The River Rolls On (Bellingwood Book 10) (22 page)

She finally opened it and dumped the contents onto the table in front of her. Sure enough there was a white envelope and a photograph, both of which were upside down. Now what was she supposed to do?

"My tongs are downstairs," she said. "And so are the gloves they gave me."

Henry came back with a steaming hot cup of coffee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the gloves. "Nope. I'm a smart boy."

She grinned. "You really are. Thank you."

The first thing she did was to turn the photograph over. She glanced at it and flipped it upside down again.

"My phone is in the bedroom. Would you call Aaron? She's dead."

"Oh Polly, I'm sorry," Henry said, sitting down beside her. He put his arm around her shoulders. "I know that was your biggest fear."

"Does this mean they've taken someone else too?" she asked.

"We have no way of knowing that. Let me call Aaron."

While he made the call, Polly opened the envelope and took out the handwritten letter.

"I'm so tired of killing, but he says that I won't get better until I finally have you. Please make this stop, Polly. You are responsible for all of this and you are the only one who can help me. If you ever loved me, you will join me so we can be together forever.

"By the time you get this, we will start again. They don't know the right things to say to me. They don't know about our time together or the way that you loved me. They don't know anything, even though I try to tell them. He says this is the only way I'll get better. Please help me, Polly."

She gently put the paper back down on the table and sat back, pulling a pillow up to cover her face. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to cry or scream, but the pillow was the right thing for either choice.

"Is there anything I can do?" Henry asked.

"Find him and string him up," she said. "I just want this to be over. I don't want any more girls hurt because Joey has some sick and twisted idea we should be together. He tells me this is my responsibility."

"Polly..." he started.

"I know, I know. Taking responsibility for an insane man's actions says nothing for my own sanity. I get all that, but at some level..."

"No. You just can't do that to yourself."

"Too late," she said flatly. "I'm so tired."

"Of course you are. You haven't slept well for the last week and then last night you were up with Sarah and Rebecca. You must be exhausted."

"Is Aaron coming over?"

"Alone. He told your FBI lady that she didn't need to ride with him to pick up an envelope. At least you won't have to deal with her, too. I called Ray. Do you mind?"

"Of course not. I said what I needed to say to him. He's still my friend. Is he coming up?"

Henry nodded as a knock sounded at the front door. "That's him."

"I'll get it," Polly said, standing up. She put the pillow back on the couch and ran her hand through her hair. "I probably look like hell."

"You're fine. Stop worrying."

She opened the front door to find both Ray and Jon standing there.

Jon stepped in first, "We're sorry to hear about your friend's death," he said. "If there's anything we can do to help you get through that, just let us know."

"Thanks," Polly said. "Come on in."

Ray hung back. "Are we okay?" he asked.

Polly took his hand "We're fine. Would either of you like coffee? It's fresh."

Jon nodded. "I'll get it," he said. "Ray?"

"Sure. That sounds good. Is this it?" Ray asked, pointing at the table. He put gloves on, turned the pieces right side up and took quick pictures of the items and then peered at the photograph. "They put her in your truck again."

"That's no longer my truck," Polly said. "I will never drive that thing again, no matter what anybody does to clean it or paint it or whatever. I don't want to see it again. Ever."

"Would you look at the picture again?" Ray asked. "This time, avoid looking at the girl and the truck. Do you have any idea where this might have been taken?"

She took a deep breath and steeled herself, then put her hand out for the photo. Polly looked at the background of the photograph and tried to place herself wherever it might be. "I don't know," she said and held it out for Henry to look at. "It could be up on the Boone River. It kinda looks like Tunnel Mill." Then she glanced at Ray. "You know that place. I took you there on Saturday."

"Do you think so?" he asked.

"I don't know for sure," she said with a shrug. "It wouldn't hurt to check it out again, though."

"Do you feel up for a ride?"

Polly was startled. "Today? Ummm, no. I have a little girl in there who just lost her mother. I'm not leaving her today."

As if on cue, the bedroom door opened at the same time another knock sounded on the front door.

"I've got it," Henry said.

"Polly?" Rebecca called out quietly.

Polly jumped up and ran over to her. "You're awake."

"What's going on?" Rebecca rubbed her eyes and peered at Ray and Jon. "You're the two guys who are staying in the rooms above my mom." She stopped. "I mean..."

"It's okay," Polly said. "These are my friends, Ray and Jon Renaldi."

Aaron Merritt strode into the room, looked around and changed his entire stance once he realized that Rebecca was there. Rather than greeting the men, he walked across to her and said, "I'm very sorry to hear that your mother died, Rebecca."

"Thank you, Sheriff. Why are you here?" Rebecca asked. "Is something wrong with what we did for Mom?"

"Oh no, honey. Everything is fine there," he said. "I'm here to talk to Polly about something completely different."

"Is this about the bad guys who kidnapped her?"

"I'm afraid so," he said, looking at Polly.

Rebecca followed his eyes. "Did something else happen?" Then she looked at Ray and Jon. "You're here to keep Polly safe, right?"

Jon smiled and said, "We sure are. And any other pretty girls that live with her."

Polly rolled her eyes and watched Rebecca take that in.

The girl lifted a corner of her upper lip for just a moment and then said, "Girls like you, don't they."

Everyone in the room laughed. Jon got a sheepish look on his face as it turned bright red.

"She got you, brother," Ray said. "Right between the eyes. This one won't put up with fake niceties."

"Good for you," Polly whispered. "We need to talk about some things. I'd rather you didn't have to hear it. Do you mind?"

Rebecca nodded. "Can I watch TV?"

"Sure. It won't take very long. I'll be in soon."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Ray waited until Aaron had left and said, "Polly, I hate to admit that I'm buying into the idea that you're the only person around who will find a body, but if that's true..."

"Stop it. I'm not leaving Rebecca today," she said, standing back up and crossing her arms. "Don't you guys get it? Her mother died this morning."

He sat down and looked up at her. "I do get it, but there's a girl out there whose mother wants to know what happened to her."

Polly snarled at him. "That's not fair."

Jon put his hand on Ray's shoulder and pushed him back on the sofa. "She's right. That isn't fair. None of this is Polly's fault, even though that jerk keeps trying to push responsibility on her. The last thing she needs is for us to reinforce that. Leave her alone."

"I'm sorry," Ray said. "He's right. Really, Polly. I'm sorry. This has me frustrated. Why can't we find these guys? It isn't like they know the area."

Polly sat back down. "They don't know the area, but I remember Joey remarking about how easy it was to hide out here. “And he was right. There are a million wooded acres and abandoned houses and barns. There are gravel roads and fields they can get lost in. Not to mention the state parks and protected areas. All they need is a map and as long as they don't stay in one place, no one would ever find them."

"They'll make a mistake," Henry said. "They practically did when you were at Ralph Bedford's and saw your truck. They think that no one will recognize the background of their photographs, but so far, it's been simple enough for both you and Sylvie to pick out their locations. It's going to happen. They'll get caught."

Jon nodded. "Joey's starting to panic. He knows that killing these girls is wrong. He killed the first one because he was all caught up in the frenzy of the moment. But this last one bothered him. He's going to be the one who makes the mistake. We just have to hope that he makes a mistake in public rather than in private with this guy who will kill him and move on."

"I don't want him dead," Polly said, dropping her head and shuddering. "That would be awful. I don't want him bothering me again, but I certainly don't want him dead."

Ray put his hand up and nodded at her bedroom door.

Polly turned and saw Rebecca standing there. "What's up, honey?"

"This is bad, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Polly asked.

Rebecca pointed at Ray and Jon. "This. It's worse than just kidnapping you and you getting away. No one told me anything, but it's really bad, isn't it."

Polly looked at Henry. He gave a slight shake of his head and then shrugged his shoulders.

"How much have you heard?" Polly asked her.

"That some guy named Joey killed two girls and someone else wants to kill him. Who's Joey?"

"He's an old boyfriend of mine," Polly said. "He should be in a mental hospital, but he escaped. He wants to take me away with him because he thinks that I should be his wife."

Rebecca walked over and stood beside Polly. "And the other man?"

Polly set her jaw. She didn't want to put this on Rebecca today. How much could one young girl process? "He's a known serial killer. But he doesn't kill just anybody. He kills men like Joey after he manipulates them into murdering other people."

"Joey wants to kill you?" Rebecca's voice squeaked.

"I think that in the deepest part of Joey's heart, he doesn't want to, but this other man has made him believe that he does."

Rebecca shut her eyes and thought about it, then put her hand on Polly's shoulder. "Mom wouldn't believe this if I told her. Do you remember that day you chased the man before we went to see her in the hospital?"

Polly smiled. She did. All she'd wanted to do was get a license plate. She was sure he was involved with the death of one of the men who had been hired by the winery to grow their grape vines. When Rebecca told Sarah about the escapade, Polly had worried that the woman would be afraid to let her raise her daughter. Since then, so many other things had happened. Sarah had finally just accepted that Polly's life was anything but normal.

"I will always keep you safe. You know that, right?"

Rebecca smiled at her. "You'll try. I should take self-defense classes if I'm going to live here. I'll need them."

Both Ray and Jon laughed. "You're a smart girl," Jon said. "Living with Polly could get exciting. I think Henry's hair has gotten grayer since we arrived."

"No, I think he's rubbed more of it off the top of his head," Rebecca said. "He has to worry about Polly every day and every night."

"I'm sitting right here!" Polly exclaimed.

"Did you find the first girl they killed?" Rebecca asked Polly.

"Yes, honey, I did."

Rebecca tilted her head toward Ray. "He wants you to go out with him so that he can find the other girl, doesn't he."

"How did you know that?" Ray asked.

"Because that's what you do. You fix things. That's why you're still here. But Polly won't go because she's worried about me." Rebecca patted Polly. "I'm fine."

"I know you are, but..."

"If you call Sal, she could take me to Ames. She'd feel sad for me and get me ice cream and everything."

"Wow, are you too bright for your britches," Henry said.

Polly looked over at him. "I think we're in trouble."

Rebecca shrugged. "Mom always says that as long as I'm polite and respectful, I don't have to be a stupid girl. So I'm not. Do you want to call Sal and see if she's free? If she's not, I could go downstairs and help Sylvie and Rachel in the kitchen until Kayla and Andrew get here. You don't need to babysit me. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

Rebecca glared at her. "Would I say I was fine if I wasn't?"

"Yes," Polly said. "You would."

"Well I am. I know that I'm going to cry when I miss Mom, but right now I'm okay and I don't feel like sitting up here moping."

Polly shook her head. "Okay. Take a shower and get ready. I'll call Sal and then do the same. We'll come up with a plan."

Rebecca went into her room and shut the door.

Ray stood up. "Are you sure you're ready to raise that one?"

"I think she's going to raise herself," Henry said. He looked at his watch. "I hate to leave you alone, but I'm going to take off if you don't need me. Dad and Len are moving the bar into the coffee shop today." He bent over to kiss Polly's cheek. "Take care of yourself and text me, okay?"

"I promise," she said.

"Call me when you're ready to go," Ray said. He and Jon went out the front door.

Polly sat back on the sofa, exhausted. She'd slept, but the last hour had worn her out. Rebecca walked through to the shower and Polly followed her with her eyes. She was handling her mother's death better than Polly expected, but at some point, you could only cry so much.

Henry came back out of the bedroom with Han. "I'll take the dogs outside and send them back up. Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks for coming home. I'm glad you were here."

He nodded toward the bathroom. "She's a pistol. All of a sudden she has more confidence. What happened?"

Polly took a deep breath. "I don't know. Maybe she's been in a holding pattern for so long, not knowing for sure where she was supposed to land or who she was supposed to be with, and now that it's over, she can settle in."

"I can't imagine going through what she's been through, but she certainly seems to be handling it."

"I wonder how much of it's because she had her mom there with her through the entire process ... until this morning. Sarah helped her figure out how to handle it all."

He put Polly's phone on the sofa beside her. "Here's this if you want to call Sal. What do you think she'll say?"

"Sal was there through Dad's death and Sylvester's and then Mary's death. She always knew just how to take care of me and what to say when it needed to be said. If there's anyone I trust with Rebecca today, it's her."

"Kiss me," he said, bending over. Their lips met and he put his hand at the base of her neck, holding her close. When they broke apart, he said, "I missed you last night."

"I missed you too. One of these days things will go back to normal."

"That's a curse 'round these parts," Henry said with a laugh and a southern twang. He walked into the media room, calling for the dogs while Polly swiped her phone open to call her friend.

~~~

Polly watched the world pass by from the window of Ray's Jeep. She was almost depressed. It was one thing to stumble across a body, but to go out with the intent of finding one wasn't something she wanted as part of her life.

Sal had been thrilled to take Rebecca shopping. She told Polly that no one wanted her at the coffee shop and she was in between writing projects, so in essence, all she was doing was annoying Mark and bugging her dogs. A trip out of town would be the perfect remedy. When Polly tried to talk about how to pay for Rebecca's dress, Sal just laughed at her. Polly chose to let it go.

"This way, right Polly?" Ray asked as he signaled for a right turn.

She nodded.

"He's not looking at your head," Jon said from the back seat.

"Sorry. Yes. Right turn here and follow the sign where the highway goes north," she said.

"What's wrong?" Ray asked.

"It's nothing. I'm just not excited about deliberately looking for a body. Especially this poor girl."

"I know," he said. "But as soon as she's found, her family can start dealing with it."

Polly sat up and turned to look at him. "Why did you press me so hard to come out today?"

He shook his head.

"Come on. Did you and Aaron talk about this?"

Ray huffed out a breath.

Jon sat forward and said. "Yes. We knew that picture was going to come. It had to come. Aaron talked to us about getting you out to look for her before the FBI could move in. That's why he came up. He's giving us ... well, you ... time to try to find her. That way, when they tell her family that she's dead, they won't have to do it with just a photograph."

"Okay, then," she said. "Let's do this. The turn should be right up here."

"I remember this now," Ray said. "So, if it was Aaron's idea, you're on board?"

Polly scowled at him. "Not really. But kinda. I needed to hear why it was so important for me to get out. Especially today. It makes more sense now. He should have said something to me."

Ray drove down the road to the river and pulled into the parking area. "Where do you want to start?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Polly said. "I never do this with the intention of finding someone. I generally just stumble on them."

Jon got out of the back seat and opened her door. "Let's take a walk, then."

"I feel like a ghoul," Polly whispered to him.

"Shhh," he whispered back. "We won't tell anyone."

They walked down to the river and she looked around, poking in bushes and kicking at brush. They walked back into the hillside until the brush was too dense and then paced the perimeter of the parking area.

"There's nothing here," Polly said. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Ray told her. "We hoped it might work, but it's okay."

"We could try a couple of other sites," Polly said. "The next one down the river is an active campground, so nothing there, but if we go west another mile after that, there's another bridge. I think there's a dirt road leading down to the river."

He shrugged. "Might as well give it a shot. We have time before I told the Sheriff I'd call."

They got back in the Jeep and he turned it around and drove out, then headed in the direction Polly pointed.

"If you could just sense the bad guys like you do dead bodies, we could be done with this whole thing," Jon said, pushing on Polly's shoulder.

"Are you guys ready to head back to Boston?" she asked.

"No," he laughed. "That isn't what I meant. This is a mini vacation for me. You live a slower life than you did in Boston. We would have had more trouble keeping up with you out there."