13 Nights of Horror: The Disappearance of Rose Hillard (7 page)

“No,” Gorman replied, feeling a tightening sensation in his chest. “No, you’re -”

“This wasn’t even the first time,” she told him. “I was seventeen when I died, but he’d been doing these things to me since before I can even remember. Once or twice a month, he’d take me there, and we’d spend an hour. It was like our time together, and my mother thought we were at the park. At first I thought she didn’t have a clue, but eventually I realized… She’s not a stupid woman. She didn’t even need to bury the truth. She was just able to ignore it.”

Gorman shook his head, even as tears gathered in his eyes.

“I grew up thinking it was okay,” she continued. “It’s weird, but I grew up thinking every little girl had to do this with her Daddy, and told us it was a little secret we had to keep from everyone else. By the time I realized it was wrong, I was so deep in it all that I couldn’t even think of a way out. When you’ve done something all your life, it almost feels right, even if you know it’s wrong. Besides, I was always scared that if I stopped pleasing him, he’d go and do the same thing to other people. I felt like I was protecting everyone else by focusing all of his evil on me. I thought I could take it.”

“No man could do that to his child,” Gorman said firmly, his voice trembling with rage.

“This man could.”

“No, it’s just not -”

“Do you have children?”

“I… June and I never… We always felt that we…” He paused. “We always had reasons not to start a family. Besides, she always said the people of this town were my children.”

“That’s pretty messed up,” the voice whispered, “when you actually think about it.”

He watched the faint video image as it continued to play on the windows of the diner, showing a hand grabbing the girl’s hair and forcing her head back as she sobbed with fear. After a moment, another hand came into shot, this time holding what appeared to be some kind of metal clamp connected to a set of battery cables.

“What kind of man does this to his daughter?” Rose’s voice whispered. “Can you even comprehend the evil in his heart? I know you don’t want to believe that this is possible, but he did this to me. He said he was protecting me from the evils of the world, by keeping me close. All of this was taking place right here in Vantage, in the town where nothing bad ever happens.”

Gorman continued to watch for a moment, until the image began to fade and finally the only thing on the windows was the relentless rain.

“I cannot conceive of such a man,” he said finally. “I cannot even believe that he could exist.”

He waited, before turning and finding that there was no sign of Rose. She wasn’t standing behind him, and she wasn’t over on the other side of the parking lot. Turning back to look at the diner, he saw that Eileen was inside, clearing away his cup and plate. After a moment, she glanced out at him and waved with a happy smile.

Slowly, Gorman turned and began to limp toward his car. There was a sickening, tightening sensation in the pit of his stomach, something he’d never felt before. As he reached the car he had to stop and take a breath, before finally he turned and began vomiting. Kneeling down on the rain-soaked asphalt, he continued to vomit until there was nothing left to bring up, and then he just carried on dry-heaving as tears ran down his face. Suddenly he felt something crawling at the back of his throat, and he started coughing again. Several black beetles fell from his mouth and landed on the tarmac before righting themselves and scurrying away through the puddles. Gorman watched them with a sense of mounting shock, convinced that somehow he must be hallucinating.

Finally, once he had enough strength to get back to his feet, he turned and looked across the parking lot, and he saw that Rose had returned. She was still standing over by the trees, watching him and waiting for him to do what he should have done five years earlier.

Five years ago

“Jesus Christ!” Michael stammered as he stumbled through the mud, with Sheriff Gorman just a few paces further back. “I can’t even… I can’t… I can’t…”

Stopping by the metal door, he leaned against the side of the barn and took a series of slow deep breaths.

“Wait here,” Gorman said firmly, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to go in alone.”

“You can’t,” Michael replied, turning to him. “You can’t go in, no-one can. It’ll destroy you, and she… I don’t want anyone to see my little princess when she’s like that.”

“I have to see what happened,” Gorman told him. “I want you to wait right here, and I’m going to take a look. When I come out, you can tell me exactly what you saw and how things went down after you arrived, okay?” He waited for a reply. “This is going to get sorted, Michael. We’re going to do the right thing here. I always make sure that things are right in the end.”

Turning, he stepped through the door and immediately stopped as he saw the horror inside the barn. Ricky Baggard’s dead body was just a few feet away, with a knife lodged in his chest, while the bodies of Luke and Scott Everham were a little further off, both of them having been stabbed several times. There were smeared blood trails leading toward Luke’s corpse, as if he’d tried to drag himself to safety after being injured, and his dead eyes were staring up with glassy intensity.

“Jesus Christ,” Gorman muttered, stepping over Ricky’s body as he saw the mess in the center of the room.

And then he stopped.

And his heart broke.

Rose’s dead body was tied naked to a small wooden chair. There was blood everywhere, covering her flesh and spreading out across the concrete floor, while a set of thick metal cables ran from clips on her body over to some kind of generator. There were cameras arranged on tripods, while large lights burned bright on nearby stands. Various other items were laid out on a bench, including bloodied saws and hammers, as if someone had gone to great lengths to assemble an arsenal of torture equipment. A couple of Rose’s teeth had been left next to a pair of pliers.

Unable to believe what he was seeing, Gorman kept well away from Rose as he moved around her, but finally he saw her dead eyes staring down at the floor. There were still tears on her face.

“She was already dead when I got here,” Michael said, having followed him inside. “I… I don’t really know what happened next, but I kind of… I lost it. I grabbed a knife from the side and I just went crazy on the sick bastards who did this to my little princess. I killed Ricky first, and then Scott Everham, and then Luke tried to make a run for it but this red mist descended and all I could do was go after him and make him pay for what happened to Rose, I…”

His voice trailed off as he stared at the girl’s body.

“And then you used Ricky’s phone to call my office?” Gorman asked.

Michael nodded.

“Why did you use his phone and not your own?”

“I don’t know, I… I guess it fell from his pocket and I saw it and I wasn’t thinking straight. I called, but when Elizabeth answered I dropped the phone and… I just couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t tell her what had happened, I just hoped that you’d be able to trace the call and find me. I knew you were the man I needed, Ben. I’m so glad you’re here.”

“And these cameras?” Gorman asked. “Were they running when you arrived?”

“No, they were off. I think, whatever sick things they were doing here, they’d just finished. I just wish I’d got here sooner, maybe I could have…”

Gorman stepped closer to Rose and reached out to her, pressing two fingers against the side of her neck in order to make absolutely certain that she was dead. It was just a formality.

“What kind of person could do this to her?” Michael asked. “I think I’m in shock, I’m not thinking straight. My poor sweet little girl.”

“Have you touched anything?” Gorman asked, looking around at the rest of the crime scene. “Is this more or less how you found it?”

“I didn’t even touch Rose,” he replied. “I couldn’t… I mean, I felt like there was no way…”

“Looks like they were recording,” Gorman muttered, heading over to the laptop on a nearby bench. He pressed a button on the side, and a CD was ejected from the drive. Holding the disc up, he stared at it for a moment. “I would imagine,” he said after a moment, “that they filmed the entire thing. It’s probably all on here.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Michael asked.

“It’s evidence, I have to -”

“But that means people will see it!”

“Only the people who investigate what happened.”

“No!” Michael shouted. “No! No! No! I don’t want anyone else to ever see what they did to her!” He looked over at Rose’s body for a moment, and then back at the corpses near the door. “I killed those bastards,” he said finally. “I’m not even ashamed. They killed my Rose, and as her father it was my duty to kill them in return. I only wish I’d kept them alive so I could make them suffer.” He paused. “I don’t suppose the courts will see it that way, though. They’ll probably convict me of murdering them.”

“They might,” Gorman replied, “unless you could prove it was self-defense.”

“It wasn’t. It was pure anger.”

“Then…” Gorman took a deep breath. “We’ve got no choice. It’ll tear the town apart and it won’t bring Rose back, but I don’t see what else we can do.”

“Carey,” Michael whispered. “My poor wife, she’s going to be devastated.” He paused again. “I know you, Ben,” he added finally. “You’re a good man, and you’re a man who does what’s best for the community. I also know that from time to time you… Well, you interpret the law in a way that makes it serve the town. That’s what you care about, isn’t it? The town, and looking after the people here.”

“I don’t think there’s anything I can do here.”

“You can save Vantage from being destroyed.”

Gorman turned to him.

“Hear me out,” Michael continued. “Rose is gone and nothing can bring her back. If people find out what happened to her, if they know that she was tortured and mutilated and that it was all filmed, that’s how they’ll always remember her. Even if the video doesn’t get out, every single person in Vantage, and even in the world when the story spreads, will think of her like this. Carey would have to think of her dying like this, and that would just… She’s a good woman, Ben, and it’d break her. I don’t know if she could even survive the knowledge.”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“Maybe…” Michael paused. “The perpetrators are dead. Baggard and the Everham brothers, they’re gone, they can’t hurt anyone ever again, and nothing’s going to bring Rose back but we could still make it so that… at least people can have hope. At least Carey can live with a sliver of hope, rather than knowing what really happened. So why don’t we allow Carey, hell, allow the whole
town
to avoid this nightmare? We’re the only two people who ever have to know what really happened to my beautiful, precious daughter.”

“You want to cover up her murder?” Gorman asked, shocked by the suggestion.

“Think about it,” Michael continued. “We dump those bastards’ bodies by the side of the road and make it seem like they were robbed or something, and then we find somewhere to put Rose, somewhere respectful and pretty but somewhere she’ll never be found. And then we clean this place up, we pretend like it never happened, and we act like Rose is just missing. Not dead, not tortured, just… gone.”

“We can’t hide the truth from the whole town.”

“Yes, we can.” Michael looked over at Rose’s corpse, still tied to the chair. “We can make sure that not one other person ever has to see her like this, or has to even know that this is what happened to her. Imagine the inquest. Imagine all the details coming out, like…” Walking over, he looked down at her dead face. “There are burns marks on her, Ben. Cuts. Bruises. It looks like at one point she was hooked up to a battery and given electric shocks. I can’t even imagine what else those animals did to her, and I don’t even
want
to know, and I sure as hell don’t want it in the goddamn papers.”

He paused for a moment, before reaching down and starting to loosen the ties.

“That’s evidence,” Gorman pointed out, although he made no effort to stop him. “You’re not supposed to tamper with anything.”

“She’s my daughter,” Michael said firmly, as he pulled the last of the ties away.

Rose’s dead body began to fall forward, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and eased her into his arms before picking her up and turning to Gorman.

“How do you want history to remember her?” he asked, with tears running down his face. “Like this? Or as someone who disappeared and maybe, just maybe, managed to find a better life?”

Staring at the dead girl, Gorman felt his resolve starting to weaken. He’d always been willing to cut corners, to do what was right for the town rather than what was strictly required by the letter of the law, but this was taking things much further than he’d ever imagined. At the same time, he knew how the huge, slow machinery of justice worked, and he had absolutely no doubt that the next few years would be torture for the Hillard family as every possible detail emerged about Rose’s final hours. There’d be an autopsy, and photos, and fevered discussion online. He’d worked on a similar case once before, where a girl had died and the mother had ended up committing suicide due to the mounting media coverage. This time, he figured, things could be different.

“Help me protect her memory,” Michael pleaded, with tears in his eyes. “Help me protect the town from knowing what happened to Rose.”

Gorman took a deep breath.

“Can you deal with Baggard and the Everhams?” Michael asked. “I… I want to look after Rose. I want to find the right place to bury her.”

Gorman paused, and then finally he nodded his assent.

“And we’ll never speak of this again,” Michael continued. “Once it’s over, it’s over.”

“I’m keeping this,” Gorman replied, holding up the disc.

“No, we have to burn it.”

“I’m keeping it, and that’s final,” Gorman said firmly. “I’ll put it in my safe, I won’t let anyone know about it, but I need to have some kind of evidence in case… In case this all comes back on us some day.”

“I don’t want anyone seeing what’s on that disc,” Michael told him.

“I’ll take a look at what’s on it,” Gorman replied, “just to get a basic idea, but then I’ll put it away and you have my word of honor that it will never see the light of day again.”

“Fine,” Michael replied, keeping his eyes on the disc for a moment. “I’m sure you’re right, I just…” Looking down at his dead daughter in his arms, he realized that blood was running from a cut in her belly, all the way down her side and onto the floor. “I have to go,” he added finally. “I have to bury my little girl. I’ll call you in the morning to report her missing, so we can get that part of things over with as quickly as possible.”

Gorman watched as Michael carried Rose away. Once they were gone, the Sheriff was left standing alone in the shed, with the arc lights still burning bright in a circle all around him, like stars that refused to go out.

***

“Jesus, that’s horrible,” Elizabeth said the next morning, standing by the door to Gorman’s office. “So when you arrived, Scott and Luke were already dead?”

“And Ricky Baggard,” he replied as he opened his safe. “Looks like there was a robbery. Probably someone from out of state, but we’ll see. Some items had been removed from the house, some money and a few other things that might have value, so…” He paused for a moment. “So that’s that, I guess.”

“I know I shouldn’t say it,” she continued, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial hush, “but I never liked those brothers. There was always something weird about them, the way they lived out there alone and never really socialized with anyone else in town. And that Luke kid was always into computers, which in my opinion is never a good sign about anyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was mixed up in something pretty dark.” She sniffed. “Ricky seemed like a good kid, though. A little wayward, but a good soul. God bless his parents, I can’t imagine what they’re going through. To lose a son so suddenly, and in such horrible circumstances…”

She watched as Gorman placed the CD in his safe and closed the door.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Nothing important,” he replied, turning the dial before getting to his feet and heading to his desk. “I’ll be doing some paperwork this morning, so try not to let anyone interrupt me. I just… I need to get on with things. The Everham and Baggard case is going to take up a lot of time, so I want to get started while it’s all fresh in my mind, you know?”

“Are you okay?” she replied. “You look a little off, Ben.”

“I’m fine,” he said, with a fake smile that he knew wouldn’t convince her. “Just a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

“I’ll make you a nice pot of coffee,” she told him, turning to walk away before stopping and looking back at him. “Oh, and I forgot to mention. It’s probably nothing, but Michael and Carey Hillard phoned a little while ago. It seems Rose didn’t get home last night, and they’re worried about her. I told them she’s just being a typical teenager and to call back this evening if they still haven’t heard from her. Did I do the right thing?”