EYEWITNESS 3

by Timms, Marc

  After providing the libations, Marnie had called Detective Dempsey. She’d reported that someone had been in Thomas’s house when they stopped by earlier. They hadn’t interacted with the person inside the house because they weren’t sure who it was. Still, that person, presumably Thomas, appeared to be staying there. The detective thanked her and told her that he’d be in touch.

  Johanna wondered, in looking back, why the family had not said anything to the impostors. She pondered each of the scenes she’d witnessed. None of the relatives, including Carolyn, had seen Thomas in several years. Part of his face had been covered by bandages. The remaining part of his face was cut, bruised, and swollen. The same hair and same build with the suggestion from the hospital and police that this was Thomas would carry weight.

  But now, she was jumping to conclusions as well. They had gone into Thomas’s house—that much was a given, because they’d found photos of Carolyn. The men could be anyone. It wasn’t like they’d had nameplates under the pictures.

  One thing did make more sense. The wallet would have had identification in it. So when Arthur took it—if he had taken it—the motivation was probably to keep Thomas’s identity hidden.

  She still wished that she had those photos from the house. Johanna could swear that she had recognized the man in the images, who she’d assumed was Arthur.

  So, where did this leave her? Johanna had no idea where Thomas or Arthur—or the man who had shot at her—were. Three men, all of whom had vanished. Add to that a kidnapping, a murder in a locked room, and two deaths at the park. Johanna didn’t even know where to start on the crimes.

  Johanna wanted the first thing to be finding Thomas. She thought they’d had the start of a relationship, something that was difficult to find these days. She wanted to hear from him, who he was, and what had happened. If he wasn’t Thomas, who was he—and more importantly, why would someone want to kill him if he wasn’t a relative of Jessica, an heir to her estate?

  She could only think of one person who would help Thomas out at this point: Arthur. So if she didn’t have a way to find Thomas, she’d need to find his father instead. While it seemed like a simple solution, Arthur had been elusive since Johanna had met Thomas.

  She sighed again, wishing she could recall where she’d seen Arthur. It hadn’t been at the hospital. Carolyn had used a fake photo to get the staff to identify the man. However, the man in the photo at Thomas’ house was familiar.

  She’d think of it when she was doing something else. That was the way it always happened with her.

  Penny was sniffing around her and giving her pleading glances. She looked up and was surprised to find that the afternoon was gone. Johanna found the dog food and put out a bowl of kibble on the floor. Penny danced a little around the bowl before devouring the food.

  The phone rang as Penny was finishing her dinner.

  “Hello,” Johanna said. She hadn’t bothered to check the caller ID before swiping right to answer.

  “We have your boyfriend here,” Dempsey said. His voice was flat as he spoke. “He wanted to call you for his one call, but I decided to do it for him. Do you have time to come down and share what you found with him—and with me?”

  Johanna agreed, and after taking Penny outside, she headed for the police station.

  Dempsey was waiting for her outside of the station when she arrived. Johanna wasn’t sure what had made him do this—until she stepped out of the car.

  “I wanted to talk to you out here before we went inside. We’ve already been in contact with the real Thomas. We were able to talk to him. He doesn’t know who this guy is or what exactly his role is in the matter. He suspects his father, but that’s all rather vague. I was hoping you might talk to him and get him to confess to whatever is going on here.”

  Johanna nodded. She wasn’t sure what she’d hoped for, but apparently, a part of her had wanted this Thomas to be the real deal. Instead, he’d lied to her repeatedly about everything.

  Dempsey opened the interview room door and waited for her to enter. Thomas—for lack of another name to call him—stood up and went to hug Johanna.

  “Sit down,” Dempsey said. “This isn’t a pleasure visit.”

  As she sat down, Johanna realized something. She understood where she’d seen Arthur before and why she hadn’t been able to easily recall it. The memory had come back to her like a train and hit her almost that hard.

  “Are you okay?” Dempsey asked, as if he could see the realization that had come into her eyes.

  “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking of something else,” she said. She looked at Thomas, but he didn’t seem to have noticed the difference. She was glad of that.

  “So, if this isn’t a social call, why are you here?” Thomas asked, looking at Johanna and then Dempsey.

  “We’re all here to figure out who you are and why you’re here.” Dempsey pulled out a notepad and began to write.

  “I’m not sure who you think I am—or am not, but I’ve already given you my name and ID more than once.”

  Dempsey cleared his throat. “We have information that the real Thomas—Jessica’s cousin, isn’t sitting across the desk from us. He has pretty much disavowed his family, including his father, and he has a full-time job. He was quite clear that he didn’t want to be a part of the mess going on here.”

  Thomas pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. “You’re lying. That’s not possible.”

  Johanna looked up to see his face. Thomas’ expression was a mix of fear and disbelief. She knew that he hadn’t committed the crimes in this case. He was with her when the first attempt was made. If someone else committed that attempt, then unless someone else co-opted his MO, he was innocent.

  So if he was innocent, why was he protesting so much? His behavior told her that he knew far more than he had divulged so far.

  There was still one more question that she needed to be answered. “Thomas, what about your father? How does he play a part in all this? I think he’s the man I saw at the park killing those women.”

  The last statement was a lie, absolutely and totally fabricated, but she had to find out something.

  Detective Dempsey stood up now, leaving Johanna as the only one still in a chair. “What the hell?” he said. She had not seen the man get ruffled before, but now he was angry. If there had been a way to tell him beforehand, she would have, but part of her realization had just come while she sat here.

  “My father is not a killer,” Thomas said emphatically. “He’d certainly never try to kill me—twice. Well, you saw . . .” He trailed off without finishing that sentence.

  Dempsey was still fuming, and he pounded on the door. An officer in uniform appeared, and Dempsey gave him instructions on locking up Thomas until further notice.

  As soon as the door closed, he pressed some buttons on the wall. Johanna assumed that he didn’t want the next part to be recorded.

  “What the hell, Cole?” he said again. “Thomas’s father is the guy who killed those women in the park? I thought you’d told me that you had no idea who was behind those killings—and I might remind you the man nearly ran you off the road after the second killing.”

  Johanna put up a hand. “I made that up. It was just a story. I wanted to see if Thomas knew the man who was playing the role of his father. Apparently, the answer is yes, he does. So now we have to go pick up that man and hope he tells us more.”

  The detective stood still for a moment and then looked at her again. “Are you serious this time? That killer is not Thomas’s father.”

  “I made it up to get a confession.”

  “But he didn’t admit to anything,” Dempsey said. “So that didn’t work.”

  “He almost did. We need to get moving now, or we’re not going to catch this guy.” Johanna leaned forward and explained how to resolve this situation.

  The detective and Johanna sat across the street from the restaurant where Johanna had nearly been struck by a car—her car—and Thomas had al
most been hit too. She had puzzled at the time about who they were aiming for when they drove the car. She had assumed that it had been Thomas, as they aimed for him, after he picked up Johanna and shoved her over the cement barrier. He had saved her life.

  The car had gone after him, at that point, and had nearly hit him before it pulled away.

  The second hit-and-run had made her confident that the car had been after Thomas on the first attempt.

  Now she wondered if Thomas had just been taught a lesson by that hit-and-run. If she’d been the target of the first attempt, and Thomas had saved her, perhaps the driver had wanted to make a point that Thomas shouldn’t cross him.

  The thing was that the waiter had been accommodating that morning, and she remembered his face well. However, the multiple attempts to run over people that morning had pushed his identity to the back of her mind.

  It was only when she had sat down across from Thomas again, at a small table, that she’d remembered the man who had served them. He was the man in the photos at Thomas’s house. Arthur had been at the scene of that first attempted hit-and-run.

  And she’d needed to know if Thomas knew that the original Arthur had been at the restaurant that day. If Thomas hadn’t known his own “father,” then Arthur was in on the plot to kill or severely injure Thomas. If Thomas knew that Arthur was there, then his father could have been a backup help to him. Or he might have been there for moral support, for whatever Thomas had planned.

  In either case, Arthur had not been the person at the wheel that day, which made it difficult to believe that he’d committed the other two hit-and-runs. The deduction had soothed her, as Johanna was still raw from the death of Carolyn. The woman had overstepped her boundaries at every step. Still, she’d been funny and equally interested in getting to the bottom of the kidnapping and the murder of Jessica.

  Johanna didn’t have many friends besides Marnie, and the loss of one of a few actual friends hurt.

  Dempsey was taking no chances on the operation today. He had two police officers in plain clothes, eating at the restaurant. An unmarked car sat behind the restaurant, waiting for the arrest to commence. And she and Dempsey were in front of the restaurant in another unmarked car.

  Johanna looked at her watch. “What are we waiting for?” she asked impatiently.

  “I just wanted those few customers to leave before we start this up. No reason to harm anyone if things get ugly here.”

  Two more guests took that opportunity to leave. Only the officers and one couple remained. Dempsey spoke to the officers who were eating, and the pair stood. Arthur was walking by their table. The team stopped him and spoke. Whatever was said spooked Arthur because he began to sprint out of the restaurant and down the street. Dempsey jumped out of the car. He ran after them, as did one of the men in the car behind the restaurant.

  All of them dashed down the road until they were almost out of sight. Johanna wondered what the officer in the car was doing now, but she had no way to communicate with him. If Johanna was right, Arthur’s car was still here. Even if he escaped at this moment, he would have to return and get his transportation.

  Johanna went on the supposition that Arthur did not have a gun. The killing of Carolyn and those women in the park had not been executed by one. So she assumed that he was unarmed. That made her next step easier.

  She walked into the restaurant. The manager was busy trying to take care of the last couple and wondering where his staff had gone—along with the customers who had not paid.

  Looking around, she saw a serving tray that seemed about right for her purposes. She carried it out under her arm and leaned it up against a tree while she waited.

  In less than ten minutes, Arthur could be seen running back in this direction. He had apparently lost all of the police because no one was behind him. He continued to look back at regular intervals to ensure that no one was following him.

  On one such check over the shoulder, Johanna picked up the tray. When he swiveled his head forward, it was too late. The tray hit him across the face. She didn’t feel any compunction about the move, as he might be the one who had killed Carolyn.

  The officer in the other car stepped out with his handcuffs swinging from his fist. The cuffs, a Miranda warning, and the lift to his feet all happened in seconds.

  “I’m innocent—I tell you. I didn’t do anything,” Arthur thundered.

  “You kidnapped that dog and ran over Carolyn,” Johanna accused.

  “I didn’t do either of those things. That was Henry.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Marc Timms is a creative writer who has loved writing ever since he was a young boy. He has studied the art of writing throughout school and has always had a passion for writing. At a young age, Timms moved from the US and is currently living in Australia with his wife and four kids. He has only recently decided to share his work and publish it to the world.

  Marc recently became an international best-selling author when he published his first book "Shock" which went straight to number 1 in several categories.

  When Marc isn't writing he loves to spend his time watching Aussie rules football and spending valuable time with his family.

  Books by Marc Timms

  SHOCK SERIES

  SHOCK

  SHOCK – The Truth

  SHOCK – The Chase

  SHOCK – The Chaos

  SHOCK – The Capture

  FORGOTTEN SERIES

  FORGOTTEN – The Return

  FORGOTTEN – THE Quest

  FORGOTTEN – The Revelations

  FORGOTTEN – The Reveal

  FORGOTTEN – The Unveil