CHAPTER FOUR

 

Sherry looked through the windshield of the car at the deep blue sky, thinking how much she was enjoying the day with Oscar. He had picked her up shortly after eleven and they had taken a leisurely drive through the country. When Sherry asked Oscar where they were going he said it was a surprise. Driving north on Highway 31 toward the Sepulga River, Oscar turned left on the other side of the Travis Bridge. To Sherry’s surprise a park had been developed along the bank of the river. Voicing her surprise she exclaimed, “Hey, this is wonderful! How long has this park been here?”

Pleased that he had surprised her, Oscar replied, “The County took over this area a few years ago. For a time we were having trouble with kids coming down here at night and doing drugs. The land used to belong to Old Lady Tanner, but when she died some of the county officials and local businessmen decided to clean it up and make something nice out of it. The ladies historical society held several fund raisers and we all came up with enough money to build the playground and picnic area. The county highway department sent over truckloads of sand to expand the river bank.”

“Well, I must say, I’m impressed. I remember coming here as a little girl. Papa Joe would bring Darlyn and me down here every Sunday for a swim. It wasn’t much more than a trail through the woods, and the trees were so close to the river that there wasn’t much of a bank. I always loved coming here in the summer.”

Parking the car under a very large old oak tree, they got out. Several other vehicles were in the parking lot. A few small children were playing on the swings while their mother watched from one of the picnic tables. A young couple was wading at the rivers’ edge, while closer to the bridge, an old man was fishing with a cane pole.

Oscar walked to the back of the car, popped the trunk and removed a wicker picnic basket and a blanket. “I hope you don’t mind. I thought we could have a picnic down by the water. It’s such a beautiful day and all.”

“This is the kind of day a picnic was made for,” Sherry replied. Taking the blanket from him Sherry led the way to a shady area close to the river, but far enough away from the playground that the children would not disturb them.

After eating a lunch of fried chicken, potato salad, and homemade yeast rolls, Sherry started to put the containers back into the basket. Watching her, Oscar said, “You know I had my cook put some of her delicious carrot cake in there somewhere. Help yourself to some.”

“I have a better idea; let’s go walk off some of this fried chicken and potato salad first. Then I might have some room for cake.”

Agreeing, he offered her a hand up and they started walking along the riverbank. Walking toward the bridge, Sherry said, “I guess I’m telling my age but, I remember when that bridge was wooden. Back during the depression my great-grandfather joined the PWA. The original wooden bridge was one of the bridges they built during that time. Of course, progress eventually caught up and in the sixties the county tore it down and put up this concrete bridge.”

“In my opinion, progress isn’t always a good thing. I think we are losing too much of our history a lot of times.”

Sherry sighed, “I agree completely. Just imagine how much more scenic this park would have been if the original wooden bridge were still here.”

Growing silent, Oscar picked up a rock at the rivers’ edge and skipped it across the water. Playfully Sherry said, “I bet I can make one take more skips than you!”

Oscar gave her a sly smile and took her up on the bet. After five throws Sherry had made her rock skip four times to Oscar’s three. Taking her in his arms he conceded to the winner, saying, “Okay, you win. What do I owe you?”

She smiled at his handsome face and said, “Another date.”

“You got it,” he replied and leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

Secretly pleased with this show of affection, Sherry took him by the hand and they started back to their blanket. Glancing at her watch Sherry exclaimed, “Oh, my, I didn’t realize it was already one-fifteen. I guess I better get back to the farm. Mother is probably driving Rachel crazy by now.”

“You’re sure you have to go back right now? It’s not that late.”

“Yes, I’m sorry but I do need to get back.”

“Okay, but only if you promise to go horseback riding with me tomorrow.”

“Where did you have in mind?”

“My place. I’ll pick you up tomorrow afternoon about four. It shouldn’t be too hot to go for a ride. How does that sound?”

“It sounds like fun! I’ll be ready.”

Together they put away the rest of the dishes and headed back to the car.

* * * * *

Lunch at the diner in Evergreen had taken longer than usual. The place had been packed with people who had been re-routed off the interstate, thanks to the accident that morning. Ollie, Maria, and Juan had to wait for almost twenty minutes before they got a booth. Now, as Ollie turned onto the lane to the chicken house, he was praying that Ms. Rachel wouldn’t be mad at them for taking so long.

Getting out of the truck, Juan said, “I’m so full I can hardly move.”

Maria replied, picking at her younger brother, “You better move or you’ll be here after dark by yourself. Ollie and I are almost through with collecting the eggs from our coops. When our eggs are clean we’re leaving. Isn’t that right, Ollie?”

Ollie laughed joining in the frolicking, and said, “That’s right, Juan; and by the way, didn’t I tell you...you get paid per egg, so you better get a move on!”

Still laughing as he followed them into the chicken house, Juan said, “Yeah, and I fell off the turnip truck yesterday.”

Behind Ollie and Maria, Juan knew by their sudden stillness that something was wrong. Eggs were smashed and broken all over one of the workstations.

Looking at the mess, Maria asked, “What do you think happened?”

Ollie walked over to the radio and turned it off before he responded. “I don’t know, but I don’t see Ms. Rachel anywhere. We better look for her.” Seeing the blood on the floor beneath the table he added, “I sure hope she’s not hurt!”

Splitting up, they each took a different chicken coop to search. Ollie and Juan joined up at the last chicken coop on the left wing in the main hall. Suddenly they heard a low mournful wail coming from the last coop. Taking off at a run toward the sound, they knew it was coming from Maria. The closer they got the louder her scream became.

Ollie and Juan were both stricken with fear as they threw open the door. Dead and dying hens and roosters lay everywhere. By the heat and the stillness in the room, Ollie knew the ventilation fans were off. Rushing toward the back of the chicken coop, Ollie turned on the fans. Juan found Maria as she came running out from one of the rows of nests. Speaking hurriedly in Spanish, Maria spoke to Juan. Motioning for Ollie to follow him, Juan started down the row. Together they found Rachel, with blood oozing from her head and a large bruise on her face. Picking her up, Ollie ran back to the main room. He placed Rachel on the couch, turned to the others and said, “Maria, go get something to help me stop the bleeding. Juan, run to the main house and get help!” Without saying a word both of them took off to do as Ollie had instructed.

* * * * *

Oscar parked the car in front of the house and jumped out to open the door for Sherry. He linked her arm in his and started walking her to the front porch. Reaching the steps he turned to her and said, “I sure have enjoyed your company today, Sherry. I’m looking forward to our ride tomorrow.”

“I’ve had a good time today too, Oscar.” Smiling up at him Sherry wondered if she should kiss him good-bye. As if he was reading her mind Oscar gently pulled her into his arms and embraced her. The sound of someone running in their direction made them jump apart, like teenagers caught in their first kiss.

Juan hurried to Mr. Newcume when he saw him and Sherry standing in front of the house and called out to him, so frightened he did not realize he was speaking in Spanish.

Only comprehending part of what Juan was saying, Oscar said, “Whoa, slow down son, my Spanish is rusty; what are you so excited about?”

Juan took a deep breath, and began again, this time in English. “Come quick, Mr. Newcume, we need help!”

Finding her voice Sherry spoke to Juan, “What’s wrong; is it Ollie? Is he hurt?”

“No ma’am, not Ollie, Ms. Rachel. Hurry please, call the doctor!”

“Rachel! Oh my God, what happened? Tell me, how bad is she hurt?” cried Sherry.

“We don’t know what happened. Dead chickens are all over the place. Come on and you’ll see!”

Sherry started to take off but Oscar caught her by the arm saying, “No, you go call the doctor like he said. I’ll go check on her.” Pushing Sherry toward the house, Oscar gave her no choice but to do it. Not waiting for Sherry to go inside, Oscar and Juan ran toward the chicken houses.

* * * * *

From the minute Jake’s deputy had delivered Rachel’s message, he could not get her out of his mind. Deciding to use his lunch hour to ride out to the farm, Jake was about two miles away when the radio dispatcher called him. “Yeah, Karen, this is Sheriff Brewer, go ahead,” he replied, wondering what was wrong now.

“Sheriff, we just got a 911 call from Mrs. Collier out at MacKinstry Farm. I don’t know many details, but she was asking for an ambulance.”

Immediately concerned, Jake said, “Did she say who the ambulance was for?” He could tell by the static on his radio that Karen was trying to respond to his question, but he was going out of radio range. It would be another mile before he could pick her transmission up again. He threw the radio down on the seat and sped up, thinking that he would be at the farm before he was back in radio range. When he pulled into the drive Jake could see Sherry running toward the chicken house. He pulled up just as she reached the door. Sherry heard the car and turned around, thinking it was the ambulance. Jumping out of his Blazer Jake rushed up to Sherry, asking, “What happened Sherry, who’s hurt?”

“It’s Rachel, I don’t—” Not waiting to hear any more, Jake swung the door open and ran inside, with Sherry right behind him. Jake’s quick look around did not miss anything. The blood splattered on the workstation sent a sharp pain of fear straight to his heart. At first Maria and Juan were the only ones he could see in the room. Maria was sitting on the side of the couch still trying to get the wound on Rachel’s head to stop bleeding. He rushed over and, kneeling next to Rachel, he pulled the cloth away from her head to see how badly she was hurt. The bruise on her face made him angry, and the cut on the side of her head made the fear in his chest deepen. Softly, Jake asked Maria what happened.

“We don’t know. We found her in one of the chicken coops like this. Someone put her there.” Both worry and fear showed on Maria’s face as she spoke to Jake.

Behind Maria, Sherry spoke to Jake. “How bad is it Jake?” He could tell she was trying to stay calm, but tears were sliding down her face.

“She’s unconscious, Sherry; I won’t know more until the paramedics get here.” Turning to Juan he said, “Why don’t you go up to the end of the drive and direct them down here.”

“Sure, I’ll get them here.” With that Juan took off as fast as he could go.

Looking around Sherry realized that Ollie and Oscar were nowhere in sight. Afraid that something may have happened to them she asked, “Maria, where are Mr. Newcume and Ollie?”

Pointing down the left wing Maria said, “Mr. Newcume wanted to see where we found her.”

His investigative responsibilities kicking in, Jake placed Maria’s hand back on the cloth to continue applying pressure to the wound. “Which coop?” he asked. Knowing he needed to contain the crime scene as much as possible he waited for her answer.

“The last one,” she said.

Jake hurried down the hallway leaving Sherry and Maria to take care of Rachel. Not prepared for what he saw, Jake stopped at the open door. Even though the fans were back on, the smell of ammonia almost knocked him down. The eerie feeling of death surrounded him as he stepped into the room. Carefully stepping over dead hens, Jake called out, “Ollie, where are you?”

Ollie heard the sheriff’s voice and yelled back, “We’re down here, Sheriff, in the back.”

Jake followed the sound of their voices, and found them at the end of one of the rows. “Is this where you found her?” he asked. Ollie nodded his head. Wanting to keep the scene as clean as possible for the lab work that needed to be done, Jake said, “Ya’ll come on out of here. Ollie, you start telling me what you know.”

Wiping his face with a handkerchief, Oscar spoke up, “You don’t have to ask me twice to get out of here!” as he proceeded out of the chicken coop. Ollie and Jake followed behind him. While they walked Ollie told Jake that Maria, Juan and him had gone to lunch and left Rachel alone in the chicken house.

Clearly upset, Ollie fought back the tears that kept coming to his eyes. “I shouldn’t have left her here alone, not after what happened to Ms. Darlyn. It’s my fault, Sheriff, I should have been here.”

“It’s not your fault, Ollie. What happened to Ms. Darlyn was an accident. You couldn’t have known something was going to happen to Rachel.”

“I left her cleaning eggs, Sheriff; there’s nothing dangerous about that. Someone came in and hit her on the head, then left her in the coop to die with the chickens. They turned the fans off.”

“Who turned the fans back on?”

“I did; we couldn’t have stayed in there long enough to find her without them pulling some of the ammonia out of the room.”

They walked back into the main room, and Jake said, “Okay, Ollie that’s enough for now; you go on outside and wait for me.” Ollie did as he was told.

Jake was surprised to see Oscar standing with his arm around Sherry, but did not say anything about it. Instead he said, “I’m gonna need to speak to each of you at some point about all this, so stay around.”

At that moment they could hear the wail of sirens. Ollie stuck his head in the door and said, “Ambulance is here Sheriff, and so is one of your deputies.”

“Thanks, Ollie,” was all Jake replied.

While the paramedics worked on Rachel, Jake spoke to Sherry and Oscar. They explained to him that they had just gotten home when Juan came and told them to get help. He was finished taking their statements by the time the paramedics had Rachel ready for transport.

Speaking to Sherry, one of the medics said, “She’s stable enough now to take her to the hospital, Ma’am. Do you want to ride with us?”

Jake nodded at Sherry, indicating that he was through with his questions. Before he could say anything Oscar interrupted, asking, “Sherry, don’t you think you need to let your mother know what has happened?”

“Oh, God, she’s probably half way down here by now, what with the sirens and all! I better go talk to her.” Addressing the paramedic she told him to go on and take Rachel to the hospital and that she would follow as soon as possible.

Taking Sherry’s arm Oscar said, “Come on, I’m going with you.” Thankful for Oscar’s support Sherry nodded her consent and they started for the farmhouse.

The deputy that had arrived with the ambulance held the door open as the stretcher was wheeled out: the same deputy that Rachel had spoken to at the sheriff’s office that morning. Coming inside, he walked up to Jake and asked what happened. Explaining what he knew so far, Jake instructed Deputy Wheeler to get the forensic team on scene and to keep a guard posted until further notice. Walking toward the door Jake said, “Charlie, I’m going to the hospital in case Ms. Collier wakes up. Let me know what you guys find as soon as you can.”

“Sure, Sheriff, you know I will,” responded the deputy.

Walking outside Jake saw Ollie, Maria and Juan standing beside Ollie’s pickup. Jake spoke to them, making sure that they would stay and each give statements to the other deputies that would be arriving shortly, then climbed into his Blazer and headed into Evergreen.

* * * * *

Again watching from his hiding place behind the boulder, the man could see everything that had happened. He had been smug thinking that this job was over now that the younger woman was dead. Watching the ambulance pull away with the siren on, he knew she hadn’t died yet. The boss was going to be even angrier with him and would not pay him as long as she stayed alive. Nothing about this job was going as planned, and now the sheriff was sticking his nose into the situation. He had killed the first woman, making it look like an accident, thinking that would be the end of it. But no, she had relatives that moved in. That was his boss’s mistake, thinking the old lady didn’t have any relatives. Shaking his head and thinking that maybe he would just leave and let the boss finish his own dirty work, the man eased his way back through the woods as quietly as he could.