Hidden in Harmony: Danger is Imminent (Harmony Series Book 1)

by JR Thompson

  Wow! They are moving pretty quick with this thing, Collin thought. “Great, when did you find that out?”

  “This afternoon,” Alayna said.

  “Wonderful. More than likely this will only be the beginning. We all need to make a pact that we are only going to answer direct questions that are asked — no matter who is asking the questions. We don’t need to provide them with any extra information at all. We don’t need to tell them about the threats and warnings we have received. We don’t need to tell them about Victoria coming to the house. It’s none of their business that Brock was formerly accused of cannibalism or that Remington has been sleeping in our floor. The less information we provide, the better off we will be in the long run.”

  Even though it felt like they were being dishonest, the entire household was in one accord. They would be as silent as a church mouse hiding under a piano.

  Usually on Friday nights, the Russells stayed up late — that night was different. They were all beat and went to bed at 9 pm. Everyone went to sleep soon after their heads fell on their pillows — everyone, except for a certain little boy whose heart seemed to be ten times the size of his brain.

  Remington lay there thinking about his family’s broken promise. The Bible made it clear that a man’s name was more valuable than the greatest of riches. Whether or not it was important to the rest of the household, knowing the truth was crucial for Remington. He had never been one for quitting when things got rough. He wasn’t about to let some idle threats scare him. Well, they had scared him, but not badly enough to make him sit back and just allow someone to continue hurting people.

  Around midnight, the boy got up and quickly got himself dressed. Grabbing a bag of potato chips and a water bottle from the kitchen, he sneaked his dad’s flashlight from the cabinet above the refrigerator. He crept out of the house and down the driveway. Even though he occasionally saw glowing green eyes watching him from behind the trees, he made sure he was far away from the house before turning the flashlight on.

  No matter what Dad and Mom thought about it, Remington was not going to break his promise. He said he was going to go spend time at the park with his friend and he meant it.

  CHAPTER 27 – SHAMEY, SHAMEY!

  For at least two hours, Remington walked at a steady pace, frequently spinning around with the flashlight to make sure no one was following him. Then, he saw a set of headlights coming his direction. Turning off the light, he cowered behind a large oak tree.

  Who would be out at this time of night? It was too dark to make out the type of vehicle or even the color. Remington didn’t do as much as blink his eyes until it was out of sight. Then, slowly and carefully, he came back out of the woods and turned his flashlight back on.

  He continued walking for another hour or two before his feet began to ache. Sitting down next to an old stump, he took his shoes off and began rubbing the soles of his feet. The next thing he knew, a younger woman was standing over him saying, “Wake up. You okay?”

  Remington had fallen asleep. He told her he was okay and claimed he had been playing a game of flashlight tag with some friends and must have fallen asleep. He convinced the lady he was going to walk back to his house, just a few hundred yards away.

  “Why don’t I walk you over there?” she asked, sounding doubtful that he was being honest with her.

  “No, that’s all right. Mom’s sick and I’m sure Dad is in bed. I’ll just go in quietly.”

  Hesitantly, the lady drove away and left him there.

  Remington let out a sigh of relief, threw his shoes back on, and stood to his feet. In the process of getting up, he had forgotten that his flashlight was on his lap. It fell onto a hard rock and the light went out. Remington picked it back up and turned the switch on and off, but it made no difference — it was broken.

  After walking a while longer, he saw a mountain bike leaning up against someone’s porch; it was just his size. That would get me there a lot faster, he contemplated. But stealing is wrong. That bike belongs to somebody. It’s not mine.

  Remington froze in his tracks. It was just him and the bicycle. No one was watching. Stealing would not ever be something he would have considered in the past — but desperate times call for desperate measures, he told himself. He swiped the bike and off he went!

  As he pedaled down the road, his conscience bothered him. Rules were rules. If it was okay to steal for the sake of convenience, would it be okay for someone to murder or to commit some other crime for their convenience as well? It’s too late now, the boy convinced himself. What’s done is done.

  He pedaled non-stop for hours. Finally, a little after daybreak, Remington arrived at Malachi’s house. He knocked on the door and Mrs. Crowley opened it with a smile, “Hi there, Remmy. Where are your folks?”

  Remington caught himself glancing down at her feet for a second, where he noticed she was wearing boys’ tennis shoes. Oh no. Dad is wearing off on me.

  He refused to say a word about the shoes. Nor would he ever tell Dad, Mom, Brock, or anyone else for that matter that he had actually paid attention to someone else’s footwear. From that second forward, he was determined to never again judge what was on anybody else’s feet.

  Remmy quickly shifted his eyes back to Mrs. Crowley’s. “They dropped me off and said they’ll be back around in a little while. They had to run a few errands.”

  Mrs. Crowley said that would be fine. She offered to give the boys a ride to the park, but Remington insisted they would be okay getting there on their own.

  Malachi threw a light jacket on and was raring to go. Even though the park was not too far from the house, he hadn’t been there in quite some time. He kind of liked the idea of having an older friend to hang out with — somehow it made him feel more mature.

  “So where are your parents really at?” Malachi asked as soon as they left the house.

  Remington was taken back by his question, “What do you mean? I already told your mom — my folks had to run some errands.”

  Malachi may have been young, but he was anything but stupid, “I know that’s what you said. What I asked is where they really are. Adults might be naive enough to believe everything you say, but I know a lie when I hear one.”

  Remington had never been spoken to so harshly by someone he just met. Especially not by a kid so much younger than he was. He told a partial truth — that his parents had decided not to bring him over that day after all, but he was a man of his word so he came on his own.

  Malachi seemed to respect that answer. He dropped the subject and the two headed off to the park, talking about random topics that included everything from how Mrs. Crowley already wore false teeth to how Remington was a real ladies’ man.

  When they got to the park, they played a couple of rounds of hide and seek before sitting on a bench to take a break. That’s when Remington began his detective work.

  “How did you know I was lying about my folks earlier?” he asked.

  “It was pretty simple, actually. When you told my mom your folks were running errands, you started looking at the doorway instead of at her face. Well, that, and I noticed your voice sounded like it went a little higher when you told her that,” Malachi said.

  “I don’t remember doing either one of those things. But if I did, how did you know that’s what someone does when they lie?”

  Malachi told Remington about a time when he used to tell a lot of lies. He made up stories about being the most popular kid in his class, having a girlfriend, being the teacher’s pet, and about stray dogs following him home no matter how hard he tried to make them stay behind.

  Most of the time Malachi had no trouble fooling his mom, but there was an exception to every rule. One time he came home from school with a twenty-dollar bill in his pocket. Mrs. Crowley asked him where he got it and Malachi insisted he won it as a prize for being the school spelling bee champion — Mrs. Crowley didn’t buy it. She contacted a friend who worked in a detective agency. The guy came over just to s
care him, really. But it worked. Every time the boy tried to misrepresent or distort the truth, the guy would make him do twenty-five pushups for lying before explaining which of his actions gave away his dishonesty. The truth was, Malachi stole the twenty dollars out of his teacher’s desk drawer. Not only did he have to do quite a few push-ups because of all of the lies he told to Mrs. Crowley’s friend, but after the guy left the house, he was dealt with rather harshly for stealing and for lying to his mother.

  Malachi learned a major lesson that day — but not necessarily the lesson his mother had attempted to instill in him. He learned that if he was going to be dishonest, he would have to drastically improve his skills. His mom had heard all of her friend’s tricks in distinguishing the differences between a truth and a lie. He would have to be careful to not touch his nose as often, not to rub his eyes, not to blink too often, not to provide too much detail, and to use the right amount of eye contact. It was a lot to remember, but slowly he was becoming a master at pulling the wool over his mom’s eyes.

  Remmy was listening closely and it didn’t take him long to pick up a clue. Malachi is a great liar and proud of it.

  “What is the biggest thing you’ve ever gotten away with lying about?” Remington asked him.

  Malachi thought for a moment, “That’s a tough one. One time I convinced a girl at school that a spider was in her desk. She wouldn’t get any of her books out until the teacher emptied her desk out to prove it wasn’t true.”

  Remmy laughed. That was pretty funny, but that’s not quite what I was looking for.

  “That’s a pretty good one. Tell me another one,” Remmy said.

  Not thinking quite as long this time, Malachi said, “A couple of months ago, I called my neighbor while he was at work and told him somebody broke into his house. Not only did he leave work, but he called the police too. The expression on his face was hilarious!”

  “No way. I bet you got in big trouble for that one.”

  “Gotcha!” Malachi chuckled. “You had no idea I was lying, did you?”

  Remington could tell it was going to take some time and creativity to get Malachi to open up about the accusation he had made against Brock.

  For the next twenty minutes, he and Malachi talked about different lies each of them had told. Getting nowhere, eventually Remmy came up with a plan. He decided to tell Malachi about a lie he had heard about in school — one where a false allegation was made.

  He told him that a girl in his class had been smoking a cigarette in her bedroom one afternoon. Her little brother was standing there watching her, but not saying a word. She heard her dad coming up the stairs and said, “Here, Chris, hold this for a second.” When her dad came in the room, he didn’t ask any questions. He bent Chris over and gave him a harsh spanking. She said Chris was yelping and crying while promising he hadn’t been smoking the cigarette, but her dad wasn’t having any of it. She said Chris was known for his dishonesty and she knew her parents would never believe anything he had to say.

  “She didn’t tell the truth even when he was getting a whipping? How old was he?” Malachi asked.

  “I don’t know, nine or ten, I think,” Remmy told him.

  Things were quiet for a minute before Malachi spoke again. “I did something kind of like that once,” he said.

  “You did? What?” Remington asked, hoping with everything in him that he was about to open up about the accusation.

  “Well, do you promise to never tell my mom, no matter what?”

  “Yeah, I promise,” Remington said.

  “For that matter, you have to promise to never tell anyone.”

  Remington crossed his toes, “Why would I tell anybody? Your secret is safe with me.”

  Sure enough, Malachi told him just the story he needed to hear. He said he was on his way home from school one afternoon when a strange man approached him and asked him if he wanted to earn some easy cash. Malachi said yes and the man told him he would have to keep his proposition quiet. It was top secret. He threatened to kill Malachi if he ever dared speak a word of the deal to anyone. Malachi promised to keep it quiet, no matter what.

  The man told him all he had to do was pose for some photographs in a back alley. Malachi followed him into the alley and the man had him pose in a couple of different positions. After each picture, he handed Malachi a $5 bill. After several pictures, he told him to take his shirt off. Malachi was reluctant, but he wanted the cash. He took his shirt off and did a few more pictures. Then, the man told him to take his pants off as well.

  Malachi didn’t want to cooperate. He told him he had made enough money and he just wanted to go home. The man upped the rate. He promised him $10 per picture, for every one he posed for in his underwear.

  For six months Malachi had been dreaming of buying himself a new art set. His mom didn’t have enough money. What are a few pictures? he convinced himself.

  He cooperated. After the first picture though, they heard someone coming and the man told him to hurry up and get dressed. The photographer then grabbed the neck of his shirt and held him firmly against the wall. “You ever tell anybody about this, and you won’t live to see your next birthday.”

  Malachi ran out of the alley as fast as he could. Another man stopped him and asked if he had been hurt. The photographer came out of the alley, giving him a look that said, “Keep your mouth shut, kid, or you’ll be sorry.”

  Fearing the photographer could hear him, Malachi told the stranger nothing had happened. He then continued on toward his house.

  The photographer got in a car and left the scene.

  Malachi thought everything was over, but a couple of hours later a police officer showed up at his house. Malachi didn’t know his name, but Remington assumed it was officer Branham.

  He said the officer told him a concerned neighbor had called the police after seeing something suspicious taking place in the alley. At first Malachi tried to deny that anything had taken place, but the officer kept questioning and re-questioning him.

  “Finally, I just had to make up a story. I promised that photographer I would never tell anyone about the photos he took. I didn’t want him to kill me,” Malachi said. “Besides, would you want to tell everybody you stripped down to your underwear and let some stranger take pictures of you?”

  “I don’t know what I would have done. So what did you tell the officer?”

  Malachi smiled confidently. “I told him a man had grabbed me from behind. And the night before this happened, I saw something on TV about a cannibal, so that was the first thing that came into my mind. I told him the man was a cannibal and he wanted to eat me.” Malachi said the officer kept questioning him and the more questions he asked, the more detailed of lies he began to tell.

  Wow! I wonder if Malachi is telling the truth now or if he’s making up another whopper?

  Playing stupid, Remmy asked, “So what happened to the guy you made up the stories about?”

  “How should I know? He was a creeper anyway. Somebody taking dirty pictures of little kids like that deserves whatever he got.”

  Yeah, unless that guy had a look-alike or something. Unless somebody was framed. Unless there was a case of mistaken identity.

  CHAPTER 28 – MISSING IN ACTION!

  After a sound sleep, Alayna’s eyes didn’t open until much later than she had anticipated Saturday morning. She was shocked when she rolled over and noticed it was already 11 am; Collin was still snoring next to her.

  Alayna glanced down to see if Remington was still sleeping as well — it looked like he had already gotten up. She assumed he had already gotten himself some cereal or something for breakfast. She stretched and yawned and stretched again.

  Collin was awoken by all of her fidgeting. “What time is it?” he groaned.

  “11:00.”

  “Wow! I must have been pretty worn out. That was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time,” Collin told her. There was a brief silence before Collin added, “Hon, while we’r
e laying here, something has been on my mind.”

  “What’s that, babe?”

  “The newspaper article said you told the reporter that I’m overbearing. Do you really feel that way? Do you think I’m power hungry?”

  Alayna gave Collin a surprised look and said, “Master, is it okay if I answer that question honestly? I don’t want to upset your royal highness.”

  “So you do? You do think I take things too far?”

  “Lighten up. I’m only kidding. All I told the reporter is that we have met people in the past who did not understand the Biblical order of the home and that some of them have felt like I’m crazy for allowing you to lead. She twisted my words.”

  Collin knew that happened. Everybody knew that happened. Still, it had planted a seed of doubt in his mind.

  After lying in bed and talking for a little while, they agreed it was time to make their lazy bones get up out of their bed.

  After their normal routine of getting dressed, making their bed, and taking care of their hygiene, Alayna made her way to the kitchen. Passing through the living room, she was surprised to not find Remington sitting on the couch or playing with blocks or matchbox cars in the floor.

  She peeked into Brock’s room; he was still snoozing — no sign of Remington there. She checked the doors; both of them were locked. Getting nervous, she headed back down the hallway and checked the restroom. The door was open and no one was inside. With her breathing becoming more intense, she went back into the master bedroom and looked under the bed.

  “Collin, I can’t find Remmy. I’ve looked everywhere,” Alayna said with obvious concern in her voice.

  Collin rechecked the house and walked around outside. It was as if their little boy had vanished without a trace, just like Dr. Fennell and just like so many people in Harmony over the past ten years. Collin woke Brock up, “Hey, have you seen Remmy?”

  “Not since last night,” Brock moaned.

  “REMMY?” Collin yelled while running toward the front door.