“I was willing to talk to Jonah at his home, but he wanted to discuss the case at the station.”
“I know,” I said. “Jonah told me that. Stop staring at me with those beautiful blue-green eyes of yours. I can never stay mad at you when you look at me like that.”
He grinned. “I know.”
“Where’s Zander?” I asked, glancing up and down the street for Mitchell’s nine-year-old son.
“He’s with Hillary tonight,” he said. “She and I both agreed it would be best if Zander stayed with her as long as the homicide investigation is going on. My hours will be erratic for the next few days.”
I straightened the strap of my hobo bag on my shoulder. “Only for the next few days? You think the case will be wrapped up that soon?”
He sighed. “Nice try, Angie.” It was amazing that he could express so much frustration in one utterance of my name.
I held up my free hand. The other was still holding Mitchell’s. Despite my annoyance at him, I couldn’t make myself pull it from his light grasp. “I get it. You can’t tell me.”
“But you can tell me what you’ve learned,” he said.
I frowned, but rather than argue, I quickly related everything that I had learned that day with the exception of finding Mattie with the mercantile owner and the fact that Jonah had considered in his youth to leave the Amish church for me. He wasn’t the only one who could hold back information. In my case, my reserve was to protect my friends’ feelings. For Mitchell, it was all business.
“I know all that,” he said.
“Why don’t you just rub it in,” I said irritably, finally pulling my hand away from him.
“I didn’t mean to.” He ran his hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. “I’m only trying to make a point that I don’t need your help to solve this case.”
“I have to help Jonah.”
“I can’t argue with you when you dig your heels in like this.” He loosened his grasp on Tux’s leash. “Are you still going to be at your parents’ tonight?”
“Yep,” I said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. I didn’t want to give Mitchell any ideas as to what my plans were for that night. At the same time, he knew who he was talking to.
“Angie.” There was a lot of weight in the way that Mitchell could say my name at times.
“Mitchell, don’t worry.” I smiled brightly.
He groaned. “Of course I worry.
“There’s something else that I need to talk to you about,” Mitchell began.
“Does it have to do with the murder?” I asked.
“No,” he said slowly.
I yawned. “Is it pressing?”
“No.” He studied my face.
“Then can it wait until morning? I’m exhausted. I’m not used to getting up so early, and I have been on the run all day long.”
“You know, in all the time that it took you to ask all those questions, I could have told you what I needed to say, but I think you need all your working faculties to have this conversation. It’s best if I wait.”
I nodded automatically. “I should head over to my parents’ house before I keel over. I know if I check my phone I will have about fifteen hundred messages from my mother asking me where I am, and I need to swing by my house to pick up my overnight bag and Dodger.”
“You’re taking Dodger to your parents’ house?” His voice held an air of disbelief.
“He’s been home alone all day. I can’t leave him alone all night. First of all, Oliver would miss him.”
My Frenchie made a snuffling sound as if in agreement.
“And second of all, he’ll tear my house to shreds.”
“So you are going to let him tear your mother’s house to shreds instead?” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to be you tomorrow morning when your mother finds her favorite throw pillow in pieces.”
I grimaced because throw pillow destruction was a distinct possibility where Dodger was concerned.
He leaned forward and kissed me again. “I wish I could come over to your parents’ house and stay with you. That’s really the only way to keep you out of trouble.”
I frowned. “Mitchell, that would never work.”
“I know. I love you, but unfortunately, I can’t trust you when it comes to situations like this.” His face broke into a smile. “So I have Deputy Anderson parked in front of your parents’ house keeping an eye on the crime scene and you.”
I scowled. “You don’t trust me?”
“Nope.” The smile widened.
I was about to argue the point when he stopped me with another kiss, one that was much more satisfactory this time around and woke me right up.
After Mitchell and I finally said good-bye, I did exactly what I had told him that I would do. I swung the SUV by my house, threw together an overnight bag, picked up Dodger, and headed to my parents’ house.
Sadly, when my SUV crested the hill and their large stone home came into view, I knew I wasn’t going to bed anytime soon.
Chapter Twenty
Three cars with out-of-state plates were parked along the road. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. I parked at the end of my parents’ driveway.
Willow and my father, who had a firm hold on the arms of his walker, spoke to three unknown men, one of whom was the large man with the Bigfoot T-shirt I had seen in Rolling Brook earlier that evening. The group stood under a light post in front of my parents’ home.
Across the street, Deputy Anderson sat in his cruiser watching them with a worried expression on his face. I wasn’t sure if he was more worried for himself or for what the Bigfoot enthusiasts would do to the crime scene.
With Oliver and Dodger in the backseat of my car, I removed my cell phone from my hobo bag and speed dialed Mitchell.
“Miss me already?” Mitchell asked with a teasing sound in his voice.
“Always,” I said. “But that’s not why I called. I just arrived at my parents’ house.”
“What’s going on?” His voice was sharp and in an instant morphed from boyfriend mode to sheriff mode.
I glanced at Deputy Anderson in the cruiser. He still made no move to exit the car, and I didn’t know how long he had been sitting there. “Has Anderson reported back about what’s going on here?”
“No. Should he have?” He groaned as if he had been anticipating a call like this one.
“You might want to call him.”
“Angie, what do you mean?” Mitchell asked.
On the other end of the line, I heard shuffling as if Mitchell was moving around the house. He was probably trying to find his badge and gun. Poor guy never really got a break from the job.
“Just give Anderson a call,” I said. “He can explain. I need to check on my parents.”
“Angie,” Mitchell protested.
“Call Anderson,” I said, and ended the call.
I opened my car door and allowed Oliver to jump out while I toted Dodger in his cat carrier.
I glanced over to Deputy Anderson’s cruiser and saw him holding a phone away from his ear. I couldn’t hear his voice, but I knew Mitchell must be on the other end of the line and he wasn’t happy.
Willow waved at me, beaming from ear to ear. At least someone was pleased with this situation. That someone was decidedly not my mother.
Before I could reach the small group under the streetlamp, Mom came flying out of the house. “Angie, what on Earth is going on here?” She wagged her finger at me. “First a man is killed in my backyard, and now I have strange men loitering in my front yard. How much more will I have to take?”
Willow inched her way toward us, and her smile wavered as she overheard my mother’s complaints. Mom and Willow had been allies when they had planned a library book sale together the previous fall. It appeared all the goodwill Willow had garn
ered with my mother during that time had been canceled out with the unannounced arrival of the Bigfoot people.
“Now, Daphne”—Willow wrapped her heavy paisley shawl more closely around her shoulders—“I can explain. There’s been a little mix-up.”
I assumed that the “little mix-up” was posting my parents’ address on the message board for the entire world to see on the Internet. Willow was the queen of the understatement.
“A little mix-up?” my mother asked. “A man was killed in my backyard and now strange men are knocking on my door asking me if I’ve seen Bigfoot. Bigfoot! Why on Earth would anyone ask me that?” She directed that last question at me.
“How would I know?” I asked. With my mother, playing dumb was a recommended diversionary tactic.
Sadly, it didn’t work this time because Dodger spat and hissed in his carrier.
Mom pointed at the carrier. “You brought him?”
“I couldn’t leave him home alone.” I stepped back, holding Dodger’s carrier away from her, just in case. She’d had a rough day. I wasn’t sure what she might be capable of as she was teetering on the edge.
Dad shuffled forward on his walker, and the three men inched behind him.
Willow smiled. “Angie, this is Ray, Anthony, and Ken. They’re members of the same Bigfoot enthusiasts’ group as I am. They wanted to come and check out the scene. I came along with them because I thought it would make your parents more comfortable . . .” She trailed off because clearly that had not been the case.
“So they aren’t here because of the posting online?” I asked.
“What posting online?” Mom asked. She didn’t miss anything.
Willow chuckled. “It’s nothing.” She raised her eyebrows at me in attempt to be subtle. Willow was a lot of things. Subtle was not one of them. “I’m glad you’re here, Angie,” Willow said with her eyebrows still elevated. She turned to her friends. “Angie is one of the eyewitnesses.”
I frowned. How did Willow know that? I purposely hadn’t told her about what I saw behind the giant oak tree this morning. Was it only this morning? It seemed as though I’d lived a week in that time.
Dodger hissed inside his carrier again. If I didn’t get him settled in the house soon, no one would get any sleep tonight.
Movement in the deputy’s cruiser caught my eye. He slunk low in his seat. Ahh, there was my answer. Deputy Anderson told Willow about my Bigfoot encounter. I should have known.
The three men examined me as if I were a mythical creature living in the woods. It wasn’t a great feeling. I scowled in return.
The shortest of the three men stepped forward and extended his hand. “Raymond Sacks, president of the Central Ohio Bigfooter Society. I’m so very pleased to meet you.”
I shook his hand. He was the shortest by far, maybe just over five feet tall. His wire-rimmed glasses slipped down his nose and he pushed them back into place with his index finger in a habitual move. He released my hand. “Can you tell us what you saw? No detail is too minor. We want to know everything.”
“Yes,” Anthony, a tall wiry man, agreed. “We want to know everything. You have been witness to something that we have all dreamed of, but not lucky enough to have experienced ourselves.”
“Speak for yourself,” Raymond said. “I have seen the Sasquatch on at least two occasions.”
Anthony snorted. “Both of those were proven to be impostors. You should not claim them as true sightings; you’re only embarrassing yourself.”
Raymond’s face flushed to a deep red. “I know what I saw.” He forced a smile. “Jealousy does not become you, my friend.”
Anthony’s face turned an odd shade of purple and he balled his fists at his sides.
“Gentlemen,” I said, not really in the mood to break off a fight between two grown men over the existence of Bigfoot. It had been a long day and, like my mother, there was only so much I could take. “I really don’t think you should be here. The police declared my parents’ backyard as a crime scene.”
“How tall was the creature?” Ken asked, ignoring my suggestion. He was over six feet and wore bright white sneakers on his feet that appeared to be so new they came straight from the box. The shoes wouldn’t last three seconds in the muddy woods.
“I don’t know,” I said. “He was far away.”
“Where was he?” the short man asked.
Before I could answer, the sheriff’s SUV came charging up the hill and rolled to a stop behind my car. Mitchell jumped out of the SUV and marched straight for us.
Willow made a little eep noise. I couldn’t say I blamed her. Mitchell looked as if he was ready and willing to toss someone into the county jail and throw away the key.
On the street, Deputy Anderson also slipped from his car and ran over to the sheriff. He tried to say something to Mitchell, but Mitchell waved him away. The deputy slunk back.
“James!” my mother cried. “Thank goodness you’re here. Can you please ask these men to leave?”
“That’s what I came to do.” His mouth was in a firm line. “Since my deputy seems to be incapable of doing it himself.”
I winced on Anderson’s behalf.
“You can’t make us leave,” Raymond said. “We have a right to be here.”
“No,” Mitchell said. “You don’t. This is private property that belongs to the Braddock family, who have asked you to leave. The farm across the way is also private property owned by an Amish family. I know for a fact that they would not want you walking through their land in the middle of the night.”
“We came a long way to see Bigfoot,” Ken, who was the largest of the men and the one I had seen in Rolling Brook earlier that evening, said. “We’re researchers.”
“Researchers?” my father asked. “Bigfoot researchers? Are there such things?” My father looked intrigued by this new information.
If we weren’t careful, my father could have another ill-advised hobby. This one would probably go as well as the kitchen remodel.
“Please leave quietly, or I will have to write you a citation for insubordination.” Mitchell’s tone meant business. I certainly wouldn’t hang around if he spoke like that to me.
“This is the most inhospitable place that I have ever been,” Anthony said.
“This is not open for debate. The Braddocks have asked you to leave and so have I.” Mitchell’s voice held a hard edge.
Willow smiled. “Why don’t we all head to my tea shop for a little refreshment? We can regroup and find other places for you to search for Bigfoot. He’s out there,” she said, like a true believer. “But with all the commotion around the Braddocks’ home, why would he stay around here where he could be seen by so many people?”
“You have a point,” Ray said slowly.
After more muttering to themselves, the three men and Willow went to their respective cars. I took the opportunity to deposit Dodger inside my mother’s house while she was giving Mitchell a piece of her mind. I knew that might take a while.
When I got back outside, Willow and her pals were gone, and Mom and Dad were making their way toward the house. They moved much slower than normal with Dad using the walker. I frowned. My father was supposed to begin physical therapy the next day. I hoped that it would help. He put on a brave face, but I knew he must be in a lot of pain. Oliver followed behind them, keeping a worried eye on my father. He loved his grandpa almost as much as I did.
I started to walk over to Mitchell and his young deputy but stopped in the middle of the yard when it was clear the two officers were in a heated conversation. Not that they kept their voices down. I could hear everything that was said from where I stood.
“Anderson, go home. I have another deputy on his way here, and he’ll guard the crime scene tonight.” Mitchell’s voice was heavy with disappointment.
“But, sir, I had everything under control,”
Deputy Anderson protested. “Willow and those men never left the front of the house. They never went around back toward the crime scene. I wouldn’t have allowed them to do that.”
“Go home. That’s a direct order.” He folded his arms. “We’ll talk about this in the morning in my office.”
“Yes, sir.” Anderson’s voice quavered.
A small part of me felt bad for the deputy. Sure, he wasn’t the best at his job, but the guy meant well. He’d skated along in Mitchell’s department for years, but maybe his incompetence was finally catching up with him. I would hate it if Anderson were to be fired; I liked the guy. Not to mention, if Mitchell hired a new and more reliable deputy, I might not be able to get away with as much in the county, as far as my snooping went.
Like a dog with his tail between his legs, Deputy Anderson bowed his head as he climbed into his cruiser.
Oliver whimpered at my feet. “I feel bad for him too, Ollie.”
Oliver and I were always emotionally in sync.
Mitchell strolled over to me stone-faced. “Willow told me that you knew about this Bigfoot club or whatever it was coming to Rolling Brook.”
“I don’t think it was actually a club.”
He stared at me.
“Sorry. Just thought it would be best to clarify.” I paused. “Yes, I knew about the Bigfoot people, but I hoped I wouldn’t have to tell you because they wouldn’t show up. When Willow posted my parents’ address on that message board for Bigfoot superfans, I was as upset as you are now.”
“She put it on the Internet?” He ran a hand down the side of his face.
“Yes.” I winced. “I told her to take it down. She did right away. I guess these guys saw it before she could remove the posting.”
“Do you think others will show up?” His hand was still over his face so his voice was muffled.
“That’s a better question for Willow. I don’t even know where she went online to post the news.” I studied his weary face. “According to Willow, this isn’t the first time you have had a Bigfoot encounter as the sheriff.”
Murder, Handcrafted (Amish Quilt Shop Mystery) Page 14
