Page 38 of Now You See Me

The long wheatgrass flashed by in a streak of golden brown as they hurtled toward the railway track. The road had seen better days and Kane weaved around potholes and tumbleweeds but hardly slowed the breakneck speed. They had gained on the black truck and could see it clearly ahead of them. Jenna’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of the train. It was moving at high speed and ahead in the distance the railroad-crossing lights flashed, but the black truck didn’t slow down. “He’s trying to beat the train.” She held her breath and stared in disbelief. “He’s not going to make it.”

The train driver had seen the truck heading toward the crossing. A loud whistle issued a warning, but the black truck increased its speed toward certain death. The sound of screaming metal blasted into the air as the train hit the brakes. Sparks flew from the metal wheels as they slid along the tracks in a trail of flames. The next second, an explosion shook the ground, sending birds flying into the sky as the train obliterated the black truck. The screeching, torn wreck was dragged hundreds of yards along the track. Twisted metal and glass flew into the air, peppering the ground over a wide area. The ear-splitting squeal of brakes went on forever as the train came to a slow stop. Kane drove alongside the tracks and parked some distance away from the wreck. Horrified, Jenna stared at the remains of the truck. It had been ripped in two. The front was gone completely and the back had spun away and sat nose down in the long wheatgrass. The back half appeared almost untouched. The sight sickened her. “Sweet Jesus. There are two people in that truck.”

As the chopper dropped into sight and landed some ways away, Jenna climbed out of the Beast. She pulled out her phone to call Wolfe and explained the situation. She stared at Kane, who was walking along beside the train, checking under each boxcar from the crash site and all the way to the front of the train. From the bloody carnage spread all around her, the driver hadn’t survived. She headed for the back section of the truck to search for any survivors and was met by Carter. “What a mess. Why did he do this? Do you think it was suicide?”

“Nah, from the speed, he figured he’d make it.” Carter moved a toothpick across his lips. “It’s a common error. People can’t estimate the speed of a locomotive.” He indicated to the chopper. Jo is staying in the chopper with Jaime. It’s best she doesn’t see the wreck.” He blew out a long breath. “Let’s take a look at the remaining section. You mentioned he had a young woman with him.” He stopped walking and removed his hat. “Well, I’ll be…”

Jenna stared in the same direction. The backdoor of the truck opened slowly in a creak of damaged metal and a young woman came out and collapsed in a heap. “That looks like the woman who had Cooper.”

“There are body parts all over the track and under the boxcars.” Kane came up behind them. “There’s an arm just over yonder. We might be able to identify him by his prints. Kalo mentioned a couple of our suspects had been arrested for a misdemeanor.” He stared at the young woman. “Is she alive?”

“Could be, she climbed out easily enough.” Carter headed toward the wreck. “I’ll go see.” When he reached her, he bent and checked for a pulse. “Yeah, she’s alive and I recognize her. This is Maisy Jones.”

Amazed, Jenna went to his side and kneeled down beside the young woman. Maisy’s eyes flickered open and she looked at Jenna but said nothing. “Where does it hurt?”

“I think I’m okay.” Maisy wiggled her fingers and toes. “My head hurts but when I realized what he was doing, I lifted my legs across the back seat.” She sat up slowly, holding her head. “That man kidnapped me and kept me in a room with corpses. I tried to escape.”

“What were you doing with him in town, and if you were in danger, why didn’t you go for help?” Kane glared at her. “You must have been waiting on the sidewalk for him to come along with the baby. You helped him, didn’t you?”

“You don’t understand.” Maisy brushed away tears. “He’d never let me go. I had to make a bargain with him. He would have found me and taken me back and killed me. He is insane. He collects dead people. He murders people.”

“You helped him kidnap a baby and you knew he planned to kill him.” Kane’s face had drained of color. “You stood by and allowed this to happen. You’re as guilty as he is.” He shook his head. “You disgust me. All you thought about was saving yourself.”

“There’s a warrant out for her arrest in Idaho.” Carter stared at Kane. “She’s wanted for the murder of Zander Hastings.” He bent and cuffed her and then dragged her to a sitting position by the back of her jacket. He bent down close to her face. “When the Black Rock Falls Sheriff’s Department has finished with you, you’re mine.”

Shocked, Jenna rubbed both hands down her face. Both Kane and Carter were walking a very fine line and she needed to take control. She walked away from Maisy and beckoned them to follow her. She lowered her voice. “Stand down, both of you. She’s innocent until proven guilty, and you darn well know it. That was my godson too, Dave, and I’m as mad as you are, but we follow the rules to the darn letter. Right now, because of our relationship to Cooper, we need to step away. Rio will be here soon and he’ll take over the case or she’ll walk on conflict of interest.”

“Maybe for her part in the kidnapping.” Kane hadn’t taken his eyes off Maisy. “It’s not a conflict of interest where the abductor is involved. I’m sure as heck not walking away from finding the other people he’s taken.”

This was Jenna’s first trainwreck and she would need to contact various local departments to deal with it. Turning to Kane, she waved a hand at the train. “The train can’t leave. Can you go and speak to the driver and make sure he’s okay? He must be in shock.”

“I’ll go.” Carter stared toward the front of the train. “We’ll need the details for a report. Maisy seems to want to talk, maybe she’ll tell you where he was keeping the others.” He shrugged. “You can keep it off the record. No harm, no foul.”

Unsure, Jenna frowned. “I guess I can’t stop her talking.”

“I’ll call the disaster and emergency services coordinator. They’ll send out all the appropriate people.” Kane pulled out his phone and scrolled the contacts list. “Wolfe is on the way, so we have that area covered. He’ll collect what’s left of the abductor and hopefully identify him by his prints. I’ll run his plates. We might find him that way.”

Keeping her eyes averted from the carnage alongside the track, Jenna walked back to speak to Maisy Jones. Glass sparkled in the grass and she sidestepped bits and pieces of twisted metal. The body of the abductor was spread over a wide area, but she decided not to look too closely at the debris around her. She sat down beside Maisy and pulled out her notebook to take down information. She looked at the young woman. “You don’t have to say anything to me, but if you have any idea where the other people are being held, I will put in a good word for you with the DA.”

“I don’t know exactly where he was keeping them.” Maisy rubbed her cheek on her shoulder and dropped her gaze to her knees. “He blindfolded me until we got to the outskirts of Black Rock Falls.”

Jenna nodded. “Can you describe what type of building it was?”

“I figure it was an old hospital or an asylum.” Maisy lifted her head and turned to Jenna. “Inside was all tile, like hospital wards or operating theaters. That’s the only part of the building I was able to see. At first, he kept me in a small room that led to a bigger room with those double doors you see at hospitals. The room I was in was more like a private room, but it was filthy and old. Everything in there was old. The gurney he gave me to sleep on looked as if it was made in the 1950s.”

Listening intently, Jenna gave her a sympathetic look. “You mentioned something about corpses?”

“Yeah.” Maisy shuddered. “In the main room he brought in different people all the time. I recognized the first three. You see, my truck broke down after I left the Triple Z Bar. It was a little after midnight and I had to walk back along Stanton to the motel. This guy in a big black truck pulled up and offered me a ride. It was so cold and, as the motel was only a few minutes away, I decided to take the risk. He locked the doors and when I turned around there were three people sitting in the back seat and they were all dead. He covered my mouth with something that stunk and I don’t recall anything else until I woke up inside the small room the next day.”

Making fast notes, Jenna stared at her. “That first morning, what did you see?”

“The place stunk of death and he kept me locked inside with dead bodies.” Maisy looked at her wide-eyed. “I was so scared, but I went into the other room to look for a way to escape. The bodies of the people—a man, a woman and a young boy—were hooked up to a machine that drained out their blood into buckets. The same thing happened all the time. Bodies would disappear overnight only to be replaced by others.”

Appalled, Jenna swallowed hard. “He drained their blood?”

“Yeah and pumped them full of some other stuff.” Maisy shrugged. “You know the stuff that smells like a funeral parlor? He used that. The blood came out and that went in.”

Jenna stared at her in disbelief. “Then what did he do with them?”

---