Weeping Walls

by Gerri Hill

  “Yeah, I am pretty modest.” She slapped his shoulder. “Come on, baldy. Let’s go see what they found.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Paige stood back, watching as the forensics tech dusted the inside doorknob for prints. The kitchen door had been locked with a deadbolt, but it had only taken them a few seconds to unlock it.

  “I’ve got to learn to pick locks,” Billy said. “That was so cool.”

  She smiled but didn’t take her eyes off of the work in progress. As the earlier reports had said, the room was a pantry of sorts, although there were only two shelves on one wall. The other three walls were bare. She was about to ask if he found a useable print when a commotion in the other part of the house got her attention. She and Billy headed in that direction, meeting an excited CJ in the process.

  “They found another room,” she said. “Come look.”

  They followed CJ through the dining room and into the small interior room where the trick door was. Inside that was CJ’s laundry room. On the far wall, another trick door stood open.

  “What’s inside?”

  “They just got it opened. And they’ve got some prints from the tables. Who knows how old they are, but some are obviously children’s,” CJ said.

  “Where’s Ice?”

  “Oh, he came in for a little bit. But one of the deputies started in on hearing screaming and stuff and he bolted again.”

  “Agents, in here,” one of the techs called to them.

  Whereas the laundry room was lit with the portable lights that the sheriff’s department supplied, the interior room that the techs had found was black dark. They all clicked on their flashlights before going inside. What they found caused all of them to stop in their tracks.

  The skeletal remains of three bodies—children—lay slumped against a wall, their clothes still amazingly intact.

  “Damn,” Billy whispered.

  “Yeah. Damn,” CJ said quietly. She flashed her light along the walls. “There’s got to be another door,” she said.

  “Why do you think so?” Billy asked.

  “Because the only entry can’t be through the dining room, into the closet, into the laundry room and into here. That doesn’t make sense. Whoever did this had to have another way inside.”

  “I agree,” the tech said. “Looking at the layout of the house, I’d guess most of the interior of the first floor is hidden rooms like this.”

  Another tech stuck his head in. “Hey guys, you’re going to want to see this.”

  “Now what?” CJ murmured as they followed him back through the house and into the kitchen. Inside the pantry, they’d found another door, like the others that opened on a center pivot. Inside wasn’t anything as benign as a laundry room, however.

  “Holy shit,” CJ said.

  “Is that…like an altar or something?” Billy asked.

  Paige stepped around Billy, getting a better look inside. The altar itself brought back memories of Hoganville and the cave. But this altar made Ester Hogan’s look like child’s play. Eight skulls adorned this one, some animal, some human. There were knives of various sizes displayed on the altar. One glass jar on top contained eyeballs. She didn’t know if they were human or not. There was a mortar and pestle, candleholders with the remnants of candle wax caked around them and four small, black dolls.

  “Sacrificial altar,” the tech said. “Black magic. We had a case in New Orleans one time.” He shone his light on something. “Chicken feet.”

  “Voodoo?”

  “Voodoo gone bad,” he said. “The ancient practice of voodoo was not an evil concept. Today’s movies depict it that way.”

  “It doesn’t look like any of this is recent,” Paige said.

  “No. I don’t think this was an active site.”

  Paige’s light flashed across the altar again. “What’s that?”

  The tech went closer. “I’d guess it’s a spell book.”

  “What?”

  “You know, witchcraft, spells, black magic.”

  “Lovely,” she murmured dryly, turning away from the book.

  “There’s another door,” CJ said, her light shining on a doorknob.

  “Yeah. It’s locked. I was going to dust it for prints before I get Harrison to pick it.”

  “So bad voodoo? Or devil worship? What do you think this all is?” Paige asked.

  “Does it matter?” Billy asked. “It’s obviously meant for evil and not good.”

  “This could date back to when the Wickers lived here,” CJ said. She glanced at Paige. “Makes Hoganville look tame,” she said.

  Paige nodded. “Yes, it does.”

  “Okay, let me process this. I’ll let you know when we open the other door.”

  It was with relief that Paige stepped from the room and back into the kitchen. She noticed twilight was upon them as light no longer penetrated the cracks in the boards that covered the windows.

  “Let me find Ice,” CJ said. “He can keep Howley in the loop.”

  “Okay. We’ll go see what they found with the three bodies,” she said.

  “So those are the boys, right?” Billy asked as they headed back into the dining room.

  “We can assume,” she said.

  “I hate cases like this,” he said.

  “I know. We all do,” she said.

  They had moved one of the portable lights into the room where the bodies were. They were photographing the scene and Paige and Billy stood back, watching them.

  “It’s already dark outside,” Billy said, his voice low.

  “I know.”

  “How long are we going to stay here?”

  She turned to him. “I think we’ll be okay.”

  “Yeah, but we might want to start fresh in the morning,” he said.

  His wish was granted only a short time later when one of the techs came out of the back room.

  “We can’t see a goddamn thing in there. We’re going to wrap it up for the night,” he said. “Can we get some more lights brought in tomorrow?”

  “Let me check with Deputy Brady,” Billy said.

  “What about the bodies?” Paige asked.

  “The ME is coming in the morning. It’ll probably take us all day tomorrow to process everything, so this place needs to be secured tonight.”

  Paige and Billy exchanged glances.

  “You mean you want us to stay here tonight?” Billy asked.

  The tech held up his hands as he walked away. “Hey, I’m just a forensics guy.”

  Billy turned to her. “I’m thinking the sheriff’s department should secure the place. Right?”

  “Let’s go talk to CJ and Ice. But it’s our case, not the sheriff’s department,” she said.

  “Oh, hell,” he muttered. “I hate this case.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  CJ steadied Ice with a firm grip on his arm.

  “Say what?” Ice visibly swallowed. “Stay here? Tonight?”

  “Brady is going to have a patrol car parked at the road,” Billy said.

  “With all the comings and goings,” CJ said, “the locals know something’s up. Hell, they had crime scene tape up. We can’t leave the house unattended.”

  “Oh, man,” Ice groaned.

  CJ glanced at Paige. “You want to take shifts or what?”

  “We missed lunch,” Billy reminded them.

  “We could order pizza,” CJ offered. “And all stay.” She looked at Paige. “Sorry. I guess finding a vegan pizza around here might be tough.”

  “I don’t care anymore,” Paige said. “I’m starving. If we can find a veggie pizza with cheese, I’ll take it.”

  CJ grinned. “I knew you missed cheese.” She turned to Ice. “Is that okay with you?”

  “Yeah, okay. I don’t want to take shifts, though,” Ice said. “I’m just saying, no way in hell I’m staying here alone.”

  “We’ll all stay.” She raised her eyebrows at Billy. “Pizza okay with you?”

  He gave a
shaky laugh. “Yeah. What address will you give them? Turn left on the cemetery road and then take a right at the haunted house?”

  “Look,” she said. “We’re going to be fine here. It’s just a house.”

  “With three bodies inside,” Ice said. “And ghosts.”

  “And some kind of a voodoo altar thing,” Billy added. “With a spell book.”

  CJ put her hands on her hips. “Are you guys just trying to freak us all out or what?”

  “Just saying,” Ice murmured.

  “Fine. Then you guys take care of ordering the pizza. And the directions.” She shook her head. “Babies.”

  Paige followed her back up to the dark porch and stopped her with a tug on her arm. “Are you okay?”

  CJ nodded. “Yeah. Just tired of all the ghost crap.” She stared into the house, listening to the hum of the generator in the far back room they’d uncovered. “They left us fuel if we wanted to run the lights all night,” she said.

  “I don’t see the need to run the lights in the back rooms,” Paige said. “Maybe out here where we’re going to be.”

  CJ smiled gently at her. “Not crazy about this assignment either, huh?”

  “What? Staying here all night? No.” Paige moved closer, letting their hands brush. “I’d much rather be at the hotel.”

  “With me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Naked?”

  “Of course.”

  CJ rubbed Paige’s hand with her index finger, then drew back when she heard footsteps approach. It was Billy.

  “Ice is hiding in the truck,” he said. “He’s ordering the pizzas. I told him to just get water for everyone. Is that okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Although I kinda need to pee. I’m not looking forward to squatting in the woods.”

  Billy laughed. “Yeah, well, we don’t have that problem. Aim and shoot.”

  With Ice still hovering near the truck—waiting for the pizza, he claimed—the three of them managed to move the generator and the lights out near the entryway. The only evidence that their ghost was around was the closed front door.

  “Did you notice that the door never once closed when everyone else was here today?” Paige asked.

  “She didn’t want to show herself,” CJ said with certainty. How she knew this, she had no idea.

  “Can we not talk about it?” Billy said as he got the generator started again. Soon, light flooded the lower level near the door.

  “Much better,” Paige said. “Do you think we can get Ice to eat out here on the porch with us? It’s actually quite pleasant out.”

  “Yeah, it’s nice. We just need a picnic table and some chairs.”

  “How can you two act like this is a normal house?” Billy asked. “Did you forget that voodoo room?”

  “No. And I haven’t forgotten about the three bodies lying beyond the dining room either,” CJ said. “But it’s a crime scene. We’ve worked many, many crime scenes, Billy. Some too gruesome to talk about. This is just one more.”

  They all turned when Ice headed their way, his phone held up to his ear.

  “He must feel safe now that we’ve got the light out here,” Billy said.

  “Thanks for calling,” Ice said before pocketing his phone. “Shane Thompson called me back,” he said. “He said he hadn’t heard from or seen Deputy Brady. He said no one from the sheriff’s department has contacted him.”

  “Why the hell would Brady lie to us?” Billy asked. “Why tell us he’d been out there? Why say Thompson refused to talk to him?”

  “He must have known we’d follow up on that,” Paige said. “Makes no sense.”

  “Maybe he thought we’d be too preoccupied with this case,” CJ said. “Which we are. Howley all but said to dump it back in their laps.”

  “Yeah, but remember your stance on Howley’s directives and rules,” Billy reminded her. “Subjective, wasn’t that what you said?”

  “Oh, so now you want me to break course with what Howley said?”

  “Something’s up with this case and we all know it,” Billy said. “Brady is intentionally dropping the ball on this one.”

  “Maybe Brady is protecting someone,” CJ said.

  “So let’s call him on it,” Ice said.

  “When do you want to do that?” CJ asked. “We’ve got a house full of evidence and a forensics team to follow around tomorrow. We still need to find Edith Krause. If Brady shows up here tomorrow, we might be better served getting his help in locating her than questioning his performance on this new case.”

  “I tend to agree,” Paige said. “Although I don’t like the idea of letting the new case fall back to him. I say, if—when—we find Edith Krause and wrap this up, we then turn our focus on Juan and finding out what really happened to him.”

  “That’s assuming we determine Edith Krause is our killer,” CJ said.

  “I don’t suppose her prints are in the system, are they?” Ice asked.

  “If we could get a warrant to search her trailer, we’d obviously find her prints there,” CJ said.

  “Do we have enough evidence for that? Everything regarding her is based on speculation and what Lizzie has told us,” Paige said. “And a lot of that is opinion and observation, not evidence.”

  “I think Howley could get a warrant. We’ve got the whole missing husband thing too. And all four boys being bullies to her son,” CJ said. “One of whom killed him.”

  “Not to mention, she appears to have fled,” Billy said.

  “Why don’t I talk to Howley?” Ice suggested to her. “See if he’ll go for it.”

  CJ nodded. “Yeah, okay. You do that. We need a BOLO out on her car too.”

  They turned as headlights flashed along the road and through the trees. Ice headed that direction.

  “Pizza,” he explained. “They thought it was a joke. They wouldn’t deliver unless I paid in advance with a credit card.”

  As Paige had said earlier, it was a nice night. The four of them sat on the porch with their backs leaning against the wall. The rumble of the generator was a bit annoying, even though it was a small portable one. But of course it beat having no lights on at all.

  “How’s your pizza?” she asked Paige.

  Paige grinned around a mouthful. “I didn’t realize how much I missed cheese.”

  “I know. I’ve seen you coveting mine whenever we eat together.”

  “And how often is that?”

  CJ laughed. “Oh, baldy, you getting brave sitting out here on the porch, are you? Now you think you can ask questions about us?”

  “You think Howley is going to find out?” Billy asked.

  “Not unless you tell him,” she said. “We’re careful at work. Right?”

  “Careful enough, I guess,” he said.

  “He’d split us up,” Ice warned.

  “I know. That’s why we didn’t want to tell you two,” CJ said. She looked at Paige. “But it is what it is.”

  Paige smiled and nodded but said nothing.

  The conversation lagged as they continued to eat their pizza in silence. She was stuffed after four pieces but managed to scarf down a fifth before closing the lid on the box. She took a swallow from her water bottle, then closed it up too. She’d put it off as long as she could. She had to pee. She grabbed a napkin and stood.

  “Gotta do a potty break,” she said.

  Paige stood too. “I might as well join you.”

  “No hanky-panky,” Billy said with a laugh.

  “Oh, yeah, we’re going to make out next to a haunted house. Now that’s my idea of sexy,” CJ said. She picked up her flashlight and clicked it on, flashing it toward the back of the house. There were plenty of trees and bushes to choose from. She tore her napkin in half and handed part to Paige. “Not Charmin but it’ll have to do.”

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Paige said.

  CJ laughed. “You want to drive over to Lizzie’s and ask to borrow her bathroom?”

  “
Can we?”

  CJ took her hand and led her away from the porch. “Are you telling me you’ve never peed outside before?”

  “I have never had the need to, no.”

  “Long road trip? Never peed on the side of the road?”

  “Are you saying you have?”

  CJ stopped when they came to the edge of the woods, flashing her light around the bushes and seeing nothing out of place.

  “I have a time or two, yes,” she said. “Squat and get it over with.”

  Paige’s answer was to walk at least twenty feet away from her. CJ did her business and dutifully kept her light off until Paige was finished. She couldn’t help but laugh as Paige came out of the shadows holding her napkin gingerly between her thumb and index finger.

  “What should I do with this?”

  “I buried mine.”

  “Buried?”

  CJ dug a shallow hole with the heel of her shoe, then stepped aside. “There.”

  “This is disgusting,” Paige said as she laid her napkin in the hole.

  “No big deal.” CJ covered it up, then stepped on it. “Pretend we’re camping.”

  “And what makes you think I’ve been camping before?”

  “Girl Scouts?”

  Paige shook her head. “My mother wouldn’t hear of it.”

  “No, I guess not. But speaking of your mother, have you heard back from her?”

  “Not a word.”

  “You going to call her or avoid her?”

  Paige smiled. “I’m avoiding her. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s on her way to Houston now, planning on popping in unannounced again, hoping to find you there.”

  “Why don’t you just tell her?” she suggested.

  “And what would I tell her? This is the woman I’m having an affair with?”

  CJ paused, wondering if now was the right time for this conversation. “Is that what we’re doing? Having an affair?” It was too dark for her to read Paige’s eyes, but she was nervous as she waited for her answer. Paige reached out, grazing her cheek, her fingers brushing the hair away from her face.

  “I don’t want to have an affair with you, CJ.”

  CJ swallowed, not sure what that meant.

  “And you need a haircut.”

  CJ smiled, thankful that they weren’t going to delve into a full-blown discussion on their relationship now. Instead she tugged Paige to her, leaning closer to kiss her. It was slow and light, just lips moving against lips, but it was enough to stir her senses, enough to make her want more. Rather than giving in, she stepped away.