Crisis Shot

by Janice Cantore

  In a few seconds, she had her answer.

  Del finished with the dispatcher. “The call came from the Hollow Grind; they have one of the few pay phones left in the valley. I called Pete. He says the last person he saw on the phone was Tilly Dover.”

  “She still there?”

  “No. She ran out as soon as she hung up.”

  “We need to find her.”

  “You want me to look or to stay with Mrs. Macpherson?”

  Tess sighed. “Find Tilly. Odds are she can tell us much more than Anna can.”

  He nodded. “If she’s lucid,” he muttered.

  Tess watched as he started back up the hill they’d come down. The view from here was beautiful as rushing water spilled out and over the two falls. A crowd was gathering on the other side of the creek, watching the activity. But they were still shielded by brush and trees. Tess felt confident that no clear, sad picture would make its way onto social media. The hiking path ran parallel to the creek but farther up and Tess turned to look that way. She couldn’t see the path from here, but there were some obvious drag marks coming down the hill and ending where Anna lay.

  Did someone drag Anna along the path and then down here creekside?

  Frowning, she considered the area where she stood. Things had leveled off, but it was very rocky and rough. Did Tilly save Anna and hide her somewhere up there? Then for some reason drag her back to the creek today? That had to be the only explanation.

  A headache started, and Tess realized how unlikely it was that she’d ever figure out what went on in the tortured, drugged-out brain of Tilly Dover. But she had to find the girl and give it a chance.

  As she turned back to Macpherson, she found herself hoping his prayers were getting to someone or something that had the power to help her friend. If Anna had gone in on Thursday and it was now Saturday, that she was breathing at all astounded Tess.

  But the medics were so serious, so concentrated, wearing faces that said things were not good, she doubted the outcome would be a good one.

  31

  Tilly hunkered down to hide, knowing too many people had seen her. But she’d had to make the call. Her thoughts cleared enough, she knew Anna needed way more help than she could ever give her. But her head clearing was not without its issues; it came with a pounding headache.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. She brought her hands to her temples, just certain her brains would burst from her skull any minute.

  The excruciating memory of Glen’s death came roaring back. She couldn’t get the sound of the gunfire out of her head, of seeing Glen fall, of seeing the man stand over her best friend and shoot him again. She’d have died herself that moment if the spark to help Anna hadn’t kept her briefly lucid.

  So much of that morning was a blur. Fear had gripped her like a boa constrictor then, squeezing what little courage she had right out of her, and it was all she could do to try to help Anna, take her to the shelter. She only partially remembered dragging Anna from the bowl underneath the Stairsteps. Someone had helped, but who?

  Once she had Anna safe in the shelter, it wasn’t until she was certain no one had seen her that she’d been brave enough to leave and look for help. And then she’d wanted to tell Pastor Mac, but fear won again and she ran, taking only what might help her friend.

  The need for more drugs had started as an itch, but it was now a searing demand. She clenched her fists so tight that her fingernails cut into her palms. She wanted to stay clean, wanted to tell the police what she knew, what she’d seen, but she knew she’d fail.

  A whimper escaped. It was so hard to try to remember. She’d been hiding. Glen and Anna were arguing with the man; he had a gun. He shot Killer, then Glen; then Anna and the dog went into the creek. Did Anna fall trying to help the dog? Or did the man with the gun shove her? It all happened so fast.

  Tilly had raced down to help Anna. She couldn’t help Glen or Killer. She remembered falling into the icy water herself and being pulled out even as she grabbed for Anna. She helped, fearing the man with the gun would come after them. But eventually she realized Anna was not getting better, and at least she’d thought clearly enough long enough to get her some help.

  All of it had been too much for Tilly to process, even before the boom of the gun. She was lost and confused without Glen. And she felt guilty because she’d waited so long where Anna was concerned. But fear of the man with the gun had outweighed any reason. She wished things had happened differently that morning, wished she hadn’t been loaded, that she’d been able to warn Glen. He didn’t know she’d shadowed him, that she’d been on the other side of the creek and seen everything.

  Now Anna was no longer her concern. She would be taken care of. But there was no one left to take care of Tilly, and she knew she couldn’t stay hidden forever. As she opened her hands to see the cuts there, they began to shake. She needed a fix, a hit of something strong. But she also needed to stay clearheaded, to help Glen and Anna by telling the police what she knew.

  She’d gotten Glen killed. Even the dog was her fault. Tears fell as Tilly stared at her shaking hands. She’d never last; she’d slip back into a drug-induced confusion. It was the only thing that would keep the pain and the fear away.

  But Glen . . . she didn’t want to fail him again. Thinking of him gave her energy, a small bit of strength to say no to the need . . . for a little while, anyway.

  She changed her clothes and started down the hill. She could make her way to the police station and hope someone there would believe her.

  32

  By the time Tess got back to the station, she felt her headache turning into a nasty one. Anna Macpherson was in a coma in intensive care at a hospital in Medford. She was dehydrated, battered and bruised, and barely hanging on.

  Tilly was nowhere to be found. How did that girl disappear so completely?

  “She’s used to staying off the radar,” Bender said. He’d stayed on to help after the medics rushed away. Tess made a command decision. Instead of digging in the bushes and trying to figure out where Anna was dragged from, she asked Bender and Del to look for Tilly. That girl seemed to be the key to a lot.

  That Anna had survived going over both falls boggled everyone’s mind, but how had Tilly pulled her from the water and taken care of her? The drug addict apparently thought clearly enough to change Anna’s clothes and dress her wounds.

  Before leaving with the medics, Oliver had told Tess he recognized the blanket covering Anna.

  “That’s from Anna’s sewing room. It was draped over the back of her chair. In the winter it’s her favorite blanket to curl up under.”

  Was that what the burglary was about? Stealing things to help Anna?

  Del was adamant he’d searched everywhere that Thursday when Glen was found, and Tess tried to console him.

  “Tilly must have moved her. That’s the only explanation. How and why are the questions we need to find answers to. Beating yourself up isn’t going to help with that.”

  Late that afternoon, Tess revisited the scene of Glen’s murder and had help when Steve Logan arrived.

  “Think you missed something?” he asked.

  She sighed, thinking before answering. His presence did a lot for Tess on many levels. Since he wasn’t her employee, he was more a peer, an ear to bounce ideas and questions off. Tess wasn’t responsible for him, so she felt freer to express her frustration. For better or worse, she was comfortable with Logan now, and she hoped he’d be around often.

  “Not exactly,” she said. “Well, maybe.” She pounded a fist into her palm. “I just wish I had a better picture in my mind of what happened that morning.”

  “Well, let’s walk through it. I’ll be the killer; you be Glen.” He waved a hand toward where Glen had lain.

  “Okay.” She stepped toward the creek, faced Logan, back to the water.

  Logan pointed at her with his index finger. “Now, we believe Anna was here also, and the dog . . .”

  “But where was Tilly?” Tess
held his gaze in the waning daylight. “If she was with Glen, she’d have been shot as well. I truly doubt she was with the killer.”

  Steve put his hands on hips and surveyed the area. “She could have been behind a tree or—” He looked over Tess’s shoulder.

  She turned. “She was on the other side of the creek.”

  Logan stepped to her side. “If she was in dark clothing, she might have seen everything without being seen.”

  “There’s not enough light right now to do a thorough search. I’ll get to it first thing in the morning.” She turned toward him and smiled, thankful for his presence and for the new insight. His eyes were so intense, so blue, she almost lost her place. The crackle of the radio calling to tell her there was a news crew on scene broke the spell.

  “I really hate TV cameras.”

  They started back to their cars.

  Logan chuckled. “I don’t mind them. I’ve got this.”

  When they reached the news crew, he was as good as his word. Logan had a charm about him and he knew all the newspeople. Tess had never liked being on air and had delegated that chore whenever possible. But Logan was a natural in front of the camera, and he, with the permission of the sheriff, gave a great interview.

  Later, they joined Bender and Del in her office to go over all the information they had up to that point.

  “I can’t believe she’s even barely alive,” Logan said after he read Del’s report.

  “I stood there at the bottom of the Stairsteps and tried to imagine going over.” Tess shook her head. “Did Anna pull herself out, or did Tilly do it? You guys have dealt with Tilly before; I haven’t. We know now she probably viewed the murder from the other side of the creek. Is she capable of doing something like this, pulling Anna out of the creek and taking care of her for two days?”

  “I’d have said no,” Bender said, casting a glance at Logan. “But I don’t have any other explanation.”

  “The only other option is that the guy responsible for killing Glen and putting Anna in the creek is the one who helped her,” Logan said. “And that makes no sense.”

  Tess chewed on a knuckle and said nothing for a moment while she studied the board. Still more questions than answers.

  Logan raised an eyebrow. “Penny for your thoughts.”

  “Well, if we’re moving with the idea that the motive for Glen’s murder was the money—whoever Glen stole the money from wanted it back—and they kidnapped Anna as leverage, maybe to force Glen into returning the money, only Glen couldn’t give it back because he no longer has it . . .”

  “Then the killer must still want it back,” Logan finished for her. “He commits murder, attempts to get rid of the two people who know his connection to the money.”

  “He must know now that the money is here in the station.”

  “Maybe he figures he can break in here and get it back,” Bender said. “This place would be a piece of cake to break into.”

  Tess nodded. “Acosta keeps trying to get me to push for a new PSS alarm here.”

  “Interesting,” Logan said. “How come the place isn’t alarmed?”

  Bender shrugged. “If you’d ever met Chief Bailey, you’d know.” He hooked his thumbs in his belt and puffed his chest out. “Son,” he said, adopting a pronounced drawl, “miscreants break out of the police station, not into it.”

  Tess and Logan laughed, and Tess was thankful for the break in tension.

  “Chief Bailey was more Andy Griffith than Agent Gibbs,” Bender said.

  But the levity couldn’t last; they had to get back to the murder.

  “This guy has killed at least one person. It’s a no-brainer he’d risk burglarizing the station,” Logan observed.

  “Maybe we can use that to our advantage.” Tess stood and walked to the door of her office, where she could see the door to the evidence room. “Set a trap, put up cameras—something like that.”

  Logan nodded. “You’d have to make sure only—”

  They heard voices in the outer office.

  “Hello? Hello, is anyone here?”

  Bender stepped out and a minute later stepped back in.

  “Sorry to add this to the list, Chief, but Delia Peabody is here. She’s demanding to talk to you.”

  Tess’s protest died in her throat. Maybe she needed a distraction, something else to think about for a minute or two. A break might help.

  “Do you want me to send her in?”

  “No, I’ll come out there.” Tess walked to the outer office and saw a distraught Delia Peabody pacing.

  “Mrs. Peabody, what’s the problem?”

  “Oh, please help. It’s Duncan; he’s run away. I can’t find him anywhere.”

  33

  “When it rains, it pours. I think I said that once already.”

  “Yeah, you did.” Tess smiled, surprised that Steve’s voice could be so soothing to hear so soon in their relationship.

  She covered her mouth as a yawn forced itself on her. It was moving in on 1 a.m. Bender had gone home after they’d done all they could for Delia Peabody. Duncan was in the system as a runaway; the license plate of the car he was driving was flagged. The way he drove . . .

  “I believe Duncan’s situation will resolve itself quickly. As much of a pain as he is, Mom says he’s never run away before. He’ll be back.”

  Logan put a hand on her shoulder, and Tess felt the warmth and strength there. “You’re right; he’ll turn up. And I have to get home. I’ll be back in the morning, after I file all the paper for what went on today. Then maybe I can help you with the other case and set up a trap for the killer.”

  Tess looked into his clear blue eyes. “Thanks, Steve. For all of your help.”

  He squeezed her shoulder and stood to leave. “My pleasure. I’ll help you anytime, with anything.”

  –––

  Tilly’s strength and resolve faded and the push she’d felt to go to the police was in danger of dissipating. She needed some false courage. She had to find some meth. She’d left Rogue’s Hollow as soon as she could after she’d made the 911 call. As luck would have it, some friends who were sad about Glen saw her and gave her a ride to Shady Cove. They shared their stash with her. It wasn’t much, but after she smoked it, she felt the familiar rush.

  Fear faded, a false courage developed, and she decided she was through hiding. Shaking gone, though not even certain what day it was, she once again resolved to tell the police what she knew, what she’d seen. For Glen, for Anna. She didn’t even care what happened to her anymore.

  It took a while to get a ride back to Rogue’s Hollow, though, and by then, all her friends were warning her that the police were looking for her.

  “They’ve been rousting everyone trying to find you,” Dustin told her. She’d never liked him, but he’d been a good friend to Glen. After processing everything he’d said to her, her courage was gone, the high was over, and Tilly’s mind fogged. But then she saw him.

  The man who shot Glen.

  At least she thought it was him. Her head pulsed, and her thought process worked in jumps and skips. He locked the door to his business, then climbed into a work truck and drove away. Tilly looked after him for a long moment. Then she glanced around and saw a rock. She picked it up and crossed the street. When she reached his business, she peered into the window. Empty.

  He killed Glen.

  He killed Anna.

  Her breathing sped up. She raised her arm and threw the rock as hard as she could. The glass shattered and the alarm shrieked. She turned and ran.

  34

  First thing Sunday morning Tess planned to search the area she and Steve had observed across the creek, the spot where they decided Tilly was hiding when Glen got shot. Mind burdened with worry for Anna, she made it to the station early in the morning to enlist Del to go with her, only to find it already open and active. As she stepped inside, she saw Beto Acosta, animated and angry, while Del Jeffers nodded soothingly and wrote on a notepad.

/>   “What’s going on?”

  “Ah, Chief.” Acosta’s voice rang with frustration. “It’s unbelievable. I just left my office. I have an early meeting in Eugene, which I expect now I’ll miss. Been here ten years and nothing like this has ever happened. I don’t understand why anyone would attack me this way.”

  “Attack you?”

  “Yeah, that crazy girl. She tossed a rock through my front window. Shattered it. I had to hurry back to reset the alarm and I get cut by glass.” He held his arm up to show her a streak of blood.

  “What crazy girl?” Tess asked the question, already guessing who he referred to.

  “Tilly Dover,” Del said. “She showed up in town and for some reason she went a little nuts this morning.”

  “You have her in custody?” Hope flared.

  “No,” Del said. “Not yet.”

  Tess leaned against Sheila’s desk and frowned. “We’ve been looking for her, haven’t had any luck finding her. Did you see where she went?” she asked Acosta.

  “No, she was gone by the time I got there. I was on 62, heading for the freeway, when I was notified that the alarm had popped.”

  “Nobody actually saw her throw the rock,” Del added, and now Tess was confused.

  “Pete at the coffee shop heard the crash and saw her run away,” Acosta explained. “There was no one else on the street; it had to be her who broke the window.” His manner bothered Tess. And he was inside the station and still had his sunglasses on, besides the fact that it was barely light outside. Was that a New York thing? If she were a suspicious person—and she would say she was—she’d think that he didn’t want her to see his eyes.

  “As soon as I finish this report, I’ll go look for her,” Del said.

  Tess nodded. “I’ll help. Might not be able to charge her with breaking your window if no one actually saw her do it. Do you have any security cameras?”