Read Barbara Levenson - Mary Magruder Katz 03 - Outrageous October Online
Authors: Barbara Levenson
Tags: #Mystery: Cozy - Lawyer - Romance - Vermont
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I got in the car and turned toward the River Road when my cell rang. I pulled back into the parking area and answered.
“Mary, it’s Brett. We’re about thirty minutes from Hanover. Mom really needs you. Can you leave from wherever and meet us at the Hanover Inn?”
“Of course, Brett, I’ll be there. Is there news about Sherry?’
“I can’t talk about this on the phone. Just meet us, please.” He clicked off.
I headed back to the house to see what Sam was up to and to get him squared away. I also needed to talk to Ken Upham about the hearing.
I opened the front door and heard nothing but complete silence. There was no barking, no excited leaping, no running paw sounds. This could only mean that Sam had torn something up or broken something and was hiding. I ran through the great room, the dining room and the kitchen and saw nothing out of place. I called over and over, but no naughty dog crawled out of a hiding place. Then I looked in the back hall and saw the door hanging open. I rushed to the back yard. Sam was climbing the steep hill at the back of the yard. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth and he was panting as if the temperature were eighty degrees and not forty degrees. He was muddy from last night’s rain.
I dragged him back to the house and into the laundry room where I washed down his paws and legs and set his water dish in front of him. Then I returned to the back door. Nothing was broken. I looked at the handle and realized that it was possible that Sam could push the handle down with his paw, if the lock wasn’t engaged. Either someone let Sam out or Sam had actually opened the door. What could have caused him to rush outside? Maybe a deer or worse a bear was behind the house.
“From now on, we keep that door locked, you bad boy,” I said. Sam collapsed willingly into his crate.
I pulled out Ken Upham’s phone number from my file in the front hall. Ken answered on the second ring.
“Mary, I was just talking about you to my wife. I said I had to call you and make connections for the hearing tomorrow.”
“Why don’t I pick you up early and look at your property before we leave for the hearing? You can be the navigator. I haven’t a clue about where Barre is. Two other things; do you have a survey of your property, and can you reach your arborist and have him available to testify if we need him? Will he come to the courthouse?”
“”I’ll make sure he’s there. I’ll pay him for his hours and his gas mileage, and he has the survey. He can bring it. He’s pissed about the mess Roland is causing, so he’ll come to court.”
“Now one final thing, Ken, don’t give any more interviews unless you talk to me first. Anything you say could be taken out of context. Nothing was wrong with what you told the Valley News, but let’s be sure that nothing you say can be misconstrued.”
“I’ll keep my mouth shut. I don’t want to do anything to prolong this ridiculous case. See you tomorrow.”
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I arrived at the Hanover Inn just as Brett pulled up. I parked at a meter and hurried over to Brett’s car as the doorman unloaded a suitcase and a briefcase from Brett’s trunk. Lillian jumped out of the passenger seat and grabbed the briefcase out of the startled doorman’s hand.
“I’ll take care of that bag myself,” Lillian said as she handed the man some dollar bills. “Mary, I am so glad to see you.”
I hugged Lillian and felt her slim body shaking. “I’m glad I’m here to help. Come on Lillian, whatever this is, it can’t be that bad. Imagine, I just parked my car in a vacant parking place. It’s like a miracle. When was the last time you saw one of those in Miami?” I waited for a laugh or a smile from Lillian or Brett. They both frowned.
“I need to get checked into a room where we can talk. Please, just follow me in.”
Lillian hurried past me and the doorman. She strode over to the front desk and told the desk clerk that she had a reservation and needed to get to her room quickly.
Brett and I stood away from the desk. “What has happened, Brett?”
“Mom will fill you in as soon as we get into her room, but Mary, this is as bad as you can imagine.” He leaned close to me and whispered, “We don’t know if we’ll ever find Sherry.” I saw his eyes filled with tears.
In minutes we were in the elevator. Brett grabbed Lillian’s suitcase telling the desk clerk he’d take care of it himself. As soon as the elevator doors opened, Lillian ran out of the elevator and down the corridor. She put the key into room 207. We rushed in behind her. Brett shut the door.
Lillian sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled out her cell phone.
I looked around the small room and was stunned at how shabby it appeared. Certainly not to Lillian’s upscale usual taste. I realized that she hadn’t even bothered to look at the small space.
“Lillian, tell me what’s wrong.”
She burst into heavy sobs. Through her tears, I heard her say, “Sherry has been kidnapped.”
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“Kidnapped! Is that why you wouldn’t let anyone call the police? We have to get some law enforcement involved.”
“No, Mary, you can’t. Don’t you understand? They said they’d kill her if we got the police involved.” Lillian was on her feet almost screaming. “They want money. I had to get as much cash together as possible yesterday. Beverly was helping me when you called last night. I couldn’t risk telling you this on the phone. Maybe they have our phones tapped.”
“This is totally bizarre. Like a scene out of
Law and Order.
Start from the beginning and tell me exactly what you know,” I said.
Brett went to the phone and ordered coffee to be sent up while Lillian sat down again on the bed. I pulled the desk chair over next to her.
“Monday morning I was in my office when my private line rang. I always think it’s one of the kids, and something is wrong, but the caller ID said caller unknown. I picked up and said, ‘Brett or Sherry, who is it?’ A woman spoke in a muffled voice. She said, “Do you know where Sherry is?” I said “Who is this?” She told me never mind who it is, that they had Sherry and if I ever wanted to see her again I’d better get up to Hanover and bring one million dollars in cash. Then she said if I called any police, I would definitely never see my daughter again.
“I asked her if this was a joke. She said ‘no way’. She said someone would call me in a few hours with more instructions but I had better be ready to leave for Hanover with the money. I don’t know what I should do. They’re going to hurt my baby if I bring in the police.” Lillian buried her head in her hands. Her body shook as she sobbed.
I patted her shoulder. “I’m here to help you think this through. Have you heard any more from these people?”
“The same voice called on my cell phone last night. She asked when I would be arriving in Hanover and did I have the money. I told her that I’d be there by noon today and that I had most of the money. She sounded angry and said I’d better have it all.”
“Do you have all that money with you?”
“No, of course not. You can’t carry that much money in a carryon even in one hundred dollar bills. I have some of it, but it takes time to convert assets into cash. Beverly is managing the rest and it will be special handled by Federal Express. It will be delivered to me tomorrow.”
“Mom, how do you know they’re not lying to you? Maybe they’ve already, you know, killed Sherry. Maybe they don’t really even have her.” Brett’s temper was beginning to hit the explosion button.
Brett’s impatience with his mother brought back memories of his attitude after his father was killed. Brett never got over his family’s implosion. He knew about his father’s infidelity and was unable to understand how his mother could have been so blind. Now I realized how we can close our eyes to flaws in those we love, but Brett’s life experiences left him with nothing but his simmering anger.
“I told you when you picked me up that I had proof and I would show you,” Lillian said as she picked up her cell phone. “Look, they sent me a picture.”
Brett and I crowded around the little phone. The picture showed a girl tied to a chair. She had something taped to her mouth. The photo was grainy but it looked like Sherry.
“When did you get this?” Brett asked
“Late last night.”
“Oh, great. It’s now almost one o’clock. How do you know she’s still alive?” Brett asked. Mary is right. We must get the local police or the FBI to help us.”
“Lillian, these calls you’ve received could have been traced if the police were involved. Agencies like the FBI are trained to work surreptitiously in kidnapping situations,” I said.
“No, no, please. I don’t want to lose Sherry.” Lillian was close to hysterics.
“What other instructions have you received?” I asked.
“The woman called again after she sent the photo. She said to go to some place called High Pines. I wrote down the directions. She told me to park in the parking lot at a Shell station and go into the mini-mart. I was to ask for a package for Sherry. She said it would be at the counter, and then to go back to the car and open the package.”
“High Pines is where I’m staying. Lillian, I have to tell you something. I’ve already told Brett this. I had lunch with Sherry last Friday. She confided in me that she had a new boyfriend. She would only give me his first name, Conrad. She said he runs a dairy farm somewhere in the area and that she was going to spend the weekend with him at his farm. She wouldn’t tell me anything else except that she was in love with him and didn’t want anyone to know about this. I tried to get her to give me more information so I could run a background check on him, but she got angry with me.”
“My God, Mary, why didn’t you call me? You know how naïve Sherry is. How could you let her go off like that?”
“I feel just awful, but I didn’t want to betray her confidence. I thought I’d have a chance to talk to her more after she got back to school. Believe me, I thought once she saw some smelly farm, she’d forget this guy super-fast.”
“Mom, this is a little break through. We know this guy’s first name at least and that she was going to some farm. Maybe if we get some help from an investigator, this will help,” Brett said.
“Lillian, I have an idea. I have a new client up here in High Pines. He’s retired from the New Haven Police Department where he was the chief of detectives. Please, let me call him. We could meet him somewhere and maybe he can help us. He’s not connected to any law enforcement now and he’s not real well known around here.”
“Call him, Mary,” Brett said. We can’t just sit here and do nothing. Brett looked at the photo again and buried his head in his hands.
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At two o’clock, we pulled into the road leading to Lucy’s house. Lillian and Brett were in the back seat of the Explorer. Thank God for the heavily tinted windows in Florida cars. They cut the dazzling sunlight and they also cut the chances of spying eyes.
I watched closely to see if we were being followed, but no suspicious cars were behind us. In fact almost no cars were behind us on the whole trip. There was no traffic on the River Road and Lucy’s house was well hidden. I certainly had found that out.
Ken Upham’s Lexus sedan was already in the circular drive. He got out of the car as soon as he saw us. I told him very little on the phone, except to say that some friends from Miami were here and needed some law enforcement advice.
I hustled everyone into the house and introduced Ken to Lillian and Brett.
We settled in the Great Room. I started a fire in the fireplace. The sun hadn’t dissipated the chill from the brisk north wind. Lillian was shivering probably from fear as much as from the change in temperature from Miami. I handed her a plaid throw from the back of the sofa.
“Ken, Lillian is a former client of mine. She is here because her daughter has gone missing from the Dartmouth campus. We are now sure that she has been kidnapped. Lillian and Brett will fill you in on all that we know. I am hoping that you can advise Lillian about how to proceed. Do you mind getting involved? I know you have your own worries. I will be completely focused on your hearing tomorrow, but I really want to try to give Lillian all the help that I can today.”
“I’m certainly willing to hear the details and if I can help you formulate a plan, I will. Let me hear the situation. Time is of the essence in a kidnapping.”
“Thanks, Ken.. While you fill Ken in, I’m going to feed Sam and make all of us some sandwiches. Lillian hasn’t eaten. She just got off a plane in Manchester.”
I left the Yarmouths and Ken, and went to the kitchen where Sam was scratching to get out of his crate. Ken looked like he couldn’t wait to get all the details. It occurred to me that he missed the adrenalin rush of a tough investigation.
By the time I returned to the conversation, Ken was totally engaged. He was leaning forward in his chair, a small notepad on his knee.
“I understand why you didn’t call in law enforcement. These people meant to scare you from such contacts and they succeeded. I’m glad Mary called me. There are some things we can do immediately. Has anyone talked to her roommate?”
“I did briefly on Monday,” I said.
“So did I,” Brett said.
“Where did she say Sherry told her she was going? Did she know about the alleged boyfriend?” Ken asked.
“She told me that she thought Sherry was taking the Dartmouth Coach into Boston. It’s a bus that leaves from the campus several times a day. Sherry’s car is still parked in the lot by the dorm. Madison, that’s the roommate, didn’t know anything about a boyfriend,” Brett said.
“When did she leave exactly? Do we know? Ken continued making notes.
“Madison said she left early Saturday morning.” I added.
“Brett, does the bus make other stops besides Boston?”
“Yeah, it stops in New London, New Hampshire, right off of interstate 89.”
“Now, this is very important. Did Sherry have a cell phone and did she take it with her?”
“She was glued to that phone. I can’t imagine that she’d leave without it. Maybe we can ask Madison to look through her things and see if it’s there,” Lillian said.
“I know it’s not in her car. I looked all through it last night,” Brett said.
“Can you get me all the information about the phone, Lillian? What’s the number, the make and what company has the account?” Ken asked.
“Her number is 305-982-4448, and it’s a BlackBerry from Verizon. I went with her to get it and she wanted Verizon because they had more service up here. You know service is spotty. I can call my assistant to look up the ID number from the billings. They’re in my office,” Lillian said.
“Use the phone in the kitchen,” I told Lillian,” so you don’t tie up your cell phone”.
“One more thing. Do we know where she met this Conrad guy?”
“She told me a group of kids went to some bar with a funny name in another village. It was in Hartland,” I said. I remember that name because I thought it was cute that she fell in love with someone she met in Hartland. But I can’t remember the funny name of the bar,” I said.
“Oh, was it Skunk Hollow?” Brett asked.
“Yes, that’s it.” I couldn’t contain a laugh over that funny name, or maybe it was relief laughter that we were finally doing something to find Sherry.
“Okay, now we need to divide the work. Lillian do you have a picture of Sherry?” Ken asked.
“Yes, in my wallet.” Lillian picked up her expensive handbag and pulled out a wallet with the Gucci logo. Here’s a snapshot from last summer.”
I saw Ken eyeing the elegant leather accessory. I guessed he was thinking what I was. If Sherry carried around such high priced gear, even a dimwit would know that this Dartmouth coed had big bucks.
“Here’s the plan,” Ken said. “Brett you go back to Sherry’s dorm and make sure her cell phone wasn’t left behind. Talk to the roommate again. See if she was at that bar with Sherry and get a description of anyone she talked to.
“Mary, you go over to the Dartmouth Coach main bus station and find out which driver took the earliest morning bus route to Boston on Saturday. Show him Sherry’s picture. See if anyone remembers her getting on that bus.”
“Of course, where is that station?”
“It’s on Etna Road. I’m writing out the directions now.”
“Mary, you can drop me back to get my car. It’s not far from Hanover to the station,” Brett said.
“As soon as you finish there, I want you to head down to Hartland and talk to the bartenders at Skunk Hollow. Show them Sherry’s picture and see what they remember. I’m writing you directions there as well,” Ken said.
Ken handed me a sheet of paper. “I’m going to stick with Lillian. If it’s okay, we’ll stay here while I make some phone calls. I need to call a contact at the Secret Service. They’ve got a high tech guy I know who can tell us the general location of a cell phone. If Sherry had her phone with her on Saturday, we may be able to zero in on her location.”
“What if she didn’t make any calls?” I asked.
It doesn’t matter. Cell phones like BlackBerrys that access internet networks leave behind an electronic trail of their whereabouts even when no one is talking on them. When the phone is in range of a cell phone tower, they can pinpoint the location, Ken explained. “We used this analysis to find a murder suspect right before I retired from the department.”
“There aren’t many towers up here,” Brett said. Will that be a problem?”
“Maybe it’ll be helpful. If the phone is reaching out to a tower, we can trace her path. We’ll know that Sherry passed that way. Maybe we’ll know where to search. Lillian, I will drive you to the gas station at five. When will you have the rest of the money?”
“Not until tomorrow morning. If you are with me at the gas station, they’ll think you’re a policeman.”
“Don’t worry about that. You’ll sit in the back and explain that you hired a car and a driver. Maybe they won’t want to risk two meetings. If we can buy a little time, we may be able to find Sherry before any money drop, but we need more than that photo on your phone. I want you to demand to speak to Sherry today. Okay everyone let’s get busy,” Ken said. Everyone write down your cell phone numbers so we keep in touch.”
Sam had sauntered into the room. Everyone was so occupied that they didn’t notice him. I grabbed his collar and pulled him out with me to the car. Nothing like having a big German shepherd with you to scare away almost anyone.