“Yes, Detectives, I remember you. I’m a little disappointed I’m seeing you again. I would have expected all this to be resolved by now.”
“Yes ma’am. I agree. We seem to be having some difficulty. Maybe you can help.”
“I don’t see how.”
Jaxon tried to plaster a smile on his face, but it felt strained. “Who found the gravesite?” he asked.
“We did,” Luke said.
“You and Ellie?” Sally asked.
Luke nodded. “We were goofing around and she saw a dog’s paw sticking up out of the ground.”
“What else?” Jaxon asked and Luke told them the rest of the story.
“Why would you dig it up?” Sally asked. “Pretty gross.”
“We noticed a bunch of signs all over the neighborhood,” Luke said. “Actually, Ellie noticed them first. Missing pet signs.”
“Five different signs,” Ellie said. “We kind of thought maybe this was one of them. I never would have guessed it would be all of them.”
“So these are all neighborhood pets?” Jaxon asked.
“I think so,” Ellie said. “I recognized one of the cats. It’s Jinxy. The Eldridge’s cat on Cotton Court.”
“Have you seen anyone back here?” Sally asked.
They all shook their heads.
“Have there been any strange things happening?” Jaxon asked.
“You mean like dead children showing up in frozen pools? That kind of thing?” Mrs. Pemberton said.
Jaxon just stared at her.
“I’d like to ask you two a few questions,” she said. “What’s being done to protect this neighborhood? When will my children and I feel safe? It started with our dog and now more decapitated animals are buried in my yard. It sure looks like someone is targeting my family and I want some protection.”
Jaxon looked at Sally who seemed to sympathize with Mrs. Pemberton, but she remained silent.
“Mrs. Pemberton, I’m sure that…”
“I don’t believe you’re sure of anything Detective and I want something done. You and your department seem to be ignoring the whole problem. I haven’t seen a single police car or heard of any police action inside this neighborhood in over four months.”
“I assure you ma’am, we are doing everything we can…”
“I don’t believe you.” She stood there with her hands on her hips staring at him. He couldn’t blame her. She was technically correct. The department had not gone out of its way to provide any added security or surveillance in the area, relying mainly on evidence already collected to further the investigation along. Hell, they’d been at a standstill until just yesterday.
“I don’t blame you, ma’am,” Sally said, calmly. “A police investigation can leave many unanswered questions lingering for the civilians. Unfortunately, it’s what has to be done. Certain information needs to be kept from the press so we can weed out every Tom, Dick, and Harry volunteering useless information. As far as security in the neighborhood, we will step up patrols and place a squad car in front of your house. That should help you feel safer until this investigation closes.”
Jaxon looked at Sally, impressed. She avoided eye contact with him and remained focused on Mrs. Pemberton.
“Well-ok,” Mrs. Pemberton said. “That will make me feel a little better. I just wish this nightmare was over.”
“So do we, ma’am,” Sally said. “So do we.”
Luke and Ellie were in front of Luke’s house hanging out with Jimmy and John. Luke told them about the discovery of the dead animals and John apologized to Ellie again, saying he was sorry he criticized her about the signs yesterday.
“You were right,” he said.
“It’s ok. I know what you were trying to do. I seem to have a short fuse when it comes to Bentley. It’s probably because I do blame myself for what happened.”
“Why did you guys call those cops?” Jimmy asked. “I thought we were supposed to keep this stuff to ourselves.”
“My mom came out and saw what we were doing,” Ellie said, “and she made us call them. Sorry.”
Jimmy looked concerned. “So he’s back?”
“It looks like it,” Luke said. “But we haven’t heard anything from him. He’s been quiet.”
“What do you think we should do?” John asked. “Do you think it’s time to tell someone what we know?”
Ellie was nodding her head, but Luke was still not so sure. “I don’t think so,” he said. “He’s left us alone this long because we’ve been quiet. I think we should keep it to ourselves.”
“What about the other kids? Maybe we should tell them to watch out,” Ellie said.
“Like who?” Luke said. “I don’t trust any of them to keep it quiet.”
“But we said we would warn them if it got bad,” Ellie said.
“It’s not bad yet.”
“I think five dead animals buried in my backyard’s pretty bad.”
Luke saw her face flush and he could tell she was getting angry. They had never had a fight and he didn’t like where this talk was leading. Still, he didn’t want to endanger her life by breaking their silence.
“It’s just animals. He hasn’t killed anybody else yet.” He knew as soon as he said it he had stepped over the line.
“But that doesn’t mean he won’t!” Ellie shouted. “What if someone else dies and we could have stopped it? I can’t live with that. Can you?”
“El, don’t get mad at me. I don’t like it either, but if we start talking, he may come after you and I can’t let that happen.”
“That’s not up to you to decide!” she yelled. “I won’t let him hurt anybody else.”
“I don’t want him to hurt anyone else either,” he said, “but he’s already threatened us. If we start talking and something happened to you, I couldn’t live with myself. I can’t lose you! I love you!”
She stared at him.
“What did you say?” she whispered, the anger gone now, a look of wonder on her face as she took it all in.
“I said, I love you.”
She searched his face, a single tear trickling down her cheek, then she reached for him and pulled him to her. “I love you too,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
“This is awkward,” Jimmy said, smiling.
“I think I’m gonna barf,” John said.
Luke and Ellie ignored them. She pulled back and looked into his eyes and he smiled at her.
“How long have you felt this way?” she said.
“I already told you that.”
“You did?”
“You don’t remember?”
She shook her head, then stopped and smiled. “Oh-you did tell me.”
“You had me at goofy goober.”
She laughed. “I did, huh? You’re easy.”
“We’re still here,” John said. “And I’m getting more nauseous.”
Jimmy said, “Should we leave you two alone?”
Luke and Ellie let each other go, but she grabbed his hand and held tight.
“Alright,” Luke said. “I don’t want to be the one making all the decisions so let’s vote. Do we tell the neighborhood kids?”
“Yes,” John said.
“Yep,” Jimmy said.
“I think we need to,” Ellie said. “Don’t you?”
