Barbara Levenson - Mary Magruder Katz 03 - Outrageous October (19 page)

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CHAPTER

FIFTY-FOUR

Sheriff Parsons was out of the truck. As soon as he was in earshot, I told him that I had spotted Sherry and a male coming out of the trees onto the road.

“Dash and your deputies are chasing down the male now and Dash said it was Paul Conrad.”

The sheriff looked at Sherry’s pathetic figure. “Are you Sherry Yarmouth?” he asked.

Sherry nodded.

“Who is the man who was with you?”

“Paul. His name is Paul.”

“Sherry, we’re going to get you to a safe place in a few minutes. How did you get here to this road?”

“Sheriff Parsons, Sherry needs medical help. Can’t this wait?” I asked.

“I just need to know a few things now. It’s important.” The Sheriff stared at me as if I was an idiot. “How did you get here?”

“Paul untied me and carried me most of the way from the place they were keeping me. He said they were going to kill me today and this was the only way out.” Sherry began to cry.

“How many other people were holding you? Do you know who they are?” the sheriff asked.

Sherry tried to control her sobs and spoke softly through the tears. “There are two others. One’s called Francie and a man called Otis.

“What kind of weapons do they have?”

“I don’t know,” Sherry leaned heavily against me. “They must have guns. Paul said they were going to shoot me, I think.”

Just then Lonnie and Sean appeared each holding one of Paul’s arms. Dash was just behind them. All of them were out of breath.

“Paul Conrad, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Sherry Yarmouth.” Parsons moved quickly to handcuff Paul who put up no fight. “Do you understand that if you talk to me, what you say can be used against you in court? You’re entitled to have an attorney present, but I really need to ask you some questions right now so I can go onto your farm and grab the rest of the people who held Sherry. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir,” Paul answered.

I winced, the defense attorney in me figuring how good counsel would get any confession suppressed after that abbreviated Miranda warning coupled with the threat of arrest of his cohorts.

“Now, Paul, if you help me here, I may be able to help you down the road,” Parsons continued. “Who else is at the house and what kind of weapons do they have in there?”

“Just Francie and Otis Wallace. Otis has a revolver and Francie has a hunting rifle.”

“Paul don’t have no weapons on him. I made sure of that.” Lonnie said.

“Okay, Paul. I’m going to put you in the back of Lonnie’s car and lock you in there, while we go over to the farm and get Francie and Otis,” Parsons said.

“I’d just as soon you’d take me to the jail right now. Francie’s gonna kill me for ruining her shot at the money,” Paul said.

“What did she want with all that money, anyway?” Jimmy Parsons asked.

“She wanted us to get far away from here before you came after her,” Paul said

“Why would I come after her?”

“For shooting Carolyn Brousseau. She said sooner or later someone would figure it out. She said we was only going to get the money that time too and then she shot Carolyn, and now she was going to kill Sherry so I had to get her out of there.” Paul looked at Sherry. “I know you don’t believe me, but I really did care about you, Sherry. It’s just that Francie took me in, you know. I was just a kid.”

“Okay, Paul. We’ll talk some more later. Lonnie and Sean, let’s go get the bastards. Dash, you take Mary and Sherry back to town,” Jim said.

“I can come with you. Mary can drive my car back with Sherry,” Dash said.

“No, Dash, this isn’t a deer hunt. You’re not deputized. Just get Sherry back to her family.” Jimmy and the big guys piled into their vehicles and took off with Paul handcuffed in the back of the SUV, and Sean pointing a deer rifle directly at him.

I helped Sherry into the back seat of Dash’s car, and got in next to her.

Dash opened the back of the little SUV and removed an army blanket. He handed it to me and I draped it over Sherry. I saw bruises on her arms and face, Her hair hung in limp, dirty clumps around her face.

“What day is it, Mary?” Sherry asked.

“It’s Thursday, honey. We’re taking you to your mom and Brett. They’re at the Hanover Inn.” As I spoke, Sherry closed her eyes and fell asleep.

“Dash, can you call Lillian or Brett on your satellite phone?” I told him the numbers but neither one answered.

“Let me try to get Ken Upham. He was going with Lillian to the gas station for the money exchange.” I pulled my phone out of my bag and dialed Ken. It was a miracle. I actually got a connection and Ken answered.

“Ken. It’s Mary. Are you with Lillian?”

“Yes, we’re getting ready to go over to the gas station, just going over what Lillian is going to say.”

Never mind the gas station or the money. I have Sherry with me. She’s okay, Dash and I are bringing her to the inn right now.”

Ken turned and repeated what I told him. I heard Lillian scream and then Brett took the phone.

“Mary, you’re the best,” he said.

“No, I’m just the luckiest. See if Ken can get a doctor to come over to the inn to check Sherry out. She’s asleep. You’ll see her for yourself in a few minutes. We’re halfway there.”

Lillian and Brett were in the lobby when I helped Sherry in. Lillian grabbed her and held her so tightly I thought she’d squeeze the breath out of her. Lillian and Brett helped her over to the elevator. Ken stood a little apart from the Yarmouths watching the reunion and smiling broadly

“I have a nice hot bath ready for you, baby,” Lillian said.

“Mom, I’m so embarrassed. How could I have been such a dolt?”

The elevator door closed. Ken and I waited in the lobby for Dash who was parking the car. As soon as Dash appeared, I suggested we leave the family alone for a little while.

“Anyway, I’m starved. Come on, let’s go get a big well-earned breakfast,” I said. I linked an arm with each of them and we marched over to the inn dining room where I gorged on pancakes with Vermont maple syrup, bacon, and a bucket of coffee.

By noon time we were all in Lillian’s room. Sherry was dressed in jeans, a sweater and a sweat shirt retrieved by Brett from her dorm room. An intern had been sent over from Dartmouth Medical School courtesy of the administration office after Lillian called to inform the school that her daughter had been abducted from right under their noses and what were they going to do about it or should Lillian just go ahead and sue them for lack of campus safety.

The intern found nothing permanently wrong with Sherry that time, sleep and food wouldn’t cure physically. He did recommend that Sherry might benefit from talking to a psychologist, and warned Lillian about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

Brett thanked Ken over and over for his police expertise. It was a totally happy scene although Sherry was still subdued from the knockout stuff that was forced into her over the past days.

Dash, Ken and I were just about to leave when there was a knock on the door. Brett opened it and Jim Parsons identified himself, showing Brett his ID and badge.

“Come in, please,” Lillian said. “I wanted an opportunity to thank you.”

“It’s not necessary,” Mrs. Yarmouth. I’m really here about something else,” Jim said.

“Did you get the others? Are they under arrest?” I asked.

“We can discuss this later. I was summoned an hour ago to Roland Behr’s front yard. Mr. Behr has been murdered. Mr. Upham, you’ll have to come down to my office. I need to ask you some questions. I hope you’ll come voluntarily.” Parsons had a pair of handcuffs dangling from his front pocket.

“I’m coming with him, as his lawyer,” I said, immediately switching into lawyer high gear.

“Me too,” Dash said

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CHAPTER

FIFTY-FIVE

“What kind of a place is this?” Lillian asked. “Kidnappings, murders. I thought this was a bucolic safe environment. Sherry, I’m taking you back to Miami.”

“It’s okay, Mom. I don’t want to go back to school here. Can I transfer to the University of Miami?” Sherry closed her eyes again. The effort to talk exhausted her.

“Sheriff Parsons, Dash and I will drive Ken to your office. But I want to know now whether the kidnappers are locked up. They aren’t still out there somewhere, are they?” I asked.

“We got them just as they came out to get into a car in front of the farmhouse. They’ll be appearing before a judge tomorrow morning and then they’ll be transferred to holding facilities. I alerted the prosecutor and they’ll seek a ‘no bond’ status. Francie has already confessed to Carolyn Brousseau’s murder. I also have a statement from Paul Conrad about that murder. He told us that Carolyn got him and Otis to go with her to burglarize the Brousseau house. Paul waited outside as a lookout. Francie thought Carolyn was out of town. Too bad she wasn’t.”

“So you were completely wrong thinking Carolyn was killed by her son,” Dash said.

“I know I wasted a lot of time looking at Tom. Well, with this Roland Behr murder, things are going to be different. I’ll follow your car, Dash, but I want your word that you’ll bring Ken directly in.”

“Are you charging Ken with this murder?” I asked.

“Let’s just say for now he’s a person of interest,” Parsons said.

I grabbed my purse and jacket, gave Lillian and Sherry hugs and headed out to the elevator. Ken looked as if he were in shock. I wondered if I was ever going to get back to Miami. My vacation had turned into a major crime spree.

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CHAPTER

FIFTY-SIX

The police department was housed in the back of a converted school. The sign over the building read 1898. The building smelled of mildew mixed with the smell of coffee coming from a pot in the front office.

We walked through a series of rooms arriving at what must serve as the interrogation room. It contained a square table surrounded by four mismatched chairs, two wooden and two folding. Long windows faced the lawn in back of the building. The sun was shining on two maple trees whose red and yellow leaves fell into hills of brown dry leaves.

Sheriff Parsons sat at one end of the table. Ken sat across from him while Dash and I each pulled our chairs on either side of Ken.

“I need to read you your rights before we begin.” Parsons pulled a worn card from his pocket and began reading, “You have the right to remain silent—”

“It’s not necessary, Jim. You seem to have forgotten that I spent almost thirty years in law enforcement. I understand all of my rights. Let’s get to your questions.” Ken’s annoyance was evident.

“Why are you even bothering to question Ken? This is silly. Shouldn’t you be out at the murder scene, looking for evidence?” I used my most assertive voice.

“Listen, Ms. Katz, I didn’t invite you to my office or to High Pines. This is my investigation. I don’t need some flatlander woman telling me how to run things,”

“Now, hold it, Jim. Mary is here as an attorney,. She isn’t to be insulted. You’re making this personal. We’re all professionals here. Do you understand?” Dash was half out of his chair.

“Okay, everyone, let’s just let Jim ask me whatever and get on with this.” Ken had his hand on Dash’s arm.

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Parsons said. Now Ken, Roland Behr was found by his attorney at eight this morning. The lawyer stopped there before going back to Rutland. He got no answer when he knocked on the door. Lights were on inside the house. Then he saw Roland’s body lying in some bushes. The body was cold and stiff as if it had been there for some hours. We’ll get a more definitive answer from the coroner later, maybe tomorrow. Where were you last night, Ken? Can you account for your whereabouts?”

Sure, I spent most of the night at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock emergency room. My wife was there with me. Then we went home and we got a few hours’ sleep. Then I went to help Lillian Yarmouth get ready to go meet her daughter’s kidnappers.”

“Do you have the hospital records?”

“My wife has the discharge paper, I think, and I can get the records from the hospital.”

“Ken, I’ll go over to the hospital right now and get the records. Mary can stay here with you,” Dash said.

“Wait, Dash, you’ll need a release from Ken, so they’ll give you the records,” I said. “Give me some paper and I’ll draw up something for Ken to sign.”

Parsons pulled a sheet of paper from his pad where he had been taking notes. I quickly wrote out a release statement and Ken signed it.

“I’ll be back as quickly as possible and that should put an end to this,” Dash said. He grabbed his keys from the table and bolted out of the room.

“Now, Ken, Roland Behr was suing you about the trees you removed. Isn’t that correct?” Parsons went right back to his questioning,

“Don’t you want to wait to look at the records? Ken was totally unavailable to be murdering someone last night. His wife thought he was having a stroke,” I said.

Parsons ignored me. “Wasn’t he suing you and didn’t that make you angry?”

“Right on both counts” Ken answered.

“And weren’t you going around town calling Roland the Tree Nazi?”

“I don’t think I was the one that invented that name. I think it was one of the boys over at Hal’s store, but, yes, I used it and it kind of caught on.”

Maybe it’ll interest you to know that someone painted a swastika on Roland’s forehead.” Parsons looked like he had just scored the winning touchdown in the game of the year.

“Are you kidding? Do you think that I would do such a stupid thing over a nutty fracas about trees? I spent my life arresting bad guys and solving cases. You are way off base.” Ken said.

“Being that you’ve been a law enforcement officer, you are proficient with a firearm, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am.”

“You still own at least one firearm, don’t you?”

“I own a 45 caliber revolver and a hunting rifle. If you’d like to see them, stop by my house.” Ken’s hands were beginning to shake.

“Is my client under arrest, Sheriff?” I asked as I stood up.

“Not at this time.”

“Fine. Then we’ll be leaving.” I took Ken’s arm.

“Just don’t leave town,” Parsons called after us.

Once we hit the sidewalk outside the police building, I realized that Ken’s car was at the inn and my car was at the diner. Dash drove off on his emergency mission with the only car available for our dramatic exit from interrogation hell.

“I’ll call Rita to come get us. She’s probably home worrying over my health anyway, and I haven’t even had time to tell her that we got our kidnap victim back.”

“And I’ll try to get Dash to tell him not to return to Parsons’ office. Maybe we can all meet back at my place after we retrieve our cars.”

I tried to dial Dash but got no signal again. Ken finished updating Rita but left out the part about his being questioned regarding a murder.

“She’s on her way,” Ken said. “I thought it best to tell her about Roland Behr when she gets here. Did you reach Dash?”

“No, my cell won’t work. Try yours.”

Just then my cell rang. I answered quickly.

“Mary, it’s Dash. Were you just trying to call? I saw your number on the caller ID. Anyway, I’m having trouble getting the records. First the hospital records department said the release wasn’t proper and that Ken would have to come here himself. That damn Privacy Act, you know. So I told them I’d bring him right over and they should get the records ready.”

“Good idea,” I said.

“Not so good. The records clerk came back to the window and said they can’t find any records for Ken Upham from last night.”

“Oh, really? Dash, I’m standing outside the police office now with Ken. I walked him out when the questioning became bizarre. Rita is coming to pick us up. We’ll get our cars and we can meet at my place in a little while.”

“I read you, Mary. You don’t want Ken to hear about no records, right?”

“You got it. See you in a few minutes.”

I clicked off and stared at Ken. Either the hospital was a pillar of inefficiency or my client was a murderer.