by BJ Bourg
Virgil hesitated. “I can’t believe it would be…”
“Who, damn it?” I needed the name.
“Keenan Tipton…he does most of my deliveries.” He shook his head. “But I can’t see him hurting anyone. He’s a gentle guy. His own wife cheated on him and left him for his best friend, but he did nothing about it. He didn’t try to fight the other guy…he didn’t beat his wife over it…nothing. He turned to drinking and drugs and lost everything because of it.”
“Did he deliver the envelope containing the paternity results to Nehemiah?”
“No, I delivered that one myself.” Virgil sighed heavily. “Gretchen found me in a moment of weakness. She was miserable with Nehemiah and she was looking for a way out. She wanted me to take her away from Nehemiah—for both of us to leave our spouses and run off together. I tried explaining to her that I couldn’t leave Skylar. We had too much going on. I’d lose everything if we got divorced. Hell, in this economy, I’d be living in a cardboard box somewhere if I got divorced. Gretchen was desperate. The last time we were together, she told me she was pregnant and the baby was mine. When I told her I couldn’t have kids, she ran off crying and we haven’t been together since.”
“Don’t you mean you’d lose half of everything if you got divorced?” I asked, remembering how Skylar had also said she’d get everything.
“Like a fool, I signed a postnuptial agreement while I was in the hospital recovering from my knife wounds. At the time, I was terrified of losing Skylar and would’ve done anything to keep her.” He shook his head and frowned. “She gets everything if I commit adultery.”
“What if she commits adultery?”
“She wouldn’t do something like that. She’s too good of a person.”
I nodded slowly, studying Virgil’s face closely. The man had no clue about his wife cheating on him. “If she cheated on you and decided to divorce you, who else might be affected by that decision?”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s say she knew about you and the preacher’s wife. Let’s say she decides to get revenge on you for all of your past indiscretions and she starts sleeping with some random guy. She falls for this guy and realizes there’s life after you, so she decides to go through with the divorce, citing your relationship with Gretchen as cause.” I paused while he mulled over the scenario I laid out. “If that were to happen, who else would lose everything?”
“I mean, Keenan would be out of a job unless she kept him on, but she can’t run the investigative business.”
“So, Keenan would be back in a cardboard box, too?”
“I guess so.”
I looked at Dawn and she nodded. We needed Keenan’s DNA.
After telling Virgil to sit tight, Dawn and I walked into the lobby, where Warren was sitting in a chair playing on his phone.
“Where’d Keenan and Skylar go?” I asked.
He shot a thumb over his shoulder. “They’re outside smoking.”
Dawn and I rushed out the door and scanned the parking lot. It was empty. They were gone.
CHAPTER 57
“Did Keenan know about the postnuptial?” I asked Virgil when I burst through the door to the interview room.
“Yeah, I mentioned it to him.”
“Did you also mention where you and Skylar had sex?”
He hesitated, then said, “I mean, sure…we talked shop from time to time.”
“Where’d you and Skylar have sex for the third time?”
“Why?” There was a confused expression on Virgil’s face. “Where’s Skylar?”
“She left with Keenan and only God knows where they’re heading.”
“Do you think…?”
“Yeah, I think Keenan switched the envelopes and began killing women as a warning to Skylar to stop cheating, but she didn’t.”
“Cheating?” Virgil instantly deflated. “Was she really? But with who?”
“That doesn’t matter right now—what matters is finding Keenan before he crucifies Skylar. Where’d y’all have sex for the third time?”
Virgil jumped to his feet and began pacing in the small space behind the desk. “Um…we had sex in New Orleans that third time, but Keenan wouldn’t know about it. I never told him.”
“Well, what did you tell him?” I asked pointedly. “I need to know all of it.”
“I told him about our first time in the boat and our second time behind the tractor shed, but…” He licked his dry lips and stopped walking. “Our third time was in the alley where I got cut, but I didn’t want to tell him about it because it was disrespectful of me to bring a strange girl to the same spot where Skylar and I made love, so I never mentioned it.”
“Well, what did you tell him?” Dawn asked, chiming in impatiently.
“I told him about the railroad tracks behind Plymouth East.” Virgil’s face turned pale as he glanced at the clock on the wall. “I told him we had sex on the tracks as the train was barreling down on us and we took some railroad spikes as souvenirs.”
“Where exactly on the tracks were y’all?” I asked, already heading toward the door.
“It was a hundred yards north of where the tracks intersect with Plymouth Highway.”
“Stay here!” I ordered Virgil and waved for Dawn to follow me. As we hurried to the parking lot, I got on my phone and called the sheriff to let him know what was going on. He was inside the building and I had run right by him, but I wasn’t wasting time to stop and tell him. If we were right about Keenan, we might already be too late. The train passed at ten o’clock every night, and it was already nine-thirty.
I was ending the call with the sheriff just as Dawn and I got into her car and she sped out of the parking lot. I called Rachael next and told her to head to the end of Plymouth Highway as fast as she could. I accessed Dawn’s onboard computer and pulled up a driver’s license photo of Keenan Tipton.
“If you see Tipton on the railroad tracks with a woman, shoot him immediately.” I ended the call and glanced at the dash clock. “We’ve got to move it!”
Dawn was already traveling as fast as she could along Highway Three without crashing. While she was concentrating on the road, it didn’t stop her from issuing a warning. “If you ever ‘talk shop’ to one of your buddies about our sex life, I’ll cut you off for two days.”
“Only two days?” I asked, relieved.
“Yeah—that’s about as long as I can go without being with you.”
We both laughed, but it was a hollow laughter. We knew the danger Skylar was in and we knew we couldn’t predict how this night would end. It was a terrifying prospect. I didn’t want this bastard putting his hands on another woman, but I didn’t know if I could stop him in time.
Dawn slowed down just enough to turn onto the bridge. We zipped across and nearly went airborne as we got onto Plymouth Highway.
“Do you really think Keenan knows about Skylar, and he killed Kathleen and Debbie as a warning to her?” Dawn asked.
“I think he killed Kathleen and Debbie because they were supposed to die for their sins—at least, according to his spiritual leader—and he used their deaths as a warning to Skylar.” I shook my head. “I don’t think he would’ve spared Debbie if Skylar would’ve stopped seeing the farmer, and I don’t think he’ll spare her even though she did stop sleeping with the dude. In his warped mind, she sinned against God and her husband, and there’s only one just outcome—death. And by killing Skylar, he protects Virgil’s assets forever.”
Dawn was quiet for a long moment and I glanced at her. She was staring straight ahead, gripping the steering wheel with both hands. I knew she was thinking about more than this case, so I asked what was on her mind.
“Please don’t ever cheat on me.”
I reached over and squeezed her arm. “That’s something you’ll never have to worry about.”
“Did Bethany worry about it?” Dawn asked quietly.
“That was one of many mistakes I’ve made in my life,” I said, “a
nd I’m not proud of it. But I can tell you this—I learn from past mistakes and don’t repeat them.”
After sitting quiet for a while, she smiled and her brown eyes glistened in the blue police lights. “I believe you.”
“Besides, I’m too afraid to piss you off,” I said as we plunged deeper into Plymouth East. “You might slice off my balls and drop them in a garbage disposal.”
She grunted and I got on the radio to ask for all the responding officers’ locations. When they radioed me back, I realized Dawn and I were going to be the first unit on the scene.
CHAPTER 58
Dawn shut off her blue emergency strobes and headlights and pulled to the side of the road as we neared the end of Plymouth Highway. I pointed to a pickup truck parked across the railroad tracks about twenty yards ahead of us. “That’s them.”
There was a first quarter moon shining above and it painted our surroundings in an eerie glow. While I didn’t like how much it illuminated us, I knew my scope would be able to gather enough light to clearly see Keenan and Skylar. I was also encouraged by the fact that there had not been enough time for Keenan to erect a cross yet, so we were in time to save Skylar, unless—
The thought that popped into my head spurred me into action. While Dawn grabbed her flashlight and drew her pistol, I snatched my Accuracy International sniper rifle from my drag bag and slipped out of the car. Keeping our heads on swivels, we made our way quickly but quietly toward the truck, keeping to the darker shadows of the trees.
Dawn went straight to the truck to search it. As she did that, I flipped the legs on my bipod down and stretched out on the ground in a prone position, facing north. From somewhere off in the distance came the blaring horn of the train, but it was immediately drowned out by a bloodcurdling scream.
I’d never heard such pain and terror ripped from the vocal chords of a human being before and it made my skin crawl. I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart and peered through my scope, searching the length of railroad track ahead of me. The backdrop of thick trees and shadows made it difficult to see. I lowered my view, using the lighter backdrop of gray rocks to try and discern human figures along the way.
The train horn blared again. It was drawing closer, but was still miles away.
Blinking sweat from my right eye and ignoring the mosquitoes buzzing around my head, I focused on the area from which the screams were emitting, and suddenly saw movement close to the ground between the rails. I tightened the focus on my scope and saw the shadow of an arm rise and fall. A few seconds after it fell, I heard a metallic ding and a new chorus of tortured screams coming from the female voice. I couldn’t recognize it as Skylar’s, but knew it had to be.
The arm rose again and I quickly traced it back to where the head should be. As soon as my crosshairs hovered over the dark circular shadow that was the bad guy’s head, I squeezed the trigger.
The dark figure collapsed forward and muffled the screams of our victim.
“Go! Go!” I hollered to Dawn as I scrambled from my position and rushed forward, taking my sniper rifle with me. “We need to get her off the tracks before the train gets here!”
The tracks were situated atop a levee of rocks that plunged steeply into the trees below us. It was impossible to drive a vehicle beside the tracks, so we had to go by foot. We rushed the hundred yards to the victim and dropped beside her. I pulled the bad guy roughly off of her and confirmed that it was Keenan. Dawn began assessing Skylar’s condition.
Skylar was screaming out in pain. Dawn shined her light over the woman, not knowing where to start. I winced when I saw that Keenan had nailed her spread-eagle and naked to the railroad ties. Large railroad spikes had punched large holes in her wrists and feet.
“Take a deep breath,” Dawn warned, and then tried to jerk Skylar’s left wrist free of the spike. Skylar screamed louder than earlier and Dawn quickly apologized, glancing north toward a bend in the track where the train would soon appear. “We won’t be able to jerk her free.”
I tried to wiggle the spikes loose, but they were too deeply imbedded in the railroad ties. We didn’t have the tools to remove them and we couldn’t rip her arms and feet over the head of the spikes. I cursed silently and glanced in the direction from which the train was coming. It had to be traveling around sixty miles per hour and, at that speed, it would need more than a mile to stop. The bend in the tracks was about two hundred yards away. Even if the conductor applied the emergency brakes immediately upon rounding the curve, the train would stop long after mowing us all down.
Realizing there was only one option, I snatched up my rifle and broke into an unsteady run, heading north as fast as my legs could carry me. On a flat surface and wearing full sniper gear, I could run a mile in eight minutes—not even close on these loose rocks.
Dawn began hollering from behind me, telling me I was on a suicide mission and begging me to come back.
I ignored her cries, drawing closer and closer to the oncoming train. I held my breath as I rounded the first bend in the tracks, and breathed a sigh of release when I was met with an empty length of tracks. In the dim glow from the moon, it looked like the next bend in the railway was about a thousand yards away. I leaned into my run and pushed my legs as hard as I could.
When I rounded that corner, I heard the horn’s blare and realized it was almost reckoning time. I could actually see a glow through the trees and knew I was running out of real estate. I had to get at least a mile away from Skylar and I had to exercise my plan before the train got to within 440 yards of me. If the train was traveling sixty miles per hour, I’d have about fifteen seconds to get my ass off the tracks. If it was traveling much faster…well, I was in trouble.
My legs burned and I could feel them slowing down. I gritted my teeth and forced myself forward. I had gone at least a mile, but I needed more room. I was pushing on when the bright eyes of the train roared around the next curve up ahead. My heart raced as I continued running toward the train. It felt unnatural. I should’ve been running away from it, not toward it.
I tried to gauge the distance as I continued on a collision course with this steel monster, its two eyes beaming ominously as it barreled down on me. I knew I’d only get one shot at this, and I’d have to fire four rounds—one at each of the headlights and the crossing lights.
One mile…half a mile…a quarter mile…
I skidded to my left knee and shouldered my rifle. I panned from left to right, taking out the left crossing light first, then the left headlight, the right headlight, and the right crossing light. I fired the rounds as fast as I could, working the bolt like a machine. When I’d pulled the trigger for the fourth time, I threw myself toward the side of the rails. All of the lights blinked out and the conductor—his visibility now gone—instantly applied the emergency brakes.
CHAPTER 59
Dawn’s head jerked up from Skylar when she heard four gunshots in rapid succession. They were booming reports and she knew it was London’s sniper rifle. “What in the hell did you do, London?” she wondered aloud.
Immediately following the gunshots, brakes screamed and loud hissing sounds emitted from the darkness to the north. The train was trying to stop—London’s plan worked!
As she continued listening, she realized the train was moving way too fast. Will it stop in time?
Her eyes wild and her heart racing in her chest, she stared blindly into the darkness. The ground shook. Somewhere off in the distance, the train skidded toward her location, the wheels screeching in protest.
As the sound grew nearer, she held her breath and stared. Within seconds, she caught sight of an ominous shadow cloaked in smoke rounding the bend and heading straight for them. It didn’t look like it would stop in time. It was still going too fast.
“God, help us!” Dawn hollered, throwing her body on top of Skylar and holding her tight. Skylar screamed when Dawn’s weight fell over her. She was so blinded by pain that she didn’t realize they were both about to die.
<
br /> Dawn’s eyes were squeezed shut as many things raced through her mind at once. The biggest regret she had as the metal beast bore down on her was that she’d never live to be called Mrs. Dawn Carter—
Dawn suddenly opened her eyes and took a breath. The rumbling had stopped. She was still alive. She looked up and saw the front of the locomotive mere feet away from where she lay.
“Dawn! London! Are y’all okay?” It was Sheriff Chiasson.
Dawn spun around to see a dozen beams of light jostling as the sheriff and his deputies converged on her location. Her mind was whirling. She stood slowly, but felt unsteady on her feet. Someone was cursing from behind her and she turned to see the conductor walk up carrying a large lamp. When his light fell on Skylar’s nude body nailed to the railroad ties, he revolted in horror and vomited on the rocks.
Dawn didn’t wait for the sheriff to reach her. She snatched her flashlight from the ground and began running north along the side of the train, screaming for London as she ran. Knowing London as well as she did, she knew he would stand strong in the pocket and take the shot even if it meant he’d have to sacrifice his own life.
“Please be okay!” she wailed. “Please be okay!”
Tears spilled from her eyes and blurred her vision. She stumbled often and fell twice. The second time she fell, she was trying to push herself to her feet when she heard some noise up ahead.
“Dawn? Is that you?”
“London!” She pushed off the ground just as London reached her and wrapped her in his arms. They both collapsed to the sharp rocks and clung to each other, thanking God and each other that they were still alive.
“I didn’t think it would stop in time,” London said, out of breath. “I thought it would run over you and Skylar. It seemed to be going too fast.”
“And I thought it plowed over you.” Dawn felt for his face in the dark and pulled his lips to hers.
