Warm, Yummy, Wet & Salty: Black Star Canyon: Book 2 (Black Star Canyon Mystery Novel)

by C. C. Wall

  “How are you feeling there, Elizabeth?” he said. “Can I get you anything?”

  She didn’t break her stare. “Fine and no.”

  Reed felt like he broke the silence enough to actually go inside the room and sit down. He moved slowly on the off chance that Elizabeth woke up with super-powers and would somehow be spooked by his movement towards her. “You know, we are all really glad you woke up. You had us all very worried.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” she said. “You were all worried. I had nothing to do with that.” Her tone cut Reed like a knife.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “That must’ve come out wrong.”

  “Must have.” She was not having any of the conversation that Reed was so desperately trying to have.

  “I know…” Reed was interrupted.

  “Why are you still talking?” she asked.

  Reed was confused because her tone on that last question sounded the nicest out of anything else that she said since the conversation started. He tried again. “Look, I know you wanted to talk to Detective Lukas, but if there is anything you would like to tell me, anything you remember from that night, anything, I’m here to help you.”

  She didn’t say anything but her stare at the wall broke and she looked down at her lap. Reed grinned. He knew he got to her somehow. Now all he had to do was wait for her to start spilling it.

  Reed’s plan was extinguished when there was a light knocking on the door.

  “You’re up.” Eric said.

  Elizabeth turned her head towards him. She didn’t recognize the voice. She had an odd look on her face as if she was confused as to why Eric would be talking to her.

  “I am,” she said.

  “You look much better,” Eric said. “I’ve been by a few times.”

  Her lips curled a little bit in the corners but she quickly hid that fact. She saw that his arm was in a sling. “What happened to you?”

  “Long story,” Eric said.

  “Mine is too.” She said to him sweetly.

  Reed really felt uncomfortable now. He was sitting in between the two and knew he shouldn’t be in there any longer but Eric was blocking the door. He attempted to stand up a couple times and then sat back down acting as if he didn’t just try to exit the room. He finally got the urge to leave. “Excuse me. I’ll be right outside the door, Elizabeth.” He bumped into Eric as he tried to leave because Eric was too afraid to enter the room.

  The two were awkward enough for Elizabeth to quietly giggle to herself. She hadn’t laughed in over a week. It felt bizarre for a moment. She fought through it and let it out a tiny bit louder. It felt good. “Why don’t you just come in?”

  Eric blushed. He was embarrassed that he’d already made an ass out of himself and hadn’t even made it through the door yet. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” she said with a smile. “I needed a good laugh.”

  Eric almost sat down then realized something. “You know, we have never really officially met.”

  “That is true,” she said.

  “I’m Eric Callahan,” he said. He walked to the bed and reached out his hand to shake hers.

  When he said his name, a bell rang in her head. “Callahan you say?” She reached her hand out to not make him feel more awkward as his hand floated in waiting for hers.

  He knew what that question meant. He was beginning to turn into a wet dog with it’s tail in between his legs. “Yeah my mom is…”

  “The woman who arrested my father,” she said. Her voice was stern.

  Eric was immediately ready to turn and leave. He thought that he needed to abort the operation immediately.

  “It’s all right,” she said. “My dad is a big, giant phony. I’m sure he did something to deserve it. I’m just kinda glad I got to see it happen or else my mother would tell me some huge lie and then start to believe it herself. Like maybe he had to go to China as a diplomat or something ridiculous.”

  Eric felt an enormous weight fly off his shoulders. “Good!” he said. He was a little too happy and he knew that she saw it on his face. “Oh my God. I didn’t mean good, like I’m glad he got arrested or anything like that…”

  “Just stop,” she said with a chuckle. “You’re fine.” She crossed her legs so that he would have room at the foot of the bed. “Here, sit.”

  This was another challenge for Eric. He was terrified at not sitting on the bed right. He played out a bunch of different scenarios in his head of how he would sit and with each one he thought, he looked more and more like an idiot.

  “Just sit down,” she said laughing. “I’m not gonna bite you or anything.”

  “Obviously,” he said. He thought that sounded stupid as soon as it came out. He hoped he could think of something to say to take her mind off of him saying obviously, his mind was a flooded mess of bad ideas. Then it just went blank. There was nothing there at all. He couldn’t think of one thing to say. He even forgot what he said in the first place to make him so self conscious. That made him even more nervous. He thought, what if he said the same thing again, that would make him sound even more stupid. He wished that she would just say something, anything…

  “Weren’t you dating Bekka’s little sister?” she asked.

  Thank God, Eric thought. “Yeah. I guess I still am.” He sat for a moment and quietly thought about Jen. “That’s kinda why I’m in here I guess.”

  “Did she beat you up?” she asked.

  He couldn’t tell if she was joking or serious. The fact that he didn’t answer back right away scared him because he thought that every millisecond that went by without an answer made that seem more and more likely. He finally forced it out of his mouth. “No.”

  “Well, what happened?” she asked.

  “It’s a long story are you sure you want to hear it?” he asked.

  “No offense, but there really isn’t anything to do here. I’m sure your story will be super entertaining,” she said.

  Eric was hesitant until Elizabeth flashed that big, beautiful smile. “Okay. We were at Cook’s for that Confession Conspiracy show…”

  “Shit!” she said. “Did I miss it? What day is it?”

  “Saturday,” he said.

  “Damn it!” she said. She fell back on the bed pouting. “Continue.”

  “Okay,” he cleared his throat. “There was a shooting there and the place went crazy. A good friend of mine was killed.”

  “Oh my God,” she said. “Who?”

  “Michelle Roth.” He answered.

  “Shut the fuck up.” Her jaw hung open. “Did they catch who did it?”

  Eric pretended to ignore that question and continued. “Jen and I went back to her place and Bekka and Jason were there too.”

  Her eyes almost popped out of her head. “Jason freaking Harker?”

  “Yeah,” he said.

  “Holy freaking crap!” She blinked a couple of times to make sure her eyes wouldn’t fall out completely. “Like they were there together?”

  “Kinda I guess,” he said.

  “But isn’t she with that albino looking guy?” she asked.

  Eric chuckled, “You mean Dakota?”

  “I guess so,” she said.

  “Kinda,” he stopped to think about it. “Actually I don’t know, but that’s not important to the story.”

  “Says you!” she said.

  They laughed. Then Eric swallowed hard and pushed through the story.

  “I heard them fighting, Bekka and Jason. Like they were physically fighting. Stuff was breaking in her room and stuff,” he said.

  “What?” she said.

  “I ran in and Jason was beating her up really bad. I tried to stop him and he did this to me,” he pointed to his sling. “When I woke up he was gone and Jen was gone.”

  “Holy crap!” she was floored by the story. “Are you all right?”

  “My shoulder hurts I guess,” he said.

  “No,’ she said. “I mean about Jen.”

  “I me
an… I thought I was worried about her, but I know inside that she’s all right, you know?” he said. “I know it sounds a little hokey, but I just know that she’s okay.”

  “Of course she’s okay,” she said. “Who wouldn’t be?”

  Eric was confused. “What do you mean?”

  She looked shocked that he didn’t understand. “Jason Harker is the hottest thing in Black Star Canyon.” She noticed Eric look down in embarrassment. “No offense. But any girl in town would love to be Jason’s little puppy dog.”

  “So you don’t think that he kidnapped her?” he asked.

  Elizabeth cracked up laughing. “Of course not! What kind of question is that?”

  Eric sat there feeling like a fool.

  19 - VHS

  Reagan and Sue walked into the station, each holding one of Jonathan’s arms. As they walked through, Jonathan looked as though his soul had left his body and that they were walking around a pale, sweaty shell of a man.

  Dyer’s mouth hung open as they turned the corner and headed towards him.

  “What the…” Dyer softly spoke.

  Reagan stopped Dyer’s very slow sentence. “Get Reed on the phone. Tell him to bring Dr. Clive down here ASAP. I want something on our package.”

  “He’s watching over Elizabeth,” Dyer said.

  “Tell him to sit a security guard down in front of her room,” Reagan said.

  “She’ll probably be safer,” Jonathan whispered.

  Reagan pretended to not hear him. “If he hurries, he’ll only be gone for a half hour.”

  “Got it,” Dyer said.

  “Once your done with that, go stop by Cafe before it gets too late and grab enough coffee, burgers and doughnuts. It’s going to be a long night.” Reagan pushed onward to the interrogation room with Sue and Jonathan leading the way.

  Even though Jonathan has been mayor for what seemed like forever, he had never been this deep into the station before. It smelled different than the front. It smelled stale. It was darker. Jonathan’s breathing was shallow. He was cold and clammy.

  Sue sat him down in the interrogation room.

  “If you don’t mind Mr. Mayor,” Reagan said. “I’m gonna leave most of the questioning to Deputy Callahan.”

  Jonathan gave Reagan a evil look. “You’re days here are numbered, fatty.”

  Reagan smiled. His mustache looked funny as he did. It covers so much of his mouth that the only way you would know for sure that Reagan was smiling is by seeing his eyes crinkle up. “I’ll just leave you two to it then.”

  As soon as the door shut, Sue smiled at Jonathan. She was sitting across from him and leaned towards him. “You know what I would like to do? I would like to start off from where we were the other day. I believe we left at you being the mayor, is that right?”

  “Take all your pot shots now,” he said. “You will be on the other side of this table by this time tomorrow.” He grinned.

  “Not likely,” she said. “You right though. Let’s start before that. Let’s start with you going in to drop off your rifle with Henry.”

  “Don’t mention that pedophile’s name,” Jonathan said.

  “You daughter is eighteen, she does not qualify for pedophila and I think you know that.” Sue noticed the cord she struck and wanted to keep digging. “Did you know your daughter was seeing Henry Goodman romantically?”

  If he wasn’t handcuffed, he would have slammed his fists on the table. “They were not romantically involved!”

  “Do you get motel rooms at night with people of the opposite sex Mr. Kensington?” she said.

  “Of course I don’t,” he yelled.

  “What about the same sex?” she asked.

  Fire burned behind Jonathan’s eyes. His pale face turned bright red. “How dare you…”

  “We will come back to your sex life,” she said. “Let’s focus for now on your daughter’s. Did you know your daughter was meeting Henry Goodman at the Black Star Canyon Motel?”

  “Of course I didn’t!” Jonathan spit all over the place as his anger made his mouth froth like a mad dog.

  “Did you go to the Black Star Canyon Motel the night your daughter went missing?”

  “No!”

  “Did you go to the Black Star Canyon Motel the night Henry Goodman had a heart attack?”

  “It was the same night!”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “No!”

  “No, what?” she asked.

  “No I didn’t go to the motel that night!”

  “So you are stating that you had no knowledge of your daughter’s whereabouts, no knowledge of her relationship with Henry Goodman, and that you didn’t go there the night in question.”

  “Correct!” He rocked back and forth in his chair. “I thought you arrested me because of Michael Goodman.”

  “We’re getting there,” she said. “It’s just your daughter said a man came to the door that night and I have a stinking suspicion that you might be that man.”

  “Your suspicions are off. Next question!”

  “All right,” Sue took a deep breath and smiled. “We have a record that you were the last person to have a transaction at Henry’s that night.”

  “We have established this,” he said.

  “Yes we have,” she continued. “You said to me that there was no one else there and Michael seemed to be acting normal.”

  “I said, next question, not next statement. Do they not teach you the difference between these things when you start working here?” He smiled.

  “That makes you our only suspect,” she said. “If you were going to lie about what happened that night, It would’ve helped you to at least make someone else up that could have been in the store at the same time.”

  “I’m not a liar. I told you the truth. If you can’t do your job, don’t just stick the murder on the nearest person. Go and investigate!” Jonathan was beginning to tire himself out.

  The door opened and Reagan wheeled in a television with a VCR on a stand. “Where would you like it?” Reagan asked.

  “Anywhere is fine,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “What’s this?” Jonathan said with a worried look on his face. Deep down, he already knew what it was.

  “We are going to watch a movie.” Sue smiled. “It’s not great. I’ve already seen it. But you might really find it interesting. In fact, I think this film will stick with you for the rest of your life.”

  Jonathan blankly looked at the wall. He was quiet now.

  “Was there anything you would like to tell us before we watch this? Or would you rather me just hit play?” Sue had the remote in her hand. She had it pointing at the television. “Last chance.”

  Jonathan was frozen. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

  “Let’s just watch it,” she said. She hit play and the tape started. “Holy crap, Jon! That’s you! I didn’t know you were in the movies!”

  Jonathan’s eyes teared up.

  “This film shows Michael taking you by the hand and pulling you around the corner,” she hit fast-forward. “Then about forty minutes later, you leave the store in a panic, but Michael never comes back. The whole rest of the tape. Around that corner, is where I found Michael’s nude body. There is no other way in or out from that side of the store. If anyone else was there, they would’ve had to walk in front of this camera. Just like you did.”

  Jonathan blinked repeatedly to get the tears out of his eyes. He leaned closer to the television as if he was looking for something that she had missed.

  “So do you want to talk now?” she asked.

  “Is that all you have?” Jonathan asked. He cleared his throat while speaking.

  “Why don’t you tell us what happened around that corner, Jonathan.” Her voice became softer. “We know you did it. A confession now will help you in a trial.”

  “You don’t have anything on me,” he said.

  “Just tell us,” she said.

  “I want t
o speak to my lawyer.” Jonathan wasn’t upset anymore. He felt secure that there was nothing that could happen to him.

  “What happened around the corner!” Sue slammed her hand on the table.

  Jonathan smiled. He got lost in thought.

  Jonathan remembered Michael kissing against the wall. He remembered spinning him around and kissing him against the wall.

  Jonathan recalled what he said to him, “I have missed you so much! Why have you not been returning my calls?”

  Michael answered, “I just wanted you to really miss me. I wanted you to want me.”

  He remembered falling onto the floor while kissing him.

  He remembered them making love, like they had done many times before.

  He could still hear Michael’s voice, “Baby?”

  “Yes?” Jonathan answered as he stood up and pulled his pants on.

  “I want to talk business now,” Michael said. He smiled coyly at him.

  Jonathan was confused. “Business? What do you mean?”

  Michael laid back on the make shift bed he had made. “I mean, I’m tired of working in this old shop. It’s stupid and it’s gross.”

  Jonathan chuckled. “I think it would be a little suspicious if I got you a job at the city. Don’t you?”

  “I’m not talking about that,” Michael said.

  Jonathan turned and looked at him. “Then what are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about us,” Michael said. He looked up at Jonathan and his face became slightly sinister. “You have a pretty big secret that you want me to keep quiet about. I don’t want to work here anymore. The only logical thing for me to do, is to have you pay me to not spill the beans.”

  Jonathan thought he was joking for moment. “What?” He laughed nervously when Michael’s grin didn’t break. “Blackmail? How could you?” he yelled.

  “It’s not hard,” Michael put his hands behind his head and laid back full of pride in himself.

  Jonathan’s lips quivered. “But, I love you.”

  “I know you do,” Michael said. “Which is why I think you will give me what I want.”

  Jonathan paced back and forth, “You have no proof! It would be my word, a respected city official against yours, a snot nosed little brat!”