Dying for a Drive: A Senoia Cozy Mystery

by Susan Harper

  Chapter 14

  “I’m telling you, if you would just listen to me,” Felicity pleaded slightly with Jack as she sat across from him at his desk. “Bobby is innocent, and for crying out loud, Jack, you’re really starting to make me question your integrity. I have legitimate evidence that will point your investigation in a completely different direction if you would just set aside that ego of yours long enough to hear what I have to say.”

  Jack Huddleston shook his head, an agitated grimace spreading across his face. Felicity had texted him wanting to talk, and he had seemed quite eager. It didn’t take much for Felicity to realize that Jack had had something other than the case in mind to talk about. “Honestly,” Jack growled, “I thought you were just wanting to, I don’t know, chat. I’ve already told you to leave this alone and to let me handle it.”

  “There was cocaine in the car,” Felicity said. “You really think Bobby stashed cocaine in some stranger’s car? What motive does he even have to kill Charles? Are you seriously telling me that—”

  “I’ve already called down to the jail and spoke with the judge to start filing for Bobby’s release,” Jack practically spat his retort. “Did that nearly three hours ago. He’s probably leaving the jail by now.”

  Felicity paused. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

  “Because the evidence wasn’t adding up,” Jack said. “He’s still a suspect, but the judge agreed to let Bobby out without bail. He’s going to be on house arrest until we complete our investigation, but I got him out of jail because, as far as I can tell, he’s likely not our suspect. I told you to let me handle this. I’m doing my job, Felicity. We took Bobby in because, at the time, he was the one and only suspect we had and, with such a serious charge being brought against him, the judge decided to hold him because he thought Bobby was a flight risk. This is just the way it works. And when more evidence started coming in and I realized we had nothing on Bobby and that he was likely innocent, I called up the judge and let him in on what we had found. You have to give me some credit here, Felicity. I told you I’d do my job. I’m doing it.”

  “So you say you were only holding Bobby because he was your only suspect. But that’s not true anymore, is it?” Felicity asked.

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Who else are you looking into?” she asked.

  “Felicity, I’m not going to tell you again to butt out. Someone literally tried to kill you—with a car. I want you to back off.”

  “It’s Brandon Jones and Monica Barns, right?” Felicity asked and then laid her notebook down on the corner of Jack’s desk. She crossed her arms and returned his glare.

  “How did you know that?” he asked quietly.

  “Listen, Jack,” Felicity said, pointing a finger in his direction. “I am going to keep looking into this. This is my town, and someone’s tainted it. Now I can either be a huge asset to your investigation, or I can be a pain in your side. So you tell me whether or not we’re going to help each other.” She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms again.

  Jack laughed slightly. “You’re kind of adorable when you pout like that, you know?”

  “That’s not funny, Jack.”

  “Fine,” he said and leaned to his side, pulling a case file out of his desk. “I suppose I should know better by now than to get on your bad side, right? We both have the same goal here. You help me, and I’ll help you. What do you have on Brandon and Monica?”

  “You first,” she said and leaned forward, propping her elbows up on his desk so that she could look him square in the eye.

  “Not much. After looking into things, we realized Brandon’s got a pretty serious criminal history. A lot of it has been wiped clean from the systems. I called in a favor from a…a friend, she’s a hacker, and she was able to dig up some additional charges that had once been on Brandon’s record that was later cleared after Charles hired some bigshot lawyer for him.”

  “I found online that he had been involved with drug trafficking,” Felicity said.

  “That’s true. But you likely didn’t read the extensiveness of it. A lot of the charges were dropped. The man was a big cat. He was a major dealer for any city north of Atlanta, and not just cocaine. Since he was released from prison about a year ago, though, he’s been pretty quiet. As far as officials could tell, he had turned over a new leaf. He went down to Florida with Charles after his folks retired, and investigators believed he had cut all contact from his former partners. But after the car was wrecked, it’s pretty clear that Brandon is likely back in the game. He was smart to report his car as stolen because now I can’t for sure nab him with hoarding drugs in his father’s car because he’ll just be able to argue that whoever stole the vehicle stashed the drugs.”

  “Do you think he had been the one driving the night Jefferson was hurt?” Felicity asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Jack said. “There was a good bit of blood found on the steering wheel, but we can’t tell for sure. I’m pretty sure it was a woman’s blood.”

  “How can you tell it was a woman’s blood?” Felicity asked.

  Jack smirked. “The lab results came back completely inconclusive because there was an unknown substance mixed in with the blood. It didn’t take long for them to figure out it was just a bunch of lipstick. Whoever busted their lip on the steering wheel had been wearing more lipstick than anyone has business wearing. There was only enough blood to run a single test, but because we collected more red lipstick than blood, well, the test wasn’t any good. We sent some people back to the car to try to collect another blood sample. Hopefully our mystery woman bumped her head or something somewhere too so that we can try to get another sample.”

  “Monica,” Felicity said. “She went in to the dentist for a cracked tooth. She must have busted her lip against the steering wheel. Those old-timey cars don’t have airbags.”

  “Really?” Jack sat upright. “She went to the dentist? I didn’t know that. That coupled with the fact that she’s seeing Brandon might be enough for me to order a DNA sample to test against the blood…if we manage to get enough to run a test, that is.”

  “So you know that the two of them are dating?” Felicity asked.

  “Yeah, well, they post about it online now, so it wasn’t exactly hard to piece together. We also know that Monica was fired from her job as a nurse at the state prison because she started seeing Brandon while he was an inmate,” Jack said. “Right now, Brandon and Monica are our top suspects for Charles’s murder and the drug trafficking, but until we get some more evidence, we’re treading lightly. Brandon has a history of lawyering up quick, and we don’t want to give him too much of a fighting chance until we get some real evidence. He doesn’t know that we’re onto him just yet.”

  Felicity shook her head. “I don’t think Brandon killed his father.”

  “He has a history of violence.”

  “I still don’t think so,” she said. “He probably stashed the drugs in the car. Brandon probably knew his father was coming up this way to sell it, so he probably stashed the drugs under the seats to make it easy to move the cocaine across state lines. And Monica probably tried to run me down because she knew I was looking into her boyfriend and wanted to send me a message to back off. But I don’t think either of them killed Charles. It’s mostly just a hunch, but Brandon just seems so upset. I know he could just be acting, but I don’t think he is.”

  “What about the fan belt? Why the fan belt?”

  “I think Brandon must have changed it so that his father would have to wait to sell the car, giving him time to remove the drugs. Did your team have a chance to look under the hood to confirm the fan belt was wrong?”

  “We did, and it was,” Jack said. “The insulation had been removed too. According to Brandon, his father removed it for the car show.”

  “He had mentioned that to me too,” Felicity said. “So how did the car run without the belt?”

  “There was a belt, it just wasn’t the right one,” Ja
ck said, and Felicity mentally gave Jefferson a pat on the back for his correct assumption. “Whoever hooked it up did a sorry job. It was like someone intentionally wanted it to overheat by using this new belt that’s just not right for the old car.”

  “Sounds like what you found under the hood of the car confirms my assumption about Brandon wanting it to overheat so his father would have to wait to sell.”

  “So then,” Jack argued, “it makes all the more sense for Brandon to be the killer. If what you’re suggesting is true, then Brandon would have had the murder weapon on him. His father probably confronted him, and he panicked.”

  “I suppose that’s possible, but I’m not so sure. Brandon would fit in that shirt I found, but I just can’t bring myself to believe it was him. And there is no way Monica could have inflicted the kind of damage Charles received.”

  “You think there might be a third player in this sick little game?”

  “Might just be.”

  Jack nodded. “All right, well, we’ll see what else we can dig up. Let’s just be open with each other for now. I think that’s going to be easier than me running around in circles with you again. Thanks for the information on Monica’s little dentist visit. I can start to build a case against her and have a judge order a DNA test.”

  Felicity rose from her seat, and she smiled at Jack. With a wink, she said, “You’re not so bad when you actually pause for a second to listen to me.”

  He shook his head and waved her off. Felicity headed out. She had to get back to the shop; the day was just getting started, and she needed to have everything up and running for opening. On her way to her car, a thought suddenly struck her. What if Charles had walked in on Brandon selling the drugs and that was what got him killed? Whoever the buyer is must be the killer, she thought. Oil had been found in Bobby’s office; Brandon could have laid the fan belt down, and the buyer could have grabbed it and strangled Charles to keep him quiet. She thought back to her interactions with Brandon—his grief and jitteriness could have very well been fear. He knows who killed his father because he saw it happen, Felicity thought, and it happened in Bobby’s office, a place the buyer maybe had access to…which is why they chose that location for the deal to go down… She decided her next step was to head to the insurance agency to interview all of the employees one last time because, if she was right, whoever Brandon had sold those drugs to worked in the insurance office.

  Chapter 15

  After leaving the police station, Felicity found herself a parking spot not far from her shop. She walked down Main Street on the opposite side of the street from the store, heading downhill. It was close to eleven in the morning, nearly opening time of most every other shop in the area, but she decided opening a few minutes late would not hurt business. Instead of heading across the street, she headed toward the elevator that led out into the street, intending to have a chat with whoever was manning the insurance company that morning.

  The elevator took her to the second floor. The doors opened up right in front of where the medical center’s office doors were, and she could see shadows of people running around inside. Turning left, she looped down the twisty hallway toward the insurance agency. As Felicity turned the corner, she could see that the doorway was open. She heard Brandon’s voice.

  “I don’t even care anymore,” Brandon’s voice snarled, and Felicity decided to remain back. Why would Brandon be there?

  “Oh, so you want to spend the rest of your life in prison, is that it?” another familiar voice hissed right back at him. “If you take me down, Brandon, you’re going with me. You’re the one who brought the drugs. I’m just the buyer.”

  “No one buys that amount of cocaine if they’re just buying. The police aren’t stupid,” Brandon retorted. “I’m turning you in, and if I got to spend some more time behind bars, so be it. I never signed on for this. You’re a murderer!”

  “If you think I’m going to let you walk out of here—”

  Felicity heard a noise that was undeniably a punch. She turned on her heels, eager to get out of there without being spotted, but it was too late. The two men came tumbling down the hall in their tussle. Brandon landed flat on his back right next to her. He spotted her and his eyes grew wide. “Run,” he said, and she listened.

  She darted down the hall, and she could hear the assailant’s footsteps right behind her. Thankfully, the elevator was there waiting for her when she pushed the button. She rushed inside and jammed her finger onto the button to close the door then pressed both the first floor and the basement button. The doors started to close, and she hoped that her distraction had granted Brandon enough time to escape through the stairwell. Just as the door was about to close, she saw Kirk Mont bolting in her direction. “Felicity!” he snarled, but the elevator doors closed before he could reach her.

  Her first instinct was to get out as soon as the elevator doors opened up on the main level beside the ice cream shop, but the streets were incredibly empty. There was a good chance Kirk would grab her before she could get to her car. Instead, she rode the elevator down into the cellar where the Irish pub was located. As soon as the doors opened, she fled out, running right into Cecelia, the owner’s wife, just as the woman was leaving the bar’s office, and the two of them tumbled into the wall. “Yikes!” Cecelia squealed. “Felicity, you’re lucky I wasn’t carrying a tray of drinks!”

  “Someone’s trying to kill me!” Felicity wailed, and the panic in her tone seemed to set something inside Cecelia into motion. Cecelia grabbed Felicity’s wrist and pulled her out into the fairly empty restaurant. She shouted for one of the cooks to call the police and then hid Felicity away in the serving station, a cubby area located behind the large fireplace at the main entryway of the pub. “Stay in here,” Cecelia said just as Felicity heard footsteps emerging from the elevator. Felicity felt herself backing up; the saloon-style doors leading into the serving station would not do much to hide her away if Kirk came waltzing in. “Welcome to the Pub Family and Friend,” Cecelia’s voice sang, and the greeting was followed promptly by a loud banging sound and a wailing screech from Kirk.

  “Whoa! Easy, stay down!” Felicity heard another man’s voice, likely one of the pub’s cooks.

  Nervously, Felicity pushed open the saloon doors and stepped back out into the restaurant. Quite a humorous scene lay before her: Kirk was on the ground, gripping a bloodied nose with his mouth wide open in surprise; Cecelia stood over him gripping a serving tray with a look of both surprise and self-satisfaction at what she had done; and two of the large men who worked the back kitchen were hovering over the incredibly distraught insurance agent.

  “Police are on their way,” one of the cooks said. “And if you’re smart, you’re going to stay right there on the ground. I’m not afraid to sit on you, pee-wee.”

  “Did you hit him in the face with a serving tray?” Felicity asked in surprise.

  “I really did,” Cecelia said proudly.

  Felicity could hardly believe that it was finally over.

  Chapter 16

  “All right, all right,” Jefferson called out from his seat on one of the couches inside Overton’s Events. “Everyone be quiet! I can hardly hear a word that Felicity is saying.” He had his broken leg propped up on the couch as Autumn finished signing his cast. He was busying himself with a notebook and pen as they spoke.

  Felicity laughed at him and shook her head. The gang had all arrived after Felicity’s latest interview had aired on television earlier that morning. Autumn, Monte, Dawn, and Veronica had all come to pay her and Jefferson a visit before having to head into work, and they brought coffee to celebrate her sleuthing victory. “Thanks, Jefferson,” Felicity said, laughing slightly.

  “Okay, start from the beginning,” Monte said. “I want to make sure I understand how sweet little Felicity managed to take down a localized drug cartel all by herself.”

  “Whoa, you realize I helped, right? I mean, I was kind of taken out for the last leg of the race, b
ut I was there too, you know?” Jefferson reminded them.

  “Whatever, man,” Monte said and gave him a gentle shove.

  “So here’s what happened,” Felicity said, earning herself everyone’s attention with the sound of her voice. “After Cecelia knocked Kirk out, the cooks helped to keep him detained. A few officers arrived and arrested him, and I let them know Brandon was probably making a run for it. I was standing outside when I saw Jack tackle Brandon out back. Brandon had been hiding out by the dumpster and had decided to make a run for it. It was actually pretty impressive on Jack’s part.”

  “Yeah, well,” Jefferson huffed. “You did all the real work, Felicity.”

  “Shhh,” Dawn said to Jefferson.

  Felicity continued. “I told Jack that Brandon had bought me some time to get away from Kirk. According to Jack, Brandon helping me escape coupled with the fact that he’s agreed to take a serious plea deal is probably going to help him avoid a lot of jail time. Brandon is snitching on Kirk’s entire operation. The whole insurance agent thing is basically a day job. He’s been dealing for years in the Atlanta area and decided with all the filming and celebrity types coming to our little town that he’d try to expand his operations.”

  “So, basically, you just stopped Senoia from becoming a crack town,” Veronica said and applauded her.

  Felicity grinned. “That, and with Brandon’s plea bargain, he’s going to help bust up everyone he knows that Kirk works with. They’ve already made nine arrests in the Atlanta area.”

  “That’s so awesome,” Monte said. “The thing I can’t believe is how Monica Barns got involved in all this mess. Did you guys see her mug shot in the paper? Geeze.”