Paper-Thin Walls

by Melanie Jones Brownrigg

  “Is there any way I can help?”

  “Yes, actually there is. I’d like to meet with you and go over every conversation you ever had with Kenna. There might be something she said that seemed unimportant to you at the time but is crucial now.”

  “I’ll be glad to. When’s a good time for you?”

  “I’ve got some other stuff going on this afternoon. And since you’ve only just acquired your job, I’m not about to ask you to take any time off. How about I pick something up from the deli in your building and bring it up to your breakroom? Say around noon?”

  “I can make that work. I’ll see you then.”

  As soon as the phone was disconnected, Ryan folded his arms across his chest and glared at me. “Is this detective someone I need to be worried about?”

  I rolled my eyes. “No way. You don’t have anything to worry about.” With the detective being ever so handsome, there was no way he’d be interested in me. On a good day, I was an average woman at best. Besides, I loved Ryan and would never do anything to jeopardize our relationship, especially after realizing how wrong I had been in accusing him of being with Shannon. I was where I wanted to be. With Ryan and Adam.

  “Well, you spent all day with him yesterday and now you’re planning lunch with him tomorrow. Are you sure there’s nothing for me to be concerned over?”

  I laughed. “I promise. There’s nothing going on.” Secretly, I loved that Ryan was acting jealous. Now he had a small inkling of how I felt about Shannon Lowry. “There’s no one, but you,” I assured him.

  “I’ll let you prove it to me again tonight,” he said, waggling his brows at me.

  I giggled. “Okay, I think I’m up for that challenge.”

  He leaned back on the couch and frowned. “Hon, I’ve been in too good a mood to tell you the bad news.”

  My heart stopped. “What bad news?”

  “I have to fly out in the morning. We’re starting the Waterline Condominium project in Florida. As the lead designer, it’s my job to get it up and running. I won’t be back until Friday evening.”

  For a long moment I couldn’t find my voice. We’d spent two weeks apart and now after we were finally back together, we were going to once again be separated. “Well, we’ll FaceTime each other every evening, just like we always do,” I finally said, unable to hide my disappointment.

  “I know,” he whispered, pulling me against his chest and holding me tight.

  We had so hoped he’d get the promotion. It would have meant more local jobs and far less traveling. “You need to talk to your boss about what happened at the party. He might not take kindly to the idea of what Jason Patterson did.”

  “Oh, I intend to. But tomorrow morning, come eight o’clock, I’ll be on a plane for Miami. It’ll have to wait until I get back.”

  The afternoon was spent finishing laundry and Ryan packing for his trip. We turned in early because he had to be up before the crack of dawn. But even so, I found the time to prove to him that there was no one else, just as I had promised.

  Chapter Forty

  Hailey

  It was still dark when Ryan’s alarm went off. While he took a quick shower and shaved, I prepared him a breakfast burrito to go. We kissed goodbye and with a suitcase in one hand and a briefcase in the other, he was off to the airport well before six in the morning.

  Following his departure, I took my own shower and got myself ready for work. Then I woke Adam and together we had our own breakfast burritos. As soon as I had him ready to go, we rolled out the driveway and started the beginning of our week.

  “I’m gonna tell Jack he can spend the night with me. Can he come over next weekend?”

  “Yes, he can,” I agreed.

  “Yippie,” he uttered as I gave him a big hug, handed him his lunchbox, and then watched him skip toward a friend who was walking the same path. As always, I waited and watched Adam until he entered through the door of Kids Ahead.

  With an earlier start to my day, I arrived first at work and set straight to work. It was a good twenty minutes later when Sarah arrived.

  “My, my, aren’t you the early bird,” she joked, and I smiled. “Did you find a new place this weekend?” She didn’t wait for my answer. “I’ve gotta tell you something. Ryan called the house in a panic. He thought for sure you were seeing someone.” She strolled across the room to her workstation, pulled off a brown lightweight jacket and wrapped it around the back of her chair. Switching on her computer, she plunked down and swiveled her chair in my direction. “He was like, ‘You need to tell me the truth, Sarah. I’m not kidding. Don’t you dare lie to me. I mean it.’” She chuckled. “I told him the man you were with was probably a realtor. So, did you find a place?”

  “No, I didn’t even look. Instead, I spent the day with another man.” I couldn’t resist myself.

  Her big blue eyes doubled in size. “You weren’t with a realtor?”

  “No, I was with that handsome detective. You know, the one who came by the office the other day. We spent the day together.” I couldn’t resist myself.

  She blinked repeatedly. “Noooo, you’re lying.”

  I shrugged. And she kept blinking.

  “He’s coming by today. We’re having lunch together.” The expression on her face was priceless. This was so much fun.

  “But …. but why would he be with you?”

  Boy did she send the air out of my balloon, letting me know that such a handsome man wouldn’t likely be spending the day with me. Then again, he wasn’t spending the day with me. He just happened to be with me.

  “Well, fine then,” I huffed. “Here’s what happened.” I gave her the rundown on the Hillsboro trip. “Kenna had never been there, and she’s most likely dead. Bill was arrested. But the detective thinks his attorney will be able to get the charges dropped. The detective is coming by around noon so we can rehash my interactions with Kenna. He hopes I’ll be able to give him a lead.”

  “Oh, well that makes sense. I didn’t think you had what it would take to land a man as handsome as him,” she said, almost with a relieved sigh.

  My face turned into one big scowl. “Well thanks a lot.”

  “Come on, Hailey. You saw him. He’s overly attractive.”

  “Oh, was he? I didn’t notice,” I said, once again lying through my teeth, just like I did the other day. I laughed, unable to keep up the pretense any longer. “Okay he is good looking. But it doesn’t matter because I’m back with Ryan.”

  “What?” She was back to gaping and blinking.

  By the time I filled her in on the James Patterson/Shannon Lowry debacle, the other employees had arrived, so we buckled down and went to work.

  Around eleven, a text came in from the detective, asking what I’d like for lunch. I told him a club sandwich, still unable to work up my nerve for a chicken salad. My mind wouldn’t let go of that employee who died after eating one. And I could guarantee you, I’d never partake in one of my boss’s leftovers. No way.

  Only minutes before noon, Detective Sutton entered the Accounting Department. He was holding two sandwiches and had a big smile on his face. “Lunch?” he asked, making eye contact with me.

  “You bet,” I said, standing from my chair and collecting my purse. Together, we walked down to the breakroom. James was already eating his lunch, so the detective selected a table furthest from him and deposited the sandwiches on one of several rectangular tables. “What would you like to drink?” I asked, digging through my purse for money.

  “I’ll get it,” he insisted, dragging a money clip from his pocket.

  We both ended up with bottled water and took our places at the table. While we ate, I talked, and he made copious notes on a yellow tablet he had brought with him.

  “My first conversation with Kenna was in the basement laundry room,” I began. “Bill had blackened her eyes and busted her bottom lip, unbelievably because she hadn’t done his shirts.” I went into detail on how Bill’s shirts had to be precisely press
ed and starched, without even the tiniest wrinkle, even though Bill was a construction worker.

  “Do you know who he works for?” the detective asked.

  Biting my lip and looking at the ceiling, I taxed my brain, trying to recall. In a moment of recollection, I yipped, “Yes, Fred Hunter. She said he owned his own business. Fred’s Sheds, I believe she said. He constructs small sheds, garages and portable buildings.”

  “Fred Hunter with Fred’s Shed’s,” the detective repeated, writing the name and business on his pad and circling it four times. “That’s fantastic information. Bill refused to utter a word once he was taken in for questioning and his place of work was information I didn’t have.” He looked back at me. “Tell me more.”

  “The next time I physically laid eyes on her was the next Monday after first meeting her. I tried to give her some brochures on abuse and women’s shelters. She wasn’t interested and shoved everything back in my face, telling me Bill would kill her if he spotted that stuff.”

  He made a note that Kenna believed Bill would kill her. “What else?”

  “I tried talking to her again. This time she let me into her apartment. It was the first time I was inside. I noticed the weightlifting equipment. I discussed steroids with her and the effects it could have on someone. That was when Kenna told me about her past.” I briefed him on everything I could remember. “She basically told me Bill was an upgrade from living in the streets. She said she was in the nicest place she’d ever been, and that Bill was kind to her until about six months ago.”

  “What happened six months ago?”

  “According to Kenna, that’s when Bill befriended Dozer. Dozer levels the ground when they put up portable buildings,” I explained. “Dozer got Bill into physical fitness, supposedly for some upcoming wrestling event that has under-the-table bets. She said Bill hadn’t been the same once he started pumping up, but that he’d really been out of control for the last month or so. That’s when he started hitting her.”

  “Dozer. Do you know anything more about this guy?”

  I shook my head. “No, but he must work for Fred Hunter.”

  He nodded and made a note. “Even if he’s contract labor, Mr. Hunter should know how to get in touch with him. What else can you remember?”

  I shrugged. “There was always fighting through the walls. It was generally mundane stuff … like his dinner not being on the table. But the thing is, Kenna came to me the next day – that would have been this last Tuesday. She’d found out she was pregnant. She wanted the baby and was afraid Bill was going to cause her to miscarry. I suggested packing a few things and going to a hotel. She agreed and went back to her place, but Bill came in and caught her.” I repeated everything I’d heard through the walls. “That evening everything was unusually quiet, until I heard a bump in the middle of the night.”

  He laid his pen down and leaned back in his chair, pondering everything I’d just said. “If things were unusually quiet, he may have killed her earlier that evening and left her laying around until he could carry her out in the late-night hours when it was less likely anyone would see him. If that were the case, he might have bumped her body into something on his way out and that’s what you heard.”

  “Possibly,” I conceded. “But I did hear the sound of them eating and the clanging of dishes being washed. The TV was turned up loud, so no telling what was going on. The toilet flushed twice before they went to bed. But you’re right, after she announced her pregnancy, everything was far too quiet.”

  Between bites of food, we went over Bill’s threats against me in greater detail and he had a few more questions which I answered to the best of my ability. I tried to stick with what I knew for certain and not insert my opinion or feelings. To truly assist him, the information I provided needed to be thorough, unbiased and not exaggerated.

  “Thank you, Hailey. You’ve given me two great leads. One, his place of work. And two, the name of a coworker. I’ll be willing to bet this Dozer guys knows quite a bit about Bill. I’ll set up an appointment with Mr. Hunter and, hopefully, I can make arrangements to talk to Dozer at the same time.”

  “I’m glad to help. If I think of anything else, I’ll give you a call.”

  “Please do.” He stood to leave. “I really enjoyed having lunch with you.”

  “Me too. Thanks for the sandwich.”

  “Anytime.” He threw the wrapper in the trash and after telling each other goodbye, he left.

  I felt good. With any luck at all the information I had contributed would lead to something useful and he’d be able to locate Kenna.

  As soon as he left, Sarah was all over me. “Well, how’d it go?”

  “It went well. He said I gave him a couple of leads.”

  During our afternoon break, I went into more detail with her. Then we were right back to work. Nearing four o’clock, my phone rang. When I saw it was Detective Sutton, my hopes soared, thinking my information might have produced a positive result already. “Hello,” I quickly answered.

  “Hey, I just wanted to update you. Bill’s truck was a bust. Forensics couldn’t find anything that would suggest foul play. It had Kenna’s DNA in it, but considering she would’ve ridden in it, it wasn’t anything we could use.”

  “That’s too bad,” I agreed. “But if he strangled her, there probably wouldn’t have been any blood. What about the boiler or the furnace?”

  “Nothing there either.” He sighed. “Hailey, without any evidence turning up in the truck, the apartment, the storage unit, the boiler, or the furnace, and without a body, Bill’s attorney has now filed to have the charges against Bill dropped based on insufficient evidence. It hasn’t been set for hearing yet, but I wanted to let you know what was coming down the pike.”

  “What about his job? Have you talked to his boss yet?”

  “We have a meeting scheduled for five-thirty at the work site. As soon as I handle a few things here at the office, I’m going to head on over to Fred’s Sheds. Maybe I’ll catch Dozer and can grill him while I’m there.”

  “Can I go with you?” Honestly, I had no idea why I asked. I was still at work. I had a son to think about. And the last thing I needed to be doing was sticking my nose further into Bill’s business.

  “Sure, would you like for me to pick you up around five?”

  My mind went blank. Not only was it ridiculous to have asked about tagging along, but it was equally ludicrous for him to have accepted my invite. “Yes, I’ll see you at five,” I insanely responded.

  The next thing I knew, I was calling my mother. Ever since I’d acquired a job, she’d been picking Adam up from preschool and keeping him until I got off work. “Mom, can you do me a favor?”

  “What is it this time?” she asked in a cynical tone, serving as a reminder that I should’ve phoned my dad. He was a much easier pushover.

  “I need to run an errand after work today. Can you keep Adam a little while longer?”

  “It’s not to go back to that apartment … is it? Frank said you needed to turn in your keys.”

  “No, it’s not that.” Although, I had planned on running by there to let Gladys know I had moved out. “But even so, Bill is still in jail.”

  “Well, then I’ll be glad to keep Adam.”

  It came as a huge relief when she didn’t question me about the errand. Quite frankly, I didn’t think I could explain accompanying a detective while he questioned a murderer’s boss. It didn’t make sense. And once again, I questioned why the detective had consented. Maybe it was part of the ride-along explorer program offered by the police department. Or maybe he’d just have me wait in his vehicle as I had in Hillsboro. Either way, I was excited about playing cops and robbers.

  ***

  Precisely at five o’clock, I switched off my computer and told everyone to have a nice evening, then I made a mad dash for the elevator. Detective Sutton was waiting for me, double-parked outside the front entrance of the Engineering Building.

  “I hope you h
aven’t been waiting long,” I said, trying to be dignified while hoisting my skirt enough to climb up in his truck.

  “No, not at all. I just pulled in.”

  He looked over his left shoulder, waited for a clearing in traffic and then pulled out. “You were right, Fred Hunter owns Fred’s Sheds.” He circled the block on the one-way streets until we were going south. He rolled to a stop at the next light and after a few more blocks, he took the on ramp to the interstate. After taking the traffic circle, he motored on down Hwy. 377. “It’s somewhere before we get to Cresson.” He was referring to a small town between Fort Worth and Granbury.

  In the middle of nowhere, between Benbrook and Cresson, we turned off on a dirt road and traveled out to a farm where Fred Hunter worked his business out of two large metal barns next to where he lived in a quaint, wood-framed farmhouse. As we neared the place of operation, we passed by several shed models which were erected along his fence line with a sign in front of each one depicting the size and price. Next to an open gate was a large, white-painted sign with red lettering that read, “Fred’s Sheds” and underneath was a phone number. The detective drove through the entrance and parked alongside several other presumably employee vehicles that were lined up in a grassy field.

  From the open doors on the first barn, we could see a few workers busy manufacturing kits that could later be installed on-site. Saws were buzzing and nail guns were blasting at the speed of bullets. The air smelled of fresh-cut wood, tickling my nostrils.

  Between the two barns was a small trailer that served as Fred’s office. Thankfully, the detective hadn’t said a word about me staying in the truck and so I bailed out right along with him. Working my three-inch heels and short legs, I did my best to stay in step with his long strides. He led the way across the make-shift parking lot, thudded up three metal steps to a metal door and knocked three raps.

  “Detective Tanner Sutton with the Fort Worth Police Department. I have an appointment with Fred Hunter,” he shouted from the exterior.