Moon Underfoot

by Cole, Bobby

  CHAPTER 115

  THE WEST POINT police chief was with Morgan when he received the call on his cell phone. He listened intently as Morgan tried unsuccessfully to read his facial expressions in response to the one-sided conversation that seemed to last forever. Morgan had a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes, saying a quick prayer. When the chief finally ended the call, she begged him to tell her what it was about.

  “Okay, that was the sheriff. The game warden found Jake’s truck over in a big swampy area along the river.”

  “Was he in the truck!” she interrupted.

  “No. No, he wasn’t…” he said and then paused, trying to find the best words to articulate the rest of the story.

  “Why would…I don’t understand. He’d tell me if he was going huntin’, and I checked, his rifle is in the gun safe, and his hunting clothes are in the garage.”

  The police chief exhaled deeply. “Morgan, there’s more.”

  Morgan collapsed into a chair, awaiting the news.

  “Moon Pie Daniels was driving Jake’s truck. He was coming outta the swamp when the warden stopped him.”

  Morgan’s heart nearly stopped. It was her worst fear—the devil himself. That evil man who had been tormenting them had done something horrible to Jake. “So they have him in custody? Is he talkin’? Let me talk to him. Come on, let’s go now!” Morgan jumped up.

  “He’s in bad shape. He’d been shot and basically had all but bled out before the game warden got there. He’s barely alive, and the officers on scene don’t think he’s gonna make it.”

  Morgan fell back into the chair and blinked several times as she tried to understand what could have happened. “Jake musta shot him! Jake’s still out there somewhere. We gotta go look!” Morgan jumped up again.

  “They are…we’re moving everybody we’ve got to that area to search. It’s muddy, so they can follow the truck’s tire tracks. We just seriously narrowed the search area, so we’ll find Jake, okay?”

  “I’m going!”

  “No. You need to stay here with Katy,” he said, immediately noticing Katy standing at the bottom of the stairs.

  Apparently, Katy had been listening. She had tears rolling down her face, and when she saw Morgan stand up and head toward her, she started shaking.

  Morgan picked Katy up and hugged her tightly. She surreptitiously wiped her own tears with her sleeve and then brushed back Katy’s blonde hair from her face and said, “Katy, honey, they’re real close to findin’ Daddy. Okay? They think he’s in the woods, and you and I know that’s the best place he could be,” Morgan lied.

  The police chief needed to leave to help search, but he didn’t want Morgan following, so he walked to the door and waved at the officer across the street to come inside.

  “Katy, honey, look at me. Katy? Say something. Please,” Morgan begged. Then she turned to look at the chief.

  The police chief looked Katy in the eye and said, “Katy, you know better than anyone that your dad is a brave man and that he’d do anything for you. Right? Well, right now, he needs something from you. He needs you to help your mom. You gotta be strong for her. Okay? Can you do that for your dad?”

  Katy nodded but didn’t say anything. The tears were now pouring down both Katy’s and Morgan’s face. They didn’t realize they were squeezing each other.

  “Morgan, I gotta go. I promise to call the second I know anything. When they find him, the officer outside will take you wherever you need to go. In the meantime, stay here. Katy, you take care of your mom. Okay? As soon as I see your dad, I’ll tell him what a big help you’ve been.”

  Morgan was now sitting on the stairs, holding Katy. They were both shaking. Morgan reluctantly nodded her head.

  As soon as the police chief shut the door, he whispered to the young officer now standing on the front porch, “Do not let her leave without talking to me. This doesn’t look good at all right now, and it’s liable to get much worse.”

  CHAPTER 116

  AS THE GRAVE robbers approached the levee, they could now determine that the source of the light they had been following was coming from inside a mound of debris.

  “This is crazy,” Yancey said in a whisper. “How can that light just come out of the ground like that?”

  “I think that’s the drainpipe for the impoundment. It’s got a bunch of limbs and shit piled around it, probably from beavers.”

  The two men were now just ten yards from the pipe. They could hear water flowing down it but nothing else. The light hadn’t flashed in several minutes. They looked at each other, hoping the other had an idea that didn’t include wading.

  Finally, Trance yelled, “Hello, can you hear me? Is there anybody out there?”

  The only sound was water spilling over the top of the pipe, and it seemed to be getting louder.

  This time he screamed, “Hello!”

  Not getting any response, Trance shrugged his shoulders and then said, “Well, I guess we should head back.”

  Jake couldn’t hear anything but the sound of water rushing into the pipe. He was freezing and becoming disoriented. He was exhausted and thought that if he could sleep for a few hours, he’d be stronger and would be able to get free. He wasn’t aware that his heart was straining to pump blood to his brain. His condition was deteriorating rapidly. Before he went to sleep, he wanted to see if the water volume was increasing or if it was just his imagination. He clicked on the flashlight.

  “There! There it is!” Trance yelled. He stripped off his jacket and tossed his cell phone onto it. He immediately waded out into the water.

  Yancey, the older of the two, didn’t want to get wet, since their ride wouldn’t arrive for another five hours.

  He asked, “How deep is it?”

  “I don’t know yet!”

  When he reached the pipe, the waves created from his wading splashed more water down the pipe, and the light went out. He climbed up onto the beaver debris, peered over the edge into the darkness, and yelled, “Hey! Can you hear me?” He then turned to his buddy and yelled, “Quick, bring me your flashlight!”

  “Here, catch,” Yancey said, still not wanting to plunge into the cold water unless and until he absolutely had to do it. He clicked on the flashlight and tossed it underhand.

  Jake thought that he could hear voices, but he couldn’t recognize the words. He thought he might be dreaming.

  The grave robber didn’t really know what to expect when he shined the flashlight into the drain. He was shocked to actually see a man in the bottom of the pipe.

  “Holy shit! Get over here, quick! There’s a guy trapped in the pipe!” Trance screamed toward Yancey. He turned his head back to the pipe and stuck his head into it. “Hey, man, can you hear me?”

  Jake thought he was hearing voices again but opened his eyes and saw light. He initially thought it was coming from his flashlight, but when he realized that he could see his flashlight and it was turned off, he jerked his head back to look up.

  Trance turned again to his partner and yelled, “He’s alive! Get your ass over here! We gotta hurry!” He could see the water was almost to the man’s neck. He yelled at Jake, “Hang on, mister! We’re gonna get you out!”

  Trance realized he couldn’t reach the man. When Yancey arrived and looked down, he said, “Oh my God, we need ropes. I’ll run back and get ours!”

  “No! There’s not enough time. He’s about to drown. We gotta think of another way. Come on, let’s start pushing mud up around the top of this pipe, and maybe we can slow the water down.”

  After several minutes, most of the water flowing in had slowed to a trickle. The two guys’ hearts were racing. They were terrified that the man was going to drown and they couldn’t stop it. One of the men shined the flashlight down to survey the situation. The water was at the man’s chin, but it was swirling, so he assumed it was draining. He yelled, “Hang on! We’re gonna get you out!”

  Breathing heavily, the men looked at each other and they knew they didn�
�t have much time.

  Trance said, “You’re gonna have to hold my legs, and I’ll go down and grab him and you pull us up.”

  Yancey, who was not as physically fit, groaned. He didn’t like that idea because he didn’t think he could pull them both up. In fact, he knew he couldn’t. He said, “If I drop ya, there won’t be any way you can get out, and you’ll drown too!”

  “It’s our only chance.”

  “I don’t like it. I can’t let you risk your life.”

  “It ain’t your choice, it’s mine,” Trance said as he shined the light on Jake. As a former marine, he still believed in the code of not leaving a man behind. He said, “Look, we ain’t got time to waste. I’m goin’ down; grab my legs. You can do this!”

  The younger guy knelt over the pipe and yelled, “I’m coming down. Hang in there, buddy.”

  The man slowly crawled over the edge, and he could feel his friend holding his legs tightly. He yelled to let him down some more. Water sloshed over the sides, hitting Jake in the face.

  “Grab my hands!” Trance yelled and then placed the flashlight in his mouth and reached for Jake, who looked to the rescuer as though he had resigned himself to death. It was sickening to see an expression of complete hopelessness. If Jake didn’t raise his arms, the rescuer wouldn’t have anything to grab.

  “Come on, man, don’t give up on me,” Trance screamed. He didn’t have any other way to get the man out. He yelled again, “Grab my hands!”

  After what seemed like several minutes to Trance, Jake raised his hands out of the water, but they still couldn’t touch. To Trance’s shock, he noticed that the man’s wrists were bound and realized that he hadn’t fallen in this pipe by accident; someone had dumped him here.

  “Hey, we got a vehicle comin’!” Yancey screamed when he saw lights flashing through the trees in the distance.

  “What?”

  “Here comes a vehicle!”

  Trance realized it could be the people who dropped the man into the pipe—probably coming back to admire their handiwork and to see if their victim was dead yet.

  “Quick, pull me up!”

  “I’m trying!”

  CHAPTER 117

  THE GAME WARDEN had been briefed on the history between Jake and Moon Pie when he radioed in what had happened in the swamp, so he had the trooper stay with Moon Pie until the ambulance arrived while he went in search of Jake.

  Reinforcements were en route, but the warden needed to get started. It was easy for him to backtrack Moon Pie until he got to the crossroads. He studied the different directions the tracks went and chose to follow the freshest.

  Moon Pie’s driving was all over the road and off in the ditch, causing the warden to wonder if Jake and Moon Pie had been struggling during the drive. When he reached the end of the tracks, he could see where Moon Pie had turned around. He shut off his truck and got out so he could listen for anything that might give him an idea of where Jake was. Not hearing anything, he clicked on his large flashlight to look for footprints.

  He immediately saw a brown coat lying in the ditch and walked over and picked it up. The outside was covered in fresh mud, and there appeared to be smeared blood on the inside lining. I can’t see Moon Pie wearing something this nice, he thought. There were footprints all around, but they didn’t lead anywhere.

  “Dammit!” he said aloud as rain began to fall. He started yelling Jake’s name several times.

  “I’m the game warden, and I’m here to help you!” he then screamed. He stood still, listening and praying for a response.

  The warden knew that if he could find footprints, they would lead him to Jake, but the few here didn’t leave the road. He doubted that in Moon Pie’s condition he would have been able to cover his tracks. He wished that he had paid attention to what type of shoes or boots Moon Pie was wearing.

  As the trained observer stood in the rain, studying the tire tracks, the few footprints, and the muddy coat, and thinking of Moon Pie’s condition, it occurred to him what had happened, “He went the wrong way. He missed the turn because of a muddy windshield. Shit!”

  The warden jumped into his truck, cranked the engine, and punched the gas.

  CHAPTER 118

  “ARE HIS HANDS tied?” Yancey yelled.

  “Yeah, with plastic zip ties, and I’m guessin’ whoever you just heard drivin’ is the same asshole that dropped him in this pipe.”

  “Shit, they’ll kill us too if they find us!”

  They could hear a truck coming closer fast. They had less than thirty seconds.

  “Man, I can’t leave him.”

  “Listen to me—they’ll kill us. It’s probably the Dixie Mafia or some drug thing!” Yancey yelled with great urgency.

  “We gotta get some help. Do you got cell service?”

  “No, I already looked. Come on, we gotta get the hell outta here. We’re freakin’ sittin’ ducks if they drive up!”

  “I can’t leave this poor bastard,” Trance said.

  “You ain’t no good to him or your kids dead! Now come on!”

  The truck’s engine revved as it went through a mud hole, and it was definitely getting closer. “Dammit to hell.”

  “We gotta hide on the other side of the levee!”

  The two men quickly sloshed back to the levee, grabbed their coats, and crawled into the button brush as the truck’s headlights flashed through the trees above them. They were out of breath and running on adrenaline, not realizing just how cold they were.

  “Get down, here they come,” Yancey whispered.

  The would-be rescuers turned their heads from the approaching truck and pushed their white faces down into the mud so they wouldn’t be seen in the headlights. Doing so, however, prevented them from seeing the small, flashing blue light on the truck.

  The warden followed Moon Pie’s tire tracks right to the middle of the levee and turned off his truck so he could listen for clues. He quickly got out and didn’t hear anything. He immediately shouted, “Jake Crosby!”

  The rescuers looked up slightly and saw the small blue lights flashing on the dark truck.

  “It’s the law,” Yancey whispered.

  “Do you think he dumped him?”

  “How do I know? But why would he be yelling some guy’s name?”

  “Jake! It’s the game warden! Can you hear me!” the warden yelled as he walked down to the water’s edge. This has to be the location, he thought. With his flashlight, he could see plumes of muddy water, indicating that something or someone had recently been in it.

  “Maybe he’s tryin’ to see if he’s still alive,” Yancey whispered.

  The warden walked closer to the edge of the muddy water. When he saw two sets of fresh footprints leading over the levee, he quietly removed his Smith & Wesson service revolver from his holster, then shined his flashlight down at the tracks.

  The grave robbers turned rescuers were too committed to hiding to run, so they lay facedown in the wet leaves and hoped the warden wouldn’t spot them. They prayed they weren’t about to be executed, since they didn’t know if the officer was crooked and responsible for the guy in the pipe.

  The warden followed the tracks over the levee and down to the woods’ edge, where he saw the two men. He trained his pistol on them and shouted, “You there, in the woods, put your hands where I can see them. Now!”

  The rescuers complied.

  “Stand up and walk to me!”

  They did as directed, shaking from a combination of fear, cold, and adrenaline. They slowly walked up the levee bank, hands in the air, straight at the man who was shining a bright flashlight in their faces. They noticed a red laser moving between them, and it made their legs feel like jelly.

  “Who are you, and what the hell are y’all doing here?” the warden asked when they got close.

  “We’re lost. Who the hell are you?” Yancey asked.

  He realized that in all the excitement, he hadn’t identified himself. “I’m the game warden. Tell me t
he real reason that you’re here!” he said, keeping the light in their faces.

  The men sighed from relief. Trance started to explain as he took a few steps closer, “This is gonna sound crazy—”

  “Stay right there. Don’t move any closer,” the game warden interrupted.

  “Listen to me—there’s a guy trapped in the bottom of that drainpipe. We heard him screaming for help and were trying to pull him out when you drove up. His hands are tied, and we heard you comin’, so we just freaked out and hid. We thought you were gonna try to kill us too!”

  The warden quickly processed what they were saying. They looked normal enough, aside from being soaking wet. He quickly glanced over his shoulder at the drainpipe without taking his weapon off the two men.

  “I swear, Officer. I’m tellin’ the truth. That guy’s in bad shape, and we’re wasting time!”

  Trance bolted down the levee, yelling, “Come on, we need your help!”

  All three men quickly sloshed out to the pipe and peered in. The water had receded some, but Jake’s head was slumped back, facing up, and his eyes were closed. The game warden instantly recognized the man as Jake Crosby.

  “Jake! Jake! Can you hear me? Jake! We’re here to rescue you! Hang on!” the warden yelled rapidly. He could see the vapor from Jake’s breath, and he knew that he was alive.

  “I went in upside down, but he couldn’t reach up to me. It’s a long way down.”

  “It’ll take all of us to pull him out, if we can,” Yancey said.

  The warden did a quick assessment and said, “I got an idea. We’ll use my winch!”

  As the warden ran through the water to his truck, he yelled, “One of y’all come help me.”

  The warden flipped his Warn winch to free spool and said, “Start pulling this to the pipe while I radio in where we’re at and what’s goin’ on.”

  He grabbed his radio mic and keyed it. “This is unit Twenty-Two for county dispatch. Do you read me? Over.”

  There was about a five-second pause, and a young female voice said, “Go ahead, Twenty-Two.”