Jack Ryder Mystery Series: Vol 4-6 Read online

  “That was fast,” I said.

  “She lives in the neighborhood,” Detective Nelson said.

  “So these nice people tell me your name is Betsy Sue,” the lady said. “Is that true?”

  Betsy Sue didn’t react. She kept staring at her feet and her long, dirty striped socks.

  “Is that your real name or a make-believe name?” the lady asked.

  Still no answer.

  “You know most people have a last name too. Do you have that?” the lady tried. She seemed a little harsh in the way she spoke to the girl. I wasn’t sure Betsy Sue was going to react well to her approach.

  I was right.

  “Listen, if you don’t tell me who you are, then I can’t find where you live. These nice people tell me you said you don’t have any parents. Is that true? Or were you just wishing you didn’t have them?”

  Still no answer.

  The lady got up and walked away. She approached the officers. “I’m not getting anywhere with her. My guess is she is a runaway, and that she will do whatever it takes to make sure she doesn’t get sent back there. We see that often. Unfortunately, she will have to go back, but we will have to look into her family once we find them. For now, I need to have her checked by a doctor to make sure she hasn’t suffered abuse, then I’ll have to find a temporary place for her to stay until the parents show themselves.”

  As the lady spoke, my eyes met those of Betsy Sue. There was something in them, a begging, a pleading for my help that I couldn’t escape.

  You can’t send her off with that awful woman. You can’t send her off to some home somewhere.

  Exactly what it was that made me open my mouth and speak, I don’t know. It could have been her begging eyes; it could have been my pounding heart that simply couldn’t stand this. I did it, even though I knew that Shannon was going to kill me. When it came to children, I had a soft heart. I had to help. I simply couldn’t do nothing. I would hate myself afterwards.

  “She can stay here with us as long as needed,” I said.

  14

  October 1990

  It started as just an itch. Then there was another one. All on Rosa’s legs. Soon they turned into big blistering bumps that she wouldn’t stop scratching, especially at night. Kimberly could hear her in the room next to her, scratching all night long, and in the morning she would wake up with even more bloody bumps on her legs.

  “What is this?” she asked Joseph and showed him Rosa’s legs.

  Kimberly cleaned the blisters thoroughly every day to make sure they didn’t get infected, but they stayed swollen and Rosa kept crying.

  “I…I have never seen anything like this before,” Joseph answered. He knelt next to his daughter while inspecting her legs.

  “I have them on my back too now,” Rosa cried and lifted up her shirt.

  Kimberly gasped. Rosa’s back was covered in red blisters.

  “Could it be mosquitoes?” Joseph asked.

  “Should we take her to the doctor?” Kimberly asked anxiously. They didn’t have insurance and could hardly afford a doctor’s visit right now.

  Joseph bit his lip, then shook his head. “Let’s give it a couple of days and see. Maybe she’s just allergic to mosquito bites. I’ll drop by the pharmacy on the way home and get her something for it. Don’t worry.” He leaned over and looked into Kimberly’s eyes, then kissed her gently.

  Kimberly eased up. Joseph was right. It looked like an allergic reaction. A little medicine and that should take care of it.

  Luckily, he was right. When he came back later that same day he brought her Benadryl, and an hour later, the swelling had gone down visibly. Kimberly sighed, relieved, as she saw the improvement, and all night she tried to listen for her the sound of her daughter scratching behind the wall, but she was completely quiet.

  For a few days, it seemed like everything had gone back to normal, until one afternoon when Kimberly was in the kitchen, peeling potatoes for their dinner, when her daughter suddenly screamed from the living room. Not a whine of joy because she was playing or even a scream because she had fallen and hurt herself. No this was worse; this was deeper and contained an anxiety so deep, it immediately made Kimberly throw everything she had in her hands down and rush in.

  In there. In the middle of the living room, stood her daughter, staring at her with utter terror in her eyes. As Kimberly looked down at her legs, she saw why. They were completely covered in small black insects.

  “Help me, Moom, help me!”

  Kimberly stood, frozen. Never had she seen this many bugs in one place. And they were all crawling on her baby! Kimberly ran back to the kitchen, grabbed her broom, and ran back. She tried to wipe the insects off her daughter’s legs, but more appeared as she did. Kimberly screamed as loud as she could while wiping them away, trying to kill them. But it didn’t help. The bugs were biting Rosa and she was screaming in pain. Soon they were on Kimberly as well, and that was when she realized they were coming up from the wooden floors. Thousands of them crawling up.

  Out. We’ve got to get out of here!

  Kimberly grabbed her screaming daughter, lifted her up with bugs falling off her body, and stormed out into the yard. She threw Rosa in the grass and dusted off all the bugs from her own legs before she could get the rest off of Rosa’s legs as well. They rolled in the grass, whining and wiping their legs till all the bugs were off. Then Kimberly grabbed her daughter by her hand, and together they ran onto the street where they found a payphone and called for help.

  15

  May 2016

  We took Betsy Sue to the ER. I rode with her in the police car, since she refused to leave the house without me. When they told her she had to go, she grabbed my hand in hers and didn’t let go again. So what else could I do?

  She still hadn’t spoken a word to anyone since last night and I was beginning to think she wasn’t going to. I wondered if she would even speak to me again. I looked at her pale face and saw how she covered her eyes from the light as we pulled onto the street.

  Right after I made the promise to the lady from DCF, I told Shannon that Betsy Sue was going to stay with us…maybe even for a few days. She had finally managed to get Tyler down for his nap when I spoke to her in the hallway.

  “She’s staying? But? Why?”

  “We have to help her. We simply do. Just trust me on this,” I said. “They have nowhere to place her while they look for her parents.”

  “But, why us? Why can’t someone else take her? How about that woman detective?” Shannon asked, but knew very well the answer.

  “I have to know she’s all right,” I said. “She trusts me. She trusts us. We’re the only ones she has spoken to, remember? I’ve got to help this girl. I sense she is in trouble. Just let me do this.”

  Shannon exhaled deeply. “All right. Guess I put this on myself by marrying a man who actually cares, huh?” she said and kissed me. “But she can’t put her finger in Tyler’s mouth again. That was so disgusting.”

  I kissed her and promised her it wouldn’t happen again.

  We arrived at the ER around ten in the morning. Detective Bellini had called in first and the doctor was waiting for us when we arrived. Betsy Sue and I were taken to a private room. The doctor came in. I felt her hand hold on to mine tighter. The little girl was a lot stronger than she seemed.

  “Are you her parent?” the doctor asked.

  “No, I’m a detective,” I said.

  “Only parents or legal guardians present, please,” he continued.

  I tried to let go of Betsy Sue, but she tightened her grip with a loud roar. I looked into her very light deeply set blue eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Betsy. You’ve got to let go of my hand now. The doctor needs to examine you,” I said.

  Her eyes stared into mine. I saw fear bordering on utter terror. She shook her head and snarled. I glanced down and noticed her hands were shaking while holding onto mine. I realized the presence of the doctor made her scared.

 
Of course. There was a doctor she kept talking about last night. Was she afraid of him?

  “It’s okay, Betsy Sue. This is a nice doctor. He’s not going to hurt you.”

  The girl didn’t believe me. She kept her eyes locked on me and both her hands holding onto mine in a very tight grip, her knuckles turning white with restraint.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, looking at the doctor. “She doesn’t seem to want to let go of me. I have a feeling she might be afraid of doctors.”

  He nodded. Luckily, he was a nice guy. “Very well, then. I guess I can let you stay. Don’t want to scare the poor thing, right?”

  I smiled and nodded, wondering what I had gotten myself into.

  16

  May 2016

  The detectives and the lady from DCF finally left late in the afternoon, after hours of unsuccessfully trying to get Betsy Sue to talk to them.

  “We’ll be back tomorrow morning; we have a child psychologist affiliated with our department,” the DCF lady said.

  All day, ever since she’d gotten ahold of my hand, Betsy Sue hadn’t let go of me. Not until the second after they were all gone, then she finally loosened her grip and I pulled my hand away.

  Betsy Sue got up from her chair that she had been sitting in all afternoon while the detectives and DCF questioned her. I had watched her grow smaller and smaller in the chair, refusing to even look up at them. Now everything changed. The girl stood up and smiled.

  “Can I go play in the yard?” she asked.

  I stared at her, completely stunned over this sudden change in her mood. “Now you’re talking?”

  She nodded like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “Why wouldn’t you talk to the detectives or the lady who was here from the DCF? Or even the doctor? They’re all trying to help you.”

  Betsy Sue answered with a shrug.

  “But you don’t mind talking to me?” I asked.

  She nodded with a smile.

  “Why me?”

  “I like you.”

  “Why do you like me? We hardly know each other?” I asked, puzzled.

  “Because the ghost likes you.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The ghost. He likes you.”

  “What ghost? What are you talking about?”

  Betsy Sue laughed. It was the strangest sound I had ever heard. It sounded more like a bird’s croak. It creeped me out a little. “The ghost in this house, of course. The little boy.”

  I stared at her. I had no clue what to say.

  “See, he’s right there behind you. He’s been following you around all day, standing right next to you when you were sitting in that chair. He likes you. I can tell. He doesn’t want to leave your side. Just like me. Ghosts can sense these things, who’s a good person and who isn’t.”

  Betsy Sue stood in front of me while I figured out how to deal with what she had just said. I opened my mouth a few times to say something, but then stopped myself. It was all so strange.

  “Can I go play?”

  “Sure,” I said. I could hear the other kids in the yard, probably playing hide and go seek again. I could do with a little break from all the weirdness.

  Betsy Sue took off and I walked into the kitchen, where I found Shannon with Tyler in her arms. She was eating some toast. “I got hungry,” she said.

  I chuckled and grabbed myself some coffee while the kids shrieked in the yard. I realized I hadn’t seen Emily all day.

  “Is Emily still in her room?” I asked.

  “She went for a run,” Shannon answered, mouth full of toast and butter. “I didn’t even think about what to eat for dinner. I am sorry. I am such a bad housewife.”

  “Let’s order in,” I said.

  “You don’t want to go out instead?”

  I sipped my coffee and looked at the kids in the yard. Betsy Sue was screaming loudly and dancing. Clouds had gathered in the sky now and it was getting darker.

  “Not with her,” I said. “I think it’s best we stay home.”

  “You’re the one who wanted to save her,” Shannon said. “Just sayin’.”

  “I know,” I said. “I know. It’s just…the more time I spend with her, the weirder she gets.”

  “So what did the doctor say?”

  Tyler fussed and Shannon hushed him. I put him in his playpen.

  “It’s the oddest thing,” I said. “He said she seemed to be fine. No abuse, nothing seems to be wrong with her, except that her eyes are unusually sensitive to light, and—get this—it’s almost as…as if her skin has never been exposed to sunlight before. She has a severe lack of vitamin D. It reminded me of the case of the Fritzl kids in Austria.”

  “The kids that were kept in a basement all their lives?” Shannon asked.

  “Exactly. They too had that pale skin and eyes sensitive to light. I remember reading about it and how health experts said a chronic lack of sunlight and exercise could leave the children's bones pliable, their muscles weak, and their eyes overly sensitive to strong light. I asked the doctor if it could be because she had never been exposed to sunlight and he said that those were the symptoms, but that he believed it was impossible. That would mean she had never even walked outside or been out in a yard to play.”

  “Remember what she said about the ocean?” Shannon asked, while putting more bread in the toaster.

  “Yeah, it got me thinking. She had never seen the ocean before; she had never eaten a burger before or even had a soda.”

  “You think she was locked up?” Shannon asked.

  “It would explain a lot of things. Like the ghosts or imaginary friends that she’s talking about, and the lack of knowledge about anything.”

  “But there was a baby she talked about,” Shannon said, as the bread popped out of the toaster.

  “Miss Muffit, was that her name? Who calls a child that?” I asked.

  “A person who locks up their children and lets them wait for ghosts to arrive before they can eat.”

  I grabbed a barstool and sat by the counter. I looked at Shannon, who had buttered yet another piece of toast. I liked her weight gain after giving birth, but I knew she wasn’t feeling good about it. She had this idea that just because she was a superstar, she couldn’t allow herself to even add a few pounds without the magazines being all over it. I told her it was ridiculous. Everyone knew she had just had a baby. No one could expect her to look like her old self. The breastfeeding made her eat more, and I knew she was going to be mad at herself afterwards, but I enjoyed watching her sink her teeth into the buttered toast with a low groan.

  “It would explain why we can’t find her,” I said. “The mother, I mean.”

  I leaned over to get a bite of her toast and she let me taste it, slightly reluctantly. I laughed and chewed.

  “You mean she’s mentally ill?” Shannon said.

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Who says it’s a woman? What if it’s a man?” Shannon asked.

  I looked at her, stared into her beautiful eyes. I couldn’t wait to make her my wife.

  “Of course,” I said. “The doctor.”

  I could hear the kids yelling my name. “I’d better check and see what’s going on,” I said and got up.

  I walked outside, where I found Abigail and Austin storming towards me, faces filled with excitement.

  “What’s going on, guys?” I asked.

  “You gotta see this, Dad,” Abigail exclaimed. “Come.”

  Abigail and Austin each grabbed a hand and pulled me further into the yard. They dragged me into the maze behind the high bushes, where I spotted Betsy Sue sitting in the grass. She was surrounded by birds, all black ravens. One even sat in her hand and she was talking to it, looking straight into its eyes and petting it on the back. Hundreds of other ravens were swarming her.

  “What is she doing?” I asked.

  “They bring her stuff,” Abigail said. “Look. They already brought her this.”

  She pulled me towards a
small pile in the grass and picked some things up. One blue earring, a tiny light bulb, a paperclip, and a rusty screw.

  “They’re treasures, Dad. They bring her treasures. She’s just like Cinderella.”

  17

  May 2016

  “We need to find out where she came from, and fast,” Jack said, as he returned from the yard.

  Shannon was standing in the doorway leading to the yard, watching all the birds gathering behind the bushes, making an awful noise. Shannon had been terrified of birds since she was a child and one got stuck in her hair on her way to school. It pulled out big lumps of her hair and scratched her scalp to blood before it finally got out. Ever since, she had stayed far away from all flying creatures.

  “What’s going on with all the birds in the yard?” Shannon asked.

  Jack sighed and ran a hand through his curly hair. It was getting long. Shannon liked it long; she liked Jack when he looked rough and unshaven and had asked for him to look like that for the wedding. He was a surfer and she wanted him to look like one.

  “It’s the girl. Apparently, she’s a bird friend,” Jack said. “I don’t know. There’s just something about her…it freaked me out a little. I’m just being silly, right? Tell me I’m acting stupid.”

  “I can’t. I hate birds and think it’s totally creepy.”

  “Same here.”

  “They’re not coming in the house,” Shannon said, feeling a shiver just at the thought. “Or even near it.”

  “No, of course not,” Jack said. His phone was suddenly vibrating in his pocket and he picked it up. It wasn’t a number he had stored in his phone.

  “Ryder,” he said and walked into the kitchen to get away from the bird noise. He talked for a few seconds, then hung up and looked at Shannon. Her heart was pounding in her chest. The look on his face was one of mystery.