“Wow, that’s a mouthful.” Maude said, thinking of the despair such wartime weapons caused in the world.
“Yes, it was. I was fascinated by Doctor Dennis’s information. He’s very up on all that. Now, how can I help you?”
“Did he say anything at all about leaving for the weekend?” Maude asked.
“No, as a matter of fact, he seemed rather quiet about his plans. I remember telling him to enjoy the afternoon, and he simply nodded at me, and kept on walking away, as though to avoid any questions from me.”
“Is that not his normal behavior?” She asked him.
“No, not normal at all. He’s usually very friendly, wants to talk after one of his presentations. I noticed the difference in his attitude right off, but of course I didn’t pry.”
“What do you think Dean Stone? Is he just out of the office, or do you think something might have happened to him?”
“I really don’t know. It was strange, the way he behaved, in such a hurry to get away. Not at all like him. But don’t get me wrong, he is perfectly at liberty to come and go as he pleases. The contract that Doctor Dennis has with the university gives him a great deal of freedom.”
“So, what exactly does the doctor work on, here at the university, that the US Government would have an interest in, or care about?” Maude’s stomach was already acting up, always a sure reaction to unpleasant facts.
“Detective, I have no idea. I was never told, and each time I asked him about it, Doctor Dennis sidestepped the question by telling me it was nothing serious. Meanwhile he has been an asset to the university.”
“Are there any rules against professors dating students on campus?” Maude asked him offhandedly, unwilling to break the confidence that Lilly Ann had shared.
“Well, we try to discourage it, although I daresay it goes on without our knowledge. Do you think Doctor Dennis is seeing someone on campus?” Dean Stone seemed agitated at the thought.
“Oh, I don’t know anything, really, just asking about the university’s fraternization policy.” She had figured him right, and it wasn’t her place to break the news to him that Dennis might be dating a student.
“Would you mind if I ask around campus, to get a little more information about the doctor? I promise I’ll be discreet.” Maude hoped it would be that simple. The good doctor dating a student and keeping it a secret-he might even be on campus in some love nest.
“I…suppose it would be alright, but you must promise to keep me informed of your findings?”
“Sure,” Maude told him, “No problem. I hope it’s all for nothing.”
The fourth year women’s dorm was set away from the others--the thought clear--‘we’re adults and almost done here.’ The four story building was old, with wide, glass-paned windows that probably leaked cold air into the girls’ bedrooms during the winter weather. Some of the bricks had crumbled along the corners of the structure, their rough broken edges adding to the overall picture of sentimental negligence. But that didn’t seem to matter much. It was the prestige of finally getting there that made the dorm desirable.
Each floor had a patio in the back of the building where students would sometimes enjoy the sunlight or the late evening air in rickety chairs they had scrounged from someone’s pool or the thrift stores in the city. Four of the young women who lived in the dorm were outside throwing a basketball into a net, mostly missing the hoop, but sometimes scoring a point. Maude approached them, trying not to startle anyone who lived there.
“Hi,” she said. “My name is Maude Rogers, and I’m looking for Jenny Marx. Can someone call her down for me? I need to ask her some questions.” She pulled her shield, flashed the star for a moment then returned it to her pocket. She smiled at the girls, showing them that she was harmless.
Two of the players looked quickly at each another then ignored Maude, flipping the basketball back and forth, practicing defensive moves.
“I don’t know her,” one of the other girls said, trying to be helpful. “Just know she lives here. Don’t know her room number. You can go in the front door, speak to the Room Attendant. The RA can tell you where she lives, and call her on the phone.”
“Much obliged,” Maude said, starting to turn away. “On second thought, I know Jenny is dating a professor here. I am trying to find out where he might have gone for the weekend. If you know anything, I would appreciate hearing about it.”
Both girls who had ignored her looked again at one another, and one shook her head slightly. “Sorry.”
“Okay. I know she’s your friend, but if you know anything that’s important to the police, you’re obligated to tell it.” Maude knew she was pushing her luck, but she laid it out for the young women to consider.
The girl who had shaken her head stopped fooling with the ball. “Yeah, Jenny is my friend. I don’t want to get her into any trouble.”
“I can understand that.” Maude said. “I don’t want to cause her any trouble either.”
“She went away for the weekend, with her boyfriend. They went to a resort on Edwards Bay. Do you know where that is?”
“No, but I can find it. Do you know when she is coming back?” Maude asked.
“Well, that’s the thing. She was supposed to be back yesterday. She called Saturday and said it would be late when she returned last night, but she would be back. I’m getting worried, she’s not back, and doesn’t answer my calls.”
“So when did she leave?” Maude asked.
“Thursday night. They were just going for a long weekend.”
“They? Who did she go with?” Already knowing the answer, the bad feeling in her gut, getting worse, Maude had to hear it from the girl’s lips.
“Professor Dennis,” the girl whispered. “Aaron Dennis.”
“Does your friend have a cell phone?”
“Yeah. I can write the number down for you.” The girl was concerned, even scared for her friend, willing to do what was necessary to find her. Maude admired loyalty, but abhorred ignorance. When a person’s welfare was in jeopardy, it was time to come clean. She thanked the girl then went inside the building.
Once inside the dorm, Maude was told by at least two girls to sit and wait, that someone would be there to talk to her. Remembering her own years at the university in Oklahoma, she understood the reasons for the young women’s behavior. The rules were made for their protection and privacy, their home away from home, paid for by parents or scholarship. Maude was content to wait.
The RA came into the waiting area and said hello. A tall girl with green eyes and spiky brown hair, she appeared to be a little older than the others. It was her job to keep order in the dorm, a job that she appeared to take seriously.
“What can I do for you?” she asked Maude.
“Any information you can give me about Jenny Marx.” She showed the young woman her shield then put it out of sight.
“What has Jenny done?” The room attendant seemed ready to take it personally if Jenny had screwed up and brought shame upon the dorm.
“Nothing, young lady, Jenny is a subject of concern. She hasn’t returned from a holiday. Wonder if you can tell me anything that might help?”
“No, I don’t know where she is. She didn’t share that information with me, but I have the phone number for her parents. Maybe she went there for the weekend and got lazy. She isn’t the first person to miss class. Wait just a minute, I’ll get the number.” The girl ran upstairs and Maude waited for her to return, but thirty minutes later, she knew she had been duped.
“Can someone tell me if there is a back way out of this building?” Maude asked the group that lingered on the sofas, watching the large television set.
When no one answered, she went directly to the set and turned the volume down all the way.
“Just so I don’t have to scream. Is there a back way out of here, and who can tell me that girl’s name, the RA? Also, does anyone know Jenny’s parents phone number?”
“Janet, Janet Fillmore. She’s
new here. Just a few days ago she moved in. Just like that. Never any reason-she came in during the middle of the semester, and yes, there is another door.” One of the girls who had been playing basketball had come inside. She filled Maude in on the details about Jenny, giving her the phone number that was needed, but there was little else she could tell.
The basketball player later commented that “Probably Fillmore was given the job of room attendant because she was older than the other girls. She never mixed with the others but most of the room attendants were that way.”
Maude took the information and summed up her thoughts. Now there were two missing young women, but one is running from something. Too many coincidences. Maude seldom believed in coincidences where the possibility of a crime was concerned.
Chapter 4
The trip to the coast from the university took about an hour, mostly two-lane narrow highway all the way. Coastal towns were like that, the roads were never really good. Maude was driving slowly, knowing that whatever was going on with the doctor and his girlfriend had probably already happened. Not much she could do about it now. Keeping her promise to Lilly Ann, she followed the lead to the place the young women had told her about.
A Corps of Engineers bay that was a recreational draw, Edwards Bay was a natural phenomenon, a large, deep-water cove on the Gulf Coast. The best part of the bay was its calm post-tidal waters, with diverse types of salt and fresh water fish, shrimp, oysters, and other sea creatures. The salt water of the Gulf was diluted by an influx of warm, fresh, canal water, and offered up a fresh water bounty of fishes. It was a fisherman’s paradise.
There were few places for rent on the bay, but Lilly Ann had a friend whose grandparents were more than eager to have a house guest, accepting the out-of-towner at face value. Maude unloaded her meager suitcase from the pick-up, and met the residents, both of them smiling their welcome to her. Andrea and Barry Tyler were one of those couples she had read about--the beautiful woman and the ugly man who made a life for themselves.
The Tylers were about sixty years old, within Maude’s age range, and seemed a little surprised to find that she was still employed. They had been retired for at least five years, moving to the coast after selling their home in Houston for a good price. Big Bear, a nickname for Barry, was a retired oil man who made his fortune and got out before the wells all dried up in the nineties. He was jovial and large, qualities that came with the name.
Maude had some difficulty with calling a human ‘Big Bear’, but he settled her worries and told her to call him Bear, a more acceptable moniker, in her opinion, for the man who offered up his home to a stranger. He said the Big part of the name came in the sixties when he lifted weights and did some wrestling, for he was quite large and muscular at the time. Bear said that his fans put the name on him and it stuck. Back then, it seemed that all his friends were called some name other than the one their parents had given them.
The Tyler home was located near Edwards Bay; in fact it was about a half-mile from the resort where Aaron Dennis had a reservation. The room the couple offered Maude was medium-sized, with a very good bed, and she slept like a rock that first night.
It was eight o’clock in the morning, on Tuesday. The doctor and his girlfriend had been gone for five nights and four days. Maude put her tennis shoes on for walking and possibly getting wet and made her excuses to Andrea. Bear was watching a news program and didn’t hear the conversation, but appeared to be okay with whatever anyone did in his home. Maude began to understand the pretty woman-ugly man relationship. Bear was a truly nice man and great host.
Andrea smiled a lot through her perfect lips that still had the cupids bow outline. With deep-set blue eyes and blond hair, even at sixty or so, she was still a knockout, making Maude feel somewhat dowdy. But that was life. What you got from your Maker was what you lived with, or changed with surgery. Maude, for the most part had always been content with her appearance, even though there were times she wished she appeared more ‘womanly’.
The first stop she made, as always, was at the local law enforcement agency, this time it was to the county sheriff’s office. She introduced herself to Jack Fuller and liked the man right off, something that didn’t happen much to Maude Rogers. The official was all business, but didn’t try to make himself out to be more than he was. She had found that some men in his position ‘put on airs’, pretending that they were all powerful, and they expected the rest of the world to cow-tow to them.
Jack was not that way at all, rather, he was a self-deprecating man, always on top of his business, yet willing to credit others with the jobs they had done. To Maude, that made him a much more powerful man.
When Jack first saw Maude coming into his office he looked her over, liking what he saw. She was a tall woman, thin but not shapeless, with a grayish blond mop of curls, an interesting color as far as he knew about women’s hair. Bright blue, intelligent eyes and the beginning of a small grin told him she was taking his measure, a good looking woman, no doubt, and a cautious one. It wouldn’t do to underestimate her.
“What can I do for you?” Jack asked, standing and offering his hand. “Name is Jack Fuller, sheriff around these parts.”
“Maude Rogers, homicide detective visiting your county. I’m trying to do a favor for my niece over at the medical school. Much obliged for seeing me.
“What might that favor be and how can I help you? I’m getting ready to leave my office as soon as some men call me with the arrangements. I can give you a few minutes. Have a seat, Ms. Rogers. Mind if I see that shield of yours?”
“Just Maude, will do. A least that’s what my friends call me. And of course,” she said, handing over the leather case containing her work identification.
“Then by all means, Maude, tell me what I can do for you,” the sheriff repeated, returning her Madison identification.
She began to tell him the story, about how her niece had approached her with the request to find her friend Aaron Dennis when the Sheriff interrupted her.
“Maude, excuse me for interrupting you, but you say this man you’re looking for is Aaron Dennis?”
“Yes, and I believe there is a young woman vacationing with him.”
“Her name would be Jenny Marx?” The sheriff quietly asked.
“Yes, do you have information about these two? My niece is worried, and so are a few others at the university. Seems these two decided to spend some time around your county over at the Edwards Resort.”
“Maude, how would you feel about a helicopter ride this morning?” Jack wasn’t accustomed to making those kinds of offers, and he wondered why the invitation had slipped out of his mouth. His wife Helen told him that it was the Lord working in him when he made a gesture of goodness to another human being. Jack didn’t know if that was true, but once said, he would not draw back from his words. As far as it being a gesture of goodness, Jack had a feeling there was going to be nothing good about the trip they would be taking.
“My deputy is driving a boat across Edwards Bay and I intend to fly over it, searching for the man you’re looking for. Aaron Dennis rented a boat yesterday, and hasn’t been heard from since, got that woman with him. We looked last night along the beach, both sides of the cove, no foot traffic, but headlamps. Took out the copter around nine, but the tide was in and flooded the whole area. It was too dark to see much. We’re going back today to take a long look at the land around there, to see what the daylight shows us.”
“I’d be pleased to ride along, haven’t been up in a whirly bird this year. I hope we find those two shivering and cold, but well. Still, all this hasn’t set right with me since I found out about it. I fear the worst, but I’m not speculating what that might be.”
“Me too,” Jack volunteered. “Don’t like how it’s set up.”
The helicopter arrived within ten minutes and the two law enforcement officers boarded the craft, buckling in and picking a window they could look out. The pilot worked for the Corps of Engineers and had b
een loaned to the sheriff for the day, a courtesy offered because of their connection to Edwards Bay and the surrounding land.
“Mighty nice, having a helicopter to help out.” Maude said, glancing admiringly at the fast-turning prop.
“Yeah, not the first time I’ve been in this bird.” Jack said. “That bay can be treacherous in places. People drown out there, not expecting it to be so deep. The north shoreline is no place for amateur boaters, but they try it anyway. Many a person has lost his boat from slamming against the rocks.
“I do hope there is a simple explanation from the missing couple,” Maude said. “Thank you for including me in the search, Sheriff. I am obliged to you.”
The helicopter made a smooth, short trip to the cove, and circled over the resort and the houses on the south peninsula. The water below was sparkling in the sunlight, the shoreline covered with the prized, backyards of the residents fortunate enough to afford a home there.
“Those houses are way above my pay-grade,” she remarked to the sheriff. “I’m staying with some folks that live a little ways from the water. The Tylers, Barry and Andrea. Their granddaughter is friends with my niece. They’re putting me up for a day or two.”
“Good folks. I know them.” Sheriff Jack offered. “See them around.”
The pleasantries over for the moment, Maude began looking out the window again as the helicopter moved away from the south shore and began a sweep along the north side. She stared at the wild beauty of the Gulf beating against the rocky end of the bay, the low cliffs above it dark and somehow forbidding. She caught a glimpse of a small building tucked away near the edge of the cliff line.
“What is that place?” she asked over the noise of the helicopters engine. “Looks deserted.”
“No, not deserted. Old man lives there. Most people think he’s a nut case.” Jack replied, his breath close to Maude’s ear. “Stays by himself except when his grandson comes to visit. Boy’s daddy drops him off and picks him back up the same day. Flies in from Alvin, doesn’t stay and visit. The old man used to be rich. Some say he left it all to his son. He moved here about five years ago, a real eccentric.”
The Maude Rogers Murder Collection Page 30
