by Rose Pressey
“Where are you going?” Dorothy asked.
His eyes widened, as if you couldn’t believe she actually asked that.
“I have an appointment,” he said. “If you’ll excuse me.”
“She’s just the motherly type. She’s just curious, that’s all. She wants to make sure you reach your destination safely,” I said.
Yeah, I was just making up stuff at this point. I had no idea what junk was spewing out of my mouth, but I needed to figure out something quick before he got into the car and took off. I gave him a big smile, as if that would make him feel much better. He would probably kick us out of these classes.
“Well, thanks for the great lesson today,” I said.
“No problem.” He opened the car door, but I grabbed it, stopping him from climbing inside.
“There was just one other thing,” I said. “We were just curious how long you’ve been doing this.”
He sighed. “I’ve been giving lessons for about five years now. Well, I’ve actually only been working at the shop for about a month.”
“Really? That’s not that long. And where did you work before that?”
“Is this a job interview?” he asked.
I laughed and tried to keep my tone casual. “No, no, I’m just curious. I mean, after all, we are putting our lives in your hands. We just wanted to make sure you were experienced.”
His face turned red, as if that made him angry. “I’m good at what I do.”
“I don’t want to accuse you of that, it’s just better safe than sorry, you understand? So you’ve only been working here a month?” Dorothy asked.
Good that she was picking up on the brief pause in the conversation. We had to keep this going.
“Where did you work before this?” Dorothy asked.
He seemed not to have an answer for us. Unless he didn’t want to tell us where he worked.
“I have to go.” He got in the rest of the way and yanked the car door shut.
“What was that all about?” Dorothy asked. “Questions about his work history?”
“I don’t know. I was out of ideas for questions. Was he trying to cover up something?” I asked.
“No, he just wanted to get away from a couple of crazy girls,” Dorothy said.
Maybe I should have asked the shop owner for references for this guy. If he wouldn’t give them to me then I needed to see a résumé right away.
Chapter 15
Brett was due for work at his other job for Gator World today. I watched the time while sitting at my desk, waiting for noon. At eleven thirty, I decided it was time to go over there to talk with him. It was always hard when I went to someone’s place of employment to speak with them because for obvious reasons they were busy. But other than stalking him when he left work, I didn’t know what else to do. I figured I would kind of just feel him out and get a sense of whether I thought he would talk to me or not. Then I could go from there. Would he admit to following me?
“Dorothy, are you ready?” I asked as I grabbed my bag and headed for the door.
“I’m always ready,” she said, jumping up from behind her desk and tossing her knitting needles and yarn into her bag.
I locked the door behind us and we headed for my car, ducking from the dive-bombing seagulls the entire way. Dorothy swore that she wasn’t feeding them anymore, but I knew that wasn’t true. One of these days one of the birds was going to poo right on my head and I would be most unhappy.
When we slipped into the car Dorothy said, “Wow, those things are aggressive.”
“Yeah, I wonder why,” I said, starting the ignition.
Within a short time, Dorothy and I arrived at Brett’s place of employment. There was a huge sign out front that had the words ‘Gator World’ written across it with cute little drawings of baby gators wearing diapers with rattles in their hands. Something told me that the little gators we were about to see weren’t nearly as cute and wouldn’t be as nice either. We got out of the car, paid for tickets and headed inside. Luckily, I knew what the guy looked like. So I wouldn’t have any problem finding him. The place reminded me of a zoo my father had taken me to when I was little, only there were no animals at this place, only gators. Water and palm trees dotted the landscape. I was on high alert for alligators. They wouldn’t allow them to just roam around, I hoped. Across the way I saw a small gathering near a fenced area.
Dorothy and I walked around until I spotted him.
“Oh, there he is over there talking to that group of people.” I pointed.
We walked over and mingled in with the crowd. He was getting ready to show everyone a baby alligator.
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Dorothy said.
I was just worried about when I was going to get a chance to talk to him. This demonstration couldn’t last that long, right? He looked over my way and our eyes met for a moment. His expression led me to believe that he knew who I was, but then he focused his attention back on the little alligator. He might not want to take his attention away from those jaws. The look of shock on his face pretty much answered my question that he had in fact followed me.
We watched for a moment and then the guy asked the crowd for any volunteers to hold the thing.
Dorothy raised both of her arms. “I will. Pick me. Me!”
I’d had no idea she was so excited over alligators. The guy absolutely had no choice but take her. She was so rambunctious about it.
“All right, young lady, come over here,” he said.
The crowd clapped as Dorothy walked over. I figured that part of being a private investigator was to kind of go unnoticed and under the radar. Dorothy was doing exactly the opposite. It was as if she was wearing a neon sign that said, ‘We’re investigating you.’ Something told me that this wouldn’t end well. I just held my breath and hoped that it would be over soon. Maybe this was a good thing—it would give me a chance to talk to him and I could talk about Dorothy holding the baby gator. Maybe that was her plan all along. She might be more astute than I ever gave her credit for.
She stood next to him, in front of the crowd. He gave her a few instructions on handling the thing, but that was basically it. The next thing I knew she was holding the baby gator and smiling from ear to ear. I guessed if this made her happy, then that was fine with me. After a few minutes of holding it, she gave it back. Okay, now that that was over maybe I could talk to him. Unfortunately he asked her if she wanted to move on to the bigger alligators.
I waved my arms. “No, no, no.”
Dorothy volunteered anyway.
This was absolutely too dangerous for her, but yet she would try anything. Lately she’d become a daredevil. Of course, Dorothy said that I needed to live a little and let my hair down. I thought my hair was down plenty. I liked to play things safe, that way I wouldn’t get hurt. Dorothy said there was room for a happy balance between having fun and playing it safe. I supposed I just hadn’t found that balance. Dorothy seemed like she’d gone too far to the other side.
Now I was scared for Dorothy. What if something went wrong? No, I couldn’t think that way. I had to think positive.
Dorothy followed the man over to the area where I assumed the huge alligator was resting. I hoped they’d already fed it lunch. I thought about not watching, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away. The next thing I knew, Dorothy was wrangling with this alligator. I supposed the guy had things under control, but still, this was crazy. I could handle the mints and knitting needles much better than alligator-wrestling. Dorothy was all smiles as the crowd cheered. She loved the attention. Much to my relief she moved away from the alligator in a hurry.
Dorothy rushed back over to me. “Whew, that was exciting.”
“That was terrible. What is wrong with you?” I asked. “Don’t do that ever again. That thing could have gobbled you up in one bite.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “You can’t tell me what to do, young lady.”
I tossed my hands up. “Never mind that now. Let
’s talk to this guy before he gets away.”
“Of course,” Dorothy said with a huge forced smile.
Pushing my shoulders back I marched toward the guy. The crowd had dispersed and he was putting some things into a duffle bag. It looked as if he might be leaving soon. I had to act quickly. I decided to approach this differently.
“What are you going to say to him?” Dorothy asked as she walked beside me.
“Just follow my lead,” I said as we neared.
“I’ll try my best,” Dorothy said.
I walked up to Brett. “I bet you’re surprised to see me.”
He chuckled nervously. “Do I know you?”
“I think you do. Why don’t you tell me why you were following me?”
He zipped his bag. “Sorry, I don’t know you. The presentation is over.”
“Why don’t you tell me what you know about Skye Clark and Henry Archer?”
“Never heard of him.”
This was getting me nowhere.
Dorothy marched up to Brett. “Look, the alligator thing was fun and all, but the games are over. Tell the woman what she wants to know.”
He stared at us. “You two are crazy. I’m not answering any of your questions.”
“The more you don’t answer, the guiltier you look.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What are you, the police?”
“I can have you arrested.” See how I did that? I didn’t actually answer his question.
“What are the charges?” he asked.
“Murder,” I said, staring him in the eyes.
He scoffed. “Yeah, right. Look, I don’t know Skye. I was never with her at the bar.”
“So you do know her?” I asked.
I’d never told him that Skye was murdered.
Brett turned and walked away without answering the question.
He knew more than he wanted to admit. I’d even bet he knew the killer. Maybe he saw the killer every time he looked in the mirror.
“That was a disappointment,” I said as we walked toward the car.
“It wasn’t so bad. I had fun playing with the gators,” Dorothy said.
Chapter 16
Through some detective work I’d located Kevan Willoughby. Why hadn’t the police located him? I suppose because he was actually living in an RV and moved around a lot. That had made finding him even more difficult. Dorothy and I had tracked the vehicle down and we were now sitting in my car, staring at the thing. It was parked in the nearby RV park. It wasn’t going to do us any good just staring at it though, so I knew that we had to make a move. Which meant either breaking into the thing or actually knocking on the door and confronting the guy. I didn’t think that would do much good because he wasn’t going to turn over the information I needed to know. We had to be sneaky about it so I intended on going inside whether he was there or not. This would be dangerous since he’d shot at us before. I was prepared for that if it happened again.
“Are you ready to do this?” I asked.
Dorothy put her knitting needles away. “No time like the present.”
After opening the car door I eased out and moved toward the RV. Dorothy and I inched closer to the RV. I wouldn’t be surprised if shots rang out as soon as I got near. Luckily, I had my gun with me. If need be, I’d use it.
Standing near the small door I decided to knock. I stood to the side a bit in case he fired his gun as soon as the door opened. Maybe I could pretend like I was selling something, or we were taking donations. Yes, that was it. No, wait. A guy who was potentially a criminal probably would tell me he wasn’t interested in donating. The door rattled as I knocked. Regardless of my excuse for being there, it seemed as if no one was home.
Moving around the RV I managed to peek into a window. There was no movement inside and it looked as if no one was home, unless he as sleeping. Dorothy had waited by the RV steps. I joined her again and wrapped on the door one more time. We waited for an answer, but no one ever came. I still didn’t know if he was inside or not.
“Guess we’ll have to go.” Dorothy offered me a mint.
I waved off the candy. “Look the doorknob is messed up. I think it’s broken.”
I pushed on it slightly and the door moved.
“Nothing surprises me about this man,” Dorothy said.
“Maybe someone kicked the door in.”
“What do we do now?” Dorothy whispered.
“I guess open the door and see if he’s inside,” I said.
I grabbed the door knob and turned the handle, easing the door open in case anyone was standing right there. I leaned in just a little bit. No one was around, but then again, I wouldn’t know for sure because of all the junk piled around. This place was a real mess.
Dorothy peeked into the RV. “Wow, what a slob. Maybe I should go in and clean up for him.”
“You will do no such thing,” I said. “We have to go in there.”
“But what if he’s really in there?” she asked.
“That’s the chance we have to take.”
Dorothy and I walked up the rickety steps of the RV and stopped once inside the door.
“Where should we look first?” she whispered.
From the huge pile of clothing on the sofa, I couldn’t tell if someone was actually under there, or was it all dirty clothing? I eased over to the sofa and gently lifted up a piece of the clothing. Nothing underneath moved and I didn’t see anyone under there, so it was just a lot of dirty laundry. I couldn’t believe he had that much. He must have not washed any clothes for the last five years.
“He seriously needs to work on housekeeping skills.” Dorothy was right behind me now.
“Something tells me he’s not really worried about that, Dorothy,” I said. “I’m going to check the back and make sure he’s not here. In the meantime, you be on the lookout, okay? Call me if you see him coming. That’s very important.”
Dorothy gave a little salute. “I’ll let you know if I see him coming, got it.”
I eased down the tiny hallway and back to the bed area. I looked around, but didn’t see anyone. Next, I checked the small bathroom and even behind the shower curtain. No one was there.
I frantically searched through the RV. What I was looking for, I wasn’t sure. I even looked under the bed, but other than that, it was an empty space. I placed my hands on my hips. Dorothy tapped her finger against her lip in concentration.
“Oh, I forgot to check the driver seat area up there.” I pointed.
“Good thinking.”
I raced up to the front and rummaged under the seats. There was nothing but fast-food wrappers. Please don’t let me stick my hand in something I’ll regret. I pulled out a slip of paper. A time and location was written down. It was the time and place where Henry was killed. This was the smoking gun Jake needed, right? Or not so fast. For all I knew Kevan wrote this after Henry’s murder. Or maybe Henry asked Kevan to come with him to meet me. Or a dozen other innocent explanations. Nevertheless, I’d have to look into it. It was the best clue I had.
I waved the paper in the air. “I found something”
“What is it?” Dorothy asked.
“A note with the time and place Henry was murdered. I think this means we got the killer.”
“Great, now let’s get out of here before we get caught,” Dorothy said, motioning for me to come on.
I clutched the paper tightly in my hand and dashed toward the door, meeting Dorothy, who was anxiously waiting to get out of there. I wanted out of there just as much as she did. With her hand on the doorknob I stopped her.
“We have to look and make sure no one’s coming first. You don’t want to just run out of there.”
“Right. Good thinking.” Dorothy eased the door open and stuck her head out. She quickly came back in. “Someone’s coming.”
“Who’s coming?” I asked.
“The guy… he’s coming. What do we do?” she asked.
“Kevan?”
“Yes, that’s
the one. Again, I ask what do we do?”
“I don’t know. Take a deep breath before you hyperventilate,” I said. “We have to hide.”
“Where are we going to hide? It’s like the size of a tin can.”
I scanned the space, looking for someplace that we could hide. I spotted the little closet and ran over to it.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Even your skinny rear end can’t fit in there, much less me too.”
“I love you, Dorothy, I really do. But you really need to get over here right now. We have to give it a shot. You can go first.”
“Why should I get in first?”
“Okay, fine, I’ll get in first.” I hopped into the closet and motioned for her to come next.
Dorothy stared for a moment
“Hurry,” I said.
Dorothy placed one leg in and then squeezed the rest of the way in, pulling the door shut. Luckily, the thing didn’t click shut all the way so I knew we wouldn’t be trapped in there. Unless of course someone purposely locked us in. With any luck they would never know we were in here. But how long would it be before the guy left again so that we could get out of there? What if he looked in the closet for something? There was nothing in here, but what if he wanted to put something in here?
“Something is activating my allergies.” Dorothy placed her finger under her nose.
“Dorothy, hold it in.”
“But I can’t control if I have to sneeze,” she said.
I placed my index finger up to my mouth so Dorothy would be quiet. The guy was talking. Who was he talking to? Himself? What a crazy. Then I heard the female voice.
“So this guy walks into a bar with asphalt under his arm. He asks the bartender for a beer and one for the road,” Kevan said.
She laughed at his lame joke. Seriously? Run while you have a chance. Did she really think that joke was funny?
“Sorry about all the mess,” Kevan said.
I was surprised that he was actually apologizing.
“That’s okay,” she said.
Dorothy and I exchanged a wide-eyed stare. Things grew quiet and they weren’t talking. What was going on out there? I was almost afraid to find out. Soon my question was answered when I heard the heavy breathing and moaning noises. It was terrible. It was almost worth being caught just to get out of there and escape this. I couldn’t handle it. I placed my fingers in my ears and so did Dorothy. They were making out.
