The girl dropped her head into her hands and moaned. “I’m going to have a stalker for a stepmother,” she mumbled through her fingers.
Joe glanced toward Jesse again. “The next question is, did she have someone with her? Did someone follow her in here and attack her? Or did she really knock herself unconscious without any help from anyone else? And just what is she after?”
Misty lifted her head, suddenly eager. “Can I get a restraining order against her?”
Joe’s brow crinkled.
“Misty will be eighteen in two months,” Jesse said. “It would make the wedding a little awkward, but why wouldn’t it work? Surely there’s some legal action we can take against Cynthia for breaking in here tonight.”
Still frowning, Joe said, “We’re getting into murky territory here, Jesse. All she has to say is that Misty let her in, and that you attacked her, and then you’ll have to prove she’s the one who’s lying. We’re still in the middle of investigating what really happened tonight. Besides, this is Sunday, and you can’t do anything about a restraining order until tomorrow morning.”
Sophia returned, carrying a floor-length caftan that Jesse didn’t recognize, and handed it to her. Then Sophia pulled out a chair at the table and sat down next to Jesse.
“Surely Ronnie isn’t still going to marry that woman,” Sophia said to the room at large.
“Next month, on the beach, in the Caymans,” Misty answered dolefully. “At least they’re making it private, so I get to stay in Austin with Nana Peg, who also wasn’t invited.”
Sophia opened her mouth to speak, then glanced toward Misty and closed it again without saying anything.
Joe’s cell phone rang. While he was distracted, Jesse stood and dropped the turquoise caftan over her head. A vibrant color that would look wonderful on her mother, it slid on with plenty of room and barely reached to mid-calf on Jesse.
“I couldn’t find your robe,” Sophia whispered. “I bought that on sale last week.”
“What if I get something on it?” Jesse whispered back. The silky fabric slid across her knees as she sat down again. “You know I can’t wear nice things.”
“It was on sale, sweetie.” Sophia patted her daughter’s hand. “And I bought it to wear around the house. Don’t worry.”
While they talked, Misty scooted into the third chair at their small table, leaned toward Sophia and whispered, “I’m starving.”
“Maybe when they’re done here, we can round up Lindsey and all of us go to breakfast somewhere. We haven’t done that in a long time,” Sophia whispered back.
“You what?” Joe shouted into the phone. He shoved back the chair and stalked away from the table. “What do you mean gone?”
A long silence followed while he turned around and stalked back. Jesse lowered her head and peered up through her eyelashes, trying to be inconspicuous as she watched him. Misty stared at him, open mouthed.
Marla and Todd both moved closer, stopping what they were doing to listen.
“It’s not your fault, Frank. It could have happened to anyone. Go back to the station and put out a BOLO. Also, find out what you can about her rental car. We can assume she got it at the airport in Tulsa. Add that to the BOLO. I think we’re about through here. We’ll see you at the station.”
By the time Joe ended the call and looked up, Jesse had added herself to the other four people staring at him in open anticipation. Disgusted, he turned to his two deputies. “You done in there?”
“We’ve got the evidence collected, the scene photographed and fingerprints taken. We just need to get theirs.” Todd pointed to where Jesse and Sophia sat with Misty, whose eyes had grown steadily rounder.
“Why?” the girl demanded and tucked her hands into her lap.
“For elimination, hon,” Jesse explained. “Our fingerprints will be in the kitchen, and they need to identify which fingerprints don’t belong there.”
“Oh, okay.” Misty brought her hands back out from under the table. “So, what’s a BOLO, then?”
“Be on the lookout,” Jesse answered.
“And for your next trick, can you tell her what my conversation was about?” Joe asked.
“I’m guessing that Cynthia skipped out of the emergency room and disappeared.”
“Close,” he said, not looking pleased. “They took her to X-ray, and she never came back.”
Jesse laughed. “So she’s running around town, inconspicuously dressed in a hospital gown? And barefoot? Without money or ID?” Pressing her palms together in the prayer position, Jesse begged, “Please tell me she left her clothes and purse in the examining room.”
“She left her clothes. Frank couldn’t find a purse.”
“I don’t remember her having a purse when she left here,” Misty said.
“That’s true,” Jesse agreed. “Maybe she left it here somewhere. Or in her car, or at her motel, or maybe whoever came here with her has it. Does anyone know where she’s staying?”
Joe looked around and saw a lot of shaking heads and shrugs.
“I just want to go on record as saying that if she shows up here again, I probably will hit her on the head the next time,” Jesse announced.
“Oh, dear.” Sophia reached across the table and took Misty’s hand. “Don’t you worry, sweetheart. That woman’s not coming near you again. Are you done with this child, Sheriff? I think she needs to go upstairs and get dressed, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh, sure. As soon as Todd gets her fingerprints.”
“I don’t see any yellow tape in our kitchen,” Jesse said. “Does that mean we can open for breakfast after all?”
“Don’t see why not,” Joe answered.
“Good. Mom can you call Lindsey while I get printed?” Jesse asked.
Todd took her fingerprint impressions, and Marla handed her a wet wipe to clean the ink from her fingers. As Todd moved on to Misty, SueAnn walked in from the side porch, letting the screen slam shut behind her.
“I’m not really late. I’ve been outside talking to the customers waiting on the front porch. Apparently, all the police cars are drawing a crowd.” SueAnn stopped talking and looked around the room. “Wow, what’s going on here? Ooh, do I get my fingerprints taken, too? Please?”
Without waiting to be asked, she walked over to Todd and held out her right hand. Sophia took the wipe extended by Marla and began to clean her fingertips. While Todd began fingerprinting her, SueAnn looked over her shoulder and made eye contact with Jesse.
“The police cars are taking up all the space in front of the house, and somebody has their dumpy little car blocking the garage door in the alley. So now I have them pinned between Lindsey’s car and my Jeep. It doesn’t belong to anybody on the porch, ‘cause I asked. If whoever it is complains…”
“What does it look like?” Joe demanded.
“It’s a dinky little thing, dark blue.”
The sheriff and both deputies were on their way to the door before she finished her description. At the door to the side porch, Joe stopped, turned back to Jesse and said, “Get some shoes on and meet me out there.”
“I have gardening shoes by the door,” she answered, hurrying after them.
Outside, she pointed toward the garden path that led from the bricked patio just off the porch. “It’s that way. My truck’s parked beside the garage. Mom’s car is inside, and Lindsey’s apartment is upstairs. The alley runs behind it, and Lindsey leaves her car along the back side of the garage. SueAnn parks behind her during work hours.”
Lindsey opened her door and looked out when everyone went running by. Seeing Jesse at the rear, Lindsey stepped out onto the landing and leaned over the railing. “What’s going on now?”
Jesse stopped and looked up. “We think we may have found Cynthia’s missing car. Did you hear anyone out here during the night?”
“I heard rain, thunder and tree limbs whipping around. But mainly I just slept like a baby until the alarm woke me up this morning.”
&nbs
p; “Oh, that reminds me. We’re opening up after all. And we’ve apparently got quite a crowd stacked up on the front porch waiting to find out what’s going on. Think you can go on over and help Mom and SueAnn?”
“Sure. Just let me lock up.”
Joe appeared at the corner of the building and stared up the staircase to the landing. “Uh, excuse me, Lindsey, but do you think it would be possible for us to borrow your apartment for a little while?”
“Why?” Lindsey demanded with narrowed eyes, hands on her hips, and suspicion in her voice.
“What did you find?” Jesse hurried toward him. “Is it her car?”
He nodded. “With her purse on the floorboard behind the driver’s seat.” He held up his hand with his fingers clutched around something dark encased in what looked like a plastic bag. “Her wallet, identification, cash and motel key card. We’re leaving her purse where it was. If she comes back for it, we can take her into custody.”
Looking up toward Lindsey, he continued, “Your apartment has a row of windows overlooking the alley in both directions. With your permission, we’d like to stake out the car from your apartment.”
“Do I have to do anything?” Lindsey asked.
Joe shook his head. “Just go about your business. But we need to get a man in place and out of sight before Cynthia Stanton makes her way back here.”
“You probably need to get somebody over to her motel room,” Jesse suggested. “If it were me, I’d go there first and get somebody to let me in so I could change clothes.”
“Frank’s on his way, and Marla’s calling the front desk so they’ll alert us if she shows up before we get there. So, how about it, Lindsey?”
Lindsey started down the stairs, talking as she went. “Don’t mess up my apartment. There’s lunch meat in the fridge and bread in the cupboard on the right. And whoever’s up there better not leave the toilet seat up.” She stopped at the bottom. “And I would sincerely appreciate it if you had that woman in custody by the time the tearoom closes this afternoon. Oh, and when the customers ask what’s going on, I’m assuming that we know nothing.”
“You know nothing,” Joe confirmed.
“See you in a few,” Lindsey said as she walked past Jesse.
“Right behind you.” Jesse twisted around to address Lindsey’s retreating back. “And tell Mom that we’ll go with a limited menu today. There’s no time to try to catch up on the baking.”
“Will do.” Lindsey raised a hand in a backwards wave to Jesse, who turned back in time to see Todd heading up the staircase and into Lindsey’s apartment. Marla walked by, going toward the main house with the plastic bag of Cynthia’s belongings in hand.
“What now?” Jesse asked as Joe approached.
“For you?” He stopped in front of her. “Life goes back to normal. We’ve got this. Did you say that Misty’s dad is supposed to be arriving today?”
“Yes. He wouldn’t say when.”
“Well, when he gets here, I want to see him. Under no circumstances does he take his daughter and leave before all of this gets straightened out. Call me as soon as he shows up.”
“Good. Yes. Thanks.” Jesse bobbed her head in agreement and relief. For a moment longer, she hesitated, then, “Listen, I’ve got this feeling, like there’s something seriously wrong here, but I can’t say exactly what.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it. And it’s not something you need to worry about.”
Jesse looked at him, her brows raised. “Are you kidding me? Did those words really just come out of your mouth?”
He grinned. “Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Look, I know you don’t have any time right now,” Jesse said, “and it may not mean anything, but…”
Joe took her by the elbow and began to walk slowly toward the house, guiding her alongside him. “If you can make it short, I’ll listen.”
“That’s not going to be easy because there’s two things. First, last night after Cynthia’s first visit, Misty showed us a high school yearbook she had found online. It was from a small town in Tennessee where Cynthia’s from. There was a Cynthia Ruggles in the yearbook, and she looked like a teenaged version of Cynthia Stanton. Her date for the prom was a boy named Tommy Stanton. It was more than twenty years ago, but it might be a starting point, if we need one.”
“Let’s hope we don’t need one.” Joe stopped outside the door to the side porch. “But thanks. That’s good information to have if this all takes a bad turn.” He stroked her chin with his knuckle. “Now, go inside and bake something that smells like vanilla and cinnamon. And don’t worry. I’ll chase the bad guys, and you watch over that little girl who came to you for help. Okay?”
“Okay.” If Jesse was a cat, she’d have been purring. As it was, she stared into his dark chocolate eyes wondering how she’d ever found them intimidating. Then she blinked and dragged herself away from a world of semi-sweet promises and the rasp of velvet on bark as she remembered the phone calls. “Wait. One more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I had a couple of phone calls late last night from Ronnie Bennett. The first one scared me a little. He sounded worried, like I haven’t heard him sound before. But it was the second one that’s got me worried. It sounded like an accidental dial. But the background noise sounded like the weather we were having last night. And I heard my name, and what I’d swear was Ronnie’s voice. Then the connection ended.”
“You’re sure it was him?”
“I redialed it and got his voice mail. I know it’s probably nothing, but still…” Jesse’s voice trailed away. She’d said what she needed to say and she didn’t feel any better.
Then a throat cleared loudly followed by an even louder “ahem,” and Joe pulled his hand away.
“Sorry,” Sophia said, “but we’re about to open, and I thought you might want to go up and change before the customers fill the dining room.”
Jesse looked to Joe.
“What area of Austin does he live in?” Joe asked.
“Lakeway.”
He nodded. “I’ll check it out.”
“It just seemed so strange that they’d be having the same weather in Texas as we were having here,” Jesse explained. “And to hear my name and just a bunch of thumping and bumping, then nothing else. It left me with a bad feeling.”
“I’ll have someone check his residence and make sure he’s okay.” Excusing himself with a nod to Jesse, then Sophia, he walked toward him truck parked out front.
Sophia held the porch door. “Go upstairs and get dressed, dear. We’re opening any minute now.”
“Oh, okay.” Jesse shifted her mind back into gear. She paused at the dining room entrance, where the scent of cinnamon and vanilla did indeed linger in the air. “Where’s Misty?”
“I told her to go back to bed for a while,” Sophia said. “Now you shoo on up the stairs, ‘cause I’m about to open this front door.”
Jesse glanced over her shoulder and, through the side panes, could see people milling about on the front porch. “Don’t let ‘em trample you.”
Sophia laughed and Jesse took the rest of the stairs two at a time. She was exhausted, and worried, and something close to exhilarated all at the same time. She hadn’t been home twelve hours yet, and she felt like her world had been turned on its ear. If the next twelve hours were half as interesting, she wasn’t sure how she was going to survive it.
Chapter Ten
As Jesse reached the upstairs landing, the door to the veranda opened and Misty poked her head into the opening. “Jesse, I’m out here,” she whispered and beckoned with her hand.
“You’re supposed to be in bed, young lady, and I need to get changed. We’ve got a porch full of customers about to invade the tearoom.”
Misty’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Did you know you can see Cynthia’s car from out here?”
With her hand inches from her doorknob, Jesse froze. “Seriously?”
“As I
live and breathe, as Nana Peg would say.”
Jesse glanced toward her door, weighing the lure of real clothes and a splash of cool water on her face against her curiosity. As usual, her curiosity won.
“Show me,” she whispered, slipping through the French door and onto the veranda.
Misty hurried to the railing, rose onto her tiptoes and pointed. Jesse stood next to her and stared toward the garage. Through the gaps in the tree limbs that were just beginning to leaf out, and above the hedge of rhododendron that blocked the view from ground level, the alley was visible in bits and pieces. One of those pieces included the back half and driver’s side door of Cynthia Stanton’s rental car.
“Well, I’ll be doggoned.” The corner of the garage blocked the view of the front passenger door, but that door appeared to be just inches from the garage itself, so no one would be sneaking into the car from that side.
“If anyone comes up from the backside, I’ll see them before anyone else can.” Misty’s eyes shone with anticipation as she turned to look at Jesse over her shoulder. “What do I do?”
“You have your cell phone with you?”
The girl whipped it out of her pocket and held it up.
“Don’t drop it over the side,” Jesse cautioned.
Switching it to the hand that was safely inside the veranda, Misty grinned. “Does that mean I can pull a stakeout?”
Jesse pressed her hand to the base of her throat and fought the huge sigh that welled inside her. Had everyone been watching too many detective shows, or was it something about Jesse herself that turned people into junior G-men as soon as they got near her?
“Just don’t call it a stakeout,” she warned. “Mom thinks you’re in bed asleep, and Sheriff Tyler has a man in Lindsey’s apartment watching the alley. Whatever you do, don’t let that deputy see what you’re doing.”
“I’ll drag a chair over here.” Misty grabbed the arm of a high-backed wicker chair and began pulling it toward the railing. “If I scrunch down, maybe I’ll look like I’m napping. Do you have binoculars?”
A Misty Morning Murder (Myrtle Grove Garden Club Mystery Book 4) Page 7
