Not this time.
Whatever was happening up there wasn't being done for his benefit, and whoever was doing it had no idea they were drawing near.
If able, he would rather have the police up there with them, but as Alice had said, they would never make it in time. Alice and he were the only chance the person had. They had to act or forever live with the guilt of walking away.
Another scream.
He shivered, memories of seeing terrorists beheading contractors and journalists on the Internet appearing in his mind. Those screams had really gotten to him, and they had been coming from halfway across the world. This one was right here.
"Any idea who that is?" Alice asked.
"No," Brian said.
The two continued on, the level of the terrain getting to the point where they had to bend forward to keep balance, almost as if they were climbing up a moderately sloped roof. It wasn't an angle one could fall off of, but it was sloped enough that if one did slip they could tumble down quite a ways, breaking bones.
Two minutes later, it leveled back out, and from what Brian could see, it looked as if it would stay this way, the only thing in the distance visible through the trees being the top of a rocky cliff-like buttress, one that he was fairly sure they would not be climbing.
And then a new scream echoed, this one close enough that they could hear the wetness of tears within it.
Brian turned to look at Alice.
She looked back at him for a moment, but then shifted her gaze over his shoulder as something moved in the brush behind him, her eyes going wide.
Brian felt a chill dance across his spine and slowly turned.
Standing before them was a filthy young lady, her clothes barely clinging to her body, nipples clearly visible where her breasts had been exposed, a chain padlocked around her throat, the end dangling toward the ground where it ended in a large ringbolt. In her hands she held a rifle, her finger hovering over the trigger, the barrel pointed at them.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
Brian was too startled to answer.
Alice seemed in a similar state.
The girl put the rifle butt against her shoulder, taking aim. "I'm not going to ask again."
It was not a bluff. Brian wasn't sure how he knew this, but he did. If they didn't tell her their names, they were going to die.
"Brian," he blurted, voice barely recognizable as his own.
The girl shifted her gaze toward Alice.
"Alice," she said, voice equally panicked. "Alice Goldman."
A moment of recognition appeared on the girl's face. "Goldman?" she asked and then shifted back to Brian. "Brian Goldman?"
Startled, he nodded and then, fearing she was still in an “answer or I shoot mood,” said, "Yes."
The girl hesitated, gun wavering a bit.
"Annie?" Brian asked, everything clicking. It had to be her.
She didn't reply right away, nor did she lower the gun.
"Annie," Alice said, taking a step forward.
Annie shifted, gun now taking aim at Alice's chest.
Alice stopped, her hands raised. "Annie. Brian has been looking for you. He came here to meet you like you two discussed, and when they told him you never showed up, he knew something was wrong."
Still nothing.
"What happened?" Alice asked.
Annie continued to stare, her hesitation evident, and then said, "She came into my room. I woke up just as she leaned over to put the rag on my face. I then woke up again in the trunk with a bag or something over my head and threw up. I was in there for a long time, and then she finally stopped, pulled me out, and took me to him."
The gun was still pointed at Alice, and with the telling of her short tale, Annie seemed to be growing more and more agitated.
"Annie," Alice said. "Do you think you could lower the gun?"
Annie didn't lower the gun.
"Annie, please," Alice urged.
"He thinks he's Bigfoot," Annie said.
"Annie, please lower the gun," Brian said, his initial relief that this was Annie fading fast.
Annie looked at Brian. "He thinks he's Bigfoot," she said again. "I tried to tell him he wasn't, but he says that his mother was raped by a Bigfoot in the woods and that he's more ape than man. He says that he'll have to kill me soon before I have Bigfoot babies because that will make Cheryl jealous. He's obsessed with her and thinks they'll eventually live together in the cave."
"Annie, do you know if Cheryl is a part of this?"
Annie seemed puzzled by the question, and rather than answer it she said, "I've set a trap for him, come on." With that, she suddenly turned and headed back into the brush.
Stunned, Brian looked at Alice, who looked back at him.
They then started to follow, steps hesitant at first, but then becoming more solid.
Less than a minute later, they emerged from the brush into an area that butted up against a small cliff, one that was just shy of being two stories high.
A whimper echoed.
Brian looked to the right and gasped while Alice said, "Oh my God!"
38
Cheryl pushed the ATV as hard as she could once she was on the path behind her house, one that would eventually lead to the old logging road that she had tried to keep Brian from discovering when she had gotten them “lost” the day before. The entire journey down the mountain had been an attempt at discouragement for him, one designed to keep him from going up into the wilderness areas himself while staying in Crystal Creek.
All because Beverly suggested it.
She had claimed she wanted Cheryl to waste his time, to convince him that Annie was a quack so that they wouldn't be bothered while continuing their search for the buried treasure after he had left.
Cheryl should have known something was off about that. Looking back, it was so obvious, but at the time two days earlier…
She gave a mental shake of the head.
Annie wouldn't have simply given up.
Cheryl should have realized this when Beverly told her the girl hadn't made a reservation and had never planned on staying at the Crystal Creek Motel. It simply didn't ring true given how persistent Annie had been in communicating with Cheryl about the video that had been sent to her from Margaret's phone.
Instead, the bitch was trying to set me up!
The anger that had been a companion since finding the phone suddenly intensified.
Hurt was present as well.
The two had been lovers for a long time, and now she couldn't help but wonder if it had all been a farce.
Had Beverly ever truly had feelings for her, or had she simply been using her?
Was that why she never got off when they were together?
But why?
It was obvious that this outcome hadn't been in the works for years. Margaret's journey to Crystal Creek and her subsequent rape and murder wasn't planned out in advance.
Was there something else?
Had Beverly had other plans that were then usurped by the more recent events?
She'll tell me.
Cheryl didn't care if she had to beat the girl bloody. After everything that had happened, and after she had been forced to crack Jeanne's head open like a melon, Cheryl was confident in her ability to extract some information from the bitch.
And then I will kill her.
Following that, she would return to her house, and if the bodies had still gone undiscovered, which she was certain would be the case since no one lived near her anymore, she would rig up a harness for them and drag them up the mountain on the ATV. Whether or not she could actually get them into the cave would remain to be seen, but that would be her goal, and once they were in there, she would find a way to bring the cave down so that they would never be found during her lifetime.
What if she isn't up there? Cheryl suddenly wondered while emerging from the woods onto the main road up the mountain and following it to the turnoff for the old logging road, one that
was nearly impossible to see from the road unless one knew right where it was.
No answer arrived.
She would deal with the situation as it unfolded.
39
The pain in her right knee was so intense that Beverly could barely comprehend what was happening around her. In fact, she hadn't even realized Annie had disappeared into the trees until she came back with Brian and Alice. Seeing them brought relief, though it was short-lived. They were not going to help her. Annie was who they had come to see, and now that they had found her…
She didn't know what would happen and didn't even dare to hope for a release from the ropes that held her to the tree.
40
"Oh my God!" Alice gasped upon seeing the woman tied to the tree, her wrists pulled up and around the trunk so that her back was arched at a horrific angle, all while she stood on one leg that was barely able to keep her body balanced. The other leg had been bent backward and pulled up at a twisted angle before being tied to the same branch that held her wrists.
"Beverly?" Brian said.
Hearing her name, Beverly shifted her gaze toward him a bit, pain evident upon her face.
He turned to Annie. "What's going on?"
Annie grinned and said, "She's bait."
"Bait?" Alice asked.
"For Brendon. Her brother will eventually come back. He always does. And when he hears her screaming he will come to try and free her, and that's when I will kill him." Annie walked up to Beverly, who flinched at her approach. "See, watch." With that she slammed the rifle butt into Beverly's knee, causing the girl to let out the most horrific scream Alice had ever heard.
"Annie!" Alice cried. "You can't—"
Annie spun toward her, rifle raised.
Alice stepped back a bit, hands once again lifted.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Brian said, palms out toward Annie.
"She gave me to him!" Annie screamed, spittle flying. "He fucked me over and over again until I was bloody! Every chance he got, he would climb on me while wearing that filthy costume, grunting against his mask as he rammed it home."
"I know, it sounds horrible, and I can't even begin to imagine what it was like," Alice said, "but you can't do this to her. If you do, you'll end up in jail just like they should."
"Only if you tell the police," Annie said, gun still pointed.
"No one is going to tell the police anything," Brian said, palms still out. He turned to Alice. "Right?"
Alice hesitated.
"Right?" he asked again.
"Right, of course not," Alice said. "I'm just worried that they'll be able to figure out what happened once they find the bodies." She looked at Annie. "You've seen CSI and all those forensic shows, right? You know that they can piece together things with the tiniest clues."
"CSI is bullshit," Annie said. "They don't have that kind of technology out here and even if they did, they would have to find the bodies first."
"Okay, you're probably right," Alice said. "But I still think you should just let the police handle this. We can all go down there together. We have a car not far from here. You'll have nothing to fear. We'll get in it and head to the police and everything will be fine."
Annie seemed to consider this. "What if he attacks us on the way to the car?"
"There are three of us and we have a gun. I think we'll be okay."
"Plus," Brian added, "we could take Beverly with us as insurance. Her brother won't attack us if we have her."
If Beverly understood what they were saying, she didn't react to it. Instead, her face simply stared at the ground, tears dripping.
"She won't be able to walk," Annie said.
"What? Why?"
"Because I shot her in the knee."
Alice looked at Beverly and the way her leg was bent, horror unfolding, especially when she considered the impact into the knee with the rifle butt. What Annie was doing to this poor girl was torture, pure and simple, and she was now smiling about it, the moment of fear that had appeared when they suggested they walk down to the car having completely faded.
"Please," Beverly said, voice weak. "Don't let her—"
"Shut up!" Annie cried and ran forward to hit her in the knee again.
The impact and scream that followed sickened Alice, and before she realized what she was doing she was charging toward Annie, hands ready to grab the rifle.
"Alice!" Brian called, worry present.
Annie spun around at the sound of his voice, leveled the rifle, and fired.
Alice felt something sear her arm, but she didn't stop and soon had her hands on the rifle itself, the two struggling for control.
"Let go!" Annie screamed, saliva spraying everywhere.
Alice kept a firm grip, but to her horror it didn't seem to be enough. Annie was strong, and despite everything she had been through during the last several days, she started to get the upper hand.
"Brian!" Alice cried. "Help!"
He did, his hands joining in the struggle, Annie screaming with fury as the two overpowered her.
41
Cheryl heard a scream and a gunshot while down in the old logging camp and knew something serious was happening up by the cave. What exactly that was, she couldn't imagine and didn't bother to speculate on. Instead, she simply started up the trail. Once there, she hovered in the brush, pistol drawn, while Brian and his wife struggled with a girl she didn't recognize.
Could that be Annie? she wondered, having only ever seen the girl while looking at images on Margaret's phone.
Who else would it be?
And then she saw what appeared to be a chain around the girl's throat. It had to be her. Beverly and Brendon had been keeping her in the cave since her arrival.
A shiver passed through her.
She didn't even want to begin to speculate upon what Brendon had done to her while inside.
Her eyes settled on Beverly, her body looking completely broken as it was trussed up to the tree.
Annie had been enacting revenge, it seemed.
Somehow she had gotten free and then gotten the jump on Beverly.
As unexpected as that was, Cheryl couldn't help but be amused by it.
What if Beverly tells them you're involved?
Chances were Beverly would continue with the attempts at setting her up, and while Cheryl doubted it would be enough for them to release Beverly and focus on her, it would be enough for them to share with the authorities what Beverly had told them. The authorities would then investigate her and likely figure out something to charge her with, especially if they were able to connect her with the fire at Chief Parker's place and the bodies. And even if they didn't connect her to anything, they would likely grow suspicious if she suddenly found the treasure herself.
Beyond the brush, Brian and his wife managed to get the gun away from Annie, who at first acted subdued but then lashed out with her fingernails, one hand catching Brian across the cheek.
Alice, who was holding the gun, seemed unsure what to do, and after a moment’s hesitation tried to grab the chain that was dangling from Annie's throat with her free hand, only to have it ripped from her grip as the two went tumbling to the ground.
She shouted in pain and took several steps back, gun in one hand, the other held out.
Blood was visible on her fingers.
More was visible on her upper arm when she twisted, the light gray color of her T-shirt displaying the blood quite nicely where it had oozed out near the tear in the fabric.
Had she been shot?
If so, that meant both her limbs were damaged, which would make her using the gun with any accuracy difficult. And with Brian struggling with Annie, who now was biting him, Cheryl could easily take control of the situation.
Do it.
She did, stepping out of the brush with the gun pointed up in the air, finger pulling the trigger quickly to get their attention, and then leveling it on Alice.
42
Beverly lifted her head when she heard th
e pistol shot, confusion at what she was seeing getting the better of her for several seconds. Then, "Cheryl?" she asked, voice barely audible. In fact, it wasn't audible to any of them, it seemed. Cheryl was focused on the three, while they were focused on Cheryl. No one seemed to realize she was even there.
Was she really there?
Could this all be some horrible nightmare that she was about to wake up from?
She shifted a bit, pain erupting in her knee.
No, this wasn't a dream.
And no, she wasn't going unnoticed, not after the scream she let out from the pain. Unlike her voice a few seconds earlier, that was clearly audible.
"Someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on here?" Cheryl asked. She had her pistol on Brian's wife, probably because she was now holding the rifle. Her eyes, however, were on Brian and Annie, who were on the ground. Annie's face was covered in blood.
Beverly tried to shift again, this time without moving her damaged knee.
Pain in her other leg appeared, but that wasn't as bad as what happened in her knee whenever it got jolted.
And then she smelled it.
Something was burning.
It completely snagged her attention.
Something was on fire, something big enough for the smell to reach them.
A gust of wind followed. It brought a tiny bit of smoke.
None of them seemed to notice, or if they did, they didn't seem to care.
43
Two fingernails had been ripped free by the chain, and a third was torn at the quick, all of which was making it seem as if her hand was on fire. And then there was the wound in her other arm. At first it felt like she had been grazed by the bullet, but now that the adrenaline was fading she was starting to rethink this. It hurt way too much for it to be a simple graze. A bullet had to be in there, and if not, it had to have passed through more of her arm than she had thought, tearing things up. Not that any of that mattered now. Cheryl was aiming a gun at her chest and would likely fire if she did so much as take a sudden breath.
Crystal Creek Page 19
