Waiting and Watching (19 page)

“I've got some good news I was planning to tell you over Thanksgiving,” Connie said, “but I don't think I can wait,” Connie said. “Andrew proposed and we plan to get married in Cincinnati over Christmas. I know it seems fast, but we've already waited twenty-two years. We want Aunt Viv and Andrew's mother to come, along with Lily and Earl. We can all stay at the Tilden Park Inn and get married in our old Episcopal church. I also thought you might want to bring Sylvia with you if she doesn't go to her daughter's house,” Connie said with excitement in her voice.

“Well, Con. I think it's wonderful. I really do. At least by Christmas, you will have moved to New York and lived awhile with Andrew so you'll either be a hundred percent sure of what you're doing or will know if it won't work. I know you were upset when I told you not to jump into this, but I rather regretted saying that since I think so highly of Andrew. I guess I was just being protective."

“And I love you for it. Don't forget you have to give me away,” Connie said.

“I'm your man. I'll give Andrew a call and congratulate him.”

“He'd love that.” Connie said.

After Connie hung up with Julio she began packing. She gave her notice at work, along with suggestions regarding possible candidates to fill her position with minimal training. She couldn't wait to get to New York and start her new life with Andrew.

Wednesday, September 30, 1986

When Julio's phone rang just after midnight, he was still sitting at his desk and still considering Connie's big news. He picked up on the third ring.

“Hello Julio. This is Max Ferguson.”

“Hey Max. What's up?”

“Well, I was doing some investigating and checking records through my buddy on the force. It appears Beth Vreeland has had a lot of credit card activity in and around Coral Gables. So now the question is whether it's Beth herself or her son impersonating her. There weren't any charges at The Lower Level bar where you found her son hanging out. I can't find anything on Samuel Vreeland. It's as if he doesn't exist. I'll keep researching the Vreelands.

“The next piece of info is that Martin Perkins never attended Brown. Martin Sr. did. Martin Junior was in a mental hospital and then his credit card bills show he turned up in Cincinnati. There hasn't been any credit card activity since the night of the incident. I wouldn't be surprised if his mother is giving him cash.”

“I appreciate this information, Max. Thanks and keep in touch,” Julio said.

After they hung up, Julio sat back in his chair, his hands steepled in front of him as he wondered where in the hell Martin had gotten to. It was conceivable he still meant Connie harm. And that worried him greatly.

Friday—October 31, 1986

Halloween was Earl Lookey's least favorite holiday, not that it was really a holiday. It was nothing more than an excuse for troublemakers to do what they do best. The idea of wrapping toilet paper on houses and trees or writing nasty messages on cars was just plain destructive. Earl didn't open his door to trick-or-treaters, but he did put Sniff in a pumpkin costume and took him up to the mall to pass out candy to the kids there. Sniff liked the attention the kids gave him when Earl supposedly had him perform a trick. Earl would put a dog biscuit in one hand and have Sniff guess which hand it was in. Sniff, appropriately named, always picked the right one.

The mall event ended at six, after which Earl wanted nothing more to do with Halloween. Returning home, he would turn off all the lights, put a note on the doorbell that it was out of order, pull the curtains and retire with Sniff to the back bedroom to watch television in the dark. He didn't want any teenage hooligans bugging him with Halloween pranks and even worse, begging for free candy.

Earl slept peacefully through All Hallows Eve. The following morning at six, he was dressed and putting on Sniff's leash. The two of them walked out the back door for their morning constitution. Coming around the front of the house, Earl stopped short. The old Harriman yard across the street was decorated for Halloween.

“What the hell?” he wondered out loud. He crossed the street to get a better look. It looked like a blood bath. He couldn't believe what he saw. “What kind of a sick joke is this?” he said. It looked like a reenactment of the murder scene. There were two gravestones with R.I.P. written on them and two cadaverous dummies lying on the ground. The male dummy was lying on his back with a gunshot wound in the chest. The female had a gun shot through the forehead. Both were covered in blood. Written in white paint on the lawn were the words “The doctor is out!” Pumpkins carved into frightening jack-o-lanterns were scattered across the lawn and big bats were hanging from the tree limbs above the gravestones. There were big black plastic rats on the mock gravestones. Earl had to admit all this freaked him out. Sniff didn't like it either as he began barking at the scene.

Earl quickly coerced Sniff into doing his business and returned home to phone Sgt. Reynolds. Within minutes, Reynolds arrived followed by multiple police cars. He searched the yard himself while the rest of the officers marked the yard with yellow police tape. The tape and police cars around the house completed the authenticity of the grisly scene of twenty-two years ago. Word of the gruesome decorating got out quickly and it wasn't long before a caravan of cars was driving by to see the haunted house. The speculation around town was that it was some teenager's sick joke, but Reynolds didn't quite feel that way.

Later that day, he called Julio to inform him of the incident. The mockery of the Harrimans' death would definitely be disturbing to their son, so Reynolds described the scene as delicately as he could, but had to admit it made his blood run cold.

The dummies had been shot in the same manner as John and Claire Harriman. The blood turned out to be from a pig, but the wounds in the dummies had been made by the same type of pistol that had killed them. There was no doubt in Reynolds's mind that whoever did this was mimicking the actual murders. He was grateful Connie and Julio weren't here to see this.

The Tilden Park Police did a title search on the Harriman house, as they needed to get the owner's permission to remove the offensive decorations. They found the house was owned by a corporation. A more thorough search revealed an interesting fact.

"Julio, are you sitting down? The holders of the corporation are Martin and Nola Perkins. How's that for weird?”

“That makes sense and I'm not sure why we didn't think of this before. When Martin kidnapped Connie, he took her to our old house. He had her prom dress and some of Connie's old toys, including a particularly ugly doll that Connie used to love.”

Reynolds asked Julio not to share this information to anyone but Connie. “At this point, everyone is a suspect. I don't even want Connie sharing this with Andrew, at least not yet. We're checking everyone out, including Earl Lookey, who called in the report this morning.”

Before hanging up, Reynolds asked Julio if he had found out anything else about Beth Vreeland and her son Samuel. When Julio's reply was negative, Reynolds said to call right away with any new information as this cold case was now officially reopened. “We got your beer bottle analyzed for fingerprints. We did find some prints, but we were unable to match them to anyone in the system.”

“All that means,” Julio said, “is he's never been caught.”

Tuesday—November 25, 1986

Connie and Julio arrived at the Tilden Park Inn on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. They checked into the same suite they'd had for the reunion. Before comparing their notes on the case, they decided to grab a pizza across the street on the square.

After dinner, Connie insisted they drive through their neighborhood to see if there was any sign of Martin. As they drove down their former street, Julio turned off the lights and parked the car along the curb where they could view both their house and Nola's. The street was dark since Tilden Park was an unincorporated village with very few streetlights. They saw lights on in Nola's house, but their old house was dark. They both sat there staring for a while until there was a light tap on the window. Both Connie and Julio jumped.

Tap, tap again, and then they saw a figure that looked very strange. They were both frozen. The figure looked like a man with a dome-shaped head. He motioned for them to lower the window, but neither made a move.

“Hey, Miss Marple, put down your damn window.” Connie and Julio looked at each other and began laughing because at the same time they realized it was Earl. Julio rolled down the window. “Cripes, Earl, you scared the shit out of us. What's up?”

“What's up is that you told me to keep my eyes open for any suspicious behavior and low and behold I've been watching this car for five minutes and it turns out to be you two. Listen, you're pretty obvious where you are. Why don't you pull into my garage and sit on my screened porch. From there you can get a good view of your old house and the Perkins house as well.”

“Sounds good, Earl. We'll be right over.”

“Oh, my gosh, take a look at that.” Connie said as the garage door opened for them. There was Earl in a camouflage suit with binoculars around his neck and a chrome dome helmet on his head.

“That's some get-up.” Julio said, smiling.

“Let me close the garage door so I don't blow my cover,” Earl said.

“Have you spotted anything yet?” Julio asked.

“Just you amateur dumb-asses sitting in your cars,” he replied. “Come on out to the screened-in porch. I've got my reconnaissance set-up out there.”

As they walked into the screened-in porch, there was a down sleeping bag, a telescope, a camera and a bottle of scotch. Next to the sleeping bag was Sniff's doggie bed. Sniff began barking so Earl kneeled down to calm him.

“Earl, you're doing a great job!” Connie said encouragingly. “But aren't you cold out here?”

“That sleeping bag is for arctic camping. I guaran-damn-tee that if anything goes on in that house, Sniff and I will be the first to know. When that Martin kid comes back looking for trouble, I'll be ready to give it to him,” Earl said proudly.

“Promise me one thing,” Connie said. If you see anything—and I mean anything at all—please call the police. Don't try to take the law into your own hands. The last thing we want is for anyone else to get hurt.”

“What's the latest on the case?” Earl asked.

“We'll let you know after we meet with Sgt. Reynolds tomorrow,” Connie said.

“Well, do me a favor and let those guys know that they're pretty obvious sitting out there in their unmarked car. It's either the van or one of the Crown Victoria cars. I've spotted them every night and I know if I noticed them, you know old biddy Perkins has spotted them.”

“Good point. We'll do that,” Julio said.

“Earl, I really appreciate what you're doing here for us,” Connie said as she hugged him. “We're checked into the Inn now so you can call us there if you see or hear anything. Don't forget you're coming at four for Thanksgiving dinner. It will be you, Julio and our friend Lily for dinner,” Connie said.

“Is that the skinny girl with the big hooters that Constance was with at the hospital?” Earl asked.

“That would be her,” Julio said.

“Well, I liked her. I got good vibes from her,” he said.

“Come on, Earl. She's a little young for you, don't you think?” Connie asked with a grin.

“Hell, yes! My wife Sue may be dead, but she would come back in a bolt of lightning if I ever looked at another woman.”

“You're a good man Earl, and Lily liked you a lot, too,” Connie said. “Well, Julio, I believe Earl has things well under control here and I think it's time to try and get some sleep.

“Call us if you see or hear anything and thank you so much for being our devoted sentinel. You're wonderful.” She kissed his cheek, and with that, Earl turned bright red.

Thanksgiving Day—November 27, 1986

After an emotionally grueling two days working on the case with Sgt. Reynolds, Julio and Connie looked forward to a fun dinner with Lily and Earl. Their Thanksgiving meal at the inn was the traditional turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and peas. The turkey was moist and the side dishes all delicious. The wait staff had recommended a house red from Meier's Wine Cellar that topped off the meal until they were all tempted by the chef's house made pumpkin pie and real whipped cream. Earl and Lily hit it off and had a great time teasing each other. Lily loved Earl's sarcastic, witty manner and they all enjoyed his neighborhood espionage stories.

Licking the last traces of pie and whipped cream from her fork, Lily asked Connie how things were going with Andrew. Connie, ebullient as a schoolgirl, decided this would be the perfect opportunity to announce her engagement to Andrew. She went on and on in great detail about their future and the wedding planned for Christmas, oblivious to the bored looks on the faces of Julio and Earl. Lily said she hoped to meet someone as special as Andrew as she glanced over at Julio. He just smiled and in the belittling manner of an older brother speaking to his younger sister said, “Don't worry, you will someday.” That wasn't exactly the answer Lily wanted, but she knew she was dreaming to ever consider Julio more than a friend.

Connie got the attention of Earl when she announced that both he and Lily would be included in the celebration. Connie gave them all a rundown of the wedding weekend and what part she hoped each would be willing to play. Lily would be the bridesmaid, and Connie suggested she wear whatever she wanted but that her dress should be compatible with the Christmas flowers in the church. Since both her parents were gone, Connie asked Earl to give a toast that would include the memory of her parents, yet be both heartwarming and upbeat.