Death by Auction

by Alexis Morgan

  “What’s wrong, Abby?”

  She pointed toward the open car door and let Gage draw his own conclusions. After checking for a pulse, he stepped back, now in full-out cop mode. “Have you called this in?”

  Now that he was there, she was having a harder time maintaining her composure. She locked her knees to ensure they’d continue to support her. That didn’t hide the quiver in her voice when she answered him. “No, but only because you were already close by.”

  He stepped closer and draped his arm around her shoulders while he called for reinforcements. Then he punched in another number. “Tripp, sorry to bother you, but there’s been an incident out here in the parking lot. For the time being, I want the building on lockdown. Can you and Pastor Jack man the doors and explain to people that they need to stay put for a while? My deputies will relieve you in a few minutes.”

  She couldn’t hear what Tripp said in response, but Gage immediately looked down at her and then back toward the body. “Yeah, Abby is with me. She’s fine for now.”

  How had Tripp known she was outside? No matter. For now, he was stuck inside the building and dealing with people who wouldn’t appreciate being told they couldn’t leave. All things considered, she would happily trade places with him. Based on past experience, she would be tied up for hours answering questions and making a formal statement.

  “Thanks, Tripp. Don’t hesitate to call if anyone gives you problems, and I’ll deal with them.”

  After Gage stuck the phone back into his pocket, he turned his attention back to her. “You know the drill. We’ll get all the details later, Abby, but give me the short version of what happened out here.”

  “I’ve been trying to catch up with Bryce for the past hour or so to give him this.” She held up the envelope. “The contract stated we had to give him the second half of his fee at the event. Otherwise, I would’ve just mailed the final payment.”

  Not that Gage needed to know all of that. Or heck, maybe he did.

  “I saw him go outside with someone earlier.” Not that she wanted to rat Valerie out if she didn’t have to. “After that person returned alone, I waited for Mr. Cadigan to come back inside, too. When he didn’t, I went out to see if I could spot him in the parking lot, which I quickly realized was stupid.”

  “Why?”

  “I didn’t know what kind of car Bryce drove, so I had no way of knowing if it was gone or not. I was on my way back in when I heard a faint beeping noise. You know, the kind of sound a car makes when a door is left open. I tracked it to this aisle. I was either going to shut the door or memorize the license plate number and make an announcement inside. I was afraid someone would come out to find their battery was dead or something.”

  She forced herself to look to where Bryce lay sprawled out of his car. “That’s the way I found him. I checked to see if he was breathing and felt for a pulse. Then I called you.”

  By that point, she could hear the approaching sirens. She really didn’t want to be there when the deputies started arriving. “Can I go back inside?”

  “I’ll have someone escort you to the door, but I’d like you to answer one question for me first.”

  He might have couched the request in polite terms, but they both knew she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. “Ask away.”

  “Who went outside with Bryce?”

  Crossing her fingers that Tripp would forgive her for dragging the barnacle into a murder investigation, she sighed and said, “Valerie Brunn, Tripp’s ex-wife.”

  Gage’s muttered response was brief but obscene. She knew just how he felt.

  * * *

  Cruisers from the Snowberry Creek Police Department came pouring into the lot. The aid car from the fire department followed close behind. Learning there was nothing to be done for Bryce, the EMTs focused their attention on Abby. She insisted that she was fine, but they ignored her claims and parked her on the back step of their vehicle, anyway. Even she had to admit the warm blanket they wrapped around her shoulders helped ward off the chill of the evening air.

  Or maybe the cold came from another source altogether—the shock of stumbling across another dead body. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to it and wouldn’t want to. Bryce’s death was a tragedy and should be treated as such.

  “Drink some more of that water, Abby.”

  She dutifully followed Angela Grosskopf’s soft-spoken order. Their paths had crossed before, so at least the EMT was another familiar face.

  She took another sip of her drink. “Thanks, Angie. That helps.”

  Angie scanned the parking lot before looking back down at Abby. “Sorry you got sucked into this.”

  “Me too. I think I need to stay home more.”

  Angie arched her eyebrows and gave Abby a doubtful look, which was understandable. They’d first met when Angie responded to an emergency call the night Tripp had been hurt chasing an intruder away from Abby’s back door. Then there’d been the time Abby had been badly shaken after crossing paths with a knife-wielding killer.

  That train of thought was derailed when a dark sedan pulled into the parking lot. One look at the man getting out of the car had Abby wanting to dive for cover. Ben Earle was a homicide detective for the county. Their relationship had gotten off to a rocky start the previous fall, but they’d eventually made peace with each other. She liked him well enough, but his presence made it feel as if the auction night had somehow morphed into a reunion for every law enforcement officer and emergency responder she’d ever met.

  He headed right for her. “Abby McCree, here we are at another crime scene.”

  Although he smiled as he said it, she bristled in indignation. “This was not my fault, Ben. All I wanted to do was pay the man.”

  Her eyes stung with the threat of tears. “I didn’t mean to find him dead.”

  As if that even made sense. She sniffled and tried to explain. “He was the emcee for our bachelor/bachelorette auction tonight. The contract required that we pay him half up front and the rest after the auction was over.” Not that Ben needed to know any of that. “Will this be your case?”

  He shook his head. “Not as far as I know. From what I’ve heard, so far they’re treating this as a suspicious death, not necessarily a homicide. I happened to be in the area and stopped to see if I could help.”

  The detective frowned as he studied all the activity in the parking lot. It looked like total chaos to her, but perhaps he could see an order that escaped her inexperienced eye. After a few seconds, he glanced down at her again. “Well, I’d better go check in with Gage. Take care, Abby.”

  “I’ll try, Ben.”

  It was time for her to get moving, too. She threw off the blanket. “Thanks again, Angie, but I need to go back inside. I’m in charge of the event, and they might need me for something.”

  The other woman folded the blanket as she studied Abby. “Are you sure you’re up to it? You still look a bit shaky.”

  “Thanks, but I’m fine”—she paused to test that theory—“or at least as fine as I can be under the circumstances. Regardless, I have some friends I need to check on.”

  “Give a yell if anyone needs us.”

  “I will.”

  Abby took a couple of tentative steps and decided her legs were back to working normally now. She caught the attention of one of the deputies. “Tell Gage I’ve gone back inside if he needs me for anything.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  As she neared the front of the building, she spotted Tripp standing just inside the glass door. He stepped outside and headed straight toward her. As relieved as she was to see him, she wasn’t as happy to see the other person watching them from inside. The last thing she wanted to do was contend with Tripp’s ex-wife right now. She wrote it off to a guilty conscience for snitching to Gage that Valerie might have been the last person to see Bryce Cadigan alive.

  It also didn’t help that the barnacle was glaring at Abby with the green-eyed anger of a jealous woman. Rat
her than get caught up in a stare-down contest, Abby focused her attention on Tripp.

  “What the heck happened this time, Abby?”

  His gruff concern washed over her and helped calm the rough seas her emotions were riding right now. “I went out looking for Bryce Cadigan to give him his check. When I found him, he was dead.”

  Her voice cracked a bit on that last word, and the next thing Abby knew she was wrapped in Tripp’s arms. “Darn it, woman, I can’t leave you alone for two seconds without you getting into trouble of some kind.”

  She started to protest but then decided he wasn’t wrong. “Sorry.”

  Although it still wasn’t her fault. Not this time.

  He looked past her out toward where Gage stood directing his people like a general in charge of a battlefield. “Do they know what happened to him?”

  Her face was pressed against Tripp’s broad chest, so she felt the deep rumble of his voice as much as she heard it. “They haven’t told me anything. Ben Earle stopped to see if they needed any help. He thought they were treating it as a suspicious death case. Maybe that’s normal when they don’t know what happened.”

  “I guess that would account for the crime scene tape they’re stringing all over the place.”

  He sounded a bit doubtful about that, especially when he went on to add, “But it doesn’t explain why they’re not letting anyone leave, though.”

  “Maybe Gage wants to move the body . . . Bryce, I mean. You know, so it doesn’t upset everyone to see him that way.”

  “Hmmm.”

  Yeah, she saw his point. It had been close to an hour since she’d made that call to Gage. Surely it shouldn’t take all that long to move the body and tow away the car, especially if they hadn’t found anything really suspicious. She risked a quick peek back toward the center of all the action. From where she and Tripp stood, it was hard to pick out many details, but everyone seemed to be really busy.

  “Do you want me to go see what’s going on?”

  It was nice of Tripp to offer, but she suspected Gage wouldn’t want anyone else to go tromping through his crime—

  No, she wouldn’t call it that. It was a suspicious death scene. That’s all. If that was even a thing.

  Tripp stepped back and studied her face. She wasn’t sure what he saw there that had him looking so worried, and didn’t ask. Finally, he said, “Let’s get you inside. Jean and the other ladies are concerned about you and have been fretting up a storm. It will help them settle down to see that you’re all right.”

  Tripp kept his arm around her shoulders as they headed toward the door. She was painfully aware that Valerie was still watching while Tripp seemed oblivious to the situation. Short of shoving his arm away, there wasn’t much she could do about it. “I’m sorry you and Jack had to hold down the fort for Gage. That couldn’t have been easy.”

  “Most people have been pretty good about it. I let the deputies deal with the few that had issues with being held captive against their will.” He smiled and added, “Their words, not mine.”

  “What a bunch of drama queens.”

  Tripp grinned at her assessment of the situation. When they reached the door, Pastor Jack stood waiting to let them in. “Are you all right, Abby? I saw you with the EMTs and was worried.”

  “I’m fine. Angie insisted on checking me over just as a precaution. It wasn’t as if they could do anything for—”

  Suddenly, she was aware of how many people were crowded close and listening, and changed what she’d been about to say. “For me. Regardless, Gage has the situation under control. That’s all I can say.”

  The sympathy in Jack’s eyes was almost her undoing. “Do you know where Jean, Glenda, and Louise are? Tripp said they were looking for me.”

  She would’ve asked Tripp, but the barnacle must have pounced as soon as he stepped through the door. The two of them were over in the corner in the midst of what appeared to be a pretty intense discussion. Tripp didn’t look all that happy when he tore his gaze away from Valerie long enough to look at Abby.

  At the same time, she noticed Mrs. Alstead seated at a table near the door. The woman’s eyes were swollen and her face flushed as if she’d been crying. Right now, she was talking quietly to her friends. Abby and Jack were too far away to hear what she was saying, but her companions immediately turned to glare in Valerie’s direction. Maybe Abby hadn’t been the only one to notice the heated discussion between the barnacle and Bryce.

  Meanwhile, Jack pointed toward the stage. “Your friends are waiting at that table on the far side. I’ll walk over there with you.”

  She let him lead her through the crowd. Bless the man, he ran interference for her, telling anyone who tried to approach Abby that the police would have to answer their questions. She didn’t know if that was true, but it wasn’t as if she had any useful information to share. Well, other than the fact that Bryce Cadigan had died out in the parking lot, but she figured they already knew that much.

  Halfway through the room, the crowd thinned out a little. She knew the instant that Glenda spotted them because she said something to Jean and Louise and then charged across the remaining distance to enfold Abby in a Chantilly-scented hug.

  “Come sit down, you poor thing.”

  Abby didn’t want to be known as a “poor thing,” but she definitely wasn’t at her best right now. Jack walked with her until she was seated at the table. “Would you like me to get you a cup of tea?”

  “That would be lovely.”

  He was off and running while her friends fluttered and fussed around her as they filled a small plate with snacks for her. Jean, in particular, seemed the most upset. “I can’t believe the police won’t let us leave.”

  Abby glanced back toward the door on the far side of the room. “They’re doing their best, Jean. I know Gage Logan will let everyone go as soon as he can.”

  The older woman sniffed in disapproval. “I hope so. I don’t appreciate being treated like a common criminal.”

  Okay, that was way over the top, and Abby couldn’t resist tweaking her friend’s nose a bit. “Jean, two things. First, no one is treating the three of you like criminals. And second, if you were ever to decide to cross over to the dark side, there would be absolutely nothing common about any of you. You’re far too classy for that.”

  Her blunt assessment of their character had all three of the women giggling like schoolgirls. Their laughter brightened her own spirits for the moment.

  Jack was back with her tea. “I wasn’t sure if you took sugar or not, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt.”

  She wrapped her hands around the plain white mug. The heat felt good. “Thanks, that’s fine.”

  He glanced across the room and frowned. “If you don’t need me, I’d better head back over to the door in case the natives start getting restless again.”

  She couldn’t tell what had caught his attention while sitting down, but she was too tired to bother standing up. If someone had a problem they needed her to deal with, they could come find her. For the moment, she would sip her tea and settle in for what promised to be a really late night.

  Chapter Four

  Abby was on her second cup of tea by the time Gage Logan finally put in an appearance. Evidently Pastor Jack had told him where he could find her, because he cut straight through the crowd right to where she was sitting.

  As he made his approach, Glenda sniffed with disapproval. “Well, it’s about time.”

  Her rather snarky comment startled Abby into slopping some of the tea onto her hand. She set her mug down and sopped up the small mess with a napkin.

  “I told you he’d be back as soon as he could. The man has to do his job, you know, whatever it takes. I seriously doubt he expected to have to deal with this kind of situation this evening.”

  Gage had arrived at their table by that point and directed his first comment to her companions. “Ladies, I’m sorry you’ve had to sit here this long. If you’ll give your contact information
to the deputy who is setting up shop over by the door, you’re free to leave.”

  Jean stood up with the aid of her walker. “And what about Abby? Can’t she leave, too? This has been hard for her, you know.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I do know. I promise to get her out of here as soon as possible.”

  As he spoke, he sat down on the chair next to Abby’s and pulled a small spiral notebook out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Seriously? Did the man ever go anywhere without it? She’d already lost count of the times the two of them had talked while he jotted down notes. Ben Earle had one just like it, so it was definitely a cop thing.

  Her three friends lingered close by despite their stated desires to go home. Maybe they were concerned about her, but she suspected a healthy dose of curiosity was also at play. Gage, wily man that he was, remained silent and simply outwaited them. At least he held off grinning until their backs were turned.

  The laugh lines bracketing his eyes deepened just a bit. “You know, it would be nice if you could sleep in tomorrow, Abby. However, I’m betting your phone starts ringing at some ungodly hour in the morning. They’ll even mean it when they tell you they’re concerned and need to know if you’re okay.”

  She couldn’t dispute it. “They will be worried, of course, but it’s killing them not to know exactly what’s going on.”

  He leaned forward, pen in hand. “Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what you actually saw out there, I wanted to know if you noticed anyone other than Valerie Brunn talking to Bryce for any length of time this evening, even if the conversation seemed friendly.”

  “Well, his old football coach stopped Bryce when he first got here, but they didn’t actually talk much until after the auction. Right after that, I saw him with a guy who looked older than Bryce. He had graying hair pulled back in a ponytail. I thought there was an odd vibe about their discussion, but I don’t know that for sure.”