A Game of Greed and Deception: A Mystery Drama

by John Mathews

  ***

  Tammy went into the master bathroom, adjacent to the bedroom, and flipped the light switch. She admired the white and gold cabinets with a black and white marble vanity top. Two elegant mirrors with antique frames hung on the wall, surrounded by sconces with beige linen shades. A brass chandelier hung from the ceiling, and the Jacuzzi tub with polished nickel fixtures looked like it could comfortably fit two people inside. The wallpaper was a creamy salmon color, and in front of the Jacuzzi was a charcoal-colored floor rug. Tammy turned on the water, adjusted the temperature settings, and added some Patchouli bath oil. A few minutes later she undressed, slipped into the silky bathwater, and turned on the whirlpool jets.

  She lit a candle and enjoyed another cigarette while soaking in the tub. The small flame reflected gracefully off the mosaic marble floor tiles. She admired her exquisite sapphire and diamond ring for a moment and then closed her eyes.

  After nodding off for a bit, Tammy sat up against the back of the tub. She was sweating a little and the mirrors were fogged up with steam. Feeling too hot, she slowly got out of the tub and dried herself off with a thick, fluffy pink towel. Then she applied some deep moisturizing body lotion and slipped back into her nightgown.

  She turned off the Jacuzzi jets but left the bathtub full. Then she went into the bedroom and checked her cell phone. It was just after midnight and Stephen hadn’t returned. There were no missed calls or messages on her phone. She dialed Stephen’s number and it went straight to voice mail. Tammy looked outside through the living room window and saw no sign of their car or her husband. Looking very concerned, she dialed the local police department.

  “Hello, this is Tammy Worthington. I’m on vacation here in Fraser with my husband and stepdaughter, staying at the Dilinger resort cabin up in the mountains. My husband went out to run a quick errand more than two hours ago and has not returned. I don’t know where he is and I’m just worried sick that something dreadful might have happened to him!” Tammy was speaking quickly and almost shouting into the phone. “Can you understand me? He only went to get me some cigarettes and should have been out and back in less than 30 minutes. I’ve called his cell phone several times with no response.”

  “I understand, ma’am. Just calm down for a moment. What’s your husband’s name? Are you just renting the cabin for the weekend?”

  “Yes, I’m on my one year anniversary celebration. This was supposed to be the best weekend of my life! We rented this cabin that is up in the woods near the top of the cliff, away from the town. His name is Stephen Worthington.”

  “Well I’m sure there is no reason at all to panic. He might have gotten his car stuck in the snow somewhere and doesn’t have any cell phone service. The snow is really deep and cars get trapped in it up here rather frequently. We don’t normally file a missing persons report until at least 24 hours after...”

  “But what I am telling you is that my husband would never just leave and disappear like that on our anniversary! If there wasn’t anything wrong I’m sure that I would’ve done already heard from him by now, don’t you think? He could’ve just gone to the hotel a couple miles down the road and called me from there.”

  “I understand. We can send out an officer to have a look around the area as soon as the roads have been cleared off some. If you don’t hear from your husband by morning, we can have someone meet with you so that we can get a better description of the vehicle he was driving and have you fill out a missing persons report.”

  “I have to sit here and wait all dang night to know if he is ok? My husband is a very important man and there will be many people wanting to know if anything has happened to him. And it’s not like you have any better things to do up here in the mountains anyways. I’m alone here with my stepdaughter and we are both extremely concerned.”

  “Mrs. Worthington, I’m police officer Gerald Benson. Can you give me a physical description of your husband?

  “He is in his mid-forties, about five feet nine inches tall, average build, maybe one hundred and seventy-five pounds. Kind of a wide face with a receding chin, brown eyes and graying brown hair combed over to the side. He was dressed in a blue designer suit and tie.”

  “Thank you ma’am, I’ve written down that information. Here is my personal cell phone number. Just give me a call in the morning if your husband still hasn’t been in contact with you. I’m sure you will hear from him sometime soon.”

  Tammy wrote down the phone number on a notepad and thanked the man. She peeked into the other bedroom to check on Maria and saw that she was already asleep. She drained the water from the tub and hung up her towel. Then she lay down on the king-sized bed in the master bedroom, slipped under the down comforter, and closed her eyes. Within minutes she was sound asleep.

  ***

  Tammy woke up rather suddenly and tried to swallow but her throat was sore and dry. As she inhaled, ice cold air made her lungs contract, and she let out some violent coughs. The room was freezing cold and she could see her breath with each exhale. What the fuck is going on? The cabin was warm and toasty when I got into bed. She glanced at her cell phone to take a look at the time: 6:00 am. It was still dark outside and her bedroom was nearly pitch black, so she reached over and turned on the overhead light. The window in her bedroom was wide open and cold mountain air was blowing into the room. How in the hell….the windows were all locked shut when I went to bed.

  She got out of bed shuddering, and put on her slippers and robe. Then she went over and leaned on the window sill, and looked outside. Good God, it’s a winter wonderland. There must have been 2 feet of snow piled up on the ground, the trees were completely covered, and large icicles more than a foot long hung down from the roof. She closed the window right away, turning the lock so there was no way it could open again.

  Tammy went into the living room area expecting to warm up. But it was just as cold as the bedroom, and she could still see her breath. She ran around frantically checking all of the other windows in the cabin and saw that they were in fact all closed. She opened the door to Maria’s room and found her stepdaughter wrapped in blankets and still sound asleep. She left the door open and went back into the living room, rubbing her shoulders with her hands. Is the heat out in the whole dang cabin? We’re gonna be freezing inside here if I don’t do something. The living room had a large fireplace with a mesh screen in front, an iron poker, a small pile of three logs, a box of long matches, and some kindling to the side. Tammy looked somewhat annoyed. Only three damn little logs? That won’t heat much for very long. This looks more like it’s for display than for anyone to actually use.

  She reached inside the fireplace, pushing her hand up, and felt a small metal loop. She took the poker, and using the metal loop, made sure to push open the damper. Then she put some kindling on the metal grate and lit it with a long match. Next she set two of the small logs on top of the kindling. In a few minutes the fire had started to burn brightly and was sending a bit of warmth into the cabin.

  Then Tammy suddenly remembered that she had seen a larger pile of logs when they first arrived at the cabin. She put her coat on and went out the front door onto the porch. To the left was a stack of at least twenty logs. The wind had blown some snow onto the porch and covered the top layer of logs. Tammy pulled the end of her robe over her hands and started brushing the snow off the wood. As she did so, something strange on the ground outside the porch caught her eye. There were indentations in the snow, alternating from side to side like footprints, and heading away from the cabin.

  Tammy leaned over the porch railing to have a better look. The marks were rather large and spaced several feet apart. They did not have a distinguishable shape to them since snow had been falling all night. These can’t be footprints, they’re too big. And who the hell would be walking around up here in this blizzard anyways?

  Tammy carried several logs back into the cabin and added them to the fire. Soon the flames shot up and wood crackled as the roaring fire let out more heat
into the room. She picked up her cell phone and dialed the police officer in hope that he would wake up and answer her call.

  A quiet, fuzzy voice answered the phone. “Hellllo?”

  “This is Tammy Worthington. I called last night to report my husband missing.”

  The officer cleared his throat before responding. “Mmm….ok….I remember. Yes, Mrs. Worthington, have you heard anything from your husband?”

  “No sir I have not, and in fact the heat is out in my cabin while the snow is piling up higher and higher. The whole place is freezing cold inside! I’m here alone with my young stepdaughter and need a police officer to come out right away.”

  “Let me ask you something, Mrs. Worthington. Did you and your husband have an argument or fight last night?”

  Tammy hesitated for a moment. “What are you getting at? We didn’t even have the slightest bit of a tiff. My husband and I are extremely close and he would never just leave me like this without saying something.”

  “I asked that because more often than not if a loved one disappears suddenly it is because of some domestic trouble at home.”

  “We don’t have any problems like that. Stephen is missing and something needs to be done immediately to find him!”

  “Ok, please hang tight, ma’am. Let me get out of bed, call my deputy, and get back with you within the hour.”

  She hung up the call, frustrated and feeling antsy waiting for the police to search for her husband. She went into the kitchen, put on a pot of water, and set aside a mug with a Rooibos tea bag inside. I gotta keep warm, the last thing I need to do is catch cold. The storm must have knocked out the heating and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Tea in hand, she headed back into the living room, wrapped herself in the down comforter, and sat near the fireplace.

  Twenty minutes later Tammy’s cell phone rang. “Mrs. Worthington, this is officer Benson. Are you and your stepdaughter warm enough and safe where you are now?”

  “Well I’m all right for the moment – I mean I got the dang fire burning and a blanket around me. She’s in the bedroom sleeping.”

  “Ok good. Please stay right where you are. The roads are completely iced over and driving in these conditions is treacherous. It would be impossible to send an officer out to that area right now.”

  Tammy gulped audibly and elevated the tone of her voice. “Great, so what I am gonna do, just sit here all day and freeze to death? And what about my husband? He’s missing and someone needs to find out immediately if something has happened to him!”

  “We will have some guys going out in a truck soon to look all around the mountainside. I will give you a report as soon as we find out something.”

  “Bless your heart, Mr. Benson, and please – hurry.”

  Tammy hung up the cell phone and lit up another Capri to help calm her nerves. The hot tea was soothing to her sore throat and cold chest. As she let out a mouth full of smoke, she heard Maria speak with a scratchy voice from the smaller bedroom.

  “Tammy, come here, it’s so cold in my room and my feet are freezing!” Maria was awake, curled under the blankets like a snail in its shell. Her cute little face dotted with freckles and framed by shoulder-length blonde hair poked out from under the covers.

  Tammy turned her head to look into the smaller bedroom. “I know, Maria, the heat is out, so just stay under the blankets to keep warm.”

  “I need another blanket and something to drink. My throat is cold and it hurts.”

  “Okay, just stay there. I’ll bring you some hot tea.” Tammy poured another cup of hot water over a bag of Rooibos and took it into Maria’s bedroom. “Here, sit up and drink this. Keep your legs and feet covered with the blanket.”

  Maria had a sip of the warm tea and looked up at her stepmother. “Where’s dad? Is he awake?”

  Tammy looked away from Maria for a bit. “Well, honey, I’ve got some bad news. Your father went out late last night with the car and hasn’t returned. The snow is really coming down outside and I’m afraid that the car must’ve gotten stuck somewhere. I just hope that nothing bad has happened to him.”

  Maria yanked the blanket off her shoulders and swallowed hard. Her eyes glossed over with a look of confusion. “What do you mean he got stuck somewhere? Do we know if he’s ok? When will he be back here?”

  “I don’t know, Maria, but we can surely hope for the best. He probably just got caught in the snowstorm. I called the police department just as a security measure and am waiting on them to call me back. They’re gonna check all around for his car. They said that cars get stuck in the snow pretty often out here this time of year, so I really wouldn’t worry too much about it. There is nothing more that we can do.”

  “But why did he go out if there is so much snow outside? Do they know what our car looks like?”

  “He had snow tires on that car and knew to drive slowly. He took the car last night to go to the hotel that we passed on the way here. He should’ve been back last night. I gave the police all of the information, sweetie.”

  Maria pulled her knees up to her chest from under the blanket. The tone of her voice got sharper. “So then why isn’t someone trying to find him? We can’t just leave him stuck out in the snow!”

  “That’s exactly what the police are gonna be doing soon. They will locate our car and certainly find Stephen. Don’t worry, Maria, I’m sure he’ll be ok. This isn’t the first time your father has disappeared for a while without saying anything.”

  Maria recalled the only other time that her father left for several days without telling her. It was shortly after the wedding, when he had an important out-of-state business meeting. He always told Maria if he had to travel somewhere and just how much he loved her before leaving her with a nanny. But on this occasion he had gotten into an argument with Tammy before he left about the management of his business computer files. Maria just remembered Tammy drilling Stephen for his passwords, and him storming out of the villa in anger. When he returned, he had a big bouquet of flowers for Tammy, and was very apologetic to Maria.

  “But did you even check the cell phone? Maybe he tried to call! Did you try to call him to see if he answers?”

  “Maria dear, I’ve had the cell phone with me the whole night. Of course I tried to call. When your father is able to, I am sure he’ll call me back. Now please, stop badgering me with questions.”

  As Tammy stepped out of the bedroom, she began coughing profusely. The living room was filling up with smoke that came pouring out of the fireplace. She waved her hands back in forth in front of her eyes to clear the smoke so she could see what was happening better. Somehow, the smoke was not going up the chimney. Tammy ran towards the fireplace and grabbed the iron poker. She pushed it inside the fireplace and up towards the flue to discover that indeed the damper was closed. Unable to open it, she rushed into the kitchen and started to fill a large pot with water. The smoke was rapidly filling the room and it was becoming difficult to see. She closed her eyes for a moment to stop the burning and then darted towards the fireplace. Tammy hurled the water onto the fire and ashes went flying up and into her face. As the flame and hot coals were extinguished, even more smoke came into the room. In a fit of coughs and barely able to breathe, she ran into her stepdaughter’s bedroom and closed the door.

  Maria shrieked as Tammy came into to the bedroom. “Tammy, my nose and eyes are burning. Where’s all that smoke coming from?”

  Tammy opened the bedroom window. “It’s coming from the fireplace. There’s a lot of smoke inside the house so come here to the window ledge and breathe in some fresh air.” Maria inhaled the ice cold air from outside and let out a few hard coughs. Tammy threw a blanket at her. “Here, keep this around you and put your dang jacket on. I need to open some more windows.” As she exited the room, Tammy held her breath, and then ran to open windows in the living room and the other bedroom. Her lungs burned with each inhale but it was better to breathe in freezing cold air than dangerous smoke, she thought. She sat on the
floor where there was less smoke and covered her eyes with the palms of her hands. Her nerves were a wreck and she was brooding. I made sure that goddam fireplace was open. There’s no fucking way that smoke should’ve come into the cabin like that. How could things be going so horribly wrong? And what the hell is taking the police so damn long? Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone.

  “Mrs. Worthington? This is officer Benson.”

  “Hello. What did you find out?”

  “I had two of my deputies go out in the truck and investigate the area down the mountain side from your rental cabin. They found an area of the road leading southwest near a hotel and restaurant where the guard rail was broken. Skid marks there led them to believe that there had been an accident and that a car went over the edge of the cliff. At the base of the mountain they discovered a 2014 BMW 428i xDrive Coupe, color silver.”

  “My God, that is my husband’s car! Is Stephen ok? Was he trapped inside the car?”

  “What time did you say that your husband left from the cabin in the car?”

  “He went out last night around 10:15 just after we got back from dinner. He just left to run a quick errand and never returned.”

  “Ok so we’ve located the vehicle. It must have skidded and crashed into the guard rail and then took a long fall from the roadside. It fell hundreds of feet down the mountain, was completely totaled, and partly covered in snow. My deputies cleared the car as best they could to have a look inside.”