Halversham (19 page)

“Jared made fish. There’s some baked potatoes over there,” Mr. Doyne said, pointing at a wide dish on the table. Jared returned with a plate and served Andy a piece of fish.

“Thanks,” Andy said, and the three of them dug in.

“How are you spending your days, kid?” Mr. Doyne asked a few minutes later.

“I work at Milton’s during the day.”

The man paused and stared at Andy. “How’s that bugger treating you?”

“He’s alright. He’s not as bad as everyone says he is.” Andy decided to appear impartial despite the incriminating evidence he’d gathered.

“Be careful, kid. Nobody knows when the sonofabitch will strike.” Mr. Doyne warned him with a look. “What do you do for him, anyway?”

“I clean up his kitchen, mow his lawn, and tidy up his attic and stuff.”

“I see. It’s a miracle he let you in. He’s a very private man.”

“He is. He stays in his room upstairs and keeps to himself while I clean.”

“Well, we can’t tell when lightning will strike and throw the lever on that crazy man. I know his daughter’s been looking for someone to help for a long time now. But everybody knows about him and nobody wants to work for him, knowing how he is. So watch your back, kid.”

Andy nodded calmly but Mr. Doyne’s words added to his own suspicions. Who was the stranger who’d come by the house today? And why did Mr. Milton give Andy two days off? Was the old man planning something devious?

“You know, Jared here offered to work for him a while back. But Millie didn’t think it was a good idea. You see, the police had just searched her father’s house for our Emily. They found nothing there, of course, but still.” Mr. Doyne shrugged and Jared reached for a glass of water, gritting his teeth. “For a long time, Jared was obsessed with Milton. My son believed he had Emily.”

“He does!” Jared spat, and the two men stared at each other. James finally broke the staring contest and went back to eating. Andy peered at them, but no other conversation ensued, tense or otherwise. The rest of dinner was strained as they finished their fish and potatoes in silence. Jared collected the empty plates and Mr. Doyne rose from the table.

“I think I’ll go to bed now, boys. Good night, and nice to see you again, Andy.”

“Good night, Mr. Doyne.”

Jared opened the fridge in the kitchen and retrieved a bottle of beer. “Beer?”

“Coke if you have.”

Jared handed him a Coke and they went to the patio.

“You didn’t tell me you offered to work for Milton.”

Jared took a long swig from the bottle. “Yeah. Like my dad said, Millie didn’t want me around her old man. Or I’d have rescued Emily myself.” Andy nodded. “So, did you find the trapdoor?” Jared asked as they sat on wicker chairs.

“No. Mr. Milton’s been asking me to do some other stuff. Mow the lawn, clean the attic. I haven’t had enough time to inspect the ground floor.”

“Did you hear any strange noises?”

“Nope. He asked me to clean the store room today. Let me tell you, it’s a mess in there. It’ll probably take a few days before I can finish cleaning it.”

Jared nodded and took another drink. “So you haven’t had the time to check the place out. Don’t you think it’s kind of weird that he keeps giving you chores away from the ground floor?” Andy nodded. “I think he’s doing it on purpose. He’s hiding something.”

“I know. Plus, something really bizarre happened today.”

“What?” Jared leaned forward, cradling the bottle in his hands.

“I don’t want you to get excited because I don’t know what to make of it. A guy came to Mr. Milton’s house today and I overheard them. I only caught a bit of the conversation because the man didn’t enter the house. But he said something about having a Russian girl in his truck the old man would like. He said Milton could come take a look if he wanted. But old man Milton said there was someone else in the house and that he’d have to come back tomorrow like they had initially agreed. The man said there were other bidders, so Mr. Milton closed the door and took the conversation outside.”

“You’re kidding.” Jared’s eyes were wide.

“I'm not.”

“When did this happen?”

“Just this afternoon.”

“He’s going to come back with the girl tomorrow?”

“I think so.” Andy’s wheels were turning fast and he was getting more and more excited as the pieces started to fall into place. “It all makes sense now!”

“What?”

“Mr. Milton gave me a couple days off, starting tomorrow. I understand why he asked me to take Friday off. I mean, it’s the county fair, right? But he insisted I take tomorrow as well. He said he had something important to do. I didn’t ask too many questions, but I think he might be planning something and he doesn’t want me around when he’s doing it.”

Jared’s eyes registered his understanding and he finished Andy’s thoughts. “The man’s coming with the new girl tomorrow and he doesn’t want you around when she arrives.”

“Exactly!”

Jared leaned forward again and stared at Andy. “We have to sneak up his place tomorrow and look for the trapdoor. You said he spends most of his time upstairs, right?”

“Yeah, but what if he’s downstairs tomorrow?”

“We’ll look around to see if the coast is clear first. If it’s not, we won’t go in. If it is, we’ll save my sister.”

“I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do, Jared. That’s entering without permission. I mean, if he finds out, we could be in big trouble.” Sweat bloomed on Andy’s forehead.

“Come on, Andy! We’re talking about my sister. I’ve been waiting for this chance for years. Don’t you want to save her and this Russan girl if he has them locked down there?”

“Of course I do. But I don’t know…” Andy hesitated and wiped the sweat from his face. He had never been one to sneak into places, or break any rules for that matter. His mother would surely be turning in her grave right now. Or would she?

“Look, we’ll be real quiet. If we get caught, I’ll take the heat.”

“Just let me think about this. I’ll let you know in the morning. I promise.” Andy’s hands trembled around the Coke bottle.

“Fine.”

Andy stayed for a few more hours, and when the mosquitoes began bothering them out in the patio, they moved into Jared’s room. An hour later, they’d fallen asleep.

Sunlight poured generously through the window the next morning but Andy didn’t wake up until eight. He blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out where he was as he sat up on the bed alone. Slowly, recognition seeped into his brain and he headed for the bathroom. He washed his face and went to the barn to find Jared milking the only cow the Doynes had.

“Good morning.”

“Morning.”

“Sorry I didn’t wake you. You said it was your day off so I let you sleep in. There’s coffee in the kitchen, if you want some,” Jared said.

“That’s okay. I better get going. Aunt Magda might be worried.”

“You’ll think about our visit to old man Milton’s?”

“Yeah. We’ll go. I’ll be back here before noon.”

“Great.” Andy turned to leave. “Andy?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“Sure, man.”

Andy waved and retrieved his phone from his backpack. He had left it there after talking to his father last night. There were forty-two missed calls from four different numbers, thirty-three of them from his father’s cell. Andy’s heart picked up speed and his hands shook when he called his father back.

“Son? Where have you been?” His father’s voice was frantic.

“I fell asleep at the Doynes’. Why?”

“Why?” His father was incredulous. “Why didn’t you tell anybody where you were going?”

“I’m sorry, Dad, I didn’t mean to. I just fell asleep. I should have told Aunt Magda, but she and Uncle Matt were in their room when I left.”

Paul took a deep breath. “Fine. Is Corrine with you? Aunt Magda is worried sick about the both of you. And so was I.” Andy stopped cold in his tracks as he remembered Corrine and his promise to meet her before one. “She’s been calling me for hours for news on your whereabouts. Why didn’t you answer any of my calls?”

“Oh my God!”

“What?”

“I… I was supposed to walk Corrine home last night. But I forgot and slept at the Doynes’. Shit!”

“What are you talking about? Walk her home from where? Aren’t you with her?”

“No. I was supposed to walk her home from her secret hideout.”

“Secret hideout? Well, no wonder then.”

“Yes, she asked me not to tell her parents about her secret place. I forgot she was waiting for me there. But… but she said she’d leave with or without me after one.”

“One in the morning? What’s wrong with you kids?” his father said and sighed. “Look, go to this secret place now and bring her back. She didn’t come home last night.”

The blood drained from Andy’s face and his head spun. She couldn’t have waited for him all this time. Had she fallen asleep while waiting for him just like he fell asleep at Jared’s?

“Son, did you hear me?”

“Yes. I’ll go get her now.”

They hung up and Andy sprinted toward Corrine’s place by the river. He didn’t care about the beat of his frantic heart and he certainly didn’t care that he was hungry.

“Please let her be there, Lord. Please,” he said over and over again. If she was there, she’d be mad as hell, but that’d be a whole lot better than not finding her at all. He tore along the river, running past the rundown shack and into the woods. A few minutes later, he was standing in front of Corrine’s hut, short of breath. The hut was hidden behind the makeshift wall and the door was closed. He paused before the wall and rested his hands on his knees, panting. His heart was pounding against his rib cage and sweat poured down his face and back.

“Corrine! Corrine!” When there was no response, he pushed the wall away and kicked the flimsy door open. He stepped in, but the hut was empty. He looked around for a minute and then stepped out through the back. It was unlikely she’d go foraging at this early hour, but he searched the forest anyway, calling out her name again and again. Long grass and twigs scratched his skin but he barely noticed it. When it was obvious Corrine wasn’t there, Andy knelt on the moist ground, panting. Tears poured down his face and his shoulders shook. She’d finally gotten a break. She was going to start over in the city and they were going to go on a vacation together. This couldn’t be happening. They had to find her.

Close to an hour later, he was standing on Aunt Magda’s doorstep, afraid to go in. Two police cars stood in the yard while a couple of men in uniform gave orders through the radio. Jetta and Toddy blinked at him curiously from the post where they were tied. When Andy walked in, Uncle Matt was sitting on the couch, holding a teary-eyed Aunt Magda around the shoulders while a man in uniform sat talking to her. She was turning sideways to wipe her tears when she spotted Andy in the doorway.

“Andy!” She rose in a hurry and approached him. “Did you find her?”

“I’m so sorry. I fell asleep at Mr. Doyne’s.”

“I know, I know what happened. Your father called the neighbor a moment ago. It’s okay.” She seemed desperate and impatient. “Did you go back to her secret place? Did you find Corrine?”

Andy shook his head and stared at the floor. A heavy weight pressed on his chest when he looked up at Aunt Magda’s face contorted in anguish.

“I went looking for her but she wasn’t there. And the door was closed. I even searched the woods around her place. Nothing. I’m sorry.”

Aunt Magda closed her eyes and fresh tears slid down her cheeks. She lost her balance and almost collapsed, but Uncle Matt caught her and steered her back to the couch. The uniformed man who was speaking to Aunt Magda a while ago stepped forward and introduced himself.

“Andy, I’m Sheriff Calaway.” The sheriff was a heavyset man with a thick black moustache and he wore a wide-brimmed hat. Aunt Magda once said that Uncle Matt had a friend in the Halversham police. Did she mean the sheriff? Whoever it was, Andy only hoped the friendship would make them work harder to find Corrine.

“Hi.”

“Why don’t you follow me to the kitchen and tell me what happened, son.”

“Sure.”

Calaway took a seat at the small wooden table the family used as a dining table and Andy opened the cabinet for a glass. His throat was dry from running around the woods looking for Corrine. “Would you like a drink?” he asked Calaway.

“No, thank you.”

Andy finished his water in a single gulp and refilled his glass before taking a seat.

“Would you mind if I recorded this conversation?” the sheriff asked.

“No.”

Calaway retrieved a small recorder from his shirt pocket and set it on the table. Then he pulled out a pen and notebook, flipping it open. “So, why don’t you start from the beginning? From yesterday morning.”

“Well, I woke up at seven, spoke to my dad on the phone, and went to Mr. Milton’s for work around eleven.”

“Old man Milton up the hill?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you do there?”

“His daughter Millie wanted someone to clean his house and stuff, so I decided to help out since I’ll be in Halversham for a while.”

“What time did you finish up at Milton’s?”

“I left the place around twenty to four in the afternoon.”

“Did you come straight home?”

“Yes.”

“What happened then?”

Andy swallowed hard as his memory traced back to Uncle Matt having stew at the table, and he caught himself getting wound up at the vision of the monster kicking Aunt Magda repeatedly.

“Son, what happened?” Calaway asked again.

It was no use telling the sheriff about the abuse and Uncle Matt running away. It’d have to wait. Right now, they needed to focus their resources on finding Corrine. Besides, his father was going to talk to Aunt Magda about leaving Uncle Matt and Corrine coming with them to the city.

Corrine. Who had gone missing just when the stars aligned.

“I, uh, came home and saw Uncle Matt having dinner.”

“What did you do?”

“I spoke to Aunt Magda and then my father called. We talked for a while and then I left. Aunt Magda and Uncle Matt were in the bedroom so I didn’t bother them with where I was going.”

“Did you go to the Doynes’?”

“No, I went to see Corrine first.”

“What time was this?”

“I don’t know. Six, maybe six-thirty. I can’t be sure.”

Calaway made a note in his little book and looked up again. “Where is this place?”

“It’s in the woods. I can take you there if you want.”

“Yes, thanks. What happened next?”

“She was there in her secret hideout and we chatted. Nothing important,” Andy lied.

“How was she when you talked to her? Was she depressed? Moody? Did you see anything unusual in her behavior?”

Corrine had danced around the hut when he’d told her his father had agreed to talk to her parents about taking her to the city. She was so excited. There was no way she could have skipped town or done anything to jeopardize his father’s plan. For the first time, her dream of leaving Halversham had a chance of coming true. No—somebody must have kidnapped her when she walked back home, just like they had the Doyne girl.

Mr. Milton!

His heart was racing now. “No, nothing like that. She was normal. Nothing unusual.” Should he tell Calaway about Mr. Milton? Would they search the old man’s house a second time for a similar crime?

“What time did you leave her place?”

“I think it was around seven-thirty. I promised her I’d be back before one so we could walk home together. But then Jared and I started talking. I forgot about Corrine and we fell asleep.” Andy shook his head in remorse. “It was all my fault. I should have accompanied her. I should have been there. Somebody abducted her when she walked back alone. It’s my fault.” Andy hung his head and he was on the verge of tears.

“Take it easy, son. It’s not your fault. We will do everything we can to find her. But we need your help and I need you to stay focused.” Andy nodded and raised his head. “When did you realize she was missing?”

“This morning. My dad had called me a few times but I left the phone in my bag so I didn’t hear it ring. I only saw the missed calls when I left the Doynes’ around nine. I called him back and he told me.”

“What did you do then?”

“I remembered telling her I’d be back so I rushed to her secret place, but she wasn’t there. I looked around, but…” Andy shook his head.

“I see.” Calaway made more notes in his notebook. “Son, is there anything about this girl you think I should know? Or anything you saw that seemed suspicious to you before she disappeared? Any friends or past lovers of Corrine’s?”

Andy licked his lips. Where should he begin? Her pregnancy? The unknown father? Her own useless father? The town? Anyone could be a suspect. But there was only one person Andy could think of to blame: Mr. Milton. But what proof did he have other than a series of coincidences? It wasn’t ironclad, as they called it. No, Andy and Jared would have to snoop around the old man’s house before calling in Calaway. Whatever background info the sheriff required on Corrine, Andy was sure Aunt Magda would have supplied it if Calaway didn’t know it already. The whole town seemed to know a great deal about Corrine anyway.

“No, I can’t think of anything.”

“Fine.” Calaway leaned to his side and pulled out his wallet from his pants. He pulled out a card and handed it to Andy. “If anything comes to mind—anything at all, no matter how trivial it seems—please give me a call. Sometimes the smallest clue solves the mystery.”

Andy took the card. “I will. Thanks.”

“Now, you said you’d show us where her secret place is?”

“Yeah. We can go now if you want.”

Calaway rose and walked back to the hall where Aunt Magda’s face was ensconced in Uncle Matt’s chest.

“We’ll search the perimeter and widen the net from the hideout area,” Calaway said to them and Aunt Magda’s head shot up. “I’ll have a few of my men work with the townsfolk to form search parties to canvass a wider area. Meanwhile, if there are friends or family members you can contact to join the search, it would help.” Both of them remained silent. “Thirty years and nothing as terrible as this. And then, just three years before I retire, two missing girls. It’s been what, two years since the Doyne girl disappeared? Now this.” Calaway shook his head and headed out. “Come on, Andy. Let’s go.”

“Can I go with you, Sheriff?” Uncle Matt asked.

“I think it’s better if you stayed home with your wife, Matt.”

Uncle Matt puckered while Andy followed the sheriff. Calaway called his two men outside, gave them instructions, and got in his car.

It didn’t take long for them to find Corrine’s secret lair. They parked the car by the riverbank and walked into the woods. Andy and Calaway called out Corrine’s name repeatedly, but as suspected, there was no response. If she was alive, she wasn’t there. Mr. Milton came to Andy’s mind again. It had to have been him. First Emily Doyne, then the unknown Russian girl, and now Corrine. The old man obviously had some devious scheme going on in his basement involving young girls, and they had to expose him soon. Andy ignored the increasing speed of his heartbeat and focused on coming up with a plan.