to work. The next morning Margaret woke up to the sound of voices in the house. Of course, she had no idea where she was. She snuck downstairs toward the kitchen, toward the source of the voices. When she stepped inside the kitchen, the voices stopped. The room was empty.” Jack’s mouth dropped open, but then he laughed. “You’re jerking my chain.”
The detective did not smile.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I can’t believe it,” Margaret said, leaning against the counter, a cigarette dangling out of her lips. “And to think that I once slept in that house. Sends shivers down your spine.”
Mary stirred her coffee, her other hand holding a cigarette. “God, I forgot all about that. You woke up in June’s bed. That should be good for a lifetime of nightmares. I might look into professional counseling, dear.
Hell, we’ll all need counseling long after this is over. To think that we’ve had a murderer living in our midst all these years, and we never suspected a thing. Makes your skin crawl. Poor June. We all assumed she ran off on Joe. Hell, I thought her and Bill had been messing around. The hatred and spite I hurled at her. Do you think I can ever forgive myself?
You don’t think Bill could be…?”
Margaret shrugged. “They’ve spotted a lot of bodies down there, Mary. Maybe Bill was among them. You can’t let yourself dwell on it.” A tear ran down Mary’s cheek. Margaret took a tissue box from beneath the counter and handed it to Mary. Mary stubbed out her cigarette and took a tissue.
“I’m never going to get over this,” Mary sniffled, dabbing at the tears that streaked her cheek. “I just can’t.”
“It’s so gruesome,” Margaret said, a series of smoke rings swirling out of her lips. “Sam thinks it’ll take weeks to dig up everything. Pretty dangerous work down there. They’re not even sure if they’re at the bottom of that hole. Think the stuff is just jammed in, that it might cave in at any moment. People have been dumping garbage down that hole ever since I can remember. When you think back to all of the people that have disappeared in this area, it gives you pause. Remember that Gallagher girl, the one who lived over on Prennan? She was a grade behind us at school.”
“Didn’t they blame that on an uncle?” Mary asked, taking a second tissue and blowing her nose. “God, we said prayers for her every day for weeks. Her uncle tried to run, didn’t he? I think they caught him in Vancouver. Never heard what happened to him after they sent him to prison.”
“You know what they do to that sort in prisons,” Margaret added.
Mary looked at Margaret with a startled expression on her face. “You think he was innocent?”
Margaret nodded. “I wouldn’t doubt it, sweetheart. And those Jehovah’s Witnesses. They were a pain in the neck but I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. God, we used to throw our empty wine bottles down that hole. Probably landed right on one of those bodies. Remember that Gray kid, the one they thought ran off to Hollywood? He was in your biology class, remember?”
“The one that looked like Tab Hunter?” Mary asked.
Margaret nodded. “He could be down there. Jesus, I just remembered.
I lost my virginity behind the Mackenzie place.” Mary laughed.
“Don’t give me that look, Mary. I was a virgin at one time.” Margaret chuckled as she took a deep draw on her cigarette. “Can’t remember who it was.”
The two women both started laughing.
“Well, they won’t find your chastity down any hole,” Mary muttered through her laughter.
Margaret choked on her cigarette smoke.
“Oh, we shouldn’t be laughing,” Mary said, tears running down her face.
“What else can you do, dear?” Margaret responded after taking a sip of Mary’s coffee to clear her throat. “It makes you think about everything you knew in a different way. Sam said that as soon as they are able to get the bodies up, they would be looking into dental records. Most of the…
I’m sorry, Mary.”
Mary wiped her eyes with her tissue.
“It’s okay, kid,” Mary responded.
“Sam says that they’ve got plenty of video but are being as careful as possible with what’s down there. They don’t want to lose anyone trying to raise the dead. God, I hope there aren’t any recent additions.”
“A salesman disappeared,” Mary exclaimed. “Helen in our office was dating him. God, I knew him myself. Remember that asshole I told you about that couldn’t keep his hands off me.”
“That would be a long list,” Margaret giggled.
“You know the one,” Mary’s tone was impatient. “He tried to tell me that he was going to the NHL, like that would be a selling point to me.” Margaret nodded. “Ya. The one with the cowlick.” Mary laughed. “He was just a kid. Don’t think he’d started to shave yet. The police have been talking to Helen. She’s scared. But I’m sure he’ll show up again. Assholes like that always come out smelling like roses. Probably just wanted to get away from Helen. She’s very clingy.”
“That’s what Sam said,” Margaret responded.
Mary paused for a moment. “You and the detective…” Margaret sighed. “I wish. He likes blueberry pie and his coffee black.
That’s about as intimate as we’ve gotten so far.”
“Is he married?”
“I don’t think so.” Margaret paused for a moment. “I can’t get the image of all those bodies out of my mind. I liked Joe Mackenzie.” 124
Mary nodded. “I liked Joe too. He seemed like such a gentleman. Most of the men I have met have been such creeps, but you could always talk to Joe. He was a wonderful listener.”
“Maybe he had nothing to say.” Margaret smirked.
“Hank left,” Mary added sadly.
“Good riddance,” Margaret responded with a snarl. “He was using you.”
“Well, he could be sweet. I can’t believe that he’s a writer. I thought he was something exotic, a secret agent or something. I must have been mad. He wasn’t even very good in bed. But he was a warm body on a cold night. Do you think he was a writer? I mean, why was he so obsessed with these disappearances?”
“Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”
Mary looked up at Margaret. “You don’t think?” Margaret shrugged her shoulders. “He comes out here doing research on a book and everything goes to hell. Police don’t like coincidences. I’ll bet the police will be talking to him. They’ll be talking to all of us.”
“But we don’t know anything.”
“Everybody knows something.” Margaret butted her cigarette out.
“They just don’t know it.”
“Did Sam say anything about Joe, about how he reacted to all of this?” Margaret smirked. “Joe denies everything. Of course, you’d expect that, wouldn’t you?”
Mary was silent for a moment.
“If he is innocent, what else would he say?” All These Years
Ruth Gray sat in the couch of her living room looking out the front window and softly weeping. Her husband, Frank, sat next to her, his arm around her shoulder, comforting her.
“After all these years,” she sniffled.
“We couldn’t have known,” Frank replied.
“I’d always hoped that he’d run off to Australia. Run off somewhere to start a new life. Every day the mailman showed up at the door, I prayed that we would get some news.”
“I know,” Frank responded in a soft, comforting voice.
