Winter Song (Seasons Pass Book 1)

by Susan C. Muller

  “Hi, Noah. I didn’t know if you’d be able to make it. I didn’t mean to disturb you while you were working. Especially if it meant locking up that sorry excuse for a human.”

  He watched her smile and something cold inside him melted. “You didn’t disturb me. I thought you deserved to know. The case isn’t completely closed, but Gary Hudson admitted to hiring someone to kill Crystal. It isn’t official yet, he hasn’t signed a confession, so please don’t mention it until you see it in the paper.” He was breaking protocol by telling her, but it helped him wash the filth of Gary Hudson from his mind.

  “Don’t worry, I have too much respect for Crystal’s memory to spread gossip about her. I think I miss her more every day.”

  She led him into the kitchen and he sat in his familiar chair. A cup of coffee appeared in front of him.

  He reached for the cup and she glanced at his hand. “How’s your bite doing? Are you taking good care of it?”

  “It’s much better. I’ve been doctoring my hand twice a day and I can’t see any sign of infection. Thanks for suggesting it. As for Sweet Pea. . . We seem to have made peace. She’s forgiven me for whatever she thinks I did.” Like live when Betsy didn’t.

  “I know better than to ask, I’m guessing you’re still on duty, but I’m going to have a glass of wine. It feels wrong to be happy that you caught Gary when Crystal’s still dead. We were an odd pair, but we were friends. I’m ten years older than she was.”

  She glanced at Noah and grinned. “Twelve years. She could be loud and crass and showy, but I was teaching her to be more sophisticated and she was teaching me to be freer. To love life with abandon. And I needed her lessons much more than she needed mine.”

  Noah took a sip of coffee and eyed her wine. He wished he could put a jolt of something stronger in his cup, but he’d broken enough rules for one day. “Her half-brother is in jail. I think the two of you are the only ones who’ll miss her.”

  “Can I do anything to help him? I think Crystal would have wanted that.”

  “I’ll check on it and let you know. Now, you said something about good news? A celebration?”

  Her eyes sparkled. “I have a job. And I got it all on my own. It’s the first interview I ever went on that my father hadn’t already arranged the job before I got there. I was so nervous. It’s only part-time to start, but that’s good. I’ll have time to settle in, get used to working again.”

  “Congratulations. What do the Aussies say? Good on ya.”

  “I wanted to tell you because I felt like I owe it all to you.”

  “I didn’t do anything. You’re the one who went out and found the job.”

  “You gave me a good kick in the butt when I needed it. I’ll always be thankful for that.” She reached across the table and squeezed his free hand.

  He could feel his face turn red and he nearly knocked over his coffee cup, but he didn’t move his hand. It was the first time he’d felt warm since. . . August?

  Laurel stood back and admired her clean room. Every article of clothing had been hung up, put away, set out for the cleaners, or in the clothes hamper.

  The room even smelled better. Fresher. No wonder she had been so sickly, sleeping in that damp, musty air.

  She’d laughed when she found the good earrings and watch she’d been wearing the day Peter dropped the bombshell on her.

  Bet he wished he had those back.

  “It’s not you, honey. It’s me. I need some time to find myself.” She remembered the smirk in his voice as if he were standing beside her.

  Well, he’d found himself alright. It was undoubtedly a complete surprise when he woke up and found himself in bed with Miss Sex-Kitten.

  Laurel tried to work up a good case of righteous indignation, but she didn’t have the heart for it. She was tired of it all. Let him have his bimbo. He deserved her.

  After all the work she’d just done, she’d earned a cup of tea. She set the handful of extra earring-backs she’d picked out of the carpet onto her dresser and headed for the kitchen.

  She was as prepared as she could be to start work on Monday.

  One last thing she needed to do—call a locksmith. No doubt Peter had taken her jewelry with him when he left, or before, while he was hiding all his assets, but he still had a key and she didn’t want him coming in unexpectedly.

  The pre-nup favored him in that he could do what he wanted, while she could lose everything. Not that she planned to do anything. She was still married, at least for another few months, and she took that seriously. Even if he didn’t.

  She twirled her tea cup and looked across the table at the empty chair where Noah had sat an hour earlier. His hand had engulfed hers and felt so strong when she squeezed it.

  Wonder what those shoulders feel like. Or those arms.

  She grabbed the phone book. She was only calling the locksmith because Peter had forfeited any right to come into her home unannounced. Not because thoughts of Noah smiling across the table from her kept dancing around in her head.

  Noah leaned back in his desk chair and propped his feet on the bottom drawer. Conner was three feet away, in the same position at his own desk.

  Noises floated in from down the hall, but their squad room was silent. The last detective had left twenty minutes earlier. Their lieutenant, ten minutes later.

  “This feels good, but we’re a long way from finished.” Noah took a sip of Diet Coke and let the cold soda trickle down his throat. The caffeine might give him enough energy to make it home.

  “It galls me to think that scumbag will be home safe and warm before we are.” Conner hurled his empty Styrofoam cup toward the trash can, but it settled among the crumpled papers with hardly a plop.

  Noah heaved out an exhausted sigh. It had been a long day, starting with an early morning trip to Sam Houston and ending in a small room with Hudson and his lawyer discussing a plea deal. Not to mention a short visit with Laurel in between. Now that part made him smile.

  He was too tired to worry about Hudson. “That ankle monitor will let us know if he sets foot out of his house. And we’ve got his passport and all that cash locked up, so leaving the country won’t be easy. Let’s call it a night and work on catching his accomplice in the morning. You need to get home and remind Jeannie why she loves you, although distance might be a better way to handle that one. And I need to pick up Sweet Pea from the vet’s before she forgets who I am.”

  And before we lose all the progress we’ve made so far.

  “Hudson was pretty firm. His Icky had a high voice and our Icky’s voice isn’t exactly a bass, but it hints at his size.” Conner sat up and pushed his bottom drawer closed.

  Noah kicked his drawer closed a little harder than necessary. “Still, I’d love to have one piece of solid evidence before we go after Ryan. I’d give anything for a copy of his fingerprints.”

  “Give it a rest, partner. We’ll solve it tomorrow. Hudson fell all over himself offering to wear a wire.” Conner stood and slipped on his jacket.

  “True, but I don’t trust him and I sure as hell don’t want to give him any ammunition on his plea deal.” Noah had to agree with Conner, it chapped him for Hudson to get any reduction in his sentence for helping them catch the killer. Crystal wouldn’t be dead if he hadn’t decided his fortune was worth more than her life.

  Noah tossed his soda can into the trash and followed Conner to the elevator. By the time the bell chimed, he was already thinking about the hamburger he was going to buy for Sweet Pea.

  With each tick of the clock, the twilight deepened and Ryan’s visibility lessened. He had to catch Derrick before he got too close to the building or he’d want to go up to his room, but lurking behind a tree was a sure way to get himself noticed.

  Derrick looked bushed when he rounded the corner toward the college. Good, less chance he’ll insist on stopping by his room.

  “Hey, just the man I was looking for.” Ryan plastered a smile on his face. The grin felt unnatural. It was
an expression he didn’t often wear.

  “What’s up, man? I only have an hour ‘till study group and I need to eat and get my books.”

  “That’s why I was looking for you. I ran into that geeky blonde girl and she mentioned your physics study group was cancelled for tonight. Said she sent you an email but didn’t know if you’d gotten it because her computer was acting wonky.” He was in it too deep to back out now. If Derrick insisted on going to his room and ran into anyone from his group, well, even a numb nuts like shooter-boy would figure out something was up.

  Derrick rolled his eyes. “Why was it cancelled? I need the study time.”

  “How the hell should I know? What I do know is that I have a two-for-one coupon to a new Mexican restaurant and I’ll treat you. I’ll even go over your study notes with you while we wait.” Ryan cut across the grass toward his car. He held his breath until he heard Derrick’s footsteps behind him.

  Halfway to his car, he whirled around and tossed his keys to Derrick. “Wait in the car. I forgot the coupon.” He didn’t stay around for an answer, just sprinted back the way he’d come. He couldn’t afford to have anyone see them together.

  By the time he’d reached the college, counted to ten, and walked slowly back to the parking lot, dark had fallen.

  “Got it,” he said, sliding into the driver’s seat. “Before we eat, I have one stop I need to make. I want to show you something.”

  “What’s that?” Derrick had slumped down in his seat, barely visible to anyone passing. Perfect. About time things started going his way.

  “My dead drop. I’ve never showed it to you before because. . . Well, I think you understand. What you don’t know can’t hurt you if anyone comes around asking questions.”

  “So why now?” Derrick sat up, excitement in his voice.

  “You might need to do the pick-up sometime. We’ve got a new client. He contacted us yesterday. I did some preliminary research on him. He sounds solid, but I’ll have to dig deeper before I accept the contract. I’m serious about that promise we made.”

  “Yeah, yeah. No one who doesn’t deserve it.”

  “That’s right. Remember the guy in Sugarland? He’d put his wife in the hospital half a dozen times. She was right to believe he might kill her if he lost control.” Well, the divorce settlement would kill her. Wipe out everything she’d tried to hide from him.

  “And the lady we just did? She was a real piece of work. Running around on her husband and rubbing his face in the pre-nup. Aborting his baby because she didn’t want to lose her figure.”

  “But I thought you didn’t want to take on a new client for a while.”

  “I know you’re short on money, bro. And partners stick together.” He tried to look sincere, but who knew if he managed it. Inside the car was dark enough that Derrick probably couldn’t tell.

  So far, this was going easier than he’d hoped. He drove for fifteen minutes before he pulled off the road and parked behind a bush. A mosquito buzzed around his head, but no other sound penetrated the deep woods. “It’s only a little farther. Let me get the flashlight out of the trunk. We have to walk the last part. It’s pretty dark, but we won’t have to worry about being seen. No one ever comes around here. That’s why I picked this spot.”

  They hiked down a path that was little more than a deer trail. Excitement buzzed through Ryan’s veins as he tested the weight of the flashlight. When Derrick glanced over his shoulder a second time, Ryan knew they had gone far enough. It was time. “Over there, by that big rock. What I’d like to do, it’s the reason I wanted you to come along, is for us to kneel and pray for the right decision before we open the package.”

  Noah had trouble driving with Sweet Pea wiggling and squirming and trying to lick him in the face. Good thing he’d bought the hamburger first and set it in the back. Pea definitely noticed the aroma, and had attempted to climb over the seat, but she let it go and was more interested in greeting Noah.

  Pulling into the driveway with the dog in his lap felt right. Why had he resisted loving her for so long? Probably because he felt too guilty to believe he deserved any happiness at all.

  Wow, wasn’t he turning into some kind of a psychoanalyst? Or maybe just a psycho. Was it too late to try those grief counseling sessions his sister had enrolled him in?

  No, he hadn’t changed that much. Maybe, just maybe, he’d read the book she’d given him. After he caught Crystal Hudson’s murderer.

  Sweet Pea scooted around the backyard as if she was in Heaven. She smelled every tree and peed on every bush. Then she ran to the back door and jumped up and down like a yo-yo.

  “Here you go, girl,” Noah said as he pushed the door open.

  She charged in so fast her feet flew out from under her and she skidded across the floor. Noah held his breath as he reached for her food bowl, but she wagged her tail and ran in circles.

  “I’m going to give you this hamburger, but if you get sick, I’ll have to find a new vet. I can’t take you back to that guy. He already thinks I tried to kill you twice. Well, once he thought I tried to kill us both, but he wasn’t too far off the mark, so I can’t fault him for that.”

  Noah crumbled the burger in Sweet Pea’s bowl and set it on her mat. The dog stood by the bowl and looked at him.

  “What? You want more? Eat what you have and then we’ll talk.”

  The dog didn’t move until Noah unwrapped his own meal and took a bite. She matched her pace to his, eating when he did, pausing when he stopped. When they had each finished, Noah dropped his last morsel into her bowl.

  “It’s not that late, old girl. Want to go for a short walk?”

  Pea ran to the laundry room and pawed at the wall under her leash. Betsy had always strapped some pink puffy jacket on Pea when the weather was cold, but Noah wasn’t sure where it was, and knew for a fact he wasn’t walking any dog wearing a pink coat. Once around the block. She wouldn’t have time to get that cold.

  They were passing the Howells’ house when Jerry Howell struggled out of the carport, breathing hard and sweating, dragging two bags of garbage behind him. Shoot, he’d forgotten tomorrow was garbage day. He’d have to take his out when he got home.

  Might as well keep up the pretense of being friendly. “Evening, Jerry. Can I help you with that?”

  “If you don’t mind. I’ve got one more by the door. I forgot last time and the fried chicken we had when Ryan came over is getting pretty ripe,” Jerry wheezed, his jowls flapping.

  Noah grabbed the two bags with one hand and deposited them on the curb, bottles and cans clanking loudly inside.

  Jerry reappeared with another bag and dropped it beside the first two. “Thanks, Noah. Appreciate the help. Did you ever find out anything about our neighborhood burglar?”

  “Well, you didn’t hear this from me, but it was the guy’s own kid and his friend. You just never know, do you?”

  Sweet Pea sniffed the last bag and the hairs on the back of her neck went up as she let out a low growl.

  “I best get her back. This weather’s too cold for her. Say hello to your wife for me.” Noah scooped Sweet Pea into his arms and tried to look casual as he strolled home.

  Once inside his own house, he lifted the dog to his face and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m going to have to get you your own gold shield, Pea. I think you just might be a better detective than I am.”

  Noah’s alarm sounded its familiar beep, beep at 2:55. Sweet Pea snuggled deeper under the covers as he reached across her to switch off the irritating noise.

  “I’ll be right back, Pea. Keep the bed warm for me.”

  The dark sweats and hoodie hung over the chair where he’d left them when he crawled into bed, a couple of gallon-sized baggies, a pair of gloves, and a penlight in the pocket. The kitchen door opened soundlessly and he slipped into his backyard. Near the front of the house, he watched the street for a full five minutes before stepping out of the shadows.

  The moon was a couple of day
s shy of full, but spotty cloud cover kept it to a muted glow as he made his way silently down the street, keeping to the darkest areas. At the Howells’, he waited and studied the house for signs of life. No light showed, but a noise drew him closer to the bedroom window.

  One of the Howells snored like a freight train. His money was on Jerry. With those jowls, he was a walking advertisement for sleep apnea. That meant he might wake himself at any moment and that Delores probably didn’t sleep well at all.

  The three trash bags rustled softly as he carried them from the curb to a sheltered spot under the carport. Holding the penlight in his teeth, he untied each one. The first two were frozen dinners and beer and wine bottles, along with used tissues and paper towels.

  Good thing I remembered gloves. Now, I only hope nothing in here is broken and could cut me.

  The last bag held remnants of fried chicken. Jerry was right–it was plenty ripe. More beer bottles and diet soda cans clinked against each other. Noah froze, waiting to see if anyone noticed.

  A dog barked once, then was quiet.

  Near the bottom of the bag was a lone Coke can. Not one other bag contained any soda except Diet Pepsi. He pulled a baggie from his pocket and used it to lift the can. A wine bottle moved, but Noah caught it and eased it back into place, then sealed the can into the baggie and slipped it in his jacket.

  Just as he stood to carry the bags back to the curb, a car motor rumbled in the distance. He dropped back into the shadows and watched as a constable’s car crept past, patrolling the neighborhood.

  Where were you when this asshole was trying to kill me, you-son-of-a-bitch?

  Would the white plastic bags be visible from the street? He didn’t move, didn’t breathe until the red glow from the taillights disappeared around the corner.

  He glided like an ice skater, afraid to make any sudden moves and placed the three bags in the same position they were in when he found them. Then he ran like hell for home.