Stranger in Town

CHAPTER 12





“Pssst, over here,” a voice called from the bushes.

I had exited Kris’s home and was on my way to my car when I heard it. I walked “over here” and came face to face with Sylvia and another woman I guessed to be the one staring through the blinds. They were revved up but doe-eyed at the same time. Something pressing was on their minds—I could tell by their rapid breathing. It was fast and intense, like the words they had prepared to say were getting ready to explode all over everything.

“What can I do for you two?” I said.

Sylvia wagged her finger at me. “We know you didn’t go to school with Kris.”

“Yeah, we’ve known Kris since she was this tall,” Mini-Blind Lady gestured with her outstretched, flattened hand.

“What I’m doing here doesn’t concern either of you, and it’s not polite to linger outside Kris’s home.”

They looked at each other, contemplating their next move.

“Are you a cop or something?” Sylvia said. “Because we’ve seen everyone who’s come in and out of this place, but we’ve never seen you before.”

I nodded. I may not have been a cop, but I had no problem putting myself into the “or something” category.

Sylvia elbowed her friend. “See, Mildred, I told you.” She then looked at me. “If you’re looking into what happened to Olivia, you’ll want to hear what we have to say.”

I pointed to my car. “Get in.”

They exchanged looks again.

“Look,” I said, “whatever it is, I’m not going to discuss it here. We can go to the end of the street and talk there. And if you two don’t trust me, fine. But I’m leaving.”

One minute later we were parked in front of a vacant lot on the next street. Sylvia spoke up first. “That evil man killed our Judith.”

“You mean Olivia?”

It seemed entirely possible that at least one of them was battling Alzheimer’s.

Sylvia shook her head.

“I mean Judith Schroeder.”

“The woman the kidnapper ran over in the Maybelle’s Market parking lot?”

Both women nodded in unison.

“Do you know something about the kidnapping?”

Their smiles told me they did, or they thought they did.

“We know who did it,” Sylvia said, eyes glimmering.

“Who?”

“Terrence.”

“Olivia’s stepdad?”

“Oh, we don’t believe Terrence did it himself,” Sylvia said.

“No, no. He wouldn’t do that,” Mildred said. “We think he hired someone.”

“To do what?”

“Get rid of the girl, of course,” Sylvia said.

Things were starting to get interesting.

“Terrence hated Olivia,” Sylvia said.

“How do you know?”

“Well—” Sylvia said, “I was picking some tomatoes in my garden one evening, and I overheard Terrence tell Kris that he’d never agreed to raise Olivia, and if she wouldn’t send the child to live with her parents, he was leaving.”

“What did Kris say?”

“She didn’t say anything,” Sylvia said, “unless it was under her breath.”

Mildred looked at Sylvia. “It’s possible.”

“Entirely,” Sylvia replied. “I hadn’t thought of that. My hearing isn’t what it used to be. Still, I believe I would have at least heard Kris if she’d said something.”

The problem with their theory was the connection to the second missing child; there was none. Not that I knew of, anyway. I started to think they’d been watching too many episodes of 48 Hours. But a lead was a lead, nonetheless.

“Have you spoken to anyone about this?” I said.

Sylvia nodded. “Oh yes. Detective Whittaker. He’s been trying to find out what happened to Olivia since the day she disappeared. He’s a good man.”

Mildred blushed when Sylvia mentioned his name.

“What did the detective say?”

“Nothing,” Sylvia said.

“Not one word?”

“Now that I think of it, Sylvia, he did say one thing,” Mildred said. “He said, ‘I see.’”

“And we’ve been waiting to hear back from him ever since,” Sylvia said.

‘I see’ was the polite way of letting them know he didn’t take anything they said seriously. So…should I?



Kris had a look of bewilderment on her face when I arrived on her doorstep for the second time in one hour.

“I have a few more questions about Terrence,” I said.

Her left eye twitched, and she crossed one arm over the other in front of her. She’d been through so much already. I thought about phrasing my questions so they didn’t sound so direct and invasive, but tact didn’t make the top-ten list of my most admirable qualities. Hell, it didn’t even make the top twenty.

“You said Terrence was fine with Olivia as long as the two of you didn’t have any more children,” I said. “At any time did he try to get you to get rid of her?”

The look on Kris’s face answered the question for me. “What do you mean?”

“Did Terrence ever suggest that Olivia go to your parents’ house to be raised by them instead of you?” I said.

“Who told you that?”

“You said he was tolerant of her,” I said, “but from what I understand, it sounds like he wanted to pawn her off so the two of you could be together with no distractions.”

“It’s hard enough to grieve, but to be put through the same questions over and over again until you have the answers memorized. It’s too much.”

Kris stepped back, slowly closing the door on my question and me. I allowed it. The pain in her eyes kept me from probing any further.

“I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I just can’t.”