“It only takes one murderous nutjob to put a ding in all that. Look, you shouldn’t let this put you off the town. There are great people here. And when word spreads about what happened, they’ll start showing up to prove it to you.”
“I don’t know if I can handle that.”
“Sure you can. You call your parents and let them know. I’ll act as buffer until you say it’s okay to leave.”
It didn’t take long for the news to travel and Collette’s friends started to show up to offer condolences, including Vince Ballard. Vince looked shaken when Gemma opened the door. And she couldn’t help but peer out at the curb to see what kind of car he’d driven up in. Even though it was a gray SUV, Gemma asked anyway, “Is that the only car you own, Mr. Ballard?”
“That’s my personal vehicle. The vineyard uses a white van for deliveries. Why do you ask?”
“No reason.” But she kept looking out the window every time a new guest arrived, scanning the street for a blue sedan. She spotted several blue vehicles, but none the same color or make as the one she’d seen at the dump site.
Once Gemma left Lianne, she crawled behind the wheel of Lando’s police cruiser and drove up and down the streets of Coyote Wells looking for that midnight blue sedan. When her stomach rumbled, she realized she hadn’t eaten breakfast and it was now almost noon. She pulled up in the parking lot at Captain Jack’s Grill.
The restaurant was brimming with a brisk after-church crowd when Gemma stepped up to the side counter used to place to-go orders.
“I guess you heard by now,” Gemma said to Leia.
“We did, but only because Lando called Luke out there to get his opinion. It’s apparently taking a while for the county coroner to make an appearance.”
“That’s why I thought I’d get some burgers to go for the crew, namely Lando, Zeb, and Payce. But if Luke’s there, then add another and one for me. And soft drinks, better make it five Cokes.”
“I’ll throw in fries, too. No charge for any of it either. Mom will have the order up in a jiffy. Any idea how Collette and Marnie were murdered? What’s your take? As usual Lando hasn’t answered a single text. He’s in his closed-mouthed phase when it comes to police business.”
Gemma leaned in. “If you like, I’ll quiz Lando when I bring him the food. How’s that? If you get a chance call me later when you’re done here and we’ll talk.”
“Okay. Sounds like we might have a killer among us. Is that what Lando’s thinking?”
“Who knows what he’s thinking? But locals know that area. Tourists and anyone passing through town---not so much. And then there’s the obvious. Why would a stranger kill Collette then come back two and a half months later for Marnie? It has to be someone we all know.”
Leia lowered her voice. “People are saying it’s Vince Ballard.”
Gemma frowned. “I’m not ready to jump to that conclusion yet.”
“I’m trying not to but…it’s hard not to see the connection. The way Vince dates anything in a skirt is hard to ignore.”
“Did Vince ever ask you out? Because he didn’t even blink toward me. I guess I’m not his type.”
“He asked me out once a long time ago, like four years. He was like forty-two then and the age difference was just too much for me. I prefer someone my own age who likes the same kind of music I like. And Vince isn’t Zeb.”
Gemma chewed her lip. “So he’s pretty much hit on every female around here except me. That’s weird. Vince came to Gram’s funeral and was a perfect gentleman there, too. I wonder…”
“Are you saying you’re disappointed Vince didn’t ask you out?”
“No, I’m saying it’s odd that he came into the chocolate shop and didn’t even flirt with me. That’s twice he’s had the opportunity but didn’t take it. What am I, wearing some kind of Vince repellant?”
“That is odd behavior for Vince. Mind telling me what happened last night after I left you and Lando alone?”
“What do you think happened? What always happens when we’re left to our own devices? Trouble.”
Leia grinned. “Ah. Either a disagreement of huge proportions or wild, all-night sex. I’m going with door number two, the wild all-night sex angle, am I right?”
“One always leads to the other. Let’s put it this way, we didn’t disagree, at least not on anything major.”
“Make love not war, that’s my motto.”
“But don’t tell your mother. It was just sex between…old friends. You understand, right?” When Leia kept staring, she added, “It didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t a reunion, not even close to that. I don’t want your mother getting her hopes up for a reconciliation.”
“If you say so,” Leia said agreeably. “Who am I to judge? But hurt my brother again and I’ll seriously summon my warrior ancestors down to lay some serious hurt on you.”
“I adore Lando. That is, when he isn’t driving me crazy. I have no ulterior motives in mind to hurt him or myself. Want me to put it in writing?”
“Okay then,” Leia said, turning to bag up the order. “Just so you know I mean business.”
But there was a delayed reaction to sleeping with Lando that hit Gemma right between the eyes. And it was fierce and seismic. It caused her to replay every nuance, every word from the night before in her head. There was the upside to sex and the downside to having Lando think they were back together.
On the five-minute trip to get back to the crime scene she sipped on her Coke and decided they definitely needed to talk to make sure they were both on the same page about the…what was it exactly? Was it a relationship? No, it couldn’t be that. Making love one time in…ten years. Nah. No way. It was…old friends with benefits. She’d have to make sure Lando thought so, too. She didn’t need the chaos that came with Lando Bonner. A close personal relationship was off the table.
When she rounded the bend in the road, this time Lone Coyote Highway was packed with county cars lining the shoulder for a quarter mile. The quiet serenity of the morning had been cracked open and replaced by a throng of overzealous technicians dressed in hazmat-like suits gathering evidence.
Gemma found a parking place and had to honk the horn to get Lando’s attention. She waved the bag of food up to the window.
He dashed over to his own cruiser. “You read my mind. I’m starving. I was just about to text Payce to pick up food on his way back.”
She removed a burger and a bag of fries for herself and handed him the rest. “Leia packed enough for you, Zeb, and Payce. I hear Luke’s out here, too. So there’s one for him. And drinks.”
“Super. Let me run these to the guys and I’ll be back. We’ll eat in the car together.”
She watched him dart off to where the group of men were standing on a small rise overlooking the grim scene. After distributing the food, he ran back to the cruiser, opening the door, and settling into the passenger seat.
“How’s it going? Other than bad,” Gemma noted. “Know any more than you did when I left?”
“Let’s eat first before we go talking about specifics. How’s Lianne doing?”
“Like you’d expect. I can’t believe this is happening here.”
“Small towns aren’t immune to murder, but what makes this unusual are the victims. Collette and Marnie don’t exactly fall into the high-risk category.”
Gemma nodded in agreement. “A schoolteacher and admin shouldn’t end up buried along a lonely stretch of road.”
“Their connection has to be Ballard,” Lando stated between bites.
“Not necessarily. We all live in close proximity to each other. We shop at the same stores, go to the same beach, walk the same streets. We don’t have a wide net of folks we interact with that are strangers except…those we find on the Internet.”
Lando pivoted in his seat. “Why are you so willing to defend Ballard?”’
“I’m not. I thought you law enforcement types were supposed to avoid tunnel vision.”
Lando rubbed his forehead.
“Do you have any aspirin?”
She dug in her handbag for the pain reliever. “Here. Take two.” She handed him her Coke. “Let’s not fight right now, okay?”
“I don’t want that either. I’m just edgy.”
“I know. Do you want to talk about it?”
He let out a long, low sigh. “Both women were hit in the head with blunt force trauma, Collette especially so. Big gash in her skull. Marnie didn’t suffer quite as much damage to the head and face area.”
Chills ran along Gemma’s arms. “Why do you suppose that was?”
“Zeb and I’ve been talking. We think for whatever reason the killer lost his temper with both women and the rage shows in the damage he did. He had to have been angrier at Collette than he was at Marnie.”
She laid a hand on his thigh. “I understand why you’re stuck on Ballard. I do. But if he did this, why would he pull me in by stopping by the store. I don’t even know the man.”
“Killers who are racking up bodies on their way to serial status think they’re clever. He’s playing head games with you. And the killer has to be a local guy.”
“We agree on that.”
“Someone familiar enough with the area to feel comfortable coming out here burying two bodies.”
“In the middle of the night,” Gemma finished, absently drumming the console with her fingers. She felt the need to set him straight on one critical point. “You’re looking for two killers. You know that, right?”
Lando gave her one of his classic annoyed looks, jaw tightening, eyes simmering in aggravation, before locking those laser slits into place and glaring at her. “I don’t want to get into what you think you saw. I know you probably saw something, but whatever it was…it wasn’t real.”
She might not know the ins and outs about all things psychic like her grandmother had known, but she stiffened her spine at his dismissive attitude. “Two killers, Lando. Two. Not one. Trust me on this. Don’t argue with me and don’t ask me how I’m so certain. But I am. Someone helped bury Marnie, of that I’m sure.”
“Doesn’t mean there were two people who killed her,” Lando insisted. “It means the killer could’ve called in a friend to help dispose of the bodies.” He rolled his eyes. “Listen to me. What am I thinking encouraging you like this? Let’s just table this discussion because we’ll never agree on this psychic BS.”
“It’s not BS to me. I respect what you stand for, you should do the same with me.”
“You’ve claimed possessing psychic ability for less than forty-eight hours. At least give me a chance to get used to it before you go on to something else.”
She glowered at him. “You can be a real jerk sometimes, Lando. We’ll see about the BS part. We’ll see if you still feel that way when I find the killers…as in two.”
Lando watched her jump out of the car and storm off, walking down the road back toward town.
It had been an exhausting Sunday and not how he hoped he’d be spending his day off. He’d wanted to sleep in, and then eat breakfast in bed with Gemma. Instead, he was out going through rough terrain looking for more body parts.
He supposed he could’ve handled that better. One reason the job of law enforcement could be hard on relationships. He had to admit it probably wasn’t the stress of the job today though. Even back when they’d been teenagers, Gemma had always kept him off balance. Now was no different. Her psychic ability was about as real as Bigfoot. And now she was seeing dark blue cars and two people burying bodies. What was next, ghostly spirits and voracious monsters over the next hilltop?
He hoped she didn’t tell anyone about her theory. Even though she grew up here, there were still some people in town who thought of her as an outsider because she’d been gone ten years. For the sake of her store, he hoped she kept her crazy woo-woo beliefs to herself.
He scooped up the trash from lunch and got out of the car, all the while staring at her back, watching her march down the old highway toward town in a snit. Spotting Payce finishing up his burger, Lando went over to him. “Do me a favor, will you? See to it Gemma gets home okay.”
“Sure thing, Chief. I’ll drop her off and be back in a flash.”
“And Payce, if she starts talking about the case, don’t repeat anything she says to anyone else. Are we clear?”
Payce grinned. “Woman troubles?”
“That woman’s been a thorn in my side for as long as I can remember. Just try to push the conversation to something other than our victims. Got it?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll ask her to open the shop up so I can bring my wife some chocolates. It’s our anniversary today.”
“Jeez, Payce. Go on home afterward. You don’t have to stay.”
“That’s okay. My wife knows I’m doing my job.”
Lando slapped him on the back. “Suit yourself.” And with that, Lando marched back toward the crime scene, confident he had the Gemma problem under control.
15
Rufus gave her a delightful welcome the moment she stepped inside the hallway, all but climbing up her leg. She was a sucker for those sad brown eyes staring back at her. Bending down on one knee, she gave his ears a good rub. “Your abandonment issues might be less if you’d just learn to use that doggie door. At least you could get outside when you wanted to and then I wouldn’t feel such guilt about leaving you home alone. What do you say we go for a walk through the gardens? It’s been a rough morning for me. Then we’ll fix a nice dinner and curl up and watch a movie. How does that sound? Spend a little quality time together.”
Rufus responded by licking her face.
With the dog at her side she went out through the solarium doors, leaving one eclectic room for an outdoor version of another. Marissa’s gardens were more than a collection of greenery and flowers, it was an arboretum, Marissa-style. Influences of her Spanish bohemian side were everywhere. From the adobe greenhouse shed with its turquoise door to its gazebo draped in roses. There was trellis after trellis filled with silver bells and chocolate vines.
Gemma took a seat on one of the benches and tossed the ball a few feet away for Rufus to run after it. She watched the blue butterflies flitter from the hydrangeas to the fragrant lilies, trying to get her mind off Lando’s dismissive attitude.
She understood skepticism, had been there herself a time or two. But his narrow-mindedness surprised her, perhaps even hurt if she thought about it for too long. At the end of the day she couldn’t let Lando’s doubt matter much. That was the bottom line. At this point she had to figure out who drove that dark blue car to the dump site despite Lando’s insistence that it meant nothing.
That seemingly little fact, a wisp of a clue, meant everything to her. Solving it shouldn’t be that difficult. Coyote Wells had less than thirty-five-hundred people. The killer or killers, if her vision had been correct, most likely came from the local pool of suspects. Which meant there couldn’t be that many midnight blue sedans parked in garages or driveways. She would make it her job to track down that car.
She heard the faint ringing of the doorbell from where she sat on the bench and scooted back through the solarium to answer the door. Looking through the peephole revealed an agitated Lianne standing on the porch.
Gemma pulled the grieving woman into the entryway. “Hey, are you all right?”
“No. I’m waiting for my parents to get in town. I needed someone to talk to. You’re basically the only one I know well enough to unload on.”
“I’m glad you’re here. I was just about to fix something to eat. You can join me if you want. How about a nice chicken Caesar salad? I’m sure I have leftover chicken in the fridge.”
“Anything will do, but I’m not very hungry. My mom and dad are already nagging me to go back with them to Portland to live. They’ll want to take Collette back there for burial, of course. But there’s really nothing there for me anymore. I like this little town. After being here for a few days, I see why my sister settled here.”
“Come on back to the ki
tchen and we’ll sort this out. Would you feel strange living in Collette’s house?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s been fine so far although a little spooky. If I stayed in Coyote Wells I’d need to know that I have a job. Not an hour earlier Vince Ballard suggested I could replace Collette at the vineyard as his personal assistant, picking up where Collette left off. It was like a roundabout proposition. It made me sick to my stomach.”
“You’re kidding? That’s a very weird thing for Ballard to offer so soon after Collette’s remains were discovered.”
“That’s what I thought too so I told him I already had a job working for you.”
Gemma waved a hand. “We can talk about increasing your hours, inching up to full-time. I wouldn’t mind having help expanding the marketing platform. Getting the word out about all the different exotic chocolate creations could make for a good online presence. That is, once I get the hang of making the regular stuff. From there I’d like to add some more exotic flavors to the menu.”
“That’d be super. I could take on a second job to make ends meet if I have to. I don’t want to go to work for Ballard.”
“Who could blame you? Not me. Once you get the funeral behind you, we could sit down and see how well we mesh in a way that’s beneficial to both of us,” Gemma suggested as she pulled out a plate of cold chicken from the fridge and a bag of Romaine lettuce. “I make my own Caesar dressing from scratch using olive oil and fresh garlic from Gram’s garden as a base. So, I hope you don’t mind the strong presence of minced garlic.”
“No problem.” Lianne watched as Gemma dumped the ingredients for the dressing into a small bowl and whisked the contents into a tasty blend of spices. “Look, I don’t know if this means anything or not but when I told my mom about them finding Collette this morning she mentioned something she’d forgotten to tell Chief Bonner, something she just now remembered. Mom said a couple of months before Collette went missing, she had an encounter with a very odd and angry guy up near Shadow Canyon when she was out riding Rudy. Apparently she wandered onto this guy’s property by mistake and he threatened her with a shotgun. Maybe he’s the one who killed Collette.”
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