The Treehouse

by Andrew J Brandt

  What Allison really wanted was to confide in her mother, to tell her that Ari, in fact, didn’t walk out of her house last night. That she was carried out, in a trash bag. She couldn’t bring herself to do it though. It would expose her, and her relationship with Brandon.

  “Has anyone ever been kidnapped here though?”

  “Not that I know of. This is a pretty safe little town. Of course, every little place has their seedy pasts and underbellies. But I think the most controversial thing to ever happen here was when Nancy Wallace got caught sleeping with the DA.”

  Small town gossip was something Stephanie excelled at, Allison knew. And gossip traveled fast in a town of less than fifteen thousand. It wasn’t rare for her mother and the other women in the neighborhood, or women in her real estate sales group, to be found at the dining room table, bottles of wine strewn about. Their voices, getting louder and louder as the wine kept flowing, all talking about “Oh my god, did you hear about…” and “You won’t believe who I saw…”

  “Here’s the thing, babe,” Stephanie took her daughter’s hand. “If that little girl was actually taken from her home, somebody would have seen it. This town is too small for a secret like that to stay quiet.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Saturday March 15 | 7:27pm

  LUCAS FINISHED CLEANING his bedroom after dinner, as requested by his parents, and threw a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt into his backpack. While putting his clothes in, he pulled out the Avengers poster, still rolled up from the boys’ abandonment of the treehouse. While this morning he wanted to be a hero, now he just wanted to be a kid. He kept the poster furled up and placed it on a shelf in his closet next to a modest collection of comic books. His interests had changed over the last year, in the transition from elementary to middle school, and where there were once toys and action figures in his bedroom, he now had posters and comic books.

  Hey I’m headed over he texted to Tyler.

  Okay cool. Elijah’s already here. He brought his Xbox.

  He shut off his bedroom light and walked out to the living room. “I’m going to Tyler’s, dad,” he said. Bobby was sitting on the living room couch, watching a spring training baseball game.

  “Okay, kiddo. Text me when you get there.”

  “Yes sir,” Lucas said.

  Pumping his bicycle out of the driveway and into the street, Lucas turned the corner on Dogwood street toward Tyler’s house. The early spring air was cool, and he wished he’d put on his favorite Spiderman hoodie, but he decided that he could tough out the four-block bike ride over to his friend’s house in just his long sleeve Henderson Lions high school football t-shirt. The sun was already below the horizon, the sky painted in hues of pink and orange above him. Some of the brighter stars were already visible toward the west. The oak trees that lined the residential streets would eventually create a green blanket above the street, but for now the limbs were either still bare or new leaves were just budding.

  As Lucas pumped down Dogwood in the dusk, his backpack bouncing against his back, he noticed headlights from a car shining behind him. He leaned his bicycle closer to the curb to allow the car to pass, but it never did. He could see his shadow in front of him, elongated and stretched out on the pavement. Lucas turned his head to see why the car hadn’t passed him yet, hoping that the driver had pulled up to a house and parked on the curb. The car, however, was still driving along, following him. It was a black sedan, the emblem on the silver grill read “Ford” in a blue pendant.

  Lucas pedaled faster now, and the car kept pace. He peeked over his shoulder again and the car revved its engine. Terror gripped Lucas as he stood up on his pedals and pumped them as quickly as his legs would allow.

  The car revved again, inching closer to the boy, the headlights getting closer, making Lucas’s shadow shorten in length. Mustering every bit of strength he had, Lucas pedaled harder, his calves and lungs both burning.

  He turned his head once again and the car was right behind him, no more than five yards between his back tire and the front fender of the vehicle. Lucas decided his only recourse was to get off the street. He remembered something he’d learned in school last year; during a presentation about stranger danger, there was a scenario where a young girl in Oklahoma had evaded a potential kidnapping by riding her bike up to a random house on her street and pretended she lived there.

  With the car barreling on him, Lucas hopped the curb to his right and rode up onto the sidewalk, threading two oak trees lining the street. He pedaled up into the driveway of a nondescript red-brick house, its garage set back off the street.

  He dumped the bike into some shrubbery next to the house and watched from behind the branches between the house and garage as the car sped off toward Kilgore Drive. As it drove away, he noticed the passenger side tail light was taped over like it had been broken, and instead of replacing it, they just covered it with red tape. He sat in the shrubs, waiting for the black car to come back down the street but he felt safe to be able to continue on to Tyler’s house. Finally, he stood up, dusted the dirt and grass from his jeans, and pulled his bicycle up out of the shrubs. The sky was nearly full dark now, but the streetlights had not yet come on.

  ◆◆◆

  “I was pretty freaked out. I don’t know what their deal was,” Lucas said to his dad. He sat on the black leather sectional at Tyler’s house, tucked under the crook of his dad’s arm. His mother sat on the other side of him, with Tyler’s parents, John and Victoria, on the outstretched end of the couch. Tyler sat on the armrest next to them.

  When he arrived at their house, he didn’t even bother knocking, crashing through the front door. When he told Tyler’s parents what had happened, they immediately called Bobby and Stephanie, who drove over without hesitation. Now, the six of them sat in the Washington family living room.

  “He said he didn’t get a good look at the driver,” John said. “But we’ll put a bolo out on the vehicle description. Probably some kid being an asshole.” Victoria lightly tapped her husband on the thigh to remind him to watch his language.

  Bobby looked at his son, “Well, do you want to just come back home tonight? We can put your bike in the back of the truck.”

  “No, I think I’ll be fine,” Lucas said.

  “We don’t mind him staying. He’s more than welcome and safe here,” said Victoria. “Besides, dinner is almost ready, and I’m sure you could use some food in your belly after all that.”

  Lucas nodded, and he could smell the food in the oven, a pan of chicken and vegetables roasting, its aromas filling the air.

  “What do you think, babe?” Bobby asked Stephanie.

  “If he’s okay now, I think it’s fine.”

  They all stood up, Bobby and Stephanie shaking hands with and thanking the Washingtons. John Washington towered over all of them, even Bobby, at over six feet tall. Lucas’s mom leaned him to hug her son when John’s cellphone rang from the other room. “Hang on one second, guys,” he said, excusing himself. “Let me get this.”

  He went over to the kitchen counter where his phone was resting on the charger. “This is Officer Washington,” he answered. He listened to the speaker on the other end of the connection. “Okay. Yes sir. I’ll be right there.” He hung up and placed the device in his pocket.

  “Everything okay, honey?” his wife asked.

  He looked up, pursing his lips with a hint of defeat in his eyes and sighed. “I have to go in. They think they found that missing girl’s phone.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Saturday March 15 | 10:43pm

  THE WINDOW IN Tyler’s bedroom faced the street, and Lucas peered out, knowing that at any moment that black car would drive by, hunting for him. He was still shaking from the earlier altercation, and his friends did their best to ensure him that it was safe now.

  “I’m telling you, guys, it was the man in the woods. He’s found us. Like you said, Tyler. He followed us from the treehouse. Now he knows where we live.” Lucas said.
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br />   “We’re safe here, though,” Tyler said. “There’s no way that dude is going to mess with my dad.”

  Tyler’s favorite basketball team, the Houston Rockets, were playing on the TV, but none of the boys could focus enough to pay attention to the game. They kept finding their attention focused on the window, peeping out the white blinds that covered the window.

  Tyler’s father had been gone for over two hours, and they kept waiting and listening for the garage door to open, signaling his arrival. Lucas did his best to hide the fear from his parents when they came over earlier, but he knew that he, along with his friends, would feel much safer with Mr. Washington back home. At the same time, however, they hoped that the police finding the missing girl’s phone meant that they had more clues into finding whoever it was that took her and that they were close to catching the perp.

  “Well, if it is the same guy, we need to find that car. Like a stakeout or something,” Tyler said. “We should bait him into following one of us again and set him up.”

  “He almost ran me over last time,” Lucas said. “So I don’t know if I want to take my chances again.”

  “We need a plan for sure,” said Elijah. “He took out our treehouse and now he’s chasing Lucas around our own neighborhood. This is the most screwed up spring break ever.”

  “Oh, and don’t forget there’s a dead girl out in the woods,” Tyler said. “So, this guy is crazy. I just don’t know why he’d be coming after us.”

  Lucas looked out the window again. “Maybe he wants us to be scared. He doesn’t want us going to the cops and telling them what we saw out there.”

  “You’re probably right. But we need to get this guy. I’m not going to spend my entire life looking over my shoulder waiting to get ran over by some crazy dude,” Tyler said. “I say tomorrow, we start looking for him.”

  “What are we going to do though, Tyler?” Lucas asked, his voice perturbed and anxious. “We’re kids. The best thing we can do is tell the cops, tell your dad, what we saw out there.”

  “And spend the rest of sixth grade grounded? Heck no, bro. I can handle him destroying the fort. But he’s coming after us now? This is personal.” Tyler was getting heated.

  “Guys let’s stay calm and focused,” Elijah interjected. “We won’t solve anything getting angry. And I agree, we can’t go to the cops, at least not yet. Lucas, you sure you didn’t get the license plate number?”

  Lucas hung his head dejectedly, “No. I wish I would have. I know that’s what they tell us at school, that we’re supposed to look for that, but honestly, in the moment, I was so scared. I just knew I needed to get off the street.”

  “I don’t blame you, bro,” Tyler said. He sat next to Lucas on the floor. “We’re here for you though. And we’re going to get him, whoever he is.”

  “So what do you think we should do?” Lucas asked.

  Elijah said, “I say we get back out there tomorrow and ride around and find this car. What did you say it was? A Ford?”

  “Yeah, a black Ford car,” Lucas said.

  “This town isn’t that big,” Tyler said. “We’ll find it. And if all three of us are together, I don’t think the guy would mess with us in the broad daylight.”

  As the boys were talking, they heard the garage door, the mechanical sound of the automatic opener pulling the double-sized door on its chain. It was the sound of Tyler’s father returning from his call-in duty.

  The door leading into the house opened and they heard John toss his keys onto the kitchen counter. The three boys went out into the kitchen to find out what happened with the missing girl’s cell phone.

  Victoria came in and hugged her husband. “What’s going on, honey?” she asked.

  “Well, it’s definitely her phone,” he said, removing his blue sportscoat. “It was destroyed, broken in half. They’re going to take it back into the crime lab for analysis.”

  “Where was it?” his wife asked.

  “Near one of the trails out in the woods, just a few blocks over. They’re sending out a search crew to see if she’s out there.”

  Victoria Jones hugged her husband, and he held her tight, the three boys standing in the doorway, watching silently.

  “If I were a betting man,” John said, “I’d say she’s buried out there somewhere.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Sunday March 16 | 12:10AM

  THE iPHONE VIBRATED against the wood surface of Allison’s bedside table, startling her. She unlocked the screen to read the text message I’m here from Brandon. He had parked around the block a few houses down so his car couldn’t be heard as he approached the Beaker home. She had the art of sneaking in and out of this window down to a science. Allison even knew the blind spots in the cameras positioned outside the house. Their home sat on a corner lot, and the garage and house formed an L-shape. There was one camera above the two-car garage, facing south. Another camera faced west from the front porch. Her bedroom window nearly faced southwest, but it was far enough from each camera that if Brandon crossed the street from the house caddy-corner from her window, he wouldn’t trip the motion sensors on the devices.

  She went to her bedroom window and unlatched the locks. Slowly, she lifted the window so as not to make any noise and waited for Brandon to come up to it. He hoisted himself up on and through the window sill. When he came in like this at night, they always kept the window open in case he needed to escape quickly.

  “Hey,” he said. He took her up in his arms and kissed her. She felt his hands around the small of her back, holding her tight. She wanted to stay there in his embrace in the soft glow of her bedside lamp. Her walls, painted a light grey, gave off a cool vibe. She had a song from The Maine playing on an Echo device on her bedside table.

  “I have to tell you, I went back to the park today,” Allison said with a sigh, her cheek resting against Brandon’s chest. He pulled away from her.

  “What? Why?”

  “I don't know.” She hung her head. “I couldn’t get it out of my head, and I guess I wanted to know for certain that it was a body that that guy put in the trunk of the car.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “And it was. It was Ari, from volleyball.”

  “The little one? The libero? How do you know?”

  “When I walked down there this morning, the police were at her house. They were talking with her mom.”

  “Did you talk to the cops?” he inquired with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

  “I just asked them what was going on. They think Ari ran away. One of the officers gave me her card, told me to call her if I heard anything from any of our friends.” Allison removed herself from Brandon’s arms and walked over to her computer desk. She pulled open the drawer and showed him the business card Officer Jones had given her. “But we know, Brandon. We know she didn’t run away. She was in that trash bag. That man threw her in the trunk of that car like trash.” Allison was crying full on at this point yet trying to remain as quiet as possible so as not to wake her parents. She sunk onto her computer chair, her shoulders and chest heaving with every breath.

  She continued to sob for a few moments and then collected herself. “I’ve been trying to point my finger on what I’m feeling, and I finally figured it out. It’s guilt. I feel guilty for seeing what we saw, and not saying anything.”

  “I know, babe, I get it,” Brandon walked over and knelt beside the computer chair. He took her hands in his own. “I just don’t want you, or me, to do or say something that could affect us as well. I know that sounds selfish, I know.” He continued to caress her hands. “We have a lot at stake here too. I can’t stand the thought of not being able to see you anymore.”

  In some way, this made Allison feel better. She definitely didn’t want to lose what she had with Brandon either.

  He continued, “I’m sorry we were at the park last night, and I’d give anything for us to have not seen what we saw. I’d give anything for you to not feel this way. I love you, babe. I don’t want you to hurt.
But we need to be quiet, at least for a little bit. This is a small town. Not much happens here without the whole town knowing about it. She’ll be found soon, I promise.”

  She sniffed and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her t-shirt. “You’re right. I still feel like we could be doing something. Anything.”

  Brandon looked up in Allison’s eyes. He reached up and wiped a tear rolling down her cheek. “I have an idea,” he said. “We could call in an anonymous tip. We could at least give them the car that the guy was in. What was it? A Ford?”

  Her eyes widened. “Yes! A black Ford. With four doors. A sedan. Oh my god, Brandon.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “That black Ford! Earlier tonight, Lucas called my stepdad, scared out of his mind because a car was chasing him when he was biking over to his friend’s house. He said it was a little black Ford.”

  “Is he okay?” Brandon’s looked at her in disbelief, not able to comprehend the coincidence.

  “Yeah, he was just freaked out. But it could be the same car! Why would they try to scare Lucas like that?”

  “I’m not sure; maybe they were just being reckless. It may not have been the same car. But, you’re right.” he said. “All we have to do is call in an anonymous tip, tell the cops that a black four-door sedan is connected to Ariel’s disappearance. Surely there aren’t too many of those in this town.” His voice sounded confident and sure.

  “You’d be surprised,” she said, “but there are probably more of those than matte black Challengers.” She smiled at her own joke and Brandon was glad she could bring some levity to the conversation.

  “That’s the spirit. Like I said, babe. It’ll all be fine.” He kissed her and she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. The continued making out for a few minutes, their hands exploring each other’s bodies. His lips made their way down her neck and to her chest as he wrapped her body in his arms.