A Trail of Vengeance, page 23
So, this continued for a while. As long as I had my way with any of the boys I was interested in, I was satisfied. Daddy did better, although he didn’t date for a while. I probably had something to do with that as well. A couple of times daddy would bring some woman home, way too slutty from my point of view. A few choice comments and they’d hit the trail, running. But then, last fall, daddy found Julie, and I liked her. She was pretty, but not slutty. She seemed honest and authentic — we both liked that. And of course she hardly drank at all. So, they got engaged this spring and like I said earlier, we went back to Litchfield this summer. Now I guess I’m in a mess all over again.”
Shannon seemed to be done talking for now. Dr. Goodman told her she would take her out of hypnosis again and the audio ended. Ron looked at this watch, 8:15 AM — he still had a lot to do this morning. He went downstairs to return the earbuds and get some breakfast. He figured another cup of coffee and some pastries would do and he could eat over by the business computer. The rest of the files were just documents, which would be better viewed on a PC. They spanned from soon after the last audio, November of 2001, through to last year. The first few years had multiple sessions documented, but then for the last decade or so there were only annual visits. Ron felt he could review these in short order and then join back with Delaney and resume the chase. As he took the elevator back upstairs, Ron felt better about his understanding of his suspect. It proved without a doubt, what this woman was capable of doing. She’s armed, dangerous, and soon to be cornered — the worst of all situations for this suspect, and anyone else who got in her way.
******
Barbara Black had a sleepless night. The events of the previous day were unnerving enough, but the man pounding the wall calling her name put her over the top. Even the Valium she took didn’t seem to help her relax, and as she lay in bed watching the clock slowly edge past midnight into early morning, a creeping sense of doom settled over her. Finally, towards 4:00 AM, she drifted off for a couple of hours before the new dawn’s light brought her back to a fragile reality. After she showered and dressed in one of the two new outfits she had bought at JC Penny yesterday, along with a carry bag and a blonde wig, Barbara ventured downstairs to grab a quick bite and make an inquiry at the front desk. “I’m expecting a FedEx package to arrive this morning,” she told the clerk. “It’s very important I’m notified as soon as it arrives.” The desk attendant smiled, asked for her room number, and assured her she would be called as soon as it arrived.
Barbara grabbed a coffee and a muffin and quickly went back to her room, glaring at room 315, next door to hers — wondering who the man was in there, and praying she would never meet him. Once safely back in her room, Barbara went over her plans again. When the package arrived with her new identity, she would check out and walk straight to the Enterprise car rental office across the highway, ditching the wig on the way. That was the one thing she had to leave to chance. In order to have Alexy produce the new documents without delay, she had to keep all the information, including her passport and license picture the same, showing the long black hair of Shannon Dunlop and Claire Duncan. Only the name would be changed on her new documents. The wig was meant only for being out in public yesterday and this morning, with God knows how many cops searching for her. From the point when she rented the car to the time she was safely on her flight to the Bahamas, she would need to look like her license and passport — the old Shannon, and just hope no one looking would recognize her. Even if they found the Envoy, she would still be one step ahead of them.
The next concern was Beth. Barbara had one more chance to exact her revenge, one small window. Her new flight left Myrtle Beach at 4:30 PM that afternoon. If the package arrived by 10:00 AM, she would still have time to rent a car, take care of business in Litchfield, and make it to the airport with time to spare. It would be best if Beth were home alone around noon. If not, she may be at the hospital with poor Jake, assuming Jake survived his encounter. If need be, she would have a plan for that, although it would introduce a lot more risk. If she was somewhere else, or with other people, well, it might just have to pass. After everything that happened yesterday, she couldn’t delay her escape any further. Now she simply had to wait it out.
At the same time, Ron sat down to enjoy his coffee and pastry at the business center computer. He had checked in with Delaney, who had no new updates on the search. Mt. Pleasant police were combing through every parking lot from the hospital at the north edge of town, south down Hwy 17 looking for Gloria’s Envoy. As of an hour ago they were about halfway done. No new reports of any carjacking, kidnappings, stolen vehicles, or missing persons were reported in the Charleston metro area overnight. The waiting game continued. Claire Duncan seemed to have vanished from the earth overnight. Ron figured she was on the run spending Gloria’s cash. The key was the Envoy. Find it, and the next clue will be close at hand. The FBI had an APB and a Silver Alert issued for the Envoy throughout the entire Southeast. Ron felt something could break at any minute.
Meanwhile, he dove into the rest of the Dr. Goodman’s files for Shannon McKay, who in 2007 became Shannon Dunlop. Each file contained a brief summary of Shannon’s session. The first was probably the most interesting. Shortly after the final audio file, Dr. Goodman had reached her official diagnosis of Ambivalence Schizophrenia. Although it was in part possible to have been passed down through her genes (Ron thought of the mother, maybe he’d dig into her past some more), Dr. Goodman felt the trauma Shannon experienced had brought on the disease. In either case, a regimen of anti-psychotic drugs was introduced to Shannon. At first, she had experienced some negative side effects, and Goodman switched drugs twice. Finally, a schedule of Risperidone was tolerated well and also had the desired effect on her psychosis. Shannon managed to graduate high school without any further incidents. Douglas stayed on the straight and narrow and corroborated the improvements noted in the session notes. With Shannon maintaining residence in the Dayton / Cincinnati area through college and beyond, the sessions became more spaced out, but continued for the next fifteen years. Nothing suspicious caught Ron’s eyes until the annual session of 2016.
It was in this sitting when Dr. Goodman recorded Shannon becoming more agitated. She had not been able to become pregnant with Josh. The doctors tried several procedures but in the end she was told she would most likely not be able to bear any children. To relieve her client’s anxiety, Goodman added a Valium prescription to the Risperidone. Another year passed. The 2017 session’s notes were more disconcerting. Shannon reported being depressed. She also admitted for the first time going off Risperidone due to the side effects of which she had grown tired. Her marriage was falling apart, and she began to suspect Josh had been cheating on her. Goodman referred her and Josh to marriage counseling. Reluctantly, with Shannon’s pleading, she upped the Valium prescription, but warned Shannon it could not replace the Risperidone and she needed to stay on her anti-psychotic to maintain good mental and emotional health. She recommended coming back in six months, which would have been this past February. The only other note in the file said Shannon had cancelled the appointment at the last minute and to date had not rescheduled.
After finishing the last file, Ron closed his email and sat back in the office chair. The downward spiral had been clearly drawn out. She stopped taking Risperidone, then hooked herself on Valium. She caught up with Josh’s adultery. Off the anti-psychotic, her wild mood swings of ambivalence had taken hold of her again, and with it the insatiable desire for revenge. She exacted it on the Jane Doe, then Josh and Missy, and now she was after Beth. Beth, whom she felt was the root cause of all of her troubles. Ron made a mental note to check in on Beth this morning and with Keating to see if he could have someone stay with her today, or until Shannon was caught. How many dead bodies have her name on them now? With this current rampage at three, plus Ben and her mother, that makes five. Luckily not six. It needed to stop there.
******
As Ron got ready to close the computer and head back to his room, Barbara Black was leaving her room to retrieve her just arrived FedEx package and check out. Barbara had everything set and ready to go. She had on her new outfit from JC Penny, a cotton striped print skirt and blouse, her blonde wig, and the rest of her belongings in her new carry bag, the partially loaded Glock resting at the bottom. She paced the elevator back and forth trying to calm her nerves, assuring herself everything would work out right today. No repeats of yesterday’s disasters. She knew they were looking for her, both here and in Pawleys, but they wouldn’t be looking for Barbara Black, nor the rental she would be in shortly.
As Barbara exited the elevator on the first floor, she walked past a middle-aged rotund man with brown curly hair. She smiled at him and moved on by. Be careful about eye-contact, she had told herself. Don’t seem too friendly, but not too aloof either. What she didn’t see was Ron Dempsey turn around and look at her walking away. Ron thought for a brief second, the woman’s face looked familiar. For a moment he could have sworn he had just seen a blonde Shannon Dunlop. He shook his head as she walked away. No, couldn’t be, he thought, life just isn’t that simple, at least not in my experience it isn’t. Still, he filed it away in a corner of his memory. No clue is ever too small to ignore. As he made his way back to his room, Barbara stood looking through the documents the front desk had just handed to her. Everything seemed to be in order. She inserted the new driver’s license and credit card in her wallet and secured the new passport in her purse. As confident as ever, she exited the Hampton Inn, put on Gloria’s Elton John sunglasses, and crossed the highway, headed to Enterprise.
Ron began working the phones. As a standby he made another night’s reservation at the Hampton Inn. If Shannon wasn’t found today, he felt sure Captain Shipp would insist he return to Cincinnati and let the locals finish the case. Ron had plenty to do back home, seeing how he left in such a rush yesterday. He hadn’t even checked in with Murrey to see what he found out about Josh and Missy. He put that at number three on his list of calls, after Delaney and Shipp. Those would be followed with calls to the Waccamaw hospital to check on Jake, then more follow up with Beth now that he had the full story of Shannon’s two summers in Litchfield, and finally a courtesy call to Keating in Pawleys to see if anything had broken there.
Sargent Delaney apprised Ron of the parking lot inspections and promised to call if anything broke. Shipp told Ron to stay on the case in South Carolina, even if it meant another couple of days. That would mean shopping for a change of clothes, something Ron loathed to do. Ron hated shopping of any kind, clothes especially. Still, he was grateful his captain let him stay here on the department’s dime. Jake was improving and could see visitors later in the day. Depending on how things went in Mt. Pleasant, Ron saw a trip back to Pawleys in the cards later today. Beth seemed to be holding up fine. She was on her way to see Jake at the moment and would go home afterwards. Ron offered Beth a uniformed officer for protection for the day, which she promptly dismissed as unnecessary. ‘Wouldn’t they be better served searching for Shannon, rather than playing babysitter to a grown woman?’ she had asked him derisively. Ron would mention it to Keating but wasn’t going to press the matter. He was about to dial the last call on his list to Sheriff Keating when a call came in from Delaney. “Ron, Delaney again. We just found the Envoy.”
Ron jumped out of his chair and reached for a notepad and pen. “Where was it?”
“Found it at the edge of the Costco parking lot. Just down the road from your Hampton Inn. We have the vehicle roped off and I’m heading to Costco now to get a look at their security. Can you meet us there shortly?”
“Heading out the door now Sargent. See you soon.” Ron smiled to himself. His hunch was right — once again. She didn’t go far with the Envoy. But where did she go after that? He felt certain he’d have the answer soon.
******
Twenty minutes later, Ron found himself in yet another retail manager’s office looking at security footage. He met Sargent Delaney and Officer Bennington at the massive store’s entrance and went to inspect the Envoy. After finding nothing out of the ordinary, they were escorted to the store manager, Joel Caldwell’s, office. He asked what time they wanted to start the security tape.
“Well, we know Gloria was found at 4:45 PM yesterday,” offered Ron. “Given her condition and her statement, I’d say she was in the woods at least an hour and half. So, let’s start it at 3:15 PM. We should see something no later than 4:15 PM.” Caldwell worked on the computer while the three of them watched the split screen monitor. Like Publix, four camera angles were displayed simultaneously covering both entrances, the front door and the back door. Heavy traffic moved in and out of the parking lot, with more than a few SUV’s looking close to the Envoy. Fortunately, the video was in color, so picking out the charcoal gray SUV made identification easier. At 3:45 PM, they found their mark. “That’s her,” said Ron pointing to the Envoy as it entered the lot. They watched the dark gray GMC SUV drive up and down several aisles, then make its way to the far end, finding a spot near a group of trees. “Alright Missy,” sneered Ron at the screen, “Now where are you going?” Their answer played out in front of them. Shannon exited the Envoy wearing a large pair of sunglasses and carrying only her purse. She then promptly walked directly past the front of the store and continued out the entrance way to Highway 17. The last thing the cameras picked up was her turning left and walking down the highway to the south. Ron turned to Delanay as they said the same thing, “She left on foot!” Ron was already one step ahead of him. “What stores are on the road south of here?”
“Next block down is a Lowes. After that is a strip mall with a JC Penny’s, some smaller stores, and restaurants.”
“Well, let’s follow the cameras and see where she went. If you didn’t get any new reports of stolen cars or missing persons, she couldn’t have gone far.”
“I agree Detective. Jack, call ahead to Lowes and tell them we’ll be there in five minutes to look at yesterday’s security footage. Thank you Mr. Caldwell, for your assistance.” The three cops marched out the front door and headed to the next mega store. This one was no less busy than Costco. I can see why Shannon wanted to come here, Ron thought, they have everything you need. Everything you would need to hide, and everything you would need to escape. Once again the three met with the store manager who called up his new color security footage to 3:50 PM Wednesday and within two minutes they saw Shannon walk by the front driveway entrance and kept right on going. “Where do you think she’s going?” Delaney asked Ron. Ron didn’t have a clue.
“You said next block is a JC Penny’s and some smaller shops. I got a hunch we may find something there.” Back in their cars, then two more left turns and the group settled into the busy Penny’s parking lot. “Is it always this busy here?” Ron inquired. He knew the economy was good all over, and the Cincinnati businesses were doing fine, but this was ridiculous. For the third straight store they couldn’t park anywhere near the entrance. Even Penny’s was packed, and he thought they were going out of business. The JC Penny’s manager was also alerted to the request phoned in minutes earlier and he also had the camera footage ready for them when they arrived. Again, Shannon could be seen at the front highway entranceway, but this time, instead of walking by, she turned into the parking lot and walked straight into the front door. Ron felt a giddy surge of adrenaline course throughout his body. “That’s our girl! Ready to do a little shopping. Let’s switch to the in-store security and see what she bought.” Mr. Grant, the store manager, typed out some more commands and the monitor lit up with no less than eight instore angles.
He smiled at the two cops and the detective. “Covers every square inch of the store — all high res. You couldn’t hide a mouse taking a dump, er — not that we have any of course. Mice, that is.” Ron and Delaney were not amused. They focused in on Shannon. It was easy from this point. She grabbed a cart and went to the clothes aisle first. Couple of summer outfits went in. She switched over a couple of aisles to find a fairly large carry bag. Finally she crossed to the other side of the store, picked up some makeup, then passed by jewelry with no purchases, and stopped in the wig section. She looked at several, then picked up a blonde short-cropped wig and tried it on. Ron’s heart stopped. NO! exploded in his mind, Oh my Fucking Jesus NO! A dead match to the woman he saw leaving the elevator, at — he looked at his watch. What time was that? Ron’s memory raced back to earlier in the morning. Right after I finished on the computer. Must have been about 8:45 AM. Now it’s almost 11:00 AM. Holy shit!
“Sargent, I know where she went. I saw a woman at the hotel this morning, coming out of the elevator. For a second I thought it looked like Shannon, except she was blonde. It was her — she had on that very wig. We need to get back to the Hampton Inn.”
“We will Detective, but let’s finish up here first.”
“Of course, you’re right.” As they continued to watch Shannon shop, Ron’s heart beat like a drum. His mind raced ahead of himself. She stayed in the same hotel I was in last night. I walked right past her. These were things a normal person wouldn’t think twice about. But he was a detective! How could he have been so close to his mark and let it slip away like that? He turned his attention back to Penny’s. Shannon finished shopping and waited in line for the next open cashier. At the register, it appeared she paid in cash. Not surprising, she knew not to leave any financial traces. Once out the door, the group switched back to the outside camera, where they saw Shannon walk to the parking entrance and again turn left heading south down Highway 17. “Sargent, I need to get to the Hampton Inn. I know she’s heading there. What else is between here and the hotel?”
