The Peace Haven Murders

by M. Glenn Graves

  “I got me. I just don’t push me that hard. Could be a character flaw. But I live with it.”

  “If the dog’s worth it.”

  “He’s worth it.”

  I dropped off Anderson at his car and returned to my apartment.

  “Where’s Sam?” Rogers asked.

  “No idea.”

  “You gave up too easily.”

  “Not yet. Working on Plan B.”

  “What happened to Plan A?”

  “Russell knew we were tailing him. Anderson and I both had the feeling that he wanted us to follow him.”

  “In other words, you think that Russell was leading you into a trap.”

  “Maybe. I don’t know if he’s that smart.”

  “You think he has the dog?”

  “Can’t say. Maybe he does, or maybe what’s her name has him.”

  “Marilyn Saunders,” Rogers said.

  “Yeah. Her.”

  I was sitting on the couch in the spot where Sam usually enjoyed his daily siesta. I was on my third cup of coffee when the phone rang.

  “Put it on the speaker phone,” I said to Rogers. “You answer it and I’ll do the talking.”

  It rang two more times before Rogers answered it. After I heard a loud click, I said, “Clancy here.”

  “Any leads on Sam?” Rosey’s voice was clear.

  “Nope. But I did find the note.”

  “Ransom?”

  “Not really. Just threatened me to stay away from Clancyville or else.”

  “I get the picture. You get anything from Jack Russell?”

  “A run around. Literally. He wanted me to tail him. I was playing into his hands.”

  “Reverse the game.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Don’t play his game, make him play yours.”

  “Go on.”

  “Go back to surveillance on this Russell guy. I’m sitting here watching Saunders’ house on Leftwich Street. If she shows up, I’ll call you back. Once we know that they are split, we have them where we want them.”

  My wheels started turning.

  “I’m beginning to form a plan,” I said.

  “Now I’m worried.”

  “They’re following orders.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Once we know that they are separated, we can attack each of them. Divide and conquer, or something like that. Was that your plan or did I thwart yours?” I said.

  “I don’t feel thwarted.”

  “What was your thinking?”

  “Who’s the leader between these two, Jack or Marilyn?”

  “She is.”

  “Agreed. So, you get to strong arm poor old Jack. I’ll follow Marilyn to see if she leads us anywhere significant. Could be she has to make contact with Mr. Higher Up. If she dilly-dallies, I get to strong arm her too.”

  “And again, ladies and gentlemen, the Harvard graduate comes through with a plan. Except for that dilly-dally part. That must be from UVA.”

  “Wahoo.”

  35

  Norfolk can be beautiful in the fall, but it seldom lasts too long. In honor of the brief beauty that had descended upon my fair city, I decided to do my surveillance on the Hog. I doubt if Jack Russell would be expecting anyone on a bike to be on a stakeout, must less tailing him if I had to. It was an idea.

  I spent most of the afternoon watching the front door of his run-down apartment complex. He obviously was not yet successful at robbery, or else his stealing was limited to animals. I’d say the payoff on stealing dogs would be low. Not everyone would go to the lengths I would go to get their dogs back.

  Late afternoon he emerged from his hovel, got into his car, and drove off. Naturally I followed.

  Being the super sleuth I knew myself to be, I finally deduced that he did not have Sam or else his apartment smelled funny and looked disgusting by this point. Once I made this deduction, I felt freer to actually use force to help Jack understand the error of his ways.

  He pulled into a drive-in that had looked new back in 1959. I parked my bike by the bathrooms on the right side of the building and waited for him. Fifteen minutes or so later he came out carrying a box and a drink. I followed him back to his apartment.

  I decided not to allow him time to finish his evening meal. I could hear the television blaring through his paper-thin door. I slowly turned the door knob to see if he kept it locked. Poor Jack, he was much too trusting in such a rough neighborhood. I pulled the Glock from my back holster and entered his place.

  “Hello, Jack. Nice to see you again.”

  He had a mouth full of French fries so he couldn’t respond coherently to my greeting.

  “Never mind the chit chat, Jack. Just stay in your chair. I’ll talk first. You finish your supper.”

  He mumbled something that I couldn’t decipher.

  “Shouldn’t talk with your mouth full, Jack. Manners. So missing these days.”

  He spit out some fries and finally spoke to me. “Who the hell are you?”

  “My, my. Is that anyway to treat someone holding a gun on you? And someone you already know. Surely you haven’t forgotten the person whose dog you kidnapped.”

  His expression was priceless. I think I must have been the last person on earth he expected to come walking through his front door. If I had been a more trusting soul, I would have thought that I had cornered the wrong person. His face showed that he had so many questions, and for a brief second, I almost felt sorry for him.

  “Shall we start with something simple, Jack? Where’s my dog?”

  “I don’t know nothing about no dog,” he said. His expression of shocked innocence had abandoned him. He was assuming the expression of ignorance. Lying was not his strong suit.

  “Jack, we can do this easy or we can do this painful. I’m not one of those folk who will sit here for an hour or so torturing you. I will, however, begin shooting your kneecaps, one at a time, of course, until you start screaming and begging me to stop. You only have two kneecaps, so this will not take very long. Now, if you do not answer my questions quickly or honestly, then the pain starts. It will start for you, more or less, about two seconds after I ask my next question. Am I communicating with you sufficiently so far?”

  Poor Jack did not really know what to say to my wonderful speech. I doubt if he thought it so wonderful.

  “Listen, you stupid broad, I’m not talking to you about anything.”

  I pulled out the silencer for the Glock from my jacket. I attached it to the barrel and shot him in his right kneecap. He spilled what was left of his sandwich and fries when he grabbed his knee with both hands.

  “You shot me!”

  “Of course I shot you. I told you I would shoot you. Now, are you ready to help me answer my questions, or do I have to shoot you in your other knee?”

  “No more shooting,” he said. “What do you want to know?”

  “I already told you what I wanted to know.”

  “Damn, this hurts.”

  “Of course it hurts. You may never walk again. Well, check that. You may walk with a limp the rest of your life. If I shoot you in the other knee, you may never walk again. Wheelchairs have some technological advances these days, however.”

  “She’s got the dog! Saunders took the dog!”

  “Where?”

  “How the hell do I know?”

  “You were partners.”

  “Partners? Are you kiddin’ me? That broad don’t partner with no one. She gives the orders, pays me, and I’m outta the picture.”

  “Well, almost out. Where do you think she took the dog?”

  “She drugged the dog and said something about that holding him until they got to where they were going.”

  “But she never said where.”

  “Never. She just needed another body to help her steal the dog.”

  “Wow, I hope she paid you well. You need a lift to a doctor or hospital?”

  Jack was not very happy when I left him in his apar
tment. I did suggest a tourniquet on his upper leg to control the bleeding. I think he was more concerned about the pain he was in than the fact he might bleed to death.

  I called Rosey from my place.

  “You shot him?

  “Of course I shot him. I didn’t kill him. I just inflicted some acute pain on his knee cap. He’ll make a full recovery, but there could be a decided limp.”

  “Decided.”

  “You discover anything?” I said.

  “Several items. The woman came home late morning. She drives a green truck. No sign of a dog. And she is still in her small house. I was waiting on you to call me.”

  “So what’s your plan? We have divided them, or they have divided themselves.”

  “I doubt if shooting her knee cap is my first choice. But I will go talk with her now. You want me to take some photos?”

  “No, thanks. I will defer to your judgment on that matter. Since Jack told me she had Sam, and I happen to believe him, she either has him there at her place or she has him housed somewhere else.”

  There was hesitancy in Rosey’s answering. I knew him well enough to know an unnatural pause when I heard one.

  “You’re thinking,” I said.

  “Sort of.”

  “Dare I ask you what you are thinking?”

  “Better not this time. I don’t want to say it.”

  “Then by all means, don’t say it. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

  “I’ll call you back after my dialogue with Marilyn Saunders. Should be enlightening.”

  “I doubt it to be otherwise. I’m on my way back to Clancyville. Now that we know what we know, my geographical placement does not really matter for Sam’s health. I’m returning in the Jag.”

  “Please drive carefully.”

  “Concerned for me or the car?”

  “Don’t make me answer that.”

  36

  “Why do you have to go back to Clancyville?” Rogers asked me.

  “Connect more dots.”

  “Can’t you connect them from here?”

  “Wish I could. Sometimes you have to look people in the face in order to do any real connecting.”

  I love debating with a computer. Not everyone has such a privilege. Then again, not everyone had Rogers.

  “And you’re returning when?”

  “When I need to and when I have more answers. People have been killed in that nursing home, and I have to put an end to that.”

  “If you can.”

  “You have anything yet on Marilyn Saunders?” I asked.

  “Still looking. Many of the folks you have me check on fly low under the radar, you know.”

  “That’s what makes you so valuable.”

  “Don’t flatter me,” Rogers said.

  “Can’t take a compliment?”

  “Not if it’s condescending.”

  “Didn’t intend it to be condescending. Sherlock Holmes should have been so lucky as to have someone like you. He never would have needed Watson if you were around.”

  “That’s fiction. I’m nuts, bolts, circuit boards, and brains.”

  “And a sexy voice.”

  “Is that any way to talk to a lady?”

  I made excellent time across Virginia. I must have been lost in my thoughts the entire way. I was worried about Sarah. I was worried about Sam. And, I suppose, I was worried about my mother. I seldom worried about Rosey. He was such a smooth, cautious, and well trained combatant, that I could find no reason to be overly concerned about his welfare. I probably even courted the idea of his being invulnerable when I certainly knew better.

  It was late afternoon when I pulled the Jag into the driveway. Rosey was sitting in my old tire swing near the garage.

  “Miss me?” I said.

  “Missed the Jag, too.”

  “I took good care of it.”

  “I know.”

  “So what were you apprehensive about?”

  “No apprehension. Just missed driving her.”

  “Her?”

  “Yeah. She’s a her.”

  “Why do men name their cars after women?”

  “Missed that psychological course, did you?”

  “Some Freudian slip or other?”

  “Wouldn’t know. The Jag has no name.”

  “But you referred to it as a her.”

  “Yep. She’s a her. My girl.”

  “Makes no sense.”

  “Doesn’t need to. It’s my illogical logic.”

  “Well put.”

  “Besides, you have a thing that’s a her as well.”

  “Oh, that. Well …” I started to explain, then thought better of it. I trusted this man with my life, but some secrets are better kept secret. Rogers and her skills would certainly qualify as need to know. Even Rosey would understand that, if he knew what I was keeping from him. At least I hope that he would.

  “What can I say?” I tried to sound defeated.

  “Touché.”

  “Ah, touché. Now that I have been out-parried, update me on what you know.”

  “More like what I don’t know.”

  “Whichever you have.”

  “I’ve watched the house where Saunders lives and I’ve seen no sign of Sam.”

  “Done some snooping, have we?”

  “Some. Late night recon. If she has him, she has him somewhere else.”

  “Other contacts she’s made?”

  “Nothing significant, unless you call the post office, the grocery store, gas station, and a quick trip to Lynchburg as significant.”

  “Could be. Depends on who she saw and why she went to those places.”

  “Right. Stamps, bread, milk, cheese, and cantaloupes. Gasoline and some ladies underwear.”

  “Thorough, aren’t you?”

  “I aim to please. Every stone uncovered.”

  “No wind, snow, hail, nor rain motto as well?”

  “I don’t like snow. I can handle the others. You get the snow detail.”

  “So where to now?”

  “Well, your mother is at the nursing place. I took some liberties and moved Sarah into the room next to J.R. Rachel has a nice chair in the hallway between rooms.”

  “How’d you convince Peace Haven to do that?”

  “Charm.”

  “No threats?”

  “None intended. One complaint, however.”

  “From whom?”

  “The whom would be J.R. He didn’t like having a black woman that close to his room.”

  “But you convinced him otherwise.”

  “I be mighty persuasive when I needs be.”

  “Yes, you can. What about Joy Jones helping us watch these two patients?”

  “She was hesitant, but agreed to help some during her off hours.”

  “Did you pick up anything in her hesitancy?”

  “Not really. Her hesitancy seemed legit. She said it had to do with some family issues, but that she would work around it to help us out.”

  “So, if we have Joy on board and my mother is okay with her guard duty, then we’re free to chase rabbits.”

  “We are.”

  “Any ideas on the whereabouts of some rabbits?”

  “I’d say the high cotton.”

  37

  “He’s in the garden,” she said to the tall woman at the front door. “Come this way and I’ll direct you.”

  “I know where it is,” she said more sharply than necessary. “I can find my way.”

  Marie bowed slightly and tried to show no anger at the slight. She didn’t like that woman and she wondered why her boss had anything to do with her. She reasoned that some people simply had no redeeming virtues.

  The preacher was walking the two Pekinese around the massive flower garden. They were both on leashes to prevent escape. Despite the acreage he owned, he would never trust the dogs to roam freely for fear that they would leave him. He heard foot steps on the inlaid brick walkway, and turned in the direction of
the sound.

  “Did we achieve the diversion we sought?” he asked.

  “Not entirely,” she confessed.

  “What does that mean?” he said.

  “People are staying around the clock with Blair and Jones. Our inside contact says that it is impossible to proceed.”

  “Impossible? Don’t talk to me about impossible!” he shouted at her.

  The tall woman backed away slightly. He allowed the dogs to guide him along the path of the roses. When he moved a few feet away, the woman cautiously followed him at what she deemed a safe distance.

  “We will simply change our procedures. There are four left, correct?” he said.

  “Yes.”

  “What’s the situation of Shelton and Rowland?” he said.

  “Both are at home for the time being. The Rowland family is considering Residential Health Care because of mobility issues.”

  “Then focus on Rowland. Offer some incentives if money is the issue. Give them your strongest recommendation for RHC. I want results. I want this done,” he said impatiently. “I refuse to allow some big city detective come along and ruin my …,” he stopped abruptly from what he was about to say to her. He allowed the dogs to guide him towards some newly planted Japanese Irises. He had spaced the rhizomes evenly around the area he had allowed for these unique flowers. The ground still showed signs of being worked. The male dog, Russell, sniffed at the ground and immediately began to dig where the preacher had carefully placed his rhizomes. He yanked on the leash with more force than the tall woman thought necessary. The force of tug dragged the helpless dog several feet away from the flower bed.

  The dog yelped in pain. The female dog, Ruth, trotted over to see if her brother was okay. She sniffed him all over just to be sure.

  “Stay out of that bed, Russell,” he said as if he expected the dog to answer.

  Both dogs stared at the preacher. Neither of them wagged a tail. Russell meandered toward another section of flowers, looking back at the preacher with some fear and much caution.

  “Now what was I saying?” His question was not addressed to anyone in particular. He might have even been talking to himself, something he frequently did in the absence of people.