by Strand, Jeff
Cody knew her secret and he’d witnessed the whole thing. But their new friendship had formed when they thought everything was going to be all right. Allison had managed to convince herself that the baby was fine. If she confessed to him that she had, in fact, killed the woman’s unborn child, he wouldn’t lend a sympathetic ear. He’d be horrified. Outraged. As he should be.
So all she could do right now was quickly walk around her house, trying to withstand the urge to start screaming and tearing out her hair. Trying to keep it together, in case the father-not-to-be returned with the police.
She could make it through this. She’d made it through worse.
Allison sat on the bed, her back against the wall, staring at the open doorway as if expecting one of the corpses in the cabin to walk past. None of them did. She’d been sitting here all night, and Mom, Dad, and the two dead men remained silent and unseen.
Her need to pee was almost unbearable at this point. And she knew she had to go out there eventually. If she covered her eyes, she might trip over a corpse, so she’d have to look at what she’d done.
She wished she could believe that it was all a figment of her imagination. The men hadn’t showed up to rob them. She hadn’t killed them. She hadn’t killed Mom and Dad. Mom was happily painting, and Dad was happily reading, and Allison had gotten so carried away with the drawing she was making that she thought it was real life. She wished she could believe that. She wished she could believe that she’d been sitting on this bed all night—the sun was rising now—for no good reason, because everything was perfectly normal in the rest of the cabin. She wished she were younger. More childish. Six years old. Maybe eight. Not ten. A ten-year-old was too old to live in a fantasy world and believe that her parents were still alive.
Allison got off the bed and carefully tiptoed into the main room of the cabin.
The four dead bodies were still there, broken and bloody.
She hurried out of the cabin and ran to the outhouse.
She stayed in there for a long time after she was done. Finally, she decided that she couldn’t live in the outhouse forever, and stepped outside.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining.
That was bad. Dead bodies didn’t do well in the sun.
Allison had no idea what to do. She could find another cabin and get help. Or, at the very least, she could walk to the car. It would only take about ten minutes. She’d never driven a car but she understood the basics and was sure she could figure it out. It wouldn’t be difficult for her to get help and bring the police to the cabin.
What would she tell them?
What if they figured out that it was her fault?
What if they took her to a laboratory? Studied her. Drew blood. Sliced off parts of her and peered at them through a microscope.
Or took her to prison. No, not prison—juvenile hall. She didn’t know what life was like for a murderous ten-year-old girl in there, but it had to be a nightmare.
They wouldn’t know she did it unless she told them.
But how would she explain it? How would she explain four dead bodies to the police? Bodies with broken arms and legs and ribs and necks. How had they gotten that way?
If she was willing to use one of the guns, she could make it look like the men had shot Mom and Dad. Maybe the broken bones had happened when the four of them fought.
No. Even if she was willing to do that, they’d know that Mom and Dad been shot long after they were dead. Allison didn’t understand how the science worked on that, but she knew they could figure it out. They had experts.
She could just say that she didn’t know what happened. She’d heard screams and been too scared to come out of the room. When she finally did, everybody was dead.
She was a ten-year-old girl. Big for her age, sure, but still a ten-year-old girl. They wouldn’t think she was a killer.
But she was a terrible liar. And they had tests. They’d know.
They might not even believe her if she told the truth. They might actually lock her up with the crazy people if she tried to say that she killed them with her mind.
She just didn’t know what to do.
Hide the bodies? Bury them?
Tell the police that Mom and Dad had gone for a walk and never came back?
She’d have to drag the bodies deep into the woods. It would take a really long time. Days, maybe. Digging graves would take even longer. And she’d have to go back and cover the trail she made.
She’d miss something.
They’d find where she buried the bodies.
Find a piece of her fingernail in the dirt.
Things would be much worse for her than they already were.
She’d have to just leave things the way they were. It was too risky to do otherwise. She’d just swear that she didn’t know what happened, and pray that they didn’t suspect she had anything to do with it.
What if she accidentally murdered a police officer?
She’d killed Mom and Dad without meaning to. It could happen again. Who knew how upset she might get if they started interrogating her?
But what could she do about it? Run and hide away forever?
The best thing she could do was make up a story, stick to it no matter what, and hope that the truth was so insane that nobody would ever suspect it.
Allison didn’t want to go back into the cabin, but she needed the car keys. She knew where they were: on the table next to the lamp. Thank God they weren’t in Dad’s pocket.
As she walked inside, she glanced over at her mother, who barely looked like Mom anymore. Her face was twisted, her jaw broken. Her eyes were open.
Allison grabbed the keys and hurried back outside.
She took the wrong trail at first and had to backtrack. On the right trail, she had to stop to rest a couple of times because it was so hard for her to breathe. But finally she reached the car. She got it started with no problem. Actually driving it was a challenge because she wasn’t tall enough to reach the gas pedal and completely see over the dashboard, so she had to drive by flooring the accelerator and then steering while the car coasted. She somehow managed to make it all the way along the narrow dirt road without crashing or getting stuck.
When she reached the paved road, she did okay for a minute or two, until a car behind her, annoyed at her slow speed, blasted its horn and made her go off the road. The driver, shocked to see a ten-year-old girl behind the wheel, drove her to the nearest police station, where she completely broke down and wasn’t able to speak for a long time.
“Can you tell us what happened?”
The police officer was nice, or at least pretended to be. She had a pretty smile.
Allison shrugged. She’d planned out exactly what she was going to say, but thought it would be better if they had to drag it out of her.
She had left the door open and animals had gotten into the cabin. They’d eaten part of the bodies—at least that’s what Allison had overheard. She didn’t know how bad it was. She was seated in the front seat of the police car, which should have been exciting but wasn’t exciting at all.
“Take your time, sweetie,” said the police officer.
“Somebody knocked on the door,” said Allison. “Dad answered, and these two guys came in. They pointed guns at us.”
“Did they say what they wanted?”
“They wanted money. Dad gave them some, and Mom and Dad gave them their rings, but it wasn’t enough. They got mad. Mom made me go into the bedroom and shut the door and promise not to come out. Then I just heard screaming.”
The police officer nodded. “Your mother and father screaming?”
“Everybody screaming.”
“And what did you do?”
Allison lowered her eyes. “I stayed in the room.”
“For how long?”
“Until the screaming stopped. I don’t know how long it was.”
“And then what did you do?”
“I ran out of the cabin and went to
get the car. But it was dark outside and I got lost. I slept by a tree. In the morning I found the car and tried to drive for help. I went off the road but a man gave me a ride to see the police.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me, Allison? Anything at all?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
“Do you know what happened to them?”
“We don’t,” said the police officer. “Not yet. We’re still trying to piece it together. I’m going to take you to the station and we’ll get you something to eat. We’ll probably ask you some more questions. Is that all right?”
“Yes.”
“You’re being really brave. I know it’s sad and scary, but we’ll take care of you. You’re going to be okay.”
Allison didn’t know how the investigation had turned out. The bones, broken from the inside, wouldn’t match injuries from something like a baseball bat, so the coroner was probably at a loss for what had occurred. Even if the injuries had been from an external source, nobody would’ve believed that a ten-year-old girl could beat four adults to death. The final report certainly didn’t say, “Probable supernatural cause. Check daughter for paranormal abilities.” In the end, she was an orphan but not a prisoner or a lab rat.
She walked back into her office. Her instant messenger alert was flashing. Jamison said that it was absolutely no problem to take the rest of the day off, and that he hoped she’d feel better soon.
A long walk—a really long walk—would help her calm down.
She picked up her phone and saw that she had a text from Cody. How’s everything going?
She texted back: ok.
That doesn’t sound okay. Do you want to talk?
Aren’t you at work?
I’ll take a break.
I don’t want to get you in trouble.
They allow me to take breaks. It’s required by law. How about I call you in a couple of minutes?
Okay, Allison texted, even though she had specifically decided that she would not confide in Cody. Her texting fingers and her brain were not communicating properly.
Cell phone reception was probably fine in the woods behind her house, but she didn’t want to be distracted when she was walking over uneven terrain, so she just paced around the house for a couple of minutes until he called.
“Hi,” she answered.
“Hi. I’m here to offer my amazing listening services.”
“I don’t really have anything to say.”
“Are you sure?” Cody asked.
“No.”
“I know we only met yesterday, but it’s okay to tell me stuff, I promise. Everything you say will be a total secret. I won’t betray your trust.”
“The father came over to my house.”
“Uninvited?”
“Yeah.”
“What did he want?”
“She lost the baby.”
“Oh, shit. Allison, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t feel sorry for me. I’m the bad guy.”
“No, you’re not. I feel sorry for them, too, but you’re not the bad guy. Did they say exactly what happened?”
“She went to the emergency room, and then she had a miscarriage. If I’d just let her fall, she would’ve been better off.”
“Are they sure it was because of you?”
“I’m sure it was because of me.”
“Right, but...I don’t want to be too graphic, but do they know...I mean, was there proof?”
“I didn’t demand to inspect the fetus, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” said Cody. “I just don’t want you blaming yourself if you’re not sure.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay.”
“You can hang up now.”
“My break isn’t over.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“If you’re hoping that I’ll start treating you like Satan, you’re going to be very disappointed. It wasn’t your fault. Or maybe it was your fault, but it was still an accident. I mean, they have those Good Samaritan laws for a reason. Nobody is going to say that you should have let a pregnant woman fall down the stairs. You reacted the way any decent human being would react.”
“No, a decent human being, knowing what she was capable of, would not have put herself in that situation.”
“Can we talk in person?” Cody asked.
“No. I’m really upset. It wouldn’t be safe.”
“What if I came over, and we talked on the phone but stayed a safe distance away from each other?”
“What good would that do?”
“We could look at each other. It’s a nice way to talk.”
“I was going for a walk.”
“That’s fine. I can’t leave right away. I’ll come over after work.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Allison said.
“I think it’s a great idea.”
“It’s not.”
“I feel like you could really use a friend right now. Somebody that you can see.”
“Are you worried that I’ll do something stupid?”
“Stupid isn’t the word I’d use, but I do feel like it’s a good idea for somebody to keep an eye on you, even if it’s from afar.”
“Fine,” Allison said. “I’ll text you my address. What time do you get off work?”
“Four.”
It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet. “Okay. Let me know when you’re on your way. I guess I’ll have you park at the end of the driveway and not get out of your car.”
“Looking forward to seeing you again. I’m sorry this happened.”
“Me too.”
Allison hung up. She’d look at him through her living room window, and if she felt her anxiety level start to rise, she’d send him away.
She shoved the phone into her pocket, then went out the back door, hoping that some fresh air would make her feel less like a monster.
10
From his vantage point, with binoculars, Daxton could see Allison walk into her backyard. She was walking quickly but not running, and she wasn’t carrying anything.
She went into the woods behind her house, seemingly unaware that he was watching her.
That was fine. Maybe she was just going for a walk. If she was trying to flee, she’d at least take a purse, right? If she’d sprinted outside immediately after he’d left, that would make sense, but half an hour later, she wouldn’t make a run for it empty-handed. This was nothing to worry about.
A few minutes later, a car pulled up behind him. He’d hoped that maybe Forrest was unavailable and that Winlaw would send somebody else, but nope, it was that big creepy fucker. He got out of his own car, walked over to the passenger-side front door of Daxton’s car, and rapped his knuckles on the glass. Daxton gestured for him to get inside.
As Forrest opened the door, before he’d even slid into the seat, Daxton smelled his overpowering odor. He smelled like he’d had nasty sex two days ago and never showered. He pulled the lever to scoot the seat back, then closed the door.
“Hey,” he said. Forrest had a surprisingly high and squeaky voice for such a big, bulky guy. His blond hair was cut military-short, with several patches of dandruff visible on his scalp.
“Did you bring Chloroform?”
“Yeah. And a rag. Not a clean one.” He chuckled.
“You’re going to follow my lead on this,” Daxton told him. “I’m in charge.”
Forrest laughed. He had a yellow glob on his front tooth. “Damn, at least let me get settled before you start barking orders at me.”
“I wasn’t barking an order. I was explaining how this is gonna work.”
“Well, Daxie, from what I understand you’re not really in a position to be on a power trip. I hear you messed up but good. I hear your testicles are in danger of being slit open and unspooled.” He leaned over, speaking to Daxton’s crotch. “Is that true, little testes? Are you in danger?”
“Knock i
t off. This is a dangerous job and you’d better take it seriously.”
“How dangerous can it be? It’s one girl.”
“I wouldn’t have asked for help if it was an easy job. She’s mentally ill. She might be heavily armed.”
“I hope she is. Chicks with guns turn me on so bad. Might pop a chub while we’re in there.”
“See, this is why I didn’t want you here. You’re not taking this seriously.”
“You didn’t want me here?”
“Fuck no.”
Forrest chuckled. “That’s hurtful.”
“I mean it, I’m in charge. You’ll do exactly what I say.”
“You’re the boss. At least until the boss tortures you to death.”
“Funny.”
“If you want to see it as funny, that’s fine with me.” Forrest checked his fingernails, which were in desperate need of clipping and cleaning. He stuck his thumb under his front teeth and ran it back and forth.
“She’s not home right now,” said Daxton. “She went out for a walk in the woods behind her house. We’ll grab her when she gets back.”
“Why not just go after her in the woods?”
“It’s an uncontrolled environment. She’d see or hear us coming and she’d know she was in danger. I can still knock on her door under the guise that I want to have a conversation.”
“Who cares if she knows she’s in danger? You don’t think we can catch her?”
“What if she calls 911?”
“Think she can do that while she’s sprinting through the woods? I’m pretty damn fast. If she tries to make a phone call while I’m chasing her, she’s going to fall and smash her face open.”
“We’re not following her into the woods.”
Forrest shrugged. “You’re the boss.”
“We’re not in a rush here. If you have somewhere to be, by all means go keep your appointment. You won’t hurt my feelings.”
“I have nowhere else to be. I wouldn’t want to deprive you of my company.” He scraped underneath his thumbnail with his front teeth again. “So why are you kidnapping this lady?”
“That’s on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to know.”
“Is it revenge?”
