Layla's little legs are no match for Brody and his truck. She finally leaps into my arms and grabs my neck.

“Layla hold on tight!”
My legs are moving as fast as a sewing machine. The creek! Brody can't cross the creek...I hope. The loud motor and rustling of gravel growing closer. The truck and Brody behind us leave us little time. I have to take a chance!... I'm jumping! The air is hitting me, my stomach frantically crawling into my throat. The truck screeching its tires on the bridge. The cold ice feeling of water surrounds us. Swimming up for air, the bridge seems to float away.

“Layla? Are you alright?”
Her head nods as she gasps for air. This is copper head river, if we keep swimming just a little ways down, is Dean's house. Layla crawls on my back and holds on.

“Daddy? Where is Mommy at?”

“Brody has her you know this.”

“But where is Brody? Why is she with Brody?”
I open my mouth and baby talk flies out.

“Daddy look!”
My eyes open wide and I grin real big. Dean's dock!

“Go find Uncle Dean. Tell him Daddy's here.”
Layla runs toward the cabin. When when Dean and I built this cabin we both knew it was going to be a safe place. When walking in the door it is not like most two story houses, the living room and kitchen are upstairs and downstairs are the bathrooms and bedrooms. Six bedrooms and three bathrooms make up the downstairs. Camouflage carpet and white walls paint the house. Dean's wife was killed a year ago when she was walking into work at Boonville County Hospital.

“Keenan! How are you?”

“Well I'm wet and cold, other than that Brody is after us.”
“Brody...”
Deans eyes and face turned a different color. The blood drained from his face and his words slow and shaky.

“Where are Andre and Leah?” Dean's words finally slipping out.

“Andre was sent to Mom's, Leah is with Brody, she was kidnapped.”

“Why is your son doing this?”

“I think he finally connected the dots. He knows something happened to Kelly. He wants to know what happened to her. He knows that we know what happened to her.”

I can remember that day plain. My wife Leah went off to the military. Brody's girlfriend Kelly wanted to go into the military. So on July 17 Kelly, Dean, and I went to Kelly's grandparents' farm, to shoot some guns and show Kelly how to aim. Dean was headed back to the truck to get more shells for Kelly's gun. She had a few shells loaded into the chamber, and walked away to go check how she was doing shooting at the target. I picked up the gun not even noticing Kelly walking toward the target, looked into the scope and let the gun down. When I let the gun down I barley touched the trigger and the gun went off. Kelly dropped. Dean and I panicked, we didn't know what the consequences would be, we grabbed the first big black, trash bag we could find shoved her in the bag and buried her under the floor board in the barn.
“I'm sorry Keenan.”
Layla is clutching Dean by the neck. Dean's face looks at Layla and tears start rolling down his face. I can't say anything. Dean is going to help and we both know it.
“I'll get dinner made and you settle in, pick and choose the room come up when you're ready.”
Dean lays out some cloths we have had here from previous visits. Layla and start to dry up. We sit down on the bed both of our eyes are lugging.

I wake up my feet and hands are chained together and I'm sitting in a chair. Brody must of came in while Layla and I were asleep. I don't know how he did it. Horse stables are surrounding me, except one looks funny from the rest. The door opens and I can Brody as he walks out.
“Brody I don't understand.”

The chains on my ankle and wrists feel too tight. I shake and rattle them, but no one seems to hear.
“Layla are you hurt?”
No answer just the sound of my voice echoing through the building.

“Brody please! Let us go!”
“Lets play a game...” the voice of Brody comes pouring through the walls like blood out of a wound. “The game where you get one chance to save your family. Layla will always be with you while playing the game. The rules? You get one riddle and if you can solve the riddle you can see your family alive. But if not...”

“What if I refuse?!”
“If you refuse...Leah, Andre....”
Brody opens the stable door. Dean comes walking out. He has a rope tied around his mouth, his legs have big gashes in them, velvet red blood from where his ring finger had been, adds on to his bloody pant leg.

“This is just a minor example of what will happen to the others if you refuse...or fail.”
“OK I'll do it! Just stop!”
Brody walks back into the stable. I can see Dean's face, miserable, his eyes barely open, hands shaking like a paint mixer machine, and her drops to his knees and groans. A blood curdling groan. Layla comes running toward me out of the stable, the stable door slams and the lights turn off, only the sight of sun coming through a crack in the ceiling. I can here Layla's little foot steps standing in front of me. The chains on my feet are being messed with, then they fall off. I can see Layla holding a key getting ready to unlock the chains on my wrists. I run over to Dean and help him up.

Layla, Dean and I make our way toward the door. As I lift up the lever the dust flies. I push the door as it creaks open, it crashes against the outside wall. Dean's arm wraps around my neck. Hand in hand Layla, Dean and I stand in the middle of trees as the wind blows and pushes them like a group of cattle going to slaughter. The grass grasping our ankles like a soul dragging us down. Bee's flying above us. I leaned down to pick up Layla and give her a hug. The smell of lilac surrounds and suffocates us.

“Dean why does it look like we have know this place?”
Dean's head struggles to lift up, when it reaches the highest point words slow and crackly come crawling out.
“Kelly. Grandparents barn. We left Kelly here.”

My heart stops beating, it feels like time is frozen. This is where we shot Kelly. We buried her under the floor board in the barn.

“Daddy. What happens next?”
I look down at Layla who is holding a piece of paper, one like a cars salesman would hand his customer. On the slip it read: “I'm as silent as I would be if I were in the grave.”

“Oh God Keenan! He wants to see Kelly's body, he wants to know where she is buried.
“Dean?” I can't seem to get the words out. “What do we do Dean?”

“Keenan just give him the body, I'm sure he is watching right now. All he wants is the body, and we want Leah.”
I cannot see the tears are making my vision blurry. I just nod my head at Dean. We walk to the barn which is no bigger than a trailer house. It's been three years no one lives here now, the building is falling in, maybe the coons found her, maybe she won't be here.
“Well this brings back memories, no the good kind either.”

Deans perky voice trying to make the situation better seems to cheer me up a little.
“Layla go stand with uncle Dean okay?”

Dean limps outside and sits on a log from a tree that fell over. He picks Layla up and hugs her, sits her on his lap and tells her something I can't here .
“Alright let's do this.”my voice trying to be as stern as possible. I start ripping up the floor boards, until I see the black bag. I grab a floor board with claw marks on the middle groove, yank up and I can see the degraded bag sitting there. As I lift up the bag, roaches and white worms start to scatter. On the bottom of the bag is mud, and dirt. This bag is making my stomach turn. I lift up the bag and carry it to the door.

“So that's where you kept her for three years? Here, you won the riddle!”
Behind Brody stands Leah, Dean, Andre and Layla grouped up together staring at Brody and I.
“Brody I'm sorry! I never---”

“Shut the hell up! It's my time to talk. You took a dear person to me, from me. I think it's only fair to return the the favor!”
Brody walks toward me and throws me aside and I hit a nail on the wall. I fee a stinging pain in my shoulder. The smell of dust and raccoon urine seem to be seeping out of the walls. Brody opens the dirt and insect covered bag, looks inside, puts his hand in the bag, slowly and shakily pulls out a necklace with the letters “KB” attached to a chain, he slips it on over his vein bulging neck. He lifts up his head and walks back outside, the floor boards creek and scream as I follow him. Brody snaps. He turns his head away from all of us. He then proceeds to pull out a hand gun. The hairs on my back, legs, and go-tee stand on edge. My palms are sweating like a monsoon in the Philippines. My first thought is Layla. He lifts up the gun and fits it under his chin like a puzzle piece. A tear, just one single tear, slowly walks down his face as a loud ear ringing, boom leaves the gun.