Beautiful Girls

by Gary S. Griffin

  I called Detective Lomita when got back in the BMW and left a message with this news.

  ***

  We arrived back at the mansion before two o’clock.

  As we got out of the BMW, Edie said, “I need to take a nap. I’m wiped out.”

  “Go ahead. I’m still jet lagged myself and I’ll join you once I get some things together for dinner. I saw some nice steaks in the mansion’s refrigerator when we were doing our search. I’ll get them and some vegetables I saw there, too.”

  “OK, don’t be long.”

  By the time I entered the pool house bedroom, Edie was in her short nightgown and brushing her teeth. The curtains were drawn in the bedroom.

  When she finished, she looked at me and asked, “Stevie, you sure look happy?”

  I confessed to Edie that I was thrilled that I’d be a parent, but also really scared and worried.

  She said, “I know how you feel.”

  Edie walked into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. I stood in front of her and began to empty my pockets and take off my shoes and pants.

  “I’m so glad you’re in my life, Stevie.”

  I said, “I’m absolutely thrilled that we’re going to have a baby. I just can’t believe the rest of this.”

  Edie answered, “My God, Stevie, the last few days are a crazy nightmare. I keep thinking of my father and Tawny.”

  “I do, too, baby.”

  “That was his car that Carol Manning saw. I’m sure of it.”

  I said, “I think you’re right.”

  “We need to do something.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  She said, “We need to go to Tucson.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m sure he went there. He knows the area. He would want to be home, to act like everything’s normal.”

  I chose my words carefully. “Right; I thought about that, too. Whoever killed Bambi and Troy and Lisa tried to make it look like a murder-suicide, with Bambi as the killer.”

  Edie said, “But, you and I know Bambi would never do that.”

  She paused, gasped and said, “It’s just like when Sid was murdered.”

  “Well, it was a little different.”

  “True. They tried to make Andi look like the murderer…”

  She stopped again, and broke down. Her tears came quickly and steadily. She stood and hugged me.

  After a few minutes, she said, “Did you hear what I said? I said, ‘They tried’, you know, Kathy Reese and my father. Until I said that, I always forced myself to believe that my father was somehow fooled by Reese. That she planned it all, that she killed Sid and tried to blame Andi.”

  “I thought that, too.”

  “But, maybe we got it wrong. Maybe my father fooled us. That he really worked with Kathy. And, now, this…”

  She paused again and cried some more. I patted her back and just kept quiet.

  She was thinking like I was. That’s my partner.

  Then, Edie’s cell phone rang.

  Tawny — Desert Escape

  Sunday, October 17, 2004

  She woke with a start. She had an awful headache and her back hurt, too. Then, she realized where she was and who must have hit her. She was in the trunk of a car and it was driving fast on a freeway.

  She was pissed! She was also a little scared, but she would surprise Rob Nealy when they arrived at his destination. She would make him think she was scared and catch him when he didn’t expect it.

  She thought about that. No, that wouldn’t work. She changed her mind because who knows what he would do then and where they would be. I bet he needs to stop sometime, for gas, for food, to pee. She’d make trouble for him then. She’d get the attention of others, because they could help her.

  It was a plan. She felt better.

  So, Tawny waited. She realized that she messed up his plan. What Rob did to her was unplanned. He didn’t expect her to walk up the driveway. She wasn’t tied up or restrained in any way. Tawny wondered what other things Rob did at the mansion. Those thoughts scared her.

  ***

  Wiley’s Well Road, near Blythe, California, was a dusty, gravel stretch that wandered north to south through hilly, desert, scrub country. The rough road forced Nealy to drop his speed to less than twenty-five miles per hour. It had been a really hot day. Now, after 11 PM, it still had to be over eighty degrees. A few trees and shrubs appeared here and there in his headlights, but it was nearly all barren land.

  He kept his eyes moving across the horizon. He traveled one mile, then two, and finally three miles. He slowed way down to about 10 miles per hour.

  Almost four miles down the road, he slowed even more, and then, finally stopped the car. He got out and was blasted with dry, hot wind. It was very different compared to the air conditioned comfort of the Ford sedan. Sand and grit were blowing and getting in his eyes.

  He looked and saw no one and no lights.

  He hadn’t heard any noise from the trunk in over an hour. Maybe the girl was asleep. He looked around again. This place would do. His eyes adjusted to the dark. About fifty yards away to his right, to the west, a gully slanted down to a dry creek.

  Perfect! It would be a long time before anyone found the remains.

  As he put the key in the trunk lock and turned it to the right, he thought that afterwards he would undress her and take her clothes with him. It would make it harder to positively identify her body if she was nude.

  He wished he had a flashlight because he wondered how developed her body would look. She was what, twelve or thirteen? That’s pretty young, he thought. But, she was wearing a bra. Maybe she’d be big up top like her mother, Bambi.

  As the trunk lid lifted he smiled; he remembered that Bambi’s huge boobs were fake.

  The smile was wiped from his face when he reached into the trunk. The trunk lid came down fast and hard on his right fingers and left wrist. He yelled and pulled back.

  The trunk lid flew all the way open. Before he could react a shape in the dark sprung up. That was followed by two medium hard blows to the side of his head.

  Then, the girl jumped out of the car and ran as hard and as fast as she could, away from Rob. She ran east for a long, long time, away from the north-south road.

  Tawny — Safe Water

  Monday, October 18, 2004

  Rob’s shouts and curses became faint and then were lost in the wind.

  After ten minutes of running she looked back to the west. She thought she heard the car start. She was sure she saw headlights flash across the land as the car turned around and headed back north.

  Rob was leaving! But, would he still look for her? Tawny thought he would.

  Tawny was worried about Rob. Was he following her? Would he show up?

  Tawny thought, I’m faster than Rob. But, he has a car. I’ll stay away from the roads, that way he won’t find me. But, he seems to know the area and I don’t know where to go. Sooner or later, someone else will drive by here and I’ll run to them for help. How long will that take? We’re in the middle of nowhere. I’ll just stay hidden and out of view and wait.

  She found a low area out of sight, where she spent a sleepless night. She could hear Rob’s car still cruising slowly on the two intersecting roads.

  A few hours after sunrise, she thought she heard a motor towards the east, where the sun rose. She slowly started walking there. She was soon hot and thirsty and realized she had to wait until later when the sun started setting. She found more shade in another gully.

  She napped and as she woke she was certain now she heard a motor or two, still some distance off to the east. She didn’t think it was Rob’s car. Then, she realized that she couldn’t remember the last time she heard his car.

  She was dirty, hot and thirsty. The sun beat down; baking her and everything else.

  After what seemed like endless waiting, the sun began to set. She had to get moving. She didn’t think she could last another day without water out here in th
e heat.

  She began to walk to where she thought she heard the noises. Now, she was certain there were other noises, from people, that weren’t just motors. It got dark, really dark, all at once. A million stars shined in the sky. The moon came out and it helped light the ground.

  She kept walking. Finally, she had to rest, she had to sit down. She sat for an hour, maybe longer.

  She thought, I’ve been all alone in the desert for over a day.

  She willed her self to get up, to move, to walk east some more.

  Then, a wonderful thing happened.

  On the top of one hill she saw water. It was a river or a big stream. She looked for five minutes. It was some distance yet, maybe three miles. Then, she thought she saw a boat, a small boat with lights moving slowly on the water. To her left, farther to the north, was a town with many lights in buildings and houses. Lots of the lights had colors, especially the ones on signs.

  People!

  She headed towards the lights. The ground was rolling hills with rocks and sandy ground. There weren’t many bushes or trees. Tawny kept stumbling and scraping her arms and legs.

  Then, she saw a car with its headlights on going very slowly on a paved road between her and the river. It had to be Rob. He hadn’t given up!

  ***

  It was too far and too dangerous to try to reach the town now, at night. She was too tired. She found a hidden place, a dry creek bed on the far side of a hill. She huddled in a concave depression near the bottom of the creek.

  Even her worries couldn’t prevent her from falling asleep; sound asleep, curled in the dark. She slept a long time, waking with the sun high in the sky, and not knowing where she was at first. She was stiff. There was no sign of Rob. She could smell the water and plants growing next to the river.

  She looked around and found a path to the river. It was late in the afternoon when she walked to a small motor boat at a dock.

  Good News

  Tuesday, October 19, 2004

  Edie grabbed her cell phone off the kitchen counter, opened the flip lid and said, “Hello.”

  From a distant place I could hear a young women’s voice. “Edie, it’s Tawny.”

  Edie yelled, “Tawny! Oh, thank God!”

  Edie gestured for me to move in close so I could hear the conversation. We sat on the two stools by the counter.

  “Where are you?”

  Tawny answered, “Out in the desert, at a campground.”

  Edie asked, “How did you get there?”

  “Your father drove me here.”

  “He did?”

  “Yeah, after he knocked me out with something hard.”

  “What! Where did he do that?”

  “In our driveway at home.”

  “No! Oh, my God!”

  “Yes, its true, Edie. I got away from him in the desert, about five miles from here.”

  “You what?”

  “Yes, I think he was going to kill me. After he knocked me out, he put me in his trunk and drove for hours.”

  “Oh, God, Tawny, I can’t believe it.”

  “Believe it, Edie, its true!”

  Edie paused and Tawny went on, “My head has a pretty bad cut and I still have a headache from that rock.”

  Edie said, “This is a nightmare!”

  “It sure is, and I lived it!”

  “Where’s my father now?”

  “I don’t know. When he opened the trunk I hit him and ran away and didn’t stop for a long time. We were parked on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. After I escaped, I saw his car lights driving all around. He was looking for me for hours. I hid for the last two nights. Then, I walked to this boat I saw on a river.”

  “So, where are you now?”

  Tawny answered, “I’m at a park, in the park office with Mrs. Oldham. She and her husband run the park.”

  “Oh, OK, how are you?”

  “Like I said, my head hurts and it’s cut. Mrs. Oldham doesn’t think it needs stitches. I’m also dirty and got some cuts and scrapes. Hold on a second Edie — Mrs. Oldham says I can take a shower and she has some clean clothes I can wear.”

  “Tawny, Stevie and I will come get you as soon as I hang up the phone.”

  “OK, Edie.”

  “Can I speak to Mrs. Oldham?”

  “Sure, but, where’s mom? I’ve tried to reach her before I called you.”

  “Why don’t we wait until Stevie and I get there so we can talk in person?”

  Tawny said, “No, Edie, what’s wrong? Where’s my mother?”

  “Tawny, it would be best if we waited. I want to be there with you.”

  “What’s going on, Edie? Tell me now.”

  “Tawny, please let me speak to Mrs. Oldham.”

  “I will after you tell me what happened.”

  Edie closed her eyes and began to cry. She took a deep breath.

  Edie’s slow responses only increased Tawny’s anxiety. “Edie, come on.”

  “Something terrible has happened.”

  Tawny gasped. She said, “What? Tell me Edie.”

  “OK.” Edie paused, took another breath and held my hand. “Your mother died late Sunday afternoon.”

  “What? What happened?”

  “She was murdered.”

  “Murdered! How?”

  “She was shot.”

  “Shot! Who did it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where did it happen?”

  “Here, at the mansion.”

  Tawny asked, “When?”

  “The police think it was in the afternoon on Sunday, before I got here.”

  “Wait a minute. When did it happen?”

  “The police think about 5 o’clock.”

  “That’s just before I got home.”

  “Yes.”

  “Edie, it was your father! Your father killed my mother!”

  “We don’t know that.”

  “Then why did he hit me on the head and drive me to the desert?”

  “Tawny, we don’t know for sure. The police are still investigating the killings and Stevie is helping, too.”

  “Killings, who else is dead?”

  Edie whispered, “Damn!” and gripped my hand tighter. She took a deep breath and said, “Yes, Tawny, there’s more terrible news. Troy and Lisa were killed, too.”

  “Oh, no!”

  Tawny started crying and dropped the phone. It banged on something hard.

  We heard some muffled conversation in the background. After a minute, an older woman picked up the phone and said, “Hello, who is this?”

  My fiancée said, “My name is Edie McCall. Are you Mrs. Oldham?”

  “Yes, I’m Elsa Oldham. Who are you and what’s going on?”

  Edie spent the next few minutes explaining the tragic events. Mrs. Oldham listened and asked a few questions. As the conversation went on, I got up, went to the bedroom and put on my shorts and a polo shirt, Then, I came back to the kitchen and made coffee.

  Edie had moved to the sofa as she finished her phone call.

  Elsa Oldham understood Edie’s story; she had heard of the celebrity deaths in L.A. Yet, Edie was finding her to be skeptical and suspicious of us.

  At one point Elsa must have said she planned to call the police because Edie replied, “Go ahead; please do. They need to know and need to protect you and Tawny.”

  Edie covered the receiver with her hand to mute the phone and asked me for Detective Lomita’s card. I got it out of my wallet and passed to her. Edie said she would be calling Lomita after this call and would ask him to get in touch with Elsa’s local law officer. She passed on Lomita’s information and told Elsa to verify our story. That seemed to calm Mrs. Oldham’s fears about us.

  Edie got Elsa’s address. Oldham and her husband ran the visitor’s center at the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, just across the Arizona line, near Blythe, California. Elsa said we should be able to get there in five hours, driving most of the way on I-10.

  I-10
is the freeway from L.A. to Phoenix and Tucson. I drove round-trip that way nine years earlier. Tucson is Rob Nealy’s home town. I glanced at the kitchen clock. It was 2:30. We should be able to get to Blythe around 7:30.

  Edie spoke to Tawny again and said we would be leaving right after we packed. Edie’s words were soft and motherly.

  I thought it was a good sign that Tawny sought our help, that Tawny didn’t appear to blame Edie for her father’s probable actions. I wondered how the next hours and days would pass.

  Edie said goodbye and hung up.

  Edie set her cell phone on the coffee table, and broke down completely. I poured two cups of coffee and joined Edie on the couch.

  I put the mugs down and hugged my fiancée, kept quiet, and let her cry it out.

  Five minutes later, Edie whispered in my ear, “Oh, Stevie, that was about as tough as I thought it would be.”

  “Yes.”

  “That poor girl is an orphan, with no family left.”

  “She has you and me.”

  “We’re not family.”

  “Yes, you are. She’s always treated you like her big sister.”

  “I’ll be her sister, if she’ll let me. But, after this…”

  We both left that comment hanging in the air.

  After thirty seconds I said, “We should pack.”

  “I will. Just hold me, Stevie. I need you.”

  “I need you, too, baby.”

  Edie said, “Promise me you’ll never leave me. I’d be lost without you.”

  I put my finger to her lips. “Shhh, you’re mine and I’m yours and we’ll get through this.”

  She looked up at me, then closed her eyes, put her head on my shoulder and whispered, “How did I get so blessed?”

  I hugged her tight and whispered, “We both were blessed.”

  Edie changed into tight black leggings, an oversized white top and sandals. I put on jeans. We both hurriedly packed our suitcases.

  She turned to me and said, “Stevie, my father is on the run.”

  “I think you’re right.”