The Devil in Maryvale
Page 20
Hannah draws a rasping breath. "Suddenly there is pain, sharp and bad, her ankle, and her foot. Oh! It hurts, she stumbles. Tries to stand on it, but it hurts so!"
Cas's lips parted. He stood frozen, his eyes on Hannah.
Hannah covered her face with her hands. "Oh! Oh!" She cried, sobs wracking her as she stood there, tears running between her fingers, near hysteria.
Cas covered the short distance between them. He didn't try to talk to her, he simply put his arms around her. He stood holding her, comforting her until she quieted and stopped shaking.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for putting you through this. But it's all over, Hannah. There's no more pain now, it's gone now."
Hannah straightened up and took the handkerchief he handed her. She took a deep breath. "You were right. This is where it happened. Right here." She dabbed at her eyes. "I—the ankle, the knife!" She shivered.
"Come over here and rest a minute on this other bench. I've got to know all of it. Tell me the rest of what you saw. Is that when he stabbed her with the knife?"
"Yes. It pierced the heart. I don't think there was even time for her to feel any more pain. It was so quick, the only pain she felt was to her ankle when she turned."
"And you saw them clearly enough to know it was the leader of the meeting? That he is the one who did it?"
"Yes."
"Would you recognize a picture if I show you one?"
"Yes, I would." Hannah raised her eyes to his. "But I can't testify, I can't. And nobody would believe me anyway. I told you that. It would do no good."
"I understand that. I won't ask you to testify. All I want you to do is tell me who it was you saw. To identify him for me. Will you do that?"
"Yes. If you have a picture to show me I'll tell you if he is the one."
Cas looked at the bench across the stone floor. "He must have taken her from here to the path through the woods and left her there. Is that what happened?"
Hannah rose and walked slowly back across the room. "It was all over so quickly. He can't believe she's dead. That life could be taken so quickly. He's repulsed by it. Repulsed by her for some reason."
A frown crossed Hannah's face. "His heart is pounding, he's so scared."
Cas listened, feeling helpless but excited to know exactly what had happened. His hands clenched into fists in his pockets. His eyes never left Hannah's face.
"He must hide her somewhere...." Hannah went on, chronicling the killer's thoughts. "His mind is in a turmoil. He's ashamed, sorry, frightened at life being so fragile and so quickly lost. But most of all now, he's frightened of someone finding out about this. Yes, he took her to hide her somewhere. That's uppermost in his thoughts now. He thinks of the river behind the picnic area on the way to their cabin. She's heavy. He struggles, knowing he has to take her and hide her."
Hannah knelt down, her fingers brushing at the grime between the stones. She rose and turned to Cas, holding something out to him.
"She lost this when she fell."
Cas held the small gold chain in his hand. "It's the bracelet her mother said she was wearing that night."
Hannah simply nodded. Spent, glad the ordeal was over.
Cas pocketed the bracelet, satisfied now about what had happened and where.
"All right. This is what I needed to know and we've been looking for this bracelet. We can go now."
Hannah moved toward the door as Cas blew out the candles.
As he pushed the noisy warped door into place Hannah waited, not looking back.
Leaving the judge's property, Cas asked, "Will you do one more thing for me while we're out in this direction?"
"Yes, I have plenty of time, I think. What is it?"
"I want to go by Peaceful Ridge. There's a poor lady who's buried up there that they were so sure was a witch, they've written it on her tombstone. It has no bearing on the Davis case whether she's a witch or not, I'm just curious."
A wan smile appeared. "It will be good to get my mind on something else before I have to go home and get ready to go to work. But you know, I may not be able to tell you anything," she warned. "Because I'm not a witch, regardless of what anybody thinks." She laughed nervously and Cas laughed with her.
They arrived at the cemetery and climbed the hill to where Sarah Spruce's tombstone had been set back up. Hannah read the inscription and knelt, laying her hands on it.
She knelt there silently a few minutes then said with certainty, "She's at peace, Cas."
"They hanged her for being a witch. See that inscription they put on there hoping she won't come back?"
Hannah shook her head. "I don't feel any evil here. But this date, it was a long time ago. Why are you so curious about it now?"
"This self-styled leader you saw at the meeting and with Denise caught my attention. His name is Darrell Spruce. He tried to claim he was descended from people who had supernatural powers. He worked hard trying to get his club members to believe that."
Hannah regarded the tombstone sadly. "This poor lady was probably less of a witch than he was if he was trying to convince people of that. But I don't sense any evil here."
"So they could have saved all that stone chiseling? She can't come back?"
Hannah smiled at the childish question from the Sheriff of Pine County. "I don't know. But it looks to me like she probably has no reason to want to."
"All right. As I said, I was just curious."
At the office Cas pulled out the past year's high school yearbook and showed Hannah a picture of Darrell Spruce as a junior.
"Yes. That's the one I saw. At the meeting and with Denise Davis. The one who was carrying her through the woods. I'm sure of it."
"All right. Thank you. There's no one in now except Gladys, so there will be no one to ask you why you were here." Cas grinned, "And I doubt Gladys would even give anybody our mailing address without my okay."
After Hannah left, Cas sat looking thoughtfully at the picture of Darrell in the yearbook. "This is one place where being right is a mixed blessing. But at least I'm sure now."
He dialed the school's number to talk to Janice Cobb.
"When did that note in Darrell's file say the Spruces would be back?"
"Wednesday. Darrell is supposed to be back in class Thursday." She waited, wondering if there were others he might want to talk to.
"All right. I just wanted to make sure. Thanks."
Cas walked over to the corner of the room and gazed down at the two casts of truck tracks. They were identical down to the rock in the tread. He had one statement and another possible witness regarding Darrell's alibi; and Hannah had recognized him. It was Darrell's hand that held the knife, and he was the one who carried Denise into the woods.
"Now all I have to do is prove it to the rest of the world."
A couple of loud growls from his stomach interrupted his thoughts. "Haven't had time to think about lunch. Guess that muffin and jelly are all used up, the way it sounds in there. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone." He reached for the phone again and dialed the school's number.
"Janice?"
"Yes, sir? Think of something else?" Janice's smile could be heard in her voice.
"Uh-huh, I did. I hate to bother you again, but does Margaret Avery by any chance have any spare time this afternoon?"
"In about fifteen minutes she will be keeping the study hall for two hours. If I can't find someone to con into it, I could stand in for her. If you want to talk to her I'll get her to call you as soon as the class bell rings."
"Good luck on the conning, but I do need to talk to her. Go, girl!" Cas laughed with Janice as he hung up.
It wasn't long before Margaret Avery returned his call. Her voice was apprehensive as she identified herself, obviously wondering why he had called her.
"Have you learned something new, Sheriff Larkin? I really think that Muriel is the one you need to tell."
"No, I haven't learned anything concrete to tell. And I don't want to talk to Muriel ri
ght at this point. I want to talk to you. If you will let me come by and get you, I'll get you back by the time the two hour study period is up. I need to talk to you."
He left her no choice but a pointblank refusal, and that would take some tall explaining.
"All right." Margaret agreed but she didn't sound happy about it. "Are you coming now?"
"Yes. I'll be there in a few minutes."
Margaret Avery was standing in front of the school when he pulled up to the curb. He leaned over and opened the door for her instead of going around the car. She got in quickly, wanting to get away as soon as possible from the school and anyone who might be watching.
"I haven't had time for lunch, Ms. Avery."
"Please, call me Margaret." She made an effort to be polite and cooperative even though she couldn't imagine any reason for Cas to want to talk to her instead of Muriel.
"All right, Margaret," Cas smiled. "I'm going out and have a barbecue while we talk, if you don't mind. The Roadhouse has very good barbecue or about anything else you would like and the service is usually fast."
"No, I don't mind," Margaret said a bit slowly. "But I don't go there very often unless it's with one of our school groups who especially want to go since they started selling beer out there."
"There won't be many people in there this time of day. It's late for lunch," Cas assured her. "And it will be a quiet place to talk and not be overheard."
Margaret didn't comment, still reluctant but agreeable. Her silence spoke louder than words. She was apprehensive about what he wanted to tell her that shouldn't be overheard. And why speak to her and not Muriel?
That worried her. It showed. Cas stole a glance at her from the corner of his eye. "Good," he thought. "I want some answers. Let her stew until we get there."
Neither of them spoke again until they arrived at the Roadhouse.
"I understand why you would only come here with a group," Cas conceded as they approached The Roadhouse door. "I don't come unless I'm called at night. But it's pretty tame in the daytime." He lead the way to open the door for her.
Margaret still was not too happy about the place or his wanting to talk to her but tried to be pleasant as they went in and got seated.
Cas knew what the menu had to offer. "I'll have the large sandwich with cole slaw and all the trimmings and iced tea to go with it. Margaret?" Cas handed the waitress his menu back.
Margaret Avery smiled, a little more at ease. "I'll probably gain five pounds just watching you eat that." She handed back her menu. "I'll have some potato salad and a diet Coke."
Cas knew his time was limited and got right to the point as soon as the waitress left them.
"Margaret, I looked at some of the files in the school office while I was waiting to talk to some of the students on the list I had of Denise's friends. While I was looking at the files of everyone connected with the case I looked at yours. It was filed under Avery, Margaret D."
Margaret nodded her head seeing nothing remarkable about that. Depressed, she wondered if he had brought her out there for some trivial thing and hadn't actually learned anything of value.
"I asked Janice Cobb if the D is for Denise, if Denise was named after you. She told me no. The D is for your maiden name?"
His eyes met Margaret's and held them. When she didn't answer, he asked, "Would that be Davis, like your sister's?"
He stopped, waiting for her to speak. To tell him what he felt he already knew.
Margaret's face told him she knew where this line of questioning was going. Her voice when she spoke was resigned. "Yes, Davis was my maiden name. Muriel had her child out of wedlock and gave Denise our family name. I don't know why that interested you. And I would, of course, ask that you not repeat that."
"I won't," Cas assured her. "What I want to ask you about will be strictly off the record. I'm not even going to note it in the file. However, what I do want to know is who is Denise's father? Was she Judge Spruce's child?"
Margaret had turned pale and looked trapped. "How? I mean, who? What makes you ask a thing like that?"
"You're hedging, Margaret, and I mean to know. There are other ways to find out. But most of them would be a lot more public than my just asking someone who knows the truth about it."
"I can see no reason at all why you would need to know that."
"You'll have to take my word for it at present that I do need to know. I've told you that it will go no farther. Are you so fond of the man you would protect him at the cost of solving this case?" Cas raised his eyebrows.
"Fond of him!" The very idea left Margaret appalled and shaken. Aghast at herself for raising her voice, Margaret looked hurriedly around. No one seemed to have noticed her outburst.
She went on quietly. "Fond of him, indeed! I hated him." She almost hissed the words at Cas, her voice and her face expressing the loathing she felt for Spruce.
"Because of his leaving your sister with a child to care for alone?"
"Yes, of course. Who wouldn't? Poor, gullible Muriel. He told her he was going to get a divorce and marry her. But then he got a chance to better himself in another town. All of us lived on the other side of the state then and he told her he thought it best that they not to see each other again. That his wife had a heart condition."
Margaret scowled. "Oh, you wouldn't believe the hearts and flowers and embroidery on his plausible excuses. He sent her his high school class ring in a note saying if she ever needed him, he would help her."
Margaret paused. "Muriel hadn't told him, but I wondered then if he wanted to get away from her because he suspected she was pregnant."
"He put his class ring in the note?"
"Yes! Can you imagine?" Margaret could hardly contain her disgust at the idea. "Just like an old knight in medieval times. A pledge of his affection and protection. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. I knew Muriel had been seeing someone, but I didn't know it was Troy Spruce. The first I knew of it was when she told me she was in trouble and the man she had been seeing was married. I was just floored, and so sorry for her. I was in the middle of moving at that time." She glanced around the room, there were only two or three people seated at a distance.
"I'd just got this teaching job I'd been trying to get here in Maryvale. I bundled up everything she wanted to move and took it with me. She worked as long as she could, on the job she had. Then after she had the baby she came here to live with me."
Margaret's eyes roamed the dining room as if she could see ghosts of the past.
"It's strange you brought me out here to ask me about it. We, Muriel and I, came out here right after she came to Maryvale. She had some résumés typed up and was going to try to get a job that would pay as much as possible. We came out here on my lunch hour from school and I looked at the résumés. Then she showed me the note and the class ring and asked if maybe she shouldn't ask him to help her find a job. He had come here to Maryvale when he left her."
Her eyes held a wild horror the rest of the faculty had never seen. "It was like a continuing nightmare." She shook her head, the pain of the memory showed on her face as she remembered the scene with her sister.
"Well, that sure was a blow. To know he was here too. Not that I didn't think Muriel had learned her lesson. It wasn't that. But, the thought of Muriel asking him for help? That was too much! We were sitting on the patio in back. That was before this place changed hands and they rearranged everything and started selling beer. Anyway, I took that class ring and threw it in the river right then. That's what I thought of him and his 'help'. After that, Muriel saw him somewhere, I don't know the details. Didn't ask. Anyway, she told me she had seen him and he was going to help her find a job."
"Did she tell him about the baby, that he had a daughter?"
"Yes. I asked her about that. She did tell him. And within the week, he called her to do secretarial work for him at a much more generous salary than she was hoping to get."
Margaret's face was grim. "But, I kept my eye on him."
"I know," Margaret admitted. "He's been a perfect gentleman and helped her out a lot as well. Then when they hired a couple more people he promoted her to Office Manager with a nice raise. He has been good to her." Margaret was grudging but honest about it.
"And Mrs. Spruce, did she know about the affair?"
"No. She never knew. She's a very sweet person. There was no reason to hurt her by telling her. And she does have a heart condition. That much of what he said was true. And as I said, he gave Muriel a good job and has always been a perfect gentleman," Margaret ended.
"Did Denise know? That Judge Spruce was her father?"
"Yes. She knew. Muriel told her. But she also knew she was never to let him know she knew, or tell anyone else. The tale was that her father was dead and Muriel was a widow, like me."
Cas checked the time on the clock over the cash register. "I guess we'd better get you back to the school. I appreciate your honesty, Margaret. It does help and it will go no farther, I promise you."
"You won't say anything to Muriel either?"
"No, not Muriel either. Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, I'm ready. And you know now. It's a relief really, to tell someone about it, after all this time."
Chapter 19
"This is some nest of snakes. It's going to take a while to untangle it and find anything strong enough to support my case. Makes me feel like I'm building a house from the roof down, from what I know to be true to proving it."
Having been accused by everyone who worked closely with him of making indecipherable notes, Cas smiled to himself as he updated the file. He referred to Hannah as M and Margaret as D.
He read his notes over making sure he hadn't left anything out of the sequence of events from reading Margaret's file at the school up to their talk at the Roadhouse. He could almost recite his handwritten notes word for word by the time he'd finished. He promised himself he would take them home and burn them in the fireplace when this was over.