by Ann Mullen
Chapter 22
After pulling up into Mom’s driveway, I was surprised to see that it had been plowed. Snowbanks lined each side. The front yard had two pairs of round depressions going across it and into the woods. Billy said they were the prints of a deer. A lone yellow iris in full bloom seated in a cluster of green, spiny shoots attracted my attention.
“Look at that, Billy,” I said as I crawled out of the truck. “I’ve never seen an iris bloom in the winter. Have you?”
“Sometimes that happens,” he replied as he crawled out of the truck and walked over to me. He pointed to the opposite side of the yard. “There’s another one.”
“That’s so cool. It’s so exciting to be living in the mountains. There’s no place like it. I’m constantly seeing deer and other animals that you’d never see living in Tidewater. Newport News used to be farm land until developers took over. Now it’s nothing but a concrete jungle.” I took a deep breath. “It smells so good out here even in the cold.”
Mom opened the front door and yelled out to us, “Come on inside before you freeze to death. I have a pot of coffee brewing. Hurry up. I have a lot to tell you.”
Mom’s two-story Cape Cod is such a lovely house. The fireplace with its woodstove insert in the living room makes everything so cozy. I especially like the way the living room, dining room and kitchen is in one big open space separated only by a pass-through bar. I adore her bedroom off to the left. It’s huge. It has a fireplace, and the walk-in closet is bigger than the bedroom I had in my Newport News duplex. The two large bedrooms upstairs which are separated by a full bath aren’t like what one would normally encounter. Usually, builders would cram four small rooms in that amount of space. I like fewer rooms and more space in each room. Mom was so thrilled when she and Dad found the place. The move was well worth it even if their time together here was brief. Dad died shortly after they moved to Stanardsville.
After taking a last look around to admire our beautiful surroundings, we headed inside. Claire greeted us with a smile and a big hug. “I’m so glad to see you guys,” she said. She looked at Billy. “I’m so sorry about Daniel. Nothing will make the pain go away, but at least we can be thankful for the time we had with him.”
“Words are not necessary,” Billy replied. “We will miss him, that’s for sure.”
“He flirted with me every time I saw him,” she continued. “Did you know that?”
“I’m sure he did,” I butted in. “He flirted with every woman.”
Billy looked over at Randy and said, “Nice to see you again. How was the trip?”
Randy walked over and shook Billy’s hand and then hugged me. “It was a little hairy. At one point I was afraid I might not be able to keep the SUV on the road, but we managed to make it here in one piece.” He looked at me. “Mom said to tell you hello and that she’s sorry she couldn’t make it. Izzy’s been sick for a few weeks and Mom’s really worried about her. I suggested that she get a nurse to come in, but she wouldn’t hear of it.”
“I don’t blame her. I sure hope Isabel is going to be all right,” I said as Billy and I took off our coats and laid them on the sofa. I turned to Mom and said, “Savannah Kelley is missing. Her Mustang was sitting out in front of her closed gate with the car door open, and there was blood on the ground.”
“Oh, my word!” Mom exclaimed. “She was afraid something like this would happen. She gave me the phone number for her husband. She said that if anything happened to her to please call him and let him know.”
“You might want to do that now,” Billy said. “She’s disappeared, and if she’s been abducted as we suspect, her life could be in serious danger.”
“We’re looking for a small, black pickup truck like Dad’s.”
“I saw it fly by. I remember telling Claire that whoever was driving was headed for trouble. You can’t drive that fast on these roads. They’re so slick when it snows.” Mom turned and headed for the kitchen. “I made a fresh pot of coffee. Who wants a cup of coffee?”
“I could sure use one,” Billy said. “I need something to warm me up.”
I walked over to the kitchen counter and stood next to Mom. “I noticed that your driveway has been plowed. Did Eddie do that for you?”
“Yes, he did, if it’s any of your business. He helps me with other chores sometimes, too. What do you have to say about that?”
“I’m glad. I like Eddie. Can I call him Daddy?”
“You’re being silly.” Mom fixed a cup of coffee, walked over to the table and placed it in front of Billy. “You might as well sit down. We have much to discuss.”
Claire and Randy took their seat at the table, a cup of coffee already in front of them. I poured coffee for myself, added milk, and then walked over and sat down in the chair next to Billy.
“This Webster guy is a bad dude. Put him together with his freaky nephew, Wayne Avery, and we’ve got a real dangerous pair.”
“Are they together?” Mom asked.
“No, Avery is probably in jail right about now,” Billy replied. “Jonathan got a tip on their whereabouts, and when we left, he had Avery handcuffed with tie-wraps to the pipe under the kitchen sink, and the police were on their way. Webster got away from us.”
“That Jonathan is something else,” Mom said. “He has a lot of nerve to do what he does… just like the two of you. I never thought I’d see the day when one of my daughters would be carrying a gun, hunting for killers. Sometimes it scares me.”
“It scares me most of the time, Mom, especially when we come across a cold-blooded killer like Wayne Avery. As for Eric Webster—I can’t say anything about him, because he’s not the one who confessed to me.”
“It all makes sense,” Mom said. “Savannah’s book is so close to what’s going on in real life, it’s scary. In it, there’s a killer who has an accomplice, but the accomplice isn’t the one who does the actual killing. His job is to supply the transportation and the can of gasoline to start the fire. He’s more like a gofer.”
“We’re not sure who the actual killer is right now,” Billy added. “All we have to go on is what Avery says, and he says he’s the one who killed the couple in Ruckersville and the psychiatrist over in Syria in Madison County. At first, he denied his involvement to Jesse, but now he claims to have done it all. He says that Jonathan was supposed to die in the fire, but fortunately for us, he wasn’t home when the fire was started. One thing we’re certain of is that if we don’t find Savannah soon, there won’t be any hurry to keep looking. Eric Webster is on the edge. We got his partner, and he knows it’s only a matter of time before we get to him. Edgy people panic, and when they panic, people die.”
“Where’s that book, Mom? I want to borrow it if you don’t mind.” I glanced over to the front window and saw a newly decorated Christmas tree. “Your tree is beautiful! Don’t you just love a real tree?” I walked over and smelled the fresh needles and then looked at the many decorations—some were familiar and some were not. “I see you bought some new ornaments.”
“Yes, I did. I bought them when they went on sale right after Christmas last year.” She looked over at me. “You know how much I love Christmas.”
“You always loved seeing us open our presents as kids, and then as we got older, you said that at least you could still count on all of us being together at Christmas. Your children knew better than to not show their faces on Christmas Day.” I walked back over to Mom and put my arm around her. “We’re going to have a good Christmas, Mom. It might be a little different this year, but at least we’ll all be together.”
“I do love having my children around,” Mom replied. She paused for a second as if her mind had wandered off, and then she said, “I love the smell of pine.” She looked at Billy. “Please thank your folks for me. That was so nice of them.”
“You’re quite welcome. Hey, you’re family.”
During Mom’s brief pause, my mind drifted to thoughts of the many wonderful times we had spent with my father
at Christmas. I was sure that’s where her mind had traveled, but I didn’t say anything. Instead, I said, “I think we should go home and decorate ours, don’t you, Billy? We want it done before tomorrow… before the funeral.”
“I’d like that. We can’t do anything else except wait to hear from Jonathan or Cole. The Greene County Sheriff’s Office has been notified of Savannah’s abduction. We were there when Cole reported her missing. I’m sure that the cops are looking for her as we speak…” His voice trailed off as the sound of oncoming sirens grew louder. All of us turned our heads to the front window and saw a rush of police cars with flashing lights go by.
“There they go,” I said. “It sure took them long enough.”
Billy looked at his watch and said, “We’ve only been here for five minutes or so. I’d say they’ve made good time.” He remained calm and changed the subject. “Let’s go home, decorate the tree and read some of that book while we wait.”
“Don’t you want to follow those deputies?”
“I don’t see why,” he responded. “I have better things to do than get tied up with them.”
“Let me just say this before you leave,” Mom said. “In Savannah’s book, the woman who gets abducted was held at the home of the killer—not his accomplice. So, when you determine who the real killer is, you’ll know where to look.”
“In the book, does the woman escape?”
“No,” Mom said softly. “She dies.”
“Just because the woman dies in the book doesn’t mean that Savannah will,” Claire chimed in. “For Pete’s sake—it’s just a book. It doesn’t mean a thing.”
“It does when someone is using it as a guideline for murder,” Randy said as he looked at her. “This should be taken seriously, Claire.”
“I believe that’s what has happened here,” I agreed. “Mom read the book and she says that everything in it has come true—to some degree. However insane it is, people are dying.”
“You can’t blame Savannah,” Mom said, defending the woman. “It’s not her fault.”
“No one said it was, Mom, and it really doesn’t matter. The fact is that she wrote a book and now someone is playing out the scenario. I don’t want to see your friend get bumped off because she wrote about it in a book.”
“I don’t want her to get killed at all.”
“You know what I mean, Mom.”
“All right,” Billy jumped in. “Let’s be rational. The sheriff and his men are on the case and I’m sure that by now they realize the necessity of finding Savannah Kelley as quickly as possible. If there’s anything we can do to help, the time is now.” Billy looked over at Mom. “I realize that you haven’t known this woman long, but is there anything you can tell us that might help?”
“I don’t know,” Mom replied. “Is there?”
“Tell us about the woman in the book,” Billy said.
“The only thing I can tell you is that she knew the killer, because she had hired him to fix a leaky faucet. That’s how he got into her house the first time. He stole a set of keys while he was there, and later he came back and let himself in.”
Billy and I looked at each other and then back to Mom. I walked into the living room, searched my coat pocket and pulled out the set of car keys. “Spice Cat dragged these into the house,” I said as I walked back to the kitchen and showed them to everyone. “They belong to Savannah.”
“How do you know that?” Mom asked.
“Because when we found her abandoned car, I pulled out the keys, pressed the panic button, and the car horn went off.”
“How…”
“I didn’t know they were her keys. I just tried them to satisfy my curiosity. After the keys were proven to belong to her, the rest was elementary. Avery or Webster must have dropped them in the woods when they were skulking around our house. They’ve been on our property and in our home.”
“It all makes sense!” Mom said. “You know the story about her green mustang. She was out of town on a book signing event and the thief helped himself to her car. She got the car back and it wasn’t even damaged. She was lucky on that count, but it scared her that someone could get that close to her. She had a wrought iron fence erected around her house—not all of her property, just the house and an acre of land. She also had a security gate installed. I think it operates on a beam. Break the beam and the alarm goes off in the house. That was a few weeks ago. She also said something about a missing second set of car keys. She was rather distraught over it, because the killer in her book had stolen keys from his victim. That’s how he got into her house.”
“Do you know who installed the fence?”
“No,” Mom replied. “Far be it for me to accuse anybody, but I’m willing to bet that the person who put up her fence also stole her keys. Who else would’ve had the opportunity?”
“Doesn’t she have a housekeeper?” Claire asked.
“Yes,” Mom said. “The housekeeper isn’t involved. From the way Savannah talked about Vera, they’re close friends.”
“I better call Jonathan and see if he’s found out anything,” Billy said. He got up from the table, walked to the living room, and dug his cell phone from his coat. He spoke briefly on the phone, closed it up, and walked back to the kitchen.
“You have a strange look on your face,” I said.
“Jonathan tried to call me, but because I had my phone on vibrate, it didn’t ring. I missed his call.”
“What did he say when you got to talk to him?”
“There’s been an accident,” Billy replied. “Jonathan found Webster’s pickup truck over in Madison. The truck had been wrecked and there was blood on the seat, and the passenger side of the windshield was busted. Jonathan thinks that most of the blood came from the passenger since that side of the windshield was where the most concentrated amount was.”
Mom gasped. “Oh, no! Is Savannah hurt?”
“It looks that way,” Billy said. “There’s more. Webster crashed the truck in front of someone’s house right on Main Street. The folks in the house heard the crash and went to investigate. Webster shot the man in the leg and then demanded the keys to his SUV. The guy’s going to be all right, but his wife said she feared for the woman who was with the shooter. She said the woman had a bloody nose and was bleeding from a gash on her head. She thought the woman was being forced to go with the man, because he dragged her to the SUV and then took off down the road.”
“Did the man say which way they were headed?”
“No. He was too shaken up to notice and his wife was busy trying to help him. She ran inside and called the police just as Webster was leaving. Neither one saw anything.”
“That’s not much help.”
“Jonathan asked if we had heard from Cole. He said they were supposed to meet up on Middle River Road, but that Cole didn’t show, so he kept on going.”
“Where do you think Cole is?” Randy asked. “Could he have encountered Webster?”
“I don’t like the sound of this.”
“Me, either,” Mom agreed. “I sure hope he’s all right.”
Just as we were beginning to get concerned about Cole’s whereabouts, Billy’s cell phone vibrated. He looked at it, smiled, and then said, “It’s Cole.” Billy walked away, one hand over his ear as he listened with the other. The conversation seemed to go on forever before he finally closed up the phone, and said, “He’s safe, so you all can relax. He came up on the wreck just as the police were getting there, but by then, Webster and Savannah were gone. The cops put out an APB on the white, SUV, but so far, nothing. We’ll keep our eyes out for it on our way home.”
“We’re going home?”
“That’s all we can do for now, unless you want to ride around looking for them. I think we need to regroup and rethink the situation before we spend our night on the road. There’re plenty of cops out looking for her, Jesse.”
I was surprised that Billy was giving up so quickly until I thought about the situation. His brother
was being buried tomorrow. He had a lot on his mind.
“I want her to be found as much as anyone, but they could be anywhere, Jesse,” Mom agreed. “You need to go home to your family and get ready for tomorrow. Pray for her safe return and let the police do their job. You can’t save the world. Sometimes you just have to step back and realize that there’s a higher power at work.”
“Then tell your higher power to get the lead out.”
“I can’t believe you said that!” Claire gasped. She looked at Mom. “Don’t listen to her, Mom. You know she’s a heathen!”
I had to laugh at her remark. “That’s me,” I said.
Mom smiled. “I know all about you, Missy, and you’re no heathen. You just act like one sometimes.”
“Okay,” Billy interrupted our banter. “It’s time to go home. Don’t forget to call Savannah’s husband.”
Mom’s smile turned into a frown as she wrung her hands. “I don’t know what to say to him.”
“Just tell him the truth, Mom. Tell him his wife has been abducted by a killer, and that he might want to show his face.”
“That sure was ugly, Missy. I won’t tell him that.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little strange that he’s married to this woman, yet he lives at the other end of the state?”
“That’s his business… and it doesn’t make him a bad man.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. You’re right. I don’t know what got into me. I guess I’m just a little upset about this whole abduction thing. Savannah’s in danger, and we can’t do anything about it. That scumbag will probably kill her and get away with it.”
“Don’t say that!” Mom cried. “She has to be all right.”
“She will be,” Claire said, trying to console her. “I have faith in Billy and Jesse. If anyone can find her, they can.”
“You give us too much credit.”
“I know you two,” Claire went on. “You say you’re going home, but the next thing we know, you’ll be calling to tell us that you found Savannah Kelley, and that she’s okay.”
