Our Sick Inheritance (editing)

Chapter 124 - Don't Leave Me Here

Kyle slapped him on the arm for words were no longer possible. He made it to his truck and saw the Chief had sent him the location and directions of Stacy's whereabouts. The place was not too far from where Stacy's car sat. The higher on the mountain he drove, the more the air got thinner. Even though there was thick snow, it felt much colder than it should have been. Kyle wanted to cry, but he couldn't. He couldn't give up. His little girl needed him. A glance in his mirror showed hollow shadows around his eyes. He felt weak, tired, agitated and had higher levels of anxiety than a ballerina walking across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope.

There was a smell of frosty dense wet earth that nobody could ignore. Big thick black trees barely allowed a path for Kyle to drive on. Ahead were four police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck. Knowing that this finding was personal, Walt arranged for his fellow coroner to transfer Stacy. They were ready to pick her up but had instructions to wait until Kyle got there.

Detective Cruz showed up to Kyle's relief. If there was anyone that would do a thorough job on the details, it was Miles Cruz. Kyle walked up to Cruz as if he was in a dream. Miles stepped in front of Kyle and stopped his zombie movement.

"I want to give advice to you, because we are friends, and I have respect for you." Detective Cruz said looking concerned.

Kyle's gaze unwavered from the distance it was focusing on. He didn't want to look at the hand that stuck out from behind the tree, but he couldn't help it.

"It would be best if you at least let me get her into a body bag, so you'll just see her face." Miles said. Kyle turned to his friend. Detective Cruz could tell by Kyle's expression that he wasn't going to be deterred.

"I have to see my daughter." Kyle said and Detective Cruz looked down then stepped aside. Everyone stayed behind to let Kyle go up alone. It was a steep slope up to where the dead body sat. There was a feeling in Kyle's heart that he had never known before. Several times he almost fell in the deep caverns of snow, but he kept marching on. When he was up to the tree that the lifeless girl sat against, Kyle stood behind her hand. His chest felt constricted and it had nothing to do with the altitude. Inhaling deeply, Kyle moved around the tree so that the rest of the body came into view.

At first, Kyle was in denial that it was his sweet little girl. His beautiful Stacy. Her eyes were milky white, and her brown hair was matted with leaves. Bugs had been exploring her for three days. Her head was tilted at a strange angle, but ice protected her from being eaten by predators. To him she looked like a manikin that had been thrown out. Kyle's heart thudded in his chest. He pulled the leaves off his daughter's face. He felt ten years older instantly.

Kyle shook his head and looked around hoping to see her. Her spirit wasn't standing around and for that he was grateful because he didn't want his sweet girl stuck in this place. What Kyle did see was a couple of other girls he had never seen before looking at him from behind trees. They stepped out at the same time and stood erect. The girl in front with long blond dirty hair was Jolene and she was pointing straight past him. He turned his head and saw a few people running to a different section of the forest close by. They were making long leg jumps in the snow to make as little imprint as possible. Kyle turned back around, and the girls were gone. He was left alone with his lovely daughter.

The desire to lift her out of the dirt and mud was almost more than he could overcome. The reason he didn't because she needed gentle hands to lift her out so nothing fell off her that could help her find her killer. Tears from his heart make their way out of his eyes and he had no will to stop them nor did he care who saw. The dept of despair was heavier than any world weight strongman could carry. The heartache supported more than every year she had been alive. It held all the words she had uttered, every tear of hers Kyle had wiped, and every smile given that could cause earthquakes.

Kyle touched his daughter's hair gently so as not to disturb anything. The fact that she was frozen would preserve clues, Kyle hoped. He didn't want to leave her, but he needed her out of this wicked forest that she was jammed in. A place she didn't know.

"Kyle?" He heard from his friend somewhere close behind him.

"The sooner we get her back and examine her, the sooner we could find out what happened." Detective Cruz said gently. Kyle knew he was right. He had to tell his wife. Detective Cruz had the same idea.

"Kyle, go to your wife. Walt will let you know when he is ready for you. We are going to find this guy. I'll call you tomorrow." Cruz said. His friend gave Kyle a quick hug, both men releasing with tears in their eyes.

Kyle heard a commotion in the distance. He looked to see an officer running up to them.

"Uh, Sir... can you please come check this out?" The cop said to Detective Cruz.

They followed the officer and saw a group of police looking at an area while two others started putting more perimeter tape up. Several bones were poking out of shallow ground. Three different locations in the area they were standing, Kyle could tell they were obviously human bones. His stomach clinched tighter. Confusion was starting to dumb his brain.

"Could this be the other serial killer?" Detective Cruz voiced.

Kyle headed to his truck and drove out without caring anymore about sliding on the ice. There were so many unanswered questions with mixed directions. What was Stacy doing out that far? It was the opposite route she was supposed to be heading. Was his daughter with someone? Did someone else drive her car? Was it a stranger or somebody she knew? It was obvious the cleanup was taken with care because there was no evidence of anyone else being with her, that Kyle could tell anyway. Her car was still clean from when he took it to get serviced.

His mother always told Kyle, "bad things happened to good people all the time. It's the bad things people do that will be punished either in this life or the next."

"Well Mama, I'm going to make sure they are punished in this life." Kyle said to the quiet undertone of voices in his car. His hair felt as if someone ruffled it gently but fast, like his mother used to do to him all his life when she understood his emotion. Kyle gripped the wheel in torment. Someone was going to be punished dearly, and he didn't want to help how he felt.

Kyle didn't remember getting home. All he could see were flashing images of Stacy before his eyes. His body drove him home where his mind was busy. He didn't even try to construct or control his thoughts, he just let them how. Kyle pulled into his driveway and dreading going into the house to tell his wife that their beautiful, wonderful Angel of a daughter had now found her place in heaven. He couldn't even handle it himself.

Alicia was sitting erect in the chair in living room in front of entrance and front door. She spent a lot of the last few days there, constant working, reading and sleeping with phone in hand. The phone went with her everywhere, even the bathroom.