Room 9 and Other Ghost Stories Read online

  “I didn't even touch Rose,” he replied. “I couldn't... I mean, I felt like there was no way...”

  “Looks like they were recording,” Gorman muttered, heading over to the laptop on a nearby bench. He pressed a button on the side, and a CD was ejected from the drive. Holding the disc up, he stared at it for a moment. “I would imagine,” he said after a moment, “that they filmed the entire thing. It's probably all on here.”

  “What are you going to do with it?” Michael asked.

  “It's evidence, I have to -”

  “But that means people will see it!”

  “Only the people who investigate what happened.”

  “No!” Michael shouted. “No! No! No! I don't want anyone else to ever see what they did to her!” He looked over at Rose's body for a moment, and then back at the corpses near the door. “I killed those bastards,” he said finally. “I'm not even ashamed. They killed my Rose, and as her father it was my duty to kill them in return. I only wish I'd kept them alive so I could make them suffer.” He paused. “I don't suppose the courts will see it that way, though. They'll probably convict me of murdering them.”

  “They might,” Gorman replied, “unless you could prove it was self-defense.”

  “It wasn't. It was pure anger.”

  “Then...” Gorman took a deep breath. “We've got no choice. It'll tear the town apart and it won't bring Rose back, but I don't see what else we can do.”

  “Carey,” Michael whispered. “My poor wife, she's going to be devastated.” He paused again. “I know you, Ben,” he added finally. “You're a good man, and you're a man who does what's best for the community. I also know that from time to time you... Well, you interpret the law in a way that makes it serve the town. That's what you care about, isn't it? The town, and looking after the people here.”

  “I don't think there's anything I can do here.”

  “You can save Vantage from being destroyed.”

  Gorman turned to him.

  “Hear me out,” Michael continued. “Rose is gone and nothing can bring her back. If people find out what happened to her, if they know that she was tortured and mutilated and that it was all filmed, that's how they'll always remember her. Even if the video doesn't get out, every single person in Vantage, and even in the world when the story spreads, will think of her like this. Carey would have to think of her dying like this, and that would just... She's a good woman, Ben, and it'd break her. I don't know if she could even survive the knowledge.”

  “We don't have a choice.”

  “Maybe...” Michael paused. “The perpetrators are dead. Baggard and the Everham brothers, they're gone, they can't hurt anyone ever again, and nothing's going to bring Rose back but we could still make it so that... at least people can have hope. At least Carey can live with a sliver of hope, rather than knowing what really happened. So why don't we allow Carey, hell, allow the whole town to avoid this nightmare? We're the only two people who ever have to know what really happened to my beautiful, precious daughter.”

  “You want to cover up her murder?” Gorman asked, shocked by the suggestion.

  “Think about it,” Michael continued. “We dump those bastards' bodies by the side of the road and make it seem like they were robbed or something, and then we find somewhere to put Rose, somewhere respectful and pretty but somewhere she'll never be found. And then we clean this place up, we pretend like it never happened, and we act like Rose is just missing. Not dead, not tortured, just... gone.”

  “We can't hide the truth from the whole town.”

  “Yes, we can.” Michael looked over at Rose's corpse, still tied to the chair. “We can make sure that not one other person ever has to see her like this, or has to even know that this is what happened to her. Imagine the inquest. Imagine all the details coming out, like...” Walking over, he looked down at her dead face. “There are burns marks on her, Ben. Cuts. Bruises. It looks like at one point she was hooked up to a battery and given electric shocks. I can't even imagine what else those animals did to her, and I don't even want to know, and I sure as hell don't want it in the goddamn papers.”

  He paused for a moment, before reaching down and starting to loosen the ties.

  “That's evidence,” Gorman pointed out, although he made no effort to stop him. “You're not supposed to tamper with anything.”

  “She's my daughter,” Michael said firmly, as he pulled the last of the ties away.

  Rose's dead body began to fall forward, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and eased her into his arms before picking her up and turning to Gorman.

  “How do you want history to remember her?” he asked, with tears running down his face. “Like this? Or as someone who disappeared and maybe, just maybe, managed to find a better life?”

  Staring at the dead girl, Gorman felt his resolve starting to weaken. He'd always been willing to cut corners, to do what was right for the town rather than what was strictly required by the letter of the law, but this was taking things much further than he'd ever imagined. At the same time, he knew how the huge, slow machinery of justice worked, and he had absolutely no doubt that the next few years would be torture for the Hillard family as every possible detail emerged about Rose's final hours. There'd be an autopsy, and photos, and fevered discussion online. He'd worked on a similar case once before, where a girl had died and the mother had ended up committing suicide due to the mounting media coverage. This time, he figured, things could be different.

  “Help me protect her memory,” Michael pleaded, with tears in his eyes. “Help me protect the town from knowing what happened to Rose.”

  Gorman took a deep breath.

  “Can you deal with Baggard and the Everhams?” Michael asked. “I... I want to look after Rose. I want to find the right place to bury her.”

  Gorman paused, and then finally he nodded his assent.

  “And we'll never speak of this again,” Michael continued. “Once it's over, it's over.”

  “I'm keeping this,” Gorman replied, holding up the disc.

  “No, we have to burn it.”

  “I'm keeping it, and that's final,” Gorman said firmly. “I'll put it in my safe, I won't let anyone know about it, but I need to have some kind of evidence in case... In case this all comes back on us some day.”

  “I don't want anyone seeing what's on that disc,” Michael told him.

  “I'll take a look at what's on it,” Gorman replied, “just to get a basic idea, but then I'll put it away and you have my word of honor that it will never see the light of day again.”

  “Fine,” Michael replied, keeping his eyes on the disc for a moment. “I'm sure you're right, I just...” Looking down at his dead daughter in his arms, he realized that blood was running from a cut in her belly, all the way down her side and onto the floor. “I have to go,” he added finally. “I have to bury my little girl. I'll call you in the morning to report her missing, so we can get that part of things over with as quickly as possible.”

  Gorman watched as Michael carried Rose away. Once they were gone, the Sheriff was left standing alone in the shed, with the arc lights still burning bright in a circle all around him, like stars that refused to go out.

  ***

  “Jesus, that's horrible,” Elizabeth said the next morning, standing by the door to Gorman's office. “So when you arrived, Scott and Luke were already dead?”

  “And Ricky Baggard,” he replied as he opened his safe. “Looks like there was a robbery. Probably someone from out of state, but we'll see. Some items had been removed from the house, some money and a few other things that might have value, so...” He paused for a moment. “So that's that, I guess.”

  “I know I shouldn't say it,” she continued, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial hush, “but I never liked those brothers. There was always something weird about them, the way they lived out there alone and never really socialized with anyone else in town. And that Luke kid was always into computers, which in my opinion is never
a good sign about anyone. I wouldn't be surprised if he was mixed up in something pretty dark.” She sniffed. “Ricky seemed like a good kid, though. A little wayward, but a good soul. God bless his parents, I can't imagine what they're going through. To lose a son so suddenly, and in such horrible circumstances...”

  She watched as Gorman placed the CD in his safe and closed the door.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “Nothing important,” he replied, turning the dial before getting to his feet and heading to his desk. “I'll be doing some paperwork this morning, so try not to let anyone interrupt me. I just... I need to get on with things. The Everham and Baggard case is going to take up a lot of time, so I want to get started while it's all fresh in my mind, you know?”

  “Are you okay?” she replied. “You look a little off, Ben.”

  “I'm fine,” he said, with a fake smile that he knew wouldn't convince her. “Just a lot on my mind, that's all.”

  “I'll make you a nice pot of coffee,” she told him, turning to walk away before stopping and looking back at him. “Oh, and I forgot to mention. It's probably nothing, but Michael and Carey Hillard phoned a little while ago. It seems Rose didn't get home last night, and they're worried about her. I told them she's just being a typical teenager and to call back this evening if they still haven't heard from her. Did I do the right thing?”

  “The right thing?” He paused, briefly feeling a breathless sense of panic in his chest before managing to get himself under control. “Sure,” he said finally. “You absolutely did the right thing. I'm sure Rose will be home soon.”

  IX

  Today

  His cane tapped heavily on each step leading up to the Hillards' front door. The rain was falling harder than ever now, and as he knocked on the door Gorman couldn't help but turn and look back toward the forest on the other side of the road. He half-expected to see Rose out there, watching him, but there was no sign of her. Hearing movement inside the house, he turned just as Michael swung the door open.

  “You got news?” he asked. “Did you -”

  Before he could finish, Gorman stepped forward and grabbed him by the neck, swinging him around and slamming his head into the wall. Dropping his cane, he turned Michael toward him and landed a punch straight in the center of the man's face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

  Reaching to his waist, Gorman removed his gun from its holster.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Michael spluttered, as blood flowed from his broken nose.

  “Carey and the kids are downtown,” Gorman replied, flicking the safety catch off. “I told them to stay there for a while. I didn't tell them exactly why, although I suppose they're gonna have to learn the truth eventually. Then again, I think Carey probably already guessed.”

  “What are you -”

  “I know, Michael.”

  “You know what?”

  “I know that you lied to me that night.” He aimed the gun straight at Michael's face. “I've always prided myself on being a good judge of character,” he continued, “but in this case I couldn't have been more wrong. You see, it never occurred to me that a man might lie about the circumstances surrounding his own daughter's torture and murder. I guess I just couldn't comprehend the idea that so much pure evil could exist in one man's heart, but you manipulated me, didn't you? You treated me like a goddamn idiot and I fell for it.”

  “I have no idea what you're talking about,” Michael replied cautiously, edging back along the hallway as he stumbled to his feet. “Ben, why don't you come through and we can talk about this? You've obviously got something all mixed up here...”

  “Ricky wasn't the third man,” Gorman continued, with the gun still in his trembling hand. “I don't know why he was there. Maybe he was trying to help Rose, but whatever, the third man who never showed his face on the video, that was you.”

  “Are you serious?” Michael asked, his face filled with shock. “You think I'd do that to my own daughter?”

  “I know you did it.”

  “Jesus, I...” Michael paused, still backing away. “Ben, you're making a huge mistake.”

  “You were doing it to her all her life, weren't you?” Gorman continued, as tears gathered in his eyes. “That poor little girl never knew a time when her own father wasn't... So what happened that night? Did you accidentally go too far? Did you push her a little too deep, cut her too much, and she died? Or did you intend for it to happen that way? Had you got tired of all the old thrills and found you needed to actually murder her while you were -”

  “Stop!” Michael shouted.

  “Your own daughter!” Gorman shouted back at him.

  “It was an accident!”

  Silence fell for a moment, as the rain continued to fall outside.

  “Go on,” Gorman said finally.

  “She enjoyed it,” he continued. “I know that might be hard for you to believe, but she really liked it. She got off on that kind of thing. We tried it vanilla a few times, but she was always the one who was pushing to take it to the next level, to make it more dangerous.”

  “You're still lying,” Gorman replied.

  “I swear I'm not,” Michael told him as he backed all the way to the wall. “I told her we should slow down, but she was the one who wanted to use the battery, and the one who wanted to get other people involved, and the one who wanted it all filmed so that she could, I don't know, get off on it later or something...”

  “Liar!” Gorman shouted.

  “You weren't there,” Michael continued. “You don't know what she was really like. I mean sure, everyone thinks Rose was this sweet girl, but she had a dark side. She was all over me, she was always the one who initiated everything. That girl was insatiable. I know I should have been stronger, I should have held back and handled things differently, but I just wanted her to be happy. If I'm guilty of anything, it's that I indulged her desires. I should have known that it could only end one way.”

  “You fooled me once,” Gorman replied, “and I will never, ever forgive myself for that, or for allowing you to persuade me to go along with your plan to hide the truth, but this ends today. You're going to come with me to the -”

  Before he could finish, Michael lunged at him, knocking his arm against the wall with such force that the gun fired once as it fell to the ground. Kicking Gorman in his bad hip, Michael slammed the Sheriff's head into the door-frame before pushing him away and grabbing the gun. Turning, he aimed straight at Gorman's chest and fired four times, sending the Sheriff sprawling back onto the floor.

  Aiming the gun straight at Gorman's head, he paused for a moment.

  “Well,” he said breathlessly, lowering the gun as he stared down at Gorman's bloodied chest, “I guess this will have to do.”

  With blood pouring from holes in his upper chest and shoulder, Gorman tried desperately to get up, but the pain was intense and he was already having trouble breathing. He opened his mouth to say something, but as he fumbled for his phone he felt Michael reaching down and snatching it away.

  “The sixth bullet is for your head,” Michael muttered, “to put you out of your misery quickly. I have no desire to make you suffer unnecessarily.”

  “You're sick,” Gorman gasped as he winced with pain. “You're...”

  “She was good, you know,” Michael replied, leaning over the Sheriff. “Rose, I mean. She had this hot little body, and when she was on fire, she was really just so goddamn good. The things that girl could do... I guess it helped that I'd been training her for so long, but my God, she was sensational. I guess that's why I couldn't resist, even after she got a little older than I usually like them.” He paused, as if he was enjoying the memory. “You want to know something else? She tasted so good, I swear, she ruined me for life. And when she was in pain, she'd just keep going, no matter what I did to her. Honestly, I thought she was unstoppable.”

  “You...” Gorman tried to say, as he made another attempt to get up. “You... are... the most
...”

  “I'm a lucky man? I know. That final night, though, I knew I was going to lose her, that she was growing up and she wouldn't be Daddy's little princess for much longer, so I figured I could indulge the one final fantasy that had always escaped me. Electrocuting her was fun, just nudging her closer and closer to death, and then I made damn sure she was looking right into my eyes as I finished her off. But that wasn't even the end of it. She was still warm, so I made sure the cameras were still running. Did you ever watch the whole video, Sheriff? Did you see the very last act? I always wondered if the real reason you kept that disc was that you found it kind of hot yourself.”

  “Go...” Gorman winced, and then suddenly he looked over Michael's shoulder, as if he'd spotted something a little way back. “Go... to hell...”

  “I knew I couldn't hide the crime scene completely, so I figured I needed to trick you into going along with me. It wasn't too hard, given your longstanding determination to protect the people of this town. I shouldn't have left the disc for you to find, that was a mistake, but I covered it pretty well. I should probably admit that I'm kinda responsible for your hip, though. That hit-and-run was my attempt to shut you up for good, but later I realized there was no harm in having you around. You'd already fallen hook, line and sinker for your own legend.”

  Gorman shook his head, before trying and failing to get to his feet. As he fell back down, he let out a gasp of pain.

  “I'm going to have to think of a story to explain this latest development,” Michael continued. “I guess I'll just have to say that you went mad and I was forced to kill you in self-defense. It's a bit of a tall story, but it's so bizarre it might actually -”

  Suddenly he heard a noise nearby and he paused. Listening for a moment longer, he realized there was a faint clicking sound, as if someone was standing right behind him. He waited for a few seconds, worried that his wife had come home unexpectedly, and finally he turned.