Middle River Murders

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Middle River Murders Page 28

by Ann Mullen


  Claire walked over to the bay window in the dining room, peered out and then said, “I thought you said that Athena was afraid of storms.”

  The rain was still coming down hard making visibility almost impossible. Thunder echoed through the hills as lightning lit up the sky.

  “She’s terrified of them. That’s why she usually wants to come inside when a storm comes up. She’d never be out in this mess unless she had a good reason to be. We need to find her.” I looked around for Billy, but he was still out of the room taking a call.

  “Billy,” I called to him. I started to walk out of the room, but stopped when the sheriff’s deputies showed themselves.

  “We’re finished in here,” one of them said to the sheriff.

  He motioned for them to leave and then said, “My guys have evidence that needs to be processed, so I’m going to be leaving. I’ll keep you informed of what we discover. In the meantime, don’t stop looking for your mother. The more we have out there, the better our chances will be.” He looked directly at me and said, “Do what you have to do, but don’t do anything you’ll be sorry for, Jesse. Let my guys do their jobs. Please stay out of their way.”

  The sheriff and his men turned and walked out into the storm. They got into their cars and pulled out of the driveway. The sheriff turned left while his men turned right.

  I wondered where he was going, but didn’t think anything of it at the time. My mind was preoccupied.

  Billy walked back into the kitchen.

  “That was Jonathan. He was just checking in. I filled him in on everything and told him to be on the lookout for your mom’s van. He said he’d get the tag number from his contact and then pass it along to Daniel and Robert. They’re still out searching.”

  “I want to search Dogwood Valley,” I said. “I think Mom’s being held here. All we need to do is find Athena.”

  “How do you suggest we do that?” Randy asked.

  “Just listen for her bark,” Cole suggested. “I’m sure Jesse will recognize her own dog’s bark, won’t you?”

  “Yes, I will,” I said, wondering why Cole was still here. I thought he would’ve left with the sheriff. So I asked him. “Aren’t you on duty?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Then what are you doing here?”

  “Jesse!” Claire said, embarrassed by my attitude. “I’d think you’d be grateful for his help.”

  “I am,” I replied in a submissive tone. “All I meant was… ah… I’m glad you’re here, but don’t you have other people to look after?”

  “I do, and I am,” Cole said. “I’m here to assist you in your search.” He looked at his watch. “Actually, I was off-duty as of ten minutes ago. The sheriff agreed with me that it would be in our best interest to have someone close to the family to help out. So I’m all yours for now.”

  “You mean he left you here to keep me out of trouble, huh?”

  “You and your husband,” Cole corrected as he looked over at Billy. “You see, the sheriff’s afraid you’re going to get yourself killed. Naomi Kent is a dangerous woman.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it, handed it to me and said, “Here’s a printout of what she looks like.”

  I took the paper and looked at it. My mouth dropped open as I passed it to Billy and said, “Cole, she’s a dead ringer for her daughter. They could pass for twins.” Then I snidely remarked, “I wonder if she’s got half a finger missing, too.”

  “It’s odd that you should say that,” Cole said. “That’s a copy of a rap sheet you’re holding. If you scan down and look under the heading of distinguishing marks, you’ll notice it says she’s missing half of her little finger on her right hand. It’s hereditary. Her daughter had the same genetic defect.”

  “Why does she have a rap sheet?” Claire asked. “Was she a criminal before she came here?”

  “Oh, she’s had a couple of run-ins with the law, but nothing serious until she was arrested for her husband’s death. Her profile was already in a data base and when she was arrested, she consented to give a DNA sample. They had to let her go; the case was closed, and she collected her husband’s life insurance. As far as she was concerned, it was good riddance to her husband and hello to a new life. Too bad she got away with it. But she won’t get away with murder this time.”

  “I thought he was killed on the job,” Billy said.

  “He was a truck driver. Now a man who spends most of his time on the road is going to make sure that his truck is safe to drive. The accident report stated that his brakes failed. They found a small cut in the brake line. The police believe his wife did it. She had the perfect opportunity, because he parked his truck at home.”

  “How would she know how to cut the lines?”

  “Neighbors said that many times when her husband worked on his truck she would be there to watch. She probably learned from watching him. How else would she know what to do? I’m sure that she’s probably not mechanically inclined.”

  “That’s a farfetched notion,” Frank spoke up. “I hate to say this, but I can see why she got off. All they had was conjecture.”

  “That’s true.”

  “And it wasn’t enough to put her away,” I hissed.

  “That’s so sad,” Claire said. “Why would she kill her own husband?”

  “For the money,” Cole answered. “She got a huge insurance check.”

  “She’s an evil woman,” I said, angrily. “She needs to be put out of our misery!”

  Chapter 28

  The room was dark, musty and damp. Screeching noises and the rustling of paper were a dead giveaway that she wasn’t alone in this godforsaken place. Was that the sound of a rat she had just heard? She shivered at the thought. How did this happen? One minute she was in the comfort of a safe and secure home and the next she was locked up in the basement of an old, ratty-tatty house… filled with horrible smells and creepy insects. A spider had crawled on her leg a few minutes ago.

  She was exhausted, hungry and the rope was beginning to cut off the circulation in her hands. She had been tied-up, slapped and yelled at for what seemed like hours before she was blindfolded, driven to parts unknown and then thrown down a flight of stairs, descending into a nightmarish pit.

  She was sure that her ankle was broken. She heard the bone crack when she fell. The pain was awful, but not nearly as bad as it could’ve been. The real pain came when she realized that she may never be found. She could die in this terrible place, never to be heard from again.

  Why did she go with that deputy? She should’ve known something was wrong. She had learned from the best and the first thing she should’ve done was to question why one lone officer would come to arrest her. Rarely did they ever operate alone in matters such as this. There were always two of them when an arrest was made.

  The air in the room was getting thin and it was all she could do to breathe. She lay back against the wall and prayed, but she knew it was too late now. No one was coming for her. No one knew where she was. She would die alone.

  A terrible storm played havoc outside as the hours slowly passed. By nightfall, she knew the end had come.

  A dog’s bark was the only true sign of life outside the walls that confined her.

  She closed her eyes for the last time and waited for her Lord to take her home.

  Chapter 29

  The storm raged on as the rain beat against the bay window. Afternoon had passed and between that and the fact that the sun was covered by dark, angry clouds, the room was as bleak as the sky. I reached over and flipped on the switch to illuminate the dining room.

  “We need to split up and take a name,” I said.

  “That’s a good idea,” Billy agreed. “Where’s the list?”

  “I left it in the truck,” I replied. “Will you go get it? I would but you know I’m scared to death of lightning.”

  “I’ll go,” Billy said as he turned and walked to the utility room door.

  “B
e careful and hurry up,” I called to him as he walked out into the dangerous storm.

  I walked over to the door to watch. As scared as I was of the storm, I would stand out in it all night long if I could have my mother back. I would do anything to get my mother back... even if that meant that I had to kill Naomi Kent. Actually, after seeing the shambles that my mother’s bedroom was in, I’d relish the thought of inflicting harm on that woman.

  Billy went to the truck and retrieved the papers and my handbag. When he got back inside, he was soaking wet.

  “I brought your purse in just in case.” He smiled. “I don’t want to go back out there until I have to. It’s terrible outside. Lightning fills the sky.”

  “What list?” Frank asked as Billy grabbed a towel from the cabinet and dried himself.

  “We got a list of the women in the Stanardsville Social Club. We were going to scope out these women, but things have changed.”

  “They certainly have,” I said. “Now that we know Naomi Kent’s prints were found in the police car, we can be pretty sure that she’s the one we’re after. There’s no doubt in my mind!”

  “Why bother with these women, if we know Kent is the one?”

  “Since Naomi, if she’s the one, targeted some of these women, I think we can safely say that others might be in danger. Naomi Kent may be lurking around her next victim’s house.”

  “We need to catch her before...”

  “What about Mom?” Claire asked.

  “I’m pretty sure she’s locked Mom up somewhere and left her to die, moving on to her next victim,” I said. “What we need to do is find Mom, and the only way we’re going to do that is by finding the Kent woman.”

  “But how are we going to find her? We don’t have the slightest clue as to where she could be.”

  “If what Billy says is true, she’ll go after someone else and we have to figure out who the next victim will be.”

  “That’s like looking for a four-leaf clover in a field of grass!”

  “What other choice do we have?”

  “I’m guessing she’s the one who went after Daisy at the hospital. Now I’m wondering if she might’ve paid a visit to Gabe at his house.”

  “Sheriff Hudson has a man over there now,” Cole said. “She won’t get close to him unless she goes through one of our deputies.” Cole grinned. “And you know how hard that would be.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Your guys are big. It would take a mighty strong person to bring one of you guys down.”

  “Or a tiny person with a gun,” Randy surmised. “That’s all it would take. You don’t have to be rough and tough to pull the trigger.”

  We all glanced at each other.

  “Suppose the suspect disposed of your mother…” Frank started to say, but stopped before the rest of the words were out of his mouth.

  “Frank!” I yelled. “Don’t say that!”

  “I’m sorry. What I meant was, suppose Kent ditched your mother.”

  “Tell us what’s on your mind,” Billy said.

  “Let’s face the facts. She killed her and got rid of the body or she locked her up in a remote place, hoping she’d never be found. We need to search places we think she might have locked up your mother.”

  “And where do you suggest we start?”

  “The first place I’d check would be Kansas Moon’s house. It’s isolated and there’s no one there anymore.”

  “Now that’s a good idea.”

  “We need to check on Gabe Clark, too. He could be her next victim. If Gabe is all right, and we still haven’t found your mother, then I say we check out the women on the list. Time is running out.”

  “Frank has a point,” Cole said. “We can check out the women on the list later. Right now I think we have to check out the most likely place.”

  “And that would be...”

  “Gabe’s or Kansas Moon’s house.”

  “The more time that passes, the worse our chances get of finding your mother,” Randy said. “Speed is a necessity.”

  Randy tried to comfort us as Billy, Frank and Cole looked over the list. His intentions were good.

  “I think I’d feel better if I called the house,” I said to no one in particular. I reached into my purse and retrieved my cell phone. After punching the number, I walked off to the side and waited for someone to answer.

  I was talking to Sarah when Cole’s cell phone went off. From the look on his face, I could tell something had happened.

  “Sarah, let me call you back later,” I said. “Something’s going on.”

  “Sure,” she replied. “Jesse, don’t worry about the kids. They’re doing fine. Geneva just fed Ethan and we were discussing how far technology has come over the years. She was impressed with the fact that man had developed an electric breast pump.”

  “Hey, it could’ve been a woman.”

  “I never thought of that.”

  “I have to go, Sarah. I’ll keep in touch.” I closed up the phone the minute Sarah said good-bye and then walked over to Billy.

  “What’s going on? What did I miss?”

  Everyone closed in on Cole.

  “That was Sheriff Hudson on the phone. He said Gabe Clark was attacked by a woman he claims to be Naomi Kent. She must’ve come through the woods, because she slipped in the back door of the basement without being seen.”

  “Is Gabe all right?” I asked.

  ‘He’s not dead, is he?” Claire asked.

  “He’s going to be all right. He’s in an ambulance and is on the way to the hospital.”

  “What did she do to him?”

  “She stabbed him several times with a kitchen knife. Fortunately, none of the wounds were fatal. He has a knife wound to the arm, leg and his left side.”

  “She meant business,” Claire said.

  “She was out to kill him,” Cole said. “She would have, too, if he hadn’t managed to hit the security alarm before she got a chance.”

  “See, I always said that everyone needs a security system in their home,” Claire said.

  “When the alarm went off, not only did it alert the Sheriff’s Office, but it was so loud inside the house that the deputy on duty heard it all the way out in his car.”

  “I’m sure glad he’s going to be okay,” I said. “Did they get her to tell them where my mother is?”

  “I’m afraid that she got away.”

  “What?” I asked, raising my voice. “Are you serious? Are you saying that she slipped through their grasp? I don’t believe it! They had her and they let her get away.”

  “Just calm down, Jesse. She fled the minute the alarm went off. The deputy didn’t even see her.”

  “Why didn’t he run after her?” Claire exclaimed. “He just let her run off into the woods! She could be in custody right now, but no, your guy let her get away! What kind of police force do you have here? That deputy should be fired. There’s no excuse for this. What’s wrong with your people? Don’t they know what their jobs are?”

  “At the time, saving Gabe’s life was highest on his list of priorities.”

  “I guess that was the right thing to do,” I said.

  “Besides, the deputy never saw her, didn’t know which way she went, and couldn’t be sure that she even ran off into the woods. His first responsibility was to the injured person.”

  Claire started to say something, but I stepped up and stopped her.

  “Forget it, Claire. The deputy did what he was supposed to do. We can’t blame him. Suppose he ran after her, but she got away, and then Gabe died. How would you feel?”

  “But…”

  “Police have rules to go by for a reason. I’m not happy that she got away, but I’d rather have her on the loose than to have Gabe dead.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “I know I am. The sheriff and his men will find her, but they can’t bring Gabe back to life.”

  I looked at Cole and said, “She’s the killer and she’s on the loose. She faile
d to kill Daisy at the hospital and now she’s failed to kill Gabe. She’s probably really mad.”

  “You can bet on that.”

  “If Mom is still alive, I bet she’ll go back and take her frustrations out on her. I’m going with the idea that Mom’s still alive, but if we don’t get on the ball and find her, she won’t be for long.”

  “I agree,” Frank Trainum said. “I think you’re absolutely right. We know Naomi Kent is responsible for at least one death.”

  “She’s killed more than one!” I said, loudly.

  When I get scared, my voice goes up a notch, and the more scared I get, the louder my voice gets. I was petrified. I knew Mom’s time was running out. If she was still alive, she wouldn’t be for long if Naomi did as we expected and went back to the scene.

  But where was the scene?

  “Once she’s arrested, we’ll be able to pin the other deaths on her, I’m sure,” Cole said. “But for the time being, she’s still out there and she’s dangerous. We have to remember that and we have to be careful.”

  Everyone started to speak at once, but Billy put a stop to our talk when he raised his hand and said, “We need to get on the road and look for her. Let’s put our heads together and come up with something.”

  “We don’t know where to begin,” Claire said as she started to cry. “It’s hopeless. We’ll never find her.”

  Billy held up the copies we made of Daisy’s list of club members and said, “We have a start. Let’s get on the road and start looking. As I see it, we have only four names to check out. Since we don’t suspect them anymore, they may be the ones who are in danger.”

  “Naomi might be headed to one of their houses right now,” Cole said. “If that’s true, we might be able to snag her.”

  “I agree with you,” Frank said. “It’s our only lead. Naomi Kent is on a mission to kill and she hasn’t accomplished her goal, so she’ll take it out on someone.”

  “Our best bet is to check out the women on the list who we think might be in danger,” Cole replied.

 

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