by Gail Caban
They drove along the interstate until Eddie saw a sign for the world’s best roadhouse.
“We’re almost there, boy,” Eddie pulled off the interstate and drove toward the roadhouse. He parked the car and opened the door for Max to go and pee. He ordered two large cheeseburgers and large bottles of water with an extra-large bowl. He didn’t tell the attendant why he required the bowl, but they brought one to him anyway.
“Thank you very much,” Eddie said as he opened one of the bottles of water and poured it into the bowl. He called for Max, who came charging back and then lapped up all of the water in the bowl. About 15 minutes later, the burgers came, and Eddie gave one to Max while he ate the other. While Eddie was busy eating, he saw that there was an outdoor shop around the corner: “We should probably get some supplies if we’re heading into the woods.” Max looked at him when he was finished with his burger. Eddie said, “You know, it’s much nicer talking to dogs than it is talking to people.” Max tilted his head like he understood what Eddie was saying.
Once the burgers were eaten, Eddie walked with a slight limp with Max toward the outdoor store, and he wondered if he would be able to take Max inside with him. He got to the entrance and one of the employees immediately tried to stop him from entering.
“He’s my therapy dog. He needs to go with me wherever I do in case I become suicidal,” Eddie said with a very serious expression. The shop employee didn’t know what to say and chose to let them in. Eddie smiled and wished that Max could understand how funny that was. He walked around the store with Max closely behind, and he started grabbing a few things like torches, batteries, a small tent, hiking pack, a hunting knife, and other odds and ends that he felt he may need in his pursuit of the Elliott siblings. Eddie got to the till, and he started unloading the items in his basket.
“Hey, you’re the second person to buy these today,” the employee held up the fishing gut and bells.
“Is that right? What did the other person look like that bought these items?”
“They were both blond. Brother and sister, I think—they looked similar.”
“Was she about this tall”—Eddie held his hand by his shoulder—“and rather petite?” The employee nodded.
“Did they say where they were going?” Eddie asked. “No, but they did buy one of these.” The employee put a hunting trail map of the Illinois woods on the counter.
“I’ll have one of those too, please,” Eddie smiled and paid for all of the items that he bought. He and Max walked back to the car, and once they were inside, he opened the map and started looking for possible trails that Ness and Wyatt would have chosen to go on. “If they were heading up north, then they would have diverted off this trail to get to a good vantage point of the cabin.
“Ness, you clever girl.” Eddie smiled.
28
The sun set behind the horizon, and Ness woke up from a deep slumber. She rubbed her eyes and crawled out of the tent. “How long have I been out?” Ness asked.
“About five hours,” Wyatt said, smiling. He was pouring a tin of beans into a small pot and adding slices of cured sausage into the mixture.
“Holy crap, why didn’t you wake me?” Ness protested.
“Well, you were pretty out of it, and I still feel fine. Besides, you’ll make it up to me later on when I’m cuddled in and you have to sit out in the night air,” Wyatt winked at her.
“I hope you’re hungry: dinner is almost ready,” Wyatt added as he stirred the sausage and bean mixture in the pot; it bubbled on the little gas stove. “I am, actually,” Ness crawled out toward Wyatt and sat on the boulder next to him.
“Grab some bread rolls from the pack—we need something to scoop this out with,” Wyatt instructed Ness, who quickly obeyed and grabbed the bread. A few minutes later, they were both plunging into their meals.
“Do you have any cell phone reception?” Ness asked. “Barely. I get a bar every few minutes, but then it drops quickly. It is worrying me that I haven’t been able to get in touch with the hospital or Dad,” Wyatt said, looking back at the cabin.
“I’m sure everything is fine. I’ve been meaning to ask you, how does the detonator work for the plastic explosives?” Ness watched the sun disappear entirely and darkness take hold of the sky.
“There are two pins that are inserted into the explosive that are linked to a battery-operated charge. The batteries send in electric charge through the pins and into the explosive material which ignites it, and then it explodes. The detonator that we have here uses radio frequencies to connect with the receiver down there. If we push the detonator here, the signal is sent to the receiver and . . . well, boom.”
“How do you know that we’re not too far from the receiver for the signal to be sent?” Ness asked.
Wyatt turned the detonator over. “You see this red light over here? If we go out of range, then that light will stop glowing. At the moment it’s glowing brightly, so be very careful not to push that button by mistake,” Wyatt smiled.
“I’ll be sure to leave it out of harm’s way then,” Ness said.
“What if he doesn’t come, Ness? What if he chooses to go after Lindsay and Dad instead of coming for us?” Wyatt sounded worried as the darkness enveloped the trees around them.
“Wyatt, they’re safe. Eddie can’t get to them. And, since he can’t get to them, he will want to continue the game with us. He’ll come, if he isn’t here already,” Ness said as her face became more difficult to see with the ever-fading light.
“Alright,” Wyatt took the last bite of his dinner, wiped the stainless-steel cup out with his bread, and grabbed the rifle. “I want to show you how the night-vision works on this thing. It has batteries that can last for a few days, but if you’re constantly looking through it, it’s going to mess up your own night-vision in your eyes. Tonight, it’s a full moon, so it will be best if we allow our eyes to completely adjust to the darkness.”
“How long does that take?” Ness asked.
“Well, your pupils start dilating almost immediately when you’re in a low light area, but for your full night-vision to kick in, it takes around an hour.”
“There’s something you don’t learn in high school biology,” Ness smiled.
They sat in silence for a long while, just listening to the surroundings. The creek babbled nearby, but it wasn’t loud enough to drown out other sounds. They both watched the cabin in hopes that they’d spot Eddie coming up the usual road.
Wyatt turned his head quickly. “Did you hear that?” he whispered.
“One of the bells sounded in the distance,” Ness answered as quietly as she could. “It could just be an animal.”
“Yeah, but it might not be. We have to move,” Wyatt said, grabbing the rifle, detonator, and bag with other weapons. They ran down the embankment as quickly as they could. They passed through the clearing, around the cabin, and into the opposite tree line. Wyatt dropped to the ground; he aimed the rifle toward the vantage point and turned on the night-vision scope. He adjusted the scope for 700 yards and laid down on his stomach. Ness lay quietly next to him. Wyatt focused on the elevation, and he could just make out the top of the tent because he knew where to look. He remained completely unmoving as he focused. Ness kept squirming as she got uncomfortable, but Wyatt ignored his spasming muscles.
“Do you think we should head back?” Ness asked quietly an hour or so later.
“Shut up,” Wyatt responded quickly. “There’s movement in the camp.” Ness strained her eyes but couldn’t see anything.
“Does Eddie have a dog?” Wyatt whispered.
“Not that I know of. Why?”
“Because he has one with him now,” Wyatt turned his head and then heard the dog bark from the vantage point.
“Shit,” Wyatt refocused and saw the German Shepherd storming down the embankment and straight for them. He knew that if he fired, the gun would echo, but from this distance, Eddie would know their exact location. He had no choice. Wyatt aimed and fire
d, but because the scope was set at 700 yards and the dog was much closer than that, the bullet skimmed over the top of it. However, the gunshot scared it off and the dog took off in another direction. Wyatt aimed back at the vantage point and could see Eddie kneeling on the boulder aiming his crossbow directly at them.
“Move!” Wyatt shoved Ness out of the way, the moment Eddie fired, and the bolt tore through Wyatt’s right shoulder. He screamed out in pain. Ness grabbed the rifle to locate Eddie and saw him jumping off the boulder. She fired, but the bullet went above his head. Eddie disappeared around the back to reload his weapon.
“We have to move, Ness,” Wyatt said, getting up. He touched the bolt in his shoulder, and it was bleeding profusely; he didn’t know what damage it caused, so he decided to leave it inside without pulling it out and causing more damage.
“Give me one of the sidearms,” Wyatt said, grabbing one of the Sig Sauers. “Let’s get deeper into the woods. If he comes past the cabin, we can kill him with the blast.”
Ness nodded, and they quickly moved deeper into the woods but still within eyeshot of the cabin. Come on, Eddie. Just run past the cabin, Ness focused ahead of her. But there was no movement on the embankment or anywhere near the cabin.
Crunch—twigs snapped behind Wyatt. He swung around with his gun ready and saw the white teeth of the snarling German Shepherd. It attacked, and Wyatt pulled the trigger. The bullet hit him between the eyes, and the dog fell to the ground without a whimper. Wyatt’s ears were ringing from the gunshot, but he could still hear the shrill whistle of a bolt flying through the air. Wyatt ducked and the bolt hit the tree behind him.
“Where is he?” Wyatt screamed. “I don’t know,” Ness said as she scanned the surroundings with the rifle scope and could see movement behind the old work cabin.
Ness aimed and fired. She heard a scream on the other side of the cabin. The bullet must have hit something on Eddie’s body. Ness reloaded and fired again, but everything was quiet. They moved down into the woods and toward the creek. They’d be able to see the front of the cabin from there.
“Where is he?” Wyatt whispered. “I don’t know,” Ness responded and started walking beside the creek to get a better view around the work cabin. There was no sign of Eddie anywhere. “I’m going to head up there. You cover me,” Ness said. She could see that Wyatt was going very pale from the blood loss from his shoulder. She walked up toward where she believed she’d shot Eddie and looked around the area. She could see the bullet holes where she shot through, but there wasn't any blood. He screamed to draw us out of hiding.
Eddie screamed and launched himself from his hiding place as he smashed his body against Ness’. Her body slammed into the side of the cabin, and she fell to the ground. Wyatt pulled the trigger from where he was, and even though he was shooting with his left hand, he was a reasonably good shot. The bullet exploded out of the gun and penetrated Eddie’s right shoulder.
“Yeah, it hurts, doesn’t it? You son of a bitch!” Wyatt screamed as he ran up from the creek and toward Ness, who was still on the ground. Eddie saw him running toward him, and he took off straight for the cabin. Wyatt saw where he was running, and he pulled the detonator from his pocket and jumped on top of Ness to protect her body from the explosion. He saw Eddie run through the front door, and Wyatt pushed the detonator.
Everything was white as they were thrown from the blast of the plastic explosives. Wyatt landed on his back, and Ness rolled toward the creek. Wyatt blinked several times, but his eyes were still blurry. “I’m alive,” he said but couldn’t hear his voice: the ringing was too loud. “Ness!” Wyatt called out.
He crawled away from the fire. He turned himself over and could see that she was lying face down in the creek. Wyatt forced himself to his knees and crawled toward her limp body. He pulled her out and rolled her over. She sputtered as he held her, but she was alive. Wyatt turned his head toward the flames and felt very lightheaded. He laid his head down on the dirt as he still cradled Ness. The darkness came for him, and he gladly embraced it.
“Wyatt? Wyatt? Hello, Wyatt?” he could hear beeping next to him. He felt clean, and he was lying on a relatively comfortable mattress. He blinked several times and could see Ness sitting next to him, holding his hand.
“Where are we?” Wyatt asked.
“We’re in the hospital, the cops want to talk to us about what happened.”
“Yeah, sure,” Wyatt struggled to right himself in bed.
An FBI agent walked into the room. “I’m Special Agent Hilary Booth, and I’m glad you’re both here and both alive. It must have been one hell of an ordeal going up against the En Passant Killer,” she stated. Wyatt and Ness looked at each other. “How did you know about that?’ Wyatt asked.
“We’ll get to that later. We’re aware of many of the facts, but there are a few details that you two will need to fill in for us. But you two can rest assured that neither of you are in trouble,” Agent Booth said. “I’m actually here on another matter entirely.”
“What is it?” Ness asked.
“It’s about your Dad,” Agent Booth already looked sorrowful.
“What happened?” Ness asked.
Agent Booth took a deep breath. “It appears that the En Passant Killer went after him first before he went after the two of you in the woods. He killed him.”
Wyatt laid his head back on his pillow and closed his eyes.
“I am truly sorry for your loss. I didn’t know him personally, but the police community held him in very high regard. I’ve discussed it with the town council in North Utica and we strongly suggested that you move into the role of acting sheriff until the elections next year; in spite of everything that’s happened, they should be giving you a call very soon.”
“I’ll let you two rest. We’ll be in touch about the rest of the details, and we’ll let you know when we identify the pieces of his body from the blast,” Booth said, walking out the door.
Ness started crying—she placed her head on her brother’s chest as she cried. En Passant had truly taken everything that he could from her.
29
3 weeks later . . .
Ness and Wyatt stood under the large maple tree in North Utica’s cemetery, and they looked at the gravestones sitting in front of them. They stood in silence for several minutes as they choked back the tears.
“He was supposed to be safe at the Inn,” Wyatt said. His arm was still in a sling after the bolt pierced his shoulder and tore through his muscles.
“I’m so sorry, Wyatt. All of this was my fault,” Ness wiped the tears from her eyes.
“No, Ness. You are just as much a victim here as any of the rest of us. Eddie Rose manipulated you into thinking that everything he was teaching was for your benefit. He wanted this. This is all on him,” Wyatt placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Wyatt, I’m going to turn myself in. It’s the right thing to do,” Ness said and straightened her posture as she regained her composure.
“No, you’re not,” Wyatt whispered.
“But it’s only a matter of time until the police in Chicago link the crimes committed there to me. They might be more lenient if I turn myself in, and I might get a reduced sentence,” Ness said, moving the grass with her shoe.
“There’s nothing linking you to the crimes. I made sure of it.”
“But, how is that possible?” Ness narrowed her eyes at Wyatt.
“That buddy of mine in the Major Crimes Unit swapped out your hair follicles with some we found in Eddie’s house. As far as the police in Chicago are concerned, Eddie Rose murdered Henry Martin, and he died in a tragic cabin fire in the woods,” Wyatt smiled at her.
“How did you get Eddie’s hair?” Ness seemed overwhelmed with emotions and unanswered questions.
“Well, when you burned the house down, the blaze didn’t destroy all of the house. Some of the master bedroom and bathroom were still intact. Robert Wilcox managed to find a brush in the bathroom that belonged to Eddie, and he s
wapped out the samples in evidence.”
“Why would he do that for me?”
“Well, he owed me a favor and was more than happy to help us out, considering that was the guy that killed Mom,” Wyatt looked back at the gravestones.
“So, what happens now? Everything has changed so much,” Ness said.
“Now we try and find a new sense of normal in our lives. You can keep the house and Dad’s truck, or we can look at selling them, if you prefer. Anyway, that’s not something we need to think about now. I’ve been elected as sheriff until the next election, and Lindsay is on a long road to recovery,” Wyatt cleared his throat. “Speaking of which, I’d really appreciate it if you stayed with us on a semi-permanent basis. Lindsay is going to need quite a bit of help getting rehabilitated, and with me needing to go to work as the new sheriff, there will be times that I will be away from home. I don’t want to leave her alone,” Wyatt shifted his weight from one leg to the other.
“Of course, I will,” Ness leaned in and hugged Wyatt. “Everything is going to be ok. Eddie is dead, and we will find our new normal. It’s what they would have wanted for us. They wouldn’t want us to sit around and mope. They would want us to get on with our lives and lead happy ones at that, Ness smiled at her brother to try and lift his spirits.
“Let’s get out of here. There’s an upcoming press conference about the death of the En Passant Killer, and many people are going to want to talk to us and find out what happened,” Wyatt said.
Ness nodded and walked forward to the gravestones. She held four red roses in her hand and laid one for each of her parents and grandparents. She blew a kiss to them and walked back with Wyatt.
“Wyatt, can I ask you something?” Ness walked beside him.
“Sure.”
“Are you sure that Eddie was killed in the explosion?”
Wyatt touched her arm, and they stopped walking. “Why would you think that he wasn’t?”
“I don’t know. He did run very quickly through the cabin, and there is a possibility that he could have made it through a window on the other side before the bomb detonated.”
