Deadly Decision

by Regina Smeltzer

  “You’re not a wimp,” Ted said, kneeling beside her. “How about this? We’ll go and see what’s behind that door. You stay here until we get back. There isn’t much space on the steps anyway.”

  “Is Mitch supposed to come today?” I asked.

  “He’s at the garage this morning,” Ted replied. “He’s scheduled to come by this evening.”

  “I don’t want Trina alone if Mitch shows up.”

  “I’ll stay with her,” Sandra said, giving me a look that was colder than the air at the bottom of the newly discovered stairs.

  I didn’t care. Fate had solved the problem of protecting the girls.

  Ted and I carefully retraced our steps. Slipping on the grit, Ted grabbed onto the side wall for support. “We could sweep off the stairs,” he said, “it would be safer.”

  “Too much dust. We wouldn’t be able to breathe.”

  Taking a step at a time, we reached the bottom of the stairs. My nerves jangled like a Salvation Army tambourine. Only a single wooden door stood between us and the unknown. The anger was fading and I knew overwhelming fear would soon follow. I had to hurry.

  Ted held both lights as I lifted the cross beam. There was just enough room for the door to clear the bottom step, and both Ted and I had to climb back onto the stairs to give the door room to open. Should I warn Ted?

  Afraid to breath, I stared into the cave beyond the door. I tensed, expecting to hear the macabre laugh of the demon, or see red, glowing eyes in the darkness in front of me. “This is amazing,” Ted said, looking around.

  Our flashlights partially illuminated the interior of a stone-lined room. The space looked to be about seven feet square, with dozens of trunks similar to those in the attic, stacked one on top of another. The height of the stacks, some four trunks high, prevented our lights from penetrating to the back of the room. Goose bumps rose on my arms. The silent space felt creepy and tomb-like. But unless the demon was hiding in the shadows, Ted and I were alone. The anger was almost gone. I had to hurry.

  “Be careful,” I said. “Don’t hit the walls. I’m not sure how solid this place is.”

  Sandra’s voice came from above. “What’s down there?”

  I went out of the room to the bottom of the stairs, afraid a loud voice would crumble the fragile environment, and looked up at her anxious face.

  “Come on down,” Ted shouted from the room.

  I scowled at my son-in-law, and looked back toward Sandra in time to see her glance toward Trina. I could hear my daughter’s muffled voice.

  I lit the stairs as Sandra descended.

  “Hold on to the wall so you don’t slip.”

  Slowly she navigated the uneven steps.

  I was angry with Ted for bringing Sandra down to the cave. There was something in the room I was meant to find, and Sandra didn’t need exposed to danger. Plus Trina was now alone upstairs. I could handle Mitch if he unexpectedly showed up in the kitchen, but Trina was no match for an angry man.

  “Trina,” I called from the stairs, “let me know if you hear Mitch’s truck.”

  “Dad!”

  “Please.”

  “All right.”

  I took Sandra’s hand and led her inside the door of the stone room. I handed her my flashlight, and she slowly examined the dark space. “To think this has been here all this time.”

  “Everything is covered in dirt,” Ted said. As if on cue, a few grains of sand sifted from the ceiling to the floor.

  “You’ve got to whisper. I told you before, any noise could make these walls fall on top of us.”

  “Sorry.”

  I stood with Sandra as she continued to roam the beam of light around the room. Ted opened one of the five trunks lying on their sides that were close to the door. “We have more empty trunks,” he said.

  I ran my hand over the top of my head, and felt the grit that had already become trapped in the stubble. But Mitch stealing from the cave didn’t explain the crushing weight on my chest.

  Unable to wait any longer, I took the flashlight from Sandra. “Stay here.”

  Walking behind a stack of trunks, I shined the light into the dark recesses. Moving slowly around one stack of containers then another, I pointed the beam of light in front of me like a sword. The majority of the room remained in darkness, but the darkness did not move.

  Ted wandered toward the right hand side. “Look at those roots,” he exclaimed, pointing his beam at the ceiling. “They must be from the magnolia tree out back. Look at the texture against the stone—”

  “Probably leaks like a sieve. The only reason this stuff doesn’t have more water damage is because this room’s under the back porch.”

  Ted’s misshapen roots looked more like withered arms than potential artwork to me. The back wall tilted inward at a precarious angle. A few grains of sand worked their way between the rocks and the sound as they landed reminded me of rats.

  “You OK Sandra?” I called.

  “I’m fine. I might go back up and get Trina’s flashlight.”

  “Ah…Bill. You better come back here.”

  Not again!

  I rounded the next stack of trunks toward the far right wall. The beam from Ted’s flashlight was pointed to the floor.

  I jumped back. “What in the...”

  “What is it?” Sandra cried.

  “Sandra, stay there,” I croaked, amazed I could make any sound come out of my throat. She stood alone in the dark, but right now, I preferred that to what my light revealed. Hoping it wasn’t true, I thought I knew what we had found. But I was no expert.

  “What’s wrong?” Sandra asked.

  My heart clawed its way into my throat as I heard her moving in the darkness. She had to stay away; she couldn’t see this!

  “I’ll be right there. Just stay put. Don’t come over here. Please.”

  The beam of my flashlight joined Ted’s.

  Facing me, with empty eye sockets and a wide grin, was a skull. The skull rested at an odd angle, about five inches off the floor, sitting on top of a few vertebrae that had remained stacked. What I assumed were ribs and the arm bones lay scattered around the head. Perfect skeletal hands splayed glove-like beside the body. Legs stretched out in front of the skull, with the bottoms of bones encased in boots. Fragments of clothing clung to bits of bone. A gold ring encircled one finger.

  Not Jimmy! The initial shock receded, and the gruesome panic created when I thought we had found Jimmy’s body melted. No fear. No anger. Huge relief.

  “It’s not Jimmy,” Ted whispered. “Look at the boots. Too big.”

  “And the wedding ring.”

  He nodded. “And the head’s too big too.”

  I felt sorry for whoever the fellow was, but my relief that it was not Jimmy left me feeling weak. I leaned against the stack of trunks beside me.

  “Notice the satchel?” Ted said. “I wonder what’s in it.”

  “Bill?” Sandra’s frightened voice sounded flat in the small room.

  “I’m coming. Stay there.”

  On impulse, I grabbed the satchel and tried to decide how to best explain what we had found to the women.

  22

  “We need to call the police,” Sandra stated. “This changes things.”

  “It doesn’t change anything,” I said. “The skeleton’s decades old, maybe older.”

  I had pushed the cabinet back in place to hide the cave, but we remained in the kitchen, almost like old-time claim-stakers afraid to be too far from their find.

  “If we call the police,” Ted stated, “we’ll show our hand to whoever was in the cave last night. The newspaper monitors the police calls. If they ran a story on a small marijuana plot, you know they’re going to jump on a story about a skeleton.”

  “If we wait awhile, what will it hurt?” I repeated. “A few more days won’t make any difference to the skeleton, but it may give us a chance to catch the thief.”

  Sandra folded her arms in front of her. “That’s the pol
ice’s job.”

  “The police have enough to do. They still haven’t caught Jimmy’s killer…”

  “Dad!”

  “We can’t ruin our opportunity. Ted and I are going to take turns staying up at night.” I looked at Ted, and he nodded.

  “And if you see anyone or hear anyone,” Trina added softly, “you promise to call the police, and not try to capture him on your own?”

  “Promise,” I said, reaching for the bottle of pain medicine that was still on the table.

  Trina looked across the table. “Ted?”

  “I promise.”

  I shook out a couple of pills and looked toward Sandra. “It’s really up to you, since it’s your house. But I sure would like a chance to catch that guy.”

  Sandra’s eyes burned into mine for a long moment. I was surprised when she agreed.

  “But just the minute things get out of hand, I’m calling the police,” she added. “Now, what is this thing on the table?”

  Eagerly I placed my hands on the flap of the satchel.

  Sandra’s cellphone rang. She looked at the screen. “It’s the police station,” she murmured.

  “Maybe they have news about the marijuana,” I mumbled as she pushed the receive button.

  Sandra gasped, and then her face turned white. I pushed a chair under her. “They’ve found Jimmy’s killer!” She turned her attention back to the caller. “They found the green blanket,” she mouthed toward us.

  Sandra’s look of anguished relief melted as her eyes rounded and she gasped.

  “You found it where? There has to be a mistake… what do you mean an anonymous tip?” She slumped against the back of the chair, incredibility and disbelief transforming her face. I hung on every word she said, wishing I could hear the other end of the conversation.

  Sandra’s eyes glassed over as the voice on the other end of the phone continued. Trina clung to Ted.

  “How can you believe that?” Tears pooled in the corner of her eyes. “You’ve made a terrible mistake.”

  Sandra dropped the phone into her lap and stared at us with an incredulous look. “They just arrested Pastor Steve for kidnapping Jimmy!”

  

  Being hit on the head, finding the hidden cave complete with a skeleton, and now Pastor Steve’s arrest drained my scant energy reserve. In spite of my exhaustion, I took the first night’s watch. The comfort of my room would have to wait.

  Yawning, I got up from the kitchen table and paced around in the dark. My shoes made firm solid sounds, unlike the phantom cracks and creaks that normally woke me during the night.

  I regretted refusing Sandra’s offer to sit with me. Her company would have helped pass the time. Now I struggled to stay awake; and she was staying with Lisa, the preacher’s wife.

  And what about Pastor Steve? Sandra believed him to be innocent. I wasn’t so sure. No one knew better than me how evil can hide in a pretty package.

  My muscles ached, and I wanted nothing more than to go to bed.

  Coffee.

  I groped in the dark trying to locate the coffee and filters. Using my finger to feel the level of water in the glass pot, I poured what I hoped was eight cups into the reservoir and flipped on the coffeemaker.

  Startled, I slapped my hand over the brew light. The tiny light had cut through the darkness like a beacon. I mentally kicked myself for giving away my presence if someone was lurking outside. Dropping to my knees, I stretched for a dishtowel, tossed it over the pot to hide the light, and then crawled to the door. Cautiously I pulled myself up and stared into the quiet yard.

  Clouds drifted over the moon, changing the shape of the landscape at whim. Light and dark merged, separated, and merged again. I wished for a pair of night vision goggles. Nothing human moved outside, and nothing human or otherwise jumped out at me inside. I yawned again.

  I flipped the coffee pot off before removing the dish towel and pouring a steaming cup. The warmth felt good between my hands. The chill was not the same as the cold I had felt in the attic. I roamed my eyes around the room, examining every corner for the hundredth time; no black shadows drained the light like the darkness had done under the eaves. That observation provided no reassurance. The demon could appear in an instant.

  The wind picked up. In my darkened bedroom, the rustle of leaves from the old laurel oak had always kept me company. Here the sound mocked me.

  I glanced at my watch. Almost 4 AM. Soon it would be dawn.

  Sleep overwhelmed my willpower, and I left the house and its occupants unprotected.

  23

  I jerked awake and looked around, unable to remember why I was in the kitchen instead of upstairs in my bed.

  Ted stood at the sink, looking out into the yard.

  I hated that my son-in-law had found me sleeping on guard duty. Glancing out the window, the horizon was outlined in a rosy glow. I glanced at my watch. Six AM. “Figured it was safe to close my eyes once the sun came up.”

  “I couldn’t sleep,” Ted mumbled. “I keep thinking about all the things that are happening.”

  I rolled my head in a circle, trying to stretch out the tightness. “You told me once that if I couldn’t do anything about something, I needed to let it go.”

  A faint smile curved Ted’s lips. “Sorry for that advice. It’s harder to do than I thought.”

  “It was still good advice.”

  “I need to pray,” he said, and walked out of the room, leaving me to stare after his retreating back.

  Even with a second sleepless night, my mind was more alert than it had been in a long time. My brain might be working on new batteries, but my legs felt like strips of licorice as I got up from the chair.

  I tiptoed to the parlor, knowing Ted would be there. I often saw him on his knees when I walked by. Today a deep intensity etched his face. God was getting an ear-full.

  I walked into the room, gently squeezed Ted’s shoulder, and knelt beside him. It was time I had a talk with God, too.

  

  Later that morning Ted and I called the police about the skeleton. There wasn’t much sense in delaying. The whole applecart had been upset with the arrest of Pastor Steve.

  For the third time since my initial arrival in Darlington, Officer Studler arrived at the house.

  “The dispatcher said you found a skeleton.”

  We had really put him through the paces. First a ghost, then a marijuana patch, now a skeleton. Maybe all of these were within a normal month’s work for him; I wasn’t sure. But none of this was normal for me. Ted and I led the way to the kitchen. The cabinet was closed, hiding the stone steps. Moving my hand across the frame until I found the familiar latch, I slid the cabinet from the wall.

  Wide eyed, Officer Studler stared at Ted. “How long have you known about this?”

  “Bill found it yesterday after he was hit…”

  “… I stumbled while trying to reach the top of the cupboard. That’s when I found the latch.”

  “And you knew how to move the thing off the wall?”

  “The ‘thing’ is a cupboard. And yes, I knew to pull it off the wall.”

  “How?”

  “Instinct.”

  “And you moved the thing and found the alleged skeleton?”

  “Ted and I found it; the ladies stayed in the kitchen. And it is a skeleton.”

  Officer Studler pulled out his black department-issued flashlight and shined it down the stone staircase. “And you never knew this was here?”

  I shrugged my shoulders.

  “OK, show me your skeleton.”

  “Be careful, the steps are slick,” I said.

  Ted and I turned on our flashlights. At the bottom, I tucked my light under my arm, removed the crossbeam, backed myself onto the stairs as I opened the door.

  “It’s in the back,” Ted explained.

  Officer Studler stared into the darkened space a few seconds before following Ted into the cave. Taking up the rear, I watched the young officer’s re
action when Ted directed his light on the bones.

  Studler stepped backward.

  “Ever see a skeleton before?” I asked.

  “Not a real one.” He roamed the beam of his flashlight around the edge of the bones.

  “I’ve seen enough.” He led the way to the door.

  Topside, Officer Studler pulled out his cellphone. “Put me through to the Sergeant.” He drummed his fingers on his holstered gun. “Sergeant, you better get over here. It looks real.”

  Scraps of conversation floated from the other end of the phone. “Yes sir. I know sir. I already have.” He glanced our way. “Yes sir.”

  He ended the connection. “The sergeant’s coming. I don’t need to tell the two of you to stay out of that cellar until he gets here.”

  The young policeman headed to the front porch and paced for ten minutes until the second cruiser arrived. Meanwhile the neighbor across the street stared from her porch, and an elderly gentleman and two teens gawked from the sidewalk.

  A repeat of the marijuana crowd was starting to form.

  The second cruiser pulled into the yard. “Hey Mike, what’s going on?” an elderly man yelled from across the street.

  Sergeant Cooke lifted his hand in acknowledgement but didn’t reply.

  “It’s in here, sir.” Officer Studler said, leading the sergeant into the house, through the kitchen, and down the stone stairs.

  Trailing behind, I heard the senior officer whistle softly when he reached the dark cave.

  “I’ve heard some old houses have rooms like this, but I’ve never seen one. Amazing it’s still standing.”

  “There’s a porch overtop,” I muttered, “and the house sits on a high spot in Darlington.”

  Ted came down the steps and handed me my flashlight. I had forgotten it in my haste to eavesdrop.

  “OK Studler, where’s your skeleton?”

  Officer Studler walked to the back of the cave and illuminated the bones.

  Sergeant Cooke rubbed his jaw. “Looks like it’s been here awhile. Even so, best to call in the investigator.”

  More people gathered as we waited on the porch for the third cruiser. The old man was gone, but the two teen boys were joined by a third. The young mother pushing a baby in a stroller had stopped, and across the street, a group had settled in chairs, as though waiting for a parade to pass by.