by J A Whiting
Bricklin started to shake his head, but then looked up. “What about that guy who tried to kidnap a girl from the ball field? You heard about that? It happened the night Janice got killed.”
“We’ve heard there was an incident,” Nicole told him. “We heard a man was suspected of being the one who tried to grab the little girl, but there wasn’t any evidence to take it further so he was released. You think there could be a connection between that person and Janice’s killer?”
“It’s possible, isn’t it? Nothing ever happened in Chatham Village. Then on the same night, a kid almost gets abducted and a woman gets murdered. If you ask me, I’d say the kidnapper and the killer are one and the same.”
“Do you know the abductor’s name?”
“Brandon Willis,” Bricklin said. “He was wearing an orange hoodie when he tried to grab the kid.”
“Willis lived one town over from Chatham Village,” Claire pointed out. “Did you ever run into him?”
“I ran into him a couple of times at a bar. We played on the same softball team for a while. He sort of gave me the creeps. Something seemed weird about him.”
“Really?” Nicole asked. “What about him seemed off?”
Bricklin rubbed at his chin. “I can’t really explain it. Just not normal.”
“Do you have any relatives, Mr. Bricklin?”
“My ex-wife, if that counts, and my older brother, Mack. He lives about a mile from me in Somerville. My parents are dead. My younger brother died in a motorcycle accident.”
“Did you remarry?”
“Nah. What’s the point? I don’t think I’m the marrying type. I like my privacy. I don’t like getting nagged or corrected. I like doing my own thing. I guess I really don’t care a whole lot about anyone else.”
The words skittered over Claire’s skin leaving a feeling of anxiety in their wake.
10
Holding the Corgis’ leashes, Claire stood on the busy sidewalk with her face lifted towards the warm sun. Lady, Bear, and Claire waited for Nicole to finish seeing a new space to move her chocolate shop and when she finally emerged from the building, Claire would take a turn looking around inside. Claire had been out for a walk with the dogs when Nicole texted her asking to meet in the North End. A new place had just come on the market and she wanted to be the first to get a look at it.
“There are better places to sunbathe you know, Rollins.” A man’s voice spoke behind Claire and recognizing the voice, she whirled around to see Bob Cooney.
Cooney, in his mid-fifties, with jet black hair and dark brown eyes had a thin, fit, wiry frame. Wearing black-rimmed sunglasses, slim black dress slacks, a white shirt, and a cashmere camel-hair jacket, the man looked like a very wealthy businessman … and that’s exactly what he was, only the majority of his money had been funded by shady dealings.
Lady and Bear greeted Cooney by dancing around him and wagging their little tails.
“Dog hair,” Cooney groaned. “Not on my pants, please.” Pretending to be annoyed by the friendly animals, the man’s smile and gentle pats on the dogs’ heads gave away his true feelings.
“You’re looking dapper,” Claire said.
“Same to you.” Cooney extracted himself from the leashes wrapped around his legs. “Why are you standing on the sidewalk like you got no friends?”
“We’re waiting for Nicole.” Claire explained that her friend wasn’t able to renew her lease and was searching for a new place.
“Why can’t she renew?”
“Someone offered more for the space.”
“That’s unethical for the lessor to do that. Want me to have someone break the landlord’s legs?” A former private investigator, Cooney had a reputation for being involved in unscrupulous dealings and making a ton of money from them. He also had a reputation for knowing just about everything that was going on in the city.
Claire rolled her eyes. “No, thank you. I’m sure you’d overcharge for that special service anyway.”
“I hear you two are doing some interviews for a detective in Chatham Village.” Cooney lit a cigarette and took a long drag, the end of it glowing orange.
“You heard right.” Claire let a little bit of leash out so Bear could sniff at spots on the sidewalk. “You shouldn’t smoke you know. It’s unhealthy.”
Cooney took another long drag. “It’s my only vice.”
Claire snorted.
“Why are you talking to people about a cold case?” Cooney asked.
“Ian asked me to do it. Detective Gagnon is a friend of his.”
Cooney eyed the young woman. “Why? Why does that detective of yours need a baker’s help? Or is it your legal expertise that he needs?”
“I’m good at understanding people. I have a special skill.” Claire wasn’t kidding about having a special skill.
“Yeah? What? Are you a witch or something?”
The blood almost drained out of Claire’s head.
Cooney asked, “So tell me, has your special skill pointed the finger at anyone yet?”
Clearing her throat, Claire said, “Not yet.” Narrowing her eyes, she said, “Wait a minute. Do you know who killed Janice Carter?”
Cooney scoffed. “I was just a kid when that woman died.”
“You were more like twenty-five,” Claire corrected.
“I hadn’t advanced in my career yet.”
Claire said, “I know that’s double-speak meaning you hadn’t yet joined up with criminals.”
“Always so harsh with me, Rollins.” Cooney tsk-tsked. “Don’t judge until you’ve walked in another person’s moccasins. I had to do what I had to do. I didn’t inherit a half-billion dollars.”
Claire’s eyes flashed. “Neither did I.”
“Oh, right. It was more like the full billion.”
“I don’t know where you get your information.” Claire sniffed and changed the subject. “Did you enjoy the chocolate shop sweets I brought you as a thank you?”
“I put on about five pounds eating them. They were delicious.”
Claire had brought Cooney a box of bakery items to thank him for giving her a few self-defense tips … which saved her life not long ago.
“Watch your back on this, Rollins. You go sniffing down a rat hole, you just might smoke one out.”
“I’ll be careful.” Claire smiled. “Since someone recently taught me a few things, I’m pretty good at getting out of a strangle-hold now.”
“Don’t get cocky. Not with this stuff, anyway. It’s dangerous to do so.” Cooney rubbed out the cigarette butt with the toe of his expensive brown leather shoe. “I need to get to an appointment. You need any special information to go with your special skill, you know where to find me.” Turning away, he bent to pat the dogs. “Tell Nicole not to lease this place she’s spending so much time looking at.”
“Why not?”
“Let’s just say, the owner is … unscrupulous.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know who the person is who yanked the shop space right out from under Nicole, do you?”
“I do not.” Cooney picked a piece of dog hair off of his sleeve.
“Do you happen to know of a better place available to lease?”
The man paused for a few moments. “Take a walk over to Hanover Street.” He gave Claire the number. “Inquire in there. Tell the man you’re a friend of Bob Cooney. He might be able to help out.”
“Thanks.”
Cooney started away down the sidewalk. “Watch your back. Tell Nicole to do the same. You want anything, you know where to find me.”
Bear and Lady woofed goodbyes to the man.
Cooney’s warning made the little hairs on Claire’s arms stand up.
Claire and Nicole returned to the chocolate shop, made sure the sign was turned to closed, and sat at a café table making a list of possible dessert items to present at the taste-test for the wedding job.
“What else did Cooney say about the place we were looking at to move the shop?” Nic
ole lifted her pen to add another bakery item to the list.
“Nothing else. He said the owner was unscrupulous and not to associate with him.”
“Cooney also said the owner of this place is dishonest and unethical for kicking me out of here.”
“That’s right,” Claire said.
“It makes me angry. I pay on time. I keep this place in tip-top condition. I treat it like my own place. And the thanks I get is a kick in the pants.” Nicole shook her head, a lock of her long brown hair falling out of her loose bun.
“It’s better to get out and find something better. Tomorrow we’ll have a look at the space the man on Hanover Street has to show us,” Claire said. “Do you know what kind of a business is replacing you here?”
Nicole frowned. “A bakery.”
Claire groaned. “Well, it won’t be as popular as yours, and your customers will follow you to the new place.”
“Will they? They’re used to stopping here on their way to work or coming in at lunch time. They might not want to change their routine. If it was a market or a clothing store or something different moving in, they might follow me, but with a new bakery here, they might decide not to change their routine.”
“Then new people will find you. You are top notch, you have a reputation, you’re known now. It will work out. You’ll see.” Claire made sure her voice sounded confidant and optimistic.
Resting in the corner, Bear and Lady lifted their heads and woofed.
After coming up with a list of ten ideas for the wedding job, the young women decided they’d narrow down the choices over the next few days. Nicole made lattes and she and Claire sat by the window.
“That bald-headed guy we met yesterday rubbed me the wrong way.” Nicole sipped the smooth coffee and a bit of the frothy foam covered her lip. “He sure didn’t remember much of anything. Did you think he was faking?”
“The thought crossed my mind.” Claire looked out at the darkening streets. “I had the distinct impression that Joe Bricklin did see something that night … or maybe, and I’m just speculating out loud … maybe he had something to do with the murder.”
“I wondered the same thing,” Nicole admitted. “I think he liked Janice. I bet he wanted to date her. Maybe she shot him down. Maybe he watched her go out on other dates from his window across the street and it made him furious.”
Claire said, “I was also thinking, what if he did see someone at Janice’s door that night? What if the killer found out Bricklin saw him and he threatened Bricklin to make him stay quiet? It would explain why Bricklin changed his story.”
Nicole’s eyes widened. “That could also be the reason why Bricklin moved away and didn’t stay in one place.”
Claire nodded. “I felt a little uneasy around Brittany Patterson when we talked with her. Something about her didn’t sit right with me, but I can’t put my finger on why.”
“I agree. She had a falling out with Janice because she criticized a guy she was dating? What in the world did she say about him that would make Janice so angry?”
“Do you think there might be more to the story?” Claire asked.
“We might need to speak with Brittany Patterson again,” Nicole said.
Claire’s phone buzzed with an incoming text. “It’s from Keith Gagnon. He’s tracked down the siblings who were involved with the attempted abduction. Sally, Penny, and Bob Harrison. He’s set up a meeting for the day after tomorrow so we can talk with them.” Claire looked up at Nicole. “Keith also had a meeting with the suspected abductor, Brandon Willis. Keith wants us to speak with him as well. He’d like our input.”
Nicole shuddered. “The idea of talking to that guy gives me the creeps.”
Claire’s stomach tightened with dread.
11
Claire and Nicole met the Harrison siblings in a private room in the Chatham Village library. Sitting at a long glossy, wooden table, thirty-five-year-old Sally Harrison Michaels, had shoulder-length blond hair and big blue eyes. The woman was slim and athletic looking. Her sister, Penny, was forty-two-years old with chin-length light brown hair and the same blue eyes as her sister. She was standing by the window when Claire and Nicole entered the room. Penny was of average height and was slightly overweight. Bob, the middle sibling, was thirty-nine, just under six feet, and had brown hair and a strong build.
After greetings went around the small group, everyone took seats.
“I was pretty surprised to get Detective Gagnon’s call,” Bob told them. He fiddled with the cuff of his neatly-pressed, pale blue, long-sleeved shirt. “I thought the Janice Carter case was locked up and dead.”
Claire said, “Janice’s daughter made a request to the Chatham Village Police department to re-open the investigation. We’re conducting a few interviews to determine if something new might come up.”
“I still think the killer is the same guy who tried to kidnap Sally,” Bob said. “I think it’s Brandon Willis.”
Claire noticed Sally wince at her brother’s mention of the attempted abductor.
“Why do you think the same person is responsible for both attacks?” Nicole asked.
“Because some guy tries to grab Sally and a couple of hours later, Janice Carter gets murdered?” Bob shook his head. “Nope. This was Chatham Village. Nothing bad ever happened in this town and then we had two crimes in one night? It has to be the same guy.”
Claire looked to Sally who sat with a tight, nervous expression and her hands folded in her lap. “Can you walk us through what happened that evening?”
“Sure.” Sally’s voice sounded a little hoarse. “It really never gets easier to talk about. We….” She gestured towards her brother and sister. “We were down at the ball field. No one was playing games that evening. It was getting dark. I had my bike and was having a great time riding around the park. Every few minutes, I rode past Penny and Bobby. They were shooting hoops.”
“Did you have the park to yourselves?” Nicole asked.
“We did for the most part,” Penny said. “Maybe someone walked by now and then, but we didn’t pay any attention to them. Mostly the place was empty, quiet. It was fall. It got dark earlier.”
Sally said, “We had dinner at home with our parents and then Bobby asked if we could go to the park for a little while. Our mom said to be home before it got dark.”
Bobby said, “Penny and I got involved in shooting the baskets, trying to beat each other. We realized we’d stayed out longer than we should have.”
“We looked around for Sally, but she wasn’t anywhere in sight,” Penny said. “We thought she must have biked home. We lived only two blocks from the park.”
“So the two of us started walking home,” Bob said.
Sally picked up the story. “I biked back to the basketball court. My brother and sister were gone. I got a little scared so I biked fast out of the park.” She paused for a few moments, then swallowed hard. “The next thing I knew I was on the ground. I’d fallen from my bike. My leg got scraped. I started to stand up and tried to pick up my bike when someone grabbed my arm. At first, I thought it was Bobby trying to help me up, but then I saw that the person was too big to be my brother.”
“What happened next?” Nicole asked gently.
“The bike was in between us. The guy had my arm. I jerked the bike handles and pushed the bike at the guy. I bent my head and bit him.”
“You bit him?” Claire was flabbergasted that a little kid would even think to try and bite her attacker.
“Yeah, I did. It was an instinctive reaction. I didn’t think about it. I just did it.”
“He let you go?”
“He released his grip on my arm and then I took off running and screaming. I think I could hear his footsteps behind me, but he must have veered off when my brother and sister came racing back. They heard my screams.”
“I heard a blood-curdling shriek,” Bob said. “I’ll never forget it. It turned my blood to ice. I knew it was Sally. Penny and I didn’t say a wo
rd. We both wheeled around at the same time and ran like sprinters back up the street.”
“We were lucky we weren’t far away. Fate and good fortune were on our side that day.” Penny’s shoulders seemed to shudder. “If we were any further from the park, I…. I don’t think we would have seen our sister again.”
“Penny and Bobby raced to me,” Sally said. “I was still screaming when they reached me. I could barely get the words out.”
Bobby said, “We each grabbed one of her hands and took off for home. All Sally could manage to tell us was that a man was after her. She babbled it over and over. That’s all I needed to hear. We were out of there.”
“We didn’t go back to that park for over a year,” Penny said. “And when I did return, I felt sickish. I didn’t want to be there. The place scared me. I was suspicious of every man that passed by.”
“The incident had a strong impact on the three of us,” Bobby admitted.
“I was distrustful of men for a long time. Maybe I still am,” Sally said. “I was praised for fighting back. I liked the praise I got for fighting back and being called brave, but I wasn’t brave at all. I was frightened nearly to death. I can’t even remember the sequence of events. All I recall are the flashes of images, the fall from the bicycle and hitting hard against the pavement, the surprise of it, seeing the person standing next to my bike. I can feel the raw rush of adrenaline and the impulse to fight back. That isn’t being brave. That’s the will to stay alive.”
“It’s remarkable, really,” Claire said. “You were only five, but you had enough in you to scare off the attacker.”
“I think he saw my brother and sister and that’s the reason he ran,” Sally said. “If Penny and Bobby were slower, well, I bet I’d be dead.” Breathing in a long sigh, she told them, “I became a fitness nut. Running, biking, lifting weights. I think subconsciously I have the need to be as strong and fast as I can be, in case I’m attacked again. It’s all because of what happened.”
Penny looked at her sister with admiration. “My sister is as fit as a person can be. She’s run marathons, has completed two Ironman competitions. I’m amazed at her. Me? I stress eat. I eat for comfort. The near-abduction made me feel unsafe in an unstable and dangerous world. I felt there was no one who would be able to keep us safe.”