by Kathi Daley
“I wouldn’t exactly say that the money owed was from a loan,” Bob hedged.
“Okay, so why did Frank owe Train money?”
“From what I understand, Train and Frank did some business together a while back, and it seems that maybe Frank didn’t exactly give Train his full share. Train found out and demanded what was due to him. I think we are talking about a bunch of money.”
“Do you know what sort of business they partnered in?” Colt asked.
“You’ll have to ask Frank, but I’m pretty sure the money was not obtained legally. Look, I get you have a job to do, but I have patients to see. I need to go. You know where to find me if you come up with any real questions, but for now, either arrest me or let me go back to work.”
“Just a few more questions.”
Bob groaned. “Okay.”
“You are a doctor. When Tank found Train’s body on the porch, did he ask you to take a look at it?”
“No. He simply came in and told everyone Train was dead. Then we called you.”
“Did it enter your mind at the time that while Train had a knife in his chest, he might not have been dead, and as a doctor, you might want to check that out?”
“No. The thought never entered my mind. Maybe it should have, but it didn’t.”
“If you had to guess, based on what you know about the other four men in attendance that night, who do you think put that knife in Train’s chest?”
“I’m not going to answer that.”
“The others did, and two of the four named you.”
“You’re lying,” he accused. “You are just trying to get me to rat out my friends.”
“Not at all. I was just providing you the same opportunity I extended to the others. You’ve answered my remaining questions, so you can go. Thank you for coming in.”
“Hank,” Bob said. “I think that it is most likely that Hank killed Train. Train was going to tell his wife that he had been cheating on her. His wife is not the sort to put up with such things. I can only assume that if she found out about Hank’s affairs, she would kick his sorry backside to the curb. Frank seems to have a motive as well, but Hank loves that business of his. I’ve often wondered if the only reason he married his wife was to get her money so he could open that store.”
“Thank you. I’ll be in touch if I have additional questions.” Colt closed his notebook.
“I think the money Train wanted and Frank was holding back from him was acquired in the execution of a robbery,” Bob added, even though Colt had told him twice he could go. “I won’t claim to have all the details, but from snippets of conversation I overheard, that would be my best guess. I still think Hank is your guy, but if not, then it’s probably Frank.”
“I’ll look into it. Thank you again.”
“And then there is Tank.” Bob seemed to be on a roll, so Colt sat back and let him talk. “You didn’t hear this from me, but not everything he sells is entirely legal. I know that Train knew about Tank’s illegal dealings. It seems like he was blackmailing everyone else, so I suppose he might have been blackmailing Tank as well.”
“And Dax Sherman?” Colt asked.
“I’d never met the guy before that night, but he did have an odd look on his face when Train walked in. If I had to bet, the two had a history.”
Okay, if that was true, it was news to me.
“Which brings us back around to you,” Colt said.
“I told you. I didn’t do it, so you can either arrest me or let me go.”
“You’re free to go.”
As soon as he left, Colt came back to his office.
“Do you think he did it?” I asked.
Colt frowned. “Well, he would know exactly where to place the knife to ensure a quick and quiet death, and as a doctor, it seems odd to me that he didn’t even go outside to look at the body.”
“That is odd.”
“I’m still waiting for the report from the medical examiner. I’m going to be interested in the placement of the knife: random stab or skilled insertion?”
I glanced out the window. The snow continued to fall, but the wind had lessened somewhat, which would at least help to improve visibility a bit. “What do you think about his statement regarding Tank’s supposed illegal activities?”
“I’m not sure. Bob was trying to place blame on everyone but himself, and Tank has been nothing but helpful, but I’ve said from the beginning that it seems as if he is hiding something. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to look into the illegal sales angle.”
“And Frank and the robbery? If the money Train was trying to get from Frank had been obtained during a robbery, that might give him even more motive to want the guy out of the way.”
“I agree. I’ll follow up on that as well. And with Hank too. In fact, I thought maybe we could drop in on Hank if his store is open today. Maybe we can fish around a bit while we wait for Rufus to be released.”
“I’m game.”
Chapter 10
We’d just gotten back into the truck and pulled onto the highway when Colt got a call over the radio. He picked up the receiver. “Chief Wilder here. Go ahead.”
“We have a pileup on the highway south of town. Every available unit needs to respond,” the dispatcher replied.
“I’m on my way,” Colt answered. He turned to me. “Tighten your seat belt. I’m going to pick up the pace a bit.”
And did he ever pick up the pace. Holy moly, I don’t think I stopped to breathe once the entire time we were driving south. Not only were the roads icy, but the snow was coming down again, affecting the visibility. I had to wonder how he could even see where he was going.
When we arrived at the scene, red and white emergency lights flashed off the snow, making me feel dizzy. There were cars everywhere, some with only minor damage while others looked to be totaled. I hoped everyone was okay, but from the total chaos that greeted us, I would be amazed to find that everyone had made it through in one piece. I didn’t want to get in the way, so when Colt asked me to wait in the truck, I happily agreed. I could see some people walking around, while another group was sitting in the snow on the side of the road. There was a sheet over one of the bodies. I felt my stomach twist with emotion as I watched the activity unfold before me.
Police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks continued to arrive on the scene. I could see the first responders had everything under control, yet I still felt bad about not helping. To be honest, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so helpless. People were shouting, uniformed men and women were running to and fro. I didn’t want to think about the lives that had been impacted on this icy road.
After about fifteen minutes, Colt opened the back door of his truck. He set a small terrier inside. “This dog was found running around in the road. I have no idea which car she came out of or whether her owners are in one piece. She is really freaked out. I think she could use some comfort.”
“Absolutely.” I unbuckled my seat belt and climbed into the back. I pulled the frightened animal into my lap and began to rock and sing to her. A short time later, Colt deposited a second small dog inside. I used my coat to create a cocoon, hoping they would find comfort in the swaddling.
“I’m Abby,” I said to the dogs, both of them shivering. “I don’t know what happened, but it looks bad. I hope your humans are okay.”
I glanced out the window. There were even more people standing around, and the group sitting in the snow on the side of the road had at least doubled since we’d arrived. There were a few people being treated, but so far, only one covered body. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer that the fatality I saw would be the only one.
“Are either of you injured?” I asked, even though I didn’t expect a reply from the dogs. “I don’t see any blood. That’s good. I’m sure you are anxious to hear about your humans. I’m sure it won’t be long now.”
The snow had begun to pick up in intensity. I could see uniformed men turning motorists around. Colt had sa
id the road was closed. I wasn’t sure how this accident could even have happened unless the road had reopened when the snow had slowed, giving motorists a false sense of safety. It was never a good idea to be driving around in the snow if you could avoid it.
Colt opened the door once again. This time he’d brought over two young children, a boy who looked to be seven or eight and a girl who was probably a couple of years younger. “This is Chloe and Calvin. Their mother is being transported to the hospital. Their father is on the way to pick them up. Can they wait here with you?”
“Absolutely,” I said, scooting over to allow them to slide in beside me. Both kids were crying, which I totally understood. They must be terrified.
“Their father is only five or ten minutes away. I’ll come to get them when he arrives.” Colt shut the door behind them.
The dogs seemed to sense that the children were upset and responded by licking their faces. I pulled the little girl into my lap and wrapped my coat, which had been tucked around the dogs around her. “It’s going to be okay,” I cooed, even though I had no idea if it would be. Calvin had stopped crying when the dogs nestled up next to him. “Thank you for helping me calm the dogs,” I said to him. “They were scared before you got here, but they seem a lot better now.”
“Is their mommy going to the hospital too?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” I answered. “Chief Wilder found them on the road. I’m waiting to hear about the people they were with.”
“I want to go to the doctor with my mommy,” Chloe sobbed.
I tightened my arms around her. “I know. But your daddy is on his way. Chief Wilder said it won’t be long.”
Neither child appeared to be injured. I hoped that meant that their mother wasn’t seriously hurt either. I wanted to make things better for the two children, but I was out of my depth and had no idea what to do.
“What are the dogs’ names?” Calvin asked.
“I don’t know. I think the one with the pink ribbon looks like a Sally.”
He wiped the tears from his face as he considered my reply. “I like Sally. And maybe the other one is Cupcake.”
“I think Cupcake is a wonderful name.”
“I like Princess,” Chloe joined in.
“You know,” I said, “maybe the one with the pink ribbon should be Princess.”
“I have a doll named Princess Gwendolyn, and she has a pink bow in her hair. Mommy gave her to me for my birthday.”
“I bet she’s beautiful.”
“She is.”
I looked at Calvin. “And what did you get for your birthday?”
“An Ultimate Fighter action figure.”
I slowly let out a breath as the children became engaged in our conversation. I could sense they were both still traumatized, but the dogs helped, and once the windows fogged up, the chaos going on outside the truck didn’t seem quite so real. About ten minutes after Colt had dropped off Chloe and Calvin with me, he opened the door again. This time, there was a harried-looking man with him.
“Daddy,” both kids screeched.
I grabbed both dogs as Colt helped the children out of the truck.
“Is Mommy dead?” Chloe cried.
“No,” the man answered. “Mommy is fine. She needed some stitches in her head, but she called me just a minute ago and said she will be fine. She is worried about you two, so how about we go to the hospital so she can see for herself that you are fine.”
Both children nodded their heads emphatically, and they and the man walked away with Colt by his side. I returned my attention to the dogs.
Now that had been intense. I didn’t have a lot of experience dealing with children, especially ones who had been traumatized, but I suspected our encounter had gone okay. I pulled Princess into my lap and buried my face in her soft fur. Now that the children had gone, the noises outside the truck seemed very real again.
About thirty minutes after the children had gone off with their father, Colt came back to the truck with a woman and a young girl who I thought might be around ten. He opened the door and informed me that he had found the owners of the dogs. Apparently, when the accident occurred, the dogs had bolted out the back door. The woman had tried to grab the pair, but they had scampered off. The woman and child were, of course, as ecstatic to see their furry friends as they were to see them. The woman clipped leashes on both dogs, handed one to the girl, and took the other in her arms.
“Thank you so much for keeping an eye on the girls. I don’t know what we would have done if we’d lost them,” the woman said.
“No problem.” I smiled at the mother and daughter. “I was happy for the company.” I looked toward the tangle of cars. “Is your vehicle operable?”
“No,” the woman replied. “But I called my husband, and he is here to pick us up. The car will be towed.”
Colt took the woman by the arm and led her to where a man in a small SUV was waiting, and I watched as the woman, child, and dogs greeted the man, climbed inside, and drove away. At least that part of the story had had a happy ending. My child and husband had died in an auto accident, so I knew that not all stories did.
Of course, once the dogs had gone, I was alone again. I tried to fight the shaking I could feel coming on. A delayed reaction to the stress of the situation, I supposed. It had been better when I had the dogs and the children to focus my energy on, but now, sitting alone in the truck in the middle of such chaos, I could feel panic begin to set in. Admittedly, because Ben and Johnathan had died in an auto accident, accidents, in general, had the potential to cause me panic attacks. I hadn’t been with them when they died so, in a way, it didn’t make sense that vehicle accidents would affect me the way they did, but perhaps the fact that I hadn’t been there was part of the problem.
I was tempted to get out and help where I could, but Colt had told me to wait here, so I did. It was another hour at least before he returned to the truck. The people who’d needed to go to the hospital had all been transported, those who simply needed rides had been tended to, vehicles had been moved, patrol units had been put into position so that no one could pass, and the emergency vehicles released. I had already climbed back into the front seat, where Colt joined me. He took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. My throat was too clogged with emotion for me to answer.
“I should have realized this would be hard for you. I’m sorry. Maybe I should have dropped you off at the office before I responded.”
“No,” I choked out. “It was fine. And I was glad I was there to help out with the dogs and the children. Will their mother be okay?”
“She will. She hit her head, which caused her to temporarily lose consciousness, but other than a cut on her head and a slight concussion, she’s fine. She and her husband are both very grateful that you were there to calm the children.”
“I was happy to help out.” I swallowed hard. “I saw the white sheet. Someone died.”
Colt’s lips tightened. He started the engine and pulled away before he spoke. “The man who caused the accident had been walking on the highway. A tractor-trailer that never should have been on the road swerved to try to avoid him, which started a twenty-car pileup. Others were injured, though thankfully, the man on the road was the only fatality.”
“I wonder why he was walking on the highway during a snowstorm.”
“We found a disabled car down the road. It looks like he must have broken down and, instead of waiting for help, he set off on foot. With the blowing snow, visibility was almost nil at times. It’s amazing he made it as far as he did before getting hit.”
“I guess the road must have been closed when he started walking, but if that was true, why was he on the road in the first place?”
Colt blew out a breath. “I suspect he went around the barrier. Some people do. Some people see that the road is closed due to hazardous conditions, and instead of realizing closing it down is for their own protection, they decide that the
y should be the exception to the rule. You talk to folks after accidents have occurred, and they tell stories of knowing how to drive in the snow, therefore assuming that the barrier should only apply to others who don’t. If they believe that, they are wrong. If I had to guess, the fatality came upon the barrier to the east of us and decided it didn’t apply to him. I imagine that at some point along the way, he broke down, and when he realized that no one was going to be coming along to help him, he started walking. I also imagine that at some point, the road was opened to single-axel vehicles, and the barrier to the west was removed, which is why there were other vehicles on the road. There was no way a big rig should have been there, but I imagine he thought he was the exception too. A lot of lives have been impacted tonight by folks thinking the rules don’t apply to them.”
I laid my hand over Colt’s arm. The poor guy looked exhausted. I guessed two hours in a blizzard triaging injured people would do that to a man.
Chapter 11
By the time Colt dropped Rufus and me off at the cottage, I was exhausted. What a day. A sick cat, a murder investigation, and a major pileup on the highway, and it wasn’t even dinnertime yet. Thankfully, the vet had given Rufus a clean bill of health. He provided supplements to add to his food, which sounded to me to be some sort of natural antidepressant for cats. It seemed that the winter blues weren’t just a people thing.
As it had been the previous evening, dinner was a lively event as the authors shared their work and their newly gained insights after taking the seminars Dax offered between breakout sessions. I could remember the energy generated when ideas were flowing and storylines existed in the realm of pure potential. I also noticed a tiny bit of friction between sisters Connie and Silvia. I knew several writing teams who seemed to make it work, but I’d never felt that I was the sort to want to give up part of my creative decision-making to another person. Yet I supposed that was exactly what Connie and Silvia and Larry and Laverne did every day. Perhaps it had been a mistake to break up the teams. Dax felt that all four of them would get more out of pairing Connie and Larry and Silvia and Laverne rather than keeping the writing teams intact. And maybe he was right in his assumption. But as I watched the sisters trying hard to avoid each other, I realized that bringing a third and even a fourth voice into an established pair might not have been the best choice.