by Willow Rose
"Calm down," I said.
Savannah sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I keep causing people so much pain. I should never have broken up with Benjamin. Do you know how often I have thought about that? If I hadn't done that on the porch that night, then maybe he wouldn't have died."
I swallowed, trying to press the pain and fear away, then reached out my hand and placed it on her back.
"Hey. You can't keep doing this to yourself. It wasn’t your fault. He was killed. He suffered blunt force trauma to the back of his head, caused by a fire poker.”
“A fire poker?” she said, surprised and concerned.
“The sheriff didn’t tell you?” I asked.
“They just kept asking me the same questions over and over again and then suddenly they released me, and I saw Penny being brought in. Do they think she killed him?"
I exhaled. "I’m pretty sure they do."
"But…but she loves him," she said. "Why would she kill him? It makes no sense."
"You don't think she could have killed him?" I asked, surprised, almost forgetting I was in pain. "But…I don't understand. I thought you broke up with him because of her?"
"Their relationship has always been strange to me, yes. It’s too much, too close for siblings, creepy even at times, and yes, that's why I broke up with him, but I can't…I can't imagine Penny ever hurting Benjamin. She loved him more than anyone on this planet."
"That does sound odd," I said and managed to sit up finally as the pain receded slightly in my back, making me convinced it could just be the blow and hopefully nothing important was broken. "But maybe she got angry with him because he didn't return her love for him? Because they could never be together? They did find her fingerprints on the murder weapon," I said. "It was a fire poker."
Savannah gasped.
"Her fingerprints were on the poker because she found it," she said. "Not because she killed him."
"What do you mean she found it?" I asked.
"She found the fire poker covered in blood inside the small shack on the property of their house. There was a hatch there, and she opened it and pulled it out."
"And how do you know this?"
Savannah sighed. "I’ve never told anyone this, but she came to me. The night before I was arrested, she came to me. She told me she knew what I had done and to admit to it now. She had found the bloody poker, and she had found her brother's body. I thought she was just going crazy."
I took a deep breath, trying to take in all this new information, wanting to ask the right questions while I had her opening up to me.
"She found the body? Before it showed up in the water?"
"For all I know, she might have placed him in the water,” she said as the pieces fell in place in her mind. "That's what she told me she'd do if I didn't go to the police and admit to having hurt him with the fire poker and then hiding him in their freezer to make sure someone in her family was blamed. She thought I had tried to be clever and make sure the suspicion was not on me. She said if I didn't tell the sheriff what I had done, she'd release the body into the creek, and then when it showed up, I'd be arrested. I told her that I couldn't do that since I had nothing to do with it. I was certain she was bluffing—that it was just some insane story she had come up with, but the next day, he turned up in the creek just like she had told me he would."
"Did you tell this to the police?" I asked. "When they questioned you?"
"I told them to talk to Penelope, but they didn't want to listen. I figured they would never believe me. Why should they?"
It was a good question. One I didn't have an answer for, just like I lacked answers for so many other questions about this case. And just like I still hadn't figured out how the heck we were going to get away from this ledge before we both froze to death.
59
Shannon jolted upright in bed with a gasp. She felt her pillow and realized it was soaked. She turned to look in the bed next to her then realized that Jack wasn't there.
Could he still be out looking for eggs?
She found her phone on the nightstand and saw that it was two in the morning. Realizing that Jack should have been back a long time ago, she got out of bed and walked down the stairs, wondering if he had been afraid of waking her up and just decided to sleep on the couch. It seemed like something Jack would do. The needs of his loved ones always came before his own.
But he wasn't on the couch either.
"Jack?"
Shannon peeked out the window but couldn't see the car anywhere. Her heart dropped as she realized that Jack hadn't come back at all.
Fear rushing through her veins, she ran up the stairs and found her phone, then called him. As she feared, no one answered. She tried again, her pulse quickening.
"Come on, Jack, pick up. Come on!"
But still, there was no answer. She tried one more time, then hung up and grunted with agitation. She stared out into the darkness. He had been gone for more than two hours. Where could he be?
She wrote him a text, then stared at the phone while it sent when she remembered something. She had recently installed Mappen on all the phones in the family so she could keep track of all the kids.
Shannon opened the app and quickly found Jack's icon with a small picture of his face inside the bubble. She looked at the map and found his location, then shook her head. It didn't make any sense. Something had to be wrong.
Heart racing in her throat, she went outside and ran to the neighboring house, then knocked.
Mrs. Rutherford came to the door, a look of resentment on her face. "You? What do you want? Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"I know," she said, “and I am so so sorry. But my husband hasn't come back. He went to get some eggs and told me to go to sleep, and then…he's not come back and he’s..." She lifted her phone to show the woman his location on the map.
"But that's…the old amusement park up on the mountain? It's closed. What is he doing up there?"
"That's what I don't know. But I have this feeling that something is awfully wrong. I need your help, please. I don't know where else to turn. I know you're not fond of any of us right now, but please, something might have happened to him."
Mrs. Rutherford exhaled. She shook her head. "I…I…"
"Please? From one mother to another?"
She sighed deeply. The two women locked eyes and reached some sort of understanding or maybe sympathy.
"Okay, then. How can I be of help?"
"I need a car to go look for him," Shannon said, her shoulders coming down slightly. "And then I need someone to keep an eye on my children while I go look for him."
Beatrice Rutherford nodded heavily. "All right. I can do that. I was up anyway. Hard to fall asleep when your daughter is in prison for something she didn't do." She reached inside and grabbed a set of keys, then handed them to Shannon. "You can take my son's truck over there. No one uses it anymore. Charles hasn't used it for years, not since the accident, so Benjamin took over driving it once he got his license, but he…well…as I said, no one uses it anymore."
Shannon swallowed hard when looking into the eyes of the grieving mother.
"Anyway," Beatrice Rutherford said, her voice heavy in grief, "I assume the door to your cabin is open. I'll go sit in the living room in case any of your children wake up."
"Thank you so much," Shannon said and started to walk toward the truck. "You have no idea how big a help this is. I'll be back as soon as I can."
60
Shannon parked the truck next to their Cadillac in the parking lot in front of the old amusement park. Shannon had heard about the place but didn't think it was open for visitors, especially not at this time of night. Yet the chairlift was lit up, and it was running.
Something's not right here.
Shannon didn't think about it any longer, she just slammed the car door shut, then rushed up to the lift. She sat in a chair and let it take her up in the air toward the unknown. She had no idea what waited for her up there, but she
had a feeling it wasn't pretty.
Please be safe, Jack. Please be safe.
A huge knot in her throat, Shannon jumped off the chairlift and found herself in strange surroundings. Using a flashlight she had found in the truck, she lit her way through the old wooden Wild West buildings. As the flashlight hit the Silver Dollar Saloon, she gasped, thinking she saw someone standing up on the porch, but then realized it was probably just her imagination. She rushed ahead, following the two sets of footprints that she spotted in the snow, thinking one of them had to belong to Jack.
"Jack?" she called out, hoping he would hear her and peek out from somewhere. "Are you up here, Jack?"
The prints led her to a viewpoint with telescopes, and as she lit the area up with her flashlight, she spotted two cellphones lying on the ground by a big rock formation on the other side of the fence.
Shannon hunched under it, then hurried to them and picked one up that looked like Jack's and as she tapped in the code to open it, she realized it was his, then felt like she had to throw up. If his phone was there, then where was he? And whose was the other phone?
She reached over and grabbed it, then brushed snow off the cracked display and tapped the screen. Nothing happened, and she concluded it had run out of battery. But whose was it?
What is going on here, Jack?
Shannon sighed anxiously. She grabbed her own phone and was about to call the sheriff's office and report Jack missing when she thought she heard something, and it made her stop to listen. It sounded almost like two people talking, or were they moaning?
"Jack?"
Shannon stared into the darkness, then approached the huge rock and climbed up on it. Shannon had never been great with heights. She was an excellent skier and could rush down mountainsides, even in deep snow, but climbing a rock or going zip-lining always made her feel like she had to be sick. She never liked climbing walls or going up in tall towers.
"Jack?" she called again, louder this time. She couldn't escape this feeling that maybe...no, he couldn't be, could he? Could he have fallen over the edge somehow?
As she came closer to the edge, Shannon sat down on her knees and slowly pushed her self forward till she finally reached the edge and she knew nothing but darkness was beneath her. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, then peeked down below, shining her light into the abyss, then called at the top of her lungs, "JACK!"
61
Maggie Valley February 2019
Savannah was sitting at the table with the rest of Benjamin's family. The mood around the table was more than strange, and it made Savannah feel very uncomfortable. No one spoke unless it was to ask someone to pass something, and no one spoke to her or even looked at her at all. She sensed they didn't like her being there, even though Benjamin had told her it would be all right, that they had asked for her to come. She had a feeling he had just made that part up.
Midway through the dinner, consisting of chicken pot pie and cornbread, Mrs. Rutherford finally addressed her, forcing a smile, and looking into her eyes.
"So, Savannah, how's your mother doing? Is the campground doing well? I suspect there must have been a lot of renovations that needed to be done when you took over."
Savannah almost choked on her food, surprised that someone actually spoke to her.
"We're doing all right," she said. "We’re fully booked for the summer, so it's actually going pretty well. My mom has been working really hard, so it's a pleasure to see her work pay off finally."
Penny dropped her fork demonstratively and rolled her eyes, while Charles Junior mumbled something under his breath that Savannah couldn't hear.
Savannah accidentally locked eyes with the pastor and was reminded of what Benjamin had told her about the affair. She felt her stomach churn at the thought and realized it had been a mistake to accept the dinner invitation. It was one thing to hang out with Benjamin and be at his house when it was mostly his sister who bothered them by staring at them or crawling onto the couch and snuggling with Benjamin, coming in between him and Savannah. But being at their dinner table, at least for the father, had to be a constant reminder of what he was doing to his family. She stared at her boyfriend, realizing Benjamin had taken it too far. They didn't have to rub it in his father's face like that. They could just date secretly, but that wasn't Benjamin's style. He seemed to enjoy this little show and couldn't stop grinning. Savannah didn't like to be used in their little games, whatever they were. She understood why Benjamin was angry with his father for what he was doing, but she didn't understand his need to torture him like this. It didn't seem to do anyone any good.
Mrs. Rutherford cleared her throat, then wiped her mouth on her napkin before addressing Benjamin.
"Can I see you in the kitchen, please?"
"Of course, Mother."
Benjamin's grin grew even wider like he had expected this, maybe even waited for it to happen. He rose to his feet and followed her into the kitchen, leaving Savannah alone with the rest of the family. The pastor wiped his mouth too and threw down his silverware. "I’m done,” he said and emptied his glass, then rose to his feet and walked away.
“I’m done too,” Penny said and glanced with disgust at Savannah before storming out of the room.
Charles Junior stayed in place for a few minutes, poking his fork into the chicken, pushing it around like he was just trying to be polite and keep Savannah company, so she wouldn't have to finish her food alone.
Savannah put her silverware down, then sent him a smile. "I think I’m done too."
Charles Junior nodded. He backed out from underneath the table in his wheelchair.
"Don't mind them," he said. "It's not your fault."
Charles smiled at her, then rolled away, while Savannah sat back wondering what the heck was going on with this family, and then wondered if she really wanted to be a part of it.
She rose to her feet and gathered the plates together, thinking she could at least help with the clean-up, and walked out toward the kitchen, pushing the door open with her hip. As she turned around, the plates still in her hands, she spotted Benjamin and his mother in the kitchen. Mrs. Rutherford was hovering above him, holding him down with her hand on his throat, her face red with anger, a knife lifted above him, held in a shaking hand, while she yelled, "Don't you dare say anything!"
Savannah dropped all the plates in surprise, and his mother looked up, then let go of Benjamin, who coughed and gasped for air. Heart in her throat, Savannah began gathering the remains of the shattered plates and cut her finger in the process, but Benjamin rushed to her, grabbed her by the hand, and pulled her away.
"What was that, Benjamin?" she asked as he pulled her forcefully toward the door. They went outside on the porch before he let go. Benjamin bent over to catch his breath. He had red marks on his throat from where his mother had held him.
"What happened? Benjamin? Please, talk to me."
He shook his head, then threw himself on the patio swing. "Just another day at the Rutherford household," he said.
"Just another day? What do you mean? She looked like…she looked like she was about to kill you, Benjamin!"
He sat up and put his hands behind his neck. “Relax. She'll never harm me. Not for real."
Savannah felt her heart rate go up as she wondered about this crazy family and what she had gotten herself involved in. Was Benjamin in trouble? Would they harm him if they got the chance?
Benjamin reached over and grabbed her hand in his, then pulled her into a warm kiss. Savannah realized she was freezing and shuddered as their lips parted.
"Are you in trouble?" she asked. "Should I be nervous about leaving you with them?"
"Don't worry about me," he said, grinning. She couldn't figure out if he was doing that to make her feel better or if it was some sort of defense mechanism in him, to smile when things got bad.
"I'll be fine. I promise you,” he said. “Nothing will happen to me. They'll never dare to harm me."
62
I heard her screams through the daze. We had been down there for what felt like forever. I had lost track of time and couldn't really figure out if it was a dream or if it was real. Savannah was lying next to me, shivering in the cold. I had told her to get in as close as possible to me to make sure we kept each other warm, but little did it help. My pain had made me dizzy, and I felt like I was drifting—like I could no longer really figure out what was real and what wasn't.
But as I heard Shannon's screams cut through the night, I knew that I wasn't dreaming anymore. This was very real. I turned my head to look up. I couldn’t see anything but noticed a flashlight as it rushed across the landscape, the beam hitting the trees in the distance, then next hitting close to where we were laying. We had been talking for a long time, Savannah and me, before she got so tired, she asked if it was okay that she dozed off. I guess I did so too, even though I had tried to stay awake. I was completely drained, and my body was aching all over.
"JAAAACK!"
I pulled myself up to a sitting position, my feet kicking some rocks that skidded down into the abyss.
"Shannon! Is that really you? Shannon?"
"Jack! Jack, are you down there?"
The beam of the flashlight was still searching but came closer now. I reached out a hand and managed to get it into the beam of light and waved. Savannah grunted in her sleep, and I held her gently while moving, so she didn't fall. We were still very close to the edge, even though I had pulled us closer to the back wall. There wasn't much space on the cliff for both of us.
"Shannon. It's me. I’m right down here!"
"Jack! Jack, I see you now," she said and moved the beam, so it landed on my face. "There you are, Jack."
I couldn't see her since she was in the darkness but never had I heard a sweeter sound than her voice. Lying there in the freezing cold, I had been terrified I'd never see her or the children again.