Cut and Run(42)

He looked up and pointed to what Faith suddenly realized was a very small security camera.

“A camera?” she said.

“Not only will they know we’ve been here, but also Macy.”

He walked around back and stepped onto a patio made of cracked stone pavers. Off to the side was a set of rusted patio furniture.

Hayden’s boots crunched on the gravel lining the patio as he stepped out onto the dusty earth around it. The sun had cooled, and its light was dimming quickly now. Soon it would dip completely from the sky, but tonight would be a full moon.

Hayden studied the land as if reading a book. He moved northwest thirty paces. Again he crouched and scooped up a handful of soil, slowly letting the dust trickle from his loose fist. “Have a look at this.”

She moved up beside him and trailed her outstretched hand to the three stones spaced evenly apart. The land in front of each marker was slightly concave. “The soil is uneven.”

“Yes, it is,” he said.

She’d been to the sites of unmarked graves before, and she’d come to recognize the signs. When a body was buried and it decomposed, it bloated first; then when the flesh burst, it deflated. This rise and fall left cracks and indentions in the earth.

The burnt-orange light cast a glow over good-sized stones that were maybe fifty pounds each and natural to the area. They could have been easily overlooked. However, when she really studied them, she realized they were arranged in a perfect line.

“Gravestones?” she asked.

He reached for his cell and stood. “I don’t know. But we need a team with ground-penetrating radar out here.”

“We’re out of daylight.”

“I’m calling the sheriff’s department, and I’ll ask them to guard this area until we can return in the morning.”

“I don’t get it. Why did Jack Crow leave this address for his daughter? Why not just tell her?”

“Maybe he couldn’t face her, but he needed to clear his conscience.”

“He bought two burner phones before he died. We’ve only found one. We’ve got to find the other.”



When Macy was four, she had gone on summer break with Jack to Galveston Island. She’d gotten tired of waiting for Jack to stop talking to the pretty lady at the snack bar and had gone to the edge of the pool. She had dipped her toe in, and the cool water had felt so good.

She had been sure she could jump into the pool and scramble to the edge just as she’d done with her father. So she’d jumped into the cold water. However, she’d landed farther from the edge than she’d anticipated, and panic had immediately set in.

She’d kicked against the cement bottom and clawed herself toward the sunlight flickering above. Her fingertips had broken the surface, and she had felt the air teasing her skin. But even as her little legs had kicked hard, they hadn’t created enough lift to propel her face above the surface so she could inhale air.

She had sunk back down. Her fingers had slipped below the water’s surface. Her lungs had screamed for air, and terror had sliced through her body. The chlorine had burned her eyes and filled her nose.

And then a hand had reached down from above and grabbed her by the back straps of her bathing suit and yanked her upward toward the blue sky.

The heat of the sun had warmed her face as her mouth had opened and she’d gulped in air. Fear had given way to relief as she’d blinked and stared at the face of her father, whose frown had revealed a kind of fear she’d never seen before.

“Pop!” She had sucked in more air as tears had welled in her eyes.

Tanned fingers had brushed the strands of blond hair from her eyes, and a grin had tugged at the edges of a glower that scared most grown men. “Don’t you cry on me, Macy Crow. You’re safe and sound now. No need to cry. Jesus, your mother will kill me if she even knew I almost let you drown.” A sob had shuddered through her, and she had blinked back the tears. She’d sniffed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Macy had forgotten about that day from twenty-five years ago. And she remembered it now because she was sinking again to the bottom of another pool that was far deeper and darker. Pop wouldn’t be there for her this time.

She tried to open her eyes and focus toward the sunlight, but her lids didn’t respond. She remained trapped in blackness. She wanted to kick her legs, flail her arms, push through the inky obscurity, and break the surface. But no matter how much she willed it, she couldn’t.

In the distance, she heard hushed chatter and the beep of equipment. There were people around her. She wasn’t alone.

Once she thought she heard her brother’s low and angry voice. But it vanished almost as soon as she heard it and was followed by more poking and prodding.

“Dirk, throw me a lifeline! Pull me up! I’m here! I’m alive! Don’t leave me!”

Macy couldn’t remain in the darkness. She knew something.

Something important.

She couldn’t quite remember what it was, but she was certain if she could reach the light and air, she could find the missing pieces and finish the puzzle.

“Come on, Dirk, somebody, anybody. Pull me up! I’m right here, and I’m sinking fast.”



It was just after ten when Faith pulled past the guard station at the entrance of her North Austin gated community. The townhouse development was less than five years old, and she’d taken out a hefty mortgage last year to buy her first adult home.