The Trees Beyond the Grass (A Cole Mouzon Thriller)

by Reeves, Robert

  Cash caved in. Right or wrong, Cole’s face wore determination and pain. “What does that all mean? It’s like the last one, just gibberish.”

  “It isn’t gibberish. She wants us to know something, to find her or do something.”

  “Cole, it’s just a set of random numbers, nothing more. She’s fucking with you.”

  “No, look. Let’s think this out. They don’t stand for letters because the numbers are too high. Letters only go to twenty-six. And there are three separate listings. So, each line is a separate meaning.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t see anything.”

  “What does she want? What?” Cole’s voice was hushed to avoid waking Billy. Cole tried to flip through any image in his head that was relevant but his emotions kept getting in the way like stones sticking in the cogs of a clock. He pushed harder for the wall to go up.

  Cash said, “She obviously wants you to find her.”

  “Exactly. How can I find her with this? Wait! The last number, look at it. That’s like military time. I see that in medical records in my cases all the time.”

  “2400?”

  “Midnight… Shit! Do you have GPS?”

  “Like to track my phone or directions? Yeah.”

  Cole’s mind finally sealed off his emotions and began working. Image after image flew by his eyes until one stood out. “Open up Google Maps…. Type this in: 79 50’22.70”, 32 45’36.85”, where is that?”

  “Uh… the Arctic Circle.”

  “What? Let me see that. Shit. Put “N” after the first and W after the second.”

  “Yeah… thaaat’s Greenland. Cole, I don’t think these are coordinates.”

  “Dammit, they have to be, Cash, they have to!” Cole looked up to see Leas staring at them in the car outside the house.

  “Okay, let’s think about this. She’s testing you.”

  “I’ve got it. Switch the two entries, renaming them north and west. She’s fucking with us.”

  The screen flashed and the map came up. ‘Charleston County School District.’ Next to it was ‘Edgar Allan Poe Library.’

  CHAPTER 89

  “CAPTAIN, IF THERE is anything you need, you let me know. The FBI will offer what it can.” Agent Leas had returned to the station knowing Cole and Cash were up to something. He called D.C. and asked them to get a phone tap on Cole’s phone ASAP.

  “Thank you Agent, but Jackie is one of us, we’ll take it from here.”

  “Of course.” Agent Leas pulled his phone out and checked his messages. Still no response from D.C.

  The captain’s door flew open and he stormed out to the agent yelling, “Dammit, I thought you had a leash on that boy of yours? What the hell. He’s going to get himself and Jackie killed.”

  “What happened?”

  “He dodged his tail; that’s what the fuck happened! Somewhere off Dead Man’s curve on Rifle Range. He’s off the grid and likely going after her.”

  Right into her trap. Leas asked, “Have we heard back from your contact at the FBI about the profile of PoinZett?”

  Hampton was walking by with coffee when he said, “They say there is no name attached to it.”

  “What? How can that be? We need a name, Officer.” He shook the officer by his uniform.

  “They would only say where the computer used is located.” Hampton was wide-eye with the assault.

  “Well, spit it out officer. Where?”

  He straightened his uniform as he said, “Atlanta.”

  Agent Leas sat down at an old office desk in his makeshift operation in the station. A cheap plastic spray bottle, like the kind found on the travel aisle of stores, had been found on the kitchen floor of Jackie’s home. It had been sent to the Medial University with the specific request that it be tested for chemicals.

  He turned back to the strange set of numbers Cole had sent to him earlier. What did they mean? A code? But, what was the code saying? He had seen plenty of cryptic messages in his cases. It was always a mind game for those he was after.

  BY ELEVEN HE had his answer on the bottle, a chemical was indeed found. The toxicologist had faxed his report; they had matched the poison in the bottle to an extract, sapium marmieri Huber, the tallow tree. The toxicologist had tagged it as a plant in the same family as poinsettias, the Euphorbia family, but this was a tropical variety, highly toxic if not treated immediately. He prayed Jackie was still alive. The department pulled up all sources of the plant and other than some botanical gardens; there was no readily available source for the extract. “Where is it from?” Leas looked back at the toxicologists report. Origin: Upper Amazon. The answer hit like a brick, with a flood of conversations and images flickering through his mind like cards. He knew who Poinsett was.

  It all came flooding back to Leas, the history of bad relationships, poisons, plants, and the lack of white marks on Mrs. Christie’s hands that had been suggested just to throw him off the trail. Now, this…a poison collected from the place she’d just returned from.

  “Captain, it’s the toxicologist from Atlanta. She’s Poinsett.”

  “What?”

  “I just got a call—the poison used in the most recent murder is only found in one place in the Amazon, the same place that Winters just got back from. It explains it all. The reason for the gap in murders was because she was out of the country, it aligns perfectly. How could I have missed it?”

  “That doesn’t tell us where she has taken Jackie and where Cole is heading to.”

  “Wait, there was a noise in the background on the phone when I talked to her earlier. A bell? No, a horn.”

  “Hell man, there are a million horns and bells in this city. It’s called the Holy City for a reason, more churches per square inch here than any place in the States.”

  “No… A horn, like a boat.” Leas walked around the room with his wrists pressed against his forehead.

  “Agent, we have hundreds of miles of coast.”

  Calming down, Leas said, “No, she wouldn’t take her far; she needs it to be close, to lure him in.”

  “Well, that would limit it to the inter-coastal and the harbor. Henning, grab that map.” A young black officer went into another office and returned with a coastal map with Charleston at its center. Spread across an old pea green and aluminum desk, the three men gathered over it.

  The captain worked fast. “Here’s Mount Pleasant; make a circle around it for fifteen miles out. She wouldn’t have been able to take her much further. Now where is the inter-coastal in there?”

  Another officer piped in. “Looks like Sullivan’s Island. If you wanted to lure someone in, where would you go?”

  “The lighthouse? Possible, but she would be trapped in there. Wait, what is this? That’s where she would go.”

  Moments later Agent Leas was in his car with the others following. “Get me that damn GPS on Mouzon’s phone, now!” Dammit, why didn’t I see it! She was right there in front of me. Leas pressed the gas harder. He didn’t know if where he was going was the place, but he had to get there fast before Poinsett collected another trophy.

  CHAPTER 90

  “WHERE IS THAT?”

  “Switch it to satellite mode. I know where that is. It’s the old batteries on Sullivan’s Island.” There was a pause.

  “Cole you aren’t thinking about going, are you? Let the cops deal with this, please Cole, please. Don’t do this.”

  Cole spoke with cold iron words, “I have to. It can all end. No more of this. It needs to end. I won’t have my sister dying for me. I can’t let that happen.” Cole took a deep breath. “Now, I’m going to drop you off at the house with Billy. You can watch him, right?”

  “Hell no I can’t. If you’re going, I’m going.”

  Still speaking with cold precision, he said, “Cash, this isn’t your fight. She doesn’t want you. This is all clear. Me and me alone.”

  “Fuck the text. And fuck you!” Billy mumbled and squirmed slightly as Cash’s voice rose. Softer now, “Cole, I wasn’t
able to save my brother. I wasn’t. Please, I need to do this. I need to help save Jackie and…” His voice trailed off, unwilling to say the rest.

  “Dammit, man. If you show up she might kill her.”

  “There is no way you and she are going to come out of there alive if you go alone. Accept it, you need me.”

  Cole knew he needed him, even if he was willing to accept that he needed someone… needed Cash.

  “Okay, okay. Let me call MeMe. I wouldn’t trust Billy to anyone else; he’ll be safe there.”

  Thirty minutes later Billy was in MeMe’s large, homey arms on her family’s wooded property. Cole remembered the feeling of that place… the warmth and safety of her chest, the soft but firmness of her breast against his head. Billy would be safe.

  “Cole, go on now an’ get Jackie. Mr. Billy and me be al’ight here till da morn.” Love up-welled in Cole. MeMe was truly a mother, and he loved her for all that she was. He longed deeply to just grab her for one last hug, to have her tell him everything would be okay. But he had no time for such assurances.

  “Cole, we need to get going.” Cash was pointing at his arm; eleven-fifteen. Tears crossed his eyes for the second time in the night. He stole another hug from MeMe with Billy in her arms. “I’m going to get your momma, Billy. I love you. Please remember that.”

  The two men rushed back into the car and headed south towards the Isle of Palms Connector. They would come onto Sullivan’s Island from Breech Inlet and South. From what Cole remembered from his childhood playing in the battery ruins, there was more cover from the North.

  The old battery scared Cole as a child and ran fear through him now. The World War II ruins lay directly in front of the now-demolished Sullivan’s Island Elementary School that backed up to dunes and the beach. The relatively new Edgar Allen Poe Library had consumed another battery a few yards down. Poe had been stationed at Fort Moultrie between 1827 and 1828, a Revolution-era fort further down the island. It clearly had made a mark because he used the island as the backdrop for several stories, including “The Gold-Bug” and “The Balloon Hoax.” Edgar Allen Poe? That dark fuck? What was Poinsett up to?

  COLE STOPPED THE car a few yards north-east of the battery. Cole filled Cash in. “In elementary school we used to dare each other to go in to play hide-and-seek. Ever seen the inside of an old navy ship? The Patriot, ever go inside that for a school field trip? Well, it’s just like that. Old steel doors and concrete surfaces, painted black or dark grey from what I recall. There are only three ways in. It’s otherwise buried in the dune. Scary as shit.” Cole kept on, trying to describe the layout within.

  Cash was listening intently. He thought to himself how the hell were they going to get in there and get out in one piece to get back to MeMe as promised. “I want you to stay here…”

  Cash was caught off guard. “What!? I’m not staying here.”

  “Yes you are. End of discussion. I will not have you in there. She wants me. Not you. My sister is in there and it needs to be me. Stay out here in case you see her. Anyone else walks in there and my sister is dead. I can’t handle that as a reality, Cash. I can’t.”

  Cash knew all too well what Cole was feeling. He had felt it as well with Mark. “Cash, about yesterday… I didn’t mean it. I’m just…” Cole was out of the car before Cash could respond. Within steps Cole had disappeared into the mat of oak and brush forming the north side of structure.

  He was gone. Cash longed to chase after him, but he didn’t. It was better that he play lookout and possibly catch Poinsett from the outside. The rain had picked up to a full thunder of water dumping so heavy that the soggy footsteps behind Cash couldn’t be heard until the last second… Everything went dark.

  CHAPTER 91

  COLE SLIPPED INTO the ruins from the north side entrance without noticeable detection, his feet and legs soaked through from the deep puddles now forming across the land. As he recalled, the walls were silted black, rivets forming a panel pattern on the walls and ceiling. Leaves and other debris covered the floor. Cole caught a cigarette package as he disturbed the covering. Twisting on a Mini Maglite until it filled the tight corridor with white light, Cole took a deep breath and focused on controlling his breaths so as not to be heard. Jackie was in there somewhere and he prayed she wasn’t dead. She had been his protector all his life, warding off the dangers of a drunk father and bullies. Now was the time for him to return the favor, but it scared him to think that he might be too late.

  Inside the tunnel, the left wall of the half-buried structure was solid and unbroken. The pouring rain from the outside was echoing down the corridor. Occasional lightning flashed outside, producing blue light from the small windows to the exterior. The right side was studded with numerous openings, doors to rooms. The one to his immediate right was open and empty.

  “Jackie! Jackieeee! Where are you?! I’m here!” There was no response. The thought crossed his mind that Jackie wasn’t here, that the place was a decoy when he heard a faint sound from the very end of the corridor. “Jackie! Jackie. Are you here?!” Cole ran, his feet producing soggy steps, waiting for someone to jump out of any of the open rooms. But he didn’t slow. “I’m here Jackie!”

  The last two doors were closed. He reached the first and clasped the handle. It didn’t turn. He tried again. Still nothing. Then he pulled; it slid open with a hollow metal creak. Its lock had obviously been long removed.

  Jackie, please be in there. Mumbling came from a dark corner of the long room. There, gagged, bound with her arms behind her back and at her ankles, lay Jackie, still in her uniform. She was on her right side facing the back wall. Cole ran to her. “Jackie, Jackie, are you okay? Shit, you’ve been cut.” Cole’s hand was covered with blood as he removed it from his sister’s left arm. He reached across her body and pulled down the gag, then rolled her onto her back. Her face was bruised purple and puffy. “Jackie, talk to me.”

  Weak but conscious, she spoke. “Billy, Billy.” She could barely get the words out. “He’s okay. I left him with MeMe. He’s okay, Jackie.”

  “You shouldn’t have come, Cole. You shouldn’t have…”

  “YOUR SISTER IS right again, Cole.” The voice came from the darkness that had swept in behind him. Cole reached for the light. “Don’t do that Cole. Not if you value his pretty little head. Say hi, Mr. Calhoun.” Shit.

  “Cole, I’m sorry. She snuck up behind me right after you came in here. I didn’t know…”

  “Shut the hell up. You know your brother was just as talkative, always yapping about his pain. Shit, you should thank me for putting him out of his misery.”

  “What? My brother jumped. You knew him? What the…”

  Poinsett hit him with the hilt of her pistol and Cash went down hard, holding his head.

  “I told you. Shut the fuck up! Yes, I knew your dear sweet brother. What a piece of work. We dated off and on for a year when I went to M.U.S.C. He started unloading on me about this crazy story about him and your boyfriend Mouzon and all. I thought he was crazy. But I looked it up. And, what do you know, he’s telling the truth. It was you two. You destroyed my life.”

  “Fuck off.” Jackie had regained some of her defiance. Cole looked over in surprise.

  “Jackie, Jackie. Jackie you dug a little too deep into Mark’s past. Luckily, a little bird tipped me off that you were snooping where you didn’t belong.”

  “What do you want? We didn’t do anything to you! You want me? Let them go. Take me. You don’t need them any longer.”

  “Awh, isn’t that sweet. But that won’t be happening tonight. Now, can I finish telling Cash how his brother really died?” After a pause, “Thank you… Now, as I was saying, your brother wouldn’t shut up about it, like I was his therapist or something. It was my father, Cole, my father that you escaped! Laurence Poinsett. My mom would always remind me a half a bottle into her vodka about the kids, the women he liked to diddle on the side. How we weren’t good enough. How he left us because of you. But I never kne
w who they were. Why the fuck he let you live, I don’t know. But, when your little whore of a mom got free, he ran. And, the shit went downhill from there. Mom went crazy, the meth, the drugs, the vodka. And I paid for it. All because of you!

  “Right there in front of me was the source of all my problems. Mark… you… All of them. And then it just all clicked. If my father is still alive, I want him to feel my pain, to suffer the way I did. Maybe he would come, maybe he wouldn’t. Just for good measure I used his name. Had it plastered over every newspaper to draw him out as I destroyed those he gave me up for, to hurt him the way he and you hurt me.

  “Mark had been delivered to me, like a gift. Poor frail Mark. He was easy, a sleeping pill in one of his many night caps after work. Drive to the old bridge. And, plop. There he went over the edge. Whoops.” Cole could see the shadow of Poinsett shrugging with indifference.

  “You bitch!” Cash moved fast, digging his elbow deep into Poinsett’s stomach, and then kneeing her in the head as she was bent down in pain. She fell over as the gun went sliding into the dark.

  Cole turned to his sister, working to loosen the rope holding her tightly together. Cash ran over to help, tackling the knots at her feet. Free, Jackie sat up. “You little shit.” Poinsett was back up somewhere in the black before them. Her hands raked the debris. She’s looking for the gun.

  Cash charged. Cole and Jackie instinctively followed into the nothingness. A spark, like a firework, went off with an echoing bang. A shot. Cash! Cash roared out in pain. He was down somewhere, hit by the shot.

  Cole barely had turned his head in the direction of the yell when he and his sister collided with Poinsett. Cole immediately lost contact and his bearings. All three went to the cold steel ground. Jackie was on Poinsett and from what he could tell, was landing punches to her face. Then Jackie screamed. Poinsett had grabbed a hold of the large gash in Jackie’s back rib. An elbow to the chin and Jackie was back in it, swinging with all her weight as they rolled around in the darkness. A series of hollow metal bangs told Cole his sister was knocking something hollow, like Poinsett’s head, against the floor. He touched a leg. It was Cash. As he reached the thigh, another shot went off. He immediately recognized the scream. “Jackie!” Cole lunged over the leg. Lifting his hand to stand, the lamp light illuminated red. “Jackie!” There was no response.