The Traveling Corpse

by Double Edge Press

  “Good idea. I’ll follow through on it. As for Karl, he’ll probably confess real quick once we arrest him. At least, I hope so, but you never know. Doesn’t sound like he’s thinking normally. That Annie is one nice lady. I don’t like even thinking about her being tied up and scared. We’ll find her.”

  Barb felt reassured about Annie’s safety as she climbed out of the squad car and into Brad’s arms. He told his wife, “I called the D’s and V’s.” They’ll be here soon.”

  “Good thinking,” Barb said. “They’ll want to be here to support Art.”

  Wearily, Art asked, “Where have you been? Waiting here with nothing to do but worry has been awful. I wish I could trade places with Annie.”

  Menendez took a moment to speak to Art, to let him know that she had a good lead on finding Karl. “Once we have Karl, we’ll find your Annie. The whole department is working on the case.”

  “Thanks,” was all he could muster for an answer.

  “Okay with you, Art,” Menendez asked, “if we use your dining room table and your telephone—just for local calls. We need to discuss—plan our strategy. It will save a lot of time if we do it here rather than our all driving back to headquarters.”

  Art pointed inside his house, saying, “Be my guest.”

  Menendez then spoke to Brad, “Your wife suggested that you might have information to help us. Will you come inside with us for a few minutes?”

  One deputy stayed on the patio to protect Art Andersen and his friends. The rest of the officers and Brad moved inside to the dining room table.

  Outside, Art said to Barb, “I know I’ve said it before, but this waiting is awful. I feel so useless. Brad gets to do something. I just have to sit here. He’s in there now with the planning session. Earlier, he went and opened up Jigg’s house for the deputies to search.” Art shook his head. “They didn’t have any luck at Jigg’s house. Brad told me that it didn’t look like Karl had been there, not even on the grounds. He wasn’t at his own house either. I was hoping they’d spot Karl’s van on I-75. No luck there either. It’s like he’s disappeared.”

  It wasn’t long before the Vigeauxs arrived. The Davises weren’t far behind them. They had two folding lounge chairs strapped on the back of their cart. “With all this gang, and a long night ahead of us, DeeDee suggested we bring chairs we can stretch out on,” Doc told them as he set them up on the patio.

  Brad came back outside shaking his head. “It’s midnight, but I telephoned Paul, head of BradLee’s board and also Manny, head of grounds, to find out if any digging was done today in the park. No luck there, but just to be sure no one’s tampered with the golf cart paths again, the sergeant is sending a deputy out with Manny to drive around and check out the new paths. They’re heading out now with a couple of heavy-duty flashlights.”

  Art groaned. DeeDee got up and stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to comfort him. She asked, “Have ya called yer kids yet?”

  Art shook his head. “I was hoping we’d find her; then I’ll call them. I’ve got wonderful support from all of you. One of our daughters will go to pieces when she hears that her mother has been kidnapped. I don’t have the strength to be bolstering her up—hard enough to keep my own chin up”

  Barb had been waiting for the right moment; she knew they’d want to know the details she’d learned from Kitty. When they were all settled, she recited everything that Kitty had told the sergeant and her in the hospital, ending, “Kitty says Karl beat her up right here in your patio tonight, Art. When he woke up in that barn and found her missing, even in his drunken state, he figured out that she’d try to find Annie and come here.”

  Art asked her what time all this happened.

  “It had to be maybe eight-thirty or so that Karl was beating on Kitty because Annie and I left my mom and dad’s around 8:45 p.m., and it takes less than ten minutes to drive the cart here. We didn’t see Kitty at first. Heard her moaning outside the screened patio when Annie went to unlock the door. Karl must have been hiding behind a tree or shrub because I never saw him. ‘Course, it was dark. When I went in the house to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance to come get Kitty, that horrible man left his own wife—battered, bruised, and bleeding; can you imagine? And then he kidnapped Annie and stole my golf cart. How many crimes is that for one night?” She threw up her arms in disgust.

  “And we all thought he was sech a wonderful man ‘cause he made so much Bingo money fer tha park! I’d like ta tear his eyes out. Let him be in tha dark fer tha rest of his life!” DeeDee said through clenched teeth.

  After DeeDee’s outburst, Verna gathered her wits about her, “Is it all right with you, Art, if we offah those law officers something to eat and drink? It’s been a long time since suppah. I thought you’d be needing food; so I brought the makings for sandwiches—peanut buttah, cheeses, cold cuts, bread. Have you got crackahs? I forgot crackahs.”

  “That’s the first thing Annie would do,” Art said. “She’d offer them something to eat and drink.” He jumped up from his cushioned lawn chair. “You’re right. Thanks, Verna.”

  They slipped inside. Art caught Menendez’s eye and pantomimed taking a drink. She nodded and formed her thumb and index finger into a circle indicating her agreement. Art, with the help of his friends, put tumblers on a tray and soda and a pitcher of iced tea on another. Barb filled bowls with chips and pretzels. Verna and DeeDee set the food in the center of the table along with small paper plates, napkins, and knives. Von took a plate of food and a drink to the officer standing guard on the patio.

  Art didn’t want to interrupt the planning session; so all he said was, “It could be a long night. Please, help yourselves. Bathroom is down the hall.” Then Art and his friends took some blankets with them back to the patio and settled down to wait. Fortunately, it was a warm January evening, welcome after the recent cold spell.

  When the strategy session was over, Maria Menendez spoke to Art on her way out. She squeezed his shoulder in a friendly gesture before the officers scattered to put their plan in motion. She said quietly, “We’ll find her.”

  Chapter 8

  Very Early Tuesday Morning

  Hours passed while the friends slept in their clothes. A deputy stayed awake, watching over them. Art slept fitfully, waking up at the least sound. When he heard a car pull into his driveway, he threw off the light blanket covering him ready to jump up. However, a wave of dizziness swept over him, forcing him to remain seated until it passed. Don’t dare stand up and try to walk—too easy to lose my balance and fall. Don’t need to break a bone, especially now. This will go away; a doctor explained it—the liquid in my inner ear just has to equalize or something, then the dizziness will pass. He looked at his watch. Five a.m.

  Joe Juarez opened the screen door. “Sorry to wake you, but I was sure you’d want to hear the news.”

  “You bet!” Art exclaimed. “Is it good or bad?”

  “Yes and no,” the young deputy answered. “Good news is that we’ve got Karl. The bad news is that he won’t help us—won’t give us a clue to Annie’s whereabouts.”

  Art moaned and sank lower into his lounge chair. His friends murmured sighs and groans.

  Joe sat down at the little porch table and turned on the lamp. Then he pulled out a set of keys and held them up one by one, “This is Karl’s house key, and this is Jiggs’s. And this one’s for Karl’s van, and this little one opens the shed on his property. And here’s his Club car key. I’ve checked them all out. But this one, he held it up for them all to see, “I don’t know what it’s for. Any ideas?”

  Brad answered immediately, “He always had a key to the Bingo closet in Old Main. Have you tried that?”

  “I’m on my way,” Juarez said.

  “Praise the Lord! We’re right behind you,”

  * * *

  Annie was suffering through a Charlie Horse cramp when she thought she heard a sound like a key turning in the lock. Then she felt a difference—the air began to move in t
he stuffy room. She heard voices, lovely, familiar voices. Then Art was telling her how much he loved her and was kissing the duct tape covering her face. Then she heard him say in a joking tone, “Whee, Annie! Smells like you’ve been partying in here! What have you been drinking?”

  Hands were working to release her—to cut the duct tape that held her prisoner to a wooden chair. She wanted to beg them to stop pulling the tape from her face; it was so painful, but her mouth was still bound. She felt the cold steel of the blade of a scissors on her face. Someone was carefully cutting at the tape, trying to uncover her eyes. Finally, she saw a thin line of light. The worst of her kidnapping ordeal was over. Her left arm ached from all of Karl’s pulling and pushing on it, aggravated all the more by being tied in one position for hours and hours.

  After Juarez was satisfied that Annie was going to be okay, he asked, “Is there a phone in the building?”

  “I’ll show ya,” DeeDee offered and led him to the wall phone in the kitchen.

  Juarez dialed the hospital and asked to speak to Sgt. Menendez in ER. The first words out of his mouth to his sergeant were, “We’ve got her! Annie’s safe!”

  “Praise the Lord and the Sheriff’s Department!” Maria whooped in a most undignified manner. Then, business-like, she queried, “Where is she? Where’d you find her?” After Juarez filled her in, she told him, “I’m sending an ambulance for her. She won’t want to go to the hospital, but tell her it’s an order from me. I need to have a doctor examine her for the record. She’s a nurse; she’ll understand. I’ll wait here in the ER for her. And, by the way, great job, Joe!”

  * * *

  The EMTs worked quickly, but gently, then slid the stretcher holding Annie into the ambulance. Art headed for his car. Brad followed and asked, “Can Barb and I ride with you? We don’t have a car, and I guess Karl still has our golf cart.”

  “Of course. Sorry I forgot about you. I just want to get to the hospital.”

  “We’ll go with you,” Barb decided. “You need support.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Doc agreed. “But, it’ll be too many for all of us to go there, and I don’t think they’ll be needing a veterinarian at the hospital. We’ll go back to your place, Art. Don’t want you to come home to an empty house.”

  Art reached in his pocket for a house key. As DeeDee took it from him, she said, “We probably won’t need it; that deputy should still be there. I don’t think any of us even thought ‘bout lockin’ your house!”

  “We’ll keep you guys company,” Von said to Doc and DeeDee.

  His wife agreed, “We’ve got all that food to put away and stuff to clean up. Annie doesn’t need to come home to that mess aftah all she’s been through.”

  “Thanks, gang,” was all Art could manage to say.

  Then Juarez spoke to the Bs, “There was a golf cart by that old barn. Had ‘Brad’ and ‘Barb’ painted in script on the front of it. Could it be yours?”

  “That’s us,” Brad responded.

  “We’ll have to keep it for a while, get it checked out.” Then Joe turned to Art, “I’ll stop by your house to tell the deputy that he can leave. Always have to keep an eye on the county’s budget. Overtime runs up real quick. Karl has been apprehended, and Annie’s on her way to the hospital. You should be safe now.”

  “Praise the Lord!” the friends said in unison.

  * * *

  The ER staff attended to the Sheriff Department’s patient immediately. Annie was whisked inside and helped into a clean, but unpressed, white cotton hospital gown with a blue sprigged pattern covering all of Annie but the slit up the back of the garment. Art, Barb, and Brad waited impatiently for the medical examination to be over. Then they had to wait longer while Maria questioned Annie. When they were finally allowed to see her, patches of Annie’s eyebrows were gone, as was the smell of liquor; her left arm was supported in a sling. She managed a wan smile, but her violet eyes were sad.

  Art wanted to ask about the sling, but he wanted to hug his Annie more. When he tried to hold her, she protested, “I love you too, Art, but you’re squeezing me too hard. It kindda hurts!”

  “Oh! Annie, sorry, but I was so scared for you—and for me too. Don’t want to hurt you anymore than you’ve already been.”

  Weakly, she answered, “I’m all right. Karl didn’t hurt me too much. I kept feeling Jesus’ arms wrapped around me, so the knocks I got weren’t too bad. The worst part is all that duct tape. It hurt to pull it off. Do I have any eyebrows left?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Annie, you still look beautiful to me with or without eyebrows,” Art said fondly.

  “Karl really did a number on my arm. He put so much pressure on it that he almost dislocated it. I guess that’s better than a broken arm like he gave Kitty.”

  Art was furious; Annie calmed him, saying, “It’s over, Art. Don’t let your blood pressure soar because of this. Don’t want you in the hospital too.”

  “Do you have to stay here?” Barb asked. “Are they going to admit you?”

  “I don’t think so. The doctor wants to have me take a few more tests. Then I can probably go home. Why don’t you leave now and get some sleep?” Annie urged, always thinking of others.

  Barb let out a little laugh, “Annie, you are something else. Here you are bummed up, and you’re worrying about our getting sleep!”

  “It’s morning, Annie. Time to wake up,” Brad told her. “Guess you lost track of time being locked in that dark closet.”

  Then Art asked, “Did you get any sleep? You were taped to that chair all night. No wonder you’re sore in places.”

  “I did have some awful cramps at times,” Annie admitted. I’d just grit my teeth and pray for them to ease. I’d say that verse from James, that one that you taught us, Barb—the one about persevering in the Lord. And, yes, I did manage to doze some.”

  Art emphatically stated, “Annie, I am not leaving you here without me. If you are staying, then so am I. I should never have gone to that shuffle tournament and left you alone.”

  Annie chided her husband from her cot, “Art, stop beating yourself up. You didn’t leave me alone. You made sure I was with Barb. It surely wouldn’t have made any difference if it were you or Barb—either way, one of you would have gone inside to phone for an ambulance for Kitty, and Karl would still have kidnapped me.”

  Art shrugged, “I guess you’re right, but I still feel responsible.” Annie smiled, appreciating Art’s love for her. She shut her eyes for a moment to send up a sentence prayer: Thank-you, Lord, for letting me share my life with such a kind, caring, God-fearing man. I’ve been so blessed. Amen.

  “I can’t wait much longer,” Barb almost exploded with curiosity. “I’ve got to know everything that happened to Karl. And before you start your story, I want to let you know that I called the president of Hobby Club. Helen says she’ll get a team of club members to take turns being with Kitty—to help her through this awful time in her life until her kids can fly down to take care of things. So, you can concentrate on getting well yourself and not be worrying about Kitty. Now, will you please tell us ‘the rest of the story’—like Paul Harvey always says?”

  “I don’t know all the details, and it’s not a nice story,” Annie sighed. “But, I’ll tell you what Maria told me. She said that Kitty was a big help.”

  “She certainly was,” Barb agreed. “I was there when Maria questioned her. The deputies would never have found Karl as soon as they did without the tips from Kitty.”

  Annie continued, “Maria told me that the clues Kitty gave her about the old barn and the adjoining golf course let them locate where Karl had been hiding all day with Kitty.”

  Brad broke in, “I’ll bet he knew about the old barn from when he served on the golf club committee—from when they were hunting adjoining land to buy to build the new golf course.”

  Annie went on, “Maria and the deputies surrounded the place. I guess they used a bull horn and ordered Karl to come out. They waited. No
answer. Finally, a deputy crept up and tried to open that small side door—that Kitty mentioned—not the big barn door. It squeaked, just like she said. That’s when Karl called out and warned them not to come in; if they did, he threatened to hang himself. They regrouped outside, wondering if it were best to wait or charge in. Since they were worried about my safety, they decided to rush Karl. He’d found an old rope. Made a noose and threw one end of the rope over a rafter and secured the other end. He had his head through the nose and was standing on a rickety old chair. When the officers rushed in, Karl kicked the chair away. His body dangled giddily, swinging back and forth. They couldn’t get to him quickly because he had strewn those used tires around and pulled old furniture up so the officers had to work their way through the blockade he’d built around himself. So, it took a few minutes before they could get to him and hold his body up to release the strain on his neck. Maria told me that it was a horrible thing to have to see, but he was still alive.”

  Annie paused; then wiped a tear away and continued, “Maria said she had radioed for an ambulance before going inside the barn. She rode in the ambulance with Karl, trying to get him to tell her where he had me hidden away, but he wouldn’t cooperate. Maria said she didn’t think he could talk—his voice box was damaged, but he was aware enough that he could have nodded his head or squeezed her fingers to answer a yes or no question if he wanted to. But he wouldn’t help her find me. He just wanted me to be as miserable as he was; I guess. He wanted to die, and …” she hesitated, “he did die in the operating room.”

  “So, Karl is dead. I don’t know whether to be happy for Kitty or sorry for her,” Barb wondered.

  When the last test on Annie was completed, she was released from the Emergency Room. “I just want to go home to my own bed and sleep for a hundred hours,” she told Art as he helped her into the car. And sleep she did—for hours, until Art began to worry if she were ever going to wake up.