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Absence of Alice

Page 17

by Sherry Harris


  “Yeah, well, most of my life my luck has been of the bad kind.” She peered at me with a “why are you here” look.

  “I know about the anti-Sarah group that meets at the church.” Soft-pedaling didn’t seem to be a good idea.

  “I knew Frida Chida was up to no good when I saw her outside the room that day.”

  I wasn’t going to throw Damaris under the bus and tell Louisa that was how I’d first heard about the group. “Did you know Crystal Olson?” I thought I’d go back to the very beginning of what had happened with the kidnapper.

  “The hooker that got herself killed.”

  I’m not sure how she “got herself killed,” but I’d let that slide. “Yes.”

  “My nephew went to high school with her in Lowell.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  What? I’d known that Crystal had lived in Lowell, but this was another connection, and I’d take any tenuous link I could find right now. However, Louisa’s nephew couldn’t have murdered Crystal because he was in prison for attempted kidnapping. Kidnapping! He couldn’t have kidnapped Stella either, but maybe he had something to do with it.

  “They mostly called her by her middle name, Alexer, in high school. She thought Crystal sounded trashy, which in my opinion suited her just fine even back then.”

  Translated without the Boston accent it was Alexa if you took off the r and changed it back to an a. “Alexer” sounded familiar. I sat straighter. The night in the cemetery. I’d thought I’d heard them ask about Elixer, but maybe they’d said Alexer. I’d thought it was a street drug not a person. Crystal/Alexa had been dead by the time I was in the cemetery, but not many people would have known about it by then. Why had I been sent to the cemetery that night? Was Alexa a clue I’d somehow missed? But a clue to what?

  “Do you know if she sold drugs?”

  “Don’t know. But if you’re willing to sell your body, why not drugs too?”

  Louisa had a point. But I couldn’t see how any of this connected to Stella’s kidnapping or me. Unless, like I’d originally thought, the kidnapper had known that a drug deal was going down and just wanted to put me in harm’s way that night. I’d put that thought aside for now and focus on who else I’d run into during the past few days.

  “Do you know Elmer Norman?”

  Louisa snorted. “Everyone knows Elmer. Used to be such a regular guy. Great teacher.”

  “What happened?”

  “His wife died unexpectedly about five years ago. Maybe six. Heart attack. After that he hated everyone. Developed a temper as hot as a stove burner on high. Had to give up teaching, which he’d loved.” Louisa shook her head. “He wouldn’t let anyone help him out.”

  That was heartbreaking. “What about Alice Krandle? Do you know her?”

  Louisa shook her head. “Can’t say that I do.”

  I had saved my most difficult question for last. “Do you know why your nephew tried to kidnap that child?”

  Maybe there would be some motive that would connect him to Crystal’s death and Stella’s kidnapping.

  Louisa was shaking her head. “It was a mess. His wife had lost another baby. Fifth time. He just lost his mind when he saw the cute little thing at the mall.” Louisa shook her head some more. “He wasn’t ever the brightest kid, but he’d never been in trouble before that.”

  That story didn’t add up to someone who was out to seek revenge on me unless he’d completely snapped. I knew what it was like not to be able to have children. How hard it was. “How’s he doing now?”

  “Remorseful as all get-out. He knows what he did was wrong, and he doesn’t blame you.” She crossed her heart. “I swear that’s true.”

  I hoped it was. I stood up. “Thank you for chatting with me.”

  Louisa stood up too. “I suppose I owe you an apology for being part of the group that was against you.”

  “Who else was in the group?”

  Louisa started down the hall toward the front door. I followed. “Doesn’t matter. It’s disbanded. Damaris made all of us realize we were wrong to blame you. Almost everyone.”

  Louisa wasn’t bound by any patient-psychologist relationship as Damaris claimed she was. “Please tell me who.” My voice held a desperate note. “Someone has been threatening me and people I love. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

  “Someone you know has been hurt?”

  “Yes. And I’m afraid it won’t end with them.”

  Louisa pursed her lips and gave me the once-over like she was weighing whether or not she should say anything. She nodded once as I waited. “It’s Zoey Whittlesbee.”

  Zoey. “Thank you.”

  “I don’t wish you any harm, and Zoey don’t neither. But she isn’t happy with you.”

  I said my good-byes. Why was Zoey in the group? As I started my car I remembered that she was good friends with someone I’d helped get arrested last January. Someone who was awaiting their trial.

  * * *

  I went home for a quick Fluffernutter sandwich and a cup of coffee. One of Mike’s men had been sitting outside his door when I’d gotten home. He was still there when I left to go price things at John’s house. I was surprised Mike hadn’t gone back to Boston by now. But maybe Seth had asked him to stay to keep me safe.

  On the drive over I assessed my feelings. In some ways I felt lighter knowing Stella was far away from here, but in other ways I was waiting for something bad to happen. The kidnapper’s silence was creating a lot of anxiety for me. I parked in front of John’s house and Harriet pulled in beside me. After we went in we got right to work. Harriet was more talkative than usual. I think she was trying to distract me from my dark thoughts.

  “I’m sorry I broke my word to you,” Harriet said.

  “I shouldn’t have put you in that position in the first place. Did whoever you talked to find anything out?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Do you think they’ll ever find the kidnapper?” I asked Harriet. I was holding a tramp art box that was five by three by three. The intricately carved lid slid off the box. When it was closed it looked like it was all one piece. It had taken me awhile of playing with it to figure out how to open it.

  “Yes. There are lots of people looking for him now. He can’t stay hidden forever. What are you going to price that at?”

  “Sixty. I’ve been doing a lot of research and found something similar online.” I filled out a tag for the box. “What if he just disappears? That would be the smart thing for him to do.”

  “Most criminals just aren’t that smart.”

  “It’s hard for me to relax. I keep waiting for my phone to ring.”

  “You could not answer it.”

  I managed a partial smile. “You know that’s not going to happen. But he has to realize without Stella it’s not like he can make me do anything.” Harriet nodded, and we got back to work. Harriet looked things up when I couldn’t figure out a price. I set a few things aside to ask my friend who was an antique dealer to help me find prices.

  Forty-five minutes later my phone rang. I put it on speaker, expecting to hear the kidnapper. Instead, the song “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane was playing. My parents loved Jefferson Airplane, and one of their early dates had been to see them in concert. A line in the song was “Go ask Alice.” Harriet and I stared at each other over the phone. I shivered.

  “You can’t make me do anything anymore,” I said.

  “Go ask Alice if that’s true or not.” The call disconnected.

  “I have to go to Alice,” I said as I leaped up. I grabbed my purse, still heavy with the wine bottle.

  “I’m going too. I’ll drive,” Harriet said.

  We stepped out, I quickly locked the door, and we ran to Harriet’s car.

  I called Pellner at the number for the burner phone he’d given me and told him about the song. My worries about Alice’s safety. We slid into the Porsche, and Harriet was speeding off before I’d closed my door completely.

&nb
sp; Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Harriet drove with controlled confidence. Tight turns, darting around traffic on Great Road. She ignored the honks that followed us. I kept trying to call Alice, but she didn’t pick up. I pictured her passed out on the floor again. Maybe with low blood sugar or maybe something far worse had happened. Harriet slowed when we got to Alice’s street.

  “It could be a trap,” she said as we drove toward Alice’s house.

  “I hadn’t even thought of that.” I rolled down my window as if I’d hear the kidnapper.

  “What’s that smell?” Harriet asked.

  We looked at each other. “Gas.”

  Harriet slammed the car in reverse, backed down the street. I called Alice again. Still no answer. I hung up and called Pellner with an update. But as soon as Harriet stopped, I sprang out of the car and sprinted toward Alice’s house. I’d only made it ten feet when I was yanked to a stop. Harriet had me by the back of my shirt.

  “Let me go,” I shouted.

  “It’s not safe.”

  We heard a whoosh, and then the house exploded. A fireball went straight up. We were close enough to feel the heat. Bits and pieces of wood and glass were flung into the air. We ran back toward Harriet’s car as debris started landing around us.

  “Maybe she wasn’t home when you called her,” Harriet said.

  I punched the recent calls on my phone and tried calling Alice again. It rang and rang until it went to her voicemail. “There’s no answer.” We both looked toward Alice’s former home. I crumbled to my knees.

  * * *

  An hour later we were in the library meeting room with Pellner, the state troopers, and Seth. Harriet and I had a slight smoky smell wafting around us. Our clothes were smudged, and even Harriet’s calm demeanor seemed to have vanished. There was a water bottle in front of each of us. I opened mine and drank some. My throat was dry and scratchy. Guilt, sorrow, anger swirled like a tornado of emotions through me.

  Trooper Kilgard led the meeting. “Who hates you, Sarah?”

  “Hey,” Seth said, “Stop right there.”

  “It’s okay, Seth.” I didn’t want him to defend me. I could handle Kilgard myself. In my dreams anyway. Her eyes didn’t seem quite as creepy today, but maybe I was just getting used to her. “Trust me. I’ve thought this over. A lot.”

  “And?” Kilgard said.

  This was going to be really awkward with Seth sitting right across from me. If he was next to me, at least I wouldn’t have to see his face. “I can’t imagine any of the people I’m going to mention would actually take any action. However, Seth’s mom isn’t a big fan. She thinks I’m hindering Seth’s career. She wants him to be with someone else.” I glanced at Seth. His lips were pressed together.

  Pellner and Rodriquez took out their phones and started frantically flipping through them like they didn’t want to be any part of this bit of information.

  “There was a woman who wanted very much to marry Seth. She’s engaged now, but drops by his house a lot. Then there’s the plethora of women he’s dated.” I paused. “Any of the women I mentioned would have to have an accomplice. Like I said, I can’t imagine any of them actually doing this. Dislike is a long way from kidnapping, arson, and murder.”

  Trooper Kilgard took notes while I talked. Seth had leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Anyone else?” Trooper Kilgard asked.

  I nodded. “There’s a woman, Zoey Whittlesbee, who worked for me briefly last winter. I trained her, and then she opened her own competing business organizing garage sales. She’s said some nasty things about me to try to damage my reputation.” I took a drink of water. “She wanted to do Alice’s sale. Zoey offered to buy everything for one lump sum, but Alice turned her down and hired me. When Alice told me how much money Zoey had offered to buy her things, I was shocked.”

  “Why?” Trooper Kilgard asked.

  “Zoey’s just starting out for one thing. I’ve since heard she did a couple of big sales in Concord, but I still wonder how she had enough money to offer a lump sum. Especially since she would have no guarantee she could make it back.”

  “That’s unusual?”

  “Highly unusual. Also someone took down all the signs I put up giving directions to Alice’s house for her sale. I don’t have any proof it was Zoey, but it must have been.”

  “Why do you think that?” Trooper Kilgard asked.

  “When I left Alice’s house that afternoon, Zoey was parked across the street from my car. She was just sitting there. When she saw me, she started her car, flipped me off, and left.”

  Seth gave me a “why didn’t you tell me that” look. But he’d been dealing with his own problems, and, with all that had been going on, I really hadn’t thought about it when I was with him. “But again, it doesn’t seem like she’d dislike me enough to do all of this.” She would hate me once Trooper Kilgard showed up on her doorstep. “Zoey is an Air Force spouse. She lives on base.”

  “Anyone else?” Trooper Kilgard asked.

  “There’s all the people in the group that I told you about before who meet with Damaris Christos the therapist. Zoey is part of it.” I paused for a moment. “Damaris went to Harvard around the same time as Seth did.” I glanced at Seth. His face flushed slightly. “But it’s a big school.”

  Rodriquez looked at Seth. “Do you know her?”

  Seth nodded. “I do. We went out a couple of times. Nothing serious.”

  Rodriquez flipped a pen around in his hand. “Have you seen her since?”

  “At some alumni events and we had lunch after she moved here.” He looked over at me.

  I wasn’t mad that he’d had lunch with her and hadn’t mentioned it. We didn’t have the kind of relationship where we had to report every little thing we did to each other. I’d had lunch with my friend James a couple of weeks ago, and I hadn’t told Seth. Okay, so maybe I was a little irked. Damaris was a beautiful woman.

  “This is kind of out there,” I said. Trooper Kilgard whirled her finger in a “get on with it” motion. “I told you earlier about the anti-Sarah group. What if Damaris is really egging them on instead of calming them down like she told me?” Louisa Crane had vouched for Damaris, but what if she’d been lying? Damaris had known Seth for a long time and maybe she’d twisted her relationship with him and resented me.

  “Who would know you worked with Alice?” Rodriquez asked me.

  I guess we were moving on. “Like I said before, Zoey would. Also anyone who attended the sale or saw the ads for it. I placed a lot of ads. It wouldn’t be hard for someone to figure out.”

  “Is that it?” Rodriquez asked. Everyone nodded.

  “Is there any word on Alice?” I asked.

  Trooper Kilgard was shaking her head before I finished. “It’s too soon to go through her house.” She stood up. “Okay. Let’s get on this.”

  For once I’d rather have stayed in the room with her. It would be easier than talking to Seth after throwing his mom’s name out there. We all stood up except for Seth.

  “Sarah, can I speak to you for a minute?” Seth asked.

  I looked longingly at the door. Watched everyone hustle out. Harriet lingered by the door. “Harriet drove me over here. I don’t want to make her wait.”

  “I’m fine,” Harriet said. “I can wait.”

  Traitor.

  “I’ll give you a ride home,” Seth said.

  “I have to go back to my client’s house,” I said.

  “Then I’ll give you a ride there,” Seth said. He sounded irritated, and it was a tone I wasn’t familiar with.

  “Okay.” I might as well get this over with. I waved to Harriet, who shut the door behind her. Seth stood and started pacing back and forth on the other side of the table. But he didn’t say anything. I didn’t either.

  I couldn’t take it though. “Seth—”

  “Sarah—”

  We both stopped and waited for the other one to continue.

  “I�
�m sorry I had to say those things about your mother and your past relationships.” I stood and walked around the table to him. I took his hand and pushed him gently into a chair. I pulled out a chair and turned it toward his.

  “I can’t believe my mother makes you feel so horrible. I’ll talk to her.”

  “No. Please don’t. That will just make things worse. Not that having the state police show up will help our relationship.” I felt queasy just thinking about that.

  “I trust that Kilgard will make some discreet inquiries instead of rushing off bullheaded to question my mother. That’s the advantage of having a wealthy, well-known family. It’s not right, but that’s the way life is.” He shook his head. “I don’t want anyone to ever make you feel less than the strong, smart, accomplished woman you are.”

  He reached over to kiss me, but the door was flung open, and a group of excited children rushed in for story time.

  * * *

  “Sarah, I can tell something is on your mind. What’s going on?” Harriet asked as she drove me back to John’s to get my car. She’d waited for me instead of leaving, just in case I needed someone to talk to, and I did.

  “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

  “One thing I know about you is that you’re not even close to being crazy. And trust me I’ve seen crazy.”

  Harriet and I had never really talked much about her career in the FBI. At first because I didn’t know her well enough. Then the kidnapper took up all my time. But, from what I did know, she truly had seen crazy.

  “Okay, then. What if this isn’t about me, but it’s about Stella.” I watched Harriet to see her reaction.

  Harriet wrinkled her nose for a moment. “Stella? What makes you think that?”

  “Something Emil said to me. It didn’t sink in right away. I flipped on the TV last night, and the movie The Phantom of the Opera was on.”

  Harriet nodded. “I’ve seen it.”

  “You know it’s about a man who is fixated on an opera singer and kidnaps her.”

  “Yes. But what does that have to do with Stella?”

  “She’s an opera singer, and she was in The Phantom of the Opera last fall.”

 

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