4 Arch Enemy of Murder

by Vanessa Gray Bartal

  “So we’re both dead,” she agreed.

  “At least we’ll die together.”

  “How long are we going to stay out here when we can’t see anything?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. Things with Pearl feel hopeless. I want to know that I did everything I could for her, that I gave it my best effort.”

  Lacy reached out to pat his arm when he suddenly swung away from her. “What was that?” he asked.

  “What?” she asked. With the beam of light now directed away from her, she couldn’t see anything.

  “Something moved.”

  “Tosh, don’t tease me when it’s this dark.”

  “I’m not teasing, Lacy. Something moved.” He took a step forward, leaving Lacy swathed in total darkness. She took a step, and suddenly she was careening down a hill. She slid a few feet and frantically waved her arms as she tried to get her balance. It was the arm waving that did her in; she overbalanced, fell forward, and started to roll.

  She rolled for what felt like a dozen feet down a steep incline. The hill leveled off, and she came to a gentle stop. Somewhere above, she heard Tosh calling her name.

  “Lacy, Lacy where are you?” He sounded near to panic as the flashlight beam made frantic sweeps over the area above her.

  She opened her mouth to tell him when movement caught her eye. Something slid behind her and she yelped.

  “Lacy?” Tosh directed the beam toward her as he began making his way down the hill. The beam landed on her face and she squinted. “What happened?”

  “I fell down the hill, and I saw something.”

  “What did you see?” He reached her and set the flashlight on the ground as he bent to inspect her. “Are you hurt?”

  “I don’t think so. But, Tosh, you’re not going to believe this. I think I saw a lion.”

  He tipped his head to the side as he studied her. “Did you hit your head?”

  “No.”

  “Then how could you have seen a lion? We don’t even have mountain lions here.”

  “Maybe it migrated.”

  “From Africa? What made you think it was a lion?”

  “The way it moved,” she said.

  “So you didn’t actually see it,” Tosh clarified.

  “No, it’s too dark. But I saw something slink.” Nearby the grass rustled. Lacy moved closer and wrapped her arms around Tosh’s leg as he grabbed the light, stood, and began searching the brush for movement. A deer stepped into view and studied them before quickly bounding away.

  They remained frozen, staring at the deer as it leapt delicately through the forest. “Let’s not tell anyone I mistook a deer for a lion, okay?”

  “Agreed. Can you stand?”

  “Yes,” Lacy said, but that was before she actually tried to do it. Once she put weight on her feet, her legs buckled, and she had to grab Tosh to keep from toppling over.

  “Let me guess, you re-injured your feet.”

  “I’m not sure they ever healed from last time.”

  “Can you walk?” he asked.

  “What choice do I have? Unless you think we could catch and saddle that deer, then I guess I’m going to have to hoof it myself.”

  “Nice use of the word ‘hoof’ in that sentence about the deer,” Tosh said.

  “I thought so,” Lacy said. She clutched his arm as he practically dragged her back up the hill. They made painstaking progress back toward the car. They were only a couple dozen feet away when the shooting started. One minute the forest was quiet, and the next it was filled with dozens of gunshots. Lacy felt like they were in the middle of a war zone.

  “Duck,” she yelled as Tosh had the same idea and dragged her to the ground. At first they were on their hands and knees, and then they realized their bodies were still too high. They belly crawled the last dozen feet to the car.

  “Do you think it’s safe to get in and drive?” Tosh asked.

  “I think we should wait until the shooting stops,” Lacy said. There were so many bullets, and they were so close. She was afraid that if they raised themselves up, they would become unwitting targets.

  The shooting went on for a long time. After a couple minutes of silence, Tosh thought they should make a run for it. “Lacy, are you ready?”

  There was no answer. He crawled to where she was and found her sound asleep, her face using the gravel as a pillow.

  Killing Jonah Merleputter had been a mistake, there was no disagreement about that. Just because a suspect had been providentially provided didn’t mean the blotter was clear. Lacy Steele and her pastor friend were still poking their noses into everything. She wouldn’t find the truth, no one was worried about that. But one could never be too careful. The plan to clean up the mess had already been put into motion. All that was needed was a slight tweak and the bases would be covered. As for Lacy Steele, she had better hope that she stumbled nowhere near the truth or it might be the last place she ever stumbled.

  Chapter 12

  The next morning, Lacy stood on Jason’s porch, her stomach full of butterflies as she knocked and waited for him to answer. It was barely after six and he didn’t have to be at work until eight. Knowing him, she figured he rose early in order to get to work on time. She hoped so because if he opened the door looking like he usually looked when he just woke up, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Maybe dump the coffee she held and go for him instead.

  “Lacy Steele,” he said when he opened the door—fully dressed. He rested his hand on top of the door frame and leaned with his other shoulder. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “Coffee,” she said for lack of something better to say. He had said the next move was hers. This was her making a move. Did he not get that?

  “Coffee, huh?” He reached for the proffered coffee and took a sip. “Mm, sweet, just the way I like it. Thank you.” He took another sip and regarded her in silence.

  “You’re welcome.” She felt like an idiot. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but this wasn’t it.

  “You’re up early,” he commented.

  “Lots to do,” she said. She glanced longingly at the sidewalk. Why had she come? “I should go.” She backed a step toward the driveway, but her progress was halted when Jason reached out and looped his index finger over the button of her skirt.

  “What’s your hurry?” he asked. He tugged her forward until she was pressed against him, her coffee held out to the side.

  “You smell as good as chocolate tastes,” she whispered.

  “That’s probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” he said. “So why are you rushing to get away from me?”

  “I wasn’t sure you wanted me,”

  “I always want you,” he said. “I’m not sure how much clearer I can make that.”

  “It’s starting to sink in,” she said.

  “Yeah? Maybe we could have dinner tonight to drive the point home a little more.”

  “Dinner?”

  “It’s the meal after lunch. Or, for you, the one before dessert.”

  “Is this going to be another dinner where we meet with your boss?”

  “No, just you and me.”

  Lacy was looking at another jam-packed day. She had no time for dates or dinners. “I wouldn’t miss it,” she said. He smiled but otherwise didn’t reply, and he hadn’t let go of her skirt. They were still nose to nose, but otherwise not touching. She wished they weren’t holding coffee so the clasp would be less awkward. “Seems like this would be the ideal time for a kiss.”

  “Let’s let it simmer,” Jason suggested.

  “Seriously? You’re going to send me away kissless?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re sort of driving me crazy here,” Lacy said.

  “Welcome to my world.”

  When she saw that he was serious about not kissing her, she took a step back.

  “I’ll pick you up at six tonight. We’ll go somewhere fancy.”

  “Sounds good. I guess I’ll see y
ou later then,” she said.

  He watched as she turned and walked away. “Hey, Lacy,” he called when she reached the sidewalk.

  She paused and half turned in his direction again.

  “You can kiss me, you know. These things work both ways.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.

  “See that you do.”

  Lacy walked to the Stakely building. Hours of work awaited her, but her concentration was shot.

  “I remembered something,” Joe said when he greeted her on the steps.

  “Something about what?” What was he talking about? In her mind, she saw the image of a pot simmering its way to a full boil, and she had trouble dislodging the thought to concentrate on Joe.

  “Last Tuesday. You said to remember. There was something niggling in my brain, but it’s a little short circuited because of the drugs.” He tapped his temple. “But I kept working at it until I remembered. I saw someone carrying a gun.”

  They were inside and ascending the stairs at this point. Lacy stopped. Joe grabbed the banister to keep from banging into the back of her. “Was it a man or woman?”

  He shrugged. “It was dark, and the person was large. I saw the silhouette of a gun when they turned.”

  “Where was this?”

  “I don’t remember that part, but I do know there were trees.” He gave her a hopeful smile, waiting for approval. She forced cheerfulness, but inside she was wondering if the final nail had just been put in Pearl’s coffin. Had she inadvertently found a witness to Jonah’s murder? If so, Tosh would be devastated.

  “Do you think you might recognize the area if you saw it again?” she asked.

  “Maybe,” Joe said. He sounded uncertain as he scratched at his stubbly chin. “It was dark and, to be honest, I get a little confused sometimes. But we could try. Where are you going?”

  She had bypassed him and was now heading back down the stairs. “We’re going to drive around a little and see if anything looks familiar.”

  “I thought you had lots of work today,” Joe reminded her. “That’s what you said yesterday.”

  “I do, too much. But this is more important, and hopefully it won’t take too long.” She only intended to drive him two places.

  “But…coffee,” he glanced longingly toward the office.

  Lacy smiled and clasped his hand, leading him down the stairs. “Joe, you’re a man after my own heart. We’ll buy coffee today.”

  “That’s probably better anyway,” Joe said, sounding cheerful once again. “Your coffee is terrible.”

  “Don’t spare my feelings, Joe. Tell it like it is.”

  “Well, the company’s pretty good,” he said.

  He sounded almost shy. Lacy smiled at him and squeezed his hand, and she could swear she saw him blush under all those whiskers.

  She pulled out her phone and called Tosh as they walked toward the church. “Can I borrow your car for a while?”

  “Sure. Where are you going?”

  “I’m taking Joe somewhere. I’ll tell you more later if it turns out to be something.”

  “Cryptic. Good thing I trust you completely.” He hung up and tossed her the keys as they met on the steps of the church. Lacy missed and sighed as she bent to pick them up.

  “Sorry, I forgot about your impairment,” he said.

  “What impairment?” she asked.

  “Your complete lack of motor skills. Bring her back safe, Joe.”

  “Okay,” Joe said, nodding his head as if the charge had been a serious one.

  They got in Tosh’s car and she drove Joe to the woods where she and Tosh had been the night before. She still hadn’t been able to make sense of all the shooting, although she hadn’t given it much thought. There hadn’t been time for review. After Tosh woke her up and drove her home, she stumbled to bed and fell sleep again. Then first thing in the morning she had grabbed coffee and headed to Jason. Now that she thought about it, though, the shooting was more than odd. Why would so many people have been shooting in the same area at night?

  “There aren’t any military installments around here, are there?” Lacy asked.

  “No. There’s a National Guard base a couple hours away. I had a cousin who used to work there.”

  “Why would a group of people fire guns in the forest at night?” Lacy asked. Hunting at night was illegal. She could see one person doing it, but a whole group? That was almost asking to get caught.

  “Dunno,” Joe said.

  He stared ponderously out the window, but for all Lacy knew he might be thinking of what he was going to eat for lunch. His synapses didn’t always fire in the correct order. She had learned that his mind wasn’t always where she thought it was. “Does this look familiar?” she asked as they approached the woods.

  “Yes.”

  “Is this where you were when you saw the person with the gun?”

  “Oh, no. I thought you meant had I ever been here before. I used to play here when I was a boy. No, this isn’t where the person was. There were houses.”

  “Okay,” Lacy said. She decided to circle around to Pearl’s neighborhood, and as she began mentally calculating the route, she realized with a sinking heart that it was almost on the opposite side of the woods. All Pearl would have had to do was walk through the woods, wait for Jonah’s car, shoot him, and walk home again.

  She drove slowly, thinking. She would have to break the news to Tosh. And Jason, although Jason had probably already thought of it. It was his job to look for those kinds of connections, after all. He would undoubtedly have realized the ease and access from Pearl’s house to the murder location.

  “You should live here,” Joe said, startling Lacy out of her daydreams. She looked around and realized they were in the chicest neighborhood in town, a subdivision filled with doctors and lawyers. “These are nice houses,” she agreed. “But I don’t think I want to live here. Would you believe me if I said the money is a burden sometimes, Joe?”

  He nodded. “After so many years in prison when all I had was an orange jumpsuit and a bunk, it’s hard to have possessions again. It feels like too much.”

  “Exactly,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I like being comfortable. But I want to do the greatest good with what I’ve been given. Sometimes that feels overwhelming.”

  “I’m glad you bought the Stakely building,” Joe said. “I always liked that place.”

  “Me, too,” Lacy agreed.

  “It makes me feel like there are better things out there,” Joe said.

  Lacy nodded. She knew what he meant. The beautiful architecture of the Stakely building had always affected her the same way, like a painting that stirred the soul to higher purposes, or poignant music that had the same effect.

  “There,” he said. She stopped the car, although she had temporarily forgotten why they were there. And then she saw it, and she was filled with dread. Joe was pointing to the spot right behind Pearl’s house. “That’s where I saw the person with the gun.”

  “You’re sure,” Lacy said.

  He nodded.

  “Are you sure it was Tuesday?”

  He nodded again. “That was the night my sister made curry. Believe me, I won’t soon forget that.”

  “Did you see the person go into a house?”

  He squinched his eyes closed and tried to remember. “No. I saw whoever it was come out of the woods, and then I turned away and went somewhere else. I don’t remember where.”

  “Okay, Joe. Thank you. Let’s get some coffee and go back.” She tried to keep her voice normal, but inside her emotions felt a little tattered. She had definite proof of Pearl’s guilt. Tosh would be disappointed. Jason would be angry that she hadn’t kept her nose out of the case like she promised. She would need to tell both of them, and how was she supposed to work that into her overloaded schedule today?

  She picked up coffee for both of them and stopped in front of Tosh’s church. “I need to run these keys in. I’ll be right back.”


  “I’ll do it,” Joe volunteered. “You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

  “I do,” Lacy admitted. She handed the keys to him. “Thanks, Joe. Please tell Tosh I’ll talk to him later.”

  He nodded and they parted ways. Lacy trotted as quickly as she could back to the Stakely building. Her feet still hurt. They had woken her the last few nights with Charley horses. She never wanted to see high heels again, but knew she would probably have to wear them with whatever torturous outfit Riley selected for the party.