Steve Demaree - Dekker 09 - Murder on a Blind Date (4 page)

The night
passed slowly. All of it. I tossed and turned all night long, wishing I had
some way of locating my friend. I decided to kill him if he was back at his
place and had forgotten to call me, but I wasn't willing to drive over there in
the middle of the night to find out. Maybe I should have called George and made
him go.  

Monday
morning, as I was making a mess trying to fix breakfast, the phone rang. I was
hoping it was Lou, but I was willing to settle for anyone who could make my day
better. It turned out to be Heather, who could certainly make my day better on
a normal day. She informed me that the police in
Lexington
had another man who had turned up missing after going on
a blind date. They were in the process of seeing if there was any connection
between the two missing men. I asked Heather if she had names for the two men.
She did. She shared them with me and I wrote their names down.

A few
minutes after I'd finished eating breakfast without dropping too much of it on
my shirt, the phone rang again. I was becoming a popular guy. All it took was
for a couple of guys to be missing.

"Cy,
do retired guys get up this early?"

"I've
been up for hours. So, do you have some news for me, Sam?"

"Have
you ever found me to be lacking in solving your cases for you?"

"Yes,
but sometimes you're able to stumble upon something helpful."

"I'm
wondering if I should keep this to myself, but since Lou is a friend of mine
too, and I want to see the two of you reunited as soon as possible, I will tell
you what I've found out. I was finally able to zero in on Lou's phone. I can't
give you an exact location, but I've tracked him to somewhere in the
Smoky
Mountains
."

"You're
kidding?"

"You're
right. Actually, I tracked him to a conference with the Maharishi in
Nepal
, but I didn't think you'd believe
that story. Besides, it turns out neither of them wanted to be disturbed. Lou
was enlightening the Maharishi."

"You
mean Yogi?"

"Yes,
but not Bear or Berra."

"So,
where is he really?"

"Yogi's
dead. Died a few years ago, but he's not the guy in the picture you sent
me."

"Sorry.
I didn't know. I would have sent flowers. Now, where's Lou? I mean where is he
really?"

"I
don't know, but when I traced his cell phone he was in the
Smoky
Mountains
, and not near any town. I'm surprised I was able to track
him, with all those trees. But then I lost the signal, and I don't know where
he is now."

"Could
you tell if he was mobile?"

"He
wasn't at first, but then he started moving and I lost the signal."

"Could
you tell if he was on foot or in a vehicle?"

"I
didn't have a signal for long. My guess is he was on foot, but I don't know
where he is now. I waited a few minutes, hoping I could track him again, but
nothing yet."

"I'm
going down there. I'll check in with you to see if you can reconnect with
him."

"Cy,
wait until tomorrow. Maybe he's escaped and he'll find his way back home. Or at
least to a phone where he can call us and let us know where to pick him
up."

I hung up
and called George to see what he thought I should do. He reminded me that the
Smoky
Mountains
cover quite a large area, and without more to go on it
might take more than one lifetime to find Lou. I reminded him that we could be
well on our way to Lou by the time we heard from him, which would make it
easier and quicker to pick him up. George said he would call me back in a few
minutes.

Hours
later, or ten minutes by the clock, George called back. If we hadn't heard from
Lou by Tuesday morning, he would take time off from work and go with me to
Tennessee
. He had his wife's and the
chief's blessing. I compromised, hoped I was making the right decision, and
agreed to head to
Tennessee
with George on Tuesday morning. I
told George I would drive. George's car doesn't have 60s on 6.  

+++

A couple
of hours later George called again. He didn't know anything about Lou, but they
had identified the dead woman. An officer had found an abandoned car out in the
county. They ran the license plate and found the name of the owner. Then it was
a matter of matching the photo Lou had sent me with the one on the young
woman's driver's license. She was a
University
of
Kentucky
student who lived in a county close to Hilldale. Speculation was that her car
had stalled, and someone had kidnapped her. But then if someone had kidnapped
her, why would she be handing out samples of a new drink to Lou? Could it be
that she was offered a ride by a stranger who promised to drop her by a garage
after she did a favor for him? It didn't make sense, but then a lot of times
life doesn't make sense. Her parents had been informed of her death and shown
the picture of the dead man they found with her. Neither of her parents
recognized the man and neither did her roommate, who confirmed that she was on
her way home for the weekend, and she had complained about having problems with
her car quitting on her from time to time. One of the reasons she was going
home was to have her dad look at her car and possibly fix the problem.

+++

It was a
little before
6:00
on Monday evening when the phone
rang again. I jumped at least two inches off the floor when I heard Lou's
voice. He told me that he was at the hospital. Some guy had found him wandering
around in the mountains, trying to find a cabin or chalet somewhere. A doctor
had looked him over. The police had finished talking to him just before he
called me. They had no idea of the location of the house he described, but said
there are a lot of unknown places in those mountains. The doctor wanted to keep
Lou overnight, so Lou told me he would catch a bus home in a day or two. I told
him that George and I were coming down to pick him up the next morning, and we
set a time and place to meet. When I ended the call I brought my arm down as I
shouted "yes!" I quickly promised myself that if I repeated that move
in my lifetime I wouldn't be standing next to the wall and wondering afterwards
if I might have to have my elbow amputated. After my pain subsided to a mild
five on a scale of ten I called everyone on my Christmas card list to let them
know that Lou had been found and had survived his ordeal. I could tell a few of
them had to reach for the Whiteout, because they had already scratched Lou from
their next year's Christmas letter list. It was just as well. I knew some of
them, had received their Christmas letter only a month before, and I knew they
hadn't been to
Europe
twice last year. I wondered if
eleven months hence if Lou would put out a Christmas letter telling how he had
been kidnapped by a pack of wild dogs and a gypsy on crack.

+++

Around
8:00
the phone rang again. My phone hadn't rung that much
since the last election. I was hoping Lou hadn't found out that he was going to
have to have his leg amputated and wouldn't be able to come home for a while
longer.

"Hello."

"Is
this the love of my life?"

"Beyonce,
is that you?"

"I'll
Beyonce you. This is Jennifer and you know it."

"Aniston,
Garner, Lopez, or Lawrence?"

"Never
mind. I guess I have the wrong number. I was calling someone I thought would
want to know that I'm coming home soon. The day after tomorrow. But just in
case I do have the right number, you'd better get those posters of those other Jennifers
off your wall before I get there."

"Oh,
are you moving in with me?"

" I
don't think so, but you'd better take those posters down."

"I
don't have any posters on my wall. I had Mark paste them on the ceiling when he
came over to shovel the snow. Oh, and I'm leaving town tomorrow."

"Oh?
Where do you think you're going?"

"To
pick up Lou. He's been kidnapped."

"Oh
he has, has he? And I guess you've decided to pay the ransom?"

"Don't
have to. Lou escaped."

"What
are you talking about, Cy?"

"Lou
really was kidnapped. Taken down to the
Smoky
Mountains
. You can call Thelma Lou for
verification if you don't believe me."

"I
plan to call her next."

"George
and I are going down tomorrow to pick him up. He's in the hospital now, but he
gets released in the morning."

"I
assume he was shot."

"No,
just roughed up a little. But he was outside for a couple of hours after he
escaped before someone found him and took him to the hospital, and he had some
issues with that. Anyway, we may be back tomorrow. We might not be back until
the next day."

"Is
this the George who's with the police department? The tall, dumb cop?"

"No,
this is Cy who used to be with the police department, not quite as tall, but
brilliant."

"Maybe
I should stay here a few more days."

"Or
meet us in Gatlinburg."

"No,
I miss my home too much. Hurry back! I might have a hug and kiss for you. But
if I call Thelma Lou and find out you've been lying to me, you'd better stay in
Gatlinburg."

It was
still dark when I picked up George at
5:05
.  He brought snacks. It had been a while since I had had a Hostess
Twinkie before
7:00
. I turned on the dome light and
checked the expiration date. It said they were still good until 2030. George
told me it was one of the Twinkies left over from his twelfth birthday party.
He had brought some Hershey syrup to dunk them in, but I didn't want to mess up
my van, so we ate them with only the preservatives they came with. Well, George
brought orange juice, too. Once I dunked my Twinkie in the orange juice. It
added a little something. Every few minutes, before we took the first bite out
of another Twinkie, we pretended the one in our hand was a microphone. Man was
not made to sing along with 60s on 6 before daylight. Some of us weren't made
to do so anytime. I think we were sitting at a traffic light just before
getting on the interstate in
Lexington
when we looked at each other and sang
You're the One That I Want.
It
didn't matter that it wasn't a 60s song, or that it wasn't playing on radio. We
received two thumbs up from the two guys in the old Dodge Charger in the other
lane, who looked like they were on their way home, not out, and that they had
had a rough night. The light changed and we pulled away, but I laid my Twinkie
down while I navigated the U-turn onto the interstate and headed south toward
Lou. George and I were all sung out by the time we got to the
Tennessee
Welcome
Center
. Not a lot of people were there
to welcome us on a cold, late January morning. We decided to plod on despite
the lack of hospitality.

The
interstate had been plowed, and few people were on the road, so it was just
before
10:00
when George and I arrived at the
place where Lou told us he would meet us. We walked in, and there Lou was
seated at a table like he was somebody special. Normally The Pancake Pantry is
so crowded that they have a rule that they don't seat anyone until the entire
party is there. But it was January, and not only is January cold, but the
Pancake Pantry doesn't have a line out the door and down the street at that
time of the year. And Lou must have told them he was just released from the
hospital.

As we
walked over to greet our grinning friend, Lou didn't bother to get up. And
despite the grin, it didn't look like he had just had his best day.

George
looked at Lou's face.

"Is
this what you call an extreme makeover?"

"No,
it's what you call getting slapped by more trees than I can count."

"That's
what you get for making improper advances to trees you don't know."

Lou gave
me a look of "Why didn't you leave this guy at home?" and then spoke
again.

"I'm
glad you guys showed up. Whoever kidnapped me didn't give me time to get my
wallet, so one of you will have to pay for whatever I order."

It was my
turn to respond.

"George,
how would you like to eat in front of him and watch him salivate as he watches
us eat?"

"If
you don't take care of me, when you get home one of you won't have a
girlfriend."

"George,
does you wife know about your girlfriend?"

"I
think he was talking about you."

We did
our best to make up for the people who couldn't make it to the Pancake Pantry
that day. I wondered if I moved to Gatlinburg if I would get tired of eating at
that place all the time. Then I remembered that was no problem. I could eat
every other day at the Applewood Farmhouse.

We
ordered crepes with berries and cream cheese, pancakes with nuts and chocolate,
plus bacon and sausage. We asked our server if she could set our food in the
middle, then bring us extra plates so all three of us could enjoy some of
everything. She willingly accommodated us. We took our time eating, then showed
George around the area, in case he wanted to come back sometime. Well, that was
part of the reason. The other part was so we would be hungry again by the time
we got to Sevierville. Lou and I thought George needed to experience the
Applewood Farmhouse at lunch. While we were wasting time I bought Jennifer a
coming home present at one of The Village shops. Neither Lou or George wanted
word to get back home that I bought something for Jennifer while we were in
Gatlinburg while they kept their money in their pockets, so both of them bought
a present for his significant other.

Like Lou
and I, George was impressed by the entire Applewood complex that many refer to
as the Apple Barn. But especially the food. They kept bringing it. I made sure
I let George know that there's even more at dinner. And he made sure he left
with some apple fritters to eat on the way home, in case he got hungry.

On the
way back we talked about Lou's ordeal. Well, as much of it as he could
remember.

"Lou,
you never told us how you found your way out of that house without a
door."

"Cy,
you remember those dimmer switches on the floor of old cars?"

"Yeah,
but what's that got to do with getting out of a house?"

"I'll
tell you if you give me time. There was something like that under the carpet,
next to a wall. I accidentally stepped on it and a panel slid away, and voila,
the great outdoors revealed itself. I didn't wait around to see what I needed
to trigger to get back in. I had no interest in returning to that place. Just
getting away from there as quickly as I could, just in case you know who
returned with more bodies. Or came back to end my life. No telling what he was
like."

"So,
you remember that it was a man?"

"I
have no idea. It could have been a gorilla. Remember. I was out. I didn't see
or hear a thing. And whatever it was that whoever it was gave me, it was potent
enough to knock me out for several hours."

We were
about to cross back over into
Kentucky
when my phone rang. I don't make a lot of calls on my new cell phone, so it
took me a minute to realize what the noise was. As it turned out, the call was
from the other woman in my life, Heather. She called to inform me that both
missing men had arranged for a blind date with the same agency, and she might
need my help in locating another missing man in addition to Lou. I wasn't sure
what she had in mind. If it had registered at the time, I might have started
sweating right then. 

+++

We got
back home a little after
7:00
. Each of us had made a phone call
as we came through
Lexington
and headed to Hilldale. George's
wife told him she would have his supper ready. Lou and I made calls so that we
wouldn't have to make any after we got home. I dropped George off at his house,
then headed for Lou's place. He looked like someone who had recently endured a
dance marathon, or someone who had cut his own version of the
Appalachian Trail
, so I helped him into his
apartment, then left and headed home. I was more sleepy than hungry, so I
headed to bed. I woke up at
9:30
, got
up and fixed myself a peanut butter sandwich, ate it, then headed back to bed.