Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  “I’m pretty sure Detective Sellers had a conversation with you about perjuring yourself, correct?” Kylie looked Frederick right in the eye.

  He bit his lip and sucked in a breath to argue. “I didn’t…”

  “You lied.” Kylie kept her face very calm and her tone perfectly even. “And the worst part of that, Frederick, is I never once scolded you or wrote you up for that incident. You just saw an opportunity to blame it on someone else and to pretend you were somehow the wronged party. But none of that was true and now we know it for sure.”

  “You don’t know anything,” Frederick said loftily.

  Kylie snorted and put her hands on her hips. “Are you sure? Did you see the photo in the paper, Frederick? Did you notice it’s your arm holding the wind bottle?”

  “What? No. That’s not what happened.” But he sounded very unsure of himself this time. Good. He needed a real lesson in manners and lying. Lying didn’t do anyone any good.

  Kylie decided to ignore him for the moment. She looked at all of the other employees. There weren’t a lot of customers around yet this morning, it was still early for that, but not too early for this very important announcement. “Hey, ladies and gentlemen, I just wanted to let you know Mr. Turner will be on extended leave until probably the end of September.”

  “Must be nice,” someone said jokingly. “All of those big fancy corporate vacations.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be enjoying himself,” Kylie managed to say without grimacing. They had no idea. Mr. Turner’s little vacation was going to cost him as much as a fourteen-day cruise to the Bahamas. But he probably wasn’t going to enjoy himself nearly as much.

  They were still discussing this hypothetical corporate vacation when Kylie retreated to Joe’s office with every intention of cracking open as many of his accounting books as she could manage. It was not going to be easy. He’d already told her he wasn’t taking money. But that meant he was taking merchandise, which would require her to go through and match inventory records. If nothing else, this activity would be sure to prevent her from thinking too much about Titus Holbrook. If she thought about him at all. She needed to not think about Titus. That was done. In the past. He was a neighbor and they’d had a fling and it had turned out that he was a player. End of story.

  By lunchtime, Kylie was still trying to wade through what appeared to be an elaborate set of fake hospitality numbers created by Joe. She was discovering why he often shorted her on certain days. Her inventory requests were actually fulfilled, but the cases of wine never made it to the hospitality room.

  “Well now, I can’t say I was expecting to see you in here today.”

  Kylie looked up to see Detective Sellers standing in the doorway of her office. She gestured to the chair on the other side of Joe Turner’s desk. “Come in and have a seat. I’d like to talk to you.”

  “Talk to me?”

  As soon as Kylie said that, a plethora of questions about Titus’s situation began to whip through her mind. But this wasn’t about Titus. It was about Kylie. Sort of. She cleared her throat and found a place to begin. “I need to talk to you about Hilary Allenwood and Joe Turner.”

  “All right.” Detective Sellers looked calm. His face was a bit like a bloodhound’s—lots of skin. He appeared to be in his late fifties and he didn’t strike her as the brightest bulb in the box but he seemed willing enough. “Hit me. What do you know about Hilary and Joe?”

  “Hilary has been blackmailing Joe.”

  Sellers obviously didn’t know what to say about that. He opened and closed his mouth several times without speaking. His eyebrows were going up and down very quickly and he looked as though he wasn’t exactly sure he was glad he’d come into the office today.

  “I know,” Kylie said after she let him absorb that for a moment or two. “It doesn’t really make that much sense. But what you have to understand is that Joe Turner has a gambling addiction. I don’t know how Hilary found that out. Maybe she stalked him. That would be like her.”

  Sellers’s expression turned thoughtful. “And how do you know that?”

  “He showed up at my house last night.” Kylie explained the nature of Joe’s visit. As if there really was a nature of Joe’s visit. But she explained the ruse and then she ended with her action plan. “I took Joe to rehab. He signed himself in for a thirty-day program and that’s it. He needs help. I notified his wife and she’s gone up there to at least support him through this. But at the end of the day, we still have the fact that Hilary was essentially blackmailing the guy to suspend me.”

  “I see.” Sellers frowned. “Hilary Allenwood has a lot of things on a lot of people.”

  Kylie couldn’t help but wonder just how much Hilary had on Sellers. Was that hanging in the balance too? Should Kylie be worried about it? Or was Sellers a free agent now that Caprico was gone? Who could Kylie trust with this situation anymore? She could not decide. Presumably trusting Titus Holbrook wasn’t a great idea. She just couldn’t be sure of his motives.

  “Detective Sellers, how do make this woman stop? I’m going to get a gag order on her. My attorney is working hard on that as we speak.” Of course, calling her attorney was on today’s list of tasks but that could come later. “I just want to get everyone on the same page, if you catch my meaning? Joe has been stealing inventory from the winery and selling it to keep his gambling addiction going. Angie said she cut him out of the family finances years ago.”

  Sellers gave a slow nod. A thoughtful nod. “You’re doing the only thing that you can, Ms. Overton. You’re fighting back with legal means. What else are we supposed to do? Kill her? We’re not vigilantes here.”

  Kylie had a sudden and horrible thought of Titus’s father being dragged from a jail cell in the tiny municipal building at Bitter Spring and lynched for the same reasons that people had once burned and hanged witches. Fear. Fear ruled everything.

  That thought about the lynching stuck in Kylie’s head. She felt as though Sellers might be able to help, but then he might be the absolute wrong person to tell. Except Kylie felt like she needed to tell someone.

  “Detective,” Kylie began slowly, “if there was a crime committed in another state and someone here thought they’d found the culprit, how does that work?”

  “Is this person wanted for the crime?”

  “No.”

  Sellers pursed his lips in a way that made his jowls look even more canine. “Is it an unsolved case?”

  “I don’t think so. I think it was a closed case, but the person here doesn’t believe the case was closed on the right conclusion.” Kylie wished she could just say what needed to be said. But this wasn’t her story to tell.

  Sellers seemed to guess this. Maybe he even knew more than she gave him credit for. “And this person who is absolutely convinced she knows who the murderer is,” Sellers mused, making Kylie absolutely sure he knew they were talking about Hilary Allenwood, “is trying to get the suspect to turn him or herself in?”

  “Yes.” Kylie gave a nod and swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “What would happen if he did turn himself in?”

  Sellers shrugged. “Well, the first thing is to get someone back in the department that investigated the case—or sometimes the state patrol—to take a look at the case to see if it’s worth reopening. Usually this takes new evidence though.”

  “Evidence,” Kylie repeated. Then she realized why it was so important to Hilary that Titus actually confess. “What if this suspect confessed to the murder?”

  “That would require them to open the case at least to take a look,” Sellers said thoughtfully. “But it’s not a guarantee. You have to realize that people admit to things all the time. I know this sounds bizarre, but there are attention seekers or glory seekers or just plain crazies. This is why evidence is so important.”

  “Let’s be frank here.” Kylie took a breath and held it for a moment. “Hilary Allenwood is not known for her investigative skills or her desire to get to the real facts. She
thinks she knows who killed her sister. She’s wrong. But the culprit is out of reach. He’s dead.”

  “Ah, that complicates things,” Sellers agreed. Then he frowned. The way he was leaning back in his chair with his leg crossed over one knee suggested he was actually enjoying their banter. “Is there anyone sitting in jail for this murder? Was anyone already punished? Because you’ll find that law enforcement has a hard time re-opening a case and examining a new suspect if the case is already solved and closed. That really means new evidence. Usually it’s DNA evidence these days. That’s totally overturning a lot of old sentences. But beyond that?”

  “I believe,” Kylie said slowly, “the death was actually determined to be due to animal attack.”

  It was almost funny to see Sellers’s facial expression. His jowls went slack for a moment and the disbelief was plain. “You’re joking with me, right? Are you telling me Hilary thinks someone killed her sister even though the authorities have told her that an animal did it?”

  “Yes. A wolf. I believe the wolf was disposed of.” Kylie thought that was all rather tidy. “But Hilary isn’t convinced. She thinks the guy should turn himself in and she’s not above threatening him about it either.”

  Sellers gave a savage shake of his head. “That woman is a menace. You’re right. You go light a fire under that attorney in order to get a gag order. You need proof of what she’s doing. That would get the judge to move. I think that’s about the only way to deal with someone like Hilary Allenwood. Gag them and take away their soapbox. Has anyone talked to old John Tutt about this?”

  “He’s not been seen for a while,” Kylie volunteered. “Maybe you should go visit him, Detective? You know, a welfare check or something? Just to make sure he’s really aware of what’s going on?”

  “You’re right!” Sellers stood up. “I’m going to do that right now. That’s a good idea. Maybe once I chat with him, I’ll have some insight to share with you.”

  Sellers nodded to Kylie as he left. She sat back in Joe Turner’s seat and wondered what was going on with the world right now. Everyone was acting insane. Absolutely insane. But now Sellers was going to go check on the editor of the Branson Register. Kylie was also reasonably sure Titus was not going to be run in for murder no matter what Hilary thought. And soon enough, Kylie was going to have an estimate on how much wine Joe Turner had been pilfering from the winery to fund his gambling habit. It was really a productive day.

  She just wished she could somehow keep her mind from drifting toward thoughts of Titus Holbrook. She didn’t want to think about him. She didn’t want to be fixated like that. He was just a guy. Another guy she had misjudged and now needed to set aside so she could move on with her life. Maybe she should be thanking her lucky stars that she hadn’t gotten in any deeper than she already had. That would have been the real tragedy.

  Kylie was just about ready to call the big boss and arrange to meet in order to discuss what had been happening in the hospitality room stock situation when she had another unexpected visitor.

  Titus didn’t knock. He didn’t ask permission to come into the office. He just strode inside and sat down in the empty chair. “I saw Detective Sellers on my way in. He was heading out and looking very distracted. I’m hoping that was a good thing.”

  “Yes,” she said stiffly. “But I’m not sure how that’s any of your business.”

  “Kylie, don’t be that way.”

  “Titus, you’ve got no right to tell me to be anything.” Sure. She could say that. But could she make it stick?

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Wow. She was mad. Titus wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed. He shifted in his chair and stared across the cluttered desktop as he wondered how to proceed without losing his head. As it was, it kind of looked like Kylie wanted to rip his head off.

  “How did you find me here anyway?” Kylie tilted her head and glared at him. Her arms were folded over her chest and she sat forward in her chair as though she was fighting back the urge to leap across the desk and wrap her hands around his throat. “This isn’t even my office. This is Joe’s office.”

  Titus cleared his throat. He needed to at least unfreeze and say something to at least attempt to diffuse this awkward situation. “I heard your voice.”

  “How did you know I was at work?”

  Her hostility was like a burn against his skin. “I saw your SUV out front when I passed by. I was surprised. That’s why I stopped by. And when I walked in, I heard you in here.”

  “Bullshit. You said you saw Sellers leaving when you were on your way out.” It was like she was trying to catch him doing something wrong. “How could you hear me talking to him?”

  “I heard your voice the second I walked through the front doors. I passed Detective Sellers in the entryway. We were both on opposite sides of a tour group. I don’t think he saw me. He looked pretty distracted.” Titus focused on keeping his voice calm and rational and his expression even calmer. Right now was not the time to escalate whatever it was that was happening.

  She huffed out a little sigh as though unsure if she should believe him or not. Maybe she wasn’t. Maybe he had fallen that far in her opinion last night just because of the incident with Caroline. It hurt to think that, to imagine she could think so little of him that she could be swayed that easily. She should really know better. That’s what his heart told him.

  Titus pulled the note he’d received from Hilary Allenwood out of the side pocket of his cargo pants. It was still in the envelope. Maybe this could be a peace offering. “This is why I wanted to talk to you.”

  “This?” She reached down to pick up the letter he’d laid in front of her. “What is it?”

  “Just read it.”

  Titus watched her nimble fingers opening the flap and sliding the thick stationary from the envelope. He could not help but flashback to the other night when her hands had been on his skin. He remembered the feel of her touch. He longed for it, burned for it. And he wasn’t sure he could live without it. There had to be some way to mend this misunderstanding between them. Even if she did seem determined to believe the worst about him.

  Her eyes moved back and forth across the sheet as she read the short message. She seemed to be doing the same thing Titus had done that morning when he’d picked up that note in his office. Kylie was rereading it because it just seemed so ridiculous. He wished it was all a big joke. A bad joke. But a joke all the same.

  “This is a joke,” Kylie whispered. She looked up at him and frowned. “She’s absolutely out of her mind!”

  “I would agree.”

  Then Kylie pressed her lips together for a moment. “I was just talking to the detective about you. Well, not you exactly, but about your problem.”

  “Oh?” Titus wasn’t sure how he felt about this. But maybe now wasn’t the time to make that call. Maybe now was the time to be glad he had obviously been on her mind. “And what did Sellers have to say?”

  “That she needs you to confess outright in order to reopen the case.” Kylie’s voice was rushed. She was no longer crossing her arms over her chest. She was leaning forward across the desk, inclining her body toward his. “He said if they had convicted and punished someone else they would need new evidence to give them a reason to reopen it. Like all of those DNA evidence cases that have happened where someone’s DNA pops up with a match and all of a sudden you have new evidence that exonerates someone, or the opposite.”

  That sounded reasonable to Titus except for one thing. “This case wasn’t even a case.”

  “Exactly!” Kylie said excitedly. “That’s why he said it would take something drastic like a full on confession for them to even open a line of inquiry. But that wouldn’t mean they’d do anything about it. The state police would probably have to investigate or at least contact the locals who put the case to rest all those years ago.”

  “What are you suggesting exactly?” Titus asked after a moment or two had passed. “Do you think I should turn myself in?”r />
  She sat back in her seat. Her dark eyes were bright with interest. Titus could actually see the wheels turning at light speed behind her eyes. This woman was so intelligent she made his head spin. “I think there are two things that need to happen here.”

  “All right.” Titus did not mention the sudden cessation of her hostility. He didn’t want her defensive. “Tell me what you think needs to happen.”

  She lifted the note and waved it in the air. “I think we need to take this note to my attorney. Doug could use this as a way to put pressure on the judge to actually force the editor of the Register to stop printing Caroline’s stories. A gag order, so to speak.”

  That was an interesting proposition, but Titus wondered if Kylie had actually thought through what could potentially happen by doing that. “All right. Let’s say we have your attorney do that. What’s next?”

  “You need to turn yourself in.” She held up her hands, presumably to stop him from voicing the instant refusal that wanted to pop out of his mouth. “I didn’t say you should confess. I said you should turn yourself in. That kind of thwarts her attempts to reopen the case by default.” Kylie’s words were coming faster and faster as though she could not wait to get them all out. “You’d be heading her off because Detective Sellers will have to call Bitter Spring and then get the Montana State Patrol involved. They’ll pull the case. They’ll see it was death by animal attack. See?”

  Titus could understand her line of thinking, but at the same time, he could see a whole lot of pitfalls in this plan of hers and most of them ended up with him having to go back to Montana to stand trial for his brother’s mistake. Even if he didn’t get convicted, this wasn’t going be a weekend vacation. And since the actual culprit was dead, that made explaining the whole thing just a little trickier than you might think. This was not a slam dunk. It was a shot in the dark.