At The Edge of No Return by D. J. Adamson

Author:D. J. Adamson [Adamson, D. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781732672215
Publisher: Horatio Press
Published: 2019-03-15T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

JACK STEPPED INTO THE parish house and immediately noticed how all the windows in the front room were covered with blinds. A blue crocheted afghan rested on the high-back of the sofa. Home and garden magazines neatly stacked on the coffee table, the top one offering a cozy photo of armchairs next to a hearth, the headline, WAYS TO BRING WINTER’S WARMTH INSIDE. A framed cross-stitch of the serenity prayer prominently hung on one wall—Grant Me the Serenity— and on the wall across from it, a framed replica of a stained-glass window offering the Madonna sitting in pious contemplation. Small birds flew above her head. One perched without fear on her finger. In the small pond behind her, a white egret stared past the Madonna as if peering out to a disturbance beyond the peaceful scene.

He moved in and out of all the rooms finding them little different from what he might find in most homes. Kitchen. Bedroom. All neat and clean.

Until he entered the last room where he stood trying to understand what he was seeing. A scattered heap littered the middle of the floor.

Jack drew closer to inspect. He found broken spindled bars. A small mattress cut and ripped into bits of foamed pieces.

He spied a blue plastic ring, cracked off from what must have secured it — strings of colorful animals, horses, pigs, cows, sheep.

Jack began looking around until he found a box-like vessel with a short roof and windows offering faces of animals.

He immediately returned to Brekke.

Meeks was motioning Brekke to take a chair. “Please, sit down.”

“Noah’s Ark. It’s a child’s toy,” Jack shouted. He eyed Meeks. “Where the hell is the kid?”

“I’m sorry to inform you, Reverend,” Chief Brekke was saying, “the body of a woman was found early this morning at the jetty.”

“Is it Mara?” The question was empty of certainty but held, too, a finality that couldn’t be masked.

Jack roared, “A kid.” Anger raged within him.

“After service this morning,” Meeks was telling Brekke, “Meredith Parker told me something happened down by the lighthouse. But, I never would have... I didn’t want to think...” He asked, “You’re sure it’s her?”

“It was one thing to knock off your wife, but your kid?” Jack ordered Brekke, “Come on. Take a gander what’s in room number two.”

“Fingerprints confirmed her identity,” Brekke said. “Your wife applied for a teaching license some years ago, and her prints are still on record.”

“She loved children,” Meeks murmured.

Jack flew to the small room. He smacked his fist against the door. Meeks' shoulders flinched.

“How did she?” Meeks asked.

Jack thumped the door again. “Over here, you scum.”

“She’s at the County Medical Examiner’s office in San Lesvos,” Brekke went on. “The autopsy is scheduled for this afternoon.”

“Autopsy? Why would they autopsy a suicide?”

One of Brekke’s eyebrows raised. “Then, you think your wife took her own life?”

Meeks double-checked himself. He began pacing, his hands clasping and unclasping. “She was depressed, Chief Brekke. I don’t like saying it, but yes, my wife may have been despondent enough to take her own life.

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