by Lauren Carr
“Murphy left last night,” Poppy said. “He was out of here fifteen minutes after you two went home. He said he missed his wife, and he realized that he could be home in her arms before sunrise.” She flashed them a grin. “It was quite romantic.”
Cameron smiled at Joshua. “He does love Jessica.”
Poppy turned to J.J. “He looked in on you before he left, and he told me you’d been sleeping so deeply that he’d checked to make sure you were breathing.”
J.J. frowned when he saw Joshua take a seat on the porch. That meant that he would be staying awhile and that the birds would not be coming back soon.
“Your father and I are having a disagreement.” Folding her arms, Cameron leaned against the porch railing.
“Oh?” J.J. said.
“I’ve been thinking about how Clyde lived a completely law-abiding life for decades,” Cameron said, “when in fact, he was a rapist, a car thief, and a cop killer. Did Clyde do a complete one eighty after Seth took the fall for him, or did he just pretend to turn over a new leaf until dementia set in, and he became mentally incapable of carrying out his charade any longer?”
“Interesting question,” J.J. said. He sighed. He was disappointed that the birds had left. “Dad, you knew Clyde your whole life. What do you think?”
“His dementia was real,” Joshua said. “Twice I saw him claim that he was hearing piano music when there was none, which Tad told me is a classic symptom of dementia.”
“There were numerous incidents of Clyde going after this mysterious stranger who no one else ever saw,” Cameron said. “The broken glass and mirrors in the crime scenes proved that he was actually just chasing himself.”
“I think that after his brother was killed for something he had done, he purposely got on the wagon, and in the process, he put his demons in a bottle. But when he started to lose his mind, he started drinking again, and he let those demons loose,” Joshua said.
“Which goes back to my original question,” Cameron said. “Who was the real Clyde Brady? The rapist and cop killer from fifty years ago or the gentle man we all knew?”
“You want to know whether he was pretending to be a gentle farmer for half a century,” Poppy said. “That would’ve been some act.”
“What do you think, Son?” Joshua asked J.J.
J.J. mulled over the question as he chewed the last bite of his cinnamon roll. They watched him in silence until he swallowed it. “A wise man once told me that no one ever truly knows what is going on inside someone else’s mind.” He shrugged his shoulders.
“In other words, there’s no way of knowing,” Cameron said with a note of disappointment.
Joshua’s brows furrowed. “Wait a minute. I was the one who told you that.”
J.J. grinned at him.
“You do listen to me.” Joshua turned to Cameron. “Can you believe that?”
Cameron stood up from the swing. “We need to get to the courthouse, my love.” She turned to J.J. “Catherine Calhoun’s pretrial hearing for Dylan Matthews’ murder is today. Her lawyer is trying to reach a plea agreement with the prosecutor. She doesn’t want to put her family through the embarrassment of a murder trial.”
“I hope they can work something out.” J.J. said. “None of them’s the same as they were thirty years ago.”
“Do you want to know the irony of the whole Dylan Matthews case?” Cameron asked.
“That the lunatic wasn’t Dylan’s killer?” J.J. replied.
Cameron shook her head. “Catherine and Harrison Calhoun are furious about Suellen notifying the police. But they fail to realize that Suellen wouldn’t have known Dylan had been murdered if Catherine hadn’t called her out of the blue to tell her.”
“Why did she do that?” Poppy asked.
“Because Dylan’s murder was featured on a cold case show around ten years ago and the Calhouns saw it,” Joshua said.
“We didn’t even know who the victim was,” Cameron said, “until Suellen told us, because Catherine—”
“The killer,” J.J. said.
“Told her that Dylan was dead. If Catherine had not brought Dylan’s murder to Suellen’s attention, she would have gotten away with it.”
“But because she did,” J.J. said, “Suellen felt like she had to help find his killer when she realized she was dying. She had to set things right.”
“I still don’t understand why this Catherine didn’t keep her mouth shut,” Poppy said.
“Because her husband was sitting right next to her when Dylan’s murder was featured on the cold case show,” Joshua said. “He never realized his loving wife had committed murder.”
“I think he did deep down,” Cameron said. “Harrison did admit that he was the one who suggested that they all agree to keep quiet about identifying Dylan’s body.”
“Denial,” Poppy said.
“Big time,” Cameron said.
“Catherine called Suellen because her husband told her to,” Joshua said. “And if Suellen didn’t tell Cameron, Catherine wouldn’t be standing before a judge today for murder.”
“And while you’re in court, I’ll be getting caught up on my studying for the bar exam.” J.J. stood up to give his father a hug.
Joshua patted his son on the back. “Don’t exert yourself. Love you, son.”
“Love you, too, Dad.”
Behind J.J.’s back, Joshua gestured for Poppy to keep an eye on J.J. to make sure he took care of himself. When he turned around to go down the steps, he was stunned to see J.J. hugging Cameron.
“I love you, Cam,” J.J. surprised her by whispering into her ear.
“I thought you didn’t like me,” she replied to him in a low voice.
“I don’t.” He released her with a wink and a wicked grin that was so much like his father’s.
Blinking happy tears from her eyes, she hurried down the steps to where Joshua was holding open the driver’s side door to her cruiser.
His expression was one of confusion. “What was that about?” he asked her as she slid into the driver’s seat.
“Nothing,” she said. “Told you he’d warm up to me eventually.”
Joshua closed the car door. Crossing around to the passenger side, he muttered, “Wish he could have warmed up without getting shot.”
Moments after their departure, silence once again fell over the farm like a thick blanket.
Seeing that most of the birds had left to seek breakfast elsewhere, J.J. said, “I should get to work studying for that bar exam. I’ve fallen pretty far behind.”
“There’s another cinnamon roll with your name on it,” Poppy said in a soft voice. “If they see you finishing your breakfast, they’ll figure it’s okay for them to finish theirs.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.” She squeezed his shoulder on her way into the kitchen to fetch the last roll. Then they sat side by side on the swing to enjoy the morning in silence together.
The End
About the Author
Lauren Carr
Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mystery series. Killer in the Band is the third installment in the Lovers in Crime Mysteries.
In addition to her series set in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, Lauren Carr also writes the Mac Faraday Mysteries, set on Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland, and the Thorny Rose Mysteries, set in Washington DC. The second installment in Thorny Rose Mysteries, which features Joshua Thornton’s son Murphy and Jessica Faraday, Mac’s daughter, A Fine Year for Murder, will be released January 1, 2017.
Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education c
lasses.
She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Visit Lauren Carr’s website at www.mysterylady.net to learn more about Lauren and her upcoming mysteries.
Check Out Lauren Carr’s Mysteries!
Order! Order!
All of Lauren Carr’s books are stand alone. However for those readers wanting to start at the beginning, here is the list of Lauren Carr’s mysteries. The number next to the book title is the actual order in which the book was released.
Joshua Thornton Mysteries
Fans of the Lovers in Crime Mysteries may wish to read these two books which feature Joshua Thornton years before meeting Detective Cameron Gates. Also in these mysteries, readers will meet Joshua Thornton’s five children before they had flown the nest.
1) A Small Case of Murder
2) A Reunion to Die For
Mac Faraday Mysteries
3) It’s Murder, My Son
4) Old Loves Die Hard
5) Shades of Murder (introduces the Lovers in Crime: Joshua Thornton & Cameron Gates)
7) Blast from the Past
8) The Murders at Astaire Castle
9) The Lady Who Cried Murder (The Lovers in Crime make a guest appearance in this Mac Faraday Mystery)
10) Twelve to Murder
12) A Wedding and a Killing
13) Three Days to Forever
15) Open Season for Murder
!6) Cancelled Vows
17) Candidate for Murder (featuring Thorny Rose Mystery detectives Murphy Thornton & Jessica Faraday)
Lovers in Crime Mysteries
6) Dead on Ice
11) Real Murder
18) Killer in the Band
Thorny Rose Mysteries
14) Kill and Run (featuring the Lovers in Crime in Lauren Carr’s latest series)
19) A Fine Year for Murder (January 1, 2017)
A Fine Year for Murder
A Thorny Rose Mystery
After months of marital bliss, Jessica Faraday and Murphy Thornton are still discovering and adjusting to their life together. Settled in their new home, everything appears to be perfect…except in the middle of the night when, in darkest shadows of her subconscious, a deep secret from Jessica’s past creeps to the surface to make her strike out at Murphy.
When investigative journalist Dallas Walker tells the couple about her latest case, known as the Pine Bridge Massacre, they realize Jessica may have witnessed the murder of a family living near a winery owned by distant relatives she was visiting and suppressed the memory.
Determined to uncover the truth and find justice for the murder victims, Jessica and Murphy return to the scene of the crime with Dallas Walker, a spunky bull-headed Texan. Can this family reunion bring closure for a community touched by tragedy or will this prickly get-together bring an end to the Thorny Rose couple?
Coming January 30, 2017!
