The Promise (24 page)

It would give her satisfaction to finalize her conquest. She’s not the coy type. I believe she enjoyed whipping up on Allison the day before. But, she stopped way short of doing any serious damage to her.”

“And, Allison was fighting for her father’s honor.”

              Gallagher laughed, “Yeah, the real match should have been between either girl and the old man!”

              “So, where does this all leave us, Mike?”

              Gallagher took a swig of coffee, wishing it had a snort of Irish whiskey in it. “A missing girl, who may or may not have voluntarily disappeared into thin air. I have solved most murders in my sphere of responsibility and some of them were damn near unsolvable. I’ll solve this one, too”.

              “What percentage of murders are unsolved, Mike?”

              “My rate is lower than the national average. I have only had two cases which eluded me out of thirty-seven. The national rate is much lower, about 30%.

This is due to bigger cities which make it easier to get away with murder. Hell, Athens and the rural community around it are pretty transparent. The murderer is usually a local or a family member making my job easier, until three weeks ago.”

              They were interrupted by the desk officer, “Chief Parker just called. He’s with Verna Oden. He wants you and Elie to join him right away…”

              “Where are they?”

              “You know the Penfield Bridge on Highway 15 where it crosses the Oconee River?”

              “Sure do!”

              “Verna Oden was found under it, floating in the water face down. She had been dead for a couple of days.”

              Gallagher and Elie just looked at each other in disbelief.

Chapter Thirty-seven--Speculation

             
As Gallagher and Larsen arrived at the bridge, there were a number of police vehicles and an ambulance.

Chief Parker met them as they exited from their car, “A fisherman found her floating near the edge of the river. A low-lying tree limb snagged her. He called us. He’s pretty shook up. I think he was hoping for perch.”

              The detective asked the crucial question, “What do you think happened to her, Chief?”

              His boss shrugged, “We don’t know yet. It could be suicide, a murder or an accident. We’ll give it to Lowe and the gang and let them tell us…”

              “Any suicide note found?  Any sign of foul play? Gallagher queried.

              Elie chimed in, “Any significant marks on her body?”

              Parker shook his head, “Not what we could see. But, it’s dark. The coroner will give us a full report. This is really sad. Now, we have two family members gone in such a short time. I would hate to be their parents.”

              Gallagher asked the Chief, “What was she wearing when you found her?”

              “She’s pretty soggy. It appears she was fully and appropriately dressed for the season. But, not for a two-day swim.”

              The gallows humor fell flat.

Chief Parker was obviously upset and trying to relieve his pain with his comment. As they watched the body being put into the ambulance, the sadness enveloped all three of them.

              The area was carefully marked off as a potential crime scene. There was nothing else the trio could do at that point so the meeting broke up.

“See you back at the station, Chief. To be continued, huh?”

              “Michael, I am beginning to believe we have more than just a missing girl on our hands. I hope to hell I’m wrong. But, it appears that someone is pulling some serious strings here. One missing, two dead…”

              Gallagher reasoned, “One missing, which may be voluntary, Chief. Two dead, sure, but, one is a suicide and the other is a very possible suicide. She did love her brother, remember?

Elie, was she suicidal in your estimation of her?”

              “She was in a lot of pain, Gallagher. I guess it’s possible.”

              “How’d it go with the Raven, girl, Mike?”

              Gallagher cringed, “Don’t ask. One piece of bad news is all I can handle tonight.”

              He turned and walked away. Elie smiled at the Chief, “I don’t think that he and Raven will be sharing a cherry coke with two straws anytime soon!”

She followed Gallagher back to the car as Chief Parker stood there looking sad as watched the coroner’s ambulance pull away slowly carrying the body of the late Verna Oden.

Chapter Thirty-
eight--arch taylor muddies the Waters

             
The news of Verna Oden’s death hit the girls at the Colony school the following morning like a thunderclap. She was far more popular than her brother.

She was a friend to just about everyone. The comment heard over and over as the time for her funeral approached was, “She was the nicest person!”

Plus, she was hoping to represent her school in the prestigious honors program at the American University in Paris. Her promising future was cut short by the tragedy. The school prepared for another memorial service and “Bree Kelly” was asked to deliver one of the eulogies as her roommate.

Elie felt uncomfortable being in the spotlight due to her critical law enforcement work there, but she really had no choice. She had been Verna’s roommate. To refuse the request would come across crass and insensitive.

              Gallagher hounded Dr. Lowe and his coroner’s office for the next two days, but got very little in return. There were no marks on Verna’s body. No signs of any struggle. No suicide note. Nothing was found on her body that would give off any clues, either.

She was found floating in a river with a lot of mud on her. End of life. The coroner ruled it an “unsolved” death because there was really no evidence of anything more definitive than that.

The only thing unusual about Verna’s death was a slight needle-shaped mark inside her right elbow. But, since she had recently given blood, the coroner believed the puncture wound was medically explained in her case.

              As the morning dawned for the funeral, Gallagher decided to attend to see if he could uncover anything unusual in the service.

In fact, he realized the last time he attended a funeral as a mourner was his own daughter’s memorial. This would be a lot easier for him, except for meeting Verna’s parents. Engaging them would bring back feelings of his own grief.

He straightened his tie and was on his way out of the office when he saw Archer Taylor walking towards him.
“What does he want?”
The detective murmured to himself. “
Not today, Arch. I don’t have the strength to deal with you right now.”

As Mr. Taylor approached, Gallagher noticed he lacked that combative look on his face. In fact, Arch looked almost vulnerable.

The first words out of his mouth verified the detective’s instincts.

              “Mr. Gallagher, I need to talk to you. May I have a minute, please?”

              The detective was taken aback, did Arch Taylor actually use the word, “please
?”

Mike was unaware that the guy even possessed that word in his vocabulary.

But, since he did, Gallagher honored his request, “Sure, Mr. Taylor. Let’s go into a private conference room and talk there.” As the two men sat down, he looked at him and asked, “What’s on your mind, sir?”

              Archer Taylor took a moment to collect his thoughts. He seemed to be struggling with the right words to say. It wasn’t long before Gallagher figured out why this was true.

              “I am not a nice man, Gallagher. I have done some bad things. I don’t know how to tell you this.”

              Gallagher leaned forward. He had a feeling this was going to be interesting.

              “I have a very bad temper, detective. And, when I get angry, I am capable of anything, especially when I’m drinking and I have been drinking a lot lately.”

              The detective thought to himself, “
What in the hell is this, a confession?”

Gallagher suddenly realized that going to Verna Oden’s funeral was the last thing on his mind. He wanted to find out what Allison’s father was going to say. He gently assuaged the man, “Mr. Taylor, we all have facets of our life we are not proud of, sir.”

              Archer Taylor shook his head, “No, not like me, Gallagher. This isn’t just some facet. I have a problem. I fully believe I am capable of killing someone.”

              Gallagher was honing in on every word now.

He cursed himself inwardly, “
Where is my tape recorder?”

But, he was fearful that if he got up to get it, Taylor might back down from his apparent soul-searching statements that could lead to a solution in the case. “Killing someone, Mr. Taylor? I’m not sure I understand?”

Inwardly he was screaming, “
Of course I understand! Keep talking, buddy. Give it up, let’s end this mystery right here and now.”.

             
Arch continued, “I was so upset with my daughter right before the incident, you know, her, uh, disappearance. She had used one of my credit cards and spent a great deal of money on it. I was upset. She just laughed it off. It was disrespectful. I can handle a lot of things, but disrespect, especially from someone close to me, I can’t handle that.”

              Gallagher slowly reeled him in, “As a father I understand, Mr. Taylor.”

              “So, I just lost it. And, I, uh, did something I will regret for the rest of my life, sir. I hurt the one I loved more than I have ever loved anyone. I hurt my daughter.”

              Gallagher’s mind was racing as Archer Taylor stuttered. “
Did you hurt her, Arch? Or did you KILL her? Come on, man, spit it out. Clear your conscience.”

“Mr. Taylor, I’m not sure what you mean? It may help both of us if you can be a little clearer,
“And save the taxpayers a helluva lot of money for a trial!”

             
Taylor abruptly backed off, “I can’t say anything more, detective. I’m not ready to talk about this. I thought I was. I’m not.”