Twinkle Little Star: A Marlow and Sage Mystery Thriller (A Nursery Rhyme Suspense Book 4)

by Lee Strauss

“Hello, sorry to disturb you. Were you acquainted with your neighbor, Crystal Morrison?”

  “Just in passing. We’d say hello and stuff.”

  “We’re sorry to have to inform you that she has been killed in a vehicle accident.”

  He widened his eyes as if he was hearing the news for the first time. If the cops had a warrant to search his place, they would find traces of Crystal’s blood. His heart raced at the memory of her return, not the exuberant, beautiful girl who’d left moments before, but a grotesquely twisted bloodied corpse. At first he hadn’t been able to believe his eyes. It had to be a sick joke! He fell to his knees at her side, checked her wrist for a pulse, but found none. She was dead and he had killed her! Pain stabbed his heart with a tidal wave of grief and he stifled a scream.

  Then the urgency of the situation kicked in. He had to get her body out of his shed, couldn’t be connected to her in any way. Impulsively he sent her back to the same coordinates as before, which it now appeared, had turned out to be a smart move.

  “Really? That’s terrible,” he said, injecting just the right amount of sadness into his voice. Not too much, or they’d guess he and Crystal had been close, and not too little or they’d flag him for his lack of empathy. “She seemed like a nice girl.”

  The two officers glanced at each other, “I’m sure she was. Good day, then.”

  He closed the door to the police and caught his breath. He didn’t know what he’d been worried about. They thought her death was an accident. How could they possibly tie him to that?

  But there was still one huge complication: the intruder who ported in that night. The lights had been out because he didn’t want to chance Lambert stopping in, which he might have done since the rent was overdue. Because of the darkness he didn't think the interloper knew where he had landed. He was probably super confused; hopefully he was drunk and just thought he imagined everything.

  But what if he wasn’t? What if the guy had been able to make out his face? He’d had to expose his profile so he could see where he was going, in order to get to the computer and send the guy back out. He’d tried to keep his back to the intruder, but was that enough?

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Sage

  Either half awake or half-asleep I wasn’t sure, but my mind slogged through a dense fog-like dream-state to eventual physical awareness, followed by disconcerting confusion. The room I was in wasn’t my own and the accompanying sounds were strange. Humming and soft, steady beeping. The lighting was dim, yet I squinted against it as if I were under a spotlight.

  “You’re awake,” someone said. “That’s good.”

  The woman wore mint-green scrubs. I was in a hospital. I tried to speak, but my throat was too dry. My tongue barely wetted my chapped lips.

  “I’m Debbie,” she said as she held up a white Styrofoam cup filled with chips of ice. “You can suck on these.” I heard the whirr of a motor and the top of my bed began to incline. I savored the cool ice as it melted in my mouth and eased my dry throat.

  “Thank you.”

  I tried to sit up of my own accord and pain shot through my chest. I gasped and relaxed back into the mattress.

  “What happened to me?”

  “You were in an accident,” Debbie said kindly. “Your ribs are bruised, and you cut your head on the steering wheel which left you with a moderate concussion. You hit it hard enough to lose consciousness.”

  That accounted for the constant ache in my head. I gently fingered the wound. “I gather my airbag malfunction.”

  “It happens. You lost a lot of blood, and had us worried for a while.” She smiled. “But you’ll be okay.”

  “What caused the blood loss?”

  Her eyes went to my right wrist that was wrapped tightly in gauze. “It was kind of a freak injury. A piece of glass from the broken windshield had lodged into the underside of your wrist. It was dark and you were dressed in black, so your brother didn’t notice.”

  “You mean I was bleeding out?”

  “Yes. It’s a good thing the ambulance got there when they did.”

  I searched my memory banks, desperate to recall the incident. Then slowly, the scene came to me. It was dark and I was driving too fast. I was angry. Then so quickly, the woman and the sickening thud as I hit her, the truck spinning and crunching into the tree.

  My heart raced at the horror of it. “Did I kill her? Did I kill her?”

  The heart monitor started beeping erratically. Debbie frowned then adjusted something on my IV. “It’s best if you just rest for now.”

  “No! I need to know. Please.”

  Everything went fuzzy, and my head sunk back on my pillow as I slipped into a drug induced sleep.

  I slept a lot over the next week, until eventually I was awake more than I slept. Ben and my parents visited me often.

  At present it was my mother at my side. Her soft, creamy brown hand held mine as she drank me in with soft-brown eyes that showed the strain she was under. “You’re looking better.”

  “Thanks, Mom. I feel a bit better.”

  She smiled her bright-white toothy smile. She wore a peasant blouse, and a colorful head band held her mid-length afro off her face. Ample hips filled her stretchy jeans. I always thought she was so pretty.

  “I’m fine, Mom. I’m not going to die. You should go back to work.”

  Mom was a teacher, the good kind who loved her job and cared for her students. More than one graduate from her school had thanked her in their farewell speech for the impression she made on their lives.

  “Are you sure? I could call Ben.”

  “It’s fine. The nurses here are fully capable. If anything strange happens, they’ll call you right away.”

  “Okay. If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  She pressed her generous lips to my forehead. “Get well, my dear.”

  I fell into a light sleep, in large part because I didn’t have anything else to do. My brain wasn’t clear enough to focus on school or even read a book and I knew rest would help me recover, so I didn’t fight it. Some time later nurse Debbie nudged my arm. “Sage? Wake up. There is someone here to see you.”

  She nudged me again and I moaned. I heard her voice. “Maybe you can come back?”

  Someone to see me? I wondered fleetingly if it was Marlow, and I didn't want him to be turned away. I’d wondered why he hadn’t come before now, but then, the doctors had said family only in the beginning. I struggled through dry lips, “It's okay. Let him in.”

  Debbie showed me the remote I could use to raise and lower my bed. The whirring noise cut in again as it slowly raised me to a higher incline.

  Debbie handed me a Styrofoam cup of water and I sipped noisily through the straw. That was when I noticed it wasn't Marlow waiting in the doorway, but a middle-aged man in an ill-fitting suit with a thick mustache and thin hair.

  “Sage Farrell?"

  I nodded.

  “I’m Detective Landsky. Can I ask you a few questions about what happened on Friday night?”

  “Okay,” I said cautiously.

  He tucked on his belt buckle and rolled up on his toes “Do you know what happened Friday night?”

  “I think so.”

  “So, you understand you hit a pedestrian?”

  “Yes. But I swear, she came out of nowhere. My headlights were shining on open dirt road. And then bam, there she was.”

  Detective Landsky ignored my plea of innocence. “Is it true that minutes before you left an out-of-doors party where alcohol had been served?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t have anything to drink.”

  “How fast were you driving, Ms. Farrell?”

  “I don’t recall.”

  I was beginning to feel like I should have a lawyer present. “Detective Landsky, I know a girl died, but it was an accident.” I felt tears burn at the back of my eyes. Hearing myself say it just made it feel more real. A girl died.

  He smoothed out his giant mustach
e. “Did you know Crystal Morrisette personally?”

  “Crystal Morrisette? That’s who I hit?”

  The chick all the guys were raving about?

  “Did you know her?”

  “Not personally. She has… had a popular Instagram account. A lot of people knew who she was.”

  The lump in my throat swelled. The fact that the dead girl now had a name and I could picture her face just made the nightmare more dreadful.

  Detective Landsky’s eyes flitted around the hospital room landing on the monitoring equipment and then back to me.

  “I understand you are to be released soon.”

  “The doctors are happy with my recovery. Nothing a few slow days and a pain killer can’t cure.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. Up and running before you know it.”

  I read the subtext: unlike the other girl.

  “I was lucky.”

  Detective Landsky grabbed his buckle and rolled on his toes again. “Well, good.” He turned to leave and then, as an after thought, said, “I’ll need to speak with you again when you’re feeling better.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Marlow

  The Detroit University Library elicited the same sense of quiet and awe as a museum. High ceilings, low hanging lights and dark paneled walls cluttered with framed paintings of prominent American leaders—the founding fathers of the university up to the present university president; roll call of all the Detroit city mayors; and of course, every single American president.

  At one time, I imagined, the library had been quite upscale, built with the best wood and decorated with the finest finishings that suited the prestige of our early academics. Now the emerald green carpet was worn and cobwebs had found permanent homes in the out-of-reach decorative moldings and window ledges. The heavy wood tables and chairs were scratched and scuffed, the dark stain uneven where elbows and palms had worn away at the surfaces over the years.

  It was hard to focus on studies, after what had happened to Sage. Quite honestly, I didn’t know how I managed to pass my biology lab. She was well enough to text me now and last I’d heard from her, she was going to be released from the hospital soon.

  I spotted Dakota—her pink hair was hard to miss—and Zed was there too, sitting across from her.

  Of course he was.

  They were talking quietly over the table in what appeared to be an intense conversation. So much so that they didn’t even notice me approach. There was something about them that made me stop short.

  “It’s just so frustrating,” Dakota said. “It’s like I don’t exist for him, not really. Only when it suits him.”

  “That’s not true,” Zed said. “He just has a lot going on right now.”

  “Like Sage.” She snorted. “There’s always something going on with him that has to do with Sage. But it’s not like I can be angry with him this time. It’s not like Sage got into this accident on purpose.”

  Zed reached over the table and clasped her hand. “Marlow—”

  I cleared my throat and continued toward them, taking a seat beside Dakota. Zed drew his hand back and slid it out of sight under the table. I pulled Dakota close and kissed her. “Hello. Sorry I’m late.”

  She smiled weakly. “It’s okay.”

  I glared at Zed, channeling Charles Xavier’s telepathy powers, letting him know how much I didn’t like that he’d taken Dakota’s hand. “Marlow what?”

  He decided to play dumb. “Huh?”

  “I heard you mention my name.”

  “Oh, I was just about to say you’d be here any minute, and look, I was right.”

  Liar, liar, pants on fire.

  Dakota opened her laptop and without looking me in the eye asked, “Have you heard anything about Sage? How is she?”

  “The doctors are happy with how her recovery is going. She’s going to get out of the hospital soon.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  We managed to segue out of that awkward moment to our actual studies and Zed even dropped a joke or two to keep things light. Things started to feel normal for a few seconds—until I sensed a change in the energy and atmosphere of the room. It was like, for a split second, everyone had stopped breathing all at the same time.

  I turned to see what could be the cause of this phenomenon and gaped when I saw Sage walking across the library to an empty table. She kept her head down, a curtain of soft curls hiding her eyes as she took a seat and opened her laptop.

  What’s she doing here?

  Killer!

  Life for a life!

  If I could hear the murmurings then she could too, but she kept on working like she was the only person in the room.

  My heart stammered as I watched her.

  Dakota elbowed me in the ribs. “Staring is rude.”

  “I wasn’t staring.”

  Zed scoffed. Loudly. “Dude.”

  “Fine. I was just surprised to see her here. I thought she was still in the hospital.”

  I righted myself, which put my back toward Sage. Every cell in my body was jumping. I wanted to go talk to her, but didn’t know how I could extract myself without hurting Dakota.

  “Just go.”

  “What?”

  “Just go talk to her,” Dakota said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “If that’s what it takes to calm you down. You’re a jumble of nerves.”

  “I’ll only be a couple minutes. Just to see how she is, then I’ll come right back.”

  Dakota sighed. “Do what you have to do.”

  I kissed her cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Sage

  Okay, maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

  It’d been two weeks since the accident, but it felt like two months. I loved my parents and my brother, but they were smothering me. Always checking in, always bringing food, always asking how I was feeling. Ben was the worst. I worried about him—on the same night he’d broke up with his girlfriend, he watched his sister almost die. He looked like a worn-out old man.

  The thought of coming back to DU was a relief—a break for all of us—but now I wondered if I’d made a mistake. I went from being a patient to a pariah. From not having enough personal space to having an extra wide and unnatural berth.

  The library was quiet except for when it was not—like now. I’d have to be deaf not to hear what people were saying about me. I worked to keep my expression neutral and pretended to be engrossed in my studies.

  I looked up once and caught Stella glaring at me from one table down. I hadn’t noticed her when I came in. She mouthed, murderer, and I quickly looked away.

  Maybe I should just go back to my dorm room. If Nora was still there with Jake, I’d ask them to leave. Nora had gotten used to me being gone, and now she acted like she owned the place and that I was intruding on her privacy. Too bad. It was my room too.

  I’d just closed my laptop when someone took the chair beside me.

  “Marlow?” I whispered. “Hi!” It was so good to see a friendly face. His smile was sincere and when he poked his forehead in search of his glasses, I almost felt joyful.

  “Hi. I didn’t know you were out of the hospital.”

  “I’ve been bed resting at my parents place the last few days, but it was getting too claustrophobic. I thought I might as well come back. No sense getting further behind if I don’t have to.”

  “And you’re feeling okay?”

  “My ribs hurt a little but not nearly as bad as they did. My headache’s gone but,” I pointed to my forehead, “this will leave a scar.” I lifted my right arm. “Stitches in my wrist are coming along too.” I forced a smile. “I’ll be good as new in no time.”

  “Good.”

  “Thank you for donating blood. You saved my life.”

  “It was nothing.”

  “Mars, your blood is coursing through my veins.”

  His eyes locked with mine. The mom
ent was supercharged and neither of us had a follow-up to my comment. We’d inched closer in order to keep our voices low, and his nearness made me feel vulnerable.

  “I saw it all,” I said.

  “Saw what all?”

  “The doctors and nurses freaking out. You giving blood.”

  Marlow wrinkled his nose in confusion. “What do you mean? How?”

  “I saw it from above.”

  His eyebrows jumped. “You had an out-of-body experience?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow. Really? I didn’t think you were that close to….” Marlow’s face lost color and I rushed to reassure him.

  “I wasn’t dying. I don’t think. At any rate, I’m here now.”

  Marlow leaned back to take in what I’d just told him. I let my gaze drift beyond him and that’s when I saw Dakota and Zed staring. Neither of them looked too happy. I smiled and finger waved. Only Zed waved back.

  Marlow witnessed the transaction. “I should get back to them. You want to join us?”

  Before I could come up with a polite way to say no, my phone buzzed. I checked the caller and frowned. “Oh, oh.”

  “Who is it?” Marlow asked.

  “Detroit police.”

  Life was full of new experiences. For instance, I now knew how cool and damp the ink pad was when you got fingerprinted, and how uncomfortable the bench in a jail cell at the police station was.

  Apparently there was paperwork involved in making my arrest official. Manslaughter. Not only was I responsible for someone’s death, I’d have a criminal record. My stomach churned with remorse and despair. My life was ruined.

  Detective Landsky had called me into the station to formally charge me. He spoke to me through the bars. “Ms. Farrell? You have the right to a phone call.”

  My first thought went to Marlow. He was the one I wanted with me, the one who could possibly make sense of what has happened here, but it would be odd to call him when Ben was available. Ben would do something; find me a good lawyer. And then there were my parents. They should hear this news from me before it got to them some other way.