While the Savage Sleeps (22 page)

In addition to her extraordinary talent, however, Judith was also extraordinarily generous. She made a comfortable living from her business and was a firm believer in sharing her good fortune. Through the years, she had given a lot to back the community.

When Faith held its Distinguished-Ten Dinner
,
an award ceremony honoring citizens who contributed most to their town, not only was she honored, she designed and donated all the floral displays and table centerpieces for the event.

Her contributions didn’t end there. When Faith’s library burned down a week before the first day of school, Judith stepped in. She committed thousands of dollars of her own money, and donated a percentage of her proceeds for one week toward the creation of a new library and learning center.

All this made Judith’s disappearance even more disturbing.

Faith, New Mexico

Jim Avello decided to run by Judith’s house to check on her. When he did, he noticed all the outside lights were still on, and her car, usually parked in front of her garage, was nowhere in sight.

He approached the front door, hand resting over his holstered gun, and knocked twice. No answer. He rang the doorbell. Still no answer. Finally, he cupped his hands against the stained glass and peered inside. Almost instantly, he saw a rocking chair lying on its side.

Avello reached for the handle. The door was unlocked. He stepped inside. Furniture lay overturned, and there were broken bits and pieces of cherished objects everywhere.

The living room was the crime scene.

It looked like a madman had gone through it. Worst of all, there was no sign of Judith anywhere. Avello radioed for help, and soon, Judith Hedrick’s house was buzzing with activity as deputies searched for a body that wasn’t there.

* * *

Avello met Cameron on the front steps outside the house. At almost the same time, an Albuquerque news van pulled up across the street. A lone cameraman fumbled with his gear for a few minutes, then moved toward the house, camera propped on his shoulder. No sign of Casey Gold anywhere.

Cameron knew Judith well. He and her son Jason were the same age and had been good friends growing up. Jason’s father had passed away when the boy was only ten, and Judith did everything possible to make her son’s life a good one despite the loss.

Peanut-butter-and-jelly-and-potato-chip sandwiches on Saturday afternoons—that was what came to Cameron’s mind when he remembered Judith. He and Jason used to attend a basketball clinic together, and Judith always had lunch waiting for them afterward. The potato chips were the boys’ own addition—they liked the way they made the sandwiches crunch when they bit into them.

Cameron shook the memory off and entered the house. The disarray struck him first: much like her floral shop, Judith had always kept her home immaculate, everything in its place. Despite the chaos everywhere, he didn’t see any physical signs Judith had been injured—no blood, no clumps of hair on the floor, nothing. It looked like someone had just thrown things around. Books lay scattered about, far from their shelves, and it appeared as if someone had hurled dishes against the living-room wall, pieces scattered everywhere.

Cameron scratched his head. Perhaps it was a good sign that Judith wasn’t there. Maybe this was nothing more than vandalism. Maybe she hadn’t even been home when all this happened. But if that were the case, where was Judith?

“
Sheriff,” yelled Avello from the doorway, radio pressed against his ear. “We got something.”

“
What?”

“
Hedrick’s car. Blue Toyota Camry. Plates match and everything.”

Cameron felt something heavy turn in the pit of his stomach. “What about Judith? Was she—?”

“
Negative, boss,” he said, shaking his head. “Still missing.”

Cameron sighed with relief. “Location on the car?” he asked.

“
You won’t believe it.”

“
Nothing surprises me anymore. Try me.”

Not far from where the Champion girl’s car turned up. Looks like it was driven into a creek.”

Cameron was already halfway out the door and on his way to his car.

Chapter
Forty-Three

Albuquerque, New Mexico

The voices were gone, and so was Bethany.

But it was hardly over.

Images started to come, at first unclear—shape shifting, silvery forms twisting through the air. Then the scene came into focus. Kyle looked closer and recognized a group of medical personnel, dressed in white, and gathered around some kind of operating table. A man reached above his head and pulled down a large domed fixture. He flipped the switch, and the whole room exploded with light, making the white lab coats appear electric.

Pictures that matched the sounds Kyle had just heard.

Over to the right, she saw the doctor and nurse talking. Although she couldn’t see anyone on the table itself—too many people blocked her view—she had a feeling she knew who was lying on it. Beyond that group of medical staff lay the patient whom they would later replace with someone named Lewison.

The images disappeared into a bright flash of light.

Kyle’s whole body stiffened.
What were they going to do with him?

But something about the equipment didn’t seem right; it seemed old. She’d been in many operating rooms, and none of them looked
anything
like this. Besides that, the walls, the floor, even the people looked peculiar.

Worst of all, the nurse standing next to the doctor looked hauntingly familiar.

She was the same one Kyle had watched fall to her death.

The visions were coming together, forming a coherent story. One nurse plunged to her death, another died while being trampled upon during some sort of riot—all at some odd medical facility, a place where patients were heard but not seen, a place where patients were “parked,” then left to “expire.”

Kyle kept ending up there too.

But where was Bethany, and how did she fit into all this?

Kyle looked up toward the ceiling as if speaking to the girl, her voice barely a whisper. “Tell me, Bethany—in God’s name,
please—
tell me what they did to you.”

Chapter
Forty-Four

Old Highway 80

Faith, New Mexico

“
I’m a little confused here,” said Frank.

He and Cameron were gazing down into the steep canyon where Judith Hedrick’s car lay upside-down. “Help me understand how we managed to miss an entire car
just a few miles from an established crime scene.”

The deputies were now at the bottom, processing the vehicle, and combing it for evidence.

“
I asked the same question,” Cameron replied with an exasperated sigh and shake of his head. “They should have caught it.”

“
Damn straight, they should have,” Frank said. “So does anybody know for sure if the car was here while the Keystone Cops were busy stumbling over one another?”

“
Time sequence seems to fit. The girl left home around two on Saturday, which puts her here around five-ish, and as we know, she never made it any further. Meanwhile, Judith closes her store at four the same day to go out of town. She was supposed to be back this morning to open the shop. She didn’t.”

“
So both of them ended up here around the same time,” replied Frank, shaking his head, “and our deputies are idiots.”

“
I’ll take part of the blame for that, Frank. Should have kept a closer watch on what they were doing. Besides the timeline to prove it, we also have logic—a crime scene’s the last place anyone would want to leave Judith’s car.”

Frank turned around to observe the string of news vans lining the road. “Hard to get past all
that.
”

“
Plus, the tire tracks leading to the creek don’t look fresh. They’ve been here a while, at least a few days. Which leads to my next concern—”

“
Felicity Champion’s killed in one location,” Frank said, “and her car’s left in another. Then Hedrick’s car is found not far from that. Shit. Two women, one killer. You said you didn’t think so.”

“
That was before Judith’s car turned up here. Kinda hard to ignore it.”

Frank put his hands on his hips and gazed out at the road, shaking his head. “Be a hell of a coincidence.”

“
And pretty unlikely.”

“
But why would the killer dump Hedrick’s car, then leave Champion’s out in plain view? Doesn’t make sense.”

“
Don’t have an answer for that right now, Frank.”

“
And something else … if Hedrick
is
dead, where the hell’s her body?” Anybody go back and check where we found Champion?”

Cameron nodded. “Searched the area for several miles—twice now—plus this one, too. Didn’t find anything.”

“
Without a body, we don’t even know if she’s dead … and your two-women-one-killer theory goes right out the door.”

“
True, but still, we can’t rule out the connection. Seems like a strong possibility.”

“
But it doesn’t hold water, not unless we find something linking one killer to both crimes.”

Cameron moved forward a few steps toward the edge of the canyon, crossed his arms, and looked down. “I know one thing. If we’re tracking patterns here, the odds don’t look good for Judith.”

Frank put his hand on Cameron’s shoulder and gazed down with him. So what’s your next move?”

“
The obvious one.” Cameron paused, then sighed. “Dead or alive, we’ve got to find Judith. And we’ve got to find her quick.”

Chapter
Forty-Five

The Landing Doc Café

Albuquerque, New Mexico

It caught the light from all the way across the room, and Kyle’s attention at the same time.

She and Josh had just sat down to have lunch at The Landing Doc. The restaurant was next door to the medical building where Kyle’s practice was located. It was a favorite spot, and doctors and nurses began filling the place daily, starting around noon.

Josh watched as his sister’s face went blank, her mouth slightly open. “Hey … hello? Still with me here?”

Kyle said nothing. She was staring across the room.

“
Um, Sis?” he said, his voice a little louder this time.

Kyle snapped out of her daze as if someone had just yanked her arm. “That’s it!”

“
What is?” asked Josh.

“
The caduceus.”

“
Ca-what?”

“
Caduceus,” she repeated while nodding toward a nurse who was sitting across from them and eating her lunch. “See on her lapel, the pin with the winged staff and two snakes wrapped around it?”

“
The medical symbol?” He shrugged. “You see it everywhere. What’s so special?”

“
It was in my dreams. I didn’t remember until now. That’s because I’m bombarded with the thing all day long, and I’ve conditioned myself to ignore it, which is what I did when I saw it … blocked it out.”

Josh raised an eyebrow. “And it’s important because … ?”

“
Because everything looked so weird in the dream, you know? The equipment, the medical personnel, even the operating room—it seemed outdated, and not by just a few years, either. It was like I was viewing something from a long time ago.”

“
How long ago?”

“
Hard to say. I wasn’t paying much attention to the surroundings … too focused on the people … trying to figure out what they were doing, but that symbol—
it
might tell me.”

“
Tell you? How?” He stabbed a French fry with his fork, doused it in ketchup, took a bite.

“
It looked different from any other I’ve seen before. I may be able to research it, figure out the time period.” She thought for a moment, then added, “It had a big letter N across it.”

“
Letter N.” He rubbed his chin while stealing another glance at the woman’s Caduceus pin. She noticed him staring. Josh quickly looked back at Kyle. “Then you can work your way forward, maybe pick up a few more clues along the way.”

“
Exactly.” She stared down at her half-eaten sandwich, thought for a moment, then looked back at Josh. “And to think it was right there all the time.”

Chapter
Forty-Six

Felice’s Diner

Faith, New Mexico

Cameron walked into Felice’s and found Margaret tucked away in a booth, sipping coffee, and poring over paperwork.

“
Guess the Mexican food hit the spot,” he said. “You’re still alive … and you came back. Mind if I join you?”

“
Please,” she said, gesturing toward the empty seat. “Not a bad little place you got here. Not bad at all.”