Liisa looked up in surprise when the door was jerked open at the GALLERY and a man breezed in as if everyone should bow down before him. He was only about five-nine but had a commanding aura. He wasn’t lean, nor was he stocky. It was obvious he worked out on a regular basis. His nut brown hair only grew around the lower sides and back similar to a monk’s cut. His bright hazel eyes sparkled with the love of living. He had a tan that looked as if he frequented a tanning salon. She knew him to be fifty-six. There were two young men following him.
“Liisa, dear girl, how nice to see you.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed both cheeks.
Liisa felt foolish standing without speaking. He had never been in the store as long as she worked in the GALLERY. “Mayor Briscom,” she gave a nervous giggle. “Why is it that I deserve the honor of your presence? I haven’t seen you since the Valentine’s dance.”
“Well, my dear, some disturbing news has come to my attention. One of my assistants informed me of the disastrous occurrences in your life. I am furious that such filth has gone on in our city. Arnold was a very dear friend and now I find that he was murdered instead of an unfortunate accident that I first heard.” He pretended to wipe his eyes.
I’m appalled at the scandal breaking in my fair city. Why most of our residents are old families who have been here for several generations. Sure some of them have skeletons in closets that they wouldn’t want brought to light, but murder.” He shivered and walked around pulling on his lower lip. “There’s lots of American history here and a lot of upstanding families. I can’t imagine that one of ours would commit such a heinous crime. We’ve never had something like this happen until now.” He stopped, looking hard at her.
She looked back with no expression, but she was thinking. Why you pompous jackass. Are you subtly saying that I’m to blame, that I’m at fault? How about your affair with the high school coach’s wife. You got off scott-free but the poor coach had to leave town. He got a divorce later.
“Mayor, no one is sorrier than I am that this is taking place. My best friend and employer is tortured and then killed and my Uncle Ben is shot. I’ve been getting threatening phone calls and now messages. Are you suggesting that I just let this drop and say or do nothing else about it? What if he kills again, or kills me this time?”
“No, no. I’m not suggesting anything, I’m just -” He stopped as a tall, slightly overweight woman came hurrying in on ridiculously high heels. Her bottled red hair was flying in all directions and her green eyes were snapping. She had dressed in an expensive dark blue suit with a pristine white shirt with ruffles down the front. Her gold hoop earrings were swinging around as if they were a bird ready to take flight. She wore little cosmetics and only had an expensive gold watch with tiny diamonds circling the face. Her lips were pursed as if in anger. Liisa recognized the woman and thought a pouting mouth was sexy. She was definitely self-centered. “Are you Liisa Lofoten?”
“Yes. How may I help you?”
“I’m Bridget O’Reilly, District Attorney for Loudon County. I need to talk privately to you.”
“Uh, Miss O’Reilly, may I introduce you to Mayor Theodore Briscom of Waterbury. We are having a private conversation about something vitally important. If you would like to make an appointment, I shall be delighted to speak to you at that time.”
“Mayor, my business is very important and I had to come a long way for this. I’m sure you won’t mind if we excuse you.”
“I’m happy to make your acquaintance, Miss O’Reilly, but no, I won’t be excused. I came here during a very busy day at my office because it was important that I talk to this young lady.”
“If you’re talking about the murder of Mr. Watson and the threats on Miss Lofoten’s life, then we’re here for the same purpose. Is there somewhere we can sit and talk?”
Ted had been back in the office and had kept out of sight when the Mayor boiled in. He now stepped forward and stood by Liisa. “My name is Ted Cooley and I’m Miss Lofoten’s bodyguard. No one talks to her without me being present. I have respect for both your offices, but I must insist that I remain in the room. We can go back in the office. Liisa, leave the door open so we can hear if a customer comes in.” He turned and looking back at the three people led them into the office.
Mayor Briscom hesitated and allowed District Attorney O’Reilly to enter the office ahead of him. Ted sat behind Arnold’s desk in his big, comfortable chair. His position established his command of the meeting. Liisa and Miss O’Reilly sat on a burgundy double seat and the Mayor sat in a chair facing Ted.
Liisa stood quickly and offered to serve coffee or tea. She had a plate of Anise Scandinavian cookies and Cardamom Almond cookies, also Scandinavian. She had small paper plates and napkins for each person.
Ted stood and walked to a corner where he brought some TV trays to place in front of each person so they could place their plate and coffee on it. He had barely sat down when they heard the bell ring signaling someone entering the store. Before he could walk out of the office, Bernie and Sven came rushing in.
Bernie had started talking until he saw the visitors. “Are we interrupting something? We can come back later or wait at the front.”
Ted half closed his eyes and gave a small shake of his head. “Sven, get chairs for you and Bernie from the dining set and bring them in here. You might as well be in on this, too. We’d have to share with you later anyway.”
Miss O’Reilly raised her eyebrows and was about to protest.
Liisa smiled at her. “Gentlemen, this is Miss Bridget O’Reilly, District Attorney for Loudon County and Mayor Theodore Briscom of Waterbury. They are both interested in the episodes I’ve experienced. This is Mr. Bernard Wickem, Private Detective and owner of the Confidential Private Detective Agency. These two gentlemen are two of his operatives, Mr. Ted Cooley,” she nodded toward Ted, “and Mr. Sven Jergensen,” she looked toward Sven. “They have been working with me almost from the beginning.”
While the Mayor blustered and tried to swallow a cookie, Miss O’Reilly spoke. “I’m angry that I was not informed of the developments involving this young lady. Why was the FBI brought into it before I was notified?” She would have gone on if Bernie hadn’t spoken.
“May I explain?” He told them of Liisa’s amnesia and her frustrations. “She then began getting threatening phone calls that were perplexing to her. The caller told her that she must not talk about what she had seen or heard or he would kill her and her friends and loved ones. She was naturally disturbed. She couldn’t remember anything that would be so terrible that she must not talk about it.” He stopped to take a drink of coffee. “She, of course, confided in the family that had raised her just as if she were their own child. Their love for each other cannot be described fully. Her Uncle Ben, Ben Johnson, is a family physician. He ran every test he could think of to try to determine why she had amnesia. His son, Paul Johnson, is an attorney and he looks upon Liisa as a younger sister. He was concerned and angry. He has a good friend, Cory Patterson who is an attorney, but at one time Cory was a policeman and a detective in New York City. The three men racked their brains trying to find a solution, but no luck. They finally placed a wire tap on her home phone trying to find information on the caller.” He stopped and looked around at each person.
“The caller discovered there was a tap and called her here at the store. That’s the first the store owner, and her employer, Mr. Arnold Watson, had heard of her troubles. He felt very close to Liisa as he had been a family friend since she was born. As time went on, all of us tried to find a solution. When the calls became frightening, Mr. Watson was hit by a car that drove up on the sidewalk and deliberately hit him and threw him through a large plate-glass window of a store. The driver then ran and no one was able to get a description of car or driver. In the meantime Mr. Ben Johnson would have been shot in the head if he hadn’t decided, at the last minute, to turn into a strip mall. The bullet caught him across the shoulder and the back of his head. Just flesh wounds. Later Mr. Watson was shot and killed. Two local policemen had investigated Mr. Watson’s first accident and took a personal interest when he was shot. One of the police, Sgt. Ben Gregory, knew Special Agent Marvin Silver of the FBI and asked him for suggestions as to how to handle this. Liisa continued to receive threatening calls. Twice there was a period of time of several weeks when there would be no communication and then he sent messages by private messengers. I have a folder of the messages and a written record of the phone calls. Agent Silver became interested and offered to help.”
“But why wasn’t I informed?” Miss O’Reilly asked angrily. “And why wasn’t I brought into it?” Mayor Briscom blustered.
“Frankly we have been so busy and have been angry, concerned, frustrated and all one can think of to describe our feelings, that we didn’t think of calling in anyone else.” Bernie turned to Miss O’Reilly. “What could you have done if we had informed you?”
She jerked her shoulders. “We have detectives, too. We could surely have done something.”
“As Mayor of this fair city, I should have been informed.”
“With all due respect, your honor, what could you have done?”
“As you said, I deserve the respect of being kept in the loop.”
Sven leaned back and placed his left ankle over his right knee. “What can either one of you suggest or offer at this moment? We’re willing and happy to listen.”
Clearing his throat and coughing, the Mayor took his time. I can’t suggest anything at this time, not until I see all the written information you have and hear all the facts.”
Miss O’Reilly smoothed her skirt and crossed her ankles. I need to know because I will more than likely be prosecuting when the culprit is arrested. I don’t appreciate the FBI being brought into the case without my knowledge.”
“We are not trying to keep anything secret or ignore anyone. We’re doing our level best to catch this person before more damage is done or more lives are lost,” Ted explained. He then proceeded to tell them how they were checking with businesses on the block and viewing security cameras. He told them of the figure seen on the security camera in Liisa’s apartment building. “If either of you has a workable suggestion, we’ll gladly listen and act upon it.”
The Mayor stood quickly. “I just want you to know that as mayor of my city, I need to know all that’s going on. I vaguely remember a police report on the first incidents, but nothing more was said and I -” he made noises in this throat and started walking out.
“Thank you for the refreshments and your hospitality, Miss Lofoten,” he bowed slightly toward her. “I’ll be following up on this.”
Miss O’Reilly stood up. “I should apologize for coming in here like gangbusters,” she tried to smile, “but I heard it late last evening from one of my detectives who had heard it from the grapevine somehow. I felt I should know more about the situation in the event that I would have to work with you in the future. Miss Lofoten, Liisa, I’m more sorry than I can say that you’re going through this. If you need anything from me, don’t hesitate to contact me.” She gave Liisa a business card, tossed her head in the air and clattered out, slightly unsteady on her stiletto heels. The three men looked at each other dumbfounded and then sat back down laughing.
Liisa was not amused. “What is there to laugh about? I’m finding it harder each day to just keep a sane head, and I’m not sure I have one of those at this point.”
Sven smiled at her. “Take it easy. You’ll go ‘round the bend if you only think negative.”
Ted leaned back and grinned. “Okay, fellows, how much luck did you have walking the streets this time?”
“People wanted to cooperate, but could add nothing. Maybe we should have started bringing others into this earlier.” Bernie got up to get a cup of coffee.
Sven drew a deep breath. “There was no change on my side of the street - except -”
He waited so long, Ted said, “Except what?”
“Across the street and down one store is an electronics store. I talked to the two men and a woman working in there the last time I went in. They said the owner had died a few months ago overseas and the owner’s wife was not here all the time. I could tell they didn’t care for her, but I hated to ask them to gossip about her. After all she’s their employer now.”
Ted grinned and brought a recorder from under the desk. “I must confess, I recorded all that was said in here this morning. I knew the others, who have been working with us, would want to know what went on and I was concerned that too much would be said for me to remember all of it. I know it isn’t admissible in a court of law.”
Bernie was glad to get the recording because he was watching the expressions on the faces of the two visitors and reading their body language. Too, he felt that Sgt. Gregory, Agent Silver, Ben, Paul and Cory would be interested.
Liisa stood and started pacing. “I can understand why the District Attorney might be interested, but what business is it of the Mayor?”
Bernie motioned for her to sit by him. “Mayors, in other countries, are often just a figurehead, but here in the United States they have a lot of responsibility. They must enforce the laws made by City Council and enforce the laws of the land. They can hire and fire police and firemen and keep track of them. The mayor must keep track of the city finances and be prepared to make a report on them to whomever requires it. The mayor is the chief conservator of peace within the city. He may appoint or remove any head of all departments of the city. Our mayor has tremendous responsibilities. Mayor Briscom does not tend to be as responsible for all his duties as he should, but he’s out front in all parades, city happenings and anywhere people might see him.”
“Well I just didn’t think of all that,” Liisa said. “I felt that he was arrogant, self centered, ill mannered, pompous and -”
“Okay, okay,” Ted laughed. “We get the picture. We need to inform the others in our group of all that has happened and been learned this morning.”
“We’ll do that soon,” Bernie assured them. “Now, if anyone is as hungry as I am, do we go to lunch in shifts or will one of us go out and bring lunch in to the others?”
“Bernie, why don’t you and Ted go out to lunch and bring something back for Liisa and me,” Sven suggested.
“Maybe Liisa wants to get out of the store for a while,” Ted stated.
“No, I’d rather stay here. Whoever goes, bring me a container of minestrone soup and a chicken salad sandwich on rye. I have tea here.”
Bernie turned around as he started out. “By the way, AFIS found a fingerprint on the message left on Liisa’s door, but it isn’t in the database. They’ll keep it and hope to match it later.”
“Explain to me, please, what is AFIS?” Liisa frowned. “Automated Fingerprint Identification System.”
“Oh.”
The day passed uneventfully. Liisa was relieved that she hadn’t heard from the caller, but she stayed on pins and needles waiting for something else to happen. The group had gathered at the home of the Johnsons so that Ronald, Grace and her husband could be brought up on all the news.
As the days passed Liisa planned to make her storefront more attractive. The crocus had peeped up through the snow. Now the iris and roses were proudly showing beautiful heads. Marigolds and other flowers were blooming with glee in the warm weather.
Liisa bought two halves of a barrel. She placed small pebbles in the bottom for drainage. A layer of mulch was on top of that, then a layer of rich soil for the flowers. She had the half barrels placed on either side of the plate glass window - on the sidewalk and filled with flowers. Inside, on the bottom part of the window, she had Ted and Sven build a long shelf. On this she placed pots of miniature roses and violets. It lifted her heart to view the beautiful flowers.