Twins of Prey (18 page)

The number of news crews and camera trucks parked outside was evidence enough that Pine Run would forever be changed. It was not a show or a game that the crowd had arrived for. There was no one famous presenting something or any chance for someone to win anything. The entire population of the small town and the eyes of the rest of the world it seemed had all come to the gym of this tiny American town for the same reason. A funeral.

Along the stage there was not a single casket. It did not make sense to have a casket if there was no body. The front row seating had been saved for the families of the sheriff and his men. For each family held out hope that their loved ones were still just lost out there in the wilderness somewhere. Being that the search parties never found a single body or any signs of their existence the families had no closure. Yet as the months went by each day their hope grew weaker.

Eventually the state police stopped searching and declared the sheriff and his deputies dead. They classified the incident as a training mission gone bad. The news coverage subsided and for a while Pine Run slipped back into a haze of normalcy. With no police force, the residents looked to the state police post that was thirty-five miles away for coverage. Luckily there was very little crime in Pine Run before the entire sheriff’s department vanished and that remained true after.

While most people openly talked about what may have happened and speculated wildly, the theories ranged from them simply getting lost, being attacked by a bear, wolves or a lion all the way to them being abducted by aliens. Everyone in the gym had their own idea of what happened to their missing deputies. However, only one person in the room knew the truth.

Henderson’s return to Pine Run in the canoe was her secret. Having arrived after midnight, not a single soul was aware she had ever left. Docking the boat inside the Cook Forrest State Park, which was just outside of town, she made her way on foot back to house in the dark, alone.

Waking up the next morning, Henderson carried on as if the entire events of the last few days never happened. Very few knew about the training mission the sheriff was taking the group on. Those that did, had no clue about the sheriff’s true intentions. Henderson kept these things in mind as she got dressed for her shift as if it were any other day.

Still racing through her mind was the reality that as far as she knew her coworkers were all dead. Along with her drowned brothers, the world would never know the truth. She felt as if telling the truth would only cause further pain for the families and Pine Run itself. She knew that just the story of them not coming back would be enough to create a media circus. There was no reason to add the story of her brothers onto that. Fueling the fire for the press was not something she was about to do.

Arriving for work that morning she walked into the empty three-room sheriff’s department building. The room was just as they had left it. Organized, tidy, and bland. She did the normal things like starting a pot of coffee and sitting down to check the crime logs. If she was going to go on with life as if she wasn’t invited to the training mission, then she had to do what she would have on any other day. Grabbing the keys for her patrol car, she walked out to the back lot and after radioing into the River County Central Dispatch to call on duty, she hit the roads. They were not due back into Pine Run for another twenty-four hours. There was nothing to do but to carry on with her shift.

Within a week, the story of the missing deputies was out. Henderson kept up the charade of being the one deputy left behind to watch over the town. It was a believable enough story. She had spun a tale of how they all went camping and planned on practicing wilderness survival and being that she was the girl of the group, she wasn’t brought along. Most residents of the town were well aware of how the other others treated Henderson. It was no secret around the barber and coffee shops that she was often the butt end of an offensive joke. If being gay wasn’t enough, the color of her skin casted her out just as well. Deputy Annette Henderson was left by the sheriff to look over Pine Run, and that is just what she intended to do.

Lying, she felt was the only recourse she could take. The truth was not an option and throughout the investigation, she remained a rock. Being that interview techniques and mental preparedness where two of her strong points this was easier for her than it would have been for most.

Henderson even assisted with the search parties. These were the times that she questioned her decision the most. While she had no clue on where the twins had fought with the others she did know the location of the underground cabin. Having covered the area many times since she locked them inside its rising waters Henderson ignored it as she walked past the hidden oak door. Paying no attention to it and pretending it did not exist. To her and the others looking in the area the door was nothing more than a piece of an old oak tree.

She rationalized the lies with the fact that she did not kill any of her fellow deputies. In fact she had no proof that any of them were actually dead. Of course in her heart she knew the truth. Yet, this was not a matter of heart. This was a matter of survival. Just as her heart wanted to save her younger twin brothers, drowning them inside the cabin was a matter of survival. Henderson knew the only way she could help Pine Run was by surviving to do so. No bodies, no caskets.

All the lies, all the failed rescue attempts, and useless search parties had led her here to this day. Sitting in the hot gym amongst grieving family members and the intrusive media correspondents. The wives, children, mothers, and fathers of the missing all looked at her asking why she was the one to survive in place of their loved one. Joining them was just about every town resident. School was cancelled and every business had closed their doors for the day. No bodies, no caskets.

Police honor guards from every department in Michigan and many from other nearby states as well as Canada were present, lining the streets of the town with patrol cars as far as they eyes could see. Residents, who could not secure a spot in the gym, lined the streets grasping onto miniature American flags as if they were waiting for a parade to start. No bodies, no caskets.

The groups filed into the hot gymnasium taking their seats one by one. As time had passed over the months, the reverence for the situation had faded as well. It seemed as if the crowd inside was treating today’s event as if it was a celebration of life just as much as they were mourning a loss. Henderson sat there thinking they all should wait until Friday’s football game to celebrate something. It also dawned on her that maybe they were not grieving because they didn’t know the truth. No bodies, no caskets.

Taking her place in the front row she sat looking at the stage. The podium that stood in the front center was adorned with the Pine Run township seal. Large poster-sized pictures of each deputy were placed on easels that flanked the podium. Amongst the pictures were stands of flowers, each holding a card with a message of condolence for the remaining loved ones. No bodies, no caskets.

As the gym filled with the sound of soulless feel-good symphonic music, Henderson felt the temperature rise as well. It was warm yet for it being early October. Henderson sat there in her dress uniform waiting for the service to start. Unsure if the heat she felt was real or was only due to the feeling of every eye in the room focused on her. As an investigator, she was familiar with the condition called “Survivors Guilt.” It was not surviving that she feel guilty about. The lies, all the lies dug into her and made her less of a person. She wondered if this pain would last for the rest of her life and if so, had she really even survived?

Yet she was alive, she had survived. It was now, in these moments, that she realized all of Pine Run was not looking at her with blame in their eyes. Pine Run was looking to her for hope. It was Henderson’s job now to protect the town. To heal the wounds her brothers had caused. Without her, Pine Run would be, alone. Thinking to herself,
This is my home and I must protect it, I must rebuild it
. And with these comforting thoughts, the heat was gone.

The service had begun like most others. Being the size that it was, Pine Run only had one church. Father Allen Niko spoke about grace, forgiveness, understanding, and Heaven; all concepts that Henderson was not interested in. Father Niko also talked about moving on and how to do so. Henderson agreed with his sentiments. Of course he had mentioned her in his sermon but that made no difference. Had he only spoken in generalities his words would of affected her in the same light.

The message Father Niko was trying to share with his grieving community were sharp and on point. A gifted speaker originally from the Saginaw area, Niko stood before them a proud black man of considerable size and build. Having successfully grown his congregation throughout his time in Pine Run, Niko was often referred to as the “Cool Preacher” or “The Hip Hop Priest.” Both monikers were fitting. While some of the old timers in town could not look past the color of his skin or even his new world ways of spreading the gospel it was the young people Niko was really after. Niko had a gift of speaking to and saving the troubled youth. He truly understood the pulse of today’s youth.

Following Father Niko various members of the missing deputies’ families took turns speaking. Most of them thanking the community and the other first responders for their diligent work in the investigation and search parties.

Closing out the ceremony was the mayor of Pine Run. A heavy set man in his mid-fifties who always appeared as if whatever he was doing in that minute was the most important task in the world. The mayor in his three piece suit lumbered up the four steps to the stage as if he had previously climbed sixty before reaching these last few. Standing at the podium he reached to pull the wired microphone down to his mouth. The action of his clumsiness with the microphone caused a deafening screech to reverberate throughout the gym. All in attendance gasped covering their ears while shuttering in pain. It was as if someone had drug an entire box full of razors across a classroom chalkboard.

Standing there aware of how annoyed those in front of him were, the mayor looked upon them with a glare of confidence. Being a career politician who had lost his bid as a state representative a few years ago and moved to the town, speeches were no problem for him, normally. The mayor cleared his throat and placed his chubby index finger on the mid brace of this thick black-framed glasses. Due to his heavy perspiration, they had been slipping down his nose from the moment he started climbing the stage steps. Pushing them back up to the bridge of his nose where they belonged, he took a deep breath and wiped away the sweat from where his large white forehead met the black curly hairline.

Having very little contact with the mayor herself, Henderson had no clue as to what the content of his speech would be. She only knew he was close friends with her former boss and that no matter what he had to say or whether or not she agreed with it, this was the man who controlled her fate as a member of the Pine Run Sheriff’s Department.

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I hope you enjoyed Chapter 1 of
Twins of Prey II ~ Homecoming.

To Purchase he remainder of the book click here:

http://www.wchoffman.com/my-book-store.html

T
o my parents — Thank you for pushing me to not just reach for the stars, but to grab one.

To my sisters — Angela Common & Kayce Hathaway. You girls are amazing sisters and even better aunts.

To my editorial team — John McKay, Ken Magee, Daphne Porat and Josh Hawkins.

To my beta readers — Jessica Ravizza, Eric Steinhoff, Matthew Workman, Kayce Hathaway and Daphne Porat.

To Dr. Bruce Rubenstein — The best story teller I know.

To my Military Adviser — Staff Sergeant Jose E. Flores II United States Marine Corps.

To my KickStarter Backers – Greg & Linda Hathaway, Dennis & Kara Maser, Ken Magee, Anthony & Jessica Ravizza, Logan Engels, Christopher Chan, Kayce Hathaway, Dustin & Rachel Scharrer, Justin Ketchum, Nick Tomczak, Joshua Frost and Andrew Bullen.

To the retailers who believe in local authors-

Past Tense Books
,
Fenton’s Open Book
,
Sunry’s Archery
,
Jay’s Sporting Goods
and
Spot Shooter Archery.

To my friends in the outdoors Industry -

From the Blind
,
Up North Journal
,
Shawn & Kathy Team Jinx
,
Michigan Deer Track’n Hounds,
Times Up Outdoors
,
Mike Avery Outdoors
,
Dave Cochran Owner/Manager of Show me the Bucks
,
Michigan Out of Doors TV
and
Brandon Nutt Outdoors
.

I
f you took a guy who loves to hunt and fish and then made him a professional magician with a decade long career in law enforcement who also enjoys his work as an ordained wedding officiant you would have W.C. Hoffman.