When Blood Cries

by M. Glenn Graves

  “The solution to what?” Starnes said.

  “Folks finding closure, families getting on with their lives, justice, and perhaps a glimmer of hope now and then shining through the darkness.”

  “Honestly, I don’t see it much,” Starnes said.

  “Some days the darkness is too dark.”

  “I have to try to find Deputy Slater,” Starnes said. “I don’t want anyone else to die from this messy affair. I don’t want her to kill someone, me particularly, or be killed. I certainly do not want to shoot her.”

  “Vengeance is a nasty thing. Has been since the beginning. There doesn’t seem to be an end to it, unless human beings allow God to be God. Not a popular idea when it comes to revenge.”

  “Why do you think that is?” Starnes asked.

  “People have a twisted sense of justice,” Aunt Jo said surprising me, using my words.

  “Have you had any visions about any of these murders?” Starnes asked her.

  “I have visions most every day, Starnes. The one thing that will not go away for me is the crying,” Aunt Jo said.

  “The visions you have cause you to cry?”

  “Not that. The crying comes from the blood that has been spilt on the ground. The blood cries out and I hear it.”

  “That’s what it says in the Bible. God said that the blood of Abel was crying out to him and he heard it. Is it Abel’s blood crying out to you?”

  “Child, I hear not only Abel’s blood, but also the blood of the Gentry girl, Mina Beth, and a few others who you do not even know. It is these recent deaths that cry the loudest though. Always works that way. Some days the sound of it is unbearable,” Aunt Jo said.

  “So what do you do?”

  “I hear the sobs, feel the pain, and drink a lot of tea.”

  “Will you tell me where Sally Slater is?” Starnes said.

  “I can’t.”

  “Have you seen her?” she asked.

  “I haven’t looked for her. It’s not my job.”

  “Can you tell me if she’s still in the county?”

  “This is not a game, Starnes. Lives are at stake, but you know that right well.”

  “Do I simply give up and try to forget about her?”

  “Is that an option for you?” Aunt Jo asked.

  Starnes shook her head but didn’t say anything.

  “I’m tired of all this revenge, paybacks … crappy stuff. I don’t know what to call it anymore. I am just tired of people killing people because they hurt each other. Why do people do this? Why must we continually hurt and destroy and …use each other?”

  “What kind of answer do you want for such questions?” Aunt Jo said.

  “What kind of answer do you have?”

  “History has answers. The church has answers. Everyone with an opinion has an answer. The law has answers. Lots of answers.”

  “Any truth found in those answers?” Starnes asked.

  “Some. You want some more tea?” Aunt Jo said as she stood up and walked over to us carrying her tea pot.

  I held out my cup and she poured. Starnes shook her head.

  “You haven’t said anything,” Aunt Jo said to me. “What are your thoughts?”

  “I don’t do well with philosophy or other similar disciplines. I follow clues and try to catch people who break the law. Mostly I track down murderers. I hand them over to the police and go rest a bit. I drink coffee and read a good book while I wait until another case finds me.”

  “Perhaps you can tell Starnes how you keep doing what you do.”

  I looked at Starnes.

  “We’ve talked about that. She knows my answer. It’s what I do. I’ve told you that several times. Some days I am good at it. But I can’t stop people from killing other people. I wish I could.”

  “I think she is searching for something else,” Aunt Jo said.

  “So do I,” I said and drank my tea while the three of us sat there in solemn silence enjoying the peaceful quiet.

  Starnes said nothing to either of us. She took a long sip, swallowed, and sighed deeply.

  I focused my attention upon the rhythmic breathing of Sam the Wonder Dog.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  We were sitting in my Jeep. Sam was in the back seat, sitting up between us looking out of the windshield. It was still light despite the fact it was close to seven o’clock.

  “We going home now or over to Spillcorn?” I said.

  “You know what ambivalence is?” Starnes said.

  “Yeah. I have it often. Sometimes it is all that I have.”

  “I’m pulled in two directions. I have great fear that if I go to Spillcorn, I will find Slater and she will try to kill me … us. Then we will have to defend ourselves, and Adam and Evelyn might get caught in some hellacious crossfire. My imagination is not doing me any favors at the moment.”

  “It might not happen that way,” I said.

  “Have you been following this case?”

  “Point taken.”

  “You familiar with Murphy’s Law?”

  “It’s not foolproof,” I said.

  “No, but with my luck, it will end badly.”

  “So what do you want to do?”

  “I want to go home and forget about it. I want to ride over to Spillcorn and simply say I searched for her but could not find her.”

  “We can do both, but not necessarily tonight,” I said.

  “If I don’t go to Spillcorn tonight, I am shirking my duty as a law enforcement officer.”

  “That public opinion or your own conscience telling you that?”

  “Does it matter which one is louder? I can hear both, you know,” Starnes said.

  “Some might interpret it that way. An opinion. You don’t like the job anyway. You’re probably going to quit some time in the next few months and return to Norfolk. Do you really care what some folks will say about how you did your job?”

  “Yeah, I think I do.”

  “We can drive over to Spillcorn and be really careful.”

  “But no guarantees.”

  “I could take the bullets out of my clip,” I said.

  “That wouldn’t be smart. It’s bad enough to lose the ones we’ve lost so far. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

  Sam rubbed his nose against my arm as if to affirm what Starnes had just said. I patted his head to reassure him.

  I had a strong impression that she wasn’t simply referring to the people who had been killed recently. Other deaths were weighing heavily on her mind. I decided to let her kindness for my life fall lightly on the moment. I kept my mouth shut.

  “I hate being diligent,” Starnes said. “Let’s go to Spillcorn.”

  By the time we arrived at the parking spot in front of the Gosnells, it was dark but we could still see shadows. I sent Sam ahead to maybe find Bolt. I figured that maybe Adam might see or hear Sam outside with Bolt and know that we were coming along in the next few minutes. If Sally was around, that would give her time to hide and hopefully avoid any confrontation.

  Sam ran off in the direction of the Gosnell place as fast as he could travel after I had given him some instructions.

  “You talk to him like you do that computer. He understand everything you say?”

  “For the most part. His vocabulary is quite extensive,” I said.

  “Indeed.”

  We walked up the valley, stumbling a little as we went. Sometimes you miss the rocks, sometimes you hit them. Metaphor for life.

  It was dark now, as in very. I could no longer see shadows. There were no lights on at the front of the house. I could see a light in the back, but it was dim. Our eyes were adjusted to the darkness but that really didn’t help. Call it pitch black if you like.

  We started up the path to the front door. Sam suddenly was at my side and nosed my leg hard enough to get my attention.

  “You find something, buddy?” I said to him.

  He whined softly and then moved away to the right side of the house. I had
the impression that he wanted me to follow him. I moved off in the direction he took.

  “I’m going that way,” I said quietly to Starnes. “You be extra careful knocking on the front door. Give me a minute to get around back before you knock. And don’t stand directly in front of that door. Remember what happened at Mina Beth’s in Madison.”

  I caught up with Sam at the back of the house. The dim light shining through a tall kitchen window was the only light I could see inside but was helpful to me. Suddenly the wind began to blow. What started as an evening breeze soon developed into some harsh gusts now and then. I looked up to check the sky, but all I could see was a thick cloud cover. The sudden increased wind chilled me. A haphazard pile of wood stood precariously in the yard about fifteen feet from the backdoor. It was double stacked such as it was, so I felt safe enough to get behind it and still manage to have a clear view of the back entrance. I was tall enough to peer over it and still be crouched. Sam joined me behind the stacked pile.

  Off in the distance I thought I heard Starnes knocking on the front door, or what I imagined to be Starnes knocking. With the wind blowing so fiercely, it could have been something else.

  Two gunshots exploded in the darkness and I drew my weapon on instinct. I reached out to steady Sam. I could feel the tension in his stout body. He was ready for whatever might happen. I wasn’t so sure about my own readiness for whatever might happen. Call it caution.

  I waited a few seconds halfway expecting someone to burst through the back and enter into my field of responsibility. There was a silence, then a fierce gust of wind. More silence.

  “Starnes! You okay?” I yelled loudly, hoping that I would receive an affirmative answer.

  “Yeah, I’m good!” I heard a voice call back to me. It sounded like Starnes.

  I relaxed a bit, relieved that she had not been gunned down by the two blasts. Then I heard a loud voice coming from what I suspected to be the front. It could have been Starnes calling out into the house. I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t understand what was being said.

  I remained in my position behind the wood with Sam. Nothing happened. More wind. More silence. More waiting.

  The wind seemed to pick up again, this time it was gusting with greater velocity as if a sudden storm had appeared out of nowhere. I saw something moving to my right about fifty yards, but I couldn’t make out what it was. The noise from the wind was loud and fierce.

  Another gust came across directly in front of me as if it had come from the back door straight at me. I ducked down behind the wobbly stack of wood to protect myself which was my first mistake. The powerful gust leaned heavily against the wobbly wood. The double-stacked rows caved in on top of me. Sam was able to move away quickly enough so that he was not caught under the avalanche. As I was slowly throwing off pieces of cut wood and logs, making sure that I was not severely injured, another movement entered my peripheral vision … again, over to my far right, about fifty yards away. Whatever it was that was moving over there was a ghoulish gray-white color. There was a crying sound coming from the eerie thing I saw. It was a high-pitched noise of mournfulness. Even in the harsh wind, I could hear the sounds of the crying.

  Since I had not heard anything from Starnes, I decided that I needed to go check on her just to make sure she was okay. I limped back around towards the front of the house. My body was sore from the impact of the fallen wood pile. Halfway there I decided that I probably should not surprise her in the darkness without some forewarning.

  “Starnes, I’m coming around the side here. Don’t shoot.”

  I paused before reaching the corner of the front porch to listen for her acknowledgment of my verbal warning.

  Silence. No reception. No word from her.

  I slowed down, dropped to all fours and crawled swiftly to the steps. The front door was open, so I proceeded to crawl into the house. I became aware that Sam was with me after I had entered.

  It was even darker inside, so I took my chances and tried to find a light switch to aid my precarious disadvantage. When I clicked the switch, a small table lamp came on next to the couch. The room was empty.

  Gunshots alerted me from the back, so I proceeded with caution to make my way from the living room to the kitchen. The light I had seen when I was outside at the back of the house was no longer shining. The kitchen was dark. I couldn’t remember the location of the backdoor, so I stumbled around in the semi-darkness using the available light coming out of the living room. It crossed my mind how pathetic this whole scene was becoming. Nothing made any sense and there seemed to be no one here except for Starnes and myself. Since I couldn’t locate Starnes, maybe I was the only one here now. Where on earth had she gone?

  It all felt like a dream. Was I dreaming?

  “Adam! Adam Gosnell!” I called out and waited for a response.

  Nothing happened. I could hear the wind blowing ferociously outside.

  “Evelyn, Evelyn Gosnell! Are you here?” I shouted.

  Silence. Wind. No one answered my cries.

  Sam nudged me. He was the only thing that made this seem real. The rest of it, the wind, the wailing, and the collapsed wood pile, was just a bad dream I was living.

  There seemed to be violence in the outside wind. The harsh sounds were coming from the backyard. I found the backdoor and opened it. I thought I could see a person’s outline out by the caved in wood pile. I figured it must be Starnes.

  “You okay?” I called out from the tiny porch.

  The figure turned and it was only then that I saw that the person had a gun aimed at me. I chose to dive back inside the house rather than shoot at some darkened target, the likes of which I could not make out. Two shots barely missed me as I dove into the kitchen on top of Sam.

  I edged my way to a standing position by the door frame but still out of view from whoever it was shooting at me. I peeked around the corner. That’s when I saw it.

  That ghostly figure I had seen earlier in the backyard was now hovering over the person at the wood pile. The grayish-white thing was circling the figure rapidly. There was no opportunity for me to see the face of the person who had fired at me. I was caught up in the moment of watching something so mysterious that it is still hard for me to explain everything that happened that early evening. Dream or not, it was frightening.

  The wraithlike vision disappeared all at once. It was there, then it was gone. The figure which had been the object of the circling pattern was also gone.

  “Anybody out here?” I called out.

  The wind whistled and I could tell that the violence had subsided from the earlier onslaught. It felt like a trailing wind. It had come, stopped for a while, and then moved on. There was a slight breeze blowing warm across the backyard of the Gosnell house. Unusually warm.

  “Anybody out here?” I called out again.

  “What’s going on?” a voice came from behind me in the doorway. I was now standing on the little porch still cautious enough not to venture out by the wood pile.

  There was just enough light coming from the kitchen for me to tell that it was Adam Gosnell.

  “Where’d you come from?” I said to him.

  “Who are you! I can’t see you out there. Come closer,” he said.

  I moved out of the shadows into the light.

  “Oh, it’s you Miss Evans. What on earth? What’s going on?”

  “Did you not hear the gunshots?”

  “I heard nothing. I was asleep in the bedroom. Didn’t feel too well after vittles, so I lay down for a spell and fell asleep. Say somebody was shooting at you?”

  “Yeah, just a moment ago. Did you see Starnes?” I said.

  “Sheriff Carver? No, I didn’t see anyone. I just heard you hollerin’ out here, I guess it was you… and I thought I’d better come and check.”

  “You got a flashlight?” I asked.

  “Yeah, such as it is. Small one. Needs some new batteries. I ‘spect it’ll work good enough on a dark night like this. Let me fetch it.”


  He was gone a minute or so while I moved from the little porch to the ground. Cautiously. Sam was next to me. I wondered if he was frightened as well. Adam returned and handed me the flashlight.

  It did in fact need new batteries, but after I pounded it a couple of times against my leg, the beam shone and I followed it out to the wood pile. On the ground where the figure had been standing was a gun. I picked it up. It was a German Luger 9mm. It appeared to be identical to the 9mm German Lugers that Abel Gosnell had bought years back.

  Chapter Fifty

  I followed Adam into the kitchen. Evelyn and Starnes were sitting at the table talking. I quickly put the 9mm Luger in my waistband next to my own holstered weapon in the small of my back. I asked Starnes to come outside with me. After she exited the backdoor, I closed it behind her and directed her from the porch to follow me to the wood pile.

  The wind had stopped blowing. A cool, gentle breeze was circling the backyard.

  “Where have you been?” I said to her.

  “What on earth are you talking about?” she said. Her voice indicated some surprise at my question.

  “I came around to the back of the house and you stayed out front. I heard some gunshots and returned to the front. You were gone,” I said.

  “I went inside,” Starnes said.

  “I went inside, too, but you were nowhere to be seen.”

  “What’s wrong with you?” Starnes said.

  “Nothing’s wrong. I just couldn’t find you inside the house.”

  “I’ve been sitting in the kitchen talking with Evelyn about Sally.”

  “Were you in here when Adam came through going to the backyard?”

  “Adam didn’t come through here. He’s in bed. Evelyn said he didn’t feel too good after supper, so he lay down. He’s in there sound asleep. Snoring.”

  “You didn’t hear me yelling for you?” I said.

  “Yeah. We were still talking and we heard someone out here yelling.”

  “You didn’t know it was me?” I said.

  “Well, I wasn’t sure. I thought you were still outside investigating something or other. Then someone started hollering. My first thought was that it was you. Before I could get up from the table to check, well, you came inside. Here you are. Are you okay?”