by Ella White
Gwen frowned deeply and shook her head again, apparently not believing what was happening. Vickie walked to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Gwen. I know you didn’t do anything wrong.” She gave Gwen her best smile. “But you should cooperate with them. Protesting will only make you look guilty even though you’re innocent.”
“But…” Gwen trailed off for a moment. “I guess you’re right. Will you meet me there, Vickie?”
“Of course,” Vickie answered before looking at Susan. “That is, if that’s all right with you, Chief?”
Susan’s eyes crinkled at the corners as she gave one of her rare smiles. “I don’t see why not. You’d probably come along anyway, so you might as well make yourself useful. Maybe you can help with this case the way you did the others.”
Vickie nodded her thanks before bending to pick up Tyler, who was meowing relentlessly at Susan. Gwen went to her desk to grab her bag and pulled out her keys.
“Just give me a moment to lock up.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Chief Miles stopped her and waved her arm for the other officers to come inside. “We’re going to investigate the whole building, take some samples, take photographs, and other things like that. It’s all in the warrant.”
Gwen sputtered again. “But…”
“It’s okay, Gwen,” Vickie comforted her. “Chief Miles always does things by the book. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Gwen took a moment before she nodded nervously. She slowly went with the other officers, and they led her to one of the police cars. Susan meanwhile began organizing the other officers as they looked around the front rooms. She squinted her eyes at all the owl paraphernalia and shook her head. Vickie watched them work as she stroked Tyler’s back. The cat kept meowing at all the police officers.
“Tyler, stop that,” Vickie berated him. “Chief, I’ll meet you at the station, right?”
Susan nodded once. “Yes, I’ll head there to question Ms. Radcliffe once I’m done here.”
“Is it all right if I go there now?”
“Sure, as long as you don’t talk with Ms. Radcliffe until I get there.” She looked at her watch. “Just let Sarah at reception know that I sent you. I should head there in a few minutes.”
“Thanks Chief.”
After placing Tyler in his cat carrier in the back seat of her car, Vickie settled herself in the driver’s seat and pulled out her phone to call Rachel. She waited until the ringing had stopped before she started her car, making sure her phone was on speaker so she could drive and talk at the same time.
“Hi Mom,” Rachel greeted from the other end of the line. She sounded like she was holding her phone against her shoulder. “What’s up?”
“Morning Rachel. I didn’t catch you at a bad time, did I?”
“Just a second.” Vickie heard the sound of ruffling papers and a few grunts from Rachel. There was a bang followed by Rachel cursing a little. Vickie suppressed her chuckle. “All right, I’m back.”
This time Vickie did laugh. “Do I want to know what that was?”
“I was carrying some candle-making supplies to my apartment,” Rachel responded. “I was just trying to do too many things at once.”
“How is that going, by the way?” Vickie inquired. “Last I heard the owner really liked your blog posts.”
“It’s going well actually. Jenny showed me how to do it at home last night, and I was just trying to repeat the process on my own.”
“Are you sure you should be doing that alone?” Vickie couldn’t help but be concerned about her daughter even though Rachel was a grown woman. “What if you burn yourself on wax? Or get some stuck in your hair?”
“I wear a hair net through the entire process,” Rachel debated. “And I wear gloves so I won’t get wax on my hands.”
“What if you set your kitchen on fire?”
“What? How would that even happen?”
“It’s possible! It happened to my cousin!” Vickie insisted. “She was working on the family farm. She was making a wax hand and she set the kitchen. This was back when they only had one phone line for miles around for all the farms. She tried to call the fire department, but the other kids on the line didn’t believe her.”
“Why have I never heard this story before?”
“It took at least twenty minutes before one of the other lines hung up and she could call the fire department.”
“Mom, it’s fine,” Rachel persisted. “Jennifer showed it to me many times before today. I’ve got to try it on my own sometime.”
“…I just want you to be careful.”
“Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll be fine. I wouldn’t try this by myself if I didn’t think I could do it right…and safely.”
“All right, dear. If you’re sure…”
Tyler yowled from the back seat, as if reminding Vickie about the real reason she was calling.
“Oh, yes, right. Rachel, I called to ask you something.”
“What’s up?”
“Have you heard of Gerard Samson?”
“The millionaire scientist?” Rachel asked. “Or is it scientist millionaire? I don’t know, but yeah, I’ve heard of him. Why?”
“I just learned he’s been in town, but now he’s missing.” Vickie stopped at the red light. “Chief Miles has taken Gwen into custody. She thinks Gwen may have done something to him.”
“I heard he was here. It’s probably really hard to be so famous and not be recognizable.” Rachel paused to take a breath. “Wait, Chief Miles thinks…Is Gerard Samson dead?”
“No. The police haven’t found a body, but he hasn’t been seen for a few days. He was staying at Gwen’s bed and breakfast, but she hasn’t seen him in days either.”
“That can’t be good. Do you think Gwen did, in fact, hurt him?”
“Absolutely not!” Vickie shouted into her phone, but she calmed down quickly. “She’s never do anything like that. I’m not sure she even could physically hurt a full-grown man.”
“I’ve seen pictures and videos of Gerard Samson online,” Rachel informed her. “While I wouldn’t exactly call him buff, he is in pretty good shape. It would probably take someone just as strong to take him down.”
“Unless he was drugged or something, but we’re just guessing at this point” Vickie supposed as she parked at the precinct. “I just arrived at the police station. Chief Miles said I could look in on the interview. Maybe I can convince her Gwen is innocent.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Rachel offered.
“I know you aren’t working at the chronicle anymore, but can you see if you can find out what Dr. Samson was doing in Carriage Cove?”
“I can ask around, see if anyone has seen him over the last few days,” the younger woman suggested. “But James would probably be able to find more concrete information. I can ask him if he has the spare time, but he might be busy with his own stories.”
“It’s worth a try at least.” Vickie opened the cat carrier to allow Tyler out of the car. “Thanks Rachel.”
“Keep me updated!”
Vickie hung up her phone at last as she strolled towards the station entrance. Tyler was able to push the door open by himself, so he was able to reach the receptionist, Sarah, before Vickie did. Everyone was getting used to Tyler showing up pretty much anywhere he wanted, at any time he wanted, so Sarah was almost unfazed when he jumped onto the desk.
“It’s a good thing I’m not allergic to cats,” Sarah commented, giving Tyler a few scratches behind his ears.
“Sorry about that,” Vickie said as she entered. “Hi Sarah. Chief Miles sent me to watch Gwen’s interview?”
“No problem.” Sarah clicked a button to allow her to pass through the locked gates. “Come on through.”
“Thanks. Can you watch Tyler for me?”
“Of course,” Sarah replied. “I love this little kitty!”
Tyler began to purr as Vickie waved goodbye to him and hea
ded for the interrogation rooms.
Chapter 3
Gwen sat at the bare table in Interrogation Room Two, taking sips from the glass of water provided for her every so often. She fiddled with the edge of her shawl as she tried to stutter out answers to the Chief’s questions.
“Um, I checked him in at my B&B four days ago.” Gwen swallowed deeply. “He didn’t want help with any of his bags, but he did ask for some suggestions of where to eat. I gave him a list.”
“Is that the last time you saw him?” Chief Miles inquired.
Vickie was on the other side of a one-way mirror, allowing her to look in on the interrogation but without anyone in the room seeing her. Of course Chief Miles knew she was watching, and it was fair to believe Gwen knew that as well.
“No, I made breakfast for him the next morning,” Gwen responded. “He stayed in his room until about ten I think, and then I heard him leave. That was the last time I saw him.”
“He didn’t come for breakfast any other morning?”
Vickie had a very hard time believing her old friend could be responsible for Gerard’s disappearance. Gwen was one of the kindest people Vickie had ever met. They had been friends for quite a long time, ever since Gwen moved to Carriage Cove when they were in their thirties. Her parents had owned the bed and breakfast, and Gwen inherited it when her father passed away and her mother retired.
“No. I knocked on his door every morning at nine. That’s the latest I provide breakfast. He was never in his room.”
“That didn’t seem strange to you?”
“Not really. A few of my clients leave before breakfast is served.”
Vickie smiled at this statement. Although she would never admit it, Gwen was not the best cook, so the “breakfast” part of her services was never as good as the rest. This clearly didn’t stop people from staying at her establishment however.
“And you never saw him during the day?” Chief Miles questioned.
“I didn’t.” Gwen took another gulp of water. “I would go into his room to clean it and replace the towels as I normally do, and he was never there. I didn’t see him come back to the B&B either. I always though he was just staying out late.”
Susan is wrong, Vickie thought. Whether or not Gerard Samson is just missing or if he has been killed, Gwen didn’t do it. There must be another explanation.
“Did you ever notice anything strange in his room?” the Chief continued her interrogation. “Anything that shouldn’t have been there? Or something missing?”
“I don’t go through my clients’ things, so no, I didn’t notice anything like that.” Gwen looked down at her hands for a second before raising her head. “I did notice that his bed didn’t look used, like he hadn’t slept in it. Most of the towels hadn’t been used either.”
This was the same thing Gwen had told Vickie earlier, and the former professor had to admit that was weird. Susan seemed to pick up on that too, since she wrote down this information the notepad she always kept with her.
“Could he have actually been staying somewhere else?”
“I guess so, but then why would he bother to book a room at the Lazy Owl?”
“That’s a good question. Did you never ask him what he might be doing in Carriage Cove?”
That’s the question on everyone’s mind, Vickie couldn’t help but agree.
“Other than discussing where he might want to have dinner?” Gwen repeated. “No, we didn’t really talk much. He was rather secretive about it.”
“You never saw him with anyone? Or go anywhere in particular?”
“No.”
“I see.”
The whole room went quiet, with the exception of the sound of pen scratching against paper.
“Chief Miles?”
“Yes, Ms. Radcliffe?”
“If I knew where Dr. Samson was, I would tell you,” Gwen implored her. “You know that, right?”
Susan glanced at her with a blank expression. “I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know yet.”
The Chief stood from her chair and left the room. Vickie watched as Gwen put her head in her hands. She could tell by the shaking of her shoulders that Gwen was about to cry any minute now. Vickie sighed, which was cut off by Susan opening the door to the observation room.
“Dr. Matheson?”
“Yes, Chief?”
“Come with me to my office, please.”
Vickie followed her to a room in the back, a small office with a glass window. Once inside, Vickie saw it was a normal window, allowing anyone to look in and out. Although Susan had been Chief of Police for a few months now, her office was still devoid of personal items. Other than the computer to the side of the desk, there wasn’t much there. Files and papers took up most of the shelves from various cases, although Vickie had a hard time believing they were all from crimes committed in Carriage Cove. Unless a lot of crimes were happening without Vickie hearing about it, but hopefully that wasn’t the case.
Susan sat at her desk and gestured for Vickie to take the one other chair available. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed.
“Okay Vickie.” This was the first time Susan had addressed her by her first name alone. “What do you make of all this?”
“I don’t know what I can tell you,” Vickie admitted. “I didn’t even know Gerard Samson was here until today, and I went to talk with Gwen to give her a flyer for a club meeting.”
“Did you notice anything strange about Ms. Radcliffe when you saw her?”
“Not that I can think of. She was normal Gwen to me.”
“All that owl paraphernalia is normal?”
“Oh, believe me, that’s as normal as Gwen gets,” Vickie joshed.
Susan cracked a small smile. “So you don’t think she did anything to Dr. Samson?”
“Gwen wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Vickie shook her head emphatically. “She didn’t even know he was missing, just like me.”
“I wish I could believe you,” Chief Miles stated. “I really do, but I need to rule out Ms. Radcliffe entirely as a suspect. I can’t just take your word for it.”
“I know.” Vickie knew, but she still didn’t like it. “So what are you going to do now?”
“Well, my investigators are combing the Lazy Owl up and down for any evidence. Until that’s done, Ms. Radcliffe will need to stay in custody.”
“I take it there isn’t anything I can do to convince you otherwise?”
“I’m afraid not,” Susan said. “I have to follow procedure.”
“I know. I told Gwen that, after all.” Vickie scratched her head. “You don’t have any leads about where Gerard Samson may be?”
“None whatsoever.” Susan pressed her lips into a thin line. “No one has seen him for days.”
“How do you even know he’s missing then?” Vickie wondered out loud.
“His wife reported him missing three days ago,” Chief Miles explained. “We’ve been keeping an eye out for him since then, but it’s as if he just disappeared off the face of the earth.”
Vickie gave her an enthusiastic grin. “Good thing you’ve got me then. I’ve already asked Rachel to ask around about Dr. Samson, and she said she would ask her friend James to do some digging of his own.”
“Who’s this James person?”
“He’s Rachel friend from the paper,” Vickie described. “Rachel quit her job at the chronicle, but that doesn’t mean she can’t do some sleuthing of her own.”
“I knew you would try to be one step ahead of me,” Susan announced, although her tone revealed she was neither upset nor surprised by this. “But how do you know they will find anything?”
“I have faith in them, especially my daughter,” Vickie insisted. “Remember, sometimes people are hesitant to talk to a police officer – Chief or not – about a missing person. They might be more willing to talk to someone like Rachel than to you.”
“I won’t argue about that,” Susan conceded. “I’ve seen it myself too many times. But I don�
��t know if I can approve.”
There was a knock on the door, and after Chief Miles bid the person to enter, a young female officer stuck her head through the doorway.
“Sorry to interrupt, Chief, but there’s something you really need to know.”
“Come in, Officer Brown. What is it?”
The officer, whose badge identified her as Ashley Brown, walked in and closed the door behind her. She held out a piece of paper to the Chief.
“I made that phone call to Regina Samson, to give her an update on her missing husband, like you requested.”
“Good. What did she have to say about it?”
Ashley paused. “That’s the thing. She didn’t know what I was talking about.”
That got Susan’s attention. “What?”
“She said she never reported her husband missing,” the younger officer continued. “She said he went to a convention in New York. She didn’t even know he was in Carriage Cove.”
“That seems to be a trend around here,” Chief Miles commented, giving a short glance to Vickie. “But then who made the report?”
“I wondered the same thing, so I grabbed this from the evidence closet.” Ashley pulled out two compact discs and handed them to Susan. “It’s a recording of the report, made via telephone.”
“You read my mind, Officer Brown. Thank you.” The Chief took the CD and inserted it into her computer. She typed a few things on the keyboard. “Let’s see…”
Vickie waited as Susan was busy with her computer. Ashley gave her a small smile and wave, which Vickie returned shyly. She hoped Ashley didn’t think it was too strange that she was there.
“Here we go. Let’s listen. This first one is the report.”
There was a short pause as the data loaded before a wispy voice spoke. “Hello, my name is Regina Samson. I would like to report my husband missing.”
“That doesn’t sound too unusual,” Vickie added.
“It wasn’t at the time, but listen to the next one,” Ashley directed, pointing to something else on the computer screen. Vickie couldn’t see what it was from where she was sitting. “That’s a recording of my conversation with Regina just a few minutes ago.”