by Cindy Bell
“Luke, I don’t think a patrol car is really necessary.” Ally shrugged. “Mee-Maw and I will be just fine.”
“Ally, it’ll be safer if you have someone there.”
Ally’s mind raced. She knew that if there was a patrol car outside the cottage Luke would be aware of her coming and going. She knew that he was trying to investigate, but he was busy with his other case and she wasn’t ready to sit and wait for him to figure out the case step-by-step.
“I’d rather have that officer working on solving a crime. I understand where you’re coming from, Luke, but please, let’s hold off on the patrol car.”
“Fine. I can’t force the protection on you. But I will be coming by to check on you when I can.”
“That’s fine.” She smiled at him. “I appreciate that.”
He looked between the two women as if he might say something more, then shook his head and walked away.
“It’s so sweet of him to want to protect us.” Charlotte waved to him when he glanced back over his shoulder.
“Sweet yes, but I’m not in any mood to sit around the cottage. I want to find Gary, and fast, before he has a chance to get away with this.”
“Let’s go back to the cottage and regroup. I’m sure that Peaches and Arnold need some attention.”
“I’m sure they do, too. You can give them that, while I try to find Gary.”
Chapter Eleven
When Ally and Charlotte arrived at the cottage Ally braced herself. She was well aware that it could be the next place that was ransacked. She tested the door knob first and found it was locked. Then she took out her key and opened it. When she poked her head inside she was greeted by a mess, but not the mess she expected. Peaches managed to get a few of the plastic bowls knocked down off the counter and was batting them around.
“Peaches!” She sighed and picked up the bowls as her grandmother stepped in after her.
“See, she misses you.” Charlotte scooped up the cat and patted her head. “Don’t you, Peaches?” Peaches meowed loudly.
“I know, I know. But before I can play I have to look for Gary.”
“Do you really think you can find him?”
“I’m going to find him. No matter what it takes. I’m going to find out if he’s responsible for this and if he is I’m not going to let him get away with it.” Ally sat down at her computer.
“Ally, you need to consider that he might already be in another country. There’s no way to tell where he went.”
“There’s always a way.” Ally began to search through the information she already had about Gary. As she reviewed his previous addresses she noticed that one of the addresses was for an apartment complex. The apartments were in the neighboring town of Mainbry. It wasn’t far, but maybe it was the best that he could do on such short notice. She pulled out her phone and called the number.
“Hello, Chester Landings, how may I help you?”
“Do you currently have any apartments available?”
“No, I’m sorry, but you can get on the waiting list.”
“How long is it?”
“About four months.”
“Is there any way I can speed that up?” Ally pressed the phone to her ear.
“Previous tenants get first priority. Have you ever lived here before?”
“I did, but it was with my boyfriend at the time.”
“Whose name was on the lease?”
“His.”
“I might be able to do something for you. Give me his name and I’ll look him up.”
Ally gave the woman Gary’s full name and then held her breath. A few minutes later the woman returned to the line.
“Are you sure he didn’t already apply? My records show him with a move-in date for today.”
“Oh okay, I must have misunderstood him. Thank you.” Ally hung up the phone and turned to look at her grandmother. “I found him.”
“Wow, that was easy.” Charlotte leaned past her to look at the computer screen. “What a rundown place.”
“Too easy, don’t you think?” Ally frowned. “If Gary was really trying to take off would he just move to an apartment thirty minutes away?”
“I don’t think so. Also, I doubt he would have been able to move that fast. He must have planned this move before the murder. Maybe he planned the murder and the move a while ago. Maybe he wasn’t running at all, and it’s just a coincidence.”
“Only one way to find out.” Ally stood back up and grabbed her keys and purse again. “Let’s go take a look at the place.”
“Okay, maybe we can have a quick look around.” Charlotte grabbed her purse as she spoke.
As Ally sat down in her car her phone rang. She picked it up when she saw it was Luke.
“Ally, it looks like we might be getting somewhere,” Luke said as soon as she answered.
“With what?”
“The medical examiner has ruled the cause of death to be undetermined. He says that from the nature of the injuries the death might be suspicious.”
“I knew it.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. They believe that the blow to her head might have been caused by a blunt object not from the fall, but nothing is conclusive yet. So, a police investigation has been opened.”
“That’s great,” Ally said.
“Just be careful, Ally, you might be right and there might be a murderer on the loose.”
“Okay, Luke.”
“What was that about?” Charlotte asked after Ally had hung up. Ally explained what Luke had said.
“Looks like we were right.” Charlotte smiled.
“Which gives us even more reason to go and talk to Gary.” Ally started the car.
On the rest of the drive to the apartment Ally noticed that her grandmother wasn’t as talkative as usual.
“What’s going on, Mee-Maw? Are you deep in thought?”
“I’m just trying to put these pieces together. I keep thinking that there must be something more to all of this than what we are seeing. Why would Gary go to all the trouble of cleaning out his apartment, but leave the photographs behind?”
“Maybe he forgot that they were there? Maybe he thought no one would find them? It was a pretty clever hiding place.”
“Maybe. Or maybe he didn’t need them anymore, since Emma is dead.”
“I had assumed he moved because he was the murderer. But it looks more like he already planned to move. It seems like a big downgrade from where he was, too. Maybe he was having money problems?”
“I would imagine so if he had to take some ratty, old golf clubs,” Charlotte said.
“All of that pressure, money problems, Emma selling the house they bought together, that could have easily made him crack and lose his temper with Emma.”
“You’re right. I see a thread forming. But it still doesn’t explain why he came after us.”
“Irrational actions don’t always have an explanation. Maybe he was just angry and wanted to upset us,” Ally suggested.
“Maybe.”
Ally pulled into the parking lot and scanned the cars. It didn’t take her long to pick out the beat up old truck that Gary drove up to the yard sale. She checked the number painted on the parking spot.
“He’s in apartment 1C.”
“Let’s take a look,” Charlotte said. They looked over the apartment numbers.
“First floor on the corner.” The two women walked towards the apartment.
“Oh, look at those poor plants.” Charlotte huffed. “Why would he even bother bringing them with him? He clearly didn’t water them or care for them.”
“Mee-Maw, the plants are the last thing I’m worried about. He’s home. How are we going to get him to let us in and have a look around?”
“I don’t think we should. We can come back another time when he’s not home.”
“I wonder if we should knock?” Ally glanced at the plants, then up to the door. “We could just ask him about Emma.”
“I don’t know
if that’s a good idea. We don’t want to tip him off that we know where he is. Besides, he’s not likely to be the welcoming sort. If he’s the one who broke into the shop and my apartment, then he’s pretty angry with us. Who knows how he would react.”
Ally sighed. “You’re right, I know you are. But this is just so frustrating. I want to work all of this out.”
“Why don’t we just go home, have some dinner, and let things sort out a bit? It’s important to take a break sometimes.”
“Okay.” Ally stared at the apartment. She was tempted to just bang on the door and confront Gary. But that wasn’t going to be very productive, she knew that. Or at least she tried to convince herself of that.
Chapter Twelve
When Ally and Charlotte arrived back at the cottage Ally tried to distract herself by playing with Peaches. She pulled around her little toy mouse and tantalized the cat into attacking. However, the fun just wasn’t there for Ally. Her mind kept returning to Gary and whether or not he killed Emma. As she teased the cat with the mouse again, Arnold decided to get his nose involved. He sniffed at the mouse in the same moment that Peaches swiped her paw towards it. This resulted in a squealing and hissing contest.
“What in the world is happening in here?” Charlotte rushed out from the kitchen where she was trying to distract herself by baking. Ally scooped up the cat from the floor and held her close.
“Peaches got a little over-excited about playtime and Arnold paid the price.”
“Oh look at you, poor baby.” Charlotte made kissing noises at Arnold as she crouched down in front of him. “All that squealing and there’s not even a scratch. You silly pig.” She kissed his nose. “The cake should be done soon.”
“A cake, Mee-Maw?”
“I’m sorry, I know we don’t need a cake, but I needed to bake.”
“It’s okay.” Ally sighed. “There’s never too much cake. What are we going to do about the shop?”
“Well, as much as I’d like to argue the point I think that Luke is right. If we open up the shop and there is someone after us, then we could be putting our customers in danger.”
“I agree. Let’s keep it closed up, at least for another day. We’ll have to go in and do some clean up tomorrow anyway.”
“Yes, that’s for sure. Not to mention my apartment.”
“I will be there to help. I promise.”
“You always are, Ally, I appreciate it.”
“I think I’m going to go for a drive.”
“Where to?”
“Maybe drop in and visit Luke, so that I can get an update on the case.”
“And then?”
“We can’t live worrying about what is going to happen next, Mee-Maw. I have to get to the bottom of this.”
“But you can’t be reckless about it.” Charlotte looked into her eyes. “It’s not worth the risk, Ally. You are too precious to me to put yourself in danger.”
“I’ll be careful, Mee-Maw, I promise.” Ally hugged her grandmother then looked down at Arnold. “Maybe you should take him for a walk. I know he misses his time with you. That will give Peaches some time to settle down.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll do just that when the cake is out of the oven.”
“I’ll text you when I’m on my way back, Mee-Maw.”
“Be careful.”
Ally heard the last two words ring through her ears as she approached her car. There was no reason to pay a visit to Luke. If he had any news about Emma’s death he would have updated her. No, there was only one reason for her to get behind the wheel of her car, and it was to wait for Gary to leave his apartment. If she had told her grandmother where she was going she would try to stop her or insist on joining her and she felt that Charlotte needed a break with Arnold so she could relax. There was no point in both of them being at risk.
When Ally arrived at the apartment building she was surprised to see that Gary’s truck wasn’t in his parking space. Excitement rushed through her as she realized she might get the chance to look through his apartment. She climbed out of the car and approached it. In the evening light it was clear that there wasn’t much to the place. Even the door knob was dirty. As she started to reach for it, she heard an engine roar. A beat up old truck had just pulled into the parking lot. Her heart raced. She was about to get caught again.
“Not this time,” she muttered as she ran around the corner of the building. She flattened herself against the brick wall to hide in the shadows. She heard the door of the truck slam shut. Then the heavy footsteps that walked towards the apartment. She decided that when he went inside she would take a look through the windows of his truck. Maybe there would be something there that would indicate that he ransacked the shop and Charlotte’s apartment or something that could even implicate him in Emma’s murder.
Once she heard the door shut she started to head towards the truck. However, instead of reaching the truck she found herself staring right at Gary’s back. She froze as he started back towards his truck. The closing door that she had heard was not from him going inside, it was from him stepping back out. Maybe he forgot something in the truck, or maybe he changed his mind about going home. Either way, all it would take for him to see her was a glance over his shoulder. She could try to run, but the commotion would alert him. What she experienced was a sudden rush of adrenaline that drove her feet forward before her mind could even make sense of what she was doing. She tapped him hard on the shoulder.
“Gary?”
He spun around so fast that she let out a sharp cry. It was followed by frightened silence as he displayed the knife he held in his hand.
“Why would you sneak up on me like that?” He glowered with fury in his eyes. Ally felt tiny in front of him as his lumbering form drew closer to her. “What do you want from me?”
She didn’t think she would be able to form words without breath in her lungs, and yet they began to spill from between her lips.
“I want the truth, Gary. I want to know if you had something to do with Emma’s death?”
He raised the knife a little higher and pointed it right at her. “Are you accusing me of killing my wife?”
“Ex-wife.” She narrowed her eyes. “No, of course not. But do you know what happened?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I would never hurt Emma.”
“You didn’t really hurt her did you? She just happened to fall, because there was a loose floorboard from when you worked on the stairs? Or maybe she slipped when you were arguing?”
“Never.” His grip tightened on the knife. “Why are you talking to me about this?”
“Because I want the truth. Emma didn’t deserve to die, and I want justice for her.”
“Oh, aren’t you the brave little thing?” He chuckled and shook his head. “You want to know the truth?” He put the knife back into his pocket and glared at her. “Fine, I’ll tell you the truth. The truth is, Emma never should have left me. She got it in her head that I was some kind of monster, just because I have a bit of a temper. I wonder where she heard that from?”
“Maybe she just wasn’t happy in the relationship anymore.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” He sunk his hands into his hair and tugged. “I tried but nothing I could do would make it work, I didn’t know how to fix it. But what I do know is that she never should have married Jack. I mean the guy doesn’t even like animals. She made a huge mistake when she married him. I tried to warn her, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She accused me of being obsessed. She accused me of being a stalker.”
“I think the pictures hidden in the wall in your old apartment are a pretty good sign that was true,” Ally said timidly.
“Oh, you found the pictures?” He cleared his throat. “I forgot them there and then when I went back they were gone. I should have burned them.”
“So, how do you explain stalking your ex-wife and her new husband? Is there something good about that?”
He groaned and turned away for a moment
. When he turned back Ally thought she could see tears in his eyes.
“Yes, not that you’ll believe me. But yes. I wasn’t stalking her. Jack gave me this off feeling the first time I met him. He just felt like a fraud to me. He acted like he loved her, but it was too perfect and it seemed more like acting than love.”
“So, you had nothing to do with her death?”
He lunged towards her so suddenly that Ally jumped back. It was like he had suddenly snapped. His cheeks were bright red as he stared hard into her eyes and coated his words with fury.
“I did not kill Emma! You’re looking at the wrong husband!”
Ally’s heart dropped at his words. It wasn’t with fear, despite how close he was. It was with surprise. As vicious as he seemed, she believed him when he said he didn’t kill his ex-wife. “What do you mean? What did you find out about Jack?”
“He’s not who he says he is, for one.” He clenched his jaw and took a step back from her. “He’s a liar. He’s never where he says he’s going to be. I figured he was cheating on her. I thought if I could just get some pictures of him in the act, then she would see what a fool she was being. But I could never catch him with anyone.” He frowned. “I tried. But it wasn’t enough. I can’t believe he killed her.”
“Now, wait a minute, I saw the way you acted towards her on the day of the yard sale. You shouted at her, and threatened her. Do you really think I’m going to buy the idea that you actually cared about her?”
“You don’t have to buy anything. Yes, I was frustrated with her. She was giving up everything to go be with a man that was nothing but a liar and a cheat. Why wouldn’t I be angry? If she’d only listened to me, maybe she would still be alive.”
Ally shifted her weight back on her heels and did her best to hold her tongue. It was very possible that he was making everything up about Jack to deflect the attention from himself, but she had to follow it up. It was something new to look into.
“I hope you’re telling me the truth, Gary, because I’m going to find out who killed Emma.”