Today's Promises (9 page)

“No,” I tell Flynn. “I’m coming along. I
need
to do this with you.”

I don’t add that if we get through today, there’s something else I’d like to do. I’m hoping I’ll find the courage to talk about my experiences with Allison, and ultimately help Detective Silver build an assault case against her.

Because if there’s one thing I have no doubt of, it’s that that bitch needs to stay behind bars.

Flynn

F
inding my sorry ass back on the Lowry property is no easier than it was the first go-round. However, it’s not me I’m worried about on this day. It’s Jaynie who concerns me. She had it a whole lot worse than any of us during her time here, especially towards the end.

That’s why I feel the need to keep checking to make sure she’s all right.

“Do you want to turn around?” I ask as we walk with Detective Silver to the brick colonial house we once called home. I’ve been noticing her glancing longingly back at the car, so this seems like a good time to ask if she still wants to do this. “Jaynie, we can leave. Right now, if that’s what you want.”

“No.” She squeezes my hand. “I’m still good.”

I wonder though, as her hand has remained locked with mine since the car ride up. Her skin usually feels cool, and her grasp is light and easy. But not today. Today she’s sweating bullets and holding on to me for dear life.

When we reach the house, Detective Silver declares, “I’d like for us to begin the walk-through inside.”

“I really think the old barn would be a better place to start,” I counter.

“We’ll get there, Flynn,” Detective Silver assures me. “But first I’d like to hit these buildings one by one.”

“Okay,” I say as I watch Jaynie nod her assent.

On our way up to the porch that’s attached to the front of the house, we’re careful to watch our step. The walkway is crumbling and it’d be easy to trip. Wow, everything looks so different. Even the flowers that once lined the sides of the stone path are long gone. The porch, as we begin to climb the steps, has so many gaping holes marking the floorboards that we have to step around them in a zig-zag pattern.

“This place is a mess,” Jaynie murmurs when we reach the door. The front door that is, as the screen door, ripped from its hinges, is lying off to the side.

“Yes, conditions up here are bad,” Detective Silver says. “Be sure to tread lightly and watch that you don’t step on any sharp objects once we’re in the house.”

In the house, when Jaynie gasps upon viewing the appearance, I lean in and whisper, “I told you the place looked like it’d been hit by a tornado.”

And it has. The furniture that wasn’t outright stolen has been knocked all over, busted into pieces in most cases. Whole sections of the hardwood floors have been ripped up, and there are holes punched into the walls. Frayed wires and busted pipes jut out, appearing almost lewd with their obscene angles.

“Ugh, this is gross. Looks like some partiers really went to town in here,” Jaynie remarks as she steps over a pile of empty beer cans and used condoms.

Detective Silver, getting down to the business of why we’re here, asks if we happen to remember any hiding places in the house. “I’m hoping being back here may spur some memories,” he says, a statement that makes Jaynie wince. Stirred memories are the last thing my girl needs.

“Nothing comes to mind,” I’m quick to say.

“Think about places where a body could be stowed away,” he goes on. “Any small cubby holes or secret passages could harbor more than just dust.”

“Secret passages?” I mumble. “This place isn’t that extensive.”

“Besides,” Jaynie adds, “If there’d been a secret passageway, we certainly would’ve used it to escape.”

“Yeah,” I agree. And then I add, ”Wouldn’t you think if a body was buried in the house we would have noticed a smell.”

Jaynie scrunches up her nose. “Flynn,” she chastises. “That’s disgusting.”

“It’s also highly doubtful,” the detective chimes in. “Debbie Canfield disappeared a few years before you or Jaynie lived here. If a body had ever been hidden in this house, it would’ve likely been nothing but bones by the time you got here.”

Jaynie, shuddering, says, “Okay, okay. I still don’t think the body was ever in this house. I mean, look around.” She gestures to the mess about us. “If a body was hidden
anywhere
in this place, even if it was now nothing but a skeleton, someone surely would have found it by now.”

“That’s a valid point,” the detective agrees as he scans the debris.

“My money’s still on the old barn up in the fields,” I interject.

Detective Silver turns to me. “Yes, you seem so certain that this old barn will hold something. But I wanted to ask you a question before we head up there.”

“Sure, shoot.”

“Don’t you think the newer structure would be a better place to search?” Detective Silver motions to where the work barn, the pole barn where we once made crafts, is located, down a slope just beyond the house. “That newer barn is much closer to this place,” the detective goes on. “And that would’ve made it that much easier for an assailant to transport a body, assuming the murder took place in here. That barn outside was the official workplace, correct?”

I shake my head as I say, “It was
our
work barn, yes, but that wasn’t where the kids made crafts back when Debbie lived here.”

“What do you mean?” the detective asks.

“The barn where we worked, the one you’re talking about, is relatively new. But the old barn…” I point to an intact window, one with a view up the hill from the house. “See that old structure up there? That’s where Debbie would’ve worked. That’s the barn I have a feeling about. That’s the one we should be searching.”

“It makes the most sense to me too,” Jaynie says, jumping in. “Even though the old barn used to be the work area at one time, not too many people spent any time up there after the new barn was finished. That made it remote and private.”

“Interesting,” Detective Silver muses. And then he asks, “Have either of you ever been inside that structure?”

Jaynie takes the lead in responding to this question, which I welcome. It means she’s growing more comfortable with being back here.

“We would venture up there from time to time,” she tells Silver. “I actually think we were the first kids to play up there in ages. Still, we kept mostly to the outside area. If we did venture into the barn, it was never for more than a minute or two. See, it’s really dark and kind of creepy in there.”

Detective Silver states grimly, “I think we better take a look inside this old barn.”

Retracing our steps over the same fields Jaynie and I ran through our final and desperate night brings up a myriad of emotions. I’m usually good at keeping my feelings bottled up, especially in front of strangers, but this time is different. Those stirred-up emotions get the best of me, and I have to stop for a minute to get a hold of myself.

Bending over and placing my hands on my knees, Jaynie touches my shoulder lightly. “Flynn, are you all right?”

“Yeah, sure, I’m good. Just a little overheated is all.”

I make a production of fanning myself, but Jaynie knows I’m full of shit. I mean, come on. I left my heavy coat in the detective’s car because I was too warm. But it’s not really all
that
warm today, not when you’re wearing a light T-shirt like I am. Plus there’s the fact that I’m in really good shape. Trekking up a hill would hardly result in me sucking wind and complaining of the heat.

Still, my girl has my back and plays along. That’s what we do—we cover for each other, always.

“Go ahead and rest up for a minute,” Detective Silver says when Jaynie asks if we can have a minute for me to cool down. “I have a quick call I need to make, anyway.”

When he’s a good distance from us, I turn to Jaynie and say, “I think he’s onto us. He’s no dummy. He knows I’m not overheated. I bet he doesn’t even need to make a call.”

“Maybe not,” she says softly. “Maybe he’s just being nice. I think it’s possible. I really do get a good vibe from him.”

I nod. “Yeah, I do too. That’s why I agreed to help in the first place. And, as for you, I could tell you were okay with him when you jumped in the conversation down at the house.”

“I
am
okay with him,” she confirms. “And aside from him being a decent human being, I think he really does want to solve this case.”

“I think he does too,” I agree.

“It’s only right, Flynn. If that poor girl Debbie really is buried up here, she deserves justice.”

“Yeah…” I run a hand through my scruffy hair as I smile over at Jaynie. “She definitely does.”

I love that she is so amped to help. Maybe helping people, even people who are no longer with us, is what she needs to heal.

Peering up at the barn, the rotted wood exterior appearing dark and wet, she says, “So you definitely think that barn is the most likely place for Debbie to have been buried?”

“Well, I don’t know for sure,” I reply. “But yeah, the old barn is where I’d start.”

Her brow creasing, like it does when she’s worried, Jaynie asks, “What if she’s
not
in the barn, though? What then, Flynn? What if the police can’t find a body up on this property
anywhere
?”

Jaynie makes a sweeping motion to the acres and acres of fields and forest surrounding us, and I mumble, “It is a daunting task.”

I take it all in for another minute, and finally I say, “I don’t know, babe, but I hope like hell that the girl
is
buried in the old barn. Otherwise, she’ll probably never be found.”

Jaynie makes a face, a very unhappy face. Her enthusiasm seems to be waning.

In a dull tone, she says, “If that happens, then Allison will be released from prison for sure, Flynn. Possibly as early as this summer.”

“Fuck.”

I wave the detective back over and gesture to the barn, which is only a short distance from where we’re stopped. “Hey, look,” I say. “I’m good now. Let’s go search that goddamn barn for hiding spots.”

“Okay,” he says. “Let’s go.”

Christ, it’s imperative that we find that body, now more than ever. Because now there are two reasons, at least for me. 1) I need Allison to stay in prison. And 2) I need to keep Jaynie safe, physically
and
emotionally.

Well, she doesn’t know it, but if we fail today I may just have a backup plan.

Of course, it’s a plan I hope to never have to resort to.

Jaynie

Y
ep, the barn is as creepy as ever, all dark and musty-smelling. Water is dripping from various places, the result of a dilapidated roof. This structure is definitely an unpleasant place in which to walk around.

But walk around, we must.

“I can’t believe Mandy was brave enough to come in here on her own last year to search for candles for the twin’s birthday,” I muse as I step over a fallen rafter.

“She told me she was quick about it,” Flynn, following behind me, replies.

“I bet she was.”

“Don’t worry. It shouldn’t take us too long to go through this place,” he says reassuringly. “It’s not that large.”

Flynn is trying, like always, to make me feel better about what we have to do. But the truth is we can’t simply race in and out. We made a promise to Detective Silver to help conduct a
thorough
search. And that, unfortunately, is going to require more than a few minutes of traipsing around, looking to and fro.

The detective already told us that first off the entire dirt floor needs to be examined for uneven places. That could indicate an old burial location. Next, there are stalls to check around in. Plus, there’s a few old trunks strewn about that need searching.

One of those old relics is probably where Mandy found those birthday candles
.

It’s then that I notice a lid on one of the trunks is not completely closed. Shiny holiday items, various colors of tinsel and a homemade foil star, are spilling out through the opening.

Flynn, following my gaze, says, “Detective Silver said we need to go through all those old trunks.”

“Yeah, I heard him, but I really don’t know why,” I counter. “They’re too small to hold a body.” I motion to the trunk with the tinsel and star. “See, it’s all holiday stuff.”