Speaking in Bones (30 page)

“What makes you think it belonged to Strike?”

“The initials HLCS are on the cover.”

Hazel Lee Cunningham Strike. The now familiar flicker of guilt went through me.

“Can you boot it?”

“We’re searching for a charger.”

“Skinny’s out with his girlfriend. Call. Make him look important.”

Of course I couldn’t sleep. A nonstop PowerPoint played in my head. Images. Recorded voices, two bullying, one frightened.

At two I gave up and went downstairs. It was becoming a pattern.

After making tea, I sat at the dining room table. Stared at the hated box, which stared back.

Ignoring the accusatory ruckus of unsorted receipts, I drew a tablet and pen toward me. Based on Ryan’s comments, I headed columns. “Victims.” “Cause of death.” “Place of death.” “Time of death.” “Motives.” “Suspects.” “Weapons.”

I eyeballed the empty lists. Got the same result as with the box stare-down.

I tore off and crumpled the sheet. Began a diagram. Nodes with names and notes. Lines connecting the nodes.

Cora Teague—Graduates high school, goes to work for Brice family. River dies, returns home, disappears.

Eli Teague—Dies at age twelve, ER doctor suspicious.

John Teague—Owns convenience store–gas station op. Religious zealot, pugnacious.

Fatima Teague—Housewife, submissive.

Owen Lee Teague—Failed at real estate, dog trainer.

Realizing I knew little about Fatima or Owen Lee, nothing about the other Teague siblings, I began a list of questions on a separate sheet.

Mason Gulley—NJF, disappears same time as Cora Teague. Johnson City, TN(?) Posts as OMG (?) about Cora Teague on CLUES.net, turns up dead at Brown Mountain overlooks.

Grandma Gulley—Catholic, judgmental. Big.

Susan Grace Gulley—Slips me information about Mason, spies on Cora during Mason’s stay in Johnson City, TN. Detests Cora. Angry, rebellious. Big.

I added questions below the one concerning the Teagues. Where did Mason stay in Johnson City? Why? Why wouldn’t Susan Grace divulge the reason Mason went to Tennessee?

Hazel Strike—Websleuth, finds CLUES.net post about Cora Teague, finds my NamUs post, finds recorder at Burke County overlook, confronts me with theory UID ME229-13 is MP Cora Teague. Murdered.

More questions. Why did Strike go on hiatus from websleuthing? Where was she murdered? By whom? How did her body end up in the pond?

Granger Hoke—Defrocked priest, Jesus Lord Holiness church, deviant brand of Catholicism, exorcist, accidental death of child during rite.

Joel, Katalin, River, and Saffron Brice—Disillusioned Jesus Lord Holiness members. Saffron, broken arm. River, SIDS.

Terrence O’Tool—GP, epilepsy, inadequate treatment, gold cross, uncooperative.

Fenton Ogilvie—Coroner, alcoholic, died in elevator fall.

I studied the jumble of lines and nodes. Felt my head begin to go up in smoke.

Tearing off a blank page, I created a new list labeled “Human Remains.”

1.  Fragmentary leg and foot bones found at Lost Cove Cliffs Overlook. Sent to Marlene Penny at WCU.

2.  Partial torso found at Burke County overlook. Sent to me. ME229-13.

3.  Fragmentary bone and printless fingertips (Mason Gulley / NJF?) found on return trip to Burke County overlook with Strike and Ramsey. ME122-15.

4.  Fragmentary bone and concrete mold (Mason Gulley?) found with Ramsey at the Devil’s Tail trail near Wiseman’s View overlook. ME135-15.

I reread the four entries. Threw down my pen in frustration. My unanswered questions far outnumbered my facts. The exercise had been as useful as a slap on the butt.

One more try. “Dates.”

1993: Cora Teague is born.

1996: Eli Teague is born.

2008: Eli Teague dies.

2011, Spring: Cora Teague graduates high school and goes to work for Brice family. River dies. Cora is sent home.

2011, July: Cora Teague and Mason Gulley disappear. (Gulley goes to Johnson City, TN?).

2011, August: OMG (Mason Gulley?) posts on CLUES.net about Cora Teague.

2011, September: OMG’s posts stop.

My hand froze. I closed my eyes and conjured an image. A conversation with a green-vestment-clad man on a windy day.

A high-voltage impulse fired in my brain.

I knew when and where Mason Gulley was killed.

I
was awake until four. Fortunately it was Sunday, so I could sleep late. Tell that to my stoked-with-a-breakthrough brain.

I waited until eight to start dialing. Ramsey’s voice mail stated that he’d be out of contact until Monday. I left a message, then tried his landline at the sheriff’s department. Was told the same thing. Left the same message.

Slidell. Message.

Nine o’clock came and went with no call back from either. Ten.

I was working through the loathsome box, reading the same receipts over and over, putting them in piles, picking them up and putting them in different piles, when my cell finally warbled an incoming call.

I grabbed it.

“You were seen in the hall of the mountain king.”

“Sorry?” I kicked into nuance analysis mode, not sure if my mother was being cryptic or irrational.

“You were spotted at Heatherhill Thursday night.”

“Oh.”

“Were you secretly plotting with the wizards and shamans who oversee my well-being?”

“Mama, are you taking your meds?”

“Of course I’m taking my meds. Why is it if I wax the least bit lyrical you always ask about pills?”

“Sorry.” Resolving to phone Dr. Luna or Goose.

“Why didn’t you come to see me, sweetheart?”

“You weren’t in your suite.” True. “I figured you were with Dr. Luna or having a treatment.” Not so much. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Such a long trip to not interrupt.”

“I was up in Avery County anyway.”

I braced for a broadside of questions about the Brown Mountain remains. Didn’t come.

“Would you mind tackling that hideous drive again?”

“What do you need?”

“Time with my daughters.”

“You’ve called Harry?” Pulse kicking up at her use of the plural. At the implication of a dual offspring request.

“I have.”

“Are you unwell?”

“Really, Tempe. I love you. But you are so tediously predictable.”

I waited.

“I could not be better.” High melodrama sigh.

“Harry is coming to North Carolina?” I asked.

“Your sister is always so supportive.”

What the hell did that mean?

“Can you explain what this is about?”

“Must a desire to see my little girls be about something?”

“No.” Yes.

“I really must go now. Lunch is at noon. Then I have a massage. I will see you soon?”

“Of course.”

“It’s Grieg.”

“What?” Totally lost.

“ ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ is by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.”

With that she was gone.

I pitched the phone to the table. Which drew a stern look from Birdie.

Did Mama’s summons have to do with her cancer? The chemo? I couldn’t ask about that. Harry had sworn me to secrecy. Or was it about Clayton Sinitch? Mama was often recklessly impulsive. Was she about to make a potentially disastrous decision?

Snatching up the mobile, I hit a speed-dial button. Got Harry’s annoying little message. Left the same few words I’d left twice earlier. Call me. It’s urgent.

I glared at the box. At the mountain range of paper spread out before me.

My eyes landed on the tablet and drifted down my list of questions. One by one, I considered. Came up with zilch.

Then: Why wouldn’t Susan Grace divulge the reason Mason went to Tennessee?

As of last night, I was certain I knew when and where Mason had died.

I saw Susan Grace in the gloom of her grandmother’s parlor. Recalled the old woman’s admonition.
Do not allow yourself to be hostage to Satan
.

I saw Susan Grace’s face shadowed in my car. The trembling lips, the dinner-plate eyes half hidden by bangs. Had I misread the girl? Had her intensity been born of fear, not fury?

Cora Teague. Mason Gulley.

Suddenly the air in the room bit cold at my skin.

There is evil in the world. Evil that demands compliance with unyielding dogma. Evil that believes in dark forces.

In that instant I understood.

Susan Grace feared defiance would be interpreted as demons in need of purging.

And purging could kill.

What the hell! I thought. What the bloody hell!

Decision. I would go visit Mama. Heatherhill would put me closer to Avery when Ramsey called back. Or Slidell.

No farther without backup. Just Heatherhill.

—

While winding through Charlotte, I called Harry again. Though Mama had contacted her, Baby Sister had not booked a flight east. For once we agreed. Our mother is unsurpassed at genteel manipulation.

Once on I-40, I retried Slidell.

“What the freakin’ hell is so urgent you gotta bust my chops the first weekend I’m off in over a month?”

“It’s Hoke.”

“What? Am I listening to one of those messages beamed over and over for space aliens? You already said that.”

“I’m convinced Cora Teague and Mason Gulley died during botched exorcisms.”

“Earth here. Anyone out there? Anyone out there? Anyone out there?”

“Will you listen to me?”

“Tell it to Ramsey.”

“He’s unavailable.”

“Me too.”

“It all comes back to Hoke. To his church.”

“I’m working Strike. She ain’t an MP. She’s an actual stiff in the morgue with a tag on her toe. The morgue on my patch.”

“Strike is connected.”

“Maybe I’ll call NASA. Ask how to make my own audio so’s I can keep looping a message saying back off.”

I launched my grenade straight at his solar plexus. “Mason Gulley died at Hoke’s church. Or his body was dismembered there.”

“How do you know that?”

“Ramsey and I went to Jesus Lord Holiness to talk to John and Fatima Teague. Hoke was present.”

“It’s his church.”

“We asked about Cora and Mason.”

“And Daddy said he won’t be walking his slut kid down the aisle. We getting to something new here?”

My fingers tightened on the wheel.

Easy.

“Mason died with olive oil and incense in his hair. Those are materials used in the rite of exorcism.”

“That don’t mean—”

“The Gulleys are Jesus Lord Holiness members. Mason stopped attending around the time a parish renovation project was wrapping up.” I pictured shiny brass rings embedded in a pristine stoop. “Those renovations involved the pouring of cement to replace old stairs. The project ended in September of 2011.”

Surprisingly, Slidell didn’t interrupt.

“Mason and Cora disappeared in July of 2011. In August, Mason started posting on CLUES.net as OMG. Those posts stopped in September.”

“Wasn’t that when he was in Johnson City?”

“I think Mason returned from Tennessee and something bad went down at the church. There was an exorcism, he died. There were bags of cement lying around, power saws…”

I let the gruesome thought hang.

“And Strike?”

“She probably found out and confronted Hoke. Strike was up in Avery on Saturday, the day before her body was found.”

Slidell did the throat thing.

“Surely it’s enough to get a warrant,” I said.

“So far it’s all speculation. A judge will want more.”

“Like what?” Too charged.

“Call me crazy, but, evidence?”

“Human remains? A death mask screaming Mason Gulley? The olive oil and incense? Fingertips without prints? Two missing kids? A priest who strangled a nine-year-old girl?” Waaay too charged.

“Where’s Ramsey?”

“I don’t know. But consider this. Susan Grace lied to her grandmother to contact me. She revealed things Hoke and his bunch probably don’t want known. If they find out, she could face the same fate as Cora and Mason.”

“I’m on my way to the gym.”

“The gym?” A word I couldn’t imagine in Skinny’s vocabulary.

“You got something against working out?” I heard soft scraping, probably Slidell’s hand rubbing his face. “Write down what you told me. Anything else you can think of. Send it. In the meantime, don’t do nothing stupid.”

I pulled off at a gas station and quick-thumbed an email to Skinny as requested. Sent it with a cc to Ramsey. Then I clicked the icon for Google Earth and typed in an address I thought to be close to the location I wanted to view. Got coordinates. Using those, I estimated other coordinates, finally found what I needed.

I spent a few minutes zooming in and out, checking the landscape. After hitting the ladies’, I bought a Diet Coke and filled my tank. Then I got back on the road.

I blew right past Heatherhill and straight on to Avery.

—

I pulled in and killed the engine. Mine was the only vehicle in the lot.