Fancy Gap (27 page)
* * *
Louisa was impressed with Leroy’s driving as they rolled down I-77 at about one hundred miles an hour. The Virginia State Police escort dropped off when they reached the West Virginia line. The West Virginia trooper waved and led them down the rest of I-77 to Raleigh County. They slowed as they approached the Beckley exit.
The trooper led them to the sheriff ’s department. Levi recognized the area, as he had picked up a prisoner there several years before. They parked in the front of the building, and the trooper led them inside, where two men in combat fatigues were waiting. Sheriff Danner and Detective Stone introduced themselves to Louisa, Leroy and Levi.
“Sheriff, I think we met several years ago when I picked one up one of our bad apples who needed to go back to Carroll County,” said Levi.
“I remember you, Levi. Looks like y’all have your hands full with this one. Detective Stone will ride in your car Leroy and Louisa and Levi can ride with me. It won’t take very long to get out there.”
In the car, the sheriff said to Levi, “It seems that Wilton Tubbs has been up here for a few days now. We talked to one of our snitches who lives nearby, and he told us the car has been there for several days. Lucky for us the pervert he’s visiting is a nonviolent type. We don’t think he has any weapons in the trailer. But his friend from North Carolina could have weapons in his car. I have seven officers from our SWAT team in place. They’re waiting for us.”
They soon arrived in a wooded area where more police cars were parked. The sheriff opened his trunk and removed an M-16 assault rifle, as did Detective Stone. They walked about 150 yards to join two officers, who were looking through their binoculars at the trailer, which was an old Scotty unit that had seen better days. A picnic table sat under a large oak nearby. One officer whispered to the sheriff that there hadn’t been any outside activity for more than an hour.
Louisa didn’t see or hear an air conditioning unit on or near the trailer. She wiped new beads of sweat from her forehead. The late summer heat and the bulletproof vest she wore was taking over out there in the open. It was hot. Suddenly, the screen door of the trailer swung open. Two men emerged with beer bottles in their hands. They were both naked. They sat down on the picnic table and turned on a boom box. After a few minutes, they started to dance to the music. Even from a hundred yards away, Louisa could tell that they were drunk. They danced for a few minutes before the shorter of the two went into the trailer.
He soon returned with a very small person holding his hand. The small person was naked as well—and appeared to be female.
“Sure ’nough looks like a young girl,” the deputy said to the sheriff, handing him the binoculars. Louisa squinted as she watched the three bodies holding hands and dancing together.
The sheriff watched the action through the binoculars for a few more minutes.
“Them boys have erections, and the taller one has the girl in front of him with her legs spread!” he whispered loudly.
Without another word, they stood up, drew their weapons, and ran as fast as they could to the picnic table.
Only the little girl saw them coming.
* * *
Quinn continued to watch Father Tony as he said Mass. He was dressed in the traditional, hooded religious habit of the Friars, sandals on his feet. His robe was bound around his waist by a rope, which symbolized being guided by Christ and was tied with three characteristically Franciscan knots that signified the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. He didn’t wear the traditional beard of the Franciscans, however. Instead, a neatly trimmed goatee covered his entire chin.
Quinn was lost in thought when the sheriff nudged him and signaled that they needed to step outside. He was getting a call from Levi. Quinn’s phone started to vibrate at the same time. It was Louisa. They went out the back door of the church and answered their phones at the same time.
“Louisa, what have you got?” Quinn asked.
“Well, Quinn, we found our Surry County pervert right here in good ole Raleigh County, West Virginia. He was shacked up with a bisexual pervert friend. They were sharing someone we thought might be Katie and were about to get it on with her when we charged the trailer. Our boy Wilton was about to butt-fuck her just as we reached them. But what we found was the shortest, twenty- some- year- old, bisexual, female homunculus who was getting it on with both of them. She was so scared when we rushed in that she peed all over Tubbs. She had short, curly hair and, I swear, looked like…Miss Piggy.
I thought I had seen it all in my days at the Bureau! This was outrageous! So our main person of interest is in the clear. We’re packing it up here and will be back there in two hours. What are you doing?”
Once he stopped laughing, Quinn asked: “what is a…is a homunculus?” Louisa cracked up before she offered, “Quinn… a midget…a very short horny dwarf!” It took a bit before Quinn recovered and thanked Louisa for the update.
As Quinn and the sheriff walked toward the sheriff ’s car, they laughed uncontrollably. They wiped the tears from their eyes when the sheriff repeated the words: “
a midget…a midget
.” When they finally collected themselves, they watched people stream out of church after the service had ended.
The media staff waited for the Prestons to come out. Tim and Susan spoke to many members of the press before Father Tony joined them. He stood tall and erect, his arms draped over the Prestons’ shoulders.
The sheriff waited until the media frenzy ended before he and Quinn approached the Prestons, Mary, and Father Tony.
“ We made some progress on the case this afternoon,” he said after greeting them. “ We found the person-of-interest from Surry County. He’d been staying with a friend of his in West Virginia. Katie wasn’t with them, nor do we believe they were involved in the abduction in any way. To be sure, we’re testing DNA from both of them to see if it matches what we found at the motel on the night of the abduction.”
“I didn’t know that you were so fortunate to have gotten such a good piece of evidence that night,” said Father Tony.
“ We were, Father, but we haven’t been able to match it with anything in any databases. We’re still trying. Please do understand that we’re still working as hard as we can twenty-four hours a day to somehow find Katie. We won’t rest until we do.”
Tim walked toward the sheriff and gave him a long hug.
“Sheriff, we know that you and your department are doing your best. I hope that all of our prayers and those of the good people in that church tonight are answered soon,” he told him.
Father Tony looked at the Prestons and said, “Let’s go inside and break bread in the hall with all who brought a plate to share. As tough as it may be, we need to relax a little bit with our friends. Sheriff, will you be joining us tonight?”
“Unfortunately, I can’t. My wife and I must attend a potluck dinner at our church. But all of us will be praying as well.”
The sheriff and Quinn walked over to their cars.
“Sheriff, I’ll talk to Louisa tonight, and we’ll call you tomorrow,” Quinn said as he slid into the Ram.
The sheriff waved as he drove away. Quinn sat in his truck for a moment and thought it was strange that Father Tony didn’t invite him or Louisa to dinner.
Odd
, he thought.
He didn’t know what the new week would bring. Katie had settled into a comfortable, little-girl routine. She slept late each day and took naps in the afternoon. Whenever he could, he would lie in bed with her in the afternoon and wallow in his ecstasy as he held her naked body close to his. He knew that these moments couldn’t continue forever, but the memories would be everlasting—in his videos.
He entered the room from the little kitchen he had arranged behind the locked room where he had his video recording system set up. The system had worked better than he ever imagined. He got excited when he was away from the room, and he used his iPhone to open the browser where he had the webcam address for his system. The sight of tiny Katie walking around naked in the room and playing with her dollies excited him to no end. He was working on a secure method to transmit short video clips of Katie on the Internet for the world to see what his daughter looked like in all of her little girl, virginal purity. The world should also see what a good daddy he was for his little girl. He only wished he could show them together on the internet, but he knew that was something stupid that would screw everything up. Only he could see the recordings of their new life together.
On this day, Katie awoke from her nap with a bit of attitude. She called him Daddy when she was happy. She refused to do that when she was unhappy about something. He offered her the pudding he had made for her. She looked away when he put it down. She didn’t look at him but instead turned the pages in her picture book.
“Katie, you have to eat your pudding. It’s good for you.”
She didn’t look at him or respond. He dished out some pudding on a spoon and held it near her mouth. She pushed it away with her free hand.
He stood up and knew his anger was rising. “Katie, please eat your pudding right now!”
She finally looked at him and pushed the cup of pudding off the table onto the floor. His anger flared as he swung his left arm back and backhanded her on the side of her head. She fell sideways and broke into tears, covering her eyes as she cried. She curled her little, naked body into the fetal position before him.
He immediately chastised himself for hitting her. He hadn’t hit her hard, but he knew he shouldn’t have hit her at all. He waited a moment before he sat down next to her on the floor and hugged her.
“Daddy is sorry for that. Are you all right?”
Her sniffles continued until they subsided enough for her to talk.
“Daddy, I want a new dolly for my birthday.” That caught him by surprise.
“Is it your birthday, my little darling?”
“I think it is.”
The irony of the moment struck him, as she now understood what she was doing. She had lost all track of time in her little five-year-old mind but knew that gifts were related to birthdays, so that might reinforce her request for a new dolly if it was her birthday.
He wondered if this was an opportunity to further bond with his new daughter. He knew what he was thinking was risky, but he could pull it off if he was careful.
Extremely careful
, he thought.
“Katie, you know I love you. Would you like to go shopping with me a little later for a new dolly?”
Her face brightened. “When can we go, Daddy? Can we get an ice cream cone too?”
He hugged her closer and said, “Yes, we can. We’ll get ready in just a little bit.” He turned on the small DVD player for her to watch as he thought about what he needed to do to make this happen without getting caught. His supreme confidence in himself led him to believe that he was smarter than anyone who would end his time with his daughter.
He went out to the garage and opened the back door of the panel van. He set up the second DVD player and the remote camera so he could watch her from the front as he drove. Katie would be securely strapped into the seat he had set up in the middle of the back of the van, which he had insulated to be practically soundproof. It was well lit, and the two-way audio worked so she could talk to him as he drove. He would have liked to have her in a car seat in front for the entire world to see, but he knew that could end up being disastrous if he was stopped by the police for any reason.
He went back into her room and gave her clothes to wear. He was wearing cutoff jeans and a Green Bay Packers jersey. He quickly dyed his goatee black and donned a black wig with a ponytail. He wore a green baseball cap and large, dark-rimmed sunglasses. This would work where they were headed to.
Katie seemed to enjoy getting dressed. He helped her comb her long, blond hair and paint her nails with new nail polish he had bought for her. She was getting closer and closer to his soul.
He took her hand as they walked out to the garage. He opened the back door of the van and strapped her into the seat. He turned on the DVD player and let her start watching a movie. Once he was sure she was focused on the movie, he shut the door and climbed into the driver’s seat.
He turned on the video and audio system after he started the engine. Her image came up on the mini screen he had set up in the navigation screen area. A minicam he had set over the passenger side headrest transmitted his image to her DVD screen whenever he activated the audio through talking.
“Hello, Katie, how is the movie?” he said as he slowly drove down to the road.
“It’s just great, Daddy.”
“Just let Daddy know if you need anything.”
Once he was heading south, he figured he was an hour’s drive from Winston-Salem. He had considered going to Mount Airy but changed his mind when he considered the possibility of being recognized there. He was much safer in Winston-Salem.
He drove just a bit over the speed limit so as not to attract any attention to the van. All went well as he drove past the Mayberry Mall in Mount Airy. He felt the late summer heat through his window as he drove down the mountain. The air conditioning system was working well to keep him and Katie cool. He was passing the old Bright Leaf drive-in theater location in Mount Airy when Katie looked into the camera.
“Daddy, I have to pee.”
He had her go before they left, as he thought that this might happen.
“Sweetie, can you hold it a little longer?”
“No, Daddy, it’s an emergency. I have to go right now.”
Shit,
he thought,
this is a potential fuckup.
His mind raced through the options. He had no choice but to stop, as he didn’t have a change of panties or pants for her.
He quickly pulled in to the right lane at the last major intersection in Mount Airy. He had to choose between the newly refurbished Wendy’s and the McDonald’s. He pulled in to the McDonald’s parking lot and backed into the most remote parking spot. He got out and looked around. Luckily it was between lunch and dinnertime so it wasn’t too busy. He could just have her squat in the back of the van and pee there, or take her inside the McDonald’s. She quickly provided the resolution to his dilemma when she stepped out of the van and saw the McDonald’s sign. She jumped up and grabbed his hand.