Love and Suspicion Read online

  “Nancy just happened to overhear you talking to her son. I check on her every night, make sure her doors are locked and such. I don’t like the young ladies living out there alone the way she and the boy do.”

  “Willie is a great kid, isn’t he?” Rod finished logging out and then chose the chair next to Wayne’s to sit in. A uniformed male dispatcher Rod didn’t know very well sat behind the counter and seemed to be paying little attention to either deputy.

  “One of the best. Anything interesting happening out there today?”

  “Not much on my shift. Someone wrote graffiti in chalk on the side of the new school last night. Victor got it cleaned off before the kids showed up this morning.”

  “Really? Maybe I better swing by there more often.” He chuckled. “Sounds like a new round of troublemakers coming up the ranks. Makes me glad I’m retiring.”

  “I bet. I tried to catch that stray dog again, but he’s terrified of me. He could use a good meal, so tomorrow I’ll take some dog food to him.”

  “Good idea. Sooner or later a hungry dog will head for a chicken coop.”

  Rod took note of Wayne’s unbuttoned vest and how it was beginning to fray with age. “Mind if I ask a few questions?”

  “About what?”

  “The kidnapping?”

  “Oh that. Otis said you were taking a turn at it. Terrible, terrible thing. I’m afraid I won’t be much help. I don’t know anything the Sheriff didn’t put in the file.”

  “You read it?”

  “Cover to cover back in the day.”

  “I just wondered if you suspected anyone the sheriff might not have paid much attention to.”

  “You know, with all the strangers in town, it could have been anyone.”

  “No one comes to mind?”

  “Well, there was that one guy, Chuck Hanson, his name was. There’s a letter in the file about him. His sister is still around, maybe you should talk to her.”

  “Thanks, I will.”

  Wayne got up and headed for the door. “See you tomorrow,” he said as he walked out to start his shift and closed the door behind him.

  ROD DECIDED TO TREAT himself to a good meal at the best restaurant in town he’d found so far. He had just walked in the door and removed his hat when he heard a familiar giggle, looked around and found Millie sitting alone in a booth.

  When she motioned him over, he gladly went to join her. “What are you doing here so late?”

  “Even a happy dispatcher gets tired of being alone sometimes.” Millie lowered her voice. “See that guy over there?” She nodded toward the cook. “I’ve had a crush on him for just years and years.”

  “You need glasses.” Rod whispered, “He looks old enough to be your father.”

  Again she giggled, “He is my father.”

  Rod chuckled, set his hat on the table and took the menu the waitress handed him. “What are you having?”

  “Dad makes a mean omelet.”

  “With hot sauce and everything?”

  “Onions, chili peppers, hot sauce and he even adds an egg or two for good measure.”

  “Sounds like my kind of meal.” Rod set the menu aside and waited while the waitress filled an empty cup with coffee. He placed his order, and then relaxed.

  “The town is all a buzz about you, you know,” said Millie.

  “I was afraid of that. Is it the one about me arresting Earl?”

  “No, it’s the one about you digging up the old kidnapping case.”

  “The whole town knows?”

  “Buddy called everyone he knows, even me.”

  “Is the whole town for or against my opening an old can of worms?”

  “They could hardly be against it, at least the old timers couldn’t, it would look too suspicious.”

  “I suppose it would. You ready for another soda? Your glass is empty.”

  “No thanks, I’ve had my fill. People my age and younger would love to know what happened too.” She grinned, “So what did happen?”

  “I might need a little more than a few days to figure that out.”

  Millie chanced the subject. “I understand you’re hitting on Nancy.”

  “Hitting on her?”

  “Isn’t that what the good old boys down in Texas call it?”

  “I call it making friends, with your permission, of course.”

  “Let me think about that. By the way, I know you’ve only been here a while, but would you like to donate to Wayne Griffin’s going away party?”

  “Sure. I might need a first paycheck though.”

  “You’ll get one tomorrow.”

  Rod took another sip before his coffee got cold. “That’s a comfort. Are you in charge of planning the party?”

  She rolled her eyes, “No, thank goodness. The sheriff’s wife has it all under control. I’m just collecting money.”

  “Isn’t the county chipping in?”

  Millie covered half her mouth before she whispered, “The county is broke, or so they claim.”

  “Wayne deserves a good send off after all the years he’s put in.”

  “Yes he does. He’s always been good to me and the people around here like him. Even most of the teenagers like him.”

  It was Rod’s turn to change the subject. “Who’s this Crazy Eddie character?”

  “He’s not really crazy, at least I don’t think he is. It’s a nickname. We call Ben Coulter ‘Lucky’ because he escaped death when his tow truck got T-boned, and we call Eddie crazy because he won the lottery and is too cheap to buy a new truck.”

  “And he drives like a crazy man?”

  “True, and you’ll probably never catch him. Lucky put a new engine in the truck a couple of years ago and our cruisers are no match for it. So far, Eddie hasn’t hurt anyone and even though we can’t catch him, the sheriff writes a speeding ticket every time we get a call, which Eddie promptly pays.”

  “Is he your age?”

  She took a sip of her tea and set the cup down. “Let’s see, he must be in his fifties. I could look it up if it’s important.”

  “Don’t bother, I just never would have guessed he was that old. What about you?”

  She took a napkin out of the holder and began to fold it like a paper airplane. “What about me?” Millie asked.

  “How does a woman like you stay single?”

  “Didn’t Otis tell you? My husband is a marine stationed in Afghanistan. That’s why I spend a lot of time here with my other boyfriend. Loneliness, and the fear that Jeff won’t come back, can be a real killer for someone like me. You ever been in the service?”

  “No, I became a cop instead so I could fight the battles here at home.”

  “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of battles right here to fight. Otis doesn’t like to talk about it, but one of his sons is on drugs. I want to have kids someday, but if a sheriff can’t keep his kids off drugs, how can my husband and I?”

  “Good question.” He paused to let the waitress set his plate in front of him and leave before he asked, “So who does most of the town think the kidnapper was?”

  “Most can’t even guess, and those that can have a list of suspects a mile long. I might be able to find an old phone book in the library, if you think it would help.”

  Rod finished his first bite and then got ready to take another. “That would probably be my last resort, but I’ll know who to ask if I get that desperate. You’re right about one thing – your dad makes the best omelet I’ve ever tasted.”

  WITH SILENCE CONTINUING the next day where the feud between Michael and Jerry was concerned, the town went from curious, to frustrated, and then anxious. Those that could, kept their eyes glued to computers displaying Michael’s billboard, with others keeping an eye on Jerry, his business, his car and his home, although most didn’t think Michael would actually attack Jerry at home where his wife and children lived.

  Around three o’clock Wednesday afternoon, something suddenly started to change. The man Michael hired to fix
his billboard, climbed the ladder and started to take all the letters off. It took him nearly an hour to replace them with the new sign, which surprisingly had to do with Terrell Office Supply and not the Woodbury Tile Company. The sign read:

  Terrell Office Supply Anniversary Celebration

  Join us in the parking lot Thursday from 12:00 to 2:00 pm

  for a free lunch, cake and ice cream

  While the town laughed, Jerry Terrell threw open the door to his store and stared at the billboard. Across the parking lot, Michael stood with his arms folded and a grin on his face, all of which was captured by an astute passerby who just happened to have a video camera. Jerry stormed back inside, nearly toppled a display shelf, caught it just in time, and stomped back to his office.

  When they saw the video on social media, the town held its breath. Was this the straw that would finally break the camel’s back?

  TIFFANY’S DAY AT THE bookstore was filled with a constant stream of visitors who were again more interested in the latest news about the Michael and Jerry feud, than in buying and reading books. She didn’t mind, it made the day go by faster. Mariam apologized for not being able to find her a room to stay in and when she mentioned she was staying at Earl’s mansion, she assumed it would be all over town in less than a heartbeat. That was okay too, it wasn’t meant to be a secret.

  After Tiffany closed up shop, she hurried to her temporary home. At the door, she considered ringing the bell, but when she tried, the door was unlocked so she went right in.

  “It’s just me,” she shouted before she spotted Earl sitting in the living room waiting for her. “Oh, sorry I yelled.” She plopped down in an easy chair opposite him and asked, “Have you heard that the new deputy is asking questions about the case?”

  “Beverly told me.”

  She snickered. “Why do I think you knew before Beverly did?”

  “Maybe.”

  “You old fox,” she scoffed. “Can’t pull anything over on you, can they?” She was rewarded with a twinkle in his eye and when Beverly came in, the housekeeper was smiling too. “And what are you up to, Miss Beverly?”

  “Just dinner, I swear it,” Beverly answered. “Hungry?”

  “Starved.”

  “Then let’s eat you two.” On the way to the kitchen, Beverly muttered, “Ah, the sound of happiness in this house again is pure heaven. Never thought I’d see this day.”

  Dinner in the kitchen’s breakfast nook consisted of homemade pizza and soda’s.

  “So, why did your wife have a separate bank account?” Tiffany asked after devouring half a slice of pizza.

  “She had her own money,” Earl answered. “I never knew how she came by it or how much there was until after...months after, when Beverly and I decided to put her things in storage.”

  “That’s right,” Beverly agreed. “The amount left in her account is staggering.”

  “Is? You mean it is still there?”

  “As far as I know,” said Earl. “She didn’t have any other family that I know of, and I just left it there.”

  “Because?” Tiffany pushed.

  “Because I didn’t need it.”

  Beverly rolled her eyes, “Because if the baby was found alive, he wanted her to have her mother’s money.”

  “That makes sense. You know, they’ve done great things with DNA these days. Have you tried to...”

  “No,” Earl interrupted.

  “But if there’s a chance the baby is still alive, we’ll do that next,” Beverly added. “Earl thinks the answer to who took the baby is in the bank records. We find him or her and maybe we can find the baby. There are a few names we don’t recognize, and we’re hoping you can find those people, or should I say those men. All of them are men. Some of the amounts are pretty big too, so she had to be up to something. We just don’t know what.”

  Tiffany took a last bite of pizza and laid the crust on her plate, “Then if you will excuse me, I better get started. Without waiting for an answer, she jetted out the door and up the stairs to her new bedroom.

  SEATED AT HER DESK, Tiffany took her time leafing through Shelley’s bank statements and the copies of her checks just to become familiar with the information they contained. The last statement was for the month of July, 1998, but the date on the first one was three years earlier and the initial deposit was $20,000. The older statements also showed two previous addresses. Paying more attention this time as she leafed through the papers, she discovered a purchase from Wedding Dresses Unlimited in October, but the account listed no other wedding purchases such as a bakery or payment to a minister. Soon after, Shelley went to Des Moines to shop at an exclusive baby boutique. Tiffany decided she needed more information so she could make sense of things, so she went back downstairs and asked Earl for the date of their wedding.

  “October 25th,” he answered.

  “1997?”

  “That’s right, why?”

  “Hold on a minute. How old was the baby when she was kidnapped?”

  “Six months.”

  “When was she born?”

  “April 5th.”

  Tiffany pulled her phone out of her pocket and found her calendar. She calculated the baby’s age twice before she said, “Five months.”

  He blinked several times before he said, “I thought it was six.”

  “It doesn’t matter really except your wife was buying baby clothes right after you married her.”

  “That’s right, she was already pregnant.”

  “Sorry, Earl, it’s none of my business.”

  “Tiffany, don’t ever hold out on me. Ask any questions you can think of. What might have seemed insignificant back then could be very important now, only I don’t know how I could have gotten the baby’s age wrong.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. Besides, you’re a guy. Guys never know these things.”

  He seemed content with that explanation and Tiffany decided it was enough for now. He needed time to adjust to all this talking and remembering things. He was an old man, and she sure didn’t want to be the cause of a stroke or a heart attack. Soon, she went back upstairs and started to construct a spreadsheet on which to list all of Earl’s wife’s expenses.

  She decided to ignore the earlier bank statements and concentrate on what Shelley was up to from the time she married Earl to the day she died, which was just short of a year. During that short time period, there were several large deposits as well as checks written to two men in amounts that at first glance equaled half of the deposits, although one of the men was paid far more handsomely than the other.

  Curious, Tiffany took a look at the previous year and found the same pattern, although the name of the second man had changed. Even more curious was that although Shelley’s mailing address was Ottumwa, Iowa, the deposits were made in Bloomfield. Again she looked at the last deposit – it too had been made in a bank in Bloomfield and not in Blue Falls – and on July 1st, two days before the kidnapping.

  One thing was becoming abundantly clear. Earl Woodbury suspected his wife was somehow involved in the kidnapping. The question was, did he want her to be proven innocent or guilty?

  HE WAS TIRED, BUT ROD couldn’t resist taking another look at the Woodbury file before he collapsed into bed. He vaguely remembered a letter concerning the man Deputy Griffin mentioned, and tried to find it. He looked in one section, opened the next folder and at last, there it was. It was an anonymous note, probably typed on a word processor, with an envelope attached to the back. The note read: “Take another look at Chuck Hanson. He’s hiding something.” Behind the envelope was the sheriff’s note stating that the document yielded no fingerprints. The sheriff interviewed Chuck Hanson, a farmer living several miles out of town, who denied having anything to hide and said his half-sister probably wrote the letter.

  Wayne said the sister still lived there, so Rod decided to see what he could learn about Chuck Hanson. He jotted the address down and slipped the note into his uniform pocket, bef
ore he set his alarm and ended his day.

  CHAPTER 6

  AT AROUND TEN IN THE morning, and to everyone’s surprise, especially Michael’s, Terrell employees began decorating their parking lot with streamers and balloons. Whether it was the actual anniversary or not was beside the point. It appeared the Terrell Office Supply Anniversary Celebration was a go. A video camera caught it, as the proud grin was wiped completely off of Michael’s face. He stomped back inside and let the Woodbury Tile Factory door loudly slam behind him.

  As soon as the video hit social media, cellphones and desk phones began to ring all over town. Millie got three 911 calls at the sheriff’s office and had to remind the callers it was for emergency use only. Even so, it was exciting news and it made Millie giggle each time she disconnected a call.

  At noon, when she looked at Otis with those pleading eyes he never could resist, he said, “Alright, you can go but be back in half an hour.”

  By the time Millie got there, catering trucks from Des Moines had arrived, each filled to the brim with prepared sandwiches, chips, soft drinks, and of course, cake and ice-cream. She ate, laughed with everyone else who thought Jerry had gotten the last word after all, and then rushed back to work.

  “Ten minutes late!” Otis grumbled when she walked back in the door.

  She hurried to relieve him at her dispatcher’s desk and then sat down. “Any calls?”

  “Just Michael. He’s mad about all the cars parked in his parking lot.”

  She pulled a wrapped sandwich out of her purse and handed it to him. “Ham and cheese.”

  He accepted the food, winked and then headed back to his office. “Ten minutes.”

  “Very, very long lines!” she shouted. Millie could hear him laugh even after he closed his office door.

  AT PROMPTLY 6:45 THAT evening, Ben Coulter drove up in his silver, four-door truck, parked in front of the bookstore, got out, and opened the door for his date. “All locked up?”

  “All done. You were right, Mariam didn’t object at all.” Tiffany climbed in and waited while he got in on the driver’s side. “Nice truck.”