Southern House

by Mark Deloy

  Jim was the first one to pull up at 5:35, with Jensen right behind him. I was surprised, yet sort of pleased, to see Jensen had Lisa with him, riding shotgun.

  “Hey, good morning,” I said to the group as they got out of their vehicles. Girl sat on the porch and thumped her tail furiously. She liked company, apparently, and waited to be petted by each of my new friends, in turn.

  “Hi,” Lisa said. “I got a sitter for Connor. He seemed fine this morning and was actually looking forward to spending the day with Brenda, our neighbor. She’s in college and loves him to death. Have you heard anything new?”

  “No, nothing. The fields have been quiet this morning.”

  “The whole town is quiet.” Jim said. “As if everyone is already in mourning.”

  “Hey, Hick,” Jensen said, mounting the porch steps like an old man. “Is there coffee?”

  “You know it. The cups are above the machine. Help yourself.”

  We all went inside and sat around the kitchen table, drinking coffee, and waiting for the rest of today’s search party.

  “Is Dale bringing his bloodhound today?” Jim asked Jensen.

  “Yes, he should be here shortly. I offered to put him on the town’s payroll, but he flatly refused even though he’s been out of work for six months. He’s a good man. His wife works as a nurse at County General.”

  “Hopefully, his dog will lock onto a scent today,” I commented. “I still can’t believe this is happening.”

  “Are you sure you haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary since you’ve moved in?” Jensen asked, looking me in the eyes. No doubt he was using his cop ‘lie detector’ instincts to see how I would react.

  “Well, there is the fact I can’t get a satellite signal here and the tech said he had no idea why. Papa always said this place had its own brand of hoodoo. I never knew what he meant by that, but after the kids came up missing, I tend to agree with him.”

  Jensen seemed to accept that as answer, but I could tell he was thinking about it and wanted to press me further. The time may come when I had to come clean, but right now it would just make everyone think I had something to do with the missing kids.

  Cars were now beginning to pull into the driveway and pull through to the field to park.

  “Guess it’s that time again,” Jim said, getting up and rinsing out his cup.

  “Let’s stick with Dale and his dog today,” Jensen said to me. “I’ve got a feeling he’s going to find something.”

  “Can I tag along?” Lisa asked.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “I think I’m going to walk up the hillside next to the tent today,” Jim said. “I’ll lead a group up there. Me and old Hickory used to hunt up that way. There’s a tree stand at the top. I think I’ll climb it and have a look around.”

  “There is?” I asked surprised. “I thought I knew every tree stand on the property.”

  “We built it a year before he died. It overlooks the field on one side and the plateau through the other window.”

  “I didn’t even know you liked to hunt that much,” I said.

  “Oh, your granddad talked me into going. I think it was so I would help him build the stand.”

  “Makes sense,” I said with a smile.

  We met the other volunteers in the field near the opening of the tent. A few of the older women had set up a makeshift home base inside with coffee and hot chocolate. There were about sixty people standing around waiting for their marching orders. This was only half of who came out yesterday. At least people were still coming, I thought. What about tomorrow, or next week, or next month? How many people would show up then?

  We assembled into four rough groups. Then stood listening to Jensen telling us what areas we needed to cover. He also said he had a group coming into the property from the other side along Highway 50 with the Field and Game crews, which made me feel a little better about our numbers.

  Jensen asked Jim to lead us in a short prayer.

  “Dear Heavenly Father,” Jim began. “Please be with all of us today in our search. Keep everyone safe and lead us to the children so they should be found unharmed. In Jesus name we pray.”

  “Amen,” said everyone.

  The dew was still on the grass and our feet were soaked before we even got across the second field. Dale was way ahead of us, being pulled by Cecil into the woods.

  The parents had brought various items from the missing childrens’ rooms to help the dog sniff them out among the grass, twigs and leaves. Jacob’s parents brought his favorite stuffed rabbit. It broke my heart to see them carry the stuffed bunny over to Jensen to have the dog sniff it.

  The weatherman had said to expect possible severe storms later in the afternoon. I knew that would only make it more difficult for Cecil to pick up a scent tomorrow. The wind was already beginning to rise and I watched the branches on the trees start to sway. There was dankness in the air; a heaviness that always signaled to me rain was on its way.

  “Are you going to write a story on all this?” I asked Lisa.

  “Yes, I was planning on it,” Lisa replied honestly. “But I wanted to do it as tastefully as possible. I didn’t want to just come out here, do a few interviews and then go home. This is my community, too. I wanted to help, and then write about what I saw.”

  “That sounds like the way to go. People will respect you more and will probably open up. Jensen thinks the national news will show up either today or tomorrow. “

  “I hope not, or I hope we find the kids before then. Those guys are vultures. They’ll turn this into a media circus.”

  “Not the reaction I expected from a fellow reporter.”

  “Those assholes aren’t reporters. They don’t dig for anything, they prey on people’s misery. Hell, they practically salivate over shit like this.”

  I looked in her face for any sign she was being disingenuous and saw none, so I smiled at her and she smiled back.

  “I’m scared, Hick,” she admitted, tears forming in her eyes. Her hatred of the big news networks must have stirred up other emotions as well.

  “I am, too. But I also have faith we’ll find them. Jim taught me that.”

  “Good,” she said. “Have faith for both of us.”

  We walked into the forest behind Dale and Cecil. I couldn’t see them anymore, but I could still hear Cecil barking and Jensen had Dale on the walkie. It was very quiet and I had the eerie feeling of being watched. I looked around.

  “You too, huh?” Jensen asked.

  “Feels like eyes on my back,” Lisa commented.

  The three of us stopped and looked around. I was sure the tall, dark man would step out from behind a tree at any moment and perhaps float over the detritus under foot towards us.

  No dark man came, but Cecil’s barks from up ahead grew louder and more frequent. Then he started yelping and I could hear Dale screaming through the radio. He was saying something, but I couldn’t make out anything except, “Help,” then “Help me!”

  We ran toward where we had heard Cecil, but now he’d stopped yelping. The forest was quiet... Dale had stopped yelling into the walkie. We ran faster, slipping on the dead leaves and pine needles under our feet. I climbed a small hill and as I got to the top I could see Dale rolling around on the ground. Cecil was lying about ten feet away, but he wasn’t moving. I didn’t see any blood on either of them.

  We rushed to Dale. He was holding his leg and crying out.

  “What is it?” Jensen asked. “Did you get a cramp?” And what’s wrong with Cecil?”

  “A wolf came out of nowhere. A big, black one. He tore Cecil’s throat out and grabbed me by the leg! Oh my God, it hurts, man!.”

  “Jesus, Dale,” Jensen said, kneeling down. “Your pants aren’t even cut. Are you bleeding?”

  “What! Yes I am. What are you talking about? My leg is all chewed up. Look at all the blood!”

  Lisa and I looked at each other, then looked down at Jensen. None of us had any idea what to do.
I walked over to Cecil. He looked like he was sleeping.

  “Is he dead? He has to be,” Dale whined. “That animal ripped his throat out. My poor boy.”

  I crouched down and petted Cecil. He didn’t look like he had anything wrong with him, his fur had some sticks and leaves in it, but other than that, the dog was untouched. But one thing was for sure, the dog was stone, cold, dead. I put a hand on his chest, searching for movement, or a heartbeat, but found neither. I looked at Jensen and shook my head.

  “What did it look like?” Lisa asked Dale.

  “It was huge and black,” Dale panted. “It looked like one of those wolves from that movie, whatchacallit, Twilight. Get me outta here, Jensen. Do you think the doc’ll be able to save my leg?”

  “Yes, I think he should be able to,” Jensen said, playing along. “We’ll get you to the hospital.”

  Jensen radioed and asked someone to bring a four- wheel- drive truck down here.

  “Can you walk on it?” Jensen asked him.

  “Yes, I might be able to with some help,” he said.

  If it weren’t for Cecil being dead, I would have thought Dale was faking it to get out of searching today. But then, again, he had to know if he did, everyone would think him crazy. Whatever was happening to him, he believed it was real.

  Jensen helped Dale back out of the woods. He didn’t look injured at all, but leaned heavily on Jensen for support. I grabbed Dale’s other arm and slung it around my shoulder, supporting the rest of his weight. We carried him to the waiting Jeep that Truit had pulled around. Jensen talked to his deputy for a minute, and then the Jeep rushed off, back over the bumpy field.

  “What the hell just happened?” I asked Jensen when he walked back over.

  “Near as I could tell, Old Dale had a psychotic break,” Jensen said. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. The missing kids must have been too much for him.”

  “But what about the dog?” I asked. “What about Cecil?”

  “Heart attack maybe. I just don’t know. Maybe he did see something. I don’t know, but I do know we have kids to find and we are wasting time. The storms are coming faster than the news predicted. I give it an hour and it’ll be pissing down rain. We’ll bring the dead dog out later. Let’s go the way they were going and see if we find anything.”

  Reluctantly, we followed Jensen back into the woods.

  Jensen was right on the money with his rain prediction. Just over an hour later we heard raindrops hitting the green canopy overhead, then started to feel them on our skin. There was no point in exiting the woods right now. We would just get more soaked. So instead, we found a large tree and took shelter under it. We were just past the waterfall and if I remembered correctly, we were in almost the exact spot where the house had been the second time I’d seen it and ventured inside. It was a very strange feeling to be standing where you knew a structure had been a few days ago. I started to wonder if I’d dreamed it.

  Thunder boomed overhead and I knew we were in a very dangerous place, standing under a large tree during a lightning storm. The air around us felt electric and my skin prickled. The greenery around us smelled rich and fresh. We didn’t say much. We just watched the rain fall around us and listened to the thunder. Maybe we were afraid to say anything. There was too much mystery surrounding us.

  After about ten minutes, the rain slowed enough for us to start making our way back. By the looks of the dark clouds overhead, the rain wouldn’t completely stop anytime today. The storms were predicted to go on into the night.

  We emerged from the trees and got absolutely soaked as we walked across the fields toward the tent. The day was a complete bust. We’d only gotten to search for an hour or so, and we saw no giant monster- wolf, no tall, dark man, no ghost house and most depressingly, no children.

  When we got back to the house he called Truit’s cell phone to check on Dale. We could overhear him.

  “Are you serious?”

  There was silence as he listened.

  “No, tell him we’re sorry about his dog, and no, we don’t need him anymore. He can go on home. Okay, bye.”

  “How’s Dale?” I asked.

  “Turns out, as soon as he got up to the main road, he said his leg didn’t hurt anymore. Said he looked down and it was fine. He remembered seeing the wolf and getting bitten, but said it was all like a bad dream. What’s going on, Hick?”

  “I have no idea, Sheriff. I wish I did, but I don’t.”

  20

  When we went back out to the tent, nearly everyone had already regrouped. We thanked everyone for coming out for the search and made plans to restart it again early tomorrow. It would be Saturday and everyone promised to bring one additional person with them.

  Jensen used the podium on Jim’s alter to give a short press conference to the twenty or so reporters who had gathered. After his statement, one of them asked about the man who was driven out past where they were gathered near the tent.

  “He fell in a rabbit hole and badly sprained his ankle. It might be broken.”

  The reporters seemed to accept that answer and there was no follow- up question to that particular one, but there were plenty of others. Jensen politely answered ten or so before stepping aside and letting the T.B.I. representative, who had arrived on scene—Barlow, I think his name was—answer a few about the broader investigation.

  After the press conference, Jensen, Lisa and Jim came back to the house with me, and I made a few cans of tomato soup and some grilled cheese sandwiches. We filled Jim in on what had happened to Dale.

  “I saw him leave. He looked like he was in a lot of pain,” Jim told us. “What could have caused that?”

  “I think his dog died from old age, or maybe a heart attack—who knows? Then, he just lost it,” Jensen said, shaking his head. “The mind is a funny monkey sometimes. Between the loss of his dog and the missing kids, he just couldn’t handle it.”

  I sipped my soup and looked across the table at Lisa. She was making a face. Pursed lips and one eyebrow raised. She didn’t believe Jensen’s explanation, but stayed quiet about it. Jensen didn’t notice. He kept talking.

  “This is a nightmare. I don’t understand how kids can just disappear. We’ve had several calls into the Amber Alert hotline, but none have panned out. The T.B.I. is involved now, but without a description of who took those kids, or a description of a vehicle, they don’t have much to go on. They said they’d send someone from the Nashville office out tomorrow.”

  “Is that a good thing?” I asked.

  “It can be, especially in kidnapping cases. They have resources we don’t, like forensics, a full crime lab and databases. But this isn’t a normal kidnapping or abduction case. I don’t know if I should even mention what Connor said. I guess I’ll have to.”

  “Do you think he was lying?” Lisa snapped.

  “No, no, I think he was telling the absolute truth about what he saw,” Jim said putting a hand on Lisa’s shoulder. “I’m just not sure what they’ll make of it. We’re talking about feds. Well, sort of. T.B.I. instead of F.B.I., but you can bet if they need help, they’ll call in the feds. I don’t want the little guy caught up in all this.”

  Lisa seemed to calm down a little.

  “I know. I’m sorry,” she said. “I just never thought something like this would happen here.”

  “None of us did,” Jim sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I have an appointment with the families this afternoon. It was supposed to be tonight, after the search, but because of the rain they agreed to meet with me later today. I have no idea what to even tell them, besides to trust in God. I just wish we had more to go on.”

  “That T.B.I. guy will want to talk to you at some point, Hick,” Jensen said. “Just thought I’d give you a heads-up.”

  “Thanks,” I said, sarcastically. “Looking forward to it.”

  The storm beat down like Indian war drums outside. I got up from the table and looked out my back window. Sheets of rain were slid
ing across the fields and wind was shaking the revival tent. I could hear the low rumble of thunder off in the distance. I hoped those kids were someplace safe, warm and dry. I couldn’t imagine being their parents, and I felt guilty, again, for not telling someone everything I’d seen and known. With Sheriff Jensen blaming Dale and Cecil’s episode on insanity so easily, I was even more hesitant to share my story.

  “Is this supposed to let up later today?” I asked no one in particular.

  “No,” Lisa volunteered. “This morning, Channel 4 said we’d have downpours through the night. It’ll make searching tomorrow a muddy business.”

  I just nodded, still looking out into the wind- and- rain- swept fields and to the forest beyond.

  “Thanks for the soup, Hick,” Jensen said, getting up. “But I need to get back to the station and get everything in order for the T.B.I. Lisa, did you want a ride back to town?”

  “Sure that’d be great,” she said, to my dismay. I almost spoke up and said I could bring her back, but then she said, “I need to pick Connor from the sitters.”

  Jim and I walked Jensen and Lisa out onto the front porch, said our goodbyes and then sat in the two rockers on the front porch. We could still feel the rain, but only as dampness in the air and as a fine mist when the wind shifted just right. Girl nosed her way through the screen door and sat between us. It seemed she didn’t like being alone any more than I did.

  “So, those symbols we saw on the tent,” Jim said, after Lisa and Jensen had pulled away. “How much do you think they have to do with what happened to those kids?”

  I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. It was a gesture I’d picked up from Jim.

  “A lot,” I admitted. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  “I figured there was. You didn’t seem surprised to see those symbols yesterday.”

  “That’s because I had a set just like them on my house, the night before. I cleaned them off before you got here.”