Teaberry Total Eclipse

by R A Wallace

  He stopped in the study to check on things there and found a woman removing a lot of books from the shelves. She was standing on a step ladder when he found her, her glasses perched on her nose. He worried that the long, flowing skirt she was wearing would tangle and cause her to fall from the ladder. He didn’t want anything like that to happen on his watch and cause a problem for the estate sale so he helped her to remove some of the books and then carried the boxes out to her car.

  Back inside the house, he went up to the second floor and found Henry and another guy in the master bedroom looking at some jewelry. The door to the wall safe was wide open. Jimmy wished Henry would have let him know in advance. He could have been here to keep the safe secure when Henry opened it. It looked like the guy was planning to buy the whole lot of it. Jimmy hoped that was the case. It would be one less thing for him to worry about.

  By the end of the day, Jimmy was beyond tired, but he didn’t let it show. He wanted Henry and Portia to know that the house and the contents were in good hands with him and he made an effort to look energetic when he wished them a good night as they left for the day. They were happy with what had sold on the first day and were looking forward to being done with it all at the end of tomorrow.

  Jimmy couldn’t blame them. Nothing was more tiring than having a horde of people traipse all over your house non-stop all day. He made the rounds of the outbuildings and then the house, making sure that everything was secured. He had a little more of the soup and sandwiches, then thought maybe he could sit for a few minutes just to rest. He went to the room Portia Ingram had picked out for him and sat down in a comfortable chair. It reclined so he could put his feet up. He couldn’t believe how good it felt after walking around all day.

  Several hours later he bolted upright, confused. He must have fallen asleep. Jimmy wiped his palm across his face and wondered what had awakened him. Did he hear a noise? He looked over at the clock. It was around eleven. Pushing himself up from the recliner, Jimmy slowly made his way to the door of his room. He opened it and went out into the hall.

  Maybe he’d imagined it? That’s probably what it was. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to look. He began his tour going from room to room on all floors throughout the entire house. He even double checked each of the windows to make sure they were all locked. Everything looked fine to him. He decided he should take a look outside, just to make sure. He stepped out the front door and stood still. Then he looked up, wondering why something seemed wrong. What he saw above amazed him, but he couldn’t see anything on the property in front of him. Jimmy looked up again at the sky in confusion as he fumbled for his flashlight, but it slipped from his hands before he had a chance to switch it on. That was when he heard something again. This time, he recognized what it was and he knew he was in serious trouble.

  Chapter Three

  There was water everywhere. It was all over the floor, all over her clothes, and she was fairly certain she’d have to blow dry her hair again. Erica looked over at her husband. He was sopping wet as well.

  “Maybe we should try bathing them one at a time?” She gave him a hopeful look.

  Brad looked down at his baby daughter. He suspected she was going to be fearless in water when she was old enough to swim. Mason, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care for being in water. He hoped that would change when he got older. Even as he worried about it, visions of himself when he was younger flashed in his head. He’d never liked baths either. It wasn’t so much the water. It was the fact that it cut into his play time and he never really understood why his mother insisted on them. He smiled at his son.

  “So far, they haven’t liked being separated,” he reminded her. Every time they had tried, it had ended with disastrous results.

  Erica had known when she said it that it wasn’t really an option. She handed Brad a towel for Maddie and then wrapped another one around Mason.

  “There’s a good boy. It’s all over for now.” Erica began walking toward the living room then stopped when she realized she was dripping water all over the floor. She looked back at her husband.

  Brad held Maddie up with one arm and stretched the other one out for Mason. Erica passed him over and began peeling her wet clothes off.

  “You change first, then we’ll swap.” Brad held both babies and waited until Erica returned. Her hair was still wet but her clothes were now dry.

  “Your turn.” Erica kissed each baby as he passed them over to her then headed for the living room. She kept up a running conversation with them the whole time. It didn’t bother her that she was the only one talking. She could tell from their expressions that they understood her.

  Brad was on his way back to join Erica when the doorbell rang. He reversed course and found Jerry at the door. One look told him it wasn’t good news. He stepped back to let Jerry in the house.

  “What’s wrong?” Brad asked quietly.

  “It’s not good. She’s going to take this one pretty hard.” Jerry glanced in the direction of the living room.

  “Let me get the babies down first. They should be about ready.”

  Jerry followed Brad into the living room. He and Erica had been partners too long for him to hide anything from her. Erica passed the babies to Brad without ever taking her eyes from Jerry’s. Neither one of them sat when Brad left the room.

  “Just tell me.” Erica crossed her arms and waited.

  “It’s about Jimmy.” Jerry paused to let it sink in. He saw the first sign of alarm flare in her eyes.

  “No! He was doing well.” Erica stopped talking and began pacing. “I mean, it’s been a while since I last saw him, but he was good. And he wasn’t that old, he was…what? Sixty seven? No, sixty eight now.”

  Brad returned to the room and watched his wife as she paced, gesturing with her arms to emphasize her point as she spoke.

  Jerry’s eyes dropped to the floor for a moment.

  Erica caught it immediately. She stopped pacing and stared at Jerry. “No. I don’t believe it. There has to be a mistake.”

  Brad knew he was missing a large part of the conversation because the two of them had conversed without words. It was something that spouses did all the time and sometimes people who work together closely.

  He could see the disbelief in his wife’s face. “Believe what?” Brad looked between the two of them.

  “Who would have killed Jimmy?” Erica said, her focus still on Jerry.

  Suddenly, her reaction made sense. Jimmy Garcia, the man that used to be Erica’s partner when she first started working as a police officer, had been murdered. He had been her mentor, a man she had looked up to and admired. Now he understood what Jerry had meant. Erica was going to take this very hard.

  Jerry gave a quick half shake of his head.

  Erica understood that to mean he didn’t know. “Who caught it?”

  Jerry shot a look at his former partner. He knew he didn’t have to answer. In the past, Erica and Jerry would have been tagged to run the investigation. Without her, Jerry had to work with someone else.

  Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I get it. What have you and Rhys figured out so far?”

  “He was working a security job. You know he’s been taking on jobs since he retired?” Jerry waited for her nod before continuing. “He was out at an estate. There was some sort of auction going on for the weekend. He was staying there for the duration of the sale.”

  “It happened in front of witnesses?” She found that hard to believe. In her experience, that didn’t happen often.

  “No. It was at night, after everyone was gone. We know that they had given him a room to sleep in for the night. For whatever reason, Jimmy went outside sometime between eleven and midnight or so.” Jerry frowned. He wondered what had caused the older man to do that.

  “Last night?” Brad asked.

  Jerry glanced at him quickly because of the tone of his voice. “Yeah, why?”

  “There was full lunar eclipse. I think it would have been right around that t
ime.”

  “You think that’s why he was outside?” Erica rubbed her face with both hands as she considered it.

  “Could have been,” Jerry said. He looked back at Erica. “I have to go. I’ll try to keep you updated. I have to tell you though, right now, we don’t have much to go on because he was out there on his own.” Jerry shrugged. “It’s early days yet.”

  Erica waited while Brad walked Jerry to the door. She could hear them murmuring and assumed it was about her. She didn’t care. Her mind was focused on Jimmy and everything he had meant to her.

  “I’m sorry,” Brad said when he returned to the room. “I know how much you cared for him.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

  “He was so good to me when I was first starting out, you know? He taught me the ropes. It was great knowing that no matter what bone-headed rookie mistake I made, he always had my back. I couldn’t have had a better partner. I mean, Jerry is great now, but Jimmy had experience when I didn’t.”

  “I know,” Brad murmured.

  “I just can’t believe this is how it ends for him. He was such a good cop. He retired from the force and should have been enjoying himself at this point in his life. Instead, he gets taken out when he was all alone with no one there to watch his back the way he had mine. It’s not right.”

  “I’m sure Jerry, Rhys, and the rest of the department will do everything they can to find out who did this.” Brad felt her stiffen with resolve in his arms.

  Erica pulled away and looked intently at her husband.

  Brad smiled. He raised a hand and caressed her face. “I think my cop just came back.”

  ***

  Kaylee entered the large Queen Anne using the side door into the kitchen, as she usually did. It was late but she knew her grandmother and Matthias would still be awake and in the study. It seemed to be their favorite room in the house. Kaylee made a quick snack and put everything on a tray, then carried it in to join them.

  “Ho, what have we here?” Matthias looked at the tray with interest.

  Kaylee set it near him then took a seat across from him. Her grandmother stood from her desk and walked over to join them.

  “How did she seem?” Barbara asked as she took a seat next to Matthias on the sofa.

  “You were right. She asked me to watch them so she could go back to work.” Kaylee hadn’t questioned her grandmother when she’d first told her earlier in the day to expect the question. Although Erica had seemed reluctant to leave the twins since their birth, her grandmother always had some sort of special powers when it came to knowing what was going on in Teaberry.

  Matthias smiled to himself as he reached for the tray. He hadn’t questioned Barbara either.

  “Do you foresee a problem with her returning to work?” Matthias asked.

  Barbara took a deep breath. “Oh, I’m sure she’ll juggle marriage, children, and work about as well as the rest of us.”

  “Do I hear a but in there?” Matthias shifted his focus from the tray of snacks to his wife.

  Barbara nodded to herself as her thoughts turned inward. “I suspect this will turn out to be quite the learning experience for Erica all the way around.”

  Chapter Four

  He pushed the clothes to the other side of the closet then stepped back into the bedroom. Turning around, he reached for the item Caro was handing to him. He buried it in the corner of the closet as well as he could then reached back out.

  “I’ll have to remember this at my next birthday,” Caro said as she passed the next part to him.

  “Now, now. Use your knowledge for good, not evil,” Tom advised with a grin.

  “Still, it could be very useful knowing where you stash your presents.” Caro returned the grin.

  “I can’t imagine you going around checking out closets and looking under beds.” Tom began moving the clothes back.

  “Under beds, too? Oh, I wouldn’t have thought to check there.” Caro’s dancing eyes met Tom’s as he stepped out of the closet again.

  “Well, that might have been when I was younger. I’m not sure I could get back up if I tried to get under there now.” He closed the door behind him.

  Caro’s laugh sounded musical to his ears. Now that they were both in their sixties, he didn’t think either one of them would be crawling under a bed any time soon. Still, they got around pretty well. Knock on wood, he thought, they were both healthy for their age.

  “Do you need to get anything else while we’re here?” She looked around the room. As colors go, it was very plain. The walls were utilitarian white. The curtains offered the only relief. They were plaid in shades of blue. Even the well-worn coverlet on the bed was white.

  Tom followed her gaze around the room. “Pretty plain compared to your place, isn’t it?”

  “Well, we all have different tastes,” Caro said diplomatically.

  “Some of us don’t have any at all when it comes to putting colors together,” Tom admitted dryly. “I’ve decided that I like it better when you’re doing all the decorating.”

  Caro smiled serenely as she perched on the edge of a chair. She watched as Tom began pulling a few things from the drawers of an old dresser.

  “Have you talked any more to Marcy?” she asked.

  “About me moving out of here for good?” Tom closed a drawer and opened another. “Every time I bring it up, she tells me she’s fine on her own.”

  “Hmm. Not what you were hoping for.”

  Tom turned to look at her. “I just don’t want to leave them out here all alone. Especially not Ethan. He’s fourteen, well, fifteen now, and level-headed for his age, I know, but Marcy is at work a lot of the time. He’s here all by himself.”

  “Taking care of the animals and the farm on his own. It’s a lot for someone at that age.” Caro understood. She had grown fond of the bright, young man. Neither one of them wanted to do anything that could make his life harder than it had to be. “What of Casey?”

  Tom closed another drawer then picked up his clothes and put them inside a bag on the bed.

  “His heart is in the right place.” Tom picked up the bag.

  Caro stood. “But?”

  “My daughter is incredibly stubborn.”

  “I wonder where she gets that from?” Caro laughed quietly as she followed Tom down the stairs.

  Tom chose to ignore the comment. He made sure the door was locked when they left the house then helped Caro into her car. He put his bag in the back seat and got into the passenger side.

  “Sure you don’t want me to drive?” Tom asked as he fastened his seat belt.

  Caro chose to ignore the question then flashed him a grin. They usually took her car whenever they went anywhere. It was too difficult for her to climb into his truck.

  Tom rubbed at his chin. “I suppose I’ll be handing my truck over to Ethan when he’s ready to drive.”

  Caro flashed him another quick look. “That will be a little while yet. He’ll need some help learning how to drive first. That’s something you could help him with. You don’t want to step out of his life completely. You’re still his grandfather. Ethan is lucky to have you in his life.”

  “True. I could do some of that.”

  “But you’d rather Casey do it?” Caro guessed.

  “The boy needs a father,” Tom said. “Now that I’m spending more time at your place, he needs someone to offer him stability, someone that’s closer to the age that a parent should be. Not some old geezer like me who’s out of touch with the world.”

  It wasn’t the first time she’d heard it. “I don’t disagree about Casey, you know that. I’d like to see them all happy.”

  Tom looked out the window as they passed other farms on their way back into town. He had to admit, being a passenger wasn’t all bad. When you weren’t focusing on the road, you got to see all kinds of things. He thought about what they were discussing and re-ran the entire conversation through his head.

  “Do you think I’m being too stub
born about everything?” Tom looked back at Caro.

  “What do you mean?”

  “About insisting that Marcy and Ethan can’t be on their own there.” Tom frowned.

  Caro nodded slowly, then she took a deep breath. “Tom, dearest man. You know that I’m happy when you spend time with me.” She glanced over at him briefly when she turned into her driveway. “But I would understand it completely if you said that you needed to spend more time with your family.”

  Caro unfastened her seatbelt and began getting out of the car. Tom stayed where he was a moment longer. Then he opened the passenger door and stood.

  “That’s not quite what I meant.” He opened the back door and pulled his bag out, then closed the door and moved to catch up with Caro.

  Caro paused from unlocking the front door. “It’s okay, Tom. I understand completely. Of course, you want to spend more time with your family.”

  “I do, yes. But what I meant was…” Tom took a step forward to move into the house and bumped into Caro. She had stopped midway into the house and seemed frozen in place.

  Tom looked past her and immediately understood why. He reached for Caro’s arm and pulled her back out of the house.

  “We need to call the police.”

  ***

  Ian Riordin looked at the devastation in the house then returned to the kitchen where Caro and Tom waited. He took a seat at the kitchen table so he wouldn’t loom over the couple and pulled out his notepad.

  “Were you able to discover if anything was missing?” Ian assessed each of them. They both looked more than a little unnerved. He couldn’t blame them. Someone had broken into the house and turned it completely upside down, obviously searching for something. It may be a while before they could really determine if anything was missing.