The Girl In The Woods Part 27

Diana couldn't push him off. He was too big, and his hot breath blew on her neck like a grizzly bear's. She didn't have the gun anymore.

She reached for her left jacket pocket. Her arm had limited range of motion because of his weight, which pinned the arm to the ground. She moved her wrist and fingers. She could just touch the edge of her pocket and feel the fabric.

The man pushed harder. He undid the b.u.t.ton on her jeans and worked on her fly.

The tips of her fingers brushed the canister of pepper spray. She stretched the fingers, wiggled them. She couldn't get a grip on it. He tugged on her fly and brought it down. His other hand applied greater pressure to her throat.

Diana knew time was short. She made a quick, jerking motion to the left. The pepper spray fell out and brushed against her hand. She missed it. Her hand scrambled in the dirt.

The man worked the zipper open and pulled on her pants. He worked them down a little, but as he moved to do that, he granted her a greater range of motion. She reached and touched the pepper spray. She wrapped two fingers around it and moved it. She tucked it into her palm and raised it in the air.

She didn't have time to aim. She might be firing it into her own face. She didn't care.

She depressed the b.u.t.ton with her thumb and fired a stream of the liquid. It hit the man flush in the eyes.

He screamed and rolled off of her. He rolled into the Foley girl's grave and landed on top of her.

Diana rolled in the other direction. She started to run out of the clearing, but saw two figures approaching her. One of them had a gun. She stopped and scrambled back, searching on the ground for her own weapon.

"Diana! Diana!"

She recognized the voice.

Dan?

"Diana, are you okay?"

He held his gun on the man on the ground, who was still in the grave with his hands over his eyes, howling in pain.

"Diana?"

"I'm okay," she said. "I'm okay."

"What's going on here?" Dan said.

Diana took a deep breath. She didn't recognize the man with Dan. She didn't really care. At the moment, she hoped it was all over.

"This is a crime scene, Dan. That's the Foley girl's body right there."

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE.

Diana waited in the back of a cruiser in the driveway of the Donahue house while the crime scene was processed. Given the size of the scene and its remote location, it took most of the night. But she stayed awake in the back of the car. She wanted to know what was happening and didn't trust herself to sleep there, so close to the clearing.

Near daybreak, Dan came out to check on her. He slipped into the back of the cruiser, a paper cup of coffee in his hand.

"Well?" Diana said.

He shook his head. "We haven't found what you're looking for," he said. "It's the Foley girl. And Jason. And a body that might be Margaret Todd. The coroner says it looks like she's been dead about a month, but she could be about the right age. There's no obvious sign of trauma."

"s.h.i.+t."

"Her mom's sending the dental records. She still has them after all these years."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"They should have the ID done in a few hours."

"I'd like to be the one to tell Mrs. Todd."

"Sure. You can come along. But there's no guarantee-"

"Dan, it's her. I know it's her."

Dan didn't contradict her, and she took his silence as a form of agreement. "We're still looking and will be for a while, so there's still a chance. We've found remains that go back a long way, maybe a hundred years. Doctor Ludwig says this doesn't surprise him at all. He's been researching the area for a long time."

"He's already asked to interview me for his book," Diana said. "Are you going to deputize him?"

Dan smiled, but it was forced. She understood that the weight of the night's revelations-especially if Margie Todd's body really did rest in that grave-would come down on him like the sun and the moon and stars. She only wished she could help him more.

"What do you think this place is?" Dan said. "What does it do to people?"

"It draws them here," Diana said. "It gets them to do things they might not ordinarily do."

"It turned this Donahue guy into a killer. He seems harmless enough away from there, but something changed him in that clearing."

"It changed me, too," Diana said.

"How?"

"Remember how you said I spend too much time on the sidelines? That it was easy for me to sit back and judge others without really putting myself out there? Remember?"

Dan smiled a little. "Do you remember any of the good things I said to you?"

"That was a good thing," Diana said. "You were right. I wasn't involved...with anything. In some way, this place got me to do that. I don't know if that was its intent, but it worked."

"You know, we're going to be looking out here for a long time," he said. "We might find something about Rachel."

"I doubt it. But it doesn't really matter."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know. Maybe I wasn't brought out here to find Rachel. Maybe I'm not meant to do that. Maybe I was just meant to stop this. Tonight. Maybe that's enough."

Dan looked thoughtful. "Do you believe that?"

Diana looked out the window of the cruiser where the horizon was just lightening.

"I'm working on it, Dan. I'm working on it."

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX.

At noon that day, Diana drove to Kay Todd's trailer with Dan. They hadn't called in advance, but when they pulled to the front of the small, pathetic looking trailer, Kay was standing at the door, a cigarette in her hand. When she saw them, she started shaking her head.

"It might be best for me to stay in the car," Dan said.

"I think you're right."

Diana went up the steps and pulled the screen door open.

"No," Kay said, backing away from Diana and into the trailer. "Don't you dare show up here and tell me my baby's dead. Don't you dare do it. G.o.dd.a.m.n you."

She collapsed to the floor, sobbing.

"It's not true," Kay said. "It's not true."

She beat at the floor with her withered fist.

Diana walked over and sat on the floor next to her. Kay tried to push her away, but Diana held on.

"No," she said, her voice growing quiet. "No."

"I'm sorry, Kay. I'm so sorry."

Kay leaned on Diana's shoulder and cried and cried.

When Kay calmed down, Diana helped her to the couch. Diana went to the kitchen and brought Kay a gla.s.s of water, which she drank down quickly. When the water was gone, Kay lit a cigarette. Diana studied Kay in profile. She looked thinner. Her skin had a gray pallor. While Kay smoked, Diana told her of the events of the last twenty-four hours, as well as everything they had found on the Donahue property. Kay didn't speak or ask questions. She listened, lighting cigarette after cigarette while Diana talked.

"That creature had my baby in his house all these years," Kay said finally.

"Yes."

"How did he do that? Why didn't she get away?"

"There's evidence he tied the girls up for some of the time. There's also the idea that Margie suffered from Stockholm Syndrome."

"What?"

"It means someone who is held captive begins to identify with their captor. They feel safer with them than out in the world. Like Patty Hearst or Elizabeth Smart."

Kay made a dismissive gesture with her hand.

"Bulls.h.i.+t," she said. "It sounds like something some shrink made up."

"It is."

"How did she die?" Kay said. "How did he kill her?"

"We're not sure," Diana said. "They'll do an autopsy. There's really no way to know, but the guy, Roger Donahue, kept saying that he didn't kill Margie. He said she got sick and died. It's possible, Kay."

"I guess it doesn't matter, does it?"

"I guess not, but they arrested John Bolton."

Kay perked up, her face becoming animated for the first time that day. "What for?"

"Being an accessory to Margie's kidnapping. Roger Donahue says Bolton arranged for him to grab Margie off the street the night she disappeared. He told him where she lived, how to do it. Apparently Bolton told Donahue to tell her that Bolton wanted to see her. That's how he was able to get Margie in the car."

Kay stared straight ahead. Her eyes didn't appear to be focused on anything in the room. "She fell for that?" she said. "Dumb girl."

"We've all fallen for stuff, Kay."

"What is Bolton saying?"

"He's claiming his wife put Donahue up to grabbing Margie. She'd found out about his affair with Margie and wanted to get rid of her. He says he didn't know anything about it."

"Do you believe that?" Kay said.

"I wouldn't believe anything the guy said."

"Me either."

"It's even possible Bolton pushed his own child down a flight of stairs the night Margie disappeared, his attempt to create an alibi. That's how he ended up at the hospital that night." Diana sighed. She felt tired. "We may never know everything."

Kay leaned back against the couch, her eyes still red and watery.

"Kay?"

The old woman nodded. "I know. You're here to collect on what I promised."

"I am."

She put her cigarette out and coughed. "I may have misled you just a little bit when I told you I knew something. I may have overstated things to try to get you on my side."