by CJ Birch
“If that’s the case, why’d we find it under the Maverty house? Wouldn’t the killer have taken it back to Chicago with him?”
“Yeah, I thought about that. What if Sedona didn’t know until later? It makes no sense to kill someone for money but forget to grab the money. I think Jessie was killed by a hit person hired by Sedona.”
“Elle, you can’t prove any of that.”
“I know. But hear me out. The killer leaves, then finds out about the money and goes back. In the meantime, Jessie is found by someone who lives in town. Someone who uses the Maverty house a lot. Someone who wears Harley-Davidson shirts. He mutilates him, for whatever sick reason, and finds the money I’d just given Jessie.”
Case nodded coming around the desk. “He’s the one who took the Beemer keys.”
“Right. And finds the rest of the money in the car and stashes it all in his hiding place in the Maverty house, along with his shirt. The killer comes back, can’t find Jessie’s keys, and smashes the window of the Beemer, only there’s nothing there. Now, this person has to find this money or Sedona will be very angry. Who showed up the day after Jessie was killed?”
Case’s eyebrows, which had been inching up his forehead the longer Elle spoke climbed, if possible, higher. “You think Robin Oakes is the hired killer?”
“No, I think Jennifer Trafford is the hired killer. Robin Oakes doesn’t exist, remember? She insinuated herself into a position where looking for information and asking questions wouldn’t make her suspect. All you have to do is talk to Brady on the phone for a second and you can read him like a book. She manipulated her way into this town and has been playing us all.” Elle looked at the book, hoping Jack couldn’t see her expression. Jennifer had played her most of all. And that hurt like hell.
“And she killed Stan?”
“She was driving a stolen car. It belonged to a Scott Mitchell who, after a bit of digging, turns out to work for a known bookie in Chicago. His wife reported him missing and the car stolen four days ago. I’m guessing Jennifer bumped into this guy at Jessie’s hotel and killed him to get him out of the way.”
“That would mean there’s another body we haven’t found,” Jack said.
“I don’t even want to think about that right now. It’s all circumstantial, but it fits. It’s why Jessie was killed with a rifle but stabbed after the fact. It’s why Stan was killed with a handgun. Jessie’s murder was planned. Stan’s was impulsive.”
“But why did you find the knife by Stan’s cruiser?”
“I have a theory about that too. Did you know that the Pritchards live about half a mile from where Stan was killed? On the night he was killed, Will reported that raccoons got into their house. What if it wasn’t raccoons? What if it was someone with a grudge against Randy who was dead set on getting a keg pump back? That’s who I chased into the forest.”
“So, let’s say you’re right. What now? You can’t prove any of this.”
“Not yet. But we have something Robin wants. Sedona’s money locked in our safe, which she now has the key to.” The last bit was mumbled.
“And how’d she get the key?”
Elle waved him off. “That’s a really long story.”
“Try me.”
Elle sighed. She didn’t want to go there. Not yet. “It’s not important to the investigation. Can I have a rain check?”
Case took the book from Elle’s hands and placed it in one of his boxes with all the rest. They stared at each other from across the room. Elle wasn’t sure what he saw, but when he smiled, she knew he’d let it go. “It sounds to me like you’ve got everything handled. I’ll just get in the way.”
“You’re letting them win.”
He shrugged. He’d spent most of his life fighting battles that weren’t his. Back in Chicago he’d dealt with his share of shithead detectives, asshole cops, police chiefs with sticks up their asses. He’d had more arguments with Bailey than he could remember. Elle had been a breath of fresh air just when he needed it. There was no fight left in him, and he’d known it for a long time.
“Are you sure this is what you want?”
“No, Elle, it’s not. But it’s time for me to go easy and take some time for myself. Who knows, maybe I’ll take up a new hobby. I hear internet dating is a pretty good one.”
Elle laughed. “Watch out for those gold diggers. They’ll spend your pension before you’ve even had a chance to cash the check.” She turned to leave. At the door, she glanced back to say something else, but he’d already gone back to packing his boxes.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Elle stopped in front of EJ’s cell. A light rap with her knuckles got his attention. “Hey, how’re you feeling?”
His feet were crossed at the head of his bed. A pile of manga comics Elle had brought from his room sat on the cot next to him. “Just peachy.”
At least he was talking to her today. “I want to ask you a few more questions about the eighteenth.”
EJ shrugged, leaned his head against the wall, and stared up at his sister, tired, wary. “My lawyer said not to answer any questions without her here.”
“Okay, you want me to call Bryce in?”
EJ just shrugged.
“You didn’t do this. I know you didn’t. But I need to know what did happen that night. Jack tested the blood on your shirt. We know it wasn’t human.” She crouched so they were eye to eye. “Dan said the two of you were together all night. That you went to pick up his keg pump at nine when you separated from the rest of your friends. What really happened, EJ?”
EJ had thought about it most of the night and much of the morning. He didn’t want Elle finding out what he’d done, but he also didn’t want to go to prison for something he didn’t do.
Still crouched, Elle repositioned herself so she was sitting cross-legged on the basement floor in front of EJ’s cell.
“Before I start, you have to promise you’re not going to get that look in your eyes. The one where it’s like I’ve done the worst possible thing you could imagine.”
Elle sighed. “EJ, the worst possible thing I can imagine is you committing murder.”
EJ arranged himself on the cot so he was mimicking Elle’s position. He took a deep breath. “Okay, but you’re not going to like what I have to tell you.”
“If it gives you an alibi for the time of the murder, I’m sure I’ll be able to live with it. Whose idea was it to throw the keg party?”
“Dan’s. There’s this girl, Jessica Reid?” he said. Elle mimed large breasts with both hands. EJ nodded. “That’s her. Well, I’ve been trying to get with her for months—”
Elle rolled her eyes. “And by ‘get with,’ I’m assuming you mean bring her to a nice restaurant and treat her like the lady she is?”
“Do you want to hear this or not?”
Elle raised her hands in peace.
“Dan thought it’d be a good idea to throw this party. We’d invite the whole school. Show that we’re hospitable, fun guys. Give me a chance to impress her.” Elle had a lot to say about that too, but she kept her mouth shut this time. “We had planned on grabbing the keg from Finnegan’s before heading over. But Dan forgot the pump and said it would be faster if we split up. So I dropped him off in town, which left me high and dry, because as you know, snatching a keg from Finnegan’s is a two-man job.”
“As I know?”
“Please, like you never swiped one when you were at Flynn.”
“Keep going.”
“So anyway,” EJ licked his lips, “I drove Dan’s pickup to the place out on Six and parked in that hidden driveway around the bend. They keep kegs in a cold storage out back. At the time, I thought that would be way easier. There’s already a big gap in the chain-link fence. I brought a crowbar to pry the lock off, but they hadn’t even locked it up. I guess they figured no one was going to steal kegs. Everything’s going fine. I get the keg rolled out to the truck and manage to get it in the back, which was a bitch, let me tell you. But I
put the crowbar down to roll the keg out to the truck. It was Dan’s, and I know how crazy he is about his stuff. Shit, you saw how mental he went over his keg pump. So I went back to get it.” He took another deep breath. He’d stopped looking at Elle, his eyes instead focused on the pile of comics next to him. He kept folding and unfolding one of the corners.
EJ didn’t need to continue. Elle knew where this was going. She knew without him going any further that it was the call she’d answered after dropping the money off for Jessie.
“When I went back, I wasn’t expecting there to be this giant dog. It was massive.” He held his arms out wide. “A Rottweiler or something. I’m not sure, but I must have been making too much noise and he came out of this shed.” EJ was quiet for a full minute, trying to collect his thoughts and figure how best to explain to Elle. “He lunged at me and I swung.” EJ’s eyes when they met Elle’s were trimmed with tears. “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. I just wanted to impress Jessica. I thought if I showed up with this keg that I’d gotten by myself, she would—It sounds stupid now, but I thought she’d, like, notice me more.” His voice cracked. “I didn’t mean to.” He swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. “There was just so much blood. And I didn’t know what to do, so I stuffed my shirt into that tree trunk and ditched the crowbar down a drain.”
The poor animal had been lying on its side when Elle stepped into the backyard. The sight of it had felt like a stab to the gut. She couldn’t imagine the person who would do something so cruel. So destructive and devastating. She wanted to find the perpetrator and bring them back to watch as that lonely limp form was loaded into the back of the animal services van. Hearing it from EJ’s point of view didn’t change that.
Elle reached in and squeezed his knee. “Hey.” She shook his knee. “Hey, look at me.” EJ met her gaze. He shrugged and his face crumpled. Elle pulled the keys from her pocket and unlocked the cell door. She sat on the cot next to EJ, pulled him to her shoulder, and rocked him as he cried. She had no words for him. She had no idea how to make this bearable for him, so she just held him the way her mother used to. It had always made her feel better, just the intimacy and the knowledge that someone cared.
They stayed like that until finally EJ pulled away. He wiped at his tears. “I was so afraid you were going to hate me.”
“How could you think that? EJ, how could you ever think that?
EJ shrugged, uncomfortable. “It’s so hard sometimes. Being around you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m not like you, and no matter how much you want me to be, I just can’t.”
Sometimes she hated how much he was like her. But now wasn’t the best time to tell him that. “I don’t want you to be like me, I want you to be you.”
He peeked over at her, his lashes studded with tears. “If that’s true then how come you’re always on me about something? You want me to get better grades and stay out of trouble, but you don’t understand what it’s like. I couldn’t do those things even if I tried. I’m not good at school. I’m never going to college, and no matter how much I really try to stay out of trouble, it just happens. All I’m doing is hanging out with my friends doing what everyone else is doing, but I’m always the one that gets caught and punished. It’s not fair.”
She wanted to laugh. This conversation sounded eerily like one she’d had with her mom once. Her mom had grounded her for skipping school. She’d tried to explain that it wasn’t her fault, she’d just been going along with everyone else.
“I’m going to give you some advice Mom gave me once. She said, ‘No matter how much you think you have to do something to fit in or be cool, it all comes down to decisions. There isn’t anything we have to do. There’s only what we choose to do.’ I didn’t really understand what she meant at the time, but being on the other side now I think I know what she was trying to say. I know what it’s like to get caught up in it all. Every little choice doesn’t seem that big a deal until you look back and see them all in a long line and all of a sudden you wonder how you got there.”
EJ took the edge of the blanket on the cot and wiped the snot from his nose. “You make it sound easy. To just decide not to go along with everyone. But it’s not easy.”
“When I was younger I didn’t really think about the consequences. Life always seemed easy. Until one day it wasn’t, and I was faced with a lot of consequences. I don’t ever want you to get the rude wake-up I got.”
“I wasn’t as old as you when Mom and Dad died, but I still remember it all. It affected me just as much as you.”
Elle nodded. “That part was probably worse for you in ways. But before Mom and Dad died, I made a couple of decisions. A couple of my choices weren’t the greatest and I had to live with them. My last year of high school was a pretty scary wake-up call.”
“Does this have to do with why you broke it off with Jessie?”
She stared down at the ground, tracing a small crack from the base of the wall to her foot. “Part of it, yeah.” She didn’t say anything for a while, too afraid she’d start to cry.
“I’m sorry.”
She smiled then. “God, EJ. If anything ever happened to you…I’m the one who promised to take care of you, remember? I have to be able to protect you, and the only way I know how to do that is to be a pain in the ass.”
He laughed. “Okay, stop being so fucking cheesy.” He wiped his nose with his sleeve. They sat on the cot together, listening to the muted voices setting up the festival outside.
After a few minutes Elle asked. “Hey, you said Dan and you split up. Where did you meet up with Dan after that?”
“I picked him up outside Dell’s and we drove to his house so he could get another T-shirt.”
“He wasn’t wearing a shirt when you picked him up?”
EJ shook his head. “Which I thought was weird at the time when I saw him just standing there on the street. But he said he’d ripped it in the forest or something.” EJ shrugged. “I wasn’t really paying too much attention. I was scared shitless I was going to get caught for killing that dog.”
“Do you remember what T-shirt he was wearing when you split up?”
EJ shook his head.
“Last question. Do you remember if he ever found his pump?”
“Nah, although he stopped bitching about it a few days ago. I figured he’d finally given up on it.” EJ picked at a hole in his sock. “Which is kind of not like Dan. He usually doesn’t let go of anything. You think he found who took it?”
Elle nodded. “Yeah, I think he did.” She squeezed his knee as she stood up, she opened the cell door, and motioned for him to follow.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m letting you go. You didn’t kill Jessie. You may be back here very shortly, depending on what happens with the people who own that store, but for now I’m letting you out.”
“Just like that, you’re going to let me go?”
Elle swept her arm out toward the stairs. “Looks like.”
“Won’t everybody be pissed off you’re letting the only suspect go?”
“I’ll handle them. Before you go, I need to know where Dan is.”
EJ shrugged. “Who knows. He came by here this morning to say good-bye.”
“Wait, what? Dan was here this morning? What time?”
“I don’t know. About a half hour ago.”
“Okay, I’m letting you go but, EJ,” she stabbed his chest with her finger, speaking low, “you stay the fuck away from Dan, got me?”
“Why? Is he the one who killed Jessie?”
“You stay out of it, EJ.” She poked his chest one more time to get her point across.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Dark clouds loomed at the edge of the horizon like an army preparing to attack. The main square of Turlough looked like the American flag had puked on it. The theme of red, white, and blue was everywhere: tablecloths, banners, the clothes draped on every adult and child attending
the festival.
The tables with the pies were set up in the middle with every size and flavor of pie imaginable. Surrounding the pies were the brewers’ tables. Local brewers came from hours away, counties as far as Effingham and Calhoun. Even the brewers came prepared, producing labels in the colors of the flag.
The only absence of red, white, and blue were the beige uniforms of the state police dispersed among the crowd and the black and tan of Elle’s deputies.
Neil watched the crowd from the periphery, one hand on his baton, the other shoveling a piece of cherry pie into his mouth. He leaned forward a few inches to keep any cherry filling from hitting his uniform if some should fall. That’s all he needed, Elle on his case for ruining his uniform.
It was that magic hour before the sun fully set just before the street lights came on. It didn’t matter. The square was lit up with fairy lights running along lines overhead. Kids ran through the crowd with sparklers, tagging each other and screaming.
It was hard to believe there was a killer somewhere among the crowd. Neil still couldn’t believe it. His job was to hold the fort. He wasn’t usually one to argue, but he didn’t like it. Jennifer Trafford looked innocent enough, but if Elle was right, she was a killer. She’d killed in cold blood. Twice. He didn’t want Elle taking any chances. But as she’d pointed out, what choice did they have?
He shoved the rest of the pie in his mouth and unclipped his radio from his belt. “Come in, Elle.”
A few seconds later. “Go ahead, Neil.”
“Anything yet?”
“Nothing. Have you seen her?”
“Negative. But that doesn’t mean she’s not here. The place is a zoo.” His eyes rose to the sky. “Hope those storm clouds stay away until this thing’s over.”
“Honestly? I hope it hits something fierce, just to see Brady’s reaction.”
Neil could hear the grin in her voice and roared with laughter. “I’ll take video for you.” A beat. “Elle? Be careful.”