by J. R. Ripley
“Let’s see who we’ve got here.”
Ignoring the man’s snarls, Derek yanked the ski mask off his face.
Holding the broken shovel out like a lance, I studied the red, unshaved face by candlelight.
“Recognize him?” Derek asked.
When the man tried to heave himself up, Derek raised himself up momentarily, then dropped his weight mercilessly on him. He then pushed the man’s face even harder against the wood floor.
“It’s the guy.” My mouth hung open.
“The guy?”
“Lulu’s guy. That dead guy that they thought was that convict that wasn’t that convict at all.” I gulped. “It’s that convict.”
Only he wasn’t dead. Although I almost was. And if it hadn’t been for Derek, I probably would have been.
“You mean it’s—” Derek leaned over, trying to catch a glimpse of the man’s face.
“Alan Spenner,” I answered.
22
“Well, well,” said Derek. “A lot of people are going to sleep better tonight knowing where you are.”
Spenner snapped at Derek. Derek pressed his forearm against the back of the escaped convict’s neck.
“What do we do now? Can you hold him?”
“I think so. But look around and see if you can find something to tie him up.”
“Right.” I looked around for some rope or, better yet, some heavy chain.
“The police should be here any minute,” Derek said.
I rummaged through the debris for something, anything. My shoulders sagged. “Actually, I forgot to phone them,” I confessed.
“I called them,” Derek said. “Rather, I called Anita at dispatch. She said she’d send a car.”
“How did you know to do that?”
“When you weren’t at the cabin but your van was, I knew you had to be up to something. And with you, that something usually spells trouble.”
“I’d resent that remark if it wasn’t patently true.”
“I got worried that something might have happened to you. Even that you might have gone off into the woods for some reason and gotten lost,” Derek explained. “Anita told me to sit tight and wait for Chief Kennedy. But then Chief Kennedy himself called while I was waiting. I explained what was going on. He said you had never called the station like we had agreed.”
“I sort of lost track of time.” It was a lame excuse but the only one I could come up with at the moment.
“Chief Kennedy sounded angry when I told him about us visiting Gar Samuelson’s cabin and the mess we discovered inside.”
“I’ll bet.”
Derek grunted and reapplied pressure to Spenner’s neck as the convict tried to buck him off. “I saw a couple of footprints outside Mr. Samuelson’s place and figured you had come this way.”
I rummaged through the kitchen cabinets.
“Then I heard your voice and this guy’s when I got close to the cabin. I was trying to figure out what to do when the door opened,” Derek explained.
“I’m not finding anything to tie him up with,” I complained.
“Maybe in your van?”
“Sorry, I’m a bird-watcher, not a mountain climber.”
“Okay. Don’t worry. I’ve got him.”
“You’ll pay for this!” warned Alan Spenner. “When I get out of here—”
I cut him off. “I can’t believe this killer has been hiding out here all this time.” I felt much safer insulting my masked attacker now that Derek had subdued him.
“Not so tough now, are you?” I lowered my face to look him in the eye. “Murderer!”
“You’re crazy!” snapped the escaped convict. “I didn’t kill anybody!”
“No? Tell it to the police, buster!” I shook my finger at him. “And what about all those other innocent people you beat up? Huh? What about them?’
Alan Spenner’s dark blue eyes burned with hatred. “You talking about that kid I roughed up with a baseball bat?” He struggled to move his arms, but Derek had them tight. “He was trying to run off with my daughter. I had to stop her. I was a father protecting his daughter. For that I went to prison.” He spat on the floor. “Would you have done any different?”
A strong voice broke through the chaos that was my mind.
“The police are here.” Ross held Pep by the dog’s leather collar.
Startled by the voice from behind, Derek lost his concentration. As Derek released his grip, Alan Spenner took advantage of the moment. The escaped con pushed off from the floor, shoved me aside, and ran toward the bedroom.
“He’s getting away!” I cried for absolutely no good reason. I mean, we could all see that.
Pep barked and lunged, but Ross was holding him tight. Derek leapt up and surged past me. I shouted incoherently as Derek leapt in the air and tackled Spenner halfway out the bedroom window.
“Get him!”
I spun around to see who had hollered.
It was Chief Kennedy. Extracting his weapon with one hand, he waved to Dan and Larry with the other. The boys took hold of a writhing and fuming Alan Spenner by the arms. Those arms were quickly pulled behind him and cuffs applied.
“Nice tackle,” I said, taking a seat on the floor next to Derek, where he sat nursing his right shoulder in the bedroom. “Did you ever play football in high school or college?”
“No.” He massaged the shoulder. His voice sounded pained. “And I don’t intend to start.”
I kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks.” I stood and extended my hand. “Come on. We’d better get you to a doctor. That shoulder is going to need looking at. Plus, there could be bad cuts, scrapes, bruising. You’ll need to bathe those wounds and probably could use some disinfectant.”
Derek winced as I pulled him to his feet. “I don’t need a hospital,” he said mulishly.
I grinned. “Who said anything about a hospital?”
“Huh?”
I arched my brow in the seductive manner that I had been practicing in the mirror since I was sixteen years old, just waiting for the right time, place, and person to practice it on.
It took him a moment, but Derek got the message.
“Oh!”
Derek leaned against me. We walked to the front threshold. Officer Larry Reynolds stood on the porch. He had hold of the prisoner. Officer Dan Sutton was frisking him.
Alan Spenner watched, sullen and fuming. He looked like a man far from having given up.
I was going to give him a wide berth.
“Hold up there, you two,” Chief Kennedy waved us back. He had holstered his gun, probably disappointed that he hadn’t had a chance to shoot at something or someone. “We’ve got our killer,” Jerry said. “In some small way, thanks to you two,” he added grudgingly.
“But what if Spenner didn’t kill Yvonne?” I asked.
“He did.”
“He told us that he only beat that boy with a baseball bat because the boy had forced his daughter to go with him.”
“That daughter,” Jerry replied, “was nineteen years old and had a mind of her own. From what the state police tell me, she not only went willingly with the young man in question, she prodded him into committing several burglaries. Seems she liked pretty things.” Jerry’s frown said he didn’t think much more of the daughter than he did her father. “Alan Spenner probably took a baseball bat to the kid because he didn’t like his daughter doing side work with some other crook besides himself.”
“That puts a different spin on things,” Derek said.
That it did.
“As for the second time,” Jerry continued, moving inside the cabin, “Spenner didn’t like what some unfortunate journalist wrote about him concerning the first incident.”
“I didn’t know that,” I admitted, suddenly deflated.
“
No, you didn’t.” Jerry ran a big flashlight around the cabin. “It looks like Spenner’s been hiding out here for some time.” He turned to Ross. “I’m surprised none of you people noticed.”
He said “you people” like the residents of Webber’s Pond were some sort of strange subspecies.
Surprisingly, Ross Barnswallow, usually so quick to flare, merely stroked Pep and nodded.
“How’s the shoulder, Mr. Harlan?” Chief Kennedy asked.
“It’s been better,” Derek said through gritted teeth. “But I’ll be fine.”
I kissed him on the cheek. His left eye was swelling up, and there was a cut on his chin.
“Glad to hear it,” Chief Kennedy barked. “The EMTs will be here any second. I think I hear them now.”
A siren played its one-note score in the background and crescendoed a moment later as the van skidded to a stop outside the cabin.
While the driver remained seated behind the wheel, two EMTs rushed up to us.
“Give me a minute, folks,” the chief said to the man and woman who began checking over Derek’s wounds.
The two EMTs took a step back, their eyes falling with curiosity on the prisoner.
“As much as I appreciate you two nabbing a killer and escaped convict, how about you telling me what you’re doing here in the first place?” Chief Kennedy stuck the flashlight back on his belt and folded his arms under his armpits.
I debated how to answer the question before opening my mouth. No matter what I said, Jerry wasn’t going to like it. “I heard that Gar had willed me his cabin, and I—”
Jerry interrupted. “Yeah.” He spat. “What was he? Some sort of lunatic?”
“Gar Samuelson was a very nice man, Jerry.”
“I thought you barely knew him?”
“That’s true but—”
“And didn’t I hear that you thought he might have murdered Ms. Rice?”
“Who told you that?” It was true, but I didn’t remember telling him that.
“Doesn’t matter.” He turned to Derek. “Maybe I can get a straight answer out of you.”
“I’ve got a straight answer for you!” I shoved my hands in my pockets before my fists did something stupid that I couldn’t control and would regret later.
Derek rested his fingers on my elbow. “Don’t mind Amy, Chief. She’s been through a lot.”
Jerry was smirking, which was only making me madder.
“We all have.”
“Yeah, yeah,” conceded Jerry. “I suppose.”
“And like you said yourself, it is because of Amy that you’ve caught Mr. Spenner.”
Jerry took pause.
“Yes, this is quite a coup,” Derek said. “This will be quite a feather in your cap.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Wait until the news reporters get hold of the story,” Derek added.
Jerry’s brows twitched.
“Front-page news. Right, Amy?”
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I muttered.
Derek raised his voice over mine. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you and the entire Ruby Lake PD didn’t get some kind of commendation. Maybe from Mayor MacDonald himself.”
“Maybe even the governor.” Jerry rubbed his chin.
“Maybe Mickey Mouse,” I mumbled.
Derek prodded me with his elbow. “How about if Amy and I go home, get some rest, and meet you down at the station tomorrow? We’ll give you our statements then. Right, Amy?”
“Right,” I said grudgingly. I had several statements I wanted to give Jerry right then and there, but I supposed they could wait.
“Nine a.m.?”
“Nine a.m.” Derek laid his hand on his chest.
“Fine. Get out of here. I’ve got a department to run and a murder investigation to wrap up. I’m sure you have little birdies to feed.”
He hustled me to the door. “But you, Mr. Harlan, are not going home.”
“I’m not?”
“Nope. You are going to the ER.”
“What for?” Derek halted on the porch’s bottom step. “I’m fine. Really, Chief.”
“That’s the rules, counselor. There’s liability issues. We can’t go having the Town of Ruby Lake being sued if it turns out later you have serious injuries that we neglected to treat you for.”
Derek reluctantly agreed.
“I’ll meet you there.”
Sigh. So much for playing the role of Nurse Simms. We kissed, and Derek climbed into the EMS vehicle.
“Wait. What about my car?” called Derek as one of the medics applied some cream to the cuts on his chin and hands.
Dan stuck his head in the back of the vehicle. “Don’t worry, Derek. I drove up with the chief. I’ll drive the Civic to town and park it outside your office.”
Reassured, Derek nodded and allowed the medic to strap him in.
“Thanks, Dan,” I said as Derek and company headed down the road. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
I waved to Ross Barnswallow, who stood on the lawn outside the cabin, still holding Pep, still saying little.
I imagined the shock he must be feeling. I was feeling it too. Alan Spenner was now locked in the back of Officer Larry Reynolds’s squad car. Larry started his engine and drove off, following the EMTs to the medical center so Spenner could get checked out by a physician, too.
Derek had hit him pretty good.
Dan pulled me aside. “Before you go, I’d like a word.”
“Sure, Dan. What is it?”
Dan glanced toward the cabin. Jerry was interviewing Ross Barnswallow now. That is, Jerry was talking, and Ross was mostly nodding. Ross had on a baggy brown coat that hung practically to his knees, brown corduroy pants, and a red hat.
“It’s about Kim.”
“What about her?” In the midst of capturing an escaped convict and the man responsible for murdering one and possibly two innocent people, he wanted to talk about Kim?
Dan shifted his hands on his duty belt. “Did you know she was seeing somebody?”
“What do you mean?”
Dan’s lower lip sagged.
“Oh, Dan. You don’t think she’s cheating on you?” I was shocked. Kim was a lot of things, but she was no cheat. “Kim would never—”
“No!” He threw up his hands. “Please, Amy.” He admonished me as he glanced nervously over his shoulder at his boss. “Keep your voice down. Okay?”
I nodded and he continued.
“I didn’t mean ‘seeing somebody’ like that. I meant seeing somebody like a shrink.”
“Huh?”
“A shrink. You know, a psychiatrist.”
“Are you crazy? Oops.” My hand flew to my mouth. I giggled. “Sorry. That just slipped out.” I grabbed his wrist. “But are you crazy?”
“Sutton!” Chief Kennedy boomed.
Dan colored and turned. “Yes, Chief?”
“Get over here! Anita says the county and state boys are on their way. I don’t want them thinking we don’t know how to do our jobs!”
“Yes, Chief.” Dan mouthed “We’ll talk later” to me, then lumbered off.
“I want this cabin and these grounds searched top to bottom,” Jerry instructed. “If there is anything here to find, I want us to find it before they do. That means I want the neighbors interviewed. Again. And I want—”
Jerry froze midsentence.
It was me he was looking at.
“I want you out of here.”
“Yes, Jerry.” Why fight it? Besides, I was anxious to check on Derek. Despite his assurances, he could have sustained some serious injuries—all on account of me.
“And I don’t want to see you again until nine o’clock tomorrow!”
I frowned. “What’s at nine o’clock tomorrow? I’ve g
ot a business to run, in case you’ve forgotten.”
Jerry looked like a kettle about to blow its top.
Dan came to my rescue. “You and Derek need to give your statements. Remember?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be there.” I smiled at Ross and Pep. “Good night, neighbor. Hang in there.”
Pep eyed me like a potential playmate. Unfortunately, now was not the time.
Ross looked at me like I was nuts. I didn’t let it bother me. I get a lot of that.
23
In the morning, after a fortifying breakfast of pecan pancakes smothered in real maple syrup and butter at Ruby’s Diner—I always consider it best to face Jerry on a full, well-sated stomach—Derek and I drove together to the police station.
Derek was behind the wheel.
I was wishing I’d worn a looser pair of slacks.
“Uh-oh. What’s this all about?” Derek said as we drove slowly along Barwick Street looking for a spot to park.
The AM Ruby van was parked at the curb. Lance’s car, a metallic green Beetle with Ruby Lake Weekender signage, was squeezed in beside it. A much larger white truck, with enough electronics on its roof to host a small convention, loomed over them both. That truck belonged to a Charlotte television station.
Violet Wilcox was banging her fist on the police-station door. Lance was peeping through the window.
Good luck with that.
According to Anita, those windows hadn’t been washed a single time during Jerry’s tenure as chief of police. Not to mention the odd assortment of half-dead greenery and faded file folders on the inside that blocked the view from the outside.
“Let’s park in back,” I suggested.
“That parking lot is for official use only.” Derek motioned for the car behind us to pass us.
“This is official business,” I countered. “Jerry told us to be here.”
“I suppose.” Derek didn’t sound convinced, but since he saw no other option, he lifted his foot off the brake and cruised around to the rear of the police station. He pulled in between a pair of freshly washed squad cars.
A white bandage ran along Derek’s jawline, and another was plastered to his forehead. I felt sorry for him, but I also thought he looked sort of adorable. He groaned as he slid from behind the wheel and his feet hit the pavement.