by L A Dobbs
She supposed it wouldn’t be so bad to settle down here. Maybe she could buy the cottage. She didn’t have family to draw her to any other area.
Thoughts of her family stirred unpleasant memories. Images of the empty chair at the table where her eight-year-old sister, Tammy, should have been sitting. Her mother’s vacant eyes. Her father’s anger. The hollow, empty feeling that Jo should not have had to experience at the tender age of ten.
After Tammy had disappeared, there had been a flurry of activity. People searching. Cops asking questions. Jo had been terrified and intrigued at the same time. And sad. Especially when she would peek into her sister’s room every morning, hoping that she’d see Tammy there. Hoping it had all been a bad dream. But instead she saw Tammy’s toys sitting alone exactly in the same place Tammy had left them the last afternoon she’d played with them. It was almost a year before her mother even went in the room and picked them up.
Jo had snuck in herself a few times, though. Somehow, she knew her mother wouldn’t want her in there. But she’d had to go in. To touch Tammy’s favorite purple shirt. To smell the scent of her that still clung to her pillow. To wish her back.
But Tammy never came back.
Eventually, the activity died down. And then Jo was left with only her mother, her father, and her older sister, Bridgett. The idyllic childhood Jo had known up to that point vanished, replaced by a cold and empty existence.
The grief had sent her mother to an early grave and turned her father into a stranger. She hadn’t seen him in over a decade. Bridgett had eventually turned to drugs. She lived a few towns over. That was one of the reasons Jo had moved here. But Bridgett had refused all the attempts Jo had made to help her.
She hadn’t made a lot of friends since she’d come to town, but that was just as well. Friends would want to come over to her place, and coming over to her place might mean looking through her things, and, well… she couldn’t have that.
Sam was about the closest thing to a friend that she had, unless you counted Marisol, who did her hair down at the salon. Sometimes they went out for beers and had even gone shopping a few times together. She liked Mari’s quirky sense of humor and her down-home common sense.
But she didn’t share nearly as much with Mari as she did with Sam. It made sense because Jo and Sam worked together every day. They had to trust each other; their lives depended on it. But, even so, their relationship had boundaries. Jo and Sam did their hanging out at Spirits. They’d only been to each other’s houses a few times. Which was just fine with Jo. She didn’t get close to people. What was the point of getting close to someone when they could just be ripped out of your life forever without even a moment’s warning?
Jo reached over to the hutch that sat against the wall and pulled out a pencil and pad of paper and started scribbling down clues. Sometimes just brainstorming was a good way to get the mind working on solving a case. But it wasn’t just the Palmer case she needed to think about. She hadn’t told Sam about seeing Dupont and Thorne going to Lago. She hadn’t told him about Kevin lying about being in there either. Truth was, she didn’t know if Kevin actually was lying. He only said he didn’t have lunch—maybe he was in Lago for some other reason.
It was possible Dupont and Thorne were just there at the same time as a coincidence. It didn’t mean they were having some sort of nefarious meeting. Jo knew she shouldn’t make assumptions. She’d gotten in trouble for that before at other jobs, but what had happened to her sister had given her a suspicious nature, causing her to always think the worst. Heck, she even suspected there was more to Tyler’s shooting than met the eye when she had no good reason to think it.
She didn’t want Sam to think she was the type that always jumped to the worst conclusions. She wanted him to value her opinion, and the only way to do that was to back her suspicions up with evidence.
As she scribbled on the pad, she listed out the names of the people who were involved with Lynn, then drew lines radiating out from each one and listed out her various suspicions.
Noah was right in the center. He’d been involved intimately with Lynn. They’d started the company together, and she’d even left her controlling shares to him in her will. Yet he’d neglected to mention that each time they’d asked about motive. The way Jo saw it, that gave him two motives to kill her. One if he was still carrying a torch for her and jealous of her fooling around with other guys, the other to get control of the company.
Oddly enough, she had a sneaking suspicion that Amber was also lying about something. But why? Amber was very possessive when it came to Noah. Maybe she was jealous of the previous relationship. What if Amber wanted to get rid of Lynn to make sure Noah didn’t get back together with her?
And where was Lynn’s phone?
Jo doodled on the pad. She thought about Dupont and his incessant threats. She thought about Kevin and his trip to Lago. She thought about the dog, Lucy, and she thought about Tyler’s shooting. When her thoughts turned around to the suspects on the paper again, she realized that finding Lynn Palmer’s killer might be the least of her worries.
Chapter Sixteen
Sam liked his office at the police station because the solid oak door shut out all the noise. He could think better when it was quiet. Even though the office wasn’t fancy, it had everything he needed. His doublewide mission oak partners’ desk was big enough for laying out all his files. His chair was old but leaned back easily. He even liked the familiar squeak it made when he shifted position.
But his favorite part was the windows. They were ten feet tall and rounded at the tops. Facing north, they framed a majestic view of the mountains. Looking out of these windows, he could watch over the town. He could see the pedestrians going about their business. In summer, it was crowded with the tourists in colorful tee shirts and shorts that flocked to the area for fishing, hiking, and kayaking. In winter, they came for snowmobiling, skiing, and snowshoeing, adorned in ski suits and wool hats.
Right now, though, he didn’t have much time for window gazing. He’d gone to visit Lynn Palmer’s parents first thing. Talking to parents of a murder victim was always draining, and this morning had been no exception. At least he felt that he’d left them with a little bit of comfort, assuring them that he would seek justice for Lynn.
He hadn’t gotten any new information from them other than the name of her lawyer, which they already knew, but he felt better that he could say he’d gotten the name from them. They’d also told him who her cell phone carrier was. Since her phone was still missing, Sam would have to get a court order for whatever records they had on their server. Of course, that could take forever, so it was better if they could find the phone and get the information from it.
On the way back to the office, he’d had to make a side trip. Bullwinkle, the town moose, had caused a ruckus down by Paugus River, which had in turn caused a fender bender when a startled tourist had been watching Bullwinkle and not the road.
Sam had spent a good part of the early morning there sorting things out. Bullwinkle was famous around town, with many of the locals claiming they could recognize him by the shape of his antlers. He even had his own Facebook page where people posted pictures of him when he was sighted around town.
Sam didn’t think it was actually the same moose, but he played along. In his mind, frequent sightings meant the moose population was healthy, and that was a good thing. Too much of the local wildlife was dwindling in size because of people like Thorne who were decimating the woods that animals lived in and turning them into hotels and golf courses.
Jo and Kevin had been busy that morning, too, with the usual neighbor squabbles, lost pets, and an old man with Alzheimer’s who wandered away from home. Thankfully, someone had discovered him walking down Main Street in his pajamas and taken him into the diner for breakfast while waiting for Jo to pick him up and deliver him safely to his family.
Sam didn’t like that the routine calls had delayed his investigation of the murder, but what cou
ld he do? Someone had to keep up the police work in the town. If they weren’t so shorthanded, he would’ve had another officer to send out.
He’d had Reese call Noah and Amber in to give their statements after lunch. He wanted to talk to Noah first, seeing as he was the one with the biggest reason to want Lynn dead.
He figured Amber for the weak link. She was closest to Noah and might know more than she was letting on. Depending on what he learned from them, he’d decide on who to talk to next and what questions to ask. Maybe he’d get lucky and one of them would confess. Either way, the theory of it being Jesse wasn’t going to hold water.
On the desk in front of him was a crumpled receipt from the gas station. Jesse had paid with a credit card, the time clearly stamped 2:23 a.m. By Sam’s estimation, the campground was ten minutes from the gas station. There was no way Jesse could have killed Lynn between 2:15 and 2:45 if he was at the gas station at 2:23. The killer had shoved her body into the river, and that must’ve taken some time.
Since they’d been out on calls all morning, Reese had rounded up sandwiches at the deli, and Sam was just finishing up his ham and Swiss. Reese had ordered it with spicy mustard just the way he liked it.
A soft tap sounded at the door.
"Come in."
Kevin poked his head in. "Reese said you wanted to see me?"
Sam gestured at the chair and Kevin came in and shut the door.
"You know we’re shorthanded." Why did Sam feel like he was being a traitor to Tyler? He was going to have to hire someone sometime. He was pretty sure Tyler would’ve understood.
Kevin nodded.
"So I was wondering if you wanted to come on full time. We’d be happy to have you."
Kevin was silent for a minute. He wasn’t exactly jumping at the opportunity. The relief that washed over Sam made him realize he didn’t really want Kevin to move up to full time. But who would turn down a full-time gig?
"Thanks. I appreciate your confidence in me." Kevin leaned forward in his chair and looked down at his feet, scrubbing his chin. "But the truth is I’m not really looking to go full time."
Sam frowned. "Oh. Okay. Well, I just wanted to offer it to you first."
"It’s appreciated. I mean, I can do extra hours and filling in in the interim."
"Okay. Good."
There was an awkward silence, and then Kevin said, "Are we done?"
"Yeah. Oh. Maybe you can head out to the campsite. We can’t find the victim’s cell phone, and I’m thinking it might’ve been dropped near where her clothes were found or on the beach. I poked around a little bit there yesterday but didn’t do a thorough search. Maybe you could look more closely."
Kevin was halfway to the door. He shot over his shoulder, "Will do."
As he opened the door, Jo was standing outside. They did an awkward little shuffle in the doorway, and then she poked her head in and said, "You ready, chief? Noah Brickey is here for his statement."
Chapter Seventeen
Noah Brickey sat ramrod straight in the uncomfortable wooden chair. They put their suspects in that chair on purpose because one leg was shorter than the rest and it wobbled slightly, keeping the suspect off-balance.
Sam was behind his desk, leaning casually back in his chair, hands clasped loosely in front of him. Jo was in another chair, angled so that she could watch Noah. She had a notepad in her lap on which she was tapping the eraser end of her pencil at an annoying rate. Tap. Tap. Tap. Like water torture.
She thought she saw a bead of sweat on Noah’s brow despite the fact that it was cool inside the police station.
"I have in my notes that you and Miss Palmer started Lyah software together," Sam said.
"We started it in college. The name, Lyah, is a play on the letters in our first names."
"Clever," Sam said.
"And you were lovers?" Jo added.
Noah swiveled his gaze to Jo, his brow creasing. "We were, but that was a long time ago. We broke up."
"Was this breakup amicable, or was there a lot of fighting?" Sam asked.
Noah swiveled his head back toward Sam, appearing to become slightly agitated. "There were a few fights, but then we ended up being friends. I mean, we have to work together, so we have to get along. We’re good friends now."
"Uh-huh. And you’re with Amber now," Sam said.
Noah looked momentarily confused, then his expression cleared. "Yes, Amber Huffman. She’s a receptionist at work. We’ve been dating for a couple of months now."
"Really? That’s not awkward?" Jo asked, causing Noah to swivel his head back to her again. "I mean, your ex-girlfriend and your current girlfriend working together and hanging out together? Seems like that could be opportunity for a lot of fighting."
Noah became belligerent, his voice rising. "What does this have to do with Lynn’s death? Surely you don’t think I killed her because I’m dating another woman. What about that local guy? He seemed like a lowlife. You should have him in here."
"Couldn’t have been him." Sam pushed the gas station receipt on his desk toward Noah. "He was pumping gas at the time of death."
Noah looked down at the receipt then up at Sam. "If you’re accusing me, I want a lawyer."
"We’re not accusing you. We’re just trying to figure out the group dynamics and find out what happened that night. You have to admit that jealousy from an ex would be a powerful motive, but you moved on, and she didn’t have a boyfriend… unless you were jealous of Lynn paying attention to Jesse," Sam said.
Noah relaxed. "No, I wasn’t. It doesn’t make sense that I would kill her. If anyone would’ve killed her because of jealousy, it would be Amber…" His words trailed off, and his face scrunched. "Well, surely you guys don’t think it was Amber? I mean, she wouldn’t hurt a fly."
Jo thought about how Jesse had said he’d heard Lynn arguing with the blonde. Amber was the only blonde in the group, and it wouldn’t be the first time she’d caught a killer who had murdered her boyfriend’s ex. Especially if they were as close as Noah and Lynn had once been.
Noah swiveled his head between them, stopping at Jo. "No way. There was nothing for them to fight about. I mean, the whole trip was Lynn’s idea, and she encouraged me to bring Amber. Neither one of us still had romantic feelings toward each other, so why would Amber be jealous?"
Sam leaned forward, the creaking of the old chair capturing Noah’s attention and causing his head to swivel back in Sam’s direction. "How come you didn’t tell us that you get all of Lynn’s shares in the company now?"
Noah looked momentarily confused, and then, as if a light bulb had switched on, he sucked in a breath. "Of course. I’d forgotten about that. When we started the company, we wanted to make sure it could still be run the way we wanted if anything happened. The lawyer recommended that we give each other controlling shares in our will… But you don’t think I would kill her for that? The company isn’t even doing that well."
"But you said that you had all just been working long hours to put out a new game. What if that game took off? The company could be worth a lot, couldn’t it?" Sam asked.
Noah spread his arms. "Sure, but if it was, I’d have plenty of money. I wouldn’t need to kill Lynn for her shares."
Sam nodded slowly. "Can you think of anyone who would want her dead?"
"No. That’s the thing. Everyone liked her. That’s why I figured it was someone we didn’t know, like that Jesse guy. Maybe it was someone else, someone from the campground. Like another camper. Some people from another campsite joined us for a while. It could have been one of them, couldn’t it?" Noah turned pleading eyes on Jo and then Sam.
"Maybe, but I wouldn’t count on it."
Chapter Eighteen
Sam had been watching the expression on Jo’s face while they were interviewing Noah. He could tell that she didn’t believe everything he had said, and neither did Sam. They didn’t have a chance to compare notes, though, because as soon as Noah left, Amber entered.
Amber perc
hed on the edge of the wooden chair, her knees pressed together, her red-tipped nails clutching the armrests. She looked like a murderer ready to be sentenced.
"I don’t think I can tell you very much. I didn’t really know Lynn, and I wasn’t paying much attention to her that night," she said.
Sam got straight to the point. "We heard you had a fight with her in the bar."
Alarm crossed her pretty features. The chair rocked slightly. "Who said that?"
"We have our sources." Sam leaned across the desk. "Is it true?"
Amber looked at the floor. "No."
Sam figured Amber was lying. He glanced at Jo for confirmation. Jo nodded.
"Are you sure, Amber? Because lying would be obstructing justice, and there’s jail time for that."
Her eyes flew up to his face. "Well, maybe we had a little argument, but that doesn’t mean I killed her."
Sam leaned back in his chair. "Of course not. Why don’t you tell me all about it."
Amber sighed. "You probably already know that Lynn used to date Noah. They started the company together. And I think she still wanted to get her hooks into him. When we were in the bar, she was flirting with that long-haired guy and with Noah, too. Well, I don’t like anyone getting their claws into my man, so I laid into her." Amber grimaced. "Okay, maybe I had a few too many to drink, but she was out of line."
"That was in the bar—what about later on at the campsite?" Sam asked.
"What about it? We came back. We partied. As far as I know, she was still alive when Noah and I went into our tent."
"Can you specifically say that you saw her alive when you went to bed?" Jo asked.
Amber looked down at the floor. "I think so. I did have a bit much to drink, and things are a little fuzzy. But I remember her with that guy."
"He has an alibi," Sam said.
Her face pinched together. "Oh. Well, I don’t know what more I can tell you."