Brenda continued to sob as she picked her way through the photographs. She laid aside those of her parents and burnt those of her aunt.
“I’ve seen all I want to see here. I’ll never return. Jordan Garnett can arrange for the cabin to be given to those old folks. They can move in or let it out, whatever they wish. My emotions are in turmoil Molly, but I’m glad I came here; I felt close to Lucy.”
“Me too, honey, me too. Let’s go home.”
After some days they locked up the cabin and headed home. They returned to their Lincoln Park home more at ease within themselves and with hope in their hearts that some day they might find some semblance of peace.
“Molly,” said Brenda as they sat together in the kitchen some months later, “how would you like to have a vacation? I’m planning a trip and would love you to come along. I’m sure it would lift our spirits. I have to admit I did not think that reading Anna’s documents and visiting her cabin in Montana would have helped, but in a kind of way, they have.”
“Awesome! Yes indeed, a proper vacation would be good for us. I’d love that. The Montana trip wasn’t a vacation for either of us. What are you planning; a Caribbean cruise?”
“No, not a cruise; I would like to do Europe and visit places my parents visited on their honeymoon. Their photographs are amazing! I look at them regularly now, and wish so much to replicate that tour. When I was clearing out my father’s personal documents after his death I came across a holiday diary and pictures which I didn’t place much importance on at the time. I laid them aside to look at later and forgot about them until recently. It was a holiday diary of places that my parents visited on their European honeymoon with details of hotels, restaurants, places of interest. Seemingly, my mother adored Paris. I’d love to visit Paris. I’ve been looking on the Web. We can begin our tour at the end of next month. I have to go to the office, speak to Myra and the others, and fix some business stuff which I’ve been neglecting, and then we can go see Europe! Molly, do you think you are up to the travel?”
“I’m so excited! You try stopping me! I might be getting on a bit honey, but a change of scene will bring a new lease of life for me. But, hey, I have to get this house clean before we lock up. Those two girls! Never seen such sloppy work in all my born days! I’ll take charge of them and have this place spotless in no time. We can’t leave it in a mess. Every corner will be cleaned and locked up before we leave. Oh, I’m so excited!”
Brenda smiled to herself, knowing the two young helpers were in for a shock.
Poor kids! She chuckled as she pictured their reaction to the sudden change in Molly, who attacked the chores vigorously with renewed energy and fearsome zeal. They worked unrelentingly, fearing Molly’s sharp tongue, knowing no stone would be left unturned by the formidable housekeeper. Each area was cleaned, dust covers put in place, and the rooms locked for the duration of the vacation.
“What’s gotten into her?” whispered one of the helpers. “She sure scares me with her, ‘do this, do that’…”
***
Brenda arranged with Anna’s lawyer for the Montana cabin and contents to be given to Gus and Ellie Stiller to use as they wished. The couple were overcome at the generosity of the kind person who had suffered so much herself with the loss of her child and who had selflessly gifted the cabin to them.
“After all,” said Gus, “we were handsomely paid for the work we did, and it was never strenuous, but to be given the cabin. Wow! Such kindness. I had been thinking, Ellie, that now the old lady has died, our little bit of extra income would dry up. Not that we really needed it, but it did get a few luxuries.”
“Luxuries?” laughed his wife. “You mean extra baccy for that old smelly pipe of yours?”
***
From the sale of the estate Brenda instructed the lawyer to give substantial money to the gullible victims, the innocent people, who, when down on their luck had the misfortune to meet Barclay Ellis-Jones and his accomplices and be drawn into his cruel money-lending scheme, consequently becoming unwilling participants in the despicable crime of Lucy’s abduction and death. Jordan Garnett appeared unaware of the people mentioned by Brenda, but complied nevertheless with her wishes.
I must talk with young Edward to see if he can shed any light on the confusion around this will, he pondered. Brenda Mears, it seems to me, has suffered so much from the loss of her daughter that she is not thinking straight and appears quite perplexed. Poor woman.
***
Clara Blake who struggled daily with her limited income vowed never again to accept a loan regardless of her financial situation. Her wayward son, the cause of her financial dilemma some years earlier and now released from prison, had found employment in a nearby factory. He was determined not to re-offend. He had no wish to be deprived of his freedom again.
“Mom, I ain’t never going back to that jail; from now on, I’ll be the best kind of son for you. I sure learned my lesson in that hellhole.”
His mother, sorely affected by the death of young Lucy, whom she harboured for four days in order to have her debts cleared, often sobbed quietly, lost in her own thoughts.
***
Dale Greer’s widow, Cindy, continued to live with her parents. Her growing children put a strain on her income and overcrowding became problematic. The substantial cash gift from Anna’s estate helped to compensate in some way for the trauma she had been put through by the evil scheming of Barclay Ellis-Jones, resulting in her husband’s deep shame and consequent suicide. His despair at being unable to fend for his family when he lost everything during the banking crisis had tragic results for them all. The once gentle husband and father was reduced to a shadow of his former self and found solace and eventual death, through alcohol.
***
The past four years were for Ross S. Witherspoon fraught with despair. Any hope he had of becoming President of the United States was lost forever. He had been so close to fulfilling a lifelong dream, having been groomed for a high position all his days, culminating in being nominated as his party’s choice of candidate for the forthcoming election. He knew he had let everyone down, including the memory of his mentor, his late grandfather. Now his marriage survived only by a thread, the children being the link that held the fragile relationship together. He moved physically and emotionally as far from the political scene as he could, settled in a quiet location, where, after some initial inquisitiveness from neighbours, slowly resumed some kind of semblance of home life. The death of the daughter he never knew had a profound effect on him. The circumstances of her tragic end left an emptiness and deep sorrow in his soul. In an attempt to salve his conscience he wrote to Brenda Mears. She did not reply.
CHAPTER 12
The combined USA and UK squads discussed the gruesome case over lunch. Carole Carr intimated that they most definitely had to consider the deaths of the two men as revenge for the horrific deaths in Chicago four years ago as no other reason could be fathomed for the horror that confronted them.
“Several people could be involved, each with their own reason to seek revenge for their loss,” she told the Scottish squad, who as yet were no nearer solving the case that had become a complete mystery. Rab McKenzie asked his visiting colleagues to discuss each possible suspect and bring him up to speed.
“You folks know these people better than we do. Lead on and let’s talk about each one in depth. We’ll put our heads together and do a bit of brainstorming. You guys may be too close to the situ and my team may possibly see things from a different angle.”
Harvey listed everyone he could think of who had been directly affected by the demise of Lucy Mears and those travelling with her. Who could possibly seek retaliation for their loss?
“Carole and I spoke with Lucy’s mom and housekeeper some weeks before we left to come here. We can safely discount those two women. They just want to get on with picking up the thread
s of their shattered lives. In spite of their loss, they would not have the courage or strength to kill anyone. At present they are touring Europe. Brenda gave me her itinerary should I need to contact her. She suffered so much from her aunt’s crazy plot based on a revenge scenario. I don’t think she would be involved in such evil even though, now here’s a thought, she does have enough mega bucks to put out a contract on her daughter’s killers.”
“We can dismiss that idea,” interrupted his deputy. “I’m sure she won’t want to open up any more wounds. As for Molly Kelly, the poor woman has aged considerably and doesn’t have the best of health. I was surprised to hear she had embarked on such a strenuous tour.”
“Are you saying then,” asked Rab, “that we discount the notion of the mother putting out a contract? I don’t know the person. Is she likely to be so spiteful?”
Harvey assured them that in his opinion, and he was an astute judge of character, Brenda Mears in spite of everything that had happened was not vindictive.
“What about the girlfriend? Didn’t George North have a girl he was planning to marry? Would she avenge her lost love?” asked one of the Scottish team.
Carole said, “She certainly had a double loss, her boyfriend, and Lucy whom she had known from birth and helped to rear. She was depressed before their loss, and not knowing where they had gone and with the finger of guilt pointing at her fiancé, she was one tense lady. Like the others, she was traumatised after the plane crash, which she witnessed. She never came to terms with what she saw as George’s betrayal and took off to work in the Florida Keys. She could no longer live in the apartment they shared, but is it worth chasing her up for interview?”
“Let’s not discount anyone at this stage,” added Harvey, “although I doubt if she would exact revenge. She doesn’t seem the type.”
“No such thing, Tony, as a stereotype killer, as you are always telling our squad. Look at Anna Leci. Who would have taken her as a ruthless schemer?”
“Hey, yeah, Carole, but Anna Leci did not plan to kill anyone, did she? She was the mastermind of the abduction plot. From what we know, Lucy was to be returned home the night of the crash. It was our two scumbags who did the killing by sabotaging the plane. Yeah, I agree we don’t overlook Nora Kelly. I’ll call HQ at CPD and send a couple of our folks to the Florida Keys to speak with her, but I’d be mighty surprised if she was involved in any way in a macabre murder, miles from her home. But, hey, you can never tell. This case has thrown up so many mysteries and twists and turns over the years, so I guess we should be prepared for anything.”
Within a few days two CPD detectives flew from Chicago O’Hare to Key West Airport and located Nora Kelly. She had settled to a new life and found love with Peter, one of the hotel receptionists.
“Peter has helped me put the past behind. I’ll never forget dear Lucy or George. My mom told me the contents of Anna Leci’s letter, explaining his involvement in Lucy’s abduction. It sure helped a lot to know he wasn’t a bad guy, just weak. Everyone thought he was the abductor but he had just gotten himself caught up in a situation he couldn’t get out of. He was too proud to ask for help with his financial troubles and he got caught up in a sordid money-lending scheme which had disastrous results. If only he had confided in me.”
Her voice softened, “Now, I have to move on with life. I miss my mom, but talk to her every day. I can’t live there in Lincoln Park ever again: Too many ghosts, too many memories.”
The detectives spent several hours with Nora Kelly and concluded that she had no part in the gruesome deaths of Alfred Wysoki or Barclay-Ellis Jones. They relayed this information to their superior.
***
George North’s sisters were contacted for interview. They were together in Wisconsin celebrating Jessica’s birthday, when detectives called at the latter’s home.
“This is fortunate to have you both together,” said one of the officers as both Jessica and the diminutive Mary-Lou invited them into the house. “I hope we’re not disturbing the festivities.”
“Not at all Detective; we had the party last week and Mary-Lou decided to stay on a bit. I must say, we were saddened to hear of George’s death and stunned to hear details of his part in a kid’s abduction. We sure were surprised at that, and then a nice detective lady called to give us some more information about why he did what he did. Seems he was afraid of some rich lady who threatened him, made him keep quiet about some kid’s abduction. Poor brother George, and to think we’ll never see him again.”
“Yeah,” chipped in the younger sister, “it sure helped to clear things up for us, but oh, what a tragic end for our brother. My son George, named for my brother, was real angry like when he heard about his Uncle George’s involvement with a missing kid and wanted to change his name. ‘I won’t be named after a man like that,’ he told me. ‘I’ll use my middle name, yeah, and from now on you can call me Jerome after my dad’s father, yeah, Jerome.’.”
The Chicago detectives explained the reason for the visit. The sisters sat spellbound as they listened to the horrors that took place long after their brother’s death. It was obvious to the visiting cops that these two petite ladies had no hand in the Scottish murders. Other than visiting each other, the duo never set foot outside their immediate neighbourhood.
“Well, I hope you find the bad guys, Detectives. I wouldn’t like to think they were still out there somewhere, killing folks.”
On the return journey, the detectives commented on the visit.
“Such sweet little ladies!”
“Hey, sweet little ladies can be deceiving. Remember the play, and the film, Arsenic and Old Lace, the comedy where two sweet little ladies, like the two we have just left, murdered lonely old men by poisoning them with homemade elderberry wine laced with arsenic? You can’t always trust sweet little ladies!”
“Well, I sure hope there was nothing in that coffee we drank back there,” laughed the detective. “Mind you, you do have a kind of strange paleness about you, Zak.”
“That’s because of your crazy driving. Slow down man.”
***
Clara Blake, grateful to receive a considerable amount of money from Anna Leci’s lawyer, moved to a more attractive area. She assured detectives she had no knowledge of the criminals and had certainly played no part in their deaths.
“Can’t say I’m sorry to hear they are out of harm’s way… When I think what they put me through, and my poor kid when he was in juvie… They had their thug friends beat him to a pulp to get at me. They were evil, pure evil.”
Her description of the crooks that came to her door demanding repayment of her debt, and that of the sweet-talking guy whom she met in the pub all those years ago, confirmed the identities of Alfred Wysoki, Les Soubry and Barclay Ellis-Jones and went a long way in helping detectives in their investigations. She had given them their first real lead into the loan-shark business set up by the trio and set the authorities on the right track in gathering evidence against the villains.
“I felt real bad about the kid’s death. She was a sweet, pretty kid. I hated what I had to do, but I had no choice but to hide her at my home for a few days until someone collected her. I was supposed to give her some kind of drug from a vial, but I drew the line at that and kept it hidden. When the cops caught up with me, as I knew they would, I handed it over. From what they told me, they were able to trace where it had come from, so I don’t feel so bad now. I never knew what it was all about until I read about the airplane crash. Hey, I wish I’d never met those scum moneylenders, they ruined my life. Those thugs were so scary… They’ve got what they deserve. I can’t say I’m sorry for their end. I have nightmares when I think of that poor kid in the plane crash. Her poor mom. What she must have gone through! The money has helped me get on my feet. At first I thought of it as some kind of blood money, but those loan sharks caused me hell on earth and my fami
ly deserved better. I can buy my granddaughter designer clothes now without kids questioning her about where she got them from, like they did when I gave her Lucy’s stuff. They were too good to burn, like they told me to do, so I had them cleaned real nice like, and gave them to my own little Sara. She had a hard time at school when she turned up in Lucy’s cast-offs when the kids there knew how poor her mom and grandma were. We had to make up lies about the stuff coming from a relative who had outgrown them.”
***
Dale Greer’s widow, Cindy, agreed to talk to the detectives on discovering the reason for their request. She had moved to a spacious house near her parents’ home. As she tended her garden, a source of solace to her, officers arrived to speak with her. She wiped the soil from her hands and directed them to a shady part of the garden.
“You don’t mind sitting here, do you? It’s such a lovely day and it would be a shame to sit indoors.”
As she poured cold drinks she spoke of the past few years.
“Things were becoming tense. Living with my folks was stressful for us all. They deserve their privacy at their age. Me and the kids have been grateful for a place to stay these past years, but it was time to move on.”
She continued, “The boys need their growing space and I need a place to call home. It was nothing short of a miracle when that cheque arrived from the lawyer. At first I was unsure of accepting money from the woman who indirectly caused my Dale to end his life, but when I looked at my folks and saw the strain on their faces, I thought, what the heck, we all deserve better.”
While Cindy Greer loathed the people who caused the desperate situation she and Dale had found themselves in, she had no more desire to kill Barclay Ellis-Jones or Alfred Wysoki than she had to eliminate the bankers who caused the initial crisis resulting in her and Dale losing every dollar they possessed.
“Why beat yourself up about something you can’t change?” she said, parting from the detectives who were satisfied with her interview.
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