The Burying Place

Valerie stepped into the snow and slammed the door behind her. She saw police cars and media vans on the street at the end of her driveway, and she froze as heads turned in her direction. She reversed course and stomped to the rear of the house, making heavy footfalls in the slush as she headed for the lake. She went all the way to the shore, where a translucent glaze of ice crept a few feet on to the blue water.

She crumpled to her knees and buried her face in her hands. Her jeans grew wet, and the cold worked its way inside her clothes. She hoped no one was behind her, that no one had tried to follow her. She stared at the lake and thought about wading in and allowing her body to grow numb as the frigid water shocked her skin.

You're not exactly innocent, are you?

No. That was true. She wondered if he was guessing or if, somehow, he knew what she had done. But she had given up trying to decide what it really meant to be innocent or guilty. Did God punish every sin, or did He forgive you for the things you did when you were desperate and had nowhere to go?

Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

Valerie yanked the phone out of her pocket and prepared to throw it into the lake. But it wasn't Marcus on the other end, calling to shred her last ounces of self-respect. Whoever was calling had a blocked number.

'Hello,' she said wearily.

'Is this Valerie Glenn?'

She didn't recognize the voice. It was a woman.

'Yes.'

'I know what happened to your daughter,' the woman told her.

Chapter Twenty-two

Maggie sat in the chair and stared at herself in the mirror. With the black smock tied around her neck and draped over her body, she looked like a pawn in a giant chess game. Behind her, Sara Wolfe reached round and played with Maggie's bangs with her fingers.

'Are you sure?' Sara asked.

'Yeah, I'm sure. Do it.'

'I just don't want you waking up tomorrow and blaming me.'

'I know what I'm doing,' Maggie said.

'Whatever you say, girl.' Sara worked at the dye with a mortar and pestle. 'Where's Stride, anyway? I haven't seen him in a few weeks. Either he's found someone new, or he's getting shaggy.'

'He's been in a cabin in Grand Rapids for the last month. I'm seeing him tomorrow morning.'

'Oh, now I understand,' Sara replied, winking at Maggie in the mirror.

'What?'

'Nothing, it just makes sense now.'

'This has nothing to do with him,' Maggie told her.

'Right. Sure. Well, tell him to stop by. I'll get out the machete and cut through that tangled forest he calls hair.' She put down the white bowl and primped the highlights in her own sandy blonde hair. 'You know, when my husband's on stage doing a guitar solo, I still get as breathless as a groupie sometimes.'

Maggie eyed her suspiciously. 'Yeah, so?'

'So it's nice when you've known someone a long time and they can still make you go weak in the knees.' 'That's not what this is about.'

Sara nodded. 'I hear you, girl. Message received loud and clear.'

'You're such a bitch.'

'Never say that to someone who stands behind you with a pair of scissors.' Sara wagged her finger at Maggie and picked up the mortar and pestle again.

'You're right. I'm sorry.'

Sara's face grew serious. 'Are you close to nailing the guy who's doing these farmland murders? I have to tell you, all my girlfriends are pretty scared. So am I.'

'We've got patrols blanketing the roads northeast of the city all night long.'

'If I lived on one of those farms, I wouldn't be sleeping,' Sara said. 'I'd be sitting up with the lights on and a big gun in my lap and a couple German shepherds on either side of me.'

'That's not a bad plan,' Maggie told her.

Sara tilted the bowl and showed her the color of the dye. 'How's that? Is that what you want?'

'Redder.'

'If it gets any redder, you'll look like Ronald McDonald.'

'I want it to stop traffic,' Maggie said.

'You're the boss.'

At nine o'clock on Monday evening, Kasey spotted the one headlight trailing behind her patrol car like a watchful eye.

It appeared near the airport and matched her on the remote roads turn for turn. She didn't think anything was wrong until she turned for the fourth time, heading north toward Island Lake, and the same single headlight followed in her wake. When she slowed to draw the vehicle closer, whoever was behind her mimicked her speed. She was being followed.

Kasey drifted to a dead stop, her engine idling, her eyes locked on the rear-view mirror. Giant stretches of black water loomed on both sides of the highway. Her patrol car shuddered as wind hurtled across the open lake, bringing streams of snow. Half a mile behind her, the car with the lone headlight stopped too. They played cat and mouse on opposite ends of the bridge.

She didn't want to give in to paranoia. It might be nothing. It wasn't uncommon for teenage thrill-seekers to shadow police cars. She turned on her light bar, and almost immediately, the headlight winked off. She saw red tail lights as the person behind her did a U-turn and retreated at high speed. In the darkness, she couldn't make out details of the car that had tracked her.

She waited another minute, and when the odd headlight didn't return, she continued to the far side of the lake and followed the highway where it hugged the north shore. On her radio, she listened to chatter among the other cops as they patrolled the farmlands, sweeping back and forth across the zigzagging roads. It was a cold, lonely evening. For the most part, they had the countryside to themselves.

Her cell phone rang. She dug it out of her shirt pocket and saw that her husband was calling.

'Is everything OK?' Bruce asked her.

'Yeah. I'm fine.'

He picked up on the nervousness in her voice. 'Are you sure? You sound freaked.'

'It's nothing,' Kasey told him, glancing in her mirror again. 'I thought somebody was following me. I thought maybe it was him, you know?'

'Jesus. I don't like the idea of you out there alone.'

'I'll be all right. How are things at home? Are you taking precautions?'

'I checked the basement and all the windows,' Bruce said. 'I put a baby monitor down there too, so I could hear if anyone tries to get in.'

'Good. I should be home sometime after midnight.'

'I'll be up,' Bruce told her. He added, 'We can't live like this forever, you know.'

'I know. We're going to get out of here, just like we planned.'

'So let's do it. Now. Pack up and head for Nevada. We can leave tonight.'

Kasey let the silence drag out. 'Not yet.'

'What are we waiting for?'

'If we leave and this guy is still out there, I'll never sleep again,' Kasey said. 'I'll always wonder. It doesn’t matter where we go.'

'Do you think he'd follow us?'

'I don't know!' Kasey shouted. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice, reining in her panic. 'I have no idea what he'll do next. He's obsessed with me now, don't you get that?'

'All the more reason to get away,' Bruce pressed her.

'Let's talk when I get home. OK? I can't talk about this now.'

'I know. Watch your back.'

Kasey hung up. Her hands were trembling. She chewed her upper lip and peered through the windows. Farmhouses and vacation homes were notched into the forest every quarter-mile or so as she wound through the roads bordering Island Lake. She spent an hour doing a reconnaissance of the gravel roads near the water. Twice she had to break for deer frozen in the lane, staring at her. The animals were the only things out here that were alive and awake.