Chapter 21
At work the next morning in the clinic, Devon was busy with one of the older ladies she loved so much, Sarah Saridon. She had a great attitude and a wonderful disposition.
As the two were laughing, Sarah noted, “Times are changing. At one point I didn’t think life was really worth living,” she shared, “and it was pretty rough. A whole family here was murdered. Worse really, pretty well butchered,” she added, with a headshake.
“Even the poor children. … The mother in the family was a really good friend of mine,” she added, “even though we had quite a few years difference in age. She was more of a mentor, I guess.”
Devon froze and just let her talk.
“But she also, well, had some issues, I guess you could say. But I didn’t care, I loved her. She was a surrogate mom to me. And the daughters were really friendly, really nice.”
Devon replied, “I know who you’re talking about.”
Sarah nodded. “I’m surprised, since you are so young.
Almost everybody around here would like to forget about them.
I’m one of the few people who don’t want to forget because I don’t think it’s fair to forget about people who were killed, yet nobody even remembers who they were anymore,” she muttered.
Devon asked, “And nobody was ever held accountable for it, were they?”
“No, never, and it’s one of those great mysteries,” she pointed out. “I always wondered if it had something to do with her, you know?”
“You mentioned the mother had issues. What was it that made her different?”
“She used to do tarot and that stuff,” Sarah said, with a quiet laugh. “She used to always read me my fortune and would tell me how to proceed with difficult things going on around me. I loved it. It was like having a psychic in the family, and I could just come to her at any point in time.”
Devon nodded. “But how did everybody else around you take that?”
“Not well,” she admitted, still with a smile. “I often wondered if that had something to do with why she was killed.”
Devon asked, “Was she any different in the days leading up to her death? Or any of the family? I’ve always had this fascination with true crime,” Devon admitted. “So, when you hear about a story like that, you can’t help but have questions.”
Sarah shook her head. “I don’t think there was anything different leading up to it. She seemed to be quite content. It did make me wonder though because I had taken her advice in a lot of different areas, and yet she was murdered but didn’t see it coming. I really struggled with that.”
“Ah,” Devon replied, thinking to herself that was a hell of a good point. “And the decisions you made based on what she suggested, were you happy with them?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Sarahe exclaimed. “In every instance, her advice held me in good stead. Her one daughter used to laugh at her and tell her to let me make my own decisions and to not influence me. It was often enough that sometimes I would get mad at her and say that she didn’t understand what a gem she had for a mother.
The daughter would just shrug and not say anything, but she was not of the opinion that anything her mother shared really mattered.
And, given her age, maybe that made sense too.
When they were all killed, we were just so shocked.
And it was so—” She left it at that, not sure what to call it.
“Brutal?” Devon suggested, as she worked at setting up her trays.
“Absolutely. It was brutal,” Sarah muttered. “I was … lost for a very long time. And then I slowly recovered,” she admitted, with a smile. “Yet that event did make me very wary around town. We all started locking our doors, when, up until then, we never did. There had been no need.”
“Did you know the young policeman who did the welfare check?”
“Oh my goodness. He was so, so upset that he hasn’t been the same ever since.
Some people told me how he was in the house for quite some time because he was so shocked at what he’d found.
He more or less collapsed in the house and was stuck there for a while, until his dispatcher contacted him to see what was going on.
And that call helped him to come out of it. ”
“Oh, that would be rough.” Devon stared at her. “Yet that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense though to remain in that particular crime scene for long.”
“You’ve got to understand that he wasn’t necessarily the most stable of people. He was also their neighbor. So, from his perspective, having it be people whom he knew as well as he did? … That really finished him,” she shared.
“So, he lived on the same street?”
“I think so, yes. Maybe over a street or two nearby. Although he may have just recently moved out at that time. Yet his parents and brother were still living there at the time.”
“Ah.” Devon nodded.
“Yeah, that’s right. I mean, you meet people, and you think you know them, and then shit happens, and you realize that maybe you didn’t really know them at all.”
Devon asked, “Any idea how the neighbors got along with the family? Did you ever meet them?”
“Yeah, I met them a couple of times. They weren’t big fans,” she stated, with a shrug.
“They were very religious, God-fearing folks. So, anything that she did that was weird was just not a good thing.” Then she frowned and added, “There was also something about the neighbor’s son, who was, I think, very much a fan of one of the daughters.
I know she wouldn’t have anything to do with him, wouldn’t have anything to do with anybody.
Honestly, it had nothing to do with him. ”
“So, even these disapproving neighbors were affected by their deaths?”
“I mean, nobody survived. Nobody survived,” Sarah repeated. “Well, just the one brother, which was probably harder on him than if he’d been killed with the others.”
“I would imagine so,” Devon muttered. “That can’t be easy.”
“Nobody was ever caught,” Sarah added.
“And did you ever have any idea yourself? Any hidden guesses as to who the killer may have been?”
Sarah shook her head. “Over the years, the townspeople have tossed around all kinds of ideas. A lot of people thought the living son was guilty. A lot of people thought that one of the girl’s boyfriends may have gone too far, and her dad got angry or interrupted them or something.
But then again, we don’t really know what happened, even to this day,” she noted.
“And did all the girls have boyfriends?”
“One of them did, but it was a secret affair. The mom was trying to pry it out of her, but she wasn’t being very cooperative apparently.
It was an ongoing dispute with them, and, of course, the mom was trying to use her tarot cards to get the answers that she wanted.
But I don’t think tarot cards are the thing you can use for that,” Sarah said, with a shrug.
“But she was pretty angry and pretty upset. And, you know—” She stopped.
“Honestly, I think she was also scared. … First girl to have her first boyfriend, that type of thing. I think there was definitely some nervousness about him getting too close to her daughter.”
Devon raised her eyebrows. “Too close? Could she have been pregnant?”
“I don’t know about that.” Sarah frowned at her. “That never crossed my mind, but that would have been a worry. If so, her husband would have made short work of anybody, … unless he lost the battle,” she pointed out. “And then—”
“Right,” Devon whispered, then winced.
“And, in a way, that would have made a crazy kind of sense, but it would have implied that this killer then killed all of them.”
Devon sighed. “If you think about it,” she replied, her voice low, “as soon as you have killed one, how do you get out of paying the price if you don’t kill everybody?”
Then, to keep on schedule with her other dental patients, Devon started working on Sarah’s teeth.
In between breaks, she found out that the mom had been more or less happy with her husband.
She was one who apparently believed you marry for life, and you do the best that you can with whatever hand you’re dealt.
You make a choice, stick to that choice, and you find a way to make it work.
It was very typical of many marriages of that day and era.
By the time the dental work was done, and Sarah was out of the chair, Devon shared, “The more I think about it, the more I think your boyfriend-girlfriend thing makes the most sense.”
“Too bad nobody was around to follow up on that,” Sarah replied.
“Right,” Devon muttered, “because that could have been exactly what happened. Any idea who the boyfriend would have been though? That’s something that could still be followed up on.”
Sarah shook her head. “No, not really. There was the neighbor boy down the road. But just because he was down the road didn’t make him a suspect. One of the girls was a little on the wild side. So, I hate to say it, but it could have been anybody.”
“Would their teachers have known?”
“No, I don’t think so. Yet her friends may have.”
“And do we know who her friends were?”
“I was one of them,” she admitted, “but I didn’t hear about anybody.” Then she stopped and frowned. “Except for the one guy, the secret boyfriend. She wouldn’t really talk about him, just that he was really special.”
“Which is a red flag, right there,” Devon pointed out.
“I don’t think I ever really heard her say who it was.
Anyway we need to get into something a whole lot more cheerful next time.
I’ll be having nightmares all night,” she suggested, followed by a shudder.
And, with that, she gave her a big smile and added, “I’ll see you in a few months. ” Then she was gone.
Devon stared down at her phone as she quickly wrote as many notes as she could about the conversation. Then she fired it off to Camden, with a text, saying, Hey, don’t know if any of this helps, but …
*
Camden walked into a different little sitting area where several little old ladies were talking.