by Joe Hart
“Not off the top of my head, no.”
“How about you, Adam?”
“No sir.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry, he’ll turn up soon. Things have a way of revealing themselves most times. All you have to do is watch for them.”
Gray rapped his knuckles twice on the table, hard, and Adam flinched but Darrin didn’t move. He stood and smiled at the two seated boys before heading through the door to the heat outside.
When the door shut behind him Darrin relaxed and drew his hand away from the butter knife.
“He knows,” Adam whispered.
“No he doesn’t. He thinks he knows which is almost as bad but not quite.”
“He’ll know what to do about the sheriff, right, Darrin? He can tell us what’s next when he comes again.”
“We don’t need to wait for him to tell us.”
“What are we gonna do then?”
Darrin stood and walked to the window. The sheriff was shaking hands with his father. He gave the house a final glance and then headed for his waiting cruiser.
“What else? We’re going to kill him.”
~
Gray drove the hot road.
His tires wailed lamented hums and the ashen blacktop cracked like dead skin beneath the furious light. His eyes watched everything and nothing. The crops the only color in the fading world, their waving those of a death parade issuing forever goodbyes. He ran through all the events during the last few days, shuffling past each one on the screen of his mind until they became a jumbled collage. On the highway something glinted. It flashed there and gone as he came closer, the sun repeating its signal over and over.
Over and over.
Gray blinked and reached out to the dashboard, punching a button.
The radio flashed to life and Mary Jo’s voice came through as clear as if she were sitting in the passenger seat.
“Yeah, Sheriff?”
“Mary Jo, the head of IT over at Wheaton Medical is named Delly. Please patch me through to her.”
“Sure thing.”
The speakers hummed for almost a minute and then a woman’s voice streamed through them.
“This is Delly.”
“Delly, this is Mac Gray.”
“Hello, Sheriff, what can I do for you?”
“You wouldn’t be in your cozy little office there, would you?”
“I am actually.”
“Can you do something for me? Scroll through that same span of time that we scanned the other day and tell me what you notice about the headlights that swung through the corridor in the middle of the night before Mr. Baron’s death.”
There was a long pause. “Okay. It’ll take me a second.”
Gray waited, coasting the cruiser to the side of the road. He closed his eyes and listened to the faint sounds coming through the speakers. There was a short intake of breath and then Delly’s voice filled the cab.
“They’re the same. The path of the lights on the wall is exactly the same all four times. I just checked the outdoor cameras at that time and there’s only one vehicle coming and leaving. Sheriff, I don’t…what the hell?”
“What is it, Delly?”
“It’s been looped. The surveillance in the hallway, it’s been looped over itself. That’s why the lights are the same each time.”
Gray sat, tapping his thigh with one finger, faster and faster.
“Someone covered up a span of time is what you’re telling me?”
“As far as I can tell, yes.”
“Who has access to the video files besides you?”
“The twelve members of the board, the four heads of staff, the maintenance department which is at least ten, a few other IT personnel that are part time.”
“Are the video files accessible only through your office?”
“No, they aren’t.”
“Let me guess, since most everything is hosted offsite someone could have looped the video from somewhere remote.”
“You got it, Sheriff. All they would’ve needed was a decent computer and the password.”
Gray pulled his hat off, rubbed the grime of sweat away from his forehead.
“Damn it.”
“Why would someone do this, Sheriff? I mean, Mr. Baron died from a stroke if I’m not mistaken, so what would be the point of looping over the footage of the hallway right before it happened?”
Gray ignored the question and studied the row upon row of corn out the passenger window.
“I appreciate your help, Delly. Keep me posted if anything else comes up.”
“Okay, but—”
“If I have any more questions I’ll let you know.”
Gray ended the call and sat in the silence of the car. There was a beep and Mary Jo’s voice came from the radio.
“Everything okay, Sheriff?”
“Dandy.”
“What did you find out at the Barders’?”
“Nothing we didn’t already know. Anything else come in?”
“The first reports from forensics on the bodies from the field.”
“Good, what’d they say?”
“There were a total of eight full skeletons and two skulls that were unearthed. Two of them were identified by dental records already.”
“Who were they?”
“A Dennis Letchin and a Geraldine Smith. Both were reported missing twenty-two years ago this fall. They were from up north in Ellis County.”
“And they were called in missing around the same time? Were they related?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
“Shit. Cause of death?”
“Trauma was found on the cervical vertebra most likely from an edged weapon.”
“Their throats were cut. Hard.”
“It appears so.”
“And the others?”
“That’s all I have so far, Sheriff. Tilly said she’d have the rest over before morning.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“The mayor called twice.”
“Great. What did you tell him?”
“That you were out on a call. He wants you to come by his office the first chance you get.”
“Wonderful.”
“He sounded angry.”
“Good.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing that didn’t need doing. If you could phone him back and let him know I’ll be there directly, I’d appreciate it. Also, can you start putting the files for all the recent cases in my shared drop box so I can access it from home?”
“I sure can, but why?”
“Just in case I’m no longer welcome at the office.”
“Sheriff, what do you mean?”
“I’ll talk to you later, Mary Jo, and if Ruthers calls in, please let me know.”
“I will do.”
“Thank you.”
Gray checked the vacant road behind him, stretching away into a hill that joined the sky. The thought of spinning the cruiser around and just driving away floated through his mind. He could drive and see if the sky ever did touch the earth like it appeared to. And if it didn’t, he could keep going.
Instead he pulled back onto the highway and headed toward town.
Chapter 37
City hall was as cool as his office was hot.
Black marble veined with twisting lines of green made up the floors and half the walls. The ceilings were high, the white banistered stairways and landings open to the third floor where he stood, waiting with his back to the Mayor’s secretary.
“He’ll see you now, Sheriff,” the woman said at the desk without raising her eyes from the computer screen in front of her.
“Obliged.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He moved past her to the mahogany door and stepped inside the office. The mayor sat behind his desk, a wireless tucked inside his ear. His face was red above a blue tie that was the color of the sky, his bald pate shining. Gray shut the door behind him and waited,
meeting the other man’s eyes.
“Come sit down, Mac.”
Gray came closer but only rested his hands on the back of a chair.
“Think I’ll stand if you don’t mind.”
The mayor studied him for a moment and then shook his head, looking out the window instead.
“You a damn mystery, Mac, a true enigma embodied.”
“Here I thought I was cut and dried.”
“I was unaware until recently that you hold certain beliefs. I’m disappointed.”
“I’m sorry that I’m not sorry, John.”
“For God’s sake, Mac, you hit my district attorney in the mouth for God’s sake!”
“You just told me I was a mystery but I’d say that’s pretty straight forward.”
The mayor launched to his feet and planted his hands on the desk.
“Damn it, Mac! What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” He lowered his voice to a hiss. “Mark told me about your insinuations concerning the Line.”
“Open your eyes, John there’s something going on here that’s beyond the Line, beyond what we understand.”
“Hudson is dead, those cases are closed.”
“Hudson didn’t kill those people, he didn’t kill anyone. The man was a ruse, nothing more. The ones that are responsible for this are still out there.”
The mayor threw his hands up in the air and let out a breath that sounded like an overheated boiler.
“Do you hear yourself? You’re unstable, Mac. All of the evidence shows that Hudson was responsible.”
“What about the bodies in the field? You’re telling me Hudson killed them too? Drove half an hour from where he tortured those people and then buried them all in the same spot? And what about the fire at Siri Godfry’s? Two other murder scenes had the same MO.”
“First of all, the Olsons were never confirmed as murder victims. Secondly, there’s no proof that Siri’s been murdered either.”
Gray leaned forward, putting his full weight on the back of the chair, his fingers digging into the material.
“Then where the hell is she, mayor? And where is my deputy?”
“That’s actually something I’d like to know too.”
Gray turned toward the new voice coming from the doorway to find Mitchel Enson standing there with Mark Sheldon a step behind him. Mark’s lips were purple and crusted with dried blood. He glared at Gray for a moment before motioning to the mayor’s secretary who stood from her desk and walked briskly down the hall and out of sight. The neighboring sheriff and the DA moved into the room and shut the door behind them.
“What is this?” Gray said, eyeing the newcomers before returning his attention to the mayor.
“Mitchel here has had a new development and wanted to ask you some questions,” the mayor said, slowly seating his bulk into his protesting chair.
“About what?” Gray said, glancing at Mitchel who moved to the right side of the mayor’s desk and propped himself upon it like a giant toad squatting on a stone.
“Have you had any contact with Joseph Ruthers today?” Mitchel asked.
“No, why?”
“Well, it just so happens that we had several witnesses say they saw Miss Godfry and Ruthers at a late movie last night.”
“My God, Mitchel, you’ve finally found your calling. You are Sherlock Holmes in spirit if not in stature. Joseph told everyone that would listen that he was taking Siri to that movie, it wasn’t a secret.”
Mitchel sneered but there was an evil triumph to his smile.
“Then maybe you can explain how his blood got on her front stoop?”
A silence fell over the office and the room became a cold tomb of granite.
“You found his blood there? How? You didn’t even have forensics on the scene.”
Mitchel frowned. “Come now, Sheriff. It’s standard procedure to have a basic forensics sweep of any fire where the cause isn’t apparent.”
Gray huffed laughter and shook his head once as Mark sidled up to the windows and leaned casually against them.
“You’re something, Mitchel, I’ll give you that. I’m guessing someone else spotted the blood and you stepped in to take credit.”
“It doesn’t matter who discovered it, the fact is we have DNA evidence putting your deputy at a crime scene,” Mark said, his words somewhat slurred due to the swelling of his lips.
“Now it’s a crime scene?” Gray said.
“A large amount of gasoline was the accelerant used in the fire,” Mitchel said.
“So what are you implying here? That Joseph started dating Siri just so he could kidnap her and burn her house down?”
“I don’t pretend to understand all the motivations of violent criminals, I just catch them,” Mitchel said.
Gray laughed again, louder this time.
“You couldn’t catch the clap from a five dollar hooker, Mitchel.”
“Gentlemen, this has gone far enough,” the mayor said from behind his desk. “The matter remains to be seen if Deputy Ruthers is fully involved in Miss Godfry’s disappearance or if there is another explanation.”
“Yeah, there’s another explanation; you bastards are all blind to what’s happening here. There are at least two if not more violent sociopaths at work in our community right now, and one of them has been active for more than two decades. They’ve been here, killing and kidnapping, and torturing people right under your noses and you’re turning your collective back to it because of this.”
Gray yanked up the sleeve of his dark T-shirt exposing the line of orange dots.
“This is not an assurance of safety, this is a mockery of nature. We live our lives in an age of guarantees brought about by our egotistical intelligence, but this is not one of them. The Line has failed and if you don’t open your eyes, so have you.”
Gray dropped his sleeve and stared around at the other men. Mark watched him coldly while Mitchel shook his head and slowly stood from the desk. The mayor merely twirled a pen in his fingers and gazed blankly at him.
“I’m afraid the events in your recent past have clouded your judgment, Mac. We’re all very sorry for your loss, but the community needs and demands a competent sheriff. I’m relieving you of duty until the board can convene.”
“This has nothing to do with losing my daughter, John, and you know it.”
“You can drop off the cruiser tomorrow but I’m going to need your badge and your gun now,” the mayor said in a quiet voice. “Otherwise Mark has said he’ll press charges for battery.”
Gray looked at all three men again and then pulled his wallet out to reveal the iridescent, digital card displaying a rotating gold star along with his name and picture as well as an ID number. He then pulled the badge from his chest and slapped them both down on the mayor’s desk, making a Mars rock jump from its place as a paperweight. The digital display on the card winked out.
“You can have your badge back but this gun was my father’s and his father’s before him. I’ll lie dead on the floor before you take it from me.”
He turned from the desk and walked toward the door, metering his steps, each stride stoking the anger within him like a bellows.
“Get a grip on yourself, Gray, you’re losing it,” Mark said behind him.
“With all due respect, get fucked, Mark,” Gray said without slowing.
“Lots of people lose kids, you’re not special in the least.”
Gray froze as he pushed the door open, his eyes meeting Lynn’s who stood several feet beyond the threshold. Her mouth began to work as her hand came to her throat. Gray closed his eyes and turned back to face the DA.
“You’re right, I’m not special. But she was.”
He left the room, walking past Lynn without another look. A second passed and then footsteps followed his own toward the stairway.
“Mac, wait.”
He stopped at the head of the stairs. Lynn’s hand slid beneath his arm as she turned him toward her.
“What happened?�
�
“They fired me, I’m done.”
“For what?”
“For telling the truth.”
The door to the mayor’s office opened and Mark strode out, his eyes first latching onto Lynn and then the point where her hand still rested on Gray’s arm.
“Lynn, let’s go.”
“I’m not going to dinner, Mark,” Lynn said without looking at him. “Come on, Mac.”
Without a look back they went down the stairs, their footsteps the only sound in the quiet building. They pushed through the front doors and into the heat. A breeze was blowing, throwing dust up in its wake, an arid breath from an unseen and forgotten god.
“Where’d you park?” she asked as they walked into the smoldering lot. He motioned to the opposite side of the building and they made their way to his cruiser, climbing inside before he looked at her.
“What were you doing up there?” he asked.
“Meeting Mark for dinner.”
Gray nodded and looked the opposite way out of the window.
“I was going to end it with him, Mac.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“I thought you needed space.”
“I did, just not from the person I intended.”
Gray smiled a little. “Darlin’, you jumped from one sinking ship onto another.”
“I don’t care if you’re not sheriff anymore, Mac.”
“It’s not about that.” The edge in his voice made her flinch. “People are dying.” He held her gaze for a moment and then shifted it to the darkened dashboard. “Joseph’s dead.”
“What? How?”
“They must have got him when they took Siri, just like they took Joslyn and Rachel.”
“Who?”
“The women that disappeared from Widow Town.”
“They were taken?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Gray shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
“How do you know?” Lynn asked.
“I just do. Vincent Barder’s youngest boy is missing and the other two know something, but they’re either scared or in on it somehow.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Number one because Darrin was itching to grab the butter knife that was on the table between us while I was asking him and Adam questions. I don’t know if he was scared of me or wanted to gut me. And number two because I spoke to Ryan the other day in the park and I asked him if the farm was a lot of work. He told me they barely did anything, most of the labor was hired out. When I asked Darrin and Adam the same question, Darrin told me they were working constantly. Ryan seemed harried every time I spoke with him. It was almost like he wanted to tell me something but couldn’t.” Gray frowned. “Adam was banged up too, his hand was bandaged and someone had scratched his eye. Now either someone is threatening them, or they were the ones that ran into Joseph and had a go-around with him.”