Except herself.
Ten minutes later, I heard a car pull into my driveway. I peeked out half-expecting Chief Hurley. What a relief it was to see Maddy, instead.
I didn’t even wait for her to get out of her car before I rushed outside. She unlocked the passenger door, and as I slid in, I said, “I have no idea where I’m supposed to meet up with Trent. We never agreed on a time and place.”
“I’m right here,” he said from the backseat, and I nearly wet my pants, which would have been a real shame, seeing that I was wearing a brand new pair of blue jeans.
“You scared the daylights out of me,” I said. “Where did you come from?”
“He jumped in when I turned the corner,” Maddy admitted. “If it’s any consolation, I nearly had a heart attack myself.”
“You really should keep your doors locked when you’re driving,” Trent said, “particularly when you’re all alone. Didn’t you read my feature last month on safety tips for the single woman?”
“Sorry, I must have missed that one,” Maddy said.
“And it could have cost you your life,” Trent answered. “Honestly, why do I even bother, if people aren’t going to read what I write and do something about it?”
“Are you actually lecturing me on how to behave, Mr. Fugitive From Justice?” Maddy asked as she turned around to look at him. I saw a car pull out in front of her and had to grab the wheel and jerk it before we hit them.
“Would you pay attention to the road, please?”
“I saw them in plenty of time,” Maddy said, though I knew that wasn’t true by anyone’s definition of the word.
“Your sister’s right, you know,” Trent said. “Last year, I wrote a column on bad driving habits, and not taking your eyes off the road was Tip Number Seven.”
“Shouldn’t you be keeping your head down?” Maddy asked. “Someone might see you.”
He suddenly realized that he’d been edging upward in his seat more and more, and Trent quickly dropped back down. “Sorry. I got distracted.”
“Maddy’s driving has a way of doing that to folks,” I said. “Have you had any ideas where we might find Steve’s car?”
Trent laughed gently. “I can do better than that. I found it last night after I left your house.”
I turned in my seat and stared at him. “Then why did you wait for me to check it out with you?”
“There was a problem,” he admitted.
“I can’t wait to hear this,” Maddy said. “Where’s the car, Trent?”
“It’s in the impound lot,” he admitted. “You’re going to have to get Kevin Hurley’s permission before you can dig around in it to look for that box.”
“What happened to ‘we’?” I asked. I wasn’t sure how on earth I could get Kevin to let me see Steve’s car, but whatever excuse I came up with, it had better be a good one. Did he even know he had it? And if the chief of police did, why hadn’t he said anything to me?
“If I show my face, he’ll throw me in jail on general principle,” Trent said.
“You keep telling me that you haven’t done anything wrong,” I said.
“Do you think the chief of police is going to believe that, let alone the FBI? You said they found some of the money from the robbery in my office. If they catch me before we figure this out, I’ll be in jail for the rest of my life.”
Maddy stopped, and I looked to see where we were. The police station was directly across the street, and in back of it was the impound lot. Sure enough, Steve’s car was sitting to one side.
“Let’s go,” Maddy said as she turned off the ignition.
“You need to stay here. I’ve got to go in alone,” I said.
Maddy protested, “If you think I’m going to let you face the police chief by yourself, you’ve clearly lost your mind.”
I put a hand on my sister’s arm. “Maddy, if both of us go in, he’s going to think we’re up to something, no matter what cover story we come up with. If I go in alone, there’s a slight chance I can persuade him to let me look inside the car before he does.”
“She’s right, you know,” Trent said from the back seat.
Maddy threw a tissue box at him, and he yelped out.
“Sorry,” she said, “I forgot you were back there, what with you being so quiet and all. At least that’s what’s supposed to be happening.”
“Okay, okay. I get it.”
I patted her hand. “We really don’t have much choice. You know that, don’t you?”
“Just because I agree doesn’t mean I have to like it,” she said. “If he gives you any grief, call me and I’ll come right in.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you on speed dial,” I said as I started to get out of the car. “Hopefully this won’t take long.”
“Take all the time you need,” Maddy said. “If things get dull here, I’ll just chuck something else in back.”
“That’s totally uncalled for. I said I was going to be quiet,” Trent said softly.
“Did you hear something, Eleanor? I could swear I heard a voice coming from the backseat. I might have to throw my purse back there to get it to quiet down.”
When there was no response, I opened the door and got out.
Now all I had to do was come up with a story that Kevin Hurley would buy.
“Eleanor Swift, what brings you by?” Helen Murphy was at her usual place at the front desk. She worked the telephones and acted as the police dispatcher, and though she wasn’t officially an officer, she was as much a part of the department as Kevin Hurley was.
“I need to see the chief,” I said.
“Is it an emergency?”
“No, not really. Well, I suppose it could be important. That’s really up to him.”
“Are you through, dear?”
I took a breath, then I said, “There’s something I need to ask him.”
Helen smiled at me like the grandmother she was, but I could see the steel beneath the surface. Anyone who took her at face value soon learned that she could be as formidable as an angry bull.
“Why don’t you ask me, instead? I might be able to help you without involving the police chief.”
“It’s about my brother-in-law,” I said. Helen had a soft spot for family, something I was taking advantage of. I felt a little guilty about it, but not enough to keep me from doing it.
“I can’t believe that man just took off and left without even saying good-bye.” There was a snap in her voice that denied any sensitivity.
“I’m not so sure he did,” I blurted out. The disdain Helen had shown for Steve had been more than I could take, especially since the man was dead. She didn’t know that, though, and I should have kept my mouth shut.
“What are you talking about?”
“His car is in your impound lot,” I said. “He had something of mine, and I need to get it. Now, can I talk to Kevin?”
“I’m sorry, but he’s not here at the moment,” Helen said.
“Then why didn’t you tell me that in the first place?”
“I’ll ask you to watch your tone, young lady,” Helen said, as if we were at one of her family picnics and I’d stepped out of line.
The breeding went too deep in me, though. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” I said as contritely as I could manage. “I didn’t mean to speak harshly to you. I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately.”
“That’s better.” After a second, she tapped a few keys on the computer in front of her, and then said, “I highly doubt the chief even knows we’ve got it. The car in question just came in last night. It had three parking tickets on the windshield, and we have a three-strike rule around here.”
“What’s that?”
“Three outstanding tickets buy you a tow. Steve’s going to have to pay the tickets, plus storage fees, before he can reclaim his car. I saw it when they brought it in. He might come out better just abandoning it.”
“Can I at least see if he’s got something of mine inside? I won’t take lo
ng.”
“I’m sorry, I truly am, but no one can do that but the chief.”
I pointed to her radio. “Could you call him, then? This really is important, or I wouldn’t ask.”
“Hang on.”
She picked up the radio and called Kevin.
He answered immediately. “Hurley here.”
“Chief, Eleanor Swift is here about her brother-in-law’s car.”
After a pause, he said, “What about it?”
“We impounded it last night,” Helen said. “It’s on our lot.”
“Where has he been, then, and how did he get wherever he was going without transportation?”
Helen looked at me, and I just shrugged my shoulders.
“She doesn’t know.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Kevin said, “It doesn’t really matter. Tell Eleanor that she’s going to have to pay the fees if she wants to bail it out for him.”
Helen crinkled her nose before she said, “Chief, he’s not with her. She says there’s something in the car she needs to retrieve, and she was wondering if you’d mind.”
“Not without knowing what it is,” Kevin said almost immediately.
“It’s a shoe box,” I blurted out, on the premise that there’s no lie like the truth.
“She wants a shoe box he has of hers,” Helen repeated.
“Say again?”
“A shoe box,” Helen said.
“Why did he take her shoes?”
“There aren’t shoes in it,” I said.
“No shoes, just the box,” Helen told him.
“What’s in the box?” the chief asked.
He had me now. I had a second to come up with something, and as I struggled for an answer, I noticed a photograph on Helen’s desk of her children and grandchildren all gathered together, with her in the middle.
“Tell him they’re old family photographs,” I blurted out.
Helen’s face softened as she said, “It’s pictures of her family. Things are slow here, Chief. I can take her back myself.”
“You need to stay on the desk,” he ordered.
“What should I tell her, then?” Helen asked after a long pause.
“I’ll meet her at the impound lot in four minutes,” he replied, the exasperation clear in his voice.
After Helen signed off, she said, “You can wait over there, or you can go over to the gate at the impound lot and wait for him there.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll wait outside,” I said. “Thanks for your help.”
“Photographs are more valuable than all the gold in the world,” she said.
“They can be,” I agreed.
My only hope was that if the shoe box Steve had shown me was in his car, Kevin wouldn’t make me open it in front of him. I had no idea what it held, but I doubted I wanted the police chief to discover its contents the same time I did.
I walked over to Maddy’s car and slid onto the passenger seat.
“Well, at least you tried,” she said.
“I’m getting a look at it in a couple of minutes,” I said.
“How’d you manage that?” Trent asked from the backseat. Apparently his vow of silence had already been broken.
“I told Kevin I was looking for a shoe box of old family pictures. It was the only thing I could think of.”
“What if he wants to look inside for himself?” Trent asked.
Maddy didn’t even give him any warning this time. She took a handful of change she’d been holding and threw it over her shoulder.
“Hey, that wasn’t nice,” Trent complained.
“Just be glad it wasn’t anything sharp and pointy.”
His voice lowered, he asked, “Do you have anything up there that’s sharp and pointy?”
“Keep talking and you’ll find out.”
Maddy looked at me and grinned as she shook her head.
“What should I do?” I asked my sister.
“I honestly don’t know.”
As we waited, I kept thinking about how I could distract Kevin if the box was indeed still in Steve’s car.
And then I had an idea. Before Kevin pulled up, I told my sister, “Give me your wallet.”
She raised an eyebrow, but did as I asked.
“You, too, Trent.”
“I don’t have much money,” he complained, “and I’m going to need every bit of it to get away from here.”
“That’s fine, because I’m not interested in your cash.”
He reluctantly handed his wallet forward, and I collected all of the pictures in it, along with Maddy’s. After I was done, I returned the wallets to their rightful owners, and then I dug pictures of Joe out of mine. They could be crucial if I was going to sell my plan to Kevin.
Twenty seconds later, I saw the chief of police’s cruiser pull up to the gate. As I got out, I said, “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck,” Maddy said. I noticed there was no echoing sentiment from the back.
“I was patrolling downtown,” Kevin said as I joined him at the gate. “Do you mind telling me where your brother-in-law is? I’d really like to talk to him as soon as possible.”
“I don’t have a clue,” I said.
“Then how did you know his car was here, when I didn’t even know that myself?”
It was time for a little white lie. “I was driving past the lot half an hour ago and happened to spot it inside. Steve may have abandoned it if it broke down on him, but if he left pictures of Joe in there, I want them.”
Kevin appeared to buy my story. I had the photographs in my pocket in case I needed them, but if there wasn’t any box, my planning had been in vain.
The police chief had a key in hand and was unlocking the gate as he spoke. “Your business isn’t being protected if I have to leave it and come down here.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, “but this is important to me.”
“Yeah, I understand that.” As he locked the gate back behind us, he unlocked a small box and took out a car key. “I shouldn’t be doing this. The town will auction off the car and its contents in ninety days unless the owner claims it, which we both know isn’t going to happen.”
“Then what could it hurt?” I asked. “I promise, this won’t take long.”
I reached for the key, but he pulled it away out of my reach. “Not so fast. How do I know this box really belongs to you?”
“Kevin, have I ever lied to you?” I asked, trying to make my voice as indignant as I could manage, given the fact that I was indeed lying to him now.
“Only when your lips are moving,” he said. If he hadn’t added a bit of laughter and a slight smile, I might have gotten angry despite the fact that he was right.
“The box isn’t worth much, but it’s got pictures of Joe in it,” I said, feeling bad about that part of the deception. I had no choice, but that still didn’t make it feel right.
“Can you describe it?” he asked.
After I gave him a description—as close as I could get, given that I’d really only glimpsed it before without paying too much attention to it—he nodded.
As we neared the car, Kevin leaned down and peered inside.
“There’s no shoe box that I can see,” he said. “Sorry.”
“Could it be in the trunk?”
Kevin shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.” As he opened the trunk, I took the photos out of my pocket and held them in my palm.
When the lid slid open, we saw all manner of junk back there. There were old newspapers, fast-food wrappers, containers of soda, and more flotsam and jetsam than accompanied a lot of sinking ships.
Kevin shook his head at the mess. “If it’s back there, you’re going to have to dig it out yourself.”
I bit my lower lip, then I started moving trash around in search of the box.
Kevin glanced at me quickly, and then said, “Wow, you must really want those pictures. I’m sorry I thought you were lying about it.”
“Y
ou’re forgiven,” I said.
After five minutes, it was clear that there was nothing back there but trash.
“Sorry it didn’t turn up,” he said as he slammed the trunk. “He must have taken it with him.”
I highly doubted that, but I couldn’t give up yet. “Could you open the car doors for me so I can look under the seats?”
“You’re grasping at straws, Eleanor.”
“Humor me,” I said.
He shrugged, but he did as I asked.
I was about to give up when I looked under the driver’s seat from the back.
It was the missing shoe box, and my hands shook as I reached for it.
Chapter 12
Before I could get a firm grip on the box, Kevin asked, “Is that what you were looking for?”
“It’s got to be,” I said as I pulled it out. It was extremely light, but that didn’t necessarily mean that it was empty. It took all I had in me not to open it immediately.
Kevin noticed my reticence. “Go on, take a look.”
“I’ll check it later,” I said.
“Eleanor, you’re either going to open that box, or you’re going to have to give it to me so I can do it myself. It’s still private property, at least until the auction. I’m doing this as a favor for you, but I can change my mind any second.”
I knew I’d pushed it as far as I could. I took a deep breath and tried to steady my hands as I lifted off the top. Hopefully he didn’t see me as I slid the photographs in my hand inside before I opened it.
I needn’t have bothered.
Besides the pictures I’d just dropped inside, the box was completely empty.
I showed it to Kevin, who barely glanced inside. “It’s not much, but I guess it’s something.”
He started to reach for the photo on top, one of Joe and me on the Outer Banks just after our honeymoon. I pulled the entire box away out of instinct more than anything else, and he had the decency to look a little sheepish.
“Sorry about that, Eleanor. Old habits die hard. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“It’s all right,” I said, still starkly disappointed that we hadn’t found anything inside.
“After you get your pictures out, let me have the box.”
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