Crimson Falls (The Depravity Chronicles) (18 page)

“George, radio
the guys and let them know we’re leaving. Have them meet us at the door.” Jake
said. He looked to Rick, John, and George. “We’ve got shit to do, gentlemen.
Let’s roll. Geraldine and Aaron should be here by now.”

Everyone walked
to the side door. Matthew wondered how anyone could stomach working with Jake.
As the door opened, cruiser strobes and headlights were already in the
driveway. Matthew noticed that no one wanted to move forward. Jake pulled his
gun, walked out the door,  and turned around to face the backyard. Tim and
Lionel joined him.

“Okay,
everyone,” Jake said. “Start walking to my cruiser. I’ve got us covered. Tim,
go meet Geraldine and Aaron and escort them up here. Then I’ll join the others
in my car.”

Matthew secretly
wished Jake would just stay put. He wasn’t looking forward to the car ride to
the hospital.

“Hi, Father,”
Geraldine said as they passed.

“Hi, Gerry,”
Matthew said warmly. “Stay safe.”

“You, too,
Father.”

Matthew
genuinely liked Geraldine and her family. They were at mass every Sunday
without fail. Even when Geraldine wasn’t feeling well, she would still be in
her pew at 9am. He said a brief prayer for her and for everyone else still in
the house.

No one said
anything about the woods being eerily quiet, but everyone was definitely
thinking about it. Matthew
knew
something was watching them. He could
sense it in the air, and it was intensely oppressive. He felt certain that it
was going to try to push the air from his lungs again at any moment, but they
reached Jake’s car without incident.

“Good thing this
is an SUV,” George said as Matthew and Amy climbed into the third row seat. He
helped Michael into the front seat and buckled his seatbelt. Then he, Rick, and
John crowded into the seats in front of Matthew and Amy. Matthew strained to
turn around to watch Geraldine and Aaron walk up the stairs toward Jake. He had
to admit, no matter how much of an ass Jake was, he did have balls of steel.
Jake jogged down the stairs toward the Explorer while Geraldine and Aaron,
weapons in hand, covered him.

“They really
have each other’s backs,” Amy observed softly as she joined Matthew in watching
them.

“They have to,”
Matthew observed. “Who knows what’s out there in those woods tonight.”

“Only God
knows,” Amy punned. “And I’m hoping that He does not reveal it again anytime
soon.”

“Amen,” Matthew
affirmed.

Jake clambered
into the driver seat and locked the doors. A few people laughed.

“Can’t be too
careful,” George sang.

“Let’s get the
hell out of here,” Jake said. “I’ve had about all I can take of this shithole.”

“Here, here,”
Michael said through clenched teeth. Matthew could tell just by his voice that
he was in great pain. “Be respectful of the clergy in the car.”

The drive to the
hospital was brief and very quiet. Matthew figured no one had much to say
because everyone was trying to wrap their heads around what had happened, and
what would happen next. They drove to the back of the hospital where Anna and a
very tall, dark skinned man were standing.

“Who the hell is
that?” Jake groaned as he saw them open the gate.

“That’s one big
Indian,” George said.

“Native
American,” Jake corrected. Matthew figured he must want to run for sheriff
because Jake never concerned himself with political correctness. The day Jake
became sheriff would be the day that Hell froze over and Matthew would apply
for another assignment in the diocese. It didn’t matter where as long as the
town wasn’t run by such an arrogant, sometimes dangerous imbecile.

After Jake
parked the car, everyone began filing out. It felt good to be in a public space
where no one could jump you from somewhere in the dark. Regardless, he still
felt obligated to keep his guard up. It could strike at any moment and in a
myriad of ways. The group gathered around Anna and the tall man who was with
her. Although he looked oddly familiar to Matthew, he didn’t think he knew him.

“We have a lot
to discuss,” Anna began. “But first things first. Michael, let’s get you looked
at. I’ve already had a room set up for you downstairs. I’m going to walk with
you and hear what you have to report.”

Anna took
Michael’s arm and led him toward the entrance. Jake followed them, along with
his sidekick, George.

Matthew walked
up to the stranger to introduce himself. “Matthew McMillan,” he said
welcomingly.

“Father
McMillan, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Anish Bearson.”

Matthew
immediately recognized the name. “Professor Bearson from the university?”

“Why, yes,”
Anish said with a big smile. “I’m sorry, have we met?”

“No, professor,
we haven’t, but I am familiar with some of your work,” Matthew said, admiring
Anish’s presence as well as his keen intellect and writing skills.

“So you’re the
one who’s read it!” Anish joked, his laugh deep and resonant.

“Guilty,”
Matthew laughed. “What brings you here?”

“I was called in
by Dr. Styles,” Anish explained. “And Sheriff Blackwood has requested my
assistance as we move forward.”

“Excellent,”
Matthew said. He wondered why Anna would ask an anthropologist to assist in the
case. It wasn’t like her, but then again, why would she need a priest? She was
definitely thorough, and Matthew admired and respected her for that.

“Amy Jenkins,”
Amy said while holding out her hand.

“A pleasure,
Reverend,” Anish said. “It is a good omen that the clergy have joined us here
this evening.”

“Oh?” Matthew
said, grinning. “Why is that?”

“Because we are
going to need all the help we can get, both from the law and from the heavens,”
Anish answered.

“I couldn’t have
said it better myself,” Matthew said. When Anish turned and walked toward the
doors, everyone did the same.

I bet he’s used
to people following him
, Matthew thought.

1

Tim stood
outside the door to the wine cellar in the Brickton house. They had found the
staircase hidden behind a tall, thin hutch in the rear of the kitchen. Lionel
and Ralph were with him, both of them attempting to unlock the deadbolts
preventing their entry. Geraldine and Aaron stood at the top of the stairs to
make sure no one surprised them from behind.

“If you can’t
pick this lock, Ralph, no one can,” Tim snickered.

“Hey, at least I
work for the right team now,” Ralph retorted. Tim both liked and respected
Ralph. He had been a hoodlum when they were kids, breaking into stores
overnight and vandalizing every inch of white walls he could find. He could
crack just about any alarm code and pick any lock. But tonight he had met his
match.

“This is some
serious shit,” Lionel echoed. “I don’t think we’re going to get in without a
key.”

“Maybe we should
look around upstairs to see if we can find it,” Tim suggested. “Alan didn’t have
keys on his body when we found him, so they have to be here somewhere.”

They walked up
the short flight of stairs and into the far end of the kitchen opposite the
mudroom.

“What’s the
story?” Geraldine asked when they reached the top of the stairs.

“We’re trying to
find any keys up here that might unlock the door down those stairs,” Tim said
as he pointed toward the hutch/door.

“Wow,” Aaron
said. “I bet this house has a dozen hidden entrances and exits. That doesn’t
bode well for us, I think.”

“Yeah, Father
Matthew and Pastor Amy found a concealed room in the library with a tunnel
leading underground. That’s where they found Michael,” Tim said.

“Damn,” Aaron
commented.

“But right now
we need to get that door open to see what’s there,” Tim reminded them. “So
let’s get to it. But everyone stay in this room. We move and work as a team.”

They spread out
in the kitchen, working diligently to find the keys. Over the sound of drawers
opening, utensils rattling, and cupboards slamming shut, a loud
Thud!
came
from the cellar door. Everyone froze.

“I’m assuming
you guys heard that,” Tim said. They nodded. Tim wasn’t sure what they should
do. After Jake and the others had discovered Michael, who had been tied up and
fiercely bitten, Tim wasn’t sure it was wise for any of them to still be in the
house. Whoever was stalking them had an intimate knowledge of the house. Tim
couldn’t even be sure that the door actually led to a wine cellar.

Thud!

“What should we
do?” Geraldine whispered.

“I’m not sure,”
Tim answered.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

“Oh, shit,”
Ralph moaned. “I don’t like this.”

“It could be a
trap,” Lionel added. They waited and listened for more sounds. All of a sudden
the heat kicked on in the house, making everyone jump a little.

“Old houses,”
Tim said, shaking his head.

“Do you think
someone’s down there?” Geraldine asked. “I think we have to check it out.”

“Who else could
be down there?” Aaron asked. “No one has been reported missing.”

“Yes, but the
only reason we knew that Alan Brickton was dead was because of the anonymous
call,” Geraldine pointed out. “And we have many citizens who live alone and
wouldn’t be missed for perhaps a day or so. I think it’s our
job
to
investigate.”

“Geraldine’s
right,” Tim said. He drew his gun and nodded for everyone to follow him. They
crept slowly across the kitchen and, step by step, down the staircase. When Tim
reached the door, he stood to the left with his back against the wall.
Geraldine and Aaron stood on the bottom step while Ralph and Lionel stood in
front of the door.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Lionel fired his
gun into the wooden door, scaring the shit out of everyone.

“Jesus!” Tim
shrieked. “Are you out of your mind? You could have killed someone!”

“Oh, shit,”
Lionel whimpered. “I’m so sorry.”

“Put that away!”
Ralph said as he pushed Lionel’s arm down.

As they gathered
themselves together again, they heard the sound of the deadbolts being unlocked
from the other side of the door.

“Oh, hell no,”
Lionel said. Waiting for the door to open, everyone but Lionel had their guns
ready to fire at anyone who would open the door.

“This is the
police!” Tim shouted. “Step back from the door and get down on the ground! We
are prepared to fire!” Tim nodded to Ralph, who grabbed the doorknob. They
waited, listening for a response. “On the count of three, we open the door.
One…two…three!”

Ralph opened the
door. It was too dark to see anything, so no one moved. Geraldine took her
flashlight and shined it into the room. Still, the room was not revealing any
of its secrets.

Thud!

This time it
came from somewhere in the room, though the echo was so thunderous Tim couldn’t
be sure of the source.

“We are going to
open fire! Tell us where you are and surrender now or we
will
kill you!”
Tim felt certain that whoever was toying with them was not going to reveal
himself. He knelt to the ground with Ralph, while Lionel, Geraldine, and Aaron
stood over them.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

“Fire!”

Everyone fired
half of their chambers into the room. The sounds of exploding glass and splashes
of liquid filled the room. The shots only lasted around four seconds. Tim stood
up and entered the room.

“Think there’s a
light switch in here?” Geraldine asked.

“Hopefully we
didn’t shoot out the light,” Aaron said.

As Tim entered
the room, he felt along the wall on his left and sure enough, there was a
light. Everyone was silent as they took in the scene. The smell of alcohol was
potent. A significant stream of several brands of fine wine flowed on the floor
toward a large drain in the center of the room.

“Stay together,”
Tim reminded them. The room was circular, with massive wine racks lining the
walls. Wine continued to trickle from broken bottles still on the racks.

“There must be
another hidden doorway,” Ralph said. “How else could someone have been in this
room?”

“Let’s try to
find it,” Tim said.

Several minutes
passed as they searched in vain. As they met in the center of the room,
everyone looked down at the drain. Tim knew that if someone had been in the
room, this was the only way out.

“Help me lift
this,” he said to Aaron. They leaned over and tried to lift the cover.

“Damn, this is
heavy,” Aaron said as he strained against its weight. Ralph and Geraldine
helped to lift it.

“I don’t see how
one man could lift this by himself, and so quickly,” Geraldine said. “This shit
is heavy.”

The four of them
shuffled to their left and dropped the drain cover. The loud
Clang!
echoed
through the room. Tim shined his flashlight into the hole that measured
approximately three feet in diameter.

“Anyone see
anything?” Aaron asked.

“I can’t see a
damn thing,” Tim groaned. “Geraldine, grab one of those wine bottles and hand
it to me.”

When she brought
him back a large, black bottle, he tossed it into the hole. Two seconds later
they heard the sound of splashing water.

“It can’t be too
far down,” Lionel said. “But is it a good idea to go down there? We don’t know
who, or what, might be waiting for us. It’s suicide for sure.”

“I agree,” Aaron
said. “We were at the station when Jake and the others were running through the
woods. They almost didn’t make it out. I can’t imagine we would stand a better
chance in some dark drainage system.”

Tim knew they
were right, but he was frustrated that there was nothing he could do. Just as
he was about to suggest they return to the main level of the house, Lionel
dropped to his knees and pulled a small flashlight from his belt.

“What the hell
are you doing?” Geraldine asked.

“I’m going to
stick my head down there and see what I can see,” Lionel said forcefully.

“That’s a bad
idea,” Tim said.

Lionel ignored
him. He put his head into the drain and lowered an arm to shine his flashlight.

After a moment,
Tim figured it was relatively safe. Aaron grabbed Lionel’s back legs. His eyes
were closed and Tim could tell he was not comfortable with Lionel literally
sticking his neck out.

“Do you see
anything?” Tim asked.

“No, nothing
yet. But there’s a ladder here that can take us down there. Just looks like a
stream that runs under the house. There’s a lot of dirt and tree roots.”

“Okay, you’ve
seen enough,” Tim said. “We don’t need someone else disappearing or getting
hurt.” Just as he said that, Tim felt Lionel’s body being pulled downward. He
lost his grip on his jacket and Lionel began screaming.

“Jesus!” Aaron
cried as he held on to Lionel’s legs. Ralph and Geraldine joined the struggle
to keep Lionel’s body from being dragged into the hole.

“
HELP ME!
”
Lionel screamed in desperation. As hard as they tried, they couldn’t stop
whoever was pulling Lionel into the drain. Tim heard low growls coming from
underneath them.

Thud!

Thud!

The same sound
that had unlocked the door to the wine cellar thundered around them in the
room. It startled them so badly they fell onto their backsides. Amidst the
barely audible growls, the thuds against the walls, and the sound of running
water, Lionel’s body disappeared into the dark hole.

“Oh, Jesus!”
Geraldine breathed. “What the fuck is going on?”

Thud!

Thud!

The sound was
getting louder, and it seemed to come from all directions.

“We need to go down
there and rescue Lionel!” Aaron cried, beginning to panic. He crawled toward
the hole, but Tim and Ralph held him back.

“You need to
calm down and pull yourself together,” Tim said. “We can’t go down there
halfcocked.”

“He’s right,” Ralph
said.

“I’ll go down
first,” Tim offered. “Cover me as best you can.” He pushed the safety button on
his revolver and steadied his feet on the top rung of the ladder.

Here goes
nothing
,
he thought to himself.

The ladder was
slippery, but he managed to get down without much difficulty. It was about six
feet to the bottom. The water only came to his ankles, which was a relief. He
unlocked the safety button and turned in a circle, ready to fire at anything
that came toward him.

“All clear!” he
yelled up. Slowly, Aaron, Ralph, and Geraldine climbed down until they were all
standing together, shining their lights against the darkness. The tunnel was
narrow, only about six feet across. Long roots twisted through the dirt around
them, with rotting wooden beams running along the midsection of the walls. They
could hear Lionel screaming for help in the distance.

“We’ve got to
get to him,” Aaron said anxiously.

“You need to get
your shit together,” Geraldine demanded with authority. “We will move together
and save him together. Otherwise we’ll all end up six feet under in a much
different way than we are now.”

Lionel screamed
again.

“Wait, didn’t
the first scream come from that way?” Tim asked, pointing to the left of the
ladder.

“Yeah, I think
so,” Ralph said. “But the last one came from the opposite direction.”

“Could it be the
acoustics down here?” Aaron asked.

“Acoustics in a
dirt tunnel with water running over our feet?” Geraldine said. “I seriously
doubt that.”

Thud!

Thud!

They could hear
what sounded like footsteps above them in the wine cellar. Suddenly several
wine bottles crashed to the floor. Within seconds they were getting soaked from
a waterfall of alcohol.

“Oh, Christ,”
Aaron said. “How many of them are there?”

“It could have
just been a rack falling down,” Tim offered. “Let’s focus on getting Lionel and
getting out of here.”

“Help!” Lionel
screamed from the original direction.

“Let’s move
slowly,” Tim said, leading the team forward. He raised his hand quickly when he
thought he heard something in front of them. He waited, trying to identify any
abnormal sounds.

“Do you hear
that?” Geraldine asked quietly. “It sounds like someone is walking through the
water just ahead of us.”