by Helen Gray
“I think he just came in through the back entrance. Let me check.” Dale Brown went back to the chief’s office and stuck his head inside for a moment, and then returned. “Go on in.”
Dack led the procession into the inner office.
“Good morning, boys,” Buck greeted them as they approached his desk. “Are you ready to do some leg work?”
“You bet,” Dack said, his chest expanding.
His two buddies grinned and nodded.
“This is quite a list.” Buck picked up two sheets of paper and handed them to Dack.
Dack glanced at the list of names on the top sheet and then flipped to the second. He whistled. “Wow. This is a lot of ground to cover.”
“Why don’t we divide those and split up to talk to them?” Jeremy suggested.
“Good thinking.” Dack laid the sheets on the front of Buck’s desk and reached for the pen the chief extended. “Okay, I’ll initial the ones I know and think I can find quickest. Here, you start doing the same with this.” He handed the second page to Jeremy.
When all three were done initialing both pages, Dack reclaimed them and faced Buck. “Can you run a couple copies of this for us?”
Buck grinned and took them to the copy machine in the back corner of his office. He ran two more copies and gave one to each. “Keep in touch,” he instructed.
“We will,” they assured him in unison, heading out the door.
They parted ways at the street. Dack crossed it and entered the courthouse to talk to the city clerk. Q and Jeremy hopped in their trucks and headed in different directions.
Two hours later Dack called his pals and told them to meet him at McDonald’s in thirty minutes for lunch and to compare notes.
“What have we found out?” he asked when they were settled around a table outside near the brightly colored children’s playground with their food and drinks. Cars rolled past the white wrought iron fence enclosure, some of them going through the drive-thru while others parked around the lot.
“I’m not quite finished with my list—couldn’t catch up with some people,” Jeremy said as he unwrapped a burger. “But of the ones I’ve talked to, six say Mrs. Rutherford collected from them. The others say they can’t remember.”
Q paused before sinking his teeth into his double cheeseburger. “That’s the same kind of answers I’m getting.”
Dack ignored his food. “Same here. You know, this doesn’t really make sense. Everyone thought the preacher ran off with the town’s money. Now we know he’s dead, and we find out he didn’t even collect the money. It looks like this lady took it. But that sure seems dumb to me. Doesn’t she think her story will be checked?”
“She never thought she would have to tell a story,” Jeremy pointed out between bites. “She killed the guy and kept the money, figuring on him being blamed.”
“You better eat.” Q nodded at Dack’s untouched burgers.
Dack picked up one and unwrapped it absently. He began to eat, but his mind continued to prowl.
When they finished eating a few minutes later, they gathered their trash, and Jeremy took it to the container by the fence.
“What now?” Q asked as Jeremy resumed his seat.
Dack checked his watch. “I think we’ll have to finish that list tomorrow. We have to be at the ball field by two o’clock.”
Jeremy nodded. “You’re right. Some of these people were out for the day. We only have a little over an hour and a half, and that’s not nearly enough time to find the rest on my list.”
“I have a suggestion,” Q said quietly.
Dack and Jeremy gave him their attention.
“Why don’t we use that time to go ask the people who live near the Temple of Light parsonage if they remember if the preacher’s car was taken when his furniture was moved?”
“Good idea,” Jeremy decided.
“Let’s do it.” Dack scrambled to his feet.
“I’ll drive,” Q volunteered. “We’ll be back in time to pick up your wheels before practice.”
They hurried to Q’s pickup. Dack climbed into the front passenger seat, and Jeremy got in the back.
Q started the engine, backed up and pulled out onto the highway. Then he drove through town and into the country. When they arrived at the church, he stopped at the edge of the parking lot. There were only two houses near the church and parsonage, one on each side of the road. He faced Dack. “Jeremy and I will get this one. The other one’s yours.” He and Jeremy hopped out and headed across the lawn.
Ten minutes later they all returned to the pickup. “What’s the word?” Dack asked when they were seated.
“The lady we talked to can’t remember ever noticing the car, but it was so long ago she doesn’t remember much of anything,” Jeremy replied.
“She said she did see the van loading the furniture and stuff from the house, though,” Q added. “What about you?”
Dack shook his head. “A little kid answered the door and left me waiting when I asked to speak to his mom. She finally showed up, but it was a waste of time. She said they just moved into the house a little over a year ago.”
“Well, I guess that was a dead end,” Q said. “Sorry it wasn’t such a good idea.”
“Hey, it was a good idea,” Dack insisted. “That’s how it is with detective work. Some ideas get results and some don’t.” He checked his watch. “We still have almost an hour. What do you want to do?”
Jeremy’s eyes narrowed, and his mouth pursed in thought. “What about this Charity Haven? Do you think we could find it?”
Q started the truck. “Let’s go.”
He drove back to the edge of town and continued east at the intersection. About ten miles from town they passed a small community, and Dack grew more animated. “Okay, we need to turn onto a gravel road out here not very far. Cindy said it’s somewhere around a private school. The problem is she said her mom went toward Poplar Bluff and turned onto another highway somewhere. It sounds like she circled around and came in from another direction, maybe to confuse Cindy and make her think she was farther from home than she was. Mom said her guess is it’s one of the first county roads out this way.”
As they passed a church on the right side of the highway, Q slowed down, and they began watching for side roads. When they came to one, he started to turn, but whipped back onto the highway when they could see it was a long driveway. He had driven a quarter of a mile further when they spotted another gravel road. This time there was a marked county road, and he turned onto it.
The boys studied the open fields on one side of the road and wooded acreage on the other. About another quarter of a mile further they came to a four-way intersection. Q pulled to a stop. “Which way?”
Dack looked one way, and then another in indecision. “If we go right, we’re sure to end up back in town. It has to be straight ahead or left.” A clenched fist thumped on his leg as he deliberated. Then he pointed straight ahead. “Let’s try that.”
Q drove forward, with them studying the road as the truck rolled slowly along. The road narrowed and became more wooded. They passed a couple of houses, and the road began to look less and less traveled. The hilly terrain wasn’t good property for homes. When they had driven about a mile, the road ended at a house with a large circular driveway.
Q whipped the pickup around in a loop and headed back the way they had come. They were surprisingly quiet as he taxied to the four-way junction.
Dack pointed to the road that was now to their right. “It has to be that way.”
Q steered in that direction. Now they found themselves traveling in a slowly winding path to the southeast. They crossed a low wooden bridge that clattered as Q drove over it. Then they began to see a few houses, and that led into the woods.
“I wonder if we should check all those lanes,” Jeremy said, shifting in the back seat and looking behind them.
“Hey!” Dack leaned forward suddenly. “There are no signs, but that has to be the school I’ve
heard of for years, but never had any reason to look it up or even wonder about it.”
A fence of wooden planks lined several acres of roadside frontage. A large building could be seen back at the end of a long inclined driveway. Smaller buildings dotted the grassy hillsides.
“It must be near here,” Dack concluded, staring intently at everything they passed.
“Here’s another road to the right,” Jeremy said.
Q turned right.
The road led to a small glade in the woods where a small trailer was parked, apparently someone’s hunting camp. He turned the truck around and drove back to the road.
“I guess we’ll have to check everything,” Jeremy said, glancing at his watch. “We may run out of time.”
“Yeah, if we show up even a minute past two-thirty, the coach will have our hides,” Dack reminded them. “That means we’d better be on our way back in fifteen minutes.”
“Here’s a road, but there’s a mailbox with a name on it,” Q said suddenly.
“Go on,” Dack ordered.
At the next lane there was no mailbox. “Check it,” Dack ordered.
Q swung the truck to the right. About a quarter of a mile farther they found themselves following a private lane that ended before a tall wrought iron fence. The gate stood open, and a long, curved driveway continued to the top of the rise where a huge house sat at the front of a big flat parcel of ground.
Q stopped the truck, and they stared in awe. Dack and Jeremy whistled. Q slapped the steering wheel. “That has to be it!”
The two-story house was a Gothic Revival wood framed structure. Painted a cream color, it had a dark brown roof and white shutters and trim. About a dozen steps with railings on each side went up to a high wrap-around porch with a circular balustrade. The second story was gabled with dormer windows on each side. It had a wrap-around verandah with a balustrade that matched the one on the lower level. Gray stones formed a foundation beneath the first level porch, and a flowerbed ran across the base of it on either side of the steps.
There were some outbuildings beside and behind it, storage sheds, and a large garage. Towering oaks, evergreens, and hickory trees surrounded the site.
As the boys sat staring at the scene, a door opened on the second level of the house, and someone stepped out onto the verandah. It was a female, and she appeared to be in an advanced stage of pregnancy. She gazed over toward where the boys sat.
“We need to get out of here,” Jeremy yelped.
Q backed the truck up in the open area and turned around. Within seconds they were headed back down the lane. He drove steadily for five minutes before anyone spoke again.
“Do you guys have plans for after the game?” Dack asked.
“Just supper and kick back,” Jeremy said.
“Same here,” Q added.
“Good. Why don’t we meet after supper and go stake out that house?”
“Yeah, maybe we can figure out what’s going on out there,” Jeremy said.
“Uh, we probably shouldn’t mention our plans to anyone.” Dack turned to Q. “Are you with us?”
Q studied them in his somber way. Then he raised a palm. “I’m in.”
*
When sixth hour ended, Toni experienced a rush of emotion. This year’s seventh hour group had been special, and she missed them already. She got her purse and left the room. At the hallway in front of the office she purchased a Coke from the vending machine and exited the building through a side door. When she reached the parking lot where she could get a signal on her cell phone, she dialed Mrs. Goldman’s number again.
“Hello, Mrs. Goldman,” she said when she got an answer. “This is Toni Donovan. We met yesterday at the memorial service.”
“I remember you,” the woman responded nasally, evidence she had been crying.
“I don’t want to be a bother. I know you have a lot on your mind,” Toni began.
“I’m going to have a funeral for him up here in my home church,” Mrs. Goldman said past a break in her voice. “Brock was a member here before moving down there. It’ll be Wednesday. My pastor is helping me.”
Toni took a deep breath, her heart aching for the woman. “I’m glad you have someone to look after you. I can only imagine what you’re going through.”
“Yes, well, no one can erase what’s happened, but it’s good to have friends.” The woman paused and cleared her throat. “I assume you called for a reason.”
“There’s another question I wanted to ask you yesterday, but it slipped my mind,” Toni explained. “I’ve heard that your son originally came here because he had met Hillary Dayton up there and had become close to her, but that she was from here. Can you tell me how to contact her, give me her telephone number or address?”
“I know where she lived before she moved back down there, but I don’t have her personal number,” Mrs. Goldman said. “I’ve not had any contact with her since she and Brock split up.”
“I understand she moved back up there after that happened,” Toni said. “I was hoping to talk to her.”
“I remember where she worked. Would that help?”
“It may or may not. If you’ll give me the number of that employer, I’ll check it out.”
“Just a minute. I’ll have to look it up.” There was the sound of the phone being placed on a hard surface.
A couple minutes later she returned. “She was some kind of secretary at MoDOT,” Mrs. Goldman said, referring to the Missouri Department of Transportation. “Her parents still live there in Clearmount.” She gave Toni the office and extension number.
Toni thanked her and disconnected. Then, even though she feared it was a waste of time, she went ahead and called the number. When she asked for Hillary, she was told that Hillary no longer worked there and they had no recent address for her. Well, that was another dead end. She would have to look up the woman’s parents and see if she could learn anything from them.
Back in her classroom, Toni sat at her desk and waded through some paperwork and finished her Coke. Then she gathered her purse and satchel and went to meet Gabe and Garrett.
It was district playoffs. If they won today, they would play in round two tomorrow. As soon as they lost a game, the season would be over. Toni was glad their school was hosting the tournament this year.
“Put your things in the van,” Toni instructed her sons when they came down the hall to meet her. “We’ll leave it where it is.” She knew parking would be an issue with other teams arriving in buses, and parents making the trip in their own vehicles.
“Do we have to pay?” Gabe asked as they crossed the parking lot to where a person sat behind a table at the entrance.
“It’s a tournament,” Toni explained. “That’s the only time we pay. Why don’t you guys sit with me today and watch the game?”
“Isn’t Chief Freeman coming to talk to you?” Garrett asked.
“He said he has a meeting and can’t make it today. I think you would enjoy the game.”
They did. They sat directly in front of Toni, about halfway up in the rows of seats, and rooted for all they were worth. When the home team won, they were ecstatic.
“Hey, Mrs. Donovan,” Dack called, jogging toward them as the spectators were leaving.
“We’ll go to the van,” Gabe said as he and Garrett scrambled to the ground.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Toni said, staying seated.
Dack halted at the bottom of the bleachers. Jeremy and Q trotted up behind him, their cleats clacking in the gravel and dust, and their uniform shirts flapping open where they had been pulled from their waist bands.
“We got that list of festival workers from the chief this morning,” Dack said. “We split up the names and looked up some of them today.”
“Some don’t remember who collected their money from them. It was too long ago,” Jeremy explained.
“But the ones who do remember say Mrs. Rutherford collected it from them,” Dack continued.
/> “We found Charity Haven,” Jeremy blurted, obviously bursting with their news. “It’s out on a county road past that private school.”
Dack gave her an excited explanation of how they had found it, along with descriptions of the countryside, roads, and the actual place. “There was a girl there,” he added after a pause for breath. “She came out on the verandah, and it looked like she was about ready to have a baby.”
Jeremy and Q nodded in confirmation.
“I’ll share this information with the chief,” Toni said, trying to absorb it all.
Q pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. “Here’s a description and VIN number of the preacher’s car that Dad found in his records.”
Toni glanced at it, then refolded it and put it in her purse. “You boys have certainly been busy. I hope you don’t do anything that will get you in trouble.”
“We’re going to look for more people on the list of festival workers,” Dack informed her importantly. “That’s our assignment from the chief, so we won’t get in any trouble.”
“That sounds fine.” Toni scooted forward on the seat and hopped to the ground. “I’ll see you at tomorrow’s game.”
When she reached her van, Gabe and Garrett were waiting in front of it. “Let’s go see your grandpa,” she said once they were inside the vehicle.
When they arrived at the Nash home, the boys greeted each grandparent with a hug and headed for the kitchen in search of snacks and cold drinks.
“Bring your mother a Coke,” Russell called after them.
Toni settled into the glider rocker and got right to business. “The Clearmount boys won their game, so they’ll play again tomorrow. Dack, Jeremy, and Q talked to me after the game. They say they went by the police station this morning, and Buck gave them a list of people who worked at the festival the year Reverend Goldman disappeared. They’ve been talking to those people. Some say they can’t remember who collected funds from them, but others say it was Mrs. Rutherford. They’ll be talking to more people tomorrow.”