by B. T. Lord
Torri always greeted Cammie cordially, apparently having no ill will over the interrogation. Despite her better judgment, Cammie found herself admiring Torri’s aplomb. Doc was right. Nothing fazed that woman. Not even Cammie’s suspicions that she might be a murderer.
Having had no sight of Clarisse since the interrogation almost a month before, the next time Cammie saw Torri, she asked, “How is Clarisse? Has she recovered from the birth?”
They were in the Emporium. Torri was picking up a box of diapers while Cammie was picking up a special delivery box for Doc. He’d put in an order for his special Ethiopian blend of coffee and Cammie had to promise she’d bring it straight back to his cabin after picking it up. Knowing it cost him about the same amount as her monthly salary, she would not relax until she put it right into his hands.
Torri cooed to the baby as she bounced her up and down in her arms. “You may not have noticed it, but Clarisse is pretty vain about her looks. Said she won’t leave the trailer until she gets her figure back.” She turned and gave Cammie an impenetrable look. “Nothing more on who may have given Todd and Marcy the salvia timor?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Cammie saw Lars lean so far over the counter in order to overhear their conversation that he risked toppling over. She knew she’d have to do something to stop him from spreading that information all over Twin Ponds and beyond.
Turning her attention back to Torri, she forced a smile on her face. “I never said they were given salvia timor.”
Torri chuckled. “Well, I hope you catch whoever it was who didn’t give them that stuff. You don’t mess with the shit.”
She paid for the diapers and waved to Cammie. “Have a good day, Sheriff.”
“You too,” Cammie responded as she watched Torri leave the store.
“She sure does love that baby,” Lars said after Torri had left. “She doesn’t make a move without her.”
“You haven’t seen Clarisse around at all, have you?”
“Nope. It’s always Torri.” Lars turned his large blue eyes on Cammie. “Now tell me. What is this salvia timor she was talking about? That some kind of new street drug? I’ve been reading all about that stuff on the internet. It’s got weird names like krokodil and wax and molly. Sure would hate to see those drugs up this way, no sir.”
With the Emporium running a close second behind Zee’s as gossip central, Cammie knew she had to head him off somehow. She decided to take advantage of his knowledge.
“Actually Lars, I was going to talk to you about that.” She came around the counter and lowered her voice even though there was no one else in the Emporium at the moment. “Knowing how much you care about Twin Ponds, and how connected you are to everyone, I was going to ask for your help.”
She saw his chest puff out through his flannel shirt. “Anything you need, Sheriff. I’m here.”
“That’s what I’m counting on. Now you can’t say a word to anyone. The people who deal in these drugs are dangerous. They wouldn’t think twice about taking you out if they even suspect you know anything about these street drugs, including their names.” Lars eyes widened in trepidation. “All you have to do is keep your ear to the pavement. That’s it. Everyone in Clarke County comes in your store. If you hear anything at all, call me. You have my cell number. In fact, for doing this important work, you can consider yourself a member of my police force. All on the hush hush, of course.”
“Oh, of course.”
“Now remember. Don’t call attention to yourself. Don’t try to make an arrest. Don’t do anything out of the ordinary. Just do what you normally do. Watch your TV and listen to what the customers have to say.”
Lars saluted her. “You can depend on me, Sheriff.”
Cammie slapped Lars on the arm. “Your community will be eternally indebted to you, Deputy Landry.”
It wasn’t until she was outside that she breathed a sigh of relief. She hoped that would keep Lars from mentioning what he’d overheard. She just hoped she hadn’t created a monster who now had free rein to eavesdrop on everyone’s conversations.
The clock was just striking five when Emmy called it a day. Cammie was long gone and Rick had just left for another of his hot dates, though as far as Emmy knew, they were all hot dates.
Maybe someday he and I will have a hot date.
She giggled at the prospect. No matter what she and Rick did, if it ever got to that point, it would be hot. Even sitting next to him in his car would be hot.
Shutting down her computer, she hummed aloud as she threw on her coat. It was Friday night – movie night at Lydia’s. Tonight they were watching her all-time favorite movie ‘Hocus Pocus’ and she couldn’t wait. It was Beth and Lydia’s favorite movie too and she looked forward to sitting on the couch, eating the lasagna she’d made especially for tonight, and reciting the dialogue aloud with her friends.
Even though Beth’s apartment was within walking distance of Lydia’s, in these subzero temperatures, Emmy always picked her up and drove her over. Anxious to let her know she was on her way, she dug her cell phone out of her pocketbook. Just as she was about to speed dial Beth’s number, the phone jingled. The display said it was Beth calling.
“Wow, you must be psychic,” Emmy laughed as she answered. “I was about to call you—“
“I’m not going tonight,” Beth replied abruptly. Emmy immediately noted the tension in her friend’s voice.
“You okay?” she asked, concerned.
“I’m not feeling well. I’ve had a headache all day and I think I’m coming down with a cold.”
“Do you want me to bring you one of Torri’s teas--” Emmy started to joke, only to be interrupted by a slightly wild laugh.
“Torri’s maybe. Definitely not Clarisse’s though. Look, I’m just going to get into my favorite pajamas and chill. Have fun tonight. I’ll be fine.”
“Clarisse? I didn’t think she cared about making tea--”
It took a moment for Emmy to realize she was talking to dead air. She stared at the phone for a moment before shoving it back into her pocket.
What a strange phone call. She’d never seen or heard Beth upset. She always seemed so, well, the only way to describe it was she always seemed so balanced. She appeared to be the last person to be upset by anything.
And obviously something had upset her.
Emmy immediately thought about calling Cammie, but what would she tell her? That her girlfriend had a headache? The information about Clarisse making tea could certainly wait until the morning. Even if she did call Cammie and tell her, there was nothing the sheriff could do about it.
She retrieved the lasagna from the small fridge near the coffee maker, and turned off the lights, leaving on the twinkle lights from the Easter tree she’d just started decorating that morning. After locking the front door, she let herself out the back, locking that behind her. As she climbed into her jeep, she thought it wouldn’t hurt to drive by Beth’s place and check in on her before continuing on to Lydia’s. That’s what friends did for each other. She knew Beth would do the same for her.
Although spring was just around the corner, the cold temperatures refused to give up their hold just yet. After stopping by the Emporium to pick up some over the counter cold remedies for Beth, it took an additional ten minutes for Emmy to pry herself away from an unusually talkative Lars. He kept going on about street drugs and how important it was to be vigilant. Emmy had no clue what he was talking about, finally deciding he’d OD’ed on all those Law and Order episodes he was always watching.
A light snow was falling as Emmy pulled up to Beth’s garden style apartment. Each building housed three units; the ground floor was a one bedroom apartment, the first floor had two bedrooms and the top floor boasted three. Both Lydia and Beth lived on the ground floor to take advantage of the cheaper rent.
It had only taken Emmy ten minutes to arrive from HQ, barely time for the car to heat up. She was therefore shivering when she got out her jeep and started up the wal
kway. Beth’s car was in the driveway, and the curtains were drawn in the front window, though a sliver of light peeked through. She rang the doorbell and waited. When there was no answer, she knocked. Again, there was no answer.
Emmy turned the knob and entered. “Beth? It’s Emmy. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t need anything before I went over to Lydia’s.”
The house greeted her with an ungodly silence.
Emmy’s heart instantly began to beat fiercely. She couldn’t explain it, but something didn’t feel right. Her first instinct was to call Cammie, but once again, she hesitated. She’d been watching so many horror movies with Lydia and Beth lately, it was entirely possible her imagination was on overload. She’d just step into the living room and if Beth wasn’t there, she’d leave. Of course it was always possible Beth was asleep. Whenever Emmy felt a cold coming on, she took that medicine that knocked her out cold for 24 hours. It was also possible Beth had changed her mind and, despite the frigid temperatures, walked over to Lydia’s.
Taking a deep breath and ignoring the clanging warning bells going off in her head, Emmy gingerly entered the living room.
Then she began to scream.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Cammie and Jace were seated on the large rock on the shore of Lake Waban, catching their breath after a quick game of pick-up. It had been close, with each almost scoring a goal, but being thwarted at the last minute. These games had done wonders for Cammie’s stamina. Her exhaustion was gone, the flexibility in her shoulder almost back to normal. By month’s end, she could see herself returning to work full time. Which meant returning to her cabin.
Which meant making a decision about where Jace fit into her life.
Damn it, Cammie. Just make up your mind. Stop dithering.
When she opened her mouth to speak, another thought abruptly stepped in and pushed what she was thinking of saying into the background.
“Look, I know this is going to sound weird, but I need to drive down Notch Road,” she heard herself say. And hated herself when she sighed with relief for not saying what she’d originally planned to say.
Jace looked over to her. “Care for some company?”
She hesitated, then nodded. “I know I’m being a bit of a weenie.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. If I saw what you saw, I’d be quivering under the bed right now, holding onto a teddy bear and screaming, ‘Mommy.’”
Cammie didn’t believe him for one second. Jace was pretty tough when he needed to be. But she appreciated his comment all the same.
A half hour later, they were slowly cruising down the deserted road. All thought of moving back to her cabin and making up her mind about Jace was forgotten as the memory of what had happened on Notch Road roared forth. She found herself unconsciously holding her breath, and she didn’t realize how tightly she’d been grasping the steering wheel until Jace leaned over and gently placed his hand over hers. She let out her breath and loosened her grip.
The forest was pitch black, the only light coming from the snow on either side of the road. If it weren’t for the high beams, they wouldn’t see the light snow gently falling. She knew she’d have to drive out here alone to really get over the trauma, but with Jace here, it was at least a start.
They were halfway down the road, and she was just starting to relax when she caught a reflection in her high beams. Her heart automatically started to pound.
Dear God. Please tell me it’s not another Giwakwa.
“That looks like a coyote,” Jace replied as he leaned forward and squinted through the windscreen.
Thank goodness. So he sees it too.
“Actually there are two of them. Looks like they’re dragging something in their mouths.”
Cammie slowed down. When they got closer, she brought the vehicle to a stop.
“What is that?” she asked as they both peered out the window at the two coyotes. They each had an end and were pulling it between themselves, the air punctuated with their growling and snarling.
“I can’t tell,” Jace replied. “It’s obviously some kind of carrion, but it’s too dark to make out what they have.”
“Maybe it’s part of a deer.”
Jace opened the glove compartment and took out a flashlight. He lowered the window and shone the light onto the animals.
“Oh my God,” he suddenly gasped. “It looks like--”
He turned and stared wide eyed at Cammie. She met his gaze, her mouth stretched into a thin line. In a swift movement, she brought her hand under her seat and came up with a pistol. She handed it to Jace.
“Cover me.”
“Wait! You’re not going out there with two wild coyotes fighting over--”
“I need to make sure it’s what we think it is.”
She withdrew her own weapon. “I’ll shoot off some warning shots. That should scare them off.”
“They’re hungry,” Jace pointed out.
She met his eye. “Then we shoot to kill. I’ll get out first. After I fire, if they don’t leave, you come out.”
Jace nodded. Cammie climbed out of the Explorer and leaned against the warm hood, keeping the vehicle between her and the coyotes.
Although the warmer weather was only a few weeks away, the animals had spent a long, cold winter foraging for food wherever they could find it. Cammie had no idea when the coyotes had last eaten, but she prayed it had been recent enough that they would let go of whatever they had.
Aiming at the large tree to the left of the animals, she fired two warning shots into its bark, scattering bits of wood onto the coyotes. One of them, the smaller of the two, bared its teeth at Cammie, but turned and loped back into the forest.
“Come on, buddy. I don’t want to have to kill you,” she said aloud as she aimed her pistol once more towards the tree nearest the larger coyote and fired another shot.
Its echo reverberated throughout the clear, night air. He too bared his teeth at Cammie and growled, but when she aimed a fourth time at a tree right next to him, he turned and fled into the forest.
At this point, Jace got out of the Explorer.
“He may be waiting for you to leave before he comes back,” he replied.
Cammie nodded. Carefully, and with all senses on alert, they picked their way over the mound of snow brought up by the plow. The snow on the other side came up to their thighs, slowing them down. Jace constantly canvassed the area with the flashlight, his pistol at the ready. They didn’t need an ambush from the wild predators.
They finally reached the object the coyotes had dropped. Jace let out an expletive while Cammie whipped out her phone. First she called Rick, then she dialed Doc.
“Doc, I need you out here on Notch Road ASAP. Jace and I found the remains of a human arm.”
Notch Road was no longer menacing. Not with Cammie’s blue lights flashing and the beams of various vehicles, including those of the Forensics team, gathered about.
She’d called in the part time deputies, and a group of men who habitually helped in search efforts whenever a visitor to Twin Ponds’ great white north became lost. With Rick supervising one group and one of the deputies the other, they, along with Jace who had elected to join Rick, were now searching the woods, trying their best to follow the paw prints left by the coyotes. They knew whoever the arm belonged to was probably dead, but they hoped to keep their remains from being chewed on any further.
After examining the arm, Doc carefully bagged it and stood up.
“The fingers are missing, probably eaten by the coyotes, but I’d venture to guess the arm belongs to a female. The clothing that’s left appears to be part of a flannel pajama. There’s also some sort of grease on the material that I can’t quite identify.”
“What would a woman wearing flannel pajamas be doing out here?” Cammie asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine. I’ll get this back to my lab and do a thorough investigation. There might be an identifying tattoo or something else that might tell us who this
is.”
Contrary to his usual excitement whenever there was a puzzle to be figured out, especially in his role as county medical examiner, Cammie noticed how tired Doc seemed. There was definitely something eating away at him. Debating whether she should mention it, the decision was put aside when her cellphone rang. She flipped it open, listened for a few minutes, asked a few questions, then hung up.
“Shit and double shit,” she muttered before hurrying over to Doc.
“I just got a phone call from Emmy. She went over a girlfriend’s house tonight and found the place a mess. She says it looks as though a struggle took place. The friend is missing; her name is Beth Davis. When I described the design on the pajamas found on the arm, she confirmed Beth owns an identical pair. They were supposed to go to a third woman’s house, a Lydia Costas. Unfortunately, there’s no answer at her house either.” She gazed intently at Doc. “The two women are part of Torri’s group. I don’t know Doc, but I have a bad feeling about this.”
The living room was in complete disarray. Couch cushions were pulled up, lamps were shattered on the floor, knick-knacks were strewn about and the coffee table was lying on its side.
“I made sure not to touch anything,” Emmy replied as she and the sheriff surveyed the damage. “I checked the bedroom and bathroom, but she’s not here. However, look at this.”
She led Cammie into the kitchen where a coffee mug lay smashed on the floor, the remains of its contents oozing in various little streams across the linoleum. Cammie bent down and sniffed. Her face showed her surprise and dismay. “It smells like salvia timor. I’d know that old socks odor anywhere.”
“When Beth called me to cancel tonight, I mentioned getting her some of Torri’s teas for her cold and headache. Don’t worry,” she quickly added when she saw the look of horror on Cammie’s face. “They don’t know you suspect Torri and Clarisse of putting salvia timor in the teas. I was really just kind of making a joke. Anyway, she laughed and said Torri’s teas maybe, but definitely not Clarisse’s.”