Dead Certain

by Mariah Stewart

  “Thanks.”

  “Man, between the stab wound to the chest and the wound to the throat, the poor woman bled to death.” The young doctor shook his head as he walked away. “Hell of a way for anyone to die. Hell of a way . . .”

  When Sean entered his office, the first thing he noticed was that Amanda Crosby was seated on a hard chair in the far corner of the room—alone. Her hair was wet and brushed straight back from her face, which looked colorless and thin. He’d started to call Officer Burke to explain why the witness had been left alone in the room when the officer walked in behind him.

  “She wanted water,” the young woman explained before he could ask. “It’s the first she’s asked for anything.”

  “I didn’t want her left alone.”

  “I only went across the hall,” she replied. She twisted the top off the water bottle and handed it to Amanda.

  “Thank you.” Amanda nodded.

  “You’re welcome.” Dana turned to her boss. “You’ll take it from here?”

  “Yes. Thanks.”

  “Her statement’s on your desk. I’ve already sent her clothes to the lab.”

  Sean nodded his thanks, then closed the door after the departing officer and sat on the edge of his desk, fingering the file holding Amanda’s written statement. Before he could speak, Amanda looked up at him with sad, weary eyes and said, “I did not kill Marian.”

  “I know that.”

  “You do?”

  “For one thing, you’re not tall enough to have—” He hesitated. “To have done what was done to her.”

  She appeared to waver between asking and not asking.

  “Someone slit her throat from behind,” he said as gently as he could. Better she hear it from him, here and now, than later, on the evening news.

  “She had blood . . .” Amanda’s hands patted her chest.

  “Yes. He did that, too.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “Why would anyone . . . ? She was such a sweet and gentle woman. Why would . . . ?” She looked bewildered, lost.

  “We’re going to do our best to find that out.”

  “Why are you holding me if you know I didn’t kill her?”

  “You’re not being held. You can leave whenever you want. I’d rather you didn’t, for two reasons.”

  “They are . . . ?”

  “One, because I might still have some questions I need you to answer about what happened. What you saw. What you heard.”

  “I’ve already told Dana—Officer Burke—what I know, but if you have other questions, okay.”

  “Chief, Detective Crosby is here and he’s asking for you.” Joyce barely got the words out through the intercom before Evan Crosby opened the office door after little more than a cursory knock.

  “So I see.” Sean waved Evan in as if he hadn’t already entered the room.

  Evan pulled a chair next to his sister’s and sat on the edge, taking her hands in his. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?”

  “I’m okay,” she said, though tears were forming in her eyes all over again.

  Her brother continued to hold her hands even as he looked at Sean. “Want to fill me in, Mercer?”

  Sean quickly did so.

  Evan blew out a breath. “Jesus. First Derek, now Marian. Any idea of what is going on around here?”

  “We were just about to get into that.”

  “Chief Mercer was just telling me why I’m not a suspect,” Amanda said.

  “Well, isn’t that nice of him.” Evan turned to Sean. “I think I’d like to hear that myself.”

  “Marian O’Connor’s throat was slit. From behind. By someone taller and stronger than she was. Now, I don’t know how strong she was physically, but I know she was close to five foot ten. Amanda, you’re what, five foot five?”

  Amanda nodded.

  “But you still think she had something to do with Derek’s death?” Evan pressed.

  “I think she had something to do with it, but not in the way you mean.” The two lawmen stared at each other for a long moment. “I’m thinking there’s a connection between Derek England’s murder and Marian O’Connor’s.”

  Evan nodded slowly. “You think the same person committed both.”

  “Yes, I do. But I don’t think that person is your sister.”

  “Why would someone want to kill Derek and Marian? What do they have in common?” Amanda stood, her arms wrapped around her middle. “Other than the fact that they’re both shop owners dealing in antiques, what do they have in common?”

  “You,” Sean told her. “They both had you in common.”

  “But that’s silly. That makes no sense to me.” She shook her head. “I mean, why?”

  “If I knew that, I’d probably be able to figure out who, but right now, I don’t have a clue,” he admitted. “Now, I have to think that the phone calls, the flowers, were probably from the same person who—”

  “What?” Evan grabbed Amanda’s arm. “You didn’t tell me that you were getting calls again.”

  “They just started right before Derek’s death, and it had happened only a few times. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I mean, it could have been legitimate wrong numbers. As for the flowers, I found the first one the day of Derek’s memorial service. I thought it might have been left there by a friend, or a neighbor,” she explained.

  “Don’t sit there and tell me that it didn’t occur to you that you’d been down that road before, Manda.” Evan’s gaze was stony.

  “Well, it did, but I didn’t want my imagination to run away with me. I didn’t want to make it something other than what it was. It took me a long time to get myself together after Archer Lowell, Evan. I did not want to crumble the first time someone hung up my phone when I answered.”

  Evan turned to Sean. “She told you about this?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what did you do about it?”

  “I tracked the rose to a grocery store out on Route Thirteen, but there’s no way to trace the buyer. The store manager told me they sell dozens every week.”

  “Store surveillance tapes?”

  “Destroyed after ten days. But even so, we don’t know who we’re looking for.”

  “Anyone walking out of the store with a rose would be a good place to start.”

  “Most of the flowers leave the store in a bag. The cameras don’t come equipped with an X-ray function.”

  “So that’s it?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “What are you doing to catch him? He’s been at her house—”

  “But he’s never gone in,” Amanda pointed out.

  “You don’t know that when you’re gone, he hasn’t been sneaking in and out,” Evan pointed out. “Did you ever get your security system straightened out?”

  Amanda looked sheepish. “The electrician said the entire house would have to be rewired and the service upgraded before the alarm system could be activated again. It kept blowing fuses and going off at all odd hours, so I just left it inactive.”

  “Amanda . . .” Evan pulled a hand through his hair.

  “I thought it would be okay, Evan. The only person who ever bothered me is in prison. I didn’t expect to have to worry about anyone else.”

  “Famous last words,” her brother muttered.

  “We’ve been watching her house,” Sean said matter-of-factly. “No one’s been going in and out except Amanda.”

  “You’ve been watching my house?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Twenty-four/seven.”

  “You were outside last night. Across the street.”

  “All night,” he admitted.

  “So you know that I didn’t leave my house all night.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Does this mean that she’s no longer a suspect in Derek’s murder?” Evan asked.

  “The county forensic team found a black hair on the floor of Derek England’s car. Dyed black. Amanda’s hair is dark, but it’s not dyed black. Nor is Cl
ark Lehmann’s. And according to him, the only thing the backseat of that car was used for was transporting bags and such from the store. No one ever sat back there.”

  “Except for Derek’s killer,” Evan said.

  “That’s how I see it.”

  Evan nodded. “I’m assuming that you’re sending that hair out for a DNA analysis, and that you’re going to run the results through CODIS.”

  “Well, hey, if that’s what you county detectives do, then I guess we should do that, too, huh?” Sean scowled and folded his arms over his chest. “Maybe you could walk me through the process so that I know how to do it.”

  “Will you two please stop?” Amanda said wearily.

  “Just because we’re a small town with a small force doesn’t mean that we don’t understand and utilize the national databases.”

  “Sorry.” Evan backed down. “That was the big brother thinking out loud. Though you might be surprised at how many police departments still balk at anything outside their own little realm. I’m sorry if it sounded as if I was giving you instructions. I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “Apology accepted.”

  “Now, what about this Archer Lowell, this guy who stalked Amanda last year? I know he’s still in prison, but do you think he might be behind all this? Maybe got someone to harass her?” Evan asked.

  “I visited him yesterday. He swears he didn’t know anything about it. Says that he understands what it will mean if he contacts her in any way, shape, or form. That he hasn’t even had any visitors other than his mother and his sister.”

  “And you believe him?”

  “It checked out at the prison. No visitors except for Mom and one sister, and that’s been really sporadic. No outgoing mail. Only calls are to his mother’s house, so I don’t know how he could be pulling it off. And he seemed genuinely surprised when I asked him about it.” Sean shook his head. “On the other hand, there seemed to be something there, under the surface. Nothing I could put my finger on, but a sort of awareness of something.”

  “Maybe I’ll pay him a little visit before I go—” Evan stopped midsentence.

  “Before you go where?” Amanda asked.

  “Before I go back to Lyndon.” He averted his eyes.

  “That’s not what you were going to say.” Amanda poked her brother in the chest. “Where are you going?”

  “You know how I left the Lyndon P.D. to work with the county?”

  “Yeah, so you’re a big-time detective with the county CID now.” She nodded. “So?”

  “So there was an opportunity to send someone down to Quantico for some intensive training, and—”

  “You’re going to the FBI Academy?” Her eyes lit up. “Evan, you’ve been wanting to do that forever. This is wonderful news! When were you going to tell me?”

  “Actually, it’s for the National Academy, not to be an FBI agent. And I just found out yesterday. The guy who’d been asked to go had a family emergency and had to back out, so they asked me if I wanted to take his place.” He smiled at his sister. “But I can go some other time. It doesn’t have to be now.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “No, but you are if you think I’m going to leave for eleven weeks when someone is stalking you. Someone who may very well have just murdered two of your best friends for reasons we haven’t even begun to explore.” His mouth settled into a grim line, Evan added, “You’re coming back to Lyndon with me.”

  “No, I am not. I have to be here for Marian. She only has one niece in Wisconsin, and someone is going to have to be here to walk her through things, to help her out, if she needs or wants it. She’s only nineteen.”

  “If she had a niece, she had a sister or a brother.”

  “Brother. Died three years ago.” Amanda shook her head. “Marian had only the one niece. Oh, maybe an odd cousin or two, but the niece is her heir, and she’s very young to have to do this alone. I’m sorry, Evan. I appreciate your concern, but I’m not leaving Broeder.”

  “Then I’ll come here.”

  “And miss your shot at some big-time training? Come on, Evan . . .”

  “I’m not leaving you alone here.”

  “I have a business to run,” Amanda reminded him.

  “Your life is more important than your business,” Evan countered.

  “If I could make a suggestion . . .” Sean offered. “Maybe Amanda could stay at my sister’s house. That way, she wouldn’t be alone, she’d be here for the funeral, and she’d be able to keep her business open. And we could keep a close eye on her. Besides, I need Amanda to go through the deceased’s shop and see if she can tell if anything is missing. This investigation is just beginning, Detective. Amanda may have information that she doesn’t even realize she has.”

  “I’ll be fine in my house. You’ve just admitted that you’ve been watching it for the past few days, and there haven’t been any problems. I don’t see any reason to move out. Why can’t you just keep up the surveillance?” Amanda asked. Still, she was somewhat intrigued. She couldn’t help but wonder what any sister of Sean Mercer could be like. He was all business all the time, and had been since the minute she met him.

  “That was before I had two murders on my hands.”

  “I’d feel better if I were the one watching her back anyway,” Evan noted.

  “Well, since she’s a witness in a murder in my jurisdiction, I think that responsibility is mine.” Sean held the phone in one hand, the fingers of the other hand poised to dial. “Besides, if we’re wrong about this, and these two murders are just some fluky coincidence—”

  “Which neither of us is inclined to believe,” Evan muttered.

  “—and have nothing to do with your sister, you’ll have missed a hell of an opportunity.”

  “How big a town is Broeder, Chief?” Evan asked.

  “We have about seven thousand people.”

  “Incidence of violent crime?”

  “Very little, actually.”

  “And the last murder in Broeder was . . . when, Chief? Before Derek England, that is.”

  “About six years ago,” Sean conceded.

  “Well, if none of this is connected, you have one stalker and two killers on the loose at the same time. How likely is that, Chief Mercer?”

  “Not very. I agree. But we have to keep an open mind and see what the investigation concludes.” He held up the phone. “Do I make the call?”

  Amanda folded her arms. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

  “Amanda, this is not negotiable. You stay with someone here in Broeder, or you come back to Lyndon with me now. Simple as that,” Evan told her.

  “I’m staying, and you’re going.” She sighed and turned to Sean. “You win. If it’s all right with your sister, that is. Just make certain that she understands that I may have a bull’s-eye painted on my back.”

  “I just hope we don’t have cause to regret this later,” Evan said, resigned to leaving Amanda in Broeder.

  “Evan, I owe it to Derek and to Marian to do whatever I have to do. I couldn’t live with myself if I walked away now. I still have some of Derek’s records to go through. If there’s anything I can do to help with the investigation, I need to do that.”

  “You’ll keep me in the loop?” Evan asked Sean.

  Sean nodded. “Leave your card with your numbers on it—one for me, one for my secretary.”

  Evan peeled two cards from his wallet and handed them over. “At the first sign of something not being right—the first time something doesn’t feel right—she’s out of here, agreed?”

  He stuck out his hand. This was more than an agreement between two law enforcement agents and they both knew it.

  “Agreed.” Sean shook Evan’s hand.

  “Go on then.” Amanda pointed at the phone reluctantly. “Make the call.”

  Sean finished dialing the call, and after a brief conversation, hung up the receiver. “Greer said she’d love to have you stay. She’s happy to have the company, since her
husband is going to be out of town at a sales meeting for most of the week and she doesn’t like to stay alone in the house.”

  “Great,” Amanda said with more enthusiasm than she felt.

  “All right, but you call me if you need me,” Evan insisted. “Don’t do anything stupid. Don’t go anyplace alone, don’t—”

  “I’m going to be fine, and I’m not going to do anything stupid.” She hugged him. “Go on now. Get back to Lyndon and get yourself packed to leave for Virginia tomorrow. Don’t worry about me. Just go and do your training thing.”

  “Right.” He kissed her on the cheek, then nodded to Sean on his way out of the room, pausing for one moment in the doorway. “Anything at all . . .”

  “You’ll be the first to know,” Sean assured him.

  “I’ll need to go to my house to get some things. Clothes, my toothbrush, you know,” Amanda said after Evan left.

  “I’ll drive you.”

  “I’ll need to get my car. It’s still out at St. Mark’s.”

  “We’ll leave it there for the time being. You’re not going to be going anyplace alone, and if it’s parked anywhere else, it will be a clear sign to anyone who’s looking for you. Oh, before I forget, wait just a minute. . . .”

  He walked into the hall, and Amanda could hear his footsteps fade slightly. Minutes later, he returned, her gun in his hand.

  “I really have no reason to keep this.” He handed it over to her. “I’m sorry, Amanda. I should have returned it to you sooner.”

  “You just did it again. That makes twice today.”

  He tilted his head to one side, puzzled.

  “You called me Amanda. You’ve always been so careful to address me as Ms. Crosby.”

  “Oh. Well, you’re not a murder suspect anymore.”

  “Good to know.” She tucked the gun into her purse. “If I’m not a suspect anymore, do I get to call you Sean?”

  “Sure.”

  “You’re very serious about your job, aren’t you?”

  “It’s the most important thing in my life.”

  “More important than your family?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

  “I have no family, other than my sister.” He held the door for her and gestured for her to walk through it, adding, “And I really don’t even know her.”