The Silence of the Llamas (28 page)

“What should we do? Should we tell Ellie and Ben what Janine just said? It may have been a lot of wishful thinking on her part,” Lucy realized. “But maybe we should warn them, just in case.”

“I think you’re right. Let’s just stop there right now. It’s hardly out of our way.”

Lucy pulled a quick U-turn on the deserted road and headed for the Kruegers’ place.

Minutes later, she turned at the familiar sign. But her stomach lurched when she spotted two white police cruisers and a dark blue sedan parked in front of the farmhouse. The lights on top of the cruisers were turning in slow circles, casting the scene in an eerie blue glow.

She turned to Maggie. “The police. . . . I wonder if they’re here to arrest Ben.”

“Let’s hope not. Maybe something else happened . . . though I hate to wish for that, either,” Maggie added.

Lucy brought her Jeep to a stop a short distance from the police cars. “Should we get out? Detective Walsh will be mad if he sees us here. And Ellie might feel we’re intruding.”

Maggie thought a moment. “I think Ellie will be happy to see some friendly faces . . . and I can take the heat from Walsh if you can. We’re just doing errands in the neighborhood, living our lives, right?”

Lucy nodded, glad that Maggie had reminded them of that. “We have every right. . . . Let’s go.”

They jumped out of the Jeep and walked up to the front door. Just as they approached, it opened. A police officer in a blue uniform walked out first, followed by Ben, who was followed by another officer and, finally, Detective Walsh.

When he saw the two women waiting at the bottom of the porch, his mouth hung open a moment. “What are you two doing here? Do you have a police radio hidden in your knitting bag?” he asked Maggie.

Lucy had to laugh at the idea, though he sounded perfectly serious. And angry.

“No, I don’t . . . but that is an idea,” Maggie countered.

“Whatever you’re here for . . . you’re too late.” Walsh prodded the parade along and came down to face them. But before he could say more, Ben stopped in his tracks and looked over at Lucy and Maggie.

“I’ll be out in a few hours. Just make sure Ellie calls my lawyer and stay with her, will you? I don’t need her at the station. She gets too upset.”

“Yes, Ben. We can do that,” Maggie promised.

“Move along,” Walsh said to the officers and Ben. Then he brushed past Maggie and Lucy and headed for his car.

Ellie was in the doorway, watching everything. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, her face pale and drawn. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here. Did Dana call you?”

Lucy was confused but then realized Ellie must have just called Dana and asked her to come out to the farm.

“We’ll explain everything inside, Ellie,” Maggie promised. “What are they charging Ben with?” she added as they walked inside. Lucy could tell she didn’t want to say the word “murder” if she didn’t have to.

Ellie sighed and closed the door behind them. “It’s not even about Justin Ridley,” she began, her voice sounding shaky. “They say . . . Ben has been doing all those things . . . all the vandalism, the threatening notes. The police say they have proof that he came back to the farm Saturday night and let the llamas loose . . . and painted that message on the barn.”

Lucy felt as if someone had just socked her in the stomach. She knew she was standing there with her eyes bugging out and her mouth hanging open, but she was simply dumbstruck and couldn’t speak.

Maggie stared wide-eyed at Ellie for a moment and pressed her hand to her forehead. “How in the world do they know that?”

Ellie shrugged, a hopeless, defeated gesture. “I’m not sure. Ben’s attorney will find out. The police have to tell him. They’re charging him with criminal mischief and filing a false police report.”

That’s why Ben had been so reluctant to go to the police when these incidents occurred, Lucy realized. He knew that once the police started to investigate, they’d be bound to trace the harassment back to him, sooner or later. No matter how clever he was about covering his tracks.

But Lucy didn’t want to say that out loud. She wasn’t sure if Ellie still believed Ben was innocent, and it didn’t seem right to talk about him as if he was definitely guilty.

“Have you called his attorney yet, Ellie?” Maggie asked.

“Yes, I did that first thing, while the police were still here. Then I called Dana. Did she call you? How did you get here so quickly?”

“We were just down the road, at Ridley’s farm. Lucy had to pick something up there. . . . It doesn’t matter,” Maggie said quickly. “Janine Ridley told us that the police had found some new evidence against Ben. She didn’t tell us what it was, though.”

“We were coming to warn you,” Lucy explained.

“Oh . . . I see.” Ellie nodded. She seemed a bit in shock, Lucy thought. She sensed that Maggie had noticed this, too.

Maggie gently took Ellie’s arm. “Sit down, Ellie. Why don’t I get you something? How about a shot of brandy?”

“Do I look that bad?” Ellie forced a smile, but her mouth trembled. “Oh, I suppose it couldn’t hurt. That’s what they give people in the movies, isn’t it?”

They had walked into the parlor and Maggie led Ellie to a chintz love seat. “Yes, it is, and for good reason,” she added. She walked over to a small antique chest that held a silver tray of liquor bottles and glasses, then poured some liquor from a crystal decanter and handed it to Ellie.

Lucy watched her sip from the delicate glass, staring blankly into space.

All of this pretty furniture and the antiques purchased with such care and enthusiasm to make this house look just right, a stage set really, of a cozy country home. It suddenly seemed so sad. All of Ellie’s hopes and dreams had come to such an empty, sordid end.

Ellie sipped her brandy and shook her head. “Our own farm? Ben has been the one all along? . . . I can’t believe it,” she murmured.

“Do you think he really did this, Ellie?” Maggie asked gently. “Did you ever suspect anything?”

Ellie shook her head. “Never. . . . I can’t understand it. He always seemed so angry and surprised. He kept insisting that no one was going to chase us off the farm or make us give up the property. Even when I would have doubts and say, Maybe we made a mistake. Maybe we should sell the place and go back to the city . . .” Ellie shook her head, as if trying to recall pieces of a dream.

“What would he say then?” Lucy asked, leaning forward in her seat.

“He’d tell me not to worry, that it would all blow over. Except lately, he was pushing for us to leave. But I could understand that. I finally agreed with him,” she admitted. “This morning I thought, Enough is enough. I love this place, but it isn’t worth losing my marriage. So I told Ben I thought that if we could sell it, we should. That seemed to make him happy . . . until the police came.”

They heard a sharp knock on the front door. “It’s Dana,” Ellie said, glancing out the window.

“I’ll get it.” Lucy rose and went to the foyer. She opened the front door and let Dana in.

“How is she?” Dana asked, slipping her coat off.

“Not good. She seemed to be in shock. Maggie gave her a shot of brandy.”

“That sounds about right.” Dana sighed, her expression serious. “Jack got in touch with some of his friends at the station. It doesn’t look good for Ben. They have him red-handed, on camera.”

“But how? Who took the video?”

Dana left her coat and bag on a chair in the entrance hall. “Let’s go inside. I’ll tell you all at once.”

Ellie was glad to see Dana and rose to give her a hug.

“Has Ben’s lawyer been in touch yet?” Dana asked. She sat next to Ellie on the love seat.

“Not yet. He said it would take a while for Ben to be processed and he would call in a few hours, when there was some news. Did you speak to Jack?” Ellie asked quickly. “Was he able to reach anyone?”

Dana nodded. She reached over and took Ellie’s hand. “It
sounds very serious, Ellie. The police have a video of Ben coming back here on Saturday night. They say the quality is good. He can be clearly recognized.”

Ellie took a few short, quick breaths. As if she were having trouble getting air. “How did they get this video? Who took these pictures?”

“You weren’t the only one frustrated with the investigation,” Dana told her. “Janine Ridley thought the police weren’t doing a very good job, either. She hired a private investigator to follow Ben. She feels sure that he killed her father. The PI didn’t find any proof of that. Just the criminal mischief. That seems enough for the police for now,” Dana added.

“Oh, dear . . . I still can’t believe it. I can’t believe Ben did all those things. Vandalized our property. Attacked the llamas . . . killed poor Daphne. I’ve been such an idiot to believe him all this time. All his lies. His deceptions. He’s really just . . . just a horrible person. And I let this all happen. I can’t forgive myself for that, either . . .” Ellie’s words trailed off as she leaned forward and covered her face with her hands.

Dana leaned over and placed her hand on Ellie’s back, gently soothing her.

Lucy’s heart went out to Ellie. It was going to take a very long time to process and accept the truth about Ben. He was a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type when you thought about it. She had been gullible, but she loved him and believed that they were working together to save the farm. She’d been too close to see the truth, Lucy reasoned and now shared the guilt
and responsibility for the way he’d harmed the animals that had been entrusted to their care.

“You can’t blame yourself, Ellie. Ben had us all fooled. Myself included,” Dana added.

While Dana held back on any formal diagnosis, Lucy had a good guess of what that might be. She’d often heard Dana list the classic characterstics of a psychopath—charming, grandiose, and definitely lacking empathy, and Ben could easily check off all those boxes.

“I know I shouldn’t blame myself. But I do,” Ellie finally answered. She sat up and dried her eyes on a tissue. “Now that I know, it’s all starting to make sense to me. The way he managed to trick me and cover up afterwards. We bought some security cameras online. Ben said he could put them up himself, to save money. But they never seemed to work right. Every time someone vandalized the property, the cameras were either pointed the wrong way or the picture went black and all you could hear was the sound.” She looked over at Lucy and Maggie. “Now I can see he must have been fooling around with them.”

Dana turned to Ellie. “What happened to the video from the cameras, Ellie? Did the police ask for it?”

She nodded. “Yes, they took some discs the night Daphne was killed and after Ridley’s murder. They took the rest of them tonight. It’s all on CDs. I guess they’ll go through it and look for Ben.”

“Did you ever look at it?” Lucy asked curiously.

“A few times. Ben would usually check it and show me. Or tell me the camera didn’t catch anything. He’d say he didn’t
hook it up right, or the vandal was just out of range. Once he even said an animal must have knocked the camera out of place. Now I know why.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “We didn’t see anything after Ridley died, either.”

Lucy recalled she had already told them that at a knitting meeting. “Do the police have all of that now, or do you have some backup?”

“Good question, Lucy,” Dana remarked. Lucy shrugged. “I work on my computer every day. If I didn’t back up my projects . . . well, let’s just say there were times when I would have jumped out a window if I didn’t have a backup file.”

“I think there’s a backup set,” Ellie said after a moment. “Our attorney just asked me tonight, and I checked. Do you think something is on there that will help Ben?”

“I don’t know,” Lucy said, “but it’s worth taking a look.”

Dana glanced at her watch. “We don’t have anything else to do until your lawyer calls back.”

Except knit, Lucy realized. Though it didn’t seem very polite to mention that right now.

“I don’t expect you all to stay with me. That would be asking too much,” Ellie told them. “I only called Dana because Dot is away tonight and Jack has such a good in with the police.”

“I don’t have any place to be,” Maggie said.

“Matt was going to the gym tonight. He won’t be home until pretty late anyway,” Lucy said. “Besides, now I’m curious to see those CDs.”

“Oh . . . all right. That’s a good idea . . . but the police took our computer.” Ellie looked at the other women with a dismal expression.

“Don’t worry, I have my laptop in the car,” Dana said.

A short time later, Dana had set up her notebook on the kitchen table and begun looking through the CDs that were covered with paper jackets and marked with dates. There were two outdoor cameras, one focused in the direction of the barn and the orchard and another on the pasture.

“Let’s look at the night Ridley was murdered,” Dana said. “That’s the most important time right now.”

Lucy agreed. The real question was who killed Justin Ridley. If Ben had some weird reason to vandalize his own property or suffered from split personality disorder . . . well, that was unfortunate but beside the point.

Dana removed the most important CD, the one that filmed the property the night Ridley had died, and slipped it in the computer. The picture came up quickly and they all started watching over her shoulder.

The footage was very boring, just blurry black-and-white pictures of the two perspectives, taken at night. A raccoon or skunk scurried across the barnyard. The llamas out in the pasture walked across the screen from time to time.

“Go forward, Dana. Like to midnight, or something,” Lucy said.

“When was Ridley killed? Why don’t we just go up to that time frame?” Maggie suggested.

Ellie agreed. “The police say Ridley was killed Saturday morning, between two and four. Ben and I looked at this disc the day after. I was so nervous and upset, I couldn’t even see straight.”

Dana fast-forwarded until the time stamp showed 2:00. She slowed it down, and they all watched quietly.

“His body was found in the meadow, wasn’t it?” Maggie asked.

“Yes, in the meadow, past the big tree back there,” Ellie answered. “I don’t think the camera reaches that far. Even if it’s pointed the right way.”