Frozen Past (11 page)

Chapter 21

Jaxon stared into the hole and felt Sally move next to him. “The heads are all missing,” he said.

“I see that,” Sally said. “Three dogs and two cats?”

“I believe so. The little one looks like a dog. The fur is right. It’s hard to tell without the head. Maybe a Chihuahua?”

He held up the picture. It was in a Ziploc baggie and he was holding it with gloved hands. “Stewart Littleton,” she said. “Dogwood Elementary, 1984. Good likeness. I wonder why our guy decided to give us a little help?”

“Down deep, they all want to be caught. They can’t stop themselves unless they are locked up, so they unconsciously help the investigation. He just doesn’t realize it.”

“Is that what your FBI training taught you?”

“That and Michael.”

She nodded. Apparently, she didn’t want to go there, and that was fine with him. Michael’s murder was something he thought about every day, or maybe he should say, tried
not
to think about, and though the case had been solved, he lived with his own failure in everything he did. He couldn’t save him.

The Crime Scene team arrived and he let them move in. It was going to be messy and he was glad he wasn’t the one going through it. It had been tough enough pulling the picture out of all the rotting flesh.

He glanced over at the small crowd gathered in the backyard and saw Luke Harrison and Ellie Pemberton. Her mother was there too along with a boy he didn’t recognize. He had the features of the Pembertons and figured he must be related. They all looked anxious. He turned to Sally and said, “Let’s find out what they know.” She walked with him up to the group.

“Mrs. Pemberton, remember us? I’m Detective Jennings and this is Detective Winston.”

“Yes, Detectives, I remember you. I’m a little disappointed I’m seeing you again. I would have expected all this to be resolved by now.”

“Yes ma’am. I agree. We seem to be having some difficulty. Maybe you can help.”

“I don’t see how.”

Jaxon tried to plaster a smile on his face, but it felt strained. “Who found the gravesite?” he asked.

“We did,” Luke said.

“You and Ellie?” Sally asked.

Luke nodded. “We were goofing around and she saw a dog’s paw sticking up out of the ground.”

“What else?” Jaxon asked and Luke told them the rest of the story.

“Why would you dig it up?” Sally asked. “Pretty gross.”

“We noticed a bunch of signs all over the neighborhood,” Luke said. “Actually, Ellie noticed them first. Missing pet signs.”

“Five different signs,” Ellie said. “We kind of thought maybe this was one of them. I never would have guessed it would be all of them.”

“So these are all neighborhood pets?” Jaxon asked.

 “I think so,” Ellie said. “I recognized one of the cats. It’s Jinxy. The Eldridge’s cat on Cotton Court.”

“Have you seen anyone back here?” Sally asked.

They all shook their heads.

“Have there been any strange things happening?” Jaxon asked.

“You mean like dead children showing up in frozen pools? That kind of thing?” Mrs. Pemberton said.

Jaxon just stared at her.

“I’d like to ask you two a few questions,” she said. “What’s being done to protect this neighborhood? When will my children and I feel safe? It started with our dog and now more decapitated animals are buried in my yard. It sure looks like someone is targeting my family and I want some protection.”

Jaxon looked at Sally who seemed to sympathize with Mrs. Pemberton, but she remained silent.

“Mrs. Pemberton, I’m sure that…”

“I don’t believe you’re sure of anything Detective and I want something done. You and your department seem to be ignoring the whole problem. I haven’t seen a single police car or heard of any police action inside this neighborhood in over four months.”

“I assure you ma’am, we are doing everything we can…”

“I don’t believe you.” She stood there with her hands on her hips staring at him. He couldn’t blame her. She was technically correct. The department had not gone out of its way to provide any added security or surveillance in the area, relying mainly on evidence already collected to further the investigation along. Hell, they’d been at a standstill until just yesterday.

“I don’t blame you, ma’am,” Sally said, calmly. “A police investigation can leave many unanswered questions lingering for the civilians. Unfortunately, it’s what has to be done. Certain information needs to be kept from the press so we can weed out every Tom, Dick, and Harry volunteering useless information. As far as security in the neighborhood, we will step up patrols and place a squad car in front of your house. That should help you feel safer until this investigation closes.”

Jaxon looked at Sally, impressed. She avoided eye contact with him and remained focused on Mrs. Pemberton.

“Well—ok,” Mrs. Pemberton said. “That will make me feel a little better. I just wish this nightmare was over.”

“So do we, ma’am,” Sally said. “So do we.”

* * *

Luke and Ellie were in front of Luke’s house hanging out with Jimmy and John. Luke told them about the discovery of the dead animals and John apologized to Ellie again, saying he was sorry he criticized her about the signs yesterday.

“You were right,” he said.

“It’s ok. I know what you were trying to do. I seem to have a short fuse when it comes to Bentley. It’s probably because I do blame myself for what happened.”

“Why did you guys call those cops?” Jimmy asked. “I thought we were supposed to keep this stuff to ourselves.”

“My mom came out and saw what we were doing,” Ellie said, “and she made us call them. Sorry.”

Jimmy looked concerned. “So he’s back?”

“It looks like it,” Luke said. “But we haven’t heard anything from him. He’s been quiet.”

“What do you think we should do?” John asked. “Do you think it’s time to tell someone what we know?”

Ellie was nodding her head, but Luke was still not so sure. “I don’t think so,” he said. “He’s left us alone this long because we’ve been quiet. I think we should keep it to ourselves.”

“What about the other kids? Maybe we should tell them to watch out,” Ellie said.

“Like who?” Luke said. “I don’t trust any of them to keep it quiet.”

“But we said we would warn them if it got bad,” Ellie said.

“It’s not bad yet.”

“I think five dead animals buried in my backyard’s pretty bad.”

Luke saw her face flush and he could tell she was getting angry. They had never had a fight and he didn’t like where this talk was leading. Still, he didn’t want to endanger her life by breaking their silence.

“It’s just animals. He hasn’t killed anybody else yet.” He knew as soon as he said it he had stepped over the line.

“But that doesn’t mean he won’t!” Ellie shouted. “What if someone else dies and we could have stopped it? I can’t live with that. Can you?”

“El, don’t get mad at me. I don’t like it either, but if we start talking, he may come after you and I can’t let that happen.”

“That’s not up to you to decide!” she yelled. “I won’t let him hurt anybody else.”

“I don’t want him to hurt anyone else either,” he said, “but he’s already threatened us. If we start talking and something happened to you, I couldn’t live with myself. I can’t lose you! I love you!”

She stared at him.

“What did you say?” she whispered, the anger gone now, a look of wonder on her face as she took it all in.

“I said, I love you.”

She searched his face, a single tear trickling down her cheek, then she reached for him and pulled him to her. “I love you too,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

“This is awkward,” Jimmy said, smiling.

“I think I’m gonna barf,” John said.

Luke and Ellie ignored them. She pulled back and looked into his eyes and he smiled at her.

“How long have you felt this way?” she said.

“I already told you that.”

“You did?”

“You don’t remember?”

She shook her head, then stopped and smiled. “Oh—you did tell me.”

“You had me at goofy goober.”

She laughed. “I did, huh? You’re easy.”

“We’re still here,” John said. “And I’m getting more nauseous.”

Jimmy said, “Should we leave you two alone?”

Luke and Ellie let each other go, but she grabbed his hand and held tight.

“Alright,” Luke said. “I don’t want to be the one making all the decisions so let’s vote. Do we tell the neighborhood kids?”

“Yes,” John said.

“Yep,” Jimmy said.

“I think we need to,” Ellie said. “Don’t you?”

“You guys are probably right. Ok, we tell everybody we hang out with. Let them know what’s going on. Let’s call a kick the can game tonight and spread the word.”

Ellie smiled and leaned against him. He hoped they weren’t making a huge mistake.

* * *

Jaxon and Sally arrived at June Littleton’s house in Reston late that afternoon. She was expecting them. Sally had called and asked if they could come by and talk to her about her son’s case. Sally said she seemed somewhat distant, but agreed to see them.

Knocking on the door, Jaxon said, “You got this, right?”

Sally nodded.

The door opened and a woman in her late fifties scowled at them from behind a screened door. She wore a cheap flower print dress with a mismatched belt cinched around her waist, tight, so that her belly hung over it. Her feet were bare and she held a dishrag in her right hand.

“You the police officers?” she said.

“Yes ma’am,” Sally said. “I’m Detective Winston and this is Detective Jennings. May we come in?”

“I’d rather you didn’t. My Mister is napping and I don’t want you wakin’ him. What do you want?”

“Is your ‘Mister,’ Stewart’s Father?”

She seemed to flinch a little at the mention of her son’s name. She wrung her hands in the dishrag and said, “No. That man is long gone. Hell, he wasn’t around much anyway when he was here. Why?”

Sally nodded. “Things like this are never easy, ma’am and I know you’ve been waiting a long time for something to surface in regards to your son. I think we’ve found him, but we need you to come with us and identify him. Could you do that?”

Her face did not change, but her hands stopped the constant wringing of the rag and she sagged against the doorframe. “Is he…?”

Sally nodded. “I’m sorry Mrs. Littleton. I know you must be upset, but it is very important you identify him for us. To be sure. Can you do that?”

She nodded her head slowly, eyes transfixed on some distant object. Then, she seemed to remember they were there. “I’ll get my things,” she whispered, and disappeared back inside. She returned a moment later with her purse and a pair of flat white shoes that clashed with the off-white patterned dress. She shuffled along next to them as they escorted her to the car.

At the morgue, Boris alerted Dr. Barstow and he got Stewart ready for them as they helped her back to Bay C. Before they entered she said, “Will I be able to tell it’s him?”

“I believe so, Mrs. Littleton,” Sally said.

“June. Call me June.”

Sally smiled. “Yes, June. I think you’ll be able to tell us if he’s your son or not.”

She nodded and seemed to shrink a little as they pushed through the door. Dr. Barstow waited for them next to the sliding tray and introduced himself to her before pulling back the plastic sheet.

She gasped.

She reached out to touch his face and then recoiled ever so slightly at the feel of him. Then, she began softly crying. Jaxon felt that was as good a confirmation as anyone could give.

“He’s still so young,” she said. “Have you had him here this whole time?”

“No ma’am,” Sally said. “He was found in a neighborhood swimming pool five months ago. We weren’t able to identify him until today.”

“But how can he look the same? Shouldn’t he have…uh…”

“We think his murderer kept him frozen all this time,” Jaxon said, and she flinched at his voice. It was the first time he had spoken since they met.

“Frozen?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Why would anyone do that?”

“I don’t know, June,” Sally said. “Whoever did this to your son is a very demented individual.”

“You don’t know who did this?”

“Not yet,” Sally said, “but we’ve made some progress and we will catch him.”