“Megan, wait-”
“Someone’s out here, laying on the ground behind the fountain. Ben, call 911!”
Without waiting to see if Ben was doing as instructed, or if Paul was following her, Megan rushed to the side of the man face down on the ground. She didn't need to see his face to know that it was Lewis sprawled out in front of them. She couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. She looked up as Paul walked out and then stood up to get out of his way. Paul’s basic medical training kicked in, and he reached automatically for the man's wrist to search for a pulse. It took a few seconds, but he found a faint one. He also felt how cold the man’s skin was, and he ordered Megan to find a blanket. She returned as fast as she could and placed the blanket over the man in front of them, looking around carefully as she did.
"Poor Lewis, it looks like he spent the night out here, unconscious."
"He's probably been laying here since he was hurt. His pulse is weak Whoever did this must have thought he was dead and just left him. Let's hope we’re not too late," answered Paul.
Before Megan could reply, Ben appeared at the door to tell them that the ambulance was on the way. There was little to be done until it arrived. While the two men were bent over Lewis, Megan wandered the courtyard, taking in as many details as she could. Lewis had been in the middle of his work when he’d been attacked. As she looked to the right of his prone body she noticed a brick was out of place. Examining it closer, making sure not to touch it, Megan noticed a rusty blood stain.
When she looked back over to Lewis's body, she saw a wound on the back of his head, but it did not seem to be as serious as the deep gash over his right temple. She looked around some more, noticing the corner of the fountain wall. There was blood on the wall that had dripped down, pooling on the ground. She closed her eyes for a moment as she visualized what might've happened. The blow to Lewis’s head must have come from behind him, the force had knocked him over, causing him to fall against the fountain. Or perhaps the blow had made him lose his balance and fall against the wall. That fall must've been what caused the gash over his temple and the most damage.
Paul followed her movements, and when she turned to him, she nodded at her discovery. Paul looked where she indicated and then nodded her to show he understood where her thoughts were going. Neither one of them wanted to upset Ben any more than he was, but it was time to call in the Sheriff. Not only had the office been rifled through, but there had been an assault. Unless Lewis was very lucky, it could go from a simple assault during a burglary to murder.
The paramedics were the first to arrive, and they took over the situation. The three of them stepped aside to let the professionals examine Ben, and then load the still-unconscious man onto a gurney, preparing him for transport to the hospital.
"I’ll ride along in the ambulance with Lewis," Ben told the others. "I'll call his wife on my way so she can meet us at the hospital."
"I will stay in deal with the Sheriff and make the statements for all of us, Ben. We'll meet you at the hospital soon as we're done here, I'm sure Sheriff will want to talk to you as well. Take care of Lewis's wife, she must be frantic." Megan reassured him it was okay to leave.
The Sheriff arrived just as Ben was getting into the ambulance with Lewis. When he heard that Megan and Paul were still here he waved the emergency vehicle off, telling Ben he would collect his statement later. As the vehicle pulled away, the Sheriff entered Joe's home and followed the familiar path to his friend’s office. Joe and the Sheriff had spent many hours sitting in Joe's office playing chess. When he walked into the room, the sight that greeted the Sheriff was like nothing he'd ever seen there before.
When he saw Megan and Paul, he didn't know whether to greet them with a friendly smile or a groan of frustration. Citrus Beach was a small town, and they were all friends. He knew Paul not only from the years of living in the same town but also from serving on the town council with him. His friendship with Megan was more recent, developed over the last year. Unfortunately, most of their acquaintance was a result of a series of crimes that Megan found herself involved with, through no fault of her own. She seemed to have a knack for showing up at a murder scene. Her relationship with Aiden Tory did not help matters. Aiden was an FBI consultant, having retired from the department, and had recently opened his own investigation services. Between the two of them, Citrus Beach was becoming a hotbed of crime and murder.
"Good morning, Sheriff," Paul greeted him as he walked into the office.
"Megan, Paul." The Sheriff acknowledged them with a nod of his head and then looked around. He could feel Megan's eyes watching him as he moved from spot to spot. He turned to her and sighed.
"Okay Megan, spill it. You've been here long enough to take an inventory of what happened. Let me hear your thoughts. You may as well tell me now because I know you will not be content to just walk away from this."
Megan started to protest, but with his stern stare she realized it was useless. The Sheriff knew her well enough to realize she wouldn't be content to sit on the sidelines and mind her own business. Paul and the Sheriff exchanged long-suffering looks. They both understood it was best to keep Megan involved at all levels so they could keep an eye on her and hopefully keep her safe.
"Well, the ransacking of the office gives me the feeling that somebody’s frustrated. Or maybe two people. They were searching for something and having a hard time finding it. Maybe they never did. I think somehow Lewis interrupted them."
Megan walked back out onto the terrace with the Sheriff following her and she pointed out the blood splatters she had found and the bloody brick, continuing to explain her theory. It took little for the Sheriff to figure out where her thoughts were going, and he admitted he agreed with her.
"We’ll dust everything for fingerprints. Could you make it easy on my deputies and point out what you might have touched? Then we will contact Joe Stevens and make him aware of what's going on."
"Oh don't worry Sheriff, I didn't touch much. I'm learning from experience how to act as a crime scene. But, I wish I would stop finding myself in the middle of them." Megan sighed with frustration, she longed for a simpler time without these type of complications.
Chapter 8
Megan glanced sharply at the sheriff. She had a feeling he had forgotten where Joe was. Contacting him would not be as easy as picking up the phone.
"Sheriff, getting hold of Joe with a simple phone call will be next to impossible. He went on a hunting trip and I don't think they have cell service up in the mountains where he's at."
Sheriff Green looked at Megan with a grimace, he should have been on that hunting trip too, but he had turned it down. Now he was wishing he hadn't.
"That's right Megan, I forgot. I guess we'll just have to sit tight until he comes back at the end of the week."
"Our hands aren't tied, Sheriff. Don't forget, I'm a representative for Joe and I can speak on his behalf. So we can proceed with any kind of investigation you need to do both here at the house or anywhere else where the clues lead us."
The Sheriff shook his head as he realized what Megan's words meant. Any hope she wouldn’t be involved in the investigation had been squashed. As Joe Stevens’s representative there was no way to keep her out of it.
"Here we go again," he mumbled to himself. Paul heard him and tried to hide a smile, but the sheriff caught the movement and made a face at him.
Unlike the sheriff’s uneasy feeling about Megan being involved in his investigation, Megan was feeling the tingle of excitement. Her mind was already racing in different directions on what to do with the clues she had already discovered.
She had multiple reasons for wanting to be involved. As a representative for Joe she wanted to make sure his interests were looked after. She was Lewis’s friend and she felt responsible because he was at Joe’s doing a job she had contracted him to do. And she knew she would miss Aiden and this would keep her occupied, even though she wouldn't admit it out loud.
"Li
sten, I’ll leave the two of you here. I want to get to the hospital and find out how Lewis is doing. Megan, I'll meet you there when you're finished. Lucy will want to come to the hospital too. Would you mind picking her up on your way?"
Paul interrupted her train of thought as he addressed the two of them. With a nod of agreement, she watched him walk out the door. He was calling his wife as he walked, catching her up. Once he was out of sight, she turned to the sheriff and all but rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
“Well, where do we want to start?” she asked.
Sheriff Green took her by the elbow and led her out of the office and back to the main entry. Once they were standing there, the sheriff called his deputy over for instructions.
“Sean, I want the entire office fingerprinted and photographed. Also, see if you can pick up any prints outside on the terrace area.” After getting a nod of agreement from his deputy, the sheriff looked down at the petite red head next to him. She was as impatient as a teenager, rather than a woman in her forties. He acknowledged to himself that he would have a hard time reining her enthusiasm in. But he would.
Megan had placed herself in danger several times over the last year, involving herself in police matters. Sheriff Green partially blamed Aiden Tory for this. Before he had become involved with Megan, and part of Citrus Beach’s community, things had been relatively quiet. It wasn’t Aiden’s fault that Megan seemed to be the one to stumble across multiple murders. But he was right there alongside her after she nosed her way into his investigation. And, darn it, she had a natural knack for noticing things and reading people. Megan knew the people of Citrus Beach, and would go to bat for every one of them. Because of this fierce loyalty and the hard work of at least one guardian angel, she had been an asset to the sheriff rather than a hindrance. And he acknowledged to himself she would be again.
“Let’s go to the kitchen, Megan. I want to go over anything you might know, or have seen. We’ll stay out of Deputy Young’s way and let him work. Once he’s done, we need to go through Joe’s office.”
Megan agreed with the sheriff and led the way to the kitchen. Here Joe’s love for cooking was evident. Every appliance was top notch, and there didn’t seem to be a kitchen gadget he didn’t have. The pantry door was open and she could see the large empty dog beds sitting side by side. Joe had taken his two dogs with him, and that had made the intruders' entry even easier.
Without asking, Megan pulled out the large coffee maker and made a large pot of coffee for the sheriff and his men. She remembered from experience that they had a long day ahead of them, and would appreciate a little fortitude. She worked in companionable silence with the sheriff, he was a friend and they had developed an understanding, working well together. Megan knew he would want a few moments to work through his thoughts before they discussed the case.
The sheriff, as expected, drank half of his cup of coffee before he spoke.
“We need to try to find out if anything has been stolen from the house or if there was only time for them to search the office before they were interrupted by Lewis. Did anyone tell you that there was also a break-in at Joe’s dealership? It may or may not be connected to his attack, but we need to bear that in mind.”
“I only had a moment to skim over Janice’s note about the dealership break-in. It seems to be too coincidental for both his offices at work and at home to be broken into and ransacked.”
"I agree, I learned a long time ago that coincidences are rare. There's a reason behind them if you look hard enough. So we'll start by assuming that these two break-ins are related,"
Megan nodded her head in agreement with the sheriff and absently twisted the charm bracelet she wore. The action helped, as if that little charm, resembling a spyglass, would help her find the clues they needed to figure this out. The charm bracelet had been a Christmas gift from Aiden and he had already added two charms to it since the holidays. He seems to have as much fun finding unusual charms as she enjoyed wearing the bracelet.
“Janice left me a note about the break in at the dealership, and she seemed pretty sure that nothing was missing. Just files rifled through and a general mess left to clean up. Nothing was damaged. No cars were stolen, either. Which was surprising because all the keys to the showroom cars are kept in Joe's office. So they're looking for something, they're not just petty thieves or car thieves. They're looking for something specific that Joe has, but they don't have a clue where he keeps it."
"Agreed. Now we need to figure out what they’re looking for."
"If only we only knew whether it is related to his personal life or his business. That might push us in the right direction," Megan mused out loud.
The sheriff was silent as he picked up his cup and finished off the remaining coffee. Without hesitation Megan got up and poured him a fresh cup. Before they could say anything else, the sheriff’s phone rang, and he answered without looking to see who was calling. He might have saved himself some aggravation if he had checked first. He rolled his eyes when he heard the voice of the local reporter on the other end of the line.
"Yes, Kim this is the sheriff." He hesitated for a moment as he listened to her questions, and then broke back in. "I'm sorry, but I’ve haven’t any comments or statements at this time. The investigation is still ongoing." He gave Megan a dirty look as he caught the smile on her face. Megan and Kim Heart, the reporter, had a long history and not all of it was favorable. She was glad somebody else was on the receiving end of the reporter’s questions. The sheriff managed to avoided most of the questions asked by the reporter and finally was able to say goodbye and hang up.
"I’m aware that the public has a right to know of what's going on, but for goodness sakes give us a chance to do our job before you start pestering us," he grumbled to himself as he hung up the phone. His comment caused Megan to burst out laughing, even though she tried hard to control it
"You go ahead and laugh, little lady, but she was asking if you are involved as well. So, her nose is twitching, and she is looking for any place she can find a story," he told her with an evil grin. His grin turned into outright laughter as his words sunk in, and Megan’s laughter cut off.
"All right, we need to get serious here. Can you think of anything that Joe might have been working on that would attract a criminal element?"
"You know him as well as I do, Sheriff. You play poker with him every Friday night. Joe and criminals just don’t go together. The man is as honest as Moses, for crying out loud."
The sheriff nodded his head in agreement, and he pulled on his chin as he thought. There was barely any crime in Citrus Beach and usually it came from outside forces, not by his own citizens.
The two of them sat there for a while, throwing out ideas and possible scenarios. Yet nothing made sense at this point. Deputy Young returned to tell them he was finished taking pictures and dusting for prints. After finishing, he received his orders from the sheriff to head back to the station and process the information he had gathered. The deputy gathered his notes and gave them a nod as he headed out. Megan lost no time. As he was walking out the door, she was walking down the hallway ready to look for clues and answers.
Chapter 9
Twenty minutes later Megan had a decent start to sorting the mess, yet still did not understand what the intruders were looking for. The sheriff wasn’t having any better luck. But he didn't have a clue about what files went where and was relying more on Megan for that aspect of their investigation.
With a quick look at her watch, Megan gasped as she realized how much time had passed. Grabbing hold of the edge of the desk she pulled herself to her feet and stepped over the pile of papers on the floor she had been sorting.
"Sheriff, I'm going to head to the hospital. By now we might have some idea of what's going on with Lewis. Plus, Lucy must wonder what's taking me so long to pick her up."
The sheriff nodded his head in agreement stating that he would head that way too.
"This is still conside
red a crime scene, Megan and I don't want you here without one of my men present. There's a good possibility that the intruders might return if they haven't found what they were looking for. I don't want you or anybody else walking into a dangerous situation. Megan, I would prefer if you don't go off snooping on your own. It's one thing when Aiden is here with you, he offers some protection."
Megan absentmindedly agreed as she pulled her keys out of her purse, ready to head out the door. She told the sheriff she would see him at the hospital and then, leaving him to lock up, left to pick up Lucy. As she drove she went over all that had transpired in the last 24 hours. What had Joe gotten himself into? Or was is just a random act?
When she pulled into Lucy's driveway, she found her best friend was waiting for her. Next to her was a regal-looking older woman who waved at Megan as she pulled in. Megan waved back, happy to see both women. Charlotte Potter, the older woman, was one of Megan's closest friends as well as a customer, often serving as a mentor. Megan wasn't surprised that Charlotte was there, the woman’s fingers were on the pulse of the town, and she was aware of when things happened almost instantly. Her family was the founding fathers of Citrus Beach, and she felt as if it was her duty to continue to look after the town. She was the force behind many of the town activities and charities, and she always took a special interest in Megan. After Paul and Lucy had gotten married, they’d settled into the old house next to Charlotte's and she’d taken them under her wing. The path between the two houses was well-worn and now, with the addition of two young children to Lucy's household, the path grew wider.
"Did you and the sheriff find anything?" asked Charlotte before she even said hello. She knew perfectly well that Megan would be involved in the Sheriff's investigation, she didn't even question it.
A Tank Full of Trouble: A Citrus Beach Mystery (Citrus Beach Mysteries Book 5) Page 4
