Crucified (5 page)

****

A growing crowd
of townspeople shouted out their anger and frustration. Early that
morning, the postmaster had opened up the Post Office, to find a
ghastly picture of Casey pinned to the board. Witnesses told how Ed
Tilbert threw up on his feet before letting out a blood-curdling
scream. Two plain clothed officers had discarded their post at the
doors and ran to his aid.

Dianne and Seth
waded through the cluster of onlookers. One woman clutched her
housecoat together, and a man looked their way, his eyes a tad too
bright, shaving cream dripped from his chin. Seth stood at the
front to try and contain the crowd while she slipped inside.

A small group
of officers stood in front of the bulletin board, blocking her view
of the picture.

“
Did anyone touch the picture?” Her voiced commanded attention,
and the officers parted and let her pass. Dianne’s stomach turned
and she switched on her internal Agent button.

Young Casey was
tied to a crudely made cross. On her stomach resembled the writing
of a kindergarten student with a tube of lipstick. The name JEZEBEL
flashed across her belly. Blood trickled down from the letters;
ending in a pool at her bruised and battered feet.

They were
obviously dealing with a demented psychopath. From the message he
seemed to be conveying, the church played a big role in her
abduction. The New Testament of the bible used the name Jezebel
symbolically as a false prophetess who sought to lure men into
idolatrous practices. Over time, the name was used to describe
women who were thought to be whores and witches. The Jezebel demon
spirit supposedly enticed God’s servant to fornication and
adultery.

One thing was
positively clear, time was running out—the progressive nature of
the photos were testament to it. She carefully removed the picture
from the board with a set of tweezers and placed it in a clear
plastic bag she retrieved from her pocket. She sealed it shut and
gave it to one of the officers guarding the entrance.

“
I want this sent to head office, stat. Make sure no one, I
mean
no one,
is to
see it on your way out of here.”

The officer
nodded and put the plastic bag in the inside pocket of his uniform
before turning on his heel and marching out of the building.
Through the open door, Dianne heard the level of noise from outside
escalate. She jogged over to the door in time to see Taylor sitting
at the stop sign on his bike. It looked like she wasn’t the only
one to notice him.

“
There he is! Where is she?”

“
Where’s Casey?”

Accusations
were being fired off from every direction, making it impossible to
tell who said what.

“
God damned biker!” Old man Pillar shook his cane at the pale
faced biker.

“
Listen up, people!” Dianne remained on the top step and
shouted out over the crowd. One by one, they turned to face
her.

“
First off, we don’t know who is responsible for taking Casey.
Secondly, after a thorough investigation, Mr. Danson is no longer a
suspect.”

The noise level
from the crowd rose.

“
It’s a trick! He has you all conned. Everyone knows bikers are
trouble!” A red faced man lashed out and shook his fist in Taylor’s
direction. A thunderous agreement resounded down Main
Street.

Dianne watched
the rage blazing in Taylor’s eyes as he kept his gaze trained on
the man shaking his fist. He flashed a cursory glance in her
direction before slipping the bike into gear, and taking off from
the corner with a screech of his tires.

She shook her
head, the backs of her eyelids prickled as the bike sped out of her
sight. The crowd turned their attention back to her. Her gaze
roamed over each narrow-minded person in front of her. Hadn’t she
also been guilty of judging Taylor because of his lifestyle?

Seth stepped in
front of her. “We all need to stop wasting time pointing fingers at
the wrong person. No matter how you feel about the man, there is
not one shred of evidence linking him to the crime.”

A discontented
grumble traveled through the townspeople.

Seth held his
hands up. “There’s a very sick man out there, and he still has
Casey. I need each and every one of your cooperation. I don’t want
to hear about any more mud slinging. Now, go back to your business.
An officer will be speaking to each one of you personally. You can
voice your concerns then.” He waved them back from the steps.

Dianne put a
hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for stepping in.”

He rubbed her
hand. “Anytime.” He tilted his head and stepped up to face her.
“Why don’t you pay Mr. Danson a visit and extend our
apologies?”

She swallowed.
“I just want to make sure the picture got sent off to forensics
first.”

“
Okay.” He walked briskly over to the door. “I’m going to make
sure every inch of this place is gone over with white gloves. We
need to find this psycho…and fast.”

Dianne couldn’t agree more. She’d wanted to refuse to go see
Taylor, but reminded herself of her promise to keep things
professional.
I can do
this
. She pushed her hands into the front
pockets of her jeans. Deep in thought, she strolled down the street
toward the station.

Casey’s bruised
and battered body flashed in her mind and she choked back a rush of
tears.

Someone needed
to tell Preacher Adams. She couldn’t imagine what he must be going
through, not only as a father, but also as a man of God. He had to
be questioning his God’s motives. Is this how his God repaid him
for all the years he’d spent serving him?

****

These people are unfuckingbelievable. What do I have to do to
prove I didn’t have anything to do with her disappearance? She’s
just a kid for fuck’s sake
.

Taylor came to
a sobering stop in his parking lot. Apparently, the group he’d just
left behind wasn’t the only ones who believed he had something to
do with Casey’s abduction. Scrawled across the picture window of
his shop, were bright red letters.

LET CASEY
GO!

CHILD
ABUSER!

“
Holy shit!” He spun his bike around in a blaze of rubber. He
raced through the cloud of smoke toward the precinct.
You’ve gone too far this time.

Smell of burnt rubber filled the street as he came to a
screeching halt out front of the station. He lurched off his bike
and noticed Dianne standing behind the driver’s door of the Sedan.
Her mouth slightly agape, her eyes filled with concern.
I’ll deal with you later, lady.

Taylor
dismissed her with a wave of the hand before storming over to the
front door. He swung it open it and flew down the short hallway to
the office.

“
You have to put a stop to all this bullshit, Steve.”
Adrenaline coursed through his veins. “I’ll be damned if I’m going
to sit back and let a bunch of small town assholes call me a child
abuser, and figure it’s okay to fuck with my property.”

“
Calm down, Taylor.” Chief rounded his desk and took him by the
arm and coaxed him over to a chair. “Why don’t you tell me exactly
what’s got you so riled up?”

The front door
banged open and Dianne walked in.

“
Agent Parker, I’m glad you’re here.” Chief Walker smiled.
“Taylor here is having trouble with some people in
town.”

“
I know. I was at the post office when things got ugly.” She
touched his hand before sitting down next to him. “I’m sorry that
happened. It was uncalled for.”

He made a point
of not looking in her direction. “That’s nothing compared to what
they did to my shop.”

“
What’d they do?” She moved to the edge of her
chair.

“
We got ourselves a regular Van Gogh, who feels the need to
express himself on my windows.” Taylor jumped up, and leaned across
the chief’s desk. “If you don’t make them stop, I will.”

Dianne hurried
to his side. “Why don’t you show me what they’ve done? We’ll decide
what to do next, after I’ve assessed the damage.”

His gaze
narrowed. “And why should I believe a single word that comes out of
your mouth?”

No sooner had
the words left his lips than he regretted saying them. She stepped
back as if he’d smacked her in the face. Taylor dropped his head,
defeated. “I’m sorry. I’ll meet you there.”

Her footsteps
followed him out to the street.

“
Hey, for the record, I think the way they’re all treating you
is so very wrong.”

He shrugged and
hiked his leg over bike, kicking her to life. He flipped up his
kickstand and slipped into gear. Without so much as a glance in her
direction, he tore off down the street. Unable to help himself, he
looked in his mirrors. Agent Parker leaned against the hood of her
car, pressing her fingers to her temples.

Way to go, champ. You made the lady feel bad.
Taylor shook his head, disgusted with his
behavior
. Who am I?

He concentrated on the wind, the way it whispered around him,
the morning sun kissing his face. He’d been so wrapped up in
dodging threats. His pulse slowed down and he eased into his
well-worn seat. Dianne wasn’t behind him in his mirrors, so he
passed the shop.
Once around the block
won’t hurt.

Ten minutes
later, he stood in front of his shop with her beside him, as they
stared at the ugliness covering his windows.

She stood there
shaking her head for a long minute. Her gaze drifted to his. What
he saw caused his breath to hitch. Emotion filled her green eyes,
threatening to spill over her long lashes to flushed cheeks.

“
I am so sorry, Taylor. There’s no excuse for this kind of
unwarranted behavior.”

“
You have nothing to be sorry about, and I’m the one who’s
sorry for lashing out at you.” He matched her gaze, and arched his
brows.

She smiled and
briefly closed her eyes. “Thank you for that.” Her chest heaved as
she tore her gaze from his.

“
Now…” She took her cell from its case on her belt and flipped
it open. “I’ll take care of this. Why don’t you put on some
coffee?”

It was like she had an internal switch. In seconds flat she
went from vulnerable, maybe even approachable, to the professional,
the
don't-fuck-with-me
agent from the head office.

Taylor shook his head as he strolled over to the entrance. The
angry red letters flashed before him.
And
they say bikers are trash.

Chapter
Six

The full-bodied
aroma of fresh brewed coffee swirled around Dianne’s senses as she
stepped inside the shop. Guilt squashed the enjoyment of this
welcome assault. The shop lay in various stages of disarray. Some
things were in the midst of being put together, others lay in
scattered piles across the cement floor.

She’d always
had a hard time with protocol for carrying out search warrants. The
sight before her was just one more mess to add to the never-ending
list over the years. This time seemed different, almost
personal.

“
Why don’t we talk in here?” Taylor stood at the door to his
office. “I’ve sort of put everything back together in
here.”

She couldn’t
bring herself to look at him and kept her eyes downcast as she
passed him into the office. He didn’t have to move anything in
order for her to sit down this time. In fact, papers were stacked
in neat piles along the wall in front of filing cabinets.

Once she was
seated, he poured her a coffee.

“
I’ve sent for a crew to come clean up the windows. They’ll be
here within the hour.” She sipped at her coffee.

“
So what happens now? Do I need to camp out here to prevent it
from happening again?”

“
No.” She matched his serious expression. “I’ll make sure the
men include your shop on their watches. If anyone tries anything,
we’ll catch them.” She hoped he saw the sincerity
intended.

“
So, just what happened this morning to get everybody all riled
up?” Taylor took a seat behind his desk.

A shiver ran
through her body, the photo stamped to her memory. “We found
another picture on the bulletin board.”

“
Damn. How’d he get it in the post office again?”

“
That’s the million dollar question.” She sighed and leaned
back in her seat. “There are guards posted on all exits 24-7.
Whoever this guy is, he’s good.”

“
I’m not sure if I want to know…what was the picture of this
time?”

Her stomach
turned. “It’s getting worse. He’s got her tied to a cross.” She
stifled the urge to sob for the poor girl. “He carved ‘Jezebel’
across her stomach.”

She watched his
hands clench into fists as she talked.

“
The fucker’s going to crucify her? We got to find this
guy.”

“
And fast.”

“
How can we get the town to see it’s not me? They’re wasting
precious time.”

“
I’ve got an idea, but you’re not going to like it.” She
drained her cup and set it next to the coffee machine. “I think
I’ve come up with a way to convince these people that you want to
see Casey found just as much as they do.”

“
You do, do you?” Sarcasm laced his remark. “Just what do you
have in mind?”

“
I think you should head up a Watch Team.” She straightened her
stance and held her chin firm.