I considered emptying one of the moving boxes still in the dining room area, but quickly rejected that idea. I’d already unpacked the essentials. What was left were items to consider letting go of. Right now I had too much on my mind to make those decisions.
Geez, I really needed to get a TV to watch at times like these.
Hands on my hips, I looked down at the critters. “Reruns would be better than twiddling my thumbs, right, girls?”
Amber barked, leaped off the couch, and ran to the basket by the door, where I’d begun dropping her leash. She nosed around, fished it out, and sat, first eyeing the door, then me.
“That’s a new trick. Did Fred and Dab teach you that?”
She sniffed and shook her head so hard her ears flopped.
“You taught yourself, huh? All right, I’m in. Let’s go, girls.”
* * *
We saw my teen friend Louie with Harley, his beagle, a few blocks from the emporium.
“Hey, Ms. Nix, I heard you got to take Amber and T.C. to the dog park. It’s not open yet, is it? It’s not supposed to be open until July.”
“Early in the month, yes, but how’d you know I was there?”
“I got accepted into some summer classes at the tech school, and my welding teacher is Mr. Hawthorne. We’ve all been helping with things like installing the chain-link fences, and he mentioned a cat that went everywhere with her dog friend.” He paused and scratched the side of his neck. “Not many of those around.”
“Probably not. You’ve all done an amazing job with the park. You’ll be taking Harley over, won’t you?”
He nodded, rubbed his neck again. “Harley may spend more time sniffing for squirrels than playing on the equipment, but he’ll love the freedom to run.”
“Maybe Harley and Amber can play there together,” I said, then got distracted by the teen’s continued scraping at his skin. “Louie, do you have allergies?”
He gave me a puzzled look.
“You’re scratching your neck.”
“Sorry, my mom’s using a new detergent, I guess. I usually wear T-shirts, but she made me put this one on to help her at church after we had dinner.” He heaved a put-upon sigh. “I know I’ll have to get used to wearing these when I’m a man, but I really don’t like collared shirts.”
I stared at Louie, but I suddenly wasn’t seeing him. I was remembering Ruth Kreider tell me Rusty’s last name reminded her of a man’s shirt.
Men’s shirts. Collar. Collier.
Was it a stretch from “collar” to Collier? I didn’t think so. Sure, Ruth forgot Caleb’s last name anyway, but she said her memory wasn’t sharp for some things. Names could become notoriously challenging to remember as people aged. I’d read that in a magazine in Sherry’s eye doctor’s office.
Now I really wanted to talk to Eric.
I said good-bye to Louie just as Amber began madly barking and pulling on the leash. What the heck?
A dark truck rolled down the street toward us. A dark blue truck fitted with monstrous tires. The elusive Rusty Caleb Collier. I had to do something!
Acting on pure instinct, I quickly looped both of the leashes around the leg of a bench and flew from the sidewalk into the street waving my arms. The driver’s brakes screeched, and the truck rocked to a stop.
In the next moment, T.C. wriggled out of her harness and leaped to the hood of the truck, and Amber began baying like she’d treed a raccoon, tugging on her leash.
The driver cursed a blue streak as he jumped down from the cab.
“What the hell, lady? Why did you run out in front of me? You could be dead right now.”
At easily six feet, with a chiseled chest visible under his white tee, and muscled arms, the guy who stormed at me wasn’t wrestler-brawny, but he could snap me in half if he wanted. With adrenaline flooding my body, I wasn’t backing down.
“Lady, did you hear me? I could’ve killed you.”
I held my ground and raised my chin at the red-haired man. “Like you could’ve killed your sister?”
His mouth hung open. “What?”
“Caleb Rusty Collier,” I said, channeling Eleanor, “I do believe the dog you knew as Blackie is trying to get your attention.”
* * *
Some of Caleb’s hostility subsided with a last muttered cuss word. I untied Amber and brought her over to the truck. Caleb bent to greet her, then turned to pet T.C., who still stood on the hood of his truck. Both critters lapped up his attention, and that seemed to calm him more. Whew! Having an angry murder suspect yelling in my face wasn’t my idea of a good time.
Within minutes, middle-aged Officer Doug Bryant parked his patrol car behind Caleb’s truck, blocking him in from that direction. Officer Bryant had responded because Louie had called 911. After I explained why I’d flagged down the truck in the first place, Officer Bryant called Detective Shoar. The look Bryant gave me said, “You’re in trouble now.”
I didn’t care. Yes, the brakes could’ve failed and I’d be road kill at this moment. Or the driver might’ve run me down on purpose. I’d taken a risk. I got that. But sometimes you have to listen to your gut.
When Eric pulled up, I went on the offensive.
“Detective Shoar,” I said, clamping a hand on his arm, “meet Rusty Collier. Mr. Collier, this is Detective Eric Shoar of the Lilyvale Police Department. He’s handling your sister’s murder case.”
Caleb shot me an irritated look. “I know who he is. I’ve talked to him on the phone.”
Eric scanned the sidewalks where citizens had come outside to see what was happening. “Let’s go have this chat at the station.”
“Am I under arrest?” Caleb asked.
“As of now, no.”
“Have you been to the Inn on the Square yet?” I asked.
Eric gave me an inquiring glance, and I shrugged. “Lorna was planning to wait for him at the café.”
“I’ll give her a call.” He turned to Caleb. “I’m going to let you to drive on over to the station. You know where it is?”
Caleb nodded.
“Officer Bryant,” he said, nodding to the man at Caleb’s side, “will follow you. I’ll be along shortly.”
When Caleb was far enough away, I looked up at Eric. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t rip into me in front of all these people. The Six Silver probably know about this adventure by now. I’d rather not compound the gossip.”
“Agreed. Why don’t you take T.C. and Amber home and join me at the station?”
I held his bland gaze. “What for?”
“I thought you might want to observe the interview.”
I blinked. “You did? I mean, yes, I do. But why are you inviting me? What about compromising the case?”
“You’re my witness. You’re the one who first mentioned Rusty to me and connected Rusty to Caleb Collier. Besides, you caught the guy. You should hear what he has to say firsthand.”
He didn’t have to ask me twice.
* * *
Okay, he didn’t let me charge into the inner sanctum bold as brass, much less into the interview room.
Since the emergency phone lines were manned by the sheriff’s office, no one sat at the reception desk at night. I cooled my heels in the front foyer alone. I hope it stayed that way.
I’d taken the critters to my apartment, and was relieved they didn’t seem to mind being left alone. At least Amber didn’t whine, and neither of them scratched at the door when I closed it behind me. As I hit the back door to go to my car, I called Sherry. She had heard I’d been involved in some “hubbub.” I told her it was nothing, but that I would be hanging out with Eric for a while. From the lilt in her voice, she assumed I meant we were having an impromptu date, and I didn’t correct her. If a little white lie kept Sherry and crew at home tonight, it was worth the penance I’d have to do later.
> At last Eric came for me.
“Officer Bryant is back on patrol for the rest of the night shift, but that could change if he makes an arrest. Just be quiet and wait for me.”
I nodded, and slipped into a space the size of my apartment’s small walk-in closet. Being short, I decided sitting in the single chair would cut my view of the interview room. I elected to stand, and watched through the one-way glass, where I had a side view of Caleb. In the bright fluorescent lights, and with his New Orleans Saints ball cap off, he looked haggard. From being on the run, or was he distressed that his sister was dead?
Eric entered the interview room, sat across the metal table, and placed a tape recorder and a manila folder on its smooth surface.
Recorder running, Eric stated the date, time, and the names of those present in the room.
“Do you understand this is an interview, Mr. Collier?” Eric was every inch Detective Shoar at the moment, but not coming on strong. Put Suspect at Ease 101. “You are not under arrest.”
“I understand, Detective.” He touched the cap on the table.
“I know you’ve been in Lilyvale since Friday. Did you arrive that day or earlier?”
“Just to be clear, I haven’t been in the area all the time. I told you I maintain pumpers. I’ve been working near here, but also in north Texas.”
Eric opened the folder, clicked his pen twice, but reminded silent. Oldest cop trick in the books, and Caleb caved.
“Friday morning.” His shoulders slumped and his hands stilled. “I was in town Friday morning about nine. Kim called me out of the blue Thursday night and asked me to help her steal something.”
I gasped, and instinctively backed from the window, hoping Eric hadn’t heard me. But wow. Kim had been more obsessed than I’d imagined if she wanted to involve her brother in theft.
“She told me her fiancé—is it Ernie?” Eric nodded, and Caleb continued, “Kim said Ernie’s ex-wife had something of his and wouldn’t give it back. Kim wanted to give it to him as a wedding present.”
“Did you know she was engaged?”
Caleb snorted. “Except for an e-mail at Christmas every year or two, I hadn’t heard from her since she married her last husband. I seldom heard from her before that.”
Eric nodded. “We understood from Ernie Boudreaux that you and your sister weren’t close.”
“We were closer as kids, but grew apart pretty fast after our parents died in a car accident. Our mother’s sister took us in, but she was all about Kim’s ambition to win beauty pageants. She couldn’t’ve cared less about me, and neither did Kim.” He paused, scowled. “Unless she wanted something from me.”
“Then why ask you to help her now?” Eric asked sharply.
“I guess because I’d been in trouble as a juvenile,” Caleb blurted out. “I boosted cars, burglarized some houses, lifted jewelry from some sorority girls at a couple of casinos.”
Well, well. He sure wasn’t holding back. My opinion of him rose, and I stepped closer to the window.
“Is that where you were caught?” Eric probed. “At a casino?”
“I was caught in a house where no one was supposed to be home. I thought I was helping Kim pull a prank on a friend of hers.”
“And you took the fall.”
He jerked a nod. “Home invasion. I got a light sentence, did my time, and then a friend’s parents let me stay with them when I got out.”
Eric glanced at the open folder. “Would these be your friend Ray’s parents?”
He inclined his head. “Did you meet his grandmother?”
“No. Ms. Nix did.”
Caleb’s eyes bugged. “Is that the crazy woman who ran out in front of my truck? The one I nearly hit?”
“That’s her.”
Were Eric’s shoulders shaking with silent laughter? They’d better not be.
“Mr. Collier, have you been in legal trouble as an adult?”
He sat board stiff. “If you ran a background on me, you know I haven’t. I straightened myself out, got my education, and got a good job.”
“When your sister called, did she mention Ernie Boudreaux? Any trouble between them?”
“I told you when you notified me Kim—” His breath hitched, and he swallowed hard. “Kim had died that she complained they’d been arguing.”
“Did she seem to fear for her life?”
A look of cunning flitted across Caleb’s expression, like he’d just been handed an out. But then he shook his head.
“She sounded ticked off, not scared, but I didn’t trust her calling me like she did.” His gaze drifted over Eric’s shoulder. “I haven’t trusted her since I was a kid.”
My detective made a note. “Then why did you come at all?”
He shook his head, not in denial, but as if hindsight had caught up with him. “I had work up this way, and I was curious about what Kim was up to. I kind of hoped I could talk her out of whatever scheme she was cookin’ up.”
“When you got here Friday morning, what did you do? Call your sister?”
Caleb sighed. “This may sound creepy, but first I found the bed-and-breakfast where she told me she was staying. I wanted to observe her, just to see what she was up to. I figured she’d go shopping sooner or later, so I hung out in the square—mostly in the gazebo— and watched for her.”
The courthouse gazebo. Caleb had watched his sister, and Ernie had watched the storm from the same place. Fitting, I supposed.
“She hasn’t changed much, in habits or looks, so she was easy to spot. She went to four or five stores, maybe more, then went to that café. An hour or more later, I saw her again. She was with Ernie and that other woman, and they went into the gift store. I waited awhile, then went in myself.”
“Weren’t you concerned Ms. Thomason would recognize you?”
Caleb shrugged. “If she did, she did, but she hasn’t seen me in ten years. I kept this cap on to cover my hair, and wore sunglasses. I stayed for the art thing, but Kim never noticed me.”
Gift shop and art thing? Nice to have another perspective, but really?
“When did Ms. Thomason know you were in town? Did you call her?”
“Yeah, after she left the gift shop. I asked her to meet me, but she said she couldn’t. She told me she’d call when she saw the opportunity to get Ernie’s property back. I started to warn her I wouldn’t drop work to come running, but she’d already disconnected.”
“Mr. Collier, if you haven’t had contact with your sister in years, how is it she had your phone number?”
He smiled, but not with a lick of humor. “Actually, it shocked me she still had it, but I’ve had the same number since I first got a cell phone.”
Eric looked doubtful, but went on. “Let’s talk about Saturday and Sunday. Did you see Ms. Thomason either of those days?”
“Saturday afternoon I followed her and Ernie to the gift shop again. I texted her afterward, but she didn’t answer. Then she called me Sunday afternoon. I was driving back from checking on a pumper, and happened to be at the edge of town.”
What time was that?”
“Three thirty or so.”
I nodded to myself. It didn’t take much more than fifteen minutes to drive from one end of Lilyvale to the other if you didn’t hit a traffic light. The timing worked.
“She told me to come to the back door of the place she was staying,” he went on. “She gave me the door code, and said to hurry.”
“What happened then?”
I leaned closer to the window so I wouldn’t miss a thing.
Caleb rubbed a hand over his short red hair. “I went upstairs to her room. She told me Ernie’s ex-wife had an opal that belonged to him. She wanted me to help search the woman’s room.”
“Was the room open?”
“No, Kim had the key.” He crumpled t
he soft part of his cap. “She started going through a suitcase. She told me how much she appreciated me and that she’d pay me for my help. I wasn’t doing anything but standing by the door. She was talking to me, but she never once looked at me. She was more interested in that opal than her brother, I guess.”
He looked painfully bewildered by that memory.
“She didn’t find the stone?”
He shook his head. “That made her more agitated. She dumped jars of stuff down the sink, threw clothes around. Kim was single-minded, but I’d never seen her like that. I told her I was out of there.”
“You left right away?”
“I didn’t look back. She was alive and still tossing the room and cussing last time I saw her.”
“What time was that?”
“Four o’clock or so.”
“What did you do then, Mr. Collier?”
He fingered his cap. “I went on to Oklahoma for my job.”
Liar. I thought surely Eric would call him on it, but he didn’t. He made another note.
“All right, just a few more questions. Did you happen to notice any vehicles in particular when you arrived to see your sister?”
“There may have been a red truck parked at the curb. I didn’t pay that much attention.”
“And when you left the inn?”
“There was definitely a sedan. Late-model Honda, I think. Odd color of blue.”
Aha! Ernie’s car was a Honda Accord. I hadn’t paid attention to it being a two- or four-door, but I remember thinking it looked bluish-purple.
“Did you see anyone else around?”
“An older gentleman walking a German shepherd.”
Hmm. I hadn’t met a dog or owner of that description, but Caleb’s answer was specific enough to be true.
“There’s one more point to clarify, Mr. Collier. You said you left for Oklahoma immediately. You didn’t. Your truck was seen leaving the alley behind the inn close to five twenty.”
Paint the Town Dead Page 23