The Hunter in the Shadows by Joab Stieglitz

Author:Joab Stieglitz [Stieglitz, Joab]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781983577970
Publisher: Rantings of a Wandering Mind
Published: 2018-04-13T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

March 11, 1930

“You’ve gone on at length about the dead,” the older woman said with a raised fist, “but what about the missing?” The crowd split before her as she approached Anna and stopped directly in front of her. “You’re looking for the thing that did the killing, but no one cares about all those folks who just disappeared.”

“We can see the dead, Helen,” Joseph said in a sympathetic tone, “but there’s no way to know if other just ran off—”

“My Angela didn’t run off!” Helen shouted. “She was taken for some evil purpose. I can feel it in my bones.”

“When did this happen?” Anna asked. “Tell me all about it.”

Helen’s anger melted into worry as she absorbed the sincerity in Anna’s voice. She lowered her fist and started ringing her hands. Anna put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Angela wasn’t the first girl to be taken,” Helen started quietly. “She’s quiet and shy, not like them other girls.”

Anna nodded encouragingly.

“She’s been gone almost three months.”

“What does she look like?” Ogden said. Helen jumped at the soldier’s voice. “Excuse me,” he said “What does Angela look like? What was she wearing?”

“My Angela is just eighteen years. She’s small. She’s has black hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a long-sleeved white dress.”

“When was the last time anyone saw Angela?” Joseph asked the assembly. A din of voices rose. Joseph cleared his throat and looked at one man. “Efrem, you first.”

“I remember seeing Angela over by the fountain one night,” the young man said. “She looked like she was talking to someone out of view. She had a shawl on over the dress. She was worried about whoever she was talking to.”

“When was that?” Helen asked.

“It was on the night of that last full moon,” Efrem replied. “I remember because whoever she was talking to was in one of the only dark places that night.”

“Did anyone else see Angela that night?”

“I remember her asking about a lost child,” a woman said. “Yes. She was looking for Frances McCree. The girl turned up a little later, but I don’t remember seeing Angela again.”

“Did the killings start before or after the disappearances?’ Anna asked. Again, there was a murmur among the small gathering.

“The first body was found about a month ago,” a man said. “That was Leroy Rainey.” Sounds of agreement rose.

“Then there was Gilbert Meldrum,” another voice said from among the crowd.

“That was about a week later,” Joseph added.

“When did the people start going missing?”

“As I said,” Joseph replied, “people come and go from Hooverville all the time. But the first person to leave family behind was Jessica Hilliard. That was just after the snows first fell in November.”

“Tell me about her,” Anna said.

“Jessica was a forward gal,” Rosemary said disapprovingly. “She was a wild one. Pretty and outgoing. She was the one the boys chased. Though they didn’t have to chase very hard —” Rosemary cut herself off abruptly.

“So she was friendly and outgoing,” Anna said, “and probably likely to approach someone new or who she found interesting.

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