“Laughing on the inside,” he called out.
At the house, he thought about checking on Lauren before he left. Instead, he skirted the outside of the house and climbed into his cruiser.
A few minutes later, Santiago pulled up to Bailey Joe’s house. Steve Landry stood across the street in front of his own yard.
Landry rushed toward him as Santiago scanned Bailey Joe’s property. Bailey Joe lived on the outskirts of town, where wilderness transitioned into the more modern advances of small-town living. There weren’t any sidewalks out here and only one street light for the three blocks of street.
Just like his neighbors’, Bailey Joe’s yard was large. He had some overgrown grass in front, and a line of manicured mature trees on each side of the house. There was a gulch in the back of Bailey Joe’s yard that, once crossed, led uphill to a densely forested area.
“Afternoon, Sheriff.”
“Landry. I’ve been out here seven times in the last two weeks. Are youtryingto make your neighbors dislike you?”
The old man’s weathered skin flushed.
“This time it’s something serious. I haven’t seen Bailey Joe leave the house in two days. Not to go to work, not to walk Dottie, not to take out his trash. And I ain’t heard apeepfrom that dimwitted dog in all that time. That ain’t normal.”
Over the years, Landry made several disturbing-the-peace calls because Bailey Joe’s Pomeranian, Dottie, would bark at a leaf falling from a tree in a town where there were more trees than people.
“Have you seen anyone coming or going?”
“Only one, that new gal that’s causing all the ruckus around here.” Santiago stilled. “I even checked my security video but it’s not always the best with the rain and the fog.”
“Hold tight here a minute Landry, while I go check things out.”
“Yes, Sheriff.”
Approaching the wraparound front porch, Santiago radioed Derry.
“Yes, Sheriff?”
“You heard anything on your uncle Bailey Joe?”
“He called out sick three days ago. Aunt Van is going to drop in on him this evening because he stopped responding to her texts.”
Santiago frowned.
“Since when did he start texting? The only time he’s not using a landline is when he is forced to use his work cell.”
“Happened in the last day or two. His home phone stopped working; he planned to deal with it when he felt better.”
So, Bailey Joe’s phone just happens to go down around the same time he goes missing.
“We’re almost done here; I’ll head over there with Roan instead of going back to the department,” Derry continued.
“You sure about that?”
“I’m sure.”
“Roger that, Deputy.”
Santiago looked in the front window of Bailey Joe’s house. The curtains were drawn and too thick to see through. Knocking on the door, he identified himself and after no response, turned the handle but the door was locked. Santi banged on the door three more times, unable to ignore how quiet everything was around this house. It wasn’t just the absence of Dottie’s manic barking; it was like a vacuum of stillness. The kind that only death left behind.
Guns firing, bombs exploding, bodies dropping, voices screaming, then a dome of silence as death extracted the spirits of the dead that were willing to be removed.
Looking behind him, Landry still stood beside the cruiser but was joined by the Mongs, the only other neighbors on this block.
Walking off the porch, Santiago headed around the carport where Bailey Joe’s car was parked in front of the covered Jacuzzi. Santi placed his hand on the hood of the car. Cold to the touch.
