“Jamie, I’m sorry...I told you to trust me.”
“Aunt Ruth—she kept telling me to call her Aunt Ruth—told me about a woman who was here looking for me. I knew it was you. I knew you’d be back to get me. So I was okay.” She looked about to cry. Sandy held it back.
Jamie caught her breath. “I’m okay.” She spoke rapidly, “I had a neat little bed out there in the garage. I cried only the first night. Aunt Ruth would let me inside sometimes.”
“Did she feed you?”
“Mainly apple pie and I’m sick of it. Do you know about crossword puzzles? They’re really fun.”
Detective Triney came out the front door guiding Ruth Towalski in front of him. She was handcuffed in front. “When I knocked on the door, she knew it was over. She invited me in. She admitted they tried to get money out of Kidde.”
Jamie appeared surprised. “See Sandy, that’s what I told you to start with, I heard Mom and Toby talking about making money off of kids. Oh wow, there’s daddy!” She ran to Kevin.
Sandy called after her, “Not kids, Jamie, Kidde!” She gave Triney a sheepish look. “Geez, that’s my fault. Jamie overheard them saying Kidde. I jumped to the child porn conclusion. I got on the right track for the wrong reason.”
Ruth saw Sandy and said, “I know you’re the one who did me in. Knew you were searching all my bedrooms. Knew you weren’t dumb.”
“All right, if I talk to her, Triney?” Sandy asked.
“I’ve already Mirandized her. She can talk with you at her own risk, but I’m listening, and I’m taking notes.”
“I’m not mad at you,” Ruth said. “It’s okay. Couldn’t go on like that with that poor child in the garage. Sorry about that, but the smart kid would have escaped from any other room in the house I’m glad it’s over. I’m so tired.”
“I must know, at any time was Toby alone with Jamie?”
“Do I look that crazy? Okay, so I do look that crazy, but the answer is no. And I didn’t want him alone with you either. His mind messed up the way it is. Absolutely not.”
“Be certain your attorney brings that up in court. You may have saved Jamie. But you need to face it, what you did was aid and abet a kidnapper.”
“Abet, to support or encourage. But it’s worse than that, Sweetie. It was me all the way. You think Toby could put this scheme together? He came home that night all excited about what he had witnessed on the beach. I told him how to blackmail that congressman and told him to go kidnap Jamie.”
Triney heard. “We’re adding blackmail to the kidnapping and murder charges against you. You still have the right to remain silent.”
“I want to tell her,” Ruth snapped. “Can we sit down on the step over there?”
He nodded. They sat side by side and he stood behind them with his notebook open. “Make it quick. I need to take you over to the sheriff’s office and get a formal statement.”
“No, I want to tell her. Here’s how it went. Toby told me he was driving back from hog hunting when he first saw Kidde and that woman at a truck stop up near Jacksonville. Said some truckers up there were falling all over each other to get close to her cause she was hot, or maybe he said wicked hot. Also called her Miss Universe. Oh please. So he followed them. Why’d he follow them? Because he’s a man. Just looking for a new way to make an ass out of himself over some woman. Too bad she wasn’t headed north then they’d all be in Canada by now and everyone’s problem would be solved.
“Anyway, he followed them down to that Florida beach. He saw the woman choke. He talked with the man and then the man left. Toby said he ‘checked out’ the body for a few minutes and then he left. Said he never touched her. Can’t you just picture him not touching a defenseless Miss Universe?
“The man had U.S. Congress plates on his car and Toby recognized him from TV. I told him how to find the man and told him what to say. Toby meets him and comes back smiling. The man gives him twenty grand cash. We sat on the floor counting it and laughing our fool heads off.”
“So Kidde comes up with twenty thousand,” Sandy said. “The man has millions. Why settle for a mere twenty thousand? That’s pocket change for him.”
“Twenty a month, sweetie! Twenty a month. I figured it could go on for years. My ship had come in. Toby’s also thinking the money is infinite, meaning endless or unlimited. So brainchild not only gives Abby ten, he blabs out the whole story. How many times have I told him not to lose his head over a little piece of tail? I told the moron to go beat her up, or whatever, and get the money back. Abby tried to shoot him, but ended up shooting some other horny nut. You know about that.”
“So you were behind the kidnapping.”
“Yeah, I told him to grab Jamie to get the ten grand back from Abby. Abby told Toby she wasn’t about to give back the money. Said she had another plan. Said she’d worry about Jamie later. Can you beat that?”
“Abby didn’t report the kidnapping because she knew you had Jamie.”
“I misjudged her. I assumed she would bargain immediately to get her daughter back. But instead, I was left holding the kid. She couldn’t have cared less. Didn’t know me from Adam. I could have been some neurotic weirdo instead of the normal well-adjusted homemaker you see before you. She didn’t even know if I was keeping Toby away from her little daughter. Didn’t even care. Scratch her for mother of the year.”
“I’m glad Jamie was with you under the circumstances. He mentioned to me a girlfriend named Crystal. Who’s she?”
“Hey, many children have imaginary playmates. Toby made his a nympho. Then amazingly, he’s got flesh and blood women in his life, Abby, the beach babe, and then you. He couldn’t handle it.”
“Please don’t refer to that unfortunate woman as the beach babe.”
“Sorry. Of the three, the only woman he could relate to was the dead one. Toby wouldn’t stop talking about the body on the beach, how great she was. I didn’t get it right away. Then he started talking about you, said he’d like to see you when you were nice and quiet. Said you’d make a good Miss Universe. I found out he was stalking you. Then I got it. I realized what he had done to that body on the beach. It still gives me the shivers.”
“Did he admit he actually raped the body?”
“Not at first. He insisted he hadn’t done anything and didn’t know what I was getting all upset about. I had to get out that broken golf club to make him confess. I gave him a whack with that club and he still said I had it wrong, he hadn’t touched her. Then I gave him four really good ones and he started talking. He admitted he did it. He said he was sorry. He was crying when he told me. The little freak. He disgraced the family and me. We don’t have much, but we’re not ghouls. He had to be punished and who else was going to do it? You told me to change what I could in my life, well I did, I shot him.”
“Ruth, I’m not convinced Toby did anything to that body accept in his mind. He has a dangerous edge to him, but he might not have harmed me either when it got right down to it.”
“Don’t you get what I’m saying? That boy has always lived in his own confused and unstable world. You were already in his fantasy. It would have been a small step for him to cross from a dream into reality. You would have been in for the entire terrible ordeal. He was looking for you and I knew why. He’d done it once and the second time would be easier. I had to do something. I followed him. I saw you guys in that house through the window. Couldn’t hear what you were saying. I had to save you. I had to punish him. I had to shoot the little moron.”
“It’s a weird situation, but I guess I should thank you for that.” Sandy didn’t want to leave it that way. She wanted the episode to be resolved with certainty and closure. She thought Ruth had it wrong, but it wasn’t the proper time to discuss it.
“Ruth, look at me, this is important. Ask the police for a free attorney. They must provide you with one. Don’t say anything more unless your attorney is with you.”
Ruth looked over at Triney who was putting his notebook away. “Is the government gonna take care of me? You have TV, crosswords, and intelligent women to talk to over there at that prison of yours?”
“You’ll have everything you need, Ma’am, except freedom.”
“Yeah, like I’m free now? Not all prisons have bars, buddy.” Then to Sandy, “Isn’t he nice? He’s looking out for me. He’s afraid I’ll lose my shape and turn ugly in prison. Hey, I get my wish, Sandy. Tomorrow I’m having lunch with the girls. I wonder if they use teacups over there.”
The detective helped her into the back of his vehicle and then came back to Sandy. “By the way, Hotshot, the
