Footprints in the Sand (16 page)
Read Footprints in the Sand Online
Authors: Mary Jane Clark
T
he moment Piper called out, asking where the Alligator Alley Bar & Grill was, his antennae registered danger. Slowly, unobtrusively, he moved closer to her and listened.
“Maybe if somebody who isn’t a cop went over there and asked around . . .”
What was that nosy bitch thinking?
“I have some free time tonight. I could just go get a burger and see what happens.”
Damn her. Piper just might be able to weasel something out of somebody. When he took the credit-card receipt and cell phone from the waitress’s purse after he killed her, he thought he had removed anything that could connect him with Shelley. Sure, the credit-card company had the information in their system, but if the police checked, it would show simply that he’d been at the bar. It couldn’t prove he’d been with Shelley. Only an eyewitness could make that connection.
But what if somebody else at the bar had noticed him with Shelley that night? Or what if the waitress had told somebody that she was meeting him to extort money in exchange for her silence? If Piper asked around at the bar, she might find out something. In a place like the Alligator Alley Bar & Grill, Piper was more likely to come up with information than the cops were.
As Piper ended the phone call, he stepped away. Pretending to be very interested in the collection of tropical animal toys on sale, he waited as everyone began filing through the admission portal. Glancing around, he made certain that nobody was looking at him. He grabbed a rubber alligator from the display bin, stuffed it into his pocket, and followed the others into the gardens.
W
ho knows the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?”
The spectators who were gathered in the bleachers around the shallow pool glanced at one another to see if anyone could respond to the guide’s question. When everyone remained silent, Dan answered.
“First of all, they’re from different families of crocodilians. Alligators and caimans are from the Alligatoridae family, while crocodiles are from the Crocodylidae family.”
“Hey, Dan!” shouted Brad. “Speak English.”
Everyone laughed.
Vin raised his hand. “Alligators have more rounded jaws. Crocodiles have more pointed ones.”
“That’s right,” said the guide. She pointed to the ferocious-looking reptiles in the pool. “See, the long, narrow, V-shaped snout of the crocodile is very different from the alligator’s wider, U-shaped one. Because of their jaw shapes, the teeth of an alligator’s lower jaw tend to be hidden. On crocodiles they’re visible.”
Brad called out again. “Either one can do the job. Those babies will rip you to shreds.”
After the show the guide invited anybody who wanted to hold one of the baby alligators. “Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s safe—the gator’s jaw is taped shut.”
As they got up from the bleachers, most of the spectators merely stopped to look at the small alligator. A few reached out and touched it. Piper was the only one who took it in her arms and held it, feeling its snakelike skin and spiky scutes. Vin frowned as he took a picture for her with her cell phone.
“Thanks, Dad,” she said. “I’m putting that on Facebook immediately.”
T
hat was brave of you, Piper,” said Umiko as the group traveled on to the next exhibit. “I have no desire whatsoever to hold one of those things.”
“Not so brave when the snout is taped shut,” said Piper, fiddling with her phone as she walked. “It wasn’t exactly alligator wrestling. Still, it’s a great picture. Look.” She held up the phone for Umiko.
“I’m going to put it up now,” said Piper as she began pressing buttons on her phone.
“What do you mean, ‘put it up’?” asked Umiko.
“On Facebook,” said Piper. “I post it on Facebook so all the people I’m friends with can see it. Then they make comments on the picture and we all get into some back-and-forth online.”
“You do that?”
“Mm-hmm. One person writes a comment, and then another responds, then another and another. It’s fun.”
“So you just put up pictures?” asked Umiko.
“Not always,” said Piper. “Sometimes I just post something I’m thinking about or something that happened to me. I post a picture when I have one I’m into. Like this picture of me and the alligator. Last night I took a picture of that netsuke at your house and posted it. The one with the monkey and the octopus?”
Umiko’s brow furrowed. “Oh, Piper. I wonder if you should have done that. I wouldn’t want thieves to come to our house. The netsuke are very valuable, you know.”
“Don’t worry,” said Piper, feeling bad that she had upset Umiko. “Nobody knows where I took the picture. But if it really bothers you, I’ll take that picture down.”
As they reached the reptile house, Piper hesitated while Umiko entered with her husband.
“I heard that,” said Vin, shaking his head. “When are you going to learn, Piper?”
“Learn what?”
“To respect people’s privacy.”
“Oh, come on, Dad. I
do
respect people’s privacy.”
“Lovey, I’m just saying you have a very bad habit of sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
T
he flamingos were incredible. The flock of bright pink- and coral-colored birds roamed freely on the sweeping green lawn and waded in the large, open lagoon. Piper was mesmerized by their striking feathers, their graceful long necks, and their stiltlike legs.
“How do they do that?” Piper asked of no one in particular. “The way they stand on one leg and tuck the other one beneath their body. I’m telling my yoga instructor that we need to start calling the ‘eagle’ pose the ‘flamingo’ instead.”
“No one’s really sure why they do that,” said Dan as he walked up beside her. “Some think flamingos have the ability to make half their bodies go into a state of sleep, and when one side is rested, the flamingo will swap legs and then let the other half sleep.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out some coins. “Want to feed them?”
“Sure,” said Piper, watching while Dan inserted the quarters into what reminded her of an old gum-ball machine. Small feed pellets poured out.
“Oh, wow,” she said as the flamingos walked right up and nibbled the pellets out of her hand. As she giggled at the feel of their curved beaks, Piper looked up and saw Isaac staring at her. When the pellets were all gone, she went over to him.
“Isaac, I just wanted to say that I’m so sorry about Levi. I didn’t know that you and he were related until Kathy told me today.”
“Thank you,” said Isaac. He shrugged and shook his head. “I guess it hasn’t fully hit me yet. Levi was such a sweet kid, but he had a troubled soul. I think that whole
rumspringa
experience became overwhelming. Though he never told me so, I think he probably couldn’t face the idea of breaking the news to his family that he didn’t want to be Amish. And he didn’t want to live a life of shunning. I know too well how gut-wrenching and hopeless those feelings can be.”
Piper nodded in sympathy. She was aware that the police had found Levi’s cell phone near Shelley Hart’s grave, but she wasn’t about to bring up the possibility that Levi had killed himself because he was a murder suspect.
N
ora and Walter walked along the winding paths, quietly enjoying the wildly overgrown paradise. Royal palms, banana trees, staghorn ferns, various cacti, strangler figs, bald cypress, and all manner of exotic plants flourished in the botanical garden.
“Will you look at that bulrush?” said Walter, marveling at the tall stalks and the full, feathery heads. “You know, Nora, that fluffy, pollenlike stuff can be crushed and separated from the rest of the plant and used as medicine to stop bleeding.”
“Is that so?” asked Nora absentmindedly.
“Yes. You can buy it at Asian markets. The Eastern world is so beyond the West on holistic and herbal healing. I’d rather take something natural than chemical any day, wouldn’t you?”
“I suppose so, Walter.”
He stared at her. Nora was usually so enthusiastic and eager to talk. All afternoon she’d been taciturn and standoffish. He decided to try another approach.
“I’m hot and thirsty,” he said. “Let’s go get something.”
They walked together to the Flamingo Café.
“What will it be?” asked Walter, looking up at the menu board.
“I’ll have ice cream,” answered Nora. “Chocolate. I’ll wait at that picnic table.”
When he brought the refreshments over, Walter blurted out, “Okay, Nora, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
He sat on the wooden bench. “Please don’t say ‘Nothing.’ You’ve barely said a word to me all day.”
Nora looked directly into his eyes. “All right, if you want to know the truth, I’m very worried, Walter.”
“I knew it,” he said adamantly. “I knew that something was bothering you. What?”
She spoke softly. “I don’t know if I can trust you, Walter. I’m afraid that you aren’t the man I thought you were.”
He recoiled as if struck. “What do you mean?” he asked in disbelief.
Nora stuck the plastic spoon into her ice cream and pushed the cup away. She crossed her arms and leaned forward. “When I heard at the condo meeting last night that blackmail was being used to get people to sell you their property, I felt sick to my stomach.”
“But didn’t you also hear me say that I knew nothing about it?” he asked with urgency in his voice. “That was something Shelley cooked up all on her own. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Nora shook her head slowly. “I know you, Walter. You’re very savvy. You didn’t become so successful by not being aware of what your employees were doing.”
“Not this time, Nora. You have to believe me. I didn’t know.”
Nora narrowed her eyes as she assessed him. “You swear you weren’t involved, that you didn’t condone it?”
Walter took her hand. “These months with you have been the happiest I can ever remember. You have to know I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize our relationship. You mean too much to me.”
T
he tropical-bird show starred Frosty, the high-wire-balancing, bicycling septuagenarian cockatoo who in his younger days had been on
The Ed Sullivan Show.
There was an African gray parrot with an ample vocabulary and a very evil laugh. One by one, all kinds of different gorgeous birds were brought out by the trainer, who put them through their paces and explained their habits and habitats. The crowd in the amphitheater oohed, aahed, and applauded with enthusiasm.
“These beautiful and very smart birds have been rescued or donated,” explained the trainer as he stood on the stage with a jewel-toned parrot on his arm. “In fact, many of the animals here at Sarasota Jungle Gardens had been abused, injured, or rescued from inhumane conditions before they came to us. Some outgrew or outlived their owners. All of them are checked out by our vets, inoculated, and put on special diets. They will have sanctuary here for the rest of their lives.”
At the end of the show, the trainer invited the audience to come to the stage for a closer look at the birds. Piper grabbed her iPhone from her purse and hurried down the steps, joining the others who had gathered around. As she snapped pictures, her attention was focused on the birds. She had no inkling that a man was dropping something into the purse she’d left on the floor beside her seat.
I
saac drove to his spot in the employee parking area on the southern side of the inn. He saw a young woman in a blue dress and a white bonnet sitting on a trike near the kitchen entrance. He was stunned when he recognized Miriam.
She straightened when she saw Isaac, got off the trike, and ran to her estranged uncle.
“I am so sorry,” she whispered as she hugged him.
“Me, too,” said Isaac, holding on to her tightly. He was caught off guard by Miriam’s sudden affection. “I can’t believe Levi’s gone.”
Miriam pulled away a bit and looked into Isaac’s face. “Yes, I am heartbroken about Levi. But it is only now that I understand how horrible it was for you when you left. I am sorry for what
you
have been put through, Uncle Isaac. What I and everyone else did to you. I never fully realized how painful it was to be shunned, to know that everyone was judging you and disapproving of you and ganging up on you. Just like they are doing to Levi now. I cannot stand what they are saying about him in Pinecraft.”
Isaac nodded. “I really appreciate that, Miriam. But for me all that is ancient history. I have another life now, and I never miss the Plain ways. I guess you don’t fully get over being ostracized, but mostly I just wished the people I cared about could be part of my life. Your brother was the only one who dared.”
“I know,” said Miriam, sniffling. “Levi was such a good person. I could tell he was struggling with something earlier this week. I just assumed it was
rumspringa
and that he wanted to leave us.”
Isaac put his hand up in protest. “Wait, Miriam. I may not be Amish anymore, but I never tried to influence him to leave.”
Miriam brushed a tear off her cheek. “I know that now. Levi did not kill himself because he did not want to be Amish. He killed himself because . . .” Miriam began to sob uncontrollably.
“What, Miriam? What is it?” asked Isaac.
After a few minutes, Miriam gained control of herself and reached into her apron pocket. “I want you to hold on to this,” she said.
Isaac took a folded paper from her.
“It is Levi’s note,” she said as he opened it.
The handwriting on the lined paper was clear and meticulous, as if Levi didn’t want there to be any possibility of doubt that anything would be misread or misinterpreted. There was no salutation.
I KILLED SHELLEY HART AND I CANNOT LIVE WITH THE GUILT.
IT IS BETTER FOR EVERYONE IF I LEAVE THIS WORLD.
Isaac looked up from the page. He said nothing.
“I do not want Levi’s memory tarnished or my parents to be mortified any further,” said Miriam. “Bad enough their son took his own life, but to find out he was a murderer? How could they survive that? I want you to hold on to it, Uncle Isaac. I want to be able to truthfully say I do not have it.”
“Yes, you should be kept out of it, Miriam. Levi would want it that way.”
As he folded the note and put it into his pocket, Isaac wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it. But for the first time since he’d left the Amish world behind, he started weeping.
