Climbing up the Walls
By Pennipotens
Author's Notes: This is my first Picket Fences fic; I got motivated from reading Ushuaia's great stories. It takes place on a slightly altered timeline between seasons 2 and 3 – Kenny and Max are together already, but Terms of Estrangement hasn't happened yet. Please let me know what you think!
Chapter 1
*~*~*
I am the key to the lock in your house
That keeps your toys in the basement
And if you get too far inside
You'll only see my reflection
*~*~*
"C'mon, c'mon, just a little bit more..." Max pleaded with the piecrust as she worked to stretch it over the apple filling. "Almost there - dammit!" The crust gave way, breaking and sending her fingers into the still uncovered guts of the pie. She banged her head on the counter, not really caring that she'd just coated her forehead with flour.
"Now what did that pie ever do to you?" Max lifted her head off the counter and Kenny had to smile, she looked adorable with flour streaked across her forehead and sticking like snowflakes to her red bangs.
"The pie is out to get me, that's what it did. It's trying to drive me crazy." She allowed herself to relax as he came around the counter to take her in his arms. She sank back into him and let the tension flow out of her. "Why can't I cook? Little kids can cook."
Kenny laughed, and she could feel his breath on the top of her head. "I can't cook either. That's why we always have to get take-out. But think of all the time we save not doing any dishes."
"Mmm, time we put to good use..." She turned and kissed him, getting flour onto his face as well. They stood and laughed at each other, and she was overwhelmed by such a strong sense of contentment, Max thought she might cry. She saw a devilish look on Kenny's face, and quick as lightening he reached behind her to the abandoned pie and scooped out a handful of the uncooked apples. "Oh no," she said, as he leaned toward her, "no way Kenny, cut it out - ahh!" She shrieked as he pushed the apples at her mouth, getting apple-mush streaked across her face as she tried to duck away.
She grabbed a handful of her own to counter-attack, but Kenny was already off and running. "Get back here!" she yelled, giggling as she chased him into the bedroom, pie-making forgotten.
*****
"Mmmm, that smells delicious," Jimmy said as he entered the kitchen, his mouth starting to water. Jill swatted him away as he moved towards the steaming pie on the countertop.
"Hands off mister, that's for the harvest festival." Jimmy sighed and opened the fridge, hoping to find something besides carrot sticks. He settled, grudgingly, for an extra baking apple.
He crunched into it and sat at the table across from his wife. "I had to send Rich Cayton home yesterday, put him on mandatory leave. I didn't want to, but he gave me no choice-he keeps dragging people into the station for no reason and threatening them."
Jill looked at him sympathetically. "Well, can you blame him? His daughter's been missing for how long now, nine weeks?"
"Ten," Jimmy confirmed, shaking his head. "I know I shouldn't, but I'm almost praying the body turns up. The odds of her coming back alive at this point...he can't give up, and it's going to drive him crazy." He sighed, hating the feeling of helplessness the situation gave him.
Jill put a comforting hand over his. "He knows you're doing the best you can. I think the rest of the town is just trying to forget about it, it's too upsetting. It's like she just vanished off the face of the earth." She shuddered a bit.
"I know. Her car sitting by the side of the road like that...it doesn't make any sense." Jimmy tried not to let his mind wander where it always did when he thought about Sara Cayton - to his own seventeen-year-old daughter, Kimberley. "It's like she just got out and walked away. We combed the car four times, not a single hair or print."
"Well, it is possible that she ran away," Jill said, already knowing what Jimmy's response would be.
"Without taking a single belonging with her, and ditching her only mode of transportation? And without anyone seeing her? Someone took that girl, Jill."
She sighed, wishing not for the first time that Jimmy had a different job, one that didn't leave him feeling tortured so often. He took on responsibility for the whole town, and she knew he was blaming himself for the missing girl.
Matt and Zach clomped down the stairs into the kitchen, bickering all the way. "Is too!"
"Is not! Mom, Matt says the harvest festival is cancelled because the pumpkins are all growing killer bacteria!" Zach ran to his mother's side, and she pulled him onto her lap.
"Matthew, stop torturing your brother. Of course it's not cancelled, and the pumpkins are fine. What kind of face do you want to carve this year?"
Zach grinned up at her. "Freddy Krueger. With serrated teeth."
The phone rang, and Jill pushed him off of her lap with a laugh as she got up to answer it. Matt took her place at the table, setting back into Zach. "You'll never win the prize for scariest pumpkin with Freddy *Krueger,* he hasn't scared anyone in years. You've got to think fresh! How about O.J. Simpson?"
Zach's eyes lit up. "Yeah! Dad, will you help me carve O.J.? I can attach an arm with a glove on it!"
"No," Jimmy said sternly. "There will be no O.J. Simpson pumpkin. Why can't you just carve a nice happy face? A little good cheer?" The boys rolled their eyes. Jimmy looked over to Jill, who had gone pale and had a nervous look in her eyes.
"It's for you, Jimmy."
She held out the phone, and he searched her eyes as he took it for a hint of what was to come. He listened silently to the deputy on the other end of the line, and resisted the urge to slam the phone onto the table when he hung up. He got up and grabbed his coat and hat. "I've got to go. I'll be back late."
Matt jumped up from the table. "What is it dad?"
Jimmy met Jill's eyes across the room. "They found a body."
*****
Max prided herself on being impassive, and not letting crime scenes rattle her. But she'd never seen anything like this. And she was definitely rattled.
"How...how could this happen?" she whispered, staring at what remained of Sara Cayton. Kenny kneeled down beside her, and as much as she wanted his arms around her she was thankful to him for recognizing her need to feel in control of the situation.
"Someone must've kept her locked up, and not given her any food. Starved her to death." Cops buzzed around them, and camera's flashed over the body. Max turned away slightly, willing her stomach to behave as this morning's breakfast churned. Every bone on the corpse was visible, covered only by a thin translucent netting of what no longer resembled skin. The face was a skull, eye sockets bulging. She'd been laid out with her arms spread wide, a hideous parody of a snow-angel. Red marks about an inch long zigzagged all over her skin and her eyes were wide and staring.
Jimmy came down the small hill that separated the ditch from the highway. Max watched him take the scene in, and he closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself. She stood up, brushing dirt and leaves from her pants. "No tracks anywhere near the body, Jimmy," she told him. "Doesn't look like we have anything more to go on then before."
"Get it wrapped up and give it to Carter." Jimmy paused, and she saw anger in his eyes. "He'll find something. There's gotta be something."
"Okay," she nodded, turning back to Kenny. A high pitch scream pierced the air and she jumped involuntarily. Rich Cayton came tearing down the hill, his eyes wild.
"No! Sara! No!" Kenny grabbed the man's arm and held him back, as Rich began to sob. "No, no, please god, no..." He crumpled over and sank onto his knees, as Max felt her heart ache with his pain. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she saw Jimmy wipe away a few of his own, trying to pretend he had dust in his eye.
"We're gonna get him, Rich," Jimmy said, his voice husky. "We're gonna get this son of a bitch, I promise you that."
Rich crawled forward toward his daughter's body, and reached a trembling hand out. Max bit back a warning to him not to disturb the evidence. His hand fell short and he broke down again, burying his head in his hands.
"We're gonna get him," Jimmy repeated.
*****
Kim turned again, scanning the street behind her for what felt like the tenth time in the past day and a half. She had the eerie feeling of someone's eyes following her, but everyone was going about their own business on the crowded row of shops. She swung the shopping bag containing her purchase - a great new pair of jeans. Her mom would hate them, she was sure of it; they were distressed with tears all up the thighs. Her dad would probably tell her she got ripped off, he didn't understand that new jeans were *supposed* to look old.
Thinking of her dad, she pondered picking up something for him. Maybe some candy or a jazz tape. He'd been so down lately; she knew Sara's disappearance was weighing on him. It was weighing on her, too - she didn't really know the girl, but she knew of her, she went to Kim's school only one year behind her. It was too close for comfort, and the whole school was on edge.
She thought she heard someone calling her name. "I really *am* getting paranoid," she murmured to herself, but turned to look anyway.
"Kim! Kim!" Her friend Lisa weaved through the crowd on the sidewalk, rushing over to her. "Kim! They found her. Your dad and them, they found Sara Cayton." Lisa panted, out of breath.
"Oh god, is she-"
"Dead." Lisa's eyes were wide, a mix of fear, sadness, and adrenaline. "I heard someone say all of her blood had been drained, like she was sacrificed by a satanic cult or something."
Kim tried not to let herself get swept up in the hysteria, she knew there were probably a hundred rumors circulating already. "You don't really believe that."
Lisa shrugged. "Wouldn't be the strangest thing that's happened in this town."
Kim had to agree. "C'mon, let's go to my house. I bet my dad called, so my mom can tell us what's going on."
Lisa nodded and they set off down the street, which was now humming as the news spread. Kim felt a shiver down the back of her neck, and the feeling of eyes fixed on her once again. Shaking it off, she got in her car and headed towards home.
*****
End Chapter 1
By Pennipotens
Author's Notes: This is my first Picket Fences fic; I got motivated from reading Ushuaia's great stories. It takes place on a slightly altered timeline between seasons 2 and 3 – Kenny and Max are together already, but Terms of Estrangement hasn't happened yet. Please let me know what you think!
Chapter 1
*~*~*
I am the key to the lock in your house
That keeps your toys in the basement
And if you get too far inside
You'll only see my reflection
*~*~*
"C'mon, c'mon, just a little bit more..." Max pleaded with the piecrust as she worked to stretch it over the apple filling. "Almost there - dammit!" The crust gave way, breaking and sending her fingers into the still uncovered guts of the pie. She banged her head on the counter, not really caring that she'd just coated her forehead with flour.
"Now what did that pie ever do to you?" Max lifted her head off the counter and Kenny had to smile, she looked adorable with flour streaked across her forehead and sticking like snowflakes to her red bangs.
"The pie is out to get me, that's what it did. It's trying to drive me crazy." She allowed herself to relax as he came around the counter to take her in his arms. She sank back into him and let the tension flow out of her. "Why can't I cook? Little kids can cook."
Kenny laughed, and she could feel his breath on the top of her head. "I can't cook either. That's why we always have to get take-out. But think of all the time we save not doing any dishes."
"Mmm, time we put to good use..." She turned and kissed him, getting flour onto his face as well. They stood and laughed at each other, and she was overwhelmed by such a strong sense of contentment, Max thought she might cry. She saw a devilish look on Kenny's face, and quick as lightening he reached behind her to the abandoned pie and scooped out a handful of the uncooked apples. "Oh no," she said, as he leaned toward her, "no way Kenny, cut it out - ahh!" She shrieked as he pushed the apples at her mouth, getting apple-mush streaked across her face as she tried to duck away.
She grabbed a handful of her own to counter-attack, but Kenny was already off and running. "Get back here!" she yelled, giggling as she chased him into the bedroom, pie-making forgotten.
*****
"Mmmm, that smells delicious," Jimmy said as he entered the kitchen, his mouth starting to water. Jill swatted him away as he moved towards the steaming pie on the countertop.
"Hands off mister, that's for the harvest festival." Jimmy sighed and opened the fridge, hoping to find something besides carrot sticks. He settled, grudgingly, for an extra baking apple.
He crunched into it and sat at the table across from his wife. "I had to send Rich Cayton home yesterday, put him on mandatory leave. I didn't want to, but he gave me no choice-he keeps dragging people into the station for no reason and threatening them."
Jill looked at him sympathetically. "Well, can you blame him? His daughter's been missing for how long now, nine weeks?"
"Ten," Jimmy confirmed, shaking his head. "I know I shouldn't, but I'm almost praying the body turns up. The odds of her coming back alive at this point...he can't give up, and it's going to drive him crazy." He sighed, hating the feeling of helplessness the situation gave him.
Jill put a comforting hand over his. "He knows you're doing the best you can. I think the rest of the town is just trying to forget about it, it's too upsetting. It's like she just vanished off the face of the earth." She shuddered a bit.
"I know. Her car sitting by the side of the road like that...it doesn't make any sense." Jimmy tried not to let his mind wander where it always did when he thought about Sara Cayton - to his own seventeen-year-old daughter, Kimberley. "It's like she just got out and walked away. We combed the car four times, not a single hair or print."
"Well, it is possible that she ran away," Jill said, already knowing what Jimmy's response would be.
"Without taking a single belonging with her, and ditching her only mode of transportation? And without anyone seeing her? Someone took that girl, Jill."
She sighed, wishing not for the first time that Jimmy had a different job, one that didn't leave him feeling tortured so often. He took on responsibility for the whole town, and she knew he was blaming himself for the missing girl.
Matt and Zach clomped down the stairs into the kitchen, bickering all the way. "Is too!"
"Is not! Mom, Matt says the harvest festival is cancelled because the pumpkins are all growing killer bacteria!" Zach ran to his mother's side, and she pulled him onto her lap.
"Matthew, stop torturing your brother. Of course it's not cancelled, and the pumpkins are fine. What kind of face do you want to carve this year?"
Zach grinned up at her. "Freddy Krueger. With serrated teeth."
The phone rang, and Jill pushed him off of her lap with a laugh as she got up to answer it. Matt took her place at the table, setting back into Zach. "You'll never win the prize for scariest pumpkin with Freddy *Krueger,* he hasn't scared anyone in years. You've got to think fresh! How about O.J. Simpson?"
Zach's eyes lit up. "Yeah! Dad, will you help me carve O.J.? I can attach an arm with a glove on it!"
"No," Jimmy said sternly. "There will be no O.J. Simpson pumpkin. Why can't you just carve a nice happy face? A little good cheer?" The boys rolled their eyes. Jimmy looked over to Jill, who had gone pale and had a nervous look in her eyes.
"It's for you, Jimmy."
She held out the phone, and he searched her eyes as he took it for a hint of what was to come. He listened silently to the deputy on the other end of the line, and resisted the urge to slam the phone onto the table when he hung up. He got up and grabbed his coat and hat. "I've got to go. I'll be back late."
Matt jumped up from the table. "What is it dad?"
Jimmy met Jill's eyes across the room. "They found a body."
*****
Max prided herself on being impassive, and not letting crime scenes rattle her. But she'd never seen anything like this. And she was definitely rattled.
"How...how could this happen?" she whispered, staring at what remained of Sara Cayton. Kenny kneeled down beside her, and as much as she wanted his arms around her she was thankful to him for recognizing her need to feel in control of the situation.
"Someone must've kept her locked up, and not given her any food. Starved her to death." Cops buzzed around them, and camera's flashed over the body. Max turned away slightly, willing her stomach to behave as this morning's breakfast churned. Every bone on the corpse was visible, covered only by a thin translucent netting of what no longer resembled skin. The face was a skull, eye sockets bulging. She'd been laid out with her arms spread wide, a hideous parody of a snow-angel. Red marks about an inch long zigzagged all over her skin and her eyes were wide and staring.
Jimmy came down the small hill that separated the ditch from the highway. Max watched him take the scene in, and he closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself. She stood up, brushing dirt and leaves from her pants. "No tracks anywhere near the body, Jimmy," she told him. "Doesn't look like we have anything more to go on then before."
"Get it wrapped up and give it to Carter." Jimmy paused, and she saw anger in his eyes. "He'll find something. There's gotta be something."
"Okay," she nodded, turning back to Kenny. A high pitch scream pierced the air and she jumped involuntarily. Rich Cayton came tearing down the hill, his eyes wild.
"No! Sara! No!" Kenny grabbed the man's arm and held him back, as Rich began to sob. "No, no, please god, no..." He crumpled over and sank onto his knees, as Max felt her heart ache with his pain. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she saw Jimmy wipe away a few of his own, trying to pretend he had dust in his eye.
"We're gonna get him, Rich," Jimmy said, his voice husky. "We're gonna get this son of a bitch, I promise you that."
Rich crawled forward toward his daughter's body, and reached a trembling hand out. Max bit back a warning to him not to disturb the evidence. His hand fell short and he broke down again, burying his head in his hands.
"We're gonna get him," Jimmy repeated.
*****
Kim turned again, scanning the street behind her for what felt like the tenth time in the past day and a half. She had the eerie feeling of someone's eyes following her, but everyone was going about their own business on the crowded row of shops. She swung the shopping bag containing her purchase - a great new pair of jeans. Her mom would hate them, she was sure of it; they were distressed with tears all up the thighs. Her dad would probably tell her she got ripped off, he didn't understand that new jeans were *supposed* to look old.
Thinking of her dad, she pondered picking up something for him. Maybe some candy or a jazz tape. He'd been so down lately; she knew Sara's disappearance was weighing on him. It was weighing on her, too - she didn't really know the girl, but she knew of her, she went to Kim's school only one year behind her. It was too close for comfort, and the whole school was on edge.
She thought she heard someone calling her name. "I really *am* getting paranoid," she murmured to herself, but turned to look anyway.
"Kim! Kim!" Her friend Lisa weaved through the crowd on the sidewalk, rushing over to her. "Kim! They found her. Your dad and them, they found Sara Cayton." Lisa panted, out of breath.
"Oh god, is she-"
"Dead." Lisa's eyes were wide, a mix of fear, sadness, and adrenaline. "I heard someone say all of her blood had been drained, like she was sacrificed by a satanic cult or something."
Kim tried not to let herself get swept up in the hysteria, she knew there were probably a hundred rumors circulating already. "You don't really believe that."
Lisa shrugged. "Wouldn't be the strangest thing that's happened in this town."
Kim had to agree. "C'mon, let's go to my house. I bet my dad called, so my mom can tell us what's going on."
Lisa nodded and they set off down the street, which was now humming as the news spread. Kim felt a shiver down the back of her neck, and the feeling of eyes fixed on her once again. Shaking it off, she got in her car and headed towards home.
*****
End Chapter 1