by K P Stafford
I left the office and headed straight home to put on all black clothes. I wasn't sure why, other than I had seen it in every movie I've ever watched about robbery. I wasn't going to rob Will's place but supposed I'd blend into the darkness much easier in dark clothing.
Jake called around eight to ask about my day. I was trying to be coy. He read right through it and asked me what I was up to. I sidetracked the conversation by talking about the fingerprint results. He seemed to be content with my answer. Whew! I did not want to deal with him getting upset or trying to talk me out of what I had to do.
Will lived in a small apartment complex on the outskirts of town. Mostly single people lived there, as the rooms were small, but it was well-kept and somewhat secluded. Lucky for me, he lived in a room on the backside. I parked at the end of the row of apartments and walked down to his. It was eerily quiet and I was jumpy, to say the least. I'd never broken into anyone's place before. I had gone into the mortician's house, but since it was unlocked, I didn't have to actually break in. I'd seen people on television use a credit card or driver's license to jimmy a lock and I hoped I'd be able to do something like that. I stepped up to the door and looked around to make sure no one was watching. I slipped my driver's license in between the door and the jamb where I knew the latch would be. I wiggled it around and felt it give way. I pushed on the door and to my surprise, it unlocked. I slowly pushed the door open while holding my breath. Someone suddenly pushed me inside and the door shut behind me. I whirled around with my fists pulled up in front of my face. A stance Jake had taught me in case I ever took up boxing. A small light came on and illuminated the face. "Jake! What are you doing here?" I let out a long sigh as my heart pounded in my chest.
He whispered, "I should be asking you the same thing. Have you lost your mind?"
I dropped my fists to my sides, relieved it was him, but upset he was there. "I'm investigating," I whispered back to him.
"You're breaking and entering."
I bit my bottom lip, "Yeah, I'm doing that too. Are you going to help me or are you going to stand here wasting our time?"
Jake shook his head, turned me towards the inside of the small apartment and smacked me on the butt. "Get busy," he said, "We don't need to be in here long."
Luckily the apartments only had one window in the living room, so it was pretty safe to snoop around with nothing but our flashlights. I pulled mine out of my bag, turned it on and headed to the bedroom. I found a few file folders and looked through those.
Jake found me a few minutes later. The only thing he'd found was a couple of phone numbers on a notepad. He saved them into his phone so we could check them out later.
CHAPTER 10
After snooping through Will's things, I only had more questions. He had been looking into Charlie's background, that caught my attention, so I took as many pictures of the contents as I could. It should give me enough info to start with at least. Will also had one with Alan's name on it and some guy named Robert Nash. I'd opened the one on Alan. It was thin. The only thing I discovered inside was that Alan had gotten in trouble as a teenager for growing marijuana. Surely that wasn't enough to want to kill someone over, but why would Will have a file on him?
I went home that night with a head full of questions. I'd need to print the pictures I'd taken of Charlie's file, but I didn't want to disturb Grams so it'd have to wait until morning, or maybe I should do that at the office. I didn't want her to know that I was checking into Charlie's background. Grams was so happy that he was helping Aunt Agatha come out of her shell. I realized without public school records, there may not be much information to find out about him, but at least his birth certificate would help me dig into his health records.
I pulled out my laptop and started checking some of the database files I'd used when I did some skip tracing. Since I was now working for John I figured they'd come in handy, so I kept the subscription paid.
Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check on Charlie first. Will's file mostly had surveillance pictures, which I found odd. I couldn't imagine why he'd been following Charlie, but I typed his name into the database. Several people named Charlie Matthews came up, but none were from this area. I dug into birth records of our county specifically. Charlie was around the age of twenty-four, but there were no records of his birth. I found that odd. Mr. Spidey had always kept to himself. In the search results, it asked me if I meant Charlie Matthews who'd been born some fifty years ago. I clicked the link, not expecting to find anything. My mouth fell open when I skimmed the record and found out that there was a Charles Matthews born to James and Martha Matthews. Could James be Mr. Spidey? I checked other records and found out his first name was James. How could he have a son born fifty years ago, but Charlie is only twenty-four? Something wasn't right. In the results field, there was a date of death. I clicked on it and discovered that Charlie had died soon after birth. I scratched my head. None of this made sense. As I saved the results I saw Orvel Haynes' name on the death certificate. There was no way I could ask him since the man was dead, but I could ask Marcus Finche if they still had the old records I could look at. I would definitely ask some of the older people about these records. Surely, someone would know.
I typed in Alan Drake's name and quickly found the records for him. I knew he'd been born and was still alive so I checked his police records. Sure enough, he'd been busted in high school for using the family estate to grow marijuana. I checked into his high school records and old newspaper records. It had never gone public. I pulled out my phone and looked through the pictures I'd taken of his file at Will's house. There was an old picture of Alan with his arm around another guy, both were holding up a can of soda like they were toasting something. On closer inspection, I realized the guy was Will. Apparently, he and Alan had been close at one time. What happened between them? Or were they still good friends and I'd missed seeing it? Maybe Will dating Alice had put a rift between them.
I'd been writing down questions as I dug into the research. I still had more questions than I had answers for. I knew this town had its secrets, but a lot of things just didn't add up.
My phone buzzed with Jake's goodnight text. He also informed me I was a bad liar and if I was going to snoop around anymore, I'd need to work on my skills. I let out a soft giggle. I didn't plan to do much snooping around, but he was right. If he'd been a bad guy sneaking up on me earlier, I would have never known he was behind me. I needed to start paying more attention.
I texted him back and told him I'd found some interesting stuff to tell him about. He was a better investigator than me from his insurance fraud days and had connections that I didn't. Maybe he could figure out some of this.
CHAPTER 11
I needed copious amounts of coffee the following morning. I wasn't used to staying up late and sneaking into people's homes. I didn't know how undercover cops did it until I remembered all the coffee and donut jokes I'd heard over the years. The door to the office opened as I poured my second cup of the morning. I turned to see Bessie Drake, a pleasant, friendly woman who seemed higher class than most of the people in Cryptic Cove. She wasn't snooty or anything like that, she just carried herself like someone with purpose and determination.
The look on her face saddened me. She was a distraught mother, and with good reason since two of her children were being questioned for murder. How was she supposed to look?
She asked to speak with John. I told her he was out for most of the day, but I'd try to help her if I could.
"Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?"
"Oh heavens, I'm already too jittery for coffee, but a cup of tea would be wonderful." She fidgeted her hands as she sat in one of the seats by the window.
I was no expert, but I made a decent cup of tea. I chose an herbal tea for her, hoping it would calm her nerves. I took it to her and sat down beside her.
"Everything is just such a mess around here. I can't believe all of this is happening again."
"You mean someone being killed in our little town?"
"Yes," her bottom lip quivered, "I think he was going to be my son-in-law."
"Really? I’d heard rumors but didn’t know they were true."
"Oh yes. Will was crazy about Alice and she'd started losing some of her," she looked down at her cup of tea. "Her insecurities."
I patted her on the hand, "She had been coming around and hanging our with our bunch a little more. I could tell a difference in her too."
"I'm afraid this will set her back. Bless her heart, she's always been oversensitive and jealous about things. I tried to pay more attention to her as a child, but it's something that was deep seeded."
"What do you think caused it?"
"The death of her father. The man doted on her. She was his favorite. He tried not to show it, but Alice was the apple of the man's eye. When he died, well she never fully recovered. She's never felt like anyone loved her the way he did. I think she's always compared men to her father."
"I'm so sorry."
"I believe Will was starting to fill his place. Will was very gentle with her and showed her as much attention as he could, even though he worked long hours and all. He always made time for Alice. It was a lot of little things too. He'd text her on the nights he couldn't see her."
A tear formed in my eye as I thought about how Jake texted me every night, even if we'd had a date that night, he would text me good night wishes. I suddenly felt immense anguish for Alice's loss and pain. I couldn't imagine if something happened to Jake and I no longer received his messages every day. I decided I would go see her again. The more I found out about her, the less I believed she could kill the man she loved.
Bessie looked at me, "I didn't mean to upset you." She said as she noticed the tear in my eye.
I smiled, "I'm fine. I don't know what I'd do if I Jake. I'd never thought about it until now." I wiped my face, "But, we need to find out who did this so Alice can have some kind of closure."
"That's the other reason I came to talk to John. The sheriff has taken Alan in for questioning."
I knew they would be, but I wasn't expecting to hear the news from his mother. I wasn't sure how to reply. "It's just standard procedure. They will be questioning a lot of people during the investigation."
"I know, dear. I just don't think it's possible that Alan could do such a thing as I've heard was done to Will. He had a temper, I won't deny that, but he had more control over it than to kill someone."
"I didn't realize he had a temper. He's always been so friendly."
"Yes, he's a good person, but he is protective over his sisters. Back in high school, he beat up plenty of guys he thought weren't good enough for either of them."
"I didn't know about that." I cut my sentence off, but it seemed strange that none of the old timers around here had mentioned his temper from his younger days. I remembered the photo of him and Will together. "Were he and Will friends in high school?"
"Oh yes, they were, until..." her words trailed off.
"Did something happen?"
She took a sip of her tea, "This is good tea."
"Thank you."
She turned to look at me. "It was a long time ago. Alan had done something he shouldn't have and when he told Will, well, it didn't go over well with Will. He knew back then he wanted to be a cop and he couldn't let Alan break the law, so he stepped in and set him straight."
"Oh. Was Alan mad about it?" I didn't have to ask what it was about since I'd read the old file about Alan's little wacky weed patch he'd grown.
"He was for a long time, but after Will and Alice started seeing each other, he told Will he'd done him a big favor and kept him on the right track."
"That's good," I told her. At this point, I didn't know what else to say.
"Of course, he was still very protective over his sisters. He and Will did have words that night." She said as she turned in her seat to look me straight on, "But my kids didn't do this. Surely you know. You've gotten to know them. There's no way they could do this thing."
"We still have to check all the leads," I said. I didn't want to say anything, but six months ago no one thought Orvel Haynes could have done the things he did either. People didn't make sense sometimes. After she left, I knew I wanted to talk to Alan and to Alice again. Bessie was right, I couldn't imagine Alice doing anything like this, but I wasn't so sure about Alan having all that much control over his temper.
CHAPTER 12
By that afternoon John and I weren't any closer to figuring out who had killed Will, but neither was the sheriff's office. Plenty of people had motive and opportunity, although their motives weren't anything huge, but as we found out several months ago, people will do whatever it takes to keep their secrets hidden. Orvel Haynes had been parading around this town for twenty-five years, blending in and acting like a normal citizen, but he wasn't normal. He'd kept the biggest secret in Cryptic Cove's entire history.
I left the office early. Jake and I had plans with Peyton and Mark. It had been awhile since the four of us had gone out to dinner and I needed some down time. Peyton and I hadn't had much girl time lately and we wouldn't tonight either with the guys there, but it was a chance to get out and enjoy ourselves. The whole town had been on edge the past few days. Jake picked me up at seven-fifteen so we could meet up at Antonio's around eight. I always loved the ride down the cliffs to the coast. The lights glinted off the water and it had a magical look to it. Sometimes I pretended the lights were fairies dancing across the sea. I'd been so uptight when I moved back here that I'd forgotten what it was like to play make-believe and pretend. I didn't feel right about it tonight in light of everything, but sometimes the mind needs to escape reality and reset itself.
Jake was quiet for a long time before he reached over, touched my leg and asked if I wanted to talk. I told him we could talk after dinner. I didn't expect our double-date to last very long. Mark used to like hanging out with us, but the last few times it felt as if we were imposing and he showed up out of obligation. Jake hadn't really noticed and always said that Mark was tired from his job doing physical labor all day. It did make sense. The plant he worked at often put in long hours as summer grew closer. A person who isn't used to doing so much physical activity would definitely feel worn out by the end of a long day. Mark had explained he'd never worked so hard in his life, but he wanted to give his family a good life. Of course, lately, he didn't act as enthused about it. I decided to not talk about such matters tonight. He got irritated if I asked too many questions.
We settled in at Antonio's and started the evening with a glass of wine. Conversation was light, albeit strained at first. I stopped myself from talking about anything serious regarding life and things were going smoothly. About half way through the meal Peyton asked if there were any new leads on the case. I saw Mark roll his eyes but ignored it.
I shifted in my seat and chose my response well since I didn't want to discuss anything in front of Mark. He wasn't a trusted friend yet. "Well, it seems he was doing some private investigating on his own."
Peyton cocked her head sideways as her brow furrowed, "Really? Was he doing this outside of police work? That doesn't fit Will, he was always such a 'follow the rules' guy."
"I'm not sure about that, but he had several files on people he'd compiled."
"Who were the files on?"
"I don't know, they haven't let me in on that much detail yet. I just overheard them talking about it."
Jake glanced at me. He knew the sheriff's office had nothing to do with this. Jake and I had conducted our own investigation and snooped into Will's files.
Mark threw his fork onto his plate, picked up his wine glass and guzzled it down. "Can we talk about something other than a damned dead cop? I'm sick of hearing about this stupid crap."
Peyton looked over at him, confusion on her face and then she looked down at her own plate, hoping Mark hadn't seen her expression. "Yes, it's such a nice evening, let's not ruin it by talking ab
out anything serious. I'm sorry. I know you two need a night away from work, I shouldn't have asked."
The look in her eye sent waves of empathy through my body. Peyton wasn't one to back down or let someone tell her what she could talk about. I glanced over at Mark, he was still visibly irritated. The waitress poured him another glass of wine, he downed it immediately and requested she fill it again before she could leave.
I looked back at Peyton as she pushed food around her plate with her fork. "It's okay, sweetie, but you're right, we need to enjoy the evening." I tried to lighten the conversation, "How's Paisley doing?"
Peyton visibly sucked in a breath while Mark shoveled his food into his mouth like he was in a hurry. Peyton almost smiled, but stopped herself, "She's good. She's been gone to camp. It's a special nature camp where they learn about flowers blooming, bears waking up from hibernation, stuff like that. She'll be back in two days."
"Oh, that sounds like fun. I bet she's having a good time. She has a way with animals. I bet she's tickled to learn more about their natural habits."
Peyton giggled, "As long as she's not trying to feed carrots to the bears."
I laughed out loud. "Definitely, they are a bit more dangerous than the rabbits in Grams' backyard."
Mark dropped his fork onto his plate. He'd scarfed his food down quickly. He then gulped down his glass of wine and stood up. "I hate to rush everyone, but I need to get up in the morning. We need to hit the sack."
Peyton looked down at her half-eaten food. She tried to sound chipper, "Oh yes, I forgot it's an early day."
They said their goodbyes and headed out of the restaurant. Jake and I stayed to finish our meal. We both sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of us touching the remainder of food on our plates. He finally looked up at me, "I think you're right about Mark. He is acting strange, and Peyton isn't the same person she was."
