by Beth Solheim
Bernie cleared his throat. "This is Sadie Witt. She owns the resort."
Sadie smiled at the woman. "I hope you're enjoying your stay. If there's anything you need, let the manager know."
"We will. We're going on a pontoon ride for senior citizens. You're not going on it, are you?"
"Not this time," Sadie said. "We've got business to attend to."
"Good," the woman muttered as she grabbed her husband's hand. "We look forward to having you back at church, Father. The interim priest isn't filling the pews, if you know what I mean." The woman jerked her husband away, shooting Sadie a disapproving glare.
Sadie and Bernie watched the couple walk toward the beach.
In a broken whisper, Bernie said, "I can explain."
Sadie clenched her hands against her chest. "I can't believe what I just heard. I'm furious with you. How could you do this to Jane?" She shook a trembling finger at Bernie. "If you hurt my sister, I'll make sure everyone knows what you've been up to. I'll interrupt one of your Sunday sermons and announce it to the world." She stormed off toward the Avery's cabin.
What a fine mess. Jane would have her head when she found out. Aanders had been right. She should have stayed away from the dating site. A serial killer? Maybe. A snake charmer? Could be. But a priest? What were the odds of something so absurd? She'd make him pay. Boy, how she'd make him pay.
Balancing on her tiptoes, Sadie grasped the window ledge with her fingers while she peered into the Avery's living room. She jerked with fright when Belly's nose brushed against her leg. She attempted to wave him off with a backward motion. "Scram. Go find Jane," tumbled out in an airy whisper. She nudged the dog with her leg.
Looking toward a Norway pine standing between Cabin 14 and the Avery's cabin, Sadie pointed frantically down at the dog. She stabbed her finger in Belly's direction and swept her arm toward Jane. Sensing a lack of understanding from the watch person who was supposed to be incognito behind the tree, but whose boobs and rounded butt cheeks protruded from both sides of the trunk, Sadie repeated the sweeping motion two more times.
Exasperated, she mumbled, "Do I have to do everything?"
Faking a morsel of food in her hand, Sadie made smacking sounds with her lips to attract Belly's attention.
Alerted by his favorite sound, Belly perked and readied while he watched Sadie wind up and throw the invisible morsel across the yard.
The instant the dog took off to ferret out the prize, Sadie disappeared around the cabin's corner. Straining to take a mental inventory, Sadie peered through the bathroom window. She cupped her hands over her eyes to shut out the sun's glare while she edged along and peeked through two more windows.
Sadie tested the doorknob. Locked. She inserted the master key and the knob turned in her hand. Nonchalantly glancing from side to side, she pushed the door open with her knee and waited. Hearing nothing from within, she scurried into the Avery's cabin. She waved Bernie in.
Bernie failed to follow. Sadie made her way back to where he hid behind a brick fireplace. "Didn't you see my signal?"
A startled cry issued from Bernie's lips.
"Sherlock Holmes you're not. You're afraid of your own shadow." Sadie retreated back toward the door. "Now hurry up and follow me."
"I'm not accustomed to helping someone who's breaking and entering," Bernie said. His long limbs resembled grasshopper legs as he crouched low and crossed to the stoop. "I watch television. I know what you just did is against the law. I don't care if you own the place. You rented it to them in good faith."
"You had me so nervous when you were in there, I almost peed my pants." Jane pulled a chair out and joined Sadie and Bernie at the kitchen table. "Clay came by looking for the Averys. I had to distract him. He said Dan changed his mind and decided to check out early."
"Did he say when?"
"No. Clay told me Dan cheated him out of a job. Something about the plans changing."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Sadie handed Jane a tablet and a pen. "We've got to get this on paper while it's fresh in our minds."
Jane patted Bernie's hand. "I'm proud of you. I didn't think you'd go through with it."
Sadie glanced at Bernie over the top of her glasses. "Bernie was more than willing to help. He's a man of many talents."
"Everything Sally told us is credible. The evidence is in the Avery's cabin, just like she said. We wanted to bag it and take it with us, but they might realize it's gone."
"You put stuff back exactly where you found it, didn't you?"
"Of course I did, Jane. I'm not stupid." Sadie leaned toward her antsy sister and relayed the sequence of events.
"When I looked in the living room window, I saw pink baby outfits on the sofa and a box of diapers on the coffee table. The normal stuff. When I looked in the bathroom window, I saw a portion of a green-striped bag sticking out of the wastebasket. It looked like the kind the hospital gift shop uses."
Jane impatiently tapped her pen on the table as Sadie organized her thoughts.
"When we walked through the kitchen, it didn't seem to have much other than baby bottles and formula containers on the counter. When we checked the bathroom, our luck changed. The green-striped bag actually had the hospital logo printed on its surface."
"The Averys could have been visiting someone at the hospital. That bag doesn't prove anything," Jane said.
Sadie grabbed Jane's free hand and squeezed it. "That's just the beginning. When I looked through the wastebasket, I found several price tags and a receipt for baby's clothing."
"It's not unusual to buy baby clothes. I don't think you can consider the clothes as evidence."
"That's what Bernie said, too. When we found the rest of the stuff, it made sense. When I checked the bedroom, I tripped on something sticking out from under the bed. I tried to push it back with my toe, but it crinkled. It was a thick roll of paper. When Bernie and I unrolled it, guess what we discovered?"
Jane's eyes grew large with anticipation. "Quit keeping me in suspense. Tell me."
"A floor plan of the hospital."
"What?"
Jane's incredulous cry bolstered Sadie's pride in her discovery. "Someone had marked the nursery floor plan with yellow highlighter and red lines and had made notes in the margins." Sadie pointed to the tablet. "You've got to write this down. We'll need it when we talk to Lon."
"Arrows leading from the elevator, the nursery, the restrooms, and the stairways were marked in red with times indicated in each hallway. Pam and Dan must have timed how long it would take to get from one point to another," Bernie explained.
Scribbling as she tried to remember everything, Jane shook her head in disbelief.
Sadie pointed to Bernie's back pocket. Bernie removed a large wad of paper. He unfolded it and placed it on the table.
"You took it?"
"We had to," Bernie replied. "This is the best piece of evidence we found. They won't realize it's missing unless they unfold the blueprints. We're hoping they won't because the abduction is already done."
"Second best piece of evidence," Sadie interrupted. "Wait till you hear the rest."
"After we found the blueprint, I decided to check out their closet. Most of the things were what you'd expect for a family on vacation, except for a half-full garbage bag on the floor."
"You opened their garbage? That's private. You shouldn't have done it."
"Jane. What's the matter with you? That's what detectives do. They snoop. Actually I made Bernie open it in case it had yucky stuff in it. Guess what he found."
Leaning her forehead against her fingertips, Jane peeked sideways at Bernie. "Do I really want to know?"
"Evidence. The bag held lots of evidence." Using finger tabulation, Sadie listed the items. "What do you think I discovered balled up on the bottom of the bag? A nurse's uniform with a photo ID and guess whose picture was on the tag. Pam Avery's."
"I can't believe it," Jane uttered.
"Write it down. Write it down," Sadie orde
red, wagging her finger at the tablet. "I also found white shoes and some kind of denim shoulder tote jammed in the garbage bag, too." Placing her hands squarely on the table Sadie announced, "Then we found the most important piece of all. A paper towel wadded up on the bottom of the bag. When I unrolled it, I found several tiny clumps of fine, black, baby hair."
"The abducted baby had black hair." Jane's words faded as she mulled the prospect.
"Yes, and when the Averys showed their baby off around the resort, she was as bald as a bowling pin."
Jane moaned, "That poor child. Can you imagine what he's been through? What kind of maniacs would jeopardize an infant?"
"That's what I wondered," Bernie said.
"I think you need to call Lon right away." Jane laid her pen on the tablet.
"That's exactly what I intend to do." Sadie headed toward the door. She stepped off the last porch step, bent low, and reached under the step. Cupping her fingers together, she stuck them into the center of a beer glass. "Fingerprint evidence. We've got to get this to Lon. Who knows, it might help." She wriggled her fingers through the inverted glass. "You know what else scares me? The Averys might have been involved in those other abductions. They know exactly what they're doing and it makes them dangerous. Especially with the pistol in their nightstand."
33
"Look." Lon pulled the computer screen closer, and strained to read the small print. "I knew the name sounded familiar. Reginald Carson is a big-shot lawyer who arranges adoptions. Remember? He got in hot water a while back over a botched adoption in Hollywood."
"I don't remember," Deputy Wayne said. "I can't look at the screen any more. I'm going blind. Between the computer information and your spreadsheet, don't you have enough? We checked on most of the names listed in the left hand column and found out they're parents of abducted children. Chances are the ones we couldn't locate are in the same situation."
"What about this list?" Lon pointed at the names in the right hand column. "We only found two of them."
"At this point, what does it matter? The FBI is on their way because you think you have a connection between the names and dates. If you're right, and the transactions crossed state lines, it's out of our hands."
"There's something gnawing at me. How did Celeste end up dead under Cabin 12? I can't imagine she'd be involved in anything illegal."
"She probably wasn't, but I'll bet Kimmer had a hand in it. If you think the sheriff complained about his ulcer before he connected Kimmer with Reginald Carson and the abductions, you should hear him now. I've never seen anyone get so pale so fast. He's in a world of hurt." Deputy Wayne glanced toward the Sheriff's desk. "He's trying to figure out how to approach the Judge and question him. If the Judge isn't involved, the sheriff risks losing his job. If he is involved, he's worried about the publicity."
"He's involved, all right, but to what extent? There's too much coincidence, especially during the time frame."
"I think Celeste found out about the abductions and was ready to turn someone in. Maybe the notebook belongs to Reginald and he had her killed because he couldn't risk it."
"I agree," Lon said. "Maybe because Kimmer and Reginald are connected and because Celeste worked for Kimmer, Reginald had Kimmer arrange it. Maybe Kimmer had no choice."
"My brain's scrambled. I need to eat. See if you can find anything else linking Kimmer to Reginald Carson. I'm going to lunch." Deputy Wayne poked his head around the bullet-proof partition and tapped the dispatcher's shoulder. "I'll be home for about a half-hour. Call if you need me."
Lon searched the internet by including word variations with Reginald Carson's name in the search engine, but each search retrieved the same articles he had already read. When he slanted his search toward legal issues, several results containing Reginald's name appeared. Many also contained Kimmer's name. The hair on Lon's neck prickled. He read an article featuring Kimmer and Reginald Carson promoting private adoptions. The article, dated two years prior to Kimmer's appointment as a judge, touted the safety of adopting through private channels to guarantee the birth parent's heritage and credibility.
Lon tapped absentmindedly against the edge of his desk.
The first column on his spreadsheet listed families who lost infants to abduction. The last column listed at least two families who had adopted during the time frame listed in the notebook. As Lon researched each name on the internet, one search yielded forty-eight identical names. Time to place phone calls. The twenty-third call netted results with the man's wife verifying they had adopted through private means seventeen years earlier.
Lon now possessed evidence related to an abduction ring. Why Celeste had the notebook when she died remained a puzzle he had to solve.
When Lon had tried to locate people in the adoptive parent's column, they were by far more difficult to locate. Maybe they no longer existed. Or, maybe their affluent status allowed the use of assumed names to maintain anonymity.
Lon keyed the name of the first adoptive party into a different search engine to see if he could find any connection to Minnesota. Fourteen results appeared on the screen. The first ten proved the same as when he'd originally researched the name.
The dispatcher rapped softly on Lon's door. "You need to take a break. I can hear you cussing all the way down the hall."
"Sorry. I'm getting nowhere and it's driving me crazy."
"Get some fresh air. Maybe it'll make sense when you come back." The dispatcher ran back to the console to answer a call.
Lon clicked on the eleventh entry. A glitzy Los Angeles corporate website radiated across the screen expounding a recent multi-million dollar lawsuit settlement in their favor. A photo of the corporation's attorney, Reginald Carson, appeared in a side bar in the upper right-hand corner.
"Gotcha," Lon said.
"Got what?" Deputy Wayne dropped a bag on Lon's desk. "I made an extra sandwich. I figured you wouldn't take time to eat."
Lon reached for the bag and opened it with his left hand. "What is it?"
"It's free, that's what it is."
"Sorry. I didn't mean I doubted your sandwich skills. I'm skeptical about opening bag lunches. Remember Jane Witt's box lunches she used to sell at the resort? I made the mistake of buying one last summer. Not a good investment," Lon said. "I still don't know what was in the sandwich, but it wasn't meant for human consumption."
Deputy Wayne nodded understanding. "Remember the time Jane baked a cheesecake for the sheriff and ten minutes after he ate it bubbles popped out of his nose?"
"I remember. We didn't see him for the rest of the day." Lon took a bite of the sandwich. "Thanks. I needed this."
Lon ran his finger across the computer screen. "Take a look. Reginald Carson is the lawyer for one of the people who adopted a baby."
"You mean in addition to arranging the adoption?"
"He's the adoptive father's corporate attorney. Now we can connect one of the adoptive parents to Reginald. When you put Kimmer, Reginald, private adoptions, the abducted baby, the adoptive parents and Celeste together in a pot, what have you got?"
"A deputy with an overactive imagination?"
"No," Lon argued. He looked toward the dispatch office and lowered his voice. "You've got an old murder and a reason to suspect Kimmer in the recent abduction."
"Celeste disappeared fifteen years ago. What does her disappearance have to do with the recent abduction?"
Deputy Wayne's challenge irked Lon, but he realized his partner's challenge centered more around proof than questioning his sanity. "Okay. See if this makes sense. Reginald Carson is still in the adoption game according to a recent article. Another article listed Judge Kimmer in attendance at a banquet last month where Carson received an award. Carson is listed in the notebook Sadie found." Lon held up a fourth finger while finishing the list of possibilities. "Kimmer is rolling in dough. I'll bet it isn't because the county pays their judges huge salaries."
Static on Deputy Wayne's speaker crackled. "Sadie Witt just pu
lled up in the shuttle van in case you want to hide." The dispatcher's voice faded as Sadie walked through the door.
Lon shoved papers into a folder. He hurried to follow Deputy Wayne around the corner.
"Wait a sec, Lon. I've got something to tell you." Sadie held up the glass she had taken from the Avery's cabin. "You'd better run a fingerprint check on this. I think the prints belong to the person who abducted the baby."
34
"I don't like it. I don't like it one bit." Dan Avery glanced through the screen door for the fourth time.
"She owns the resort. Sadie probably checked on something," Pam said. "It's no different than the housekeeping crew dropping off clean towels every day. Maybe she had a legitimate reason." Pam propped the baby on her shoulder and rocked back and forth attempting to ease him out of his agitated state.
"Clay said she left with something in her hand."
Pam sighed deeply. "Since when do you believe a nosy neighbor? Especially Clay. He couldn't even walk straight."
"Clay told me Sadie had something in her hand. I believe him."
"Quit raising your voice. You're scaring him. I mean her." Pam shook her head in frustration. "Her. I've got to stop making that mistake."
"Would you please shut that kid up? His constant crying is getting old. It's all he's done since we brought him home. What the hell is wrong with him?"
Pam's nostrils flared as she pointed her finger. "Keep your voice down. Do you want people to hear you?" She shifted the baby to her other shoulder. "You're the one who wanted to come to Pinecone Landing. So deal with it. I don't know what's wrong with him, but we can't take him to the doctor until we get back to Minneapolis. You know we can't risk taking the baby to a clinic in Pinecone Landing. Try to remember to call the baby her, not him."
Dan pressed the palms of his hands against his forehead. "Just get the kid to shut up so I can think." He massaged his temples with his thumbs. "I agree with Clay. I think that crazy broad is up to something."
