Widow Town (24 page)

“Would you like something to drink, Sheriff? Coffee, iced tea?”

Dr. Barder stood by his refrigerator, scanning its shelves as if it had something to
hide.

“A cup of coffee would be great, thanks,” Gray said, settling into a chair near the k
itchen table. While Barder made the coffee Gray studied the rest of the house, his eyes traveling over each surface, every object. When the doctor set the cup down in front of him, he smiled and brought it to his lips, blowing the steam away.

“I know I really shouldn’t be this worried, but I am,” Barder said, interlacing and the
n pulling his fingers apart over and over. “He’s seventeen and active, I’m guessing he’s at a friend’s house but I’ve already called everyone I can think of.”

“When did you last see him?”

“Last night. I worked a shift at the hospital until around eight and then came home. All the boys were here. We had a quick bite to eat and then watched TV for an hour or so. I was beat so I went to bed shortly after that. I took the next three days off since we were planning on going camping. When we got up this morning, Ryan wasn’t here.”

“And his vehicle is gone, I’m assuming?” Gray asked, sipping his coffee.

The doctor nodded. “Yes. Adam and Darrin said they all went to bed around eleven and didn’t hear him leave.”

“Does he have a girlfriend?”

“Not that I know of.”

“How has he seemed to you lately
?”

Barder squinted. “Seemed?”

“Overall. Disturbed, troubled, quiet, depressed?”

“Well, I guess he has been pretty quiet the last few weeks. But I spoke to him and he said h
e was having trouble sleeping.”

“Anything in particular tha
t could’ve been bothering him?”

“I don’t think so. He’s a gentle boy, kind and thoughtful. His birthday is coming up and he usually recedes a little from everyone around then.”

“Because of how your wife passed away?”

“Yes.
I get the feeling that he still feels it’s his fault, even though I’ve assured him there was nothing that could’ve been done.” Barder swallowed once. “I was the one that delivered him and tried to save her, but there wasn’t—” He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“
That’s okay. Does he have any places that he likes to go to think? I met him down in your hollow and saw him sitting on a park bench near the town pond.”

“Not that I know of other than the two spots you just mentioned. I used to take him fishing in both places.” The doctor looked out of the window at the yard. “I suppose that’s why he goes back there. We were g
oing to do some fishing today.”

Gray reached out an
d squeezed the other man’s arm.

“I can’t file a missing
person on him until twenty-four hours have passed, but I’m sure he’ll turn up soon, most likely of his own accord. Now, would you mind if I spoke to your other boys?”

Barder met his gaze again. His face was slack and he blinked
several times before answering.

“Of course, let me get them.”

He stood and moved to the stairway leading out of the kitchen and called up it. A moment later footsteps padded overhead and then traipsed down the stairs. Darrin appeared first followed by his hulking younger brother. Gray took in the large Band-Aid below Adam’s eye as well as the wrappings on his fingers.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” Gray said, standin
g and shaking both their hands.

“Morning
, Sheriff,” Darrin said.

“I’m going to go out to the garage and get some things packed just in case Ryan comes back. Then we’ll be ready to go.” Barder said, moving toward the door. “Thank you for coming,
Sheriff.”

“It’s no problem at all.”

The doctor left the room and Gray waited until he heard the door close in the entry before looking at the two boys seated across from him. He shifted his gaze between Darrin and Adam until the younger of the two finally looked down at the floor.

“So tell m
e about last night,” Gray said.

Darrin stared at him from across the table
and then sat back in his chair.

“Dad got home a little after eight. Ryan, Adam, and I were all here. We had dinner and watched some TV. Dad went to bed and we stayed up a little later then went to bed to
o. This morning Ryan was gone.”

“That right, Adam?”

Adam raised his eyes to meet Gray’s and then dropped them again, nodding slowly.

“That looks painful,” Gray said, motioning t
o Adam’s face. “What happened?”

“We were wrestling, goofing around, and I scratched him on accident,”
Darrin said. Adam nodded again.

“And your hand?”

“Shut it in a barn door,” Adam said, looking past Gray’s shoulder toward the far wall.

“Wow, you boys sure are accident prone around here. I mean, just a few days ago Ryan told me he fell and hit his face on a kitchen cabinet. You wouldn’t know which one he hit, would you, Darrin?”

“Can’t say that I do, sir.”

“Hmm. Well, I suppose injuries do happen on a farm and whatnot. I’m guessing you boys
stay busy working around here.”

“We sure do, it’s
a full-time job,” Darrin said.

“Is that your plan
s, to take over the farming?”

“I guess I don’t see what this has to do with Ryan
going missing,” Darrin said, sitting forward. He placed his hand on the table near a butter knife that was resting on a plate. Gray shifted his eyes down to it and back up.

“Oh, just trying to paint a picture here.
You must be what, twenty-three?”

“Twenty-four.”

“Gotcha. About the same age as my deputy, Joseph Ruthers. You wouldn’t have known him in school, would you?”

“Didn’t know him but we we
re in the same grade together.”

Gr
ay smiled and adjusted his hat.

“Yeah, he’s a good man. Reliable.
On time. Always can count on him.”

Gray let the silence hang in the kitchen and glanced at Darrin’s fingers, a half
inch closer now to the knife.

“
Anyway, you boys don’t have any ideas on where your brother may have went?”

“N
ot off the top of my head, no.”

“How about you, Adam?”

“No sir.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry, he’ll turn up soon. Things have a way of revealing themselves most times. All you
have to do is watch for them.”

Gray rapped his knuckles twice on the table
, hard, and Adam flinched but Darrin didn’t move. He stood and smiled at the two seated boys before heading through the door to the heat outside.

When the door shut behind him Darrin relaxed and drew his h
and away from the butter knife.

“He knows,” Adam whispered.

“No he doesn’t. He thinks he knows which is almost as bad but not quite.”

“He’ll know what to do about the sheriff, right, Darrin? He can tell us wh
at’s next when he comes again.”

“We don’t nee
d to wait for him to tell us.”

“What are we gonna do then
?”

Darrin stood and walked to the window. The sheriff was shaking hands with his father. He gave the house a final glance and then
headed for his waiting cruiser.

“What e
lse? We’re going to kill him.”

~

Gray drove the hot road.

His tires wailed lamented hums and the ashen blacktop cracked like dead skin beneath the furious
light. His eyes watched everything and nothing. The crops the only color in the fading world, their waving those of a death parade issuing forever goodbyes. He ran through all the events during the last few days, shuffling past each one on the screen of his mind until they became a jumbled collage. On the highway something glinted. It flashed there and gone as he came closer, the sun repeating its signal over and over.

Over and over.

Gray blinked and reached out to the dashboard, punching a button.

The radio
flashed to life and Mary Jo’s voice came through as clear as if she were sitting in the passenger seat.

“
Yeah, Sheriff?”

“
Mary Jo, the head of IT over at Wheaton Medical is named Delly. Please patch me through to her.”

“Sure thing.”

The speakers hummed for almost a minute and then a woman’s voice streamed through them.

“This is Delly.”

“Delly, this is Mac Gray.”

“Hello
, Sheriff, what can I do for you?”

“You wouldn’t be in your cozy l
ittle office there, would you?”

“I am actually.”

“Can you do something for me? Scroll through that same span of time that we scanned the other day and tell me what you notice about the headlights that swung through the corridor in the middle of the night before Mr. Baron’s death.”

There was a long pause. “O
kay. It’ll take me a second.”

Gray waited, coasting the cruiser to the side of the road. He closed his eyes and liste
ned to the faint sounds coming through the speakers. There was a short intake of breath and then Delly’s voice filled the cab.

“They’re the same. The path of the lights on the wall is exactly the same all four times. I just checked the outdoor cameras at that time and there’s only one vehicle coming and leaving. Sheriff, I don’t…what the hell?”

“What is it, Delly?”

“It’s been looped. The surveillance in the hallway, it’s been looped over itself. That’s why the l
ights are the same each time.”

Gray sat, tapping his thigh with
one finger, faster and faster.

“Someone covered up
a span of time is what you’re telling me?”

“As far as I can tell, yes.”

“Who has access to the video files besides you?”

“The twelve members of the board, the four heads of staff, the maintenance department which is at least ten, a few other IT
personnel that are part time.”

“Are the video files accessible only thr
ough your office?”

“No,
they aren’t.”

“Let me guess, since most everything is hosted offsite someone could have looped th
e video from somewhere remote.”

“You got it,
Sheriff. All they would’ve needed was a decent computer and the password.”

Gray pulled his hat off, rubbed the grime o
f sweat away from his forehead.

“Damn it.”

“Why would someone do this, Sheriff? I mean, Mr. Baron died from a stroke if I’m not mistaken, so what would be the point of looping over the footage of the hallway right before it happened?”

Gray ignored the question and studied the row upon row of
corn out the passenger window.

“I appreciate you
r help, Delly. Keep me posted if anything else comes up.”

“Okay, but
—”

“If I have any mor
e questions I’ll let you know.”

Gray ended the call and sat in the silence of the car. There was a beep and Mary
Jo’s voice came from the radio.

“Everything okay,
Sheriff?”

“Dandy.”

“What did you find out at the Barders’?”

“
Nothing we didn’t already know. Anything else come in?”

“The first reports from forensics
on the bodies from the field.”

“Good, what’d they say?”

“There were a total of eight full skeletons and two skulls that were unearthed. Two of them were identified by dental records already.”

“Who were they?”

“A Dennis Letchin and a Geraldine Smith. Both were reported missing twenty-two years ago this fall. They were from up north in Ellis County.”

“An
d they were called in missing around the same time? Were they related?”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“Shit. Cause of death?”

“Trauma was found on the cervical vertebra mos
t likely from an edged weapon.”

“Their throats were cut. Hard.”

“It appears so.”

“And the others?”

“That’s all I have so far, Sheriff. Tilly said she’d have the rest over before morning.”

“Okay. Anything else?”