Flourless to Stop Him

by Nancy J. Parra

  He patted my forearm. “I did do my job, Toni.” He didn’t say anything else.

  “Well, you didn’t do it right.” I pulled away from him and stood. “When can I see Tim?”

  “He’s spending the night here until the bail hearing in the morning. After that it will be up to the judge to determine how much a risk to society he is.”

  “He’s not a risk to anyone. In fact, right now you are in more danger from me than Tim.” My fists were still balled.

  He stood and held his hands out palms vertical. “Violence solves nothing, Toni.”

  “Maybe not, but I’d feel better hitting someone. If you arrest me for it, I’ll be with my brother tonight.” It made sense in my head anyway.

  “Blaylock, get Mr. Ridgeway out here right now,” Officer Bright said with authority. At the same time he took a step away from me.

  “Yes, sir.” The kid at the desk fled to the back.

  “The only way Brad is going to help is if he can get Tim out of jail. Seriously.” I narrowed my eyes. “I’m tired of ya’ll picking on my family. We are not murderers, thieves, or drug dealers, for goodness’ sake.” My voice rose in tone and volume. “I thought, since you were seeing Tasha, you would be on our side.”

  I hated how whiny that sounded, but he was supposed to be on our side. He was practically family.

  “Toni, you know that I follow the letter of the law. If there was enough evidence to arrest my own mother, I would do it. Do you understand?”

  “No!” If I weren’t a disciplined adult I would have stomped my foot. “How could anyone arrest their own mother? What is wrong with you?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with me.” Officer Bright’s chin rose, his chest puffed out, and his hands went to his hips. “You need to calm down now.”

  Two doors opened at the exact moment. Tasha came flying in from the outside door while Brad strode through the door to the back with a calm fury.

  “Toni! What’s going on? I heard they arrested Tim.” Tasha was beside me in a flash, her arms around my shoulders, her eyes flashing. “Calvin, how could you?”

  Officer Bright held up his hands and took another step back. Maybe it was because we were a united front or maybe he recalled how together Tasha and I can put up a heck of a fight.

  “I’ve got this, Bright,” Brad said. He was four inches taller than Calvin and his suit was cut to perfection to show off his wide shoulders. Brad had the look of a Scandinavian Adonis. The crisp white of his dress shirt against the tan of his skin made me want to bury my nose in the crook of his neck and cling to him for comfort. The black suit coat he wore was made of fine wool and well tailored. I’d seen suits like that during my years of training in Chicago. A cut that good on material that fine cost a great deal of money. Brad’s thick blond mane was cut and styled to perfection. He didn’t get it cut in Oiltop. I was pretty sure no one in this small town was that up on current men’s style. I could be wrong. I’d have to ask him sometime.

  Brad stepped between Calvin and us. “Don’t you have paperwork to attend to?” His tone was pure alpha male dismissing a lesser man. My heart rate sped up. Officer Bright narrowed his eyes and took a step toward Brad when the kid popped back behind the reception counter.

  “Officer Bright, the chief wants you in the back,” the younger Blaylock said.

  I doubt he knew he’d just stopped a shoving match before it got started. Calvin’s gaze remained narrow.

  “We’ll finish this later,” he promised and left. The door slammed behind him and a cheap framed photo that hung on the wall crashed to the floor.

  The noise startled me and I suddenly felt as if my last nerve had been hit. My knees buckled and I sat on the bench, put my head in my hands, and sobbed.

  Tasha was beside me in a flash. She handed me a tissue and put her arm around me to comfort me. “How bad is it?” Tasha asked.

  Brad sat beside me and put his elbows on his knees so that his head was on the same level as ours. The man was a giant, after all. I mean, I was considered tall for a woman, and Brad had a whole foot of height on me. There was something nice about a guy big enough to make you feel delicate.

  “We’ll know more in the morning, when Tim stands before the judge for his bail hearing.” Brad’s deep voice soothed my nerves.

  “What time is it? I want to be there. What evidence do they have? They have to have something in order to arrest him. Don’t they?” My stomach hurt at the thought of my brother in a jail cell with a killer or worse.

  “The hearing is at ten A.M. We’ll know more then. In the meantime, he has his own private room. He’ll be fine, okay? Try not to worry too much. Tim is taking it all one day at a time.”

  “Tim’s taking it well? Crap, does that mean he won’t look remorseful and they’ll sentence him to life? Oh, thank goodness we don’t live in Texas. I don’t know what I would do if he got the death penalty.”

  Brad patted my hand. Tasha hugged me.

  “I don’t mean to be so dramatic,” I said. “It’s just that everyone told me to help investigate and I said no. I told them that the Oiltop police were good at their job. All we had to do was trust them.”

  “That’s true,” Brad said. His electric blue gaze tried to reassure me.

  “But they arrested the wrong man. We all know Tim didn’t do it.”

  “Do you have any idea who might have been renting rooms around town in your brother’s name?” Brad asked.

  “Not a clue.” I shook my head in despair. “Why didn’t the desk clerk notice that it wasn’t Tim signing in?”

  “I can answer that,” Tasha said. “There are certain times of day when everyone wants to check in at once. If the imposter rented the room over the Internet, then all he had to do was show up with an ID with Tim’s name and his own picture. We really don’t check beyond what it takes to ensure we get paid.”

  “Wouldn’t you know it wasn’t Tim?”

  “People have similar names all the time. I’ve signed in a couple of Tasha Wilkeses myself. The name might sound familiar, but if the ID matches we just go with it.”

  “Wait, you think whoever is behind this watches the reception area and comes in when the customers are two and three deep?”

  “That’s how I’d do it.” Tasha’s eyes were wide. “That’s why I’m surprised they arrested Tim. I gave them the videotape of the day the room was rented. We should be able to match the time they checked in to the number of cars in the parking lot. If Tim’s car isn’t there, then they can’t prove the Tim checking in was your brother.”

  “That’s right!” I looked at Brad. “They have video. You can’t really fake that, can you?”

  “There are a million ways to fake video.” Brad’s mouth was a thin line. “For that matter, you can scramble the video with a simple device in your pocket.”

  “Who knows this kind of stuff?” I asked, confused. “If people could fake the video, then why even have video?”

  “Video is one more step in security,” Tasha said. “It’s not meant to solve crimes but to be a piece of the puzzle.”

  “Did they show you the video?” I asked Brad. “Can you tell who was in the parking lot?”

  “I didn’t see the video. I was told it was still being processed, which means it’s not part of the arrest warrant.” Brad ran his big hand over his square jaw.

  “I thought you said you didn’t know what they have to hold him.” I studied his guarded expression.

  “I said we’d have to wait until morning to see how compelling the information is.” Brad took my hand in his. His hand was warm and his grip was firm. His thumb swept the back of my hand, gentle and soothing. “What I do know is they had Tim in a lineup after they brought him into the station. It sounds like at least one if not two witnesses confirmed that Tim was at the different hotels the days the other rooms were reserved in his name.
”

  I shook my head. “How can that be? He was staying with me. He was saving money to get his own place. There’s no way he’d have spent it on an unnecessary hotel room. Not when he has full access to the house.”

  “The final person to identify your brother was Maria,” Brad said.

  “Maria?” I couldn’t believe it.

  “You mean my Maria? The one who found the body?” Tasha asked in as much disbelief as I was.

  “Yes, your Maria,” Brad said, his eyes took on a darker shade of blue. “She claims to have seen a man leaving the room an hour before she went to clean. She identified that man as Tim in the lineup.”

  “How can that be?” I felt drained as if all the strength had gone out of my body.

  “She has to be mistaken,” Tasha said. “I was working that morning. I would have seen Tim if he’d been there.”

  “That’s true,” I said. “I stopped into the lobby before Maria started her shift. That room faces the clubhouse. In fact, I sat facing east most of the time I was there. I would have noticed Tim if it had been him leaving.”

  “Wait, a lot of drugs come out of Colombia, don’t they? Aren’t there Colombian drug lords? What if Maria is part of this frame-up? What if someone has her children and is forcing her to testify against Tim?” I looked at Brad. “What can we do? There must be something to do to help her and Tim.”

  “That’s a lot of speculation, Toni,” Brad said. “She could simply be mistaken.”

  “Oh, poor Maria,” Tasha said. “I hope that none of this is true.”

  “I can’t feel for Maria,” I said. “She is accusing my brother. At this point we don’t know why. So I say poor Tim,” I reminded her. “See? This is what happens when I let the professionals do their jobs.” I stood, filled with a sudden need to jump into the investigation.

  “What are you going to do?” Brad asked as I put on my stocking cap and my gloves.

  “What I should have done the moment we found that body,” I said and wrapped a muffler around my neck. “I’m going to investigate.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Brad followed me out of the station. I ignored him as I hit the UNLOCK button on my key and opened the van door. I climbed up into the driver’s seat and tried to close the door before he could talk me out of my decision.

  I was too slow. Brad’s long legs ate up the ground, closing in on me. He grabbed the door when I did. There was a moment where we tussled for possession, then I gave up. He was bigger and stronger. I stuck my keys in the ignition and started up the van. If I had to I could simply put the van in reverse. He’d either let go or be dragged under.

  Yeah, like I could hurt the man of my teenage dreams. I rolled my eyes, tossed up my hands, and turned to him. “What?”

  “As your lawyer and your brother’s lawyer I have to advise you not to investigate this,” he said solemnly. “As your friend, all I can say is be careful. Don’t go anywhere alone. Don’t confront anyone; bring your evidence to Calvin. He will listen.”

  “Fine. Is that all?” I couldn’t look at him. I reached out to close the door again when he stopped me.

  “Look at me,” he said softly.

  I did and saw real warmth in his blue eyes. “What?” I asked.

  He put his hand over mine. “Promise me you’ll be safe. Okay, Toni?”

  My heart softened at the plea in his voice. “I promise.”

  “Good.” He gave a short nod and stepped away from the van. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he shivered.

  “Go inside and get warm,” I said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Ten A.M. at the courthouse,” Brad said.

  “Ten it is,” I said then closed my door, turned my heater on high, and pulled out of my parking space. The first thing I was going to do was find out more about Maria. We really didn’t know anything other than what she had told us. I’d get Tasha to investigate the public records. Meanwhile I’d run a credit check on the maid. It should tell me at least when and where she entered the United States. I also needed to find out who the main drug dealer in town was.

  If they thought it was Tim, then that meant they didn’t know for sure who was dealing. Grandma might have her sources, but so did I.

  * * *

  My alarm made this horrible buzzing noise. Still half-asleep, I tried to hit SNOOZE. The buzzing turned into screaming metal rock music. Ugh. I hit the thing a third time. Finally, peace and quiet. . . . “Good morning, good morning, good morning, time to rise and shine . . . Good morning, good morning, good morning, I hope you’re feeling fine. Get up, get up, get out of bed, get up, get up, you sleepyhead.” It was the most annoying little ditty.

  Now I was really awake and mad as a bear dragged out of hibernation too early. I grabbed the offending machine and yanked it out of the wall and threw it across my room with a resounding smashing noise. I lay back down and pulled the pillow over my head, but it was no use. My anger had me fully awake. Disgusted, I sat up. It was dark out, but I could see the snow driving through the light given off by the nearby lamppost.

  I remembered why I had set my alarm even earlier than normal. I had hoped to go in and make cookies early so I had time to do some investigating. After Tim’s arrest, I’d realized that waiting for the authorities to proceed with justice was foolish. And so I had finally decided to investigate after all. With so many cookies to bake and money to earn, the only time left to investigate was during my sleep time. And so it was that I had set my poor abused alarm two hours earlier than normal.

  My eyes felt like they were filled with grit. I showered and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. At least getting dressed was easy when you wore a uniform. The longest part of my morning routine was waiting for the coffee to brew. I skipped the at-home coffee, wrapped my muffler firmly around my face, and, holding my puffy down coat close to my chest, I braved the icy wind and hurried to the van. Once inside I started it up.

  “You’re up pretty early,” a gravelly voice said from behind me. I screamed with fright, and turned to find Grandma Ruth lying in the backseat. I sometimes laid it flat to add more cargo room. Grandma lay on the folded back as if it were her bed. Her feet stuck out from a pile of knitted afghans and were covered in fluffy pink bunny slippers.

  My heart raced and all the spit dried up in my mouth. “Holy Moses, you scared the stuffins out of me,” I managed to say. “What are you doing in my van at this hour of the night?”

  Grandma sat up. The blankets rolled down revealing her thick down coat unzipped enough that you could see a black cable-knit sweater and a tee shirt underneath. Her hands were tucked inside two pairs of mittens. “I figured you were finally mad enough to do some investigating. I thought I’d wait for you in the van.”

  “Grandma! You could have frozen. What is the windchill outside, negative twenty degrees?”

  “It’s forty degrees in here,” Grandma said. “Which is above freezing, so there is no way I could freeze, plus it’s even warmer under my blankets.”

  “How do you know it’s forty degrees in the van?” I wanted her to realize how silly she had been. For goodness’ sake, she could have frozen to death. “And what would have happened if I hadn’t gotten up early? Hmm?”

  Grandma grinned and lifted her hand. “I have a thermometer.” She showed me the small round indoor outdoor temperature gauge. “If it got below freezing I would have come inside.”

  “Grandma! There are plenty of beds in the house.”

  “And if I’d have slept there you wouldn’t have woken me when you left. This way is far better.” She crossed her arms over her chest and sat up, turning her legs toward the front. She reached over and hit the lever that bounced the backseat back into its L shape. “Now tell me what you’re thinking of doing first.”

  I turned the key in the ignition. “If I had any sense I’d take you home first, but something tells me yo
u’d simply drive your scooter through the snow to get to the bakery.”

  “You are a very smart girl,” Grandma said. “You should really take the Mensa test. I’m certain you would pass it.”

  “I don’t have time to be a genius, Grandma.” I backed out of the driveway and turned on my windshield wipers. The snow was coming down sideways as the wind blew fiercely. It was tough to keep the van on the road in the storm. My vehicle was great for delivering baked goods, but top-heavy for bad weather. The wind kept pushing us off the road. I eased through the storm with my wipers going full force, the heater blasting, and my semibald tires slipping around corners.

  All in all it was a harrowing journey to the bakery. I knew my knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel. Meanwhile Grandma grinned from ear to ear as if she had just gotten off a roller coaster and wanted to go again.

  “Grandma, how is it that you’re so brave?”

  “Kiddo, at my age I’m happy to just be alive. I don’t have time to worry about dying.”

  I shook my head and opened the van door. “Stay put until I unlock the bakery door. Okay?”

  “What’s that?” Grandma’s grin widened. I shook my head. Grandma was what we called “selectively” hard of hearing. In other words she could hear just fine when she wanted to otherwise she was deaf in one ear.

  “Don’t make me use the child safety locks,” I warned.

  “They don’t put them in delivery vans,” Grandma said. “I checked. Did you know that all the car manuals are now available online?”

  I rolled my eyes and got out. The wind was what you would call bracing. It pushed me back a good foot before I got my bearings. With weather like this, it was going to be a slow bakery day. Anyone with any sense would stay home and off the roads.

  That meant I would have more time to figure out what the heck Chief Blaylock had on Tim that he could arrest him and make him spend a night in jail.