“Okay, but it all happened so fast. I’m not sure if I’d recognize it.”
“You are pretty observant. I think you’ll be able to help.” The server placed a basket of bread on their table followed by the steaming bowls of chowder.
“I imagine he dumped it after he shot the guys who shot his partner.” Jessie reached for the crackers.
“He had to know the police in the area are searching for it.” Matt grinned, grabbing her hand. His thumb rubbed across her palm. “I mean they were stupid enough to shoot at my girl.” Jessie rolled her eyes. “I can’t help myself, Jess, you make it so easy.” He watched the familiar red flush creep up her face.
Jessie retaliated by a quick kick to his shin. “I couldn’t help myself either.” She smiled and then frowned at him.
“You know, eventually, I’m going to win this.”
“I’m not willing to concede anything yet.” She laughed. “Just ask my dad. I can hold out for a long time. You may be sorry you ever started this.”
“I don’t think so, sweetheart. I’m nothing if not persistent. You’ve heard it said that for the man it’s all about the thrill of the chase. Your resistance only makes it more intriguing to me. The gauntlet has been thrown down, and I love a good challenge.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “We’ll see who the last one standing is. If I have my way, we’ll both be winners and it’ll be settled to our mutual satisfaction.”
Chapter 16
Settled to our mutual satisfaction. She knew what Matt was suggesting. She fanned her face. She was in way over her head where he was concerned. How could she go toe to toe with him? The more she resisted, the more interested he became. He was able to gauge her reactions and anticipate her moves even before she came up with them. No comfort zone here; it had been obliterated. Intrigued, fascinated, and feeling slightly impulsive, she waited eagerly for his next move. She found the flirtation exciting. Matt stirred up strong emotions in her. She didn’t know whether to kiss him or slap him. He made her feel safe but troubled at the same time. She liked it! She smiled. What would he do next?
If Matt was the worst challenge she faced, then life was good. Following Matt’s directions, she turned on to the street where the impound lot was. Her handsome adversary was leaning against the fence. He pushed away and started walking toward her, grinning. All a part of his next move, she thought. As soon as she pulled her car into a parking space, he opened the car door.
“Good morning, sunshine. The vehicle I wanted you to look at is out back.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her along.
She studied the SUV, walking around it. “That’s the one, all right. Who could forget those fancy spokes on the wheels? I thought it was a little strange when I saw them. Why would you want fancy spokes if you didn’t want someone to notice you?”
“Beats me.” He shrugged. “None of what they’ve done makes much sense.”
“Wow, would you look at all the bullet holes. How’d he make it out alive?”
“I asked the same thing.” He grabbed her hand and forced her to stop walking. “How come you didn’t mention that little detail about the wheels to me the other day at the church?” He tilted her chin up so he could see her eyes.
“I don’t know, umm…maybe it was because you were in your crazy game plan. I had been shot at and wasn’t thinking too clearly.” She frowned, her forehead creasing.
“So what you’re saying is I made you lose your train of thought?” He chuckled, giving her a playful nudge. “Looks like I’m making headway.”
Her brows rose. “Are we done here?” she snapped. “I should get to work.” She turned on her heels making a beeline for her car. He was doing it again.
He got there first and opened the door. “Look, Jess, I’m trying to keep things light. I know there’s a lot going on right now. Why don’t we go out to dinner on Friday night? The two of us, like a real date. I can be real charming, and we might even have a good time.” He gave her an engaging grin.
“You, charming…” She giggled, her face lighting up. “That might be something to see. Friday it is.”
“I’ll pick you up at six thirty.” He smiled as he closed the door.
****
He watched her drive away. He then turned to Bob, the officer standing by the gate. “Let me know if you find any prints.” Bob nodded. Whistling a tune, Matt walked back to his car. He spent the rest of the morning on the phone with Coroner Dave Lewis and Tom Maxwell.
Three bodies were in Dave’s capable hands. One victim was in surgery. It was still too early to count Joshua out of the woods yet. His doctor was a tad more optimistic today than yesterday. Josh was making progress, but it was slow. A small piece of good news mixed among the bad. Matt smiled, tapping his pencil on the notepad.
Matt went over the details in his head. Tom had promised to get his team to Blue Cove to help. The lab at the bureau had agreed to put a rush on some of their lab results. He could use all the outside departmental help he could get. Forensics would supply part of the story. The results would help him build the case. The why would come only after a thorough investigation of the suspects’ lives. He enjoyed this part of his job; sorting through the evidence until a true picture of the crime emerged. Gary interrupted his thoughts.
“Joe wanted me to tell you Dave is on line one,” Gary said as he stuck his head in the doorway on his way to Dylan’s office.
He reached for the phone. “Dave, what do you have for me?”
“I have a name for one of the murder victims. Victim number one is from the burned-out van. Unbelievably, he showed up in the system when we ran the DNA match again this morning. Not there yesterday, but he’s there today. Seems a little odd, don’t you think?”
“Strange, but I can’t say I’m surprised.” He tapped his fingers on the chair. “I’m sure he’s supposed to lead us off track and take the heat off the others.
“His name is Eddie Lutz. He has quite an extensive record if we’re to believe the information in the system.” Dave sounded doubtful.
Matt turned his chair to look at the window. “I’m sure some of it is real. Some has probably been manufactured for our benefit, but we’ll get to the truth.”
“I’ll get back to you on the other two as soon as I have something. I heard they were able to pull a lot of prints off the van.”
“Good news, thanks, Dave. We’ll talk later.”
It didn’t take them long to gather information on Eddie Lutz. Eddie was a man feared by family and friends. A big, violent man, just as Abigail had described him. Matt imagined the brute kicking and pummeling Josh in an angry fit. It made him physically sick to think of it. The vein in his neck pulsated; his hand fisted. Those who stood by and did nothing were just as guilty as Eddie was. Matt relished the idea of making them pay, if they hadn’t already.
Picking up his phone, he dialed the church. “First Community Church, may I help you?”
His hand unclenched at the sound of her voice; he felt the tension ease. “Hey, Jess, would you look something up for me? You can get Jeremy involved, if you want. We found out the identity of one of the victims. I want anything you can find on the guy.”
“Sure, I’ll send Jeremy an email, and we’ll get started on it.”
“There will be a couple more before too long. Eddie Lutz is the man we’re looking at right now. I’ll send you the address we have listed for him so you can pass it on to Jeremy.” He opened up his email and began to type. “Look, sweetheart, I really appreciate it. It’s going to be crazy the next few days. I hope you don’t mind a few late night visits for perspective’s sake.”
“I’m okay with it.” She sounded wary. “Say, if you’re too busy for our date on Friday, we can postpone until another time.”
“Oh no, you don’t! Friday is on, come hell or high water. I’ll really need it by then.”
“I was just thinking about you.”
“I just bet you were.” He grinned. No way would he let her out of it. “I’ll see
you, Jess, and keep your eyes open. Our missing shooter has to be somewhere in the area.”
He emailed her the information. Her instinct for a story was great. As a combination, Jessie and Jeremy together would find things others would overlook.
****
Jessie had a lunch meeting with the Realtors, Bert Feldman and Sally Wallace. She was pleased with how things were going. Feldman represented the owner of Joe’s. He let her know the owner was receptive to the open door concept of joining the bookstore with the coffee shop. He thought it would be a boon for his business, as well as hers. Feldman told her the owner was out of the country, but he would have some estimates of the shared costs the next time they met. Sally handed Jessie the figures to look over for the bookstore. They agreed on another day to meet.
Jessie walked back toward the church after lunch, going over the details in her mind. She was one step closer to having roots in Blue Cove. She loved this town; she wanted to be a part of it in every way. Jessie was so busy in her thoughts, with all the changes she wanted to make to the store, she wasn’t paying attention. The white car parked in front of Patterson’s, with an occupant watching her wasn’t even on her radar as she walked up the steps into the church.
Her phone rang. She shuffled the contents of her purse, grabbing it after several rings. “Hey, this is Jessie.”
“Hi, I got your email. I’ve already started tracing the information. I thought that maybe I should come there for the next couple of weeks and help. Are you still open to my coming?”
“Of course!” She smiled. “You don’t even need to ask, Jeremy. I have a guest room. You’re more than welcome to stay there. I’d love to have you.”
“I’ll be there Saturday afternoon as soon as I can summon the energy to get up.” He chuckled. “You know me. I’m a night person with no active brain waves until the afternoon.”
“I’ll see you when you get here. I’m sure my friend Katie will be very happy to hear that you’re coming.” She sat down at her desk and got to work.
Maybe she should let Matt know Jeremy was coming. She picked up the phone.
“Hi, Jess, what’s up?” he asked.
“Jeremy called. He is coming here on Saturday so he can help. He’ll be staying in my spare room. I thought you would want to know he’ll be available.”
“Sounds good, I could use his help right now. I’m not sure about him staying with you, though. How good looking is he?” She could hear the laughter in his voice.
“You can stop teasing me.” She frowned at the phone. “Jeremy’s just a friend. I guess some would call him handsome. I don’t think of him like that. He’s a friend, a really good friend.”
“How good a friend are we talking about?”
“Goodbye, Matt.” She hung up on him, smiling.
Jessie watched as Melinda stopped the vacuum that she was pushing down the hall, a bucket in her free hand. “Hey, Blondie, what’s got you smiling?” Melinda walked into the office lugging her cleaning supplies. She set the bucket on the floor and plopped down into the chair in front of Jessie’s desk.
“Just lost in thought I guess.” She smiled as Melinda pushed her glasses up on her nose. “What’s up?”
“I’m going to clean the offices just as soon as you all leave.” She took the pencil out from behind her ear and grabbed a scrap piece of paper from Jessie’s desk. “Next time you order office supplies I need a few things.” Melinda scribbled on it and handed her the list.
Jessie looked the list over and slipped it into the drawer. “I’ll take care of it. I should place an order in the next couple of days. I don’t mind if you want to get started cleaning. It won’t bother me. The pastors are both gone for the day.”
“Actually I wanted to sit for a while.” Jessie noticed that Melinda seemed preoccupied.
“Is something bothering you?”
“You know how I said things have been pretty quiet around her since Gina left?” Jessie nodded. “Last night I wasn’t so sure. I thought maybe she had come back, or we had another visitor. There were some strange things going on. I heard several doors open and close. I thought it was my imagination, but then lights popped on and off.” She scratched her head. “I don’t know what it was, maybe some kids goofing around.”
“Did you tell Pastor John about it?” Melinda shook her head no. “I think you should, just in case someone is getting into the building at night.”
“I didn’t want to bother him.” She frowned trying to arrange her ponytail back to the top of her head.
“You should tell him first thing in the morning. It could be kids, but we should make sure.”
“All right, I’ll either come in and talk to him tomorrow or call him at home.” She heaved herself out of the chair. “I’ll get started cleaning and say my goodbyes now. See you tomorrow, Blondie. Oh, and I’ll close up and turn everything off.”
“I guess I’ll leave then. See you.” Jessie shut off her computer, grabbed her purse, and walked out of the church to her car.
Chapter 17
Jessie was going to let the information from Melinda slide, but she remembered what Matt had said about keeping her eyes open. Once in the car, she grabbed her phone out of her purse, put it on the holder, and said, “Call, Matt.” She loved this new gadget from her dad. It was a hands-free way to talk. It was great, especially with all the new laws cropping up about driving and cell phone use.
“This is Matt.” The sound of his deep voice made her smile.
Jessie repeated what Melinda had told her. “So what do you think, should we be concerned?”
“Maybe, maybe not, let’s err on the side of caution.” He sounded distracted. “A lot of people come and go in the building. It could just be kids, but it could also be something more. Just a minute, Jess.” She could hear someone talking to him in the background. “Sorry for the interruption. I’ll send Kip to check for any places it would be easy to break in.”
“Okay, Mr. Parker, I did my civic duty.” She chuckled. “I’ll leave it in your capable hands. I’m on my way home to run before it gets too dark. Talk to you later.”
****
Matt had a second name to check out. Dave Lewis called with the second victim’s identity and preliminary info. Gary had already contacted the authorities in Evansville. Matt wrote the name Karl Hampton on the top of his file. Dylan had found Karl’s body alone three miles in on Homestead Road, with a single gunshot to the head. Shards of glass imbedded themselves in the side of his face and neck. A large piece of glass had nicked a major artery. Matt’s brows furrowed. If Karl was anything like Eddie Lutz, people were standing in line wanting to murder him. Too many suspects made it hard to narrow down the field.
He turned his chair to look out the window and laced his fingers behind his head. Why Blue Cove? He didn’t get it. How many years had this been going on? This ideal small town was fast joining the ranks of the larger cities in terms of crime. Maybe it was easier for criminals to work from the shadows of small towns like his where people weren’t as observant because they felt safe. Blue Cove was just off the main highway, not too far from several major cities, a great location, close to the action. Matt grabbed his phone as soon as the thought hit him. She answered it on the second ring. “Jess, are you home yet?”
“I’m just about to my turnoff, why?”
“Head back toward the station and keep your eyes peeled for a car that might be following you.”
“You’re freaking me out, Matt.” She was silent for a moment. “A car behind me just pulled onto the shoulder. I’ll turn around.” Her sigh came over the connection. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“I’ll wait in the parking lot for you.” He stood up and headed out the office door. “Keep your eyes open, Jess! My gut tells me he’s in the area. You, Josh, and Abigail are a threat to him. The kids are under protection, you aren’t. You could be his target, for now.”
“He’ll just have to move on. I’m not going to be anyone’s targ
et again.” He smiled briefly at the irritation in her voice. “My life is just getting back to normal, and it’s going to remain that way.”
“Now, Jess, you know it doesn’t work that way.” He pushed through the station door.
“Well, it should!” Another few moments of silence passed. “Darn.” Her exhale sounded loud in his ear. “That car that pulled over is following me.”
“That’s why I wanted you to come here. Keep talking to me, Jess.” He paced back and forth, eyes fixed on the turnoff from Blue Cove Drive.
“He’s hanging back so I can’t get a good view of the plates or the model.”
“Just keep talking to me.” He could hear the tension in her voice and felt his anger rise with it. “Where are you?”
“I’m on Main Street, about to make the turn onto Blue Cove Drive.”
“Can you still see the car?”
“Yes.”
“How far back from you?”
“A couple of cars back. Hang on.” She paused. “I turned and he’s following me.”
“Stay cool. Just keep coming to me.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll bring him your way. I don’t want him.”
Matt smiled. Her humor was still intact. He stood, feet apart, watching up the street. “I see your car. Is he still following you?”
“He’s hanging back a little ways and hasn’t made the turn yet.”
“Does it look like he’s going to turn?”
“No such luck, he went straight.” He could hear the relief in her voice.
Matt disconnected as she turned in to the parking lot. He motioned for her to roll her window down as he walked up to her car. “Did you get the make or model of the car?”
“You’re asking me?” She was clearly tense. “I think it was white, yes, it was white. It could have been a Honda or Toyota. They all sort of look the same to me.” She sighed. “It was midsize and nondescript.” She noticed his frown. “In my defense, I could remember that black SUV only because of those fancy spokes on the wheels, but this car was like millions of others on the road. He never got close enough for me to see a license plate or anything.”
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