This time, Belle did stop. “You’re right. That’s a much better idea.”
“After all, there’s no telling what a desperate murderer will do if you tried to confront him.”
“If he’s a murderer, you mean.”
“Whatever,” Anna waved a hand.
Belle put her hands on her hips. “Look, Cora was a friend of mine. I’m just as upset, if not more upset, than you are about this whole situation.”
“You didn’t find her body.”
“No, but I saw her body before the police arrived, remember?”
Anna paused, biting her bottom lip. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I guess the whole thing has me pretty shaken up.”
“Finding a dead body will do that to a person.” She patted her sister on the shoulder. “Why don’t you get the make, model, and license plate number off the car? I’ll call Chief Bronson.”
“Got it,” Anna agreed, heading for the door.
“But be careful, no telling what a desperate murderer might do,” Belle teased her using her own words.
Anna could only roll her eyes in response.
* * *
Anna, while more reserved than her sister, had a curious streak all her own. More than that, she had a painful and serious sense of justice. She’d not said so to Belle, but she felt like it was her responsibility to figure out who was behind this killing.
At the moment, her gut told her it was Don Delta who was responsible, and she intended to prove it.
Scooting carefully between the cars, she approached the car she’d seen Don climb in. Staying low, she got close to the vehicle in question, pulling out a notepad from her apron—which she had never removed since working in the kitchen—and prepared to take notes.
The car was a black compact with only two doors. It was sporty, to say the least, and even had a spoiler on the back. Unfortunately, in the dim light, she was having difficulty seeing the number on the plate. Taking a quick glance at the cab to make sure no one had noticed her, she dug for her cell phone and pulled it out.
Flipping on the flashlight function, something she’d installed after all the creepy experiences she’d had in Sunken Grove, she pointed it at the license.
“What are you doing?” came the sudden demand from behind her.
Anna let out a surprised squeak and tumbled to the hard-paved ground. “Ouch,” she groaned, looking up at the dark figure of a woman standing over her.
Getting up, she brushed off the seat of her pants and held the light up to see who it was.
It was Candy Danvers. The passenger side door of the car was open and the light inside was on. There was no sign of Don Delta.
“Hey, get that light out of my face.”
“My apologies. I’m one of the ushers,” she said truthfully. While she wasn’t just an usher, it was the easiest way to explain her presence.
“Oh, okay?” Candy’s face twisted in confusion.
Since she was caught, she decided to run with it. “We heard that someone snuck into the movie without a ticket. We believed he or she may have hidden in your car.”
“Does it look like there is someone else in my car?” she asked, pointing at the empty cab.
“Ma’am, I could swear to it that I saw someone get into that car myself.”
“Yeah, me,” Candy defended herself, poking Anna in the shoulder. It was a rude gesture and hurt slightly.
“You?” she asked, rubbing the spot.
“I ran to the bathroom a few minutes ago. Is that allowed?”
Anna was at a loss for words. Don had gotten away and Candy was denying he was ever there. “Uh, yeah. That’s completely fine.”
“Alright then. If there is nothing else.”
“There is. Do you mind showing me your ticket?” she pressed, grasping for any clues at all.
“Are you serious?” Candy snapped.
“I’m just doing my job.”
“Fine.” Digging into her pocket, she pulled out the wadded-up ticket. “Here. Now do you believe me? I didn’t sneak into your crappy theater and neither did anyone else.”
It was a low blow, calling the drive-in crappy, but Anna just rolled with it. “Yes. It looks like everything is in order. My apologies for interrupting your evening.”
“Whatever. This movie blows, anyway. I’m outta here.”
“Wait,” Anna protested.
It was too late. Candy had climbed back into the passenger seat, slid over, and started the car. Quickly, she pulled out of the lot.
CHAPTER 11
* * *
“She’s lying. She straight up lied to me,” Anna told Chief Bronson after the movie had ended that night. She was standing behind the bar, leaning on it, as she spoke.
“You scared her off,” Belle accused her from where she sat on one of the stools.
“I wasn’t trying to.”
“I told you to be careful. If Candy Danvers hadn’t seen you, she would have been here for Dan to pull aside and question,” she went on scolding her sister.
“You girls are sure it was Candy Danvers?” Dan asked.
“I didn’t see her, or Don for that matter,” Belle admitted.
“I saw them both,” Anna said, raising her hand slightly.
“You girls also said she was staying at the hotel in town, but when I asked for her room number, the girl working the desk said they didn’t have anyone staying under the name Candy Danvers.”
“What? How can that be?” Anna exclaimed.
Belle shifted on her stool. “I think I need a drink.”
“It was room thirteen, right on the front of the building. I saw her go inside,” Anna reminded him.
“I know. You told me earlier. I asked specifically about that room as well. It was reserved under the name Kasey Hawkins, not Candy Danvers.”
“Kasey? That can’t be right.”
“It is.”
Anna was shaking her head. “That doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“I think you girls must have mistaken this other woman as Candy Danvers. I mean, how many years has it been since either of you have seen Coraline’s daughter?”
“Probably last year, for me, even longer for Anna,” Belle said.
“No, it was her,” Anna insisted.
“Belle?” Dan asked, wanting to get her input on the matter.
“Anna, can you hand me a stout?” she asked, trying to stall while she formulated her answer.
Anna sighed, but obliged, giving her a tall, dark bottle with a witch’s cauldron on it.
Sitting back, she popped the cap off and took a sip. “I thought it was her at the time, but now I’m not so sure.”
“You saw her,” Anna argued.
“I can’t be sure,” she reiterated.
“See, girls? A simple mistake,” Dan said.
“What about Don Delta? I did see him tonight.”
Chief Bronson let out a heady breath, making his mustache sway slightly in the garlic scented breeze. “I haven’t been able to locate him yet. If he’s involved, it’s likely he’s already left.”
“He left?” Anna cried, her voice growing louder.
“My assumption is that he fled town this afternoon, right after you two girls saw him leaving the Danvers’ plantation.”
“But I just saw him tonight.”
Belle stood up and put a hand on her sister’s arm. “Anna, try to calm down. I think you’ve had a long day and need to rest.”
“I know what I saw.”
Dan was right there next, with a hand on her shoulder. “Your sister is right, Anna. It’s possible that, due to your shock earlier today, you’re worn out and tired. My guess is you did see someone sneaking into the movie, someone with the same build as Delta.”
“It was him,” she snapped.
“It was dark, you probably thought you saw him.”
“Neither of you believe me, do you?”
There was an awkward pause. Dan and Belle glanced at each other.
�
��He’s the murderer. I know it. And he was here tonight.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ve put out an APB on Don’s truck for the surrounding county. Killer or not, we’re looking for him for questioning.”
“Get a search warrant,” Anna insisted, pointing at the chief. “If you look in the back of his truck, I swear you’ll find an expensive antique doll. It’s what was stolen from the cellar at Cora’s house.”
“We’re doing what we can, Anna. One step at a time. If I think there is a reason to search the truck, I will. For now, however, I’m not planning on it.”
“Fine,” Anna muttered. She was getting sick and tired of people not believing her. There was a murderer on the loose and no one seemed as concerned about it as she did. Even her sister who was usually full of theories and gossip seemed to sidestep this case.
“Get a good night’s sleep if you can. You’ll feel better in the morning. Things will be clearer, too,” Dan instructed her.
Nodding mournfully, she slipped off the stool and headed up the stairs.
* * *
After Chief Bronson left, Belle stayed downstairs in the restaurant for a little while, just sipping on her beer and enjoying the silence around her. The day had been less than ideal and she just needed a moment to herself before she went upstairs and faced her sister again.
“She’s right, you know?” came the sudden voice from the invisible figure sitting on the stool next to her.
Belle jumped, nearly spilling her beer, but saved it from falling at the last second. “Shoot! Do you have to do that every time?” she snapped at Harlem.
Slowly, he materialized, his familiar wispy features staring at her. “Sorry. I’m not trying to spook you.”
“Considering you’re a ghost, I don’t think you need to try very hard.”
“Your sister is telling the truth.”
“I don’t doubt she’s telling the truth, but you have to admit she was all shaken up about finding that body. I mean, I know I was pretty spooked when I found that dead body last month, and that wasn’t even someone I knew.”
“I know all that, but Anna was right.”
“How can you be sure?” she asked.
“I saw him. Don Delta.”
“And how the heck do you know what he looks like?” she questioned the validity of his eye witness account.
“He found my body when I was murdered, didn’t he? I’ve looked him up before to see exactly who he was.”
She tilted her head at him. “You’re serious. It was Don Delta who snuck in and got into that woman’s car tonight?”
He gave a firm nod. “I saw him clear as day. As a ghost, I sort of see better in the dark.”
“Dang it, Harlem. Why didn’t you come down and say something earlier while Chief Bronson was here?” she scolded him.
“It didn’t seem important at the time.”
“Not important? I sided with Dan and made my own sister feel like an idiot. She’s probably upstairs right now wondering if she’s gone insane.” Belle already felt like her relationship with Anna was strained. They had a long history of sibling rivalry. Anna was always trying to do the responsible thing, but underneath had a shy and nervous streak. Meanwhile, Belle was a dreamer who found Anna’s down-to-earth attitude restrictive. The last thing she wanted now was to drive more of a wedge between them because she’d wrongfully sided with Dan on this issue. “You could have just popped in and whispered to me that you’d seen Delta, too. That’s all it would have taken.”
“I’m sorry, but I was busy at that moment.”
She folded her arms and looked at him with scathing eyes. “Doing what?”
“Looking up that name, Kasey Hawkins.”
“So, you were down here,” she accused him.
He put up both hands in a defensive motion. “Just hear me out first before you go flying off the handle, okay?”
“Fine, but this better be good.”
“I looked up that name.”
“Just some tourist, right?”
Harlem shook his head. “She’s not a tourist at all. She was a known kidnapper.”
At this new information, Belle nearly fell out of her seat. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Not at all. I’m surprised Dan doesn’t remember. I believe he was on the force when all of this was happening.”
“He’s getting older and doesn’t always remember everything, you know. He hasn’t always been Chief of Sunken Grove Police either.”
“The point is, Kasey Hawkins came into this area about twenty years ago, and I bet you can’t guess who she kidnapped while she was here.”
Belle thought back, trying to recall anything about a kidnapping. However, twenty years earlier she was pretty young. “I have no idea.”
“She kidnapped Candy Danvers.”
Belle’s jaw about hit the floor. “And she’s back in town? What for?”
“That’s the weird part. I don’t see how she can be back in town.”
“Why not?”
“She died twenty years ago.”
CHAPTER 12
* * *
“I remember hearing something about a kidnapping, but I honestly have no idea,” Anna admitted the next morning when Belle told her the news. “I was too young.”
They were sitting at the small, round table in the upstairs apartment. A plate of freshly cooked crepes, with strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream, and coconut manna sat between them. Each had made and rolled up their own and were munching on them as they talked.
Anna had to admit, living with her sister had its benefits. Belle loved to cook, and there never seemed to be a shortage of delicious things to eat.
This particular morning, however, Anna couldn’t help but feel as if this was Belle’s way of apologizing for siding with Dan the night before. Anna didn’t hold a grudge, but wasn’t going to turn down the delicious breakfast.
“I was going to call Dan last night, but decided to talk to you about it first, get your input.”
“So, I’m not insane,” Anna stated, picking up the mug of coffee—sugar and hazelnut creamer added—and took a drink.
“No, I’m sorry about that. Last night, Dan’s arguments made a lot of sense.”
“Except for the fact that he doesn’t remember the name Kasey Hawkins and how it was part of an important case.”
“Yes, but keep in mind he wasn’t chief back then. Also, that was twenty years ago. I’m not so sure I would remember all the gory details from every past case either,” Belle admitted.
“I suppose you’re right.”
“The real issue is, why was a dead woman’s name used at the hotel, and who is using it?” Harlem chimed in from where he stood near the window, jealously watching them eat.
“My guess is it was Candy Danvers,” Anna noted.
Belle cut into her crepe with a knife and fork, scooping up the bite. “But why? What reason would she have for using that name?”
“You’d think that a horrifying experience like being kidnapped would keep from ever wanting to remember that person again,” Anna mused.
“Maybe, maybe not. There might be something more to this than we even know,” Harlem suggested. He was clearly having some deeper thought he wasn’t ready to share with them yet.
Belle tapped the table with one of her fingers while she spoke. “Let’s go back to the original kidnapping. Maybe if we know more of the details on the case, we can figure out exactly what’s going on.”
“I spent most of the night reading up on it, actually,” Harlem informed them.
They both looked at him with curious glances. “Go on,” Belle urged.
“Kasey Hawkins was a serial kidnapper whom the police were having a hard time catching. She always sent ransom notes requesting either money or some other form of payment.”
“Like a doll?” Anna speculated. It was funny since she’d been the most skeptical about the doll originally. Now, in a way, she was the doll’s advocate.
Anna put a hand up to her mouth in awe. “That’s horrible. She did this multiple times?”
“However, if the payment came in on time, the child was always returned safe and sound. Afterwards, any trace of her disappeared.”
“And this was the last place she tried to do this?”
“Candy Danvers was taken from her own front yard where she was playing.” Harlem clasped his hands and pointed his index fingers like a steeple. “This is where it gets interesting. According to the police files I was able to access online, the ransom note requested only one thing,” he paused, making sure both sisters were listening closely, “she wanted a very rare and expensive doll.”
“I knew it,” Anna exclaimed.
Belle’s eyes widened. “So, the doll does exist?”
Harlem nodded. “A family heirloom.”
“She went to the police?”
“First thing.”
“Wasn’t she afraid that the kidnapper would live up to her threat?”
“I guess not. Coraline seemed sure that the woman would be found and brought to justice.”
“And her daughter?”
“Well, the police and a whole slew of volunteer men from town went out looking for them. Later that same day, they found them hidden away on a boat on the bayou.”
“And obviously, Candy came out of it alright,” Anna pointed out.
“She did at that, but Hawkins wasn’t so lucky.”
“The police shot her?” Belle asked.
Harlem shook his head. “Not quite. When they boarded the boat, they found her dead as a doornail from a massive heart attack.”
“Wow.” Belle leaned back in her chair having finished her coffee.
“That’s very convenient,” Anna noted.
“You got most of this from the police report? How the heck did you get access to it?”
“I can be pretty tech savvy when I want to. Also, being made up almost completely of energy, I seem to have the ability to do things I wasn’t able to when I was alive.” Harlem smiled with a proud delight.
“You hacked the records,” Anna scolded him.
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