Down to the Wire (An Allie Down Mystery Thriller Book 3)

by PJ Fernor

  I laughed to myself and stepped from the kitchen to see her carrying a tray of cinnamon rolls.

  The smell then wafted over me and I let out a sigh of relief.

  “Now that’s breakfast,” I said.

  “Didn’t think you’d mind,” she said.

  “I’m over here ready to drop frozen waffles into a toaster…”

  “Never say that again,” Miss Kesslier said with a big grin. “Do me a favor and grab some pot holders to put on the table so I don’t burn your table.”

  I put three mismatched pot holders down and Miss Kesslier put the pan on them.

  Lo’s bedroom door opened and she sniffed the air. “Cinnamon?”

  “Fresh rolls,” Miss Kesslier said.

  Lo hurried to the table and danced on her toes for a few seconds. “Finally, some real food.”

  “What’s wrong with my food?” I asked.

  “Oh, I don’t think we have time for that,” Lo said. “We’d all be late.”

  “I have nowhere to go,” Miss Kesslier said.

  “Yeah, funny,” I said. “Gang up on me.”

  Lo took a cinnamon roll and her coffee into her bedroom.

  I didn’t like this new habit of hers but I was trying to pick my battles. On top of everything she had been going through, the Trevor situation was still very tense.

  I let out a big yawn and Miss Kesslier touched my arm. “Another late night?”

  “What?”

  “You were having bad dreams again, weren’t you? And you went for a walk.”

  “I always walk,” I said.

  “You’re tired, Allie. That’s not good. We need you strong and focused.”

  I flex my left arm as I held a cinnamon roll. “Look at this gun. You don’t mess with it.”

  I brought my hand to my mouth to take a big bite of the cinnamon roll and curled my lip.

  Miss Kesslier shook her head.

  Okay, I’m overtired and acting delirious.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “These are amazing, by the way.”

  “I know they are,” Miss Kesslier said. “They’re a labor of love project, but I don’t mind.”

  Her mouth was ready to say something else when Lo appeared again.

  We both looked at Lo, both of us smiling.

  She finished the last bite of her cinnamon roll and took her coffee mug to the sink.

  As she washed her hands, she kept giving me a side eye glance.

  “Ask it,” I said. “I know this game, Lo.”

  “Shoot,” she said. “You’re getting used to this.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said. She wiped her hands with a towel and then leaned against the counter. “I’m just… when can I see Trevor?”

  “Nope,” I said. “Change the subject.”

  “Allie, please.”

  “Lo…”

  “Please,” she said. “I know what he did was wrong. And stupid. Okay? Fine. Messing around with someone’s car… but it was unlocked.”

  “And that makes it okay?” I asked. “Are you serious right now?”

  Lo sighed. “I miss him. And texting isn’t good enough.”

  “Then call him.”

  “Call him?” Lo asked. “I’m not talking on the phone.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Lo, stop it. He did this. I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, you’re really sorry,” Lo said.

  “You get to see him during the day,” I said.

  “No, I don’t,” Lo said. “You don’t know anything about my schedule. I maybe see him for, I don’t know, two minutes. If that.”

  “Two is better than zero.”

  “Well there you go,” Lo said. “If the detective thing doesn’t work out, you can be a math teacher.”

  I snapped my fingers at Lo. “Watch yourself, Lo. I don’t appreciate the attitude.”

  “I don’t get it,” Lo said. “He was wrong. But why am I being punished?”

  “You’re not.”

  “So, I can see Trevor?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Then I am being punished!” Lo yelled.

  She ran into the bathroom and slammed the door.

  I took a deep breath and looked at Miss Kesslier. “Breakfast and a show, huh?”

  “She’s in love,” Miss Kesslier said.

  “The cinnamon rolls are good, but if you ever remind me of my sixteen-year-old niece being in love again, I’m going to ask you to leave and never come back.”

  Miss Kesslier grinned and patted my arm. “You couldn’t live without me.”

  That much was true.

  Even still…

  The bathroom door opened and Lo hurried into her room and came back out with her bag.

  “Have a good day, Allie,” she said to me in a cold enough voice that I needed a parka to warm up.

  Of course Lo took her time getting to Miss Kesslier, giving her a big hug and thanking her for the best breakfast she ever had.

  Miss Kesslier kissed Lo’s cheek and Lo left for school.

  The door slammed shut and I waved. “See you later!”

  “Don’t take it personally,” Miss Kesslier said.

  “I don’t,” I said.

  “She’s just looking for a win.”

  “Aren’t we all?”

  “So talk to me, Allie. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Just… just a long night.”

  “Spill it.”

  “The walks help,” I said. “I’m happy Lo is seeing a therapist. Sometimes it feels like we’re moving in the right direction. Sometimes it feels like we’re not. Okay? Last night was tough. I had a nightmare and went for a walk. I let my mind play tricks on me. Sometimes the job follows you no matter what.”

  “Of course it does,” Miss Kesslier said. “You have to make decisions that affect so many people. Have you given it any serious thought about talking to someone? Look at what it’s doing for Lo. You said it yourself, she’s doing better.”

  “She just hates me.”

  “She doesn’t hate you. She loves you.”

  “So her acting like that is the equivalent of her telling me she loves me?”

  “At this age? Yes.”

  I sighed. “Things they don’t teach you in high school, right?”

  “Allie, don’t be afraid to talk to someone,” Miss Kesslier said.

  “I’m fine. And I have to get going.”

  “Take a cinnamon roll for Ben,” Miss Kesslier said. “Tell him it’s from me.”

  “That I can do.”

  “Tell him I’m single. And ready to mingle.”

  “Did you really just say that to me?” I asked.

  “If you’re not going to make a move on that hunk, then I am.”

  I touched my forehead.

  I needed some of Lo’s icy attitude to cool Miss Kesslier off.

  I finished getting ready and took a cinnamon roll for Ben.

  When I got into my car, I knew where my first stop was going to be.

  And it wasn’t down at the station.

  I cruised through Sandemor and went to the dead end where I had been just hours earlier.

  The whole thing felt so real.

  The girl in a white shirt. Barefoot. Running through the streets. The yards. But… why? And where did she go?

  I sat behind the wheel of the car and stared at the spot where the road ended and the trees began.

  I thought about Patrick.

  I thought about my sister.

  I thought about the second girl in that basement years ago.

  My hands gripped the wheel tight.

  I refused to believe that some questions just weren’t meant to have answers.

  My phone ringing broke up my thoughts.

  I saw Ben’s name and laughed and looked at the cinnamon roll tucked so nicely in my passenger seat.

  “Ben,” I said.

  “Allie Down,” he said.

  “How’s your morning?”

  “Not s
o good. You better get down here.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “There’s a big mess waiting for you.”

  Chapter Six

  As I walked into my office, I wasn’t alone.

  Ben, Garrison, and Muldavey followed me.

  “Shut the door and talk,” I said to Muldavey.

  He shut the door and looked to Ben.

  Ben approached my desk with his kind eyes, face, and smile.

  He was always so soothing in a world that seemed to want me to explode.

  As far as Garrison went, he stood near the door, yawing, scratching as his round stomach like some kind of unkempt zoo animal.

  “Another porch got hit,” Ben said.

  I put my hands flat to my desk and looked down. “Where?”

  “You know where, Allie,” Ben said.

  I looked at Muldavey. “Bad?”

  “This time it was the Burns house,” he said. “They’re quite…”

  “Obnoxious,” Garrison said.

  We all looked at him.

  He shrugged his shoulders.

  “I’m just telling the truth here,” he said.

  “That’s, what, the fifth house?” I asked. “And I assume there’s nothing we can run with?”

  “Nothing,” Ben said. “Same as the others.”

  We had a string of incidents where the rich part of Sandemor was now the target of a group of kids or people trashing the porches. Since we were settled into the fall season and just weeks away from Halloween, this was the time of the year when those with money spent a lot of it on decorating their houses. To me, they were all competing with each other, even if it did look nice.

  Over the past two weeks, this group of people were going to these houses, dressed all in black, and they were smashing the pumpkins and gourds all over the porch and sidewalk. They were ripping the cornstalks to shreds. They were smashing glass candle holders. Basically anything they could think of to break without actually touching the house.

  That didn’t make it not a crime though.

  And say what you want about those with money, but in Sandemor, they liked to pretend they lived above everyone else. That meant the law, crime, everything.

  So to have their little bubble penetrated just a little…

  “And we have nothing?” I asked.

  “It’s all the same,” Muldavey said. “Whoever this is, they’re crafty. That’s for sure. Waiting until everyone is home, settled, and asleep. Moving in and out fast. Probably cutting through the woods…”

  Muldavey glanced at Garrison.

  “Why are you looking at me?” Garrison asked.

  “You’re supposed to be the guy who knows the woods around here,” I said. “But we’ve seen how that turns out.”

  Garrison put his hand over his heart and pretended that I shot him.

  My dig at him was about a previous case.

  Garrison wasn’t a master of the woods around here.

  He knew all the party spots because he spent his entire high school career in those same spots.

  I looked at Ben and my mind jogged right back to last night.

  What I thought I saw.

  But that was a girl dressed in white…

  “We’re going to have to go up there in person,” Ben said. “Show our faces. Take some heat. Make a plan.”

  “So, let me get this straight,” I said. “They want us to help, right? They don’t want unruly teenagers or whoever this is, running through their precious streets and causing problems. At the same time, they don’t like seeing our cruisers.”

  “Makes them feel unsafe,” Muldavey said.

  “Ruins their image,” Ben said.

  “You know what they can do with their image?” I asked. “They can stick it somewhere. You guess where.”

  “Whoa, I like this side of you,” Garrison said.

  “Allie, they’re just scared,” Ben said.

  “They’re getting a taste of what normal is,” I snapped.

  The office went silent.

  Muldavey’s fair skinned cheeks turned pinkish.

  I collected myself. “Look, I understand what they feel. But we need to patrol the area. I’m sure to them seeing a police cruiser is a sign of something bad, but what’s actually bad? Waking up to hundreds of dollars of damage on their property.”

  “It’s got to be teenagers,” Garrison said. “Young punks that want to get everyone riled up.”

  “Like yourself?” Ben asked.

  “Not me,” Garrison said. “Are we not going to talk about the elephant in the room?”

  “There’s only one of us that has the shape of an elephant in here,” I said.

  Garrison touched his stomach. “That’s so funny, Detective. Come on, be real here…”

  “About what?” I asked.

  “Garrison, stop,” Ben said.

  “No, let him talk,” I said.

  “You know if he wasn’t dating your niece you’d be on this better,” Garrison said.

  I heard Ben groan.

  I walked from behind my desk. “Excuse me?”

  “Trevor,” Garrison said. “Why haven’t we talked about Trevor? Huh? He was the one who broke into Hinkle’s car, right? Did I not bust up a party where he and your niece were?”

  My jaw tightened.

  I felt Ben inching closer, ready to stop me from hitting Garrison if the urge overtook me.

  Poor Muldavey… his face was now bright red and he was sweating.

  “Trevor,” I said. “You want to talk about him?”

  “How can we not?”

  “He’s doing community service for what he did,” I said. “Why would he do this?”

  “Because teenagers like that don’t care,” Garrison said. “They get popped for something stupid and they do it again. It’s in their nature. To him… I don’t know… it probably looks cool to his friends. Okay?”

  “That’s enough,” Ben said. “We can look at all sides of it. We can’t just point fingers. And no matter what, it’s not just one person.”

  I looked at Ben. “I can handle my own battles here.”

  Garrison laughed.

  I pointed to him. “You know what, Garrison? Go explore your theory. And when you realize you’re wrong, shove it up your elephant sized-”

  “I think we’re done here,” Ben cut in.

  “Oh, we’re done here,” Garrison said.

  He opened the door and stormed out.

  Muldavey waited patiently.

  “You can go too,” I said to him. “Just keep me in the loop.”

  “I don’t think it’s Trevor,” Muldavey said.

  I narrowed my eyes.

  He cringed and left my office too.

  “Well that was fun,” Ben said.

  “It’s pumpkins, Ben,” I said. “Seriously? Pumpkins.”

  “It’s more than that, Allie Down,” he said. “You know that. Are you okay?”

  “Of course I’m okay,” I said. “You know, this could be much worse.”

  “Oh yeah?” Ben asked with a soothing grin. “How?”

  “It could be a dead body in their front yard, right?”

  Chapter Seven

  The day ended up being busier than I expected.

  One good thing about not chasing after a killer or a kidnapper was that when I needed to leave, I could leave. I set up for Muldavey and Garrison to patrol near the Warrington area of town - the rich part where the pumpkin attacks were taking place. The small town department didn’t have much to offer when it came to unmarked cruisers and the ability to set up stakeouts, so I had to make do with what I could work with.

  I told them to cruise through the neighborhood once at dusk and then watch the entrances and exits as best they could.

  If things were to get worse, I could talk to Laura and we could talk to the county about getting help.

  I didn’t like admitting to needing help.

  Big shock there, Allie.

  My best guess was that w
hoever was trashing the porches would get tired. Or do something stupid and get caught.

  The worm that Garrison put in my head about Trevor… well, if that were the case and Trevor had anything to do with it, then I’d leave Lo no other option but to break up with him.

  Just the thought of that took me back to Alex and I sitting on my bed.

  We were raised by our steadfast grandmother, who had a temper, attitude, and took no crap from anyone.

  Especially me when it came to Tommy.

  A forced breakup with Tommy meant he would go off with other girls from other schools and then still sneak through my bedroom window. Most of the time half drunk, smelling like some other cheerleader’s perfume.

  Yet I couldn’t help myself.

  That was teenage love, right?

  And now I had a front seat to the ride with Lo.

  Speaking of which, I left the station with a quick goodbye to Ben because I had to go pick up Lo from her appointment.

  I was proud of her, how she took to therapy.

  She had no problem asking for a ride from school from one of her friends. It wasn’t some hidden secret to her. She openly talked about it. To me, that showed strength. And it meant she was going to be just fine.

  There was no end date when it came to digging through grief to make sense of it all, but I was relieved she was digging through it.

  For me, my suitcase of grief was shut, pushing open, weighed a ton, but I managed to sling it over my shoulder each day and survive just fine.

  I shot Patrick and killed him… but I had no choice.

  There was another girl in that basement!

  I shook my head and drove all the way across town.

  Dr. Jerry practiced in a small building that was so far hidden, I never heard of the address until the day I took Lo there for her first appointment. It was a brown building, one story, with a tan roof. It had the appeal of a lawyer’s office, which, ironically enough, is what was in the building along with Dr. Jerry’s practice.

  It was him, a lawyer, an accountant, and a financial planner.

  It rested at the bottom of one of the mountains and looked quite stunning with the autumn backdrop that came each year.

  So many years I spent chasing criminals around the city, never really pausing to remember the seasons. Fall was always wet and cool. Winter was icy and snowy. Spring brought everyone out. Summer was hot and torturous when running through the streets after someone.