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October 2021—Amherst, Massachusetts
Lili met Gil for dinner at the Hangar Pub and Grill. Both of them looked tired and upset. Lili ordered a burger and a merlot, and Gil ordered a buffalo chicken sandwich and a lemonade. “I’m sorry that this is kind of a miserable date,” said Gil.
Lili smiled. “Well, maybe we can keep trying until it’s not so miserable.”
Gil chuckled. “Why couldn’t we just track Karen’s cell phone?”
“We did. It was under her car at the station.”
The six o’clock local news was wrapping up on the pub’s TV. “Tyler, today we have a story out of Canada about a woman named Helene who is looking for her long-lost daughters. This story is being developed by Kenny Tran from the Greenfield Recorder. Hi, Kenny. Do we have you?”
Gil asked the bartender to turn it up.
Kenny showed up on video from his computer, a common occurrence during COVID. “Hi, Darcy, I think we’re connected.”
“So, Kenny, why do you think Helene’s daughters may be in this area?”
“Well, Helene’s name was originally Jacqui Foy, and she and her daughters originally lived in Keeseville, New York, near the Adirondack Mountains. Back in 1971, Jacqui says her husband, Remi Foy, attacked her, leaving her for dead, and then he took her kids away. Her daughters were named Marie and Angela Foy. I discovered that the girls and their father ended up living in the communes around here, so they still may be around. As far as the daughters know, their mother died from that attack in 1971.”
“Well, that’s quite a sad story, Kenny,” said Darcy. “She’s been searching for her daughters for fifty years? Let’s see if our audience can help reunite this family. I’d like to play a tape from Helene for you.”
Helene came on the TV and spoke with a French accent. “Hello, my name is Helene. I’m looking for my daughters, Marie and Angela Foy.” She held up a picture, and the camera zoomed in on the young girls. “I heard that they may be in your area, and I would desperately like to find them. I tried searching with DNA, but I didn’t get any matches yet. Please, if you find my daughters, call Mr. Tran to get in touch with me. Thank you.” Kenny showed an old picture of Remi Foy, who was wanted by the New York State Police for questioning in this incident.
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The next morning, Gil met Micky Tindall for breakfast at Brad’s Place in Greenfield. His old friend looked on the verge of tears and had a streak of anger on his face. “I don’t know what I’ll do if something’s happened to her,” said Micky. “I used to worry about her during her first few years as a police officer, but she only had some minor scrapes. She’s a tough girl.” He was downcast and shaking his head. “Jeff had to be medicated.”
“I’ve been trying to help the police as much as I can,” said Gil, “and Chief Reyes has pulled out all the stops. The staties, the sheriff, the crime lab—they’re all over it. They’ll find her.”
“I know I should be back at home with Jane and Jeff, but Jane’s beside herself, and Jeff is catatonic. Karen’s parents are flying up from Florida, and I have to go pick them up at Bradley Field soon. I needed a break for a few minutes.”
“Can you eat some of your breakfast?”
Micky shook his head.
“Well, drink your coffee at least.” Gil’s phone rang, showing a number from the Greenfield Police Department. “Hello?”
“Gil Novak? This is Officer Weems. Chief wants you back at the station now.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in five minutes.” Gil hung up. “Chief Reyes needs me at the station.” Gil left a twenty on the table. “We’ll find her!”
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“It worked!” said Chief Reyes. “Kenny got a call from one of the daughters this morning. I sent Sergeant Phillips over with a couple of officers to try and find the son and bring the daughters in for questioning. I’d like you to observe the interviews.”
Gil’s heart leaped. “Yes, sir!” Reyes led him to a set of chairs to wait. Gil declined coffee. A few minutes later, Lili forced a smile as she and her crew headed out on another assignment. Gil impatiently paced, and after a long while, an officer escorted two nicely dressed women into the interview room. Gil recognized one of them as Pamela, Eddie Locke’s girlfriend. He approached the interview room but was miffed when Chief Reyes signaled for him to stay put.
Chief Reyes found Gil sitting a few minutes later. “I basically told them that they had to get a lawyer before I questioned them. It’ll probably be an hour or so before we’re ready to start, so you could come back later if you want. We’ll be interviewing them one at a time.”
Gil decided to make a run to Adams Donut Shop while he waited. Along the way, he thought about what the women looked like, but he couldn’t connect their faces to the girls he observed so many years before. The fact that Pam was dating Eddie seemed like a bizarre coincidence. He brought back three dozen donuts.
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Gil and a few others watched the interview through a one-way mirror.
“I’m Chief Reyes of the Greenfield Police Department. This is an interview of Susan Rasmussen who has not been charged with any crime. This interview is being recorded.” He read Susan her rights and asked her lawyer to state his name for the record. “This is Ms. Weeks from Franklin County Social Services who is advising me on this case. Ms. Rasmussen, please state your full name.”
“Susan Lee Rasmussen.” She sounded a little nervous.
“Is that your legal name?”
She glanced at her lawyer, and he gave her a nod. “I don’t think so, no.”
“Please state your legal name.”
“Marie Elizabeth Foy.”
“Please state any other names you’ve used.”
She snickered. “I used the name Willow Forest for a few months when I was a teenager.” Her lawyer made a slicing motion to indicate that she should keep her answers short.
“How did you get the name Susan Lee Rasmussen?”
“In the early seventies, I was running away from my father with the help of some friends. When I was brought to the commune at Fipp’s Corners in Vermont, a guy there gave me a new identity.”
“How old were you then?”
“I was sixteen.”
“Why were you running away from your father?”
Susan Rasmussen—Willow—told the chief the whole story, starting with her father’s attack on her mother. “I can’t believe she’s alive! Oh my God!” She burst into tears.
Reyes waited for her to regain her composure. “Would you like some more coffee? Water?”
“More coffee would be nice.” Reyes nodded to an officer who went to get some coffee.
After giving her another minute, he continued. “How many children do you have?”
“One.”
“What is the child’s name?”
“Mark Breen, but that’s not his original name either. His birth name was Theo Foy. He was born at home, and his birth was never recorded.”
“Who is his father?”
She looked away, embarrassed. “His father was my father.” Even though Gil already knew about the incest, he felt himself flush with anger upon hearing it from Susan.
“We’re trying to find your son. He is suspected of kidnapping a police officer. Any idea where we should look for him?”
Her lawyer leaned forward. “Let the record show that she has already been asked this question prior to this interview and answered it to the best of her ability and has been fully cooperative with the police. Ms. Rasmussen, you may answer Chief Reyes.”
“Mark works for me at Past Times Antique Shop on Routes 5 and 10 in Deerfield. He’s our driver and delivers antiques or moves them between the shop and our warehouses. He also fixes things. The warehouses are on Hope Street in Greenfield and on Sherman Drive in Turner’s Falls. I’ve given the addresses to your officers. Mark lives by himself in Greenfield at 15 Larch Street, apartment 2B. I don’t know of any other places.”
“Does your son own any weapons?”
“He doesn’t own any guns or anything, but I’m sure he has kitchen knives and tools. Stuff like that. Mark’s a little slow. Please give him a little extra time if you talk to him. When he was a kid, his doctor determined that he was mildly developmentally challenged, and he was in special classes in school. Nowadays, they’d call him ‘on the spectrum,’ I suppose.”
“But he has a driver’s license?” asked Chief Reyes.
“He can read and write, and for some reason, he’s really good at multiple-choice tests. He can read road signs and maps, but don’t expect him to read a book or write an essay. In conversation, he doesn’t come across normally. He’ll never look you in the eye, and he pauses a while before reacting. But he’s never been violent or had any arrests or anything! Please don’t hurt him!” Susan put her hand to her mouth to stifle a cry.
“We don’t intend to hurt your son, Ms. Rasmussen,” Chief Reyes assured. He looked toward the one-way mirror and spoke, “Inform Sergeant Phillips about Mark Breen’s condition. Tell him to treat him carefully.”
An officer next to Gil pushed a button that activated the intercom in the interview room. “Got it, Chief.”
“Gosh, that poor woman,” said Gil.
In the interview room, Susan looked more composed, and Chief Reyes continued, “Do you know why he would kidnap a police officer?”
“Don’t answer that!” said Susan’s lawyer. “It has not been proven that Mr. Breen has kidnapped anybody.”
“Okay,” said Reyes, taking a breath. “Would Mark have any reason to kidnap a police officer?”
Susan teared up again and answered with a shaky voice. “No, of course not!”
An officer came in with a cup of coffee for Susan and handed Chief Reyes a note from Gil. Reyes read it and asked, “Does Mark know about the cave at Poet’s Seat Mountain that you stayed in?”
“Yes, I brought him there a few times when he was a kid.”
“When Mark was growing up at the Astral Plane Commune, what buildings did he play in or hide in?”
Susan looked as if the question was absurd, but then a look of possibility came over her. “There were several buildings. Can I draw you a picture?”
Reyes paused the interview for a couple of minute to direct his officers to search the cave and get permission from the land owner to search the commune buildings. He continued, “What happened to your father, Remi Foy?”
“I don’t know,” she said earnestly. “As I said, when he tried to rape Angela, I hit him in the head with a branch, and he went down and stopped moving. Other people showed up and took us away from the commune. I never heard anything about him again.”
“Was he alive when you left?”
Susan thought for a few seconds and looked at her lawyer. He nodded. “I don’t know.”
“Who were you with just after you hit your father?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember. I was in a panic at the time and crying. Also, I didn’t know many of the people there. I didn’t know the people who took us away.”
“How did your son Julian Foy die?”
Susan teared up. “I don’t know! As I told you before, my father said it was an accident. I was too afraid to ask him about it again.”
“How did you know it was safe to go back to the Astral Plane Commune?”
“I didn’t. Not really. The people I was staying with at Fipp’s Corners told me my father had left the commune, and they didn’t think he’d be coming back. So we went back. It was the best place for us because of their school for Pam, the nursery school for Mark, and the band for Pam’s music. We felt safe there because everyone looked after us.”
“Did they tell you if he was gone or if he was dead?”
“Don’t answer that! Asked and answered.”