***
When Amanda drive by the town square, she saw James jogging past the city hall and he waved in greeting. Watching for other traffic, she pulled up next to him and rolled down her passenger side window.
“Hey sailor, need a lift?”
James ducked his head down to peek inside, and grinned at Amanda. “I’d say yes, but I’m afraid I’d sweat all over your lovely new car. What’s up?”
“I can’t talk to anyone but you or George about all the stuff that’s going on in the investigation and it’s bugging me. I was hoping you’d be up for a cup of coffee so I could just talk over the suspects and what we’ve learned.”
James smiled, the laugh lines at the corner of his eyes crinkling. “I appreciate you being so careful about that, and I appreciate that you’ve been keeping me informed of anything you’ve learned. How about I catch a quick shower at the police station and I’ll meet you at the Inn, where we won’t be interrupted.” He pushed his damp hair back off his forehead. “I’m sure I can bribe George to let me use their facilities.”
“Sounds like a good plan. I’ll see you later.”
“Give me twenty minutes. Looking forward to it,” James said, and strode back to the sidewalk, then jogged effortlessly toward the police station.
A chance to talk to James about the investigation without anyone eavesdropping or worrying that she was betraying any confidences. It would be such a relief to speak freely. She grinned and turned the car toward home. It might even be worth setting out some snacks and putting on makeup.
Chapter 19
By the time Amanda had pulled some sandwich-making supplies out the fridge, she heard a knock on the Inn’s front door, and James popped his still-wet head around the doorframe.
“Okay for me to come in?”
“Sure. Want some lunch?”
“Sounds great, I’m starved.” Amanda showed him what she had, and within minutes they were sitting down opposite each other, custom-made sandwiches on their plates.
“The Liberty’s showing Casablanca on the big screen tonight and I’m going with Lisa and Meg. Want to come? Starts at seven.”
James looked a bit startled, then apologetic. “I’m really sorry but I can’t. I’ve got a prior commitment.”
She carefully kept the disappointment off her face, but she remember when she’d invited him and he’d turned her down before. It was becoming obvious that she wasn’t a priority and for some reason, she didn’t like it.
The conversation needed to switch gears, and James did his best. “So, you said you needed to talk. What’s up?” he asked, and watched as an expression of near-embarrassment flashed across Amanda’s face.
“You know how hard it is to not be able to talk to your girlfriends about stuff? I’ve been really careful but it isn’t easy, I can tell you.”
James tried to look serious but his sea-green eyes twinkled. “No, I don’t have any girlfriends so I don’t have that problem.”
“No girlfriends? That’s really sad,” Amanda teased. “Everyone should have girlfriends.”
James took a bite of his sandwich and finally came up for air. “Not me. Not for a long time.”
Amanda could feel a flush of warmth flood her face. “I didn’t mean that type of girlfriends. I meant the other kind.”
“I know what you meant,” he said, looking at her intently as he took another bite.
Suddenly uncomfortable, Amanda couldn’t change the subject fast enough.
“So, I figure you’ve got several people that had reasons to want Anderson dead, so they’re probably your list of suspects.”
“Oh, really, detective?” He smiled at her. “Who do you think’s on my list?”
“Well, I know Truman got to be on there. I told you everything I know about his relationship with Anderson Bowles and how Anderson messed up his love life and his future career plans. I figure that’s got to serious enough to get him checked out.”
James’ face was carefully neutral. “Who else?”
The name hurt to admit, but Amanda said it anyway.
“Meg.”
“Why would she be on my list?”
“She was afraid for her life, and Anderson kept stalking her. Self-defense is a strong reason but –“ Amanda took a deep breath, “-I just know she couldn’t do something like that. No way.”
James seemed to ignore her last comments. “Who else?”
“Owen Winters.”
At that name, James’ eyebrows went up. “Owen? Because he borrowed a gun?” He shook his head. “Not likely. You’d be shocked at how many people around here own guns, and I can’t see that old guy killing someone with heart medicine.”
Amanda was surprised. “Does he take heart medicine?” she asked and James shrugged. “I have no idea, but he’s not a suspect at this time. Okay, let’s move along. Who else?”
“Loomis.”
James nodded, obviously in agreement. “Yes. You’d make a good detective. Who else?”
Amanda thought about it but couldn’t come up with any other names. James waited patiently until she finally threw her hands up in defeat, then started explaining some people she hadn’t mentioned.
He ticked them off on his fingers. “If he’s a date rapist, anyone who’s been hurt by him or who loves someone who’s been hurt by him. If he’s a liar and a bully, like he supposedly was to Truman, then anyone else he’s done something like that to.” He set his hand down on the marble countertop. “Not all suspects are easily visible, Amanda. We need to keep digging.”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “I really appreciate you keeping me in the loop, James. Thanks.”
“My pleasure.”
“I just hope no one gets hurt before we, I mean you, find out who the killer is.”
Chapter 20
The text was short and to the point.
Loomis spotted in Likely. On my way to apprehend. Will keep you informed. Stay put.
Amanda’s adrenaline kicked in the moment she saw the name Loomis on the screen of her phone. After he had attacked her at Jennifer’s house the police had told her that Loomis had probably skipped town, but if James said he had been spotted, it meant that he was only about seven miles east of Ravenwood Cove, up in the hills in a tough little wide spot in the road called Likely, Oregon.
Lisa had once told Amanda that if something bad was going to happen, it was “likely going to happen at Likely.” The town, if you could call it that, was full of leaning shacks and tarp-covered mobile homes, with front yards full of litter and abandoned cars. When the forest industry had died, anyone who could afford to leave Likely had. Those who remained were willing to tough out a harsh existence where alcohol-fueled arguments sometimes led to violence and illegal enterprises were often a family’s sole source of income. The children of Likely rode a bus to school in Ravenwood Cove, where well-meaning teachers and a handful of parents did their best to make sure they had the school supplies and warm clothes that they needed.
Amanda had followed her friends’ advice and didn’t go there, but today she needed to stop by Roy Greeley’s house to pick up the new bench that he had made for her to go under the grape arbor and to drop off some eggs and two bushels of blush-ripe apples. Roy’s house was just a couple of miles out of Ravenwood Cove, near the freshwater lake and on the single road the led to Likely, and she hadn’t gotten James’ text until she’d been at Roy’s for almost half an hour.
They were out in the front yard discussing designs for a new swing that Roy said he was going to make for the Inn’s front porch when they first heard it. Whatever it was, it was loud and fast and had a lot of sirens involved, and it was heading straight at them at great speed.
They could hear several cars speeding away from Likely and toward the lake, and Amanda instantly thought about James’ text.
“Roy, we need to take cover! I think that’s the cops chasing the murder suspect who attacked me!”
The older man’s eyes widened in alarm and he
grabbed Amanda’s wrist, nearly dragging her down the stairs to his root cellar. “Dirt’s just about the best protection from just about anything, including guns,” he explained as he followed her inside and then flipped open a wooden window cover, letting in a small slice of daylight. “We’ll be safe here and if they go by we’ll be able to see them go.” Amanda pulled up a sturdy wooden box and stood on it so she could see out the window, too.
“Dug this cellar years ago so I could keep our garden veggies through the winter. Didn’t figure that I’d be keeping myself in here during a car chase,” he said. Amanda saw him fiddling with a small metal case he’d taken from the shelves nearby. To her surprise, he pulled out a good-sized pistol, checked the chamber, and set it on the window sill.
“Does everyone in this town have guns?”
Her contractor looked at her, surprised. “I keep it for scaring the bears away. You ever come around the end of a row of blueberry bushes and met face to face with a mama bear?” He snorted. “If you did, you’d feel a lot better if you had one of these.”
Even with the cellar door shut they could hear the high whine of police sirens coming closer and closer. At the top of the hill, a black sedan burst out of the forest, streaking toward town and followed by three police cars and one very familiar unmarked detective’s car. Amanda’s heart caught in her throat as she realized that James was definitely in pursuit of Loomis. Just before the chase was in front of Roy’s house there were several staccato gunshots from the front car, a single arm on the driver’s side pointing a gun back toward the police and firing wildly. They slowed to give him more space but firing the gun while driving at such breakneck speed was apparently more difficult than the driver had imagined, and the sedan began to fishtail on the slick road.
There was the sound of screaming brakes and skidding tires but the car’s spin couldn’t be controlled and it sped off the road. Crashing through a thick undergrowth of bushes by the lake, it finally plunged down an embankment into the dark water.
Amanda clasped her hand over her mouth in horror as the car disappeared under the icy water. The lake was known for having a deep bottom the dropped off so quickly that no beaches or wading was allowed from the shore, and the car was almost certainly in at least thirty feet of water.
The cops chasing Loomis slowed and stopped nearly in front of Roy’s house, cars spreading out on either side of the road as the officers parked and then ran toward the edge of the lake. Amanda could see James, talking quickly on his radio and then striding toward the dark water. Hands on his hips, he looked down on the calm surface. Whatever had gone under the water had stayed under there, and Loomis was nowhere to be seen.
After a few minutes, Roy had Amanda step down off her box and he shut the wooden window cover. “I think it’s safe for us to go out now,” he said, stashing away the pistol after making sure it was safe. “We just need to stay out of the cops’ way and we should be fine.”
By the time Amanda had walked back to Roy’s front porch and had a seat on the edge, George Ortiz had arrived. Parking nearly in front of Roy’s house, he couldn’t help but notice the two people observing the whole scenario, and he walked up the brick walkway.
“Hey, Roy, Amanda. You both all right?”
Roy tilted his hat so he could look up at George’s face. “Right as rain. Hid in the cellar when the action started. Any sign of him? I mean, the bad guy?”
“Not yet, but we’re going to send down divers.” George glanced at Amanda. “I’ll let the sheriff’s department know you’re both up here.”
That statement surprised Amanda, but it was apparent that once James was told he made a beeline for Roy’s front porch.
“I thought I told you to stay put.”
As soon as he said that, Amanda gritted her teeth. She’d just been through the unwanted adventure of hiding in a damp cellar, watching someone possibly drown, and now she was getting chewed out?
Nope. She was not going to take that.
“I am right where I was when you texted me, Detective. I was here on business with Mr. Greeley. Now, is there anything else that we can do for you?”
“You were here already?”
She looked at him calmly, letting him realize the truth of her words.
He had the grace to look embarrassed. “Well, that’s different. Sorry, Amanda. I thought you came out to be part of the action.” He gestured vaguely at the lake. “How much did you two see?”
“Everything from the top of the hill to him going in the water.” She sighed, tired of being irritated. “What’s the next step for your crew?”
“We see what evidence we can recover, and we get the body out. I’ll send someone up to take your statements.”
He turned to go, and then paused, turning back. “You know, Amanda, I think I’ve had more statements from you lately than most of Ravenwood.” He grinned. “I hate to say it, but I think you’re becoming my best customer.”
Chapter 21
Within two hours, news of the police chase was the talk of Ravenwood Cove. After giving her statement, Amanda had headed straight back to the Inn, grateful to be away from the crowded scene by the lake. She thought she’d left just in time when the first media van pulled in and the police divers had started looking for Loomis’ body, but her trip home took much longer than normal. The single road was clogged with sudden traffic, all seeming to want to head to the place where Loomis had died, and she did her best to hide her irritation of dodging cars swinging into her lane or blocking the road entirely. She’d definitely had enough adventure for a while.
Jennifer greeted her happily at the door, then fussed over her in concern when she saw how haggard Amanda’s face was. After filling Jennifer in on the high points of the police chase near Likely, her friend nearly ordered her upstairs to relax, and then offered to start a fire in the main fireplace so Amanda could lounge downstairs afterward. Seeing the concern in Jennifer’s face was truly touching, and when Jennifer hugged her tightly Amanda hugged her back. She was grateful that someone cared for her when she’d had a rough day, and promised Jennifer that she’d take a break after she’d checked the reservation schedule. She was happy to see that no guests were expected to arrive at the inn for the next two days, and although normally having no guests would make her nervous about losing money, this time she was relieved. After everything she’d been through lately she just needed some peace and quiet. She dragged herself upstairs and ran a hot bath, slipping underneath the silky bubbles with a grateful sigh. The heat and the soft scent eased her stiff muscles and she nearly fell asleep in the huge cast iron tub.
Her mind was drifting and relaxed when she suddenly heard a tremendous crash downstairs and frenzied yelling. Jerking upright, Amanda lurched out of the full tube, sloshing water and soapsuds everywhere as she grabbed her robe from the hook by the door and ran out to see what the commotion was. Another crash and a high-pitched scream and her feet couldn’t move fast enough.
Jennifer had been downstairs alone.
She flung the robe around her wet body and stopped, teetering, at the top of the stairs. She could just see Jennifer in the large front parlor to her right, and standing in front of her was a familiar man.
Richard Loomis.
He was partially bent over, his face contorted in pain and Jennifer’s wildly-colored keychain gripped in his right hand.
Jennifer pulled back the pointed fireplace poker she had and swung it with both hands at Richard Loomis. If she’d been playing baseball that swing would’ve been a home run. It cracked resoundingly against Loomis’ hand and then against the side of his skull, dropping him nearly instantly onto the oriental carpet.
Jennifer’s keychain spun in a high, hard arc from Loomis’ broken hand, finally crashing into the bricks at the back of the blazing hot fireplace. There was a brief flare up as the flames consumed the little fob on her keys, the different chemicals in the plastic making varied colors before they returned to normal hues.
Amanda’s ha
nd was trembling as she dialed 911. “Are you okay?” The question came out way too loud, the adrenaline affecting everything, even her voice. Jennifer was breathing hard and standing over the prone body of her attacker, the fireplace poker still gripped tightly in her hand.
“Oh, I’m just swell. Are they on their way?” Amanda was on the phone with the dispatcher already and gave an answering nod.
“Is he dead?”
“No, still breathing.”
This was a side of Jennifer, usually so meek, that Amanda had never seen before. “Well, hit him again.”
Jennifer scoffed, her eyes never leaving Loomis. “Don’t tempt me. I’d really like to kick him in the head a few times. With a boot.”
As soon as Amanda was through giving the information to the dispatcher she stayed on hold, but put a comforting hand on Jennifer’s shoulder.
“What happened?”
“He must’ve come in through the back kitchen door while you were upstairs. He was dripping wet and I heard that. I just turned around to see what the sound was and there he stood.”
Amanda shuddered, imagining how frightening that must’ve been for Jennifer.
“He asked me where my purse was and I pointed to it. He said all the cops were busy elsewhere so if I knew what was good for me I’d keep my mouth shut. When he dug into the purse and pulled out my keys I kicked him.”
“I heard you screaming. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
Jennifer smiled grimly. “That wasn’t me screaming. That was him.”
“That high-pitched scream?”
“I snap kicked him in the groin. That’ll make a guy scream like that, if you hit him hard enough.”
“You did what?” Amanda couldn’t even picture Jennifer, usually so calm and mousy, furiously hitting some guy where it counts.
DUNE, DOCK, and a DEAD MAN: A Ravenwood Cove Cozy Mystery Page 10