Birdsongs (25 page)

    At the age of thirteen, Miles was assigned to work with the construction crew because of his size and strength. During times in which nothing was built or repaired he worked the farm. While working the farm he became close friends with a boy about his age named Randall. Randall’s family was of the original membership and Randall was born within the commune walls. In Randall he found a kindred spirit. Both boys were curious of the outside world, enjoyed writing, and kept secret diaries. The pages of Randall’s diary were filled with imaginings of life beyond the commune’s walls. Miles’s journal entries were filled with thoughts and poems about Lily, one of Apostle Paul’s daughters. As their relationship matured and they trusted one another to protect one another’s secret thoughts, they exchanged diaries. Apostle Paul did not like secrets and the prospect of being caught with such an item would surely result in corporal punishment. Miles was shocked to read Randall’s pages. Miles was curious of life outside but the act of leaving had never crossed his mind, mainly because of Lily. It was obvious to Miles that Randall planned on leaving before his arranged marriage, and he did a few years later.

    When Miles and Randall returned each other’s diaries, Miles immediately noticed that Randall had numbered the pages. When Miles questioned Randall about the numbering he advised Miles to give Lily certain pages. The page numbers were retained in his memory. Upon questioning his judgment, Randall confessed a conversation he had with Lily revealing Miles’s affection for her. He said she was blushing with flattery. Randall thought the poems would woo and win her heart motivating her to persuade her father, Apostle Paul, that Miles was the one who she wanted to be paired with when the time came for her marriage. Miles did as he was advised, tearing the pages directly from the book and a distant and careful love affair saw its beginnings.

   When the time came for Randall to leave, he did not say goodbye to his parents, brothers and sisters, or Miles. He left his diary on his pillow as a slap in the face to Apostle Paul. Although Miles anticipated him leaving, he also expected a goodbye. Without closure and left with the feeling that Randall didn’t trust him enough to divulge his secret plans, Miles was crushed. He felt empty and lost without his friend, the only intimate relationship he had ever known in his life outside of his immediate family. The only thing that kept him going was the thought of his seventeenth birthday and a life with Lily.

   Lily responded to his poems with her own verses. She returned his feelings with poems of longing and anticipation for a shared future. With each page she secretly passed, the pain Miles attributed with Randall’s midnight disappearance dissipated. Their seventeenth birthdays were only a couple of months apart and weeks before the celebrations a new family joined the
Brothers and Sisters of the Sun
. The family, which had a seventeen-year-old son amongst their many offspring, was in search of spiritual meaning, meaning they could not find in all of the wealth they acquired in the outside world. The bank accounts of the newly joined family were transferred into the account of Apostle Paul and he felt a favor of great proportion was due to give thanks. To their seventeen-year-old son, he gave his daughter Lily’s hand in marriage. Miles was crushed by Randall’s leaving, he now was devastated.

   The night of the announcement he climbed the fence, not looking back and swearing he would never let another betray him again, as long as he lived without severe consequences.

Chapter 85

   Vernon was able to get a couple hours of sleep. Before daybreak, he pulled his car down the dirt road leading to the shack he discovered the day before. With the aid of the car’s headlights and a chainsaw belonging to the department he readied himself to remove the tree. As he was about to crank the saw, the lights from Benny’s Jeep came around a bend in the road. Vernon dropped the cord and stood, disappointed he was not able to clear the path before Benny’s arrival.

   “I was hoping to get this tree out of the way before you got here,” Vernon announced as Benny exited his vehicle.

   “I’m glad you didn’t,” Benny answered. “When he comes back, we don’t want him to know we’ve been here. Same reason I asked you not to tell Chief Asshole or the boys from the crime lab. I don’t think we are going to need either of them to finish this thing up.”

   As they walked towards the shack, Benny told Vernon the entirety of what he had learned since their last conversation. When he got to the point that named Jerry Lee as the suspect he stopped walking and looked Vernon directly in the eyes.

   “Jerry Lee?” Vernon said in shock. “No possible way.”

   “Think about it man. Who was the first person on the scene besides us at the first murder? And what do we really know about him? All he ever tells us about his past is that at some point he found the Lord and stopped cursing? Do you know where he’s from?”

   “No.”

   “All he ever says when you ask is something vague about the west coast. He’s never named a city or even a state for that matter. You know of any family that has ever come to visit him?”

   “No.”

   “So, what do we know about him? Basically nothing. All we’ve had are our assumptions. He always made us feel so safe around him, like he was a kid, all innocent, with that bullshit goofy façade he puts on—nobody would have ever dreamed he would be a wolf. He wore one hell of a sheep’s costume.”

   It took them less than five minutes to walk to the old shack. Benny stopped before entering to take it all in. Benny thought it had the look of a set straight out of a movie. Everything was gray or darker. It seemed as though every piece of paint was in some stage of peeling. The few windows that weren’t boarded up were broken. The front door hung crooked above a porch that was missing more than a few boards. Benny felt if he stomped his foot on the ground all of the shingles would slide right off the roof. Benny was not one to feel auras. As the sun rose he felt darkness.

   The interior of the shack was in shambles. It was a murderer’s clubhouse. Liquor and beer bottles were scattered around the perimeter of the room as if the owner cared enough to keep them out of his footpath but not enough to throw them away, or even stack or toss them in one general area. It was a cave of defiance. An old, stained love seat sat against one wall. Next to it on the floor was a pile of pornographic magazines including both male and female models. Words, short phrases, and poems were written directly on the walls in what looked mostly like permanent marker. As Benny scanned the room he saw the word “bird” in many of the phrases and poems. Crude pictures were also drawn on the walls with the same marker. Jackson Pollack meets Francisco de Goya. Newspaper clippings following the murders were the last things Benny saw on the wall. They were lined up horizontally in sequential order. Noticing them before but choosing to look at them last, Benny studied the pile of scissors. One of the pairs was stuck into a piece of photographic paper turned face down. Written on the back in angry, sharp letters it read, “
Have You Seen Her Face
.”

    Watching Benny reading and processing the phrase Vernon said, “I hate to think what that might mean.”

    Remembering the title to one of the
Byrd’s
songs, Benny said, “It’s the title to one of the songs in the
Byrd’s
box set. Did you put this back just like you found it?” Benny asked Vernon, who had been intently watching him take in the wicked scenery.

   “Yeah,” Vernon answered, handing Benny a handkerchief. “I used this to pull the scissors out so I wouldn’t get my prints on them.”

   “Did you happen to think about who this girl was last night?”

   “No. I know I’ve never seen her in my life. Not that I remember anyway. She’s not from around here.”

   Using the handkerchief, Benny dislodged the scissors from the floor and turned the photo over. “Oh my God!” he said.

   “What, you know her?”

   It was Lola.

Chapter 86

   Vernon watched as Benny ran to the door. He heard him yelling a trail of expletives on his way down the drive. When Vernon looked out the front door of the shack Benny was already out of sight.

   Benny completed a perfect three-point turn, spraying sand and grit all over the left side of Vernon’s car. He headed to the Lakeside Motor Inn to take Lola out of harm’s way. Whether she liked it or not she was going to come with him. Benny pulled his car into an open space in front of Lola and Rachael’s rooms. He noticed Lola’s drapes were drawn. On every other visit they were open. Benny thought it was because of the fact he had never visited her so early in the day. He jumped out of the car and banged his fist on her door. He didn’t care if he spooked her. He was trying to save her life. There was no answer. He knocked again with a force powerful enough to awake a sleeping giant. Still, there was no answer.

   Benny sprinted to the office. Carlton was casually sitting behind the desk and jumped as Benny entered, flustered and obviously bent out of shape.

    “Where’s Lola?” Benny asked. He was desperate for an answer.

   “Calm down Benny,” Carlton answered. “Relax. Jerry Lee picked her up this morning. He must have a lead. I think those two must have hit it off yesterday when he was here. They spent a great deal of time talking in her room. Why are you sweating?”

   “Which way did they go?”

   Carlton pointed. Benny said, “shit” under his breath. Carlton pointed in the direction from which he just came, the shack.

    “What’s going on?” Carlton asked. “Does this have anything to do with the guy on the motorcycle? I thought he might have been following them.”

Chapter 87

    Sprinting once again Benny made his way back to Rachael’s door. She had a late night meeting with producers and had slept in her motel room. He knocked hard, with a determined rapping just shy of pounding. Already dressed and ready for the day, Rachael swung the door open ready for a fire drill. She was surprised to see Benny at such an early hour. His face showed his distress.

   “What is it?” Rachael asked.

   “Lola!” It was all Benny could muster at the moment.

   “Yeah. I heard her leave about ten minutes ago.”

   “I didn’t know killers killed in the morning. I thought killing was a late evening or nighttime thing.” Benny muttered the words and stood there, frozen with his thoughts.

   Not usually accustomed to raising her voice, Rachael screamed, “What are you talking about?”

   “Jerry Lee picked her up here this morning. I just left the shack that Vernon found—Jerry Lee’s hideout. There was a picture of Lola stabbed into the floor with a pair of scissors. Michelle’s scissors. Lola is next.”

   “Oh my God!”

   “Yeah, Oh my God,” Benny mimicked. Benny pulled the neck of his tee shirt out to give himself breathing room. “Carlton said that there was a guy on a motorcycle following them.”

   “Ray Clint Boyd?” Rachael said painfully.

   “Has to be.”

   “Where do you think Jerry Lee took her?”

   “I’m guessing back to the shack.”

   “Let’s go.”

   “I’ll call Vernon on the way to see where he is.”

Chapter 88

   Benny rushed back towards the shack on Burkes Mill Road with Rachael in tow. In the car Benny dialed Vernon’s number to see where he was. He found Vernon had already returned to the police station. He told him to motor back to the shack. With half the update, Vernon dropped the phone and ran for his car.

   Benny traveled at a necessary but reckless speed down the dirt road. He applied the brakes a good thirty yards before the fallen pine tree. The Jeep not only nudged the pine tree but also rolled halfway over it, leaving the back tires of the Jeep off the ground. Jerry Lee’s vehicle was parked there and behind it sat R.C.’s motorcycle.

   Benny opened and shut his door without regard for Rachael and took off as though he was a track star. As he neared the shack he heard screaming. Angry accusations filled the air laced with passion. He stopped just outside the front entry.

   “I hate you,” he heard. “You left me for dead. If it wasn’t for my uncle, I would have been in that shit-hole for years.”

   “My apologies.”

   Benny recognized the voice as Jerry Lee’s. The tone registered to Benny as mocking. Benny pushed the front door open an inch to see Lola cuffed to an ancient furnace. She was hunched over, her face full of fear. R.C. had his bat on his shoulder and Jerry Lee was gripping three pairs of scissors.

    “You have no idea what you have done to my head,” Jerry Lee said to R.C.

   “And do you have any idea what you have done to mine? I have spent the last thirty years in a tiny cell. There is no way you have any idea how those walls can make a man feel. I got used to it—yeah I did. But I hated you every second of the way.” R.C. waved the bat, as if he were waiting for a pitch. “And your letter…”

   “Liked it did you?” Jerry Lee asked sarcastically. “Every day I was in that hole the military police put me in, I heard those goddamned birds sing. I thought it was sweet at first. Later those little birds sent me over the edge. I was so unhappy, yet every day, they were filled with joy. I couldn’t understand how the world could be so unbalanced.”

   Benny pushed the door halfway open. His eyes met the eyes of Jerry Lee. Jerry Lee flinched as Benny stood still.

   “Fuck you!” Jerry Lee directed at Benny.

   “Nice mouth. I thought you didn’t curse?”

   “And I thought you were a has-been.”

   “Oh Jerry,” Benny said. “It may hide, but it doesn’t disappear… ”

   Jerry Lee filled with anger, screaming. “Why did you have to bring it out now?”

   “It comes out for pricks like you.”

   Benny pushed the door the rest of the way open and Jerry Lee saw Rachael and Vernon standing behind him. Their eyes were opened wide. Lola’s sweat continued to drip to the floor. R.C. rested the bat once again on his shoulder and took the floor.