The Road to Wrinkle Ranch

by Nick Russell

  “Sure, we can do that," Maddy said. "In the meantime, if you hear from her, have her give us a call, or you can call either one of us.” They handed the young woman their business cards.

  "I will,” Felicity promised. They started for the door and she said, "After losing Audrey, I kind of wondered what was going to happen. I hope it's not what I think."

  They stopped and turned around, "What do you mean," Maddy asked.

  “I really can't say. Just ignore that. I said too much already,” she said shaking her head.

  "Felicity, two people are dead and one person seems to be missing right now. What is it that made you say that?"

  "Listen, I need this job. Business is really slow right now, but I'm working hard to try to make something happen, and I've got some deals that might be coming together pretty soon. If Mrs. Shaw found out I…"

  "This is a conversation between the three of us. It's not going anywhere else,” Maddy assured her. “What is it you were going to say?"

  Felicity looked uncomfortable, then said, "Mrs. Shaw has been very good to me, okay? She gave me a chance when nobody else would. All I have is a GED, and getting jobs is pretty hard as it is, and anything with the potential I could make here is just impossible."

  "We get that," Maddy said, nodding her head. “Like I said, this is just between us."

  Felicity took a deep breath and they weren't sure whether she was going to tell them anything else or not, but then she said, “It seemed like Mrs. Shaw had a… special interest in Audrey, if you know what I'm saying."

  "I don't know what you're saying, Felicity. Just tell us, okay?"

  “It was like she was in love with Audrey. I know that sounds terrible, and I shouldn't even say that, but I've seen people in love. She was talking about how pretty and how smart Audrey was all the time. She was like a teenage girl anytime Audrey was in the office. She was watching her when she moved, everything she did. And I would notice little things. When they were talking, she would touch Audrey's hand or rub her arm or shoulders, things like that. Mrs. Shaw's a nice lady, but she's not really a touchy-feely kind of person. But with Audrey, it was like she couldn't keep her hands off of her."

  "How did Audrey seem to react to that?"

  "I don't know. Oblivious? She never seemed to even notice. Sometimes, I think she even liked to play hard to get or something. Audrey wasn't a very nice person. I hate to say that, but she wasn't. Sometimes I think she was playing Mrs. Shaw."

  “Playing her?"

  "Yeah. Like sometimes she would pay attention to her and talk to her like they were friends or something, or they’d take off and have long lunches and sometimes stay gone for two or three hours at a time. Other times she was just… aloof? Like Mrs. Shaw didn't even exist. She would say something to Audrey and Audrey would ignore her completely, or just give some short answer. Audrey would be walking out of the office and Mrs. Shaw would tell her goodbye or to keep in touch and Audrey wouldn't even answer. When she did that, the look on Mrs. Shaw's face was like she was heartbroken. I know I’m way out on a limb here, but that's the way it seemed to me."

  “Like we said, if you hear from her, give us a call,” John Lee said. We’ll drive by the house."

  "If you find out something, will you call me? I've had like four calls for her this morning and I need to know what to tell people."

  "We will,” Maddy promised.

  ***

  The Shaw house was a neatly trimmed white bungalow located on Locust Street, six blocks from downtown. A 2018 Buick LaCrosse was parked in the driveway. When no one answered the doorbell, John Lee knocked loudly and said, "Mrs. Shaw, it’s Deputies Quarrels and Westfall from the sheriff's department. Are you here?"

  There was no response and they waited a moment, then he knocked again, louder the second time. Still no response. Walking around the house, they tried looking in doors and windows, but everything was closed up. A little bit of a gap in the curtain showed them the living room, but there was nobody in it. They tried the back door and it was locked, just like the front.

  "What do you think, John Lee?"

  "I don't know. Let's run the plate on that car and see if it's hers.”

  The dispatcher confirmed that the car belonged to Alice Shaw, and John Lee was just thanking her when he heard someone call "Officers, is everything okay?"

  They looked up to see a frail-looking woman who appeared to be in her late 70s standing at the low fence between the Shaw house and the one next door. Walking over to her, John Lee asked, "How are you doing this morning, ma'am?"

  "I'm fine, thank you. Is everything all right over there?"

  "We're just trying to find Mrs. Shaw," Maddy said. "For some reason, she didn't show up for work today, and one of her employees tried to call her and didn't get an answer on the phone."

  "Oh, dear. That's not good, is it?"

  "We don't know," John Lee said. “Have you seen Mrs. Shaw around lately?"

  "I saw her yesterday when she got home. My cat, Mr. Bojangles, was up in the tree in the front yard. Fool cat gets up there and then won’t come down. I've got to coax him down with treats at least once a week. I don’t know why I put up with him, except that he's as old as I am and neither of us has got anybody else in the world."

  "When you saw Mrs. Shaw, how did she seem?"

  "Strange."

  “Strange?" What do you mean by that?"

  "Usually Alice will chat for a few minutes, just ask how I'm doing and things like that. But she just went right in the house. I said hello as she was going by but she didn't even acknowledge me. That's not like Alice. I don’t know if she's mad at me or what. Sometimes Mr. Bojangles gets on her car and I know she doesn’t like his paw prints on it. I try to keep him home, but you know how cats are."

  "Does she have another car besides this one?" John Lee asked.

  “Another car? No, that's the only car she has. Why?"

  “I just wondered if she had another car and she went off someplace in it, that's all."

  "No, that's the only car she has. I sure hope she's okay."

  The old lady had a worried expression on her face and Maddy tried to reassure her. "I'm sure she is, ma'am. She may have gone someplace with somebody else since her car is still here, and she forgot to call her office to let them know.”

  “Oh, no,” the old woman said, shaking her head. “Alice is always very punctual. She takes me to my doctor appointments and grocery shopping, and to church every Sunday, and she’s always here right on the dot.”

  “Do you know of any medical problems Mrs. Shaw has?"

  "Well, I know she's got a touch of arthritis. She takes medicine for that, but it's not bad. That's the only thing I know about."

  “Thank you,” Maddy said. “We appreciate your time.”

  As they were walking away the woman said, “With her car still there, I wonder if she took the truck?"

  They stopped and Maddy turned back and asked, “Truck? What kind of truck?"

  "Lenny’s truck. It's usually in the garage. I’ve asked her why she doesn't sell it and park her own car in the garage, but she said Lenny loved that truck and she just couldn't bear to part with it. They used it to pull their camper before he died. She sold the camper but kept the truck. I sure don’t know why. It’s a big old thing. She drives it around the block once a month or so to keep the battery charged up, but I don't think it's been farther away than that since he died."

  “Do you know what kind of truck it is, ma'am?”

  “Yes, it’s a blue one."

  "A blue truck?"

  “Yes. It's usually there in the garage. Did you check there?"

  "No, but we will,” Maddy said.

  The detached garage had a regular door beside the large roll up car door, and both were locked. There was no window in either door, but walking around to the side, they noticed a window high up on the wall. Neither was tall enough to reach it, so John Lee boosted Maddy up and she looked in the window. "I'll be damned."
r />   “What is it?"

  Maddy got down and said, "It's a blue truck, John Lee, just like the lady said. A big blue dually extended cab pickup."

  Chapter 41

  "I know it's frustrating, but the judge said he can't go issuing a search warrant to bust into somebody's house just because they didn't come to work and happen to own a pickup truck,” Chief Deputy Schroeder told them an hour later. “I tried, but he said a woman’s got a right to miss a day of work if she wants to, and she don't have to tell anybody where she's going."

  “So what do we do now, Dick?"

  "Nothing you can do. At least not right now.”

  “From everything we can find out about Alice Shaw, she never misses a meeting and she never misses a day of work," Maddy said.

  "There’s a first time for everything,” Schroeder said. “Maybe she forgot about the appointment with the electrician, I don't know. At any rate, we can’t go busting in there."

  Sitting at her desk, Kimberly said, “I found some information you all might be interested in."

  “What's that?"

  "AVA properties is owned by an offshore company called Wealth Opportunities Unlimited. AVA is a corporation under that umbrella, and you'll never guess who the registered agent for AVA is in the state of Florida."

  "You can save us a lot of trouble by just telling us," Schroeder said.

  "Lonnie McBride,” Kimberly said, smiling.

  “You're kidding me?"

  "No, sir, take a look."

  The three of them walked behind her desk and looked at the screen. "See, right here,” she said pointing to Lonnie McBride's name.

  "So he's behind AVA properties?"

  "I don't know if he's the only one behind it because it’s a subsidiary of this offshore company and I can’t find anything about them. But according to the state of Florida, every corporation has to have a registered agent, and in this case, it’s Lonnie McBride. It was organized almost two years ago."

  “Does that mean that Roger Bentley was lying to us when he said he didn't know anything about AVA properties or Wildflower Estates?"

  "That's hard to say, John Lee," Kimberly told him. "Maybe Lonnie McBride was doing something on the side that his boss didn’t know anything about."

  "Did his wife say if she knew anything about AVA Properties or Wildflower Estates?"

  "No, Dick. She said he spent a lot of time telling her how much money he was going to make all the time, but he never got into any details. I get the impression she didn't really care to listen."

  “All right, good job, Kimberly. Keep poking around and see what else you can come up with.” Schroeder then asked John Lee and Maddy, “What did you find out from those three sisters?"

  “I found out John Lee doesn't like getting pinched on the ass," Maddy said.

  "Do I even want to know?”

  Maddy laughed and told Schroeder what happened when they visited the Effin sisters.

  “That's interesting," he said. “Between what you told me yesterday that you heard about Mrs. Shaw and how she felt about Audrey, backed up by what her employee said today, I definitely think that we need to have another talk with her."

  Seeing the hopeful look on their faces, he shook his head and said, "I mean whenever she comes back. I'm sorry, but the judge is not going to let you go break into her house. Have you talked to that Agosti guy again since he got in trouble at the McBride house yesterday?"

  "No. I don't think we’re very welcome there," Jon Lee said.

  "We're cops, John Lee. We aren’t welcome at a lot of places. That don’t mean we don’t go there and do our jobs, does it? Take another run at him and see what you can find out.”

  ***

  When Amanda Agosti opened the door, the first thing they noticed was that she was dressed in real clothes, lightweight gray slacks and a sky blue pullover shirt. The second thing they noticed was her black eye.

  "This isn't a good time for you to be here," she said.

  "Mrs. Agosti, what happened to your eye?"

  She shook her head and said, "Nothing, I was just being clumsy."

  Maddy looked at John Lee and back at her and said, "How were you being clumsy, ma'am?"

  "It's all right, let it be. What do you want?"

  "We need to talk to your husband. Is he here?"

  "He's kind of busy right now."

  "Amanda, is there some problem?"

  The woman looked away, toward the living room, then back and shook her head and said, "I’m sorry, you’ll have to come back another time."

  "It's really important that we…"

  John Lee never got to finish because she closed the door in their faces. He knocked and said, "Mrs. Agosti, we really need to talk to your husband."

  There was no response.

  "What do we do now?"

  John Lee shook his head and said, "I don't know, Maddy. But I think we both know how she got that shiner, don't we?"

  "I know what you're thinking, John Lee, but we can’t just go busting in there any more than we can Alice Shaw’s house.”

  "I know, but I sure want to," he told her. They stood on the porch a moment longer, and John Lee knocked again, but there was still no answer.

  “There's no law that says someone has to talk to us," Maddy said.

  They walked off the porch and were just getting in John Lee’s car when the door opened and an enraged Vince Agosti stormed across the yard to them. "I don’t want you two back here again, do you hear me?"

  "Apparently you are available to talk after all, Mr. Agosti."

  "I ain’t got nothing to say to you. Don't come back here again without a warrant, got it?"

  “What happened to your wife's eye, sir?"

  "Mind your own damn business. Get out of here!"

  “You seem pretty tense, Mr. Agosti," John Lee said. "How about you just take a deep breath and calm down?"

  "How about you do what I told you and get off my property, dickhead?"

  "Mr. Agosti, I've always treated you with respect," John Lee said. “Even when you’ve gone out of your way to be rude. Why is it that you seem to feel the need to be so aggressive all the time?"

  "You ain't seen aggressive yet! I’m warning you, if you come around here again, you're gonna regret it!"

  "Are you threatening me, sir?"

  “No, I'm tellin’ you like it is."

  "All right, let's all just take a step backward and catch our breaths," Maddy said, trying to play the peacemaker. “We just need to ask you a couple of questions about…"

  "You can stick your questions up your pretty little ass, lady," Agosti told her. “Anything you want to ask me, I'll have an attorney standing by my side."

  “Whenever someone tells me that, I always think that it’s been my experience that people who don't have any secrets don't need attorneys."

  "It’s been my experience that people who come around asking questions where they ain’t wanted get their teeth knocked down their throat," Agosti said.

  "Are you threatening me again, Mr. Agosti?”

  "I'm telling you if you don't get off my property, you’re gonna regret it. Now get out of here!”

  John Lee shook his head and opened the Charger’s door. “You have yourself a nice day, Mr. Agosti. But we might be back, just so you know."

  "You better bring a warrant because otherwise I don't want you here."

  John Lee wanted to tell the reprehensible little man that what he wanted didn't mean a tinker’s damn to him, but he had learned a long time ago that arguing with people like Vince Agosti was a waste of time. He got in the car and started it and drove away.

  “I know my counseling has done me a lot of good," Maddy said. “Otherwise I would've taken out my baton and beaten that prick into pulp."

  “Hey, he's not all bad. At least he said you had a pretty ass," John Lee told her.

  “Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better."

  “Want me to go back? Maybe he’ll pinch it for you."


  "No, thanks."

  "Then how about we go back and see the Effin sisters again? Maybe one of them will pinch it for you."

  "Maybe you should shut up, John Lee."

  He looked across the car and said, "Don't get mad at me just because my ass is getting all the attention instead of yours."

  "Could we not talk about my ass? Is that okay?"

  "Are your boobs and hoo-ha off limits too?"

  Maddy laughed in spite of herself and said, “If you keep it up, I might beat you with my baton."

  "I never got into things like that, but if it turns you on, I guess we can try it at least once,” he said. “How about we start with spankings and work our way up from there?”

  “In your dreams, John Lee.”

  ***

  They drove by Alice Shaw's house but it was just as they left it earlier. Doors locked, blinds closed, the Buick sitting in the driveway and the pickup in the garage. Again nobody answered the door. From there they drove to her office a few blocks away. Felicity looked up hopefully when they came through the door.

  "Did you find her?"

  "No. Have you heard anything?"

  "Nothing," the young woman said, shaking her head. "Something is wrong. I'm telling you, Mrs. Shaw never just disappears like this. You can set your clock by her."

  "We tried to get the judge to issue us a search warrant so we could go in the house and check on her," John Lee said, “but he wouldn't do it. Under the law, she hasn't done anything wrong. There’s no crime in missing a day of work or not answering your phone."

  "But this is so unlike her,” Felicity said, near tears.

  The phone rang again, and John Lee said, "If we find out anything, we’ll let you know. I promise.”

  He was just starting the car when Felicity ran out of the office and knocked on Maddy's window. Maddy pushed the button to lower the glass and asked, “What is it?"