“Why would he risk coming back here and doing this?” Carly asked. “I don’t know what he was looking for upstairs, but this is destruction, not searching.”
Daniel ushered Carly back to his car and dialed nine one one. While they waited for the police, Daniel couldn’t help but wonder, “What is the point of risking the police catching you to come back and destroy the store. This is stupid. Even Trevor isn’t that stupid. If he’s lying low, what could possibly make him come back to a crime scene and destroy the store?”
He spent a few minutes explaining to the officer what they had done when they saw the damage and reassured the officer that they hadn’t gone inside. The officer waited for back up and then they went in to check the store out.
Daniel got back in the car, making sure to stay out of the way of the police.
“Why?” Daniel was startled by the thin sounding question coming from Carly. She turned her head to look at him and repeated, “Why?”
“I don’t know baby, but we are going to find out.”
A knock at the window temporarily ended their brief conversation. An officer was standing there. Daniel got out and after a brief conversation he turned around and opened the door. Leaning in he said, “They want me to go in and take a look around. I’ll be right back. One of the officers will stay outside to make sure you are okay. I won’t be long.”
Carly just nodded, lost in her own thoughts.
The store was destroyed. Not a thing seemed to have been spared. If an item could be, it was now broken, torn, ripped, upside down, shattered, gouged and ruined. It seemed the only things that weren’t touched were pictures on the wall. But not much else would survive. As they walked through the store, Daniel answered all the officers’ questions.
When they came out of the store, Daniel saw someone squatting in the open passenger door of his car talking to Carly. He hurried over to make sure she was alright. Det. Stone was there asking Carly questions.
“Excuse me…” Daniel made his presence known.
“Mr. Wayne, sorry I can’t say it is good to see you again, maybe if it were under different circumstances.” Daniel noticed the worry lines around the detective’s eyes.
“It’s good to have you here on this. We’d like to get this settled. Any luck finding Trevor.”
“No, not yet. But we have a lead on a possible location. Det. Wright is on his way there now.”
“That’s good news.”
“I was just telling Carly that she would need to find another place to stay for a few days. But I will need to be able to contact her if I should need to.” Det. Stone looked down and smiled at Carly.
“She will be with me at my house, you can reach her there.”
Det. Stone nodded and headed into the store.
“Let’s get you home. You won’t be coming back here until we figure out what is going on. I also don’t want you alone until this maniac is caught.”
Carly had no arguments. She knew she didn’t want to be left alone. That’s when the fear snaked into her thoughts.
A call later that night, just after dinner brought good news; Trevor had been picked up at his fiancé’s house. After talking with him for about ten minutes at the station, they went back for the fiancé, Stefanie Lynn, whom Trevor indicated was the one responsible for everything.
They hadn’t finished their interrogation with Trevor yet and hadn’t started with Miss. Lynn, but they believed they had their culprits. Carly slept soundly for the first time in weeks.
“Harm and I will try to be with you at all times. When neither of us can, some of the guys at the station have offered to help. They are all spitting mad that this is happening. They all loved Jenna and, it seems, they are all rather fond of you.” Daniel said with chagrin. He knew Carly was attractive, sweet and quite a catch. He couldn’t believe that she had stayed single this long. He was thankful that he had come to his sense before it was too late, otherwise she may have moved on without him.
“I feel terrible putting all of you guys to so much trouble.” She could see that Daniel was getting ready to argue and before he could speak she said, “But I’m not stupid, and, even though they have Trevor in custody, I’m still scared! Daniel, I don’t know why this is happening…” Carly shook her head almost violently. “I want this to be over but how can it be when we don’t even know what it is about? I mean, what’s going on? Why is all this happening? Jenna is killed, the shop is ransacked, the apartment is broken into and I’m chased into the alley. Why? To what end? I just don’t get it. Was Jenna just in the way? I mean, they are breaking in and ransacking like they are looking for something. They apparently didn’t know I was in the apartment when they broke in. They were looking for something. No one was there when they broke into to store. The storeroom was trashed when Jenna…” Carly pulled her strength together. “When they killed Jenna. So what is it that they want? Why does it keep happening? They don’t have what they want or need…But what can it be?”
Daniel took Carly into his arms, “I don’t know honey, but we will figure it out. Hopefully once they are done with Trevor, it’ll all be over and we will know why.” They stood there quietly for a minute just holding each other.
“Let’s just hope it’s all over. Trevor is behind it all and once the police are done, we will know why.”
If only things really worked that way. Det. Stone was fed up. He and Wright had taken turns with Trevor and Stefanie Lynn long into the night. They’d gotten a confession out of both of them for the break in; even though they were both saying the other was the driving force behind it. Apparently Stefanie was obsessed with getting the ring that Jenna had. She had severe jealousy issues and felt that the ring should have been hers to begin with and would stop at nothing to get it. Even though Jenna had claimed to have gotten rid of the ring, they both knew she was lying. Stefanie didn’t plan on wearing the ring herself, but she didn’t want Jenna to have it. She planned on putting it in a box, never letting it see the light of day and enjoying the fact that she had it and Jenna didn’t. Trevor didn’t know that, he thought she wanted it for herself, but she planned on making Trevor buy her one ‘she’ picked out once they got the one Jenna had.
Even though Stefanie didn’t confess, Stone and Wright knew that she was behind it all. Trevor was too weak to be the one doing it. They knew by the interviews that Stefanie was the overbearing, dominate one in the relationship. If it had been in normal circumstances, Stone would almost feel sorry for Trevor.
The one thing they did find out that didn’t go as planned was that Trevor and Stefanie both had alibis for the store break in and destruction. They were at Stefanie’s apartment, which happened to be the place to hang and get drunk. They had about six witnesses that would corroborate their alibis. Stone knew that six drunks could be a weak defense, but the fact that they’d admitted to the break in of the apartment and chasing Carly, it just didn’t fit that they’d deny the rest…They also had airtight alibi’s for Jenna’s murder.
They had them both on B&E and the attack on Carly, along with a few additional, minor charges, but not on the rest. Stone was ready to spit nails. Why couldn’t he get a grasp on this? It seemed that the only suspect they really had was no longer a suspect for the murder. That meant that there was someone else out there and Carly was still in serious danger.
Stone needed to step back and get some prospective. “I’m going to head to Rissa’s for a bit, clear my head.” Rissa was Stone’s fiancé and she had a calming effect on him. He grabbed his jacket and headed out.
He couldn’t help but think he was missing something. He knew they had Trevor and Stefanie on the B&E, but he didn’t believe they did the rest. He just wasn’t sure why he felt that way. His gut was telling him he was missing something.
Stone pulled into Rissa’s driveway and couldn’t help but smile when he saw her silhouette in the door. She must have been watching for him. Getting out of the truck, he felt older than his years. This job was aging him faster th
en he’d like to admit. He loved the job, but it got tough.
But if it wasn’t for the job, he’d never have met Rissa. He couldn’t believe she’d only been in his life less than a year. In a few more months, they’d be married. He’d almost lost her just when he’d found her. He’d been brought in on her case when someone was terrorizing her with the end game resulting in her death, but he was able to keep that from happening, barely! It was too close and he could feel the anger rising in him as it did every time he thought about it.
“Hey babe,” Rissa said as she held the door open for him. “I wasn’t expecting you this evening.”
“Really? Then who were you waiting for?” Stone joked.
“Matt is bringing over some paperwork that he needs me to sign.”
Stone felt it best to just change the subject. Matt was Rissa’s best friend, but he’d almost gotten her killed last year, something Stone didn’t plan to just forget.
“So, what’s got you leaving work in the middle of a case? Something bothering you?” Rissa knew him too well.
As they got comfortable in the living room, Stone said, “Yeah. I’m missing something. This case seems like it should be straight forward, but it’s not. We have a woman everyone likes, brutally murdered in her store and the backroom is trashed. We have an ex fiancé admit to later breaking into said woman’s apartment after her death to try to steal a ring, and in the process scares ten years of the best friend of the dead woman when he chases her out of the apartment, causing her to severely sprain her ankle. Then while we are looking for the ex, someone else breaks into the store and totally destroys everything in it. It sounds like the ex is responsible for it all, but my gut tells me he’s not. Plus he has an airtight alibi for the murder.”
“You say he was in the apartment looking for something…was he messy?”
“Messy? What?” Stone was confused. What did that have to do with anything?
“Just hear me out. When you were working on my case, the profile helped you solve the case. If it weren’t for that and your hard work, and don’t forget that famous gut of yours, I might not be here today.”
Rissa stood up and paced a bit. “So, just humor me. Was the ex-fiancé messy when he was going through the apartment?”
“No. He was keeping things where they belonged…” Rissa could tell Stone had withdrawn into his own thoughts. She let him be and just watched. Oh how she loved that man! He was the most honorable, steadfast and sexiest man she’d ever met. Right now she could tell he was, mentally, off on another direction he hadn’t taken yet in this case.
“Well da…ng!” Stone muttered. Rissa couldn’t help but smile. She wasn’t a prude, but Stone tried not to cuss around her, so she knew he had hit on something.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it. Of course they weren’t done by the same person. It’s obvious! Man, I’m an idiot.”
“Stone, stop it! You know sometimes when you’re too close you miss what’s right in front of you. It happens to all of us!”
“Thanks hon. I gotta run!” He grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. He suddenly stopped and looked back at Rissa. She was standing there smiling at him and his heart melted just as it always did when she looked at him like that. “Thanks.” He said again with emotion. He leaned down and kissed her passionately. He always felt better after being with her. “I owe you.” He stepped out of the door and turned back once more, “I love you.”
Rissa watched him get in his truck, his mind back fully on the case. She smiled again and said to herself, “I love you too! And maybe once this is over, he can explain what just occurred to him.” She was still there smiling, even though he was long gone, when Matt pulled up.
Carly was able to go back to the store and apartment two days later. She and two of the firemen from Daniel’s station were there trying to clean up. Daniel would be by shortly, but he had some business at the station to deal with. Carly was having a hard time looking at the damage done to Jenna’s dream. She knew it had never been her dream, but she had loved this store because Jenna had loved it.
The bell over the door, one of the few things left unharmed, chimed. Carly turned to see who had come in and was startled and irritated to see Trent standing there. He had a look of shock on his face but it seemed he was only putting on an act for Carly’s benefit.
“Well, my goodness. Someone certainly did a number on this place.” Trent said, almost condescendingly, as he gingerly stepped over broken bits and pieces.
“Well, yes Trent, I would say someone certainly did.” Carly snapped at him.
He paused in mid step, giving her a startled look. “Now Carly, I didn’t mean anything.”
“What do you want Trent? I’m busy.”
The two firemen had stopped and were openly watching the exchange. Rick, the new fireman Carly had danced with was one of the two firemen and he’d taken a couple steps closer to Carly.
“I heard you were in the market to sell. I figured now would be a good time for you to get out from under this monstrosity. There is more damage than it’s worth to try to fix this place up.”
“I’m not in the market to sell.”
“Now Carly, we both know that you’ve been considering it. I’m ready to offer you a fair price.”
“And just how would you know if I’ve been considering it or not?”
“I’ve just heard it around.” Trent seemed very uncomfortable with that question.
“Just heard it around huh? Like, maybe from our old school buddy Mason?” Carly’s ears were burning; she was once again reminded how small towns worked. “You know Trent, even if I were selling; you are the last person on God’s green earth I would ever sell to! You are an abusive, arrogant, lousy excuse for a man and I want you out of here.”
Rick and Joe, the other fireman, now flanked Carly, but Trent didn’t seem too bothered by them. He took a couple of steps toward Carly, rage twisting his otherwise handsome face.
“How dare you! How dare you judge me!” Trent’s neck was beet read. His voice was low and had an edge to it, almost menacing. “I’ve never done anything to you and you have the gall to stand there and judge me? All I’ve ever done to you is ask you out to dinner and offer you a fair deal on something you want out of anyway.” Trent kept clenching his fists as he walked toward Carly.
There was no way Rick or Joe would have let Trent near Carly, but before either of them made a move, a booming voice stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Trent, I told you once not to come around my sister or my family; that includes Carly.” Harm stood there with Carter, fresh from his latest assignment, both ready to do battle. All three of the Wayne boys had wanted a piece of Trent since they found out about him beating their baby sister, and it looked like they were going to get their chance. And from the look on Rick and Joe’s faces, there was no help for Trent.
“Why don’t we take this outside?” Carter said, his voice calm, belying the anger pulsating through his veins.
“Look guys, this is between me and Carly. She wants out of this place and I’m here to offer her a way out.” Trent wasn’t backing down, but his whole demeanor had changed. He was still aggressive, but no longer vibrating with rage.
“Well, it seems to me that Carly isn’t the only one with a say in that.” Daniel walked up behind his brothers. He looked like a warrior facing down his enemy on the battlefield. It both excited and scared Carly. She wasn’t sure what he’d do, but she wouldn’t be the one stupid enough to try to stop him. Seeing the three Wayne boys standing there, ready to do battle with the enemy, Carly couldn’t help but be awed by their very masculine and powerful presence they presented as a united front. She’d bet on the Wayne boys in any situation. She was suddenly overcome with emotion for these three men, how she loved them all dearly. She felt a steel resolve stiffen her spine, her chin rose higher and she turned to stare down Trent just as the men did.
“What do you mean?” Trent looked at Carly for her rebuttal of what D
aniel said, then took a second look at the defiant look on her face.
“I believe he’s referring to the fact that he is fifty percent owner of Treasures and the apartment.” Carly said matter of factly.
“What?” Trent looked like his temper was building up again. “Since when? Jenna never told me that Daniel owned half of this place. You are lying.” Trent made the mistake of taking a step toward Carly. Before he could take a second step, Harm and Carter each had an arm and were escorting him outside.
“Daniel,” Carly said as Daniel started to follow his brother’s out.
He smiled charmingly at Carly, “Don’t worry honey; we are just walking him out.” He winked at her and headed outside. It took two seconds before Rick and Joe were hurrying out to see what was going to happen.
Carly wasn’t sure of what to do. One thing was certain, none of the Wayne boys would be stupid enough to do anything they could get into trouble over…would they?
The boys didn’t mention anything about their ‘walk’ with Trent, but Joe and Rick seemed to have a new found respect for all of them. Carly was fine with that, and she didn’t want to know what had happened that day. All she knew was that they didn’t do anything illegal…she hoped.
Daniel called and told Det. Stone about Trent’s interest in the store and apartment. They left out some of the details that weren’t important for Stone to know. But when they told him about Trent beating their sister, Stone could only imagine what he’d have done to anyone that did that to his baby sister…or his older sister for that matter. And if his brother ever raised a hand to any woman, Stone wouldn’t hesitate in setting him straight. Even though he’d have had to take action if the Wayne brothers had done something to Trent, he’d have done it grudgingly.
Stone and Wright picked up Trent, from the bank during the busiest time of the day. They couldn’t have planned it better if they’d…well, fact was, they’d planned it that way. Neither one of them could stand a man that would beat a woman nor did they want to be discreet. Trent was ready to explode, and would have if half the town didn’t appear to be in the bank at that particular moment. He was actually trying to hold on to his dignity and reputation. If Stone had anything to say about it, everyone would know what kind of a low life Trent was.
The Best of Us Page 10
