Dead Frenzy

by Victoria Houston

  Marlene stuck her head in the door. “Chief, your e-mail came in from Wausau—I printed out two copies.”

  She handed one each to Lew and Osborne. Osborne studied the first page, then the second. He looked out the window.

  “What?” said Lew.

  He walked over to her desk. “May I use the phone? Phone book?”

  Brenda answered on the first ring. Pleased to hear his voice, she was less happy when he asked for Marsha. But Marsha had the answer to his question.

  Osborne set the phone down gently. “Bud Thornton died of prostate cancer two years ago.”

  “Damn,” said Lew. “He never had to answer for it, did he.” She hit a button on the telephone console. “Marlene, would you get Hayden Steadman for me, please?”

  Osborne refilled his coffee cup. Neither spoke while they waited.

  “Hayden? This is Chief Ferris. Sorry to intrude during this difficult time but we need to discuss a number of things today. How soon can you be available?” Lew waited. “No, no, I’ll come out there … no earlier than that?” Again, a long pause.

  “Well, all right then. But if anything changes, please call in. If I’m out, dispatch will know where I can be reached. Otherwise, I’ll see you at four this afternoon. Please, will you remind Jennifer not to disturb any of her father’s effects until I’ve had the opportunity to look everything over? Thank you.”

  Lew looked over at Osborne. “She’s tied up with funeral arrangements until late this afternoon.”

  Marlene stuck her head in the door again. “Chief, you have a visitor—Edith Schultz.” Before Lew could respond, Edith walked in behind Marlene.

  “I’ll leave,” said Osborne, standing up.

  “No, you stay,” said Lew.

  Edith looked at them both. “It’s my fault he’s dead.”

  She was trembling. Her face was a mess. She looked like she’d been up all night.

  “Okay, Edith,” said Lew, walking around from behind her desk to take Edith by the elbow, “why don’t you sit down here and we’ll talk.”

  She pulled an armchair over from the wall, then closed the door to the office. Edith sat on the edge of the seat, arms folded tight across her chest. Osborne nudged his chair in closer. Edith looked like she might pass out.

  “Coffee or water?” asked Lew, walking over to the table with the coffeepot.

  “A little water please,” said Edith in a tiny voice. She gulped the water, then took a deep breath as Lew sat down behind her desk.

  “Did you pull the trigger?” Lew’s question was so abrupt, Edith was startled.

  “Of course not, but—”

  “Did you hire the person who pulled the trigger?”

  “No!”

  “Does this have anything to do with your father?”

  “Kind of, but—”

  Lew raised a hand. “Before you go any further, Edith, I want to share some news with you. Something I learned just this morning.”

  “But—” Edith looked like she was going to burst into tears. She raised a faltering hand to her lips, which were shaking.

  “Edith,” Lew said, leaning forward over her desk, “I have no idea what you feel you have to say, but how I hear it is going to be greatly affected by something that I now know. Does that make sense?” Lew waited until she had a nod from Edith.

  “The other night at the dinner party, I told you that Dr. Osborne and myself have been reviewing the file on your father and the murder of that young woman. We sent all the evidence, which has been in storage over the years, down for testing at the crime lab in Wausau. The results of those tests came in this morning and confirm the simple, awful truth that shoddy police work all those years ago led to your father being falsely accused. The man who held my position at the time took the easy way out; he did not question the opinion of an alleged eyewitness.”

  “Why would he do that?” Edith’s voice was a whisper.

  “Chief Raske was lazy, he was mean, and he wasn’t very bright,” said Lew.

  She glanced down at the report on her desk, then looked back at Edith. “We’re fortunate that a young police officer on the force at the time had the foresight to take significant physical evidence, blood samples and nail clippings, from anyone who might have seen the victim in the forty-eight hours before her death. In addition, he had very good quality photos taken of the crime scene and other physical evidence. And he carefully preserved the burlap sack in which the body was found.

  “His efforts are a good example of how ignorance can work to advantage in interesting ways. The fact is DNA testing, like we know it today, did not exist at the time of the girl’s death. But the investigating officer wasn’t thinking DNA when he took those nail clippings.

  “Instead, not knowing the limits of the forensic microscope, he had hoped that something in the physical characteristics of a good-sized shard of fingernail that he found stuck to the bag holding the body might be a clue. He hoped it would match similar patterns or characteristics on the nail of the individual he suspected to have murdered the girl—much like fingerprints match or, in those days, markings on bones could provide clues to cause of death. Enough to keep the case open. So he didn’t really know exactly what he had when he found the nail shards stuck in the burlap but he felt it could be good, tangible evidence.

  “That plus this.” Lew held up a copy of the close-up of the bite wound on Bud Thornton’s neck. “The crime lab has confirmed that the teeth that made these marks belonged to the victim.

  “But even better—they tested the DNA of the nail clippings against the shards found on the burlap bag. Edith, your father’s nail clippings do not match. His blood test clears him as well. The blood smears and the nail shards found on the burlap bag link two other people to the victim.”

  “I’ve always known that my dad was innocent,” said Edith. “I couldn’t prove it but I’ve always known it. That’s why I did what I did.”

  She pressed both hands hard over her eyes. Lew reached for a box of Kleenex and set it on the desk near Edith.

  “Listen to the rest, Edith. Of the two samples that match the nail shards, one person is dead. That is Bud Thornton. He was the father of the family whose baby-sitter was murdered. The other belongs to a friend of the family’s who is very much alive today: Harriet Carlson. The woman you know as Hayden Sterling.

  “Now you keep this confidential, Edith. I’ll be taking Hayden into custody later today, but Wausau does need to run one more blood test before she can be formally charged. Nevertheless, I feel confident she will be charged as an accessory to the murder of Gloria Bertrand.”

  Edith’s shoulders relaxed as if a heavy weight had been lifted. “Chief Ferris, all these years I’ve known this. My father told me that the girl—that Hayden lied. She told the police she saw him in the woods with the girl who was killed. She said she saw him leave the woods afterwards. But he swore to me that he was never there.”

  Lew leaned back in her chair. “And he was not. Based on these reports from Wausau and the officer’s notes from years ago, my theory is that Gloria, the baby-sitter, stumbled onto Bud Thornton in a compromising position with the young Hayden. She may have confronted him. Who knows?

  “One interesting fact that the investigating officer noted was the family was quite well to do but the money came from the wife’s family. Bud couldn’t risk divorce. Did he think that the baby-sitter was going to tell his wife?

  “One thing we do know for sure: Hayden was there when that girl’s body was forced into the burlap sack. Only Hayden knows what really happened. Whether she’ll tell the truth, who can say? But we have DNA proof that she was a party to a crime for which the statute of limitations never runs out.”

  “Then why?” Edith looked at her. “Why did my father kill himself?”

  Lew gazed down at her desk for a long moment, then up at Edith. “The man who was the police chief in those days was a bully. He was vicious and he was powerful. When he got the eyewitness report, he decided yo
ur father was guilty and told him he would see that he got a life sentence. Your father had no witnesses to prove his side of the story, no DNA testing like we have now that might have challenged that witness. He had been out fishing alone that day. He probably fished a special, secret spot like so many of us do—and no one saw him.”

  “May I say something, Chief Ferris?” said Osborne. Lew nodded.

  “I knew your father, Edith. And I remember the circumstances at the time. As a father myself, I think he was desperately afraid of what the whole scenario would do to you and your sisters. Sometimes when we’re accused of things, even though we didn’t do it, we feel guilty. Just the accusation smears you. That on top of your mother’s leaving—it was too much. He wanted it over.”

  A lengthy silence filled the room. Finally, Lew said, “Edith, can I trust you not to say anything about this to Hayden? I know you’re staying at the Steadman place and you’re bound to see her before I do later today, but anything you might say could jeopardize the case against her.”

  “Please, I understand,” said Edith.

  “We have another witness, too,” said Osborne gently. “An elderly woman here in Loon Lake. She can document the love affair between Hayden and Bud Thornton. She saw them together. Hayden is about to find herself boxed into a very tough spot.”

  “I’m not sure I feel too much better,” said Edith. “I still feel damned responsible for Parker’s death.”

  “You’ll have to tell me why,” said Lew, “because I don’t see it.”

  Edith stared at the floor before answering.

  “You have no idea how obsessed I have been over avenging my father’s death. I was able to keep track of Hayden through high school. I knew she lived in Evanston. We both went to Northwestern, too, though our paths didn’t cross often enough for her to be aware of me. She was in a sorority, I wasn’t. She was a communications major, I was in theater.

  “I lost track of her after graduation. Then, by some twist of fate, we both ended up working in television. I couldn’t believe it at first. I was working on one of ESPN’s fishing shows when I heard about Parker Steadman and his plans to expand his cable channels. Then I heard about Hayden and that’s when I decided …” Her voice trailed off.

  Then Edith stuck her chin out. “I’m not proud of this but the fact is that I’ve known for a long time that if I did it right, if I took my time, I would find the moment when I could destroy her. Not hurt her physically, but destroy her career. That’s what I’ve been working for.

  “It’s no accident I landed this job with the Steadman group two years ago. I went in knowing that most women who do what I do are very attractive, very stylish, very competitive. My production skills are excellent and I have solid experience shooting outdoors but most important”—Edith looked from Lew to Osborne—”I know how to be a good mouse.

  “They had over thirty candidates for the job and Hayden picked me. She needed a grunt and a purse carrier—so she picked the homely one. Enough years had gone by, she didn’t recognize my name. She barely read the résumé. She didn’t know until last week that I grew up here in Loon Lake.

  “Once I was on board, I bided my time. I knew I’d have the opportunity and I wanted it to be perfect.”

  Edith dropped her face into her hands again. “This is all so pathetic.”

  “It’s understandable, Edith,” said Lew. Edith lifted her head and relaxed back into the chair.

  “The first thing I noticed when I started working there was how protective Hayden was of Parker. No one gets to that man without going through her. I was so surprised when I found out he had a daughter. Jen came to visit once, for a very short time, but I could see the affection between them. And Hayden was so jealous.

  “That’s where she was vulnerable. That plus the fact that when Parker isn’t around, she’s a raving maniac. A total bitch. Without her knowing it, I befriended Jen. I would call her on weekends to see how things were going. I encouraged her, all the way from Maui, to send her father notes and little gifts. She would mail them to me and I would sneak them into his office. Bugged the hell out of Hayden.

  “About three months ago, things got tense between Hayden and Parker. Even though her ratings are lousy, she has been demanding a bigger role on the new cable channels. He wanted someone the audience would like better. Meanwhile, I learned that Jen had this financial disaster and was trying to reach Parker by phone, but Hayden wouldn’t put the calls through. She was just a bitch.

  “That’s when Jen and I cooked up a little trap. Jen would call, get Hayden on the phone, and tape the nastiness. That’s all, just let Hayden rave on, then hang up. Eventually Hayden refused to take the calls.”

  “Is that when she alleged someone was stalking her by phone?”

  “Yes—and all the time it was poor Jen trying to reach her father. When Jen stopped calling, Hayden pretended to get calls—always when she could milk the attention.

  “Jen had stopped calling because I was helping her arrange to come here to Loon Lake. Things were dicey enough between her father and Hayden that I thought she could push that relationship over the edge. I was right. Jen played those tapes for him Saturday night after everyone left the dinner party. He couldn’t believe it.

  “Before he went to bed that night, he told Hayden he wanted her off the property the next day, after the parade—and he would personally see that she would never work in television again.”

  “Edith, none of this explains how you could be remotely responsible for some jabone taking him out with a .50 caliber sniper rifle,” said Lew.

  Edith’s eyes brimmed. “I’m the one who added Loon Lake to the tournament circuit. We weren’t coming here originally. You know, this area is really too small for the kind of bass fishing you need for a million-dollar purse.

  “I talked Parker into coming here. He always told me how much he loved Loon Lake. I had this crazy plan. I thought if they were a family—he and Jen—on the lake with all the memories. I never realized…. ”

  “How could you know he had former family members who are hardened criminals? Parker himself was nicknamed ‘the Predator.’ He was no innocent, Edith. You are not to blame for that man’s death,” said Lew.

  Edith pushed at her eyes with a Kleenex.

  Lew tapped her pen on her desk. “Edith, who do you think fired that gun?”

  “You know those guys they caught cheating on the drawing for the boat? Because of that, Bruce Duffy will never be allowed in another professional tournament. He’s furious. He did it or he hired someone to do it.”

  “Good theory,” said Lew. “Except Bruce Duffy is dead. And I happen to know he didn’t fire the gun that killed Parker.”

  “Oh,” Edith said in surprise. “I didn’t see that on the news.”

  “No, and you won’t until I decide to make it public.”

  Lew thought hard for a minute. “Edith, how would you feel about doing something for me? Have you and Hayden already discussed the fact you think Duffy is behind Parker’s death?”

  “No. She never talks to me—she barely sees me. She’s all over Jen, trying to make up.”

  “Good. When you go back to the house, see if you can find the right opportunity to let Hayden know that you’re convinced that Duffy killed Parker and you don’t understand why we haven’t made an arrest.”

  “And see how she reacts?”

  “Right. If she doesn’t agree, that’s a good indication she knows Duffy is dead. That tells me she’s in touch with the people who killed him.”

  “You think Hayden—”

  “She met Patty Boy when he delivered all those antique lures, didn’t she?”

  “Yes, they had quite a conversation now that I think of it.”

  “All it takes is money and a phone call. Money and a phone call and the arrogance to think she can control the daughter like she did the father.”

  As Edith stood up to leave, Osborne stood, too.

  “Edith,” he said, “Hayden told us
you’ve been under the care of a psychiatrist relative to your father’s suicide. She instructed us not to discuss it with you—that it would cause a severe emotional reaction.”

  Edith laughed. “So she finally figured out who I am. Even after Parker told everyone that I grew up in Loon Lake, I wasn’t sure she put it all together. That’s a lie, by the way. I haven’t been seeing a shrink—which isn’t to say I don’t need one.”

  “What Dr. Osborne is trying to say is—be careful, Edith.”

  After Edith had left, Osborne said, “You’re comfortable letting her go out there?”

  “Edith is smart, Doc. The kind of work she does requires attention to detail. Visual detail. She knows what I’m looking for. And she knows Hayden’s face. Be interesting to hear what she has to say when we get there this afternoon.”

  “Oh, so I’m included,” said Osborne.

  “I thought you might enjoy landing a big one for a change.”

  thirty-two

  “Only dead fish swim with the stream.”

  —Anonymous

  A light rain christened the windshield of Lew’s cruiser as they pulled up the drive to the big log house. Stepping out, Osborne inhaled. Nothing smells so good as summer mist in the pines.

  Hayden’s Mini Rover and the Chevy Suburban were parked in the drive. They walked past the cars and through the portico leading up to the front doors with their etched glass panels. Lew knocked. No answer. She peered through the windows. No movement indoors either. She knocked again.

  Lew started around to the lakeside of the house and Osborne followed. Edith was standing on the dock, looking out at the lake through a pair of binoculars. They walked on down. It was still misting.

  “Hayden took Jen out on the pontoon boat an hour ago. She said they would be back by four,” said Edith, pushing her hair out of her eyes. The sun was trying to break through the clouds and a stiff breeze was blowing out of the north.

  “She insisted on taking Jen out alone. Wanted her away from me, I guess.” Letting the binoculars drop against her chest, Edith thrust her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans. She was wearing a T-shirt and Osborne could see goose bumps on her arms.