The next one caught him by surprise. It was of a girl holding her mother’s hand. The girl looked like Rebecca, her face seemed desperately sad. It’s why it stayed so permanently in his memory. The expression on the little girl’s face had a quality that was surreal, haunting. Michael gripped the painting on the sides, unable to place it down.
“That’s one of my favorites,” Laura said.
“I feel like I’ve seen this painting before…”
“What?”
“But it can’t be. That’s your daughter’s face in the portrait. Just seems so familiar. I know I’ve seen it before.”
“That’s impossible, I’ve never shown it to anyone. She only did it a few months ago.”
The front screen door opened. Laura exited the room. “Rebecca?”
Michael set the painting in question aside. Underneath was a disturbing, graphic rendering of a girl with long black hair, smeared in pink and red, lying next to a river. Floating above the girl was an angel, just above the trees. The drawing was very simplistic, more typical of a child’s scribbles than her other works. As if she purposely drew it poorly, trying to avoid the meticulous detail, avoid facing whatever thoughts in her head prompted her to put it on paper.
CHAPTER 64
Jack held the tiny flashlight in his teeth as he attacked the lock from multiple angles, manipulating the keypins with the metal pick back and forth. He dropped his arms a second, his shoulders giving out from fatigue. He took a few short breaths, which triggered a cough that spit the flashlight from his lips. It went out, leaving him in darkness. He fished around for it on the floor, hitting it with the tip of his finger, pushing it under the door.
“Shit…”
He reached up to have one more go at the lock. He inserted the two pieces of metal. One piece broke off, getting jammed.
“Fuck!”
Jack stood up and pulled out his gun. He shielded his face, and fired. The lock blasted open with one shot, splintering the frame into pieces. Jack kicked open what was left and entered, wafting away the smoke from the barrel. He reached down and found his small keychain flashlight that had slid under the door. He clicked it on and aimed it around.
He had to cover his nose to reduce the putrid odor. It wasn’t decaying flesh, he knew that awfulness. This was more like feces, filth, mold, a ghastly combination of foulness that literally choked him.
There were three rooms. It looked like the basement had been modified into an apartment at one time; crude, unmeasured sheetrock, exposed wires hanging down through torn ceiling tiles, old brown paneling peeling off the glue from moisture and mildew. There were cardboard boxes lining the floor. Jack didn’t bother to check their contents.
He moved into one room, it was a makeshift studio. He felt around the walls, found a switch, flipped it. A dim red bulb flickered and lit. Not bright, but enough to look around.
There were several cameras on tripods, a few lights on stands. Computers were stacked on top of one another. There was a painting on an easel of a young girl.
Jack turned to a shelf filled with several boxes, each stuffed to overflowing with photographs of young girls in various states of undress. Jack grabbed a stack and flipped through. Beneath the dozens of posing innocents was a batch of much more vile images, dozens of photographs of young girls tied up and gagged. He didn’t recognize any of them until he came across a few of Lisa Delgado, they were the same pictures he’d held in Sheriff Miller’s office.
He tossed them back in the box and sifted through a few more. One of a half naked girl stood out. Something familiar about her. He examined it closely, holding it under the light.
It was Angelina! Her face was bruised and battered, barely recognizable. He noticed a few scattered business cards on the dusty table. He turned one over, a card for a modeling representative. It had a professional sheen, a clever ruse. Was this the job Angelina was heading to? Deceived by vanity and false promise? Jack’s mind raced.
CHAPTER 65
Laura found Rebecca in the kitchen, she was on her tippy toes reaching into the freezer, her hair and clothes soaking wet from the rain.
“What are you doing?” Laura asked.
“Gettin’ some ice cream.”
“I thought I told you just a few minutes? Where were you?”
“Just outside riding.” Rebecca pulled a tub of chocolate chip out and dropped it on the counter next to a waiting bowl and spoon. Laura touched Rebecca’s still dripping hair.
“You’re soaked.”
Rebecca scooped some ice cream into the bowl. “Whose car is that outside?”
“Someone I’d like you to meet.”
“Now?” Rebecca said, her mouth full of chocolate. Laura took Rebecca by the arm, her hands cradling the bowl of ice cream. She walked Rebecca into the dining room, where Michael was still hunched over the table, preoccupied with Rebecca’s disturbing picture.
“Rebecca, I’d like you to meet Michael Ketcher, he’s an art professor.”
Michael turned to Rebecca. “Hey darlin’, whatcha got there, ice cream?”
Rebecca lost all sensation in her body. The bowl slipped through her fingers, shattering on the hardwood floor, sending ceramic pieces and chocolate in every direction.
Her face contorted as she let out an ear-splitting scream. Laura watched with utter confusion as Rebecca backed away, shivering and shrieking in terror.
But what was worse-
The look of surprised fear on Michael’s face. A strange, guilty desperation, as if he had something to hide. And suddenly it all somehow came together for Laura, as it must have instantly for Rebecca. And all three knew that something terrible was about to happen. Laura blinked first, grabbing Rebecca’s hand and sprinting for the front door, but Michael gave chase and struck her down to the floor like a bolt of lightning.
CHAPTER 66
A rustling noise spun Jack around. He took a step towards the sound, holding his breath, silent. He aimed his gun at the dark corners of the room, his heart racing.
He navigated his way through the darkness into an adjacent room, gun barrel leading the way. He stepped around stacks of boxes piled five high, nearly taller than him. There was a hanging chain attached to a lightbulb in the center of the room. He cautiously tugged it, turning it on. A wall of slat board shelving held all types of old camera equipment. A workbench was buried beneath dirty plates, used cups, cruddy silverware, and meals half finished. And more boxes, everywhere.
Jack flipped open the top of one, dispersing years of dust into the air. Inside were expensive looking art supplies and paints. Jack turned and spotted several pictures on the wall; the same man in each, posing with various people. He stepped closer, focusing. The man in the pictures was Michael Ketcher. Son of a bitch — she did know him!
Had he and Leonard misconstrued what Rebecca was saying when she blurted out “catch her”? Had she named her killer after all? One picture showed Michael smiling, standing next to several Black and Latino youths in front of the Community Center. Behind them a banner read:
Another sign read:
He moved to the last room, there was daylight coming through a window. He looked out and spotted the patrol car he’d ordered pulling up.
He could see the fruit stand from here. “The fruits of our labors,” he whispered. He could also see the water tower far in the distance on the hill, the words Find Jesus clearly legible.