“I couldn’t take my eyes off him,” Tyler said. “He was built like a football player. He was wearing a hoodie though so I couldn’t really see his face. But he was definitely a big guy. Almost as big as your dad,” he nodded to Elijah.
“I wish we would have built that treehouse somewhere else,” Elijah said, his head hanging low. Lucas knew the reference to Elijah’s father, whom he hadn’t seen since Christmas, made his friend sad.
“I’m going to check the internet, see if there’s anything about a missing person,” Lucas said, taking the attention away from the subject of Elijah’s father. He pulled his phone out of his backpack. There was a message notification from his dad. Sounds good. Will you be home for lunch? He pecked out a quick reply. No. Probably around 2:00. Playing Fortnite.
“What’s the newspaper called?” he asked his friends. None of them had ever actually read a newspaper. To them, it was something only adults did, and usually only when they were looking for information about garage sales.
“I think it’s just called The Henderson News,” Elijah said.
Lucas googled “henderson tx news” and the newspaper’s website was the first result. He clicked through to the website to see the first news report: “Local teen reported missing.”
“Guys! Look at this!” he exclaimed. He couldn’t believe his eyes. His friends crowded on either shoulder to see his phone screen.
He clicked through to the story, which was just a small blurb. “Officials are searching for local teen girl reported missing early Saturday morning. Details will come as they are made available. If you see this girl, please contact the police. She is described as Hispanic with black hair and brown eyes, 5-foot-2 and 90lbs.” There was a picture of the girl with her name underneath, Ariel Perez.
“This is it!” Lucas said. “We have to go to the cops!”
“Okay,” said Tyler. “Let’s do this: let’s go back out to the fort. Let’s make sure we didn’t leave anything. Then we can come back and make the call. I think there’s a payphone in front of the 7-11 over off Kilgore Drive we can call from. We can’t use our cell phones because the cops can trace that.”
Lucas liked the plan. They’d be able to protect themselves and at the same time help the police find the body and solve the case. It made him feel good to know that they potentially had the information that could solve a real crime. He thought about the Avengers poster in the treehouse and how the superheroes would act in this situation.
“You guys will have to go without me,” Elijah said. “I don’t think I left anything out there, but if I did, please get it.”
“You got it,” Lucas said. He grabbed his backpack and turned to Tyler, “Let’s get our bikes. I’ll run home to get mine and meet you at your house.” He was ready to be a superhero.
◆◆◆
Twenty minutes later, Lucas rolled into Tyler’s driveway on his blue Huffy. Tyler was sitting on the front porch, waiting for his friend. His bicycle, a red Mongoose, rested on its kickstand. “You ready to do this?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah I am. The sooner we do this, the sooner things will go back to normal. Who would have thought this is how we’d spend our spring break?” Tyler pulled his own backpack onto his shoulders and kicked the kickstand.
“No way,” Lucas said, pedaling to ride next to Tyler. “But we get the chance to do something really big. If we help solve this case, and it’s the missing girl out there in the woods, that makes us, like, heroes!”
The blue sky above the boys was cloudless and the sunlight was warm. To Lucas, it felt very different from the night before. Last night he was cold and scared. But today? Today was different. He pedaled with an intensity and drive, that he was meant to do something right.
They reached the edge of the woods and parked their bikes next to a tree. So far there was no police presence nearby. Lucas assumed that if the body had already been found, there would have been crime scene tape blocking off access to this part of the woods. Instead, it was just as quiet and empty as any other normal day.
They hiked through the trees, wary of any poison ivy, though the two boys had the path mapped out in their minds to the treehouse, having made this exact walk dozens of times over the last few months.
“Should we check the hole that guy dug?” Lucas asked, stepping over a small stump.
Tyler shook his head. “No way, man. I don’t want to even look at it. It gives me the creeps.”
“That guy must have had tunnel vision because he wasn’t very far away. Maybe from us to,” Lucas looked around and pointed at a large dead pine, its branches naked of any leaves, “that dead tree over there?”
“Yeah, he was close enough for me to tell what he was wearing. I just wish I had gotten a better look at him. It would be nice to be able to give the cops some actual details.”
The boys were getting close to their destination when they turned around a bend in their trail and saw the treehouse.
Or, more appropriately, they saw the treehouse’s remains.
Their work, everything they had committed their time to over the course of three months, lay in shambles on the forest floor. The base of the fort was intact, the bottom support studs screwed into the pine tree trunk. However, the walls and roof were completely destroyed. Some were broken in two, like the whole thing had been hit with a wrecking ball. Panels of plywood and wood studs were strewn all around the tree’s trunk.
Lucas’s eyes widened and filled with tears. He blinked, hoping his eyes were playing tricks on him. He wanted to cry. Every hour, every dollar, every day working on this fort, lay in a heap in front of him.
Tyler grabbed Lucas by the shirt while simultaneously backpedaling. Lucas looked at his friend, and saw his pupils dilate with fear. “Lucas. Run!”
CHAPTER FIVE
Saturday March 15 | 9:19AM
ALLISON TOSSED AND turned all night, sleep evading her at every tick of the hour. She put her Airpods in and tried listening to a podcast, hoping it would help ease her mind and take her thoughts off what she had witnessed at the park. It didn’t work however as every time she closed her eyes, she saw the dark figure dumping the trash bag in the trunk of the car.
She desperately wanted to talk to someone about it, but who? If her parents were to find out that she was sneaking out at night, much less sneaking out with her secret boyfriend, she’d be in more trouble than she could even imagine. The last thing she wanted was to finish her junior year being grounded. She even worried that her parents wouldn’t allow her to go to prom next month if they were to find out about her nighttime activities.
She looked at her phone to check the time. It wasn’t even ten am. She couldn’t remember the last time she had woken up before ten on a Saturday. She checked her Instagram and Snapchats. As she scrolled through, pictures of her friends enjoying themselves in other places made her jealous. Amilyn was in San Antonio; there were nearly a dozen selfies of her in front of the riverwalk. Eating tacos, feeding ducks, taking a boat ride, each picture immaculately framed and edited. Another friend was in Phoenix watching spring training baseball. Another was on a cruise with her family. All these pictures of better lives, just taunting her.
She put the phone on her bedside charging station and decided to get out of bed. The smell of coffee emanated down the long hallway from the kitchen, which meant at least one of her parents was awake. She figured some company and conversation of some kind would help ease her mind.
Pulling on a pair of Nike sweatpants from her floor and straightening her bra under the shirt she’d worn the night before, she walked out of her room. She noticed Lucas’s door was open, but he wasn't there. If she remembered correctly, he was spending the night with his friend Tyler, whom she couldn’t stand, for the record. Little boys could be so obnoxious sometimes.
The hallway of their home opened up into the living room and kitchen. Her stepdad, in an old college T-shirt and black sweatpants, was sitting at the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living r
oom. He had a cup of coffee in front of him and reading something on his iPad.
“Hey Alley-cat,” he said. He had called her that from nearly the first time she met him. Allison’s biological father had left when she was still a baby, and her mother had met Bobby only a year later. She had no memories as a child of any other ‘dad’ than Bobby. She couldn’t bring herself to call him dad, though. She didn’t even know why; it was like there was something mentally blocking her from calling him that. “You’re up early.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” She reached up into a cupboard above the sink and pulled out a coffee mug that had a random insurance agency logo on it. She poured herself a cup and topped it off with French vanilla creamer from a carton sitting out on the counter.
“You know, I’ve been drinking coffee for a long time, and it finally hit me. I don’t really like coffee. I just like creamer,” Bobby said. This made her smile.
“I guess that means Starbucks has made a killing off of people like you then,” she said. She took a seat on an empty barstool at the end of the bar. A plate stacked with blueberry muffins still warm from the oven rested on the bar top. Allison took one and spread a knob of butter from the accompanying dish.
“That’s how business works.” He took a long sip from his mug. “Find a market and capitalize.”
Bobby was a construction project estimator, which meant he was a numbers guy more than anything. There were many weekend mornings where he could be found sitting in this exact spot with his mug of coffee, going over numbers and budgets or even reading project manuals on his iPad.
“Is mom still in bed?” Allison asked.
“No, she left this morning to go show a house to a new couple moving to town,” Bobby replied.
Allison started thinking again about the night before. Who would want to move here? This is where people are shoved into trunks in trashbags.
Bobby noticed out of the corner of his eye his daughter sitting there, sullen and silent. “You okay?” he asked.
Allison perked up, blinking her eyes. She chewed on her muffin and chased it with her French vanilla coffee. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just bored already. All my friends are out of town for spring break.”
She knew inside, however, that it wasn’t boredom eating at her brain. It was the constant images of the man from last night across from the park, loading the body into the trunk of that car. It was this dichotomy inside her, wanting to both forget and simultaneously remember every detail.
“Well, listen,” Bobby said, setting down his iPad. “I have to be in Houston Monday morning to do a walkthrough on a new project, and I think Stephanie is going with me. So we are going to leave tomorrow morning. I’m sure you and Lucas would be fine for one night by yourselves.”
“You and mom are staying overnight?” Allison didn’t want to sound concerned or paranoid, but the last thing she wanted was to be away from her parents or to be home by herself. She knew she needed to do something to get her mind occupied.
“Yeah, but we’ll be back by dinner time on Monday.”
“Have you told Lucas?”
“No, he’s still over at Tyler’s house. I figured we’d let him know when he comes home today.” He could tell something more was on his daughter’s mind. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, Bobby. I’m fine, I promise.” An idea popped into her head and it made her perk up. “I think I’ll take Jake for a walk. It’s nice outside and I could use some sunlight.”
A golden retriever lying on a charcoal-colored dog bed in the living room popped his head up when he heard his name. The dog got up, shook his body, almost to wake up his joints and walked over to the kitchen breakfast bar. He sat at the side of Allison’s barstool and laid his head on her lap.
“You want to go for a walk, old boy?” she said, scratching his head behind his ear. The dog licked her wrist as she pet him. “I’m going to get dressed and take him out.”
Allison went back to her bedroom, pulled on a pair of black tights and a pair of old Nike running shoes. She found a purple Stephen F. Austin baseball cap and pulled her ponytail through the back.
With Jake’s black nylon leash in hand, she told Bobby goodbye and walked out the front door. The mid-March morning air was crisp, with a hint of moisture; like the kind of morning when you know a thunderstorm is imminent that night. Now, however, the sun was shining with large puffy clouds creating shadows and cutting holes in the sunshine.
She really wasn’t interested in taking the dog for a walk; it was just an excuse to go back to the park. Allison wanted to see the row of houses in the daylight; houses she’d seen her entire life but couldn’t tell you what color they were. She found it amazing how few details you really paid attention to until you needed to. Looking out the fogged window of Brandon’s Challenger, could she even be sure the car she saw was black? Were there any other details she could rack from her brain?
Nonetheless, she needed to go back. She needed to see the street and the parking lot where she and Brandon had hooked up. And a part of her hoped that the neighborhood across the street from the park was normal and fine. Of course, she didn’t actually know that it was a body in that black trash bag. It could have been a dead animal. She tried to rationalize what she’d seen with every possible scenario. She wondered, with a macabre sense, how big Jake’s body would look stuffed into that same black bag.
Jake tugged ahead on his leash and Allison tugged back to keep him at a comfortable pace. He sniffed around the sidewalks as they walked, stopping to pee on the occasional patch of grass or streetside pine tree. Marking his territory. Making it his. The golden retriever had been with their family since she was a little girl. He was a gift when Bobby and her mother found out they were pregnant with Lucas. Allison had essentially grown up with the dog. As she was becoming a woman, he was getting old. The hair around his eyes and snout were turning white in his advanced age. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew these kinds of walks had an expiration date to them.
They continued walking and turned the corner where the park was across from the house that she’d seen last night. There were two police cars parked out front of a house with white siding. One police officer was outside, leaning against his car while talking on his phone. He had the phone perched on one shoulder while writing notes on a notepad. A second officer, a female, her hair braided tight behind her head, was on the front porch of the house talking with a middle-aged Hispanic woman.
Allison lingered on the street corner and simply observed. It hit her in the pit of her stomach that if the police were involved, then her worst fears were correct. It was a body. She observed for a minute, the female cop talking with whom she assumed was the mother of the victim.
The mother.
If the woman on the front porch of the house was the mother, it was possible, Allison thought, that the person in the bag was close to her own age. The thought made her want to immediately turn around and go back home. She needed more information, however. She wanted to know details; to know that what she saw was real.
Allison took a deep breath and decided to go talk with the officer standing by the patrol vehicle. She approached the driver’s side of the black Ford Mustang. The words Henderson PD were emblazoned across the doors and side panels.
As Allison walked forward, the officer, still on his cellphone said, “Let me call you right back, sir. I’ve got a young lady here who looks like she wants to talk.” He pressed the call to end and shoved the Samsung device into one of his many pockets on his uniform.
“What can I do for you, ma’am?” he asked. Allison looked at his chest. The name “Sullivan” was etched into a brass nametag on the left side of his uniform. He was tall, at least six feet, with broad shoulders and a strong jaw. A hint of stubble painted his cheeks and chin. Blonde hair, cut tight and high, peaked out from under his cap.
“Hi, Officer,” Allison said. “I just,” she stammered for a moment and then collected herself. “I was just taking my dog for a
walk around the park and was interested in what’s going on.” She noticed the other officer and lady on the porch had their attention on her at this point.
“Well, I can’t say much right now, actually,” he said. Officer Sullivan motioned to the two women on the porch, asking his partner to come over.
The female officer came over. As she neared, Allison could tell she was older than the male officer, perhaps in her mid-thirties. Her brown hair was braided and tucked neatly under her cap. “Hi, I’m Officer Jones,” she said, extending her hand. Allison shook it, the dog leash around her wrist. “I’m Allison.”
“What’s your last name, Allison? And how old are you?” Officer Jones asked.
“Hanes. And sixteen.”
“So, you’re what? A sophomore?”
“I’m a junior, ma’am. Graduating next year.” Allison was starting to get nervous from all the questions and she was feeling a tinge of regret of coming over here. She thought that maybe this wasn’t the best idea; that perhaps her curiosity may get her involved even more into a situation that she honestly wanted nothing of.
“Okay, that’s good. Listen, do you know a girl named Ariel Perez at your school?”
Allison, in fact, did know Ariel. Ari, she was called, was a sophomore at Henderson High, but only because she was held back when they were in elementary school. They were the same age, however, and both played on the junior varsity volleyball team.
“I know of her, but I don’t really hang out with her. Why?” But Allison already knew why.
“You wouldn’t happen to know of any reason why she would have run away in the middle of the night? Any boyfriend trouble at school? Bullying, anything like that?”
“Not that I can think of,” Allison said. She felt her palms starting to sweat. “Are you saying she ran away from home?” Allison hoped that by running with that theory, which the police obviously thought was the case, that she could avoid any further questions.
The Treehouse Page 3