Misty Lake: Book One in the Misty Lake Series

by Margaret Standafer

  She quickly shook off the feeling, determined not to be responsible for hanging a dark cloud over the evening. She looked out over the group and noticed Sean was still seated, slightly outside of the hubbub. The porch light caught his eyes and Sam could see the glint of a tear. He seemed to still be in a state of shock, looking from one member of his family to another, staring, and, it appeared, mumbling to himself. When his eyes met Sam’s he looked at her for a long moment then his face broke into a brilliant grin. “I’m going to be a Granddad,” he said. Then, shaking his head as if still not quite believing it, he repeated louder, “I’m going to be a Granddad!”

  Eventually, after things calmed down a bit, Sam made her way over to Karen to offer her congratulations. “I thought it was maybe a little more than the heat and some Mexican food. How are you feeling now?”

  “Better. Overall I’ve been feeling pretty good. The heat today was a little tough, though. It seems like everyone’s pretty happy with the news.”

  “That’s an understatement. This is one ecstatic group, I’d say,” Sam replied as she looked around her. The brothers were still huddled together, giving Joe a hard time about diapers and midnight feedings. Sean, who had disappeared a few minutes ago, reappeared with a bottle of Irish whiskey and a tray of glasses and began pouring drinks for everyone except the expectant mother who, instead, got a glass of ginger ale.

  Once everyone had their glasses Sean held his up and said, “To my son and my daughter-in-law who today have made me realize again just how important family is.” He put his arm around Anna and continued, “Now, if you’ll allow an old Irishman a moment for an Irish blessing…

  A newborn babe

  Brings light to the house

  Warmth to the hearth

  And joy to the soul

  For wealth is family

  And family is wealth

  To our grandchild, Sláinte!” Glasses clinked and there were more hugs and kisses all around.

  13

  Sam found her days were productive when she had all day to work but by Wednesday she was missing the kids and the energy they brought to her daily routine. She was making great progress on the china hutch and reminded herself she needed to get glass for the cabinet doors ordered. She was thinking something textured, nothing too complicated that it would block the view of the china and crystal displayed inside, but not just plain glass, either. She’d have to do some searching and see if she could find what she had in mind. It was something she was prone to do…picture something in her mind then drive herself mad trying to find just that thing. She’d done it with clothes, furniture, even a dog collar once. It used to drive Danny crazy when she’d try to keep him busy searching online for things he claimed didn’t even exist. One of the dozens of tactics she had tried in order to keep him safe, she thought sadly.

  The buzzing of her cellphone saved her from the all too familiar downward spiral when she let painful memories engulf her. Glancing at the readout she saw it was Karen. Sam was surprised but, she realized, pleased. After they exchanged greetings and some small talk, Karen got to the reason for her call.

  “So, Sam, I was wondering if you’re busy tomorrow and, if not, if you’d want to go shopping with me?”

  Shopping? Sam wasn’t much of a shopper, more of a buyer. Her girlfriends dragged her shopping when they could and she enjoyed the company, and the occasional shoe sale—she was a woman, after all—but spending hours just idly browsing had never really been her idea of a way to spend a day. “Well…I don’t really have anything I have to do but there are a few things I’ve been trying to finish up before I get my camp kids back next week.” She was stalling, trying desperately to come up with a good excuse not to go.

  “Come on, you can take some time off. I need someone to help me shop for maternity clothes.” She gave a little giggle. “Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m really going to have a baby!”

  “Oh, I don’t know anything about maternity clothes, I’m afraid. I don’t think I’d be any help.” There. That was her out. What advice could she possibly offer on maternity clothes?

  “You can give me your opinion. Please? I have the day off tomorrow. My sister is working crazy hours and my mom is out of town. I need a girl’s help. I can’t ask Joe, can you even imagine?”

  “All right, I’ll go with you. It’ll be fun,” she lied. “I haven’t done any shopping since I left Chicago, I suppose I could use a few things.” How long could it really take, she thought. There couldn’t be that many places in Misty Lake that even carried maternity clothes. Maybe they could shop for an hour or so then go to lunch. She could handle that.

  “Wonderful! Thank you, Sam. I can’t wait!”

  “When should we meet? Maybe late morning, then I can take you to lunch? Where’s the best spot for lunch in Misty Lake?” Sam asked, trying to match Karen’s enthusiasm.

  “Late morning? Misty Lake?” Karen repeated, sounding horrified. “Oh, no, no, sweetie. I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow morning. When one shops in Minnesota, one shops at the Mall of America.”

  The words sunk in and Sam felt slightly ill. She’d heard of the Mall of America, of course, but had successfully avoided it for years. Her girlfriends had tried more than once to convince her to join them on their girls’ weekends to Minneapolis to shop and shop some more. They loved the place but to her it sounded like hell on earth. Four floors, hundreds of stores, and an amusement park? Oh God, she was starting to sweat.

  When she remained silent Karen asked, “Sam, are you there?”

  “What? Oh, yes, I’m here.” Think, think, she commanded herself. Find a way out. An entire day of shopping? Impossible.

  “So then I’ll see you at seven?” Karen sounded positively thrilled at the thought.

  She wasn’t going to get out of it. She couldn’t disappoint Karen. With a resigned sigh she said, “Sure, see you at seven,” then hung up the phone and reached for the aspirin.

  Several things happened Friday that had Jake more and more frustrated with Sam’s case. Preliminary forensic results came back on the shirt and knife he had found in the woods at Sam’s house and there was nothing helpful. The DNA left behind didn’t match that of anyone in the database. Jake wasn’t surprised but had been hopeful something might come of the testing. Assuming one of the kids from Project Strong Start was responsible, it was unlikely his DNA would be on file. The tests did show, however, that there was animal blood mixed in with human blood. Tests hadn’t been done to determine the kind of animal but Jake was betting on raccoon.

  He was going over the notes he had from his conversation with his father about the Andersons, the family Sam remembered owning the cabin next to her grandparents’ place. The former sheriff vaguely remembered the family, said they came into town most Sundays for church, so he had been casually acquainted with them, and didn’t recall there ever being any trouble at their place. Jake had checked back in the files and had not found any record of calls at their cabin. Sean McCabe remembered Roger Anderson and his wife, whose name he couldn’t recall, as being friendly, down-to-earth sort of folks. He knew there had been kids, couldn’t remember specifics.

  Jake had made calls to the courthouse and had obtained information on the sale of the property from the Andersons to Sam’s grandfather. The property had never been listed for sale so the parties involved must have maintained some contact over the years. Further checking into the Andersons led Jake to discover that both Roger and his wife Lucinda were deceased. The couple’s three children all lived out of state. Everything he had uncovered seemed straightforward and he felt it was probably another dead end.

  He glanced again at the report regarding the citation issued to a boat full of teenagers for reckless driving. Jake felt certain it was the kids responsible for causing Sam’s harrowing tube ride. The kids weren’t from Misty Lake, just in town for the day, and there didn’t seem to be any connection to Sam.

  Jake followed up again with Marc, Fred, and the rest of his team
. No one had anything new to report. Neither Marc nor Fred had heard anything around town to indicate someone local might be responsible and the extra patrols around Sam’s property hadn’t resulted in anything.

  He reread the emails he had gotten from Pete with files on the kids from Project Strong Start. There wasn’t much to go on and Pete hadn’t contacted him with any new information.

  Since there hadn’t been any more incidents and the investigation wasn’t going anywhere, Jake had to tell himself he needed to treat this case as he would any other. He couldn’t continue to devote extra resources if things remained stagnant. His investigations to date hadn’t come up with much of anything for him to pursue and he knew it was his personal feelings that had him putting in extra time. He was looking over the notes he had on the kids from camp when his phone rang. Jake knew right away from the tone of Tom’s voice that the news he was going to get from the camp director wasn’t going to be good.

  “Sheriff, I learned something today that I need to bring to your attention. Let me preface it by saying I’m dealing with the situation, trying to get more information, and will cooperate fully.”

  Jake felt his jaw clench. “What happened, Tom?”

  “I found out one of our counselors has let Tyler Loomis take his car out at night on more than one occasion,” Tom said in a monotone voice. “Apparently Tyler caught the counselor with some drugs, marijuana, I understand. Clearly any drug use is in strict violation of the rules of conduct here. Tyler made a deal with him not to say anything in return for the use of his car and the counselor helping him get away from camp at night.”

  Jake blew out a deep breath and struggled for calm. “Do you have dates? Obviously, I will be curious to see if any coincide with the vandalism at Sam Taylor’s place.”

  “I don’t have too many details yet. I’ve spoken with the counselor briefly. I haven’t asked too many questions or fired him yet since I thought you’d want to talk to him.”

  “I definitely want to talk to him. And to Tyler, too. Wait a minute, isn’t everyone gone this week, up to the Boundary Waters for a camping trip?”

  “A few kids stayed behind for various reasons…health concerns, too many incidents of rule breaking at camp, and, in Tyler’s case, I just wouldn’t allow it. This was, of course, based on his previous record and before I knew about him leaving with a car. I kept a couple counselors behind, as well, to work with the kids who stayed.”

  “How did you find out about this?”

  “One of the other counselors who stayed behind, Miranda, overheard a conversation between Tyler and the counselor in question. She came to me with the information right away.” After a pause, Tom added, “Sheriff, I take full responsibility for this, it happened on my watch. I will deal with the situation working closely with you. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. If it turns out Tyler or one of the other kids is responsible, I will cooperate fully in seeing that he or she is brought to justice.”

  “Do you have reason to believe other kids may have had access to the car and been away from camp at night?” Jake asked, fighting mightily to keep his temper in check. He knew his reaction was due in part to the fact that it was Sam who was the victim and he struggled to keep both his tone and his comments professional.

  “Not specifically, just a hunch based on the counselor using they instead of he when I spoke with him earlier. Like I said, I didn’t want to push too much and have him stop talking before you got here.”

  “Okay, Tom, thanks for calling me right away. Keep Tyler and this counselor separated. I don’t want them talking to each other before I get there. I’m heading out now, I’ll be there soon.”

  Jake had promised Sam he’d stop by and let Rigi out while she was gone shopping for the day. As angry as he was at the news he’d gotten from Tom, he found himself smiling as he remembered the call last night from Sam. Far from the excitement he might expect from most women on the eve of an all-day outing at the Mall of America, Sam had sounded downright terrified. When she’d said she was sure he’d be far too busy to let the dog out during the day so she’d better call Karen and cancel, he had laughed and assured her he’d have plenty of time. Originally, he’d thought he would use the time to look around her place a little more on his own, see if he noticed anything out of the ordinary without upsetting her. But now he had only thirty minutes to get his emotions in check before he met Marc at the camp to face Tom and the others. When Project Strong Start first set up their camp on the lake there were strict guidelines put in place to protect the town’s residents. This was a clear violation and Jake knew he could close the place down immediately. While the dog ran in the yard chasing tennis balls, Jake considered his options.

  The short conversation Jake and Marc had with Tom when they arrived at his office didn’t provide any new information. Tom had kept Tyler and the counselor separated and hadn’t spoken any more with either of them. The conversation with the counselor, whose name they learned was Blaine Hemmingway, was fairly short. Blaine was tall and thin and didn’t look much older than most of the campers. He seemed scared of losing his job, of going to jail and, mostly, of his parents when they found out what happened. Apparently he stood to collect on a trust fund but had to keep himself employed and drug-free for two years. It wasn’t looking good and he knew it.

  Although he was cooperative, Blaine didn’t know much more than what Tom had already told them. He was fairly certain Tyler had taken his car four times but couldn’t remember exact dates. When given a calendar and pressed, he marked a few dates he thought sounded right and Jake checked them against the dates he knew there had been incidents at Sam’s house. One matched, one was a day off so definitely a possible match.

  Blaine also said he knew someone else went with Tyler at least a couple times but he didn’t know the kid’s name and couldn’t provide a description, claiming it had been dark and the kid was wearing a baseball cap. Blaine had let the kids in and out of their cabin by temporarily disabling the security system then waiting for them and getting them back in the same way. As frustrating as it was, Jake hadn’t really counted on getting a lot of information from Blaine, figuring Tyler, if they could get him to talk, would be the one to provide real answers.

  As they made their way to the room in the main lodge where Tyler was being held, Jake and Marc stopped to pick up Tom so he could be present during the questioning. Based on what Jake knew of Tyler’s past, he figured he had been through police questioning several times and didn’t want to run the risk that he would claim later something was handled inappropriately. Tom was ready with Tyler’s file in hand.

  The three men were met with a sneer when they entered the room. Tyler muttered something under his breath and turned away.

  “Tyler, I’m Sheriff McCabe, this is Deputy Crosby. We want to talk to you about taking Blaine Hemmingway’s car and leaving the camp area.” Tyler kept his back turned and didn’t answer.

  “We know you left the property at least four times. We want to know where you went and who went with you.”

  “I’m not telling you nothing,” Tyler hissed.

  “According to your file, you are still on probation. Leaving the camp is a violation. You can talk to us here or we can take you into the station. Maybe a night in jail would change your mind.”

  “I’ve spent the night in jail before, doesn’t scare me. And your hick jail is probably a hell of a lot better than the others I’ve seen.”

  “Where did you go when you left the camp, Tyler?” Marc asked when he noticed Jake’s frustration mounting. “We’ve had some serious stuff going down in town and, unless you can convince us otherwise, we’re looking at you as a prime suspect.”

  “What kind of serious shit?” Tyler looked up and both Jake and Marc caught the fleeting look of fear in his eyes before it quickly disappeared. “I didn’t do nothing. Just drove around,” he said, looking away again.

  “Where’d you go?”

  “I don’t know, man, just drove.”
>
  “Did you stay around the lake? Go into town? Drive out of town?” Marc pressed.

  “I told you, w…I just drove.” Tyler’s voice rose in anger as he glared at Marc.

  “You started to say we. Who was with you?” Jake demanded.

  Tyler looked at them, seeming to debate with himself on whether to answer.

  “This can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it, Tyler. I can call your probation officer, talk to some guys I know on the Minneapolis force, let you spend the night in jail, and then see what sort of sentence you have left to serve in Minneapolis for breaking your probation. According to your file you’re seventeen now, almost eighteen, you’re looking at time in an adult facility. Your cooperation could go a long way towards making things easier for you,” Jake said, looking him in the eye.

  Tyler was quiet for several minutes. Jake and Marc waited him out. Finally, “I told you all I did was drive around, maybe smoke a joint that dumbass counselor gave me when I caught him smoking and scared the shit out of him. It was that other kid who really wanted the car, said he had some stuff he needed to do, needed a way to get there. He dropped me off at this cabin not far away where there are some dudes always partying, left me for about an hour, maybe two, then came back and picked me up and we came back here.”

  “This other kid have a name?” Jake asked.

  “Forget it, man, I ain’t telling you nothing else.” Tyler’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Jake.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Seems like I can’t remember nothing else, Sheriff,” Tyler smirked.

  “Okay, if that’s the way you want it.” Turning to the camp director Jake said, “Tom, we’ll take Tyler with us. Since he has admitted to being away from camp and spending time at a cabin nearby, that puts him in the vicinity of the crime scene for at least one, possibly two, of the reported incidents. I will be in touch with his probation officer and have him contact you after he has worked things out with the Minneapolis police. Our investigation will continue, with or without Tyler’s cooperation. If we find more evidence linking him to the crime scene and issue an arrest warrant you will most likely be called to testify.”