of the woods so fast that I don’t even know why we didn’t crash into a tree.”
“And you think Barbara got scared and left Holybrook?” Todd asked, not understanding his logic.
“No, I think she’s dead. I think that damned skeleton got her.”
The two officers jerked back from the table. Not sinking into the fantasy, they rejected it in toto. Todd held in a chuckle. He didn’t want to get Manny upset, but the tale was wild. While they’d just been kids, he was surprised that Manny didn’t know better.
“Okay, then why did this skeleton kill her and not you? You said he said that phrase, ‘Momento mori’ to you?”
“Well,” he started, hesitating until he was sure they were listening, “things aren’t over, are they?”
“What?” Foster exclaimed in frustration.
“Don’t you get it?” Manny countered, becoming more agitated. “The game … it’s still running.”
“There is no game,” Todd asserted. “Except for the one you were beaten at. Most likely it was somebody just trying to scare you like you were trying to do to Barbara.”
“No, you’re wrong,” Manny spouted, lunging forward, his arms banging down and causing a loud boom. “We know what we saw and we all saw the same thing! The group broke up after that. There were no more meetings. Now if you’ll goddamned excuse me, I have a wife to go home to.” Standing, he stormed towards the door. Opening it, the wind howled as he pulled the cap over his head waiting for the two non-believers to leave him the hell alone.
Chapter Fifty-three
The next morning, Manny’s words were still rattling around in Todd’s head. Completely ridiculous for people to be carrying around dumb memories for that long, it was even worse for them to allow it to affect their lives. Entering the station house, he noticed the boys from D.C. hurriedly packing up files. Hoisting the latte bought at the town’s chic designer coffee house, he gave an air toast to Foster, summoning him to his desk. The seasoned professional returned the favor with the mug filled with station house brew, settling down comfortably in a chair pulled close for the chat.
“What’s going on? The boys finally find that skeleton mask that’s driving Manny crazy?”
“Hope so. Must have been a good one to fool him for this long,” Foster quipped, sucking down caffeine.
“I feel like such a jerk thinking we were going to learn something. At least I found out why nobody had talked to him. It was because he had nothing to say.”
“I wouldn’t feel that bad. It was fun waiting out in the cold with you. Gave me an inkling of what a stakeout would be like. If we’re ever called on for that kind of surveillance, we’re ready.”
“You’re right. And that story will make a good chapter in that book you’re planning on writing. Crazy kids in the woods—being chased by a skeleton speaking Italian. No wonder it’s haunted him this long. Romance languages will do that to you.”
“Don’t think it’ll work. It’s the plot for every third slasher film released. Surprised those idiots didn’t really hurt themselves by tripping over their own feet.”
“Well, at least it got them to stay home. Not sure their parents were thrilled about that, though.”
“Yeah, all but one. Feel really sorry for Barbara’s mother.
Must be hard when a kid doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“Agreed,” Todd responded, noting a federal agent cart another cardboard box filled with papers out the door. “So what’s going on?”
“Big doings. Last night while we were diddling with our spoons, they received preliminary results of blood traces found in Carol Hilliard’s car.”
“Blood traces? I didn’t even know that …”
“Yeah, I know,” Foster interrupted, patting Todd’s arm apologetically. “They wanted to keep it quiet and by quiet they meant not telling you. Sorry.”
His anger not ratcheting as high as it normally would, he had mixed feelings about being left out. After all, there was good reason for reaching that decision. God, he’d been so wrong.
“Anyway, the blood samples were identified as those consistent with Brent.”
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me!” he said, slamming the front legs of his chair down. Pushing himself forward, he ran his hand over his face trying to remove all traces of guilt about acting like a fool.
“Given the nature of that discovery, coupled with the blood results, they’ve charged both mom and daughter with murder one. Course they denied any knowledge of how or when Larabee’s blood could have gotten there.”
“Naturally.”
“And mommy went along with her daughter’s cock and bull story in trying to place the noose back around Jack Harris’ neck. Claimed the blood must have been transferred, because guess what? She suddenly remembers that she picked him up hitchhiking on the night Larabee disappeared. Problem for her and her psychopathic daughter is that Jack Harris was attending a rock concert about 150 miles away, and was seen by over 5,000 people. Unfortunately for the Hilliards, he and about 10 other members of the audience were brought up on stage to play air guitar.”
“Argh!” Todd cried, leaning back in his chair and banging himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand. Ace had it right all along. The discovery of the blood in the Hilliard vehicle sealed the deal. No getting around hard, cold facts. And here he’d been trying to get them to waste time searching Mulligan’s car.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” he berated himself. The chastisement over, he fixed his attention on Foster. “Christ, I’m a goddamned moron.”
“Hey, our sniffers sometimes cause us to go off on tangents. No harm done.”
“Still … I was a hindrance and I don’t like feeling like that.”
“Yeah, but the process won out in the end. You gotta trust the process, Todd—and the people you’re working with. It’s why it was right you brought me into things. We kept each other honest.”
Todd clamped a hand on his good buddy’s knee.
“You are 100% correct,” he said grabbing his cup and swallowing the caramel latte. “So is there a motive to this crime spree?”
“Don’t have one shored up conclusively. Best guess at this point is that Larabee was onto Laurie and her group.”
“But what about the two dancers? And Hotchkins?”
“Theory is that Capella and Rohm were opportunistic. That Laurie’s a jealous little bitch. Always was trying to be something she clearly isn’t, but you were right about Barbara Moore in one respect. She did have something to do with this case.”
“How so?”
“Well, according to Jack Harris, he was sort of fascinated with her disappearance. If he was, then other members might have been also.”
“So maybe some of them decided to reenact the old crime. Got it,” Todd said taking a few more sips, “but where does her mother come in?”
“Carol’s obviously co-dependent. If she thought her daughter was in trouble, she’d do anything to cover it up. I mean, she went along with getting a restraining order, all to make Brent look bad if he talked. As for Laurie, she must have thought that Hotchkins was onto her. Don’t know why she thought that, but something he did must have threatened her.”
“And Carol would go along with that?”
“Obviously she would, but there’s still someone out there. Right now, the Feds are satisfied that the main players have been taken out of the game. So the task force is heading back to D.C., while Angela is staying here to try to find the other perpetrator.”
“Well, I’m glad that I’m finally on the same page as everyone else. Definitely agree there’s someone still out there.”
“Oh, and they’re sending some boys back here in the spring so we can properly sweep the woods for bodies. We’re all pretty sure the victims are buried there, but in this snow, it’s pretty useless trying to find them.”
“Thanks. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some crow to eat,” he admitted.
Getting up, he walked red-faced to the office Ace had appropriated. Knocking on the wood frame of the door, Cummings’ face wore a mixture of admiration and surprise.
“Congratulations,” Todd admitted, “nice work and I’m sorry that I was a liability. I was … distracted.”
Ace slapped him on the back, brushing off the self-deprecating remark.
“Hey, it happens to all of us. And she is well worth losing your head over.”
“Yeah, thanks,” he stammered, the image of the doe-eyed girl filling him with happy feelings. He hoped those kisses had only been a beginning. He’d tell her that tonight.
Chapter Fifty-four
Missy relaxed, letting Todd’s body press into hers. It was the first time she’d visited his bachelor pad, and they were all alone. Taking advantage of the situation, he moved quickly, trying to continue what was started the previous evening under the stars.
Moaning she responded, pulling him tighter to her. His hand traveling under her breast, things were progressing too fast. Pulling back, Todd immediately dropped his hold.
“It’s alright. You’re steering this ship,” he assured.
Tugging her purple turtleneck down, her skeptical side responded.
“Why? Because you’re afraid it’ll affect your job?” Immediately regretting the words, he didn’t deserve to be insulted in that way. The hurt spreading across his face, it was indicative that he took the jab to heart. “I’m sorry,” she apologized, falling into his arms and cuddling. “Sometimes I just can’t control what I say. It’s a long story.”
Patting her glossy hair, he kissed her high forehead, tracing her thick, arched eyebrows with his finger. “You can tell me about it anytime you want. In fact, I’ve been waiting for you to open up.”
“Have you?” she asked in a hush.
“Yes,” he said nuzzling his head against hers. “You seem like you’ve been hurt. I don’t know who did it or why, but I’m not like that. I’d never do anything to harm you. Not on purpose, anyway.”
Yearning to drop her fears and let passion sweep her away, she resisted. It wasn’t the right time. Even though she trusted him, there were too many secrets … too many lies that she’d kept from him. She wanted to make a clean breast of things, but didn’t know where to begin. She remembered Zoe, and the lie she’d told to Cummings.
“Todd?” she whispered, her fingers outlining the lobe of his ear.
“Yeah, Missy?”
“The case is pretty much over, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Melissa. We suspect one more person is involved so it’s active, but with Carol and Laurie out of the loop, things will be quiet from here on out.”
Putting her head on his shoulder, she rubbed his back with sweeping strokes. “Then it wouldn’t matter if I lied about something?”
A sharp extolling of breath was followed by him grasping her slender arms. Pushing himself back, he met her dark eyes that were shifting in confusion.
“What does that mean, Melissa? Please don’t tell me that you lied.”
Not able to answer, she bit her lip, dropping her head down. An insignificant nod sufficed to convey the bad news.
“Oh, dear God, no!” he gasped. Clutching her to him, she started to cry.
“I’m sorry, Todd! I was so scared, and … well, I guess you should kno
w. My mother … she was an alcoholic. You have no idea what it was like. I’d come home and she’d be on the floor … and then there was the constant berating and belittling … and ...”
Overcome with emotion, she couldn’t continue with the blow-by-blow description of the nightmare she’d endured. Hoping that what she’d said had been enough to give him the gist, he responded by hugging her tightly and letting her take her time. Ending the embrace, she sat trying to make herself smaller than she already was. Not daring to look him in the eye, what she’d revealed was too embarrassing. She was such a fool, but she couldn’t stop.
“When I was very young, I started to lie. To cover things … hide things … from her because she would just get so crazy about anything. It’s what I grew up doing, so now if something goes wrong, or I get scared, that side of me just takes over and I lie.”
Pushing her hair back from her face, he wiped her tears away.
“I understand, Missy. I do. It explains so much. It must be that you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I’m not like that. I’m not. You don’t ever have to lie to me. Do you understand?”
Nodding quickly, her hair shimmered, catching the light.
“Good. Now please tell me what you lied about.”
Taking a deep breath, her hands started to tremble. What if he was lying? What if he started screaming at her? All she could see was her mother’s florid face spitting hateful words at her. She didn’t ever want to feel that way again, but there was just one way to find out.
“It was about why I went downstairs. Cummings asked me and I said it was because I thought I heard somebody, but that’s not the truth.”
“Well, then what is?”
“I went downstairs because I saw someone. It was outside the studio I was using to practice … on the fifth floor … in the hallway. I followed her down and she went into the basement.”
“Her? You mean, Una Velofsky?”
“No, I saw —” she said drawing in a large gulp of air, “Zoe Ryan.”
“Zoe?” he responded, his eyes narrowing. “I thought she …”
“Left? Yes, I thought so, too. I mean, I saw her leave, but she couldn’t have. Anyway, I called to her, and chased her down the stairs because I didn’t know what she was doing there, but I couldn’t catch her. I had my flip-flops on and couldn’t run any faster, but I kept her in view. She went into the basement.”
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