Call Of The Witch (33 page)

“
I went out to get the
mail,” she said, and her voice sounded suddenly distant. It’s
strange to describe it that way, I know, but that’s what I remember
thinking; a distant voice trapped between a hush and a
whisper.

“
I never made it to the
mailbox,” she continued. “I heard footsteps behind me, rushing to
me, stomping harder as they came to a stop. I started to turn
around. I wanted to look, when someone put a cloth bag over my
head.”

“
What, like a pillow
case?”

“
No. It was more like a
burlap sack. I could see light and shapes through it, but nothing
more.”

I reached for her hand. She let me take it.
“Go on, Kelly. What happened next?”

“
He picked me
up.”

“
He? You know it was a
man?”

“
Oh, yes. He was very
strong. He picked me up and carried me under his arm…like a
football. He ran to the street and threw me into a van.”

“
How do you know it was a
van?”

She cocked her head to one side as if to
listen, and then made a sweeping motion with her hand from right to
left. “I heard the door shut. It was a sliding door like a van has.
And I remember the floor. It was metal, cold, it had grooves in it,
high and low grooves. It was awfully uncomfortable.”

“
Sounds like a work van,”
Dominic remarked.

“
Was anyone else there,
Kelly? Besides the man that took you. Could you tell if anyone else
was in the van with you?”

“
Oh, yes. Three
people.”

“
Three?”

“
Two men and a
lady.”

“
How could you be
sure?”

“
I heard them talking. The
man who took me was loud. He always yelled. He was the bad man. He
told me that if I tried to remove the hood from my head, he would
kill me. That he would….”

She took a staggered breath as if to stifle
the urge to cry. I squeezed her hand tighter. Brittany came around
and sat on the bed at her other side. She put her arm around
Kelly’s tiny shoulder and hugged her gently. “It’s okay,” she said.
“We’re here. We won’t let anyone hurt you.”

I could see the worry on Dominic’s face, too.
His heart was breaking, and frankly, so was mine. But Kelly proved
stronger than any of us could imagine. She shook her head, threw
her shoulders back and carried on.

“
He said he would snap my
neck if I took the hood off. I told him I wouldn’t. The driver told
him not to hurt me.”

“
The driver? Was that a
man?”

“
Yes.”

“
What else can you tell us
about him?”

“
He had an
accent.”

“
What kind of accent?
Russian?”

“
No.”

“
Hispanic?”

“
I don’t know.
Maybe.”

“
Did you recognize
anyone’s voice?”

“
No.”

“
Tell us about the
woman.”

She gave a little shrug. Brittany’s hand rode
up on her shoulder and down again as if riding an ocean swell. “She
spoke softly,” Kelly said, her own voice still barely audible.
“Everything she said, she said in whispers.”

I looked at Brittany and then at Dominic.
Neither seemed to know what to make of that.

“
Why do you suppose she
spoke so softly, Kelly? Do you think she was afraid you might
recognize her voice?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Was she with you the
entire time?”

“
No. Only for the van
ride, and then a few times after that.”

“
I want to ask you about
the first man again. Did he have an accent?”

“
No. He was loud, always
yelling. He was a bad man. He scared me.”

“
Yes, I’m sure he did. You
know, Kelly, I have to say, I think you’re just about the bravest
little girl I’ve ever met.”

“
Me, too,” said Dominic.
“I’m going to have a little girl myself real soon. I only hope
she’s half as brave as you are.”

Kelly smiled at that, but her eyes soon found
that tiny spot on the floor that seemed to be her anchor to an
island of memories that she would rather forget. “They duct taped
me,” she said, her tone so matter of fact.

“
When?”

“
They let the lady out
after a few minutes. I heard the sliding door open. That’s when I
screamed. Then the door shut. The van took off real fast. I fell
over and rolled across the floor right into the bad man’s arms. He
pulled the hood up just above my nose and stuck a piece of duct
tape over my mouth. He said if I screamed again, he
would…..”

She couldn’t bring herself to finish. I gave
her hand another gentle squeeze. Brittany rocked her to her body
and held her there. “Do you want to stop for now?” I asked. “We
could finish this later if you wish.”

Kelly shook her head. “No. I can do this. I
want to do this.”

“
Good girl. All right
then, tell me what happened after they taped your mouth. What
happened next?”

“
After he covered my
mouth, he taped up my hands and feet.” She took a deep breath and
let it out hard. “Boy I was crying then,” she said, shaking her
head as if unable to believe the ordeal. “He kept telling me to
shut up, but I couldn’t. So he let me cry.”

She looked up at Dominic, who was definitely
fighting back tears himself, at least inside. His eyes were so wet
they sparkled like glass. “It’s not like anyone else could hear
me,” she added.

“
Kelly,” I said, “do you
know where the men took you, how far away it was?”

She shook her head. “No, but it wasn’t
far.”

“
How far do you think? Was
the van ride less than a few minutes?”

“
Oh, no. It was much
longer. An hour maybe.”

“
An hour? You could have
been taken miles away in that time.”

She shook her head. “No. We never left
town.”

“
I don’t
understand.”

“
We drove in
circles.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
We kept making left
turns, never right. And the traffic sounds didn’t change. The cars
were always close. And we did a lot of stop and go driving. We
never got to highway speeds.”

“
That’s remarkably
observant of you.”

“
Oh, and that railroad
crossing on Roosevelt?”

“
Yes.”

“
We crossed the tracks
there fourteen times.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
I counted. They’re doing
road work there, tearing up the sidewalks and everything.
Construction crews have a big generator running out there all the
time. I heard it every time we drove by.” She shook her head. “No,
there’s no mistaking that crossing. We passed by it fourteen
times.”

“
That’s incredible,” said
Dominic. “You are the most amazing little girl I’ve ever known. I
don’t think even I would have had the wherewithal to recollect such
details under such stressful conditions.”

“
I agree,” I said. “You’re
truly special, Kelly.”

“
It wasn’t much,” she
said. “Besides I knew I would come out of it all right.”

“
Oh? How so?”

“
Well, after they took me
to the barn, they––”

“
Wait a minute. What
barn?”

“
I don’t know. That’s what
the driver called it. He said we were going to run out of gas if we
drove any longer, and that we should get to the barn as soon as
possible.”

“
Are you sure it wasn’t
just someplace they called a barn?”

“
Oh, no. It was a barn I
could smell the horse manure.”

“
You’re
positive?”

“
Detective, I know horse
manure.”

“
Did you hear or see any
horses?”

“
No.”

“
I see. Is there anything
else you can tell us?”

“
The lady.”

“
What about
her?”

“
She was
skinny.”

“
How do you know
that?”

“
She gave me a hug just
before they let me out of the van. I felt her arms. They were like
two sticks.”

“
Did you at any time see
any of your kidnappers?”

“
No.”

“
Did you ever think you
knew any of them?”

“
No.”

“
Not even the man with the
accent?”

“
No.”

“
You didn’t think he could
be Raul Martinez or Hector Santana?”

“
No.”

“
Did you ever suspect the
other man could have been your riding instructor, Russell
Haywood?”

She shook her head slowly. “No.”

“
Can you think of anything
else?”

“
No.”

“
All right then. I guess
we’re done. You did a good job, Kelly. Thank you.” Brittany and I
got up and joined Dominic at the foot of the bed. “Kelly, if you
think of anything else you can––”

“
Oh, wait. There is
something else.”

“
What is it?”

“
I just remembered.
Yesterday morning. The lady with the skinny arms, she came to me
and gave me my medicine with juice. I didn’t tell her I took
medicine. I thought that was strange.”

“
Yes,” I said, exchanging
looks with Spinelli and Olson. “Did she say how she knew you needed
it?”

“
No.”

“
Did she say how she got
it?”

“
No.”

“
Okay, thank you again.
Let us know if we can get you anything before we leave?”

“
You can.”

“
What is it?”

“
Could you get my daddy
for me?”

I smiled. “Of course.” For a brief few
moments, I forgot that we had been interviewing a child, a child
victim no less. She had conducted herself so admirably; with such
maturity that it was easy to forget she was only nine years old.
“We’ll send him up right away, darling`.”

Out in the hall, Dominic was rubbing his eyes
with his shirtsleeves. I joked with him about getting so
teary-eyed, but he blew me off, blaming it on allergies. “But I’ll
tell you this,” he said. “If it’s all right with Ursula, I’d like
to name my little girl, Kelly. She’s one blessed kid.”

“
That she is,” I said.
“But I have a strange feeling about her.”

“
What do you mean? She’s
adorable.”

“
Oh, no doubt she’s
adorable. But I have this sinking suspicion she’s covering for
someone.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Okay, first of all we
have this benevolent female kidnapper. She’s super kind to Kelly.
She knows about Kelly’s medicine and even gets it for her without
being told about it.”

“
She’s no stranger,”
Brittany said.

“
Of course not. I don’t
think any of her kidnappers were strangers. The question is does
she know who’s who and is she hiding that information from
us.”

Dominic asked, “Why would she do that?”

“
Because she cares for
them.”

“
Stockholm
syndrome?”

“
No. Stockholm syndrome
generally applies to victims held captive by strangers whose lack
of abuse is mistaken for acts of kindness. That’s when the victim
develops sympathetic feelings for their captors and tries to
protect them.”

“
Isn’t that what Kelly’s
doing?”

“
No, I don’t think
so.”

“
Sure she is, if she
doesn’t know that she knows her kidnappers, then this could be a
classic case of Stockholm syndrome.”

“
You’re right, if she
doesn’t know. But Kelly has an IQ of 140, and her ability to recall
specific details borders on phenomenal, as you witnessed in there
just moments ago. No, I think she figured out what was going on
after the first ten minutes into her ride. Take the man who
initially abducted her. She said he had an accent, but wasn’t sure
if it was Hispanic or not.”

“
So?”

“
So, that’s ridiculous.
Kelly speaks four languages, including Spanish. Surely she would
recognize a Spanish accent when she heard one.”

“
You got a
point.”

“
And what about the
barn?”

“
What about
it?”

“
She said she was sure it
was a barn because she smelled horse manure.”

“
Yes?”

“
But no
horses?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
She smelled horse manure,
but she didn’t mention hearing any horses. Surely in three days
she’d have heard a whinny or snort or something.”

“
Why would she lie about
smelling horse manure?”

“
I’m not saying she is.
I’m simply wondering what kind of barn has horse poop and no
horses.”

“
Maybe some kind of way
station for horses, like a trading post.”