The Dummy Line (22 page)

Reese felt something crawling on the back of his neck and reached for it. He found a small lump and pinched it. Holding it between his thumb and forefinger, he lit his cigarette lighter with the other hand to examine it.

“Damn tick,” he said with disgust, then squished it between his fingers.

Wiping his hand on his blue jeans, he paused from his stalk to think.
That phone call’s buggin’ me. Tiny lives with those two guys—that addict who’s constantly gettin’ busted and the drunk who fights everybody. There’s always trouble with the cops at their house. It ain’t no wonder that the sheriff picked up his phone. They probably raided the house and found it.

“Those idiots!” Reese said a little louder than a mumble as he lit a cigarette.

Reese turned on his flashlight as he walked out onto the old logging road. He checked his watch, looked up at the clear night sky, and guessed that he had about two hours before daylight. He scanned back and forth searching for footprints.
He’s gotta be on this side of the big creek. It’s way too much water to cross. If I don’t get you tonight, you sumbitch, I know who you are and where you live. I’ll get you sooner or later.

Reese could make out a shooting house on the ridge at the edge of a clear-cut. That would give him a vantage point with increased visibility. He ran to it and started to climb the ladder. The whole house shook as he climbed. When he reached the top, he felt for the door latch and flipped it up. Swinging the door open, Reese climbed in and quickly scanned the woods for any lights and listened for any sounds. The predator was poised to strike.

Reese couldn’t quit thinking about the sheriff’s phone call.
He knows somethin’
. He couldn’t believe the sheriff had called him…or actually that the sheriff had called Johnny Lee.

After a few minutes of not seeing or hearing anything, Reese climbed down. He hit another logging road farther south and started sweeping the flashlight back and forth. Twenty yards down the road, Reese saw fresh footprints in the mud.

“Hot damn!” Reese exclaimed aloud.

He ran up to look closely. There were two distinct sets, a heavy boot track and a smaller track from tennis shoes. Reese grinned as he stalked his victims.

Ollie stormed down the center hall of the ER. The automatic exit doors opened as he approached, and he charged through. Noticing the bright lights in the parking lot, he strained to see what was happening. Marlow’s silhouette in front of the cameras was obvious. He was being interviewed by the CBS affiliate from Tuscaloosa.

“Shit!” Ollie said aloud.

“Sheriff Marlow, I need you!” Ollie hollered across the parking lot.

Marlow looked over and nodded. He excitedly explained to the television crew that there must be a break in the case and promised to give them all the details as soon as he had them. He quickly unclipped his wireless microphone and handed it back to the news reporter.

Ollie stood impatiently waiting. He managed to keep his cool. When Marlow walked up, Ollie again escorted him straight to the supply closet. He was about to close the door when he caught Zach Beasley’s eye. He held up one finger and mouthed, “Give me one minute.” Zach nodded as if he were in a daze and were about to melt down.

Ollie quickly closed the door and glared at Marlow.

“Marlow, what in the hell? Please, man, I need some help. I need a helicopter to search the woods at daylight. I’m gonna need every available officer to help search and secure a huge area. I’m going to set up a command post at my office and coordinate from there. We don’t have time for the TV bullshit!” Ollie barked.

“Calm down. Media management is part of the job. I’m trying to help you here, buddy, OK? I’ll call the governor and get his helicopter. You can have all my men. What’s the latest? Who’s that woman?” Marlow asked calmly.

Ollie relaxed a bit; he needed to believe Marlow. He stared at him for a long moment then said, “Her name’s Lindsay Littlepage. She’s from West Point, Mississippi. Get a load of this…remember the guy I told you about that called on his cell phone and started all this confusion? She lives next door to him. That means he’s out there somewhere, too, I can feel it.” Ollie let the information sink in and added, “Let’s go to my office and get organized, but please, leave the media here.”

“I’ll do what I can. They smell a story,” Marlow replied.

As they stepped out of the closet, Ollie said, “Well, keep ‘em away from me. I have way too much to do.” Ollie knew he couldn’t manage everything, and he wasn’t going to let the cameras distract him.

Sheriff Marlow headed out to tell the media that command central was going to be set up at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Ollie turned to address the Beasleys. He swallowed hard as he prepared an explanation of a situation that he didn’t understand fully.

“I am so sorry for all this confusion. Let me tell you what we are doing. We are preparing to have a massive search at daylight, a helicopter, an army of men, road by road, house to house. I have my best deputy, R.C. Smithson, and Mr. Tillman headed to check out the Tillmans’ property. All of our deputies and Hale County’s are en route, and I even have the game warden coming in to help search. I’m going to my office to set up a command post there for coordinating everything.” Ollie focused on making direct eye contact throughout the entire conversation.

“Ollie, what do you think happened?” Zach asked.

“I really don’t know, and I hate to speculate. But I can assure you of this, we have every asset at our disposal ready to be utilized.”

“I…I…don’t know what to think,” Zach stammered. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Zach, y’all are welcome at my office. If you want to stay here, I can arrange a private room for you. I need to go. It’s up to y’all.”

“I’m coming with you,” Zach instantly replied, then looked at his wife.

“I’m gonna stay here and pray Tanner wakes up and can talk,” Olivia answered. She sniffled and shook her head, trying to regain her composure.

“You have a cell phone?” Ollie asked.

Olivia nodded and held it up to show him. “I’m hoping she’ll call.”

Ollie decided against telling Mrs. Beasley that he had Elizabeth’s cell phone. She needed hope.

“Good. We’ll keep you up to date. Call us if Tanner wakes up. I need all my deputies right now.”

Olivia grabbed Ollie’s arm and looked him straight in the eyes. “Ollie, please find her…she’s my life.” Tears were rolling down her cheeks.

“Yes ma’am. We will.” This was his chance to really help someone—to make a difference. This was why he had gone into public office. He walked with a purpose through the automatic doors and never slowed when the television camera lights came up.

“No comment right now,” he responded when asked what was going on.

“Sheriff, can you confirm that you have a missing teenager and that foul play is suspected?” the blond reporter asked.

“No comment,” Ollie responded as he climbed into his Expedition and cranked up.

“One to Base,” he radioed as he backed out of the ER driveway.

“Go ahead, Sheriff.”

“I’m headed in to get organized. No TV crews inside. Got it?”

“Yes sir. Sheriff Marlow just arrived and is in your office. I think he is talkin’ to the governor.”

“I hope so. Zach Beasley’s right behind me. If any media show up, keep them away from that poor man.”

Ollie switched on his blue lights and punched the gas.

“You can relax, Mr. Tillman. I’m trained to handle a vehicle at high speeds,” R.C. said, trying to be comforting. R.C. drove much faster than Tillman was accustomed to, but he hadn’t said a word. He’d checked his seat belt several times, and R.C. had seen him once pressing the floorboard as if trying to push a nonexistent brake pedal.

“Don’t worry about me; let’s just get there and find Elizabeth,” he replied, staring straight ahead.

“Do you think we can drive all the way through your property in this car?”

Tillman thought for a second, then said, “We can drive the front part for sure, but we can’t get to the back forty.”

“Yeah, we can. I’ve got the keys to Tanner’s Jeep.”

This caught Tillman by surprise. He realized that he didn’t know any details about what had happened to Tanner. For the last thirty minutes, he had been concentrating on Elizabeth.

“Where’s the Jeep?” he finally asked.

“It’s at the big yellow gate on the Dummy Line.”

“R.C., what do you think happened?”

R.C. paused for a few moments. “I think they drove up on a drug deal or something like that. Methamphetamine’s a huge problem all over west Alabama. We can’t keep up. Meth labs are popping up everywhere…it’s bad and getting worse. Tanner probably never knew what was going on.”

R.C. whipped onto the gravel road. Tillman noticed the West Union Road sign when they turned. The land had been in his family for two generations. At one time, the farm had been much larger, but years of bad crops and inheritance taxes had reduced it to only 160 acres. Eighteen years ago, he had planted the entire property in pines. He planned to pay for Tanner’s college by thinning them. He had many fond memories of hunting and fishing and horseback riding on this property. Now he was scared to death of what he might discover on the land he loved so much.

“Folks that do meth get addicted instantly. In short order, it ruins their lives,” R.C. continued as he managed to insert a fresh dip at seventy miles an hour on the dirt road. Tillman tensed a bit more. “And none of ‘em ever get rehabbed. I mean, it’s unbelievably addictive. Meth heads get real paranoid, too.” Tillman just nodded, tightening his grip on the door handle.

“We had a guy last month that was convinced people were hiding in his appliances. He’d destroyed his oven, his microwave, the dryer, you should have seen his refrigerator, and—” R.C. was getting wound up.

“R.C., I really…can we concentrate on what we need to be doing?” Tillman said, cutting him off.

“Sure. No problem.” R.C. spat into his green bottle. “But they are easy to spot…the addicts…they have sores on their legs, and their teeth rot out in the front.”

“So you think they ran into somebody selling these drugs?” Tillman asked, resigned to the fact that R.C. was not going to stop rambling.

“Yeah…maybe, or there might be a lab out here if there are any old barns or buildings. It just wouldn’t surprise me.” R.C. slowed down and turned onto the Dummy Line.

R.C. kept up his speed until he saw reflections from Tanner’s Jeep.

“The truck’s gone!” R.C. screamed.

“What?” Tillman asked.

“There was a big blue Chevy truck parked right there. I’ve got the keys to it in my pocket!”

“Whose is it?”

“We don’t know for sure. Shit!” R.C. couldn’t believe this. He knew he should radio in to report this, but he didn’t want to take the time at that moment to call from his vehicle.

He parked his patrol car sideways across the road to prevent anyone from leaving and grabbed a handheld radio. They both got out, and he gave Tillman the keys to the Jeep.

“I like Tanner’s Jeep,” R.C. said as he climbed into the passenger’s seat.

“Yeah, he does, too,” Tillman answered solemnly.

The Jeep cranked right up. Tillman backed up, and they started down the Dummy Line. R.C. powered up the handheld unit and pressed the talk button.

“Miz Martha?”

“Go ahead, R.C.”

“I’m mobile with Mr. Tillman, and I’ll only have a handheld for a while.”

“Ten-four. I’ll tell the sheriff.”

“Tell him the blue truck that was at the gate is gone.”

“I will when he gets off the phone. Y’all be careful,” she added, blowing smoke toward the ceiling.

“Let’s go, Mr. Tillman.”