Dragon Walk Read online

  Jesus, she thought. She would have sworn out loud but didn’t have the breath.

  “We’re getting close,” Sam said.

  Lacey was panting. “Can we… stop?”

  “Sure.” Sam found a fairly level place for a quick rest.

  “Stopping,” Lacey said into the radio. “Taking a short break.”

  She sat on a rock and pulled out her water bottle. She stared up at the slope above them.

  “There’s a lot less vegetation,” Sam said. “That’s good. We’ll be able to see better.”

  Lacey only nodded.

  Sam came to where she sat and hunkered down in front of her, his hands on her knees. “We’re close, Lacey. Very close. Can you go just a little more?”

  She nodded again, wiping the sweat from her face and neck.

  “Good girl.” Sam stood up and keyed his own radio. “Okay, we’re starting up again. Take it slow. Look for anything unusual. Any opening.”

  Lacey stowed her water bottle and stood up. “Opening?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I feel like it’s a … cupped out place. Scooped out of the mountain.” He looked back at her and put out his hand. “You with me?”

  “Always,” she said. She took his hand and let him tug her along.

  The vegetation thinned, but only because the rocks increased. There was no soil for any greenery to take root. They scrambled over rock slides and noted how their feet dislodged the looser stones, sending them cartwheeling down the slope.

  “Stay beside me,” Sam said.

  They could easily see their back-up now. The men ranged along the slope, hiking up, looking around, then going on.

  Lacey wondered how far they would have to go. The top of the ridge loomed above them, impossibly far, it seemed. Surely they would not have to climb to the top?

  “Hold it,” Sam said. He stopped, found good footing and looked around. The men stopped as well, and waited.

  “What is it?” Lacey asked. She scanned the slope above them; just rocks and more rocks.

  “It’s here,” he said softly, more to himself than her. “It’s right here.”

  Lacey cast around. The hillside above and below, behind them the Hollywood sign.

  The Hollywood sign.

  “But where?” She stared up at the slope. Nothing could hide there, except lizards. There was only one place that even had any brush growing…

  “Sam. Look up there.” She pointed. “See that bunch of bushes, all in the same place?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s the only place there’s any brush at all.” She paused, thinking back. “Do you remember when we went to Bronson Cave, and we talked about how the Batcave in movies had more vegetation around it? How they must have put fake bushes around it?”

  Sam looked sharply at Lacey. “Yes! Come on!”

  They scrambled up toward the brush. When they reached a place just below it with good footing, Sam began to tear at the bushes. They broke easily, crumbling in his hand.

  “These are all dead. They’re not even attached. Look.” He grabbed a pencil-thick stem and pulled. The entire bush came away in his hands.

  Behind it, a dark cavern loomed.

  ~~~

  FOURTEEN

  “Help me,” Sam said. He pulled more bushes away, tossing them down the hillside. Lacey pulled out smaller ones.

  They revealed more and more of the opening to the cave.

  Together they stepped inside. The cave was shallow, but wide, the low opening letting in only a bit of indirect sunlight. Lacey scanned the dimness, letting her eyes adjust to the sudden change.

  And screamed.

  The dark head of a dragon hung over her, its mouth pulled back in a reptilian grin, modified scales bristling from its neck like a collar of knives.

  Lacey jumped back and tripped over her own feet, landing in a heap on the sand.

  “Lacey,” Sam said calmly. He reached out and touched the thing. “It’s okay. It’s made out of wood.”

  “Wood?” she asked as he pulled her up off the ground.

  “Yeah. Look at this thing. It’s amazing.”

  Lacey followed Sam as he circled the thing. Easily seven or eight feet tall, the dragon reared up on its back legs and loomed over the inside of the entrance. It was counterbalanced by a long tail that curled behind it, and small wings sprouted from its back. The whole was wood—smooth, expertly joined and highly polished wood.

  “Why would anyone make something like this and put it in here?” Lacey asked.

  Sam stepped back to take in the whole of the sculpture. “This was for Madison. This was… a gift. For her.”

  “Was this what she was coming to see? She loved dragons. Vanessa told me.” Lacey tore her eyes from the dragon and scanned the rest of the cave.

  “Sam, look.” She pointed to the far side of the shallow cavern.

  “What’s that?” He squinted into the dim recess.

  Lacey felt a shiver go up her spine. “Looks like a coffin to me.”

  ~~~

  The six of them stood around the coffin. One of the men—Lacey couldn’t remember which—had a small Maglite in his vest, and he played the beam over the wood and glass coffin.

  They all edged forward to peer into the glass top.

  “Don’t touch anything,” one man said.

  Lacey snorted to herself. As if she were going to rush to open that thing?

  The coffin lay on the ground and was set back against the wall of the recess. It was the same kind of smooth, expertly finished wood as the dragon. The glass top, flat instead of rounded like most coffins, had been carefully set into the frame of the lid from the underside.

  Lacey braced herself for what she would see. A desiccated body? A grinning skeleton?

  None of those sights greeted her. Instead, the body lay draped in a silver satin sheet, the flashlight beam gleaming over the silky fabric.

  A face stared back at her. Maddie’s face. But not the face of death. It was the same face Lacey had seen in her research, happy, smiling.

  It was a silk-screened t-shirt, the shirt wrapped carefully around the head. Above the picture were the words, “Have you seen me?”

  Lacey put a hand over her mouth to stifle a nervous laugh. Was this a joke?

  “See that?” Sloan or Dockerty said. “That’s one of those t-shirts the McClures had made up after she disappeared. All their supporters and helpers wore them while they were searching.”

  Lacey remembered a picture of someone wearing one.

  Have you seen me?

  She turned away and scanned the cave. This casket, the dragon; she thought about the climb up here.

  “How did they get these things up here?” she asked.

  Another man—Ramsen or Sotelo—pulled out his own Maglite and started inspecting the floor of the cave.

  “Look here,” he said. On the other side of the cavern, behind the dragon, was a pile of tools. Hammers, large and small, a glue gun, sandpaper. There were various sizes of screws scattered about, along with several screwdrivers. A caulking gun and a couple of canisters of caulk.

  “He assembled them here,” Sam said. “Brought them in piece by piece and put them together here.”

  Lacey shot him a questioning look.

  “No,” he said. “That’s just a guess.”

  She nodded. “Do you feel anything from… her?”

  “Sleep,” he said. “She felt sleepy. Still no fear, no alarm. Wonder, awe, gratitude. No fear. Just peaceful sleep.”

  “I’m going to radio the captain,” one of the men said. A couple of them stepped outside the entrance to get clear line of sight.

  Lacey walked up to one of the remaining men. “Can I borrow your light?” He hesitated. “I’m not gonna touch anything.” He relented, handing her the flashlight.

  She played the beam over the dragon, noted the rich grain of the wood, the smoothly joined surface. Then she went back to the coffin and examined the wood there. Similar grain—oak, she
guessed, although it was stained dark. It looked strangely familiar.

  The light reflected off something shiny. She swept the beam across the ground in front of the coffin. A cellophane cone of fresh flowers lay before it.

  Fresh, store-bought flowers.

  “Here,” Lacey said. She tossed the light to its owner. “I need to make a phone call.”

  She hurried outside, ducking under the low entrance. One man was talking to Shaw; she could hear his tinny voice. She moved away and pulled out her phone. She dialed, then brought the phone to her ear and stared out across the landscape.

  The Hollywood sign flashed white in the noonday sun.

  The phone rang once, twice.

  “Dragon’s Den.”

  “Vanessa? It’s Lacey. You said those display cabinets were handmade, right?”

  “Uh, yeah. What—?”

  “By who?” Lacey cut in. “Who makes them?”

  “Corey does. He’s got a shop behind his house. It was his dad’s. They’re both carpenters, woodworkers. He does fabulous work. Why—?”

  “Thanks. I’ll tell you later.” She keyed off the phone and jammed it in her pocket, then marched to the man with the radio and took it out of his hand.

  “Captain?”

  “I’m here, Lacey.”

  “We’ve got our man.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. Corey Erickson. Pick him up at his house before five o’clock. That’s when he leaves for work.” She paused, thinking. “If he’s not in the house, try the wood shop out back.”

  ~~~

  FIFTEEN

  Sam and Lacey waited impatiently in Shaw’s outer office. Shirley was busy with phone calls, so the pair simply sat in silence. They could hear Shirley fielding multiple inquiries about last night’s bombshell announcement.

  The outer door opened and Esther and Randall came in. The couple came immediately to Lacey and Sam.

  “Esther, Randall,” Lacey said, coming to her feet. “We’re so sorry—”

  “No,” Esther said, her voice breaking. “You found her. Thank you so much. You found her.” She bit her lip to keep back tears.

  Randall pumped Sam’s hand. “We can’t thank you enough,” he said. “You did what no one else could.”

  Sam just nodded.

  The door to Shaw’s office opened and the big man barreled out. “Good, you’re all here,” he said, never stopping. “Let’s get down there.”

  He led the four of them down a hall to a closed door. With his hand on the knob, he cautioned them. “The room is soundproof, but still, let’s not have any outbursts, okay?”

  They all nodded. The captain opened the door and motioned them in.

  The room was dim except for the large plate glass window on one wall, the room on the other side bathed in light. They all gathered around the window.

  The room beyond was spare—bare walls, a gray linoleum floor, harsh lighting. A uniformed officer stood in one corner. There was a simple wooden table in the center of the room. Lacey recognized Detective John Ramos. She’d never worked with him directly, but knew him to be a straight-up guy. He sat on one side of the table.

  Corey Erickson sat manacled on the other.

  Lacey edged closer to the captain and spoke quietly. “No lawyer?” she asked.

  Shaw shook his head. “He’s waived the presence of counsel. He’ll be appointed a public defender, of course.” He eyed the four of them. “He’s also signed a full confession.”

  Good news as it was, the knowledge was sobering. Esther and Randall traded looks. He took her hand in his.

  Shaw keyed the microphone. “Go,” he said.

  Ramos touched the earpiece in his ear and nodded once.

  “Mr. Erickson, you have been informed of the charges against you; is that correct?”

  Corey nodded. Lacey thought he looked shell-shocked.

  “And you fully understand those charges and the possible consequences?”

  Another nod, staring down at his manacled hands.

  “All right, Mr. Erickson. Would you now please tell me what happened on March twenty-fifth of this year. To the best of your ability.”

  Corey roused slowly, as if from sleep. Although he sat a little straighter, he never met the detective’s eyes.

  “I met Maddie at the parking lot, and we started our run.”

  “Excuse me, Mr. Erickson. You told police that day that you did not run with Ms. McClure, but went home to care for your mother. Is that correct?”

  Corey shrugged. “I lied.” He let out a sigh. “I’d been planning this for a long time. I told Maddie I had a present for her, something to show her in our cave.”

  “Your cave?” the detective asked.

  Corey nodded. “It was our private place. No one else knew about it. We found it years ago, when we were in middle school. It was a place we’d go to get away from everything else, to just be ourselves, to talk, to dream. Just ours.”

  Lacey imagined the young pair, the girl who seemed to gravitate toward abusers and the boy who loved her unconditionally.

  “So you started your run,” Ramos prompted.

  “Yeah. When I told her I had a present for her at the cave, we veered off and climbed up there. It’s a tough climb, but she always said it helped her stamina.”

  “What happened then?”

  “We cleared away the brush and went in. She saw the dragon immediately. She was so excited; she loved it. She loved how smooth it was, how she could hug it, run her hands over it. She said she wished she could take it home with her.”

  “Why couldn’t she?”

  “The boyfriend. He’d have a shit fit, because it was from me. He’d destroy it. We both knew that. It had to stay at the cave, but Maddie was happy knowing it would be there whenever she went to the cave.”

  He fell silent, staring at his hands. Lacey glanced at the McClures. Esther held a hand to her throat while Randall stood transfixed behind her.

  “Then what?” the detective asked.

  “We sat down on the ground. She sat right next to the dragon so she could touch it. I gave her my bottle of Gatorade. We just talked and laughed. She was so happy. Then she started to get sleepy.”

  “Why did she do that?”

  Corey swallowed. “I put a sedative in the Gatorade. I stole it from the Humane Association. Pentobarbital sodium. It’s a sedative they use for the dogs.”

  Everyone was quiet, in both rooms.

  “Then what happened?” Ramos pressed.

  Corey shook his head sadly. “When she was… out, I injected her with barbiturate. A lot. It’s very… humane. I watched a lot of euthanasias of dogs, I even helped sometimes. I asked the vets lots of questions. It’s very fast, less than sixty seconds. And painless.” Corey looked up, met the other man’s eyes for the first time. “We do this for our animals. Why shouldn’t we do it for the people we love?”

  The detective leaned in. “We do this for animals that are suffering or already dying. Why did you do it to her?”

  “She was suffering,” Corey said. A tear leaked out of one eye. “She kept picking those men, those awful men. First Brad who hit her, slapped her, then Greg. He was worse. Oh, he was clever to hide it, but I could see it. He would’ve killed her. It was just a matter of time. And he would not do it humanely. He would have brutalized her.” Corey’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I saved her from that. From them. I took her to the cave where she was safe. I made a dragon to protect her, watch over her. She was safe there. Safe forever.”

  Ramos glanced toward the window, then back at Corey. “You do understand that what you did was murder? First degree murder; premeditated murder?”

  Corey nodded. “Yes. It’s okay. I don’t want life. I want to be executed. Then Maddie and I will be together.”

  The silence stretched out. The detective looked unsure of what to do next. Shaw keyed the mic. “That’s good.”

  The detective nodded and motioned for the guard to come unlock the manacles
.

  ~~~

  The five people in the captain’s office took their seats in silence. Esther and Randall sat close, holding hands. Esther’s chin quivered. Sam and Lacey sat close as well, not touching, but their knees brushing occasionally.

  Captain Shaw hunched forward at his desk.

  “Obviously,” he said, “we have filed charges. First degree murder, concealing a body, burglary and theft at the Humane Association, a handful of other things.” He locked eyes with all of them. “Corey won’t see the outside world for a long, long time, if ever.”

  A sob escaped Esther before she cut it off. She struggled to speak.

  “I feel so sorry for him,” she managed finally.

  “For him?” Shaw’s surprise was obvious.

  Esther nodded. “We love Corey. He loved Maddie. He was her rock, her haven, her lifelong friend. He… he thought he was taking care of her.”

  “Well,” the captain said, glancing down at notes on his desk. “That is, I guess, the good news. From autopsy results, we know what he said was true; she died very quickly and without pain. Also”—he turned a page—“there was no evidence of any sexual assault, or any assault at all. He handled her body very carefully.”

  “How did he preserve it?” Lacey asked. “There was no…” She glanced over at Esther. “I’m sorry, maybe we shouldn’t—”

  “No,” Esther said. She looked to Shaw. “We need to know.”

  The captain nodded, shuffling more papers. “He researched preservation; we found it in the search history on his computer. He didn’t have access to normal embalming chemicals, so he improvised. The bottom of the coffin was filled with sand. That helped to pull the moisture out of the body, to dry it out. Then, he sealed the coffin. It was practically air tight. The sand, the lack of moving air, the constant temperature in the cave all helped to slow decomposition. Surprisingly so.”

  Lacey turned to Esther. “He visited her every day. Brought fresh flowers every day. He’d bring a new bunch in, then take the day-old ones to his mother. He did, after his fashion, take care of her.”