Kill Devil Falls Page 4

  Teddy just waved a hand, as if brushing away a cloud of gnats. Helen’s gut told her Rita saw a weakness in Teddy—a lack of confidence, a sensitivity to being laughed at—and enjoyed picking at it like a scab.

  She frisked Rita carefully.

  “Okay. I’m going to cuff you. Maybe you want to put on that jacket first. It’s cold outside.”

  “Gee, Mom, thanks.”

  Helen ignored her. She checked the pockets, found them empty, felt the lining to make sure nothing was sewn inside it, held out the jacket. Rita slid her arms into the sleeves.

  “Turn around again.”

  This time, instead of waiting for a response, Helen grasped Rita’s elbow and spun her around.

  “Police brutality,” Rita deadpanned. Helen cuffed Rita’s hands behind the small of her back.

  “Did the deputy read you your rights?” Helen asked.

  “I did,” Teddy said.

  “Please let her answer, Deputy,” Helen said.

  “Yeah, he read me my rights,” Rita said. “Good thing they’re only written at a fourth-grade level.”

  Teddy started to sputter and Helen quickly cut off his indignant response.

  “Did you waive these rights?”

  “I asked for a lawyer,” Rita said.

  “I see. Fair enough.” According to law, nothing Rita now said to Helen would be admissible as evidence in a trial. “You got any belongings you want to bring along, aside from what the deputy found on your person?”

  “No.”

  “How about in your car? I’ll escort you there and you can claim anything you left inside.”

  “No.”

  “Fine.”

  She put a hand inside Rita’s elbow, turned her so that they were face-to-face.

  “Let’s you and me have an understanding, Rita.”

  Rita looked Helen in the eye but didn’t say anything.

  “We’ve got a two-and-half, three-hour drive back to Sacramento. I’ll make a couple of stops on the way to use the bathroom, get some take-out burgers, my treat, maybe even let you smoke a few of those cigarettes. In return, you keep quiet and don’t cause any trouble, and most importantly, don’t try anything stupid. If you give me a hard time, I’ll take you straight to corrections, no food, no cigarettes, no bathroom. You can just piss your pants on the way. Make noise or talk back, and I’ll duct tape your mouth shut. Deal?”

  Rita thought about it for a moment and said, “Can I have one of those cigarettes now?”

  “Sure.”

  Helen guided Rita out onto the porch. She opened the plastic bag, took out a cigarette, placed it between Rita’s lips, lit it with the disposable lighter.

  She looked at her watch. Twenty minutes or so and night was going to drop like a lead curtain. She checked her cell phone. No signal.

  “I should probably call my office, let them know the situation,” she told Teddy.

  “You’ll have to wait till you get to Donnersville. Sorry about that. If the sheriff was here with the vehicle, you could use the radio. But as you can see, we don’t get cell reception, and we ain’t got no landline in town.”

  “No landline?”

  “Kill Devil Falls is on condemned land. We got electricity, but the phone company won’t run a line up here.”

  “Condemned? Why?”

  “Well, this was a mining town back in the late 1800s, early 1900s,” Teddy said. “Gold, mostly. In those days, they used mercury to separate gold from sediment. There wasn’t no Environmental Protection Agency or nothing like that—and miners was just looking to get rich. They didn’t give a rat’s … you know … behind … about the land. All that mercury leeched into the soil and made it toxic.”

  “Is it still toxic?” Helen asked.

  “Oh, yeah. I mean, not so bad, but more than is allowed. It ain’t like we got kids with two heads stashed in the cellar, but I wouldn’t necessarily eat no vegetables grown around here.” He laughed. “Besides the mercury, the rock underneath town is riddled with old tunnels, so it’s pretty unstable. A medium-sized earthquake or something like that and the whole place might just sink underground.”

  “I can’t believe anyone is even allowed to live here.”

  Teddy shrugged. “The county ordered us to evacuate years ago, but we fought the case in court and made a deal. The residents that was living here at the time of the agreement are allowed to stay until they decide to leave voluntarily, or … pass away. Once the last remaining resident is gone, the county will take back the land and wipe Kill Devil Falls off the map.”

  “Good riddance,” Rita said, cigarette bouncing in her mouth.

  Helen didn’t mention to Teddy that Kill Devil Falls already appeared to be off the map.

  “You said we fought the case. You live in Kill Devil Falls?”

  “Born and raised. Right there.” Teddy pointed off the side of the porch at a red farmhouse fifty yards up the road.

  Rita muttered under her breath.

  “You say something?” Teddy asked.

  “Nope. Just smoking my cancer stick, minding my own business.”

  “Why stay here?” Helen asked. “If the soil is poisoned? And the ground unstable?”

  “It’s home, Marshal.”

  Rita spat her cigarette onto the wooden floor of the porch, ground it out with her shoe.

  “I’m ready,” she said.

  The tip of Helen’s nose was growing numb in the cold.

  “Okay, let’s get moving.”

  She escorted Rita down the porch stairs, opened the back door of the Charger, helped her inside. She pulled the seat belt across Rita’s chest, buckled it.

  “I gotta ride with my hands cuffed behind my back? It’s real uncomfortable.”

  “Don’t start.”

  Helen shut the back door and climbed behind the wheel. She dumped the manila envelope and the plastic bag containing Rita’s possessions on the passenger’s seat.

  She glanced up at the sky through the windshield. From her vantage point, the setting sun was a hair’s breadth from impaling itself on the jagged tips of pine trees to the west. Which meant a drive down the mountain in the dark, on three and a half tires. She hoped Chowder slipped on a patch of ice heading home tonight and the toe of his cowboy boot got stuck up his ass.

  She turned the key in the ignition. The engine clicked, but didn’t start.

  “What’s wrong?” Rita said.

  “Hold on.”

  Helen confirmed the gear was in park and her foot was on the brake. She turned the key again. Same thing. Click-click-click.

  “What’s wrong with the car?”

  “Just wait a minute!”

  Helen gave it another go. No joy.

  “Suck it!” she growled.

  “You have gas?” Rita said, her voice rising an octave.

  “Take it easy, Rita.” Helen reached under the dashboard, pulled the hood release. She clambered out of the car, opened the hood, gazed down at a lot of black metal and rubber hosing she knew nothing about.

  She fiddled with the battery cables, some random wires. A couple seemed loose, so she connected them more tightly. She scooted back behind the wheel, turned the key. Not even a click this time.

  “What the fuck is wrong with your car?” Rita said.

  Helen climbed out of the Charger. Teddy smiled at her from the porch, hands in the pockets of his jacket.

  “She won’t start?”

  “No. Can you take a look?’

  “Sorry, Marshal. I ain’t good with cars.”

  “Anyone around here who is?”

  “Frank and Mike are pretty handy.”

  “Frank and Mike? Where can I find them?”

  Teddy squinted down at his watch.

  “It’s getting near dinnertime. They might be at the Trading Post.”

  “What’s the Trading Post?”

  Teddy laughed. He had one of those snorting laughs that came mainly through the nose and was occasionally accompanied by an expul
sion of nasal discharge.

  “It’s our local market and restaurant. Almost everyone in town eats dinner there every night.”

  “And where would I find it, Deputy?”

  “It’s down Main Street a ways.”

  Helen opened the back door of the Charger, reached for Rita.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Taking you back inside.”

  “Why?”

  “I would have thought it was obvious. The car isn’t working.”

  “But I want to leave. Now.”

  “Me too. You know how to fix cars?”

  “No.”

  “Me either. So I’m going to get a mechanic.”

  “You’re putting me back in the cell?”

  “Just for a bit, Rita.”

  “No, no … I don’t want to go back into the cell.”

  “Would you prefer the trunk?”

  Helen unbuckled the seat belt, tugged at Rita’s arm. Rita wriggled and pulled away.

  “Hey!” Helen said. “Knock it off!”

  “Listen. Listen!” Rita said. Her eyes had that wild, cow-trapped-in-a-barn-fire look. “You can take my car. I’ll show you where it is. We’ll leave now. No need for a mechanic.”

  “I can’t just use any old car I want, okay? I need to get this car fixed and return it to my motor pool. Now, come out of there.”

  “This isn’t right, Marshal. Don’t you understand?”

  “Enough.” Helen removed a small canister from an attachment on her belt. “You’re coming out of the car or I’ll mace you. Do you understand?”

  She put a forefinger on top of the canister, pointed the tiny nozzle at Rita’s face.

  “Marshal … please.” Rita’s eyes welled with tears.

  “I’ll give you to a count of one. Then I’m giving you a dose. And you’ll ride all the way home with tears and snot running into your mouth because the back seat’s going to have pepper spray residue all over it.”

  There were strict rules against macing prisoners in handcuffs, but Helen figured the threat alone would prompt Rita’s compliance.

  “Okay, okay,” Rita said.

  She allowed Helen to pull her from the car, escort her toward the porch steps. But when Helen took her hand from the crook of Rita’s elbow to slip the canister of mace back into the attachment on her belt, Rita made a break for it.

  “We got a runner!” Teddy yelled.

  “Oh, for frick’s sake,” Helen said.

  4

  RITA WAS SURPRISINGLY FAST, given the handcuffs. Helen was tempted to aim a sweep kick at her heels from behind, but that would dump Rita face first on the pavement. Bringing in a bruised and bloody fugitive, no matter what the excuse, was just asking for trouble.

  Helen sprinted, drew abreast of Rita, cut a diagonal, and body-blocked her into the dirt on the side of the road.

  She straddled Rita’s hips, pressed down on Rita’s throat to prevent her from rearing up, took a few seconds to catch her breath.

  “Trying to run away … falls very much under the category … of doing something stupid, Rita. What did I tell you about that?”

  Tears cut through the dust on Rita’s face. Helen felt a twinge of sympathy. Sometimes, it’s not until you’re cuffed and in the back of a cop car that the full reality of your situation sinks in. Rita put on a brave front, but now she was going away, possibly for a very, very long time, and the hard veneer was finally cracking.

  Helen pulled her to her feet and led her back toward the jail. The fight seemed to have leaked out of Rita like air from an old kiddie bop-bag. She stumbled slightly as they ascended the porch steps. Helen jerked her upright, a bit roughly.

  Teddy held the front door open. As they passed, Helen caught him giving Rita a smirk. Rita kept her eyes on the floor.

  Helen placed Rita into the cell, closed the door.

  “You want to take those cuffs off her?” Teddy asked.

  Helen was still pissed about the escape attempt.

  “No, leave them on for now.”

  “If you say so.”

  He locked the door, hung the key ring back on its hook.

  “Nothing like a little excitement, huh?” He snort-laughed.

  “I could do without. And I still need to get that car fixed.”

  “You know, I could use a cup of coffee. How about I take you down to the Trading Post, introduce you to Mike and Frank?”

  “I don’t think we should leave Rita alone.”

  “Ah, she’ll be fine. Handcuffed, locked in a cell. I’ll lock up the front door, too. That thing’s two inches of solid oak, reinforced with steel. No way anyone’s getting in here without a key.”

  “I don’t know, Deputy.”

  “Call me Teddy. And I’ve been sitting in here for a couple of hours. I wouldn’t mind stretching my legs. We’ll be back in five minutes.”

  Although she was jonesing for coffee and had a moderately severe need to pee, leaving a prisoner alone was strictly against protocol.

  “You go and I’ll wait with Rita,” she said.

  Teddy shuffled his feet. “Well … see … here’s the thing.”

  Helen readied herself for another irritating snag.

  “Frank and Mike,” Teddy started. “They’re real jokers.”

  “Really.”

  “We grew up together, and all. So it might be better coming from you. The request to take a look at the car.”

  “Do you mean,” Helen said, “they won’t do it because you tell them to? Even though this is police business and you’re a deputy sheriff?”

  Teddy scratched his beard and blushed red. “It’s just better … it’s better if you make it official. You know, in your capacity as a federal officer. Otherwise, they’ll take their sweet time. You want to get on the road sooner rather than later, right?”

  Helen was at a loss for words. Apparently she was working with the mousiest deputy since Barney Fife.

  “All right,” she said. “I’ll ask them. How do I get to the Trading Post and how will I recognize them?”

  “I’ll take you.”

  “We shouldn’t leave Ms. Crawford alone.”

  “We won’t be but a moment, Marshal. I need to show you where the Trading Post is, and besides—it ain’t safe to walk around town by yourself.”

  “Why? Are there man-eating bears?”

  “It ain’t so much the bears that’ll get you, Marshal, as the mountain lions. But that’s not why. It’s the sink holes.”

  “What?”

  “Like I said before, the ground beneath town is riddled with old mining tunnels and there’s a bunch of sink holes right on Main Street. One wrong step and you might find yourself at the bottom of a ten-, twenty-foot shaft.”

  “You gotta be kidding.”

  Teddy shrugged. “Welcome to Kill Devil Falls.”

  “Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better,” Helen said. “We’ll have to make it quick. It’s against procedure to leave a prisoner unattended.”

  “I know that,” Teddy said. “Five minutes. And she’ll be locked up tight. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Marshal,” Rita whispered.

  Helen put her ear to the cell door.

  “What?”

  “Don’t leave me alone.”

  “I won’t be gone long, Rita.”

  “What about Big Ed?”

  “Who’s that?”

  “The sheriff.”

  “What about him?”

  “When’s he getting back?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Marshal. Please don’t leave me in here.”

  “Sit tight for five minutes. You want me to bring you back some coffee?”

  “Marshal!”

  Exasperated, Helen turned away.

  Out on the front porch, Teddy showed Helen a tarnished skeleton key.

  “This locks the front door. It’s a reproduction, for the sake of the museum and all, but it looks just like what they used to have in the old d
ays.” He slipped it into the keyhole, twisted it, jiggled the door. “Secure as a bank vault.”

  “Why do you have a key? Are you in charge of the museum?”

  “Me? No.” He started down the porch steps. Helen followed. “The county is. Only no tourists come up here no more, because the town’s condemned. We got some volunteers from the local historical society down in Donnersville who stop by once a month to maintain the place. But that’s a long drive, so they gave us a key just in case there’s an emergency.”

  He unsnapped a loop on his gun belt, added the jail key to half a dozen others dangling there, snapped the loop closed. The keys jingle-jangled as he walked.

  A two-lane paved road ran through the center of Kill Devil Falls. Its surface was cracked, pitted, and dotted with large round depressions four or five feet in circumference and twelve to eighteen inches deep. Some were roped off with portable safety barriers and orange tape. Others were not.

  “Those are the sinkholes you were talking about?” Helen asked.

  “Yep. We blocked off the worst ones, but I wouldn’t step in the middle of those other ones neither. Just in case.”

  On either side of the road was a scatter of neglected and, to all appearances, abandoned houses. These dilapidated structures moldered on plots overgrown with weeds. Darkened windows regarded Helen with deep suspicion as she passed. Behind the empty houses, tall pine trees provided a dense backdrop.

  “So this here’s the main street,” Teddy said. “The folks who founded this town didn’t have no imagination, so they actually named it Main Street.”

  “All these places are empty?”

  “Most. There’s mine.”

  He nodded at the red farmhouse. Unlike the other homes, this one was in good repair, with a recent paint job and neatly tended yard. A Toyota sat in the driveway.

  “That’s my 4Runner. Unfortunately, it ain’t working right now because the fuel pump is busted.”

  “You live here alone?”

  “No. My dad and me.”

  “Oh? Is he retired? Or does he work in Donnersville, too?”

  Teddy tugged at the beard on his chin. The jangling of his keys alternated with the crunch of his boots on the pavement.

  “He works in Donnersville. With me. He’s the sheriff.”

  “The sheriff?”