by Laina Turner
“OK,” Tobey said.
“Did Chris tell you about Dirt? I’m assuming Katy told him?”
“She did and he did. It’s crazy. How do people break out of jail these days?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, but the more I think about it the more creeped out I get. I don’t know why he would risk coming here, but what if he does?”
“You think he really would? Wouldn’t he rather just get the hell out of here and go to some remote place, without extradition to the US? Or at least not come back to the place where he had been a sheriff’s deputy and most people would still recognize him?”
“That would be the most logical thing to do, but he’s not really all that logical these days. I mean, he did kill a man and just broke out of jail. That’s not rational thought.”
“Good point.”
“Do you ever miss politics, Tobey?” I said, changing the subject.
“Ha!” He snorted. “Not one single bit. My job now might be a little boring at times, but working for Senator Daniels definitely gave me my fill of politics and, more importantly, politicians. It’s just a game I have no desire to play. It’s funny how glamorous and exciting you think something will be in college and then the reality of it is a huge disappointment.”
“What do you see yourself doing long–term? Are you going to stay at the newspaper?”
“It works for now, and I know you left here and didn’t look back, but as corny as it sounds, I kind of like it here. Being around my family and friends. After the whole Senator Daniels thing, I was ready for laid back, even boring. And that’s what I’ve got here!”
“Yeah, I can understand that. Speaking of family, I should get back home. I promised my mom I would help her with a few things. But let’s meet up tomorrow and check out some of Bethany’s co–workers.”
“OK, tomorrow morning at nine. I should have the information by then.”
We left, and I took the long way out of town for no other reason than to see what had changed since my last visit a few months ago. Which wasn’t much. I started to turn left on the road that would circle me back around to head in the direction of my parents’ house when something, or rather someone, caught my eye. I slowed down and started to make my turn, luckily no one was behind me or they would probably have been honking at me at this point.
The person I was looking at was tall, lanky, dark haired, wearing blue jeans and a T–shirt, and standing next to an old Buick LeSabre. His back was to me, but there was a sense of familiarity that struck me when I saw him. His car was in the lot of an old drive–up restaurant that had gone out of business a few years ago and people used to advertise cars for sale and extra parking for special events. Basically, it was a place no one paid attention to or gave a lot of thought to what cars were there. It was a good place to hide in the open.
C’mon, turn around, dammit, I muttered to myself, wanting the person to turn around before I got too far past to see. As I slowly drove by, the man finally turned slightly to look over his left shoulder before he opened the driver’s side door. Almost as if he knew someone was watching him. I looked back at him in my rearview mirror and my heart nearly stopped as I confirmed my suspicion.
The man was definitely Dirt. He was back in town.
Chapter 10
Are you sure it was him?” Katy asked the next morning when we were on the phone. I had tried calling her last night, but hadn’t been able to get hold of her. She had gotten my voicemail this morning and called me, frantic. I didn’t blame her. I was still a little freaked out myself.
“I’m positive.”
“Did he see you?”
“I don’t think so. He was in the parking lot at Charlie’s, and I don’t really think he noticed my car even. Not that I’m the only black Kia in town, but I think had he seen and recognized my car, I would have been able to tell by his body language.”
“Did you call the police?”
“Of course I did.”
“What did they say?”
“They would check it out. I’m presuming he was gone by the time they got there or they would have let us know, but at least we know where he is for sure. Well, semi–sure, I guess.”
“Yeah, here. That doesn’t make me feel good.”
“I know, but since the police know he’s here they can hopefully spend more resources looking for him. It narrows the area they would be looking, or at least that’s what sounds logical to me.”
“Presley, this scares me. What do you think he wants?”
“I don’t know, Katy. I think we just need to be careful and observant. I don’t think he would be here to hurt us or anything.” At least I was telling myself that. There was nothing for him to gain by doing so, but then he had obviously come back here for a reason. I just couldn’t even begin to guess what that could be. “What are your plans today?”
“Well, your mom called mine and, thankfully, she is going with her to these meetings most of the day. I owe you one for that. So Chris and I were going to do some last minute shopping for vacation clothes. He has to work later today and when he’s at work, I was just going to finish up some of the decorations. The centerpieces for the tables still need assembly.”
“Why don’t I come over and help you with that so you’re not alone. I can stay until Chris gets home.”
“OK, we can open some wine and make a fun evening out of it,” Katy said.
“Sounds good.”
By the time we got off the phone, I was in the parking lot waiting for Tobey, who had texted that he was running late.
I went in to grab us a couple of coffees, even though I had drunk three cups already this morning. You could never have too much coffee, and my body was so used to it that the caffeine didn’t affect me. Unless I didn’t have any. Then I was a bit of a wreck.
By the time I walked out with two large cups in my hand, Tobey was pulling up. As I walked over to his car, he rolled the window down to take one of the cups.
“Wow, such service,” he said with a chuckle.
“I try.”
“Hop in.”
I walked around to the passenger side, got in, and looked at Tobey. “So what did you find out?”
“One of the ladies and one of the men don’t seem to be in the area any longer, but the other three are,” he said, grabbing a legal pad from the back seat and handing it to me. “It’s better than nothing. Here are the names and addresses. I thought it best to surprise them by showing up instead of calling. They probably aren’t going to want to talk to us. I wouldn’t if I were them, so the element of surprise would work best.”
“Or maybe not. We will just have to be persuasive,” I said.
Tobey pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the first destination, which was in the next town over in Clermont, where the real estate company had been located.
“Thank goodness for smart phones with GPS,” I said. “Makes finding places so much easier. So who are we visiting first?”
“First on our list is Celeste Thomas. Worked at Clermont City Reality with Bethany and the other ladies. She’s twenty–six and was the receptionist.”
“I find it interesting that in small towns such as Alkon and Clermont there could be something like a prostitution ring. I think of that as big city activity.”
“Everyone wants sex, Presley, and some people are willing to pay for it. Where there’s a demand there are often people who want to cash in on filling that demand.”
“I guess. We could have our own episode of City Confidential here. I loved watching that show with my dad. I don’t think it’s even on anymore.”
“Especially with the Dirt thing. Are you worried about him being around?”
“Of course I’m worried,” I said, “and maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t think he can stay around here for long without being spotted by the police. So either they will soon catch him or he’ll leave for somewhere safer and farther away.”
“Let’s hope. It’s kind of creepy kno
wing he’s out there.”
“I agree.”
“OK, look for 26573. Even and odd numbers are divided and it looks like odd are on the right.”
Tobey slowed so we could read mailboxes.
“Don’t you think these houses seem a little high end for a twenty–six–year– old?” I asked. The homes were in a newer development with those extremely large custom homes that were way, way above my pay grade.
“Maybe she still lives with her parents.”
“True. Stop! We just passed it.”
He put the car in reverse and backed up, then pulled forward a bit, parking next to the curb.
“What exactly are we going to say?” Tobey asked me as we got out of the car.
“The truth? That we want some information on Bethany. If you think that will work?”
“I have no idea so we might as well just be up front. The worse she can do is slam the door in our faces,” he said cheerfully.
We walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. I heard what sounded like small dogs in the house reacting to the sound with yappy barking of their own. A few seconds later, we heard footsteps and talking. I couldn’t tell what was being said, but I assumed it was someone telling those dogs to stop barking, because that’s what I would be saying. I loved animals, but the high–pitched barking of small dogs was really annoying after about two seconds.
The door soon opened and a beautiful blonde, whom I presumed was Celeste, stood before us. What initially struck me was how she reminded me of all the women who had been working at Granville Group. Blonde, young, beautiful. It was almost a cookie cutter effect and made me feel trumpy in my Hudson jeans, cute strappy high heel silver sandals, and layered tee shirts. When I got dressed this morning I had liked the way I looked. Now I almost felt insecure next to this beauty.
Did you have to be a beauty queen to work for Bethany? The dogs, Jack Russells it looked like, were jumping at her feet. Cute but annoying.
“Hush!” she said to them, which really had no effect. “Sorry about that. They get a bit excited when we have new visitors. What can I help you with?” she said, smiling, seeming friendly. Which was a good skill to have if she indeed had been an escort, I couldn’t help but think. Each to his own and I didn’t think less of anyone for choosing that profession, but I did have a hard time understanding it.
“Hi, I’m Presley Thurman and this is my friend, Tobey Stone. Sorry to drop in like this, but we had a few questions to ask you about Bethany Granville. You used to work with her at Clermont City Realty.”
Celeste frowned and shook her head. “I’m not sure …”
I decided to interrupt her before she could try and lie and say she didn’t know Bethany, which would then make it more difficult for us to get the truth. “You worked with her and someone named Rachel Andrews. Then Bethany moved to Alkon to work with another real estate agent, I’m assuming after you were arrested. I’m sure you’ve heard that Bethany was murdered? That’s what we care about.”
Her eyes got wide. “Bethany was murdered?”
“Yes. Last night.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t have anything to say about Bethany. We weren’t very close. Now, I have to get ready for work and don’t have time to talk,” she said in a rush and started closing the door in our faces. I put my hand up to the door to stop it and she looked at me as if she couldn’t believe I would try to stop her from closing her door.
“Listen! I don’t have anything to say and I really need to go.” This time, she closed it hard. I was thinking it was good thing I hadn’t stuck my foot in the door. I probably would have broken a few toes with the way she slammed it.
I tried knocking again and the dogs went crazy, but she didn’t come back to the door again, even to try and get rid of us. Nor did I hear her yelling at the dogs, so maybe she had some sound proof room because that’s the only way I would have been able to tolerate all that yapping.
“I don’t think she’s coming back,” Tobey said to me after about the fifth time I knocked.
“Yeah. I don’t think she is either. Well, at least we know she must have something to hide or else she wouldn’t have literally slammed the door in our faces when we mentioned Bethany,” I said as we walked down the sidewalk back to the car.
“It doesn’t help us any though.”
“No, but we can try the other people, and we can always come back here and try again if we have to. I can be very persistent. So where are we headed to next? Rachel Andrews?”
“No, I mapped them all out geographically. Jeff West is next.”
We made the short drive to our next stop, which was a modest house in a subdivision, definitely a few steps down from the house we had just left. Not bad by any means. More what I would consider normal, not opulent like Celeste’s.
We pulled up in front of the house we were looking for and I had a bad feeling it was empty. The lawn was overgrown and the lack of curtains on the windows made it pretty easy to see the house was in fact empty, or at least had no furniture in the living room.
I opened the car door to get out.
“What are you doing?” Tobey asked.
“Going up to knock on the door. You coming?”
“Umm, it’s obviously vacant. They must have moved and this was their last address.”
“They?”
“Jeff West, his wife, and three children.”
“Well, let’s knock anyway. Just in case.”
As expected, no one answered the door and peering through the side windows confirmed that the house was bare and had been vacated fairly recently, as there wasn’t that film of dust that you would expect after a month or so of no cleaning.
“Hey! What are you two doing?” a voice yelled, startling both of us.
We turned around to see an older woman, probably mid–seventies, a grandmotherly type. Though the scowl on her face was anything but grandmotherly.
“You’re trespassing! Now get before I call the police,” she said, holding a baseball bat and not looking at all afraid to use it. The sight of her might have almost been comical, but I didn’t dare laugh for fear I would be hit by the bat. She looked like she meant business.
Tough old broad. She clearly wasn’t the type to take any crap from anyone and I also bet she was the type who knew everything that was going on here in the subdivision.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we weren’t trespassing. I mean, technically we were, but we aren’t intentionally. We were looking for Jeff West.”
She peered at us suspiciously. I put my best smile on and held out my hand.
“I’m Presley Thurman and this is Tobey Stone. Do you know where Jeff and his family went?”
“Jeff and his family didn’t go anywhere. And why do you want to know?”
This was one time I didn’t really want to tell the truth. I wasn’t sure how to tell her we were trying to investigate a sex ring and a murder, but I couldn’t rack my brain for a plausible excuse.
“We are just here to follow up on a potential business matter we had discussed with him a while back,” Tobey said, jumping in to my rescue.
I just looked at him. That seemed like a ridiculous excuse, but it was very vague so maybe she would fall for it.
The look on her face told me that was a negative.
“Listen …? I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”
“That’s because I didn’t give it. It’s Edna. Edna Wilson.”
“Edna,” I said, again smiling brightly, trying to be my most charming self. “We mean no harm to Jeff or his family. We just need to talk to him. It’s to help a friend of ours.” I thought maybe this would appeal more to her. That we were trying to help someone. She might think we were nice people and be willing to talk.
She seemed to soften a little. “Jeff and his family didn’t go anywhere. His wife, Donna, and the kids went to her mother’s and Jeff went somewhere else. I don’t know where exactly, I just know it wasn’t with Donna. And I don’t know why, so don’t ask!�
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I looked at Tobey and knew we were both thinking the same thing, that Jeff’s wife had left him after his arrest for allegedly soliciting a prostitute.
“And you don’t know where he went?”
“Nope, and wouldn’t tell you even if I did know.”
“Thank you, Edna.”
“Harrumph. Just get out of here and stop peeking in people’s windows. It’s creepy. Didn’t your mother raise you with manners?”
I couldn’t help but smile. She was quite a hoot and little did she know I mortified my mother on a regular basis.
“And young man, if you’re going to make up stories, you need to work on that. You’re a horrible liar.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tobey said contritely.
Tobey and I turned back to the car. I was trying not to laugh, and he looked at me and said, “Shut up. You certainly weren’t coming up with anything better.”
“I know. I’m just laughing at how she called you on it.”
We got in the car and immediately drove away because Edna was still staring at us from her front porch. I didn’t want her coming after us again with her bat.
Tobey pulled out of the subdivision and drove down the street about a half mile where he pulled into a McDonald’s.
“I’m hungry,” he said.
“Hey, I’ll never refuse fries.”
Enjoying the hot, crisp, salty McDonald’s fries I knew I shouldn’t be eating but were too good to pass up, I asked Tobey, “What do you think happened to Jeff West and his family?”
“You’re guess is as good as mine.”
“That his wife left him? That has to be it. How fun to have had Edna for a neighbor,” I said, changing the subject.
“She reminds me of my Grandmother Sally on my dad’s side. Don’t take shit from no one. Sassy as hell.”
I wiped the salt and grease from my fingers and threw away my trash. “Are we off to the third person now?”
He nodded. “Hopefully the third try will be more successful.”
“Tobey, I know Chris is your brother and you’ll always be on his side, but do you really think he’s changed?” I asked as we were driving to Rachel’s, which was about twenty miles away. “You think he won’t hurt Katy anymore?”
