by Diane Roads
CHAPTER 4
The cafe was only a half a block away. It was usually a very pleasant walk but not today. Today the wild fires in Mexico had kicked up so much smoke that the wind patterns had sent it half way to Canada. It left a haze in the sky. He felt bad that he had to send the guys out in this. But you don't get to pick and choose when you go on a search. He also felt bad for anyone that had to be out in all of this. He hoped Mr. Twilliger wasn't in it. He figured he had better hurry the chopper would be there soon.
Sally's Cafe was once called the Quagmire Restaurant. The story was that Julie was the girlfriend of one of the old money people. He bought her this restaurant and changed its name to Julie's Restaurant, which was really nothing more than a cafe and from what people say he could be seen on a coffee break several times a day. His wife found out and put a stop to the coffee breaks. Julie suddenly sold the restaurant to Sally her waitress with the agreement that the name be changed. Sally still owned and operated the cafe and was the girlfriend of Sheriff Jasper P. Quagmire V. She could always put a smile on Jasper's face but today she had her work cut out for her.
Someone was reading the newspaper out loud when Jasper walked in.
"Dear Marge,
It was great to hear from you. We are all doing ok. Mostly in the field. Janet wrote me and said that you called her. You told her that you ladies had been writing guys for years and had not lost one yet due to your prayers. You told her she was not to worry about me not coming home. It has been so long since I have seen her. She has such long blond hair and the bluest eyes. A smile that would melt my heart. She is the one thing that keeps me going. But I know how much you ladies care. That means a lot to a guy so far from home. If you talk to Janet would you remind her that I love her and will be home someday? The letters from home are always great. Ryan the other day got a letter from his wife. She can't wait for him. She said she doesn't like who he has turned into. That she could never live with someone who has killed someone. How could someone send something like that? Life is bad enough as it is without sending a Dear John letter. I keep asking why we are here?
PVT Jack Dickson''
Then someone could be heard saying. “Isn't that the saddest thing you ever heard? I think I am going to cry."
As Jasper walked a few steps more he could hear, "Hi Jas. How you doing today honey?" Sally was the only person who could get away with calling him "Jas."
"Just fine, Sally dear. How about some coffee and the Blue Plate Special."
"Sure thing, honey. Comin’ right up."
He walked over and sat down at the counter next to Jim.
"Hi, Jim, how's the Blue Plate?"
"Great, as usual Sally has out done herself. Were you able to get us some help?"
"Yes, the state police are going to start working the highway in both directions and I got the county police to send some patrols through the town so we can free up our men. Then I talked to Mark at the Big City and he is sending over a couple of guys. The chopper should be here anytime now. You remember Adam Knight and Chuck Sullivan?"
"Sure! They worked on that missing two-year-old up at the lake last month. They're good at this. We need trackers like that on our team."
"Oh! I remember they found her that night didn't they. She was in a cavern by the water's edge. I forgot about that. That's right. That was the day that Smokey and I were out of town for the day. By the time we got back they had just found her. Mark is going to try to come later."
At that point Sally returned with his coffee and Blue Plate Special.
"Here you go Jasper, anything else you need?"
"No, Sally, this looks great. Thanks. Wait a minute I do want to know one more thing. Sally, have you heard any thing that Mr. Twilliger has donated to recently?"
"Sure Jasper. You know all that talk about the school getting a new library. It is believed that the money for all of that will come from Mr. Twilliger. You know how people talk. I think the year before last he donated the playground equipment for the nursing home, so when the residents have grandkids that come to visit they have something to do with them that the kids like."
"Pastor Michaels said that someone donated 100 blankets for the homeless last Christmas. I bet it was him," added Jasper.
"Why are you asking Jas?"
"I am just trying to find a motive for why someone would want him out of the way. Who would benefit," answered Jasper.
"What does 'what he donates' have anything to do with him missing," Sally asked.
"Probably nothing, but just to be safe I wanted to check. I was reminded today of the desperate things people do for money. From what little bit I have heard about Mrs. Twilliger she really doesn't sound desperate. I just hope she doesn't prove me wrong."
"Trust me Jas, what I know of Henrietta she won't prove you wrong. I have known her for years. She usually comes in here in the morning time. She is a special lady. Is that all you wanted to know? "
"Thanks for now it is."
"Okay Sugar, let me know if you need anything else. How about you, Jim, are you ready for the piece of apple pie?"
"No thanks, Sally."
Sally left to check on a customer.
"Man that was some rough trail out there today. There is a lot to look over. Sure hope we find something soon. So far the only other thing we found was a mother opossum and about eight babies. Smokey seemed to get a kick out of it. But he's not dumb. He knew enough to stay back. Hope our luck changes this afternoon; maybe the chopper will find something. I am going to pick up some goggles to keep all the smoke out of my eyes," said Jim.
"Jonesy told me that there was a couple in a motorhome looking for the campsite near the cemetery. He also had a man, who seemed a little nervous, with Nebraska plates stop in looking for a place to stay. He sent them over to Millie's."
When Sally came back to join the guys, Jim excused himself to head back to the station to get some supplies together.
"Jim filled me in on what happened to Mr. Twilliger. He has been coming here every once in a while. Sometimes he brings his wife Henrietta in for dinner. She is part of the Letters club. They seem like such a loving couple; I really think Mr. Twilliger is such a nice man. He never acted to uppity whenever he came in. He was just one of the town folks. This is all just too bad. Is there anything I can do?"
"Sure Sally. I'm going to have Sara make up some flyers; if you would give them out to the truckers and anyone coming through."
"I can do that. I'll also take some to the church tonight to the Bible study and hand some out there. It doesn't look like you are going to make it. Ken is coming in later to pick up some stuff for the Scouts Masters. They are going to a big event in the Big City later this afternoon. I bet they would take some and hand them out at it."
"That would be a big help. What is this Letters club you are talking about?"
"You know they used to be known as the Teacup club. Years and years ago the ladies would meet every Thursday at 10 o’clock for a cup of tea. It was a big thing to be presented with your own teacup. That meant that you were now a member. They did nothing at all but drink tea and gossip. Then one day Mrs. Watson said she was quitting. Everyone was in an up roar. She founded the club and helped write the charter. Now she was quitting because she felt useless. The club never did anything useful. They never had anyone come and talk. Never did any charity work. Never did anything important but gossip and drink tea. She felt there had to be more to life than just gossip. Someone opened their mouth and asked her what would she like to do? What would make her feel useful?
She didn't know but she wanted to do something. Not just sit and drink tea. Just about that time something came on the TV screen about the soldiers over fighting in the war. I forget which war. And how just a letter from home would be so spirit lifting. They were told how to get the names of someone to send a letter to. In the blink of an eye the Teacup club had changed its name to the Letters club.
These eight ladies were wr
iting to 24 soldiers a week. They have been doing it for the last 15, 20 years or more. Usually about once a week someone will come dancing in waving her arm up in the air. In it is a letter from someone over seas. You would have thought it was a check for a million bucks. You should have heard them the first time one of their soldiers showed up. We had to bring Peggy Ann a cup of tea. She almost passed out.
These ladies take their letter writing seriously. They are working with a publisher to see about getting them published. The money they get will be used to send phone cards and other things the troops need - something the guys can use today - not some statue for all of them after they are dead. To stir up interests in the book the newspaper is putting some of the letters in the paper. They are on the front page of the society section. I mean who is more important than our men over seas.
So now you know why the teacups are on the shelf. They only pull them down when one of their soldiers come to town. We haven't had one for the past three years. We are due for one to show up. Becky said one of her guys said he might come by soon. We never know when he would be passing through town going home. He said he had a four-hour layover in the Big City."
"That must have been what I heard when I came in. Someone was reading a letter from the newspaper. I was going to call Pastor Michael when I got back and have him put Mr. Twilliger on the prayer chain. This sure puts a damper on the Sunday picnic he was planning."
"Jasper, don't worry about the picnic. There will be other picnics."
"This is just so hard to believe that something has happen to Mr. Twilliger. Maybe God will answer our prayers before Sunday and we will find him okay. I still want to take you to that picnic. Pastor Michael has been working so hard on getting this group to come sing. He said they are going to be a big hit real soon, and that we better try while we can to hear them."
"I'll pray for that 'Hon,' and that you are careful. Sounds like the chopper is here. Be sure and let me know if you need us to send over some food. It will be no problem to make up some sandwiches."
Jasper nodded, "Sally, have you seen anyone new in town lately?"
"Yes I have. There is a couple over in the big booth from Nebraska. See the people who are coming in the door. I don't recognize them, they’re heading over to the people from Nebraska. I can see it in your eyes. I will leave you to do your sleuthing. I will check back before you leave."
Jasper got up and walked over to the table. "Excuse me I would like to introduce my self. I am Sheriff Quagmire. It is not often that we get this many people in from out of town. May I ask if this is for business or pleasure?"
"Hi Sheriff, a little of both. I am Mavis Gentry and this is my husband Charles. Over here we have; Brent and Pam Williams, and this is Bo and Kelly Russell. We are all Looneys. Well, what I mean to say is, we are all part of the Parker Untrue Looney family. Some of our family was back at Valley Forge with George Washington. We are all here for the P. U. Looney reunion."
Where had Jasper heard that name before? He was not a Valley Forge history buff. So that couldn't be it. This was going to bug him until he figured it all out. "This is quite a group here. Do you have a place to stay? We have a very nice bed & breakfast in Quagmire."
"Oh, thank you for letting us know Sheriff. But we all have motor homes and will be staying in the park outside of town that is not far from the cemetery. You see, we do this every couple of years. We do a theme each time and meet somewhere kind of in the middle of the US, or we pick a nice resort on one of the coasts. We have been tracing our genealogy thing for over 15 years. Some of our relatives go all the way back to England and Scotland. We even found one that is from Brazil. We always look for the cemeteries. Never know who you are going to find buried there or who you are related to. We even have a website we call the Looneys Down Under. Cute don't you think?
"Ah, yes I guess it is kind of catchy."
"You will have to check us out. We have all kinds of stories on it. Some of our relatives traveled the Underground Railroad. That is our theme this time.'
"What makes you think that the Underground Railroad traveled this far?"
"Oh we have our sources. And I wouldn't be surprised if you have your own sources too, Sheriff Quagmire."
"I don't recall any. My Aunt Mattie was the history buff in the family. She would have been the person who would talk to you for hours about our history. She has been dead for several years now. She wrote a book with a lot of history in it about what went on in these parts. I wish you could have met her, you would have enjoyed her. Well, it was nice meeting you all. I hope you have a pleasant stay. If you need anything please let us know. "
"Oh thank you Sheriff, we will. We will be seeing you," replied Mavis.
Jasper said his good-bye to Sally and headed back to the station. He wondered what Mavis meant about him having his own sources. She sounded like she knew something, or was it just his imagination. He had forgotten to ask how long they would be staying, and how many were coming into town. He made a mental note to have that checked out.
The air was just as hazy going back as it was coming. He thought he could smell a little smoke from the fires. He knew it was all in his head. Jim was right about needing goggles on a day like today. The chopper had kicked up some of the dust on the ball diamond field when it landed. It served as a make shift heliport for the chopper. He could see Rego Berto sitting in the cockpit.
Jasper went in and sat down at his desk looking over some of the notes he had made. If Thomas Twilliger had gone missing last week they might have had a better chance of finding him. Two of his best men were unavailable this week, and to add to that, several strangers were in town. That just gave them all the more rocks to have to look under.
Jasper looked up as the front door opened. Harry Wolf was walking in the station. He was one of Jasper's top men. He knew everything there was to know about computers. You always knew when Harry was around because you could hear him clearing his throat. It was kind of a trademark with him. It seemed to follow him wherever he went. That's why Jasper never put him on a stakeout if he could help it, not that they had much of a need for a stakeout in Quagmire. Harry was very valuable around the station. He was usually very calm and clear thinking, but he wasn't thinking very clearly today. His wife Becky was at the Big City hospital. She had been having labor pains all morning.
"Harry, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the hospital with Becky!"
"The doctor said she wasn't going to deliver until late tonight and that she needed to get some rest. He told me to do the same and someone would text me as soon as I was needed. ‘Go home’ was the doctor's orders. I tried to rest but with not much success. I decided to come down to the station to see if I could be of any help. Here I walked in to find you pouring over paperwork. Can I do something, anything? I'm going nuts."
"Sure, I’ve got some stuff you can do. Let me get you up to speed on what's going on around here," said Jasper.
"Hey! Somebody say ‘Help’ around here?" Jasper looked up and in walked Adam Knight and Chuck Sullivan from the Big City, followed by Rego.
"Hi Adam, Chuck, Rego. Sure is good to see you. Come in and have a seat. I was just getting ready to fill Harry in on what's going on."
"Okay. So far, all we know is Thomas Twilliger is missing."
"I met him a few months ago, about 55 with gray hair, a beard and mustache," said Harry.
"Yes, well it seems as though his wallet and his wife's Navaho Indian blanket were found behind the cafe this morning. Jim and Smokey followed the trail all the way to the highway. Things seemed to grow cold at that point. He had a 3:00 appointment yesterday with Mr. Rickets at Gulf Seas Imports. As far as we know he never made it. Jim and Smokey have been out this morning looking. The only thing they found was this handkerchief belonging, we think, to Mr. Twilliger."
At that point Jim walked in and said he had supplies ready. Smokey seemed rested up and was ready to go.
"Great," answered Jasper. "I'm sendin
g Adam and Chuck out with you, so go ahead and fill them in on what you have done, and head on out. When you're finished, drop Smokey off at the house. I also need two men to go over to the Twilliger's house and check the out buildings, just to be on the safe side. When you’re finished go over and help in the search." Two men nodded that they would go.
"No Problem."
"Oh, another thing, there happens to be a P. U. Looney family reunion out at the camp grounds. Hey, I don't make this stuff up. So there are going to be several new people in town. I am going out to check them out later after they are set up more. For now Harry, I want you to come with me. We'll get the other ball rolling. Call the media and put out an alert. Also we need to update the wire. I want you to get it out on the wire, let them know who we are looking for. And check with the hospitals around the area. I'll call Big City Hospital so don't worry about them. Let me know what you find out. Check out that website that Mavis Gentry told me about. I think she called it Looneys down under. One more thing, have any of you ever heard the name Parker Untrue Looney before?" Each of the guys shook their heads no as they walked out of the room. Harry went to his desk to start working.
"Sara I need you to get me some flyers ready. Get the picture I brought in and the description of Mr. Twilliger made up. When you finished with them take them over to Sally. She is going to give them out to the truckers and anyone else that comes in the cafe. She will be at the Bible study tonight and give them out there. She said Ken and the Scout Masters are going to an event in the big city later today. She is going to give him some flyers to take. Do you have any questions?"
"No Sheriff, she will have them within the hour. His picture was in the newspaper last month. I happen to know the guy who took the picture. I'll have him send it over. Then we won't have to take apart her picture of him."
"Thanks Sara, I knew I could count on you."
"And while you were in the meeting, Mr. Rickets called. He said he checked, and no one has seen Thomas Twilliger."
"Thanks Sara."
The guys had just left, so Jasper went back into his office and started making some calls. First was to Big City hospital.
"Big City Hospital, Joyce speaking."
"Hi Joyce. This is Sheriff Quagmire with the Quagmire police department. Do you have any ‘John Doe’s around?"
"Let me connect you with the nurse's station."
"Nurse's station, June speaking."
"Hi June. Quagmire police department, this is Sheriff Quagmire. Do you have any ‘John Doe’s around?"
"Why yes, we do have one. A trucker bought him in the other day. It looked like someone had dropped a ton of dirt on him when he brought him in."
"Is he about 55 with gray hair? Does he have a beard and mustache?"
"Oh no, I'd say more like 45 with brown hair and no beard and mustache, but you're welcome to come up and check. You won't get to talk to him though. Poor fellow, he went into a coma just after he came here. The truck driver called him Tim. He did give us a phone number. We called it and got a psychic hot line."
"Thanks June, you have been a big help. He doesn't sound like our man, but I'll try and stop by when I get a chance. We can get it out on the wire. Somebody is probably looking for him. If he wakes up let me know
Jasper dialed yet another phone number. "River Point Baptist Church," was heard next.
"Pastor Michael, this is Jasper."
"Well hi, Jasper. You haven't forgotten about the picnic on Sunday have you? You are planning on bringing Sally and that potato salad of hers, aren't you?"
"Well, that might be a problem, that's why I am calling, it seems as though Thomas Twilliger is missing. Smokey found his wallet behind Sally's this morning. I have men out searching for him now. He didn't make his meeting yesterday. I would like for you to put him on the prayer chain. When Sally comes to the prayer meeting tonight, she will bring some flyers over to hand out."
"Okay, I'll get right on it. I'll pray that you find him soon. I know Tom and Mrs. Twilliger very well. She was here just yesterday helping with the clothing drive we are working on for the homeless ministry. She said he was out of town on business. She stayed here most of the day. Mr. Twilliger himself bought a hundred blankets last winter for the homeless. This is just so sad. I'll get it started on ours, and then call some of the churches in the Big City to get it going there."
"Thanks, Pastor Michael." With that Jasper hung up.
Just then his fax machine went off. Coming in was some information about some stolen artwork. A town the size of Quagmire usually doesn't get put on alert, but then Quagmire wasn't your usual little town. With a lot of rich and famous people living here the Big City would send anything they thought would be of interest. Today it was artwork by Van Gogh, worth a half a million. Jasper put that on the back burner for now.
Just as he was doing that, Mark walked in the door. Mark McMillan was one of the best fingerprint men around. This was largely due to the fact that the Big City had some of the best equipment in the state and Mark got in on first hand training that he received only because one of the Quagmire residents had lost some family heirloom jewelry, and they had bought the equipment to find it. Mark had been available at that time. In fact they had some surprising stuff even for a big town.
"Hi Mark, it sure is good to see you."
"Well thanks to the Cantrell family jewels, I might just be of some help. As you see, I brought my little black box."
"Boy, that's music to my ears. Sit down and we'll get started."
"We found Mr. Twilliger's car, it's over at Jonesy's. He thinks someone might have been in it last night. He's not sure, but he remembers locking the doors and they were open today."
"What kind of a car is it?" Mark asked.
"Fifth Avenue, if I remember right, with all that power stuff they put on cars now-a-days."
"I’ve got news for you; they have been putting that on those cars for a long time."
"Kind of hard to jimmy the locks on one of those isn't it?" asked Jasper.
"Sure, but a smart person can get the know-how. Those car thieves are getting pretty sophisticated now days. If it's a code key then they have no problem. When someone goes to lock or unlock the door they read the code. Only the real recent models are safe from it. They scramble the code after each use. If a car is a couple of years old, tough luck!"
Jasper came back with, "Jonesy said when I talked with him that this was Mr. Twilliger's last trip with the car. It was getting old and he was planning on buying a new one."
"Well, there you have it. They copied the key code when Jonesy locked the doors last night. That's how they did it. But why?"
"Good question," said Jasper.
"Oh, before I forget, did you get the fax we sent on that missing artwork?" asked Mark.
"Right here. I'll check into it later. I mean, what's the chance of us finding a Van Gogh around here. The people of Quagmire are art collectors, but honest art collectors. I figured I'd do some asking around when this case on Mr. Twilliger is closed."
"Makes sense to me. It doesn't sound like top priority to me either. I just thought it strange that they alerted us." said Mark.
"Okay, let's see where we're at here. I need to take you over to Jonesy and get you started. Then I need to check with Millie and find out who Jonesy was talking about. He said someone new came into town and he sent him over to Millie's B&B. I also want to take this handkerchief over to Mrs. Twilliger to see if it belongs to Mr. Twilliger and get a list of associates and friends who might know his whereabouts. And that's about it."
"I'm ready to get started," Mark said as Harry walked in the room.
"Sheriff, I checked out that website you asked about and it is full of stories like this. One of the guys must be a cop, or have some imagination. It really makes you think that people will do anything for money. I wonder who would benefit If Mr. Twilliger was gone. Listen to this and see what you think."
‘James & Jill Evans. It was the darnedest
thing I've ever seen. James and Jill Evans had been married for three years when Jill's dad died, leaving her millions. Up until that point they had been living off of James' income. Her father had never believed in supporting them. Jill liked that idea and she thought James did also.
But soon after her father's death strange things began to happen. Jill would wake up and find herself with several blankets on. She never remembered waking up, much less putting the on the blankets. When she asked her husband if he had covered her he denied it.
If that wasn't bad enough she would make out a shopping list, and come home only to find the shelves and refrigerator full of everything on her list.
Each day it was something new. Her husband was very supportive. The doctors were baffled. Distraught with losing her father, her last living relative, the doctors thought she was making it all up. She would claim to lose track of time and never know it. The doctors thought she would snap eventually. All the money she had couldn't buy sanity.
Then one day her friend Kelly was having lunch with her husband Keith. The both of them over heard part of a conversation. The subject was Jill Evans. James was talking to someone about installing a camera where one had failed. They were discussing when would be a good time to trade out cameras. James thought they were alone when he said, "She is just about to break. After tomorrow night she will be ready for the nut house." It didn't take James long to realize that they were not alone, but he didn't think anybody had heard anything and even if somebody did, who cares. They didn't know who he was or what he was talking about. He felt safe.
But Keith and Kelly both knew who Jill was, and had seen James' picture before and knew who he was.
Keith was my partner and we ran a background check on who this mystery man was from the fingerprints on his glass. Max Marcos had a rap sheet a mile long. I had been looking for him so I could question him in the mugging of a lady. It was supposed to be to be a simple robbery, but she had nothing on her that day to steal. Max was my prime suspect.
Kelly invited Jill for coffee at her house. Keith and I were there when she arrived. We convinced her to take a jewelry box with her, and to put it on her nightstand. It had a hidden camera and mic in it.
Jill went to sleep and Max walked in with the blanket and coved her up. Next thing we saw was an image of her father on the wall. It sounded like he was saying 'Jill come to me. I am so cold' Jill woke up screaming. James was trying to console her. He told her he was so sorry but he didn't hear anything. That was when Keith walked in and said ‘you must be deaf not to hear that.’ James turned white as a sheet.’
Turned out old James was tired of working. He wanted an easier life. One with Jill out of the way, but it ended up that James was the one put out of the way.
"This site is full of stories like that. I told you that money makes people do a lot of stupid stuff. I would check and see if Mrs. Twilliger had anything to be gained by his disappearance."
That thought gave Jasper something to think about. He had met Mrs. Twilliger and she didn't seem like the money hungry type. She and Mr. Twilliger had been seen at his church. But was money the motive? That was food for thought.
Jasper's phone rang. It was Marty out checking out the Twilliger's. "Sheriff we have been in every spot on the property. There is no place they could be. Mrs. Twilliger went to the church to pray they said. There was some guy here, by the name of George, who let us in the house. We found nothing showing that Mr. Twilliger had been here. There were some scuff marks out where that dog was. I was wondering if maybe there had been a fight out there. I found a black button off of a coat it looks like. I will drop it off on our way to the search team."
"Okay we are getting ready to head out, so leave it with Sara." With that, the three men walked out the door.
