by Lyndsey Cole
A shadow fell over Annie and Jason. “Am I interrupting or do you have time to talk now, Annie?”
Jason’s hand covered Annie’s in a possessive gesture.
Annie glanced at her watch. “I didn’t realize what time it is. Yeah, Tyler, I’ll meet you in the parking lot.”
Jason’s eyebrows raised questioningly after Tyler left the café. “What’s this about?”
“Sorry. Tyler was in earlier. Christy isn’t talking to him and he asked for my opinion on what might be going on. I told him I’d have time to talk once the brunch was over.” Annie slid from the booth. “Dinner tonight? Just you and me?”
“And my surprise. Don’t forget what you promised to trade,” Jason said trying to keep a straight face.
“No worries.” Annie told Leona she had to leave, but everything was well under control.
Tyler was pacing in front of Annie’s car when she caught up to him. “How about you follow me to the police station and we can talk in my office,” Tyler suggested.
“Will Christy be there? She might think we’re conspiring against her if she’s not included.”
“Good point. She might be. She said she had to finish up some paperwork in her office. Your apartment instead?”
Annie thought for a minute. It was far from ideal, but unless Christy saw Tyler’s car parked in the driveway, they could talk without interruption. Or suspicion. “Okay. Follow me.” They drove the short distance back to Cobblestone Cottage.
Annie opened the door to her apartment and Tyler followed her inside. Roxy was all over Tyler hoping for a cookie, but he didn’t carry any in his pocket like Jason always did. She gave up and settled back on the couch.
Annie turned on her teakettle. “Want some tea?”
“Okay.” Tyler sat at the table, hands folded together, his foot jiggling up and down. “Do you believe Christy’s story about Eddie lunging at her and she was defending herself?”
“You don’t?” Annie asked with a shocked tone.
He scratched his head. “I don’t know what to believe. Christy is so jumpy whenever I try to discuss it with her. I know she wants to be back on the investigation but I just can’t do that yet.”
Annie poured the tea and brought it to the table. “Samantha told me something. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but she said Christy stole something from Eddie when she left him and he came back here to try to get it back. Blue was the bargaining chip. Samantha’s afraid Christy is going to pin the murder on her. You need to find out more about that story.”
Tyler finally focused. He took out his pad and scribbled some notes. “Anything else?”
“Start with the Mixed Drink Bartender School where Eddie met Samantha. Find out who else was in that class with them. Christy told me Eddie changed after their honeymoon. I think something happened while she was finishing up at the police academy and he was doing the bartending thing.”
Tyler nodded his head as he scribbled more notes. “Thanks, Annie. This is just what I needed to move forward. Christy really had my mind all locked up. I couldn’t think straight.”
Tyler stood up, his tea untouched. “Will you let me know if you hear anything else?”
“Of course. And Tyler?”
He looked at her, waiting.
“I think Christy’s in some kind of danger. If she didn’t kill Eddie, someone else did. You have to figure out who.”
“And what if Christy’s the killer?” Tyler asked.
“Well, you have to find out why. Maybe it was self-defense like she implied.”
Tyler sucked in a deep breath. “This will be in the papers tomorrow anyway. Eddie didn’t die from stab wounds.”
Annie’s hand stopped with her teacup halfway to her mouth.
“He lost a lot of blood from the stab wounds, but it looks like he died when his head smashed into a rock.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. We found a blood covered rock on the cement wall near his body.”
Annie replied in barely more than a whisper, “Did someone bash his head or did he fall?
Tyler shrugged. “Not sure yet. But we suspect someone helped him to the spot where he died.”
Chapter 8
Annie called Roxy and they followed Tyler out the door. “Are you doing any extra security for the trick-or-treaters around town tonight?” Annie asked.
“Everyone in the department will be working extra hours. We’ll have lots of visibility for traffic problems and any pranks from teenagers. Is the Black Cat Café handing out treats?”
“Of course. Leona is making caramel covered apples for all the kids that show up at the ice cream window. And peanut butter pumpkin dog treats for any canine trick-or-treaters. I think we’ll be the last stop for many, so they can enjoy the apple treat right there on the deck. And we’ll be selling Leona’s pumpkin ice cream with or without hot fudge sauce.”
“Save an apple for me. That was my favorite as a kid.”
Annie smiled. “Will do.” She turned left toward the lake with Roxy, and Tyler drove out in his cruiser.
“What do you think, Roxy? Any chance Christy is the killer?”
Roxy lifted her head to stare at Annie as her tail waved back and forth.
“No. I don’t think so either. She is hiding something though.” They followed the Lake Trail, Annie, lost in her thoughts, and Roxy, lost in the smells.
Suddenly, Roxy ran to the edge of the water and grabbed a piece of fabric. Annie tried to see what Roxy had, but her dog thought they were playing a game of chase and easily evaded Annie’s attempts to get the material. Eventually, Roxy lost interest and darted off after a new scent, dropping her treasure.
Annie picked it up by two corners, watching water drip to the ground. Stenciled in white on the heavy dark blue fabric was the logo and name, Catfish Cove Pub. How did it get way down here?
Annie watched the direction of the waves lapping on the shoreline. She wondered if someone lost it near where Eddie was found dead and it drifted to this spot. She remembered Danny saying that Kyle was found searching for something the night before. Was it Kyle’s apron?
Annie pushed her fingers into the pockets of the apron but both were empty. She flipped it over. The initials KB were written in black permanent marker. Kyle Bishop?
“Come on Roxy. We need to go make a surprise visit.”
Annie and Roxy pulled into Christy’s driveway and parked behind her SUV. The curtains were closed over the windows of her tidy ranch. Closed before it was dark? That couldn’t be a good sign.
Annie knocked on the front door. Silence. She knocked again. Louder and called, “Christy, are you home?” Finally, the door opened. Christy’s hair was down around her face, uncombed, and she looked like her world was shattered.
“Hey,” Christy said with no enthusiasm. “Come on in.” She turned around, leaving Annie to follow or not.
Roxy barged past Christy, wagging her tail and sniffing Bella and Blue. The three dogs were like long lost buddies and they ignored the tension between Annie and Christy.
Christy slumped onto her sofa. “Tyler refuses to let me help with Eddie’s murder investigation. He probably thinks I’m the murderer,” she stated, her eyes glazed over, no emotion in her voice.
“Did he say that?” Annie sat opposite Christy. “That he thinks you’re the murderer?”
“No. He didn’t have to. I could feel his stare through my back when I went to the station.” She finally raised her eyes to meet Annie’s. “I can’t just sit around, I’ll go crazy. I have to do something.”
Annie chose her words carefully. “Did you know any of Eddie’s friends? Interests? Anyone who would want him dead?”
“Besides me?” Christy snorted with disgust.
Annie leaned forward, placing her hands on Christy’s knees. “Listen, if there’s anything else you can think of, this is the time to tell Tyler. Without more background information, he doesn’t know where to look. What about Samantha?”
&nb
sp; Christy stood up, hands in her pockets, and stood in front of the window, staring at closed curtains instead of her garden. Her soft voice broke the silence. “Believe me, I’m wracking my brain trying to come up with something.” She whirled around. “This is what I trained for, finding clues, following clues, putting clues together.” One hand raked through her hair. “My thoughts keep coming back to his time at that bartender school. Something must have happened then, while I was finishing at the police academy. Samantha is a link for sure, but I don’t know how.”
“Who else?”
“I told him to invite his new friends over, but Eddie said he liked to keep his worlds separate.” She snorted. “That’s kind of strange, don’t you think?”
Annie shrugged. “And then you went on your honeymoon?”
“Yup. He got a couple of phone calls that he told me were connected to job searches. Then we got home and nothing was ever the same again.”
“Did he—” Annie began but was interrupted by someone banging on the door.
The three dogs barked at the closed door. Bella jumped up on it with her front feet.
“Christy. I know you’re in there. Open the door.”
Christy’s eyes opened wide. She pulled an envelope from her pocket and stuffed it into Annie’s hands. “Take this. Don’t look inside unless something happens to me. Go out the back door.” She pushed Annie through the kitchen, grabbing her gun and holster off the counter. “Don’t go to your car until I let him in.”
“Do you know who it is?”
“I think so. It could lead to something important.” She held Annie’s arm for a few seconds. “Be careful.”
Me be careful, Annie thought. Christy needed to be careful. Whoever was at the door wanted something from her.
Annie tucked the envelope into the inside pocket of her jacket. What was she safeguarding for Christy? Annie’s fingers itched to look inside. Not now. She had to safely get to her car.
Annie inched around the side of Christy’s house, glad for the shrubs she could hide behind. A dark sedan had her blocked in. Great. She couldn’t leave. Annie texted Tyler. Come to Christy’s house. Now.
Almost immediately, he texted back. On my way.
With her heart racing and threatening to pop right through her chest, Annie inched as close to a window as possible. It was closed, blocking the voices, but she could just see through a small crack in the curtain. Dusty stood inside the door, his arms waving around and his finger jabbing at Christy. Roxy sat quietly but alert next to Annie.
“What is Dusty doing here?” Annie whispered to Roxy.
Annie saw Christy’s fingers tighten around her gun. Dusty put his hands up as he backed away from her, stopping when he hit against the door.
Was she going to shoot him? Hurry up Tyler, Annie silently said, as she looked toward the road. We don’t need another body.
Annie held her breath, listening as hard as possible. Christy’s high-pitched voice just barely made it through the closed window. “I told you not to come here. Someone will figure out the connection.”
Annie flipped around to rest against the house. Dusty? How did Christy know Dusty? This was getting weirder and weirder.
Finally. She heard tires crunch in the driveway. Tyler’s cruiser pulled in next to the dark sedan. He should be blocking that car in. Oh well.
Annie waved to Tyler and rushed to join him as he walked to the door.
With his hand raised ready to knock, the door opened. Dusty stepped backward, bumping into Tyler’s strong chest.
Annie, standing behind Tyler, saw a startled expression cross Christy’s face before it settled into a neutral appearance.
“Mr. Reed is just leaving, right?” Her eyes bored holes into Dusty’s forehead.
“Yes, sorry to bother you.”
Annie waited for Tyler to grab Dusty and demand to know what was going on. She watched in shock as he let Dusty return to his car and drive off.
Tyler took a step, uninvited, into Christy’s house. Annie rushed in behind him with Roxy at her heels. She had no idea what Tyler’s plan was, but she decided she could intervene if it got ugly.
Christy stood blocking their entrance so they couldn’t move beyond the mat inside the door. Annie looked down and smiled to herself. She was standing on the image of a black lab, Christy’s soft spot, the way into her confidence.
“What do you want Tyler?” Christy growled.
“An explanation. What was Dusty doing here?”
“It’s personal, and if I’m not mistaken, it’s not a crime to have a personal life.” She stood with her hands on her hips and her legs spread apart. Even though Tyler’s height dwarfed Christy, her posture said ‘don’t mess with me.’
“No, it’s not a crime. Can’t we sit down and discuss this?”
Annie held her breath again. She desperately wanted to help Christy, but Christy had to work with them. Unless she was hiding something awful.
Annie stuck her hand in her jacket pocket and remembered the envelope inside. She wouldn’t discuss this in front of Tyler unless Christy brought it up.
Christy sighed and stepped back. “Okay, come in. Annie, close the door behind you.”
They all settled in Christy’s living room. No one wanted to start the conversation, so Annie cleared her throat and made a big assumption. “How do you know Dusty?”
Christy’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t really know him. He was at the bartender school with Eddie and Samantha. I never met either Dusty or Samantha, but I heard the names mentioned.”
“Why did he come to your house?” Tyler asked.
“He wanted to know what Eddie and I talked about last night when I met him. Eddie came to town looking for me, to warn me that I was in danger, but he’s the one that got killed. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“How did he find you here?”
“You heard the same thing I heard last night. Samantha told him I was here. She said she never met me before, and that’s true, but she’s seen me around town. Eddie told me Samantha was going to teach me a lesson.”
Tyler leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “What kind of lesson?”
Christy rubbed her thighs with her hands. Her lips puckered into a grimace. “Eddie finally figured out that I wasn’t the problem, but his other friends, Samantha, Dusty, Kyle and Dennis were dragging him down. He came to apologize to me and beg me to go back with him.”
“And?”
“When I told him, ‘no freaking way,’ he lunged at me with his knife.” She shrugged. “And now he’s dead, so it doesn’t matter, does it?”
Chapter 9
Tyler stood up and paced across the small living room, his hands pushed deep into his pockets, his jaw clenched.
Christy patted Blue who sat leaning against her leg. “Now I’m thinking Eddie drove me away on purpose to get me away from his friends.” She shook her head. “What a dope he was. I could have helped him with the mess he got into, but no, his ego wouldn’t let him do that.”
“Any idea what the mess was?”
“Some scheme they all got involved with.” She pointed to Annie. “It’s all in the envelope I gave you before—all that I know, which isn’t much. I just wanted to be sure someone looked in the right direction if something happened to me.”
Tyler turned around and put his hand on Christy’s shoulder. “I’d like you back on the case. With one condition.”
Christy’s eyes were suspicious. “What’s your condition? I don’t like to work that way.”
“I know, but in this case it’s for your own good. You have to work behind the scenes. No interviewing suspects. I’ll do that and fill you in. I’ll follow all the leads. Agreed?”
She nodded. “Agreed. But I have a condition, too.”
The edges of Tyler’s mouth turned down but he waited for her to continue.
“I want Annie to be a sounding board. Sort of a consultant.” Christy’s left eyebrow arched, her head tilted, and her
gaze shifted between Annie and Tyler.
“That works.” He grinned. “She always pokes her nose in anyway, even when we don’t want her to.”
“Hey! With that attitude, I’ll just stay at the café and make a gazillion pumpkin pies.” She pretended to be offended. “Oh, and by the way, I found something interesting before I came here. It’s in my car. But you two probably don’t give a hoot about it.”
“Of course we’re interested,” both Tyler and Christy blurted out at the same time.
They all walked outside. Annie noticed Christy’s eyes dart around as if she was checking the street and perimeter of her property. Maybe it was second nature for her, but Annie sensed Christy was feeling more vulnerable than usual. Having the two dogs with her would help.
Annie reached into the back of her car and picked up the soggy apron. Holding it up so the other two could read the Catfish Cove Pub lettering, she watched as they both shrugged dismissively.
“So? Anyone could have lost it,” Tyler said.
Annie turned it over, showing the initials in black.
Christy’s hand snatched the apron. “KB—Kyle Bishop. I found him wandering the shoreline last night. He wouldn’t tell me what he was looking for. He just laughed at me. A kind of evil laugh. I’m going to start my internet search into his background.”
Tyler frowned. “You weren’t supposed to be doing any investigating last night.”
Christy shrugged. “It wasn’t police work, just my personal thing.”
Tyler shook his head. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop you. And just so you know, since you’ll be working in the background, I’m not taking you off the suspect list. I think it’s best if everyone still thinks the focus is on you. Are you okay with that?”
Christy smiled. “Yeah. Keep those four thinking they’re off the hook. Samantha, Kyle, Dennis, and Dusty. It’s got to be one of them.”
Tyler headed to his cruiser. “My first stop is to the little cottage Eddie was renting after he moved out of Samantha and Kyle’s place. We searched last night but I want to have another look around. Oh, I’ll drop his laptop off here with you, Christy. See if you can find some interesting leads.”