And Then There Was One (35 page)

Summer Solstice Art Walk Kicks Off a Celebration of Art and Summer Solstice.
— Entertainment Events,
Traverse City Record-Eagle
, June 20

By noon Spanky had everything loaded into the beat-up van. Jostling along the dirt road, he tried to work out all the steps of his plan. He had to focus, but he was so pissed at Ma for giving him a hard time. Hell, she’d gotten him into this mess, now all she could do was bitch about poor little Jennie. Jennie was no more that kid’s name than Precious was, but he’d have to go along with Ma’s loony shit until they were safely in Alaska with all that money.

He was having second thoughts about Ma. She was like a hawk, watching over Precious. Last night when he’d gone into Ma’s bedroom to check on Precious he’d had a hard-on to beat all hard-ons. Couldn’t risk waking up Ma and her making a noisy fuss. That would change soon.

Right now he didn’t have a choice, he’d have to leave Precious with Ma at the campsite. When he came back with the money, he’d take off with the girl. Leave Ma enough money for her to get her own place. He just hoped that she had the smarts to stay on the run now that they had her name and all. But she wouldn’t have a clue where to find him and Precious. Or maybe he was wrong about Ma, and once the three of them lived far away from anybody else, she’d understand and be fine with him and Precious.

He couldn’t see what was wrong with him and a little girl, but others didn’t see it his way, and Ma was the victim of peer pressure. Once they got to Alaska, they’d be on their own and nobody else’s
opinion would matter. But for now he had to get them the hell out of here and haul his butt down to the Everglades. He’d leave Precious with Ma, and figure out the long term later. Right now Precious was tied up in the back of the van, covered with a mess of blankets they’d taken from the cabin.

Alex cried softly underneath the pile of blankets. She could hear Maggie in the front seat talking to that man about Jennie.
Alex,
she wanted to scream.
My name is Alex
.

“And it’s not right to tie Jennie up,” Maggie was saying.

“How many time do I gotta tell you to shut up,” the man said. Alex knew his name was Spanky and that he was Maggie’s son, but she refused to call him by name.

The van lurched and turned and bumped along. Alex didn’t know how long they’d been driving when they came to a stop. Could they be in Canada? What had Maggie meant when she said that her
real dad
was in Canada?

“Where are we?” Maggie asked. “Why are we parking in all these weeds?”

“Look, Ma, I said I had a plan. All you gotta do is stay here, keep quiet and be safe. I’ll be back soon.”

Then Alex heard the door of the van open and click shut.

Maggie climbed over into the backseat. She reached back and uncovered Alex’s face, but she did not untie her. She talked to her like she was a baby and even sang her a lullaby. There was something very crazy about this lady. Alex knew that her mom worked with crazy people sometimes and she wondered if they scared her, too. During the second singing of the lullaby, Alex looked up when she heard what sounded like a motorcycle. Maggie’s eyes were closed so she didn’t see him, but Alex did — Spanky, on a motorcycle, coming up alongside the van. With a little wave, he turned the bike toward the road. Alex prayed that she’d never see him again.

Alex must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing she heard was Maggie’s voice. “Not a boat Spanky. What if she gets seasick?”

The back of the van opened and Alex squeezed her eyes closed
until she felt hands pull her into a sitting position. Before she could react, a strong band was pulled over her mouth.

The scary man then picked her up and carried her down a dock and onto a white boat.

“Lie down and be still,” he said, wrapping her so tightly in a bed sheet that she could hardly wiggle. Then he loaded other stuff in boxes and bags so close to her that she thought she might be crushed if the boat rocked back and forth. The man hadn’t covered her eyes and when she’d looked around, she saw an old man fishing on the dock. Had he seen her? Would he help her?

“Satisfied, Ma?She’s okay under there?”

“Okay, but I don’t like the idea of a boat. Where are we going?”

“Camping,” Alex heard. After that, the sound of a motor drowned out their voices.

Streeter landed on a makeshift helicopter pad prepared along the stony shores of Elk Lake. The report was bad. He’d been on the radio the whole trip between Detroit and the Spanksy family’s cabin. Again, Marge and Samuel Spansky had evaded them. Yes, they’d been there. They’d found the gray teddy bear belonging to Sammie Monroe abandoned. They’d missed by an hour or so judging from the partially melted ice in a tray on the kitchen counter. The Spanskys had left not an inkling of a clue as to how they’d gotten out or where they were heading. Other than finding the brown Escort, covered with branches and stashed in a nearby swamp among tall reeds, they had nothing but nondescript tire impressions in the sandy soil.

“Shit, shit, shit.” What else could he say? How had the Spankys known they were closing in? Had it been Spansky who’d called in the ransom demand? Were they on their way to Miami? But why had they come all the way up here just to turn south? Roadblocks already peppered Michigan, and now they’d have to be extended all the way south to Miami. A weird pattern for a kidnapping scheme, thought Streeter. Either this guy was very smart or very stupid.

Putting it off as long as he could, Streeter put the call through to Camry, briefed her, and asked to speak to the Monroes.

Scott picked up in the girls’ room. “We found the cabin,” Streeter
said, “but Alex is not there. She was there, but they’ve gone now.”

“Oh, no.” Scott’s voice, and in the background, a gasp from Katie.

Streeter could feel his shoulders slump in defeat as he fed Scott the few facts that they knew.

“The money,” Scott said in a low voice. “We have to get the money to Miami.”

“The Miami field office is in charge down there, but Alex could be anywhere between Elk Rapids and Miami. We have roadblocks everywhere. The whole country is mobilized on this, as I’m sure you’ve seen on all the news stations.”

“The other ransom note, the one sent to the Yankees?” Scott asked.

“We had a guy looked just like you drop the bag of fake bills. No one showed to pick it up. We’re sure that this was phony and has nothing to do with the Spanskys, but we had three hundred sixty-degree photo surveillance around the designated drop off site. Later, we’ll ask you to take a look, but that’s not our highest priority.”

Streeter tried to reassure Scott, offering his regards to Katie with a heavy heart.

As predicted, the boat ride took six hours, but daylight was fading fast. Spanky chose a desolate area a hundred yards inland from the shoreline, protected by tall trees and heavy brush, close enough to the cove where he’d secured the boat. He figured it would take him an hour to haul in the supplies and throw up the tent. Ma and Precious would be okay here as long as they stayed put. There was a fee for camping, and he’d give Ma enough cash to cover it should park rangers intrude, warning her to act innocent, apologetic, and eager to pay. And to keep the girl out of sight.

His earlier plan had been to steal a car and drive back down by the Mackinac Bridge. But the more he thought about it, the riskier it seemed. Now he planned to take the boat back down the western coast of Lake Michigan to the Milwaukee area. He’d abandon it there, find a car, make the drive. He still had seventy-five hours. Enough time, but none to spare. He’d wanted to leave that night, but he’d been up most of the night before. Being a trucker he knew the importance of sleep. If you don’t get enough, you make mistakes. And
he needed to stay smart. He decided to stay overnight in the tent and leave first thing in morning.

Marge threw up three times as Spanky charged across Lake Michigan at full throttle. She’d never been on a boat except for Evan’s rowboat and a boat from Detroit to Belle Island and back. That had been slow enough to walk around holding a drink, but this was a violence she could never have imagined. She had to hold on with both hands or she’d go flying out as the boat went up and down over the waves at the same time it rolled from side to side. All she could think about was Jennifer back there. Would she even be alive when they got there — wherever they were going? Jennifer’s hands were wrapped inside that blanket so she couldn’t hang on and the bumps were very violent. It was very mean of Spanky to make her suffer like that. Before they reached the shore, Marge had made a decision.

By the time Spanky pulled the boat close to the shore, Marge was covered in her own vomit. Nauseous, with a killer headache, she crawled to the back of the boat where Spanky had stashed Jennifer. A picture flashed in her mind, Jennifer, blue eyes, dark curly hair, only eight months old. Spanky had pushed her in the water the first time. Could Jennifer have fallen out?

Spanky finally found a broken-down dock in a protected inlet. As he threw out a rope, Marge rushed to check on Jennifer. When her hand felt her daughter’s soft curly hair, she felt a surge of joy. “Oh, thank God,” she kept repeating.

Once on the shore, Maggie pulled the cloth out of Alex’s mouth and untied her hands.

“Oh, thank the Lord, you weren’t drowned,” Maggie was saying. “I was so scared I’d lose you again, Jennie.”

Even though Maggie stunk like vomit, Alex let herself be pulled into a hug.

Okay, she thought, this makes me sick, and Sammie would never do this, but — “Maggie,” she said, her face touching the woman’s. “Is it okay if I call you ‘Mama’ or ‘Mom’ or something? Maybe ‘Mother?’” Alex thought that she, too, would throw up. Not because
of smelling vomit, but because of what she had said. Calling this evil woman anything that meant mother was like the most shameful thing. But would it help her get the woman to trust her so she could escape?

“Oh, my baby, of course. That would be the most wonderful thing. ‘Mama’ I think that would be best. My little Jennie — Yes, ‘Mama’ would be fine.”

Alex held her breath as Maggie started to tremble. Trying to disentangle herself from the woman’s arms, she saw the tears in her eyes. Alex didn’t care. She just wanted to get out of there.

“Get your butts in gear. Stop that blubbering, Ma. Precious, you can carry the bags of food.” The man motioned for her to hold out her hands and he filled them with two white plastic bags. “Get your asses in gear or you’re gonna be sleeping on the ground.”

Maggie and Alex ran about doing whatever the man told them to do until he finally got the tent up. He told them how to make a fire and how to light the lantern. He said there were berries around but not to go too far. He told them not to talk to anyone. Maggie asked him how they were supposed to go to the bathroom.

“In the woods,” he said. “Here, Precious, let me show you where.”

Alex had been sitting on the camp bed, and Spanky came to offer her a hand.

“No, Spanky, just tell me where. I’m the one who has to pee.”

Spanky pointed to a clearing in back of their campsite and Maggie hurried off.

No longer had she left than Spanky unzipped his pants and pulled out his penis. Alex had never actually seen a penis except in science books. Were they supposed to be that big? “Look at this, my Precious, this is just for you. Come Precious, touch it, before Ma gets back.” Now he was right in front of Alex. Her face came within an inch of what looked like a huge, hairy sausage. “Touch it, Precious, or do you want to put it in your mouth? You can, you know. You can lick it, too. Oh yeah, that would feel real good.”

Alex didn’t know what to do. Should she touch it? Would he hurt her if she didn’t touch it?

She shook her head. She knew what a penis was for. Boys had one. That’s how they peed. She couldn’t imagine why he was showing
her his and why he wanted her to touch it, but she knew it must be something bad.
What would Jackie or Sammie do?
But they were not here and maybe she would never see them again. Alex started to cry, but Spanky took her hand and placed it on his hairy, throbbing penis just as Maggie came charging back inside the tent.

“Stop it, Spanky. I said, stop it. I told you not to do that to your sister. It’s not natural.”

“I surrender, Ma,” Spanky said with a grin, zipping up his pants. “Won’t be long and you’re gonna stop telling me what I can and cannot do. I’m a grown man, Ma, and I’ll be the one takin’ care of you.”

FBI Questions Sammie Monroe. Where is Her Triplet Sister?
National News, Saturday, June 20

To Katie’s relief, Jackie’s recovery seemed genuine and complete, and Sammie’s injuries only superficial cuts and scrapes, her arm in a sling as a precaution. Once Agent Camry had completed a thorough interrogation of Sammie, Katie had called her mom to give her the okay to visit. The girls were working on chocolate ice cream sodas when Lucy arrived, and Katie felt a rush of mixed emotions when they both leapt out of their wheelchairs to hug their grandma.

“Your hair, Sammie,” Lucy exclaimed. “At last, I’ll be able to tell you two apart.”

“But not from Alex,” Sammie said. “Hers is short now, too.”

Katie’s momentary pleasure at seeing her two daughters reunited with her mom evaporated as reality hit hard. She squeezed Scott’s hand knowing, too, that he would have had the same reaction. Alex was still missing.

For Lucy, Sammie and Jackie retold the story of Alex and Sammie’s abduction. “We have to find Alex, Grandma,” they each kept repeating.

“Katie?” Lucy intervened. Katie had zoned out, asking herself over and over,
Was Alex safe
? Of course, there was no answer.

“Mom, we were thinking,” Jackie was saying. “Can we go back to Grandma’s. We don’t need to be in a hospital. I’m okay now, really, Mom.”

“As soon as Dr. Susan comes back to check on you, we’ll ask her,” Katie said. Yes, she wanted both girls out of the hospital, but could she
cope, going back to Mom’s without Alex? Somehow that felt like she was giving up.