“What’s going on, Ollie? You got missing girls all over this county!” Marlow demanded aggressively, in a transparent attempt to shift the focus of the situation.
“I don’t know, Marlow, but I’m damn confused. I want to hear his story,” he said, jerking his head toward Lewis, who began babbling about having a gut feeling and driving on up to the trailer to look around. Ollie glared at him. He knew a line of crap when he heard it. This wasn’t making sense. Years of being around R.C. and Larson had fine-tuned Ollie’s BS meter. “Marlow, who tipped the newspaper?” he asked, clearly angered.
“I had to call him about something else and mentioned why I was in the county…that’s all,” Marlow explained.
“Look, fellas, I got a mess on my hands, and I need your help. I need some serious investigative work done. I need to know who that girl is and how she figures into this chaos, and then we have to start all over. Marlow, have your guys ready to go back out,” Ollie ordered, taking charge.
Marlow sheepishly nodded.
Ollie opened the door, then hustled down the hall to find R.C. and the mysterious victim. As he passed, he asked the Beasleys to wait just a minute longer, he’d be right back. It didn’t take long to find everyone. The hospital was small, and a crowd was gathered around the door to Exam Two. Ollie opened the door and saw Dr. Sarhan listening to the woman with his stethoscope. He saw the camo duct tape lying on the floor. R.C. was trying to ask questions of the medical staff but wasn’t getting any answers.
“Let examination complete. You can ask question then,” Dr. Sarhan said in a thick Indian accent to R.C. but looking up at Ollie.
Ollie understood and motioned to R.C. to stop. Ollie bent down and grabbed the pieces of duct tape. The woman appeared to be at least thirty years old, maybe older. She was just waking up. He didn’t recognize her.
“Please allow few minutes, Sheriff,” Dr. Sarhan said.
“Come on, R.C.” Ollie let out a deep breath and motioned R.C. out into the hall.
“Did you get anything?” Ollie asked R.C.
“Doc doesn’t think she was raped. He was pissed that she was still taped up. He about bit my head off. What’s up with that…what was that deputy thinking?”
“Youth,” Ollie replied. “Anything else?”
“No sir.”
“You don’t know her, do you?” Ollie asked, rubbing his aching head while holding his hat.
“Never seen her before-and I think I would remember,” R.C. replied, alluding to her good looks. “Want a Tums?” R.C. flipped one into his mouth then held out the roll out.
“Yeah.”
“Whaddya need me to do?” R.C. asked as he handed the roll to Ollie.
Ollie saw the Beasleys charging up the hall straight to him. He knew he had stalled as long as he could.
“Call Miz Martha and bring her up to speed; then meet me right outside,” Ollie instructed. “Have her call and wake up everybody available, including the county game warden. We’re gonna need everybody.”
“Ten-four,” R.C. replied, reaching for his cell phone as he walked hurriedly toward the exit.
“Ollie, what the hell’s going on…what are you doin’ to find Elizabeth?” Zach launched into him.
“We are trying to determine where to concentrate our efforts right now. All this is very confusing. Everybody assumed that was Elizabeth.” Ollie broke eye contact and looked at the floor. “Please give me a few minutes to determine who this woman is and how she fits into all this.”
“Sheriff, you need some help. You should call in the FBI or something. This is serious. This is my daughter we’re talking about,” Zach Beasley said sternly.
“Yes sir. I have…we are…just hang on for a minute,” Ollie stuttered as he searched for the right words.
Zach didn’t wait for Ollie to finish. He walked off to look for Sheriff Marlow.
Ollie raised his head to see R.C. hanging up his phone as he walked back into the hospital. He motioned to him; then the two of them went over to Steve Tillman.
“How’s Tanner, sir?” Ollie asked, holding his hat in his hands.
“No change, but he is stable…I sure was shocked that wasn’t Elizabeth, Sheriff.”
“Yes sir. Me, too. Are you still willing to ride out to your property?”
“I’ll do anything to help out, Ollie,” and he meant it.
“R.C., Mr. Tillman owns some land on the Dummy Line. That may be where the kids were. Take Mr. Tillman and y’all go look around. Be careful. Call me if you see anything.”
“Sure thing…let’s go, Mr. Tillman.”
“I have to tell my wife. I’ll be right with you,” Tillman said, walking away.
Ollie peered back in Exam Two. They were still working on the mystery woman. Who the hell is she? Then he watched R.C. walk out through the automatic doors and the Beasleys round the corner, about to explode. “Where’s Sheriff Marlow?”
Ollie only had to take a step toward the exit to see the television truck and the camera focused on Sheriff Marlow. “Damn it,” he muttered under his breath and pointed toward the exit. Ollie turned back toward Exam Two as Dr. Sarhan waved him in.
“I think she will be fine…physically, but mentally, she has been through much trauma.”
“Has she been raped?” he asked softly.
“No, she has not. I see no signs of physical abuse.” Dr. Sarhan pulled off his exam gloves and threw them into the trash.
“You may talk to her,” he said as he walked out of the room.
Ollie was alone with the mysterious woman. Their eyes met. He pulled out his notepad, sat down on the stool next to her, and smiled kindly. “Ma’am, I’m Sheriff Ollie Landrum. I need to know who you are and what happened?”
“Where am I?” she asked.
“You’re at the hospital in Livingston.”
“Livingston? Alabama?”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied, noting her confusion. “Why don’t you tell me who you are?”
“My name’s Lindsay Littlepage. I live in West Point, Mississippi…I need to call my husband,” she explained slowly.
West Point! he thought. He was certain that wasn’t a coincidence. He thought about Mick and his friend.
“How did you get here? What happened?”
“My husband’s out of town on business, and my kids were at a spend-the-night party, so I was home alone and this…this…this…” She was beginning to get emotional.
Ollie needed information. He would have to go slow. “It’s all right, ma’am. Take your time, but you need to know that there may be more lives in danger. Do you understand?” he asked gently.
She nodded and continued. “This guy broke into our house and threatened me. He taped me up and put me in the back of his van, or maybe it was an SUV. He said my husband killed someone…and that…that makes no sense.”
Ollie listened carefully and took notes.
“We drove for hours, and then he put me in a dark…a dark room.” She was crying again. “I need to call my husband, please.”
“Yes ma’am, you will. I promise. I just need to know the rest first.”
She wiped her eyes, and a nurse walked in to check on her. Ollie insisted she continue.
“Well, he left me and came back…and he said he was going to get his buddies…then he came back and he taped my eyes and told me to walk straight away and I would live. He insisted I walk straight away, but I couldn’t see anything but a little bit of my feet. It was horrible.”
“Yes ma’am,” Ollie responded.
She started crying again, “That’s when the policeman found me. Please thank him for me.”
“Do you know…” Ollie flipped back a few pages to make sure he had the right name. “Do you know Jake Crosby?”
Her eyes widened, and she said, “He’s my next-door neighbor…he and my husband are good friends…they hunt together.”
Ollie let out a deep breath. Damn it. How could all this be connected? He needed to call Mick.
“Mrs. Littlepage, why don’t you rest now. I’ll have a deputy come by to help you call your husband, OK? You said he was away on business. Where is he?” he asked, preparing to write down her answer.