Murder Is Where the Heart Is

by Maddie Cochere

  “He’s running across the back yard,” I whispered loudly.

  “I didn’t see any police out front,” Jackie said.

  We made our way downstairs in the dark and out the back door. We took off running for Jackie’s car. She had parked on the service road that ran along the eastern edge of the construction site.

  When we cleared the shrubs at the back of my property, we could see the outline of the killer as he ran for the main road.

  I kept up with Jackie pretty well. I knew it was pure adrenaline fueling my legs, because there was no way I was in shape to run this fast

  It was a little disconcerting to be in the construction site again, and I couldn’t help thinking of the murdered girl I had found here in July. I would be glad when the new owner of the property resumed construction and built the large office building. Seeing the dirt mounds from my upstairs windows always left me with an unpleasant feeling.

  Jackie had her seat belt on and the engine running when I dropped into the passenger seat. I was so out-of-breath, I couldn’t speak. Without turning on the headlights, she backed the car down the road.

  “That’s him right there,” she said. “He just pulled out.”

  I swiveled my head to get a look, and she hit the gas. Riding with Jackie always made me think she might kill us, but her speeding tonight didn’t bother me, and it wasn’t long before she caught up to the black van.

  She slowed and held back a safe distance while driving mostly with the headlights off. The driver of the van was making his way downtown. It wasn’t too difficult to see with the aid of street lights.

  The van slowed as the driver passed Parker’s Tavern. At the corner of the block, he turned into the Ace Taxi Service lot. Jackie parked on the street.

  “Well, what do you know about that,” she said. “You always did think Brick killed Kate.”

  We stepped out of the car and headed for the taxi garage.

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “We have to call Pepper, and I don’t have my phone.”

  Jackie pulled hers out of a small satchel and made the call to Pepper, telling her that Brick had just attempted to murder me, and we had followed him to the taxi garage downtown.

  While Jackie was talking with Pepper, I looked around. I wanted to be observant and notice if anyone was in the area or if anything seemed out of place. There wasn’t much activity downtown on a Sunday night. The truck parked two vehicles in front of Jackie’s was missing its tailgate. A plaid hat in the bed caught my attention. I peered in through the passenger side of the truck and saw Angus McFeely lying on the floor.

  “Come on,” Jackie said. “Pepper’s going to call the police in twenty minutes if she doesn’t hear back from us.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said as I tried the handle of the door. I reached in, scooped up the dog and ran back to Jackie’s car to deposit him in the back seat. I grabbed the hat from the truck bed and threw it in after him.

  I smiled. “If I’m arrested tonight, at least I got the dog, and you know where to take him.”

  The lighter moment was quickly extinguished as we made our way onto the back of the lot. Half a dozen taxi cabs were parked along the back wall. The van was parked outside a large building that wasn’t part of the main garage.

  “I’ve never seen this building before,” I whispered.

  “It looks like the original taxi garage. I didn’t know it was still here. The building out front was built thirty years ago when there was a big renovation downtown. If I’m not mistaken, there’s been a taxi business on this corner since the early twenties.”

  We went in through the door where the van had parked. We didn’t have a flashlight, and we were thrust into utter darkness when the door closed behind us. The smell of old rubber and gasoline was strong.

  “Don’t move,” Jackie said softly. “There could be open pits in the floor for changing oil.” She began fumbling in her satchel. “I think I have one of those little promotional flashlights in here. Someone from the car dealership was passing them out in the office last week.”

  “Look,” I whispered.

  The man with his diffused flashlight came into view across the large room. He slipped through a narrow doorway and disappeared.

  Jackie flicked the small beam of her flashlight on for a few seconds to see what was directly in front of us. She led the way across the large room, occasionally illuminating the floor to be sure we wouldn’t run into boxes or barrels.

  When we reached the doorway, Jackie illuminated the area long enough for us to realize we stood alongside an oversized elevator platform. The building had a freight elevator that had been used to transport taxis to and from the upper storage floors.

  I pointed to a dim light emanating from around the corner. We slowly made our way to the source and saw a huge pit containing the large hydraulic plunger that raised and lowered the elevator platform. The opening would normally be covered by the platform, but it was presently raised. A steep steel staircase led down into the pit. The man who attempted to murder me stood near the plunger. He wore a hood over his head to cover his face. It took more than a minute for him to juggle the flashlight and a small lantern that he was trying to light.

  I grabbed Jackie’s arm. In the corner of the pit was my cab driver, Leslie Preston. She was still wearing the Ace Taxi Service uniform. Her hands and feet were tied, and a gag was firmly tied in her mouth. Her pretty doe eyes conveyed terror.

  The man said something to her. She squirmed against her bonds and whimpered.

  Jackie fumbled in her satchel for her phone. Before she could get a hand on it, we heard someone bump into one of the barrels on the garage floor. We quickly ducked behind a shelving unit stacked with boxes. We didn’t have a view of the doorway, but we had front row seats when Brick Brack came barreling through the doorway and raced down the steps into the pit with his gun drawn.

  I could hear the confusion in Jackie’s voice as she whispered, “I thought that was Brick in the mask. Do you know who it is?”

  “Yep,” I said.

  Brick was crazed. “Don’t make a move,” he screamed.

  The man slowly put his hands in the air. Brick kept the gun pointed at him while he did that jittery pacing thing for a few moments. He then lunged at the man much like he had lunged at me in the alley earlier in the day. He was no match for the man in the mask and was quickly knocked down. He lost his grip on the gun and it slid over to rest against Leslie’s feet.

  I heard Jackie gasp.

  The man had pulled out his own gun and was now pointing it at Brick. Leslie made a loud muffled sound before collapsing over on her side. She appeared to have fainted.

  Brick sat up. He held the man’s mask in his hand.

  “Preston,” Brick said in disbelief.

  “Doug,” Jackie muttered under her breath.

  “You abducted your own niece for a ransom?” Brick asked incredulously. His eyes became crazed again, and he screamed. “You killed Kate!”

  “Shut up,” Doug yelled. “It was Kate’s own fault she got killed. I thought I had Leslie when I jumped into the cab. When I realized I made a mistake, I tried to get out, but Kate recognized my voice. She was going to ruin everything by warning Leslie and going to the police. I couldn’t let that happen.”

  Doug picked up Brick’s gun and put it in his pocket. He backed toward the stairs.

  “You won’t get away with this,” Brick said. “I’ll have the cops on you within the hour.”

  “You can’t very well do that if you’re dead, can you?”

  He flipped a switch at the top of the stairs. The elevator hummed and screeched. Overhead the platform slowly descended. I realized Doug intended for the platform to fully descend into the pit. It would crush Brick and Leslie to death.

  Jackie and I didn’t dare move for fear Doug would see or hear us. The man was clearly unstable and had tried to kill me once this evening. I didn’t want to give him a second chance.

  Doug kept his gun tra
ined on Brick until the elevator was flush with the ground floor. The steps into the pit were rendered useless now. He turned and dashed through the doorway. Brick’s ensuing screams were filled with terror.

  Jackie and I bolted from our hiding place at the same time. I flipped the switch to stop the descending platform. Jackie had her phone in her hand and was calling 911.

  I grabbed a heavy wrench from a workbench and ran through the doorway into the main garage. I had to try to stop Doug. With the entire police force watching my house, he would have no trouble making a clean getaway.

  The diffused light from his flashlight wasn’t far ahead of me. I remembered the path being clear on the right side of the garage. Even though Doug was on the left, I was nearly to him by the time he reached the door.

  I was suddenly plunged into darkness again. I didn’t know if he went outside or not. I slowed my pace, put my hands out in front of me, and shuffled my feet until I came to the wall. It took a few precious seconds to find the door handle. I was afraid Doug would already be in his van and gone by the time I managed to get outside.

  I threw the door open and rushed into the night. A split second later, bright lights blinded me.

  “Put down your weapon and raise your hands above your head.”

  I was flabbergasted to hear Sergeant Rorski’s voice. I thought the entire police force would be watching my house, but they were here to arrest me.

  Officers with guns drawn rushed toward me. I dropped the wrench and threw my hands into the air. Most of the officers ran past me. Officer Glenn Wheeler stopped in front of me and grabbed me in a bear hug.

  When he eased his grip, I turned to look behind me. Doug was on the ground. Officer Collins had his knee in his back while he put handcuffs on him. When he pulled him to his feet, he began to read him his rights.

  “Doug Preston, you’re under arrest for the murder of Kate Fuller and the abduction of Leslie Preston. You have the right to remain silent…”

  I pulled away from Glenn and rushed over to interrupt. “Wait a minute.”

  Doug was visibly shocked to see me. Officer Collins immediately placed his hand on his taser.

  “Hold on, Sparky,” I told him. “Doug is also responsible for the Bailey Ravens and Vic Cabrillo murders.”

  Sergeant Rorski was by my side in a flash. His face was red and his voice was raised. “Ravens, you’re not out of the woods yet for the murders at Alan’s house. I have half a mind to arrest you right now. I don’t want to hear any of your over-exaggerated theories.”

  My mouth fell open. I couldn’t believe he was still considering me a suspect. I forged ahead with my story.

  “Doug was having an affair with Bailey. I’m guessing he didn’t know she was sleeping with everyone who would sleep with her, and he went into a rage when he found her and Vic at the pool. His prints weren’t on the gun because he always wears those pretentious driving gloves. Bailey was trying to set Alan up, but she got Doug instead, and his hatred for his wife and women in general spurred him to murder.”

  “You don’t have any proof,” he hissed through gritted teeth.

  “I most certainly do. I have your thong, your bowtie, and the handcuffs that Bailey kept in her dresser drawer. I’m sure there’ll be DNA on one of them to tie you to her.”

  Doug’s head dropped onto his chest. When he looked up, tears were rolling down his cheeks. “She said she loved me. My wife wanted a divorce, and Bailey wanted a divorce from Alan. She said we were going to start a new life together. She laughed at me when I found her with Vic at the pool. She said she thought I knew she was just having fun with me – like she had fun with all her men. I didn’t mean to kill her. I didn’t want to kill her, but the laughing from both of them…” His voice trailed off. His face became distorted as he said, “Bailey and her boyfriend deserved to die.”

  I disliked Doug. He deserved everything that was coming his way. However, for a brief moment, I had a flicker of sympathy for him. His life had completely spiraled out of control in the space of a week. But the feeling was only a flicker.

  “Add attempted murder to his charges,” I told Sergent Rorski.

  “Why?” he asked suspiciously.

  “Because he broke into my house tonight and shot me in my bed.”

  The sergeant’s face turned redder than before.

  “What are you talking about? Have you been shot?”

  “No, not me. My pillows. But Doug didn’t know I wasn’t in the bed. Jackie and I were hiding in the closet. He knew I was hoping to have more dreams about Leslie’s abductor and the van. I figured he’d show up at the house, but I didn’t expect him to shoot me in my bed.”

  Doug lunged and tried to spit on me. Officer Collins jerked him back.

  Sergeant Rorski’s face edged into the purple range. “You were at home?”

  I nodded.

  “Why didn’t you answer your door? I had my men banging on it all night.”

  “I know. I heard them.”

  The veins in his neck bulged. “Well, why didn’t you answer?”

  “Because I knew you had a warrant for my arrest, and I couldn’t let you arrest me until I knew for sure it was Doug who committed the murders.”

  He sputtered when he tried to speak. It was time. The man was finally going to have a stroke. He managed to yell, “You knew about the warrant? How in the hell did you find out? Who told you?”

  I shook my head. There was no way I was telling him. “I have my sources,” I said defiantly.

  A deep chuckle sounded behind me. I turned around to see Arnie leaning against Doug’s van. He nodded his head and pointed his finger at me. The smile on his face let me know he approved of how I had handled Operation Bowtie. I nearly burst with pride.

  Several officers came out the garage door with Jackie, Leslie, and Brick in tow. Leslie was quickly whisked away to a waiting EMT truck. I contemplated telling Sergeant Rorski about my encounter with Brick in the alley, but I actually did feel bad for Brick. He lost his girlfriend and nearly lost his mind thinking he would be charged with her murder. He also thought he was going to become a pancake in the elevator pit. He needed a break tonight.

  Glenn came over to stand by my side. “I’ve been patrolling down here for six months now. I never knew this building was back here. It was the perfect hiding place for a kidnap victim.”

  “How do you suppose Doug knew about it?” I asked.

  Brick was standing behind Glenn and piped up, “When he came in to arrange the stunt for Leslie, he asked to see the building. I told him it was empty and we never used it, but he wanted to see it anyway. He said he did a story several years ago about historic downtown buildings, and he included this one, but he didn’t get to see inside it at the time. I thought he was just curious. I had no idea he was casing the joint.”

  I didn’t know if I would ever get the answer to one of my questions, so I asked Brick, “You left the garage at the time of Kate’s murder. Where did you go?”

  He immediately began fidgeting and looked down at his feet.

  Glenn prodded him, “Spill it, Brack.”

  “The community theater was having auditions for Peter Pan. I slipped in the back to watch.”

  “Why would you leave work to do that?” Glenn asked.

  Brick continued fidgeting. “I’m not a suspect any longer, so I don’t have to tell you.”

  “No, you don’t, but it’s a good idea for us to have all of our loose ends tied up. You might as well tell me now, so I don’t have to bring you in later.”

  I knew Glenn was yanking Brick’s chain. He didn’t have to tell Glenn anything.

  “I went because I wanted to audition for the role of Peter Pan, but when I saw Beatrice Turner audition, I knew I didn’t have a chance, so I left.”

  My mouth fell open. “Aunt Bee? My Aunt Bee was auditioning for a play?” I had never known Aunt Bee to be interested in acting.

  “Yeah. I didn’t think she had a prayer. You know, because she’s a rol
y poly. But she had the producer laughing so hard, I knew she was a shoo-in.”

  I heard Jackie’s ringtone. I looked around and saw her excuse herself from Sergeant Rorski to take the call. A few moments later, her head snapped up to look in my direction. She rushed over and said, “That was Pepper. She’s at Buxley Memorial. Your mother’s had a heart attack.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Whoever designed the smokey eye concept must have been high. For the third time in ten minutes, I wiped off the dark eye shadow.

  Pepper’s Halloween party was already underway, and as usual, I was late.

  I hated dressing in costume. Even as a child, I didn’t enjoy dressing up. Pepper was always wearing Mama’s hats and heels and costume jewelry. I found the effort bothersome.

  The last Halloween party I had attended was six years ago with Alan. He dressed as Count Dracula and insisted I dress as Elvira. I didn’t want my boobs hanging out, so I wore a black shirt under the costume. I was thin at the time, and with my long black hair, I thought the look was passable. I even wore dark red lipstick for the evening.

  I was mortified when there were four other Elviras at the party. All of them had swoon-worthy breasts filling and spilling out of their costumes. The host gathered us together for a picture. I looked like the ugly duckling amidst the swans.

  Tonight was the first time since that horrible evening that I was attempting to pull off something that resembled a costume.

  I pulled on black trousers and tucked in a white button-down shirt I had borrowed from Buck. I rolled up the sleeves. Pepper had pre-tied one of his skinny black ties for me. I only had to slip it over my head, under the shirt collar, and allow it to hang loose.

  Before going out the door, I slipped into black shoes and slapped a black fedora on my head. Pepper said it had belonged to Buck’s dad. She also pilfered a cigarette from Mama for me to carry as a prop or let dangle from my mouth.

  I ambled across the cul-de-sac. There were more people in attendance than usual for one of Pepper’s parties. Not only had she invited our family and circle of friends, but Buck’s brother and cousin were here with their wives and children. The final group adding to the fray on Pepper’s lawn was half a dozen men and their families. All of them drove eighteen-wheelers with Buck.