Chapter 47
‘Let’s go,’ Jerry says, gesturing to the door.
‘Sheriff—’
‘Move.’
I look at the gun. It seems churlish, and possibly life-threatening, to refuse. I turn and walk out of the office.
‘We’ll take your car,’ Jerry says.
‘Okay.’
We climb into the truck. I realize, as I start it, that my hands are shaking. In the UK, guns are usually only seen on TV. But Jerry has a gun – real, deadly – and he wants me to ‘go for a drive’.
I can’t die in a fucking yellow monstrosity like this, I think. The indignity.
‘Head north along this road. Keep going straight till you reach the gas station.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘Somewhere safe to talk.’
‘Your office isn’t safe?’
‘Depends on what you want to talk about.’
‘The picture on your desk—’
‘Wendy. Yeah – Weeping Wendy, as the town knows her now. No one remembers her last name, only her family.’ He pauses. ‘She was my sister.’
Sister. Right.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Yeah. She came here with her fiancé when she was just twenty,’ Jerry continues.
‘They were offering incentives for young couples back then, especially those with skills they wanted – her fiancé, Simon, he was training to be a doctor. Looked like all their dreams had come true when they got approved.’
I guide the car carefully down the road. I can see a few people strolling along the streets, making their way home. Distantly, I hear the chimes of an ice-cream van.
‘So, what happened?’ I ask.
‘For five years, they lived the dream. We came to visit occasionally. I was working out in Jacksonville. I was ten years older than Wendy. I guess I was a little patronizing about this place. I was doing a real job in the real world. But Wendy, she liked it. She’d got herself a good job as a clerk at the sheriff’s office, and when she got engaged, well, she was the happiest I’d ever seen her. ’ He points ahead. ‘Turn here.’
I flick the indicator, trying to steady my breathing.
Jerry goes on: ‘Then, one day, I got a call, and Wendy, she didn’t sound like herself.
I asked her what was wrong. She said something strange.
She said: “You know when you’re a kid and you find out there’s no Santa Claus, just a guy in a red suit?
All the magic, the carrots for Rudolph, the footprints by the chimney.
None of it is real. And everyone is in on it except you. ”’
He shakes his head. ‘I think I probably humoured her and said something like, “Well, I guess that’s called growing up – and yeah, it sucks.” And she laughed, and I asked if everything was all right, and she told me that it would be. Everything would be fine.’
He pauses. We’ve driven out of the main hub of Serenity Falls. The buildings around us are more industrial now. The workings of the beast, I think.
‘That was the last time I spoke to her.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I say again.
Jerry doesn’t reply for a few moments. Then he says: ‘Out here is where the power generators keep things running. We’ve got a solar field off site. Plus, our own internal power station that feeds off a private grid.’
‘I didn’t realize that was possible.’
‘With Winsom it is.’
Ahead, I can see a security gate, more buildings behind it. Jerry reaches into his jacket and pulls out a card. ‘You press that against the entry pad.’
I do as he says, and the gates open. I drive through.
In contrast to the rest of Serenity Falls, this looks more like the typical kind of small industrial estate I’m familiar with from the UK.
Bland warehouses. A taller grey octagonal building plastered with signs: Danger of Electrocution.
Big four wheelers and a few refuse trucks.
‘You can stop now,’ Jerry says. ‘This is the end of the line.’
My heart jolts. ‘What?’
He smiles, a little cruelly. ‘Oh, don’t worry. I mean this is as far as the town goes this way. Beyond here there’s nothing but forest, swampland and water.’
‘So … why are we here?’
Jerry takes a moment. ‘Because this is the most shielded place in town. No Wi-Fi or phone signal. Out or in.’
I swallow.
‘Which means,’ he continues, ‘we can talk privately … and honestly.’
Jerry turns in his seat. ‘I took the job here in 2012, not long after Sheriff Hatchett retired. I’d got to know him after Wendy died.
He seemed a decent man. He recommended me personally for the job.
Truth was, by that time, I’d seen a few too many horrors as a city cop.
I was only thirty-eight, but cop years are like dog years.
You age faster. My wife, Millie, and I were trying for a kid, and Serenity Falls suddenly seemed appealing. ’
‘I can see that.’
‘Not long after we moved, Millie found a lump in her breast. Cancer. I was worried, not just about treatment, but the cost. However, here, Winsom covers the cost of medical care. You don’t pay them back.’ He pauses. ‘Not unless you leave.’
His eyes meet mine. And I see it. The trap.
‘Is your wife okay now?’ I ask.
‘She got through it, thanks to Winsom. And she loves living in Serenity. I’ve made a good life here too. Most people do. If you play by the rules.’
‘Meaning?’
‘If you go looking for trouble, eventually you’re going to find it. If you stay up at Christmas looking around for presents, you’ll soon realize there’s no Santa Claus. But do you really want to?’
I stare at him. ‘You’re saying to turn a blind eye.’
‘I’m saying the Conservators do a great job here. They maintain the status quo. There’s no crime. Not real crime. People are happy, content, safe. What they do, it works, Mr Barker.’
‘If everything is so perfect, why did you bring me out here to speak? You think they spy on you?’
‘I think that they know pretty much everything that goes on in this town, and mostly I don’t have a problem with that.
I’ve made my peace with this place.’ He pauses.
‘We haven’t had any newcomers in Serenity for over a decade.
Finding the right people has got more difficult.
But someone was very keen for you and your daughter to come live here.
I don’t know why. That’s beyond my pay grade.
But I do know, the longer you’re here, the harder it gets to leave. ’
‘Why?’
‘Because there will always be a reason to stay, and before you know it, you’re here for good.’
I consider this, and my mind flicks back to Lorraine. So much like Nat. Except, according to Hailey, she didn’t used to be.
‘Did you ever think that Wendy’s suicide wasn’t suicide?’ I ask. ‘I mean, the phone call. It sounds like she’d found something out that upset her.’
And she worked for the sheriff. Could that be the connection to Davey Junior and the Ghost Train kid? She stumbled over something about their deaths?
Jerry’s face sets like stone. ‘Of course. You may not think it, but I’m a good cop. If I’d got a hint there was anything suspicious, I’d have kicked up hell.’
And yet I can see the doubt in his eyes. He gathers himself. ‘I do my job here as best I can, Mr Barker, and I do it for my wife. You understand.’
I do. I nod.
‘Right. So, you can drive me back now, and I’ll be keeping these papers of yours. Although, I’m sure you made copies.’
My heart sinks. Did Sadie scan them? This is why I’m not a private investigator, or a hero. We climb into the car. Something suddenly strikes me.
‘Are you going to tell Lockhart about this?’
He frowns. ‘Lockhart? Why would I tell Lockhart about this?’
‘I thought. I mean—’
He shakes his head. ‘Trust me. That man is already a big enough pain in my backside, always coming round to bother me about trivial stuff to do with the school or curfew or students.’
‘Right.’
So that might explain why he was there the other day. But what about the note – Alert LH?
I start the truck. Jerry stares at me. ‘I understand you lost your wife.’
‘She … disappeared.’
‘I’m sorry about that. I guess your daughter is very important to you.’
My hands clench the wheel. ‘Yes. She is.’
He nods. ‘Don’t do anything stupid, Mr Barker. Trust me on this. Look out for your daughter.’
I glance at him. I can’t read his face. But I nod. ‘I always do.’