They had all made a quick trip home so they could drop off their book bags before meeting back at Crystal’s garage.
To no one's surprise, her family were the new owners of the McCormick Place. The garage had once been home to Mr. McCormick’s tools and car parts and things he used to tune up his roadster but now it looked rather sad and empty. Dakota was sure that Crystal’s family would get about filling it with junk soon, but until then, it was just a ratty couch, a fridge full of off-brand pop, and a whiteboard she had hung on the wall. The radio on the corner of the table was playing something low but familiar, and Dakota felt a twinge run up his spine as he recognized it. He tried to block it out. Seems the song was popular this week, and the lyrics were a little ominous.
Oh oh here she comes.
Watch out boy, she’ll chew you up.
There was a little table in front of the couch, something small for cards or projects that could easily be folded up again, and here was where George had spread his notes.
Oh oh here she comes.
She’s a Man Eater.
Dakota reached out and turned it off before sitting back as he and Nikki lounged unenthusiastically on the couch.
George was preparing to discuss his favorite topic of the last two years, the ongoing Snatcher Case, and Dakota and Nikki were prepared to suffer through another round of Detective George and his constant theories.
This might all be new to Crystal, but the two boys had heard it until their ears were likely to bleed. George had been compiling evidence since the fifth grade, probably since before then even. George was of the opinion that all of this had started when they were seven with the pet disappearance that had plagued the neighborhood. He found it interesting that no one had ever put the two crimes together, but what was really interesting was how George kept yapping and no one else cared.
Who went from snatching dogs and cats to snatching kids, anyway?
Like Sheriff Herd had told him when he’d tried to bring it up during last year's Policeman's Day Assembly, “That's not really how it works, kiddo.”
“It all started five years ago with the disappearance of Mrs. Maxine's yorkie, Princess. Princess had been let into the backyard to do her business, as Mrs. Maxine states, “just after sunset”. Mrs. Maxine went back to open the door twenty minutes later as Gunsmoke wrapped up on TV, to discover that Princess was nowhere to be found.”
“Riveting,” Nikki said, but Crystal shushed him.
“A week later, Mrs. Bosco put up signs for her missing Shih Tzu,”
“Gesundheit,” Nikki said, drawing a chuckle from Dakota and a sour look from Crystal.
“Lucky,” George said, powering through, “who went missing off her back porch. She said they usually put him out at night, but when they went to let him in the next morning, he was gone.”
He looked at the three of them like a lawyer in a court show, but Dakota just shrugged at him.
“So?”
“There were about twenty-five missing pets reported in those two years. The humane society reported a dip in strays over the past three years of fifty percent. Pets still go missing sometimes to this day, and it's not just small dogs or cats anymore. Remember when Mr. Grouse had posters up for Hank last year? Hank was a pretty big dog, easily about fifty or sixty pounds. That's a lot of dogs to just snatch out of someone's yard.”
“Okay, but what's that got to do with the missing kids?” Nikki said.
George pushed out an exasperated breath as he pushed his glasses up his nose, “All the pets were reported missing in the surrounding neighborhoods as well, the same places the kids are getting snatched. It’s not a coincidence, it's a pattern. You guys go to the same Junior Officers meetings I do every Thursday. Don’t you learn anything?”
He was referring to the club hosted by the Culver Police Force to, hopefully, bolster recruitment in the coming years for their dwindling law enforcement office. Dakota, whose stepfather was one of those officers, had insisted that he give it a try, but George went all on his own. Nikki went because he didn’t want to hang out by himself on Thursdays, and Dakota had to admit that the meetings were sometimes entertaining.
“I learned how black lights work and how to take fingerprints,” Nikki put in.
“I learned that I can shoot a pellet gun pretty good, which may or may not affect my score on the range if I choose to join the force,” Dakota added.
George closed his eyes and shook his head, clearly as done with them as they were with him.
“Well, I learned what a pattern in criminal behavior is, which is what this clearly is. He was practicing, honing his skill, so that when he escalated to children, he’d have it down pat. There probably isn’t a lot of difference between snatching kids and snatching your average house pet. You gain their trust, you offer them something they want, you act friendly and get their guard down and then you strike before they expect it. That's what he’s doing here.”
Dakota had to admit that he was making sense. If you were going to abduct children then it made sense to learn the neighborhoods, study the habits of the residents, and get a feel for routines. George had clearly picked up more at these meetings than they had. Maybe he really had been on to something all this time.
“Look at this,” George said, taking a map out of the folder he’d been keeping his evidence in, “it's a map of all the missing pets that got reported. Of the twenty-five, all but about eight were within a five-block radius of our neighborhood. Now check this out,” he said as he added a clear film sheet, “These are the missing kids. Of the eight that have gone missing, all but two were within a two-block radius of our street.”
“One of them was even on your street,” Crystal said, pointing to a dot that sat right over the old Shelby Place.
Nikki sucked in a breath and George pretended to clean a smudge off his glasses.
Only Dakota looked at the spot, other than Crystal.
The three of them knew exactly who that green dot was, and they knew right where he had gone missing.
“Did you guys know him?” Crystal asked.
The silence was palpable, and it was Dakota that broke it to the deep surprise of his friends.
“Yeah, yeah we did. His name was Chris and we actually sat in this garage and planned how we were going to go into that house.”
Suddenly, Dakota didn’t want to be here anymore. It was all too much all of a sudden and he wanted to be anywhere but here. He hadn’t been in this garage since Chris was taken, but it was like he could see him now as he sat here on this moth-eaten old sofa. Over there was where they had built their pinewood derby car. Over here was where they had drank soda and watched Mr. McCormic work on his hotrod. In fact, this had been the spot where George had suggested they try to find some of the lost pets to make a little money for something they all wanted to buy.
Chris had been sitting right where Crystal sat now as he suggested that they check out the Shelby Place to see if any of the missing animals had gone there.
Dakota was on his feet before his brain had caught up with him and now everyone was staring at him.
“I need to go, I remembered something I need to do.”
“Cody?” Crystal asked, but he walked out then, not sure why in his twelve-year-old mind, but knowing that he needed to be anywhere but here.
* * * * *
Everyone was quiet that evening at dinner.
His sister was looking into her mashed potatoes harder than she strictly needed to, and it was so she could avoid looking at her mother or stepfather. Her stepfather had caught her leaving school early, and her mother had thrown a fit about it. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but he had caught her skipping school at Harris Pond, in the back of a boy's car, as the two of them tried their best to press their faces together.
His stepdad thought it was hilarious, at least until he got home and shared it with his wife.
Dakota’s mother did not think it was hilarious and his mother and sister had been fighting for most of the afternoon.
Now they were all trying very hard not to look at anyone else, and it make Dakota realize how silly he was being. He was basically doing the same thing to Crystal, whether he wanted to admit it or not. She didn’t understand why what she was asking hurt him. She didn’t know the ghost that hung around their group, but if she meant to stay then it might be time to tell her. He felt stupid for his actions earlier, and he made a mental note to apologize tomorrow before things had time to fester.
When the doorbell rang, Dakota was glad for a distraction that would take him away from the table.
The tension was thicker than the meatloaf his mother had served them.
He had expected that it might be Nikki trying to see what all of that had been about, but he was surprised to find Crystal standing on his front porch.
She nervously tucked hair behind her ear, looking a little embarrassed to be found out here but resolute in her reason for coming.
“I’m sorry,” she said, the words squeezed from her when she could find nothing else to say, “I didn’t mean to push or anything. I should have figured it was a touchy subject and left it alone. I’m sorry if you don’t want to,”
“No,” Dakota said, “No, it's okay.”
He went to sit on the porch swing as he let the door close, not sure where to begin, but when she came to join him, he decided on the beginning.
“Did they tell you about what happened after I left?” he asked, knowing they wouldn’t but still wanting to ask.
“No, they made it out to be a big secret, something they didn’t feel was right for them to tell.”
Dakota nodded, “Well, when we were eight, George suggested that we look for some of these missing pets we kept seeing posters for. His dad’s an outdoorsman, total opposite of George, and he had some of those no-harm traps you use for cats and stuff you don’t want to kill. George thought we could track the animals to their last location and lure them out with food so we could trap them. He had seen his dad do it to strays before and say no reason why house pets wouldn’t fall for it. We were setting a trap near the Shelby Place, figuring it would be the perfect place for strays or lost pets to go to hide when we heard a noise. It was a hurt sound, like a dog or a cat, and we ran thinking it was a ghost or something. When we got back to Chris’s garage, he said it was probably one of the lost pets, and we should go back and try to get it. We were all terrified of the old house, except for Chris, and when he suggested we go inside, we all tried to talk him out of it. Finally, he said he was going in there with or without us. So we went too.”
He glanced at her to make sure that he wasn’t boring her but found that she was hanging on his words. With the sun setting behind her, it seemed to spark a light in her golden locks, and Dakota felt his cheeks warm up a little as he looked away. He could see why Nikki was trying so hard, she was quite lovely.
“So we went in. It wasn’t hard, the front door was unlocked and there was no wood across it then. The house was bad. There were water stains on the walls, the carpet crunched underfoot, and the windows were mostly boarded up so it was pretty dark. We had our flashlights, so we made our way through the living room and into the kitchen. It was the worst room of the bunch. The whole place seemed to glow green. The tiles were black and white, but the white seemed to be lime as it reflected the walls. The walls were a thick forest green, and the sink dripped constantly. I remember a spindly table with a single chair at it, and when we walked in the basement door suddenly creaked open like a funhouse. We were all scared out of our minds, but then a single meow came from down the stairs and that was all it took for Chris. He was going down there, and when we told him it was all too much, he turned and told us not to be scaredy cats.”
He turned, looking her dead in the eyes as she waited for the final blow.
“That's when something grabbed him and pulled him down the stairs. The door slammed shut and we all ran like cowards. We went to Chirs’s house and his mom called the police. His dad was away at some rally for his racing team or he’d have probably gone down there himself. The cops came but they didn’t find anything, and Chris became the first kid to get snatched. They didn’t really believe us at first, but when another kid went missing a month later, they started taking us a little more seriously. That's why we hate that house. It took our friend, and it never gave him back. That's why it's hard to be in your house. That's why it,”
She stopped him when she hugged him, and he leaned against her as her warmth enveloped him.
When they separated, she looked a little flushed herself.
“I’m sorry about your friend,” she whispered, “If you don’t want to help us, I understand, but it's something I feel like I’ve got to do.”
“But why?” Dakota asked, “You’re new here. You didn’t know anyone who got snatched.”
“I’ve got my reasons,” she said, “but I would like to see justice for your friend too.”
When Dakota looked at her, he thought he saw her earnestness coming through with the setting sun and nodded.
“How can I say no in that case?”
She smiled, “Why don’t we meet here tomorrow then, might be easier. George has a theory he wants to bounce off you guys, and it might lead to a little excitement.” she said, her smile becoming mischievous.
“Sounds fun, but you should get home. My dads a cop and, well, the curfew and all…”
She nodded, getting up from the swing before stopping halfway to the stairs.
“Thanks for being honest with me, Cody. I’m glad you told me, it just makes me want to catch this guy even more.”
She ran off then, saying she would see him tomorrow, and Dakota sat on the porch and watched her until she was safe behind her door.
He sat on his porch for a little while after that, letting the darkness gather on the street, before his mom called him and told him to come inside.
It seemed so unreal that on a night like this someone might get taken on a quiet street like this, but as he went inside he caught a glimpse of the rotting hulk that was the old Shelby Place and reminded himself that danger was closer than he thought.
It was hard to disbelieve anything when you had a haunted house at the end of your street.
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