“I have to go,” he said, his fingers tightening on his keys. “Call me if you need me.”
Leann waved him away. “We won’t. Now go.”
Having officially worn out his welcome, he jumped into his vehicle and pulled out of the drive, heading straight for home. He needed a whiskey and a comfortable bed after the day and night he’d had. If Leann wanted to indulge Dizzy’s fantasies then she was welcome to. He wasn’t going to do it. Someone had to be the rational one around here, and lately that job had fallen to him.
Chapter Five
‡
Dizzy yawned and shifted on the couch before taking another fortifying sip of coffee. She didn’t want to fall asleep. Not with a killer living so close.
“Park Place,” Leann announced with triumph. “You owe me fifty bucks.”
Both women had changed into pajamas – Leann borrowing a pair of Dizzy’s – and they’d hunkered down for the night, determined to keep watch on the home next door in case Trip decided to move the body away from the house. To that end, they’d set up a Monopoly game between them on the sofa where they could see the street from a gap in the drapes. If anyone left their home tonight, they’d see it.
“Here you go.” Dizzy handed over the money with less than enthusiasm. Her mind was only partially on the game and it showed. She was getting thoroughly trounced, although Monopoly wasn’t her preferred game. She was better at Clue but they’d both thought that a game based on a murder wasn’t a good choice. “It’s so quiet this time of night. Kind of creepy, isn’t it?”
Leann pushed the dice closer to Dizzy. “I think that what happened tonight makes it creepy, not the silence. Can you see anything?”
“Nothing. Not even a cat. Wouldn’t he want the body out of the house? I mean…unless he’s doing something awful with it.” Dizzy shuddered again. “Now I’m freaking myself out.”
Twisting her body around, Leann peeked out of the curtains for a moment. “I have a theory. After Trip strangled that girl, he probably panicked. I know I would. So then what would he do?”
“Dispose of the body,” Dizzy replied immediately. “That’s what I’d do, especially if people knew she was with me.”
“But if they didn’t know,” Leann countered. “And you were scared, you might stuff the body away and then try and calm down. You know, think about what you should do and where you would get rid of the body and the evidence. But I guess that’s the opposite of panicking. So if he didn’t panic, this might not be his first murder.”
Placing her hand on her now nauseous stomach, Dizzy gulped down the acid that had gathered in her mouth. “That’s just lovely. I live on Serial Killer Boulevard. This is going to hit home values hard.”
Leann turned to check the street again. “You’re going to have to move now. You know that, right? You can’t stay here.”
That very thought had crossed Dizzy’s mind more than once this evening.
“If they don’t end up arresting him,” she pointed out. “Eventually he’s going to have to get rid of the body and we’ll be here watching him. Do you think he knows that he’s being watched? Is he watching us watching him?”
This was worse than when she’d watched a double feature of Terror Train and Prom Night. All alone. She’d quickly learned what a nightmare really was like.
Leann pursed her lips in thought for a long moment before answering. “Honestly? No. I think the arrogant little prick thinks he got away with it. The way he came over here tonight so confident and smug. He thinks that no one is going to believe you no matter what you say and that he can charm you into thinking you had a bad dream or something. Did you see how he was laying it on thick with Easton? How he loved his job and all that crap but the whole time he was watching you.”
“And now we’re watching him. And I bet he knows that we are. He’s not going to do anything with that body tonight, is he? He’s going to wait a day or two until he thinks we’ve lost interest or believe his story.”
Leann stood and padded into the kitchen, retrieving the coffee carafe to refill their mugs.
“I know this is going to sound macabre but where do you think he hid her?”
Dizzy rubbed her pounding temple. She’d had a headache for hours and it showed no signs of waning any time soon. “You’re only saying out loud what I’ve been thinking silently. These houses on this cul de sac and down the street are almost identical in layout. If it were me I might stow her in a corner of the basement or perhaps in the crawlspace behind the powder room. I think there’s enough room and the opening isn’t conspicuous at all. Anyone could walk right by it and not even know it’s there.”
Leann’s brows were pinched together as she poured the coffee. “You have a crawl space behind the bathroom? Where? I’ve never seen it and I helped you move in to this house. I lived here with you for months.”
“Follow me. I’ll show you.”
Dizzy led the way down the hall toward the laundry room. The half bath was next to it and then there was a small alcove that led to the garage. She pointed to the white-washed wainscoting on the wall.
“Right there.”
Leann bent down closer, but she shook her head. “I don’t see– Wait, there it is. Just a gap in the wainscoting, barely enough to get your fingers in there. You wouldn’t know unless you were looking for it. Holy hell, you could really hide something or someone back here.”
Swinging the small door open, Dizzy knelt down to look inside the dark space. She didn’t use this for anything as she hated any and all creepy crawlers. If she’d opened her Christmas decorations and found a spider the holidays would definitely be cancelled that year.
But there was room for a dead body. Not much more but a determined person could make it work.
“For awhile,” Dizzy replied, although her mind was already working on just how long that was a feasible choice for Trip. Eventually… “But he can’t leave her there for long. He needs a more permanent solution. Jeez, listen to the way we’re talking about it. So cold-blooded and clinical.”
Leann nodded sagely. “Your more rational mind is taking over for the emotional part of your brain until you process all your feelings about what you witnessed tonight. Classic reaction and nothing to worry about. You’re normal.”
As a licensed psychologist, Leann’s opinion could be trusted.
“Your cousin doesn’t think that. He thinks I’m a liar and a weirdo.”
It still stung that Easton hadn’t believed her. She shouldn’t have expected it but there was a small part of her that had hoped he would. She should probably just be grateful that he had intervened with the police and leave it at that.
Leann levered off the floor and helped Dizzy close up the crawlspace. “Easton needs a good smack every now and then. I apologize for his crappy attitude tonight but you know how he is. A computer for a brain and a cash register for a heart. I pity the woman he eventually marries.”
They turned out the lights behind them as they headed back into the living room, hoping they hadn’t missed anything happening on the street. Dizzy took up her position on the couch again.
“I don’t know about that. Easton is the type that once he falls in love he’d be a dedicated husband. He’d never cheat on her.”
Leann snorted. “That’s true. He’d never want to admit that he was that human. As for falling in love, I can’t even imagine how he would do that. He makes everything about profit and loss, pros and cons. I heard him tell Jason once that he should select his wife carefully because she had to fit into the Anderson family. Can you believe that? Like I would have launched Zach if he didn’t get along with my brothers and cousins? I highly doubt he’s ever been in love. Not really.”
Frankly Dizzy couldn’t imagine Easton in love either, although until this moment she hadn’t given it any thought. He had many wonderful qualities but he had a few others that made her crazy. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t interested in Easton Anderson. He might be handsome as hell but he was a pain i
n the ass.
“Do you think you could call Zach?” Dizzy suggested meekly. Leann’s fiancé was currently out of town for work. “Not now obviously but maybe tomorrow? Maybe he could…you know…check out Trip Stanford. He’s lived in Tremont a long time but what does anyone know about him?”
She hated suggesting it but the police weren’t going to lift a finger to help her. If she wanted anything done she was going to have to call in a few favors.
Leann slapped down her coffee mug. “That’s a great idea. Why didn’t I think of that? Zach can do a little background check on your neighbor. Who knows what he was up to before he moved here? I’ll call him in the morning, first thing. Which is in approximately four hours.”
Checking the deserted street one more time, Dizzy stood and headed to the kitchen.
“I better put on another pot of coffee then. Is it my turn or yours?”
It was going to be a long night and no way was Dizzy going to shut her eyes for even one minute of it.
Chapter Six
‡
As a member of the Anderson family, Easton took his responsibilities to the town of Tremont quite seriously. That was why he had volunteered to be a judge in the Anderson Industries sponsored art contest being held at the community center. That explained why he was standing in the middle of a crowd with his younger brother Carter looking at a row of paintings from some of Tremont’s most artistic citizens. And more than a few who didn’t have a creative bone in their body but they enjoyed taking the classes and socializing.
When he’d remembered where he needed to be this morning he’d almost called in sick but his innate sense of honesty simply wouldn’t let him do that. He was going to have to tough out the day but it wasn’t going to be easy, because the one person he didn’t want to see was in charge of the art contest.
Dizzy. Looking especially lovely today dressed in a black sleeveless dress covered with brightly colored flowers. The skirt was short enough that it showed off her tanned and toned thighs.
Why am I looking at her legs? Stop it right now. What’s happening to me?
It was all that talk last night at the party about how Dizzy would be the perfect woman for him. That the other females he dated were boring and she was spontaneous and unpredictable. Now he was noticing her in ways he hadn’t before and he didn’t like it one little bit. It was wrong.
Dizzy might be pretty and eccentric but she selflessly gave her time to teach painting and sculpting at the center. Which was how he’d been roped into this job in the first place. She’d attended one of the famous Anderson Sunday dinners and had corralled himself and Carter in the kitchen appealing to their civic duty and not letting them out until they’d agreed. So here he was and it was awkward as hell. Just a few hours ago she’d ordered him out of her house.
For good reason, too.
After the few hours of sleep he’d managed to grab he’d come to the conclusion that although he was right about Trip Stanford not being a killer, that didn’t mean that Dizzy didn’t totally believe she’d seen a murder. He could have been more understanding and saved the tough love for the light of day. She had to have been terrified in her own home last night and that didn’t sit well with him at all.
He wasn’t the kind of man to leave a woman in distress on her own. At least he hadn’t thought that he was but his behavior said something different. Sure, Leann had been there and she could kick some major ass, but he hadn’t been the gentleman he’d thought he was. Her situation had been inconvenient and incompatible with his busy schedule so he’d acted like an ass. His only saving grace was that he truly didn’t believe Dizzy was in any danger at all.
“What do you think?”
Carter’s voice penetrated Easton’s distant thoughts as he stared sightlessly at an abstract multi-colored painting with huge splashes of red. He had no fucking idea what this was supposed to represent and it looked like a finger-painting from a toddler. This was art?
“It’s very…red.”
His brother must have thought Easton’s reply was hilarious because he cracked up, hiding his face behind his arm and pretending to write something down on his clipboard.
Carter pointed to the card next to the painting. “It’s supposed to represent a woman’s struggle against a patriarchal society.”
Easton sympathized with the female’s frustration regarding asshole chauvinists but that didn’t help him understand the painting.
“It’s red,” he repeated, raising his brows at the explanation. It sounded like a bunch of crap. “It might go well in Leann’s house. She likes red.”
“You do not buy art to match your throw pillows, Easton.” That voice. He’d been avoiding her all day, dealing with her assistant, but he was caught now. “You buy it because it speaks to your heart and soul. Because it evokes a strong emotion inside of you. It would appear that this piece doesn’t move you in any way.”
Slowly turning around, Easton steeled himself against what would surely be one pissed off female but this one wasn’t giving him the stink eye as he’d expected. Her pretty features were serene and composed as if it was someone else who had ordered him out of her house last night. Someone that looked just like her.
“I wouldn’t say it doesn’t evoke any emotion at all,” Easton heard himself say. “It’s just not a strong one.”
Dizzy nodded as if he was making sense. “People all react to art differently. You might have more luck outside of the abstract realm.”
His younger brother placed his hand on Dizzy’s shoulder and Easton had the strangest urge to knock it away. There was no reason for Carter to be touchy-feely with Dizzy. They weren’t all that close, at least as far as he was aware.
“How are you?” Carter asked, his trademark grin wiped from his face and a more sober expression taking its place. “Are you hanging in there?”
Leann must have called Carter or maybe she’d talked to Noah, who had talked to Carter. Either way, the news was out.
Dizzy’s own smile had disappeared as well but she nodded bravely, her shoulders straightening. “I’m okay. Shaken up but okay, although I will say that Leann and I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night.”
“I would imagine not. What are you going to do now?”
Nothing.
“Leann talked to Zach this morning and he’s going to check out Trip Stanford. See if there’s anything from before he came to Tremont.” She lowered her voice even more, barely a whisper. “I’m also going to keep an eye on the house. He might try and move the body soon.”
There was no body. No murder. He felt badly about his behavior last night but Dizzy’s belief in what she’d seen hadn’t diminished in the least. If anything, she looked more determined than ever.
Shit. This was not good.
“Zach’s a good guy and if anything is there he’ll find it.” Carter nodded approvingly. Did his brother actually believe what Dizzy was saying? The entire Anderson family had lost their minds. “Let me know if you need any help. I’d take a shift watching for some of your famous snickerdoodles.”
Dizzy was smiling again. “That sounds like a great deal. I might even throw in some apple pie too.”
Dizzy’s cooking was legendary in about three counties. Maybe more.
“Now wait a minute,” Easton heard himself objecting. “Apple pie is my favorite. Carter likes cherry.”
“I like apple,” Carter contradicted with a laugh, reaching out to touch her arm. Again. “I like everything Dizzy cooks. Seriously, call me if you need anything at all.”
Well, aren’t you the helpful one?
Carter was flirting with Dizzy. Flirting. The last thing Dizzy needed was a horn dog like Easton’s brother chasing her around with his tongue hanging out. She deserved better than that.
“We should get back to work,” Easton said, clearing his throat to get their attention. “We have a lot to do and people are waiting for the results.”
Narrowing his eyes, Carter gave him an appraising look. �
�Sure, we probably should get back to the business at hand.” He waved toward the painting. “I guess I don’t really understand how to figure out what it’s trying to say and how we’re supposed to judge it.”
She smiled then, her pink lips turning up at the corners, showing off dimples in her cheeks. He’d noticed them before, of course, but somehow today they looked different. But that wasn’t really possible. Unless maybe this really wasn’t the same Dizzy from last night.
Great. Now she’s got me believing in that paranormal bullshit.
“You don’t have to understand it. Your cognitive response isn’t important here, your emotional one is.” She motioned toward the painting. “The red represents the artist’s anger at society around her, which has grown larger than the other feelings represented by the different colors. Green for serenity, yellow for happiness, blue for sadness, and so on. But you don’t need to know that to judge it. You only need to tap deep down into your heart and decide how it makes you feel, even if the only thought you have is that it’s pretty or ugly.”
Dizzy had gone to art school so this all came naturally to her. Easton? This was like learning a foreign language when you had to go to the bathroom really badly but didn’t know the right words to be able to ask someone where it was located.
“I think I may be the wrong person for this job,” Easton said, frowning at the rows of paintings on the walls of the center. “You should have asked Leann. She’s all about feelings.”
Carter scratched on his clipboard. “I think we can handle this. I know what I like and don’t like.”
“Perfect. I really do appreciate you both helping out today. And I do have Leann helping out as well. She’s judging the sculpture entries in about an hour.”
A small group of people had wandered close by to look at the artwork. Two couples who were clearly old enough to know better were giving Dizzy sly looks and not bothering to hide their laughter.
Window to Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 7) Page 4
