DF08 - The Night Killer

by Beverly Connor

  The ambulance arrived and Bob went with the paramedics to the cells.

  “What’s this about?” asked Dr. Linden.

  “The sheriff put me in the cell with three drunk men who tried to gang-rape me,” said Diane. She pointed to her ripped clothing. “I defended myself.” She started to add, “with help,” but she was afraid the sheriff might try to use that to hold Liam again.

  Dr. Linden looked at her, puzzled, as if she might be lying, but noticed that no one contradicted her.

  “I’m going home,” said Diane.

  “I would like the return of the items from my pockets,” said Liam. He squinted at the sheriff, as if trying to see inside his brain.

  Travis walked over, unlocked the desk in the corner of the room where they kept possessions, and lifted out an envelope with Liam’s name on it and handed it to him. Diane noted that they hadn’t listed the contents on the outside. Unprofessional to the end. She shook her head.

  Liam emptied the envelope out on the desk and quickly inventoried the items, gathered them up, and put them in his pocket. He took his billfold and looked at his credit cards and his money, counting the bills before he pocketed the billfold. He looked again into the face of the sheriff as he put his belt back on.

  “I’m opening a formal investigation through the attorney general,” said Agent Mathews to the sheriff and his deputies.

  “Investigate all you want. You got no authority here,” said the sheriff.

  “Rendell County isn’t a separate country or another state,” said Mathews. “You’ll find that a great many people have authority here, in view of your misconduct. I fully expect criminal indictments and orders removing you from office to follow quickly.”

  Diane walked outside with Frank and took a deep breath. She was tired of listening to Conrad’s pigheadedness. Others followed—Neva, Mike, David, Andie, and Liam. They all stood in a group on the sidewalk.

  “Are you all right?” Frank asked Diane.

  “Not yet. But I will be,” she said. She turned to Liam. “I had your things tested to protect you. The sheriff in this county has a reputation.”

  He eyed Diane for a moment before he gave her a quick smile. “I know.” He looked back at the door to the sheriff’s department. “He’s some piece of work.”

  After several moments, the paramedics came out with the large guy on the stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. “We’re going to have to call for another ambulance,” one of them said as they went back inside.

  Diane didn’t want to wait for the others to be brought out.

  She reached for David and hugged him tight. “Thank you,” she said.

  “We always have each other’s backs,” he whispered in her ear.

  He was right. Especially since the massacre in South America, they watched out for each other like family.

  Frank was shaking Liam’s hand when Diane let go of David. She thanked Liam again.

  “You did okay,” he said.

  She shook her head. “It wouldn’t have ended well had you not been there.”

  Diane felt exhausted. She turned to Frank.

  “Let’s go home,” she said.

  Frank put an arm around her. She leaned on him as they walked to his Camaro parked at the curb. She just about fell into the front seat.

  “You know, I liked this suit,” said Diane, when Frank got in the driver’s seat.

  “Bill it to Conrad,” he said. He started the car and pulled out onto the main street and headed for Rosewood.

  Diane asked Frank what happened at the church after she was taken by the sheriff.

  “More quarreling between the members. They were split in their opinions. The Watsons, the Barres, and most of the younger people supported you. Some of the older people did also. The sheriff had a definite vocal contingent—mostly among the older residents. But his rough treatment of you gave them pause—I’m not sure how much. I’m afraid a lot of them feel you caused a rift in their church.”

  Diane shook her head and leaned back against the headrest.

  “Andie and I left them arguing,” Frank continued. “Izzy stayed to try to get more information, hoping that in the heat of conversation people would say something unguarded. On the way to the sheriff’s office, I stopped at the Waffle House to pick up David, Neva, Mike, Gil, and Colin. I’m not sure how David knew he should organize a rescue before the fact,” said Frank. “I was going to play it by ear.” He reached over and squeezed Diane’s hand. “I didn’t think it would get that bad.”

  “I didn’t either. I’m not sure how David knows these things,” she said. “Part of it is that his own paranoid view makes him always come prepared for the worst.” She paused. “I know he’s always had little or no respect for Sheriff Conrad. But I suspect there is something more personal. You know David teaches some of the classes for certifying deputies and sheriffs. I think there may have been some anti-Semitism from Conrad.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” he said.

  Diane closed her eyes the rest of the way home.

  She headed for the bathroom and drew a hot bath the first thing, slipped out of her clothes, and soaked in the tub until the water cooled. When she got out, Frank had prepared a light dinner of bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches and tomato soup.

  “Gil Mathews called while you were in the tub,” said Frank. “He got a call from his partner. Tammy and Slick want a deal. They say they can tell us where there is a cave with two bodies in it that don’t belong to them—I think that’s the way Tammy put it.”

  Chapter 45

  In the early morning, the woods at Slick Massey’s place were cool and there was a wispy fog low to the ground. Diane was wearing her favorite caving jeans, shirt, and hiking boots. It had crossed her mind on more than one occasion that perhaps she should wear some variation of her caving clothes all the time for quick getaways. Mike was with her. So was Neva. Frank, his hands in his warm pockets, stood looking at the house, probably wondering how anyone could live there. Frank kept his house in good condition always. Agent Gil Mathews and several GBI agents stood leaning against their SUVs, parked where Diane’s had been only a few nights before.

  Mike, Neva, and Diane were present because they were certified for cave rescue—though the only rescue would be of the dead. Frank was there because Slick and Tammy were partially his and his partner’s case. Gil was there for the same reason. Diane thought Gil looked as if he’d like to skip the whole thing.

  Slick arrived in a prison van. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands cuffed in front of him and was accompanied by an entourage of guards. Slick sported a haircut, and looked better for it. He stepped off the van and looked around at his place as if making sure everything was okay.

  In the rising fog, Slick Massey’s house looked one hundred percent spooky. The windows were dark and the porch was sagging as if no one had lived there in years. Slick frowned at the place as his gaze drifted beyond the house to where his empty dog runs stood. Diane thought he looked wistful. She had heard that he was worried about his dogs and wanted to be sure his friend was still caring for them.

  The last to arrive at the house was Liam Dugal. He was invited because he was looking for two lost people, and Slick, in searching for places to put his own bodies, had found two stray ones. Liam nodded to Diane and her team as he walked over their way. Diane noticed he was also dressed appropriately for the business at hand. She hoped he didn’t think he was going inside the cave.

  Diane was surprised that Tammy and Slick had made the deal so quickly. Gil Mathews said Tammy was the one who had collapsed—deflated after Frank told her he had found the money. It might as well have been a death blow. It broke her. Gil said Slick was still convinced they hadn’t done anything wrong.

  Slick’s day was going to be a long one. After he showed them the two bodies he had discovered, he had to show the GBI where he had put the bodies of Tammy’s “patients,” as Slick still called them—that and “the old ladies.
”

  “Is it far to the cave?” Agent Mathews asked Slick.

  “Not very far. About three miles,” Slick said.

  “Three miles?” said Mathews. “Are you saying we have to hike three miles through the woods?”

  “Well, yeah,” Slick said. “Like I said, it ain’t far.”

  “You try anything and the deal is off,” said Mathews. “You know that, don’t you?”

  “Like I ain’t been told a million times. Me and Tammy want our deal,” he said.

  “Tell me again why we should believe you didn’t do anything to these two people,” said Gil Mathews.

  Diane thought Gil was simply delaying the hike as long as he could.

  “Well,” said Slick, “I wouldn’t be telling you about ’em if I had killed ’em. I’d have to be pretty stupid. I mean, they might of been murdered or something—not like Tammy’s old ladies.”

  “Maybe you just thought we couldn’t prove you murdered them,” said Agent Mathews.

  “I already seen how you can find out things I didn’t know you’d ever know. Tammy’s seen it too. Like I said, I just found these people. I got tired of digging holes to put Tammy’s patients in and remembered this cave. I thought it’d be a good place to just take them and leave them. But somebody else had the same idea, so I just kept digging holes in my pasture,” he said.

  Mike, who was not familiar with the thought processes of criminals, stared at Slick, astounded. Neva tried not to smile and gave Mike’s hand a squeeze.

  “Well, I guess we’d better get started,” said Mathews. He took out a can of insect repellent and sprayed himself down again.

  Slick led the way, under the eyes of his guards. He quickly found a path that looked like it might be a deer trail, and they followed it.

  Diane and her team carried rope and caving gear, two body bags, and an evidence kit.

  About a mile down the deer trail, Slick veered off of it into the woods.

  “Wait, Slick, where you going?” said Mathews.

  “To the cave,” he said.

  “The trail goes this way,” said Mathews.

  Slick looked at him a moment. “Yeah, but the trail don’t go to the cave. The trail goes to a meadow about a half mile that way.”

  “There’s not a trail to the cave?” asked Mathews, looking at the underbrush.

  “No. The deer don’t go to the cave. They go to water or to meadows. They like to graze in a meadow near the woods.”

  “Are you saying the deer made the trail?” asked Gil.

  This brought a chuckle from several.

  “I can see you are a city boy,” said one of the GBI agents. “Who do you think makes trails through the woods?”

  “I hadn’t thought about it. I guess I thought people did,” said Gil. He laughed at himself. “You’re saying it’s animals?”

  “Deer, fox, coyotes, bears,” said Liam.

  “Bears?” said Gil. “Now I know you’re trying to get to me. We don’t have bears in these woods.”

  “Sometimes we do,” said Slick, “but they’s usually more up in the hills.”

  “You’ve heard about bear sightings in Atlanta, haven’t you?” said Frank. “Where did you think they came from?”

  “The zoo,” said Gil.

  They all laughed.

  “I don’t suppose after all this we can go by Rolly Hennessy’s and see my dogs?” said Slick. “Mary Sue just had her puppies and I’d like to see ’em.”

  “I don’t think so, Slick,” said Mathews. “Get him to send you a picture.”

  “What kind of dogs you got?” asked one of the guards.

  “Walker hounds,” said Slick. “The best in the world. They’s got the sweetest voices you ever heard.”

  “What do they hunt?” asked a GBI agent.

  “Raccoons,” said Slick. “They track ’em down at night and run ’em up a tree. You can tell when they’s running and when they’s treeing by the sound of their voices. You just set back and have a beer and listen to your dogs. The best kind of hunting.”

  “That sounds good to me,” said a guard.

  Liam smiled. “My uncle raises Walker hounds,” he said.

  “Does he?” said Slick, interested. “Do I know him?”

  “He doesn’t live around here,” Liam said. “He’s over in Louisiana.”

  “Hey,” said Slick, “you the one I heard about? That was in the woods that night that fooled me?”

  “What does that mean?” asked Gil.

  Diane thought Gil probably enjoyed the talk. It took his mind off the trek. He was clearly uncomfortable.

  It wasn’t so scary for her in the daytime as it had been that night in the rain. She had seen woods then only as dark, shadowy forms of trees, or in brief flashes from the lightning. It was far prettier in the daylight—with people around.

  “I took Diane’s jacket and laid a false trail,” said Liam to Gil. “Then put it up a tree.”

  “I heard my dogs on the trail and then their voices told me they had her treed—or that’s what I thought. But I also thought it was kind of funny; I mean, women don’t usually climb trees. Leastwise not up high like this one. When I caught up to ’em I could see the jacket way up yonder and I thought it was her. For a while, anyways. I tried to coax her down.” Slick laughed. “Bonnie Blue—Tammy named her for that little girl in Gone With the Wind—Bonnie Blue thought I’d gone crazy. She never seen me try to talk a raccoon out of a tree before.”

  Even Diane had to laugh.

  Slick led them through several turns during the trek and Diane was hoping, like Gil, that he was not trying to pull something. She tried to keep track of where they were going, watching for rock formations, characteristic trees, or creeks. Not that she would have to find her way out alone, but she wanted to develop a habit of knowing where she was. Mike, Neva, and Frank were far better than she at finding their way around—though Frank was better in a city environment. Still, he seemed to have a natural sense of direction.

  “We’re ’bout there,” said Slick, as he led them over a log across a creek and through a thicket.

  This was the densest underbrush they had been through so far. Diane heard Gil moan as he pulled his pant leg loose from briars that had entangled him. The thicket didn’t open up, but seemed to get even more dense.

  “I swear, Slick Massey,” said Gil, “if you’re pulling something—”

  “No, it’s right here,” said Slick.

  They were in the midst of a thick copse of trees at the foot of a hill.

  “You know, fella,” said one of the guards, “getting here with a body couldn’t possibly be any easier than digging a hole in your meadow.”

  “I don’t see anything,” said Gil.

  But Diane did. Then again, she knew what to look for. The cave was in the side of the hill—a small slit through crumbling rocks.

  Chapter 46

  “There it is,” said Slick, pointing to the irregular hole in the side of the hill.

  “That?” said Agent Gil Mathews. “That’s it? I told you, Massey, you screw with me and I’ll bury you.”

  “That’s the cave,” said Slick. “I’m not screwing with you.”

  The entrance to the cave was small, but big enough for even a large man to squeeze through, Diane observed. Perhaps Mathews was expecting walkways and a handrail and that everyone would be able to just stroll in. This entrance was what you might expect for an undeveloped cave in the wild. It occurred to Diane that Mathews would have really been undone by a vertical entrance that dropped straight into the ground.

  “Where are the bodies?” Diane asked Slick.

  “Okay,” said Slick, “once you get in the cave, you’re in this room, see. It’s about as big as a room in a house. It’s kind of nice. I used to play in it when I was a kid. There’s a tunnel on the right that kind of goes down. You got to stoop to walk through it, but it ain’t long, just a few feet. Okay, then to the left you come to another tunnel. You can stand up in it. It go
es on about ten feet, then opens to kind of a little room on the left. You got to watch out there, ’cause just a little ways in there’s a drop-off of . . . like, maybe fifteen feet. That’s where the bodies is.”

  “Is he on the level?” asked Mathews.

  “We won’t know until we get there,” said Diane, “but I have no reason to doubt him right now.”

  “This doesn’t look like any kind of cave I’m familiar with,” said Mathews.

  Ah, thought Diane. She was right. “What kind of caves are you familiar with?” she asked.

  “None, really, but I visited Mammoth Cave when I was a kid,” he said.

  “Caves have all kinds of openings,” she said. “This isn’t unusual.”

  Mathews nodded. “Frank says you do this for fun,” he said. “Doesn’t look like much fun to me.”

  “There’s hardly anyplace I’d rather be,” said Diane, smiling.

  Mathews shook his head to indicate his utter lack of understanding of the appeal.

  Diane, Neva, and Mike tested their flashlights and hard-hat lamps. They organized their rope and double-checked their gear. Frank walked over to Diane as she and the others were preparing themselves.

  “You think he’s telling the truth?” He nodded toward Slick, who had found a boulder to sit on and wait.

  “We’ll see,” said Diane. “You sure you don’t want to take up caving with me?”

  “I’m sure,” said Frank. “Somehow, slipping through that little hole has no appeal to me at all.”

  “That’s a fairly large hole,” said Diane. “We’ve been through much smaller entrances than that.” She looked at him for a moment, smiling. “This isn’t a big deal. Were it not for the fact that we’re here to retrieve bodies, I would be having a great time. It sounds like an interesting cave.”

  Frank smiled back. “Have you ever met a cave that you didn’t find interesting?”

  “Some more than others,” she said.

  Liam was speaking with Slick. From what Diane could hear, it was about the bodies. It sounded as if Liam was trying to find some clue as to whether they were the couple he was looking for. She imagined he hated the idea of telling his client his daughter was dead, her body dumped in a cave.