JJ in Wonderland – Chapter 8

.

JJ came to stand next to him and looked at the photos with shocked expression. "These are horrible and…whoever took these photos, he's even sicker."

"Look at the face, it's the Sheriff."

"These look quite recent, I wonder if this is the missing woman the Sheriff mentioned."

"Whatever is going on, we have to find her or she'd end up along that…whatever ghostly images we saw."

JJ nodded and pointed, "Here's our help…look out the window of this photo…there's a street sign!" She narrowed her gaze to try to read the sign. "I think it say…Sibley St…can't tell the block number though, it's too small."

"Maybe the deputy can help us with this photo." Dave said.

"Look at this other photo, it's the Sheriff, and he's cuffing the woman to the bed."

"But who's this photographer?" Dave asked again. "He's an accomplice to this."

"To what purpose? What are they getting at?"

Dave pulled out a folder from the desk drawer and JJ saw it was the Sheriff's personal file. They opened the pages and looked at the documents.

"Peter Dougherty was born Pashtu Degonatu, he's a Native American, a member of the Five Civilized Tribes." Dave read.

"Five Civilized Tribes? The original Native Americans consisting of Choctaw, Cherokee, Chicasaw, and the Muscogee? I've heard of them but have never met them before." JJ nodded. "A friend of mine was from the Choctaw tribe and she explained to me the origins of the Native Americans."

Dave nodded, "Okay, I understand about the Native history but …"

"Don't you see, Dave? If we look deeper, the Avondale Mills must have been built on an ancient Indian burial site. And now they want the place to remain unoccupied."

"Hence the factory close-down."

She nodded. "There's an ancient myth that if you kill a non-native and buried her head separately from her body, she'll come back to haunt the building, looking for her head in hopes of reuniting it and be put at rest, eternally. Otherwise, she'll haunt forever."

"So, we have to find the body of the head and buried them together."

"Hey, the Sheriff's address listed him living on Sibley St." JJ pointed at the file.

They stepped out of the office and approached the deputy, "Where is Sibley St?" Dave asked him.

"It's across the town, why?"

"There's a woman held captive somewhere in that place." Dave told him.

"But, it's residential place!" The deputy exclaimed.

"Do you know your Sheriff lives there?"

He shook his head, "I didn't know…like I said, nobody knows where he lives."

"Well," Dave smiled at him, "We're about to go there and find out."

The deputy sighed, "I reckon so." He took a hand radio and called out a unit patrol. "55 respond."

"This is 55…what do you need, Frankie?"

"Uh, I have a situation and I need you to come back to the Ponderosa."

"10-4, Frankie. I'm five minutes away."

The deputy, Frankie, nodded to the agents as he picked up a set of keys and said to them. "Okay,"

"You might want to call out for additional help." Dave suggested.

Frankie nodded as he picked up his radio and made another call for another unit to meet with him at Sibley St. Turning to them, he said, "Let's go."

…..

Arriving at the residential area, JJ and Dave saw the houses that lined the block were built in the 18th century.

"It's built after the Revolutionary War ended, to house the soldiers who decided to settle down here. As well as the Native Americans, we formed a good relationship with the army at that time."

"Deputy, you said we?"JJ asked.

Frankie turned to her and smiled, "If you know about Sylacauga history, our ancestors were Native Americans, all of us here are part if not full Indians."

Surprised, JJ inquired, "So everyone here has Indian ancestry," He nodded. "What if someone here is not?"

He frowned and shrugged, "Well, if they want to move in, that's their choice but we're pretty tight community here, everyone knows everyone."

"Except for your Sheriff," Dave pointed.

Frankie nodded, "Yeah, 'cept for Sheriff Dougherty. He was an odd duck."

When they arrived 15 minutes later, they saw another police unit waiting for them by the curb, the deputy came out to greet them.

"Frankie, what's this about?"

Frankie explained the other deputy about their findings and the Sheriff's involvement.

"And you believe this myth?" The deputy turned to the two FBI agents. "It's just an ancient folklore. No one with a lick of sense believes in such hogwash."

"What if it's true, Deputy…Lee?" JJ asked him.

"Okay…let's just say what you said is real and possible, we can't go in there without a warrant."

"Not if we have probable cause and these photos are pretty probable." Dave showed the deputy the photos.

He paled as he stared at them, "Oh hell, that's Christie Hale."

"You know her?" JJ asked him.

The deputy nodded, "She's a kindergarten teacher for nearby Childersburg Middle School, she's new in town…just moved here from California."

"But what's your relationship with her?" Dave pressed him.

"My sister, Janet, she's a teacher too in Childersburg met her and told her there's apartment to let and it's cheaper than Childersburg."

"It's the truth, things across county are not cheap there." Frankie agreed with him.

Suddenly they heard some screaming coming from one of the houses along the block they were at.

They began to follow the screams, as the deputies pulled out their guns, "Where is Sheriff?" Lee asked them.

"We cuffed him and left him at the railway depot." JJ answered as they looked around them until they reached a corner house with a fenced in yard and back yard. It was dark within.

"Cuffed him at the depot?" Lee stared at them.

"It's a long story, deputy." Dave shook his head. "He's not going anywhere unless he's Houdini."

The deputies chuckled at Dave's joke, "I don't know about you, Frankie but Sheriff is one odd duck and we've worked in the force for more than ten years."

Frankie nodded, "Well, you're not the only one feeling it, Dean. The others…they never like him much and he didn't allow women to work at the precinct. He's particular."

"Yeah, he freaked out when the local doctor, Dr. Mason, wanted to adopt a kid from China. Man, I swear he 'bout flipped and paid the good doctor a visit."

"What happened then?" JJ asked Dean Lee.

"Oh, the adoption didn't come through. There was some kind of problem but the Dr. Mason and his wife moved away from here after that. He'd been here forever…Momma said he delivered more than half of them young'uns here in 'Cauga."

Dave looked at JJ and said, "I guess we might have some prejudicial and biased Sheriff."

"Yeah, against non-Native Americans," JJ nodded. "It's getting more and more reasonable to think he's very much a killer."

Dave turned back to the deputies, "You guys know the myths, I have a question, well several but the one main question is why is he doing it every five years? What's the significance?"

Lee and Frankie frowned, "It's another myths that a soul stayed behind for only five years after that they end up in purgatory or hell, whichever you believe in."

"So," Frankie looked at Dean, "You reckon he kidnapped this Christie Hale and starve her before he's gonna kill her and bury her at the Mill or the railroad track?"

"I reckon so." Dean nodded.

"I wonder how many victims had fallen under his hands…when did this factory closed down?" JJ inquired.

"'Bout ten years now…oh damn! You don't think this curse or whatever you call it is working?" Frankie frowned.

"I think it's a real possibility." Dave confirmed.

They heard another scream and went to the main door and knocked. "FBI! Open up!" JJ called out.

The deputies stood behind them. "There ain't anyone in there but that screaming."

Dave then began to bang against the door with his shoulder.

After a few hits, the door cracked and Dave kicked opened, it was dark inside but dawn was upon them as the morning light began to steam into the house.

"Help! Some one!"

JJ looked at Dave as she moved towards the scream.

"Christie Hale?" JJ yelled out, "Chrissie Hale? FBI, we're here to get you out."

"Oh my god! Yes, I'm Christie! Get me out! I don't like confined spaces…please hurry!"

JJ found her in a small bedroom. She was cuffed to the bare bed frame, just like the vision they saw at the railway.

"I'm Agent Jennifer Jareau from the FBI, we're going to get you out. Are you all right?" JJ rushed to her. "We'll get you out as soon as possible, hang in there, I'll get the keys."

"Hurry!" Christie urged her, "I'm feeling very sick…he put something in my drink and…and when I woke up, I'm tied up here…oh my god! Hurry!" She rattled on the cuffs nervously.

"Deputy! In here!" JJ walked to the door way and beckoned at them.

Five minutes later, she was freed of her bindings and leapt quickly from the bedpost, "He said he'll be back for me at day break….we must get out of here…"

"Wait!" JJ held her hand up, "You're safe with us, I mean we have him under custody…well, we cuffed him at the Depot, he's not going anywhere."

The woman widened her eyes, "No…no…he'll be back…he said I'm not of his tribe….I must be sacrificed." She began to cry.

JJ held her, "It's okay, you're safe…I'll take you outside." JJ escorted her out of the room and the house.

….

After JJ had called for an ambulance to take Chrissie Hale to the hospital, she returned to the house.

"Did you find anything?" JJ asked Dave as he was in a bedroom.

"Oh yeah, loads…and look at this," He opened the closet which was filled with photos of another deaths which they learned it happened ten years ago.

"Her name was Emma Stowe, she was married to the factory manager who reported her missing and was never found. He lost his job at the factory when he insisted on taking time off to look for her. Get this; Sheriff Dougherty had indicated he had suggested to him that his wife must have run off with her ex-boyfriend. The case remained open but there was no indication the Sheriff pursued further on the case."

"What about the woman from five years ago…the vision we saw."

"Here's your answer," Dave opened a box which contained the information on Susan Martin."

JJ began to read her file, "Susan Martin, age 23. She was born in Portland, Oregon. She was reported missing in 2007. Her mother called to report her missing and filed a missing person. Case is still open." JJ looked up at Dave, "We should find the body and contact her mother. I'm sure she'd wanted a closure."

Dave nodded. "Someone took pictures of the burial sites, it should be easy to locate."

They walked out of the room and searched for the deputies who were keeping a watch outside the house from curious neighbors.

"Deputies, we needed to go to the railway and the factory…the Avondale Mill…."

"You shouldn't go there!" A woman in her fifties called out from the crowd formed in the front yard.

JJ went to her, "Why not, ma'am?" She showed them her badge.

"My name is Evelyn Winster, I used to work at the Mill until it closed down because…"She looked around her and whispered, "It's haunted."

JJ prompted her, "Go on, why do you think it's haunted? Did you see something…unusual?" She was thinking of her own unusual specter experience at the railway.

"There's a headless woman haunting the Mill, no one wanted to go into the warehouse in the evening before we shut our machineries for the night because we're scared of her."

"Her?"

"Yes, she was headless but we can see it's a woman 'cause she was wearing a dress. It was creepy." The woman shivered in the cool morning. "I didn't want to go there by myself, it's too creepy."

"What about the railroad, the depot?" JJ asked her and then looked at the others. "Anyone heard about the railroad being haunted?"

There were mutterings and a man in his forties stepped out, "I have but I ain't scared of no ghost!"

JJ came to him, "Did you see anything unusual? Did you work there?"

The man nodded, "Yes ma'am I sure did. I was the depot supervisor and loads of time when I pulled a nighter, I'd hear them metal clanging and a woman groaning and screaming."

"Oh hell, Bill. You were probably drunk on your job like you're always, that's why they can your ass." Another man came out from the crowd. "There ain't no ghost, Bill. Beggin' your pardon, ma'am." He tipped his hat to JJ. "Name's Bill Young. I worked at the other depot and I can tell ya I've not seen no ghost." He shook his head.

"I've seen it." JJ owed. "My partner," she pointed at Dave who was talking to the deputies. "We saw it and I think we can find the buried remains."

"No!" An old woman holding a cane came hobbling out slowly, JJ surmised she could be more than 80 years old.

"I beg your pardon, ma'am?" JJ watched her.

"The Avondale Mill was built on top of an old Indian grave and so is part of the railway depot. But if you dig up them bones, lady, it'll not lift the curse. It must be done properly and with an Indian Shaman."

The crowd groaned as the man chuckled, "Come on, Betsy. You're always talking 'bout Shaman Tomas. He's nothin' but a quack."

"Hush your mouth, Loney!" The old woman waved her arms frailly and shook her head angrily at the man, "You should shut your nonsense and be more respectful here." She then turned back to JJ, "Like I said, it's to be done in the right way or the headless woman won't rest in peace."

JJ nodded, "Well, once we find the evidence, I'll make sure your Shaman will be here to do this, okay?"

The old lady nodded as she walked away muttering about young folks and not understanding about rituals and curses.

The deputy glanced at JJ for her reaction but she just shrugged and said, "I understand about that, we've dealt with it numerous times in the past."

"Really?" the young man said. "I have to watch this Shaman perform his mumbo-jumbo." He shook his head as he continued his interviews with the crowds while JJ returned to Dave's side.

End of Chapter 8