Girl With a Past (27 page)

More likely she’d ODed. And they didn’t want
to report it to the police. They wanted someone else to move the
body. Was that someone else the Zodiac?

And the bear?

I’d been afraid of bears my whole life. My
Dad, Jeff, had tried to get me over my freak-outs to even teddy
bears. There was a bear statue in the park that had outstretched
arms; he tried to get me to play on it. I screamed bloody murder
when he lifted me into its arms. We were walking with one of my
“uncles” at the time.

It was Tom. Tom spotted the bear statue,
“Let’s put her on that,” he’d said. That bear seemed gigantic. I
must’ve been six. I was so scared I couldn’t breath. Dad pulled me
off the outstretched arms of the bear and held me to him while I
sobbed all the way back to the house. What had they been talking
about?

“
Remember the guy that Lexi was with that
night?” Daddy asked Tom.

“
Derek?”

“
Yeah . . . you remembered his
name?”

“
Hell. Everything about that night is
seared on my brain.”

“
He’s turned up.”

“
Really, ok.” Tom said. “That’s a little
scary.”

“
Why is that, Tom?”

“
Trust me, you don’t want to
know.”

“
He says his dad was the Zodiac.”

“
Hmm, I thought that case was
closed.”

“
Not exactly, there was a guy, named
Arthur Allen that the police were sure was the Zodiac, but there
wasn’t enough evidence to indict. And you couldn’t pick him out of
a line up.”

“
So, will you re-open?”

“
It’s not up to me, but I’m certainly not
pushing it. His father’s dead, so what’s the point?”

Tom nodded.

Dad continued, “It would be helpful if I
knew what your problem with this case is. I’ve been through the
file and I’ve never seen any links to anyone besides Lex. You
couldn’t ID Allen. That was for real, right? It wasn’t just a
matter of not wanting to get involved?

“
But I was involved,” Tom hesitated
before continuing, “I couldn’t stand the thought that I might’ve
led the Zodiac to Lexi. It’s a huge relief to hear that Derek was
the link.”

“
What were you talking to this guy
about?”

“
Just shooting the shit.”

“
Anything to do with Jennifer?”

“
What?”

“
I know there was a girl named Jennifer
at the ranch around the time Lexi was killed.”

“
Who the hell told you that?”

“
A reliable source,” Daddy had said,
“that’s not the point. Did she have something to do with the
Zodiac? Did you mention her to him?”

“
I may have, in only the most general
way.”

“
What’s that mean?” Daddy startled me,
barking at Tom that way.

“
We were talking about free love,
promiscuous girls. He had a thing about them, pretty down on them,
you know. Hell, if my memory serves me well, the guy did bear some
resemblance to that Derek that Lexi was with that night.”

“
Did you tell him where Jennifer
was?”

“
I may have.”

Daddy moved me from his arms to his
shoulders. “Tom, did you do anything I would want to prosecute?
Tell me straight.” Daddy could sure sound scary sometimes.

“
No, I swear. None of us did anything
illegal. I just happened to have a conversation with the guy, and I
was scared that he might have followed me to your house, and that
was how he saw Lexi. That’s all.”

“
Did he go to the farm?”

“
How the hell would I know?”

“
Did you tell him where the farm
was?”

“
Maybe. We were drinking. Hell, I don’t
remember every damn word.” Uncle Tom got agitated.

The sound of a loud grunt brought me back to
the present.

Brawny was awake. He stood up, stomped his
feet. “God damn fuckin’ cold in dis fuckin’ place. How come all da
firewood’s buried under snow? What kind of idiots store firewood
where you have ta dig through snow ta get ta it?”

The firewood wasn’t actually under snow; I
wondered why he thought that, maybe the other guy had told him that
so he wouldn’t have a fire, so the smoke wouldn’t be seen from the
road?

“There’s firewood in a box on the front
porch,” I said.

“Used dat up.”

“There might be more in the boat house.”

“That big garage lookin’ thing?”

“Yeah. Want me to get you some?”

“How stupid do ya think I am, huh?” Brawny
glared at me.

“There’s a pile on the left when you go
through the big double doors.”

“Aah, I can’t leave here.” He settled back
down on the sofa.

“I really could go get wood for you. You’ve
got Mom. I’m not gonna leave her.” I might flag someone down on the
road, tell them to get help, but I wouldn’t leave. “Scout’s
honor.”

“Fuck, you do fuckin’ think I’m fuckin’
stupid.”

“I’ve gotta go to the bathroom,” I said.
Maybe something in the bathroom would give me an idea how to get
out of this. Maybe scissors or a razor stored in there could be a
weapon.

He grunted. “Tough shit.” He cackled. “I’m
not untying ya.”

He paced around the small dining and living
rooms.

Fatty came in shivering, shaking
himself.

“What’s he want us ta do wit ‘em?” Brawny
asked.

“Turn’em loose.”

“But they can ID us.”

“He says he can take care of that.”

“Bullshit! I can take care of dat––” He
pulled a gun out of his pocket.

53

Fatty held up a hand in the stop signal.
“Yeah, it’s bull, but we won’t get paid if we don’t do as he says.
He’s still pissed that we did anythin’ other than take the
papers.”

“But he was da one havin’ fits cause we
missed important papers. We was just tryin’ ta do da job right.
Doesn’t he appreciate dat?”

“Fuck, no.”

“If we do it his way, we won’t get ta spend
any money. We’ll be in jail forever.”

“I gotta think.” Fatty rubbed his head as
though thinking were a painful process. “Can’t let’em go.”

“I’m hungry, you take a turn in here.”
Brawny picked up a jacket and poked a thick arm into a sleeve. “I’m
getting food.”

“You don’t think I wouldn’t rather be in
here instead of freezin my balls off out there.”

Brawny finished putting on his coat. “Dat
one,” he said as he pointed to me, “has ta go ta da bathroom.”

“Lock’em in the bathroom,” said the big
one.

“How’em I supposed to do dat? Da locks on da
inside,” Brawny said smugly as though proud to have pointed out a
fallacy in his boss’s plan.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Fatty picked up the
chair I sat in, and banged through the bedroom door on into the
bathroom. He returned for Mom taking no care not to run into walls
and doorframes. Mom’s chair was up ended into the tub.

We heard the sound of a chair being wedged
under the handle and furniture being piled in front of the door.
Then came the sound of doors being slammed, a car starting.

One of my feet was not securely tied to the
chair. I pulled it lose and stretched my leg to push Mom’s chair
upright. “Are you okay?” I looked her over; a little blood trickled
from her eyebrow.

I walked my chair by twisting the legs first
one, then the other back and forth until I was against the door. I
threw myself and my chair against the door. Nothing budged. I tried
it again. God that hurt! But the door was not going to give.

I slid my chair next to the back of Mom’s. I
tried untying her hand with one of mine. It was slow going, maybe
impossible.

“Have they left before?”

“No. Are you sure you want to undo me?
They’ll just get angry. There’s no way out of this room.”

True. There was only a slit of a window
above the tub. Could I squeeze through there? Not likely.

“We could open the window and scream for
help?” I suggested still fumbling with one tied down hand to untie
mom’s hand.

“They’d probably be the only one’s to hear
us.”

“Worth a shot. Have you got a better
idea?”

“If you break the window open and they’re
gone all night, we’ll freeze.”

“Just hold still while I work on these
knots.” I tried to pry a finger into the knot. “Who are these
guys?”

“No idea.” Mom sighed. “But I know they
weren’t supposed to shoot you. They were supposed to get some
papers before you read them, and when they didn’t, they took it
upon themselves to kidnap me to keep you quiet. Then they got the
idea to kill you so you couldn’t talk . . . all of which was way
beyond what they were asked to do. They’ve been trying to figure
out how to get back in the good graces of the person who hired them
ever since we got here.”

“Mom, the papers are Dad’s file on the
Zodiac killer. When we get out of here, you’re gonna tell me
everything you know about Lexi’s murder and a girl named
Jennifer.”

“O-o-oh.” Mom sighed, caught a sob.

“I think . . . I’ve almost got one of your
hands undone. Can you use your fingers to hold this piece of rope?
Here, feel that?”

“Al, think of something else, we can’t get
out of here.”

“Please. Don’t give up so easily.”

“So easily! What?” Mom twisted around to
glare at me. “I’ve been tied up for four days. They let me go to
the bathroom three times, gave me water twice, and I haven’t given
up. I’ve fought to stay sane, but look at that window. Neither one
of us can get out that thing, and yesterday, the last time they let
me go to the bathroom, I could barely walk.”

I looked around the room. “I’ll take the top
off the toilet and use it to break out the window frame as well as
the glass. These old walls aren’t that strong. Dad’s always
complaining about the amount of work this place needs, how much dry
rot there is in the wood. Maybe the walls will break.”

I dropped the knot I’d been working on and
fumbled to find it. “You can watch for them to come back. I’ll
scream and break. Just help me get this undone.”

“Lock the door. If we get in the tub, and
put that toilet top on us, maybe we can withstand them shooting at
us,” Mom said.

“Mom, help me. Hold on to the rope and hold
still.” I didn’t want to admit it, but Mom was right. Even if I
could untie her hand, which wasn’t going very well, what then? The
cord kept slipping from my fingers, and then I had to start over
finding the piece to pull. If my hands weren’t shaking, it would
help. I took a deep breath.

I twisted my two fingers around the cord and
tried to wedge my fingernail in between the sides of the knot. I
persisted. I broke the nail but I kept pushing. Finally I felt a
little give, I pushed harder, got it, and pulled another strand. I
pulled Mom’s hand free.

Mom shook her hand, bending and stretching
her fingers.

“Get your other hand. I’ll help. Then you do
mine,” I ordered.

“I need to get circulation going in this
hand before I can do anything with it.” She wiggled her fingers
faster. “Can you reach the drawer in that dresser?” Mom asked.

“I can try, why?”

“I think there’s a pair of shears in
there.”

“Now you tell me that.” I’d just spent what
seemed like hours getting her one hand undone. Maybe not really
that long, but at least half an hour. If they’d gone to eat, they
shouldn’t be much more than an hour.

I twisted my chair from leg to leg, scooted
next to the antique dresser, and used my teeth to pull on a knob. I
leaned my face into the drawer and tongued a pair of nail scissors.
With my teeth, I held them up for Mom to see. I grunted to get her
attention; she was concentrating on untying her other hand.

“That’ll work.” She grabbed them with her
free hand and used the small blade to saw at the cord.

“Mom, do you remember a girl named Jennifer
from Jamie’s farm around the time Lexi was killed?”

“Sweetheart, I didn’t go to the farm until
months after Lexi died.”

“Why was Uncle Tom asked to pick a guy out
of a line up?”

She slipped from where she was sawing,
groaning when she stabbed herself with the small blade.

“Sorry, never mind. Don’t talk,
concentrate.”

“Got it.” Mom had two hands free.

She untied mine, then we both undid our
feet.

“Now what?” Mom asked.

I lifted the toilet top, swung it thru the
window. Glass flew at us.

The first couple times Mom tried to stand,
her legs collapsed. I rubbed the circulation back into one leg
while she rubbed the other. Finally she succeeded in holding up a
towel so that the next swing sent glass sliding down the wall, not
at us.

We used bloodied fingers to pull shards of
glass, and broken wood frame from the opening and tossed them into
the tub. Frigid air streamed into the room.

“You better be right about this,” Mom
teased. She stuck her head in the opening and we both screamed,
“HELP! HELP! HELP!”

“Get back, Mom.” I took a huge swing, and
broke free a chunk of the pine paneling.

“Stop. Hear that?” Mom asked. “I hear a
car.” She pulled the towel away from the window.

Time’s up already?

I looked at the hole. Maybe I could get out,
although I would do a lot of damage on the jagged bits. But Mom
could barely stand. She’d never be able to get up and through
there.

54

I looked out the window and saw Nancy’s
Range Rover in the circular drive. Steven and Nancy, each holding a
gun, crept towards the house.

I screamed out the window. “Steven! Hurry!
Get us out. They’ll be back any minute.”