Beautiful Maids All in a Row (28 page)

“Clarkson?”

“Dr. Ballard? Is that you?”

“Yeah. Is Luke there?”

“No, he took a few personal days. Said he was going on vacation.”

“Do you have any idea how I can reach him? He isn't answering his cell.”

“No, I'm sorry, I don't. Is everything all right?”

“My friend Carol's missing,” I said, choking back some unexpected tears. “The police here won't do anything.”

“Let me transfer you to Agent Lamb.”

After a few seconds, Reggie picked up. “Ballard, what is going on?” he asked, more than a little aggravated. “Your
friend
is missing?”

“Shepherd has her.”

“You leave Jeremy Shepherd alone, Iris,” he said. “We're damn lucky he hasn't sued us for your little outburst!”

“Goddamn it, Reggie! Will you please—”

“What?” he cut in. “It's a local matter; we have no jurisdiction.”

“The Woodsman is a federal case.”

“The Woodsman is dead. He doesn't have your friend because he was buried two days ago. Move on and stop wasting my time.” The line went dead. The fucker hung up on me.
Jesus Christ, has the whole world gone insane?

I punched in Luke's cell again, this time leaving a message. “Luke, it's Iris. Where the hell are you? The office said you were on vacation and couldn't give me a number. I'm…I'm in real trouble here. Carol's vanished and I'm really…I'm freaking out. Nobody believes me. Please just call me when you get this. Please help me.
Please.
” I hung up and tossed the phone on the passenger's seat.

Okay, think, Iris.
Where would he take her? Pisgah National Forest was less than two hours away; maybe there? Of course, there were lots of rivers and lakes around Grafton. It would take me days to search them all.

The cellphone chirped.
Thank God.
“Luke?”

“I thought you and Agent Hudson weren't on speaking terms,” Shepherd said on the other end. “He looked rather dour the last time I saw him. Lover's quarrel?”

“Where is she?” I asked through teeth clenched so tight my jaw hurt.

“Whoever do you mean?”

“If you've hurt her…”

“To quote a very wise woman, ‘Your threats are meaningless.' I gave you the chance to back them up at the hospital, but you abstained. Why should I take them seriously this time?”

“Because you're fucking with my family now, asshole, and the last person who made that mistake ended up with a bullet in the forehead.”

“Idle threat. Thought we were beyond that.”

“Let me speak to her.”

“I'm afraid all she's capable of now is whimpering and grunting. I forget my own strength sometimes.”

“Oh, God,” I cried, unable to stop myself. “Shepherd, please, you don't want her, you want me. Tell me where, and you've got me. You can do whatever you want, I don't care—just don't hurt Carol.” I started choking up at the image of Carol naked and tied up. “I'm begging you, please let her go. Please.”

“Iris, begging is beneath you,” he chided. “You know it falls on deaf ears.”

“Goddamn it,” I choked out, “leave her alone. Please, just leave her alone.”

“Stop sniveling, Iris,” he commanded. “I'm not letting your friend go no matter how much you cry.” He was silent for a moment. “I am willing to give you a fighting chance, though. A clue, nothing more.”

“Okay,” I wept. I'd take whatever I could get.

“There's no place like home.”

The line went dead.

There's no place like home? Carol's home? My home? His home? He had Carol tied up somewhere, doing…I didn't want to think about that. There was nothing I could do about it at that moment. I had to concentrate on getting her back alive and deal with the rest later.
Just think.
Where would he go?

Home, so probably somewhere in Grafton. It would have to be near water; he always dumped the bodies in water. So, near the river. These guys never changed their rituals. They couldn't; it was pathological. The river, they had to be near the river.

I twisted the wheel around, doing a 180 so fast the right half of the car was momentarily airborne. The South Fork New River ran the length of Grafton for almost twenty miles. I had at most three hours before he killed her. I could do it. A road to the riverbank came up on my right. I turned and drove down the rocky road, bumping up and down like a moon bounce.
Four-wheel drive, worth every penny.

The road ended a half mile later at the gray riverbank. I tossed the cellphone back into my purse with the gun and Mace. My hood went up, and I climbed out of the car into the monsoon. Inside the trunk I kept a flashlight and first-aid kit. It was still light enough to see without the flashlight despite the thick gray clouds, but that would change soon. With those thick clouds, seven
P.M.
was going to seem like midnight. I took out the gun and clutched it close to my chest. That baby wasn't leaving my hand for anything. The high heels I wore came off. The sand was soft enough to go without shoes, and I could run better without them. I took a deep breath and sighed. I'd never run twenty miles in my life, let alone on sand in a rainstorm, and the prospect of doing it in one hour was beyond bleak, but I had to at least try.

I shut the trunk and turned toward the brown water of the river. I made it five steps before I had to stop. What if I was wrong? What if he wasn't even in Grafton? I could be wasting precious time on a wild goose chase while he was…I pushed the thought out of my mind. There was only one thing to do. I fell to my knees and prepared myself to do something I hadn't done since that night I locked myself in the bathroom two years before. My legs folded beneath me, and still holding the gun, I pressed my hands together in prayer. “Dear God,” I whispered, “I know I've done some bad things in my life, but I've also done
a lot
of good, and my bad has been paid for in kind. I rarely ask you for anything, but I am asking you now, please keep Carol safe and help me find her. Don't let him kill her. You've already taken so much from me; don't take her too. I beg you…keep her safe. Please.”

I made the sign of the cross, something my grandma always said worked like a stamp to God. As I stood, a blinding bolt of lightning zigzagged down from the dark sky onto the river like the finger of God. It didn't instantly disappear but lingered for a second, something I'd never seen lightning do. Then it disappeared into the air. Now, I'd never been particularly religious, but the moment that brilliant light vanished, I swear I could feel something. The air buzzed all around me. As I looked at the location where the lightning had appeared, I felt a warm calm wash over me. He heard me.

“Thank you.”

I couldn't breathe. Every time I tried to draw breath, my lungs clamped tighter than a virgin's legs. I'd nearly passed out twice in the hour and a half I was in the pouring rain. I managed to jog seven miles, stopping only to spin around and point my gun at crackling branches in the surrounding woods, finding nothing but squirrels and frogs. My clothes were soaked through to my underwear within three minutes, even the ones protected by the raincoat, which I abandoned after a mile. After mile seven, my legs gave out on me and wouldn't cooperate until I gave them a five-minute rest. I was still too fucking slow after the break. The soles of my feet were bloody and bruised, which didn't help matters either. I forgot teenagers hung out down there drinking, leaving broken beer bottles in their wake. I was going to need a damn tetanus shot.

As I'd predicted, it was pitch black within twenty minutes of the starting line and even the lightning had passed. The flashlight I clutched in my hand allowed me to see all of two feet ahead of me. The dark woods to my right stayed that way, black and full of crackling branches and the tiny patter of my footfalls. I'd been relying on my hearing, hoping to hear Carol, but the rain was so heavy. I prayed I hadn't passed her.

Just as I was about to hit another wall at mile seven, I saw the bench where Hayden and I sat on our third date to watch the sunset. Home was just a half mile away. I couldn't take it anymore; my cuts stung too much. I'd worn my feet raw, my legs could barely hold me, and I was feeling faint from dehydration. Even if I did find them, I was in no shape to fight off even a spider, let alone a 180-pound man with a gun.

Another boom of thunder drummed overhead. New storm on the horizon. When the rumbles ended, I heard the faint sound of a siren, growing louder with each second. I trudged up to the bench and stopped. Through the darkness of the storm I saw red and blue lights flashing down the road, coming closer and closer until they stopped right in front of me. If I had breath left it would have ceased then. He'd found Carol.

Sheriff Wade jumped out of the squad car, staring at me with a mix of horror and relief. My clothes were plastered to my body, along with my hair. So much for looking like a sane person. “I have been looking for you everywhere,” he said as he unfolded his umbrella. “We got five reports of a wild woman running down the river, screaming at the top of her lungs. What the hell are you doing, Dr. Ballard?”

“Looking for Carol.” My jaw chattered as I talked—not from cold, it was a warm night, but from the adrenaline.

Wade stepped from behind his car door, walking over to me. “Oh, hell, girl,” he sighed. “Carol's at home. Been there for over half an hour.”

“Wh-What?”

“Yeah. She called asking me to start looking for
you.
She was in Charlotte all day, something about her ex-husband. Have you been out in this weather all this time?”

“That's impossible! He called me! He said he had her!”

“Nobody had her, Dr. Ballard. She's fine.”

I stood silent. The whole world evaporated around me, and there was nothing and nobody. For a second everything was just black. I felt my body collapse onto something solid yet warm. The black disappeared as fast as it came, and I glanced up at Wade, whom I'd fallen against. His left arm was around my torso, holding me up. “Whoa. Okay. You're okay,” he said softly. “It's all okay.”

Relief washed over me, warmer than even the rain. The tears started instantly, flowing like the river behind me. I sobbed hysterically in the arms of a man I held in contempt, a man who thought I was a nutcase, for two minutes until I got control of myself. Carol was fine. She was fine. God had listened to me.

“Let's get you home,” Wade said after I'd calmed down a little. He supported me all the way to the squad car, and even had to open the door and pick up my legs to get me in. I'd become an infant again, unable to do anything for myself. “I'll tell you something, girl. You sure do make life interesting 'round here.”

He didn't say anything the half mile back to my house, which was a good thing because I couldn't move my jaw even if I tried. Speech was beyond me now. We drove through the opened gate up to the house.
Crap,
I had forgotten to close the gate in my haste. Again.

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked as I opened the car door. I managed a little nod and climbed out. The hard gravel dug into my already tender feet. I winced. I wouldn't be able to walk right for weeks. Wade's squad car pulled away when I stepped inside my silent house.
Shit,
I'd left the door unlocked and the alarm off. So much for diligence. I locked and armed them both before I dropped my purse on the couch and limped up the stairs into my bedroom. It was good to be home.

I peeled off my soaked clothes, and after a thorough drying, I slipped into a black tank top and hot-pink pajama pants. I gulped down two glasses of water and examined my feet, which didn't look as bad as I'd expected. A few cuts but no gashes. I was lucky. I cleaned the cuts and bandaged them. This efficiency calmed me down a lot, at least enough to breathe without gasping.

After I'd put on the final Band-Aid, the phone rang downstairs. I didn't have a phone in my bedroom, so I had to haul ass down the stairs before the machine picked up. I got into the kitchen just as Carol said, “Pick up the phone, girl!” on the answering machine.

“Carol? Sorry, I was upstairs in the bathroom,” I said, out of breath.

“Where the hell have you been?” she asked harshly. “I was worried sick!”

“
You
were worried sick? I just spent the last two hours running the length of Grafton screaming your name, trying to find you. Where the hell were you?”

“Lord, calm down! You'll have a heart attack!”

“I've already had several tonight! Where the hell were you? Why didn't you call me?”

“I did!”

“I left my cell in the car. I was so freaked out about you I stupidly left it in my purse.”

“Well that was dumb, dummy.”

“Shepherd told me he had you. I lost my mind. What the hell happened?”

“I got this call at the office from Charlotte Memorial Hospital saying my no-good-son-of-a-bitch ex-husband just got into a car accident, and they couldn't get hold of his parents, so he was asking for me. They said he was at death's door and you know, despite everything he is Patrick's father, so I rushed over there. But when I finally got there, they said Keith March wasn't admitted. So I asked to speak to the doctor who called, and they said
he
never worked there. Well, I was as mad as a hornet. I went to Keith's apartment and beat him with my purse when he opened the door for playing such a rotten joke on me. He said I was crazy and threatened to call the cops. On me! Can you believe it? After what that no-good son-of-a-bitch just pulled? I wanted to kill him!”

“Understandable.”

“So anyway, I drove home and Mrs. Nelson said you were looking for me, and when I couldn't find ya I called Barry and he told me everything. I was so worried. Don't scare me like that again!”

“Ditto. My feet are ground chuck, and my legs feel like they've been hit by a sledgehammer because of you.”

“Don't blame me,” she said, “blame that no-good-son-of-a-bitch ex of mine.”

“Carol, I'm pretty sure he's off the hook for this one.”

“Why?”

“What was the name of the doctor who called you?”

“Um…Woodrow, I think. Yeah, it was Wood…Oh.” It finally dawned on her. “That psycho called me, didn't he?”

“About ten minutes after I found out you were missing, he called and said he had you.”

“Why would he do that?”

“To torture me. To get me to panic and worry and run all over Grafton in my bare feet in a thunderstorm.”

“That's sick.”

“Yes, and this is exactly why you need to pack up you and Patrick and go stay with family or at a motel for a few days.”

“No way! I am not letting this creep uproot me or my baby from our lives! He can—”

“Carol, he could have grabbed you at any time today.”

“But he didn't.”

“But he can! Do you really want to risk it?”

“Hon', he can get me just as easy at Mama's or at some motel or your home—you said so yourself. I'm staying here, and that's the end of it.” She sighed. “I don't think he wants me anyway. If he does, why didn't he do it today? We'll be more on guard now, we won't make any more stupid mistakes, and the cops will be paying closer attention, too. You should have seen old Barry Wade when he came to my door a few minutes ago. He was so rattled when he told me how he found you. He's gonna have your back from now on, I just know it.”

“Hope so. Because eventually Shepherd's gonna strike for real, and I can't go through a repeat of tonight.” Thunder boomed as loud as a gunshot, making all my windows rattle. “Holy shit.”

“It's a bad one,” Carol said. “I don't like the idea of you staying all alone in that house tonight. I want you to come over and sleep here.”

“I'll be okay,” I assured her. “I have an alarm that can wake the dead and a fierce guard dog to protect me. Gus'll—”

Gus.
Where was Gus? He wasn't in my bedroom or in the living room, his usual hiding spots. All the other doors were closed, so he couldn't be hiding from the storm in any of them. I knew he was inside when I left, so he couldn't be running around outside. Then where—

“Iris?” Carol asked. “You still there?”

“Gus is missing.”

“He's probably hiding,” she said. “He's just a big old 'fraidy cat.”

“He wasn't under the bed, because he would have come out to greet me despite the storm,” I said to myself. “He's definitely not outside…”

“Iris? You sound strange. Are you—”

The phone line went dead as another window-rattling boom shook the house. There was no dial tone. “Shit.” A second boom jolted the house with the same ferocity, and this time the lights flickered several times, finally shutting off.

I hung up the dead phone slowly. Thunder rolled again, followed by lightning, which lit up the black kitchen for a moment. There were no sounds but the rain pattering on the windows and my ragged breath. I quickly turned to the alarm panel by the door. All the little green lights were still on, which meant the house was still armed. Glad I'd sprung for underground electricity for the alarm.

Another thunder-and-lightning combo rang out, though not as violently this time. I couldn't see shit, but I heard something over the rain. Worse, I felt it. The door behind me slowly, quietly opening, and breathing. My heart stopped, and all other noise disappeared except for my pounding heart and those breaths.

“Thought you'd never get here.”

I spun around as another bolt of lightning flashed, revealing his white teeth with lips drawn back into a pleased grin. Before I could form a reaction, his manicured hand rose, a shining silver object in it that thwacked my head with a painful crack.

The last thing I thought before drifting into unconsciousness was
I should have closed the stupid gate.