Creepers (11 page)

Tom looked at his brother somewhat taken aback.  He had never seen Toby quite like this and it scared him a little.  With a slight tremor in his voice he asked, “What could we do?”

“Just what we’re doing little brother, just what we’re doing.  Only now, we need to step it up.  We just need to show the rest of the country how we keep our niggers in line down here.  And if we get the slightest bit of lip from any of them…well, we will just need to deal with them, won’t we.”

Almost afraid to ask, Tom said; “Deal with them how?”

“Kill ‘em,” Toby said flatly.

Tom swallowed hard.  His coffee had gone sour in his stomach.  “Kill them?” he squeaked out.

“That’s right Tom.  Any of them blacks don’t fall in line; we just take them out of the picture.  Enough of them go missing, and they’ll get the idea.”

“Toby I, I don’t know if I can do that.  Kill someone I mean.  I don’t think I can.”

“Listen Tom, you ain’t killing a person.  It ain’t no different than killing a squirrel or a deer.”

“I know.  But I just don’t think I can do it.”

“Okay, little brother, I won’t make you do that.  Not now.  But there may come a time when you have to choose.  And you better choose the right way.  If I tell you to do something, it’s because it needs to be done.  It’s because I you need you to do it.  You understand?”  Toby squeezed Tom’s shoulder as he said it to emphasize his point.  It was not as gentle as Toby had intended, but he didn’t seem to notice.  Tom winced and looked down at the table.

“If you really need me,” Tom conceded, “I won’t let you down.”

Toby smiled at that and released his grip on his brother.  “That’s more like it,” he said.  “You won’t ever have to do it Tom.  Once we get our blacks in line, there won’t be no need for that.  I just needed to know I could count on you.”

“You can always rely on me Toby,” Tom said with a wan smile.

“Good,” Toby said with a smile as he pushed away from the table.  “Now let’s get those motors fixed.  We got a lot to do today.  You head on out to the shop; I need to make a phone call first.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in a few.”

Toby waited until Tom left the room before he went into the kitchen to make his call.  Toby was excited to tell Donald what they had done, what he had done.  He hoped it was enough to win him an invitation.  At the very least, it would make Donald happy with him, and that wasn’t such a bad thing.  He also wanted him to know how Yancy had turned his back on his own kind.

“It’s the damnedest thing I ever seen,” Nat said as he spat out the juice from his chewing tobacco.

Jack turned away from the ugly stain on the parched earth in distaste.  He liked Nat Brister well enough; he just couldn’t abide people with a big ole chaw in their mouth.  “Can you take me to it Mr. Brister?” he asked.

“I reckon, if you’re up for a little hike.”

“How far is it?

“About a quarter mile or so into them woods,” Nat replied.  “At least it’s shady back in there.”

Jack nodded; shady was good.  “And you’re sure it’s yours?”

“Yup,” Nat acknowledged as he spat out another dark brown loogie.  “It’s mine alright.  I found this tag in there with it.”  Nat handed a plastic ear tag to Jack.  It was a plastic numbered tag that some farmers used to mark their cattle. 

Jack preferred it over branding, and he liked Nat a little more because of it.  He turned the tag over in his hands.  “This is from your bull, the one that went missing?”

“That’s what I said.  But he ain’t missing no more is he?  I’m telling you this is what’s left of him.”

Jack scowled.  He handed the tag back to Nat and stared out past the fence line into the woods.  These were the same woods that surrounded Isaiah’s and Ricky’s places.  It was also the same woods that backed up to Reverend Johns’.  “Let’s take a look,” he finally said.

“Let me get my gun,” Nat said.

Jack looked at him and was about to stop him, but decided better of it.  Nat was a headstrong old man and set in his ways.  He was country through and through, and carrying a gun in the woods was just natural to him.  Besides, Jack figured it might not hurt, not given how things seemed to be going.  There was something wrong in Lusaoka.  It was something that Jack couldn’t put his finger on, but it was there, and being alone in the woods just didn’t seem to be all that great of an idea.

Jack watched Nat disappear into his house then reemerge almost instantly with a shotgun.  It must have been sitting by the front door; Jack surmised.  As he waited for Nat to catch up to him, he noticed how quiet the farm seemed to be.  The animals were in whatever shade was available to beat the heat, but none of them were ‘talking’.  The woods seemed to be unnaturally quiet as well.  There wasn’t even the chirp of crickets that usually filled the summer air.

The two men walked up to the fence in silence.  On the other side of the fence that surrounded Nat’s property, they were in the shade of the trees.  While it was considerably cooler, the heat was still oppressive, and both men were sweating profusely.  Jack removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his shirt.  Nat spit out his chaw of tobacco and wiped his head with a bandana.  He glanced over at Jack, who was staring at him expectantly.

“This way,” Nat said as he took the lead into the woods, following an old dear trail.

“How did you find him?”

“I was out hunting for squirrels and just came up on him.”

“Did you have any luck, with the squirrels that is?”

“Nah,” Nat replied, “I ain’t had no luck all year.  I haven’t seen a squirrel or a coon since last year.” 

The deer trail led to a small clearing that usually formed a meadow.  Because of the drought, the grass was long dead.  On one side of the clearing, the woods created a canopy of green that filtered out the sunlight.  Their leaves were dusty and slightly wilted.  Their branches seemed to sag in the hot August air, despondent and wishing for rain.  Jack realized only then just what a fire hazard this drought was, and how easily one spark or lightning strike could set the whole forest ablaze.

In stark contrast, the other side of the clearing was a lush green with shiny leaves.  They were shiny leaves draped across the bodies of the dead trees and shrubs beneath them.  These were the leaves of the vines that had climbed the trees and choked the life out of them.  Jack found it odd that they would be so green while the rest of the forest would be so pale.  He would ask Terri about it later tonight; he thought.

The other odd thing was the clearing itself.  In better, wetter times it would be a nice green meadow.  Now it was just a hard packed clearing with dead grass.  Jack couldn’t understand why the vines hadn’t encroached on it like they did everywhere else in Mississippi.  Maybe it was the same reason the trees hadn’t grown in that area he guessed.  Yet another question he had for Terri.

“It’s over there,” Nat pointed with the end of his shotgun, “all tangled up in them vines.”

Jack followed the business end of Nat’s shotgun over to a pile of bones all intertwined with vines.  Had Nat not pointed it out, Jack might easily have missed it.  Jack moved closer for a better look.  Standing within a foot of the scene, Jack could finally make out most of the skeleton that lay on the ground before him.  It was large, and Jack figured it could be Nat’s bull, but how had it gotten all the way out here. 

Jack reached up under his hat and scratched the back of his head.  He squatted down for a closer look and could see how badly the vines had intertwined with the skeleton.  They had wrapped around most of the bones and pushed their way through others.  The vines even protruded from the animal’s eye sockets.  It made Jack a little sick.  The bones were also picked clean of any tissue as if they had been cleaned.  He stood up and backed away from the remains until he was once again standing beside Nat.

“How long has this animal been missing?” he asked Nat.

“About two weeks.”

“That looks like it’s been there a year or more.  There isn’t even any of the hide left.  Are you sure this is your bull, that bull?”

“I know my tag.  That animal’s only been gone two weeks.  I told you it was the damnedest thing I ever seen.”

“Two weeks,” Jack mumbled under his breath.  He kicked at one of the leg bones, and the entire vine seemed to shake.  The leaves quivered as if a gentle breeze was blowing across them.  However, there was no breeze.  Jack figured it was because so much of the vine was wrapped up around the bones that it reverberated throughout the whole plant.  Even so, the trembling leaves made Jack uneasy.  He took another step back.

“How did this bull get clear out here?” Jack finally asked.

“How the hell should I know,” Nat replied irritated.  “My fence line ain’t down nowhere.  I walked the entire line, and it’s in good shape.  There ain’t no way this bull could have wandered off.  And there ain’t no an animal could have dragged it here.  Not a two thousand pound bull, all in one piece.  Somebody had to have done this, and dumped him out here.”

“There are no tire tracks,” Jack said as he looked around them.  “I know the ground is hard and dry, but with this animal’s weight there should have been some sort of tracks.  The only vehicle that could have made it back here would be a four-wheeler or a motorcycle.  Something like that, dragging something like this should have left tracks.  Even in these conditions.  I just don’t understand it.”

“Maybe they cut him all up and removed most of the meat and stuff.  That would make him a lot lighter.”

“Yes,” Jack agreed, “that might explain the lack of tracks.  But why would anyone want to do that?  What’s the point in it?  If you went to all that trouble to make some statement, why would you put it out here where there would be little chance of anyone finding it?  And if it was to hide it, then what did you need with the stuff you took from it?  If it was for food or something, why would you need to get rid of the bones?  I just don’t get it.”

“I don’t have any idea,” Nat admitted, “Them’s all questions for you to answer.”

“Do you know of anyone that had it in for you, or had a problem with you?  Is there anyone mad at you?” Jack asked.

“I can’t think of anyone.  It’s been pretty quiet.  Most folks are too busy trying to find a way to save their farms to be feuding.  But you know how it is.  The hotter it gets the meaner some folks get.  I don’t think I done anyone wrong, but you never know.”

“Yeah,” Jack said, “it has been a brutal summer.  You let me know if think of anything, will you?”

“I will.”

“And don’t go out in these woods anymore.  At least until we figure this out.”

Nat gave Jack a sidelong glance.  “What the hell does that mean?” Nat asked.

“Nothing, we just need to figure out what is going on and the woods might not be safe.”

“I got my twelve gauge. I can take care of myself,” Nat said as he rested the barrel of his gun in the crook of one arm.

“I know you can Mr. Brister.  But this is most likely the work of a couple of people, and we don’t know what their intentions might be.”

Nat looked at Jack and thought about it for a moment.  “Well, I guess there ain’t no reason to be out in these woods anyhow.  Seein’ as how there ain’t anything to go hunting for, that is.”

“Thank you, Mr. Brister.  If you see or hear anything would you give me a call?” Jack asked as he handed his card to Nat.

Nat took the card and stuffed in his shirt pocket.  “Yeah, I’ll do that.  You seen enough?” he asked Jack.

“Yes, we can go.  You promise me you won’t come back out here without talking to me first?” Jack asked as he turned and started walking back the way they had come.

“I said I would,” Nat said irritated, then turned and followed Jack.  The truth was that Nat wasn’t planning on coming back out here.  Not alone at any rate, and certainly not unarmed.  This whole thing had given him the creeps.  Nat would never let Jack or any other man know it, but these woods just didn’t seem right anymore.  He’d lived here his whole life and spent most of that time out in these woods, but now they were alien to him.  Just then, regardless of the heat, his skin broke out in gooseflesh.

Jack followed Nat back down the path toward the fence line that delineated Nat’s property.  His mind was reeling.  Nothing made sense.  Jack knew that he was a far cry from a detective, but all this was beyond rational.   He also knew that it was all connected somehow, the disappearances, the skeleton, and the Homochitto National Forest.  There had to be something going on in the forest.  Someone, some group, was using this forest to cover whatever it was they were up to.  Jack was sure of that.

Jack and Nat soon reached Nat’s property line and only then did Jack realize how happy he was to get out of the woods.  He barely paused long enough to say goodbye to Nat and was back in his cruiser.  Jack breathed a sigh of relief, took off his hat, and wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt sleeve.  He stared out past the end of his car to the nearby woods, and vines that had formed an impenetrable wall there.  As hot as he was, it gave him a chill.  Jack started his cruiser and decided he needed to talk to the other people that Jimmy had told him about.

***

Jack spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the folks that Nat had mentioned.  Their stories all seemed to be pretty much the same, animals just gone and no sign of what might have happened to them.  The more folks he talked to, the more people he heard about that had animals come up missing.  Jack sat at his desk and blankly stared at the blinking cursor on his computer monitor, thinking.  There seemed to be an epidemic around town.  Out of all of them, Nat Brister was the only one that had anything substantial to see.  He was the only one that had any real evidence.

Suddenly, inspiration slapped Jack upside the head, and he started typing.  Jack pulled up any reports of missing persons over the last year.  Then he expanded it to include reports from other jurisdictions in the area.  Next he included a regional search of missing persons that were filed in a different state but that had some connection with the area.  It included people that were passing through or visiting; some were vacationing, and others were just considered runaways.  There was a multitude of reports of vehicles found abandoned at the roadside.  Many of them still had personal effects in them, as if their owners just walked away from them.  Jack was amazed.

Over the past year, more than forty people had gone missing in the Homochitto National Forest area.  Particularly the area around Lusaoka and that didn’t even include the homeless or transient population.  Jack sat in his chair stunned.  How could he have not known?  How could the department not know?  Then Jack realized that maybe they did know, and this was just above his pay grade.  Either that or they just concentrated on their local citizens and left the worrying about all of those other people to their jurisdictions.

Jack could believe that.  It usually just came down to money.  Times were especially tight nowadays, and even the police had to do more with less, or sometimes none at all.  Jack wondered again if anyone else had put the pieces together the way he just had.  It just didn’t make any sense to him that he hadn’t heard even the slightest scuttlebutt about it.  There was something going on around here, and someone had to know about it.  Someone needed to know about it.  Someone other than just Jack, Jack thought.  With that in mind, he gathered up his notes and went to see his boss.