Katie took a left onto Birch Avenue, then a right onto Sassafras Road. “Once off Main Street, all our streets are named after local trees. I live on Red Maple Road.”
“Can spring be as gorgeous here as the fall?”
Katie smiled, shook her head. “It’s pretty here in April and May, but you’re lucky to be here just now. All the colorful trees with the mountains in the background… it makes you feel like there’s something more than just life and death, something that’s endless and beautiful.”
“Have you lived here all your life?”
“Oh yes. My father owned the chip mill-Benedict Pulp-until he died two years ago. Now my mom runs the mill for me. We’re coming up on Pine Wood Lane where the McCamys live. I’m going to ditch the truck. We’ll go in by foot, okay?”
“Sure.” Sherlock pulled her SIG Sauer out of her shoulder harness, checked it, and put it on her lap. “You know, Katie, we’d need a warrant to actually go inside the house.”
“Yeah, I know that.”
Katie pulled off Pine Wood Lane onto a dirt road, more a path really, that went into some thick woods. “This is good enough. The house is just a bit up the road.”
Sherlock followed Katie as she wove her way through the pine trees, well away from the road. The air was cold but clear, except for the blue haze forming over the mountains.
They heard a small animal scurrying away from them deeper into the forest. The birds were quiet this morning, with just a few crow calls breaking the silence.
Katie said, “Sooner inherited his house and property from an aunt who passed on not long after he married Elsbeth. It’s a nice place.”
“Is he from around here?”
Katie shook her head, shoved a branch out of the way. “No, he moved here maybe fifteen years ago from Nashville. I really don’t know his background but I’ll make it a point to find out about him now, even whether he puts butter on his popcorn. He went off and married Elsbeth, brought her back here, and then the aunt died.”
They walked out of the pine trees and stopped a moment. Katie pointed to a big three-story Victorian that stood in the middle of a huge lot filled with birches, oaks, and maples, some of them right up against the sides of the house. The golds, reds, and yellows of the leaves were incredible. It was an idyllic setting, and the house was a gem, the trim painted three different shades of green. There were no cars in the driveway.
“Just Sooner and Elsbeth live here. Reverend McCamy has money from his aunt, but they don’t have anyone cleaning for them as far as I know. There’s a gardener who comes by, Mr. Dillard, a really old fellow with no teeth in his mouth, but he’s magic with flowers. The place should be empty. Let’s just check it out.”
Sherlock carried her SIG pressed downward, next to her leg.
Katie stopped abruptly.
“What is it?”
“I think I saw a flash of light in one of the upstairs windows.”
“What kind of flash?”
“Like someone was holding a mirror and it caught the sun.”
“Let’s just see if our guy’s here.”
They made their way to the back of the house and watched for a few minutes.
Sherlock said, “Okay, Katie, if you’d stay here for a little while, I’m going around to the front now and ring the front-door bell. If Clancy is in there, all his interest will be on the front door. You can come around the side and look in, see if you spot him. If he’s in there, hey, we’ve got hot pursuit.”
“Let’s do it.”
Sherlock jogged back into the forest and made her way back around to the road in front of the house, her SIG safely in her belt holster again. She started whistling when she turned into the driveway of 2001 Pine Wood Lane.
Are you there, Clancy?
She walked right up to the front door and rang the bell, whistling Bobby McFerrin’s song, “Don’t Worry Be Happy.”
There wasn’t a hint of anyone coming to the front door.
She rang again.
Was that a sound coming from inside?
She called out, “Anybody home? I’ve got some real great deals to offer you this morning. I know it’s Sunday, but do you want a chance to win a trip to Maui? Stay at the Grand Wailea?”
She rang again. She heard something, this time she was sure. She could practically see Clancy hovering near the front door, wondering what he should do.
Open the door, Clancy.
He wasn’t going to open the door, or maybe he just wasn’t there. Katie should be coming around the side of the house now, looking in through all the windows. Quiet, Katie, be careful.
Sherlock called out again, “Hey, I can hear you in there. Why don’t you want to talk to me? I’m tired, you know? Could I at least have a glass of water? I’ve been walking a whole lot this morning.”
Suddenly, the door opened.
15
K atie and Sherlock faced each other.
Katie whispered, “I didn’t see him. But you know? The back door was open, I kid you not. Let’s just take a quick look around.”
“We shouldn’t be in here, Katie. We’re the law and we’re supposed to have a warrant.”
“I know, but this is personal, Sherlock. This guy threatened me and Keely. Five minutes. Then we can drive the truck up all right and proper into the driveway and wait outside for Sooner and Elsbeth to come home for lunch. This is our best chance, before he knows we’re coming.”
Sherlock pulled her weapon out and the two women searched the downstairs. It took much longer than five minutes because the house was so big, with old-fashioned nooks and crannies.
Katie nodded toward the stairs, wide enough for both of them to go up side by side, but they didn’t. Katie motioned for Sherlock to follow her.
Katie had been in the house a couple of times, knew there were at least six rooms on the second level. They went through each of the rooms. Five were bedrooms and each was empty. There was nothing, not a sign that Clancy had been there.
The last door on the second level was the master bedroom, and it was something else. Katie and Sherlock, after checking every corner, stood in the middle of the room and stared.
“Preacher likes his comfort,” Sherlock said.
“I’ll say.” Katie stared at the huge bed with the white fur cover, and four pure white pillows. The only other color used was black, and that was just a single leather chair and hassock.
Sherlock raised her eyebrow. “White and black-good versus evil?”
“I guess it’s an endless struggle, even in the bedroom.” Katie checked the closet. It was small, too small, nothing much in it. She stood in front of it, frowning. Then she saw a small, nearly hidden latch on the back wall, and pressed it down.
Another door opened and she stepped into a room that was nearly as big as her dining room. “Sherlock, come take a look.”
Katie said, “This is the biggest walk-in closet I’ve ever seen. And look at that marble slab in the middle-what do they use that for? Look here, Sherlock, there are drawers under it, with underwear, her sweaters. And he’s got his shirts piled on top.”
“Oh my,” Sherlock said, stepping into the room, “you’re right. This green marble slab, isn’t it gorgeous, looks Italian. You know, this is odd, but I’d say that marble slab looks more like an altar than some place to stack your freshly laundered shirts.”
Katie walked around the large six-foot marble slab that was about three and a half feet off the white-carpeted floor. It was a lovely richly veined green, quite expensive. She saw something tucked under one corner of the marble. She easily flipped up an open stainless-steel cuff. A cuff? She found a cuff on each corner.
Katie raised an eyebrow.
Sherlock said, “I’d say they were for wrists and ankles.”
“Oh my,” Katie said, fingering one of the cuffs. “I’m kind of embarrassed. I was thinking Elsbeth was a regular garden-variety kind of subservient wife, but would you look at these cuffs? I can’t imagine it would be very comfortable lying on that hard marble.”