Coming Home (Norris Lake Series) (33 page)

Chapter 34

Jesse sifted through the box of books.  She’d found in the old house which wasn’t more now than a pile of rubble.  The box had been located in an old stone food cellar that she remembered from her days there as a child. She pulled out books. The first was an old white bible with many names in the front of the book.  She recognized a few of them as ancestors but not all.  The second to last name in the book was her own right below that of her parents.  In the front of the bible was a deed to the land that had been her ancestor’s.  She wondered where the land was located and put the deed aside to check the longitude and latitude later using
MapQuest.  Digging further into the box, she found several children’s books and an old blue leather photo album. 

She opened the album and put her hand to her mouth as she saw the familiar photo of her parents.  As she flipped through the album, the face of a baby grown into a toddler then a young boy filled the following pages.  The face was not immediately familiar but she knew who it was.  It was her baby barely grown.  She put a hand on one of the photos and closed her eyes wondering the whereabouts of the child.  She knew he wasn’t at the home her parents had occupied long ago. She closed the album and too set it aside too.  Finally, she pulled out a small brown leather bound book.  It was tied shut with a matching leather string.  Opening to the first page she began to read.

October 2, 1932

Dear Diary,

It’s cold today.  Grandmother says the clouds look like snow but father says that the signs aren’t right yet. Grandfather passed away two weeks ago and I miss him very much.  He gave me this journal for my birthday last month but I hadn’t yet started writing in it.  Before he died he asked me to write down our family’s history and the history of our village so my children will remember where we came from.  It really didn’t seem important until Grandfather died. Now it seems important because I didn’t pay attention to him and take him seriously.  This is almost a way to make it up to him.  No one knows where our ancestors came from originally; not really.  Grandfather says we are different than other people and that other people saw that we were different so we were forced to move farther and farther into the deep, untouched, unsettled areas of the country time after time.  It wasn’t the way we looked but our beliefs that set us apart.  Grandfather talked about the time that the village packed the contents of their houses in the dark silence of the night and moved from along the great river.  Our ancestors came to the new world along with thousands of others in search of religious freedom and the promise of prosperity in the green lands of the Americas.  They found the existing communities in the north wrought with the same type of religious chains, as in the old country where stodgy, tightlipped preachers still thought along the narrow lines of fire, brimstone and an Anglo-Saxon puritan lifestyle.  In America there were still chains, but of a different kind.  Our people moved south, following the sun’s warmth to the tall Appalachia mountains of east Tennessee.  Grandfather talked too about times when he was little.  He watched the tall men who had long black hair who stood so proud come talk to the elders of the village.  The men spoke a strange language with their hands and helped us learn how to survive during the harsh winter snows.  I miss grandfather especially today when it is cold outside and I think of all of those times we sat in front of the fire and listened to him read from the Bible.  And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river...." 

Jesse logged on to her computer and started searching for more information about her ancestors and local religions. She was still trying to find information not only on the disappearances of young women in the county over the past 6 months she’d heard of during her visits to the local chat room.  She spent several hours searching chat rooms and forums.  Stretching she stood up putting her hands on the small of her back and coaxing Ranger into going outside for one last potty break before bed time. 

“Let’s go Ranger. Get up.”  Ranger layed on his dog bed in front of the fire place. 

“Get up and let’s go outside to go potty.  Come one, boy.”  She crooned.  He still layed there.  She walked over to the fire place and stood over him.  “Get up and go outside and go potty now.  I don’t have any more patience for you tonight.”  He looked up at her with mournful eyes.  “Okay, if you’ll go outside, I will give you a doggie cookie.” She promised.  His tail wagged thumping the ground heartily as if he understood every word. 

She walked over to the back door and held it open.  Ranger ran out the door. She closed it behind him and walked over to the computer once again.  Touching a few more keys, she pulled up a final website and began reading.  Her eyes grew wide. 

“Oh my god,” she exclaimed. “I’ve found you.  “There’s something wrong here.”

She walked over to the counter and picked up the phone. 

“Caitlyn, this is Jesse.”

“How are you doing, dear?”

“I’m fine now that I’m home.  That hospital food was the pits. What can I do for you?”

“I know you are the computer expert.  Could you help me identify someone who is active in a chat room or a forum?”

“Well, I don’t know about being an expert.  There are always new technologies coming out and you wouldn’t believe how quickly the programmers create viruses and worms and Trojan….” Caitlyn explained.

“Caitlyn,” Jesse interrupted.  “I don’t want to know about worms and Trojans.  I need you to come over to see if you can identify someone who is online.  I think this individual may be responsible for several victims’ disappearances and Jenny’s murder.”

“Okay, I can come over tonight if you want, if I can bring Pattycake.” Caitlyn agreed.  “There are thunderstorms predicted and I don’t want to leave her home alone during thunderstorms.  They scare her.”

“No, certainly it’s okay. Bring her by all means.  I will put on a pot of coffee.  It may be a long night.” Jess said.

About twenty minutes later, Caitlyn knocked on Jesse’s door. 

“Come in child.  Hello, Pattycake.” Jesse exclaimed reaching for the small dog, enfolding her into her arms.  “Pattycake, I have treat for you.  I bought a pack of pigs ears the other day and saved one just for you.  Jesse walked off with the little dog, Ranger close at her heels.  Caitlyn smiled and followed them. 

“So what did you find?” Caitlyn asked.

“I think I found the person who abducted those two women.” Jesse responded.

“How?”

“I believe he has been posting his experiences on a forum.  He posted how he had abducted one woman and then manufactured a runaway story by having her write a letter to her family prior to her death.  They won’t ever look for her if they believe she’s run away to New York to be with her lover.  The second young woman was abducted and a story circulated to make it seem as if she had drowned in a boating accident.  He was behind that fiction also.” Jesse proposed.

“He sounds very smart and manipulative.” Caitlyn surmised.

“Yes.  Here is the website and there is one of his postings.  Can you tell me who Warlock is?” asked Jesse.

“Give me some time and I can find him.” Caitlyn took her seat in front of the computer and began working.  Jesse sat beside Cat for the first two hours watching her fingers fly over the keys.  About 3:00 a.m. Jesse move to the couch flanked by both Ranger and Pattycake. All three snuggled together in front of the fireplace and snoozed an uneventful sleep. 

Caitlyn kept working intent to learn the perpetrator’s identity.  She worked through layers of security only to be stymied by a dead end time and time again. The Warlock was just as good as she was at computer security.  It unnerved her.  He had to be a very bright individual to hide from her this long.

It was late, she stood and stretched.  She’d finally written a program to locate the perpetrator. It would take some time to run.  Erasing her tracks, she logged off of the website.  She had to get some sleep so she could go to work in the morning.  She had an early meeting with the codes auditor.  If they passed the codes examination, the condo project was as good as finished.  Her dad could make the sale and they’d be done. 

She’d leave Jesse instructions on how to run the program and find out the culprit tomorrow. 

Jesse and the dogs still slept soundly on the couch.  It was still dark outside, early morning.  She walked over to a large recliner and unfolded a blanket from the back of the chair.  Sitting down she pulled the comforter up around her shoulders and quickly fell asleep.  She’d worry about what she’d discovered tomorrow.  Right now she was just too tired. 

“Ben, it’s Jesse.  I need to speak with you.  I have found the source of our town’s recent illicit incidents. Come over and I will show you.” 

Ben looked at his cell phone and noted the time of the message.  It had been left about 20 minutes ago.  Putting his Bronco in reverse he backed out of the parking lot at the coroner’s office and drove to Jesse’s lake house.  He punched a number into his cell phone and was connected after a couple of rings to Caitlyn. 

“Hello, Michael. Is Caitlyn there?”

Ben waited a moment.

“Hello?”  Caitlyn said.  “Michael, you can hang up now.  I’ve got it”.

“Caitlyn, how are you doing? I wanted to call and check on you.”

“I am fine. My father and Camille are taking good care of me.” 

“I stopped by to see Dominic.  I don’t believe he had anything to do with the attacks on you.  I had his alibis checked.  He was at work.  He’s doing his own investigation.  He’s planning on coming over later this afternoon to share with me what he’s found.”

“I already told you that he wasn’t involved.  He may be loud, obnoxious and arrogant, but he wouldn’t hurt me.”  He’s more bark than bite where I am concerned and he’s always at work. 

“I also spoke with Stephen.  He’s a puzzle.  He hates your brother and father, but has air tight alibis for both physical incidents.  He still may have hired someone.  I am on my way over to Jesse’s house.  Through all of the research she’s been doing, it seems she’s found a motive for the incidents.”

“Call me when you find out what she’s found and what you learn.”

“I will,” he said hanging up.

Caitlyn leaned over to put the phone back in the cradle and heard a click as if someone had been listening on the line, hanging up as soon as the conversation ended.  “Hello?” she said but was met by a dial tone.

Ben pulled up to Jesse’s house and walked around to the front porch.  He knocked, waited and knocked again. Jesse he called.  There was no answer.  He tried the door knob.  It was locked.  Unfastening his gun he walked around to the back gate and tried the latch.  It came open easily under his grasp. 

“Jesse,” he called again.  A round of loud barking ensued.  “Hey Ranger.  I’m coming in.”  The Labrador’s golden backside wagged from side to side happily.  “Not much of a guard dog are you?”  He walked to the back door and seeing Jesse through the window knocked.  On the phone, she waved him in. 

“Don’t worry me like that Jesse.  When you didn’t come to the door, I thought the worst.”

“As you can see, I’m fine.  You want some coffee?”

“Yes, please, Jess.”

“I was a tad worried last night.  I had a couple of hang ups and I thought I saw a shadow up around the house.  Ranger was barking his fool head off.  He’s not much of a guard dog but he does make a lot of noise when he sees a stranger. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but now I’m thinking maybe it was an intruder. Perhaps we’re both getting too close to the truth for someone.”

“Why don’t you show me what you’ve found and let’s see if we can sort out what it means.” Just then Ben’s phone chimed an incoming call.  “O’Donnell,” he said. 

“That you sheriff?” Dominic said.

“Yeah, you ready to meet?”

“I am here in Norris, where are you and I will come to you.”

“Lakeside drive. The number is 1202.  It’s next to the lake on the far side of Andersonville boat dock over near point 19.”

“Yes, I know the street. I have a GPS.  I’ll find it.  I’ll be there in about 15 minutes.”

Ben hung up.  “Dominic’s on his way.  He has some information.  I hope you don’t mind him coming here.  I wanted you to hear what he has to say.  Now what’s this about Stephen?”

Jesse pulled out the deed, the diary and the photo album showing them to Ben.  “Look, here’s a picture of a child belonging to Mrs. Connellson.  See the resemblance?  Here’s a diary explaining the history of a property in town over near the caves at Point 19.  Here’s a deed to the land which includes not only the caves but also the condo project.  It all points to the same person, the child is the owner of the land.  That’s a pretty conclusive motive for murder.”