by Laura Greene
“Who goes there!?” says Gareth through a small gap in one of the windows, the interior obscured by a wooden shutter.
“Gareth, it's Sheriff...” Jane will have to get used to not being sheriff any more. “It's Jane Scott.”
The door to the trailer creaks open. Standing in the doorway is Gareth Murphy, just as slim, just as pale, and just as blond-haired as he was the day of the tragedy on the radio station's roof. However, something has changed about him. His eyes are red as though he has not slept properly, and his glance darts around behind Jane as if looking out for someone dangerous. “Quickly, get in,” he whispers.
Playing along, Jane steps inside. The trailer is dim and musty, but not uninteresting. On a kitchen worktop there is a collection of laptop computers, their screens filled with unfamiliar software and numbers. “What's all this?” asks Jane.
Gareth takes a cold can of Coke from the refrigerator and hands Jane another one. He then sits down on a small black couch and opens his can. “I only got the job at Wild Cove Radio as a producer because of my background in tech. I live for this stuff, and most of the radio station was kept together by me using workarounds to keep their old systems up and running. They couldn't afford new stuff.”
“It looks complicated...”
“It's like anything; once you familiarize yourself with it, it gets easier...” Gareth momentarily turns his head and glances through the blinds behind him to the waste ground outside. “Are you here alone?”
“Yes.”
“I heard about you being suspended. That sucks.”
“It does,” says Jane, “but I'm more concerned with finding out why someone forced Bill to make that radio broadcast about me.”
“They've been here, Sheriff,” Gareth puts his head in his hands and starts to weep. “They killed my pet cat to see if I knew anything.”
“Oh, no... That's awful...” Jane says. “Who did it? We'll get them; Deputy Morris can...”
Gareth shakes his head frantically. “No... They said if I talked to anyone they'd kill me.”
“Who are they?”
“A group of men, six of them. They came here in two black SUVs like something out of a film. They said they wanted information about Bill; if I knew anything about his 'other job' and the computers he used... I told them no... A hundred times... They only believed me when they shot my poor cat and I still didn't have anything to say. Who does a thing like that?”
“Evil people, Gareth,” says Jane. “What was Bill's other job?”
But Gareth doesn't know. As far as he is aware, Bill only worked as a radio DJ and nothing more. He also knows nothing about the computer Bill used for this other, secret job. Jane tells Gareth to lay low for a few days and that she will look into who those men are. In the meantime, she heads to her second line of inquiry – Mrs. Carpenter.
Chapter 4
Bill's wife lives two streets over from Hemlock Street, just on the corner of Karswell Square. When Jane realizes what house it is – one of the oldest townhouses in Wild Cove – her suspicions are raised. How can a radio DJ at a failing station afford one of the nicest homes in town? she thinks as she parks in the street and then walks up the driveway to the large house. It’s not exactly Conwell House, but it must have at least six bedrooms.
When Jane rings the ornate copper doorbell, no one answers and yet there is a car in the drive. After calling out for Mrs. Carpenter, telling her it’s Jane Scott and receiving no reply, Jane wanders to the rear of the house. Her gut is telling her that something is wrong, and as she is peering through the screen door into the dim interior, she sees that the house is in disarray.
Jane may have relinquished her issued firearm to Romain, but she always has a spare for her own protection at home. Luckily, she brought that gun with her on her investigation, and so she pulls it out of her shoulder holster where it has been obscured by her jacket. She opens the screen door and finds the rear door unlocked. Jane notices some scratch marks around the handle lock, and she instantly knows that someone has picked it. But is the intruder still in the house?
Entering the home with her gun readied, she sees the true condition of the house. The insides have been ransacked. Books and papers are strewn across the floor; broken dishes, furniture and other once-prized possessions are equally broken and scattered. After searching the lower level and finding no one, she moves to a large staircase that heads to the next floor.
The wooden stairs creak under each step, and Jane's breathing grows nervous as she moves up onto the landing. Through an open doorway at the end of the hallway, Jane lays her eyes on the true terror of the Carpenters' home. Someone is tied to a wooden chair, and their head and face are covered with a plastic bag. Jane moves over to the body and feels for a pulse. But the body is cold to the touch, and Jane can tell once again, as she did with the body of Glenda Williams back during her first case in Wild Cove, that the person has been dead for hours.
Carefully searching each room to ensure the intruder is not lurking, ready to attack, Jane looks closely through the clear plastic that is pulled over the victim's head. It’s a woman in her 50s, and Jane rightly presumes she is the wife of Bill Carpenter. Someone has tortured and then smothered her with a plastic bag. No doubt it was the same six men who killed Gareth Murphy's cat and threatened him. But here, in one of Wild Cove's oldest houses, they have gone further. Whatever Bill's “other job” was, and whatever was on that computer, it was enough to kill people over.
Jane looks out of the nearest window to the rear yard. It’s pristine, immaculately cared for, and a sea of bright colored orange and red tulips have bloomed in a large, beautiful flower bed. Either Bill or Mrs. Carpenter was quite the gardener. Now they will never see its beauty again. Staring at the flowers from above, Jane dials Deputy Morris' phone number and explains to him what she has found. The deputy, now Acting Sheriff of Wild Cove, is on his way from the station. Jane will be happy to see him, but not under such grim circumstances. A brutal murder has taken place, and with the investigation of Jane's supposed corruption, her being there will only raise more questions about how her alleged evil ways have resulted in a murder. The “gossips of Wild Cove,” as her friend Pastor Callaghan always puts it, will have a field day with that; having her guilty without the slightest piece of evidence. Despite this, she has to go by the book; covering her presence up in the house will only make her seem guiltier.
Ending the phone call with Deputy Morris, something begins to play over in Jane's mind. It’s the way her mind works – piecing together the evidence, observing the world and seeing what others cannot. She notices something that Mrs. Carpenter's killers have obviously missed. Something most people will walk by without a glance. Staring down at the immaculate garden, its beauty and symmetry is striking. The Carpenters have taken care to ensure each piece is painstakingly thought through, in order to present the most striking visuals. And yet... One of the tulips is out of place.
Jane runs down to the backyard knowing time is against her; if the men who killed Mrs. Carpenter think they have missed something, they might be back. She carefully moves over to the tulip bed and looks closer at one of the flowers. Someone has clearly uprooted the plant and then replanted it. But when they did this, they didn’t do a great job. Jane imagines that Mrs. Carpenter was the architect of the garden after all, and that Bill hastily buried something underneath one of the tulips, replacing it without her care and dedication to symmetry.
This tulip is too close to another, separating it from the equally spaced others. Pulling on a pair of latex gloves she keeps for handling evidence, she dives her hands deep under the tulip and finds... Yes! Something is buried there, a sealed plastic bag, and inside it there is a computer hard drive and a note. Carefully opening the bag she pulls out the note, which reads:
“To whom it may concern,
Let this be the last will and testament of Bill Carpenter. I was a successful radio man once. My voice entertained hundreds of thousands of people around t
he country. Over time, radio faded, and I couldn't get a job. Even with my track record.
Then one day I caught a break. I got a gig at Wild Cove Radio station, and I've been there for many years. But I was in debt, and the life I'd been able to give my wife once was now under threat. The salary of a small-time radio DJ wouldn't cut it.
I'm ashamed to say that, to pay off debts, I started moonlighting as a handler for the Willow County crime syndicate. At first, I didn't know what they were up to, but then...”
Just as Jane reaches that point in the letter, she hears a familiar voice from behind. “Jane, what's that?” It is Deputy Morris, now no longer in a deputy's uniform. He is wearing a sheriff's uniform with the star to match.
Jane stands up, the letter and bag in her hands. “Looks good on you, Morris.”
“I'm sorry,” he says, bashfully. “If I could afford it, I'd have quit under protest. You're the best thing that's happened to this town in a long time.”
“Thanks, Morris. You always have been a great deputy, and I know you'll make a fantastic sheriff.”
“You'll get your job back...”
Stepping forward, Jane comes close to Morris and speaks in a lower voice for fear that someone might be listening. “Morris, I'm in a lot of trouble. There's a man named Robert Roe who wants to ruin my life. It's a long story, and I wish I had time to tell it...”
Morris looks at Jane with ever-loyal admiration. “Jane, whatever you need. It's yours.”
“They blackmailed Bill Carpenter,” she continues. “He killed himself because of that; something to do with what he buried under the tulips here.” Jane shows the bag and note to Deputy Morris. “They used that and pressured him to make the broadcast about me, claiming I was a crooked cop. And... They've killed his wife and threatened others. My guess is they are looking for the computer hard drive and whatever is on it.”
It is then that the sound of two car engines comes thundering down the street outside of the Carpenters' home.
“Did you tell anyone about coming here at the station?” asks Jane, her heart racing.
“Yes, I told a few people on my way out of the station that I was on my way here to help you,” replies Morris.
Jane moves quickly to the corner of the house and peeks out slightly. Two black SUVs, similar to those described by Gareth Murphy, have pulled up in the street. Six men in black suits step out of the cars quickly and head up the drive towards the front of the house.
“They look like Feds,” says Morris, having now joined Jane by peering around the corner, unseen. “Maybe it's Agent Ross' task force?”
Pulling Morris back out of sight before he can be detected, Jane's mind is ablaze with a terrible realization. “There are six of them. That's Robert Roe's men.”
Morris draws his gun.
“We're outnumbered, Morris, come on!” Jane moves quickly and vaults over a wooden fence at the rear of the Carpenters' home. “Quick!”
Morris follows, clumsily scraping at the fence with his feet as he makes it to the neighbor's garden on the other side.
“Quiet...” Jane whispers. They both hide beneath the fence.
“Where is she!?” a snarling voice says as the six men enter the Carpenters' rear yard.
“No idea,” comes another voice. “Someone should check the house.”
“Then you do it!” the gruff voice says.
Moments later, the second voice returns. “She's not in the house.”
“Look!” a third voice says. “Someone's been digging at the flowers.”
“This is bad...” says the gruff voice. “If Jane Scott has the hard drive...”
Jane feels her heart thrashing in her chest as her name is said. These men work directly for Robert Roe, the man who ran the drugs ring from her previous police station. All the six men will have to do is climb over the fence and see her and Morris hiding in someone's garden. They dare not move for fear of being heard.
A fourth voice now speaks, calmer than the others. “It's your fault for wanting payback.”
The gruff voice snaps. “She had it coming! She ruined the entire show in Willow County.”
“Yes,” says the calm voice. “And now she's here in Wild Cove, with our entire operation under her nose and the Feds looking for any clue they can find. That hard drive is enough to expose all of us.”
“I can't believe we're having to deal with Jane Scott again,” says another voice. “And now, your little push on the radio DJ to get at her has put everything at risk.”
“Enough!” snaps the gruff voice.
“Who made you boss? You're not Robert Roe...” says the calm voice.
“No,” says the man with the gruff voice. “We all are, and if Jane Scott has that hard drive, she'll know it and everything about our organization. We have to...wait...”
The conversation comes to an abrupt end. The man with the gruff voice has noticed something. What Jane and Morris didn't realize is that there is a small hole in one of the wooden slats of the fence they are hiding behind. Through it, the olive color of Morris's sheriff uniform can be seen.
Suddenly, a round of gunfire sounds. Wood splinters. Bullets embed in the grass all around where Jane and Morris are hiding. Jane opens fire through the wooden fence, and the six men of Robert Roe, for that is the name given to their cabal, jump for cover.
“Go!” shouts Morris.
Jane looks down. Morris has been shot in the stomach. Blood oozes from the wound, staining his sheriff's uniform. Holding the wound, Morris pleads again, “Go, Jane. I'll buy you time!”
“I'm getting you out of here!” Jane screams.
The six men on the other side of the fence now open fire again. In the hail of bullets, Jane grabs Morris on the ground and pulls him across an overgrown lawn. He then staggers to his feet with all of his might, as the blood is still pouring from his wound. Jane helps Morris, taking as much of his weight as she can, his arm draped over her shoulder. They move up a garden path that reaches out to a driveway towards the street. As they do so, one of the six men pursues, opening fire.
With his free hand Morris squeezes the trigger of his revolver, catching the man in his side. Jane and Morris scramble down the driveway to the street outside the pristine row of houses. Two more of the six run out into the street from the Carpenters' front yard, opening fire. Jane dispatches one with her revolver, while Morris catches the other in the chest.
The remaining three of the six now appear as Jane reaches the blue of Jack's loaned Mustang. She pulls the passenger seat door open as several bullets pierce the side of the car. Morris falls into the seat and Jane vaults over the hood of the car, firing with her revolver as she does. The three remaining pursuers duck for cover behind their black SUVs. Jane takes the opportunity, jumps into the driver's side of Jack's car, turns on the ignition and speeds away.
“Give me your radio, Morris!” says Jane, worried that if her friend loses much more blood he won't last long.
Morris groans. “No. Those men knew we were there. People at the station... We can't trust them.”
Jane knows he is right. That means she'll have to rely on those she trusts most, and one man comes to mind immediately.
Chapter 5
“Pastor!” Jane's hurried voice says over the phone. She is driving as fast as she can away from the Carpenters' house, but Morris is losing a lot of blood and the three remaining men of Robert Roe are close behind in two SUVs.
“Jane? What's wrong?” says the pastor, sipping his coffee and enjoying the afternoon sun outside a small cafe on Main Street.
“Pastor, no time to explain, but I need you to do something for me.” Jane swerves the car around a corner, the two black SUVs gaining with each second.
“Anything, Jane.”
“This is a matter of life and death. Head over to the sheriff's office and ask for Agent Ross. Tell him I have a list of those involved in the people trafficking ring he's been looking for. Tell him I'm currently being pursued and I'm heading
towards the Wild Cove Hospital. Speak with no one else, do you understand?”
“Completely!” says the pastor, already running down Main Street towards the sheriff’s office.
“Thank you. And Pastor... If I don't make it out of this... tell Jack I love him.”
Jane hangs up as one of the black SUVs races alongside her car, with one of the men driving and another brandishing a gun from an open window. Pulling the steering wheel to the left Jane pushes the car into the SUV, nearly losing control in the process. “Morris!” she shouts.