Sky and the Woman With A Past

Fiction by Frank Knebel

Chapter Three

When the four men, minus their hoods and gloves, emerged from Tuthill's Office Supply, Denny breathed easier. The two female deputies he had seen twenty minutes before had left the café carrying cups of coffee without noticing anything wrong. They had returned to their car and resumed their patrol. He had not seen them or any other deputies since. Denny blew out another long breath as March put his hand on the passenger door and leaned in the open window.

John March was six feet tall, with a muscular build and curly but receding hair. He had the look of a man who had seen his share of fights and, for the most part, enjoyed every one of them. His speaking voice was louder than was necessary, indicating he was either a bully or slightly deaf.

"Let's change things a little," he said. "I want you to take Campbell and Burton back to the motel. You know the route."

Though Denny thought even a minor change of plan was odd for March, he nodded.

"Okay. How'd it go?"

"Real well," March said. "Good score. We'll reminisce later. Come on, Tiny."

He straightened up and stepped back from the car. Campbell opened the door and dropped into the front passenger seat, and Burton, a broad shouldered, muscular man a bit shorter than March, got in the back. He ran a hand though his brown hair.

"Let's go, Denny," said Burton. "I wanna get away from here."

 Denny checked traffic in the mirror and over his shoulder.

"Any reason we need to hurry?"

Campbell snorted.

"Nah!" He chuckled. "We tied 'em up real good, all five of 'em. They won't be goin' anywhere for a while." He looked longingly at the storefront as Denny pulled away. "Too bad. I'd have liked to spend some time with that little blonde. She was a cutie."

Now Burton snorted.

"What about Lee Anne? If she heard you talking like that, she'd take a rolling pin to your head!"

He laughed heartily. Campbell did not look back.

"Lee Anne'll do what I tell her," he said. "Besides, she's never even seen a rolling pin."

Bill Denny shook his head.

"One woman at a time should be enough trouble for anyone, son."

Tiny Coates started the car. He checked the side mirror for traffic and waited as two cars and a slow-moving cattle truck passed them. March usually watched Tiny's driving carefully, but today he seemed lost in thought. Coates pulled out of the parking space into the street. At the first intersection, he turned right as planned so they would not be following Denny and the others. He glanced at March, expecting a sign of approval or disapproval at his driving, but there was nothing.

"Did I do right, boss?" he finally asked.

March looked around. Seeing that they were on the route he had had Tiny drive several times for practice, he nodded.

"Yeah, Tiny. You did fine. Just keep drivin'."  

He lapsed into silence again.

 Coates continued straight ahead.

"We did pretty good today, didn't we, boss?" he asked.

"Yeah, Tiny. It was a pretty good haul," March replied absently.

"Enough t'get us back t' LA? I don't like it around here."

"Yeah. Should be."

March roused himself from his reverie. He looked at Coates. The tall, husky man's long, simple face showed the intense concentration of his effort to remember the route back to their motel.

"Tiny, have you ever seen any of those women before?"

"I don't think so, boss."

March made an effort to keep his voice low and calm.

"Think hard now, Tiny. How about the taller of those two older gals we tied to the chairs? Did she look familiar?"

"The tall one?" Tiny rubbed the side of his big nose with his index finger. "Y' know, now that you mention it, she did look like somebody I've seen a long time ago. But I can't quite remember where."

March nodded, He settled back in his seat.

"I think I know where."

        Julie Ryder gingerly worked her hands up and down, trying to slip one hand free of the coils of rope around her wrists. To her dismay, she found that the robber who had bound her hands, the leader, had known what he was doing. Though she might succeed in freeing herself in time, the process would be long and painful. The chafing her wrists had taken in only a few minutes proved that.

        Julie was lying on her right side facing in the direction of Lorette and Eileen, so checking on the two women was simply a matter of raising her head. Both women seemed to be all right. They remained bound to their metal folding chairs near the stockroom desk. The now useless telephone, its torn-out wires hanging down to the floor near Eileen's chair, would be of no help to the women in summoning aid.

         Julie's attention was drawn by a noisy grunt of effort from Lorette as she struggled in her bonds. By contrast, Eileen showed little sign of activity. Her head was bent down slightly and some small movement of her shoulders indicated that she probably was, like Julie, working to free her wrists. Though Eileen was conserving strength and energy this way, Julie thought it somewhat odd that the younger woman was much cooler about their plight than Lorette.

        No matter how much she inclined her head, Julie was barely able to see Copper. In order to get a good look, Julie had to rotate herself, moving her legs forward, closer to the other women, and her head backwards, further from them. Hogtied as she was it was not easy to do. Fortunately, there was enough slack in the ropes holding her arms against her body that she was able to touch the floor with both hands. By digging her heels into the tiles and holding herself in place with her hands, she was able to rotate about a quarter turn, just enough to see Copper clearly.

The young blonde remained tightly bound to the end of the shelf. Her wiggling caused the metal joints to rattle a bit, but the heavily loaded shelves showed no sign of moving. Julie could see the closings of Copper's torn shirt, the top of her white bra and a good expanse of bare skin of the girl's upper chest. There was a combative expression on the blonde's face until she noticed Julie looking at her. Copper reddened a bit.

With Lorette, Eileen and Copper immobile, Julie knew that the only hope of the women freeing themselves lay with her and Susan. The two brunettes were now nearly face to face. Their only way they could free each other was to somehow get back to back so one of them could use her fingers on the knots of the other's bonds.

She looked directly at Susan and tried to speak.

"Susan!... Susan!" she tried to say, though it sounded more like 'Moo-un.'

Susan looked back at her and nodded in apparent comprehension.

Julie gathered up her strength, rocked a couple times to gain momentum and rolled from her right side to her left. She wiggled her fingers as a sign and tried to look over her shoulder.

Susan understood.  She did the same, rolling from her left side onto her right so her hands were now toward Julie's. Though Julie could not see, Copper helped her by looking at Julie and nodding her head to show that Susan had made the right response.

With great effort, the two bound women inched toward one another. Julie's hands touched Susan's arms while Susan found Julie's hogtie rope. After a short search, their fingers touched. Both women tried to locate the knots in each other's bonds, their groping fingers making a confused jumble between them. Finally Julie put her hands over Susan's as a sign to stop and let Julie try to do the untying. Susan kept her fingers still as Julie searched for the knots in Susan's bonds.

"I'm glad that Susan doesn't know that I've tried this before and it's never worked," Julie thought. "I hope that help comes soon."

"Why no, Mr. Ryder," said assistant librarian Monica Franklin. "They haven't come back from Tuthill's. Julie and Copper picked up Eileen as planned, but they aren't back yet."

The tiny but shapely brunette looked at her wristwatch.

"But it's only been an hour or so."

Sky Ryder glanced at his own watch. Sheriff Winchell, standing beside Sky, said:

"It's a little early to hit the panic button, don't you think, Sky? After all, if Lorette Tuthill got her hooks into Julie and Eileen, they could easily talk for an hour."

Sky chuckled.

"Yes. I guess Lorette does tend to be pretty…. social?"

Now Winchell chuckled.

"Years ago, we'd have come right out and said she was a gossip."

Though Monica Franklin had her head down and was shuffling papers, pretending that she was not listening, she could not hide her smile or the amusement in her dark eyes.

"You can call Tuthill's on the phone in the office if you'd like to," said Monica, extending her arm toward the library office door.

"Thank you, Mrs. Franklin," said Sky. "I think I will."

He looked at the Sheriff.

"I'll just stay out here and keep an eye on the books," said Winchell. He leaned his tall frame against the checkout desk. His attitude suggested that his eyes would be spending more time on the attractive, well-shaped, barely five foot tall librarian.  

"So I see," said Sky. "I won't be too long."

He went into the office and reached for the desk phone.

Copper Ryder watched as Julie put her hands over Susan's and gave her hand a reassuring pat. The girl realized that Julie was telling Susan: 'Just be still; I'll do the work.' When Susan's fingers stopped, Julie searched for the knots of Susan's wrist bonds. Once she found them she set to work.

"I hope Julie can do it," thought Copper. She writhed her hands behind her. "This rope they tied us with is soft and pretty thin. That'll make tight knots hard to undo."

She looked down at her open shirt. Above the frilly white top of her bra, she could see the upper part of her breasts and what looked like acres of skin of her chest. Though Copper had been more immodest when bound there was something about the way this man had talked as he tied her that made this predicament especially galling.

"I want to see that weasel get his!" she thought savagely. "I hope that Sky and the Sheriff get him good. I'll bet he won't be so cocky in handcuffs or a cell!"

She gave a full-body yank against the ropes, but nothing happened. Another look at Julie and Susan told her that they were making little progress.

Copper closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose.

"Somebody will find us. It's just a question of time. I hope it's soon."

A bespectacled high school age boy laid a stack of four books on the checkout desk and pushed them toward Monica Franklin. The top book in the pile slipped off and fell to the floor at Monica's feet. She bent down to pick it up. Sheriff Winchell leaned over to better enjoy the view.

Sky Ryder strode out of the office. Winchell straightened.

"What's up, Sky?" he asked.

"The phone isn't ringing at Tuthill's," the tall flyer said. "The operator says that it's not because it's off the hook. It seems to be disconnected."

"There could be something fishy going on," said Winchell. "We can use the radio in my car to get somebody there right away."

"I was hoping you'd say that, Winch," said Sky. "Let's go."

"Tell Sky not to worry," said Deputy Sue Kendall. "We're on our way. Car Four, out."

She hung the radio handset on its hook. Deputy Amy Cole turned at the next corner and pressed the accelerator.

"Tuthill's, here we come," Sue continued. She shook her head and turned to Amy. "That Sky certainly is a worrier when it comes to Julie and Copper."

"Sky has pretty good instincts," said Amy. "And Lord knows that those two have a way of finding trouble."

Sue gave a short laugh.

"Trouble!" she said. "What kind of trouble could there be at Tuthill's? The Memo Pad Mob? The Ball Point Gang?"

Amy laughed too.

"You're right. It's probably nothing. But we've been on the job long enough to know that strange things can happen around here."

Eileen watched as Julie worked to free Susan. The two women were about ten feet from where she sat and Susan's body blocked any view of what was actually going on, but Eileen could tell from the movement of Julie's shoulders that she must be trying to untie the knots on Susan's wrist ropes. Even if Julie succeeded, it would take a while. A few minor attempts of her own had told Eileen that they were well tied. Lorette and Copper also continued to struggle, but Eileen knew it would be no use. They were much more likely to be found and released than free themselves. After all, this was Bill's old gang.

        There was no way for her to miss the 'Okey-dokey, boss' verbal tic of the tall, husky, simple man she had known as Tiny. And the leader had to be John March: his build and harsh voice were very recognizable. She did not know the shorter, lean man who was so interested in Copper. He must be new. And she doubted that the man who had gone through the register was Wesley. He was the one man who had eluded the police during the Powell robbery and, as far as she knew, had never been caught. She had not expected the rest of them to be out of prison yet. But they were here in Kermit. She was certain. Was Bill with them in this small Arizona town?

        There was one more problem: she had recognized them, but had they recognized her? Her mirror told her that there were plenty of differences between a woman of twenty-seven and one of nearly forty. Yet she was not so vain and insecure about aging that she considered herself unrecognizable. That was why she had tried her best to keep her face turned away from the leader. But his last look at her before leaving had clearly indicated that he knew her. What would that mean?

        She wanted to see Bill, but not become involved with his gang again. Her life had been very different since the trial twelve years ago. She had moved away from Los Angeles and worked various jobs to put everything behind her as best she could. It was painful for her to look back and remember how she had done the things she had when she was in her twenties, just as the twenty-something she had been could never have imagined being happy and contented working in a library. She could not imagine going back to her former way of life now.

Eileen had a terrible feeling that her life was about to become very complicated.

"The closed sign is on the door, Sheriff," Amy Cole reported into the radio handset. "The lights are on but there's nobody moving around inside that we can see. Over."

Sheriff Winchell frowned.

"They don't usually close for the lunch hour, do they? Over." asked Winchell.

"No, they don't," replied Amy. "There's always someone at the counter, and some of the employees eat their lunches in the back room. Over."

"Just sit tight, Amy," said Winchell. "We're about four blocks away. Harry and Andy should be coming up to cover the back. Over."

"This is Car Five, Sheriff," said the voice of Deputy Harry Tyler. "We'll be there in three minutes and ready to move right away. Over."

"Good work, Harry," said Winchell. "I hope there's nothing here that needs a hero to fix, so let's not try to be heroes. Make this a team effort. Let us know when you're ready, Harry. Sheriff out."

As Winchell replaced his radio handset, Sky Ryder took the extra pistol from its place in the glove box. He checked the cartridges in the cylinders.

"Sky," said Winchell, "I hope that in ten minutes we'll all be having a good laugh about all this melodrama."

"I do too, Winch," said Sky. "I do too."

He did not have the look of a man about to laugh.

Amy Cole and Sue Kendall were sitting in their patrol car when the Sheriff pulled to the curb in the space just behind them. They got out of their car at the same time Sky did and stood waiting for Winchell. Amy reached to her holster and slipped the little strap from the hammer of her service revolver. Sky's pistol was tucked in his belt.

"What's all this about, Sky?" asked Sue.

 "I don't know," the rancher replied. "Julie and Copper were helping Eileen pick up a few things for the library. Now they've all disappeared and Tuthill's phone seems to be disconnected."

Winchell stepped out of his car and circled around the front of it to join the others. He scanned the area, noting that a few curious pedestrians had stopped to watch them. Winchell smiled and tipped his hat to two middle-aged women.

"Good morning, Mrs. Hayes, Mrs. Dayton," he said affably.

The two women answered and hurried on, glancing about apprehensively.

"Tyler and Rivera are in position," Winchell quietly told Sky and the deputies. "Let's be safe but calm."

He strolled to Tuthill's front door. Though the 'closed' sign remained inside the glass, the door was not locked. Winchell nodded to the others and led the way inside.

"It's no use!" thought Julie Ryder. "These ropes are too thin and the knots are too tight. Even with more nails than I used to have, I can't do anything with them. Maybe if I can get a look at how they're tied I'll have a better chance."

She scooted herself away from Susan. When Julie moved she happened to look up enough to see Copper. Even over the gag, the young blonde's expression of dismay and disappointment was plain. Julie nodded and tried to look hopeful.

Before she was able to turn herself to examine Susan's bonds, they all heard the ring of the bell over the front door. Fearing the return of the robbers, they all froze.

"Hello? Anybody here?" someone called from the store. "This is Sheriff Winchell!"

As one, the five gagged women broke into muffled appeals for help.

After the sounds of quick steps, Winchell and Sky Ryder appeared at the door. They gaped at the sight. Sky's eyes fell on Copper and Julie.

"Copper! Julie!" he exclaimed.

"What in tarnation …?" the Sheriff began. He turned back. "Amy, you and Sue better give us a hand."

"More coffee, Julie?" asked Jeb, offering the pot to her.

"No thanks, Jeb. I could use a little more cold water though."

Jeb turned to the woman in the waitress uniform.

"Water here, please, Sally."

The waitress poured water from her pitcher into a paper cup. Julie handed her empty coffee cup to Sally, took the water and sipped a couple times.

Sky Ryder stood between Julie and Copper, a hand on the shoulder of both. Office chairs from the displays in the front room had been brought in to make the women more comfortable, though Copper looked less than comfortable as she drank water from a cup in one hand while she used the other to hold her shirt closed.

After being untied, Lorette Tuthill had remained in the folding chair to which she had been bound. Her husband, a short, balding, gray mustachioed man, stood beside her, holding her hand while she complained bitterly.

 "They were animals, Sheriff! Just animals! You've got to catch them!"

Winchell had his pocket notebook in hand.

"You're going to have to calm down, Lorette," the Sheriff said soothingly. "I'm going to need your help to catch them. Just tell me what happened."

Jeb, who was standing a bit behind the Sheriff, laid a hand on Winchell's arm.

"If everybody's all right," he said, "Sally and I need to get back to the cafe. I'll send more water over."

"Thanks, Jeb," said Winchell.

He waited for Jeb and Sally to leave before beginning with Lorette. Deputy Sue Kendall was taking Eileen Harvey's statement, and Amy Cole was doing the same to Susan Cullen. Deputies Harry Tyler and Andy Rivera had gathered up the cuttings of the ropes that had bound the women and given them to Deputy Bill Harrison. After putting each woman's bonds in a carefully marked paper bag, Harrison had taken the bags into the front of the store.

Sky Ryder patted Julie and Copper reassuringly and sauntered from the back room into the store. Harrison was examining the ropes from one bag on the register counter. Deputy Steve Cooley, his arms folded across his chest, was watching Harrison.

"Anything, Bill?" he asked.

The bespectacled deputy looked up from his work and shook his head.

"Not much, Sky. The rope is common sash cord, available almost anywhere. Mostly square knots, though there are a couple of grannies. There's nothing to give away that any occupation like sailor or logger or anything." He pointed to wads and strips of white cloth. "The gags were made from flour sacks. Steve and I'll check the local stores to find out if anyone bought the rope or the sacks in the last few days. If they didn't get them in town, we'll have almost no chance of tracing the stuff. We'll get Ben over here to dust for prints."

He returned the ropes to one of the bags. Then he and Cooley took the bags and headed for the door.

"Thanks, Bill," said Sky. "Let me know if you find anything."

"We will, Sky," said the studious-looking deputy.   

Sky returned to the stockroom. Julie and Copper were giving their statements to Harry Tyler. As Sky waited he noticed that Julie kept glancing at Eileen Harvey. When everyone was finished, the group broke up. Mr. Tuthill took his wife home. Tyler and Rivera remained to lock up the store in such a way to preserve any fingerprint evidence that remained.  After a very brief, whispered conference with Julie, Amy offered to drive Susan home. Winchell walked out with Sky, Julie, Copper and Eileen.

"I'll get some state police lab men over here to help Norris look for fingerprints," said Winchell. "But, from what they all say, the man who went through the register wore gloves and the others didn't touch very much. I doubt we'll find anything, but we can always hope."

Sky nodded.

"I'll go with Julie and Copper. We'll take Eileen back to the library on our way."

"Thanks, Sky." Winchell shook his head. He looked at Eileen. "It just beats me how two gals can find as much trouble as Julie and Copper do. At least the trouble you got mixed up in with them was only a little thing."

Eileen smiled, a bit wanly, Sky thought.

"Librarians probably need a little adventure at times, Sheriff," she said.

"Thanks goodness it's over and nobody got hurt," said Copper.

Eileen smiled in the same pale way again. Julie was looking at her closely.

"I don't get it, Sky," Copper said. "I mean, sitting here in the park is very relaxing, but shouldn't we be doing something to find those men?"

Copper sat on the children's merry-go-round, idly pushing herself back and forth with one foot. Sky and Julie were on a bench facing her and the library across the street.

"You'll have to ask Julie about that, Copper," said Sky. "She's the one who's arranging this meeting."

"Meeting?" said Copper, now more interested. "Who are we meeting?"

"You'll see," said Julie, motioning with her head.

A Sheriff's police car pulled up to the closest parking spot. Amy and Sue emerged from the car and came directly toward them.

"Okay, Julie," said Amy. "What's this all about?"

The two deputies sat on either side of Copper. Julie leaned forward.

"First I have a question for Sue. Did Eileen say anything unusual in the statement she gave to you?"

The slender, pretty brunette reached for her notebook.

"What do you mean by 'unusual?" She asked.

"I'm not really sure. Just anything that struck you as out of the ordinary."

Sue scanned a page in her book, flipped to another and then a third. She shook her head thoughtfully.

"There's nothing I'd call unusual," said Sue. "She didn't really see them come in because her back was to the door, and by the time she looked they all had masks on."

Copper gave Julie a significant look.

"What are you getting at, Julie?" she asked.

"I don't know," Julie said vaguely. "It's nothing definite." She looked straight at Copper. "But do you remember the way the leader looked at her just before they left?"

"Yeah!" said Copper, becoming more animated. "The man was pointing at the phone behind Eileen and he just stopped and stared for a few seconds. Like he saw something about her."

"Or recognized her," said Julie. "It didn't really occur to me until later that she always seemed to be looking away from them."

Copper snapped her fingers.

"You're right!"

"You mean you think that Eileen was in on the robbery?" asked Amy Cole.

"I don't know," Julie replied. "Though if the man was that surprised to see her, it doesn't seem likely that she was an accomplice."

"And why would a gang of robbers need inside information to rob Tuthill's?" asked Sue Kendall.

"They had just made a big sale to that new insurance agency in town," said Amy, glancing over her own notes. "There was a lot of cash in the register."

Sky shook his head.

"There was no way that Eileen would have known that ahead of time," he said. "You were there to pick up a couple bookcases."

"I agree with Sky," said Julie. She looked at the expectant faces around her. "I don't know exactly what's going on, but I think we ought to keep an eye on things. And we're lucky in one way: we have somebody who works with Eileen at the library to be our inside man. Or inside girl, I should say."

They all looked at Copper. The little blonde smiled eagerly.

"No kidding, Mrs. Harvey?" said a goggle-eyed Yvonne Cramer. "You were really robbed at Tuthill's store?"

"And the robbers tied you up?" exclaimed Janie Stanley. "And they gagged you too? What excitement!"

Yvonne, Monica Franklin and Eileen stared inquisitively at Janie.

"I-I-I mean….," she stammered. "What an adventure. I'm glad you're all okay."

"Yes, girls, I'm fine," Eileen said calmly. "And so are Copper and Julie, and Mrs. Tuthill and her clerk."

"But you've simply got to tell us all about it!" said Janie.

"Yes, you really have to!" added Yvonne.

Monica Franklin said nothing, but her expectant expression showed that she too was interested.

"Yes, I will, in good time," said Eileen. "But let's keep the library going, shall we?"

Reluctantly, the staff returned to their work. Eileen placed her purse on the shelf under the check out counter. She took a book from a woman and reached for the due date stamp when she happened to glance out the window and see Sky Ryder, Julie and Copper talking to the two deputies. She stopped to watch them.

"Is anything wrong, Mrs. Harvey?" asked the woman.

Eileen looked back and tried to smile.

"No, not at all," she said. "This will be due in two weeks."

The woman thanked her and took the book. When Eileen looked back to the window, Sky and the others were gone.

She leaned against the counter. She had lied. There was something wrong, very wrong. And somehow she sensed that it would soon become much worse.

Next

Copyright © 2011 by Frank Knebel