Gone to Ground (21 page)

"What anxious moments pass between the birth of plots, and their last fatal periods."
Joseph Addison wrote that almost three hundred years ago. I knew exactly what he meant.

I rounded the corner, still feelin Mayor B stare after me. He was gon check that drawer. I knew it. And I'd be a dead woman.

How fast could I run to my car?

In the kitchen I emptied the waste can and ashtray. Washed out the glass dish and dried it with a paper towel.

Where was Mayor B?

By the time I got back to the hall my heart had nearly broke my ribs. Mayor B was nowhere in sight.

I leaned toward the staircase and gazed up. The master bedroom was open. Voices murmured.

Relief sagged me like a rag doll. I hurried into the office and set down the two items. Reached for The Desk Drawer.

Upstairs a doh closed. Did I hear footsteps on the carpet?

I swiveled and headed back out the office toward my cleanin supplies. Mayor B's heavy tread sounded at the top a the stairs. I reached for my vacuum cleaner. Started rollin it toward the livin room. Mayor B hit the wooden floor a the hallway, still carryin the blue folders.

"She all right?" I turned back to him.

"Pretty sick. Bed's where she needs to be." He gave me a piercin look.

"Mm-hmm." I headed on toward the livin room, feelin his eyes at my back.

Nothin I could do but keep on cleanin. I plugged in the vacuum and set to work. Any minute I was sure Mayor B would stalk into the room. Grab my arm. Where
was
he? In the office? The kitchen, gettin lunch?

Lord, You got to help me.

Seemed like it took a lifetime to sweep that carpet.

Finally, as I unplugged the vacuum, Mayor B appeared, a sandwich on a plate in his hands. "You clean the office yet?"

Have mercy. My voice was gon shake. "I usually vacuum and dust in there toward the last. You want me to go ahead and do it now?"

"No, that's all right. You can just kick me out when you get to it."

Was the man playin with me? "Okay."

I headed to the TV room. For another good hour I kept cleanin—and prayin. My hands never stopped their shakes, and my mind ran a hundred directions. Meanwhile Mayor B didn't leave his office, far as I could tell. Never had he stayed home so long on a work day.

He
had
to be playin with me.

By the time I was ready to clean the office I knew I was done for. The man was sittin in there, jus waitin for me to come in and try to work. He'd roll out that drawer, say in a voice to kill, "What you been doin, Cherrie Mae?"

I reached the doh to the office, my knees tremblin. The mayor sat at his desk, studyin papers from the folders he'd brought home.

"I'm ready to clean in here now."

He leaned back and took his time lookin round the room. Ran his finger across the top a his desk, then inspected it for dust. "Know what? It doesn't even look dirty in here. Just leave it till Thursday."

My pulse stopped. I had to get in there and fix that drawer. Maybe by some wild miracle he hadn't already seen it. "You sure? Won't take me long."

"I'm sure." He smiled at me—most chillin smile I ever seen in my life. "Go on home, now, Cherrie Mae. We'll see you Thursday."

I eyed him another second. My tongue ran around my dry lips. "All right. Thank you."

Quick as I could, I moved my cleanin supplies out a that house and into my car. I drove away in a hurry, thankin God I'd got out with my life. For now.

But night would come all too soon.

http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2010-Feature-Writing

2010 Pulitzer Prize

Feature Writing

The Jackson Bugle

Gone to Ground

What happens to a small, quiet Southern town when evil invades in the form of a serial killer?

By: Trent Williams

October 29, 2010

(Excerpt)

The ancient legend of the amaryllis flower drips with blood.

In Greek mythology Amaryllis was a shy virgin nymph who fell in love with Alteo, a conceited shepherd with the strength of Hercules and the beauty of Apollo. Alas for Amaryllis, her love was unrequited. Alteo desired only one thing—a beautiful flower that had never before existed. In despair, Amaryllis consulted the Oracle at Delphi as to how to find such a bloom. The Oracle instructed her to stand at Alteo's door every night dressed in white and pierce her heart with a golden arrow. For thirty nights she stabbed her own heart, spilling her blood. When Alteo finally opened his door he found a crimson-petaled flower that had sprung from Amaryllis's blood. Only then did he recognize her beauty and fall in love with her.

The modern-day flower we know by the nymph's name grows in abundance around the Amaryllis Methodist Church on South Street, thanks to volunteer gardener Harvey Bayless. In his suspenders and faded blue baseball cap, Harvey, age 71, carefully tends the church garden throughout the year. The amaryllis bulbs, which can grow to four inches wide, lie dormant through the winter and push through the soil to bloom in March and April. Their colors are spectacular, some red, others orange. Harvey's favorite color is that of the "apple blossom," tinged pink and white, with green in the center.

Every three to four years Harvey digs up the bulbs.

The reason, he explains as he weeds the garden around the church, lies with the bulbs' tendency to sink deeper into the soil a little each year. "The bulbs like to have a bit of their tops exposed," he says in his heavy Southern drawl. "Leave 'em alone too many years, and you'll find 'em sunk too low, hidin'. You could say they've gone to ground." He makes a sound deep in his throat as he ponders his choice of words. "Sort of like that killer we cain't find."

And so, once the amaryllis are done blooming in that third or fourth year, Harvey will carefully remove the bulbs from their homes. But not too soon. He first allows time for the leaves to continue growing. "You got to allow the foliage to replace the bloom in the bulb," he adds. He tends the uprooted bulbs over the cold months, replanting them in February.

Harvey was unaware of the legend behind the amaryllis flower. Upon hearing the story he stops weeding and rocks back on his heels, one dirt-streaked hand finding his jaw. For a moment he is silent. His gaze lifts from the garden to roam down the street toward the house where Alma Withers, victim number four, lived. "Kinda makes you wonder, don't it."

After another spell of solemn rumination, Harvey takes off his cap to wipe his forehead, then doggedly returns to work.

I'd never set foot in the Amaryllis police station.
And I sure didn't know about the scary little room where Chief Cotter took me. Didn't look much bigger than a prison cell. Dull gray walls. No windows.

John Cotter stood behind me. Two against one. He carried a beige folder.

My mind churned.

"Have a seat." The chief's gray eyes took in my white face, then dropped to my neck. My shoulders pulled up. He studied me for a minute.

A rectangular wood table backed against the wall with three chairs around it. On the table sat a tape recorder. Would they tape everything I said?

I lowered myself into a seat at one end. No way would I sit in the middle of these two cops. The chief sat down next to me.

My pulse fluttered.

John Cotter remained standing, watching me. "You need some water?"

I nodded.

He laid the folder on the table, then strode out. My eyes fastened on the smooth beige. What was in there? The folder had a tab. Nothing written on it.

Officer Cotter returned with a full glass. "Here you go."

My mouth tried to say "thanks," but nothing came out.

He closed the door and sat down at the other end.

The air closed in. I took a long drink, then sat straight-backed, hands clutched in my lap. A voice in my head whispered I didn't have to answer their questions. Didn't have to talk to them, period. At any time I could ask them to take me home.

To Mike.

My fingers curled into my palms.

Chief Cotter clicked a button on the tape recorder. A red light came on. "Don't worry about this." He waved a hand. "Just normal procedure." He leaned his big arms on the table and spoke toward the recorder. "Monday, April 25th, 11:15 a.m., Amaryllis police station. Present are Chief Cotter, Officer John Cotter and Tully Phillips."

He looked to me. "Reason we brought you down here, Mrs. Phillips, is we heard some information that leads us to believe you may know somethin about Erika's Hollinger's murder."

I stared at him. The swab?
How
could they know?

"I know this is frightenin to you. But you got nothin to be scared about. Just tell us the truth, that's all we ask. Looks like you've been wantin to do that anyway."

Air had to fight its way down my windpipe.

The chief pulled the beige folder toward himself and opened it. Inside sat the envelope I'd sent him last Friday.

My heart stopped.

He pointed to the envelope. "You ever seen this before?"

I licked my lips. "What is it?"

The chief gave me a look. "I received this in the mail on Saturday. Postmark was Friday, from Bay Springs. When I saw the content and the note, we immediately began investigatin who'd sent it. Soon as the Bay Springs post office opened this mornin I gave them a call. Asked if anyone happened to remember processin the envelope. Turns out someone did since it was sent to me, no return address, soon after a murder in our town. The employee said the envelope had been pulled from the mailbox outside the post office. The letter sat on top of the other mail, as if it had been dropped in there toward the end of the day."

Chief Cotter watched me for any sign of recognition. I waited him out.

"Mrs. Phillips, I know you tried to be anonymous. I can understand that. But of course we needed to know who sent the envelope. When I questioned the worker at the post office, the person mentioned steppin outside of the building around five o'clock and seein a young pregnant woman walkin away from the mailbox. We went on a hunch the young woman was from Amaryllis, since the employee didn't recognize her. Well, there aren't a lot of young women near deliverin a baby in this town. When we showed the employee your senior picture in the high school yearbook, that person said it was you."

The plastic gloves. My boxy printing. The envelope and stamp sealed with water from the faucet. I'd been so careful.

"Mrs. Phillips." The chief tried to sound gentle. "We know you sent the swab. It's really important you tell us about it."

I focused on the envelope, feeling the two men watch me. The room felt so hot.

"Tully," John Cotter said. "You're not goin to get in trouble."

I already
was
in trouble. More than they could know.

The chief tapped the folder. "Take us back to last Tuesday night. What time did your husband get home from work?"

"I came home at the regular time. You got that?"

I bit my lip. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

My head shook. "I was already in bed."

"But you weren't asleep, were you?"

I kept quiet.

"Because your husband was late. And you were worried."

They were just guessing. They couldn't really know. Unless they'd heard Mike threatened to kill Erika.

How would they know that? "Why should I be worried?"

"Does your husband usually come home on time?"

"Yes."

"But he didn't that night."

Say nothing, Tully.

"I take it that's a yes." The chief leaned back. "So Mike comes home late. What happened then?"

My eyes closed. In my mind I heard the shower running, Mike's uniform dropped on the floor . . . "Was she pregnant?" The words blurted out of me.

"Who? Erika?"

Shame washed down my throat. I'd done it now. Bad enough I couldn't keep my husband, but for these men to find out . . .

"You askin me if Erika was pregnant?" The chief's voice edged.

I raised my chin and gave him a defiant look.

His eyes narrowed. "Was your husband having an affair with Erika?"

The words sounded so harsh. Chief Cotter's face blurred.

"Tully." John Cotter leaned forward. How could these two men gang up on me like this? "The autopsy did show Erika was pregnant. That fact has not been revealed to the media. So how do you know that?"

"She told me."

"Her own mother didn't know. Why would she tell
you
?"

I pushed back from the table. "I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"Wait now." Chief Cotter held up his hands. "We'll take you home soon, I promise."

"I want to go home
now.
"

He shook his big, fat head. "We still need some answers."

"I know my rights." My heart jittered. How could I talk back to the
cops
? "I don't have to be here."

"You're not bein charged with any crime, Mrs. Phillips."

"Then take me—"

"Yet."

My mouth snapped shut. I stared at him.

He scratched his jowl. "Look. We're tryin to be easy with you. All you have to do is tell us the truth. Fact is, we got a witness who's one hundred percent sure about seein you at the Bay Spring mailbox—"