I touched his freckled face with my fingertips. “You’re a good kid, Zayne. Thanks.”
“Mr. Crubbs thought you might need food, so he put some in the trunk. There is a big cooler in there with cold stuff, too. Just be careful, ok? You’re my favorite aunt.”
“I’m your only aunt,” I laughed.
“And that makes you my favorite!” He leaned over, kissed me on the cheek and got out. “Text or call when you get wherever you’re going.” I didn’t trust myself to talk without crying so I just nodded, waved and drove off.
I headed down the same road Keaton and I had gone earlier in the day. The truck was gone when I came upon the accident site, but you could see the skidmarks on the pavement. I shuddered and focused on the road.
Hillsboro is a small city; the main attractions are the outlet malls that are located off Interstate 35. You could get there along the interstate or from Highway 77. Keaton’s mother loved to shop, so they had a small place just outside of town where they stayed when they wanted to get away from the craziness of the metro area. When we had talked about going there earlier, Keaton had showed me two keys he had for the cottage; he had one with him and I had taken the other one before I left his condo.
It was dusk when I pulled up. I parked the Cadillac in the garage, unlocked the front door and unloaded the car. Stretching, I looked around. It was a nice little place with all the comforts of home. Keaton came down every other weekend so I knew everything was in working order. Dragging the cooler into the kitchen, I unpacked the food Mr. Crubbs had sent: milk, butter, biscuits, eggs, sausage, bologna and meatloaf among other things. I was going to owe him a big one for this, I thought. The cooler was easier to lift now that it was empty, and I put it on the back porch to air out.
I unloaded the dry goods, made a sandwich and sat down on the couch. My muscles ached and my ribs and hand were throbbing. I ate the sandwich, texted Zayne to let him know I was ok, took something for the pain and lay down to watch TV.
I fell asleep and dreamed the restless sleep of someone with too much on their mind. I felt someone was there, just in the background, someone who held the answer to the whole thing, but I just couldn’t get a clear image of their face. Again, the scene with the car explosion reared its ugly head and I woke up in a cold sweat.
You know the feeling you get when you first wake up and you feel that something is wrong? I felt that way when I woke up. There was a blanket covering me that I know hadn’t been there when I had gone to sleep. Someone walked in front of the TV and came toward me.
I did what any normal person would do. I screamed my head off.
Chapter 34
“Charlie! Stop it! It’s me, Keaton!”
I wasn’t Catholic, but the first thing I said was “Holy Mary, Mother of God! What are you trying to do, scare me to death?!”
“Me? What about you? The second my back is turned you swipe the spare key and take off. How did you talk Mr. Crubbs into giving you his car?”
“I said please.” I sat up rubbing my eyes. “What time is it?”
Keaton turned on a light, blinding me for a minute. “It’s 11 p.m.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Since about 9.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“You needed the rest.”
I moved over and he sat down next to me. “Why?” he asked taking my hand.
“Why what?”
“Why did you leave without saying goodbye?”
“Look, I’m a natural born klutz. I can walk down a sidewalk, trip, and fall and break something. But the total chaos, this insanity that has become my life this week is not of my doing. I lead a very quiet life. I write articles about people who do things in their communities. I’m a wannabe novelist still working on their first novel. I don’t bother anyone and they don’t bother me. In the span of five days, I’m carless and homeless. I can deal with that. But when they start coming after the people I care for…”
Keaton put his arm around me and pulled me close. “I care about you too, Charlie, and I appreciate that you want to protect me. But I have the same urge to protect you from the nutcase out there. I do have a small idea, if you want to hear it.”
“Shoot.”
“I think we should stop hiding.”
“Are you nuts?”
“No, I’m not. We need to draw out whoever is doing this. The only way to do that is to be seen around town. They concluded that your house fire was arson and they know the accelerant was gasoline. We can start tearing down the house tomorrow. Once we clear the place, then construction can start. We need to be seen there as often as we can.”
“You’re crazy. The idea is not to provoke them. If the note writer is mad because I’m with you, then this will escalate their plans, not calm them down.”
“But if we are seen around with other people, it will be hard for them to get to us.”
“What about nighttime?”
“I admit, I haven’t figured that part out,” Keaton conceded. “But we will.”
Chewing on my bottom lip, I thought about what he was proposing. It made sense, but I didn’t like the thought of him being in harm’s way. What am I saying? I didn’t like the idea of ME being in harm’s way!
“Ok, when do we go back?”
He squeezed my hand. “Tomorrow. We both need a good night’s rest.”
I couldn’t argue with that one, but I didn’t think I was going to go to sleep any time soon. We decided to just stay where we were and watch TV for a while. I had to admit, I was really starting to enjoy his company. I just hoped nothing happened to ruin it for me.
Chapter 34
I returned Mr. Crubbs’ car to him when we got back into town. There were bulldozers on my lot tearing down the remains of what had been my home. I was sad to see it go; I had had some good times with family and friends there over the last five years. But I would be able to make new memories in the new place – I hoped.
We had put my stuff in Keaton’s car before we left the cottage, so after I dropped off the car and Keaton had a few words with the workers, we drove to his place. I was starting to get comfortable coming over here, and considering the newness of our relationship, that probably wasn’t a good thing. But I had vowed to go into this with eyes and heart wide open, so I just accepted things as they were and went on.
Bernie showed up an hour after we got back and he did not look happy. “Where were you last night?” he demanded as soon as he walked in the door.
“Out of town.”
“What about you?” he said to Keaton.
“I chased her down to bring her back.”
“So you two are each other’s alibis?”
“More or less,” I said. “Why?”
“Is there anyone else who can vouch for your whereabouts?”
“Well, considering I had Mr. Crubbs’ car, I suppose he could verify some of it. Would you mind telling me why you are asking all these questions?”
Bernie sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. “We had reports of shots fired at Mack’s Tavern last night. Officers who responded found Cash Christian dead in the parking lot.”
I felt sick to my stomach. The room seemed to sway and I sat down before I fell down. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
He shook his head. “I wish I were. You are the only one who had a serious beef with him, Charlie, and you’re the number one suspect right now.”
“That’s crap and you know it, Bernie!” Keaton said.
“Do you, or do you not, know how to shoot a gun, Charlie?”
“Of course I do. Cash taught me. But I don’t OWN a gun, Bernie. Surely you checked to see if one was registered to me.”
“I did and you don’t. But that doesn’t mean you didn’t take one from Cash’s apartment and shoot him with it.”
I glared at him and I could feel the anger building up, but I took a deep breath to remain calm. “Bernie, may I ask you a question?”
“What?�
��
“Am I right or left handed?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“It’s a very simple question that has a simple answer. Right or left handed?”
“Left.”
“Wrong. I’m right handed. What is on my right hand, Bernie?”
“A cast.”
“Does the cast cover most of my fingers?”
“You know it does.”
“So, if I am right handed, and I have a cast on my right hand that covers my fingers, wouldn’t that hinder my ability to shoot?”
“Aren’t you ambidextrous?”
“Yes, I am. However, to do what you are proposing, I would have had to balance the gun on something in order to fire with my left hand. Correct?”
Bernie was getting flustered. “I guess so.”
“And in doing so, I would probably have gun powder residue on my hands and whatever else was in the immediate vicinity, correct?”
“I should be the one asking the questions,” he said angrily.
“Yes or no, Bernie.”
“Yes, damn it.”
“Fine.” I stood up. “Then let’s go down to the police station for a residue test so you will see what an idiotic line of questioning this is.”
“Are you serious, Charlie?” Keaton said incredulously.
“Of course I am! If he is going to consider me a suspect, then I have the right to demand the opportunity to prove him wrong. Let’s go, Bernie,” I concluded, walking over and opening the front door.
“Stop being so ridiculous, Charlie,” Bernie said gruffly. “I know you didn’t shoot him. You’re not that kind of person.”
I slammed the door shut. “Then why did you come in here asking all these questions and treating me like I did do it?”
“To see if you would get flustered.”
“Feel better now?”
“What about his truck?” Keaton said. “Did you check his truck for accident damage?”
“Funny you should mention the truck,” Bernie said, pulling out his notepad. “Cash reported the truck stolen about an hour before your accident.”
“Are you serious?” I couldn’t believe my ears. “Are you telling me Cash wasn’t the one who tried to kill us yesterday?”
Bernie nodded. “That is exactly what I am telling you. The police report is his alibi, was, his alibi. He didn’t do it.”
“Holy moly,” I said, sinking back into the chair. “Someone was setting him up.”
“Oh, he did drive the truck into your house, Charlie,” Bernie said. “You can’t deny that. You punched his lights out in your living room. He didn’t write those notes, either. We’ve been all over his apartment this morning. No magazines that had been cut up, no glue, no envelopes, no nothing.”
“So Deja sabotaged the car and Cash wrecked my house. That leaves the exploding car, the house fire, the notes and the accident yesterday,” I mused. “We seem to eliminate one thing and gain three more. This is nuts!”
“What happens now, Bernie?” Keaton said.
“We go back to Mack’s Tavern and interview people, find out who was there last night, who heard anything, things like that. I don’t want to hear that you have been out there asking questions, Charlie.”
“I haven’t been out there at all!”
“I heard that there was a woman asking questions a couple of nights ago.”
“Wasn’t me.” And I wasn’t about to tell him who it was.
He stood up. “You two just lie low. Don’t go out of town or do anything stupid.”
Keaton assured him we wouldn’t. “Construction is going to start on Charlie’s new house in a day or two. We’ll be tied up with that, going over to check things out once in a while.”
“I don’t know about that,” Bernie replied, scratching his beard. “I guess it will be ok once in a while. Plenty of people around, hard to get close to you there. I do plan on having a patrol stick close to this place at night until we find our killer.”
We thanked him for the protection as he left. “I can’t believe it,” I said, shaking my head. “Cash dead. Wow.”
“I wonder who did it.”
“The list of people who had a beef with Cash is much longer than the people who have a beef with me,” I said as I got up to get something to drink. Pulling a cold Dr Pepper out of the fridge, I leaned against the counter. “Does Deja have any family living here?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know a lot about her.”
I pulled out my phone and called Zayne. “Hey nephew, it’s your favorite aunt.”
“Where are you? Are you ok?”
“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “We are back in town. I need you to do some research for me.”
“Cool. What?”
“Simple background stuff. I need some information on Deja Taylor.”
“You mean the woman that was blown up in your car?” Zayne said.
“Yes, that’s the one. Also do a background check on Cash Christian.”
“Anything else?”
“Not right now. Maybe later. I’ll let you know.” I hung up. “I wonder if two different people did the killings.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean someone killed Deja and someone else killed Cash.”
“But why kill either one of them? The only one with a motive to kill Deja was Cash. We know they had a fight, but did she go back and provoke him?”
“It’s possible. Cash had a hair trigger temper. It didn’t take much to make him angry.”
“I still don’t understand why someone stuffed her into your car unless they also blew up your car.”
“But putting a dead body in someone’s car is a personal statement, Keaton. It’s supposed to let you know that you are vulnerable. Why blow up the car without me getting a good view of the body first?”
“Because you weren’t supposed to. The explosion was meant to scare you, not kill you. You yourself said you did get a glimpse of the body before the car blew up.”
“I guess.” I sat back down. “I just can’t help feeling that we are missing something very obvious. Something that is staring us right in the face.”
A knock on the door interrupted us. “Come on. guys, I know you’re in there. It’s Sydney. Let me in!”
I opened the door and she bounced in. “How did you know we were here?”
“I have my ways. Ok, Braden heard over the scanner that Bernie was stopping here, so we figured you were back. What did he want?”
“Did Braden send you over here to interrogate us?”
Sydney looked offended. “That’s mean, Charlie. That hurts.”
Keaton laughed. “I notice you aren’t denying it, though.”
Sydney sniffed. “Totally irrelevant and beside the point. What did Bernie want?”
“Why don’t we just go see Braden? I am sure he would rather hear it straight from the horse’s mouth instead of second hand.”
Chapter 35
Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting in Braden’s living room. “So what did Bernie want?”
“He told me I was the prime suspect in Cash’s murder,” I said nonchalantly.
“He did what?” Braden yelled, almost coming out of his recliner. “I cannot believe he did that!”
“Relax,” I told him. “By the time he left, he had taken me off the suspect list. I pointed out it would be very hard to shoot a gun with this bulky cast on.”
“But you’re ambidextrous, Charlie,” Sydney said.
“I know. He knows that, too. That is why I offered to take a gun residue test. I even opened the door for him so we could go down to the station and do it. I guess he felt if I was willing to do it, I probably didn’t shoot Cash. Besides, we weren’t even in town last night.”
“Unbelievable,” Braden shook his head. “You’re nuts, Charlie, completely nuts.”
“You say this like it’s a new thing, Braden. Don’t you want to know what else we found out?”
“Spill it,�
� he said.
“Cash has an alibi for the time of our accident, not that it really matters right now. He was at the police station reporting his truck stolen.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. How is that for an airtight alibi?”
“So who was driving his truck?” said Sydney.
Keaton said, “No idea.”
“Ready for more?” They nodded. “Deja Taylor was already dead before she was put in my car. No smoke in the lungs and her throat was crushed.”
“Yikes!” Sydney turned white. “That is horrible. I do have some news on about Deja. She was seen at Mack’s Tavern the night she got into a fight with Cash. The bartender said he cut her off around 11:30, although she spent another thirty minutes trying to cajole another drink out of him before finally giving up and stumbling out.”
“Did anyone follow her out or leave right before her?” Keaton asked.
“Well, it was a weeknight and closing time is midnight. So yeah, everybody was leaving.”
“But did anyone see her in the parking lot after she left?”
“I’m not sure. I haven’t talked to everyone yet.”
“You probably won’t get the chance to, either,” I told her. “Bernie knows someone has been out there asking questions, and thought it was me. He told me to knock it off. You’ll have to figure another way to get some answers.”
“I’m not worried about Bernie,” Sydney said defiantly. “What’s he going to do, throw me in jail?”
“Actually, yes,” Braden told her. “You can get chucked in a cell for interfering with a police investigation.”
“He does and my father will have his job.”
“Let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that,” I interrupted. “Talk to some of Deja’s friends instead. See if any of them were with her that night at Mack’s. Maybe one of them will remember seeing her talking to someone in particular.”
“What about me?” Braden said.
“You and I are in the same boat, I’m afraid, brother of mine. If we go out asking questions, people will remember us because of these casts, and Bernie will swoop down on us, throw me in jail and suspend you from the force.”
Good Night Sleep Tight Don't Let the Stalkers Bite (Charlie Bannerman Mysteries) Page 14