Erin O’Shea is concerned when Martha Crawford doesn’t show up at St. Mary’s Catholic Church for Sunday Mass. Martha attends faithfully and sits with Erin. After Mass Erin calls Martha’s cell phone and the call goes to voicemail. She decides to check on Martha thinking maybe Martha is sick at home. Erin drives to Martha’s white bungalow on Church Street. As she’s walking toward the door she see’s Martha’s cat, Gracie in the window. She sees Gracie is meowing. Erin thinks maybe Martha is sick in bed and hasn’t fed Gracie. She knocks on the door. No response. She decides to go in knowing it’s unlikely Martha locks her door. Few people in Pineville bother to lock their houses. She opens the door and calls out to Martha. Martha doesn’t answer. Gracie gets off the window sill, comes near her and meows loudly. Erin looks around the house. Martha isn’t home and it’s clear Gracie hasn’t been fed. She runs to her empty bowl when Erin goes into the kitchen. There’s no water in Gracie’s water dish either. Gracie paws at a cupboard. Erin opens the cupboard and sees a bag of Purina Cat Chow. She fills Gracie’s food bowl and gets her fresh water. She thinks if Gracie’s water dish is empty it must be Martha didn’t come home after volunteering at the Perch Point gift shop Saturday afternoon.
Erin watches as Gracie hungrily attacks her food. She wonders where Martha can be. Maybe Martha stayed the night with William. After all, they’ve been seeing each other for a year. She tries to think what she would want Martha to do if she hadn’t shown up at church and wasn’t at home. She decides to call William. She doesn’t have his cell phone number. Maybe Martha has an old fashioned address book. No, surely she keeps phone numbers in her cell phone contact app. She looks at Martha’s refrigerator and sees a red magnetic holder with emergency information. Checking it she finds emergency contact numbers for Martha’s mother and for William. She’ll check with William first. She doesn’t want to alarm Martha’s mother unnecessarily.
William answers Erin’s call. Erin says, “Good morning, William. I’m trying to locate Martha. She didn’t come to church, she isn't home and I don’t think she fed her cat last night. She doesn’t answer her cell. Do you know if she’s alright?”
William replies, “I don’t know. She was supposed to meet me at the Black River Bar and Grill for dinner last night after finishing at the gift shop. She never showed up and she didn’t answer any of my calls. I don’t know if she forgot or stood me up.”
“Did you call her mother?” asks Erin.
“No, I didn’t want to worry her. But if Martha’s not home and didn’t feed Gracie last night I’m worried. I should have gone by her house when she didn’t meet me for dinner. I’ll call her mother now. I’ll let you know if Martha’s with her parents.”
Erin asks, “What do we do if her mother doesn’t know where she is?”
“Then I’m going to call the gift shop to see if they know where she is. I’ll call you after I talk to Martha’s mother and the gift shop,” replies William.
Five minutes later William calls Erin back and reports, “Her mother doesn’t know where she is and neither does the gift shop. The lady at the gift shop said there is a car there this morning and no one around that she’s seen. I asked her what kind of car. She said it’s a white Ford Escape. That’s Martha’s car. I’ll go there to look for her. I’ll let you know if I find her.”
“Thank you, William,” replies Erin.
William gets to the gift shop and looks in Martha’s car. There’s nothing unusual in the car, except one of Martha’s sweaters. He searches around the car, the gift shop, the lighthouse and on the beach past the lighthouse. There’s no sign of Martha and no response when he yells her name. Now he’s really worried. He calls the sheriff’s office and gets Deputy Wilson. He tells Wilson Martha hasn’t been seen since the day before and her car is at the Perch Point gift shop. He describes his search. Wilson listens and says, “I understand. I’ll call the Canine Officer of the State Police. His dog is trained to look for lost people. It’ll take him an hour or so to get there. Please wait for me. I should be there in 30 minutes.”
Wilson arrives, sees William and says, “Are you the one who reported Martha Crawford missing?”
“Yes,“I am William Lafleur, her friend. That’s her car,” William says pointing at Martha’s white SUV.
Wilson looks into the car and asks, “Is that sweater hers?”
“Yes.”
“Good, that will give the dog her scent.”
Wilson and William wait for the Canine Officer. He arrives a half-hour later. He gets out of his car and says, “Hello, Wilson,” pointing at William he asks, “Is this the guy reporting a missing person?”
Wilson says, “Yes, his name is William Lafleur. The missing person is his girlfriend, Martha Crawford. William, this is Officer Bill Jackson, the Canine Officer.”
Pleased to meet you, William, do you have anything with Ms. Crawford’s scenes?” Asks Jackson.
Wilson replies, “Yes, there’s a sweater of hers in the car.”
“Good, let me get Jack.” Officer Jackson votes to his patrol card and lets Jack out. Jack is a German Shepherd. Jackson gets Martha’s sweater, holds it down for Jack ot sniff, and commmands, “Find, Jack, find.”
Wilson says, “With all the rain last night there may not be any scent on the ground.”
“That’s okay; Jack is trained to search an area if there’s no scent. That’s how he finds hidden narcotics.”
“Have Jack search the woods, Jackson. William has looked everywhere else. It’s still pretty wet in the woods, “ says Wilson.
“Jack doesn’t mind the wet, “ replies Jackson. He gives hand signals to Jack and Jack goes into the woods.
They watch Jack range back and forth working his way deeper into the woods. About ten minutes later Jack barks. Jackson heads into the woods towards where the bark came from.
He walks ahead looking at the ground where he’s stepping. He stops about 30 years into the woods, turns toward Wilson and William, and says, “There’s a body by those bushes near Jack.”
“Is it Martha?” William yells.
“I don’t know,” replies Wilson, “it's a woman but I can’t see her face. I’ll check and see if she’s alive.”
Officer Jackson walks carefully forward. William sees him bend down for a moment. Then he stands up, looks back, and says, “She’s dead. It looks bad. You better call the medical examiner and the sheriff.”
William says, “Could you tell if it’s Martha?”
“No, her dress is pulled up over her face.”
“What color is the dress? Asks William.
“It’s white with little blue flowers,” replies Jackson.
Willson pulls out his cell phone and starts a call.
“Martha has a dress like that. Oh my God, I pray it’s not Martha,” says William.
While Deputy Wilson is calling the medical examiner and the sheriff, William calls Erin and reports they have found a woman’s body wearing a white dress with little blue flowers.
Erin tells him Martha has a dress like that, and as far as she knows, Martha is the only woman in Pineville with that dress design. She asks William if they should call Martha’s mother. William tells her they should wait until they know for sure if it’s Martha.
Tears are forming in William’s eyes when Wilson finishes his calls and says, “Let’s go back to her car, and watch where you step, we don’t want to disturb any possible evidence. We’ll wait for the medical examiner.
Officer Jackso returns from the woods followed by Jack. He says, “Jack did his job. Sorry she’s dead.”
Deputy Wilson thanks, Officer Jackson. Jackson puts Jack in his car and leaves.
Forty minutes later the medical examiner and an assistant arrive, photograph the body and area around the body. Then they put the body on a stretcher and bring her out of the woods.
William asks if he can see her face. The medical examiner says yes. William looks and confirms it’s Martha.
Sheriff Ericsson arrives then and asks the medical examiner, “What have we got?”
“It looks like a brutal rape and murder, Sheriff, but wait until I complete my post mortem and send you a report before making any announcements.”
“Got it. Wilson, what’s this guy doing here,” the sheriff says, pointing to William.
Wilson explains William reported his friend, the victim, missing and identified the body as Martha Crawford.
The sheriff listens, pauses a few moments and says, “Get his statement and collect any evidence you can find around where the body was found. I’m going home. My wife has a big Sunday dinner planned. These things always seem to happen on Sunday.”
The sheriff starts walking toward his patrol car, stops, turns toward Wilson and says, “Martha Crawford. Everyone knows her from all her volunteering. She’s admired for what she does for Pineville’s people. This community will go ballistic when they learn she’s been raped and murdered. We’d better make damn sure we do everything by the book and do it fast. When Mary Jane Bloom reports this in the Weekly Journal there’s going to be hell to pay. I know the Crawfords. I’d better notify them. My Sunday dinner will have to wait. Wilson, you check this area thoroughly for any evidence and ask whoever is in the gift shop if the shop was locked this morning. Ask if there’s any sign of a robbery.”
William calls Erin and tells her the body is Martha and the medical examiner says it looks like she’s been raped and murdered. After Erin recovers from the shock of the news she tells William she’ll go get Gracie. She says Gracie can live in the Cut and Curl salon. None of her customers are allergic to cats as far as she knows.
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