“What about this club or organization of Roland’s? Anyone here belong to it?” I asked.
“I don’t know what it is. Just that they meet at Roland’s; a lot of guys from other towns. Sometimes some of them stop in the store for coffee, but they don’t talk much. There are a lot of different groups around here that preserve land. There’s the Vermont Land Trust, and other small land trust groups that work to keep developers from buying up the farm and timber land. There are groups that try to keep timber companies from taking out too many trees. You name it and there’s some group for it,” Hal said.
I gathered up my food purchases and headed for the car. By the time I pulled into Lucy’s driveway, rain had started pelting the windshield. I dashed for the house, started a fire in the fireplace, walked Sam around the yard as fast as possible and set the table in front of the sofa for dinner for two.
CHAPTER
THIRTY
We had just finished coffee and were enjoying the baseball game on the wide screen TV when the phone rang. I rushed to the kitchen to answer guessing it was a wrong number. Instead I heard the emotional voice of Madison, Sherry Yarmouth’s roommate.
“Is this Mary Katz? This is Madison. I talked to you this morning about Sherry.”
“Yes, of course, Madison, have you heard from her?”
“No, nothing and I’m so worried. I called Brett, her brother. He’s in New York doing an internship. He hadn’t heard from her. I thought maybe she went to visit him. He said he’d call their mother. I didn’t want to be the one to do that. To tell you the truth, I’m a little scared of Lillian. I met her when I visited Sherry last summer.”
“Do you know if Brett talked to her?”
“Yes, he called me back and said Lillian would be up here in the morning. He said she already knew Sherry was missing and had a plane reservation and a hotel booked. I thought maybe you called her.”
“No, I haven’t talked to her. I really thought Sherry would have surfaced by now.”
“Here’s the scary part. I told Brett I would call the campus security and the Hanover Police, but he said I was not to do that. I told him you were up here and that you had seen Sherry last Friday. I asked if it was okay to call you and tell you about Lillian. He said it was fine. He should be here soon. He left New York a few hours ago. Why shouldn’t I call the police?”
“Lillian must have her reasons. Maybe she knows where Sherry is. Did Sherry ever mention a guy named Conrad that she met at some bar with a funny name?’
“No. Not that I can remember. I’m really scared, Mary.”
“Just get some rest. I’ll call Lillian and you can give Brett my phone numbers when he gets there. He can call me even if he doesn’t get in ‘til late.”
When I hung up, Dash was standing at the kitchen doorway.
“Is something wrong, Mary? I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong in Miami,” Dash said.
“One of my client’s children attends college at Dartmouth, and her daughter, Sherry, has gone missing. I had lunch with her up at Dartmouth last week. I may have some important information so I need to call Lillian. She’s my client and she’s flying up here tomorrow.”
“Is there anything I can do? Are the police looking for this girl?”
“Not yet. Lillian told Sherry’s roommate not to call them.”
“You know Jimmy Parsons, the town sheriff over here, is a friend of mine. Maybe he can help.”
“Isn’t he the same guy who never solved Carolyn Brousseu’s murder? I don’t want to do anything until I talk to Lillian. I need to call her right away and then maybe go up to Dartmouth and meet with Sherry’s brother.”
“I understand. I’m going to get out of your way. Thanks for dinner and let me know if I can help. I’ll phone you about the court date for Ken’s case.”
“Thanks for understanding, Dash. I feel like I’m kicking you out,” I said as I walked Dash into the front hall. He shrugged into his rain jacket and turned and before I knew what was happening, he put his arm around my shoulder and kissed me. It was a soft sweet kiss, and I felt—nothing.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
As soon as Dash drove away, I rushed to the phone and dialed Lillian Yarmouth’s home phone number. I remembered all her numbers by heart. I had called her so many times when I represented her in the murder of her husband, the case that made my little law office famous. Well, famous in South Florida anyway. After five rings, Lillian’s voice- mail answered. Her cool cultured voice announced that she was unable to take my call but please leave a message and someone would contact me.
It was too late for her to be at the office where she was president of Elite Wine Distributors, a job she got herself elected to after her husband’s death. I elected to try her mobile phone. I was surprised when I heard a familiar voice answer which wasn’t Lillian.
“This is Mary Katz. Who is this? Is Lillian Yarmouth there?’
“Mary, this is Beverly. You remember me, don’t you? I was Gary Yarmouth’s assistant.”
“I was trying to get Lillian. Where is she?”
“She’s right here. I’m her assistant now and I’m helping her to, ah, to get ready to leave for New Hampshire. Just a minute.”
“Mary, I don’t know what you’re doing up there, but I will need your advice as soon as I get there. Madison said you had some information that might help about Sherry,” Lillian sounded breathless.
“Lillian, I had lunch with Sherry last Friday. Please, don’t be upset. Sherry didn’t want you to know that she has a boyfriend. Someone named Conrad, who has a farm somewhere in this area. She was going to his farm for the weekend.”
There was a long pause. “This may be very helpful. I can’t tell you more on the phone but I’ll be there soon. My plane gets in at ten-thirty tomorrow morning. I tried to charter a plane but it was too short notice.”
“Lillian, why don’t you want the police called?”
“”Don’t do anything like that, please. I’ll explain tomorrow.” Lillian clicked off and I was left with a growing guilty feeling for not having told someone about Sherry and the guy named Conrad.
I puttered around the kitchen washing dishes, filling Sam’s water dish, anything to keep from speculating about Sherry’s disappearance and Lillian’s odd request about the police. Maybe Sherry and this Conrad guy eloped and Lillian was rushing up here to get an annulment or to drag Sherry back to Miami.
At ten o’clock the phone rang again. This time it was Brett.
“Mary, I’m back on the campus in my apartment. Is it too late for you to come up here and meet me? I need someone to get my head together. This just isn’t like anything Sherry has ever done before.”
“Sure, I’ll leaver right away. I’m only about fifteen minutes away. Where shall I meet you?”
“How about the Dirt Cowboy? It’s right on Main Street, and they should still be open. It’s a coffee bar.”
I put Sam back in his crate. He gave me a dirty look as if to say, this is turning into another Miami. I thought we were on vacation.
Students were still strolling around the shops on Main Street, and it looked like a movie had just let out. I had no trouble finding the coffee bar. It was crowded, but I spotted Brett near the door. He looked tired and disheveled. He must have left in a hurry and was still wearing the pants and shirt of business attire with the sleeves rolled up.
“Brett, I’m so glad to see you. It’s good you’ll be here when your mother arrives in the morning.”
Brett gave me a hug. He ordered two coffees and we carried them outside to sit on a bench where we could talk. The rain had stopped but the damp cold seeped through my layers of clothes.
“It seems like my family is always calling on you in an emergency,” he said. “Madison said you asked her about a boyfriend of Sherry’s.”
“I had lunch with Sherry last week. She confided in me that she’d been seeing an older guy who owns a dairy farm somewhere
around here. She didn’t want me to tell anyone about him. She told me she was going to spend the weekend with him at his farm. I tried to get her to let me do a background check on him, but she got angry with me. I could just kick myself for not alerting someone about this or trying to talk her out of going.”
“How could you just let her go off like that?” Brett looked furious. I remembered his hot temper.
“I’m not her mother or her sister. She’s not a kid. If I hadn’t happened to be visiting up here, no one would know about this boyfriend.”
“I guess you’re right. What’s his name? Where is this farm?”
“She only told me his first name which is Conrad and I don’t know where this farm is.”
“She didn’t take her car. It’s parked outside her dorm. How did she get there?”
“I don’t know. What about your mother? Where is her flight coming in? There isn’t any real airport around here, is there?”
“She’s arriving in Manchester. It’s ninety miles from here. I’m going to pick her up. Beverly booked her a room at the Hanover Inn. She’s been up here many times to see us and for parents’ weekend, so she knows her way around.”
“Why won’t she let us call the police?”
“You know Mom. Everything is a secret with her. She said she’d talk to me when she got here. She didn’t want to talk on the phone. She said she had a lot of details to take care of. Beverly was sticking close to her, helping her with whatever.”
“Okay, Brett, you look like you could use some sleep. Call me when you’re on the way from the airport and I’ll come over and meet you at the inn. I’ll write my phone numbers down for you. Say, hasn’t anyone called Sherry’s cell phone or texted her?”
“Of course, but all we get is voicemail. What if something awful has happened to her?”
“If she was in an accident, you’d know it. A hospital or police would have called long ago. Let’s go get some sleep and wait for Lillian.”
Brett walked me out to my car. I glanced at my watch and realized it was well after eleven. Once I left Hanover, the road was completely dark. I remembered Hal’s warning about moose and deer. I had also read in the local paper about a moose-car collision. The story reminded readers that the leggy animals were impossible to see until they were on top of your car.
I drove slowly for once in my life, constantly looking to the sides of the roads. The River Road with its snakelike curves was the darkest of all. I vowed not to miss the turnoff to Lucy’s house. I was driving at turtle speed when I recognized the road up to the Brousseau house. I was almost even with that road when something big moved from the road into my path. I drew to a stop, my eyes straining to see the shape. It wasn’t an animal at all. It was a car with headlights off. As it turned ahead of me, I realized that it was a black SUV Subaru. My curiosity screamed at me to follow it.
Then I remembered the gunshot and decided to get home. But one thing was certain now. Someone definitely was living in the house where Carolyn was murdered.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
The rain had given way to blustery north winds by morning. A weak sun tried to shine. Many of the leaves had been crushed to the ground by the downpour and now the wind was whipping them into crunchy piles. Sam and I made a brittle sound as we waded through the leaves even though the ground was still slushy. I dutifully walked him down the long drive and back through the backyard.
The view of the village below us now included smoke curls from wood stoves and fireplaces in the valley. As I stopped to admire the view, my cell phone rang. It startled me, since mobile service was so unreliable.
“Mary, it’s Dash. Anything new about your missing friend?
“No, I’m waiting for her mother to arrive this morning.”
“Well, I just got a call from Judge McCreary’s assistant. You’re scheduled for a hearing on Ken’s case tomorrow at ten, but the hearing is in Barre, about an hour from here. Will you still be able to handle this? Ken really has confidence in you.”
“Of course, I’ll follow through. I promised and I never let a client down, but with this problem of Sherry’s disappearance, I sure wish I could get a brief continuance Do you think you could request a continuance?”
“I already asked, and the answer was a vehement no. I’m really sorry to put you in this situation.”
“It’s okay. I can’t let Ken down. I’m used to juggling at least two matters at once. Anyway, this hearing shouldn’t take very long. It should be an easy order to dismiss.”
“Don’t count on that, Mary. This is New England, not Miami. I explained to the assistant that you’re working through my office, so maybe they won’t look at you as a complete flat-lander. I talked to Ken and he’ll ride with you so you won’t get lost.”
“What about the judge? Is the judge a man or a woman? What’s the judge like?”
“He’s very nice, just not always decisive. The thing I ‘m not excited about is the side judge. He’s an old-timer and Ken is new to the area, so watch out for him. His name is Calvin Crumb.”
“I won’t even try to make any bad puns about that name. Okay, Dash. I’ll give you a full report tomorrow.”
I hadn’t mentioned to Dash the sighting of the car at the Brousseau’s last night. Something picked at my skin like a scratchy wool sweater every time I thought about that car and that Dash drove the exact same model. I decided to take a trip to the mini-mart to see Riley and pick her brain about Dash. It was also a good excuse to get a good cup of coffee. I was beginning to miss having a Starbucks on every corner.
As I loaded Sam into the Explorer, I couldn’t help thinking about that kiss Dash planted on me. For all I knew, he was a serial rapist. And that kiss rattled me into dreaming about Carlos. I had tried so hard to put him out of my mind, and other parts of my anatomy.
I couldn’t deny the way I felt about Carlos. We hadn’t been out of each other’s sight since we met in February. Eight months of great sex is not easily forgotten, nor is the entanglement with each other’s family and friends. Part of me nagged that I should have at least listened to his explanation about Margarita. Another part of me, probably my brain and not the other parts of my anatomy, shouted directions like ’don’t be a fool, and ‘better off a lonely heart than a broken heart.’
Now here I was in this cold isolated village working on a case involving a neighborhood feud and fending off Dash Mellman who might only be a simple country lawyer or might be a murderer. This was anything but the restful vacation Lucy sold me on.
The mini-mart had added pumpkin decorations at its front door and store window. It seemed like Halloween themes were sprouting everywhere. These were real pumpkins too, grown nearby, not the plastic things that Miamians utilize for quickie decorations a day or two before Halloween.
The smell of pumpkin flavored coffee filled my nostrils as I entered the market. Riley was busy with customers so I grabbed the Valley News to wile away some time. The front page slapped me across the face like an angry relative.
NEIGHBORS’ FEUD ESCALATES TO COURT ACTION
The tree controversy between newer resident, Ken Upham, and Roland Behr will be thrashed out in court in Barre tomorrow.
Upham states that he will be seeking a dismissal of the lawsuit for damages filed by Roland Behr. Behr alleges that he has suffered due to loss of privacy when Upham cut down trees and brush separating the two properties.
“My new attorney, Mary Magruder Katz., will be in court with me and believes this case should be at an end. It is a frivolous use of the court’s time.”
Behr refused to speak to the Valley News. We were unable to locate Ms. Katz by deadline. She is associated with local attorney, Dash Mellman.
I was standing with my mouth gaping open when Riley tapped me on the shoulder.
“Hello, Ms. Celebrity. It hasn’t taken you much time to become an Upper Valley sensation,” she said.
“Good God. I’ve got to tell Ken not to give interviews like th
at without talking to me first. I hope the judge doesn’t read this paper. What do they mean they couldn’t locate me? Where did they look?”
“Who knows? Probably in the phone book. Obviously you’re not listed.”
“I thought everyone knew everything about locals and visitors,” I said.
“We the people do, but the paper has to fact- check everything. That takes all the fun out of gossip. Are you here for some gossip, or just lonely?”
“Both, I guess, or maybe scared. Remember I told you about my young friend at Dartmouth and her secret boyfriend?”
Riley nodded.
“Well, she’s disappeared; totally gone missing. Her mother’s on her way up here as we speak. Are you sure you don’t know of any dairy farmers in the area with the name of Conrad?”
“Not off the top of my head. I’ll ask my parents. They know everyone. What else is on your mind?”
I lowered my voice and leaned closer to Riley. “How well do you know Dash Mellman?”
“I’ve never dated him, if that’s what you mean. He has a reputation of being a good solid lawyer, and his people have lived here forever. Why are you asking?”
“I don’t know. It’s just that Dash represented Tom Brousseau and his family and I am sure someone is camping out in the Brousseau house. Dash seems utterly disinterested in investigating. Strange things happened when I accidentally stayed in that house. There were unexplained noises. There was a car parked in the barn, a black Subaru SUV, just like the one Dash drives. Then it disappeared when Dash was with me at the house and then it reappeared when he was gone. And last night I saw that same car coming out of the Brousseau’s road late at night.”
“What were you doing there late at night?”
“I wasn’t there. I was on my way back to Lucy’s house.”
Riley stared at me for a minute. “Are you saying that you think Dash is hanging out in that house?”
Barbara Levenson - Mary Magruder Katz 03 - Outrageous October Page 10