Patchwork Connections

by Carol Dean Jones

  “No. It wasn’t Jillian,” he insisted. “I’m sure of it. She’s been home all week and in a good mood. She hasn’t even mentioned …” but then he hesitated.

  “She doesn’t seem to be as worried about …” again he stopped. Turning to Amanda, he said, “Give me time to talk to her. I know we can straighten this out.” He stood and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Amanda stood and told him to put the phone down.

  “What?”

  “I don’t want you to warn her. I want to go talk to her now. You can go with me.”

  Charles and Sarah stood as well. “We want to go to.”

  “I don’t think …” Amanda began, but saw the desperation in Sarah’s eyes and didn’t finish. “Okay, follow me. Mr. Fitzgerald, I want you to ride in the squad car with me.”

  Sarah quickly moved the kitten’s bed into the kitchen next to the litter box and pulled her coat back on. Barney looked confused, but Sarah had more important things on her mind right then.

  “Take care of the baby,” she said to him as she hurried out the door.

  Chapter 33

  Alan, sitting in the back seat of the squad car, directed Amanda to his home. Charles and Sarah followed close behind. When they arrived, a second squad car pulled up with his siren on. Amanda frowned. “That’s my partner. I should have told him to come in quietly.”

  A woman in her mid-thirties opened the front door and came rushing out. Her hair was disheveled and she was dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. She wrapped her arms around her body in an attempt to stave off the bitter cold. “What’s going on?” she yelled in anger. Her fiery eyes scanned past Sarah, Charles, and the police officers and settled on Alan. “What have you done now?” she shouted, glaring at him. “And where have you been?”

  “Calm down, Jillie. These police officers want to ask you a few questions.”

  Sarah started toward her, but Charles held her back. “Let Amanda and her partner handle this, hon. They know what they’re doing.”

  “But Martha …” she started to object, but stopped.

  “I know,” he said gently. “Just stay back here with me and Amanda will find out if this woman is involved.

  Amanda stepped forward and introduced herself and her partner. “Are you Jillian Fitzpatrick?”

  “Yes,” the woman responded, her black eyes shooting daggers at the strangers in her yard.

  “May we go inside and talk?”

  “What’s this about?”

  “May we go inside?” Amanda repeated.

  The woman hesitated, then dropped her eyes and nodded half-heartedly. “Go on.” On her way in, she turned to Amanda and angrily said, “Who are these people?”

  Once they were inside, Amanda introduced Sarah and Charles and explained that Sarah was the mother of a woman who has gone missing. “So?” Jillian responded. “What’s that to me?”

  “We think you might have information that would help us locate the woman.”

  “Me? I know nothing about a missing woman. …”

  “Do you drive a black 1998 Ford Escort, license E6-WRT-78?”

  “I drive an old Ford, sure. But I have no idea what the license plate says. Why?” she demanded impatiently.

  Amanda had already confirmed that Jillian Fitzpatrick was the registered owner of the car sitting outside Sarah’s house but was simply testing the woman’s reaction to being questioned about the car.

  “What’s all this about my car? Alan? Where’s the car?” She then started screaming at him again, “What have you done to my car?”

  “Calm down, Mrs. Fitzpatrick,” Amanda responding, stepping between Alan and his wife. “Your car is fine. We have a few questions for you. The woman who is missing lives on South Sycamore and your car has been seen in that area during the past few weeks.”

  “So? It’s a free world. I can drive anywhere I want,” Jillian responded defensively. “I haven’t done anything wrong,” she added, glancing at Alan for confirmation.

  “That’s true, Mrs. Fitzpatrick. As far as we know, you haven’t done anything wrong. However, you might have seen something while you were driving in that neighborhood. The woman who is missing is Martha Miller. She …”

  “She’s missing?” Jillian responded with astonishment. “When?” she asked apprehensively.

  “She hasn’t been seen since Thursday afternoon,” Sarah announced. She didn’t mean to interfere with the investigation, but the questioning was going much too slowly. Her patience was growing thin. She wanted to find Martha now.

  Amanda looked at Sarah disapprovingly. Charles laid his hand on her arm and gently guided her back down onto the couch. Sarah mumbled, “Sorry.”

  Turning to Jillian, Amanda asked, “Were you driving on Sycamore Thursday afternoon?” She had the words out before she realized that Jillian appeared to be in shock. All the color had drained from her face and she was covering her mouth with her hands.

  “Oh no,” Jillian muttered. “No!”

  “What is it, Mrs. Fitzgerald?”

  Jillian had trouble forming her words. Alan realized she was trembling and moved to her side. He placed his arm around her shoulder, and said gently, “What it is, Jillie?”

  “I saw it. I saw him take her.”

  * * * * *

  After listening to Jillian’s story, Amanda suggested they move to the station house to continue the interrogation. She walked Jillian to her squad car and asked her partner to transport Alan separately. Amanda was still concerned about keeping them apart so that Alan couldn’t influence what Jillian might add to her story.

  “I didn’t know,” Jillian wailed over and over as Amanda walked her to the squad car. “I didn’t know.”

  Driving toward the station with Jillian securely in the back seat, Amanda thought about what had transpired during the last half hour at the Fitzgerald house. Through near hysterical tears, Jillian had managed to tell the group that she saw a man in a white SUV pull up and call out to Martha. She said that Martha had just arrived home and turned to respond to the man.

  According to Jillian, Martha walked over to the passenger’s side of the car and they spoke briefly. Suddenly the man opened the door and attempted to pull her inside. Martha seemed to be resisting when suddenly the man jumped out of the car and forced her into the backseat.

  “Then they drove away,” she had said, “I wondered if I should do something. …”

  Listening to Jillian’s story, Sarah had become very upset and angrily reproached the woman saying, “Why didn’t you call the police?” Both Sarah and Jillian became inconsolable. It was at that time that Amanda decided to move her investigation to the police station with its various interview rooms and technology.

  Sarah had pleaded with Amanda to allow her to go as well, but Amanda refused. She asked Charles to take Sarah home, and she promised to call the minute she had any useful information. Charles wanted to go to the station as well but knew his place was with Sarah.

  As Amanda approached the station, she realized that her passenger had become very quiet. She looked back and saw that Jillian was just staring ahead. There was no emotion on her face at all.

  Later, as Amanda was helping her out of the squad car, Jillian appeared limp and was hardly able to stand. An empty pill bottle rolled off her lap and landed in the gutter next to the car.

  Chapter 34

  Charles arrived at Sarah’s house early the next morning, knowing she was eagerly awaiting a call from Amanda. When the phone finally rang, she and Charles rushed to it simultaneously. Charles stepped back and motioned for Sarah to answer. It was Amanda and she asked for Charles without offering any other information. Sarah passed the phone to Charles but was frantic to know what was going on. As he answered, she reached across him and tapped the speaker button so she could listen.

  “Charles, I need your help.”

  “I’ll help in any way I can, Amanda, but what’s going on?”

  “First of all, Jillian Fitzgerald is in the hospital.”<
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  “What?” Sarah cried from the background. “What happened to her?”

  “Am I on speaker?” Amanda asked.

  “Yes, Amanda. Sarah is desperate to know what’s going on. Just go ahead.”

  “Okay. Well, she managed to ingest pills on the way to the station house last night. I don’t know how many yet. The prescription bottle was in her purse. It had been filled almost a month ago, so we’re hoping there weren’t that many pills left.”

  “When will you be able to talk to her?” Charles asked.

  “I’m on my way to the hospital now.”

  Sarah moved closer to the phone and spoke. “Has she said anything else about Martha?”

  “Not yet. But there’s been a development.”

  “What?” Sarah hollered.

  Charles frowned and said, “Please, hon. Let me talk.” Then, into the phone he asked, “What’s going on, Amanda? Sarah is beside herself with worry.”

  “Once the EMT left with Mrs. Fitzgerald, the desk sergeant gave me a message. Derek Kettler had been brought in for questioning and was waiting in an interview room.”

  “Yes?” Charles responded eagerly. “What did he have to say? Does he have Martha?” Sarah gripped his arm so tightly, he thought she would cut off circulation to his hand.

  “He’s been out of town. We confirmed that he was in Kentucky visiting his brother. He went there on Tuesday of last week and arrived back here late last night.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe he …”

  “It wasn’t him, Charles.”

  “You said you need my help. What can I do?”

  “The possibilities are shrinking. I spent several hours with Alan last night, and we both feel there is no chance that the mole in their lab had anything to do with Martha’s disappearance. According to Alan, there’s no way Martha could be of any help to them. They already have the test results. There’s just no reason for them to kidnap her. And if, by any chance, she’s being held as a hostage, we would have heard from her captors by now.”

  Sarah gasped. “Hostage?” She became pale and looked as if she were about to faint.

  “Hold on!” Charles said, dropping the phone and leading Sarah to a chair. “Sarah, she said that is not likely. That is not what they are thinking happened. Now rest here and let me find out what Amanda wants me to do.”

  Sarah nodded weakly. “Okay. I’m sorry.”

  He kissed her cheek and returned to the phone, taking it off speaker. “Okay, what can I do to help?”

  “As I was saying, the pool of possible perpetrators is shrinking. My money is on that Greyson guy, and you have a relationship with his parole officer. How do they know he left town? Where was he headed? How was he traveling? Does he have a white SUV? I could call and talk to him or even go through the local precinct there, but I think you can get to the bottom line much faster than I can. Would you call him and see what you can find out?”

  “I’ll get right on it.”

  They talked a few more minutes about the case and hung up. Charles turned to Sarah who was still sitting where he had placed her. “What did she want you to do?” she asked but seemed somewhat withdrawn.

  “What is it?” he asked, responding to her demeanor rather than her question.

  “I’m okay. I guess I was upset that you were treating me like an out-of-control child,” she said, but smiled weakly and added, “but I guess that’s how I was acting. I’m just so worried. …”

  “I know, sweetheart. I know. I’m sorry about the way I responded. Taking over and issuing commands is second nature to me, but I promise to try to do better. You know I love you.”

  “I know,” she responded with a timid smile. “I know. So what does she want you to do?”

  He told her everything Amanda had said, wishing he had just left the speaker button on.

  “Let’s get a cup of coffee first,” he suggested. “It’s still early in Montana.” Sitting in the kitchen, he pulled out the notebook he had started carrying in his chest pocket. The pad had been a part of him for the thirty years he was in the department, but he had been trying to break the habit since he retired. Right now, he needed it. He jotted down the questions Amanda wanted answered and a couple of his own.

  Sarah scooped a large helping of her freshly cooked oatmeal into a bowl for Charles and topped it with blue berries and milk. She picked up the kitten and held it on her lap while she had her coffee and attempted to make light conversation while he ate.

  An hour or so later, Charles stood and announced, “I think it’s late enough to call him.”

  “Would you talk from the kitchen so I can at least hear your side of the conversation?”

  “Of course,” he responded standing to give her a hug and retrieve the phone.

  Sarah took advantage of the time to carry Bootsy to the litter box. “But when you finish on the phone, we need to get Barney out of this house. He’s been curled up in his bed for several days now!”

  She heard Charles’ chuckle from the other room.

  Walking back into the kitchen, Charles had his cell phone clipped to his shirt pocket and a wire running to this ear. Sarah looked at him inquisitively, and he responded with a coy look, “New toy.”

  Then in a more serious tone he said, “May I speak with Officer Blackburn. This is Officer Parker calling.” Turning to Sarah, he whispered, “My old title seems to get me places I can never get as a civilian.”

  Once the probation officer was on the phone, they chatted informally for a few minutes about the progress, or lack thereof, on the case.

  “Okay, Charles. What can I do for you?” Blackburn asked.

  “Our local department has some questions about Greyson. Do you know where he went and how he’s traveling?”

  “Unfortunately, we have no idea.”

  “How do you know he left town?”

  “My information came to me by an informal route, but it’s probably reliable. Greyson has a friend here in the department. They’ve been seeing each other since he was released, and she seems to be really good for him. We all thought he was getting his act together until this happened. Anyway, she told me that he left town suddenly. He told her he had unfinished business to take care of and promised to be back. She pleaded with me not to report his absence to the Parole Board, and I’ve honored her request so far, but I can’t continue now that I know he may be in trouble in another jurisdiction.”

  “Does she know how he was traveling?”

  “She had assumed he was driving, but his car is here.”

  “Have you checked on rentals?”

  “Charlie, as I said, I was honoring her request, and I just might be in hot water over this. I haven’t done anything as far as tracking the man. I’ve been trusting Gloria that he’ll be back. Sometimes I can be a damned fool when it comes to women. She shed these big crocodile tears, and that’s always the end for me.”

  “Me too,” Charles responded, winking at Sarah. “Me too.”

  In a more serious tone, Charles said, “Okay. Where do we go from here?”

  “I’ll check the rental car companies. They’re accustomed to hearing from me. If he rented a car, I’ll soon know it. I’ll also check the airlines. Any other ideas?”

  “Maybe talk with this Gloria and see if she knows what this unfinished business is”

  “Okay.”

  Then Charles added, “Oh, and if you find someone who rented him a car, see if they can locate the car’s current location. They all have GPS built in now, don’t they?”

  “Good point. I’ll get some guys on it right away.”

  “Thanks, Sam. Call me on this number the minute you hear anything.”

  “You got it,” and Blackburn hung up.

  “I’ll never get used to you men on the telephone. Don’t you ever say ‘goodbye’ to each other?”

  “We don’t want to look wimpy,” he responded, trying to look serious but chuckling as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

  Chapter 35 />
  “Let’s go for a walk,” Sarah said cheerfully to Barney, expecting him to grab his leash off the hook. Barney raised his head but didn’t move. “Come on, fella. Let’s go.” Still nothing.

  Sarah lifted him out of his bed and placed him on the floor next to the leash, but as she reached to hook it onto his collar he returned to his bed and laid his nose against the kitty.

  “It’s too cold for the kitty to go out,” Sarah explained to a dog who couldn’t comprehend her words. She, on the other hand, completely understood what he was saying. He had no intention of leaving his new charge at home.

  Charles had gone home, and the house felt empty without him. He said he had some laundry to run and would do it while he waited for Blackburn to call back. She invited him for dinner, but he said he would be back long before that.

  The phone rang and she hoped it was Charles, but it was Jenny. She and Jason had called several times a day to see if there was any news. “Still nothing,” Sarah responded, “but it’s beginning to look like the person who took her was her ex-husband, Greyson. Everyone else seems to have legitimate alibis for that day.”

  “Have they found him?”

  “Not yet.” While they talked, Sarah pushed Barney out the back door, hoping he would not only take care of his business but also would run around and get some exercise. Unfortunately, he was back and scratching at the door a few minutes later. She let him in and, after hanging up, told him he was absolutely going for a long walk as soon as Charles arrived.

  He wagged his tail when he heard the word Charles and returned to the warmed quilt where Bootsy was playing with her tail. As soon as he curled up, she began the long climb up his back and across to his ears. She discovered that if she tapped one with her paw it would twitch. She found this intriguing and continued to do it until he shook his head and she came tumbling down, landing by his paw. He stared at her, probably realizing this little bundle of fur wasn’t as helpless as he had originally thought.

  The phone rang again and this time it was Amanda. “Is Charles there?” she asked.

  “No, but you can reach him on his cell. Do you have any news?”