Chapter 43
Things were just starting to sink in when Jane called out from the other room. “Found it!”
“Found what?” Josh asked as both Eric and Sadie stood.
“Diane Veeter’s file on Damon,” she said, heading toward the den. “I think he must have given her part of the original manuscript, which is the proof she claimed to have.”
Within a few steps, Sadie stopped and turned back to look at the man still strapped to the dining room chair. He looked so vulnerable, like a little kid sentenced to time-out. Had he earned his right to freedom yet?
“It really was inevitable, wasn’t it?” Josh said, obviously lost in his own thoughts.
“What was inevitable?” Eric asked, also turning.
“The truth was going to come out one way or another.” He looked a little overwhelmed by it all. “It’s so . . . surreal. After all these years of hiding it, it’s suddenly just—there. Everyone will know what Thom did.” His voice lowered. “Everyone will know what I did.”
Sadie didn’t know how to answer, but felt a wave of sympathy wash over her. “Would you mind undoing his feet?” she asked Eric.
Eric seemed to pause, but then he leaned into her. “Can I ask your son to keep a close eye on him?”
Sadie nodded, thinking that was a good idea. Despite the fact that she wanted to believe everything Josh had told them, she had no one to verify any of it.
As Eric moved toward Josh, she realized he had a new smell since the last time she’d been close enough to smell him at all—cologne. It didn’t mask the other smells completely, but it was an improvement. Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she wondered why he’d bothered with cologne in the first place and when?
Shawn appeared in the doorway. “You want to see it or what?” He saw Eric undoing the belts around Josh’s legs and stiffened.
“It’s okay,” Sadie assured her son. “He’s on our side now.” Well, that might be coloring it a little too pink, she realized. However, he’d condemned himself with his confession, and he didn’t have to talk at all. She lowered her voice so that Josh didn’t overhear what she said next. “Will you keep an eye on him?”
Shawn wavered for a moment, but then nodded as Josh rose to his feet, lifting one foot and then the other to shake them out. Sadie wondered if they were numb too.
Josh and Eric joined them at the doorway leading to the den. Shawn stared Josh down while Josh tried to pretend he didn’t notice.
They entered the den, and Sadie saw that the pile of folders in the middle of the room was mostly depleted. The ones already sorted were stacked nicely against the couch.
Jane had a folder open on her lap and lifted her head to brush her sweeping bangs out of her eyes. She smiled at Sadie. “A bunch of the files were all mixed together,” she explained. “And his stuff was actually in a different folder so once we found one with his name on it, but nothing inside, we had to go through each one.” She handed the papers to Sadie. “It looks like you were right—Damon did write it.”
“Phew, what stinks?” Eric said, crinkling his nose.
“These files weren’t the only thing in the garbage can,” Jane said, pushing herself to her feet and stretching her legs. “Some of it came along for the ride.”
“And you brought them in here?” Eric said.
Sadie took a scan around the mess in the room that had nothing to do with the files. There were diet soda cans on nearly every surface, and newspapers, magazines, and socks were strewn about the floor. And yet, she had to admit it hadn’t smelled bad until she’d brought the files in.
“I’ll clean your entire house to make up for it,” Sadie said, waving her hand to wipe away the topic so that she could direct her attention to the papers.
“Oh,” Eric said. “In that case, it’s all good.”
Sadie tuned everyone out and read the title of the paper in her hands: “Demon Fire.” The paper was old enough that it had been printed on a dot matrix printer. The little dots had faded to a light gray over the years but the letters were still legible. Unlike the papers she’d found in Mark Ogreski’s file, this one was the original.
In red pen, Diane had written a note across the top of the paper. “Damon, this is incredible. After years of my own attempts, I’ve never had such voice and fluidity in my own stories. I was at a writer’s conference a while ago and there was an agent there who specifically wanted this kind of book. He thinks paranormal thrillers will be the next big thing. You should submit this to him. He could change your life!”
Sadie shook her head ruefully. “He changed Damon’s life all right,” she muttered under her breath. And Thom’s and Diane’s and Josh’s too.
Finding proof of the fraud was an anticlimactic discovery, since they’d figured that out awhile ago. But it was still good to have the hard evidence. Sadie moved to the couch where she’d put the file on Mr. Ogreski. She put Damon’s paper inside, deciding the folder could serve as a kind of portfolio she could take to the police.
Jane cleared her throat and turned to Eric. “Mind if I use the restroom?”
“Uh, sure,” Eric said. He had his arms folded over his chest. “It’s through the kitchen on the left. Oh, wait, I guess you know where it is.”
“Yeah,” Jane said with a quick nod that seemed just a little bit sarcastic.
“So, what now?” Shawn asked while Jane slipped away.
Sadie looked up at the three men watching her and closed the folder. “We go to the police,” she said, offering them a consolatory smile even as her stomach dropped.
“But we don’t know who did it,” Shawn said, then looked at Josh and narrowed his eyes. “Or do we?”
Josh shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You think they’d have untied me if they thought I’d done it?”
“Maybe since you didn’t have a sawed-off shotgun in your pocket they thought it was a safe bet,” Shawn returned.
“The thing is,” Sadie interrupted, “that we’re already in loads of trouble and if we keep trying to figure things out, we’re only going to get in deeper.” She stood up. “I need to call Tina before we go.”
“Tina?” all three men said in unison.
“Diane Veeter’s daughter.” Sadie cringed again at the idea and felt guilty for being too chicken to tell her the truth in person.
“And then we’re going to the storage unit, right?” Josh added.
Sadie exchanged looks with Eric and Shawn, both of whom looked instantly in support of that idea. Sadie wasn’t so sure. “Maybe it would help us if we gave the police something to figure out,” she suggested. “The key is evidence.”
“But Mark gave it to me,” Josh reminded her. “It makes sense for me to figure out why and what it’s for. Even the cops can’t blame me for that.”
“But if we tag along, then we’re—”
“Smart enough to not let this guy out of our sight,” Shawn interjected, glaring at Josh.
“Shawn has a point,” Eric said. “It doesn’t make much sense for us to have gotten to this point, only to let Josh go to the unit alone.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with this!” Josh yelled, throwing up his hands. “I flew in from Virginia last night, and I didn’t get in until noon. I spent the afternoon getting my mom’s oil changed and tires rotated before picking up my tux and getting ready for the dinner. I can show you the receipts if you want. But I don’t own a gun, I don’t know the first thing about what it would take to rig it up like it was, and I flat out didn’t have time nor reason to put myself at risk. Mark was a bad person, he was, but I didn’t kill him. I told you before, I didn’t need to because Thom was finally getting away from him.” He crossed his arms and stared at them all, mostly Shawn.
“That’s a pretty little story and all,” Shawn said, “but I—”
“Enough,” Sadie interrupted, putting up her hand. She didn’t want to admit it, but Josh’s defense was pretty convincing. “Can we just focus on what we’re going to do nex
t?” she asked.
They all fell silent, which she appreciated.
“What are we hoping to learn from the storage unit?” she asked.
“Mark gave me the key for a reason,” Josh said. “We barely speak anymore and for either of us to acknowledge the other one is a big deal. If he really did kill himself—”
“Kill himself?” Shawn interrupted. He dropped his hands to his side. “What the heck?”
Sadie placed her hand on Shawn’s arm, hoping it would calm him. “It’s a theory,” she explained. “But we have no real proof.”
“I say we go,” Eric said, nodding as he spoke. “Mark gave Josh the key. Let’s find out why.”
“What about Jane?” Sadie lowered her voice to a whisper as she glanced toward the kitchen.
“What about her?” Shawn asked. “She can come.”
“Who is she anyway?” Josh asked.
“She’s a reporter with the Denver Post,” Sadie said, wondering if there was any way to keep Jane from coming. She already felt uncomfortable having her involved so much, and she questioned if she had made the right decision to allow Jane to be here at all.
“A reporter!” Josh burst out.
Sadie and Eric both shushed him, but his eyes remained wide. He said, in a much quieter voice, “Is that the lady you said was meeting with Mark?”
Sadie almost didn’t dare answer, but finally she nodded.
Josh swore under his breath and raised both his hands to his hair. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Sadie was suddenly defensive. “She’s been helping us.”
“Yeah,” Josh sneered. “More like she’s been helping herself. She’s not coming. Whatever is in that storage unit is not part of her story.”
“I’m not sure how we can leave her behind,” Sadie said.
“Slow down at a corner and I’ll push her out for you,” Josh said. “Reporters are vampires.”
“What makes you say that?” Eric interjected.
Josh looked at him, then turned away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Oh, boy, another mystery. Sadie wasn’t sure she was up for any more riddles tonight.
Josh looked hard at Sadie. “She’s not going.”
“Okay,” Sadie said, deciding it was more important to have Josh than Jane. “Let me go talk to her.”
Sadie headed for the kitchen, trying to prepare how to break the news to Jane. It wasn’t going to be pretty.
At the bathroom door, she took a deep breath and let it out, willing herself to be calm and yet firm. She lifted her hand and knocked. “Jane?” she asked. “I need to talk to you.”
Jane didn’t respond.
“Jane?” Sadie said louder as she knocked a second time. When Jane still didn’t answer, a funny feeling crept up Sadie’s neck. She reached for the knob and turned it in her hand. “I’m coming in,” she warned, but when she pushed the door open, an empty bathroom greeted her.
She hurried inside. The bathroom was still a mess, but there weren’t that many places a grown woman could hide. A rhythmic drip-drip-drip from the shower kept time with her thoughts as she processed the implications. “Oh, my gosh,” she said under her breath as she did one last turn in the bathroom and then hurried out.
“She’s gone,” Sadie hollered. “Jane’s not here.” She headed for the den, but the three men met her before she could leave the kitchen. She pointed toward the bathroom. “She’s not here.” And even though in some ways that solved her problem—freeing her from an ugly confrontation—the fact Jane would sneak away was extremely disturbing.
Josh rushed to the table and then turned to look directly at Sadie. “Where’s my camera?”
Chapter 44
She took your camera?” Sadie said even as she moved to the table and started looking around.
“It’s not here,” Josh said, his voice tight with anger.
Sadie looked up from where she’d been inspecting the seat of one of the chairs pushed under the table.
Josh glared at her. “You set me up.”
Sadie straightened. “I did not.”
“Some reporter just ran off with my photos!” He turned toward the back door, but only made it two steps before Shawn grabbed his upper arm.
“You’re not going after her,” Shawn said. “For all we know, you’re in league with her yourself.”
“She left tracks,” Eric said, pulling open the door before turning to look at Sadie. “I’ll see if I can catch up.”
Sadie nodded, offering him a weak smile that was all she could muster by way of giving her blessing. Eric pulled the door shut behind him and quickly disappeared. Sadie never should have trusted that woman. She’d known it from the very start.
Josh pulled his arm out of Shawn’s grasp, but didn’t head for the door again. He put both hands on his forehead as he took a deep breath. “I can’t believe this is happening,” he grumbled, pacing back and forth.
Shawn followed his every movement with his eyes, and Sadie recognized the tension in the way he was holding himself. If Josh tried to make a run for it again, Shawn wouldn’t hesitate to take him down. In fact, he’d probably enjoy it.
“Eric will get your camera back,” Sadie said, hoping she sounded reassuring.
Josh swore again, and Sadie shot him a look, but he wasn’t paying her any attention. Sadie didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t even think of something she could cook to take the edge off of the insufferable negativity in the room. A song by the Beatles interrupted her thoughts.
Looking surprised, Shawn reached into his shirt pocket. He pulled out Josh’s cell phone and pushed a button, silencing the music.
“At least give me my phone back,” Josh said, putting out his hand. “I’d prefer to keep track of my own stuff from here on out.”
“Sorry, dude,” Shawn said, slipping the phone back in his pocket. “I’m keeping the phone.”
Josh looked at Sadie. “You’re okay with that?” he demanded. “I’ve told you everything I know, and yet he still gets to treat me like a criminal?”
Without intending to, Josh had given Sadie an idea. Both her kids assigned certain ring tones for different people, and when she realized the tune the phone had played was “Michelle, My Belle,” she remembered there was one path she hadn’t yet explored with Josh.
“Who just called?” she asked Shawn.
Josh tensed as Shawn reached into his pocket again, extracted the phone, and then pushed a couple buttons. “It says Michele,” Shawn said.
“Really?” Sadie replied. She’d guessed right about the ring tones! She turned back to Josh. “I’ve been meaning to ask how you know Frank’s niece.”
Josh was suddenly wary.
“She was sitting at my table tonight,” Sadie said, watching his every nuance. “She got up to use the ladies’ room and never came back. Well, except she picked you up, didn’t she?”
“I knew it,” Shawn said, jutting out his chin as he nodded. “He’s wrapped up in this like a taco.” He glared triumphantly at the smaller man.
Sadie put a hand on her son’s arm, but kept her eyes on Josh. “How do you know Michele and what’s her part in this?”
“I’m not telling you anything else,” Josh said, shaking his head. “I was an idiot to tell you as much as I already did.”
The idea of Josh withholding information again was horrendous. “I had no idea Jane was going to take your camera,” Sadie said, sincerely apologetic. “And I am so sorry, but we had nothing to do with it, I promise.”
“I just want to get out of Garrison and go home.”
“Michelle, My Belle” started playing from the phone still in Shawn’s hand.
“Sounds like she really wants to talk to you,” Sadie said pointedly.
Josh glanced at the phone, but his eyes narrowed slightly—and not at Shawn this time.
Shawn hit the button and ended the call.
“Tell you what,” Sadie said, intrigued by Josh’s reaction to Michele’
s calls. “You tell me about Michele, and I’ll give you the phone back.”
“Give me the phone back first,” he challenged.
Sadie looked at the request from all angles. Shawn could take him down if he had to, so what was the risk? “Shawn, give him his phone.”
“What?” Shawn said slowly.
Sadie gave him her best “trust me” look. “You can’t deny that he’s given us very important information.”
“Assuming he’s telling the truth,” Shawn said, glaring at Josh again.
Josh shook his head and looked at Sadie, encouraging her to convince Shawn.
“Give him his phone,” Sadie said, keeping her tone calm, but assertive.
Shawn sighed and handed the phone to Josh, who looked at it and put it in his pocket.
“So who is Michele to you?” Sadie pushed, trying not to sound too formal, but finding it a difficult balance.
“We used to date,” Josh said, trying to sound casual but failing. A whole new tension was draped all over him. Interesting.
“But you don’t anymore?” Shawn said, closing one eye slightly and looking skeptical. “So why is she calling you?”
“And why did she pick you up from the hotel?” Sadie added, watching Josh carefully.
Josh growled a little bit in his throat and shook his head as if to say he couldn’t believe he was having to do this.
Sadie was reminded that he didn’t have to, but he was anyway. Another point in the “Josh isn’t the murderer” column of the score sheet in her head.
Josh took a breath and started talking. “A couple years ago, Michele contacted me about Damon. She was working on a college paper about teens who kill. Her Uncle Frank lives here in Garrison, so she knew the story pretty well, but she wanted to talk to the people close to Damon. We seemed to hit it off, and when she finished her paper, we kept in touch. And eventually our relationship got serious. But we broke up right before Christmas. I was as surprised as anyone else to see her here tonight.”
“But you called her to pick you up from the hotel,” Sadie pointed out.
“No,” Josh said, shaking his head. “She called me and asked what had happened.”
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