Becky finally broke the ensuing silence. “Only thing I can think of is a tall, lanky priest, dressed in his robe, and in a church. But how would you explain that?”
She sat with the other adults sat in the car, silently. Guy started the engine and turned toward the women. “I can’t explain it. None of us can.”
Lizzie added, “Since the priest theory is ridiculous, we still have to try to understand what’s going on in her head. How about we go out to eat and not worry about it for now.”
Becky agreed with them about that. Guy pulled out of parking and headed downtown for another of their favorite restaurants. Becky would be driving back to Cody for the night, right after they got back to the Hayden’s house. She wanted to cut a couple of hours off her early morning drive to Laramie Monday morning to discuss Jeremy. It wasn’t lost on her that Jeremy had been described as tall and lanky.
***
In Nebraska City, earlier that morning, Bert had taken Missy out for a sunrise stroll around the same field as the previous day. The patches of snow were crusted over from the night’s cold and they shimmered like diamonds in the early light of the southeasterly rising sun. Missy’s breath had been like puffs of smoke from a cannon in the still morning air. She had a ball running on each glistening patch and grabbing at the chunks which broke off under her feet. She even had a good chase of a cottontail which happened to be grazing on a clump of grass. It narrowly escaped her sharp teeth as it darted under a pile of limbs in the tree line. Since hunger was not her motivation, she had quickly lost interest in that new toy and looked for other things to chase. By the time they returned to the doghouse, Bert’s cheeks and nose had started to tingle from the four degrees above zero temperature. The moisture from his breath was frozen to his face. He knew his cheeks were probably redder than those of a four-year-old child after outdoor recess.
Back at the motel, Bert had told Norah about the chase, fed Missy, and prepared his questions with Norah. They wanted the meeting with Patricia Domenica to be professional and productive. Norah had been in a chatty and typically bubbly mood. Her lively and energetic personality shone brightly when she became engaged in an issue. She had sat back against the headboard, watching Missy dine on a mix of dog food and deer, while sharing notes about the case with her husband. Bert’s emotions ranged from enlightenment, to love and admiration, and to amusement, as he listened to his wife’s often witty assessments. Whether a living or a spirit woman, Norah was always a pure joy to him. He always felt in love with her.
A few minutes before 9 a.m., Bert pulled up to the gas station and went inside for a coffee. Patricia was already there, just beginning to sip on her cup. She was a dark-haired little woman with a pleasant round face which seemed to have a permanent smile. She was short, barely five feet tall, and on the plump side. With her tan and brown dress and yellow shawl, she looked like the epitome of a grandmother to Bert. He couldn’t help but be cheerful as he returned her infectious smile. He thought her to be very likeable.
“Hello, I’m Bert Lynnes. Thanks for meeting with me,” he said.
She replied, “Hi, Bert, I’m Patricia, but most people call me Patty. I’m happy to do anything which might somehow bring peace to Robert. He’s had a very hard time without Vicki.” While her English was good, she had an underlying Spanish accent. An aroma of a flowery perfume accompanied her.
He thought her perfume to be a bit strong, to the point of being distracting. “I know we don’t have much time before church starts. How do you know Robert’s mother?”
“Vicki and I attended the same church for probably ten or fifteen years. We even worked together there for a couple of years before she started going to this church.”
“So, she didn’t always go to this church, then?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “We were both going to the Catholic church out west of town.”
“You said you both worked there for a while before leaving. What did you do?” Bert said.
“I became a part-time administrator the last three years I was there. Vicki was their bookkeeper for several years before that. She kept working there up until she died,” Patty said.
“You’re sure that she’s dead, then?”
“Oh, for sure,” Patty said emphatically. “There’s no way she would have left Robert. He was the love of her life.”
Bert then asked, “You said you both left that church to come to the Calvary Community Church. When was that and may I ask why?”
“It was about May of 2009, roughly a year before Vicki disappeared,” she said. “I changed churches a few months after Vicki did. She never did tell me why she wanted to change. I just decided to go with her to CCC. She was my best friend.”
“You were her best friend, but she didn’t tell you why she wanted to change churches,” Bert said. “That seems a little strange. Was she upset about something?”
“Oh yeah,” Patty said, “something made her very mad and she didn’t want to talk about it. I respected that and didn’t ask. I always figured it had something to do with the books. She was a meticulous bookkeeper and the church administration was quite loose in that regard. They probably blamed her for some of their oversights. She’d had enough and said she would keep working there but wasn’t going to go to the services anymore.”
“Hmm,” he muttered. “I find it interesting that she would get mad about something to do with the work and change where she went to church yet continue working there.”
Patty continued, “Well, if you knew Vicki it wouldn’t be too surprising. She worked contractually with her various places, so maybe couldn’t leave. In addition, she took a lot of pride in her work. She wouldn’t want to turn it over to someone else if she didn’t have to.”
Bert asked one more question. “So, you and Vicki attended church at CCC with Robert for just over a year before she turned up missing. Did it go smoothly at this new church?”
“Yes,” Patty said, “we had a good time here. A neat church with good people. We enjoyed it and we’d usually go to eat lunch together afterwards. Robert was almost always with us, too.”
“So, you don’t know what upset Vicki. How did she act during that last year?” Bert asked.
Patty seemed to be pulling up those memories before answering Bert. “As I recall, she seemed to be kinda like an earthquake. No visible signs of any underlying ruptures, but you knew it could crack at any time. I always knew she was deeply troubled about something, but she tried to hide it and didn’t want to ever talk about it. She would get moody sometimes and clam up for a while. Then it seemed like she’d resolve it in her head and would act normally for a while.”
Bert checked the time on his phone. “Patty, I can’t thank you enough for meeting with me. I appreciate your insights. Would it be okay if I call you again sometime if more questions come up? I know church will be starting in a few minutes.”
“Oh yes. By all means. Call anytime,” she said. “If you’d like to sit with Robert and me, you’re welcome to. He and I always sit together, and we usually go for lunch afterwards. I feel that’s the least I can do for Vicki.”
Bert thanked her for the invitation and left to get his car. Missy was waiting patiently in the cargo area and jumped around excitedly when he approached and opened the door. He smiled to Norah in the passenger seat as he escorted Missy outside and to a grassy area behind the station. Her walk would be short for now, as they needed to get to the church in the next ten minutes. Her disappointment was obvious as he commanded her back into the doghouse. Ears down and her tail tucked, she reluctantly jumped into the cargo area and flopped down, her back to Bert. He couldn’t help but wonder if that was an intentional snub. What does it say about you when your coyote hybrid thinks you’re a POS, he wondered?
Back in the car and driving to the CCC church, Bert asked Norah what kind of thoughts or visions she might be having today about the case. He knew she’d been reading Patty after the meeting. With the clear blue sky in the background through
the passenger window, Norah’s red flowing hair seemed to shimmer. In her spirit life, as when she was alive, she was so beautiful to him. He kept glancing at her as he drove the five minutes to the church.
“I have good feelings about her,” Norah said. “I’m seeing a vision of her standing in front of a closed door. Then she reaches forward with a key and begins to unlock the door. I get the feeling that there is something she knows which is key to solving this case. I don’t think she even knows what it is that she knows. You need to stay in touch with her and continue to talk with her, though, Honey. Somehow, you have to draw that knowledge out of her.”
“That’s tough, when you don’t even know the questions to ask,” he replied after some thought. “Maybe we should go to lunch with them after church and talk some more. I think you should go in the church with me, Sweetheart. You might pick up on something.”
In the church, Bert made sure to keep a portion of the pew beside him open for Norah. Nobody else would know she was there. Or would they? He noticed a teenage girl, seeming to be about seventeen, looking at them occasionally. She appeared to be looking at Norah, too. Another medium in the room, he wondered. Or was she an empath and just sensed Norah without seeing her? He made eye contact with the girl during one of her glances, and he smiled and nodded. Norah also looked straight at her and gave her beautiful smile. The girl seemed to understand and resumed her involvement in the service. It was the first time he and Norah had encountered another medium. He wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. Hopefully acknowledgement and nonchalance were the way.
The service went normally without any issues. As they were leaving the church, Bert noticed that a lot of people seemed to know Patty and Robert, and many asked him how he was doing. They gave Bert the impression that they knew Robert had been having problems. Robert answered them meekly and politely, without saying much. He seemed uncomfortable around people.
One fellow named Frederick patted Robert on the back and introduced himself to Bert. He invited Bert to come back and become a member of their church. Bert thanked him, said he was impressed with the church, and asked Frederick what brought him to this one.
Frederick answered, “If you’ve ever heard Marty Robbins’ song, The Master’s Call, you’d glimpse my journey which led me to this little congregation. I’d have to tell you that story over a beer sometime.” Then he added with a gleam in his eye, “Also, Mr. Bert, if a Nebraskan is to have any meaningful conversation with his equal, he has no choice but to talk with God.”
Bert tried very hard to contain his laughter. He just couldn’t do it. For the next couple of minutes, he kept recalling this man’s gleeful words and would start chuckling and then laughing. He knew this was close to a phrase from the movie, Braveheart, but it was still funny as hell. Sometimes, you just need a good laugh. Thanks, Frederick, he said to himself as he struggled to regain his composure and get back to the case at hand.
Bert accepted Patty’s invitation to join her and Robert for lunch at a little diner. He had just entered the doghouse, where Norah already occupied the passenger seat, when the teenager from inside the church approached his door. He rolled down his window and greeted her.
She extended her hand and shook his. “Hi, I’m Dori,” she said. “I’m really glad to meet someone else, finally, who has the same gift that I do.”
“Yes, I knew you did when I saw you looking at us inside,” he said. “I assume you see my wife?”
Dori said with a smile, “Yes, I see you, ma’am. I’m Dori and glad to meet you.”
“Glad to meet you, Dori,” Norah answered. “You’re the first person besides my husband that I’ve been able to communicate with.”
Dori answered, “I know the opposite side of that. I see a number of spirits around town, but they don’t try to talk with me.”
“Dori, I’d like to talk more with you later. We’re going to lunch with the couple over there, so must go now. Can I exchange numbers and talk later?”
Dori was eager to trade phone numbers and asked him to call her when they could talk more. As she walked back to her parents, Bert pulled out of parking and followed Patty’s vehicle.
He saw that Norah was smiling. She genuinely liked knowing that another medium could sense her and talk with her. Something about that seemed to make her feel a little more whole.
The lunch with Patty and Robert was friendly and enjoyable, but it provided no additional information of significant value. Both did confirm what Bert already knew from the police report, that Vicki had dated an avid golfer for a while. Patty felt that Vicki liked this guy, Daniel Simmons, better than the three or four others she’d dated during the previous ten years. She said that Vicki didn’t go out very often with any of them, maybe a couple times a month, nothing too serious.
Patty had no explanation for why Vicki’s car was at the golf course parking lot. Daniel was out of town, she said, and Vicki wasn’t one to eat alone at the clubhouse. She couldn’t think of anyone else who Vicki might have met there. There was no reason for her to park so far away from the church to work on the books.
When they all left the restaurant, they said their goodbyes. Patty agreed to meet with Bert again whenever he felt the need. The grandmotherly little woman hugged Robert tightly and kissed his cheek.
She told him, “I’ll see you in a few days again, Bobbie, you please take care of yourself, Honey. You call me anytime if you want to talk. Your mom would want that.”
A sweet little lady, Bert thought to himself. He told a teary-eyed Robert that he’d get back with him, probably the next day, and see where they were in the investigation. Turning to Norah as the others drove away, he suggested they go to the golf course unless she had another idea. She agreed with that. Both were realizing that her psychic world was probably the best chance they had of solving this case.
Bert pulled off the entrance drive to the Table Creek Golf Course so he could let Missy out for a relief break and a short run. Before he exited their vehicle, Bert laid Vicki’s silver hairbrush on the dash. He hoped that it might help Norah to channel anything about Vicki. Then he walked with Missy down this empty drive. No golfers were out on this cold day in January. As usual, Missy almost smiled as she gleefully trotted down the fence line, stopping several times to drain her bladder. Bert sauntered down the road, keeping her in sight as he inhaled the cold air and cleared his head. He would need all his brain cells functioning if he was to help figure out this cold case.
After he and Missy were back in the doghouse, they drove on up the snowy lane to the course parking lot. Upon entering, Bert stopped to check the police report and see where Vicki’s car was found. After identifying the parking spot, they drove across the large lot and parked on the exact place where her car was discovered. He turned off the vehicle engine, leaned back, and told Norah this was it.
Norah looked at the hairbrush for a minute, and then stared straight ahead without seeing. She tried to clear her mind of everything and let it drift back to a time seven-and-a-half years earlier, when Vicki’s car mysteriously arrived at this position. Norah closed her eyes and focused on the faint video playing inside her eyelids.
She finally opened her eyes and spoke. “It’s so faint, Honey, so hard to tell much. But I’m seeing the fuzzy vision of a small car, a sedan, I’m assuming it’s her car, pulling into and stopping on this spot. I see the door swing open. That’s it, Honey. Someone is about to get out of the car, but I can’t see them get out. My vision just stops there. I can’t even be sure it’s her car, though I think it is.”
“That’s okay, Sweetheart. That’s more than we had before,” Bert said. “Maybe more will come to you in time. For now, how about we swing by the church where Vicki worked. I think it’s about a mile from here, to the north.” He could sense her disappointment.
They got back on highway 75 and drove north about three-fourths of a mile to the entrance drive of the Holy Mother Catholic Church. This was possibly one of the last places Vicki visited befor
e her disappearance. By now it was about 4 p.m. and the sun was getting noticeably lower in the southwestern sky. The driveway was clear and empty, denoting the heavy traffic from the earlier services. The church now appeared to be virtually vacant. Bert only saw one woman going toward a side entrance to the main church building. She disappeared from his view. He drove slowly into the main parking area and stopped where they could survey the front of the large stone church. As he was marveling at the beauty of the construction and surrounding grounds, he noticed that Norah seemed anxious.
He asked, “What’s the matter, my Love? I get the feeling that something’s bothering you.”
“You’re right,” she replied. “I’m getting a much stronger sense of her here. It’s nothing specific, I can just feel that she was present here. That’s maybe nothing, since we know that she worked here and went to church here for a while[BB1]. Maybe my feeling is just validating what we already think we know. Or maybe it’s vice-versa.”
He thought about that for a couple of minutes. “Well, Sweetheart, that could be significant because it means that you’re channeling her, even if faintly. I think it means that the doorway between you and her is at least opened a crack. You have a chance to open it further as time goes on. It’s going to be dark soon, so let’s go back to the room and relax a bit. We can try to make sense of it after that.”
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