Page 103 of The Fragile Ones

“Gav,” she said, and ran right into a gun pointed at her face.

“Gotcha,” the man said, in almost comic tone.

Katie stared directly at Ty Windsor, his hair wet and uncombed, so it hung towards his face. It was clear how he could play the many faces he needed to, and not be recognizable.

A chameleon.

“Detective, you look surprised, but not as surprised as I thought you’d be.” He smiled. “You figured it out, didn’t you? I knew you were special—smarter than you should be.”

Mason yelled from above, muffled slightly by the walls and distance. “Uncuff me, Detective! I told you the truth!”

Ty laughed. “Nice job, Detective. You’re making my job so much easier.”

Katie went to move and he pushed the gun toward Maggie, making her cry harder.

“You kinda interrupted something here…” he said.

Katie gained her composure. “You don’t have Daddy to protect you now. You’re not going to get away.”

“Why? Because of your partner? He’s down there,” he said in a creepy whisper and pointed to a deep ditch dug in the ground as part of the construction work.

“Katie,” McGaven said faintly from down below.

The funhouse feeling attacked Katie even more.

“Now give me Maggie,” he said and dragged her, screaming, from Katie’s arms. To Katie’s horror, Ty turned and dropped the little girl into the deep hole with McGaven.

“No!” cried Katie. To her relief, she heard McGaven saying she was okay.

“For you, I have a special surprise. I was saving it for someone else, but you’ll do.” He snickered. He searched her with force and put both weapons in his pockets as well as her cell phone. Then he lunged forward and gripped her throat violently, shoving her against the wall. “Now do what I say. Move!” he said, indicating toward a back entrance with the barrel of his gun.

Katie had to wait for the right moment to defend herself and take him down, but Ty was cunning and acted as if he had a sixth sense. She hoped that McGaven could get out of the hole; if not, she was completely on her own.

The thunder roared and rumbled throughout the brick building.

Katie stepped through the doorway.

The rain blew at an angle, whipping her hair against her face. The black sky crowed with angry thunder and lightning. The storm was upon them as Ty pushed Katie toward the cemetery.

Chapter Forty-One

Wednesday 1730 hours

Chad and John were at the third downed tree on Highway 9. The work was hard and the weather remained miserable, but with the help of Lizzy it was just about do-able.

Winded from the physical labor and fighting head winds, Chad looked at his phone and there was a text from Katie. “Hold up,” he said. John and Lizzy looked at him, waiting. “Katie left a message. They are either at the ruins next to the cemetery or at their cabin at Oak Grove Motel.”

“That’s good to know. Smart detective,” said John as his voice trailed off in the wind.

“Let’s keep going,” said Lizzy, as she pushed her wet hair from her face.

John and Chad started up their chainsaws again and began cutting, chips dominating the air in the downpour.

* * *

Katie stood at the rickety gate leading into the cemetery. There were crumbling headstones and old trees with dead branches bending toward the ground, like tentacles waiting to grab the freshly dead. There were sections with extremely old headstones, simple and showing the results of time. Others had more modern headstones, some large, others with small statues.

What caught her attention were the small graves that appeared to have been dug recently. There were no markers. Each small gravesite was the exact size of the others in the cluster. Was this where Ty buried the bodies?