by Jen Wright
She called out, "Hello? Anyone here? Hello?" The sound didn't echo. She felt with her hands, and the rock walls were becoming narrower. A spider crawled on her neck, and she quickly brushed it off. As she walked forward, the space became narrower. The rocks were now inches from her on all sides, and she had to bend over to move on.
She sensed something ahead. Something was pulling her onward. Now she was on all fours. The ground was cold. She reached up ahead with her hands, trying to see what lay ahead. Her hand hit something. Her hands tentatively explored, and she recognized the shape of a foot. It was a foot in a boot attached to a leg. Her heart pounded, and her ears roared.
"Rick!" Rick!" She shook the leg. "Rick, get up. Are you OK?" Soon she realized that something was shaking her. Or rather, someone.
"Jo, wake up. It's a dream. You're having a dream, Jo. It's OK."
Jo slowly opened her eyes to see Zoey's eyes right in front of her.
"You OK, hon?"
"Bad dream."
"I know. Bad dream about Rick. You were shaking me and yelling his name. Can you tell me about it?"
"I found him in a cave."
"Was he alive?"
"I don't think so. It was so cold and dark. I crawled into this totally dark cave because I sensed I needed to."
"Wow. You hate tight spaces."
"I know."
"Let's get up and have some coffee, OK?"
They sipped silently for a while.
"I have to go look for him."
"Now? It's still really cold out."
Jo walked over to the window and looked at the thermometer nailed to the outhouse. "Well, actually it's getting quite a bit warmer. It's nearly ten degrees out. That's a forty-degree swing."
Jo began to pace.
"I need to go ask around more about Rick. I should go back out to Amanda's land again where we found all those crosses. Something was going on out there. I want to bring Cocoa. She knew him. She might be able to pick up his smell."
Zoey pulled her clothes back on. "Jo, I said I wanted to help, so let's do it. We better stop in at Sandy and Ree's and tell them what we're up to in case it takes us longer than we think."
Their next stop was G's. The owner said she thought she knew a guy named Rick that matched the description Jo gave her, but she said Rick met all kinds of folks at the café over coffee. In her opinion, some of them looked a bit drugged out. Skinny and high strung.
"I thought maybe he was dealing drugs in my shop. I watched 'em pretty close, and Rick always walked his company out to their car, so I never called the Sheriff."
"See anyone in here who knew Rick? Hung out with him?"
"Yeah, there was a young gal who grew up near here used to come in with him sometimes. He seemed real protective of her and never brought her with him when he was meeting with guys."
"Was her name Katie?"
"That's right. Katie Shantree. Her family's a rough clan." She seemed to stop herself from saying anything more about the Shantrees.
"Did you recognize any of the men who met with Rick here?"
"There was one guy I knew, Brandon Reese. Lives in a trailer just off the Hammond up on Highway 44. Turn east on 44, it's the first driveway on your left."
"What's Brandon like?"
"Young. Stupid. Lazy. You know the type. Only works when he has to."
"I can't see Rick as a dealer," Jo said as they got back in the Rover. She was thinking out loud to Zoey.
"If his addiction got the better of him, I could see him stealing and selling hot electronics to support his habit. That's common. He just isn't tough enough to break into the drug trade. On the other hand, that might be what happened to him. Shit!" Jo slammed her fist into her steering wheel.
As soon as she did it, she reached over to Zoey. She didn't want Zoey to be afraid. "I'm sorry, hon. I'm just so frustrated. If a rival dealer got wind of it, he could easily have killed Rick to prevent him from stealing his market share. Rick wouldn't have had a clue. He wasn't that sophisticated."
Zoey sat in silence.
"Let's head over to the Hammond. See if we can see anything else in the woods."
"You can navigate it without Amanda?"
"I have a compass, and our tracks should still be there. I think we'll be OK."
Jo and Zoey and the dogs walked to where Amanda had led Jo on their previous walk, and then headed farther north into the woods. After walking over a mile, Jo came to a cross on a tree. "See this cross? They're all over here. Amanda says there are hundreds of them."
"Wow. That takes some kind of compulsion."
"Compulsion?"
"Assuming they were all made by the same person. I'd say the individual was pretty driven. Likely mentally ill."
"Or it could be a cult."
"Cults are pretty rare." Zoey knew this from her psychology research. "Some type of religious group could have made them, though."
Jo reached down and petted Cocoa. "Where's Rick? Can you find Rick?"
Cocoa looked around, sniffing the air, and then she scampered ahead at a brisk trot. They followed her for about ten minutes before coming to what looked like a destroyed shed in the woods. All around the shed were smasheded TV sets, stereos, and other electronic equipment partially covered in snow.
The violence of the scene sent a chill up Jo's spine. Either the drugs had changed Rick drastically to make him capable of this kind of rage, or someone else had done it vindictively. The fact that Rick was now missing filled Jo with dread.
She reached down and patted Cocoa. "Good girl."
"This stuff looks stolen to me," she said to Zoey.
"How do you know?"
"Look at the cut wires on the car stereos. No one cuts car stereos out like this unless they're in a hurry. It's also the sheer volume of stuff. Look at it all."
Jo pulled off a few pieces containing serial numbers, and then she rummaged through the remains of the shack looking for any sign of a meth lab. She warned Zoey not to touch anything with her bare hands. Meth production left some nasty byproducts. The only promising things Jo spotted were a propane tank and a few rusty containers.
CHAPTER 19
"What now?" Zoey asked.
"Let's head over to see this Brandon guy."
"You think it'll be dangerous?"
"Not sure. We can scope it out first; then decide."
The driveway into Brandon Reese's place was obviously not plowed. Large, icy ruts scarred the driveway. Jo carefully steered her vehicle, navigating the treacherous roadway for a full 350 feet before a decrepit trailer came into view. It stared back at them, dark gray metal with smoke billowing out of a chimney. Its windows were all covered with blankets, and it sported quite a depressing lack of curb appeal. Outside sat a Toyota four-by-four with firewood filling its truck bed.
"What do you think?" Jo didn't want to force Zoey into something she didn't want to do. "You can wait here in the car."
"I'm going with you."
"OK, you stay by the door. Let me get the Rover turned around, though, in case we need to get out of here fast."
Zoey didn't argue.
Jo motioned for Zoey to stay to one side of the door as she knocked. She didn't want either of them to be in the way of a gun blast, should he start shooting and ask questions later. She could hear motion inside the trailer, and then she saw the flutter of a curtain moving aside at the door.
"Who is it?"
"Jo Spence."
"What do you want?"
"I'm looking for Rick Thomas."
"You a cop?"
"No, a friend. We'd like to come in and talk to you."
Brandon opened the door a crack, but when the cold hit him in the face, he opened the door all the way and hurriedly invited them in. Jo and Zoey stepped inside the door.
The trailer was a typical bachelor trailer. Empty beer cans littered every table. An ashtray was overflowing on the coffee table. Dirty dishes filled the sink and the counter.
"Wasn't expecti
ng company." Brandon rubbed the sandy stubble on his face. He was roughly 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with sandy brown hair, longish and unkempt under a baseball cap.
"I'm looking for Rick. Have you seen him lately? He's missing."
"No, haven't seen him in a long time."
"How long?"
"You sure you're not a cop? You kind of have that vibe."
Jo pulled open her jacket and showed him that she wasn't armed.
She was sizing him up after hearing that he was a lazy loser who didn't like to work. She guessed that the assessment was accurate. He didn't seem to have the energy to be anything but a doper let alone a murderer or gangbanger. Still, she would be careful.
"I don't know, maybe a month?"
"Where did you last see him?"
"G's."
"A drug deal?"
Brandon looked instantly pissed. "I don't know about any drugs." His eyes darted around the trailer, lingering a tad longer at the couch.
Jo shifted her weight slightly forward as he reached for her, grabbing her jacket in his fist. "Listen, lady…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Jo had taken his hand, spun it behind his back, and straight-armed him to the floor face down.
"I thought you weren't a cop."
"If I were a cop, you'd be under arrest. I don't give a shit about your drug deals. I'm looking for Rick." She gave his arm a twist until he cried out.
"OK, OK. Rick shared his shit with me. I haven't seen him in over a month. He left me high and dry. I don't know what happened to him. I've been looking for him, too. Let me up."
Jo did a quick pat search and then eased off her grip a bit and slowly allowed Brandon to get up. "You make a move for me again, and I'll break something. Is that clear? Then I'll come back here with my buddy who is a cop, and he'll bring all of his friends, and we'll have another pleasant visit."
"Look, I don't know who the fuck you are, but I'm not stupid."
"Where did Rick get his drugs?"
"I think he cooked 'em."
"Meth?"
He nodded.
"Where?"
"Somewhere off of the Hammond. He had a shack. I really don't know. We always met at G's. He was paranoid, you know. Didn't want anyone to know where he stayed."
"Where are you getting your stuff right now?"
"I don't have any stuff."
"How about I get my buddies here and we turn this place upside down?"
"There's another guy who sells around here."
"Another guy?"
"Look, he's a mean motherfucker. I don't even know his name, and I prefer to keep it that way."
"Rick's competition?"
"Probably."
"Where do you meet him?"
He nodded no and crossed his arms.
Jo tried several more times to squeeze information out of Brandon, but that was all she was going to get. As they slowly made their way down the driveway, Zoey turned to Jo.
"That was impressive…in a bullying sort of way. Where'd you learn that?"
"Probation staff aren't armed. We have to know how to defend ourselves."
"You've done this before?"
"Not often."
Zoey pressed her lips together in a grim line and looked away.
"This other seller sounds pretty nasty. Brandon was scared enough of him to risk a possession charge," Jo said.
"Nasty enough to have hurt Rick?"
"I can't even think about that."
They drove back to G's so that Jo could call Sandy and Ree with their ETA. Then she contacted Nate as well. She explained to him what they had found and read off the serial numbers for him to process.
"I'll get this to our felony crimes unit and see what we come up with."
"The woman who owns the café here thought Rick may have been dealing. Any idea what might be going on here?"
"Well, it's a big area out there, but that gives these guys some protection. They can pretty much do anything they want out in the woods. Who's going to notice? Sounds like a rival gang thing to me. Has Rick ever been involved in a gang?"
"Absolutely not. He went to great lengths to avoid getting sucked into one."
"When was that?"
"Eight years ago. He was a teen then. I helped him stay out of the Gangster Disciples. I had to help him hide out for six months."
"Shit, Jo, I don't know what to think, then. I'll run the numbers you gave me, and we'll see where that leads. Don't mess with any of his meth buddies. They're paranoid as hell, Jo. Unpredictable."
Jo didn't tell him about her little wrestling match with Brandon, and instead said, "Thanks, Nate, that's good advice."
"Say, Jo. Thought you'd like to know. Good news about that runaway — she's not on meth. I think she saw up close the damage it can do. She's into marijuana, drinks a lot, and she's tried a bunch of pills, but she's got a chance. I actually think she's a good candidate for Drug Court."
"Great, Nate. We can always hope."
"That's what it's all about," Nate replied.
CHAPTER 20
The next morning, Jo woke up knowing what she had to do. She struggled with how to tell Zoey her plans. She didn't really want to bring her along because of how she'd reacted when Jo had to get physical with Brandon Reese.
Katie Shantree was a lead, and Jo had to follow it. She needed to speak to everyone who had been close to Rick. One of these leads would be the string that, if she pulled on it just right, would make everything else about this whole mystery unravel. She was pacing back and forth in front of the stove.
"What's going on, Jo?"
"I have to go talk to Katie Shantree's family."
"The junkyard place."
"Yup."
"You heard what Sherry said about that place — it's hillbilly-ville. It might be foolish to go charging in there."
"I'm sure I've been in worse places."
"Really?"
"We've had to go into properties where signs are posted all over the place warning that if you proceed, prepare to be shot. I'm still here."
"I'm not amused."
"Me, either. I have to go."
"OK, let's do it."
"No, please, just stay here. I'll bring my phone. I'm going to check in with dispatch to let them know where I am. They'll give me a status call every fifteen minutes. I'll be in and out of there in under fifteen. I'll also have Nate run a 911 check on the house. See how many police calls they've had, and for what."
"You don't want me to go?"
"I feel terrible dragging you all over the place on our vacation. It's a fifteen-minute visit. I'll be back in a half hour, tops."
"If you don't come back in half an hour, I'm getting Sandy and Ree, and we're coming after you."
"Make it 45 minutes then, I don't want to call out the cavalry if I'm having a good interview."
Defeated, Zoey said, "OK."
Jo drove out to Highway 41 and pulled over at the crest of a hill before calling Nate and dispatch. After reviewing the CAD 911 report, Nate did his best to dissuade her from going to the house. There were calls for domestic disputes, loud party calls, missing pet calls in the neighborhood, and several theft investigations.
Almost everyone in the house had been convicted of multiple DWIs. That surprised Nate. DWIs in Big Noise were almost unheard of. Nate explained to Jo about the "no crash, don't tell" policy in effect in the area because the only police coverage would be from the Sheriff's Department. Drivers could weave all over the place, and they wouldn't likely be stopped by law enforcement. St. Louis County is geographically larger than some states, and Big Noise is out there. When Nate realized that the DWIs had occurred in Two Harbors, Superior, and Duluth, that made more sense to him. Which only meant that this bunch went out of its way to get into trouble.
Jo thanked him for the intel., shrugged off his advice, and turned into the driveway that led to the house. As she pulled in, she passed old trucks and cars in various stages of disrepair, a rusty bathtub and to
ilet, and several other household items. The house was a traditional two-story farmhouse with a crooked front porch and dilapidated siding. It looked like it had been painted white once, but now it looked gray.