Hope Falls Season 2 - Eagle Valley (7 page)

* * *

Two rows behind and to the right of her, Madder watched her sleep. Unsatisfied with how he had been kept dangling, he decided to do a little detective work of his own. When he had decided to follow her, he didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before. He smiled to himself and sipped his beer. The coldness of it calmed his stomach.

He had no idea what
Erin
was planning, but he had his own agenda. He had to reach Derrick and the rest of them before Howard did. He had to get there before Howard found them, before they were hunted down. He looked down at the black and white picture that he held. Derrick's face stared back at him, his black hair tousled, his glance defiant. Madder had had the picture for eight years now, and Madder was nervous to finally meet Derrick in person. He took another sip of beer.

Madder hoped that he wasn't too late. That Howard had not made his move. He knew that Howard was angry, and angry men did stupid things. He didn't know what Howard had planned, but he would make his move soon.

Madder took another sip of beer and continued looking at
Erin
. He felt a stirring in his stomach that he put down to nerves, but he felt the feeling every time he looked at her. He had thought of nothing but
Erin
for so long…ah, a man could dream, couldn't he?

Smiling, Madder took out a paperback novel and started to read. It was going to be a long flight.

* * *

Cleo stared out her window and watched the sun play with the wind. The sand-colored ground was bright and made the sun seem as if it was glowing. She placed her hand against the window, for one fleeting moment wishing that things were different, and let her arm fall.

The beginning of a new day. And something was coming. Cleo could feel it, she could feel the air around her becoming closer.

She had become used to these little feelings. They were growing bigger lately, she felt them more often. Ever since she was a child, she would know things. Things she had no business knowing. Who was cheating on who, who's parents didn't treat their children kindly, dark secrets of others.

But ever since her move to
Eagle
Valley
, they feelings had grown stronger. It was one of the reasons she had come to
Eagle
Valley
, these feelings. She knew that her daughter was in further danger, that she had to right wrongs that were years old.

She smiled as she remembered their conversation the other day in the kitchen.

FLASH!

Susan felt her skin pale. Narrowing her eyes, she leaned in closer to her mother. There was fury there. "What. Are. You. Saying. Mother."

"You didn't have to stay in one show, like Miriam." Cleo said. The walls had tumbled and Cleo's outer hard shell was crumbling. "I don't know what to say." Cleo said.

"I'll tell you what to friggin say!" Susan yelled. "YOU CAN START AT THE FREAKING BEGINNING!" Susan's temper had finally hit the breaking point. She grabbed her mother by the throat of her gown and hauled her to her feet. "You can start at the beginning." Susan whispered.

Cleo chuckled. "God, Susan, you need to get laid badly."

"Shut up." Susan snapped. And then Cleo started laughing. Soon, Susan could hold the laughter in no longer. She started laughing along with her mother until tears were streaming down their faces.

FLASH!

Cleo chuckled at the memory and looked at a photo of Susan she kept on her dresser. There was a picture beside it. It was a picture of a man with dark eyes and dark hair…

FLASH!

A MAN STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. SMALLER PALM TREES LINE THE SIDES OF
A CITY STREET
. THE TOWN LOOKS BEAUTIFUL ON EITHER SIDE, IT'S SIDEWALKS MADE FROM VARNISHED STONES AND WHAT LOOKED LIKE ACTUAL BOARDWALK STREETS. THE MAN HAS HIS HAND RAISED TO US, HOLDING OUT HIS HAND TO US.

HE HAS BLACK HAIR BUT IT IS WHITE AT THE EDGES. HIS EYES ARE JUST AS DARK. FLASH!

Cleo could feel him coming too. She could always feel him. She didn't know what was going to happen, who would live or who would perish. But she knew that people were going to die.

A tear slid down her cheek and she went to her dresser and pulled open the top drawer. She took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. "God I could use a drink." She said out loud. Only silence answered her.

Chapter Fifteen

He was of medium height and had dark brown hair. His eyes were a dark gray color and to look him in the eyes was to see ice. He checked his email and closed the program. Taking a sip of coffee, he leaned back in his chair, the morning sun casting shadows on his large oak wood desk.

Miriam had been spotted.

Someone had seen her off the coast of
California
, hitching a ride in a stranger's car. He had just received communication from Betty. She was still a handy tool and was now more than willing to do his bidding to settle a score.

Miriam had a lot of questions to answer.

How she had escaped, for one. For three years he had held her in the basement of the studios without issue and then she had simply been gone. The basement sat underground, bunker style. It had light and consisted of five floors that went down into the ground. It's walls were of a polished wood, the floors carpeted in red and green. There were leather sling back chairs and big over stuffed pieces. There was red and gold, soft grills in front of fireplaces that crackled.

In short, the basement was a mans place. The lounge was on the first floor down, with bedrooms on the next two floors. The fourth floor down was the studio, where they shot scenes for snuff films currently in production, or finished off scenes that had been shot from the murders done on the
Hope
Falls
set.

It was quite an ingenious set up really, this business. It had started out of a growing fascination with sexuality. There were many kinds of sexuality, many different kinds of turn on's. Some were just more perverse than others; He smiled. It was really all about control. Men who sought control, or people who craved it. In their waking world and behind closed doors, in the bedroom.

He just fueled their fantasies. He was a picture maker, a dream shaper, and not a murderer. Some people would call him heartless; but you had to be heartless in this business. It was all a matter of perspective.

Sure, seeing all those people die on film, some so ingeniously set up, some deaths so brilliantly conceived, it turned him on. It fired up his blood. But it was all a puzzle, wasn't it? He was really a puzzle maker. How to put together the perfect demise, time and time again differently. The idea of setting up a studio based around a soap opera had been his lovers idea. Sophie was full of so many good ideas.

Howard regretted having to drug her on several occasions and having to arrange her death, but that was all water under the bridge. He knew that it all had been necessary, that there was a goal in mind. And now his plans were being slightly marred.

He had held Miriam for three years, after she had started her pesky investigation. When she had started asking questions, he had known he had had to act fast. DeDe had betrayed him in the end. She had had to die. It was just a matter of simple procedure. But someone had paid very highly for the film of her death and copies still sold for very high amounts. It was all a matter of perspective.

Howard smiled. Soon, he would be joining Sophie in
Eagle
Valley
to finish what had been started. There were some lose ends to take care of and, as Howard knew after several years in this business, lose ends are best cut off.

Chapter Sixteen

Someone else was enjoying the morning sun. Cleo lay in it, feeling it warm her skin through her bedroom window. She slowed her breathing and closed her eyes. Derrick was out, Susan was making tea in the kitchen. Sophie was sleeping. There was something wrong in this house. Something wasn't right. She could feel it.

Getting up, she struggled for breath. She felt her heart beating faster inside her. Cleo placed a hand on her chest with a silent prayer for her heart not to give out. And then, as quickly as it came, the moment passed and she could breathe again.

Hands shaking, she went to her dresser to brush her hair, it always calmed her. Her hand froze halfway towards her hair, frozen in midair. Her reflection stared back at her, but yet it was not her reflection.

A skeletal face stared back at her, it's face marred by black holes where her eyes should be.

So, I am to be one of the dead. Cleo thought. A tear slid down her cheek as she prayed for the safety of her daughter.

* * *

In another room of the house, Derrick was moping.

At a time where his thoughts should be centered on Susan, or of what he had done with Sophie, he could think of nothing except Miriam. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her there, behind his eyelids, inside his head, in amongst his dreams.

She haunted every waking moment now. And Sophie had been the catalyst. He paused in his brooding when he heard a sound at the doorway. He looked up and saw a tall, blond haired woman with startling blue eyes. Her lips were curved in a smile.

Derrick felt his heart stop. "Miriam?" He said in a whisper.

* * *

Erin
arrived at her hotel room with little to no problem. Her fake ID had gotten her past the desk clerk without any questions, so she shouldn't be given any trouble. Besides, people rarely asked questions in a small town. And
Eagle
Valley
was pretty damn small. There were only four hotels to choose from.

Erin
had chosen the more posh one, figuring that if she was going through all this trouble to find out more information, the least she could do was stay in a nice four star hotel. Besides, she loved the chocolate mint on her pillow every night. Now THAT was service.

She finished unpacking her bags and stared at her soft honey colored hair in the mirror above the dresser. Her eyes were a soft shade of green. She had come up with her identity on the spur of the moment. She was Miriam's cousin. Being a family member was the only plausible explanation that she could think of for showing up unannounced at their doorstep. She figured, with all that had gone on in their lives, they wouldn't question something as basic as a family connection.

People were duped by it all the time.

She admired the dark purple gray pantsuit she had chosen. She looked good, like she came from money.
Erin
was working with the advantage that there was next to no information on Miriam, no remaining family, no next of kin.
Erin
was free to be who ever she needed to be.

She eyed the sun outside of her hotel room window. It was almost noon. She had time to go grab some lunch before she went to pay her visit. Where could one get good Thai food in a place like this, she wondered.

* * *

Susan was startled to find that she was the first one in the kitchen. Smiling to herself, she poured out the first cup of coffee and, putting it to her lips, took a huge sip. There was nothing in the world sweeter than caffeine. Except maybe good sex, she thought.