by Lee Driver
“Thanks.” He sank onto the sofa, his lack of sleep and sore body taking it’s toll. “Einstein’s napping?”
“Yes.”
Even with the sound-proofed door closed, Einstein could still be awakened by a phone call or loud noise. Macaws were naturally light sleepers.
Sara carried the pages of phone numbers from Skizzy over to the table. Dagger got a whiff of sunflowers when she sat down and wondered what it would take to get her to give up the few sack dresses she still owned. Maybe they could have one big bonfire and burn the rest of them.
“Did you have any trouble with the truck?”
“Not really.”
“Not really?” Dagger had taught Sara how to drive a stick shift and the drive to Skizzy’s was the first time she had driven his truck by herself.
Sara played with the hem of her dress and studied the scars on her knuckles.
Dagger chuckled. “How many times did you kill the engine?”
“A couple.”
“You’ll get the hang of it.” He pulled the reports onto his lap. “What have you found?”
“One number was called repeatedly for several months after Rachel disappeared. Then the calls were once a month for the first year and then nothing until a couple of weeks ago.”
“Who was it to?”
“The Carmelite Retreat. It’s a rehabilitation institute in upper Michigan. When I checked the address, it is the same as The Abbey, one of the Tyler resorts.”
“I don’t understand.” He read the addresses on the reports, then looked at the printout from the Tyler web site listing Tyler properties. “I wonder...” Dagger phoned Robert Tyler.
“The Abbey is our property near Boyne, Michigan,” Robert explained. “Why do you ask?”
“Have you ever heard of the Carmelite Retreat?”
“No. Should I?”
“According to the report I have, Mr. Tyler, The Abbey was purchased by the Carmelite Monks about six years ago.”
“That’s impossible. I would have known that.”
“Would you? Who besides you has the authority to sell Tyler properties?”
“Just Eric. But he would never have done it without my consent.”
“Are you sure about that?” Dagger listened to Tyler’s breathing, imagining what other secrets Eric had kept from his father.
“Let me check into this.” Tyler’s voice had an edge to it. He was a man who insisted on control, who prided himself on being on top of things. And who would never accept betrayal from anyone, especially a son.
“I only have one word of advice,” Dagger cautioned. “I’ll give you the phone number for the retreat. Act as if you are aware they purchased the property. And don’t let Eric know that you found out about the retreat.”
“May I ask why you are interested in The Abbey?”
“Not yet. Let me know what you find out first.” Dagger hung up.
“Good cookies,” Simon mumbled as he washed down the chocolate chips with milk. “Sara is some cook, Dagger. Gotta watch yourself. She’s going to be a good catch for some guy.”
Einstein could be heard in the aviary screeching, “AWK. WANT A COOKIE. AWWWKK.”
“Thanks for that reminder. But that’s why I have a locked gate by the street—to keep the suitors out.”
“Yep,” Simon winked. “Gotta keep her for yourself.” Simon cocked his head to one side and sized up Sara’s body, which was alluring even in the sundress. “Good set of hips there for childbearing.” His eyes twinkled. Sara gasped.
“Ease up, Simon. Sara isn’t used to your gutter mentality yet. Now how about telling me what you’ve found.”
Simon wiped crumbs from his grinning face. “Well, old Eric has a bit of a gambling problem. He likes to play the ponies and is a regular at those private poker parties they have at the downtown hotels in Chicago. They move ‘um around, you know, so the cops can’t find them. He also frequents those casino boats under a fictitious name. Bets five thousand bucks a hand. Rumor is his debts at one time totaled five million.” Simon chuckled, took a sip of coffee. “Between his gambling and his wife’s expensive taste, they were in some dire straits.”
“How long ago was that?” Dagger asked.
“He’s been a good boy for a while. Must have won some of it back. His worst financial problems were about six years ago.”
“Six years ago?” Sara asked.
“That would make sense,” Dagger said. “Eric sells one of the Tyler resorts without his father’s consent. He uses the money to pay his debts.”
“And you think the old man’s wife might have found out about it and college prep boy Eric bumped her off?” Simon chuckled. It started deep in his thick middle and erupted into a roaring laugh. “Yep. Those rich people sure do have their problems.”
Worm heaved the file box onto the coffee table. “This is really exciting.” He pushed his glasses up on his nose and beamed proudly.
From the aviary, Einstein stared curiously at the visitor. His head dipped and swayed as if sizing up Worm.
“Wow, is he beautiful.” The reporter made a move toward the aviary.
“Don’t get too close,” Sara cautioned. “He won’t bite but he tends to nip strangers, which might startle you.” Sara turned to the macaw. “Einstein, this is Sal Wormley.” She handed Einstein a Brazil nut. “Try to be quiet.”
Einstein wrapped his toes around the nut and flew off to the top of the tree.
“So Einstein was Sheila’s competition? Dagger made a wise choice.” Worm laughed. He settled in on the couch and started pulling papers and a book from the box. “Where is Dagger?”
“He had to go out of town for a few hours.”
“I have copies of all the press clippings during Rachel’s modeling career. I also went through her high school yearbook which you gave me. They didn’t come any sweeter than Rachel Liddie. She was prom queen, sweetheart queen, Miss Teen, you name it.” Worm’s eye’s drifted up to the catwalk and the skylights spanning the ceiling.
“Was there ever any negative publicity about Rachel?” Sara sifted through some of the copies Worm had laid out on the coffee table.
“Nothing. She wasn’t a temperamental artist, always sweet, caring. No nude photos, no scandalous affairs.” Worm dug down to the bottom of the box and pulled out a file folder. “Her parents still live in Indianapolis, but Dagger told me not to approach them.”
Sara closed the door to the aviary. Einstein immediately flew to the door and clamped onto the bars. He screeched his dislike for being imprisoned. It was an ear-piercing clatter of bird-eze. “Einstein, we have company.”
Einstein wrapped his feet around the top bar and hung upside down, training one beady eye on Worm. A sound crept from Einstein’s throat, sounding much like a purr.
Sara reached through the bars and stroked Einstein’s head. “Asking him to keep quiet is like telling a fish to stop swimming.”
“He’s smart. No wonder Dagger named him Einstein.” Worm showed Sara several photos of a tropical beach with tanned women in floral skirts and bikini tops, another scene of a market square with the women holding up straw purses. “See anyone familiar?”
Sara studied the photos. The blonde was definitely Rachel, with her long legs and blue eyes. “Was this a photo shoot?”
“Yes, in Australia. This was about a year before Rachel met Robert Tyler. I found the others in a French magazine called Shutter. It’s comparable to our People magazine. It catches the celebrities at play. One of the photos was from Monte Carlo and another from the Riviera. I’m trying to get the originals so we can get a better enlargement.”
Sara studied what seemed like two vacation photos. A blonde woman was standing beside Rachel, but Sara didn’t recognize her. The woman could pass for Rachel’s sister.
CHAPTER 27
Dagger felt an eerie presence in the room, as if the Carmelite Retreat were haunted by years of unsettled spirits. He had learned by browsing the framed newspaper clippings in the lob
by that the hotel had been built on an old Indian burial ground.
The ornate décor had been tamed down since its resort days. The walls were a muted color, the crystal chandeliers replaced by wall sconces dimly lit. The furniture was a drab brown, matching the robe of the monk who had greeted him at the front desk.
Dagger had accepted the offer to use the Tyler jet and had been assured the pilot could be trusted to not inform anyone of their destination. Even the flight plan had stated they would be flying to Detroit, not Boyne, Michigan.
Robert had confirmed that The Abbey had been sold six years before. He had been unsuccessful at convincing Dagger to let him tag along. Dagger felt it best if Robert didn’t arouse any suspicions on the homefront.
Outside the windows, Dagger could see patients being walked or wheeled through the gardens. The only thing that added color to the lobby were the fresh floral arrangements on the tables.
“Mr. Dagger, I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.”
Dagger turned to see a round-faced man, a lone curl brushing the top of his otherwise balding head. He introduced himself as Duncan, stuck a pudgy hand out, and shook Dagger’s fingers. Duncan spoke in a whisper so when Dagger responded in a normal tone, his voice seemed to echo off the lobby walls.
“I have only about a half-hour before my flight leaves,” Dagger admitted.
“Of course. Follow me.”
Duncan led Dagger to a room on the third floor overlooking the gardens. It was the size of a suite, probably one of the more expensive rooms. It had been Rachel’s for the last five years. Sunlight streamed in through the tall windows, giving a warm glow to a room draped in yellow-flowered curtains and bedspread. There were no photos on the dresser, no keepsakes, mementos. Only a book of poems by the bedside. In the closet hung a few dresses, sweaters, some canvas flats.
“Nurse Reynolds tended to Ada Matthews,” Duncan said.
When Dagger had shown Rachel’s picture to Celia Flaherty, the guest services manager, she had identified the woman as Ada Matthews, a woman brought in by her brother, Sean, five years before. Supposedly the brother had her in a hospital for a few months. When she lapsed into a coma, the doctors recommended she be placed in a private home. Calls were made weekly by the brother for an update on his sister’s condition, but when he had to go out of town, Ada’s sister, Pamela, made the weekly calls. Six months later Ada had come out of her coma but didn’t recognize her sister or even know her own name. After several more months of visits and attempts at hypnosis, her sister stopped visiting. They had only left instructions to be contacted if there were any signs of change in Ada’s condition.
Dagger had also shown the guest services manager the pictures of the three goons who had broken into Sara’s house, but the manager couldn’t be sure if any of them was the so-called Sean Matthews.
“Father Duncan? You were looking for me?” Nurse Reynolds had graying hair that was pulled back severely in a tight bun. Her eyes sagged at the corners, though her mouth was in a continuous smile, pleasing, grandmotherly.
“Yes, Mr. Dagger has a few questions about Miss Matthews.”
Once Duncan left, Nurse Reynolds opened the curtains wider and straightened the bedspread as if expecting company. She appeared jittery, opening and closing the dresser drawers, flitting from the dresser to the table.
She seemed to gloss over Dagger’s appearance. He wondered if his all-black clothes, ponytail, earring, and the grunge-looking stubble made her uncomfortable. It wouldn’t be the first time he had that effect on the older generation who still remembered the Capone days. Dagger’s choice of dress seemed to grant him all the best tables in Italian restaurants.
“Please, have a seat,” Dagger coaxed. He took a seat on the bed.
“I’m told you are with an insurance company?” She sat down on a yellow love seat near the window and clasped her hands.
“I’m trying to determine how Ra... Miss Mathews got from the retreat to Cedar Point, especially since she had no recollection of who she was or even that Cedar Point was her home.” Dagger fanned the poetry book looking for notes, some hint of when Rachel might have begun to get her memory back.
“I really can’t say. She made casual conversation but would always seem puzzled and confused when we tried to encourage her to remember. Since it caused so much distress, we tried not to pressure her.”
“You were her nurse during the entire five years?”
“Yes. I was her physical therapist.”
Dagger showed her the pictures of Joey, Mince, and Luke. “Do you recognize any of these men?”
She lifted the reading glasses, which were hanging from a beaded chain around her neck. “Oh, my, it’s been so long; I really can’t be sure.”
“Take another look,” Dagger urged.
Nurse Reynolds studied each of the pictures intensely. Shaking her head, she said, “Definitely not them. But Celia saw him more than I ever did.”
“Unfortunately, her memory isn’t too keen.” Dagger wanted to say that her memory wasn’t too great either but pissing off Nurse Reynolds wasn’t going to win her over. “Maybe you remember specific features. Was he short, tall, scars?”
“He was tall, that much I remember.”
Dagger handed her a picture of Eric Tyler. “What about this man?”
She lined all the pictures up in front of her. After a few moments she confessed, “If you were to put these men in a line up, I wouldn’t be able to swear to anything.” As an afterthought, she added, “But don’t give up on Celia. She’s one of those whose light bulb comes on at the most unusual time. Two weeks from now at four in the morning, she’ll jump out of bed with the answer.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t wait that long.” Dagger handed her his business card and asked her to keep it handy should she remember anything else.
Nurse Reynolds sighed heavily. “Ada was a beautiful young woman. It was a pity her family couldn’t visit her more often.”
“No one came to claim her belongings after she left?”
Nurse Reynolds shook her head. “When she was first brought in her sister supplied her with a few summer and winter things, a coat, perfume, nothing more.”
“Was there any time before she disappeared when she seemed to remember her past?”
“No.”
“To your knowledge, did she write to anyone prior to her disappearance?”
She thought a moment, “No. That is one thing I would have noticed since I’m the one who sifts through the mail before it is picked up. Ada didn’t even have a diary.”
“What did she talk to you about?”
“Normal things. The weather, the flowers. She liked thumbing through catalogs, looking at clothes. And she liked poetry.”
Something didn’t seem right, Dagger thought. Rachel had to have remembered. How else would she know to call Robert? How else would she know her way back to Cedar Point?
“When did you first notice she was missing?” He placed the pictures back in his pocket.
Nurse Reynolds pulled her glasses off, leaving them to dangle again. “She usually went to her room right after dinner to watch television or read but the next morning she didn’t come down for breakfast.”
“How would someone get off the grounds if they wanted to leave?” Dagger gazed at the property outside the windows. There weren’t any fences. Vendors came and went. Cleaning vans, produce, groceries. Visiting hours ended at eight o’clock at night. “What time does the last vendor leave?”
The nurse shrugged. “Could be laundry, which leaves around midnight each day.”
“And what company is that?”
“Sierra. We contacted the sister when we first discovered Ada missing but her sister told us Ada had arrived home safe and sound.”
“Can you describe Ada’s sister?”
“Why,” Nurse Reynolds smiled, “she looked just like Ada.”
CHAPTER 28
Dagger rubbed the sleep from his eyes and staggered to the kitchen. He d
idn’t get back into town until after nine, then stopped over to see Padre in the hospital. Having missed dinner, he wasn’t in the mood for breakfast. Instead, he grabbed two pieces of cold pizza and a can of Pepsi and took a seat at the kitchen table.
Sara joined soon after, fresh as the morning dew, her hair long and shiny. No sack dress today. Instead, she wore bright yellow capri pants and a yellow and white flowered top. “Yuk,” Sara said as she eyed Dagger’s choice of breakfast food. She popped a bagel into the toaster and poured a glass of orange juice. “How was the plane ride?” She spread cream cheese with salmon on her bagel and slid onto the seat kitty-corner from Dagger.
“Pretty posh. Nothing like a company jet. You should try it sometime.”
Sara shivered. “No thanks. I’m afraid of flying.”
It took several seconds for him to realize Sara was serious and to find the absolute humor in her fear of flying. He laughed, his eyes twinkling. Shaking his head, he reached out and slipped his hand behind Sara’s neck, wanting for a brief moment to kiss her on the forehead, but thought better of it. Simon’s voice kept echoing in his head…“Brother and sister? Right!” Dagger instead released his grip and took a swig of his Pepsi.
Sara said, “Well, I’m sorry. There’s something scary about sitting in a metal tube and letting someone else handle the controls.”
Dagger explained his visit with Nurse Reynolds.
“And she didn’t recognize any of the pictures?”
“No.”
“And what about the woman who posed as Rachel’s sister?”
“That’s just it.” Dagger wiped his mouth with a napkin and tossed it on his empty plate. “She says she looked just like Rachel.”
“You’re kidding!” Sara rushed to the living room and Dagger followed. She showed Dagger the pictures Worm had of Rachel and a woman who could pass for her sister. “These are some of Rachel’s vacation photos.”