Black Jack: A nail biting, hair-raising thriller (Jack Ryder Book 4) (16 page)

M
ay
2016

I tucked in Betsy Sue in the foldout bed in the nursery. Betsy Sue was hugging Tyler’s bear and somehow that made me angry. It was Tyler’s bear, not hers. Maybe I was just so frustrated with her after today, I couldn’t stand it. Shannon took the other kids and made sure they got to bed. She didn’t want to be with Betsy Sue either. Yet none of us wanted her to go back to the Hawthornes either. Probably because she was our only hope. Not much of one, but still our only.

“Billy is sad,” she said when I had put the covers on her. “He’s crying.”

I stared at the little girl trying hard to figure her out. What was she talking about? Why couldn’t she just be ordinary and talk to me normally. I decided to play along once again.

“What is he sad about?” I asked.

She shrugged fumbling with the bear’s right ear. “I don’t know. He won’t tell me.”

Was she talking about me here? Was I the one who was sad and she didn’t understand why?

“Maybe he is sad because he misses Tyler,” I said. “Is that it?”

Betsy Sue looked up at me. “I think so. But I also think he is mad at me.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Because I was supposed to help.”

“Okay. Well maybe you could tell him, that I believe you did the best you could. Could you say that to him?” I asked.

She nodded. She was still fumbling with the bear’s ear handling it pretty roughly. I wondered if I should tell her to stop, that I was afraid she might break Bobby. It would destroy Shannon if she did.

Barely had I finished the thought before the ear came off. Betsy Sue held the ear in her hand, then looked up at me. The look in her eyes was strange. She didn’t seem sad.

“Oh no!” I exclaimed and took the bear from her. “Why would you do that?”

Betsy Sue didn’t answer. She looked at me freak out over the teddy bear like she was enjoying it. It made me very uncomfortable.

“It happened to Daisy once,” she said, her voice eerily calm. “The Doctor fixed her.”

I stared at the strange girl, trying to decide if I wanted to yell at her or listen to what she had to say.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

Betsy Sue turned her head and looked at me, her arms crossed over the comforter, her fingers fumbling with her the edge of her dress, ripping the sleeve.

“Daisy,” she said.

“I take it she was one of the girls who lived at the Doctor’s house as well?” I asked.

Betsy Sue nodded. “She was my friend. We played a lot together.”

“So what happened to her?”

Betsy Sue looked up, then away from me. “I hurt her.”

“What? Why?”

“It was an accident. We were playing and it simply came off. But the Doctor put it back on.”

“What came off?” I asked puzzled.

Betsy Sue turned to look at me again. Her eyes were sparkling. “Her head.”

“Her head?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I could feel my nostrils flaring in anger. I rose to my feet. “You know what? I am sick of your stories. Ghosts and birds and strange stories of heads falling off. You’re not being of much help to us. I feel like you’re making fools of us. Tomorrow you’re going back home to your parents.”

D
ecember
1990

Joseph led Kimberly down the stairs to the basement. He let her go first down the stairs.

“Where are we going?” she asked and stopped half-way.

Joseph came down after her and as they reached the last step, he spoke with excitement.

“Close your eyes.”

Kimberly wasn’t sure she wanted to. Her heart was throbbing in her chest. “Why? Where are you taking me?”

“Just indulge me, will you?” he said whispering close to her ear.

She obeyed uncomfortably. Joseph gave her a gentle push down the hallway a hand on each of her shoulders. His hands felt cold. The basement was cold and soon she shivered.

“Joseph, please tell me…”

“Shhh,” he said and she could hear a door open in front of them. “You’re gonna loooove it. Just wait.”

Kimberly wasn’t so sure. Not after reading that book, especially not after seeing the picture of her the general and the great resemblance with her husband.

“There’s a couple of steps further down,” he said.

Kimberly felt the cold iron as he placed her hands on what felt like a railing and she started to walk wondering where this would lead her to, since there was no lower level than the basement. Was there?

“Okay you can open your eyes now,” he said when they reached the end of the stairs.

Cautiously Kimberly opened them and blinked a few times to get used to the light. Behind her she saw a long and winding iron staircase. Joseph turned her around. “I found this when I was redecorating the room down here,” he said.

Kimberly gasped as she looked into what looked like a cavern. Old dusty bottles as far as the eye could see.

“Isn’t this amazing?” he asked.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s bourbon. You know like other people have wine cellars, then this appears to be a bourbon-cellar. These bottles are more than fifty years old. And look at this, this table over here,” he said and walked away from Kimberly.

“What is that?”

“It’s for Black Jack,” he said. “I tried to clean everything to make it look nice for you. “It has been down here for a long time. Maybe your aunt’s husband created this place or something. Maybe it’s even older. Who knows? I think it is awesome. Talk about man-cave.”

“So when did you find out about this place?” Kimberly asked.

“About a month ago,” he said.

Kimberly touched one of the bottles and got dust on her finger. “So why now?” she asked. “Why are you showing this to me now?”

Joseph stared at her, his eyes flaring with madness, she believed. Or maybe she was just imagining things.

He started to laugh. “What? I can’t share this with my wife? I wanted you to taste some of the bourbon. Come.”

Joseph went to an open bottle at the counter and poured some of its content into the two glasses next to it. Cards were spread out on the gambling table, two cigars lay smoking in the ashtray.

“Here,” he said and handed her the glass. “Taste this. It’s really good.”

“Who have you been playing with?” Kimberly asked looking at the green table.

“What’s that?”

“There are dealt cards for two players and two cigars in the ashtray.”

Joseph looked at it, then laughed again. “Ah that. Just me being messy, it’s all. Now cheers.”

He lifted his glass towards hers and drank. Kimberly never liked strong alcohol much but this one she emptied in the first try.

“There you go,” Joseph said, his voice hoarse probably from the cigars. “Now have another one.”

She drank the second one and soon the room started to spin. Kimberly sat down on a barstool while Joseph poured her another drink. She really didn’t want anymore, she didn’t like how it made her lose control, but somehow she drank it anyway.

“I want to move,” she finally said.

“What’s that, dearie?” Joseph said, his voice blurry.

“I want to get out of this house. I don’t like it here.”

“Pah,” he said and poured more into her glass. “You just need another one. Here let me pour you one.”

“No, Joseph. I am serious,” she said with a sob. She grabbed his sleeve and looked into his eyes. “We have got to get out of here before something bad happens.”

“What could happen?” he said drinking from his glass again.

“I don’t know,” she said. “But I am afraid. Constantly. I am tired of being afraid. I want you back, Joseph. Ever since we moved in here you have changed. I don’t like it. You’re so different.”

“Here have another one,” he said and poured more into her glass.

Kimberly drank it and the room spun even faster now. The barstool wouldn’t stay still either and she felt like she was falling. She got down from the stool and held onto the bar counter.

“I don’t feel so good. I need to…I think I need to get out of here.”

“Nonsense. We were just getting started,” Joseph said and downed yet another glass.

Kimberly tried to look at him but he wouldn’t sit still. Come to think of it everything in the cavern was moving. Or was she moving? Kimberly started to laugh.

“What’s the axe for Joseph?” she finally asked and pointed before she slipped and almost fell. She managed to grab a hold of the counter with the other hand.

Joseph laughed. “Here have another one,” he said.

Kimberly could no longer stand on her legs and sat on the floor. The glass was put in her hand and she drank it even if she tried not to. When she looked up again, the cavern was filled with people. Women in hats and nice dresses and men in suits all smoking cigars and some sitting at the table, gambling. Joseph laughed and laughed. Music was playing and Joseph pulled her arm to help her get up. He laughed and swung her around and around till she felt nauseated and had to stop.

One of the fancy guests got up from the recliner and let her sit in it. Kimberly laughed and panted to catch her breath, while the room continued to spin and people talk and dance. Soon the noise drowned out every thought Kimberly had in her mind and seconds later she dozed off in a sea of dancing stars.

M
ay
2016

“What happened? Why are you so upset?”

Shannon tried hard to get some sleep, but Jack kept tossing around in the bed. He got up and walked back and forth in front of the window. He had been like that ever since he came back from putting Betsy Sue to bed.

“She annoys me, that’s what happened,” he said. “Telling me all these weird stories of ghosts and whatnot. I can’t trust anything she says, can I?”

Shannon sat up in the bed and turned on the nightlight. Jack stood in the middle of the floor only wearing his boxers. She missed the time when she could enjoy looking at him like that, when they were all over each other and their biggest problem were the preparations for the wedding. Why couldn’t she just be allowed to worry about napkins and centerpieces, instead of whether she would ever see her son again or not? It felt so unfair. Finally she had a little piece of happiness, and then this happened?

God if you’re there. Why do you let these things happen?

“She’s just a scared little girl who has lived the past five years of her life incarcerated in a house somewhere with a crazed person. She probably needed to make up stories like this to survive, to keep sane.”

“She’s full of stories all right,” Jack said with a snort. “Why can’t she just tell us the truth? She knows what’s at stake. She knows we’re trying to locate our son. Why all the acting? Why all the untruth stories?”

“Maybe they’re true to her,” Shannon tried. She didn’t really want to defend the girl. She was as frustrated as Jack was.

Jack snorted again and sat on the edge of the bed. Shannon curled up, pulling her knees up under her chin, feeling so hopeless, so lonely. Next to her on the pillow laid Bobby, his ear torn off. Jack had brought it in and thrown it angrily on the bed. Shannon had cried when seeing what happened to the bear. Now she felt like crying again. But there were no more tears left. She praised the fact that there was no alcohol in the house.

“Come to bed, Jack. We have hardly slept in days. We both need it. I can hardly look out of my eyes.”

Jack rubbed his hair, then got up from the bed again. He walked to the side of it. “You’re right,” he groaned and grabbed the corner of the cover.

Shannon turned off the lamp on the nightstand next to her and Jack was just about to crawl under the cover, when he stopped.

“What the…?”

Jack stormed to the window and looked out.

“What is it?” Shannon asked.

“It’s her,” he said. “Betsy Sue!”

Shannon jumped out of the bed and ran to the window as well. In the yard she spotted Betsy Sue climb the fence of the backyard.

“Where the heck is she going now?” Shannon asked puzzled while Betsy Sue landed on the pavement and started running into the street.

“That’s a very good question.”

Jack grabbed his pants from the floor and put them on.

“What are you doing?” Shannon asked.

He swung a sweater over his head and pulled it down to cover his body. “I am going after her.”

M
ay
2016

I caught up with Betsy Sue when she crossed through Forsyth Park. I stayed far enough behind her to not make her know I was following her. She moved fast, but I had no trouble keeping up with her pace.

It seemed like she was following the route we had taken earlier in the day when driving around. She made a couple of turns, then came back to the same street again. It felt like she had memorized the route even the wrong turns.

Soon we entered the small street with the small shops that we had seen earlier in the day. Betsy Sue slowed down as she reached them and then she stopped in front of one of them.

The doll-store
.

Three dolls were displayed in the window. Betsy Sue put a hand on the glass. I watched her look at the dolls for a few minutes and remembered that I had seen her flinch in the car, when we had passed this store. Why, I still didn’t know. But I had a feeling I was getting closer to the answer.

Betsy Sue didn’t stay long. Suddenly she walked away from the window, turned on her heel and started to run. I set off after her as she ran into the street and turned around the corner of a building. I ran after her, but as I turned around the same corner, she was gone.

Puzzled I continued down the road till I reached another street corner and looked around it, but there was no sign of the girl.

Where the heck did she go?

I continued down another street, looking around every corner, before I decided to go back where I had seen her last. I walked to the doll-store, but there was still no sign of the girl. I had lost her.

Damn it!

I searched for her for about half an hour before I decided I’d better get back.

Shannon was sitting in the living room when I returned. The reporters had taken off and left us alone for the night.

Shannon jumped to her feet when I entered.

“What happened? Where is Betsy Sue?”

“I lost her,” I said and closed the door behind me.

“You lost her? How?”

“I don’t know. She disappeared suddenly around a corner. I couldn’t find her after that,” I said gesticulating wildly. I was very annoyed with myself.

“You think she knew you were there?”

I threw myself on the couch with a deep sigh. “I don’t know. I tried my best but she might have.”

Shannon walked to the window and looked out into the night. “What do you think she was doing anyway? Where was she going?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. She seemed to follow the route we had taken earlier by car. My guess is she did remember something but that she didn’t want us to know. Maybe she’s trying to get back. I followed her to the doll-store. She stopped in front of it and looked at the dolls on display. After that she disappeared.”

“The doll-store, huh?” Shannon asked and looked at me.

“There is something about that store. I remember I saw her flinch when she saw it while driving past it. She knows that store.”

Shannon looked at me. “Or maybe it was the dolls.”

“What do you mean?”

“She said they were thirteen girls at the doctor’s house, right?”

“Where are you going with that?”

Shannon approached me. “What if they weren’t girls? You know how Betsy Sue has a very vivid imagination. A lonely girl who talks plays with birds, talks to ghosts, plays cards with them and thinks they’re real. Maybe there are other things she imagined being real while trapped in that house.”

I stared at Shannon while gazillion thoughts went through my mind. She was on to something here. “The head came off! Of course. She told me she accidentally ripped the head off one of the girls and then the doctor put it back on. That makes totally sense.”

“They’re dolls,” Shannon said.

“And the doctor’s house is filled with them.”