She gave her dad a quick peck on the cheek. He wrapped an arm around her waist. “Hey beautiful,” he said and returned her simple kiss. “How was school?”
Ellie shrugged, wondering if she should tell him the truth. He looked like he had his own problems to deal with.
“I got an A on my English test,” she said.
“Great! I knew you could do it.” He squeezed her waist then kissed her again. “Your mom…made some…goodies. They’re in the kitchen.” He forced a smile but the sorrow in his eyes gave away the sadness.
Ellie wondered what all her mother had made this time. Brownies, cookies, cakes, pies—enough to feed the whole town twice. She’d take these spells when she wanted to prove she was a good wife and cook and bake into a maddening frenzy. The kitchen would look like a bomb had exploded, leaving a dusting of white flour over every surface. Pots and pans of every shape and size with sticky residues of chocolate and fruit and cream-colored batter were scattered all over the kitchen, some teetering on top of others.
Her mother would measure and stir and mix and bake until exhausted, leaving Ellie and her father to deal with the aftermath. They would clean up silently, neither wanting to acknowledge the sound of her mother wailing from the back bedroom. The crying would go on for hours, eventually petering down to a few moans then her mother would fall off to sleep and wake up the next morning as if nothing had happened.
Ellie stood at the door of her father’s office for a moment before going to the kitchen. She had to get her nerve up, wondering what kind of mess her mother had left her to clean up this time.
But something was different this time. The house was silent. Ellie peeked into the kitchen and wasn’t surprised to see the piles of dirty baking dishes. She stood perfectly still a moment and listened for the sobs but they never came. Quietly, she moved down the long hallway to her parent’s bedroom. There was no sound at all. Ellie gently pushed the door open, expecting to see her mother curled up on the bed crying softly into her pillow. But she wasn’t there. Slowly, Ellie walked into the bedroom, each step more guarded than the last. “Mom?” she said in a tiny voice.
She moved a couple steps toward the bathroom in her parent’s room and stopped. The door was closed but she could see the blood seeping underneath it, seeping into the white carpet, staining it bright pink. She opened the door and wanted to scream but no sound would come out. She had never seen so much blood in her entire life. She was eleven years old and watching her mother die.
The next few hours, she felt like the birds that gathered on the back fence. Watching, just watching. She wondered where Ellie had gone. Had she floated off somewhere far away? But she was here—she had to be. She could feel the rough texture of the wallpaper in her parent’s bedroom poking through her sweater as she pressed her back against the wall, hoping she could just fade into it. She could hear her father’s screams, she could hear him crying “No, no…no,” over and over again. She could see him slipping in the puddles of blood on the bathroom floor then cradling her mother’s lifeless body in his arms. She could see her mother’s arms, limp, no longer spewing the blood she needed to live. She could see the glint of the shiny razor gleaming like a precious gemstone. She could feel the coldness of the steel gurney as it brushed her arm when the paramedics hurried into the room.
Then suddenly she felt warmth, felt comfort, as Aunt Sissy pulled her out of the way and away from the death. Sissy grabbed her up in her arms, carried her into the living room, and sat in her mother’s rocking chair, cradling her in her arms like Ellie had seen women cradle the babies in the nursery at church. She knew she was probably a little too big to be rocked like a baby but it felt good. It was comforting.
15
Ellie was so drained, her body ached. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. She didn’t even bother with a flight or two of the stairs leading to her desk, opting instead for the elevator for the complete task. Forget firming her legs. She’d do that tomorrow.
She stopped at her desk for a moment and stared at Jesse.
He glanced at her, his eyes suddenly serious. “You look like crap.”
She was too tired to defend herself. Even to Jesse.
“You found out something, didn’t you?”
She nodded once. It was a slight movement, and if someone weren’t looking for it, they would have missed it. She walked back to Jack’s office with Jesse following at her heels. She didn’t wait for an invitation and instead went in and sank into one of the chairs in front of his desk. He looked up at her over the rims of his glasses. Jesse propped himself in the doorway.
Ellie rolled the words around in her mouth like she was chewing a tough piece of meat. She never thought she’d be the one asking this of Jack, especially with this case. “I want to go to the national media.”
Jack leaned back in his chair and propped his hands behind his head. “No new leads?”
Ellie shook her head. “Just the opposite.” She filled him in on the new developments and Jerome Kenton and how they were connected. “I don’t know if the child was kidnapped or if Kenton was a neighbor, an uncle, or a family friend who might have been babysitting that day. I do know Kenton’s not his father so his real parents are out there somewhere.”
“Didn’t he say he remembered talking to his dad before he woke up in the morgue,” Jesse reminded her.
“Maybe his dad was the third person in the truck?” Jack asked.
Ellie shook her head. “Kenton told me he and his ‘old lady’ were involved in the wreck.”
Jack leaned into his desk, folding his arms in front of him. “Let me talk to the chief. I’m sure he’ll be fine with it, but don’t want to jump the gun. Let me get his blessing first.”
Back at her desk, Ellie buried her face in her hands. She took a couple of deep, slow breaths.
“You OK?” Jesse asked. He had claimed the chair in front of her desk and sat, staring at her, a look of genuine concern on his face.
She nodded. “I had to push him further than I wanted. Whatever memories he has, they aren’t good ones.” She thought of her own memories and how she wished she had kept them buried instead of reliving them again in that playroom. Maybe one day she would share them with Jesse. But today wasn’t that day.
“Tina Chambers called again. I think you might want to call her back. She said she thought she recognized the boy.”
Ellie perked up. “Did she say anything else?”
Jesse shook his head. “She didn’t want to talk to anyone but you.”
Ellie frowned, wondering what suddenly brought that bond on. “Have you got her number?” She scanned her desk for the pink phone message.
Jesse slid her notepad in front of her. “It’s on your doodle pad.”
“I don’t have a doodle pad.” She looked down at the pad full of swirls and curls and block letters and funny animal faces.
Jesse grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”
Ellie found the number buried within the intricate artwork and punched it in. It felt like ages since she had sat in her chair, at her desk.
Tina Chambers picked up on the second ring.
“Hi, Tina. This is Detective Saunders with the Burkesboro Police Department. Detective Alvarez said you might have some information for me.”
A television blared in the background, barely drowning out a screaming toddler. “I think I recognize that little boy we saw the other day. He’s…hold on a minute. Dusty, stop that this minute. I’ve seen him with this couple, the guy works with Richie and--Dusty, stop it. Can you hold just one second?” She didn’t wait for Ellie to answer and instead went into a screaming tizzy against Dusty. Dead silence followed. Ellie was growing just a tad concerned when the silence began to stretch on then Tina came back on the line. “Sorry—look, I don’t know the guy’s name. Richie would know it, though. He’ll be home—Dusty!—he’ll be home around three if you want to talk to him.”
“What’s your address, Tina?”
Tina gave it to her,
in between screaming at various kids, then hung up. Well, at least Tina and Richie Chambers had obviously found their kid. Ellie scribbled the address on her “doodle pad” then looked at her watch. She glared at Jesse. “You want to take a ride?”
Jesse shrugged. “I love a road trip.”
Jack walked up and tossed Jesse an envelope. “It’s official. Sign ‘em and put the original on my desk. Keep the copy for your record.”
Ellie furrowed her brows, not liking being left out of something. “What’s official?”
“His transfer. Chief’s out of town but Deputy Chief Grostemeyer said if you think the national media will do us any good, go for it.”
“His transfer? Jesse’s transferring? To what department?”
Jesse waved at her. “Hello…I’m right here.”
“Jesse’s the newest member of the Criminal Investigation Department. You two seem to work so well together, I thought you could use a good partner.”
Ellie nearly choked.
“Call Sara Jeffries and set up an interview. She can get it on a national feed.”
Sara Jeffries? Ellie was still reeling from news of her new partner. And now Jack was throwing Sara Jeffries into the mȇlée? “Jack—you know I’m not good with interviews. Don’t you think it would be better if you, as head of the department, spoke to her?”
“Get your new partner to do it.” Jack smiled then turned and headed back into his office.
Her new partner. Jesse Alvarez. Interviewing with Sara Jeffries. Over her dead body.
“So, you ready to hit the road?” Jesse asked, evidently oblivious to Ellie’s glowering eyes. “Where are we going?” He turned the doodle pad around so he could read the address. “That’s in Avery County.”
Maybe we don’t have to go national. Maybe Tina Chambers will give us enough information we can put it all together right in our own backyard.
She tore the page with the address off the doodle pad then grabbed a clean notepad from her drawer. “I’m driving.”
Outside, the sky was one giant gray cloud hovering low, dumping a good amount of snow on the ground. The snow was accumulating on the roads, separated by tire paths. Ellie programmed the Chambers’ address in the GPS then as she was backing up, hit the gas too hard and spun her tires in the parking lot.
“You sure you don’t want me to drive?” Jesse said as he snapped his seatbelt into place.
Ellie glared at him. “I can drive in the snow, thank you. Besides, what do you know about driving in snow—aren’t you, like, from Mexico, or something?”
“Actually, I’m from Missouri. And we have plenty of snow there.” He smiled at her.
“Missouri?”
“And so were my parents, and grandparents, and great-grandparents. I think my great-great-grandparents came from Texas, so yeah, they probably came across the border a couple hundred years ago.”
“How’d you end up in North Carolina?” Ellie asked with genuine interest. It always fascinated her how people could pick up and move from one place to another. She’d lived within a two-hour drive of her home place her entire life.
“How’d I end up in North Carolina? Why do most guys leave home?”
“Outstanding warrants?”
He busted out laughing. “A girl. My high school sweetheart went to Appalachian State, so I came too.”
Ellie felt the back wheels slide just a little and thought for a fleeting moment she might take Jesse up on his offer to drive. “How much snow are we supposed to get?”
“National Weather Service said it was a pretty big storm. Probably the last one of the season. Spring’s just around the corner, sweetcakes.”
“That’s comforting. At least it gives us something to hope for.”
“There’s always hope when there’s nothing else.” He smiled.
Ellie huffed and tightened her grip on the wheel. She was relieved when she saw snowplows lined along the road. At least the trip back wouldn’t be as nerve-wracking.
“So, tell me about your session with the kid,” Jesse said. He’d settled into the passenger seat and looked quite comfortable.
“It was…draining.” She couldn’t have found a more perfect word if she’d looked in a dictionary. “I know Jerome Kenton was in the truck with him, but he’s not his father. And Johnny was real upset they had killed the deer.”
“And how do the Chambers fit into all this?”
“They came in because they thought Johnny might have been their missing son, Dusty. Who they named after some wrestler.”
“Dusty Rhoades. One of the greatest wrestlers of all time.”
Ellie glared at him. “Well, apparently, they found Dusty because she was screaming at him the whole time I was talking to her. The husband, Richie, works with Jerome Kenton. Tina said she thought she remembered seeing the kid with Kenton.”
Jesse nodded. “So, like you said earlier, Kenton could be an uncle or just a neighbor.”
“Possibly.” Her death grip on the steering wheel made her shoulders ache. She didn’t have to glance at her knuckles to know they were as white as the snow plastering against the windshield. Why were the snowplows just sitting alongside the roads? Why weren’t they already moving to get this stuff cleared?
The rear tires jerked slightly to the right, birthing a knot as big as a full-term baby in the pit of her stomach.
“You sure you don’t want me to drive?”
“No,” she snapped. I can do this. I can do this. Like the little engine that could, she’d just keep right on going like they were going…and hopefully they’d be there before spring. She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. “So...tell me about the transfer.” Anything to keep her mind off the road.
“I transferred.”
Well, that went well. “Why did you transfer? Why my department?”
“It’s not your department. I was in this department when you were still in uniform writing tickets.”
“Oh, please. That’s the trouble with you vice guys. You’re elitist. You think you deserve the red carpet every time you walk into a room.”
She waited for him to respond. When he didn’t, she continued her rant. “Oh, that’s right. You’re not in vice anymore. You were reassigned.” She would have glanced at him but was terrified to take her eyes off the snow-covered road.
“I wasn’t reassigned. I asked to be moved.”
She wondered if what Reggie Booker had said was true? “The lifestyle started hitting too close to home?”
“Just the opposite. The job wasn’t conducive to my lifestyle. Would you pull over, please?”
“What?” Had she ticked him off enough to make him want to get out of the car?
“Pull over.”
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to step on your toes. Whatever the reason was, it’s none of my business.”
“Ellie, just pull over. There’s no traffic so you’re not going to slide into anyone.”
She threw him a quick glance. Was he serious? Did he really think she was going to leave him stranded on the side of the road?
“Ellie—just ease the car to the side of the road.”
“Jesse, I said I was sorry. I didn’t realize you were so touchy about it. And I’m not going to leave you on the side of the road.”
“Touchy about what?”
She glanced over at him again. “About why you left vice.”
“What?” He chuckled. “What are you talking about?”
“I thought you were upset about what I’d said.”
“So, you thought I was just going to stand on the side of road? In the freezing snow?”
“Then why’d you want me to pull over?”
He burst out laughing. “So we can change drivers. At the rate you’re going, Johnny Doe’s going to graduate high school before we get back.”
16
The Chambers and their litter of kids lived in a tired-looking single-wide mobile home in need of a good power wash and fresh paint on the peeling windo
w shutters. The front yard looked like a toy graveyard with bicycle handlebars and the carcasses of various action figures poking up through the snow. Ellie kicked a layer of snow off the rickety wooden steps leading to the front door. She wondered if she should open the frame of the screen door to knock or just knock where the glass used to be. She looked at Jesse, who shrugged. Before she decided what to do, the door jerked open. Tina, with a baby on her hip, greeted them.
“Hey, come on in.” She wiped the baby’s nose with her shirt-tail.
Ellie carefully climbed the steps then held the door for Jesse. Tina eyed Jesse suspiciously until Ellie introduced him. “Detective Alvarez is helping me with the case.”
“Oh, yeah. I talked to you on the phone.” Tina slowly nodded then put the baby down beside one of the other kids sitting cross-legged in front of the television. “Dylan, watch your brother for a minute. These people need to talk to me and your daddy.”
Dylan glanced at the baby then turned back to the television. Another child was stretched out on the threadbare sofa, playing a handheld video game. The child looked remarkably like Johnny Doe. Ellie assumed he was the one called “Dusty.” A toddler with a sagging diaper and stained t-shirt banged a toy car on the coffee table, adding more scratches and dents to the already beat-up table.
“Richie’s in here in the kitchen,” Tina said and motioned for Ellie and Jesse to follow.
They didn’t have to travel far. The kitchen and living room were separated only by a curved counter. Richie, in his Bekley’s Seafood uniform, was sitting at a small oval table in the tiny kitchen.
“Y’all have a seat. I’ve got to get these fish sticks in the oven,” Tina said.
Jesse stepped to the side so she could open the oven door, and then sat down across from Richie. Ellie took the seat in front of the window and immediately regretted her placement at the table. The cold air from outside pushed its way through the glass, making her fight off a shiver.
The Rising Page 15