The Last Jeskey - Chapter 34

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 34

 

(Day 7 – Wednesday)

 

Sheriff Cobb

 

Thanks to my wife, my shitty day had gone further to shit!  First Gary had tried to kill me again, then we searched the entire farm and found absolutely nothing, and now Natalie expected me to post a deputy to watch over not just Freaky, but two of her friends as well.  And worse, she and Pam McGregor were installing all three of them in the Jeskey house!  What was my idiot wife thinking?  Not only did I not have the manpower for that, but did she forget that Gary Jeskey was out there and wanted Freaky just as dead as he wanted Nat and me?  No, of course she didn’t forget that.  She expected me to provide the protection for them…at that house…where Gary lived and knew the territory better than anyone!

She was nuts!

But what do you say to your wife?  Especially when she ignores every logical argument you try to tell her.

I myself drove out to escort them home.  I left early and we met at a fast-food place out in the middle of the next county.  It was there that I met Shantel and Lisa.  They both seemed nice enough, but over burgers, I got the feeling that they both had some kind of history that maybe I, as the sheriff, should be aware of.  Right then though, I had more than enough on my plate to handle.  I simply didn’t want any more problems.

Watching Freaky in that burger joint was a bit of an eye-opening experience.  Nat reminded me that she hadn’t ever been away from the farm before.  She had never been in any kind of restaurant or even any kind of store.  She literally had no concept of either of those things.  Maybe Nat was right, Freaky needed someone to show her and teach her.  But why did my wife…and me…have to be in the middle of it?  Gary…and the Jeskeys.  That was why.  And if I didn’t find and arrest Gary Jeskey soon, I would no longer be in the middle of this mess, I’d be in the middle of a cemetery instead.

Freaky had certainly eaten hamburgers before.  In fact, she said she fixed them a lot for Bo and the boys.  But watching her eat one from that burger joint was somewhat fun.  First she was fascinated with the fact that it came wrapped in paper, then she had to take it apart and see all the fixings they had smothered it with, and when she took a bite of it, her entire face seemed to screw up with a strange look, because it didn’t taste anything like the burgers that she cooked.  Don’t get me started on her first taste of the soft drink she had…in a cup made of paper as well.

Since there were five of them in Pam’s car, Nat transferred to my car.  A while later, we pulled up in front of the Jeskey house at their farm.  The part I really didn’t like just then was that by that time it was dark.  I couldn’t see if Gary Jeskey was lying in wait for us anywhere.  “Stay in the car,” I told Nat.  “Let me look around first.”

I got out and went over to Pam’s car where they were all getting out of it.  “Stay in the car,” I told them.  “Let me check the house first.”

Freaky and her two friends looked confused, but Pam understood.  “Get back in for a minute,” she told them.  “It won’t be long.”

“Why?” Freaky asked.  “I’m home!”

“Just…be patient,” Pam told her.

I was glad to see Freaky getting back into the car, even if it was reluctantly.  As I saw it, only death awaited her inside.  Why didn’t she realize that?

I shined my flashlight around at as much as I could see from where the cars were parked.  I took it as a good sign that so far no bullets had come my way.  So far!  I went up onto the porch and pushed open the front door.  It wasn’t locked, but then I doubt that door had ever been locked.  I was tempted to examine the door a bit further to see if it even had a lock, but I didn’t.

My hand searched the wall as I went in and immediately found a light switch where I figured there should be one.  At least that much was right with the house, but how about everything else?  With the lights on, I carefully went from room to room, switching on the lights, and searching through the entire house, including the closets.  No sign of Gary.  No sign of anyone.  So where the hell was Gary staying now?  That worried me a lot.

I went back out to the cars and called the ladies in.  I noticed that Freaky came in fast and first.  She was anxious to get here.  As the other women came inside, Freaky went straight to the kitchen where she seemed to look around at her counters and everything there.  Then I saw her open a drawer and pull a small bottle out and open it.

“What’s that?” I asked as I headed toward her.

She seemed to ignore me as she dumped a pill out and stuck it in her mouth.  She was closing the bottle again by the time I got there and took the thing from her.  “My vitamins,” Freaky told me.  “I take them every day.  Bo tells me that they help keep me healthy.”

I noticed that the way she said it, she almost thought that Bo was still alive.  But then, Nat wanted to kill him again, even though he was already dead.  I took a look at the label on the vitamin bottle.  Estrogen.  There was a whole box of those little pill bottles in the drawer.  Some vitamins!  But I remembered Amanda telling me about them before.  I should have realized what they were.  Knowing more about who and what Freaky really was, I stuck the bottle of estrogen pills back into the drawer for her and closed it.  I was guessing that she was going to need those vitamins.  Probably for the rest of her life.

I saw Shantel and Lisa looking around.  They looked a bit disappointed.

“Yeah,” I heard Pamela say.  “It’s a bit of a dump.”

“A dump?” Shantel said.  “Hell, this ain’t nothin’!  You should see where I used to live.  This is great, except…”

“Except what?” Natalie asked.

“There ain’t no TV,” Shantel finished.

I saw Lisa looking quickly around again.  “There isn’t, is there.”

“I guess not,” Pamela replied.  “Sorry.”

“There’s three bedrooms though,” Natalie told them.  “And for now, I guess just move all the belongings you find out of the way.  We’ll figure out what to do with it all tomorrow.  And as for sheets on the beds, I guess for tonight you’ll just have to make do.”  She turned to Freaky.  “Freaky, do you have any extra sheets for the beds?”

Freaky looked confused.  “Extra sheets?  Why?”

“Never mind,” Natalie replied.  She turned back to Shantel and Lisa.  “We’ll have to look at that situation too.”

“That’s not something I’m overly worried about,” Lisa told her.

I got the impression that maybe Lisa had come from a very bad situation.  But then I remembered that she had been living in that women’s shelter, so yeah, no matter what, both Lisa and Shantel had probably come straight from hell.  But hey, now look where they were, right back in hell again.  Only they probably didn’t realize that.

I saw Natalie moving closer to Lisa and Shantel.  I just barely heard her say to them.  “I don’t know if you can do it or not, but one of the first things you may want to try to tackle with Freaky, is getting her to sleep in a bed.”

“Yeah,” Shantel said.  “That’s right.  She likes the floor.”

“We’ll work on it,” Lisa told Nat.

As I headed over to talk with Nat and Pam, I saw Lisa and Shantel start looking around at the big room that was the living room and kitchen combined.

“Nat.  Pam,” I said.  “Look.  I simply don’t have the manpower to keep someone posted here all the time.  Like it or not, the best I can do is have someone drive by every few hours.  And since we’ve got less of a night crew, what I’ll do is have someone park a cruiser here, and then leave.  I think just the sight of one of our cars here would probably be enough to make Gary think there’s a deputy staying in the house all the time.”

“Thanks Sheriff,” Pam said, before Natalie could protest my lack of support.  “We’re grateful for everything we can get.”

“What the hell?” Shantel exclaimed.

I turned and looked.  She had opened one of the two refrigerators.

“This whole thing is full of beer.  And nothing but beer!”

“Oh no!” Lisa shouted.  “Shantel!  Close that door and get away from it.  I won’t have you start drinking again!”

“But Leese!” Shantel said, still looking at all that beer.

“No buts!  Shut the door!”

As Shantel sadly closed that refrigerator door, Lisa turned to me.  “Is there any way we can get all that beer out of the house, and any other booze that’s around here too?  I won’t let her start drinking again.  I won’t!”

I nodded.  “Yeah.  Sure,” I replied.  I went over and opened the beer refrigerator for a better look.  I closed it and opened the other one.  That one looked awfully sparse inside as far as food went.  But there was no beer in it.  I opened the beer fridge again.  “Can someone give me a hand?  I’ll put it in my car.  And Nat, like it or not it’s going in our garage!”  It took some doing, but I didn’t laugh at the eye-roll that Nat gave me.

Once the beer finally got loaded, Nat turned to the three girls…women…girls.  They were all still fairly young.  “I’ll be back tomorrow sometime, and we’ll see what needs to be done,” she told them.  “I know you need food, but we’ll have to see about everything else.”

“I can’t be here,” Pam told them.  “I’ve got a lot of other things that I didn’t get done today because I had to bring you here.”

“We’ll manage,” Lisa told them.

I got the impression that Lisa was going to be taking charge of things.  That was fine with me.  I just hoped she was at least somewhat sensible.

Nat rode with Pam so she could get her car that was parked at Pam’s office.  I got in the car with the beer and followed both of them so they had some kind of protection in case Gary got any ideas.  I called the station and made arrangements to have a couple of deputies drive out to the Jeskey place and leave one of our cars behind.  I also left instructions for the few guys that would be on duty all night to drive out there once in a while to make sure everything looked okay.

Once Nat was in her car, I followed her home.  I spent quite a while emptying all that beer and stacking it out of the way in the garage.  Maybe the Jeskeys had a good idea.  A separate refrigerator just for the beer would be a good thing.  A real nice thing.  I contemplated buying one, then I remembered that there was an empty one no longer being used at the Jeskey place.  I could just grab that and install it here in my garage, and I already knew that all this beer would fit in it.  The perfect solution, and it wouldn’t cost me a dime.

Then I remembered Natalie and what she would probably have to say about it.  I knew without a doubt that there would never be a beer fridge in our house, anywhere!  Ever!  Another nice idea down the drain.

Shit!

 

The Last Jeskey - Chapter 33

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 33

 

(Day 7 – Wednesday)

 

Freaky

 

I felt strange.  Woozy kind of.  And every time they stuck me with that super thin knife thing it got worse again, and I fell asleep for a while.  I was so mad, but I couldn't seem to do anything about it, so I sat there every time I woke up and hugged my hair like I always did.  Except it was no longer attached to me.  I had lost…me!  I wanted to scream so bad, but I was too woozy, so I hugged my hair and rocked.

I really missed Shantel and Lisa, and I had only known them a few days.  But I had never been allowed to talk to other women before, and being with them…I liked it.  I liked…them.

And then there were more people in my room.  I looked up and saw Natalie and Pamela.  But they had Doctor Knox and Doctor Wilcox with them.  And then Natalie was there on the floor with me, hugging me, and it felt so nice.  I tried and tried to tell her how much I wanted to see Lisa and Shantel again, and amazingly, Pamela told me that if I got dressed, they would take me to them.  Shantel.  Lisa.  I miss you.  Please explain it all to me.

It felt good to get back into a dress again.  Very good.  Just putting it on made me feel a bit better.  And then we were walking out of the room, and they opened that door that was always locked, and we went through, all the way outside and into a car.  Pamela drove it, but Natalie was right there in the back seat with me, holding my hand.

“Shantel, Lisa,” I said.

“Hush Freaky.  Relax,” Natalie said softly.  “Pam.  I hate to say it, but maybe we better.”

“I was already going,” Pamela told her.

I felt a bit better by the time Pamela stopped the car again and we all got out.  I recognized the shelter.  I headed straight for it and opened the front door myself.  “Shantel!  Lisa!” I called.  But I didn’t see them.

“We’ll check with Jess Kriss,” Natalie told me, but I headed straight for the big room with all the chairs and that TV thing.

“Freaky!” Pamela called me.  “Wait.”

“I turned and she waved me to join them in Miss Kriss’s room, but I knew the place.  Even as woozy as I still was, I would be able to find Lisa and Shantel.

“Freaky?  What are you doing here?”  Miss Kriss exclaimed.  “And what happened to you?”  I turned and saw her coming toward us from another part of the building.

“I need to see Shantel and Lisa,” I told her.

“What on earth happened to your hair?” she asked.

“One of the staff members at the behavioral center took it upon herself to cut it,” Pamela explained.

“They did what?”  Miss Kriss hugged me tightly.  “Oh Freaky, I’m so sorry Honey.”  She looked up at Pamela and Natalie.  “I’m sorry, but we’re full up right now.  I’ve got no more beds.”

“It’s okay,” Pamela told her.  “We’re only here because she wanted to see her friends so much.”

“I think they’re in the lounge,” she told them.  She released me and I hurried on ahead toward the big room.  I went through the door and looked around…and saw them, together as always.  “Lisa!  Shantel!”  I ran to them.

“Freaky?” Lisa exclaimed as she stood up.  She looked so shocked.

“Honey Pie!” Shantel yelled.  “What happened to you?”

I ran to them, and they both enveloped me in a big hug.  And I cried all over again.

“It’s okay Honey Pie.  It’s okay,” Shantel kept telling me.  But I knew it would never be okay again.

“What happened?” Lisa asked once I finally stopped crying.

“This lady at the place they took me to,” I said.  “She kept yelling at me about almost everything.  And then she had some of her friends hold me down while she cut my hair off!”  My hand seemed to go straight to the back of my head again, but my hand didn’t find what it was supposed to find, and I started crying all over again.

Shantel hugged me.  “It’s okay Honey Pie.  It’s okay.  Believe it or not, it’s not the end of the world.  You just sit here with us and let us hold you.  We got you Honey Pie.  We got you.”

It felt good to be held.  I don’t know why, it just felt good.  I sat there with them and cried a bit, and they held me and kept telling me it was alright.  But it wasn’t alright.

I could hear Miss Kriss talking to Pamela and Natalie not far away.

“I had just found Lisa a job,” Miss Kriss said, “but she lost it today when the original girl she replaced decided to come back, and the company decided to go with the more experienced person, so I’m looking again for her.  Shantel is a more difficult story, but the two of them have been absolutely inseparable since Shantel arrived.  They’ve both been here long enough now that I’ve got to find some way to help them move on, but I’m afraid it’s been difficult.  They’ve both got a history of being battered and in and out of the hospital.  They’ve both been stuck in pure hell for a long time.  And like most of the women who come here, they’ve got no jobs and no safe place they can go to, other than here.  Since they arrived, I think they simply saw something in each other, and held each other together.  And now it looks like their little duo is adopting Freaky too, at least somewhat.”

“Yes,” I heard Pamela say.

I continued to sit there and relish being held.  Why was I so close to these two?  Why did I want to be with them so badly?  But just then, I was still kind of woozy, and I really just wanted to be held.

“What if…” I heard Pamela say, and then she stopped talking.

“Pamela McGregor,” Natalie said.  “What are you thinking?  And I hope it’s not what I think you’re thinking.”

“What if I had a job for them,” Pamela said.  “Both of them.  Full time.  Um…in fact, not just full time, but around the clock.  A job where all three of them could be together.  A job that included someplace for them to live and…I guess it would have to include food for them to eat as well.  More than that, I can’t guarantee.”

“Pamela,” I heard Natalie say.  “We can’t!  How?”

“It sounds like the perfect solution, for all of them,” Miss Kriss replied.

“Yeah, well there’s one big drawback,” Pamela added.  “We can’t pay them anything.”

“That’s not the only drawback!” Natalie was quick to point out.  “Don’t forget Gary!”

“Yeah.  I know,” I heard Pamela say.

“And where exactly do you expect them to live?” Natalie asked.  “Not where I think you’re thinking.”

“But you can’t pay them?” Miss Kriss asked.  “They need jobs!  They need that sense of accomplishment.”

“Yes,” Pamela said, “but this job would have plenty for them to feel a sense of accomplishment about.”

“Pam!” Natalie said sternly.  “We can’t!”

“Nat,” I heard Pamela say.  “Can you call your husband?  See if he can give them a bodyguard like he’s got for you.”

“You’re serious!” I heard Natalie say.

“What are you talking about?” Miss Kriss said.  “And if it’s a job, why can’t you pay them?”

“Ladies!” Pamela’s voice reached us, obviously wanting our attention.

Despite how much I was enjoying just being held, all three of us looked up at her.  Miss Kriss was standing there with Natalie and Pamela.

“I have a proposal for you,” Pamela said.  “For both you Shantel and you Lisa.  Together!  For Freaky’s entire life, she’s been literally locked away and has been brainwashed into believing things that simply aren’t real.  According to a doctor we just spoke with, he believes that what she needs is to get out into the world a bit more and see how life really is.  And more than that, she needs someone to start teaching her all the things that she was never allowed to learn.  What I have in mind, is for both of you to be her teachers.”

“Yeah, but there’s a catch,” Natalie added.  “A few catches actually, and they’re big ones.”

“Like what?” Lisa asked.

“Like…we can’t pay you,” Natalie explained.  “Freaky here has no money and we’ve got no budget for any of this.  Yes, we can try sending you all to the farm where she’s been living.  That would at least put a roof over your heads.  But between Pam and me, we’d have to come up with money for food and anything else you need as well, and I’m sure that neither of us have that kind of money.  And then there’s the more important issue that worries me.”

“What?” Lisa asked.

“Freaky’s Uncle Gary…although actually he’s her cousin.  But he’s sworn to kill her, and he’s been trying to kill me and my husband as well, and I’m not lying about that.  I got shot a few days ago by him.  Gary and his brothers and their father, have literally tortured Freaky there nearly to death all her life, but now that Gary is the only one left living, he wants Freaky dead too.  I can try to get the sheriff to give you some protection, but I can’t guarantee that, or even how much protection it could be.”

“You can’t pay us?” Lisa asked.

“No,” Pamela replied.  “I wish I could, but…we need money for that.”

“But we’d still be together,” Shantel stated.  “Lisa and me…and Freaky,” she added.

“That would be what the job is all about,” Pamela replied.  “Watching out for her and teaching her.”

Both Shantel and Lisa looked at me, and at each other, then Lisa turned back toward Pamela and said, “I’ve got a husband who’s tried to kill me too.  I think he’s still trying.  That’s why I’m in here.”

“And I’ve got people who’ve tried to kill me a few times as well,” Shantel added.  “I know I can’t stay here much longer, and Leese here is in the same place I am.  We got nowhere to go but back to what we came from.”

“I’ve got nowhere else to go either,” Lisa added, “and…”  She looked over at Shantel, then at me, then back at Pamela.  “If I can’t stay here, then it would be nice if I could at least be with friends I love.”

“So you’re interested?” Pamela asked.

“You got any churches up there that sing gospel music?” Shantel asked her.

“Yes,” Natalie replied.  “A few.  In fact, more than a few.”

“Then I’m in!” Shantel declared.  “And if that Gary comes around after my Freaky here, then he’s gonna have to deal with me!  Leese, get a move on.  We’s goin’ to church!”

 

The Last Jeskey - Chapter 32

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 32

 

(Day 7 – Wednesday)

 

Pamela

 

“What she needs,” Natalie told me as she grabbed another fry and stuck it in her mouth.  “Is family!  Her real family.”

I shook my head.  “That would be great, but we both know who her real family is…or was.  And they’re the last people I’d wish for her to be around again.”

“I agree,” she said.  “But I wasn’t talking about Bo and his boys.”

“Then who?”

“Freaky’s mother and father were killed.  Murdered.  But does she have any other relatives on that side of her family?  What about her mother’s parents?  Does she have any aunts or uncles?  For that matter, how about her father’s side of the family?  Was there anyone else there?  From what little we heard, it was only Bo Jeskey that was the bad one.”

I stared at her, holding my coffee in my hand without taking a sip.  “I hate it when you think of the obvious.  Especially when it’s something I should have thought of myself!”

Natalie chuckled and stuck another fry in her mouth.  We were having lunch together.  It was the only time we had to discuss not just Freaky, but what we would do if they ever found any money for her.  Not to mention, according to Judge Reinhart, he wanted a third person to help manage that trust.

“Someone from Freaky’s family might be the best person to help manage the money,” I said.  “Not to mention, her family would be the perfect place for her to go…permanently!”

“Yes, it would,” Nat agreed.  “But there are a few problems that I think would prevent that.  Problems that maybe should mean we don’t let any of them know she’s alive.”

I was confused.  “Like what?”

“Like all the things she believes.  How would they handle someone who firmly believes she should be peeing in a hole out in the backyard somewhere?”

“I imagine they would find that strange.”

“Maybe more than a bit strange,” Nat replied.  “And then there’s the fact that when Brian was kidnapped, he was only four years old, and he had just turned four.  Pam, according to what we know now, she’s nineteen.  A grown woman!  They’d be expecting a child.”

“They’d have to get over that,” I told her.

“And don’t forget the most important problem of all,” Nat said.

“What?”

“She’s not a boy anymore.”

I thought about that.  As usual, Nat was right.  “You’re right,” I said.  “But there is one thing that we should do, no matter what.”

“What’s that?”

“Let those people know that their daughter’s murderer has been found.”

Natalie nodded.  “If it was my daughter, I’d want to know at least that much.  But wouldn’t that detective from Knoxville take care of that?  Maybe he’s done it already.”

Before I could reply, my cellphone rang, and I answered it without looking to see who was calling.  “Pam McGregor,” I answered.

“Mrs. McGregor.  This is Doctor Wilcox from the behavioral center.”

“Yes doctor.  What can I do for you?”

“I’m afraid a rather regrettable incident occurred yesterday.”

“Yesterday?”

“Well, we hoped it would at least resolve itself a bit since then, but it’s not looking good.”

“What happened?”

“I’m afraid that one of our staff members had a bit of a…disagreement with Freaky, and wound up cutting her hair.”

I was shocked, not to mention angry.  “They did what?”

“As I said, it’s very regrettable.”

“How much of her hair did they cut?”  I noticed the change in Natalie’s face at hearing that.

“I’m afraid…all of it.  Right up to her neck.”

“That’s crazy!” I shouted into the phone.  “And you were hoping it would resolve itself?  That’s ridiculous!  How does cutting all her hair off resolve itself?  It doesn’t!”

“Can we sue them?” Natalie asked me.  I had to ignore the question for now.

“I’m afraid there’s been a slight further complication since then due to the incident,” Wilcox continued.  “However, it’s the kind of complication we see often and we’re very used to dealing with here.  So you don’t have to worry.”

“What kind of complication?” I demanded.

“Since then, I’m afraid she’s become completely unhinged.  In fact, she’s become quite violent.  And so far, she doesn’t seem to be interested in settling down.”

“Neither would I!” I told him.

“We’re having to keep her heavily sedated for now.  It’s more regrettable, because the psychologist I had working with her reported that he had a very good connection with her in each of their sessions.  He had real hope for her progress.  But I promise you, we’re working with her.  She’ll have no choice but to eventually accept what’s happened and move on.”

The light hit me completely just then.  “Move on?  Yeah.  Maybe that’s just what needs to happen.  Freaky needs to move on…as in out of there.  Doctor, I’m leaving this afternoon to come down there and remove her from that place, and I have no doubt that I’m going to be thinking of only one thing on the long drive down there, suing your institution!”  With that, I hung up.

Natalie stood up, forgetting the rest of her lunch.  “Let me call my husband and my boss.  I’m going with you, and we can figure out what we’re going to do with her while we drive.”

Ten minutes later we were in the car and on our way, complete with a county sheriff’s car following behind us.  Like before though, it would stop shadowing us after a certain point.

“Can we really sue them for that?” Natalie asked me.

“Maybe, maybe not.  But the truth is, it’s not worth the effort.  Even if we can sue them, what we’d get wouldn’t be enough to make it worthwhile, and that’s if we can even get it into court.”

“It’s a shame,” she said.  “Just doing it would make me feel better.”

“Me too,” I agreed.

“So what do we do with her?” she asked.  “I’m not sure my husband wants her back at our place.  Not to mention, Gary Jeskey is still out to kill not just Will, but me too.  And Freaky!” she added.  “He wants all three of us dead.  That would be like putting all the ducks in one barrel for him.”

“Yeah,” I said as I thought about that.  “That might not be the best idea.”

“I just got that sling off my arm,” Nat said.  “I don’t want another one.”

I said nothing to that, and we rode in silence for a while.  Too much of a while.  But then, I knew neither of us had any answers.  I knew we were both feeling that frustration of not knowing what to do by the time we arrived at the behavioral center.

We went in together through the doors and right up to the Admissions office.  There was a woman there who was expecting us and literally rushed to call Doctor Wilcox to let him know we were there.  Then, instead of waiting for the doctor to arrive, she herself led us to his office.  We didn’t need her to lead the way, we both had been there before.

Wilcox stood as we walked in.  “Please,” he said.  “Be seated.  Can I get you anything?  Coffee perhaps?”

“No!” I told him.  “Just Freaky.  Where is she?”

“Uh…in her room still,” he said.

A man rushed in behind us.  “Sorry,” he said.  “I was with another patient.”

“This is Doctor Knox,” Wilcox told us.  “He’s the psychologist I assigned to work with Freaky.  Knox, this is Mrs. McGregor and Mrs.…”

“Cobb!” Natalie supplied.  “My husband is the county sheriff where we live.”

“Right!” Wilcox said as Knox took another seat.

“As I said,” Wilcox said, “We sincerely regret the entire incident, and the person who did it has been suspended pending further investigation.”

“I don’t care,” I told him.  “Can we get Freaky now?  We’re taking her home.”

“Well…” Wilcox replied.

“Is there another problem you haven’t told me about yet?” I demanded.  “We’ve got a very long drive ahead of us.”

“No,” Wilcox replied.  “No problem at all.  It’s just that, I thought maybe it might be a good idea for you to listen to some of the findings that Doctor Knox here has from the sessions he’s had with Freaky.”

“Maybe that might be a good idea,” Natalie agreed.

I was going to protest, then thought better of it.  I turned to Knox.  “What did you want us to know?”

“There are some things about Freaky’s case that are very disturbing,” he said.

“That much we already knew,” I told him.

Obviously, Knox was ignoring me.  “She seems to be extremely attached to all of her uncles, as she calls them, despite some rather horrendous tortures they’ve put her though.  But the thing that struck me the most, was that despite how attached to them she seems to be, she appears to feel almost nothing about their deaths.  Almost as if she doesn’t care.  And yet, time and time again she tells me how grateful she is to all of them, and that without them, she’d be dead.  She really is grateful, yet she feels nothing at them being gone.”

“I hadn’t noticed that,” I confessed.

“Me either,” Natalie said.  “But I think he’s right.  Freaky didn’t seem to be emotional over them dying at all, and that includes most of them being murdered right in front of her.”

“Do you have a reason for that?” I asked Knox.

“I haven’t worked with her enough to get to the bottom of it yet.  It’s mostly just one of the observations I’ve made about her.  However, it’s possible that all the literal torture they’ve done to her over the years may have something to do with that.  I mean, have you seen the scars on her back?  Awful!”

“Scars?” Pamela asked.

“Yeah,” Natalie replied.  All that hair she has…or had…covered them up quite a bit, but I still couldn’t miss them when I gave her that shower.  But they didn’t seem to bother her at all, and she had bigger issues to deal with than just some scars.”

“The whippings that caused the scars,” Knox said, “but especially all the other horrendous tortures were nothing but barbaric!  Being hung upside down, being buried alive, hung by her hair, and the one that disturbs me the most, hanging her over a fire and roasting her like a pig until her entire body was burned and covered in blisters, that one just takes the cake.”

“They what?” I exclaimed.  I noticed Natalie coming out of her seat at that one too.

“I understand that her…uncles…all got rather drunk one day and one of them…Gary I believe, got the bright idea that they should tie her to a pole, stick an apple in her mouth, and hang her over a fire, roasting her like they do when they cook a pig.  According to Freaky, it was one of the most painful things she’s ever had to endure.  She’s grateful that it only happened once.”

Natalie walked away from her chair over towards the door, then turned around.  “That just beats everything!” she said.  “I once jokingly asked my husband if I could borrow his gun, so I could shoot Bo Jeskey, and that was after Roxie had already killed him and he was in the county morgue.  Now, I only want to do it again.”

“And I’ll be right there with you,” I agreed.

“But the point I wanted to make,” Knox continued, “is that all those tortures, and most of them went on for days, were actually a stroke of genius on the part of those men.”

“Genius!” I exclaimed.  “You mean sadistic…psychopathic…I don’t know what!”

“Undoubtably,” Knox agreed.  “But each of those punishments happened after Freaky broke one of their absurd rules.  And with each one, Freaky was forced to endure being told that she needed to be a good girl.  After being whipped each time and then tortured like they did, for days at a time, what do you think would be the biggest thing on Freaky’s mind from that point on?”

“Murdering those men!” Natalie exclaimed.

I ignored her comment and said, “Not wanting to do whatever she did again, and being more careful than ever to do and be whatever they wanted.  A good girl.”

“Exactly,” Knox replied.

“I just feel sick,” Natalie said as she sat down.

I put my hand on her arm.  “We all do.  Freaky may not be totally insane, but how is she as sane as she is?”

Natalie shook her head.  “Don’t forget, she’s a Jeskey.”

“I guess that could have something to do with it,” I agreed.  “Those Jeskey genes have got to be pretty tough.”  I saw Natalie nod her agreement.

“Doctor Wilcox told me about not just the kidnapping when she was so young,” Knox said, “but also the fact that Freaky used to be…Brian, a boy.  In my last session with her, I briefly brought that up, but as expected, she not only refused to believe it and told me I was lying about everything, she walked out on me.  And I’m afraid to say it was at that point where things began to go bad, and a little while later, our staff member cut her hair.”

“We’ve both noticed,” Natalie said, “that Freaky identifies entirely as a woman…or girl.  She doesn’t seem to have any notion at all of being male in any way at all.”

“And I believe she doesn’t even remember ever being a boy,” Knox told us.  “As far as I can see from the few sessions I’ve had with her, she believes herself to be a woman, and she always has been.  In fact, all those punishments all her life would have driven all thoughts of anything else out of her.”

“And I don’t know what to do about that,” I told him.  “Any suggestions?”

He shrugged.  “None that I can think of right now, except…”

“Yes?”

“Treat her like a woman.  She thinks she is.  From what I understand, so did you until you learned differently.”

“Which is,” I said, “the obvious answer.  Anything else?” I asked him.

“A few things,” he replied.  “One of which is probably not what Doctor Wilcox here would concur with.”

“Oh, I concur,” Wilcox said.  “It’s just that in her current state, I don’t know if it’s wise.”

“What?” I asked.  I saw Wilcox wave his hand toward Knox, indicating for him to tell us.

“It may be a good thing for Freaky if you remove her from here,” he said.

“That’s our intention,” I told him.  “I’m just waiting for someone to either bring her here or bring us to her.”

“No,” Knox said.  “This institution may be the wrong type of therapy for her.  The wrong place for her to get what she needs.”

“Where did you have in mind?  A bigger mental hospital?”

“No.  Not a mental facility at all.  I believe she needs a chance to actually see what’s out in the world around her.  Let her see the real difference between what she believes things should be, and what actually exists everywhere else.  And more than that, I believe she needs a teacher.”

“A teacher?” I asked.

“Yes.  Somone she trusts who can explain things to her and help her understand all those things that she doesn’t know.”

I sat and considered that.

“He’s right,” Natalie said to me.  “I think he’s exactly right about that, but once again, we’re up against the same old questions with her, where, and now who.”

I understood what she was saying.  Where were we going to put Freaky, and who was going to watch over her.  “True,” I said to Nat.  “But like it or not, I want her out of here.  Today!  I want to bring her home…somewhere, but not only do we have no place to put her, according to what your husband told us, Gary is gunning for her too.  He wants her dead, and he’s already tried to kill you, and your husband.  But despite that, I still want to get her out of here.  They cut her damn hair off for heaven’s sake, and sank her into…who knows what kind of depression.  Anger for sure, and I have no doubt I’d feel the same if someone did that to me.”

“We’re still keeping her sedated,” Wilcox told us, “to counter her anger.  As I said earlier, she gets quite violent when she’s not sedated.”

I saw Knox look at his watch.  “She’ll be due for another shot very soon, so the sedation will be starting to wear off now, but it’s going to be some time yet before it’s completely out of her system.”

“If you remove her from here,” Wilcox said, “we can’t be responsible for what she may do.”

I saw Natalie look over at me questioningly.  “We’ll have to take our chances,” I told them.

Wilcox nodded.  “Just so long as you know.”

“Even sedated as she is,” Knox said.  “She’s been sitting on the floor of her room, hugging all that cut hair and crying.  Except over and over again she keeps saying the same thing.  I want Shantel, I want Lisa.  I don’t know who they are, but perhaps one of them can be of help to her,” he suggested.

I looked over at Natalie.

“I think Freaky mentioned them at the shelter.” Natalie said.  “They were the friends she had developed in the short time she was there.  Unfortunately, the shelter didn’t want her any longer.”

I looked to Wilcox.  “Can we get her now?  As I said, we’ve got a long drive back to where we live.”

Wilcox nodded and got up.  “Right this way.”

We followed him through the hallway and up to a door where he punched in a code to unlock it.  Once through, it was obvious that we were now among the patients of the place.  He and Knox led us to a small room.  The door was open.  Freaky was inside, sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth while she hugged a mass of hair to her chest.  This was heavily sedated?  If so, then Freaky looked to be in worse shape than they had let on.  She looked strange without all that hair attached to her head.  And that’s despite the fact that she was holding it in her lap like she often did before they had cut it.  I noted the pink scrubs she was wearing, marking her as one of the female patients of the hospital.

“Freaky!” Natalie exclaimed the moment she laid eyes on her.  She rushed in and knelt down on the floor with her and hugged her.

“I want Shantel.  I want Lisa.” Freaky said.  Despite her destress, I thought she sounded drugged…which she was.

“You miss them?” Natalie asked.

“I want Shantel.  I want Lisa.”

Natalie looked back at me, then stood up and looked to Wilcox.  “She was wearing a dress when she came in.  Since those scrubs are for your patients, I’m guessing you’d rather she doesn’t take them with her.”

“No,” Wilcox confirmed.  “Our budget is only so big.  I’ll have that dress found right away.”  He hurried off, leaving us with only Knox.

“What do we do?” Natalie asked me softly.

“I don’t know?” I admitted, even though I was beginning to get the start of an idea.  A bad idea!  “I’m wondering if it would do her any good if we stop back at the shelter and see if Shantel and Lisa are still there.  They may not be.”

Natalie nodded.  “I was thinking the same thing.  Maybe just seeing her friends for a little while might help.”

“Maybe,” I said, still trying to work though that idea.

Wilcox came back with a staff woman dressed in green scrubs.  She had a dress in her hands.  “This is what she was wearing when she arrived,” the woman told us.  “Let me see if I can help get her dressed.  She hasn’t exactly been very cooperative lately.”

She moved in and got down to Freaky’s level.  I saw her talking softly to Freaky, trying to get her to agree to change into the dress.  Freaky just kept sitting and rocking and hugging her hair.  “I want Shantel.  I want Lisa.”

“Freaky!” I said loud enough to try to get her attention.  “Do you want to see Shantel and Lisa?  If so, put the dress on.”

Freaky’s head shot up to look at me.  “Shantel?  Lisa?”

“We’ll take you, but you’ve got to change first.”

I watched as Freaky forced herself to her feet, leaving the hair on the floor.  The moment she stood, she seemed unsteady on her feet, and I was afraid she would fall, but the staff woman grabbed her and held her until she was a bit steadier.  Despite Knox and Wilcox being there, she helped Freaky remove the scrubs she was wearing, and she pulled the dress over her head.  She zipped it up the back.

Freaky looked at me.  “Lisa?  Shantel?”

I nodded.  “Come on Freaky.  Let’s get you out of here.”

She started to walk out with us, but she suddenly stopped and turned.  I noticed her looking down at all that hair that had been cut from her head.  A lot of hair!  She started to move toward it to take it, but she stopped and turned…and walked out of the room.

 

The Last Jeskey - Chapter 31

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 31

 

(Day 6 – Tuesday)

 

Freaky

 

“Hi Freaky.  Come on in.”

I was starting to like Doctor Knox.  At least he was always nice to me.  It seemed like he was the only person around who was nice to me.  As far as Carol went, that woman seemed to absolutely hate me.  I had no idea as to why though.  Maybe because I kept telling her that she wasn’t a good girl…like me.  I went into the doctor’s little room and sat down again.

“How are you today?” he asked me.

“Why doesn’t Carol like me?” I asked.

“Carol?”

“The woman who wears the green outfit.”

“Her,” the doctor said with a nod.  “She doesn’t like you?”

“No.  She yells at me all the time.”

“About what?”

“About me not doing things she thinks I should.”

“Oh?  Like what?”

“Like…yesterday it was about some kind of brush to use on my teeth.  I mean…my teeth?  That’s crazy!  And then she was yelling because I didn’t use another brush on my hair.  What for?  And then today she yelled at me because I sleep on the floor.  I’m not supposed to sleep in a bed.  I’m a girl    !  Why can’t she get that through her head?  And right after that she got mad when I told her that girls aren’t supposed to use the bathrooms either.  We’re supposed to have pee holes outside.”

“Pee holes,” he said.

“Yeah.  Of course.”

He nodded.  “I remember reading about that in the notes that the shelter sent.”

“They didn’t have one either!” I pointed out.  “It’s not right!”

He seemed to take a big breath.  “Freaky,” he said.  “I’ve been talking with Doctor Wilcox about you, and he’s left it up to me to tell you a few things.  Too many things I fear, but you’ve got to be told sooner or later I’m afraid.  We both agreed that maybe sooner would be the better option.  And I’m very afraid that some of it you’re going to find more than a bit disturbing.”

“Disturbing?”

“You’re probably not going to want to hear it.”

I shrugged.  “Like what?”

“Freaky,” he said.  “The only reason I’m telling you all this, is so that you’ll know, and we can start working on you understanding and hopefully accepting all of it.  That’s our final goal.”

“Did Gary die?” I asked.  “Cause if he did, I don’t know who’s going to take care of me now.”

“Uh…not that I’m aware of,” he told me.  “Okay Freaky, here’s the deal.  And like I said, I already know you’re not going to believe it or even want to believe it, but everything I’m about to tell you is the truth.”

I sighed.  “What is it already?”

“Your uncles have been lying to you all your life.”

“My uncles?  No way!  They take care of me.  They’re the only reason I’m still alive.  Without them I wouldn’t have a house to live in or food to eat.  I would have died many years ago.  They wouldn’t lie to me!  I know it!”

“You know it, and yet, they’ve lied to you about almost everything, your entire life.”

“No they didn’t!  What do you think they’ve told me that’s a lie?”

“I’m guessing,” he said, “that most of it revolves around what you think is men’s business, and what’s women’s business.  What men can do, and what girls can do.  Freaky, your entire life has been one big lie right from the very start.”

“No…it…hasn’t!”

“Yes, Freaky.  Like I said, I didn’t expect you to understand or believe it right away, but it’s true.  And that’s what we have to help you discover and figure out.  And I already know it’s going to go slowly and take some time.  In fact, this place here may be the absolute worst place for you to learn any of it, but I’m afraid, it’s all we have.”

“With Carol yelling at me all the time.”

He nodded.  “Yes.  I’m afraid so.  Even with Carol yelling at you.  I believe she’s trying to help you, despite what you think.”

“I don’t like it.  I don’t like her!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.  But that brings me to the next point I was asked to tell you.”

“What now?”

“Freaky, do you know what kidnapped means?”

“No.”

“Kidnapped is when someone steals another person and keeps them.”

“For what?”

“For…whatever they want.  Sometimes it’s because they don’t have a baby or a child of their own.  Sometimes, it’s for worse reasons.  Someone who’s been kidnapped, is someone who was stolen.  Do you understand that much?”

I stared at him.  “I think so.  But that doesn’t sound good.”

“No, it’s not.  It’s very bad.  Very, very bad!”

I nodded.  “Okay.  But I don’t think Bo stole any of his sons.  His wife just died a long time ago.”

He nodded then continued.  “Do you remember when we talked about your real mother and father and how you couldn’t remember them, but you did vaguely remember someone back when you were very little?”

“Yeah.  I still can’t remember who they were.”

“Freaky, we know now that those people were indeed your real mother and father.  According to the information we were given shortly after you got here, they discovered that Bo and some of his sons murdered your mother and father, and they stole you to keep for themselves.”

I shook my head.  “No.  They wouldn’t do that.  It doesn’t even make sense!  They’ve taken good care of me all my life.  They’ve taught me everything!”

“Everything wrong!” he pointed out.

“No!  Not wrong.  Everything right!  Everything the way it’s supposed to be!  That’s what’s wrong with everybody else!”

“Freaky, did you ever stop to think that maybe everyone else is right, and maybe you’re the one who’s wrong?”

“No!  Bo and the others wouldn’t lie to me!”

“But they did,” Knox said gently.

“And I don’t believe it!  I know they didn’t!  I’m a good girl!”

“Freaky, I’m more than sure that you are.  But as for everything else, I honestly believe that what you really need is to get away from here.  You need to see more of the world than just that farm you were living on.  You need to get away so you can see how everyone else really lives.  And more than that, I believe you need a teacher.”

“What’s a teacher?”

“Someone who can teach you things.  Show you how everything is supposed to be and how everything is supposed to work.  Someone who can explain the entire world to you.  Not to mention, someone who can teach you to read and count.”

“But I’m a good girl.  Girls don’t need…”

“Freaky!  Like it or not, the truth is that girls, all girls, all people, need to learn to read and to count.  All that stuff that your uncles have been telling you about men’s and women’s business is wrong.  All wrong!  None of it is true!”

“Yes it is!  Yes it is!  They wouldn’t lie to me.”

He stared at me for a few moments, letting me calm down before he said, “I’m afraid there’s one other thing I need to let you know as well.  Something more unbelievable than any of the rest.”

“What?” I sulked.

“You were once a boy.”

I stood up.  “You’re…just…stupid!” I yelled before I walked out of there.

How could he even think such things?  It was all so dumb.  I hurried back towards the door where Doctor Wilcox had brought me in.  I tried to open it, but it was locked.  No amount of tugging would make it budge.  I noticed the buttons next to the door.  I pressed a few of them, but they did nothing at all.  I couldn’t get out!

Angrily, I turned around and went back to my room.  I passed Carol on the way.  “I hate you!” I shouted at her, and I kept going.

I went all the way back to my room where I walked around in circles in the tiny space.  What do these people know?  Nothing!  Bo would never lie to me.  He was my uncle.  He took good care of me all my life.  He fed me and made sure I had a house to live in.  He was the only reason I was alive today.  I’d be dead without him.  He…wouldn’t…lie!  I knew that fact better than I knew anything else.  He had told me enough times so that I’d never forget it.  They all had.  And now this stupid doctor thinks I’m a boy?  Is he blind?  And I was starting to like him.  It’s not Bo who ever lied to me, it’s that stupid doctor!

“What’s wrong with you now?” Carol asked from my doorway.

“Go away!  I hate you!  You’re all stupid!” I yelled.

Instead of going away, she came into my room.  “What’s got you all hot and bothered now?” she asked angrily.

“None of you know anything at all about the way you’re supposed to behave.  None of you know the difference between men’s business and girl’s business.  None of you know the way things are supposed to be!  You’re all just stupid!  Especially you!  And especially, especially that stupid doctor!  Go away, and don’t come back!  Ever!”

I could see how angry she was.  Well so was I.

“I’ve had enough of you!” Carol said menacingly.  “You need a reality check!”

She walked out of my room, and I was glad to see her go.  Why did she have to yell at me so much?  I didn’t understand any of it.  Why didn’t she know any of the things I did?

Unfortunately, Carol came back a few minutes later, and she had Wanda and that guy that took me to see Doctor Knox with her.  I also noticed she had a big pair of scissors in her hand.

“Stick her on the bed, on her stomach, and hold her down!  Firmly!” she ordered.  When Wanda and the guy didn’t do it right away, she yelled, “Do it!  Let’s see if we can adjust her attitude a little bit.”

Like it or not, they grabbed me and forced me down onto my bed, then they both held me down.  I started struggling as hard as I could, but with the two of them, I couldn’t get away.  And then I felt the most horrible thing in the world.  Carol grabbed my hair, and I could feel her starting to cut it, right up at my neck.  I screamed and screamed and screamed.  I struggled as hard as I could, but none of it did any good.  I still felt her cutting my hair off.  All of it.  And then the final bit of it was suddenly gone, and I felt Carol grab all that hair and pull the weight of it from my head and body.

“Let her up,” Carol told them.

Wanda and the guy let go of me and my hands immediately went to my head.  All my hair was gone.  I started screaming and screaming.  I looked at Carol, and she looked so satisfied.  Like it or not, not caring what kind of punishment they would do to me, I launched myself at her.  I attacked her as hard as I could, kicking and scratching and hitting her with every ounce of strength I had.  Both the guy and Wanda grabbed me and held me away from her, and I still struggled and screamed as hard and as loud as I could.  And I kept at it.

Carol ran out of there, but I still struggled and screamed and screamed some more.  Carol eventually came back.  “Hold her still!” she told them.  Then she stuck some kind of really thin knife or something right into my arm.  I screamed even louder since it hurt so much.  But only a moment after that, I started to feel really weird, then weirder, and then so tired.  They laid me on the bed and let go of me.

I was so tired.  So sleepy.  But not too tired to see both Doctor Knox and Doctor Wilcox run into my room.  I saw them both looking around, then they looked at Carol.

“What happened?” Knox asked her.

“I did what needed to be done!” Carol shot back angrily as she pointed at all my hair on the floor..  “She needed a reality check.”

“You have no idea what you’ve just done,” Wilcox said.  “You not only took away her security blanket, the only comfort she had, you removed her very identity…what little identity she actually had.”

That’s the last thing I could remember for a long time.

 

The Last Jeskey - Chapter 30

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 30

 

(Day 6 – Tuesday)

 

Sheriff Cobb

 

Eight vehicles traveled the dirt road leading into the Jeskey farm.  I was hopeful that this time we would find something…something else.  Last time we had found a barn full of drugs and guns, but I knew there was more out there.  Probably a lot more.  At this point, I was mostly interested in money and dead bodies, but I would take anything I could get.  Any win at all.  I knew going in that there was a better than even chance that we would drive out again with nothing at all.  I prayed that wouldn’t be the case.

I was in the lead car with Russ discussing how we wanted to handle this massive search, when we were both suddenly scared to death by a bullet hitting our windshield, at the same time a loud gunshot reached us as well.  I slammed on the brakes and got lucky that the car behind me didn’t crash into us.  A second shot hit the windshield and Russ and I both bailed out of the car and took shelter behind the open car doors.

There was a bend in the road ahead.  Since the bullets had hit the windshield, the gunshots had to have come from there.  With my gun in my hand, I carefully poked my head up enough to see.  Nothing.  Nothing but trees and brush ahead of me.  All of it too thick to see through.

“See anything?” I called over to Russ.

“Nope!  Nada!” Russ yelled back.  “But they had to have come from just ahead.”

He could have at least tried to tell me something I didn’t know.

We waited there like that for a good minute before I slid back in the car.  Russ slid in beside me.  “Let’s see what we can find,” I told him as I put the car in gear.

Slowly we eased forward.  There were two holes in the middle of the windshield.  At this point, I no longer wondered if it was Gary Jeskey or not, we were practically at the Jeskey place.  It had to be him.

We reached the bend, and I could see Russ turning his head almost frantically looking for the perpetrator.  “Where the hell is he?” Russ exclaimed.

I said nothing.  I was busy searching the road not just ahead of me, but on my side of the car.  The road started running through the woods now, going around another bend, making things even more difficult.  Where was he?  Where was Gary Jeskey?  A few minutes later, the trees were left behind and open land surrounded us as the dirt road straightened out.  And ahead of us…the Jeskey farm.

“What the hell!” I yelled angrily as I stopped the car and pounded the steering wheel.  “Where is he?”  I turned to Russ.  “Russ, take the last two cars and search the area back at that bend.  I’m going on ahead with everyone else.  Find that bastard!  And Russ…watch your back.”

“You don’t have to tell me Sheriff,” he replied.  “But you better watch your back too.  As I see it, he didn’t pass us going the other way, so more than likely he’s back at that farm.”

Shit!  He was right.  The farm was the most likely place he would be.  Or maybe somewhere in the woods on that farm, waiting to ambush us again.  Shit!  “You’re right.  Search the bend anyway, and like I said, be careful.  Then join us as soon as you can.”

He got out of the car and ran back the way we had come.  Unless Gary was waiting at the farm for us, it was starting to look like once again the Jeskeys had disappeared and left us with nothing to go on.  Shit!

I moved on ahead to the farm, my eyes already checking the three vehicles that were still parked there.  Nope.  Just the ones that had belonged to the now dead Jeskeys.  Roxie, why the hell didn’t you shoot Gary and Dave as well?  Especially Gary!

We all parked our cars in front of the house.  We all got out cautiously, looking everywhere.  Every man I could see either had his gun drawn, or was carrying a rifle, and they were all ready to use those weapons.  I saw no sign of Gary or his pickup.  Where had he gone?  Not knowing scared me to death.

Since nothing much had happened since we got there, I sent a few men inside to look for any sign that Gary might have been there.  I turned my eyes toward the barn and the other outbuildings.  We had searched them last time, but I intended on searching them again.  This time with a better eye toward finding hidden places.  Those false walls in the barn had been almost impossible to spot.  Behind the barn and the other outbuildings was the tree line.  The trees that comprised the majority of the Jeskey land.  I was convinced though that those trees held a lot more secrets than they should have.  The woods were where I wanted to focus most of my search, but all of it had me more scared than I had ever been.  Gary was out there somewhere gunning for me, and like all the Jeskeys, he seemed a bit too good at hiding.

My cellphone rang and I answered it.  “Yeah?”

“Sheriff,” Russ’s voice came back.  “Did you know there’s an almost invisible road running through these woods?”

“No.  Doesn’t surprise me though.”

“If I were to bet, Gary was leaving and just happened to spot us coming.  He waited here, took his shots, got back in his truck and left.  We drove right past it earlier and didn’t see the thing.  In fact, if Gary hadn’t just driven through there, we probably wouldn’t have spotted it at all.  We did find two shells from a rifle though.  Sheriff, he’s long gone I’m afraid.”

“That doesn’t surprise me either,” I told him, actually hoping it was true.  I was still worried that Gary was back at the farm a bit too near us, just waiting to get a better shot at me.  “Get the boys out here.  Let’s set up this search.”

Once again Gary Jeskey had taken some shots at me.  Once again he had missed.  I couldn’t count on him continuing to miss.  I would be a dead man if I didn’t find him very soon.

While a few men were searching the house, I and everyone else started searching the few outbuildings.  We considered every place we could see to be somewhere that Gary could be waiting for us.

I took one of the deputies with me, and with my gun in my hand, I chanced opening a small shed, the building that appeared to be further away from the house than any of the others.  I pushed the door open, but stayed well away from the empty passage.  No gunshot had been fired at me when I opened the door.  I quickly ducked my head in, then back out.  I had seen nothing but junk.  I took a closer look, carefully checking all around.  My first impression had been correct.  Nothing but junk.  Rusted junk at that.  Farm implements that hadn’t been touched in years.  I already knew that the Jeskeys weren’t exactly interested in farming.  They just lived on all that land.

“Nothing Sheriff,” the deputy with me said.

I could see that, but still, I took as close a look as I could, remembering those hidden hiding places in the barn.  The shed was too small for false walls, and as far as I could see, nothing in it had been touched in forever.  I went back out and closed the door, starting to move on toward the next building.  But we didn’t get far at all.

“Smells out here,” the deputy noted.

I stopped where I was.  He was right.  “Yeah,” I agreed.  “It does.”

Looking around, we soon found the reason for that smell.  Behind the shed we discovered a hole in the ground that looked to be nearly waist deep.  There was a pile of dirt right next to it.  The ground around that hole though was well packed down from someone walking on it quite a bit.  The awful smell in the air was coming from that hole.  Shit!  I had found Freaky’s pee hole that she had talked about so much.  I never wanted to believe such a thing, but here it was, right in front of me, in all its stinky, smelly glory.  Or gory.

“An outhouse without a building?” the deputy wondered.

“Something like that,” I told him.

“Why the hell didn’t they just turn the shed into an outhouse.  It would be perfect, and probably pretty easy.”

I considered that, and he was right.  “My guess?” I said.  “This is where Bo made Freaky go to the bathroom all the time.  The hole was put here to keep the smell as far from the house as possible.  But I guess Bo didn’t want her to have a proper outhouse like he could have created in that shed.  I’m guessing, he didn’t want to give her that much dignity.  Let’s move on.”

“Yeah,” the deputy replied.  “Gladly!”

We moved on.  There was an old broken water pump not far from the shed.  I ignored it, but the deputy took a closer look.  He needn’t have bothered.  The handle was broken off and it was obvious that it hadn’t been used in years.  I had seen a better one, a working pump out behind the house.  This one was obviously left over from the previous owner, or more likely, several owners ago.  It could have been left over from the civil war for all I knew.  The deputy kicked the thing, and we moved on, closer toward the house.

The next structure was a pump house.  This was where the modern system was that supplied all the water to the farm.  It made sense that it would be near that old broken pump.  That pump practically shouted that hey, there’s water down below.  I took a careful look around that shed.  The pump was modern and well maintained.  Electric powered.  In fact, it didn’t look very old at all.  The Jeskeys had probably installed a new one not too many years ago.  After searching the pump house carefully, we left it behind.

I saw some of my men coming out of the barn.  They had searched it again, but that didn’t stop me from going inside for my own look around.  I pretty much ignored the horse stalls near the front where those hidden doors had been.  This time I took a more careful look at everything else in the barn.

Nope, it didn’t look like the Jeskeys did any farming, although I did see some faint signs of chickens living in part of it as well as some other kind of animals, but there was nothing at all there now.

I was surprised to see all the woodworking tools in the barn.  Was Bo or one of his sons into woodworking?  I remembered something I had seen inside the house that I hadn’t thought about before.  A lot of the furniture inside was wooden.  I had also seen a bunch of wooden Adirondack chairs on the front porch and more around a fire area in the yard.  Had Bo Jeskey made that furniture?  It looked like it was possible.  A psychopathic killer who built furniture.  Who would have thought?  But the truth was, it was entirely likely.  Bo Jeskey was full of surprises.  More than I imagined.

“Sheriff!”

I turned and saw Russ walking into the barn.  “Anything?” I asked him.

“Just that road.  I sent the other car to see where it goes.  It was there, but it couldn’t have been used much at all.  If we hadn’t gotten lucky, we would have never seen the thing.”

“That’s the impression I’m getting about this whole place,” I told him.  “Look at those false walls we found in the barn here.  If Freaky hadn’t shown them to us, we would have never seen them.”

“The guys are almost done with the house.  Nothing yet,” he told me.  Do you want me to set up to search the woods?”

“Yeah,” I said.  “It’s time.  As we talked earlier, there’s a lot of woods out there.  Take a few men and search the edges carefully and try to mark any possible trails and roads leading through them.  There’s just too much woods to do anything else.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.  “And if they used the woods, they had to leave some kind of trails.”

“Exactly,” I told him.

“On it, Sheriff!”

He took off and I went back to eyeing the stuff in the barn.  I didn’t see any hay, but I did see a partial bag of chicken feed stashed up on a shelf where the chickens wouldn’t be able to get to it.  Down below I saw a bag of pig feed.  As far as I could see, they were the only farm-like things the Jeskeys had on the place.

I gave up and left the barn behind.  So far, we had found a lot of nothing.  Not even Gary Jeskey.  Unfortunately.

I waited and watched as my men fanned out and searched the edges of the woods.  Marker flags began to grace the start of places where they had found trails or roads leading through the trees.  Russ came running back to me before they were finished.

“Three roads leading in Sheriff,” he told me.  A few walking trails, but they barely look used.  We’ll check them anyway.”

“Good,” I replied.  “Any of those roads look like it’s been used more than the others?”

“One,” he told me.

“Let’s go take a walk,” I said.  “Send the guys to check everything else.  And Russ, emphasize again that they need to keep a sharp watch.”

“No need for that,” Rus replied.  “The guys already know there’s a lot of bears in this part of the state.”

I nodded.  That was the primary reason for all the rifles the men were carrying.  We couldn’t shoot the bears unless they actually attacked.  But the noise should frighten the beasts away.  Usually anyway.

Russ called some orders to the deputies as he led me toward one of those markers.  No doubt about it.  The road leading through those trees looked well used.  I was tempted to take one of the cars, but this was a search.  We might miss something if we drove a vehicle.

With two other deputies with us, one of them carrying a rifle, we began walking the road.  The road continued to look well used, but where did it go?  Why was it there?  So far, I could see no reason for it.  But you didn’t build a road that ran through the woods for no reason at all, so there had to be something out there.  We walked nearly half an hour before we found that reason, and the end of the road.  Shit!

There was a pond there.  And from the fishing poles leaning against one of the trees and more of those Adirondak chairs, it was obvious that the Jeskey boys had done more than a bit of fishing there.  But it wasn’t the water or any of the discarded fishing gear that held everyone’s attention.  It was the big black shape on the other side of that pond.  A bear.  A rather large bear.  We all watched it carefully until it gave up watching us and wandered slowly back into the woods.  It had been on the other side of the water, we had guns, but we all breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Following the road had turned out to be useless.  Shit!

By the time we got back to the house, the other deputies were back as well.  “Did anybody find anything at all?” I asked.  I got no answers.  Just a lot of disappointed faces.  “How about those other two roads?” I asked.

“They went too far for us to follow all the way on foot,” one of the deputies told me.  “But it was pretty obvious that they were both used for hunting access.”

Hunting access.  “Yeah.  No doubt.  All that land.  All those trees.  And it was all prime hunting territory and owned by the Jeskeys.  They could, and would hunt their own land, probably a lot.  Hence, the roads to get back there.

Bottom line?  We had come up completely empty.  Shit!

“Okay guys,” I said.  “Let’s go home.”

We piled back into our vehicles and headed back.  We had found nothing.  No guns.  No drugs.  No anything!  Not even one missing ginormous safe.  A safe that was big enough that they had needed a flatbed truck to transport the thing.  Where was it?  Where was all the money I knew the Jeskeys had to have?

And more importantly, where the hell was Gary Jeskey?  That worried me more than anything.  He was still out there, still trying to kill me.  And he was getting closer each time.

Yeah, no doubt about it, this had been one shit day!

Shit!