Be Mine, Dead Valentine, page 17
part #2 of Crescent Falls Series
Dennis appeared in the doorway. “You’d better come down to the basement. I’ve already called Luke to join us.”
In the basement, any doubts they still had that Mary Ellen Oliver was their killer were vanquished. In the drawer of an old enamel-topped wash stand they found one ice pick, identical to those used in the murders. They also found the rest of the Valentines. In one corner, on the floor, Daniel discovered a long dark coat and knit cap along with a pair of oversize tinted glasses.
“I’m calling the county sheriff’s office. We need some extra officers on the streets looking for Mary Ellen,” Daniel said as he took his cell phone from his pocket.
Luke arrived and began processing the evidence in the basement. “Ken dropped off the cats at your mother’s, Daniel. I’ve got him locking things up at Cardosa’s. We’re cordoning off the house. My bet is it won’t be long before our local news hound is snooping around.”
“When you finish here, there’s more in one of the upstairs bedrooms,” Daniel said. He then told Luke what to expect. “We’ll need to take that computer and the printer to the lab, too, along with the camera. There are more pictures on it, all of Mark.”
“Just so you know, Judy reported for duty. She wants to help find our killer and put this thing to rest once and for all,” Luke told him.
Daniel felt a rush of affection for the petite red-haired officer. Pushing down his personal feelings, he sent Larry and Dennis back out on patrol to search for Mary Ellen. Ken would help Luke process the scene once he finished at the Cardosa house. After zipping up his coat, Daniel left the house and got into his truck. Before he joined the search for Mary Ellen, he wanted to stop by and check on his mother.
Chapter Twenty-one
Adelaide and Vernon were at the dinner table. Vernon was eating with gusto, while Adelaide picked around at her food. On the floor, Oscar was socializing with Misty and Ashley, Mary Ellen’s two cats.
“They’re such lovely creatures. How could she just abandon them like that?” Adelaide lifted a bite of cabbage roll to her mouth, then changed her mind and laid her fork on her plate.
“She’s running for her life, Addy,” Vernon said.
“I saw her coming out of Mark’s house at night earlier this week, you know. I thought it was odd, but I didn’t say anything to anyone. But, deep down, I knew something wasn’t right. She transformed herself completely…new hairdo, wardrobe…that usually means one thing where a woman’s concerned. There’s a new man in her life.”
Vernon put his fork down and stared across the table at her. “You’re very good at reading people and situations, Addy. You proved that in December. But you are not psychic. So, she came out of his house at night. From what I understand, he was her lawyer. The visit could have been about a legal matter. Do not beat yourself up about this.” He took a dinner roll from the basket on the table and began buttering it.
A knock at the front door brought Adelaide to her feet. It was Daniel. “What is happening. Have you found her? Is she all right?” She closed the door behind him.
All three cats came running into the foyer, meowing loudly as though they were trying to ask their own set of questions.
Daniel made no move to take off his coat. He nodded toward the cats. “I see they’re settling in. Good. As for Mary Ellen, there’s no word yet, but we found all the evidence we need in her house.”
Vernon joined them. “What evidence?”
Daniel briefly explained. Adelaide listened with growing dread. So, it was really true. She felt what little she’d eaten for dinner churning dangerously in her stomach. “So now you’re hunting her down like a wild animal, is that it?” She heard how tremulous her voice was and clamped her mouth shut.
Daniel met her gaze. “We’ll do our best to bring her in safely, Mother.”
The distinctive ringing of Daniel’s cell phone cut off Adelaide’s response. He listened for a moment then disconnected the call and put the phone back into his coat pocket. “I have to go.”
As he turned to leave, Adelaide grabbed his arm. “Was that about Mary Ellen? Has she been found? Don’t lie to me, Daniel.”
Daniel, as though knowing it was futile to evade her question said, “Her car’s been found abandoned near the falls.”
“I want to come along,” Adelaide stated.
Daniel shook his arm free from her grasp. “No way. You stay right here. You understand me?”
“I’m coming, Daniel. That’s final.” She went to the closet to get her coat. But before she could take the garment from its hanger, Daniel was out the door. “Vernon, you make sure she stays put. I’m counting on you,” he called over his shoulder.
In the wake of the blast of cold air coming in the front door, all three cats retreated quickly to the warmth of the kitchen. Adelaide turned to Vernon. “Either you come with me or I’ll go alone. Make up your mind now.” She put on the coat and sat down to slip her rubber books over her shoes. “You’ve got until I clear the table and check the kitchen to make sure everything is turned off. She stomped around him and left the foyer.
When she returned to the foyer, Vernon was wearing his coat and boots. “We’ll take my car. I went out and started it so the heater can do its job. But I want to tell you, Adelaide, I’m not in favor of this. But I can’t let you go out there alone.”
Out of gratitude, she gave him a big hug. Moments later they were in his Escalade, turning off of Hawthorne Avenue onto Mulberry Street, which would intersect with Falls Way. The snow was still coming down, and although the salt trucks had done their job earlier, the roads were beginning to get slippery again.
Adelaide stared silently out the window, praying that there would be no casualties tonight but knowing deep down that this might be a prayer that could not be answered.
* * * *
Daniel had always loved the falls, which were lit year round. At Christmas, however, the lighting was more elaborate and colorful. Tourists came from all over the state to see them during the holiday season. But tonight there were no tourists and the lighting was as usual, casting off a yellowish glow to the surrounding area. Accompanying that glow were the blue and red revolving lights on the many police cruisers, some local, some county. Daniel parked his truck behind one of those county vehicles and quickly got out.
The car registered to Mary Ellen Oliver was stuck in a snow bank near an observation point opposite the falls, which were now mostly frozen because of the frigid temperatures. Below the cliff, Daniel could hear the turbulent, rushing sound of the river. Sturdy fencing skirted the edges of every cliff, so onlookers were not in danger of falling over the precipices. This was just one of such spots where one could view the falls. The wooded area, where hiking was allowed and where the Christmas displays were set up each November and December, was over five miles in diameter.
“She could be anywhere by now.” He took off his glove and felt the hood of her car. It was cold, but that didn’t mean much. In these temperatures the engine would cool down quickly.
Judy approached and stood next to Daniel. “She won’t last long out here unless she’s dressed properly.”
He felt Judy’s hand on the underside of his arm. The gesture warmed him and made his pulse quicken a little. When he met her gaze, she smiled. “Okay, let’s organize and get to it. Can we get some spotlights in here?” he said.
“We have some small ones in our cruisers that can be hooked to our car batteries,” a sheriff’s deputy replied.
“Good. We can light up this area. Let’s drive some cars down the road and pull them in at the other observation spots. If we get enough of them turned on, it should help. We’ll need to use heavy duty flashlights when we go into the woods.”
Dennis Ackerman said, “Each cruiser should have two flashlights, one in the glove box and one in the trunk.”
Daniel looked around just as a Ford Mustang he recognized pulled up. Ed Lucas got out and hurried to join the group. “I figured you could use all the help you can get,” he told Daniel.
“Go help those sheriff’s men, why don’t you?” Daniel said.
Ed scowled but did as he was told.
The sheriff’s deputies moved their cars into various positions and hooked up the spotlights. Soon, the area was illuminated like some eerie movie set. Daniel watched as a raccoon scurried into some deep underbrush as the lights exposed its presence.
At that moment, Daniel heard another car approach and looked around to see Vernon Dexter’s Escalade pull off the road. He watched as his mother and Vernon climbed out of the car. At once, a sheriff’s deputy approached them in an effort to block their way.
Daniel knew it was probably useless to argue with his mother at this point, but he had to try. He walked up to them quickly “You need to leave, Mother.” He shifted his gaze to Vernon. “Get her out of here.”
After glaring at the deputy, Adelaide said, “I’m not going anywhere, Daniel. If you find her, maybe I can talk her into giving herself up. We’re friends. She might listen to me. All you people will do is frighten her even more.”
The deputy scoffed. “She’s as cold blooded as any killer I’ve ever heard of. I seriously doubt if we are going to frighten her.”
Ignoring the man’s comment, Adelaide crossed her arm over her mid-section and said, “She’s sick, Daniel. That should be obvious.”
“Well, we’d know about that, wouldn’t we?” Daniel said. His former girlfriend, Brenda, who was still languishing in a mental hospital, sprang to mind. “But, two people are dead and two in critical condition.” He stepped closer to her. “I’m going to end this tonight, by whatever means I have to, Mother. Now go home.” He turned and rejoined his search party.
“I just got off the phone with the medical center,” Luke told him as they began their trek through the woods. “Cardosa is in surgery to relieve pressure on his brain and Janet is still in a coma.”
Daniel looked behind him to find that his mother and Vernon were still standing in the same spot as before.
* * * *
Adelaide watched Daniel, Luke and the others disappear into the woods. “They’re wasting their time.”
“How so?”
“She told me once about how she loved to come out here at Christmas because of one special spot over next to the falls. In the summer if you stand at that observation point, you get sprayed with water, but in the winter when the falls are freezing, it gives you the most and beautiful close-up view of them. She said if you reach through the fence you can sometimes touch the ice.”
“You’re talking about that point across from where we’re standing now?”
“Yes.”
“It’s closed down. I read about it in the paper. They closed it after Christmas because some of the fencing needed to be repaired,” Vernon told her.
Adelaide turned and began walking toward the Escalade. She was shivering from the cold. “Let’s drive on a little further. There’s a trail that leads to that spot. We can park there and walk.”
“Not a chance. You call Daniel right now and tell him she might be hiding there,” Vernon snapped.
Adelaide left him and began walking down the road. Behind her she could hear him start up the Escalade and soon he pulled up beside her. “Get in. You’ll freeze out here. Stubborn woman.”
Adelaide glared at him, but got in, hoping the car’s heater was already pushing out warm air. “If the police rush her, something awful will happen.” She glanced over at him and saw that he’d donned the red stocking cap he always kept in the Escalade.
Vernon looked at her. “I called Daniel, while you were on your little walk. He’s headed that way from the other side of the woods.”
She turned her head and again stared out the window, too upset with Vernon to say anything. She’d wanted a chance to reason with Mary Ellen alone, in the hopes that disaster could be averted. Now all she could do was pray that everyone came out of this uninjured.
* * * *
Daniel, followed by Luke, Ed, Dennis and Judy, ran through the woods, headed for the lookout point Vernon had mentioned. The spotlights from a couple of the sheriff’s cruisers reflected off the frozen falls, giving them much needed light.
“Over there,” Ed called, pointing his flashlight toward a copse of pine trees near their destination.
Movement caught Daniel’s eye and he saw a figure running away, toward the blockaded area. Then the figure disappeared. Daniel shone his flashlight ahead, revealing a chain link fence surrounding the steps leading up to the observation platform overlooking the falls.
He reached the fence and noticed it had been cut, just like the one surrounding the parking area behind Creekside Village. On the ground nearby he found a pair of bolt cutters. Mary Ellen had obviously come prepared. “She’s cut the fencing. He stepped through and stopped just inside. Ahead were three steps that led up to a grated metal platform. The fencing around the platform was partially gone. Standing at the edge, with nothing behind her but air, was Mary Ellen Oliver.
“Stay back or I’ll jump,” she cried. Her eyes looked as wild as those of a cornered animal. The quilted jacket she wore was unzipped. She moved her arms around nervously, as though warding off blows from some unseen assailant.
Daniel flung his arms back to keep Luke, Ed, Dennis and Judy from rushing up the stairs. “Take it easy, Mary Ellen. We’re not going to hurt you. Just step away from the edge. It’s slippery and I wouldn’t want you to fall.” He noticed she was not wearing boots.
A high pitched cackle filled the air. “Is he dead? I hope so. Is he?”
Daniel looked over his shoulder to find Luke, Dennis and Judy creeping slowly up behind him. Ed was moving over to the side. “Keep her talking. Paramedics are on the way,” Luke said softly.
“Is. He. Dead?” Mary Ellen screamed.
“Mark? No. He’s in surgery.”
“He should be dead,” she said in a more conversational tone. “I went off script, that’s why everything got screwed up. I should have stuck to my original plan. But, he had to go and ruin everything.” She stomped a foot like a child having a tantrum. In the process she began to slip but finally regained her footing.
“How did Mark ruin everything, Mary Ellen?” Daniel asked. He took one step forward. She didn’t seem to notice.
“I got rid of Gayle. That was supposed to be it. Then, he’d be mine. How was I supposed to know about that other woman?”
Daniel heard some commotion behind them. Shortly he heard his mother’s voice in the background. “Let me through. I might be able to help.”
Mary Ellen cocked her head. “Is that you, Adelaide? Answer me.”
“Yes, Mary Ellen. Please step away from the edge. Let’s talk about this,” Adelaide yelled.
Daniel knew he needed to regain control of the situation. “Tell me why you killed Patty Regan, Mary Ellen.”
“You see, I had it all figured out. First that barmaid, then Gayle, then a waitress from the Dovetail Inn. I followed them all so I’d know their routines. I used the Internet to learn about anatomy so I’d know how to kill efficiently and quietly with as little mess as possible. They were the perfect threesome, with my intended target right in the middle. I didn’t know he had another woman on the side.”
Suddenly it all made sense. “So you had to alter your plan.”
“Of course. I went to his house one night. I was going to offer condolences and let him know I was there for him. If I’d just had a chance, I could have made him see I was the one he really needed. But she was there. It was obvious there was more than a secretary/boss relationship between them.”
“So you replaced your intended third victim with Janet Webster,” Daniel said.
“I had no choice. He left me no choice,” Mary Ellen cried.
Daniel took another step forward. He could hear more people behind them. Most likely the sheriff’s deputies. It sounded like they were moving about, probably spreading out to seal off the area. He heard Luke take a step forward, then Judy.
“Stay away,” Mary Ellen warned, backing up a step. She nearly slipped again, but was able to keep her balance.
Daniel guessed she was less than a foot away from the edge now. The snow was still coming down. An icy wind began to blow. “Tell me about the puppy.”
Mary Ellen snorted. “Well, you’re a better detective than I thought you were. A necessary prop to get that woman over to the edge of the parking lot so she’d be out of camera range, that’s all. I planned to kill it once I finished her off. I was going to dump it in the river since the ground was too hard to dig a grave. If things had gone my way that night, you’d have never known about that animal at all.”
Adelaide was now standing just behind Daniel. “So then you were afraid the police would track where you got the dog from,” she said.
Mary Ellen smiled. “That woman in Mosely could identify me. Oh, I tried to disguise myself, but I obviously didn’t do a good enough job. When I showed up at her door on Thursday night, she recognized me at once, even though I wasn’t wearing any of the things I had on when I bought the dog.”
“You killed Stella Prichard the same night that you attacked Janet Webster?” Daniel asked.
Mary Ellen’s brow furrowed in a frown. “Was that her name? I couldn’t remember. She lived alone in that farmhouse. She had a metal baseball bat by her back door. For protection, I suppose. I used that on her then threw it out the car window into the river along with a few things I took from her smelly old house to make it look like she’d been killed during a robbery. The bridge at the state line was deserted at that hour so no one saw me toss the stuff over the edge.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop. “What happened at Mark Cardosa’s today, Mary Ellen?”
Mary Ellen’s lips formed a thin line and her eye’s narrowed. “I poured out my heart to him.” She hesitated as though lost in thought. When she continued, her voice was tremulous. “I gave him a beautiful Valentine. I told him I loved him.” She glanced at Adelaide. “You remember when it all began Adelaide, don’t you? You should. You’re the one who set the wheels in motion.”
