Captain's Mission

by Debby Giusti

  Kelly nodded. “So they left their land to Mildred?”

  “Everyone presumed Catfish owned the land because he parked the trailer there, but the deed for the Taylor farm and the property with the clearing belongs to Mildred Taylor.”

  “Now isn’t that interesting.”

  “Especially so since a big development company is looking to buy a large parcel of property near Freemont. As you probably know, Uncle Sam’s assigning more military units to Fort Rickman. Housing on post will be at a premium, and home sales in town will bring top dollar. A representative from the development company picked up the plat for all the Taylor property a few weeks ago.”

  Kelly raised her brow. “Mildred would stand to make a sizeable amount of money if her land sold to the developers.”

  “That’s right. Although from what you’ve said, she’s too infirm to negotiate that significant of a business dealing.”

  “But someone else could make the decisions for her. Maybe a daughter-in-law who probably has a power of attorney for her mother-in-law, especially since her husband had been recently deployed. Lola would have needed to make decisions about Mildred’s banking and business dealings while her husband was in Afghanistan. Seems to me, now that Corporal Taylor is dead, if something happens to Mildred the land will go to Lola.”

  “There’s nothing illegal about that,” Simpson cautioned. “Although if Catfish is still alive and there wasn’t a will, he might get a share of Mildred’s estate, as well.”

  “Has anyone seen Catfish?”

  “Not that I can determine.”

  “Maybe you need to start looking for him.”

  Before Simpson hung up, he asked, “How’s that garage of yours?”

  “Locked up tight as a drum.”

  “And your house? Did you ever get those dead bolts?”

  “Not yet.”

  As they disconnected, Kelly realized she’d left in such a hurry this morning with her mind still reeling from what had happened with Phil the night before that she hadn’t engaged the lock on the kitchen door.

  No reason to be concerned. The garage door had slammed shut into the locked position. At least, she thought it had.

  Kelly tried to work on the investigation, but the memory of Phil’s kisses kept getting in the way. She let out a deep breath and refocused on her report. Taylor’s death appeared to be accidental, yet the fact that Stanley talked about a second person having possession of the gun made her wonder if the private wasn’t trying to cover his own guilt.

  Once she submitted her findings, the report would go up the chain of command to the commanding general, who would institute an Article 15-6 investigation to determine whether a court-martial should be convened.

  More problems for Phil, as well as Private Stanley. From what the chaplain indicated, Stanley put his faith in God. Long ago, Kelly had prayed for God’s protection, but He hadn’t listened to her then. What made her think that He would listen to Stanley now?

  And Phil? If the soldier was charged with negligence, Phil’s record could be adversely affected.

  Would he blame Kelly? She shook her head and sighed. Did it matter? She and Phil had disagreed last night. He was past tense. All she had to be concerned about now was her job.

  If she was lucky, she wouldn’t see Phil again. But somehow she didn’t feel lucky. Instead, she felt very sad.

  EIGHTEEN

  That evening at the Hail and Farewell, Kelly scanned the crowd of military personnel looking for Phil. She ordered a soda from the bar and overheard a couple of lieutenants talking about the case.

  “Supposedly Thibodeaux’s hot on some chick.”

  “No way.” The second guy took a pull on his beer.

  “Someone said she’s a real looker. She’ll probably be with him tonight.”

  Kelly moved away from the men, feeling another stab of betrayal. Phil had a girlfriend? If so, Kelly had been right all along about the Cajun.

  The commanding general asked everyone to focus their attention to the head of the room where he welcomed those gathered and began to introduce the new people assigned to post. Following the “hails,” the general would farewell those moving on to their next duty station. Many of the parting personnel would give impromptu speeches to thank the people with whom they had served. A bronze eagle would be presented to each departing service member as a token of gratitude from the military community.

  Kelly glanced at her watch. The Hail and Farewell started shortly after 4:00 p.m. and would last for a couple hours. What was keeping Phil? Usually he was always on time. Maybe he was tied up with his girlfriend. The thought made her stomach sour.

  The guy she had overheard at the bar nudged his friend and pointed to the main door on the left. “There’s Thibodeaux now. Get a load of the redhead he’s with.”

  Kelly’s heart dropped, and her cheeks burned. She turned to look in the direction the man pointed.

  Easy enough to spot Phil. He always stood out in the crowd. Tonight he looked even more handsome in his uniform. Tears stung Kelly’s eyes as her gaze fell on the tall, slender redhead at his side. The woman flashed a smile at Phil and her hand patted his arm as he ushered her into the crowded room. A number of the officers turned to look her way and nodded their approval.

  Kelly couldn’t take the pain that cut through her heart. She had tried to protect herself from never being the other woman as she always suspected her mother had been, but she hadn’t done a good enough job. Whatever Kelly had imagined had been between her and Phil was over, if there had been anything in the first place.

  Kelly knew better than to give her heart to a Cajun, but she’d done exactly that. Now, just like her mother, she had to live with that mistake for the rest of her life.

  Phil searched the crowded ballroom, hoping to see Kelly. The Post Hail and Farewell was a command performance, and he had expected she would be there.

  He spied Jamison in the rear of the room. As much as he wanted to ask the CID agent about Kelly’s whereabouts, the general was talking, and Phil didn’t want to shove his way through the throng of military personnel that were listening to the post commander.

  A couple guys he knew sidled over and smiled expectantly at the redhead Phil was escorting.

  “So who’s your girlfriend?” one of them whispered so only Phil could hear.

  Mildly irritated by the lieutenant’s brashness, Phil put his finger to his lips. “Shh. It’s not polite to talk when the CG has the floor.”

  As Phil’s gaze turned back to the commanding general, he caught sight of Kelly and tried to get her attention across the room. Either she didn’t see him or was ignoring him. Hopefully, it wasn’t the latter.

  Skillfully navigating his way to the opposite side of the ballroom, Phil approached her and touched her arm. Kelly pursed her lips and continued to stare straight ahead.

  “Something wrong?” he asked.

  “The general’s talking,” she whispered out of the side of her mouth, just as he had cautioned the young lieutenant minutes earlier.

  “Listen, I’m sorry about the way we parted last night. I acted like a jerk.”

  “It’s okay, Phil.”

  “No, I need to explain.”

  “There’s nothing to explain. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to talk to Jamison.” Kelly turned on her heel and headed deeper into the crowd.

  Phil let out a lungful of air. Evidently she didn’t want to talk about what had happened. He’d try again after the general finished the hails and farewells. Surely, he could convince Kelly to give him another chance, maybe over dinner.

  Weaving his way back through the crowd, Phil smiled as he saw the lieutenants continuing to fawn over Sylvia Watters. He’d let them make fools of themselves before he explained she was his college roommate’s fiancée. Phil would have the last laugh on them, but then he looked around the ballroom and could no longer see Kelly. The lieutenant’s comment about Sylvia being his girlfriend floated through his mind. Had Kelly come t
o the same incorrect conclusion as the young officer? If so, no wonder she was upset.

  Phil shook his head and sighed with frustration. Evidently the last laugh was on him.

  Kelly’s eyes stung as she drove away from the club and headed back to Freemont and her house. Passing the nursing home, she was overwhelmed once again with grief for her mother and with the pain of seeing the redhead with Phil.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she had to blink to see her driveway. Pulling up to the garage, she left her car outside and raced to unlock her front door.

  Stepping inside, her heart stopped.

  “No,” she cried. The curio cabinet lay overturned on the floor surrounded by her mother’s precious teacup collection, which had broken into a thousand pieces.

  Someone must have entered through the garage door she had failed to properly lock and smashed the only thing of any worth that had been her mother’s. Kelly knew the vandal was gone. Whether it was Kyle Foglio or Lola Taylor or someone else didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Kelly’s heart was broken just like the porcelain keepsakes her mother had treasured.

  Falling to her knees, Kelly dropped her head into her hands and cried loud, gut-wrenching sobs. Hot tears fell from her eyes as she relived the anguish of growing up poor and lonely, with a mother who loved a shiftless Cajun more than she loved her own child. The memory of that night of terror when her father had broken into their house returned.

  Kelly had wanted to protect her mother but ended up making a mistake she would never stop regretting. If only she could recall all the details. Too much remained a terrible blur.

  A knock sounded at her door. Kelly wiped her eyes and turned to see Sally Jacobs from Magnolia Gardens standing in her doorway. The nurse was middle-aged and slightly overweight, and her eyes were full of concern.

  “I was heading to my car when I saw you drive by. I knew something was wrong.” Sally entered the house and closed the door, her gaze falling on the broken china collection. “Your mother’s teacups she always talked about.”

  Kelly sniffed. “Someone broke in.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. You need to call the police.”

  But Kelly didn’t have the energy to make another phone call. Instead, she stared at the broken porcelain. “Is…is anything salvageable?”

  Sally stooped to pick up a small teacup edged in royal blue and Florentine gold. “Here’s a hardy soul that made it.”

  Kelly tried to smile. “My mom’s favorite. It belonged to her mother.”

  “Look, there’s another one and a saucer.” Sally reached for a number of pieces that had withstood the crash. “The thick carpet probably kept them from breaking.”

  Kelly folded the royal blue teacup against her chest and accepted a pack of tissues Sally pulled from her purse. The nurse rubbed Kelly’s shoulder as she blew her nose and wiped her eyes.

  “There’s another reason I stopped by,” Sally said. “Grace told me about Millie Taylor and her prescription drugs. She said you needed information about Dr. Kutter’s pharmacy. Did Grace mention that my brother works there?”

  Kelly shook her head.

  “He’s a pharmacy tech,” Sally continued. “A few months ago, he realized something was going on and notified the authorities. He planned to quit his job, but they asked him to stay on and keep them informed.”

  “He’s the whistle-blower?”

  Sally nodded. “I told my brother you were concerned Millie’s daughter-in-law might be over-or undermedicating her. I asked him to let me know if she came in to fill another prescription.”

  “That’s information he shouldn’t be giving out, Sally.”

  “Probably not, yet under the circumstances—” The nurse shrugged. “Besides, I told him how much Millie meant to me.”

  “And?”

  “Lola Taylor came into the pharmacy today and filled a prescription for her mother-in-law.”

  “Oxycodone?”

  Sally nodded.

  Kelly thought of the land deal and the money Lola would make if Mildred was out of the way. “How easy would it be to overdose a frail, elderly woman with oxycodone?”

  “If her medical condition was poor, it wouldn’t take much to put her into respiratory arrest. Crush the pill and the rate of absorption increases.”

  Kelly’s gut tightened. She had been worried about Lola selling Mildred’s prescription drugs. Now she realized the daughter-in-law might want them for another reason.

  Concerned for Mildred’s safety, Kelly grabbed her purse and headed for the door. “Call the local cops. Ask for Tim Simpson and tell him what happened. I’m going to the farmhouse to check on Mildred. If Lola won’t let me in, I’ll call for police backup.”

  Kelly needed to ensure Mildred was okay, but as she drove away, she glanced at the passenger seat and thought about last night when Phil had been with her. More than anything, she wished he was with her now.

  She tossed her hair and tried to shake off thoughts of Phil. She didn’t want to think about him ever again.

  Then she sighed. Who was she trying to fool?

  As the farmhouse came into view, Kelly saw a pickup truck with a small travel trailer in tow, heading away along the back road. The cages with the gamecocks sat in the rear of the pickup.

  Lola Taylor was at the wheel.

  Kelly turned into the driveway as Lola and her entourage disappeared from sight. Knowing Mildred was probably in the house, Kelly hastened along the drive and screeched to a stop by the front door. She ran up the steps, grimacing as her right leg throbbed, reminding her of the injury she had sustained just a few nights ago.

  Trying to ignore the pain, she pounded on the front door. “Mildred?”

  Kelly grabbed the knob, but the door was locked, and just as when she and Phil had stopped by, curtains covered the front windows. Kelly raced as fast as her leg permitted to the rear of the house and thumped on that door. Jiggling the knob, she was relieved when the door opened.

  “Mildred? It’s Kelly McQueen from the CID. I’m coming in.” Hand on her weapon, Kelly stepped into the quiet house.

  “Mildred?”

  Silence was the only response she heard.

  Racing to the back bedroom, Kelly flipped on the light and hastened to the woman’s bedside. Her face was white and her breathing labored.

  “Mildred, can you hear me?” She touched the woman’s clammy cheek.

  Pulling out her cell, Kelly called the EMTs. “Hurry.”

  Kelly rubbed Mildred’s hand. “Lord, keep her breathing,” she prayed as she waited for the sirens.

  Once the ambulance pulled into the drive, Kelly motioned the medical team to the back bedroom. As they worked on Mildred, Kelly stepped into the hallway and called her house. Sally answered.

  “I’m sure Officer Simpson would like to talk to you,” the nurse said.

  “What in the world is going on?” Simpson demanded once he came on the line.

  “I’m at the Taylor farmhouse. Lola left Mildred alone. She was going into respiratory distress, which could have been caused by an overdose of oxycodone. The EMTs are working on her now and plan to transport her to the Freemont Hospital shortly.”

  “How’d you get inside?”

  “The kitchen door was open.”

  “Was it?”

  Kelly hadn’t expected anything negative from Simpson. “Do you think I’m lying?”

  “No, of course not, but everything is happening a bit too quickly, in my opinion. You’re out of bounds, Agent McQueen. Freemont isn’t your jurisdiction. Do you understand?”

  She understood that Simpson had become territorial.

  “Don’t do anything until I get there,” he insisted. “I’ll wrap things up here at your house in the next few minutes.”

  Kelly shook her head. She had expected more from Simpson.

  Once she hung up, the EMT motioned her back into the bedroom. “Ms. Mildred’s coming out of it, but she still needs medical attention. You got here just
in time. Any longer and I’m afraid to say what would have happened.” He pointed to Mildred. “She wants to talk to you.”

  Kelly stepped to the bed.

  “Th…thank you,” the old woman whispered. “Kyle?”

  “Was he coming over to stay with you?”

  Mildred nodded. “The…the pain.” She shook her head ever so slightly. “I…I took two…pills from the nightstand.”

  Kelly spied the bottle of over-the-counter pain medication on the bedside table that Mildred must have taken but which had been too much for her fragile body to handle. Kelly gave the bottle to the EMTs and relayed what Mildred had done to help curb her pain, never realizing the additional medication would put her in serious distress.

  Returning to Mildred, Kelly patted her hand. “Tell me about Lola. She left the house. Do you know where she’s going?”

  “M…map.” The woman glanced into the hallway and the small bedroom that lay beyond. A laptop sat opened on a desk.

  “Lola got a map off the computer?”

  Mildred nodded.

  “You’re going to be okay,” Kelly assured her. “The EMTs are taking you to the hospital.”

  “Ger…geriatric?”

  “No, dear. You’ll be in a good facility in town. You’ll be taken care of there.” With a sigh of relief, Mildred closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  Lola had left her computer on, and Kelly printed off the last site she had visited on the web, which turned out to be a map of a rural area near the town of Montburg, Georgia, about eighty miles from Freemont.

  Kelly waited until Mildred had been placed in the ambulance before she climbed into her car. Officer Simpson had yet to arrive, but Kelly didn’t want to delay any longer.

  Hopefully, Kelly would be able to find Lola and determine what she was involved in, which had to have a bearing on her husband’s death. In less than twenty-four hours, Kelly needed to submit her report. Hopefully it would be enough time to determine what had happened on the live-fire range. Maybe then she could put the investigation and the company captain who had led his men in the fateful mission behind her.