M. Sellars: In the bleak midwinter

“No doubt about it,” he replied. “They made Tom and Elizabeth identify the body.”

“Who did?”

“Your people,” he spat. “The Feds.”

“Dear God…” she mumbled.

“Yeah, well you know my thoughts on that… Either way, they also pulled some fingerprints from Merrie’s things at home and they matched. They even checked dental records just to be sure.”

“What about the girl you found?”

“That’s just it; they matched her too.” He swallowed hard and shook his head. “If that wasn’t enough to make everyone question their sanity, there was also the fact that the autopsy estimated Merrie’s death at as much as a day prior to my finding her. But Colson…well, what was left of him anyway…he was still warm when they arrived on the scene.”

“What happened after that?” she pressed.

“Good question,” he replied. “The Feds took over at that point. They marched in with court orders, and we were pretty much cut out of the loop. So was the MHP. Everyone was interviewed and told that we were mistaken about what had transpired. Merrie’s remains mysteriously disappeared, as did Colson’s. And as I’m sure you noticed, our files were redacted…sanitized, really. The autopsy reports disappeared. The case reports definitely aren’t the ones we filed originally. I know that for a fact because I wrote one of them myself.”

Constance would have discounted the claim out of hand had it not been for the gaping holes in the case file she had been given by the SAC at the outset. That fact in itself made his story that much more believable, even if it did sound like a plot from a blockbuster conspiracy thriller.

“I’m sorry,” she said. She really couldn’t imagine what else to say.

“Yeah, me too…” Skip grunted. “Wasn’t long after that I left Hulis. Kathy and I got married, then headed for KC to follow my dream of being a big city cop.”

“I have a confession,” Constance said. “I ran a background check on you, so I already know about your career and the predators you took down.”

He nodded. “Would’ve been disappointed in you if you hadn’t. I figured you for a good cop, even if you are a Fed.”

She took a sip of her drink instead of replying. She wasn’t offended by the latter comment. She was actually used to taking grief from other branches of law enforcement. Ben even referred to bureau agents as the Feebs. He always said it was short for Feeble Bumbling Incompetents. Then he would be quick to add, “Present company excluded, of course.”

She waited a moment, then spoke up to bring the story full-circle. “And then you came back to Hulis…”

“Yeah, and that’s when I found out the rest of it.”

Constance perked an eyebrow as the verbal bomb landed squarely between them. She was under the impression that she knew where the story went from there, surreal and unbelievable as it was. She canted her head, looking at Carmichael with fiery curiosity clear in her eyes.

“The rest of it?” she asked.

“Yeah… Shortly after it all happened, Tom and Elizabeth sort of dropped out of life. Folks didn’t see them much around town. Tom went to work, came home, and that was about it except when they needed groceries and the like. Then you’d see one or the other out for a bit, but only as long as necessary. Even stopped going to the church over in Mais and started home schooling Rebecca. Other than that they kept completely to themselves.

“It wasn’t that folks didn’t try, mind you. People would call, and even drop by, but they usually wouldn’t answer the phone or the door. When they did, they’d just send whoever it was away as fast as they could.

“Whenever someone would run into one of them around town they would ask about Merrie, of course.” He shrugged. “They would just say she was doing fine and then excuse themselves. It was peculiar, but everyone pretty much chalked it up to them just losing trust in the world. Not all that hard to imagine, after…well…you know.”

“Anyway, didn’t hear much detail about their lives until they had that scare when they thought Merrie was going to die.” He paused, then let out a harrumph. “I guess that sounds kinda odd after everything I’ve just told you.”

“I remember mentioning that,” Constance offered.

“Yeah…well… The truth came out after they were killed in that car crash.”

“What do you mean truth?”

“Seems Elizabeth had been keeping journals. Almost daily as a matter of fact.”

“About what?”

“Merrie,” he explained. “Or Rebecca. Depends on the day.”

“I still don’t follow.”

Carmichael blew out a loud sigh through his nose, then absently brushed his mustache. After a weighty pause he continued. “Right around the time Merrie’s remains mysteriously disappeared, so did the little girl I picked up from the middle of the street.”

Constance stared back at him. Finally she said, “Are you saying what I think you are?”

He nodded. “Some days Rebecca was Rebecca. Other days, she was Merrie. The wounds would even show up on her body. Then later, of course, they were scars. But like stigmata, they were there.

“Doctors tried to treat it like some sort of multiple personality illness, but that didn’t work, obviously. Apparently they almost killed her in the process, which would have meant Tom and Elizabeth would have lost both their daughters.

“But she survived,” he breathed. “And she tried to make a life for herself. Even made it through college. Not without a few bumps, of course, but she did it.”

“So you’re saying Rebecca Callahan is the woman living in Holly-Oak now?”

“I guess it depends on how you look at it, Constance,” he sighed. “Not long after Tom and Elizabeth died, she started getting worse. She was Merrie more often than Rebecca. Folks here in town looked after her, but it wasn’t easy. By the time I moved back and ran for sheriff, she had become Merrie full time. She hasn’t been Rebecca since.”

10:56 A.M. – December 26, 2010

Sheriff’s Department

Hulis Township – Northern Missouri

“Decided what to put in your report yet, Special Agent Mandalay?” Sheriff Carmichael asked.

“No, sir,” Constance replied. “I haven’t.”

He cleared his throat, then nodded, looking down at the ground. “Yeah…that’s pretty much what I figured. I was kinda hoping you’d say something different though.”

“I know what I saw, and I know what you’ve told me. However, I’m not sure any of it would stay in the file if that’s what I submitted,” she offered. “I get the feeling it would disappear like previous accounts.”

“True…” he said with a nod. “Of course, you know the whole story. The rest of them don’t. Well, except for Agent Graham.”

“I know,” she replied, then bit her lip. “I’m going to try to change that, but I can’t make any guarantees.”

“Yeah, I know. Not sure what good it would do anyway. I doubt it would change anything.” He paused, visibly weighing his next comment before saying it aloud. Finally, he offered, “You know it’s not just the face, don’t you? If you run it, that ten-print card for the victim is gonna match John Horace Colson’s fingerprints.”

She nodded, “I assumed as much.”

“But you and I both know that can’t be who was in that basement.”

“Under any other circumstances I’d agree, Skip,” Constance replied. “But after all this… Well…I’m not so sure.”

“So…maybe you get it now.”

“I’ll admit, I think I now have an intimately better understanding of why the bureau file on this case is incomplete.”

He snorted. “Yeah. I’m sure you do…”