Dumping Grounds (Joshua Stokes Mysteries Book 1)

by Lila Beckham

  “You did good, Son,” Joshua said, placing a hand on Metcalf’s shoulder. “Now, all we have to worry about is the paperwork.”

  “We still have to identify all these women, Sheriff. We’re gonna have a heck of a time doing that.”

  Joshua looked around the room. “Yeah, I know Son, but at least these two maniacs won’t be killing anymore women or men either for that matter. I found their stash of men’s heads in a cellar beneath the barn. Must have been a dozen or so of them; they most likely belong to the bodies found over in George County. None of them were old and dusty like some of the female heads in here were though.”

  “We will eventually get to the bottom of it all, Sheriff. I’m just glad we could save that girl, Emma.”

  “Too bad, we didn’t catch them sooner; we could’ve saved a few more.” Joshua was thoughtful.

  46

  Restless Hearts

  The distance from the back porch to the sandbar was not far, but to Joshua’s aching body, it seemed a mile.

  Stars dotted the night sky; some bright, some dull; some that twinkled, seeming to move slightly toward him and then away from him.

  Joshua lay on his back, listening to the river as it flowed lazily by, pulled south toward the gulf waters. Contemplating, searching his soul, watching the night sky for shooting stars. He and his mother had done that quite often when he was a child. Joshua had thought about her all the way home from Citronelle.

  After years of pushing her from his thoughts, the day she left was as fresh in his mind as if it had occurred the day before.

  It was a bright sunny day in April, a few days after his twelfth birthday. He had come home from school and rushed into the house, expecting to find his mother in the kitchen with cookies and milk waiting for him on the table. He always shared his day with her as he ate them, but his mother was not home. She never came home.

  His father never said much at all about her leaving; at least not to Joshua. The only thing he said to him was that she had a restless heart. Saying someone has a restless heart, does not explain much to a twelve year old who misses his mother and wonders where she is.

  However, after what he saw in Citronelle, Joshua wondered if his mother left by choice. He even wondered if her head was among those on the shelves in the trophy room. After all, some of them looked as if they could have been there thirty or forty years.

  Even now, a grown man, it hurt his heart to think of her. It was painful for him to look back to that time in his life. Involuntarily, he winced as he forced himself to face his thoughts, even the darkest of them.

  Joshua knew his mother would never have left him of her own free will, especially not like that, without so much as a word. She adored both him and his father and she had treated them like royalty.

  He wondered how or why his father could have accepted that she had run off and left them. They were always loving toward one another and they never argued that he was aware of, and he was sure he would have heard them if they had. His bedroom was next to theirs.

  One night, after his mother left, he was lying on the hood of his father’s car watching for shooting stars. He heard his father come out onto the porch.

  “You have a restless heart like your mother did,” his father said, looking up toward the sky. “One day, you’ll wander off and never come back, same as she did.”

  His father’s voice quivered slightly and Joshua wondered if he was crying.

  He seemed sad much of the time. It was the first time he had referenced his mother in weeks.

  When Joshua questioned him about his mothers leaving, he walked into the house and ignored the question. After that, Joshua never asked him about his mother again. Joshua now wondered about his father’s use of past tense when he referred to his mother’s restless heart. Did his father suspect she was dead?

  Looking back, Joshua realized that no one ever spoke of his mother after she left. He never knew his mother’s family. He figured it was because she was from Mexico. At least he thought she was from there. For all he knew, she could have been born right there, in Mobile County. Her parents could have been some of the migrant workers that frequented the area.

  On the other hand, maybe what Jimmy James, an older boy at school who use to pick on him, said was true.

  Jimmy James told him his mama was a McIntosh Cajun and when Joshua got mad and tried to slug him, he knocked Joshua down and kept on saying it, rubbing salt in the wounds. Calling her a McIntosh Cajun, was the same as calling her a nigger.

  Everyone knew that after the Civil War, the freed slaves went there and mixed with the Indians…

  When Joshua told his mama what Jimmy James had said, she smiled and told him that Jimmy James lacked self-confidence, which was why he picked on others.

  After his father died, Joshua searched the county marriage records looking for information on his mother. All he found was that she had listed her parents and place of birth as “unknown.” When he asked his grandmother Stokes about her, she told him all she knew about his mother was that she was raised in the Catholic Orphanage in Mobile and his father had met her in high school at a football game.

  The orphanage closed in the early 1940s, no one he asked knew where the records were stored. Joshua had given up searching for information after that.

  On his way home from Citronelle a song called Simple Man, by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd played on the radio. The singer’s words brought back memories of conversations Joshua had with his mother, but he was not sure if they were real or imagined.

  It would be hard to remember exact conversations after all those years; it had been almost forty years since she disappeared. He barely remembered her face. He did have a picture of her somewhere; it was in a box in one of his closets.

  The words of the singer “come sit beside me, my only son” brought with them a flood of memories; like the one about Jimmy James. Maybe that was when she motioned for him to come and sit beside her on the couch.

  He remembered his mother patting the couch and motioning for him to come sit beside her. He did not remember looking at her face, only at her hands she had folded and laid in her lap after patting the couch.

  He remembered her telling him that everything was going to be fine. She told him the good Lord would take care of everything as long as they were diligent with their prayers and respectful of others.

  Joshua believed himself to be a simple kind of man. He did not want much out of life. All he needed was a roof over his head, and he wanted to be left alone when he was not in the mood to talk.

  Occasionally, he became lonesome and needed female companionship, but he did not need a woman around permanently; he had proven that by staying single all these years.

  As he lay there thinking of his childhood, more memories of his mother returned. Joshua remembered how much his mother liked going to church. She went every time the doors opened and she usually took him with her.

  She had given up Catholicism and converted to Pentecostal Holiness. The little Jesus Name cinderblock church she attended was on Snow Road.

  The preacher there was very loud when he preached. Some called him a fire and brimstone preacher. He held a bible aloft in one hand and shouted, sometimes to the point of excreting spittle as he spoke. His silver hair would flap around his head as he became more animated.

  The churchgoers would shout, jump up and down and dance around the church… Joshua would be shivering on the pew. He thought all of them were foreigners. When they danced around the room, they spoke a different language.

  Later, he learned that when the power of God fell on Pentecostal people, they spoke in tongues.

  The West has its Latter Day Saints, the North, its Amish people, and the South has an abundance of Methodists, Catholics, and Southern Baptists, but none has the enthusiasm of the Pentecostal believers when it comes to worshiping the Holy Spirit. They worship with abandon when in the Spirit.

  Joshua had seen grown men jump up and down with their arms straight up, r
eaching toward the heavens, their hands going up and down through a turned on ceiling fan. He kept watching for their hands to be cut slap off the ends of their arms, but the blades never touched them.

  Once, the old silver haired preacher suddenly stopped preaching, gazed around the room, and then said there was a demon amongst them!

  He told the church to keep their thoughts and their hearts on God and repeat after him. He said the name of Jesus three times in a row; so did the members of the congregation. On the last Jesus, the backdoor of the church opened and closed on its own. He thanked the Lord for ridding them of the demon and then went right back to preaching without missing a stroke.

  Joshua had not set foot in church, other than to attend his father and grandparents funerals, since his mother left. He regretted it sometimes, and he figured he would probably go to Hell for it, but he’d had no desire to go. He knew there was a God and he knew there was a Devil; he had seen too much not to believe in them. Maybe one day he would go to church; he figured he still had time to redeem his soul from the Fires of Hell.

  Yes, the more he thought on it, the more he knew his mother would not have left on her own. Something had to have happened to her; either something that his father did not know about or he had something to do with her disappearance… The latter thought, was not really a possibility in Joshua’s mind.

  He did not believe his father could have hurt his mother, no matter what she did, even if she had been screwing around with another man. However, Joshua did not think that had happened either.

  He believed that Vernon and Earl’s father had abducted his mother and killed her. That was why she disappeared without a word. Joshua stood and walked back toward the cabin.

  He dug a hole under a silver birch tree at the corner of the back porch and buried Jack. Then he sat down in his rocker, lit a smoke, and poured a glass of whiskey. It was going to be another long night.

  47

  Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

  Emma awoke from a drug-induced haze. A dark, shadowy figure loomed over her causing fear to rise up inside her. She tried to move, but discovered her arms were tied down. Immediately, she thought she was back in the dungeon. Panic set in. She began to holler out, struggle and jerk at the wrist tabs that held her down.

  “Emma, it’s alright, it’s me, Sheriff Stokes.” Emma heard the voice, but it was vibrating, echoing. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, shaking her lightly.

  Joshua could see the fear in Emma’s eyes as he tried to wake her. He had not meant to scare her, but he had been waiting in her room for over an hour and she had not awakened. He wanted to let her know that Earl and Vernon were dead and they would never hurt her or anyone else again.

  Slowly, Emma realized that it was the sheriff talking to her and her fear subsided somewhat, but she wondered why she was tied down.

  “Sheriff, is that you?”

  “Yes, Emma; it’s me.”

  “Why am I still tied down?”

  “Because of the drugs in your system, the doctors were afraid you would pull the IV lines out and hurt yourself. I am sure they will remove the restraints, now that you are awake.” Emma was relieved they would untie her. She wanted badly to get up and walk around without fear.

  Emma felt another hand. This one was holding her left hand.

  “Emma, can you hear me? Its mama,” Pearl said, relieved that Emma was finally waking. She had been asleep for over twenty hours.

  “Mama, is that you? How did you find me?”

  “Yes, Honey, it’s me. The Sheriff sent a deputy to fetch me,” Pearl said cheerfully, and then her mood sobered. “I am so sorry I did not realize sooner that you were missing. But-”

  “Hush Mama, don’t worry. I’m alright now, that is all that matters,” Emma assured her. Joshua hated to interfere with their reunion, but he was ready to go outside. He needed a smoke.

  He did not know what he was expecting Emma to say or do, or what her reaction might be. He was not looking for a pat on the back; he simply felt he had to reassure her of her safety, especially after what she had gone through while in Vernon and Earl’s captivity.

  “Emma, I just wanted to make sure you knew that Earl and Vernon are both dead. They will never hurt you or anyone else, ever again.”

  “Thank you, Sheriff Stokes. I don’t think I could have survived another day if not for you. They were getting ready to kill me. I knew they were not going to change their mind. They knew that I knew too much to let me live. At least, I knew you would look for me. They knew it too, though. I think that hurried their decision to finish me off.”

  “Whatdayamean, you knew he would be looking for you?” Pearl asked, perplexed, looking from Emma to Joshua for an explanation. Emma smiled, “I’ll tell you about it after the sheriff leaves, Mama.” Joshua knew then that he could leave without much ado.

  “If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to come see me,” he said, lightly squeezing Emma’s shoulder.

  “You can bet on it, Sheriff. There is one thing you can do for me on your way out,” Emma said seriously. “Tell them to please get in here and take these restraints off me.”

  “I certainly will,” Joshua said as he headed toward the door. He stopped by the nurse’s station, told them that it was safe to remove the restraints, and then went down the elevator to the main floor.

  He was about to head toward the parking lot when he heard a familiar voice. It was Hannah Stringer.

  “Sheriff, I just wanted to thank you for saving my niece’s life. That poor girl, I can only imagine the hell she’s gone through the last few days.”

  “She seems to be handling it pretty well, now that she is alert. At least, she knows those two won’t be bothering her or anyone else, ever again.” Joshua said, reassuringly.

  “I hate to say it Sheriff, but them being dead is not going to make a big difference. I know that from experience. I still have nightmares of Autry Reston bushwhacking us at the river, shooting Lacey, and then chasing me through the woods, trying to kill me. And I know for certain he’s dead.”

  Joshua did not know how to respond to Hannah’s blunt statement. All he could think of to say was that he was sorry for what they had gone though.

  He felt somewhat inadequate.

  After they talked a couple of minutes, Joshua excused himself, saying he had to get to the station. What he really wanted was to get home, sit on his porch, drink some whiskey, and smoke a joint. He felt he deserved one after all he had gone through the last week or so.

  He was tired, sleepy, and just plain miserable.

  When he drove into his yard though, he knew there would be no rest for him. He was surprised to see Hook’s old work truck parked beside his patrol car.

  “What the hell you up to, Hook” Joshua asked, as he got out of his truck and walked over to his patrol car. Hook had both front doors open and his legs were hanging out the passenger side.

  “I come by here to check on you and that boy from the garage was here replacing the tires on your vehicle. When he finished, I saw that you still had not installed your 8-track player; it was laying on the seat.

  I know how fond you are of your music, Hoss. So’s I figured I would lend a helping hand. I just finished hooking up the speakers; she’s ready to try out now.” Joshua could not help but to smile. He had missed being in control of his listening pleasure.

  James turned and sat upright in the passenger seat. Joshua went around to the driver’s side and crawled in. He fished through his collection of tapes and chose Steppenwolf; then inserted the tape into the player.

  “Be right back,” Joshua said, getting out and walking toward his cabin. James watched. When Joshua returned, he had a small pouch of tobacco and some rolling papers. He sat down and began rolling a fat one.

  “Confiscated this from Junior Vice a few months ago,” he said “it ought to be some good shit; home grown.” Joshua lit it and sucked in a lung full then passed it to James. They both hit the joint several times b
efore they spoke again.

  “Well, did you catch our goat molesters?” James asked.

  “Not exactly, Hook. Ended up having to kill both of them, wouldn’t no stopping em if you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah I do, Hoss, yeah I do. So, was they the ones that killed my goats?”

  “Yep, it was them alright. They even had your goat’s heads mounted on the shelves with the heads of the women they killed. Bad thing about it, I think they learned it from their old man. Some of the heads in that room was older than they were.”

  Remembering the heads of the women on the shelves caused Joshua to think of his mother. He still wondered if her head was among those there.

  “Da’yum, you don’t say.I knew something wouldn’t right with those boys. They was strange from the get go then. If their old man was like that, they didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell of being normal.”

  “What’s normal, Hook? Sometimes, I don’t even know what that means anymore.”

  “Look Hoss, don’t kid yourself. You have not lived this long without knowing the difference.”

  “Yeah, I reckon I do.” Joshua said thoughtfully.

  “I know you do. You was the one that kept us from getting into too much mischief during our teenage years,” James said before hitting the joint again, holding his breath.

  Joshua suddenly blurted out what had been on his mind since the day before. “Hook, I think their old man killed my mama. I don’t think she just took off like my father said she did.” James choked on the smoke he was holding down as he exhaled.

  “We was just boy’s back then, Josh.” James said between coughs. “I barely remember your mama. I know she was at church every time we went until I was about eleven or twelve, then y’all just stopped coming. Don’t remember anything else or ever hearing anybody say anything bad about her.”

  “Do you remember when I was dating Annabel Pierce, in high school?”

  “Of course I do, had a crush on her myself. She sure was a pretty thing and plumb full of mischief!”