Scene of the Crime: Who Killed Shelly Sinclair?

by Carla Cassidy

  Once she was in her private office, she found concentration difficult. She could only hope that in Shelly’s case things would become clearer after they’d interviewed several more people.

  It didn’t help that she was spending so much time with Daniel. His very nearness enticed her to throw caution to the wind, to jump into bed with him. She knew he’d be more than willing, that he desired her. She’d seen it in his gazes, felt it like a simmering cauldron between them.

  But the last thing she needed was another one-night stand with a man who had no interest in a real relationship. Besides, doing something so foolish would only undermine her authority here.

  With grim determination she pulled out several files of the men who worked for her in her search for somebody who had abused their position and potentially committed criminal acts.

  It was just after six when she finally pulled her head from her work and glanced out the window, shocked to see that the black clouds had created an early, false night-like semidarkness.

  She put away the files and grabbed her purse, hoping to get home before the clouds released a deluge of rain. Daniel was at his desk when she stepped out of the office.

  “Calling it a day?” he asked.

  “I want to stop by Jimmy’s Place and get an order of mozzarella sticks for Lily and then hopefully get home before the rain starts.”

  “I’m heading out pretty quickly, too,” he replied. “Other than Josh, most of the other day-shift people went home a little while ago.”

  “Then I’ll see you in the morning.” She headed toward the back door. She carried no work with her. Tonight she would not think about murder or Daniel.

  Lily would be thrilled by the special treat and Olivia planned to spend the rest of the evening just enjoying her daughter and her mother’s company.

  She stepped outside the door and into the soupy, humid air. The parking lot was in semidarkness, but the few street lights she could see had come on despite the earliness of the evening.

  Her car was parked toward the back of the lot. She usually left the parking spaces closer to the building for the deputies. She hurried toward the car, eager to make the stop at Jimmy’s Place and then get home.

  She had just reached her car’s back bumper when she felt a stir of the otherwise still air. She heard the hurried slap of shoes on the pavement, but before she could turn around, something slammed over her head.

  Explosive pain...a shower of stars and then she slumped to the ground in complete darkness.

  Chapter Six

  “At least Savannah will have a home-cooked meal ready for you,” Daniel said to Josh as the two walked out the back door. “I’ll have to zap something in the microwave and pretend it’s home cooked.”

  “That’s the life of a confirmed bachelor,” Josh replied with a laugh.

  Daniel thought about sharing dinner with Olivia, her mother and her daughter. It had been far too pleasant and had unsettled him a bit. He’d never thought about how quiet and tasteless most of his evening meals were before.

  He wasn’t sure now if it had been Rose’s cooking or the company that had made the meal so entertaining and wonderful.

  He frowned as he saw Olivia’s car in the distance. Although she had only preceded them out of the building by a minute or two, she should be pulling out of the lot by now.

  “I wonder if Sheriff Bradford is having car problems,” he said to Josh. “She should have been on her way by now.”

  “Maybe we should check it out,” Josh replied.

  Daniel was grateful that the black clouds overhead had yet to weep a single drop of rain. He and Josh drew closer to Olivia’s car and that was when he heard the moan, saw her lying prone on the pavement near her back bumper.

  “Olivia!” Daniel’s heartbeat went wild in his chest as he hurried to her. By the time he and Josh reached her, she sat up, but appeared dazed.

  Daniel crouched down next to her. “What happened? Did you fall?”

  “No...no. I was hit over the head.” She raised a hand to the top of her head and when she dropped it back to her lap it was bloody. Daniel’s heartbeat double-timed in rhythm at the sight of the red stain of blood on her fingers.

  “I’ll go get some other men to scour the area,” Josh exclaimed and quickly turned and ran back toward the building.

  Daniel pulled his gun and remained crouched by her side. “We need to get you to the hospital,” he said urgently.

  “No, that isn’t necessary. I’m fine. I was only unconscious for a minute. I don’t feel sick and I’m not confused. My head hurts, but I’m okay,” she said.

  “Are you sure?” Daniel split his attention between her and the dark parking lot, his gun ready if more danger came at them from any direction.

  “Really, I’m okay.”

  By that time half a dozen men had burst out of the sheriff’s station, guns drawn and ready to do whatever necessary to protect their boss.

  “Split up and check the area,” Daniel instructed as Olivia struggled to her feet.

  Daniel took her by the elbow and led her away from her car and to his patrol car. He opened the passenger door and insisted she sit. She did so without argument, and that worried him as much as anything.

  “Did you see who it was?” he asked.

  “No. I only heard the approach of somebody right before I got whacked. I didn’t get a chance to turn around to see who was behind me.” She reached up and touched the top of her head again and winced.

  In the car light she appeared too pale and still stunned. Daniel wanted to kill whoever was responsible. Flashlight beams filled the lot as the men searched the parking lot and surrounding area.

  She stared down at her bloody hand. “I can’t go home like this. It will totally freak out my mother and Lily.”

  “Are you sure you shouldn’t go to the hospital?” Daniel asked worriedly.

  “No, I don’t need a doctor,” she replied firmly. “Thank goodness I’m hardheaded.”

  “You can come to my place and clean up,” Daniel suggested and ignored her attempt at humor. He found nothing remotely funny about any of this.

  “In fact, I think I should take you there now.” He gestured toward the men working in the parking lot. “I’ll see that Josh stays here and oversees the sweep of the area.” He wanted to get her out of here and someplace safe.

  She leaned back against the seat as if relieved to have somebody else momentarily in charge.

  Daniel reholstered his gun and walked over to Josh. “Can you take care of things here? I’m going to get her away from here and to my place for the time being.”

  Josh’s features were grim in the faint light. “I can’t believe anyone would be so brazen as to attack her here at the station.” He looked at the men and nodded. “I’ll see to it that every inch of this parking lot and beyond is thoroughly searched for anything that might be evidence.”

  “I knew I could count on you,” Daniel replied.

  “Always,” Josh replied. “Now get her out of here. If we find anything at all I’ll call you and let you know.”

  “Thanks.” Daniel headed back to his patrol car, knowing that Josh would do a thorough job. When he reached his car, Olivia had already closed the passenger door and buckled herself in.

  Daniel got in behind the steering wheel and looked at her intently. “I’m going to ask you one last time. Do you need to go to the hospital and have your head checked out?”

  “And I’m going to answer that question one final time. I’m shaken up and my head hurts, but I don’t need a doctor. Trust me, if I was worried about it I would insist you take me to the hospital.”

  “Then it’s off to my place,” he said and started the car.

  She was silent on the drive and Daniel found himself gazing at her again a
nd again, needing to assure himself that she was really okay.

  The vision of her lying on the pavement would stay with him for a long time. His heartbeat still hadn’t returned to a normal rhythm. They should have taken the stuffed-dog threat more seriously. Dammit, he should have done something differently so this would have never happened.

  Seeing her blood on her hand after she’d touched her head had emphasized the fact that by sheer luck alone she hadn’t been hit hard enough to be killed.

  Daniel gripped the steering wheel more tightly as a burning rage lit up inside him. Had the perpetrator been Shelly’s killer afraid of what the reinvestigation might find? Or, even more chilling, had it been a fellow deputy who was threatened by the internal investigation she was conducting?

  All he knew for sure was that he would do everything in his power to see that no more harm came to her. When he reached his house, he pulled into the garage and closed the door behind him.

  He got out of the car and hurried around to the passenger side to help her out. She still appeared shaken up, and he took her by the elbow to lead her into the house.

  Once inside he guided her down the hallway, through his bedroom and into the master bath. He pointed her to sit on the commode while he grabbed a first aid kit from the nearby linen closet.

  He opened it on the edge of the sink and grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and cotton balls. “I want to take a look at your wound. It’s bled quite a bit and it’s possible you might need stitches.”

  “Head injuries always bleed a lot,” she replied. She closed her eyes. “Go ahead and do your thing, Dr. Daniel.”

  He was pleased to hear the touch of lightness in her voice but hated how she winced and released a small moan as he carefully parted her thick dark hair to reveal the area of injury.

  He used the peroxide to dab away the excess blood as she sat perfectly still, not making another sound. “The good news is the cut isn’t that big,” he said when he had removed as much of the blood as possible. “The bad news is you have a nice bird’s-egg lump.”

  “At least it’s a bird’s egg and not a dinosaur egg,” she replied.

  He stood too close to her, was able to feel the heat from her body warming his, the scent that managed to muddy his senses if he allowed it to. She’d just been attacked, and he felt as if he was under a sensual assault.

  He stumbled back from her at the same time her eyes widened slightly and she stood. “Thank you for cleaning me up,” she said as he busied himself returning the first aid kit to the closet.

  “All in a day’s work for Dr. Daniel. Now, how about a beer?” he asked as they left the bathroom and walked back down the hall toward the kitchen.

  “Do you have anything stronger?” she asked. She sank down at a chair at the kitchen table.

  He looked at her in surprise. “I have bourbon. Are you sure that’s a good idea? Now that I think about it, maybe a beer isn’t a good idea, either.”

  “A shot of bourbon is a wonderful idea,” she replied.

  He pulled the bottle of bourbon from the cabinet and then grabbed two glasses and joined her at the table. He poured about an inch of the liquor in each glass and she drank the shot in one swallow. She then gestured for him to pour her another. He hesitated only a moment before pouring her a refill.

  This time she wrapped her fingers around the glass and released a deep sigh. Her face was still pale, and more than anything Daniel wanted to draw her into his arms and tell her everything was going to be okay.

  But he couldn’t tell her that. The attack had come out of nowhere and he had no idea if the intent had been to wound or to kill her.

  “Somebody definitely doesn’t like me,” she finally said.

  Daniel offered her a sympathetic smile. “You shouldn’t take it personally. I’m pretty sure it’s not about you, but rather what you’ve stirred up here in reopening the murder case.”

  “Or it was somebody who doesn’t like the internal investigation I’m conducting within the department.”

  “I already thought about that,” he admitted. “I know that you’ve been looking at Ray McClure and Randy Fowler. Ray left the building about a half an hour before you did, and since Randy works the overnight shift, who knows where he was at the time you were attacked.” Daniel downed his bourbon. “We’ll make sure we know in quick order exactly where they were and what they were doing when you left the building.”

  He poured himself another shot of the smooth bourbon. “Is there anyone else you’re looking at closely within the department?”

  She hesitated and took a sip of her drink. “Malcolm Appleton.” Daniel raised an eyebrow and she continued. “He recently bought an expensive sports car and has moved into a bigger house. There are definitely some red flags there that I’m looking into.”

  “Then we check his alibi, too,” Daniel replied. He was both surprised and disappointed that in such a small department three of the men were under suspicion. He wasn’t surprised that Ray was under scrutiny. He and Trey Walker had been close. But he was surprised by circumstantial evidence that had Randy Fowler and Malcolm Appleton potentially in her sights as dirty cops who might have participated in the drug-trafficking scheme and profited financially.

  Olivia had just finished her second drink when Daniel’s cell phone rang. Josh’s name showed up and he answered. Daniel listened to what his friend had to say and a chill danced up his spine.

  “Bag and tag and put it in the evidence room and I’ll look at it tomorrow,” he said to Josh.

  “Bag and tag what?” Olivia asked when Daniel had hung up.

  Her eyes were slightly widened and darker than he’d ever seen them. Her body was tensed, as if prepared to take a blow, and he hated that he was about to deliver a definite blow.

  “Close to where we found you the men found a piece of evidence,” he began.

  She leaned forward. “What kind of evidence?”

  “A knife. It’s possible that the attacker intended to knock you unconscious and then stab you, but when Josh and I came out of the building we interrupted his plans.”

  A knife. Olivia tried to process Daniel’s words in her overworked brain.

  She motioned for more bourbon, even though she was already feeling a buzz from the first two drinks. She preferred the buzz to the utter horror that blew an arctic blast of air through her body.

  “So it wasn’t just an attack, it was an attempted murder,” she said. “Thank God you and Josh left the building when you did. If you’d come out just three or four minutes later, you probably would have found me dead.”

  Daniel reached across the table and took her hand in his. Under no other circumstances would she welcome his touch, but she did so now, curling her fingers with his in an attempt to warm the icy chill that had taken up residency inside her.

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said, his green eyes narrowed with steely determination. “When we got the package with the note and the stuffed animal, none of us knew how serious the threat was. We know now that a threat is real and present and I’ll make sure that nothing like this or anything else happens again to you.”

  She finally untwined her fingers from his and drew her hand back. She took a drink of the heat of the bourbon and then gazed at him thoughtfully.

  “What I don’t understand is how killing me would stop anything. Whoever is sent to take my place will continue an investigation into Shelly’s death and the internal issues within the department,” she said.

  Daniel shrugged. “Your murder would certainly take precedence over any other ongoing investigation. Maybe the perp thinks that by hurting or killing you it will buy him some time.”

  “Time for what? To run? Whoever killed Shelly has had two years to run. Time to cover their tracks? We haven’t found any tracks to start to follow,” sh
e replied in frustration.

  She took another sip of her bourbon and realized she was passing from buzzed to more than slightly inebriated. “Jeez, I can’t go home tonight. I’m wounded and I’m just a little bit drunk.”

  “Then you can stay here tonight,” he said without hesitation. “I have an extra room and you can call your mother and tell her you’re pulling an all-nighter.”

  What sounded even better was staying here and sleeping in the warmth and security of Daniel’s arms, but she wasn’t drunk enough to make that mistake again.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind?” she asked.

  “To be honest, I’d feel better if you stayed. You’ve been through a trauma and you don’t want to take that home to your mother and daughter.”

  She nodded, grabbed her purse and reached inside to fumble for her cell phone. Once she had it in hand, she called her mother and told her she’d be working through the night and would be home sometime the next morning.

  When she hung up, she stared at the phone for a long moment and then looked at Daniel. “I was going to take Lily mozzarella sticks tonight.”

  “I can take care of that,” Daniel replied, his voice so deep, so soft she wanted to lean her head against his shoulder and just let him take care of everything.

  He pulled out his cell phone and within minutes he had called Jimmy’s Place for a double order of mozzarella sticks to be delivered to Olivia’s house.

  “Jimmy has a teenager who works deliveries for him in the evenings,” Daniel explained.

  Olivia picked up her phone once again. “I’ll text Mom to let Lily know a special treat is coming since I won’t be home to tuck her in tonight.”

  She texted the message and then dropped her phone back into her purse. “Let’s talk about something other than attacks and murder,” she said. Her head ached but she wasn’t quite ready to go to bed.