Bone Deep (17 page)

Ziegler continued to address Tom. “And now you come forward with some
story
about Aileen Brodbeck
,
who just happened to disappear since you came into the area.”

“I know it seems strange but
—
”

“Can the man speak
for himself
, Mrs. Cassidy?” the sheriff snapped. “I have to look at him as a suspect in this disappearance. By all rights I should have him in handcuffs by now.”

“No! We came here in good faith that you would
hear
what Tom has to say with an open mind. He only came because I
told him
it would be safe.”

“So far I haven’t heard the man say a
single
word on his own behalf. All’s I know is we have a little girl missing and a stranger who apparently knows something about it.” He glared at Sarah. “Can you vouch for his whereabouts yesterday? I heard through the grapevine you were over in
Camden
with Andrew Harper and the Cunninghams
all
evening. Who was watching your friend then? Damnation, I ought to be arresting you too for harboring a fugitive and obstructing justice,” Ziegler’s voice rose.

“Don’t!” Tom shouted.

Sarah jumped.

“Don’t yell at her
.
” He was poised
on
the edge of his seat, eyes narrowed, hands clenched on the armrests as though ready to launch himself at the sheriff. He looked angry and dangerous, nothing like the gentle, quiet man she
’
d come to know over the past days. He certainly didn’t
seem to be
the non-violent person she was trying to represent to Sheriff Ziegler.

After
a moment of silence
,
the sheriff said mildly, “So you
can
speak.
Hell’s bells, son, relax. I’m not going to arrest either one of you. Not yet anyway. If Mrs. Cassidy here vouches for you, I suppose that’ll do
—
for now. But you damn sure better believe I have some questions.” He yelled to his wife though she was only a few feet away, “Anna, you want to bring me a glass of iced tea?”

“We’re out.” She
sighed
and rose from her seat. “But I suppose I could walk over to the drugstore and get you a
Pepsi Cola
. Cool you down before you pop a blood vessel.” She gathered her purse and jacket and left the office.

Ziegler
sat
on the edge of the desk facing them as his wife had done earlier. “
All right, w
hy
don’t
you tell me everything you know about the missing girl.”

Tom was still perched
on his chair
like a wild creature ready to run
—
or
attack
. His
gaze was
riveted on the sheriff, watching his every move.

Sarah squeezed his arm. “It’s all right,” she whispered
and
felt his muscles relax slightly. She
addressed
the sheriff. “Look, I know this is hard to believe, but Tom gets flashes of
…
I guess you’d call it insight about people. The second day he was at my house I was d
raining the oil on my
Plymouth
and he pulled me out
from under
just before it
fell off the jack
. He said he saw it happen in his head. He saved my life.”

“That true?” Ziegler stared Tom in the eye.

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me what you know about Aileen?”

When Sarah opened her mouth,
Ziegler held up his hand to
silence
her. “I’d like to hear it from him.”

Tom spoke quietly. “She’s trapped someplace dark and rocky
, under the earth
. There’s hardly any air. Her leg is hurt. And she’s afraid. That’s all I felt.”

Ziegler
frowned
. “Well, that doesn’t give me a lot to go on, now does it?”

Sarah broke in. “That’s why I thought it might help if he could look at her picture or hold something of hers. I know it sounds crazy but isn’t it worth a try?”

The sheriff rocked back on the desk and it creaked under his weight. He stared hard at Tom for several long seconds
, t
hen he stood up, scattering papers from the desk to the floor.

“Why not. Couldn’t hurt.” He looked into Tom’s eyes again. “But you
’d
better be prepared for this. We got a whole lot of people who’ve imagined you into the worst kind of monster. It ain’t going to be friendly out there. Are you ready for that?”

Tom nodded. “Yes. I want to help
the girl
.”

Chapter
Eight

When they arrived at Simpson’s orchard in the squad car, it looked more like a community picnic
going on
than a search operation. Children
chased
one another in games of tag around the gnarled apple trees or snatched food off the heavily laden tables. Clusters of men and women from town and area farms stood talking and eating. Sarah
saw
Grace May cutting a cake at one of the tables. Andrew and Mike stood in a group with Mr. McNulty, the hardware store owner, and several other merchants.

Deputy Phil talked earnestly with Aileen’s parents, Glenn and Betty and her older sister, Shirley. The younger Brodbeck children
yelled
and ran with the rest of the kids unmindful of the gravity of the situation. Glenn’s arm was around Betty’s shoulders and she looked ready to collapse if he let go.

Sarah prayed there was something useful Tom could offer these parents besides the knowledge that their daughter was trapped, hurt and afraid.

“All right, folks, here goes,” Sheriff Ziegler opened the door of the cruiser, swung his legs out and hoisted
himself up
with the aid of the door frame. “
Stay
by me and let me do the talking.” He looked at Sarah as she emerged from the vehicle. “That means you.”

They
followed the sheriff across the grass to where
Aileen’s parents
stood.
When
people noticed Tom, they fell silent or
whispered to one another as they stared at him
.
A
cutely aware of
their disapproval, Sarah was
glad to walk in Ziegler’s substantial shadow.
B
eing the center of attention of almost an entire town
was intimidating
. Even the children stopped their play to gape at the tattooed man walking freely under the sun instead of contained in a carnival tent.
Grace May’s
mouth literally
dropped open
in surprise, and Andrew an
d Mike wore equally shocked expressions
.

“Phil,” Ziegler said to his deputy as they drew close. “I want you to circulate among these people and tell
th
em this man
isn’t
a danger to anybody. He’s got some information that might
prove
useful. That’s all they need to know about it. Lay their minds to rest
and calm them down. Got it?
”

The deputy’s eyes popped as he looked from Tom to Sarah
and
back again. “Uh, sure thing, Jack.” He moved
dutifully
away.

Ziegler took one of Betty
Brodbeck
’s hands in his big fist. “Betty, Glenn, I want you to meet Tom. He’s the fellow from the carnival everyone’s been so worked up about.”

The distraught parents stared uncomprehendingly at the incongruous sight of the carnival freak in Simpson’s orchard.

“Tom here claims to have some ... special
abilities
, like what they used to call
the
second sight. I know a lot of folks don’t take stock in that
. I don’t much myself
, but I figured what the hell,
m
ight be worth a shot if he could help find Aileen.”

Glenn
stared
at Tom suspiciously. “I don’t think
—
”

“Yes,” Betty
spoke over him
, looking directly into Tom’s eyes through her red-rimmed ones. “We’ll try anything to find her.
Anything.
What do we need to do?”

“Do you have her picture with you?”
Sarah asked.

The woman reached into the pocket of her dress and drew out a photo. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at it then handed it to Tom.

I
t was a school photo of a freckle-faced girl with a huge smile and long
coppery
pigtails, one starting just above her ear, the other at least two inches higher.

“That’s last year’s,” Betty said softly. “They haven’t had picture day at school yet this year. Aileen
’s
a head taller now and starting to look so grown up.”

Tom stared intently at the picture in his hand for several moments then closed his eyes. They all waited, watching him expectantly.
In the distance
, Sarah was dimly aware of
murmuring
voices like bees buzzing around the
fallen
apples beneath the trees. She prayed hard for Tom to see something
use
ful.

But after a moment
he
opened
his eyes,
looked at the picture again and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I only get the same thing as before. She’s
stuck
somewhere dark and
earthy
and her leg hurts.”

Betty let out a small cry and covered her mouth with a hand. Her husband gazed, narrow-eyed at Tom like he was a puzzle he couldn’t quite figure out. “You see that? You really see her?”

Tom shook his head. “No. I
t’s like I
feel what she’s feeling.”

Sarah touched his arm. “The rocks. You said before that there were rocks.” She turned to the sheriff. “Is there someplace rocky around here, a well, a cave, a mine? Anyplace a
child
might crawl into and get stuck
.”

Ziegler shook his head. “No mining ever done around these parts I’m aware of and I’ve lived here all of my life. No caves either so far as I know.”

“Could there be a boarded-over well?” Betty said. “We’ve been looking so hard in the forest we may be missing someplace else.”

Sarah pictured rotten boards giving away under running feet and a little girl plunging thirty or forty feet down to the bottom. How could she survive it?

“Do you have any of her possessions with you?” she asked.

“Here,” Aileen’s sister, Shirley held out a red cardigan. “This is hers. They let the dogs smell it yesterday before they went out. The deputy just gave it to me to take home.” She turned to her mother. “I read about this stuff in Amazing Stories, mom. Sometimes it really works.”

Tom accepted the sweater, stroking his moon hand over the soft material. Again everyone in the little group went still, watching him. He glanced at Betty’s harrowed face then back down at the sweater. His jaw clenched and his brows furrowed in concentration.

Sarah sensed his frustration and fear of not being able to help. She laid her hand over his on the sweater. “Don’t try so hard,” she whispered. “Relax and let it come to you like before.”

He nodded and
exhaled audibly
. Smoothing his hand over the sweater, he almost visibly relaxed, shoulders dropping and eyes partially closing.
Several long moments of silence followed.

Sarah glanced around the orchard and saw Phil talking to an irate group of people whose voices were growing steadily louder. She looked back at Tom in time to see his face go slack, his eyes tracking back and forth like they had earlier. He was entering that eerie trance
like
state. She wasn’t surprised when he suddenly began to speak.

“She’s walking.” His voice was low and level, no inflection disturbing the halting recitation. Finds a ... a place and goes inside. It’s dark.”

T
he hair on
Sarah’s
arms
rose and a glance at the others showed they were equally mesmerized
.

“She
wishes she had
a flashlight
, w
ishes her friend Katie was with her
.
”

“Ziegler! What the heck is going on?” A
n angry
voice broke the spell. The town barber, Aaron Avery, marched up to the sheriff and
pointed
at Tom. “What is
he
doing here?”