She calmed herself as she knew how, as she knew she must. Taking it one step at a time, she dealt with the evidence as she would if it were not her only niece, clinically, seeing it as it had happened.
Lilly Ann was in her robe, coffee just made, waiting for it to cool a moment before drinking. She had bathed earlier, her clothing chosen, hanging in the closet till the last minute to avoid wrinkles. The half-bagel was almost ready, burned on the outside edge just as she liked it, the leisurely breakfast even more wonderful because she was alone for a short time.
Her mother was due, in fact the doorbell rang. She must have forgotten her key. Mother. Silly you. The thin robe would have barely covered her, still damp from the shower, her hair wet, rolled in a towel. She would have opened the door, throwing it aside, ready to hug her mother and chastise her at the same time.
But it wasn’t mother. It was someone else, a planned abduction, taking Lilly Ann away. But where? Who? Why? He let her get dressed, evidenced by the robe on the floor. He would not have known Lilly Ann’s habits, the way she hung her clothing, the dishes in the sink, everything put away; a stranger at Lilly Ann’s door.
Then where, would anyone have seen? The neighbor next door, spying out her window, and the old man across the street who eyed Lilly Ann with lust when she wore tight jeans and a tee-shirt; would they have noticed her being forced into a car? Would they admit to seeing?
Maude ran to the neighbors, first the spy, who said she saw nothing. Then the lecherous old man who said, “I saw a car in front of the house, a young man, crew cut, round glasses. Lilly Ann with a blue dress, gossamer, a button up sweater over the fabric, black shoes; her hair wet. Strange,” the man said, “the wet hair with the thin dress. So thin you could see through it. Shame on her. It was early, before you arrived,” he said.
“You saw me drive up, and you said nothing?”
“I thought she was on a date.” The lust was still evident on his wrinkled face.
“You’d best get inside before I do some terrible things to you,” she said, the icy calmness taking over, her conscious mind ignoring the blowing wind and rain of the cold front that had dropped the temperature at least ten degrees.
“Joe, I’m coming to get you. Lilly Ann has been abducted by the driver of the blue Chevy. The country gentleman, the liar who watched me, probably did a search on my relatives. I’ll be there in five minutes.” She was calm, controlled.
“Where are we going Maude?” What are we going to do? Call the police, get some help.”
“Good idea. You call. I’ll be there soon.”
She barely made it to the bathroom before losing her breakfast and lunch. The picture of Lilly Ann laid out dead or in a state of torture was more than she could bear. Whoever had taken the girl had some master plan, she began to tell herself. Surely that plan didn’t include taking her life. Maude washed her face and hands then began to pull herself together. She said a quick prayer that her niece wasn’t in mortal danger, and would be found unharmed then walked back outside the house to wait for Joe. Whoever took the girl had served his purpose if it was to muck up Maude’s concentration on the Edwards Bay murders.
Chapter 11
She sat in the truck, thinking as she drove, trying to put her thoughts together, trying to remember what the young man who called himself Samuel Marshall had said. Did he leave any clues-any dropped information that she could now pick up and use to find her beloved niece? The driver license, his identity, he wanted her to see it. What did it say? What was the address? Where was it, think, think, think!
Bulverde Creek, no Bulverde Street, what city, where? Rhodes County, Rural Route? Where was it? God help me remember.
The rural streets in Rhodes County ran with no order, named after the residents that settled the land then divided it into parcels and sold it later to developers. The water way and the Bay in Rhodes County were magnets drawing people into the rural areas, making streets out of potholed jeep roads. Sheriff Jack would know the answer; he would know every street and alley of his county.
The phone rang at the hospital, the admissions person finally transferring her to Jack’s room. “Jack, it’s Maude. I have a snake by the tail and I can’t let him go without getting bit. I need your help.”
“What is it?” He asked; fully alert, recognizing distress in the woman’s voice.
“There’s a road in your county, somewhere outside, near the edge, Bulverde something. That’s all I remember. He took my niece, Jack. He’s got her. I can’t get there as fast as Ernest. Can you send him? Tell him it might be worse than a snake-watch closely. I’ll be there.”
“Calm yourself, my friend. I know the place, been there on my rounds-remote, real quiet. Wish I could go, but I’ll send Ernest and Ray. Good boys.”
“Thanks Jack. I’ll see you soon. Oh, and if they get there first, tell them to be gentle with the girl. She’s never known violence.”
The car careened off the curb with Maude driving fast, coming to a full stop within three feet of Joe.
“Move over Maude. You sit, I’ll drive.”
She felt a great relief, her partner would help; they would find Lilly Ann. She knew it. “Fine, you drive. Head back down the freeway, about fifty miles.”
“Who is it Maude, who’s got your niece and how do you know it’s him?”
She ran down the last half hour’s discoveries, including her memory of Samuel Marshall’s driver’s license. She told him about trying to recall the address and then calling Jack.
“It’s him, Joe. I don’t know why he took her, but it’s him. I looked in his eyes, and thought he was true, but I was wrong. He’s evil, and has some God-forsaken motive. Samuel Marshall won’t be his real name, but it’s a start.”
The trip seemed to take forever for Maude stuck in the passenger seat of her own vehicle, her unfiltereds off–limits until the evening. The commitment had been made and even the potential loss of her niece didn’t change her mind. She didn’t trade one sin of hers for someone else’s. She was stoic, the thoughts whirling in her mind but not reaching outside. It had been a long time since she felt such remorse-well over a year ago. The girl who had rented her house, a sweet young thing with her life before her suffered a terrible death so Maude would perform in a macabre play.
There was no fairness in murder, no equity in mayhem. It was the evil nature of debased man that rose up and gleefully destroyed life. She wondered if all who strove to contain the criminal element was at one time or another forced to stare helplessly into the light in a madman’s eyes.
The phone rang, it was Jack calling, they had located the address, and his deputies were headed that way. Maude gave him her location, finding that they were close, very close to the place, the heart of Lilly Ann’s darkness.
“Joe, Jack says to take the Route 3 cut-off, turn left and go about three miles back into the woods. The house is there, all by itself.”
“Got it.” He said, urging the pick-up to take the turn on two wheels. “Be there in a minute or two.”
Maude pulled the clasp off her holster, the Glock 19 waiting for instructions. Ahead, the area was nothing but skinny trees, in the distance a lot of naked mesquite and huisache, a tall cane break, and an opening she could see that led to a small double wide mobile home. The color was nondescript, once beige now dirtied by the blowing wind and rain and the fading of the summer sun. The door was closed. Ernest had parked the county vehicle under cover of some of the trees and was waiting for instructions.
They gathered together behind their trucks forging a unified assault on the door of the doublewide home. Maude led the group, hunkering down where she was partly hidden from the windows inside. No sound came from the house, no bullets came flying, nor was there any sign of life. “Police,” Maude shouted, “Open up, Police.”
They rushed the door staying under cover of the exterior walls, shouting again. This time it was Joe who spoke the words, ready to enter with guns prepared to fire, but holding until the last mi
nute to protect the innocent. Maude prayed again that Lilly Ann hadn’t suffered pain or loss. She thought of Jean, the girl’s mother, at home wondering about her daughter and why she hadn’t returned from the university? Jean would have followed the path Maude took, first the bedroom, then the kitchen seeing the morning coffee, a bone-searing fear setting in as she searched for Lilly Ann behind each door.
They opened the entry door easily-it was unlocked. Going through the house from one point to the next, the group of law enforcement officers found the large walk in closet in the master bedroom. It was closed off, the hollow doors already battered and ruined from abuse braced against one another, holding together with half the original hinges. Maude nodded at Joe, “Pull”, her eyes said.
The doors fell to the side, baring the closet, the empty shelves and hangers naked in the evening light. Down in the far corner, against the last shelf, lay Lilly Ann wrapped and tied into a bundle, a dirty gag over her mouth. Her eyes were wild, swollen from crying, the pupils black from fear. She looked at Maude and began struggling against the ropes, trying to reach her aunt.
They came off easily. Loosely tied they were just enough confinement to keep Lilly Ann from freedom. The gag was a plain once white cloth similar to those used for wiping dishes. The final movement of freedom from the ropes sent the woman into hysterical screams, the kind that comes at the end of trauma when the fear that the threat will return still holds sway.
Grabbing Maude with both arms, Lilly Ann cried on her shoulder, holding her tightly, afraid to let go. She wasn’t injured in any way. She had no cuts, bruises, or wounds of any kind, except those in her mind. It would be hours before they could question her, hours before the fear subsided and she felt safe. Would she ever truly feel safe from the night mares and madmen of the world?
“Thank you, God, for keeping her safe.” Maude whispered.
Maude kept her arms around Lilly Ann hoping to keep the fear at bay, grateful to have her back. She eyed the closet, the abandoned clothing on the floor, the empty shelves coated with dust and mouse droppings. Some old metal clothes hangers hung off the broken clothes poles, others were on the floor. A white envelope lay incongruously against the backdrop of the dirty closet shelf, waiting for its intended correspondent. Maude motioned to Joe to protect the envelope, to remove it from the shelf and avoid any fingers on its pristine surface.
Three words across the envelope got everyone’s attention. Detective Maude Rogers, it read, but nothing more was written to indicate the nature of its contents.
“Lilly Ann, I need for you to get control of yourself for a few minutes while we try and find some hard evidence against the jackal that brought you here. Stand beside me, but let me get out of this closet. Joe, please remove whatever is in that envelope and read it to me. I want to hear it before I see it.”
“There’s nothing inside, Maude, its empty; looks like someone is playing games with us, with you.”
“Then let’s get out of here. Sheriff Jack’s men can take care of the forensics of the room. You can bet they won’t find anything incriminating, but we have to try.”
Leading a calmer Lilly Ann outside, Maude opened the pickup door and helped her onto the back seat, buckling the seat belt on the now silent woman.
“Lilly Ann, I won’t tell you to get over this, to quit being afraid. It isn’t in me to be unfeeling with you, but please hear me. This man who took you has no hold over you now unless you give it to him. Fear is his weapon, he can gloat to the Devil himself that he controls you if you let him live in your mind. It is only when you stand up and spit in his face, then walk away from him that he will lose his hold on you. Think about that some while we’re driving.”
The young woman sat huddled in the back seat, a soft quilt from Maude’s traveling items thrown over her shoulders. She whimpered for a long time then grew silent; Maude thought she was sleeping under the quilt. Joe was driving once again, heading the truck back to Lilly Ann’s neighborhood.
“Aunt Maude, do you want to ask me any questions? I want you to find the man who took me from my home. I want to help.” Lilly Ann was not only awake, she had been thinking, deciding that whatever she had to do, her abductor had to be caught.
“Whatever you want to tell, go ahead, I’ll take some notes, the questions will come later if I need to clarify something.”
“This morning, I was getting ready for work, and I knew you were coming. I was happy, running around the house singing.” At that point, she blushed and looked at Joe. “Just silly stuff, with Mom gone, I wasn’t thinking about safety even though you’ve been telling me all my life to be alert to my surroundings. There was a knock on the door and I thought it was Mom coming in early. She’s been gone to Houston for two days. Anyway, I opened the door real wide, and the next thing I knew someone had my arms behind my back, my nose was burning, and I had a gag in my mouth. I think I fought really hard. It’s like I was in a movie or somewhere other than right there at my own door.
I had my robe on just straight from the shower, and the man told me to get dressed. He chose my dress from the closet. Then he forced me into the back seat. I…did what he told me to do. He told me if I didn’t do what he said, he would hurt me, but if I was quiet, he would be nice to me. He covered me with his coat because I didn’t have mine and my dress was thin with only a sweater over it.” Once again she flushed and sneaked a look at Joe who kept his eyes on the road, never blinking.
“The next thing I knew we were at that house and I was in the closet. He said that if I tried to get out he would hurt me. The ropes were on my arms and legs and I stayed on the floor so many hours, crying and feeling alone, afraid he was lying and would come back and kill me. I knew you would find me, but I thought it would be too late.” At that point she began sobbing, the memory of her fears stark and current.
Finally the crying stopped, and Maude felt it was safe to ask a few questions. “Can you describe this man?”
“He wasn’t very tall, just about my height. He had blonde hair with a kind of military cut. He wore Ben Franklin glasses, sounded like he was from the south. Does that help?”
“Helps a lot, remember anything else? No matter how insignificant it sounds, we might use it. Anything about the car?”
“I don’t think so. Unless…I seem to remember he talked to someone on the phone. I think it was after he put me in the closet. It’s kind of foggy, but I’m sure I heard a phone ring.”
“So he was talking to someone on the phone, which probably means he was following orders.”
Lilly Ann was quiet again and unresponsive.
“Joe, I have to call her mother, my sister-in-law Jean. She should be home by now. I could also use my evening cigarette. Think we could pull in that store up there and get a cup of coffee?”
Joe stopped the truck and went inside while Maude opened the door of the truck and sat sideways on the seat, lighting her third cigarette of the day. The pain in her hips and knees was strong from the activities of the day; creeping low and ducking for cover were the culprits that had helped cause the joint problems, along with wrestling perps throughout her career. The bottle of ibuprofen was on the seat, near her, and she popped two of them in her mouth, dry swallowing as she had learned to do in the field.
The coffee was steaming when Joe brought it, along with two others and some fried pies, a single man’s meal on the road. Lilly Ann woke and sat up.
“Do I smell coffee? Can I have some?”
Joe handed one of the cups over, shaking his head sorrowfully. “I put cream and sugar in it. Hope you like it. How about a fried pie? Apple or cherry?”
“Perfect. Cherry,” she said, her hands reaching. “I’m starved.”
“Yes, that is just perfect.” Maude said, thinking of the gratitude she felt for her niece’s apparent good health. It could have been so much worse.
“Lilly Ann, I’m about to call your mother, after I finish my cigarette. You’ll want to talk to her, reassure her that you are unhurt.
”
The phone call went just as she thought it would, with Jean trying to keep from losing control, but having a hard time with it. She also called Jack, and informed him of the most recent news, that the man who abducted Lilly Ann was also the man who had been stalking Maude back at the motel.
Jack told her that the house was on the county auction rolls for taxes unpaid, and no one had officially lived there in about five years. He said the doors were supposed to be boarded up, at least the tax folks told him it was their practice to keep unauthorized squatters out of the house and off the land.
“All public information,” Maude said, shaking her head. “No way to track him.”
“Well, I wouldn’t be too sure. They always slip up, you know. Ernest is on top of things, he might dig something up. Maybe some of the people out there saw the car that carried your niece to that house.”
“It’s been my experience, Jack, that neighbors in those kind of housing areas turn a blind eye to what goes on out of their own yard.”
“We might still get lucky.” Jack said, his good nature having finally returned after being shot. “Some folks think about something and want to do the right thing.”
“We can hope, Jack. We can hope. Meanwhile I am grateful to have Lilly Ann safe and sound. You and your men have my gratitude.”
“We seem to be in each other’s debt, Maude. Let’s leave it at that. I get to go home tomorrow, then go back to work in a week. Seems like a long time. My wife is bound and determined to keep me from doing a blessed thing. But I am grateful to be alive.”
“Jack, you aren’t going to start crying, are you?” Maude asked him.
Jack laughed, the mood broken just as she had hoped. “No tears. I’ll get busy on this end, giving orders. Seems I can still do that. We’ll see what we can find out about Spillar, see if he was the one with the gun. Oh yeah,” he added, “I called the sheriff down there. He said he would wait for your report when you returned. I imagine his folks will want to do some follow-up with your niece. Just so you know.”
Murder on Edwards Bay (The Maude Rogers Crime Novels Book 2) Page 12