Dead of Summer

by Sherry Knowlton

  DEAD OF SUMMER

  Sherry Knowlton

  Mechanicsburg, PA USA

  Published by Sunbury Press, Inc.

  50 West Main Street

  Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055

  www.sunburypress.com

  NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 by Sherry Knowlton.

  Cover Copyright © 2015 by Sunbury Press, Inc.

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  ISBN: 978-1-62006-593-8 (Trade Paperback)

  ISBN: 978-1-62006-594-5 (Mobipocket)

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2015947339

  FIRST SUNBURY PRESS EDITION: July 2015

  Product of the United States of America

  0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55

  Set in Bookman Old Style

  Designed by Crystal Devine

  Cover by Amber Rendon

  Edited by Jennifer Melendrez

  Continue the Enlightenment!

  One may smile and smile and smile and be a villain.

  ―Shakespeare, Hamlet

  They say if you remember Woodstock,

  you weren’t really there.

  ―Anonymous

  For Robert and Virginia Rothenberger, with love.

  Mom and Dad, you’re in my heart always.

  Chapter One

  “I’M BEAT FROM ALL THIS DRIVING. You owe me big time, Melissa. Rescuing you from jail wasn’t what I had in mind today. I was meditating when you called. Scout was rolling around on the lawn. I was going to take him on a long walk.”

  “Go ahead, lay on the guilt. But I thought I was going to lose it, locked up in that small cell with all those other women. I’m so glad that my best friend is an attorney. Thanks to you and your pal with the political pull, I didn’t have to spend the night.” Melissa grimaced at the thought.

  “Remember that the next time you decide to climb in a restricted zone on one of our national monuments―and then get into a pissing contest with the Park Police over it.”

  Melissa waved her camera. “I was just trying to find the best place for a crowd shot.”

  “Before they hauled you off to do hard time, did you get a chance to actually participate in the RESIST rally?”

  “Absolutely. I heard several senators speak about the anti-sex-trafficking bill that RESIST is supporting. Cecily wowed the crowd, talking about international sex trafficking and how this bill could impact it. Some people from the other national anti-trafficking organizations gave speeches. Three survivors told their stories. One was practically a child. Horrible experiences that made me cry.” Melissa shuddered.

  Alexa pulled her ancient Land Rover into Cecily Townes’ driveway. “I’m glad it’s staying light longer. It would be hard to find this place in the dark.” The small brick farmhouse sat a few hundred yards back from the narrow gravel road. “I’ve never been back here before. Nice place.”

  “Check out that garden.” Melissa pointed to a huge cultivated area to the left of the house. Even this early in the season, there were patches of green. “Cecily loves digging in the dirt.”

  Alexa stopped next to Melissa’s metallic red Prius. A gray passenger van, a soccer mom model, sat in the far end of the pullout. “Are you going to touch base with Cecily before you leave?”

  “Yeah. I’m sure she’s been worrying about me. I should have called right after you got me released. But I was so excited to be free that it slipped my mind. Then I passed out on our ride home.”

  “I noticed.”

  Melissa plowed right past Alexa’s dry comment. “The RESIST march was in full swing when the cops hauled me off. Even though I traveled down there as a chaperone with Cecily and Tyrell , I couldn’t ask them to hang around D.C. and worry about my arrest. They had a busload of kids to handle.”

  Alexa muttered beneath her breath. “Sure. No big deal. You probably told them your best friend would gladly drive ninety miles to bail you out.”

  Melissa ignored her and pointed at the van. “It looks like she’s home. Come on in, and I’ll introduce you.”

  “Sure, for a few minutes. I’m dying to meet this Saint Cecily.”

  “She is a saint. You know, she was once a Catholic nun but left the order years ago. Now she saves women all over the world.” The redhead slipped out of the SUV and waited for Alexa to join her.

  “Come around to the back door. No one ever uses the front.”

  Following Melissa onto a tidy brick walkway that wound around the corner of the house, Alexa paused for a moment to drink in the scene. Huge rolling fields of wheat rustled in the breeze. The final rays of the setting sun turned the distant mountains a dusky mauve.

  “What an amazing view.”

  As she lingered, a dark cloud blotted out much of the fading sunset, and a gust of wind whipped the field into a frenzy. The breeze took on a hint of ozone, signaling distant thunder and lightning.

  “Whoa. I think we’ve got a storm coming.” Alexa turned toward the house when Melissa gasped.

  Shards of glass covered the small porch, flickering pale orange in the fading light of the setting sun. On the windowed farmhouse door, a gaping square yawned wide where the glass had been.

  “Cecily. This is Melissa. Is everything OK?” Melissa called out as she ran up the steps and onto the porch, grinding the broken glass in pops beneath the soles of her sneakers. She pounded on the door.

  “Melissa. Be careful.” Alexa moved cautiously up the stairs behind her friend. She winced at the loud crunch of glass at each footstep, impossible to avoid on the porch floor. “Maybe Cecily isn’t home. Or there’s a burglar inside right now.” Alexa reached into her pocket for her cell phone but realized she had left it in the car.

  Melissa abruptly stopped shouting and knocking. “Alexa, something is wrong. I’m going to check.”

  Alexa let out a deep sigh and tilted her head to the left, then to the right, trying to dispel the tension building between her shoulder blades. Melissa was pushing her to the limit today. With reluctance, she gave in.

  “We’ll both go. Does she have an alarm system?”

  “I doubt it. Cecily rarely even locks the door.” Melissa reached for the doorknob, which turned easily in her hand, and the two women slipped into a mudroom area.

  “Cecily?” Melissa called again in a hushed voice.

  Alexa grabbed Melissa’s hand as they crept into the big kitchen. Following the scent of cinnamon, she noticed an uncovered plate of muffins next to the stove. The sight of a black pocketbook sitting undisturbed on the wide counter sent her pounding heart into overdrive.

  “There’s a living room and an office through that door,” Melissa gestured, her steps slowing.

  “Maybe we should go outside and call the police.”

&
nbsp; “But what if Cecily has been hurt? Let’s at least check out the downstairs.” Melissa squared her shoulders and marched into the hall. Alexa scanned ahead and behind, on high alert, as she followed her friend.

  “I’ll check in here. You look in there.” Melissa disappeared through the door on the right, and Alexa turned into the room that Melissa indicated on the left. Clearly, this was the office. She could make out the shape of an old roll-top desk in the near corner.

  The stormy twilight that filtered through the tall casement windows steeped the room in shadows. This whole thing was creeping Alexa out. She ran her hand along the wall next to the entry, searching for a light switch. Finding none, she took a deep breath and strode toward the silhouette of a floor lamp on the far side of the room. She flipped the switch and sighed with relief as light flooded the office.

  That relief vanished when Alexa took in the roll-top desk to her right. The desk was a mess. It looked like someone had pulled papers out of the little cubbies in the back of the desk and dumped them in the center. The big drawers all stood open, and more paper littered the floor beside the desk. The computer monitor hung by a cord, facedown, perched over some files. When Alexa took a step toward the desk, the monitor shifted, hitting the table with a thump. Startled, she backed away.

  A coppery smell, like new pennies baking in the sun, hung in the still air. In the silence, Alexa noticed a faint buzzing noise coming from outside the house. Beyond the reflection of lamplight, she could see hundreds of flies crawling over the wavy glass panes of the antique windows.

  With dread, Alexa turned left to survey the rest of the room. She moaned and swayed when she spied a pool of blood on the floor at her feet. “Not again. This can’t be happening again,” she protested under her breath.

  As she looked in revulsion at the blood, a thin crescent of red inched toward her like a scarlet claw. She jerked her foot away in horror before she realized that it was a lone, blood-drenched fly, staggering out of the crimson pool in a drunken stupor.

  Finally, Alexa took a deep breath, rested one hand on the nearby table for support, and forced her gaze higher. Her eyes followed an obscene waterfall of red-soaked cardboard upward until they came to rest on a motionless body. The slight, gray-haired woman sprawled facedown over a pile of boxes, hands dangling toward the floor.

  Alexa gagged and dashed to the doorway. “Melissa,” she called into the hallway. “We need to get out of here. I think I’ve found Cecily . . . and it’s not good.” She struggled to keep it together.

  Melissa emerged from the living room with a look of concern on her face. “Where is she? Is she hurt?”

  “In the office. I’m pretty sure she’s . . .”

  “Oh no. She can’t be dead. I don’t think she had any health issues.” Melissa burst into tears.

  “Come on,” Alexa grabbed Melissa’s elbow. “I’ll call an ambulance outside.”

  “Not until we make sure. Maybe she passed out.” Melissa wrenched away and took a step toward the office.

  Alexa sighed and reached out with both hands to halt her. “You don’t need to see this, Melissa. There’s a lot of blood. I’ll check for a pulse.”

  “Blood?” Melissa repeated, tearfully, as if she didn’t understand.

  “Wait here.” Alexa dreaded the idea of going back into that room, but another look at her best friend in shambles stiffened her resolve.

  Alexa tiptoed back into the office, skirting the huge pool of congealing blood. Cecily lay completely still over the stack of boxes. Alexa bit the inside of her lip to keep from screaming and gingerly lifted a chalky wrist. No pulse. The woman’s slender arm felt cool and powdery, like a child’s doll. Alexa trembled as she carefully released the wrist and took a step away from the body.

  When Melissa shrieked hysterically, Alexa whirled in terror, thinking the killer was still in the house. However, Melissa stood alone in the office doorway, her eyes fastened on Cecily’s dead body.

  Alexa gathered up her friend, steering her back through the kitchen and out of the house. “We have to get out of here and call the police, Melissa. Come on.” Alexa practically carried her friend through the glass debris on the porch and guided her into the Land Rover.

  The minute Alexa reached the driver’s seat, she turned the key in the ignition and peeled away from the house. The wind had died, but the gathering darkness seemed to swallow the Rover’s lights. She slowed just enough to dial 911 when she reached the macadam road.

  “We’ll meet the police at the South Middleton Park,” she told the 911 operator. “We can’t stay at that house. It’s not safe.”

  Chapter Two

  “ALEXA WILLIAMS? You’re the one who called this in? Did someone from the Church of the Blessed Lamb come after you?” State Police Trooper John Taylor emerged from the unmarked car and called to Alexa through the open window of the Land Rover. When Alexa recognized the tall trooper, she climbed out of her car. Melissa seemed paralyzed by grief and stayed in the passenger seat.

  “Trooper Taylor. We always meet at the worst of times,” Alexa replied in a shaky voice, but just seeing the trooper calmed her.

  “That’s one of the unfortunate aspects of my job.” He peered into the Land Rover. “Can you tell me what happened? Who’s in the car?”

  “That’s one of my best friends, Melissa Lambert. She’s the reason I’m involved in this. We went to Cecily Townes’ house to pick up Melissa’s car. The place is a few miles away from here. I gave 911 the name and general location. I don’t know the exact address.

  “Anyway, we found Cecily dead.” Alexa shivered. “At least we think it is Cecily, and I’m pretty sure she was murdered. There was so much blood. And a window on the back door was shattered.”

  “OK. I have a lot of questions for both of you. Right now, I need you to lead me to Ms. Townes’ home. Can you handle that?” he asked with concern.

  When Alexa managed a nod, he continued. “Troopers were dispatched to the residence as soon as you called 911. I need to go there now, and I want you and Melissa to walk me through what happened.”

  “I can do that. I’m worried about Melissa, though. This has hit her pretty hard. She might need medical attention.”

  “There should be EMS on-site at the house by now. The paramedics can evaluate her and get her to the hospital, if necessary.”

  “OK.” Alexa nodded again. “Follow me.”

  About ten minutes later, Alexa headed the Land Rover back down the narrow lane to Cecily’s farmhouse. Every fiber of her being screamed to turn around and drive in the other direction. But she knew that the police needed to question Melissa and her as soon as possible.

  On the brief return trip, Alexa dialed Melissa’s boyfriend, Jim Kline. After filling him in on the day’s events, Alexa assured him, “I’ll get Melissa checked out by the ambulance crew.”

  She added, “I think we’re going to be here for a while with the state police. Can you do me a favor and run over to my cabin to feed Scout and let him out for a few minutes? He’s been there alone for hours. The key is hanging under the bench on the deck. The alarm code is 1934. I’ll let you know what happens here by calling the cabin phone or your cell.”

  “You told Jim?” Melissa whispered. “Thanks for calling him. I think I can pull myself together now. I’ve never seen anything as terrible as Cecily lying there in all that blood. How could someone do that to such a wonderful woman?”

  “I don’t know, Melissa. I can’t understand it either.” Alexa pushed away the mental image of Cecily’s body. “The police want to talk to each of us, probably separately. Just tell them exactly what happened. Hopefully, we’ll get out of here soon.”

  As they rounded the bend, Alexa parked the Land Rover behind a long line of official-looking vehicles. Flashing red and blue lights gave the farmhouse the look of a carnival fun house. As she and Melissa stood by the car waiting for Trooper Taylor, Alexa blanched at the thought of reliving her discovery of the dead woman.

  T
he paramedics gave Melissa a mild sedative but said she needed no additional treatment. With Alexa’s permission, the police did a quick search of the Land Rover. Then, they waited. As the minutes ticked by, tedium whittled away at Alexa’s earlier terror. By the time the troopers summoned her, she had regained her equilibrium.

  Trooper Taylor and another plainclothes investigator, Trooper Matt Cannon, questioned Alexa, then Melissa, at a table on the tidy brick patio. When introduced, Alexa couldn’t hold back a wry smile at the aptness of the partner’s name. Cannon looked like one of those no-neck guys who spent most of their waking hours in a gym. The excess muscle and buzz cut made his sport coat and slacks look like they belonged to someone else. But his questions showed sensitivity to the shock that she and Melissa had experienced.

  When the troopers finished with their questions about the discovery of Cecily’s body, Taylor asked Alexa and Melissa to return to the car. He wanted them to stick around in case there were additional questions.

  About fifteen minutes passed, but it seemed like hours. Alexa leaned against the Land Rover’s bumper for support. She glanced at Melissa, sitting in the SUV with her feet dangling out the open doorway. She could see that, even with the sedative, her friend was hanging on by a thread.

  Alexa pushed onto her feet when the two troopers approached. Melissa climbed out of the vehicle to join her.

  Trooper Taylor addressed his remarks to both Alexa and Melissa. “We’ll want you to come into the station to go over this again and make a complete statement. I’ll call you both tomorrow to arrange times. Thanks for your cooperation tonight. I can only imagine how difficult this has been.

  “Ms. Lambert, I just have two additional questions for you right now. Do you know if Ms. Townes has any relatives that we should contact? Or is there someone who knows her family situation?”