Black Jack: A nail biting, hair-raising thriller (Jack Ryder Book 4) (18 page)

D
ecember
1990

She woke up on the couch. Kimberly opened her eyes, blinked a few times, and then sat up. She was in her living room.

How did I get here?

Kimberly rubbed her forehead. She had a headache and felt strange, but it didn’t feel like a hangover.

“The cavern!” she exclaimed and rose to her feet. She looked around. Everything looked normal. Where were all the people? Were they still down there drinking and partying?

And where is Joseph?

Kimberly walked down to the basement and knocked on the door to Joseph’s room. She opened it but didn’t find anyone there. She walked to the end of the room where she believed the iron staircase had been, but couldn’t find it. Was there a door somewhere that she had to open first?

Kimberly looked around for secret doorknobs and lifted the carpet to see if it was in the floor. But she couldn’t find anything.

“That’s odd,” she said. “I could have sworn it was right here.”

She remembered that she had had her eyes closed when he guided her there, so maybe it was just somewhere else? In one of the other rooms maybe?

Kimberly started looking. She went through the washing room, the pantry and the storage room, but found nothing. She listened carefully to see if she could hear anyone, but it was all very quiet.

Puzzled Kimberly walked up the stairs back into the kitchen. She looked at the clock. It was late in the afternoon. Had she slept all day? And where was Rosa?

Oh my God. The axe! He had an axe down there!

Kimberly stormed up the flight of stairs, till she reached second floor and stormed inside Rosa’s room, her heart pounding in her chest, expecting to find her daughter sprawled on the bed, chopped to pieces.

But she found no such thing.

The room was empty so Kimberly continued to the attic where Rosa loved to hang out. She wasn’t there either. The birds weren’t even there.

He has done something to her, hasn’t he? Like the dad in those awful stories. He’s gone mad. The house has made him crazy. I knew it would. I just knew it! Why didn’t I listen to my instinct? Why didn’t I listen? Oh my!

“Rosa? Rosa?” she called out.

But the house remained eerily silent.

The room. The small room with the chair!

Kimberly stormed down from the attic and opened the door to the small closet room, but the chair was empty. Relieved she breathed deeply and held a hand to her chest. But the image of the axe still remained in her mind and kept reminding her that Joseph was up to something. Something bad.

Kimberly stormed down the stairs, frantically calling her daughter’s name out, but continued to receive no answer. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, the front door suddenly opened and Joseph stepped inside.

Kimberly threw herself at him. “What have you done to her, you bastard! What have you done!”

Joseph looked at her startled, then pushed her away. “What are you talking about?”

As she stumbled backwards, Kimberly spotted Rosa. She was standing behind her father, a bag in her hand.

She lifted the bag. “We bought peaches. We know how much you love the Savannah peaches.”

M
ay
2016

“Do you recognize this man in the picture?”

They had taken me into an interrogation room. Detective Bellini and Detective Nelson were sitting across the table from me, looking at me the way I suppose I usually look at criminals.

I didn’t know what was going on, and had never heard the name Trevor Bryden before. I kept telling them that, but they didn’t believe me. I didn’t like the way they wouldn’t answer my questions or even speak to me while driving there in their car. We were colleagues for crying out loud. What was going on here? And how was it related to Tyler? I didn’t understand anything.

Now they placed a picture in front of me and asked me to look at it. That was when I realized, I did know the man.

“Is that him?” I asked.

“You tell me detective,” Bellini said.

“But I don’t know. I don’t know that man’s name.”

“But have you seen him before?”

“Yes. I saw him yesterday.”

“Where?” Detective Nelson asked.

They had offered me coffee and so far I hadn’t even tasted it. I was so shocked about this strange turn of events. I tried a sip, but could hardly swallow it. My throat was in a thousand knots and my stomach too. I kept wondering how long they would keep me here. Shannon had to be completely out of it.

“At his house,” I said. “Shannon and I went to his house yesterday asking if he had seen Tyler. We showed him a picture of our son and asked if he had seen him. Just like we did to a lot of other houses.”

“So you do know him,” Bellini said annoyingly conclusive. It felt like she was twisting my words. “And you were with him yesterday.”

“I wouldn’t say I know him or were with him, but I did talk to him very briefly yesterday afternoon, yes.”

Detective Nelson leaned over and pushed another photo towards me. I looked at it, then felt sick to my stomach. It was the same guy again, only this time, his head was cracked open and I swear I could see parts of his brain.

“Where were you last night between eleven pm and two am?” Detective Nelson said.

“I was in my bed. With my fiancé.”

“And she’ll testify to that?”

“Of course. We were awake a lot because… well you know we haven’t slept much since Tyler disappeared.”

“And you didn’t leave the house at all within this timeframe?” Bellini asked.

I stared at her, biting my lip. There was no way I could tell her the truth. Then I would have to tell her about Betsy Sue and how we kept her at the house without telling them. If I left out Betsy Sue, then it would be strange for me to leave the house. Either way I wouldn’t come out good. I could of course lie, but I didn’t know if they had a witness who might have seen me leave the house or maybe in the streets. They still hadn’t told me why they were questioning me.

I decided it was better to leave out a part than to lie completely.

“I went for a walk,” I said. “I couldn’t sleep, I kept thinking about Tyler and worrying about him, so I went out for a little while. I walked around in the neighborhood. Only for like half an hour.”

Nelson wrote it down, then looked up at me. “What time was that?”

I sighed. I didn’t know. I didn’t exactly look at the clock when I spotted Betsy Sue sneak out. There was no time.

“I want to say around midnight, but I am not sure,” I said.

Bellini looked at me. She smiled sarcastically. “I thought that usually people who suffer from insomnia knows exactly what time it is, because they keep looking at the clock. But I could be mistaken.”

“I didn’t look at the clock,” I repeated aggravated with the suspicious tone to her voice. I knew she had to be like this, I knew what it was like to sit at her end of the table, but still. We were colleagues. We should be helping each other instead. “Could you at least tell me why you’re even questioning me here?”

The two detectives looked at each other, then Bellini nodded. Nelson looked down in his papers. He tapped his finger to his lips, pausing. Finally, he said:

“Trevor Bryden fell to his death last night between eleven am and two in the morning. His head hit a rock and he died from his injuries.”

“So what? If he fell, then what’s there to talk about?” I asked.

“We have reason to believe he was pushed, or rather kicked,” Bellini remarked darkly. “A muddy footprint on the back of his t-shirt. You know how much it has been raining the past couple of days. Muddy dirt kind of sticks to the shoes.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“We found your card in his hand.”

“Well clearly it was placed there by someone,” I said. “I wouldn’t be so stupid as to leave my card with him, in his hand after I murdered him, now would I?”

Bellini looked up at me. “Maybe you didn’t see it. Maybe he had it in his hand because he had just called you or spoken to you.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I said. I was beginning to understand how people felt sitting across form me during interrogation. I felt like they had already decided that I had killed this guy, that no matter what I said it was of no use, it wouldn’t change their minds. It was scary to put it mildly.

“We need your shoes,” Nelson said. He sat back in his chair, smug and confident.

“You do realize my son is missing, right?” I asked annoyed with the waste of everyone’s time.

“Your shoes, please.”

“Why aren’t you out there looking for him instead of wasting our time with all this nonsense? I don’t get it.”

“Your shoes,” Bellini said.

I stared from one to the other wondering if they ever used their common sense when solving cases? I usually had a lot of respect for my colleagues, but this was ludicrous. And so incredibly frustrating because it was my son who was missing and no one seemed to care anymore.

“Shoes please, detective,” Bellini repeated with more authority.

I pulled off both my shoes and put them on the table with an aggressive movement. “Here. Keep them.”

M
ay
2016

“Hi there. Can I help you with anything?”

Shannon looked at the hundreds of beautiful old dolls on the shelves through her sunglasses. On the sign outside it said Carol’s doll-shop. Shannon wondered if the woman in front of her was Carol or just someone working there.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?”

Shannon shook her head and held on to her hat. She knew it must have seemed odd that she was wearing hat and sunglasses inside, but she couldn’t risk being recognized.

“Not really. Mostly looking.”

“Well let me know if you have any questions,” the woman said with her deep Southern accent. “Just holler if you need me. I’m Carol by the way.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Shannon hadn’t really thought about what she was actually looking for in the shop. All she knew was that Jack believed this shop had to be connected somehow to the person who kidnapped Tyler and Betsy Sue. After looking at the woman behind the counter, Shannon wasn’t so sure anymore. It could after all just be that Betsy Sue liked the dolls she saw and that was why she stopped in front of the shop.

“Say, haven’t I seen you somewhere before,” Carol asked looking up from behind the counter.

Shannon blushed and turned away. “I don’t think so.”

“Haven’t you been on TV or somethin’?”

Shannon shook her head and walked towards a doll. She looked at the dress and felt the fabric. “That’s a nice one right there,” Carol said. “Fabric is gorgeous don’t ya’ think?”

“It feels very nice.”

“Now I know where I have seen you before!” Carol suddenly exclaims.

Get out of here now Shannon! Before the press finds you here!

Carol looked at her all excited, but then it was like she remembered something and she stopped herself. “No that can’t be.” She looked at Shannon. “She’s a lot older. But you sure look like her though. I mean I can’t see your eyes and all, but the chin and mouth and that nose. It’s just like hers. Well don’t you mind me. I am just babbling along here. Tell me what you need sweetheart. A new doll? A brand new outfit? We just got a new summer collection. It’s
be-au-ti-ful
, I tell you. And let me know if you ever have a doll that needs repairing. We have a great doctor who even makes house calls so you don’t have to go anywhere with your precious doll.”

Shannon stared at Carol. Without noticing it, she slid off her sunglasses. “Did you say doll
doctor
?”

“Yes, oh my gosh you really do look just like her. It’s striking. Only younger of course.”

Shannon shook her head. Usually it was the other way around. Usually people said she looked younger in the pictures and videos they saw of her, than in real life. This woman was strange. Shannon decided to not care.

“Do you have an address for this doll-doctor?” She asked.

“Nope. But I do have her number. You want it sweetheart?”

“Yes please.”

Carol took out her phone and started looking through her contacts. “We have used this lady for years and years,” she said. “She is the best around. Haven’t seen the doll she couldn’t fix yet. Ah here she is. I’ll write it down for you on a piece of paper.”

Carol wrote the numbers down, then handed the slip to Shannon with a smile. “I tell you even your eyes. It’s scary so much you look like her.”

“Thank you so much,” Shannon said. She left the store holding the number in her hand smiling for the first time in many days.

D
ecember
1990

“What are you talking about? What cavern?”

Joseph stared at Kimberly. They were sitting in the kitchen eating peaches and drinking sweetened tea. The peaches were delicious. Soft and ripe and every bite was like an explosion. Yet Kimberly couldn’t quite enjoy them or her family’s company. The many questions kept bothering her.

“You took me to the basement, remember? Last night? You told me to close my eyes, then dragged me down some iron stairs, into this cave, this small place where you had all the bourbon and a gambling table and then…then we drank a lot and got drunk and then you had a bunch of people over.”

Joseph looked at Kimberly with a grin. The same grin she remembered he had worn in the basement. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Mom are you alright?” Rosa asked, her face smothered in peach-juice. “You seem a little…odd today. You were sleeping on the couch all morning. Maybe you dreamt it all?”

“No,” Kimberly said. “It wasn’t a dream. It happened. I am sure. You were there too, earlier, before we went into the basement. You gave me the book, remember?”

Rosa looked at her, then shook her head. “What book?”

“The book you found in the attic,” she said looking from one to the other across the table.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kimberly asked. Her voice was shivering. She couldn’t stand this. They had to be joking. It happened. It really did. “Joseph you heard her talk about the book at the dinner table as well. Tell her.”

“I…I don’t remember anything about a book,” he said.

“Come on, Joseph. Last night. She was talking about the general and telling the story of how he put his daughter in that awful chair upstairs. Don’t you remember? We ate in the formal dining room. We had roasted duck!”

“I remember the duck,” Joseph said.

Rosa laughed. “Me too.”

“I think Rosa is right,” Joseph said. “You must have dreamt it. There’s no cavern under the basement containing old bourbon bottles. Believe me I would know. And we didn’t have guests over last night. We never have company anymore. Not since we moved.”

Kimberly felt dizzy. What was all this? Why were they denying these things? Could they be right? Did she just dream it all? The book? The cavern, the bourbon, the cigars and the guests?

She felt so confused.

“Are you all right, mommy?”

Kimberly shook her head. “I am not sure. I feel like strange things are happening to me. This house. This place. I don’t know…maybe I’m… Joseph,” she said looking at her husband for comfort. He touched his hair that was still combed back on his head. At least he wasn’t smoking now, but he did smell an awful lot like old cigars.

“I have to say, you have been acting weird lately. I heard you yesterday upstairs talking to yourself sitting in that small room with the chair. And this morning when I came up from the basement you were sleeping on the couch. You slept all the way through breakfast and lunch. We were worried about you but thought you needed it and let you sleep.”

Kimberly looked at her daughter, then at her husband. She didn’t know what to say to them. Her mind kept wandering down to that cavern and all the guests. What was she supposed to believe? She grabbed her hair and closed her eyes. She pulled her hair to make sure she was actually awake this time. It hurt like crazy and she let it go.

“Moom? You’re scaring me,” Rosa said.

Kimberly opened her eyes. The words felt like they emerged in slow-motion as she spoke:

“I think I need to lie down.”