Mute

by Brian Bandell

  Despite the slow set up pitch right down the center of the plate, Moni didn’t swing. She peppered the phone with short tense breaths that reminded him of a red-faced woman undergoing labor pains in one of those childbirth documentaries.

  “Moni? What’s wrong?”

  “That damn Sneed. He ordered officers over to steal Mariella.”

  “What! Where is she?”

  “Thank God.” She sucked in a relieved gulp of air. “She’s here with me. The Lagoon Watcher’s monsters took her before Sneed’s cronies did. They took her into the canal. They wanted to… But I… I dove in and grabbed her back. You don’t know how brave my little one was.”

  “Sounds like you were plenty brave yourself,” Aaron said.

  Moni groaned as if someone had just balanced a boulder on her spine. Aaron hoped that her reaction came from his flattery, but she reverted into exorcism breathing mode. Moni couldn’t get a word out that wasn’t mangled.

  Aaron let the waters settle and then he asked her what happened.

  “I ran away when I could have helped them,” Moni said in a sobbing voice. “Tanya Roberts, and Clyde Harrison are dead. I escaped with the girl. The monsters… they…”

  “Dead? That’s terrible. Moni, the important thing is that you and Mariella are…”

  “No! I mean I know it’s important, but the sheriff and Sneed won’t see it that way. I disobeyed a direct order to turn over the girl and the two people who were sent for her wound up dead. Who do you think they’ll blame?”

  Her anguish hadn’t stopped Moni from thinking straight. Aaron agreed that they would try pinning their deaths on her. Even short of trumping up murder charges, Sneed could build a strong case that Moni had neglected her duties by fleeing the scene while they were in danger.

  “Were there any witnesses?” Aaron asked.

  “My neighbor watched from her window and called the police. I’m not sure how much she saw. I left before they got there.”

  “Left? Where are you going?”

  She didn’t hesitate before she told him;at least she trusted someone else besides the girl.

  “I’m headed up the Space Coast Parkway towards Kissimmee. I’m going as far away from the lagoon as possible.”

  He was glad Moni couldn’t see him shaking his head. She had cut and run while leaving two people she worked with to their deaths. And her next plan? Cut and run again. She was headed out of town with the only witness to the beheadings while the helpless citizens of the county she served continued getting murdered.

  Harsh judgments like that came too easily, Aaron realized. He dwelled on Crystal Marshall, his former best friend who had moved away because he didn’t stick up for her against those racist punks. He couldn’t blame her for leaving. How could she take on all those kids by herself?

  Moni fled because Aaron hadn’t done enough. He should have been there when the officers came for Mariella. He should have skewered that gator on his speargun. His whole life, Aaron had cowered away from moments like that. When they dumped the books out of his backpack in school, he had laughed it off and scooped them up instead of throwing down. When they picked on his little brother, he pretended like he didn’t know him.

  His parents would never believe that Aaron could help someone like Moni. Maybe he couldn’t conquer the horde of mutants in the lagoon, or crack the secrets of the bacteria like Professor Swartzman, but Aaron could make good use of his crafty noggin. It had saved him from expulsion more than once.

  “Running isn’t the right move,” Aaron said. “Whoever is poisoning the lagoon wants Mariella out of the picture and hiding her is the next best thing. You need to keep working your magic with her, and solve this case.”

  “But, what about the Lagoon Watcher? I can’t fight for her life every day. Then there’s Sneed. He won’t let me near the girl after this. I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t take my badge and toss me in jail.”

  “I’ve got a plan for both of them,” Aaron assured her. “Sneed likes card games, right? We’ll cut him a deal. You can keep Mariella and your badge if you allow her to help lay a trap for the Lagoon Watcher.”

  “Hell no! I’m not using my baby as bait.”

  “I hate to break it to you, but she’s already bait. The Lagoon Watcher is stalking her whether you’re ready or not, so you might as well prepare a little something special for him. ”

  “I can’t keep putting her life in danger. I want out of here.”

  “Running away won’t put an end to this. If we don’t catch the Lagoon Watcher, will you feel safe a year from now—ten years from now? Could you send her out of the house alone knowing that he’s still out there looking for her?”

  Her silence answered the question for her.

  “If the Lagoon Watcher is gonna come, let’s be ready for him,” Aaron said. Think of it like a surprise party, but minus the party and plus a whole lotta beat-down.”

  “I hear you. That does sound good. Lord knows he’s earned it.”

  “It’s more than good. It’s perfect. Remember how Trainer showed up outside the police station? That’s because you were too far from the water for one of his animals. So you move into temporary housing away from the water and don’t take her anywhere near the lagoon. You can have undercover officers guarding her, so when the Watcher makes his move, they catch his crazy ass.”

  Moni didn’t say a word. Aaron gave her space so she could think it over. He heard her decelerate and switch on the turn signal.

  “I’m sorry, Mariella. But you know we couldn’t leave home forever,” Moni said. Aaron wondered how she knew the silent girl wanted to flee. “No matter what, I won’t let any bad people near you, baby.”

  After agreeing that he would call Sneed and shoulder the brunt of his rage, Moni said she would meet him at the sheriff’s office that night for the obligatory task force meeting they held after each murder. When their call ended, Aaron wondered what he had just set in motion. Did he invite Moni back to town, despite the risk to her and Mariella, because he wanted her? Or maybe he couldn’t resist feeling wanted.

  The first time he went home from school with a black eye, his mother had told him—with his father scoffing while watching baseball in the background—that it’s best to walk away from a fight. Aaron had always followed that advice—until he met Moni.

  Chapter 31

  Moni couldn’t make eye contact with a single one of them. As she strode through the sheriff’s office with Mariella’s hand in hers, she felt the hateful stares of the officers she had betrayed roast her skin like dozens of heating lamps. Many of them had spent the day cleaning up the bloody mess at her house. Soon, they would lower one of their own into the ground—minus his head—and hand a folded flag to his widow.

  Harrison had been the toughest man on the force. More than a few of the officers owed their lives to him. He had felled two suspects in police shootouts without losing a fellow officer either time. When they cornered suspects after car chases, Harrison was always the first one who charged the vehicle. Moni felt bad enough that she had let him die, but burying his headless body denied everyone closure. Harrison’s sturdy head had been severed as cleanly as all the others. No one saw how it happened, but they doubted that a gator could have done it so smoothly.

  Tanya Roberts’ body also popped up a few blocks down the canal—without her head and with one arm dangling by a single tendon.

  Aaron had met Sneed at the scene, and then filled Moni in on everything. He thought Sneed couldn’t get any more furious, but he had no idea. Moni wouldn’t dare set foot in the station without Aaron, and his plan to deflect Sneed’s rage.

  Moni reached for a half-open door as another officer walked through before her. Instead of holding it open for her, the man pulled it shut in her face. She swallowed the shout of protest before it left her lips.

  He should have punched me in the nose. I don’t deserve any better.

  As Moni gazed at the door that had been closed before her, Mariella stroked h
er hand, like how Moni had pet Tropic when the thunder scared him. With a deep breath and a nod at the girl, Moni opened the door herself.

  She somehow avoided any eye contact and confrontations on the way to her office. When she opened the door and pointed the girl inside, Mariella’s gentle caress melded into a steely grip. She refused walking as adamantly as she refused speaking.

  “I’m sorry, baby, but you can’t come with me to this meeting.” Moni knelt on one knee so she met the girl’s face. “Mr. Sneed is gonna be there, and he’ll be plenty angry. You’ll be a lot safer over here. Don’t worry, I’ll come back soon. Why don’t you draw me something pretty while you wait?”

  Mariella slowly nodded, and eased off her death grip. She trudged into the office, and pulled a fresh sheet of paper from the printer. Moni gently shut the door. Then she scanned the faces of the officers nearby for any signs of cruel intentions. They greeted her with more than a few disgusted sneers, but none of them seemed inclined towards harming Mariella. With the camera in her office, she doubted any officer would risk it.

  Moni still couldn’t get back there fast enough. If Sneed didn’t accept Aaron’s plan, she might find the room empty save a note from the DCF.

  She arrived at the task force meeting with no doubt in her mind that Sneed had that sort of punitive punishment cooking on his skillet. His eyes scrutinized her every movement from the moment she entered the room. He had gray stubble on his cheeks and chin, and the swollen bags under his eyes were of a man who had spent every moment of his day dwelling on vengeance. Instead of instantly berating her as she had feared, Sneed kept his jaw locked tight. It took all of his might to restrain his teeth from ripping into her flesh.

  This time, Sneed didn’t sit at the head of the table. He gave that seat up for Sheriff Rick Brandt, a man whose commanding blue eyes and gray, western-style mustache made his diminutive height almost unnoticeable. Moni hadn’t seen him much besides for ceremonies, such as the one they would have when they bury Harrison. He also spoke at press conferences for major cases. She hadn’t been involved with many of those until now,and her performance in this case wasn’t exactly something she could boast about.

  Sheriff Brandt’s presence lent her a glimmer of hope. While Sneed eyed her as if he would rejoice in stringing her up a tree by her neck, Brandt watched Moni apprehensively, but not with outright hatred. He wasn’t the only one.

  Looking over Moni with dark-ringed eyes that must have been pouring over reports all night, Brigadier General Alonso Colon appeared more disappointed than enraged. Maybe, the soldier understood that battle requires tough choices about sacrifice, Moni thought. If only she could have accepted that concept.

  “Well, look who strolled in outta the gator’s jaws,” Sneed said. “You could have at least answered my calls. Or were you too busy high tailing it out of town while Harrison and Roberts were getting their heads cut off?”

  It didn’t surprise Moni that Sneed had chosen not answering his twenty phone calls as the first thing she deserved a reprimand for.

  “I’m sorry if I was a little preoccupied saving the person who you call the most valuable witness in this investigation,” Moni said as she grabbed the seat between Aaron and Professor Swartzman. The young man focused a concerned gaze on her. She craved the sight of his comforting eyes, and the warmth of his caring hands around her, but she resisted even looking at him. She couldn’t let Sneed and the sheriff think of her as so weak that she needed a civilian’s help.

  “You had an order to turn that witness over to the protective custody of the DCF, and my police force,” Sheriff Brandt said. “Why did you stand in the way?”

  “Sir, it wasn’t like that. I was about to hand Mariella over, but when we got to her room, she was gone.”

  Moni figured they wouldn’t uncover her lie with both witnesses dead. As horrible as Harrison’s beheading had been, at least it had removed the most telling piece of physical evidence: the imprint of the handle of her gun on his head. She caught Aaron flinch at her story. She nudged his foot underneath the table and he settled down.

  “The monster in the canal had the girl, but Harrison and I got her out of there,” continued Moni, who made sure they acquired more fond memories of their departed friend. “The next thing we knew, the gator thing killed Agent Roberts. Thank the Lord that Harrison agreed to cover for us while I took Mariella away from danger.”

  She stapled her lips shut during the stretch of silence that followed. Moni prayed that her story would serve as the final word on the morning’s tragedy. As usual, Sneed disturbed the peace.

  “The noble Harrison volunteered to cover you, and face the gator by himself, is that right?” Sneed asked as he grinded his thumb and forefingers together. “If that’s the case, why did your neighbor say she saw you snatch the keychain off his hip? You couldn’t help being a pickpocket, could you? I always knew your colors would show.”

  Moni balled her fists underneath the table. The blackness of her skin had always made her the first person accused of stealing, but rarely had those accusations surfaced so bluntly.

  “Mrs. McCray must have seen me remove the keys from his belt. That’s because he gave me permission to take them. The monster came at him before he could hand them over.”

  “Bullshit,” Sneed said with a shake of his clenched fist.

  The sheriff placed a steady hand on Sneed’s arm like a trainer making an attack dog stand down. “Unless that 72-year-old woman has the hearing of a 20-year-old that can penetrate through a window on a rainy day, I don’t see how we can disprove the officer’s explanation,” Brandt said. Just as Moni’s lips had begun their arch into a grin, the sheriff caught her in a stern gaze from his icy blue eyes. “Those circumstances don’t excuse your conduct, Mrs. Williams. You ignored Detective Sneed’s calls, and drove halfway to Orlando before you made a U-turn in the middle of the highway.” Moni should have anticipated that he’d have known that. All the department’s vehicles are tracked on GPS. Even if she had kept running, she wouldn’t have gotten far without ditching it. “And you still haven’t handed the girl over. We need to protect her. This community has lost too many people trying to ensure her safety in your care.”

  “What’s the other option besides me—leaving Mariella under armed guard all day like she’s in solitary confinement?” Moni asked. At the sight of the sheriff’s raised eyebrow, she realized that this man had more concern for the child’s welfare than Sneed. Maybe it came from having kids of his own. “If you’ll excuse me, sir. This is quite an emotional matter for me. I know Mariella is a witness, but she’s also like… like my daughter. I feel like we’ve been together all my life, and all her life. No one is more dedicated to making sure the Lagoon Watcher and his creatures don’t hurt her than me.”

  Professor Swartzman mounted a protest to the charges against his research buddy, but Sneed drowned him out with his latest rant.

  “I only wish you’d show half as much dedication to solving this case. This task force doesn’t need a mother nurturing our witness and baking her brownies. It needs a ruthless interrogating bitch. That’s not you, Moni. People like you, are only out for yourselves. You feel all fine and dandy about protecting your loved ones, even if they’re dirtier than sin. You could give a shit if this county burned.”

  Moni had no doubt what he had meant by, “people like you.” Her father had told her the same thing. He accused her of being selfish every time she asked him for the smallest thing—from a chocolate bar to her first car. He had berated her until she grew so terrified that she didn’t ask for anything.

  Sneed’s words had shoved Moni into a corner and drained her of the will to strike back. She faced Aaron and nodded. His cue had arrived.

  “You’re totally wrong about Moni, Mr. Sneed,” Aaron said. Flexing his stubby fingers, the lead detective would have strangled the surfing scientist in the middle of the table if the sheriff hadn’t been there. “She’s been thinking about all of us. That’s why she sketched ou
t this awesome plan that’ll keep Mariella safe and bag the Lagoon Watcher. I only helped her a little, so it should still work.”

  Aaron’s description of the plan held Sheriff Brandt’s attention so well, that Sneed didn’t unfurl any of his objections, which he obviously had, because he looked like a man kissing an onion the whole time. Sneed nearly fell out of his chair when the sheriff agreed that using Mariella to lure the Lagoon Watcher into a sting operation would effectively protect the girl and catch the suspect.

  “We’ll set you up in a hotel that has every inch on camera and then we’ll give a little boost to the surveillance equipment and security personnel at the girl’s school,” Sheriff Brandt said. “Now don’t you go running off with her to any place that we haven’t put under watch.” He pointed at Moni in the most non-threatening way possible. It felt more like a reminder from a gingerly grandparent.

  “Don’t worry, sir.” Moni’s braids bounced off her cheeks as she shook her head. “I would never put Mariella in harm’s way.”

  “What about the other kids at her school?” Sneed asked. “Isn’t it putting them in harm’s way if you invite the Lagoon Watcher to their campus?”

  Sneed doesn’t give a damn about those kids, Moni thought as she curled her lips and narrowed her eyes at him. He wanted to scuttle the whole plan so he could take Mariella away from her.

  “If you trusted that the people in this room can do their jobs, then you wouldn’t doubt that we’ll prevent the Lagoon Watcher from harming those children,” Moni told Sneed. The sheriff nodded. Then another spoil sport spoke up.

  “You’re wasting your time here,” Professor Swartzman said as he crossed his string cheese arms. “The Lagoon Watcher isn’t after the girl. He’s not behind the bacteria, and the animal attacks. The notion is just plain nonsensical. Harry Trainer doesn’t have the capabilities to genetically engineer an organism like that. It would take millions of dollars in funding, and a lab that’s much more elaborate than what we saw in his home.”