by Raven Snow
Kosher might look at his arrest as game over, but I knew it was just the beginning.
Chapter Eleven
I gave Kosher the rest of the day and most of the next to get a grip on himself. He wallowed in pity and ignored most of my calls. When Vic made him answer, he told me that the case was finished. Over. And I needed to get over it.
I rolled my eyes every time he said it but allowed for his attitude. For one, he’d earned a little time off. For another, I was a little swamped. Cooper needed help with a science project, Biscuit had fleas, and Stan hadn’t been in to work last night, leaving me severely understaffed.
So, around sunset the day after he was arrested when I could finally pull myself away from everything, I showed up on his porch again with a cheery smile on my face. He opened the door, saw who it was, and slammed it shut again. On the other side, I could hear his heavy foot falls heading up the stairs.
The noise stopped when Vic started shouting at him, and I heard him start coming back down the stairs, reluctant and probably a little resentfully.
He opened the door. “Vic says if I don’t go with you, my partially eaten body will be the next one they find.”
“You made the right call,” I told him, herding him towards the car. “I’m going to clear your name if it gets both of us eaten.”
“How comforting,” he said as I started off down the road. “I guess we’re going back to the lake?”
“Honestly, maybe we should take the plunge and just buy a cabin there. We’ll save on gas.”
Instead of continuing on the bumpy road to the lake, I pulled up at Sawyer’s hut. The lights were out, so I could only assume he wasn’t home. That might’ve been our first real lucky break in this case.
Like with the boat and the fingerprint on the badge, I wanted to see if the police missed anything when they found the gun. When you had a suspect in mind, it often distracted you from the facts. If evidence didn’t support your claim, you disregarded it.
I couldn’t afford to throw out any evidence. I was so poor in this case.
“Did the report say exactly where they found the gun?” I asked, voice a little impatient. The sun was beginning to set, and it’d be harder to find something in the dark.
Not to mention the fact that nighttime was the time when monsters came out to play. I shuddered at the thought of running into the beast in the water again. Once was more than enough.
“It probably did,” Kosher said bitterly. “But they don’t let me see that kind of stuff anymore.”
Right. Well, we’d just have to split up and look around the whole bait shop. Maybe we’d get lucky and find something. If not, it looked like we might have to break into the police station again. Twice in one week would make some kind of record.
Kosher took the right side of the building and I took the left. I moved slowly, keeping my eyes on the ground and moving in circles around the outside. The most I found was a couple empty beer cans and one dried-up cigarette.
I was just about to finish my half circle when I heard something in the distance. It sounded like someone yelling, and the hair instantly stood up on the back of my neck.
“Did you hear that?” Kosher asked from behind me.
I jumped a mile into the air, cursing him up and down. “Put a bell around your neck. You just took ten years off my life.”
The screaming continued, soft and far off. It would have been impossible to tell where it was coming from, but I just knew. It was one of those moments where the most horrible thing you can imagine comes true.
“We have to go down to the lake.”
We didn’t waste time, rushing along the dark path and following the sounds of someone calling for help. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman at this distance, and by the time we got to the deck, the screaming had stopped.
Kosher and I went all the way to the edge of the boardwalk, emboldened by the idea that someone was in trouble. Without any lights from Sawyer’s shack or Chris’s boat, the lake and the deck were completely pitch black. I squinted against the darkness, trying to make anything out, but it was impossible. I could barely see Kosher two feet away from me.
The next thing I heard was footsteps running down the dock.
“Kosher? Is that you?”
But it couldn’t be, because he was right next to me. Not to mention the footsteps were coming towards us, not away.
Kosher didn’t get the chance to answer, and I didn’t get the chance to think it through further. Someone came up to me in the dark, shoving me backward before I could scream.
I stumbled backward, hitting the water and swallowing a good gallon of it before I had the chance to close my mouth. The icy cold depths swirled all around me, and I couldn’t tell which direction was up. Vaguely, I heard something splash beside me, as I frantically tried to kick myself to the surface.
My head breached the surface of the water, and I gulped down air like it was the last piece of pie at Thanksgiving. I’d only been under for a few seconds, but that can feel like eternity if you’re not sure you’re ever going to breathe again.
Someone else popped out of the water right next to me, panting just as hard as I was. I reached out a hesitant hand and found a huge pair of sideburns. My sigh of relief was loud on the silent lake.
“Beck?” Kosher gasped. “I can’t see you.”
“Rest assured I look as fabulous as always.”
Something brushed up against my leg, and I swear I could feel it all over my body. It felt like fear and being eaten alive. I tensed up immediately, almost going back under.
“Please tell me that was you,” I said.
A second later, I heard Kosher say, “Jesus, what was that?”
And then we were swimming for our lives.
It was pretty hard to tell which way was land, but in our panic, we just picked one and got lucky. I’d never been a very strong swimmer, but the way I moved in the water you would’ve thought I was born in Atlantis. Really, I should’ve tried out for the Olympics under these conditions.
Another brush against my leg, and I almost wet myself. The water around us was shaking, almost trembling. The motion was too big to be caused by just us, a fact that only made me swim faster.
I heard and felt something emerging behind us as the water got a little shallower, my feet hitting the sandy bottom. There was a roar that vibrated through my bones and made my ear ache. Without even realizing it, I was screaming my head off, running for land.
We hit the beach and kept going, running into the woods. I risked a look back and wished I hadn’t, my eyes going wide and my heart stuttering in my chest.
The moon came out from behind a cloud, and the light glowed on her pale scales. She was even taller than I remembered her, her teeth bared and a low hissing emitting from her chest.
She made a lunging movement, and I shouted again, turning front and redoubling my efforts. Running through sand wasn’t easy, and every moment, I was sure I could feel her hot breath on my neck. The feeling didn’t dissipate as we hit the woods, getting far away from the lake.
We sprinted for what felt like miles until the two of us just collapsed on the ground, panting, soaked, and probably in danger of going into shock and losing our toes to frostbite. I was shaking uncontrollably, and I didn’t know if it was from the fear or the cold.
“We’re either extremely lucky,” he said, holding his side, “or God hates us.”
“I don’t feel lucky.”
We made our way back to the car, which took quite a bit of time, since we ran hard in an unknown direction. We spent the better part of twenty minutes ambling around aimlessly, and then I heard something.
“Now I really don’t feel lucky.”
Sirens wailed in the distance, getting closer and closer to our location. We emerged from the tree line near the lake and saw three squad cars waiting for us. The officers had their guns drawn, and none of them looked like they would mind shooting us.
“We got a noise compl
aint,” one of them said. “And you’re trespassing after hours.”
“That would be our screams.”
But nothing I said could convince the cops to look the other way, and before I knew it, Kosher and I were both in handcuffs in the back of a squad car. The line of his jaw was tense, and his mouth was so tight that white lines bracketed it.
In other words, he looked pleased as could be to be arrested for the second time this week. For me, this was just like any other week, but I could see the frequent run-ins with the law were wearing him down.
When we got to station, I expected the officers to put us in holding cells until morning. Instead, they marched us right past the front desk, main officer area, and into the very room that Kosher and I had broken into the other night.
I tried not to show any reaction, but I was sweating slightly. My eyes met Kosher’s, and I knew he was thinking the same thing: busted.
If I thought I was in trouble before walking through the door to the Chief’s office, it was nothing compared to the feeling of seeing Wyatt’s boss sitting behind his desk in the wee hours of the morning. He looked less than pleased.
Police Chief Hauptman was not a smiles kind of guy. I’d seen him before at picnics and office functions, always wearing a grumpy expression. Tonight he was in rare form.
A man in his late 50s, his dark hair was dusted with grey. He had frown lines instead of laugh lines, and his green eyes were piercing. When he turned them on me, I believed he could see right into my soul.
And he clearly wasn’t happy with what he saw.
“Sit,” he said shortly, nodding at the two seats placed in front of his desk
As if on some sort of cue, the officers who’d dragged us in there removed our cuffs. Mine was a little rougher than was necessary. They shut the door behind them on the way out.
I pressed my lips together, almost wishing they’d stayed. That left Kosher as my only witness, and I didn’t think he’d stick up for me as I’d just gotten him arrested. Again.
“Kosher,” he said, nodding at his officer before turning his eyes back to me for a moment. “Mrs. Bennett.”
I technically hadn’t taken Wyatt’s name when we married. Partially, because I found it unnerving to share my mother-in-law’s name, and partially, because I was Harper Beck. Not Harper Bennett.
I didn’t think now was an appropriate time to correct Hauptman, though.
“Sawyer called in a noise complaint,” the Chief said, eyes narrowing. “Said he heard screaming down at the lake.”
It took real self-control not to roll my eyes. Sawyer would have to be deaf and live one hundred miles away not to hear Kosher and me screaming.
He sat back in his chair. “Now, let me say I don’t hold with any of this lake monster business. Some kind of fish or animal gnawed on that man’s body. That’s what happened, and that’s what’s in the official report.”
“How refreshing,” I said. “A skeptic in Waresville. So, witches, vampires, and werewolves are all well and good, but a lake monster?” I shook my head. “One step too far?”
“Don’t get sassy with me young lady. My officers caught you trespassing. By all rights, you should be in jail right now.”
Sassy? Young lady? I wasn’t that young, and he hadn’t begun to see sassy. There was something about this older, thickheaded man that I really didn’t like. He reminded me of a cop in Miami that was always on my case back when I was a kid.
Kosher spoke up before I could say anything that would get us put behind bars. “Why aren’t we in jail, sir?”
“Sawyer doesn’t want to press charges.” His tone said that he didn’t think it should be up to the old fisherman. “He owns the land.”
Hauptman’s glare came back to me again. “He said he doesn’t want something like this going on such a fine young lady’s record.”
Those were clearly Sawyer’s words, not his, but my face still heated a little. I couldn’t remember if anyone had every called me a fine young lady, and I found I liked it.
“I’ve heard a lot about you over the years, Mrs. Bennett,” the Chief said, “and I’m surprised an officer as sensible as Kosher would tie his wagon to yours.”
“Maybe it’s because I’m such a fine young lady.”
He leaned forward, unamused. “I’ve turned a blind eye to a lot of your activities, because frankly, you get results on occasion.”
“On occasion” must have been a nod to my perfect record. Well, it’d be perfect if I could manage to solve this one which, at the moment, wasn’t looking good.
“But you’re fooling yourself with this case. Or maybe you’re just not as good of a detective as you thought you were.” His tone was hard, and I was a little taken aback. “You don’t have any real evidence, suspects, and you’re just running around in circles getting everyone worked up. The both of you are going to get yourselves or someone else hurt. It stops now.”
He turned to Kosher. “I’m sorry about all of this Officer, and for the record, I don’t believe you killed that man. But it’s the evidence that matters, not my opinion.”
“Yes, sir,” Kosher said lowly, an automatic response.
“Believe in the system, Peter. It’ll work out.”
“And you,” he said, sharp eyes flicking to me. “If I see your name in another report, Mrs. Bennett, not even Wyatt will be able to save you from jail time. Do we understand each other?”
I nodded numbly, feeling suitably put in my place, because he was right. What did I have? A couple of not very likely suspects and a tube of lipstick. Why couldn’t I just admit that this was one case I might not be able to solve?
Dismissed, Kosher and I shuffled out into the hall, not really sure what to do with ourselves. There was a patrol car out front that was going to take us home, but I don’t think either of us was ready to meet it yet.
A man came through the front door, carrying a large stack of newspapers. He fished a key out of his back pocket and opened up a vending machine, placing this morning’s paper inside. Then, he was gone, off to deliver more papers elsewhere.
Just as I was about to look away, deep in thought, I caught a glimpse of the headline on the front page. It was the same newspaper that Shard worked for.
Waresville Man Eaten by Lake Monster
I reached into my purse for some change to buy the piece about my victim, my fingers brushing up against the lipstick I’d found in Chris’s sheets. The bright red shade, now that I was staring at her name in print, made me think of a pair of lips I’d seen in an overpriced coffee shop.
Reaching back, I whacked Kosher on the shoulder to get his attention. Then, I started gesturing wildly to the news story behind the glass.
“I can prove that they were sleeping together,” I said.
He shrugged. “That doesn’t mean she killed him.”
“No, but if anyone had found out she slept with a source, her credibility would be shot. She’d never write another story.” I pulled out the lipstick. “I found this in Chris’s bed. It’ll have her DNA all over it.”
A spark of hope flickered to life in his eyes. “Okay,” he said. “That’s something. So…we should get that to the lab.”
I smacked him upside the head. “That’s not how we do things. We’re going to blackmail her.”
“Two seconds after being threatened with jail, you want to go commit a crime.”
“That’s the sum of it, yes.”
He shrugged. “Alright. Let’s just swing by my place and get a car.”
The officer didn’t say anything when I got off at Kosher’s house instead of heading home to mine, though he did shoot me a judgmental look. In fairness, he thought I was cheating on my husband with Kosher.
I shook my head like a wet dog to get that mental image out of my head.
When we walked through the door, Vic was waiting for us in a ratty robe with a hand on her hip. “And what sort of hour do you call this? I’ve been waiting up half the night for you two.”
&nbs
p; Kosher kissed Vic quickly on the forehead and then headed into the kitchen to get his car keys. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him, and I knew he was in for it.
So, I settled back in one of the living room chairs and watched the show.
“Where do you think you’re going?” She blocked his way out of the outdated kitchen.
“We have a lead.” He sounded a little confused, which I found hilarious. He had no idea what was coming, but I’d been on the receiving end of my fair share of Vic’s explosions.
“No, what you have is responsibilities. To me and to Hope.”
“What?”
And it all went down from there. Apparently, Vic had been building up to this for a while. Kosher was always at work, and when he was home, he was glued to his police scanner, thinking about work. That was probably the reason he always beat Wyatt to crime scenes.
I began to feel a little bad for the Detective, because he just stood there and took it, his eyes wide like a deer staring into oncoming headlights. I wasn’t actually sure he was breathing he was so still.
Finally, the yelling stopped as Vic ran out of steam. Kosher didn’t seem to know if he should stay or go at this point, so I grabbed him by the collar and walked him out the door.
“I’ll have him home at a reasonable hour,” I called back to Vic. “With doughnuts.”
She followed us to the door to shut it behind us. “Doughnuts? Alright, that sounds acceptable.”
The door closed, and Kosher looked more bewildered than before.
“You’re welcome,” I said, stuffing him into the passenger seat.
“Thank you?”
Shard seemed to live at that coffee shop, so I headed there. Once we’d pushed our way through the caffeine deprived masses, I saw her sitting at the counter, still wearing that same shade of red lipstick.
With a decisive click, I slapped the tube down in front of her, almost knocking over her mug in the process. She raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at me, but her eyes were less confident.
“Am I supposed to know what that is?”