When The Wind Blows: A Spruce Run Mystery

by Mark Mueller

  “I said move. I’m not fooling around.”

  “Go to hell, Mac. You and the sorry horse you rode in on.”

  I glared at him for a moment and shook my head. I looked at Charlie and could tell I was losing her again because her eyes were glazing over. I had to do something. It was now or never.

  I lunged and caught Wuhrer off guard. Having the element of surprise, I plowed into him with everything I had. Although he was bigger than me, he lost his balance and dropped his gun on the floor. He fell backward through the open cabin door.

  I kicked his pistol away and then turned around for Charlie. I knew I didn’t have much time.

  Once I had her, secure in my arms, I turned again to the door, but stopped. Wuhrer was again blocking the door. He had seized the doorjamb with both hands to keep from falling to the floor.

  With no time to think, I put Charlie back down and rushed at him again. I was about to pistol whip him, but without warning a huge figure appeared from behind Wuhrer, seized him by the neck and pulled him outside. In a flash, Wuhrer was on the ground.

  I was stunned for a moment. When I recovered, I peered out the door. An immense woman towered over Hugo Wuhrer, clasping a crowbar in her hand. It was the one person who I never would have guessed would show up and get involved.

  I couldn’t believe it. I was stunned.

  And I almost wet my pants.

  The immense, towering woman was Gertie Machine.

  Chapter Forty-One

  For a moment, all I could do was gape at her.

  Gertie Machine looked at me and then through the door at Charlie. “She needs medical attention. Get her out of here.”

  “How did you know—?”

  “I heard on my police scanner. This cabin is the only shack along the creek.”

  “The sheriff’s people are coming?”

  “Yes they are. I’ll babysit this sorry sack of manure until they get here. Get yourself going.”

  “There’s a girl inside with a gunshot wound.”

  “Go on, your girl needs help. I’ll deal with it.”

  Gertie Machine was right. I needed to get Charlie to the hospital. I took her hand and stepped out of the cabin. I looked back at Gertie.

  “Thank you. If there’s any way I could pay you back—”

  Wuhrer began struggling to get up off the ground.

  Gertie Machine reacted before he could rise, planted a boot on his chest and slammed him back to the ground. “Try that again and you’ll never walk again.”

  Wuhrer’s face turned white with fear and his body went limp as if he was paralyzed.

  Gertie Machine shook her head and then looked at me. “Get her to a doctor. And get her back to her mother.”

  “I will,” I said. “I owe you. Thank you.”

  I took one last look at Hugo Wuhrer lying on the ground.

  “Listen to me, you sorry sack of dog excrement. You ever come near this little girl again and I will kill you. You hear me? I will find you and I will kill you.”

  Then I kicked him across the face and broke his nose.

  I nodded to Gertie Machine and left the cabin with Charlie. Ten minutes later, we encountered Ducky and several sheriff’s deputies along the overgrown path.

  “Damn, Mac! What happened?” he asked.

  “I found her!” I replied.

  Ducky looked at Charlie and then back at me. “I see that. How?”

  “I had a hunch.”

  “You should have called me for backup.”

  “I tried to call you but you didn’t answer. I left you a message.”

  “I know. I got it and I got your text. Good move to use your cell phone for GPS. But you should have called me again!”

  “Enough of that. I’ve got her and I’m taking her to the hospital.”

  “Where did you find her?”

  “Snyder’s cabin. It’s still there.”

  “No way.”

  “Yes way.”

  Ducky shook his head. “I should have thought of that yesterday.”

  “You and me, both,” I said. “But we got her now.”

  “Who had her?”

  “I found Beth Henry with her in the cabin.”

  He shook his head again. “Unbelievable.”

  “I know, but that’s not all. Hugo Wuhrer was behind the kidnapping. He showed up as I was taking Charlie out.”

  Ducky whistled and then shook his head. “Just when I thought I’d heard everything.”

  “Listen, Duck,” I said. “I need to get Charlie to the hospital, okay? Wuhrer is still back there at the cabin. Beth Henry’s there too and she’s hurt real bad.”

  “You just left them there?”

  “No. Gertie Machine showed up and she’s there, holding them until you arrive.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  Nope. Not kidding. She’s watching Wuhrer and Beth until your people get there.”

  “Holy Cow! Gertie Machine!”

  “I know.”

  “How hurt is Beth?”

  “She’s been shot. We had an altercation.” I held Ducky’s gaze for a moment.

  “Understood,” he said. He turned and instructed his team to secure the cabin and to take Hugo Wuhrer and Beth Henry into custody. Two members of Ducky’s team were the same EMTs who had taken Maddy to the hospital.

  I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and started to dial.

  “What are you doing?” Ducky asked.

  “Calling 911.”

  “You don’t need an ambulance.”

  “She’s in shock, Ducky. I’ve got to get her to the hospital.”

  “We can get her there faster than an ambulance, Mac.”

  “No we can’t.”

  Ducky scowled and didn’t say anything.

  I then understood his unspoken suggestion.

  “You sure, Duck?”

  “Sure as can be, Mac. Remember the old days.”

  “Alright, then, as long as we keep it safe, okay?”

  “We’re always safe. You know that.”

  “I know. I just don’t want Charlie to get hurt.”

  “You got it. Now, let’s roll.”

  I picked Charlie up and carried her the rest of the way out of the woods. My adrenaline surge was so strong that she felt as light as a feather. Ducky walked in front of us, moving branches out of the way as he did.

  Not long after, I had her in the Charger and lying on the back seat. My jacket was folded up under her head as a pillow, and I covered her with a blanket I had kept in the trunk for emergencies like this.

  Ducky was right. An ambulance wouldn’t have been able to get us out of the woods any faster than we could.

  “You ready?” he asked after I made sure Charlie was secure in the car.

  “Yeah, I’m ready,” I said. “Let’s blow.”

  “Good. Now, watch what you’re doing and stay close to me, okay? I’ll plow the road for you.”

  I smiled as I fired up the Charger’s engine. Plow the road, Ducky had said. That meant he was going to escort me to the hospital. And I had better damn well keep up.

  I wasn’t worried, we were street racers. I knew we’d get Charlie to the hospital much faster than an ambulance ever could. By New Jersey state law, an ambulance can go no faster than the speed limit. But as a detective with the sheriff’s department, Ducky had the discretion to use excessive speed when needed.

  And I had a car that could boil the road.

  Hunterdon County just met Hazzard County.

  I love them Duke boys.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  I followed Ducky south on Route 31 at a breakneck speed that was breathtaking even by my standards. With Ducky’s cruiser lights flashing and emergency siren screaming, other drivers on the road fell all over themselves to get out of our way.

  As we approached the hospital, I wondered how in the world Gertie Machine knew who Charlie and Maddy were. I had never spoken to her until our encounter at the cabin. I knew she had known
who I was because I was from Spruce Run. But Maddy and Charlie? I didn’t know.

  We made the fifteen-mile trip in less than ten minutes, and a doctor was waiting for us when I carried Charlie into the emergency room. I surmised that Ducky must have called ahead while he was driving. It was good to have high friends in places.

  Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it.

  When I followed the doctor into a private examination room, she tried to exclude me from going in. I almost blew my gasket at her, but Ducky calmly stepped in and explained that I was Charlie’s father and had a right to be present. The doctor still wasn’t altogether pleased with my presence, but she didn’t argue once Ducky threatened to charge her with interfering with a parent’s custodial duty if she refused me into the room.

  After an examination that went on for so long that my hair started to hurt, the doctor finally confirmed that Charlie was unharmed but only a bit dehydrated. She recommended that Charlie be kept over for a night of observation and rehydration, with a strong suggestion that a hospital psychiatrist examine Charlie before she was discharged.

  I was agreeable, considering what she’d been through the past couple of days.

  At dinnertime, Charlie was transferred to a semi-private room on the pediatric floor where she’d spend her overnight observation. The other bed in the room was empty, so I had plenty of room to sit in a chair next to her bed. The glazy fog I had seen in her eyes at the cabin seemed, for the most part, to have evaporated. That was a good thing.

  As she picked at a dinner of chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese, she wouldn’t take her eyes off of me. She was scrutinizing me with such intensity that I was beginning to feel a little unsettled. I almost thought she was going to give me the stink-eye.

  I tried not to show it, but I was scrutinizing her, too. Although she had Maddy’s pale blue eyes, Charlie had my brown hair, which was much darker than her mother’s.

  Then it occurred to me, that even though she and I had met only for a brief moment at the fireworks, Charlie had no idea who I was. I wasn’t sure if Maddy had told her of my identity, so I was unsure how to proceed.

  Maddy had been her only parent until now. I didn’t begrudge her for that. The past was the past and I had neither a flux capacitor nor a DeLorean to get myself back to the future to fix all of the mistakes I had made all those years ago. So, I had a decision to make. My daughter was in front of me and she didn’t know who I was. How do I do this?

  As the decision-making wheel turned in my head, she opened the door for me.

  “I know who you are,” Charlie said just above a whisper.

  Recalling the famous Star Wars scene where Darth Vader tells Luke Skywalker that he is his father, I was almost tempted to answer her in my best James Earl Jones voice.

  “You do?”

  She nodded.

  I grinned. “Okay. Who am I?”

  “You’re the fireworks man.”

  The fireworks man?

  “I saw you at the fireworks the other night, too,” I said.

  “You were talking to my mommy.”

  “Yes I was. Your mom and I are old friends.”

  “My mommy isn’t old.”

  I chortled. “Neither am I.”

  “My mommy was mad after she talked to you.”

  “Is that so? Did she say why she was mad?”

  She shook her head no.

  I was silent for a couple of moments.

  “Where’s my mommy?” she asked.

  I took a deep breath. “Charlie, look at me. Your mom is sick. She’s here in the hospital and she’s in another room, but she’s going to get better real soon.” I believed that. Maddy was a fighter.

  “I want to see my mommy.”

  “Your mom is sleeping right now. How about if I take you to see her in the morning?”

  Charlie’s eyes started to tear up and lips quivered.

  I got up from the chair and sat next to her on the bed and put an arm around her.

  “You’ll see you mom in the morning. I promise,” I whispered.

  She began to cry. “I want my mommy.”

  “I know,” I reassured. “Your mom wants you, too.” I didn’t know what else to say. I was new to this.

  Charlie sobbed harder and I didn’t know how to calm her down. I held her tight, hoping it was enough, but her tears wouldn’t subside. I then realized her tears weren’t just from not being able to see Maddy. She was reacting to the kidnapping and she needed an outlet to begin the healing process from the horror she’d been through. I knew that the only way I could help her, at least for now, was to first assure her that she could trust me. But how do I do that? How do I get her to trust me? I was a stranger to her. I knew it was going to take some time for me to build that trust with her. But still, I wondered. How would I do it?

  The answer had been in the back of my mind ever since I found her in the cabin. Sure, I had little doubt Maddy would give me the rough side of her tongue for telling Charlie who I was without her being there, but my options were limited. I was at the point of no return.

  I took a deep breath and nudged her back to her pillow.

  She seemed to have calmed down, and had closed her eyes.

  “Charlie?” I whispered.

  She didn’t respond right away. I almost said her name again but then she opened her eyes.

  “I almost thought you went to sleep,” I said.

  She studied me for a moment. “Are you my dad?”

  I laughed out loud. She stole my thunder.

  “Yes I am. I’m your father.”

  (Why didn’t I sound like Darth Vader?)

  “I knew you were.”

  “Really? How?”

  “I just knew.”

  I laughed again. What was that old saying? ‘Out of the mouths of babes?’ No matter what the saying was, I was impressed with her perception. I just hoped Maddy wouldn’t beat me up when she found out that Charlie figured out who I was before she had the chance to tell her.

  I hugged her and kissed her cheek. I have a daughter. And her name is Charlie. I was on top of the world. I kissed her again.

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Huh?” I asked.

  “You’re my dad but I don’t know who you are.”

  Talk about deflating my bubble in a hurry.

  “Oh wow. You don’t even know my name!”

  She answered with a subtle smile.

  I let go of her and sat up. I stuck out my hand. “Allow me to introduce myself, ma’am. My name is Louis Patrick McMurphy. Everyone calls me ‘Mac.’ You can call me ‘Dad.’”

  Charlie gave me a formal handshake. “My name is Charlotte Helen McMurphy. Everybody calls me Charlie. You and me have the same last name.”

  “Yes we do,” I said.

  “My mommy has a different last name.”

  Which I hope would change soon, I thought.

  (What left field did that come from?)

  “Can your dad have a hug?” I asked.

  Charlie sat up and threw her arms around me. She was so abrupt that I almost fell off the bed. Then she kissed my cheek. I loved it.

  When she let go, she looked at me with somber eyes. “I can’t call you ‘Dad.’”

  My heart stopped. “Why not?”

  “I want to call you ‘Daddy’ instead.”

  My heart soared. It began to beat so hard I thought it was going tear out of my chest and fly away. I hugged her tight and kissed her all over her face. She giggled and pulled away. This was one of the most amazing moments I’ve ever had in my life and I didn’t want it to end.

  “I want to tell you something,” I said.

  She studied me. Her pale blue eyes were indeed as beautiful as Maddy’s. I knew from that moment on that she lived in my heart.

  “Charlie,” I continued, “your mom is in another room in here, upstairs, and she’s not feeling too good so she might have to have to stay here for a few days.”

  Charlie was s
ilent for a moment. “What about me?”

  “The doctor said you get to stay here tonight for a sleepover and tomorrow you get to go home.”

  “But if Mommy doesn’t go home, who will take care of me?” Her lips started to tremble again.

  I put my arm around her again. “Tell you what. You can stay with me at my house. I have a room all ready for you.”

  “Really? You’ll let me stay with you?”

  “Absolutely. Until your mom gets better.”

  “Yay!” she hooted. She threw her arms around my neck in a stranglehold. “I get to go to my Daddy’s house.”

  “Maybe my house could be your house, too,” I offered.

  “Can Mommy live there too?”

  “Of course she can.”

  “Can I bring my iPod?”

  “You can bring anything you want.”

  “Goody! I can’t wait.”

  She began to scrutinize me again.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Mommy said you tell stories.”

  “I thought you didn’t know who I was.”

  “Mommy said the man she talked to at the fireworks is a story teller.”

  Was that a double entendre or what? Whatever Maddy meant, I decided to interpret it at face value.

  “I’m a writer. I work for a newspaper, and once a week I write down everything that happens in the in the county and share the stories with everyone.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Do you ever do kid stories?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “Can you tell me one?”

  “Sure I can. What kind of stories do you like?”

  “Ghost stories.”

  My girl.

  “Have you ever heard the one about the Ghost of Mable Crable?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell it to you. Ready?”

  Charlie nodded and leaned back against a pillow.

  “Okay,” I said. “Here we go. Once upon a time there was this old house that hadn’t been lived in for many years. One day a man decided to buy the house and fix it up and live in it. When he went inside, he found a five-dollar bill on the kitchen table. He thought that was great, so he put the five-dollar bill in his pocket and started fixing up the house. A little while later, he heard a voice coming from nowhere: ‘I am the ghost of Mable Crable and that five dollars belongs on the table!’ The man got so scared that he threw the five-dollar bill back on the table and ran out of the house and he never came back.