Scene of the Crime: Who Killed Shelly Sinclair?

by Carla Cassidy

  “I know that Bo had that kind of bad-boy aura going on for him, but he’d never gotten into any trouble. He’d never shown any kind of anger issues. I don’t believe he was capable under any circumstances of killing Shelly,” Josh replied.

  “But we still have to consider him a possibility. We’re basically just chasing our tails and running around in circles,” Daniel replied with irritation. “Maybe what we need to do is put out the word that we’re getting close to making an arrest.”

  “And hope the perp gets nervous enough to make a mistake? It might work,” Josh agreed thoughtfully.

  “I’ll need to run the idea by Sheriff Bradford,” Daniel said.

  It was just before five when Daniel knocked on Olivia’s door. At her beckoning, he entered and closed the door behind him. “It’s almost time to head home, but I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things before we leave.”

  “What’s up?” she asked briskly.

  He first told her about his idea to hopefully ferret out the killer. “We can just mention to a couple of people that some new evidence has come to light and we’re about to make an arrest. The active rumor mill in town will do the rest for us. Within hours of us putting out the word, everyone in town will hear the news.”

  “It might work,” she said slowly...thoughtfully. “Why don’t we have lunch at Jimmy’s Place tomorrow? That seems to be the heart of the rumor mill here in town.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” he agreed. “And now let’s talk about the kiss.”

  Her dark eyes widened and she busied herself straightening file folders on her desk. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “I disagree. It’s created awkwardness between us. You’ve been distant and different with me since then.”

  She stopped her busy work, clasped her hands together on top of her desk and gazed at him. “You’re right. It has been awkward and I have been trying to distance myself from you.”

  “Then I’m sorry I kissed you,” he replied.

  “Don’t be... I mean, it wasn’t just you, I did kiss you back.” Her cheeks flushed pink. “It just brought up memories of being with you in New Orleans and we know we can’t go there again.”

  He wanted to go there again, but he also didn’t want to pressure her in any way. “Olivia, I promise I won’t kiss you again unless you want me to. I don’t want this barrier between us anymore. I want you to be able to trust me on all levels.”

  She offered him a small smile. “Okay then, we’re good.”

  It took only fifteen minutes for Daniel to follow her home and then walk her to her front porch. The door flew open. “Deputy!” Lily said in obvious excitement. She stepped out of the door and grabbed Daniel’s hand and pulled him into the house.

  Olivia quickly went to the keypad to deal with the alarm as Daniel looked down at the little girl whose hand was so warm, so trusting in his.

  “I been wondering when you’d come to visit again,” Lily exclaimed. “You can eat dinner with us, right, Nanny?”

  Rose smiled a hello to him. “There’s always plenty for another plate on the table.”

  “Oh, no, I couldn’t,” Daniel protested, despite the fact that the scent of tomatoes and garlic had his stomach rumbling.

  “But you can, Nanny said it was okay and Mommy wants you to stay, too,” Lily exclaimed. “Right, Mommy?”

  Daniel looked at Olivia helplessly. She shrugged, took off her gun belt and placed it on top of the cabinet and then sat down on the futon. “You’re here now, you might as well stay for dinner.” She looked at her daughter. “And where is my greeting? Am I just chopped liver when Deputy Carson is around?”

  “Ewww, liver. Yuck.” Lily dropped Daniel’s hand and rushed to her mother, laughing as she barreled into Olivia and toppled her over to her side. “You aren’t chopped liver. I hate liver, but I love, love you!” Lily exclaimed.

  Daniel’s heart squeezed as mother and daughter laughed together and the heat of Lily’s hand remained like a lingering tiny ghost touch in his hand.

  He cleared his throat and turned to Rose. “What can I do to help?” he asked. Since he was an unplanned guest, he could at least make himself useful.

  Rose pointed to a nearby cabinet. “You can get down another plate and add it to the table. I hope you like spaghetti, because that’s what’s on the menu for the night.”

  “Homemade sauce?” he ventured.

  She grinned at him. “Is there any other kind?”

  “Excellent.” Daniel got down the extra plate and added silverware as Olivia and Lily disappeared into Rose’s bedroom, presumably for Olivia to change from her work clothes into something more comfortable.

  As Daniel filled glasses with ice and water, he and Rose talked about their mutual love of Italian food, the knitted hats she made and donated for cancer victims and how much she loved her daughter and granddaughter.

  By the time Olivia and Lily had returned to the living room, Olivia clad in a pair of pink capris and a white T-shirt with a pink design on the front.

  Lily danced right to Daniel’s side and once again slipped her hand into his. “You have to come and see the new baby doll Nanny bought for me.” She pulled Daniel down so that she could whisper in his ear. “She pees her pants when I give her a bottle of water.”

  “Five minutes and this will all be on the table,” Rose called as Lily led Daniel into her bedroom.

  For the next five minutes, Lily enchanted Daniel. He saw the peeing doll and a new dress Olivia had ordered for her, and she talked about everything she had done since the last time he’d seen her.

  It was impossible to think about murders and dirty cops when in Lily’s world, where fairies danced and pixies played and all things were possible. It was a world of innocence and light that Daniel was almost reluctant to leave when Rose called them to the table.

  The light mood continued through dinner. There was a crisp green salad, thick slices of garlic bread and a huge pot of spaghetti.

  The spaghetti sauce was the best Daniel had ever tasted. He tried to get the recipe from Rose, who remained smiling but tight-lipped as she insisted it was an old family secret.

  There was plenty of laughter as Lily showed Daniel how to slurp spaghetti noodles, her mouth quickly becoming covered in the red sauce. Olivia showed her playful side by challenging her daughter to a slurping contest.

  Rose looked on with mock sternness and mumbled about bad manners while Daniel laughed at the antics of mother and daughter.

  This was the way family was supposed to be. Meals shared in laughter, happy greetings at the front door after time away from one another. A warmth of caring in the room with everyone together.

  Daniel could scarcely remember a meal with his mother and father where one or the other of them hadn’t stormed away from the table in anger. The happiness and love in this house was normal. What he had experienced in his childhood had definitely been abnormal. But it had shaped him into the man he’d become.

  After dinner Daniel insisted he help with the cleanup, and then it was time for him to leave. He was surprised to realize he didn’t want to go back to his silent home where there was no laughter, no whisper of another person’s voice.

  He’d always been fine alone, but tonight the thought of going back to his quiet house wasn’t as appealing as it had always been.

  Olivia unarmed the security system and walked out on the front porch with him. “Thanks for dinner,” he said.

  “Not a problem. As far as Mom is concerned, the more the merrier when it comes to meals. Besides, it was fun and now I have to go inside and tell Lily that it really isn’t proper to slurp spaghetti,” she said ruefully.

  He laughed. “Good luck with that.”

  She smiled and then sobered, her eyes unusually dark as she gazed up at him. “So tomorrow we try
our new strategy,” she said.

  Just that quickly the pleasant evening faded, replaced by the grimness of murder and the attack on her. He nodded. “Tomorrow we bait a killer and see if he comes out to play.”

  * * *

  IT WAS JUST after noon when Olivia and Daniel entered Jimmy’s Place the next day. Olivia had spent a restless night tossing and turning as she’d played and replayed the time Daniel had spent with Lily.

  He would make a wonderful father, and once again she’d found herself wrestling with the idea of telling him the truth about Lily. Still, she’d awakened this morning once again strong in her resolve to keep his fatherhood a secret.

  One night of him eating dinner with them, laughing with Lily and enjoying her company did not a father make, she told herself firmly. This was one secret she had to keep to herself.

  She had interviewed nearly all the men in the department and had yet to find direct evidence that any of them had been involved in corruption of any kind.

  Malcolm Appleton had explained his new financial situation by showing her a copy of a check that had come from his late father’s estate. Richard Appleton had been a wealthy man who had passed away from cancer and left everything to his only son, Malcolm.

  The only one who seemed to have come into a recent inexplicable windfall was Randy Fowler, who had not only managed to move his ailing mother into a nice nursing home facility, but had also bought a new house for himself and his wife and two children. When questioned about his uptick in finances, he’d been vague and hadn’t really given her a real answer.

  His bank records showed three six-figure deposits in the last six months from an account under the name of Jesse Leachman and Associates, but so far Olivia hadn’t been able to find out anything about just who or what Jesse Leachman and Associates were and why they would be paying Randy anything.

  Jimmy Tambor’s cheerful smile pulled her from her thoughts of the morning and to the present. “A booth?” he asked.

  “Or a table, either is fine,” Daniel replied.

  They were seated at a table just to the left of the center of the bar and grill, a place where they would easily be seen and overheard if they spoke loud enough.

  Nerves bounced in her stomach as they placed their drink orders. What they were going to do wasn’t without its dangers. A killer who believed himself safe was much less lethal than one who believed he might possibly be cornered.

  If it was Shelly’s killer who had attacked her in the parking lot, then he had acted precipitously, driven by the reopening of the case. Now he would be acting out of fear, and that always made people more dangerous.

  “Don’t look so nervous,” Daniel said softly.

  “Does it show?”

  He smiled. “Probably only to me, but we’re going nowhere in the investigation and I think this is our best next move.”

  “It’s his next move that worries me,” she replied.

  “I’ve got your back, Olivia.”

  “I know, but I also don’t want you to get in any cross fire.” She took a sip of iced water. “If I had my way, it would be just the killer and me and I wouldn’t hesitate to pull my trigger.”

  Daniel’s jaw tightened. “This crime has haunted this town for too long. With the amusement park about to breathe new life here, we need to clean up this murder case.”

  Olivia leaned back in her chair and eyed him wryly. “If anyone was to look at us now and read our expressions, they would assume we’re both frustrated and angry at our lack of progress.”

  “You’re right,” he agreed. “Maybe we should have ordered a bottle of champagne to make it look like a real celebration.”

  Olivia laughed. “You know I’m a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. I think we’re better off toasting with sweet tea.”

  The waitress appeared to take their food orders and when she left, Daniel slumped into a position of complete relaxation, a pleasant smile on his face. “So, did you manage to give Lily spaghetti etiquette last night after I left?”

  “I didn’t have to. Once I got back into the house she told me that she knew that wasn’t really the way to eat spaghetti when we were out in public. Apparently, my mother had already had a little discussion with her.”

  He smiled. “And did your mother have a little discussion with you, because as I remember it you were in on the hijinks, as well.”

  “Guilty as charged. I told Lily that Nanny didn’t need to have a talk with me. I knew both of us had shown bad manners.”

  “She’s a bright kid.”

  “Oh I don’t know, she seems to have taken quite a shine to you,” Olivia said teasingly.

  “I love a woman with good taste,” he replied.

  The conversation halted as the waitress arrived with their food orders. While they ate they focused on laughing a lot, appearing confident and at ease. She hoped that it appeared to everyone in the place as if they had the world, or in this instance the case, by the tail.

  They were halfway through the meal when Jimmy stopped by their table. “Hi, Sheriff Bradford... Daniel. I just thought I’d stop by to see how you’re enjoying your meals. Everything all right here?”

  “As usual, the food is excellent and everything is better than okay,” Daniel replied. He leaned toward Jimmy. “We caught a big break on Shelly’s murder case. It’s just a matter of time before we make an arrest.”

  Jimmy’s boyish features radiated surprise and he leaned closer to Daniel. “Is it Eric Baptiste?”

  “We can’t say anything right now,” Olivia said coyly.

  “It’s Eric, I know it is. He’s always been kind of strange and so intense. The only friend he ever had was Shelly and he knew about the tunnels that ran from the Sinclair house to the lagoon.” Jimmy straightened. “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything to anyone.”

  “And so begins the rumor mill,” Daniel said as Jimmy moved away from their table.

  “And hopefully the beginning of the end where Shelly’s case is concerned,” she replied.

  “How is the internal investigation going?”

  “I’m waiting for confirmation on a couple of things and then I should be able to wrap things up pretty quickly.”

  “I already miss you.”

  She averted her gaze from his. “Daniel, you shouldn’t say things like that.”

  “I know I shouldn’t, but it’s the truth. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you better and getting to know your family. I’ve enjoyed working with you.”

  She looked back at him and tried not to fall into the lush green depths of his eyes, the evocative warmth of his smile. “I’m not gone yet,” she replied.

  She focused on the half of a club sandwich left on the plate in front of her. It was nice that he liked spending time with her. It was ridiculous how hot she knew he was to sleep with her again. It was wonderful that he thought Lily was beautiful and charming and that her mother was warm and caring.

  None of that changed the truth, and the truth was he could never be a part of her life. He had no desire to be a real part of her life. He was a temporary man and she was working a temporary position in a town that wasn’t her home. She was doomed to his being nothing more than a passing ship in the night just as she thought he’d been years ago.

  It had been a cruel twist of fate to bring him back into her life now with Lily hungry for a daddy and her ready to move on from the heartbreak of losing one of the most caring men she’d ever known.

  They were back at the station just after one, Olivia in her office and Daniel holed up in the small conference room with the rest of the task force.

  Would their ruse work? Would the killer now do something that would bring him out into the open? There was no question that she was concerned about what might happen next. She couldn’t foresee what consequences she and Daniel h
ad put into motion, but she knew one of the outcomes would be a target directly on her back.

  She’d already been attacked once. She just hoped that she and Daniel saw the next one coming if and when it did. From the moment Lily had been born and Olivia had returned to her work in law enforcement, she’d done everything she could to be careful, to be wary. Lily was her reason to stay alive. Olivia wanted to do her job well, but she also wanted to go home each night to her daughter and mother.

  At around three o’clock, Mayor Frank Kean entered her office. Olivia greeted him and he sat in the chair opposite her desk, his features wreathed in a smile. “I hear you’re close to an arrest in the Sinclair case.”

  Daniel had been right—the grapevine was alive and well in Lost Lagoon. “We’re definitely close,” she replied. She hated to lie to the mayor, but she didn’t know him well enough to be sure she could trust him with the truth of what they were doing.

  “Want to give me the details?”

  In Olivia’s special capacity here in Lost Lagoon, she didn’t have to answer to the mayor as she normally would as an elected sheriff.

  “At this point I’d rather not get specific. However, I promise you that if it’s possible you’ll know before anyone else when we make the arrest.”

  “I’d appreciate it,” he replied. “When the special elections come up, I’m thinking about running for mayor again. I served this town in that capacity for eight years before Jim Burns beat me, and everyone knows how that turned out. My heart is in this town.”

  Olivia smiled at the older man. “I’m sure you’d be a fine mayor again.”

  “Have you heard of anyone who plans to run for sheriff after you leave?”

  “No, although it’s possible Deputy Carson might be interested since he served as interim sheriff before I arrived,” she replied.

  Frank nodded in approval. “Daniel is a good man. He would make a good sheriff, and I know he has the best interest of Lost Lagoon at heart. Has he mentioned wanting to run?”

  “No, we haven’t discussed it,” she replied. “We’ve been so busy with the investigation into Shelly’s murder.”