For the first time in a long time, Ross McEvers rested his forehead on the steering wheel and cried. He didn’t sob. He just let the tears fall. Carly was gone. The house was gone. He didn’t know what to do or who to turn to. Tank had his own problems. Someone had said Michael’s house was fine, so he hoped that was true, but he couldn’t just show up over there, not after he’d moved out. Hell, he didn’t even have any clothes to change into. It occurred to him to just go to the sheriff’s department and bunk in one of the jail cells. At least there he’d have a warm, dry place to sleep, a shower, and food. He’d almost fallen asleep, still crying, when his phone rang. He didn’t even look at the screen, just answered it. “Hello?”
“How you holdin’ up, sweetie?” a slow, female voice asked.
“I guess I’m doing about as well as could be expected, Mom,” he answered, hoping the despair couldn’t be heard in his voice. “I appreciate you checking on me.”
“Yeah, well, I heard from your Aunt Nora what’s going on. Hope those two big shots from San Antonio are actually helping.”
“They are. They’ve been a lot of help.”
“Good. Don’t give up hope, son. Bandera County isn’t all that big. There aren’t that many places she could be.”
Of course! Until his parents had moved to Kentucky, they’d lived in Bandera County all their lives. Then he remembered the bloodhound. “Hey, tell me about Chuck Anderson’s house. How long has it been there? Who designed it? Did they build more houses?”
“I don’t know about that. That was well after we left Tarpley. Call Nora or Patrick and ask them.”
“Thanks, Mom. I will. Love you.”
“Love you too, son, and don’t give up. If you need us, we’ll be on the next plane down,” Debra assured her son.
“Thanks. Talk to you soon.” He fumbled a bit with his phone before calling Michael to get Nora’s number. When she answered, Ross blurted out, “Aunt Nora, I need you.”
“Honey, whatever you need, you’ve got it. You know that. So what can I do to help? Because whatever it is, I’ll do it.”
He could feel his eyes welling and fought to keep his composure. He had to stay strong for Carly. “So, can you tell me about Chuck Anderson’s house? I mean, when was it built?”
“He built it about nine years ago, I guess. His father died and he inherited some money so, along with what they got by selling theirs, they were able to build it. They loved it out there. Nice house. Nice property too. About eighty acres. Belonged to the Brasserts when I was growing up. They had two boys, Obadiah and Zachariah, who went to school with us. Haven’t thought about them in years.”
“Was there anything on it before?”
“Yeah. Used to be a house, long time ago.”
“What happened to it?”
“It burned.”
“Oh. So there was nothing he had to tear down.”
“Oh, no. The original house wasn’t there anyway. It was farther back.”
Ross’s heart almost stopped. “Farther back? How much farther back?”
“Good distance. If you look out the back of the house, there’s a little gravel road that meanders toward the back of the property. There’s a curve in that road. It was back past that curve. You couldn’t see it from the road.”
“Just a house?”
“No. There was a barn back there too. It’s probably fallen down by now, but it was―”
A barn. “Any unusual features?”
“Not that I know of. Just a house and a barn. I heard tell there’s a root cellar under the barn, but I never―”
“Holy shit.”
It took a few seconds before Nora asked, “Do you think―”
“I think it’s a good possibility. I’ve gotta go. I’ll call you back later. And thanks, Aunt Nora. Love you.”
“Love you too, sweetie.”
He hung up and called Pops and Tank, but neither answered, so he called Michael back. “Hey, can you get a first responder out to Chuck Anderson’s place?”
“Fuck that. I’ll come myself. You got an EMT kit?”
Ross smiled. “Right here in the truck.”
“Then get on out there. I’ll start making calls. Go!”
“I’m gone. Thanks, Michael!” Ross almost tipped the truck pulling a U-turn in the street, then roared off in the direction of Chuck Anderson’s house. As he drove, he listened, but he didn’t hear any transmissions on the radio Louie had given him.
Twice on his way there, he saw deputies, and he flashed his lights at them every time. Bad thing was, they knew him, and they just flashed their lights and waved as they drove on past. The one time I wouldn’t mind being chased by the cops and they all think they’re doing me a favor, he thought as he drove like a maniac down the small county highways.
When he got to the Anderson house, he didn’t understand what Nora had been talking about until he walked around the back of the property. It was some distance out, but there was the road Nora had mentioned. It was faint, with grass growing over the gravel, but it was still visible. Running back to the truck, he whipped it around the side of the garage, barreled across the yard, and picked up the road on the other side.
A gasp escaped his lips when he rounded the little curve. There, a good distance from the foundation of the old house, was a barn. It leaned a little sideways, part of the roof was missing, and its wooden skin was warped and grayed by the sun and rain. Sliding to a stop, he took off at a run, then ran back for his kit. Surprisingly, the door to the barn swung open with ease, and Ross stepped into the darkness of the interior.
A root cellar. There were no obvious openings. He did some stomping around, but there was nothing. Then he stepped into the lean-to on the side and a hollow sound rang out from beneath his heels. As he swept away the straw and dirt from the area with the side of his boot, he remembered seeing straw stuck to one of Harlan’s boots. That’s where it had come from. It took a minute or two, but he finally found a piece of rope tied through two holes on a board, and when he heaved at it, the thing flew open and clattered to the floor beside him.
It was only about two feet square, and he wondered if he could even get down there, but there was no going back. There didn’t seem to be stairs of any kind, but he directed the beam of his flashlight into the hole and what he saw shocked him.
A human skeleton.
Ross scooted away in terror. What the hell? He tried to see down into the rest of the area, but it went too far back under the barn for him to get a glimpse. But there were weird scuff marks on the floor, and he followed them to an old rickety wooden ladder lying in the main area of the barn. He dragged it with him and lowered it slowly into the hole. When it touched the ground, there was still about two feet sticking out of the opening. Perfect.
He threw his EMT kit down into the hole first, then descended slowly down the ladder, praying it didn’t fail. When his feet touched the dirt, he grabbed his flashlight, flipped it on, and spun.
Her head was down and she wasn’t moving. Ross grabbed the kit and ran across the small space. “Carly! Carly, baby, talk to me.” Lifting her head with a finger under her chin, he saw the cloth sticking out of her mouth and pulled it free, but it was a struggle. Her mouth was so dry that it stuck to the insides of her cheeks and lips, and he pulled carefully, trying hard not to tear or split the skin. “Baby, talk to me. Carly? Carly, talk to me, babe. Open your eyes.” Checking quickly, he got a weak but steady pulse, so he set about untying her wrists and ankles, then laid her out gently on the ground. Thinking back to his training, he put her on her side, pulled out a bottle of sterile saline, and squirted some in her cheek as it rested there on the dirt. It would absorb through the mucous membrane a lot faster than anywhere else on her body. “Please, baby, wake up? Please, Carly,” he whispered as he worked to get her shirt off so he could get to a vein in her arm. His mini-IV kit from his jump bag was going to come in handy, and he worked to get it started. It wasn’t easy to get a vein with her dehydration, but
he managed, and then pulled out the bag of lactated Ringers. He only had one bag, and he wished he had more. There was little doubt in his mind that she’d have to have several.
Then he waited. He didn’t think he could get her out of the cellar by carrying her up the ladder. Not only was it not sturdy enough, but the hole at the top was too small. He’d have to shove her out, and she could get hurt that way. He checked her over with his flashlight there in the darkness, and she didn’t seem to be bruised up or cut. She was dirty, but that was probably from being down there. At least it was cool, sheltered as it was from the sun and with the dirt walls all around them. He trained his light around the room and saw jar after jar of extremely old canned pickles, okra, and various other vegetables.
Then he took another look at the skeleton. It had been there a long, long time, judging by the decrepitude. There was little flesh left on its bones, and what was there was dried like leather. The clothing had rotted too, and he found a wallet, but body fluids from the decomposition had rendered the documents in it unreadable. He was in the process of putting it back just as he’d found it when he heard a sound. “Uhhhhh.”
“Carly?” He was beside her in a second. “Carly, babe. Can you hear me? Baby, it’s me. It’s Ross. Talk to me, Carly. Please? I can’t lose you, babe. I just can’t. You’ve got to wake up, Carly, right now.”
“My mouth … uhhhhh,” she moaned.
“I know. If you can sit up, I’ll give you some water to swish around in it, okay? But you’ve got to sit up. You could choke. I’ll help you. Let’s do this. One, two, three …”
Ross hauled and Carly sat up, slumped though she was. When he put the bottle to her lips, she drank greedily, and he had to pull it away. “No. Not too much. You’ll get sick.”
“I can’t feel my hands,” she mumbled, and he hoped she didn’t have nerve damage from having them tied for so long. And then he heard it.
The sound of sirens. Thank god. Michael had sent help, and he was grateful for that. They’d have equipment to get her out of the cellar and to the hospital, and that was all he wanted. They got closer and closer, and then he could hear the sounds of tires crunching on gravel, followed by a voice. “Ross! Ross, where are you?”
“DOWN HERE!” he yelled up at the hole. In seconds, a face appeared. “Took you long enough!”
Michael shrugged. “Got here as fast as we could. What do you need?”
“Need a way to get her out of here. I don’t think this ladder will hold, and the hole’s too small for me to bring her up anyway.”
Michael gave him a thumbs-up. “We’ve got just the ticket. Hang on.” He made a little choking sound. “Who’s your friend there?”
Ross shrugged as he glanced at the skeleton. “I have no idea.”
An hour later, the ambulance pulled into Bandera County Regional Hospital with Ross right behind it. In front of it was a sheriff’s department cruiser, and two were behind him. They’d gotten an escort all the way there, and he was grateful.
That bloodhound had given him the clue he needed as it sniffed the air in the direction of the barn. Whatever happened from that point on, they’d deal with it, but Carly was found. That was all that mattered.
Chapter 20
The waiting room had filled, and it only got more crowded when Tank, Bree, and a woman he’d never met before came running in. He knew who she was, though—he recognized her from Carly’s wedding pictures. She didn’t hesitate, just launched herself at Ross, sobbing. “Thank you for bringing my baby home, Ross. Thank you, thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Mrs. Reardon. I couldn’t think about anything else until I found her.”
She pulled back and held his face in her hands. “It’s Lorna. And I’ve been wanting to meet you, but so much has been happening … Is Carly’s house okay?”
“No, ma’am,” Ross answered, and he could tell from the look on Tank’s face that Carly’s brother already knew. “It’s gone. All of it. There’s nothing there.”
“At least you’re okay. Were you there when―”
“No. I was already out trying to help anybody I could.”
“My turn, Mama,” Tank said and stepped up to shake Ross’s hand. “Oh, hell with that,” the big man said and hugged Ross, who gave him a hug back.
“Thank you, Ross. You’re a good guy,” Bree whispered as she hugged him too. “My sister’s lucky to have you.”
“I’m the lucky one. She’s an amazing woman. I’ve never met anybody who―”
“Cross?” a voice called from across the room.
Ross reached for Lorna’s hand. “Come on. Let’s see what they have to say.”
The doctor stood there, and most people would’ve thought he looked grim, but Ross knew he’d seen plenty of death and destruction that day because of the storm. He was just tired. “Yes, sir. I’m her boyfriend, and this is her mother.”
“Lorna,” the doctor said with a little nod.
“Frankie,” Lorna answered and nodded back. I guess it’s true—they know everybody around here, Ross told himself.
“She’s going to be fine. I’m a little concerned about nerve damage from the bindings on her wrists and ankles, but otherwise, she’s good. No broken bones, nothing dislocated, no cuts or abrasions. Just severely dehydrated. A couple of days in here and she should be fine. We’ll address the possible nerve damage when she’s awake and lucid.”
“Can we see her?” Lorna asked.
“Absolutely. They just moved her to a room, so you’re welcome to go up. Two twelve.”
“Thanks. Thank you so much,” Ross mumbled, afraid of what was going to happen next. “I’ll be right back,” he told Lorna and ran down the hallway toward the restroom.
The door slammed against the wall behind it as he burst through it and closed a stall door behind him. There, in the quiet, Ross sobbed. She’d be okay. The house was gone, but fuck that. It was just a house. Carly was all that mattered. He heard the door open and the sound of heavy footsteps before a soft voice said, “Ross?”
He opened the stall door to Tank standing there. “I’m so sorry. I told you I’d keep her safe, and I tried, but she―”
“Hey.” Tank’s big hand landed on Ross’s shoulder and he squeezed. “She’s her own bitch, that girl. She does what she wants. She’s headstrong and stubborn, but she loves you, Ross, and I know you love her. I was worried, yeah, but I knew if anybody could find her, it would be you.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I’m not sure I deserve it.”
“I’ve got to leave in just a minute. Want to get to the hospital in San Antonio and see about Pops. Tell you what—do me a favor and we’ll be even, okay?”
Ross nodded. “Name it.”
“Call around in your hometown area and see if there are any sheriffs who’ll be retiring in the next few years. I think that could be good information to have.” Before Ross could speak, Tank lowered his head and their eyes met. “She needs to get out of here. Too much has happened. She needs a fresh start. Help a brother out, okay?”
Ross chuckled through his tears and smiled. “I’ll do my best.”
“Hey, if Dub-step McEvers is doing his best, I know it’ll be ten times what some other asshole would do!” Tank said, then winked and laughed. That made Ross laugh too.
They’d be fine. They had each other, and they had her whole big band of Tarpley family and friends to support them. What else could they possibly need?
A place to sleep. That might be handy to have!
“Have you checked on Pops today?”
Ross nodded. “Yep. He’s doing pretty good.” The words had barely dropped from his lips before an aide came in and placed dinner on Carly’s tray, then shuffled off. “Let’s see. You’ve got gelatin, and mashed potatoes and gravy, and something that looks kinda like meat,” Ross said as he took the lid off Carly’s plate of hospital food.
“Oh, god, that’s horrible. Can’t I have―”
“Hey, y’all! Who’s u
p for some pizza?” Michael sang out as he stepped into her hospital room.
“Me! Thank goodness! I thought I’d have to starve!” Carly said, laughing.
“I thought you might be able to use this.” He opened the box and there, in all its glory, was a super mega supreme pizza. “Even anchovies, although if you don’t want them, you can pick them off. Personally, I love them.”
“So does my sister,” Carly said as she picked up a piece.
“Yeah? I’ve been meaning to talk to you about your sister,” Michael began.
“Hey, hang on. Listen.” Ross pointed to the TV in Carly’s room and turned up the volume.
“Top Action News picked up the story as it unfolded. Our Ken Martin has the report.”
“Yes, hi, Desiree. The Bandera County Sheriff’s Department reports that Deputy Carly Cross was recovered yesterday afternoon at a location outside Lakehills. The property, the home of deceased sheriff Charles Anderson, was the scene of the murder of Anderson and his family earlier this week. The suspect, Richard Harlan, also known as Eric Cross, was apprehended after it was discovered that Deputy Cross was missing. Thanks to the Bandera County Sheriff’s Department, the FBI, Texas Rangers, Texas Highway Patrol, and the Tarpley Volunteer Fire Department, Deputy Cross was located in an abandoned root cellar on the property, where she’d been confined by Harlan.
In a strange turn of events, the skeletal remains of an adult male were also discovered in the root cellar. That means the mystery of what happened to the former owner of the property, Jedediah Brassert, has been solved. Mr. Brassert had long been thought to have abandoned the property but at some time in the past, it seems he fell into the root cellar, which has no stationary stairs or ladder. The coroner’s report is pending, but it appears Brassert broke his neck in the fall and died there, undetected for all these years. It’s an odd ending to a mystery, but two disappearances were solved yesterday, one with a happy ending, as Deputy Cross is reported to be in good condition and recovering in the regional hospital. Live at five, I’m Ken Martin, Top Action News.”
Fighting For Carly Page 20
