A Field Guide to Homicide

by Lynn Cahoon

  Shauna stood and refilled both their cups with fresh coffee. “I think the exciting thing is Seth’s thinking about asking you to marry him. Well, thinking about it again. I guess he’d planned to before when you—”

  Cat held up her hand. “Don’t say it, let me. When I married Michael instead.”

  “It’s what happened. No shame in it. Now you just have to figure out what you want to do.”

  “Now? I like where we are. I like what we’re doing. Yeah, maybe someday I want the little white church again and maybe kids. But not now. Who will remember to feed them when I’m lost in writing and Seth is rebuilding a roof somewhere?”

  Shauna laughed. “Well, since I’ve had no luck with men, my plan is to live with you and your man the rest of my life, so I’ll raise the babies. Or at least keep them fed.”

  “You’re a good friend.” Cat sipped her coffee. “So do you think he’s the one?”

  “Seth? I think you two are good together, but only you can make that decision.” Shauna got up to check on something in the oven.

  “No, I’m not talking about Seth. I mean Terry. Do you think he might have killed Chance?”

  “There’s no way that Terry would have killed Chance. He was part of our platoon.” Seth stood at the door.

  “Seth, I’m just asking a question.” Cat stared into his devastated face. “Look, I’m sorry . . .”

  “I’ve got to go. I told Joey I’d run with him this morning.” He nodded at Shauna. “Don’t hold breakfast for me. I’ll eat in town.”

  When he disappeared out the back door, Cat sank back in her chair. “Well, I think I’m working myself out of that marriage proposal.”

  “Seth loves you. Couples fight. Especially about other people. You know that I hated Paul. He wasn’t just Kevin’s right-hand man, he was the bane of my existence. Every time we were about to go do something, just for us, he tried to stop us. Now, looking back, I realized he was probably just trying to break us up for the sake of his sister.” Shauna sank into her chair. “And all my chattering isn’t helping you, not one bit. What can I make for breakfast to make you smile?”

  “Nothing, I’m not hungry. I’m going to go upstairs and work for a while. Tammy’s arriving just before ten. Let me know when she’s here and I’ll help her set up. And Archer is up and in the living room.” She glanced at the clock. “I’ll call Uncle Pete after six. Then it’s out of my hands.”

  “Calling him is the right thing to do, you know that.” Shauna watched as Cat stood and refilled her coffee mug.

  “Then why does it feel like I’m betraying Seth?” Cat shook her head. “Rhetorical question. Don’t bother answering. This is my problem, not yours.”

  “But I’m supposed to feed the babies,” Shauna said. When Cat didn’t answer, she sighed. “Too soon to joke?”

  “A bit. I’ll see you around ten.” She left the kitchen and made her way upstairs. She hoped she wouldn’t run into anyone, but Archer had been awake. Who knew who else was up and writing or researching this morning? She made it all the way to her office without running into anyone. Then she locked the door, sat on the couch, and cried.

  After she talked to her uncle, she felt even worse. But she hadn’t been the only one to question Terry’s whereabouts yesterday. The fact the guy was one of Uncle Pete’s suspects only made her feel worse for Seth. Would this be the big fight that broke them up again? Why did they always run into problems? Maybe they weren’t meant to be. Every time it started getting serious, crap happened. Just like every time she went on a diet, chocolate showed up in the house. Well, that might be because she’d bought it, but it was almost the same principle.

  She was a pro at self-destruction. She was just going to have to face it. She would grow old and become the next Mrs. Rice, yelling at kids to get off her yard.

  She opened the Word document and wrote for a few hours, knowing that what she wrote would probably be cut the next day. Writing while sad didn’t bring out the best storyteller in herself. Even the word choices she made weren’t appropriate for a funny satirist young adult or new adult book.

  Finally, she gave up, closed the document, and spent the rest of the time looking for cute baby goat videos on Facebook. She shut the computer down at fifteen to ten and went downstairs. Tammy wasn’t here yet, so she sat in the foyer, waiting.

  The group came downstairs and, one by one, she directed them to the living room to wait.

  “So I still have time to eat?” Brodie asked her.

  She nodded, trying to put on the happy hostess face, but she really didn’t feel it. “I don’t know what’s keeping Tammy, but you have until she gets here.”

  “Dude, you ate three full plates at breakfast. How can you stand to eat more?” Tristin followed him into the dining room.

  Tammy pulled her book van in front of the house. She waved at Cat, then went to the back of the van, where she pulled out four boxes and put them on a hand cart. She then pushed the cart up the sidewalk and up the porch stairs. Cat held the door open for her.

  “I’m so sorry I’m late. I left with plenty of time, but there was a road closed just up the street so I had to go around and then I got lost, so I was driving around the neighborhood for ten minutes. Finally, I found Warm Springs and came back this way,” Tammy rambled, as she dragged the boxes through the foyer and into the living room.

  “No worries. Let me help you get set up.” Cat followed her into the living room.

  “Hey, Cat? Do you know if Shauna has more bacon?” Brodie blocked her way. “And we’re almost out of juice.”

  She moved around him and pointed to Shauna, who was coming out of the kitchen with a cell phone in her hand. “I don’t know. Ask Shauna.”

  “No problem. Shauna? We need bacon, man. Any chance there’s still some in the kitchen?” He spun toward her, but Shauna just ignored him and walked around him toward Cat. “Shauna? Did you hear me?”

  “Not now, Brodie.” She grabbed Cat’s arm before she could reach the living room. “Hey, I need to talk to you.”

  Running a hand through her curls, Cat turned back toward her. “Can’t it wait? Tammy’s going to have to leave to open her shop at noon, so we need to get this session started.”

  “No, Cat, it can’t.” She turned to the still-waiting Brodie. “Go in there and help Tammy set up and I’ll make you some fresh bacon as soon as you’re done.”

  “Deal.” He sprinted into the living room, but stopped as he hit the door. “Don’t forget OJ.”

  Shauna pulled Cat to the side of the stairwell, where the guests couldn’t see her. “Your uncle is on the phone. There’s been an accident.”

  “Is he all right? Don’t tell me he’s been shot. Well, he probably wouldn’t be calling then, someone else would be, so I guess it’s not that, but is Uncle Pete okay?” Cat’s words fell over one another as she tried to form a coherent thought. “Please, no. Please, no.”

  “Hush now,” Shauna said as she pulled her into a hug. “Be strong, it’s not your uncle, but you need to talk to him.”

  Cat took the phone out of Shauna’s hand. It could be her parents who were hurt. They would have used her uncle as emergency contact at their new condo in Florida. Her dad hadn’t looked good when she’d taken a quick trip down to see them a few months ago. “Hello?”

  “Cat, now listen, he’s okay, just banged up a little.”

  Cat interrupted. “Dad? He’s alive?”

  “I’m not referring to your father. Honey, it’s Seth. A pot of petunias fell off a rooftop patio and hit him midback. If Seth hadn’t been watching, Joey could have been seriously hurt. I can’t believe he didn’t break a leg when he dove into him.”

  Cat could hear the sounds of the hospital around Uncle Pete’s words. She felt numb and couldn’t believe she hadn’t even thought it might be Seth. Now that she knew it was, she felt cold. Seth was untouchable. Even in high school he hadn’t been hurt throughout four years of football. “He’s alive?”

  “Yes,
he’s alive. Like I said, he’s got some bumps and bruises from the fall. Would you or Shauna drive down to the hospital to get him? I can’t leave until his friend comes around. I guess he hit his head pretty hard when Seth pushed him out of the way.”

  Relief gushed through her. “Yes, I’ll be down there in a few minutes. Thank you for watching out for him until I could get there.”

  “Seth’s a good kid. Kind of like you are.” Uncle Pete chuckled. “Look, I’ve got to go. The doctor just came out of the back and I need to see when I can interview Seth’s friend. Maybe he remembers more about the incident.”

  She hung up the phone and handed it back to Shauna. “I’ve got to go.”

  “You’re not going alone. I’ll drive you to the hospital.” Shauna led her to the kitchen door.

  “But the guests. Brodie’s bacon?” Cat needed to see Seth. To touch him and make sure that he was really fine like Uncle Pete had said.

  “They’ll understand. Let me just go tell Jocelyn what happened. She seems to be the most level-headed of the group. Sit down and I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Shauna pulled a chair out from the table and gently forced Cat down into it. “Stay right here.”

  “Okay.” Cat felt numb. Her lips felt numb. Her fingers. And definitely her brain. It was like her world had shifted too many times in the last few minutes. She didn’t know what to think. What to feel. So she just sat and waited. The clock on the wall ticked away the seconds that turned into minutes. Cat was just about ready to leave without Shauna when the kitchen door opened.

  Shauna had Cat’s purse, as well as her own. “Come on,” she said, grabbing the keys to the car that were hanging on the row of hooks on the kitchen wall. “Let’s go get Seth and bring him home.”

  Chapter 19

  Walking into the ER waiting room, Cat stood by the door as Shauna went to find out where Seth was being treated. A cop stood on the other side of the door, but she didn’t recognize him. As she stood there, Joey came out of a side door and headed to the exit. He stopped when he saw her.

  “Oh, Cat. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

  Cat shook her head. “You know Seth likes to play hero. He probably didn’t even think twice before pushing you out of the way. He’s like that.” And it was one of the things she loved about him.

  “I shouldn’t have invited him to run with me. They must have thought he was Terry, so they went after him to shut him up. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I shouldn’t have told Terry anything. But Chance, he was one of us. I should have stood up and told people then. Not waited so long.”

  “What are you saying?” Cat could see Shauna scanning the room for her, but Joey was blocking Shauna’s view. “Joey, you couldn’t have known this would happen.”

  Joey didn’t say anything.

  “Wait, aren’t you supposed to be in a coma? Didn’t you hit your head?” Cat wanted to reach over to the cop on the other side of the door, but he was talking to a kid from the waiting room. She wanted to ask someone if they could see Joey too. Maybe she was imagining this whole thing. Maybe it was a dream. A nightmare.

  “Just know I’m sorry.” Joey stepped around her and out of the building.

  Shauna waved to her. “Cat? He’s back here.”

  Putting Joey out of her mind, she rushed toward Shauna. “Is he okay? What did they say?”

  “They said he’s back here.” Shauna put a hand on Cat’s back. “Let’s go find out ourselves.”

  When they found the small room where Seth lay on a hospital bed, Cat’s heartbeat went faster. He looked okay, but they had him hooked up to an IV and a blood pressure cuff. A quiet beeping noise filled the room. He turned his face from the television he’d been watching to the door. And smiled.

  Cat’s heart melted. He was okay. She rushed to his side and took his hand. “What happened? Are you okay? Joey said you saved him.”

  “He’s awake?” Seth frowned and glanced at the television. “Pete was just in here a few minutes ago and said he was still out.”

  “I saw him in the waiting room. He’s up and walking and fine. But he’s worried about you. I don’t know where he was going.” Cat glanced at Shauna. “Maybe we should see if he’s all right to leave? Maybe he’s confused?”

  “I’ll go check in with the nurses’ station.” Shauna smiled at Seth. “Good to see that you’re okay.”

  “Feeling a little foolish hooked up to all this crap, but yeah, I’m okay.” He smiled back at Shauna. When she left, he reached out and pushed a strand of hair out of Cat’s eyes. “Don’t look so scared. I’m just banged up.”

  “Did you see what happened?”

  Seth shook his head and squeezed her hand. “No, all I saw was the flowerpot flying down at Joey’s head. I think it would have nailed him.”

  Cat laughed as she pulled up a chair to sit next to Seth. She wanted to keep touching him. To remind herself that he was safe. And alive. “Oh, my superman. Always on the watch to save others.”

  He leaned his head back on the pillow. “I have to admit, I’m feeling the pain here. If I want the good stuff, I’ll have to stay over. So I told them I’d rather go back and have my girlfriend take care of me.”

  “Are you going to be able to make it up three flights of stairs?” Cat glanced at his legs. “Did they do X-rays? Is anything broken?”

  “Yes, they did X-rays.” He took a sip of water. “I’ll be fine getting to my room, but I don’t know if I’ll want to drive the group to Outlaw tomorrow morning or not. We’ll see what I feel like when I get up tomorrow. But if I’m still hurting, can you drive?”

  “Of course, but I didn’t realize you were going to Outlaw.” Cat wasn’t sure taking Seth home tonight was a good idea. Before she agreed with the plan, she wanted to talk to the doctor.

  “Yeah, Jocelyn and Sydney tag teamed me the other day and asked if I’d take them up so they could see the ghost town. They haven’t told Archer or Tristin, so don’t ruin the surprise.”

  She shook her head. “You’re a soft touch, you know that, Seth?”

  “If I wasn’t, I would have let Joey get hit by the flowerpot and I would have been the one walking out of the hospital pain free.” He groaned as he moved. “Maybe I should see if I could get some sort of pill for this.”

  Cat pushed the button for the nurse. When the voice came over the speaker, she told the nurse that Seth needed something for pain, now.

  “Someone will be right there.” The voice broke off.

  Cat glanced at her watch. “I’m giving them ten minutes, then I’m going and tracking down someone myself.”

  “You are a rock star.” Seth closed his eyes and Cat could see the pain on his face. He just might have to spend the night in the hospital if he was hurting this badly.

  Just then the door opened, but instead of the nurse she’d expected, Uncle Pete came into the room. He stepped closer to Cat.

  “Are you sure it was Joey you saw leaving the hospital?”

  Cat stood and put herself between her uncle and Seth. Lowering her voice, she answered the question. “Positive. I met him last night at Bernie’s. He said he was sorry about Seth.”

  “What else did he say?”

  She thought about the conversation and related it almost word for word to her uncle. “Then Shauna called me over and we came in to see Seth. Did you see a nurse out there? Seth needs something for the pain.”

  “I’ll go get someone.” Shauna disappeared out the door. Cat hadn’t realized she’d been standing there all this time.

  “What’s going on? Why are you asking me about Joey?” Cat asked her uncle as he started to follow Shauna out of the room.

  He took her hand and pulled her out into the hallway with him. Making sure they were out of earshot of Seth’s room, he turned toward her. “Because up to about five minutes ago, he was asleep in his room and being monitored. Now, he’s missing. The IV has been taken out, his blood pressure cuff is off, and his stuff is gone. I’m beginning to wonder if
this thing was really an accident after all.”

  “What else could it be?” Cat glanced back at Seth. A nurse was standing over him and giving him a pill. Thank God for that. “Wait. You’re saying someone intentionally hit Seth?”

  “No, I’m saying someone tried to hurt Joey. And the fact he took off tells me he knows who would want him dead. Now we just have to figure it out before they succeed.” He rubbed her shoulder. “Now, don’t get all worried. We’ll get Seth home; then I’ll figure out this thing. But it would be better if he doesn’t go out drinking with any of his old friends for a few nights. Maybe I can get someone charged with the murder before someone else gets hurt.”

  Cat watched the room as the nurse checked Seth’s vitals. Then she started taking off the trackers. “Looks like they’re getting him ready to leave.”

  Shauna met them outside the room. “The nurse says we can take him home as long as we get his meds from the hospital pharmacy. Your boy’s a fighter, Cat.”

  She smiled. “He’s stubborn, that’s for sure.” She glanced around the hallway. “Where can I grab a soda?”

  “Down the hall to the left. Get me one, okay?” Shauna reached for her purse.

  Cat waved her away. “I’ll buy. I’m sure Seth will want one as soon as he’s released anyway.”

  She gave her uncle a hug and made her way outside. She turned on her phone to call the house and it rang immediately. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Cat, it’s Sherry. I heard about Seth. I wanted to see if he was okay, but no one would tell me anything. I was going to just leave a message so if this is a bad time . . .” She trailed off.

  Cat walked over to a vending machine that was set up near the exit, and started putting in change to get sodas. Might as well multitask as she talked. Cat slipped into a chair. She was so extremely tired. This was one retreat week she’d be glad to see in the done column. “He’s fine. How are you?”

  “I think I’m being followed. It’s stupid, right? Paranoid? Why would anyone follow me?”