by Kristi Rose
“That’s what I like about you, sweetness, an optimist at your core.”
Leo’s smile was dazzling. The kind that made girls do crazy things like throw their undergarments at him. The strong angles of his face spoke to his strength and seriousness with a potential for deadly.
But that smile. Holy cow. It hinted at a side of Leo that fantasies couldn’t compete with. A sexy side that said he had skills in areas other than weapons and manhunts. Bedroom skills.
I pressed the cold beer bottle to my neck.
I shifted my focus onto his information. “Let’s assume the killer is the one who rented that car and tried to run me down. Why? I’m the one on the hook for Josh’s murder. Why hurt me and take suspicion off me?”
“Because the person isn’t too bright? Anyone on your suspect list like that? Or maybe you’re getting close to learning something?”
My suspect list was shockingly short. Jenna Miller was on it. I’d considered putting Laura Danner on it, but she didn’t strike me as the type to off someone over water. Alice Andrews had motive but she came clean with the school board. What’s the point of going through the trouble to off a man if one comes clean about one’s motive?
He studied me. “Who’s on your list?”
I pressed myself into the back of the lawn chair and bit out with annoyance. “Who’s on your list?”
“You’re the only name on the city’s list,” he said with the same amount of annoyance.
“Which is so stupid. What do they think about the computers and the padded invoices? The guy was embezzling money from the school board, and he was laundering money. A practice he’s done across the state before ending here. Why would I kill him?”
“Maybe you were in on it. With your mom being the mayor, one might assume you have inside access to city information. Plus, no one would suspect you. How the information is presented will make the pieces make sense. You’re in a tough spot financially after what Carson did. You’re also angry, and you took a trip to Hawaii over the summer. Where did that money come from?”
I went to answer, but he interrupted me with a wave of his hand. “Doesn’t matter. We’re spinning this to make you the bad guy. Josh propositions you with the money-making scheme, and you do it. Then he threatens to tell on you for whatever reason, so you kill him. Or maybe you were sleeping together, and he tried to break it off, so you killed him. Get what I’m saying? DB can find facts and situations and people to say they witnessed you and Josh fighting to give this story credibility and cast reasonable doubt on your innocence.”
When Leo put it that way, my blood went cold. Logically, I knew spin convicted people. I’d even said this to myself when I went to the station. But deep down, I didn’t believe people would think I was a murderer. I was innocent. That should be enough.
“Jenna Miller is the only person on my list. I thought about adding Laura but—”
“Do it,” he said. “Don’t rule anyone out because it makes you uncomfortable, Samantha.”
He was right.
When trying to find out who killed Carson, my fake-husband, none of the suspects had been members of my community. Digging up their dirt didn’t come with a sense of betrayal. Josh’s death was too close to home.
Uncontrollable crying caught my attention, the sound of it coming from the headphones, and I put them back on while eyeing Leo. He moved to stand by the ledge, being careful to stay out of sight.
People were murmuring what sounded like consolation to the crying.
“He was such a bright light,” the crier said between hitchy
sobs.
I transcribed what I was hearing on my notepad and showed it to Leo. I couldn’t tell who the crier was.
Leo read the sentence and gave me an eye roll. I pretended to gag myself.
“Oh, get control of yourself, Mindy. He was just a guy. Not a bright light,” another woman said.
I wrote the response and showed Leo. He peeked over the ledge but drew back with a shake of his head. He couldn’t see anything.
The crier, Mindy apparently, sucked in a heavy breath then said, “The man is dead, Danika. You could at least put your hate aside for the moment. We all know how you felt about Josh. I bet you’re happy he’s gone. We all know you wanted the principal job. I guess now you have it.”
A curt laugh. “You’re a group of fools.”
Undeniably, Danika had oozed contempt for Josh at the open house. And based on the exchange between Josh and Danika the day he died, the two hadn’t been on friendly, fun terms. I wrote Danika’s name and the word suspect on the paper and showed Leo. He stepped near me and lifted the headphones.
“You’re getting the hang of this.” He let the headphones go so they slapped against my ears.
“Jeopardy,” he mouthed, pointing to himself. “Wheel of Fortune,” he said, pointing to me. I stuck out my tongue.
Then he did the most unexpected thing. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead, then brushed a wisp of hair off my face. He took another beer from the cooler, gave me a wave, and left.
I sat there for who knows how long listening to the women, thinking about Danika, the Hunter Boot moms, but mostly how the kiss had left me all tingly.
17
Friday
I was scheduled to be at AJ’s later today.
But first I needed a quick chat with Danika Post, now VGS acting principal. Only I couldn’t just breeze into the school lobby and request some time. I couldn’t take the chance, afraid Mrs. Rivers would cause a scene. I continued to be the numero uno person of interest.
Instead, I waited in the school parking lot, hoping to waylay the counselor there.
My plan worked. I caught her as she arrived to start her day.
“Danika,” I said, catching her between cars.
She squealed in terror and clutched at her chest.
I put my hands up in hopes of easing her fear. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She stepped back, wide-eyed. “What happened to your face?”
“I fell into a bush.”
She looked skeptical. “What do you want?”
“I want to know Josh better. I’ve been accused of killing a guy who I didn’t even know.”
She eyed me warily.
I pushed on. “I was taking pictures, that’s all. You were there when he asked me to do it.”
She nodded, hands still gripping her shirt and purse.
I leaned away to give her space. I learned this in one of the PI videos I watched. “And I’ll be honest. I didn’t think highly of him. His smile seemed fake, the way he shook my hand, clasping it between both of his, and,” — I made the heart using my hands — “this whole spiel about a village to raise a kid and education is a three-hundred-and-sixty degree process, which doesn’t make any sense.”
She relaxed her arms. “Right, it’s so stupid. If you do a three-sixty, you end up in the same place.”
“Yes,” I said emphatically. “But those Hunter Boot Moms didn’t see it that way. They ate it up. And the way he touched all of them.” I fake shivered. “He was skeevy, and I think you thought so, too.”
“He’s dead, so what does any of it matter?” Her stare was no-nonsense.
“Thanks for not accusing me of killing him.”
“Oh, I’m thinking it. But more, I wonder what you want from me.”
“I’m trying to figure out who actually killed him. And I was wondering if you might have any insight into that. Or you might have done it and need to get it off your chest.” Saying it was worth a shot.
She laughed and slumped against a car. “I barely knew Josh. Met him when I took the job here at the end of the last school year. I kept things at work strictly professional and made sure to keep him in his place.”
“Why did I hear that you wanted the principal’s job?”
Danika rolled her eyes. “PTC President Mindy. She spread that rumor. Yeah, I have my credentials in school administration, just finished them this s
ummer, in fact. And yeah, I ultimately want to be a principal, and at a school like VGS, it would be amazing. But I also have little admin experience, and I know I have to put in the time. Mindy took all the info I just told you, omitted the part about needing more experience, and told the other ladies in the PTC I was gunning for Josh’s job.”
“How about your Aunt Alice? She wanted you to have the job, too, right?”
Danika nodded and pointed to herself. “I could do a better job of running that school without having any extra credentials. A chimp could do a better job than Josh was doing. He was so focused on making everything look good that he neglected the day-to-day stuff. Let me handle it.”
“So you were doing his job, but without the pay or the title?”
She gave a half shrug. “I guess. When you put it like that…”
Our eyes met. I posed the question using an expression.
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “But I didn’t kill him over it.”
“I didn’t kill him over touching me too much either, but here we are. Someone wanted to get even with him.”
She continued to shake her head. “No. You want to know how I got even?”
I nodded.
“I applied for other jobs. I was offered a job with the Clark County School District in an admin role. I was about to get the experience I needed to move up when Josh died.” She jabbed her finger in the air for emphasis. “And that job paid better, too. I resigned.”
“When?” I hadn’t heard anything about it.
“I emailed the morning he died.”
“Was that what you were talking about outside the school the day he died?”
She pursed her lips for a second then said, “Yeah. He said I was smart not to list him as a reference because he wouldn’t have given me a good one. He asked me to stay.”
“Because you were doing all the work and he needed that to continue?”
She shrugged. “That’s my guess, but who knows with Josh.”
No other questions came to mind. “Thanks for chatting with me. Sorry to scare you in the parking lot. I’m kinda persona non grata in the building.” I hitched my thumb toward the school.
“Oh, yeah, your name is mud.” She smoothed down her shirt and skirt.
Back in LC, I texted Toby to see if he could find Danika’s resignation letter. Doing so would help validate what she’d told me. Until then, I wasn’t going to make any hasty decisions about her innocence or guilt.
The rest of my day was spent working for AJ. I swung by Click and Shop for his groceries. Afterward, Simon and I spent hours at the dog park playing catch.
From the comfort of AJ’s overstuffed plush leather chair and with my laptop on my legs, I pulled up the logged points from the tracker I’d put on Troy’s car. Home, community center, grocery store, game store, home.
I stared at the screen, hoping something would jump out at me. Nothing did.
My phone rang, and the screen said it was AJ wanting to FaceTime. He knew I’d been tracking Troy.
“Hey,” I said when his face came on the screen.
“Whoa,” he said and pulled away from his phone, but only as far as his earbud cord would allow. “What happened to you?”
In the small corner of the screen was my image. My face was scored with small crisscross cuts. “I fell into a raspberry shrub, a ginormous, man-eating one.” I’d worn a hat in hopes of hiding the marks. I pulled the brim down lower on my face. More red marks were slashed all over my hand and arm. I’d gotten used to them, but was seeing them all again through AJ’s eyes.
“And it tried to eat you?” He sounded sincerely concerned.
“It would seem like it.” Never mind my bruised hip from the car. But I kept that to myself.
“You’re okay though?” His large brown eyes furrowed with worry.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Let this be a lesson to you. Never jog on a ridge with raspberry shrubs below.”
“Noted,” he said with a smile. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“So… your brother. This is where he goes. Every day.” I read him the list and the time spent at each location.
“Seems benign,” AJ said, his face pulled tight in thought.
He’d called from the locker room. Behind him, a half-naked man walked by. Then another. All with towels around their waists.
I was insanely curious about the inside of a professional football locker room. The space was nice with rich, dark wood and light green walls. The team colors for the Pioneers were dark brown and kelly green. I wasn’t sure how or why those were the colors, I couldn’t imagine a frontiersman with a buggy all decked out in brown and green.
Another body walked by that I recognized. “Was that Keith McVay, superstar quarterback?” I nodded in the direction the body had gone. Keith was my age, single, and oh so very hot with his blond hair, blue eyes and a Wheaties-box smile. Last season, Keith had an average passer rating of one hundred and twenty, which meant he had consistent completions, lots of yards, several touchdowns, and had no interceptions.
AJ glanced in that direction then back at me. “Yeah.” He sounded underwhelmed. “Back to my brother.”
“Of course.” Wait till I told my dad I’d seen Keith in a towel. Not that he would care about the towel part. That would be more interesting to Precious. “I’m heading to the community center soon. I want to be there a few minutes before he gets out. I want to talk to the staff. I figured tomorrow I’ll follow him the entire day to see what goes down at those stops. They might look benign, but actually seeing it will tell us for sure.”
AJ wiped a hand down his face. “I asked Tee-Roy to show me what some of these mysterious purchases were and he couldn’t. Got all mad and accused me of not trusting him. Told me he was doing my stupid program, and this was the cost of it.”
“What did he mean by that?”
AJ shrugged. “I suppose he means that if he has to do this community center program to stay out of jail, as a favor to me, mind you, then he’s also entitled to a few of the things he wants. Troy has this huge entitlement attitude. I don’t know how he got it because we came from the same house. We both watched our mom work three jobs.”
“Except he moved here with you a few years ago and suddenly has a lot more,” I pointed out.
“I work hard for this stuff,” AJ said.
I laughed. “You sound like every parent in the same situation. You worked hard, but he didn’t. Then your mom gets sick and even more changes.” Thinking about Troy reminded me of Levi. “Hey, does Troy like football?”
AJ gave me a look that told me he thought I was stupid. “Does a bear crap in the woods?”
“Ha ha,” I said. “I know you like football, but does your brother? Sincerely like it. Not just pretend because he thinks he’s expected to.”
That gave AJ pause. “He used to like it. Nowadays, I can’t say for sure.” He looked a little sad. “I barely know who he’s becoming.”
I told him about Leo and the weekend football program. “I’ll text you his contact info.”
“Yeah, do that. Thanks.” AJ smiled. “That’s a good idea, Samantha.”
I glanced at my watch. Time to roll. “Okay, food is in the house. I picked up an awesome salad from the local restaurant in Wind River. There’re some steaks in the fridge for you to grill tonight. Maybe ask your brother to have dinner with you and try to just talk to him about anything other than the touchy subjects.”
AJ snorted. “That’s everything.”
“Maybe complain to him then. Make something up. Make him feel useful. I’ll head down to the community center and see what’s going on. I’ll let you know if I find anything.” I turned my phone to show Simon fast asleep in his dog bed. “This one’s pooped. We played catch for over two hours.”
AJ laughed. “You’re the best, Samantha.”
“Yeah, I know.” I smiled. “Simon’s easy to be with. I’m hanging up now,” I said then pressed the button to disconnect. My hip was kil
ling me from the softness of the chair, and I wasn’t sure how I’d get myself out. I’d sunk deep into the cushions.
Setting my computer on the ottoman, I pushed it aside so I could slide out on my back. I landed on the ground with a thump, wincing from the pain. Simon lifted his head and wagged his tail.
“Go back to sleep, lazy,” I said as I flipped over onto all fours. I pulled myself up using the chair’s arm. This life of fighting crime was hard on my body.
After making sure Simon had access to water and food and LC was properly oiled up, I split for the Vancouver Community Center where Josh ran his Recode and Reshape class. Just because Troy’s car was there didn’t mean he was. I needed eyes on the scene for verification. Anything other than that was an assumption, and we all knew what they said about assuming.
Because Troy would recognize LC, I circled the building until I found Troy’s car. It was parked behind the center. I parked in the front, tucked between two other large vehicles. I circled back to wait on a concrete bench with my backpack between my legs, Troy’s car in direct sightline. I pulled my ball cap down to mask what I could of my face and pretended to read a magazine.
Five minutes after Troy’s juvie class ended, he pushed through the doors, exiting the building. A scowl on his face, a backpack like mine flung over his shoulder. He didn’t talk with anyone. Didn’t look around or anything. Beelined it straight for his car. I reckoned juvie class wasn’t all that fun, but I expected a smile or a look of relief to be done for the day.
A few minutes behind Troy was Levi. He strolled out of the building and stopped a few feet from the door after exiting, causing people to suddenly change directions. He pulled a vape pen from his pocket and began puffing his life away. I snapped a picture. Based on the aroma tutti-fruity again. Stupid kid. Dad’s latest article said Washington State and a few states around us were banning flavored vaping juice.
I sent the picture to Leo. I ducked my head in hopes Levi wouldn’t recognize me. Once he had his vape pen going, he continued on his way.