a/n: we are churning along... Thanks for the notes today from a few of you. And the reviews. as always, your words are welcome!
-11-
The reflection of the sun against the mirrored biker glasses flashed in and out as his head weaved back and forth in rhythmic movements in sync to the music. The haunting keyboard sounds of Ray Manczarek's playing radiated from the speakers of the van. An old 1962 Ford F-100 Econoline van in faded turquoise paint sat near the coffee shop. The lone driver sat in there...waiting. His unshaven face tensed when he saw the group of four walk out of the coffee shop and get into a black car. A smile formed on his lips. The sound of Jim Morrison's voice echoed through the van.
There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road, yeah…
The black car drove off. After a pause, the van's engine roared to life and drove off as well.
After stopping by the police station and being given a copy of the Rose case book, Callie directed Mr. Hardy to stop by the Dollar General store. After talking to Alma, they received permission for Fenton to stay in the last available room upstairs. Alma was quite happy to have a full house, as she put it.
The group climbed the creaking stairs of the Tibb's Bed & Breakfast. Callie took out her key, which opened all of the rooms on the top floor. She stopped before the room that Fenton had rented. After unlocking and opening the door, they were hit with a musty odor. Iola made a face.
"Did we forget to mention that this facility is not one which gets frequent guests?" Iola said waving the air in the front of her face. Mr. Hardy chucked slightly and smiled.
"It's quite alright. I have stayed in far worse." He said and walked in. Callie flipped the light on while Iola went to the opposite side of the room and opened the blinds and opened the window. Fenton dropped his bag on the bed.
"We should let this room air out a bit." Callie said and gestured towards the other room. "Our room smells a bit nicer since we've have the windows open. Let's go in there and look over the case book." Fenton nodded.
"Fine." He said and followed. He watched the women enter their room and walked in. Callie gestured towards a chair.
"Help yourself, Fenton." She offered. Mr. Hardy set the bundle of papers that was under his arm on the table. He turned as he saw Harley jump up on the window sill. The sheer size of the cat made him do a double take.
"Did the room come furnished with a baby jaguar?" He said with a raised eyebrow. Aimee smiled and picked up her giant cat.
"No, he is mine. He is my baby!" She said with a smile and set him on the bed. Iola smiled.
"Yes, he is my bed mate. And a bed hog, too." She said petting the cat, who let out a louder than usual purr.
"Sounds cozy." Fenton said. "I must tell Joe you are being kept warm at night so he doesn't worry." He chuckled. Iola gave him an incredulous look for a moment, then smiled.
Mr. Hardy opened up the folders he was given at the police department and started looking through them. He smirked at reading a few entries and shook his head. Callie looked over to him.
"That good?" She asked. Hardy just kept shaking his head. He then held up all the papers which were about two inches thick.
"Well, I knew the book was going to be light, but this is bordering on insulting. I mean were they investigating a kidnapping or a shoplifting?" He took one of the folders and handed it to Callie. "Here, give this one a look." He said. Cal accepted the folder.
"Should I expect to see any redactions?" She asked with a note of sarcasm. Fenton grunted.
"Surprised there isn't." He said as he scanned the reports. Iola had taken some of the media reports and handed some to Aimee and started reading herself.
Fenton looked over to Iola.
"Could you go to my room and grab the laptop bag for me, please?" He asked. Iola stood up and nodded.
"Sure." She said and walked out of the room. A few moments later returned and handed Fenton his laptop case.
"Thank you, my dear." He said and pulled out his laptop and turned it on. A few minutes later he looked down at one of the pages on the report and then typed into the computer. He pulled up and map. He studied it for a few moments and shook his head.
"What's up?" Callie asked. Fenton pointed to the screen.
"Well, look at this. The report says she lives at 180 Penn Street. The reports also go on to say that the park is in her yard, when it's not. The Lee Street Park is across the road from her house, and there is another row of homes on the other side of Penn Street. Now the reports state that mother always checked periodically out the window to see where her daughter was. Well, the homes across the street hinder the view of that park substantially. I am not so sure I would entrust an eight year old in an environment I did not have a direct line of sight to." Callie nodded and looked at the satellite map on the laptop. She sighed.
"Got to agree with you there, Fenton. Looks like her house has a bank of windows on that side of the house, but no matter where she is looking out from she is going to be seeing some houses that partially obstruct her view of the park." She said. Fenton pointed to another area.
"And look here…the park on the other side borders a line of train tracks. No immediate residential area on that side. And what looks like a parks department maintenance garage for their heavy machinery. Doesn't look like it's a place that is manned around the clock." Aimee looked up from her phone.
"The place you indicate, Mr. Hardy is the Clymer Public Works department. 354 Adams Street." She said. Mr. Hardy nodded.
"Thank you. Yes, that whole park. The way it's set up. The way part of the land circles around to several acres of woods. The fact that it's wide and expansive. The fact there is no fence around much of it. It's almost a kidnapper's dream location." He sat back and stroked his whiskers thoughtfully. "You know, I am not offering judgment of a woman I have yet to meet. But I would be seriously concerned for a person who would let an eight year old just go hang out there."
"This report says all residents of Penn Street and surrounding areas interviewed in a house to house search over the next three days. The search party combed the woods to the south and west." Callie read out loud. Fenton studied the satellite map of the home and immediate neighborhood. He shook his head.
"Whoever took this child, didn't stick around there. At least that is my gut feeling. I will of course need to go there and look it over. But someone was there and knew it was a vulnerable place to grab a child. They may have well staked out that park for weeks to see the patterns of any children who frequented it." He said and looked back at the map. "I am not going to condemn the woman. I mean we all exercise our judgments as parents. Sometimes they are not the best of judgments. But the situation being what it is, we can't harp on the element of why she let her child freely roam a non-contained park environment. The idea is to maintain a focus and find some evidence. I am not seeing much of anything in terms of evidence gathered on what I am reading. Which is disturbing. We have some tire track impressions which were taken. But no notation that they were relevant to anything. I assume they were just taking a shotgun approach by recording any fresh tire tracks. But I am not seeing any major direct evidence." He said looking down at the sheets. "Child was wearing denim shorts, pink shirt and tennis shoes. Subject about 60 pounds and about four feet tall. Light hair, blue eyes. Mole on outside of left leg above the knee." Callie held up a page with a photocopied picture of Nicole. The three woman and Mr. Hardy looked at it thoughtfully. Aimee looked away, sniffling and then wiped away tears that had formed. Iola sighed deeply.
"We got to find that baby girl." She said, swallowing hard as she kept her eyes on the picture. Fenton looked over to her.
"Iola, if you want to use my room, why not go call your son?" He suggested with a look. Iola nodded and stood up. She walked over to Fenton, then leaned over to kiss his cheek.
"Thanks, grandpa." She said and took out her phone. "Be back in a bit."
Fenton looked at the picture again and then to Callie. He ran is fingers through his hair and sighed.
"Six weeks is a long time." He said with a sobering expression. Callie nodded, then set the page down.
"I am not seeing a thing about any suspects. All I see are interviews with residents. Some of which suggest they had a criticism of Alice for letting Nicole out by herself." Fenton shook his head.
"Stating the obvious, but no actual leads. No wonder they didn't want to show the book to anyone. It's half assed from what I have been reading so far. I am sending an email to the FBI to get the name of the agent assigned and any reports." He said and started typing. He looked up thoughtfully. "The case may in fact be as cold as the book suggests, but something tells me since the child came from a family that has a past criminal convictions and one parent is serving time, they may have just chose to drag their ass and let it go cold." Aimee lowered the paper she was reading and got a disgusted look on her face.
"I never really knew things could be that way. You know when you see stuff on the news it always looks like the police are working around the clock." She said with a frown. Fenton looked over to her.
"This is not something new, sadly. Even when you are on the right side of the tracks it doesn't mean the police will work a miracle. Consider the case of Elizabeth Smart. They were so convinced one of their workers that stole from them was the kidnapper. Then when the suspect died they assumed they would never be able to solve it completely because the guy took his secrets to the grave. Some time later, their other daughter had given them a lead to the real kidnapper. But it took the family themselves to investigate it since the police didn't pick up the ball they tossed. So, while statistics state that the wealthy get treated better, it doesn't mean that the police will come in and solve the case. At least not without help." Aimee nodded.
"It's just sad that things are so unsettled at this point and they aren't out there beating the doors down and actively making things happen." Fenton gave a smile.
"Well, there is a lot of leg work and brain work involved. If all cases were solved in the timeframe of an episode of Law & Order, the world would be a great place."
The group read dozens of pages over the next half an hour. It was only when Iola walked in did they stop for a break.
"How is Joey?" Fenton asked his daughter in law, who had a much happier appearance. She smiled.
"He is doing super! I really needed to hear his voice." She said. "How about you guys? Read anything worthwhile?" Before any of them could answer a couple gunshots rang out. Fenton immediately stood up and reached into his jacket. A laugh could be heard from the yard. Callie held up a hand to Fenton to suggest he not overreact. She walked over to the side window and looked down. Sure enough there was Tim holding up a pair of squirrels. She leaned out the window. Tim noticed her and looked up with a smile. He held up his latest kill by their tails and whooped loudly.
"Dang! Two more. Check out these fat ones, Miss. Callie." He said boastfully. Cal nodded and gave him an amused smile.
"Look, uh, good, Tim." She said and turned back into the room. "It's ok, just Timmy and shooting at squirrels." Fenton sighed.
"Ah, well that gave me a start." He said, then returned to his seat. Callie looked over at Iola.
"Tim got a couple more fat ones." She said with a smirk to her friend. Iola pursed her lips and shook her head slightly.
"Can't wait." She said without elaborating. Callie sat down at the table and gave an amused look to Fenton.
"He likes to load the bird feeders outside his window with sunflower seeds and wait for the squirrels and shoots them from his chair inside." She said with a roll of her eyes. Fenton blinked a few times and shook his head.
"A bit too much like shooting fish in a barrel." He looked up. "Say, Iola, do they have coffee here?" The three women all looked at him with a fearful look.
"Well…" Iola started. "That depends on your definition of coffee." Fenton closed his eyes.
"Are you saying the coffee at this, er, bed and breakfast, likely came from that Dollar store we went to earlier?" Callie nodded.
"It's a possibility." She said. Fenton nodded.
"Great. I look forward to it with my evening meal. I will try not to make a face when I drink it. Anyone who is kind enough to charge me $15 per night and include meals deserves some slack."
"I think I will call Alice and see if we can drop by tomorrow in the morning to have a chat and look over the scene." Callie said taking her phone out. She pulled out the paper with the phone number and dialed. A moment later she spoke.
"Hi Alice… This is Callie Morton. Remember I said I would call you? Yeah. Well, of course I am still here in Clymer… No, I promised I would and I just needed to gather some reports and things before I talked to you. Uh huh. How are you doing? I know, dumb question. Oh, well that's good. How is Jenny? Yeah? Good. She is such a cutie. I can't wait to see her. So how about tomorrow at ten thirty? Yeah, that is fine. Ok. Yep. We will see you then! I know… I am praying for her. I really am." She said. Fenton watched Callie's face break down a bit. "Yes, Ok, Alice. See you tomorrow. Bye." She said and hung up. Callie flipped the phone absently in her hands. She was silent.
"Empathy is a great thing, my dear." Fenton said. "But keep your focus. Remember you need to have your focus tuned in to be of any help to her." Callie nodded as she stared down at the floor.
"Right you are, Fenton." She said. "But she was just…."
"Very distraught?" Fenton finished the sentence. "As she should be." He looked down at his paperwork again. A few moments later looked back up. "We need to dig hard on this girl's father. I know he is in prison, but we need to check for any connections that may be there. Seems like he wasn't much of a father, but if he held ill will towards his ex, then anything is possible. Plus, you just have to look hard at the parents…Both parents." He said firmly. Callie looked up and gave a weary smile at the last part of his thought.
"Kidnapping 101, huh?" Hardy nodded with a faint smile.
"Not what we ever want to think… but as you know it ends up being one or the other more often than not."
Fenton's musing was interrupted by the faint sounds of pots and pans clanging downstairs. He looked to the others. Iola gave a twisted smile.
"Suppers on." She said. Fenton smiled.
"Great. I was getting hungry. Afraid I haven't had a meal since six this morning, and well, Denny's is not exactly my first choice. But highway cuisine being what it is." Cal laughed and sat back.
"God, I haven't had Denny's in over ten years. But don't worry, Fenton. Alma is a very good cook." She said.
The group spent the next hour reading the case book and media reports. The case book was as Fenton put it, an embarrassment to read. He was becoming increasingly more frustrated with all the vague reporting down by the small town department. A few minutes later, a knock came on their door. Iola got up off the edge of the bed to open it. It was Tim. He smiled to the group.
"Hey, y'all. Ma says supper is ready." Iola smiled back.
"Thank you, Tim. We will be down in a couple minutes. Just need to wash up." She said. Tim nodded and turned back towards the stairs. Iola looked at the others. "Well, let me wash up. Fenton, bathroom is across the hall. I will only be a minute."
They walked into the kitchen and Alma was setting the drinks out for their guests. She looked up and gave them a warm smile.
"Well, hello again!" She said sweetly. "I'm so happy you could join us for supper." She looked down to her husband who was just rising from his seat at the table. Fenton Hardy took the tall man in and nodded. Alma gestured to him. "Jack, this is Fenton Hardy. Iola's father in law." Jack smiled and extended his hand.
"Good to meet you, sir." Jack said warmly. "This is my place and glad to have you with us." Fenton smiled to him.
"Indeed a pleasure to meet you." He said and looked to Alma. "Food smells good, Alma. It was kind of you to invite me to dinner." Alma smiled.
"Well we are happy to have you." She said to him and looked at the ladies. "And good to see you ladies back tonight. I hope you had a nice day. Please have a seat."
"Thank you." Aimee said and took a seat. Iola and Callie sat on either side of Fenton. Tim walked over with a large pitcher of the generic Kool Aid. He looked down to Aimee.
"Hey there, darlin. Good to see you again. Made it extra sweet again, just for you…..And, I gave You the clean glass." He said filling her glass. Aimee looked up.
"Oh, you shouldn't have." She said softly. Tim then went and filled the mismatched glasses that were in front of Fenton, Cal and Iola. Fenton gave Iola an amused glance, though maintained his respectful demeanor. Jack smiled to Fenton.
"So, what kind of business are you in?" He asked. Fenton Hardy was relieved that there were some people who didn't know who he was already. But in a small town, where his presence was likely already a hot topic for the local police, it seemed futile to give a cover story to their hosts.
"Well, I am a detective." He said. Jack nodded, clearly impressed.
"Well, I don't think I've ever met one before. Do you work for the police somewhere?" Fenton gave a bit of a shrug.
"Well, I have worked for the New York City Police Department, as well as the FBI, who I still work with on occasion. But I retired from the police and work a private practice." Jack and Alma looked wide eyed.
"That's mighty impressive." Alma said. "Just what brings you here?" She asked. Fenton exchanged glances with Callie which suggested being honest at this point was the best course of action.
"Well…" Mr. Hardy began. "I am working on the Nicole Rose disappearance." Jack looked up with a serious expression.
"Wow…." He said thoughtfully. "I always get sad when I think about that poor girl. Those first few weeks with all the police and media, I thought hopefully they would find her." Alma nodded.
"Land sakes, every time someone comes into the store, they talk about it. I can't imagine how it must be for her. And her momma. That woman has to be pulling her hair out." Callie nodded.
"Yes, she is for certain. But we hope to be able to find something out that sheds light in it." Alma nodded.
"Well, I didn't know you had been hired by Mrs. Rose. If you'd have told me maybe I could have given you some other information."
"Well, she didn't hire us." Fenton said. "We are just concerned and agreed to help her out. Seems there is additional investigation which needs to take place." Alma smiled at him.
"Well, God bless you for that. I don't imagine poor Ms. Rose has much in the way of money. It's good of you to help!" She said, then looked about. "Oh, where are my manners? I will have dinner on the table in a minute!" She said and rushed towards the oven. Jack smiled to her.
"Thank you, Alma. Was a long day and I'm hungry." He said slapping his open hands to his stomach.
"So, what do you do, Jack?" Fenton asked. Gathering from his overalls over a dirty t-shirt he put in a hard day. Jack gave a deep sigh.
"Oh, I work in the mines about twenty miles away. Not a glamourous job, but it keeps the roof over our head." He said with a smile. A moment later Alma and Tim brought over various large dishes of food. They sat down. Alma nodded to Jack. They folded their hands. Callie and the others followed suit. Jack looked down.
"Lord, thank you for this fine bounty. And for our good health and place in life. Thank you for bringing these fine people to our humble inn. We hope and pray that they will be able to assist in finding that poor little girl. Amen." He said and looked up.
"Amen." Said everyone.
"Smells good." Callie said. "What did you whip up tonight, Alma?" She smiled over to Callie.
"Well, Callie. Tonight we have Squirrel tuna spam casserole covered in thick bacon. Mashed taters, corn, and one of Jack's favorite appetizers…. Bar-b-que squirrel wings." She said. Fenton gave a glance over to his daughter in law and pressed a smile onto his face. He looked at Alma.
"I'm sorry, did you say squirrel wings? I don't believe I am familiar with that dish. Alma pointed to a large tray of BBQ.
"Oh yes. Well, not wings, really. You see, you take the legs and quarters from the little critters and braise them on a grill and sauce them up. Here, ya go, Mr. Hardy." She said and took several from the tray and dropped them on the plate in front of him. Mr. Hardy looked across the table at her.
"Thank you." He said. He couldn't really find any other words to use under the circumstances. Tim pointed towards him with a fork.
"Them front legs are more tender. Just watch out for buck shot. I had to use the .410 today as I ran out of .22 cartridges." Fenton took his fork out and smiled a bit.
"I will, uhm, keep that in mind." He said. Alma looked at the ladies.
"Oh, you ladies, just like you all to try to keep your figures. Don't be shy." She said and took a large spoon and dished them each out a large serving of casserole as well as the other dishes she had made. Aimee looked at her with an apprehensive smile as she looked at the four or five pounds of food on her plate.
"You are really too good to us, Alma." She said, taking out a fork.
The meal ended up not being bad at all. Once again, the ladies were surprised at how the meal tasted better than it sounded. Mr. Hardy had managed to ask a few roundabout questions of the Tibbs and their local knowledge of the kidnapping. When Alma announced dessert Aimee and Callie both declined.
"It was a fine meal, Alma, but I am stuffed." Callie said. "I think Aimee and I will head upstairs and let it digest. Thank you again." She said. Alma nodded.
"You are welcome. You two ladies have a good night." She said.
"Yes, Goodnight, ladies." Jack said as the two ladies rose from their seats. Tim smiled to Aimee and raised his eyebrows.
"You have a good night, darlin." He said licking his lips.
"Boy!" Jack exclaimed. "mind your manners." Tim smiled and sat down.
"Yes, Pa." He said and smiled as he watched Aimee leave.
"Well, I hope you like bread pudding." Alma said to Iola and Fenton. Fenton laughed.
"Oh, Alma, you must have known I was coming. That is my favorite. My wife makes it for me almost every week." He said. Jack laughed.
"You are a lucky man." He said and sat back and undid the side buttons of his overalls. Alma brought over large bowls of warmed bread pudding and set them before their guests. The she held up a finger. She took out her coffee pot and poured some coffee. She looked over her shoulder.
"Black, or cream and sugar?" She asked. Iola mouthed 'Both' to Fenton and nodded slightly.
"Oh, both would be very nice. Thank you, Alma." He said. A few minutes later she served them their coffee. Then put her hands on her hips and looked down at the table.
"Oh, what was I forgetting?" She said, then held her hand back up. "Oh yes." She said remembering. She went to the cabinet and took out a few small jars that were previously used for cheese spread. She placed them before Iola, Fenton and Jack. She then turned back to the cabinet and took out a bottle. She came back to the table and opened it. Fenton looked at the white label on the bottle.
"Ever Ready Brandy. I don't believe I've ever heard of that brand, Alma." Iola looked down at her bowl. Making her best effort not to laugh. She was doing her best. Alma smiled.
"It does go down well with the bread pudding." She said lightly. She poured herself some directly into her coffee. Iola looked at this act thoughtfully. It likely would improve the flavor of the coffee, she thought.
Fifteen minutes of light conversation brought their meal to an end. Fenton stretched his arms out and gave a yawn.
"Well, Alma, I will tell you. That was the finest meal I have ever had in a long time." He said and turned to Jack and extended his hand. "And Jack, it was a pleasure talking to you and hearing about your work." Jack and Alma smiled at them.
"Well, we appreciate you taking supper with us. We hope you sleep well this evening. Please do not hesitate to ask if we can do anything that will make your stay more pleasant." He said. Fenton and Iola nodded graciously and left the kitchen.
The climbed the stairs. Iola looked at her father in law and giggled a bit.
"So, did you enjoy your meal?" She asked. Fenton grinned as the stairs creaked.
"It was a bit rustic, but I did enjoy it actually. When I was a young boy and we still lived in West Virginia, we had occasion to eat rabbit. I think when you can get over the stigma of eating non-grocery store meats, it's not such a big deal. And Alma is clearly a talented cook." Iola nodded.
"True. I will feel better after I brush my teeth though." She said.
They walked to the women's room and walked in. They saw Aimee and Callie laying on one of the beds asleep. Aimee was snuggled up next to Callie. Her arm wrapped around her and their faces were touching. Fenton looked down at the pair. He was not one to cast judgment. All he really saw were two people that apparently were quite fond of each other. Perhaps even needed each other at this juncture in their lives. He looked over to Iola, who seemed a bit pensive. Likely awaiting some harsh judgment from her father in law. Fenton gave her a knowing look.
"I'm guessing there is a story to them?" He said and took a seat at the table. Iola pivoted on her heel and turned back towards the table on the other side of the room.
"Yes. But it's probably a story you have already figured out." She said looking at him. Fenton exhaled slowly. He looked over at them on the bed. He turned back to Iola.
"Probably…" He said softly. "You know, I remember back years ago. I saw Callie and Frank laying on his bed like that…. once upon a time." He said with a faraway look in his eyes. Finally, he looked at Iola. "Let's go and see if my room is aired out. I wouldn't want to wake them." Iola nodded and picked up a couple of the folders. She turned the light that hung from the center of the room off. Only the light from the neon church light down the street coming through the window and the glow of Fenton's laptop lit the room faintly. Fenton bent down to his computer. He flipped to his music library and turned on a song at low volume. He paused and looked over at the two laying in the bed. Fenton still loved Callie like a daughter. He said a silent prayer for her. He then turned to Iola and they left. Blind Faith's song Can't Find My Way Home echoed through the room.
Come down off your throne and leave your body alone.
Somebody must change.
You are the reason I've been waiting so long.
Somebody holds the key.
But I'm near the end and I just aint got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home.
No I can't find my way home...
Come down on your own and leave your body alone.
Somebody must change.
You are the reason I've been waiting all these years.
Somebody holds the key.
But I can't find my way home.
But I can't find my way home…