“Cool,” Mare said, remaining on the landing as he descended. “I’m sure she’ll love to see her Seanny Buttercup without having to sabotage her house first.” Her laughter and kissy sounds followed him down the stairs.
“Urgh. Don’t start in on that,” he groaned as he reached the bottom and flicked on the basement light. He paused, gaping, as Mare’s kissy noises faded.
Holy crap, he’s a pig.
She started down. “Problem?”
“Go ahead and stay up there,” he called up. “Our favorite houseguest has left a mess. You don’t need to see—“
“Like hell I don’t,” she said, hurrying to stand beside him.
Both remained silent for a few moments as they took in the chaos of nudie mags, junk food wrappers, beer bottles, and second-hand Michael Jordan paraphernalia scattered amongst filthy clothes and even filthier bed linen. It stank of beer, semen, tortilla chips, and pot. Despite the room being nearly as big as the entire upstairs, Sean could see only brief glimpses of the linoleum floor.
He closed his mouth.
How is this possible? He hasn’t been here two weeks yet. And if he can afford all this crap, why isn’t he paying rent?
“Condoms?!?” Mare said, stomping into the mess and pointing to one crusty sample hanging off the edge of an empty KFC box. “He’s brought
women
here?” She turned, gesturing to the filth. “Women who’d put out in this?!?”
“Apparently so.” No woman he’d ever met would consider kissing a guy in something like this, let alone more. He felt his gorge rise and he swallowed it down.
Urgh. Don’t even think about him having sex in the dungeon of filth! Guess I know why he’s always so glad to send me off to work on Wednesdays.
“He has to go,” Mare said, gingerly picking her way back to him. “This mess has tossed him over the bar and out the door.” She reached the clear floor at the bottom of the stairs. “I don’t give a shit who he balls, but this…” she said, gesturing to the room. “This shows a total disregard for our home and health. It’ll draw bugs, if nothing else. And he has the balls to bitch because we’re not maintaining home repairs to his standards? What the fuck?”
“You’re absolutely right,” Sean said, upending the laundry basket onto the mess since the additional clothing would make little difference. He took a breath and sighed it out while Mare pointed at something smeared on the wall over the couch—nacho cheese sauce, perhaps?—and congealed pizza on a milk crate before moving on to other disgusting points in the chaos.
Sean, however, noticed paneling stripped off the eastern wall to expose a gaping hole that led to the space under their bedroom addition.
Why rip off the paneling?
he wondered, reluctant to step into the filth in his bare feet. He had put in an extra sump and boarded it up years ago.
It’s just studs and dirt back there, a little wiring.
His thoughts lurched to a stop as his eyes widened.
Most of Paul’s clothes are muddy. Could he have buried something?
“Shit,” he muttered before turning to trot up the stairs. “Be right back.”
“What’s wrong? What did you see?” Mare asked, following.
“Not sure yet,” he said as he retrieved his tennis shoes and pulled them on. “The flashlight got decent batteries?”
Mare found it in the junk drawer and flicked it on. “Seems to.”
Sean held out his hand and she tossed it to him. They returned to the basement and Sean stumbled across the filth.
A chair stood beneath the hole, its seat speckled with fresh dirt, and Sean climbed up to shine his light in.
“Smells,” he said, glancing at Mare. “Musty. But I don’t see anything from here but mud.”
She covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh God, what’s he done?”
Sean hefted his upper body into the hole, leaving his lower half sticking out.
He shone the light around, making sure to illuminate every corner, every lump and divot. Along the western wall, at the corners to his left and right, two puddles quivered in fairly large holes and the sump pump had been disconnected and removed from its pit in the far corner. He lifted the flashlight and saw a glimmering reflection of water where the sump used to be.
Sean’s heart slammed and he eased himself out again. “We better call Todd,” he said, meeting Mare’s terrified gaze. “The sump pit’s flooded and there are two more holes, both full of water.” He swallowed and stepped down from the chair. “They’re all about the same size as the slime that dog, Betsy, spored out of.”
Mare nodded, her face ashen. “He might be growing dogs.”
Sean flicked off the flashlight. “Or two of those missing kids.”
Chapter Twenty-One
While Sean and Mare fiddled around in the basement and her cat batted at a scrap of crumpled paper, Mindy updated her blog and checked comments and email. If she hadn’t stepped in Paul’s slimy clothes, it would have been a near perfect evening. Camille calling in sick granted them a happy shift in the kitchen, and not only had Ramonna
adored
the cupcakes, another food worker and two nurses had placed orders, too.
So Mindy cheerfully blogged about starting a small in-home baking business and decided not to mention the morning’s paint or dead cat on the stoop. Since Jeff obviously read the blog, she saw no good reason for him to know she’d been frazzled. Especially since that nice Deputy Anderson had promised to look into what had really happened with her and the accident.
She thought about his sweet face, how kind he’d been, how safe she’d felt, then she shook her head.
Don’t go there, Mindy. It’s just his job to be that way.
She flagged but didn’t delete the threats and taunts Jeff had surely paid for.
Gonna leave those for my deputy,
she thought, smiling slightly, as she opened her email.
Mostly junk, a couple of Facebook notifications, and a message from the insurance company’s legal department. They apologized for the short notice, but, due to the Attorney General and State Insurance Examiner’s interest in the matter, she needed to arrive at their main office in Des Moines at ten A.M. to be interviewed, submit to DNA confirmation, and give a deposition regarding legal matters pertaining to her accident so they could proceed with the lawsuit against her husband.
Oh, wow. On a Saturday? They’re not screwing around.
Mindy chewed her lip.
That means leaving by eight thirty, maybe nine in the morning. That’s not short notice, that’s almost no notice at all. And I can’t drive myself.
She heard Sean and Mare return from the basement, so she hurried to the kitchen to intercept them. “I need a huge, massive favor,” she said, pausing as she saw Mare pacing and Sean punching a number into the phone.
Something happened,
Mindy thought, glancing down the dark cavern of the basement stairs. She swallowed and wondered what Paul’d been up to down there.
“Yeah, Todd?” Sean said, phone crushed against his ear. “Yeah, I know it’s late, but about my uncle…”
While Sean talked, Mare took a cleansing breath before putting on a smile for Mindy. “You said you needed a favor?”
Mindy glanced past Mare to Sean fretting on the phone. “Just got an email saying I needed to be in Des Moines tomorrow morning, but I can see you’re having enough trouble for one night. I’ll just tell them I have to reschedule.” She paused, then asked, “What happened? Why’s Sean calling the deputy? It’s almost midnight.”
“Looks like something’s sporing in the basement. Back under our bedroom. We’re… concerned.”
Mindy swallowed and nodded.
I would be too.
“What do you mean you’re going to be here in the morning anyway?” Sean turned to face the women. “You’re
what
? Why?”
He shook his head and covered the receiver. “Mindy, did you know anything about Todd being here in the morning?”
Mindy grinned.
He’s asking about me?
“No, why? Is he driving me to Des Moines?”
“She thinks you’re driving her to Des Moines tomorrow,” he said into the phone. “Shit if I know. Here, you ask her.”
He thrust the phone into Mindy’s hand and paced alongside the kitchen counter.
“What’s this about Des Moines?” Todd asked her, yawning. “I was told you were likely to be home all day tomorrow.”
She frowned, confused.
Why would he care where I am?
“I was, but I have to give a deposition to the Attorney General in the morning.”
She heard a muttered curse. “Great,” he said. “Nobody told me that.” He sighed, heavy and grumbling. “When are you leaving?”
“Supposed to be there at ten, so, uh, eight thirty? Nine? Ish? If Sean or Mare can drive me. I really haven’t had a chance to ask them yet.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll drive you. It’ll make things simpler, anyway.” Another tired sigh, then he asked to talk to Sean.
Sean stood quietly for a moment, nodding. “Sure, I can be up by eight, no problem. Thanks, man. See you then.”
I guess I’m going,
Mindy thought, feeling nervous tickles in her belly.
The state and Attorney General are involved! Won’t that tick off Jeff?
Hours later, Mindy lay in the dark, heart slamming from her latest vision of falling endlessly through black snow, and she tried to settle herself enough to get back to sleep. She’d just sunk into the shadows of her mind, body heavy and drowsy, almost there, when she heard heavy footsteps in the hall. Her cat, usually quiet and cuddly, hissed and jumped off the bed.
Dang Paul,
she thought, covering her head with the pillow.
It’s two forty-two in the freaking morning. I hope he’s not so drunk he’ll sing old country crap in the shower again.
She tried to reach for sleep, but her eyes bolted open when she heard her doorknob jiggle.
I locked it,
she thought, staring at the door.
You scared the crap outta me once—
She yelped and scrambled to sit as her door exploded open and two men burst through. One carried a tire iron and the other rushed the bed, snarling, “Got a message from your ex.”
Mindy flung herself off the foot of the bed in a vain attempt to evade them, but the second guy blocked her escape. She cowered, stepping backward one slow step, her gaze darting between the two.
What do I do? Where can I go?
She cried out as the first guy grabbed her by the hair while his partner swung the tire iron, hitting her across the back near her shoulder blades. Something cracked, a high, sharp sound. She screeched, knees buckling from the pain, then the guy who held her hair twisted her face upward to punch it. She saw bright flickers and tasted blood. The pain was enormous, expanding in twirling waves.
He let her go and she collapsed to the floor, struggling to push herself upright until one of them kicked her in the gut and knocked her against the bed.
A woman screamed and Sean bolted upright a heartbeat before Mare gasped awake beside him.
Mindy?
he thought the same time Mare said, “That’s Mindy!”
Sean clenched his teeth and reached over Mare for the gun. Thankful he’d slept in his shorts, he scrambled out of bed and sprinted to the hall. Mare followed.
Two shadows moved in the dark near the foot of her bed, their bodies silhouetted by the window as they hit and kicked her. Sean grabbed the nearest one by the arm and yanked him aside to tumble toward the hall. “Get away from her!” Sean screamed, ducking as the other swung a tire iron at him.
“Fuck you, freak,” the guy with the tire iron said, pulling back for another swing.
Sean lunged forward and shoved the gun against the guy’s throat, slamming him against the wall. “I said, get away from her.”
The iron paused, quivering in the air, before dropping to the floor with a clatter. “Fuck, Dude. Calm down,” he soothed. “No reason to shoot anybody.”
Sean said nothing as he pulled back the hammer. The click echoed in the dark and, near his feet, Mindy whimpered and tried to crawl away.
“Gun or not, you shouldn’t have turned your back on me,” the other guy said from behind Sean. Before Sean could finish thinking,
Oh shit,
a loud, clanging thwapp filled the air, and the second guy grunted and fell to the floor.
“Shouldn’t have left your legs splayed, asshole,” Mare snapped. She whapped him with the bat across the belly.
“Okay, okay,” he gasped, hands held up to ward off another swing. “You win. Damn, bitch, we didn’t know you had bodyguards.”
“I don’t,” Mindy mumbled, managing to teeter to her feet. She wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand and muttered, “Just friends,” before she quavered and fell loose and unconscious to the floor.
“Sure you don’t want us to take you to the hospital?” the nameless deputy asked Mindy for the third time.
“I’m sure,” she said, sitting on the wingback chair while holding the ice-pack tighter against the throbbing agony of her cheek. Knowing Jeff had become desperate enough to send goons was worse than the bruises. Trembling, she blinked at the open door, the drips of her blood on the carpet, and at Sean and Mare talking with the deputies.
More trouble for them, once again, all because of Jeff. He’s serious. They could have killed me.
She flinched.
What are you thinking, Mindy? He did kill you. He ruined your car and KILLED you. You were an obstacle between him and millions, so he removed you. When are you going to make him pay for that?
The deputy who tended her shrugged. His partner accepted Sean and Mare’s signatures then returned their gun to them. Both of the attackers sat handcuffed on the couch. Neither looked like upstanding citizens with their baggy jeans, homemade tattoos, and plastic ear gauges. Tire-iron had blubbered about being hired by some guy on Craigslist, but the other guy had stated he wanted a lawyer and would say no more. He, too, clutched an ice-pack, but not on his face.
Sean held the door for the deputies while Mare knelt before Mindy. “Let me see it,” she coaxed as the goons were taken away.
Mindy relented and let Mare probe her throbbing cheek.
“Don’t think the bone’s broken, but it’s gonna bruise like a bitch,” she said. “And his ring cut you pretty good.”
Mindy moistened her lips and tried not to cry. Jeff had always said her face was the one good thing about her. “Will it need stitches?”
“I don’t think so,” Mare said. “It’s just the skin, no meat, and it’s already stopped bleeding. Let’s get some antibiotic ointment on it and a bandage.”
“’Kay,” Mindy said as Mare drew her to her feet and led her to the bathroom. She sat on the toilet and let Mare gently clean her face and tend the wound that wasn’t much more than an angry-looking scratch.
Mare daubed ointment on the gash. “It’s going to be okay.”
Mindy nodded and pressed her clasped hands together between her thighs, but said nothing.
“Hey.” Mare lifted Mindy’s chin and looked into her eyes. “Nobody’s gonna hurt you again. Todd’ll be here first thing in the morning. He’s going to be guarding you until this is over and I really don’t think your ex will want to mess with us anymore, let alone the county sheriff.”
“Jeff doesn’t care,” Mindy said. “Not when money’s at stake.”
Mare lifted Mindy’s hands and squeezed them. “Then he’s gonna have a hard lesson to learn. I’ll bust his fucking kneecaps before we let him hurt you again.”
Todd drank a Diet Coke and munched on a microwaved breakfast burrito while opening copies of numerous reports the records clerk had emailed him overnight. He’d barely had time to send them all to print when his phone rang. The Sarge. He swallowed and answered.
“Yes, sir?”
“There’s a file on my desk about a home invasion at that house in Pinell you’ve been assigned to. Two suspects broke in and assaulted Melinda Howard around quarter to three this morning.”
That bastard.
Todd stomped out of his home office and closed the door to block the printer’s invasive hum. “She all right?”
“A little battered, but fine. She refused medical treatment. Both suspects are in custody, but they’ve lawyered up. We’re checking their residences now.”
Todd requested a copy of the report. “Where was Hendrix? He was assigned to watch the house all night so I could sleep.”
“Don’t know. He didn’t report in after his shift.” Sarge paused then said, “We’re sending a patrol to his house.”
“Keep me informed, sir. And can you send me the incident report?”
“Of course. I have a meeting with the sheriff at seven. I’ll email it right after.”
Todd thanked him and closed the call. 6:54.
Shit. Gotta go!
Sean had not encountered Paul or any other troublemakers when Todd arrived at seven-twenty, wearing a sport coat and khakis instead of his usual uniform. After giving Todd a replay of Mindy’s assault, Sean blinked blearily and escorted him to the basement. He and Mare had been up until nearly four with Mindy, and the remaining night’s dreams had been brutal. He sighed and rubbed his face.
Virtually no sleep once again.
“You haven’t touched anything?” Todd asked after he assessed the chaos.
“I dumped a load of dirty clothes he’d left in the bathroom right about here,” Sean said, pointing. “Mare and I both walked through the mess once each. Otherwise, just the chair I climbed on to look under the addition, that’s it. Oh, and the light switch. Neither of us touched anything else. Pointed a lot, but didn’t touch.” He covered a yawn with his hand and remained at the foot of the stairs holding Todd’s coat while Todd worked his way across the mess to the hole leading to the cellar.
The chair creaked as Todd climbed up, and the hole was a tight fit, but he eased out a few moments later and picked his way back across the mess, scowling. “Yeah, I see some slime in the closest hole,” he said, straightening his shoulder holster before donning his coat. “But scanning equipment isn’t going to fit in there, and if I remove them, it’ll kill whatever’s growing. I’m not willing to take that chance if it may be a kid.”
“Okay,” Sean said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He wouldn’t either. “So what do we do?”
“Leave ‘em,” Todd said, shrugging. “It’ll just be another day or two. They’re safe where they are, for now at least.” He looked around the trashed basement again and asked, “Where’s your uncle?”
“No idea,” Sean said. “He comes and goes.”
They walked up the stairs. “It’s suspicious, I’ll give you that, but he might be a really sloppy guy and those holes might have been dug by groundhogs or something that crawled under your house and later died.”
Sean rolled his eyes. “Groundhogs? Seriously? Does that mean we’re gonna have six more weeks of winter?”
“Something, okay? Doesn’t mean they’re the missing kids.”
“Doesn’t mean they’re not,” Sean reminded him.