“Was it?” Mira asked.
“Not at all. I guess we’re just kind of picking up where we left off.”
“That’s good.”
He now had a more serious expression on his face. “Who was the little girl you said you saw in there?” he asked. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled a small photograph out of his wallet and showed it to her. “Is this who you saw? She’s my niece, Priscilla.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. The girl I saw bears a slight resemblance, but not much.”
“Could it be that it’s her spirit, like my sister thinks it is?”
“Your questions are valid, Doc, but the answers could be premature. If you don’t mind, I prefer to wait until I know more.”
“Certainly. I understand.” Barns brushed a few fuzz balls off the top of his shirt. “I meant to tell you in there that I wanted you to come in and join us after a while, but my sister...well, she doesn’t have a lot of faith in...psychics, clairvoyants—people like that.” He quickly added, “Mind you, I did tell her that you were different, but she’s just not ready yet. Apparently, the people she’s seen after Priscilla’s disappearance haven’t been giving her much hope and instead, sending her on wild goose chases.”
“I understand, Doc. If I experienced what she went through I might feel the same way.” She gazed outside of the parked car for a few moments, then said. “You brought me here for a reason. I’m here to do whatever I can—with or without your sister’s help.”
Barns smiled. “Sounds great! Best to head to the police station now, huh?”
“Yes. Let’s see that Detective your sister mentioned was working on the case.”
“I didn’t…tell you that. How’d you know that?”
“As you and Rachelle were speaking, in my mind, I was able to decipher only portions of the conversation that I needed to know.”
Barns’ jaw dropped.
“Doesn’t mean I heard everything I needed to know,” she clarified. “Think you’d better fill me in, just in case I missed something.”
Barns shook his head and cranked the engine. “Unbelievable! Off to the precinct we go.”
* * * *
They were standing inside the police station, waiting for the young officer to acknowledge them. He was crouched down behind the counter rummaging through some shelves underneath.
“I’m sorry.” He stood up as soon as he heard someone clear their throat. “Good afternoon. How can I help you?”
“We’re here to see Detective Paige Cleare,” Barns said. “Would she happen to be in?”
“May I ask who’s inquiring?” the officer asked.
“I’m Doctor Barns and this is my colleague, Doctor Cullen. I’m here to inquire about my niece’s case.”
“Your niece’s name please?”
“Priscilla Wigby.”
The officer stared at Barns for a few moments, then picked up the phone and made a call.
“A Doctor Barns is here to check on his niece, Priscilla Wigby’s case.”
Apparently, there was a brief lull on the line before he said, “Okay” and hung up.
“Detective Paige will be right out,” he said.
A few minutes later, a tall, curvaceous woman wearing a gray pants and jacket, joined them at the counter.
“Doctor Barns?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m Detective Cleare.”
“Detective, this is my colleague, Doctor Cullen. We’re here from Mizpah. My sister, Rachelle Wigby, mentioned your name. She said you were handling the investigation into my niece’s disappearance.”
“Yes, I am,” she replied. “Of course, the case is still open and I’m one of several detectives who were feverishly working on the disappearance of those in that school bus,” she said. “Would you like to join me in my office?”
“Thank you,” Barns replied.
They followed her to an office near the rear of the building and Paige waited for Barns and Mira to sit before taking a seat, herself. “Is there anything specific you had in mind to ask me?” she soon asked.
Barns looked at Mira, then his eyes met those of the detective again. “First of all, I want you to know that Doctor Cullen here is a very close friend of the family, so nothing you say here is off limits to her.”
Mira felt a bit odd by Barns’ remark, but appreciated his acknowledgment.
“That’s fine with me,” Paige said.
“I’d like to know the status of the investigation three years after the incident,” Barns continued.
Paige noticed his emphasis of the three years. “Doctor Barns, I’m going to be completely honest with you...”
“I’d expect no less,” he hastily interjected.
“No expense has been spared by this department to solve this very puzzling and troubling case. After several months in and the case stalled, we wasted no time bringing in outside assistance—experts who had stunning records of cracking the toughest cases out there, including cold cases. And just like us in this precinct, they weren’t able to find anything that pointed us in the direction of what happened that day. There has not been any collection of trace evidence, whatsoever. Nothing.”
Barns had listened attentively and was now analyzing what he’d just heard. “So, you’re saying that in three years, you’ve come up with nothing? Nothing at all?”
With a combination of frustration and embarrassment quickly filling every pore and crevice of her face, Paige sighed. “All we know is a portion of the route they took, which was Highway 60, because the bus was reportedly seen by drivers between 9:25 and 9:40 that morning. No one has come forth to say they’ve seen them at any point in time after that,” she stated.
Mira leaned forward. “How far did they reportedly make it to on that road—the distance from where they made the turn onto the highway to where the bus was last seen?”
Paige thought for a moment, then retrieved a rolled-up map from one of her desk drawers. She opened the map and spread it out on the desk. Barns and Mira stood up to get a good view of it.
“This is where they were last seen.” She pointed. “Right here at this junction. We’ve searched left and right—in every direction they could’ve possibly gone.”
“Do you mind if I took a snapshot of the location with my camera phone?” Mira asked the detective.
“Not at all,” Paige replied.
She zoomed in and captured a picture of the location. “How do we get to this Highway 60?”
Paige explained to them as clearly as she could, while Mira scribbled down the directions.
“You plan on taking a drive, huh?” Paige asked.
Barns glanced at Mira, then said, “Possibly. Um…what about the pastor whose ranch they were headed to?”
“He took ill a year after the incident and he and the boys moved away to San Francisco so he could get treatment,” Paige replied. “He swore that the children never arrived at his ranch which has been closed down permanently since the day he left for treatment. I don’t know if you’re aware, but two busloads of kids from that same school went to the ranch and returned, as expected. Your niece and the others made the third busload that were on their way there and they were the last group the school intended to send for a while.”
“How odd.” Mira noted.
“I’d say,” Paige glanced her way.
“So, you don’t have any clue at all what might have happened to them?” Barns asked Paige.
She shook her head. “I’ve thought about this case a thousand times; came up with different scenarios as to what might have happened; checked out everything that I and my colleagues could possibly think of and I’m still at a complete loss. I know it sounds bad, but you came here for the truth.”
Barns nodded, in agreement.
“I will tell you though, that I’ll never give up—even if I’m the only one who won’t in this precinct. I tell you that from the bottom of my heart. I have kids of my own and I feel for the parents of those chi
ldren and the family of those adults who were chaperones that day. I want you to believe that. I know your sister has had an especially difficult time coping. She was in here every week for years.”
“She’s suffered another nervous breakdown over this,” Barns informed her.
“I heard, and I’m very sorry. I really wish I could’ve done more to help.”
He stood up and straightened his shirt. “I’m sure you’ve done what you can.” He then looked at Mira, who got up as well. “We’d better be going now. Thank you, Detective, for your time.”
“Please take my card and feel free to call at anytime to check up on the case.” Paige handed him the card with her direct line and cell numbers printed on it.
Barns slid out his wallet and tucked the card in. “Thank you.”
“What did you think?” he asked Mira as they headed to the car.
“It’s a shame they haven’t been able to come up with anything,” she said. “As for us, I think we need to do two things: We need to speak with the mother whose child didn’t board the bus, then we need to go on a little ride on Highway 60.”
“Today?”
“No. Let’s wait ‘til tomorrow. It’s been a long day.”
They stopped at a fast food joint on their way to Rachelle’s house. Once at the house, Mira refused to see the child’s room until the next day. She took Rachelle’s room while Barns took what used to be his mother’s, and left the door to Priscilla’s room closed, the way they met it. They turned in early that night in order to get a fresh start in the morning.
8
_________________
Shortly after six o’clock the following morning, the draft carried a slight stench of rotting trash from the public dump, situated on the western edge of town. Gertrude Evans had just pulled up to the stoplight on Vanderville Lane seconds after the light turned red.
With her window rolled halfway down due to a crack in the seal of her car’s air conditioning system, she was humming to a familiar tune on the radio, when suddenly, she felt a splash of something hit her face and an unusually warm sensation accompanying it, which quickly turned into a furnace-type heat. Simultaneously, she noticed her left eye socket experiencing a similar pain which was now beyond excruciating. Within seconds after she’d felt the splash, Gertrude was feeling her face and screaming as the skin melted off onto her hands. She exited the car in full-blown hysteria, desperate for help, but the only person in sight was a blonde, straggly-haired guy sitting on a bench near the stoplight. He was holding an empty jar in his hand; laughing and pointing at the woman he’d just mercilessly attacked by throwing acid through her car window.
* * * *
Barns woke up a little after eight o’clock that morning feeling rejuvenated. He went into the bathroom, washed up, then headed into the kitchen in hopes of finding something to cook for breakfast before Mira woke up. Peering into the refrigerator, he pulled out a carton of eggs and a small package of bacon.
Within minutes, the smell of cooked bacon surreptitiously entered Mira’s nostrils, and unable to ignore the delightful smell, she rubbed her eyes and took a good, long stretch. Feeling a bit tired still, she figured a strong cup of coffee was just the thing she needed.
Sauntering into the kitchen, she was delighted to see that Barns had already taken care of everything. Waiting for her on the table were a plate of toast, scrambled eggs and bacon, and a large cup of coffee.
Rachelle had a neat, little table set in a corner of the kitchen as there was no separate dining room. The house was fifteen hundred square feet, very tidily kept and modestly furnished. Mira was surprised Rachelle had been able to upkeep the house in spite of her grief.
“Good morning, Doctor Cullen. Please take a seat,” Barns said with a smile.
“Why, thank you, Doc! This is great.” She sat down and immediately used the cream and sugar nearby to mix her coffee just the way she liked it.
Barns brought his plate of food over and joined her at the table.
“How long have you been up?” she asked, after taking the first sip of her coffee.
“Not long. About a half an hour maybe.”
She glanced around. “This is a nice place your sister has here.”
“It used to be my mother’s house. She left it to Rachelle.”
“I see.”
“My stepfather, Rachelle’s dad, who was just like my own father, bought the place a few years after he and my mom married. I was a teenager then. Rachelle was very young. He worked long hours at the factory for this house.”
“Things were so much harder back in the day, huh?”
“Well, it terms of earnings, I’d say so. But back then, people, in my opinion, were a whole lot nicer. If you were short on sugar or flour, or whatever in the house, you could walk right over there to your neighbor’s house and they’d gladly give you what you need. Everyone was pretty much their brother’s keeper, you know? And even though times were tough, they all struggled together. These days, people aren’t quite that way anymore. It’s every man for himself.” He took a sip of his coffee.
Just then, they heard a knock at the front door and Barns rested his coffee on the table. “I wonder who that could be.”
Mira arched her eyebrow. She wondered the same thing.
Barns got up and walked into the living room. Pushing the front curtain aside, he looked out on the porch and saw a heavy-set woman with a young boy standing with her.
He opened the door. “Can I help you?”
“You Doctor Barns?” the woman asked. The boy was looking down and sliding his feet continually on the spot in which he stood.
“Yes… and you are?” Barns asked.
“The name’s Angie. The boy here’s my son, Johnny. I heard you were looking for us.”
Barns cracked a smile. At the same time, Mira appeared behind him at the door.
“Well, I had asked about you and intended to come to your house today in hopes of speaking with you. I see you’ve beat me to it.”
“Nurse Bella’s a nice lady. She called yesterday and told me to expect a visit from you. I figured after dropping the old man off to work this morning just down the road from here, why not stop and see what you wanted?”
“That was very gracious of you, Angie. Forgive my bad manners, please come in and sit down.” Barns stepped aside.
“This your madam?” She nodded to Mira on her way to the couch.
“No.” Barns grinned. “This is Doctor Cullen, a colleague and friend.”
“I see.”
Mira extended her hand to her. “It’s nice to meet you Angie. And you too, young man.” She smiled at Johnny, who’d sat down on the couch with his mother, leaving a generous gap between them.
“I’m really sorry about what’s happened to your niece and your sister,” Angie said as Barns and Mira sat down as well.
“Thank you. I can imagine how you felt after you heard the news about the others that day, knowing your son was safe and sound,” Barns said.
“Yeah. I was grateful I’d heeded my instincts and kept the boy right home with me like I said I would. I told them other parents in the meeting that day they’d be foolish to send their child off to some so-called spiritual camp, but obviously none of them paid me no mind. Now, look what happened to their kids! They all thought I was just being a big, fat nuisance, but now they see I was right.”
“What made you so resistant to the trip?” Mira asked her.
“I know he’s dead now, but I didn’t like that preacher man they brought in who was running the whole ranch deal with his boys. I know he had a good reputation around these parts, but I just didn’t trust him. I’ve seen a lot of so-called miracle workers bamboozle people out of their hard-earned money, telling them what they wanted to hear—entertaining them and using Christianity as a cloak. Some of those prophet people are the worst, I’d say. They seem to hypnotize people into thinking they’re God and folks become totally dependent on them; it’s pitiful. I lost a couple o
f long-time friends on the count of me voicing my opinion about a so-called prophet or two whose church or conference they were frequenting. It’s stupid, I know, but they look up to these people as if they’re God Himself. They get lost in what they’re telling them and if anyone disagrees, they’re the enemy. Know what I mean?”
Barns and Mira were both nodding.
“My resistance to this next one—this particular preacher man is what saved my boy from being a victim right along with everyone else who rode on that bus that day.”
“So, Angie,” Barns crossed his legs, “...what do you think happened to all those people?”
She sighed deeply. “I think they might’ve gotten held up on the way or something like that—maybe by a group of bikers from out of town. I’m only guessing. And maybe after they held them up and robbed them, they just got rid of everyone—adults and children alike. I can’t think of anything else that might’ve happened. I considered the bus could’ve broke down and maybe they were stranded as a result, but not for three years. Definitely not! I’m sure someone had a cell phone; they could’ve made a call. So, I think the biker scenario makes more sense. I went into the precinct and told the cops that too. Don’t know if they looked into it, but...”
Mira looked at Johnny who was quietly twiddling his thumbs. “Johnny, how do you feel about losing so many of your classmates like that?” Mira asked him.
“Sad,” he said, still focusing on his thumbs.
“That’s a hard thing for a kid to have to deal with,” Mira said. “We’re you and Priscilla friends?”
He looked up momentarily. “She was all right. We played together sometimes.”
“She’s one of the only few who never called my boy any names,” Angie interjected. “That’s why I don’t mind sitting here this morning talking with y’all. Johnny told me countless times about how the other kids in his class used to tease him ‘cause of his weight, but he always spoke well of that Priscilla.” She looked up at the portrait of the child which clung to the living room wall. Priscilla had silky black, wavy hair and a pretty face. “I heard she had some problems at home here with her mom; was kind of getting a bit unruly—wanting to stay out later than she should and all, but I gather the girl had a good heart—just some challenges she needed to work through with her mom. Guess that never happened. Sad as hell that her mom now has to live with that.”
Wicked Little Saints Page 4
