Barbara Levenson - Mary Magruder Katz 03 - Outrageous October

by Barbara Levenson

  “I think she lived off of Route Four on the way to White River Junction, but the calls are all coming from an area west of there. I can make some calls and find out if she moved,” Dash said.

  “Lillian, do you think there’s anything else we can do this evening?” I asked. Lillian gazed at the floor. She appeared not to hear. Sherry’s strained voice took the last bit of resilience out of her.

  “We need to reach Ken and plan for tomorrow morning,” Brett said.

  “The courthouse opens at eight, and I’ll be there to get an exact location of the Conrad place and see if it’s still owned by Paul,” Dash said.

  “I’ll go with you. Maybe we can drive out there immediately and Lillian you can go to the Shell station and get the phone call. If she’s on that farm, hopefully we can find her while these jerks are meeting you to get the money,” I said.

  “Mary, you can’t go barging into a place out in the boondocks without any protection,” Brett said.

  “Well, what are our options? Lillian won’t let me call any law enforcement. Besides, Dash will be with me.”

  “I will?” Dash asked.

  “Let’s all keep trying to get Ken.” I gathered Sam’s leash and headed for the door.

  The lobby had cleared out by the time we left the elevator. We walked back toward my car through streets that were quieter now.

  “Dash, I’m sorry to involve you like this. I didn’t want you to tell Lillian about Carolyn Brousseau’s murder. That’s the last thing she needed to hear.”

  “I got your thought wave on that. Are you honestly suggesting that you and I storm the Conrad farm in the morning?”

  “Yes, but not alone. I think we need to get your friend, Sheriff Parsons, involved. We’re going to need trained law enforcement. If we can get to Sherry early enough, we may save her life. Once they have the money, they’ll surely kill her, if they haven’t done it already. At least we know she was alive a little while ago.”

  “Thank God you want me to call Jimmy Parsons.”

  We reached the car. I looked up and saw a huge orange moon and smelled the chilly fall air heavy with the odor of fallen leaves and wood smoke.

  “It’s a beautiful night,” I said as I looked up at the light of the strange moon.”

  “That’s what we call a harvest moon,” Dash said.

  He put his arm around me, and I didn’t move away until he finally opened my car door. “Let’s go back to the office and start making some phone calls,” he said.

  CHAPTER

  FORTY-NINE

  Dash unlocked the office and went immediately to his desk where he started looking through files.

  “Here’s what I want to do,” he said. “I‘m going to call the clerk of the court and get him to come over and let me in to look at the property reports tonight. I’m also going to call Jimmy Parsons to meet me over there. You better come with me to brief him on this whole kidnapping. He’ll need to get some deputies lined up for the morning.”

  “Dash, this is great. This means we can be organized to look for Sherry as soon as it’s light out in the morning. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. Right now, it’s just a plan, not a success story.” He picked up the phone and began the first call.

  Thirty minutes later we were on our way over to Woodstock to meet the court clerk and the sheriff.

  “Do you mind if I stop at the house and get Sam settled in? He’s been dragged along enough.”

  “It’s on the way. It’s no problem, but don’t you want him around for protection?”

  “Protection? From what?”

  “From me. You always seem to have him by your side whenever we’re together,” Dash said.

  “That’s not true,” I said. “Sam is actually my best friend, so of course, he hangs out with me.”

  I thought about Dash’s statement for a minute. Maybe subconsciously I had been keeping Sam on a short leash when Dash was around. But now that Dash had jumped in to help me find Sherry, I felt ridiculous being skeptical about him. This lawyer paranoia of mine was getting out of control.

  I walked Sam and settled him in his crate. In a few minutes we pulled up in front of the courthouse in Woodstock. This one was an historic looking building of dark red brick. It looked like something in a scary movie. Not charming, just forbidding. We sat down on the bench in front of the building waiting for Dash’s friends.

  The sheriff and the clerk pulled up at the same time, coming from opposite directions. We all entered the building that smelled of musty papers and dusty books. While Dash researched the property files, I followed Sheriff Parsons into the library. He turned on a few lights and we settled at a long table where I told him as completely as possible every detail of Sherry’s kidnapping starting with her affair with Paul and ending with the phone call to Lillian tonight.

  Jimmy Parsons was a large, solidly built guy. He was quiet as I spoke. He seemed almost shy from the minute Dash introduced us. When I finished my description of the events, he stared at me for a minute. Then he stood up and walked around the table before sitting down and staring at me again.

  “All this has been going on and just now you decide to call me in on it? This county is my jurisdiction. Maybe you could have gotten this girl back sooner and alive if you’d left this in the hands of the police.”

  “I wanted to but Sherry’s mother was adamant. She still doesn’t know that I’m meeting you now. Will you help us as soon as it’s light enough to go out to wherever Dash finds out this property is located?.”

  “If you’d called me earlier, I’d have saved you a lot of time. I know where the Conrad place is. Francie Wallace moved out there in June. She couldn’t hold on to her house anymore. The taxes hadn’t been paid in a few years. Her husband hanged himself after the mill closed and he couldn’t get any work. Francie’s been taking care of Pauly for quite a few years. It’s just hard for me to believe that she would do something like this; kidnap someone for money”

  “Let’s go tell Dash to stop looking through the property records. You can lead us to the Conrad place in the morning. Can you get some deputies to go with us?”

  “I only have two that I can get for sure, but we have volunteers when someone is lost on a hike. I’ll get people lined up, but I sure wish you’d called me early on. I don’t know why people don’t trust me to do my job. Maybe I won’t run for this job again.”

  Jimmy left me in the library. He called to Dash as he left the room, turning out the lights as he went. Something told me he didn’t like me. I remembered the conversation at the mini mart about firing Parsons. He probably knew the talk around town. Now I had removed an opportunity for him to find Sherry and redeem himself in the eyes of the village.

  Dash and Jimmy poured over the county map hanging in the clerk’s office. They pinpointed the Conrad property and Dash wrote down the directions.

  “I’ll get some boys together tonight. Let’s meet at six at the diner by the Gorge. I can give everyone directions there. We won’t want to approach together. It’ll be better if we can surround the property. We don’t know how many people are involved or whether that is the place they have the girl.”

  We all shook hands and I thanked everyone for coming out.

  “Dash got back in my SUV and put his head back against the head rest. I noticed how exhausted he looked.

  “I’ll get you right back to your place. I’m sorry for uprooting your whole schedule,” I said.

  “It’s fine. I think we never stopped for any dinner. I’m starved. Come on in and I’ll fix us something,” Dash said

  “I guess I am hungry. We haven’t eaten since Hal’s sandwiches and that seems like days ago,” I said.

  CHAPTER

  FIFTY

  I followed Dash up the stairway in the office reception area leading up to his second floor living area. The stairway had a landing with a high stained glass window. The moonlight filtered through the colored shapes making dancing shadows on th
e dark wood floor. Dash opened a leaded glass door at the top of the steps. We stepped into what I guessed was the living room.

  Crown moldings lined the high ceiling. A fireplace was framed in marble. The mantle held small framed photos of outdoor scenes of the Vermont countryside. One photo showed Dash holding up a large fish of some kind. Hanging over the fireplace was the head of a moose complete with antlers.

  The bachelor coldness of the room was broken by floor to ceiling book shelves on either side of the fireplace. One corner of the room held a round maple table and chairs which I guessed was a dining area.

  “All of this furniture was made in Vermont,” Dash said, sweeping his arm over the area. “Come on in the kitchen and I’ll whip up one of my special omelets.”

  I followed him into a galley kitchen with oak floors and cabinets. In the center was a long counter with two bar stools. Dash began assembling bowls and plates and various ingredients from the refrigerator.

  “Make yourself comfortable. This won’t take long. How about some wine while you’re waiting?” Dash moved easily around the kitchen, looking like an experienced cook.

  “Something to drink would be great. I’m feeling awfully cold,” I said. Actually I was a step away from teeth chattering and shivering from the brisk night air or from the fear of what might be happening to Sherry.

  “It might not go with the omelet, but I think a shot of brandy might be better than wine,” Dash said. He reached into a cabinet and brought out a bottle of cognac and two small glasses. He poured two shots and passed one over to me.

  The amber liquid slid down smoothly and I felt a warm burn in my chest. Dash pulled my glass back and poured another shot.

  In a matter of minutes, Dash expertly flipped the omelet. He filled two plates with the omelet filled with sharp Vermont cheddar cheese. Buttered cinnamon toast completed the impromptu entree.

  Dash sat down next to me on the other bar stool, and we dug into the welcome late supper. We cleaned our plates like two starving refugees who hadn’t seen food in weeks.

  I got up to rinse my empty plate.

  “Hey, you don’t have to clean up,” Dash said, as he moved over next to me.

  He took the plate out of my hand and looked at me. I looked up at him and the next thing I knew he was kissing me. The warmth of his body felt good pressed against me; or maybe it was the warmth from the brandy. Either way, I was thawing out.

  “Come with me,” he said as he finally released me. He took my hand and led me back through the living room and down a short hall into the bedroom.

  I glanced around for a minute. There was old-fashioned patterned wallpaper. A huge bed with a maple headboard took up most of the room. Wooden shutters at the window were open and there was a view of the town green.

  My thoughts were jumbled from the cognac, the long day, and the lack of a regular sex life these last weeks. For some reason, I hadn’t stopped taking my birth control pills during this whole trip. I guess they were a part of my routine, like taking a shower and brushing my teeth, so one of my jumbled thoughts was thank God I’m still on the pill.

  Dash pulled me to him and kissed me again. Then he lifted me up and placed me on the bed. He pulled off his sweater and shirt and began removing my sweater. I looked at his thin runner’s frame and hard muscles in his arms. He looked like someone who worked at outdoor physical jobs. My next thought contained a picture of Carlos and his sturdy large boned body; the picture of a gym rat. I felt a huge wave of sadness. I closed my eyes and put my arms around Dash.

  A few minutes later when he rolled off of me and lay quietly next to me, his eyes closed his breathing heavy, I felt terrible. I also felt nothing except regret that I allowed this to happen. I longed for sex with Carlos and now I had rushed into sex with Dash who was a perfectly nice guy. A guy I liked as a friend, but not one that I wanted to have daily sex with. How could I have allowed myself to get to this point? I knew that Dash wouldn’t look at this as just sex with a friend on a cold night. He was looking for a steady partner. Now I had probably lost his friendship. .

  I lay very still until I realized that Dash was asleep. Carefully I retrieved my clothes and snuck out of the bedroom and down the hall to the living room. I was searching for my purse when I heard a noise behind me. Dash was standing in the doorway.

  “Mary, where are you going? Are you all right?”

  “Yes, I’m okay. I just need to get home.”

  “Are you upset? Please, you can stay here tonight. We have to be out early in the morning anyway.”

  “I really can’t stay. Sam is home alone and I have to take him out.”

  “I feel like you’re running away from me.”

  “Can we talk about this after we get through tomorrow?”

  “Sure. Okay. Just drive carefully. It’s late and dark out on the River Road. Wait, at least let me walk out to your car with you.”

  Dash followed me down the stairs. He unlocked the door to the office and we walked silently out to my car.

  “Shall I come and pick you up in the morning? You probably don’t know where the diner is where we’re meeting,” Dash said.

  “No, I’ll meet you there. Don’t worry, I’ll find it,” I called as I started the car and quickly made my escape.

  CHAPTER

  FIFTY-ONE

  I glanced at the clock as I hurried into the kitchen to release Sam from his crate. It was eleven-thirty. I gave him one of his favorite liver treats and grabbed my flashlight to take him out.

  We went out the front door and as I walked down the long driveway, I heard a car motor. Then I saw it; a black Subaru SUV with its lights off at the end of the driveway. I flashed the flashlight in its direction hoping to see the occupant. I could only make out one shape. The driver must have seen the light because the car took off quickly and turned left down the road toward Carolyn’s house. Could it be Dash? He could have followed me home, but why would he take off like that, unless he is the person who is hiding out in the house where the cold blooded murder took place.

  Sam yanked me back to the house, and I retreated willingly. I slammed the door and double locked it, even though everyone says the beauty of living in this rural Valhalla is never having to lock your door. Just the same, I felt better when I heard the locks click.

  As exhausted as I was, sleep wouldn’t come. My discomfort for having led Dash on, my fear of the black Subaru that turned up at night, and most of all my picture of Sherry being tortured and murdered kept me staring into the dark. I must have slept at some point because I woke with a start. The phone in the kitchen was ringing.

  By the time I picked it up, all I got was a dial tone. I hung up and it rang again.

  “Yes?” I said, showing my annoyance.

  “Mary, it’s Rita Upham, Ken’s wife.”

  “Rita, we tried to get you and Ken last night but never got an answer. Is everything okay?”

  “Not really. Ken spoke to Brett last night and heard about your plan. I knew you’d be up very early.”

  “What time is it?”

  “It’s five-thirty. Mary, Ken had a scare last night and I took him to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock emergency center. I thought he was having a stroke. His hand and arm were numb and his vision blurred. They ran some tests, mainly a cat-scan of his brain.”

  “Oh, my god, how is he now? I’m so sorry for getting him involved in this problem.”

  “They couldn’t find anything and the symptoms subsided in a few hours so I brought him home. We’ll have to wait for the results of the blood tests, but the hospital is part of the Dartmouth Medical School so I guess they know what they’re doing.”

  “Just tell him we’ll handle everything with Lillian and he should rest.”

  “He is insisting that he accompany Mrs. Yarmouth to her meeting as planned. I just wanted to alert you in case he becomes ill again.”

  “He shouldn’t go. I can make some other arrangements.”

  “He won’t be dissuaded. He gets so ups
et when I try to make him stay home, and now he’s worried about you.”

  “No need to worry about me. Dash has friends to help and we’re under control.”

  “I’ll tell him, but he said to tell you to call him and he’ll get to you if he’s needed.”

  I realized that I only had a few minutes to get to the meeting place by six. How could I have overslept? I threw Sam’s food out on the back steps while I donned jeans, boots and the ever-present leather jacket. I threw Sam back in his crate with the door open so he could roam the kitchen. “I’m sorry you good old dog for all the neglect I’ve been heaping on you. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

  Sam wagged his tale and licked my hand as I flew by on my way out.

  CHAPTER

  FIFTY-TWO

  Sherry’s Nightmare

  Sherry had lost count of the days. She was in the dark or blindfolded all of the time, so there was no way to tell day from night. She was moved from what she thought was a basement to another building. It smelled of hay or grass and manure so she guessed it was a barn.

  Once when the old lady took her to an outhouse and removed her blindfold, she tried to see her watch, but it was no longer on her arm. This made tears well up in her eyes and trickle down her cheeks. The watch had been a gift from her father when she graduated from high school. It was a Rolex, water-proof and shock-proof so she wore it all the time. She guessed one of these people had taken it while she was in a stupor from the knockout meds they were feeding her.

  The tears burned her cheeks. They must be chapped from the cold in the barn. She couldn’t rub them away because her hands were tied all of the time. She was always cold now. She almost laughed, thinking how mother was always instructing her to moisturize her face twice a day and “for heaven’s sake, Sherry, put on more sunscreen before you go out to the pool.”

  When she tried hard, she could picture the pool and the patio in Miami. She tried to remember the feel of the hot tropical sun on a lazy Miami morning. But the cold in the barn transcended her image.