“To tell you that I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve your father’s abuse, but I didn’t deserve yours either. I’m sorry Denise died as well.”
I snarl. “You killed her, Alice.”
She steps forward. “Yes. It was an accident, but that doesn’t matter. I can’t carry this pain and malice anymore. It’s tearing me up inside. I forgive you, Russell.”
I look closer and truly see her for the first time. She is me and I am he, yet we are not the same. I don’t understand how it can be, but her words leave me vulnerable. Forgiveness I never asked for.
“Where is the girl?” she asks.
I am no longer a wolf but a ten-year-old boy. I giggle and rub my hands together. “Hide-and-seek is my favorite game and I never lose.” I spring from the couch and I’m out the back door. Papa’s land backs up to the Griffith National Reserve, a wooded and mountainous area covering tens of thousands of acres. I know nearly every inch of it backward and forward. I’ve explored every nook, cranny, crevice, and cave for miles. “Close your eyes and count to twenty.”
Alice does and I’m off like the wind; a blur through the trees. Many favorite spots flitter through my mind, but I’ve got my sights set on my special place. No one’s ever found me there and they’ll never find the girl either.
I splash across the creek, through a forest of pines and piñon, traverse a ravine dried with the summer heat, and scale the sandstone cliffs. Through the garden of rocks I climb, down another ravine, across several deer trails, and past the forest road.
Straight ahead I see the silver of the cistern cap shining through the wild grass. When I reach the cap, I look around to make sure Alice hasn’t followed me. How could she have? She knows nothing of this land. My land.
I lift the cap and crawl down the rope ladder and into the dark cistern. At the bottom I find the girl, her brown hair soiled, and her blue dress torn. She shivers and cries but there’s no one to hear her but me. I sit next to her, content knowing we’ll never be found.
But my pulse spikes and my heart thunders. Something’s not right.
Cloaked in darkness she watches from the shadows, her eyes upon me. Alice.
I stand, fists balled. “You cheated! No one’s ever found me here.”
Alice smiles. “But I am you, and you are he, and no secrets can be kept.”
I stomp the ground. “You’ll still never get there in time. The water rises. You cannot win.”
Alice leans forward and caresses my scarred face. “I’ve already won, Russell. Now tell me where I can find the Shadow Mirror and the ones you call the Shadow Priests.”
Flashes of mountains and trees and rivers and a monastery bombard me but then everything around me turns black, burns like ashes, and scatters.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
It’s late afternoon and I lead a team of police officers through the backwoods of the old Puge property northwest of town. Normally we’d have a forest ranger guide us, but there is too little time to wait for them to arrive.
Two hours into it and we’re more than halfway up the side of a mountain but the terrain is slick, and the slope is steep. Several times my footing has slipped, and I’ve fallen to my knees. Thankfully, I didn’t break my foot kicking Russell. Had I, this journey would’ve proved impossible.
As is, I can’t imagine traversing this terrain while carrying someone. There must be another way to where we’re headed, but we don’t have the time to find it. I’d never forgive myself if we arrived too late and found her drowned.
Sweat pours from me in buckets and my throat is parched but I’ve drained the last of my water from my canteen. It makes little difference though because there’s no going back. I’ll continue to push forward until I drop if I must. I cannot stomach the thought of another girl dying because of me and I will not allow it. We’ll find her even if it takes all night to do so.
Finding the same paths and markers has been tougher than I had imagined, but we’ve finally reached the end of the garden of rocks. Forty feet below is the ravine that descends from the backside of the mountain. The path down to the ravine is both narrow and treacherous and borders a twenty-foot drop into a bed of rock and debris. Several sections of the path have fallen away, leaving gaps up to two feet between some of them.
We decide to traverse the path one at a time and wait at the mouth of the ravine until we’ve all made it down safely. I move toward the path, but Seth grabs my shoulder and turns me around. I look up into his grayish-blue eyes and I can see the world. We share a moment, and I’d give anything to stay in it for a little longer, but we’re running out of time.
His brow furrows. “Let me go first and find the safest path down.”
He has more hiking experience than the lot of us combined and I’d be a fool to refuse. I step aside. “Be careful.”
Within ten minutes, six of us have traversed the narrow path. Only Officer Spalding remains up top. The sun is dipping low and the fear of not finding her or getting to her in time is creeping into my thoughts.
I turn and look down the ravine not a moment before Officer Spalding’s cry reaches my ears. By the time I turn around he hits the ground twenty-feet below with a sickening crack, thud, and groan. The others rush to his aid and I just stand there, transfixed by the bloody branch skewering his right thigh.
Officer Spalding will need to be airlifted out of here, but we don’t have the time to stand around and wait for help to arrive. I walk over to Seth and pull him around to face me. “I know this sounds harsh, but we need to get moving before we’re too late.”
Seth grabs his temples between his forefinger and thumb and takes a deep breath. “I know. Give me a minute.”
Seth turns back to the others. “Listen up. Officers Dupree and Brex hike back up where you can get a good signal and call for airlift support. Officer Janis stay with Officer Spalding and make sure he stays lucid and doesn’t try to remove the tree limb from his leg. Detective Bergman, Detective Roland, and I will continue to search for the cistern and the girl.”
I don’t wait for a response before traversing the ravine. Crunching leaves and snapping sticks tell me Seth and Detective Roland are close behind. I push forward, driven by determination and fear.
Landmarks I hadn’t noticed when chasing Russell bloom in my mind as I pass by them. My shoes pound the ground and I cannot keep myself from moving forward as we rush downhill. Brush and tree limbs whack my chest, arms, and legs but they don’t slow me down.
Two deer trails pass by in a blur and the next thing I know I’m stumbling out onto a service road. I skid to a stop and my chest heaves. Moments later, Seth and Detective Roland crash through the bushes and brush and stumble onto the road. They pull up next to me, both winded and chests heaving.
A sign down the road says we’re on Forest Road 109. What are the odds of the road number being the same as Russell’s storage unit? If left to chance, infinite. However, Russell never left anything to chance. He planned out every last detail for an entire decade. But he failed to account for Esther.
I don’t really know who I am or where I come from, but I won’t stop until I discover the truth. I’ve got two resources in Rico and my father, and a single clue to follow: find the monastery and find the Shadow Priests. I will find them all and bring them to justice. But right now I have a girl to find.
I cannot catch my breath and my lungs are on fire, but I press on across the road, down the embankment, and through the tall grass. The sun descends behind the mountain, its last rays racing away faster than I can move.
I pull up and bend over, my hands on my knees for support. I look up and catch a glimmer of silver just before the last sunbeams fade. “There!” My voice barks and I point straight ahead.
Seth and Detective Roland rush past me. I unscrew the cap on my water canteen and lift it to my mouth. I tilt my head back and the canteen forward but there’s not a single drop left in it.
I stagger through the grass un
til I reach Seth and Detective Roland. The two of them are fighting to get the cistern cap loose, but I know its secret.
“Move aside.” I drop to my knees and crawl forward.
In my mind I’m Russell again. I reach underneath the sides of the cap and unlatch the hidden locks. With both hands I lift the cap and it swings back on its hinge.
“Alice!” Seth’s voice sounds so distant.
My world turns black in an instant and I feel as though I’m falling. Before I even think to scream, I splash into a body of water. I gasp for air, but water fills my lungs instead. It soothes my dry throat and burns my lungs. I cough, but there’s nowhere for the water to go.
My arms and legs flail aimlessly, and I can’t remember which way is up, but then something latches onto my shirt. I stop struggling and a slender hand grabs my arm and pulls me back to the surface. I gasp and cough and spit up water.
“You can still stand.” It’s a girl’s voice. A familiar voice.
I lower my feet and rest them on a solid surface.
A dim light shines from above. “Alice! Are you okay?”
“Yes! She’s still alive!” I cough and spit up more water.
I find the girl’s hand and hold it tight. “Are you okay?”
“I am now. I knew you’d save me from him, Alice.”
Priscilla…
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The doorbell chimes deep in the house and George Hallard pulls the front door open before it finishes its tune. His eyes are swollen and red but the smile he wears stretches ear-to-ear. “Thank God you found her!” He bends down and embraces Priscilla.
Grace stands inside the door, her arms crossed, and her gaze locked on me. She says nothing, so I follow suit. What’s to be said anyway? I told you so?
Erma, George’s sister, stands farther back in the house, her face nearly consumed by shadows. Her eyes glisten in the low light. She’s been crying as well. She dips her head and then moves out of view.
“She’s one brave girl,” says Seth.
“The bravest,” George agrees.
George releases Priscilla and stands. Priscilla walks inside and right past Grace without pause. I smile to myself. Good girl.
George’s hand extends toward me, so I take it. “I’ll never be able to repay you for what you’ve done.”
I shake his hand and nod curtly. “Just doing my job, Mr. Hallard.”
His brow wrinkles. “I still don’t understand how he got to her.” He looks back over his shoulder. “We have an alarm system on the house and it’s wired to all the windows and doors. None of them were tripped and the system was never disarmed.”
Seth exhales. “I don’t think any of us understand what happened, not even Priscilla.”
I hand him my card. “If Priscilla remembers anything, give me a call.”
He flips the card over and back. “You got it.”
Seth shakes George’s hand and then we walk back down to Seth’s sedan. We climb inside and sit in silence. It’s the first moment we’ve had to sit and relax in weeks.
Seth drums the steering wheel with his thumbs. “How did he get to her?”
The Shadow Mirror looms in the back of my mind. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Seth looks over at me. “I won’t deny that there’s something different about you, but I’m still skeptical about this whole alien angle. I still don’t believe in Roswell, NM or Area 51.”
“Yeah, I don’t think there are little green men running around either. I’m thinking more along the lines of Species. I’ve come here to mate with the perfect human.”
He whistles. “Then you’d better get your senses checked. There ain’t nothing perfect about me.”
I nudge his shoulder. “Double negatives make a positive.”
He shakes his head. “Why you always getting technical on me?”
“Reeducation. You—”
My phone buzzes. I pull it out of my pocket and check the display. I have a new text message from Officer Jaramillo:
Sunday, August 5, 2018
22:37
BJ: We’re over here at Dunharrow Storage. There’s something you’ve got to see. Come as quickly as you can. Bring Detective Ryan with you.
Seth has a similar message on his phone. We buckle in, Seth fires up the engine, and we haul butt toward Dunharrow Storage.
* * * * *
Twenty minutes later, Seth and I are riding up to the fifth floor in the Dunharrow Storage elevator. My mind races through endless scenarios of what they might’ve found in the Braille Killer’s refrigerated storage unit.
The elevator doors open, and we step into a long corridor buzzing with activity. Unlike the other floors, there’s only one central corridor and it stretches straight ahead. There are three units to each side and one at the far end.
We walk straight ahead toward Lieut. Frost. He’s talking with Deborah from forensics. Their conversation ends as we arrive, and she walks back into the unit. The air is thick with his cologne. The skunks always come out at night.
Lieut. Frost looks grim as ever. “Detective Ryan. Detective Bergman. We’ve found a body inside. Deborah says it could be anywhere from a week to twenty days old, but it’s hard to tell for certain since the unit is refrigerated.”
Seth crosses his arms over his chest. He does it every time he’s around Lieut. Frost. I think he’s self-conscious about his physique, but he shouldn’t be.
“We know anything? Sex, age? Have they ID’d the body?” asks Seth.
Lieut. Frost nods. “Male, late 30s to early 40s. We believe he was an employee here since he’s wearing a shirt with the business logo. Facilities manager most likely. Name on the shirt says Bill.”
“My God…” Why would he have killed Bill?
“We’re guessing he must’ve seen something that he wasn’t supposed to. Suffered a single GSW to the left temple. 9mm from the looks of it.”
Seth voices what I’m thinking. “GSW? But that isn’t the Braille Killer’s MO.”
I head into the storage unit. Charlie’s still photographing evidence and Detective Roland is walking the scene with Deborah. I step around Charlie and bend down to pull back the sheet over the body, but two jars on a shelf at the back of the unit draw my eye.
I stand and walk over to them. Each jar contains a pair of eyes in a clear liquid I assume to be formaldehyde. The first jar has an “SJ” on its lid and the second one has a “CS.”
Sarah and Cara.
I take a deep breath.
Thank God there aren’t more jars.
“Alice, over here.” Seth’s voice comes from my left.
Beyond Seth I see a wall of latex masks. Twelve long faces hang on hooks, stretched with gravity. Several of them trigger memories that pull me deeper into my past.
I point them out to Seth as I recognize them. “That one’s the old man from the house across the street from the Johnsons. And that’s the doctor from St. Thomas Medical Center that followed me in the stairwell when we went to see Yolanda.”
Seth points at another one. “There’s the guy Yolanda drew.”
I nod. “Yes, and the one with the black goatee was a guest instructor at the police academy. The silver-haired one was a professor from college. And the one with the skull and crossbones neck tattoo was a janitor at my high school. I think he was in the background of my senior class picture where he drew a heart around Denise and me.”
Seth moves closer to the wall and lifts the mask off its hook. He shoves his fist inside of it and holds it up. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
My heart thunders. “How long had he been watching me?”
“Too long, but it’s over now.” He hangs the mask back on its hook.
My thoughts turn to Mother and her vile priest. I look through the masks again but don’t find Father Rogallo’s face among them. I’m more disappointed than shocked by it.
I can’t stomach thinki
ng about him watching me anymore, so I return to the covered body and pull the sheet back. My breath catches as I gasp. “Ryan!”
Seth is at my side within a few seconds. “What is it?”
“It’s not him,” I say.
Lieut. Frost walks over to us and scowls. “What do you mean?”
“The Bill I met. This isn’t him.” My heart races as my mind searches for clues. Then it hits me. “How did I miss it?”
Seth leans back on his heels. “Miss what?”
“The keys. They were color-coded to the doors, but Bill told me he was color blind. I had assumed someone else who worked here had marked them.”
Lieut. Frost’s radio squawks. “Sir, I think we’ve got something. Please come down to the front office when you can. Bring Bergman.”
“On our way.” Lieut. Frost steps back into the corridor.
I pull the sheet back over the body and then Seth and I follow him to the elevators. This is the last thing I thought I’d be doing today.
The front office door is open wide. We enter, and Officer Jaramillo is sitting at one of the desks in front of a monitor. He’s viewing security footage.
The office still smells like old pizza and Funyuns, but the garbage drifts have been shoved into the next room. I shudder as Bill’s lips press against mine again. I wipe my mouth on my sleeve, but it won’t erase the memory.
Lieut. Frost moves around the far side of the desk. “What’ve you got for us, Bob?”
Seth and I file in behind Officer Jaramillo. We all stare at the monitor.
“I found the footage from the day Detective Bergman was in the office here.”
My stomach gurgles. “No one needs to see that, Jaramillo.”
“Don’t worry, I’m past the part where he plants one on you.”
I can feel Seth’s eyes on me, so I focus on the screen. “Then play it.”
He does.
On the screen, I leave the office. Thirty seconds later, Bill makes a phone call. His back is to the camera, but the audio is clear:
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