by Gen Griffin
“Hi Mom. I've got something I need to tell you...” Ian sat down on the floor of the shop and began telling his mother how he'd swerved to avoid a deer in the trail and lost control of his truck on his way to go pull Addison out of a mud hole.
Chapter 11
“How much deeper do you think we need to dig?”
“You hit water yet?”
“No.”
“Then keep digging.” Ricky Breedlove had stripped off his long-sleeved t-shirt. He'd worked up a sweat despite the biting cold. The moisture shone on his darkly tanned skin in the moonlight.
Cal's shovel bit into the swampy soil beneath his feet as he scooped yet another pound of black dirt out of the ground. The hole they'd dug was well over three feet deep and easily twice as long.
Burying a corpse had turned out to be hard work. Cal's back and shoulders ached with every shovelful of dirt he lifted. His barely healed knee was burning from the strain of carrying the dead girl's body into the deep, dark depths of the swampland that surrounded Possum Creek.
As much as Cal was loathe to admit it, he was glad that Ricky was here with him.
He didn't know if he would have had the stomach to carry the dead girl miles into the underbrush alone. It took everything he had not to stop and stare into her dead eyes every time he scooped another handful of dirt out of the grave he was digging for her. He turned back to the corpse every time he heard a noise in the woods, certain that Addy had been wrong and the girl was alive after all. Certain that she would wake screaming from the dead.
Ricky didn't seem terribly upset by the presence of a corpse. As far as Cal knew, David's father had never killed anyone, but he seemed a little too comfortable playing grave digger in the night.
The site Ricky had chosen for the grave was not noteworthy in any way that Cal could identify. He suspected that he'd never be able to find the grave again after tonight.
“How much deeper do you want to go?” Cal asked Ricky, more to pass the time than anything.
“Give her another six inches or so,” Ricky replied. “We don't want her dug up by scavengers. Need to put her deep enough in the ground that the animals can't smell her.”
Cal shuddered and kept digging. He tried to lose himself in the work. He had to struggle not to think about how tiny the dead girl was or wonder what she had been doing walking alone through the trails on the wildlife management area behind David's house.
He tried not to wonder if anyone was looking for her yet.
He didn't want to know if her mother or father was sitting anxiously by the phone, wondering why she hadn't come home yet or called.
His own mother had called him twice already. He'd given her the short version of the story he and David had agreed on. He'd told her that Ian had messed up his truck on the trails and that they were going to go help him. She'd believed the story. She had no reason not to.
Gracie had called him as well. He'd wanted nothing more than to curl up in the cab of his truck and tell her everything that had happened, but he hadn't. Ricky had been waiting for him and the dead girl in the toolbox had to be dealt with. He'd been short with Gracie on the phone, but he'd make it up to her. The best thing about his relationship with Gracie was that at the end of the day, no matter how bad the fight had been, they always managed to make things right between them.
Of course, there were some things that just couldn't be made right. Things like burying a dead girl in the woods to save your friend from a DUI he probably deserved.
“I reckon that's far enough.” Ricky stopped shoveling. His voice jarred Cal out of his own thoughts.
“You sure?” Cal asked.
“Yeah.” He kicked the side of the hole they'd dug and then tossed the shovel out. It hit the ground with a hard clang. Ricky put his hands on the side of the hole and then vaulted out with the agility of a man 20 years younger.
Cal followed in his tracks, moving a lot slower. By the time he'd freed himself of the make-shift grave, Ricky had already picked up the dead girl's body. The older man walked carefully to the edge of the freshly dug pit and then dropped the body down into the hole.
The girl landed with a dull thump. Her hair was covering her face.
Cal used his shovel to pick up one of the piles of dirt that had just been shoveled out of the hole. He was preparing to toss it back in when Ricky stopped him with a shake of his head. “You're getting ahead of yourself, Calvin.”
“I thought we were burying her?” Cal asked, confused.
“We are,” Ricky confirmed. “But first we need to get rid of any evidence we might have left on her.”
“How?”
Ricky didn't answer as he pulled a large greasy bottle of lighter fluid out of the small backpack he'd carried with them from the house. He opened the lid and liberally poured lighter fluid down on top of the dead girl's body. When the bottle was empty, he pulled out a book of matches and struck one.
“You're never going to feel the same way about barbecue,” Ricky promised morbidly as he dropped the match.
Chapter 12
“You can just drop me off here,” Katie said to Addison as he slowed the Jeep to a stop. He looked from side-to-side on the dark country road.
“I don't see a house,” he said.
“It's back through there.” Katie pointed to a barely visible dirt driveway that was poking out through the trees.
Addison turned the Jeep towards the driveway.
“You don't have to drive me all the way to the house,” Katie said quickly. She put her hand on the door handle. “Really, I don't mind the walk.”
“I'm not David. I'm not going to leave a girl standing in the middle of a dark road so I can save two minutes out of my day,” Addison said with a shake of his head. He didn't even want to think about girls walking alone down trails right now. He didn't want to consider the possibility that the girl who was now laying dead in some godforsaken hole in the bayou had just been taking a quick shortcut home to save a friend some gas. He turned the Jeep into the driveway amid Katie's protests.
The road going up to the top of the hill was pitted and bouncy with washouts running down both sides of the narrow drive. “Y'all drive up this every day?” Addison asked as he dropped his transmission down into first gear.
“I told you that you didn't have to drive up here,” Katie replied with a shake of her ponytail. She was holding her back pack in her lap and looking distinctly unhappy. It took a moment for Addison to realize that she was embarrassed.
“I have manners,” Addy said. “I was raised to take girls to their front doors when I take 'em home.”
“I'm not dating you.”
“I said 'girls' not 'girlfriends only'. Females in general. I always wait to make sure my Granny gets inside safe when I take her home from Bingo down at the Baptist Church.”
“She's your Granny,” Katie said, as if she expected all boys to make sure their Grannies got inside safely at the end of a wild night in the church basement.
“She's still a girl,” Addison countered. “Besides, the longer I take driving you home, the less time I have to spend listening to Maggie chew Ian's ass.”
“I'm kind of glad we got out of there before she showed up,” Katie admitted.
“You ain't the only one.” Addy spun the wheel hard to the left in order to avoid a pot hole on the right. “Why do you think I offered to drive you home?”
“I kind of wondered,” Katie admitted. “Not that I'm complaining. I didn't want to ride with David.”
“Y'all don't exactly get along, do you?”
“He's a bully,” Katie said. “I don't have time for bullies.”
“Fair enough.” Addison's Jeep made a final lurch over the top of the hill. He found himself pulling up to a decrepit little house with a sagging roof and visibly rotting porch. He would have thought the place was abandoned, but lights were streaming through the windows and the front door flew open the minute Addison's headlights brushed across the window.
“Katie! Katie! T
he toilet fell over!” A little girl with pink ribbons in her pigtails came running outside. “Its made a huge mess! Kristy said to ask Ian to come-.”
“Ian isn't here,” Katie said with a sigh. She opened the door of Addison's Jeep and slid out even as he cut the truck's motor off.
“Thanks for the ride,” Katie said with a tired, fake smile on her pretty lips. “It was nice to meet you.”
“The toilet fell over?” Addison asked. He opened his own door and got out of the Jeep.
“Probably. Its been wobbling for weeks.” Katie shrugged delicately. “I'll fix it. You don't have stay.”
“You're not Ian,” the little girl with the pigtails informed him.
“Nope,” Addison agreed as he walked around to the back of his Jeep. He pulled David's toolbox out, deciding it wasn't worth it to dig through the mess in his truck until he unburied his own.“Which is a good thing for you. I'm a lot better at repairing plumbing than Ian is.”
“You don't have to come in and fix the toilet.” Katie stepped in front of him, which did very little to block his path considering that he was 6 foot 2 and she didn't clear 5 feet. “Really. I've got this.”
“What you've got,” Addison said smoothly as he looked over her shoulder at the front door of the house, “is water coming out your front door.”
“Oh crap. Really?” Katie spun around and saw the same thing Addison had already noticed. A thin stream of water was pouring over the threshold and running down onto the porch. “Great. My older sister is too stupid to figure out where the shut off valve is. Bet the whole house is flooded.”
“Bet it is.” Addison stared down at her for a minute. She looked very small and very tired. “Still don't want my help?” he asked.
“Katie!” Someone yelled from inside the house. “Hurry up! There's water everywhere!”
“No duh,” Katie muttered under her breath in response to the mystery voice. She met Addison's eyes, took a deep breath and bit her lip. “I would appreciate the help, if you really don't mind giving it. Obviously, the situation in our bathroom is just a little bit out of hand.”
Addison nearly laughed. “Its not the worst mess I've had to clean up today.”
He followed her up the slick, wet porch stairs and into the tiny living room. The house was old and had water stains on the ceilings but the living room appeared to be neatly kept. Other than the water that was sloshing on the floor beneath his boots, Addison didn't see much out of place in the tiny home.
“Are you going to stop the fountain?” The little with the pigtails asked as he followed Katie into the back of the house.
“What fountain?” Katie asked. She stopped in front of a gray box in the wall of the hallway. She opened the metal door of the breaker box and flipped a couple of switches. “Water's off now,” she announced to no one in particular.
“Smart move,” Addison told her. “Where's the bathroom?”
Katie gestured to the third door on the left. “Through there.”
Addison walked past her and into the tiny room. He did a double take as he took in the sight of a morbidly obese pregnant girl sitting in the middle of a sea of soggy bedding and sopping wet towels. The toilet was leaning against the side of the sink, exposing all its inner plumbing to the world.
A chunk of broken off PVC piping was burbling out the last of the water that had been in the pipes when Katie had cut the breaker to the pump.
The fat girl looked up at the doorway. She had the same light brown eyes and honey hair as Katie. “Thank God. I've been trying to stop the water and- who are you?”
“Your hero and savior,” Addison replied cockily. After everything he'd been through today, he was glad to see a situation in front of him that he could actually fix. He held out his hand to her. “Come on. Up and out of the bathroom. I need room to work.”
The girl gripped his hand and let him heft her to her feet. “Good luck on the room thing. This is the tiniest bathroom ever.”
“Nah. I've seen smaller.” Addison stepped to the side so that she could exit the bathroom. In truth, the bathroom was tiny but he'd dealt with worse. At least he could sit on the rim of the bathtub to work on the toilet. He set the toolbox down and eyed the broken white pipe.
“Hey Katie,” he called out. “I don't suppose y'all have any spare PVC pipe laying around?”
“Actually yes,” Katie said, sticking her head back into the bathroom. Her arms were full of towels and she was attempting to dry the carpeting in the hallway.“The plumbing here sucks. Look in that closet behind you. We should still have some stuff from last time.”
“Awesome. At least I don't have to drive back to town.” Addison had to stand and turn around completely to be able to open the closet. It was roughly the size of a high school gym locker. The PVC pipe, PVC glue and a hot pink hacksaw were sitting on the top shelf. Addison took down the hacksaw and flipped it over speculatively. “This is scary.”
Katie smirked at him. “It came in a pink tool kit. I have a hammer that matches.”
“That's kinda hot,” Addison decided.
“Only if you're the one using it, Studmuffin.”
Addy couldn't help grinning at her. He intentionally thumbed one hand across the still-gaping front of his coveralls. “I'm sexy and I know it.”
Katie burst into giggles and a moment later Addison was laughing with her.
Chapter 13
“Darn shame about the truck.” Officer Richard Perkins of the Callahan County Sheriff's Department pulled a neatly printed police report out of his cruiser and handed it to Maggie McIntyre.
“Do you think insurance is going to give us any problems about replacing it?” Maggie asked him.
“Naw.” Perkins waved one hand at the wrecked Dodge. He'd barely bothered walking in a full circle around the truck before he'd declared it totaled and waddled back to his cruiser to write his official report. He ran his thick hands down the front of the uniform shirt that was currently busting its buttons in an attempt to keep his massive gut contained. “I wrote it up so that they won't ask too many questions. If the insurance folks ask y'all, tell 'em you wrecked the truck down around the intersection of Bronwell Pike road and Harrington Bluff. Its too hard to explain wildlife management trails to city insurance folk. I picked the intersection nearest to where y'all said you were.”
“Okay,” Ian said with a nod of his head. “I can do that.”
“Also, don't tell 'em that y'all hauled the truck to a shop before I saw it. Tell 'em I responded to the site of the crash.”
“Is that what you put in your report?” Maggie asked him.
“Yes ma'am.” Perkins smiled and patted her condescendingly on the shoulder. “Make things easier on y'all that way. Sometimes they get suspicious when cops say they didn't actually go to the wreck. Won't do no good to tell them insurance people that our cruisers ain't going to get back to where y'all wrecked this thing. They'll give you problems if you tell 'em you were off-roading.”
“Well then I guess we won't be mentioning it,” Maggie said. She shot an unhappy glance at her red-faced son. Maggie had come into the shop and yelled for roughly two minutes before breaking down and sobbing for 20 about how she didn't know if she could keep on living if anything ever happened to Ian. The emotional outburst had been painful to witness. When she'd finally pulled herself together, she'd insisted they get a police report for the damage on the truck.
“You're a smart woman,” Perkins told her.
“Thank you so much for coming out tonight, Richard. The boys were going to try to repair the truck themselves but I just don't think I'd ever be able to trust a truck that had been rolled. We have good insurance and I've never made a claim. I don't think we'll have any problems so long as we have the police report.”
“Me neither, Miss Maggie. Y'all have a good night.” Perkins waved one hand around the room and then waddled back towards his cruiser. He was half-way out of the driveway before anyone spoke again.
“Well boys, I h
ope you've learned your lesson.” She looked from Ian to David and then back to Ian. “This is what happens why you take your vehicles places they aren't meant to go.”
“It was an accident, Aunt Maggie.” David rubbed his hands down the sleeves of his coat and wished he could go home already. “Ian was just driving down the trail when that...doe...jumped out in front of him. He swerved to miss her and lost traction.”
Maggie sighed. “At least the deer was okay,” she said reluctantly.
David and Ian exchanged a disbelieving look. Maggie draped her arm around Ian's shoulders. “I'm just glad you're not hurt. That's all that matters.”
“I'm fine, Mom.”
“Good.” She stood up on her tipi-toes and kissed the top of his forehead. “You're always such a good boy, Ian. Such a blessing to me. I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you.”
“I love you Mom.”
“I love you too.”
David absently wondered what Aunt Maggie would think if she knew that her 'good boy' had just murdered an innocent young girl and then gone along with a plan to hide her body. He was betting she wouldn't be quite so lovey-dovey if she knew the truth. Then again, it was Aunt Maggie. She'd never disciplined Ian a day in his life. No reason to suspect she'd start now.
“I think we're going to go home now, David.” Aunt Maggie walked over to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thank you for taking care of Ian today.”
“You know I always try to look after him,” David reminded her.
“I know. You're a good boy, too.” She put her arms around him and squeezed him tightly.
“Thanks.” He felt like a fraud as he returned her hug on autopilot.
“I'll see you at school tomorrow,” Ian said.
David nodded.
“Oh no. I don't think you should go tomorrow.” Maggie put her hand on Ian's shoulder. “You've been through too much today. You deserve a little bit of an extended weekend. It'll give you time to make sure you're really recovered from your injuries.”
Ian smiled at him Mom. “I could use a couple extra days. I'm pretty sore.”