For the first time since coming round he looked into Linda’s big brown eyes. Reluctantly he said “I saw the girls head, long blonde hair, it had pigtails and ribbons… but, but that was all, it was just a head. He’d cut it off Linda, she’d been decapitated!”
She leaned across the centre consul and embraced him, pulling him towards her. He was thankful as she wouldn’t see the tears rolling down his cheeks. He put his arms around her as best as the Jeep would allow, he could feel her sobbing quietly too. He couldn’t remember the last time he had cried, maybe when his mom had died many years ago, maybe not since the war. They sat like that for what seemed like forever, until the pain in their hearts subsided enough so that they could think straight again. Eventually, they pulled apart but held hands across the centre of the 4X4. Her dark skin contrasted with his lighter tan. Ed looked down, he thought they looked and felt good together. She did the same, gaining strength from the contact. Finally, she spoke.
“What are we going to do now, is there any point in going up there?” she asked.
“Yes!” he replied, “I want to see if I can find the place again while it’s still fresh in my head. We need to know where they are so we can bring them back. I also need to know I am not going crazy, but the main thing is we need to lead him back to the bodies, it’s the only way to prove it was him.”
“Okay, let’s go find them.”
She put her hand on the key in the ignition but didn’t turn it.
“Who was it Ed, you saw who the killer was didn’t you. Did you recognise him?”
He nodded slowly.
“Who?”
He told her the name of the killer.
“Oh!” she said. There wasn’t much surprise in her voice. After a moment, she steeled herself, said: “Right then.”
She turned the key, selected drive and headed towards the hills.
TWENTY
The orangey-yellow Toyota pick-up crawled slowly past the entrance to the farm, the driver shadowed in the darkness of the cab. The headlights were off but he could see where he was heading easily enough, he had been out here many times over the years. There was a service entrance a couple of hundred yards past the main house. He could see from the road that only one light was still burning in the farmhouse, in the main living room downstairs. He carefully turned onto the dirt track of the service road for the property, crawling slowly forwards, the quiet engine barely ticking over on idle. The truck bumped gently through a few potholes and came to rest near the back door of the building. The digital clock display said 21.33, late enough he guessed but he would have to hurry. He pulled down the balaclava type woollen hat over his face so that only his nose and eyes protruded. From a backpack on the passenger seat he pulled out a nightstick, a small aerosol can and a roll of black gaffer tape. The tape he put on his wrist like a bracelet, the nightstick stayed in his right hand and the can, a bottle of mace, he gripped in his left hand. The interior light of the pick-up came on as he opened the driver’s door causing the intruder to curse under his breath. He turned and quickly but gently closed the truck’s door, extinguishing the light. Without hesitation, he walked purposefully to the farm’s back door. He guessed that it would be unlocked, and the masked intruder was right. A turn of the big silver knob and the door swung in quietly on nicely oiled hinges. He looked around the darkened kitchen then moved stealthily towards the front of the house where the lights from the living room flooded out into the hall. He slowed and tiptoed towards the entry to the room, the nightstick raised. Esther was sitting by the fire, her back to the door, reading a book, completely unaware that she had unexpected company. As the intruder entered the room, the old wood flooring creaked under his weight, causing the woman to turn around.
“Josh, why are you out of bed?” Her words died away as she saw the masked man coming towards her. For someone in their late 60s Esther was very sprightly and fit. She quickly jumped up and hurled the heavy-bound book at her assailant’s head. He deftly ducked and came at her. He was surprised that she showed no sign of fear but it didn’t slow down his assualt.
“Get the hell out of here!” she screamed as she squared up to the oncoming attack. Unperturbed, he came on, the nightstick raised higher ready for the attack. Esther grabbed the first thing to hand, which happened to be a metal poker for the fire but she failed to see the spray can in the attacker’s other hand. Instead of bringing down a heavy blow towards her, he simply extended his left arm and sprayed mace straight into her face. Dropping the poker, she clutched at her eyes, a scream braking from her lips. Before the scream could reach any volume, the attacker followed through with his right hand, bringing a hard blow across the side of Esther’s head. She dropped to the floor, instantly unconscious, the scream stopped almost before it started. He looked down at his handy work. A small pool of blood was spreading across the floor, quickly absorbed by the carpet. He kicked her hard in the back, to make sure she wasn’t faking, and then walked out of the room towards the stairs.
TWENTY-ONE
The Jeep made rapid progress along the empty country road. Ed pondered that except for a few billboards and a signpost reading State Farm Road, the land looked the same as when he drove this way just a short while ago in his dream. As they approached the intersection he pointed right. Linda hardly slowed for the yield sign as she took the corner and gunned the 4.0li high-output engine, thrusting the sturdy SUV towards the hills. As they came into the treeline, Ed leaned forward in his seat, paying closer attention to the road. After a few minutes he asked Linda to slow down a little. She glanced at the map Buster had scribbled down.
“This is nowhere near where they found the bike. That was over the other side, much closer to town.”
“That’s what I figured; it was a decoy, put folks off of where to look. None of this seems accidental or spur of the moment. It all feels, well, organised you know, pre-planned?”
“Yes, I’m afraid I do.” She replied.
They drove on in silence for a few more minutes before Ed asked: “How long was I out for back there?”
“About twenty minutes, you moved a lot, like you were having a nightmare. I didn’t want to try and wake you just in case, well you know, just in case…”
“Just in case it killed me? I think that’s supposed to be for sleepwalkers and I’m not sure that’s true, but thanks.”
“I didn’t know what to do, the train passed and I just sat there watching you, I was thinking maybe we should turn back but then you seemed to get calmer so I drove over the tracks and waited, you came round just after.”
“Twenty minutes? It seemed much longer, like real time you know?”
They fell back into silence as they drove higher into the hills. They passed a turning that Ed thought might be the one they needed but as they slowed he could see it was a newer intrusion into the trees. Looking up the turn he could see it lead to a cement base holding a cell-phone mast ringed by chain link fencing.
“Umph!” he grunted at the ugly erection. “That definitely wasn’t here last time.”
“That’s progress for you.” She replied.
After another minute and a half he saw the turn. “Here, here, go left!” he pointed excitedly at the small turn. She slowed and took the left turn then following Ed’s directions continued up into the hills.
With each fork in the trail the tracks got smaller and rougher. At one point they had to stop so that Ed could drag the dead trunk of a Buckeye out of the way. The Jeep rocked and rolled through the dips and troughs of the rutted track.
“We’re nearly there…… Yes! That’s where I parked the DeSoto, behind there.” He pointed over to the right to an overgrown cutway. “Go up a bit further, we’ll stop where he parked the pick-up.”