In a panic, Ashley pulled her phone out of her purse and looked at it. She immediately saw that she had forgotten to turn it back on. She pulled up the call list, which showed five missed calls from Nancy.
Ashley’s chest tightened up.
What would that man do to her cat? Charlie was the wily one, and he must have run the moment the guy broke in. But Susie Q was small and plump and soft and trusting. She was the easy one to nab.
Ashley’s heart went out to Susie Q. She could only imagine how frightened her dear cat was.
“Sean, oh no, not little Susie. I can’t believe this.”
Charlie looked up at Ashley with the strangest look she had ever seen on his face. He had seen it all go down.
Ashley whispered a little prayer to herself. “Please let Susie Q be safe.”
Sean turned Ashley by the shoulders and stared into her face. “I’m going to make some flyers, and we will put them up tomorrow. We won’t give up until we find her.”
“But flyers won’t do any good if she’s trapped with this—” Ashley started to say.
Nancy cut her off. “Let him do it. Your cat could get out from wherever the guy has her and run away. She might have a hard time finding her way back, and the flyers could help. Is she microchipped?”
“Yes,” Ashley said. “Can you tell me if you can sense if she’s okay?”
“I sense that she is. I mean, she must be scared and upset, but I think she’s still alive,” Nancy said.
“Thank you,” Ashley whispered.
“I have to go home and go to bed,” Nancy said. “Please take care of yourself. This isn’t over.”
Nancy quietly walked out.
Ashley turned to Sean. “Honey, call the police. We need them to search this place for fingerprints.”
Sean immediately pulled out his phone and dialed 9-1-1.
Ashley, meanwhile, began pacing her apartment as she weighed her options. She had to go see Thompson tomorrow and tell him everything that had happened so far. She had to brace for the inevitable lecture that he would give her. She dreaded hearing his angry words.
When that was done, she would have to get a hold of Detective Jackson and see what he could do to help. After that, a visit to her uncle George was in order. It was important to get all the information from him that she could.
The whole time, she would be on the lookout for a redheaded man. If anything, his hair color should help to find him.
Ashley’s face flushed, and she clenched her fists tightly. “If he does anything to hurt Susie, I’m going to—”
Ashley stopped as she looked at the floor in the kitchen. Something caught her eye beside the refrigerator. As she looked down, she saw Susie’s collar, its tag shining in the glow of the stove light. A few small chunks of fur were around it.
It turned out Susie had not gone so quietly after all. She had fought her abductor. Hopefully, she had scratched him up good. That would be something else for Ashley to be on the lookout for.
Ashley picked up the collar and showed it to Sean. He turned it over in his hand quietly.
Resolve came to Ashley’s face. “Let the games begin. A red-haired man, all scratched up—we’re going to find that creep.”
Sean didn’t have the heart to tell her Susie’s abductor could easily dye his hair to change his appearance, or that he could have taken Susie Q far away by now. Instead, Sean watched Ashley furiously typing on her laptop.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Making up my game plan. Everything I need to do. Writing down what I already know. And getting ready to bring justice for Melissa Anderson, for her parents, Uncle George, for Mom and Dad, and now for Susie. After you finish the flyers, get some sleep. I don’t know when I’m coming to bed.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The police arrived a few minutes later. Surprisingly, neither Detective Thompson nor Detective Jackson came to Ashley’s place. When Ashley asked why, the deputies on the scene answered that both of the detectives were busy working on other cases.
One of the deputies took a report from Ashley while the other checked the place. After looking at the front door to the apartment and seeing no sign of forced entry, the police’s best guess about how the redheaded man had gotten inside was that he knew how to pick a lock.
The bad news did not stop there. After sweeping the place, the police were not able to pull any foreign fingerprints from the apartment.
Another dead end. Ashley and Sean thanked the police when they left. But they knew that a cat abduction was low on the list of the police department’s priorities. They were pretty much on their own.
Sean made up the flyers on his computer and printed them out. Noticing that Ashley was nowhere near done formulating her plan, he gave her a kiss and went to bed.
Ashley ended up working deep into the night. At one point, Charlie came out from the bedroom and sat by her, purring away. Every once in a while, when he heard the slightest noise, he would put his head up and look toward the door. She stroked his fur.
“I’m sorry, Charles. I’m sorry that Susie is gone, but we will get her back,” Ashley said.
He gave her a look as if to say, “Please, Mom. I’m scared for her,” and turned toward the door again.
Ashley trembled. She knew some people would think it was silly to fret over a pet so much, but all animal lovers understood. And anyone who had ever lost a pet was in communion with her that night.
The more she thought about Susie’s abduction, the more Ashley started to feel crushing fear creep over her. She knew getting involved in this case would be a risk, but sitting there in the night’s quiet with her thoughts floating across the room, she was suddenly feeling crippled by her anxiety.
As she remembered how close she had come to getting hurt on previous cases, how her parents had been a target, then her friends. Her heart started to race. And then there was Sean.
What if something happened to him? Could she be putting Uncle George in danger too if she went to visit him? She shut her laptop and closed her eyes. She thought of her family, Sean, and her cats. She repeated the names in meditation over and over and asked for them to be kept safe.
After a few moments, Ashley started to feel calmer.
Then, out of nowhere, anger began to take hold of her. As the seconds ticked by, the anger began to grow, and she became agitated. She got up out of the chair and gripped its back. From there, everything became intense.
What was crazy to her was that it felt good. It felt clean. It felt very powerful. Even more, it felt justified. Suddenly, the fear subsided, and Ashley felt amazingly strong.
She quoted aloud from Antony and Cleopatra. “To be furious is to be frightened out of fear.”
Being filled with such determination was like a revelation to Ashley. She scooped Charlie up and went to bed.
***
When Ashley got up in the morning, she noticed Sean was already gone. He had left her another note telling her everything would be okay and to call him if she needed anything. She checked over her appointment book. After today’s Rotary Club lunch, she had four more days until her next catering gig.
Good.
That gave her time to pay Uncle George a visit. She called her uncle and got his answering machine. After the beep, she left a message notifying him that she was coming to see him in the late afternoon. Her dad had said he would call his brother ahead of time, too, so she felt certain that George would be home later, ready to see her.
***
At lunch, Ashley set up quickly at the Rotary Club and made sure the plates and glasses were stacked properly. Thank goodness it would be a simple buffet, as her mind was miles away. The members of the club ended up loving the lasagnas, and several of the ladies asked her for the recipes.
She noticed that when everyone was finished eating, only a serving or two of salad was left, and the lasagnas and bread basket had been picked clean.
Ashley smiled. The folks here were the backbo
ne of the town, and she felt happy that they had liked the meal. The president, Mr. Meeney, came up to her and thanked her again.
“Just delicious, Ashley. Everyone enjoyed it,” Mr. Meeney said.
“Thank you, I’m so glad they did,” Ashley replied.
“Service above self,” he said. “We appreciate the discount on your catering fee.”
She smiled. “Of course. Let me know if I can help again.”
“I will. And please say hello to your parents. And your uncle George and aunt Sandy. We haven’t seen them in some time,” Mr. Meeney said.
“Oh, I’m visiting him today. I’ll pass on your greetings,” she said.
He smiled at her before walking off.
She started to call out to him about doing the next month’s luncheon, but he was gazing at his phone. She heard the pings of an electronic game. He never looked up.
Ashley sighed at the sign of the times. “Even old Mr. Meeney is hooked on his smart phone now.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Driving to her uncle’s house, Ashley noticed the colors in the scenery start to change. Bright summer green was fading, and slight colors had begun to creep into the landscape. Every now and then, a tree had a few orange or golden leaves mixed in with the green. One tree was dotted with crimson.
The air was soft, and there was a slight breeze. She settled back in the seat and thought about all she wanted to ask her uncle. He lived farther north, and it was quite a climb up to his house. She put the car into low gear and headed up the mountain. Soon, the trees and entire view took on a different patina in the higher altitude.
Bursts of autumn foliage were everywhere. Every now and then, she would pass one of the roadside lodges and markets that were a welcoming rest stop for the tourists who came to this part of the world. One of them had signs that read Fresh Handpicked Vegetables and Fresh Apples. She quickly pulled over.
I’ll take George some fresh apples, she thought.
Inside the small store, there were a few folks picking through the bagged apples and rows of squash. Late-summer corn was piled high in bins. She grabbed some ears to use in a corn soufflé recipe she loved, a few zucchini, and three large tomatoes. Then she took two large bags of crisp apples for her and her uncle.
When she went to pay, she noticed a red-haired man out of the corner of her eye, picking fruit out of a bushel basket. She turned slowly to get a better look at him, but he had turned around, too, and all she could see was the back of his head. His hair was a dark-reddish color, and he was average height and on the slim side. She thought about leaving her place in line and walking around again to get a better look at him, but the lady at the cash register said, “May I help you?”
“Yes, I’ll take these, and also a jar of your honey,” Ashley replied.
She quickly paid and turned to walk out through the store. The man was gone. When she got outside, she looked in the parking lot, but there was no sign of him. A small, dark car was heading down the hill in the distance.
Just because he had red hair doesn’t mean he was the man Nancy saw hanging around your apartment before it was broken into, she thought.
Still, Ashley’s heart started to race, and she kept glancing in the rearview mirror of her car as she continued up the hill.
Finally, she reached her uncle’s house and parked in front.
Everything looked the same as it had when she was a child. Uncle George and Aunt Sandy didn’t like change. Her parents had done some updates on their own place over the years, but not George and Sandy.
From the outside, Ashley could see how the gate to the backyard had rusted and was bent, how tall and overgrown the trees and bushes were, and the front-porch stoop was sagging. It didn’t look run down, but it certainly was in need of freshening up and fixing a few things. The problem was, her uncle drank now, and he was probably too distracted and tired to do much around the house.
Sandy was still working, and no doubt too busy watching over her husband when she got home to fix things up, either. On her last few trips here, Ashley hadn’t noticed how dated the property had become. Having spotted it now, she made a note to come back with Sean at a later date to help them spruce up the place.
She knocked on the front door, but there was no answer.
She knocked again and yelled out, “Uncle George!”
No response. Maybe he was in the backyard. She pushed the rusted gate open on the side and walked to the back of the house. There were so many weeds, and two bramble bushes had become severely overgrown.
She gingerly stepped around them and walked to the back door. She knocked again.
“Uncle George!”
Her aunt would be at work, which was why she wouldn’t answer. How strange. She had noticed his car was in the driveway when she pulled in.
Just then, she heard a groan. Lying on the ground off to the left near a tall bush was her uncle. He was on his side with his eyes closed.
“Uncle George!” she yelled.
She saw a gash and swelling on the back of his head. She didn’t know what else might be wrong with him, so she left him on his side as she frantically dialed 9-1-1. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her and was trying to speak.
Thank goodness.
But then his eyes flickered and shut. He groaned again.
“Uncle George! Hang on, hang on, hang on!” she pleaded. “I called for help. You’ll be okay.”
He opened one eye and tried to speak again.
“Don’t say anything. Save your energy,” Ashley said.
She was shaking as she dialed her parents’ home next.
April answered the phone.
“Mom!” Ashley yelled frantically. “Call Sandy at work. I’m at their house, and George is lying in the backyard. He slipped and fell or something. I don’t know exactly what happened, but he can’t move. I called 9-1-1 already. Call Dad at work. Everyone go to the hospital.”
Her mom started to ask questions, but Ashley cut her off. “Mom, I can’t talk. I have to pay attention to George. I’ll call after the ambulance gets here.”
The problem with being in a mountain town was how far away everything was. Ashley kept praying her uncle would be okay. She touched his chest and wrist constantly to make sure he was still breathing, and gently stroked his hair. He just lay there, groaning.
After what seemed like an eternity, she heard the sirens of an ambulance arriving. She left his side for one minute to run to the front of the house.
“Back here!” she yelled.
The EMT crew wasted no time getting her uncle on the gurney and into the ambulance. Ashley jumped in with him for the ride. She’d have to get her car later.
She started to explain how she had found him.
One of the EMTs then asked her some information about his health.
“Does your uncle have heart problems?”
“Yes,” Ashley replied.
“A history of diabetes? Has he had a stroke?”
Ashley shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Does he smoke? Drink?” the EMT asked.
Ashley stopped talking.
The EMT stared at her. “Miss?”
“Yes, he drinks,” she said. “Sometimes a lot.”
She hated to be the one to give them this information, but they were going to find this all out soon enough. The EMT asked her a few more routine questions and then gave George a shot for the pain. Ashley kept telling her uncle everything was going to be all right, but in her mind, she wasn’t sure.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The EMT continued to make notes as they dashed to the hospital. Poor George. He was still groaning. The ride seemed so long. As soon as they got there, Sandy was waiting outside. She ran up to the ambulance as soon as she saw them unload her husband.
“Oh my God, what happened, Ashley? How did he fall? Thank goodness you were there.”
Her aunt was in a panic, and Ashley tried to calm her down.
“I wasn’t
there,” Ashley replied. “I went around back when he didn’t open the front door and found him on the ground in the backyard. I don’t know what happened. We’ll have to wait until he can tell us and the doctor examines him.”
“Oh dear. Maybe he was drinking too much again, and he fell. I always knew this was going to happen one day. It’s my fault,” Sandy said.
“Please don’t say that. It’s not your fault. Let’s just wait to talk to the doctor.”
***
Soon, Burt and April arrived. They bombarded Ashley with questions. Ashley recounted how she found her uncle all over again and tried to calm everyone down. She could tell by the look on her parents’ faces that they were thinking the same thing her aunt was.
That George had drunk too much and had slipped and fallen. Or that his heart couldn’t handle the stress and alcohol and he had passed out. Everyone looked confused and sad. They sat in silence for a while. Sandy was sniffling. April held her hand.
Ashley jumped up and started to pace. Something wasn’t right. George hadn’t smelled of alcohol, and where he was lying, there were no sharp objects on the ground near him that he could have banged his head on. In fact, the weeds were so high that the ground had a lot of cushioning on it.
***
A few minutes later, a doctor came into waiting room to greet them. He looked shocked.
“Are you all relatives of Mr. George Crane?” he asked.
“Yes, we are. I’m his wife,” Sandy said.
“We’ve stabilized your husband for the moment, but he will require further examination. I’m sorry to tell you that your husband will be in the hospital for some time. He was bludgeoned with a heavy object to the back of his head. He’s lucky to be alive.”
A collective gasp filled the air.
“Bludgeoned? You mean someone deliberately tried to hurt him?” Ashley said.
Ashley Crane Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 41