Hazy View: Souls of the Vanished (22 page)

“
When will you be
returning to Hazy View?” Frank asked after a long
silence.

“
I was thinking of leaving
in the morning, I need at least a good night sleep. I don’t want
him to slip out of my custody.” Andrew informed.

“
I can send an officer
with you. I’m sure most of them will jump at the chance for a road
trip. He can help you. Make sure Martin gets to Hazy View. When you
get there you can stick him on a bus and send him home.”

“
I’d feel better.
Thanks.”

“
Go get some sleep. Martin
won’t be going anywhere and in the morning I’ll have someone for
you.”

“
Thanks. It’s still early.
Maybe if you don’t mind I think we might even leave before dark.
The road should be quiet and we can cover more distance tonight.”
Andrew and Helen stood up and ready themselves to leave the
office.

“
What time would you leave
then?”

Andrew thought for a second then said.
“At six o'clock.” He looked at Helen who nodded back at him in
agreement.

“
That’s fine. I’ll meet you back here then.” Frank said and
walked them to the door.

*~*~*

Chapter Seven

*I*

The trip to
Hazy View was quicker than the trip to Ohio. Martin sat without
fuss and trouble. They alternated the driving between Andrew, Helen
and the officer on loan from Frank. After long hours of
conversation they discovered his name was Brat Russell. He was
about twenty two and always did the small things around the office.
He was still training. He had blond hair and green eyes, and a tall
slender body. He’s neatly dressed and well-spoken.

Now driving
around the clock only stopping for food and gas, they were making
progress faster than on their trip up-country. They took restroom
breaks at every stop and where they could they pushed the envelope.
During the trip Martin said nothing. Clearly he was thinking long
and hard about his situation and had gotten use to people’s stairs
at every stop.

Helen had called her ex-husband, who
had agreed to keep Olivia for an extra week. Not concerned with the
reason, he welcomed the extra time. Now that Martin was in custody,
he could show them where he dumped the bodies and they could find
them and laid them to rest. Once the activities in the house seized
and the lake was open, she would drive to collect
Olivia.

Andrew was taking the last stretch to
Hazy View almost two days after they left the small town near
Dayton. He’s tired and felt his whole body ached, but it wasn’t
that, that bothered him. He was nearing Hazy View just before ten
in the morning and by this time the town was abuzz with activity.
Surely someone would notice when they arrived at his office with
Martin in cuffs. At the rate normal news spread, he was sure that
this news would spread like a wildfire. He needed to hurry and get
Martin in a cell before the town came down on him like a ton of
bricks. He took a small comfort in knowing that no one, not even
Yvonne or the Mayor knew that they were now drawing
close.

The first thing Andrew needed to
attend to when he got back to his office was to process and
officially charge Martin with the murders of Janet and Christopher
Parker. He needed to check in with Mr. Craft and see if there’s
anything new regarding the hauntings. Once he completed that he
needed to track down the woman he believed lived in the trailer
park. He would also track down the drunken man that had accused him
of cheating with Janet, even if he Martin confessed.

Once he had them in a corner, then he
would possibly strengthen his case against Martin. With this
information in hand he could take Martin to the house or to the
dumpsite, so he could find Janet and her son and finally free them
from the lake. Sounds easy, but so far nothing had turned out the
way he had planned. All he had was luck, luck in finding the shoe
and blood, luck in finding Martin behind the house and that he
couldn’t flee because something was preventing the vehicle’s engine
from starting. How long would his luck hold out? That was the
million dollar question.

*~*~*

*II*

Andrew drove into Hazy View through
the main road, passing busy pedestrians and shoppers. No one
notices the vehicle or Martin in the backseat next to a uniformed
officer. He breathed a deep sigh or relieve as his office was less
than two blocks ahead. He might make it there clear without drawing
attention. He was nearing a stop, the only one before he reached
his office.

A vehicle pulled up next to
him.

Andrew turned to look.

The driver in the vehicle
hooted.

Martin turned and smiled.

The driver screamed
something.

Helen was in the passenger seat. Her
window’s closed and she looked at Andrew, wandering weather she
needed to lower her window. He shook his head, turned his attention
back to the road and continued to the office.

The vehicle changed lanes rapidly and
followed.

Andrew stopped in front of his office.
He sighed deeply and turned off the ignition. The vehicle that had
followed from the last stop halted with screeching tires. He
stopped in the middle of the road and bolted out of the vehicle. He
darted out of the road and rushed to Andrew’s window. Andrew had
little time to react when the man, clearly angry, knocked on his
window. Andrew looked at the man and turned away from him. He
glanced through the parking lot noticing... There were several
vehicles filling the parking lot.

“
How did they know? Nobody
knew we’re on the way back?” Andrew looked at the man still
standing at his window, not wanting to back off.

“
Looks like you in a spot
of trouble.” Martin remarked from the rear with a grin on his
face.

“
No thanks to you.” Andrew
said and turned to Martin angry, his eyes turned hard and cold
towards him.

“
What do you mean? I
wasn’t even here. You’ve already failed, I knew you would. I didn’t
think you had the stomach for it I’m afraid.” Martin
remarked.

“
This is your doing. What
made you think you can kill someone and then run away with your
tail firmly tucked between your legs and there’ll be nothing coming
from it. These people don’t know it, but they will soon know that
their loved once death is the result of your actions. This thing
about you being a legend will fade from memory before you can say
sentenced.”

Martin fell silent.

Andrew opened the window and looked up
at the man still waiting for a response.

“
What’s the meaning of
this?” He demanded standing half hunched over to look past Andrew
to Martin in the backseat.

Martin lifted his hands in greeting
and smiled, revealing the cuffs on his wrists.

“
What’s the meaning of
what Bob?” Andrew asked confused.

“
Is Martin back to clean
up your mess? Did you really have to drag him back in cuffs?”
Cleary the man was angry.

“
I’m afraid I’m not
following, but if you could just move up a moment I’ll speak to all
of you.” Andrew said and closed the window without a further
word.

Andrew fished his cell phone out of
his pocket and entered the number on the business card. Once again
Mr. Craft answered the phone without delay. “Good day Mr. Craft.
I’ve just returned to town, could you please meet me at the
office?”

“
Sure, how was your
trip?”

“
Successful, but I’m
afraid that I’ve returned to a world of trouble.”

“
So I’ve
heard.”

“
Did something happen
while I was gone?” Andrew asked realizing that the crowd wasn’t
there for him.

“
Janet attacked some
children who disobeyed the restrictions on the lake. Two of the
children drowned. I don’t think the residences are very
happy.”

“
You’re kidding. When did
this happen?”

“
Last night. The children
wanted to go skinny-dipping. They thought they would be safe in
numbers, but clearly…”

“
Will it take long before
you get here?”

“
I’m leaving the house
now.”

“
I need you to set up in
my office so I can see the recordings.”

“
See you in a few
minutes.”

Mr. Craft ended the call.

“
These people aren’t here
to welcome Martin back. There was another incident. This time Janet
took two children.” Andrew looked at Martin. “This is still your
mess.”

“
I can’t do this
anymore.”

“
Do what?”

“
You’re right, this is my
fault. I should never have left. I should’ve cleaned this up before
it have started, I‘m truly sorry for those children.” Martin
dropped his head in shame.

The burden that’s weighing on him had
become too heavy to bear and it’s time to lessen the
burden.

“
Not just the children
think of the four people that had died before them.”

“
There’d been more
victims?” Martin asked surprised.

“
Yes, Janet’s attacking
anyone who came near the water, that’s not all. Your family’s
haunting you house and Christopher has attached him to her daughter
Olivia. What do you think would that do to a six-year-old child to
know her friend lives in a dark cold lake that scares
him?”

“
How do you know what
Christopher thinks, he’s dead.”

“
He spoke to
Olivia.”

Andrew got out of the vehicle, walked
to Martin’s door and opened it. Martin got out slowly with his head
bent forward too ashamed to look people in the eye with Brat
Russell following suit.

“
I never thought this
would happen.”

“
No you just thought you
would get away with this, spreading your lies like poison and
hoping we’re all too dumb to notice. Let me tell you something, we
did believe you, these people defended you. If it wasn’t for Janet,
we would never think something was wrong.”

“
I don’t know what I’ve
done, but I know I’ve done something horrid and now it’s time to
put it behind me, behind all of us and move on.” Martin whispered
his voice scratchy and hoarse.

“
Put this behind us and
just move on, is that the way you’re thinking now. Go tell that to
the people whose mourning, the same people who trusted and
respected you. You are sicker than I thought.” Andrew scolded and
pulled hard on Martin’s arm, dragging him into the
office.

“
I’m tired of always
looking over my shoulder and hiding like a dog. It’s time to set
things straight.” Martin said not looking up.

“
What do you think these
people will do when they find out what you really did? Do you think
for one moment that they’d put it behind them and move? They’ll
just forgive you like you’re the god they still
idolize?”

“
No, I just meant, it’s
time I find out the truth.”

“
What truth, weather you
did it or not…?”

“
I know I did something.
I’m just confused about the details. I need to explain, make thing
right again weather they forgive me or not, that’s not important.
I’ve got to make it right with Janet and Christopher.”

“
You can explain later,
come it’s time to face the music.”

Andrew walked into the office with his
head held high. Martin walked like a lamb led to the slaughter.
He’s hunched over and sluggish. He’s as pale as the dead and close
to weeping. Helen and Brat followed closely, ready to offer back up
should Andrew need it when he faced the mob of people ready for
war.

As Andrew entered the office he’s met
by more people than he had expected. He walked silently through the
crow holding Martin by the arm. He led him into the office area
behind a small counter and sat him near Yvonne’s desk. He turned
and walked back to the group of angry residents, whispering and
almost excited to see Martin, but confused about the handcuffs.
There whispers became louder sounding more like a
beehive.

As Andrew reached the counter the
crowd fell silent.

“
Good afternoon.” He
greeted the group.

“
What is so good about
it?” Someone called.

“
It had come to my
attention that there was another incident at the lake while I was
out of town. I’m deeply sorry for the loss as I’m about the other
victims.” Andrew paused. “This is the reason the lake’s
closed.”

“
What’s going on in the
lake?”

“
We have evidence that the
lake’s haunted.”

“
That is just a story,
there’s no such thing as ghosts. Why don’t you tell us the truth
for once?”

“
No, I am afraid that this
time it’s true. I’ve however found the person responsible an as
soon as the matter’s resolved then I’ll declare the lake safe and
it‘ll be open before the festival.”

“
I heard rumors that the
ghosts were two of our residence.” Someone called out
again.