The Deputy's Proof

by Carla Cassidy

  “I need to see it,” he said. “In fact, I need to see all the rooms.”

  She knew it wasn’t mere curiosity but rather a need to check out windows and such for security purposes. She started the tour in the master suite, which held nothing but some storage boxes she’d gone through after her parents had left.

  “Do you ever use this room for anything?” he asked. He was all business, his gaze sharp as he looked into the master bath and then returned to where she stood.

  “No, not really. I use the bathroom in here, but I can always use the one in the hallway.”

  “Then I think the first thing we’ll do is buy a doorknob with a lock so that nobody can come in through the windows and through the door into the main living area.”

  His words made her realize just how seriously he was taking her safety. They left the master suite, and she showed him a small bedroom across from hers. It was a guest room with just a double bed and a dresser.

  “We’ll do the same thing to this room,” he said after checking to make sure the window was locked. “It’s not used, and so we’ll make access into the house a little more difficult.”

  A wave of shyness swept over Savannah as she led him into her room with its double bed, dresser and minishrine to Shelly on top of the desk.

  He checked the window first to make sure it was locked and then paused by the desk, looking at the items. “A ceramic frog? There has to be a story behind that.”

  A bittersweet smile curved her lips. “Bo gave that to Shelly when he proposed to her. The ring was in the frog’s mouth, and he told her she’d never kiss a frog because she’d spend the rest of her life kissing him.”

  Josh frowned. “We never found her engagement ring.”

  “You never found her real killer,” she replied and immediately wanted to call the words back. “I’m sorry. I really don’t want to talk about that now. All I want is to take a shower and fall into bed.” At least the hallway bathroom was windowless, so she didn’t have to worry about anyone coming inside.

  “While you shower I’ll get my things unpacked,” Josh replied. “And we need to keep your bedroom door open at all times so that I can hear if you might be in trouble.”

  “Okay,” she agreed. She didn’t particularly like it, but she’d like it even less if somebody managed to get through her window and attempted to get to her. She wanted Josh to be able to hear everything, even if she snored.

  She grabbed a clean nightgown from a drawer and headed for the bathroom. It was only when she stood beneath the hot spray of the shower that she began to weep as the trauma of the night gripped her once again.

  Leaning weakly against the shower stall, she wept with fear not only for what she had experienced but also for what the future held. If somebody wanted her dead and that person wasn’t identified, he would probably eventually succeed.

  There was only so much Josh could do to keep her safe. He could stay here, but it would take only a single shot through the kitchen window, a sniper’s bullet, to find her while she had her morning coffee.

  Somebody had wanted her sister dead and had succeeded. Why should Savannah be any different? She just hoped that before she died, she’d know who was responsible and why they had wanted her dead.

  * * *

  JOSH PLACED HIS gun on the coffee table, stretched out on the sofa and closed his eyes. Savannah had showered and was now sleeping soundly in bed. He hadn’t wanted to go to Mac’s room and crawl into bed, for he feared his sleep would be too deep.

  He figured he’d sleep lightly on the sofa and awaken easily at any alien noise that might mean danger, although he was expecting a quiet afternoon. The attacker had been up all night and had expended a lot of energy. Even the bad guys had to rest sometime.

  Josh needed to catch some shut-eye, but his brain raced, making it impossible for sleep to break through the chaos. Who had been in that inn last night, and who on earth would want to kill Savannah?

  She’d lived like a virtual recluse for the last two years, so the odds seemed slim that she’d done something to somebody that would warrant this kind of reaction.

  Could the attack be related to Shelly’s death? He just couldn’t believe that a murder that had taken place two years before had anything to do with the threat to Savannah now. Had Chad Wilson taken her rejection of him more seriously than she’d thought? Was Eric Baptiste involved?

  He finally drifted off to sleep and was shocked to realize it was nearing dusk when he awakened. The first thing he did was jump up off the sofa and check on Savannah, who was still sound asleep.

  He checked the rest of the house and then went into the kitchen and raided the cabinets until he found the coffee and cups and then put on a pot to brew and sat at the kitchen table.

  He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Daniel, assuming he’d probably be up and around by now after his night shift and work at the inn that morning.

  “Did I wake you?” he asked when Daniel answered.

  “Nah, I was just getting ready to make me a sandwich.”

  “How did things go after we left this morning?”

  “No fingerprints found, no sign of forced entry, so we are sure the perp came in through the tunnel.”

  “Did you all check out the tunnel?” Josh asked. He got up to pour himself a cup of coffee.

  “Trey called Mayor Burns, and the two of them and Ray went in, but I haven’t heard what they found. Trey sent me home to get some sleep. You might check with him. How is Savannah doing?”

  “She’s still asleep. I’ve moved into her place for the time being. I swear, Daniel, I can’t figure out who might have a beef with her.”

  “I don’t know. It all started with that attack in the tunnel,” Daniel said. “And the only person we’ve learned about so far who knew about the tunnel system is Eric Baptiste.”

  “Who supposedly had become friends with Shelly just before her murder.” Josh heaved a sigh of frustration.

  “If Eric knows anything about Shelly’s murder, he’s not talking,” Daniel said.

  “I still can’t figure out a connection between Shelly’s murder and what’s happening now. It’s been two years. Maybe since Eric knew about the tunnel network, it’s possible that somebody else knows and thinks Savannah is a threat to whatever is going on down there.”

  “We’ve got to figure out if something is going on in the tunnels, something worth killing for,” Daniel replied.

  “Eat your sandwich. You’ve given me plenty of food for thought,” Josh said. The two men disconnected, and Josh carried his coffee cup back to the table and sat.

  He called Trey to get an update and was still seated at the table thirty minutes later when Savannah entered the kitchen. Her hair was sleep-tousled, and a pink robe wrapped around her and was belted at her slender waist.

  “Sleep well?” he asked and tried not to notice how sexy she looked with her sleepy eyes and bedhead.

  “Like a log,” she replied. “What about you? Did you get in some shut-eye?” She walked across the room to the coffeepot.

  “I just woke up about an hour ago,” he replied. “I think it would be a good thing if we could work into twisting our hours to normal ones so we sleep at night and are awake during the day.”

  She joined him at the table and wrapped her hands around her coffee mug. “Why?”

  “Because I think we need to spend our days out and about and doing a little investigating of our own.”

  Her eyes widened as if he’d just asked her to walk a tightrope between two skyscrapers. “I really don’t like the idea of being out and about.”

  “I know I’m asking you to leave your comfort zone, but to be honest, I think Trey is more interested in investigating the tunnels than he is in investigating who might be after you. I just think we need to be proactive.”

  She took a sip of the coffee, her eyes dark and fathomless over the rim of her cup as she stared at him. “Proactive, how?”

  “We need to talk to Bo, an
d I want to check out this Chad guy who delivers your groceries every week. You should be seen in town, and we can gauge people’s reactions to you.”

  She lowered her cup slowly and stared past his shoulder and out the window, where the last gasp of twilight painted the scenery in deep purple shades. “You have no idea what you’re asking of me.” She looked back at him.

  “I think I do,” he countered. “You’ve hidden out here for two years, and I’m asking you to leave your safe haven because I don’t think it’s necessarily safe anymore.” He was asking her to rejoin life again, and he hoped in doing so he wasn’t putting her more at risk of death.

  “I’m safe with you here,” she protested.

  “I don’t want us to be sitting ducks here. I want to find out who is behind the attacks on you, and we can’t do that just by hanging out here.”

  “Okay. We’ll do it your way,” she said, but he could tell the idea didn’t sit well with her. “In the meantime, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

  She jumped up from the table and went to the refrigerator. “How about cheese and mushroom omelets with toast? Usually when I wake up at this time of night, I’m ready for breakfast food.”

  “Sounds good to me,” he agreed. He had a feeling her sudden starvation came from her need to change the subject. “What can I do to help?” he asked.

  “Just sit there and stay out of my way,” she replied.

  He figured what she’d really like to do is pretend he wasn’t there. But he was here, and he wasn’t going anywhere until the danger to her had been neutralized.

  She worked silently, cutting up mushrooms and whisking eggs in a mixing bowl. He watched her, enjoying the sight of her as she bustled around, a look of fierce concentration on her face.

  She deserved so much better than what she’d given herself over the last two years. She should be having lunch out with girlfriends, enjoying drinks and dinner at Jimmy’s Place.

  It was ironic that he was pulling her back into life because somebody wanted her dead. The truth was, he remembered the rush to judgment in Shelly’s murder, and he didn’t trust Trey to investigate the attempts on Savannah’s life adequately.

  When Josh had spoken to Trey on the phone earlier, Trey had even implied that perhaps Savannah had done all the damage to the inn herself the night before, that she was seeking new attention since she was no longer doing her ghost walks. Josh had only just managed to tamp down his outrage at his boss.

  “I spoke to Trey just before you woke up,” he now said.

  Savannah poured the egg mixture into an awaiting omelet pan and then looked at him expectantly. “Did they find anything? Fingerprints or any useful evidence?”

  “No, nothing like that. Mayor Burns showed up, and he and Trey and Ray went into the tunnel and followed it until they reached a three-pronged fork. They remained in the main tunnel and found an exit at the edge of the swamp shanties but didn’t get a chance to complete their exploration of the other two forks. They plan to do that tomorrow.”

  She placed four slices of bread in the toaster and pressed down on the knob. “So, it’s possible that whoever came out into the inn came from that entrance near the swamp. Both Eric and Chad would know that area.”

  “Chad is from the swamp side of town?” Josh asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever met him.”

  She nodded and flipped the omelet pan to the other side. “He’s four or five years younger than us. He’s Sharon’s son and mostly works in the back of Sharon’s grocery store, so you probably haven’t seen him there. Sharon lived in one of the shanties when Chad was growing up. He told me he was fifteen when his mother finally moved them to a house near the store. He doesn’t strike me as the type who would get into trouble.”

  “That’s what we thought about Coach Cantor, and he wound up being a sick stalker bent on killing Claire Silver,” Josh reminded her. “Just because he’s nice when he delivers your groceries doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be looked at more closely.”

  “All I know is that I want whoever is after me behind bars sooner rather than later.” She moved the pan off the burner and turned toward the counter as the toast popped up.

  It wasn’t long before they were seated at the table and eating. The silence between them grew to an uncomfortable level as Josh tried to think of a topic that might be neutral and pleasant.

  She didn’t appear bothered by the silence, but then she probably wouldn’t be. He imagined she was accustomed to it. But he found it odd to sit at a table with another person and not have any conversation at all.

  “What do you do when you’re here in the house all day?” he finally asked.

  She looked up from her plate and frowned thoughtfully. “I spend a lot of the day sleeping, and then when I’m up, I watch television or clean house. Sometimes I work on creating new recipes or read. What do you do during your spare time?”

  “Like you, I sleep during part of the day, and then I sometimes meet Daniel for a late lunch or I hang out at Jimmy’s Place and socialize.”

  “I still think of Jimmy’s Place as Bo’s Place,” she replied. “I haven’t been in there since Bo sold it to Jimmy and left town.”

  “Maybe we’ll have a late lunch there tomorrow.”

  “Why would we do that? I can make lunch here,” she protested.

  “Because I’ve often seen Bo and Claire there in the afternoons, and talking to them is as good a place as any to start our own investigation.”

  “I can’t imagine that they’d have any information that might tell us who is after me,” she replied.

  “They’ve been stirring up things about Shelly’s murder. Who knows what they might know or what other gossip we might hear while there that will move us forward.”

  She shook her head. “I hate this. I hate all of it. I was perfectly content with living life on my terms, and now I feel like I’m being forced out of my comfort zone.”

  “Taking steps out of your comfort zone isn’t always a bad thing,” he countered softly.

  She looked at him dubiously. “And when was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone?”

  “The night I had you over for dinner,” he replied easily. “You were the first woman I’ve ever invited to dinner at my house. I can’t remember the last time I was so nervous, except when I heard there’d been trouble at the inn.”

  “You were nervous to have me to dinner?” A tiny smile danced at the corner of her lips.

  “Terrified,” he replied. “I wanted the night to go perfectly, and I was afraid I’d accidentally stick a fork in my eye or catch my pants on fire while I was grilling the steaks.”

  She giggled. “You’re silly.”

  “Maybe you need a little silly in your life right now,” he replied.

  Her giggle instantly died. “Josh, don’t push me. The fact that you’re here in my house, the idea of going out and mingling with other people and the knowledge that somebody wants to kill me are more than enough for me to handle right now.”

  “I just remember the young woman who used to flirt with me, the one who laughed so easily and made me want to be around her,” he said.

  Her eyes darkened once again. “That woman is gone and she’s never coming back.”

  “You have no idea how much I mourn her passing,” he said with more emotion than he’d intended.

  Her cheeks flushed with a faint pink tone, and she glanced away from him. She started to rise from the table and then sat once again, her eyes huge. “Josh, I just saw somebody at the window.”

  Chapter Nine

  Adrenaline flushed through him. “Act normal,” he instructed her. “Clear the table and pretend that nothing is wrong. Don’t look toward the window again. I’m going to grab my gun and go out the front door. I’ll lock it behind me. Don’t open it again for anyone except me.”

  He got up from the table and sauntered out of the room with a forced ease. The minute he left the kitchen, he raced for his gun and was out the front doo
r.

  The hot July night smacked him in the face but didn’t slow him down. He ran to one side of the house and peeked around the corner. Seeing nobody there, he ran to the next corner that would show him the backyard.

  Thankfully the moon was three-quarters full, spilling down enough illumination for him to see without any artificial light. He gazed around the corner and saw a figure clad in black moving across the yard.

  “Halt,” Josh cried and then cursed as the person took off running. He wasn’t about to shoot an unknown person in the back for window peeping. “Stop or I’ll shoot,” he bluffed.

  Apparently, the man knew it was a bluff because he didn’t slow down. With another curse Josh took off after him. Whoever it was appeared physically fit, and Josh had to push himself in order to make any gain on him.

  The window peeper ran across the backyards of several houses and jumped a chain link fence, which started a dog barking frantically. Josh reached the fence as the perp flew over the opposite side of the fence and cut between two houses, disappearing from Josh’s view.

  Instead of jumping the fence, Josh raced along the edge of it to the front of the house, but the perp had disappeared. Josh crept as silently as possible, his gun still in his hand as he passed the house with the fence, and spun around the corner to see if the “Peeping Tom” might be hunkered down there.

  Nobody was there. There wasn’t even a shed or outbuilding for him to have hidden in. Josh looked across the street, where there was also no sign of the person.

  He had no idea where to go next. The hunt was over and the man had gotten away. He turned to head back to Savannah’s house. Dammit, if he’d just been a little faster he might have caught the man and solved the mystery of the attacks on Savannah.

  There was no way he really believed that some teenager or creep was trying to get a cheap thrill by peeking into a window. This felt far more ominous, considering what Savannah had been through the night before. Josh’s car was in the driveway, so whoever it was had to know that she wasn’t alone in the house.

  Had he just looked in to make sure Josh was really there? Was he trying to get an idea of the floor plan of the home? Or was he obsessed enough that he’d just needed to catch a glimpse of Savannah?