Crimson Falls (The Depravity Chronicles) (2 page)

“Takes one to
know one,” Anna smirked.

“I’m not rich,”
Jake said.

Anna shook her
head. “Did he drink himself to death?” she asked, a serious expression returning
to her face.

“Not exactly,”
Sam mumbled. In the short time since Sam had joined the force, Anna had grown
to respect him. A former FBI agent from Chicago, Sam had good instincts and was
quick on his feet. He was definitely someone you wanted on the force in times
of crisis.

They walked in
silence as they moved past the house and into the back yard. A few hundred
yards away, by what was probably Alan’s favorite fishing rock, Anna could see
what appeared to be his body. As she picked up her pace, the two deputies fell
in line behind her.

In the twenty
years she had been a cop, she had certainly seen dead bodies. Car accidents,
drowning, disease, you name it. But despite her experience she had not yet
become desensitized to death. It still struck a deep chord in her every time
she saw it. She believed that was what made her a good cop, and an electable
sheriff. But the closer she got to Alan’s body, another feeling began to plague
her. Dread.

She came to a
stop a few feet from the body. Dr. David Styles, the local coroner, had already
arrived and was studying Alan for the cause of death. Tall, lanky, with dyed
black hair and a thin grey beard, Dr. Styles was the quintessential man of
death.

“What can you
tell me, David?” Anna asked, trying not to make assumptions. Instinct and
intuition told her that Alan had not died from drinking.

“Sheriff, if I
may?” Jake interrupted. She waved her hand and gave him the floor.

“From the looks
of his head, he fell down and knocked himself out. If the blow to the head
didn’t kill him, then he probably froze to death from exposure.”

Anna stifled a
small laugh. “I don’t think so, Jake.”

“Why not?” he
asked, simultaneously embarrassed and insulted.

Anna knelt down
on one knee and pointed toward Alan’s face. “Had he frozen to death, there
would be signs.”

“What signs?”
Jake asked.

“Well, first of
all, the blood would be dry, Einstein,” David joked. After getting no laughter
or response, he cleared his throat and continued. “He has only been dead a few
hours.”

“Who called this
in?” Anna asked, astonished. “Who could have possibly have been all the way out
here to check on Alan?”

“Janet said it
was an anonymous call,” Sam said as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Well did she
get the number of the caller?” Anna asked, perturbed.

“Uh, not sure
about that,” Jake shrugged.

“Christ on
crutches,” Anna mumbled as she looked at David. He smiled.

“As far as I can
tell, Mr. Brickton died from this,” David said as he lifted Alan’s head.

“Holy shit!” a
voice shouted from behind them. Anna swung around, suddenly aware that Trevor
was standing behind them.

“For the love of
God, Trevor!”

“I was bored,”
he complained.

“I’ve been gone
no more than five minutes,” Anna threw back.

“As I was
saying,” David interrupted, “I think this is what killed him.”

Everyone leaned
toward the coroner to get a better look. As Anna moved forward, she shoved
Trevor’s face back.

“You don’t want
to see this,” she whispered. Jake stood up and pulled Trevor away from the
grizzly scene in front of them.

“Damn,” Sam said
as he put his hand over his mouth. Bugs scurried from underneath Alan’s head
while others were crawling from the large wound on the back of his neck. Anna
was speechless.

“See this?”
David asked Anna as he gestured toward the wound.

“What the hell
is
that?” Anna asked. Protruding from Alan’s neck was a large, yellow object.

“I’m not
entirely sure,” David said as he studied it. “But I can’t remove it until we
get him back to the morgue.”

“Of course,”
Anna said.

“I can tell you
one thing for sure,” David said as Anna stood up, folding her arms across her
chest. She waited impatiently as he continued to look at the yellow ‘specimen.’

“And that would
be?” she pushed.

“He sure as hell
didn’t fall on it.” 

* * * * * *

3

Trevor did his
best to push Jake off him. He refused to be the pawn in this dumb cop’s
relentless pursuit of his mother.

“Get off me,
jackass,” he shouted as he saw his mother stand up again. She glared at him,
just like she always seemed to do.

“Yeah, language,
right,” Trevor shot back.

“I’m past the
point of giving a shit about that,” Anna barked.

“Oh,” Trevor
murmured, stunned by his mother’s rare show of aggression. “I’m sorry.” He
managed a smile, feeling a little guilty that he was causing a scene as Acorn
Alan was lying dead on the ground.

Then it hit him.
He had just seen a dead body. A small chill traveled down his spine, but he did
his best to disguise it.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Trevor,”
Anna said, seemingly a bit more in control of her emotions.

“What happened
to Mr. Brickton?”

“He died.”

He swallowed the
answer he wanted to give, and instead chose a more diplomatic approach. “I
figured. I mean, like, what happened?”

“We don’t know
yet,” she said in a monotone voice. Then she suddenly stopped and took him by
the shoulders. “Trevor Blackwood. You cannot say a word to this to anyone. Do
you understand me? Anyone!”

“I get it Mom.
Geesh.”

Anna extended
her hand. He looked at it in confusion.

“I need your
phone.”

“What?”

“Your phone.
Cough it up. Right now.”

“But Mom!”

She stared
directly into his eyes. “Now.” He reached into his pocket and surrendered his
phone. “Not a word to your brother or sister, either.” She paused, as if
reconsidering. “Not yet. Not until we can talk about it as a family. But right
now, I need to take you home and get back to work.”

As Anna and
Trevor began walking back up the yard toward the house, the wind howled through
the trees. Trevor looked into the forest that surrounded them on all sides. He
had enough sense to realize that Mr. Brickton had not died of natural causes.
For a moment he thought he saw something moving behind the trees.

“Mom!” he
shouted in fear, pointing away from the house. Anna quickly unsheathed her gun
and glared toward where Trevor was pointing.

“I saw it too!”
Jake yelled as he ran toward them. Everyone stood motionless. Watching.
Listening.

“How could
something just disappear?” Trevor asked, breathing heavily.

“I don’t know,
and I don’t like it,” Anna said. “Jake, call dispatch and get the dogs out here.
We need to get a team together to move through these woods. Sam, take Trevor
and go to my house. Get my kids and bring them to the station. I don’t want
them to be alone. And make sure to spread the word.”

“Uh, Sheriff?”
Jake asked.

“What?”

“The dogs? A
team? Aren’t you worried that you’ll cause a panic? I mean, the whole town will
know in a matter of minutes and we have no idea what actually happened here.
Dr. Styles may have been a bit overdramatic.”

“Do what you’re
told,” Anna said briskly.

“But I don’t
want you to lose your job,” he said.

“And she doesn’t
want anyone else to die, dumbass,” Trevor shouted. Anna grabbed her son’s arm
tightly.

“Just do it,”
she said. Sam and Trevor nodded and walked toward the driveway. By this point
three other deputies were making their way through the backyard.

Trevor turned
around to face his mother. “Can’t I stay with you?”

“No, honey. Go
with Sam. You’ll be fine.”

“It’s not me I’m
worried about.”

Anna laughed.
“Trevor, nothing is going to happen to me. I promise.” Trevor noticed a little
tremor in her voice.

“Don’t make
promises you may not be able to keep, Mom,” he said as he hugged her as tightly
as he could. He turned away from her and walked toward Sam and the cruisers. He
didn’t want to lose the only parent he had left.

As Trevor
climbed into the Ford Explorer, he looked at Sam with a hint of distrust.

“What’s wrong?”
Sam asked politely.

“Do you make a
habit of questioning your superiors?”

Sam grinned.
“Well if I do then I’m in good company.”

“What’s that
supposed to mean?”

“From what I
understand, you give your mother shit all the time.” Trevor tried not to wince
at Sam’s words. He knew they were true. He turned and looked out the window.

“Look, man, I’m
not trying to give you a hard time,” Sam said as he began driving down the long
driveway. “But it’s been a rough day and your mom has a lot on her plate.”

“Yeah, I get
that,” Trevor shot back. “So why would you question her?”

“Whether you
believe it or not kid, I like your mom. I’ve worked with a lot of sheriffs, and
she’s the real deal. I’m trying to protect her job. If I didn’t trust her, I
wouldn’t work for her.”

Trevor said
nothing. After a moment he nodded, smiled a half smile, and returned to the
window.

“So do you know
how the Bricktons made all their money?” Sam asked, trying to fill the nervous
silence with small talk.

“Something about
logging, I guess. They pretty much owned the town for like a century,” Trevor
answered. As he studied the trees he tried to forget the past half hour. In the
distance he thought he could see something running alongside them. Fear
enveloped him.

“Something
wrong?” Sam asked.

“How fast are we
going?” Trevor inquired without removing his gaze from the shadow.

“Only about 20.
Why?”

“Okay, don’t
freak out or stop driving. But I need you to look out my window and see if you
can see something running beside us.” Trevor could almost feel Sam’s body
tense. He was too afraid to look at Sam, and too afraid to take his eyes off
the shadow.

“Mary, mother of
God,” Sam gasped.

“Do you see it?
Do you see it?” Trevor shrieked.

“Yeah, yeah, I
see it.” Both men stared out the window. The shadow moved in perfect unison
with the Explorer.

“What the hell
is that?” Trevor asked nervously. “It doesn’t seem to have a shape. Like, can a
guy run that fast?”

“Holy hell,” was
all Sam could say. Suddenly the shadow stopped. Trevor craned his neck to try
and follow the shape, but without warning he was wretched forward. His seatbelt
caught and shoved against his chest, and he heard loud popping sounds in the
car. Something slammed against his face, stinging and burning him like fire.

“God…” Sam started
to shout, but was suddenly cut off. A loud
Pop!
echoed through the SUV.
Trevor turned his head to his left as slowly as he could to check on Sam. Panic
was pushing its way through his body.

“Sam?” Trevor
whimpered. “Are you okay?” Sam didn’t respond. Blood was pouring from his
forehead and running over his closed eyes. Trevor reached over and tried to
shake him softly. “Sam!”

No response.

Trevor leaned
his head back against the headrest and sighed. Without thinking, he turned
toward the window. He screamed so loudly his voice broke, but he was too afraid
to notice the pain. The figure that had been running beside them was now only a
few yards away from them. Although most of its body was hiding behind a bush,
Trevor felt sure it was watching them.

“Oh, Jesus,” he
breathed. The terror he felt was so consuming it was difficult to contain. “Oh,
Jesus,” was all he kept repeating. The figure began to disappear behind the
bush. Then, like a bullet shot from its chamber, the figure leaped over the
brush and ran toward them. Trevor wanted to close his eyes, but couldn’t bring
himself to do it. He knew he was watching Death itself sprinting toward him. He
didn’t even have time to scream.

About twenty
feet from the Explorer, the shadow abruptly stopped. Trevor tried to look at
it, but his vision was fuzzy and his head was pounding. His eyes rolled back in
his head and he lost consciousness.

When he opened
his eyes, he knew that not much time had passed because no one had come to help
them. He looked straight ahead and realized that while Sam had been watching
the thing in the woods, he failed to notice the sharp curve in the driveway.
They had driven right into the forest, down a small hill, and directly into the
path of a tree.

“Sam, you okay?”
Trevor asked, grateful to be alive. He looked out the window again to see if
the shadow was still watching them. Thankfully, it had disappeared. A gust of
wind blew through the truck. As he turned toward the driver seat, he realized
Sam was gone.