by PJ Fernor
“I’m not alone here, Ben.”
“Great. I know what that means.”
“Are you going to be one of those guys now?”
“No,” he said. “I still want to fight the guy though.”
“We all do,” I said. “The sad truth is that he’s good at his job. Really good at his job.”
“I know,” Ben said.
“I talked to Drew,” I said. “I’ll give him credit for being open to us.”
“You don’t think he did it.”
“No.”
“You don’t think Greg did it either.”
“No,” I sighed. “I just need to hear it for myself.”
“Well, I checked the cameras. Just like before… someone dressed in all black. I’m going to set something up out here. I can’t believe whoever this is feels brave enough to walk up to your vehicle in broad daylight and leave a note. Twice. It’s almost like they’re toying with us. Teasing us, you know?”
“I know, Ben,” I said. “Probably just trying to get us to panic. To throw us off… something.”
“Well, I’d take something over the nothing we have so far.”
“We don’t have nothing, Ben.”
“I appreciate your confidence as always, Allie Down. But when you rule out David, Drew, and Greg today, then what?”
There wasn’t an answer for that yet.
“Your silence is the answer,” Ben said.
“I’m just about at Greg’s,” I said. “Keep thinking. I’ll let you know what happens here.”
“Please be careful. I need you around.”
“That’s sweet. I need you too, Ben. I’ll be back soon enough.”
The call ended and Johnny parked.
I pulled up behind him and looked at a twin house.
Perfectly separated down the middle. The left side with dirty, white siding. The right side with a dark cobalt blue siding.
I caught up to Johnny and he pointed to the cobalt blue side of the twin. “Surprising he lives there?”
“Nothing really surprises me anymore,” I said. “And I really don’t care whether someone has nice siding or not.”
“Then again, maybe the neighbor did it.”
“Did what?”
“Killed her. Killed Candice. And Claire.”
“How do you figure?”
“Candice and Greg had problems. Probably a lot of arguing. Yelling. Slamming things. Breaking things. What if the person who lives there got so mad…”
“Right,” I said. “Better yet, what if Candice, being who she seems to be, was having an affair with the neighbor and promised to leave Greg.”
“She didn’t leave Greg and the neighbor killed her.”
“Poor Claire was just in the wrong place.”
“Sometimes our job can get wild,” Johnny said.
“You started it,” I said. “There’s too many possibilities. However, we should talk to the neighbor.”
“First?”
I nodded.
“What if I told you we already did? I’m good at my job, Allie.”
“So am I,” I said as I walked away from Johnny.
We went up the shared porch steps and to the left side of the house.
With a gentle knock on the door I waited for the door to open.
The door opened. A woman about my height, but looked twice my age, stood there, staring at me with tired eyes. All the wrinkles and lines on her face pointed down.
“Another cop?” she asked. Her eyes moved. “I already talked to you.”
“I just want to verify some information, ma’am,” I said. “My name is-”
“I don’t care what your name is. Are you going to get him out of there?”
“Detective Barby?” I asked.
“No. Him.” She pointed to Greg’s side of the house. “I want him gone.”
“Do you own the house?”
“That’s right,” she said. “I live in the crappy side. Go figure. My late husband decided to work on that part of the house first. Said we would make more on rent and then fix up our place. What does he do then? He gets himself drunk, gets into his car, and hits a telephone pole.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said.
“That was five years ago. I’m over it. Now what do you want to ask me?”
“I think you know,” I said. “About Greg and Candice.”
“For the record, she was as vile as he was,” the woman said. “Yelling and saying horrible things. She cheated on him a lot. A lot. If he went out for an hour, she had a man over there. It was non-stop. Disgusting if you ask me.”
“Any violence?”
“Of course,” she said.
“You didn’t call the police?”
“I didn’t want to get involved. And truthfully, they would fight… then… make up.”
“Make up?” I asked.
The woman sighed. “They would get really angry. I would get this close to calling the police. Then it would get quiet. Then it would get loud again. In the bedroom. Understand?”
“Oh,” I said. “Okay. Did you ever see anyone hurt? Physically hurt?”
“I’m not their babysitter,” she said. “But if Greg misses one rent payment, he’s gone. I’ve put up with a lot from them. I’m sorry she’s gone. I don’t know what happened there. I hope whoever hurt her pays for it.”
“Do you think Greg could have done it?”
“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t think so yourself,” she said.
With that, she shut the door.
I turned and Johnny grinned. “She’s pleasant.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Did she give you anything else when you talked to her?”
“Not much,” Johnny said. “She just collected the rent and hoped they would move out. She hoped they’d break up and not be able to afford the place.”
“Sad. One call could have prevented this.”
“Could it though?” Johnny asked. “Claire wanted to go for the walk, remember?”
“Yeah. Right.” I stepped across the porch. “I guess we should knock on the next door.”
I took another step and the door opened before I could knock.
Greg came rushing out - right at me.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Johnny jumped into action.
He had a hand on Greg’s throat in a second, taking him down to the ground.
I grabbed Johnny’s arm and he released his hold.
Greg grabbed for his throat, coughing, eyes already tearing up.
“Don’t ever try to touch her again,” Johnny barked. “You’re lucky I don’t break your neck.”
“Johnny, stop,” I said.
“What do you want?” Greg asked as he coughed again.
“We need to talk,” I said.
“You need to come with us,” Johnny said. “You just assaulted someone in law enforcement. That’ll look great on your already messy record.”
“Hey,” I snapped at Johnny. We looked at each other. “Give me a few minutes with him. Alone.”
“What?” Johnny asked.
“I’m fine, Johnny. I don’t need anyone here right now.”
Johnny looked down at Greg. “One wrong move and I will hurt you. Understand?”
Greg nodded.
Johnny stormed off the porch and Greg struggled to get to his feet.
He then stumbled back into his own front door.
He yelled in pain and side stepped, spinning around, ripping the door open.
“A little morning drinking?” I asked.
Greg looked back at me. “You don’t have to believe me, but I loved her. I still love her. I always will love her.”
Inside the house, it was a disaster.
Furniture tipped over. Empty beer bottles everywhere. Empty whiskey bottles to match. Broken picture frames on the floor. Then there was a picture of Candice on the couch. Greg swiped it up and showed it to me.
“She’s beautiful,” I said.
“Most beautiful woman
I ever met,” Greg said. “Loved her from the second I saw her.”
“You know why I’m here, right?”
“You think I killed her.” Greg sat down on the couch. He reached between two cushions and produced a small bottle of vodka. He drank it like water. “Of course you think that. My past says I did it.”
“Did you do it?” I asked.
“No,” he said. He looked at me. “Did I kill her? No.”
I nodded. “I just need to know everything, Greg. For the record, I’m talking to all three of you. This isn’t me just picking on one person.”
“Great. Well, when you talk to Drew, tell him I said thanks for messing it all up.”
“How so?”
“They weren’t happy together. I knew the risk. Okay? I knew messing around with a taken woman was stupid. Believe me, I knew if she cheated on him with me she’d cheat on me with the next guy. That’s what drove me though. That made me want to be the final guy.”
“You weren’t, Greg.”
“I know. I was flawed. So was she. We were both angry.”
“Over what?”
“Life.”
“What else?”
“It’s a disaster. She bounced between us. Drew and I. Eventually Drew and I kind of agreed to just let her do her thing. We’d both keep her safe. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to share the woman I loved.”
“Were there other men?” I asked. “Your neighbor suggested…”
“That woman is crazy,” Greg said. “I can’t stand her. She talks a lot.”
“She said there were men coming and going.”
Greg looked at the picture of Candice. “Maybe so. I never saw it, so I won’t believe it. I just know how I felt when I was with her. I loved her.”
“What about your past?”
“Have at it,” Greg said. “I had issues. I’m not perfect. No human is. Did I yell at Candice? Yeah. Did I regret it? Definitely. Did I take a swing at her?” Greg shut his eyes. “I did. I hate myself for it.” His eyes slowly opened. “Did I kill her? No.”
He drank more vodka.
He nodded to the picture. “You know, this was the tamest picture from that photoshoot. She had this friend who took pictures. She wanted to take some provocative pictures for me. I loved her for that.”
“Greg, what happened that night?”
“What happened?” He tried to stand but lost his balance. As he hit the couch, he kicked his legs. “She got a call from Claire. That’s what happened. Claire needed to talk. Do you know how much Claire’s husband hated me? Hated Drew? I bet he killed both of them.”
“I’m more worried about you right now.”
“Do I look like a killer? Look at me. I’m a mess. My heart is broken. Why would I kill them and stick around? Why would my place look like this?”
“Maybe you regret it,” I said. “Maybe your anger got the best of you that night.”
“If that story helps you sleep better tonight, then so be it,” Greg said. “But… if you’re looking for the truth, you’ve got it wrong. I did not kill Candice. I did not kill Claire. I was here. Waiting for her to get home.”
“Were you arguing that night?”
“Yeah.”
“Over?”
“She was late from work. I had a feeling she was with a coworker.”
“A guy?”
“I don’t know,” Greg said. “She didn’t tell me. All I did was ask and she lost it on me. We were going at it pretty bad. Saying a lot of nasty things to each other. So when she got the call from Claire, I yelled at her and told her to go. I told her to leave and spend the night at Claire’s house. I told her I didn’t want to see her again. That’s the last thing I said to her. Can you believe that?”
I swallowed hard. Greg was genuinely hurt.
“I’m sorry those were your last words to her,” I said.
“I didn’t do it,” Greg said. He was calm and poised. “I swear on everything, I didn’t do it. I’ve done bad stuff in my life. I’ve owned up to it all. I would never kill…”
Greg drank more vodka and pulled the picture to his chest.
“Greg, you need to do something for me,” I said.
“What?”
“You need to call someone to come here. To sit with you. I can’t leave you like this. If you don’t call someone, I’ll have Detective Barby arrest you. You can go to the station for more questioning and you can sober up there.”
Greg put the picture frame down but not the bottle of vodka.
He picked up his phone. “A little privacy?”
I nodded.
I exited the house and Johnny paced the sidewalk, waiting for me.
“Well?” he called out.
“He’s calling someone to come sit with him,” I said. “He’s drunk. As far as him, Drew, and David… they didn’t do this. Even though it makes too much sense for them to do it. I hate this feeling, Johnny.”
“What feeling?”
“The feeling of being right.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
I ate dinner with a big knot in my stomach.
Ben sat across from me and kept a close eye on me.
Lo was to my right.
Ben’s father to my left.
“Remember that time we got pizza?” Ben’s father asked. “After Allie ruined dinner?”
“Dad,” Ben said.
“You remember something?” Lo asked Ben’s father.
“Lo!” I cried out.
“Oh, it’s fine,” Ben’s father said. “She picks on me all the time.”
Lo smiled. “You know I do it out of love, right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ben’s father said.
“Who sat with you earlier and watched the weather?” Lo asked. “Huh? I’m supposed to be studying for a chemistry test. And you wanted to talk about a cold front.”
“Did you see what they said? A cold front bringing warm air? What is that?”
Ben and I glanced at each other.
There were times it was like having two kids in the house.
I had to hand it to Lo though. She had subtle ways of testing Ben’s father’s memory. I wasn’t sure if that helped him or not, but when she quizzed him on things they said and talked about, he had more life in his eyes. It was almost like challenging his brain to work harder gave him purpose.
Lo was going to make a great nurse someday.
I did my best to be present.
Ben knew I was far from it.
Once we were done eating, Lo offered to clean up from dinner.
I needed the distraction so I told her to go study for her chemistry test.
I washed the dishes and Ben dried them.
“You can say it,” I finally said to him after minutes of silence.
“I know you hate not being there,” he said. “It’s not our style to just hang back and wait.”
“I hate playing games like this, Ben,” I said.
“I know. What choice do we have? If we don’t comply and another person is murdered…”
I nodded. “A carved pumpkin. That’s what the killer wants?”
“Mind games,” Ben said. “All mind games.”
“Forget mind games, what’s the end game?”
I looked at Ben and he had no answer.
Both of us didn’t have an answer.
Which was why we were in the kitchen doing dishes, waiting for a call from Muldavey that the pumpkin had been taken.
I didn’t like it at all. Leaving a pumpkin for the killer to take. To prove we were under his or her command and control.
We weren’t.
We were just buying time.
So we could get some leads and close in on who killed Claire and Candice.
In the meantime, if we had to carve pumpkins and do this silly stuff, then so be it.
“We create a sense of fear and trust,” Ben said. “We’re afraid of the killer. They trust us to listen. That’s when the mistake will happen. They all make mistakes, Allie D
own. You and I both know it. Especially if we’re dealing with someone who didn’t know Claire and Candice. This was…”
“Planned out,” I said. “I don’t think this was a moment of passion. With David, Drew, and Greg, yes. This was planned. I bet he was waiting for them. Waiting for that chance to strike.”
“And strike he did,” I said. “Excuse me, he or she.”
Ben finished putting away the last plate.
I looked at my phone and felt my impatience growing.
There was a light moment in the day when I got back to the station to find Muldavey wondering what kind of face to carve into the pumpkin. As though the pumpkin was going to be judged on creativity and line symmetry. Ben told Muldavey to just make a face and leave it be.
That’s where any sense of laughter ended.
I drove the pumpkin to the location in the note.
One block away from where the murders took place.
The note clearly said no cops.
That was torturous.
Knowing the killer would be right there and we weren’t able to do anything about it.
I considered breaking the rule.
Setting up some kind of quick operation.
The risk felt too great though.
One little mistake… or if the killer felt watched… another person would be killed.
Now, the question was, how true was the note?
And, again, there were no answers.
Just risks.
Losing another life in my town was not a risk I wanted to take.
I checked on Lo. To my shock, she was actually studying.
“Hey,” she said to me. “Are you okay?”
“Perfect.”
“You seem distant.”
“Just busy.”
“Me too,” Lo said. “Trade you.”
“You want me to study chemistry?” I asked with a grin.
Sure. I’ll take a test. You can go solve two murders. Deal?
“Don’t be up too late,” I said.
“I won’t. I promise.”
I walked through the living room as Ben gave his father a glass of water.
“How about something stronger in this?” Ben’s father asked.
“Not tonight,” Ben said.
“Come on. We always have a drink after a long day. You worked hard today on getting that engine out. I told you it was going to be a pain. You wanted to take the work though.”