Cas shook hand. "Where were you supposed to meet her?"
"At a cabin out by the lake. We were going to vacation there and had found the place just fine. It belongs to our boss, he loaned it to us to spend a few days, and I know she was there because I took her there."
Cas waved her to the chair by his desk but she remained standing.
Something she'd said rang a distant bell in Cas's memory as Gretchen stopped to take a breath. "Her things, Julia's, are there and her clothes are there but I can't find her. And there was no note or anything," she added.
"Was her car there?"
Gretchen shook her head. "No, she doesn't have one. I brought her over here and went back to Rainbow cove to take care of something I had to do. I was to come back to spend the rest of our time together, but she's not there."
Cas again gestured to her to sit. She didn't sit, obviously upset, so he stood too.
He smiled then, trying to calm her. "Were there any signs of foul play as they say on Law and Order? Or was the place ransacked?"
Gretchen shook her head, smiling a little at the question. "No, sir. The door wasn't locked, and nothing looked out of place."
She clasped her hands together and looked nervously around the room until her eyes fell on the photocopy lying on a file on the corner of Cas's desk.
"That's Julia!" She paled, wide eyes fixed on the picture of the Lady in the Lake.
Cas glanced at it too. It was the head shot from the coroner's office. He reached out to put a hand on Gretchen's shoulder.
"Easy. Easy. Here, sit down."
He eased her into a chair and reached over to hand her the picture. "Take deep breaths. I'll be right back." Cas hurried out to a machine in the break-room and brought her a coke.
"Julia," she gasped. "Is she? Is she?" Gretchen burst into tears.
"Yes. I'm sorry. We've been trying to find out who she is. You're both from Rainbow Cove?" Gretchen nodded.
"And where is this cabin you were to stay in?" Cas suspected he knew the answer to that.
"It's out by the lake, not very far from the fishing and swimming place. In walking distance. We were going to have a good time on our vacation. You know, just swim, and read, and picnic, and birdwatch...."
Tears flowed again, Cas handed her a box of tissues.
"All right, let's start at the beginning and you just tell me about it beginning with when you two came over here. I'll ask questions and you interrupt any time you need to tell me something else."
Julia nodded, using the tissue.
"First, whose cabin is it?"
"It belongs to Judge Spruce. Troy Spruce." she looked at Cas, the tears slowing, getting control of her emotions."Yes, I know who he is. And where his cabin is."
"He, we both, Julia and I, we work for him in Rainbow Cove at his law office. And when he found out we didn't have anywhere to go to spend the vacation days we had coming, he offered to let us use his cabin."
Gretchen wiped her eyes, patting her cheeks, her voice steadier. "He's a very nice man, a good boss."
Cas nodded, recalling his conversation with Troy Spruce. He'd have to notify him.
"So, like I said, I brought her over here. I went back to Rainbow Cove to do some last minute things I had to do. But when I came back, I couldn't find her."
"I'm sorry you had to find out about it like this," Cas gestured at the coronor's head shot. "But she didn't have any identification on her."
Gretchen nodded. "I know. Her purse was in the cabin too. Her purse and her clothes. Everything. That's why I couldn't understand where she might have gone."
Cas got out a writing pad, "Can you give us her next of kin so we can notify them?"
Rhodes came in the outer door, glanced through the office door, and sat down at Gladys's desk, listening as he waited.
Chapter 7
Cas put his notes in his file and shut the drawer, nodding to Rhodes outside.
"If you feel up to it," Cas spoke softly to Gretchen. "I'd like you to go and confirm her ID. But that can wait if you don't want to, for us to get in touch with her folks."
"Yes. Yes, anything I can do to help. How? How? Did she drown? You have The Lady in the Lake on the folder there."
"She was found in the water. There will be an autopsy."
Gretchen looked startled and he quickly added, "That's routine in cases like this."
"Oh, I see." Gretchen took a deep breath. "All right, I'll go and identify her."
Cas dialed Clint at the coroner's office to tell him they were coming and beckoned to Rhodes as they got up. Rhodes waited by the office door.
"I heard. I'm here. I'll lock up after you." Rhodes took off his hat, giving Gretchen a look of sympathy.
"I'll call you." Cas told Rhodes as they left. Gretchen followed Cas in her car.
At the coroner's office, Clint met them at the door and escorted them back to do the identification.
Gretchen shivered as she looked around, the cold efficiency making her even more nervous. She looked on quietly as Clint folded down the sheet from her friend's head and shoulders. She didn't speak at first, tears running down both cheeks again.
"Yes. It's Julia." Gretchen wiped her eyes with a couple of the tissues she still held.
"Thank you, I know this is unpleasant. I'm sorry for your loss, thank you for your help. I can have someone drive you back to Rainbow Cove."
"No. No, that's all right. I have my things still in my car. I didn't even take them out, looking for Julia. Is it all right if I just go home now?"
"Yes. I'm sorry it took us a while to find out who she is. We had nothing to go on."
Cas walked her to the door and watched as she got into her car to leave.
Clint came and closed the door, saw that it was locked before he spoke. "Well, at least we know who our Lady of the Lake is now, and that she was staying in Spruce's place at the lake."
Cas narrowed his eyes. "Are you breaking it to me gently that's all we know?"
"I'm thinking about the abrasions I found on her head. Wondering how she got there under the pier, fully clothed. Wondering about where she was found. Close to Troy Spruce's cabin."
His expression was grim. "And between us, I'm wondering about Troy Spruce's track record, too. Aren't you?"
"Maybe we'll know more about what happened when I get out there and look around the cabin." Cas evaded the question.
"You're reminding me not to jump to any conclusions, I know better than that. What I'm working with is only flesh, but it will give us evidence that's chiseled in stone." Clint still looked grim.
"What I'm reminding you of is that evidently Judge Spruce doesn't know about this either from the little we have now. He mentioned last time I talked to him he doesn't use the cabin much any more. Rents it out most of the time, he said. He even told me he has it loaned out now." He shook his head. "You just never know what's gaining on you, do you? When are you going to do the autopsy?"
"Either tomorrow or the next day if I can get to it. But I'll probably be doing good to get to it the next day. While we're playing twenty questions, what else do you know?"
Cas summed it up. "Not much. The two girls were supposed to be staying at Troy Spruce's cabin. He knew they were there. But that's all we have, unless he just mentioned it to me to throw me off guard."
"Do you suspect him? You'll have to admit it sounds just like him to be covering himself by mentioning it." Clint raised his eyebrows, remembering Troy Spruce's years as Pine County Judge.
"I suspect everybody, haven't you heard Connie say that often enough? I had an interesting visit with Troy Spruce. He said he was in town and thought he'd sound me out about voting for him if he decides to run for County Judge again—It was a Kidding on the Square thing. I told him I'm sticking with Tim."
Their eyes met, then both laughed about Troy's chances of getting elected Judge again.
"Right now I'm going out and put a tape across the door and look around a bit. We'll go out tomorrow and
do a better job."
Cas called Rhodes from the car. "Call Doug to come in a little early and meet me at Troy Spruce's cabin. Don't stop to write any traffic tickets."
* * *
Shaken by the picture she saw in Margaret's car of the drowned girl, Muriel Davis went back to the motel near Fort Craig where she had been staying. She tried to think of a safer place to hide. The picture of the drowned girl haunted her memory.
Back safely inside her room, Muriel was acutely aware that her car was visible from the front of the place. She packed the few things she'd brought with her and picked up her things in the bathroom. She looked around the room to make sure she hadn't left anything. As she closed the small suitcase she'd brought with her, she tried to think of some place where she would not be noticed or her car recognized if it was seen. None of the places she'd looked at before the present place were any better than the one she was in and the phone book was no help.
"What inn advertisement is going to say that visitor's cars are hidden from the street?"
It was with a sinking, lost feeling but she went to the office to check out.
She felt panicked, needing to quickly find some place to go until she could be sure it was safe to go home.
Her own suspicions tortured her. Could Troy Spruce really be capable of murder? Or of hurting her? Somehow it hurt to think that could happen in any circumstances.
"Political deals are one thing, but murder? There must be some explanation. Surely he didn't kill that poor girl, oh I hope not!"
Muriel's mind went from memories of how ruthless Troy Spruce could be to how tender he was with her. They had loved each other, still did, perhaps. She tried not to think about that. He had been so good when she had come to Maryvale looking for work. He'd given her a job and helped her...
She didn't let memories slow her down and she was soon on the highway again.
Muriel was careful. From the neck down, anyway. She laughed at herself and her ability to judge character. She carefully drove the speed limit.
She blended in with the rest of the traffic and watched the inns she could see from the road as she traveled back toward Maryvale. She was getting dangerously close to the city limits and took a few exits to look at more motels that couldn't be seen from the highway. None of them looked large or reputable or safe, or even just a good place to hide. What's worse, it was getting late.
Besides the hiding and being safe requirement, Muriel wanted a place that was near other good places. She wanted nearby places to eat, shop for anything she might need in case she had to stay several days, and just be comfortable as well as safe.
She knew the biggest obstacle she faced was finding a place where her car would not be visible. That would be the deciding factor, her safety depended on it. It would certainly be inconvenient to have to park and walk from somewhere to keep Troy or someone else from recognizing her car and guessing where she was. She pictured herself parking in some large parking lot maybe in Fort Craig and perhaps taking a cab. That would be expensive, too. She didn't have that much money with her.
Muriel also thought about how worried Margaret must be, but remembering the picture of Julia made her keep looking for a secure hiding place.
* * *
Back in Maryvale, Margaret Avery looked out the window toward Fort Craig, feeling that Muriel hadn't gone very far to hide.
She said a prayer for her sister, wherever she was, to keep her safe and bring her home soon. Still looking worried, she closed the drapes.
At that moment, in her car several miles away from Maryvale, Muriel had an inspired idea. She would use the good idea in The Purloined Letter. She'd hide in a place that wasn't exactly hidden, just one where no one would expect her to be.
Smiling to herself, on the highway from Fort Craig she passed up the Maryvale exit and went on toward Rainbow Cove where Troy Spruce now lived and had his law practice. A little thrill of danger ran down to her hands on the steering wheel.
Since it was still late afternoon, Spruce would still be in his office, she reasoned. He had remarked several times he had no reason to hurry home any more. An unexpected wave of compassion came as she remembered his face as he said it.
She shrugged it off, intent on her search as she neared Rainbow Cove. She felt safe at least for now, and kept looking. Then in comfortable driving distance of the small city but on the highway, she found exactly the place she was looking for.
Her new hiding place was large, nice and comfortable. It also had closed-in parking in back of their rooms. The office, lounge for their Continental breakfast, laundry and other equipment, and the large restaurant were all in front. The upper and lower rooms were at the backside with closed parking spaces behind them where the cars couldn't be seen at all.
The center of the complex was like a fair-sized private park with the pool and hot tub in the part between the restaurant's rear windows and the rooms at the backside. The large office beside the entrance to the restaurant which had its own entrance as well, was inviting and expensive looking. Muriel admired all of it as she went in under a large and elegant porte cochere paved with flagstone to register. In the park-like area, palms and flowering shrubs were sheltered and well kept. Better still, the pool was large and beautiful and there was a large hot tub just beyond it. But best of all, even the other lodgers couldn't see her car.
The rooms were really suites which had microwaves, small refrigerators, and sitting areas. Business was good there, another good sign. They obviously catered to the traveling salesmen and other businessmen who were their customers all year.
Muriel smiled to herself at a distant marquee she'd seen farther down the road with a list of businesses. There was also a mall nearby, one where Muriel and Margaret had shopped.
The restaurant at the front of the motel would have been an asset anywhere, doing a good business on its own. It not only had good food, she felt it was large enough that a woman traveling or dining alone probably would not be noticed.
Excited, Muriel quickly made plans as she finished registering and parked her car. "I'll get a rinse and change my hair color, that's simple enough to do. And nobody, certainly not Troy, will think of looking for me right here in Rainbow Cove!"
Chapter 8
Rhodes pulled up and got out of his car at Spruce's cabin. Cas went to meet him, looking glum.
"I haven't been in yet, but I've got Gretchen's key. Spruce gave them both keys. So I can lock up after us. Julia had left it open."
"That's our Lady? Julia?"
"Yes. Julia Timkins. They're both about twenty-one or two, I'd guess. Both girls are young, attractive, and were working in Spruce's law office." He looked around, "I haven't asked all the questions I need to yet. Poor girl was so shaken up."
"Yes, I could tell." Rhodes looked around too. "I'm impressed all over again every time we come out here. This cabin is more of a lodge. It's sure big and expensive enough to be called that." He observed as they went up the steps.
"I heard a lot of what the friend told you in the office."
"Gretchen. The friend's name is Gretchen Baker. She told me she and Julia worked for Spruce in his law office but I didn't get around to asking how long they'd been there or about who knew they were coming or anything else."
Rhodes nodded. "No forced entry," he commented with a glance at the door lock as they both continued looking around.
"And Spruce loaned them the place free, for their vacation."
"Yes." Cas nodded, checking a window lock. "They seem to be sold on his good points from what I heard. Generous thing to do, good boss and all that."
Inside the cabin their search yielded nothing unusual or added since the last time they'd seen the place except Julia's things she had brought with her. They stood just inside the door, picturing the girls arrival and Julia's last hours there before she went out. The only sounds were the breeze in the pine trees and bird songs.
"There's nothing that looks like anyone else came in or there was any kin
d of a struggle at all." Cas and Rhodes had looked in all the rooms and closets and stopped in the kitchen. "She went of her own accord, and dressed for it, whatever she had in mind."
"With the door left open and her things lying around, looks like Julia Timkins wasn't planning on going far when she went out. Maybe just out looking around? Did you notice the paper cup out there with bread crumbs in it?"
Cas nodded, "Stuck in the shrub by the porch. This is a good place for bird-watching. Maybe she was watching them and the squirrels playing. But how did she wind up under the pier?"
Rhodes turned slightly looking out and with a grave face, pretended to interrogate a squirrel on the porch which was busy gnawing on an acorn he was turning in his tiny paws.
"Very funny. We need to find some witnesses that can talk."
Rhodes laughed, "My Mary says they can talk. Babies can too, we just can't understand them." He walked around, looking at a blouse lying on the arm of the couch.
He bent to look closer at some low heeled shoes which were partly under the couch.
"Changed her shoes too for some reason."
"You're right. She had on those soaked athletic shoes, jeans, and that blouse with the wide, long sleeves that are in style now. Maybe she was meeting someone? I'll have to ask about boyfriends or anyone else who may have known the girls were coming here as well as the ones in Troy's office."
Rhodes nodded, eyeing the blouse. "Casual though. Jeans. Shoes good for walking around the woods. She was wearing a top with enough sleeves to be a bit warmer than that discarded blouse. Planning to go out on the water or on the pier, maybe?"
"Certainly not far, whether she was going hiking or out on the water. It's those longer sleeves and the fact she drowned that tells she was planning to go out by the water, maybe to sit on the pier, if not out on the water."
Cas glanced back at the kitchen. "There is a plate in the sink and some fast food wrappers in the trash bag. Probably she and Gretchen stopped for sandwiches on the way out here."
The Mardi Gras Murder Page 5