"No problem sweetie, take care," she said, and I was dismissed.
I peeked out the door, just to make sure he hadn't left while I was inside. The van doors were open now and I could see luggage inside, maybe he was on the move.
I slipped out of the door and just made it safely back to my car before he emerged from his room carrying two suitcases which he flung into the van.
As he shut the van cargo door a young woman came scurrying out of the room and said something that I couldn't make out.
He shook his head no and gave her a little shove so that she stumbled backwards. Regaining her balance she retreated to the room and shut the door.
Now I had to choose whether to follow him or knock on the door and see what she would tell me.
I didn't want to lose him, but talking to her was compelling. Darn it! I should have brought someone with me. I drummed my hands on the steering wheel as I tried to decide what to do.
My decision was made for me when Mike got back out of the van and went to the door of the room. He knocked and went inside.
I got out of my car again, silently shutting the door behind me. Grasping my keys like a weapon, with them clenched between two fingers and sticking out like a small ragged knife blades, I made my way to the van for a peek inside.
It was a jumbled mess and packed to the gills. There were black equipment bags and cases, the suitcases he had brought out, duffle bags, fast food bags. I tried the door and it opened easily. I was careful, I didn't want to have any of that junk slide out while I was nosing around.
I reached for one of the suitcases, and heard a loud voice behind me yelling "Hey!", Mike had come out of the hotel room.
"You're that nosy bookstore lady, aren't you? Get inside the van, now!"
All the warnings I'd ever heard about never let a carjacker take you to a second location, played in my head on a loop. He came up behind me and pushed me forward, but I had my legs braced hard, and didn't fall all the way forward into the van. I knew he had me with strength, so I tried to slip out of his grasp. He was too strong though, and shoved me forward again. I landed inside the van with a thud, and he locked the door and ran around to the driver's side.
He hadn't been ready to take me prisoner apparently, I saw no weapon and my hands were free. Acting fast I unlocked the sliding door and as he slid into the passenger’s side I flung myself out onto the pavement.
I felt a terrible snap in my left foot, but I didn't let that stop me, and I ran to the office and threw myself inside as he peeled out of the parking lot.
Just then I heard the racket of police sirens as they came down the ramp from the highway and then went right back on again in hot pursuit.
My cell phone rang in my purse and I sat in the motel lobby and slid the screen open.
Drake.
"Yes?"
"You okay?"
"Yes."
"I saw you, I know you're hurt, stay put and I’ll come back for you."
"Where are you?"
"Chasing this guy down, we had a tracker on the van, we knew where he was the whole time."
"How did you know it was him, and what van?"
"Well, we had trackers on all the vans, just in case. I got the idea at the town barn, they use them on the plows there in the winter. Stay put. Please. I know you're a terrible listener, but I'll send someone for you as soon as possible."
Was it wrong that I was relieved I wouldn’t be able to run in the triathlon?
Chapter 18
Sinking my teeth into a bagel slathered with cream cheese, I balanced my coffee beside me on the hood of my car as we waited for the runners to come in.
Fortunately, I wasn't among them.
My foot rested in a boot, the doctor said he'd take it off in a few weeks and I'd be as good as new. In the meantime I was taking his orders to rest and refresh myself to mean I'd need carbs to heal. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do you know?
The swim and bike portions were over and the runners just had to finish up. The locations had been switched up because of Luke dying at the kettle pond, but we'd figured something out and everything had come together.
Drake was taking my place on the team, and I smiled as I saw him come loping past me, running like it was no big deal.
He waved at me and, looking straight ahead, powered through to the finish and threw his hands in the air.
He walked out of the finishers chute and looped back around toward me. I patted the hood of my car and encouraged him to rest next to me. He leaned down to kiss my cheek and I felt the hot flush of embarrassment rise to my cheeks. We weren't officially a couple, and I felt weird whenever we were anything more than pals in public.
He grabbed a bagel out of the bag and tore off a piece, then chewed it slowly. He saw my cream cheese slathered treat and shook his head.
"We got word about Mike yesterday, he's being held, bail hearing next week. I doubt they'll spring him, but you never know. I'll keep you posted,"
"It's crazy to think he believed that killing Luke was a solution to anything," I said.
"Seems like crazy is the operative word there. Apparently keeping him employed was his father's idea of how to keep him busy and out of trouble. The money laundering was all him, his dad knew nothing about how he was manipulating the company books. Seems like the kid was involved in a crazy lucrative drug business through his TV connections and using the production helped him hide all that. He didn't really want to take over at all, it was just a story to keep people from guessing what was really up."
"So, did this help you make sense of the video tapes you had?"
"Turns out he was in the bar that night. He must've hopped into the car in the front of the bar, just out of sight of the cameras. Harold passed out, Luke took Mike on a drive to confront him about the bank accounts. Mike didn't take too kindly to it. There was a fight out by the pond and Luke died of head trauma. Mike was all muddy, got back in the car, drove Harold home, dragged him inside, then walked back to his place and waited for the body to be found."
I shivered and Drake put his arms around me.
"You're like a dog with a bone, you won't give up on this stuff, will you?"
I smiled "No, probably not. I just hate lies, you know? I need to know the truth, and something won't let me rest until I've dug it up. That's what bugged me most about my hus... ex-husband. The lies. If he loved someone else, why not just say so?"
"So you're avenging him by solving cases here in town?"
I smiled up at him, "No, I just like getting under your skin!"
"You're going to get hurt, you did get hurt. Again! You've got to lay off. We don't usually have this much activity here anyway, so with any luck we'll go back to speeding tickets, petty theft and drunken beach parties for the rest of the summer."
"Perfect, gives me time to heal my foot and get ready for fall crimes and misdemeanors!"
"You're impossible, do you know that? No more meddling in current cases, do you hear me?"
"You like it," I laughed. "I know you do!"
"I always did love a challenge, Ivy Bloom. But I don't like you getting hurt. Promise me."
Drake gathered up our things and decreed he was driving, and as we headed back to the store, I decided that next time someone keeled over in our little town I'd leave it to the police.
Maybe.
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Snakes & Snails and Deadly Cattails: An Ivy Bloom Mystery (Ivy Bloom Mysteries Book 2) Page 8