Swallow The Hook Part 18

"So I started to see him again, but Meredith always found a way to horn in. I couldn't stand the way he kowtowed to her. And I couldn't listen to all her c.r.a.p about e-mail broadcasts and Web rings and media alerts. I never thought I could be nostalgic for all those candlelight vigils and rainy protest marches."

"It sounds like Meredith was taking over Green Tomorrow, pushing your father out."

Neil shook his head. "No, not that extreme. He needed her, but she needed him, too. Meredith has no people skills. She's too abrasive. My father's charm is what rallied the troops, kept the reporters interested."

"But you stopped seeing him again?"

"We argued over that stunt Meredith organized out in Colorado."

"Bombing the earth-moving equipment? I thought it was some local supporters who got carried away?"

"That's what Meredith said in her public statement. But behind the scenes, she was crowing about how she'd pulled it off." Neil shook his head. "She could've gotten someone killed.

"I never saw him after that. He came here to visit Joshua-I stayed at the office. Robin was worried I'd be devastated that we were on bad terms when he died. But you know what? I didn't feel a thing."

26.

FRANK STRODE INTO THE OFFICE the next morning with an air of determination that warned Doris to stay out of his way. He flung open the door to his inner office in time to see two heads huddled over some papers on Earl's desk snap up.

"h.e.l.lo, Melanie," Frank said as he glared at Earl. "What can I do for you?"

"Uh...nothing. I was just leaving." Melanie fumbled for her purse, exchanged a long, soulful glance with Earl, and scuttled out the door.

"Do you see that girl morning, noon, and night? Do you think you can find time to wedge a little work into your schedule?" Frank snapped.

"Sorry."

"What time does Katie Petrucci start up that nursery school of hers?" Frank barked.

"I see the moms dropping off their kids at nine."

"Good. I'll head over there now and catch her before she starts working. Then I'm going over to the Cascade Clinic."

He gulped down a cup of Doris's bitter brew, shuddered, and headed out the door to the Presbyterian Church. No one was in the church office, and Frank headed down the hall toward a door covered with construction paper leaves and letters that spelled FALL INTO A GOOD BOOK. Walking into the room without knocking, he found Katie and Dee Dee Peele setting out art supplies.

"Good morning, ladies."

Dee Dee looked up and smiled. Katie looked up and glared.

Probably he shouldn't have referred to them as "ladies." He kept forgetting the rules. "Painting pumpkins today? That oughta be fun."

"The children will be here soon. Is there a point to your visit?" Katie demanded.

Dee Dee looked shocked at her friend's rudeness. "I think I'll go to the kitchen and see to the snacks," she said, and scurried away.

Frank picked up a small pumpkin and pa.s.sed it from hand to hand. "I just want you to know we're working hard on trying to track down that truck that tried to run you down. You haven't had any more trouble, have you?"

Katie shook her head. "A few nasty phone calls, but you have to expect that as an activist."

"You went to NYU, I believe someone told me. Is that a very politically active school?"

"It's a big school-some people are politically engaged; others just care about parties and grades," Katie answered as she struggled to pull a bag of art smocks off a high shelf.

"Nathan Golding lived in New York City." Frank handed the bag down to her. "Did you meet him when you were in college?"

"I didn't meet him there, but I heard him speak. He was very inspiring."

"So that's when you got involved with Green Tomorrow?"

Katie shook her head and paused from filling cups with yellow paint. This little walk down memory lane seemed to be warming her up a bit. "I kept in touch with their activities. But at the time I was totally committed to helping the people of Peru, who live in poverty under an oppressive, U.S.-backed regime. I was in Peru for almost two years."

Frank nodded sympathetically and picked up the blue paint to help fill the cups. "You have to choose your priorities. So after that, you moved back here, started a family. Probably didn't have much time for activism when the kids were babies, huh?"

Katie sighed. "You tell yourself you're not going to let children totally change your life...."

"But they do," Frank finished her sentence with a smile. "You love 'em, but they soak up your energy like little sponges, don't they?"

"Exactly!" Katie looked pleasantly surprised at his perception. "But starting this nursery school was my way of combining my commitment to my children with my commitment to build a better world. You see, we offer a nons.e.xist, nonracist, nonauthoritarian approach to learning-"

"And that's just what this town needed," Frank chimed in. "Get the kids away from those violent TV shows, right?"

Katie set down her paint and leaned across the table. "You wouldn't believe how much TV these kids watch!"

Oh, he was playing her like a fiddle now. If he could just manage not to blow his advantage. "So I imagine your curriculum here also includes information about the environment?"

"Of course, and that's how I got interested in Green Tomorrow again. I was up late one night, searching for environmental stuff on the Internet I could use in cla.s.s, when I stumbled across Green Tomorrow's Web site."

Frank had already visited the site and he knew there was nothing on it about Raging Rapids, or even the Adirondacks in general. "And did it have anything useful to you?"

"Oh, nothing I could use for school, but I did sign up to be on their e-list to receive advisories about important environmental issues."

"And you received news about the protest against Raging Rapids on that list?"

Katie hesitated. "No, I got an e-mail directly from Nathan one day at the end of August. He said he was going to be in our area and wanted to meet with local supporters."

"To talk to you about Raging Rapids?"

"He didn't mention it in the e-mail; he told me about it when we met. Why?"

He could feel her beginning to turn on him again. "Katie, did you ever ask him how he first got interested in Raging Rapids? I mean, what even made him think to look there for environmental problems? It's a pretty obscure spot."

Katie got that "I'm ready to start spouting a lot of left-wing hot air" look. "Nathan's always been concerned with threatened species. With the Bicknell's Thrush's habitat being destroyed right here in Nathan's home state, I don't think it's at all surprising that he'd get involved."

"Well, if he's so worried about that bird, how come he didn't protest the building of the Extrom house?"

Something in Frank's question made her pause; she c.o.c.ked her head like a dog who hears something his owner can't. "I-I'm not sure...."

Encouraged by the hesitation, Frank pressed on. "The state police think someone local may have killed Golding. Like one of you protesters, or Abe Fenstock. But Abe-"

A door slammed and high-pitched shrieks echoed down the hall along with the thunder of dozens of little feet. s.h.i.t! Just when he was making headway. Dee Dee appeared in the doorway with a crowd of kids.

Katie said, "Dee Dee, please lead them in circle time. I'll be right back." She motioned for Frank to follow her across the hall to an empty Sunday School cla.s.sroom.

Katie sat at a round table and ran her fingers though her wild, curly hair. She cradled her head in her hands and stared at the scarred tabletop. A minute pa.s.sed in silence.

Frank cleared his throat. "As I was saying, Abe didn't even know what Green Tomorrow was up to until after Golding was killed, did he?"

Katie looked up and met his eye. "Stan knew."

"Stan Fenstock knew about Green Tomorrow's plans? Why didn't he tell his father and brother?"

"Because apparently, he's wanted to cash out of the business to do something else. But his father and brother can't afford to pay him for his share. He figured the protests might push them to sell Raging Rapids, and he'd get his third."

"And Stan was perfectly open about this with you and Golding?"

Katie jumped up and began to pace around the room, gnawing on her thumb. "I've never spoken to Stan. I got all this from Nathan. He said Stan stumbled across him when he was taking those pictures we used in the slide show. When Stan realized what Nathan was doing, he offered to work behind the scenes for our side." She paused and looked at Frank.

"But something doesn't feel right to you?"

"I don't know. I don't know if Stan really wants that money from the state. It's hard to believe he'd turn on his own family to get it. And like you said, I'm not sure why Nathan opposed Raging Rapids, but not the Extrom house." Katie shook her head. "Nathan was very charismatic-"

"So I've heard."

"When you were talking to him, he could make anything sound reasonable. But now that he's gone..." Katie's sentence trailed off; her usual take-no-prisoners att.i.tude evaporated.

"What about Meredith? Does she have any explanations?"

"She's nothing like Nathan. She can be very dismissive, especially if you question her judgment."

Frank was silent for a moment before he began his final approach. "Katie, I don't know much about South American politics, but I do remember a story that was in the papers a few years ago. An idealistic young American woman went down to Peru as a teacher or nurse or something. Somehow, she ended up providing shelter to some Shining Path revolutionaries. She got arrested and thrown in prison after a sham trial. It was pretty clear from this article that she'd been set up-the government needed to show it was cracking down, and the opposition offered her up like a sacrificial lamb. The two sides were in collusion, and the American was the dupe."

Katie's mouth had dropped open slightly. "Lori Berenson," she whispered. "She's still in prison there."

Their eyes met for a long moment, two people whose preconceived notions about each other were crumbling away.

Katie shoved her hands in her jeans pockets and stared down at her boots. "I honestly believe the world would be a better place if Raging Rapids were turned into a hiking trail."

"And maybe it should be. But think-is that all Green Tomorrow is after?"

"I don't know. But I'll find out. I won't be played for a fool."

Frank left the nursery school debating whether to go directly to Raging Rapids to confront Stan Fenstock or hang back a while and see what Katie could turn up. He thought Katie might be more effective at ferreting out the truth, but he wasn't entirely sure that he trusted her. As he walked back into the office, Doris began flapping a hand at him as she clutched the phone.

"Wait, wait-he just came in!" she yelled into the receiver. Then she turned to Frank. "It's Trudy Ma.s.sinay."

Frank went into his office and shut the door on Doris. "Hi Trudy, any luck with Diane?"

"No. In fact, I'm getting sort of worried."

"Worried? Why?"

"I called her home several times and no one ever answered," Trudy explained. "I called the bait shop, and they said she hadn't come in to work since she ran out on you. Finally I got through to the father. He was very nasty and said something like 'the s.l.u.t's taken off with her boyfriend.'

"Then I decided to go over to the Rock Slide, since you said she had a friend there. The friend claims that Diane's boyfriend has been out of the picture for months. She said she and Mrs. Sarens haven't seen or heard from Diane in days. Mrs. Sarens wanted to call the police, but the husband wouldn't let her."

"So you're telling me that-"

"Diane Sarens has disappeared."

When Frank arrived at the clinic the parking lot was packed, so he knew what to expect inside. The receptionist responded to his request to speak to both Dr. Galloway and Constance Stiler with a grimace and a deep sigh.

Frank glared at her. "It's important."

"They're administering an EKG-you'll have to wait until they're through."

Five minutes pa.s.sed before movement across the room made him look up from an ancient copy of Sports Ill.u.s.trated.

"Stand there, Dora, while I make our next appointment," a familiar voice commanded. Judy Penniman stood before the receptionist's counter, carefully prying an old lady's gnarled fingers from their iron grasp on her right arm. The frail woman swayed and Frank poised to jump up, but Judy had the situation under control. Gently she placed the woman's cane in her right hand and propped her against the wall. The man closest to them offered his seat but Judy waved him off. "No, if she sits, we'll never get her up again, right, Dora?"

Dora smiled faintly, sensing a joke even if she couldn't understand it. Judy turned back to the receptionist. "He wants to see her next week. Can you fit her in on Thursday morning? I already have an appointment for Nate Beegley then."

"Sure, kill two birds with one stone," the receptionist answered. "And we'll see you again Monday, right?"

Judy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Esther and her bunions." They both laughed.

Judy never noticed Frank among the crowd in the waiting room. When she had left, Frank sauntered up to the desk. "Sounds like Judy Penniman is a regular here."

The receptionist answered without looking away from her computer. "Yeah, she brings clients in a few times a week. She works for the County Board of Social Services-bringing old folks to the doctor is a service they provide."

So, Judy Penniman also had ready access to the prescription pads at the clinic. As an LPN, she'd have some knowledge of the type of medication Mary Pat would need, but maybe not enough to realize how dangerous her condition was. Odd that two people living on Harkness Road also had connections to the clinic. Yet Anita claimed it was Olivia who brought Mary Pat out to Harkness Road. Could Mary Pat have made another stop on the way, or was Anita lying? But why should she?

Frank's thoughts were interrupted by a pleasant alto voice. "I'm ready for the next patient, Stacey."

Stacey pointed to Frank. "He wants to see you first."

Constance Stiler looked a little startled, then smiled. "Certainly. Come on back."

She showed him into an examining room. "We'll have a little more privacy in here."

"I don't know if Dr. Galloway mentioned my previous visit?" Frank asked.

She nodded. "Yes, he said that Mary Pat had a prescription for antibiotics that he hadn't written. I'm afraid I can't help you, either. As a nurse, I can't prescribe medications, and as Dr. Galloway told you, Mary Pat wasn't a patient here." She spoke gently and calmly, and ended her statement with a smile. Frank thought she'd be very comforting if you were sick.