Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 05 - Monroe Beach Page 4

  Sarah glanced over her shoulder and then said, “Dr. Anna dreamed about her son but never got around to telling what the dream was about. We all got so freaked out, after hearing her story about her husband and son that we had to take a time out from the dream stuff. Judith, do you think Dr. Anna’s son could be the same person we’re dreaming about?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t understand any of this. It’s as if this man is invading all of our dreams and I don’t see how that’s possible. I’ve read about a lot of cases over the years about different phenomena involving dreams, but I have never read anything about this. I think we need to get Delilah’s input and also see what she’s dreamed about this guy.”

  We continued to discuss this until the sun started coming up over the Atlantic. It looked like a big orange beach ball and we didn’t feel the need to speak. It was so beautiful it made me want to cry.

  “What you girls doin out here so early?” It was Delilah speaking as she walked down barefoot on the beach. She sat down on the sand dune next to me and put her arm around me. “That so is purdy. Almost as purdy as the sun coming up over the bayou down in Louisiana where I grew up. I loved it, me.”

  Without another word, she stood and started walking off, saying over her shoulder, “Breakfast be ready in a little while.”

  We followed her up to the cabin, expecting to see Dr. Anna on the porch where she usually sat waiting for everyone else to get up. She was still in bed. Sarah sat down at the table and started talking to Delilah and I tiptoed into Dr. Ann’s room and peaked in.

  She was just laying there gazing up at the ceiling. But, when she saw me, she motioned me to come in. We arranged the pillows against the headboard and stretched out.

  I could hear the other two in the kitchen and was glad they were laughing. When Dr. Anna finally spoke, she was talking so low I couldn’t make out what she was saying, “What did you say, Dr. Anna?”

  “I said I’ve been thinking a lot about my son and wondering whatever happened to him. I dreamed about him again last might. There must be a reason why I’ve suddenly started dreaming about him. In the dream, he told me he was in trouble and needed my help. He held out his hands to me and asked me to forgive him.”

  “Dr. Anna, something really strange is happening here, and we need to figure out what it is, because it seems dangerous. First, Sarah started dreaming about this man and then I did, and now you’re dreaming about your son. I’m wondering if he is the man in our dreams. Delilah said yesterday she also dreamed about a man that was in shadow. The man I’ve dreamed about the last two nights was just a shadow.

  “Sarah and I were just talking about this on the beach. The man in her dreams became clearer in her dream last night. She said he had white hair and was very thin. Does that sound like your son?”

  Dr. Anna got up from the bed and put on her robe. “Breakfast is probably ready now. Let’s eat and then get everyone out on the porch to continue this discussion. I don’t want us developing an eating disorder by associating all this with food.”

  CHAPTER 11

  After breakfast we all helped clean up the dishes and kitchen and then headed off to the showers. Dr. Anna, Delilah and I were sitting on the porch and I was brushing my hair, wet from the shower, when Sarah came running out in a panic.

  “I saw myself in the mirror,” she said.

  Delilah said, Well, yeah, baby, we all see ourselves in the mirror…that’s not what you mean is it?”

  “The women I’ve been seeing in the mirror, behind me, all turn up dead. And now I’ve seen myself behind me. It was just like the others. I was wearing clothes but I was soaking wet. I just called Robert and he wants me to come home so he can protect me and I’m telling you right now, I don’t resent him telling me what to do in this case.”

  The next flight out of JAX wasn’t until 7:37 that night but Sarah, Delilah, and I packed in a hurry. Dr. Anna said she wasn’t going and had other plans. I was disappointed. I wanted to spend more time with her and to find out more about her son. I was also puzzled about what plans she had.

  After we were all packed, we still had plenty of time so we gathered on the porch and cornered Dr. Anna.

  “First of all, Kenneth doesn’t sound like the man in y’all’s dreams,” she began. “I know it’s been awhile since I last saw him but he was a large man like his father. He was very tall with wide shoulders and very handsome also like his father. His hair was dark brown.

  “My dreams about him have probably been brought on by stress from all this other stuff and the fact I haven’t had a vacation in forever. I need to get some help for myself. I can’t go on like this anymore. It’s probably a good sign, you know Judith, like when a patient has gone into crisis and is forced to get help.

  “I have given this a lot of thought and I’ve gotten a permanent replacement for myself at Ocean Sands. He’s been with me for years. His name is Dr. Banner and I know I can trust him, just like you trust Dr. Alvarez, Judith. I’ve decided to go see Vera. I’m going to invite myself and I’m going to see Dr. Alvarez.”

  “Mimi will be glad to have you, Dr. Anna. And Dr. Alvarez is a very good Psychologist or I wouldn’t have trusted him with my former patients. When are you leaving?”

  “Not until tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 12

  We took a cab to JAX and got tickets to Savannah, Georgia. We had said a tearful goodbye to Dr. Anna. I was worried about her. Spending time with Mimi would be good for her though. Mimi could cheer anyone up. I laughed to myself as I thought about how Mimi would probably drag Dr. Anna to the Galleria for shopping. My grandmother loved to shop.

  I returned the rental car that I had been using since John went back to New Orleans. It had been rented under his name so I had a little trouble turning it back in.

  # # #

  Robert was waiting for us. When he saw Sarah, he picked her up and swung her around. “I thought you’d never get here,” He said. “I’m not letting you out of my sight again until we catch this bastard.”

  I got tears in my eyes, thinking about Ben and how he would never meet me at any airport ever again. We walked down to baggage claim and Robert had his arm around Sarah the whole time, Delilah and I following behind.

  “He be a good man,” Delilah said, nodding toward Robert. “You one day find one like him.”

  I laughed, “You don’t like Wade, Delilah?”

  “I like him just fine,” she said and then clamped her jaw tight.

  “I know how much you loved Ben, Delilah, and he can never be replaced. But give Wade a chance. I think he’s a good person.”

  “Well, we’ll see,” she said.

  # # #

  We were standing there waiting for our luggage. Robert had just reached for Sarah’s bag and turned around to hand it to her when we noticed, at the same time, that she wasn’t there.

  I spotted her running down the concourse and I went after her, with the other two right behind me. When we reached her, she stopped and turned around and started looking all around her.

  “Did you see him?” she said. She had a wild look in her eyes.

  “Sarah?” I said and she laughed almost hysterically.

  “I’m still Sarah, but the man in the dream is here. Didn’t you see him? He was standing right next to you, Judith. He must have seen recognition in my eyes because he took off running.”

  Robert got on his cell phone and called his deputies. While we waited, I ran out the front and saw a very thin man with shoulder-length, white wispy hair get into a white Toyota Corolla with a red headed woman at the wheel. I wrote down the license plate number and ran back inside.

  When I told Robert, he got back on his cell phone with his contact and they put out an APB. The car was found abandoned on Tybee Island, later that day.

  CHAPTER 13

  The trip back to Monroe Beach seemed to take forever. Robert couldn’t take his hands off Sarah. It was as if he wanted to make sure she was still all right.

  “Ro
bert, why don’t you drop Delilah and me off at the hotel? That is if it’s all right with you, Delilah. I’m really tired and I’d like to get room service and turn in early.” I turned to Delilah, “Is that all right with you?”

  She winked at me. “I think that’s a good idea. I think these two needs some time alone, anyways.”

  The hotel was called The Mulberry Inn and it was more of a bed and breakfast than a hotel. I had checked out of the suite at the Hyatt when John left. Delilah and I shared a room at The Mulberry Inn with two double beds. We got comfortable and ordered room service. We both ordered steak, baked potato, salad, and red wine.

  After we ate and brushed our teeth we stretched out on the beds and Delilah took the pins out of her hair and started brushing it. I had never seen her with her hair down. In fact I had never seen it without a scarf tied around it. It was black, thick, and shiny.

  She stared off into space while she brushed.

  “Why don’t you wear your hair down, Delilah? It’s beautiful. I’ve always thought you were pretty, but you are truly beautiful”

  She laughed. “Honey, I be too ol to wear it down.”

  “How old are you anyway, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “I be fifty five. I done a lot of living, me. Never was marrit, but had lotsa men, me. Had a baby, was stilt born. Thas how I was able to be a wet nurse for Dave. My milk still came even though I had no baby.”

  “I’m so sorry, Delilah,” I said.

  She winked at me. “I had lots a white men an ole Dave’s papa was one of them. Course I would never tell Dave, but my baby woulda been his half brother.”

  I sat there with my mouth open and she continued. “It happened a lot back then.”

  We continued talking until almost 2am. I told her about Jupiter killing Ben, about me getting shot and about meeting Wade Russell. I started talking about Julia and how she was so happy. I paused when I heard Delilah snoring.

  I set my little travel alarm for eight am, covered Delilah with a blanket, and turned out the lights. It seemed as if I had just dozed off when the alarm went off.

  # # #

  We met Sarah, Simon, and Robert the next morning at the local diner for breakfast. Robert recommended the pancakes and Delilah said they were almost as good as hers, which was quite a compliment.

  “I’m going to tell y’all everything we know so far about the case,” Robert said between mouthfuls.

  “From Judith’s psychological profile, the suspect is between the ages of twenty five and forty, most probably a male. Right, Judith?”

  When I nodded he said, “Why don’t you take over from here, Judith?”

  “Okay, he was probably sexually abused by his mother, maybe both his mother and father. He could have even grown up in some kind of cult. The reason I’m saying this is that there seems to be a ritualistic component to the way he kills and what he does with the bodies.”

  Simon spoke up. “Yeah, he rapes them first and then takes them out into the water and we think it’s some kind of baptism, or some kind of cleansing. He dresses them in a long white robe before taking them into the water.

  “So far there have been thirty two women that the FBI knows about, all up and down the coast of Florida and Georgia.”

  I noticed Delilah close her eyes and put her hands over them.

  “He’s on the beach now. He’s wearing a long white robe and he’s wading into the water. I don’t understand it very well but someone’s telling me this.”

  Simon and Robert jumped up and ran out of the diner without saying a word. We watched out the window as we saw Simon get behind the wheel of his Crown Victoria and Robert get on his cell phone.

  CHAPTER 14

  Delilah opened her eyes and shook herself, “I never seen anything that clear before, but it’s still confusing. I saw the man from our dreams but it was like someone else was telling me he was the killer.” She said.

  “Did he have white hair?” I asked.

  She slowly nodded. “He has white hair, light blue eyes, white skin, and is very thin. I think maybe an Albino.”

  “Yes, an Albino,” Sarah said. “That has to be it. I couldn’t make out the skin but did see the white hair. Let’s go down on the beach and see what’s happening.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sarah,” I said.

  “Oh, come on. We’ll stay out of sight. How about you, Delilah, are you game?”

  “It ain’t safe,” Delilah said shaking her head. “It just ain’t safe, no way, no how. But if you’re bound and determined to go, I need to be goin too.”

  Robert and Simon had left in such a hurry they didn’t pay the check and the other two started searching in their purse.

  “I got it, I said,” taking out a credit card. “Or I should say the FBI has it.”

  We walked down on the beach and took off our sandals. It was getting toward the end of May and the air was nice and warm but the water was still cold. We didn’t see the men. We were just three women enjoying the day and talking.

  “When did you realize you had this gift, Delilah?” I asked her.

  “I don’t know exactly when but it was before I could talk. I had learned to walk. I was living with some relatives; I believe an aunt and uncle at the time.”

  “Where were your parents?” Sarah asked her.

  Delilah stopped walking and dug her toes into the sand. “Both of my parents were hung by some white KKK men who came in the middle of the night. I don’t remember much about it except that I was crying because they was taking my paw and maw away. One of the men picked me up and put me in the back of one of the pickup trucks and my parents in the back of another one.

  “They drove me to my aunt and uncle’s house. It wasn’t long after that that I started seeing things. At that young age, I thought the things I was seeing were real. I was punished by my aunt and uncle for lying. It was very hard for me since I didn’t understand what I was doing wrong.”

  “Let’s sit down on that sand dune over there,” Sarah said, “I want to hear some more about this.”

  We sat on the dune and I noticed several families with picnic baskets were setting up their beach spots with lawn chairs and blankets. Several small children started digging in the sand. I thought of Jennifer and Brad and wished they were here but then decided that wouldn’t be a good idea with what was going on.

  I noticed the other two were watching the children also. A part of me didn’t want to break up the peace and tranquility of the moment but I wanted to hear the rest.

  “How old were you when you learned that these were insights or whatever you call it and not real?”

  “Because of being punished so much, I guess my young mind learned to suppress these insights. I didn’t see anything more until I reached puberty. This time when I started having these insights, I knew they were real but they scared me so bad I didn’t tell anyone.

  “It wasn’t until a white girl, whose family I worked for, got raped that I knew I had a gift and that I could have prevented her being rape. I had a lot of guilt about it for a long time but I never told anyone about it until now.”

  She stopped talking and we waited for her to continue. I noticed one of the little girls was splashing in the water. Her mama was trying to coax her in without getting wet herself and they were both laughing.

  To keep her talking I asked, “How old was the little girl?” and Sarah quickly looked at me and then away.

  “She was thirteen, just beginning to bud. I was the same age and lived in their attic. I did the washing and helped some in the kitchen. Her name was Katherine but they called her Kat. She was always nice to me and would sometimes sneak up into the attic and we’d play together until her paw found us playing together and had me whipped.”

  “That’s terrible,” Sarah and I said together.

  “Well, it was all right for her father to try to have sex with me and I think he had me whipped partly because I wouldn’t have sex with him. Anyway, it wasn’t long a
fter that that I had the dream.

  “In the dream, the school bus had let her off at the end of the road from the plantation and she was walking along like she did every day. The woods on each side were thick and there was Live Oaks with moss hanging down on each side.

  “Kat had walked this half-mile from the bus stop everyday and nothing had ever happened. Anyway, in the dream I saw her plain as day. She was wearing her little pink and white dotted Swiss dress and black leather shoes. Her fine long blond hair was tied back with a big pink bow.

  “She was carrying her books and all of sudden she stopped and looked to her right like she heard something. She walked to the edge of the woods and looked in and suddenly she threw her books down and started running, but a big white hand reached out and grabbed her.

  “In the dream, I followed them into the woods. He had his hand over her mouth and was holding her facing away from him, but he had a stocking over his face. I couldn’t make out what he looked like.

  “She was kicking him and he suddenly looked like he’s had enough and threw her down on the ground. Her head hit a fallen tree and she was knocked out for a few minutes. He roughly pulled her panties down and unzipped his pants and raped her.

  “She came to before he finished and started crying but he didn’t seem to notice. I woke up while this was going on. I was in a panic. At first I thought it was a bad dream, but the next day, when it happened just like I dreamed, I knew I still had some kind of gift and that my aunt and uncle hadn’t beat it out of me.”

  “Hey!” someone yelled and we looked up and saw that it was Robert and Simon. We jumped up and ran to meet them.

  Robert picked up Sarah and swung her around, “We got him, baby. That’s why we took so long. We had to wait for two of my deputies to pick him up. You’re all safe and everyone can go home.”

  “Robert!” Sarah said. “Where’s your southern hospitality?”