Twisted Reason (A Lucinda Pierce Mystery)

by Fanning, Diane

  Lucinda knew it was a risky move but she also was aware that it would be near impossible to pick off Gary in a boat with a roof without injuring one of the other passengers. She radioed Hirschhorn. He agreed. With Gary’s attention on Lucinda’s hiding place, the deputy was able to make his way around the far side of the pond to where Donna was seated on another bench in front of the center building.

  Looping his hand around her cuffs, he brought her to her feet and marched her towards the dock. “Blankenship,” he shouted at the boat. “Your son and daughter want to talk to you.”

  That was Lucinda’s cue to rise up and come out of cover with Don. She led him to the dock. Arrayed around them, all the others aimed their weapons at the barge.

  The boat was just a few yards away. Donna spoke first. “Dad, it’s hopeless. When Harvey stops, just step out and turn yourself in.”

  There was no response from Gary. “Dad,” Don said. “They’ve got Derek. They know everything. Don’t make this any worse.”

  Shots rang out again. Donna tumbled off the dock. Lucinda grabbed Don and rolled into the water on the opposite side, screaming, “Hold your fire!” before she sunk beneath the surface.

  She popped up sputtering and pulled Don under the dock itself. Once he shook the water out of his eyes, he lunged toward the other side. She jerked him back in anger and then, she understood. Donna lay face down in the water, red tingeing the water around her. Lucinda pushed Don back, grabbed Donna’s foot and pulled her under cover. Flipping her over, she saw the injury: a bullet hole right through the temple on the left side of her head.

  Lucinda shook her head at Don and pushed the body away. Trapped as she was beneath the wood planks, Lucinda couldn’t see much of the barge except for the underside of it as it cut through the water. She could hear the passengers, though. Quiet sobbing from some. Murmured words of comfort from others. One man said, “What? What? What?” over and over again.

  She heard “Shut up,” snarled by an angry voice.

  “What? What? Wha—” The voice cut off at the sound of a hard slap. A thump of what sounded like a body falling down. A wail ringing out. And then the angry voice hollering, “I have demands.”

  With those words, the barge came to a stop at the dock. Lucinda peered out toward the shore. The mule stood stock still in his harness, staring straight ahead.

  “Yah, yah, Harvey! Go! Giddyup!” Gary shouted from the barge.

  Harvey’s ears twitched but he didn’t move.

  “See,” Don said, “I told you he wouldn’t move.”

  Lucinda heard a voice over a megaphone call out, “Gary Blankenship. You are surrounded. Come out now.”

  “Come and get me,” Gary retorted and fired another shot.

  “Send out your hostages, Blankenship. And then we can talk.”

  “Talking’s never done a damn bit of good,” he answered, firing again.

  “Da-a-a-a-a-a-ad!” Don screamed. “You killed Donna! You killed my sister! You killed her! Your daughter! You killed her!”

  “You want to be next, boy?”

  “I’ll show them where the bodies are, Dad!”

  “Not if you’re dead, you won’t,” Gary said and fired into the wooden planks of the dock until his gun clicked dry. None of his shots landed on either of the hidden targets.

  “Missed me, Dad!” Don shouted as Lucinda shook him in an attempt to keep him quiet. Why couldn’t he pretend to be dead? “Don’t egg him on,” she hissed at him.

  Lucinda heard a quiet splash and saw a body in a wet suit glide past her underwater. It moved around to the far side of the boat.

  Another bullet smacked into the dock above their heads. “I got a whole case of ammo, boy. I’ll shoot this dock to nothin’ if I have to.” Three more shots hit the wooden boards and zinged into the water. A loud grunt followed by sounds of a struggle. Feet banged the boards above her head.

  Voices cried out sounding confused and terrified. An angry voice rent the air with a string of profanities. Someone sloshed into the water and peered under the dock. “You can come out now, Lieutenant.”

  Hirschhorn reached under the dock to give her a hand. Lucinda took his hand and grabbed Don’s elbow to pull him along. They dripped on the shore line watching a sullen, cursing Gary Blankenship being led away, followed by twelve frightened senior citizens being escorted slowly up the dock.

  Patrol cars poured down the drive as reinforcements arrived. A van painted with the state seal and marked as the property of the Virginia Department for Aging pulled to a stop. The doors opened and a team of eight social workers climbed out and walked straight to the senior citizens huddled by the side of a bungalow.

  “Where’s the other one?” Lucinda asked. “There should be thirteen.”

  “Old Fred wasn’t feeling too good,” Don said. “He went back to his room after supper to lie down – he’s in bungalow six.”

  “Let’s go check on him.”

  They trudged past the center building and knocked on the door marked “six.”

  “Come in,” a shaky voice shouted.

  Lucinda looked at Don. “You want to go get him?”

  Don nodded.

  “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” Lucinda said unfastening his cuffs.

  Don shook his head. He and Lucinda walked into the bungalow. She leaned against the wall beside the door. He approached the man in the bed. “Hi there, Mr. Fred,” Don said.

  “Mr. Don?” Fred said.

  “Yes, sir. It’s me. I know you’re not feeling too well but you really need to get up and get dressed. We gotta go for a ride.”

  “A ride?” Fred said, a trace of excitement in his voice.

  “Yes, sir. Here, let me help you get up,” Don said grasping the old man’s hand and putting his other arm around his shoulder. “Let’s put on that blue plaid shirt you like so much and those navy blue Dockers. You”ll look right spiffy.” Don helped him dress and combed his hair across his bald spot. “Now, sit down on the bed and I’ll put on your shoes.” He helped the old man ease onto the mattress, slid the shoes on his feet and tied them tight.

  Lucinda shook her head. She couldn’t understand the total waste. Don was so kind and gentle. They’d chew him up in prison. And Jumbo? Please God don’t let him die. Damn that Gary Blankenship. Damn him to hell.

  Don led the old man to the social workers then turned his back to Lucinda with his hands behind him. She put the cuffs back on his wrists with a sigh.

  Turning him over to a deputy, she watched as he was loaded into the back seat. The sun was gone now. She pulled out her flashlight to shine her path on the way to the center building. She flipped on the lights when she walked through the door. Display cases on the far wall were filled with dioramas of acorn people involved in various activities. A kitchen scene with an acorn lady wearing a skirt and apron as she worked in front of the stove, her acorn family seated at a table with teensy plates and forks in front of them. In another, an old-time wood log fort with buckskin-clad acorns stationed up on the walls, teensy rifles aimed outward and acorn Indians on foot or riding plastic horses ranged around the stockade outside.

  There were many more little acorn scenes, but Lucinda turned away and walked over to a big white board labeled: Today’s Activities. Below the heading was a list:

  7 AM: Breakfast – pancakes and sausage

  10 AM: The Great Acorn Hunt – meet by the flagpole for a hike into the oak grove

  Noon: Lunch – Lasagna and salad

  4:30 PM: Early Supper Tonight! Pork chops, parsley potatoes and lima beans

  5:30 PM: Sunset Cruise – meet at the dock for a fun-filled ride into the sunset.

  She stared at the schedule shaking her head. Unbelievable. The Blankenships are totally nuts. How could they possibly think they’d get away with this?

  Her reverie was broken by the quiet squeak of an opening door. She turned and saw Chief Deputy Hirschhorn entering the room. “Hey, Lieutenant,” he said.

  “Hey,
Chief. Any word on Jumbo?”

  “Nope. Not yet. He was talkin’ when they loaded him into the ambulance. That’s good news.”

  “Yeah. If only I hadn’t gotten him involved in this mess.”

  “He wanted to be involved in this mess, remember?”

  “But he doesn’t chase down killers. That’s my job.”

  “You gotta let that one go, Lieutenant.”

  “Don’t know if I can.”

  “You feelin’ guilty isn’t gonna help Jumbo one little bit.”

  Lucinda shrugged. “What do you think of this place?”

  “Little bit bizarre for me. Not quite my idea of a happy retirement home. I’m not sure if it all makes sense.”

  “It doesn’t, Deputy. Not a bit of sense.”

  “I’ve got guards posted by the gate and the state has a forensic team on the way. The state’s taking over now and they want you to go to headquarters and give them a statement.”

  Lucinda sighed. “They always want something and, dammit, I want to get to the hospital to check on Jumbo.”

  “That’s not all they want, Lieutenant. Apparently, Don Blankenship says he’ll sign away his right to attorney and tell the whole story if he can talk to you.”

  Lucinda’s shoulders slumped. “It’s already been a long day, Deputy.”

  “You can say that again. I’ll give you a call just as soon as I hear anythin’ ’bout Jumbo.”

  “I’ll keep my cell on – no matter what I’m doing.”

  “I’ve got a man waitin’ to give you a lift up to your car if you’re done here.”

  “I guess I am – there’s just something bugging me. Something that feels undone.”

  “Maybe Don will have the answers.”

  “Maybe he will,” she shrugged.

  Forty-One

  Driving over to state police headquarters, Lucinda called Jake. She ran down the events of the afternoon. After Jake congratulated her on a job well done, she said, “Nonetheless, Captain Holland is still going to be pissed. I disobeyed a direct order.”

  “What did you do?” Jake asked.

  “He told me that because of the abductions, I needed to get the FBI involved and I needed to do it today. I never did call and there’s no sense to do it now.”

  “Tell Holland you did call the FBI.”

  “I can’t lie to my captain, Jake – especially not to cover my own butt.”

  “Who do you think you’re talking to, Lucinda?”

  “Oh. Right. You’re FBI. Hadn’t thought of that.”

  “And didn’t you say that the state took over the case?”

  “Yes. Ahhh – sure – it would be presumptuous of me to call in the FBI on a state case, wouldn’t it?” Lucinda said with a grin.

  “You betcha,” Jake said.

  “Well, I might survive my next encounter with the captain after all.”

  “You’re really going to have to get over your aversion to working with the FBI or I might start taking it personal.”

  “C’mon, Jake. You know I view you differently than any other special agent. I actually think you are kind of special.”

  “What do you think of Special Agent in Charge Dixon in our local office down your way?”

  “He’s one of the worst, Jake. Arrogant. Pushy. Grasping. And I don’t think he likes women detectives.”

  “He’s retiring next month.”

  “Oh, really. Doubt if it will make much of a difference. What officious SOB will be taking his place?”

  “That officious SOB will be me.”

  “What?”

  “Me – Special Agent in Charge Jake Lovett, at your service, ma’am.”

  “You’re moving here?”

  “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “In four weeks. Do you think my office could expect more cooperation from you in the future, Lieutenant?”

  “As long as the promotion doesn’t go to your head Mister Special Agent in Charge,” Lucinda said with a laugh. “Jake, I’ve got to run. Just got to the state trooper barracks. I’m really excited about your move. Talk to you soon.”

  She was escorted to the interrogation room by a trooper who explained the audio and video recording capabilities. “I’ll be in the observation room. If you need anything, just let me know.”

  When she entered, Don raised his head up from his folded arms resting on the table. “Thanks for coming, Lieutenant.”

  “Are they treating you okay, Mr. Blankenship?”

  Don winced. “Please. Call me Don. My dad is Mr. Blankenship and I really don’t want to be reminded of that fact.”

  “Because he shot your sister?”

  “Yes and no. That’s when it all hit me. Everything he was doing was wrong. I’d had my doubts before but I brushed them away. But when I saw her with that bullet in her head, it was as if – well, you know that old hymn ‘Amazing Grace’?”

  Lucinda nodded.

  “It’s got a line in it: ‘I once was blind but now I see’. That’s how it feels, Lieutenant. When Donna died, everything came into focus.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yeah. Starting with my mother. There was a lot of fighting going on between her and dad right before she left. Mostly about my grandmother. Dad wanted her to move in with us after Grandfather died. Mom insisted there was no room in the house for another person. She wanted to find a place for her nearby. The night before Mom left, I heard her telling Dad that if he brought his mother into the house, she was leaving and taking the kids with her.

  “Then, the next morning, she was gone. Dad said she was a tramp and she ran off with another man. And then, we never heard from her – no phone calls, no letters, no birthday cards. It hurt a lot. Grandmother was a big comfort to us all. But she kept telling us to forget our mother. Pretty soon, we did put her out of our minds. It was easier for Derek. He didn’t remember her.”

  “Don, I don’t think she left you. We found evidence of massive amounts of blood in your parents’ bedroom.”

  He winced as he brushed his hair off his forehead and said, “Yeah. It hurts to hear you say that but it tracks with what I’ve been thinking. My grandmother lived with us until she got married again to a guy named Alvin Hodges. He seemed nice enough but I never got to see much of him since my dad was violently opposed to the marriage and furious that his mother moved out of the house. He blamed Hodges for all of it.

  “Then Grandmother started showing signs of Alzheimer’s. Hodges took care of her at home for a while until it got too much for him. He put her in a lockdown unit at River’s Edge. My dad was beside himself. He ranted and raved that Hodges had poisoned her. He said there was a conspiracy between Hodges and the staff at the Alzheimer’s place to destroy her mind with drugs. He had piles and piles of articles and books to prove it.

  “He sent a lot of that stuff to Hodges before he put grandmother away. One day, I came home and it was all piled up on his desk along with all the other stuff he’d accumulated. I asked him where it came from and he said that Hodges dumped it all on the front porch without even ringing the doorbell.

  “That night, I woke up hearing a noise in the backyard that sounded like metal against rock or brick. I got up, went downstairs and onto the back porch. Dad had a shovel in his hand and was throwing dirt on a spot by the fence. I hollered down and asked him what he was doing in the backyard in the middle of the night.

  “He said, ‘One of you damned kids left the gate open and some damn stray wandered in here digging the place up. I’m shoveling the dirt back. I shoulda made y’all get your lazy asses out of bed and do it.” I told him I was sorry. And he said, ’You better be, boy,’” Don’s hands flexed and folded into tight fists. “I hate it when he calls me ‘boy’. I asked him but he just won’t stop.”

  “What are you thinking, Don?”

  “I’m thinking that Dad was probably burying Alvin Hodges in the backyard. Dad stopped calling and yelling at him on the phone. In fact, he totally stopped talking about
him. I’m thinking Hodges did bring over those papers and books but Dad never let him leave. And if he did that, maybe he did kill our mother. Maybe she’s back there, too. Maybe she never left us after all,” he said, struggling to maintain control of his emotions.

  Lucinda’s heart raced. This is enough to get a search warrant to tear up every inch of that yard. Maybe Sadie and Alvin would finally get the justice they deserved. “Thank you, Don. I know it had to be difficult to talk about that. Can I ask you questions about what is going on now?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I’d like to think about something else.”

  “How did this whole thing get started out at Sleepy Hollow?”

  “After Grandmother died, Dad grew obsessed with River’s Edge. Kept saying that he had to do something to keep them from poisoning old people. He said that dementia was a label they put on the elderly who just grew tired of it all and wanted to relive their childhoods. He thought if you gave them a place where they could be children again, where their bodies were free of pharmaceutical poisons, then their minds would heal.

  “One day, he came home all excited saying he found the perfect place. We all went out there to check it out. We fixed up our rooms, a bathroom and the kitchen and moved in. We got busy on the rest of the place – fixing up the rides, making the bungalows livable. Then Dad went spying at River’s Edge. He parked on the edge of their lot. Said he found the perfect spot under some trees where the light was dimmer, the sun didn’t bake the car and he had a clear view of the front door. He said he was looking for people who were ready to put their parents into jail. He could pick them out ‘cause they arrived with an old person and when they left they still had the senior citizen with them. When he spotted a likely prospect, he’d follow that person all the way home. Nobody ever seemed to spot that they had a tail.

  “He’d spend days watching the house and suddenly he’d come back with a new resident – a guest, he’d say. After we had about six or seven of them, Dad trained Derek to do the spying or stalking or whatever you’d call it. Then, Derek scouted the rest with Dad doing the pick-ups until all the bungalows were full.