by Matt Hilton
According to Decker he could swing the pickup off the main strip onto the pier, and park perhaps outside one of the restaurants or boat hire shops there. If they could corral Elspeth and Jacob towards the truck, Caleb could step out once they were close and usher them onboard with little fuss. He felt for the gun on his hip, hidden for now under the tail of his jacket and thought showing it would be enough motivation to make them do as they were told. Their initial plan got scuppered though.
‘They’re on the move again,’ Decker announced.
‘Where to?’
‘Coming back towards you. They’re staying close to a bunch of local kids.’
‘Has she spotted you, Jer?’
‘I think we’re still good, Caleb. She hasn’t gotten a look at my face. If she had, she would’ve recognized me and made more of an attempt at escaping by now.’
‘She still on her cell?’
‘Carrying it, but isn’t speaking. She was using it as a camera before, maybe that’s why she’s kept it out for now.’ Decker’s footsteps could be heard clopping along the sidewalk.
‘I’m coming up on the parking lot we used earlier,’ Caleb said, as he approached the public lot on Widgery Wharf. ‘How far away are they?’
‘A couple of blocks still.’
‘OK,’ said Caleb, making a quick right turn, ‘I’m gonna park here. You keep me informed to where they go next.’
Keeping his cell line open, Caleb parked the truck and stepped out. He was near the front of the lot, with a view onto Commercial Street.
‘Still heading your way,’ Decker announced.
‘Can’t see them yet.’
‘You will. No. Wait. They’ve veered off. Left onto another pier, I see a sign for Long Wharf. They’re standing next to some graffiti-covered slabs of concrete.’
Caleb strode towards the main strip. It was more than a decade since he’d spent any length of time in Portland, but he still had a fair memory of its layout: a few businesses and store fronts had changed, but it was largely the same as when he used to conduct business here. He vaguely recalled there was some crappy monument to the fall of the Berlin Wall not too far away. He began moving towards it, but stalled after only a few steps. If Elspeth or Jacob spotted him he’d blow the plan to grab them quietly.
‘I’m on hand for when things change,’ he told Decker. ‘For now, stick close to them and tell me when they move on.’
‘Will do … uh, Caleb. We might have a problem.’
A spike of adrenalin shot through him. ‘What kind of problem?’
‘There’s some big black guy just pulled in off the street and waved them over.’
‘A black guy?’
‘A black guy,’ Decker confirmed, as if the newcomer’s skin color was the determining factor of the perceived trouble. ‘Maybe he’s who Elspeth’s been speaking with on her cell. What do you want me to do, Caleb?’
‘I’m coming,’ Caleb told him, ‘on foot. Don’t do anything. Just watch like I told you to.’
‘You better be quick, it looks as if Elspeth and the boy are getting in the black dude’s car.’
‘Shit!’ Caleb had been hopeful that the stranger had an innocent reason for calling over Elspeth; guys of his skin color were few and far between in Portland, and Caleb had hoped he was a tourist perhaps seeking directions. But no. Maybe Elspeth had hailed an Uber to take her elsewhere. If that were the case, then being on foot was not a good option for following. He span around and headed at a trot for his pickup. ‘Jer, you keep your eyes on them. Tell me where they’re going. I’m heading back for the truck.’
‘Will do … uh, damnit, Caleb. The black guy’s giving me the stink-eye.’
‘Say what?’
‘I think Elspeth might have made me, man.’
‘Goddamnit!’ Caleb piled into his pickup and got it started. ‘OK, I’m moving. Keep outta the way for now, and don’t say anything. Don’t even look at them.’
‘Yeah, I’ve backed off out of sight. The car’s one of those big GMC suburbans, as black as its driver.’
‘OK, yeah. I see it. It’s back on the main strip heading back the way you just come. I’m three or four vehicles behind, so I don’t think they’re aware of me yet.’
‘Pick me up,’ said Decker.
‘Can’t take the chance they see me stopping for you, Jer. I’m gonna follow and see where they end up.’
‘What do you want me to do, man?’
‘I’ll come back for you. Stay put or you can go on back to our hotel and wait there.’
‘The hotel’s miles away.’
‘Use your head, Jer, and call a goddamn cab. Do I have to do all your thinking for you?’
Decker didn’t answer. Caleb didn’t have to do his thinking, no, but he rarely got to do what he wanted without Caleb’s permission. Caleb ended the call. He concentrated on following the GMC, ignoring a plaintive look from Decker who he passed standing at roadside now. To give Decker his due, he made no indication towards the pickup. If those in the GMC had their eyes on its mirrors they’d have no idea Caleb’s pickup was connected to the man they’d just given the slip.
The GMC headed out of town, took a left and followed the main thoroughfare to where it met the interstate highway. Caleb took precautions not to follow too closely onto the highway, allowing several more cars to get between them before he fell into line and crossed over the bridge at the mouth to Back Cove. Caleb expected the GMC to keep going but its flashers indicated a turn off the highway and before long he was only three cars back as the black guy took Elspeth and Jacob along the curving shoreline of the cove. Within another minute the GMC pulled into an asphalt parking lot at the entrance of a park. Caleb had nowhere to go but past, and he ensured he kept his face averted so he wasn’t spotted. About fifty yards further on he caught a right turn giving vehicular access deeper into the park. With nothing else for it he drove another hundred yards or so along the road, then swung his pickup onto the grassy shoulder. Through the bushes at the edge of the park he could just see the black GMC’s headlights, but little else. His vantage was no good. He pulled out again, and very shortly found another entrance into the memorial park, complete with plenty parking slots empty this late in the evening. Wasting no time he disembarked the vehicle and jogged down a footpath towards the front of the park. As he approached where he’d last seen the GMC’s lights the scenario had changed: another vehicle had pulled into the lot alongside it. Several figures were standing around the cars. Caleb slunk off the path, and put his silhouette with his back to the trees; in the dimness he’d be nigh on indistinguishable from the foliage. With as much stealth as possible, he began approaching, hoping to hear what was being said. Back home he regularly stalked game in the woods surrounding the commune, so was confident he could stay hidden from these folks who’d have no possible reason to suspect they were being observed. Back there he was normally armed with a rifle. Out of habit, he drew his sidearm and held it down by his hip.
He got close, but their voices were a muffled babble.
It didn’t matter if he could distinguish individual voices or not, he already had a fair idea what was going on. The backdrop of the cove helped him discern one figure from another: the city lights twinkled on the water, and he could easily determine one person from the next as they moved between the cars and the reflected lights. He counted four people in total, and guessed that Jacob had been instructed to stay inside the GMC while the adults conspired.
Elspeth’s frame was tall and willowy, easily recognized. Decker had been correct in describing the black guy as big. In fact, if anything he’d underestimated him. The black guy was huge, both in height and girth, with most of the excess weight in his bottom half. There was another woman, whose hair looked fair even in the dimness, shorter and more rounded of limb than Elspeth. If Elspeth had a match that was her opposite sex it was with the final person. He was tall and slim too, but with wide shoulders and long arms he’d crossed at his chest.
&nbs
p; ‘Goddamn, if it ain’t Po’boy again,’ Caleb growled under his breath.
Earlier, he’d decided that Elspeth’s meeting with the Cajun had been random, unplanned. Now he was unconvinced. Maybe Elspeth hadn’t spotted Decker at all, and this had always been the plan. Po’boy had arranged his black pal to pick up Elspeth and Jacob and meet him here to … then what?
Judging by their body language it was apparent that Po’boy and the blond were a couple, so surely this wasn’t about Elspeth and the Cajun taking up where they’d last left off? He’d sooner walk on over there and blow both Po’boy’s and Elspeth’s brains out than allow her to go with another man. He had warned the bitch countless times; she belonged to him, and nobody could have her but him.
He was shivering in cold rage, his palm slick on the butt of his pistol, index finger jittery on the trigger. He chewed his bottom lip as he watched the four adults talking. Po’boy had unfolded his arms to gesticulate: his voice wasn’t raised, but he damn well was making his point heard. Caleb wanted to hear more. He moved closer, using the hanging boughs of a tree as cover. He made no noise, kept his movements slow and controlled.
Po’boy snapped a look in his direction.
Caleb halted.
For a second he feared that the darkness wasn’t deep enough to conceal him. He wondered if he had caught a reflection of the lights on him somehow and drawn the Cajun’s attention. Po’boy stared at him intensely, and again Caleb stroked the trigger of his gun. The blond woman said something, and Po’boy’s attention slipped from his hiding place as he turned to answer her. Caleb instantly retreated. He’d seen enough for now to understand there was nothing to be gained from getting this close. Rather than return to the path and jog back the way he’d come, he continued backing through the trees until he emerged onto the shoulder where he’d briefly stopped before. Out of sight of those on the parking lot he ran to get back to his pickup. Within a minute he was back, having driven with his headlamps doused. Through the trees he could still make out the glimmers of the GMC’s and also the second vehicle’s headlights, so they hadn’t given him the slip. Through his open window he heard muffled voices, then the clunks of doors opening and closing. Both cars began to maneuver. Caleb waited. They passed the road end, the GMC followed by an old muscle car, and continued around the cove to his right. He allowed them ten seconds to gain some distance, then switched on his low beams and followed.
NINE
‘We could rustle up some supper if you’re hungry,’ Tess offered.
‘Not for me,’ Elspeth said, ‘I lost my appetite when I realized we were being followed.’
‘What about your son? I bet he could eat something?’
‘Boys are like puppies, they’ll eat as much as you keep putting down for them.’ Elspeth smiled at the imagery.
‘I could do some eggs, bacon … whatever?’
‘I think Jacob had his mind set on a cheeseburger and fries.’
‘I can maybe have Po go out to the drive thru and—’
‘Po,’ said Elspeth. ‘I’ve heard you call Nicolas by that name a few times now. He doesn’t go by Po’boy anymore?’
‘To hear him say it, he never did go by Po’boy. That was a snarky nickname given to him by some of the people hereabouts when they learned he hailed from way down south.’ Tess laughed at a memory from the first time she’d met him in the grimy office of Charley’s Autoshop. ‘“It was meant as a slur on my Acadian heritage. I showed them I was nobody’s boy”,’ she mimicked him.
‘Yeah, that sounds like him alright. He always was a proud man.’
Tess prickled at Elspeth’s words, but hid her annoyance well. Another woman had no right speaking about her man with such familiarity. She moved away across the kitchen, to give herself a moment to compose a response that wouldn’t make her sound jealous and insecure. ‘He’s gotten used to being called Po now; in fact it’s what he tells his friends to call him. It’s all I’ve ever known him as,’ she said.
‘So I should stop referring to him as Nicolas?’
‘No, it’s fine. Pinky still calls him Nicolas and he’s his best friend of all.’
‘You prefer Tess to Teresa?’
‘Yep, Teresa’s my professional name, or what my mother calls me when I’ve supposedly done something wrong’ – she chuckled – ‘which is usually every time we speak.’
‘You’re lucky to still have a mother who cares about you,’ Elspeth said morosely. ‘My mom died when I was a child. Lord, I miss her every day.’
Tess didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t going to offer fake platitudes. ‘At least Jacob still has his mom, right?’
‘I’d die for that boy,’ said Elspeth, and Tess believed her. She had intended leading the conversation about Jacob, to perhaps prompt Elspeth into revealing his parentage. It felt wrong though. If there was going to be a conversation about Jacob’s biological father, it should be between Po and Elspeth first.
‘Hopefully it won’t come to that,’ Tess said. She swirled a hand in the air, as if to roll back the evening to when Elspeth realized she was under observation before she was picked up and brought back to Po’s house.
‘The man that was following you, you didn’t get a clear look at him?’
‘He took care to hide his face. But there was plenty about him I recognized. He was dressed differently than I’ve seen him before, but I am positive it was a friend of my husband. I’ve had little to do with him, but seen him around plenty of times, so I recognized his general shape and his mannerisms. I can’t be absolutely sure without seeing his face, but I’d lay good money on him being Jeremy Decker.’
‘Is this Decker dangerous?’
‘Not in the same way that Caleb and his brothers are,’ Elspeth said.
‘What can we expect from Caleb if he does happen to be here in Portland?’
Elspeth tussled with the question. ‘There’s only so much I can tell you without endangering myself, and my son, more than we already are. But here, I’ll show you what kind of man Caleb Moorcock is.’
Without warning, Elspeth hiked up her skirt to display her long legs. Precariously close to her groin several scars marred her. Most were puckered circles of risen tissue; a couple of the obvious cigarette burns had eaten deep craters into her flesh. As a sheriff’s deputy Tess had witnessed some horrific sights, but this demonstration of Caleb’s cruelty had been totally unexpected and caused her to cringe. Elspeth nodded. ‘I could show you more of these on my breasts. The burns are Caleb’s way of ensuring no other man will ever find me desirable again.’
‘Dear God,’ Tess said, as Elspeth lowered her skirt, ‘how long has this been going on?’
‘Since the first time? Well, that would’ve been within days of me moving into his father’s commune; it was Caleb’s way of putting his stamp of ownership on me. These are my visible scars: you won’t believe how many times I was beaten, but those bruises and welts have healed; up here’ – she tapped her head – ‘I still carry every one of them and they’ll be with me for the rest of my life. But do you know something, Tess? These aren’t the reason I finally built up the courage to run. It was because lately Caleb has turned his attention on Jacob.’
‘He has been abusing the boy?’
‘He has similar scars to mine on his arms and back.’ Elspeth’s eyes watered, and she shivered with poorly suppressed frustration. ‘I tried to stop him, I really did, but he would just lock me up and then do whatever he wished to our boy.’
‘We need to call the police—’
‘No! Please don’t.’
‘Caleb can’t be allowed to get away with what he’s done to you both. We should—’
Again Elspeth cut her off; this time she lunged and grabbed the front of Tess’s shirt. ‘Please, Tess, don’t tell the police.’
‘Caleb should be held accountable.’
‘He should, but he already warned me what will happen if I claimed he’d hurt us. He has dozens of witnesses that will swear I self-harme
d, that I was the one that hurt Jacob. He said I’d be the one in trouble, and that I would have Jacob taken away from me and I’d never see him again. It’s why I ran away, I had to get Jacob away from him, to protect him.’
‘Once Jacob’s testimony is heard and it backs up your version of events, Caleb won’t have a leg to stand on.’
Elspeth released Tess and stood back. She lowered her voice, but it didn’t lessen in emphasis. ‘Caleb has already thought about that. He warned me how he’d smear my character with the help of the others in the commune; how they’d all swear I was a manipulative liar, and that I’d twisted everything about his dad in Jacob’s mind. Tess, you don’t know the hold the Moorcock family has over the others in the commune. They’re all controlled to a lesser or greater degree than I was and will do and say anything they’re instructed.’
‘Other women and children are being abused? So this isn’t only about Caleb being a lousy husband and father?’
‘The commune has strict rules and they were made and are enforced by men.’
‘Are the rules based on a particular religion?’
‘Only where they suit my father-in-law’s agenda. Mostly they’re the gospel of Eldon Moorcock and that’s all that is important to him.’
Tess’s knowledge of community living was slim. What she knew she’d learned of through limited exposure to books or movies on the subject, and usually these were embroidered to fit the genre of the story. She was aware that hippie communes had been established in the US decades ago, and that some religious communities had flourished for decades too. Her main point of reference was what had occurred at the New Mount Carmel Center, outside Waco, Texas, with the fatal law enforcement siege of David Koresh’s Branch Davidian compound. As a result she had a jaded view of cultists and commune leaders in general. From what she had already gathered from Elspeth, Eldon Moorcock’s commune was more akin to a survivalist or prepper retreat, where her father-in-law had formed an armed militia prepared to protect their homes and property in the event of societal collapse, war or natural catastrophe. Eldon Moorcock had elevated himself to the commune’s monarch, and by all accounts he ruled with an iron fist. Religion, in this case, was not the necessary ingredient of this half-baked tyrant; it was the cruelest form of misogyny.
