Best Laid Plans

by Kristi Rose

  Creepy.

  Chills raced down my arms.

  I whipped out my phone and started taking pictures, cursing my decision to leave my camera at home.

  I paused long enough to dial Leo. My call immediately went to voice mail. Seconds later a text from him appeared.

  It read: In court. U ok?

  What did I say? That maybe June was the killer? Or at the very least had gone off the deep end?

  I replied by sending a picture from the doorway of June’s office. Then texted: June’s office.

  Moments passed that felt like hours.

  His reply: Whoa.

  Me: You ain’t kidding

  Leo: I’m stuck here. Report it to DB. I’ll let you know as soon as I’m out of here.

  Me: (Emoji eye roll) Fine. Wanna wager he does nothing? (Dollar sign emoji)

  Leo: Nope. Sucker’s bet.

  I scratched Lady M’s head as I backed out of the space. How had we missed this? Had the signs been right in front of us all along, yet we chose not to see them because it meant the unthinkable? A killer was among us.

  My phone buzzed with an incoming text. Leo

  It read: Where is June right now?

  Good question. I searched the storage area and the ladies’ room. No sign of her.

  I replied: In the wind?

  Leo: Watch your back. Where are you headed now?

  Me: The station.

  Leo: Good, get out of there. (Eyeball emoji and number six).

  When this was over I would praise his attempts at emoji chat. Like telling me to keep an eye on my six. Instead, I took a shot of Lady M in her banana pocket and sent it. I replied: babysitting. Cora pick up too.

  His reply was a thumbs-up.

  I exited the coffee shop through the employee backdoor, which emptied into an alley with parking spaces. June’s car wasn’t anywhere. I cut across the space and made my way to the police station.

  Pamela waved at me when I entered. “Tell me you got something good in that banana get-up around your neck. The day has been stupid boring, and I need a little action.”

  I wanted to groan. Like her words were a jinx. My mood had shifted as I’d been in June’s office. I couldn’t shake the feeling that all those papers, fluttering in the blow of the heater, were harbingers of doom.

  “It’s Toby Wagenknecht’s pet, Lady Marmalade. I’m pet sitting.” I stood beside the front desk and let her peek inside.

  “That’s adorable. Can I touch her?”

  I held open the pouch wider. “You can try. She’s vocal about what she likes and doesn’t like.”

  Pamela stuck her finger in and scratched Lady M’s head.

  Lady M cooed.

  I said, “You’re lucky. She doesn’t do that to everyone.” I nodded to the door that separated the waiting room from the actual police station. “Can you buzz me back? I need to see DB.”

  The annoying zzz of a buzzer filled the room, and I grabbed at the staff door, pulling it open. “Thanks.”

  The bullpen was only slightly more active than when I was here last night talking with Levi. The size of Wind River was reflected in our small police force. The staff was comprised of six patrol officers, one sergeant, one lieutenant, and two front desk managers.

  DB was sitting in his office, a bagel hanging out of his mouth as he banged on his keyboard with his pointer fingers.

  “Knock, knock,” I said and did a finger wave.

  He rolled his eyes.

  “I see you were an apt student of keyboarding class,” I said sarcastically. “Or is that the class you skipped because you were sacrificing goats and chugging steroids, trying to get the puberty gods to smile upon you.”

  He flexed one bicep, took out the bagel with the other hand, “You think the puberty gods smiled on me.” He made his bicep pop up and down.

  “The puberty gods giveth, the gray matter gods taketh away.”

  He glared but continued to flex.

  I took a seat across from him and slid my phone onto his desk. “I’m coming by because I was just at How Ya Bean. Did you know June used to date Josh?”

  DB stopped flexing and waved his bagel at me. “I don’t bother with town gossip. And I don’t care about other’s social lives.”

  I pointed to my phone. “I had a few questions for her and went to her office to talk to her. She wasn’t there. But all this was.”

  He picked up my phone and put his beefy steroid-strong fingers all over my screen.

  “I took several, scroll through.”

  His brow furrowed. “What am I looking at? Are you telling me she’s disorganized and a hoarder?”

  “She had several articles about Josh. Lots of weird stuff, too, like engagement and wedding announcements.” I wiggled my fingers to show I wanted my phone. “Look at this.”

  He handed over my phone.

  I found the picture where Carlie had been erased, and I enlarged it. “Here she’s literally erased Carlie from the picture, and you can see that’s June under the paper.” I handed him the phone.

  He stared at it a while then set it on the desk. “I’ll make note of this, and when I get a chance, I’ll go out and talk to June.”

  “Why do I feel like it’s more urgent for me than you?” Maybe because his tone sounded like he was just saying this to pacify me.

  DB sat back in his chair and said with a mouth full of bagel, “Sam, I got a kid under arrest for poisoning his mom’s boyfriend. I got a doctor who also tried to poison that same person because he was sleeping with the doc’s wife. I got another person hiding in Fiji who fled with Josh’s money because he was shafting her on her cut of the con they had running. And you want me to prioritize June because she’s always wanted to be a bride not a bridesmaid.”

  I leaned forward. “Why do you say that?”

  He snorted with a short chuckle. “Don’t you remember in fifth grade when we all had to partner up and learn to do-si-do? Hue Stillman got partnered with June? Afterward, he couldn’t shake her. She thought because they’d partnered they were dating. Started leaving him cookies and stuff in his locker.” He pointed a finger at me and shook it. “And her senior yearbook statement said her life plan was to marry, have lots of babies, and be the best wife she could be.” He blew out a cream cheese and chive breath. “I’ve always kept a wide radius away from June. She’s the kind who’d deliberately trap a man. Thinks a smile is an invitation. She’s trouble with a capital T.” He pointed to my phone. “And she’s a terrible housekeeper. Look at her office. Sloppy.”

  I curled up my lip. “Um, that’s because her mind is coming unraveled.”

  “So now you’re an FBI profiler?” He grinned wickedly.

  “You’re a dufus. This is a clear sign of something not good. It gives me chills to look at it. And it doesn’t worry you at all?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. Not enough to go out and talk to her right away. Yeah, I’ll do it. But I got hotter fires right now. If you’re so sure she’s a nutter, why don’t you go talk to her?”

  My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Basically, I’d just been given permission by the cops to go out to June’s. Leo couldn’t argue with that.

  Okay, he kinda could because we both know DB didn’t always make the best decisions. I stood.

  “You going out there?” He jerked his thumb in the direction June lived. “I’m certain she’s harmless.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe, I’m gonna chat with Hue first.”

  Lady M stuck her head out of the pouch, took one look at DB, and hissed.

  He said, “If you do and she’s as crazy as you think, throw that thing at her.” He pointed to Lady M.

  “I’ll email you these pictures,” I said, then left.

  Outside, I texted Hue.

  Me: June Rivers. Thoughts?

  Hue: (Bat emoji) (Poop emoji) cray-cray (man running away emoji)

  34

  Wednesday

  Having walked to How Ya Bean, I used my walk back to my apartment to c
ontemplate my actions. Too bad I lived really close to everything because Leo wasn’t gonna be happy with the thoughts I kept having.

  I dialed up Precious.

  “Samantha True,” she said in a harsh whisper. This was her fake angry voice. Because when Precious was for real angry, she stuttered. “I’d be mad at you if everything hadn’t turned out well.”

  Having no idea what she was talking about, I went with it anyway. “Doubtful. When’s the last time you’ve ever been really mad at me? Besides, I call to offer you the opportunity to ride sidekick and solve crime.”

  Her tone perked up. “Oh, do tell.”

  “First, why would you be mad at me?”

  She sighed and lowered her voice again. “AJ and I had a meeting. He told me about the company trying to recruit him away. He said they’re telling him a lot of what he wants to hear. Said you got to the bottom of the issue with his brother and how that Recode and Reshape program told AJ everything he wanted to hear, too, only it wasn’t.”

  “Yeah, and we know why.” I still wasn’t making the connection to why she’d be angry.

  She sighed. “But…”

  Ahh, here it comes.

  “AJ said the real clincher was when he thought about leaving, he just couldn’t. Said he needed a person named Precious in his life.”

  Through my chuckles, I said. “Yeah, sorry about that. It slipped one day.”

  She laughed. “You should have seen my reaction. Or lack of one. There I was sitting across the table talking contracts and goals and he says, ‘Sounds good, Precious,’ and I didn’t even notice. His brother was in the room, and he asked if we were dating.”

  At my apartment stairs, I sat on the second step. “That’s funny. Troy thought AJ was calling you Precious as an endearment.”

  “Both Troy and AJ love you by the way. He said part of staying with me was keeping you as an assistant.”

  I was flattered.

  “You’ll still do it, right?”

  I shrugged even though she couldn’t see. “I always need money, so yeah.”

  She clapped, the sound echoing through the phone. “Excellent. Your turn. How can I solve this crime for you?”

  I snorted. “As if. When you put it that way, I think I’ll go see June myself and try to find out why she’s stapled paper over every inch of her work office. All about Josh, weddings, and engagements. I need to ask her about when she and Josh dated. But I don’t need help to do that.”

  Precious gasped. “Shut the front door. You made all that up.”

  “I texted Hue because, apparently, when he and June got partnered in fifth grade square dancing, June thought that meant Hue was her soul mate. Hue said she was crazy, and he runs from her.”

  “Ooh, I remember that. She used to leave all kinds of treats and stuff in his locker. Remember how she used to just show up when we would be at the park or somewhere? She had that bike with the basket and rode it everywhere.”

  Of all the things I kept in my memory, that wasn’t one of them. Yeah, I remembered June leaving Hue food. A crush wasn’t unheard of in fifth grade, and Hue had always been easy to look at. Unlike Leo, he was quick to smile. I also remember her showing up at the park, but so did lots of other kids. What I couldn’t see when I scrolled through my memory video was anything weird or out of sorts.

  I said, “I’m having a hard time believing all this.”

  “That’s why you’re my favorite person, Sam. Because after years of having to prove to skeptical teachers and the like that you actually were dyslexic and not pretending, you still give everyone you know the benefit of the doubt.”

  “So do you,” I reminded her.

  “Because we’re awesome. We can’t surround ourselves with people who bring us down.”

  “Which is in direct conflict with my job, you realize that? And I’m asking you to go talk to June who might be a killer. That’s getting surrounded by all shreds of darkness, if I’m not mistaken.”

  “You have to turn around the words you’re using. Stop being negative. Be positive. Maybe by going we’ll help June clear her name. Or to assist a person who might need intervention. We’re doing a good service.”

  “I guess that means you’re in, you’re going with me.”

  “Duh,” she said. Keys jingled in the background. “Where are you? I’ll come to you.”

  “Sitting outside my apartment.”

  “How you want to do this? Bonnie and Clyde with guns blazing? Thelma and Louise with laughter and subtly covering each other’s back?”

  I scratched Lady M’s head, and she cooed. “I’m babysitting Lady M so we have to include her, and no to the guns blazing.”

  “Ooh,” Precious said. “The three of us can be a weird version of Charlie’s Angels.”

  I laughed. “Sounds good. I suggest we pop over under the pretense that I was talking to her earlier and we didn’t get to finish our conversation because I ran out to catch Danika. And we want to know if she’s okay. I don’t want to get into an altercation if we can help it. Go over, check things out, be snoopy without being suspicious, and bail without getting hurt.”

  The engine to Precious’s car turned over. “Sounds solid. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

  We disconnected, and I continued to stroke Lady M.

  Having her present was a stroke of good luck. Interpreting our intentions would be harder for June with a sugar glider in a banana pocket hanging around my neck. Totally not threatening.

  I checked my pack for my stun gun and then patted my waistline for the pinned pocket with the spare handcuff keys. I texted my dad and told him where I was headed and that I expected to be on time to pick up Cora. This action had two benefits. Someone other than DB and Precious knew where I was going, and if I didn’t show up at the school and they called someone to come get Cora, Dad would know what to do.

  He texted a thumbs-up.

  Now all I had left to do was wait for Precious.

  35

  Wednesday

  June lived with her mom out toward the northern part of town, where the houses were on acres.

  Lady M cooed as we drove.

  “I don’t know why she doesn’t like being in the car with Toby. She’s perfectly fine with us.”

  Precious said, “Because he likes to listen to that techno music. Must drive her nuts, a girl of her quiet temperament.”

  Precious slowed as we approached, and I pointed to the driveway. “June’s car’s here.”

  The houses out this way were older and offered more square footage, and the lots were grand.

  “Okay, we’re just popping by to check on her and I’ll ask another question about Danika. Make it seem like I’m sniffing up the wrong tree.” I nervously rubbed my palms down my leggings.

  “Got it,” Precious said and parked behind June’s car. She winked. “In case she tries to make a run for it.”

  “Does she strike you as the run for it type?”

  Precious arched a brow. “If she’s the killer and is letting a kid take the fall, yeah, she does.”

  I felt itchy with apprehension. “You’re right. I’ve got to stop thinking of this as June but instead a murderer.” I sucked in a deep breath, blew it out slowly, and then said, “Let’s do this.”

  At the front door, I rang the bell. Twice. Finally, June opened it a crack and peered out. “What are you doing here?” Only the left side of her face and shoulder were exposed.

  I said, “We were talking earlier, I got distracted by Danika, and when I went back, you’d disappeared. I wanted to make sure you’re okay. I know you’ve been out a lot, and well…” I wasn’t sure how to finish. Because she had been out a lot, and I never even brought by so much as a can of soup.

  June cut her eyes to Precious. “What about you?”

  Precious hitched her thumb toward me. “I’m the driver. Lady Marmalade doesn’t like to be behind the wheel.”

  June’s eyes narrowed. “Lady Marmalade?”

  I pointed to the s
quirrel carrier. “Toby’s emotional support animal. I’m babysitting.”

  June studied the pouch, then me. “Does it work?”

  I said, “Does what work?”

  “The emotional support animal.”

  Precious and I exchanged a glance, silently asking each other if we thought it worked. I shrugged as I hemmed and hawed. “Maybe it works?”

  Precious nodded. “Maybe. Lady M is so tiny, so maybe she can only dole out so much emotional support.”

  I said, “And Toby’s trauma was big so maybe he needs something like a horse.”

  “Or elephant,” Precious said.

  June said, “Well, I can’t imagine being shot was easy.”

  We murmured our agreements.

  June asked, “Can I hold her?”

  “No” was on the tip of my tongue when Precious said, “Sure, but we have to come in because we don’t want her to run away. She loves the pouch, but when we take her out, she gets scared and might take off.”

  June swung open the door.

  Based on how she’d used the door as a cloak, I half expected her to be wearing something not appropriate, but she was dressed in the sweats and T-shirt she’d been wearing at the coffee shop. Though she looked paler than normal. But in the PNW, we all lost color as winter approached.

  I mentally slapped myself on the head. Making excuses for June wasn’t how I was going to get to the bottom of Josh’s murder. Developing the skill of being unbiased, of training myself to see what was in front of me and not what I wanted to see was what would make or break me as a PI.

  I mentally clicked on my photographer lens and tried to see June that way.