The Dog Who Ate The Flintlock

by Edward Coburn

  “I’m dying of cancer, and there’s nobody to leave my fortune to. The doctors have only given me a few months.” He held up his hand when Adam was about to say something. “Yes, yes. I know there are literally thousands of worthy charities that would happily accept my millions, but I didn’t work so hard for so many years to give all my money away anonymously. I want to use at least some of it for the benefit of my granddaughter.”

  “All I can say is I will do everything in my power to make that come about.”

  “Is there anything I can do or give you to help you get started? I know you said you didn’t expect anything but can I at least cover some of your expenses?”

  Adam shook his head. “As I said before. I don’t expect nor do I want any of your money.” Again he refrained from telling Richard he had plenty of money of his own. He thought for a minute. “But there is something you can do for me.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Is there a crib in the nursery you had set up and would your granddaughter possibly have slept there?”

  “Yes to both questions. That same day you ‘saw,’” Richard made quote symbols with his fingers, “me reading the book to her, Molly put Mary Beth in the crib after she fell asleep.” He smiled at the memory. “Then Molly and I came back to the library and played a few games of Cribbage™ until we heard Mary Beth wake up with a wail.”

  “Good. If she slept in the crib, I might be able to get a vision from it.”

  “Do all your visions come from objects?”

  “No, not all. I sometimes get visions by touching people. My best theory is that my visions come from some intense emotion left behind in the object or imbued in a person. But that’s just a guess. I don’t really understand them, and I certainly don’t control my visions. They have come at many odd and sometimes inconvenient times over the years. The closest relationship I can give you is dreams. Everybody dreams, but nobody can control what they dream about or when the dreams come. It’s like I’m dreaming when I’m still awake.”

  “I guess I see. Shall we adjourn to the nursery?”

  “That would seem to be the next thing to try,” Adam acknowledged.

  Richard led the way out of the library as fast as his walker would allow. He stopped at the foot of the stairs. He turned to Adam. “If you’ll carry my walker for me I can go up the stairs on my own.” Adam took the walker but followed close behind in case Richard had any issues climbing the stairs. “I’ve thought about having an elevator chair installed but climbing the stairs is about the only exercise I get.”

  When Richard reached the top, Adam placed the walker in front of Richard who immediately started down the long hallway. He stopped in front of a door that had a carved sign that read Mary Beth’s Room. Each letter was painted in a different color, and a rainbow was painted above the lettering. He stopped and pulled out a set of keys which he used to unlock the door. He glanced back at Adam. “As I said, only one maid is allowed in this room.” Before he opened the door, he ran his hand lovingly over the sign.

  The room was obviously a nursery. Several Disney® posters showed various Disney characters, and there was a Disney character mobile over the crib.

  Adam surveyed the room and could not help himself from saying, “Wasn’t Mary Beth a little young to have a design preference?”

  “It was what Molly liked,” Richard said as his eyes misted over. He pointed to the crib unnecessarily. Nobody could have missed its position in the middle of the right wall. “There’s the crib.”

  “I noticed.” Adam walked over to the crib and confidentially reached out his hand. When he touched it, his mind expanded as he hoped it would. The vision he saw, however, was a surprise. He realized that when he came back to reality.

  “What did you see,” Richard said as he had seen the body manifestations that Adam had claimed indicated he was having a vision. “Will it help us find Mary Beth?”

  “Probably not,” Adam shook his head. “All I saw was your daughter placing Mary Beth’s bear into the crib. The bear was no doubt what Mary Beth had the most emotional attachment to.”

  Richard nodded. “She certainly loved that bear. She always cried when anybody tried to separate her from her bear.”

  Adam remembered that’s what he’d heard twenty years before. “Well then, I suggest I go see Detective Drummond and see what, if anything, the bear can tell us.”

  “Good idea. But I’d like to try one more thing before we leave the nursery.”

  “And, pray tell, what might that be?”

  “I would like to touch the chair I saw in my vision.” Adam pointed at a chair with a flower pattern where hummingbirds were feeding. “That one if I’m not mistaken.”

  Richard nodded. “That’s the only chair like that anywhere in the house. Go ahead.”

  Adam strode over to the chair and placed both hands on the back. Instantly his face grew red, and his shoulders twitched. Unfortunately, all he saw was a younger and healthier Richard sitting in a facing chair with a Dr. Seuss book in his hand. He was reading what Adam recognized as the Cat in the Hat™. Richard was staring at him when he came back.

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry, but all I saw was you in a facing chair reading the Cat in the Hat. I must have been looking at you through either Molly’s or possibly Mary Beth’s eyes. There’s actually no way for me to know.”

  Richard nodded. “That was what I was reading when Mary Beth fell asleep.” Richard no longer had the slightest doubt that Adam saw the past. It was still hard to accept, but he could no longer ignore the evidence. And if Adam could help find Mary Beth that would be… Ricard interrupted his own thoughts. “In your visions do you always see what’s happening through someone else’s eyes?”

  “No. Not always. Sometimes I see the events as if I was watching a movie and whoever I’m observing are characters in the movie.” Richard started to say or ask something else, but Adam raised his hand and continued. “And, no, I’m sorry. I have no control over how a vision presents itself any more than I can control when they happen or how long they appear. Although all three of my visions today were caused when I touched something, that’s actually not necessary. As a matter of fact, some visions appear without my touching anything or anyone, though those are rare. As near as I can figure out, I am, or at least my thoughts are the cause of those visions. But no matter how many times I have tried to deliberately call up a vision, even going to the lengths of using hypnosis, I’ve never had in luck with that. I suppose somewhere deep within my psyche, I am responsible for my visions, but I’ve never figured out how.”

  “Well, I have to admit it’s rather mysterious.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me in that regard. Now I guess we should go to Morgantown. Maybe I’ll have better luck with the bear.”

  “I hope so. I’m sure there’s a lot of Mary Beth’s emotions attached to her bear. The bear’s name is Beer, by the way.”

  Adam smiled. He actually remembered that—especially now that Richard had mentioned it again. He thought about pointing out that Richard had mentioned the bear’s name before, but quickly decided not to considering Richard’s condition. “You might want to call Detective Drummond before we travel to Morgantown.”

  “I can do that. I’ll call him now and let him know we’re coming. He may want to meet us at the house or at the police station if he’s busy with a case.”

  “Sounds good. I assume you know where the house is. I know I was at the house before, but that was twenty years ago, and I’m sure I’d get lost trying to find the house on my own. Of course, the fact that it’s right across the street from a large park would help.”

  “So you remember the park.”

  Adam nodded. “I do.”

  “Yes. I do know where Robert’s house is,” Richard said. “I’ve been to Robert’s house many times over the years. He’s a good guy, and I’ve always liked him. I never once blamed him for what happened. No way was it his fault.” Richard was not me
rely blowing smoke. He truly believed what he was saying. Robert had spent innumerable hours and a lot of his own money trying to solve Molly’s murder and Mary Beth’s kidnapping.

  Chapter 38

  Richard started for the door still leaning on his walker. “Let’s go back downstairs so I can call.”

  “Lead the way, sir.” Adam fell in behind Richard.

  He grabbed the walker Richard handed him at the head of the stairs but stepped down a couple of stairs in front of Richard. “Let me go in front in case you trip or something.”

  “Good idea,” Richard acknowledged. “I do sometimes get a bit faint. But today has been a good day thus far.”

  When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Richard once again took the lead down the hallway and into the library. When they arrived, Richard picked up the phone and dialed a number. “May I speak to Detective Robert Drummond please?” Richard listened and then responded, “Tell him it’s his father-in-law and it’s about his daughter.” Another beat. “Robert. Do you remember twenty years ago right after Mary Beth was stolen? A guy claiming to have some special powers came to us wanting to help…Yes, I know there have been lots of crackpots over the years, but I think you’re going to want to talk to him.” Richard explained what had gone on during the last hour and how Adam wanted to hold Mary Beth’s bear.

  He waited while Robert mulled it over for a time. “Okay. I’ll bring him to the house. We should be there in about an hour… Yes, I’ll have him or Rubin drive…Okay. See you soon.” Richard turned to Adam. “He doesn’t want me to drive anymore considering everything.” He waved an arm in front of his body. “And he’s right, of course. But he doesn’t need to worry. I haven’t driven myself for quite a while. I realize it’s not safe and I don’t want to meet the grim reaper any sooner than I have to. I want to see my granddaughter at least one last time if possible.”

  “No problem,” Adam said. “I can drive.”

  “That’s fine unless you’d rather have my chauffeur drive. After all, that’s what I pay him for.”

  “Whatever you wish, sir. I’m okay driving but if you’d rather, did I hear you say Rubin, drive, I’m okay with that too.”

  They both sat in the back of Richard’s stretch limo while Rubin drove. Their trip to Morgantown was uneventful.

  Robert came out the front door of his house with a walker for Richard and strode over to the limo when Rubin pulled into the driveway. Robert unfolded the walker and helped Richard out of the car until he was supporting himself with the walker. Adam came around from the other side of the car and held out his hand. “Detective Drummond. I’m…”

  “I remember,” Robert said cutting Adam off rather abruptly. He didn’t shake Adam’s hand. “I also remember you couldn’t help any more than any of the other charlatans Richard and I have had to deal with over the last twenty years.”

  Richard gave Robert a slightly hostile glance. “I explained over the phone what Adam here demonstrated to me.” He thought Robert, and he were good enough friends that Robert would take his word that Adam was the real deal.

  The phrase I’m from Missouri, the Show-Me-State passed through Robert’s mind. Even though he wasn’t from Missouri, he would still need proof of Adam’s veracity. “I know you did. But I’m so tired of…”

  “Perhaps if you allowed me to see Mary Beth’s bear,” Adam interrupted. Because of Robert’s cold reception, Adam hoped he could help even more strongly than he always did when he was tasked with finding someone’s missing loved one. Not because he needed to prove himself but because Robert was apparently still in pain even after twenty years.

  Robert turned to Adam, disbelief etched in his face. Then he turned back to Richard. “How much did you tell him and how much does he want?” he asked with a hostile voice.

  Adam didn’t have to wonder why Robert was so unfriendly. He had no doubt been burned many times over by false promises in which he’d placed his hopes only to have them dashed. And Adam himself knew he hadn’t acquitted himself all that well twenty years earlier. Yes, Robert’s skepticism was understandable. “I don’t want anything except to help. I know I didn’t fare well twenty years ago but, as I explained to Richard, I have a much-improved understanding of my abilities now over what I did back then. After all, I was only eighteen then.”

  Robert looked back at Richard and shrugged, still frowning. “All right. I guess it can’t hurt to let you see Beer.” He called the bear by the name he’d given it so long ago. “Follow me.” He turned and strode toward the front door. Richard followed at his slow, walker-aided, pace and Adam took up the rear. Robert ushered them past the door, and Adam walked into a pleasantly furnished living room that had been updated since Adam was there previously.

  “In here,” Robert opened a door off the living room, and Richard and Adam followed. This room was a shrine to Robert’s dead wife and his missing daughter. A large bookshelf held a few kid’s books on the end of one of the shelves but on the rest of the shelves rested a plethora of framed photos of Molly and Mary Beth. Robert was in a few of the pictures but most held images of Molly and Mary Beth together or just Molly by herself or Mary Beth sleeping, playing in her bassinet, or playing with Beer the bear. In the middle of one shelf housing photos of Mary Beth alone set the caramel colored teddy bear that Adam remembered. Robert walked directly to the bookcase and lovingly took down the bear. He held it out to Adam.

  Before Adam accepted the bear, he thought he’d better prepare Robert and Richard. His visions didn’t always cooperate, and he didn’t want them to be overly disappointed. He hoped they wouldn’t be, but he still thought it best to prepare them just in case. He held up his hand. “I hope you both understand I can’t promise you results any more than I could twenty years ago. As I’ve explained to Richard, I am not in control of my abilities. I sometimes can see visions when I touch inanimate objects that have a strong emotion attached to them, but not always. I know you’ve been disappointed in the past, including by me, and I sincerely hope I won’t disappoint you now. But I can’t guarantee I’ll get any results from holding Mary Beth’s bear.”

  Robert turned to Richard with an “I told you so” look. “I knew it. He can’t help us.”

  “Don’t be like that Robert. Let’s give him a chance. Please let him hold Beer.” Richard certainly hoped Adam would be able to do the same sort of thing with the bear he had done with the Dr. Seuss books and the crib and chair. Adam was their last hope. Richard was sure Robert wouldn’t trust anyone else if Adam failed–at least not anyone that required an upfront payment. Adam was the first one that didn’t expect some kind of payment or at least a guarantee of payment whether help was rendered or not.

  Robert turned back to Adam and held out the bear again. “Take it,” he said.

  Adam took the bear and was immediately overcome by a vision. He showed the usual body manifestations that signaled a vision but this time not only did his face flush red his entire head seemed like it was burning and his whole body shook rather than just his shoulders twitching. He appeared to be having an epileptic or some other type of fit. Robert glanced at Richard who shook his head. “Don’t bother him. This is normal.” Richard knew Adam’s symptoms were more intense than the ones he’d seen before and really didn’t understand what was happening but didn’t think Adam was in any danger. Besides, he wanted Adam to have every opportunity to see all he could see.

  Though Richard and Robert saw what was happening on the outside of Adam’s body, they had no idea what Adam saw in his mind’s eye. He saw a vision more vivid than any he’d ever had before. He saw a young blonde-haired woman in some type of period costume approaching the House of the Seven Gables. He recognized the mansion because he’d been there and had read a book about it that he’d purchased at the nearby gift shop. He followed her through the door into the building in his mind, and a woman inside the building greeted the young woman. “Hello, Mary. You’re a little early.” Her name tag read Seril. She had dark, shoulder-length hai
r, a pert, slightly upturned nose, and was also wearing a period dress. A second woman stood behind Seril, but Adam couldn’t see her well.

  “Yes.” He heard Mary say. “I know. I caught all the lights just right. I think I’ll take the extra time to visit the bathroom and touch up my makeup before I take over. I’ll be right back.”

  Seril passed an appraising eye over Mary. “Your makeup looks fine to me, but then it always does. Trish and I’ll hold down the fort until you get back. As I said, you’re early anyway. Just go do your thing. We’ll be here when you’re done.”

  “As you always are,” Mary said.

  Mary left the building and walked to another building before Adam’s mind’s eye closed its lid, and he came back to his present circumstance.

  “Well?” Richard said with bated breath.

  Adam stared at a picture of Molly for a while before he spoke. “All I can tell you is I saw a blonde-haired young woman who seemed to look a lot like your wife.” He pointed at the picture at which he’d been staring. “She seems to be working at the House of the Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts. I saw her go into the building and she was greeted by another woman who knew her. She was wearing an old-fashioned dress, and so was the woman who greeted her.”

  “So you think it might be Mary Beth?” Robert said excitedly finally looking interested in Adam’s results.

  “There’s no way to be sure because neither of you has seen her since she was just a few months old and I’ve never seen her except in pictures. However, the woman I saw in my vision did look an awful lot like this picture.” He pointed at the picture again. “I can tell you that in the past when I have touched an object, my vision always had something to do with whoever was associated with the object.” That wasn’t precisely the truth as Adam had seen visions of beachfront activities from touching the frame of a painting of a beach and he frequently had a vision of a search he’d done for a missing child in a forest in Germany when he stared at a picture in Larry’s office. However, he didn’t feel the need to muddy the water with the absolute truth. “Therefore, there’s every reason to believe I saw Mary Beth. At least I think it’s worth a trip to Salem and the House of the Seven Gables to find out.”