Page 66 of Hidden Falls

Marcella couldn’t hide the way her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You’ve been in this house for two weeks?”

“Yes.” Penny’s eyes overflowed. “He wouldn’t let me and Mary leave because we had seen what happened to Dr. Gary.”

“When did these events with Dr. Paulson—and I know you’re going to tell me all about them—take place?”

“Two weeks ago. Like I said.”

Marcella’s mind raced:who had they been chasing, on the chopper and the yacht?

She had to go slow; she couldn’t frighten or overwhelm Penny; the poor kid had been through enough. “Aren’t your parents worried? Looking for you?”

“I live with my aunt and uncle. Johnnie made me send a text that I was running away and didn’t want to live with them anymore.” Penny looked down and rubbed her chin back and forth on her dirty tee. “They said whatever, I was ungrateful. Since I made my bed, I could lie in it.”

Anger flushed Marcella’s neck and chest with heat. No wonder the kid was looking to get high, with a family who didn’t care enough to report her missing! “Okay. You saw Dr. Gary on the ground. Johnnie was trying to revive him. Then what happened?”

“Mary said we should call 911. Johnnie said no, because . . .” she gestured with her chin to the pills all around them. “He stopped the CPR. Said Dr. Gary was dead. We were all in shock for a while. Then, Johnnie said there was no reason his business shouldn’t go on since so many people needed Dr. Gary’s pills, and he made us . . .” she trailed off.

Marcella steeled herself. Bodies could be permanently disposed of in so many unpleasant ways. “He made you do what?”

“Help put him in the freezer. Come see.” Penny hopped to her feet. “I’ll show you.”

“Just a minute.” Marcella held up a hand. “I need to talk to my partner.” She turned off the recording app on the phone. “Good job, Penny. You’ve been very helpful. Please wait for a moment on the couch.”

Penny nodded and sat back down. Her relief in being able to tell the tale was palpable.

Marcella went to the front door and opened it. Jenkins had come out of the hot sun to stand under the porch overhang, but the two suspects were still sitting in the driveway. Their legs were now secured with zip ties.

Marcella gestured and he approached. She whispered in his ear. “The girl is about to show me where Paulson’s body is stashed. Call for backup and your crime scene team.”

Jenkins’s eyes flew wide; they were very round and blue. “On it.”

Marcella went back inside and shut the door. She gestured to Penny. “Show me.”

The girl hopped up and, displaying no fear, hurried to the door at the end of the room. “It’s a storage area in there. He told us we’d be busted for murder if we told anybody, and we had to stay in the house. He said he had cameras on us every minute and he’d know if we tried to run away or tell anybody. He left for a while. We kept sorting the pills and handing them out to the dealers when they came. We ordered food and stayed in because he wanted everything to keep going like normal.”

“How did you pay for the food?”

“We had lots of cash from the pickups.” Penny glanced up at Marcella through thick eyelashes, clearly worried by this admission. “Then, a couple of days ago, Johnnie came back, and he was hiding out here too. He said they were looking for Dr. Gary, not him, but he wanted to stay out of sight.”

“Okay. I’m going to take your restraints off now.” Marcella cut the zip tie with the combat pocketknife she always carried. “Now, you open the storage room door.” Marcella drew her weapon. “Go on. I’ll follow you.”

“It’s locked. But I have a key because Johnnie trusts me now. We keep extra pills in the storage room.” Penny reached into the pocket of her shorts, took out a key, and unlocked a sturdy deadbolt on the door.

“FBI!” Marcella barked, as the door opened inward. “Put your hands on your head and you will not be harmed!”

No answer.

Marcella nosed the door open further and checked the room; it was empty but for tall, locked metal cabinets lining the walls and a couple of futons on the floor.

“There’s no one in here, I told you.” Penny said. “Except Dr. Gary, and he’s frozen.” She pointed to a large chest freezer against one wall.

Marcella holstered her weapon, took a deep breath, and advanced into the room. Using a cloth she found lying near the futons, she opened the freezer and looked inside.

“Yep. That’s the Paulson we’ve been looking for.” The search for the man whose photo decorated the arrest warrant was over.

30

DAY SEVEN

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