For His Name's Sake (Psalm 23 Mysteries) (16 page)

“I knew he was a good man,” Cindy said with a grin.

“I think this will work out fine. We should be able to salvage both parties and make them memorable, in a good way.”

“Isn’t that what a wedding is all about? Getting the bride and groom married off with a bunch of happy memories to start their life together.”

“I guess it is at that.”

He stood up. “I’m going to make sure the dogs get their breakfast and then I’m thinking it’s time we humans got ours.”

“Sounds good. I’ll meet you in the kitchen in a few minutes,” she said.

“Works for me. Everyone will probably be getting up soon.”

Jeremiah left the room, his mind whirring. It seemed ridiculous with everything that was going on to be fretting about the bachelor party, but he did care. He liked what Cindy had said about a bunch of good memories to start a life off together. That’s what Joseph and Geanie deserved and he was going to do what he could to see that they got it.

Of course, he was going to have to get creative. He hoped that Wildman and he could come up with something fun to do. Of course, Wildman was used to planning activities for high school boys and not grown men. Deep down, though, there were fewer differences between the two groups than most liked to admit. The thought made him smile.

It took about half an hour but Mark finally got through to someone on the New Orleans police force who could help him. As it turned out they hadn’t heard anything about Gerald, but he left his contact information and the woman on the other line promised to notify him if anything came to their attention.

He was about to go find Cindy and tell her, hoping it would ease her mind a little bit, when he realized his partner was calling.

“Liam, what do you have for me?” Mark asked as he answered his phone.

“A lot, actually. I talked to the realtor who sold Amanda’s home. According to him she’s not moving into an apartment.”

“Oh? Where does he think she’s moving to?”

“Apparently she told him that she was going to be moving in with her fiancé, but that it was just going to take a couple of weeks to straighten everything out.”

“
Hunh. Does this fiancé have a name?”

“No, but she told the realtor that he was very, very rich.”

“I didn’t see any ring on her finger.”

“Neither did I. I’ve got a feeling I know who she thinks her fiancé is.”

“This woman just gets crazier and crazier seeming,” Mark said.

“Well, we’re in luck. I’ve got the warrant.”

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?” Mark said, jumping down off the stool he was sitting on. “Meet you at her house?”

“Actually, I’ll pick you up, I’m three minutes away.”

“Perfect.”

Mark quickly finished his coffee, ran upstairs and, careful not to disturb Traci, retrieved his gun and badge from his nightstand. When he made it back downstairs he found that Liam was waiting for him outside.

“Hopefully we can put an end to all this right now in time for a wonderful ‘happily ever after’ moment,” Mark said as he slid into the passenger seat. “Weddings are stressful enough without this crap.”

Four other officers met them outside Amanda’s house.

“There doesn’t appear to be anyone home,” the first one said.

Mark nodded. “Then I want someone to keep an eye out for the homeowner. If she comes near this place I want to talk to her.”

The man nodded.

The rest of them entered the house and spread out. “Okay, search everything. We’re looking for anything that could tie her to Geanie, Joseph, or an assassin,” Mark instructed.

Two officers headed to other parts of the house while the third started opening the boxes in the living room.

“I want a look behind that door she didn’t want us looking behind,” Mark said.

“Right there with you,” Liam affirmed.

They strode to the back of the room and yanked open the door in question. It turned out to lead to a set of stairs heading down to what had to be a basement. Liam flipped the light switch on the wall, but they couldn’t see down into the basement itself.

“Police officers,” Mark called down, but there was no sound. He drew his gun, just to be on the safe side and Liam did the same.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Liam muttered as they walked downstairs slowly.

“Don’t say that. You know what happens when you say that. Now I have a bad feeling, too. I was just feeling hopefully optimistic before.”

“I call them like I see them,” Liam said, barely whispering now.

Mark could feel his heart pounding. Liam’s bad feeling really was contagious. There had to have been a reason Amanda didn’t want them down here. She had shut the door so quickly during their visit that it had been clear that she was hiding something. He just hoped they weren’t walking into some sort of trap.

When they reached the bottom, Liam reached for and flipped another light switch. Overhead lights came on revealing what looked like a guest room.
Mark looked around slowly, trying to take everything in. There was no one there so he lowered his gun and next to him Liam did the same.

Mark walked further into the room.
There was a bed, an overstuffed chair sitting in the corner facing the bed, and even a little kitchen table with two chairs at it. There were framed pictures hanging on the wall and everything looked almost normal.

Almost.

Mark felt his heart begin to race as a sick feeling twisted his insides. He had known that Amanda was obsessed with Joseph, but the true extent of that obsession was suddenly, horrifically clear.

“What is this place?” Liam breathed. His voice heavy with the same fear and revulsion that were vying for mastery of Mark.

Every piece of furniture had thick, heavy straps and steel shackles attached to it.

Mark stood in the room, struggling to take it all in. Finally he walked slowly over to one of the walls and examined the pictures hanging on it. There was a picture of Amanda wearing a wedding gown and smiling. He didn’t believe he was imagining the hint of madness in her eyes. He moved on to the next photo. It was one of Joseph, clearly a publicity photo, with him wearing a dark suit and a tie. The next photo was another one of Joseph, this time a candid photo. He was half-turned away from the camera talking to someone out of sight. The final photo was of Joseph and Amanda together. Well, not exactly together. It looked like a badly photoshopped picture.

She told the realtor she’d be moving into her fiancé’s house. A cold sweat broke out over his body as he looked again at the picture of her in the wedding dress. There was no doubt in his mind now that he was looking into the eyes of obsession and madness.

“What is this all for?” Liam asked.

“Not what. Who?” Mark turned toward his partner. “There’s a reason Jeremiah and Joseph were stabbed with non-lethal doses of that poison. Amanda was planning on having Joseph kidnapped, and holding him down here. In her sick mind she believed she could make him love her and she would be the one he married.”

“How very
Misery
,” Liam said. “And with Geanie out of the way, she believed nothing would stop Joseph from loving her.”

“Come on,” Mark said, leading the way up the stairs. He exited outside and approached the officer there. “Any sign of her?”

“No.”

“Alright I need to get pictures taken down in the basement and then I need to clear the cars out of here. I’m hoping she’s coming back to the house and I don’t want to spook her and miss our chance to catch her.”

“Understood.”

He turned to Liam. “Get out an APB on her. If she’s already running or hiding we need to get on it.”

Liam pulled out his phone and took a couple of steps away.

“This woman is extremely unstable,” Mark told the other officer. “I have no idea if she’s armed, but she should be treated as though she were incredibly dangerous.”

Fifteen minutes later Mark and Liam were in the car heading back to the police station. “You know what I don’t like about this?” Mark asked.

“What?”

“The poison. I don’t see someone like her being able to get her hands on it.”

“There was that huge cash withdrawal and the explosion at the bridal shop. It’s likely she did hire someone to kidnap Joseph and kill Geanie.”

“Yeah, that’s the only thing that makes sense. Now, though, we have two people running around who are willing to do heaven knows what next. I have the distinct feeling that we just went from the frying pan to the fire.”

“At least now we have a handle on what’s going on and who is behind it. We can check out friends, family
members, see if anyone’s seen her in the last twelve hours or so,” Liam said.

“You’re talking sense, but I’m not sure how much logical behavior we can expect from her,” Mark said. “That’s what scares me. Sane people are predictable. Crazy people aren’t.”

Liam took a deep breath. “I think we can count on one thing, though.”

“What’s that?”

“If she’s that crazy, there’s no way she’s just walking away, heading out of town and disappearing.”

“Why’s that?”

“She won’t leave without Joseph.”

Mark swore under his breath. “I think you’re right.”

Liam opened his mouth then closed it again.

“What is it?” Mark asked.

“I had an idea, but it’s crazy and dangerous. You won’t like it.”

“We might just have to fight crazy with crazy. What do you have?”

“We can try putting a tracker on Joseph and then create a situation in which he could be easily kidnapped.”

“You’re right, I hate that idea. There’s too many variables in play.”

“That’s why I didn’t say anything.”

Mark turned and stared out the window. He sighed. “You might be right, though. At the end of the day that might be our only play. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

And for the second time in a week he really wished he believed in prayer.

They made it into the office a few minutes later and Mark made a beeline for his desk. There was a report on it and he sat down to check it out.

“What is it?” Liam asked when he walked over a couple minutes later.

“They couldn’t find any trace evidence on the rose. And there was no poison or anything like that on the thorns.”

“Why is that making you frown?”

“Because that makes no sense. A lot of this doesn’t. Who was the rose intended to be found by? Geanie? Then you would think the assassin would have poisoned it. Joseph? Then why didn’t they dose it with something to knock him out?”

“Too remote for Joseph? Even if it did knock him out it would be hours after the assassin had slipped back out of the house. Unless they planned to snatch him on the way to the hospital or once there...” Liam drifted off.

“He or she could have posed as a paramedic, snatched him right there at the house with no one the wiser.”

Six hours later there was still no sign of Amanda. Mark was beginning to worry that he and Liam had spooked her with their earlier visit. He had tried calling her only known relative, a cousin in Arizona, but the man hadn’t heard from her in months. He was starting to get desperate.

“I think it’s time we switch tactics,” he finally told Liam.

“What do you have in mind?” his partner asked.

“I think we’re going to need Joseph’s help on this one.”

“Want me to go get him?”

“You’d better.”

Half an hour later Liam was back with Joseph and Cindy, which shouldn’t have surprised Mark and yet it did. The four of them set up with a tech guy in one of the interrogation rooms. They were getting ready to track Amanda’s phone once she picked up after Joseph called.
If
she picked up. She hadn’t answered when Mark had tried the phone earlier. She was so obsessed with Joseph, though, that Mark was willing to bet she’d managed to get his phone number and that when she saw it was him calling she wouldn’t be able to resist answering.

“Are you sure you’re okay to do this?” Mark asked.

“Do we really have any other choice?” Joseph said.

“No,” Mark admitted.

“Then, I’m okay to do this,” Joseph said.

“That was circular,” Liam noted.

Mark glared at him and his partner just shook his head.

Joseph dialed and Mark held his breath, hoping that Amanda would pick up. One ring. Two. Three.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Amanda? This is Joseph Coulter.”

“Joseph?” she said, sounding slightly dazed.

“How are you?” he asked.

“I’m fine, why are you calling?” she asked, suspicion creeping into her voice.

Mark cringed. They needed to keep her on the phone a lot longer and the last thing they needed was her realizing for sure that they were onto her.

“Actually, I’m calling because I never got your RSVP to the wedding. You’re one of just a few I haven’t heard back from so I’m calling to find out whether or not you’ll be making it. I need to give the final headcount to the caterer this afternoon.”

“Your wedding? You invited me to your wedding?” she asked, a little breathless now.

“Of course. You got the invitation, right?” Joseph said, sounding impressively concerned.

“No.”

“Oh no, really? Hold on, I’ve got the master address list here somewhere. Yes. I sent your invitation to 1418 Larkspur Drive. You should have received it about four weeks ago.”

“I live at 1413 Larkspur Drive,” she said, clearly distressed.

“Really? Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I must have misread the 3 as an 8 when I was making the list.”

“
Th-that’s okay.”

“Well, the wedding is this Saturday at 4 o’clock. I’m sorry that you never received the invitation and it’s such short notice, but do you think you can make it?”

“I’ll be there,” she said.

“I’m so glad to hear that. Do you have a pen and a piece of paper so I can give you the address?” Joseph asked, oozing sincerity.

“I know where it’s going to be.”

“Oh, you do?”

“I saw the announcement in the newspaper.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I’m officially putting you in the attending column. Will you be bringing a guest?”

“A guest?”

“Yes, the invitation, which you sadly didn’t get, said that you could bring a guest if you liked.”

“Oh, um, no guest. Just me.”

“Okay.”

Mark gave Joseph the thumbs up sign. Off to the side Liam was already directing officers to her location.

“Alright, well, I guess I’ll be seeing you on Saturday.”

“Yes, thank you,” she breathed.

Joseph ended the call and then collapsed back in his chair.

“You did great,” Mark reassured him.

“That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Joseph admitted. “I don’t think I’m cut out to be an actor.”

“Well, you could have fooled me. You were great, really.”

Cindy squeezed Joseph’s hand and he gave her a weak smile.

“Now what?” Joseph asked.

“Now, we wait, and hope for good news.”

Fifteen minutes later Liam’s phone rang. He listened intently for a few minutes before hanging up. “She was at a Starbuck’s across from Stoneridge Mall. When they got there she was gone. They searched the nearby area but found no sign of her. They did, however, find her phone under a table. They couldn’t tell if she dropped it on purpose or by accident. She didn’t talk to anyone inside other than to order a coffee,” he reported.

Mark closed his eyes and tried to swallow his frustration. “Back to square one,” he said at last. He opened his eyes and looked at Joseph. “I’m sorry.”

Joseph shook his head. “Not at all. It was worth a try.”

Cindy leaned forward suddenly. “You said she was at the Starbuck’s across from Stoneridge Mall?”

“Yes, why?”

“There’s a formalwear shop in that mall on the second floor. What if she hung up with Joseph and immediately went to buy herself a dress?”

“It’s a long shot, but if you’re right, she could still be in there,” Mark said.

“I’m on it,” Liam said, whipping out his phone.

Once he was off the phone Mark stood. “Okay, hopefully they find something. For now I’ve got to get you two back to the mansion.”

By the time they were pulling up in front of the mansion Liam had called Mark with the bad news. Amanda had been in the dress store. She’d stayed less than ten minutes, bought a dress, and had been gone before police arrived.

“Well, at least your instincts were right on,” Mark said with a sigh.

“Unfortunately, that’s little comfort at the moment,” Cindy said, feeling the frustration building inside her.

“And it’s a safe bet she’s going to show to the wedding.”

“Isn’t that what every guy wants? His bride and his stalker both in the same place?” Joseph said, forcing a smile.

Cindy was relieved to see that the others had already started setting up for the afternoon barbeque. She’d been able to call everyone that morning who wasn’t staying at the mansion to let them know the barbeque was off. At Geanie’s insistence she didn’t explain about the danger that the couple was in but simply said that Geanie had been injured during the downtown explosion a few days before
and was still recovering. It was a bit more than stretching the truth, but Geanie was determined that no one outside those who needed to know be made aware that they had been attacked. She had argued that would just bring publicity that would make everyone’s jobs harder and bring stress and anxiety to their guests which could mar the occasion. Everyone had been gracious, passing along wishes for Geanie to rest up before the wedding.