Spin Out (8 page)
With gloves and the side of the Houdini I cleared out as much as I could of the door window. I leaned into the passenger compartment some, flicking the light on the end of the rescue tool to help me see inside the dim space. I scanned around, enough to pick up the details hidden by lack of direct sun. My biggest worry was that the car might roll a bit more…like through the trees and over the edge…taking her, and me, with it. Still, I needed to check the occupants of the vehicle.
This quick search confirmed my earlier scan, only one soul was in the car. A small woman, maybe twenty-something, sat in the driver’s seat. The seatbelt twisted itself all up around her and I could see just a hint of blue tinting her lips.
“How’s it look, Joe?” Kabe’s voice came from up by the road.
I hauled myself up outta the car enough to yell back. “We’re gonna need a neck brace and a back board here! I got to cut her down.” With as short as she was and with the shoulder harness locked up, the belt pulled right across her neck. She’d twisted her head to the side to give herself some breathing room, but it couldn’t have been much. “Seatbelt’s constricting her airway.”
“Okay!” He acknowledged. “I’m sending the guys down your line with the backboard and stuff!”
“I tied it off.” I let him know I heard. “They should be good to go.” Now that the rope gave the others a line to clip to, they didn’t need to be climbers to follow me down. I turned my attention back to her. “Look, miss,” didn’t know if she really cared much what I had to say, but I always talked folks through things, “I’m gonna cut your seatbelt off. You’re gonna drop forward some, but I gotta do it.” If I didn’t she just might strangle.
Flipping open the hook blade of the Houdini, I scooted back into the cab of the car. The trick would be keeping her from sliding forward onto the steering column. She seemed to get what I was up to because she reached out and braced her hand against the dash. With her that lucid, I decided to take one more precaution. “Can you set the parking brake?” She nodded as much as she was able, moved her leg and I heard the grind as it in engaged. We might still slide, but at least the car wouldn’t roll. I grabbed the belt above her head, caught the webbing with the hook end of the Houdini an inch or so above my grip, and pulled it towards me. Slit that thick fabric like a hot knife through butter. Then I tossed the belt away from her as she sucked in a deep breath with a sob.
I did a quick vitals check. Everything seemed as normal as possible under the circumstances. “Okay, miss. ‘Nother minute more and the EMTs will be down.” I squeezed her hand when she reached up for me. “Don’t panic. But I got to make sure this car don’t go no farther down this hill.” When I saw her eyes go wide, I got a little strict. “Just hang in there. You got to do it.”
She whispered, “Okay,” as I stepped back.
Turned away and saw the EMTs slowly making their way down. Up on the lip of the road, Kabe’d dropped the harness and shucked his turnout coat. “Kabe!” I yelled up at him and caught his attention. “Bring on down some more rope, we may have to force the door and I want to tie this baby in solid.” He flashed me two thumbs up and disappeared behind the vehicles.
The things I disliked about my job were few and far between. Times like yesterday, helping the woman in her car, made me feel proud and special. This particular duty, however, I could have lived without. Put it off until the end of my shift, ‘cause I knew from experience, I’d be in no shape to do much more than head on home and lose myself in looking at the TV. Telling someone that their worst fear has come true…well it’s darn near impossible not to come away raw from watching a family hear the news.
I hit where Highway 12 morphed into Main Street, Escalante. The town weren’t more than a few cafes, tiny markets and sports outfitters serving Dixie National. Peppered here and there, a couple small motels managed to eke out a living from the tourists. Yeah, it boasted a high school, but that serviced the town and all the farms within twenty miles and sat within spitting distance of the elementary school. What I remembered most about Escalante was creaming the Moquis in football…heck, I was big, Mormon and went to Panguitch High, that meant I played tackle for the Bobcats. There’s really two main religions in Utah: LDS and Football.
I turned off the main drag onto one of the side streets filled with little houses set off in neat rows. Another turn and then another and the houses thinned along stretches of rural road. Homes out here were pretty sparse, you’d get a cluster of residences then maybe half a mile down the way there might be a barn or a trailer. Horses, hunkered together for warmth, watched my SUV drive on by with something passing for curiosity.
A little box of a house with blue siding and a gray roof crouched behind a sad old tree. Tacked on additions strung out along the side, each one slightly smaller than the next. The split rail fence separated the snowbound front yard from the mud and slush marking the road easement. The number on the fence post told me I was where I would really rather not be.
I parked off the lip of the pavement. By the time I got out and walked on through the gate, a lady had wandered out onto the concrete slab of a front porch. She looked dimmed down, like someone had washed most of the color out of her. Taking off my Stetson, I asked, “Mrs. Walker?” Figured it’d likely be her, but thought I ought to ask to be polite.
She knew why I was there. Saw it flash across her face about my third step up the walk. “Oh, no.” She clapped her hands over her mouth and screamed from behind her fingers, “No! No!” Shaking her head, she backed toward the door. “No, he isn’t. He can’t be.”
I’d made it to her side by then. “Ma’am, I am so sorry.” I took hold of her arm and tried to guide her through the door. “Let’s get you inside and sit you on down.” Instead of moving she just sorta sagged into my body. Managed to get one arm up under both of hers so she didn’t go over. “Come on, it’s cold out here.”
I heard someone running up behind me. “Liz, what’s—”
Couldn’t quite turn around, what with Mrs. Walker sobbing into my chest. “Who are you?”
“Nancy.” She came around beside me. Looked like she’d run out the door when Mrs. Walker screamed—sweater, galoshes, white hair pulled up under a knit cap, but her house dress certainly weren’t meant for forty-five degree weather. “Nancy Fellows.” She added her last name as she pulled Mrs. Walker along. “Come on Liz, let’s get you inside.” Between the both of us we managed to move her on into the house and get her situated in an old stationary rocker. “I’m here honey, I’ll stay with you.” Mrs. Fellows patted Liz Walker’s face with a set of thin hands, joints all popped out with age.
I sat myself down on the faded green couch. “Know the Walkers well?”
She shrugged a little. “I’ve lived across the road for sixty years now.” Digging a handkerchief out of the pocket of her house dress, Mrs. Fellows wiped away a few of her neighbor’s tears before tucking the cloth in Liz Walker’s hand. “I’ll get you some water.” Liz managed to nod. I don’t think she could yet manage to speak.
Figured I’d give her a little time, let her get herself back together a bit. I picked up the Book of Mormon off the side table between us. Then I put it on back. Wasn’t sure she’d appreciate me offering her a few lines of comfort. Instead I fidgeted with my Stetson and tried not to look at her. A sad little Christmas tree sat off in the corner. My guess they’d made the effort for Lane’s younger sisters, he had two from what I’d read in the file, but you could tell the house didn’t hold a lot of spirit right then. The girls would probably be in school right now…I didn’t think Christmas break was due to start for another couple days. This weren’t gonna be the cheeriest holiday they’d ever had.
A deep indrawn breath let me know she’d found some control. “You’ve found Lane?” Her voice cracked as she said her son’s name.
“I’m afraid we have.” I swallowed. It’s so hard to be the one who has to tell it. You’re supposed to have all the answers and sometimes, like right then, there just ain’t none. “Some folks out hunting came across him.” Hit me that I’d never told her who I was. She right knew why I was there. “I’m Deputy Peterson and I’ve been assigned to look into your son’s death.”
“Take the water Liz.” Mrs. Fellows shuffled back into the room cradling a jelly jar full of water. She set it on the table and then leaned down to press her cheek against Liz’s hair. That little comfort offered, she pulled back. “I’m gonna call Trish for you.” For my benefit she added, “Her eldest daughter works over at the gas station,” before she headed back into the kitchen.
Liz took a small sip before asking, “Are you sure that it’s him.”
“‘Fraid so ma’am.” I just kept twisting the brim of my hat through my hands. “The Office of the Medical Examiner, in Salt Lake, confirmed it based on the dental records you supplied in the missing person’s report.”
“Not my Lane.” She started crying again. “Not my baby.”
I scooted up to the edge of the cushion. “I know this is hard right now, do you think you might be able to answer some questions?”
“I’ll try.” Hiccupping through her tears. “Can I ask you though, what happened to Lane? How’d he die?”
“We’re not right sure of that at this point.” No sense in telling her what we suspected…wouldn’t do anything to ease her at that point. “The O.M.E.’s report isn’t finished.” All our theories would do is give her more doubts to worry over.
“No.” Denying it, even though she knew she couldn’t, Liz bit her bottom lip and whined out. “This can’t be happening.”
I didn’t want to make her remember those last few days…even though I’m sure she recycled them in her mind probably a thousand times between then and now. Still, the more information we had right now, the faster we could give her some answers. “Can you think of anything else, things you might not have thought of when you filed the report about him going missing, that might help us here?”
“Like what?” She twisted the handkerchief between her fingers.
“How he was acting.” Although it might be putting things into her head, I asked, “Anything going on between him and Chris maybe.”
She stilled and looked up at me with a face so tight I could see the veins throbbing under her skin. “You think Chris did something to Lane?”
“No, ma’am,” I reassured her as best I could. “Right now, I just know your son ain’t coming home and one of his friends is still missing.” Spreading my hands, the hat in one, the other empty, I explained, “Just anything to try and piece together why he was up where we found him.”
“I, I cain’t, just no.” She folded her knuckles over the fabric and put the handkerchief up against her eyes. “I told you all everything.” Another set of sobs wound their way out of her chest. “Why Lane? What happened to him?”
“I don’t know, but I aim to find out.” I promised. There weren’t much else I could do right then so I stood up. Figured I’d worn out whatever welcome I had in situations like this. Mrs. Fellows, who’d likely been watching from just outta sight, came on into the room. “You’ll see that she’s okay until her family gets here?”
“Of course.” She offered me a sad smile as I let myself out.
When I stepped onto the porch I took a few lungfuls of cold mountain air to get my own emotions eased back down. Darn near impossible to watch someone else falling apart and not have it get under my skin. While I was settling down, a blue compact car pulled up and parked in front of my patrol vehicle.
A pretty enough girl, wearing an open parka over a uniform shirt with the logo of the local gas ‘n shop place, got out and headed towards me. “Deputy…” With a set of sad haunted eyes and more than a passing resemblance to Lane Walker, I figured it must be Trish.
Answering the unfinished question with my name, “Peterson,” I met her halfway up the walk. “Yes, miss?” She couldn’t have been no older than her brother.
“I’m Lane’s sister, Trish.” She tugged up the zipper on her parka then shoved her hands into the pockets.
“Figured as much.” I nodded and put my hat back on my head. “Your momma seems pretty upset.” I hooked one thumb through my duty belt and dredged up a little more out of my reserves of sympathy. “You want me to call anyone to come help y’all?”
“She really thought he’d come home.” Trish’s voice hitched and she kinda hugged her arms into her body. “It’s okay, my aunt’s already on her way over. Dad’s coming up from Salt Lake.”
I was ready to be gone, but I couldn’t leave. “You alright?” Not, at least, until I could be sure Trish could manage.
“No.” She looked like she wanted to cry, but wasn’t about to do it in front of me. “I kinda already faced this, I just knew.” She shrugged. “It was just a matter of y’all finding him.” Like she thought I might think it bad, her matter-of-factness, she rushed out an explanation. “We’re twins, you know. Lane would never have taken off and not called me. No matter what, if he were alive, he’d have let me know.”
“You were close then?” What I couldn’t get out of her mother, Trish might be in a better place to tell me.
“Yeah.” Nodding, she added, “We talked about everything.”
“I know this is going to sound kinda hard, but would Lane have told you if he was planning on, well, taking his own life?”
Her eyes went wide. “You think he committed suicide?”
“We don’t rightly know how he died, yet.” I reassured her as best I could. “We’re looking at all sorts of theories. This is just one of them.”
For a few minutes she stared off at the cold mountains sleeping under the snow. Then, almost fierce, she turned back to me. “Lane wouldn’t have done that. I mean, things weren’t perfect at home, but no, he wouldn’t have.”
Since she might not have seen the signs or might not have recognized what she did see for what it was, I prodded, “Did he start giving things away to friends? Talk about being sad? Did he seem down at all?”
“No.” Shaking her head, she denied it. “Actually he was really excited that week. He’d gotten his calling, his mission assignment was France. I’ve never seen him so happy.”
“He wasn’t scared or nervous.” I’d damn near pissed myself when I’d gotten my mission letter telling me I was off to some country I didn’t know nothing about.
