Visions of Death

by B. T. Lord

  Reach for a dream that would never be realized out here in the Atlantic Ocean?

  He glanced again at Derek and wondered just where Mallory had sprung from. He’d only met Jada for less than a minute before she collapsed onto the floor, but he could already tell she was not Mallory’s model for style and sophistication. Nor by any stretch of the imagination was her father.

  He remembered as a child reading a book about changelings – a fairy child that was left in place of a human child stolen by the fairies. Is that what Mallory was? A fairy child left to be raised by salt of the earth people who made their living from the sea?

  If that were so, he wouldn’t have faulted her for railing against such a switch. A fairy realm existence traded in for an existence in a cottage that smelled of fish with a father who didn’t know much about his own daughter.

  “The Elegant Swan is only open during the summer season, isn’t it?”

  “Not much call among us locals to go buying those kinds of fancy clothes.”

  “What did she do during the fall and winter months?”

  “She was always on her computer, boning up on the next year’s fashions so she could be ready when mid-May rolled around, and the tourists started arriving. She loved clothes, you know. They were her life.”

  He choked on the last words and shoved his knuckles into his mouth as the tears began to flow.

  “We’ll find who did this to her, Mr. Angleton,” Ellis replied sympathetically.

  At that moment, Rhys came out of the bedroom and approached Derek. “I gave Jada a sedative. She should sleep through the night. If she comes to and needs me, give me a call.” He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  “Bring me back my little girl,” Derek gasped in agony.

  “If I could, I would. You know that. I’m so sorry for all of this.”

  Ellis added, “I’m going to need you to come to Dr. Rhys’s office and identify Mallory.” Derek looked as though he’d been slapped across the face. He stared up at Ellis in bewildered anguish. “I’m sorry, Mr. Angleton, but it’s a legal requirement. We’ll meet you there in about two hours.”

  The two men left the house and lingered at the doctor’s car.

  “What a horrible situation,” Rhys replied. “Who would do such a thing? Why do such a thing?

  “That’s what I’m hoping to find out.”

  Rhys looked at Ellis and noticed the pity in his eyes. “Are you alright?” he asked softly.

  The deputy nodded. “It never gets any easier no matter how many times I do this.” He slowly let out a breath. “What did you want to see me about?”

  “Mallory was a patient of mine. She came to see me two weeks ago.”

  “What was wrong with her?”

  “She hadn’t been feeling good, so I ran some tests.”

  “And?”

  He raised his eyes until they met Ellis’s. “She was pregnant.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Are you sure?”

  Rhys took out a piece of paper and handed it to him. “Those are the results of her pregnancy test.”

  Ellis scanned the contents. It was indeed positive.

  “Why didn’t her parents tell me?”

  “They didn’t know.” Ellis looked at him in astonishment. “As you can imagine, Mallory was beside herself when I gave her the news. She insisted I run the tests again to be sure. When I confirmed my original findings, she was so upset, she broke down in my office. She was an extremely private person, but in her distress, she opened up a little bit.”

  “What did she say?”

  “It was more a series of condemnations against her parents. I don’t quite know what she expected. Derek is very hardworking. He’s out just about every day before dawn working his tail off to support the family. Jada is an equally hard worker. Her paintings are finally finding an audience and she’s doing all she can to supplement the family income.”

  “Yet Mallory was upset at them?”

  Rhys nodded. “As an only child, I think she came to expect that the world revolved around her. When it didn’t, she became very insulting. It was almost as if what she perceived as their neglect of her is what led to the pregnancy.”

  “I guess she never heard of personal responsibility,” Ellis remarked.

  “Obviously not.”

  “She didn’t happen to tell you who the father of her baby was, did she?”

  “No.” He shrugged. “At least the pregnancy proved the rumors about her weren’t true.”

  “What rumors were those?”

  “As the only doctor on the island, I’m privy to all sorts of gossip and innuendo. The scuttlebutt around Eagla was that Mallory was gay.” Ellis raised a surprised eyebrow. “You saw how beautiful she was. Although she had several male friends, she was never linked romantically with any of them. Not through lack of trying on their part. She just never seemed interested.”

  “Well, she was obviously interested in at least one of them.” Ellis quickly caught Rhys’s eye. “Unless…”

  Rhys put his hand up. “She was more stunned than anything else. Having seen that reaction many times in my practice, I’d say she was either surprised that whatever birth control they’d used didn’t work, or she’d convinced herself she wouldn’t get pregnant.”

  “Famous last words. So what do you think prompted the gay rumors?”

  “Jealousy and envy on the part of her peers. Despite her humble home life, she appeared to have it all. Looks, sophistication, working at a very swanky store where she came in contact with the rich and famous. Some kids are intimidated by that and looked for ways to knock her down to size. Some of the more – shall we say – unenlightened teenagers probably thought telling people she was gay would do the trick.”

  “How did Mallory react? She must have heard the stories.”

  “In keeping with her low opinion of her own parents, I’d venture to guess she had an equally low opinion of the gossip and the people who started the gossip.”

  Ellis recalled the stack of fashion magazines in the young woman’s room, and the stylish clothes in the closet. It was easy to see how the local boys would pale in comparison to the way Mallory envisioned herself. Or the life she wanted.

  “How far along was she?”

  “She was nearing the end of her first trimester.”

  Ellis held up the piece of paper. “Can I keep this? I’m going to need to go back in there and deliver the news about her pregnancy before they hear it from someone else.”

  “That’s your copy.”

  “Rhys, how often did she come to see you?”

  “Three times. To get the initial exam, then to hear the results of the two tests I ran.”

  “Has anyone come to see you within the last week with any sort of injury to their hands?”

  “Fishermen are always getting injuries to their hands, what with hauling nets, gutting fish, etc. Why do you ask?”

  “I’ll need you to keep what I’m about to tell you under your hat. It hasn’t been released to the public.”

  “You have my word.”

  “Mallory’s eyes and mouth were sewn shut by what the ME believes may have been fishing line.”

  Rhys caught his breath. “Dear God.” He took a moment to compose himself before saying, “I’ll take a look at my records, but I don’t recall anyone coming in with that sort of injury.”

  “Just email me with your conclusions.”

  While Rhys walked towards his car, Ellis rang the doorbell. When Derek opened the door and saw who it was, his tear ravaged face darkened.

  “You gave me two hours,” he snarled.

  “I’m afraid some news has just come to my attention that can’t wait.” Derek eyed him suspiciously as he stepped aside and let Ellis in. “Why don’t we sit down?” the deputy suggested.

  “No. Best to tell me right here, right now.” Ellis handed the fisherman Rhys’s lab results. “What the hell is this?”

>   “They’re the results of a pregnancy test Mallory took two weeks ago. It’s positive.” Derek jerked his head up in surprise. “She was almost three months pregnant, Mr. Angleton.”

  “That’s impossible! She had no interest in any of the boys around here.”

  “She took the test twice. The results were identical.”

  Derek’s face suddenly paled. “Jesus in Heaven. Don’t tell me she was –”

  “Dr. Rhys believes it was consensual.”

  Derek took a step back and stared at the deputy in disbelief. Then, in one swift movement, he angrily crumpled up the paper and threw it in Ellis’s face. “Get out of my house,” he yelled in anger and grief. “You dare to come in here and insult my little girl’s memory with that goddamn lie. I knew they never should have hired a mainlander. I wouldn’t come to you to find my car keys. Now get out!”

  Ellis slowly picked up the paper and put it in his pocket. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Angleton.”

  Derek stepped forward as if to physically push the deputy out of his house. He caught himself, but not before hurling a curse at him, his body shaking with overwrought emotion.

  Knowing there was nothing he could do or say to ease the man’s anguish, Ellis quietly let himself out of the house. Just as he closed the door behind him, he saw a white van pull into the driveway.

  It was Forensics.

  He quickly strode over and intercepted Ana as she was climbing out of the driver’s side.

  “Hello, stranger,” she smiled. Seeing the look on his face, the smile instantly disappeared. “What’s wrong?” He quickly filled her in on what had just occurred. She nodded quietly.

  “Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll be as sensitive and diplomatic as humanly possible while still getting the job done.”

  Without thinking, he reached out and gave her upper arm a squeeze. She placed her hand over his and returned the gesture before stepping away. By the time she and her tech assistants were ready to enter the Angleton home, the mask of professionalism was firmly fixed in place.

  Ellis spent the next several hours interviewing the friends on the list Derek Angleton had given him. He interrupted the questioning long enough to drive to Rhys’s office for the identification of the body. At first, he wasn’t sure Derek would show up, knowing how much the man hated him in that moment. But after waiting an additional fifteen minutes, the fisherman finally arrived.

  “There’s something you need to know before you go in there,” Ellis said as he, Derek and Rhys stood outside the examining room where Mallory was lying on a table.

  “Haven’t you told me enough?” Derek replied.

  “I don’t want you to be shocked by what you see. Whoever did this to Mallory used fishing line to sew up her mouth and eyes.”

  Derek gasped and teetered on his feet. Ellis and Rhys reached out to help him, but he angrily batted their hands away.

  “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

  He remained impassively stone faced as Rob pulled back the sheet to reveal the mutilated face.

  “Is this your daughter Mallory?” Ellis asked.

  The fisherman gave an abrupt nod of his head before turning and hurrying from the room. A moment later, they heard the harsh sounds of vomiting.

  “I’d better go check on him,” Rhys said as he too hurried from the room. Rob replaced the sheet and turned to Ellis.

  “The boat is waiting to take us both to Portland. I’ll call you with the results of the autopsy as soon as I’m done.” He shook his head to himself. “Instead of remembering the little girl who clung to his hand and laughed in his arms, he’s going to remember this for the rest of his life. No father should ever have to experience that.”

  Returning with a heavy heart to his interviews, Ellis soon noticed how similar the stories were that Mallory’s friends shared with him. Each claimed they knew nothing about what had befallen the young woman after the party broke up. They’d all been drinking and dancing and having a good time, Mallory included. Nor could they come up with the name of anyone who would want to kill her. So far, the information regarding what was done to Mallory’s eyes and mouth hadn’t leaked out, though he knew it was only a matter of time before the islanders found out about it. As horrible as it was, it was just too juicy a detail to keep under wraps for very long.

  Keeping in mind Rhys’s description of Mallory’s snappish personality, he found himself surprisingly stonewalled when he asked them to describe her as a person. The most he could get out of them was that she loved her job, she loved clothes, was an expert at accessorizing and enjoyed writing her fashion blog. Any further probing produced a shrug and a noticeable shutting down.

  What didn’t surprise him was the reaction whenever he brought up Dara Clemons’s name. He’d already come to the conclusion that she was the island misfit. Her clothes, her looks, and her so-called psychic gifts marked her as different from the others. On an island where superstitious fears still lingered from a bygone era, a misfit like Dara was not welcomed with open arms. None of the young people he spoke to openly ridiculed her. But none praised her either. The most he could get out of the group was the fact that she was weird. It was up to Ellis to interpret that any way he wanted.

  By the time he reached the last name on the list, he’d come to the frustrating conclusion that, despite their outward appearance of trying to be helpful, none of Mallory’s friends had been completely honest with him. For reasons known only to themselves, they refused to reveal their true feelings about the murder victim, which left his investigative antennae vibrating. He hoped DeeDee Reid could provide the missing link.

  The Reid family lived in a small cul-de-sac several miles from the Angletons. Unlike most of the young people he’d visited that day, the Reids lived inland, away from the ocean. He knew Frank Reid owned a shop where he and two other mechanics worked on both boats and automotive vehicles.

  Their home showed their step-up in income. Rather than the small grey shingled houses he’d been walking into for most of the day, the Reids lived in a white three-story pseudo-farmhouse style home with a wraparound porch and a yard that was bigger than a postage stamp.

  Apparently, word had already gotten to the Reids that he was asking questions because Frank, Aggie and DeeDee Reid were waiting for him. Their younger son Frankie Jr. had been sent to the neighbors.

  Ellis was shown into a spacious living room where Aggie had already set out a tray with coffee and chocolate biscuits.

  “Would you like us to stay?” she asked DeeDee, who was sitting cross-legged on the couch. It was obvious she’d been crying; her light blue eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and she held onto a tissue as though it were a life preserver. What startled Ellis was the thick black eyeliner that had smudged, giving her the appearance of a distraught racoon. Dressed in black from head to toe, with her chestnut brown hair severely pulled back into a messy bun, she appeared melodramatic and a bit over the top.

  “That’s okay, Mom. I’ll be fine.”

  “This won’t take long,” Ellis explained. “I’m just trying to build a picture of Mallory. I may have some questions for you after I’m done with DeeDee.”

  “We’ll be in the kitchen. Just call out when you’re ready.”

  The two adults left the room, leaving the young woman and Ellis alone in the living room.

  “Would you care for some coffee?” she said as she leaned over to pour him a cup.

  “Thank you. I take it black.”

  “Mom made the biscuits. They’re really good. They have nuts in them though. In case you’re allergic.”

  “I’m not. But thank you for letting me know.” He took a sip of the coffee, savoring its tasty flavor. “How close were you and Mallory?”

  She raised her hand and laid her middle finger over her index finger. “Like this.”

  “What was she like as a person?”

  He prepared himself to hear the same speech about her clothes and fashion blog. He was therefor
e pleasantly surprised when DeeDee said, “She was great fun. She loved to laugh and have a good time. She could be very funny too.”

  “Did you notice any change in her behavior in the days leading up to her death?”

  DeeDee nodded. “Two weeks ago, she suddenly got real quiet. She was never quiet, you know. I didn’t think she knew how to be quiet. I instantly knew something was wrong when she wasn’t as effervescent as she usually was.”

  Ellis managed to hide his bemused smile. Effervescent? Really?

  “Did she tell you what was bothering her?”

  “She wouldn’t say. Whenever I asked, she said it was none of my –” DeeDee caught herself and finished with “—none of my concern. After a while, I just stopped asking.”

  Ellis did the calculations and realized that was around the time Mallory discovered she was pregnant.

  “What was weird,” DeeDee continued, “was that on the night of the bonfire, she was suddenly acting like her old self. Like whatever burden she’d been carrying had suddenly disappeared.” DeeDee sniffled into her tissue. “She looked happy.”

  “I heard these bonfires were a weekly event.”

  “We started them when we were all in high school. It gives us an opportunity to catch up with each other. They’ll probably end when we start getting married and having kids and become responsible adults.” She smiled slightly at her last words, no doubt a small dig at a refrain heard from her parents.

  “What do you do for work?”

  “I order parts and stuff at my dad’s garage.”

  “Did Mallory make it a habit of walking home alone after these bonfires?”

  “No. My boyfriend Tim and I usually picked her up and dropped her off after the party.”

  “What was different about that night?”

  “She told us she needed to think.” DeeDee gave an exaggerated sigh. “Sometimes she could be such a drama queen, you know? She’d get into these moods, like she needed to be alone to think out some problem or other. As if she was some kind of deep intellectual. I used to tease her about it.” She paused, then said, “The last thing she told me was that she’d call me in the morning and tell me all about it. Only she never did.” She cried into her tissue.