Weeping Walls

by Gerri Hill

  “Oh, we’ll make some shit up,” she said. “If you’re sure you’re okay here…”

  “Yeah. Go,” he said, waving her away. Just when she opened the door to her truck, he called out. “Hey. You better clean off that blood before you get to the hospital. They might just admit you on sight.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Paige tugged at the removable splint on her arm, tightening it just a bit. Then she reached behind her head, feeling where they’d shaved her hair so that they could stitch up her wound.

  “Quit messing with it,” Billy said.

  She glanced at him. “It’s noticeable, isn’t it?”

  He rubbed his jaw. “At least you still have all your teeth.”

  “At least your hair is still even.”

  He shook his head. “Sometimes you’re such a girl.”

  “Really? A girl? Because I’m concerned that they shaved part of my hair?” Was she really that vain? She touched the back of her head again, cringing as her fingers touched her scalp. “Men,” she muttered. “It wasn’t like it was life or death. I mean really, couldn’t they have worked around the hair?”

  “Are you afraid CJ is going to say something about it? Because I think you could be bald and CJ wouldn’t care.”

  Paige laughed. “You could be right. That’s one thing I love about her.”

  “Yeah. And shouldn’t she be here by now? I’m ready to get out of here.”

  “She had to go by the hotel first,” she said. CJ had been really noncommittal about why, but Paige could only assume it had something to do with the brief “battle” with Edith, as CJ called it. All CJ would tell her was that Edith had ended up falling from the third-floor stairs.

  Paige got up and opened the door, taking a glance in both directions down the hallway. Two nurses were chatting with an older man, but other than that, the hallway was empty. She thought about going to check on Lizzie again, but the doctor had warned her Lizzie would be kept sedated. She was likely hit with the same bat as Paige. Whereas Paige had escaped the ordeal without any damage other than the ten stitches required to close her wound, Lizzie had swelling and bleeding around her brain. She knew from the deputies that Lizzie’s sister and brother-in-law were on their way up from Conroe. At least she would have family with her. Paige tried not to blame herself for Lizzie’s injuries, but she knew if she and CJ had not gotten her involved, Edith would have had no cause to harm her. But as it was, without Lizzie, they probably would have never solved this case.

  She was about to go back into the room when she saw a familiar sight. She smiled as CJ walked confidently down the hallway toward her.

  CJ grinned. “Hey.”

  Paige smiled with relief. “Hey.”

  CJ apparently didn’t care that they were in a small-town hospital. She pulled her into a hug, and Paige wrapped her arms around her neck, pressing close to her.

  “Are you okay?” she whispered into her ear.

  CJ squeezed her tight, then stepped back, inspecting the arm that had the splint on it. “I was about to ask you the same thing. Broken?”

  “Hairline fracture,” she said, tugging CJ with her into the room.

  CJ walked over to Billy, shaking her head. “I would have sworn your jaw was broken, Billy Boy,” she said. “What did they say?”

  “It’s everything but broken,” he said as he rubbed it. “Lost two damn teeth. Got another they think I can salvage if I get to a dentist for a root canal.”

  “Did you get lots of fun drugs?”

  “Oh yeah. So I can’t operate any heavy machinery. That probably means I shouldn’t use my weapon either,” he said around a yawn.

  CJ turned back to her, motioning for Paige to turn around. “Let me see.”

  “They…they kinda had to shave my hair to stitch the wound,” she said.

  CJ lifted the hair away from her neck gently. “It looks fine,” she said. “Any damage?”

  “No, just a little swelling.”

  “Headache?”

  Paige nodded. “Killer.”

  “Concussion?”

  “No.”

  “Great. So you can leave?”

  “Yes.” Paige sat on the edge of the bed Billy was lounging on. “But first, tell us what happened.”

  CJ shrugged. “Edith was in the house. Third floor. She…she was possessed or something. Like you said, a ninja. She had an ax.” CJ looked at them both. “There was some…some force or something there.” She smiled quickly. “Get Ice to tell you that part. Anyway, Ice shot her four times. I shot her once in the back as she was taking a swing at Ice. It didn’t even faze her.” CJ took a deep breath. “I was pinned against the wall, she had the ax. I shot her point-blank in the heart. Twice. She was still trying to take a swing at me,” she said with a shake of her head. “I…I kicked her. She fell over the railing, down to the first floor.”

  Paige went to her, giving her a quick hug but not knowing what to say.

  “It’s okay,” CJ said. “She wasn’t Edith Krause then. She was possessed by…by something. But whatever was in that house is gone. All the windows on the third floor blew out.” She laughed quietly. “And get Ice to tell you about that too.”

  “So the bald man hung in there?” Billy asked with a grin.

  “He was a trouper, yes.” Her phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. “Speaking of Ice,” she said. “What’s up, baldy?”

  Chapter Forty

  Shane Thompson was waiting for them when they pulled up to the office. He shook their hands firmly.

  “Thank you for coming so quickly.” Then he looked at Billy’s bruised and swollen jaw. “What happened to you?”

  “Baseball bat.”

  “Ice—Special Agent Freeman—said you saw the car,” CJ prompted.

  “Yeah. Well, some of the kids did. They alerted me,” he said. “We were working the elm trees in the back pasture. The kids sometimes tag along and help when we’re running irrigation lines,” he explained. “It was a red Mustang. It went on up the forest road.”

  “How long ago?”

  “I called Freeman as soon as the kids said that it was the car that hit Juan,” he said. “We’ve been watching. It hasn’t come back out.”

  “Where does the road go?” Paige asked.

  “Up in the forest. There are logging roads back there. But if they’re coming back to Cleveland, they’ve got to come back down this way,” he said.

  CJ nodded. “Okay. We’ll go take a look.” She turned to Billy. “You up for it? Or do you want to stay here and wait for Brady?”

  Billy rubbed his jaw. “I think I better hang out here. Those pain pills, you know.”

  She then looked at Paige, knowing what her answer would be before she even asked. “You?”

  “I’m fine,” Paige said. “Let’s go find the bastard.”

  CJ laughed as they got back in her truck. “You have turned into such a potty mouth.”

  “It’s the company I keep.”

  When they pulled out of Thompson’s driveway, CJ glanced at Paige. “Are you sure you’re okay? I mean, your head, it wasn’t that long ago that—”

  “I’m fine, CJ. I have a little headache, that’s all.”

  CJ eyed her skeptically. “I thought it was a killer headache.”

  “It’s nothing I can’t handle,” Paige said. “I’m not letting you go after him alone, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “Okay. Then I won’t worry.”

  “Good. Now what about you? You had quite an ordeal today too.”

  “I wouldn’t call it an ordeal,” she said.

  “No? You have bruises on your neck and arms,” Paige noted.

  CJ glanced quickly at her forearms, seeing the telltale sign of hands squeezing against them, leaving a bruise. And they weren’t from Edith Krause.

  “Yeah, it was like Ester Hogan all over again,” she admitted. “Ice and I were picked up and tossed around like ragdolls,” she said. She met Paige’s eyes for a mo
ment. “I wasn’t sure we were going to make it out of there alive.”

  Paige reached over and rested her hand on CJ’s thigh, squeezing slightly. “You left that part out of your story earlier,” Paige said.

  “Yeah. It was some kind of scary,” she said. “And Ice hung in there the whole time.” She smiled as she turned onto the forest road. “When we’re back home and you spoil me with one of your expensive bottles of wine, I’ll tell you the whole story.”

  “Deal.”

  She slowed as they reached the back part of Thompson’s property. She could see the rows of trailer houses that skirted the greenhouses and rows and rows of trees. She stuck her head out of her open window while she drove, noting the tire tracks on the dirt road.

  “I’m going to bring up the satellite GPS. At least we’ll know where the roads are,” Paige said.

  They drove for ten minutes or so before the forest opened up and revealed a logging road. The tracks they were following did not turn there, however. CJ kept going.

  “There’s another road coming up on the right,” Paige said. “Looks like maybe a mile or so.”

  CJ nodded and kept going. Before too long, they found the second road. She slowed as they approached it. “He turned here,” she said, still following the tracks.

  “It doesn’t look well used,” Paige said.

  “Old logging road. Probably just dead ends, right?”

  Paige handed her the phone. “It goes a ways back, but yes, it just ends.”

  CJ studied the map. There was no way out other than this road. The satellite image was obviously taken shortly after the area had been logged. The new growth of trees there now were missing from the image.

  “So what would our guy be doing out here?” she asked as she handed Paige’s phone back to her.

  “What are you thinking?”

  “After this area’s been clear-cut and the loggers pull out, I wouldn’t imagine there’s much traffic down this little logging road,” she said.

  “Marijuana?”

  “Why not?” She drove on, slower now, the road extremely bumpy.

  “They patrol areas like this by helicopter,” Paige said.

  “True. At the request of the local sheriff’s department, though.”

  “Okay. You obviously have a theory. What is it?”

  * * *

  “So Shane Thompson saw a red sports car go down the forest road, and he thinks it’s the one who ran down the kid?” Brady asked.

  Ice nodded. “He said some of the kids saw it and told him it was the same car.” Ice looked at the speedometer, noting Brady’s slow pace. “Shouldn’t we be in more of a hurry?”

  “I thought your people were out there?” Brady gave him a smug look. “What? The FBI can’t handle it?”

  “Two of them just got out of the hospital,” Ice said. Damn, but this guy got on his nerves. “So can you speed up a little bit? We’re to pick up Special Agent Calhoun at Thompson’s,” he said.

  “You guys are so formal. Calhoun is Billy, right?”

  Ice sighed. “Yeah. Billy.”

  “So, those two women, are they, you know…queer?”

  Ice narrowed his eyes at him. “What did you just say?”

  Brady laughed. “Yeah, I thought so. Now the blond one, Paige, I would have never guessed. She’s hot. But the other one, CJ, she’s cocky and arrogant.” He nodded. “She’s kinda cute too, but I thought she was a dyke all along.”

  “Look, man, that’s none of your business. Can you just get me to Thompson’s please?”

  “Yeah, yeah. We’re almost there.”

  Prick. Ice slowly shook his head. If CJ had been in the car, she’d have probably shot him. That thought, of course, made him smile.

  When they got to Thompson’s, Billy was outside and waiting. He got in the backseat of Brady’s patrol car.

  “They’re on an old logging road,” he said. “I told them to wait, but you know CJ.”

  “Man, that’s some bruise,” Brady said. “Broken?”

  “No. At least that’s what they tell me. I can’t imagine it hurting any worse,” Billy said. “So if you’d take it easy on the bumps, I’d appreciate it.”

  “How long have they been out there?” Ice asked as Brady pulled away with a jerk, causing Billy to wince.

  “They left here about twenty minutes ago,” Billy said.

  Yeah, plenty of time for CJ to get into trouble, he thought.

  Chapter Forty-One

  “There’s a black truck parked in the trees,” CJ said, handing Paige the binoculars. “You can just barely see the red car.”

  They had pulled off of the logging road and parked next to a stand of young pines. Not exactly hidden.

  “We should wait for the guys,” Paige said. “If it is a marijuana farm, we have no idea who all might be out here.”

  “I’m telling you, Brady’s involved,” CJ said again. “It all adds up.”

  “As much as I appreciate your gut feeling, CJ, that’s reaching. Even if he’s involved in the drug business, I can’t see him turning a blind eye to a murder. He was nothing but helpful to us at the Wicker house.”

  “All I’m saying is, it makes sense. He ignored calls made by Allen Poole when he complained about his neighbors. He wasn’t all that happy with us for doing a bust. He didn’t follow up on leads, he never contacted Thompson, never worked the case. That tells me he’s involved somehow.”

  “Are you sure you’re not implicating him simply because you don’t like the man?”

  “He’s an obnoxious prick,” CJ said. “And if he’s a dirty cop, it’ll be a pleasure to take him down.”

  Paige loved CJ’s passion, but her theory that Brady was involved in the local drug trade—and possibly the murder of a little boy—was pure conjecture. She herself hadn’t had any dealings with Brady so she wasn’t quite as biased as CJ was. Could it be possible? Sure. And she would be prepared. He was bringing Ice and Billy to the scene. CJ’s speculation would be put to the test very soon.

  Suddenly CJ snatched up the binoculars. “I think we’ve been spotted,” she said. “I count four guys.”

  “The only way out is this road,” Paige reminded her.

  “One took off on foot,” CJ said. “The other three got into the black truck.” She again handed Paige the binoculars before starting her truck. “Gonna try to block the road. Check in with Billy and see how far out they are.”

  Paige quickly called Billy, waiting impatiently through three rings before he answered. “Where are you?” she asked.

  “Bouncing down this damn forest road,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “We found the car. There’s a black truck here too. Four guys that we can tell. One has fled. The black truck is heading our way.”

  “We should be there soon,” he said.

  “Tell Brady it’s the second logging road, to the right. We’re about three or four hundred yards down it,” she said. She listened while he conveyed the message.

  “He said he knows the road,” Billy said.

  Paige’s eyes were glued to the fast approaching black truck. “Tell him to hurry,” she said before disconnecting.

  CJ’s truck was parked sideways across the road, blocking access. Dust flew up behind the black truck as it came closer.

  “Surely he’s not going to hit us,” she said.

  “Fucker,” CJ muttered. “Come on. We need to get out.”

  Paige opened the door quickly and followed CJ to the edge of the woods. They snapped open their holsters and withdrew their weapons. The truck’s engine seemed loud to her and her eyes were riveted upon it as it slowed, now some fifty feet away. She could make out three men squeezed in the front seat. The passenger door opened and a guy stood up.

  “Move your goddamn truck out of the way,” he yelled.

  CJ immediately held up her credentials. “FBI,” she yelled back. “Get out of the truck.”

  He laughed at her. “Yeah, right.”

  Paige heard a
twig snap behind her, but before she could turn, she was grabbed. She cried out as the back of her head hit a solid chest. As a strong arm circled her neck, she lashed back with her elbow, hitting him in the stomach. Just as she was about to twist out of his grasp, his hand clasped around the back of her neck, pressing hard against her wound. The pain was enormous, but she raised her hand intending to swing at him, only to have him hit the splint that was protecting her fractured arm. She winced in pain and her weapon fell uselessly to the ground. Before she could recover, she felt the cold metal of a gun barrel as it was pressed to her head.

  CJ spun around too late, her eyes wide as she raised her weapon. “Damn, but you run fast,” she said. “Don’t be stupid. We’re FBI agents.”

  “Drop your gun,” the man said. “I got no problem with shooting her.”

  “And I got no problem with shooting you,” CJ said.

  Paige felt herself being dragged backward and her eyes searched CJ’s, trying to determine their plan of attack. She looked past CJ, seeing the three men from the truck approaching.

  “Behind you,” she said, but CJ never turned. All her attention was on the man who held her.

  “Special Agent Riley, did I ever tell you I was a sharpshooter?” CJ asked, her voice calm, a contradiction to the desperate look Paige saw in her eyes.

  Paige tried to swallow as the arm around her neck tightened.

  “Look, lady, drop your gun already,” one of the three said from behind CJ. “You ain’t going nowhere.”

  “Lady? Lady? I’m a goddamn FBI Special Agent and if I had a mind to, I’d have already shot all three of you,” CJ said without looking at them. She moved to the side, circling Paige and the man who held her.

  “We ain’t looking for trouble,” he said.

  “Is that right? Then why is this dickhead holding a gun to my partner’s head?”

  “Come on, Scottie. They’re FBI, for God’s sake. Let her go.”

  “Shut up,” the man holding her yelled. “Why do you think they’re here? Chuck said they were looking for me. Because of the damn kid.”

  Paige’s headache was blinding, but she was cognizant enough to know that Chuck was most likely Chuck Brady. Apparently CJ’s gut feeling was right after all.