by Jenn Cowan
Yes, I love sleuthing, but I love Josh more. There’s no way I can risk his life for a hobby. Even though I’m helping people. It’s not fair to him. I can change. I can step away from sleuthing and help from a distance. I don’t need to interrogate suspects and put us in harm’s way. I can still help Travis solve any cases that come up, but without getting me or Josh killed. Especially Josh.
“Let’s go make some more cookies?” I stand and hold out my hand to him.
“What? Cookies? Autumn, there’s a murder suspect down at the police station. Don’t you want me to drive you there?”
I swallow down the urge to scream, “Yes” and shake my head. “Nope. Travis has got it. He’ll call if he needs anything.”
Josh frowns. “Autumn, is this about the baby? Or not having a baby? Are you not solving this case because you think I’m upset? Because I am, but I’m fine. As long as I have you, I’m content. Not to mention, we have little Rosco. We can even get a bunny. We’ll just be a happily married couple with a bunch of animals if that’s what you want.” He stands and takes my hands in his. “I love you and I just want you to be happy.”
“I want the same for you.”
He kisses my nose. “You make me happy.”
“You make me happy too.”
“Then let’s get you down to the police station.” He steps around me and grabs our coats.
“Wait. What? What are you doing?”
“Making you happy.”
“How is going to the police station going to make me happy?”
Josh smirks. “Because sleuthing makes you happy and helping put killers behind bars is your specialty. Now, let’s go, Mrs. Parker.”
18
I stomp through the snow while the wind whips at my hair. The police station is right around the corner and I pick up the pace to get there faster. I convinced Josh to stay home and bake cookies with Cat. My parents got home right as I was leaving, but I didn’t want Josh anywhere near potential danger. I was able to talk him into staying home to be with Rosco since it’s the little guy’s first weekend with us.
My father said the roads are awful so walking was the best option especially since it would take me almost an hour to shovel the drive and clear off the Jeep. Daysville has to have at least five inches by now and it just keeps coming.
The station comes into view and I hustle inside. The front desk is empty, but I hear shouting coming from the back. I try the door leading to the offices and luckily, it’s open. So much for security in a police station.
“How could you let this happen?” Travis yells.
I follow his voice to the conference room down the hall. When I peer inside, I see every officer sitting or standing in the room. The captain and Travis are practically nose to nose, glaring at each other.
“He was in a cell all by himself. He probably poisoned himself to avoid jail time.”
“Dr. Thatcher poisoned himself? Really? Lindy was dating a cop. Someone in this room killed her, the coroner and tried to kill Dr. Thatcher. Who is it?” Travis scans the room until his eyes fall on me. They widen momentarily before returning back to the captain.
“You’re walking a thin line, Detective. Blaming your brothers for a crime like this. Lindy got around. It’s no secret, but all signs point to Dr. Thatcher. He even wrote a confession.” The captain waves a piece of paper in front of Travis’s nose.
Travis snatches it out of the captain’s hand. “This is a joke. There’s no way this case is so cut and dry. Someone in this room is framing Dr. Thatcher. Bribed him or possibly even threatened him to do their dirty work.”
The captain scoffs at Travis before spotting me in the doorway. “You’ve been listening to your little ‘girlfriend’ too long. Not every case is complicated.”
“What did you say?” Travis gets closer to the captain and reaches for his shirt, well I think he’s reaching for his shirt, but his hand is inching closer to his neck.
I hurry over to Travis and pull him away. “I need to talk to you.”
“Yes, Travis. Run along with your ‘girlfriend’.” The captain flicks his wrist as if shooing away a fly.
Now, I lose it and yell, “I’m not his girlfriend. I’m happily married, thank you very much. Travis and I are friends. That’s it. I’m here as a consultant to solve this case. Remember, you hired me to help with these murder cases? Cases you couldn’t solve.”
The captain rolls his eyes. “Sure, you are sweetheart. Keep telling yourself that.”
I lift my hand, preparing to slap the smirk off the captain’s face when Travis takes me by the waist and hauls me into his office.
The captain’s laugh follows us down the hallway.
“Put me down!” I struggle against him.
“Autumn, slapping the captain will only get you thrown in a cell.” He slams the door and sets me down in his desk chair then pins me in with his legs.
“You were going to strangle him,” I argue, poking him in the chest.
Travis leans back on his desk and looks up at the ceiling. “I lost my cool for a second. That man’s a disgrace to the badge.”
“I heard you say something about Dr. Thatcher. Is he… dead?”
“Thankfully, no, but when I found him, he was barely breathing. He’s at the hospital with the only officer I can trust at the moment and I called your dad. He’s going back to the hospital to keep watch over him.” He sighs and rubs his eyes. “There was a soda bottle on the jail floor. I think someone put some arsenic in his soda to keep him from ratting them out.”
I gasp and lower my voice, “So, you really think the murderer is a cop?”
He hangs his head. “Unfortunately, I do. No one’s fessing up to anything. The whole department is divided and to make matters worse, Officer Oliver hasn’t made it back since leaving your house.”
“What?” I exclaim. “How is that possible?”
Travis rakes a hand through his hair. “No one can get him on his radio or cell. He left his partner at your house, using the excuse that he wasn’t feeling well. We’ve checked his house and no one’s home. It’s like he’s vanished. I think he knows I’m onto him.”
I chew on my lip, thinking about the case.
“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours, Autumn?” Travis rounds his desk and pulls a chair over to sit next to me.
I give him a look that says he’s crossing a line.
He holds up his hands in defense. “Sorry, habit.” He pauses. “How are you holding up with everything you read in Lindy’s journals?”
A wave of grief hits me right in the chest. The thought of losing Josh takes my breath away and I gasp.
“Obviously, not well.” Travis places a hand on my back. “Breathe, Autumn.”
I take a deep breath and decide to tell Travis that I’m going to back off helping with cases to keep Josh safe. “I think my sleuthing is going to get Josh killed.”
“What?” He jerks back in surprise. “Why would you think that?”
“He’s always going with me to interrogate a potential suspect. I’m putting him in harm’s way. I have to take a step back… to keep him safe.”
Travis studies me for a moment. “Don’t you think that will make him suspicious? Did you tell him about what the journal said about his future?”
I sigh. “No, but he knew something was going on when I didn’t leave with you. I told him about us not being able to have a baby. He was obviously upset, but started talking about adopting and I couldn’t bring myself to tell him what else was in her journal.” Tears well up in my eyes and I try to blink them away.
“Are you going to tell him?”
I throw my hands up in defeat. “I don’t know what good it will do. I feel like I’m living with a ticking time bomb. I wish I never would have read that journal or talked to Raphael. Now, my life with Josh is going to have this cloud around it.”
“Don’t let it. Live each day as if it’s your last.”
“How can I do that?”
“How can you not? Give Josh the best days of his life. He deserves it. He’s a good guy.”
“I know,” I whisper then cover my face with my hands and sob.
Travis gives me a minute to pull myself together then says, “I need your help with this case, Autumn. I don’t know who else I can trust.”
I wipe my eyes then ask, “Did you find anything else in Lindy’s journals? You left my house awful quickly. Something was in there that led you back here.”
Travis opens his desk drawer and pulls out the journal. “Check out the last entry. It talks about a man in power that she’s in love with and who only loves her when her visions are convenient for him. She also mentions she planned to out that man the night of the party. Somehow, she was going to use the murder mystery theater as a reveal for this man’s indiscretions.”
“How?”
“It doesn’t say, but you know how creative Lindy was with her parties. I’m sure it would have been epic.”
“What did she have on him?” I read the last page of her journal over and over trying to get some sort of clue from it. I place my hand on her words and am instantly taken back to the night of the murder.
I gasp as a bunch of images fly through my mind. It’s nothing like when I touched the wall and Laura showed me how she was murdered. No. This is different. It’s almost like I’m seeing things through Lindy’s eyes. Is this how she saw her visions? If so, I feel sorry for her. The constant movement is making me nauseous and I reach out for something to hold onto and grasp Travis’s hand. When I take my hand off the journal, all the images fade away and I can catch my breath.
“What just happened?” Travis asks, holding onto my hand. “Where did you go? You saw something, didn’t you? How? What?”
His questions make me dizzy and I can’t focus until I catch my bearings. “I need air,” I choke out and stumble to the door.
“Autumn, wait! Let me help you.”
I ignore him and make my way down the hall until I reach the door. When I step out into the frigid night air, I feel a sense of peace. I take a few deep breaths before I can concentrate on what I saw. The snow is still falling in big flakes around me and I tilt my head up to the sky to enjoy them on my face.
“Feeling better?” Travis asks, stepping up next to me and wrapping his coat around my shoulders.
“I think so.”
“What happened in there, Autumn? You turned completely white and your eyes were moving back and forth like you were possessed or something.”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly because I’m not sure Travis will believe anything I’m about to tell him. “I saw what Lindy saw.”
He frowns and studies me for a moment. “What do you mean?”
“I mean when I put my hand on her words all these images came to my mind. They were all jumbled together, but I could see people. Lindy talking to people. Things that have already happened in Daysville and stuff that will happen. Oh, Nikki and Bobby eloped yesterday. They haven’t told anyone, but Pastor John married them in a private ceremony.”
Travis’s jaw drops. “You saw that?”
I nod.
He narrows his eyes. “Are you sure Nikki didn’t call and tell you herself?”
I shake my head. “I haven’t talked to Nikki. I’ve tried texting her a few times, but haven’t gotten a response. I guess I know why. I’m sure they’ll tell us in some elaborate way over the next few days. Probably once this case is solved.”
Travis rubs the back of his neck then studies me for a moment. “Did you see who killed Lindy?”
I frown and rack my brain to try and remember what I saw. “I think I need to touch the journal again. Everything came at me so quickly I didn’t have time to process anything.” I yank open the door and start down the hall to Travis’s office. When I reach his desk, I scan it for the journal, but it’s not there. “Where’s the journal?”
“It was right here. You dropped it when you stood up. I didn’t pick it up when I chased after you.” He gets down on his knees and looks around the desk.
I drop to mine and start searching for it as well. My heart starts to race thinking about someone in the department being the murderer and having Lindy’s journal. Would they kill me and Travis if they think we’re onto them? The thought turns my stomach.
“Here it is,” Travis says, holding up the black journal and getting to his feet. “It was under the chair.”
I sigh with relief then snatch it from his hand.
He chuckles and shakes his head. “Grabby much?”
“Eager to get this case solved,” I retort.
His face grows somber. “Me too.”
I flip to the last entry and take a deep breath before placing my hand on the words.
Nothing happens.
“Do you see anything?” Travis asks, eagerly.
“No.” I frown at the journal and feel tears pricking my eyes.
“Try again. Take a deep breath and focus.”
“Ok.” I close my eyes and breathe then the pictures start to come. I take another deep breath to slow them down and they become like movie in my mind. Each scene playing out so I can see faces and interactions. I open my eyes when I’ve seen everything I need to see. “I know who the killer is.”
19
“It’s snowing like crazy outside and you decide to call a town meeting! Who do you think you are, Mrs. Parker?” the captain barks at me.
I ignore him and all the other officers grumbling along the wall. Almost the entire police department is here along with several town members including Nikki, who I texted to meet me at the hall. I turn to the town council comprised of Judge Holliday, Dave the fire chief, Pastor John, my father, Eddie and Bobby. “I apologize for getting all of you out in this awful weather, but I thought time was of the essence.”
Judge Holliday takes a sip of water before clearing his throat and going into full ‘judge mode’. He looks every bit the picture of a judge with his gray hair neatly combed in place with dark slacks and a black sweater. Every other member of the council has a more relaxed appearance, wearing jeans with their sweaters. “You said on the phone that you think you know who killed Lindy and Dr. Bain. I thought Dr. Thatcher confessed to those killings. Didn’t he throw a rock at Dr. Bain’s wife? I thought he was in custody,” he says, turning to the captain for confirmation.
“Yes, sir. Dr. Thatcher is in custody at the hospital. The man wrote a confession then tried to poison himself.”
“Poison himself? Why wasn’t I notified of this?” Judge Holliday demands.
“It just happened, sir. We wanted to have a status of his condition before we notified you.”
Judge Holliday purses his lips then glances down at several sheets of paper in front of him. “I take it you don’t think Dr. Thatcher killed Lindy or Dr. Bain, is that correct, Mrs. Parker?”
I nod and hold up Lindy’s journal. “Lindy kept several journals about her visions and I was privy to several visions about an hour ago.” I lift an eyebrow at Bobby and Nikki as if to say I know they eloped. They grin back at me then exchange a loving glance with each other. I clear my throat and confidently declare, “Without a doubt in my mind, I know who killed Lindy and Dr. Bain.”
“You do?” My father asks, raising an eyebrow. “You saw it?” He gestures to the journal.
“I did. Kind of like how I saw how Laura was murdered.” I turn to Eddie and give him a small smile
He smiles back and nods as if to say I have his support in this.
“This is ridiculous!” the captain screeches. “We have a suspect in custody with a written confession. What more do you need?”
“The truth,” I declare, walking around the table until I reach the person I saw in Lindy’s journal. “Margo, what are you doing here in this bad weather?”
“I-I heard there was a town meeting. That you figured out who killed Lindy.”
“I did, but why should that matter to you? Don’t you have your son’s birt
hday to celebrate?”
Margo fidgets with her purse strap. “He’s napping and Raphael offered to stay with him. I wanted to know who killed my friend.”
“Friend? You consider Lindy to be your friend?”
“Why, yes. She planned all my parties and we were close.”
“Were you? Really? I seem to remember in high school that you hated her for revealing in front of the entire school that your boyfriend was cheating on you.”
She waves a hand in front of her face. “That was high school. We’ve grown up since then.”
“So, she didn’t tell you that your husband was also cheating on you?”
Margo grows pale and open and closes her mouth, but no words come out.
“In fact, he was planning to divorce you before you got pregnant with Gabriel, isn’t that, right?”
Margo’s eyes narrow. “What does that have to do with anything, Autumn?”
“A lot actually. Your husband, Dave,” I point to the fire chief. “He was in love with Lindy.”
Dave’s face grows red and he ducks his head.
“No, he wasn’t. He was infatuated with Lindy, but she didn’t love him. Not like I did.” Margo jabs a finger in her chest then lowers her voice. “Not like I do.”
“Margo, honey. You knew?”
She rolls her eyes. “Of course, I knew. I’m not blind.”
“Then why did you have her plan all our parties?” Dave inquires, looking confused.
“She’s the only party planner for seventy-five miles and they always say to keep your enemies closer than your friends… or something like that.”
“Did you… what did you do?” Dave asks, softly, getting up from his chair slowly and approaching Margo.
“Nothing. I didn’t do anything.” She crosses her arms over her chest and shakes her head.
I smirk at her child like response. “Well you did do something.”
