Chapter 39
THIRTY-NINE
As the sky became darker, thunder rumbled above. Within moments, rain pummeled the windshield.
“Great,” said McGaven sarcastically.
Katie grimaced. “I thought it wasn’t going to storm until this afternoon.”
“When is the weather forecast ever right?”
“True.” It was a passing storm and should clear up by the afternoon, but that didn’t help right now.
“I hate going somewhere new to search the premises. It reminds of my patrol days,” he said.
“Everything okay?” said Katie.
“Aren’t I the one asking you that?”
“Usually. Well?”
“Had a fight with Denise—actually, an argument.”
“Oh.”
“It’s nothing really, but she’s getting antsy.”
“About?”
McGaven glanced to his partner. “Wedding… tying the knot… getting hitched…”
“I see.”
“So… I took two hours back at the office yesterday and I dug a little deeper on Griffin Jr., even though I was planning on staying home,” said McGaven.
He had Katie’s attention. “And?”
“And… I couldn’t find any tax records or employment records. He must’ve worked for cash. And then I checked his visitor log when he was in prison on a couple of occasions: once for one year and then for three.”
Katie waited. The rain poured in sheets, making it difficult to see the country road.
McGaven decided to pull off and park, leaving flashing lights on so other drivers would see them.
The rain was so hard it was difficult to hear each other talk.
The detectives waited about ten minutes until the pouring rain subsided to a regular level.
“Wow. Is it flooding?” she said. When that much water came down it made country roads flood and caused a host of other driving hazards.
McGaven looked out of all the windows and even lowered his. “It’ll be okay to drive on. I might just wait another few minutes.”
Katie agreed.
“So. I almost didn’t see it, but guess who visited Griffin Jr. when he was in prison—both times?”
Katie wasn’t in the mood to play “guess who” games and pulled a face.
McGaven chuckled, obviously recognizing his partner’s annoyance. “What would you say to Mr. Tom Grand?”
It caught Katie off guard. “Tom Grand, the manager at Crowne in fact, she had slept well.
The cases had been bothering her and maybe she was just annoyed that they were close and could almost touch the clue that would break everything—finally making sense of this Collins family line.
“I’ll go this way,” McGaven said, indicating the trailer at the entrance.
“And I’ll go this way,” she said.
Katie walked down what used to be a road, her hiking boots sinking a couple of inches as she walked. The area was almost completely silent. The only sound she heard was drips of water through the tree branches.
The ground seemed to go uphill a bit and Katie was relieved to be walking on what was left of a gravel path.
Each trailer she passed was almost completely dilapidated, making them appear like metal parts, but almost every one of them had some indication that someone had once lived there, with faded stickers, old broken planters, and remnants of doormats.
It was as if Katie walked through a ghost town of metal from another time.
Katie glanced back and saw McGaven disappear into the trailer at the other end. Looking at her view, she was glad the last one wasn’t the plausible address due to the fact it was off two foundation blocks and would be next to impossible to search.
As luck would have it, there was still a faint outline of a number 12 on the trailer she approached.
The front door was gone and there were no steps.
Katie took a look around to make sure she wasn’t stepping into a disaster waiting to happen, imagining being pinned down by sheets of metal.
She could hear the creek behind the structure, down a small ravine.
The recent rain had helped to add water to the stream.
Katie climbed inside. The rotten and moldy stench hit her senses.
It was a strong odor even with the missing doors and windows allowing for some ventilation.
Still holding to the edge of the doorway, she adjusted her eyes before moving on.
The overcast skies made the inside dark.
She thought she heard a scraping noise on the outside, stopped and listened, but dismissed it.
Taking another couple of steps, Katie could examine most of the trailer. It was narrow, like a shotgun house, where one room moved into another—the kitchen into the living room and then on to the bedroom. There would be a bathroom area somewhere but it wasn’t obvious.
Katie cautiously moved through the interior.
Each step caused a creaking noise underneath her feet.
Water was puddled in the corners, obviously due to the recent rain.
There was no furniture, only remains of built-in tables and where the bed had once been.
Heavy quilts, long rotten, were at the far end of the metal building. She moved toward them.
A sudden shudder and screech made her stop. The trailer seemed to be shifting. She turned to retrace her steps but the movement became worse.
Katie froze. Slowly, she reached into her pocket to call McGaven. She heard the cell phone ringing to her favorite rock tune just outside the trailer.
“Katie!” yelled McGaven from the front entrance.
“Stop!” she yelled to her partner. “It’s not safe.” She had time to berate herself later for stepping inside an old and unstable trailer on the edge of a ravine.
McGaven stayed at the front entrance, peering in. His hands were on what was left of the doorframe. “Walk to me slowly.”
“I can’t. Every time I move, it shifts.” Katie looked out the small back window and saw a mudslide that led directly to the flowing creek below.
McGaven’s face said it all: concern, horror, and helplessness. “You have to make your way to me.”
Katie shook her head. She could feel beneath her feet that it was extremely unstable and she had only minutes before the entire metal box would surrender.
It shifted again. This time, two of the cement blocks on the left gave way, making the trailer tilt to that side. Katie sucked in a breath, trying to catch her balance, but she fell, slamming her right shoulder.
“You okay?”
“I… think so.”
“Crawl toward me,” he said. “C’mon, I got you.”
Katie caught her breath and began to move toward her partner. The trailer made a loud screeching noise as the structure slowly began to move.
“No!” said McGaven. “Katie!”
Trailer #12 slowly began its fateful descent, teetering on the edge of the overhang.
McGaven dove inside and even with the downward momentum of the trailer, managed to reach Katie. She grabbed him and while the trailer slid backward down toward the creek, they held on to each other as tightly as they could.
Katie managed to utter, “Gav,” as McGaven held her in his arms with all his strength and they braced for impact.