Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp

by Joan H. Young

  We’d been instructed not to fan out yet, not until Sunny thought we were near where the dog had been digging. The detective didn’t want to scuff up the area until we were more sure of what we were looking for.

  Sunny started out with a lot of confidence. She knew she had followed what was probably a deer trail for some distance until it passed by a large cedar tree. She said she had climbed the tree and watched Paddy for a while from a low-hanging curved branch. From that perch she had picked another landmark, a white birch tree with a double trunk that was deeper into the woods on a little knoll. We hiked to the birch tree, and this also took us closer to open water in the swamp. We couldn’t see the water yet, but the ground was becoming soft in low spots.

  Beyond the birch tree, Sunny wasn’t sure where she had gone. She said she’d just followed the dog and forgotten about paying attention to where she was. I cringed when I heard this; I knew all too well that this area could be dangerous. But I’d never considered that the girls would go exploring off the trail. We were lucky one of them hadn’t gotten lost.

  Paddy and I were put in the lead, and I was instructed to let the dog show us the way. I tried to follow these instructions, but Paddy didn’t seem to understand what was expected of him. He kept looking at me and falling into step beside me. We’d been working on the “heel” command and it was associated in his mind with the leash. We weren’t leading the way to anywhere.

  “All right,” barked Detective Milford. “We’ll spread out from this tree. Did you go toward the water from here?” he asked Sunny.

  “We must have, because Paddy was right near the edge of some deep water when he was digging.”

  “That’s helpful, at least,” Milford admitted. “Stay in groups of two, but I’ll keep the girl and the dog with me.”

  I assumed I was included with the dog. We continued straight east, while the two Sheriff Deputies veered southeast. Tracy and Tom angled to the northeast. We walked silently for a few minutes, until Sunny said, “I don’t remember this place at all.”

  We had reached the edge of some open water with standing dead trees breaking from the surface and clawing at the sky. There was a small island about a hundred yards away. On the shore, practically at our feet, was a small broken rowboat, turned bottom-up. It had once been painted red, but was now weathered and mostly gray. I had no idea there was water deep enough to float any sort of boat so near my house. I had assumed any ponds were very shallow backwaters, but I now realized we must have come close to the river itself. Sunny was curious about the boat and while she looked it over I scanned the shore and saw a rectangle of old cement blocks that could have been the foundation for a tiny cabin. I wondered if we were still on my land or in the State Forest.

  Far to our left I heard Tom’s voice, almost a bellow. “... here. ...dog tracks,” were the only words we could make out.

  “Good.” Detective Milford clipped the word, but he looked pleased as he began to stride north along the water’s edge. We followed. “Where does the State Forest land start in here, Ms. Raven?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure. I haven’t had time to explore over this way yet. I own a strip all the way to the river, but we may be north of it, now, and I didn’t know anything about that little camp back there.”

  The ground was becoming softer the farther we walked, and we passed a wooden stake pounded in the ground with orange flagging tape tied around the top. Milford stopped to look at it. There was lettering on the wood done with permanent marker, and he read, “’NE CORNER RAVEN.’ Guess the camp is yours. This isn’t.” He lifted an arm in the direction we were heading. “Now we’ve got to call in the DNR.”

  He pulled out a cell phone and pushed some buttons. I thought he was calling the Department of Natural Resources directly, but instead I heard him say, “Chris? Yeah, come north. Send Paul back to the car to radio in and find out how we contact the DNR folks on Saturday. We’re probably on state land.” He clapped the phone shut and jammed it back in his pocket.

  We heard Tom yell again, and we walked toward the voice. Suddenly, Sunny said, “I was here, I’ve seen that funny branch.” She pointed to a tree with a limb that must have been bent in some ice storm years ago. “Paddy was over there.” She pointed toward the water. The dog perked up his ears.

  Now we could see Tom and Tracy, who were walking toward the water. We were following the crumbling sandy bank, and both our groups would soon converge at one place. Paddy began to whine and pull at the leash.

  “Don’t let him loose,” growled Milford. “Who knows how much damage has been done already.” He seemed to realize what might be about to happen and stopped suddenly. “You and the girl stay here.”

  I did not want to be left out of the discovery phase of this project, but I didn’t want Sunny to be confronted with some gruesome find that might haunt her for the rest of her life, either. We stood still and waited.

  I watched Tom, Tracy and Milford join forces. They pointed to the ground. I could see some raw, eroded sand near the water line. The downpour we’d had last Sunday might have caused some sort of washout which had exposed something. Milford and Tracy squatted down and moved their hands around as if they were casting some sort of spell. It was strange to watch with no accompanying words. Tom pulled a roll of yellow police tape out of his pocket and began stringing it between trees.

  “What are they doing?” asked Sunny.

  “That means they’ve found something that is important, and they are marking an area they want people to stay out of.”

  “What will they do next?”

  “It depends on what they’ve found. We’ll have to wait some more.”

  “I have to go to the bathroom. I usually just go in the woods, but there are a lot of men around here.”

  “OK, let me see if we can go home.” I was glad enough to have a reason to leave. Staying there without being allowed to participate left me feeling completely useless. “Detective,” I called.

  Milford returned to where we were. He motioned me to one side. I handed Paddy’s leash to Sunny and told her to hold him tightly. He said to me, “We definitely have a body. Just a skeleton—been here a long time, but it’s arranged neatly; it was buried on purpose. Something disturbed an arm, probably the dog getting that bracelet. Can you take the little girl back to your house?”

  “I think we can manage,” I answered.

  “Don’t let the Leonards go home yet. I’ll have more questions.”

  “All right. What should I tell Len?”

  “The truth. Just keep in mind we don’t know anything about whose remains these are, for sure.”

  Sunny and I easily found our way back. We passed the officer named Chris and told him to just keep going and he’d find the others. Sunny handed Paddy’s leash to me and then took my hand, like a small child. She was quiet until we reached the white birch tree.

  “It’s my mother, isn’t it?”

  “We can’t be sure yet, but I’m afraid it might be. How does that make you feel?”

  “Kinda scared. I never thought about her much. She’s just always been gone, but now it feels like she’s everywhere.”

  I didn’t have anything to add to this, so I squeezed her hand and we continued on to the house.

  Chapter 16

  I told Len and Star, as gently as I could, that there was definitely a body in the swamp and after that, casual conversation never had a chance. Evening was coming on. Paddy curled up in his kennel without being told to. Deputy Brown went outside. Apparently we weren’t being kept under close watch.

  Finally, Star said, “I’m hungry.”

  Len said he hadn’t had dinner either, and I assured them that there was plenty of food, although it would be pretty much the same as lunch. We busied ourselves making sandwiches, and fortified the leftover salad with more lettuce. Star boiled water so we could have tea with the light meal. Although we thought we were hungry, after the food was fixed no one felt like eating very much of it.

&
nbsp; Deputy Brown and the one named Paul who was sent back to summon the DNR remained outside in one of the cars.

  Just as the last of the light was fading, Detective Milford walked in the kitchen door. He seemed to have taken over the house as his base.

  “Mr. Leonard, let’s go in the living room,” he said. It wasn’t an invitation; it was a command.

  Len nodded and stood up stiffly with the aid of his cane. The men left the kitchen, and I looked at the girls. They both looked very tired.

  “Could we come to church with you tomorrow, if Grandpa says it’s OK?” asked Star.

  “Of course,” I said.

  “I know we haven’t gone much, but I think it would make me feel better.”

  “Me too,” added Sunny. “I like the singing. I remember that. It made me happy.”

  “Did you used to go to Crossroads Fellowship?” I asked, surprised.

  “Sometimes,” Star explained. “Grandma liked to go. She was friends with some lady there, but it was easier to stay home than to drive into town. Most of the time she just watched church on television.”

  Len returned to the kitchen. “We can go home now,” he said quietly.

  “Can we go to church with Miss Ana tomorrow?” Sunny asked.

  He looked at me, a bit pointedly, I thought. “Is she asking you to go?”

  “No, Grandpa!” said Star. “I started it. I want to go like we did with Grandma. You come, too. OK?”

  “I guess so. Sure. It might be a good idea, at that.” I could almost see the struggle inside him, understanding that the girls wanted to make things be like old times, while he knew that it would never be the same again, given the reality that Angie could never return. He’d obviously always hoped, no matter how unlikely, that she might come home. “We’ll drive into town. Service is at eleven?”

  I nodded. “I’ll meet you outside if you’d like.”

  “Good, we’ll sit together. Now, let’s go home and get some sleep.”

  Detective Milford was waiting in the living room. I had been able to see him over Len’s shoulder, and was thankful that he didn’t feel the need to barge in until the Leonards left. Then he told me what would be happening over the next few hours.

  “We’ve got a DNR officer on the way here, with lights and a generator. We’ll probably be working all night, coming and going. It’ll be disruptive for you, but this is the closest access for vehicles. We have to remove the body, such as it is, and preserve any evidence that might be left. I want to get that done before word starts getting around. Seems silly to hurry after seven years, but curious people do strange things. Of course, there’s little chance we’ll find very much of value. It could be anyone, but at this point we’re assuming it’s Angelica Leonard.”

  “Do you think it is?”

  “Probably. The body’s female, about the right size. There’s the bracelet. Not much chance that’s a coincidence, since there were only three of them, and the other two are accounted for. I can’t say officially, of course. Forensics will have to study it.”

  “I understand.”

  “What else do you know about this?”

  I explained that I knew next to nothing, since I’d only lived here for three months, and had known the Leonards for two weeks. I offered to leave the kitchen light on and the door unlocked so the officers could come in to get drinks or use the bathroom during the night.

  Milford thanked me for that and let the screen door slam behind him as he left.

  Paddy must have been startled by the noise of the door, because he woke up and came into the kitchen. I put him on his leash and took him outside for a minute. Then, after I set out some mugs, teabags, instant coffee, cocoa mix and a package of cookies, we climbed the stairs and I slipped into my pajamas. I thought I’d have trouble getting to sleep, and was planning to make a mental list of things I might say to the Leonards, and things I probably shouldn’t say. But I fell asleep almost as soon as I lay down.

  When I awoke, sun was streaming in the window, and Paddy’s head was resting on my ankles. One foot was asleep. I hadn’t heard a thing all night.

  “Off,” I muttered at the dog while trying to wiggle my dead foot.

  “Oof?” Paddy yawned and jumped off the bed. My foot began to tingle as I tried to focus on the clock with my sticky morning eyes. Fortunately, I hadn’t overslept.

  When I let Paddy out, I saw that all the police cars were gone, except for one. The cookie package was empty, and several mugs had been placed in the sink. Three greasy pizza boxes were stacked on the counter. There was no one in sight, either in the kitchen or outside. I wondered if someone had been ordered to stay at the location in the woods, but since no one had appeared by the time I needed to leave, I could only guess.

  “Sorry I was grumpy, earlier,” I told Paddy, scratching his ears and rubbing his shoulders. “But you have to go in your kennel, anyway.” I shut him in and drove into town.

  I arrived at Crossroads Fellowship just a few minutes before the Leonards and was glad I had gotten there first, thinking it might be awkward for them to have to wait for someone they knew. I was aware that several church members listened to their police scanners with as much devotion as they listened to Sunday sermons. It was a near certainty that half the congregation had already heard what happened yesterday, and that the rest would know before dinnertime. I hoped churchgoers would be as tactful and kind as they should be, but I suspected I couldn’t count on it.

  Len, Star and Sunny all smiled when they saw me standing at the bottom of the steps which led to the peaked oak door of the white church. We went in together and chose a pew about halfway down the aisle, but nearer the left side than the middle.

  One thing I liked about the church building was that it wasn’t too plain, but neither was it too ornate. There was lovely old woodwork set off by the cream-colored walls, and the windows were stained glass, but geometric patterned, not fussy with Bible scenes.

  Several people whom I hadn’t previously met came over and said hello before the service started. One lady introduced herself as Beatrice Lindstrom. Len seemed particularly pleased to see her, and told me that she had been Becky’s good friend.

  “The two busy Bs, we called ourselves,” she said with a little twitter. “Is it true they’ve found Angie?” The question might have seemed nosy from a casual acquaintance, but I could hear the genuine concern in her voice.

  “Probably,” said Len with a catch in his voice. “We have to wait for an autopsy to be sure, but I know it’s her.” He touched his heart.

  “I’m so sorry,” Beatrice said. “Call me if I can help. I really mean that.”

  “I will. Thank you.”

  “You girls have grown so much!”

  Star wrinkled her nose, but Sunny said, “I’ll be in sixth grade this fall!”

  “My goodness. How about you?”

  Politely, Star answered, “I’ll be a sophomore.”

  “Oh! There’s the pastor. We’ll talk later.” Beatrice patted Star on the arm and scurried to find her seat.

  The music was a mixture of old hymns and some newer worship songs that I was just beginning to learn. Clearly, my companions weren’t such guests as I had thought they would be, as they sang more of the words than I did. Except for the past month, I hadn’t attended a church for years. I was surprised to learn that Len had an excellent baritone voice. There was a greeting time in the middle of the service, and several more people came over to say hello, including some young people, which made the girls happy. During the sermon, Sunny snuggled up against me and when I looked down at her once she smiled at me in a shy and secretive kind of way.

  Afterwards, there was a lot of milling about during coffee time in the fellowship hall. People came and said hello to Len, others chatted with Star and Sunny. One man was hanging back, waiting to speak to us privately, and I suddenly realized why Deputy Brown had looked familiar the night before. I’d seen him every Sunday that I’d been coming here. There were a few Afric
an-Americans who attended this church, but I hadn’t known he was in law enforcement. His eyes were red, and I wondered if he’d had any sleep.

  When other people had drifted away he approached. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am... me personally,” he began.

  “Thank you, and thank you for waiting with Star and me last night,” Len said.

  “I had to be professional then, but I wanted to tell you that DuWayne and me were in the same class. We weren’t real close, but we grew up in the same neighborhood. The whole thing is a damn shame. Excuse my French in church, but it is.”

  Len nodded. “I called DuWayne this morning. He does stay in touch enough that I have a current phone number.”

  “Is he gonna come?”

  “Yes, he’s on his way. He’ll be here tomorrow. I think we’ll have some kind of memorial service. It’s not clear that we’ll ever have a body to bury. Detective Milford said it’s almost certainly... not... a natural death. And since it was so long ago, they’ll need to keep everything for evidence. ‘Cold cases don’t get solved quickly,’ he told me.”

  Brown turned his shoulder and said, “Excuse me, ladies.” He began to whisper in Len’s ear, but I heard most of what he said. “There were knife marks on a couple of ribs. We could see that, real clear, when we packaged up the remains. Did any of her friends carry a big knife?”

  Len squinted but didn’t answer the question; he looked like he had a headache. Between the events of the past day and sitting for an hour on a hard, narrow pew, I was sure he was experiencing more than one kind of pain.

  “Thanks for letting me know, Harvey,” Len said, purposely turning to include us again. Now I knew Deputy Brown’s first name. “I’ll try to remember anything I can about the week before she disappeared. You know, I was never asked very much about it, back then.”

  “I know, brother. It’s hard to get respect, sometimes. Take care of those beautiful children.” He shook hands with each of us, and left.

  I offered to take us out to lunch, but Len said he really needed to go home and lie down for a while. He walked out to his car slowly, leaning heavily on his cane. The girls each gave me a little hug, and Sunny said she would call me when their dad arrived, so I could meet him. As I helped Len into his car, Star turned and said, “I’m glad we came. Sometimes people don’t know what to say to us, because we’re different, you know. But I can tell they care, even when they do dumb stuff like pat me on the arm. Thanks for everything.”