Christina Freeburn - Faith Hunter 03 - Embellished to Death

by Christina Freeburn

  He smoothed my hair away from my cheek. “I was glad you never asked and I always made sure conversation never steered toward the direction of my family. There’s a lot I’d rather not talk about. You’re a very private person and give everyone the same respect. You only pry when you think someone might be a murderer, or setting someone else up, then you get a lot nosy.”

  “What can I say, I feel a drive to protect people and see justice done. Nice people help.” I draped a leg over his knees.

  “No arguments from me on you being nice. But, for some reason your idea of helping is putting yourself in danger.” Steve turned toward me, inching us closer.

  “No, I don’t. My job is helping people find the perfect supplies and I never got myself into a jam. Well, except when I tipped over the paper racks. No injuries except to the paper.”

  “Sometimes I’m afraid your tender heart will get you hurt. I don’t want you to sacrifice your life because you’re on some quest to prove yourself.”

  “I have a backbone, and I’m not that compassionate. There are some things I wouldn’t do.”

  “Really? Cause I would’ve put helping Darlene at the top of the list and you did that a few months ago.”

  I could argue or distract the man. I went with distraction. I snuggled into Steve and planted a kiss on his lips. Steve wrapped an arm around my back and drew me closer, even though I had thought it impossible for there to be any less space separating us.

  A knocking startled me awake. I jerked to a sitting position, placing a hand near Steve’s arm. Should I wake him or let him sleep? Between the hit to his head and his father’s rebuff, Steve had a rough day. There was no reason to wake him up.

  We had both been so physically and emotionally drained, that we didn’t get much past some lovely physical displays of comfort that didn’t quite reach the point we both wanted.

  Not that I’d regret it if we had succumbed to our passion. But when we consummated our relationship, I wanted to be in an emotional place where the decision was one we both agreed on, not one circumstances lured us into.

  I sat still and waited for the noise.

  “What’s going on?” Steve twined his fingers through mine.

  “I thought I heard something,” I whispered. “Go back to sleep.”

  “Guys are supposed to check out all the weird noises.”

  “I haven’t heard—”

  A pounding shook the door to our room. I gripped Steve’s arm.

  Steve tossed the covers to the side and stood up. “Stay here.”

  “I’m coming with you.” I scrambled out of the bed and met Steve at the door. I placed my hand on Steve’s back right above the waistband of his WVU lounge pants.

  “You’d be better back-up if you had something to use as a weapon.” Steve placed his hand on the doorknob.

  “If you think danger is lurking out there, wouldn’t it be smarter not to open the door?” I wished I brought a robe with me and not just t-shirts and cotton shorts to sleep in. A belt would come in handy right now if we needed to subdue the pounder. Then again, it could be something as simple as a misdirected room service order.

  Steve looked out the keyhole. “This isn’t going to be good. It’s Detective Bell.”

  My stomach clenched. No. It wouldn’t. Stay calm. No churning up worst case scenarios. Finding out why Detective Bell was knocking on my door was a better way to handle it than making up reasons. Well, actually Steve’s door. The hotel records showed my room was next door.

  Wait—why would Bell want to talk to Steve?

  “What does he want?”

  “One way to find out.” Steve opened the door.

  “Mr. Davis, I’d like—” Bell tapped a folder against his hand. When he spotted me standing behind Steve, he frowned. “I need to speak with you alone.”

  “You can say whatever you need to in front of me.” I placed a hand on Steve’s arm, leaning into him, and tried getting a glimpse if there was writing on the folder. “Right?”

  “Would you mind going next door?” Steve took hold of my shoulders and steered me out the door and around Bell.

  “Yeah, I would.” I needed to know why Bell wanted to talk to Steve about Morgan’s murder. I didn’t know of any other reason Bell would come around this early in the morning. “I have a right to know what’s going on.”

  “This isn’t something you need to know about right now.” The folder crunched in Bell’s hand as he tightened his grip. “If I need to, Mr. Davis can accompany me to the station so we can speak there in private.”

  “Please, Faith, listen to a detective for once,” Steve said.

  I bristled at his last comment and stomped the few feet to Garrison’s hotel room door. Bell already had a poor opinion of me and I didn’t need my boyfriend adding to it.

  “See, I’m going.” I knocked. “I’m almost gone.”

  The door opened. I slipped inside the room, doing my best not to contemplate on Bell’s comment… isn’t something you need to know about right now. “I’m gone.”

  “What was that about?” Ted closed the door.

  I refrained from giving in to the urge to hug Ted. I knew he’d come and I hoped him being at the hotel meant Bob would be released soon. “Bell needs to speak privately with Steve. I think it’s about Morgan’s murder.”

  Garrison sat in the chair by the window and looked out into the darkness. My heart ached for him. Even with Ted here, he still worried about Bob.

  “What makes you say that?” Ted’s brows drew down.

  “I don’t know of any other reason. How’s your brother? They are letting him out? Right?”

  “Of course not.” The bitter words flowed from Garrison. “It takes a while to get back results from tests the police are running. Though I’m sure the tests would get done quicker if they needed them done to take him in for interrogation.”

  “Bob can handle it.” Ted sat on edge of the bed. “They have a few questions for him and he should be released in a couple of hours.”

  “Do you think Bell’s here to ask Steve questions in order to detain Bob longer?” I sat on the other bed.

  “Either that, or Bell’s talking to the other possible suspects,” Ted said. “Fact of the matter is someone killed Morgan Ware and Bell has to find out who.”

  My eyes widened. “Steve’s a suspect. Why?”

  Ted rubbed his eyes. “That’s not for me to say.”

  “If you know something, tell me.” I crossed my arms and glared at him.

  “Not for me to say.”

  “First Bell says I don’t need to know now. You know what’s going on, so if I’m going to find out, why not now?”

  “Because it’s not—”

  “It’s not for you to say.” Garrison broke in. “You’ve mentioned that a few times. Why can’t you say?”

  Ted rolled his eyes. “Because that’s still saying something about an issue best left to someone else to tell.”

  “Left to whom?” I transferred beds, hoping an up close pitiful look would sway Ted.

  “You guys can tag team all you want, but I’m not revealing anything,” Ted said. “And I can’t believe you of all people, Faith, have a problem with secret-keeping.”

  I glared at him. “Gee, that was subtle. Now Garrison knows I have something I don’t want other people knowing.”

  Garrison smiled sympathetically. “Don’t worry, honey, all women have secrets.”

  I pushed myself from the bed and went over to the connecting door. If Ted was going to hold back, I’d find out for myself. I drew as close to the door as I dared.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Ted almost shouted.

  I glared at him.

  “Patience is a virtue, and is less likely to get you arrested.” He tugged me away
from the door.

  “I can’t believe you actually thought Ted would let you get away with that.” The look Garrison fixed on me reminded me of whenever I tried pitting my grandmothers against each other. They were always a united front.

  “Steve received a head injury this morning. I don’t want Bell badgering him into making a confession, or the detective twisting something so Steve gives a statement that implicates Bob,” I said.

  Garrison and Ted shared a concern look.

  “I think I’ll pop in real quick,” I said.

  “Are you going to break the door down?” Garrison asked. “Because I don’t see Bell letting you in.”

  “The connecting door is unlocked on our side.” I placed my hand on the knob.

  Ted extracted my grip. “I’ll pop in there. You stay here with Garrison.”

  “But—”

  Ted placed a finger against my lips for a brief moment. “I have a reason to go in there. You don’t. Steve’s an assistant prosecutor in Eden. It’s my duty to ensure our assistant prosecutor isn’t implicated in a crime. It could hurt every case Steve has tried. If Bell has a problem, he can take it up with Chief Moore.”

  I didn’t want to delay Ted any longer, so I nodded even though I didn’t agree I should stay out. If Steve needed someone, I wanted to be there.

  Ted twisted the door and walked into the other room. He shut it quickly.

  I only heard a few words of Bell’s opinion on Ted barraging in. And the words I heard were ones my grandmothers would be horrified to hear coming out of my mouth.

  “I can’t believe he expects us to sit here and do nothing.” I plopped onto a bed.

  “He can expect it, doesn’t mean we have to obey those expectations.” Garrison tugged a leather case placed between the wall and the legs of the desk. “I think we should find out a little bit more about Morgan Ware and who else he might have ticked off.”

  “It’ll be a long list.” I went over and stood beside Garrison.

  “Good, it’ll keep Detective Bell busy.” Garrison removed the laptop and fired it up. “I hope I can get into Bob’s search program. We’ll find out more that way.”

  “Do you know the password?”

  Garrison typed in the box and asterisks appeared. He hit enter. Wrong. “No. But I should be able to figure it out.”

  “Bob won’t get upset with you?”

  “Under the circumstances, I think he’ll forgive me.” Garrison tried another password. Wrong again.

  “How many tries until you get locked out and for how long?”

  Garrison paused with his fingers above the keyboard. “I don’t know. Maybe this isn’t a good idea. We should stick with what we can find with Google.”

  “We can check on Yelp. If clients had a problem with him they’d leave a disgruntled review there.”

  “Good idea.” Garrison clicked onto the site and brought up West Virginia.

  I was disappointed. There wasn’t much of any information listed for West Virginia, and nothing on Morgan Ware. Of course, he could use a different business name. “This is not getting us anywhere.”

  “Probably doesn’t matter anyway.” Garrison closed the laptop. “If a former client who wanted him dead was around, Morgan would’ve left or challenged the person.”

  The minor altercation between him and Violet flashed into my mind. Or at least I assumed Violet. Garrison clutched my arm. “What do you remember?”

  “I saw Morgan arguing with a woman in the hallway this morning. Well, yesterday morning. She wasn’t happy that he was here and told him she could do plenty to him. I’m pretty sure the woman was Violet Hancock. I’m starting to believe she’s the identity thief Bob’s looking for. Morgan was blackmailing me. I bet that’s the same reason he accosted her in the hallway.”

  “You have to tell Bell.” Garrison placed his hands on my shoulders and maneuvered us toward the connecting door.

  He didn’t have to “force” me along, but I liked knowing I’d have someone else… along with myself… to blame my intrusion on. Taking in a deep breath, I opened the door. “Morgan has an enemy here.”

  “Is she aw—” Bell stopped in mid-sentence and stared at me.

  Ted shook his head. “You can’t ever just listen.”

  Steve sat heavily on the bed and rubbed his eyes.

  “I’m helping. Bell needs to know this information.” I decided to fix my gaze on Bell. Right now, he seemed the man least angry with me.

  “Do I?” With his right hand, Bell tapped a stylus onto the screen of his cell phone, a folder tucked under his left arm.

  “Faith witnessed a woman arguing with Morgan yesterday morning.” Garrison kept hold of my shoulders.

  I wasn’t sure if he was afraid I’d bolt, or wanted a shield in case Ted exploded, and judging the look on Ted’s face it might happen any moment.

  “How convenient to remember it now,” Bell said.

  “It wasn’t convenience,” I said. “I remembered seeing Morgan arguing with her. And she isn’t using her real name.”

  Bell looked up. “How do you know that?”

  “She isn’t registered at the hotel under her own name, nor is her name on the seating chart, yet she insisted she paid for a spot.”

  “Did this woman tell you she’s staying at this hotel?” Bell asked.

  My face flushed. “Well… no. But, everyone else attending the crop is.”

  “Everyone?” Bell stressed the word. “Ms. Clement told me that some women live in the area and go home at night. That is why we’re still having trouble identifying the woman. But that should change tomorrow.”

  “Today Violet insisted she had to sit near an outdoor exit,” Garrison said. “She’d easily be able to go in and out of the room without people noticing.”

  Bell heaved out a sigh and shook his head in exasperation. “Nice theory. But, there are two holes in it. First: the doors to the crop room were locked. Second: how would Violet know Morgan was running outside at that time?”

  “Because she’s been stalking me,” I said.

  The men gaped at me.

  “What?” Ted found his voice first.

  “Are you positive?” Bell’s eyes narrowed. “You just might be a little shaken by today’s events.”

  “Everything that has happened today has made me nervous, but I’m not making it up.” I headed for the bathroom where I left my clothes. “I have proof.”

  This wasn’t the way I wanted Steve to find out, but sometimes you had to embrace the “no time like the present” motto. I picked up my jeans and retrieved the photographs I swiped from Violet’s tote bag. How did the police view swiping a picture?

  I guess I was about to find out.

  “Here.” I handed the stalking evidence to Detective Bell. “Those were taken in Eden, West Virginia.”

  Steve, Ted, and Garrison leaned toward Bell to look at the pictures.

  “Damn them!” Steve stalked out of the room.

  “She’s been tailing you? And from those photos, it looks like for a few months. Your grandmothers, Steve, nor I noticed it. I can’t believe this slipped past me.” He pressed his lips together and shook his head.

  “I didn’t notice either,” I said. “And I’m usually imagining something’s lurking around.”

  Ted rested a hand on my neck and tenderly massaged my tense muscles.

  Bell tucked the photos into his jacket pocket. “I’ll talk to her and see what she has to say.”

  “It says she killed—”

  Bell cut me off. “These are photos of you. Not Morgan. They don’t prove she was after him.”

  “It proves she’s not a law-abiding citizen and is up to something.” I crisscrossed my arms over my stomach.

  Bell used his cel
l phone as a pointer, directing it at each of us. “I’m going to find out who killed Morgan Ware. No matter the bad reputation he earned, he didn’t deserve to be gunned down.”

  FIFTEEN

  Clicks and the sound of rubber going across carpet drew me from the half-awake, half-asleep stage I clung to for the last thirty minutes. I had planned on waiting for Steve to return, but crashed right after Bell left. I vaguely remembered Steve coming in and apologizing.

  I looked over at Steve’s sleeping form. The image tugged at my heart and soul. Even asleep, I could see the strain of the last twenty-hours on his face. He was almost run over, found out I was being harassed, saved me from an attacker, witnessed a murder, and was questioned by the police.

  The poor guy needed a good, long rest. I kissed his shoulder that had peeked out from under the blanket. I stretched and clambered out of the bed.

  The noises continued growing outside my door. It sounded like a mass exodus was taking place. I went to the door and looked through the peephole. Women, with suitcases in tow, headed for the elevators.

  Quickly, I brushed my teeth then used a headband to force my hair into a style of intentional disarray. I changed my shorts for a pair of yoga pants, snagged the matching jacket, then slipped out of the room. I eased the door closed.

  Ted stood in the hallway, watching women and rolling totes crowd the elevator.

  I tugged the jacket on and zipped it up halfway. “Bell released Bob.”

  Ted slid an undecipherable look at me. “Is that a statement or a question?”

  My heart sank. “I hoped it was a fact by now.”

  “Excuse me.” A woman tugging a large suitcase and juggling two small cases walked right between me and Ted.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Ted shrugged. “I’m guessing they have more stuff to bring into the crop room, or have decided to cut their weekend short.”

  “We have to stop them.”

  “It might be better if they left.” Ted rested his hands on his hips. “I’ll step in if crowd control is needed.”