The Ginseng Conspiracy (A Kay Driscoll Mystery)
Page 25
I glanced over at Deirdre and Elizabeth. “With assistance.”
Thom leaned over and asked, “Kay, are you going to introduce me to your friends?”
“Of course.” I looked at Phil, smiled, and held out my hand to him. Phil smiled back and took my hand in his.
We walked with Thom over to where Deirdre and Elizabeth stood watching.
Chapter Twenty
Tuesday, November 15
Phil left for school to scallop braces for the back of his guitar. As I finished dressing, I heard the doorbell ring. When I hurried down the stairs, the phone started ringing as well. Which should I answer first? I picked up the land line phone.
“Hello?”
“Kay, this is Thom. You sound out of breath. Are you all right?”
“I raced down the stairs. Can you hang on a moment? Someone's at the door.”
“Wait! Kay! I need to tell you... Are you still there?”
“Yes?”
“I just heard, Dr. Anders escaped from his holding cell this morning. I'm on my way over. He's on the loose. That could be him at your door!”
I looked toward the door. The bell was still ringing. My pulse quickened as my eyes widened. “What? How could he…” The doorbell stopped ringing. The door handle jiggled. “Thom, I think someone is trying to get into the house!”
“Don't answer the door. I'll be right there.”
“Hurry!”
“A car is on its way over to your house as we speak.”
“Maybe it's the police out there now. I'm going to have a quick look out the window. Thom, I'll be back in a second.”
I went over to a sidelight window by the front door and slid the curtain aside and peered out. Dr. Anders' face was right there, his eyes level with mine, looking right at me. I jerked back, threw the curtain back over the window, and screamed. I grabbed the phone, “Thom, he's here!” The sound of glass breaking startled me. “He's here! Thom…Thom…are you…” Damn, he was no longer on the line. I dropped the receiver on the table, ran over to the fireplace, and grabbed the iron poker. Dr. Anders put his gloved hand through the sidelight, unlocked the front door, and walked in. “Get out of here!” I shouted at the door he had left open, hoping someone passing would hear me, “Help! Help!”
Dr. Anders wore a mirthless smile on his face, walking purposefully toward me as he entered the house. “Why are you so surprised to see me, Kay? Didn't you know I would come back for you?”
“Stay away! I'm warning you. The police are on their way.”
He laughed and produced a syringe from his jacket pocket, the pocket he patted at the cemetery.
“They'll never get here in time.” He stepped forward.
I brandished the poker at Dr. Anders and swung it at him, hitting him in his arm. He screamed out in pain, dropping the syringe. Blood surged up through the fabric of his sleeve. He cupped the wound with his other hand and looked from his arm up at me with soulless, gray eyes. He dropped his right hand and with it grabbed the poker. He wrenched it away from me and tossed it aside. He reached down toward the syringe with his good arm. I ran up and kicked the syringe a good distance away, taking the opportunity of his bending down to give him a shove that sent him face forward to the floor. I grabbed the fireplace poker, ran around him, and took the stairs, two steps at a time. I needed to get to the phone. I could hear him getting up, making shuffling noises. I reached the bedroom and locked myself in.
“Kay, Kay,” I heard him shout. “You know you can’t get away from me. It’s no use.”
I heard his heavy, sluggish footsteps coming up the stairs.
The phone, the phone, quick, I must call Thom, Phil...anyone. I went over to the phone picked it up and heard a dead line. I remembered dropping the receiver when I answered the phone downstairs, and my cell phone was in my purse in the kitchen. There was no way I could make a call now. I leaned against the door, pushing my whole frame into it, hoping it would prevent Dr. Anders from kicking the door in.
I heard sirens, followed by a lot of noise and screaming. I heard what sounded like someone falling down the steps. Then footsteps again, coming up the stairs, getting nearer to the door, toward me. Coming closer and closer.
I screamed, “Get away, get away.”
There was banging on the bedroom door. “Kay, Kay, open up, open up!”
“Get away.” Tears streamed down my face.
“It’s Thom. You’re safe. I'm here.”
I recognized the voice. “Thom,” I screamed as I opened the door and fell sobbing into his arms.
“What did you do to Dr. Anders? He looks like hell.”
I looked past Thom. Dr. Anders was laying at the bottom of the stairs being handcuffed.
I wiped my eyes with my hand. “Taser?”
Thom nodded.
Two police officers dragged Dr. Anders out.
“Make sure this time he doesn't get away,” Thom shouted at them. He turned to me, “Are you all right?” He held me tightly in his arms. I noticed he was breathing heavily. His lower lip trembled. His eyes were dilated and full of concern. The moment reminded me of our college days when I often found myself in his arms. But now we were both married with grown children, although we had remained friends and had worked together on a couple of occasions. I needed to pull away from his embrace, but his arms felt so comforting, so reassuring right now. We stood silent, standing on the landing upstairs. To continue speaking would have brought words neither of us wished to say.
We were still standing there when Elizabeth came into the house. The front door had been left open, and she walked right in. She looked up at us. “Kay, what's going on? I just saw...Why is Dr. Anders...He escaped?”
Thom and I went downstairs. I was still breathing short, heavy breaths, barely able to talk. “Elizabeth...”
Thom asked for Phil's number and went outside to call him on his cell. I told Elizabeth a short version of what happened with Dr. Anders.
“You know what? I'll make you a cup of tea.” Elizabeth went into the kitchen.
Thom came back in the house carrying a thick yellow mailer. He put it on an end table, came over, and sat next to me on the sofa. Relief soon washed over me.
By the time Elizabeth came back into the room, Thom was explaining how Dr. Anders escaped. “...Police Sergeant Wallace was found dead on the floor with a syringe still in his arm. Dr. Anders got his attention somehow and struck Wallace with the syringe when he entered the cell. He escaped out the open door. The police were low on staff, so they didn’t notice his escape right away.”
“And Dr. Anders had his coat with him, with the syringe in it?” I asked.
“Syringes,” Elizabeth corrected me. She handed us each a cup of tea.
“Thank you.” The warm cup felt comforting in my hands.
“Thanks, Elizabeth.” He took the cup from her. “It's a small town. The police didn't follow procedure.” Thom frowned then shook his head. “Anders was a well respected doctor in town running a free clinic. He was never searched. The coat should have been taken and the contents of the pockets emptied. He just wore it into the cell.”
“Kay, are you going to be okay? I'll stay here if you need me,” Elizabeth said.
“Elizabeth, don’t you have a lunch date?” I wanted to ask Thom about what happened yesterday during the interrogations.
“No, actually, I don’t…I…” I opened my eyes wide and gave the ever so slightest nod towards the door. I wanted a few minutes alone with Thom. She smiled. “Yes, yes, I need to go get ready.”
“Go ahead then, Elizabeth.”
“I just called Phil. He should be here soon. I'll stay with Kay until he comes.”
“Are we still getting together at the patisserie at three o'clock?” Elizabeth asked. “Everyone will be there.”
I paused. “Sure. That should be fine. Thanks, Elizabeth, for coming over.”
“Better see about Phil getting this door fixed right away,” Elizabeth said on her way out.
<
br /> I turned at an angle on the sofa in order to look at Thom better. “I'm so glad this is all over. What did you learn yesterday?”
“Well, for one thing, you won't have to testify against anyone. Al's confession, plus the conversations on the recorder, and the evidence you collected just about covers everything.”
I sighed. “That's a relief.”
“Not only did Al tell all, he had it all written down. The fool thought he was writing a novel but used all the real names. We found Al's novel in a box underneath Walters' manuscript in his study closet. I made a copy for you, for your reading enjoyment, over there in the yellow mailer I brought in.”
“Thanks, Thom.” I had so many questions. Where to start? “What was on the recorder? I never got a chance to listen to it.”
“A lot. A gold mine. Well, besides Walters’ meeting with Dr. Anders where he was drugged and dragged out to the alley, all of the conversations while Sherman was being watched were recorded. Your neighbor, Ted Michaels, had a heated argument with John Stewart while John was watching Walters.”
“It's so hard to believe Ted was involved.” I heard the garage door opening. Phil was home. “Phil was right about him.”
He walked into the living room through the kitchen door. “Kay, are you okay?” He came over to the sofa, sat down, and put his arm around my shoulders. “I was so worried when Thom called.” Tension showed in his eyes. A muscle in his jaw twitched.
“I'm fine now. Did Thom tell you about Dr. Anders?”
“Unbelievable. I'm sorry, Kay. It must have been—” He changed the subject. “I heard you say I was right about something?” He gave a half-smirk.
I let out a little laugh. “About Ted being one of the hooded six. Thom was telling me about the interrogations yesterday. What else was on the recorder?” I leaned forward not wanting to miss any of what Thom was about to say.
“Well, everything was. Over thirty hours. The disturbance when you saw Sherman in the vacant store surrounded by the hooded six and they took off after you.”
“And down by the water?” I asked.
“Right. Before that, they moved him to another building, and later you could faintly hear people talking when he was being dragged down the embankment.” I bit my lower lip.
Phil's eyes opened wide. He cleared his throat. “What kind of confessions did you get out of everyone?” He took off his jacket. “Who's being charged in Sherman's murder?”
“At first the only one who talked was Al Stewart. Eventually everyone did. John Stewart showed no remorse—”
“No doubt. A villain to the end.”
“And Dr. Anders almost bragged about what he had done.”
“A complete lack of conscience,” I said, getting up from the sofa and asking Thom and Phil if they wanted any tea or coffee. I was so appreciative of Elizabeth for making tea for Thom and me. It was time for a refill.
Neither wanted any, so I sat back down.
Thom continued, “Bill Murphy, Dr. Anders, Al, and John Stewart will be charged with the murder of Sherman.”
“And Ted and Richard Stewart?” I asked.
“They’ll be charged as accessories. Dr. Anders, from all the evidence, was the mastermind. In the early years, when the ginseng industry was blossoming, he had the idea to genetically manipulate the crops for financial gain. He teamed up with a young Dr. Richard Stewart who conducted experiments in the laboratory genetically altering the ginseng. Dr. Anders gave Alicia Cooke and Margaret lethal injections and falsified their autopsy reports, as he did Sherman's.”
We sat in silence for a few moments. I nodded. “I thought so. Did you find out anything about the students whose names were on the paper Mary Ann and I found in Sherman's office?”
Thom shook his head. “Al said over the years, all three had come upon the modified ginseng in their research and were killed. Your neighbor's being charged with the murder of one of the graduate students, Daniel Fellman, who died in the climbing 'accident'. Did you know Ted was an accomplished climber?”
“I heard him mention something about his climbing bluffs one weekend.” I thought back to Ted at Pete Rudd's pumpkin fest taking pumpkins to the kids in the hospital for Halloween. How could he be so kind and yet kill people?
I shook my head. “Did Ted kill the other students as well?”
“No. Al is going to testify that Bill Murphy murdered Mike Carson, cutting the brake line on his car. John Stewart murdered the other student, Sandra Ploughman when she was out on his land taking samples of the ginseng.” Thom's eye grew dark. He seemed to find it difficult to continue. “He dismembered her body, disposed of it in a wood chipper, and buried the remains in the ginseng field, the very one Sherman Walters had taken samples from.” He looked down frowning and then over at me. “And that's what happened.”
I gasped. “How evil,” I said, my voice breaking up. An uncontrollable shiver ran up and down my spine.
Phil looked at me. “John Stewart sure was a nasty piece of work.”
“John was supposed to destroy the plants he was growing out at his farm. Instead, he continued selling the illegal ginseng in the cities and around town. It was a profitable business. He continued until Sherman was murdered.”
“Thom, are you sure I can’t get you something to drink? It sounds like you could use something.”
Thom looked down at his watch. “Nothing, thank you. Kay, I should be leaving. I have a three o'clock flight.” Thom rose from the sofa.
Phil and I also stood up. “Thom, one last question. Kay saw these people wearing robes. What was the deal with that?' Phil asked.
“I asked Al. A few of the hooded six thought they would go unnoticed since everyone in town would be dressed in costumes the night of the Halloween Ball. Little did they know, Kay would notice them,” he concluded.
Thom told me to thank the others when I met with them this afternoon. “Kay, you couldn't have done a more superb job all the way around with everything. You made it so easy for the rest of us. I'm proud of you. Thank you.” He gave me a hug.
Phil and Thom shook hands. “Give our best to Therese,” Phil said. “How is your wife?”
“Busy.” He paused for a moment, his attention seemed to drift somewhere else. Then he looked at Phil and said, “She's a fundraiser for a few charities.”
We walked Thom to the door. “I'm grateful you were here. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come.”
“Anytime. Keep in touch. Well, goodbye, Kay, Phil.” He left.
I updated Phil on everything about Dr. Anders. I picked up the yellow mailer Thom had left and went upstairs one step at a time and noticed blood smears at one point on the banister. It must have been from Dr. Anders’ grabbing it when the police tasered him and before he fell. I put the mailer on the bed and went back downstairs, got some disinfectant and started cleaning all traces of Dr. Anders.
Phil came up the stairs. “Let me do that.” He took the cloth from my hand. “There won't be any more Dr. Anders in this house.”
I smiled at Phil. “Thank you.”
“I'm taking a few days off from class. We should get away, spend some quality time...” Phil wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. We remained like that, without talking for a few minutes. He looked at me and smiled. “Now, let me finish this.”
I went back up and took a long, steaming hot shower trying to take the chill out of my body and wash away the nightmare from my mind. I thought of the sign when we moved into town. Sudbury Falls population 10,226. Who would have guessed the population would have decreased so much in a couple of weeks.
I thought about how I felt in Thom's arms, comforted, reassured. Phil was gone so much. And then I thought about how I just felt in Phil's arms...loved.
I came downstairs to clanging sounds coming from the kitchen. “All ready to go?” Phil asked. “Yes. We're meeting in fifteen minutes.”
“I'm planning a fantastic dinner. When you come back from the patisserie, I
'll have a glass of wine waiting for you.” Phil smiled. “I love you, Kay.”
I smiled and leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. “I'll see you later.”
Chapter Twenty-One
I walked to the patisserie thinking about Phil and what had just transpired. He seemed...what was the word for it...cognizant...mindful of our union. I smiled. The world seemed brighter all of a sudden. I found myself humming when I arrived a few minutes after three o'clock. Deirdre, Mary Ann, and Marissa were listening to Elizabeth tell about Dr. Anders being dragged from my home.
Deirdre saw me come into the room. She stood up, came over, and hugged me. “How are you doing? Are you all right?”
“Yes, more than all right. Relieved.”
Marissa closed the room in the back for the five of us. We sat around the main table. Marissa had brought in tea and a plate of lemon curd tarts.
First I told them what happened that morning with Dr. Anders. The table became silent, all eyes focused on me.
“At the cemetery, I saw him pat his coat pocket,” I said, looking over the rim of my teacup and patting my own blouse to imitate his action.
“Perhaps he was telling you what he planned,” Deirdre said.
“I don't know, Deirdre. He might have been.”
“You were so brave,” Deirdre said.
When I told them Al had confessed, Elizabeth jumped in, “I bet he's copping a plea.”
“No one should get a lesser sentence,” an agitated Mary Anne said. “Sherman is still dead because of all of them.”
We all sat around the table in silence for a few moments. This whole business had taken a huge toll on our little town and on those who were closest to the victims, our circle of friends.
When I said I didn’t need to testify, Deirdre looked surprised. “But you were the one who solved the case. You nabbed Dr. Anders at the cemetery. Don’t you want to see it through to the end?”
“Thom knows I want to remain anonymous. Chief of Police Stephen Kirk is receiving the credit for solving the case. Everyone will want a hero, and I’m sure he'll be happy to play that role, especially with all the corruption in his police department.”