Satan’s Lambs

by Lynn Hightower

  Lena slipped another piece of sausage under the table, and Sally politely snapped it up.

  “What do you do about it?”

  “You don’t go running to the head of the Park Service telling stories about devil worshipers, that’s for sure. Not if you want to keep your job.”

  “Is it something about this area, do you think?” Lena ate a spoonful of chili.

  “Aw, no. This is going on all over. Some of my buddies in the Park Service, they got similar problems. Same things happening, just nobody says much. ’Cept maybe when we’re together, having a couple beers.”

  “So you don’t do anything about it.”

  “I keep tabs,” he said. “See what kind of groups I got. It’s not like I run across something every week. But you can usually tell how many you got. If they’re kids or not. I see their bonfires sometimes, over the hills. I do get upset when they start rooting in the cemetery. That we can prosecute, but they’re hard as hell to catch.”

  Lena flinched. “What do they do?”

  “Dig up graves,” Ted said softly. “Steal bones.”

  Sally put a paw on Lena’s leg, and Lena fed her a chunk of sausage.

  “How does Anita Casey fit into all of this?”

  “Had us a pretty serious group some time back. About eight years ago. And Anita had a missing girl, a teenager, that she tracked to this area. We thought for a while she might be with them.”

  “Was she?”

  “Don’t know. Never found her.”

  “That when you and Anita met?”

  “Yeah. She calls me in on her missing persons, if somebody disappears in the woods.”

  “You track them or something?”

  “Me? No. That’s Sally’s job. She’s an air-scent dog.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Trained to find people. She can even find them under water, sometimes.”

  Lena patted Sally on the head. Sally gave her a sloppy doggie smile, then perked her ears and stood at attention. A second later Lena heard the sound of tires on gravel.

  “She never barks,” Lena said.

  “Trained not to.” Ted stood up and looked out the window. “Looks like somebody called the cops.”

  Lena stood beside Ted and rose up on her tiptoes so she could see. A Buick Skylark was pulling up next to the shed out back. Behind it was a navy blue Mazda. Mendez.

  The door opened on the driver’s side of the Buick and Detective Casey got out.

  Ted headed out of the kitchen to the front door. Lena stayed at the window, though she could see very little in the dark. Now would be a good time to feed Sally the rest of the sausage. But Sally was outside, saying hello to Mendez. Lena watched as Ted and Anita shook hands, and the three of them stood talking.

  They were moving toward the house now. Lena smoothed back her hair. The rain and fog had turned it to corkscrew curls and tangles. The front door opened and closed, and she heard Sally’s toenails on the wood floor.

  Anita Casey stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. “So you lost him,” she said, coming into the room. The rain and humidity had reduced her hair to limp strands that hung close to her face.

  Lena turned her back to the sink and folded her arms.

  “Ted walked into the kitchen. “He never showed, Anita.”

  “Can you really be sure, Ted? I know you’re good, but it’s a big area out there.”

  “Pretty sure,” Ted said. He opened the corner cabinet and reached for two more bowls.

  Anita cocked her head sideways and glared at Lena. “Even my greenest rookie wouldn’t walk into something like this alone.”

  “I’m not your rookie. I’m not a cop.”

  “No, you’re worse. You’re an amateur who’s likely screwed everything up.”

  Ted snorted. “You told me yourself, Anita, she’s a private investigator.”

  Anita Casey laughed. “You know how you get to be a PI in Kentucky, Ted? You get a tax license from the state like any other business, then you put an ad in the yellow pages. You could hang out a shingle tomorrow, led, if you were so inclined.”

  Lena folded her arms. “Tell you what, Anita. If being an amateur means not sitting on your butt until there’s nothing left to do but pick up the pieces, then, yeah, that’s me.”

  “And what exactly have you accomplished?”

  “Find all your missing people, do you?”

  Anita gave her a sharp look. “If you’re talking about—”

  “Anita.” Mendez stood in the doorway of the kitchen. “This gets us nowhere.”

  “Come on, folks,” Ted said, looking at the knot of uninvited people in his kitchen. “Have a bowl of chili. Sit down. It’s Miller time.” No one answered. “You folks sit down and behave. Little boy’s still missing, and this doesn’t help.”

  Anita Casey sat down.

  “Lena?” Mendez said.

  “I’m tired, Joel, I want to go home. If Ranger Rick here will give me a ride back to my car—” Her voice was thickening and getting out of control. She swallowed hard.

  “Ranger Rick?” Ted shook his head. He filled two bowls with chili and set them on the table. No one made any move to eat.

  “Tell me what happened,” Mendez said.

  Lena leaned against the counter. “He came to my house. Jeff did. He told me to get the insurance money together, and he would trade for Charlie. He would let me know when.”

  Anita frowned. “Why didn’t—”

  “Let me finish.” Lena narrowed her eyes. “I was in Nashville.”

  “What were you doing there?” Anita said.

  “Auditioning for the Grand Ole Opry. Hayes left a note on my car. Told me where and when to pick up Charlie. There was just barely time for me to come straight here. I tried to call you, Joel. They said you were in Louisville.”

  “Why didn’t you call my office?” Anita said.

  “I did.” Lena looked at Mendez. “Judith finally get you?”

  He nodded. “Then what?”

  “I came here. Did just what Hayes told me. I was late, maybe forty minutes. I waited, but he never came.”

  “I got Anita’s message about eight-thirty,” Ted said. “I got right out there. Walked the perimeter constantly two miles out. Your man never showed up.”

  “You can’t be sure.”

  “Sure as I can be. Don’t tell me my business.”

  Anita sagged in her chair. “Sorry, Ted. You’re right. If you say he didn’t show, he didn’t show. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

  “Come on, people,” Ted said. “Eat up. You’ll all feel better.”

  Anita studied Lena. “Who did you tell about Mr. Enoch?”

  Lena frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that information, that name, has been leaked. It’s come up on the electronic boards, and I want to know who put it there.”

  Lena shrugged. “Could be any number of reasons it came up on the board. Maybe it’s been there all along, and you just know to look for it now.”

  Anita studied her. “Maybe.”

  Ted picked up Sally’s bowl and filled it full of chili. He set it down on the floor. “Come on, Sally, come on girl.”

  Sally dutifully got up and sniffed the chili. She turned away from the bowl, walked in a circle three times, and lay down, head on paws, near Lena’s feet. Ted frowned.

  “Now, why isn’t that dog hungry?”

  35

  Lena’s footsteps were loud in the gravel. Mendez walked beside her, Anita Casey a step behind. Anita put a hand on Mendez’s arm.

  “I’ll be in touch, Joel.”

  He nodded. “I appreciate your help. Let me know if you hear anything. About that other business. There could be a lot of reasons he hasn’t called.”

  Anita Casey nodded glumly. “That’s why I’m worried.” She seemed about to add something, glanced at Lena, and changed her mind. “Good night, Joel.”

  The Mazda was unlocked. Lena got in awkwardly, slowed by her basebal
l bat and the canvas bag of money.

  “My Cutlass is on Old Indian Road. You go back out to the main road, the turnoff’s a couple miles east.”

  Mendez touched Lena’s hand. “I’m sorry this didn’t work out tonight, Lena.”

  She shrugged. “Thank you for coming, Mendez. I wish I could have arranged it better. But Hayes fixed it so I’d be off-balance, you know?”

  Mendez nodded.

  “Thanks for sending Ted Moberly. I’d probably still be stuck out in the woods, without him. And it was good, him scouting around. I just wish I knew why Hayes didn’t show. I know he wants this money.”

  Mendez started the engine and backed the Mazda onto the gravel drive.

  Lena was quiet while they found their way out onto the main road. She was thinking. Debating. She’d slept with him, after all.

  “One thing you better know,” Lena said.

  Mendez glanced at her, then looked back at the road.

  “That business about Mr. Enoch. That really was me.”

  “I know.”

  “You …” She looked at him. His face was hard to read in the darkness. Hard to read in broad daylight, too. “I had Rick throw it out on the bulletin boards. That’s how I got set up with Jeff.”

  “I see.”

  Lena frowned. “That all you have to say about it?”

  “Kind of late to say anything else.”

  “God forbid, Joel. Don’t waste words.”

  He put an arm around her. “Let’s go home. We’ll leave your car here—pick it up tomorrow or something.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re carrying ninety thousand dollars. Because you look exhausted, and you could sleep all the way home.” He paused. “Because I’ve been missing you.”

  “Sounds nice, Mendez, but I got to get home, and with my car. I got some names. People who Hayes may be involved with.”

  Mendez raised an eyebrow. “Where’d you get the names?”

  “Jeff’s cousin, Melody Hayes. She thinks Hayes will kill her someday. She may be right. He sends her seashells and she keeps them.”

  “So do you.”

  “Yeah, Mendez, you know how women are. So sentimental.”

  “I’d like a look at that list of names.”

  “Sure. What were you doing in Louisville?”

  “Anita was questioning the Skidmoore kid again. She asked me if I wanted to be there. See if he came up with anything to help with Charlie.”

  “Did you get anything?”

  “Not really. Hackburton’s come up with a list of license numbers from the clinic in Knoxville. Anita’s people will be on the lookout. See if we can get any matches on names her informant comes up with.”

  “Is that who she was worried about calling in? She got an informant?”

  Mendez sighed.

  “Come on, Joel. Does she?”

  “Yeah. We think there may be a connection with some of the people she’s onto in Louisville, and the LaRue County group.”

  “The LaRue County group. Hayes’s people. You got any names?”

  “Not yet. That’s what the informant’s for. He’s going to—”

  “What?”

  Mendez shook his head.

  “Will you cross-reference the names I got from Melody? Compare the license numbers?”

  “Yes.”

  “Maybe we should give them to Ted. To check with cars parked around here.”

  Mendez nodded. “Lena, do me a favor. Keep off the bulletin boards. I don’t like the sound of this Enoch.”

  “I don’t either.”

  “Promise?”

  “I won’t do anything to compromise your investigation.”

  He took her hand and kissed her fingers. “You’re not making me feel better.”

  “I can think of lots of ways to make you feel better.”

  “Come home with me tonight.”

  Lena shrugged, and cocked her head sideways. “Mendez. Suppose Hayes never intended to show up here tonight? Suppose he’s waiting back at the house?” Lena sat up. “Maybe there’s still a chance. Maybe he has Charlie.”

  “Maybe and maybe not. He might be planning to kill you and take the money.”

  “Let’s go see,” Lena said. “Got to have the Cutlass now. And show up alone—”

  “Lena—”

  “I mean look like I’m alone. You can be down in the seat. Or on the floor or something.”

  Mendez nodded. “I want to send some people out there. Backup.”

  “No, Mendez, they’ll scare him off and screw it up.”

  “Lena, you don’t go into these things without help. Stupid cops are dead cops.” He glanced at her. “Only people I trust. They’ll keep their distance and stay in the background. Okay?”

  “It’s not really up to me, is it?”

  “No.”

  36

  “Let me off here,” Mendez said.

  Lena eased the Cutlass to a stop. “What if he sees you sneakin’ up?”

  Mendez switched off the interior light. “He’ll be watching the car.” He took the socks full of money and tucked them inside his jacket.

  “Almost as good as a bulletproof vest,” Lena said.

  “And about as expensive.” Mendez squeezed her hand and got out, staying low to the ground.

  Lena drove slowly into the driveway. Mendez hadn’t shut the door all the way, and the buzzer was going. Was she being watched? She hesitated over the baseball bat, then left it in the car. Lena hefted the canvas bag, filled with rocks, trash, and a top layer of bills, and got out of the Cutlass, slamming the door.

  The porch light made her a target in the darkness.

  The house was just as she’d left it—a light on over the sink in the kitchen, downstairs curtains closed, the stuffed bear watching TV in the living room.

  Lena opened the door to the basement. The couch was still wedged on the staircase. No Hayes, as far as she could see.

  She went into the living room. No Hayes. And no furniture for him to hide behind.

  The front door shut softly. Lena swallowed hard. “Who’s there?”

  Mendez moved swiftly and silently into the living room, gun drawn. He put a finger to his lips, pointed up the staircase, did a double take when he passed the bear.

  Lena paused in the upstairs hallway, waiting for what, she didn’t know. She peered into the bathroom. Mendez went in around her and checked behind the shower curtain. The rings scraped across the metal bar.

  Lena checked Kevin’s room. It was empty, dusty. She’d left the curtains open, and the night sky pressed, beginning the morning fade from black to ash gray. It would be sunup soon. Lena took a deep breath. The house felt empty.

  She left Kevin’s bedroom, Mendez still at the ready behind her. Her bedroom door was open and she switched on the light.

  Mendez caught his breath. He motioned Lena back to the hallway, and disappeared into the room.

  Lena heard the familiar creak of the closet door opening, the slide of hangers across the bar.

  “Clear,” Mendez said, finally. He took his handkerchief and wiped sweat from his forehead. He waved a hand at the room. “He might have been looking for the money, but he must have known—”

  “Mendez.”

  “—you had it. I don’t—”

  “Mendez. Hayes hasn’t been here.” Lena cleared her throat. “I’ve been busy, Joel. I haven’t had time to clean up.”

  “You haven’t … oh. Oh.”

  Lena sighed. “It’s been a long night. I’m going to grab a shower, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “How come you didn’t wait like you said? You weren’t supposed to come in till I signaled all clear.”

  Mendez shrugged. “Did you check the basement?”

  “First thing.”

  “I’ll take another look. Then I’ll send my people home.”

  “You’re coming back?”

  He nodded.

  She smiled and shut the bathroom door.
She wondered if he would be cleaning the room when she came out.

  She turned the shower on hard and hot. Soap ran off her body in runnels of water. Had it been her imagination, or had she heard a yell? She turned the water off and listened. Nothing. She turned the water back on and washed her hair.

  No bathrobe, and her clothes were dirty. She wrapped herself in a towel and went into the bedroom. Mendez was not cleaning up. He was crouched on the edge of the bed, face racked with pain.

  “Joel? What—are you okay?”

  He winced and held his knee.

  “Joel?”

  “Why is your couch on the basement staircase?” He spoke to her through clenched teeth.

  “Mendez, you should have turned on a light.”

  “I had hoped to sneak up on him.”

  “Was he down there?”

  “Not unless he’s dead of a broken neck, or … this is not funny, Lena.”

  “I’m sorry, Joel, really. Is your knee okay?”

  “No.”

  “At least you didn’t hurt anything else.”

  “My shoulder.”

  “You know what? You’ve had a long day.” Lena headed for the bathroom. “What you need is a good hot bath.”

  “Lena.”

  “Quit arguing, Mendez.” She turned the water on, then opened her cabinet under the sink. She shoved a bottle of shampoo to one side, causing a chain reaction of falling clutter.

  “What are you doing in there?”

  “I’m looking for the bubble bath.”

  “No.”

  “Mendez, it’ll relax you.”

  “No bubbles.”

  “I got some strawberry bath salts. Beth got them on sale.”

  “Plain hot water.” Mendez’s voice came loudly over her left shoulder.

  He had stripped off his shirt and was working on his pants. Lena sat on the side of the tub and watched him undress.

  “Get in the tub, Mendez.” Lena touched his knee. “You got some bruise coming up.”

  He stepped into the water, then eased down slowly in the tub. Lena turned off the taps.

  “That feel good?”

  Mendez leaned back and closed his eyes. “Yes.”

  “Mendez?”

  “Hmmm?”