by R A Wallace
Tom answered for them. “Not that we could see.”
“Can you think of what someone might be looking for?” Ian asked.
Tom looked over at Caro. She shrugged helplessly. He’d never seen her this way. She looked so fragile.
“She doesn’t keep anything of any real value here. The house is actually a rental but everything inside is hers,” Tom explained.
“But you don’t keep any particularly large amounts of cash or expensive jewelry here?” Ian asked specifically.
Caro shook her head. “No, of course not.”
Ian asked a few more questions then stood to go.
Tom stood with him and walked him to the front door.
“Is it okay if we clean everything up?” Tom asked.
“Yes, sir. If you discover anything else is missing, please let me know.” Ian took one last look around. “Ms. Delacroix might not be comfortable here for a while.”
Tom agreed. “Not a problem. I don’t plan on leaving.”
He closed the door behind Ian and made his way back to the kitchen. He took a seat next to Caro and reached over to take her hand.
“What I was trying to say before we were interrupted was that maybe I should let Marcy live her life and I’ll live mine. I think I should move in here full-time.” Tom felt the slight tremor in Caro’s hand.
She managed a tremulous smile. “Oh, I know you aren’t going anywhere, Tom Jenkins. You didn’t really think you were going to get out of helping me clean this mess, were you?”
Tom huffed out a laugh. Then he leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss.
“You couldn’t get rid of me if you wanted to.”
Chapter Five
The uniform felt tighter than she’d like it to but that could be partly due to the fact that she hadn’t worn anything but stretchy sweat pants since the twins were born. Erica fastened the last button on her shirt and went out into the hallway. She stopped on her way to look in on the babies. They were sleeping now because it was still very early in the morning but she knew from experience they would be up again soon. She went into the room silently and touched each one of them. She just needed to feel them taking a breath, to feel that they were okay. Then she turned and went to the kitchen. She could smell the aroma of freshly brewed coffee when she entered.
Brad stood by the coffee pot. He was leaning against the counter with his first cup of coffee for the day in his hand. She saw a flash in his eyes when she entered the room.
“What? You didn’t think I’d go through with it?” Erica went over to the fridge and took out an apple.
Brad watched her closely. “No, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that you’d do everything you could to find Jimmy’s killer.”
She turned and faced him, the apple still in her hand. “But?”
“I wondered how you were going to deal with it once you did,” he admitted.
She’d been wondering the same thing herself. “I have to do this.”
“I know that,” Brad said agreeably.
“Then why do I feel so bad about it?”
He could hear the frustration in her voice. He set down his coffee cup and held open his arms. She crossed the room quickly and stepped into them. He rested his chin on the top of her head.
“Welcome to the world of parenting. We now get to feel guilty for everything we do.”
She nodded her head against his chest. “And we worry a lot.”
He smiled. “Yeah, that we do. Mostly while we’re pacing the floor in the middle of the night trying to get one or both of them back to sleep.”
She pulled away slightly and looked up at him. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
“Me neither.” He leaned in for a kiss then released her. “Go catch the bad guys. We need people like you to make the world safer for our babies.”
The short drive to work gave her more time to think about everything that Jimmy had done for her when she’d first begun working at the police department over thirteen years ago. Erica parked her car and entered the police station. It had been a long time since she’d entered the building but her senses felt completely at home the moment she entered.
She knew every sight, every sound, and every smell. Even the smile on Martha’s face was familiar as it greeted her. Martha had been the receptionist long before Erica had arrived as a young rookie. She had been instrumental in helping to orient not just Erica, but many others before her and since.
“Good morning.” Erica stopped at the front desk. The reading glasses perched on Martha’s face looked new. Erica assumed she had begun wearing them after the twins were born.
“Well, if it isn’t the stranger. I thought it was a prank when I saw your name on the roster for today.” The smile Martha gave was warm as she pulled the glasses from her face.
“Well, you know how it is.”
Martha made a face. “Join the ranks. It’s rough leaving them at home. It’s been a long time for me, though.”
“Does it get any easier?” Erica wasn’t sure which answer she wanted to hear.
“Sure it does. Right around the time your kids get married and until they start giving you grandchildren. Then it starts all over again with them.”
Great. “Have you heard anything new about Jimmy?”
The smile left Martha’s face. “That was something, wasn’t it? You don’t expect to hear about things like that after a cop retires.”
Erica agreed.
Martha reached behind her counter. “Hey, I brought something to show you.”
Erica took the photo from the other woman. “Wow. This was from when I first started.”
“It sure was. You were a young thing then, that’s for sure.” Martha adjusted her glasses back onto her nose and leaned over to point. “There’s Jimmy there next to you. Some of the other old timers are in the background. Here’s Gabe. Then you have Sanchez, Newcome, Keyes, and McDaniels.”
“That brings back some memories.” Erica studied Jimmy’s face. Back then, she’d thought he was ancient. She counted back. He would have been, what, mid-fifties at the time?
“Yeah. You really showed them.” Martha straightened.
“What do you mean?”
“They never thought you’d last. Especially not after all the pressure they applied on you.”
Erica frowned. “Pressure?”
“Sure, you know. They always gave you a hard time and you always got stuck with the worst assignments. Sometimes I swear they took turns making up impossible work for you. Don’t you remember that time McDaniels dumped all of his work on your desk and challenged you to complete it?” Martha gave a smug smile. “You showed him up, that’s for sure. I was so proud of you.”
Erica remembered the occasion, but she didn’t have the same perception of the events that Martha did. She hadn’t been trying to show anyone up. She was just doing what she thought was her job.
“They deserved it too. Newcome, Sanchez, Keyes, they all thought you’d wash out five minutes after you got here. And they kept riding you the whole time hoping you would. You showed the whole lot of them.”
Erica looked back down at the photo. Now that Martha mentioned it, she did remember some of those guys giving her a hard time. They also tried to get her to type up their reports all the time. At the time, she’d just thought it was normal for any rookie. Like some sort of initiation. She had just put her head down and worked even harder. She figured it was all part of what had helped to make her a better cop.
“I kept telling them at the time that you were nothing like your brother.” Martha shook her head.
Erica brought her head up quickly. “Josh?”
“Yeah. They thought you’d be as wild as he was. Face it. You had a whole deck stacked against you. You were young, you were female, you were attractive, and you had a wild brother that everyone assumed was on the wrong side of the law.”
Erica had no idea what to say. She set the photo down on the counter.
&nb
sp; Martha pushed the photo back over toward Erica. “Keep it. Someday, you’ll be the old timer and you’ll need to pass it along to the next generation with all of the stories.”
Erica picked up the photo and looked at it again as she walked to the main office area where her desk was. She guessed it was another reason to be glad Jimmy had been her partner. He had probably been the only one in the whole group who hadn’t wanted to be rid of her. She wondered why Jimmy hadn’t told her any of this at the time. He would have had to know what the other guys thought.
She found Jerry standing in front of the murder board. She tucked the photo in the top drawer of her desk and turned to examine what he and Rhys had already found.
“How’d he take it?” Erica asked quietly as she moved to stand next to Jerry.
Jerry gave her a quick glance. “Rhys? He knew it was temporary.”
“Yeah well, he was the only one who did. It could have just as easily gone the other way.” Erica thought about her mentor. No way could she sit around and let someone else track down his killer. She owed him.
One corner of Jerry’s mouth lifted. He didn’t think so. “He and Ian are on an attempted robbery.”
“Robber didn’t take anything?”
“Maybe they didn’t have enough time or maybe they didn’t find what they wanted.” Jerry rubbed his chin as he considered it. “They trashed the place looking for something though. You haven’t heard?”
Erica turned to look at Jerry and frowned. “Heard what?”
“It was Caro Delacroix.”
Erica’s eyes widened as she thought of the elegant older woman. “She okay?”
“Yeah. She wasn’t home at the time. Really shook her up though.”
“I’ll bet.”
“I guess Tom Jenkins is going to stay with her from now on.”
“Do Rhys and Ian have anything yet?” Erica pictured Caro and Tom, both in their sixties. They had to be worried and she couldn’t blame them. Knowing that your personal security had been breached was frightening for anyone.
“No, but it just happened yesterday. Early days yet. Hopefully, they’ll get a lead today.”
Chapter Six
He hadn’t thought it would be that hard. He’d done his homework in advance. He knew exactly what he was looking for before he’d ever attempted to get it. So why were the planets aligning against him now? No matter what he did, he kept failing to reach his goal. Frustrated, he let slip the worst word he could think of to vent his feelings.
“Dagnabbit!”
Linda Spelling covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile.
“Having trouble?” Linda looked past the back of the older man’s head to the large monitor in front of him. His bald scalp was covered in age spots. The unruly hair that was left formed a riotous ring around his ears and nape.
Archie shook his fist at the computer. “It won’t give me my book.”
“Which one were you trying to get?” Linda asked patiently.
“That new murder mystery. You know, the murders always happen during eclipses.” Archie looked down at his ebook reader. Maybe he hadn’t done whatever he needed to do to it first so he could download the book?
“Did you return your other ebooks first to make sure you haven’t exceeded your limit?”
Archie scowled at the ebook reader. He knew there was something he’d forgotten to do. He spun his chair around to look at the helpful librarian.
“You would think computers these days could guess what I want to do and just do it for me.” His bushy eyebrows danced as he spoke.
“Actually, there are all kinds of books that foretell of doom to mankind when computers take over,” Linda pointed out. She looked back at the monitor.
Archie spun his chair around and pointed at the monitor. “I think I lost it.”
“Try clicking on the icon down at the bottom to restore it.” It wasn’t the first time he’d accidentally minimized the screen.
Archie clicked and the screen re-appeared.
Linda checked the title he was looking for. “Actually, we don’t have that one in the library yet. If you really want to read it right now, you’ll have to buy it.”
Archie nodded. He had wondered about that. “Maybe Tia has a copy over at Olde Tomes.”
“She might. It’s a pretty popular title that just came out.”
Linda showed Archie how to return his old ebooks so he could download new ones again, then left him alone on the computer. She went back out to the main area of the library and returned to the desk. Becca walked over a few minutes later with a stack of books.
“This is all I could find in the children’s section.” Becca set the pile on the counter next to the pile Linda had already accumulated from the adult section.
“We should have enough for a nice display.”
“Creating a display of titles all dealing with eclipses is a good idea.” Becca looked over at the now empty display area. They had already removed everything from the previous display and reshelved the books.
“We’ve been getting a lot of calls asking about them ever since the full lunar eclipse last weekend. It isn’t just the nonfiction titles they’re interested in to learn more about eclipses. They’re also wanting all the fiction titles that have a theme involving eclipses.” Linda picked up her stack of books and went over to the display area.
Just as she reached the area and set down her books, she felt a presence behind her. Turning, she found Amos and immediately smiled. Seeing him always had the same effect.
Amos was holding a large scroll. “I thought this might come in handy.”
Linda took the scroll from him with a questioning look. At his nod, she began to unroll it.
“Oh, this is perfect, thanks. Are you going to tell me you just happened to have a poster explaining eclipses laying around?” She shifted her gaze from the poster to Amos.
Amos shrugged nonchalantly. “Some people collect Jane Austen books…”
“Ha, ha.” Linda could laugh about it now. When she and Amos had been in high school together, it had really bothered her whenever he teased her about her fondness for Jane. “Seriously, this will be a nice addition to the display, thanks. I’ll give it back to you when we take it down.”
Becca stood behind them holding another stack of books and watched the interplay between them. Amos had become a frequent visitor in the library and Becca was happy for her older friend even as she felt a pang of loneliness herself. She had thought she’d noticed a spark of interest recently from a certain blond-haired waiter. Obviously, it had only been her imagination. A voice behind her interrupted her maudlin thoughts.
“Need me to hold those for you?” Tyler asked. He looked intently at the normally vivacious five three strawberry blonde in front of him.
Becca felt the flush begin in her neck and work its way up to her cheeks. She stared at the stocky blond in front of her. He was only about five inches taller than she was, but his personality somehow made him seem larger than life.
“Tyler, how nice to see you,” Linda said to fill the silence that followed.
Becca’s stare remained on the apparition in front of her. She’d conjured him up somehow, she was certain of it.
“I didn’t know you had a library card.” Linda pivoted her gaze between the two youngsters.
Beside her, Amos tried stifling a grin. He failed miserably so turned toward the blank wall behind the display table.
“Tyler, would you mind giving me a hand with this?” Amos asked as he held up the poster roughly where he wanted it to hang.
“What?” Tyler broke the staring contest he was holding with Becca. “Ah, sure. I can do that.”
“Becca, why don’t you go get the tools and the hanging kit?” Linda moved a step forward and took the stack of books from Becca.
Becca looked at Linda in confusion. It took a moment for her eyes to clear. She nodded numbly and left.
“Hey, these are all eclipses. That’s a nice poster,
” Tyler said. He glanced down at the books on the display table. “Did you see the full lunar eclipse the other night?”
Amos shot Linda a look. They’d stayed up late to watch it together. It was what had reminded him that he had a poster about eclipses tucked away in a closet somewhere.
“I did, yes. Very impressive, don’t you think?” Linda said smoothly. She reached for the hanging kit as Becca returned. “There should be something in here to help hang it without wrecking the wall too much.”
“It’s pretty lightweight,” Tyler agreed.
“Here we go. Maybe we won’t need the tools after all.” Linda held up some removable hangers.
“That works but we need to get closer to the wall to do it. Tyler?” Amos nodded to the other corner of a table and both men lifted it away from the wall. It took only a few moments to get the poster up and the table was soon back in place.
“Perfect! Thank you both.” Linda began arranging the books on the display table.
Tyler turned toward Becca. “I was hoping to get a library card. I was thinking I might check out some books on the area now that we’re living here.”
Becca’s face lit up. “We have a lot of really good books on the area around Teaberry. You chose the perfect place to move to.”
“I know we really like it here. We’ve met so many nice people.” Tyler frowned. “That reminds me. Did you hear about Miz Delacroix? Someone mentioned it at the diner today just before we closed.”
“Caro? No, what happened?” Linda had grown fond of the genteel woman who often stopped in to check out books.
“Someone broke into her house. Tossed the whole thing from what I hear.” Tyler scowled at the thought that someone would deliberately frighten an older woman that way.
“That’s horrible. Was she hurt?” Linda’s voice revealed the shock she was feeling. As a woman who had lived alone for years, suffering a home invasion was a fear she had often had.
“No, thank goodness. I guess she wasn’t home at the time. It was during the day though.”
“That had to have scared her,” Amos murmured. His eyes were drawn to Linda’s. She looked a little pale.