Jack didn’t turn around. “She was right in front of me. There was no mistake.”
Lauren looked up the trail. “Did the girls see her?”
Jack turned around and shook his head. “I don’t know. It was so dark.”
“We’ve got to encourage them to talk about it.”
“I thought they told you about it in the hospital. What’d they say?
“They asked me about the bad man.”
“What’d you tell them?” Jack asked.
“That he couldn’t hurt them anymore. And that he was very sick and in the hospital.”
“They didn’t mention the girl before but maybe if we talk to them again. We just have to be careful. Kids can have false memories if something is heavily suggested to them.”
“You’re the doc. It’s just that they act like nothing happened. I hate to drag them back through it.”
“They may act like nothing happened but something did happen. We need to make sure they deal with it and not internalize it.”
“I guess you’re right. When should we do it?”
“Sooner the better.”
“All right. Let’s head back. Let’s find out what they saw.”
TWENTY
“Pancakes are served,” Lauren said as she carried the steaming plate of hot cakes from the kitchen to the breakfast table.
The girls scrambled to their chairs, hungry from their morning walk. The pancakes disappeared quickly, chased down by frothy glasses of chocolate milk. Becky burped after gulping the last half of her milk and Sarah laughed until tears ran down her cheeks. Jack and Lauren, not wanting to encourage the behavior, tried to contain themselves, but they found the girl’s laughter too infectious and were soon laughing along with them. When the girls slowed down a little, Jack added a burp of his own and they all busted up again.
After the plates were cleared they sat at the table together. “Girls, we want to talk to you about last night.” Jack said.
“About the crash?” Becky asked.
“Yes, about the crash. Your mom and I want to make sure you girls know that it’s O.K. to talk about it.”
“If you feel scared or anything, you can talk to us,” Lauren added.
Both of the girls looked down at the table. Lauren and Jack exchanged looks. Jack spoke up. “I’ve got to tell you, I was scared.”
“You were scared, Daddy?” Becky said.
“Sure. Getting in a car accident is scary. And there was all that thunder and stuff.”
“And that man,” Becky joined in. “He was really scary.”
Jack noticed Lauren rub her hands together. He knew how she felt. It physically hurt to hear about his little girl being scared by someone. “Yeah, I guess that man was kind of scary,” Jack said.
“Why did he do that stuff? Was he mad at us?” Becky said.
“No, honey, he wasn’t mad at you. It had nothing to do with you or with me or with your sister. He was just confused and angry for no good reason. But he can’t hurt you anymore.”
“Why not?” Sarah said, speaking for the first time.
“He was injured in the accident and he’s in the hospital. You’ll never have to see him again,” Jack said.
Sarah eyed him suspiciously, not sure if she believed him. “And what about the girl?”
Lauren cleared her throat in reflex to the question. “What girl, Sarah? You mean the girl in the hospital I told you about? The one that Mommy’s trying to help?”
Sarah shook her head. “Not that one. The other girl.”
Jack spoke carefully. “Becky, do you know what she’s talking about?”
Becky shook her head, a little wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. “Nuh uh.”
“Sarah, honey. Did you see a girl last night?” Jack asked.
She shook her head no.
“Then what girl are you talking about?”
Sarah looked at each one in them in turn, as if they were playing some joke on her. Tears welled up in her eyes from being put on the spot. When she finally answered, the words caught in her throat. “The bad man told me I had to get in the trunk of his car. He said he had another girl in there. But I told him no. I didn’t want to go with him.” Tears ran down her cheeks.
Lauren tried to get up out of her chair but Jack held her back. “Did he say anything else?” Jack asked. He wanted to see if she would remember asking him about Melissa.
Sarah nodded as she wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve. “H-he said if I didn’t open the door and get in the car, t-th—that he was gonna kill you and Becky and the girl in his car.” Her words came out in a blubbering stream of tears and snot. “H-h-he said it’d be my fault. When I wouldn’t open the door he started yelling bad words at me, and told me I couldn’t hide from him. Not ever. Is he gonna come here, Daddy? Is he gonna kill us?”
Lauren couldn’t take any more. She pushed her chair back and ran over to Sarah. Sarah clung to her and cried into her shoulder. Lauren patted her back and rocked her, whispering in her ear, telling her it was all just a bad dream. It wasn’t real. Not any of it.
Jack stared at his youngest daughter. He remembered her in the back seat of the Jeep, just before he made the dash for the keys. He had asked who she was talking to. I was talking to the bad man, she had said. But it was impossible. The windows were shut, the doors locked. Becky would have heard anything Huckley said when he stood at the open door when Jack first saw him. But somehow, Sarah knew about the girl in the trunk. And, unless he had imagined it, she knew about Melissa too. His head spun and his chest tightened. Nothing was making any sense.
“Daddy.” Becky whispered, breaking the silence. “I’m scared.”
TWENTY-ONE
Sheriff Janney pulled into the gravel parking lot next to Piper’s. Even at two in the afternoon the lot was full, mostly with cars he recognized. The day had been frustrating and he was glad Piper’s was his last stop of the day. No harm in throwing back a few drinks before returning to the office.
The weather was unusually clear and bright for this time of year. He’d left his favorite pair of aviator sunglasses at the station and had been squinting all day long. The result was a headache that started behind each eye and radiated through his skull and came to rest in a knot of muscles at the base of his neck.
He thought about heading up the road to Midland. He’d heard from one of the police guys up there that there was a motel by the truck stop on Interstate 70 that housed some pretty good massage services. Supposedly there was even a special law enforcement discount. But the thought of driving up there made the tension in his neck even worse. No, he needed to ask Jim Butcher a few questions about two different Jacks. Jack Tremont, whom he didn’t care for, and Jack Daniels, a man he liked just fine.
The sheriff walked into Piper’s, drawing in the smell of the place. Stale beer, sawdust, grease from the kitchen. His eyes adjusted slowly from the bright day outside to the cave inside. A little moan of satisfaction escaped his lips. This was exactly what he needed. If it wasn’t for the owner, this would have been Janney’s version of paradise.
He picked out Jim Butcher through the smoky room, standing at his usual station at the end of the bar where the wood curved ninety degrees, forming a small side bar perpendicular to the main stretch. Jim Butcher’s prodigious stomach fit almost perfectly into the curve. So perfectly in fact that the phenomenon had become a topic of debate over the years. There were three theories. One camp thought the shape was just a fortunate coincidence. The second was that Jim had the bar custom built that way so he’d be comfortable. The third and most popular theory was that he had stood in the same spot for so many years that he had simply worn away the curve until it fit his bulging gut. Given his poor disposition and huge size, no one had ever asked him his opinion on the subject.