“Yeah. I’m starting to get damned nervous,” the smaller man agreed. “This was supposed to be a simple operation. Move in, take her out, and clear the area. Now, weapons have been discharged; that attracts attention. And, we’re still bogged down in this search. But, she’s seen us, so we’ve got to finish what we started.”
Despite her fright, Alexa found the conversation amusing. These two sexist jerks, probably Daniel and Joel, couldn’t fathom a woman who could navigate these woods on her own. But, their blind arrogance actually helped Alexa. They were searching for a timid little flower, stumbling hysterically through the darkness in blind panic. She had to prove them wrong.
Daniel and Joel’s voices faded as they moved farther away. When they disappeared into the darkness at the far end of the meadow, she decided to move. She was running out of time.
Alexa held her breath, tightened her grasp on the shotgun, and dashed across the field to Our Lady of the Forest chapel. Rapidly making her way around the back, she found the springhouse, and behind it, the entrance to the Underground Railroad station. Alexa brushed aside the rhododendron branches overhanging the door. The rattle of the dry winter leaves echoed loud as a drumbeat, broadcasting her location.
She hesitated for a few seconds, dreading a rush of footsteps. Nothing. So, Alexa dropped to her knees and pulled aside the rusty iron plate. Hesitantly, she thrust the flashlight into the yawning hole and turned it on. Finding the top rung of the ladder, she forced herself to step into the cavern. She climbed cautiously down the ladder, searching out each rung with her toe. She left the shotgun and climbed back up the ladder to seal the opening. Back on the dirt floor, Alexa shielded the flashlight as she took a quick survey of the room.
Making her way to a corner of the cavern, Alexa sat down and doused the light. In the inky blackness of the cave, Alexa felt like screaming and crying, but she did neither. Instead, she listened intently and readied the shotgun.
The earthen and stone cavern was totally silent and smelled a little dank.
Like a tomb, she thought morosely.
Although this relic from the Underground Railroad made a good place to hide, the single entrance meant that she was completely trapped if Caleb and his buddies found her.
As the minutes ticked by, Alexa felt her panic subside. She doubted that Caleb or his Perry County friends knew about way station. Few locals were even aware of the cavern. Alexa thought she was safe but couldn’t be sure.
Alexa switched the flashlight back on to examine her shoulder. Although it throbbed, the wound had stopped bleeding. Deciding that her best move was to let it alone, Alexa clicked off the light and wearily settled back against the wall.
Just as Alexa began to believe that she had escaped her pursuers, her heart sank. She heard voices outside. Muffled by the ground above her head, the conversation seemed to emanate from the direction of the church. One voice sounded like Caleb’s. She imagined that she could identify three other distinct voices as well. The four men must have met. Now, they all stood just yards away from Alexa’s hiding place.
She picked up the shotgun, ready to fire if Caleb and his friends found the cavern. Alexa tried to slow her breathing.
Loud banging noises erupted from the church. Were the men trying to break into the sanctuary? When a burst of gunfire rang out, Alexa nearly lost it.
The shooting stopped and the voices grew louder. The men were fighting among themselves. Alexa heard one voice, perhaps Caleb, say, “What are you doing? My God, this is the Lord’s house.”
Someone else, maybe Joel, screamed back, “Time is slipping away and we need to find that bitch, no matter where she is.”
A third voice intervened. “She’s not in the church anyway. Let’s keep looking.”
Alexa tensed as the voices approached the entrance of the cavern. The four men were still squabbling about their next move. When she heard the dry rustle of the bush above, Alexa nearly jumped out of her skin. She held her breath for what seemed like hours, but the voices slowly moved away. Somebody must have brushed the big rhododendron in passing, but they had not found her.
Soon, silence returned.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Alexa sat shivering in the darkness chilled by the clammy sweat-soaked sweater under her fleece. She tried to ignore the discomfort, hoping that body heat should eventually dry her clothes. Fighting to stay calm, Alexa tried to keep the fear at bay by putting all the pieces together in her mind like a mental puzzle. She approached the exercise like she would prepare for a legal case. When she was finished, she didn’t like the picture that the pieces formed, but Alexa was pretty sure she had figured it out.
The three men with Caleb tonight were almost certainly his best friends, Gabriel, Joel, and Daniel. Elizabeth Nelson was the Beth that had been mentioned that day at Kingdom Lodge. What was it that Leah had said? Something like Gabriel broke up with Beth because he found out that she wasn’t a nice Christian girl? And, the other woman there that day, the one that Alexa liked, was named Georgia. She was there with Daniel. Georgia had said that Gabriel and Beth had been a beautiful couple. Alexa thought that this statement could easily apply to the tall, striking Gabriel with his copper hair and the slender Elizabeth with her blue eyes and white-blonde curls.
Of course, whether Beth was a nice Christian girl probably didn’t matter while Gabriel was sleeping with her. It only became an issue when she got pregnant. Dr. Crowe had said that Elizabeth had decided to terminate her pregnancy partly because she had grown afraid of the father. Alexa speculated that Gabriel had finally exposed Beth to his church environment and his true character, and that scared her away. Or maybe he brought one of his AK-47s to dinner one night.
From what Alexa had learned about Elizabeth Nelson, the girl was a computer geek and a bit of an introvert. Nonetheless, she liked the party scene in the Northwest and had not been deeply religious. Something had happened to make her break things off with Gabriel. From what Doc Crowe and her parents said, Elizabeth must have been scared and was preparing to leave town to get away from her ex-boyfriend.
Alexa thought that she might never know the details of the night that Gabriel killed Beth. He probably found out about the abortion and was furious. Clearly, the abortion issue was a major brick in the foundation of the Church of the Blessed Lamb. Gabriel, like Caleb, had drunk that Kool-Aid from birth. So, the fact that his girlfriend had aborted his child must have pushed the volatile Gabriel over the edge. She marveled at the paradox of Gabriel—a man with the face of an angel but the heart of a murderer. Alexa barely knew the man, but she felt like a Philistine to even consider that a man so beautiful could be evil.
It was pure chance that Alexa had been driving down the road that day to see Gabriel, and, probably, Daniel or Joel speeding past in that van. She shuddered to think that they had probably dumped Elizabeth’s body in the woods only a few minutes before she stopped at the pullout with Scout. She hated to think what might have happened if she had arrived at the clearing while they were carrying Elizabeth’s body into the forest.
It was also pure chance that she was dating Caleb at the time this all happened. But, that had turned into bad luck for Alexa. Her relationship with Caleb would probably have broken apart anyway when they finally realized that the two of them were fundamentally incompatible.
Yet, if I hadn’t been involved with Caleb, he would have never learned from Kate that I found Elizabeth Nelson’s body. And then, when I drove past tonight, Caleb must have instantly recognized my Land Rover.
Not your typical end to a romance, Alexa thought wryly. Now my former lover is running around the woods with his friends trying to kill me because I can identify one of said friends as a murderer.
As Alexa ran with her thoughts, she recalled what one of the men had shouted at the cabin, that she would go to hell because she was part of the abortion clinic. She thought it reasonable to conclude that Dr. Crowe’s shooting, Emily Baxter’s murder, and the other threats at the clinic were p
robably all connected to Gabriel as well. The first series of notes sent to Doc had said, “You will be the third to die.” That must have been Gabriel targeting the doctor because he had done the procedure to terminate Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Gabriel must have thought of his unborn baby as the first to die; he killed the second, Elizabeth; and Doc was to have been the third. Instead, they killed a young innocent mother, Emily Baxter, who had only the most tangential connection to Elizabeth’s abortion.
Alexa asked herself: Who knows when Gabriel and his friends will stop? They are clearly prepared to add me to the list tonight. What havoc has been created here because of one unplanned pregnancy? Wrong. It wasn’t the pregnancy. Blame it on this extreme set of beliefs espoused by Reverend Browne and his flock. Why else would Joel, Daniel, and Caleb get involved in helping Gabriel cover up a murder, no matter how good a friend?
Alexa’s thoughts turned to the night in the clinic when she had spoken to Emily just hours before the young mother was killed. Such a shame that her two babies would grow up without their mother—not to mention the loss that her husband must feel for his wife. Alexa fastened on a remark that Detective Miller had made, something like, “She may not have been the target.” She remembered the way Emily’s sandy-blonde hair had lifted as she took off her dark coat upon entering the clinic. What if Detective Miller was right about the shooter’s intended target? What if the target had actually been Alexa? She and Emily both had worn dark coats; both had dark blonde hair. That’s why the detective had asked Alexa what coat she had been wearing. Maybe Caleb and his friends had killed Emily by mistake when their true target had been Alexa. Alexa was filled with despair to think that, in some way, she may have been responsible for Emily’s death. Silent tears ran down her cheeks as Alexa was overcome with guilt about Emily’s death.
The time went by slowly. Alexa’s clothes had nearly dried and she stopped shaking. At some point, Alexa realized that hours must have passed since she had climbed down the ladder, but she still could not gather up enough courage to leave the cavern. She pictured clambering out of the old way station into the waiting arms of Caleb, Gabriel, and their friends. Perhaps she had used up her fragile store of bravery in that headlong dash away from the cabin, ending up in this place that had offered refuge to so many before her. She was exhausted both physically and emotionally and could not bring herself to abandon the relative safety of the cavern.
During the lengthening hours, Alexa thought about the Babes in the Woods, who had been killed so close to where she was hiding now. She shivered as she pictured her own dead body lying in that spot where Dewilla and her two sisters had been found so many years ago.
Alexa imagined she felt the presence of all those slaves who had originally found refuge in this dark cavern. She thought of the mothers, fathers, children, and even elderly slaves who had passed through here a century and a half ago. She imagined the terror they had felt when the Confederate troops had been standing above the cavern with Father Roberts. Alexa had gotten a taste of that terror tonight but could barely conceive of the raw courage it must have taken for those slaves to flee the South and head toward freedom, hunted every step of the way.
Alexa dozed off, despite her fear and the cold that had seeped through her bones from the damp cavern. When she awoke, she was surprised that she had slept. Then Alexa noticed that the texture of the light had changed. Even though she was underground, there were a few small pinholes built into the cavern that provided a muted light. The pitch dark had lightened to a murky gray, indicating that dawn must have arrived.
Alexa debated about what to do. She realized that it had been hours since the police had arrived at the cabin to find her missing. Reese had also promised to come over when he finished his shift. By now, the police and Reese surely would be looking for her. Caleb and his friends would certainly have vanished the minute that the police came on the scene. But, still, last night’s experience made her wary.
She was mentally preparing herself to climb up the ladder and step out of the cavern when she heard footsteps above her. When the bush above the entrance rustled, she grabbed the shotgun poised to pull the trigger, and stood to face the ladder. Alexa’s heart pounded as the metal grate shifted above her. Everything changed in an instant when she heard Reese’s voice calling, “Alexa are you down there?”
“Yes. Thank God you’re here.” Alexa eased her finger off the trigger and engaged the safety before she dropped the shotgun to the ground. She ran across the earthen room while Reese made his way down the ladder. He folded her into his arms.
“I have been worried sick about you. We’ve been looking for you for hours. We were afraid that you had been hurt or worse. Then, I remembered about this place. Alexa, I am so glad that you’re safe.” Then, Reese stepped back and held Alexa at arm’s length to look at her. “Are you OK?”
“Yes,” Alexa found herself crying. “I’m OK, but it was close. I’m pretty sure that bastard, Caleb, and his friends were going to kill me.”
“Let’s get you out of here and then we can sort things out.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Sunday evening, Alexa sat in her parents’ living room with Scout at her feet and breathed a sigh of relief. Starting with Alexa’s rescue at dawn from the underground cavern, the day had been long and trying.
Reese, her dad, and Graham had all taken part in the search party that had been organized to look for her during the night. Reese and Graham had been together when they found her in the cavern. After alerting the police by walkie-talkie that Alexa had been located unharmed, they had taken her back to the cabin. Her father was waiting outside and folded his daughter into his arms, relieved to see that she had not been hurt or worse.
Wrapped in the safety of her father’s embrace, Alexa gave into her emotions and wept uncontrollably. She was tired beyond words. She finally collected herself and stepped out of her dad’s arms. After one look at the trashed cabin, now a crime scene, she began to cry again.
Medics on the scene checked Alexa out quickly and bandaged her shoulder. But, her dad insisted that he take her to the emergency room for a thorough examination before any police questioning. When Norris Williams climbed onto his high attorney-at-law horse and insisted on something, he usually got his way. This time was no exception.
The ER physician treated Alexa for mild hypothermia and shock. He confirmed that the injury on Alexa’s left shoulder was a bullet wound, although it required only minor attention.
“You’re lucky,” he commented. “The bullet only grazed the skin. A few inches to the left, it would have hit bone and muscle. That would have been serious damage.”
After stitching the gash on her shoulder, the doctor gave her a tetanus shot. Alexa had to remain in the emergency room for several hours while they pumped intravenous liquids and antibiotics into her. There was probably a sedative of some sort, too, she guessed, because she began feeling pretty woozy. Lying on the narrow emergency room bed under a pile of warm blankets, Alexa drifted off to sleep. By that time, her mother had arrived and sat watch by her bedside.
The doctor discharged Alexa a little after noon, suggesting that she take several days off work. “I think your body is going to feel worse tomorrow than it does today. And, you’ve had quite an experience. Take some time to recover.”
After a stop for a burger and milkshake at O’Hara’s, Alexa’s parents drove her to the state police headquarters. Alexa spent several hours answering questions and going over everything that had happened. Graham was by her side, as both her attorney and her brother. For once, Alexa welcomed his support.
Caleb, Gabriel, Daniel, and Joel had all been arrested and were in the Cumberland County jail. Apparently, it had not been long after Alexa fled out the back window of her cabin that a state trooper arrived on the scene. Her favorite policeman, Trooper Taylor, pulled up in front of the cabin only minutes later. Neither police vehicle had used their sirens since both thought that their visits were simply follow-ups to the ea
rlier incident with the truck. However, when the police found the front door of the cabin hanging wide open and the living room window smashed in, they immediately went into action, calling for additional backup.
The four friends had still been in the woods looking for her. They had no idea that the state police had arrived at Alexa’s cabin. Although it had taken some time searching in the dark forest, the burst of gunfire at the church had helped point the police in the right direction. The state troopers found Gabriel and Caleb in the pines. They arrested Joel and Daniel a few minutes later when they emerged from the forest near Caleb’s truck. Apparently, the four men had not anticipated that Alexa would call 911 or that the police would get there so quickly if she did. What they hadn’t known, of course, was that the police were already on the way.
Working from the information provided by Daniel’s former girlfriend, Georgia, the police had determined that they had sufficient evidence to charge Gabriel with murder and Daniel as an accessory. At this point, the only charges Caleb and Joel faced were in conjunction with ramming Alexa’s car and destroying her house. However, the police were still sorting through additional charges related to Alexa’s shooting. They thought that Caleb and Joel might also have been involved in covering up Elizabeth’s murder.
The police were working to determine if the four men were also connected to the violence at the clinic, including Emily Baxter’s death. It was likely just a matter of time until they brought additional charges in those matters as well.
Now, Alexa was at her parents’ home, trying to regroup. The family had been fussing over her for hours. Her mother had made an enormous dinner of round steak and mashed potatoes and gravy, one of Alexa’s favorite childhood meals. Graham and Kate were there as well but had left the kids at home with a babysitter. They didn’t want to worry about editing the evening’s conversation or explaining the trauma that their beloved Aunt Alexa had endured. Her parents had also asked Reese to join them for the meal.
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