It started only a few weeks ago in a sleepy southern city, somewhere south of the beltway
around the nation’s capital and just east of the mountains. No one ever expects to be
from that community that is currently in the news for some series of unsolved mysteries.
Still, if the mysteries occur, then they must occur in communities where someone lives and
goes about daily life.
The headlines become the same day after day. This particular mystery, or more
correctly this series of interrelated mysteries, revolves around missing women who are
still unaccounted for; no new evidence in the disappearances has come to the attention of
either the media or the police. At least, any new information that might have shown up is
not being openly shared with all the members of the community who are interested in the
story or to those who have a vested interest in the real story.
But as the bits and pieces are coming to the surface, one fact is undeniable. The
crime spree or as we’ve already dubbed it the mystery is only deepening. We will find
that others workings are occurring behind the scenes that will come to light soon.
And as the senior detective, Inspector Fuller has said repeatedly in his long and
positive career, if I know what motivates the criminal, then it’s only a matter of time
before that motive will cause the perpetrator to stand out from all others.
CHAPTER I
Finally the workday part of Monday was over. This one had been particularly slow since
it had rained all day. Meg Scott liked the rain when she wasn't working, but it
could be depressing to be in the office all day with nothing to see through the windows
but overcast skies and rain, which had been heavy at times today. Of course, most of the
rooms in the office didn't even have windows, but when she did get to look out it
made her feel slow and sluggish. It was just after four-thirty when she finished with her
last eye exam. She came out of room 2 and stopped at the reception desk to look at the
mail.
"Doctor Scott, Dennis Johnstone called to see it you could wait for just a few
minutes until he could come by on the way home. He said he got hit in the eye playing
softball yesterday and he would like you to take a look at it."
"Okay, Edna, please pull his file. Then you may as well close up and call it a
day. I think I'm going to change into exercise clothes and go by the athletic club
on the way home. I feel so out of sorts with the rain and I ate entirely too much this
weekend."
"Well, if I looked as slim as you do, I'd be very happy. But then, you are
twenty-five years younger than I am, and single. So I suppose you do watch your figure
more closely than I do."
Meg smiled at the comments. Her office manager sounded so much like a mom. She turned
away and went into her office. A few minutes later, Edna Stuart brought in a file and put
it into her top basket.
"Mr. Johnstone is here. Would you like me to stay so you won't be alone in
the office?"
"Thanks, Edna, but I won't be alone. Mr. Johnstone will be with me. And he
seems to be innocent enough. You go ahead, I'll be just fine. Just lock the front
door as you leave, okay? I'll see you in the morning."
Edna Stuart mumbled to herself that she didn't think it was such a good idea for
an attractive young woman to be alone with a strange man in the office, even if he was
innocent enough. The young women of today were certainly less worried about their own
safety than in years gone by. So, being the dependable employee she’d always considered
herself to be, Edna locked up and left the building, but the hovering and careful mother
just under her skin waited in her car until Mr. Johnstone came out and Doctor Scott had
locked the door behind him. After all, better safe than sorry.
* * * *
After Meg Scott had examined Dennis Johnstone's left eye, she let him out of the
office and as she locked the door, she again had cause to smile because she saw her
"substitute mom" in the parking lot, no doubt waiting for Mr. Johnstone to
leave.
“You sweet lady. I guess I really should be thankful that there is someone who keeps
an eye on me."
Meg turned off lights as she walked back to her office. There in a closet, she had her
equipment bag, which she pulled out. After unzipping it, she pulled out a pair of tan
shiny Lycra tights, pink and white striped shorts, a white knit shirt, pink slouch socks
and her Reeboks. She went into the bath adjacent to her office and quickly changed.
After putting her street clothes on a hanger, she turned off the lights and let herself
out the back door.
* * * *
Twenty-five minutes later she was working up a sweat at the Piedmont Athletic Club in
an aerobics class. After a good workout, about forty minutes including cool down, Meg
decided that instead of taking a shower and changing again, she would just wait to shower
at home. She grabbed her things and headed to the parking lot where her 1967 Corvette
convertible was parked. She tossed her bag into the right seat and slid behind the wheel
of the yellow sports car.
This was one of the very few foolish things she had ever done as an adult. But, she
loved the feeling she got when she drove the powerful car. Meg had always heard that every
man had a feminine side, so she had to assume that this was her masculine side showing
itself. Besides, she looked good in it! She was home in twenty minutes, and as she
turned into her Woods Hill Road driveway, she noticed that there was a dark blue Ford van
parked across the street from her house. This attracted her attention because there was
not a house across from hers. It was part of the reason she had liked the house so well.
Her view was unobstructed on three sides, and there were the woods behind the house for
privacy. She couldn't see her closest neighbor's house until after dark when
the lights would show through the trees. Her closest neighbors, the Jordans, were over
four hundred yards away on the left side of her house. She sort of missed the
neighborhood atmosphere of her old place. But she liked the privacy here. Still, she
needed to check out that van.
After parking the car in the garage, Mary Margaret Scott headed around to her front
walk. She saw that there was a man sitting in the van. Her first reaction was surprise
and an instant of fear. That last thought should have been the one she considered the
strongest, but instead, her curiosity overrode her other considerations. She strolled
across the street toward the driver's door.
"Excuse me, but can I help you with something?"
The man inside was middle aged with graying hair. He looked up from something he was
apparently reading.
"Oh ... hello there. No ma’am. We're just trying to find a break in the
cablevision line here. We've tracked it to about a hundred foot or so section. I
think my helper has about got it."
Meg just nodded her head to indicate yes, she understood, and turned to walk back to
her front door. Once inside, she dropped her bag in the entrance gallery and went into
the kitchen to get some orange juice. She had just put her glass into the sink when the
front doorbell rang. She went back through the hallway, turning on lights as she went.
Even though it had stopped raining over an hour ago, it was still very dark considering
how early in the evening it was. She turned on the front light and looked through the
peephole. It was the cable television guy. She pulled back the dead bolt and opened the
door.
"Yes?"
"Sorry to bother you, ma’am, but could you turn on your television and see if the
cable reception is clear again? It would save us a lot of time."
"Sure, I can do that."
She returned to the kitchen where there was a small portable TV on the counter. She
switched it on and the picture was as good as ever. When she turned to go back to the
front door to tell the cable repairman, he was standing not two feet from her with a gun
in his hand. She didn’t even need to recall that moment of hesitation she’d had out in
the drive. It blasted its way back into the middle of her radar screen. She was
absolutely certain of what she believed to be true.
"Oh my God ... You're the kidnapper, aren't you?"
"I sure am, sweetheart. Now, you just do as you're told."
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