by Kit DeCanti
Ron decided to take the long way around the lake. The evening was chilly, and a blanket of clouds covered Mt. Konocti. “Just like me,” Ron thought. It’s like I am hiding under a blanket… afraid of calling Kat. Afraid of being rejected.”
Ron had been waiting in the shed for about a half an hour, looking at his cell phone, when Lenny drove up. Relief swept over him as he put his cell phone away. “I can’t believe this!” he muttered angrily at himself. “Why can’t I call her?”
Lenny climbed into Ron’s SUV and asked, “What now?”
Realizing he was still frowning, Ron quickly said, “Just thinking.” Again Lenny didn’t buy it.
Ron gave him the name of the attorney, and was glad he had decided to talk to Lenny first.
Not only did Lenny know the attorney, - but Mike Lindsey was a close friend of Sheriff Buchanan’s. Lenny decided that they should try to see if there were any public records of legal papers being filed by Lindsey on Heather’s behalf.
Lenny informed Ron that he had received two phone calls from Silicon Valley as a result of the fliers posted at malls.
“They both said they recognized the picture to be Heather Logan. One was a cashier at a coffee shop, but the other one sounded like she was a pretty good friend, and was real worried when she saw the picture. She took the news of Heather’s death pretty hard. And this is interesting-she asked if the uncle had anything to do with it.” The two lawmen just looked at each other for a moment.
“What have we dug up on the uncle?” Lenny asked. Ron wished he had followed that lead sooner. “His name is Ralph Henderson; he was married to Heather’s mother’s sister. He took over Logan Software, and became trustee to Heather’s inheritance, as well as her legal guardian.” Lenny squinted and nodded.
All that was in the report that came back on her fingerprints, and although Ron knew Lenny had read it, having nothing else, he repeated it. “I’ll give my dad a call. He might be able to get more than we can, without ruffling any more feathers,” Ron offered, wishing he had done it already. He dialed his dad on his cell phone, “Hey Pop, can you run a name for me? I’ll call you from a landline. Will you still be home in about an hour? Great.” Then he turned to Lenny, “I’ll see if he can pull anything up that may have been filed by Lindsey on behalf of Heather. He’ll be able to find out if there has been any fraud investigation opened up in Santa Clara County, as well.” He left before Lenny could question him about his change of mood from this morning, or worse- try and fix him up with his niece.
Ron pulled over at the first pay phone he found. He dropped some coins in the slot and called his step dad again, to ask for the additional favors; and for any info to be faxed to him at home. Then he drove the longest way home possible- brooding the whole way.
His mind bounced back and forth from wishing he had kept his mind on business to wishing he had called Kat immediately.
As he wound around Highway 20, the lake angrily splashed up on the shores. It seemed as angry with him as he was with himself!
When Ron finally arrived home, he was surprised to find a fax already waiting for him. Turns out that, yes- an investigation was in full swing on Henderson, for misappropriation of a trust fund. Bill Norris knew the detective on the case. He also had information about the illegal adoption, causing Ron to beat himself up mentally again, “Too bad I didn’t think about asking sooner! Could have saved some time.” His brow creased into a deeper frown as he read more.
The baby had been adopted out to a family that would never have been approved through an ‘above board’ agency. He lived only a few months, before falling ill and dying, due to lack of medical treatment. Henderson had been charged, along with the adoptive parents, for the death. Depraved Indifference. Not only that but they were reopening the investigation on the plane crash that killed Heather’s parents, and put Henderson in charge of Heather and her trust fund- not to mention a multimillion company.
“So Henderson’s part in the baby’s death, may have been premeditated,” Ron thought. He read on and found that Henderson had been in custody with no bail, awaiting trial for the past couple months.
Ron put the report down and leaned back on the wall next to his desk. Henderson was in jail on the day Heather died. Her death wouldn’t get him out of hot water, so Ron doubted if Henderson would have put a hit on her. Ron wondered, “When did Heather find out about her baby?” It was looking more and more like a suicide.
“She sure had reason to be depressed, poor girl,” Ron sighed. He wondered if he should have just let this go in the first place, if he had just been wasting everyone’s time. He looked at his watch. Almost midnight.
Well, now it was too late to call Kat. He hoped he hadn’t messed up there as well.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Diary
Friday, April 6th , 2007
The first week of Spring Break was coming to a close. There was still a steady stream of tourists and students heading into Lake County. But even the enthusiasm of the people he met, during the course of his work, couldn’t cheer up Ron at this point.
After meeting with Lenny to give him the grim report, Ron went through the day trying to keep his emotions in check.
“Can’t let this get to me!” he told himself repeatedly. But he couldn’t help feeling that he had let Heather down.
On top of that, it seemed everywhere something reminded him of Kat, and how he had probably messed things up by not calling yesterday. Even now, the ditches were lined with cattails waving in the breeze as if taunting him.
Finally he pulled off the road, and went through his notes to see if he had missed anything. There were so many questions to be answered. There was still the question about the water bottles. There were so many tranquilized water bottles found on in that one area on Boggs Mountain- all with Dr. Fleming’s fingerprints! Why? Who did all the other fingerprints belong to? Why did they take them to Boggs Mountain? Why the tranquilizers? Why hadn’t any of them drank? Why had they been left behind? And there was still the question as to who had paid Heather’s funeral bill. Ron wondered if Jack would come through with anything else.
At that very moment his cell phone rang. It was Jack. “BINGO!” he said. “Think I hit pay dirt.” Ron immediately perked up. Although he didn’t relish the thought of sharing the Highway 29 grade with tourists without the benefit his patrol cruiser gave him, he arranged to meet up with Jack at the same fast food place in Santa Rosa.
Ron’s thoughts immediately turned to Kat. He gave her a call right then, before he had time to get cold feet. She answered, but sounded cool. The playfulness was gone from her voice. “You should have called last night, you idiot!” Ron chastised himself.
When he asked her for a date for later that night, she came back with, “Do you really suppose that Kat Woman would still be available at this short notice?” He went cold.
Then she said, “You’ll just have to call sooner next time, Buddy.” He tried frantically to think of a come back. “Well, I’ll try to remember that,” he banged his forehead with his palm. “That’s it? That’s the best you could come up with?” he groaned to himself.
“Yes, see that you do,” Kat said curtly and hung up.
Ron sat motionless staring at the phone for a while. Then pulling something hopeful out of the conversation, and trying to cheer himself up, he said out loud, “She said ‘next time’… ‘ Next time!’ ” He hoped with all his heart that ‘next time’ would be soon!
It crossed his thoughts that he had accidentally called her from the untraceable phone.
Back at the station, Ron ran into Lenny in the parking lot.
“Hey Rookie! How ‘bout dinner tonight? My sister’s kid starts back to school pretty quick. Spring Break is almost over.”
Ron was glad he had a bonafide excuse, “Hey thanks, Lenny, but Jack called. Said he had the answers were looking for.” Then seeing the disappointment on Lenny’s face, he asked, “What’s her name- your niece?” Ron asked being more polite
than interested. “Kitten.” Lenny replied, looking pleased that Ron had asked. “Her Name is Kathryn, but we call her Kitten.”
Ron didn’t miss the irony here. Not only are feline names running amuck through his life- but now, how could he use his ‘emotionally disturbed fiancée Kat’ story as an excuse? Ron smirked to himself, “Well maybe when Spring Break is finally over, he’ll let up on trying to fix us up.” Ron hoped so. One more week!
Heading out over the Highway 29 grade, Ron wondered if Jack had really come up with something, or was he just blowin’ smoke. His curiosity was growing with each turn.
On one of the down hill turns, he passed an oncoming car, “Was that a red Miata?”
Jack was sitting there looking pretty smug, when Ron walked into the fast food restaurant.
“He looks like he got something good,” Ron thought. But it was also pretty obvious that Jack was going to milk it for all it was worth, trying to build suspense.
“Ya hungry? I’m starving! How ‘bout a burger?” Ron declined, but told Jack to order for himself, and he put a ten-dollar bill down. Jack smiled, went up to the counter, ordered and came back, still smiling.
“Waiting for me to ask,” Ron thought. He gave it to him, trying to hide his skepticism, “So, you came up with something good, huh?” Jack pulled a brown paper bag out from under his jacket candescently and slid it across the table.
“What’s that?” Ron wanted to know.
“Open it!” Jack said now obviously anxious for Ron’s reaction to the contents. Ron picked up the bag, and dumped out the contents on the table. A small book. He picked it up thumbed through it, and lifting one eyebrow, looked at Jack, questioningly.
“It’s Heather’s diary!” Jack said loudly, unable to contain himself.
“All right!” Ron said, as he gave Jack a congratulatory high five. He was genuinely amazed. “How did you get this?” he asked in total disbelief.
“I was visiting my cousin, up at the retreat… I help out when I visit her, so I pretty much have the run of the place. I help clean up; take out the garbage- sometimes I even cook.” Jack paused a moment, “I’ve met some good people there.” he said looking a bit protective.
“Anyway, I decided to take a look in Cindy’s room…”
Ron interrupted him, “Whoa… Cindy lives there?”
“Yeah, she finished up her program, but she didn’t have anyplace to go, so they let her stay and work for her room and board. They’re pretty cool people.
Anyway, I found a loose board in the corner under a box, and this was stuck under it. I don’t know if Cindy was holding it for Heather, or Heather left it there when she checked out. The last entry is about a month ago.”
Then his demeanor changed, “I didn’t read much of it all- it didn’t feel right. Poor girl.”
“Just like I thought, the guy isn’t all jerk. He’s got a heart.” Ron thought. He decided not to tell him about the baby just yet. But he did let him know that the uncle landed in jail. That cheered him up. Ron could tell Jack felt like a hero, since he was the one that helped Heather get the ball rolling.
Ron shook Jack’s hand, and told him “I really meant it about having something good for you.” He was going to give his step dad a call and ask for one more favor. “This guy shouldn’t be wasted on repoing cars,” thought Ron.
The drive back over the 29 Grade, Ron brooded over what the diary would reveal, what questions it might answer. what will he learn about the young girl?
As if further preparing himself to read about Heather’s short painful life, Ron impulsively turned left in Middletown taking the 175 route home over Cobb Mountain.
As he passed the Boggs hiking area, he shuddered at the thought of that young girl’s body lying there in the dark.
Ron sat down on his bed, solemnly opened the diary and read the handwritten words scrawled on the inside cover: “Life… It’s like cotton candy. It can look so good, so promising. You taste it... Sweet... But you find it disappearing when you try to swallow it… gone... nothing... That’s life… disappearing… Good things gone before you’ve had time to enjoy them… People gone before you’ve had time to know them ...”
Tears welled up in the deputy’s eyes. He lay back on his bed staring at the ceiling, and wondered at the young girl’s words. He wondered if she wrote those words when her baby was taken from her; or when she learned he had died. Or had she written them earlier? Was is in reference to her parents; or perhaps the baby’s father- who was deep in the Gulf War by the time Heather knew she was pregnant.
Maybe it was for all of them.
Ron’s heart went out to her, “Well, at least her pain is gone now,” he said, wishing she hadn’t felt so much pain in her short life.
Ron opened the tiny book again. He had an early morning, so he wouldn’t read much.
It wasn’t just his early morning. The journal revealed so much of Heather’s short painful life that it almost made him feel like a voyeur. Even so, he had a hard time putting it down. He resolved to read just enough tonight to find out whether Heather had learned that her uncle had gotten arrested. He had to know, at least, that before he could sleep…
Ron would have a sleepless night.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Video
Saturday, April 7th, 2007
Lenny was waiting in the orchard shed with a thermos of hot black coffee when Ron drove up. “Couldn’t keep picking up two coffees to go,” he smirked, “can’t have Sadie thinking I’m cheatin’ on my Ol’ Lady
“Okay,” anxious to hear what Jack had come up with Lenny got right down to business, “lets hear it.”
Ron handed him the diary, as Lenny handed him a cup of coffee. “It’s Heather’s,” Ron said without any of Jack’s drama. The smile on Lenny’s face turned to amazement. A low whistle emitted from between his teeth, “So, Jack’s on the level.” He opened it and read the inside cover. The Sergeant didn’t look up right away. When he did, he asked, “Have you read it?”
“Yeah… pretty sad,” Ron said. “Didn’t answer all our questions, but it gives a pretty good picture of the retreat. She wrote that it was the first place she really felt safe, since her parents died. That’s not all. Her uncle was obsessed with her getting an abortion, because he wanted the trust to end with her. She refused and went to her school nurse who contacted the uncle, who made a pretense of being sympathetic and promised Heather that he would have changes made to include the child on the trust. But there is no evidence that he tried to do this. It proves that he was motivated to steal the baby, and place him in harm’s way.
“It answers the question of what caused her depression but her last entry sounded hopeful. She had found the attorney who would help her find her son. She was also certain she could gain control of her inheritance, and that her father’s business would ensure a secure future for her son. She was mulling over whether to take him back. She wanted to see if he was in a loving secure home, before she decided. That’s where the journal stopped. The note in the front could have been added later- no way of telling…” Ron paused and thought a moment.
“The diary answers why she was depressed,” Ron repeated, “But it doesn’t answer the question of why she’s dead.” Ron was trying to hide the emotion, lying just below the surface. Didn’t work- Lenny caught it.
“It’s hard not to let cases like this get to ya,” was all Lenny said, quietly, handing the diary back. After a moment he added, “We have to consider that if Heather did find out about the death of her baby, it could have led to her suicide. We need to find out if she knew.”
Lenny had the day off, but Ron wouldn’t see a weekend off again for a while, and he had to leave or he would be late.
Ron paused before turning left back onto Soda Bay Road, towards Lakeport. Looking to the right, he saw the sun coming up from behind the mountains, causing the sky to be streaked pink, orange and red. “What’s that old sailor’s proverb?” then remembering he muttered, “‘Red sky in the eveni
ng, a sailor’s delight; Red sky in the morning a sailor’s fright!’… Wonder what this day will hold.” Ron was really looking forward to Lake County quieting back down. He braced himself for one last week of spring break.
The rest of the day actually was pretty quiet, which was okay by Ron, it gave him a chance to call Kat. Again, he used the untraceable phone, without thinking.
The playfulness was back in her voice, much to Ron’s delight and relief. In no time they were back to their witty bantering. He told her they needed to get together for another ‘Kat walk’ real soon. She laughed, and agreed, but before they could make a date they were interrupted by a call on her other line, which she said was a call her roommate was waiting for.
The call to Kat was short, but long enough to put the spring back in Ron’s step.
Ron’s cell phone rang, snapping him out of a daydream. “Hey, Joe. Found out who paid for that big-ticket item you were wondering about. It was the big guy on the hill.” Ron marveled at Jack’s knack for talking in code. But even more so at how fast he worked. “He really will make a good PI,” Ron thought.
Back at the station, Ron was surprised to run into Lenny in the coffee room. His wife had sent him to deliver some homemade cinnamon rolls to the crew. “Hey Rookie! How’d you like your first week of Lake County Spring Break?”
Ron laughed loudly and said, “It’s not Lauderdale, but we have our problems.” Then, as he was pouring his coffee, he lowered his voice, and said Jack had done some digging and learned that the retreat picked up the tab on Heather’s burial. Lenny took a loud sip of coffee, to hide his expression from anyone who may be looking. “Tonight?” Ron wondered.