Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 02 - Portrait on Wicker Read online

  I grew up in a small town in Georgia. It was called Roaming Hills. It was one of those places where everyone knows everyone else. We were poor. When I say poor I mean there were times when there was no food.

  There were five of us children. My mama did the best she could with just a third grade education. Her parents had been share croppers. They both died when my mom was sixteen and she took to the streets.

  She did a little hooking until she started having so many kids, then she took in laundry. I never knew who my dad was. Some John, I guess.

  Last year I ran away and hitched all the way to New Orleans. I know, I’m lucky to be alive, but I got a ride with a trucker a good part of the way.

  I’m seventeen years old but people tell me I look about twelve. When I got into New Orleans I lived on the street and slept in doorways. I stole food from the street carts. I think some of the venders knew, but felt sorry for me, and looked the other way.

  When winter came I didn’t have a coat and I was freezing. I thought it would be easy to steal a coat. Just go into a store, put one on and walk out. I didn’t know about the little magnetic tag on the inside. So I went into J.C. Penny’s and found a pretty jacket just my size.

  I put it on and started out the door. A loud ringing went off and suddenly I was arrested. After going before judge Renfroe, he told me I had to go live with Mr. and Mrs. Lessiter.

  At first, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. There was plenty of good food and I had a room all to myself. I went to school and did well. I started thinking I would be able to make a success of my life and for the first time I had a daddy.

  It wasn’t until I had been there about six weeks that Mr. Lessiter started coming into my room.

  Here she stopped talking and sat staring out at the sky. I reached over and took her hand.

  “You don’t have to tell me any more if you don’t want to. I was a victim of Mr. Lessiter myself. I was lucky and got away. Later, I had some help.

  “What I’m worried about is that Julia went after him for me. She always said she owed me for helping her when we were both teenagers. I really thought she had given up on that, but I guess not. What did she do, just show up there?”

  She looked at me with fear in her eyes. “I think your sister is in major trouble. About ten days ago she came over and said she wanted to see Mr. Lessiter. I was sitting on the porch just like today. It’s my own private place. She drove up in the prettiest little red sports car.

  “When she saw me she said she was going to help me. That’s all she said and then she knocked on the door. When she came out she looked like she was going to cry. She got in her car and spun out like a bat out of hell.”

  “I think it’s time to call my friend John Shepherd. He’s local FBI. If he can’t help us then he’ll know who can. First I want to call Mimi, Mark and Tracy. Mimi is mine and Julia’s grandmother and Mark is my uncle. Tracy is his wife and also an FBI agent.”

  “Wow, I think I got all that. I’ll just hang out here while you do that. Is it okay if I look in that shed over there?”

  After hesitating, I agreed and told her that it was Julia’s art studio.

  The first person I called was John.

  Right after he said hello and I identified myself he said, “Judith! I saw Ben the other day and he said he still hasn’t convinced you to marry him. When you going to put that poor son-of-a-bitch out of his misery and marry him?”

  That usually got a laugh out of me, but not today.

  “John, Julia is in trouble. Can you help us?”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m at Julia’s condo. It looks like she hasn’t been here in awhile. She wrote me a strange letter and left me another one in some take out pasta…”

  “I’ll be right over,” he said and hung up.

  I couldn’t help but snicker. The first time I met John, he had been assigned to hypnotize me, to help me remember what happened when I was three years old. I was living with Rosa, a fellow exotic dancer, and now John’s wife. He had left a message on Rosa’s answering machine.

  When I called and identified myself he had said, “Don’t say another word. I’ll be right over.”

  For him and Rosa I think it was love at first sight. They married while Julia and I were at the trial for Mr. Reynolds.

  Next I called Tracy. “What’s happening, Judith?” she said. “What have you found?”

  “I’m at her condo. When I got here it looked like she hadn’t been here in awhile. I went to her studio and found a disturbing painting. It was mostly pained over with black paint but I can make out a man’s hand.

  “Then when I was coming back up the walk to her condo, Jean saw me and thought I was Julia. He was so relieved and said he has been checking here off and on for about ten days, that’s how long she’s been missing

  “When I started cleaning out her refrigerator, I found a take out of spaghetti with a letter underneath in a baggie. It said something about her paying back a debt to me.”

  I felt someone watching me and turned around and saw Trudy, “I want to talk to you,” she said.

  “Who is that?” Tracy asked.

  “That’s Trudy. I rescued her from the Lessiter’s today.”

  “What? You went over there? Judith you should have called John.”

  “I did. He’s on his way over.”

  Trudy started nudging me with her elbow, “Hold on a minute Tracy. This may be important. What?”

  “That’s Mr. Lessiter’s hand. I know his hand well.”

  I turned back to Tracy on the phone. “Tracy, Trudy says that’s Mr. Lessiter’s hand in the painting that’s been mostly blackened out.”

  “Have John call me after he’s looked around, Judith. I might end up coming over there myself. I agree with you. I think Julia is in trouble. I just hope she’s still alive. I’ll walk over tell Mimi everything. Be careful Judith.”

  After hanging up I went to the back deck. Trudy was sitting in the swing doubled over. She had taken her hair out of the pony tail and it covered her face. When I sat down beside her she put her head on my shoulder. I held her and let her cry.

  “I wish I hadn’t run away from home. I thought the other kids would have more to eat and that I could earn a living. At first I loved it at the Lessiter’s. There was always plenty to eat. If I could undo it all I wouldn’t eat much. I’d let the other kids have more.”

  I could hear the doorbell ringing at the front door but didn’t want to break contact with Trudy. She needed me more right now than John did.

  I held her until I heard a soft voice say, “Judith.”

  It was John. He had walked around back when I didn’t answer the bell. Trudy straightened up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. I introduced them and told John that Trudy had been living with the Lessiters.

  “Trudy, tell John what you told me about when you last saw Julia,” I said.

  John is a very good listener and I could see him studying Trudy while she was talking. She seemed to trust him right away, just like I had done when I first met him.

  For the first time since I had known John, he looked really worried. This made me more worried than I had been before.

  “Come out to her studio, John. I want to show you what I found,” I said, standing up.

  He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a pair of latex gloves. I felt guilty about touching things.

  As if reading my mind he looked at me and said, “Have either one of you touched anything?”

  “I touched the doorknob and flipped through the paintings along the wall but I didn’t touch the one painted black,” I said.

  He looked at Trudy. “The same,” she said.

  “Don’t touch anything else,” he said as he opened the door.

  After walking around he turned to me. “I need some baggies and a large garbage bag.”

  I went to the kitchen to locate these things and Trudy followed me. “Wow, this is just like in the movies.”
r />   Her remark acted as comic relief. Maybe it was the stress, but I busted out laughing. Then she joined in. I found the baggies and garbage bags and picked up the letter to show John. I knew he was going to question me about touching the letter too.

  While Trudy and I watched John bags things and dust the studio for prints, I asked how Rosa was.

  He laughed. “She’s big as a house and getting crankier every day. I think she will explode before she delivers. Why don’t you come by and see her while you’re here. I know you need to concentrate on Julia right now, but Rosa would love to see you.”

  “I’ll try to get over there as soon as I find out what happened to Julia. I plan to call Dr. Anna tonight, at home, to find out when she last talked to Julia.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  After John left, I asked Trudy if she wanted to go shopping for some clothes. She liked the idea. We drove to the mall and went to Mason Blanche.

  “Wow, you must be rich,” she said as she looked at the price tag on a pair of jeans.

  “I love these jeans. Can I get them?”

  “Get anything you want,” I said to her. “We also need to get underwear and shoes. Since we’re starting from scratch, we need to get everything. Get all the jeans and things like that you want. You need a couple of good dresses and some heels in case we decide to go out some while we’re here.”

  Trudy and I ended up talking until after midnight. I wanted to call her mom but she wouldn’t give me the number. She said she had to think about things first.

  After Trudy finally went to sleep I decided to call Dr. Anna even though it was after midnight. She sounded half asleep when she answered. I felt guilty, but she put my mind at ease.

  “Don’t be silly. I’m glad you called. I’ve been worried about Julia. The last time she called me, about a week ago, she didn’t sound like herself. But when I tried to get her to talk about what was on her mind she got defensive.

  “I had the feeling she wanted to talk but was afraid of something. I tried to get her to come down here and stay with me. She said she would think about it. I take it she didn’t call you?”

  “No she didn’t. She sent me a letter by snail mail, which as you know, is unlike her. She addressed me as Judy and signed it Julie. It was some nonsense about finding her Romeo. When I got here she was gone. It looked like she hadn’t been here for awhile.

  “While I was tossing out all the bad food in the refrigerator, I found another letter under some pasta, in a baggie. She was talking about fulfilling a debt to me. I went to the Lessiter’s to see if she was there and there was young girl on the porch who mistook me for Julia. She said Julia had been there about a week ago and promised to help her. I brought Trudy back home with me.

  “I don’t know if you ever met my friend, John of the FBI. But I called him and he took some fingerprints from the studio.”

  “Keep me posted, Judith. I’m glad you’re there. If you need anything from me just let me know. By the way, did you find anything unusual in her studio? Most artists will paint directly from their subconscious. You’ve seen this from her unicorn and daisies painting she did before she even knew the whole story about yours and her kidnapping.”

  “That’s the other thing I wanted to tell you. In the studio was a painting that was painted over in black. John took the painting and paintbrush to see if they can get anything off them. There was part of a hand not blacked out on the painting and Trudy swears it’s Mr. Lessiter’s hand.”

  “Now you’re scaring me, Judith. Be very careful. Maybe you should call the police. See what John says. I’ll be praying for you.”

  After that phone call I walked out onto the back deck.

  “Where are you, Julia?” I said to the stars. I knew I would get very little sleep.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  After a sleepless night, I had come to the decision to go to St. Augustine, Florida. Julia still owned the house she had inherited when her adoptive father had hung himself in his jail cell. She had talked about selling it, instead used it as a vacation house for herself.

  I never understood how she could stay there after the sexually abusive childhood she had at the hands of her adoptive father. I thought maybe she had gone there to be by herself. Julia had a tendency to run away when she was upset. I didn’t know where else she might run.

  I fixed breakfast for Trudy and coffee for myself and went to wake her up. While she was eating I outlined my plan. She agreed, but wanted to meet Rosa first.

  Rosa was glad to see me. I introduced her to Trudy. Rosa was in her last stage of pregnancy and John was worried about her. She was having a rough time. The doctor had ordered complete bed rest.

  The plan was to leave Trudy with Rosa while I went to St. Augustine. That way Rosa wouldn’t be alone and Trudy wouldn’t have to be by herself in Julia’s house while I was gone.

  I took an afternoon flight to Jacksonville and rented a car. As I drove the thirty miles to St. Augustine, I thought about the first time I had been there. Julia’s adoptive parents had invited me, after Julia had told them I looked exactly like her.

  They had lied to her and told her she wasn’t adopted. I had been confused as to why they had invited me. I had found out when Mr. Reynolds got me alone and, first tried to bribe me to stay away from Julia, and then had threatened me.

  That was all over ten years ago. Both of us had had several years of therapy and I had become a psychologist. Julia was a successful artist. I thought we were both doing really well.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It had been over ten years ago since I had been here, but my heart began to beat faster and I began to sweat. The more I thought about it the more I was convinced that I shouldn’t go up to the house and knock on the door.

  I parked in between two houses in front of a sand dune. The Vilano Beach area had changed very little since I had last been here. The rest of St. Augustine had grown some but not much. The house Julia had grown up in was still on a road made up of white sand and coquina. I was glad I had on sneakers and jeans. The thick piles of sand and coquina were still hard to walk on.

  I didn’t see any other cars. When I got to Julia’s beach house, I dashed underneath. This was one of those houses you see in Florida, along the beach, where the main part of the house is on stilts. Usually a carport, or sometimes even a small apartment, is built underneath.

  I tried the door knob of the apartment under the main house and it was unlocked. Easing it open, I peered inside. It had the same neglected look Julia’s Condo. No one ever used it, so that didn’t bother me so much. It was a studio apartment with one main room for the bedroom and living room area, a small kitchen, and bath with a shower stall.

  It didn’t take long to look around. As I was heading out, I noticed what looked like the corner of a folded up piece of paper stuck under the night stand.

  Sometimes people fold up paper to put under a corner of a piece of furniture to keep it from rocking, if it is uneven. However, under the circumstances, I knew I had to check out everything.

  On the note the words were written:

  Judith,

  Be careful. I don’t know who all is involved. Mr. Lessiter for sure and Judge Renfroe. If you find this note…

  She didn’t finish the note, apparently interrupted. It looked like her hand had jerked and there was a wavy line going from the word, note, to almost the end of the page, as if she had heard someone coming.

  I thought I heard footsteps overhead. Then I heard them coming down the stairs. I shoved the note in my jean pocket and slid under the bed just as someone opened the door.

  “She’s a brave little bitch, I’ll give her that. She fights like a wildcat.”

  The voice sounded like that of Mackey Broleen. He was one of the men who had kidnapped Julia and me when we were three years old. That couldn’t be right. He had been beaten to death in prison, after alluding to a child pornography ring involving some of the judges and Mr. Reynolds, Julia’s adoptive father.

  Mack
ey had made a deal with the FBI for a lighter sentence for testifying against Mr. Reynolds. We had assumed it was Mr. Reynolds’ influence that led to Mackey’s murder. But now it seemed he was alive after all.

  “I was surprised. I didn’t know you liked grown women. I thought you always liked young tender teens. Or is it because she’s the twin of the one you let get away? You been dreaming about her ever since, haven’t you?”

  “Just shut up Mackey. We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do. She can’t live, she knows too much. You’re going to have to take care of it.”

  “What’s the matter, don’t want to get your hands dirty? Or should I say bloody? I’ll tell you right now, I’m not doing it. This is where I draw the line. I don’t like up close and personal work.”

  The voice I had by now recognized as Mr. Lessiter said, “So I’ve noticed. Are you queer or something? You don’t like girls?”

  “I like women. Women who want me and many of them do. I don’t have to resort to rape.”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing. A willing woman is no challenge at all. And by the way, you had better do as you’re told. Have you forgotten who set things up for you so you could get out of jail?”

  “It wasn’t you. You didn’t know anything about it at the time. So quit trying to take credit for it. I’ll tell you what, why don’t we go get something to eat, have a beer and relax, and think about all this.”

  “Well, I have to call the judge and see what he wants me to do. Here, take these keys and go up there and lock up while I make the call.”

  Mackey ran up the stairs and I saw the bed give as Mr. Lessiter sat down on it.

  I heard him say, “Yeah, it’s me. I know, things got out of hand. I thought she was the other one at first.

  “Wait a minute, wait a minute. I didn’t instigate this, as you well know. She came onto me at first, pretending to be the other one. She was evidently trying to set a trap and it backfired on her.