“Never knew,” he whispered.
I waited.
“Never knew she was selling them.”
“Yeah, that’s what we figured,” I told him, trying to give him some small comfort now that he was about to die.
“Took the money, though,” he said, and coughed. It made an ugly, wet sound in his throat. I heard Carrie coming up behind me. She stopped at Mingo’s inert form.
“Why?” I asked.
“In-surance ran out before Helen’s cancer did,” he said. “All for nothing. She isn’t going to make it.”
“We’ll tell her this was line of duty,” I said. “She doesn’t need to know the rest.”
He gave me a grateful look in the dim twilight and tried to reply, but then he coughed again and went slack. I stood up slowly. Once the SBI or even the FBI got into it, the whole horrible deal would come out, but maybe there was a way we could shield the widow, especially if she was terminal.
“He’s alive,” Carrie said, and I whirled around, pointing my rifle down at Mingo across the yard.
“No way,” I muttered, but she was kneeling down beside him, her back to me. Then, to my astonishment, she suddenly hauled back and slapped his face as hard as she could.
“Carrie!” I yelled, but she was fixed on Mingo’s pasty face. By the time I got there, he had one eye open and an evil sneer on his face. I stared down at him with disgust, trying not to look at what was uncoiling out of his abdomen.
“He admitted killing my father and taking my sister,” Carrie spat, her fists clenched.
“And now he sells little girls into a lifetime of slavery,” I said. “A true life of accomplishment.”
“Wrong,” Mingo croaked, revealing bloody teeth. “Better.”
“What!” Carrie shouted. But Mingo’s eyes rolled up and this time he was really gone. I pulled her away before she lost it again. There were tears in her eyes, and not for the first time I remembered the old rule about being careful what you go looking for.
“Let’s go,” I said. I wanted to hold her, but she was much too angry for consolation. “His people may come back now that the shooting’s stopped.”
I could see the Bigs standing up now at the other end of the dam. I pointed my finger at Hayes and then made a thumbs-down sign, and did the same thing with Mingo. I collected Hayes’s shotgun and some extra shells from his pocket and then signaled for the deputies to come back to the cabin. I went back inside and retrieved my scope, while Carrie got her coat.
The brothers stood there around Hayes and Mingo for a few minutes, surveying the carnage in the grass. Carrie had walked over to the edge of the pond and was staring at nothing. John had retrieved the Bushmaster. It was a variant I hadn’t seen before, with a flat folding stock and, of course, the modification to make it go full auto. The muzzle brake still looked too hot to touch.
“Reckon we should call this in,” Luke said, indicating the two dead men. John looked over at me.
“If we do,” I said, “Grinny Creigh will get word and she’ll know someone’s coming for her. We’d have no chance of rescuing those kids.”
Carrie walked back, looking hopefully at the lighted panel of her cell phone, but then she put it away with a disgusted sound.
“Cain’t just leave ’em here like this,” Luke said. “Ain’t right. Meat birds’ll be on ’em directly the sun comes up. Them’n the night dogs.”
That was a lovely thought, and he was right: We couldn’t just leave them to the scavengers. I told the brothers that I thought they should make the report, but make it to their supervisors back in Carrigan County. Then they should stay there at Hayes’s place and await the first responders.
“You’re still both technically sworn officers in Carrigan County,” I told them. “This is your duty. Let your bosses call Robbins County, but this way, you’ll be at the scene so none of Mingo’s people can sneak back and screw things up here.”
“They may be out there now, just waiting for us to leave,” Carrie pointed out.
“Okay, so you and I will leave,” I said. “Once the brothers here get on their radio, the black hats will fade away into the woods, assuming they haven’t already done that.”
“Why wouldn’t they come back and check?”
“Because I told that one guy we had a squad of machine guns up here. That’s exactly what they heard.”
“Once someone calls Robbins County, Grinny Creigh’s going to know,” Carrie said. “Live kids are going to become a real liability to the Creighs.”
“Okay, so make sure your people in Marionburg know that, John,” I said. “Ask them to get people over here, secure the scene, and then call Robbins County in—just don’t tell them who’s been shot until they get here. That way we might have a chance to get to the Creighs’ place and do something.”
Bigger John gave me a bemused look. “Like what, exactly?” he asked.
“I have no frigging idea,” I admitted. “But something. We have to do something, and so far, the federal people who’d normally roll on this won’t touch it.”
“You don’t think they’ll come in now that Mingo and Hayes have killed each other?” Carrie asked.
I was getting frustrated. We were standing here talking when we should have been on the move. “Look,” I said. “Mingo’s people are either out there in the woods somewhere or on their way to report back to Nathan that there was a small war out here and nobody came out. Get the local cops into it, explain what we think is happening, and let them pull in the feds. I’m not willing to wait. Grinny Creigh won’t wait, I guarantee it.”
The two deputies looked over at Carrie to see what she thought, and she nodded agreement. “Join up with us as soon as you can turn over the scene,” she said.
“Awright,” John said, and Luke agreed. If John was happy, Luke was happy.
“Okay, then,” I said. “Give us ten minutes to get out to the highway. If you don’t hear any more shooting, you can assume we’re clear of the woods.” There I went again, encouraging people to assume.
It was fully dark by the time we made our way out onto the paved road. We’d gone carefully, lights out, guns poking out of the car in all directions, in case Mingo’s crew had set up an ambush. Carrie rode in the back right seat while I drove; the shepherds were in the way-back. Nothing happened on the way down, so once we got to the paved road I put the hammer down toward Rocky Falls. It was almost seven as we came into the outskirts of town, and I suddenly realized I was starving. Carrie said she was, too, so we pulled over into the town’s version of a fast-food joint and hit the drive-through for greaseburgers all around.
I parked the Suburban in a back corner of the lot where semis would usually park, and we attacked the food. Both shepherds were partial to the No. 2 Combo, which they dispatched with a gusto that gave new meaning to the term “fast food.”
“What did he mean right there at the end?” Carrie asked. “That ‘wrong’ and ‘better’ stuff?”
“Delirium of the dying,” I said. “I don’t think it meant anything.”
There were no other vehicles parked back where we were; the one semi that had been there when we went through the drive-through left. I was wondering whether or not we were being just a mite conspicuous when I saw a Robbins County cruiser pull up into the drive-through lane. There were two deputies riding, but they didn’t seem to be actively looking for anyone. They stopped at the order box, placed their orders, then started around to the pay window. Halfway through the turn, their brake lights came on, followed thirty seconds later by their blue light rack. Hamburgers forgotten, they swerved out of the line, turned left out of the parking lot, and sped off in the direction from which we had come. The girl in the pay window stuck her head out and stared after them.
“Word’s out,” I said.
“Yup,” Carrie said. “Too soon. Now what?”
“Now we go up there.”
“You’re just going to drive into the Creigh compound and, what? Demand they turn over th
e children?”
“Exactly,” I said. “Tell ’em Mingo’s dead. Tell them the game’s up and that a whole herd of feds are on the way. We don’t want them, just the children. Give them up, we leave, and you sick fucks have maybe an hour’s head start. Like that.”
“And I suppose I get to go up on the front porch?”
“You’re the peace officer,” I said.
“You seem to forget: I resigned, just like you did.”
“Actually, I don’t think you did. I think you just told everyone you did. And while we’re at it, I think the Big brothers are SBI, too.”
She cocked her head sideways. “Really.”
“Yeah, really. Brother King told me he had people in Rocky Falls. Baby Greenberg supposedly had a cell on watch when I landed in the pokey, but it was the Big brothers who showed up to spring my butt. And even more miraculously, they switch allegiance from Mingo to Hayes’s office, and get hired in a single day, after you told them to execute that little move. And back at Hayes’s cabin an hour ago? When I was suggesting that they stay there? John didn’t agree until you gave the okay.”
She wasn’t looking me in the eye anymore. “Well,” she said. We saw another cop car go roaring past, lights ablaze, in the same direction the first one had gone.
“Yeah, well—nicely done, actually. It’s not like I’m pissed or anything, and of course I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to. But enough’s enough: I’m going up there. If you won’t pitch the deal, then it’ll be harder, but I’m not going to sit here eating some fries while the clock’s ticking on when Grinny Creigh decides to cut her losses. How about it?”
“I have to make a quick call,” she said, pulling out her cell phone and opening the car door.
“Quick’s the operative word,” I said and got out myself to run the dogs for a moment while she conferred with whoever was running her little operation, probably King. I was telling the truth when I told her I wasn’t pissed. I’d sort of figured it out when I thought about how easily the Big brothers were moving through the various jurisdictional lattices. And then up at Hayes’s cabin those boys had looked to her more than once, even when I was the one yelling orders.
I got the dogs back in the car and readied Hayes’ shotgun. I was wishing I’d snatched up the Bushmaster, but I hadn’t seen any more magazines lying around. Carrie got back in the car.
“Okay, let’s do it,” she said. “King said all hell’s breaking loose in the Rob-bins County Sheriff’s Office right now, but he doesn’t think the Creighs have been alerted yet.”
“That something he knows?”
“Nope. Not at all. I think we have to assume the opposite.”
Assume, I thought, and started laughing. I don’t think Carrie appreciated why.
15
The closer we got to the Creigh compound, the less confident I was. I couldn’t tell if Carrie felt the same way, but I could not for the life of me think of any different move. Nathan might get one look at me and come screaming off the porch with a handful of knives, as might Grinny herself, over Rowena if nothing else. It was fully dark, so they might have to wait a few seconds to see who or what had showed up. Carrie kept trying her cell phone to establish comms with someone, anyone, but the signal evaporated once we left Rocky Falls. I looked at my watch—it was seven thirty. I hadn’t seen any utility poles going up to their cabin, so, even if they did have a generator, they might not have telephone service. The trees looked larger than life as our headlights swept over them along the river road.
“If the kids are there, where would she keep them?” Carrie asked.
I told her about Baby’s theory that there was a cave or some other underground structure behind or below the cabin. “And I thought I saw some little faces inside that time I was taken there at night,” I said. We were approaching the turnoff to the dirt road.
“You really think I should go up on the porch?” she asked.
“Hell, no,” I said. “We’ll drive up there, honk the horn until someone shows up, and conduct our discussion from inside the car. In fact, you should be in the backseat with a shotgun instead of over there on the passenger side. That way you can give me some cover if they come out shooting.”
“What if they don’t come out at all?” she asked. Good point, I thought. But I had a plan.
“Then I’ll find some way to set the place on fire and we’ll burn ’em out. Like they tried to do to Laurie May.”
“Listen to you,” she said. “Eye for an eye—you’re starting to sound like you’re the one who came from here, instead of me. Stop and let me get into the backseat.”
We were approaching the entrance to the field that lay out in front of the cabin. I stopped and she switched seats, taking Hayes’s shotgun with her. There were no lights showing up above around the cabin. I decided to drive right up there, the way Mingo had done. I turned the headlights on bright to make it tougher for anyone inside to see who was coming and gunned it up the front field, half-expecting gunfire as we made our approach.
Nothing happened. I pulled up in front of the steps and lay on the horn. Carrie was crouching in the backseat with the shotgun barrels resting on the left rear windowsill. I had her nine in my lap. It felt like a toy. I hit the horn again, waiting for lights inside.
Nothing. Silence. Not even a dog barking. Then I realized there should be a dozen or more dogs barking.
Nothing but the sound of my engine running.
“Where are all those damned dogs?” I asked.
“They’ve run,” Carrie said quietly from the backseat.
I decided to shut down, get out, and look around. It felt like there wasn’t anyone there. Carrie got out, and I asked her to cover me with the shotgun. I left the dogs in the vehicle, just in case Grinny’s pack appeared suddenly. I walked down across the front of the cabin, the nine in hand, until I got to the dog pen area. It smelled as rank as before, but it was definitely empty. The moon was rising in the east, but it was still pretty dark up there. A small breeze stirred the pines, bringing a draft of clear, cool air down from the big ridge behind the cabin.
I opened the door to the barn where they’d cuffed me in the stall, and it, too, appeared to be empty of any animals, four- or two-legged. Carrie had moved halfway down the covered breezeway with all the firewood in order to keep me in sight.
“Anything?” she called quietly.
“Nope,” I said, walking back to where she was standing. As I examined the cabin for any signs of life, I thought about going inside. Even the side windows had bullet holes in them, courtesy of my temper tantrum with Nathan’s shotgun.
“No way,” Carrie said, reading my intentions. “She probably has it booby-trapped.”
“Get the car keys,” I said. “Then let’s go around in back.”
About the time she opened the Suburban’s front door a match flared on the front porch, and we both spun around, guns coming up. Grinny Creigh was standing in the front doorway, turning up a kerosene lantern. We hadn’t heard a sound until she lit the lantern.
She didn’t even look at us until she got the wick where she wanted it, dropped the glass, and then lifted the lantern with one hand and picked up her own shotgun. She held it by the receiver. It was an old-fashioned, heavy steel double, and she held it as if it were a willow wand. She didn’t say anything, just looked at us. Her massive body looked like a small silo with a human head on it.
“Police officers,” I said, loud enough to be heard in the house. “We’ve come for the children.”
“What damn children?” she said calmly.
“Mingo’s dead,” I said. “Hayes killed him. There’s a couple dozen feds in Rocky Falls right now. They’ll be here soon. Give us the children and we’ll leave you alone.”
“What children?” she said again.
“The ones you have for sale,” I said. “Like the one you showed that doctor the other night, when you asked him if he could take more than one should you need to unload the whole mess o
f them.”
She studied my face in the lantern light. If she was impressed with what I’d just said, she gave no sign of it. “How’s Brother Hayes?” she asked.
So she knew what had happened. Two could play this game. “Where’s Rowena?” I countered.
Her face twitched. “Away,” she said. She turned to Carrie. “You that Harper girl, went off to work for the state?”
Carrie said, yes, she was. Her shotgun was still pointed in Grinny’s general direction, but not right at her.
“I recollect your little sister,” she said. “Pretty little thing. Went missing in the river with your papa. Real shame, that was.”
Hold on to yourself, Carrie, I thought. Don’t go doing what you want to. “She’s trying to provoke you,” I muttered to her. “Watch out for creepers.” She grunted through clenched teeth but started looking around at our perimeter. The shotgun was still pointed in Grinny’s direction, however.
“Just give us the children, Grinny,” I said. “We don’t want you. The feds do, but it’ll be an hour before they get here. Give us the kids and we’re out of here.”
“You the one shot down my Rowena, ain’t you?” she asked, holding the lantern a little higher.
“She kidnapped Special Agent Santángelo here and then pulled a gun on me. I shot her before she could shoot me.”
“Blowed her head clean off, didn’t ye,” she said. “Had’ta plant her in two pieces, we did.”
Carrie raised the barrels on her shotgun to point at her. “That’s what shotguns do,” she said. “Want to see?”
Grinny looked first at me and then at Carrie’s gun. Then she did a curious thing: She smiled. It was a twisted, faintly triumphant smile. Then she raised two fingers in a V, mumbled some words, and spat between them. I felt Carrie stiffen beside me.
“There now,” Grinny said. “Count the hours, missy.”
“I’m so very not scared,” Carrie said.
“You should be, missy.” Then she turned to me. “Ain’t no children here,” she said. “Everybody in these parts knows I’d eat ’em if they was. Boil ’em in oil and then eat ’em for breakfast, so everybody says. You people get on outa here. Them revenoors want to come in here, they better bring ’em a warrant.”
SPIDER MOUNTAIN Page 33
