Part 4 (1/2)
We pushed on. Twenty yards later, I stopped. There was a scratching up ahead. Sarah couldn't hear it, but I could and pointed.
”Someone's in the trees. I'm gonna check it out. You circle back and find the trail. Walk down it until you see me.”
Sarah seemed happy with the plan, especially the part that got her back on the walking path. After she'd gone, I sat up against a tree and slowed my breathing. The scratching was still there, low, insistent. Someone digging maybe. I let myself soften. Melt. When I was loose and limber, I eased to my feet. The ground was sloping away from me. I picked a path through the tangle of underbrush. Not a sc.r.a.pe of sound. I'd always been pretty good moving through the woods. Even as a kid. I didn't know why, but everyone was good at something.
I could see a glimmer of light and stopped again to listen. The scratching wasn't there anymore. The digging had stopped as well. Nothing now but crickets. There was a sudden thras.h.i.+ng in the trees to my left. A grunt, and then a scream. A woman's scream. Sarah's scream.
5.
A twist of thorns whipped across my face, drawing fresh blood I could feel on my cheek and taste on my lips. I pushed through the thicket and heard the scream again. I weaved between the dark trunks of trees, keeping my legs high so I didn't get caught in the tangle. Suddenly, the ground dropped away completely. I caught myself and navigated a small, steep incline, stepping out of the tree line onto a hard-packed trail. The smell of the river was strong now, but it was dark enough that I couldn't see the water. I could see Sarah, however. She lay a few feet from me. Jake Havens stood over her. He had a knife in his hand.
”Easy,” I said.
Havens flashed the knife, then clicked it shut and slipped it into a pocket. His movements were quick and sure, designed for places like the deep of the Cook County forest preserve. He reached down and touched two fingers to Sarah's throat. I noticed for the first time that her eyes were closed. There was a small egg rising under the thin skin near her temple. Havens lifted her off the path and carried her to a patch of gra.s.s. He disappeared and returned with a bandana, soaked in cold water. He bathed her face and wrapped it around her neck.
”She fell down the embankment.” Havens kept his back to me and pointed to the drop-off. I guess I could have picked up a rock and hit him. He didn't seem too worried about it.
”Is she all right?” I said.
”Pulse is strong. Give her a minute.” Havens turned, his features cut fine by the final shards of the day's light. ”You're bleeding, Joyce.”
”Thornbush.” I wiped my face with the back of my hand. Sarah moaned lightly and began to stir.
”How you feeling?” There was a tenderness in Havens's voice that surprised me. Sarah smiled at the sound, and my surprise blossomed into jealousy.
”Hey, Sarah. You okay?” I moved closer and knelt down beside her.
”I'm fine. Just a little dizzy.”
Havens produced a flashlight and checked her eyes. ”Pupils are constricting. Can you stand up?”
He helped her to her feet.
”I'm fine.” Sarah felt the lump on her head. ”Bet that looks great.”
Havens smiled. ”You wear it well, Gold.”
”Thanks.” She took his bandana off, wrung it out, and held it against her cheek.
I grabbed Havens by the sleeve and turned him around. ”You want to tell us what we're doing out here?”
Havens threw a hand to his left. ”The Chicago River is fifteen feet that way.”
”So?” I said.
”So that's where he killed him.”
”Who?” Sarah said.
Havens stepped a little closer. ”Who do you think? Skylar Wingate.”
Havens took us to the grave, nothing left to mark it but a small, dark depression in the ground. Still, in the failing light, I could see it all. The boy's body, coming up and out of the water, glistening and wet, then cold and hard as it dried on the riverbank. Heels digging twin furrows in the mud as he was dragged to the place. He lay there, mouth open, limbs tangled, one palm half closed as the hole was dug ... or maybe just some last-minute depth added to it. Then down he went. A soft thump when he hit bottom. And the dirt went in, over his face first because of the eyes. After that the rest, covered over with soil, wet and heavy, alive with the woods. I could hear him now, fists beating against the soft cover. Felt him, too, up and down the back of my neck. Stiff fingers. Cold, pimpled flesh. I looked over at Sarah and saw the little girl again. Only this time, she screamed without making a sound.
”He's gone,” I said.
”I know.”
I took her hand in mine and tried to coax some warmth into it. Havens had wandered back down to the river. Left us alone to wake a boy we never knew. Now Havens's voice beckoned through the screen of trees. We turned from the grave. Skylar Wingate's memory floated and followed.
6.
Havens was perched on a large boulder, jutting up like an angry tooth out of the riverbank. Sarah and I found spots on the gra.s.s at his feet. Just the way he liked it, I thought.
”Police think he was pulled out of the water right here.” Havens pointed to the river behind him. The night was almost full now; the water rippled under fresh strokes of moonlight.
”That was fourteen years ago,” I said. ”I still don't understand why you're down here.”
”Big picture, Joyce.”
”What does that mean?” Sarah said.
”There was something I didn't tell Z. A fresh case. Less than a week ago.”
Sarah struggled to her feet. I motioned for her to sit.
”Where?” I said.
”A kid went missing on the North Side. They found a sneaker and what they believe to be his backpack maybe a mile along this trail.”
”No body?”
”They searched for three days and came up with nothing. The kid was a runaway so it wasn't a big story. Anyway, it was close to Wingate and I wanted to take a look.”
”It's an active crime scene,” Sarah said. ”You can't just go barging in.”
”Chicago PD finished up last week. The site's been fully processed for evidence.” Havens climbed down off his rock and began to walk. Sarah and I followed.
”The boy's belongings were found in a small clearing, at the foot of some rocks.” Havens took out his flashlight and began to play it along the riverbank.