Moon Underfoot (45 page)

At twenty yards, the warden trained his pistol on the slumped head and gripped the pistol tightly enough to activate the laser sight. A small, bouncing red dot appeared on the side of the driver’s head. He yelled, “Drop the gun and get out of the vehicle!”

There was no response and no movement. Again he yelled, “Drop the pistol! Get out of the vehicle right now!”

Still there was no movement in the truck or by the driver, which was very disconcerting.

The game warden had decided that he would give one more verbal warning and then he would approach the vehicle, ready to shoot the driver in the head if he moved a muscle. At that moment, a state trooper pulled up behind his truck, and more blue lights popped on. Their bright, fast, erratic pattern reflected off everything.

The warden, still sighting on the driver’s head, eased closer to Jake’s truck. At ten yards, he loudly ordered the driver out of the vehicle. There was still no movement. At this distance, he could tell that the driver was not Jake Crosby. This guy had long, stringy hair. Keeping his pistol trained on the driver’s head, he quietly slipped up to the driver’s side of the truck, and with snake-fast reflexes he grabbed the pistol free. The slumped driver never twitched. Upon securing the pistol, the warden once again ordered the driver out, and when he didn’t respond, he snatched open the door, and Moon Pie, along with two additional handguns, fell out onto the muddy road.

As the state trooper approached, weapon drawn, the warden kicked the two guns out of reach and did a quick look inside Jake’s truck to ensure there was no one else there.

The warden recognized Moon Pie, but his ashen color was shocking. When he saw his bloodstained shirt, he knelt down to feel for a pulse. He used the barrel of his weapon to push the bloody shirt back to reveal the wound.

“Gunshot! Call an ambulance! We got a gunshot victim.”

The trooper called it in using his shoulder mic while the warden handcuffed Moon Pie. He knew better than to trust a dead snake. Administering first aid never crossed the mind of either officer. With Moon Pie secure, the warden quickly searched the vehicle and checked its tag.

“This is Jake Crosby’s truck,” he said excitedly and then stood over Moon Pie. He shook him while yelling, “Moon Pie! Wake up! Wake up, you sumbitch! Where’s Jake Crosby! Where’s Jake!”

Not getting any response, he left Moon Pie lying handcuffed, facedown, on the cold, muddy ground and ran to his truck to radio in the details and request assistance.

A
FTER TRAVELING LESS
than a quarter mile, the grave robbers checked the GPS to make certain they hadn’t gotten off track. They could hear a tugboat pushing a barge down the river. Since the constant drone of the diesel engines was going to make it difficult for them to hear anything for several minutes, they decided to sit on a log and wait.

Although these men were not easily spooked, the presence of the vehicle and the screams had them very much on edge. At times, the searchlight of the tugboat reflected off the water into the air, briefly creating the appearance of an aurora. Each time the captain panned the several-million-candlepower light on their side of the river, it created hundreds of eerie, quickly moving shadows though the woods.

“It seems extra dark out here tonight, don’t it?” Trance observed.

“Moon’s underfoot; that’s why. Darkest nights are when the moon’s underfoot.”

The men simultaneously pondered the idea of chasing a screaming sound in a river swamp on a dark night. “It’s gonna take at least ten more minutes for that damn boat to get by us,” Yancey said, watching how deeply the light penetrated the woods.

“I know, I know, but I swear I heard somethin’.”

“I believe you heard something; we just don’t know what.”

“Maybe it was that campground.”

“Coulda been anything, the way sound travels over water.” Yancey paused and added, “Well, you ’bout ready? Your ex-wife will be pissed if we don’t find some artifacts to sell.”

“Look at that!”

“What? Where?”

“Right there. Almost at the far edge of the water. It looks like a light shining straight out of the water into the fog.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

They watched in amazement as a narrow column of light went straight up out of the water into the fog and then disappeared. The light returned in a few moments and then went out again.

“What the hell is it? That’s just too freakin’ weird,” Trance said, trying to focus his binoculars on the light beam.

“It ain’t the tugboat. He’s searching past us now.”

“I’ll tell you what…if I was out here by myself, I’d be running like crazy to get as far away from whatever in the hell that is.”

“There’s gotta be an explanation. Come on.”

“Are you out of your freakin’ mind?”

“Oh, hell, come on. After years of digging in graves, you ain’t gone and got scared of haints on me now, have ya?”

T
HE WEST POINT
police chief was with Morgan when he received the call on his cell phone. He listened intently as Morgan tried unsuccessfully to read his facial expressions in response to the one-sided conversation that seemed to last forever. Morgan had a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes, saying a quick prayer. When the chief finally ended the call, she begged him to tell her what it was about.

“Okay, that was the sheriff. The game warden found Jake’s truck over in a big swampy area along the river.”

“Was he in the truck!” she interrupted.

“No. No, he wasn’t…” he said and then paused, trying to find the best words to articulate the rest of the story.

“Why would…I don’t understand. He’d tell me if he was going huntin’, and I checked, his rifle is in the gun safe, and his hunting clothes are in the garage.”

The police chief exhaled deeply. “Morgan, there’s more.”

Morgan collapsed into a chair, awaiting the news.

“Moon Pie Daniels was driving Jake’s truck. He was coming outta the swamp when the warden stopped him.”

Morgan’s heart nearly stopped. It was her worst fear—the devil himself. That evil man who had been tormenting them had
done something horrible to Jake. “So they have him in custody? Is he talkin’? Let me talk to him. Come on, let’s go now!” Morgan jumped up.

“He’s in bad shape. He’d been shot and basically had all but bled out before the game warden got there. He’s barely alive, and the officers on scene don’t think he’s gonna make it.”

Morgan fell back into the chair and blinked several times as she tried to understand what could have happened. “Jake musta shot him! Jake’s still out there somewhere. We gotta go look!” Morgan jumped up again.

“They are…we’re moving everybody we’ve got to that area to search. It’s muddy, so they can follow the truck’s tire tracks. We just seriously narrowed the search area, so we’ll find Jake, okay?”

“I’m going!”

“No. You need to stay here with Katy,” he said, immediately noticing Katy standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Apparently, Katy had been listening. She had tears rolling down her face, and when she saw Morgan stand up and head toward her, she started shaking.

Morgan picked Katy up and hugged her tightly. She surreptitiously wiped her own tears with her sleeve and then brushed back Katy’s blonde hair from her face and said, “Katy, honey, they’re real close to findin’ Daddy. Okay? They think he’s in the woods, and you and I know that’s the best place he could be,” Morgan lied.

The police chief needed to leave to help search, but he didn’t want Morgan following, so he walked to the door and waved at the officer across the street to come inside.

“Katy, honey, look at me. Katy? Say something. Please,” Morgan begged. Then she turned to look at the chief.

The police chief looked Katy in the eye and said, “Katy, you know better than anyone that your dad is a brave man and that he’d do anything for you. Right? Well, right now, he needs
something from you. He needs you to help your mom. You gotta be strong for her. Okay? Can you do that for your dad?”

Katy nodded but didn’t say anything. The tears were now pouring down both Katy’s and Morgan’s face. They didn’t realize they were squeezing each other.

“Morgan, I gotta go. I promise to call the second I know anything. When they find him, the officer outside will take you wherever you need to go. In the meantime, stay here. Katy, you take care of your mom. Okay? As soon as I see your dad, I’ll tell him what a big help you’ve been.”

Morgan was now sitting on the stairs, holding Katy. They were both shaking. Morgan reluctantly nodded her head.

As soon as the police chief shut the door, he whispered to the young officer now standing on the front porch, “Do
not
let her leave without talking to me. This doesn’t look good at all right now, and it’s liable to get much worse.”

A
S THE GRAVE
robbers approached the levee, they could now determine that the source of the light they had been following was coming from inside a mound of debris.

“This is crazy,” Yancey said in a whisper. “How can that light just come out of the ground like that?”

“I think that’s the drainpipe for the impoundment. It’s got a bunch of limbs and shit piled around it, probably from beavers.”

The two men were now just ten yards from the pipe. They could hear water flowing down it but nothing else. The light hadn’t flashed in several minutes. They looked at each other, hoping the other had an idea that didn’t include wading.

Finally, Trance yelled, “Hello, can you hear me? Is there anybody out there?”

The only sound was water spilling over the top of the pipe, and it seemed to be getting louder.

This time he screamed, “Hello!”

Not getting any response, Trance shrugged his shoulders and then said, “Well, I guess we should head back.”

Jake couldn’t hear anything but the sound of water rushing into the pipe. He was freezing and becoming disoriented. He was
exhausted and thought that if he could sleep for a few hours, he’d be stronger and would be able to get free. He wasn’t aware that his heart was straining to pump blood to his brain. His condition was deteriorating rapidly. Before he went to sleep, he wanted to see if the water volume was increasing or if it was just his imagination. He clicked on the flashlight.

“There! There it is!” Trance yelled. He stripped off his jacket and tossed his cell phone onto it. He immediately waded out into the water.

Yancey, the older of the two, didn’t want to get wet, since their ride wouldn’t arrive for another five hours.

He asked, “How deep is it?”

“I don’t know yet!”

When he reached the pipe, the waves created from his wading splashed more water down the pipe, and the light went out. He climbed up onto the beaver debris, peered over the edge into the darkness, and yelled, “Hey! Can you hear me?” He then turned to his buddy and yelled, “Quick, bring me your flashlight!”

“Here, catch,” Yancey said, still not wanting to plunge into the cold water unless and until he absolutely had to do it. He clicked on the flashlight and tossed it underhand.

Jake thought that he could hear voices, but he couldn’t recognize the words. He thought he might be dreaming.