Ransom on the River: Deep River Inn

by Bettie Jane

  Enoch nodded. “It does. Pete, Mrs. Andersen here is acting Deputy for the moment. The Brix boy has gone missing and the Sheriff is ill, so he’s deputized her. Deputy Fisher is in Portland.”

  Pete looked at Sadie thoughtfully, then after what was just barely too long of a delay, stuck his hand to shake Sadie’s who returned the greeting.

  “Pete, thank you for cooperation. We spoke with Olga Svenson in Swedetown and she said that he was working out here at your place.”

  Pete shook his head. “No, ma’am. I have talked to Carl about fixing my barn’s roof, but the weather won’t allow for it yet. I suspect it will be at least end of March before weather is warm and dry enough for that sort of work.”

  “I see. When was the last time you spoke to Carl?”

  “Oh, last week I suppose. Ran into him at the market.”

  “The market on Main Street in Cathlamet or the general store here in Skamokawa?” Sadie clarified. She felt a little foolish since she knew very well there was only one market in town, but it could have been the general store in Skamokawa as far as Sadie knew. She reminded herself it did make sense to ask that question.

  “Yes, ma’am. Where are my manners? Would you like to come inside and warm yourself by the fire?”

  “No, thanks. We should really be going. Just before I do though, have you ever heard Carl mention any grievances he may have had with the Brix family?”

  “No, quite the contrary. Carl seemed to be thick as thieves with Oscar Brix. I’ve never heard either of them mention any arguments. Carl has done odd jobs for Oscar for maybe the last five years or so.”

  “I see. And has he always lived in Swedetown with Olga Svenson?”

  “Oh, heavens no. I don’t know what some of those women see in him, but he seems to make the rounds staying with whoever might take him in for a time. It’s very scandalous. My wife doesn’t like it when I hire him. Says she thinks it makes us look bad to the rest of the town. Me, I don’t much care for what others may or may not think of me. Carl is a hard worker and he’s quick. Lord knows he is an excellent roofer. I’ve got no complaints about his work ethic. Now, his morals—those are another story. I don’t know if he’s ever stepped foot in a church, but that’s really none of my business, now is it?”

  “No, sir, I guess you’re right abou that. If you hear from Carl, would you have him call the Sheriff’s office?”

  “Yes, ma’am. How is the ole’ Sheriff doing anyway? He’s under the weather you say?”

  Sadie took a deep breath, having almost forgotten that her husband was home fighting off the flu.

  “His daughter Olivia is sitting with him, making sure he stays in bed. Such a stubborn man, my husband.”

  She smiled, hoping she was fooling him with her levity.

  “We best be going, Enoch. Thank you for your time, Mr. Phillips. Give my regard to your wife.”

  “Will do. If there’s anything else you need from me, don’t hesitate to ask.”

  Frustrated that they didn’t seem any closer to finding Jemmie, Sadie watched the scenery go by while she tried to clear her head. It was dark so she couldn’t see much beyond the dim headlights. The wind and snow had picked up and it created a beautiful scene. The juxtaposition between the beautiful snowy night and the tension in her body due to Jemmie’s kidnapping and Daniel’s illness was almost enough to make her laugh. She thought, though, if she started laughing it might turn to tears so she kept her mouth closed and willed herself to focus on the lovely falling snow in the beams of light as they traveled through the night.

  It was a brief moment of respite from the craziness of the day.

  To her left was beautiful forest as far as the eye could see. Cedars, hemlock, spruce, even redwood. She knew she’d never tire of the Pacific Northwest mountains and forests. Off to her right, she stared out where she knew the massive Columbia River was, running parallel with the road. Every now and then she could see a glint of light on the water.

  Enoch muttered a curse word, pulling her out of her momentary distraction, and then they were sliding off the road and toward the snowy bank that separated the road from the icy depths of the river. She watched him jam on the breaks and wrestle with the steering wheel, but he couldn’t stop them from sliding off the road. Time slowed, and sped up all at once. Two tires, the ones on the passenger side of the car, slammed into a small snowdrift. Luckily they stopped in plenty of time to avoid the river. That would have definitely made a bad day worse. She shivered at the thought of the icy depths and fast currents.

  She didn’t even have time to scream before it was all over.

  “Mrs. Anderson, are you hurt?”

  “No, I’m not. Are you?”

  “Perhaps just my pride. I should have been going slower. I think I hit a patch of black ice. I’ll need to get out and assess the damage.”

  “I can’t open my door, so I’ll stay put, unless you’d like me to slide out on your side.”

  “No need to bother with that. Stay here where it’s a bit warmer.”

  After couple of minutes, he got back in on the driver’s side and explained the situation. “We’ve got a flat tire. I’ll change it, but it will take me a bit in the dark. I’m sorry but I’ll have to ask you to stand outside while I work. I’ll be as quick as I can.”

  She stood by the side of the road, holding the lantern while Enoch worked. It was freezing and they were both frustrated, feeling the minutes tick by. There was nothing that could be done about it, so they worked diligently, and quietly until the job was done and they were back on the road again.

  She glanced at her watch, using the dim light inside the cabin of the truck.

  What should have been no more than a forty-five minute drive back to Brix House from Skamokawa, had taken more than two hours.

  She was practically numb from head to toe and once again found herself hoping against hope that wherever Jemmie was, he was indoors and warm at the very least.

  Sadie was eager to get back to Brix house and see if William and his crew had checked in. With night fully upon them, if Jemmie hadn’t been found yet, the intensity of the search would have to increase. If Jemmie was out in the elements, he wouldn’t last the night.

  She decided not to update the Sheriff yet, because they still knew nothing. Except that either Olga was lying about Carl working or Carl had lied to Olga about working at Pete’s. Based on Olga’s reaction to the mention of the Brix name, Sadie suspected that Olga may be more involved than they thought. In her estimation, either one or both of them could easily be liars. He was already a kidnapper.

  Sadie wondered if she should go back out to Swedetown and arrest Olga in the hopes that she could get more information from her. She found herself trying to remember the last mystery novel she’d read and wondered if what she recalled about interrogation would be enough to get the information she needed from Olga.

  She and Enoch hurried up the steps and Anna opened the front door and ushered them into the parlor before Sadie even had a chance to knock.

  Once inside, Sadie alternating between blowing into her hands and rubbing them together in an effort to warm up.

  “Deputy Andersen, Mr. Eligson. Follow me. Mrs. Brix is in the parlor.”

  Henrietta sat by the fire and the first thing Sadie noticed about her was her red-rimmed eyes. She’d been crying, and quite a lot from the looks of it.

  The warmth coming from the fire was quite welcome.

  “Mrs. Brix. Has William reported in?”

  She nodded and spoke with a flatness in her voice that smacked of despair.

  “Gus called from Old Man Ostervold’s cabin. He spoke with Oscar. They—they found a body. It’s not Jemmie, thank the Lord.”

  “Who was it, Mrs. Brix?”

  “It’s Carl Collins. They found his body out near the Elochoman Logging Camp. As soon as Oscar heard, he tore out of here like a bat of hell.”

  “I see.”

  Sadie thought for a moment. “Enoch, we should get
to the logging camp. Are you willing?”

  “Yes. I’ll start the truck.”

  “Good. I need to make a call.” Sadie looked at Henrietta who was staring at nothing and decided to address Anna. “Can you show me to a telephone?”

  “Right this way.”

  Anna left the room to give her privacy. Sadie’s thoughts were moving a million miles an hour. Still no Jemmie, but now the body of his kidnapper was found. Maybe Jemmie was hidden somewhere out by the logging camp?

  Hopefully Daniel would be awake enough to tell her what to do.

  Sadie rang her own house and was pleasantly surprised to hear Daniel on the other end.

  “Daniel, it’s nice to hear your voice. Are you feeling all right?”

  “I’m about the same. What have you learned?”

  “We haven’t found the boy, but Carl Collin’s body has just been discovered out at the logging camp on the Elochoman River. I’m headed out there now. What am I supposed to do now that there is a body?” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I don’t know how to do this, Daniel. I’m in way over my head.”

  8

  “I’ll call the medical examiner and send him out to the logging camp.”

  “Just rest. That’s what your supposed to be doing. If I didn’t absolutely need your help, I’d not bother you at all. Don’t be stubborn. I’ll call. Just tell me what to say and you can go back to bed. Now, what’s his name? I’ll call the switchboard and connect to him. What should I say to him?”

  “Dr. Walker. He is staying with the Marshall family in Cathlamet this month. A good thing too. He’s usually in Longview which you can only access by ferry.”

  He took a couple of deep breaths and kept going, “Tell him I’m bedridden and there’s a body at the logging camp out the Elochoman and he should get out their straight away. Also tell him I’ve deputized you so he’ll be ready for that. He’s an old coot, but still pretty quick to come around, I think. He shouldn’t give you too much trouble.”

  “Thank you. Now get some rest.”

  “I will after you call me back and tell me what he says. Promise? I won’t be able to rest properly otherwise.”

  She could hear the sarcasm in his voice and she rolled her eyes.

  “Don’t roll your eyes, Mrs. Sheriff,” he teased. “Just promise.”

  “Fine. I promise. Want me to swear on a stack of phone books this time?”

  He chuckled, however labored, and she hung up

  Sadie immediately picked up the phone again. “Operator, please connect me to Marshall residence in Cathlamet, Washington.”

  “Connecting.”

  A few moments passed accompanied by the clicks of the operator connecting before another woman’s voice answered.

  “Marshall Residence.”

  “May I speak to Dr. Walker, please. This is Sheriff Anderson’s wife, calling from Cathlamet.”

  “I’m sorry, miss, but the Doctor isn’t here right now. This is his wife. May I take a message?”

  None of this was going to be simple, was it?

  “Could you please tell him a body has been found out at the Logging Camp on the Elochoman. We need a medical examiner to come and investigate and pick up the body.”

  “I’ll tell him. Anything else?”

  Anything else? How was Sadie supposed to know if there was anything else? It was her first time requesting the services of medical examiner for help with a dead body.

  “There’s a missing child and we are hoping Dr. Walker can attend to us as soon as possible,” she said politely. “It could make a difference in the child’s survival.” It wouldn’t do her any good to be rude to this woman, likely the doctor’s wife.

  “I’ll be sure and let him know, Miss. I expect him to return shortly from his Sunday evening poker game.”

  “Thank you. I do appreciate it.”

  Once she hung up, Sadie called Daniel back.

  “Sadie?” His voice sounded a little thick with fever and his breathing seemed a bit more labored.

  “I left a message noting the location with his wife. He’s not in right now. At his Sunday evening poker game apparently. Is a message enough for him?”

  “Oh, I’m sure that will be well enough. Not too much of a hurry, I suppose, since the Collins fellow is already dead.”

  “There is the matter of the missing child that might call for some urgency?” Her tone was a bit harsher than she intended it to be.

  He was fading in and out of sleep at this point and responded with a faded “Mhmm.”

  Realizing she’d gotten all the help her husband was capable of giving her at this point, she decided to end the call.

  “Now it’s your turn to rest. Promise?”

  “I swear on Mark Twain’s adventures.”

  “That should do nicely then. Rest, then. And Daniel…”

  “Sadie…”

  “Just get better. Please.”

  “You can count on it.”

  Then the line was dead and she hung up.

  Back in the parlor, she addressed Mr. Redmond who had been quite an agreeable companion to see if he had more of it in him.

  “Enoch, do you mind driving us out to the logging camp? We can take my car, if you like?”

  “Happy to drive, and no, ma’am, my truck is better for the conditions.”

  “Thank you. I don’t ever drive in the snow. I don’t think it would help anything for me to get stuck in the snow.”

  Enoch drove his Model T out the dark and windy Elochoman Valley Road, if the narrow gravel path could be called a road, toward the logging camp. She was grateful her car, once belonging to her father, was not trying to make its way on this rugged trail. The gravel road ran along the Elochoman River and the conditions of the road were muddy and bumpy, and just starting to accumulate the tiniest bit of snow. He couldn’t drive very fast. In the darkness, she could only see glimpses of the river but from what she could see it seemed higher than the last time she’d seen the river late fall. It also looked uncomfortably close to overflowing its banks. The darkness that enveloped them added a haunted element. Even through the rolled up windows, she could hear the rushing roar of the river. It sounded angry.

  Sadie shivered.

  Enoch spoke and interrupted her increasingly tense thoughts.

  “Murder. You don’t see that too often in these parts,” Enoch remarked. “We pride ourselves on being a safe community. As safe as a remote place like this can be.”

  Sadie nodded, although it was dark and she wasn’t sure if he could see her.

  “I think Olga knew more than she was letting on. I’m going to need to talk to her again. Maybe she needs a night in county jail to convince her to talk a bit more. Except we don’t have a whole night. If Jemmie’s kidnapper is dead and we still don’t know where Jemmie is, he could be in real danger. It begs the question, if Carl was the kidnapper, who killed Carl. Was there someone else in on it? This is so frustrating, Enoch. I have more questions now than I did before. It’s as if every question I answer leads to six more questions. I don’t know how Daniel does this.”

  “You’re doing a great job, Mrs. Andersen. I’m certain your husband will proud. There is a reason the folks here keep electing him and it’s because a smart, hard working fellow.”

  She cast him a side eye that he apparently caught even in the dark because he chuckled and started over.

  “I’m sorry. I meant Sadie. You’ve been thrown into an impossible situation and you are doing well. As I said, your husband will be proud of you. And Jemmie is lucky to have someone like you leading his search.”

  The site of the mill was nearly five miles out the Elochoman and the curves in the road, combined with the falling snow, made the drive feel as though it was a day’s journey. What should be a thirty minute drive felt more like two hours. She glanced again at her watch, nervously tapping her foot. It had only been twenty minutes since they’d left Brix House, but it felt like an eternity had passed.

  “At r
isk of sounding irritating, are we almost there?”

  He laughed again. “You sound like my daughter. About five more minutes, barring any difficulty.”

  She didn’t want to know what type of difficulty he might be referencing so she spend the rest of the ride silent.

  Sadie noticed the tension in her body when she got out of Enoch Redmond’s truck. She couldn’t decide if she was more intimidated by the men who were waiting for them or by what she might find. They expected her to know what to do, and she really didn’t have the slightest clue.

  She gave herself some silent advice as she walked toward William. Just do what you think Daniel would do. Ask some questions, look around, see what you can stir up.

  She’d never met Carl Collins, but thought that maybe she’d seen him around town a few times. As far as she recalled, he’d never been inside Columbia Saloon. There was only two other bars in the entire county so he likely frequented one of those. Maybe Olga would know. She made a note to herself to definitely follow up with the cranky, less than helpful woman again once she was through here. With Carl dead, maybe she’d talk a little more.

  William approached her after she got out of Enoch’s truck.

  “William, what can you tell me?”

  He nodded. “Joel led us to the clearing where Carl took Jemmie and Raven was able to track a ways from there even in the snow. She led us toward Old Man Ostervold’s and we lost his tracks there but when we spoke to Sam—he wasn’t very friendly at first but he cooperated once he understood there was a missing boy—he said he’d noticed a fancy new automobile, silver and shiny, parked down the road a piece an hour or so ago. He took us to where we he saw it, and there were tire tracks in the snow. We followed the tracks out here where they stopped.”

  “Where’s Raven now?” Sadie asked, peering into the dark.

  “Still scouting the area.”

  Sadie nodded, noticed the dark outline of a car some ways in the distance and tipped her head in that direction. “Is that the car?”

  William nodded.

  “And where did you find Carl?”

  Surveying the scene, Sadie noticed that someone had managed to get a fire going and Oscar Brix stood huddled in front of it with Joel.