Steve Demaree - Dekker 09 - Murder on a Blind Date (3 page)

I went
home, despondent. I was about to call Thelma Lou to let her know what we had
found, when the phone rang as I approached it. I expected it to be anyone
except Lou. I expected wrong.

"Cy,
I've got a problem."

I shook
as I heard my friend's voice.

"Lou!
Is that you my long lost buddy? If so, I already knew you have lots of problems."

"I'm
serious, and it's a big problem."

"It
had better be a big problem. Thelma Lou and I have been worried sick about you.
George, too. Where have you been?"

"Wherever
I've been, I'm still there. Cy, I think I've been kidnapped."

"If
it were me, I would know if I had been kidnapped or not."

"Well,
I'm pretty sure I have been."

"You
mean that someone has you trussed up in their cellar, with rats running over
your feet, and snakes crawling all over you?"

"Cy,
I'm really serious here. Imagine how terrified you would be if someone
kidnapped you."

"Not
so terrified if it was Jennifer, a lot more so if it was my next-door neighbor,
even though she's no longer there. Lou, have you noticed that something here
doesn't sound just right?"

"It
doesn't sound right that I've been kidnapped?"

"I
was thinking more that it doesn't sound right that you've been kidnapped and
the kidnapper has let you use your phone. Is he standing over you, telling you
that he is demanding a certain amount of money for your safe return, and
pointing a gun at you to make sure you don't tell me where you are?"

"Cy,
so far this isn't your best day. None of that is correct."

"Okay,
let me try again. Who kidnapped you? Or did someone show up at your apartment,
wearing a hood, and asking to use your phone, and you didn't find that
strange?"

"I
have no idea who my kidnapper is."

"So,
you're tied up somewhere?"

"No,
I'm free to walk around."

"But
your kidnapper is in the next room?"

"Cy,
I've been all over this place. As far as I know it has three floors and I
haven't seen another living person."

"Have
you looked out a window to see if anyone is watching the place?"

"This
place has no windows."

"Okay,
let's try this. Open the front door slightly, and if no bullets come flying in,
you go flying out."

"That
too presents a problem."

"Let
me guess. You have no idea which door is the front door, or you're not sure
whether to escape out the front or the back?"

"Well,
part of that is true. I have no idea where the front door is."

"Lou,
just pick a door and see what happens. If you get too close to a bullet, I'll
contact your Aunt Agatha."

"Cy,
you know I don't have an Aunt Agatha, but what you don't know is that I haven't
found an outside door."

"Do
you think your kidnapper might have been Santa and he dropped you down the
chimney?"

"Well,
there is a fireplace, and for what it's worth, the house seems to be a circular
house."

"And
you haven't located any secret passageways yet?"

"That's
right."

"Let's
back up. Tell me how you came to be there."

"I
don't know. I woke up and this is where I found myself."

"Lou,
I know of plenty of people who have experienced just that. When I worked for
the department we called it drunk."

"Well,
I'm not drunk. I feel like I've been drugged. It's taken me a while to get
coherent enough to call you."

"It
sounds like you called me a little before you should have called. So, you don't
know where you are, how you got there, and who arranged for this to
happen?"

"I
think you're the one who's becoming more coherent."

"Can
you hear any outside noises?"

"Nothing."

"Well,
I can help you with one thing. It's
3:48
Sunday afternoon. I talked to you yesterday afternoon, so whoever
kidnapped you did so at some point yesterday, or this morning. I vote for
yesterday. Probably after dark. Can you remember anyone knocking on your
apartment door yesterday?"

"That's
the worst part."

"Why,
because you can't remember anything?"

"No.
A young woman, probably college age, knocked on my door, and right now she's
lying dead at my feet. And there's a guy lying dead right next to her."

"Lou,
do you remember losing your temper and shooting anyone?"

"I
didn't lose my temper."

"It
sure sounds like you have."

"Only
because of the way you're acting."

"Maybe
I should hang up."

"No,
Cy. I'm scared. I can't figure out why someone would kill two people and let me
live."

"Maybe
your fingerprints are on the gun."

"I
don't think so, Cy."

"So
you remember that part?"

"No.
I used to be a homicide detective. I remember enough about that to know that
neither of these people have been shot."

"Do
you recognize the dead guy?"

"No
one I've seen before."

" Why
don't you take a selfie with this couple?"

"How
about I just take a picture of them and send it to you? I don't want to get
that close to this dead couple."

"Any
idea how long they've been dead?"

"Well,
all I know is that she looked alive when she knocked on my door and asked me to
try a sample of some drink and give my opinion of it. So, less than twenty-four
hours. My guess is he died about the same time. He's not smelling real bad, and
he still looks pretty much like a human being."

"Send
me the picture. Heather has a missing guy. Maybe it's him."

"It's
not Dan, Cy. I know what Dan looks like."

"No,
this is a friend of a friend of a cousin or something like that. Dan's okay.
Well, he's like he usually is, if you want to call that okay. So, I think we
need to give your situation a sense of urgency. Take the picture. Send it to
me. Then do whatever it takes to get out of there. You might be the next street
over from your place or you might be across town. Whatever the case, someone
probably did this to you yesterday, so you could be anywhere."

"One
other thing, Cy. I got a message. Floyd Kramer. Get to work on it."

"You
mean God's already giving you clues to this couple's murder?"

"It
seems that way, Cy."

"Well,
we'll save that clue for later. Right now I want you to send me that picture
and beat a hasty retreat. Keep thumping the walls until you find a way out. The
kidnapper/murderer could be back any minute. Could be whoever is doing this is
kidnapping one day and murdering the next. We're going to try to find out where
you are. If you find out first, call me. Try my cell phone first. I might be
out in the snow looking for you. Oh, and Lou, when you get out, head to the
closest house and call the police, and if the person who answers the door looks
at you and says, 'How did you get out?' then take off running as fast as you
can to the next closest house. Now get busy!"

I ended
the call. Maybe I was harsh toward my best friend, but I haven't been exactly
myself since he turned out to be missing. At least it was good to hear his
voice, but I don't like his situation. He's in a round house with no doors and
windows, but with a dead man and a dead college girl. Sounds like my friend was
hallucinating. I forgot to ask him if the walls were padded. I envisioned Lou finding
a way out and running through the snow with someone chasing him wielding a snow
shovel. I called Thelma Lou.

"I
found your honey, sort of."

"What
does sort of mean?"

I relayed
to her what Lou had told me. Neither of us knew of a house that was round, but
then neither of us knew of anyone other than Thelma Lou who wanted to kidnap
Lou.

I told
Thelma Lou all I could, then called George to tell him the same.

"George,
I've found the missing Lou. Now all we have to do is locate him."

"Cy,
I told you drinking wouldn't help you find our friend."

"George,
Lou's been kidnapped."

"What?
You get a note from the kidnapper telling us how much he's willing to pay us to
take Lou back?"

"Not
exactly. I got a phone call from Lou."

"I
don't think that's the way it works, Cy."

"It
did in this case. Lou even told me about the dead bodies next to him when he
woke up."

"Someone
kidnapped Lou and dropped him off at the morgue?"

"He
described the place. I've been to the morgue. The description didn't
match."

"So,
you're saying that Lou murdered his kidnapper in his sleep and he doesn't
remember a thing about it."

"Pretty
much. And when I told Thelma Lou about Lou being kidnapped I didn't mention
that there were two dead bodies next to him. I didn't want to worry her any
more than she already is."

"Good
move there, Cy. So, what did Lou say? Anything that made sense?"

"Not
really. Well, he did say that he's being held in a round house without any
doors or windows."

"They're
called silos, Cy, and they do have doors. Well, at least this means we can
narrow our search down to somewhere in
Iowa
."

"I
don't think silos have fireplaces. And Lou said his place has a
fireplace."

"Maybe
he paid extra. Or the kidnapper did. But you're right about silos. Most of them
don't come with a fireplace. So, what's our next move?"

"Well,
I made Lou promise to send me a picture of the dead couple and then hightail it
out of there, even if he has to make his own door on his way out."

"Maybe
the walls are made of steel. Could be that's how the dead guy died. I assume
that the dead guy isn't anyone Lou knows."

"I
don't think so. I know most everyone he knows, so I should know as soon as he
sends me the picture."

"Maybe
you should call him back, have him take a few pictures of the place where he's
staying. Could be you might recognize one of the pictures on the wall, or one
of the end tables. Maybe we can have someone there in five minutes."

"Unless
he's in
Iowa
."

"You're
right. It would take longer in
Iowa
. Do
you realize how many silos they have in that state?"

I told
George he could think about that while I waited to receive a picture from Lou.
I hoped Lou was coherent enough that he would remember to take a picture of the
couple's faces. Arms and legs aren't that good in identifying someone, unless
that someone has a tattoo no one else has.

I
received a picture from Lou almost as soon as I hung up from talking to George.
If the guy whose picture he sent me wasn't dead yet, then he was a good actor.
I didn't know who he was. I had no idea if he was Heather's cousin's friend's
friend, or whoever it was she told me was missing, and if the dead girl was his
blind date.

I called
George back to let him know that I received the picture from Lou and was
sending it on to him. He said if I didn't recognize the guy then he doubted if
he would recognize him either. I reminded George that he was the one still
working for the police department and asked him to see what he could do to
identify the guy, and to see if he could identify the young lady, too.

It was my
afternoon for phone calls. Next on my list was my friend Sam Schumann, the best
guy I knew for getting me information, and another guy who still worked for the
Hilldale Police Department.

"This
is Sam I am, dining on green eggs and ham."

"You
mean you eat that stuff this time of day?"

"Cy,
what caused you to call me on a Sunday, you, the retired guy that you
are."

"Sam,
I don't know how to tell you this, but Lou has been kidnapped."

"So,
is the celebration at your house? What time?"

"I'm
serious, Sam."

"And
you thought I wasn't. So, what do you mean by kidnapped?"

"I
realize that you've only been with the police department a little over twenty
years, but kidnapping is sort of like one or more people taking another person
without their permission."

"So,
it's not like his girlfriend has him at her place?"

"No,
but she'd like to."

"Okay,
spill it."

I filled
him in on what Lou told me.

"Any
idea who might have done it?"

"No,
but I have an idea of a couple of people who didn't."

"I
can probably add two or three to that list myself."

"But
my two people are dead."

"I
can add some of those names, too."

"Yeah,
but do you have any pictures of your people newly dead?"

"You
got me there, Cy. You win. You want to enlighten me again?"

I told Sam
I would send him a picture of the dead couple, so I could see if he could
identify them before George did.

"And
Sam, you're our expert at the department on gadgets. Is there any way you can
check on Lou's phone and tell me where he called from?"

"You
mean the kidnapper is sort of like the police department, let him make one
call?"

"The
kidnapper skipped out for a little bit. Left Lou alone with the dead bodies."

"So
they tied Lou up with his phone in his hand?"

"They
didn't tie him, and before you ask, the reason Lou hasn't left is because he
couldn't find any doors in the place."

"Cy,
you aren't doing your April Fool's joke early this year, are you?"

"No,
and I don't think Lou is, either. The couple in the picture look dead. And Lou
has already eliminated himself from the suspect list."

I got off
the phone and let Sam go to work. There wasn't anything for me to do except
read, watch movies, or worry. I thought about calling Lou back to see if his
kidnapper let him take a book along, and if so which one. Instead I set a
little time aside to worry, hoped that Lou had found a way out of that house,
and that it wasn't far to the next house. An hour later I had decided that Lou
was being held in the only house on an island. He hadn't called me back to tell
me he had successfully escaped. I wondered if the kidnapper returned before Lou
found a way out. I wondered if the kidnapper would be willing to call me if he
arrived before Lou got away. After all, it's only common courtesy to do so. And
then I wondered if the kidnapper was a man. Then my vision changed to Lou,
stumbling through the snow, having already lost one shoe, frostbite setting in,
with some deranged person throwing ears of corn at him, provided someone didn't
eat all of their corn before winter.

The photo
Lou sent me wasn't of a bloody guy, partially beheaded. If I hadn't known he
was dead, he could just as well have been sleeping. So, I called Heather, asked
her if she knew what the missing guy looked like. She told me "no,"
but I sent her the picture and asked her to send it on to her cousin, who would
keep sending it on until someone could tell if the dead guy was the missing guy
or not. I knew he was a missing guy, but was he Heather's missing guy.

We came
to a temporary dead-end. Heather's cousin's friend didn't have a Smart phone.
But that was only a temporary setback. Heather's cousin drove to her friend's
house, and showed her the picture. The guy she knew was still missing, and
maybe dead, but he wasn't this dead guy. At least that was a small victory.
Maybe our luck was about to change. But then it wouldn't change a lot as far as
I was concerned until Lou called to let me know that he was all right.