The Reservoir (23 page)

“What?” Hudson asked.

“Someone had cut the girls, you know, in particular places.”  He made a face, to make his point.

Hudson glanced at Handbury, who shook his head.  “You’re saying someone cut the girls’ … private parts?”

Aaron nodded.  “Yeah, and it creeped us out, so…”

“So, you, what?” Hudson encouraged.

“Well, we started looking around.  We found a loose board and we pulled it up.  The knife was under the board.  It, uh—the knife—has red on it.” 

Hudson carefully reached for the knife.  “Red, like blood?” he inquired, his eyes going to Aaron’s face like guided missiles.  When he nodded, Hudson studied the knife.  “Red like blood,” he acknowledged in measured tones. 

“Yeah, and then we looked around some more and found a box with…”  His eyes passed over the items on the table.  “…With all these things in it.  We recognized the name Kiki Lee, and sort of put two and two together.”

“Take us to the shed and show us everything,” Hudson said suddenly, and with authority.

Aaron shook his head adamantly.  “No.”

Hudson looked taken aback.  “What?  You’re not willing to show us that shed?”

Aaron glanced at the faces of his friends, registering the fear in their eyes.  He turned back to the deputies.  “You know where it’s at.”

Hudson gave a humorless laugh.  “You’re serious?  You won’t show us where you found these things?—because, the fact is, we can compel you to show us…”

“Compel away,” Aaron said stubbornly.  “We’ll scatter in four different directions.”

Hudson stood silently, staring at Aaron through narrowed eyes.  “You’re terrified, aren’t you, son?”  When he didn’t respond, he said, “You don’t have to be scared.  We’ll be right beside you.”

“That’s what we’re afraid of,” Daniel muttered, and Hudson glanced at him with alarm.

“You’re not telling us something,” Hudson said with certainty in his voice, catching his partner’s gaze.  “Listen, you need to show us where you found these items, and you need to show us now.”

“Okay, I’ll take you,” Aaron told them.   “I’ll take you and about twenty of your friends.”

The cop looked at him, his face contorted in confusion.  “What are you talking about?”

Aaron knew he couldn’t very well tell them about the dead girls in the lake, nor could he mention that they viewed the two of them as possible suspects in their murders.  And as such, they weren’t going anywhere with them.  The fact that these two men seemed to know their way around the cabin, and were aware of the shed’s existence, was disconcerting, as well.

“Kid!” Hudson said.  “I’m asking you again to take me to that shed and to show me everything!”

“Take yourself,” he said, losing patience.  This whole ordeal was beginning to grate.  He suddenly wished he and Niqui had left soon after he’d arrived on this darned reservoir.  It felt as if he’d lived a lifetime since getting here.

“We can save time if you’ll just show us,” the younger cop said in a coaxing voice.

“Uh, uh, no way,” Aaron said adamantly.  “If this place isn’t crawling with cops soon, my butt doesn’t leave this chair.”

“What is it you’re not telling us, son?” Hudson asked.

Aaron refused to speak, dropping into a chair, and folding his arms across his chest.  He suddenly looked about to cry, and the deputy recognized the boy was at his breaking point.

“All right, son.  Have it your way.  I’ll make the call,” Hudson told him.  “I’ll make the call.”

***

An hour later, the property was teaming with deputies.  The parking area below David’s cabin was crowded with patrol cars, as well as a van marked CSI.  Although there weren’t twenty deputies on site, there were enough that Aaron felt comfortable enough that they all couldn’t be killers.

“Gray’s given us permission to search?” a stern-faced man, who identified himself as a commander, asked Hudson.  They were in the kitchen with the kids, who were still sitting around the table.

He nodded.  “The wife gave us permission.  It turns out Gray’s on his way here.  She said she was about to head this way too.  They bought a new boat and intend to surprise the daughter with it.”

The commander gestured to Aaron.  “Show me,” he said simply.

Aaron rose, and wasn’t surprised when his best friends fell into step beside them.  When they reached the entrance to the shed, the older man gave the exterior a cursory glance and shook his head.  “Only you go in,” he told Aaron, giving a dismissive wave toward his friends.  The others reluctantly fell back, while Aaron went inside.  The commander followed him in.

Hudson and Handbury stepped inside just as Aaron showed the commander the posters.  The three men exchanged somber glances.  Next Aaron climbed over the piles of castoff items, to the back of the shed.  He showed the men the chains and anchors first.

The commander lifted his shoulder in a shrug.  “Why are you showing me these things?” he asked.

Aaron opened his mouth to speak, but promptly clamped it shut.  Once Holly and Zack finished what they had set out to do—locate the bodies—the commander would likely have his answer about those chains and anchors.  For now, he crouched down and showed the officers where he’d found the knife.  Next, he showed them where they had found the box, stashed in the wall.  With that, he rose up and hurried outside. 

He couldn’t take another second inside the musty building.  Like Niqui had said before, it smelled like death.

Outside, Deputies Hudson and Handbury directed the kids back to the cabin, where they sat down at the dinette to wait.  Several officers milled around in the living room and bedrooms, apparently searching for additional evidence.

“What happens next?” Kendall asked.

Aaron shrugged.  “I don’t know.  It’s not like we can start chatting about a ghost, you know.”

Daniel leaned forward and whispered.  “I wish we could reach Holly.  Should we try to call Kendall’s cell phone?”

Aaron nodded.  “Give it a try.”

Kendall rose from the dinette and nonchalantly moved to the phone on the wall.  She dialed her own cell, only to have it go to voice mail.  “No luck,” she whispered.

Hudson suddenly appeared in the kitchen.  “Who did you just call?” he asked.

She glanced at Aaron, who shrugged resignedly. 

“I tried to reach Holly,” she told him honestly. 

“Where did you say she was?”

“She’s out on the lake with our friend, Zack,” Kendall said.

“What’s she doing out there without you guys?” Handbury asked.  “Are they swimming?  Boating?  Out for some fun in the sun?”

Aaron rose from the chair and stared intently at Hudson, and then Handbury.  “No, they’re not out there having fun.  Who in their right minds could have fun when they’re searching for…?”  He shook his head, realizing he’d almost said too much. 

“Yes?” Hudson said.

In frustration, Aaron threw his hands in the air in a gesture of resignation.  “They’re searching for bodies.  Okay?  They’re looking for dead kids.”

Holly and Zack were trapped.  The Marine Patrol boat blocked any possibility of escape.  Zack considered attempting to motor the dinghy forward and then take a sharp turn away from the larger boat, but he knew there was no way he could outrun the Marine Patrol boat.  Instead, he steered toward shore, shut down the motor, and helped Holly climb out.

Deputy Donner pulled the big boat alongside the tiny boat, apparently unconcerned about the rocky shelf scratching the aluminum hull.  The deputy turned the wheel over to the other man and jumped out of the boat.

Zack, who had a hold of Holly’s hand, spun, and began running.  Instinctively, Holly ran with him, as they struggled to stay upright on the slippery rocks.  When they reached the actual shoreline, Zack paused briefly to take in their surroundings.

The way up and away from the bank of the reservoir was a steep incline, with felled trees dangling tops-first down the hill.  Other fallen trees lay across them, creating a precarious tic-tac-toe terrain that Zack wasn’t certain they could safely traverse. 

When he spotted the deputy begin to give chase, the decision was made.  He started up the hill, dragging Holly behind him.

“Donner!” the man on the boat yelled.  “Get back here.  Something big’s happening north of Yale Park!  We have to go!”

The teens paused and glanced back.  They watched Donner stop, look back indecisively at his friend, and then glance back at them.  They could see the frustration and anger on his face.  “Come back here,” he called to them.  “Now!  You’re going to kill yourselves up there.”

“Should we do as he says, Zack?” Holly asked.  “What if he gets angry and shoots us?”

Zack scrubbed a hand across his jaw.  “Holly, I don’t know.  Frankly, I don’t know who we can trust.  I keep thinking about Kendall telling you about those guys passing a chain between them.  What if…?”

“You’re right.  Climb, Zack!” she cried.  “Hopefully, he’ll give up on us and go away.”

They began climbing upward, struggling to scale the big, fallen trees, and find solid ground beneath their feet when they did.  It was rough going and they only paused when the frustrated deputy called out to them again.  “Get back here.  Please!  Those trees aren’t stable.  It’s dangerous up there!”

When they didn’t comply, he finally turned back and trudged across the rocky shelf to the boat.  He climbed in, said something to his friend, and then took the wheel.  Holly and Zack watched him carefully back the boat out, turn, and start across the lake.

“I’m sure he figures we’ll be easy enough to catch later,” Zack muttered.  “I wonder where they went?”

Holly’s eyes widened.  “Do you think…?

“What, Holly?”

“Are they headed for the cabin?  I wonder if they’re following up on the phone call Thomas’ parents received from my phone.”

Zack expelled a long sigh.  “If they are, we don’t have much time.”  He shook his head.  “Actually, I just don’t know.  I don’t think a phone call would cause them to speed off like that.  Regardless, let’s go find Cassie.  We have a job to do.”

Together they managed to get down the hillside in one piece, and they crossed the shelf to the drop off to deeper water.  Cassie sprung up suddenly, startling Holly.  “We have to hurry,” Cassie signed.  “I’m sure they’ll be back soon.”

Holly nodded and Cassie dove into the water.  As before, she returned with the little girl’s body, along with Erick, who helped her.  This time, the two ghosts propelled the body up and over the edge of the shelf, so Zack simply had to grab hold and tug with all his might.  He managed to pull the body onto the shelf and steady it well enough to prevent it from dropping back over the other side. 

Moments later, Cassie and Erick returned with the boy’s body.  It was even heavier than Lucy’s, but again, the two ghosts used their might to propel the body over the edge of the shelf, so that this time, both Zack and Holly could pull it to the shallows and secure it.

Once done, both teens fell back, sitting in the cold water.  They sat numbly, unaware of the chill, unaware of the waves lapping at them now—created by the wake of the departed Marine Patrol boat—and staring at the little bodies in front of them. 

They had their proof.  Having found these bodies, they could more readily direct law enforcement to the bodies under the bridge.  Besides, they also had the locket that belonged to the girl, Katie.  

Holly had been thinking about the locket.  She decided she and Zack could tell the officers that they had found the locket dangling from one of the bridge pillars.  That proof should be adequate, coupled with the discovery of these two bodies.

Holly rose from the water when Cassie gestured her closer.  “What will you do now?” Cassie signed, and then frowned.  “Why did you run from the deputy?”

“We don’t know who we can trust yet,” Holly told her simply.

“But they’re deputies,” Cassie signed.  “Surely you can trust them.”

Holly explained that only one of the men was a deputy.  She also told her about her friends seeing the man in the boat pass a large chain to the deputy.  Cassie’s eyes widened.  She appeared deep in thought, as if struggling to discern if either man could be her killer.  Finally, she shook her head sadly.  “I can’t say for sure if it was either one of them.  I was blindfolded.  We were all blindfolded.”

Holly nodded, wishing she knew with certainty who had killed Cassie and the others.  Her friends believed it had to be the former owner of David’s cabin.  Holly hoped it had been him, since that man was dead.  He could never harm another girl or boy.  If only they knew for certain it
was
him.

“Holly, thank you,” Cassie signed.  “And please, thank Zack too.”

“You’re welcome,” she told her.  “Cassie, are you going to tell us where we can find your body?”

She shook her head.  “Not now, Holly.  I will someday.  Just not now.”

She didn’t have time to respond, since she heard the sound of another boat motor.  She looked up and saw a sleek ski boat coming their way.  Holly glanced back at Zack with alarm, as he jumped to his feet. 

He glanced around frantically, unsure what to do.  But then he relaxed slightly.  He realized this boat was their ticket to getting out of the situation safely.  They would ask the driver to go for help, while they remained behind to assure that no one tampered with the bodies.

As the boat drew closer, Holly’s eyes widened in recognition.  David was behind the wheel.  “It’s my stepdad,” she signed to Cassie, in rapid fire speed.  Cassie nodded and descended deep into the water.         

“It’s my stepdad, Zack!” Holly called over her shoulder.  She was surprised, but also relieved, to see David.

Zack joined her at the water’s edge, draping an arm over her shoulder.  She leaned into him, grateful for his support, and grateful their nightmare was about to end. 

“Holly,” David called.  “Are you two all right?”

“We’re fine!” she called to him, noting her voice was shaky.  Maybe she wasn’t as fine as she thought.

He steered the boat closer, bringing the bow to within inches of the shelf.  He shut down the motor and then eyed the two bodies lying on the shelf.  “What … are … those?” he asked, his eyes as big as saucers.  “They’re not … what … they look like…?”