The Girl in the Darkness

by John Triptych

  She placed the earring on Zoe’s hand. “Here, hold onto this.”

  “What … is it?”

  “My cat earring, remember? Just hold onto it,” Samantha said. “As long as you hold onto it, you won’t die. Trust me, okay?”

  “I trust you … I love you.”

  Samantha knew she had to do something. She placed Zoe’s hands back on her chest before standing up. “Hold on, I’ll get you help. Hold on, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  She held her hands out in front of her and started feeling her way until she got to the ladder. He had told them never to touch the ladder, or they would be severely punished. Her hands gripped the steel rungs as she contemplated climbing up and banging on the metallic hatch to get his attention, but she sensed he would be so angry, he might just kick her off the ladder and she would fall to her death. There had to be another way.

  While the ideas filtered through her head, she remembered the metal cup. He had given them steel mugs because they kept breaking the glass in the dark. His specific instructions were never to bang them along the walls or with each other, but he didn’t say anything about the ladder.

  Crouching down, Samantha began feeling her way along the floor until she stumbled on one of the tin cups. After turning around and making her way back to the ladder, she stood beside the rungs and started tapping it with the cup. The metallic reverberations started to echo across the chamber. For a long while, all she did was stand there while her hand swayed back and forth, continuously striking the metal rail.

  She didn’t know how much time had passed, but she soon sensed movement above her as the rattling of the chains began and the clicking sound of the bolt being loosened. The shaft of bright light that came on down blinded her, and she had to cover her eyes as usual.

  The voice of fear gave out an irritated bellow. “What’s going on down there? I told you never to do that!”

  “It’s Zoe,” Samantha said. “She’s really sick.”

  “Back away from the ladder,” he said tersely.

  Samantha did as she was told, her hands continuing to shield her eyes from the intense radiance. She could hear him coming down the squeaking rungs and she continued to back away until her spine bumped against the side wall. He carried a powerful handheld spotlight, which he would sometimes use on her if she got too unruly. Samantha hadn’t seen the light of day in years, and she had to keep her eyes tightly closed. She would hold up her arm for additional protection from the intense waves of light whenever he came down there.

  His voice seemed to be right next to her. “You better not be lying to me.”

  “I’m not lying,” Samantha said. “Please check her. She’s in a lot of pain.”

  “Stay where you are. If you move I’ll kill you.”

  Samantha didn’t say anything. She just nodded while crouched down at the corner. She could hear him walk over to where Zoe was. Samantha tried to squint in order to see better, but the light all around her was still too intense. Even with her eyelids closed she still saw the unstoppable brightness—like her eyes were on fire.

  “I’m going to take you up,” he said to Zoe. “If you try anything stupid, you’re dead.”

  She heard him pick Zoe up, draping her over his shoulder and he started to walk towards the ladder. As the metal rungs began to creak while he climbed it, Samantha heard Zoe’s voice. It would be for the last time. “Goodbye, Sam. I’m … off … to… the beach.”

  Samantha’s last glimpse of her best friend was Zoe’s hand dangling from above. She could see the cat earring’s in her friend’s palm. Tears fell down her cheeks. “Goodbye, Zoe. I love you! Remember what we talked about.”

  And then the trap door above was shut, plunging her into darkness once more. Samantha fell on her knees and started sobbing.

  Fifteen

  Brenda stood up and brought the pot closer to him. “More coffee, Tom?”

  Tom Breen smiled as he held his cup to receive more. “Just half a cup is good for me, Brenda, thanks.”

  “Here you go,” Brenda said. She tilted the coffee pot just a bit before placing it back down on the table.

  They were sitting on the side porch, facing the wooded area. The entire lot comprised almost three acres of largely untouched forest around them. Brenda remembered the afternoons when she would spend it with Samantha as they frolicked around in the woods. Her daughter loved to explore along the tall grass and they would always play hide and seek in the late afternoons. As Samantha grew older, they steadily began to drift apart, and she would no longer acquiesce every time Brenda would suggest that they go out and do some exploring, preferring to watch TV alone in her room or just hang out with her friends instead. Whenever her recollections got to this point, Brenda would subconsciously reset it back to the time when Samantha was younger, and her mental recording would start all over again.

  While looking out into the woods, Tom had a different recollection. His first time at the property was during that chilly night when Brenda’s daughter disappeared. He was out there with the other deputies, their flashlight beams cutting through the darkness, the looming trees around them assuming a sinister, concealing aspect. By early morning, they had walked back to their parked vehicles, finding absolutely nothing. He remembered seeing Brenda falling to her knees, sobbing while her husband tried his best to prop her up and console her defeated spirit. All he could do was just stand there with the others, trying to keep a straight face. All those years had passed, and now here he was again, doing his best to put those old demons to rest.

  Brenda continued to smile as she turned and looked at him. “I’m really keeping you from having fun, aren’t I?”

  Tom chuckled while scratching his silvery moustache. “What makes you think that? I’m enjoying myself out here. Staying too long at my house gives me cabin fever.”

  “You should have brought your wife.”

  “Alice? It’s okay, she had to do a few things and wanted to help out at our neighbor’s kids birthday party. She’s fine.”

  Brenda was somewhat surprised. “Oh my god, I didn’t know you were supposed to attend that! I’m so sorry.”

  Tom kept on laughing. “It’s okay. If anything, you’ve saved me. I can’t stand our neighbors, they have this dog that barks at me every time I leave the house and their kids are so damn noisy. I prefer the quiet out here with you.”

  “That is so sweet. Thank you, Tom,” Brenda said.

  “No, thank you,” Tom said. The other reason was that he felt he owed her for not solving the disappearance. Every time he couldn’t close a case it bothered him to the point where he stayed awake all night. What made this case so special was the nagging feeling that a little girl was still out there somewhere, begging to be found. The moment he heard about the body in the basement of that burned house, his chest began to ache. His wife, sensing his sudden change asked him what was wrong, but in the end he just couldn’t tell her. Not long after he called up the sheriff, letting his good friend know that he would be willing to do volunteer duty to help them out if they needed it.

  Brenda placed her own cup down on the table and looked out into the woods. “I used to love walking out there. When Sam was just a baby, I used to carry her in my arms and just move around the trees, telling her about the little animals and all that. She couldn’t even talk yet, but I knew she understood me.”

  Tom nodded. “Yeah, this is a good property you got out here. It’s absolutely perfect.”

  Brenda gave out a sigh. Even with Tom around, the demons were knocking on her door again. She made eye contact with him once more, only this time her lips started quivering. “When I found that cat earring at the shelter … I thought, I thought … for one minute that it was a sign from God. I thought of Sam.”

  Tom sensed this was coming. He got up, moved closer and sat down beside her on the outdoor sofa. “I understand. You were coping well, and then that happened. It’s okay, sometimes things just jolt us like that, and the bad memories
come back. It’s happened to me too.”

  She looked down at the folded hands on her lap, trying her best not to cry. “For a moment, I thought … I thought I had some hope.”

  Tom placed a comforting hand on top of hers. “It’s okay, you can still keep hoping. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “I like to think,” Brenda said. “I like to think …. that she’s forgiven me, and she’ll come back again someday.”

  “It’s a good thought,” Tom said. “And you did nothing wrong, Brenda.”

  “But … but I slapped her for not doing her chores. It was my fault. I-I never did that to her before.”

  Tom shook his head. “No, no. Don’t think that. It wasn’t your fault at all.”

  “I …. I just got angry,” Brenda said softly. “And now I don’t even know why I did that.”

  “It’s okay,” Tom said. “Alice, my wife, she slapped our eldest when he was a kid too. He was smoking marijuana, and we caught him.”

  Brenda looked at him again. This time she had tears in her eyes. “If I didn’t slap her … maybe, maybe this all wouldn’t have happened.”

  Tom gave out a soft sigh. “You can’t think like that, Brenda. Samantha was going through puberty. Kids get unruly and sometimes you have to discipline them.”

  Brenda brought up her other hand to wipe the tears away with a napkin. “It set her off. I keep reliving that event in my mind … over and over. If only I hadn’t slapped her … she wouldn’t have stormed off like that.”

  Tom adjusted his eyeglasses. He felt he needed to steer her away from the sense of misplaced guilt. “Brenda, just stop, okay? You can’t keep torturing yourself like this. I have said this to you thousands of times and I’m going to say it again. It. Wasn’t. Your. Fault. Got it?”

  Brenda exhaled slowly. Tom was helping her to put the demons at bay once again. The pounding, droning noise in her head finally stopped. “Thank you, Tom.”

  Tom leaned away as he let go of her hand. “That’s better. I know it’s hard sometimes, but you’ve got to let things go. We’re still looking for her, and the moment another clue turns up the sheriff’s department will get to it. So please … stop worrying.”

  “Alright, I’ll do as you say, Tom.”

  “Good,” he said. “I’ll tell you what, would you like to head over my place right now? We could join my wife at my lousy neighbor’s kid’s party. What do you say?”

  She giggled while shaking her head. “Oh Tom, I couldn’t. Thanks for the offer though.”

  Tom winked at her. “Why not? You still look gorgeous you know. When we first met, I couldn’t help but think of how lucky Jeff was in marrying you.”

  Brenda continued to laugh. His flirting was awkward, but it was putting her at ease. “Oh, you.”

  “You sure you don’t want to go?”

  Brenda smiled and shook her head. “I think it’s better I just stay here for now. If you need to go it’s alright.”

  Tom leaned back on the sofa. His stomach had gotten bigger over the years, and the last thing he wanted to do was to go to a party and eat more. His body was slowing down, age had finally overtaken his vigor. He retired because he just couldn’t take the physicality of the job anymore. His knee would flare up from time to time. “I can stay for a little while longer. Hopefully the party would have wound down by then and Alice is back at the house.”

  “Stay as long as you like, Tom.”

  “Why thank you kindly, ma’am, I…” Tom’s phone started ringing. He held up his hand to excuse himself from the conversation before placing the cell phone in his ear. “Tom Breen. Hi. Yes. You did? Okay … okay …. Good lord …. Okay, thanks for letting me know. I’m with Mrs. DeVoe right now and I’ll pass it along to her if you don’t mind. Okay. Thanks. Bye bye.”

  Brenda straightened up as she heard Tom mention her name. “What … was that about?”

  Tom placed his hand over hers once again. “They identified the subject in that basement room at the Brooke Road house. It’s a young woman named Zoe Owen. Her family lived in Quantico Station at the Marine base. Her parents didn’t report her missing since they thought she had run away.”

  Brenda placed her other hand over her mouth. “Oh my god. Was she kidnapped?”

  “They don’t know at this point,” Tom said softly. “It usually takes awhile to get all the facts, Brenda.”

  “That man who they arrested, is he going to be tried for her murder?”

  “That’s what the district attorney is trying to do, but if you ask me, I think the case is pretty flimsy. There’s no direct connection to him and Zoe’s body in that hidden room,” Tom said.

  “But … but, he was in the same house, right?”

  “Yes, but it’s all circumstantial,” Tom said. “For the authorities to have a solid case against him, they need to find evidence that ties him directly to the girl’s death. At this point, we don’t even know how she died yet.”

  “Then why is the DA committed to the trial?”

  Tom sighed. “He’s under a lot of pressure.”

  “Do you think the man they have will be found guilty?”

  Tom shook his head. “From my experience, I think it’s highly unlikely unless new evidence is found.”

  She stared into his eyes again. “Tom, do you think he did it?”

  He let out a deep breath. “I don’t know. That’s the honest truth.”

  Brenda looked away. “I understand.”

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “Yes. A part of me is glad it wasn’t Sam, but there’s that guilty feeling too. Now another family is grieving out there.”

  “I see.”

  The sadness had drained away from her, replaced somewhat by a small kindling of hope. Samantha could still be out there. She still had something to live for. “Maybe Sam will come back, and maybe she won’t. But I understand it now.”

  “Okay.”

  “I think I’ll go back to the animal shelter tomorrow,” Brenda said with finality.

  Tom smiled. “That’s good. Keeping busy is a good way to deal with things.”

  She blushed. “Yes, and I’d like to thank you too.”

  “Thank me? Whatever for?”

  “For being patient with me,” Brenda said. “I guess I … I just needed to talk to somebody about this. I needed somebody who could understand, and you’re the best man for it.”

  “Oh it’s no problem at all. I got time and you always brew a great cup of coffee,” Tom said.

  “I want to thank you anyway,” Brenda said. “I couldn’t talk like this to Jeff. We just drifted apart once Sam was gone.”

  Tom nodded. “Jeff has had to deal with it too. He’s coping in his own way.”

  She sighed. “Yeah, I wish I was a man, you guys seem to get through this stuff with hardly a grunt!”

  “Men and women have a lot more in common actually,” Tom said. “It’s just that men tend to internalize things more.”

  “Good point.”

  Tom’s phone beeped twice. He took a look at it before returning his attention to her. “Alice just texted me. Looks like the party is over and she’s walking back to the house.”

  “Better get going then,” Brenda said. “Don’t worry, I’ll tidy up here.”

  He stood up and hugged her. “I had a great time out here. If you need me, just call again and I’ll happily drop by.”

  “Could you bring Alice next time? Maybe I could cook some dinner for the both of you.”

  Tom beamed at her. “Sounds good! Just let me know a few days ahead of time and we’ll be right over.”

  “Okay, Tom.” They shook hands and he walked off the porch before giving her a wave.

  He started walking over to the driveway. “See you later.”

  Brenda waved at him. “Bye, Tom.”

  When she heard his car start, she sat back down. He was right. She couldn’t keep living in the past. Getting back to a routine was the best way of dealing with the pain. As she
sat there thinking about it, an idea crossed her mind and quickly grabbed her attention. It was time to truly give back to the people who cared about her.

  After walking back into the kitchen and placing the tray on the counter, Brenda moved to the living room couch and sat down. She leaned over, took out the phone, and began dialing a number.

  A few rings later, Cherry Wilson’s voice was on the other line. “Sherptons Mill Animal Shelter, this is Cherry. How may I help you?”

  Brenda was smiling as she spoke. “Hi Cherry, it’s me, Brenda. How are you doing?”

  “Oh, hi Brenda! I’m doing well. How’s it going with you?”

  “I’m okay,” she said. “Say, I wanted to ask. The cat with the earring on its collar, how’s it doing?”

  “Hang on, Fernando is just across the room, let me ask,” Cherry said. There was another brief conversation with Fernando Lopez before she continued on the phone. “He says the cat’s fine, just has to stay confined for a few more weeks so it doesn’t have a setback.”

  Brenda bit her lip. She made her decision. “Cherry, you remember when you always asked me if I would finally adopt one of the animals?”

  “I sure did, hon.”

  “Well, if no one has taken that cat yet, I could have it live with me. I’ve got plenty of room.”

  Cherry started laughing. “You sure do, hon. No one has had any interest in the cat, and I’ve actually scheduled it to be put down tomorrow so it’s perfect timing. Let me get the paperwork started on it then. When would you like to come on over?”

  “How about right now?”

  “Sure, I’ll see you then!”

  Sixteen

  Addison Draper held the smartphone to her ear as she sat in the front passenger seat. “Yeah, okay. Thanks for letting us know. Bye.”

  Mike Arnold was driving. They were zipping along Sturgeon Point Road after finally getting an address for the possible whereabouts of Caleb Vize. The early afternoon sun was out again, and it was obvious that it would be a hot day. “So what did they say?”

  “The crime lab got a match on Zoe Owen’s dental records from the Marine base at Quantico,” Addison said. “So with the DNA matching then it’s a double positive ID.”