The Vigilante (24 page)

CHAPTER 25

“I’m very sorry,” Ryan replied. “I realize why you feel the way you do, but we have a case to solve. I’m sure it won’t take long,” To Martha, he asked, “May I speak with you in private? The sight of me upsets the child. I’m sorry for that, but I have a couple of questions. It’s our job and we have to do things that aren’t always our choice. I can say that Denny Garver will never draw a free breath again, if that is helpful in any way.”

Martha sniffed. “I don’t believe I know the man, officer, nor do I care. Our concern is with Will’s attack and that was screwed up beyond belief.” She motioned him to follow her. “We’ll go into Martin’s den.” She led the way, bade Ryan to a seat, and took one herself. “So what’s this all about, officer. Just why
are
you here?”

“We are checking several issues regarding the families of the victims, looking for corroboration concerning information we’ve come across.” The woman in front of him appeared a solid citizen, loving grandparent, and a strong, intelligent, older female. One who’d certainly kept her fine looks. Clearing his throat again, he began with, “How long have you lived in Colorado Springs?”

Martha answered his questions, but soon felt the insidious sensation of being hunted. She didn’t like it or understand it and his questions regarding her rural background made the blood in her veins turn cold. It also made her very angry, but biding her time and holding her anger, she kept up a serene demeanor. “Are there any other questions?”

“You say you had a farm type upbringing. I wonder, do you remember anyone, your father maybe using a bright blue-violet solution on anything? We had a question come up about that and I wonder if you might know anything about the use of it. It could be helpful.”

“A blue solution? What possible correlation does that have with what happened to those men? What are you talking about?” This question had Martha’s pulse pounding. Not knowing why, she felt threatened.
Why didn’t the man come right out and ask me if I know about my father using Gentian Violet on the freshly-castrated male calves, lambs, and baby pigs
? Somehow, she knew exactly what the detective wanted to know
and
that she dared not answer his query.

“Just thought I’d ask. I don’t know a lot about farming myself. It could be one of our clues, you might say.” Ryan instinctively knew she wasn’t going to mention knowing about the purple solution, but in her eyes, he saw the knowledge. His years on the force told him that much.

His excitement rose at this new discovery. It didn’t fit with the woman sitting before him, except possibly for the excessive rage seething beneath her barely controlled mien. That was not lost on him, either.

“Well, ma’am, that about does it. You work at Mercy Hospital, you said?” He had to ask, partly to modify his other questions, but to hear the way she answered this question as well. They looked for someone with a medical background.

“I take a shift now and then, yes,” Martha said. “I mostly work to keep my hand in. My husband Chet left me fairly well off—enough anyway. I believe I mentioned being a widow.”

“Yes, well thank you, Martha, I appreciate your help. We have to look everywhere to solve our cases.”

Her face flushed and her grip tightened. “For the child predators, yes, but you did nothing at all to help our poor, little Will, did you?” She couldn’t hide her rising disdain for the competency of the local police force.

“I know how this looks. We’ve all got kids and deeply regret what happened in your grandson’s case. You have to know that.” He quickly realized his apology meant nothing to Martha. “We’ve done a lot of checking on Callahan. He’s been busy in other areas as well as here. We’ll get him on one of these other cases sooner or later. In fact, it will most likely be sooner.”

“If he came here to prey on our children, it was because some other law enforcement professionals didn’t stop him where he came from. Maybe they had him and let him go so he could come here and destroy our little boy.” Martha bit off the words in her fury. “He’ll never be the same—how could any child be?” She flung the last words at Mapus, her rage flaring nearly out of control.

Ryan caught a healthy glimpse of her deeply-held anger. He nodded. “I’m sure you’re right about that and I’m very sorry.” He rose from his chair. “I’ll be going now, ma’am, and thanks again.” He made his way to the door and Martha saw him out.

After he left, she paced the floor, fuming inwardly. “That nosey detective—just why is he delving into our lives like that?” she asked Jeannie. “Why are they looking at us—at me?”

“Oh, Mom, he isn’t looking at you in particular, he couldn’t be.” She frowned in thought. “He was looking for something, though. I felt it. What could he be looking for?”

“I don’t know, but I have a funny feeling about it. He was digging into my farm background and curious about my nursing profession, too.” A heavy pressure building inside her made her gasp for breath. Some fateful knowledge nagged at her consciousness, but she couldn’t quite bring it to the surface.

“Well, I must get home, Jeannie. I’ll take Will to
Biggie’s Burger’s
in the next day or two.”

“What’s the hurry? Got a date?”

Jeannie giggled and followed her mother out to her car. Martha felt a heated flush rising up her neck as she waved Jeannie away and drove off.

***

Ryan sat at his desk, thinking about the visit to the Moulton’s. “Something about that woman tells me she knows more than she’s saying. Could she have something to do with all of this? Why was she so evasive when I got into the farm area?” He picked up the phone. “Harris, got a minute?”

“Be right there.” True to his word, he hurried over to Ryan’s desk. “What ya got?” By the look on Ryan’s face, he realized something had happened. “Come on, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know for sure, but we need a tail on a woman I spoke with today. Something about her...” His voice trailed off as he gave more thought to his interview with Martha Lavery. He shook his head. “Naw, couldn’t be, a woman like her, a grandmother and all. But then again, she has a hell of a lot of anger pent up inside
her. Makes you wonder how much and why. She’s like a damned volcano, or could be—I had that feeling.”

“What the hell you going on about, man?” His curiosity vividly aroused, Harris stood in front of Ryan’s desk, staring at him expectantly. “What woman?” ’

Ryan went into detail about his interview with Martha Lavery then asked, “How about your interviews, anything?”

“Nothing to get my shorts knotted up like yours.” Harris replied. “Are you saying you’ve got a suspect or an idea about one, or what?”

“Not sure yet, but this woman is hiding an unusual amount of deeply-held anger. On the other hand, she’s a professional nurse, with an unblemished record, far as we know. It wouldn’t do to make a misstep with someone like her. She’s a widow and a grandmother to boot. I plan to order a
very
discrete surveillance on her for a while.”

“He grimaced, his gut churning with worry. “It’d be pure disaster for our department to have our perp be someone like her, driven to malignant violence because we can’t keep our kids safe from bastards like Callahan and Garver. We wouldn’t get any sympathy, but we’d sure as hell be vilified by the public for prosecuting their heroine. You know damned well, they’d hold her up as a hero, and a long overdue one.” He winced. “Hell, so would I.”

“You’re right. I’d agree with them, too, but we have our duties, don’t we? She’d be a real life superwoman to a whole lot of folks, not just around here, but all over the damned country.” Harris broke into a grin and stuck his chin out. “So, Ryan, how you planning to handle this one?”

“Dunno. Let’s go for coffee.” The men left the office, heading to the nearest coffee shop.

***

Martha had been looking forward to her next appointment with Dr. Carton. She entered his inner office and sat down, feeling stronger than usual and less fearful of learning more nasty details of her early childhood.

“All this hypnosis has to come to an end,” she told him. “I’d like to ask you to move this along a bit faster.” Anxiously awaiting his reply, she believed she’d crossed a barrier of sorts and was ready for the next steps, whatever that might entail.

“I think you may be ready enough. Your willingness to face what happened to you as a child is the real key here.” His tone became increasingly serious as he explained. “You must realize it takes time for complete integration with an alternate personality. It won’t be like switching on a light. In so many ways, she is stronger than you, though that part has remained quiescent for all this time. What we don’t know is what brought Serena out just a few months ago. It had to be a recent, severe trauma, but you haven’t mentioned anything like that in this office.”

“The most recent trauma in my life has been the attack upon my grandson, Will. I’ve been incredibly angry about that, Doctor, in fact, extremely so. That isn’t like me at all. Would that bring about anger of this magnitude, nearly a state of rage?” At that moment, Martha realized it had to be related to Will’s attack by a sexual predator. “It happened more than six months ago.”

“Will’s attack was of a sexual nature, and as you know, so was your own childhood trauma. There’s almost certainly a strong connection. Serena is the one who knows—if she’ll tell us.” Dr. Carton smiled at that. “She’s been reticent, to say the least, of telling us about her activities or feelings.”

“We must give it a try.” Martha took a deep breath. “I am as ready as I’ll ever be, Doctor Carton.” She realized her renewed inner strength had come about partly because of Bob’s caring and love, and partly from the wearing nature of her affliction. She looked her doctor in the eye. “I want an end to it. The mystery, the lost time periods, cigarette smoke in my hair and clothes, and the extreme fatigue. And those damned, sexy high-heeled boots lying in the closet that I don’t remember buying, and never would!” She shrugged in hopeless confusion and disgust. “But they’ve definitely been worn!”

Dr. Carton asked Dr. Schoenfeld to join them. As they had previously discussed with Martha, the two doctors had awaited this particular time, a time when she felt ready to know her other self.

The three of them sat in Carton’s quiet, dimly-lit office and began. When Martha was under, Dr. Schoenfeld requested, “Serena, come out please.” They waited.

Serena wore a suggestive half-smile across her lips. She sat, posed, ready for anything. “Yeah, Docs, what ya need from me?”

“Martha would like to meet you, Serena. Would you care to do that?”

“No sweat, doc.”

They heard a slight hesitation in her voice.

“Just wait, stay here with us,” Dr. Schoenfeld turned slightly to Martha’s sleeping form, sitting upright in her chair. “Martha, do you hear me?”

“Yes,” her lips barely moved as she replied in a low voice.

“Serena is here. Come and meet her.” He saw Martha twitch.

“How can I do that?” An anxious, fearful look, moved across her face. “She knows everything that happened to me! I can’t face her!”

Serena scoffed, her voice slightly harsh. “Yes, you can, you ninny, I handled that business, not you! And I’ve taken care of a few more things for you lately, too,” she added quietly. “Had a bit of fun while I did.”

“I see you now, Serena. Come together with me. I want to handle things for myself and with your help, I know I can. I have to. You must let me try,” Martha said with a plaintive note in her voice.

The men waited for a while. Martha moved about, made expressions of distaste, even disdain, smiled grimly at something, and then sat quietly for several moments.

“I think we can bring her out now,” Dr. Schoenfeld said. “We may have succeeded in beginning the integration. Time will tell. It’s hard to know in these cases—they differ so widely.” His heart raced in his excitement at dealing with the rarity of this type case.

Martha came awake. “What happened?”

“We believe we’ve begun your fusion, or integration with Serena. You’ll know better about that than we will. You’ll learn about the lost year, and we believe you will be able to face what happened then. It takes some time to fully integrate, but we hope you have begun that process.”

“I think—I know she’s with me. How do I explain that feeling? I just know. Will I suddenly know what things I’ve been doing as Serena recently, and will I know why I smell of smoke some mornings?”

“Let us know everything you feel, know, learn, or experience. We confess we are learning from you, from this case. Dissociative Identity Disorder is very rare, and few psychiatrists ever have the good fortune to see it or treat it,” Dr. Schoenfeld explained.

Dr. Carton nodded. “That’s right, Martha.”

“Okay, Docs, I’ll give it a go.” Martha thought her voice sounded a bit flippant.
Is that you talking, Serena
?
She picked up her purse and started for the exit door. Her movements felt stronger and more certain.

Dr. Carton looked at his compatriot, his eyes narrowed slightly. “I think she’s begun. Didn’t we hear Serena, just then?” Schoenfeld smiled and nodded.

Leaving the doctor’s office, Martha had no reason to notice a non-descript old maroon sedan parked across the street as she hopped blithely into her car and drove over to see Will. “Time to take the little tiger out for lunch again—sick to hell of those damned, greasy burgers, though.”

Martha felt lighter, and no longer alone. “Is my imagination working overtime?” She knew it wasn’t. Her heart rate increased. She tried to worry about this new situation, but found at the moment, she could not.

Jeannie came to the door. “Hi, Mom, Will’s ready and waiting.”

“Great! I’ll just pop in and visit a bit before we go. What did you think of that detective, Mapus, coming here?”

“It burned me and I hated it! That’s how I felt about it. Haven’t we suffered enough over this mess? It’s like rubbing their failures in our faces. Imagine, his coming here to solve their vigilante mess.” She huffed. “Like we’d know anything about it.”