by C. K. Walker
“Mr. Destaro?” I said as we approached. “I’m, ah, I’m- I’m very sorry to hear about your wife. She was…” Shit, I’d forgotten my lines.
“-a great woman who raised a wonderful daughter.” Kyle finished.
“Yeah?” He spat. “Do great women commit suicide leaving their wonderful daughters behind?”
“Ah…” Shit.
“Do great women jump off buildings and make spectacles of themselves? Do they leave their families to deal with the publicity and the grief they caused?”
Kyle’s phone chirped. Thank god.
“Oh, that’s Kimber,” Kyle said a little too fast, before he’d had time to actually look at his phone. “Oh man, she isn’t well. Says she’s crying and feeling sick. I’m gonna go sit with her.”
“No!” Mr. Destaro yelled so suddenly that Kyle dropped his phone on the ground, sounding a loud clatter on the stone flooring. “Not you. You don’t help my daughter, you don’t even talk to her. He can go.” And he pointed at me.
“Ah…okay.” I stuttered. The plan had changed too much. I needed to somehow get the car keys from Kyle without being seen. Kyle gave me a shaky, subtle nod and then he and Mr. Destaro went to sit down. It was obvious Kimber’s dad was keeping an eye on Kyle when he pulled him into his pew at the front of the church. Getting the car keys from Kyle was going to be nearly impossible.
I backed into the shadows at the back of the room while the pastor started the service. I texted Kyle four times asking for help but he wouldn’t dare touch his phone. He just stared straight ahead, flicking worried glances at Mr. Destaro every few seconds. After several minutes I went to find Kimber to see what she wanted to do but she wasn’t in our meeting place by the back door. The plan was falling apart.
I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.
Me: Where are you?
Me: Kyle is next to your dad and I can’t get the keys from him.
I waited in the hallway, tapping my phone against my hand nervously. After a minute or two my phone vibrated.
Kimber: Kyle slipped me the keys. I’m sorry, I left without you guys. I had to get out of there. I’m so sorry, I’ll be back before the end of the service, I promise.
Shit.
Me: Be safe.
It was now imperative that I not be seen. I went to the men’s bathroom, locked myself in a stall and played Brick Breaker for the longest twenty minutes of my life. I knew the service wouldn’t go on much longer so I texted Kimber again.
Me: You on your way back, yet? Did you find it?
I sat waiting, watching the minutes tick by. I texted her again.
Me: I think the service is ending soon. Where are you?
After another seven minutes of no response I tried calling but it went to voicemail. I tried again with the same result. I was getting nervous. I was about to try a third time when a texted popped up from Kyle – the service was over.
Kyle: Why aren’t you guys back yet? Did you find anything?
I left the bathroom stall and found Kyle staring out the window looking for my car.
“Kyle.”
He jumped. “Where’s Kimber? What did you guys find?”
“I don’t know, she left without me.”
“What the fuck, why? Where is she?”
“I don’t know, Kyle, she left without me.” I reiterated. “She’s not answering my calls or my texts.”
“Fuck, mine either.”
“We have to keep an eye on her dad until she gets back.”
“We’re not the only ones,” Kyle said gesturing across the room. “What the fuck is going on?”
Three men were talking to Kimber’s dad in a corner across the room. The tallest was Killian Clery, who was flanked by two of his former deputies. Drisking’s retired sheriff had his hand on Mr. Destaro’s arm and was speaking to him in an angry, hushed tone. Kimber’s dad was shaking his head and desperately objecting to something. The two deputies walked out the front door of the church and Mr. Destaro sagged against Killian Clery who sat him in a nearby chair. Something was happening.
“Call Kimber. Now.” Kyle said. I tried again and this time the call rang once and was sent to voicemail. I ended the call and threw up my hands, looking desperately at Kyle.
“Again.” He said and took out his own phone. I got the same result but felt relief wash over me when someone answered Kyle’s call. My heart sank when I realized it wasn’t Kimber.
“Phil, what part of town are you in? I need a ride. It’s an emergency.”
…..
“Yeah, man, I’m at North Ridge Church. As fast as you can. I’m with Sam. I’ll owe you.”
Kyle hung up and then immediately tried Kimber’s phone. “She’s sending me to voicemail, too.”
We both stood at the window anxiously waiting to see Phil’s silver Mazda pull up. Kyle chewed his lip and I tapped my phone nervously against my leg. Come on, Saunders. We threw occasional looks back at Kimber’s dad until Clery stood him up and ushered the now inconsolable man out of the church.
Suddenly Kyle’s phone chirped and we both looked down to see Kimber’s name flash on the screen. Kyle’s knees nearly buckled in relief and he sagged against the wall.
Kimber: I found it.
Kyle opened the text and furiously typed a reply.
Kyle: they’re coming for you, K
We both stared at the phone waiting for a response. And just as Phil’s silver sedan pulled lazily into the parking lot, we got one.
Kimber: They’re here.
It was the last message we got from Kimber. When Phil dropped us at the Destaro house we found the front door unlocked and no home. My car was sitting in the driveway, unlocked with the keys sitting on the front seat.
Kyle and I drove back to the church but the funeral was over and the few people that had attended it were already gone. We drove back to Kimber’s house again but it was just as we’d left it and still no one was home. Kyle had lost it by this time and was an absolute wreck. He’d called her so many times, I was sure he’d killed her battery. His calls went straight to voicemail and his texts remained unanswered.
After an half an hour of undignified begging from Kyle, I finally called my dad. He answered immediately.
“Sammy? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Kimber. She’s gone, Dad. We’ve looked everywhere but she and her dad are missing. She left the funeral early and- and- Killian Clery was talking to her dad and then Sampson and Grigg left and I think they went to her house and they got her. I think they’re still working for Clery on the side or something and I think they took her somewhere. She-“
“Whoa, whoa, slow down! Come by the station and let’s talk. I’ll take a statement from you boys and I’ll send a couple officers over to investigate the house right now. Just calm down, Sam, we’ll handle this.”
I hung up and threw my car violently into reverse, jerking the wheel to the left as I hit the end of the driveway.
“Sam. Sam, how do we know? How do we know we can trust the cops?”
“Because we don’t have a choice right now. And we’re not trusting the cops, we’re trusting my dad.” I said, my words sounding hopeless, even to me.
I turned into the Butler County Sheriff’s office and Kyle was out of the car as soon as I slowed down to park. By the time I got inside, my dad had Kyle by the shoulders and was nodding solemnly at everything Kyle was telling him. When my dad saw me, he motioned for an officer to take us to his office. After a few minutes he came in and sat down across the desk from us.
“Alright boys, I’m going to have Officer Ramirez come in in a few minutes and take an official statement from you both. I want you to know that right now it looks like the Destaros left town voluntarily.”
“No, no way, Mr. Walker, Kimber would never-“
My dad held up his hand for silence. “Let me rephrase: Jacob Destaro left town voluntarily. Kimber is a minor and has no legal rights here. If her dad decides that they’re leaving, then they
’re leaving.”
“But she’s not answering her phone and we went to that house, Dad, nothing was packed.”
“Maybe they’re just getting away for a while, maybe going to a relative’s. I can’t theorize as to why she wouldn’t answer her phone, other than maybe she wants to be left alone for a while.”
Kyle was exasperated. “But-“
“Look, I know it’s hard for you to understand but losing a family member takes a toll on a person, Sam you know that. We don’t know how people are going to grieve and we don’t have a right to. I think it’s very likely that Kimber will be back by the fall.”
“The fall?! Sheriff Walker, that’s three months away, you need to investigate NOW.”
“Kyle, I know you’re upset and no one said we’re not going to investigate thoroughly.”
“Like you investigated Whitney’s disappearance thoroughly?” I spat and I didn’t regret the words.
“Sam!” he snapped with more force than I’d ever heard him use. “I am tired of listening to you insulate that I didn’t do everything I could to find Whitney. I love your sister more than you can imagine, she’s my daughter, Sammy. And I will never give her up.”
“And what about the deputies that left the funeral to go after Kimber?” Kyle interrupted. My dad raised an eyebrow at me.
“Sampson and Grigg, I told you.” I ground out through clenched teeth.
He sighed. “Boys, Sampson and Grigg left the funeral because I sent them out on a call.”
I stood up violently, knocking over my chair in the process. “Oh come on, Dad!”
“Alright, that’s enough!” The sheriff slammed his hands on the desk and stood up. “I told you I would tell you what I know and I have. I understand your friend is important to you and goddamn it, I care about the Destaros, too. I promise you that I will use the full extent of my resources to track them down and put your minds at ease but until then all I can offer you is the assurance that there is no sign of foul play at this time. You boys need to get off the warpath and let us handle this. Now Ramirez is waiting in the hall to take your statements and then both of you are going home. Understood?”
I said nothing and glared at my dad, seething with rage. Kyle stood up and walked out of the room with no emotion whatsoever. He walked past Ramirez and I followed him out to the car. We got in and I waited for Kyle to say something. I heard a loud sniffle and looked over at him to see his face slick with tears. It was the first time I’d ever seen Kyle. But not the last.
“He’s lying.” He whispered.
I just shook my head. I didn’t know what to believe.
Kyle turned his face away from me. “I know he’s lying. Something bad has happened and he’s lying about it.”
“Like what?”
I heard more sniffling as Kyle tried to collect himself.
“Dude, fucking talk to me. What do you think happened?”
“Kimber’s gone like all the others. She’s at the place where bad things happen.”
“Borrasca?” I said. And I just couldn’t believe it. I punched the steering wheel. How the fuck had this happened? Fuck, not Kimber, please not Kimber. Was all of this because of me? Had her mother killed herself because of something I’d done? Something we’d found out? Was it my fault Kimber was missing? If I thought for one minute that that was true I knew I would crack into a million tiny pieces.
“No. Not Kimber. No.”
“Yes, Sam, fucking think about it!” Kyle yelled at me. “It’s the treehouse! It’s all the same! Borrasca, the Skinned Men, the Triple Tree, your sister, the mountain; it’s all the fucking same! It’s the Prescott Empire and now Kimber has been fucking- fucking consumed by it!”
“Where do we go?” I could feel the warm tears of my own desperation and hopelessness sliding down my cheeks. “What- what do we do? What do we fucking do?!”
Kyle threw his hands up in frustration. “We have to go to Ambercot, right? It all starts and ends at the Triple Tree, Sam. Surely you’ve figured that out.”
“We’ve been to the treehouse a million times, Kyle, there’s nothing there!”
“I don’t know where the fuck else to go, Sam!”
RAP RAP RAP
I jumped as someone tapped on the window of the car and wiped the tears off my face. I rolled down the window as Officer Grigg leaned down and looked in the car. “You boys move along home, alright?”
“Yep.” I said, and turned the key in the ignition. Officer Grigg waved at us as we pulled out of the parking lot but we didn’t wave back.
“The treehouse.” Kyle said.
We drove in silence, both of us trying desperately to get ahold of ourselves. If we were going to be of any help to Kimber we needed to be calm enough to think logically. I parked in the space next to the trailhead and saw several bikes tied to the post. As we made our way up the West Rim Prescott Ore Trail we passed Parker coming down it with a couple of his friends.
I nodded to him but Kyle said nothing, just stared up the trail reaching for the only place he knew to go. It was almost dark by the time we reached Ambercot and there was little light left to search for whatever Kyle hoped to find. It took half an hour in the darkness before I finally convinced Kyle that there was nothing there to help Kimber. And the same dense, heavy, black hole consumed my stomach as it had all those years ago when we were here searching for Whitney. This time had to be different.
And though we didn’t speak of it, I knew that he and I were both painfully aware of all the sounds of the night. We were scared- chilled down to our very bones - that we would hear the piercing scraping, grinding metal screams of the monster at Borrasca that we’d become so accustomed to over the years. I knew we both dreaded it and prayed it would not come tonight.
I dropped Kyle at home an hour later and promised we would find Kimber tomorrow. I swore we would. He gave me nothing more than a shallow nod and disappeared inside his house. My dad was waiting for me in our kitchen when I walked in a few minutes later. I didn’t look at him and walked over to the fridge, realizing I hadn’t eaten all day.
“Sammy. Sit down, I want to apologize for today.”
I took out some chicken and cheese and went to the pantry for bread.
“I know you’re scared. And I know that a lot has been going on that you can’t exactly relate to.” He sighed. “Anne…Anne had been depressed for a good long while, Sam, over twenty years. That’ll weigh on a person.”
I ignored him and continued making my sandwich. I was dying inside, wondering if I could even trust the man I’d called Dad my entire life.
“She was suffering, Sam, and sometimes people who suffer that deeply don’t know of any other way out. She knew her depression was hurting her husband…and her daughter. And maybe she mistakenly thought she was doing them a service.”
“Mom’s depressed.” I said without taking my eyes from the cutting board.
He sighed. “Your mom is coping okay and this was very different, Sam. Kimber’s mother has been depressed since she was in her 20’s. Early in her marriage Anne suffered multiple miscarriages. Infertility can be very hard on some couples and not even Kimber’s birth could totally ease her pain.”
“Fine. I’m tired and I’m going to bed. Kyle and I are getting up early to look for Kimber.” I threw the knife in the sink with a loud clang and turned to look at my dad for the first time. “Please tell me you’re still trying to find her.”
The sheriff stood up from the kitchen table, looking as tired and disheveled as I felt. “I promise, Sammy.” And I finally believed him.
The next morning when I pulled up to Kyle’s house, Parker came out to meet me.
“Hey, Parker.” I said when I rolled down the window and cool morning air wafted in.
“Kyle’s not here. He left around 5. Stole my dad’s truck. He’s pissed so you’d better go.”
“Thanks, man.” I said, and then rolled up the window and took off down the street. I drove around all morning looking for Kyl
e and calling his cell but he didn’t pick up until around noon.
“Sorry, man. I couldn’t sleep.” Kyle sounded a bit more stable than yesterday.
“That’s cool, where you at?”
“I don’t know, exactly. A rare spot where I’m getting service.”
“You in the woods?”
“Yeah. She’s out here, Sam, somewhere in these mountains. I can feel it. I know it.”
“Alright, well let me meet you.”
“Ok. Just come down to the West Rim Trail and I’ll meet you there.”
I was only five minutes away so I arrived before Kyle had time to get down the mountain. Mr. Landy’s red Dodge Ram was parked haphazardly in a no parking zone and I figured it would probably be towed by the time we got back. I very much doubted Kyle cared at this point.
I crossed my arms and leaned against my car as I waited for him, staring up the familiar dirt trail that now looked so foreign to me. When Kyle finally showed half an hour later, he was covered in sweat and dirt and dejection.
“So?” I said, pushing up off the car.
“No, nothing, man.”
“Alright, well let’s keep searching.”
We hiked miles and miles of the mountain that day but we didn’t find any sign of human life. And for the next few days if the sun was out, so were we. Kyle was growing more and more desperate: crossing onto private property to look for logging equipment and mapping out the county’s many mines to search the abandoned buildings. But the mountain was big and the needle buried deep in the haystack. And as the days slipped away so did Kyle’s sanity.
Every time I saw my dad he would give me a sober look and promise me that they were still working on Kimber’s case. It seemed to me that even he was growing concerned. The Destaro house remained as empty and dark as the space between the stars above it.
