Bitter Past

by Caroline Fardig

  Sterling snapped, “It would have been nice for you to share this with the class a little sooner in the investigation.”

  She fired back, “It didn’t click for me until this morning, but thanks for berating me in front of everyone.”

  Baxter and I shared an amused look. I had been worried that Sterling would wear the pants in their relationship, but it seemed like Amanda would have no trouble holding her own.

  “Okay guys, that’s enough,” warned Jayne. “Let’s go with Amanda’s theory for a moment. Where would George Cooper turn to get help with murdering someone?”

  I remembered something Rob had said about him. “This is hearsay, but I’ve heard the former mayor has mob connections.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” grumbled DA McAlister.

  “That shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out. Have you gone through his financials yet?” Jayne asked the detectives.

  Baxter shook his head. “Haven’t had a reason to until now. While we’re spitballing here, what if he simply paid some thug with a size twelve foot to kill Eli Vanover? I think a big guy would be capable of manhandling our scrawny victim into a noose, conscious or not.”

  Jayne nodded in agreement. “That sounds plausible. Detectives, compile a list of George Cooper’s staff, colleagues, and any mob associations you can dig up. Cross-reference them against any substantial payments he’s made lately. If you come up with nothing there, take a harder look at Morris Powell and his employees.”

  “Will do, Sheriff,” said Baxter.

  Jayne glanced around the table. “If there’s nothing else, we can adjourn.”

  Everyone started gathering their things and leaving the room. I waited for Baxter.

  “It looks like you’re going to have a mountain of work to wade through,” I said.

  “Offering to help?” he asked.

  “Not on your life. My work here is almost done. I have a few more items to process as a second examination and then I’m out of here. Today should be my last day, barring any new evidence on the case.”

  Baxter’s face fell. “Oh, I didn’t realize that.” He shrugged. “With how crazy this case has been, you never know. We might have you back in here before you know it.”

  “I hope not.” When I saw the disappointment in his eyes, I added, “Not that it hasn’t been fun working with you, but I need a break.”

  “Right.” He hesitated. “There’s something I want to talk to you about. Are you free for lunch?”

  “No, sorry. I’m meeting my sister and Nate at the park. We made up after fighting over the Tony Dante thing. Now I have to go and pretend I don’t care that my sister is dating a complete loser.”

  “Will you be able to do that? You don’t exactly hide your feelings about most things…” he joked.

  I smiled. “I’m working on it. We’ll talk later, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  ***

  I found Rachel pushing Nate on the kiddie swings at Forest Park.

  Nate spotted me when I walked up. He yelled, “Watch me, Auntie Ellie!”

  When the swing came forward, he jumped out of the seat, causing Rachel and me both to scream, “No, Nate!” and rush toward him. He had landed on his knees, and I originally thought he was crying based on the way his shoulders were shaking. When he lifted his head up, I realized he was laughing, proud of himself for making the dangerous jump as well as for scaring the crap out of his mother and me.

  “Nate, I told you not to do that,” scolded Rachel. After Nate ran off to play on the slide, she said to me, “I hate it when he says ‘Watch me.’ It’s the toddler equivalent of ‘Hold my beer.’ It usually ends in disaster.”

  I chuckled. “True. I think he enjoys freaking us out.”

  “So, how’s work?” she asked, walking over to a nearby picnic table. She handed me a sandwich out of a bag and took one for herself.

  “Good, actually. I think after a few more hours, I’ll be done with my part of the case.”

  “That’s great!” she exclaimed. “I bet you’ll be happy to go back to being a boring teacher.” Her face fell. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot you might not have a job to go back to.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered.

  We ate in silence for a while, watching Nate as he played on every piece of playground equipment in this section of the park. He had found another little boy to pal around with, which was no surprise. The kid could make friends with a tree trunk.

  “Um…now that you’re free, Sis, would you consider watching Nate for me tomorrow night?” Rachel asked, uncertainty in her voice.

  I could see right through her. She had a date with that schmuck Tony Dante. I mulled over whether watching Nate would constitute acceptance on my part, but pushed my feelings aside. “I’d be happy to watch him. I’ve missed him this week.”

  “Thanks, because Tony and I—”

  “You know what? Let’s leave it at the fact that you have plans, and you don’t need to run them by me. Okay?” In this situation, I figured ignorance was bliss. I didn’t want to make my skin crawl by thinking about what they’d be doing.

  “Um, okay.”

  After our stilted exchange, we continued to watch Nate in silence.

  Several minutes later, my phone rang. It was a number I didn’t recognize, but since I was no longer being hounded by the media, I decided to answer it.

  “Hello?” I said.

  “Professor Matthews?” asked a tentative female voice.

  “Yes. Who is this?”

  “It’s Maddie Haynes.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  I hurried out of Rachel’s earshot. “Maddie?”

  “Yes, you know, from your Intro class?”

  “Right. I know. Are you okay? I haven’t seen you around school for a while.”

  She hesitated. “Uh, well, I’ve had things… Professor Matthews?”

  “Yes?”

  “I need a favor. I know you’re, like, tight with the cops and stuff…”

  “What can I do for you, Maddie? Name it,” I said, hoping she’d open up to me.

  “Um…Tad and I are seriously tired of hiding out. I think I finally have him convinced—I mean, I think he wants to talk to someone, but he’s afraid to talk to the cops because they’re looking for him. He’s worried they’re going to arrest him or something. He could talk to you, though.”

  My breath caught in my throat. The break we needed had just fallen into my lap. “The cops are not going to arrest him. They only want to talk. He has nothing to be afraid of.”

  “I told him that, but since you’re not a cop it would be easier for him to talk to you,” she said. “Can you meet us?”

  “Sure. Where?”

  “Um, you have to, like, promise not to tell the cops where we are.”

  My heart sank. I had to tell someone eventually, but I supposed I could meet with Tad and try to talk him into working with Baxter. “I won’t tell them.”

  “I’ll text you the address. Can you come now?” she asked, sounding relieved.

  “I’m on my way.”

  The address was in Sheridan, a tiny town northwest of Noblesville. The place was out in the middle of nowhere, a rundown house on an old country road surrounded by trees and other rundown houses. I recognized the vehicle in the driveway—it was the same yellow Beetle Maddie had been driving when she nearly ran over Nate and me in the McDonald’s parking lot a couple of days ago. I had the right place.

  Taking a deep breath, I walked up to the door. I had called Baxter on the way over to let him know what I was doing. He got angry when I wouldn’t tell him where I was going and made me promise to record my conversation with Tad so he could hear everything we discussed. After starting my phone’s recorder app and silencing my ringer, I placed my phone in my purse, making sure the mic was facing up. I knocked on the front door, and a moment later Maddie appeared.

  She poked her head out the door, darting her gaze around to the driveway and the street. “You came alo
ne, right?” she asked, her voice shaking.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  Backing up, she held the door open for me, and once we were inside, she closed the door and locked it behind us. We were standing in the living room of the house, such as it was, with its peeling 1970’s avocado-green wallpaper, filthy shag carpet, and mismatched, broken-down furniture. Tad was nowhere to be seen, but I could hear the sound of water running in another room.

  “Do you want to sit down?” Maddie asked, awkwardly offering me a chair.

  I sat down, placing my purse on the messy coffee table between us. She perched on the arm of the tattered couch, and she kept glancing toward the back of the house. She seemed on edge. It was understandable, considering she and Tad were holed up here, possibly fearing for their lives. However, I thought there was still something more to it, especially given our conversation over the phone. She had been vague about whether Tad had agreed to speak with me.

  “Maddie, does Tad know I’m here?”

  She bubbled out a nervous laugh. “Well, he’s kind of in the shower right now, so…no.”

  “I mean, did you tell Tad that you asked me to come over here, or is this all your doing?”

  Maddie’s face crumpled, and tears started flowing from her eyes. “I can’t stand this. I can’t stand hiding.” She gestured at the room and made a face. “And I can’t stand living here. This place is my uncle’s nasty rent house. I think we have rats.” Her whole body shuddered.

  Giving her a sympathetic smile, I said, “I’m sure this must be difficult for you, Maddie. Can you tell me why the two of you had to disappear? Does it have to do with Eli?”

  Sniffling and lowering her head, she nodded.

  When she said nothing else, I prompted, “Does it also have to do with a story Eli wanted to run in the Voice?”

  Snapping her head up, she said, “How do you know about that?”

  “I spoke to the staff. What’s so important about this story?”

  Her eyes widening, she said, “It will ruin Ashmore College.”

  More than anything, curiosity was getting to me. I had heard for days about this earth-shattering story, and I was speaking to someone who seemed to know all about it. However, Maddie and Tad’s safety was first and foremost. It was my job to get them to agree to talk to the police and to agree to be placed in protective custody if necessary.

  “Do you know for a fact that Eli was killed over this story?”

  “Tad thinks so.”

  “Did Eli record something he shouldn’t have? He seemed to get into trouble for that a lot.”

  Maddie nodded. “Tad and Eli were walking to class one day when they overheard this weird conversation between…” She looked back toward the rear of the house and grimaced. “…a man and a woman. Eli of course whipped out his phone and started recording. The guy saw Eli and came after him and Tad, threatening them that if the video ever surfaced, they’d be dead. They managed to outrun him, at least that day. After Eli died…Tad went crazy. He packed up and packed me up, and my uncle let us hide out here.”

  “Does Tad think the man who threatened him killed Eli? Does he know who the guy is?” I asked.

  Maddie opened her mouth to speak, but Tad entered the room, his hair wet and a bath towel tied around his waist.

  Upon seeing me, he spat at Maddie, “What the hell is she doing here?” He added between gritted teeth, “I thought we agreed not to tell anyone where we are.”

  She got up and hurried over to him. “I know, but…you know when we talked about being sick of hiding, and…I said I thought…maybe you should consider talking to someone like Professor Matthews?

  “I didn’t agree to talk to anyone,” he growled.

  Shaking her head, she said, “Look, I can’t do this anymore, Tad. I love you, but I’m so freaked out right now. I want this nightmare to be over.”

  “It won’t be over until the cops catch the guy who killed Eli,” he said.

  “Did you hear they brought in George Cooper for Vasti’s murder? They think the two deaths are related,” I said.

  Tad stared at me. “George Cooper, like the Ashmore president’s husband?” He shook his head. “They’ve got it all wrong. She’s the one they want.”

  My mouth dropped open in disbelief. Before I could reply, there was a loud banging at the front door.

  Flashing a panicked look at the door, Tad whispered to me, “Were you followed here?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” I breathed. “No one knew where I was going.”

  The three of us stood motionless, hoping whoever was out there would go away. The blinds were pulled, so it was impossible to see who it was, and the person wasn’t saying anything. The banging started again, and we all stepped back farther from the door. I began to sweat. If it had been any type of law enforcement, they would have identified themselves. The banging stopped, and then we heard footsteps crunching the dry grass outside.

  Tad murmured, “They’re going around back.”

  “Is the back door locked?” I whispered.

  He set his jaw. “Yes.”

  From where we were standing in the living room, we could see through the kitchen to the back door of the house. The knob began rattling, but held fast.

  A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. “I think we should call for help,” I said, heading for my purse.

  Suddenly the door burst open, the aging doorframe exploding in a flurry of splinters as the wood around the deadbolt gave way. A man stepped into the house. Tad, Maddie, and I froze. He was a big, imposing man, wearing all black, his face partially shielded by a baseball cap and dark sunglasses. More troubling, he held a large caliber handgun—a .45 by my guess. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on how I knew him.

  His mouth curling in a menacing sneer, he stalked through the kitchen and into the living room like he owned the place, not that Tad, Maddie, or I were in any position to stop him. He turned to Tad. “Are you Tad Ogelsby?” he grunted.

  Tad cried, “Maddie, run!”

  The man leveled his gun at Maddie. “Stay put, Maddie. We need to chat.”

  Maddie began whimpering. Tad reached out and grabbed her hand.

  The man said to Tad, “I need that video you and your dead friend took.”

  His voice strained, Tad replied, “Eli took the video on his phone. I never had a copy of it. I swear.”

  “I’m not sure I believe you. Give me your phone anyway.”

  Tad nodded toward the kitchen. “It’s in there. Take it.”

  The man backed into the kitchen and reached for Tad’s phone, which was on the counter just inside the door. Pocketing it, he came back and stood in front of us again. Without uttering a word of warning, the man pointed his gun at Tad and pulled the trigger, shooting Tad square in the chest. Amid the deafening reverberation of the gunshot, Maddie let out a guttural screech as Tad fell back and dropped to the floor, blood spurting from the hole in his chest and forming a pool underneath him.

  My heart seized and twisted as I screamed, “NO!”

  Maddie collapsed on top of Tad’s still body, sobbing uncontrollably. My ears were ringing from the boom of the shot and my head was spinning from the shock, but my only thought now was how to get Maddie and myself out of this alive. I had to struggle with every ounce of my being to keep my wits about me.

  The man gestured his gun at me. “Who are you two?”

  My voice trembling, I replied, “Maddie is Tad’s girlfriend. And I’m Ellie.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’m her teacher, and I came here because I was worried about her missing class. We have no idea what Tad had himself mixed up in. We certainly don’t want any trouble. Please.”

  He didn’t respond for a moment, causing me to break out in a cold sweat. He finally said, “Did he tell you anything about a video?”

  “No.” It was the truth—my conversation with Maddie had been interrupted before we got to any specifics.

  The man raised his gun and shot th
e TV three feet away from me. I flinched and bit my tongue to keep from crying out, my ears stinging again from the blast.

  He pointed the gun at my chest, growling, “Sure about that?”

  I put my hands in front of me defensively, palms facing him. I tried not to focus on his gun as I choked out, “I know Tad was hiding because of what was on some video, but he wouldn’t tell anyone about it. Not even Maddie.” I lied about that fact, but I was only trying to keep Maddie alive.

  The man nudged Maddie, who was still on the ground whimpering, with his foot. “Is that true?”

  When she didn’t answer him, he kicked her in the ribs. She cried out in pain.

  I snapped, “Hey, you just killed her boyfriend. Leave her alone. I told you she doesn’t know anything.”

  He reached me in two strides and clocked me across the temple with the side of his gun. Pain shot through my head. I fell to my knees, disoriented. He said, “Shut the hell up. I give the orders around here.”

  Struggling to think clearly with the excruciating throbbing in my head, I said, “There’s no reason to kill us. Maddie is beside herself, and I probably have a concussion now, so we couldn’t pick you out of a line-up if we had to. We don’t have a clue as to who you are, so please, just go. Don’t make this worse than it already is.”

  He started to reply, but was interrupted by someone else banging on the front door. “Randy! Randy, are you in there? I know you’re here. Your truck is out front. I heard a shot. Open the door,” called a voice I’d recognize anywhere. Rob Larson.

  The man, Randy, cursed under his breath and shouted back, “Robby, this is none of your damn business. Get out of here.”

  “It’s over, Randy. I know you’ve been trying to track down that other kid. Open up,” said Rob, his voice sounding strained.

  “I said for you to get the hell out of here, or my next bullet comes your direction. You hear me?” Randy said.

  Like the back door had, the rotting wood around the front door’s frame splintered in every direction as the door crashed open. Rob stepped inside, his eyes zeroing in on Tad’s lifeless body on the floor. Maddie still lay on top of Tad, covered in his blood and continuing to cry hysterically, the rest of the world blotted out for her. Rob didn’t notice me crouched near the wall. His jaw clenched, and he slowly turned his murderous stare on Randy.