However, Byron didn’t give him the chance. Diving for his own bag on the seat, he scrambled for something inside, spilling the contents all over the floor.
The bundle of cash, some pictures of Byron exchanging money with a man in an alleyway, and a pair of wire cutters all tumbled to the floor—while Byron stood up straight with a small revolver in his hand. “No one moves a muscle,” he growled.
CHAPTER 21
* * *
Frank instinctively went for his own gun when Byron let off the first shot, shattering one of the windows behind the sheriff. “Don’t move a muscle, or I’ll blow your brains out.”
“Now, just stay calm,” Frank told him. “We have a room full of witnesses who have just seen the contents of your bag. You’re not going to get away with this.”
“That girl just couldn’t keep her mouth shut,” Byron complained. “She wanted to ruin my career as a well-known newsman. And for what? Making a little money on the side.”
“Making money illegally on the side,” Sonja nodded toward the floor.
“That was my mistake,” he snipped. “I should have known better, than to do business while she was around. She asked a lot of questions, was really nosy.” He sighed angrily. “She took pictures of me accepting money from a known criminal and tried to blackmail me.”
“She needed that money to help her father’s failing business,” Harvey added. “She said she was running errands before we left. She must have been visiting you.”
“That’s right. I had to go to the bank to pay her off. After handing over the cash, I realized what a fool I’d been—giving into her demands. So, I followed her here.”
“But you beat her here,” Frank added, “Didn’t you?”
“I lost track of her a few miles back, so I stopped here hoping to catch her.”
“But instead,” Sonja butted in, “You caught her father, instead.”
“That’s right,” Brenda chimed in. “You had lunch with another man earlier. He talked about his daughter, and he showed you a picture.”
“You realized it was her father and were afraid that he’d find Dillon before you.” Sonja shook her head shamefully. “Is that when you snuck out the back door the first time? To cut the brake lines on his car?”
“I was hoping to do it to that boy’s car,” he admitted, pointing his gun at Harvey. “But then the girl disappeared on foot. So that was out of the question.”
Harvey swallowed hard, his face growing pale as he realized he’d just barely escaped death.
“And then when Dillon did show up,” Sonja continued, “thanks to the storm driving everyone indoors, you realized you were in luck. You followed her outside and killed her with your bare hands. Then, you stole the wolf skull and animal fur and used them to make it look like an animal attack.”
“So, what? It didn’t work,” he moaned, “but it doesn’t matter.” He leaned down and picked up the contents of the bag, shoveling them in. “I’m leaving, and anyone who follows me will get a bullet.” Standing up he began shuffling toward the door.
Frank had his hand close to his own gun and was prepared to take the man down if he needed.
Approaching the door, Byron opened it, keeping his gun on the crowd of people the entire time.
Another crack of lightning of thunder split the sky, and despite the running generator, the power seemed to go out again.
A low growl filled the night air.
Suddenly, a glowing blue wolf appeared just outside the door—it’s body smoking like fire. It let out a vicious bark, baring its teeth for everyone to see and glaring with demonic red eyes. The wolf pounced, roaring furiously, all while Byron fired his gun off two times before finally dropping it on the floor where Frank grabbed it.
The bullets seemed to fly straight through the wolf’s body as if nothing were there.
Snapping its jaws at Byron’s throat, the man let out one more pitiful scream before passing out. The wolf turned its head toward the sky and let out a triumphant yet eerie howl.
CHAPTER 22
* * *
Sonja knew the wolf had been Dillon’s father, coming back to help avenge his daughter’s death. That was the only way to explain—in her mind—the bullets flying through him without doing any harm. Also, the fact that the snapping jaws hadn’t actually ripped into Byron’s flesh was another clue.
The spirit had been completely overtaken by the power of the wolf, and Sonja couldn’t help but wonder if that wasn’t a bad thing.
Maybe being an animal spirit for the rest of eternity was enjoyable.
After Frank had gotten the handcuffs on Byron, the wolf seemed to vanish, as if he hadn’t been there at all. Almost as soon as it was gone, the lights came back on. Sonja knew it was a supernatural power outage and not one from the storm.
A half of an hour later it had finally stopped raining and all the emergency vehicles were able to move more freely along the mountain road.
The coroner arrived and took the body away while Frank loaded the handcuffed man into the back of the cruiser, taking the bagged evidence—plenty to prove Byron guilty—and placed it in the trunk.
He gave a wave of thanks to Sonja before climbing into the car and driving off toward the Haunted Falls police station and jail.
“Well,” Ally noted, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I think I’ve had enough vacation to last the next five years.”
Sonja laughed a little. “There won’t always be murders when you travel.”
“I hope not,” she shook her head. “This has been one crazy night”
“Almost like one of those old black and white movies, huh?” Sonja joked.
“I’ll be waiting in the van,” she nodded. “I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
Sonja spotted Brenda walking toward them from the restaurant, which was busy with deputies and state troopers alike. A double homicide did have a habit of attracting more attention.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Sonja told Ally, walking over to say goodbye to her new found friend.
“Sonja,” the restaurant owner smiled.
“Brenda, thanks a million for all your help on this case. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“It was exciting, but I think I’ll stick to selling cheap merchandise and serving roadside food.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Sonja agreed. “Also, I wanted you to know that I came up with a name for that waffle we made together.”
“What is it?”
“The Roadside Waffle,” she replied. “It only seems fitting since this is the first place I cooked it.”
“Well, I’m honored.”
“I want you to feel free to serve it here.”
“Oh, Sonja, thank you.”
“And, I’ll tell people who are coming through to always stop here for gas.”
“Thanks,” she nodded. “I hope we’ll meet again.”
“I’m sure we will,” Sonja agreed.
Hugging Brenda, the two women parted. Sonja headed toward the van when she noticed something moving nearby.
Across the street among the trees, she saw two wolves running together, one smaller than the other. Pausing, the animals looked up toward Sonja and then vanished into the trees.
Something inside of her knew that those two wolves had been Dillon and her father.
Copyright 2017 Summer Prescott Books, all rights reserved.
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Scary Sausage Waffle (The Diner of the Dead Series Book 13) Page 8