In the boat on the
way back to the cabin David kept asking Mack questions about Amelia.
“We could tell she’d
been stabbed,” Mack was saying. “I mean,
that was obvious. Blood everywhere—still
gives me creeps.”
“So that was what
killed her? The stab wound?”
“Well, first of all
it was wounds. Two in the front, one in the back. We could see that too.”
I joined in at this
point. “Will didn’t see any of that,
though. I mean he’s never mentioned
that.”
Mack shook his
head. “No, your dad and I sent Will and
Benny back to the boat, told ‘em to wait for us there. There’s just things kids don’t need to
see. As far as what she died from, yeah
I guess it was those wounds. But of
course they did an autopsy. Not a lot of
that was made public, so I don’t really know what else they found out.”
“So after you found
her, what happened then?” David asked.
“Well we didn’t have
no cell phones back then. Of course even
now they don’t work way out here, but, anyway, we couldn’t just call the
police. And there was that baby, too, so
we had to do something with him. I asked
Benny to give me his jacket, and we wrapped the little thing up in it and took
him in the boat with us. Sarah, your dad
stayed with the body while I took the boys and the baby back up to the
cabin. I called the police first, and
then called the wife to come look after the kids while I took the cops back
down the river. After that the
professionals dealt with it and I didn’t know any more about it than anybody
else.”
“And they never
found out who killed her?”
“Well, not
officially, no, but everybody pretty much figured it was the husband.”
“Why would they
think it was the husband?”
“Well, for one
thing, Robert Davis had always been a pretty odd character. Kept to himself a lot. Lived way out of town and barely talked to
anyone. But that don’t make him a
killer, I know. The really weird thing
was that he never came to claim the baby.
So people kind of figured it wasn’t his baby. That he’d caught his wife fooling around and
killed her for it. But the police didn’t
have any proof. Didn’t even have enough
to arrest him.”
“And the baby? If the husband didn’t want him, what happened
to him?”
“Oh, now I don’t
know all that. Like I said, after the
cops came in I didn’t find out any more than anybody. But I’ll tell you who you can ask. Hank Cowart.”
“Hank Cowart?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty
sure Dr. Cowart is the one who examined him.
He might know something.”
“Do you have Dr.
Cowart’s number?”
“Oh no, I
don’t. Don’t really know Hank all that
well, sorry.”
“Will knows him,” I
said, anxious to contribute something helpful.
“He used to work for him. When we
get back to the cabin I’ll call my brother.
He’ll give us Dr. Cowart’s number.”
“Thanks, Sarah,”
David said. And we were quiet for the
remainder of the trip.
After we pulled the
boat up on land I went inside to call Will.
It made me laugh to see that Mack still had an old rotary phone on the
table by the sofa. After taking what
felt like forever dialing the darn thing, I waiting for my brother to pick
up. Voice mail. Remembering that he usually turned his cell
phone off while he was working, I decided to call his office instead. Dot, the receptionist, picked up and said in
her characteristically perky voice, “Laurel Hill Family Medical. How may I help you?”
Dot was well known
all over town for her quirky personality.
She was thirty two years old with a sense of fashion that seemed to be
stuck in the year that she was born.
From the big hair to the crazy eye makeup to the ridiculously colorful
outfits that she wore, she was a walking time capsule of the eighties—a decade
she barely even remembered. But she was
friendly and always happy, which is
exactly what you want in a receptionist.
“Hi, Dot, it’s
Sarah. Is my brother available?”
“Oh, hey Sarah. I think he’s got a patient right now.”
Pause. “Oh wait—they’re coming out. Let me put you on hold, and then I’ll ask him
if he’s got time to talk.” Click. And then soft music while I waited. And waited.
And waited some more.
Finally a male voice
on the line. “Sarah? Hey, what’s up?”
“Hey, Will. Listen, I was wondering if you could give me
Dr. Cowart’s number.”
“Dr. Cowart? Sure,
why?”
“Well, I’m with
David, and we’re out here at the river.
He’s got some questions about the Davis baby, and we think Dr. Cowart
might have some answers. So what’s his
number?”
“Okay, well, I don’t
know it off the top of my head, so I’d have to look it up on my cell.”
“Great, could you do
that for me?”
“Actually, you know
what? I’ve gotta swing by his place
today when I get off work. Why don’t you
meet me at the office and we can head over there together?”
“Sure, Will, that
would be awesome.”
“I’ll just give him
a call to let him know you and David are coming with me. I’ll be off in about half an hour, so I’ll
see you then.”
“Okay, thanks
Will. Bye.”
“Bye. See you in a little while.”
I hung up the phone
and turned to David, who had just come in with Mack. “I talked to Will. He said we can follow him over to Dr.
Cowart’s place after he gets off work.
You ready?”
David smiled. “Absolutely.”
******
We drove back into
town and met Will in the parking lot of Laurel Hill Family Medical.
“Do you know where
he lives?” he asked me.
“No, not exactly.”
“It’s not hard to
find. Just over on Oak Street. But you can follow me anyway.”
“Alright, thanks.”
Will got into his
car, and I got back in the car with David, and we headed out.
It was only a few
blocks, and when we pulled into the driveway I had a knot in my stomach the
size of a basketball. A quick glance at
David told me he was experiencing a similar feeling. But at the same time his eyes were dancing
with anticipation, as if he had been waiting for this his entire life. Which I guess he had.
“Let’s do this,” I
said as I got out of the car and walked up the drive behind my brother. Will rang the doorbell and Dr. Cowart
answered, inviting us in with a warm smile.
“Hey, Will. Sarah.
Come on in.” David came in last
and Dr. Cowart held out his hand to him.
“Don’t think I’ve met you. Hank
Cowart.”
David shook his hand
and said, “David Jenson. It’s nice to
meet you.”
“I understand you’ve
got some questions for me.”
“Yes I do. And I appreciate you taking the time to meet
with me.”
“Oh, that’s no
problem at all. I like having
company. It gets lonely around here
since Millie—that’s my wife—passed away last year. Now you just have a seat and I’ll be right
with you. But first I need to get that
thing Will asked for.”
He and Will
disappeared down the hall. For the five
minutes that they were gone, David and I sat on the sofa, saying nothing. Eventually we heard footsteps coming back
toward the front of the house.
Will emerged first,
carrying a large cardboard box and talking over his shoulder. “Thanks so much for digging these out. I’ll get them to Dot first thing in the
morning so she can start sorting through them.”
“No problem at
all. I’m glad to get them out of that
back room. Too much junk in there
already.”
“Alright, Doc,
thanks, and I guess I’ll be on my way.”
“Oh, no reason to
rush off. Stay and have a beer.”
Will hesitated, then
said, “Well, I don’t know what all David wants to talk to you about. I mean if it’s something private I…”
“Don’t worry, Will,”
David said. “I won’t mind you being
here. You’re already kind of involved
anyway, so you might as well stay. If
you want to that is.”
“Well, then, I guess
I will,” he said, putting the box by the door.
“I’d hate to turn down a free beer, after all. Just don’t tell Mom,” he added, winking at
me.
“I’ll be right back
then,” Dr. Cowart said, moving toward the kitchen. He glanced at David and me. “What about you two? Want one?”
We both said we
would take a beer, so he went to the refrigerator to grab them. When he returned he passed them around, but
paused before he handed me mine. “You are old enough to drink, right? I don’t want to get in trouble for this.”
I laughed. “I’ve been old enough for a few years
now. No worries.”
I took the beer and
he took his seat, and we all relaxed a bit.
“Alright now.” He
looked over at David. “What can I help
you with?”
David took a breath,
then said, “I’d like for you to tell me what you know about the Amelia Davis
murder.”
Dr. Cowart shook his
head. “Wow. That was a long time ago.”
“Anything you
remember would be helpful.”
“Well…I remember a
lot. That was when we were trying to put
our two kids through college, so I’d taken some weekend shifts down at the
hospital in addition to the practice here in town. It all happened on a Saturday morning, so I
was there when they brought them in.”
“Them meaning Amelia
and the baby?”
“Yes. Now I didn’t actually see Amelia’s body, but
I did examine that baby.”
“What can you tell
me about him?”
“Oh, I remember a
lot about that baby. He stayed in the
hospital a couple of days, and then Millie and I brought him back here for a week
or so while social services tried to figure out what to do with him.”
“And what did they
do with him?”
“They came and took
him is all I know. I guess they put him
with a family.”
“How old was he?”
“Well, he looked
pretty much like a newborn, but it was hard to say exactly until I took a look
at Amelia’s file. Of course they could
tell how recently she had given birth, and the file said it must have happened
just a couple of days before she died.”
“A couple of
days. So she didn’t die in childbirth,
it was definitely the stab wounds that killed her?”
“Oh, yeah, they knew
that for sure. Tragic thing was if she’d
gone to a hospital she probably would have lived. No major organ damage or anything like that. Poor thing just bled to death out there in
the woods.”
“I see,” David said,
and was silent.
We waited a while
for him to say something, but he didn’t.
He just stared down at his hands and fiddled with the top of his beer
bottle. Finally Will said, “David, are
you okay?”
As if waking from a
trance, David said, “What? Oh, yeah, I’m
fine. Um…another question. You said you had the baby here for a while?”
Dr. Cowart
nodded. “Just for about a week, but he
was here.”
“I don’t suppose you
have any pictures of him?”
“Actually yeah. I’ve got a whole album full of pictures. Millie adored that little guy. Used up about five rolls of film just on
him. Wait a minute, I’ll go grab them.”
Again he disappeared
into the back of the house, but quickly returned carrying an old beat up photo
album. “This is it,” he said, handing
the book to David.
We huddled around
him as he flipped through the pages, all filled with pictures of the Cowarts
and a tiny baby—the Davis baby. Then,
suddenly, David stood up.
“Excuse me, Dr.
Cowart, would you mind if I stepped outside to make a phone call?”
“Oh, go right
ahead. I don’t mind a bit.”
“What’s all this
about?” Will asked, sitting down beside me after David had gone.
I looked at him, at
a complete loss as to where to even begin answering that question. “Look, Will, if you want to know why David is
interested in all this, you should ask him.
He’s told me some stuff, but I don’t know if it’s my place to talk to
anyone about it. Let’s just wait for him
to get back, and maybe he’ll explain something.”
David returned, looking
shaken. He was holding his phone and
staring down at the screen. Dr. Cowart
got up and went over to him. Putting a
hand on David’s shoulder he said, “Son, everything alright?”
David looked up,
smiling weakly. “Yeah, it’s okay. I just called my mom, got her to email me a
picture.” He held the phone out for Dr. Cowart to see. “Look at this baby and tell me, is this the
Davis baby?”
Dr. Cowart looked
carefully, and then finally said, “Well, it sure looks a lot like him. Of course I can’t be absolutely certain, but
I’d say it’s most likely him. Why? Who
is that?”
David glanced around
the room, and then looked back down at his phone before he said, “That’s me.”
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