Page 19 of JoyRide

Art didn’t show his face at the door, so I tried the handle and eased the door open. Gave him a shout out, “Hey, Art. Police coming in. Where you at?”

Heard a groan from one of the bedrooms and I tracked Art down. He was sprawled out on his bed drunk, or high or both—right out of his head. Not expecting company or dressed for it.

With him too far gone to know I was even there, I bagged up all the drugs on the kitchen table, in the cupboards and on Art’s dresser. Checked a few of the drawers and figured I had most of his stash. If he had a bigger load between the walls, I didn’t bother looking for it.

Next, I searched for the knife that matched our murder weapon and found it in his top dresser drawer. Looked like he had used it, but there was no blood on it. Nice and clean.

I bagged it for Travis and took the knife and all the drug evidence to the squad. Secured it all in the hatch and went back inside for Art.

Looking at him lying there on his bed, I figured him to be a prime candidate for rehab.

I hauled his ass off the bare mattress and walked him out to the squad. “Come on, Art. Get comfortable in the back seat. I’m taking you to jail for a nice long rest.”

He flopped on the seat while I secured him and I was pretty sure he didn’t have a clue what was happening.

Drapeau Residence. Valier

Ted knocked on the door of the little winterized cottage outside of Valier. Situated on a desolate piece of road, there wasn’t much around but an open field to the east and thick bush to the west. How deep the property went, he couldn’t tell from the road.

Dark and cloudy, it started to sprinkle rain as he waited for somebody to come to the door.

The door opened and Ted thought he might have seen Mrs. Drapeau in town. Maybe at the convenience store. Didn’t know the boy they were looking for. “Carl home, ma’am?”

“No, Deputy, he ain’t home now and he didn’t come home last night neither. Can you look for him? I been thinking about calling the sheriff’s office to help me find my boy.”

“Yeah, we can help, ma’am. You saying your boy’s gone missing?”

She nodded her head. Wasn’t that old. Early forties and she’d been pretty once. Nice brown eyes. Ted was pushing thirty-five and hadn’t found the right girl yet. He wasn’t in a hurry.

“When was the last time you saw your boy, ma’am?”

“Saw Carl yesterday at breakfast, then he said he might go fishing and that was the last time I saw him. He went out the door and never came back. He didn’t come home last night to sleep and now I’m worried.”

“Gotta ask you this, ma’am.” Ted had been working on his tact since he joined the sheriff’s department and he had to stop and think about his words. “Carl stable? Like he got his wits about him, ya think?”

Mrs. Drapeau wasn’t offended by the question. “Sometimes he’s better than others, Deputy…”

“Ted, ma’am. You can call me Ted.” She nodded and Ted kept on going. “How long has Carl been out of the hospital, ma’am?”

“Almost a week. He’s a lot better. Pretty good, really. I think the doctors helped him a lot.”

“When Carl was sent to the hospital, ma’am, can you tell me the reason?”

“I don’t like to talk about it, Deputy Ted. Not a good memory for me.”

“Wouldn’t be, but it would be helpful if I knew.”

She let out a big sigh and told Ted the story. “Carl got down in the dumps pretty bad and wouldn’t come out of his room. Stayed in there for days on end. I’d leave food outside his door and he ate it sometimes, but not always. Then he moved into the basement, and he wouldn’t come up out of there neither. I had to leave food for him on the top step.”

“Uh huh. Things get better or worse after that?”

“Worse. Carl came upstairs during the night, this one night, and he tried to hurt himself in the kitchen.”

“Uh huh. Did he use one of the knives?”

“How did you know that?”

“Just a guess. He came out of the basement because he needed something, and I just guessed he was looking for a weapon.”

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