Small towns have a lot to offer, some good, some not so good. Dawn knew Roger very well. She and Kenny had gone to school with him. Only Roger wandered into the drug scene after graduating and never returned.
“Where’s the donuts?” Sam asked. He came around the counter and took Roger by the arm.
“In the patrol car. I picked up this guy panhandling a customer for money. Put him away will you, Sam? Until he can sober up. I’ll get the donuts.” Kenny gave Dawn a grin. “I’m sure you’ll want one too.”
Dawn blew out a breath and turned just as Sam pushed Roger into the small holding cell next to the reception area used for booking.
“Hey, Dawn! That’s you?” Roger eyed her sourly. He stuck his arms between the parallel bars and rested his wrists across the horizontal ones. “You sure have changed.”
“So have you.” She tried to keep her tone friendly but had a bit of trouble.
“Ooo—wee. Snooty…snooty. Always was. Always will be.” Roger grinned at her displaying several rotten front teeth. “I know something you don’t.”
It was his sudden change to a sing-song whisper that drew her closer. “What do you know?”
“Sumthin,’ about Amanda.”
The hairs on her arms prickled. “What about her?”
“What about her?” he mimicked.
“Stop it, Roger. What do you know about Amanda?”
The last drug Roger had taken must have grabbed hold of him for he cackled like an old woman. “Don’t ask me. Ask Keri Kramer. Oh, right, you can’t. She’s dead.” He cackled again and dropped to the floor with a thud, out cold.
Amanda! Keri! Dawn wanted to stomp her feet and throw a tantrum. Her dream, Amanda, and Keri, somehow they all had to be connected.
Kenny walked into the station carrying the box of donuts. She rushed up to him. “Kenny, I need your help.”
“Oo…kay.” He opened the box and held it out to her. “Take a donut. How can I help?”
Dawn grabbed a plain donut and took a bite. Between chews, she sputtered, “Keri is the answer. I need you to find her family’s whereabouts.”
By the time Dawn pulled her Prius in front of the small house located on the outside of town, it was late afternoon. The cookie-cutter home was long time neglected by the looks of peeling paint and tall weeds growing along the walkway. However parked in the driveway was a late model Buick. Someone should be home.
A slender woman in her early forty’s wearing faded blue jeans and a low cut shirt opened the door. “Yes?”
Dawn offered her hand. “Hi. I’m looking for the family of Keri Kramer.”
“And you are?”
“Dawn DeLuca. I went to school with Keri. Are you her family?”
The woman met Dawn’s eyes. Pale blue, the same color as Keri’s.
“I’m Linda. Keri’s older sister.” She opened the door wider and motioned for Dawn to step inside.
When Dawn did, Linda gestured toward the couch. “Please, have a seat.”
Once seated Linda seemed to study Dawn a moment. “I don’t remember you. Were you good friends?”
Dawn cleared her throat. “I knew her from high school. We were both cheerleaders. Only for a short time. I didn’t get to know her very well.”
“So, why the visit?”
“I…er...I have been thinking about her lately.” Keri’s sister stiffened somewhat, and her eyes shadowed with pain. A rush of guilt swept through Dawn. Maybe she shouldn’t have come. “I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to bring up painful memories for you.”
“Not quite as painful anymore.” She waved her hand in the air. “It’s been a long time. For my parents, Keri’s death was heartbreaking. You see, Keri was the baby. They had her late in life.” Linda sighed, then laughed somewhat. “I think Keri was a more of a surprise than planned. Either way, they doted on her from the day she was born.” She bit her lip as if struggling to speak. “Wanted only the best for their little princess.”
”I understand about being the baby.” Dawn remembered all the times she’d been pampered but also remembered the many scoldings she’d gotten whenever she misbehaved. From the way Linda acted, Keri wasn’t scolded often.
“Would you like something to drink? I just made iced tea.”
“Love some.”
“Do you want anything in it?”
“No, thank you.”
When Linda headed for the kitchen, Dawn glanced around the room. The furniture was old, and the carpet worn, but Dawn felt love, at one time, was present. Her mind flashed back to that terrible morning she had heard about Keri. It was all over the school how one of the students had taken their life. She remembered finding it hard to believe anyone could feel so desperate, so distraught about their life, they could see no other way out but to end it.
“Here you go.” Linda held out a glass of tea.
“Thank you.” Dawn took the glass and sipped. She smiled. “It’s perfect.”
Linda smiled in return. “That is one thing I can do right. Even my parents said so.”
Dawn blinked, instantly understanding. As the older child, Linda struggled at how her parents consistently ignored her, putting Keri’s welfare first. “I take it Keri was the apple of your parents’ eyes?”
Linda grimaced. “You could say that. However, sometimes, I wondered about their obsession of Keri. It put too much pressure on my sister. She acted like she needed to excel in everything, to keep mom and dad happy.”
Dawn nodded. “Yeah, I can see how that could be a problem.”
“Keri certainly had her problems. No doubt about it. She was basically shy. The battle between her desire to please our parents and her ongoing shyness, she started suffering from depression and low self-esteem. At first, mom and dad didn’t know what to do about her. It was a time when mental health was not spoken as openly as it is now. Perhaps had they have received better help back then...” She shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t matter now.”
Dawn bit her lip so she wouldn’t start crying. If only she and Amanda had spent more time with Keri, none of this might have happened.
“Would you like to see some old albums? That was what I was doing when you arrived. I’m getting the house ready to sell. Both my parents have passed now, and I live in Northern California. It’s taken me a while to get the strength to come home and sort through everything.”
“Thank you. I’d enjoy seeing some pictures.”
A few minutes later Linda returned with a box of loose photos and two dusty albums in her arms. She set the box down next to the couch and scooted closer to Dawn. “Well, let’s see what we have.” She opened the first album. It was filled with typical family pictures. Two little girls holding dolls. Lots of pictures of a happy family gathered around a Christmas tree. Several showed a little girl chasing a puppy out on the lawn. Linda thumbed through the pages. It seemed to be making her happy, although a couple of photos brought tears to the woman’s eyes.
“As you can see, Dawn. Our family was happy for the most part when Keri and I were little. My folks didn’t have lots of money but we didn’t lack for anything either.”
Dawn understood. “We didn’t have much either, but my brother and I didn’t know it.”
Linda’s fingers tightened on the album. “Keri’s underlying problems didn’t surface until she was in high school. Demands for her to excel intensified. Partly from my parents and the majority of it by Keri herself. She stayed up late at night studying so she could keep her grades high. Anything below an A was traumatic for her.” Linda wiped the tears trickling down her cheeks. “I was on my own then, but I did try to do as much with her as I could. I think I recognized Keri’s spiral into depression before my parents did. I tried to tell mom and dad Keri needed help, but they didn’t want to hear it. All they wanted to talk about was how proud they were of her that she made the cheerleaders and met some wonderful new friends.”
Dawn blinked. “Are you talking about here in Turtle Creek or Eastwood?”
�
��In Eastwood.” Linda turned the album’s page. “Mom and Dad started talking about finding the money to send Keri to college once she graduated. They scrimped and saved, cutting out luxury items for themselves. They’d looked into different colleges. Some were even expensive Ivy League schools.”
A loose, large photo of Keri smiling was half stuck behind another photo. Linda picked it up. “This was taken when Keri was entering her senior year at Eastwood. That’s when everything started falling apart. Around that time she met a boy. I’d never seen her happier. Our parents thought otherwise. They tried to discourage her from getting too serious. They would tell her she was too young. Plus they had already made plans for her future.”
“Wow. That had to have been tough on Keri. I can remember when I thought I was in love with a boy back then. I thought of nothing but him.” Dawn sighed. “Poor, Keri.”
Linda’s expression was a mixture of sadness and understanding. “Around March, my parents were so worried Keri might run off with her boyfriend, they packed up one day, and, without telling Keri, moved to Turtle Creek and enrolled her into school here.”
Dawn remembered the day Keri had walked into the gym asking if she could join the group. Since they were one team member short, they accepted her with enthusiasm. For a while, Keri put her whole heart and soul into learning the cheers and sharing some of her ideas. But three days after hearing she was up for Valedictorian, she suddenly lost all interest in cheering. She completely stopped coming to practice. Several days later, they’d heard Keri had killed herself by slitting her wrists.
Linda had flipped to another page. She inhaled sharply. “Here’s one of Keri and her boyfriend. Personally, I think he had something to do with Keri committing suicide.”
Dawn took the picture and stared at it. As she did, her vision wavered. For a moment she thought she might throw up. His face was different, but, the eyes. She knew the eyes.
Amanda! She needs to be told. No, first she needed to call Rick. She pointed toward the picture. “Would you mind if I kept this? I’d like to show it to someone.”
“Sure, why not. I’ll most likely pitch the ones I don’t like, which will probably be the majority of these.” She tapped the second album. “Take whatever you want.” Linda bent at the waist and picked up a small box. Here, you might like to go through this. I haven’t even had time to open it.”
She pointed at the writing on the box. “It has some of Keri things. From the look of the packaging tape, I’d say it’s never been opened since she died. I guess my parents didn’t have the heart to do anything with it.” She held out the box to Dawn. “I don’t think I can handle looking in there either. You take it. Go through the stuff. If there’s anything you’d think I might like to have, you can let me know.”
Dawn looked surprised.
“Oh, I know what you’re thinking. But you’re wrong. I loved my sister, and I prefer to remember only the good things about her. So if there’s stuff in there that will bring me sadness, I don’t want it.”
Finally, Dawn understood. “I’ll do as you wish. How long will you be here?”
“I’ll probably here another week.”
“Alright.” When Linda first offered the box, Dawn was hesitant to take it. She hadn’t known Keri all that well, but an inner voice told her, packed away inside the box could be a clue as to why Keri had taken her life.
Dawn put the box on her lap, then quickly shuffled through the second album’s pictures and collected the ones where the boy was in them. “Linda, do you remember the name of Dawn’s boyfriend?”
“It’s on the back of all of them, I think. This album Keri kept in her room.” She flipped the photo over. It says…Jon. If I remember correctly, his last name was Baxter.”
“Baxter?” The name meant nothing to Dawn, but the eyes did.” She leaned over and hugged Linda. “You can’t imagine how much I appreciate you sharing all this with me. It explains a lot.”
Dawn read the question in Linda’s eyes, the ones she wanted to ask, but seemed to understand Dawn wanted to leave. “I enjoyed visiting with you.” She smiled a little. “I guess it does help talking about painful memories after all.”
Dawn hugged her again. She grabbed the box and photographs and headed for the door. She needed to get home and open Keri’s box. An answer awaited. She was sure of it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Time was running out. He knew it. Rick rubbed his eyes, feeling frustration burning behind them. He closed the lid to his laptop. His overnight trip to Tucson, on a lead, had turned into a bust. The more he tried to find something on Amanda’s husband, the smaller a trail was left. The guy was too damn smart. Why go to so much trouble to disguise his past?
He checked his watch. Getting close to going on one o’clock. About the only thing, he could do now was go downstairs and grab something to eat in the hotel’s restaurant. Maybe he’d order a BLT and an extra, large ice tea. After that, he’d head back to Phoenix and start—
His cell phone rang. He groaned. Dawn...probably wants an update.
For a brief second he thought about letting it go to voicemail. But decided not to.
“Hello, little sis.”
“Rick! I know who wants to hurt Amanda. It’s Jon. I mean it’s James!”
“Say that again?”
“It’s James. He’s psychotic. It all goes back to when Amanda and I were in high school. There was this girl. Her name was Keri Kramer.”
“Wait a second, let me get my notebook.” The tic in the back of his neck was back. Rick walked to his briefcase and pulled out the pocket-sized notebook he always kept whenever he was on a case. “Okay. Go ahead.”
As Dawn talked, Rick made fast notes. The information she fed him made no sense. What did this Keri have to do with Amanda and her husband? Then she hit him with a bombshell.
“She was pregnant, Rick. And, James was the father. They knew each other at Eastwood High and dated against Keri’s parents’ wishes. I have Keri’s diary right here. “Listen to this…
I’m late. I’m so scared. What are my parents going to say?
MONDAY, APRIL 18. I haven’t talked Jon for two days. I sent an e-mail telling him about the baby…and nothing. No response. He promised we were going to get married when we graduated, but I guess a baby would be too much responsibility.
TUESDAY, APRIL 19. I need to talk to Jon. I love him so much.
FRIDAY, APRIL 22. I ditched school again. I know I should have gone but I just couldn’t. I have no friends to talk to. I wish I could be close friends with Amanda, Holly, Dawn, and Mary, I want to tell them, but I can’t get the nerve. They’ll think I’m stupid for getting pregnant. My parents, they have really high expectations for me and I can’t do it anymore. I’m never going to be good enough, and I try so hard.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27. I called Jon this afternoon, but he hasn’t returned my call. I feel so ashamed and alone. I’m trying to make everyone happy, but it’s just too much. I don’t want a baby.
THURSDAY, APRIL 28. I was sick this morning. Oh, Jon, I’ve messed everything up. I’m not going to be Valedictorian. I’m a terrible person. I don’t know. I’m sorry. I can’t do this. I can’t take it anymore. There’s only one thing left for me to do.
“That’s it, Rick. The diary stops there. Nothing more.”
“Whoa…
“And, that’s not all. Check your e-mail. I sent you a bunch of files. Go ahead. I’ll wait.”
Rick opened his laptop and tapped it awake. In two seconds he found Dawn’s e-mail and downloaded the files she’d attached. “Got ‘em.”
“Great. Open the file that says Missing Persons.”
“Done.” When the file opened two photos sat side-by-side. “Who are they?”
“The one on the left is Holly Dreason, on the right, Mary Williams. Both of them were on our cheerleading squad, Amanda and me, I mean, during our senior year. After high school, they went out of state. Holly went to Caltech in Pasadena. Mary elected to go to the Unive
rsity of Colorado, in Boulder.”
“Keep talking.”
“Well, you know me and my hunches. I went to Kenny and told him I had a bad feeling about them. He put their names in a database and got a hit. Both women were listed on a country-wide missing person file. Have been for quite some time.”
The tic in the back of his neck throbbed now. Rick had a horrible feeling he wasn’t going to like what was coming next. “What’s in the second file?”
There was silence on his phone. “Dawn?”
He heard her sniff. “Sorry, I’m not used to all this. Open the file. There are a bunch of pictures.”
Rick activated the second file. Two subfolders greeted him. One labeled Mary Williams and the other, Holly Dreason. He opened two windows, so both files lay side-by-side. In each were large selections of jpegs. From the small thumbnails, none of them viewed nice. “I have a feeling I’m not going to like this.”
“You won’t. I’ll wait while you look through the photographs. I’m sure you’re going to have questions.”
Damn right he would. Rick enlarged the thumbnails and did a quick study through both folders. In many, Mary and Holly’s bodies were displayed in various forms of nudity or sexual poses, as if they’d been taken for someone else. Then there were newspaper clippings, missing person flyers, and personal items, such as necklaces and rings displayed on a wall. But in the center of the wall was a large, blown-up poster of a young girl with shoulder, length dark hair framing a pretty oval face. Piercing blue eyes stared out with a look of innocence.
The combination of photos around her shouted just the opposite. It was as if everything had been perfectly placed to be a shrine…giving homage to her.
Rick barely managed to ask his first question. “Where did you find all these photos?”
“Here in Turtle Creek. Can you believe it? Our little town? Kenny was able to backtrack Jon Baxter’s whereabouts and followed the trail to a house on Weathersby street. It seems Jon, who now calls himself James, visited the house regularly, saw to its upkeep, so no one would wonder why it sat empty.”
BodyGuard (Butterscotch Martini Shots Book 2) Page 41