Angel Sleuth (27 page)

She looked in on Jeremy. All the animals in the cages were quiet. He finished saying his prayers, adding one for Dessie’s safe return and asking God to bring his pig home.

Looking out the front upstairs window, she watched as Mary Jane, like a teenager with her steady boyfriend in his car, snuggled up against Mac, safe in his arms for the night.

The world seemed once more to spin on its axis without a wobble, at least until the next morning.

* * *

An early phone call from one of the friends he’d made in Aldensville, Todd, sent Jeremy peddling out of the village as the sun came up. Todd had told him there was a carnival in Arbor, a small village only several miles beyond the Kinderkill. The rides and game booths wouldn’t be open this morning, but Jeremy didn’t care. What interested him was Todd’s report that one of the carnival’s featured attractions was “Robin and His Amazing Racing Pigs.”

Todd’s parents took him last night, and he swore one of the pigs reminded him of Desdemona. Jeremy found that very clever of Dessie. What better place for her than with some of her own?

When Jeremy got to the field where the carnival was located and spotted the ring holding the potbellied pigs, he looked around to be certain no one was watching him approach the area. Sure enough, he spied Desdemona rubbing sides with a larger and quite handsome potbellied male. Jeremy called softly to her, and she turned in the direction of his voice. He could swear he saw a smile light up her snout. She dropped her flirting with the male, ran over to the fence and poked her pink nose through the wire to nuzzle Jeremy’s hand.

“Hey! What’re you doing there? Get away from my pigs.” A smallish man with a pitchfork in his hand rushed toward Jeremy. The man’s face was as pink as Desdemona’s snout, and his nose was pushed in and upturned. He looked more like his pigs than he did a human.

“Not all of these are your pigs. This one’s mine.” Jeremy pointed at Dessie. “She ran off the other day, and I’ve been looking for her.” Jeremy stared up into the pig man’s face, noting a look of fear briefly cross his features.

“Nope. Can’t be. She’s been with me for years.”

“Liar.” He was anxious to grab Desdemona and take her away from this unpleasant man.

“Get out of here, or I’ll show you what we do with nosy people.” He pointed the pitchfork at Jeremy and approached him, jabbing the tines in his direction and making a growling noise in his throat.

“I’ll be back,” Jeremy whispered to Desdemona. He grabbed his bike off the ground where he had dropped it and sped off across the field.

“We’ll just see whose pig she is,” said Jeremy to himself. That man had no right to Dessie.

He peddled to Dr. Martin’s Animal Hospital. Desdemona’s previous owner had the vet plant a microchip in her shoulder. Doc Martin would help him.

The animal hospital didn’t open until nine, but Jeremy banged on the door knowing that someone would be in early taking care of the boarders and those kept overnight for medical care. Carrie Martin, the doctor’s wife, opened the door to him.

“Why, Jeremy. What are you doing here so early? Another bird fallen out of a nest? Or a squirrel with a broken leg?”

Jeremy looked up into her sunny face. She looked just like an angel, he thought, a guardian angel who would help him with Dessie.

“No, not that. It’s Desdemona. She ran away, you know.”

“Yes, I know. I put her picture up on our bulletin board in case anyone coming here spotted her, but we’ve heard nothing.”

Doc Martin entered the room, carrying a furry black and white cat under his arm. His great height and large hands made the cat, no midget itself, look like a toy miniature. The doctor’s face registered concern and anger when he heard Jeremy’s words.

“I found her. She’s with Robin and his racing pigs in Arbor, at the carnival there.”

“I’ve been wanting an excuse to visit Robin and see how he’s treating his pigs,” said Doc Martin. “This is as good a one as any. I’ve got surgery this morning, but I tell you what. I’ll meet you over there at noon, and we’ll see what we can do.”

“She’s got her microchip. That should prove she’s Desdemona and not one of his pigs.”

Doc Martin patted Jeremy on the shoulder. “Don’t you worry. If she’s your Desdemona, we’ll have her back home in no time.”

“Would you like to come back and help me this morning with feedings and cleaning?” Carrie gestured to Jeremy to follow her to the back of the clinic.

* * *

Several hours later, with the work at the hospital done, Jeremy had time before he was to meet Doc Martin back at the carnival. He peddled up the last hill before town and headed for Todd’s house to tell him the good news about Desdemona and the offer Carrie made him to work some hours helping out at the animal hospital. That is, if his mom and he weren’t moved to another location.

As he turned the corner to head parallel with the river, a figure stepped out of the woods and blocked the path in front of him.

“Well, well, what have we here, but little Jeremy out and about on his bike.” Hiram Blackman stood facing the bike and grasped the handlebars to prevent Jeremy from moving. Jeremy looked up into Hiram’s bloodshot eyes. They were cold and angry, the meanest eyes he’d ever seen on any person.

“I need you and your mother to split. Get out of the house. And I don’t want you going back there and blabbing you met me to Kaitlin. But here’s the deal. If you leave home and don’t tell Kaitlin you saw me, maybe I won’t have to kill her. How’s that for a good deal?”

Hiram reached out to grab Jeremy’s arm, but Jeremy shoved the bike forward with a hard push. The front tire slid harmlessly between Hiram’s legs, but the top of the fork of the handle bars collided with his crotch. Jeremy jumped off the bike and sprinted into the woods.

“Aaargh, you little bastard!” Hiram grabbed himself in agony.

Jeremy glanced over his shoulder and saw Hiram sink to his knees onto the grass by the path. He seemed to be crying.

I made him mad, real mad, thought Jeremy as he ran faster.
I hope he won’t hurt Kaitlin.
A final turn of his head before the trees obscured his view, and he saw Hiram grab the shiny red bicycle and fling it into the river. Then he limped off down the path. Jeremy had never seen anybody so out of control.

Jeremy was torn. It was important to let Mary Jane know about Hiram’s threats against Kaitlin. But would Doc Martin think he didn’t care about Dessie if he didn’t show up? He stopped to catch his breath. Doc Martin would help Dessie, but it was up to Jeremy to help Kaitlin.

“Bye, Dessie.” He turned to head back home to the others.

* * *

The ringing phone woke Kaitlin.
I must have dozed off after my shower. I was more exhausted than I thought.

“Is Jeremy there?” She recognized the voice at the other end of the line as Doc Martin’s. The stillness of the house told her no one else was home.

“No. He’s not. What’s up?”

“He was supposed to meet me at the carnival in Arbor today at noon. We think we’ve found Desdemona here, but Jeremy didn’t show, and Robin has taken all of his pigs and left, so no Desdemona either.” Doc Martin filled her in on Jeremy’s early morning visit and Desdemona’s kidnapping by Robin.

“Robin won’t get far, but I’m worried about Jeremy. He’s crazy about that pig. Why wouldn’t he show?”

Kaitlin walked down the hallway and checked Jeremy and Mary Jane’s rooms. Empty. Both of them. Too empty.

“I’ll get back to you, Doc.”

She entered Jeremy’s room. The birds were there in their cages, food cups full, paper on the bottom of the cages clean. She opened one of Jeremy’s dresser drawers. No tees. No underwear. There were no clothes in his closet.

She ran out of his room to Mary Jane’s room. It was the same as Jeremy’s—no clothes anywhere, no makeup, no hair curlers, nothing to say anyone ever lived there.

Downstairs in the kitchen, she found Mary Jane’s pool cue leaning against the kitchen wall next to the message board. A message on the board read:

We had to leave. Didn’t want to wake you. Please take care of everything and everyone. We love you.

She slumped into a chair at the table and stared at the board. The house was silent, and Kaitlin was alone for the first time since the beginning of summer, and she didn’t like the feeling.

She didn’t hear anyone enter the house until a voice from behind her called her name.

“Kaitlin, are you okay? I rang the doorbell, but no one answered. I came around back and saw you sitting here at the table.”

She looked up into Jim’s brown eyes which were as warm as the afternoon sun pouring through her bedroom windows. Concern softened his usually stern features.

“They’re gone.” She gestured toward the message board. “Mary Jane and Jeremy. This morning. I don’t know where, and I’m afraid for them.”

“Your local vet found Jeremy’s bike in the Kinderkill. Looks like someone threw it there. Maybe Mary Jane thought it was safer for her to get Jeremy out of town. She’s right to be concerned. Hiram got away last night.”

Of course, thought Kaitlin.
How stupid of me. It was just like Hiram to get to her by threatening someone close to her.

“Mary Jane’s a pretty savvy lady. I’m certain she’s fine. Just hiding out for a time. She’s good at that, you know.”

She was good at hiding, at protecting her child, at making sure everyone she loved was safe, but with Mary Jane gone, Kaitlin felt the emptiness of the house.
Come back, and I’ll never doubt you again.

“Maybe this was a good time for her to leave. She wasn’t going to stay here forever you know,” said Jim. He touched Kaitlin’s shoulder in a gesture of sympathy. Something stirred in her at the contact, and she began to cry.

Jim did the manly thing. No, he didn’t take her in his arms. He went to the sink and ran a glass of water. She took the glass and visually compared the liquid in it to Jim’s arms. They looked a whole lot more substantial than water.

“Listen. I’ve got a line on Hiram. I think he’s back in town, and I’m going to find him before he makes any further trouble. And we’re making a move on ARC today. I wanted to make sure you were okay. I have to leave, but I want you to stay here. Mac’s out front to keep an eye on you. Keep the doors locked and don’t let anyone in. I mean, anyone at all. I’m not certain who all is involved in this mess, but they’re probably people you know and used to trust. Don’t let them in. Hear me?”

She nodded.

“Paul?”

“Not even Paul.”

But she could interrogate Mac as to Mary Jane’s whereabouts. She assured Jim she would stay put until he returned and urged him to go do his cop thing. If he didn’t buy her willingness to cooperate, he said nothing. She was glad he had other things on his mind. She almost bodily pushed him out the door.

After he left, she knew she had to do two things today. First, talk to Mac and find out where Mary Jane and Jeremy had gone and for how long. And then, and here was the tough one, she would visit Henry Baldo and confront him with his lies to Caroline about her father. Mac and Jim wouldn’t like her out on the streets today, not with all the sleazy characters running about in the town. And they’d hate her going to see Baldo. Now that was the kind of dangerous action Mary Jane was noted for, thought Kaitlin.
Do it
, she argued to herself, or betray the mark Mary Jane’s guidance had left on her personality.
Be bold.

She ran upstairs and rummaged around in her dresser drawer until she found the scarf her mother had given her for her birthday last year. Blood red and deep purple silk. Not like her at all. She wound it around her neck and tossed the end over her shoulder with a roguish flip of her wrist. She was ready to take on the bad guys.

Mac looked up as she approached his car.

“Where are Mary Jane and Jeremy? Are they safe? Gone for how long? What…”

He held up his hand as if he were a school crossing guard. “Stop it. All you need to know is they’re in a safe place for now. Hiram threatened Jeremy this morning when he was off to find Dessie. It’s better for everyone for them not to be here.”

She wanted to push for more, but the tight look on Mac’s face told her she would be wasting her time.

“I’ve got to go see Dr. Baldo.” She told Mac what she knew about Baldo.

“Even so, Jim told me you were staying here. In fact, he told me to make sure you stayed here.”

“Mac, please. This is important.” He rolled an unlit cigarette around in his fingers and stared out the windshield.

“I’ll give you a ride.”

“I need the walk to clear my head. Make sure I know what I want to say to him.”

“Lead on. I’ll be right behind you. Baldo won’t try anything if he sees me sitting in front of his house.”

Mac started the car, made a U-turn, and began to follow as Kaitlin strode down the shady streets toward Baldo’s house near the river. She hoped her impulsiveness wouldn’t get Mac in trouble, or her either, for that matter. But how could Jim know what she was doing? He would be too busy doing his police thing at ARC.

She opened the gate to Baldo’s yard, hurried up the sidewalk, and stepped onto his porch. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Mac pull the Buick over to the curb across from the house. Baldo opened the door before she could knock.

“I saw you coming. This’ll have to be quick. I’m going on a short trip.”

Was Baldo one of the people the police were interested in at ARC? Jim didn’t have to tell her not to trust Baldo. She’d never trusted him before all the trouble there.

Baldo did seem in a hurry. He ushered her into the house. She followed him through an open door to his office where he busied himself with opening and closing drawers and file cabinets, pulling out papers and documents, and placing these items in a briefcase on his desk.

“Sit down, Henry. You’ll want to pay full attention to what I have to say to you. The time will be worth it.”

Kaitlin’s tone of voice caught his attention. He stopped scurrying around the room and looked at her. What he saw in her face seemed to convince him that he owed her his focus. He gestured toward a chair and sank into the one behind his desk. His restlessness told her she’d better be brief. And accurate.