Chapter 85

They found the site Colleen James might have been referring to in her codicil, "A place along the river," Dean announced. Ten thirty at night. Brian looked at his watch again. Sarra had taken the Taurus more than two hours ago. "They are finding bodies there, well bones rather. It looked like two woman and a baby. Coroner says they have been there eight or ten years."

"Dear God." Stard breathed. "Roxy Markel, and Marie Patton."

"Probably. Except the baby, It has been there for more like eighteen or twenty years."

"Christie." Brian said.

"His mothers codicil willed him Christie.?" Max asked flabbergasted. "He dug up Christie?"

"Could be." Stard said "We know he got something from thata location the night he received the codicil."

The same night he killed Gloria Michaels. Brian couldn't believe it.

"Maybe." Dean acknowledged and didn't seem to want to say the rest. He swallowed. "The baby's skull is missing."

Silence. No one knew what to say to that.

Brian shook his head. At this moment, he couldn't care about Colleen James's codicil or victims who had been dead for years or even baby bones. All he could think about was finding Brandon. Finding Sarra and Abby.

He closed his eyes, thoughts  wriggling in his mind like maggots. Brandon loved Christie, So said the sheriff Parker. Mother sang so she couldn't hear Christie cry, so said Brandon, when attacking Sarra. And more....This is just like home.... Mother's land...Scream so mother will stop.

Jesus. The school Counselor, Sharee Paige, had been right to try to get Christie away from that crazy place. If only someone had listened to her, maybe they wouldn't be digging up baby bones in the backyard now.

Brian froze. "He is going home." he said, more to himself than to the room.

Dean looked at him. "What?"

"His mother's land. He wants to kill Sarra there."

"How the hell do you know that Fuller? You get something the rest of us don't know?"

yes. His hand fisted, the urge to tell all nearly overwhelming. "Think about it," he said, noticing Stard 's eyes on him. "Ever woman, even Gloria Micheal's was killed or left in a forest or a body of water. The place he found Christie became his burial ground, maybe even his killing ground for the next two after Gloria. He's recreated that setting with almost ever woman."

"But even if you are right,' Dean said." There is no way he could be at that site now. It is swarming with cops and Feds. They put up flood lights, have order to dig until it's clean."

"So he will have to find another place to do Sarra, or a place just like it." Max said.

"Find another place close to that river, remote enough to get away with killing someone in the middle of the night.....?" Harrison's big shoulders slumped. "There must be hundred of miles like that."

"But he won't go far. He wants his mother to hear." Brian said.

Dean was angry. "Fuller, if you know  something we don't, spit it out."

Brian swallowed, shooting a silent plea to Stard.

Trust me.

"I think he is right," she said after the minute. "That might be where he is."

"But would Sarra know that? She is at large, too." Max said logically. "Presumably trying to meet him."

Brian frowned, trying to think. He recalled drawing out a map on a napkin for Sarra, Brandon's land, Dean's hunting grounds, the gun store..."She might go to his house. If she thinks that is where Brandon took Abby." An idea popped to the surface. " Could we still have a scent of Brandon from where he camped out in Sarra's basement?"

"For dogs?" Dean asked. "I don't know. But even if they can track Brandon, they could track Sarra or the little girl."

"How long to get there by chopper?" Brian asked.

"You could be there in forty minutes." Max answered. "But what if that is not where they are? We have nothing but your hunch, Fuller, and we are putting all our eggs in that one basket___"

"Agent Dean." A secretary popped her head in the door. "The RA in Destin just called. They just found the car Sarra Jane was driving." Brian's heart sank. "It is at a little gas station four miles from Brandon James's home."

"Petro" Brian said.

"Right. One of the local cops checked that store because its lights were all out. and usually it is open all night. Clerk was shot dead, clerk's '85 Chevy is gone, Jane's  or rather Foster's Taurus is parked there."

"Jesus," Brian said reeling.

Max slumped. "All right. It is the right basket for our eggs."

"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus."

"Shut up." Dean barked. "Is there a surveillance tape from the store?"

"They are feeding it through right now. You should be able to access it in a minute." The woman said to max. "But there is one more thing. Gretchen's Monte Carlo was there, too, parked inside the car wash where no one could see it."

"Mother of god," Whispered Harrison. "He is going home."

Dean snapped his fingers. "All right. Get those dogs, get the chopper." To the secretary: "Call Destin RA and give him my private line. Tell him to call me directly from now on."

"Sarra left Foster's two and a half hours ago." Stard said

"We will see the time on the video." Max said. "Here it comes."

They all gathered behind Max, watching the security tape. Nothing happened on it at first and Max fast forward the images, then Brandon entered the store and Max slowed the speed to normal. Everything happened in choppy black and white silence.

The clerk went down, a single gun shot from a handgun a foot away, right through the young mans nose, splat, and into the wall behind him. Brandon watched him slide to the floor, grabbed a Reece's cup and ripped it open, then went around the counter and bent over the body for a second. He rose and went to the back of the store, tossing something small in his hand. The lights in the store flicked off and on once, then he left through the front door and there was nothing else for__ Brian watched the numbers go by as Max fast forwarded, five minutes, ten, twenty, thirty five. Then the front door opened, and a woman's head poked in.

Sarra

And she must have seen something because suddenly she was gone again, and there was a flurry of activity outside the door. A minute later the camera caught the smudge of her face pressed into the glass and Brandon, a few inches taller, manhandling her from behind. Terror clawed at Brian. It was happening in real time, he reminded himself; it had occurred. He couldn't stop it, it was over . Just watch, and think. Panic coursed through his veins, he was unable to tell what Brandon was doing to her. The details were obscured by the stickers on the glass door and the glare from the outside lights through the camera Len's, until Brandon walked Sarra back through the store and into the back. Dragging her, like she was hurt. Her mouth was covered in duct tape, a dark stain above her right breast, her hands behind her back.

And then the picture went dark. The camera kept running, but there were only shadows moving through the store. The door opened and closed. The shadows vanished.

A living, breathing documentary of something that had happened an hour ago, a hundred and ten miles away. Brian wasn't sure his heart was beating.

The secretary returned when the recording ended saying fresh blood had been found on shards of glass in the parking lot. "And", and she added, careful not to look at Brian, "Jane's purse was found at the gas station. Even Foster's rugger is found inside."