Zone

by Jack Lance

Another pause, and then Evelyn sighed. ‘Why can’t she feel safe? She’s in a sheltered environment now. John and I love her. She must know that.’

  ‘Traumas like that can stay with a person for a long time,’ Sabrina commented.

  ‘I know, and that’s what I’m afraid of,’ Evelyn said. ‘What if this trauma haunts her for the rest of her life? My only wish is that she can leave it all behind and lead a normal life. I feel so badly for her. I want so much to help her. So does John.’

  They sat in silence as the plane flew on into the night. Cassie was silent now. Perhaps she had finally fallen asleep.

  ‘You said her uncle was the main suspect,’ Sabrina suddenly interjected. ‘Wasn’t the evidence conclusive?’

  ‘The evidence certainly pointed at him, as I indicated,’ Evelyn said. ‘But some doubt was cast because of what Cassie said after the murders, shortly before she stopped speaking altogether. She was terrified of a man who was hurting her, a man who wouldn’t leave her alone. She wasn’t referring to her uncle. She was referring to some other man she claimed had been inside the house.’

  ‘Another man?’ Sabrina queried.

  ‘I realize it’s all very confusing. The police didn’t find a shred of evidence that anyone had been inside the house besides the victims and Cassie, and they conducted a very thorough investigation.’

  Evelyn glanced up at the curved ceiling and covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. ‘Well, that’s it. That’s the entire story. After she made that statement she stopped talking, almost overnight.’

  When Evelyn said nothing for a while, Sabrina assumed she had indeed related the entire story. But the way Evelyn kept nibbling on her lower lip made Sabrina suspect there was more to come.

  ‘Did something else happen, Evelyn?’ she asked softly.

  The older woman hesitated for a moment, then said, ‘I don’t know, I really don’t. I sometimes think that Cassie sees things.’

  ‘What sort of things?’

  ‘Well,’ Evelyn continued, ‘there are times when I wonder …’

  She was struggling to find the right words. Sabrina glanced at the girl, who sat quietly, seemingly unaware that the two women were talking about her.

  Unwittingly, Sabrina started chewing her fingernails, a nervous habit of hers. ‘What, Evelyn?’

  ‘Let me put it this way,’ Evelyn said cautiously. ‘One day John and I took Cassie to church with us in Sugar Creek. During the entire service she kept staring at Rosa McGraft, the town’s teacher, who was sitting down from us in the same pew. Rosa was a few years older than me. The next day I heard Rosa had passed away during the night. It was very sudden. She had suffered a stroke.’

  Sabrina said nothing.

  ‘The same thing happened with the mailman, Larry Biffin. We saw him every day, but the last time he delivered our mail, Cassie … stared after him. The next thing we heard was that Larry had died from a heart attack.’

  Evelyn looked away, embarrassed. ‘You must think I’m nuts.’

  Before Sabrina could respond, Evelyn said, ‘It’s not just creepy things like that. I’ll tell you something else. A while ago my knee was acting up. It got so bad that I had trouble walking. Our doctor couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it. He was about to send me to a specialist in Salt Lake City when Cassie placed her hand on my knee. You may not believe this, but I swear it’s true. The pain started to ease immediately and within an hour it was gone. And it has never come back. Our doctor was thunderstruck. He had never seen anything like it and had no rational explanation for it.’

  There was still no indication that Cassie was listening to what they were saying about her. She just sat there staring dejectedly at her hands folded in her lap.

  ‘So,’ Sabrina whispered, ‘you’re saying that she’s been seeing and doing these things ever since the tragedy with her parents?’

  Evelyn nodded. ‘I asked around a bit, of course. It seems she was always somewhat eccentric, even before the murders. But as far as I could tell she had never done such, well …’

  ‘Such strange and inexplicable things,’ Sabrina finished for her.

  ‘Exactly,’ Evelyn said. ‘What troubles me most, however, is that she still won’t talk. She does mumble to herself sometimes. I call it babbling. And sometimes she makes louder noises. Throaty sounds … they give me the creeps. I can’t stand listening to them.’

  ‘Yes,’ Sabrina acknowledged. Evelyn’s story had stirred up memories of her mother, Patricia Labaton. The cacophony inside her mind started up anew.

  Phyllis Ruth Kirby watched her husband hurry toward the bathroom. He waddled a little, like a duck, swinging his head. She had never found these traits very attractive. Or anything else related to his fragile body, for that matter.

  Not that outward appearances mattered to Phyllis. She knew she was no pick of the litter, either. That would be Roberta, her only sister, a stunning beauty by anyone’s standards.

  Roberta was thirty-four years old, still blessed with the svelte, sexy waistline of her youth. Even today she could easily pass for a seductive woman in her mid-twenties.

  She had fallen for a man named Lupe Wolfe, a Brad Pitt look-alike. Life had been good for them until a police SWAT team, four men armed to the teeth, had stormed their house on a cold November morning before sunrise. The police had dragged Lupe from his bed and slapped handcuffs on him. Roberta had gone rigid with shock, so overwhelmed that she hadn’t uttered a word. The police carted Lupe off in a squad car while she stayed behind, alone, with her child.

  When Lupe appeared in court, Roberta found out what a low-life bastard she had taken up with. Wolfe was convicted for perpetrating three armed robberies. One robbery had spun out of control when he stabbed a bank employee who’d tried to call the cops. Although the victim survived, he had been scarred for life. Now Lupe resided in the Desert Valley State Prison in Big Bear Lake, a place he would call home for many more years.

  Roberta had never recovered from the trauma of that night. She no longer trusted men, she had trouble sleeping, and she was on antidepressants. Landing a decent job was out of the question. She would be unable to keep it, and there was no one to look after her child if she did go to work. Her life of luxury had ended abruptly. Now she was at home with a young son, penniless, and she had become the black sheep of the family.

  Phyllis, ten years older, had often warned her sister about Lupe, but her words of caution had fallen on deaf ears. Even when she first met him, Phyllis had sensed that Lupe was untrustworthy. She saw something in his eyes that to Roberta conveyed fierceness and courage, but to Phyllis emanated pure evil. Lupe was interested only in himself. Everybody else, as far as he was concerned, could go screw themselves. And that included Roberta, whom he was screwing unmercifully.

  Phyllis did not possess her sister’s physical beauty – quite the opposite, in fact – but she was smart and she commanded respect. Jerrod would never overstep his bounds with her. That’s why she was so clear-cut with him, maybe even a bit harsh. But such behavior got results. She knew where she stood with Jerrod and he knew where he stood with her. She would tolerate no unpleasant surprises.

  Jerrod disappeared into the toilet stall and closed the door behind him. She waited for him to come back out, but her patience soon ran dry. She remembered that he had complained about constipation recently; and knowing her husband as she did, she realized this could take some time.

  Phyllis decided to return to her seat. With a sigh she squeezed past the young man and plopped down on the cushion, her ample derrière consuming the entire space. She closed her eyes, waiting impatiently. She had no intention of falling asleep – she would have to get back up when Jerrod returned to his seat – but her eyelids seemed so heavy.

  Phyllis dozed off, trying to return to the dream her husband had intruded upon so rudely. That dream of course had nothing to do with him.

  FOURTEEN

  Pamela

  Aaron Drake rarely remembered
the details of his dreams. Often, moments before he awoke images appeared in his mind’s eye, as clear and sharp as a movie. This morning these images slipped away from him – as they usually did – when he opened his eyes and saw Sharlene standing over him in the dim light of the crew bunk.

  ‘What is it?’ he mumbled, still half-asleep. ‘Are you looking for a hot body? I’m ready if you are.’

  ‘Stow it, Aaron,’ she said forthrightly. ‘Would you please get up?’

  The strict tone in her voice brought him fully awake. He slid from the bed and put on his uniform jacket.

  Sharlene waited for him by the steps leading down into the cabin. He followed her down the steps and they paused behind the last row of passenger seats.

  ‘Well, what is it?’

  ‘I was just in the cockpit,’ Sharlene informed him. ‘Apparently they’re experiencing some trouble with the computers. Jim wants all electronic devices switched off. We’ve made the announcement and Michelle, Gloria, and Ray are making the rounds to make sure everyone complies. And the flight map in MEG isn’t working, either.’

  ‘Hmm. What’s the matter with the computers?’

  ‘I don’t know. Jim wasn’t specific. I’m not sure he knows.’

  ‘Well,’ Aaron said, ‘these things happen. That’s all?’

  Sharlene looked away and bit her lip.

  ‘Was it really necessary to wake me to tell me this?’ he persisted.

  ‘I just thought I should let you know,’ she said.

  Small issues were not uncommon; flights without glitches of any kind were rare. As long as the crew had the situation under control, there was no need to involve the purser. Let alone wake him up. Something else was going on, he intuited. Sharlene looked haggard, as if she hadn’t slept in days. He took her hands and wrapped them in his own.

  ‘Come on, Sharlene, out with it. What’s the matter?’

  She stared at her feet and took a deep breath. He sensed she was about to tell him something important.

  But, unexpectedly, she shook her head. ‘Why should I always have to tell you everything about me?’ she snapped.

  The reproach in her voice rendered him momentarily speechless. He hadn’t seen this coming. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he asked after a moment.

  But there was no need for her to explain. Aaron realized she had a point. He was overprotective, and he could imagine that at times she felt suffocated by his controlling nature. He was aware that the reason for his concern and propensity for overprotectiveness was grounded in Sharlene’s tumultuous past. He feared that it might trouble her for a long time to come.

  His own past played a role, as well. Pamela had never really let him go. She had carved a scar into his soul. He saw her again now, in his mind. More than once she had confessed to him that he was the kind of man she could have fallen for, were he not her brother. He was dependable, charming, and attractive, she told him.

  ‘And you have a brain,’ she added with a grin.

  Aaron had insisted that she should be looking for a different kind of man. Her praise was flattering – and he wouldn’t contest it – but in the long run she would find a man like him too boring. Pamela craved excitement, the thrill of the unexpected and the unknown. His life was much too predictable. In the end, she had to admit he was right.

  Aaron knew he was attractive to women, but Pamela had truly been one of Mother Nature’s gems. Her long ebony hair, symmetrical face, and soft, smooth skin could turn a normal man’s eye anywhere, at any time. Her radiant smile alone would have taken her places. She was a regular male-magnet and the envy of legions of other women. Pamela had everything – beauty, intelligence, charm – yet lacked one attribute, which was invisible on the outside but manifested itself in what she did. Or rather, what she didn’t do.

  After what happened to her – when it was too late – Aaron had developed an internal radar system to detect similar issues in other people.

  Such as Sharlene.

  In the nine weeks he and Sharlene had been a couple, she had had several anxiety attacks. Her main problem was darkness. What was she afraid of? He assumed it was post-traumatic stress. Although her father had passed away and Todd Bower was in jail, her mental scars had not yet healed. The worst was her recurring nightmare, which she apparently had had again this night. He suspected the dream was related to the terrible sufferings she’d been forced to endure. He prayed that Sharlene would someday come to terms with her past.

  As long as she doesn’t decide to take the car out and drive it into a lake.

  Aaron wished he could grab that thought and crush it beneath his heel.

  Just like Pamela, Sharlene seemed to have everything going for her. And just like Pamela, inside she was as vulnerable as a newborn babe.

  ‘So stop pestering me!’ Sharlene woke him from his reverie.

  Yes, with that tone of voice she sounded depressingly like Pamela.

  When she was twenty-four, Pamela – who was three years his junior – had fallen in love with a man twice her age with four children from two previous marriages. His name was Borislav, and he hailed from Lithuania. Aaron was convinced his sister must have suffered one of her fits of madness to be attracted to a man so unworthy of her.

  Everything went along fine for a few months, a long span of time by Pamela’s standards. Her relationships with men rarely lasted more than six weeks before they turned sour. One day she came to Aaron in tears, to announce she was pregnant. That was something entirely new. Aaron was stunned.

  Borislav, she said, wanted to marry her, but how would she break the news to their parents? They would disown her if she married someone so abominable in their eyes. In the end, Aaron had stood by his sister, although he would have preferred to see Pamela have an abortion and be rid of the son of a bitch forever.

  Their father and mother were devastated when they heard the news. But they could see no way out. In their views on sex and marriage, Donald and Clarice Drake were traditional parents. An abortion was something they would never condone. If their daughter was pregnant, she had to wed the father. It was as simple as that.

  Aaron tried to prevent the marriage, but in vain. It might have worked if Pamela had spoken up and refused to utter her vows. But she hadn’t, which was typical of her.

  She never stood up for herself. Not when it mattered.

  And she had been afraid of Borislav’s friends. Even now Aaron was convinced he knew only a fraction of what the man and his shady pals had done to her.

  The wedding took place, as scheduled. For Aaron and his parents, it had been a day they wanted to forget as soon as possible.

  But then other things had gone wrong.

  Aaron felt a lump form in his throat. The memories were still as vivid and as painful as the actual events had been.

  ‘I’m not trying to pester you, Sharlene, believe me,’ he said.

  Tonight was a world away from the hours they had spent alone on the beach together before the flight, just the two of them and the roaring surf and the love they had shared upon the soft white sand.

  She looked away from him and folded her arms across her chest. When she looked back, he saw tears welling in her eyes.

  ‘I can’t …’ she whispered.

  Maybe she was finally going to open up to him. Aaron held his breath and waited.

  ‘What is it?’ he urged when she refused to continue. ‘What can’t you do? Please, Sharlene, tell me.’

  ‘I can’t, I can’t tell you,’ she said tearfully.

  His eyes posed questions at her. ‘I don’t know what you’re referring to, Sharlene,’ he said quietly, ‘but please let me help you.’

  Despair was clearly etched on her face. He saw an unspeakable hurt there, as if she had taken off a mask and he was only now seeing the real Sharlene. There was something hidden inside her that he didn’t understand and couldn’t uncover.

  ‘Sharlene,’ he persisted. ‘You have me. What’s the matter? You trust me, don’t you? You
know I love you.’

  She stared at him as though he had just claimed to have found the solution for bringing peace on earth.

  But then she shook her head. ‘No, you wouldn’t understand. No one understands.’

  He felt more confused than ever.

  ‘Come, we have work to do,’ she said before he could respond. With that, she turned and walked into the cabin.

  He wanted to stop her. On the beach, everything had been so idyllic. But something had happened between then and now. What was it? What had happened?

  First the scare in her attic at home, then the turbulence, and the nightmare on board the plane. What connected the dots? What in the world was going on, he wanted to cry out in despair.

  You wouldn’t understand.

  Pamela had said basically the same thing to him after her miscarriage. And after her fights with Borislav, after she had told her husband she wanted a divorce, and he had reacted with all the fury and vengeance of a madman. And after her bouts with depression, just before in a final act of despair she drove her car into a lake.

  The police had called Aaron first. He had identified Pamela’s body, to spare his parents the ordeal. Later, he had fallen sick, suffering from feverish nightmares in which Pamela kept returning. In them, she was as pale as a corpse and soaking wet. But an accusing glint shimmered in her eyes, as if she blamed him for her death.

  Aaron had agonized over the reason why his sister had wanted to kill herself. What more could he, should he, have done? The longer he tormented himself, the more he became convinced that Borislav had not been the cause of her misery, but rather a symptom of it.

  Harsh as it might be to accept, Pamela had done it to herself. But why? Was it a character flaw? Was it a lack of self-esteem? Someone who lacked it, or lost it, was defenseless and could be dragged kicking and screaming into the depths of mental anguish.

  Aaron would do anything not to end up in the same state of utter despair. Depression, he knew, often ran in families. Despite what had happened to Pamela, he had kept his back straight, however hard it was to barricade himself from his grief. But he had never let on – or at least he had tried his damnedest not to let on.