Authors: M.Z. Kelly
Just before our plane made its final descent into Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, I left Leo alone and walked to the back of the plane. I took a seat and buckled in, needing a quiet moment alone with my thoughts.
I vacillated between anger and fascination over what Leo had said. I’d told him it was reprehensible that he and Oz had kept what they knew about my family situation from me. He’d responded by saying that he hadn’t really kept anything from me, since he didn’t know anything. He again emphasized that, while he and my love-dad had shared some good times as rookie officers, Oz was in many ways closer to my dad.
My thoughts then focused on my relationship with Oz. He’d been like a surrogate father to me. I now wondered if that was because he was trying to make up for the loss of my love-dad. It was clear to me that he knew a lot more than I’d been told, both about the killing of my love-dad and about my biological father. Then another thought occurred to me: had Ozzie Powell been afraid to tell me what he knew because he was not only afraid for my life, but maybe his own life, as well?
I was still wrestling with all those possibilities when I heard Joe Dawson’s deep voice. “You look like you’re a million miles away, Buttercup.”
I looked up and smiled. “You’d better buckle up. We’re on descent.”
He took a seat across from me, but didn’t bother with the seatbelt. “What gives?”
I sighed. “Just exhausted and wanting everything to be over.”
His eyes remained fixed on me. “Something tells me there’s more to it, but we’ll talk later.” His gaze moved over to the window as we touched down. “Remember when I told you a couple of days ago that I had a feeling we might be missing something?”
I nodded. “You said you had a feeling that you weren’t sure about.”
He held up some paperwork. “I just got a report from the Coolidge PD in Blackwater. They did a knock and talk on the neighbors around Alice Macy’s property after her homicide. Their investigators talked to a neighbor who lived nearby. She said there was lots of strange goings-on at the Macy residence for years. Rumor had it there was a little girl living with the family, who was never seen. Then dad up and disappeared when junior was in high school. There was some talk around town that crazy Macy might have killed both his daddy and his sister.”
“If that’s the case, maybe their bodies are buried in the back yard.”
He stood up. “Let’s go find out.”
***
It was almost midnight when we pulled up in front of Alice Macy’s ramshackle house. There were a couple of marked patrol cars out front and an officer met us in front of the residence.
“We’ve done a cursory search of the house,” the officer told us. “Everything was locked up. It doesn’t look like anybody’s been here since the murder.”
Another officer came over and joined him as Joe asked, “What about the grounds?”
He got shrugs before the cop who had joined his partner rubbed his cheek and drawled, “We shined our flashlights ‘round, didn’t see much of nuthin’.”
“Nice work, yokel,” Joe said. He then yelled at the other taskforce members to gather around. “Listen up, everyone. We need to search through the yard and any adjacent property. I want you to check every house and outbuilding, then look in every pothole, sink hole, and gopher hole, until you find one with a big crazy asshole in it. I’m not expecting a lot of cooperation from our nutty buddy, so watch yourselves.”
We spent the next couple of hours going over every inch of Alice Macy’s property, including the basement, and the yard. We then got permission from her neighbors to check their houses and garages, but came up empty.
I exhaled in frustration as I met up with Joe in front of the house again. “I don’t think he’s here.”
“Got to be.” He smiled. “They always return to the scene of the crime, Buttercup.”
I dragged a hand through my hair. “Funny.” My gaze drifted off, taking in the surrounding area. We’d checked every building and field near the Macy house. Then I saw it. There was a field of corn about a half mile up the highway.
“There,” I said to Joe, pointing up the road. “Maybe he took the girl there.”
Joe looked in the direction of the cornfield. “It’s pretty far away.” He shrugged, “But what do we have to lose. Let’s go check it out.”
THE DARK VISITOR
It’s dark and cold. I’ve been in bed with the light out since Nancy left. I have my blanket wrapped tight around me, but I can’t sleep. For a long time, I thought about Nancy and tried to make her real again. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. Nancy went away because something bad is going to happen.
I’m going to take some slow breaths and try to calm myself. Sometimes that helps when I can’t sleep. I remember once, a long time ago, when I was a little girl I had a dream. I had gone to a park with my mama for a picnic and I wandered away. There was a beautiful little stream that flowed out of the mountains. I began wading into the water. Then I realized the water got deeper and I fell down. The water was suddenly over my head. I tried to get back to shore, but the water got faster and it began to carry me away. The last thing I remembered was Mama standing on the shore calling to me. Then I got swept away into the dark water.
I woke up after the bad dream and was glad it was just a dream. I then went and got in bed with Mama. She held me tight and said everything was going to be okay.
Now, Mama and my home seem like they’re far away. I’m feeling tired now, so I think I’ll try to fall asleep. It’s really dark…and quiet…
Footsteps! I think I hear someone moving around above the secret room. Maybe it’s Nancy and she’s real again. I’m going to turn on the lamp so she can find me.
There. The room is light again. I still hear the footsteps. Someone’s moving the boards at the top of the stairway. “Nancy, is that you?”
She didn’t answer. Maybe she didn’t hear me. I’m going over to the stairway now, so that she can find me. There’s a shadow there, someone coming down into the room. It’s not Nancy, but I know who it is. It’s the man, the one Nancy told me about.
“Hello, Corinne.”
The man knows my name, but I’m not going to say anything. His eyes are shiny and strange. He’s looking at me, and I know what’s going to happen.
I’m going to die.
A TIME TO DIE
The road where Quinton Macy had parked was a block over from his mother’s house. He had been in the field many times before and knew that the path through the corn maze eventually led to the secret room.
The night was moonless, with a thin cover of clouds, and the air was cold. His heart beat a staccato thump against his chest as he remembered how the room had been a part of his long ago life. His mind drifted back to the first time his father had shown him the room and he’d met the little girl who he’d learned was his sister.
“This is Corinne,” his father had said, bringing the girl over to him in the secret room. “She’s your sister.”
He’d stared at his father in bewilderment and then his eyes had fixed on the little girl. She was about three years old with long brown hair. He’d looked back at his father. “How did she…”
His father was a big man, easily prone to anger. He shook his head and said, “That’s not for you to know.” He smiled at the girl, who was holding a blanket. “Let’s get to know each other.”
After that, Father had insisted that they all get in bed together. That was the first of the many nights that would follow when he’d done the terrible things to them. Even now, as he dismissed the distant mages, Quinton bristled with anger over the horrors they’d endured.
The covering to the secret room looked untouched when he got to the clearing. He used his light as he removed the plywood panels, shining it down the stairway. He didn’t see anyone, at first, and cursed Joshua Brown under his breath. Then he saw the girl, and his world shifted.
Quinton Macy felt his mind begin to tumble and then fly apart, like someone had taken all the parts of his brain and scattered them to the far corners of the world. Thousands of images skittered by.
His mother locking him out of the house…Father in bed with Corinne and him…the buried images of the gun crashing into his skull…then his father’s head being blown off.
He put his hands on his head and began to scream, rocking back and forth until the images finally went away. Macy’s mind was suddenly full of clarity. He leveled his eyes on the girl. This was the child, his sister, the one his mother had told him had murdered his father. She would die. Father’s death would be avenged and he would be at peace. She’d been down here all this time, waiting for him to kill her.
“Hello, Corinne,” he said, after he got downstairs. When she just stared at him and didn’t answer, he said, “Do you know why I’m here?”
The child stood straighter and nodded her head. “Yes, Quinton. You’re here because I have something I need to tell you.”
The cornfield was much larger than I’d anticipated, but Joe and I found a path leading inside about a quarter of a mile down the highway from where it began. The rest of the taskforce was still searching the area around the house, and we decided to see what we found in the field before asking them to join us.
“Looks like somebody’s worn a path in here,” Joe said, shining his light into the maze. “Maybe kids.” He glanced at me. “What do we know about the girl that Brown took?”
I told him what I remembered from the notes Selfie and Molly had given me. “She’s ten and was in the fourth grade. Her parents are divorced. Mom works as a nurse. Physically, she matches the characteristics of the other victims.”
Joe’s light illuminated the path ahead and we saw that it turned. It looked to me like the area had been recently trampled down.
“I never liked dealing with these psychos,” he said. “They’re unpredictable.”
I chuckled. “It’s a hell of a time to let me know that. In our line of work, we don’t run into a lot of well-adjusted people.”
“Yeah, including the profilers. You ask me…”
“Sssh.” We stopped, and I lowered my voice. “You hear that?”
His light washed back over his face, illuminating his big features and pale eyes. “Yeah, someone’s talking.”
We moved ahead slowly until we stopped at a small clearing. There was a board pushed back, revealing some kind of underground chamber. We had our weapons drawn as we crept closer. We stopped and saw there was a stairway leading underground. Then I heard a child’s voice. She was saying something about love.
THE MESSAGE
The man is big and scary. I have to remember what Nancy told me. I can’t show him that I’m afraid. His eyes look different now that he’s closer. They’re kind of yellow, like one of the animals I once saw in a nature magazine at school. I’ve never seen eyes like this before. He’s coming closer now. My heart is beating faster and it’s hard to breathe. I’m going to try not to move.
“What do you mean, you have something to tell me?” the man asked.
I feel different now, less afraid. I remember what Nancy told me and I’m sure about what I have to tell the man now. I’m going to be brave. “My friend told me what happened before she left.”
“Your friend?”
I nodded. “I called her Nancy, but before she went away, she told me we had the same name. She was your sister.”
The man’s eyes seem smaller now. He looks really angry. It’s strange, though. For some reason, I’m no longer afraid of him. Maybe it’s because of what Nancy told me about how to be real.
“You killed our father,” the man told me. “Now you’re going to die.”
He’s still really angry, but I’m still not afraid. “I have something to tell you.”
His face seems harder now, like he’s even more angry than before. “What’s that?”
“Do you know what it means to be real?” When he didn’t answer, I continued. “It’s something that takes a very long time. It’s something that happens when someone loves you very hard.” I’m taking a step closer to the man now, looking up into his yellow eyes. “Corinne loved you. That’s why she was real.”
The big man is bending down to me. “What are you talking about?”
I’m going to reach out and take his hand now. I know it seems strange, but I think Nancy would want me to do it. “I’m talking about love, Quinton. That’s your name, isn’t it?” He nodded. “Corinne knew that you loved her. That’s all that really matters.”
“Let’s get down there,” Joe whispered, motioning to the opening. “I don’t like this.”
I touched his arm, holding him back for an instant. “The girl. Let’s be careful. Macy’s unpredictable.”
He nodded and we moved ahead, until we were standing above the entrance to the underground chamber.
I heard the girl’s voice saying something about love and that’s all that matters. Joe glanced at me, then began moving down the stairway, with me following.
We crouched low and were halfway down the earthen pathway when we stopped. Quinton Macy was on his knees with a girl we knew must be Corinne Williams standing in front of him.
The girl looked over at us and said, “Hello. This is my friend Quinton.”
“Don’t move,” Joe said to Macy. “Stay right where you are.”
Looking back on it later, what happened next seemed like it occurred in slow motion. Quinton Macy stood up. He turned toward us. There was a strange smile on his face. Then I saw the shiny object in his hand.
“Gun!” I said to Joe, raising my voice. “He’s got a gun!”
Joe called out another warning for him to get on the ground, but it was ignored. We watched in fascination and disbelief as Macy turned back to the girl. The child was standing between us and Macy, so we didn’t have a clear shot.
“Goodbye, Corinne,” Macy said.
The man we knew as the Reaper then walked over to a dark corner of the room, brought the gun up to his chest, and pulled the trigger.