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THE THREE OF THEM, Abby, Glinda and Frank, sat at the kitchen table after Frank arrived with Glinda and deliberated their next move. He explained to Abby about being asked to join the investigation in Chicago and about Glinda’s latest vision. She already knew about Glinda’s first vision. He confided everything to Abby.
“So you’re driving back to Chicago to be a consultant on the missing girls’ case and Glinda is going with you to also consult?” Abigail asked. “Are you leaving right away?”
“Right away,” Frank answered. “Sam personally asked me to help and I couldn’t say no. Not with Laura also being endangered by these abductions. I hated leaving her the other day knowing what was going on.”
Abigail met his gaze. “I know you hated leaving. I hated her going back up there, too. There’s a lunatic or more than one, if Glinda is correct, preying on young girls and all I want to do is keep our girl safe here at home.” She reached out a hand and took his. “But if there’s any way you or Glinda can help find these monsters, save those girls, more power to you. I’m behind you all the way. I know I’ll sleep better knowing you’re up there looking into things.”
He took her hand and held it gently. “Me, too. So when Sam called I couldn’t say no, even though I hadn’t talked to you about any of this yet. I knew you’d understand. And when I told him what Glinda has been seeing he requested she come as well. He wants to speak to her. I know he’s hoping she’ll see more; something, anything more, that can help us. Glinda fears those two missing girls might not have much time left to live unless we find them sooner than later. At first I didn’t want to become involved, I really didn’t. But now, with what Glinda’s seen, I feel I don’t have much choice and not just because of Laura. Glinda believes I’m supposed to be on this case; it’s somehow vital that I am.
“And when Glinda presented me with clues to where the girls could be I thought she would be a help in locating them. And Sam agrees.”
“So you’re staying at Kyle’s?” his wife affirmed. “Does he know this?”
“I should hope so. I already called him and he said it was all right we crash at his apartment as long as we needed to. I think he even liked the idea of having us there. Especially when I said Glinda was coming.” He threw a sly smile at Glinda.
Kyle, on his rare visits, had met Glinda a handful of times since she’d moved to Spookie and Frank suspected a serious affection was growing between them. It had occurred to him more than once how nice it would be if the two young people became closer, a lot closer. After all, in another year or two Kyle would have to decide if he’d be moving back to Spookie to take over Doc Andy’s practice because Doc Andy was retiring. Could be Glinda would be another sweet incentive. Abby, too, was aware of this possible love connection and approved. She thought Kyle and Glinda would make a perfect couple, since both of their life’s goals were to help people. Abby and Myrtle believed theirs was a match fate was guiding. Besides, Myrtle said they looked so cute together.
“Oh, I suspect Kyle loves the idea of having Glinda under his roof,” Abby whispered in his ear so Glinda wouldn’t hear.
Then she said, “Here, Frank, go pack and I’ll make you and Glinda some sandwiches to take along for the ride. You haven’t had any lunch yet.”
“I’ll help,” Glinda offered, coming to her feet.
“And I’ll take that help.”
*****
FROM THE BEDROOM WHILE he packed he snooped on his wife and Glinda’s conversation as they prepared the brown bag lunches. Some of their dialogue he could make out and some he couldn’t. But his mind was on the case and what would be waiting for them in Chicago. He packed quickly and rejoined the women in the kitchen.
He knew the moment he reentered the kitchen something had changed, something was wrong. The expression on Abigail’s face said it all.
Glinda swung around to face him and he saw the same troubled expression on her features. “We need to leave now.”
“You had another vision?”
“I’ll tell you about it on the way,” the psychic replied. “We need to go. There’s even less time than I had thought. It may already be too late.”
Frank enfolded Abby in his arms. She was trembling. Apparently, Glinda had informed her of what it was that was wrong. “It’ll be all right, sweetheart. Whatever it is, we’ll try to take care of it.” He kissed her goodbye.
“Call me as soon you know anything?” She returned the kiss.
“I will.”
*****
THE TRUCK SPED TOWARDS Chicago as a light rain cascaded around it, streaming down its hood and fenders. They’d left Spookie far behind them before Glinda disclosed what she’d seen.
“So one of those girls will die tonight?” Frank slowed the truck down because the rain had made the roads slick and visibility practically nonexistent. If they didn’t get to Chicago in one piece they wouldn’t be able to help anyone.
“I’m afraid so. If what I saw in that fleeting flash of a vison in your kitchen was accurate.”
“Aren’t they always?”
“Mostly. Though sometimes they’re disjointed, confusing, and I can misread them. So I’m careful how I decipher each one. In the one I just had I was shown someone, a girl I’ve never seen and did not know, weeping hysterically in a darkened bunker-like enclosure. I had the suspicion it might be one of the remaining college girls. I saw two shadowy men digging a grave in a wooded area.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me? Something that has come to you since having that vision?”
Glinda remained silent a moment and then replied, “Like I said I saw an enclosure, a prison. Now, after thinking about it, I believe it was a...shed. The last thing in my vision was a shot of the outside of it. An old shed with peeling red paint; perhaps used as a storage for supplies or machinery.”
“A shed?”
“I think so. Or it appeared to be one.”
Frank was thoughtful as they continued the journey. The rain was falling heavier and Frank hoped it would let up before they had to start traipsing around in a wood, field or weed patch somewhere. The city came into view and a short while later they pulled into the parking lot at Kyle’s apartment complex. They made a hasty stop to unload their suitcases and check in with Kyle, who was waiting there to let them in.
His son was delighted to have Glinda there but not as delighted for the reason they’d had to come to Chicago. The evening news had reported on the missing college girls and the town was abuzz with it. Kyle knew what was going on and, besides feeling sadness for the women who’d been taken, was worried about his sister. Yet he was still happy to see them.
It wasn’t lost on Frank how friendly Kyle was to Glinda from the minute they arrived. He took her suitcase and escorted her into the apartment, all smiles. He even gave her his own room for as long as they’d be there. He’d already cleared his stuff out and put clean sheets on the bed. “I’ll sleep on the couch,” he said. “When I’m here, that is. I’m beginning a twelve hour shift later tonight and will be on duty long shifts all week. I won’t be here much anyway. So, Glinda, you are welcome to my room.”
Glinda didn’t argue. She allowed him to carry her suitcase into the room and set it on the bed. Frank looked around. His son had cleaned up the whole apartment. It was a heck of a lot neater than when he’d been there earlier in the week.
“When I knew you two were coming I stocked the fridge with real food.” Kyle was smiling like a teenager at the psychic. “Since I eat most of my meals at the hospital there wasn’t much real food in the apartment. Oh, and I had a few more keys made. One for each of you so you can come and go without me being here.” He handed them both a key. “Just be sure to lock up whenever you leave. There have been frequent break-ins and burglaries in the neighborhood recently so, above everything, be vigilant.”
They promised.
Frank and Glinda took their leave and Frank drove to the police station. When they walked in they were surrounded by a crowd of uniformed police asking questions or talking at once.
“They’ve been waiting for us,” Glinda whispered.
Lieutenant Sam Cato worked his way through the throng, calling for quiet as he went, and stood in front of them. Frank introduced Glinda to him and then the rest of the team. Afterwards Sam ushered them into his office and spent some time speaking with him and Glinda.
Strangely enough Sam didn’t appear skeptical of Glinda’s clairvoyant pronouncements. He listened and after posing a question or two to her, got up from his desk.
“So you believe me?” she asked as Sam got to the door.
“Well, I can’t say I was a great believer in psychic abilities before this, but Frank and Abigail vouch for you and your unique gifts so I can do nothing less than believe what you say. So enough talk. We’re ready to go out and find those girls. We have all the necessary warrants to search the property in question. The property, Glinda, you helped us pinpoint. I took care of the paperwork and arrangements while you two were driving up here.”
“Okay. We should get looking now,” Frank said. “Glinda thinks one of the girls might die tonight so we shouldn’t waste any time or daylight.” He glanced at Glinda.
She nodded. “Let’s go.”
*****
UNDER A CLOUDY SKY the rain had slacked off and Frank was thankful. It was hard enough tramping through the brush and rubbish littered across the property they’d pulled up to without a curtain of rain and a swamp of mud hampering their advancement. The land around them looked like a junkyard, allegedly owned by two brothers, and was over five acres in size. It was a lot of area to search.
“This is the place.” Sam was staring over the vacant lot dotted with dilapidated structures and a rundown house. The rest of the officers, there were six of them, had parked their vehicles a ways down the gravel road so as not to alert whoever was around. They’d stealthily walked in, hands lightly resting on the butts of their holstered guns, and stood awaiting instructions.
Frank could see Stoney’s restaurant in the distance high above them on a hill, its sign blinking on and off. On the edge of the land there was a dog kennel. The cages were rusty and empty. The entire place had a sinister feel to it, Frank thought. Glancing at Glinda he wondered if she felt the same menacing vibes. Their eyes met and she nodded. She felt it, too.
“There’s evil here,” she murmured, her gaze sweeping the murky green spaces around them. “I can feel it. Bad things have been done here. Bad things will be done unless we can stop them.”
Sam looked over his shoulder at her. “We’ll stop them. Where do we look first? Any...idea?”
“This way.” Glinda marched past Frank and Sam and through the weeds parallel to one of the outbuildings, her eyes on something in the distance.
The police officers trailed her silently.
They approached a thicket of trees and after zigzagging in and among them deeper into the woods Glinda stopped and pointed to a mound of fresh ground at her feet. There were tears on her cheeks. “I think this is where the first girl is. And she hasn’t been there long.”
Sam stared at the pile of dirt. “Start digging,” he directed the two police officers at his side who’d followed them into the woods with shovels in their hands. Glinda had requested they bring the digging tools.
The dead girl had been buried in a shallow grave in a blood-soaked sheet. It didn’t take the officers long to unearth her hand and then her body.
Frank wasn’t sure which girl was dead below them but he knew two of the parents he’d met the other day would hear the worst news of their lives tonight and he ached for them.
Glinda stepped over to another hole in the ground; also newly dug by the looks of it. This one was unoccupied. A dirt-encrusted shovel was leaning by a nearby tree. “Thank God we’re not too late for her,” she whispered. Frank assumed she meant the second girl.
Sam, after calling in the medical examiner to collect the dead girl’s body, had two of his officers remain at the graves.
“Where to now?” Frank was scrutinizing the hilly terrain around them.
“This way.” Glinda stomped through the bushes towards the shabby house. “We’ll look everywhere. I’m not real sure where the girls are being kept but I feel they’re around here somewhere.”
“In a shed with peeling red paint?”
“Possibly. Just because it was in my vision doesn’t mean it’s here and they’re in it.”
The police officers, Sam, Frank and Glinda spent thirty minutes or so thrashing and searching the property. Evening was coming and the sun was leaving. Shadows were materializing everywhere, hiding the harsh lines of day. There was a chill in the air that only came from the woods.
They peered into the out-buildings and shacks. Spreading out they covered the grounds. They found no one, but no more dead bodies or fresh graves, either, which Frank was grateful for. They were near the house, dark windows and termite-eaten wood surrounded by piles of rusting cars, old appliances and junk, when Frank heard a car start up, coming from somewhere behind the house. Then the vehicle, an older model Chrysler, came around the house, into sight and careened past them at a breakneck speed. There were two men in it. It didn’t get far. Frank shot at the wheels, shot at the windshield more than once and shattered it. He wasn’t sure he’d hit either of the killers but he hoped he had. The car went out of control and smashed into a tree partway down the driveway. The engine exploded and caught fire.
The police stormed the burning vehicle.
The two men inside were dragged out of the car and they didn’t want to come willingly. One was bleeding and one was shooting at them with a rifle. Darn, Frank brooded, unfortunately he hadn’t killed them.
Sam was the one to bring the tall killer down with a well-paced bullet. The shorter, skinnier brute with a beard threw his hands up. “I give up. I give up! Look, you’ve shot me. I’m bleeding!”
It looked to be barely a flesh wound.
Frank couldn’t help himself. He strode up to the man and punched him as hard as he could, bringing him to his knees. Then he kicked him. Twice. “That’s for the girl you murdered and the despicable way you buried her,” he spat in an angry voice. “And the fear you’ve put into so many innocents. Children and parents.”
He grabbed the man’s shoulders in a fierce grip and shook him. “Where are the other two girls? Tell me now. Where are they!”
The man wouldn’t answer. He stared sullenly at Frank, then hung his head; shoulders defiantly held stiff.
It was at that moment Glinda interrupted. “Look, Frank, on the far side of the house beneath the trees.”
He sent his gaze in the direction she was pointing. In the descending gloom of twilight, he could barely make out the outline of a shed all but hidden by overgrown limbs and leaves.
“Call an ambulance for the one who’s been shot and cuff this S.O.B.,” Sam said to the officers at his side. Officer Harper, an older officer who’d been Sam’s second-in-command since Frank had retired, dragged the one killer to his feet and cuffed him while Officer Brown, a younger recruit, put in the call for an ambulance for the other suspect who remained motionless on the ground.
There were muffled cries and shouts on the evening air. Someone was pounding on something.
The rest of them rushed towards the house and the shed. Up close Frank saw it had peeling paint and in the dim light the color looked to be reddish. There was a padlocked door on the other side. Frank shot the lock off and Sam, another officer, and he rushed in, switching on flashlights as they went because it was black inside. Frank prayed as they entered that the girls, if they were there, were both still alive. They were.
Inside there were three cots, two unoccupied, and a pair of weeping young women in the other, clenched in each other’s arms, their wrists handcuffed and, each with a lengthy chain, fastened to the floor; giving them just enough movement so they could lie down or sit together. Frank was so relieved to see them he could have shouted out in joy. The girls blinked in the light. Their faces were bruised and their eyes were like trapped animals until they realized they were being rescued instead of further abused. And their smiles came out like the sun.
One of them cried, “It’s the police. We’ve been saved! Thank God.” While the other girl kept crying, her shoulders heaving, her body shuddering.
Glinda went to the girls, comforting them. Her arms gathering them to her. “It’s all right. You’re safe now. The police are here. You’re safe.”
One of the officers came in and handed Sam the keys to unlock the girls’ chains. “I got them off the man we shot,” he stated flatly.
“When you go out call in another ambulance for these girls, Officer Macy, they need to be transported to the hospital immediately,” Sam addressed the officer. “Then go and bring back one of the squad cars so our victims can have a place to wait for it in. We’re getting them out of here.”
Officer Macy nodded, bowed his head to get out the low height door, and left the shed.
Sam used the key to free the girls and they were helped outside. Even in the fading light, the two victims were pitiful. Their clothes and faces were dirty. They shivered and jerked at every noise and refused to meet anyone’s eyes. Which made sense because of what they’d probably been through. Glinda produced a bottle of water from a pouch hanging on her shoulder and gave it to the girls, who’d said they were thirsty and starving. Sam gave them each a candy bar and a box of raisins he’d had in his pocket. They’d be driven to the hospital and when they were ready their statements would be taken.
Frank didn’t want to know what they’d been through. It was here where he and Glinda would be bowing out. Their jobs were done. He’d leave the follow up to the proper authorities. He’d only helped because of what Glinda had seen and because Laura had been endangered. The whole experience had only reminded him of how happy he was to be retired and out of the old detective and crime rat race. How happy he was in Spookie. It was much more satisfying to write about crime than to be out in the field actually fighting it.
Once the ambulances had come and gone, the perps in one and the victims in another, Frank told Sam, “Glinda and I are going now. We’ve done what we came here to do. We helped you find the girls. We’re leaving the rest of this case up to you and the department. I’m retired, remember? We’re going home.”
Sam didn’t argue with him. He’d known they were only temporary assistants. There wasn’t anything else they could do. It was up to the justice system now. “I remember. And I want to thank both of you for all your help.”
Sam was looking at Glinda. “And I want to thank you. The Chicago Police Department and the families of the girls you helped us save thank you. Could we call on you one day again if we ever need your, er, special abilities?”
“Call me,” she answered with a tired smile, “and I’ll let you know if I will or can help. If the cards and the universe agree.”
“Good enough.”
Frank and Glinda were chauffeured to the police station and after giving their statements they drove in the dark to Kyle’s apartment. It’d been a very long day and they were both exhausted.
They were surprised to see Kyle waiting for them. “Dad, I was working last time you were here. So I traded shifts tonight with another doctor. I wanted to be here when you two returned. I see you so rarely I thought it’d be nice to spend some quality time with you.”
And spend time with Glinda, Frank mused. But it was good, as always, to see and spend time with his son so he didn’t question anything.
After he talked to Abby on the phone and caught her up on what had happened that day, told her they’d be home tomorrow, he called Sam and got an update.
Sam had been solemn as he’d apprised Frank on the surviving girls’ conditions. “Their parents have been notified and are on their way to the hospital to be with their daughters. The girls have been through so much. The doctors say they’re still in shock. But physically, aside from bruises, cuts, and one of the girls has a broken arm, they will recover. Not sure how if ever they will recover from the experience, though. The two kidnappers, brothers Arthur and Wesley Addy, hadn’t fed the girls since they’d abducted them. They are shiftless, lowlifes who we now suspect have been moving from one state to another the last decade, hiding in abandoned houses, stealing whatever they could get their hands on, mugging people or robbing gas stations and abducting young girls to torture and kill.
“The brothers had been exceptionally cruel, taunting and beating the girls if they gave them any trouble. The way they treated them was inhuman. They are inhuman. Monsters. Thank God we now have them in custody so they can’t kill any more young women. We’ve contacted other police departments in other states connecting the dots. It seems they’ve left a long string of murders behind them.”
“Why did they kill the third girl and how did she die? Who was she?”
“She was Alice Wood. We rescued Thandie Harris and Odette Benoist. As far as I can deduce Alice was murdered for the same reason they’ve killed all their victims over the years. It was how they got their kicks. They were vicious, evil-minded brutes who for some demented reason hated women. Who knows why? Killing made they feel powerful. We don’t have a medical report on exactly how the dead girl died. Not yet anyway. When we find out something more I’ll let you know when I know. We’ve only begun interrogating Wesley Addy–boy, is he one messed up nut case–at the station. His wound was only superficial and a paramedic took care of it in the ambulance on the way to the jail. His brother is in the hospital right now having bullets dug out of him.” Sam had chuckled. “Somehow the man got all shot up.”
“Ah, too bad.” Frank didn’t care that Arthur Addy was having bullets dug out of him. He wished he could have put more in the creep.
“Frank, I’ll let you know how things progress here with the case and what else we find out about these two animals. It looks like it’ll be quite a story. They’ve been murdering girls for a long time. Catching them is a massive win for the good guys. Please tell Glinda we couldn’t have found and stopped them without her help. We’re deeply indebted to her.”
“I’ll tell her.”
“And I want to thank you as well, old friend, for your help. I owe you.”
“No, you don’t.” Frank had been watching his son flirting with Glinda across the room and he smiled at them. “I was protecting Laura.”
“And all the other vulnerable female students at the college.”
“That, too.”
Frank and Sam spoke for a little longer, then said goodnight and hung up. He put in a final call to his daughter Laura. “It’s over, Laura. We got the two men who have been kidnapping your classmates. They’re in custody right now.”
“The girls?”
He hated telling her but he did. “Odette is all right. She’s been through a lot and has some injuries, mainly a broken arm. Thandie Harris is alive, too. They’re both at the hospital getting treatment. I’m sorry, Alice Wood didn’t make it. We didn’t get there in time.”
“Oh, no.” Laura moaned. “I didn’t know Alice very well. She wasn’t in any of my classes, but I feel so bad for her and her parents. I’m happy, though, you saved the others and Odette is alive. I’ll have to see her as soon as the hospital releases her. I imagine she won’t be coming back to her dorm room for a while.”
“Probably not right away. She’ll most likely go home to her family.”
“I’ll wait until tomorrow and try calling her.”
Frank could tell by the graveness in her voice she’d been deeply affected by the kidnappings and the one girl’s death. “You can sleep peacefully now, sweetheart. Thanks to Glinda and everyone on the Chicago police force the criminals are now behind bars or will be soon and two of their victims are now safe. Their crime spree is over.”
“And thanks to you,” Laura added softly. “You were the connection between Glinda and the abductions. Is she going to help fight the bad guys from now on?”
“When she’s asked, I believe. Goodnight, Laura.”
“Goodnight, Frank. I’ll see you on Friday evening.” The cell phone on her end clicked off.
He’d never asked her to call him father, though he called her his daughter as did Abby. But he’d known her father before the man had been murdered five years before, he’d been a good man and father, so he didn’t hold it against her not to give him that title; perhaps one day she would. He knew she loved him and Abby and that was all that mattered.
With all the phone calls done, Frank returned to his real life. He spent the evening watching Kyle fall over himself trying to impress Glinda and he tried to forget the shell-shocked and abused looks he’d seen on those two poor girls’ battered faces. And he tried, in vain, to forget the blood-soaked body in the shallow grave. He couldn’t. And with what Sam had divulged about the killers’ cross-country across decades murdering spree he knew he’d have nightmares for a while. How many more victims and shallow graves would be uncovered as the investigation into the two men, their history, and their serial killings went forward? He felt weary just thinking about it.
Oh, yes, he was glad his police career was behind him. He liked his life the way it was, simple and good, with Abby, his books, his town, the children and consulting with the local sheriff’s department when he felt like it. He’d leave the job of finding the really bad guys up to Sam and younger hungrier men. He’d served his time. Now his life was in Spookie.
He and Glinda spent the night and had breakfast with Kyle before they got in the truck and drove home. Frank was glad to see the town come into view. He was home.