Dumping Grounds (Joshua Stokes Mysteries Book 1) (23 page)

Deputy Davis arrived at the river ahead of Sheriff Stokes. He was familiar with this section of the river.

Davis had spent many a summer day there with his friends in high school. Their time at the river in those days, mostly, was spent across the river at the old Granny Hole, which was a very deep backwater pool. They had fashioned swings from the tall birches that surrounded it. Those had been great times until his friend Paul Tanner dove from one of the birches and broke his neck on an underwater stump.

Paul lived 28 days before he died. That was the last time Davis had been along this section of the river, it held too many memories. Even now, he felt a twinge of heartache remembering his friend. Maybe it was guilt. After the accident, he had felt Paul would be better off dead; he was paralyzed from the neck down. Then he died.

Davis drove as far in, as the area where people camped, but that was as far as he could go in his patrol car. He would have to get out and walk to the river; it was downhill a hundred or so feet below the camping areas.

After he parked, Davis radioed Joshua on the CB radio and told him that he had made it there, but he would have to leave his patrol car to check traffic on the river. Joshua told him that he’d had to stop for fuel, but was maybe seven or eight minutes behind him.

“Go ahead and do what you need to do, Davis. I’ll be there shortly.”

“All right, Sheriff. I’ll be down by the river when you get here.”

Davis left his cruiser and followed a trail down to the river. Before he reached the water, he heard a motorboat speeding up the river. When he made it to the bottom, he was at a wide, debris littered sandbar that glowed brightly in the moonlight.

Before the moon disappeared behind clouds, Davis got a fleeting glimpse of the boat in the moonlight as it rounded a bend in the river. The wake off the boat, lapped softly against the banks. He had not made it in time, but now he knew that wherever they were headed, it was further upriver. He hoped they had not seen his headlights at the clearing atop the hill.

Davis clambered back up the trail, having to use his hands as well as his feet to get himself up the hill. Just as he reached the top, another patrol car and the sheriff’s pickup truck pulled in behind his car. The other patrol car was Paul Calvert; Davis had gotten a hold of him before he headed to Earlville. Joshua drove up beside Calvert and rolled his window down.

“Any sign of them, yet?” he asked.

“Sir, I hate to say so, but I think they were just passing through when I got here. After I talked to you on the radio, I heard a boat going lickety-split up the river. By the time I got down there, they were gone.

I caught a glimpse of them rounding the bend. I have never seen anyone go up this river that fast before, especially at night.Either they’re crazy as hell or they are a lot more use to this river than anyone I know of.”

“It’s probably a bit of both, but mostly the latter. I think these fellows use this river the way most of us use the roadways. There is no telling what they’ve been up to all along here. This river runs from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to and past Chatom, Alabama.”

“That’s a long ways, Sheriff, but at least we know that wherever they’re headed, it’s between here and Chatom.” Deputy Calvert said, sounding positive. “That cuts a good fifty, sixty miles off the search area.”

“Well, that’s one way to look at it, but, I have a good idea we’ll have to look no further than Citronelle. At least that is what I’m thinking, having talked to the girl.

From what she told me, it being near the river and the railroad tracks, and her description of the room she was locked in, I think they may be holed up in the old mortuary, the one northwest of town that backs up to the river.”

“I know the one you’re talking about, Sheriff.My aunt and uncle live just down the road from that place,” Calvert said excitedly. “After they opened the funeral home in the center of town, they sold that place to a family from Semmes.

I remember hearing the mama disappeared shortly after they moved up there. Her husband said she supposedly ran off with some man she had met from out of state. There was speculation of foul play, but nothing ever came of it.

The father died a couple of years later, hung his self from a rafter in the attic. By then the boys was in their late teens. They’ve lived there ever since from what I understand, neither of them has married or moved away.”

“That’s good to know. Now, all we have to do is formulate a plan.” Stokes said as he lit a cigarette.

“You mean just the three of us, Sheriff?” Calvert questioned, “Don’t you thank we ought to call in some back up?”

“Hell no, we need the element of surprise. If we call in reinforcements, it will get all out of hand. I don’t wanna risk it with the girl in there.”

“Aw, I see what you mean.”

“Well, there’s no time like the present,” Joshua said, cranking up his truck. “Y’all come on, let’s get going.”

Both deputies got into their patrol cars and followed Joshua back to the dirt road; it would take them out to Prine Road. Prine Road came out in the heart of Citronelle, but they would turn before they got quite that far.

“
One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small. And the ones that mother gives you, don’t do anything at all; go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall… And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you’re going to fall, tell ’em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call. Call Alice, when she was just small…
”
Emma could hear the music vibrating through her soul.

The words to the song echoed through her brain and the room began to spin. When she opened her eyes, she was hanging perilously over a cliff.

“
When the men on… the chessboard gets up… and tells you where to go… and you’ve just had some kind of mushroom… and your mind is moving slow…
”

Emma felt sick to her stomach, the room spun faster. She knew that all was not well and wondered what they had given her. Whatever it was, horribly distorted her perception of reality.

“
Go ask Alice, I think she’ll know…… When logic and proportion, have fallen…
” The spinning room caused Emma to close her eyes tightly trying to right herself, but it was not working; she could feel herself losing control… “
And the white knight is talking backwards…
” The next thing Emma knew, she was skipping through a meadow with Vernon and Earl. They were all laughing and chasing each other through a field of reddish orange poppies. Emma reached down, grabbed one, and then chewed it up. Next, they were chasing several large white rabbits.

Joshua Stokes and Deputies Davis and Calvert drove up Prine Road. They arrived at the Citronelle city limits just as the sun was beginning to make its ascent in the east. Ironically, it was one of the most beautiful sunrises Joshua had witnessed in years.

He got behind Davis and followed him as he led the way to the old mortuary. Davis drove his patrol car into the woods alongside the main road and Joshua and Calvert followed him. Where they parked was a hundred yards or so before the house, which was in an isolated area.

Joshua figured it was because not many wanted to build too close to such a place if they could help it.

When Joshua said they were lucky to have the cover of the trees, Davis told him that luck had nothing to do with it; the home sat on about a thousand acres along the river and across the road. He figured they could park there and not be seen from the house.

The music in Emma’s head had gradually changed, now she could hear a song about an old man. Someone singing,
old man take a look at my life
. Suddenly, the white rabbit she was chasing turned into a wrinkled and grayed old man with long flowing hair that hung to his waist.

The old man was running as fast as he could through the field of flowers, but appeared to be moving in slow motion, staying in one spot.

The music became louder and the lyrics entered her brain. “
Old man take a look at my life, I’m a lot like you were. I need someone to love me the whole day through.
” when those words played, the old man stopped and turned around to look at her.

His blue eyes shined brightly and burned into hers with an intensity that made her stop in her tracks.

His eyes were set close together. His leather-tanned face, deeply lined, a roadmap of his life. Suddenly, the song quit and another started.

When Joshua and his deputies made it through the thicket of trees to the tree line, he got his first good look at the old mortuary. He squatted down and lit another cigarette as he gazed around.

The house was large, three stories high with beautifully carved, intricate fretwork around the porches and balconies. At one time, it must have really been a grand showplace, but not now. Now, the house was rundown and in need repair. Many of the windows were boarded up with plywood on the inside.

Joshua wondered if the house was originally a plantation house. It made sense, it being so close to the river.

He instructed Calvert to stay put until he and Davis were in position in the back. Then, he wanted Calvert to take the front porch entrance, but not to make any moves unless the boys tried to come out that way.

“Davis, you come with me,” Joshua ordered. Davis followed him around the edges of the tree line until they were in the trees directly behind the house. Once around back, Joshua could see the entire backside of the house. There were two entrances; at least, that was all he could see. One was inside the screened-in porch; the other was to the left of the porch. It was most likely an old servant’s entrance.

Joshua could see Deputy Calvert from where he was, so he waved him to the front of the house. He and Davis then began easing toward the back of the house. When they reached the house, they leaned against the side of it.

“You watch that entrance,” Joshua instructed Davis, nodding toward the old servant’s entrance. “I’m going in through the back porch door.”

Joshua eased toward the back porch and then lightly went up the steps onto the porch. He could hear music drifting out. It was a song by Harry Chapin. One that he was quite fond of called “The Cats in the Cradle.”

He hoped with the music playing that loud, they would not be able to hear him. Joshua was surprised the screen door and even the interior door were both unlocked. He was even more surprised that there was not anyone inside; at least, no one that he could see.

“
And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon
,” sung the singer. The music was coming to life inside Emma’s head. She was no longer in the field of flowers; now, she was back inside the dungeon.

A Cheshire cat, like the one she saw in an Alice in Wonderland movie, was in a baby’s bassinette sitting beside her. The cat filled the cradle with his large body. It was grinning at her and twirling its whiskers with its paw.

The cradle rose up and floated in the air around her. The cat stood up, bowed, and then handed her a glass of wine.

Something on the other side of the room drew her attention. When she looked that way, she could see a big moon. Inside it, she saw the outline of a man. Little Boy Blue hung precariously by one hand from a piece of cheese attached to the moon. Emma squeezed her eyes shut, but the image did not go away; the image was inside her head, she could not ignore it.

Another song began playing and Emma saw Earl and Vernon as they entered her head, but she was no longer in the dungeon. Now, she was in a car traveling fast on a dark desert highway, the top was down and her hair was blowing back away from her face. Vernon and Earl were in the car with her. Earl handed her something.

Joshua entered the house as quietly as he could. The loud music was a great buffer for his footsteps as he tiptoed from room to room.

He looked behind each door on the first floor. All were dark inside due to the boarded windows.

Up ahead in the distance, Emma saw shimmering lights that came toward her at amazing speed. They shot past her surrounding her; it was as if she were a shooting star streaming across the night sky.

Earl nudged her, again holding out his hand. She looked at his hand and in it was just a small piece of colored paper. He told her to lick it off his hand. Emma did as she was told and then leaned back, she kept falling backward; there was no backrest on the seat.

When she laid all the way back, she now lay on a heart shaped bed. There was a large neon sign hanging over the door, flashing “
Hotel California
” in brilliant blue lettering.

When Joshua had exhausted his search of the downstairs, he was about to go up the stairs to the second floor when he saw the semi-open door under the stairwell. He eased toward it, thinking it was probably a closet, but as he slowly opened the door a little further, he could see down into a room below.

Hotel California, an Eagles song, was playing loudly, echoing through the house. In the room below, everything had a bluish tint; white objects glowed brighter, making them stand out from everything else.

Joshua eased further onto the landing and peeked over the stair rail of the steps going down into the cellar. He could see the two men hovering over the naked body of young Emma Carr.

In Emma’s world, Vernon and Earl had come over to her and were feeding her grapes to go with her wine. The grapes looked like small pieces of torn paper. Emma looked from one to the other and then upward. There were mirrors on the ceiling and a bottle of pink champagne in a bucket of ice. Emma saw something else on the ceiling. No, it was not something, it was someone; it was Sheriff Stokes. He was walking down from the ceiling toward her and he had a gun in his hand… For some reason, he frightened her. He looked mean. Emma tried to say something, but she could not move her lips.

Earl and Vernon must have seen him too; they turned and ran away. Suddenly, another song began playing and so did Emma’s mind. Whatever they were giving her, caused her mind to act out what she was hearing in the songs. In each, she was the lead actor, although she had no control whatsoever. Now, she was in a house in New Orleans that they called the Rising Sun.

When Vernon and Earl saw Joshua coming down the stairs, they broke and ran through a door that was to the right of where Emma lay on the embalming table.

Emma was seeing gamblers and drunks, even tailors sewing blue jeans. She could hear the haunting voice of the singer warning them to stay away from the House of the Rising Sun, because it had been the ruin of many a poor boy, he said. The man with the gun came toward her… seemed familiar… oh yes; he was… a clown that began turning cartwheels as the ceiling flew away…

Suddenly, Emma felt spiders crawling around inside her head biting her and she could hear someone screaming. After a moment, she realized that she was the one screaming, but she could not stop.

Joshua did not know whether to chase after the men or to tend to Emma. She had suddenly begun screaming and rocking her head from side to side. Seeing that she was strapped down to the table, he knew she could not fall and hurt herself, so he took off through the door after the men.

He stopped as soon as he entered the room; it was pitch black inside and he could not see anything.

Something came crashing down on his head and he felt himself sinking to the floor, even the light from the doorway was dimming. All Joshua could think as he was falling was that he had royally screwed up this time, but amazingly, he did not lose consciousness.

When he righted himself, he was on his knees. His head hurt like hell and he was dizzy. Joshua was afraid he might not be able to stand so he sunk even further down, pretending to be unconscious. He sunk on to the floor and waited. All he heard though was Emma’s screaming and mumbled gibberish, which he also thought was Emma.

The noise she was making was nearly drowning out everything else, even the music.