Blood Red Sundown: Evil Begins (16 page)

THEY SAT QUIETLY
on
the patio both analyzing the previously recounted details of Beth’s marriage. Lon
stood and opened the door and as she stepped out onto the patio Anne was amazed
at her confident and obviously very happy demeanor.

“Beth, you were pretty emphatic about the senator being
the jealous type, how far do you think your ex would have gone if he thought you
had cheated on him?”

“Let’s just say, Anne, that I feared his reaction so
much so that, for me, to even consider such a thing would have caused me to walk
in fear every minute of every day. To this day when I am talking with a gentleman
friend I sometimes look around because I feel like William may be watching me. I
know that sounds foolish, but that’s how brainwashed I had become under his watchful
eye. Even today when I go to church and the minister happens to quote the verse
that says, “You reap what you sow! I wanted to run out of the church screaming.”

Lon felt even more convinced as he listened to Beth that
this smooth talking senator was definitely capable of being the man they were searching
for.

“Can we get back to your search for whatever that key
opened, Lon asked?”

“Oh yes, I’m sorry. I guess I was beginning to ramble.
I was alone once again the next day so I took another chance and entered her room
and searched the shelves in her closet. I was about to give up when I reached and
discovered a hat box. It felt heavy, so I pulled it down and sat it on hamper there
in the closet. I untied the strings and when I opened it I saw a blond wig lying
on a black pouch like folder with a lock. I figured that was what the key was for.
There were paper clippings and photos in the bottom of the box. I looked at a few
of them and then went back to her bedside for the key to open the black folder case.”

“The key was not where I had left it. I almost panicked
thinking she had figured out that I had been there. I opened the next drawer and
it was there under her gloves. I was nervous as to why she had moved it.”

“I opened the lock and then put the key back in the drawer
in case I had to get out of the room fast. I hoped that she had simply looked for
something or added something the day before and did not suspect that I had been
in her drawer.

Inside the locked case were legal papers, insurance policies,
cash, and various envelopes. A folded picture was paper clipped and upon opening
it, found it to be a close-up picture of a man sitting at a table with the mother
at the other end. I had never seen his father, so I assumed it to be of him. He
was pointing to a tattoo on his upper arm that said Gal. 6:7. I thought this must
be the source for William’s biblical words.”

“Let me guess, Beth, ‘You reap what you sow’?”

“That’s correct, detective. I opened an envelope and
it contained photos of the three of them. In every picture the man’s face had been
blacked out. I pulled out the last envelope and it was a newspaper clipping’s describing
a double suicide. A man and woman had been found in a car dead from carbon monoxide.
It was the father and his lover. Across the article and every photo that he had
been in was written, ‘Reap What You Sow’. I quickly put everything back as I had
found them and practically ran out of the room. I was very distraught.”

Anne was witnessing the fear welling up in Beth by
her body language and when a grimace appeared on her face as she brought up her
memories she decided to let her hesitate for a time.

“Beth, we can certainly understand your distress. Your
nerves must have been doing jumping jacks with the fear of discovery and your need
to escape after what you had uncovered.”

“You can’t even imagine the anxiety I felt as I replaced
everything as I had found them.”

She leaned forward in her chair clasping her hands together
apparently reliving for the moment from the situation she had experienced. She looked
up and smiled at Anne.

“I feel better now getting some of this behind me. On
another occasion when I was alone I reluctantly decided to take a chance to reopen
that case and take the time to read the newspaper clippings. I wrote down the woman’s
name and the date of the published story. I was determined to learn more about his
father.”

She slouched back in the chair and stared straight ahead
then looked up at them and said, “I’m sorry detectives, but I need a rest from
the remembrances of this horrible situation I was in. Can we continue this tomorrow?
Just talking about that horrible time in my life I can feel myself getting that
closed in watched feeling that stayed with me my entire married life. I often thank
God for getting me out of that situation.”

“Tomorrow is fine. I think we are all feeling a little
tense. Can we take you out to dinner, Beth? You know the best places in Sutcliff,
I imagine.”

“There are no best places in Sutcliff, they’re all equal
greasy spoons, and no thank you, I’m playing bridge tonight. What time will you
be here tomorrow?”

The drive back to Reno was, to say the least, interesting.
Lon took his time before taking his expected opportunity to say, “I told you so,
Anne.”

They stopped in a small local bar for a drink and use
it as a time to go over the details that surfaced in the meeting with a very interesting
lady.

“Anne you must agree now that this guy is weird. Now
I’m even more determined to find out just how weird.”

“You have to admit, Lon, there are many men that grow
up totally tied to their mothers and are never dangerous to anyone else. If you
want my opinion I would say the mother was the weird one. The incest is certainly
mind boggling and it appears she drove the husband into another woman’s arms.”

“What or who drove them to suicide?” Lon asked, “A more
important question might be
was it suicide?”

THE SURF IS
angry tonight,
Stephanie thought. She watched as the waves rolled in connected to the darkening
sky line and then exploded against the rocky section of the shore. White caps over
the deep blue hue were awe inspiring and she wished she was an artist who could
transfer the scene to canvas.

Sunset, she remembered was projected to be early tonight.
Looking up to the sky she saw it was alive with dramatic colors and displayed with
fire-like images. She turned to observe the high ground behind her, hoping to see
him walking down the path to watch the sun set with her. Walking closer to the shoreline,
she felt as if she was a part of the picture nature was painting on this wonderful
night.

Funny,
she thought,
how the sun hovers and
sinks so slowly and then disappears in an instant below the horizon. You blink
or turn for a second and turn back and it has been replaced by a red glowing
skyline.

A car door, the sound she was waiting for. She turned
to watch him walk down the trail and recognized his self-confidence in the way he
carried himself. His smile was captivating as he approached and stood beside her.

“I think we’re in for an extra special treat tonight,
William. That sky spells out a heavenly sunset,” she said.

He took her arm and suggested they walk down the beach.

“I’M SURPRISED YOU
bought
the suicide story, Lon. The way you have it in for the senator, I figured you for
a homicide theory.”

“I’m going to pursue that theory further on my own time.
I think there’s something to be learned from their mother-son relationship.”

“Do we know how or when the mother died?”

“It is strange that it has never come up Anne, it seems
to be an ignored subject; and yet we talk about her all the time.”

“Lon, on the back of one of the file pictures, someone,
and I have to assume it to have been a police officer, wrote in large letters, [MOMMY
WINS AGAIN]. Does that have anything to do with the mother son-relationship we’ve
been discussing with Beth?”

“Wow Anne, I had totally forgotten that time period or
maybe I wanted to put it out of my mind because I remember thinking that they went
too far. He was definitely considered a mommy’s boy by some of the officers on the
force and I never really understood how they had arrived at that conclusion. I never
gave it any thought back then about it being anything other than a mother and son
close relationship. Stories like that were always circulating around the office
about some politician or celebrity. They usually turned out to be false.”

She could tell by Lon’s pause that he was going back
trying to recall something. She broke the silence and asked him,

“What did you feel about Beth’s description of the mother’s
relationship with him? I believe she definitely feels there was something romantically
going on between them. You know what Lon; I think we’re in for some mind numbing
discussions tomorrow with Beth now that she has gotten comfortable with us.”

“I think you’re right partner; there must be some additional
angles to the story of William Radford the third and his overly zealous love for
his mother. I’m thinking they’ll emerge starting tomorrow. I wondered how long you’d
stay on his bandwagon now that you have conjured up a few doubts about our boy Senator
Radford.

“I am not on his
bandwagon
and he’s not my
boy
.
I simply believe in giving every one the benefit of the doubt, you know, innocent
until proven guilty. How about we let this conversation go by the wayside and have
another beer while we select a special restaurant for a nice leisurely meal.”

“I’m disappointed you did not make reference to my use
of the word conjured, but it’s a great idea and to show how great, I’ll pick up
the check tonight, Anne.”

“Right, you’ll pay right out of our expense account;
you’re one big spender detective. Conjure that!”

THE SENATOR WAS
holding
Stephanie’s arm and explaining his future plan for running for the governorship
of California as they walked along the shoreline when he stopped and pulled her
into his body and said, “I’m growing very fond of you Stephanie. I know this will
seem very sudden, but because of my background in business and politics, I have
developed a keen sense of timing in decision making. If the time is right you are
programmed to act quickly. I am also aware that you may think this unusual for a
man to feel this way after just losing a wife in such a horrific way. But when I
saw you at her funeral I was taken by the beauty that resonated from you. Your eyes
showed deep concern for me and it gave me comfort at a time when all else seemed
to be crashing in on me.”

Stephanie found herself locked in his arms and he kissed
her. Completely surprised she offered initial resistance, but the sincerity she
felt in his kiss combined with the loneliness she had been feeling sent a message
of, this is what you want, let it happen.

Her need rising, she placed her arms around him and kissed
him with every passionate emotion that had been festering inside of her for months.
He smiled at her recognizing her needful response and then walked her back along
the shoreline to her blanket as the darkness settled in leaving them totally alone
with all that the dark of night would provide.

As they lay there on the blanket she knew this was wrong,
but this was the missing ingredient needed to create the perfect life here in Santa
Barbara. A tender touch of his lips on hers brought her thought process to a standstill,
as she said, “Oh William.”

They were totally unaware of being watched by a man standing
not more than ten feet away hidden in the darkness of the trees. His eyes were stern
and filled with anger at what he was witnessing. Now he would become indifferent
to what he was about to do to her, since his love for her was no longer a consideration.

“YOU KNOW PARTNER,
I
could get used to this lifestyle Lon said, as they sat and sipped an after dinner
drink with very little conversation about the case.

“I hate to spoil the mood, but I think we should put
in an hour or two on the case tonight, Lon. We can try and make some sense out of
some of the items in the files we brought along. I feel that there is something
staring at us and we’re missing it. Besides the chief will be expecting us to have
uncovered something, and have some answers for him when we get back, or he will
think this trip was for nothing.”

“Anne, you’re becoming a very sagacious person and I
must tell you I admire that in you. I would rather you to be a little more lascivious
in your actions, but then I digress.”

“Sagacious, Lon, are you kidding me? Sagacious, what
the heck does that mean, and as far as my becoming more lascivious, keep on dreaming.
Where are all these words coming from?”

“Right from the massive collection of words stored inside
my detail oriented mind, don’t you know?”

“Alright let’s get to the room and put in some productive
detective work. Oh, and by the way,
sagacious
means that you have a keen
mind and sound judgment and lascivious means …”

“Lon, I know what lascivious means.”

As she walked to the elevators ahead of him she was laughing
to herself knowing he wanted to stay down stairs, play in the casino, and forget
the case for the night.

Once inside the room Lon was still grumbling to her but
he grabbed a folder from his briefcase and stacked pillows against the headboard,
kicked off his cowboy boots, sat on the bed, and opened a file.

“I’m ready partner, he said looking overt at her, let’s
get this over with.”

Anne was leafing through a second file sitting on the
small sofa with her legs tucked under her. She lowered the folder to her lap and
spoke to Lon.

“You know; there’s something that keeps gnawing at me
about the senator’s strange family relationships.”

“Well, well, welcome to the real world, detective Cummings.
Everything about that family is strange, and now I believe you’re seeing through
the senator’s high society camouflage. Maybe we can find out some important things,
like what happened in that car double suicide? How and when did the mother die?
I believe Beth could hold a key to some important details and maybe tomorrow will
be an eye opening beginning.”

“I have to admit, I’m beginning to have some concerns
and my suspicions concerning the senator are growing.”