Gypsy Spirits (11 page)

***

Greta’s voice was loud and clear. “I don’t care who you are. You’re not going to see the sheriff when he’s interviewing someone.” 

Annamarie thought it must be George angry over her dismissing Mr. Townsend.

Sheriff Richardson opened his door, and Annamarie saw an odd, elderly gentleman with a briefcase, and a stack of papers in his hands trying to argue with Greta. His baggy, brown suit was at least a decade old and he was wearing, of all things, tennis shoes. 

“Dr. Webster,” said the sheriff, “I didn’t expect you this morning.” 

“Well, I’m done so here I am.” Dr. Webster followed Sheriff Richardson down the hall to another room.

Greta hurried in to tell Annamarie the sheriff would be with her, as soon as he’s through with the coroner.

***     

Coroner! Her mind raced. More time to think and worry. The hope she had this morning was beginning to turn to dread. Her biggest fear was the coroner would say Ben had been murdered, and the sheriff would think Daniel, Garret or Bulk were responsible. Maybe he’d think they all killed him, or there’s some sort of conspiracy. No, that was ridiculous. The boys had been friends since grade school. Even Garret would never hurt any of them.

Steve walked in the sheriff’s office carrying a cup of black coffee. Annamarie was grateful he’d interrupted her thoughts. 

“How’s Daniel taking all of this?” He asked sitting down in the sheriff’s chair. 

“As well as can be expected, the situation is terrible. We can’t believe Ben’s dead.”

“I know,” Steve said looking grim. 

She liked Steve and always wished he and Daniel had remained friends. They chatted about little things, Deb and his folks. They laughed about some of the crazy things they all did in high school. For a moment, she forgot why she was there.

The sheriff’s voice in the hall saying goodbye to the coroner brought her back to reality, and the momentary laughter was gone. Her mind raced when it dawned on her Steve had no reason to ask her how Daniel was dealing with all the stress. He had spoken with him only last night. If they were supposed to try and be friends again, Steve wouldn’t try to bluff Daniel and her. Or would he?  At this point, her heartache returned and she understood Daniel’s distrust of the sheriff.

Steve stood up saying he better go before the sheriff caught him in his chair, and she promised she’d call Deb soon. Passing each other in the hall, she heard the sheriff tell Steve not to go far. They had something to discuss. Annamarie’s panic returned.

Back in the office, Sheriff Richardson sat in his leather chair. He leaned forward elbows on his oak
desk and simply stared at her for a minute or two. It was unnerving. Was that his plan? Her mistrust was growing. What did he expect? That the stress would break her and she would begin to tell him every detail of what happened at the cabin? That would be interesting since she didn’t know the details. What she did know terrified her, but she couldn’t tell the sheriff everything. That also frightened her. If he didn’t know, how could he help, and if he did know, her husband’s freedom could be in jeopardy.

“Tell me what you know about Saturday night.”

“Daniel told me he and the other guys were going up to the cabin. I spent the evening out with Bonnie. I came home alone, the house was empty, and I went to bed. I slept until morning.” 

It was the truth. Annamarie felt the lie was a lie of omission, leaving out only the part about Daniel’s clothing, and how he burned them. Not mentioning Daniel’s insane story about spirits killing Ben wasn’t a lie either. It was saving her husband from prison or an insane asylum. She knew he hadn’t killed Ben, but if the town heard the story, he would be committed so fast not even George could save him. That responsibility was one she refused to accept.

The sheriff must have believed her or thought he wasn’t going to learn anything further from her because he told her she could leave.

She thanked the sheriff, stood and tried not to run while she left the station.

Greta was busy typing, and Steve was doing paperwork when she left. They appeared busier than usual. Annamarie had an uneasy feeling about the entire visit. If she had known the sheriff had more in store for her than this visit to his office, she wouldn’t have been simply uneasy, but filled with fright. 

Mr. Townsend’s and Dr. Webster’s unexpected arrivals may have thrown the sheriff’s plan off, but in no way lessened his determination to get it back on track.

***

Once Annamarie left, Sheriff Richardson called Steve into his office. “Sit down Steve. We need to discuss the coroner’s report.” 

“Sure, but what’s there to discuss?” 

“Some of this doesn’t make sense and I need your input.” 

The sheriff picked up several pieces of paper, and began to explain the body definitely was Ben’s. He had broken two front teeth playing baseball in sixth grade, and the dental records matched those the coroner had. 

Steve remembered the game. He had thrown the ball that hit Ben squarely in the mouth. He would have been grounded for the summer if Mr. Hanson hadn’t brought Ben over after dinner, simply saying, “Boys will be boys,” and that was the end of it. Now, his friend was dead. It was official. 

Sheriff Richardson had to say his name twice to get Steve’s attention back from that summer ball game of years ago. 

“Sorry. What else is there?” 

“The coroner ruled Ben’s death as inconclusive, since he couldn’t find a specific cause of death. The body had been moved from the ground next to the porch, and into the cabin where it was set on fire. The second fire was started on the porch, and a third fire outside where the coroner believed Ben’s body originally lay,” Sheriff Richardson said with a perplexed look.  

“Three separate fires make it intentional without a doubt, but why?”

“He believes the second and third fires were meant to cover up blood evidence. There was extremely little proof there had been much blood outside or inside. The fire had done its work. There were no broken bones or nicks on any of the exposed bones caused by the fire. X-rays also showed the skeleton was intact, without even the slightest injury. The coroner wrote Ben didn’t die of smoke inhalation, and he thought strangulation, shooting, and stabbing could be ruled out since he couldn’t find any injuries. This all added up to his conclusion of ‘inconclusive.'” 

The sheriff dropped the papers on the desk. “We know as much now as we did before.”

The coroner had drawn an asterisk behind the word “inconclusive” and added a handwritten note at the bottom of the page.

It stated, “It’s my opinion Benjamin Hanson died under mysterious circumstances, mainly because his body was set afire to destroy evidence that might be uncovered. Since Mr. Hanson’s body didn’t set itself afire, I believe foul play was involved. I’m unable to provide further proof and rule the cause of death “inconclusive.” Personally, I lean heavily toward either an accident cover up or murder.” 

Signed: “R.T. Webster, M.D. 7/31/67.” 

Steve and the sheriff were back to square one. In their minds, Daniel stood right in the middle of square one.

***    

Back at work, Annamarie checked for messages, fought the warped drawer in
the old metal desk to put her purse away and glanced to see if anyone was waiting. There were two large sliding windows that opened into the vestibule, used for accepting applications or ask people to wait, if they had an appointment with Mr. Hanson. Annamarie could see Mr. Hanson in the front office. It was just past ten. She was relieved to be back at work.

“That was quick,” said Mr. Hanson.

“I didn’t have much I could tell the sheriff.”

“I’m pleased you tried.”

“Thank you, sir. Is there anything I can do for you before I get back to work?”

Mr. Hanson shook his head, “I have to help Tim in the plant since Ben isn’t here. My wife will be here at noon. We’re going to see Father Mueller about the funeral.”

Picking up papers from her desk, she answered, “If I need you I’ll call Tim’s extension.”

He tried to smile at her when he headed toward the back of the building.

A clean-shaven young man wearing jeans and a blue work shirt knocked on the window. Annamarie slid the window open assuming he was a job applicant.

“Good morning. May I help you?”

“Yes. I’d like to apply for a job.”

“One moment, please. I’ll get an application form.” 

Turning her back to the window, she headed toward the gray filing cabinet to retrieve a form.

The man jumped through the window into the office followed by another man with a scruffy beard dressed similarly.

“What do you want?” demanded Annamarie. 

“You,” said the first man. 

Annamarie tried to run, hoping to get to the hall leading to the plant and safety. The man caught her by the arm just outside the hall entry. 

“Not so fast, little lady,” he said dragging her back into the office. “You and your husband know where Garret is and we’re here to find out.” 

Annamarie screamed although she knew no one in the plant would hear her over the machinery noise.

“Scream again. I like ‘
em feisty.”

Annamarie screamed so loudly the man loosened his grip. She broke free and made it to Mr. Hanson’s office door.

Grabbing her hair, he pulled her into the office saying, “Hey look, there’s a sofa in here. We can have some fun first.”

The first man walked towards her and the second man yanked his arm, saying, “I’m the oldest and I’m going first.”

The younger man complained he always had to wait, and wanted to be first this time. Both men pulled out knives while Annamarie tried to get out of the small office. 

They lunged at each other both hitting their mark which only fueled their anger. They were yelling and swearing and eventually fell to the floor. Annamarie saw blood everywhere and someone’s finger slid in the blood towards her.

She screamed again when she felt a tug on her blouse. It was Tim motioning for her to follow him. Annamarie did. As she glanced toward the office one last time, she saw more blood splattering. She heard the men yelling to stop and both were swearing they weren’t doing anything. The office door slammed shut as Tim and Annamarie ran down the hall toward the production room. A soft scent of pine filled the hall. 

One of the men screamed, “You cut another finger off.” The other yelled, “How could I do that? I’m across the room.” 

The screams of, “Stop, no, please,” continued for a minute or two and then silence.

Annamarie and Tim were safe inside the plant and Tim called the sheriff’s office. He looked at her and said, “The sheriff’s on the way. You’re safe now.” She crumpled to the floor shaking with anger and fear. Mr. Hanson and Tim helped her up and she sat on a metal milk crate.

***

Guns drawn, the sheriff and
Steve, walked into the building and opened the door to Mr. Hanson’s office. What they saw shocked them. They stared at the bloody scene in disbelief. The sheriff left Steve to stand guard by the office door while he looked for Tim.

The sheriff knocked on the plant door and Annamarie, Mr. Hanson and Tim walked out. Annamarie shakily explained what happened.

He noticed Annamarie’s pink dress didn’t have a spot of blood on it, so it couldn’t have been her. Unable to comprehend how two men could do that to each other, he needed more facts. Tim told the sheriff when he found Annamarie the men were on the floor wrestling each other. Each had a knife in their hand.

Sheriff Richardson questioned them again. She and Tim gave the same explanations.

The sheriff said, “those two sliced through each other’s arms, faces, legs and stabbed each other so many times I don’t understand how they were able to continue fighting. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Annamarie felt like fainting. She reached out to grab Tim’s arm. 

“Do you know who they are?” asked the sheriff.

“They said they were looking for Garret,” she answered, leaning against Tim. 

The sheriff was baffled. Asking Mr. Hanson and Tim to stay with Annamarie, he walked back to the office. 

Seeing the amount of blood on the walls and ceiling not to mention the floor, he doubted those two men had much left in their bodies. Steve said Dr. Webster was going to love this, and the sheriff groaned at the prospect of dealing with the
coroner again. 

Something odd caught his eye. He turned to Steve and asked, “Is that a finger son?” 

“Yes, sir, and there are two more near the window. One slid all the way into the corner.”

The sheriff told Steve to drive Annamarie home. He then placed a call to Dr. Webster’s office. The sheriff thought the coroner sounded excited when he told the sheriff they have the best investigations in the county happening in Timmus Woods and it was the smallest town. For a second, the sheriff thought Daniel Logan might have been right about the town being cursed. Too many weird things were happening.

***    

Mrs. Hanson arrived to accompany her husband to arrange funeral plans. He assured her everyone was safe. The two men were dead and unable to harm anyone.