by T. L. Haddix
“Afraid so.”
“Come on up, then.”
Once upstairs, Sarah waved her on in, and Beth eased down into one of the chairs in front of Marshall’s desk. “Hey, Boss.”
“What’s up?”
“I wanted to give you a heads-up. The article Julius wrote? I have a feeling it’s going to have some ugly repercussions.”
“What makes you say that?”
Beth tugged on the hem of her skirt, then realized what she was doing and stopped. “Ethan Moore and Ruby Sloane are apparently dating, and he and I have had a falling out. When they read that article, they’ll probably get pretty fired up about it.”
Marshall frowned. “But you didn’t write the article. Julius did.”
Looking away for a moment, Beth tried to figure out how to explain it to him. “Ethan won’t see it that way. We had a huge fight, not just a spat. I had dinner at the Lighthouse last night with Annie and Lauren, and he was there with Ruby. He saw us and jumped all over me just for being in the same restaurant, saying I’d planned it because he was going to be there. He isn’t rational where I’m concerned, at least not right now.” She fell silent, giving him time to process what she had told him.
Frowning, he sat forward. “You really think he’ll make a big ruckus about it?” Beth nodded. “Well, then, I guess we’ll deal with it when it happens. No way to head it off, really. Deal?”
“Deal. I wish I didn’t have to come to you with this, but I just didn’t want it to hit you out of the blue.” She stood to leave.
“Beth, whatever this is between you and Ethan - are you okay?”
She turned back to him and shrugged. “As okay as I can be.”
“Sorry, kiddo. Try to not worry. No use borrowing trouble until we have to.”
Heading back downstairs, she hoped Marshall was right, that it wouldn’t be a problem, but she just didn’t think things would go as smoothly as he hoped they would. She grabbed her briefcase and cell phone and decided to head on home for the day. She stopped in the reception area and spoke with Vanessa, who asked her if she was okay.
Beth frowned. “Why is everyone asking me that today?”
“Honey, you usually bounce around here ready to take on the world. The last few days, you’ve practically blended in with the fixtures. It’s pretty plain to see that you’ve had the wind knocked out of your sails by someone or something.”
“I’m okay. I’m just trying to work some things out, that’s all. I’ll be back to normal in a few days.”
“Well, if you need to talk, I’m here.”
“Thanks, Van.” She checked her watch and grimaced. “I’d better go. I want to stop by the library on the way home, and they close soon. Hold the fort down.”
“Oh, I will,” Vanessa replied with a smile.
As she watched Beth leave, the smile faded. “Honey, I think it’s gonna take a lot more than a few days,” she said to herself before she added a quick prayer for her friend under her breath.
~ * * * ~
Ethan’s cell phone rang late Thursday evening as he was finishing up dinner. It was Ruby.
“I found that witness I told you about. We’re down at the industrial park, just past the bridge. Can you head over here? He brought the bag.”
Promising he would be there shortly, he paid for his meal and got into his cruiser, surprised to find his heart racing. When Ruby had mentioned this witness the night before, Ethan thought she had to be making the man up. He’d known Beth literally half his life now and couldn’t believe she would do the things Ruby was accusing her of doing. As it was, he would have a hard time believing her story even with proof.
He had told Ruby as much, and she had gotten very angry with him. They had just left the Lighthouse and he was still steaming over running into Beth when she brought the topic up. After a short exchange of words, Ethan had dropped Ruby off at her apartment. As he thought about how he had defended Beth to the other woman, he hoped that trust hadn’t been misplaced.
Driving under the interstate, Ethan easily spotted Ruby’s little green sports car. He pulled alongside it and got out, grabbing the evidence kit from the trunk. His stomach in his throat, he walked over to where she stood with a shabbily dressed older man. She seemed glad to see him, but she let her smile fade when Ethan didn’t return it.
“Detective Moore, this is Mick Helton. He works at the thrift store up on the hill, handling the donations. Mick, go ahead and tell him what you told me.”
The man looked nervously from Ethan to Ruby and back before he spoke. “I was tellin’ Ruby, here, that the lady reporter, Ms. Hudson, she’s got something going on that ain’t exactly on the up and up.”
“What do you mean, Mick?”
“Well, sir, it’s like this - I read in the paper about the break-in at her apartment and see, word got around that you all were askin’ some of the fellas hereabouts if anybody knew about her underwear going missing. I hate to say it, but Ms. Hudson herself is the one what got rid of that underwear. She brought it to the store the Friday before that break-in.”
With that, he picked up a white garbage bag and held it out toward Ethan. “Here it is, just like it was when she brought it in.”
Eyes narrowed, Ethan watched the man carefully and pulled on latex gloves. Taking the bag by one corner, he opened it and glanced through the contents. His heart sank. It was full of underwear similar to what Beth had reported missing. Mind racing, he placed the garbage bag and its contents inside a large evidence bag. After stripping off his gloves, he sealed the bag and labeled it.
“How is it that you ended up with this bag, Mick, instead of it being put into the donation pile? Isn’t that against the store’s policy?”
“It is, but you see, I have a daughter at home, and when I saw what was in the bag, I knew she could use it. I don’t hardly make enough to keep a roof over our heads, much less get the girl the things she needs.”
“You say it was Beth Hudson who brought this bag in? You’re sure about that?”
Mick nodded slowly. “Yes, sir. I know Ms. Hudson from a story she did about the store a while back. It was her, no doubt about it.”
Ethan ran a hand through his hair. He turned and took a few steps away, trying desperately to come up with some reasoning that would explain the underwear. He stood there, staring at the interstate for a couple of minutes before coming back to where Ruby and Mick stood waiting.
“Are you willing to make a statement, Mick? It might cost you your job.”
The older man looked at Ethan with sad eyes before he responded. “I know it might, but I have to tell the truth. Just let me know what I have to do.”
“Let me get your address and that sort of thing, and I’ll let you know what I need. I want to talk to the sheriff before I do anything about this, see what he thinks we should do.” The information obtained, he nodded at Ruby. “I’ll be in touch.”
She excused herself and hurried after him. “Are you going to arrest her tonight?”
Ethan just looked at her, his eyes cold. “No. I’m going to talk to Wyatt before I do anything. If Beth did drop this off, she’s got some serious issues that need to be addressed. I’ve known her family far too long to just go in blindly and accuse her of something like this.”
“You don’t think Mick is lying, do you? Why on earth would he do that? He’ll lose his job over keeping that stuff, mark my words.”
Ethan sighed and looked out over the darkening industrial park. “I know that, damn it. I’ll take care of this. Just let me do my job, okay?” he snapped, hating that she had a point. He could tell Ruby was mad by the set of her mouth, but he just didn’t care. The significance of the bag of underwear was tearing into him, and all he wanted to do was go home and do what he could to forget about it.
“Wyatt’s not available tonight, so I’ll go see him first thing in the morning. It’ll wait until then.” He climbed into his car and drove off, leaving Ruby standing there with her hands on her hips. As he a
pproached downtown, he thought about dropping the bag off at the courthouse, but decided against it. If there was another explanation, he wanted to have it before the underwear was entered into the official evidence log.
Chapter Twenty Five
The mood in the paper’s boardroom on Friday morning was somber. In addition to Marshall, Sampson, and Beth, Wyatt Dixon and Stacy Kirchner were in attendance, as well as Gordon and Chase. There were a few tense moments when Beth introduced Gordon, but he moved quickly to reassure everyone he was only present in a supporting role.
“I’m not here to step on anyone’s toes. I just happened to meet Beth during her investigation into all this, and she asked me to be here. I’m only here to lend an ear and maybe give a little feedback. Officially, I’m not here,” he told Wyatt, who nodded.
Once introductions had been made and everyone had settled into their seats, Beth spoke.
“As you all know, the last few months we’ve had numerous reports about possible trespassers, devil worshipping cults, cattle mutilations, and the like. There’ve been a few altars found, but no real evidence of anything illegal. Also, there has been the little issue of Cullen Jarvis and his visitors. From the beginning, that aspect in particular has bothered me, so I’ve been trying to figure out how the pieces of the puzzle fit together.”
“And you’ve done that?” Sampson asked.
“Yes. What I’ve discovered is that there have been several disappearances over the same period of time, and they correlate with the dates of all the other incidents.”
The sheriff’s face was grim as the implications sank in. “When did you put this together?”
“Just a couple of days ago. I went to Marshall as soon as I had something concrete.”
Wyatt looked at Chase. “What do you know about this mess?”
“I have a client who came to me late yesterday and made me aware of a situation. They work at a local addiction outreach program, and over the past few months they’ve noticed some troubling events. People who were regulars stopped showing up, and there seems to be a common theme amongst the ones who’ve disappeared. They all started talking about getting this life-changing offer a few days before they vanished.”
Wyatt was frowning. “So this person came to you with this information, why?”
“Because I’m their attorney, and they know that I can get this information to you without revealing their identity. Attorney-client privilege and all that.” He passed a file to the sheriff and continued. “They authorized me to talk to you about this. They know they can’t come forward without risking retribution, and while they aren’t willing to take that chance, they wanted the information to be made available to the proper authorities.”
Wyatt passed the file to Stacy after scanning it with a troubled gaze. “There are five names here, son. You’re telling me that all these people are unaccounted for?”
Chase nodded. “Yes, sir. Every person on that list is missing. Sad thing is, aside from the initial missing persons reports, no one seemed to follow up on these folks.”
“How is it that my department isn’t aware of this already?” Wyatt asked. “Five people missing from this small of a community? Surely that should have gotten someone’s attention?”
“Not necessarily,” Chase said quickly. “Three of the people on that list are from other counties - they just come here for treatment. When they disappeared, the reports were filed in their home counties. The two who were from Olman County disappeared about four weeks apart, and two different deputies took the reports. They’re high flight risks to begin with, and it probably wasn’t surprising that they were missing in the first place.”
“Do you mind if I take a look at that list?” Beth asked. Chase handed her a copy, and as she read the names, her tension ratcheted up. She met Gordon’s questioning gaze and nodded, then passed the folder on to him. Without saying anything, she moved to the dry erase boards and rolled the front board to the side to reveal the timeline she’d created. There was stunned silence for a minute as everyone took in the information, and then Wyatt cursed under his breath.
Beth sent him a sympathetic glance, then pointed to the list of names. “As you can see, I had already discovered two of the names that are in that folder, Amy Hamilton and Darius Kilgore. I didn’t know about the other three. What were their names and dates of disappearance?”
Marshall, who had the folder, rattled them off, and Beth quickly added them to the list. The three had disappeared a few weeks before Cullen Jarvis’s first report, and she drew an additional month onto the timeline and entered their information.
“I consulted one of the sources I had used when I wrote the Satanist series and asked him about the dates. There wasn’t a definitive pattern that I could see as far as it related to a particular number of days, etc., but I knew there was something there. I thought it might have a relationship to the occult or the like, and sure enough, he was able to figure it out. It turns out the pattern is that all the disappearances occur on the darkest nights of the month, by the dark of the moon. Unless I’m wrong on my calculations, these others also fit that pattern.”
“That source, by the way, is me,” Gordon said.
Stacy spoke up. “So where does this leave us? Nine people missing and no one noticed before now?”
“I wouldn’t beat yourself up too much, if I were you,” Sampson told the detective. “Whoever did this was very careful about selecting their victims. Beth, have you managed to find out anything more about these folks? Has anyone heard from them?”
She shook her head. “No, sir, it’s like they’ve dropped off the face of the earth. No one has heard anything. I double-checked my list yesterday. Tracking the Hispanics who are missing is a little trickier, but when I spoke with the local community advocate, he confirmed that no one in the usual networks had seen or heard from them.” With a tired sigh, she sat down next to Gordon.
Wyatt stood. “Let me make a phone call or two. I’d like to see if the deputies who took these reports are on duty.”
Chase held up a hand. “I know Jason isn’t. He’s back on nights this week.”
With a nod, the sheriff excused himself. While he was away, talk around the table turned to how the devil worshipping ruse could link into the disappearances.
Sampson was shaking his head. “One of the biggest questions I have is what’s happening to the bodies if these folks are being killed? Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t that easy to dispose of a human corpse.”
Beth and Chase turned to stare at him, and despite the somberness in the room, Chase’s lips turned up as he spoke. “How would you know how easy it is or isn’t to dispose of a body, Pop?”
“Why, I buried a few in the backyard, young man, how else do you think?” The graveyard humor broke the tension in the room, and there were chuckles all around. “Seriously, though, I wonder what the person or persons who are doing this are doing with the bodies, again assuming they’re killing these poor souls.”
Gordon winced. “It can’t be anything pretty. They could be burying them on some out of the way tract of land, but that’s a big risk for someone who has taken such careful steps to keep this thing under wraps.”
Wyatt came back in and resumed his seat. “Deputy Bailey is on duty now, and Jason and Deputy Mason are both on second shift. They’ll all meet with me at shift change, and I’ll find out what they know.”
As the discussion started up again, the phone on the table beeped. Marshall picked it up and listened, his gaze flying to Beth. “No, that’s fine, Vanessa. I’ll handle it.” He replaced the receiver and stood. “Ethan Moore’s on his way up, and he’s apparently very angry.” He kept his eyes on Beth, who closed her eyes briefly, knowing instinctively the next few minutes were going to be bad.
“What in the world reason does he have to be upset over?” Wyatt asked, frowning. Marshall started to answer, but hearing the angry stride outside in the hall, he stopped and gestured toward the door as Ethan stormed in.<
br />
“You’ll find out soon enough. Can we help you with something, son?”
Ethan’s gaze went around the table, narrowing as it passed over Gordon. He stalked over to stand beside Beth and tossed a large evidence bag, as well as a copy of the day’s paper on the table in front of her, then thumped a finger on the article Julius had written. “Explain that,” he barked, his eyes not leaving her face.
She gazed back at him defiantly “What exactly do you want me to explain? It’s an article written by a colleague. He cites sources, and if you don’t like what the article says, I suggest you take it up with the person who wrote it.”
Ethan actually growled, but before he could say anything else, Marshall stopped him.
“Son, you need to calm down and back off. Beth didn’t have anything to do with that story. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“Bullshit. She may not have written it, but she damned sure is responsible for it,” he told Marshall. Ethan turned back to Beth, who had stood up, her own temper lit. “Just because I slept with you doesn’t mean you have the right to harass the people I go out with. It was one night, blondie, one meaningless night that never should have happened, and I wish to God it hadn’t.”
Before the thought consciously formed, Beth raised her arm and let it fly. The crack of her hand against Ethan’s cheek was loud in the boardroom, and there was absolute silence for a few seconds. Ethan stood motionless, stunned disbelief etched across his face as a dark red hand print appeared on his cheek.
Gordon and Chase stood up, prepared to step in if Ethan tried to retaliate, but Beth ignored them. “How dare you storm in here, into my workplace, in front of my colleagues, and drag what happened between us in private out into the open like this? You have nerve, Ethan Moore, I’ll say that for you.” Her voice was low, and it shook with anger. Ethan started to respond, but Wyatt, who had stepped up behind him, clamped his hand down firmly on the younger man’s shoulder before he could speak again.
“That’s enough, Detective. I’ll see you outside, right now.” His voice harsh, he tried to turn Ethan toward the door, but Ethan twisted loose and picked up the evidence bag.
