Fifteen minutes later she parked her car in the school parking lot and got out. After a quick glance over her shoulder, she slowly walked to the passenger side and grabbed her bag from the front seat. No reason to hurry. In case she was being watched, she wouldn’t want to throw suspicion on herself by seeming to be in a rush. She threw the straps of her bag over her arm and started moving toward the front of the building with the other parents like a herd of cattle.
She smiled and greeted several of the parents she knew. Many took the time to ask about Chase. As she did every time someone asked about the case, she explained he would be released from jail any day now. She swore he had an alibi. He was at home with her when someone tried to murder Kathy Lassiter. Of course it was obvious by their expressions some people didn’t believe her. None of that made a difference to her. After Chase was released from jail they would relocate. Another city, another place. Maybe they would buy a farm in the middle of nowhere. A place they could have privacy. She had always wanted a horse. A horse farm sounded lovely, maybe somewhere out west. She felt giddy as she thought of starting a whole new life.
Calm and cool, she entered the school and went straight to one of the teacher’s bathrooms off from the office. With so many parents milling through the halls, no one in the office gave her the least bit of notice.
She opened the bag and pulled out the bright red wig. She combed her fingers through the fax strands before placing it on her head. She whispered, “I look pretty good as a red head.” She tilted her head to the side. “Maybe I should dye my hair.” Next she smeared red lipstick across her lips. Thick, tortoise shell sunglasses went next.
“Now for my clothes.” She shucked out of her designer, red polka dotted dress and high heel shoes replacing them with black pants and a white silk blouse. Slipping into a pair of comfortable, black flats, she ran her sweaty palms over her thighs. A dazzling smile on her lips she peered into the mirror one last time. “No one will recognize me now. Not even the FBI.” Before stuffing everything into the bright, red bag, she fumbled around for the small clutch that held her money. Opening the vanity, she stuffed the bag into the bottom and closed the door. Later when she returned, she would retrieve the bag.
She took a deep breath before opening the door and making her way to the very busy hallway. Afraid her phone calls were being monitored, she asked one of the male parents she didn’t recognize, “May I please use your phone?” She placed her hand on his arm in a suggestive manner. “I’m afraid I forgot to charge my phone.”
The man gave her a warm smile before he handed over his phone. “Sure, no problem.”
She stepped away from him so he wouldn’t hear her conversation. “Tammy, meet me at to the corner of Fifth and Jasper Street.”
She ended the connection and gave the man a dazzling smile before she handed him his phone. “Thank you so much, sir.”
“No problem.”
She had studied the blue print of the school building last night as she made her plans. There was only one exit that did not set off the fire alarm and that was to the south side of the building where custodians empted the trash into bins. Trying not to rush, she made her way up the corridor. She pushed open the door and loped across the lawn of the school. She had to walk three blocks before she would be at Fifth and Jasper. Now was when she needed to hurry.
Chapter Ten
Josh tried to maneuver through the heavy traffic. Seemed like everyone had decided to go out for lunch and the streets were filled with traffic. Several times he almost caused wrecks as he ran stop lights and passed cars in turning lanes. “Slow down before you get us killed.”
Josh snapped at his Uncle Tate, “Shirley Powers is probably evading Dylan and Stan at this very moment. I should have considered she would do something like this. She is too smart and cunning. Well, she outsmarted us.”
“You don’t know that. Maybe she is really having lunch with her children.”
Josh snorted in disbelief. “You know as well as I do she has given us the slip. Now we’ll have to change our plans and use an agent as a decoy. We’ll have to have someone that looks like Kathy come to the bureau as if she is meeting with me in my office. Now I have to put someone in danger to catch Mrs. Powers.”
Josh’s phone rang. Hoping it was Dylan with some good news, he answered, “Yea.”
Instead of Dylan’s voice, he heard Beth’s. “Do you have any news yet? Is Shirley Powers in custody?”
“No, not yet.” One hand on the steering wheel, the other clutching his phone, he almost crashed into the back of a truck. Tires screeching he came to a dead stop as other cars slid to a stop behind him.
Uncle Tate stomped the floorboard as if he was pressing the brake pedal. Stiff and pale, he shouted, “Let me drive if you’re going to talk on the phone!”
He gave his uncle a vicious look to keep quiet. “I thought you had court today.”
“It was postponed. What’s going on?”
Josh divulged all that happened while darting in and out of traffic. Beth offered, “I’ll meet you at the school. Just maybe I’ll recognize her. I can be there in just a few minutes.”
“No, Beth. You stay out of this. Shirley Powers is a dangerous woman. Leave this to the FBI. Grant told you not to leave work until I came by to follow you home.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. Maybe I can help.”
She ended the call and Josh groaned in anger. Never in his life had he seen a more stubborn, pigheaded woman. He handed the phone to his uncle. “Call Beth back and tell her not to go to the school. Tell her to stay where she is.”
Uncle Tate hit redial on Josh’s phone. “She’s not answering.”
He ground his teeth in fury. “Of course she’s not answering. I’m going to kill her!” Up till now he refused to use the siren because he didn’t want to alert Shirley Powers that he was heading in her direction. Now he had Beth to worry about. He switched the button and increased his speed as the sound of the sirens and blue lights warned vehicles to get out of his way.
****
On the way to the school, Beth’s phone kept ringing. She knew it was Josh and refused to answer. Of course he would demand she stay out of the investigation, but she knew Shirley Powers. She knew her mannerisms, her body language. If she were wearing a disguise as Josh suspected, she might be able to recognize her.
By her estimation, she was about three blocks from the school when she saw the woman walking on the sidewalk in the opposite direction. Long red hair, big sunglasses, it could possibly be Shirley. Thankfully, the woman didn’t look up, but kept her head downcast as if counting her steps.
Heart beating ninety miles an hour, Beth traveled along the road for a couple of minutes before she turned her car around and went back. She kept a safe distance not wanting the woman to become suspicious and bolt. From her slow moving car, she watched the way the woman moved, the way she walked. Maybe it was Shirley.
Keeping her in view, Beth pulled to the curb. She reached across the seat and grabbed her phone intending to call Josh. It rung before her fingers touched the redial button causing her to let out a little scream. Damn, she was nervous. She had never followed a suspected criminal before. She pressed the phone to her ear and whispered, “Josh, I think I see Shirley Powers. I’m not absolutely sure, but I think it’s her.”
“Why are you whispering? Is she near enough that she can hear you?”
Beth let out a nervous giggle. “No, I’m in my car and she’s walking along the sidewalk. I don’t know why I’m whispering.” She saw a gray BMW pull up in the distance. The woman on the sidewalk took off running as if she feared the car would pull away before she arrived. “She’s getting into a gray BMW, Josh.” She sped up so she could read the signs. “Hold on.”
She placed her phone in her lap. She could hear Josh yelling for her to pick up the phone. She ignored his orders and watched the gray car speed away. When she was close enough to read the signs, she picked up her phone. “Shirley Powers just g
ot into a gray BMW on the corner of Fifth and Jasper.”
“Pull over and wait for us, Beth. We’re on our way.”
“I promise I’ll stay back, Josh. I’m going to follow and see where she is going.”
Josh shouted, “Pull over now, Beth! That is an order from the FBI.”
“Sorry, Josh, I don’t work for the FBI. I’ll call you as soon as I know where she is going.” Order from the FBI. If she wasn’t so nervous, she would laugh. He probably thought she would listen if he threw FBI into his sentence. She gripped the steering wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. She hoped she wasn’t making a huge mistake by following the car. If Shirley Powers saw her tailing them, she’d probably abort her mission to kill Kathy and they’d never find the car used in the attempted assassination.
For miles she stayed two or three cars behind the BMW, too far to get the license number. It wasn’t long before they left Raleigh behind. Now that they were out of the city there was less traffic. The chance of being spotted by Shirley Powers was now more likely. Maybe she should pull over. Josh would kill her if she ruined his plans to retrieve the black Lincoln. She slowed and it wasn’t long before she lost sight of the BMW.
What should she do now? Up ahead she could see a crossroads. Which way did the BMW go? She stopped in the middle of the deserted road and started biting her nails. She looked left, then right. She didn’t see the car anywhere. “Straight ahead it is.” Beth picked up her speed hoping to catch up with the car.
Several minutes and miles later the BMW came into view. The car was pulled over into a dirt drive on the right hand side of the road. As Beth drove past, she saw Shirley get out of the car, then lean in and have a brief conversation with the driver. To keep from being seen, Beth drove to the next intersection and called Josh to give him her location. Before she could even speak he shouted into the phone, “Where the hell are you?”
She looked at the sign across the road. “I’m at the intersection of Ross and Wendal. Shirley just got out of a gray BMW near a service station. I think the name of it was Smith’s something another. Hurry before she gets away.”
This time he spoke slowly and softly as if talking to a small child. “We’re coming, Beth. Don’t you go anywhere. You wait for us.”
“There’s nothing I can do but wait. I don’t know where she was going.” She threw her phone into the passenger seat then checked her watch. It was one o’clock. It was a warm sunny day so she pressed the button to lower her window to get some fresh air. It was possible Shirley had taken her on a wild goose chase. What if she knew she was following her the whole time?
She looked up and down the quiet, deserted road. It wouldn’t hurt to drive around some. She whirled around in the road and went back the way she had come. She slowed down when she passed the service station. The car was gone and she didn’t see Shirley anywhere. She stopped the car in the road and wondered if she had traveled the dirt road. Grass covered most of the road proving it wasn’t used very often. Curious, Beth parked her car at the service station and got out. Even though it was the middle of March, a mist of sweat covered her skin. Minutes passed as she wondered what to do.
She grabbed her keys out of the ignition and her phone. She tapped the clicker locking her door. She hoped no one smashed her window and took her purse and briefcase. Heart beating fast, she started walking up the grass covered road. It wasn’t easy walking in heels, so she took off her shoes preferring to go barefoot.
Ten minutes passed before she came across a huge, red locked gate. A do not enter sign was attached to one of the rungs. Several strands of bobbed wire had been strung to keep someone from entering. In the back of her mind she thought what better place to keep the black Lincoln. A large padlock kept the chain pulled tight. It was too tight for her to squeeze through. After a quick inspection, she knew the only way in was to climb over the gate which wasn’t going to be easy in the snug skirt she was wearing. Shoes clutched under one arm, she punched in Josh’s number. When it never rung, she looked at the screen and saw she had no service. She let out several curse words. Now what should she do? The most logical thing to do would be to go back the way she had come. “Go back to your car. No need to be a hero.” She pushed her damp hair behind her ears. “Shirley Powers is not worth getting killed.”
“Damn.” Shucking out of her jacket, she tied it to one of the rungs on the gate. If Josh followed the road, he would know the way she had gone. She threw her shoes over the gate, hiked up her skirt, and climbed over. Since she grew up on a farm, she knew how to climb over a gate. She had scaled many gates, but not in a skirt and pristine white blouse. Rust stains marred her blouse by the time she dropped to the other side. The blouse alone had cost her one hundred dollars, not to mention the suit that had set her back three hundred dollars. Now it was ruined. She shook her head to get the image out of her mind. Here she was following an attempted murderer and she was worried about what she had paid for an outfit, or rather what Grant and Nina paid for the outfit.
She followed the road that led right through the middle of the pasture. She doubted animals were kept in the fence since the grass was thick with broom straw proving no one gave the field proper nutrients to keep it healthy. At least she didn’t have to worry about being gored by a bull or something of that nature.
It wasn’t long before she saw a small, board house in the distance. Weeds covered the yard and it looked as if no one had lived there for some time. She checked her phone again. No service. Overhead a hawk’s fierce scream had her clenching her teeth together to keep from yelling in fright. She took a deep breath to calm her frayed nerves. She kept imagining Shirley Powers running from the house or forest with a pistol and shooting her. The image had her trembling.
Crossing to the porch, she saw the windows were boarded up. The door was solid wood with a large padlock. It could be a hunting club or an old home place. Since the door was locked she surmised Shirley might have gone around back. She dropped low behind a bush and peered over. A huge, gray block garage stood in the back yard. It was well made and solid.
Shirley Powers appeared without her disguise. Dressed in black just like the day Beth saw her at the bureau when she made an attempt to kill Kathy and David, she unlocked the metal garage door and pushed it up wide enough to drive a car through.
Her blood ran cold as she watched Shirley climb into a white SUV and slowly back out of the garage. What should she do? She couldn’t very well stand by and do nothing. She looked around the yard for something to use as a weapon. On the porch was a shovel. She loped to the porch, dropped her high heel shoes on the old, splintered planks, and grabbed the shovel. She hurried to the side of the house using the overgrown bushes to hide behind. Gripping the shovel as if it were a bat, she held it off her shoulder like she did when she played softball in high school. Seconds ticked by as she waited for Shirley to drive the vehicle around the house. The muscles in her arms quivered she was so frightened.
The moment the car came into view Beth stepped from behind the bush and swiped the windshield with the shovel but it only cracked. Again she hefted the shovel over her shoulder and this time she put all her strength into the swing. The windshield shattered into a million tiny pieces falling into Shirley’s lap.
With a look of surprise and shock on her face, Shirley crawled out of the driver’s side of the car raking shards of glass off her clothes. Her eyebrows drew together in anger. “You! How did you find me?”
Beth held the shovel on her shoulder to use as a weapon. “The FBI is on its way. Stay where you are.”
Rage on her face, Shirley let out a blood curdling scream and charged Beth. She swung the shovel, but Shirley caught it with both hands and jerked it from her hands.
Now Shirley had the shovel. She grabbed it up in both hands and came at Beth swinging. She ducked just before it slammed into her head. Together the two women fought over the shovel. Shirley might be smaller than her, but she was extremely strong. With a swift kick, Shirley caught Bet
h in the stomach that left her sprawled in the dirt drive on her rear. In considerable pain, she sat for a second before she saw the blur of the shovel meant for her head. Beth rolled out of the way and came up with her fists raised in the air. Putting all her weight into the punch, she used a right jab that sent Shirley staggering backward two steps. Using every ounce of her strength, Beth placed both hands on the handle of the shovel still in Shirley’s hands and thrust sending her falling hard to the ground. She wiped at the blood on her lip from the punch Beth gave her.
“Bitch, I’m going to kill you.” She bolted up and ran for the car.
If Shirley got to the car and her weapon, Beth knew she wouldn’t have a chance. She reached out and grabbed a handful of hair when Shirley ran by her. She jerked the woman around and struck her again, but this time she put everything she had in the punch.
****
Josh and Uncle Tate sped down the road with sirens blazing. Both hands on the steering wheel, he estimated he was going over a hundred miles an hour. He was too afraid to check his speed because he needed to keep his eyes on the road. “There’s her car!”
Josh slammed on the brakes and skidded right by the service station. He whipped the car around and whirled into the parking lot next to Beth’s car. Before the car came to a complete stop, he had the door open. He looked in the front seat and when he saw she wasn’t there, his eyes shifted to the back seat. She wasn’t in the car. He was so angry he kicked the door leaving a dent.
Uncle Tate offered, “I’ll go see if she’s inside the station.”
Josh leaned through the open window of the car and grabbed his phone. Again he tapped in her number. It went straight to voicemail. An anger so acute he could nearly taste it swept through him. He kicked her car again causing even more damage. What if Shirley Powers had already killed Beth?
Shadows of the Falls (Twelve Oaks Farm Series Book 2) Page 17