by Leigh Hearon
“Who’s the beneficiary of Eloise’s estate?”
“Who do you think?”
The two women sat in silence. Annie picked up the bottle of Chardonnay to top off Kim’s glass, but Kim put her hand over it.
“I’ve got to write up a couple of search warrants,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll call Dan, and we’ll get Judge Casper to sign them first thing tomorrow morning.”
“For the storage unit company?”
“That, and for anything associated with Eloise Carr’s will. I’d like to know the progression of that document, as well, and something tells me Ron Carr is not going to be terribly forthcoming.”
Annie pictured Ron in her mind’s eye—a dapper man in his midsixties with a ready smile on his face, well dressed, looking every inch the part of a successful real estate agent. She’d seen him only twice, and both times were at events to mourn the loss of lives. Now, she realized, Ron Carr may very well have had a hand in both deaths. Maybe Pete’s as well.
She reluctantly put the cork back in the wine bottle. She should have known. Never trust a man who hands out business cards at his mother’s memorial service.
CHAPTER 28
TUESDAY, MAY 24
At six o’clock, Annie’s alarm clock went off with a vengeance. Her right hand came crashing down on the offending item, sending it to the floor. So why did the shrill noise continue? Cursing, she sat up in bed and realized it was her cell phone’s harsh ring that now thwarted her ability to sleep.
After stomping over to the dresser where the phone was recharging, she snatched it up without looking at the caller ID.
“This is Annie.” She sounded as sleepy as she felt.
“Annie! Thank goodness I got you before you went out to the stables. It’s Martha, dear. I can’t find Lavender. Is she with you?”
Martha sounded distraught. It was the first time Annie could remember her being anything less than unfailingly calm.
Annie sat down on the edge of her bed and replied, “No, she’s not here, Martha. When did you last see her?”
“Last night, around eight o’clock, and I’m almost out of my mind with worry.”
Eight o’clock? That was ten hours ago. Well, Lavender had disappeared before and she’d always shown up like a bad penny. Then again, usually that was after she and Lavender had had a major blowup. Annie couldn’t imagine this happening with Martha.
“Was something wrong? Was she upset when she left? Where did she say she was going?”
“Oh my, so many questions. Let me think. No, nothing was wrong. Lavender was catching the bus to go to one of her elder meetings, you know, the classes she takes on Native American symbolism. Or is it spiritualism? I can never quite remember.”
Annie put one hand over her brow. “And how were her spirits when she left? No pun intended.”
“Oh, fine, dear. Lavender was in a fine mood. She usually gets back around ten or perhaps a little later, depending on whether she takes the bus home or someone gives her a ride. This is all part of her regular routine.”
“So what happened?”
“Well, I’m afraid I fell asleep. I tend to go to bed earlier than your sister.”
Half sister, Annie wanted to say, but didn’t.
“I woke up around two o’clock and assumed that she’d slipped in sometime after I’d turned out my light. But when I got up at five o’clock to let the cat out, I checked her bedroom and she wasn’t there. Her bed was still made and she never came home!”
Martha’s voice was going up in pitch and she was rapidly working her way into a small fit of hysteria. This had to stop.
“I’m sure Lavender is all right. She probably just spent the night with one of her friends and will be home shortly. I wouldn’t worry too much about her. Lavender always lands on her feet.”
“Yes, dear, but she knows to call if she’s going to be late. She knows how important it is for me to know that she’s safe. She wouldn’t just decide to do something and not tell me. But she hasn’t called and she’s not answering her phone. Something must be terribly wrong!”
What was wrong, Annie thought, was Lavender’s totally thoughtless behavior. She was sure her half sister was off having fun with her equally wacky chums, with no clue as to how much she’d upset Martha by her unexplained absence. She fully intended to let Lavender have it with both barrels when she decided to reappear. Lying to the police was bad enough, but causing Martha unnecessary stress was even more unacceptable.
“I seriously believe that Lavender’s just fine.” Annie tried to make her voice sound reassuring. “But if she hasn’t shown up by the time I’ve fed the horses, I’ll pick you up and we’ll go down to the Sheriff’s Office to report her missing. Although I’m not sure there’s anything they can do. I think adults have the right to be missing a lot longer than minors before the police do anything about it.”
The only way Lavender could be classified as an adult was by the birth date on her driver’s license, which happened to be suspended. She searched her brain for something that Martha could do now to ease her agitation.
“Did Lavender leave her address book at home? Do you have the names and phone numbers of any of her friends whom you could call?”
“I’ve already looked, dear. She must have taken the little spiral notebook where she keeps important numbers with her. I’ll call Elder Home Care as soon as the office is open to see if they’ve heard from her, but I don’t think Lavender was supposed to work today.”
“It’s certainly worth a try,” Annie agreed. “Try not to worry, Martha. I’ll call you in an hour to see if she’s shown up yet.”
“Thank you, dear. I knew you’d know exactly what to do.”
An hour later, Lavender had yet to resurface. Annie cursed her half sister and quickly showered and dressed. Throwing an apple into her saddlebag purse, she headed out the door. She didn’t realize Sasha had sneaked into the cab until she was halfway down the road toward Martha’s home.
She was alarmed at the paleness of Martha’s face; the stress of the past few hours made her appear more fragile and vulnerable than Annie had ever seen her. Now she was glad her naughty Belgian had decided to hitch a ride. Puppy comfort was exactly what Martha needed. With Sasha on her lap, she was more than content to stay in the truck while Annie scouted out the means by which law enforcement might possibly help find her miscreant sister. She was not looking forward to Dan’s response to her plight.
The Sheriff’s Office was a flurry of activity; in her haste to help Martha, Annie had forgotten that Kim was in the midst of trying to get search warrants written, approved, signed, and served. Annie found her huddled in her office, her eyes on her computer screen and her hands typing at least eighty words a minute. She realized she couldn’t possibly bother Kim now. Dan’s office door was locked, a rare occurrence, but Annie could hear Tony and Dan arguing loudly inside, presumably about the new information that had emerged about Ron Carr. The door flung open, and Dan and Tony strode out in the direction of the evidence room. Annie wasn’t sure if they’d seen her and decided to ignore her presence or whether she simply was invisible this morning. She quietly returned to the truck to see how Martha was doing.
For a moment, Annie’s heart stopped—Martha looked so frail, sitting in her truck, with all the color drained out of her face, that she worried that her friend might have had a heart attack. Her eyes were closed and her hands were neatly folded in her lap. Sasha was sitting by her feet, on the floorboard, looking up and obviously wondering why the nice lady wouldn’t pick her up and play with her.
But, no, she could see the small, even rise and fall of her breathing under her sweater. Martha simply was exhausted. She’d done all she could do to find Lavender, and now that the task was in Annie’s capable hands, she could sleep.
As well she should, Annie thought. She quietly opened the driver’s door and motioned for Sasha to come to her. Snapping on her leash, Annie closed the door with as little motion as possible and r
eturned inside. Someone was going to have to talk to her sooner or later, and she was prepared to wait.
On a whim, she pulled up Lavender’s contact info on her phone and selected Call. A bright, cheery voice came on after the fourth ring.
“Hi, this is Lavender. If you’ve reached this message, I’m off exploring the universe but I’ll be happy to talk to you when I’m back. Don’t forget to leave your number. Bye!”
A series of beeps followed this uplifting message and then a disembodied voice announced, “Mailbox is full.” Probably from all of Martha’s messages this morning, Annie thought. She wished she knew how to break into voice mail to see if any of the messages might give a clue as to what was taking Lavender so long to get home. It was now nearly nine o’clock.
She decided to check on Dan again. As she began to walk down the main hallway, several deputies she didn’t know walked purposefully toward her. Their gait implied they were on an important mission, but she noticed that everyone stopped to say hello to the beautiful Belgian pup beside her. Sasha was on her best behavior and allowed herself to be petted without jumping up.
Now no one was in their office. Well, Esther would know where they were, she hoped. Tapping on the door of the tiny room that was emergency response central, she peered in and saw Esther doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. Annie knew she’d have every blank filled in a matter of minutes; it was only Tuesday, an easy day for cutthroat crossword puzzlers, which Esther certainly was.
She opened the door a few inches. “Where is everyone? I have a missing person report to file.”
Esther looked up. “Kim just left for court, and Dan and Tony are holed up in the evidence room, yelling at each other.”
“Business as usual?”
“Pretty much. Who are you reporting missing?”
“My crazy half sister. She didn’t come home last night, and the angel of a woman who allows her to live with her is convinced she’s been abducted by aliens.”
Esther put down her pencil. “How long has she been gone?”
“About twenty-four hours.”
“Sorry, Annie.” Esther shook her head, sadly. “Not much we can do until forty-eight hours have passed. Unless she’s been legally declared incompetent and has a formal guardian who can speak for her.”
“Legally incompetent, no. Reputation within her own little community, definitely.”
“Last place seen?”
“Technically, at home. But she was supposed to take off around eight last night to go to some meeting with Native American elders.”
“Well, has anyone checked to see if she showed up?”
“Actually . . . well, no. I don’t know the people involved or even the name of the group.”
“Let me see what I can find out. This crossword is not sufficiently challenging me. What’s your sister’s name?”
“Lavender Carson. Thanks. I’ll wait outside. And by the way, it’s half sister.”
Fifteen minutes later, Esther joined Annie and Sasha in the waiting room.
“I think I found the group, Annie. There’s one called Native Northwest Spiritualists that meets every Monday night in the Lutheran church basement in Port Chester. It seems to be some kind of New Agey organization. The leader, who calls himself an elder—but, trust me, is second-generation Norwegian—remembers Lavender Carson as a frequent attendee, although he said she wasn’t present at last night’s meeting.”
A small sense of panic began to pour through Annie’s body. She’d never considered the possibility that Lavender hadn’t gone where she’d said she was going. Maybe her absence was more serious than she’d thought.
But the idea of sharing this knowledge with Martha was anathema to her right now. At least before she talked to Dan or some other person she could trust to give the right advice on how to track down Lavender.
“Thanks, Esther.” She hurriedly got up and started jogging down the hall, the pup trotting beside her, happy to be traveling at a speed that usually got her in trouble inside Annie’s home.
“Annie! I don’t think this is a good time to interrupt Dan.” Esther’s voice came trailing after her. She ignored it. She’d suddenly remembered what Lavender had told her at the reception following Eloise Carr’s memorial service—that she’d told Ron Carr that she had been with Ashley on the day his mother’s body was found. He’d told her how brave she was, and she’d thought he was “just the nicest man.”
CHAPTER 29
TUESDAY, MAY 24
Annie burst into the evidence room. Dan and Tony’s backs were to her. Several evidence bags were spread out on a large table, and the men appeared to be examining one specific item. Only when the door slammed behind her did they turn around.
“Annie! What are you doing here?” Tony looked shocked.
“Lavender’s missing,” she panted. “She told Ron Carr Junior that she’d been with Ashley the day she found Eloise Carr’s body.”
“So?” Tony seemed utterly confused.
“Dan told him that Lavender lied, that she knew something about the death of his mother and he’d get it out of her. Remember, Dan? You talked to him on the phone, right after Pete’s arrest and after she failed the polygraph.” It was hard now not to go up to him and slug him in the stomach.
Dan’s face went white.
“Where’s Ron? Where is he?”
“I didn’t know they’d met,” Dan said. “I never mentioned her by name.”
“Well, she did! She went right up and introduced herself to him at the reception. So he knows who she is, and now I’m worried he has her.”
Tony looked at Dan. “Let me find out if anyone’s located him yet.” He left the room as if being there now was the last place he wanted to be.
“If he’s located yet? What does that mean? Is he AWOL, too?”
She was practically screaming at the sheriff and didn’t care. His careless words had put her sister in danger, and she would make damned sure that he was going to get her out of it. Wherever she might be.
“Hold on, Annie,” Dan said, taking both her arms. “Just calm down for a moment until we can sort this all out.” He led her to a nearby chair. Annie found herself seated without remembering sitting down, and somehow a glass of water appeared in her hand. She took a long swallow, and her mind felt clearer.
“I assume Kim’s filled you in,” she started.
“We know Ron’s deep in debt but that all his financial problems will be solved once his mother’s will passes through probate.”
“Oh, no—we know more than that,” Annie bitterly responded. “We know that Ron probably killed his mother for her money, then killed Ashley and finally Pete because they knew too much. And now he’s probably going to kill Lavender because he thinks she knows too much, as well.” She was about to cry. It was only the horror of knowing this that kept her from dissolving into a puddle.
“We don’t know that, Annie, but that’s what we’re trying to figure out now.”
“Yeah, well, while you figure that out, my sister is in immediate danger. She left home last night at eight, never showed up for her meeting in Port Chester, and has yet to come home. Her cell phone is full and she’s not answering. I’d say the odds are pretty good that Ron is involved in her disappearance, wouldn’t you?”
Dan sighed. “We’ve been looking for him since 0600 hours. According to his wife, he left home last night and hasn’t been seen since.”
“So what more evidence do you need? He has Lavender, damn it, and you’re just sitting here. Do something!” Her last sentence ended in a shriek.
Sasha reacted to her mistress’s distress by doing the only thing she could think of to relieve her own discomfort. She jumped onto the stainless steel evidence table and grabbed the small toy lamb that Annie had first seen weeks before at Pete’s campsite. Clamping it firmly in her teeth, she whirred it back and forth in her mouth until white polyester fiber began to fly around her. As she shredded the animal, she emitted a low growl, daring an
yone to take it from her.
Annie stared at her dog, her mouth open. But it wasn’t because Sasha was being a bad puppy; Annie knew she’d put her dog under unnecessary stress, and Sasha was reacting the only way she knew how. Something was bothering her mistress, and she was trying to kill the enemy. Frankly, if Sasha had gone after Dan’s pant leg, she wasn’t sure she would have stopped her. But now she saw something emerge from the remains of the animal that she did not want Sasha to decimate.
She stood up, said, “Sasha, drop,” in a firm voice. The dog ignored her and Annie repeated her request. This time, Sasha stopped shaking the toy long enough for Annie to gently take it from her mouth. “Good dog,” she told her, and reached into her pocket for the ever-present treats she kept there. There were none. Damn. Well, Sasha was going to have to learn to expect delayed gratification once in a while, anyway. All big dogs had to learn this lesson.
Annie dug her hand into what remained of the sheep toy and pulled out two pieces of paper. The first paper was familiar to her—it was the same lease form that Annie had laboriously filled out at the storage unit the week before. Only this one was in Ron Carr Junior’s name. He had rented the unit back in January on a month-to-month basis. He’d chosen the largest storage area, just as Marcus had instructed Annie to, but the number of his new unit was smudged. All Annie could see was an A; the adjoining number was no longer visible on the ink-smudged copy.
The second paper was a handwritten note from Ron to Ashley.
“Darling Ashley,” it read. “You know you mean the world to me. But you have to trust me to make sure our future together is financially secure. Please don’t meddle in my affairs. Pete and I know what we’re doing, and you need to stay on the sidelines. Bad things will happen if you don’t understand this. You know I’ve got your best interests in mind. Trust me to do the right thing.” It was signed, “All my love, Ronny.”