The Wreck by Marie Force Page A

since her parents had left for Europe a week earlier. They
would be gone another three weeks, and while Carly was thrilled they were
finally retired and able to enjoy themselves, she missed them. Her mother was
the only person in Carly’s life—other than her nieces and nephews—who could
communicate effortlessly with her without the need for words.
    Carly watered her mother’s plants and
added some junk mail to the garbage bag she had brought with her. She unlocked
the deadbolt on the back door and took the bag to the trashcan in the yard.
Lifting the rubber lid, she gasped when she found another note sitting on top
of the bag already in the can. This one said, “WHORE” in the same vivid red ink
as the note from the accident site. Carly dropped the lid and the bag she was
holding and ran into the house. She flipped the deadbolt on the door. Her hands
shaking, she reached for the phone and dialed 911.
    “911, please state your emergency.”
    Carly was paralyzed with fear and furious
that when she tried to speak nothing came out.
    “911, please state your emergency.” Carly
didn’t answer, so the operator said, “Please stay on the line. I’m dispatching
the police to 22 South Road. If you’re able to answer the door, please press
the pound key.”
    Carly did as the operator asked.
    “Hang on just a minute. Police are on
their way.”
    She could hear the sirens, and taking the
portable phone with her, she went to the front window to watch for them. Two
cruisers pulled up to the curb. Carly opened the front door to Deputy Chief
Matt Collins and a patrolman.
    “Carly?” Matt said. “What’s wrong?”
    Carly led them to the kitchen where her
parents kept a small dry-erase board for her use. She quickly told the officers
about the notes she had found and the sensation she’d had earlier that she was
being watched. As she finished writing, she looked up to find a somber
expression on Matt’s face.
    He called for crime scene backup and
asked Carly to show him the notes.
    The house and yard were soon overrun with
police. Chief Westbury arrived ten minutes after Matt called in the initial
report. Something about the grave way the police handled the collection of
evidence frightened Carly and led her to suspect this wasn’t the first they had
seen of these notes.
    “What’s going on?” she wrote to Chief
Westbury.
    “We’re not sure. Are you all right,
Carly? You’re ghostly pale.”
    “I’m okay. Rattled but okay.”
    He sat next to her on the sofa while his
officers continued their work. “You didn’t see anyone at the accident site?”
    She shook her head. “I just felt like I
was being watched.”
    “That hasn’t happened before?” It was no
secret in town that Carly maintained the memorial at the crash site.
    “No.” They sat in silence for several
minutes before she took a deep breath and wrote, “You must be so proud of him.”
    Michael studied her words for a long
moment before he glanced up at her. “Yes,” he said almost in a whisper. “Very.”
    After a moment’s hesitation, she wrote,
“How is he?” She had never once asked that question of either of Brian’s
parents in all the years since he left home.
    “He’s good. He works too hard, but he
just spent a week with Mary Ann in Florida. They had a great time.”
    Carly nodded and resisted the
overwhelming urge to ask more.
    “You know,” Michael said tentatively,
“I’m sure he’d love to hear from you if you wanted to write him a letter or something.
I’d be happy to give you his address.”
    Sending him a sad smile, she shook her
head. “It’s better this way.”
    “Carly—”
    Matt Collins came into the room. “Chief,
we found a partial footprint on the path from the side yard gate to the
trashcans.”
    Michael’s eyes lit up. “Let me see.” He
squeezed Carly’s hand and got up to follow his deputy outside.
     
    The
police spent another two hours scouring every inch of the yard without
discovering anything