by Rose Pressey
Oscar’s mouth turned down at the corners. “That’s not much.”
“She probably knows who murdered the man.”
“Seriously?” Oscar asked.
I frowned. “No, not seriously.”
“Don’t play games with me, Charley.” He wiggled his stubby index finger at me.
“I’m still looking into a few other things.” I eyed him suspiciously.
“Would you be interested in filming some of things that happen with the case?” he asked. “In case it’s solved we would have great footage for the news.”
Now I knew why he was so interested.
I knew better than to tell him no right away, so I said, “I suppose I can give an interview on what I’m doing.”
He stared for a moment. “Okay then, I’ll set something up.” He reached in his desk drawer and pulled out some papers and then handed them to me. “Here, I forgot to give these to you earlier. Letters from your fans. Just be careful when you’re out and about. There are so many crazy people out there.”
“Oscar, are you seriously worried about me? That is so sweet.” I clutched my chest.
He waved his hand, telling me to get out of his office. It looked as if Oscar didn’t hate me after all. I gathered the letters under my arm and marched back to the door. With my hand on the doorknob, I looked back and smiled.
Oscar shook his head. “Get out.”
I wondered if he had gone through the letters he’d given me. “By the way, Oscar…”
He sighed. “What now?”
“Did you look through these letters?”
“You told me not to, right? So I didn’t look at them,” he said.
“Okay, well, thank you.”
“Is that all now?” he asked.
He was losing his patience with me. I was shocked that it had taken him this long. I turned around and left the office this time. I’d just have to go through the letters myself this time—after all, that was what I had wanted.
Once back at my desk, I sat in front of the computer and placed the letters in front of me. I enjoyed reading the letters and it made my job that much more fun. That wasn’t to say that occasionally I didn’t get a letter that was a bit strange or had a weird request. I hoped that this stack of letters didn’t contain any of those.
I leafed through them and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary so far. As I decided which one to open first, not that there were many of them, I felt eyes on me.
After realizing that Ruth wasn’t going to stop staring at me, I peered over at her.
“What’s wrong, Ruth?” I asked with a smile. “What can I do for you?”
“You’re never here to get your calls,” she said.
“I can’t help it if you’re not busy. Who called?” I asked.
She sighed and then said, “He didn’t leave his name again. You get a lot of weird calls.”
“I’ll try to cut down on the odd calls, I promise.” I held up my hand.
She smirked. “Thank you.” Unfortunately, Ruth didn’t turn her attention away from me.
“Is there anything else?” I asked.
Finally, she shook her head. “I guess not.”
Thank goodness my phone rang at that moment. Ruth went back to her cubicle. I was shocked that she didn’t stick around to see if it was another one of my weird phone calls, as she called them.
“Chase Charley,” I said into the phone.
Silence filled the other end of the line.
“Hello?” I said again.
But I still didn’t get any answer. It didn’t sound as if the line was dead though. I thought I might have heard breathing on the other end of the line, but I wasn’t sure. I hung up the phone and focused my attention on the letters again. I’d just picked up one of the envelopes when my phone rang again.
“Chase Charley,” I repeated.
Again the person on the other end of the line didn’t say a word. Apprehension fell over me. I didn’t like the way this was going—I didn’t think this was random. It had to have something to do with the call that Ruth had received, right? But why did they ask for me only to hang up when I answered? Was there something else about the calls that she was forgetting to tell me? I could ask, but I figured I wouldn’t get an answer from her. Was this the man I’d seen at the bar?
“I hear you breathing. Just so you know, I will let the police know you’ve called.” I hung up again.
My comment would probably have little effect on the person, but I had to say something. I hoped that the person didn’t call back again. For a few seconds, I stared at the phone, but luckily it didn’t ring. If the person called again, I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t lose my temper.
Releasing a sigh of relief, I decided to go back to the letters. I had to hurry up so that I could get back to working on the case. I picked up the letter that was on top of the pile and pulled out my letter opener from the drawer on my right.
I slipped the opener through the edge of the envelope. A piece of white paper was tucked neatly inside. I pulled out the paper. It was a letter talking about the recent case I’d done and thanking me for my help. That made me smile. I placed that one aside and picked up the next one on my pile. It didn’t have a return address, which made me a little concerned after what Oscar had told me, plus the incident with the man at the bar. Even with my uneasy feeling, I opened the letter and pulled out the single sheet of paper. I unfolded the page and read the contents. It definitely wasn’t a friendly letter like the first one that I’d just read.
So my uneasy feeling had been warranted. The letter said that I was being watched. The author wanted to meet me and if I didn’t want to meet him, then I would be forced into a meeting.
I swallowed hard and glanced around the room. That wasn’t the kind of letter that anyone wanted to receive. What would I do now? I didn’t want to tell Oscar because I didn’t want to hear him comment that he’d told me about the strange ones. I couldn’t just let it go though. One thing was for sure, I didn’t want to read any more of the letters right now.
I grabbed the phone and dialed Marc. He picked up the phone after a couple rings.
“Hello, gorgeous,” he said.
Of course that brought a smile to my face. “Sorry to call so early,” I said.
“Is everything okay?”
I turned my head so Ruth might not hear my conversation. “Actually, no. I received a letter that was a little disturbing.”
After I told him what the letter said, he said, “I’ll pick up the letter.”
“I can drop it off if you’d like.”
“You have to take this seriously, okay? There are people around who do crazy things.”
I was definitely aware of that.
I knew by the tone of his voice that he was concerned, which made me even more nervous. “I don’t want to worry you, Chase, but better safe than sorry,” he said.
“No, I agree. It’s just a little unsettling. I’m sure that it’s just someone having fun though,” I said.
He sighed. “I hope that’s all it is.”
I didn’t like the tone of his voice. I supposed I couldn’t just shrug it off. I had to take it seriously.
“I’m glad that you called to tell me though. You did the right thing and I promise I’ll look into it,” he said.
“Thank you.” I hoped my voice didn’t sound too pessimistic.
Honestly, what could he do? How would he be able to uncover who had sent the letter? The only way I would find out was if the person admitted to sending it. I would rather never know than have the person contact me and let me know they were responsible. Maybe if I was lucky this whole thing would just go away. I had a feeling that the recent phone call was related to the letter. If I got more calls maybe I could look into getting the calls traced. Then again, there was no guarantee that the person calling had anything to do with the letters.
“There’s no need for you to bring the letter. I’ll call you soon so I can meet you and
pick up that letter, okay?” Marc asked.
“Sure, that will be fine. Thanks again.”
“Anything for you.” Marc’s sensuous baritone voice made me wish I could climb through the phone just to be close to him. “Please be careful and call me if anything else strange happens. Even if it’s just the slightest thing and you’re not sure about it.”
“I promise I will,” I said and then hung up the phone.
With an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, I stuffed the paper back into the envelope and then shoved the thing into my purse. I didn’t want to even see the thing anymore.
Though I realized I wanted to keep it as untouched as possible for possible fingerprints. I had a bag with half a peanut butter sandwich in my desk drawer. I pulled out the sandwich and tossed it in the trash. I stuffed the envelope in the bag, even though it had remnants of peanut butter inside. I’d keep it there and then take it out to give it to Marc.
I shoved the rest of the unread letters into a desk drawer and switched on my computer. I’d get to work and that would help me take my mind off things.
The only problem was that it didn’t take my mind off it. I still thought about the letter all day long. I called Courtney and told her about the letter and again she wanted to cast a protection spell for me. I told her we’d get around to it soon. I figured that it wouldn’t do any harm. That seemed to make Courtney happy.
Marc had called back and wanted to meet me at work. I agreed to meet him in front of the office because my co-workers would think that I was being arrested if Marc showed up in his uniform. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to talk much about the letter. I just wanted to hand it to him and get it off my mind for good. Of course just getting rid of it wouldn’t ease my mind. That wouldn’t happen until I knew the letters had ended.
I stepped out of the office and paused once I reached the bottom steps. I scanned the sidewalks, but so far hadn’t seen Marc.
“You look gorgeous today,” a male voice said from behind me.
I spun around to find Marc standing behind me. He looked handsome in his uniform.
“Did I startle you?”
I shook my head. “It’s okay.” I pulled out the bag from my purse. “Here’s the letter.”
Marc took it from my hands and stared at it for a second. “It smells like peanut better.”
“It’s the only bag I had and I wanted to preserve the fingerprints.”
The slightest of smiles turned the corners of his mouth. “Good thinking.” He studied my face and then said, “Can I walk you home?”
“I’m sorry, but I have somewhere to go.”
He grinned, but I couldn’t help but notice disappointment on his face. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to find anything, but I’ll try my best.”
I nodded.
“Can I give you a call later?” he asked.
“Sure, I’d like that.”
Marc leaned down and kissed my lips. I closed my eyes and in that moment forgot that we were in the middle of the sidewalk. Finally, Marc leaned away.
“I’ll call you later,” he whispered.
I waved and watched Marc walk away. Maybe I should have let him walk me anyway.
Chapter 10
When I finally finished with calls and other stuff, I looked at the clock and realized it was after six. Most everyone had already left the office for the day. Even Oscar had gone. There was just one more call I needed to make before I left. I dialed Dangerfield’s number. He must have had his phone in his hand because he answered on the first ring.
“How about we meet?” he asked.
I shouldn’t trust this guy, yet I kept getting sucked into meeting him.
“I can meet you at the deli around the corner,” I said.
“How soon can you be there?”
“How about an hour?” I asked.
He paused and then said, “An hour it is.”
It wouldn’t take me an hour to get there, but I had somewhere to go before I met him. I jotted down the address and grabbed my purse. It was a short distance until I made it to the voodoo tour office. This was the spot where the tour started. Of course it was on hiatus for now. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but there was a closed until further notice sign on the door. Exactly what I expected since the owner had just been murdered. I would have to find out who worked here with him. I hoped Courtney could get more information for me.
As I stood in front of the office staring in the window, a male voice said, “Fancy meeting you here.”
When I whipped around, I spotted Dangerfield. He flashed his sparkling smile. He stood next to me with his hands shoved in the pockets of his tan pants. The deep blue shirt he wore brought out the blue of his eyes.
I smirked. “So you knew what I was up to?”
He stepped closer to me. “I was coming here anyway.”
That didn’t surprise me. I should have known he would be here too.
He laughed. “I guess I don’t need to worry about being late at the deli?”
“This place was on my way.” I folded my arms in front of my waist.
“So it’s closed?” He gestured.
“I figured it would be,” I said.
Dangerfield nodded. “Me too.”
“What do we do now? I asked.
He ran his hand through his golden hair. “I need some time to think about that.”
I wouldn’t tell him my plan to speak with the employees. I didn’t want him to get in the way of my strategy and screw it up. I still thought that I worked better alone.
Dangerfield and I waited for a few people to pass on the sidewalk. Dangerfield stepped closer to the window and peered in. I’d already done that and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“We should go in,” Dangerfield said.
I leaned against the glass. “Yes, that would be nice if we had a key.”
He held a single gold key up. “Like this one?”
I placed my hands on my hips. “How did you get that?”
“Haley gave it to me. She said we can go in and look around if we need to.”
“When were you going to tell me this?”
“The first time I talked to you after she gave it to me,” Dangerfield said.
“Which is when?” I asked.
He shoved the key into the lock. “Now.” Dangerfield opened the door and stepped inside the dark space. He turned and looked at me. “Are you coming?”
I released a deep breath and stepped inside. “What are we looking for?”
“I don’t know, but it seems like this is something we should check out.”
“I hope the police don’t come in here,” I said.
Dangerfield walked over to the desk at the back of the room. “They’ve probably already been here.”
“Then I would guess there’s nothing left for us to see.”
Dangerfield continued to pull out drawers while I stood in the middle of the room. It was still light out, just enough for us to see, but I hoped not be seen by anyone on the street. A couple of upholstered chairs sat at the front of the space by the windows and there was the desk at the back. Other than that the room was empty. Framed photos of the French Quarter decorated the walls.
“This is not good. We should get out of here.” I walked toward the back of the room.
As I neared the desk, the floor underneath my feet moved. I’d gotten too close to the wall and apparently the board was loose. I stepped on the board again and it felt as if something shifted underneath.
“Something is under here.” I tapped it with my foot.
Dangerfield walked over to where I stood. He knelt down and moved the board. “It’s a bank ledger.” He pulled the little leather book out.
I moved closer to him. “What’s it for?”
He flipped open the cover. “It has Tim Swanson’s name.”
We exchanged a look. “Why is it hidden?” I asked.
“Good question.” He looked through the pages again. “There are lar
ge sums of money deposited, but then immediately withdrawn the next day.”
I took the book from his hands. “That is odd.”
“Something isn’t right about this,” he said.
“We should put it back and get out of here. I’m getting a bad vibe.” I rubbed my arms to stop the chill.
“I guess this isn’t going to help us to stay,” he said.
“No, I suppose not. It’ll be completely dark soon,” I said.
He studied my face for a second. “Yeah, okay. We’ll go.”
He shoved the book back under the board and placed it just as we’d found it. We stepped out of the space, and he looked the door behind us.
“We need to find out more,” Dangerfield said once we were back on the sidewalk.
I adjusted the purse strap on my shoulder. “Well, that’s a given. I plan on setting up another meeting with Haley.”
“I would like to speak with her too.”
I eyed him suspiciously.
“What? I am involved in this too. After all, Tim Swanson wanted to speak with me too. And Haley called me. She even gave me the key,” he pointed out.
I shrugged. “I suppose I can’t keep you from talking with her.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to upset you.” Dangerfield lowered his voice to a silky softness.
“Since when?” I asked.
He stepped forward on the sidewalk and motioned for me to follow. “Come on, let’s get some food so we can think on this more. We’ll grab a sandwich.”
I nodded. “Yeah, okay. I guess I am hungry.”
We headed for the deli where we had originally planned to meet. After Dangerfield and I ordered our sandwiches from the counter, we sat at a table by the door. I glanced out the window and I thought for a moment that I saw the man who had been at the club. When I looked again, he had disappeared into the crowd. I didn’t tell Dangerfield because I wasn’t positive that it was the same man.
I took a bite of my turkey sandwich. “What do you think the other account means?”
“Looks as if he may have been trying to hide money.”
“Hiding it from his wife? Or someone else?” I took a sip of my Diet Coke.