The Demon Trappers: Foretold

by Jana Oliver

  ‘Just let it go.’

  ‘Tell me, Beck! What is this black secret that Justine’s uncovered? Did you get some girl pregnant? Or run someone over with your truck when you were drunk? What is it that has you so worried?’

  Beck was silent. Around them birds began to nest in the trees as the sun set.

  ‘It’s all about trust,’ she said, quieter now. ‘I shared my darkest secret with you. Now it’s time for you to do the same.’

  He looked away, both fists clenched.

  Come on. Let it out. You want to – I can feel it.

  Beck’s fists unclenched as his face took on a haunted expression.

  ‘They all think I . . . killed . . . two boys in the swamp. That I hid their bodies so they’d never be found.’

  Oh, God. That she hadn’t expected.

  To buy time Riley retreated to the truck, her stomach churning. Could Beck have killed them? No. At least not the man she knew today. What about a young Beck? He’d said he was a hot head and he’d tried to carve up Mr Walker with a knife. Could he have . . .

  ‘When was this?’ she asked, leaning against the tailgate to try to calm her suddenly jittery legs.

  ‘Seven years ago, right after Christmas.’

  Riley held her breath, waiting for the rest.

  ‘It was the Keneally brothers, Nate and Brad. Nate was older than us by a year or so and he was pretty wild. He’d got some whisky and dope and asked me to come with them to the swamp so we could party.’

  ‘Isn’t that kind of . . . dumb? The swamp is a dangerous place.’

  ‘Yeah, it was big-time dumb, but not many of the kids would talk to me because of Sadie, so I thought it was cool they’d asked me along.’

  ‘You were what . . .’ She did the maths. ‘Fifteen?’

  He nodded. ‘We took their daddy’s boat out and found a place to set up camp. Then we got totally wasted. I didn’t touch the drugs – never liked that stuff.’ He hesitated.

  ‘Don’t stop now. I want to know all of it.’

  Beck nervously cleared his throat. ‘It was goin’ OK, but then they started raggin’ on me about Sadie and sayin’ stuff about Lou I didn’t like. So I told them to – well ya know – and I went back to the boat.’ He rubbed his chin in thought. ‘It was nearin’ dark and I was so sick. After I stopped puking, I climbed in the boat, pulled a tarp over the top of me and passed out.’

  Beck returned to the truck and sat on the tailgate. After a drink of soda, he began to talk again, like he was desperate to tell the story now that the floodgates were open.

  ‘Come mornin’ the boat was driftin’ in the canal. I thought that was odd, but sometimes they come untied. It took some time to get it back to where we’d landed and then I went to find the guys. I was still feelin’ like crap and I was hopin’ they’d be ready to go home.’

  ‘But you didn’t find them.’

  ‘No. All their stuff was there at the campsite, but Nate’s gun was gone so I figured they’d decided to do some poachin’. I tramped around for over three hours, callin’ their names. No sign of them.’

  ‘Do you think an alligator might have got them?’ Riley shuddered at the thought.

  ‘Maybe, but it’d only take one of them. Besides, Nate could have shot it. Same with a bear or anythin’ like that.’

  ‘What about a demon?’ she asked.

  ‘Possible. There are some really nasty ones out there if yer on yer own. Anyways, I took the boat back to the dock and then hot-wired Nate’s truck and went to the sheriff’s office. They searched for five days, but they never found either of them.’

  Now she knew why the folks in Sadlersville hated Denver Beck. They thought he was a double murderer.

  ‘Go on, ask the question,’ he said, challenging her. ‘Everybody does.’

  ‘I am not going there,’ she said firmly.

  ‘Ya won’t ask? Then I will.’ He straightened up, tormented by vicious memories. ‘Did ya kill those boys, Denny Beck? What did ya do with those bodies? Was it some kind of Saytanic ritual or a weird cannibal thing?’

  My God.

  ‘If it wasn’t an animal,’ she said, intentionally keeping her voice calm so as not to feed into his anger, ‘it had to be a person. Who do you think did it?’

  ‘Why not me?’ he retorted, glaring at her as if she was making the accusation. ‘I could have killed them both, easy.’

  Riley shook her head. ‘Not your style. If you’d been really pissed off, you might have beaten them up, but you would not have murdered them.’

  ‘Maybe I accidentally killed one of them and then had to take out the other because he was a witness,’ he argued.

  Beck was only parroting back what had been said to him over the years.

  ‘You would have loaded up the body and brought him and his brother back to the sheriff. Even at fifteen, you would have taken whatever punishment you deserved. You would not have left those boys’ parents never knowing what had happened to their sons.’

  He began to protest, but she cut him off.

  ‘Whoever did that was stone cold, Beck, and that’s not you.’

  He huffed. ‘Depends on who ya talk to.’

  A thought popped into her mind that was absolutely treasonous. ‘I really hate to say this, but Justine might be doing you a favour.’

  ‘What? How do ya think that?’ he said, irate.

  ‘She’s got people talking about the missing boys. I know that’s not what you wanted, but you should push it now, insist the sheriff reopen the case and find out what really happened.’

  ‘Ah, hell, yer crazy,’ Beck replied, shaking his head vehemently as he jumped off the back of the truck again and walked a few feet away. ‘They could charge me with murder.’

  ‘Seven years later?’

  ‘Doesn’t matter. I’d be in prison for life . . . or facin’ execution,’ he replied, his back to her now. It was as if he was trying to shield himself from the truth.

  ‘Convict you based on what evidence?’ she said. ‘They don’t have any or you’d be in jail right now.’

  ‘I don’t care. Let them think I’m a killer. It doesn’t matter.’

  Yes, it does. This is what’s been holding you back all these years.

  This was the point in Beck’s life where everything could change for the better. If he continued to run from his past, he would have no future.

  Riley prepared herself for what was to come. This was going to hurt both of them.

  ‘You’re going to be just like your mother someday, you know? I can see it already.’

  Beck swung round, infuriated. ‘Don’t ya dare say that!’

  ‘No? You told me she took everything good and twisted it until it was dark. Well, you’re doing the same thing. You have people who care for you and you push them away, because you don’t want anyone to get too close. You’re afraid to ask for help because you’re convinced everyone is your enemy.’

  His eyes blazed. ‘Careful, girl. Yer goin’ too damned far, even for Paul’s daughter.’

  He had to hear it all.

  ‘You’re setting yourself up to fail. If Justine’s article keeps you from becoming a master, you’ll claim the world is out to get you. You’ll hate everything and everybody.’ Riley shook so hard it was difficult to form the words. ‘Then it’ll be easy to drink it all away because nobody ever thought Sadie’s bastard was worth a damn. You’ll be proving them right.’

  She hammered home the last nail. ‘You’ll die just like her – old and bitter and lonely.’

  Beck shook as well, but she didn’t think it was with fury. Riley slowly approached him, unsure if what she was about to do was wise. It was time to stop using words as weapons.

  She carefully laid her hand on his heaving chest. ‘Inside here is the heart of a good man, an honest man. A hero,’ she said in a hushed voice. ‘He’ll rush into the flames, risk death to save others.’ She looked up into tortured eyes. ‘Isn’t it time he saved himself?’

  Beck sucked in
a breath like she’d socked him in the gut.

  ‘God, ya go for the throat, don’t ya?’ He looked over her head into the distance. ‘Ya think this so-called hero is worth savin’?’

  ‘Of course he is,’ she said, giving him a tentative smile. ‘But he has to be the one to demand the truth, no matter the risk. He has to believe he’s worth saving.’

  ‘I don’t know where to start,’ he admitted.

  Riley reluctantly moved her hand. She liked feeling his heart beating under her palm.

  Her practical side took hold. ‘Someone knows what happened. Come on, these people can tell you how many pieces of toast their neighbours had for breakfast. Someone saw something. We need to kick over the rocks and see what crawls out.’

  ‘If someone did kill them, this could get bad,’ Beck said.

  ‘I know, but you have a chance to make it right. You have a chance to make sure those boys’ parents know the truth.’

  Beck lowered his eyes, but didn’t reply.

  ‘Look, if you really don’t want to do this, I’ll back off. I’ll pack up my stuff and go home tomorrow. It’s your decision. It always has been.’

  ‘I . . . ah hell,’ he said, jabbing the toe of his boot into the sand. Another one of his defensive walls cracked and collapsed with a low rumble. ‘I really want ya here with me.’ Beck’s eyes rose to meet hers. ‘But I’m afraid, Riley. Yeah, ya heard me right. I’m scared of what’s comin’ down, because somethin’ is. I can feel it in my bones. I don’t want ya hurt.’

  ‘Whatever is coming, we’ll face it together. We’ve done that before and we’ll do it again.’

  A half-smile formed on his face. ‘Yer fierce, like yer momma. Paul said he knew he could survive anythin’ as long as she was walkin’ beside him.’

  ‘I’m not my mom,’ Riley said, wistful. ‘I wish I was, but I’ll do what I can to help you.’

  ‘Oh, God . . . OK, then, we go for broke. All or nothin’.’

  ‘That’s the Beck I know,’ she said, smiling.

  He frowned and stomped one of his feet. ‘Damn, I got sand in my boots. I hate that.’

  It broke the tense moment and so she kicked more sand at him.

  ‘Hey, stop that!’ he said, kicking a cloud back at her. Then they paused and studied each other.

  ‘Ya might regret stayin’ down here with me,’ he said soberly.

  ‘I might. But if I was in Atlanta I’d be worrying about you every minute until you came home.’

  ‘Ya . . . you care that much about me?’

  ‘More.’

  ‘I have no idea why,’ he said, quieter now.

  ‘Makes two of us,’ she replied, ‘but that’s the way it is.’

  He seemed comfortable with that explanation.

  As they walked back to the truck, Riley felt her fears ebb away. Her outburst could have backfired badly, but instead it seemed that was what it had taken to reach him.

  As twilight deepened around them, Beck ate a slice of pizza in silence, no doubt working through what she’d said. Then he wiped his hands on a napkin.

  ‘There was another girl I was in love with. We met in the Army. Her name was Caitlin.’

  He’d mentioned her once before. ‘The one who didn’t sound like a Southerner.’

  ‘Yeah. Caitie was real sweet.’ He looked at Riley now. ‘We fell for each other so quick. I even asked her to marry me, but it didn’t last.’ He shook his head. ‘She decided I wasn’t the right guy for her.’

  Riley had never known he’d been that serious about a girl.

  ‘Why not? What’s wrong with you?’ she asked, indignant. ‘You don’t snore in your sleep. At least not much.’

  ‘Nothin’ like that. I brought her down here to meet Sadie and that was it. Whatever the old lady said, Caitie walked away. She never did tell me why.’

  Riley had a good idea of exactly what had happened: Sadie had run the same game on her son’s fancée as she’d tried on Riley. It’d worked in Caitlin’s case.

  ‘Were you serious about anyone else?’ It seemed important to know how many times he’d given away his heart.

  Beck shook his head. ‘It was easier to hook up when I felt the need. That way, well . . .’

  ‘You didn’t get hurt,’ she said.

  He studied her more intently now. ‘You know how that goes, don’t you?’

  ‘The endless-hookin’-up part? No.’ That wasn’t her style. ‘The getting-hurt part?’

  All too well.

  As Beck drove through the increasing darkness, his mind kept circling round all that Riley had said. She’d infuriated him, got in his face, but no matter how much he wanted to deny it she’d spoken the truth. If he really didn’t care about his future, why was he trying to learn how to read and write, work so hard to build a new life?

  The sheriff would help him: Donovan had never slept easy after those boys had disappeared. Riley was good at ferreting out secrets people wanted to keep hidden. He’d seen that when she’d cracked the Holy Water scam. He had two strong people in his corner, folks who believed in him. Maybe it was time to find out what had really happened to Brad and Nate. Then maybe he’d sleep easier at night as well.

  What if we can’t figure it out? What if the truth remained hidden and the National Guild used that to deny him from getting his master’s licence?

  He felt a surge of defiance. If the Guild screwed him over, he’d go freelance. It wasn’t as honourable as working in the Guild, but he had to make a living. Maybe Riley would join him and they could trap together.

  He shot a quick glance over at Riley and then back to the road. He wasn’t quite sure how to handle a girl – he corrected himself – a young woman who believed in him so completely. But first there was Sadie to deal with, then he’d try to right an old wrong, both for his sake and for the missing boys.

  Chapter Eight

  After Riley changed into her pyjamas – she’d gone for the T-shirt-and-shorts look since she wasn’t going to let Beck see her panda PJs – she found her guy in his own bed, under the covers, a book in his lap. It was the same book she’d found the night he’d been hurt in Demon Central. By the bookmark’s location he’d not made much progress.

  Too busy fighting the bad guys.

  Beck painstakingly mouthed every word, one finger tracing along as he read. Every now and then he’d pause and consult the sheet of paper her father had given him, the one with the definitions. Then he’d go back to reading. When he realized she was watching, he thumped the book closed, embarrassed.

  ‘Go on,’ she said. ‘It’s a good book.’

  ‘How do you know?’ he asked, instantly defensive.

  ‘I saw it in your bedroom that night I stayed at your place. Dad was helping you with it, wasn’t he?’

  Beck’s wariness vanished at the mention of her father.

  ‘Yeah. He’d tell me the words that I didn’t understand, write them out for me. Then he’d have me copy them over and over until I could spell them right.’

  ‘That’s how I learned,’ she said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

  ‘Yer smarter than me.’

  ‘I’d argue that.’ She pointed at the book. ‘Anything I can help you with?’

  For half a second she thought he’d say no to cover his ego, but instead he nodded. ‘There are some words I just don’t get.’

  Riley took the book from him and checked her dad’s list against the page Beck was reading.

  ‘Twining?’ He nodded. ‘That means twisting something together, like thread or pieces of rope.’

  ‘Twi . . . ning. OK. I got that.’

  She went through five more words, ensuring he understood them. If he didn’t, he asked more questions.

  ‘I think I got them,’ he said. ‘This book’s a lot harder than the ones I usually read. It’s takin’ forever.’

  ‘But you’re getting through it,’ she said.

  ‘I suppose. I don’t think I’ll ever read like most folks.’

  �
�At least you’re trying. That’s what counts.’

  He didn’t go back to the story, but stared off at nothing, the book forgotten in his hands.

  ‘Beck?’

  ‘Hmm?’

  ‘Did your mother leave you in the swamp? I need to know the truth.’

  So I know if she’s a liar or truly evil.

  He sagged against the headboard, then rubbed his eyes. ‘Once I start down this road, Riley, there is no stoppin’. There’s so much.’

  ‘I can handle it,’ she urged. ‘Talk to me, Beck. This is eating at you like the cancer is your mom.’

  He looked up at her. ‘Never thought of it like that.’ Beck placed the book on the nightstand, his jaw set. ‘I was eight. She’d been drinkin’ and we had one helluva fight. It was the first time I stood up to her.’ He sighed. ‘I called her a . . . whore because I caught her with some guy she’d brought home from a bar. She’d said she’d stop doin’ that and there she was with the bastard on the couch and they were . . .’ He shook his head at the thought. ‘Well, you get the picture.’

  Riley bit her lip.

  ‘I kept thinkin’ my daddy would come back to us some day and if he saw her like that . . .’

  He’d leave again.

  ‘The next afternoon, right after school, she gets me in the car and we go for a long drive. I had no idea where we were headed. When I ask, she says it’s a test to see if I could be trusted.’

  Riley struggled to hide the whole body shiver that shot through her.

  ‘Sadie drove over to the west side of Okefenokee, to the state park and then into the swamp. She seemed to know where she was going, so I didn’t say anything. I thought this might be somethin’ fun for a change, it bein’ Friday afternoon and all.’

  Riley could just imagine what it’d been like for him, out for a ride with his mom. He’d have been so excited, especially after such a big fight. He’d have thought things were getting better between them.

  ‘Sadie parked the car and then we started walkin’. I don’t know how far we went, but it wasn’t easy. We kept goin’ deeper into the swamp. After a while I got scared, but she kept urgin’ me on. Then she stopped.’