RUN FASTER: A Hallie James Mystery (The Hallie James Mysteries Book 2)

by DK Herman

  I sprayed myself with lilac body spray and grabbed a shorter coat from my closet. Getting a bottle of water from my mini fridge, I looked longingly at a bottle of tequila resting on the bottom shelf. I forced myself to close the refrigerator door and left the room to find Poppy.

  Poppy was waiting at the front door with her laptop bag, and a bulky, plastic shopping bag.

  "Whatcha got?" I asked as we waited for Peter to pull his pick up in front of the house.

  "I'll show you later." Poppy smiled mysteriously. "It'll keep us safe."

  "I've got a gun." I patted my coat pocket.

  "It didn't help you in the garage," Poppy whispered.

  "Touché," I said as Peter pulled up outside. "There's our ride," I said and went out the door.

  The air was still cold, but warming slowly. Poppy joined me on the porch and I let her climb into Peter's truck first. She clutched the shopping bag on her lap as we made the trip to a local car dealership.

  Peter went inside with us while I signed the papers, and the vehicle was bought around to the front door.

  My eyes widened when my new wheels stopped in front of me. The salesman hopped out and handed me the key fob to a new, metallic green Yukon Denali.

  "Do you like it?" The salesman asked.

  "It'll do." I smiled.

  "Well then, call us if you need anything else."

  "We will, thank you," Peter said

  "Do you want me to follow you anywhere, Hallie?" Peter asked after the salesman went inside the building.

  "I don't think so," I yelled over a blaring horn. We all looked at the Herville police car driving by, Phil Stewart at the wheel. It reminded me of part of a conversation I overheard between him and Peter. "How do you know Officer Stewart's mother?" I asked Peter.

  "She's my cousin," Peter answered.

  I thought Ann Kasey is your cousin." I said.

  "She is," Peter said, "Ann and Phil's mothers are my mother’s sister."

  My mind flew back to ex-detective Kasey and Phil Stewart coming out of Marv Deeter's body shop. Was there more behind Phil’s wholesome smile and freckles than meets the eye?

  "Damn," I mumbled.

  "What's wrong?" Peter looked at me with concern. "Did I say something wrong?"

  "No, Peter," I said, trying to smile reassuringly. "You've been great. Thanks for your help. But one more thing. Will you watch out for Gram and Aunt Jeannie while I'm gone today?"

  "Of course, I always do." Peter said. "Don't worry, Hallie. Do what you need to do. I'll help the family hold down the fort."

  "Thanks." I reached over and gave him a quick hug. To my surprise, he hugged me back.

  Peter waited until Poppy and I got into the Denali before he climbed into his pickup. I gave him a last wave and pushed the button to start the engine. And Poppy and I were on our way to the office.

  "I love this car," Poppy said, checking out the interior of the Denali.

  "I like it too." I loved its looks, and the interior and dashboard are impressive. Gram must have asked for something loaded with options. "So, what's in the bag?"

  Poppy grinned and reached inside. She pulled out two neck braces. "I found these in a closet at your house. We can't be strangled in these."

  The braces belonged to Aunt Jeannie. She’d gotten whiplash from a minor car accident two years ago. They’re big, bulky, and ugly as sin. I thought Poppy was joking at first, but when she put one around her neck, I knew she was serious.

  "I... uh, don't think it will fit me," I said, trying to keep my lips from twitching. If I started laughing now, I wouldn't be able to stop.

  "Sure, it will, they adjust, see." She adjusted the one around her neck tighter, causing her to look like she was all double chin.

  "I don't know. It might be illegal to drive with one on."

  "I didn't think of that," she said, barely able to open her mouth. Awkwardly, she twisted her entire body to look at me. "You should wait until we get to the office to put it on."

  "Uh huh," I said noncommittally.

  It was almost eleven o'clock when I pulled onto Blossom Street and parked in a spot across from my office.

  "Take it inside for me. I'm going to run into Brew's for a latté. Do you want anything?" I said when Poppy tried to hand me my whiplash collar.

  "Surprise me," Poppy said and slid out of the Denali. "I'll meet you inside."

  I stroked the Denali's steering wheel. "Chitty is going to be jealous, but I think I'm going to keep you." After all, a dead guy pooped in my old car.

  I got out and after pushing the door lock button on the Denali's fob, I pushed the one for the alarm. A reassuring double-chirp sounded, and I strolled to the coffee shop.

  I sat smugly at my desk enjoying my latté with a whole-wheat bagel, slathered with light veggie cream cheese. I bought donuts for the rest of the office, but so far, I had resisted the pull of their sweet deliciousness.

  Poppy discovered it was hard to eat her bavarian cream donut with the whiplash collar on. So, she took it off and ate it with her back pressed against a wall. After Rayna turned down use of the other collar, she insisted I take it with me to my office. It now lay hidden, under my desk.

  “Hallie, are you busy.” Linda’s voice came through the intercom.

  I swallowed the last bite of my bagel. “No, Linda. What do you need?”

  “Detective Mike Krause is here. He’d like to speak to you for a few minutes.”

  “Sure. Send him back.” I got up and met Detective Krause at my door. I waved him onto my couch and sat down at the other end.

  “I heard you had contact with our killer after I left this morning,” Detective Krause said.

  I pulled down the collar of my turtleneck. “Yeah, close contact.”

  “Would you tell me about it?” he asked.

  “I went to the garage for an extension cord. I found one and was leaving the garage when I heard breathing behind me.” I paused and watched him write down my every word. “Something was looped around my neck and strangled me until I almost passed out. But I lucked out, and my hand hit the garage door opener. I don’t know where he went after that, and I never saw him.”

  “The something was a bungee cord?”

  “Yeah. He left it around my neck when the garage door opened.”

  “Did you see or smell anything?”

  “No, sorry. But from the angle of the bruise,” I pulled my collar down again, “he had to be about my height.”

  “And you’re tall, maybe five eight or nine.”

  “Eight.” I bit my lip and tried to remember anything else.

  “Ok, thanks.” Detective Krause said. He put away his notebook and turned towards me. “After I left your home, I went to Larry’s house to talk to him. He wasn’t there, and his wife insisted she hasn’t seen him since last evening.”

  “Could she be lying?”

  “I’ve known Ann for five years, ever since I became Larry’s partner. I think she’d hide him, or lie for him because she’s afraid of him,” he said. “But when she told me she hasn’t seen him since last night, she seemed relieved that he’s gone.”

  Pity for Ann Kasey bubbled up inside of me. “She’d be better off without him.”

  Detective Krause nodded. “Agreed.” He stood up to leave, then turned back. “I shouldn’t say this, but… watch yourself. Kasey loves to be violent and dominant with women. And wherever he is, you’re not his favorite person right now. Especially if he’s heard who’s been chosen to replace him.”

  “Who’s replacing him as a Herville police detective?”

  Detective Krause nodded. “Andy Ross has been asked to take the detective’s exam.”

  I grinned. “That’s fantastic. He’s perfect for the job.”

  “I agree, he’s a terrific cop,” Krause said. He dug inside his coat pocket and pulled out a card. “This is my cell number, put it in your phone. Call anytime, if you have information, or if you need my help.”

  I took the card. “Tha
nk you, I will.”

  I walked him out to the reception area and thanked him again. It was wonderful to be on good terms with the cop in charge of a case.

  I walked back down the hall to the break room, wondering if Kasey was lurking somewhere, waiting to get revenge on me. Hopefully, the prick skipped town. Kasey was no loss to me, the Herville police force, or to the town itself. And hopefully, poor Ann had seen the last of him.

  I got a bottle of water out of the fridge and stared longingly at the donuts. I got a plastic knife and cut one in half. A half a donut wouldn’t hurt me. I could wean myself from junk food slowly.

  Sure, I was going about it all wrong. Who quits anything, cold turkey? Plus, I was almost murdered this morning, a little gastronomic pleasure was just what I needed. I smiled and took a bite.

  “Oh, yeah,” I whispered, rolling my eyes in ecstasy. I put the rest of that half into my mouth and chewed slowly.

  “Hallie,” Linda called from the hall.

  “In the break room, “I called back and guiltily, hid the other half donut behind my back.

  “There you are,” Linda said from the break room doorway. “Ann Kasey is here. She wants to talk to you and says that its urgent.”

  “Show her into my office, and seat her on the couch. Will you offer her something to drink while I use the bathroom?”

  “Certainly,” Linda said.

  I dove into the bathroom and finished the donut. Then I rinsed my mouth and checked my sweater for crumbs. “I’ll start the diet after Gram’s wedding,” I told myself in the mirror. Then making sure my turtleneck was covering my bruised neck, I joined Ann Kasey in my office.

  “Hello, Mrs. Kasey,” I said with my professional smile. The poor woman looked overwrought and had a fresh bruise on her cheek. “Can I help you with something?”

  “I can’t find my husband,” she said, a tear slipping down her face.

  If I were her, finding him would make me cry. I made sympathetic noises and offered her a tissue.

  “Larry came home yesterday and announced that he’d retired from the police force. He was so upset about it that I asked him why he retired if he wasn’t ready.” She let out a small sob. “My question seemed to anger him more, and we quarreled.”

  Quarreled? She meant the bastard hit her. I handed her the box of tissues. “Then what happened?”

  “He left the house, slamming the door on his way out, and I haven’t seen him since.” She began crying in earnest.

  “Do you have any idea where he’d go? Would he go to family or friends?” Perhaps to his drug dealing nephew?

  “Well, I’ve suspected for some time that there’s another woman,” she sniffed.

  No freaking way! What woman would want to spend time with that creep if they didn’t have to, yet let him touch her. “Why do you think he was being unfaithful?”

  “Charges for nice dinners on our credit card, the smell of a strange perfume on his clothes, and other, more personal things. A woman knows, “she insisted.

  Yuck! I didn’t want to know about the personal things. And maybe the strange perfume was the reek of meth fumes. Crap. I better be nice. The poor woman looks like she’s been through hell. “How can I help, Mrs. Kasey?”

  “I’d like to be assured that Larry is ok, wherever he is. And I’d like you to find information about the other woman,” she said more calmly. “I’ve contemplated divorcing Larry, for some time now. However, my conscience wouldn’t allow it unless I was certain of his infidelity.”

  Boy, wouldn’t it piss that turd off if I gave his wife the ammunition to clean him out in a divorce. I stifled a smile. I might take this case for free. “So, you want me to find your husband and proof of his infidelity, if there is infidelity, correct?”

  She nodded. “Yes, please.”

  “Ok, I’ll try.”

  Ann Kasey opened her purse and counted out ten, one hundred dollar bills and put them on the coffee table. “Will this do for a retainer?”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “I’ll get you a receipt.”

  After Ann left, I checked my watch. Ben told me he would be released this afternoon, and it was almost one o’clock. I called his hospital room.

  “Yeah,” Ben answered on the third ring.

  “It’s me,” I said. “When are you getting out of there?”

  “The doctor was just here, he’s getting my release papers ready,” He sounded excited. “I’ll be ready for you to pick me up in a half-hour.”

  “Want me to come up to your room?”

  “Nah, just pick me up at the main entrance.”

  “I’ll be there!” I was excited to have Ben out of the hospital too.

  I grabbed my purse and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. I checked in with Jessie before stopping into Poppy and Rayna’s office. "I'm going to pick up Ben from the hospital."

  I could tell by Poppy’s expression that she was disappointed, we weren’t going to search the body shop. “I’m taking Ben to the police station to reclaim his gun. I’ll ask the chief while I’m there about the warrant.”

  “Ok,” Poppy said with weak smile. “I’ll wait here.”

  I patted her shoulder and went out the front door.

  The Denali and I slid smoothly to a stop in front of the hospital. Ben saw me and did a double take. He strolled over and climbed into the passenger seat.

  “Wow. Where’d you get the wheels?” He made himself as comfy as he could and let me help him buckle up. He only had one arm inside his jacket. The other, swathed in a bandage, he held across his chest under the unzipped coat.

  “It’s a rental, but I think I’m gonna keep it,” I chirped.

  “What happened to your other car? Did you wreck it?”

  “Nope. Woke up this morning and there was a frozen, dead guy in it,” I announced calmly.

  Ben’s eyes widened. “Anybody I know?”

  “Jerry Dalton. Someone garroted him, then posed him in my driver’s seat, wearing my hat and sunglasses.” I started the Denali toward the police station.

  “Nice touch, personal, yet morbid,” Ben said shaking his head. “So, you don’t want that car because there was a dead guy in it?”

  “And he pooped in the seat,” I said with a wry grin.

  “Ick! And this car is much nicer,” Ben teased.

  “Yep, I like it better,” I admitted.

  “You’re getting spoiled,” Ben said with a grin.

  “Think so?”

  “Don’t worry, you deserve some spoiling after what you went through last year. Did I miss anything else?”

  I should tell him about getting attacked in the garage. He’d hear about it at the police station. “Somebody tried to strangle me in our garage this morning. But I got one of the bay doors open, and there were cops all over the driveway.”

  “Thank God for that! You weren’t hurt?” He pulled the collar of my turtleneck down. His jaw tightened while he examined my bruised neck. “I’ll kill them if the touch you again!”

  “Actually, I need you to help guard my family while Poppy and I watch the cops search Deeter’s place.”

  Ben started to protest. "No way..."

  “I’ll be fine," I interrupted. "I’ll stay back with Poppy, and Chief Woods will have a dozen cops there. I’m stopping at the police station, so you can get your gun back. I need you to protect my family while I’m gone. Please?” My leaf green eyes dueled with his golden-brown orbs.

  “Yeah, ok. Just be careful,” he said grudgingly. Ben looked at his bandaged arm and shook his head.

  I parked a block from the police station, and Ben and I soon walked into Chief Woods’ office.

  " Ben, you look like you're recovering quickly," the Chief said.

  "I'm getting there," Ben agreed. "I'm here to get my gun back."

  "Sure,” Chief Woods said and briefly spoke into his desk phone. "Andy’s getting it for you. Why don't you two have a seat while you wait."

  "Thanks," I said, claiming a chair.

&nb
sp; Ben sat down next to me. "I heard I missed a lot this morning."

  "It was an eventful morning,” Chief Woods agreed. "We got Dalton out of your car, Hallie. But the lab guys are still going over it. They'll have it back to you as soon as they can."

  "No hurry," I assured him. "I have something to drive." I thought of Poppy's forlorn expression. "No word on the warrant?"

  The Chief shook his head. "I don't know what's holding it up. I'll let you know as soon as I get it."

  Andy came into the room with Ben's Heckler and Koch .40 mm pistol and holster. "Just sign here, Ben." Andy put a paper on the chief's desk and handed him a pen.

  Ben signed and reclaimed his weapon. I helped him put the holster on and slid the gun into it.

  "Thanks," Ben said to the room.

  "Yeah. Thanks,” I said. "Talk to you later."

  Ben and I returned to the Denali. "What am I going to tell Poppy?"

  "The truth," Ben said. "It's not your fault, somebody took Woody."

  "I know, but I'm worried about him. Woody is such a gentle soul, and he's not being held captive by nice people."

  "What do you want to do?" Ben asked.

  "I'm not sure, but I don't think Poppy or Woody can take another night of this." I pulled out of the parking space and drove up Main Street.

  "If you want to go in tonight, I'm with you."

  "Thanks." I nodded. "It's a possibility.” I made a quick turn off Main street. “I need a cheeseburger and fries. I'm gonna drive thru Burger Bistro. Do you want anything?"

  "I've had two days of hospital food, bring on the burgers."

  I swung through and picked up a bag of food. Parking in the lot, Ben and I ate in silence, just enjoying each other’s company. It was wonderful to hang out with Ben again.

  When we were done, we bagged the trash, and I took it to a can in the lot. Climbing back inside the car, I drove back to the office.

  "I'm going to talk to Poppy. Do you need some stuff from your apartment? I'll come up and help you," I offered.

  "I got it. You go talk to Poppy, I'll meet you in a couple minutes." Ben wrangled his keys with one hand, opened his apartment door, and went up the stairs.

  I went in the office door and went straight to Poppy's office. She saw me and stood up so fast, papers flew off her desk.