Stirring Up Murder

by P. D. Workman

  “Sure. It was Vic they were targeting, not me. They probably didn’t give me a second thought.”

  “All right. See you in the morning.”

  “Bright and early,” Erin agreed.

  It might take her a while to get to sleep, but she was still going to have to be up in the morning.

  The boss was not pleased with the way things had gone down.

  “What were you thinking? The idea was to get her out of town and into hiding, not arrested for murder! How did this happen?”

  The fixer raised his hands in a placating gesture. He looked around at the other tables, making sure that no one was listening in.

  “Things didn’t go to plan. Obviously. But I handled it the best I could, and the result is, she’s out of the way. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

  “That’s what I wanted? No, it’s not what I wanted. I wanted her to quietly disappear. How do you think she’s going to disappear when she’s in the system? Got guards over her day and night? If they’re able to get her name, they’ll trace her here. Just like that. She’s got a great big neon sign over her now. And if they find her, then I lose out. Understand?”

  The fixer considered this, examining the situation from several angles.

  “You’ve worked on these things before,” the boss growled. “You’ve got experience. So why are you behaving like such an amateur?”

  “Give me some time to sort it out. You want her to get out.”

  “Of course I want her to get out. Having her behind bars doesn’t help anything.”

  “Maybe if she gets out, she’ll run.”

  “She should,” the boss agreed. “They’ve got enough on her, she’s got to know that they’ve got enough to convict her and keep her behind bars for twenty years.”

  “Less than that for manslaughter,” the fixer disagreed. “They won’t convict on intentional murder. Anyone looking at that apartment or hearing about the fighting will know it was in the heat of the moment.”

  “Manslaughter, then.”

  “If she lives long enough to be convicted. Because the clan can’t be too happy about her killing Bobby. Getting her out puts her back in their sights too.”

  “I don’t want her killed. I just want her gone.”

  The fixer cleared his throat. “I can’t be her guardian angel. If you want her out of jail, there could be consequences. I can’t stand up against the whole clan. I’ll do my best to get her to run, but she might try to tough it out.”

  “She has to run.”

  “If she has any sense, she will.”

  “I don’t care about sense. She has to run.” The boss spaced the final words out and bit each one off, making it a sentence all by itself. Has. To. Run.

  The gears in his head were turning, and the fixer nodded, focusing on the whole machine. It was one of the strangest jobs he’d ever had. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t do it. One way or another, the girl would have to disappear.

  “I’ll get her out,” he agreed, “and then I’ll get her to run.”

  Erin looked at the phone and saw it was another call from the jail. It was, at least, a quieter hour at the bakery, so she didn’t feel as bad about leaving Vic to handle the counter and ducking into the back to take the call. Melissa was there, and Erin didn’t need all of the church ladies in town knowing she had a half-sister in jail. She knew it shouldn’t matter. She should be able to just be who she was and not worry about if the ladies were judging her for her sister’s sins. But the fact was, a lot hinged on Erin’s reputation. There had been threats before that the ladies would stop coming to the store because of perceived faults, and Erin knew that the success of the bakery was tenuous. If it were blackballed because not only was she an atheist employing a misled youth, but she also had family in jail, she would have to pull up stakes in Bald Eagle Falls and find something else to do. And she didn’t want to. She really wanted to make the bakery work.

  “Hello?”

  “Erin, it’s Charley.”

  “Hi. I did get to see Iggy and gave him the crickets and checked everything out. He seems to be perfectly happy and healthy.”

  “Great, thanks. I really appreciate it.” But Charley’s words were cold and clipped, like she was just saying it out of duty and not because she really felt anything. Erin instantly felt disdained.

  “Was there something else, then?”

  “They’ve scheduled a bail hearing for tomorrow. That no-good lawyer must have finally done something right. I was starting to think he was taking his orders from the Dysons. So I might be getting out.”

  “That’s great! I’m really glad to hear it.”

  But what did she need Erin for?

  “I just wondered… I might need someone to pick me up. I thought I could buy you supper. You know, for helping me out with Iggy and everything. And… I’ve been thinking about the things you said about my biological family… I thought maybe you could tell me a little more about them. I haven’t… I haven’t ever had a biological connection with anyone before…”

  Erin listened to the beating of her own heart. Charley was saying the right things, but Erin didn’t feel any warmth from her. She had the feeling that Charley was only saying what she thought Erin wanted her to say. What did Charley really want?

  “So… tomorrow? I won’t be able to get there until later in the day. I have my work.”

  “You can’t get off?”

  “It’s my own business, Charley, and I don’t have someone who can step in and take care of things on short notice like that. We’re on a shoestring as it is, and if I’m not there, I have to pay someone else to be there. I don’t even know if our usual girl will be available.”

  There was silence from Charley.

  “You can’t expect me to just drop everything to be there,” Erin said. “You could probably get a cab or a bus or another way home. Maybe you should do that instead.”

  “No. No, it’s okay. I don’t mean to be ungrateful. You’ve been really nice and you don’t even know me.”

  “Okay. So late tomorrow afternoon is okay?”

  Erin really wouldn’t mind if Charley decided she could get a cab after all. It was a little silly of Erin to keep making the trip back and forth when it was a couple of hours each direction. She needed to tell Charley the truth about how far away she lived so she could be more reasonable.

  “Yeah, okay. Late tomorrow afternoon.”

  “All right. Will you call me after you get bail, when you know for sure you’re getting out? It would be silly for me to come pick you up if you didn’t even get bail.”

  “I’ll let you know,” Charley agreed.

  Erin went back to work and to explain to Vic why she would, once again, need to cover the last few afternoon hours while Erin ran back to Moose River.

  Chapter Fourteen

  T

  erry insisted on taking Erin out for supper, and she should have guessed by how hard he pressed her even when she said she had other things to do, that he had a reason other than just the pleasure of her company.

  She didn’t want to tell him that she had to get ready to go out of town again to see Charley and help her out of a scrape. He would find out anyway, but she would rather he didn’t.

  The way he looked at Erin when they sat down at the table told her that he already knew far more than she wanted him to. She ignored the feeling and they studied the menus they already knew off by heart and ordered meat plus three, and they both pretended they were just there to have a pleasant evening meal. Terry waited until they received their dinners to start in on the conversation he had planned.

  “I hear you’re going back to Moose River.”

  “I guess you’ve been talking to Vic.”

  “Why is it I have to hear it from her instead of from you? Why weren’t you the one to tell me?”

  “I suppose because I knew you wouldn’t approve. Vic wasn’t supposed to run to you and tell you.”

  “That’s not exactly how it
happened. Why did you think I wouldn’t approve?”

  “Well, you don’t, do you?” Erin challenged.

  He looked back at her steadily and didn’t disagree, nor did he reword his question. He just waited.

  “You already told me you didn’t think I should have anything to do with Charley. But I’m a grown-up. I can decide for myself who I’m going to see or not see, or what to do or not do. Charley needs me, so I’m going to go give her a hand.”

  “Charley needs you?”

  “Yes. She asked for my help. So I’m going to help her. It doesn’t have anything to do with the Dysons or this murder or anything else shady. I’m not getting into anything dangerous. I’m just going to help out a friend. Family member.”

  Terry leaned forward, ignoring his steaming food. “Erin. This is not good. I know your instinct is to believe that she didn’t have anything to do with killing Bobby Dyson, but the evidence against her is overwhelming.”

  “Then why are they letting her out on bail?”

  “They haven’t yet. If they do give her bail, it’s going to be high. How is she going to pay for it? I hope you’re not mortgaging the house or the bakery to help her out.”

  “No!” Erin was horrified at the thought. Give up her security on the chance that Charley hadn’t killed Bobby Dyson and wouldn’t run the first chance she was given? The second thought that she had was how glad she was that Charley hadn’t asked her to. She wasn’t sure what she would have done. “No, she didn’t even ask. She must figure she can make bail on her own.”

  “Or that someone else will put up the money. Maybe even the Dysons.”

  “Why would they put it up?”

  “Because while she’s in jail, they can’t do anything about her. Once she gets out, they can put a bounty on her.”

  “They can’t do that while she’s inside?”

  “Well…” Terry considered. “Not as easily. Not without being traceable. Anyone who kills her on the inside is likely to get caught. If they want to get away with it, their best bet is to get her on the outside.”

  “But why would she take it? Wouldn’t she know she was walking right into a trap?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she thinks she’s smart enough to get away with it.”

  “She must have money of her own. The apartment she lives in isn’t any flophouse. And if she works for the Dysons like Jack Ward claims, then she must make pretty good money. I always thought organized crime paid pretty well.”

  Terry nodded slowly and took a couple of bites of his meal. “You’re right. She might be using her own money.”

  “All I know is, I’m not putting it up. She said she was going to get out on bail, not that she needed me to pay for it.” Erin pushed peas around her plate. Her stomach was hurting and she didn’t feel like she could keep anything down. “What kind of evidence is there? They wouldn’t be releasing her if it was overwhelming, would they? If there was that much, wouldn’t they just keep her without bail?”

  “I imagine she’s pulled some strings. It’s pretty bad, Erin. She was heard fighting with Bobby. Her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.”

  “He was shot? Ward said the gun was left at the scene.”

  “That’s right.”

  “If she’s supposed to be some kind of organized crime figure, why would she leave the gun at the scene? Wouldn’t she know better?”

  “People do things when they’re in a panic that they wouldn’t do if they were thinking. Criminals make mistakes, or we’d never catch them.”

  “I guess.” Erin ran her finger down the side of her glass, making a track through the condensation. “So you think she did it?”

  “I don’t think there’s any question she did it. The only question will be what she’s convicted of.”

  “But what if she didn’t?”

  “She did, Erin.”

  “You thought I killed Angela Plaint. But I didn’t.”

  “I thought…” Terry trailed off and decided that whatever argument or clarification he was going to make wasn’t going to get him anywhere in the conversation. “It’s not the same at all.”

  “You could be wrong.”

  “Everybody could be wrong… but it’s unlikely.”

  Erin was quiet, thinking about it. Terry was watching her between bites.

  “Tell me you’ll just stay out of it, Erin.”

  Erin shook her head.

  “Erin!”

  “I know. I’m stubborn. I should listen to you because you just have my best interests in mind.” How many times had she heard those words from foster parents?

  Terry nodded.

  “But you said if it was your brother, you’d help him.”

  “You’re going to keep holding that over my head, aren’t you?”

  “I don’t know why you think I’d behave any differently.”

  “I have training. I have connections. I’m in law enforcement, so if I get involved in an investigation, it’s a little different.”

  Erin shrugged. “I may not have any training, but I have some experience. And I care what happens to her.”

  “I don’t like you going there by yourself and putting yourself in the middle of this thing.”

  “I need to. I’m sorry, but I’m going to pick her up tomorrow and do what I can to help her out. You can’t talk me out of it.”

  Terry’s mouth tightened. He stared down at his plate and continued to eat in silence. Erin picked at her food, but didn’t really have any appetite for anything.

  Chapter Fifteen

  L

  ate the next afternoon, Charley climbed into Erin’s car and sat back with a sigh. “I appreciate you picking me up, Erin. I really… don’t have anyone else to call.”

  Erin resisted asking her about her adoptive parents or any friends that must have lived in the area. Or what about other members of the Dyson clan? Surely some of them must have been on Charley’s side. Even if Bobby Dyson’s parents blamed her for his death, there had to be others who didn’t.

  “Did you want to go straight to your apartment? Or did you need to run any errands first?”

  “The least I can do is to take you out to dinner,” Charley said. “Where do you like?”

  “Uh… I don’t really know what’s around.”

  “Wherever you want to go,” Charley urged. “It doesn’t matter. We can head back to… what neighborhood do you live in?”

  Erin licked her lips. Charley fiddled with the shoulder strap of her seatbelt.

  “Where do you live?” she repeated.

  “Bald Eagle Falls.”

  Charley stopped playing with the seatbelt and looked at Erin. “Where?”

  “Bald Eagle Falls.”

  “Is that one of the new developments on the west side?”

  “No. It’s a town. In the mountains.”

  “You don’t live in Moose River?”

  “No.”

  “How far away is Bald Eagle Falls?”

  “A couple hours.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Erin gave an embarrassed shrug. “I wanted to help you out. So I… made the time.”

  “That’s crazy! I wouldn’t have called you. I thought you said you were here in town. I guess I just assumed. I’ve always lived here, I thought you had too.”

  “I wasn’t raised here—”

  “I remember that,” Charley interrupted. “You said you’d been raised away from here, but then you came back. Here.”

  “Here… to Tennessee. You weren’t born in Moose River. I just meant I came back to Tennessee.”

  “Well, this is a mess. I guess you can stay overnight on the couch, if you like. You can head back in the morning. If you need to work. If you can take a day or two off, you’re welcome to stay. You don’t have to do all that driving in one day.”

  “I need to be at work early. It’s better if I get back tonight and get a few hours of sleep in my own bed.”

  Charley looked at her for a minute
, then shrugged. “You can do whatever you want. But you have to eat. You like sushi?”

  “Uh… no. Not big on sushi. Family Style? Chinese? Pizza?”

  “Pizza,” Charley decided. “And for that, we can just go home and order in. You’ll want some time to relax, at least.”

  “Sure. Sounds good.”

  “But I’ll need to stop at the pet store on the way, can we do that? Iggy can celebrate with some worms.”

  “Worms?”

  Crickets had been bad enough. Vic and Charley might be able to stomach wrigglers, but Erin didn’t want to see Iggy eat worms any more than she wanted to eat sushi. She was queasy just thinking about it.

  “As long as I don’t have to do it,” Erin said.

  Charley laughed. “I gather you’re not a reptile person.”

  “I didn’t mind Iggy, but the bugs…” Erin gave a shudder that made Charley snicker. “I have a cat and a rabbit,” Erin said, trying to make a connection with Charley. “I never had any pets as a kid, but I’ve acquired two since moving to Bald Eagle Falls.”

  “And it doesn’t gross you out to feed your cat meat or fish? It’s no different.”

  “Uh… it’s a little different. I don’t feed him anything that moves.”

  “I bet he’d like it better if you did.”

  “He probably would, but I’m not going to try.”

  “It’s the natural order of things,” Charley pointed out. “Predators and prey. Survival of the fittest.”

  Erin glanced over at her, wondering if she had a similar view of the place for violence in human society. Since human society had always been violent, did that mean it was okay? Might makes right, so use of force and deadly weapons was perfectly natural and acceptable? Charley was looking out the passenger window and didn’t catch Erin’s look. Erin stared at the road in front of her.

  Charley directed Erin to the pet store once more, and Erin elected to sit in the car while Charley went in to get Iggy’s celebratory treat. She came out with the little takeout container in a paper bag.

  “All done up tight,” she promised. “No worms are going to escape in your car.”