Secrets Can Be Deadly (17 page)

“I’ve got to go.”
Mason hung up.

Mason
had no idea where they were going. He didn’t want to think what his sister might do to Sophia or his dad. His sister was out for revenge. He couldn’t lose either of them.

If his dad was able to call
Sophia, then maybe he left a clue. Mason sat in the chair by the phone and pretended to be his dad. He looked at the notepad. A number was written in his dad’s handwriting—335-6270. Mason dialed the number. It was no longer in service. It was a message. He felt it—just didn’t understand it.

“How you holding up?” George said.

“I have to be strong for
Sophia and my dad. The note said I’d have to choose so I believe they’re still alive. I’ve no idea where Samantha would’ve taken them.”

“I guess the phone number was a dead end?”

“It’s a message. I just have to figure out what it means.”

“Me and my best friend in junior high
used to leave notes for each other. We’d replace each letter with the corresponding number on the phone dial. If we got caught passing notes, the teacher couldn’t read it.”

“You’re a genius.”
Mason replaced the numbers with letters.
delmar
and
operator
. Mason’s dad taught him when he was little to call the operator if he ever needed help. “They’re headed to Delmar.”

“
That’s out of our jurisdiction. We need to contact the local authorities.”

“No. I’m going to Delmar and end this. You can’t tell anyone.”

“Are you crazy? You’ll lose your job. I’ll lose
my
job.” George looked around.

“We never had this conversation. Okay.”
Mason was nodding his head to make George understood. “I’ll deal with the consequences once my dad and Sophia are safe.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll think about that while I’m driving to Delmar. They have a three-hour head start. I need to go.”

“What do I tell people when they ask where you are?”

“You don’t know anything. Remember. Tell them you last saw me at my dad’s house. It won’t be a lie. Now go back to the station.”

Mason
took his dad’s car and headed to Delmar.

51
Wednesday, March 12, 1980
(Sam)

M
y plan was working perfectly. The drive to Delmar had been tiring, but I had what I wanted—Walter and Sophia. They looked so peaceful sleeping in the back seat of the car.

I pulled up to
Frank’s house. He’d been my lab partner in high school a few times. I called yesterday to verify he was still at this address.

I opened the screen door and knocked.
A three year-old girl opened the door. “You’re not Momma.”

A little girl was not what I expected. But
, it might work better. “She’s in the car. Come on.” I stretched out my left hand and the little girl grabbed it. With my right hand, I held a chloroform rag over her face. She struggled slightly, then I picked her up like a rag doll.

“What
are you doing with my daughter!” Frank shouted.

“Frank, I didn’t know you had a daughter. A lot changes in three years.” I
smiled. “It’s Sam. From high school.”

“What are you doing here?” His words were slurred.

“Have you been drinking, Frank? That wouldn’t go over well with momma, now would it?” I sneered. “I need your help, Frank. Your parents here?”

“Mom stays in bed most of the time. Alzheimer’s. Doesn’t remember squat. Dad died a year ago,” he said. “What kind of help?”

“You help me tonight and I don’t kill your daughter.”

“Her mother will be here in a few minutes to pick her up. You better have a good story why she can’t have Lexi.”

“Does she have a drinking problem like you? Drugs, maybe?”

“Yeah, she drinks. Smokes a little. Why?” Frank asked. “Oh
, no. There she is.”

“What’s her name?”

“Sheila.”

“Now this is very important. Look scared and go along with everything I say. Otherwise
, your daughter dies.”

I watched
Sheila walk up the sidewalk, puffing on a cigarette. When she saw me holding Lexi she started yelling. “Who are you and why are you holding my child?”

“First, keep your voice down unless you want to wake Lexi. Second, my name is Samantha Rothschild. I’m from Family Services. And third, you
’ll both take a drug and alcohol test. If it’s clean, you can have her. If there’s the slightest trace of alcohol or illegal substance, then I’ll have you arrested.”

“Well, do we
have
to take the test?” Sheila asked. “Can you just bring her back tomorrow?”

“I could do that. That is
,
if
you return home right now and no more fuss.” I was trying not to smile. This woman clearly cared more for herself than her daughter.

“I can live with that
. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“You can pick her up after eleven
-thirty.”

Sheila turned
, lit another cigarette, and walked to her car.

“
Good job, Frank. I need to put my car in your garage.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll go back my car out.”

“Don’t try to be a hero and do anything stupid like contacting the authorities. I’ve killed before. Killing your daughter won’t be a problem.”

“Please, please. Don’t hurt Lexi
.” Frank was almost in tears. “I’ll do only what you tell me. I promise.”

“I don’t like people
who lie to me. If I find out you’ve been lying, I’ll have to kill you, too.”

I drove the Tempo in
to the garage, Frank closed the door. He helped me move Sophia to the front seat, lay Walter in the backseat. I estimated they’d be out another eight hours.

Frank and I went inside
and I laid Lexi on the couch.

“Frank
,” I said. “Listen carefully. This is what you’re going to do for me tonight and tomorrow…”

52
Wednesday, March 12, 1980
(Mason)

M
ason arrived in Delmar at ten. He drove past his old home and parked a quarter mile away. No buildings stood on the property, but this is where the secrets began and thought Samantha might bring Walter and Sophia here.

He cut through the field and entered from the back of the property. He looked around
—no car, no people.

W
alking past the spot where the house had stood, he thought back to his childhood. The fun times he and Samantha had playing in the front yard, the times they’d snuck out of the house in the middle of the night to catch fireflies. He had loved his sister. Now, she was a killer and kidnapper.

Mason
shone his flashlight down the driveway. Fresh tire marks.

He slowly walked to the end of the driveway and looked in both directions.
No cars. He noticed the mailbox lid was open. He walked over, looked inside. An envelope.
officer pierce
. He searched the area before opening the envelope.

go to t
he night light motel. you are expected
.

He had no choice but to follow the clue. Sam
antha was in control now because she had Walter and Sophia.

Mason
turned to look where the house stood one last time. He’d erase all his happy childhood memories. This place was full of secrets and lies. He never wanted to see this place again.

Mason pulled into the parking lot of the Night Light Motel. No sign of a white Ford Tempo. He parked the car close to the front desk door. Quiet.

He
walked inside. No one behind the counter, but he could hear the faint sound of a TV. He rang the bell.

“I’m coming,” a voice
yelled.

Mason
waited.

“Sorry.
Was in the bathroom. You Officer Pierce?”

“Yes
.” Mason felt someone was watching.

“Been
expecting you. You’re in room eighteen. Top floor, last room. Park your car in the last space. Room is twenty-five dollars.”

The man
picked up the phone and dialed. “He’s here.”

“I’d rather have a room on the bottom floor
,” Mason said.

“
Lady was specific. Frank’s waiting in the parking lot. He’ll take your car keys once you park. Make sure to take everything you need with you.”

“How do you know Samantha?”

“Long story.” The man paused. “You’ll be getting a note, later tonight.”

“You know I could arrest you for obstructing justice.”

“I have my reasons why I’m doing this.” The man lowered his head.

Mason
took twenty-five dollars out of his wallet. In return, Mason got the key to room eighteen. The man never raised his head.

Mason
got in his car and drove to the end of the lot. He saw a figure heading towards him. Must be Frank, he thought.

He opened the trunk and got out a backpack.
Mason had one in his dad’s car, Sophia’s car, as well as his own. He was prepared in case he ever needed a change of clothes. He learned that lesson the third month on the job when he’d chased a man through an alley in the rain.

“You Frank
?” Mason asked.

Frank was shaking. He
reeked of whiskey.

“
Yeah. Keys, please. And your gun.” Frank held out his hand.

“Will I be getting these back?”
Mason asked. He dropped the keys in Frank’s hand.

“Gun
, too. No funny business or someone dies.” Frank bit his lower lip.

Mason
pulled his gun from the holster and put on the safety. He handed the gun to Frank.

“When I get a phone call, you get the keys. Not before.” Frank
looked at the ground. “You need to go to your room now.” Frank turned and walked into the room directly below room eighteen.

Mason
decided Frank was there to keep an eye on him. In a way, he was proud of his sister. She was clever. She’d have made a great detective. On the other hand, he wanted to kill her. She took two people he loved, and was now playing games with him.

Mason
walked up the stairs, entered room eighteen, turned on the light. He put the bag on the bed and sat next to it.

Mason
thought about Sophia and his dad. He was going to marry Sophia when this was over. He’d fly her to Las Vegas and find a little chapel. He would spend the rest of his life making her happy. Mason loved his dad, but his dad had lied so many times. He wasn’t sure their relationship could be repaired.

Mason
would kill Samantha if it became necessary. He felt bad he never got to know his sister. If she tried to hurt Sophia or his dad, she would die. He wouldn’t hesitate.

Mason
looked around the room. An alarm clock and light were on the nightstand. A small table and two chairs stood in front of the window. A small chest with a TV was across from the bed. An alcove held a countertop and sink. To the left of the sink, a small closet. To the right, the bathroom.

Mason
grabbed the backpack and took a hot shower. The water felt good even though the pressure was low. He put on jeans and a shirt, neatly folded his uniform, put it in the backpack. He would sleep fully clothed so he’d be ready to move at a moment’s notice.

At ten-thirty, a knock. Someone pushed an envelope
under the door.
officer pierce
. He took a deep breath and opened it.

time for sleep. tomorrow will be a big day. family secrets will be revealed. someone will die
.

Someone will die.
That meant Sophia and his dad were still alive. Samantha might be a killer. But she always told the truth.

53
Thursday, March 13, 1980

B
y six-thirty, Mason was up, pacing, peering out the window. At seven, he saw Frank.

“Here’s breakfast. Hope you like
sausage biscuits.”

“Sure.”
Mason scanned the parking lot as he took the bag from Frank. “No envelope. No keys,” he said sarcastically.

“Not yet. Just breakfast.”

“Well, you know where I’ll be.”

Mason threw the bag in the trash. In its place,
he ate a granola bar from his backpack.

He turned on the TV and watched the morning news.
The clock crawled. Mason kept imagining what Samantha was doing with Sophia and his dad. None of them were good thoughts.

At nine-thirty, a knock.
Mason expected Frank. Instead, a little girl. Looked about three.

“My daddy says thank you for obeying the rules.” She held out her right hand and dangled the keys. In the left hand
, an envelope.

“Thank you
, young lady.” The little girl turned and skipped down the aisle. Mason closed the door and opened the envelope.

have you decided who lives and who dies? see you at the barn
.

Mason
grabbed the backpack and headed out the door. He sped out of the motel parking lot. He was sure he remembered how to get to the barn.

Mason slowly drove in the driveway and parked the car so it was facing the road in case he needed to make a fast exit. He left the keys in the ignition, got out of the car. He saw the Tempo parked by the garage. He walked slowly to the barn door, surveying every inch of the farm as he walked.

Mason
opened the barn door. It was dark. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust.

“Hello
!” Mason yelled.

“Come up to the loft and join the family,” Sam said.

Sam tightened the ropes on her dad’s wrists. “Family secrets are hard to hide,” she whispered. “I wonder what Mason will think of the last family secret you’re going to tell him.”

Walter jerked his head.

“Now, now. Don’t move too much or you’ll hurt yourself. Or I’ll hurt you.” Sam devilishly smiled. “Either way, you’ll tell Mason the story about the last time you saw my mother. Your wife. Mason’s mother. I don’t think Mason will be very happy with you.” Sam gave a quiet, evil laugh.

Mason
climbed the ladder. Bales of hay stacked six high surrounded three sides of the opening. He walked around the bales of hay and that’s when he saw Sophia and Walter. He was terrified.

“Why are you doing this?”
Mason shouted.

Sophia
stood on a folding chair atop three bales of hay. Sophia’s hands were tied behind her back, her legs were tied together with twine, a noose around her
neck. The rope ran over a beam in the ceiling, tied around Sam’s waist. Ten feet away, Walter was in the same situation. Sam stood on four bales of hay between Sophia and Walter, ten feet behind them. Sam held a gun in her hand. It was Mason’s service revolver.

“You can stay right there,”
Sam said. “Oh, just to let you know, big brother. If I should fall off this hay, then your precious Sophia and father will be hanged. You’ll probably be able to save one of them before they suffocate. If you think fast, that is.”

“Just let me know what you want and leave
Sophia and my dad out of this.”

“
My dad
,” Sam laughed. “How about
our
dad?”

“You’re right.
Sorry. What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t want you to do anything
. Just listen. Daddy has something he wants to tell you. Don’t you, daddy.” Sam pulled on the rope. Walter stood on his tiptoes.

“Dad, be careful.
” Mason’s heart was racing. “Just tell me. Whatever it is, it’ll be okay.”

“Yeah
, Dad. We wouldn’t want you to fall,” Sam chuckled.

Walter cleared his throat. “I just wanted you to have a happy, normal childhood
, Mason.”

“Daddy didn’t care about his daughter.”

“You were in Mason’s room in the middle of the night with a butcher knife. You were eight years old. You said you wanted to see him bleed. I had to get him away from you.”

“I don’t believe you
!” Sam screamed. “Now tell him the story about mom.” She pulled on the rope again.

“I staged our deaths. Red helped. I had to get you away from your mother and sister. They were crazy. The only reason I married her was because she got pregnant. I told you that.”

Walter stopped, cleared his throat again. “Red found a man and son hitchhiking and killed them. They were the two bodies found in the house that were supposed to be you and me. Red also got the social security numbers changed on the death certificates. You and I moved to Sheldon and started a new life. Two weeks went by and then your mother showed up on the doorstep. Best I can figure out is that she snuck into Red’s house and found a letter I’d written him. She was yelling at me. Said she’d kill me. That’s when I hit her. She fell on the coffee table. It was an accident. I drove out in the country and found a junk yard. I dug a deep hole and buried her.”

“You
…you killed my mother.” Mason glanced at Sophia. She was crying.

“So
, big brother. How much do you love daddy now?” Sam said. “Guess it’s in the genes. Like father, like daughter. Well, okay, maybe I’ve killed a few more people. They were all liars. Kept secrets.”

“Tell me about the others.”
Mason was stalling. He needed more time.

“Yo
u really want me to tell you?” Sam paused. “Okay. Why not—you’ll never see me after today. I’m going to disappear.”

“Yes, I want to know…everything.
”

“Grandfather used to bring me out to this barn for beatings.
Five horsewhips hung on the wall. Each trip the barn, I had to choose which whip he’d use on me. That’s my childhood.” Sam looked at Mason with disgust. “I learned to do what Grandfather told me. Whether I wanted to do it or not. It was better than a beating. I was going to leave the day I got my high school diploma, but Grandfather fell off the roof. After he came home, we had an argument. I won, Grandfather died.”

“Grandfather was your first kill?”
Mason asked.

“Well, technically, grandmother was. Grandfather put powder in her t
ea and I’d give the tea to Grandmother. I didn’t realize for years what that stuff did.” Sam stopped to adjust the ropes. “I thought I was happy living with Harold and Connie. That is until the day I found out they were going to leave me.”

“
Kenneth and Mae were so gullible,” Sam snickered. “They never had a clue what was going to happen. Then there was Mark. He cheated Grandfather out of the family business and family money. I did feel sorry for Lisa. She didn’t deserve to die, but she was part of the liars’ group. You understand. Right, Mace?”

“You killed our
family,” Mason said.

“And daddy killed our mother
.”

Sam glanced at Sophia, then Walter, adjusting the ropes. She looked directly at Mason.
“Who is it going to be? Save Sophia, the woman you love, or daddy? I’m going to jump off this stack of hay bales and hang them. Ready?”

“
Wait!” Mason shouted. “First, tell me why you played this game with me? Why didn’t you try to kill me?”

“It was fun
.” Sam smiled. “I didn’t kill you because you never lied to me. Bye, big brother.”

Sam
jumped off the bales of hay, untied the ropes from her waist, and tied them to a ring in the floor. She didn’t stay to see which one Mason would save. Sam went out the window and onto the roof into the back of a pickup truck Frank had parked there earlier in the day. She quickly drove through the field to the road.

Sam left the truck in a grocery store parking lot in Maquoketa and walked two miles to the motel room. The
do not disturb
sign still hung on the doorknob. She unlocked the door and looked inside. The maid had obeyed the sign. The bed was unmade. She’d missed lunch. Sam walked to Kentucky Fried Chicken and bought a two-piece meal.

Sam
ate on the bed, watching TV. She wanted to know which one Mason saved. Probably Sophia, she thought.

N
othing on the five o’clock news. Sam thought for sure the story would make headlines. At five forty-five
there was a breaking news alert.
Delmar scene of tragedy. Details at six.
Sam was giddy with excitement. She waited anxiously for the six o’clock news.

Good evening. I’m Dan Ransom. We have a breaking story out of Delmar. Reporting live from the scene is Rebecca Chandler. I’m standing in front of a barn that was a scene of an attempted double murder. Samantha Pierce, seen here in this picture, attempted to kill two people late this morning. Both are in critical condition
at Jackson County Regional Health Center. The suspect has not been apprehended. Samantha Pierce is considered armed and dangerous. If you see this woman, please call the Maquoketa Police Department. Reporting live, Rebecca Chandler.

“
How could that be? There’s no way Mason could have saved them both. I had the perfect plan. One or both of them were supposed to die.” Sam screamed.
This is not what was supposed to happen.

A knock
. Sam jumped off the bed and looked out the peephole. “Who is it?”

“You okay? I heard a scream.”
A man in a white shirt and tattered jeans stood at the door.

“Sorry.
Saw a cockroach. They freak me out.”

“Call the front desk. Make them pay for your stay.”

“I will. Thanks.”

Sam’s
heart was pounding. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Only one other person knew her in this wig and he wasn’t smart enough to figure out the connection. Taking the wig from Connie had come in handy. The picture they showed on TV didn’t look like her now.

What could have gone wrong?
Sam paced. Maybe the rope was bad and it broke from the weight. Maybe Mason untied the ropes. Sam decided she’d walk the mile to the hospital.

Sam sat on the bus bench across from the hospital. She watched the nurses walk in and out. Several police cars lined the front entrance, but no officers in sight. A nurse walked across the street, sat on the bench and set her purse down.

“Excuse me
,” Sam said. “Do you like working at the hospital?”

“Yes.” The woman gave
Sam a strange look.

“I have a job interview in the morning. That’s why I was asking. I’m from out of town and came by tonight to check things out.”

“Some of the doctors don’t have the best bedside manners. There are some top-notch nurses.” The woman kept looking down the street as though she was willing the bus to arrive quicker.

“What floor are
the critical patients on?”

“Second floor, east wing. I work in pediatrics. They’re on third, west wing.” The woman looked at her watch, then down the street.

“Are there always police cars out front?”

“There was an attempted murder. The hospital was buzzing all afternoon.” A bus pulled up. “Are you getting on?”

“No. I’ll take the next one,” Sam said.

Sam
walked back to the motel and turned on the TV. It was time for the news.

An update to our breaking news story at six. Reporting live from the
Jackson County Regional Health Center is Rebecca Chandler. Tonight, two people are fighting for their lives after Samantha Pierce, seen here in this photo, tried to kill them. The suspect is the daughter of the man in critical condition. Apparently, a family dispute led to this tragedy. Samantha Pierce is still at large, and considered armed and dangerous. If you see her, please call the Maquoketa Police Department.

They were both still alive.
Sam thought she’d be on her way to Florida in the morning. Instead, she’d be killing her father. He needed to die. She’d have to make another plan.