“Patricia?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
She smiled. “Thank you, Elizabeth, for making my son a bit more human. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him care for someone like he cares for you.” She closed the door behind her as she left.
Thirty minutes later, I made my way down to the kitchen, where I found Jake sitting at the table eating his breakfast. He smiled as I sat down. “You slept in a bit this morning, didn’t you? How are you feeling this morning?”
I looked over at the oven and checked the time: almost 9:30 a.m. “Sorry about that, and I’m okay,” I replied as Garth placed a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and toast in front of me. “Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“For listening, and for staying with me. I don’t think I’ve slept that well in a couple of weeks.”
“Anytime. All you have to do is ask. Should I do a repeat performance tonight? A few stupid human tricks to make you laugh?” he teased.
“I don’t think we have to go that far. But I think I’ll be fine.”
“Ms. Crenshaw, this just arrived for you,” Garth said, bringing in a large bouquet of yellow roses and light purple daises in a vase. He put it down on the table next to me.
“Must be from T.J. Maybe he’s worried about you being out here alone with me,” Jake teased me.
“He’s not the jealous type,” I replied as I reached for the envelope partially hidden in the flowers. “Maybe he just misses me.”
“You haven’t even been gone twenty-four hours,” he pointed out.
“I think it’s sweet.” I pulled out the card and read it.
“After we’re done with breakf…Lizzie, what’s wrong?”
I couldn’t answer him. I couldn’t breathe because I felt like I had been punched in the gut.
He came over to my side of the table and looked at the card. “What the bloody…” he said angrily after he read it. “Garth, where did these come from?”
“The florist in town, sir. When the delivery person dropped them off, he said his instructions were to drop them off by 10 a.m. Is there a problem, sir?”
“Get them out of here,” Jake said, picked the vase up and handing them to Garth, who had a confused look on his face.
“Of course, sir. I’m terrible sorry if I’ve done something wrong, Ms. Crenshaw.”
“It’s not your fault,” Jake assured him. “Just…donate them to the hospital or something.”
“Right away, sir.”
Jake slid the card into his back pocket and knelt down next to me. “Breathe, Lizzie, breathe.”
“I thought he was dead,” I gasped.
“He is. We both saw him. Doc Endicott confirmed it.”
“Well, somebody must have gotten it wrong somewhere!” I said angrily. “Because a dead man just sent me flowers!” I got up and stormed out of the room.
Jake pulled the card out of his pocket and picked up his phone off the table. “Sandra? Jake Mathias. I’m fine, thank you. They’re fine, too. Listen, I’m in town for a few days, and there was a bouquet of flowers delivered here a few minutes ago. No, they’re beautiful. We’re curious about who bought them. Can you gave me a name? Really? Are you sure about that? No, no problem. Thanks for the information. Give my best to Bill and the kids.” He slipped the card back into his pocket.
I came back as he hung up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“I wouldn’t apologize just yet,” he said. “You might bite my head off again.”
“Why?”
“I called the florist; she’s an old friend of mine. The flowers were paid for, in case, by someone claiming to be Ethan Winthrop’s assistant.”
There was that punch to the gut again. “I…I…”
“Sit down. I’m going to make another call.”
I did as he said. He brought me a glass of ice water and put it in my hand. “Drink this.” He picked up his phone and dialed. “I’m going to put this on speaker.”
“Where are you, Mathias?” Owen said when he answered the phone. “I went by the house last night to see you, but you weren’t there.”
“I’m in Virginia.”
“Virginia?! What are you doing in Virginia? I said keep a low profile, I didn’t say leave the state! In fact, I told both of you not to leave.”
I glared at Jake, and he shrugged. So much for clearing our trip with Owen.
“Look, I know people here who knew Ethan. I can get the answers that we need, whereas you would be met with stone cold silence.”
“Well, we’ve got a problem,” Owen said. “Lizzie’s missing.”
“No, she’s not.”
“How would you know? You’re not even here!”
“Because I’m here, too, Owen,” I said.
“Do you realize that T.J. is going nuts trying to find you?” Owen yelled at me.
“You didn’t tell T.J., either?” I glared at Jake. “Everything happened so fast yesterday, Owen, I didn’t have time to tell anyone I was leaving town. And by the time we got here, well, it was…and…did you talk to your sister? Because she knew we were coming here,” I told him.
Owen muttered something unintelligible. “Why were you looking for me last night?” Jake said.
“There was a package delivered to the newspaper for Lizzie yesterday. Something about it worried Ellen, so she called me. One of my patrol guys picked it up and brought it to the station. Needless to say, the contents are a bit disturbing.”
“What was in it?” I asked him.
“A doll that looked eerily like you, Lizzie, with a hangman’s noose around its neck. There were also photos of you and Jake from that fundraiser three weeks ago, and your face was scratched out in all of them. But hearts were drawn around Jake’s face.”
“Well, that goes along with what happened here a few minutes ago,” Jake replied.
“What happened?”
“Lizzie received some flowers, with a note attached. ‘You’re next’ was written on the card. Someone signed Ethan’s name.”
“God…”
“No kidding,” Jake said.
“Who else knows that you two are there?”
“Just Trixie, the pilot, Garth, and my mother.”
“Who’s Garth?”
“He’s worked for us for years,” Jake said. “He’s like a second father to me.”
“Do you think you can keep a low profile out there?”
“Well…” Jake started to say.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so. What are your plans for today?”
Jake scratched his chin. “I’m going to talk to some old classmates, just fish around for a bit of information.”
“We want to establish a pattern of behavior, Owen,” I added. “If he did this to me…” I hesitated for a moment, and Jake gently squeezed my hand. I swallowed and gave him a small smile. “If he did this to me and to Jake’s high school girlfriend, Jessica, then he’s probably done it to other women. And if any of these women felt the type of anger and fear I feel right now, then one of them hated him enough to kill him.”
“Even you, Lizzie?” Owen said.
“Even me.”
No one said anything for a minute. “Fine, rattle a few cages, ask some questions, see what you can find out. But watch your backs. Someone knows you’re there who knows about Ethan’s death.”
“The whole town must know about it, Owen. The Winthrops are big news around here.”
“Bigger than your family?” Owen joked.
“We’re known for doing good things around here; the Winthrops have a totally different reputation. Edward Winthrop is…well, the best description I can think of is the evil brother from that TV show Dallas.”
“Wow, that’s pretty bad,” I said.
“Edward makes J.R. looks like an angel.”
“That’s saying something,” I said, shaking my head. “No wonder Ethan turned out the way he did.”
“Whatever you d
o, watch your step,” Owen warned us. “If someone knows you’re there, then you’re definitely being watched. Someone blames Lizzie for Ethan’s death, and they want her to pay.”
“I think I’ve paid enough already,” I said quietly.
“I know, Lizzie,” Owen replied. I could hear some sadness in his voice. “You’ll get through this. If you need anything, you tell me. And when you’re ready, I’ll teach you some self-defense moves. I’ve always thought of you as a little sister, even when you were being a pain in my backside. I’d give anything to take away your pain.”
“Thank you, Owen. That means more to me than you could possibly know.”
“Yeah, well,” he cleared his throat. “You two just be careful. And Lizzie, call T.J.!” I heard a click.
“I didn’t know the big guy had such a sensitive side,” Jake said.
“Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll wring your neck.”
“Are you sure you want to go out with me today?”
“If you go, I go. Just let me get my bag. We’re going to need my notepad.”
Jake went to find Garth. “I need that small black case.”
“Sir?”
“Don’t give me that. You know what I’m talking about.”
Garth got a stern look on his face. “Please forgive me for what I’m about to say…I don’t think you need to take that little black case anywhere with you, Jake, while Ms. Crenshaw is with you. It’s only going to cause problems.”
“Her name is Lizzie, and someone left a death threat at our office back home.” Jake pulled the card out of his pocket and showed it to Garth. “See this? That’s why I need the black case. I’d get it myself, but I know you’ve got it hidden away somewhere.” He slipped the card into his pocket again. “We’re going to protect her at all costs, Garth. Now, get the Sig Sauer and put it under the driver’s seat of the Jeep.”
He nodded. “While you’re gone, I’ll talk to the security company about some extra men while you and Ms. Lizzie are here.” He started to walk away, but turned back around. “She’s a nice woman, Jake. I’m not sure what the situation is between the two of you, but if you’re willing to risk your life to protect her, she must be someone very special. Fix whatever the problem is between the two of you…sir.”
“Some things can’t be fixed, no matter how much you want to fix them,” Jake muttered as Garth walked away.
“What can’t be fixed?” I said as I walked in.
“The snowblower,” he said. “There’s a storm coming in apparently, and our old one has kicked the bucket.”
“Why don’t we pick one up while we’re in town?”
“Excellent idea. Are you ready? Got everything you need?”
I nodded. “Good to go.”
“Then let’s hit it.”
“By the way, am I going to meet any of your old girlfriends?” I asked him as we walked through the house.
“Maybe one or two.”
“Probably more like twenty or thirty,” I teased him.
Chapter 19
The first thing Jake did was take me to buy some boots. “With that storm coming, you cannot go around wearing those tennis shoes,” he said as we got out of the SUV.
“I’ve worn them in a snow storm before,” I protested.
“The ‘snow storms’ you get in Dallas are nothing like what we get here, Lizzie,” he replied.
Thirty minutes later, I was wearing a pair of KEEN high lace-up winter boots. I will admit, they were a lot warmer than my tennis shoes. Jake put the bag with my old shoes in the back of the SUV, and we started walking down the street. “I expected you to live in the big city,” I told him, “not in a small town at the foot of some mountains.”
“I seem to be blowing a lot of your expectations out of the water,” he laughed.
“Jacob Mathias!” someone called out behind us.
Jake cringed and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “Oh, Lord, I was hoping I would be able to avoid her this trip,” he muttered.
“Who is she?” I whispered.
“I know your mother taught you better manners than that, Jacob.”
We turned around to find a small, gray haired woman staring at us. She was about 4’10”, 90, maybe 95 lbs, wearing a black fur lined coat, a rainbow colored snow hat, black gloves, gray pants, and black snow boots. Icy blue eyes looked at us from behind a pair of round rimmed glasses. “Mrs. Simpkins, it’s so good to see you,” Jake said, bending over and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Hmpf, don’t give me that, Mr. Mathias. I know you saw me when you came out of Rosenthal’s store.”
“You’re right, I should have stopped and said hello.”
She looked at me. “And who is this young lady with you?”
I held out my hand. “I’m Elizabeth Crenshaw, ma’am.”
“Ruthdale Simpkins,” she said, shaking my hand. “Are you Mr. Mathias’ wife? All these modern young women today are keeping their maiden names. In my day, you took your husband’s name proudly.”
Jake snickered. “No, ma’am, I’m not his wife. Just a friend.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think he’s ever going to settle down. He had too many girlfriends in high school…”
“I don’t think we need to go down that road, do we, Mrs. Simpkins?” Jake interrupted her.
Mrs. Simpkins ignored him and kept talking to me. “He and Ethan Winthrop were always chasing after the same girls, at least until Jessica.” She glanced at Jake. “He quit dating for a while after her death, but Ethan never slowed down at all. I wonder if he’s married yet.”
“I should explain,” Jake said. “Mrs. Simpkins was one of my high school teachers. She knows all my deep, dark secrets.”
“And there are some things I wish I could forget, Mr. Mathias. Like the time I caught you peeking in the girls’ locker room…”
Jake’s face started to turn red. “Tell me about Jessica,” I interrupted. I wondered if he was going to tell her about Ethan’s death.
“Lovely young girl. Smart as a whip, and a pleasure to have in class. I think she had a future as a writer.”
“Would you like to join us for some coffee?” I suggested. “It might be warmer to go inside to talk.”
“I’m perfectly fine,” Mrs. Simpkins assured me, “but I appreciate the offer.”
“What do you remember about the week she died?” Jake said.
“She was withdrawn and sullen in class, which was totally unlike her. I pulled her aside and tried to get her to talk to me, but she just said everything was fine and ran off. I didn’t believe her for a minute. I could tell she had a black eye, even though she tried to cover it up with makeup. She wore baggy clothes that week, long-sleeved sweaters even though it was rather warm. I had an idea what happened, but without concrete proof, there wasn’t much I could do about it.” She glared at Jake. “I thought the two of you had had a fight.”
He looked at her wide eyed. “You thought I hit her?!”
“Yes, I did, at first,” she admitted reluctantly. I could tell that she felt ashamed of herself for thinking that. “Then I noticed after a couple of days, she stuck close to you, so I figured she must have confided in you. I caught you glaring daggers at Ethan, so it wasn’t hard to put two and two together after that.” She reached out and put a small, wrinkled hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry I thought so badly of you, Jacob.”
“It’s alright, Mrs. Simpkins,” he smiled, patting her hand.
“He did something to her, didn’t he?” Jake nodded, and she shook her head. “He was always a rotten boy. His father didn’t do him any favors bailing him out of trouble all the time.”
“Do you happen to know where he was the night Jessica disappeared?” I asked her.
Someone bumped into Mrs. Simpkins, and she stumbled a bit. Jake grabbed her so she wouldn’t fall, and we all moved closer to the nearest store. “I’m fine, thank you for checking!” she called out after the person who had nearly knocked her ove
r. “People have no manners these days. Anyway, yes, I know where Ethan was the night Jessica disappeared. He was at the high school, sitting in my classroom with several other students for a tutoring session.”
“Are you sure?” Jake said.
“I’m old, not senile, Mr. Mathias,” she snapped. “Of course I’m sure! His father had arranged for his son to be there that night personally. Ethan had failed to turn in an important paper, and had also flunked a test. The only way I would even consider passing him was if he attended tutoring sessions four nights a week for three weeks.”
Jake leaned against the store front. I could tell he was shocked by what Ruthdale had said. “Was there any night where he was late or maybe left early?”
“Definitely not,” she replied. “I made it very clear to him and his father that if Ethan didn’t attend each and every session, if he wasn’t there on time, that I would not hesitate to flunk him. It would have meant not graduating on time, and his father had big plans for him. He wasn’t about to allow that to happen.”
“All these years,” Jake said quietly.
“There was one night, however, that his father was late picking him up.”
“Did he say why he was late?” he said.
“Something about a meeting running late, I believe he said.”
“Do you happen to remember which night that was?”
She thought about it a minute. “It was a couple of days after Ethan was arrested. They pulled him out of my class and hauled him away.”
“Hi, Mrs. Simpkins,” a woman said as she stopped next to us. “Are you still coming to choir practice tonight?”
“Absolutely, Annabeth.”
“Great, I’ll picked you up at 6:30.”
They said goodbye to each other, and the woman walked off. Jake checked the time. “Lizzie, we better get going. We’re having lunch with a couple of Jessica’s old friends in a few minutes.” He pushed himself away from the store front. “Thank you for talking with us, Mrs. Simpkins.”
Death Vetoes The Chairman (Lizzie Crenshaw Mysteries Book 7) Page 14
