Chapter 29 #2
Instead of fleeing, Jack advanced into the room, first checking the body that was stretched out.
Clearly the individual was dead and had been so for some time.
Jack saw two circular chest wounds, meaning they had impacted perpendicularly, and immediately suspected that both shots had penetrated the thorax and undoubtedly the heart, particularly the one directly over the sternum.
Moving next to the bodies pressed up against the kitchen island, he was able to see both had been shot in the face with exit wounds in the back of the head. They too were clearly dead.
On the top of the island, he noticed the .
44 Magnum revolver and thought briefly about arming himself with it.
But after a moment’s consideration, he decided against it, thinking it best not to touch anything in the kitchen as the whole mess was going to launch a major investigation to determine not only what had happened during this shootout, but also exactly what these people had been doing in Essex Falls.
Now more than ever, he questioned their origins.
Walking around the island, Jack bent down to look at the fourth body slumped with his back against the kitchen wall and his legs splayed out in front of him.
Jack immediately recognized Alexei. About three feet away from his palm-up right hand was a Glock pistol.
As an experienced forensic pathologist Jack could tell with near certainty that Alexei had committed suicide by putting the Glock’s blunt muzzle into his mouth, angling it upward, and firing.
“You poor, misguided microbiologist,” Jack said with a shake of his head, wondering how in the hell Alexei had managed to kill his three militiamen compatriots, especially when one was wielding an AR-15.
Thinking back to their two brief interactions after basketball, Jack remembered sensing there was something amiss about this youthful man.
Jack just couldn’t have imagined it was quite as bad as it seemingly was, especially if it turned out that he was ultimately correct about their purpose in coming to Essex Falls.
With a final shake of his head, Jack straightened up, turned around, and with great care not to disturb anything made his way out of the kitchen.
Once in the mudroom, he hesitated and considered briefly returning back to the kitchen to try to locate a phone to call 911 but decided against disturbing any of the bodies, so he gave up on the idea.
He also thought briefly of searching for a pair of shoes and a shirt, but he nixed the idea, too.
He truly wanted to get away from the psychological stench of violent death and how close he’d come to being a victim.
Besides, after overhearing two of the men talking about packing a truck that was ready to leave at a moment’s notice with keys in the ignition, he thought that would be a far quicker and better way for him to get to safety than navigating the woods in the dark, and he didn’t need footwear to drive.
As he exited onto the wraparound porch, he immediately spotted the black pickup truck he’d seen that afternoon when he’d first arrived.
In its cargo bed was a tarpaulin covered mound, presumably the cartons of fluid, most likely water, he’d heard being hefted from behind the hidden door.
With adequate light emanating out of the kitchen windows, Jack descended the stairs on tender feet and walked up alongside the truck to its driver-side door.
Hoping for the best, he pulled it open, and to his great relief, as the interior light came on, he saw there was a key in the ignition.
Without wasting another moment, Jack swung up into the cab and started the engine, which was music to his ears.
Switching on the headlights, he drove straight ahead into the long, serpentine driveway that was even longer than the one at the Hiram House.
When he reached the main road, he finally began to relax.
He hadn’t even realized how tense he’d been and for so long.
As he accelerated toward town, it occurred to him that he had to make a decision of whether he should he go directly to Hiram House and relieve Laurie, whom he assumed would be beside herself with fear by then, or should he go directly to the police to inform them of a horrendous, multiple murders–suicide.
Almost the moment the question arose, he knew the answer.
He’d go to Hiram House. Laurie was his concern. The authorities could wait.
By the time he got to the Hiram House driveway, he was considerably warmer than he’d felt since he’d been locked in the Bennet icehouse, thanks to his having turned on the truck’s heat full blast. Navigating the twisting road at a significant speed, he heard the bottles in the cargo bed forcibly hit up against each other on multiple occasions, hard enough to possibly cause breakage, but he didn’t slow down.
When he finally came skidding around the final bend, he was surprised to see the house brightly illuminated as if a huge party was in progress.
Every window on the first floor was ablaze.
Adding to the effect, the parking area was literally jammed full of trucks, many with empty boat trailers but also cars including Warren’s refurbished Cadillac and several police cruisers.
To his chagrin, there were so many vehicles that he had to park some fifty yards away from the house.
Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have minded, but at the moment with no shoes and being in a hurry, he did.
As he expected, the sharp gravel made each step painful, causing him to grit his teeth.
As Jack neared the porch, one of the uniformed Essex Falls policemen came out of the house and clambered down the stairs. Jack recognized the man as the duty officer he’d seen the day before when he’d stopped into the police station to chat with Bill Hargrove.
“Excuse me,” Jack said as they came abreast of each other. “What’s happening here?”
“We’re dragging the eastern part of the lake for a missing doctor,” the policeman said. He was obviously preoccupied while apparently hurrying out to his cruiser.
Although Jack was seriously tempted to identify himself as the missing doctor, he decided not to take the time. Instead, as they passed, he simply asked if Chief Bill Hargrove was there at the moment.
“Yes, he’s out on the dock,” the policeman called out over his shoulder.
Jack was pleased. He’d certainly made the right choice coming directly to Hiram House.
Now, right after he’d put Laurie’s mind at ease, he’d be able to alert the authorities.
In the back of his mind, he’d decided to let Bill Hargrove be the first to know, so he would be the one to call the county sheriff who in turn would alert the state and federal authorities.
At the same time, Jack was still going to call Lou Soldano and let him know as well.
Wasting no time, Jack took the stairs by twos and ducked into the house, starting a rapid search for Laurie.
It was easy because just about every first-floor light was on, particularly in the spacious kitchen, which was blindingly bright and where he thought she might be.
Unfortunately, the kitchen was empty. Quicky moving into the main part of the house, he found her with Warren, Jada, and Carol Nielson in the library.
They were all sitting on the opposing sofas, with Laurie on one facing the others.
As Jack sailed into the room still dressed only in a bathing suit, Laurie, who had apparently been speaking, let her jaw drop as she caught sight of him.
Then, after blinking several times as if she were seeing a hallucination, she was on her feet.
In the next instant she rushed toward him, and they met in a tight embrace with both totally at a loss for words, at least for a few moments.
The others, who’d also stood when they saw Jack but held back, now came forward.
Of the two, Laurie was the first to recover, and when she did, she leaned back to look Jack directly in the eye.
While still holding on to him tightly, she said with hints of both annoyance and relief: “Where in the hell have you been all night after having left no note and without your goddamned phone? It’s after midnight! ”
“I’m sorry,” Jack managed. “I was very stupid but ultimately very lucky. I know that now, and it is a rather long and disturbing story, but let me give you all at least the gist before I run out and inform Bill of a disaster that’s happened over at the Bennet Estate….”