Haunted (Michael Bennett 10)

“I hope you brought your gun.”

I said, “I hope I did, too.”

Sadie heard us and said, “You won’t need a gun. Nothing but ghosts up here.”

“Just like there were ghosts at my house when you lived there?”

“No. There really are ghosts up here. This is no rumor.” She kept moving and disappeared into the darkness.

Chapter 60

After a few minutes of marching through the woods with Sadie, we came to a stop in a clearing. It was around the size of a basketball court. Just an odd shape in the middle of the forest. Two boulders forced the trees to grow at odd angles on the edge of the clearing.

Sandy and I both swept the area with our flashlights quickly. If anything was going to happen, it would happen right now. I don’t know why I was jumpy, but things were getting weird and I was stuck in the middle of the woods. If that isn’t a reason to be jumpy, I don’t know what is.

Sadie walked directly over to the larger of the two boulders, turned, and sat on top of it. It appeared as if it was a regular resting spot for her. She just looked at us, not saying a word.

I stepped over to her and said, “Is this what you wanted us to see?”

She nodded and gave me a sly smile.

“Am I missing something? I don’t see anything out of the ordinary here.”

“I think that’s why they like this spot. That’s why they use it.”

“Who likes it? What do they use it for?” I was starting to feel like this girl was playing games with us. But I still had the feeling that she was onto something. She just didn’t have that many opportunities to play games like this. I had to be patient. The same as if she were one of my own kids. Hell, she could’ve been one of my own kids.

Sadie finally said, “This is where they do it. Here and in the woods around the edge.” She spread her arms to show us she was talking about the place where the forest ended. “No reason for anyone to come up here. Nothing really to see. No hiking trails. Tourists don’t care about just another patch of woods. This is where they like to bury the bodies.”

Sandy’s head snapped up, and she said, “Who likes to bury the bodies? How do you know that?”

“Because this is where they buried me. At least they tried to.” She pointed to a shallow dip in the grass and said, “Right over there.”

I stepped over and inspected the ground. Grass had grown over the spot. The fact that there was a ridge around the hole, and the size of it, made it look like a grave. But that didn’t make sense. I turned to Sadie and asked, “Why would someone bury you?”

“They thought I was dead. I probably looked dead. I was over at Dell Streeter’s house and got so high I guess I just passed out. They didn’t want to answer any questions, so Dell and one of his boys brought me up here, dug a grave, and planted me.”

“Why would they just dump you?”

“They told me it was bad for business to have dead customers. This was just after my mom died. They said it was a good thing she died in Brunswick because no one would care where she got the stuff.”

Listening to Sadie tell her story, I realized just how smart she really was. She understood exactly what had happened and why. She wasn’t feeling sorry for herself. I sensed that she was mad. Maybe it just took her a while to stand up for herself.

Sandy said, “How’d you escape?”

“Before they were done throwing dirt on me, I woke up. I think I scared the shit out of them. I started coughing up dirt. I remember sitting right there and starting to cry. I thought I really was dead and they were doing the right thing.”

I took a minute and walked to the edge of the trees, using my light to check the ground carefully. Not far from where Sadie said her grave had been, I saw two uneven ripples on the ground. They had been there awhile. Grass was growing over them. Maybe it was the power of suggestion, but they looked like graves to me.

Sandy stepped up close to me and said, “We’re going to have to go over this place carefully in the morning. I need to call in some crime-scene people.”

I sat down on the boulder next to Sadie and put my arm around her shoulder. She didn’t seem too upset. I wanted her to know she wasn’t alone. Her body felt slight next to mine. I wanted to hug her and give her a good meal. It was the kind of thing any parent would have done.

We sat in silence for a few moments until I said, “Once they realized you were alive, what happened?”

“They let me go. But they told me if I ever talked to anyone about this, I’d be one dead bitch.”

Sadie turned and looked me in the face.