HOMECOMING: A thrilling crime mystery full of twists (New York Murder Mysteries Book 4)

by Joshua Brown

  This wasn’t my usual stomping ground, and I didn’t know how anyone operated.

  “I’ve got no reason to think it’s Jim Heath. I don’t buy into the bullshit cult mentality the rest of Priest River holds,” Freddy replied. The way he said it seemed sincere, but there was no way of knowing for sure without getting in there.

  We walked up to Jim’s chestnut brown front door and knocked. I waited a while, getting no response, and tried again.

  “Just get the hell out of here. I’ve had enough of you people harassing me,” a voice shouted from within. Jim Heath, no doubt. He pulled open the door wielding a double-barrel shotgun in his hands.

  Having thought and spoken his name so many times, I had no idea what to expect from him. Some terrible-looking monster, maybe, but the man who stood in the door looked normal. He was shorter than average, having to look up at Freddy and me to meet our eyes. He had no muscle, but he wasn’t fat. He wore a checked, short-sleeve button-up, pastel orange with blue stripes. A pair of dark blue denim for pants all rounded off with pink slippers on his feet.

  Jim had a thick black beard and matching hair. I placed his age somewhere between Ruby and myself – mid to late thirties at most. His eyes showed the extent of his fear, only amplified by the shotgun trained on my chest.

  “I’m not here as part of a lynch mob or to make any threats,” I lifted my hands in the air, showing surrender. I saw from the corner of my eye, Freddy’s jaw had dropped, and his eyes shot wide-open. “I’m Jack Mercer, a private detective from New York City. The Priest River sheriff’s department enlisted my services to aid in the investigation of Lynne Sawyer’s murder.”

  “I didn’t do nothing,” Jim said, stepping closer. He didn’t drop the shotgun from its aimed position. One squeeze of the trigger, and I’d be spread across all of Rivenes avenue.

  The irony was painful. I spent my whole life trying to escape this place, and now it’d be my eternal resting ground.

  “We don’t think you had anything to do with it. We’re trying to set the record straight, clear your name, and find the person who did it,” I said. Freddy remained dead still and silent.

  Some partner – too shocked at the situation to do anything about it. Who could blame him, I suppose. The old man was lucky not to suffer a heart attack by the sheer panic that flooded him.

  “Y…you are?” Jim asked, but before he gave in, he pressed the shotgun against my coat. The force made me step back. “If you’re messing with me, I’ll do it. I god damn swear I’ll do it.”

  Ruby must have only seen the shotgun with Jim wielding it then since I heard a terrified screeching from across the street. She said my name, something else, and then went quiet.

  “Jim, I understand that times have been tough for you, but don’t act hastily,” I kept my hands in the air. “You pull that trigger, and you’re throwing your life away. You set it down, I can help you. Your choice.”

  Seeing Jim Heath’s reaction to his situation, I almost instantly dismissed him as Lynne Sawyer’s killer. Sure, I’d still interrogate him all the same as anyone else, but a man doesn’t act this brash for no reason. He must have felt like a caged animal, unable to move or breathe, with everyone pointing the finger at him.

  I suppose it was almost foolish to do so. The man literally threatened murder after a murder occurred. But my gut was telling me he wasn’t my man, and it hadn’t proven me wrong yet.

  “Right, right,” Jim suddenly dropped the shotgun, barrel pointed to the ground. I took a deep breath and released it in a nervous sigh. I should’ve arrested him right there, but hell, there wasn’t much point. He was just a man fulfilling his primal instincts. There wasn’t a single reason for Jim to believe I was a cop, and with a literal death threat on his garage door, I understood it. “Why don’t you two come on in? Let’s have a chat.”

  “Mind if I have a cigarette? It’s not every day I dance that close with death,” I asked, reaching for my box of Lucky’s. I forced out a chuckle to try to make light of the situation, though I heard my heart beating in my ears.

  “Sure thing. Mind if I bum one off you?”

  I offered him the box, and he took one.

  “I… I think I might wait in the car, Jack. That alright with you?” Freddy said suddenly.

  So much for having a partner. I took the keys out of my pocket and handed them to Freddy.

  Jim and I watched him walk off while I lit our cigarettes. Then we entered his home.

  Jim’s house entered into the staircase leading up to the bedrooms, beside a short hallway through to a bathroom on one side and a kitchen. In the entryway, right beside the front door, was the living room. Jim set the shotgun down on a table by the door and led me into the lounge.

  There wasn’t much in it, apart from a painting of a lion on the wall and a tv box. When we stepped in, my feet sank into the single, large shag carpet. I dropped into a single-seater armchair. Jim’s furniture wasn’t anything special. The chairs looked stiff, upholstered in a strange, pink corduroy that matched his slippers. By look alone, I’d think they were extremely uncomfortable, and yet they weren’t.

  Jim walked towards the kitchen, I heard the fridge open and shut, and he joined me once more with two cans of beer in hand.

  “I’m sorry about that, mister. Really am,” Jim said, handing me a can.

  I cracked it open and sucked down half in a single swallow.

  “I saw the writing on the wall… literally. I don’t think you’ve got much need to apologize,” before we carried on, I drew my recorder from inside my coat. “Mind if I record this?”

  “Sure,” Jim rolled a hand at me. “Don’t see why not.”

  I flicked the recorder on, setting it down on the chair's armrest. I cleared my throat, ashed my cigarette, and removed my hat, setting it down on my knee.

  “What’s this all about, detective?” he asked.

  “By now, I’m sure you’re aware of Lynne Sawyer’s murder. That poor woman fell victim to heinous brutality, and everyone seems to be pointing the finger at you,” I replied.

  “They’ve hated me since the day I walked into this place,” Jim sucked on his cigarette nervously. “I can’t even go to the shops without someone giving me a dirty glare. At first, I thought it was some kind of hazing. I was the new guy in town, and they were testing my mettle, but I soon figured there wasn’t much joking behind it. They’d throw things at my house, smash windows with bricks, threaten physical violence….”

  “Why stay here then?”

  “Times are tough, man. I lived in Washington before moving to Priest River. Lost my job a little while later. Got offered a spot in New Port, but this place was going for a steal, so I took it. It’s fifteen minutes from my house to my office, how the hell can I complain?” he replied.

  “And what do you do, exactly?”

  “I work as a banker,” Jim nervously bounced a knee up and down.

  “Why not move if this place is giving you hell?” I killed my cigarette in an overflowing ashtray.

  “Can’t afford it. Put everything I have into this house, and now I’m bouncing from paycheck to paycheck. I’d probably make a loss on selling, too. I’m stuck where I am for now.”

  “Look, let me get the hard questions out of the way quickly. Then I’ll be out of your hair,” I said. Jim gave me a nod to go on. “Where were you last night?”

  “Here at home.”

  “And you live alone?” I leaned back in the chair. For something that looked this bad, it was extremely comfortable.

  “I do, but if you can give me a time of when it happened….” Jim paused, grabbing his cell phone. He slid his finger over the screen a few times before tossing it over to me. “I got on a video call with my brother at six for a little over an hour and then my counselor until nine. This whole situation has been messing me up, man. These are the people who’ve been helping me through until I can get out of here.”

  The call logs confirmed everything Jim said.

&nbs
p; “Lynne Sawyer’s body is being investigated at the moment, and I’ll only be able to match this when it gets back to the station,” I said.

  There still wasn’t a single bone in me that believed Jim had anything to do with this. In fact, it was only better confirmed after he showed me his phone.

  “The worst thing about this is that I’ve been in touch with the sheriff a few times now, and he’s not doing a thing to help me either. The first time cops come to my door is because they think I’ve got something to do with someone dying. What the hell is this town?” Jim was ready to burst into tears. I understood how he felt. We were outsiders, wayward sons that entered a pit of snakes; unluckily for Jim, it was by choice.

  “Look, we’re still early in this thing, so there’s no point in stressing just yet. You’re the first name that came up, but that doesn’t mean you’re under suspicion. This place can be tough, Jim. It’s not like the big city. Hold strong, and you’ll get through this, that much I’m sure of,” I got up from my chair and returned Jim’s phone. “I don’t have any more questions right now, but I urge you to let me know if anything comes up.”

  I pulled a business card out of my wallet and handed it to Jim. “And if you ever need a hand, give me a call. I’m staying at the Eagle’s Nest, so not far. I’ll be able to help if you feel you’re in danger.”

  “Thanks, detective,” Jim said, eyeing my card. He got up, shook my hand, and led me to the door. We didn’t say much more, apart from goodbye, and I returned to my car.

  But as every step of my journey, since entering Priest River, leaving Rivenes avenue, was going to prove a difficult task…

  Chapter 11

  Jack

  As Jim’s door shut behind me, I turned around to see three people standing beside my rental Camaro. Freddy, Ruby, and an older woman. Though it left a bitter taste in my mouth to admit it, she was my mother. Old and withering away now, she looked similar to Ruby.

  Taught, sun scarred, leather skin. A small head with the body to match. Wrinkles stretched across her dry skin, amplifying a sickly look. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought she was the one dying. Mother was draped in a thin summer dress that brushed the ground when she moved. I could tell it was homemade by the mismatched seams and cheap material.

  A sigh escaped my lips, taking the first steps towards them.

  Freddy was laughing at something someone said. Good to know it was all smiles while I was laying my life on the line, with a man who literally held a shotgun to my heart. All three of them went silent on my approach. Ruby and my mother looked at me, bewildered, excited, nervous…

  They had every right to be nervous. Ruby, for thinking this was an okay thing to do, and my mother for joining her.

  “Jack, is that really you?” my mother asked. Her voice was foreign to me. She sounded nothing like the harsh woman I once knew; soft-spoken, almost loving. Years of hearing her hiss and screech tainted my perception of how a caring mother should sound.

  “Jack, I was just telling your momma here that you’re going to be helping with the case to find the man who killed Lynne Sawyer,” Freddy said. He fiddled with a button on his shirt while he spoke. I suppose everyone felt the tension emanating from me.

  I struggled to find any words to reply to either of them. Hell, I struggled to think of a single word at all.

  My mother stepped forward, reaching her thin, frail fingers out to me. “I can’t believe it’s really you. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, my little boy.”

  She touched my face, and I pulled back.

  “Hello, Mother,” I said. “I don’t have time for a chat, working on an active case.”

  “Jack, don’t be like that,” Ruby said, stepping between my mother and me. “We haven’t seen you in so long, we’re all just so excited. That’s all.”

  “You shouldn’t have done this,” I said, looking Ruby dead in the eyes. “It wasn’t your choice.”

  “You’re acting like a child, Jack,” Mother said.

  That’s more like it, I thought. Shift the blame away from herself and put it down on me. But she wasn’t wrong, I suppose. I acted like an angsty teen since my entry into Priest River. After years of failing to face my emotions, how could I stop it? The only way I ever dealt with them was by throwing myself into the police academy, police force, and finally, as a P.I. There wasn’t a need to work through any issues because I was always too busy to recollect on the past.

  Being here awoke all those feelings. I felt my cheeks blush red hot, and I tried hiding it.

  Awkwardness filled the air. No one made contact with anyone else, all just looking around, avoiding each other.

  “I heard that bastard pulled a gun on you,” mother’s head looked past me to Jim Heath’s front door. “Why, I ought to….”

  “You ought to nothing,” I cut her off. “You ever think that this is your doing in the first place? Treating that poor man like he doesn’t belong just because he’s not from around Priest River? Have you thought about that?”

  I snapped. Years of pent-up rage and aggression, threatening to burst out the seams. I wasn’t a boy anymore, I wasn’t going to stand by while an innocent man was put under scrutiny. Hell, he might’ve actually been the killer, but my sympathy was with him. I supposed at that moment, maybe that’s why I couldn’t peg him as the killer. Because the hatred I received from these people passed onto him.

  My mother’s face dropped. She opened her mouth to speak but shut it again. With a sigh, she turned around and walked back to her house. Freddy got in the car and shut the door.

  “It didn’t have to be like this, Jack. She’s just excited to see you,” Ruby said when it was only us left.

  “What do you want from me? You were too young to remember what happened. Those people are monsters, and you, Peter, and Willy were lucky enough not to see it,” I kept my voice low, trying to keep the conversation between the two of us only. Freddy had enough fuel for his fire to spread gossip through Priest River of what a terrible son I was.

  “Growing up after you left wasn’t exactly rainbows, and daisy’s either,” Ruby sighed. “But we can’t hold on to the bad, that ain’t no way to live. You forgive, you accept the flaws, and you move on because they’re family. We’re the only one you’ve got, too. Are you really going to throw that away because of something that happened decades ago?”

  If it was up to me, I’d have dropped them in a heartbeat.

  From across the street, I saw her in the window again. My mother, staring at me. I felt uncomfortable under a microscope, being inspected like some kind of wild animal.

  Another pause of awkwardness followed, and it was getting to Ruby. She shuffled in place, kicking the dirt beneath her feet. After a little while longer, she spoke again. Her voice was soft, humble, almost begging: “Just come home for a night, Jack. It doesn’t have to be for you or to forgive them for whatever you’re holding onto. But your pa’s dying. All he wants is to see his son before he passes. Can’t you give a sick man his dying wish?’

  The word no was on the tip of my tongue, but it refused to leave my mouth, no matter how hard I tried to get it out. The internal struggle of wrestling my thoughts and feelings hit a peak when, for the first time since I got in Priest River, I felt bad.

  If I was going to do this, it wasn’t for any of them – it would be for her. My little sister, too innocent to the world. Was that even true? Probably not. She wasn’t little anymore. But the way her face sank, eyes turned up in puppy dog baby blues, how could I decline? Just like coming back here after trying to run, I’d be a monster if I did say no.

  She was right, anyway. This was a dying man’s final wish. No matter how hard it might’ve been, I’d only have to do it once.

  “I’ll come over when I get a break in the case,” I said. Though, there was no guarantee. Mostly, I was ready to get out of there and carry on with finding Lynne Sawyer’s killer.

  “Oh, Jack,” Ruby jumped into my arms, bouncing up and down e
lated. “Pa’s going to be so happy to hear you’re coming. What do you like to eat? I’ll cook a special dinner and get Peter and Willy over. It’ll be a good old family get-together.”

  “Let’s keep it simple,” I replied, patting Ruby’s back. “How about a classic mac and cheese with a side of meatloaf?”

  I didn’t particularly love either of those, but it seemed like the right meal for the occasion. That’s what families ate, right? I spent most of my afternoons eating at food vendors and evenings getting take-out.

  I ate for survival, cutting corners wherever necessary. Life’s too short to get hung up on cooking.

  “Meatloaf it is,” she said, spinning around. “You just let me know when, and it’ll all be set up.”

  “Sure, I’ll keep you posted.”

  After what just happened with my mother, I knew whatever came next would be awkward no matter what. But that was a risk I was willing to take.

  Once Ruby left, I got back in the car with Freddy. We were back at the sheriff’s department within minutes, and I filled him and Rodney in with what happened at Jim’s place. Eyes were still on him, though for the time being, we all knew it was best to keep an open mind.

  We couldn’t push down one avenue and hope for the best. We had to spread ourselves out, try and gather as much as possible before the killer struck again.

  Chapter 12

  Onyx

  The Earth Mother’s presence filled my bedroom with a gust of wind, seemingly out of nowhere. My windows were closed, blinds drawn, without a fan running; it had to be her. I faced a mirror, adjusting my shirt and fixing my hair for Lee-Anne’s arrival.

  The wind died down shortly after it began, and I felt her presence behind me. She was stronger than in the field with Mister McDonald. Lynne Sawyer’s sacrifice, her demonic essence, transferred to my Goddess.

  “Is today the day?” I questioned, looking over my shoulder through a full-length mirror. “Are you strong enough to show yourself, Mother? Are you strong enough to speak?”