Devil at Dusk - Installment Number Sixteen

Bet is Missing!
Model: Kristen Harral
Photography by Dave Haworth: davesphotoexploration.wordpress.com

Thanks all for joining us for Devil at Dusk – Installment Number Sixteen:

A few more days went by I had been busy with a couple of other investigations, for which the clients had called and talked to Bet while I was in Chicago. She had let them know I was away and as soon as I got back I would contact them.  I got a hold of the new clients by phone right after dealing with Mrs. Rothschild. I started working on the new cases as soon as possible. In the mean time I stopped off at the Sherriff’s Office to see what had been happening while I was away. I talked to Sheriff Holifield and he told me he wanted to introduce to me Assistant Deputy Jerry Lee Hill, the newest member of the Sherriff Office. Sherriff Holifield leads me into Deputy Schneider’s office (where they now had two desks and where both of the new assistant deputies would share an office) and introduces me to Jerry Lee Hill.

Jerry Lee is in his mid 30’s, is very friendly and outgoing. He is the type of guy that always has a smile on his face and is always willing to lend a helping hand. Jerry Lee is also very witty and has a sharp sense of humor. Sherriff Holifield told me Jerry had only been working there for a week (he was hired shortly after I had left for Chicago). I could tell right away he was going to make a great addition to their team. I congratulated him on his getting hired on here and told him it was very nice meeting him. Then I told them all good bye for now that I had some investigations to do.

I headed back over to the office and made some phone calls. I looked over the files and plotted my next move on these new investigations. It was Saturday and 5pm came around, since I started early today I decided to take off a little early this evening since I had no night time surveillance to do. I got into my car and headed home. I walked in the door and started cooking some dinner. I ate and cleaned the kitchen. Then I went in to the living room to relax and listen to the radio. They had on a great murder mystery radio show that was an hour long, it was on at the same time every evening. I was really enjoying it, of course because it was right up my alley! After the radio show it was dark out and I went to grab the newspaper from the kitchen and I heard a knock at my door. I went to the door and it was Will.

I said hello Will, come on inside. Will had a very worried look on his face, so I said to him aw honey what’s wrong? He said mom has been gone for over an hour and half now. I said what? What do you mean? Where is Bet, where did she go? He said she left the house just a little bit before dusk to go and check on Bessie, the horse that has been sick. He said she told him she had to give the horse it's medicine and that she would not be too long. He said he waited about a half hour then he went to look for her. He looked all over the place; he said he searched for about 45 minutes. He could not find her anywhere so then he went back to the house to see if she came back while he was out in the stable. He looked everywhere in the house and could not find her anywhere there either! So he came here to see if I had seen her.

I instantly got chills and the hair on the back of my neck stood up! I thought to myself not Bet! My very best friend in the whole world, who is like a sister to me!!! I did not get upset because I had to remain strong for Will, I did not want him to know what I was really thinking: That the monster had got her, the psychopathic serial killing monster had got her! Of course that was just my assumption and I really did not know where she was. I told him to sit on the couch and that I would call the sheriff. While we were waiting for the sheriff to come I would make him a cup of hot cocoa.

The new Assistant Deputy Sherriff Hill came right away. I told him that Bet was missing and Will came over right away to my house, when he realized that something seemed to be wrong. Deputy Hill goes into the living room and talks to Will. He asks him questions about what happened and he told Hill the same thing he told me. When Deputy Hill was done taking Will’s statement he called the others guys in from the office and a neighboring office to form a search party. Even though I was usually a part of the search parties, this time I had to stay behind to keep an eye on Will (since Will was only seven years old) because somebody needed to be with him. When Deputy Hill was done, I said thank you so much for your help Deputy Hill and I shook his hand. He told me you are very welcome and for me to call him Jerry rather than Deputy Hill.

All the other sheriffs and deputies showed up, they formed their search party right here in our yard. They set out and searched for many hours. I nervously paced the floor for about half the night waiting to hear something. Before it got way too late, I put Will to bed in the spare bedroom. I stayed up a couple more hours and then went to bed. The next morning Deputy Hill came to the cottage and told me they had not found anything while searching. He said to me I am so sorry ma’am, we have not been able to come up with a single thing. I told Jerry to please call me Brooksie. I asked him to come in for a cup of coffee and he did. We sat and talked for about an hour then Jerry said he had to go.

To be continued….