When I got to the office the next morning, Dr. Anna was already there. She was in the conference/lunchroom with Freddy. This was a room with tables and chairs and vending machines with awful coffee and junk food.
They were eating takeout from TJs. “Come on over, Robert, I brought enough coffee and sausage biscuit for all three of us,” Dr. Anna said when she saw me. “I was just getting to know your deputy here. He is quite charming.”
Freddy looked up at me and smiled. “What I’ve been telling her was in my report. Have you had a chance to read it yet, sheriff?”
“Not yet, Freddy,” I said as I grabbed a biscuit and cup of coffee. We sat and talked small talk until we finished our breakfast.
“I’m going to see Sarah,” I said as I stood up.
“I’ll go with you, sheriff,” Dr Anna said and then she did something that surprised me. She turned to Freddy and said, “Will you join us, Freddy?”
He looked uncomfortable and left abruptly saying he had a lot to do. When we started down the hall to the cell I looked at her and raised my eyebrows.
“Okay, here’s what happened. When I got here this morning Beth was out. She told me her cousin, Bucky had been to see her and she was scared. When I asked her to describe him, she said he looked like Bucky.
“I asked Freddy just now to join us in hopes we could bring Beth out and see if he is her cousin. It had to be a deputy that visited her, right?”
This was very disturbing. It had to be a deputy. Freddy had been here only a few months, about the same amount of time the murders had been taking place. What did I know about Freddy?
“What do you know about Freddy?” She asked as if she read my mind.
“He’s only been with me for a few months. He came highly recommended. He had letters from the chief of police and the mayor in Augusta, Georgia. I needed a deputy real bad at the time and didn’t check out the letters. I know I should have.”
Elizabeth was out when we got to the cell, “Where is my coffee? And when am I going to get my new room?”
“As a matter of fact, Elizabeth”, Dr. Anna said, “we will be moving you today. I had to call and check on your room last night and it is available. You and I will be leaving for Florida tonight and get you checked in. How does that sound?”
“Thank you so much. By the way, did you ever consider wearing your hair down and cut shorter? I’ll tell you what, when we get to Florida, I’ll give you a complete makeover.”
“That would be nice. Do you think I could talk to Sarah for a minute?”
Elizabeth closed her eyes and when she opened them it was Sarah. She looked alarmed, “I’ve lost some more time. You’re wearing something different. Is it another day?” She asked Dr. Anna.
“Yes, this is Thursday afternoon. Sarah I’m going to ask you some questions and they may seem strange to you, but just answer them okay?”
Sarah smiled like Dr. Anna was going to play some kind of game with her. “Go ahead,” she said. “You’re the doctor.”
“Do you know anyone by the name of Beth?”
“No.”
“How about Elizabeth?”
“I always thought Beth was short for Elizabeth. Are they the same person?”
Dr. Anna ignored the question, “How about Twoon?”
Sarah’s eyes got as big as saucers and she started gasping for breath. Dr. Anna reached into her purse and pulled out a paper bag and fixed it for Sarah to breathe into.
Sarah fought her at first but soon her breathing slowed down and she was fine. “Sarah, that name seems to cause you a lot of distress. Do you know why?”
“I don’t know. As soon as you said that name it sounded familiar and I felt like someone was putting their hand over my mouth. I felt panicky, like I couldn’t breathe. I know I would have remembered if I had ever met someone with that name, it’s so unusual. But I sure can’t remember anyone by that name.”
“Do you know a little boy who is mute?”
“Do you mean Billy?”
“Yeah, do you know Billy?” Dr. Anna asked as she looked at me.
“Billy was my make believe friend I had when I was little. He’s not a real person.” Sarah laughed, “How could you possibly know about him?”
Dr. Anna acted like she was debating something with herself then appeared to make up her mind, “What if I told you I have met Billy?”
Sarah reached up to push her hair back and I noticed her hand was shaking. I thought Dr. Anna had made a mistake and I thought she thought so too from the worried look she gave me.
But Sarah inhaled deeply and let her breath out slowly. “I’m glad you met him. Isn’t he special? Actually I never really gave him up like most kids do when they grow up. He has a calming effect on me.”
“How could I have met him, Sarah?”
“I don’t know. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you need to see a shrink yourself if you met my imaginary friend.”
“I take no offense. What if I told you that Billy is not imaginary but is a real personality?”
Sarah looked at me, “Robert make her stop. She’s trying to mix me up. Why is she confusing me?”
“She’s trying to help you, Sarah. Please try to trust her and me.”
We all remained silent for a few minutes, each thinking his/her own thoughts. Sarah had her head down and when Dr. Anna took her hand she looked into her eyes.
“Sarah, I’m going to leave you a little booklet to read tonight. Do you like to read?”
“Sometimes, it helps me fall asleep.”
Dr. Anna reached into her purse and brought out a small booklet called WHERE DID MY TIME GO?
“You go ahead and read this tonight. You and I will leave first thing in the morning for Jacksonville, Florida, for the hospital I was telling you about.” Dr. Anna kissed Sarah on the forehead and left.
I stayed with Sarah until late that night and we read the booklet together. I could tell when it started dawning on Sarah that she had MPD. She sat nodding her head.
“Now everything makes sense. That’s why I have gaps in my memory. In a way I am relieved. It says this disorder is very treatable.”
I kissed Sarah good night and went to my apartment. I tossed and turned all night. I was worried about Sarah and wished I could go with her but I planned to make a couple of trips myself. Something was bothering me and I needed to settle some things.
I planned to call Simon the next morning and ask for his help.
CHAPTER 20
When I called Simon early the next morning he said he was already packing to come back to Monroe Beach. He said he had talked to his boss and there were some things about the case that didn’t make any sense. His boss was sending him back.
I got to my office at around five thirty am. and found Dr. Anna and Sarah waiting for me.
Dr. Anna pulled me aside and said to me, “I didn’t get a chance to tell you yesterday, but you need to talk to Freddy. Be careful but question him about Twoon and how he was out and what he said when he arrested him.”
“I read the report he turned in, but haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet, but I will. I also plan to make a trip to Macon and one to Valdosta with Simon. He’s coming back today.”
Dr. Anna had gone to Sarah’s condo this morning before coming here and packed for her. “I didn’t pack much,” she said. “We have stacks and stacks of scrubs we keep at the hospital and a lot of the patients like to wear those. We have all sizes and colors and patterns.
“They’re so comfortable, like wearing pajamas all the time. That’s where I got the idea. Some of the patients wanted to wear their pajamas all the time.”
I took them to the airport in Savannah and Sarah clung to me when she said good bye. Dr. Anna kissed me on the cheek and got on the plane. I gave Sarah a long kiss and promised I would see her in a couple of weeks.
“You work hard and do what Dr. Anna says and get well.”
It broke my heart that she didn’t try to fight me, abou
t telling her what to do. She now understood she needed help and if I knew my Sarah, I knew she would work hard to get well.
Simon’s plane landed only a few minutes after Sarah’s took off so it saved me an extra trip. We discussed the aspects of the case that were bothering us on the way back to Monroe Beach.
“Of course I’ve only been involved in two cases in which the perpetrator was an MPD, so my experience is limited, but in both of those cases once we caught the perpetrator the criminal personality was the predominant one. It had pretty much taken over. It didn’t go into hiding.”
“That’s pretty much what Dr. Anna said and why she was so puzzled. Neither she nor Judith has actually met Twoon. Dr. Anna claimed she was good at bringing out the various personalities but she has been unable to bring out Twoon. She told me to question Freddy about his encounter with Twoon since he claims he met Twoon when he arrested him.”
Simon stared out the window for awhile then said, “Wasn’t another guy there when the arrest was made? Have you questioned the other guy yet?”
“That would be Kevin Payne. I haven’t talked to him yet.”
“Kevin Payne, the artist?”
“Yeah he’s apparently here painting sunrises.”
“I’d like to go with you when you question him. I want to meet him. I love his work.”
“I’ll tell you what, why don’t you question him while I question Freddy? Then are you up for making the trips with me I was telling you about?”
“Yeah, and I’d like to get started right away. I’m not even going to check into a hotel if we can leave today.”
I thought for a minute, “I don’t see why we can’t leave today. I’ll put George in charge. I’ve put him in charge before and he handled it real well.
“I’ll tell you what, why don’t we go question the two guys and then meet at TJ’s for lunch at around one and then leave from there. I’ll go home now and pack.”
When I got to the office I called Freddy in. “Am I in trouble?” he asked as he laughed nervously.
“No not at all,” I said. “I just want to go over your arrest report of Sarah with you.”
I pulled out the report and started reading it. At one point I happened to glance over at Freddy and it looked to me like he was smirking. I pretended I didn’t notice.
When I finished reading the report I put it aside, “Freddy, the report is well written. You probably write the best reports of any of my deputies. I just have a couple of questions. Okay, you say you were walking along the beach in front of Sarah’s shop when you heard someone scream.
“You pulled you gun and ran inside. You didn’t call for backup at this point?”
“There was no time, Robert. I thought someone needed my help right then.”
“Okay, so when you got inside, you saw Tory lying on the floor, dead. You didn’t see Sarah at that point?”
“Robert, you’re grasping at straws here. Sarah is the Beach Front Stabber. I caught her red handed.”
I held up my hand, “I’m just trying to get the facts straight here, Freddy. Just bear with me. After you determined Tory was dead, you called it in?”
“I checked the rest of the store first to make sure no one was still in there. Then I called it in. After I called it in, I checked outside. I saw Sarah running down the beach with the bloody knife…”
“Wait a minute, you could see the knife? On the dark beach, you could see the knife?”
“No, I didn’t actually see the knife until I caught her. I shouldn’t have said I could see the knife at that point. I got ahead of myself.
“I saw Sarah running down the beach and the artist, Kevin was chasing her. I went over the dunes and ran along the highway and got ahead of her and then came back over the dunes and pulled my gun and told her to get on the ground.”
“There’s something I’m not getting here, Freddy. If I had been in that situation where I saw a woman running down the beach and a man chasing her, after finding a woman stabbed to death, and not seeing the knife at this point, I would have assumed the man was chasing the woman and I would have chased the man and maybe tackled him from behind.
“I wouldn’t have come around in front of the woman and essentially pin her between the guy and myself. Had you already suspected Sarah, is that it?”
“Well, yeah, after seeing no forced entry into her condo both times she was broken into.”
I nodded like I was agreeing with him but his whole statement was making less and less sense to me all the time.
CHAPTER 21
“Well, other than having a chance to look at his great paintings, I didn’t get a lot out of Mr. Payne. He said he saw Sarah running down the beach and thought she was in trouble and started chasing her and calling out to her but she just kept running until your deputy came across the dunes and told her to get down.
“When he saw the knife in her hand, he tackled her from behind. Your deputy cuffed her and put the knife into a baggie. Kevin said he noticed Freddy had on gloves even though it was warm out, didn’t think anything about it at the time until I asked him about the deputy handling the knife.
“The deputy told Kevin to wait around because another officer was on the way to take his statement. But no one ever did take his statement because just as Freddy pulled Sarah to her feet the other deputy arrived and they put Sarah in the car and drove off.
“They acted so excited about capturing the stabber the seemed to forget about Kevin. No one has questioned him at all until I did today.”
“Did he say anything about hearing Sarah speak as Twoon?”
“No, I specifically asked him if he heard her speaking in another voice and he said no, but that he thought it was strange she was wearing a blond wig and blue contact lenses.
“He said that Freddy kept saying they had captured the Beach Front Stabber. Actually when Kevin told me that, I thought it sounded like Freddy was trying to implant it in everyone’s minds so they would think she had spoken as Twoon.”
I didn’t speak for awhile, thinking about all we’d learned. It wasn’t much, just a lot of suspicion. If Sarah wasn’t Twoon, then why was she dressed like that? That’s what I was having a hard time with.
When we got to Macon we got a room in a cheap motel on the outskirts of town and headed for the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s name was J.B. Walker and he looked like one long lean muscle. He had what must have been premature gray hair and pock marks on his face as if he had bad acne as a teen.
When we entered his office and he looked up and saw two black guys in front of him, he looked surprised.
I introduced both of us and he said, “What can I do for y’all?”
“I’m looking for a family with the last name of James.”
When he shook his head, I pulled a picture of Sarah out of my wallet. I had taken it when she was on the beach. She was wearing one of the sundresses she had designed. She looked beautiful.
He looked at the picture and back up at me, “Yeah, I know her. I always thought she looked just like her daddy. Her name is Sarah Koffer, not James. That’s Glen and Ruby’s little girl. Where is she now and what kind of mischief has she gotten herself into this time?”
“She’s now living in Monroe Beach. Could you tell me where I can find her parents?”
“They’re dead. Died in a house fire some suspected was set by either Sarah, or that no good cousin of hers, Bucky. That was one screwed up family.”
“When was this?” I asked.
“Let’s see, about three years ago if I remember correctly.”
“Any other cousins or friends I could talk to?”
“No more relatives and the family kept pretty much to themselves. There are some old classmates around. The person who did try to befriend Sarah is Dot Shelfry but Sarah’s mama put a stop to that. Sarah had to be home right after school. Dot works over to the diner.”
I wrote the name down in my little book I kept with me at all times and we headed over to th
e diner. It was getting on towards supper time and we decided to eat.
I looked at the menu and noticed they had meatloaf which I love. Just as I was folding up the menu a waitress came over to the table and looked from one of us to the other.
“Aren’t y’all some fine looking men? Is it true what they say about black men? Don’t worry, I’m married and my husband would skin me alive, but I do love to flirt.”
Simon and I were both laughing and then Simon asked, “Are you Dot?”
“That’s me, sugar. What’s your name you gorgeous hunk?”
We both showed her our ID and introduced ourselves. Her mouth formed an O.
“I’ll bring y’all some meatloaf. It’s the special of today. You get creamed potatoes, gravy and string beans with that. You want coffee or sweet tea?”
We both ordered the sweet iced tea.It was one of the best meals I had ever had. When she brought the check she yelled out to someone in the back, “I’m taking my break now, Boxer.”
I looked around the diner and noticed it had emptied out. She sat down next to Simon, shoving him out of the way with her hip, as she sat. “I couldn’t make up my mind who to sit beside, you’re both so gorgeous. But life’s a crap shoot, right?” She laughed and sounded like she was running the scales like they have you do in music class.
She yelled for coffee and a young teenage boy came out carrying three cups, a pot of coffee, and a small pitcher of cream. There was sugar on the table.
She poured coffee for all of us and stirred cream and sugar in hers, “What can I do for you lawmen?”
“We’re looking for information on Sarah Koffer. You went to school with her didn’t you?”
She had started nodding as soon as I started talking, “Yeah, do you know where she is now?”
“She’s been living in Monroe Beach and owns a shop on the beach.”
Again Dot was nodding, “I’ll bet she has some of her own designs in that shop. I’m glad she has something going for her. She deserves it.”
Terror on the Beach Page 7