"How big would you say this guy was? Do your best to describe him and what he was wearing."
"At the door he was about my height of five-seven. Slightly built but strong as hell. I work out and I'm no weakling. My legs saved my butt. His eyes were or are brown and wild looking. He wore blue jeans and a dark blue sweat shirt, but not a hoodie. I saw no marking on the shirt. Shoes were Nike as I saw the swoosh on the side. He never said any words that I can remember. I can't imagine the neighbors not hearing my screams," said Carol.
"Indeed you were fortunate Carol. You'd best go spend the night with your parents or your boyfriend."
"He's up in Newport at his parents place. I'll go stay at my parents house for a few days. I need to call Mellissa and tell her to stay at her folks house for the night."
Rory stepped up and said, "Hi Carol. I'm detective Rory Caltex from the Oregon State Police. I'm sorry but would you tell all of us here, the Reedsport Police and us the story one more time for the record."
Stacy held her hand while she related the story one more time. When she was finished, Stacy and she went to Carol's bedroom to change out her clothes while the CSI team did their job.
-Six-
Surprisingly it was only seven pm when Stacy and Rory arrived back in Bandon. Father turned the stew back on and while was heating up, they told him the story. Vicki was so happy to hear Carol was safe. She said, "I guess we know now that us cheerleaders are the target of some wacked out weirdo. What do you think, will he try for Nancy next; or come back for you or me?"
"I'm still a little confused about the missing guy Bert Roberts and his car being left not so far from here. Rory said his place in Myrtle Point looked like it had been closed up for awhile. I think we need a search warrant Tall Man. We really need to see how long the place has been empty. Also, we need to keep an ear out for any cars stolen in Winchester Bay and Reedsport. Our perp must have transportation."
"Detectives you're on the right trail. Keep dogging the trail until it leads to the object you're seeking. Nothing is simple these days. Like today, Vicki and I were watching a program on DNA and its many strands connecting god knows what. Murder is like the helix, I think," said Ray.
"Let's eat, but first I must warm the bread. I know if I'm hungry Caltex here is about to keel over very soon from hunger," said a playful Stacy.
After dinner Stacy walked Rory to his SUV. A rare break in the storm saved a wet head. Stacy grabbed his short jacket with both hands pulling him to her so their lips could meet; as soon as the lips touched, his long arms wrapped around her small body. Later she would tell Vicki it was a nice, warm, sensuous moment.
Stacy woke up the next morning with Vicki right next to her. She smiled as she eased out of bed. After a hot shower she dressed quickly leaving her friend to sleep for a little while longer. After breakfast, Ben was taking her to the high school for a yearbook look. Also, they were to talk to some teachers about both Randy Warren and Bert Roberts.
Rory would obtain the search warrant this morning and pick her up for a ride to Myrtle Point. But meanwhile, Father had oatmeal and English muffins for breakfast. Stacy, before eating, woke Vicki up gently to start a new week. She jumped out of bed and before Stacy could finish her breakfast, Vicki was right there smiling saying good morning to Ray Foreham. Ray served Vicki and said good bye he was going to work. Vicki would stay to wash dishes and wait for Ben to arrive. Stacy hung around while her friend ate and the two of them chatted about Rory who was besotted with Stacy Foreham.
"Stac you could do much worse than that good looking guy. I remember you telling me what a sexist pig he was, but you can't hold that over his head forever. That kiss last night should have told you something. Next time you need an apple box to stand on—I'm just kidding."
"I know Vic but I'm not ready to settle down just yet. I want my freedom to investigate and show the world us women are no slouches when it comes to brain power. He's nice and ever since that one time, he's working hard to rid the perceived stereotype of the fact women are inferior to men. It has to come natural and without stepping on his tongue again. I'd love to jump in bed with him, but that would only make him want me more and therefore I can see him become possessive with the emotion of jealous raising its ugly head. Let's see what happens. Meanwhile, we've a killer to catch."
At eight thirty Ben picked up Vicki to return to her high school. Over at the high school the librarian had just come on duty. In a small town of less than three thousand, an event like what happened spreads like the wind of an Oregon coastal storm. In no time word of a homicide was known, but the victim wasn't published yet. Ben asked, "Ms. Rocker, how long have you been here at Bandon High?"
"If memory serves this is my tenth year. I know Vicki here very well and of course all of her friends. I presume our local star detective is involved in this horrific crime."
"Yes she is," said Ben, "we need your help please. The victim was Carmen Littlefoot. We'd like to see Vicki's last year here and the year before. We also need to have you reach back in your memories and see if there was somebody that was quietly in the background who might have had crush on anyone of the five cheerleaders. Our best description is he's short, thin and has brown hair. He'd most likely blend in as somebody who is never seen or remembered. We've two people of interest. One is a Randy Warren and the other is Bert Roberts"
"I'll see what my memory can drag up about those two, but right now the names don't ring a bell. However, we still have staff here that goes back many years. I'm sure our principal will stoke the memory banks of all of us. Sit down over there and I'll fetch the yearbooks. Vicki I'm so sorry about Carmen and of course you too."
It didn't take long to peruse the yearbooks. Ben made Vicki go through each year three times to refresh her memory of her classmates. "Ben said, "Think hard about a nerdy boy hanging around drooling over the most popular girls in school." Vicki went from one picture to another with her pointer finger. In the end she'd marked two guys who might or maybe fit the requirements.
Ben looked up and was pleased the principal walked in with his secretary. Introductions around and Ben asked for the staff to research their memories about an unbalanced male who was small and showed any traits of violence hiding in his personality. The principal said he would have a meeting just before lunch today. And a formal staff meeting after school.
Ben went to the registrar office to check on Randy Warren. The nice lady found out that Randy was living with some foster parents who had since moved back east after Randy has completed his junior year. Later Ben had no success finding the foster parents through the local county records.
After leaving the high school, Ben drove Vicki by her home. "I've decided Ben to put my house on the market. No way can I live there anymore. When the dust settles I'll move up to Coos Bay in a secure apartment or a gated community. Okay Ben, we can go now."
Ben dropped Vicki off at the Foreham house and he went to the police station to make some calls. The judge had asked him to call around ten am about the court order for medical records. By half past ten, Ben had the court order and the order had been faxed to Doctor Snodgrass. By noon the medical records were in Flo's hands, but Ben was in Myrtle Point at Bert Roberts's residence.
Rory picked up Stacy at nine am. They had a search warrant in hand. By just before ten am they were parked in front of Bert's house. The door was locked and all the windows were secure. The back door was also locked. Rory went back to the front door and examined the old lock. Stacy was waiting for him standing at the front door. She said, "You smell that distinctive odor Tall Man?"
"Yes, best call Marsha to get her team rolling," as he raised his leg and kicked the door in. The day's old smell of a dead person rushed out the door, but Stacy had moved off to the side, but Rory held his breath. Then he too rushed to the street searching for breathable air. Stacy was on the phone and then called Ben who was in Bandon. Rory went to his SUV for nose Vaseline and a mask. He brought for Stacy a mask and crime scene tape. Wi
thout another word he went inside to open up all the windows and back door. Just in case, he had his weapon at the ready.
Immediately, not ten feet inside the door, on the floor of the living room, lay a male body with a knife in the chest; similar to Carmen's scene. Stacy was busy with securing the area as neighbors were slowly drifting out their doors with curiosity written on their faces.
Rory came back out in a rush telling her all was clear and he'd taken the billfold out of the back pocket of the victim. Stacy met him at the back of the raised hatch of the SUV. They sat on the back end looking at the driver's license of Bert Roberts. Stacy said, "Well, so much for him being our prime suspect. Now we focus on Randy Warren."
"Finding him will be the hard part; assuming it's him. It could be some guy we don't know about yet," said Rory.
"That's true and now I'm going over there to the crowd that is forming for interviews. I'm sure somebody saw something. However, by looking at the spectators, none are under eighty all probably with poor eyesight. I wonder why Bert Roberts a young man was living in this dried up town," asked Stacy.
Stacy went over across the street to talk to the residents that were huddled up talking in whispers amongst themselves. Strangely enough, most were curious to meet the famous Stacy Foreham, resident sleuth extraordinaire of Bandon who was renowned for solving homicides. Stacy was a bit embarrassed at first then she got down to business asking who came and went across the street at Bert Robert's house.
Thirty minutes later she had a fair idea of what cars came and went from quiet Bert's house. He seemed a loner she heard. He'd few visitors and it was only recently that a small young man came and went fairly regular. The visitor drove an old large car of undetermined make and model. Nobody thought to write down a license plate number.
While she was taking notes, Ben drove up and not long after that came Dr. Stone and her team of investigators following. Dr. Marsha Stone nodded a good morning to Stacy and went inside the victim's house.
Rory and Ben were huddled up chatting. Stacy had finished her interviews and came over to join the waiting detectives. Marsha came back out to join them while the photographer did his job. She said, "My first impression is he's been dead for at least seventy two hours. Of course I'll narrow that down with the autopsy. I'm sure you're looking for a connection to Carmen Littlefoot. The large kitchen knife is similar as well as the location in the chest."
Stacy related the story from yesterday's attempted rape and murder of her friend Nancy up in Reedsport. Also, the car sitting in Winchester Bay, that was registered to Bert Roberts, who was lying dead on the floor of his house, almost fifty miles from his present location, was a head scratcher.
"As usual detectives, you've a lot of work ahead of you. Keep digging and hopefully, catch this guy before he kills again," said Marsha as her photographer waved her in as he was finished.
Myrtle Point at one time, from the end of World War II until the early 1980s was a fairly going concern. The area had a milk processing plant and a few Port Orford cedar arrow factories employed a fair amount of workers. The largest employer was the timber products. However, like most small towns in the Pacific Northwest, the environmentalist stopped the harvesting of trees. The result was crippling the economy affecting most along the Cascade Mountains. Myrtle Point dried up leaving mostly retired residents. There was at one time a police dept. but no more. That job fell upon its neighbor nine miles away in the county seat of Coquille. It would be the sheriff's job to protect the crime scene. Rory called the Sheriff's Office at the court house.
Rory asked, "What did you get from the neighbors?"
"In the last month or so a small adult male, young, says the witnesses, came and went at odd hours. He drove an old large car of no make or model. No license number was written down. Color was a faded red to blue; take your pick. The resident Bert Roberts' car was silver and foreign is all I could get. The history is that Bert's parents were in an accident a few years ago on Highway 42 going to Roseburg to visit friends. It was rumored his father had a rather large life insurance policy. None of the neighbors had any idea if he worked, but most said he probably didn't work. One nosy neighbor said she saw him carry in boxes of computers and such things. No girl friends noted."
"I did see a computer room as I was opening windows," said Rory. "We need to see who his high school friends or college friends were."
"Vicki and I went to the high school this am. The principal and staff are very helpful. Later today, after they've had a staff meeting, the principal said he would call me. I've a hunch that a small group, or clic, of some lower social students, hung out with the pep club as the source for a bonding agent," said Ben " Oh! And the medical records of Randy Warren should be in your office Stacy by now.
"I think we must presume he's using an alias to hide his real self," said Stacy.
"I think we need to find out how many male pep club members are in the area that he might be staying with," said Rory.
"If I remember right, a teacher was responsible for the pep club. I wonder if a list of members was recorded," said Stacy.
"I'm going to check out the house and stuff," said Ben. Stacy watched him looking intensely at the side walk and the cement walk to the front door of the house. Stacy thought he was both an excellent detective and a CSI person. He seemed to always find a small clue that was overlooked by others.
Once again there wasn't a lot to do but wait for fingerprints and DNA evidence to be analyzed. After a sheriff's deputy arrived and was given instructions, our three detectives went back to Bandon. A slim hope of the high school staff would glean some new information. Stacy made a mental note to press the issue of the pep club during her year of cheerleading.
All were sitting in Stacy's office at the police station. Ben was reading over the medical reports on Randy Warren. He said, "The army paid for his flight to Portland a couple years ago. There's no record of him in the DMV. It's like he faded into oblivion. We need to check the IRS to see if any withholding on his SS was taken out."
"I'll do that," said Rory. "I know a guy up in Salem who has a contact in Utah."
"I'm going over to the high school," said Stacy. "Sitting here is driving me crazy. Also, I need to check on Vicki. She can go with me. I see a new storm coming and I hope that's not indicative of what our case is going to be in the future."
Vicki was at the kitchen table working on her lesson plan when Stacy came in. Stacy said, "I talked to Carmen's mother and the funeral is scheduled for Thursday. I made excuses for both of us. She understood. Hey, let's go to school and see if we can get a name or names of somebody after us; or are you busy?"
"No, not busy. I talked to my Dean and she said take what time I needed off. She told me that she needed to work as she was getting rusty with old age. She too is a psy grad. Let's go. How about some lunch? I'm buying and where is that great kisser guy?"
Stacy looked at her watch seeing it was after two pm. She'd forgotten about lunch. She called Rory who said, "I'm starving. Let's go back to the deli okay?"
By the time they arrived it was raining sideways. It reminded Stacy of last year when the day before T-Day, a fierce storm hit the coast. The power went out, but they had a generator for times like that. The turkey got cooked. However, it was just the two of them.
Inside the deli, Ben said, "This guy Randy Warren is a real psycho. The military didn't want the responsibility so they kicked him out to rain terror on the civilian population. That is, if he indeed committed the murders of Carmen and Bert Roberts. I put out a search for like crimes in the last two years throughout Oregon. It kind of scares me that we'll find out he is a serial killer."
All had listened carefully and then set to eating their lunch with thoughts of their own. Vicki, Stacy noticed, seemed over bearing in her happiness with the times. She thought right that she was going over the top and like the storm outside, tears would flow.
Rory said, "God I love this German potato salad. I envy your father Stacy that
he's a good cook. My mother used to watch those cooking shows on the weekends. If you put the two of them together, boy you'd have a feast to talk about for years. Stacy, are you going to finish that sandwich or just let it sit there and age ungracefully?"
"Have right at it Tall Man. I'm finished. I think I'd like some lemon tea. Anyone else for something to drink?"
"I'll have what you're having," said Vicki. Both Ben and Rory shook their heads no.
-Seven-
School was out for the day when they arrived. Ben and Rory went back to the station to wait for the IRS and do some other things; also the news conference. At the principal's office, memories flooded Stacy's mind of times past. It looked the same, but smaller. She was but a teenage then and now a full grown adult talking professionally to the staff.
The principal said, "Come ladies we're having a staff meeting right now. Your timing is perfect. We're meeting in the library. Let's go."
Stacy and Vicki both recognized some old teachers along with some new ones. All the staff recognized Stacy Foreham as their local police detective, but few knew Vicki was teaching at SWOCC. Of course this was her first year. And of course all knew about Carmen Littlefoot being murdered in Vicki's house. Stacy took the lead after the principal said a few words.
Murder Mysteries # 2 Page 16
