Cliff nodded. "You boys did alright. I'll take care of her and find her parents. Just get your brother and get on home."
"Yes sir," Johnny answered with uncharacteristic respect in his voice. He glanced at the girl then, picked up his gear, and headed toward the Davidson house, leaving Officer Bennett alone with the quiet girl.
"You okay there? You hurt?" he questioned, concern in his voice. She shook her head, and he came closer. She looked unharmed, maybe a little dirty and cold. She appeared to be about eight or nine years old and wore a man's striped T-shirt and no pants, and her feet were bare. She had what might have been a small blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
"I'm Officer Bennett, but you can call me Cliff. What's your name?" he asked her kindly as he took off his jacket and wrapped it around her small body. The girl blinked up at him with large brown eyes.
"Joann," she whispered.
"Nice to meet you, Joann. Are your parents around here?" he asked, looking around. He didn't see any sign of anyone else nearby. "Were you all at the Davidsons?"
"It's just me," she answered.
“Well, okay then. How about a ride in a police car? We can get you nice and warm, how about it?” he asked her.
She nodded, stood, and they walked back to the car together. He opened the door for her to sit in the front passenger seat. Kids always loved sitting up there. He got himself settled in, turned the car around, and called dispatch to let them know he was headed back to the station. The wife would have to wait awhile longer.
Joann was taken to the station and questioned many times about where she had come from and how she'd ended up out on route 39 all alone. She never had any answers. In fact, she couldn't remember anything but her name. Concerned about what could have caused this memory loss, she was taken to Doctor Tucker.
He could find no evidence at all of physical trauma. She had some very minor abrasions to her feet from not having shoes on and a small red area on her back that wasn't serious. This, he speculated, might just have been a mild allergic reaction to some plant she had come into contact with where they'd found her. Certainly, it wasn't causing memory loss. He suggested that it was mental trauma and that they not probe her further as recovering such memories could be devastating to her psyche.
Over the next months Officer Bennett made call after call to the surrounding areas and requested missing persons reports, but no one was looking for a girl with Joann's description. Several photos were taken of Joann, her minor injuries, and the few things she was found with; he sent copies of these around as well, but still no one was missing her.
During this time she was being fostered by the Derby family. They had a small business and a storefront where they sold handmade soaps, and were known in the community for their kindness. They had no children before Joann came to them. No one was surprised that they fell in love with the smart and quiet girl and adopted her as quickly as they were able.
Joann maintained excellent grades. She was never in any serious trouble although she did date David Halsey, one of the boys known to be part of the Hooligans. She participated in town events, and she worked in the soap store for her adopted parents after school and on weekends. She never once, to anyone, said a word about her life before Officer Bennett found her on route 39. No one ever came forward looking for her either. It was as if she had appeared out of thin air.
Despite the urging of her peers, Joann did not go away to college. Instead, she stayed in Raven Hills, taking a larger responsibility in her parents' soap shop. She could be found there on any given day, seemingly happy to help them maintain the small business. Until December 1990, when she went missing and was never seen again in Raven Hills.
Officer Bennett, now Lieutenant Bennett, who had found Joann as a little orphan, was now investigating her disappearance. However, there were no clues as to her fate. There was no evidence of a struggle. As best as could be determined, there was nothing missing from her belongings.
Joann Derby had vanished from the town of Raven Hills as suddenly as she had appeared.
Chapter Eleven
Lieutenant Bennett was a man in his early seventies, with deep lines etched into his forehead and two kind blue eyes. Although advanced in age, he was a brawny individual who probably still worked out regularly.
“I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me,” Lacey said, as she finished writing in her journal. Joann Derby’s story was a fascinating one, and she was thankful Bennett still remembered the details after all these years. She supposed that finding an abandoned girl in the woods would remain vividly ingrained in someone’s memory forever.
His office was a small, dusty room, and it reminded her of Mister Pert’s cluttered mess. The police station was an old building, sitting on the same street as New Hope Church. Lacey could tell that just like the church, this building was very much part of Raven Hills’ history. She appraised the black and white pictures hung on Bennet’s walls. They depicted the town as an early settlement, together with a little bridge crossing a creek, the original structure of New Hope Church, and even what appeared to be a photograph of the town’s elders taken in the early nineteen hundreds. Their faces were long and somber, each telling a thousand stories.
For a moment, Lacey felt a small pang of sadness for Raven Hills. Maybe it was a strange town that attracted bad luck, with all the gruesome murders and disappearances, but after all, this was home to these people. Raven Hills had character, although it seemed disturbed and twisted in a strange sort of way.
“Got any more questions for me, Miss Shaw?” Bennet’s voice pulled her back to the present moment.
“One more, actually,” Lacey said, tapping on the cover of her leather journal. “Do you keep evidence from any of these cases anywhere? I’ve talked to several witnesses, and I’d love to snap some pictures of the evidence associated with the stories.”
Lieutenant Bennet gave her an inscrutable glance. “Police evidence is not to be tampered with. I am afraid that information isn’t available to the public.”
“Except these are cold cases,” Lacey countered, showing she knew a thing or two about researching crime stories left unresolved or officially closed. “Therefore everyone can inquire about them.”
He raised an eyebrow at her, a scolding expression at her impertinence. It didn’t bother her. He almost reminded her of her own dad, with those bushy brows furrowed over fatherly eyes. “I appreciate your interest in keeping Raven Hills alive. We have a sense of protection over our own, you see.”
She nodded, still waiting for him to disclose the location where they kept the records. He remained silent, offering only an evasive smile.
“Very well, then,” she sighed and stood from her chair. She tucked her journal under her arm. “Looks like I’ll have to find out on my own.” She returned his smile, more determined than ever.
She went to leave, but stopped at the door and turned to him. “One more thing, Lieutenant.”
“Yes?”
“Does the name Brian Ovelli ring a bell to you?” she asked.
“Not at all,” he replied, but she didn’t miss the furtive twitch of his eye. “Never heard of him.”
The temperature rose as the day crept closer to noon. Lacey walked toward Saddle Inn, thoughts of little Joann floating in her head.
Lost in her mind, she crossed the street from where the police station stood, nearly getting run over by a large red truck that slammed on its brakes. Snapping out of her stupor, she stopped short and dropped her journal to the ground.
“You okay?” the driver asked, swinging open the truck door and coming out to check on her.
Lacey looked at the tall guy and recognized him immediately. It was William, one of the patrons she had met in the lobby of Saddle Inn.
“Yeah, sorry, I was distracted,” she assured him. She bent down to pick up her journal, but he beat her to it.
“Here.” He offered her the journal and she took it gratefully. “What’s gotten you so distract
ed then?”
She noticed his wide smile and now standing so close to him, she appraised his features. His dark hair curled at the nape of his neck, and his eyes were a deep steel gray.
“Uhm, just wrapped up in some notes about the town,” she replied, hoping she hadn’t been staring at him for too long before answering.
“That’s right,” he remembered. “You’re covering a story hoping to save us all.”
She chuckled. “You make me sound like a superhero.”
“Well, it seems fitting. Sometimes I think Raven Hills is a supernatural town.”
She thought about that for a second. “Indeed, some inexplicable things have happened here.”
Willian nodded and looked past her, as if the horizon could either confirm or deny that thought. “Our history is one of a kind.”
Since William seemed one of the friendliest, not to mention best looking, of the townspeople, she tried her luck. “I was wondering if you know where Bennett keeps case evidence. I’d love to take a peek.” She held her breath as his gray eyes returned their attention to her.
“The library has a sectioned-off area where most of the old records are kept. I believe Bennett keeps evidence there.”
Lacey couldn’t believe her good luck. “The library, huh?”
“Yeah, it doubles as a records building. Deputy Morris is stationed there to keep everything running and organized.”
“Oh,” Lacey replied, her luck possibly changing that very second. More than likely Deputy Morris wouldn’t allow her to poke around the evidence or records.
“Want a lift there?” William asked, a new shiny smile appearing on his face. “I’m heading to the shop to pick up some new hiking gear anyway. We’ll pass the library.”
“I’d love that,” Lacey answered.
He held the truck door open for her, and as she went to climb in his cherry red 1971 Chevy Cheyenne, something caught her attention.
With her gaze falling on the side of the road, she recognized a familiar object half buried under the dirt. She moved away from the truck and walked toward it.
“What’s that?” William called after her.
She knelt down, grabbed the object, and twirled it in her fingers. It was a ballpoint pen, the shiny white surface scratched and dirty, but the printed blue logo of Crestwater Press still visible.
"This pen belongs to my company. I work for Crestwater Press,” she said, William walking over to her.
“You must have dropped it with your journal a minute ago,” he replied.
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t bring any of these pens with me.”
As she climbed into his truck, the pen still clutched in her hand, she refrained from voicing her nagging suspicion. If the pen wasn’t hers, then there was only one person it could belong to.
Brian.
Now more than ever, she suspected Brian had indeed stayed in Raven Hills. If that was true, how would no one in this town know of him? Or worse yet, why did they hide the fact he’d been there at all?
Chapter Twelve
Raven Hills Public Library sat on the opposite side of town, but William and Lacey arrived in no time. She supposed that living in a small town had its perks: no rush hour traffic, no lengthy trips to pick up a bread loaf or a jug of milk. Everything was reachable within minutes.
William parked his Chevy on the dirt road snaking outside the little library, given that there was no official parking lot.
They climbed out of the truck and walked toward the library’s small wrap around porch. The building was made out of bricks, its rusty red facade covered in climbing ivy. It was a quaint edifice reminding Lacey more of an eighteen century home than a public amenity. William opened the front door, a single wooden entry with an iron knob. A small metal plate was nailed to it: Raven Hills Public Library Circa 1920.
Once inside the lobby, Lacey observed the interior. The wooden flooring creaked under their steps, and the wallpapered walls were cluttered with several paintings, much like the ones in Lieutenant Bennett’s office. Like his, these too depicted several early scenes, mostly hand painted and some in black and white photographs, of the town’s early settlers. There were also several sets of blueprints up on display.
A thin glass desk waited in front of them but no one was there to greet us.
“Officer Morris is around here somewhere,” William began.
Lacey nodded, but her attention snagged on a small area opening to the right of the lobby. The room walls donned a different but same floral motif paper, but here only a small glass case sat in the middle of the area. She approached it, carefully analyzing the object protected inside of it. It was a book slightly larger than her journal, and much older by the looks of it. The spine bulged out with popped and fraying stitches, and the old leather cover seemed tattered and scratched. She looked at the small plate stuck to the case. It read, “Family heirloom donated by the Jane Dearing estate.”
She sensed William walk behind her. “What’s this?” she asked.
“Our town’s oldest artifact,” he explained. “It belonged to one of the town’s early settlers: the Haas family. It was donated by the Dearing family.”
Lacey recalled the first case she had researched. Policemen had combed the Dearing residence carefully the night of Jane’s disappearance and Virginia Kyle’s murder. They had found this book and decided to donate it to the library in Jane’s remembrance.
She craned over the glass case to inspect the book more carefully, and indeed if she looked hard enough, the word Haas showed embossed on the faded cover.
“Are any of them around anymore?”
“Sadly, no,” William replied. “The three early settlers were the Bennetts—as in Lieutenant Bennett’s family—the Haases, and the Davidsons.”
Lacey straightened up at the mention of one of the families. “Do the Davidsons own most of Raven Hills’ property? The family name has come up quite a bit during my research.”
“Most of it, yes.” William smiled and then looked at the book. “But the only thing we really have left from the early settlers is this book. We are thankful to have such an old keepsake from one of the families.” He pointed to the book in the display.
“So what’s it about? A family bible or something?” Lacey asked, intrigued. She felt a strong pull to the book, and her fingers ached to run the length of the old cover. She loved antiques and history, and the book seemed a perfect piece of the past.
“It’s written in old Germanic, so were are not able to read it,” William explained. “The Haases came from a small town in Germany before settling in Raven Hills.”
Lacey nodded and noticed a man in uniform cross the lobby and join them in this area.
“Deputy Morris,” William greeted. “Nice to see you.”
Deputy Morris shook William’s hand, while his other one was occupied with a half eaten sandwich. A large mustard stain discolored his uniform shirt.
“I’m Lacey Shaw,” Lacey introduced, extending her own hand to the man. She flashed him a large smile, hoping to coax the man to let her poke around.
Deputy Morris appraised her with curious, beady eyes, then took a large bite of his sandwich. “Pleasure, miss,” he said, his mouth half full.
“Miss Shaw is a reporter from Crestwater Press. She’s running a story on Raven Hills,” William conveyed to the deputy. “She’d love to browse some of our records.”
“And some of the evidence from old, unresolved cases,” Lacey added quickly, eager to get to work and hoping the deputy would oblige.
He scrunched his brows instead, concern etching on his face. “Lieutenant Bennett sent you here?”
She hesitated a moment. “Well, no, not exactly.”
“Then no can do, miss,” the deputy announced, taking one huge, final bite of his sandwich. Lacey noted another splatter of mustard fall on his shirt. “Unless orders come directly from Lieutenant Bennett, no one is to cull through evidence.”
Lacey bit her cheek, frustrat
ion mounting. Written records and interviews were great, but she desperately wanted to look at some of the evidence these investigations had yielded.
“What about archives and genealogy records?” William wondered. “You can probably find a wealth of information in those.” His gray eyes set on Lacey.
“And we have a computer in the back of the library. Might be a bit slow and all, but it works just fine,” Deputy Morris added as he pivoted to look behind him. “We keep many archived records electronically now. Rose, the librarian, has been transferring old records into digital files.”
“Sounds great,” Lacey said with a smile. She didn’t want to waste this trip after all, and she hoped to find more valuable information about the town.
She began walking to the back of the library. William took the area to the left, saying he’d check for books on hiking. Deputy Morris took the right, where a large record office waited. With the record room’s door wide open, Lacey saw rows of file drawers and cabinets, in which most likely the evidence from all cases would be waiting. Before Deputy Morris disappeared inside the office, she called out to him.
“Deputy, one question,” she ventured. “Do you recall a recent visitor named Brian Ovelli?”
The man scratched his head, then replied. “No, doesn’t ring a bell, miss.”
“Thank you,” she said, her growing concern boiling to the surface.
Lacey found herself poring over stacks of old books. She had to admit Raven Hills’ history was strange but also fascinating. One of the books she had located on a narrow bookshelf was a photo album put together by hand. Inside, she flipped through the pages of old pictures. Most of them illustrated ladies in old, flowing dresses, and men with jackets, cravats, and always with a hat on their heads. Each photograph captured a moment in time, from days long gone but not forgotten. As she peered at the early town settlers’ pictures, their faces stared back at her, telling her they were very much still present in history.
Raven Hills- Unraveling Evil Page 4