Authors: Aiden James
“
You shouldn’t worry so much about your grandpa—I’ll be fine,” he assured her, speaking into the intercom. Smiling weakly, he glanced toward the female guard who escorted Evelyn into the visiting area. An attractive brunette, she leaned her back against the wall next to the room’s exit.
“
You shouldn’t even be here!” Evelyn seethed, casting an angry glance at the guard and a male deputy standing nearby.
“
It’ll all be taken care of by tomorrow, once Butch gets here,” John assured her, his tone gentle. He mustered a bigger smile, one she knew was intended to lighten his haggard appearance.
Though he’d never admit it, she picked up his agenda from his thoughts. He wanted to impress two things on her before their twenty-minute visit ended. Number one, she needed to hold onto the hope that Sheriff Silva would take care of this misunderstanding, and speak with the homicide detectives from Knoxville who interrogated John for nearly two hours last night about the triple homicide he was accused of. Hopefully, Butch could make them see that they not only lacked any tangible evidence connecting him to this terrible crime spree, but also realize the arrest they coerced through the sheriff’s department wasn’t a legal one, and then set him free.
The second thing he hoped to accomplish is to get her to immediately resume the search for Hanna. With each passing moment, the chances of rescuing her slipped away. Hanna didn’t have long.
“
You look like you could use some rest too,” he noted, scooting his chair in as close as possible to the wooden ledge beneath the window. “Wasn’t Shawn good enough company for you last night?” He grinned wryly.
She nodded, her eyes sad, and hesitated before saying anything. She feared he might see her thoughts as easily as she had read his. She conceded it might be too late to shelter the anxiety and terror that she fought to keep hidden from his knowledge. Perhaps if he couldn’t clearly define the cause for these feelings, she could keep the fact she didn’t share his confidence that Hanna would be rescued away from his awareness.
Hanna’s dead. I was bathed in her blood that took me almost five hours to clean up…. Sorry, Grandpa—your prized black bear rug got the worst of it, and it’ll need some special attention to get it cleaned up again
.
But, more than likely you’ll want to throw it away or bury it…. It’s rolled up for now in the guestroom’s closet, wrapped tightly within two large trash bags that are taped together securely
….
“
Shawn did his best to get me to play with him for most of the night,” she told him, making sure that the protective shield she envisioned for her other, more serious, thoughts remained intact. She pushed aside all urges to grieve openly for her beloved sister, and chuckled tiredly to further sell the humor in her response. “I think it’s more a situation where I’m not good enough company for him.”
“
I see.” He eyed her, thoughtful, as if he just now caught a mental glimpse of the war going on within her.
“
I promise to keep looking for Hanna, Grandpa,” she assured him, moving to block his effort to steal a clearer look inside her psyche. “I plan to include a deputy or two from here, now that the required wait period of twenty-four hours has passed.”
“
Uh-huh,” he replied, his frown revealing only the depth of worry that weighed heavily upon him, as all of his other thoughts were suddenly cloaked to her. “Just be sure that Deputy Jeremy Brown isn’t among the deputies that come along with you.”
“
The blond pudgy man with the handlebar moustache and glasses?” she sought to confirm, though she already recognized the man’s disdain for her and her grandfather when she passed his desk shortly after she arrived at the jail.
Unlike the other employees in the building, Deputy Brown lacked any sensitivity that she could pick up on. Based on her past experiences, that usually meant an elemental soul at best.
“
Yes,” said John, his tone hushed as if he half-expected her to confirm Deputy Brown as someone she had in mind to help with the search for Hanna.
“
Grandpa!” she scolded him. “You should know me better than that!”
“
Sorry—I just want to make sure you avoid him,” he told her, nodding to acknowledge his faith in her judgment, despite his protectiveness.
A moment of awkwardness followed, where neither spoke.
“
You should’ve allowed me to come here with you last night, after they arrested you,” said Evelyn, breaking the silence. “How long did they interrogate you?”
“
Deputy Brown kept me in his office for half an hour, until the detectives from Knoxville arrived.” John frowned again. “There were two of them, a Detective James Russell and his partner, Thomas Calhoun. Like the warrant stated when I was arrested, they’re investigating the UT murders…. I answered their questions from roughly eleven-thirty until the detectives finally left to return to Knoxville around one o’clock this morning.”
“
Did they believe what you told them? Surely they realize you couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with the murders.” Evelyn fought to keep her emotions in check, despite the fact the mere thought of what her grandfather had endured since last night incensed her.
John shifted in his chair, and glanced back toward the male guard nearby. As if he had something even more important to share, he leaned in closer to the intercom.
“
At first, I’m not sure that they believed my alibi, although one look at me surely told them that climbing up the trellis to the second floor of Dr. Pollack’s mansion wasn’t likely—for a man at my age, anyway,” he chuckled at the irony. “However, by the time the interview ended, I got the feeling they didn’t think I killed any of those men—at least not alone.”
“
So, should I prepare myself for a visit by these detectives, since I guess that makes me your co-conspirator?” She also chuckled at the irony.
“
I’m not sure…probably all the more reason to get busy looking for Hanna again,” he advised. “Stick to the areas about a mile or so around the cabin, unless you feel comfortable with whatever deputy comes along with you. I’m hoping to be out of here early tomorrow morning. My arraignment is at nine o’clock, unless Butch can get me out of here before then. If he does, then maybe the charges will be dropped, and I won’t even have to go to the arraignment.”
John nodded again, as if he could picture what would actually happen Friday morning.
“
I hope you’re right, Grandpa,” Evelyn said softly, her tone optimistic. “I’ll go talk to a cute deputy I spoke to briefly when I first got here. I think I caught his eye, so maybe he’d be willing to help me look for Hanna.”
She gave him a playful wink, and he laughed for the first time in her presence since Christmas Eve.
“
I love you, Grandpa!” she told him, after she got up from her seat and motioned to the guard, letting her know she was ready to leave. “Now, get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“
I love you too!” John called after her as she walked over to the waiting room’s exit. “Be careful!
***
John waited for her to disappear before slowly shuffling over to where the deputy waited for him. His head low, he hid the tears streaming down his face. The picture in his mind’s eye was of Evelyn weeping as she sought out the deputy she described earlier. Something she already knew about Hanna…something terrible had happened.
Chapter Twenty-five
“
Well, would you just
look
at this place?” Ruth enthused, right after she removed her long overcoat and laid it over a large beige leather sectional sofa that faced an enormous stone fireplace.
She stood in the middle of the living room of the chalet rented by Miriam and David for much of the next week. The large, central room to the chalet was a splendid design of rustic pine logs and smooth river stones from the region, along with the comfort of posh furniture and a theatre entertainment system.
Christopher and Jillian ran into the living room behind her, finishing a game of tag that began shortly after the family’s rented Honda Odyssey pulled up to the modern log cabin, perched on top of a high hill on the eastern side of the town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
“
You’re it!”
shouted Jillian, as she slapped her younger brother on the back.
Her voice echoed shrilly against the tall vaulted ceiling. Christopher let out a squeal after getting caught from behind.
“
Wow, Mom—this place is so
cool!”
marveled Tyler, as his eyes followed the gaze of his great aunt.
He laid down the bundle of suitcases he carried next to a curved breakfast bar that separated the living room from the cabin’s large eat-in kitchen. His eyes again followed the height of the stone chimney which culminated at the apex of the two-story, A-frame building. Several tall windows on either side of the fireplace faced a gorgeous view of the Smoky Mountains, which faded quickly as the early evening darkness engulfed the surrounding snow-covered hills. To Tyler’s right was a long hall where three of the cabin’s bedrooms sat, and to his left a spiral, wrought-iron staircase led to a loft with another bedroom and the chalet’s billiard area.
Miriam soon followed her eldest son into the living room, and David made his appearance shortly after her, dusting the snow from his boots as he brought in the last of the luggage and two bags filled with groceries for the next few days.
“
This
is
nice!” Pleased, despite her weariness from the trip that had been planned that morning and carried out that afternoon, Miriam allowed a genuine smile of appreciation to spread across her face.
“
Well, it might not be Breckenridge, but I believe we’ll be all right,” added David, relieved by his wife’s new demeanor. He worried that her sullenness would ruin the dwindling holiday spirit. There remained hope that whatever recently caused her to grow distant from him could be remedied.
“
Jill just found a snow saucer lying on the back deck—we can go sledding tomorrow!” Christopher excitedly pointed to where Jillian had just stepped out through the back door and onto the deck, moving over to the purple sled leaning against a tarp-covered hot tub. The hot tub looked large enough to hold six adults at a time. “Is this like the cabin you and Mommy stayed in when you were here in October, Daddy?”
The joyful glow on Christopher’s face, just before he ran upstairs to join Tyler in checking out the loft and twin billiard tables, resembled the exuberance of Christmas morning, two days earlier. The looks of shock and embarrassment upon David and Miriam’s faces were joined by an immediate hurt expression on Ruth’s face. The tip-toed efforts to avoid revealing their fifteenth anniversary trip to Gatlinburg two months earlier had finally failed to suppress the truth. She still smiled, though dim, as she glanced over at David. She stepped over to the backdoor and peered outside.
“
Hey, Auntie… I’m really glad that you’re here with us,” he told her, gently, placing his arm around her waist after he moved next to her.
For the moment, her attention focused on the deck and Jillian’s investigation of the hot tub. Jillian smiled and waved at them both, to which they responded in kind. David knew he only had a moment to try and repair the damage before Jillian came back inside or Christopher and Tyler returned from the loft.
“
I haven’t been as good to you as I should’ve been for a long time, and I truly regret it,” he continued, his tone hushed but sincere. “I promise to never disappoint you again in any way. You are
so
important to me, Miriam, and the kids…. From the depth of my heart and soul, I’ll do whatever it takes to make up for what I’ve done wrong in the past, Auntie. You’ll never be alone again—I
swear
it!”
She turned to face him, studying his face while her eyes filled with tears. Even though no direct apology had been offered for not telling her that he and Miriam visited Tennessee without notifying her of the trip—and especially one as important as their fifteenth anniversary celebration, he hoped she’d consider how things had changed for the better since then. Heck, the two of them hadn’t been this close in nearly twenty years. He desperately wanted her to trust him—to believe in the promise he just now made to her.
Ruth nodded, as if intuitively aware of his thoughts. She wiped her eyes and smiled at him, and then readily accepted his embrace when he reached out to hug her. She sobbed quietly in his arms, and he felt the urge to cry as well. But it wasn’t until Miriam joined them, wrapping her arms lovingly around both him and Ruth that he gave in to the urge and let the stress and lingering pain of the past two months flow from him.
A healing moment, all three cried together. Unfortunately, it served to dampen Tyler and Christopher’s excitement, who upon returning to the main floor had hoped to tell everyone about the four arcade game systems upstairs. They joined Jillian by the fireplace, after she quietly stepped back inside the chalet. Despite their mom’s assurances that everything would be okay, they looked warily at one another, perhaps wondering what unwanted surprise would come next.
***
“
Are they all okay now?”
Tyler posed the question to Jillian as soon as she closed the back door behind her and stepped outside to join him next to the hot tub, where he finished clearing the snow and ice from the tarp’s surface. The last vestige of sunlight now gone, the surrounding hills lay shrouded in darkness. If not for the snow clinging to most of the trees, they wouldn’t have discerned much of anything beyond the deck’s railing, other than the lights from a few neighboring chalets. It reminded him of when he was a cub scout a few years earlier, and David had taken him to a regional jamboree in the Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs. Real dark there, too…just not as spooky.