The Caine Plantation: The Next Quilt is Red

by Karine Green

  She threw the roses over her shoulder. There was a clamor, and the victorious girl ran a small victory lap around the courthouse lobby before they headed back to their court rooms.

  Janet and Perry hugged both Jason and Kathy.

  "I am so happy for you two," Janet said, wiping away tears.

  Jason smiled. He was happy there was no mention of the fact that the two barely knew each other a month. Kathy had not talked with her parents since she told them she was getting married, and a baby was on the way. She had called them back, but they had flipped out, again, and not in a good way. She had reminded her mother, twice, that she was old enough to decide for herself whether or not to get married. As to the baby, she had warmed up to the idea, and would be a mother regardless of her decision to marry Jason. That comment had triggered a whole new debate. Still, Kathy was a bit disappointed they didn't at least call to wish her Best Wishes this morning. He would wait a few days and try to talk to her again about it. Right now, she was still frustrated with them.

  He spotted Lauren walking through the courthouse, deliberately ignoring them. He could tell, because she was facing one of the court rooms, but her eyes were corned toward Kathy. He caught up with her while Kathy continued to show off her ring to his mother's friends. "We got the package. Thank you for the cookies."

  She flipped him the bird over her shoulder, then turned to face him. "I didn't send you anything. I just heard a rumor you got married, and had come to see if it was true."

  "And the red quilt from your bed. But, why did you drive all the way to Baton Rouge to mail it?"

  She stared at him, and folded her arms. "I didn't give you my red quilt! I want that back! Along with my Ann Klein's."

  "So it is yours? And, I seriously doubt you would want it back."

  "Jason, it's one of the few valuable pieces I have left. Please, it was the one I made with your mother. It was..."

  "Let me guess...Stolen. You listen to me, you thieving little psychotic bitch. When those lab tests come back. I am going to lock you up...forever." He whispered in her ear. "And, ever."

  "I don't know what you are talking about. How could I mail you a wedding gift if I didn't even know you were getting married?" Bitter tears ran down her face. "The only thing I know is that the man I have wanted since Second grade just married someone he has known less than a month. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

  "Leave you alone!" Jason nearly yelled. "You have been up my ass, stalking me for decades. You left stains on my desk calendar, I had to throw it out in a bio-hazard bag."

  "Leave me alone." She spun on her heel and walked out, flipping him another bird over her shoulder.

  Kathy joined Jason, taking his arm and smiling at him in a way that made him melt.

  "What was that?" she asked.

  "Later," he said pulling her close. "I will tell you later. Let's say our final hellos and good-bye's, and then get out of here." He really needed to be alone with her. If he wasn't distracted by that package in his office, he was distracted at the thought of being alone with his wife, with her actually being his wife. Regardless, he needed to not be in a crowd.

  They greeted a few more people, and Jason led her to the Jeep. He had hoped to talk her into leaving for the coast right away, but he should probably tell her about the package before anything was planned. He sat in the driver's seat, and then leaned over to kiss her. "Hello, Mrs. Rose."

  She smiled and kissed him back. "Hello. Mr. Rose. I think you got a ticket?" She pointed at an official looking piece of paper under his wiper blade.

  He looked at the windshield. "I am parked legally. Besides, I am the Chief, whose going to write me a ticket that doesn't want to spend the rest of their career writing parking tickets to anyone with less police power than me?" He reached out and grabbed it.

  “Need you? Found more info about that package...Alan. P.S. didn't call, didn't want to interrupt, but you need to see this; so does the Mrs. before you head out.”

  "Jason, what was in the package?" Kathy asked, staring at the note.

  He got out, and rounded the Jeep to let Kathy out. "It was addressed to Mrs. Kathleen Rose. It had a card, probably poison cookies, and a red quilt. The landscapers brought it. Said, Dark Lady told them it was an evil package and to not let Mistress touch it. So, I am guessing there is cyanide in the cookies, since the killer seems to be following the Caine story. But the cyanide part of the case hasn't been released...The curator knows. Alan told her. I sent him over the other day to let her know we didn't have the original items back, but might have something more interesting for her. Her and Lauren are besties from way back. Way, way back. Damn, Lauren's name keeps coming up here."

  "What! Why didn't you say something earlier?"

  "You, and everyone else looked so at ease. I figured I would just tell you when we got home, so I could selfishly enjoy that look on your face during the wedding. The one that told me you were concentrating on being happy about marrying me." He held her hand and crossed the street into the police station. He smiled as she leaned into him as they crossed. It felt so good to finally have someone who felt the same way he did about the relationship.

  The Two Sheriff's Deputies were still there. Everything was sealed in airtight bags.

  "Hello, and congratulations Chief and Mrs. Rose." One of the Deputies said, smiling. He held up a clear, sealed bag, with a red bio-hazard sticker on it. A greeting card was inside, the front was plastered with roses, and read On Your Special Day. "I am Deputy Miller, this is Deputy Bordeaux. I am sorry to bother you, but do you have any idea what this means."

  There was a message scrawled inside the card, You don't get to keep it, Bitch.

  "Keep what?" Kathy asked, confused. "If they didn't want me to have the package, why did they send it?"

  "That's what we were hoping you were going to tell us," Deputy Miller asked, looking at the note.

  "Is that Lauren's handwriting? Jason, she isn't talking about the baby, is she? I just want to be Mrs. Rose. The only one that seems upset about that is Lauren, but she wouldn't call you -it. She would say leave-MY-Jason-alone. I don’t think this is from her. It’s from someone else."

  He could see that Kathy stifled a bit of panic. He worried that things were too stressful. There was too much going on. The adrenaline was pumping too hard, and too often.

  She turned to him, "Do you have any old reports she wrote? Do think she means the baby?" She held her hands over her lower abdomen.

  Jason both shrugged and nodded. "Lauren writes in obnoxious all capital, size 2 font, block lettering, rather than anything, anyone who is sane might mistake for handwriting."

  "I am sorry, Mrs. Rose, but with the amount of cyanide in these cookies, I am surprised Jason and Alan were not affected. There are traces on the card too. Whoever put this together got it all over. So, I took that to mean your life, not just the baby's. The quilt seems to be a failsafe, I am guessing in case you didn't eat the cookies, because it is also poisoned with a very large soaking in cyanide. Once you put this on your bed, and fell asleep under it, if you sweat at all, it would have taken all three of you." Deputy Miller pointed at Jason, Kathy, and Kathy's abdomen.

  Deputy Bordeaux nodded in agreement. He changed the filter on his camera and took a super close-up photo of the card. "Wait, there is a block letter impression on the envelope of the card." He stood up straight and held his camera out, flipping back to the photo he just took. The filter he had used highlighted the perfect little writing impressions on the card. "Look familiar," he said, holding up the camera screen for Jason to see.

  "It's hard to tell, with that damned blocking she does with her lettering. Alan can you pull a couple of the reports Lauren wrote and make copies for the deputies, so they can compare them later."

  Alan nodded, and went over to the large bank of file cabinets behind his desk area.

  Deputy Bordeaux sighed. "Mrs. Rose, are you sure there isn't something you are overlooking? What could the suspect want you to g
ive up?"

  Kathy shook her head. "I don't know. The only person who has a real beef with me, has been accounted for. Lauren Grayson is the other one. She wants my house and my husband. The thing that is confusing is Lee Wilson."

  Jason stiffened, "What about Randy's wife. What did she lose?"

  "She walked away from him. I can't really say what she lost? New York is a maintenance state, or more commonly referred to as alimony. She couldn't have lost much. However, her middle name is Lee, and her maiden name is Wilson."

  Both deputies nodded. One spoke up, "What about this Lauren? An old girl of yours?"

  Jason made a face and shook his head. "An ex-officer, who wishes she was a girlfriend. She also had a vested interest in Kathy's death with the deed of Kathy's house being transferred to her if Kathy died, but she has since released the claim. Especially once she became a murder suspect in the Lawrence case. She also stole money from school kids. She was probably going to be fired upon the completion of the independent investigation, but I fired her early when she sat on my desk, nude, spread eagle, and offered sex in exchange for, ironically, not firing her for stealing the money."

  Kathy made a face, and then closed her eyes. "That was too much of a vivid picture of the mousy Lauren. I will never be in your office again without that picture in her head."

  Deputy Miller also made a face, and glanced over at the desk, frowning. "Do you think this package and the Lawrence case are related?" he asked, pointing at the quilt. "There was a red quilt that went missing there. I couldn't find it in evidence, nor could I find it in the photos I saw the other crime scene technician take."

  Jason shrugged. "I honestly didn't think so, but the more time goes on the more undeniable it is that Milton's killer is not only after Kathy, but that she may be the prime target, with poor Milton as the cover up."

  Deputy Miller loaded his box with the evidence. "Sounds like Lauren may have some answers here? If she is an ex-officer of yours, perhaps we should take over investigating her verses her old department doing it? It could help avoid court complications later."

  "Yes, the sooner I am done having to think about that whole situation the better, bury her if you have to," Jason nodded. "Alan, pull her human resources file, and make sure they have copies. I am sure they can have a search warrant faxed over later to cover the legal bases on her file. When it comes make sure you have the package ready for them pick up with copies of everything we have on her, the Lawrence case, and Kathy can email over some her stuff on Ms. Wilson."

  Alan and Deputy Moore nodded. "We can have the warrant in two hours. Someone got married, so I am sure the judge will be in catch up mode."

  Both Jason and Kathy smiled.

  "Well I am sure you two have other plans, why don't you two go ahead as planned," Deputy Bordeaux said, smiling. "We'll process this, and we can reconnect Monday morning to share notes. We'll also take care of notifying the CDC about the poisoning attempt. We should be able to get some preliminary stuff processed by then." He picked up his evidence kit.

  "Sounds good." Jason turned to Alan. "You got the fort until Friday afternoon. I'll be in around one or two. Give these two whatever they need for any follow-up they may wish to pursue."

  "Yes sir." Alan said, making copies of Lauren's reports, and her personnel file.

  The deputies loaded up their van, and then went across the street to the courthouse for a warrant to cover Lauren's personal information in her human resources file.

  He pulled Kathy outside. "Come on. Let's get out of town. I have a great small, friendly place we can visit on the coast. You like the Gulf of Mexico? I need to be where no one can find us, not even friendly people." He needed to exhale! He needed to peel that dress off of her.

  She nodded, "I am suddenly feeling very tired, probably from all the excitement."

  “I am not sure excitement is the right word.”

  They went home, packed, and headed out for the two hour drive to the coast. He felt relieved to be out of town. He noticed that she kept looking at the road behind them in the passenger door mirror.

  "No one has behind us for a long time. Rest," he said, caressing her face.

  She kissed his hand, and relaxed. The next time he looked over, she was sleeping.

  "We're here," Jason said, gently shaking her awake. "You feel OK? You look pale."

  "Hungry. Let's get something awesome to eat, and forget everything until Friday," she said stretching.

  "I know a place on the beach. They have the best comfort foods. Let's check in, and then walk over." He had been coming here with his family since he could remember. He couldn't wait to share the small seaside tourist town with her.

  Kathy nodded, and followed him. They ate their favorite foods, and then lazed around the next two days as they decompressed. Talk turned to baby names and whether or not football was allowed if they had a boy.

  Sheriff Rainier's Break in the Case

  Monday morning Kathy was feeling nauseous. She snuggled in closer to Jason in their bed at his apartment. She wasn't sure if it was morning sickness or the pending meeting regarding the deputy's report. She seemed to go through the nausea at least every other day or so. It was getting old. She couldn't wait for this part to be over. Her mother told her when she was pregnant with Kathy, her nausea had gone away when she started showing. If like mother-like daughter rang true, that meant she had another two, possibly three months of this.

  She laid there willing her stomach to calm down.

  Last night she called her mother to firm up visiting plans, which turned her attention toward the house. The outside and the kitchen looked fantastic. The yard was coming along and would be much better by the time they arrived. Thankfully, Nori and Chuck had come back to work. Everything else at the house...Well, that left something to be desired.

  She knew her parents would not like the local motel, so she moved her master bedroom down on the list, and the official guest room up on the list, along with making over the bathroom. She had two full weeks. She knew the bedroom could be done, but probably not the bathroom. She doubted she could talk Phil and his men into coming back, at any price. Maybe she could get a counter and a toilet and have Jason help. She could do the tub/shower later.

  "You're awake early." Jason sounded like he was still sleeping.

  "Can't help it. What do you suppose the deputies will report today?" she said, snuggling in closer to him.

  He stretched, "Let's shower, eat, and go find out," he patted her lower abdomen twice, and got up.

  She smiled, "You really are happy with the idea of being of father."

  "I love my whole life, and yes, I am happy with the idea of being a father." He held out his hand. "Shower?"

  She smiled again. It felt warm and good to be loved so much. She took his hand and joined him in the shower. Her stomach calming down.

  They ate, and then wandered down the street to the police station. The deputies were just pulling up when they walked through the door.

  Jason walked into his office. He frowned at the big, fifty-year-old, ugly wooden desk that they had pulled from the town's surplus warehouse. His 'normal' desk had been taken and destroyed on the outside chance that some of the cyanide got on it.

  "Really, this is Ridiculous. Why didn’t they just clean it," he said frustrated. "Scary part is that the Town Council did this. There is no good reason for them to take my desk. This is a big oak monster that doesn't offer anything that could remotely be mistaken for modern storage."

  She shrugged, "Still it has a nice large flat work space to spread stuff out."

  "Pffhpht!" He put his hands over his eyes. Apparently Kathy wasn’t the only one couldn’t be in his office without picturing Lauren.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean that. I meant case files.”

  Deputies Miller and Bordeaux entered with Sheriff Rainier, and Dr. Silvia Lacompte from the CDC.

  Kathy wondered, Lacompte, where do I know that name? Holy Cow! She pulled out her tablet and brought
up her research from the old newspapers. Lacompte was the reporter's name who was trying to expose the Caine's, in particular Percy for his kidnapping-trafficking scheme.

  Jason led them into the small conference room and briefed them on the entire case. Then Kathy gave the historical evidence she had uncovered since the murderer seemed to using it as inspiration. She also briefed them on what happened with Randy in New York, and that his wife seemed to be missing. No one had seen her in at least a month.

  The Sheriff nodded. Kathy noted that he had a little box that looked very old in front of him. "We'll notify the FBI and see if they have any resources to help with her. Meanwhile, we found prints on the wedding cookie box. They aren't Lauren's. They are unidentified, but if Carrie Bell has never been arrested, or held a job where printing would be required, we wouldn't have them. We did however find one of Lauren's hairs on the red quilt."

  Jason nodded, "She said someone stole it."

  The Sheriff shook his head, no. "The little block letter impressions on the wedding card match her handwriting samples on her police reports. The impression is from where she wrote the Lawrence address on a piece of paper that was laying on top of the card's envelope. We have a warrant for her arrest. Two of my deputies and Alan will be here with her in a few minutes. We think she is working with someone else."

  "Two of them?" Kathy said surprised. "How could Lauren and Carrie even know each other?"

  The Sheriff shrugged, "We'll be able to question her in a minute. Hopefully we will learn more then. The only thing I know for sure is that if you found the real information, a research historical librarian, with a law degree would have been able to find the same information, meaning Lauren was keeping that information to herself for some reason. She also would have unrestricted access to the archive reports here, meaning she wouldn't have had to sign out reports because she was an employee. She simply would have made copies and put them back, without anyone knowing. That would explain the William Caine mimic, verses Dark Lady. Meanwhile, I would like to go ahead and call in the FBI regarding Carrie Lee Wilson-Bell being a person of interest in this case. But first," He held up the box, "It's copies of my great-grandmother's, Hattie's diary. I thought your wife might like copies for her collection of research on the Underground Railroad. Seemed to be the perfect Wedding gift."