Ashley Crane Cozy Mystery Boxed Set

by Laurie Anne Marie

  “Hi. Are your parents around? Hello? What’s your name?” Ashley asked.

  The boy still didn’t move and kept his head down. Perhaps he was waiting for his parent to come back from the public restroom. And he most likely had been told not to talk to strangers.

  She glanced at the small cement building that contained the men’s and women’s restrooms and saw a bolt and chain on the doors. The restrooms had been locked already for the night.

  Seeing that only made Ashley worry even more. She swiveled her head again to look for a grownup.

  “Hello?” she called out.

  Nothing.

  Ashley slowly approached the boy. He was sniffling and looking at the ground. She also noticed that his legs were shaking.

  “Hi. It’s okay. I won’t hurt you. I’m just looking for your guardian. What’s your name? Did you come here with some—?”

  Before she could finish her thought, she felt an arm reach around her neck from behind. In one strong motion, her head was jerked back.

  Ashley tried to wriggle free, but a cloth with a powerful odor was pushed against her face. A few seconds later, she sank down to the ground. Before she lost consciousness, Ashley caught sight of the little boy’s face. His eyes were open wide, and he was crying.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Ashley woke up in the trunk of a car. She was blindfolded, her mouth was taped shut, and her wrists were bound. Her head was still groggy from whatever had been used to knock her out, but her heart was racing with sheer panic.

  Please, please, dear God, let me survive this, she prayed.

  Her mind flashed to Sean, who had be waiting for her at the bakery. If she didn’t show up, he would certainly raise the alarm. Soon, everyone would be looking for her.

  Thompson had the phone that Caitlin had dropped. Perhaps he would have been able to track down the contact from Caitlin’s phone by now.

  Either way, she knew that everyone would do whatever they could to find her. At the same time, her heart sank as they turned another corner and the car sped up. She didn’t know how long they had been driving while she was passed out, but it was clear that they were on a major road by now, and whoever was driving was taking her far away.

  It would be harder than ever to find her now. She kept listening as best she could to see if she could hear anything distinct that might give her a clue as to where they were. She was able to hear the muffled sounds of passing cars and an occasional horn, but no big truck sounds.

  The absence of truck noises could mean that they were on the coast road, since trucks weren’t allowed there. Ashley strained to hear more. A faint sound resembling that of seagulls seemed to be coming from overhead.

  Then the sound went away. A few minutes later, she heard it again. Yes, it was gulls. There was no doubt in her mind now that they were on the coast highway.

  Most likely heading north, she thought.

  Just then, the car took a right and slowed for a turn then straightened out again. Ashley could sense the car going up an incline of some sort.

  We left the coast road. Heading inland, up a hill, she thought.

  The driver was taking her someplace less visible, someplace off the beaten track. Up a mountain, perhaps?

  The car kept going up, and the turns became more frequent. She tried to think of all the places they could be heading. Mt. Glory? Mt. Dume?

  Then again, it could have been someplace else entirely. A place she had never been. She tried to pray, to meditate, and to remain calm. But it was hard to suppress her panic.

  Ashley thought of all her loved ones who would be worried about her.

  Then she flashed on what Nancy had said. “I see you struggling with a man.”

  I have to fight, she thought. I have to fight hard.

  ***

  It seemed they were driving forever. Then the car started to slow down and turned left. After a moment, she heard crunching gravel.

  They stopped. She heard the incline brake being pushed.

  Ashley remained silent in the trunk as she heard muffled voices coming from outside.

  She geared herself for the trunk opening. Every muscle in her body tensed up.

  Everything went totally quiet outside for a moment. The only sound she could hear was that of her heart thumping.

  With her panic reaching an all-new level, an unknown figure jerked the trunk open and swiftly lifted her out of the car.

  Since Ashley’s hands were bound, her only option to try and free herself was to kick wildly and jerk her body back and forth.

  A man coughed near her face. His breath smelled like cigarettes and rotting teeth.

  The man growled. “Stop kicking, or you’ll regret it.”

  Ashley slumped over his shoulder and listened for anything that could give her a clue as to where they were. There was a strong wind blowing, and the temperature was chilly. She also smelled food cooking.

  The man banged on a door with his foot, and someone opened it. Neither of them spoke a word at first.

  The mysterious man entered the structure, walked across the room, put Ashley down against a wall, and then bound her legs together.

  Then he pulled her blindfold off.

  The man was average height and thin, with light-blue eyes. The pale skin on his face was pocked with scars, and his teeth were yellow. Ashley noticed that his nails were yellow, too.

  Smoker’s nails and teeth, she thought.

  The man stared at her while he lit up a cigarette and then pulled off his knit cap, revealing a head of dark burnished-red hair. It was his only appealing feature.

  He exhaled while he studied her then grunted to the other man in the room. “Get her some coffee.”

  The other man was short and had dark hair. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on it just yet.

  Ashley stared back at the redheaded man as hard as he was staring at her. He unbound her wrists and ripped off the tape over her mouth.

  He then handed her the cup of coffee while issuing a warning. “If you scream, you’ll be sorry you were ever born.”

  The redhead watched her like a hawk.

  “Drink some coffee,” he said. “Are you hungry?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Good. Me too.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  The red-haired man ordered the dark-haired man to bring Ashley some food. Dinner turned out to be a bowl with potatoes and meat in it. A large biscuit was sitting on top. Ashley smelled the food first.

  The red-haired man laughed. “I heard you’re a cook. Giving it the once-over, are you? Well, I can tell you those are the best biscuits around. Sonny here sure knows how to cook.”

  Sonny smiled then turned away and ate in silence.

  The red-haired man snorted. “He don’t talk so good, though. That’s why I do all the talking.”

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Call me Red. But you already might have guessed that, right?”

  “Seems a bit obvious. But that can’t be your real name,” Ashley said.

  “Why not? Isn’t Ashley your real name?” Red laughed.

  He then dug into his bowl of food. Seeing them both eating, Ashley felt that it was safe to taste hers. She was surprised at how tender and juicy the beef was. And the biscuit was really flakey.

  “Good biscuits,” she said.

  Sonny grinned at her and clapped his hands.

  Red laughed. “See, what’d I tell ya? I knew you were scared to eat because you thought it was poisoned, but we wouldn’t waste this good food to poison you with, lady.”

  She replied sarcastically. “I’m so relieved.”

  Finally, after staring long enough, she recognized Sonny. She had seen him fighting with Jackson before the detective put him in a car on her street a while back.

  She quickly glanced at the door to see how far away it was from where she was sitting. From there, she took a quick look around the room while the men were bent over, eating.
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  “Don’t think you’re making a run for it. Nothing and nobody up here. Nowhere to hide. And besides, it’s cold out. You wouldn’t get far.” Red grinned at her and wiped his mouth. “Besides, we have a surprise for ya.”

  Sonny started to giggle uncontrollably and slap his knee. He bobbed his head up and down and wheezed. Then he seemed to go into a trance and stared at the door.

  Red leaned in over her. “Sonny’s not all there, know what I mean? But don’t worry, I’ve got everything covered.” He leaned in closer and studied her intensely. His breath was unbelievably foul.

  She heard muffled footsteps on the gravel outside.

  Sonny leapt up and began to gesture wildly at the door.

  “Open it, you fool,” Red barked.

  The door swung open wide just as Sonny was reaching for it.

  A huge pit bull ran in, and behind him was the towering figure of Detective Josh Jackson.

  “Surprise!” Red yelled.

  Ashley stared into Jackson’s face. He gave her a big grin. His dog, Jake, came over and sniffed her.

  Time seemed to stand still.

  She fully expected that he would arrest Red and Sonny any second now. Instead, Detective Jackson gave Red a pat on the back and held out some beef jerky for Sonny, who burst into squeals of delight.

  “Welcome to my world, Ashley. Didn’t I tell you to stay out of this?” Detective Jackson said.

  “I thought you were one of the good guys—” she started saying.

  “I’m a great guy once you get to know me.” Jackson grinned again. “Just ask Jake.” His dog looked up at him and wagged his tail. Jackson gave him a piece of jerky. “And you get stuff when you’re on my side.”

  A sinister expression came to his face. “But I’m not about to have everything I worked for tumble like dice. You kept poking your nose into everything. So this is all your fault. Isn’t that right, boys?”

  Red laughed. Sonny looked at him and giggled.

  It was dead quiet outside. Way up here on a mountain, there was no one to hear her screams.

  Jackson paced back and forth across the room. “So, my dear. What should I do with you? I tried to make you go away by talking sense to you, and that didn’t work. So how do I get you to leave me and this case alone forever?”

  He gave her a cold look.

  Red jumped up. “I’ll do it, boss. Won’t take me long. You get something to eat.”

  Red let out a cackle and grinned at Ashley.

  Sonny jumped up and down. “Me too! Me too!”

  “Sit down, you fool,” Red snapped.

  Jackson paused and looked Ashley over. “You know, boys, I want to take care of this myself. Now, you both go put my car in the shed and settle in there for the night. I’ll call you if I need you.”

  “But—” Red started to say.

  Jackson was insistent. “Get out. Now! You did a good job getting her. Now leave me be.”

  Red shot Jackson a dirty look and then pushed Sonny out the door. “Go on, idiot.”

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Jackson locked the door behind them. From there, he turned and smiled at Ashley.

  “Just you and me now, sweetheart.”

  Ashley felt the blood drain from her face. “Do you really think you’re going to get away with this?”

  “Get away with what? Getting rid of you? Of course I will,” he said.

  “Because you got away with Melissa Anderson’s murder twenty-five years ago?”

  “Now, what makes you think I did that?” he asked.

  “Because no one around here has ever heard from or seen Robert Anderson after all these years. Not to mention, he had an alibi for the time of the murder—he was out of town. So he must have hired you to do his dirty work.”

  “How can you be so sure? He could have slipped back into Comfortville, killed her, then left town again in an effort to keep his alibi intact,” Jackson replied.

  Ashley shook her head. “That would have required too much time, and he would have risked being seen.” She looked directly in his eyes. “No, he hired you to kill his wife. He must have given you lots of money to get you to do it, too. With the police so focused on Robert, they didn’t suspect a stranger. And, since you were the guilty party, law enforcement wasn’t able to dig up any hard evidence to build a solid-enough case against Robert. Back in those days, there was no sophisticated DNA evidence to link the crime to you. You managed to slip into the Andersons’ house, kill Melissa, and leave without anyone so much as suspecting you. Even more, you stole some jewelry to make it look like Melissa’s murder was the result of a robbery gone bad.”

  Jackson quietly listened to Ashley’s theory.

  “Being a detective, you would have known how to cover your tracks. Not only to escape any suspicion, but to make sure that Robert Anderson couldn’t be convicted of the crime, either. When Robert was acquitted, he disappeared. But when Robert heard that the case had been reopened, he must have paid you more money to come here and get rid of any possible evidence that could be linked to him. Or, more importantly, people who had knowledge of Melissa and Robert’s marriage troubles, like my poor uncle. It would have been so convenient to pin the murder on George since he was with Melissa Anderson the day before she was killed, but the prosecutors weren’t able to turn up any evidence against him. That didn’t stop Robert Anderson from trying to make it seem that my uncle and his wife were having an affair, and that my uncle was a jilted lover who had snuck back that night and killed her.”

  Ashley stared long and hard at Jackson, who didn’t even flinch.

  “The reality was that Robert wanted to be with Caitlin Harding,” Ashley said. “He had planned a new life with her, but his wife found out about their affair and threatened him with divorce. That was the last straw. Even though George had said Melissa had been willing to try counseling again with her husband if he broke off the affair, Robert wanted his wife out of the way. The ironic part was that, after the trial, Caitlin ended up breaking things off with him. After Caitlin left him, Robert skipped town. Not wanting to set foot in Comfortville again, Robert hired you to come back here and get rid of Caitlin to make sure she didn’t discuss Robert or the trial with anyone—and to ensure that she never would. And my uncle.”

  Ashley finished speaking and waited to hear Jackson’s reaction.

  He just stared at her and didn’t say a word.

  That was exactly the opposite of what she was hoping for. Ashley was desperate to keep him talking to give the police more time to hopefully find her.

  Finally, Detective Jackson broke his silence. “Great story. Hard to prove, but still a great story. Looks like you’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this old murder. Please go on.”

  “My poor uncle never got over Melissa’s death and the fact that he wrongfully became a suspect in the murder. George tried to live peacefully after the trial, but his demons surfaced every now and then, causing him to hit the bottle. He was a harmless, broken man just trying to live peacefully. But even after all this time, Robert Anderson wanted him gone for good—just to make sure that there were no loose ends this time around.”

  “That’s quite the sob story about your uncle. But there’s something else. Your dumb uncle saw me hanging around the house the day that Melissa Anderson was murdered.”

  Ashley’s eyebrows arched. “He never mentioned that.”

  “That’s because I scared the crap out of him,” Jackson said. “He asked me who I was that day, and I told him I was hired to fix the roof. He checked with Melissa, and when she said that they hadn’t hired a roofer, he told me to get off the property. I figured he might try to mention seeing me at the trial, so I cornered him one night by his house and warned him what I’d do to him and his wife if he ever talked. It’s probably another reason why he drank. He never knew if—or when—I’d sneak up on him.”

  Jackson laughed.

  Ashley stared at him. She couldn’t contain her loathing at his cruelty.
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  “Robert Anderson must be really proud of you,” Ashley said. “You’ve acted like the good detective and run around town, rounding up people for questioning so everyone would think you were really working the case instead of obstructing justice. You brought in another redhead for questioning, scared the hell out of him with questions, and then let him off. Then you used Sonny as a stooge on my street that day by pretending to fight with him. Each time. you would bring these people in for questioning, only to let them go. But in doing so, it made you look like you were working. To really cover your tracks, you hired Red to shoot you in the arm to make it seem like you were in danger, when really it was nothing more than a cover-up. After you went to the hospital and got bandaged up, you had everyone at the station thinking you had really put your life on the line. You even hired Red to kill my uncle. Then you sent Red to steal my cat, even going so far as ordering him to tail my friend and me in an effort to get rid of us at the Old Mill.”

  Jackson snorted. “Red’s good. He’s saved me from some of the dirty work. I’d give him an A for his skills. He should be, after all I’m paying him.”

  “He’s not that good,” Ashley shot back. “My uncle survived. So you had to send Red and Caitlin to the hospital to threaten George. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t go away, forcing you to have Red grab me at the park. The problem is, there’s one big flaw with your plan.”

  Jackson grinned. “What’s that, sweetheart?”

  “I know you’re planning on killing me, but you’d be foolish to do so.”

  “Is this your way of begging for your life?”

  “This isn’t me begging. It’s me telling you that you won’t get away with murder this time. Detective Thompson has the phone that Caitlin dropped with Red’s number on it. And a piece of a gold chain with his initial on it that I found in my apartment. Do you really think Red will protect you if they bring him in for questioning and he’s staring down decades in prison?” Ashley shook her head. “I don’t think so. There’s no loyalty between criminals.”