Gingerbread Man

couldn't bear—"
    "It's all right, it's all right." He released Holly, took his gun from his holster, tossed it to the ground. Going to Amanda, he gently took the tire iron from her hands. "You listening Jare?"
    "I'm listening."
    "I pulled my weapon. Marty knocked it out of my hands and came after me with—" He glanced at Holly. "Did he have any other weapon on him?"
    "A hammer," she said. "He took it from me."
    He studied Holly's face for a second as she knelt there with the child, gently removing her blindfold, and keeping her head from turning toward the ugly scene.
    Vince continued. "Marty attacked me with the hammer, and I clubbed him with the tire iron."
    "He got up and came at you and you had to club him a couple more times, by the look of it, partner."
    "Two decorated officers, two eyewitnesses." Vince tossed the tire iron down. "And my prints on the weapon."
    "Open and shut," Jerry said. "I saw the whole thing."
    "Why didn't you draw your own gun and fire?"
    "Kid was too close." Jerry replied.
    People swarmed into the clearing. Holly met Vince's eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.
    "Get Bethany out of here," Vince said. "I'll be right behind you."
    Holly nodded, gathered Bethany up into her arms, keeping her head tucked close to her until she got into the woods, so the little girl wouldn't see what was left of her attacker.
    The child was cold to the touch, utterly traumatized as she searched Holly's face and then burst into tears. Holly just held her tight, and closed her eyes. Police officers crowded around her, but she wouldn't let Bethany go. She waited for Vince to come with Amanda, just inside the woods beyond the clearing. Bethany buried her face in the crook of Holly's neck, as Holly turned to look back.
    Cops swarmed past her into the clearing. There were uniforms everywhere, and men in suits and raincoats as well. They all had flashlights, and there was a crisscrossing of beams over the clearing that looked like a checkerboard.
    The rain had stopped. And almost as if it were preordained, the clouds chose that moment to drift apart, allowing the bright light of the waxing moon to spill down onto the clearing. Holly wasn't sure what she was seeing when her gaze was first drawn to the moonlight-washed ground. It was Jerry who said, "Sweet merciful Christ, do you see what I'm seeing?"
    Vince frowned, and looked. He had Amanda anchored to his side. She wasn't looking at anything at all, just staring blankly into space. The clearing was not a natural one. There were mounds in the ground. Neat rows of them. Perfectly spaced, each roughly the same size and shape. And one hole, freshly dug—shallow, and open, and waiting. Bethany tried to lift her head, but Holly held her hand to the back of it. "No, no, baby. You stay still. I'm taking you back to your mom now, okay? You're gonna be just fine." Holly's eyes welled with hot tears as she glanced one last time at the open grave that had been meant for the little girl in her arms. Vaguely, she wondered which of those graves held Ivy's body. Her throat closed off at the thought. "You're gonna be just fine, honey. You're just fine." She spun away and carried the child rapidly through the woods, away from the nightmare.
    * * *
    VlNCE CAUGHT UP to Holly before she got back to the road, extricated the little girl from her arms. "Let me, hon. It's all right, Bethany," he said. "I've got you. You're safe now."
    She hugged his neck, and Holly linked her arms through one of his. "What about Amanda?"
    "Jerry and the chief are bringing her out. She seems to want to move slowly. No one wants to push her right now."
    He carried the child out of the woods, onto the muddy excuse for a road, and into the flood of flashing lights. Holly kept her body pressed to his side. She had to be close, had to be touching him. Two ambulances were waiting on the narrow dirt road.
    "I'm scared," Bethany whimpered. "I'm so scared."
    "You don't have to be afraid anymore," Holly told her, her voice gentle, soothing. "It's over now, this nightmare is all over. You're safe now, I promise."
    "You came for me," Bethany went on. "I'm so glad you really came for me. Holly."
    An attendant came running from the back of an ambulance with a blanket, as the three of them stepped into the flood of light. He wrapped it around Bethany as she shivered.
    "This man is going to take you to your mom, okay?" Vince said to the child.
    Bethany looked afraid, wide eyes shooting to Holly's then to Vince's, as if