“You would’ve done the same, CeeCee, except you probably wouldn’t have gotten yourself shot doing it,” she smiled weakly. “You were right all along; I knew you would end this somehow. I’m proud of you, and I’m glad you’re okay.”
I gave her hand a small squeeze and smiled back at her. Naomi Kincaid earned my respect today, more than I would ever have imagined, and I knew that from this day on our relationship would be different. I watched the ambulance drive away, including the emergency medical technician who had demanded to stay with me until the other ambulance arrived, but whom I’d ordered to go, repeating that I would be fine.
I made my way back to the grassy area and lay down, waiting for my own ambulance to arrive. It’s a good thing I’m not dying, I thought, the local emergency response time is for shit. Eric and Coop sat with me while Michael made phone calls.
He joined us when he was done. “I’ve got five agents on their way now,” he reported. “The district supervisor is in shock about this whole thing, and I think some people in the bureau are going to get their asses chewed; we should’ve never been denied our request for extra agents, nor had it take this long.”
“Who is going to process this scene?” Eric asked.
“They’re sending the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation to do it. They’ll be here within an hour. Once I get all of our paperwork to headquarters they’re going to start issuing search warrants and arrest warrants, putting Sheriff Conroy and Eddie Lewis at the top of the most wanted list. Laurie was the key. She told me where their main meth lab is and gave me enough for the warrant, and obviously, the events of today give us more than enough for their arrest.”
“They confessed everything to me,” I said. “They thought it would be funny to tell me what I missed before they killed me. They told me about Boz, Lizzie Johnston, Hensley, Karen, and Lisa Grendle. They were also going to kill Delphy too, but he killed himself first. That guy you shot next to VanScoy was a fucking corrections officer in our jail. He was the one that gave them my home address, not to mention they had a tracking device on our car the whole time.”
“I thought that guy looked familiar!” Eric and Coop said, in unison.
I kept looking around, concerned about the whereabouts of the sheriff and Eddie Lewis, knowing I would never rest until they were caught, but instead of seeing them, I was alarmed to see a tall, blonde female approach.
“Eric! Behind you!” I yelled, reaching for my gun, which was right beside me. I didn’t trust anyone right now.
“CeeCee! It’s okay! That’s Laurie Kaylor!” Eric said, grabbing my arm and taking my gun out of my hand.
Laurie slowly made her way to us, looking around at the carnage that was spread throughout the clearing, a look of horror coming over her face. Putting her hands over her mouth, she walked over to the well, where the fire still burned, and found Big Al’s boot that was sitting by the wall where he went over. Holding the boot, tears in her eyes, Laurie looked over at Michael, who shook his head, “no,” telling Laurie what she already knew. Big Al was dead. She fell to her knees, sobbing, still clutching the boot. That day had changed me inside and out. Maybe I would’ve had sympathy for Laurie a day earlier, but I didn’t then. I didn’t feel sorry for her one bit. If she was stupid enough to hook up with a monster like Allen Davis, she deserved everything she got. I wasn’t the least bit thankful to her either. She hadn’t been human enough to help me until she’d been forced to. Only under threat did she tell anyone where I was.
Getting herself together, Laurie made her way over to us, setting Big Al’s boot down in front of me, which to her surprise, I immediately kicked away.
“You!” I screamed, “Get away from me! Go over and mourn your monster boyfriend, who, God willing, is in pieces at the bottom of the well!”
“CeeCee, don’t—she helped us,” Coop said.
“Helped us my ass! This stupid cunt would’ve let me die here if you guys hadn’t forced her! God only knows how many other people she could’ve saved, Andrea included, but she didn’t!” I turned my battered face straight at Laurie. “Your boyfriend is in pieces honey,” I taunted, “too bad you couldn’t join him!”
Laurie looked at me, astonished, before she turned and ran away, crying again. I watched as Michael went after her. She was our only informant about the past practices of the sheriff and his gang, but I didn’t care just then. If she’d fallen down the hill and broken her neck right there before our eyes, I would’ve been thrilled.
Eric put his arms around my shoulders and held me tight. I closed my eyes and rested my head back on his chest, suddenly aware of how exhausted I was. With the exception of my blackout from the chloroform, I had been awake for over twenty-four hours. Being chased through the woods at the motel seemed like weeks ago, not two nights before. To keep my mind of the excruciating pain in my body, and the mental pain in my head, I asked Eric to tell me how, exactly, they managed to get down here and save me. Coop joined in and together they told me, while we waited for the second ambulance.
Chapter Sixteen
What they told me was astonishing; Laurie Kaylor had filled them in on what happened at Big Al’s, and of course, they were there for the rest of it.
While I lay on the ground unconscious at Big Al’s, the man who put me in that state helped the other two drag Michael’s body to the car. After drugging Andrea Dean, they put the both of us in the trunk of their car, and Michael in the back seat of our rental car, before driving away, one following the other. Laurie Kaylor sat silently on the front porch, having seen, and heard, everything that had just happened. She knew where they were taking us, but after years of watching situations like these, she was too terrified to do anything but watch.
The man driving our rental car pulled off to the side of Interstate 79 near Tariff, with the other car following it. He removed the keys from the ignition, lit a cigarette, and looked into the back seat at Michael, chuckling to himself.
The boss showed them, didn’t he? the man thought to himself as he got out of the car, hurling the keys over the guardrail into the woods below. He still wondered why they weren’t allowed to kill the fed. A hard knock on the head wasn’t good enough as far as this man was concerned, but the boss was adamant about not having the feds rain down on Ovapa. He was sure there would problems, but nothing they couldn’t fix. They couldn’t fix a dead FBI agent. They already knew they could get away with a dead cop, but not FBI. The man took a small object from inside one of the car’s tire wells, got into the car that followed him, and rode quietly away.
Not more than fifteen miles away, Coop, Kincaid, and Eric were at the rest area where Michael and I were to meet the state police. Michael had left Coop a message telling him so. However, neither the state police, nor Michael, nor I, were there.
“Eric, try CeeCee’s cell phone, again.” Coop felt as if he were nagging, but didn’t care.
“I just did, there’s no answer. What about Michael?”
“Nope. Just tried that, too. I think we should head for the place Michael said they were last going to.”
“No,” Kincaid ordered. “We need to wait for the state police and go from there. None of us are going off half-cocked before we really know what’s going on.”
“Fuck the state police,” Eric snapped. “They already said they’re tied up on that chemical spill, and they didn’t sound too overly eager to help, anyway. I’ve got a bad feeling right now, and I’m with Coop, we’re going to that house.”
“I guess I’m outnumbered, aren’t I?” Kincaid said agreeably, shaking her head as she got into the car.
On the interstate, Michael was waking up at the same time as the others were leaving the rest area. His head was throbbing with pain and it took him a few minutes to see where he was and then remember the events at Big Al’s house. Oh, God! CeeCee!, he thought, climbing to the front of the car and reaching for keys that weren’t there. In a panic, he began patting the pockets of his pants, praying his cell phone was still there. It was. His f
irst call was to the state police, who said they would be there as quickly as possible. The next one was to Coop, who was waiting for it.
“Coop!” Michael yelled as Coop answered.
“Michael, where the hell are you guys? We’ve been trying to call you for an hour. We’re all down here looking for you....”
“You’re here!” Michael interrupted. “Coop, listen, they’ve got CeeCee. I’m on the interstate just outside of Tariff. They knocked me out and left me here. They took CeeCee!” He spoke breathlessly, his head still pounding.
“Oh my God! I fucking knew it! When did they take her?” Coop exclaimed before Eric ripped the phone out of his hand.
“Michael! It’s Eric! We are on the way. Look for us. Do you know how to get back to that place you guys were just at?” He was losing his composure.
“I-I think so,” Michael replied. “I got a pretty good knock on the head, but I think I can find it. I’ll look for you.”
“God damn you for letting this happen!” Eric exploded. “If anything happens to her, I’m holding you responsible,” and he turned the phone off.
Kincaid and Coop sat quietly in the car while Eric broke the sound barrier driving to Michael’s location. Both knew Eric was close to losing it, and they thought it best to not say anything, and especially not, “slow down.”
Kincaid rubbed her eyes and wondered if it had been such a good decision to allow Eric to come along, but how could she have said no? CeeCee was his wife and he would’ve come anyway.
Once Eric was on the interstate, he slowed down considerably, telling Coop to look out for Michael.
After a couple of minutes Coop yelled out, “There he is!” pointing to Michael standing by the rental car on the opposite side of the highway. Eric drove across and through the median and pulled behind Michael’s car. He put the car in park so fast that the three of them were thrown forward hard in their seats. Eric was outside instantly, before Coop or Kincaid could protest his driving techniques. Michael, who anticipated where Eric would be coming from, braced himself.
“What happened? Where the fuck were you when they took her?” Eric screamed, walking up to Michael and getting nose to nose with him.
“Eric, listen-I’m sorry...”
“I don’t want to hear ‘I’m sorry’! What kind of a fucking cop are you that you let this happen!” Eric poked Michael in the chest as he said this.
“Eric! That’s enough!” Kincaid yelled from behind him. “We need to find CeeCee first, and deal with the rest later! All of you get in the car. Michael, you tell us where we need to go.”
Eric and Michael stood glaring at each other for a few seconds more before Eric turned and walked back to the car.
“Michael,” Coop suggested, “why don’t you sit in back with the Captain, and she can take a look at your head,” obviously meaning that the more distance between him and Eric, the better.
“I’ll be fine,” Michael said, angrily. “Coop, this wasn’t my fault! I was hit from behind before I could do anything. God damn it! Don’t you think I’m upset about this, too! I understand Eric’s upset, but if something happens to CeeCee I don’t think I’ll be able to...”
“Michael,” Coop interrupted, “we are all upset right now—Eric understandably. That is his wife Michael, his wife! Get in the car; we need to get going.”
Eric was in the driver’s seat and had heard the entire conversation. He didn’t look at Michael as he walked past his window and got inside the car. Eric felt more responsible than anyone else. I should’ve done more to keep her at home, he thought. He had only been bluffing when he’d told me to move out if I came to West Virginia (just as I’d hoped he was), he was hoping I would stay, but he underestimated me. Now he felt that he might have lost me for good—if not by me being killed, then to Michael—and that scared him.
Michael told Eric to turn the car around and go the other direction while Kincaid conducted a minor inspection of the knot on his head. Probably a minor concussion, she told him, and went on to ask him why they hadn’t killed him. Michael shared his conclusion that their mentality was not to mess with anyone federal, and went to tell them all of what had transpired after he’d received the phone call with Big Al’s address, ending with when he saw me climbing up the trellis to look in the window, which was the last thing he remembered.
“They must’ve been watching you the entire time,” Coop reasoned. “That’s why the dog ran into the woods—he heard them. They probably made noise on purpose so you didn’t shoot it. People are funny about their dogs.”
“Could be, but I don’t remember any noise at all,” Michael said quietly.
“So you don’t know if CeeCee saw anything in the window,” Kincaid mused. “I wonder if you guys happened to be there at the wrong time, or if they were expecting you.”
“They were expecting us,” Michael said. “They’ve been a step ahead of us for the last two days. I just don’t know how. Turn here, Eric.”
Eric turned from the interstate onto a dirt road and began driving uphill, slowly so Michael could look for landmarks. After turning on road after road, and having to backtrack twice, they made their way down the road to Big Al’s. Seeing the lights ahead, Eric pulled off in almost the same spot Michael and I had parked several hours earlier.
“Do you think anyone’s still here?” Kincaid asked, checking the ammunition in her gun’s magazine.
“I doubt it,” Michael said. “They wouldn’t come back here, especially after leaving me alive.”
Coop and Eric got out of the car and started walking towards the house, foregoing the coverage of the woods. Eric could have cared less if anyone saw him then. He was ready. When they came upon the edge of the front yard, Coop saw movement inside the house.
“Someone’s there!” Coop whispered loudly.
“Go to the front door and knock,” Eric ordered, and began to walk towards the back of the house.
Coop stepped onto the front porch, followed by Kincaid and Michael, and loudly knocked. Receiving no response, Coop knocked louder and received a shock when the door opened and Eric stood there holding the arm of a tall, blonde woman who was obviously terrified.
“Eric, what are you doing?” Kincaid yelled.
“I went around back and saw her hiding in the kitchen while you were knocking. I figure she’ll have some answers. Why don’t we all come in and have a talk.” Eric led the woman to the front room and seated her on an old, ragged Lazy-Boy. Coop, Michael, and Kincaid followed.
“Eric! I don’t think we should...” Kincaid began.
“Be quiet, Naomi! This is the way it’s going to be, from here on out, until we find CeeCee. If you don’t like it, go wait in the fucking car!” Eric’s face was red with emotion.
Kincaid, clearly defeated, as neither Coop nor Michael disagreed with Eric, stood with her back against the wall. Coop and Michael stood on opposite sides of the woman, while Eric faced her.
“What is your name?” Eric demanded of the woman.
“Lau-Laurie Kaylor,” the woman replied, shaking.
“She’s Allen Davis’s—that’s Big Al’s—girlfriend,” Michael put in.
“Outstanding,” Eric responded. “Now, here is how this is going to work tonight. You are going to tell me where my wife is, and tell me. We’re a great combination for covering up a murder—your murder—if you don’t start talking!”
“I’m telling y’all the truth!”
Michael, who had remained silent up to this point, took his gun out of its holster, leaned over Laurie, and told her to open her mouth. This came as a major shock to Eric, Coop, and Kincaid, but no one made any attempt to stop him. Laurie, who’d started to cry, opened her mouth. Michael stuck the barrel of his gun in it.
“I’m not fucking around with you, sweetheart! You’ve got exactly thirty seconds to tell us where Detective Gallagher is, or I’ll blow your brains out all over the fucking wall,” he said calmly.
“Oh my god...” Kincaid mumbled, putt
ing her hands over her mouth.
Laurie started furiously shaking her head up and down, and Michael slowly pulled the gun out of her mouth as Eric took his gun out and put it to Laurie’s head.
“Let’s hear it,” Eric ordered.
“Okay! Okay!” Laurie began. “I was here when they knocked ya out and took her and the other one!”
“What other one?” Michael asked.
“That Andrea gal that they’s been keepin’ upstairs in the spare bedroom. They took her with ‘em too, after they drugged ‘em and tied ‘em up.”
“Where did they go?” Eric demanded.
“To the clearin’—y’all’ll be too late. She’s already dead. They know y’all be lookin’ fer ‘em, and I doubt if they ever come back here again—unless it’s to kill me, which I know they will now!”
“Do you know how to get to this clearing?”
“I kin’t go with y’all! They’ll kill me. They already took ker of Gina today because she talked to y’all, and Lord knows, ain’t nobody ever gonna find her body!”
Eric and Coop looked at Michael confused, and Michael briefly filled them in on Gina Reynolds’s visit to our room yesterday. I suppose I was right when I thought she would die the minute she left our room. Eric was losing patience with Laurie, and time was running out.
“You are going with us, and you are going to show us where this clearing is,” Eric said, flipping the safety off his gun.
“Laurie, I can offer you federal protection until this is wrapped up,” Michael told her, “but you have to cooperate and testify. No one will ever find you if you agree.”
Laurie took a few seconds to mull the offer over, and finally, as if she had any other choice, agreed. Kincaid handcuffed her and started walking her to the car, with Coop following, leaving Eric and Michael standing on the front porch alone. Michael started walking towards the others, but Eric grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“Michael—I need to know...” He paused. “Did you sleep with my wife?” Eric demanded.
“Eric, no, I didn’t. This isn’t the time.”
Murder Mountain Page 25