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Chapters 101 through 105. |
| Chapter 101 It took many minutes for someone to answer the phone at the other end. Walker paced back and forth, the receiver tight against his ear, his nerves fraying more with every ring of the phone. Finally, he heard a welcome voice, “Hello, Edith here.” “Edith, what’s going on? Is it Sam? Are you okay?” Walker shot out these questions without letting Edith answer even the first one. Edith, though worried, felt motherly love at hearing her son’s voice. “Slow down, Walker, and I’ll tell you.” She waited until he was silent. “I think Samantha should come back. She passed out this morning, and all day has been throwing up and can’t seem to hold food down.” “We sent Franklin to the hospital with the same symptoms yesterday.” Walker remembered Dr. Delaney mentioned Franklin’s inability to eat anything solid. “It seems that air in the underground chambers was dangerous after years of putrefying flesh and insect infestation. A few hours helped to get the contaminated air out of his system.” Unseen by Walker, Edith nodded her understanding. “That’s probably it, but I still think you should send Marie back for us. If you can have Sherri fly down with her, that would be even better.” “Consider it done. Now, you get Sam ready, and I’ll have the hospital on alert for when you get back.” After one final instruction from Edith not to worry, Walker hung up his phone. He immediately dialed the hospital and found out Sherri was having a late dinner with Jack in town. He asked the receptionist who had answered the phone, “Is Dr. Ellison there tonight?” “She’s in surgery, but should be out soon.” “Good, please have her call me on my cell phone when she gets out. It’s a bit of an emergency. She has my number.” Walker was about to disconnect the phone when he heard the recently-hired receptionist rather impatiently ask, “And whom shall I say is calling?” * * * Within the hour, just before 8 p.m., Marie was once again taking off from the Westbrook Airport, this time with only Dr. Ellison in the passenger section. Walker returned to the small terminal building determined to wait until the return of the four women. He suddenly remembered he hadn’t let Edith know of the change in doctors. Knowing of the recent tension between Edith and Dr. Ellison, he took the coward’s way out and decided to let Edith find out when the doctor arrived at the cabin. The hours seemed to crawl by for Walker. He watched, without much interest, as planes occasionally took off and landed on the brightly lit runway, but none were his returning plane. “Mr. Walker,” the young counter clerk called out to him and asked, “I’m sending out for breakfast from the café in town. Can I order you anything?” Walker looked at his wristwatch, surprised to see it was nearly 5 o’clock in the morning. He had been roaming impatiently around the terminal for almost nine hours, often making trips out to the tarmac to check the dark sky for approaching planes. He wearily rubbed his tired eyes before answering. “No thanks, Henry, I’m fine. Have you heard any news from Marie yet?” Since he had asked Henry this same question every half hour or so with negative answers, he waited for the same disheartening reply. Instead, he heard a crackling sound from behind the counter. It was the same sound he had heard all night just before a pilot called in for landing instructions. To keep on top of what was happening at the airport, Henry always kept his short-wave radio tuned to the control tower. Walker went to stand next to the counter to more clearly hear the voice of the pilot when the crackling temporarily abated. With relief, he heard, “This is Marie Shepherd. We’re about 20 miles out and should be arriving soon.” There followed a conversation between the pilot and the controller high up in the airport’s control tower. It was mostly unintelligible to Walker because of the return of the loud static. It clearly was good news, though, if the smile on Henry’s face was any indication. Not able to stand waiting inside, Walker headed outside to watch for Marie’s plane. The sun was barely up, and threads of night darkness still filled the sky. Chapter 102 Not waiting for the plane to land, Walker raced across the tarmac. The minute the props on the small plane stopped, he was next to the door impatiently waiting for it to open. “Well,” a welcome voice called out, “how did I know you’d be here?” Edith appeared at the open door, and Walker carefully helped her to the ground after he had lowered the plane’s three-step ladder. Behind her, Samantha slowly came into view, helped to stand erect by a hovering Dr. Ellison. The doctor guided Samantha down the steps until Walker could gently take Samantha’s hands in his to bring her the rest of the way down. He scowled at seeing how pale she’d become in just the two days she’d been away. Leaving Marie behind to secure the plane, the small group walked across the tarmac and around the side of the terminal to where Walker had left the SUV. “Dr. Ellison,” Walker asked while opening the back door of the vehicle. “If you’ll sit back here with Sam, Edith can sit up front with me and fill me in on what happened.” Dr. Ellison angrily snapped at him, “What happened is we should never have let Samantha leave the hospital in the first place. I blame you for her present condition, Walker!” After making sure Samantha was comfortable and securing her seatbelt, Dr. Ellison turned to Walker standing stunned beside the open door. “If she’d been at the hospital, I could have stopped her vomiting immediately so she wouldn’t be so dangerously dehydrated.” ”I’m sorry, Harriet, I just wanted what was best for her, and she didn’t want to stay in the hospital.” “For God’s sake, Walker, no one wants to stay in a hospital.” The doctor took a seat beside Samantha and reached out to slam shut the vehicle’s door. Walker didn’t say a word after helping his mother into the front passenger seat. The guilt Dr. Ellison had shoveled on him kept him quiet for the short trip back to his estate and the hospital. * * * Orderlies with a wheelchair were waiting for them when the SUV pulled up in front of the hospital. In her element as the head of the emergency department, Dr. Ellison had Samantha wheeled through the waiting room and into the ER. Before the door closed, she once more confronted Walker. “I don’t want any interference with my treatment of Samantha. Do you understand?” She then reinforced this stern command by next ignoring him to speak to Edith. “You should have let me see her when she first returned to her rooms, Edith. You’re as guilty as Walker if Samantha doesn’t make it. Now, I want both of you to go back to the mansion and let me do my job.” “Harriet, please,” Walker tried to explain, but he was talking to a closed door. Dr. Ellison was gone. Chapter 103 “Where’s Anthony?” Walker asked this at finding Randall alone. Earlier, he had invited Randall to drop by his apartment while he was gone. He suggested that Randall take Jason’s journals down to read in the privacy of the rooms assigned to the two visitors. Randall stood up, stretching after sitting for hours pouring over the gruesome words. “He went to check out some facts about Colin’s death with Dr. Brown.” He walked into the small kitchenette to get more strong coffee. “He and Jack are also going to get with your sheriff to make arrangements for the other bodies.” “Yeah, I guess we should do that soon.” Walker took the mug of steaming coffee Randall handed him and wearily sat down on the living room sofa. After taking a couple careful sips, he cradled the mug in his two hands and closed his eyes. Randall silently watched his friend, still unaware of all the details regarding Samantha’s abduction and torture. Without Colin’s journal, which was missing from those he found in Walker’s apartment, he could only guess at what she and those who cared for her had gone through in the past week. Seeing Walker’s hands starting to drop, Randall quickly reached out to catch the mug before the coffee could spill. When he heard a soft snore, he realized Walker was asleep, still sitting up on the sofa. Leaving his friend undisturbed, Randall reluctantly returned to the journals. He had already gone through three of them, his copious notes filling a legal pad he’d found next to Anthony’s bed. Upon opening it after Anthony left to go see Dr. Brown, he’d found a few lines Anthony had written about Colin’s journal. Evidently, Anthony had only started reading it before the men decided to visit the orphanage the previous day. Samantha, Randall said to himself, remembering what he’d read, what happened to you? Are you still the strong, independent woman I fell for last year? Did that bastard kill your spirit before he could kill you? * * * At the hospital, Dr. Ellison was wondering the same thing. She had tried to hide her shock when entering the cabin the night before. Samantha lay nearly dead on one of the beds. Her long red hair, usually gleaming with good health, hung in lank curls around her shoulders. Samantha’s normally pale skin had a tinge of gray, looked shriveled, and was dry to the touch. The first question from the doctor at seeing her deteriorated condition was, “What’s been going on?” Not waiting for Edith to answer, Dr. Ellison started examining Samantha, shaking her head at each new symptom of extreme dehydration. What worried her most was the young woman’s rapid and deep breathing accompanied by a weakening pulse. Edith stood next to the bed, wringing her hands in distress. “She started throwing up a bit on the plane trip here, but it got worse during the night.” “So, why didn’t you call for help right away?” Dr. Ellison plunged a needle into Samantha’s limp arm and briskly hooked up an IV she’d brought with her containing liquid and medicine to start the long slow process of reversing the deadly dehydration. “She wouldn’t let me,” said Edith, tears running unnoticed down her face. “When I picked up the phone to call Walker, she knocked it out of my hands and whispered, ‘Let me die. Even he can’t fix this!’ She kept talking like that for hours until she eventually couldn’t speak and passed out.” “Well, she’s not going to die if I have anything to say about it!” Dr. Ellison remained by the bed, monitoring Samantha’s condition throughout the day. Only when she felt it was safe for Samantha to travel, did she permit the long trip to the Mono Basin’s airport. * * * Now, back at the hospital, the doctor stayed in the room on the medical floor where Samantha was still lying unconscious. Her observant eyes missed nothing as nurses recorded the intake of liquids and the output of urine. On her orders, they also monitored Samantha’s temperature, blood pressure, and pulse every 15 minutes. Just after noon, she swung around and saw Walker standing at the open door. “I thought I told you to stay away, Walker, and let us do our job!” She left Samantha’s bedside and pushed him, none too gently, back out into the corridor. Ignoring her annoyed words, Walker quietly asked, “How is she?” “She’ll live, no thanks to you or your mother.” Seeing the worry on his face, Dr. Ellison awkwardly patted his shoulder, in an unfamiliar feeling of pity for another human being. “You can go in the room if you promise to stay out of our way.” For the rest of the day and into the early evening hours, Dr. Ellison periodically returned from her daily duties to check on Samantha’s progress. She always found Walker sitting beside the bed, holding the unconscious woman’s small hand in his larger ones. Only after Dr. Ellison told him Samantha no longer was unconscious, but only sleeping, did the tenseness leave Walker’s body. Chapter 104 Walker had returned to his apartment around midnight to crash in exhaustion onto his bed. The early morning sun found him at the back of the mansion, ready to wait for the sheriff and his men to arrive. Instead, he found Randall had gotten there ahead of him. “Morning, Walker.” Randall was sitting on the downed tree limb that had killed Colin days earlier. Because of the continued hot, muggy weather, he wore a sleeveless shirt and cut-off denim shorts. “When you left me yesterday for the hospital, did you give my ‘hello’ to Samantha?” Walker shook his head. “No, she was still sleeping when I left, but I’m going back later today.” He went to sit beside Randall and felt definitely overdressed in his usual black shirt and slacks. “I want to thank you and Anthony for helping with this unpleasant business down there.” He shuddered at the memory of what he’d seen in the underground torture chambers. “This isn’t quite the vacation you planned on, is it?” “Anthony is having the time of his life and can hardly wait to watch Dr. Brown do the autopsies on those poor women.” Randall’s laughter after saying this caused Walker to look at him in confusion. “Sorry, Walker, that probably sounded ghoulish to you, but he’s still fairly new to forensic science.” Randall turned serious at this point. “You remember last time I was here I told you how Anthony saved my life in that flood. He’s become a valuable member of my department, and I just hope he doesn’t lose that enthusiasm about examining dead bodies too soon.” The sounds of vehicles rounding the mansion and heading toward the cleared space nearby interrupted their conversation. Sheriff Bitson and Anthony sat in the first of the three SUV’s, while the second one contained Officer Shannon Casey and Detective Frank Dunlop. After the SUV’s came to a stop, the remaining four officers of the Westbrook Sheriff’s Department got out of the third vehicle. The seven men and one woman came over to where Walker and Randall were waiting for them. Walker stood to greet them. “Sheriff Bitson, I thank you for volunteering your whole department for this. Has Anthony explained what you need to do?” “Yeah, and we’ve made sure to bring masks for breathing.” Sheriff Bitson turned slightly to show the gasmask he, like the rest of them, had clipped to his belt. “The Army Navy surplus store in town lent them to us for the duration.” Walker made a mental note to thank the owner of the store for his help. “Okay, let me know if you need anything else.” He saw Anthony quietly talking with Randall. After a short conversation, the younger man approached him. “Walker, Sheriff Bitson has put me in charge of this, if that’s okay with you.” “Of course it is.” “Well, then,” said Anthony, heading for the recently expanded hole to the dungeon, “let’s go, guys.” He looked at Shannon, “And gal. We all know what we need to do.” Taking the lead, Anthony quickly disappeared down the hole, and the rest of the volunteers followed, a bit more reluctantly. Each carried either a body bag or utensils for collecting and bringing out the forensic data from the various chambers. An hour passed before the first body saw the light of day for the first time in many decades. It belonged to Nancy, the second wife of Jason Edgeworth, and the two officers carrying the body bag carefully placed their burden into the back of one of the SUV’s. A third officer held a sealed container inside which were the wedges, hammer, and wooden stick used to torture and kill the woman. Immediately after putting the container beside the body bag, this officer headed for the bushes to lose his breakfast, eaten a few hours earlier. He came back to join his fellow officers, wiping his mouth and looking decidedly ill. In a shaky voice, he said, “I don’t think I can go down there again. Why don’t I stay up here and…?” The officer stopped, not sure what he could do aboveground to help. Randall jumped in with a suggestion. “Why don’t you handle the paperwork as the bodies and items come up? Dr. Brown will need accurate records for his autopsy.” “Good idea, Randall.” Walker, knowing how traumatic viewing the condition of the women could be, continued. “If you will tell him what he needs to do, it would save time for Dr. Brown.” In this way, Anthony and the volunteers spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon removing the bodies and evidence pertaining to Jason Edgeworth’s five victims. This left only the chamber where Colin had imprisoned Samantha. Chapter 105 It was starting to get dark when Anthony and the rest of the volunteers all came up into the fresh night air. Both Walker and Randall were waiting for them, having helped the officer all day with the paperwork and loading of evidence. “Walker,” Anthony left the others and pulled Walker aside. “I asked the others not to go into the last chamber where Samantha had been.” Randall, guessing what the private conversation was about, joined them. “Anthony, I think you and I should process what happened to Samantha, don’t you?” “That’s what I was going to ask Walker.” Anthony had never met Samantha, but had heard her praises from his boss following Randall’s trips to the mansion. Even at his young age, he instinctively knew Samantha wouldn’t want what happened to her known by people from the nearby town. “I think, though, it would be better if Jack, not Randall, helped me.” When Randall started to protest, Anthony hurried to add, “You’re still under doctor’s orders to rest, and what’s down there is NOT restful at all.” ‘Sorry, Randall, he’s right. It’s getting late, too late today, but I think Jack would be willing to help Anthony tomorrow. I’ll ask him.” Walker held up his hand to put a stop to Randall’s complaint and left them to thank the Sheriff and his crew for all the hard work they’d done. After inviting them to drop by the dining room and enjoy Chef Geoffrey’s delectable evening meal, Walker watched them head back in an exhausted group to the mansion. “You two, let’s go relax and eat with the kids, but first I need to clean up.” Anthony didn’t wait for them to follow him when he said this. Half an hour later, after all three men had showered and changed clothes, they headed over to Hannah’s Home. The noise of about a dozen children eating in the orphanage’s dining room sounded like music to their ears. The rest of the evening passed with the laughter of the youngsters wiping away some of the horror caused by the men of the Edgeworth family. Around 8 o’clock, Walker decided to visit Samantha at the hospital. He left Anthony and Randall busy telling redacted stories about what they did back in San Francisco, to the delight of the children. When Walker entered Samantha’s room, he couldn’t stop smiling when he saw her sitting upright in bed, wide awake, and looking much healthier. Even the stern look on Dr. Ellison’s face, when she spotted him coming through the door, didn’t ruin his happiness. The doctor’s next words, however, did. Continued in next segment.
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