Down in the Lake

by Shianne Minekime

  The shattered door worried him, what happened out here?

  If Meyers hadn’t called him he would have been really worried. She couldn’t have been forced to call, could she? Nah, that didn’t seem likely. Which only left one option, and that option pissed him off in a big way.

  “Let’s go boys,” he said.

  He saw them when they pulled up in front of the house and he couldn’t believe it. How did they ever find him? He was so careful to cover every inch of his tracks. Maybe her mother was here to talk to him, for him to minister her or pray with her. Of course, he thought, that’s got to be it. He relaxed a little. There was no way they could have found him after all this time, nothing to link him to any of the girls. However, he pulled the revolver out of the desk drawer and tucked it into the back of his pants, just in case. His sweater covered it completely, not a bump to give it away. He opened the door with a pleasant smile on his face.

  “Hello, Mrs. Hansen,” he said warmly, careful to keep a proper expression, one of concern and condolence, warmth and compassion. He didn’t miss the fact that her expression was cold and hard, or the way the detective’s hand stayed really close to her gun. ‘They knew,’ he realized with shock and rage. Somehow, they knew. How dare they come in here acting like he was some kind of criminal when he was doing God’s work! The rage filled him but he held it down, controlled as always. He pretended not to know who the detective was, letting surprise flit across his face when Tina introduced her. He was an exceptional actor honed by years underneath the mask he wore and the detective looked a little less hostile and the mother just a little less sure. Maybe not the mother, she looked at him like no one had ever looked at him except the girls. And they always learned not to. He invited them in warmly and offered them tea or coffee. They both refused. As they came in he saw Tina’s hands shake.

  “What can I do for you?” He asked courteously.

  The detective was looking around closely and keeping one eye on him at the same time. The mother stood by the couch as though poised for flight. ‘Oh yeah, they knew all right.’ He didn’t have much time, no doubt they had help coming not too far behind them. What if they already were here, surrounding him? His hands turned clammy.

  Annie watched him closely from the second he opened the door. Her first thought was that he was too old to be a killer. For a second as they stood outside the door something flickered in his eyes and she got a flash of what lived beneath the courteous old man exterior. Her senses warned her not to underestimate him. She was keyed up and ready.

  He was afraid for a second but the anger won out over the fear. They would pay for their sins this time. His fat old tabby cat, Sugar, picked that moment to jump off the bureau in the corner and land with a thump a few feet away from them. The detective jumped and both women turned toward the noise. The detective only turned a hair and only for a split second shifted her attention but it was his chance and he took it.

  James got home moments after Jamison left. He found Tina’s car in the yard and the front door busted in. His heart began to pound and all he could think was that someone broke in and took his wife. The fear rose up like a wave threatening to drown him. He called the police station and was told Jamison was out.

  “Can I take a message for you, hon?” The lady asked.

  He babbled about a break in and gave her the address. She assured him that someone was on his way and told him to wait for them.

  He sat on the front step and started to shake.

  Reverend McCallister pulled the gun out of the back his pants and fired. Annie saw him moving and dove into Tina, taking her with her over the couch. They hit the floor with Tina on the bottom, hard enough that Tina lost all her breath in a great whoosh and saw stars. He put four rounds in the couch before Annie got her gun out and fired back. He took off out the front door, shooting behind him again once he cleared the porch to keep them pinned down. His breath whistled in his chest reminding him of his age but he made his car safely and fired four more rounds at their car. The front tire blew out and two shots went through the radiator. The last shot blew out the windshield in a rainfall of glass pieces. He took off. A quarter of a mile up he turned up a little dirt road, instead of the road that led into town. This road was a logging road and led back to town through two miles of stump graveyards and around the back of the lake. Not two minutes after he turned Jamison and his deputies passed the turn, heading out to his house.

  When he ran out the door, Annie waited till the shots stopped. She wasn’t going out in a hail of bullets, no matter how much she wanted him. She had never felt more exposed or helpless in her life than lying pinned underneath that couch on the floor in a killer’s house. She watched and listened with her gun ready, barely breathing as she waited for more bullets or for him to pop around the corner. It felt like minutes but actually was a few seconds. She mentally called herself every kind of an idiot for coming out here without backup halfcocked like a rookie on their first day on the job. If Tina got killed out here it would all be on her. She eased out from under the couch to where she could almost see the door and was halfway to a standing position when the shots started again. She dove down again, flattening herself to the floor, waiting to hear the shots strike. She didn’t hear any hit. She crawled over to Tina and saw the blood and realized that she’d been hit.

  She swore and her voice sounded high and wheezy, shocking her. For a second she thought someone else had spoken.

  “Where’d he go?” Tina cried, her eyes wide and panicky.

  Annie checked her over and found the bullet wound high up on her right arm. Thank God, she thought, at least it wasn’t worse. She kept an eye on the front door, expecting him to come through any second.

  “I’m okay,” Tina gasped. “Go, go get him!”

  Annie went out the door with her gun out in front of her, adrenaline making her heart race and her breathing whistle in her chest.

  She saw his car disappear around the corner behind the trees and she ran for her car. Steam hissed up from under the hood like an evil cloud and she saw the bullet holes and then she saw the tire. “Crap” she muttered.

  She crawled into the front seat. Her hands were shaking as she called it in.

  She was told Jamison was on his way.

  “I sent someone out to the Hansen house, too,” Susan said. “Something about a break in?”

  The door, Annie realized. James was her second thought. Probably scared the poor guy half to death.

  “Is it true?” Susan asked her kindly, southern voice was shaky and Annie wondered if she were crying. “Is it really the minister?”

  “I’m afraid so,” she said.

  She asked for the ambulance to be sent and reassured Susan that no one was dead when she started to panic.

  “I’ve got to go,” she said.

  She went back into the house. Tina was on her feet, although a little shaky. She pushed Annie’s hands away.

  “We’ve got to find her,” she kept crying. Annie grabbed her and shook her gently.

  “Stop it,” she said forcefully, “we’ll find her, but not with you bleeding all over the place.”

  Tina stopped and stood quietly while Annie ripped the sleeve off her good arm and wrapped it around the other. The bleeding wasn’t that bad she saw with relief. Tina jerked away when Annie tried to look at her head.

  They found the basement just as Jamison pulled up in the front yard. They heard the cars and the slamming doors and the calls of the deputies. They heard Jamison yell something but nothing short of an earthquake could have stopped Tina, probably not even that could have. They found the heavy wooden door and the big brass key hanging by it. Tina’s hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t fit it in the lock. Annie took it from her and unlocked the door. As the door squeaked open for a tenth of a second they both stood frozen, fearing what they might find and imagining the worst. The moment passed and they both went through the door as the police went through the front door upstairs.

&nb
sp; Chapter Twenty-Two

  Hailey woke moments after the echo of the last shot faded away. The shots seemed like part of a dream. Everything was fuzzy and distorted and she lay still, confused but not really scared. Footsteps on the stairs finally roused her and the memory of everything came slamming back at her, carrying the fear with it. She shrank as far away from the door as the chain would let her. The door swung open and the first thing she saw was her mother. For a second she was frozen but then her mom’s arms were around her and Hailey clung to her and burst into tears.

  Tina refused to go with the ambulance until Annie told her she could ride with Hailey. Tina hadn’t let go of her from the moment she found her on the bed and her daughter’s arms had closed around her. Hailey had no obvious injuries except for a few small cuts on her legs but she seemed too drowsy and it was assumed that The Reverend had given her drugs. Jamison called the house and told James the news and told him to meet them at the hospital. The helicopter took them to County General in Edgewood, Patterson’s clinic being too small to handle anything more than the occasional ear infection or strep throat. After getting the news James hung up and sat on the floor and cried. When he arrived at the hospital and saw the bandage on his wife he shook her until her teeth rattled and then hugged her hard enough to squeeze the air out of her. He only let go of her to go see his daughter. Hailey was sitting on the bed with the nurses fluttering around her and the sight of her, alive and real, almost brought him to his knees. Hailey gave him her sweet little smile and he held her gently and avoided her iv, completely ignoring the nurses. The doctor found no injuries on Hailey’s checkup at the hospital, no signs of violation. When he met them in the hall to tell them it was Tina’s turn to cry again.

  They kept Hailey overnight to watch her as the sleeping pills wore off. The blood test showed Ambien in her system, a common type of sleeping pill. The doctor said the high dose in her system could have been enough to kill her. Within a few hours she was up and walking around and she ate all the food the nurses brought her. She was very quiet. The doctor wrote down the name of a child psychologist in Edgewood whom he said was, “the best in the field.” Tina promised her to get her in to him right away.

  “There’s no hurry,” the doctor said, watching Hailey thoughtfully. She was sitting in the hospital bed watching TV, holding onto her dad’s hand.

  “Give her time, let her feel safe again,” he said.

  Tina wondered how safe her daughter could feel knowing that He was still out there somewhere. How safe could any of them feel? Annie sat in a chair in the hall outside Hailey’s room. Deputy Jacobs had been out there for a while before her. That helped to ease the fear a little.

  They took Hailey home the next afternoon.

  One of the deputies had been out to fix the door, it now wore a shiny thick new deadbolt. The deputy was also there to keep people away as much as possible. There were still a good thirty people gathered to meet the family, in spite of his efforts. James’ parents were there, rushing the car as they pulled up. Tears were running down Ellie’s face as she hugged her granddaughter. Travis kept pumping people’s hands, Annie’s, Jamison’s, the deputies’. He couldn’t seem to stop smiling, he hugged Tina hard and she felt him shake a little.

  “I’m sorry,” Ellie whispered to Tina when it was her turn to hug her.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered back, and it really was. It didn’t matter about the reporters or any of the craziness, she had her daughter back and it was okay. None of it mattered anymore. The media was out in force but were held back to the sides of the road by threats and the promise of a statement from the family. Their neighbors, Eddie and Trey, were there. They stood back, not wanting to intrude on the moment. Eddie caught Tina’s eye and gave her a thumbs up. ‘We did it baby,’ her grin said. Tina nodded and smiled back. There were people there from town, to hug Hailey’s parents and say “thank God” and “I’m so glad she’s okay.” Some didn’t say anything, just being there to show their support. Tina wondered how they all knew when to show up there. The plump receptionist, Susan was there too. She had told Jamison he could get someone to cover the phones and the desk for her or she would quit. She was still pissed at him for asking about the leak to the press.

  “No way I’m not going to be there when that little angel comes home,” she had said. She brought enough food to the house with her to feed the entire town, potatoes salad, fried chicken, pies, chips, and heaven only knew what all. Jamison had just shook his head when he helped her unload it from her station wagon and carry it in the house. He hadn’t said a word though, he understood she needed to help in the ways she could. He stood back from the hoopla now just watching. Three deputies were assigned to keeping the media back and they had their hands full. There were cameras rolling as well as the numerous pictures being taken, he knew the footage would be on the six o’clock news. There were camera crews from all over, this was national news. The Reverend, they were calling him. Jamison wondered if he would be watching the news, enjoying the fuss and attention flying about for his benefit.

  Enjoy it while you can, you crazy old man, he thought, because you’re going down.

  He had a twenty four hour watch on the Hansen house. He almost hadn’t gotten approval for the allocation of funds. He had gone to the city council members at home one at a time and told them they either approved it or he walked right now, and they could head up the manhunt for a serial killer on their own. They had backed off as fast as you could imagine, pleading with him not to do anything hasty. They called Susan this morning with approval for the funds. The guards would have been there whether they approved it or not.

  “They said, spend whatever is necessary,” Susan told him when she brought him his coffee.

  He fully intended to. He didn’t know what the effect might be on his future career as Sherriff here but right now he didn’t care. All he could think about was catching the man responsible and keeping anyone else from getting hurt.

  He watched the family walk into the house. Hailey looked overwhelmed and nervous and she clutched her mom’s hand like a life line. Seventeen days, he thought, must have felt like a life time to her. How scared she must have been. It killed him to think that all of those little girls had been held captive that long, had had that many days that they could have been rescued in. All those days of hoping someone would find them.

  James went out after a while to give a statement to the press. Jamison warned him that they probably wouldn’t leave them alone unless they did.

  “You’re national news,” he said, with an apologetic shrug. As though that were in any way his fault. Annie warned James not to say anything confrontational, no insulting Reverend McCallister or calling attention to the fact that they got Hailey away from him.

  “Just say how thankful you are to have her back, and maybe even how glad you are he didn’t hurt her,” she said. James cocked an eyebrow at her.

  “I know, I know,” she said. “There are lots of things you could say but I don’t want to take any chances with him comin’ after her again.”

  What she didn’t say was that him coming after Hailey might be their best chance to actually catch him. No way was she using that little girl for bait.

  “I agree with that,” James said fervently.

  He gave the statement at the front of the house with the lake behind him with a chilly August wind rustling the trees. It chilled him to know that the Reverend would probably watch this.

  The people all finally left, except of course for Ellie and Trey. Tina gave them the guest bedroom. Annie was still there, Jamison went back to the office to the two thousand things he had to deal with there. The reporters left, whether to go into town or to go home, they had no idea. It was a relief to have them gone. Annie asked if she could stay and sleep on the couch, offhand, like it wasn’t because she thought they were in danger.

  “Sure,” James said calmly, just like he would for any friend sleeping on the couch. Like it didn’t matter that she
was a friend with a gun, there in case someone came to kill them. Like they were just going to have some drinks and play cards. He decided that he was going to have a security system installed. He cracked the door of Hailey’s room and peeked at her lying on her bed. She lay sleeping as she almost always slept, curled peacefully on her side. His heart cramped painfully at the thought of what could have happened to her. His baby had went through hell, with no one there to protect her. All of the things that could have happened to her didn’t bear thinking of. He wasn’t much of a praying man but he thanked God silently for bringing her home and swore that he would keep her safe no matter what. He went out to the garage to see what kinds of locks he had for the back door. The handle locked but he suddenly wanted another one on it.

  Annie followed him and stood in the doorway watching him rummage in the tool chest. She knew she was breaking protocol by staying in their house, they were safe enough with the patrol outside, but she felt it was the right thing to do. James found a sliding bolt lock and held it up.

  “Ah hah,” he said triumphantly.

  Annie smiled and moved back to sit at the kitchen table while he put it on the back door. She figured they were probably safe enough with an armed guard parked out in the driveway. But she understood his need to try to protect what was his. Watching him screw the bolt in and test it out, she wondered how long this would go on. What if they didn’t catch him? Would this family and this town have to spend the next years looking over their shoulders in fear? Considering the size of the man hunt going on and the resources behind it she didn’t think it was likely. He was one slick, lucky son of a bitch to have eluded them so far. But his luck was going to run out and he was going down hard.

  The evidence at the Reverend’s home was enough to put him away for the rest of his life. The forensics team had covered his house with a fine toothed comb but it had really just been a formality. They had found pictures of all of the girls, a neat little folder for each. Terrifying proof of how he had stalked them and their families, some appearing to be spread out over months or possibly even years. Pictures of them at school, at the grocery store, walking down streets with their parents. One of Amanda playing soccer with her friends, hair flying and all caught up in the moment. Innocent of any knowledge that a monster was watching her. They even found a folder of pictures of poor Joseph Harper, him coming out of a porn shop on a city street, him standing on a street corner with a sign proclaiming ‘Live Nude Girls’ seen in the background. In that one he looked completely trashed, his pretty boy looks squashed beneath the booze and whatever drugs he had been on at the time. Written in black marker underneath that one was the word Sinner. There was a picture of him on someone’s couch with his eyes bloodshot and the pupils dilated to almost turn his eyes black. How had the Reverend managed to get that one? In a house on someone’s couch? Poor guy, Annie thought, he didn’t stand a chance. Proclaimed a sinner by a man who somehow found righteousness in murdering helpless little girls. With Joseph’s habits and personality everyone had been more than willing to believe he was a killer, the perfect fall guy. The team found items that almost certainly had belonged to the victims, sent on to the FBI offices for analysis and safe keeping until the trial, if there was a trial. Annie figured when the Reverend was caught he would confess in the hopes of a lightened sentence. There would be nothing less than several counts of murder in the first, she would see to that, to say nothing of kidnapping. You could say that it didn’t matter, that he would certainly die in prison but it still did matter. The families of his victims needed to hear that guilty list read at sentencing to know that he was being held accountable for all of his actions. Annie had managed to cancel the exhumation order on Amanda’s body before it went through. Her family would not have to go through that at least, not for now anyway. Annie wished that she didn’t have to notify that family at all. If they could live with their daughter’s accidental death and had for all this time, then why hurt them all over again? Why tell them their daughter’s last moments had been that terrible? Of course it would have to be done, every horrible detail brought up and relived over and over and it made her sick thinking about it. They would probably hear about it on the news and possibly connect it on their own, God knew that would be even worse that being told. Annie sighed wearily and ran her fingers through her hair. She felt tired clear to her soul. Cases like this were the hardest, she knew of cops that had left the job after them and she didn’t blame them really. Seeing this part of the world changed a person in a very real and fundamental way. She had been back to the Reverends house too, walking through it after everyone else had come and gone, ignoring the yellow crime scene tape. What neither she nor anyone else had found there was an explanation for why. Why he had done the things he did. That was what the families would really want to know and there was no answer to that one, even if there were it would probably never be passed along to them. No sick and twisted justification ever was a reason for something like that. There was lots of talk of it being tied to his religious beliefs, a natural assumption given his profession. Unless he were caught and gotten to talk, and most criminals love to talk about their crimes, no one would ever know.