by Debra Webb
The man and woman drank champagne and danced around the room. They toasted their son and talked about what a perfect birthday present his new bride was. They sang happy birthday to him.
Today was his birthday.
Andrea sat watching them. She couldn’t move. She felt sorry for the dead boy. If these people were really his parents, they shouldn’t be doing this to him.
She decided he had been handsome when he was alive. Young, too. Probably only seventeen or eighteen. The suit he wore looked new. Had they preserved him like this? Had they killed him? Maybe he died of some illness and they just couldn’t accept that awful truth.
Andrea sipped the champagne. Sip after sip, she watched the boy and drank, praying the alcohol would numb her to this nightmare. Then she remembered what Dan had told her. Be smart. Don’t drink yourself into stupidity.
“Eat your cake, Andrea.” The woman took Andrea’s empty glass and set it aside.
Andrea ate the cake, forcing forkful after forkful into her mouth. She chewed just enough to swallow the lump.
“Isn’t that cute?” the woman said to her husband. “See the way she looks at him? Now that’s love.”
Andrea kept ramming the cake into her mouth until it was gone.
“Good, girl!” The plate and fork were taken away. “Tomorrow we’ll start your cooking lessons. But tonight is all yours and Tate’s.”
Andrea felt the cake scaling back up into her throat. She swallowed harder to keep it down.
“First,” the man said, “there’s that one other thing we need to get done.”
Another urge to vomit contracted Andrea’s muscles. She struggled to contain the compulsion.
The woman nodded. “I almost forgot about that. Get her some gloves, Daddy. We don’t want her hands all blistered up. Tate wouldn’t like that.”
“Come along, daughter.” The man took her by the arm and hauled her out of the chair.
“Tate and I will keep celebrating!” the woman said. “Tate and Andrea sitting in a tree,” the woman sang, “k-i-s-s-i-n-g…first comes marriage…”
The crazy song faded as the man led Andrea through the kitchen and out the back door. It was still daylight outside. The urge to run slammed into her. Not yet! He would catch her.
She blinked at the sun, tried to look around without drawing his attention. The house was big and old. The yard surrounded by woods. Not in the city, she realized. She needed to turn around to look for the road. Just do it! She twisted her head around and stared beyond the house. The road was far away but she could see it!
“Now come on, darling.” He hustled her forward. “I’ll get you back to your new husband soon.”
He led her to a big old barn. While he heaved the large sliding door open, she scanned the woods. Thick and dark. When she got away, she could run into those woods and hide.
The barn was creepy and dark. He slammed the big door shut, leaving them in total blackness. Fear twisted inside her. A light switched on. Andrea blinked, looked around. What looked like a truck and maybe a car were covered with big green tarps. Shelves and a work bench lined one wall. But, at the far side of the barn, was a big pile of dirt. He ushered her closer to the pile. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the hole.
The other girls were in the hole. Bound and gagged and too still. Breathe, she told herself.
There were five bodies not four. She couldn’t see the other one’s face. The hole wasn’t wide enough. They were piled on top of each other. Some had fallen to the side. She could see the profiles of those two. Dana and Callie.
They were dead! Oh God!
Don’t scream!
“Here’s the gloves, little girl.”
Hands shaking, Andrea pulled on the gloves. That he held a shovel in his other hand terrified her. What was he going to make her do?
“This won’t be an easy chore, but it will bind us as a family.” He held the shovel out to her. “We’ll have no secrets in this family. We will all take equal responsibility for making sure Tate has a happy future. We cannot allow anyone to get in the way. This is your responsibility, Andrea. You won the right to be Tate’s bride. Now you must ensure the losers never cause us any trouble.”
Andrea wrapped the gloved fingers of one hand around the wooden handle. “I understand.”
“Good girl. I guess Mamma was right about you.”
Andrea stared at the stack of bodies in the hole. They were all dead. She was alone and no one was coming to save her. She had to do this. Putting the dirt on top of them wouldn’t hurt them any worse. She scooped up a shovelful of dirt and tossed it as gently as she could into the hole.
Callie’s body quaked.
Andrea stared at her. Squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them to clear her vision. Had she imagined it? Could any of them still be alive?
Callie twitched.
Andrea’s breath stalled. She was alive!
She bit her lips together to prevent calling out to Callie.
“Hurry up now,” the man said. “You don’t want to keep Tate waiting for your wedding night.”
Andrea nodded.
She scooped up another shovelful of dirt and tossed it into the hole. The sound of it scattering over the bodies made her jerk.
“You get tired, I’ll help you,” he offered.
Andrea turned to him and smiled. Her fingers tightened on the wooden handle. “Thank you, Daddy.”
He smiled back at her.
She lifted the shovel, dumped the next scoop. She steeled herself. Then she drew a deep breath, tightened her grip on the wooden handle and swung the shovel at him with every ounce of strength in her body.
She hit him in the gut. He doubled over
Andrea stumbled back from the impact.
He straightened. Charged her. She swung again. The metal of the shovel connected with his skull. He staggered. She swung again. Hit his head a second time. He fell to his knees.
Andrea threw the shovel and ran. She shoved hard at the door to open it far enough to slide out sideways.
She couldn’t run for the road. The woman might see her.
The woods?
Something slammed into her back.
Andrea hit the ground face first.
“Liar! Liar!”
Andrea tried to move. The woman was on top of her. Fear detonated in her veins. She had to get away!
Andrea bucked. The woman toppled off.
Scrambling forward on her hands and knees, Andrea clambered to her feet. Started to run.
Fingers manacled her ankle.
Too strong to be the woman.
Her foot was yanked out from under her and she went down.
The man towered over her, his face twisted with rage.
Andrea tried to crawl away.
He snatched her back.
The woman grabbed Andrea by the hair. “Where do you think you’re going, you stupid little liar?”
“I told you Dana was the best.”
The woman scoffed. “They’re all losers.”
The man jerked Andrea to her feet. “Maybe we should just start over.”
“We don’t want to disappoint Tate,” the woman argued. “It’s his wedding night. Can’t have a wedding night without a bride. We’ll punish her until she learns her lesson.” The woman looked to the man. “Take her to him. He might need some help from you. I’ll take care of the mess in the barn.”
“Come on, daughter.” The man jerked her forward. “It’s time you did your first wifely duty.”
Chapter Twenty-One
5:49 p.m.
“I thought that judge owed you a favor.” Frustration and anticipation gnawed at Jess. They were wasting time!
“We’re in position,” Burnett offered, his own patience audibly wearing thin. “The moment we have the word, we’re moving in.”
Jess tugged at the bulletproof vest she wore over her suit. She curled her toes. This was a hell of a time to be wearing heels. Talk about ill prepared. Prepared or not, what
the devil was taking so long with that warrant?
Griggs’s voice rattled across the earpiece she wore demanding a status. Jess wasn’t the only one out of patience.
Burnett touched the tiny mike at the neck of his Kevlar vest. “Detective Wells has arrived at Judge Schmale’s residence,” he told Griggs. “We should be hearing from her any minute.”
Silence echoed across the communications link. Everyone involved understood that there was nothing they could do until the judge had inked the warrant. At least not legally. Jess had been scorched already by that hot-button rule
In her opinion they had exigent circumstances and should move in without the warrant.
Burnett didn’t see it that way. No clear evidence, he insisted. No way to prove imminent threat to anyone…no way to prove evidence was being or about to be destroyed.
They were wasting time!
Jess forced herself to calm. She picked up the binoculars hanging around her neck and peered toward the Murray home. Nothing moving. The shades on all the rear windows were lowered. Chet had reported the same about the front. He and two of Griggs’s deputies were hidden in the knee-deep grass in the pasture across the road.
“Damn it,” Dan muttered, his frustration mounting. “What the hell is taking so long?”
Jess couldn’t believe he’d driven his Mercedes through that pasture and as far into the woods as was possible. The farm owner at the end of Jasper Lane had agreed to allow them access to his property. Burnett had explained that one of the missing girls had been spotted in the area and they were attempting a methodical search. Jess was shocked he’d embellished that much.
After driving as far as possible, he and Jess had then walked the remaining distance until the rear of the Murray house and the front of the barn were in view. The minivan sat between the house and the barn. The truck was parked behind the van. With both vehicles at home, there was every reason to believe the owners were as well.
Griggs, Patterson, and four more deputies had fanned out in the woods on the east and west sides of the house. As soon as the warrant was en route with Lori, two deputies would assume Jess and Burnett’s positions while they approached the house. By the time they had the Murrays questioned, the warrant would be here.
One wrong word, one wrong move and maybe they wouldn’t even have to wait for the warrant.
But no one or nothing was moving!
Jess tried Lori’s cell again. Straight to voicemail.
Why wasn’t she answering?
Burnett said something. Jess glanced back at him. His cell phone was pressed to his ear. Thank God. Maybe that was Lori with word on the warrant.
The barn door slid open. Mrs. Murray wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, then scrubbed both palms down the front of her Sunday-go-to-meeting dress. Maybe she and her husband were planning an outing. Jess scanned down to her white pumps. The short heels were caked with dirt. Mrs. Murray shoved at the door hard enough to give the impression of being angry then marched toward the rear entrance of the house. The sliding barn door had closed but bounced back open maybe a foot and a half or so.
Where the hell was that warrant?
Burnett was still on his phone. The Murray woman was angry. She had dirt caked on her heels. Something had happened…maybe in the barn.
Jess glanced at Burnett again, then at the back of the house as Murray disappeared inside.
She wasn’t waiting.
While Burnett was focused on his call, she rushed forward. No one on their team was going to shoot at her with POLICE emblazoned across the front and back of her vest. She cleared the tree line and slid to the ground next to the minivan.
“Harris! What the hell are you doing?” Patterson demanded.
Jess ignored his voice in her ear.
She wanted in that barn. Now.
“Jess.”
She braced for Burnett’s rant.
“Judge Schmale had a heart attack. Wells had to attend him until the paramedics arrived. She’s en route to Judge Benford’s residence. He has agreed to sign off on the warrant since Schmale is out of commission. Do not move until we have that warrant signed.”
Jess leaned her head against the van. Damn it! She gave Burnett a nod. He would be watching her through the binoculars. Her position was not visible from the house if anyone were to look out the windows. She was safe.
She also understood that his hesitation was about her. Her fuck-up in Virginia had him running scared.
If those girls were here, and Jess would bet her life they were, this bullshit waiting could cost their lives. Or, at the least, more pain and suffering. That was on her and she didn’t like it.
She eased her binoculars into place and tightened the view on that narrow opening into the barn. It was as dark as hell in there. She swore under her breath.
“Mrs. Murray is coming back outside,” Burnett warned.
Jess froze.
“Headed to the barn. Don’t move, Jess.”
She kept her attention on that door…waiting for it to open wider.
The woman’s image filled her view. Jess held her breath. Waited for her to move out of the damned way.
Murray continued into the barn. Jess scanned as far as the open door and the sunlight that poured in would allow. Shelves…tools.
Something big and green drew her attention back to the left…a tarp or something.
Damn it!
“There’s something big under a tarp in there,” she whispered. “Could be a car.”
“Do not move, Jess,” Burnett repeated.
Dr. Sullivan had been driving a white Taurus when she disappeared. Mr. Murray said she had shown up here. No one had seen her since. That could be her car hidden in there. When would these guys see that all these little coincidences added up to evidence? At least in Jess’s mind.
She had to get in there.
Mrs. Murray stamped out of the barn and slid the door closed. The door’s metal on metal squeak pierced the air.
With every step the woman took something clinked.
What was she carrying?
The sun glinted against the object in her hands. A pile of something silver. Shiny links spilled out of her hold.
A chain?
“She’s going back in the house,” Burnett said, his voice whispering in Jess’s earpiece.
Jess touched her mike. “Did you see what she was carrying?”
“I saw it.”
“We can’t keep waiting.” Jess was going in that barn. “If the chain doesn’t do it for you, I don’t know what will.”
Why the hell would a woman take a chain into her house? Unless to bind a hostage. She didn’t look like the type to be into sexual bondage.
“Do not move, Jess, that’s an order.”
She studied the barn door. It would make that awful screeching noise when she opened it. The windows on the house were closed. Surely the sound wouldn’t be heard beyond those closed windows and doors.
The shades were all drawn…the chances of her being seen were unlikely.
Lori would have the search warrant signed any minute now. So what if Jess was a few seconds ahead of her. It wasn’t like last time when she’d gone out on her own, without authorization or backup period, much less en route.
The chain did it for her.
Keeping low, Jess crept to the front of the minivan. Burnett shouted in her earpiece but he was easy to ignore with the goal of getting a closer look at that car on her mind.
Staying low, she eased from the front of the vehicle to the barn door. She leaned one shoulder against the board and batten wall and pushed the door with both hands. It slid a few inches, squealed in protest.
“Dammit, Jess!”
She hesitated, glanced at the back of the house. She was in plain sight of anyone who peeked out a window.
Fuck it. She shoved the door hard, moved inside and slid the door closed, flinched at the squeal.
The interior of the barn was black and silent.
Jess reached for the flashlight on the utility belt at her waist. No one yelled a warning so she assumed she hadn’t been spotted by the Murrays. She clicked on the light and surveyed the space.
There were two vehicles covered with green tarps, one larger than the other…like a truck.
Pulse skittering, Jess eased in that direction. She tried to find the end of the trap to move it away from the first vehicle. She tripped. Bumped her head. She needed more light.
“Jess, what’re you doing in there?”
“Hold on,” she murmured. “I need more light.”
Jess scanned the interior of the barn with her puny light. There was a switch near the door. With the flashlight’s beam, she followed the exposed wiring from the switch to an overhead light fixture. She headed that way. Struggled to get a deeper breath. Her heart thundered with the burn of adrenalin.
Her left foot mired into the dirt floor. “Shit.” She jerked her foot upward, her shoe tried to come off. Not mud. Dry, loose dirt. Shining the flashlight on her shoe, she shook the dirt free and tugged the sling-back strap over her heel. What the hell? The barn floor had been hard packed dirt until she reached this point. The image of the dirt on Mrs. Murray’s heel flashed through her mind.
For six or seven feet from where she stood on firm ground to the back of the barn the dirt looked loose. She used the flashlight to study the loose ground. About four feet wide.
Grave?
The dirt shifted.
Jess stumbled back, almost dropped the flashlight.
She eased back to the door, felt for the switch since taking her eyes off the loose dirt was out of the question.
“Jess?”
The overhead light chased away the darkness.
The dirt moved again. Shifted like a tiny earthquake had shaken that small section of the ground.
Jess eased closer. She dropped to her knees and reached down to touch the dirt. It moved. She jumped.
The blood roaring her ears along with Burnett’s demands, she dropped the flashlight and started to dig with both hands. Her fingers dragged through something long and stringy. Hair.
“Oh God.” She scraped the dirt away from the lump she’d touched.
A face. Her insides went deathly quiet. Jess hurried to uncover more. Female. Blond hair.