Escape to Sampson's Quarry (A Sampson's Quarry Mystery - Book Two)

by Sophie Tucker

  “Redmond Realty, this is Bri. How may I help you?”

  “Hello. My name is Joe Anderson and I am returning a call I received a day or so ago.” The man’s voice had a twang that reminded her of an uncle who had lived in Kansas much of his life.

  “Yes. Mr. Anderson, thank you so much for calling me back.” Bri shuffled through the papers on her desk, looking for the file on the property for the camp. “I had called about the parcel of land north of Sampson’s Quarry, out near the interstate.”

  “Right, right,” he said good-naturedly. “We do still have that property and it is still for sale.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful. I do have someone that is very interested in taking a look at it.”

  “Great. We don’t currently have a real estate agent so maybe you can help me out with this.”

  Bri hesitated. She didn’t know a lot about it except that being a dual real estate agent could be a little complicated. “Mr. Anderson, we will certainly do what we can. I will speak with Nancy Redmond, she is the owner and I am sure she can advise you. In the meantime, is there a possibility that my client can take a look at the property?”

  “Oh sure. Your client can go out there at any time. I think there’s still a lockbox out there on the main house. I don’t have it with me, but I can sure call or send you an email with the code.”

  “Thank you so much. Once I talk to my client, I will let you know when he might be planning to check it out.”

  They talked for a few more minutes, exchanging contact information before ending the call. Bri made some quick notes, adding all of the pertinent information she had learned to the file she had made for Lucas. She had almost finished when the front door opened.

  “Hey, you!” Haley said as she entered the office, a messenger bag hanging from her shoulder.

  “Hey, I didn’t realize you were going to be in town today.” Bri was happy to see her best friend. She saw Haley almost every evening but Lucas was normally there too. Not that Bri didn’t like getting a chance to see her brother, but she kind of missed having some girl time with Haley.

  Haley grabbed one of the chairs that sat against the far wall and dragged it over next to Bri’s desk. “It was kind of a last-minute thing. Your neighbor, Stuart, asked Lucas to run to the grocery store for him, offered his car to use so I tagged along. I decided to followed Detective Reese’s advice.”

  Haley looked at her funny and Bri realized that she had frowned at hearing Reese’s name. She quickly recovered by saying, “Oh? What advice was that?”

  “I went to go talk to the owner of the photography studio here in Sampson’s Quarry.”

  Bri remembered that Reese had mentioned it. “That’s right. How did it go?”

  “Really well actually. The owner, Doug Crandall, is very nice and his studio is amazing.” Haley was so excited she was waving her arms around while she talked.

  “Any chance he’ll hire you as his assistant?”

  “There is a really good chance. He just wants to see my portfolio first, but he seemed really positive about it.”

  “That’s great,” Bri said standing up, and then she paused. “Did you bring your portfolio with you?”

  “No.” Haley chewed on her lip.

  “Are you going to have to go back to Fairview to get it?” Bri asked, afraid that if Haley went back to Fairview that she might end up staying.

  “I don’t know.” Haley sighed. “If I can avoid it I will; I am not too keen on driving back on that road.”

  “I can’t blame you there,” Bri agreed. She walked across the room to straighten the magazines on the table in the corner. She glanced out the door across the square and had an idea. “What about your laptop?”

  “What about it?”

  “Don’t you have most of your work saved onto your laptop?”

  “Yes, but it’s…” Haley stopped talking. It took her a second and then she said, “You are a life saver. I can get some of my photos printed. I will just have to find a good print shop so I can get high-resolution images.”

  Bri pointed out the door. “There’s a print shop straight across the square from here. I am sure that they’ll be able to help you.”

  Haley winced. “It’s probably going to cost an arm and a leg, and I’ll have to buy a new portfolio too.”

  “Haley, you know I can help you out with that if you need it.” Haley looked as though she was going to say no. Bri narrowed her eyes comically and said, “I know where you live.”

  “Okay.” Haley laughed. “You are the best.”

  “When you get the job, you can just pay me back in a couple weeks,” Bri reminded her.

  “Good point,” Haley replied. She stood there indecisively for a moment and then started nodding. “I’m going to do it.”

  “Yay! I know I haven’t said anything. I didn’t want you to feel pressured, but I’m so excited about you possibly moving here.”

  “I know me too,” Haley said excitedly. “I was apprehensive before but honestly, there really is no other reason for me to stay in Fairview.”

  “I suppose I should feel bad about that, but I think this will be a good change for you.”

  Haley smiled. “I really like it here. I hope I can work at the studio.”

  “You go work on that portfolio.” Bri waved her hands. “I need to make some phone calls, including one to my brother.”

  Haley patted her messenger bag. “I am so glad that I brought my laptop with me. I can head over to the print shop now. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get them printed and be able to bring in the portfolio in the next few days.”

  “Good luck,” Bri said, giving Haley a hug.

  Haley sounded a little emotional. “Thank you!”

  Bri walked back over to her desk and picked up the phone, refusing to hesitate anymore.

  The phone rang twice. “Reese,” he nearly barked into the phone.

  “Hello. This is Bri Caldwell.” She closed her eyes, waiting for his response.

  “Bri, hello.” His voice softened a little. “How are you?”

  “Good, thank you.” She decided to get right to the point. “I have a big list of houses that you might be interested in. I was hoping we would be able to talk for a little while and try to narrow down what you want to look at first.”

  “That sounds good.” Noises in the background nearly drowned out his voice. “I am completely swamped here at the station though. Is there any way that we could possibly meet for dinner?”

  Bri hesitated. “If today is not good for you, I can…”

  Reese seemed to realize that she was hesitating. He sighed before saying, “It’s crazy here and I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone. I haven’t eaten since seven this morning, and I can’t go home until later tonight because my apartment complex is being fumigated.”

  Bri spoke up before he could go on. “Dinner is a good idea. Where would you like to meet?”

  “I’ll be at your office as close to five o’clock as possible. We can decide where to go when I get there, if that’s okay with you?”

  “That sounds good. I will look for you then.”

  She could hear shouting in the background and Reese sighed. “I will see you at five o’clock.”

  “Okay,” she said, but he had already ended the call.

  She straightened up her desk tried not to think about the fact that she would be seeing Reese in a few hours.

  "What the is going on in there?" Reese said, hanging up the phone.

  Danvers had just walked in from the other room. He turned and peered over the wall of filing cabinets behind their desk. "There is a fine, upstanding citizen in the lobby, screaming about his car getting broken into for the third time."

  "Who’s at the desk?" Reese asked. “I thought I saw Cass out there earlier.”

  Danvers laughed. "It’s still Cass. That guy is not gonna get far."

  "Poor guy." Reese shook his head. Officer Marcus Cassidy was six feet, five inches tall and weighed about t
wo hundred eighty pounds. He grew up in Queens, New York, and played middle linebacker at Alabama. It was not going to be pretty if that guy kept screaming at Cass.

  Danvers nodded at Reese's phone. "What was that about?"

  "Nothing."

  "It didn't look like nothing," Danvers remarked.

  "It was nothing, at least nothing related to work."

  "Okay,” Danvers said with a shrug. “So not work-related. I still want to know."

  Reese groaned to himself. "Fine. It was Bri Caldwell calling about some houses."

  "Houses?" Danvers asked. "Are you looking to buy a house?"

  "Yeah." Reese tried not to sound defensive. "I've lived here for almost a year now. I just thought I should probably make it permanent."

  "Good to know, Reese. Good to know."

  Reese started straightening his desk. "What happened here? I know it wasn't like this when I left earlier today."

  "Oh yeah, I saw Martin over there; he was looking for a file."

  "I understand looking for a file but he made a mess here."

  "Be thankful it was just the files on your desk. Last week he knocked over a whole cup of coffee on Cass’s desk."

  Reese looked up at Danvers. "And Martin is still walking?"

  "I know. It was a surprise to me too. Cass jumped back to avoid the wash of coffee and Martin hightailed it out of the station."

  “Can't say that I blame him." Reese got all of the files stacked back up when Danvers said, "Here."

  Reese took the file folder Danvers was holding out to him. "What's this?"

  “There was a break-in at the florist shop. There’s some mention that it wasn't the first attempt. Someone needs to go over and talk to the woman there."

  "And that someone is me?" Reese asked.

  "It doesn't have to be you. I'm already heading out to speak to someone over in Camden about the accident on the highway last week."

  Reese opened the file and read over the initial report. He looked at his watch. "I'll go over there now. The rest of this paperwork can wait."

  Reese grabbed his coat off the back of his chair and left the station. The florist shop was not too far away, right across the town square. He left on foot thinking it would be much faster than getting his car out of the lot in the back. He walked down Finley Drive. It ran along the north side of the town square, opposite of the offices where Bri worked. He made a right onto First Street. The florist shop was about four buildings down. It was an older building that, as far as he knew, had been there for many years. It had been updated not long ago when the town had gone through a renewal.

  He had never stopped in the store, but he had seen the woman that worked there several times as she made deliveries around town. He took a quick minute to look around to see if he saw anything out of the ordinary before he went into the shop.

  Forget-Me-Not Florist was painted on a large window in script writing. Reese pushed open the glass door; a bell jingled to announce his presence. The main part of the shop looked like any other florist shop with different sized arrangements set out on various tables. A refrigerated display case near the counter displayed unique flowers and what he assumed were special orders. There was a door in the back covered with a curtain, and it wasn't long before a woman came through, pushing the curtain aside with her elbow as she carried a vase full of tall red flowers.

  "Good afternoon, I hope you haven’t been waiting long," She said with an easy smile.

  "No, not at all.” He took his wallet from his pocket, opening it so she could see his badge and identification. “I’m Detective Reese with the Sampson’s Quarry Police Department, and I am here to ask you a few questions about the break-in."

  She wiped her hands on her apron before she reached out to shake his hand. “Hello. Calista Andris, but please call me Callie.”

  Reese wrote her name down in the small notebook he always carried with him. “It’s good to meet you. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

  “No, go right ahead.”

  “I read the report about the break-in. Can you tell me about what you saw?”

  Callie nodded and pointed toward the room beyond the curtained doorway. “Yes. I came in yesterday morning and everything looked normal. When I went out the back door, I realized that it was unlocked already.”

  “Is it usually locked?”

  “Absolutely. I lock up every night before I leave.” She started walking toward the door. “I was taking a trash can to empty out in the large bin behind the shop. On my way back inside, I noticed the marks on the door.”

  Reese remembered reading in the report that there were signs of a forced entry. “Can you show me the door?”

  Reese followed her through the curtained doorway where it opened up into a larger room that was clearly a work area for putting together the floral arrangements and storage. Along one wall there was a shelf with vases, baskets, and other containers in various sizes. Callie continued over to stand in front of a metal door in the back corner. The door and lock looked fine from what he could see. She opened the door and went outside.

  “See there?” she said pointing to the door.

  There were indeed signs of somebody using something to pry the security plate back from the door. They hadn’t gotten far though, and Reese wondered how they had gotten in.

  “And you’re sure that you locked the door the night before?”

  “Absolutely, without a doubt. I had parked right by the back door after making a delivery in the afternoon. When I left for the day, I locked up inside and then came out this door. I know for a fact that I locked it up. Even checked to make sure that it was locked.” She closed the door and rattled the door knob for effect.

  Reese looked at his notes. “There was also some mention of previous break-ins. You want to tell me about that?”

  “The strange thing about that was that they were only attempted break ins. I think,” she said cautiously.

  “What do you mean, you think?”

  She walked back into the work room. “It wasn’t anything as obvious as the damage to the door, but one time I found a screwdriver laying by the back door. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Now I am wondering if someone hadn’t been spooked and dropped it when they ran off.”

  “Anything else?” Reese looked around the workroom while she spoke.

  “There was another time when I was here working late on a last-minute order and I heard the front door rattle. I thought it might be a customer so went to look. When I went to the curtain, there was someone at the door. Before I could even get a good look, the person ran off.”

  “That is strange,” Reese agreed, walking back into the main shop area. “Any idea why anyone would want to break in here?”

  Callie looked around and shrugged. “No idea. I don’t normally have a lot of cash on hand. Most of my orders are done online with credit cards. It’s kind of baffling to me.”

  Reese was in total agreement with her. It wasn’t a typical place for someone to try to break into. He tapped the closed notebook across the back of his other hand. “Well, we will do our best to get to the bottom of it. If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to call.”

  She took the card that he held out to her. “Thank you. I will.”

  Reese left the shop continuing down First Street. He wanted to check out the other storefronts before he went to meet Bri. There was nothing out of the ordinary, and he turned down Lewiston Drive walking toward the Redmond Realty office. He was just passing by the small parking lot when he saw Bri standing behind a car, a shocked look on her face.

  “Bri, are you okay?”

  She turned around suddenly, looking startled.

  He crossed the parking lot while saying, “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s not you. “

  “Then what?” he asked but didn’t need to wait for an answer when he saw what she was looking at. Her car was sitting in its normal
spot, but all four tires were flat. From what he could see they appeared to have been slashed. “Did this just happen?”

  She shook her head again. “I don’t know. I parked here this morning and I just now discovered it.”

  He took out his phone and began dialing the station, reaching out to grab her hand as she reached toward the car. “Don’t touch it. There might be fingerprints.” She stepped closer to him, not letting go of his hand. He put the phone to his ear just as someone answered. “Hey, get someone with a fingerprint kit over to the parking lot on the south side of the town square.”

  “You should try to eat something,” Reese told her.

  “I don’t really feel like eating anything right now. I’m sure you can understand why.” All she wanted to do was go home. Reese had waited with her for the police officer from the lab to come over to check her car for fingerprints. Once they had arrived, Reese had taken her into the coffee shop so that they could talk.

  He reached a hand out across the table his hand almost touching hers. “I know you may not want to eat but you need to. You’ve just had a big shock and getting some food in you will help.”

  Bri shook her head. “I don’t really…”

  “Hey folks, good to see you again. What can I get you?” Judi asked, walking up to the table.

  Reese looked at Bri and she shook her head again.

  “We’ll take two BLT plates, extra fries, onion rings, and two large Cokes.”

  Bri’s mouth dropped open. She wanted to yell at him for ordering for her, and then it occurred to her that he may have ordered all of that food for himself. He had mentioned that he hadn’t eaten all day. She paused, wondering which was worse.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t normally do that. If you don’t want the sandwich once it gets here that’s fine, but at least you have the option if you start feeling better.”

  “Thank you,” she said, feeling a little sheepish. She knew that he was only trying to help. It appeared that she was in need of some assistance, but she had no idea where to start or if anything could really be done.