“I’m not going into that water, Rich,” Bobby said, his teeth chattering. They’d heard the shots and ran as fast as they could to the water’s edge.
“They’ll kill us otherwise,” Rich said. He waded into the water and shivered from the cold. The air around them was warm but the water wasn’t. He faintly remembered something about not swimming in too cold water because you’d fall asleep or something. They didn’t have another choice.
Rich yanked Bobby by the arm. “Do you know how to swim?”
Bobby nodded. He shot a look behind them.
“They’re coming,” Bobby said.
Rich yanked him harder. “Swim now!” he hissed. He shoved Bobby in.
Bobby gasped from the cold.
“Swim,” Rich said again. He dived in next to him.
The cold slammed against his body. His eyes widened and he gasped.
Swim, his inner voice commanded.
Bobby had started doing the crawl next to him. Rich pulled his arm out of the water and forced his body to do the same movement as Bobby.
He didn’t know how they’d survive this swim, but it was better than what was waiting for them on that island.
They had escaped. Swam through the freezing water to get to the other side of the lake. To freedom.
He and Bobby had luck on their side that night. The temperature had been warm still and the water wasn’t cold enough for full-on hypothermia to set in. He’d swore that night he’d never come back to these woods.
And yet here he was. Back in these same woods. He thought he’d left all this behind. He did everything he could to forget about that summer. He’d created a family for himself and did his best to take care of them. He knew he’d never be able to make amends for the boys he’d left behind. The boys and Lauren Harper.
His terror that night shamed him. His therapist reminded him that he’d been just a boy himself. The shame remained, nonetheless. He would set things right this time even if he lost his life doing it. He owed the ones he’d left behind.
He was okay with that.
He just had to find the damn place.
Richard picked his way through the overgrown path, his backpack bumping along on his back. The flashlight he’d brought kept flickering. Richie must have been playing with it again. Pain shot through his chest. He’d never see his boy again. And his sweet wife. Maybe he should have called the cops on Bobby. He gnawed on his lip. He had no proof, and a boy was still missing.
Bobby was the one taking the boys, of that he was sure. Bobby hadn’t been able to move on from that time. He didn’t get the life he thought he deserved. The man was filled with rage.
Rage at what had happened to him. What happened to them all.
The last time they’d met, Richard saw the rage and tried to ignore it. He offered his therapist’s information. Suggested he might want to get help. Bobby said he was just fine.
He wanted to help him. They’d survived that place together. They were the only ones who understood what really happened there. Everyone else died. He hadn’t wanted to think Bobby had become as twisted and horrible as the men who’d abused them. He’d been so wrong.
Now he was the only one who could stop Bobby. Stop him at the place where it all started.
Richard had given his son and his wife kisses good-bye. His wife begged him not to go. He’d never told her what happened. She guessed bits and pieces of it, though. He promised her he’d be back. It was the first time he’d ever lied to her.
The only other thing she’d asked of him was to make it back home. He couldn’t make that promise. He told her he loved her and squeezed his son. He’d kept it together until he reached his car. There he lost it and sobbed all the way to the forest.
Now that he was here, his nightmares had become his reality. The trees felt as if they were closing in all around him. Every noise that filtered through the dark forest made his heart jump. He’d not been back in the woods since that night.
Despite the fear that gripped his heart, Richard kept on walking. He’d loved the quiet nature of these woods when he was little. Camping was one of his favorite things, one of the few joys of his bleak existence. It was the reason he’d been so excited to go to the camp in the first place.
Little did he know he’d agreed to go to a hell he wouldn’t be able to escape. He sucked in his breath.
A sob caught in his throat and he choked on it.
Of course, he’d have a panic attack here. It was fitting. He was in his own personal hell, after all.
He'd suffered from them ever since that night, he’d eventually been pretty good at controlling them. Tonight though, he doubted he’d be so successful. He might die tonight, and he was willing to do so.
A stick cracked somewhere off in the distance and he froze. His breath was ragged as tears streamed down his cheeks.
He sprinted forward; roots be damned. He had to get to that island and now. The faster he got out of these woods, the quicker he'd be able to get up enough courage to do what he had to do.
Kill the man he’d escaped with. Find the boy he’d taken. Save someone from that dark place.
Richard ran out of the forest and onto the small rocky beach. He stopped to catch his breath. The lake looked just like it had that night. He didn’t need his flashlight anymore and put it away. A full moon hung over the lake making the night unnaturally bright.
He scanned the shore. Bobby would need a boat to get onto the other side. He spotted a bright flash of metal and ran over to the large bushes hoping there was a boat hidden underneath there.
Richard pulled the branches away and found a rowboat. It was new. He’d been right about Bobby coming back here.
32
Day 6 - Night
Harri woke up sprawled against the door of her prison. Her head still throbbed but when she moved nausea didn’t overwhelm her. That was a big step forward. She checked her watch again and swore. The battery had died.
She put her ear to the door and listened. Still no sound coming from the other side. She had to move now. Harri pulled herself up and swallowed down the vomit that raced up her throat. She fought through the dizziness and walked over to the air vent. It looked impossibly small. She might be able to wiggle through if she could get up there. Her attention shifted to the desk and chairs.
If they were stacked up, she’d reach the ceiling, no problem. She dragged the desk right underneath the air vent. By her estimation, she still wouldn’t be able to reach high enough to pull herself through. Harri set one of the chairs on top of the desk. That would give her enough height to be able to open it, she thought.
She breathed deep and steadied herself by holding onto the desk. Hopefully, she didn’t topple from this tower of hers and hurt her head even worse. She looked back at the ceiling.
How was she going to get that air vent cover off? Typically, she would use a screwdriver. What did she have on her with a small enough edge? She peered around the room but nothing like that stood out to her. She patted herself down and felt something in her jean pocket. Triumphantly, she pulled a penny out of her pocket. She held it up in ecstasy.
The penny gave her the adrenaline she needed to clamber up on that desk. The desk wiggled beneath her. Or was that her head? Undaunted, she climbed up on the chair and steadied herself before attempting to stand. She waited and gained her bearings and then stood on wobbly feet.
To her relief, the desk and chair gave her enough height to reach the air duct and pull herself through it. The problem was she couldn’t stand upright. Unscrewing the air duct cover would be challenging.
Harri shifted to the left and used the penny to start on the first screw. She twisted the penny around, and the screw came loose. Her back was cramping up, but she kept on. The next two screws came out without a hitch but the fourth refused to budge. The screw itself was damaged and rusty. She couldn’t even get the penny into the groove.
She tugged on the free edges of the cover. The one corner didn’t budge.
<
br /> Harri bit her lip. She was so close.
She tugged it again and the chair, with her on it, swayed back and forth. Crap, she thought. The floor looked far away suddenly, and she focused back up on her cover.
What if, she thought and bent the cover all the way back as far as it could go. That would be enough to get her through. One barrier down.
Next was getting herself in there.
She repositioned her body under the air duct and put her arms up. She slowly straightened while using her arms to maneuver herself into the duct. Once she was halfway in, she pressed hard against the duct walls and inched the rest of her body into it. By the time her entire body was inside, she was sweating profusely, and her head was spinning. Her breathing was ragged and coming out in short puffs.
The dust inside was thick and she sneezed several times as she inched forward. She felt like a worm. She heard a sound come from somewhere ahead of her. She worked her way through the duct faster.
For what seemed like an eternity she wiggled and scrunched and wiggled and scrunched until she found a corner. It was dark and dusty, and she didn't even want to think about the material she was crawling into, but she kept thinking of the boys that had been found. She thought of what happened to them and she kept on going.
She felt something scuttle across her arm and bit back a cry. She didn't mind bugs, but she really hated spiders. The thought of how many spiders could be crawling through this duct made her involuntarily twitch. She bit her lip hard and tried not to shriek in fear.
Focus, she thought and wiggled forward. She kept up her pace until she hit a corner. She maneuvered around it and was relieved to feel the duct around her grow bigger. This would enable her to move faster.
Harri used her arms to pull herself forward. She felt like she’d crossed several rooms when she heard crying. A child crying.
No, someone older. A boy, maybe. Or someone about to become a teenager. She pushed her body harder and focused on where the crying was coming from. It occurred to her the crying boy could be Dan Ledeyen.
Nausea came up again and she swallowed it back. She was so close. She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed the stale air in and out. In and out. She opened her eyes again even though all she could see was black. The crying was getting closer. She crawled again.
She kept moving until the sound of the crying boy was right below her. The problem was that she was encased in a metal duct and had no idea how she would get out of it. Her fingers searched for a seam or an opening. Her forward momentum slowed as her fingers searched for another air duct.
Several feet further and she found the grooves she was looking for. There was no light coming from below. She had no idea how to get the screws off. Harri pushed hard at the air vent cover below her.
She pushed harder.
Crack.
CRRRRACK.
Harri felt the rush of air as she fell out of the duct.
Pain screamed through her shoulder as it hit the dirt floor. She cried out as she lay there, broken and bruised. She tried to move, but the pain in her collarbone was intense. She’d broken it, she was sure. The ceiling had cushioned her fall somewhat and she hadn’t hit her head. Small battles won, she thought.
She pulled herself up and whimpered. It hurt so damn much. A smell of feces and urine hit her nose, hard. She gagged at how bad the stench was.
“Who are you?” A boy's voice came from somewhere in the distance.
“My name is…” Harri struggled to find her voice. “My name is Harri Harper. I'm a detective.”
“I know you. You come to see my dad every year,” the young boy said.
“Dan Ledeyen?” she asked.
“Yeah, that's me.”
She had finally found Dan Ledeyen and he was still alive.
“I've been looking for you. Since you disappeared. Your parents are going to be so happy that we found you alive.”
“Alan didn't make it, did he?” Dan asked.
“Why would you ask that?” she asked.
“I heard him mouthing off to Bobby. You can't mouth off to Bobby because he gets angry. And when he gets angry, he does bad things,” he said, his voice low.
“Robert Payton is the one who abducted you?” Harri asked.
“Yeah. He grabbed me after my job interview at Starbucks. He called out to me, said he needed to talk to me about class. I got close to his car and he had a gun. He made me get in his car.” His voice was closer to Harri.
He’d crawled over to her, but she couldn’t see him because they were in total darkness.
“Have you been here the entire time?”
“I was in his trunk for a while. He drugged me when he opened the trunk door. I woke up here.”
“How did you know Alan was here?” she asked.
“He was in the next room. He started yelling and screaming and that's when I heard Bobby go crazy on him.”
“How come you didn't go crazy in front of him?” Harri asked.
“Because I’d seen him get angry before.”
“Here?”
“No. In class. I knew better than to set him off like that,” he said.
“Good thing you did.”
Harri sat cradling her arm, trying to breathe normally.
“We gotta get out of here,” she said.
Harri sat up and gritted her teeth against the pain.
“I think I broke something,” she said.
“Your arm?” Dan asked.
“My collarbone,” she said. “I also have a concussion.”
“He's coming back tonight. I heard him talking to himself,” he said.
“That doesn't give us a lot of time. He's gonna be upset when he finds out I escaped out of my room,” she said.
“How did you get out?” he asked.
“I found an air conditioning vent in the ceiling. I don't think he meant to take me,” she added. She felt the boy at her side.
“Thank you for trying to find me,” he said.
With that, he broke down. Dan burrowed into her side, his body shaking from silent sobs. Harri winced because of the pain but let him hide his face.
She’d seen what waited for him. For both of them.
She steeled herself for what was to come next.
33
Day 6 - Night
Jake held onto the car door as Detective Gavin French raced towards the coordinates that Dr. Brand had written down on the map. Their headlights illuminated the forest on either side of them. As the scenery rushed by, Jake felt as if the trees were closing in on them, following them and waiting to swallow them whole. His thoughts had turned dark and desperate as they barreled towards what Jake hoped would be the correct camp.
His discussion with Dr. Brand about the viability of the location had been sound. But with Harri’s life on the line, Jake was having a hard time not doubting himself.
“We’re about ten minutes out,” Gavin said.
They’d spoken little on the ride. Jake bounced his knee up and down throughout his time in the car and he’d noticed Gavin watching the movement.
“I should have been with her,” Jake said.
“Why weren’t you with her? I thought both of you were searching for Dan?”
Jake clenched his fist in response. He’d made a terrible decision in splitting up.
“I was working the Chris Becker camp angle. She was working the Dan case.”
Gavin hit his wheel. “Aha. I knew it. Didn’t we tell you to stay away from that?”
“Yes. And to be fair, I had no desire to investigate who killed Chris Becker. Special Agent McNarin made it quite clear there’d be hell to pay if we got muddled into that.”
“All you were doing was …” Gavin waved his hand for Jake to keep talking.
“The photo. Find all the boys in it to talk with them about what happened back then. And finding its location. I think even you would agree we were doing a good job of staying away from your cases.”
“Then why grab Harri?”
Gavin asked.
Jake had been wondering the same thing. “With the break-ins at the Inn, we assumed someone was warning us off.”
“I’m sure that only emboldened Harri to keep going,” Gavin remarked.
A fleeting smile crossed his face.
“You know her so well,” Jake said.
“Well enough. The only other explanation is that Harri became a target. But for who?”
“The victim profile doesn’t match, obviously. I don’t know why a man with the kind of fantasy life of your killer would want anything to do with a forty-something cop.”
“Unless she uncovered his secret,” Gavin reminded him.
“You’re thinking she caught Robert Payton in mid-murder or kidnapping and he had to grab her for that?”
“When you say it like that, it doesn’t make much sense,” Gavin said.
“It would be hard to control a teenage boy and a cop,” Jake said.
Jake’s phone beeped with directions to the coordinates.
“Turn off here.” Jake pointed left to a dirt road barely visible in the headlights.
Gavin slammed on the brakes and the cruiser squeaked as they made the turn.
“A little bit more notice next time,” Gavin grumbled.
“It’s this unpaved road all the way to the small lot,” Jake said.
The branches of the trees scratched against the exterior of the car making a sound like nails on a chalkboard. Jake’s skin crawled from the sound.
“I’m still not entirely sold on this theory of yours,” Gavin said.
“I appreciate your coming out here with me then.”
“I don’t want to find any more dead bodies on this case,” Gavin said. “Truth be told, we’ve hit dead ends on both of those boys. All the pedos we called in had alibis of some sort or another. The feds grabbed the Chris Becker child porn case.”
“What about Blue and Peanut? Anything come up about them?” Jake asked.
Jake had told Gavin about the information Harri had gleaned from Thomas James about what the boys did for money. Gavin hadn’t been too surprised and had put the names in as aliases of potential pedos. Jake had been taken off the case before any of that investigation had started.
The Hidden Grave (Harriet Harper Thriller Book 2) Page 17
