Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 01 - Blood on White Wicker

by Peggy Holloway

  “When do I get to see her?” my grandmother asked.

  “If she continues to make progress, it might be pretty soon. I know how hard this is for you, Vera. Be patient.”

  “Believe me doc, I can be patient. I’ve waited thirteen years and I can wait a little longer. Besides, I have enough for right now after this long wait,” she said, squeezing my hand. “What are your plans for the present?”

  “I’ve never had a situation like this before but my trusted intuition has come up with this idea. Even if it doesn’t work, I don’t see that it would harm either one of the girls. I want Judith and me to go back in now, before we lose ground. Judith, I want you to gently approach the subject of your dreams, don’t call them nightmares right now.

  Chit chat with her for awhile, talking about clothes, the beach, boys, and all the things young girls talk about. Then gradually work in the dream. Tell her just some of your dream maybe just the beginning. If she goes into avoidance then go back to small talk. Anyway, I don’t want to give you a lot to remember, just trust your own instincts.”

  “I’m going to go back to the cottage and take a nap,” Mimi said. “Then I’m going to fix us a big supper. You’re invited, Doc. I might have to order something delivered. I don’t know what’s in the kitchen there. Judith and I didn’t take time to look that closely.”

  I was surprised when the doctor accepted the invitation and seven o’clock was agreed upon. After my grandmother kissed me on the cheek and left, Dr. Anna and I started down the hall.

  I was mentally rehearsing how I was going to approach the subject of my dream when Dr. Anna said, “Don’t rehearse, Judith. Let it come naturally.”

  Again, Dr. Anna reached into her skirt pocket and brought out her key and opened the door to Julia’s room.

  Julia was sitting on her bed propped up against some pillows against the headboard. She reminded me of someone who was trying to do some complicated math problem in her head. She was staring up at the ceiling with her eyes all squinty. I looked over at Dr. Anna and she had a twinkle in her eyes. She motioned for me to go to Julia. She stayed by the door.

  I sat down on the edge of the bed before she noticed me. Then she jumped and said, “Hi Vicky. Is it already tomorrow? Where does the time go? I was just sitting here thinking. I’m glad to be in here. I really am.

  “You know, this is the first time in my life that I haven’t had to worry about making an impression on someone with my art work or my dancing or my school work and being afraid to let anyone down? I feel so damned free and don’t even have to worry about saying damned. Isn’t it wonderful, Vicky?”

  I laughed with delight. She sounded so much like the Julia who had picked me up from the airport only a month ago.

  I took her hand and said, “Julia, I have this repeating dream. Do you?” The doctor started clearing her throat and I knew she wanted me to talk some more first, but she told me to go with my intuition and that’s what I was doing. I think it’s because of what they say about the special connection twins have with each other, and I knew this was the right time.

  “That’s another thing that makes me so dad blasted mad. Where do my parents get off telling me I can’t talk about my dreams? I’m going to tell you all about them, so there!”

  I glanced over at Dr. Anna and she was smiling and just shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, “Go for it!”

  “Ok, here goes, the dream. It’s like I’m an observer in the dream. There are two little girls sitting on the floor playing with Barbie dolls. The room is large and there are matching beds, matching chest of drawers and night stands. There’s a rocking chair and in it sits a dark-haired woman watching the two little girls.

  “All the furniture is white wicker, but the beds are the cutest things you’ve ever seen. They look like daisies. That is, the beds are round with the centers being the centers of the daisies. And there’s a bright yellow cover over the center. Then there are petals that come out of the center and curve all the way to the floor.

  “The room has yellow carpet. There are these two other people in the room. The woman looks just like you and I and the man is real good looking. He’s trying to fasten a necklace around her neck but then there’s this thumping noise. I see what looks like two boards propped up against the open window.

  “And then I see that it’s really a ladder because I can see the top of a man’s head as he moves higher. His hair is blond and when he clears the top of the ladder, I see that he is only about 15 or 16. He’s very cute and at first I think it’s a game he’s playing with the two little girls. But then he pulls out a gun and shoots the woman and the man.

  “The necklace flies out of the man’s hand and lands on the carpet.”

  By now Julia was crying so hard, I had to concentrate to hear her. “The blood messes up the white wicker. It’s everywhere. This is where I usually wake up crying, but for some reason, now that I can talk about it, it doesn’t bother me as much.”

  “What do you think it means?” I asked as I looked over at Dr. Anna, and she nodded and gave me a thumbs-up.

  “I’m afraid to say. So tell me about your repeating dream.”

  I looked over at Dr. Anna and she was holding her thumb and index fingers real close together, which I took to mean that she didn’t want me to tell her much. I said, “It’s similar to yours.”

  “I think I need to be alone now, Vicky.”

  When I nodded and stood up to go she said, “It’s so nice to say I want to be alone and have everyone be totally all right with that, to not have anyone get mad at me or anything. I’ll see you tomorrow, Vicky.”

  CHAPTER 16

  When I got back to our cottage, I was exhausted. Mimi was on the phone talking to a caterer. I stretched out on the couch and closed my eyes. I could hear her arguing with someone, and then she hung up.

  “Well, we might end up with pizza delivery. There are no caterers who will prepare a meal for less than fifteen people. And I don’t know anything about the restaurants here. The only things in the kitchen here are things for snacks and some wine. At least there’s a coffeemaker, coffee, cream and sugar and some Danish. So what happened with Julia?”

  When I started telling her everything that had happened after she left, she suggested we go out on the porch and sit in the wicker swing. When we got settled down and I finished telling her everything, a car pulled up and Tracy got out.

  She looked as beautiful as ever in a gray long-sleeved tee shirt and sand-blasted gray jeans and vest and lots of silver jewelry.

  “Why don’t you stay for dinner?” Mimi called to her as she was getting out of the car. “Maybe if we can find enough people, I can get that caterer to cater it.”

  Tracy was laughing. “Why don’t you just get take-out from here? Their restaurant is gourmet.” Then we were all laughing.

  When we all got calmed down, Tracy caught us up. “Looks like Mr. Reynolds is going to jail. In fact, he is in a jail cell right now. He lawyered up almost immediately, and his lawyer wouldn’t let him talk, so he’s in jail awaiting the bail hearing which should be about now,” she said as she looked at her watch.

  “I’m sure the judge will let him out on bail, and he’ll be able to pay it. I left because I didn’t want to watch. Mrs. Reynolds is in the hospital. She has a bad heart, which I didn’t realize, and she might not make it. She claims that Mr. Reynolds brought Julia home one day claiming he adopted her, and he had adoption papers. We’re having an expert examine these papers to see if they are forged, which I’m sure they are.”

  “Make note of this, Judith,” said Mimi. “Karma is a bitch and will jump up and bite you in the ass. So always treat people like you want to be treated.”

  This kind of talk coming from this sophisticated lady caused Tracy and I both to scream with laughter, and then Mimi joined in.

  Mimi looked at me and said, “Tell Tracy about your afternoon, Judith.”

  When I finished, Tracy said, “The blond man sounds like Mark, doesn�
�t he, Judith? The age is about right, too.”

  “What?” asked Mimi, “Are you talking about Mark Rogers, Hannah’s son?”

  “Did I forget to tell you that part, Mimi? There were so many things to tell you. I met Mark when I worked for Dave Boudreau. He was a client and also a friend of Dave’s. No, Mimi, don’t look like that. I didn’t sleep with him or anything.

  “He later showed up where I was dancing and it turns out he’s also a friend of Frank’s, my boss there. John saw me get in the car with him and almost had a stroke. I got real sick later that day and they thought Mark had tried to poison me, but the reports came back negative.”

  “I just can’t believe it,” Mimi said, “I’ve known him all his life. Hannah was working for us when he was born. He dated Jennifer, your mother, Judith, before she married your dad, Phillip Jr. He was always such a nice kid.

  “He was questioned the next day after the night of the kidnapping along with his mother but he had an alibi. He was with his girlfriend Sandra Jacobs. Besides, the age is wrong. Mark was in his twenties at the time. I don’t know. There’s a lot going on here we don’t understand.

  “I suggest we forget it for a little while and concentrate on dinner. Tracy, you and Judith want to walk over to the dining room and see what you can bring back? While you’re gone, I’ll fix a cheese tray and see what kind of wine we got in there. Let me get my purse and I’ll give you some money.”

  I was amazed at the kind and variety of food there was to choose from. I was glad when Tracy suggested seafood, it was my favorite. We got salad, lobster bisque, sea bass with asparagus tips in a creamy sauce. My mouth was watering when we left. I was glad Mimi had given us a hundred dollars. We used almost all of it.

  When we got back to the bungalow Dr. Anna and Mimi were sitting on the porch laughing. I thought it was really neat the way they were getting along.

  “You’re not going to believe this, Judith. It turns out we went to University of Texas during the same period of time and we know some of the same people. Of course, she was majoring in pre-med and I was majoring in art so we never crossed paths,” Mimi said.

  “That must be where Julia gets her artistic talent. Do you paint or what?”

  “Sculpt, but I haven’t sculpted for many years. After the kidnapping and Phillip’s death, I lost interest in so many things.”

  “I’m sure it will come back for you, Vera,” said Dr. Anna. “You’ve probably had some depression all this time.”

  “Well, there were times when I couldn’t get out of bed in the mornings and didn’t feel like there was anything to get out of bed for. I would even feel like I had the flu sometimes. But sometimes I was able to take myself in hand and go out to parties etc. I just pretended to enjoy it.”

  “Those are some of the symptoms of depression, feeling sick and tired and losing interest in things you once enjoyed. I don’t think depression is necessarily a bad thing unless the person gets suicidal. That’s why I don’t usually prescribe anti-depressants until the patient is suicidal. I think it is a time for the human spirit to heal,” Dr. Anna laughed, “of course, I’m in the minority about this.”

  “This is all interesting and I would like to hear more about your ideas, but I think we need to eat before everything gets cold. Judith, what did you and Tracy get?”

  Tracy and I put the food and dishes on the table while Mimi and Dr. Anna opened the wine and got down the wine glasses. It was all so touching and homey that it brought tears to my eyes. Everyone must have been really hungry because no one said anything, except commenting about how good everything was. We skipped dessert since Tracy and I didn’t think to get any.

  Dr. Anna suggested we go over later and have coffee and dessert in the coffee shop.

  “I’ve been trying to decide if I want you to see Julia now,” she said to Mimi. “She’s come so far in such a short period of time, I don’t want to jeopardize that, since she’s still in a fragile state, but on the other hand, it might be good to strike while the iron is hot. What are all of your feelings on this?”

  Tracy spoke up, “What if Judith introduced Mrs. McCain as her grandmother, would that work?” Just then her beeper went off, “Oh, damn,” she said. “Why can’t I have one night off?” She went to the living room to make her call.

  I was excited. What I hoped would happen was for Julia to recognize Mimi and it would make her well and we could all go back home with Mimi. I knew that there were still a lot of loose ends, like my old nanny and Mark, but I was willing to let the FBI deal with all that. Mimi and Dr. Anna were talking about University of Texas but I wasn’t paying much attention. For me I was already in Houston.

  Tracy came back in and said, “Bad news or good news, I don’t know which. Mrs. Reynolds is dying and not expected to live past the next couple of hours. She’s asking to speak to you Mrs. McCain. She said she has to tell you something about the twins. We need to leave right now if you want to go. I suggest you go too, Judith, since this concerns you.”

  Dr. Anna said good night and said that she was going home since it looked like we were going to be tied up the rest of the night.

  “I’m going to go pop over and do my rounds and then go get some sleep.” She hugged all of us and left.

  We got in Tracy’s car provided by the FBI. It was a non-descript tan car. She drove like a wild woman but I didn’t worry. I thought she was used to chasing the bad guys. She pulled into a parking place at Mayo Hospital and we went straight to the elevator and up to the ninth floor.

  As soon as we got off the elevator, we saw Mr. Reynolds. He laughed when he saw Tracy’s shocked face.

  “Yes, of course I made bail,” he said. “You’re never going to make these charges stick. The only thing I did was adopt a little girl with the help of a reputable lawyer. And where do you think you’re going? My wife’s very ill. I’m not giving you permission to see her.”

  “Are you really that dumb?” Tracy said, “It’s not up to you. Do you want to let us pass or do I have to get physical?”

  “Whatever she tells you, she doesn’t know what she’s saying,” he called after us but he looked worried.

  As we started into the room, Tracy pulled a small tape recorder out of her blazer pocket.

  The room was so dark it took me a few seconds to see the woman on the bed. She looked like she had aged ten years since I had seen her earlier today. When she saw my grandmother, she held out her hand, and I noticed that Tracy had already turned on the tape recorder.

  Mimi took Mrs. Reynolds hand, “I’m here Catherine,” she said so gently that it brought tear to my eyes.

  “I’m so sorry. I was afraid not to marry him. I was so scared of him. He had to have me and threatened to kill me if I didn’t. I was young and scared. His family had all the power and I was a mechanic’s daughter. I wanted to tell you. My life has been hell. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve had to go along with.”

  She closed her eyes and we thought at first she was gone. Mimi stepped outside and called the nurse. The nurse checked her pulse and her monitors and told us she was just resting, so we waited. No one said anything. Mimi went over to the window and opened the blinds and stared out for awhile.

  Then, “Vera?”

  “I’m here Catherine,” Mimi said as she came back to the bed and took her hand.

  “You wouldn’t believe the horrible things he made me do, in bed. I never knew people did things like that. And I was a virgin when we married. He wouldn’t touch me before we were married. He wanted me to be a virgin so he could rape a virgin. He said he’d always dreamed of that.”

  This looked like it was going to take a long time because she kept stopping and falling asleep. At one point the nurse came in and told us we were going to have to leave so the patient could rest. Tracy told her to get lost and that this was an FBI investigation. The nurse left in a huff saying she was going to go call the doctor.

  The next time she woke up, Mrs. Reynolds began telling us about the nig
ht they brought the twins to her house.

  “At three a.m., I woke up hearing voices. When I got into the living room, I saw them. They were wrapped in blankets and looked like they had been drugged.

  “They had laid them on the matching couches in the living room. They were beautiful. I didn’t know then who they were, but I knew my husband had again done something illegal. I wish I could live long enough to testify against him.”

  “Who brought them there, that night?” Tracy asked.

  She looked at Tracy in a confused way, “What? I don’t know who they were but they were frightening. One was blond and one had darker hair but not black. The blond had a scorpion tattooed on the back of his hand. They both looked young, too young to even be driving a car.

  “My husband was trying to give them a roll of money but they were saying it wasn’t enough, that since there were two girls the price would be doubled. My husband told them he only wanted one and would only pay for one. When they asked him what they were suppose to do with the other one, my husband said something that scared me so badly. He said, ‘just get rid of her, I don’t care how.’”

  By now I was crying so hard because I knew the one they were supposed to kill was me and I didn’t know why they hadn’t killed me since they had killed my parents. Mrs. Reynolds looked at me and silent tears were running down her cheeks.

  “I was so glad to find out that you were still alive after all these years, but I couldn’t let my husband see how glad I was to see you so I had to pretend to be indifferent, I’m so sorry. He would have punished me.”

  I wanted to get out of there but at the same time I wanted to hear the rest of what she had to say. I just went over and let Mimi hug me for a little while and got calmed down.

  She continued, “It was the next day when I saw the news that I knew who he had taken. It made national news, I guess you know that Vera.”

  “Yeah, I do know that. I made sure it did. Did you see me get in from of the cameras and beg for whoever took them to give them back, and to not harm them?” My grandmother sounded hard.