Secrets Among the Cedars (Intertwined Book 2)

by Johnson, Sherri Wilson

  Although no one pursued her and she had once again let her imagination take over all sanity, a scene from a horror film played in her mind. Why was it that the girl always ran upstairs to get away from the bad guy leaving her only option for freedom the bedroom window, where she’d have to jump to her death to escape? Or worse, lay on the ground with broken ankles unable to get away from the perp, who always ended up back outside by the time she jumped? Kathryn was smarter than that.

  Or was she? Hadn’t she just locked the back door, making it more difficult for her to escape if someone was inside with her? She scurried throughout the condo checking for an intruder. Sadie stayed right at her feet but didn’t seem to be on alert. After a thorough check in every closet, underneath every bed, and in each shower, Kathryn relaxed her shoulders.

  Mom always said that God watched out for her. It didn't often feel like He cared about her life or protected her, but if anybody could protect her, He could. Or He'd send someone to do it. Kathryn refused to be intimidated or let the Ezzo case ruin the splendor of Cedar Key.

  #

  At 7:00 a.m., beams of sunlight streamed in through the skylight and peeled Kathryn's eyes open one by one. She stretched and yawned then her hand landed on Sadie's head. Sadie was sprawled out on the other side of the bed with her head on the pillow next to hers. Kathryn slipped out of the covers, careful not to wake her companion. Maybe she could have a cup of coffee before Sadie's morning walk.

  She glided through the hallway, feeling as carefree as a feather, toward the kitchen and started a cup of coffee. She pulled up her email on her phone and composed a message to D.A. Schwartz.

  I need to run a few things by you before I leave Cedar Key. Give me a call at your earliest convenience. I'm checking out at 11:00 a.m. Thanks.

  She poured her coffee into the seashell mug she'd used last night, and Sadie clicked into the living room. Kathryn grabbed the leash off the bar. "How about you do a quick walk out here in the back this morning?"

  While in the backyard, Kathryn's phone rang. "Hello."

  "Good morning."

  "You didn't have to call me so early, Mr. Schwartz. I know you're getting ready for church."

  "It's okay. What's up? Any new evidence?"

  Kathryn told the D.A. about the note, the call, and the grocery store incident. She straightened her shoulders, gathering the courage to ask for more time. She couldn't fail at this case. If she were ever going to meet Daddy's expectations, she'd have to win against Ezzo. "Would it be all right if I stayed a few more days?"

  "Why?"

  "There are a lot of tourists here. Most of them should head home today. With mostly locals here tomorrow, I should be able to get some answers. I haven’t even been able to talk to the police yet."

  "Okay, I'll get someone to handle your cases. Be back Wednesday morning."

  "Thanks, I will."

  "Be careful."

  Kathryn walked Sadie, then called the property management company and worked it out to stay until Wednesday. That would give her three full days to do her investigating. Surely she could find that murder weapon in that amount of time.

  While she ate breakfast, she reviewed the evidence. Again. All four victims were shot in their hands and feet with a gunshot wound to the center of their foreheads at close range. What victim would stand still long enough to be shot in four separate places before allowing someone to get close enough to shoot him in the head? The killer was sending a message. But was that message sent before or after their murders?

  What if the victims were killed first and then shot in their hands and feet afterward to drive a point home? What better way to say that they’d failed at their jobs than to take their hands and feet away from them? What better way to send all future drug traffickers who worked for them a message that if their hands tainted the goods in anyway, they’d be lost, and if their feet wandered too far off track, they’d never walk again?

  Kathryn wasn’t here to ponder motive though. She was here to find the gun, a gun which hopefully held the fingerprints of the killer. It seemed unlikely that Ezzo pulled the trigger on those four men. He wouldn’t waste his time killing two guys who cheated him out of some cocaine and two who were too ignorant to know they’d been cheated.

  After thirty minutes, she was about as close to finding the weapon as she was when she arrived on Friday evening. Just like everything else in her life, this case was going nowhere fast. There had to be a way to find out where that gun was. Somebody had to know something.

  If history had told her anything, the place to find out the juicy details and secrets of a town was church. Cedar Key had to be no different. There was little she could do this morning anyway. She might as well head toward town and find a place to go. She searched the Internet for churches, and the first one that popped up was the Baptist church. That'd be as good a place as any to go. Maybe she could find some answers there.

  #

  Kathryn parked on the street and inched her way up the sidewalk to the entrance of the charming white church packed into the corner of 2nd and E Street. People stood on the lawn shaking hands, patting backs, smiling at each other. Stained-glass windows above paned windows glinted in the morning sunlight. Freshly stained rails on the handicap ramps on both sides of the building sent the message that people who the world would consider imperfect were welcome and loved here. The church was built in 1922 and had probably seen a lot of people come and go through its doors who weren’t sure if church was the place for them, and it looked like it had survived. Openhearted and full of charm. That's what this place was. It could obviously handle a woman like Kathryn who hadn’t stepped foot inside of a church for years.

  Several people greeted her before she headed up the red brick steps and through the double wooden doors into the foyer, so she must be welcome. She straightened her blue pencil skirt and adjusted her purse strap on her shoulder. Why had she dressed as if she were going to court? And why hadn't she thought to search for a Bible at the condo? Now everyone would know she wasn't a regular churchgoer.

  As she strolled into the sanctuary, she stepped back into her past. This was like Grandmother's church. There weren't many people here, but those who were, nodded and smiled. She'd sit on the back row and slip out at the end of the service undetected. No, that wouldn't work. In order to find out the town's gossip and uncover any evidence about the case, she'd have to stay and meet some folks afterward.

  She scanned the sanctuary then a hand waving in the air invaded her nostalgia. This was not a simple casual wave, this was a "come over here and sit with me" kind of wave. The hand was attached to Phil, who sat by himself on the third row. This man was everywhere she went. But she couldn't accuse him of following her this time. He motioned for her to come and sit with him. He didn't have to ask her more than once.

  Chapter Five

  Somehow, Phil had managed to focus on Pastor Todd's words and not let the professionally dressed beauty next to him distract him from the message. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Pastor's words were Jesus' words, and their truth rang out into the congregation, echoed off the walls, and penetrated Phil's heart. He chewed on his thumbnail and bounced his right leg on the ball of his foot.

  Where was his treasure? It used to be in his career in New York and his future with Maria, earning the big bucks and gaining popularity. But he'd left that behind. Even when he'd practiced law in Savannah, his heart hadn't been content. So he'd given all of that up to live here in Cedar Key, and he still felt empty most of the time.

  What was he running from? Why did he have to hide here in this out-of-the-way, almost-forgotten place? Was he wasting his life here?

  Kathryn reached into her purse and pulled out a tissue. She wiped her eyes and sniffled. Was she running from something too? Maybe she was as dissatisfied with her career in law as he'd been. Being a defense attorney wasn't easy. There's no way being a prosecutor could be any easier. If only he could reach out to her, but what she needed
wasn't comfort from him. She needed the comfort that only God could give her. Did she know that though?

  Phil shouldn't judge her. He didn't know her heart. But something in her eyes said she was lonely and wondering about her purpose in life. He stretched his arm across the back of the pew and patted her shoulder three times. He had to take the chance that she wouldn't run from him. Kathryn faced him and smiled with a glimmer in her eyes. She'd accepted his gesture of kindness.

  After church, several people introduced themselves to Kathryn. This was Phil’s opportunity to ask her to lunch before she got away from him. And before Tom Smith, who looked like an arrow headed for a bull's eye, invited her first.

  "Would you like to go to lunch?"

  She crossed her arms and encircled her elbows with her fingers. A cute habit she'd probably done since she was a child. "I'm not sure."

  "Aren't you hungry?"

  "Yes, I am."

  "But you're leaving?"

  "No, I'm staying a few more days. I have to find that weapon." She looked at the ceiling and groaned and then nodded at Mrs. Edison, who gave Phil a smile and winked. That old lady was determined to find him a wife.

  "Well, you've got time for lunch then. I won't take no for an answer." Come on, Kathryn. Join me.

  She twisted her leg and bit her lip. "Okay, I'll follow you."

  He scooted her out the door before Tom could get to her. Victory! "Is it all right if I ride with you? I walked this morning."

  She twisted her mouth into a pucker and squinted. "You're sly."

  "Why am I sly? I didn't plan this. I didn't know you'd be here."

  "Oh, yeah. You're right." She laughed and led him to her car. A very practical charcoal gray Honda.

  Phil would've guessed her to be a fancy car kind of lady. So she was sensible and not frivolous. This was a good thing. He climbed into the passenger's seat.

  "Please excuse the mess." She threw a plastic bag to the back seat.

  "You should see my SUV."

  "So where are we headed?" She cranked the car and the twang of country music came through the speakers.

  Phil didn't like country music, but he didn't mind it so much while in the company of this country girl. "How about the sandwich shop again?"

  "Sounds perfect." Kathryn eased out onto E Street.

  "So you're still coming up with zero?"

  She growled. "Yes! And it's driving me crazy." She squeezed the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white.

  "What have you found out since I saw you yesterday?"

  "Without divulging too much information, the man who runs the grocery store is a little bit threatened by my presence here."

  "How so?" He turned sideways in his seat to get a better look at this serious-minded woman whose looks and allure distracted him from the matter at hand.

  "I asked him if he knew anything about the murder or the weapon when I was at the store yesterday, and he told me I should mind my business. He said there were secrets here that were better left buried."

  "What? So he does know something."

  She nodded.

  "Do you want my help?"

  She sighed and halted the car at a stop sign. "I didn't think I was going to need any extra help, but now I think I do. My investigators came up empty and so did the detectives. I think it's time for a local to step in. But I have to know I can trust you."

  Finally. She was letting her guard down. "You can trust me."

  "Of course you say that, but I have to know for sure. Do you mind if I run a background check on you when I get back to my condo?" She raised her eyebrows in obvious hopefulness.

  "Nope, I don't mind at all."

  "How much do you charge?"

  "I'm not charging you anything. You've got me so curious about this, I want to do it for free."

  "No, I'm going to pay you."

  "I'm not going to charge you. I want to help you put this guy away."

  "I want to put him away too." They got out of the car and climbed the stairs to the restaurant. “Well, I want to put the killer away.”

  “Is there a difference?”

  She nodded. “I’m not convinced that he is the killer.”

  “You’re not?”

  “Not entirely. It doesn’t make sense that a man with his power and connections would dirty his hands on the murders of four seemingly insignificant men.”

  Phil held open the door for her. "The porch again?"

  "Sure." They found a table with a clear view of the Gulf.

  “So you’ve got to find the weapon and pray there are fingerprints on it to prove whether your guy is the killer or not?”

  “That sums it up. He’ll go free if I can’t find the gun. He might still go free once I find it if his fingerprints aren’t on it and if there are no witnesses to come forward. For his sake, I hope that happens if he’s innocent. It makes me very angry that he won’t talk. I may not be sure he actually pulled the trigger, but I know he knows who did. You’d think he’d want to clear his name.”

  “Not if he ordered the hits.”

  “But would a man go down for something he didn’t do when he could pin it on the guy who did?”

  “In my experience, yes. If he ordered the hits and then turned the guy in, he’d be killed in prison. He’d take his chances with the prosecution not being able to prove their case over ratting someone out. Anyone who would accept the job of knocking off four men would have no qualms about taking out the boss man.”

  Kathryn cleared out the corners of her eyes and ran her fingers underneath her lower lid, smoothing out her eyeliner which had smudged in church. This case could possibly be unsolvable, and the stress was apparent in her eyes. “It’s very likely that four men died, and their murders won’t ever be avenged.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  They ordered when the waitress came. "Enough talk about the case. It’s depressing. Cedar Key is much more interesting to talk about.”

  “Cedar Key? There’s not much excitement happening here.”

  “Exactly. I love it here and hope to come back once this case is finished when I can enjoy myself and stop being so bogged down with investigating and so paranoid."

  "Paranoid?" Phil took a bite of his burger and wiped his chin with a napkin.

  Kathryn scrunched her face. "You'll laugh."

  "Never."

  Kathryn studied his eyes, obviously measuring his trustworthiness. "When I left the condo this morning, I noticed a note taped to the front door. I broke out into a sweat. I got the salad tongs and a gallon-sized plastic bag and turned into a forensics investigator. I didn't want to damage any of the potential DNA that could be on the note." She scowled. "You're laughing!"

  "No, I'm not.” But he was. “Please, continue. I just have a funny feeling about where this story is headed."

  "I must've looked like a regular Sherlock Holmes or something when I pulled the note away from the glass with the tongs and stuck it into the baggie. I used another baggie as gloves to open the note."

  "What did it say? Who was it from?" He leaned closer in. She weaved a fascinating tale. Or was it the glow in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes that captivated him?

  Kathryn chewed on her bottom lip for a few moments and then laughed. "It was from the rental company letting me know they'd added chlorine to the pool and to wait an hour before swimming."

  Phil roared with laughter and nearly fell out of his chair. This woman was a breath of fresh air, and she didn’t even know it. She wasn't as intense as he'd thought she was when he first met her. She was a delight. He had to find a way to see her after she left Cedar Key.

  Kathryn threw one of her fries at him. "You said you wouldn't laugh."

  "Sorry!" He covered his mouth and snickered. She was adorable when she played at being angry.

  "Now you see why I'm anxious to get this case solved? I'm utterly paranoid."

  Maybe she was a bit paranoid, but she was the cutest paranoid he’d ever seen. Maybe he coul
d be the hero she needed. "I want to help you, but I have to know the details. All right?"

  “I already told you the main points.”

  “Vaguely.”

  She took a sip of her water, wiping water droplets from her lips, and conceded. "I live out in the country off Highway 278 where nothing too violent ever happens. 278 runs east to west and dumps into the airport in Atlanta. It has become a popular route for running drugs. Everything from cocaine to meth to marijuana. You name it, we've got it. Occasionally, the big drug lords come into our area instead of sending their goons, and incidents of crime always go up when they’re there."

  "I know all about that, being from New York." He winked.

  She nodded and swirled a fry in her ketchup. "About two months ago, a drug deal went bad. A couple of guys decided to mix sugar in the bags with the cocaine.”

  “Ouch. Not smart.” He’d seen that before and it never ended well.

  “Nope. When the transporters got back with the goods, my guy—or one of his thugs—killed them for not testing it first. He and two of his associates then came to my county and killed the guys who sold the cocaine-sugar mixture to them.”

  “You gotta be kidding.”

  “I wish. The police arrested all of them and charged the two associates with accessory to murder. They bonded out and no one has seen them since. The main suspect is sitting in our jail without bail because he’s a flight risk since he’s charged with murder, but we can't convict him without the weapon. We’re not really sure who pulled the trigger. It could have been one of his accomplices.”

  “That’s insane.”

  “Tell me about it. As you probably know, weapons are usually disposed of before anyone can find them. When the accomplices were in jail, someone overheard them talking about the gun being hidden somewhere in Cedar Key, so investigators came down here and tried to find it. When they failed, I decided to try to find it myself."

  "Why Cedar Key?"

  "I don't know, but this is where we’re concentrating our efforts because of what those two men said in jail. Where my team was concentrating its efforts. Everybody gave up but me. This guy is going to go free if I don’t find the gun.”