Dead Madonna (23 page)

“It’s just that when you’ve been in combat …” said Gretel. She gave a sad smile. “I wish I
could
find it funny.”

“I’m sorry,” said Ray. “I am—very, very sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Gretel. But it wasn’t okay and they all knew it.

In a move to rescue Ray, Mallory piped up. “So, Dad, we’ve got the FawnCam all set up for you and Chief Ferris. We thought you two could follow us out to Ray’s place and watch some of the video from yesterday and this morning. Got a couple good views of the wolf.”

“You’re kidding,” said Osborne. “And the fawns are still alive?”

“Alive and filming,” said Ray.

“The views are from a distance,” said Mallory. “You can see that the fawns are alongside the does waiting for the wolf to leave …”

“Ray, Mallory,” said Gretel, “if I go with you two, is my car safe parked on the street? I have a trunk full of … merchandise, you know?”

“Let’s not take a chance,” said Ray. “I’ll drive with you. Mallory, Doc—meet you at my place?”

“You okay with all this?” Osborne asked his daughter as the door swung closed behind Ray and Gretel.

“Dad, give it up will you? I am very okay. I understand why Ray’s attracted to her—she’s blonde, she’s pretty, and she can shoot better than he can. Of course, now that we know she has no sense of humor … Dad, what’s wrong?” Mallory laid a hand on his arm. “You’ve got something on your mind.”

“It’s nothing. Lew and I hit some rapids and got tipped out of our kayaks last night. We’re both limping today—and I haven’t been able to reach her. Got a break in the homicide investigations that she needs to know about—”

“You want to try now before we get in our cars?”

Walking over to the counter in front of the switchboard, Osborne asked Laura to try Lew’s home again. Still no answer. “All I get is voice mail,” said Laura. “Want to leave a message?”

“Yes, let her know I’ll be at Ray’s in about seven minutes—and ask her to please call me as soon as she gets the message.”

Osborne followed Mallory back towards Loon Lake Drive. Halfway there he almost turned back, thinking it might not be a bad idea to drive by Lew’s place after all. He had the excuse of making sure she felt up for fish fry with everyone. But he decided to wait one more half hour. He needed to stop by the house to change clothes before going to dinner anyway. If she didn’t answer by five thirty, he would definitely drive out to the farm.

Ray had rigged up the video monitor so everyone sitting around his kitchen table could get a good view. “So let’s check out what’s happening right now,” he said, pushing a button on a remote control. The trunks of pine trees came into view and the camera moved slowly, slowly towards one. Then it stopped, looked round and moved towards more trunks.

“This isn’t real exciting, Ray,” said Mallory. “Show them the wolf.”

“All right,” he hit another button, “the best way to do this is to rewind to interesting sections.” Osborne felt his patience in short supply as he watched a lot of tree trunks, a path through more trees, a long pause down by the small lake that fronted Lew’s farmhouse and, finally, an approach to the deer garden. “Over there!” said Mallory, pointing at a dark shape along one edge of the garden—”See the wolf?”

Everyone leaned forward, intent on the shape as it loped along. Then it was gone.

“Ray,” said Mallory, “can you play the film from half an hour ago? I thought I saw the wolf just as we were leaving to come into town—see if you can find that sequence.” The film spun back then forward, minutes turned into mini-seconds.

“Wait! Back up,” said Osborne. “What was that?”

“Looks like a person,” said Gretel, leaning forward. Ray backed the tape up and ran it in real time. The phone rang suddenly. Ray hit pause then reached for the phone on the counter. Waiting for Ray to get rid of the caller, it registered with Osborne that the digital readout in the lower left corner of the screen was showing the current date with a time of 1:11 p.m. “Doc, it’s for you,” said Ray, handing him the cordless phone. “Marlene. She said it’s urgent.”

Osborne took the phone. “Yes—did you hear from Chief Ferris?”

“No, Dr. Osborne. But we have to reach her ASAP. I think you should drive out there right now if you can—” Osborne couldn’t remember hearing Marlene sound so agitated.

“Has something happened?”

“After you left, I decided to listen to that 9-1-1 call that we got from Gwen Curry. It was nagging at me that I’d heard that lisping sound somewhere before, and recently, too. Dr. Osborne, I am sure she’s the voice, the one with the ‘s’ sound that we heard on the Universal Medical call—the one you thought was a man. That’s Gwen Curry!”

“Marlene—you’re sure?”

“Dr. Osborne, I hear voices all day every day and I
know
that is the same person on both those calls. Chief Ferris needs to hear this but I just tried calling her again and still no answer. This can’t wait—”

“I’ll take care of it right now, Marlene.” Osborne turned to the group, the phone still in his hand, but before he could say a word, Mallory was pointing at the screen where Ray had started up the tape again.

“That’s no deer, that
is
a person … I think. But what a strange shape. Who is that chubby person, Dad? Is that a friend of Lew’s?” asked Mallory.

Osborne couldn’t speak. The shape was too familiar. He was on his feet. “That woman—that’s Gwen Curry! And the call just now from Marlene makes me think she’s the one who killed DeeDee Kurlander and Nora Loomis, not her husband! And now—now she’s trespassing on Lew’s property? She’s
stalking
Lew!

“I have to get out there. Lew hasn’t been answering her phone!” He was on his feet and running for the door.

Ray threw the remote onto the kitchen table, saying, “Take your car, Doc, but let me grab my gun.”

“Mallory—call Laura on the switchboard.” Osborne’s voice was hoarse. “Tell her to get Roger and Todd out there right now.”

In less than a minute, Ray had his rifle and was standing beside Osborne’s car. He put up a hand and spoke loud enough that everyone could hear. “Slow down, folks. Stop right where you are. Doc, you, too,” he said, grabbing Osborne’s sleeve before he could open his car door. “We don’t know what we’re walking into, so let’s all of us take a minute to think this through—”

“You’re wasting time, Ray. What the hell else
can
we do!” demanded Osborne.

“I can tell you right now the last thing that should happen is all of us barging in there. Let’s not set off someone we already know isn’t thinking straight.”

“Ray’s right,” said Gretel. “I’m no law enforcement professional myself, but I’ve done enough firearms training with people who have to be prepared to deal with situations like this and they always worry about hair-trigger reactions. My suggestion?” Gretel gave an apologetic shrug. “Take it slow, see what you’re dealing with.”

A moment of silence after she spoke, then Ray said, “Right. I suggest we take the back way in to the property and I know just how to do it—there’s a logging lane that leads to a deer stand in the woods about four hundred yards from that deer garden, and it’s another hundred yards or so to the farmhouse.”

“Makes sense to me,” said Mallory. “Dad, we were just out there setting up the cameras. Ray knows his way around—”

“Okay, but let’s get going,” said Osborne. “Mallory, Gretel, you two take Mallory’s car—”

“One second, Mallory,” said Gretel as Mallory ran towards her Jeep, “let me grab my rifle from the trunk of my car.” As she hurried towards her vehicle, Ray jumped into Osborne’s car, cell phone in hand.

With Osborne driving, Ray called Laura back to tell her they were on their way out to Lew’s and would be taking the back road in. “Laura,” said Ray, “tell Roger and Todd to stay on the highway. Do not approach the drive down to Lew’s place until we see what’s happening there first.” He listened intently for a long minute then said, “Right. Tell Todd they need to keep traffic flowing on Highway 47 as if everything is normal. We do not—under any circumstances—want to alert the Curry woman that we think anything is wrong.” Again he listened, then said, “Do
I
think anything is wrong?”

Osborne could see Ray struggling with too many answers to that question. He managed to say only, “I’m worried, hon. Real worried.” He clicked off his cell phone and turning to Osborne, said, “What a time to have an amateur on the switchboard. Jeez Louise.”

C
HAPTER
32

Crouched on their knees in the woods near the tree stand, Osborne, Mallory and Ray waited and watched. They had pulled their cars to a stop halfway down the logging lane. Though the road was well hidden from the fields west of the farmhouse, Ray had insisted they walk in, and no one argued. No noise, no movement was the plan.

When they got to the deer stand, Mallory had said, “Should one of us pretend we think everything is okay and just walk up the driveway as if to check on her—” “NO!” shouted Osborne and Ray simultaneously. Gretel was kinder. “It’s an option, Mallory, but if things aren’t okay, you might ramp up the odds of getting Chief Ferris killed. Everything I’ve been hearing from you people about this Gwen Curry leads me to think she’s a classic psycho—in which case she has nothing to lose.”

“Gretel’s got a point. Why would Gwen have snuck in here in the first place? What could she be thinking?” said Osborne, puzzling out loud. “She doesn’t know that I know—not Lew, only me—that she is the one who killed DeeDee and Nora Loomis. So why go after Lew?”

“But what if she’s hurt Lew already?” said Mallory. “What if she’s been here, done something awful and gone?” “That is exactly what I’m going to find out,” said Ray. “Can you do that without being seen?” said Gretel, worried. “Yes.” The grim determination in Ray’s voice made it clear he would make it happen. “With these dark clothes on I can move through the pines and overgrowth along the lake, then up that berm behind the apple orchard and along the fence. The vines on the fence should cover me good enough I can get within fifty feet of the kitchen window …”

“Here, Ray, in case you can’t get that close,” said Osborne, handing over the binoculars he’d grabbed from his car. Then Osborne, Mallory and Gretel watched as Ray slipped off, vanishing into the trees.

At first, the little farmhouse had appeared empty, but as the sun dropped low behind the pines, a light came on. Osborne saw movement in a clump of brush near the lighted window and held his breath. That had to be Ray. He hoped no one in the farmhouse had seen it.

Gretel tapped him on the shoulder and pointed up. Osborne nodded and reached to hold steady the makeshift ladder that led up to the deer stand as Gretel pulled herself up and onto the platform, rifle under one arm. “Do you have everything you need?” asked Osborne.

“Don’t worry about me. This gun of mine is a scope-sighted M-14. It’s the best for long-range work and I’m damn good at that. All I need now is a target.”

From below the deer stand, he watched as she knelt and shifted slightly to the left, to better aim towards the one lighted window. “Dr. Osborne,” she whispered, “that window—am I looking into a bedroom? A bathroom?”

“No, no, that’s the kitchen,” said Osborne. A sudden murmur of voices from the farmhouse and Osborne shut up. A breeze from the east carried the voices their way. Osborne dropped to his knees, the better to see through the brush as he strained to listen.

“You were, too!” A voice dark with anger.

“That’s Gwen …” whispered Osborne.

“Don’t you … I’m in control here.” Same voice but the wind swirled, muffling the words.

“I know that, Gwen,” said Lew in a level tone that could be easily heard. Osborne exhaled with relief—at least she was alive. “I know you are in control. I respect that.”

“You didn’t … when you went after my husband.” Gwen’s words got lost in a shiver of pine branches. Her voice, when he could hear it, sounded so distant that Osborne wondered if she had her back to the window.

“I was doing my job—” Lew again, voice steady.

“No you weren’t! Just like that girl—you wanted him!” Hysteria bordered Gwen’s accusation.

“Well.” Now Lew’s voice faded into the wind, which had swirled to blow towards the farmhouse. Then, louder, “… is there anything I can do …”

“Oh—what would you
like
to do?” said Gwen, her words loud with challenge.

“What would I
like
to do?” said Lew. “If you let me, I would like to make one phone call to my daughter and my two grandchildren.”

Osborne couldn’t hear Gwen’s response. But he did hear Lew’s next words: “… and there’s a man whose face I would like to see once more. But that’s too much to ask, isn’t it?” Her effort at a rueful laugh broke Osborne’s heart.

A snort from Gwen, who said, “You’re so easy. I have a question for you.”

“Okay …” Lew sounded hesitant.

“Remember, I’m … “

“What did she say, Dad?” whispered Mallory. “Don’t know, I couldn’t hear either,” said Osborne. “Yes, Gwen, you’re in control.”

“… when I dump you off the end of that dock out there …”

Silence. Either Lew didn’t answer or she couldn’t be heard.

Mallory moved closer to Osborne. She said nothing as she slipped her arm through his and held tight. He put a finger to his lips.

“Well …” It was Lew speaking. “I imagine you’ll enjoy watching.”

“If she would just step in front of the window, I’d have a shot,” whispered Gretel. “All I need is one shot—but she’s standing off to the side somewhere.”

With a slight rustle, Ray stepped out of the trees and knelt beside Osborne. He spoke in a whisper. “She’s got Lew bound in one of the kitchen chairs with duct tape and the chair strapped onto a dolly. She must be planning to wheel her off the porch and down to the dock like she said. It’s four to five feet deep off the end of that dock—Lew won’t have a chance.

“That’s not all—the woman’s got a handgun that she keeps waving. Gretel,” Ray whispered, looking up into the deer stand, “how you doing up there?”

“I’m good. So what you’re saying is if I see any movement through that window, it has to be the Curry woman?”