Bill Hopkins - Judge Rosswell Carew 02 - River Mourn

by Bill Hopkins

  “Do I ever.” Rosswell explained in minute detail everything he knew about Turk. “However, something’s not right. Turk is thick with Nathaniel, who’s thick with Gustave, but Gustave’s son-in-law, Frankie Joe Acorn said he hates Turk. This isn’t making sense.”

  Jim Bill folded the pouch closed. In the silence, its crinkling sounded like aluminum foil wrapping a leftover. “You’ve got to help me make sense of all this. I want to find Tina.”

  Rosswell, concentrating on the air conditioner vent, ordered himself to cool down before he answered. Jim Bill was the one and only law enforcement agent in the country who’d listened to him—although Jim Bill said others had listened. Maybe, maybe not. All Rosswell knew for sure was that Jim Bill was here in person. Yet he talked in riddles. Or so it seemed to Rosswell.

  “I appreciate you trying to help me, but can you stop talking in circles? Can you tell me something positive? Or something bad? Is Tina dead? If she is, then let me know so I can bury her properly and start grieving for her.”

  “You’ve got to understand that Tina is an adult, a competent adult. She can go anywhere she wants. There’s been no ransom note. No one saw her being abducted.”

  “You’ve met her. Do you think she’d leave me?” Rosswell played Tina’s voicemail and read her letter aloud. “Does that sound like someone who’s trying to get away from me?”

  “I’m here, aren’t I? Thank your buddy Turk for giving me a legitimate reason to show up. Speaking of which, I’ll be down here a few days, so which motel do you recommend?”

  Rosswell glanced at Jim Bill’s left hand. No ring. “Are you married?”

  Jim Bill laughed. “You have to be married to get a motel room in Sainte Gen?”

  “Answer the question.”

  “Never. Why?”

  “That beautiful woman you saw me with a few minutes ago?”

  “Alessandra?”

  “Meet me at noon at Mabel’s. We’ll eat, then I’ll show you a good place to stay.”

  Chapter 36

  Monday Afternoon

  “Let’s take a gander at the cave where you found the dead woman.” Jim Bill picked up a couple of toothpicks on the way out of Mabel’s. “We’d better take your…uh…car. I don’t want anyone noticing an undercover cop car.”

  Jim Bill drove Rosswell to the mechanic’s shop where, inexplicably, the Kia had been fixed and was ready at the time the grease monkey had promised. A fully decorated Christmas tree standing in the reception area led Rosswell to worry about the man’s concept of time. Sofia shouldn’t break down again anytime soon since the work was guaranteed. On the other hand, the phrase “tempting fate” came to mind. The towing and repairs hit his overburdened credit card to the tune of $600.00.

  The overdraft problem had been resolved with a call to the bank president to transfer funds from Rosswell’s money market account, supported by a claim that he was in the midst of a jury trial and couldn’t do it in person. The bank president approved the transfer, subtly suggesting that he and she should discuss “certain options after hours one of these days.” Rosswell assured her that he would keep it under consideration, although he silently hoped the newly widowed woman hadn’t assumed that he’d given up looking for Tina.

  Parking at a site where they could view the cave, Jim Bill said he’d picked a spot far enough away that Nathaniel wouldn’t notice them in Sofia. “No one can see us here. And we can see them clearly.”

  “Don’t count on it. Try my binoculars.” He handed them to Jim Bill.

  “You always carry binoculars?”

  “And a camera.” Rosswell reached in back, fetched the camera, and showed it to Jim Bill. “It’s a beauty.”

  Jim Bill pinched his nose shut for emphasis. “This car stinks.”

  “I needed a car in a hurry. It was the only thing available.”

  “I agree that the car stinks as a car, but I mean it literally stinks.”

  “Oh. Right.” Rosswell found the wrapped rodent corpse—after spending time in the hot car it felt mushier now—and threw it in the road ditch. “Don’t arrest me for littering. It’s all biodegradable.”

  “What was that?”

  “A dead mouse.”

  Jim Bill, the veteran of many awful smells, appeared to fight back a smile. “You’ll tell me the story of the deceased varmint wrapped in the front page of the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch?”

  “One of these days.”

  Rosswell remained silent, listening to the tick of Sofia’s cooling engine, wondering if she’d ever run again. Sure, she’d started once. But twice? Or more? All Rosswell could do was hope.

  Jim Bill stuck the binoculars to his eyes and, for a long time, said nothing. After scanning the surrounding area time and time again, he lowered the glasses.

  “Can you get to that cave by going through Nathaniel’s house?”

  “I don’t know for sure because I didn’t have enough time to explore it fully.” Rosswell and Jim Bill then discussed in exhaustive detail the near fatal capture of Rosswell and Ollie in the cave.

  After ostensibly considering all the details of the discussion, Jim Bill flicked a couple of pieces of tobacco from his bushy mustache before he continued. “The passageway from Jill’s house goes up the hill into Nathaniel’s house. Is that correct?”

  Rosswell thought again that Jim Bill was a good cop. The fire marshal made sure he told the story consistently.

  “I’ve been able to document only two tunnels going from one house to another in the whole county. Karyn and Jill each have a tunnel that connects to Nathaniel’s house. When I explored Jill’s tunnel, it rose up into a passageway in Nathaniel’s house where I saw the delivery room I told you about.”

  “Tell me again what Maman Fribeau said to you.”

  “ ‘Cave of one eye have much treasure. Cave of blind eye, she holds a treasure but not what you seek.’ ”

  “Where you found Ribs was the cave of blind eye?”

  “That’s what it looked like to me.”

  “How did Maman know about the caves?”

  “It’s pure speculation on my part, but I’ve been thinking about it. She’s an old woman who lives on the river and pays attention to everything she sees and everything she hears. Her brother Lazar circulates around the county like a bumblebee on speed and hears rumors he can report to Maman. And, of course, the sheriff, his daughter Susannah, and son-in-law Frankie Joe Acorn are also part of Maman’s network.”

  “Gustave Fribeau is dirty for sure?”

  “I can’t tell you. All I know for sure is he’s stupid.”

  “Judge, getting back to Maman, that’s where I’m a bit confused. A treasure is something valuable in terms of money. How was Ribs’s body worth anything of value?”

  “Ah, but wait. There’s more. There’s another definition of treasure. It can be a discovery of great importance. I’m thinking that the discovery of Ribs told me two things. First, that he was definitely hooked up to Nathaniel Dahlbert and, second, that Nathaniel intended for me to find the body, which means that Nathaniel and Maman Fribeau could be connected some way. That would be through Sheriff Gustave Fribeau, her nephew. Or great-nephew. Who knows? Maman could be Gustave’s mother. No one seems to know for sure exactly how the old lady is related to the sheriff. But they’re closely related. Maman Fribeau is news central around here.”

  Jim Bill fitted the glasses to his eyes and focused. “That’s definitely a cave of one eye.”

  “There wasn’t any treasure. All we found was the dead woman. I’m sure the woman was the one I saw tossed off the boat. When Ollie was in the alley with Charlie Heckle, he told Ollie that he and Ribs Freshwater found the corpse on the riverbank and carried her up to the cave. They were lying. She wasn’t dead when she went in the water. She wasn’t dead when she came out of the water. When we found her, she hadn’t been dead very long.”

  “What about the snake? Was it poisonous?”

  “Yes, but I don’t think even Nathaniel can m
ake a guided snake.”

  “Tell me exactly what the dead woman in the cave looked like.”

  “She looked dead.”

  “Besides that.”

  Rosswell punched buttons on his phone. “I just emailed you pictures of her.”

  “Thanks. But I want you to tell me what you saw.”

  The memory of her appearance lodged in Rosswell’s brain, tucked in a side alley that would keep the thought from ever being lost. “Tall. Slender. Strawberry blonde hair. I already told you that her appearance was similar to Tina and Alessandra. Nathaniel or somebody had laid her out almost in a funeral home pose. She wore a hospital gown with—”

  “Stop.”

  Rosswell kept his mouth shut.

  Jim Bill never brought the binoculars down from his eyes. “When Charlie Heckle said that he and Ribs carried the woman to the cave, he was lying to Ollie?”

  “Yes, I said that. I figured it out right quick. I can’t understand why Charlie lied about it. Anyway, they carried her to Nathaniel’s house.”

  “Someone’s trying to distract you. That someone is Nathaniel. He wanted you in the cave of one eye so he could kill you. But, as you say, why?”

  Rosswell’s rapidly beating heart pumped a rush of blood to his head that blinded him when the answer exploded in his brain. “The treasure in that cave wasn’t the dead woman. The treasure in that cave is Tina.” Rosswell felt himself hurtling toward panic mode. Center! You’re close to Tina now. I hope and pray I’m close to her. Center. “I need to tell you I have a gun.” His vision returned.

  Jim Bill reached behind Rosswell’s back and patted the holster. “You may as well be wearing a sandwich board that says I’M ARMED.”

  “Then let’s go get Tina. Right now!” Rosswell started to step out of Sofia.

  Jim Bill grabbed Rosswell’s arm. “We don’t know she’s in there. We have to know she’s in there before we rescue her.”

  “Let’s go now!”

  Jim Bill tugged Rosswell back into the car. “Close the door.” Rosswell did so. “Judge, when you were in that cave, why didn’t you wait there till the cops came or do something besides run away?”

  “I didn’t know Tina was there.”

  “I already know that. Now tell me why you and Ollie ran off.”

  “We heard someone coming.”

  “Where did those sounds you heard come from?”

  “It sounded like it was from the back of the cave.” Rosswell bowed his head and shook his hands. They’d gone numb and he needed blood circulating. “That means that what I suspected all along is true. There has to be an entrance to the house in that cave. I got into Nathaniel’s house through a tunnel from Jill’s house, but to get to that cave, all Nathaniel has to do is open a door somewhere in his house.”

  Jim Bill reached over to pull the necklace Maman Fribeau had bestowed on to Rosswell. “You’ve met Dina.”

  Rosswell knitted his brows. “That’s what Maman called Tina.”

  “She wasn’t talking about Tina. Dina’s the woman who was kidnapped and raped. She was the daughter of Leah and Jacob in Genesis. Dina’s brothers killed the bad guys.”

  “Jewish folktales.”

  “Maybe. Yet there’s a kernel of eternal truth in it. Cruel men subjugate weaker men and vulnerable women. Sometimes evil women join with cruel men.” He withdrew a necklace similar to Rosswell’s from under his shirt. “We want to free the victims and keep them free. Or, I should say, they must stop thinking of themselves as victims so they can keep themselves free.”

  “Noble sentiments.” The idea of a secret organization dedicated to freeing slaves sounded wonderful but impractical. “And what is it exactly that you do?”

  “You’ll learn more later. For now, you’ve given me an idea. There’s one more piece of information I need to know to either prove or disprove that Tina is somewhere in Nathaniel’s house.”

  “One more thing?”

  “One more piece will solve the puzzle.”

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t want to tell you right now. Trust me, Judge Carew.”

  Rosswell’s breathing slowed because he’d commanded it to slow. Knowing that Tina might possibly be within reach only made it harder to wait. “You’re ordering me not to do anything until you figure out something? I’ll try to control myself.”

  “One more piece of info. One more. Remember that Nathaniel wants Tina alive or she’d already be dead.”

  “I don’t care what Nathaniel wants. I want Tina!”

  “Judge, we do not know that she’s in that house. Think about it. If we blasted in there right now and Tina is not there, then whoever has her will keep moving her around and you’ll never find her. That’s the way those bastards work.”

  “Where are you going to get this info?”

  “Tonight when we eat one of those wonderful suppers you’ve been telling me about, I’ll get it from Alessandra. With your help.”

  “What should I do?”

  Jim Bill told him.

  Chapter 37

  Monday Night

  “You go outside to chew the weeds,” Mrs. Bolzoni commanded Jim Bill after he’d finished supper and reached for his tobacco pouch. She blessed him with two forefingers pointed at his eyes. “No spit on my flowers. Or I cut you like I’d cut a frog.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Or the sidewalk. I keep a clean house in The Four of the Bees, as the frogs call this place.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Rosswell whispered, “You’re learning quickly.”

  Jim Bill held his hands out to Alessandra and Rosswell. “Care to join me outside? I promise not to make you chew.”

  Settled on the front porch, Jim Bill jumped straight to the point. “Alessandra, do you want to help us find Tina?”

  Rosswell added, “You and she bear a remarkable resemblance.”

  Crickets chirped, sounding exhausted from the heat wave. A rabbit hopping across the lawn stopped to give the trio a stare. Not finding anything threatening, it wiggled its nose and nibbled at Mrs. Bolzoni’s flowers. The lower the sun sank in the sky, the more bats began swooping through the air, munching on every flying critter they could find.

  Alessandra huffed. “Certainly.” Decked out in a pink peasant dress, low-cut and short, Rosswell calculated that the crinkly cotton covered her with twice as much fabric as her breakfast outfit. “I already told Rosswell that.” She winked at Jim Bill.

  Rosswell decided to be helpful. “What do you want her to do?”

  Jim Bill bounded from the porch, sprinted until he reached the street where he spit, then walked back. Three rabbits hightailed it for safer territory. “I want her—and you, Rosswell—to go with me to Mrs. Bolzoni’s parlor.”

  Rosswell switched on the bright chandelier and locked the parlor door when all three of them were inside.

  After they had situated themselves on the long couch, Jim Bill began. “Alessandra, do I have your permission to ask you some personal questions?”

  “I don’t know.” Alessandra, sitting between the men, rubbed her hands together, as if she were Lady MacBeth trying to rid herself of a damned spot. “What about?”

  Jim Bill ran his fingers through his thinning hair. “I’m trying to find Tina. Rosswell’s had a lot of personal problems. And I hear you’ve had a lot of personal problems.”

  “That’s true.”

  “I want to ask you about those problems.”

  Rosswell tried to comfort Alessandra. “We don’t want to embarrass you. Jim Bill thinks you might have some information. If you don’t have the info, then nothing’s lost. I assure you that neither of us will ever repeat anything we hear from you in this room.”

  “You may have information you don’t know you have.”

  Alessandra commenced her hair straightening routine, the one that reminded Rosswell of Tina. “You know I’ll do what I can to help you find Tina.”

  Jim Bill opened his tobacco pouch, stared inside
, then closed it without dipping any chew. “Did you ever see Tina at Nathaniel’s mansion?”

  “Never.”

  “Or anyone who looked like her?”

  “No. Except for me.”

  “Did you hear anyone say that Tina was there?”

  “No.”

  “Did anyone give you any kind of indication at all that Tina was there?”

  “No.”

  Rosswell worried that Jim Bill was going to wear out Alessandra with his machine gun questioning. A long stare at the fire marshal worked.

  Jim Bill’s tone of voice softened. “Rosswell is an alcoholic.” Alessandra glanced at Rosswell, who nodded. Jim Bill continued, “Rosswell told me that he had an episode in the park across the street.”

  “Judge, Momma told me about that. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

  “As I explained to Mrs. Bolzoni, I did not drink one drop of booze. I was exhausted and fell asleep in the park.”

  A beat or two passed before Jim Bill resumed his questioning. “Has anything similar happened to you?”

  The question seemed to relax her. “Have I ever fallen off the wagon?” She laughed, a high giggle. “Lots of times. There are whole days I don’t remember. I’d wake up with empty bottles all over my apartment and not remember drinking.”

  Jim Bill shook his head. “Pardon me for not being clear. Did something happen in Nathaniel’s house that didn’t include booze?”

  Alessandra glowered at Jim Bill. All at once, her face took on a look of surprise. “Rosswell?” She said nothing more.

  “Yes?” Rosswell scooted forward in his seat. “What is it?”

  “I remember something out of place.”

  “Where?” Jim Bill straightened and leaned forward. “While you were at the house? River Heights Villa?”

  Rosswell felt she was on the verge of a revelation. “That didn’t involve alcohol?”

  “I’d been there two weeks without a single taste of liquor.”

  Rosswell waited for her to continue, but when she didn’t, he prompted her. “What was out of place?”

  “I’m not sure. There was something strange, but it’s hard for me to remember.”