Chickens roamed in the lush grass under old gnarled apple trees. In a separate fenced-off area white geese waddled beside a pond of water. They started to honk to alert the farm’s owners that a visitor was there.
Beside their pen a gate stood open with a cardboard sign attached: PARK CAR HERE. There were several cars parked in the field already, one of them a rather conspicuous sports car with the top down. Vicky put Marge’s car beside it and got out, hoping Diane would still be here.
A woman with blonde hair, flushed cheeks and an apron over her blouse and jeans had come out of the farmhouse’s invitingly open door. The soap sticking to her bare underarms suggested she had been in the middle of doing the dishes. “Eggs or ice cream?” she asked hurriedly.
“I’m looking for Diane Dobbs. She’s supposed to be here.”
“Sure.” The woman spun on her heels. “Come on in. She is talking to my husband.”
Inside in a large classic kitchen Diane sat on one side of the table, her elbows leaned on the shiny oilcloth, a mug in her hands. Her German shepherd lay at her feet, head on its paws like he was snoozing. Opposite her sat a man with wild curls and a T-shirt that read All Chicks Heart Me. A toddler with the same wild hairdo played in a corner with building blocks.
Ralph Sellers was talking energetically, gesturing around. His talkativeness suggested to Vicky that Diane had already learned a lot about exactly what had happened on the night of Celine’s disappearance. This could really help them make sense of Mortimer Gill’s cryptic notes.
Diane looked up, saw her and flashed an almost relieved smile. “Vicky! What are you doing here?”
Vicky was glad that Diane welcomed her like a friend after their rather awkward good-bye on the beach. She rushed to explain, “I called your cottage and learned from the cleaning lady that you had driven out here, so I thought I’d catch up with you here. Coincidentally I’d also like to ask Ralph here a question or two.”
Ralph leaned back, raising a hand in an apologetic gesture. “If it’s about Celine, you’ve come for nothing. I’ve just explained to Diane that I can’t help her either.”
“Oh. But you were one of the two deputies at the time, right?” Vicky had almost added ‘and you took some eyewitness statements’ but bit it back in time. She was not supposed to know about that.
“Sure,” Ralph said, sprawling on the chair. “But I had just gotten my badge and Perkins wasn’t eager to involve me. I was at high school two years ahead of you, that’s true, but still I knew most of you. He thought it would put me in an awkward position if I had to question you or find out something incriminating about one of you. So I did take a few witness statements early in the investigation. When Celine had just been reported missing, people believed she had been abducted or something and were forthcoming with information. They came to the station of their own accord to tell us where they had last seen her or if they had noticed anything suspicious that night.”
Ralph hesitated a moment as if he recalled something he had disliked.
“I see,” Vicky said. “Anything worthwhile?” If Ralph himself mentioned the Jaguar, she might probe what the police had done to identify the owner.
But Ralph waved his hand. “Look, I took a few of those statements, but after that, when it got more serious and the rumors started that Michael Danning had killed her because he believed she was seeing another man, I got taken off the case. I really don’t know much more about it. I had to work on other things and as I had just started in the job that was hard enough.”
He raked through his hair with one hand. “Hey, let’s admit it. I was not cut out for that whole police business. This is much better for me. Being outside, handling animals, being close to my family.”
His wife turned a moment and smiled at him. He smiled back at her and cast a loving look at his young daughter. Then he continued to Vicky, “I thought it would be exciting to have a badge and all, you know, solve crime. But Celine’s case really made me think. A girl I had known just vanishing and nobody ever finding out what happened. We failed there and I guess I never really forgave myself for it. Even though it was hardly my fault.”
He sat a moment, thinking. “I have always believed Michael Danning did it. Why else would he have left Glen Cove?”
“He did come back,” Vicky pointed out softly.
Ralph’s face set. “I never thought that was a great idea. It got things all dragged up again. You’re not the first to ask me all these questions about it.”
“Who else was interested?” Diane wanted to know.
“Oh, just local people who come here for their eggs. They drive on and off all day long.” Ralph waved again. “It started when you came back to town. I guess I hoped it would die down again. I don’t like it.”
He got up and rubbed a hand over his face in a nervous gesture. “I’ve got work to do, so if you don’t mind…”
“Of course.” Diane got up too. Her dog immediately responded and pressed itself close to her side. “Thanks for talking to me. And…” she turned to his wife “…for the cake and coffee.”
“No problem.” The wife waved a soapy hand at them. “Take along a few eggs. For free.”
Ralph collected the eggs for them and saw them to their cars. The flashy sports car turned out to be Diane’s. She stared after Ralph thoughtfully as he strode off to feed his geese. “They said back then Perkins was shielding someone,” she whispered. “Maybe he was shielding Ralph. It would have been bad if his own deputy had turned out to be involved.”
She leaned over closer. “He got a real scare when he saw me. Stood like he was rooted to the ground. And he tried to turn the conversation away from Celine constantly, starting about chickens, parasites, eggs that won’t hatch et cetera. I learned more about farm life than I ever wanted to know.”
Vicky frowned. “Why did you decide to go see him anyway?”
Diane nervously brushed her face. “I got a call from some crackpot last night who actually offered me evidence as to Celine’s killer. That’s the term he used: killer. He asked five thousand dollars for it. I thought he was crazy, but all the same I couldn’t disconnect. He suggested an exchange, said something about a meet, then suddenly the line went dead. It was creepy.”
Diane shivered. “I was completely shook-up at first, but then I thought Michael should know about it and I called him at the Gazette’s offices. But some young guy told me Michael wasn’t there and he wouldn’t give me his cell phone number. I guess I must have sounded hysterical and he wanted to save his boss from some female stalker.”
She smiled thinly. “I went to Michael’s house and waited for him there for hours. But he never came home. Then I went back to my own cottage, thinking I was losing my mind. I couldn’t sleep, so got up early and came here. I also wanted to try the other deputy, but after this letdown I feel like it’s no use. A dead end as well. He’d just cover for Ralph probably.”
“Michael wasn’t home because he was at the police station.” Vicky wet her lips. There was no gentle way to convey this bad news. “Michael and I found my mason Mortimer Gill dead in his home. From what we saw there we have reason to assume he wanted to call people before he died. Michael and I wondered if he wanted to offer them evidence about Celine’s disappearance. Now that you tell me that you got a call last night… It has to have been Mortimer. Only…the killer got to him before he could reveal exactly what he knew and silenced him.”
Diane stared at her. All color had drained from her face. “That’s horrible! The call did end abruptly. Like somebody was coming and he didn’t want to be overheard. I thought it might be a spouse or…”
She raised a trembling hand to her mouth. “It could actually have been the killer. I sort of heard the arrival of the killer.” Her eyes went wide. “If this is really about Celine, the killer who came