Girl With a Past (28 page)

Steven ran to the house and burst through
the back door.

“Hurry! Hurry, they’ll be back,” I
screamed.

We heard them both struggle to pull
furniture away from the door.

I heard the chair scrape away, the door
shook.

“Unlock the door Al!”

Shit!

Steven picked Mom up in a fireman’s carry;
we piled into Nancy’s car just as Mom’s car pulled into the
drive.

“Get down,” Steven yelled. He gunned the
motor down the circular drive and screeched through the gate
without checking the traffic.

Mom’s car was right on our tail.

55

“Go to the sheriff’s station,” I yelled.
“It’s just off North Lake Boulevard.”

“Where are they?” Steven asked.

Shots hit the rear window frame, then the
tailgate.

“Get down! Lie down on the floor back
there,” I screamed at Mom and Nancy. “Right behind us,” I told
Steven. “The guy on the passenger side has a gun trained on
us.”

“Not stupid enough to follow us into the
sheriff’s substation are they?” Steven asked.

“Just drive.”

“Where is it?” Steven asked.

“Turn left off of Lake Boulevard just past
the road to Ron's condo,” Nancy said looking at the map on her
iPhone. “I’ve seen it before, it's way past the golf course.” She
dialed 9-1-1.

“It’s the same place you go to pay traffic
tickets. It’s the courthouse and substation all in one building,”
Mom said.

Steven screeched the car into the asphalt
parking lot. The building looked like a ski chalet with its steep
roof and dormers covered in gray horizontal siding and white trim.
One closed door displayed the traffic court hours on a hand painted
wood sign.

“Other side,” Mom said.

Steven hit the brakes next to a Sheriff’s
black SUV. Nancy and I jumped from the car and jerked open a wood
door. Steven carried Mom into the building. I slammed the door to
the station closed behind us.

“Uh, this is not a public area. The court is
closed for the day.” A frowning middle aged woman behind a desk
stood to shoo us away.

“Get out of the way!” we all yelled at her
at once. “Where’s the sheriff? We’re being chased by killers. They
have been holding our mother captive.”

“The sheriff is expecting us,” Nancy
said.

Steven got on his phone, “Detective Schmidt,
we couldn’t wait for you. The bad guys left, then we heard Mom and
Al screaming. We have Mom and Al. Now we are at the Tahoe City
Sheriff’s Sub Station on North Lake Boulevard. How far away are
you?” Steven listened, then hung up the phone. “He thinks he’s five
minutes from Tahoe City, coming in from the Reno airport.”

A petite woman in a sheriff’s uniform rushed
out of an inner office. “Detective Schmidt is on the phone with my
boss. He says to keep you secure.” She ushered us through a doorway
to a hall, then into an office.

A heavyset uniformed man, with hair too
black for the wrinkles and sags in his face, came from behind a
desk to shake our hands. “Detective Schmidt has had us on standby,
ready to go get you upon his arrival. Glad to see you’re ok.”

“The guys who were holding Mom and Al
followed us here,” Steven said. “In Mom’s Lexus.”

Three uniformed men in the room jumped to
attention, pulled their guns from holsters, and ran out to the
parking lot.

“Actually, the last time I saw them was when
we crossed Fanny Bridge,” I yelled from inside the doorway.

Steven gave the sheriff the make, model,
color and license plate of Mom’s car, which was broadcast to patrol
cars with instructions to approach with caution, suspects armed,
dangerous.

“They were right behind us as we came across
Fanny Bridge into Tahoe City. I was looking for the turn off into
your parking lot and stopped watching’em then. I didn’t see them
once we got into the lot,” I explained.

“Would they have another car in the area?”
the sheriff asked Mom.

“I don’t know. They were both in my car on
the drive up here from Berkeley. I was tied up in the back seat. I
didn’t see another car when we arrived at our place up here.”

A sharp rap on the office door announced the
arrival of Detective Schmidt. He nodded at me, then his eyes lit on
Mom. “Mrs. Nichols, I’m glad to see you. Are you okay?”

“Mom, this is Detective Schmidt. He has been
heading the search for you,” Steven explained to Mom.

Mom extended her hand, “Thank you
Detective.”

“Your husband sent his friend’s plane to
bring me up here from Oakland. I believe the plane returned to the
city for him. So come to think of it, he should be here in less
than an hour.”

“Thank you,” Mom said with a nod.

The Sheriff explained that he had deputies
looking for Mom’s Lexus and confirming that the kidnappers were not
at our compound.

“Are you up to returning to your place?”
Detective Schmidt said to Mom, “It would be helpful if the two of
you,” a nod indicating Mom and me, “could show us where best to
check for fingerprints and so on.”

“I need to stretch my legs a bit, get my
circulation back before getting back in a car. Can you give me a
few minutes?” Mom had been limping around on Nancy’s arm; although
Nancy was so slight she couldn’t possibly be holding Mom up. Steven
finally noticed and offered his mother his arm.

“We’d both like to use a ladies’ room. Mom
needs water and food,” I said. “And warmer clothes.”

“Of course,” Detective Schmidt said. He
turned to the Sheriff. “Is there a hospital nearby, or a medico who
could check out the ladies? Make sure they’re okay.”

“I’ll go to my place and pick up clothes for
Lauren,” Nancy offered.

“Thank you Mrs. Burns. Sheriff, please have
two deputies take Mrs. Burns to her place. Be on alert. The
kidnappers could be lurking around there,” Detective Schmidt
said.

We excused ourselves, used the facilities,
and splashed water on our faces. When we returned to the sheriff’s
desk, a doctor waited in the office. He checked Mom’s vital signs,
then mine. I left the office closing the door behind me to give Mom
some privacy while the doctor further examined her.

I turned to speak with the detective. He
ushered me into an adjoining office.

I told him what I knew, not telling him
exactly how I knew some of it. I hoped I’d never have to testify to
any of this.

I explained that one, if not all of my
so-called “uncles,” had probably hired these guys to get Dad’s
file. The hired guys had failed to get every piece, so they decided
on their own to kidnap Mom, and when that didn’t seem like it would
shut me up, they shot at me. Or at least, that’s how I saw it.

“How do you think they knew you were still
on it?” Detective Schmidt asked.

“Maybe someone had an intercept on my phone,
heard me tell Dad I knew what was going on? Dad warned me to get
rid of my phone. So maybe that’s also how they knew where to find
me. Also, one of my “uncles” was on the phone with Dad when I asked
for the file. We need to find out from my Dad who he was talking
to. Whoever that was probably hired the guys.”

“Why’d they want the file?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “Something to do
with a girl named Jennifer. Maybe she was the Jane Doe. The one
body thought to have been moved by the Zodiac.”

The detective raised his eyebrows. “I looked
over the Zodiac case. Your dad thought there might be a tie-in.” He
stopped speaking and looked at his shoes. “As it happens, I know a
little about the Zodiac case. I was in the vicinity the night the
taxi driver was shot in San Francisco. I got the call and was first
on the scene. Wasn’t my case, but I did follow it closely after
that.”

I wondered why he hadn’t mentioned that
before. I hesitated, but then went ahead and asked him. “You worked
on the Zodiac case?”

“No.”

“But you . . ."

“I was a brand new detective. My wife was a
nurse at UCSF hospital. I used a police car to pick her up and we
were on our way home. I was embarrassed to have her in the car.
That was a long time ago.”

I nodded, not sure what that story had to do
with him not mentioning his connection to the Zodiac much earlier,
but so what?

“Is it possible to exhume that body? The
Jane Doe.” I asked, “Would it still have DNA in semen? I mean, how
long does it take for DNA to degrade?”

“They have technology that can use
mitochondrial DNA. That’s a more stable component to at least
demonstrate familial relationships, perhaps not DNA fingerprinting,
not always enough to tie a suspect beyond a doubt, but thirty-six
year old semen was used to eliminate a suspect in 2000.” Detective
Schmidt said. “But, I don’t get something. The Zodiac wasn’t known
to rape his victims. Why check semen?”

“I think, from overheard conversations, that
Jane Doe was actually a girl named Jennifer who possibly, just
prior to her death, had sex with four of my uncles.” I hoped he
would assume the conversations to which I referred had perhaps
taken place while I was captive, definitely more recently than
forty years ago.

The sheriff entered the room. “Doc has given
Mrs. Nichols a clean bill of health. She’s got just some mild
dehydration. She’s eaten, had water, and is in warm clothes. Ready
to head out?”

We drove back to the cabin in a caravan of
Sheriff’s SUVs. I showed the authorities around, pointed out where
one of the men had slept on the sofa and the door they had both
touched. I couldn’t remember if Fatty had touched anything without
his gloves, but Mom showed them a glass in the kitchen that he had
used.

Steven got boards out of the boathouse and
used them to close up the bathroom window. “Wow, Sis, you really
did some damage.”

I shivered to think of the close call if
Steven and Nancy hadn’t been nearby.

“How did you guys happen to be close enough
to hear us scream?” I asked.

“Despite your doubts about my use of
voicemail, I checked my text messages when you didn’t come back.
Then I called Detective Schmidt and Dad. Dad arranged for Uncle
Dave’s plane to pick up the detective near where he was in Oakland
so he could coordinate a rescue. Guess Dad didn’t have much faith
in local sheriffs pulling off a rescue without Mom getting hurt.
Nancy and I parked on the road behind bushes, against the wall. We
saw Mom’s car drive out with two guys in it, but we didn’t know how
many were involved, and if there was anyone in here with you.”

“And you had guns!” I said.

“Yeah, Elliott keeps a few at their place.”
Steven’s face reddened. “I doubt we had the safeties off, but they
looked good, huh?”

Tires on gravel announced a new arrival. Dad
jumped from a sheriff’s vehicle, ran to enfold Mom in his arms, and
without letting her go made his way to where Steven and I surveyed
the bathroom damage, gathering us all in a family hug.

Detective Schmidt held back for a few
minutes, then spoke to us. He shook Dad’s hand but refused to take
any credit for our rescue. “Your family took care of themselves and
each other. Come to think of it, it was all over by the time I got
here. Wherever you are staying tonight, two sheriffs will keep
watch. I’d rather you didn’t stay here, though.”

“They’re staying with me,” Nancy
volunteered.

“When you’re through here, Detective, at
some point tomorrow hopefully, Steven and I need to check out the
winterizing,” Dad said.

“I’ll give you a call later this morning.
And I’ll send a stenographer over to the Burns’ to take statements
from Alexandra and Mrs. Nichols in the afternoon.”

The sun was peeking over the snow covered
mountain’s on the far side of the lake as Dad, Mom, Steven, Nancy
and I loaded into two Sheriff’s vehicles and were driven to
Nancy’s. As soon as we arrived, Mom went to soak in the tub. After
hot drinks, Steven and Nancy headed off to bed.

Flickering flames from the living room
fireplace cast a golden glow on Dad and I as we sipped hot cocoa
laced with brandy.

“Okay Dad, time to come clean.”

56

“Sweetheart, time to get some sleep, we’ll
talk in the morning.”

“You’re not getting out of it. You’re
talking to me now.”

“You just got out of the hospital. You’ve
had a very strenuous few days––especially the last twenty-four
hours. Off to bed with you.”

“NO!”

The look Dad gave me used to scare the shit
out of me when I was little.

“Not working Dad. I can’t go to sleep with
all this on my mind, and I think you know the answers to some of
the questions that won’t stop running around my head.”

Dad sighed and squirmed farther into the
down chair. “What do you want to know?”

“How long have you known that your friends
living at the ranch had a connection to the Zodiac killer?”

“No. No, I didn’t
know
.” Dad took a
deep breath. “But I suspected. I’ve always suspected there was a
link. I was freaked to think it might have been one of my friends
who was the Zodiac. But it wasn’t. I know that now.”

“Did you ever ask?”

“Of course, Christ! Al, I am an officer of
the court, I take my responsibilities quite seriously. Do you think
I would knowingly let murderers run free no matter who they were?”
Dad stood, paced in front of the window that overlooked the lake.
Dawn sun sparkled off the snow and the water.

I pretended that was a rhetorical question
and said nothing. I didn’t want to admit I had suspected the worse
of my father, who was once my best friend.

“I was in a state of shock when Lexi was
killed. It was years before I realized that Tom, Jamie, Elliott,
and Ron had acted strangely afterwards. They came to the funeral, I
think, then stayed for the week, but then they stayed away for
months. Lauren and I went out to the ranch some weeks later. I
wasn’t sure if it was because I had Lauren with me, or because
Lexi’s death had changed the dynamics of our relationships in some
way, or what––but it wasn’t the same. We only went there one more
time. They were not the comfortable, easy friendships they had once
been.”