Walking Woman (Gratis Book 2)

by Jackson, Jay

  “Well, I’m sure it will make that little girl very happy. It’s always so nice to see you, Miss Eulie.” With that, Mary Alice made her way to the front door. She wanted to buy the dresser, but Chad had limits. Her spending habits fueled most of their fights.

  She went down the stairs and walked to the stroller. It was exactly where she left it, facing away from Miss Eulie’s front door to escape the sun. She started to grab the handle and jog, but wanted to give Ted a kiss before they left.

  Who needs a musty old dresser when I have this baby?

  She smiled at the thought.

  Still smiling, she turned the stroller to get her child. Almost instantly, the smile left her face. It was replaced with a confused frown, and then tears. She frantically pushed the stroller away and started yelling. She was loud, her “Georgia’s on the one yard line against Tech” loud. Ms. Eulie came out the door as quickly as her skinny sixty three year old knees could accommodate.

  “My God, what’s wrong? What going on, Mary Alice?”

  Sobbing, Mary Alice fell to her knees. It was a few seconds before she could catch her breath. Finally able to do so, she wailed at the old woman.

  “My baby’s gone! My baby’s gone!”

  25.

  Tommy Adcock was not having a very good week. Jewel Peters was out of jail and his department was torn about how to handle it. There was a lot of talk in the shift room, with some deputies thinking Jewel should go to jail. An equal number thought she was just a pitiful person.

  It didn’t help that details from the Peters house yielded clues, which, at best, were ambiguous. Tommy went there to see the place for himself, to put himself in Jewel’s overburdened shoes the morning she left for Gratis with a butcher knife in her hand. Not finding much, he was having a difficult time doing so.

  The front door was open, actually banging in a high wind when his deputies got there. Inside the home was nothing too abnormal. Most of the furniture and housewares seemed to be in place. They did find a plastic cup on the floor, on its side. The pattern on the dusty floor indicated the cup had contained some liquid, probably water, when it came to rest. Nothing else in the home appeared unusual.

  All windows and doorways were dusted for prints. Due to the already-dusty nature of the home, most attempts came up negative. They did find a partial latent print on the outside of the back bedroom window. It was sent off to AFIS. Gratis didn’t have local access to the database, so Tommy sent it to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office to check the print. Given the backup there, he would have to wait a couple of weeks.

  The most unusual thing they found was a small, burned area in the yard. It appeared to be a recent burn, and Tommy made sure to get samples of the ground and surrounding plant matter. They might be able to determine whether an accelerant was used. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

  That was all they got from the Peters home. It was different from most crime scenes. They weren’t even sure that anything happened at the house to cause Jewel’s actions. It was mere speculation that anything would be found there, but that was fine with Tommy. He had learned over the years that speculation often broke cases. His gut told him that something had to have set Jewel off. Everything with her started at home.

  He was sitting in his office, just minutes after coming from Chad Johnson’s insurance office on the square. Mary Alice and Chad were there, along with Chad’s father, Cliff. Tommy went over there as soon as he heard that Ted was missing. As the elected sheriff, this was his most important duty. Being seen on top of a high-profile investigation showed that he was in charge and cared. Besides, Cliff Johnson had coached Tommy in Little League. Even then, Tommy knew he was a hard man to make happy.

  “Sheriff, I don’t know what you’re doing, but seems to me the town’s been going straight to hell the last couple of years. First that thing with the judge’s son killing those women, then with that crazy Jewel woman, now my grandson. What the hell do you do all day? Just like when you were a boy, lolly-assing around in the outfield, doing nothing.”

  Tommy didn’t respond. Cliff was upset, and had every right to be. His grandchild was missing. The easiest person to yell at just then was Tommy. After being sheriff for so many years, he accepted that “punching bag” was part of the job description.

  “Sheriff,” Chad piped in, “I know you’re doing what you can. All I ask is that you find my boy. That’s all I ask, just please find him.” Choking up, Chad stopped talking and tightened his hold on Mary Alice. She was sitting beside him on the office sofa, sobbing with her head in her manicured hands.

  “Mary Alice, I hate to ask you this, but it’s important for me to hear it from you. How long were you in Miss Eulie’s shop?” His deputies had reported to Tommy before he met with the Johnsons. He knew that Ted was snatched when Mary Alice left him outside.

  She kept sobbing, unable to answer.

  Cliff answered for her. “What the hell? You saying it’s her fault? A mother oughta be able to leave a child in plain sight for a few seconds to go look at something. Hell, when I was a boy I stayed outside all day, as soon as I was able to stand up by myself. We had a real sheriff back then. People knew not to raise hell and hurt children!”

  Tommy was a patient man, but knew he had to assert some control over Cliff. He’d get nothing out of Mary Alice with her father-in-law’s anger sucking the air out of the room. Her child had been missing for less than an hour, but every minute counted.

  “Cliff, shut up. I’m trying to get information from Mary Alice so we can find your grandson. I need the details. Wasting time while you run your damn mouth is only hurting us. Say another thing to me, and I’ll run you out of this room. You can try me. I’m not lolly-assing about this.”

  Mary Alice looked up at Tommy. She wasn’t very fond of her father-in-law. Hearing someone stand up to him gave her composure.

  “Both of you stop. Sheriff, I was in Miss Eulie’s shop no more than five or six minutes.”

  “Okay, Mary Alice, that helps. Do you remember what you saw immediately before or after being in the shop?”

  “Well, I looked around to see if anyone was out there, or if anything looked wrong. Nobody was around, and everything looked fine. I didn’t want to wake Ted, that’s all. I thought I could just run in and out with no problem. I didn’t even try to get Miss Eulie down on the price on a dresser I wanted. I promise, I was only in there five minutes, maybe less . . . Oh my God . . .” Mary Alice dropped her head back into her hands. Her sobs now became heaves of guilt, knowing that her child should be with her.

  If only I didn’t want to beat that old bat on a deal.

  At that moment, she couldn’t stand living in her own skin.

  Tommy thanked her and told the family that they were scouring the town and the county looking for Ted. He also transmitted lookouts to all surrounding counties. “We are doing everything we can do and won’t stop until Ted is found, I promise you that.”

  Now, sitting in his office, he wasn’t so sure whether his promise meant very much. He would try to keep it, of course. Finding the missing child was his department’s first priority. All roads were blocked and cars were being checked thoroughly. All four of the department’s boats were on the river, and six deputies were on their way to the Neck to patrol the swamp in their personal johnboats. The state patrol and all the surrounding counties were helping in the search, and the local police were knocking on doors, house to house.

  After that, not much else could be done. A small child could easily be quieted by sedatives and hidden. Worse yet, if the kidnapper was a deviant, that same child could be abused and murdered quickly. With a body as small as Ted’s, every bit of upturned soil in a family’s garden, or any hole dug by a curious hound, was a possible dumping ground. Adults were hard enough to find after they were taken. Toddlers were almost impossible.

  Well, worrying about how bad this might be won’t solve a damn thing. I gotta go and do.

  With that thought, Tommy got out
of his chair. He would drive to a few roadblocks and see how his deputies were doing. He hoped they would surprise him and tell him that the baby was found. Doubting his hope, and hating his doubt, Tommy got busy.

  26.

  Mister Brother couldn’t believe his good fortune. There he was, trying to figure out how to snatch a child never more than a few inches away from his mother and not coming up with a good plan.

  He was even starting to prepare for the one thing he didn’t want to do. If the mother wouldn’t leave Baby Brother’s side, the mother would have to go away. He hated the thought. Mary Alice had only been a grade behind him in school. She was snotty, like Mom said, but she never did anything to hurt Mister Brother. In sixth grade she even gave him a real smile, a warm smile, when he found her calculator and returned it to her. After that, he had a small crush on her that lasted until the end of the school year.

  Also, regardless of the matter’s moral implications, he wasn’t sure just how to accomplish Mary Alice’s demise. Killing someone, taking their child, and getting away with both tasks was a complicated maneuver. Anybody could kill a person, and anybody could snatch a child. The trick was to do both without creating so much blood and noise that you got caught.

  Mister Brother was a patient person, confident he could accomplish both tasks without detection if given the time to plan. Unfortunately, the rest of the family wasn’t so patient.

  “Son, I cannot get your mother to stop crying, and I have no answer for her when she asks when you’re going to finally get Baby Brother. So I ask you, what the hell is taking so long?”

  “Dad,” Sister chimed in, “You know how full of crap he is. He always makes promises that we all know he won’t keep.”

  Mister Brother left the room when the accusations started. He was beginning to resent Sister and Dad. Everything he had done in the last few months was for them. They didn’t seem to care. Sometimes it seemed that the more he did, the more they expected. Even Mom failed to stand up for him when they started. She would just cry.

  That morning, following Mary Alice and Baby Brother, he intended to study their possible jogging routes. He parked his van, an old blue Lumina bought in Bonaire specifically for this task, in an alley between the old depot and downtown. The van was stripped of all the rear seats, and the windows tinted. There was a toddler-size car seat strapped to the back of the driver’s seat, facing backward like all his books recommended for safety. Behind that was a carpenter’s workbox containing a very large hunting knife and duct tape. Of course, the bottom and sides of the cargo compartment were covered in multiple layers of heavy-duty plastic. Getting rid of any and all evidence demanded care.

  He watched the two for days, noting the most private parts of their run. Most mornings, Mary Alice pushed Baby Brother through the cemetery on the other side of downtown from the Bird, usually before going to Le Café. It was almost always empty. He was pretty sure that the “detach and snatch” would occur there. Mister Brother appreciated the symmetry of Mary Alice leaving this life in a cemetery. She would be closer to her maker, among the tombstones, when she was called home. Still, he hated to hurt her.

  That morning he had camped out behind the old depot, waiting for the two. There would be only one chance to get Baby Brother and to do it right. Doing a little more research would help. He might find a better way to accomplish his task—one that didn’t involve Mary Alice wondering why the boy she knew in school became the man who took her life.

  Anyway, I don’t care what Dad and Sister have to say. They can do it themselves if they have a problem with it.

  At first, he thought nothing of the pair stopping in front of The Pick-Pocket. Mary Alice stopped a lot of places on her runs with Baby Brother, but she always brought him with her. Always. Watching her go up the staircase, alone, he kept thinking she would reverse herself and come down to get her child.

  Surely she just forgot.

  He watched as she instead went inside the shop, the door closing behind her. He waited ten seconds, still unsure of what he was seeing. Then the realization hit him, almost taking his breath away.

  Baby Brother is coming home today.

  He walked up to the stroller, looking around to make sure he wasn’t seen. This wasn’t part of the plan, but sometimes dumb luck made plans unnecessary. He leaned over the stroller, picked up Baby Brother, and ran to the Lumina. The child, tired from his busy morning, didn’t stir. By the time they left the city limits, it would still be two minutes before Mary Alice left The Pick-Pocket, two minutes before she started living the worst day of her life. The whole thing was ridiculously easy.

  Once home, Mister Brother opened the side door and got Baby Brother out of his car seat. He looked at the child, still groggy and half-asleep, and started to cry. Baby Brother was just like he remembered. The morning of the wreck he had played with his little brother, tickling his stomach while the child giggled wildly. Mister Brother always remembered how his brother’s eyes crinkled when he laughed. He wondered how they looked before the impact that took his family. Were they happy and looking at Mom? Did they see what was about to happen, and were they framed with fear? The thought haunted Mister Brother.

  Now, looking at the child in his arms, those old questions melted away. They were replaced with love. Suddenly Mister Brother couldn’t stand to be outside. He had to get in, to share this love with the rest of the family. They needed this child as much as he did, maybe more.

  When he walked in, Dad was sitting in his chair, intently reading the paper. Sister was listening to the radio in her room. An old Thompson Twins song, “Hold Me Now,” was playing. Mister Brother thought it was perfect.

  Mom was in the kitchen, slicing potatoes for the night’s meal.

  “Mom,” he said, quietly walking in, “I have someone here to see you.”

  Mom turned around and said nothing. The knife in her hand fell to the floor, narrowly missing her bare foot.

  “My God! My God!” she finally moaned. At first it was a whisper, but then she ran to Mister Brother and held Baby Brother with him. The whisper got louder, until she was practically screaming in Mister Brother’s ear.

  “What is going on in there? Son, what have you done to Mom?” Dad came into the kitchen and stopped when he got there. For one of the few times in his life, Mister Brother saw his father’s eyes cloud with tears. He approached the three and threw his arms around them, saying nothing.

  Curious as to what her brother was now messing up, Sister came out of her room. Coming down the hallway, she yelled.

  “What has Mr. Brilliant screwed up this time?” Rounding the corner into the kitchen, she stopped. In front of her was her family—all four of them.

  She smiled at Mister Brother.

  “Good job, little brother. Good job for once.”

  He smiled back, noticing for the first time that Baby Brother’s cheek was touching his.

  It’s so soft. I almost forgot.

  Closing his eyes, he let himself get lost in the moment. Opening them again, he saw the other three line up in front of him and Baby Brother. They all smiled.

  I’ve waited for this forever.

  Mister Brother carried his baby brother into the living room. The others followed, hand in hand, no one saying a word.

  27.

  While the rest of Gratis buzzed about what the media was calling the “Baby Ted Snatching,” Delroy was getting busy on Jewel’s case. She was out of jail for now, but there was no telling how long that might last. District Attorney Broyles was drawn to public opinion like a piedmont gnat to a sweaty, back-row Baptist. If he had any semblance of a reason, and if it seemed to be more popular than not, he would ask the court to revoke Jewel’s bond and put her back in jail. Delroy was keenly aware of this and working to make sure it didn’t happen.

  His first step was to hire Dr. Francis Wesley, a psychiatrist from Savannah. After working at Georgia Regional for ten years, he moved down to the coast to work for himself. Hating to leave his sm
all home on Tybee Island, not two blocks from the beach, he rarely took competency-determination cases that took him more than two hours from home. Given his reputation and experience, he could afford to be selective. Of course Kero paid the doctor’s fee, with almost no grumbling.

  Delroy made sure the evaluation of Jewel commenced only days after she got home. Time was of the essence, and Delroy personally stayed at Jewel’s home during the evaluation sessions. His presence seemed to relax her. She even stopped threatening the doctor by their second meeting.

  The next step was to study all of the crime-scene forensic reports that Tommy would give him. Surprisingly, Tommy made the report available to him immediately. He didn’t give Delroy his usual hard time, and even gave him a copy of the unidentified partial print found on the bedroom window.

  Without saying so, Tommy hoped that Delroy could do some of the investigating in this case. He was using all his manpower on the “Baby Ted Snatch.” The whole Jewel Peters situation would have to wait.

  Delroy was glad to have the calm, even if it was only temporary. He personally hoped Ted would soon be found. After almost losing Meg and Peck the summer before, he understood the pain of losing a child. Even so, he also knew he had more room to defend Jewel as long as Ted was missing. Scrutiny, whether from the public or the law, could kill an investigation before it began. Nobody talked when the lights were too bright. The more folks worried about Ted, the less time they had to worry about Jewel.

  Delroy was heartened by the little bit of evidence taken from the Peters home. Every little detail was another point he could argue. Surprisingly, the details were consistent with what Jewel was able to pull from her muddled memory.

  Coming out of her coma, Jewel had been more confused than ever. The first few times Delroy asked her what happened, she replied with a blank stare or closed her eyes. Finally, she was able to piece together some events from that day. According to Jewel, the devil came to her door, personally, and tried to take her to hell.