Saving Medesha

by DK Land

  “Have a seat everyone,” said Harold as he seated himself behind his desk. He looked at Ollie with pride. “Ollie, I just want to express my thanks for the wonderfully brave thing you did out there today.”

  “Ah, com’on, Harold,” Ollie replied. “I did it all without even thinking. I just saw somebody in trouble and tried to help as much as I could.” He looked over at Tandy as he continued, “Then when I saw that it was Tandy, I became so scared and mad at the same time. Heck, I think I’d have drowned myself in order to save her.”

  Tandy blushed as Harold said, “You know? I really believe you would have.” He leaned forward with his elbows on his desk. “I think that I should warn you in advance though, Ollie. Don’t be surprised if you get nominated by the city commission for the Medesha Citizenship Award.”

  “See, Ollie,” giggled Tandy. “You really are a hero.”

  “Tandy’s right, Ollie,” said Mabel. “It’s true. You are a genuine hero.” As tears started to well in her eyes, she said, “And besides, you saved my beloved little ‘Missy’.”

  Tandy leaned over and held Mabel’s hand. “Oh, Mabel. You’re so sweet. Don’t cry. I’m here and I’m just fine.”

  “But, Tandy,” replied Mabel as the tears started to flow. “Where were you? We were so terrified.”

  Harold added, “Yes, Tandy. If you feel up to it, I would appreciate it if you could tell us the complete story of just how you ended up in that hot tub.”

  She crossed her legs Indian style as she sat in Irene’s chair. “Honest, Sheriff Wheaton, I don’t have the foggiest clue of how I got into that box. The last thing I remember about being in the alley behind the factory…” She stopped and looked at Ollie. “You told the Sheriff what we were doing, didn’t you, Ollie?”

  Ollie smiled. “Yes, I told him everything.”

  “Good,” she said. She looked back at Harold. “The last thing I remember about being in the alley behind the factory is somebody sneaking up behind me. I turned around just as they grabbed me, and they put some kind of really weird smelling cloth over my face and boink, just like that, I fell through the looking glass.”

  Harold had a confused look on his face. “You fell through the looking glass?”

  Ollie smiled. “I think what she’s trying to say is that she passed out.”

  With a grin, she answered, “Yeah. That’s what I said. I fell through the looking glass.”

  “Okay,” said Harold. “Before you fell through the looking glass, did you happen to get a glimpse of the person that attacked you?”

  “Well, he didn’t really attack me. He just grabbed me and put that smelly cloth over my face.”

  Harold chuckled. “I’m sorry, Tandy, but if someone grabs you and puts a smelly cloth over your face, and makes you fall through the looking glass, that’s what we would legally describe as an attack.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Well, anyway, just before everything went weird, I was sure that I was looking straight into Lester Rawling’s face.”

  Harold was surprised. “Lester? Are you sure it was him?”

  “Well,” she replied. “I don’t know if I could swear to it on a witness stand or anything like that, but, I’m more sure it was Lester than I’m sure that it was anybody else.”

  Harold smiled slowly as he attempted to comprehend what Tandy had just said. “Do you remember anything after that?”

  “Well, of course I do,” she answered as she looked admiringly at Ollie. “I guess I must have waken up when the tub went into the water, ‘cause the first thing I remember trying to do is punch a hole in that cardboard. I just got my hand through it when everything flipped over and the water poured in. When the tub landed on the bottom of the lake, it landed upside down, so I had a pretty good size air pocket to breathe in. Then these strong arms lifted the whole thing up and pulled me out from underneath.” She giggled. “Isn’t that just so romantic? It was Ollie, coming to rescue his girl.”

  Harold commented, “I don’t know about romantic. From our viewpoint, it was pretty scary. So, you don’t remember anything between the time you saw Lester attack you with that smelly cloth, and the time you punched your fist through the cardboard box out in the lake?”

  “Huh, uh. I’m really sorry, Sheriff. I really wish I could remember more.”

  “That’s okay, Tandy,” smiled Harold. “We’re just so happy that you’re safe.” He hesitated before he continued. “Uh, he didn’t do anything else to you, did he? Uh, I mean, do you think you need to go over to the hospital and have Doc Slocum give you a checkup?”

  “Heck no, Sheriff. I’m fine. Really I am. I just choked on a little bit of water when I was at the bottom of the lake, but Ollie took care of that for me when he got me into the boat.”

  Harold chuckled. “Yeah! Everybody at the Marina saw how efficiently Ollie took care of that.” He reached over and slapped Ollie on the knee. “I guess you’re pretty good at that ol’ mouth to mouth resuscitation stuff, huh, Ollie?”

  Ollie smiled as he looked over at Tandy. “Well, I’m trying to get more practice at it.”

  This time, it was Tandy’s turn to turn red with embarrassment.

  Harold turned to Mabel. “So, I guess it really was Lester I saw walking past the diner earlier. If I’d caught up with him then, this whole incident probably never would have happened.”

  Mabel replied, “Well, it’s all over now, and we’ve got our little Missy back, and that’s all that matters.”

  With a worried look Harold mused, “Yeah. But, why did it happen in the first place? I mean, one day, Lester disappears, and the next day he kidnaps Tandy and hides her in a hot tub, of all things.”

  Ollie said. “Ya know, Harold. I’ve been thinking about that. I wonder if he grabbed Tandy and pulled her into the Vander-Wear garage with intentions of doing some horrible things to her when he got interrupted.”

  “Interrupted?”

  “Yeah. When Wally came to pick up the truck to drive it down to the Marina, Lester panicked and put Tandy in that box and resealed it. He probably hid in the garage until Wally drove off and then he got himself outta there.”

  Harold nodded thoughtfully. “Ya know, Ollie? That’s probably exactly what happened. So, when you think about it, I guess that Preston’s gift of all those life vests really did keep somebody safe this weekend.”

  “So what do we do now?” asked Mabel.

  Harold rested his forehead on his hand. “I sure wish all this stuff wasn’t taking place on such a busy weekend. Our resources are already stretched too thin as it is.” He paused a moment. “I guess I’ll have to get a hold of the state police and put out an APB for Lester Rawlings. We just don’t have the manpower to go looking for him ourselves. I’ve had Larry working his tail off for a long time now, and the long weekend isn’t even half over yet.” He slammed his fist on the desk. “I don’t know how many times I’ve told Paul Sorenson that our two part time summer deputies really need to start working before the Memorial Day weekend, not before the fourth of July weekend. But, the darn mayor doesn’t want to spend too much of the town’s general fund.”

  Just then, they heard the front door open. Harold recognized Wallace Crenshaw’s voice, as he said, “Hello? Is anybody in here?”

  Harold raised his voice, “Hey, Wally. We’re back here in my office.”

  Wally walked in. “Hi, everybody,” he said with a shy smile. “Oh! Tandy! How are you? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

  Tandy answered, “Hi, Wally. No, I’m feeling wonderful. Thanks.”

  He turned to Ollie. “Gee, Ollie. That was really a brave thing you did out there. Not a one of us guys can swim. We didn’t know what the heck we were going to do ‘til you came out there like a super hero or something.”

  “Oh, c'mon, Wally,” answered Ollie. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

  “Say, Wally,” interrupted Harold. “Did you know anything about Tandy being inside that hot tub box?”

  Surprised by
Harold’s question, Wally said, “Heck no, Sheriff! For a while there, before I found out who was inside the box, I thought one of the crew from over at the factory was playing some kind of a joke on us. I didn’t have a clue that anybody was in that thing.” He looked at Tandy. “How did you get in that thing anyhow, Tandy?”

  Before Tandy had a chance to answer, Harold asked, “Tell me, Wally. What exactly took place when you went to the garage to pick up the truck?”

  “You mean, from the minute I got there?”

  Harold nodded.

  “Well,” he said thoughtfully. “Let’s see. I took my key out of my pocket to unlock the overhead door.” He paused. “That’s the only thing I noticed that seemed a little odd.”

  “What was that?” asked Harold.

  “The door was already unlocked. I figured that one of the guys that was supposed to meet me there had already unlocked it, but when I went inside, I realized that I was the first one to get there. So, then I figured that whoever locked up last night just forgot about the garage door.”

  “Okay,” said Harold, as he began taking notes on a yellow legal pad lying on his desk. “What happened next?”

  “Hmm, let’s see. Then I walked over to the truck… No, wait a second. First I went and got the key to Number Seven… That’s the number of the truck that I was supposed to take. Anyway, I got the key from the cabinet, and walked over to the back of the truck.”

  “Was the back of the truck locked?”

  “No. We never lock the trucks until the driver is ready to leave the garage with a shipment. That way, he can double check his load before he takes off.”

  He continued taking notes. “Okay. Did you open the back of the truck?”

  Wally nodded. “Yeah. I pushed up the door. It’s one of them roll-up doors. Then I climbed inside. Boy, I tell ya, whoever loaded that truck sure did a messy job. A bunch of that redwood was stacked on top of the hot tub box, and the bundles of cedar shingles that go on top of the gazebo were just lying around. They weren’t stacked like they should have been.”

  “Anyway, I straightened out the redwood and the shingles, and then I jumped down and started loading the boxes of life vests. The two guys that were supposed to help me, Burl and Chet, showed up just as I was loading the last box.”

  “Okay, then what happened?”

  “We all got in the truck and I drove out of the garage.”

  “Anything after that?”

  “Nope. I got out and closed the garage door and we drove down to the Marina and started handing out the life vests.” He shrugged his shoulders and said, “That’s all that happened, Sheriff. I didn’t have any idea that Tandy was in that box. She must have been sound asleep or something ‘cause it was quite awhile from the time I got to the garage until the time that hot tub went into the lake.”

  Harold put his pencil down. “You’re sure there’s nothing else?”

  Wally shrugged. “Huh, uh. Nothing.” He paused for a moment. “Oh. I did run over a tape gun with the back wheels as I was driving the truck out of the garage.”

  “A tape gun?”

  “Yeah. You know, one of those tape dispenser things that we use to seal boxes with before we ship them.”

  “Aren’t the boxes usually sealed before they come over from the factory to be loaded in the garage?”

  “Well, actually, the trucks are backed up to the loading dock on the west side of the factory and they load them there. Then, after they’re loaded, they drive them into the garage until the driver leaves for his run.”

  “But, the boxes are already sealed when they get to the garage. Right?”

  “Uh, huh.”

  “So, why was there a tape gun lying on the floor of the garage? Do they use them in the garage?”

  Wally scratched his head. “Not as far as I know. Hmm. I guess I don’t know why there would be one there. I think the only place they use those things is in the Shipping Department, inside the factory, right next to the loading dock.”

  “How far is the Shipping Department from the Records Room?”

  “The Records Room? Why?”

  “Just curious.”

  “Well, the loading dock is on the west end of the building, near the alley. Then, the Shipping Department is next to that, and the Records Room is right next to the Shipping Department.”

  Harold picked up his pencil and began writing again. “Okay, Wally. Where can I take a look at this tape gun that you ran over?”

  “You can’t,” said Wally.

  Harold stopped writing and looked up. “I can’t? Why can’t I?”

  Wally stared at the floor. “I’m sorry, Sheriff. I got a broom and swept it up, and threw it in the burning barrel.” He slowly raised his eyes. “There was already a fire going in the barrel.”

  Harold rubbed his weary eyes. “Why would there be a fire in the burning barrel on a day when nobody’s working?”

  Wally stammered, “Uh,… I guess I don’t know. I’m really sorry, Sheriff Wheaton. I didn’t know that the tape gun was important. I was just trying not to leave a mess in the garage before we left.”

  Harold smiled slightly. “That’s okay. It’s not your fault.” He rose from his chair. “Thanks for stopping by, Wally.”

  “Sure, Sheriff. No problem,” said Wally.

  As Wally was leaving, Harold called out to him, “Oh! Say, Wally! Was the tape that sealed the hot tub box the same tape that’s used in those tape guns?”

  Wally paused in thought. “Yeah! I guess it was.”

  Harold waved. “Okay, Wally. Thanks again. Oh! One more thing. I know that Preston Vandervork is supposed to be out of town talking to the owners of that snowmobile company this weekend, so could you see if you can get a hold of your manager and ask him if I could have permission to look over the garage and the Shipping Department? Tell him that I just want to look for any signs of forced entry.”

  “Will do, Sheriff. I’ll call you after I talk to him.”

  He lowered himself slowly into his chair and looked over at Ollie. “Would you know of any reason why Lester would have any knowledge of the interior of the factory?”

  Surprised by the question, Ollie responded, “Uhm. No, as far as I know, Lester’s never even been in the front door of the factory. Since he drifted into town, the only place he’s worked is at my station. I don’t think that he ever hung around with anybody. I always thought that he was a pretty decent guy. It’s just that he’s always been such a loner. Heck, even when he goes down to the Minnow Bucket, he just sits in a corner by himself, nursing his glass of beer.”

  Tandy added, “Yeah, that’s right. When we had Shauni’s party, Lester was there, just like Ollie said. He sat in the corner sipping his beer and watching us girls.”

  Mabel asked, “What makes you think that Lester would have any knowledge of the factory?”

  “Well,” replied Harold. “If he didn’t find that tape gun in the garage, then he got into the factory and went directly to where he could get a tape gun. Ollie was in the factory at the time, so I would think that the two of them would have run into each other, or at least they would have heard each other rummaging around in there if Lester didn’t know where he was going. I think that when he saw Tandy out in the alley, he had an immediate plan. I think that he knew exactly where the tape guns were and how to get to them without arousing Ollie’s suspicions, and he knew exactly what he was going to do with Tandy.”

  “Really?” asked Mabel. “So, you don’t think that this was one of those… uh… what do they call ‘em? A crime of…”

  Harold replied, “A crime of opportunity?”

  “Yeah!” said Mabel. “A crime of opportunity.”

  “No, I’m not saying that. Lester couldn’t have had any way of knowing in advance that Tandy and Ollie were going to be there. But, it seems to have been thought out in advance. Maybe the guy just had this plan in his head for some time, and when Tandy showed up, he put it into action. He just wasn’t planning on being interrup
ted by Wally and the boys.”

  “If we’re able to catch Lester,” asked Ollie, “will we have enough evidence to arrest him for kidnapping Tandy?”

  “If we find him, I can arrest him on suspicion, but I wouldn’t be able to hold him for very long. We’d have to have more evidence then what we’ve got to charge him with kidnapping,” answered Harold. “If Wally hadn’t thrown that tape gun into the burning barrel, we might have been able to tie him to it by lifting his fingerprints off of it. Right now, all we’ve got is Tandy’s hazy recollection of seeing Lester’s face as she was ‘falling through the looking glass’. Any good lawyer would be able to discount her testimony because she was being drugged at the time.”

  “So, I guess we have to find Lester and get him to confess, right?” asked Ollie.

  Harold smiled. “Don’t take too much stock in those cops and robbers TV shows, Ollie. In reality, it’s not that difficult for a lawyer to get a confession thrown out of court. No, I’m afraid we’ll have to keep looking until we can find some substantial evidence that will prove without a doubt that Lester is the one who did this to Tandy.

  Chapter 15

  “I'm really sorry about the dance last night, Tandy,” said Ollie.

  “What do you mean, Ollie? I've never had so much fun at a dance before.” replied Tandy. “Heck, if Cinderella liked country music, I would have been wearing glass cowboy boots. You sure looked like you were having fun.”

  “I was having fun, but I felt so bad because I kept stepping on your feet.”

  She reached across the glass counter and touched his hand. “Ollie, we just had our first official date last night, and believe me, that was the very best first date I've ever had in my life.”

  “Do you really mean that, Tandy?” he asked as he put his hand over hers.

  Tandy giggled, “Of course I do, Ollie! Now, if we don't get this gas station opened up real soon, somebody like Deputy Walsh is going to come by and catch us taking inventory again.”