Hidden Secrets

by Madison Johns

  I nodded. “Or the killer simply moved on.”

  “All good points, but none of them have brought the FBI closer to finding the murderer,” Stuart said.

  “And they never found the bodies.”

  “No. And believe me, every time bone fragments are found they’re processed carefully. We all care about this case. If Wilber was the killer, after all this time it might bring closure to the victims’ families.”

  “As if having a family member ripped away from you will ever give you the closure you’d want,” I said.

  Andrew rented a car as he decided to stay behind in Detroit with Mr. Wilson, so Eleanor and I were able to take the LX to Lisa’s house. I was more than a little anxious to find out what she had to say about Betty and the suspects.

  “Lisa Spraggs?” I asked as we caught her before she entered her house. Apparently she had just come from the grocery store as she balanced four stuffed plastic shopping bags.

  The woman set her bags inside before joining us on her porch. She hugged her frail frame. Her heavily-wrinkled skin and straggly gray hair wasn’t what I expected at all. She was at least as old as us.

  “Are you Betty Driscoll’s sister?” I inquired.

  Eleanor moved in to catch Lisa as she fainted, and I rushed to help my friend in easing Lisa to a bench on the porch. Eleanor exchanged a startled glance with me. “Now what do we do?”

  I knocked on the door, hoping Lisa didn’t live alone, but when it wasn’t answered my hopes were dashed.

  “Help me get her inside,” I finally said.

  Eleanor and I managed to carry Lisa inside and ease her down into the closest chair. While Eleanor went to fetch a glass of water, I fanned Lisa’s face with a magazine I found in the newspaper rack.

  Eleanor flicked drops of water on Lisa with a shrug, “What? I don’t have any smelling salts.”

  I leaned down and said, “Lisa, can you hear me?”

  Eleanor sat next to Lisa and rubbed the top of her hand. “Lisa, are you okay?” Eleanor said.

  “I wonder if we should call an ambulance,” I said.

  “You might want to scat. I just called the cops,” a young woman with large blue eyes said as she stood in the doorway.

  “Cops?” My hands slipped to my hips. “I know this might look strange, but Lisa fainted. We couldn’t just leave her on the porch.”

  “We had no idea how fragile she was,” Eleanor added.

  The woman’s brows knitted. “She’s not normally. Didn’t you just hear me tell you I called the cops?”

  “I think calling an ambulance instead of cops would be better, don’t you, young lady.”

  The woman walked into the kitchen and returned with an opened tiny bottle and waved it under Lisa’s nostrils.

  Lisa abruptly coughed and her eyes slowly opened. “What are you doing in my house?”

  “That’s what I thought. I called the cops.”

  “Oh, Denise I wish you hadn’t gone and done that.”

  “You have intruders in your home.”

  I shook my head. “We most certainly didn’t break into your house,” I gasped.

  “Agnes is right,” Eleanor said. “Lisa opened the door. She even put her groceries inside, see.” She pointed out the bags on the floor.

  “I think we gave you quite the shock, Lisa.”

  Lisa blinked rapidly for a few moments. “Oh, it’s coming back to me now. What did you say again that caused me to faint?”

  “I’d rather not say if you reacted so strongly the first time,” I said. “We didn’t come here to upset you. We were hoping to discuss Betty with you.”

  “Betty?” Denise asked in shock. “Did you find her remains?”

  “Nothing like that. We’re investigating a case in Tawas and we’ve learned the victim was considered a suspect in Betty’s disappearance.”

  “Is this about Wil —.”

  “Yes, Wilber Riley,” I said.

  “No, that’s not the name I was going to say, although I’m quite aware of the suspects that have been linked to my daughter’s disappearance. I believe Wilson Conner was responsible for killing the missing hitchhikers.”

  “They haven’t found their bodies,” Denise reminded Lisa.

  “No they haven’t, but I feel deep in my heart that my Betty was murdered. The FBI believes that as well.”

  “My son is with the FBI,” I said. “He’s reviewing the files.”

  “You mentioned a Wilson Conner,” Eleanor said. “Did the FBI give you that name?”

  She nodded.

  “How can they be so certain Conner killed the hitchhikers?”

  “He confessed ... on his deathbed.”

  “If that was the case, why is the FBI still looking at the case?”

  “The FBI doesn’t consider a deathbed confession all that reliable. They need to back it up with evidence.”

  My heart ached for Lisa. “From my understanding, you’ve kept up on the case every year until the last few years.”

  “That’s right. I haven’t contacted them since Wilson Conner died of cancer.”

  “How was he linked to the disappearances? Our sheriff told us Wilber was the seen on U.S. 23. He drove a white El Camino.”

  “Betty wasn’t anywhere near 23. She hitchhiked on the west side of the state. She had friends who lived in Grand Rapids.”

  “Conner lived in Grand Rapids in those days,” Denise said.

  “What about the other girls?”

  “I believe it was in the same area, which is what helped the FBI connect the cases.”

  My shoulders slumped. “So Wilber wasn’t guilty after all,” I sighed. “It appears that we’ve made a wrong turn in this case.”

  Cars skidded to a stop in front of the house and Lisa motioned whoever it was inside.

  “What’s the five-alarm all about this time,” a muscular sheriff asked.

  “This time?” Eleanor asked as her eyes narrowed. “Explain yourself.”

  The sheriff quickly apologized, “I didn’t mean anything by that. It’s just that Lisa just calls the cops more than most people in town.”

  “For your information, I didn’t call, my daughter did,” Lisa said. “These ladies helped me inside and Denise took it the wrong way.”

  “Should I call an ambulance for you?” the sheriff asked.

  “I’m fine, as you can see.”

  “And we were just leaving,” I said.

  “Then I’d better get going too.”

  “Don’t you dare, Sheriff Babble,” Lisa said. “Denise, fetch a glass of lemonade for the sheriff.”

  “I can’t stay,” Babble protested.

  “I know you love Denise’s lemonade. It’s fresh-squeezed.”

  Babble shifted nervously. “I suppose I have time for one glass, but if I get a call I’ll have to leave.”

  Lisa winked at us.

  Eleanor and I chuckled all the way back to the car. “I hope the sheriff knows what he’s gotten into,” I said. “I think Lisa wants Babble and Denise together.”

  “I can’t blame Lisa for searching all these years for her daughter,” Eleanor said.

  I nodded. “It’s what keeps cases open and law enforcement on their toes.”

  “Now that Wilber is cleared as a serial killer, whose remains did we find in that barrel?”

  “Well, we’d better get back to town, because we certainly know it’s not Faith.”

  Chapter 19

  Eleanor and I sat across from Walter Smitty as his fingers raced along his keyboard. For some reason I hadn’t expected him to type that fast. We were here to find out if the body found in a barrel on Wilber’s property has been identified yet.

  “Turns out the body is that of Faith Fleur. Congratulation, ladies, you called this one.”

  I frowned. “That’s impossible. Faith Fleur is quite alive.”

  It was Smitty’s turn to frown. “Perhaps you’re wrong and the woman who you believe is Faith is not who you think she is. The state p
olice were able to positively identify the victim from the fingerprint impressions I took during the autopsy. She was in the database.”

  “Thank you, Smitty,” I called out as Eleanor and I ran from his office.

  I gripped the steering wheel on the way to the sheriff’s department.

  “How about that,” Eleanor began, “we should have known Darrell was lying.”

  “It wouldn’t be the first time ... unless he really believes that’s the name of the woman who was delivering groceries for Neiman’s.”

  “Both of them are covering their true identities. Of course it’s not every day that someone assumes the identity of someone who was murdered.”

  “Hopefully we’ll be able to sort this out with the sheriff.”

  I pulled into a spot near the door and we caught up with the fake Faith and Darrell as they hurried to a vehicle. Eleanor called the sheriff for backup as I made a very unmovable barrier between the couple and their vehicle.

  “Hello again,” I said. “I’m so glad I caught you two before you left.”

  Faith sighed. “What are you talking about? I thought you were happy to find out I was alive.”

  “I was until I found out you’re an impostor.”

  “Let’s take this inside,” Sheriff Peterson said as he joined us.

  Eleanor and I followed the trio inside. I felt a little smug with Smitty’s help.

  The couple was split between two separate interview rooms. Peterson joined us in the observation area.

  “So spill it,” Peterson said.

  “We’ve just come from Smitty’s office.”

  Peterson’s brow shot up. “I didn’t receive his report yet.”

  “Neither did we, but the body has been identified,” I said. “It’s Faith Fleur.”

  “But we both know Faith is in that interview room.”

  “The fingerprints Smitty took were verified with the state police.”

  “That woman in the interview room is not Faith Fleur.”

  “We don’t know who she really is,” Eleanor said. “We didn’t get the chance to find out her real identity.”

  “I thought you might want to handle that part. Peterson.”

  “You mean you’re giving me permission to do my own job?” he smirked.

  “We don’t have a way to fingerprint her or the database to cross reference to see if she’s in the system.”

  “I suppose you’d love to get a crack at questioning her?”

  “Yes, but why don’t we both question her?”

  “Go ahead. I’ll conduct my interview after you get what you need. I have other methods to get suspects to talk.”

  “Ah-ha,” Eleanor said. “So you admit she’s a suspect.”

  “I’ve been doing this job a long time. It seems that they’re both using an assumed identity.”

  Eleanor nodded. “They must have both been involved with killing Faith and Wilber.”

  “The woman calling herself Faith already admitted that she found Wilber’s body two weeks ago. I should have asked Smitty if he was able to determine how long Faith had been dead,” I said.

  “We’ll sort that out at a later date,” Peterson said.

  “Are you going to take the woman’s fingerprints before we talk to her?”

  “No. We’ll take her fingerprints off the glass of water I’m going to give her.”

  “Won’t she wonder if you’re trying to pull a fast one?” I asked.

  Peterson’s brow furrowed. “As if you bringing her one won’t do that.”

  “Good point,” Eleanor said.

  We entered the interview room and Peterson set down a glass of water for the suspect. Eleanor and I sat opposite her as the sheriff left.

  “Whew, it’s really getting warm outside,” I said. “I’m sorry we had to stop you outside, but we were given information from the coroner, which is why we’re challenging your insistence that you’re Faith Fleur.”

  “She’s quite dead. Found in a barrel on Wilber’s property,” Eleanor added.

  The woman’s face fell. She covered her face with her hands and shook her head. She looked back up at us and said, “You think I killed Faith?”

  “And Wilber,” Eleanor said. “You did admit to finding his body, not that it matters, because you let his corpse rot for someone else to find.”

  “No, that’s not what happened. I was given a message to go to Wilber’s house.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Really, from who?”

  “Does this have anything to do with the money we found in the SUV you were driving?” Eleanor asked.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What money?”

  “We already told you about the money we found.”

  “Who were you meeting at Wilber’s house?” I pressed.

  “Why would you go to Wilber’s to meet with someone anyway?” Eleanor asked.

  “Just tell us who you are,” I said. “We’ll find out eventually, and it might go better for you.”

  “If you’re as innocent as you claim to be,” Eleanor added with a glint in her eye.

  “This is all Darrell’s doing. He called me and asked me to come to Tawas.” She took a drink of the water. “He told me Wilber kept a large sum of money at home.”

  “So you went to Wilber’s house to steal the money.”

  The woman swallowed hard. “And that’s when I found Wilber’s body.”

  “Did you find the money?”

  “No. I wasn’t about to search for the money with a dead body in the house. Someone might have dropped by.”

  “What about Faith?”

  “She wasn’t there.”

  “So you weren’t the one who put her in a barrel?” Eleanor asked.

  “How could I do that by myself? And why would I? Wilber was already dead and his body was obviously where he was killed. So why move Faith’s body?”

  “That’s the part we’re trying to work out,” I said.

  “Were you delivering groceries to Wilber?” Eleanor asked.

  “No. Faith made deliveries. All he let me do is take the delivery vehicle to Wilber’s house.”

  “He must have known Faith was missing,” I said.

  “Darrell set you up, from the sounds of it,” Eleanor said. “He most likely killed Faith and had you use the delivery vehicle so your fingerprints would be found.”

  “Faith must have gotten in the way,” I said. “Darrell couldn’t have that.”

  “He only had me drive the black SUV so the neighbors wouldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

  I laughed. “You had no idea that the money was in that vehicle the entire time.”

  “Spit it out, girl, what’s you real name?” Eleanor ordered.

  “Skye Shay. I’m sure the sheriff will find out I’m on probation for embezzlement.”

  “That was a big pill to swallow,” I said. “So what priors does Darrell have?”

  “Theft charges, but he’s not on probation.”

  “Not that it will matter. You went to Wilber’s house with the intention to steal from him. Were you planning to rob him?” I asked.

  “Darrell assured me that he wouldn’t be home on Wednesday.”

  “Is there anything else you’d care to share?” I asked.

  “I suppose I won’t be going anywhere.”

  “That will be up to the sheriff, but as you said, you’re on probation.”

  “And went to Wilber’s house to commit a crime,” Eleanor said.

  Eleanor and I left the room. “Well, it seems that Skye is your problem now, sheriff,” I said. “We’d like to ask Darrell a few questions before we leave.”

  “Have you put anything together on your end yet?” Peterson asked.

  “I’m hoping Darrell will give us something to go on because to be honest we’re stumped.”

  “What did you find out from Stuart?”

  “That Wilber was a suspect, but he’s not good for the serial disappearances. One of the victim’s fam
ily members told us her daughter was on the west side of the state, not hitchhiking on 23.”

  Peterson sighed. “I’m glad to hear that the person responsible doesn’t live in Tawas.”

  “I concur. So are we okay to speak with Darrell?”

  “Please do. I’ll have a crack at Skye. Someone killed Faith, and she’s already admitted that she was at Wilber’s house. It still doesn’t sit well with me that she found Wilber’s body and didn’t tell anyone.”

  Darrell’s eyes darted from us to the camera positioned in the corner of the room. Both his arms had red marks on them. I watched as he scratched the inside of his arm. He was one nervous man. Of course, having a prior didn’t help, and he did send Skye to Wilber’s house to steal money.

  Eleanor and planted our palms on the table and looked down at Darrell. I didn’t say a word until I watched sweat surface on his upper lip.

  “Hello, Darrell. We’ve already spoken to Skye. She told us the deal,” I said.

  Eleanor bared her teeth. “How did you know Wilber had money at his house?”

  Darrell rubbed his palms over the corner of the table. “I heard it is all.”

  “From who?” Eleanor demanded.

  “I don’t know. I just overheard it.”

  “You overheard it or someone told you about it?” I asked.

  “I go to Barnacle Bill’s after work sometimes. Wilber’s son hangs out there when he’s in town. And we got to talking and he let it slip.”

  “He told you his father kept money in his house?”

  “Yes. He was bitter about it because he was worried his father was funneling money to his mother but couldn’t prove it.”

  “Did Angelo ever look for it?”

  “No. He claimed the old man kept a good watch on him when he was there.”

  “For good reason, I’d imagine.”

  “Could be.”

  “So you called Skye and asked her to come to Tawas to steal the money?”

  “I told her to go over there and take a look around. It’s not like we were planning to rob the man.”

  “You make it sound like you were planning to do Wilber a favor by relieving him of his cash.”

  Darrell pursed his lips. “It sounds bad when you say it like that.”

  I laughed. “Really? Remind me not to run across the likes of either you or Skye.”