Harry called the hospital repeating everything that was said to him loud enough for everyone in the building to hear. "No, her water has not broken yet, but she is rested and wants me to come to be with her. She is doing fine and I should take my time driving. Don't worry it is going to be awhile." Harry slammed the phone down. Still clutching his pager in his hands he raced out the door. No sooner had the door closed before it opened again, and Harry shouted. "Were having a baby, and I have got to get to the hospital. Does anyone know where I parked my car?"
Jim was walking out the back door to his car. "Harry I don't think you finding your car is the problem. Come with me. I have to drop off Smokey and then I will take you up to the hospital. I need a break anyway. A drive will be nice."
Jasper said "Thank you" as Harry and Jim went out the back door.
There was a knock outside Jasper’s door. Standing there was Anthony Pavarotti. Clean shaven with a clean haircut. He had on new shoes and new clothes. He was still wearing the black coat but now it had been cleaned, and its button had been sewn back on. There was a look of relief in his face, like a man that has been lost on a desert Island for years and has just been rescued by a passing boat.
"Sheriff, I hope I am not interrupting you, but I wanted to stop and tell you I sure do appreciate all you have done for me. No one has ever been this kind to me before. I wanted to say thank you. I tried to talk to my Kathy just a while ago. There was no answer. This here Pastor Michaels said he would get my plane ticket so I can see my Kathy. He said not to give up hope. That she’d be so happy to hear from me. And you know what Sheriff? I have two grandkids. I am going to get to see them. Pastor Michaels said we would keep tryin’. He said he was sure that Kathy is goin’ to meet me at the airport when I get there. I gets to see my daughter and I have two grandkids! I even have a son-in-law. Can you believe that?! I just can't thank you enough. I have been lookin’ for them for years." With that he reached out his hand and gave Jasper a big handshake.
It was times like these that made Jasper’s job worth it all. All of the late nights and the early morning calls about the music being too loud, or other equally stupid things. If they hadn't been looking for Mr. Twilliger they would have never found Anthony. He would have still been looking for his daughter. "I am glad I could be there for you Anthony. It was nice to meet you," Jasper returned his handshake, and Anthony walked out.
Jasper looked at the clock. They had been talking for quite a while. Time to go back to work. He wanted to pull up everything he could about Carl Carter and his son George. He clicked on the NCIC website, and pulled up the name Carl Carter; "Born July 30th, 1942, Springfield MO," and the only thing on his police record was "drunk and disorderly" on "March 8th, 1960 in Lincoln, NE," and also "November 10th, 1967," his wife placed a restraining order on him on "November 11th, 1967," which seemed to be his last run in with the law. His last known address seemed to have been the Twilliger's for about the past 24 years, and for those years he had been a model citizen.
He closed out the file on Carl Carter and went to pull up the file on his son George. At that point Murphy's Law struck. The computer started opening file after file. It was opening Alfred Hitchcock on top of Snake Cutthroat on top of Jack Ripper and so on. Finally it just closed it all out. So when he went to open it up again, it started all over again. He thought about going to Harry’s computer, but everything he needed was all laid out in front of his computer. He needed help, and he needed it now. Calling Harry was out of the question. Sara was good with computers also, but it was too late to call her. It was time to call Pete, just "Pete," if anyone ever asked.
Pete was Jasper's next-door neighbor. He had moved in next to Jasper 16 years ago. He was into computers, and had taught Jasper everything he knew about them. Jasper considered putting him on the pay roll, but that would just be lunch money to Pete. See, Pete was one of the eccentrics of Quagmire. Several years ago, he had won the lottery. Jasper suspected it was millions. No one knew for sure how much, just that it must have been a lot.
It didn't seem to change him much. He still lived in the same house he has always lived in; the only difference was that his computers were bigger and better now-a-days. He said he liked the neighborhood, and it was obvious he was here to stay, and he was still one of Jasper's best friends. "Something money can't buy" as Pete would say.
Jasper picked up the phone to call Pete and, as the phone was ringing, his computer was rebooting itself. Almost like it had a mind of its own. After the fifth ring, Pete answered the phone.
"Hi Pete, this is Jasper. Hope you're not too busy?"
"No, after Jim left to take Harry to the hospital. I was outside enjoying the cool breeze and talking to Smokey. He can talk for hours if you let him. He was telling me about a big old opossum and her babies he saw today."
"Sure he was," replied Jasper.
"I'm not kidding. He said she had about 8 babies and she was big. If you don't believe me, just ask him."
Jasper tried not to think about it as he said, "I will when I get home."
"Okay, now what's up? What are you calling for?"
"Well, I'm working on the computer. Trying to pull some stuff up in the NCIC database," said Jasper.
"Oh no, major problem," said Pete.
"I didn't do it this time, honest. It's like it is demon possessed or something. It kept pulling things up. I can't call Harry. He's at the hospital. It just pulled up Jack Ripper. Now it is rebooting itself."
"Oh great, what did they have?"
"Nothing yet, it is supposed to be a girl."
"A girl, just what we need, a future policewoman, that's just great," Pete said.
"Okay now on to your problem. It could be something as simple as a mouse gone bad or it could be a problem with your hard drive. We might have to do a simple adjustment in the computer. Maybe a virus. I don't know. I have a spare mouse here. I'll bring it over and see if that will work. Give me 5 minutes and I'll be over."
"Thanks, Pete; you're a life saver tonight. Should I turn it off?"
"You'd better, just to be on the safe side. It might pull up Count Dracula next." Then he laughed and hung up the phone.
With a sigh Jasper also hung up and turned off the computer.
He kept thinking about what Harry said, "only the dog knows." That may be true but how do you get a dog to talk? Then he almost laughed out loud thinking about what Pete said about Smokey telling him of seeing the mother opossum and her babies. He would have to ask him what trick he used. It was time for him to fix a cup of coffee and wait for Pete. As soon as he thought that the phone rang.
"Hi, Jasper, this is Jim. We're back out. The guys and I looked over that hole pretty good, and we think someone had been buried in it and had dug themselves out."
‘Did you find any signs of blood?”
"No, but it doesn't mean there wasn't any. We did find a knife. I'll bring it in in the morning. Hey, that's about all I have. I feel like I am wearing half of Mexico. I'm going to go take a shower and hit the sack. Were going to get a good night's sleep, and start back out at 8:00."
"I'll see you in the morning. I'd like to see that knife," said Jasper as he hung up.
Jasper's hand didn't even leave the phone when it rang again. "Hi Sheriff this is Millie. You wanted me to call when the 'do not disturb' sign went off the door. Well, he must have taken it off the door when he left, because no one answers the door. I checked when I gave him fresh towels. I must have missed him. Sorry about that Sheriff."
"That's okay, Millie. It was just a long shot, thanks anyway," answered Jasper.
Jasper hung up, and in walked Pete. "Computer Doctor at your service."
"If you aren't a sight for sore eyes."
"Yes and I like you too," said Pete. "Okay let's see what we've got here, or should I say, check and see what you did."
"This time Pete, I really didn't do anything but turn it off."
Pete turned it on and it booted up okay. As soon as i
t warmed up it started opening programs on its own one on top of another.
"I see what you mean about this demon. Let’s just throw that demon away," informed Pete.
He turned off the computer and put on a new mouse. The computer seemed to be saying okay that feels good and he booted it up. Pete checked for viruses and found one. “I had that one two hours ago. I have had three friends call me about the same problem. Your in luck I have the definition for this day one virus. Okay that seemed to take care of that. Now let’s try this.” He was able to get into the NCIC and pull up information on George Carter.
"George Carter has a little more colorful past than his dad," said Jasper. "Says here that he was arrested twice for petty theft, spent no time in jail the first time, and the second time he spent two months. The next time he got caught, he had broken into residences, and was caught cleaning it out. That was his third strike; he spent two years in a maximum-security prison. I am sure that made a chore boy out of him."
"He had six months probation, spent it in a halfway house in Omaha. That's where that matchbook came from that we found in Mr. Twilliger's car. It's from a racetrack up there. Not much else. Last known address is the Twilliger's for the last two weeks, that's 'bout it for George," said Jasper.
"This is all very interesting, but it's about time for me to turn into a pumpkin, said Pete." There's a reunion for the lottery winners tomorrow and I think I might like to go. There's a hot jet waiting for me at 9:00 am on the run way."
"Go? Hot jet on the runway? I thought you never liked that stuff, and just wanted to stay low key. Something's up! What reason could it be? Not fame, you don't like that. Not money, you don't need that. It would be something money can't buy. I know! What does she look like?"
"Oh, she's about 5'5", blond hair, blue eyes, president of her computer club... Her name is Brittany Flowers. She won a major lottery 4 months ago. At least she won't be after me for my money. You know, I've only been out with a girl 3 times since I won. It’s been tougher than I thought it would be, like they say there's a price with everything. Well I'm out of here. I am turning orange as we speak. I'd better get home before someone turns me into a pie."
"You’ve got a point, I'd better go too. It's getting really late, and the guys are going to be back out at 8:00 am. I want to check on Smokey anyway," stated Jasper.
"Don't forget to ask him about the opossum!"
"I will, oh and you will have to tell me how you got him to tell you about the opossum. I've got a dog I'd like to try it on and thanks for coming down here tonight. I owe you one."
"No problem. Glad I could be of some help, and not because I am rich," replied Pete.
Jasper still wanted that cup of coffee. It has been said Jasper liked a little coffee and sugar with his cream. He always said when you think you put too much cream in, put a little more in: in fact, if it weren't for the need of some caffeine he would probably leave the coffee out all together. He called it creamed coffee with a dash of sugar. As he put the dash of sugar in, the phone rang. He figured it was Harry calling to say he was now a father.
"Hello", Jasper said, thinking that only Harry would be calling at this hour.
"Hello? Hello? Is this the Quagmire police department?"
"Yes, I'm sorry this is Sheriff Quagmire. How can I help you?"
"Well, I knowed what happened to him."
"May I ask who is calling please, and who are you talking about?"
"Why, I am Helen Brolin Sheriff. Don't you knowed me? I knowed who you are. I am talking about that nice Mr. Tom. I saw it all."
"Are you talking about Thomas Twilliger, Ms Brolin?" asked Jasper.
"Of course I am! Who'd you think I was talking about?"
"Okay Ms. Brolin, what is it that you know?"
"I sometimes get impressions, you knowed what I am talking about, something fierce was a’bothering me. I didn't knowed what, so I took Old Blue out for a walk. And that's when I saw’d him."
"Who?" Jasper wanted to know.
"You know, Old Blue."
"No, not your dog, but who did you see?"
The dark haired man. Does that mean anything to you?"
"What dark haired man are you talking about?" asked Jasper.
"The man out back a-ways behind Sally's Café. I bet he buried him. I don't knowed what at the time, but it was big, real big, and all wrapped up in a strange blanket. The sun had been up for a while. I didn't want no trouble, so I went on back home. I still couldn't sleep and I tossed and turned like I never'd had before. I went for another walk, and I headed over to where I saw that man burying something. You knowed, I looked, and whatever he buried was gone. Me and Old Blue headed back home and that's when I sawed him… all dirty, and he was way off a walkin’ towards the highway. I told Old Blue that he looked like someone we knowed. I just couldn't remember who'd it’d been. Me and Old Blue couldn't catch up with him. When we got to the other side of the trees where the highway was, he was gone, just gone. The only thing me and Old Blue saw, was a truck driving down the road. Kind of spooky… he was there'd one minute and gone the next. I was gonna go to the hole… then Old Blue was a barkin’ at somethin’ the other way, but I didn't see nothin in the bushes. I says to Old Blue, come on, he might be comin’ back to bury us’s."
She was beginning to worry Jasper. Maybe she knew something because she had caused something to happen to Mr. Twilliger. He was getting ready to ask her how she knew it was Mr. Twilliger when his other line rang. "Could you hold for a moment please, my other line is ringing."
"Ump."
"Sheriff Quagmire speaking, this is the Quagmire police department. May I help you?"
"Sheriff, you sure are getting mighty formal for this hour of the night, I just called to tell you nothing has happened yet," said Harry
"Harry, I am glad it is you. Do you know a Helen Brolin? She may know something about Mr. Twilliger, and she is on the other line."
"Sure she lives out off of the river in that old shack. She’s harmless. Last year when you were at that convention she walked into town and started taking off all of her clothes. Doc Lewis said it was some medication he had put her on that had caused that to happen. He took her off of it and she was fine. You really think she knows something."
"I don't know. Do me a favor if you happen to see him would you ask him if she is on anything that would cause this. I am not really convinced she saw anything. Keep me posted."
"No problem. Oh, and Becky is doing just fine. Did you know that it is going to be a girl?"
"Yes I did," Jasper said.
Jasper picked up line one and said, "Sorry about that Ms. Brolin. One of my men is at the hospital and his wife is about to deliver. I wanted to make sure there were no problems."
"You don't understand how this works. I won't get any sleep until you find him. I have been shakin’ and fussin’, so I just had to call you. Me and Old Blue are going to sit with our shotgun in case he comes back."
"Okay, okay. Now don't do anything hasty. How did you know it was Mr. Twilliger anyway?" Jasper asked.
"You knowed, this old place gets kind of drafty, and ten years ago I got a bunch of old newspapers and I put them up all over the place. Makes it a lot hotter than it used to be. I was a sittin’ in my rocking chair when I saw’d him just as plain as I'd saw’d him in the field."
"Are you telling me that you saw a picture of him in the newspaper?"
"Sure I did. It looked just like him, and it were dated 10 years ago to the day. That there paper was. I saw’d it with my very own eyes. Now what you goin’ do about what I saw?"
"I will look into it in the morning Ms. Brolin."
"You'd better, before it be too late. There's a storm brewin’. It's gonna flood the gullies. Mark my word you'd better find him soon. Look for the dark haired man. I gotta go, I can't be standin’ out in the cold all night. It's gonna rain." With that the line went dead.
Either she had caused something to happen and want to get caught, or she
doesn't know anything at all. He looked out the window. There was not a cloud in the sky. The phone started to ring.
"Hello."
"Sheriff I got a hold of Dr. Lewis. He says that nothing he has her on would make her see things. But he promises to check her out just the same. He said she doesn't have a phone and he will have to drive out there."
"I found out why she thought it was Thomas Twilliger. She has old newspapers all over her walls and one of them has his picture on it. Everything still okay at your end?"
"Sure it is. Nothing yet is going on. She is resting right now. I had better get back in there. I'll call as soon as I hear something."
"Goodnight Harry."
Jasper thought he would take a drive out to the campgrounds before he went home. He had been buried in paperwork, and had not noticed the clouds showing up.
"Well, look who is coming. Everybody, this is Sheriff Quagmire. Sheriff, it is nice of you to come for a visit. Can we offer you a cup of coffee, or a Coke? That's as strong as we have around here."
"Sorry to stop by so late, I just took a chance you would still be up and thank you. A Coke would be fine. Have you all gotten settled okay? If there is anything you need just stop by the station." Jasper said and then he took a long sip of the pop.
"No we are doing just fine. We are hoping on our cousins and nephew from California to get here before it starts to rain. They are planning on singing some place on Sunday. When we’re done, that will make about 21 trailers out here. Conrad how many did you count all together? Conrad here is our official bean counter here." Barkley said.
"Seventy-one, and three buns in the oven. One of them is due in two weeks. That would be my wife Nicole. She has never had one early, so figured we would be safe. This will be our fifth kid. By the way, my name Conrad Spencer. I work for a police force down in Texas. We get all kinds of action down there. Mostly with people crossing the border. I usually work on search and rescue." Conrad expounded.
"We have been tracing our family tree all the way back to Scotland, and one of us is from a tribe in South Africa. We have a colorful past. That is part of why we are here. Jason's oldest boy was adopted, he is sixteen now and wants to meet his biological mom. We managed to track her down. She lives not far from here, and is excited to see Rocky. She should be here in about two days." Barkley reported.
"We were all just telling camp stories,” one of the cousins chimed in.
"Kent, tell him the screaming lady story," Cousin Hoss said.
"Okay, okay. Sheriff, please do me a favor and don't judge what I am saying until you have heard the whole story.
Back in the days when I worked a beat in Chicago. We had this guy who lived at the edge of a business district. There were three houses in the middle of the business district. Mr. Peterman lived in the first house and used to work first shift for two years, and had never missed a day at work, but then he was moved to work third shift. Since he worked third, he was home in the afternoon. Now every day at 4 O’clock he would hear a lady scream. The first couple of times he went out to see what was going on, but couldn't find anything. The third day, he was in his living room when he heard the scream. Then he saw her through the beveled glass in his windows that ran along his sidewalk up to the front door. He said he couldn't see her very well, but she looked like she had a short sleeve blouse with short dark hair. When he got to the door, she was gone. This was too much for Mr. Peterman. He called the police and said he wanted them to come investigate a ghost. Dispatch told him, ‘We don't do ghosts. We only deal with the living.’ The very next day he saw her again, so he called the police again, ‘Someone has got to come out here and see this, I keep hearing a woman scream at four in the afternoon. Then she walks up to my front door. I am not making this up, and I don't know what to do. Please, can't you send someone out?’ I happened to be in the office at the time, so I told dispatch to give me his address, and I would check it out the next day-That was my day off.-So I went out there around 3:30, and Mr. Peterman was adamantly telling me that at 4:00 I would hear the lady scream, and then she would walk up the sidewalk right along side the window. He offered me a soft drink while I waited. I told him that I wanted go outside and watch from there. I asked him to join me. He said no way was he going out there. I told him I was a cop and had my gun and would protect him. I was shocked that he fell for that.
While I was sitting outside with Mr. Peterman, he told me he had asked around to see if anyone else had seen anything. No one had, but he did find out that the house had a little history. Turned out a Mr. Fisher used to live in the house. He was in his fifties when he decided to take on a wife. He ordered one of those mail order brides. Her name was Maria, and she was eighteen when he married her. She was a young thing full of spirit, and was not as happy as she thought she would be. She had no friends her own age. Mr. Fisher was kind of scary to her. Then one day the milkman up and died. His replacement was a twenty-one year old good-looking kid named Carlos. She had finally found a friend. Mr. Fisher would always send her out to buy something on Friday night. One Friday night she forgot her purse and had to come back. She saw Mr. Fisher out in the back yard in the flower garden burying a fruit jar filled with what she guessed was money. Realizing she wasn’t supposed to be there, she quickly turned around and went right out the front door. That Monday when Carlos came by with the milk she told him what she had seen. He told her he would come back at noon and help her dig. She was really nervous and couldn't wait for Carlos, but Mr. Fisher came home early and found that she had dug up five of his fruit jars full of money. He was so mad that he killed her right on the spot, and no one ever saw Carlos again.”
“So what happened at 4:00?” asked Jasper.
“You won't believe it. There I was sitting next to Mr. Peterman, and just as he finished the story about Mr. Fisher’s wife, I heard his lady scream. It startled me, I mean to say, I jumped! Turned out the guy living next to Mr. Peterman had a large parrot, and it would roost on the satellite dish of the business next door, and at four O’clock each day the business would reposition the satellite and scare the bird. That parrot sounded just like a women screaming in one of those old horror flicks. I don't blame him for calling.”
“What about the girl.”
“Well she was real. The satellite had a tile missing. It caused a reflection off an old truck that had a picture of a girl on it. It would reflect on to his windows. Looked just like a girl walking up the sidewalk. We never heard from Mr. Peterman again. I looked up some old records and sure enough, a girl by the name of Maria Fisher had been killed at that house.
I don't usually tell those stories. But the kids like a good camp stories."
"Would it be okay if I change the subject?” heads nodded, “I would like to ask you a question. Have any of you seen this man?" They all passed around the picture, each one taking a long look. Jasper saw a lot of shaking heads.
Conrad gave it a longer look, then said, "I have seen those eyes before. He reminds me of a man I saw walking on the highway, but he didn't have all that hair on his face, and his hair was brown."
"When did you see him?" asked Jasper.
"The morning when we were rolling in."
"Did you see what direction he was going?" questioned Jasper.
"Towards the Big City down the road. He didn't have a coat on. We would have stopped, but I had the wife and kids in the car. I wanted to be careful. Then I was glad when I saw a trucker pull over. What's this guy done? He really looked like a nice guy. Just a little dirty, like he had been working in the dirt all day."
"He is a nice guy. His name is Thomas Twilliger. He is one of the citizens of Quagmire. He left yesterday on a business trip. His car has never made it out of town, and he is nowhere to be found. You are the second person who said they saw someone get picked up on that highway at that spot. We still don’t know if it was him who was given a ride. We have searchers out looking for him now," explained Jasper.
"Sheriff, if you need any ext
ra help, let us know. There are five of us who are on the police force, and two that are retired. We'd be more than glad to help," Conrad offered.
"Thanks guys. We will be at the station in the morning, early. Just stay on this road into town, you can't miss the station."
"Hank even has his tracker dog with him. If he is out there, we will find him," Conrad nodded his head as he spoke.
As Jasper was saying goodnight he added, "That will be a big help. Maybe a fresh set of eye will help find a clue. So far the trail just ends at the highway. He has been gone for over twenty-four hours. Our hope of finding him just gets slimmer and slimmer. The more help we have the better our odds. I’ll see some of you in the morning, thanks again."
Conrad then added, "Well guys lets start battening down the hatches. It looks like the rain is coming in.” Just then off in the distant there was a big bolt of lightening. “Hey here comes California."
It had been a long day and Jasper needed to get home. He thought that Helen Brolin was right about one thing, if you don't like the weather, stick around, it will change in fifteen minutes. It changed just like she said. Rain was not going to help in the search for Thomas Twilliger. Jasper turned on his windshield wipers as another bolt skyrocketed across the sky looking like a crack in a window.