Of Blood and Water: Campground Murders (Virgil McLendon Thrillers Book 1)

by catt dahman

  However no one was arrested, and no one had been around to ask questions other than these two women who were desperate for a clue. He felt relaxed now, and this interview had actually given him a peace of mind that they were not close to solving the crime. To his chagrin, his guests who were curious and enjoyed pushing the boundaries, decided to have a look at the visitors. Had the two women stayed away, this would have ended; David suppressed anger.

  Ronnie flitted through the room, pretending to look for a book.

  David didn’t mind that Ronnie had started to wear Aaron’s old suits and affected an old-world tone, but he did care that Ronnie was butting in.

  Ronnie beamed, “How do you do, officers.” He shook their hands, and David struggled to keep from laughing or choking Ronnie. Seeing hard-edged Ronnie dressed in old clothing and affecting a new persona was both funny and irritating.

  “Hello, Mister….”

  “Doctor. Doctor Estell,” Ronnie said. He liked pretending to be a physician and had studied all of the medical books in the house.

  “Oh, Doctor.” Tina then explained again why they were there.

  “I read the newspapers. Terrible business, Eh, David?” He narrowed his ferret-like eyes and nodded to himself.

  “Yeah.” David was irked by Ronnie’s gutsy behavior, but this was also why he liked having the man around; the guy was always coming up with something daring and a little crazy and reminded David of the time that he was serving in Vietnam.

  Despite Ronnie’s demeanor, if these two deputies tried an arrest, Ronnie would go down fighting; he was a loyal friend and just crazy enough to fight a losing battle. Ronnie would get drunk one night and run up and down the halls buck naked, making everyone laugh as Aaron banged on the floor, yelling for them to shut up; the next night he would carry a pipe and pretend to be an English gentleman at dinner.

  Ronnie went on, “And from what I could tell, the killing was particularly brutal. As a doctor, of course, I found that interesting although shocking, as well. Stabbed, were they?”

  They hadn’t released the cause of death, but Tina nodded, “One was. Another was stabbed differently, with sticks.”

  “Morbid. Sticks, indeed. What on earth kinds of drugs do these young people use now? I wonder at one who would go to so much trouble to stab with the sticks. And everyone was terrified, I imagine. What a shock.”

  “Drugs?” Tina asked.

  “Well, no one would do such a thing unless he were on drugs or had escaped from an asylum, right? I mean, your department must have decided the same as it’s only logical.”

  Tina made noted and leaned forward and asked, “What kinds of drugs would cause this?”

  Ronnie pretended to think, “Of all the stuff the young people are using, heroin comes to mind. Yes, a drug user. Maybe a transient: someone flittering through town and using drugs. We supposed that very thing when we read about the case in the paper, isn’t that right, David.”

  David suppressed a laugh and forced a very serious face. “We did. The doctor said it right then: he felt there was some drifter using drugs who did this.”

  Wearing decades-old suits was ridiculous to David, and although he didn’t care that Ronnie wore them, he did feel that the clothing was pushing the limits however and might get them caught. Still, it was funny as hell.

  “That’s interesting, and something we’ll follow up.” Tina decided right then to check on buses and ask around about drifters, checking with hotels and rooming houses. She asked the obligatory questions, hoping the doctor might have more ideas.

  The women noted the suit didn’t fit Ronnie well but guessed that starting as a doctor, he was too poor for better suits just yet. Tina thought it was amazing how young he looked to be a doctor and wanted to ask what secrets he had for staying so young looking but didn’t want to pry.

  Ronnie excused himself as Lucy sauntered into the room.

  David wanted to rub his temple and just cry but that wouldn’t do, so he smiled too brightly. “Lucy, the officers are making a courtesy call to follow up and find out if anyone has seen anyone lurking around.”

  Lucy, wearing a sweater set twenty years out-of-date and a slim skirt, posed in front of the fireplace, making the other two women look at her, puzzled. It was if she thought she were on a movie set.

  “It’s a cruel world we live in,” Lucy said “and have you made an arrest and found the coopert?”

  Vivian and Tina decided she meant culprit. Tina said no they had not.

  “Yes, it is. Have you seen anything unusual, ummm, Lucy?” Tina only had her first name. She wondered at the relationships here. David and the doctor were neither handsome but were decent looking. Lucy was a confusing sort. Her clothing was expensive but outdated and much too tight, and her hair was carefully coiffured and pinned up in an elaborate style, but inexpertly as if she had taken hours to copy a picture as well as she could.

  She was overweight but didn’t carry the weight in a way that indicated that she knew that. The make up looked muddy and was way too heavy for her puffy face, again as if she had used pictures to copy and as if it weren’t washed off between applications. Lucy’s eyes were dull and a little mean looking; she looked to be low class.

  “Seen anything?”

  “Like strangers or unkempt sorts?”

  “No, but we keep to ourselves with the renner-vations.”

  Tina frowned a little. “I see. Have you been here long?” Polite conversation. Tina was ready to get this finished so they could go on and interview the rest on their list and call it a day.

  This was a waste of time except that this woman was funny looking and odd acting and was future fodder for laughter with Vivian. “A while. David just swept me off my feet, and I knew at once he was the greatest guy in the world, so I had to hang onto him for dear life. He’s a real star. He’s the best. He’s my prince.”

  David blushed.

  “Sometimes, we meet someone and know it’s right automatically,” Vivian said, but she was thinking of Virgil, the older deputy with wild, new ideas and big dreams, whom she had known for only a few days. Her face went hot, too, and she noticed Tina grinned at her, knowing.

  “Love at first sight and we’re like that Romeo and Julietta and are meant to be together. Forever,” Lucy raved on.

  “That didn’t have a very positive ending though,” Tina mused.

  “Well, I don’t recall the details, but they were rather happy, I think. We’ll have a wonderful ending anyway, but we’re beginning, so it ain’t an ending. So, what else can we do for you? Would you like a martini?”

  Vivian’s eyes went wide, “Oh, no. Thank you, but we’re on duty.”

  “Just as well since I think we’re out of olives. David and I adore martinis in the evening though, don’t we? Ain’t it olives you put in martinis? I mean isn’t it?”

  David shrugged, “Ummm. Sure.” He dared an apologetic look at the officers. He winced as her true vocabulary burst out, and she went back into character. She was still not attractive, raw at her edges, ill educated, mean at times, and low class, no matter what she wore or how she spoke. She collected newspapers and read about the murder investigation endlessly, and those papers were stacked willy-nilly all over the coffee table and floor. Over by the fireplace was a stack of towels she half-heartedly folded and failed to put away, and on another table were two dirty glasses.

  David felt his control slipping and a sudden irritation at Lucy, Ronnie, and Stan.

  How had Lucy let the place get so dirty? Had he not explained over and over that the house should be kept clean? Didn’t she understand from her past about filth and the trouble it brought? She was acting more cartoonish than Ronnie and was downright embarrassing.

  Martinis?

  “So, we have David and father, Aaron, Doctor Estell, Lucy, all who are living here?” Tina couldn’t wait to get back to the car and laugh out loud at this nutty woman.

  David ignored Lucy’s giggle, “And Stan. Lucy’s…ummm…b
rother. My guests.”

  “A doctor?” Lucy giggled again as she said the word doctor.

  Tina made a note, “Got it. Okay, well, if you’ve seen nothing and have nothing to add….”

  “Truck drivers.”

  Vivian stopped counting how many crumpled blankets were thrown in a basket and over a chaise. While old, this room would be pretty if straightened up some. Clutter and dust were gathering on the crystal baubles on the fireplace mantle. The windows were smudged, and a faint odor of pipes, cigarettes, and cigars was still there.

  Had she heard Lucy right? “I’m sorry. What about trucks?”

  Lucy put some gum in her mouth and began to chew as she rolled her eyes, thinking: “Not the trucks. I mean truck drivers. They’re all rotten fools. Have you ever met one that was solid and behaved while out on the road? They drink a lot, too. Always looking to pick up young gals at the truck stops and diners like they’re some kind of hawks or vultures.”

  “I don’t suppose I’ve thought about it,” Vivian said.

  “Bad. All bad.”

  “And you wanted to add that?” Tina asked, flummoxed.

  David suppressed his rage with Lucy. “Lucy, you’re rambling. I’m sure these officers don’t want to hear your pet peeves.”

  “Peas? What are you talking about? Why would anyone have peas as pets? Cats maybe. Do you mean pea plants? Pet peas make no sense, David. What are you on about now?”

  David took the opportunity and said, “Come along, honey, and let’s get you settled in the den. You’re tired.” He gave Vivian and Tina an apologetic look and hustled Lucy out of the sitting room and into the cluttered den, tucking her in a chair and turning on a television show she liked, glaring at her and telling Ronnie to make sure she stayed there.

  Ronnie gave David a nod and seemed to know this was a serious situation. David vowed to himself that if Stan appeared acting just as crazy, he’d just beg the law officers to shoot him and be done with it.

  David returned to find Tina still sitting and looking around and Vivian on her feet, looking at pictures among the dusty relics on the mantle. “Your family?”

  David smiled, “Yes.”

  “Your father?”

  “And grandfather. They were in the medical area, but I didn’t follow in their footsteps. I was army.”

  Vivian tilted her head and asked,

  “You served? Saw action?”

  “I did.”

  “Bless you. That’s scary, and you were brave to be in a war that we had no business being involved in….” Vivian stopped. “I apologize. I meant to say thanks for your service. These are nice pictures. Oh, here is one from when you enlisted.”

  “Officer….”

  “Vivian, please.”

  “Vivian, I am sorry for Lucy’s behavior. Her brother Stan is a dear friend, and Lucy has it in her head that she and I are in a relationship. Stan felt bringing her here was a last resort for her sanity. Her mind is very…let’s say confused,” David said.

  “And is your father consulting?”

  David latched on to that, “Yes, Yes he is. He wasn’t a doctor of the mind, but he’s a smart man even though he is ill. He and Doctor Estell are working to bring the poor girl some peace.”

  “That explains Doctor Estell having to live here all the time; between her and then your poor father, he must be busy.”

  “Exactly. Stan brought her here, as I said, desperate, ” David went blank until he thought of a story he loved, “but it’s a family malady. It’s been passed down through generations, and their parents are both dead now. It’s just Lucy and Stan,” he almost said Madeline and Roderick!

  “How sad.”

  “They could have stayed home, and Stan would have watched her become worse, but here, she can work with the doctors and at least be safe and comfortable.”

  “You’re a good friend,” Tina told him.

  “They’re a good family, but she had a few years away from home and suffered abuse, and that made her mental state much worse. She sometimes acts out those bad times, I think, and she forgets who she really is.”

  “I hope things get better,” Tina said as she shook his hand.

  Vivian followed suit, wondering at this strange life, but it wasn’t her business, and she had a more important job to do. With regret, she left the great house, sorry that she couldn’t explore all of it and see all the rooms. What secrets the place must hold!

  The house did hold secrets.

  David let Ronnie explain to Lucy why she had acted inappropriately, and then he had left them alone, saying he needed some time to himself. Ronnie and Lucy sulked even as they apologized and then caught Stan up on the news. All three said they would clean up, but David waved off the promises.

  He walked over to the basement, went inside, and locked the door, checking it twice to make sure no one could follow him. He trusted his friends, so that wasn’t it, but it was that he had to be sure he was safe and alone down below. Lucy and the guys would never judge him for these secrets, but it would take a long time to explain, and sometimes it was best to have no one know about the basement.

  The staircase was as well built and sturdy as any upstairs, built wide, strong, and secure long ago and kept maintained. David hurried down to the central level that was dry and clean. Boxes were stacked neatly on shelves, trunks were full of various items and mothballs and unused, but good furniture sat everywhere.

  A wall of shelves slid to the side as David pressed on a small button, something that most would over-look. He opened that door and locked it behind him.

  Various store rooms, some filled with boxes and some empty, were a labyrinth he knew well. Some of the rooms had closets set into them, and within a few were hidden doors, one of which he opened to a hidden chamber. There wasn’t much in this room except for a chair and a table, a kerosene lamp, some food, water, batteries and a flashlight kept up to date and fresh, and a few books.

  David sat in the chair; the leather fit his body like glove, but it had once fit his father’s form, and before that, his grandfather’s, and before that, his great grandfather’s. This was a place of memories.

  He was told that in the far corner, but which he had never examined, were the buried remains of three black men, lynched and forgotten, buried and never mourned. It had something to do with when his great grandfather was a young man, and the black boys had helped out his great grandfather’s fiancée with her horse that was slipping and sinking on a muddy road.

  It was said that one of the boys had looked in the eyes of the young lady a second too long and frightened her. She dramatically recalled the story to David’s great grandfather, and he took action.

  Her body was there as well although buried a long time later than those of the black boys. Great Grandfather married her and later, it was said she ran off with a tinkerman, garnering David’s great grandfather tremendous sympathy and her family so much distain that they left town. Aaron said he had examined her skull and seen the hole the fireplace poker made.

  Maybe her penchant for drama and her ability to draw men to her aid were her downfall.

  David’s bloodline was not of that union, but of great grandfather’s second marriage to a very young lady of excellent breeding and training and who was buried properly after she died of a heart condition when she was well along in her years.

  The opposite corner had belonged to David’s grandfather, Nathan, the first doctor. Since his father Aaron had been so ill, David had excavated and found answers to questions about the family that his father didn’t wish to know. There was a good reason Aaron’s siblings vanished and were never seen again.

  Elizabeth had not run away but was buried in the soil of the room, her head crushed. Aaron’s brother, Joseph, hadn’t run away either; he was there: ribs broken and head bashed in.

  In addition, were several smaller skeletons and skulls that puzzled David for a long time, but he managed to figure out that messy, screaming babies didn’t live long in Natha
n’s home. Even more interesting were the bones from a dozen women and girls buried in the dirt and forgotten. Only by digging up some cheap jewelry and artifacts did David surmise that his grandfather had disposed of the bodies of prostitutes or lower-class girls, maybe runaways as well.

  David found it curious with this evidence: it seemed his grandfather had killed family as well as strangers.

  Many times, David sat in the chair, as the men in his family had before him, and looked at the dirt. Many times he thought about the family in the story he liked, the Ushers, the same family he used when he was speaking to those officers, and like that family, something was there that ran through the males in his own family. They liked things kept tidy, they liked order, and they killed those who disrupted their lives.

  It was precipitous that he met Ronnie, Stan, and Lucy that day in the woods when he made his first kill since Vietnam, and maybe it was God’s will although he wasn’t sure it wasn’t Satan’s will. He didn’t think about that too much. What mattered was that the killing of those boys, a week before, had ignited something in him, and he wanted to, in fact, needed to do it again.

  The case was big, and eventually he would make a mistake and be found out; he accepted that, but rather than stop and hope for the best, he would rather continue and live the life he was born into.

  As for Lucy and the boys, there would come a time when they would have to join the rest in the basement. That was a given. It wasn’t that he hated them because he loved them like family, and it wasn’t that they would rat him out because they wouldn’t. No, the fact of the matter was that like family, they had their place, and that place was here.

  Maybe even if he were caught, the bodies would remain hidden here, and that made David hopeful; his family business needed to remain private to keep from sullying the Gaither name.

  David looked at Aaron’s corner.

  David’s mother and sister were buried there. They hadn’t run away either, something down deep that David had always known. His mother had tried to run away and take her daughter with her but was stopped. A few small skeletons were buried there as well as two women with bad teeth and cheap jewelry that bespoke of prostitutes. But David found a most interesting body.