With washcloth in hand, she came out of the kitchen and approached him for a good-bye kiss. It was just a peck on the cheek but clearly, as always, the affection was understood. She said,
“Come back early so we can finish the picture puzzle together.”
His broad smile indicated a promise to do just that. Closing the door behind him, she turned and looked down at the picture on the table. It took years for her to stop crying whenever seeing it. But now, after all these years it had become a ‘that was then and this is now’ moment. However, she still always silently said goodnight to baby Ken.
The hospital was clear across town but the evening traffic on Maple Street was minimal. The hospital was an older two story building hidden behind the library. Although small, it provided adequately for the small town. Patients booked in the south wing looked out the window to see the edge of a forest and the bottom of Copper Mountain. He parked in the designated ‘police car only’ space and walked directly to the reception counter.
An older security guard was sitting on a lone chair near the entrance. He saw the Sheriff enter and that sparked his interest. He put his crossword puzzle down and set a fast pace catching up to Walter. He caught up to him at the main reception desk and asked,
“Will you need backup today Sheriff?”
“No thank you Jim, it’s just an interrogation.”
Disappointed, in a slump Jim returned to his chair and the crossword puzzle he was stuck on. Walter understood the loneliness of a hospital security officer in a small town, smiled and said to his back,
“I have your number and will call if things get out of hand.”
Jim was not excited to hear that. Nothing ever gets out of hand in this hospital.
After getting the room number he needed from the receptionist he walked across the floor to the elevator. He was surprised that Ruth was in a very exclusive private room. Mostly he wondered how she could afford it on her pension. Once on the second floor a nurse instructed him to wait in the hall until she cleared the room for a visitor. A few minutes later she came back out and he asked how she was.
“She suffered a minor heart attack but will pull through. Apparently the car clipped her ankle. She will have to stay off it for a while but otherwise is fine. If we release her in a couple of days is there somebody at home that can look after her?”
“Yes, her grandson lives with her.”
She then asked,
“Is she always this cranky?”
With his hand on the door, he derisively snorted,
“Yes, always.”
With the help of a few pillows Ruth was propped up almost in a sitting position. The first thing he noticed was that she did not look happy. Nothing new there. As he entered and stood beside her bed she followed him with stern eyes. He politely said,
“Good evening Ruth.”
Despite almost being hit by a car and suffering a sprained ankle, her tone was still strong and sharp.
“Not to me it isn’t. They will not let me go home.”
Trying to sound soothing, he said,
“Well, you did suffer a slight heart attack. Even when you get home you will need to stay off that ankle for a while.”
She tersely blurted out,
“Is that how you come to cheer me up, telling me I’ll be a cripple in my own home?”
Surprisingly, Walter lifted a slight smile. Yes, her personality was as harsh as her barbed words but at least to Walter, her eyes were always soft.
Not wanting to stand, he turned and dragged a chair to her bedside. After sitting, he said,
“I didn’t come to cheer you up. I came to ask you a few questions.”
Not feeling helpful, she demanded,
“I’m too tired. Go away.”
“Yes, I will in a few minutes. First question, why didn’t you tell me your daughter was killed by a hit and run driver in Lexington?”
Surprised at the sudden change to a painful topic she had tried hard to put behind her, she became irate and snapped,
“Because Carol is dead. What’s the difference how she died?”
Remaining calm, Walter said,
“Well for one thing, there is a big difference between simply dying and murdered.”
Despondency flashed across her face. She sunk deeper into the pillow and mumbled,
“Makes no difference to me. My only child is dead. That’s all I know. The grieving is the same, she is dead.
“But it makes a big difference to me. Your daughter is dead and I suspect that it was no accident.”
What he said next shocked her.
“Did you know that Rick Calhoun was in Lexington when she was killed?”
He knew that would startle her and so continued,
“I understand that he had a violent history with Carol and many times threatened to kill her. My investigation into the car that tried to run you done pointed to a similar MO. It was a stolen car. The driver also drank beer in the car, probably for courage, just like they found in the recovered Lexington car. If it was Rick, he was smart enough to wear gloves or wipe all his prints off both cars.”
She snorted,
“Couldn’t be him then. He has a wonderful knowledge of ignorance.”
Walter had been in this game long enough to understand even the stupidest criminal knows enough to wear gloves or wipe prints. Fingerprint evidence had been around for well over a hundred years. Today, most criminals forget that DNA catches most of them now. The problem with DNA analyzes is in the lab. It can sometimes take months to get the much needed results. Walter told Ruth,
“I suspect he wanted to kill you too. If it wasn’t for the doctor standing next to you, he would have succeeded. Just one thing bothers me about that.”
She cast him a stern one eyed stare. Ignoring it, he continued,
“Why would he want to kill you? I can’t believe it’s just because you paid for Carol and Gary to get out of town or that you took a shot at him.”
By the way she reacted to his suspicion that the driver who tried to run her down might be Rick, it was clear it had struck a nerve. Walter knew he was onto something and pursued it.
“If you want my help Ruth, it’s time to start talking to me.”
It was obvious that she was mulling something over and he was patient enough to wait it out. Finally she said,
“He is not as stupid as he lets on. Everything he has done is so he can get his greedy hands on my house and property. Carol never divorced him or initiated separation procedures.”
The terrible thing she was getting at had not sunk in yet and so he interjected,
“Killing Carol and you will not get him the house. As the only surviving relative, all your assets will go to Gary.”
Suddenly bells across the valley rang loud and clear. Ruth blurted out,
“That’s right. Rick will be the legal guardian of Gary until coming of age. In effect, with Carol and I out of the way, Rick will become very wealthy.”
Walter was shocked to silence. He suddenly had a malevolent thought and made the mistake of voicing it aloud. More to himself he uttered,
“And of course if Gary died, Rick would get it all.”
Ruth snapped,
“Don’t you think I know that?”
Water shook his head. It didn’t make sense. He said,
“No Ruth. Your house can’t be worth that much. Sure he might end up with a little money but really, to kill three people just to get a house? No, it doesn’t make sense at all.”
Ruth dragged her eyes off Walter, looked at the ceiling and the walls, anywhere but at him. His ‘guilt radar’ started clanging like an annoying alarm clock on a Saturday morning. His stern eyes squeezed a reluctant confession from her.
“You are right, my house is not worth that much. In fact it is only a small percentage of my estate. I also own the Maple Shopping Mall where your station is located. If you want irony, you are paying rent to me.”
Shocked was a mild reaction to that
tidbit. He blurted out,
“But that place is worth a few million.”
She added to her wealth by admitting,
“As are the seven homes and five businesses I also own. I also own the Wellington hotel over on Sixth Avenue.”
Walter whistled and said,
“You are a constant surprise Ruth”
He now understood the seriousness of her concern for Gary. A nurse entered and Walter understood his private discussion with her was over. It was of little concern as he had gotten from her what he needed, ‘probable cause’. Before walking out of the room he turned to see the scared nurse take hesitant steps toward Ruth while hiding a syringe behind her back. Reaching for the door, he made a promise to Ruth,
“I’ll keep an eye on Gary until you get home.”
Leaving the hospital, he now understood how she could afford a private room. He also decided to have a look at Rick’s finances. He would not be surprised to discover that he might be heavily in debt.
Chapter 24
Even at this time of the evening it was not unusual for people of Twin Rivers to look up and see a helicopter overhead coming in low and fast from the west. What they saw this evening, at least to them was just another all black chopper with no markings approaching Copper Mountain and the Factory. What they did not see was the posh interior and the 27 million dollar price tag. They also did not see the man sitting inside.
As the chopper approached the landing site, from his deep cushioned white leather seat, Otto Schmidt looked out the window and down at the Factory. On missions like this he was more accustomed to looking down from the chopper and seeing yachts, or landing on top of high rise buildings or on the lawns of private estates. What he was not used to seeing was decrepit buildings looking more like an abandoned site. However, he understood the importance of his mission, that the money was underground.
As if foreign investment was a free cornucopia of funds, the Factory had already belched out one and a half billion dollars with no tangible result for future profit. They now had the audacity to request more from the IIC, the International Investment Council. Although this visit was not an audit, Otto Schmidt was the Head of the investigative unit of IIC. It was his job to understand and rule on funding requests. He could not believe that he was assigned such a low priority funding review.
He was a flamboyant man. As evidenced by his very expensive tailored suit and the way he carried himself, he was extravagant with his appearance but frugal with IIC investments. If there was ever a person born into international finance, it was Otto Schmidt. He was a member of the younger generation, those swayed only by current computerized profit indicators. Although stocky, his appearance was of a well-built solid and overconfident man. When the chopper landed, the doors did not slide open until the rotors stopped spinning. It was not a safety issue so much as an ego thing. Otto hated his few comb over hairs flapping in the breeze. Apparently it was difficult to find all five and press them back in place.
Although his credentials and security codes were impeccable, before admission to the inner Factory offices, Otto Schmidt was unceremoniously put through a standard security check. When all was declared clear, with a security guard on each side he was marched through a tunnel and eventually to Demetri Warric’s office. On his way through one of the tunnels he chanced to see four guards escorting two downtrodden children somewhere. Gary looked up at him but it was only a fleeting glance that meant nothing to him or Otto.
A pretty secretary knew who he was and therefore immediately buzzed him in. Her affair with Warric was no secret to the inner offices. She was young, beautiful and could almost recite the alphabet from memory. Blond hair with orange bangs greatly distracted from a professional look. As Otto was new to the IIC Audit Concerns, this was the first time he had met Warric and seen this office. He was not impressed but reminded himself that he was deep inside a copper mine. After a casual shaking of hands, a custom Otto hated, Warric pointed to a corner of the office furnished as comfortably as any luxurious living room.
However, that was not what Otto had in mind for the meeting. More to show superiority, that he was the Captain of this meeting, he indicated for Warric to get out of his desk chair and sit somewhere else. Very alert to the subliminal demotion but having no choice, he conceded to the insult and shuffled around to the chair intended for guests. With a white handkerchief, Otto wiped off the chair and sat. He opened his laptop and the meeting began. He looked across the table at the disparaged Warric and said,
“I presume you are aware that a billion and a half dollars is a lot of money for a research project as yet showing no potential for profit?”
Fearing that it might have been a rhetorical question, Warric merely nodded. Of course he understood that. Did this pompous ass take him for a fool?
Accepting that the President of the project understood the great expense, Otto continued,
“And here you are requesting almost three hundred million more for a project that should have been finished at the invested amount.”
A hard stare bore straight into Warric’s forehead. He was surprised that a mere accountant had the ability to project such intense authority. Otto then added,
“Can you help me understand why I should approve such an outlandish request?”
After a hard swallow, Warric started,
“As you are aware, we are attempting to understand and control the frequencies created by the dimensional vortex we discovered in ---”
He was suddenly and rudely cut off.
“No Mister Warric, I do not understand. I am simply chief auditor for the International Investment Council. Talk to me, make me understand what you are doing here and its possibility to profit.”
After sitting back, ready to hear the history of the Factory, Otto added,
“From the beginning please.”
After completing an uncomfortable shift in his chair, Warric started his explanation of events.
“Very well, from the beginning. A few years ago, this was a prosperous copper mine, an important life blood industry for the town.”
Otto Schmidt was unsuccessful at stifling a yawn. Taking umbrage, Warric objected to the indifference of the pompous ass sitting across from him. Perhaps a few million dollars here and there meant nothing to him or the IIC but it did to this project. Warric again shifted in the uncomfortable chair and continued,
“While the miners blasted for a new copper vain they inadvertently blasted through a cavern and discovered a large crystal cave. The cave looked like a giant geode after being split open. Three miners walked into the cave and marveled at the giant crystal formation but never came back out. They were never seen again. Under the pretense of the copper running out, the safety board shut the mine down.”
Otto, finding the story incredulous, interjected,
“So three men were lost never to be seen or heard from again? Incredible.”
Warric explained,
“Oh we heard from them again. It’s just that the voices calling for help seemed to permeate from solid stone as well as throughout different locations in the tunnels.”
Surprised, Otto asked,
“And to this day you can still hear those men calling for help?”
“No sir. The voices stopped a few days after they disappeared.”
Pointing his finger, Otto asked,
“And that’s when you set up this front business? What did you call it?”
Before Warric could answer, Otto blurted out,
“Oh yes, the Department of National Satellite Weather Research.”
Otto then raised his hand, pointed to Warric and said,
“Please continue.”
“Because our scientists were unable to solve the mystery of three missing miners the government invited your organization, the International Investment Council to come and have a look at it.”
Otto cut in with,
“You were not able to come up with a solution yourself because you were incapable o
f accepting something like this was possible. Your orthodox scientists did not want to investigate what they believed was a Pseudo-science. Just because there is lack of evidence to support a theory is no reason to dismiss it out of hand. Especially if there is a profit to be had.”
He put heavy emphasis on the word, ‘profit’.
“That is why my organization was invited to investigate and invest.”
That confession of fact did not sit well with Demetri Warric and it showed in a slight look of scorn. However, although crudely put, Otto was correct. Warric continued,
“Yes, well be that as it may. With your funding and scientists we were able to better investigate the abnormality of the crystal cavern. Because it is well known that crystals radiate specific vibrations we brought in psychics to explain what happened to the miners. However, none would enter the cave. They all said that the characteristic of the vibration was too strong and felt evil. They all thought that somehow the miners were trapped in another dimension.”
The Factory Page 13