by E. R. FALLON
“That’s not what I heard.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your reputation back in the city.”
“I’m not going to stand here arguing with you inside a dark cave. I don’t know what you heard or how you even heard it but don’t believe all you hear.”
Harry felt that Carlow was pulling a fast one on her and that he hadn’t heard anything about her. How could he have? As far as she knew, there wasn’t even a single newspaper article about her online. Despite losing her sense of judgment for a moment upstairs in Emily Will’s house, Harry had a spotless record and had received commendation for her work with River after the dog’s death. The only person who knew her who lived around there was her brother and he wouldn’t have said anything negative about her to Carlow, whom she believed her brother didn’t care for. Harry had only been there for a week but she’d already learned a lot of people didn’t care for Carlow. It could have been that Carlow was messing with her mind – but why? – and she resented that.
Harry called the station and asked Richards, the officer who had desk duty, to see who the gun was registered to. She hung up and Richards called her back a minute later.
“Cannon here. Who is it registered to? Emily Will?” Richards confirmed it was a match and Harry thanked him and ended the call.
The search in the remainder of the cavern turned up nothing and Harry’s eyes hurt when they emerged back into the daylight. Even with her near-perfect eyesight, she couldn’t spot a neighbor anywhere within her view.
Carlow waited outside by the car while she went inside to tell the forensics team about the gun in the cavern.
When she returned to the car, she found Carlow in the driver’s seat. If it had been anyone else she might not have cared. ‘Might’ being the key word. But since it was Carlow, who’d already defied her, she needed to make it clear to him again that she was in charge.
She pulled open the driver door and practically threw him outside.
“Jesus. What the hell did you do that for?” he said.
“You don’t listen. I said I was driving.”
“I’d thought I’d drive us back to the station to give you a break.”
“I don’t need a break, and we’re not going back to the station just yet.”
Carlow straightened his jacket. “Why? Where are we going?” He opened the passenger side door.
“To visit Emily Will’s neighbors so we can see if they know anything.” Harry climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Do you see any neighbors around here?” Carlow remarked as he entered the car. “She doesn’t have neighbors.”
“Everyone has neighbors. Hers are just a little harder to find.” Harry started the car. “We’ll drive around until we find some.”
Chapter Eleven
Harry relied on her own decent sense of direction and found what she believed was the closest house to Emily Will’s property. She pulled into the dirt driveway – what was it with the country and dirt? – of the log cabin home with smoke coming out of the chimney in the cool afternoon. The air smelled of burning firewood. She noticed an old blue pickup truck parked near the house. Harry stopped the car and got out first. Carlow followed.
“Do you know who lives here?” she asked.
Carlow shook his head. “The folks who live in these parts like to keep to themselves. Recluses, like Emily Will. We better be careful though. People around here tend to own guns and we weren’t invited.”
“Great. And just when I was starting to think how I didn’t miss the city too much,” Harry said with sarcasm. “Thanks for the heads up.”
Harry put her hand over her gun in her holster and walked up to the porch. There was a cracked flowerpot near the front door. She rang the doorbell and a man’s voice shouted.
“Who is it?”
“Police, sir. We’d like to speak with you.”
“I ain’t done nothing wrong.”
“It’s about your neighbor.”
That seemed to catch his interest and the door flew open. “It’s about Emily?”
“Yes, Emily Will. Do you have any weapons on you, sir?”
“No. Well, I got a shotgun inside but not on me.”
“Okay, sir, please stay where you are.”
He didn’t seem to like following her orders and couldn’t stop fidgeting as he stood there. “I’m Smith Reed, by the way.” The skinny man held out his grubby hand and Harry reluctantly shook it. His skin felt rough and clammy. He had an ear piercing. “No offense or nothing, but I can see his badge on his coat. I don’t see any on you.” He looked at Carlow then at Harry. “Do you have a badge or something? You seem too pretty to be a cop. Are you new in town?” He had long, greasy hair and hadn’t shaved in a while, and he looked hungover.
His flirting repulsed her. She didn’t answer his question and showed him her badge.
Reed nodded. “Okay, I guess you’re real, then. But you never answered my question. Are you new …”
Harry gave him a long stare and he shut up.
Smith gave Carlow a once-over. “Are you her servant boy or what?” he said with a hoarse laugh. “She got you under her thumb?
Carlow frowned but ignored Reed’s comment and introduced himself as an officer.
“Her officer?” Reed grinned and showed his bad teeth as he leaned against his doorframe, and Harry got the feeling they weren’t going to be invited inside.
From his odd demeanor, she half suspected that Reed was holding Emily hostage inside his cabin.
“You’re here about Emily? What a pretty thing she is.” He winked at Harry.
A real prince charming, Harry thought with a smile. She felt bad for Emily to have had this jerk as her closest neighbor.
“She’s not home, and we were wondering if you knew where she is,” Carlow said.
“We’re not exactly friends. Why would I know where she was?” Reed scowled at Carlow.
“When was the last time you saw her?” Harry asked.
The more Reed inched toward her the more Harry realized he smelled like body odor and cigarette smoke with a little whiskey thrown in for good measure. He really had terrible teeth. He moved again and Harry could see past his shoulder into the home, an advantage of being a tall person; it looked surprisingly neat for how sloppy Reed himself appeared. The distance wasn’t close but she couldn’t see any obvious signs that Emily was or ever had been there.
“You know, that’s funny you ask, because I last saw her not around here but outside of town,” Reed spoke.
“Where outside of town?” Harry leaned as far away from Reed’s stink as she could without being too obvious. She didn’t want to isolate a potential witness no matter how much he repulsed her.
“The truck stop where I like to eat sometimes. Not really Emily’s type of place, but she was there with this woman. The lady had the reddest hair I’d ever seen. And there was a guy, too. I saw him walking back to the car – I think it was Emily’s car because I remember it was red – from the truck stop.”
Harry and Carlow exchanged looks, and she knew they were both thinking the same thing: they were about to get another break in the auction case.
“Hold on a second, sir.” Harry took out her phone and looked at the sketches Nolan had emailed her. Sharon McGuire had worked with a sketch artist they’d brought in to create them. Harry showed the images of Joyce and Albert Fisher to Reed. “Is this them?”
“She’s got red hair?” he asked.
Harry nodded. Nolan had emailed that information along with Joyce’s eye color and Albert’s hair and eye color.
“Then that’s her. She was with my soldier girl.”
“Who?”
“Emily, my soldier girl. That’s what I call her. She don’t like it but I like to tease her.” Reed blushed and it made Harry’s skin crawl. “The red-haired lady was real mean. A real bitch, pardon my French.” He glanced at Harry.
Harry thought of how Sharon McGuire had described Joyce as being the
worst of the pair. Had Joyce strangled the doctor? That would have been unlikely given that Sharon had mentioned Joyce wasn’t a large person. Then Harry thought of the curtains in Emily Will’s house. Either Emily was paranoid or someone else had put them there. Who? Albert?
Harry felt that Reed, from his behavior, although a creep, had told them the truth about seeing Emily at the truck stop. He didn’t seem to know about her health issues and Harry wondered how well he could have really known his neighbor.
“What was her demeanor like?” she asked.
“Emily’s? You mean, like how did she seem?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what we mean,” Carlow said.
“Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?” Harry wanted to grill Reed one-on-one but when working with a team she had to let some of her desires slide.
“I don’t know. She looked tired. Not as pretty as she usually looks.”
“Did she seem on edge, frightened?” Harry asked. Reed made her skin crawl, and she got the feeling he had a similar effect on most women, including, probably, Emily Will.
“Yeah, she might have.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?” Carlow asked.
Reed shrugged. “She didn’t look too hurt.”
“Too hurt? Your instincts told you something might be wrong and you ignored them,” Harry said. “The people Emily could be with are very dangerous.”
Reed frowned. “Look, I’m telling you now, okay?”
Harry shook her head in disbelief. It irked her when people didn’t do the right thing, but she encountered that very often in her job. Then again, if people always did the right thing, she might be out of a job.
“Mr. Reed, you’re going to need to come to the station with us so we can take your statement,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because we have reason to believe that the two people you described as being with Emily Will are wanted for robbery and homicides,” Carlow said.
“Oh, boy. The auction thing?” Reed seemed pleased that he would be part of an ‘exciting’ case.
“Carlow,” Harry whispered with agitation. She couldn’t believe Carlow had revealed that much to a citizen.
“Sounds like it’ll be fun,” Reed said. Then he seemed to contemplate something negative and paused. “Do I have to go now?” he asked after a second. “I’m on my way to work.”
“Where do you work?” Harry asked.
“The car shop. I’m a mechanic.”
“We can give you a ride to the station and then have someone drop you off at work.”
“I can’t take my car and follow you?”
“Sure,” Carlow said.
Harry pulled him aside. “That’s not normally how it’s done.”
“Do you really want to be stuck in the car on the long drive back to the station with this guy’s B.O.?
“Believe me, I’ve been stuck with a lot worse in the city for a lot longer.”
“I don’t doubt it but, still, can’t he just follow us? Can’t you just bend the rules for once, Detective Cannon? I’ve heard—”
“My reputation?”
“I won’t bring that up again. But your last name alone would imply—”
“That, what, I’m a loose cannon? I’ve heard it before. I’ve heard that many times before. He’s coming with us, that’s final. I’m not going to have this guy follow us in his own vehicle because I don’t trust that he won’t veer off and go to work instead. Got it?”
Carlow looked down at his boots and nodded.
Harry moved from side to side to stay warm. “Now let’s get out of here before I freeze my ass off.” She motioned to Reed. “You’re going to need to come with us, sir. We can call your work and explain you’re needed.”
“You can’t tell them I’m with the cops. Geez, they’ll think I did something wrong. I already got a record.”
The revelation piqued Harry’s interest. “For what?”
“Nothing twisted if that’s what you’re thinking. It was for drunk driving. I didn’t touch Emily.”
“Relax.” Harry gestured with her hands. “No one said you did.”
“I get the feeling he wanted to,” Carlow murmured and Harry kicked his foot.
“Come with us now, sir.”
Harry eyed Reed carefully in case he tried to bolt. She didn’t sense that he was involved with Emily Will’s disappearance but he did seem like a reckless person who might try to flee because of a genuine fear of the police. One thing was for sure, she needed to return to the station and tell Nolan, and even Maple, the details in person about the new aspect of the auction house case, that Joyce and Albert Fisher had most likely kidnapped – she didn’t believe the Air Force vet was in on it – Emily Will and taken her car. But what did they need her for? Emily could fly. Was that it? Did the Fishers want Emily to fly them somewhere to escape? If that was the case, then she was in real trouble.
“You’re really going to drive me to work after?” Reed asked.
“Yes, sir,” Carlow said.
“How will I get home from work then?”
Carlow looked to her for help. They usually didn’t think that far, and usually it would be up to the witness to get themselves home.
“I’m sure one of your co-workers can give you a ride,” Harry said.
“How accommodating you people are,” Reed said, his voice laced with sarcasm. “I’m risking getting my ass fired, the least you people could do is make sure I can get back to my house.”
“We’ll make sure you get back.” Harry told him to move things along.
“You promise?”
Harry didn’t say anything. She and Reed stared at each other.
Reed backed down and started to go inside his cabin. “I’m going to get my jacket and house key.”
Harry remembered what he’d said about the shotgun and became more alert. “Keep the door open.”
“It’ll let cold air in,” Reed complained.
“Just do it,” she said, louder.
“All right, fine.”
Carlow gave her a perplexed look. “Are we really going to make sure he gets home from work?”
“No.”
“Then why did you tell him that?”
“He’s coming with us, isn’t he? It worked.”
“I’m not dealing with him once he’s done. He’s going to gripe and gripe.”
“You will deal with him, Carlow, because that’s what your job entails. As an officer in this town you are a contact to the public.”
“And what are you then?” Carlow seemed irritated.
“I’m a detective.”
“I suppose that means you don’t do any of that ‘liaison’ stuff?”
“I do very little.”
Carlow smirked at her.
Reed returned with his jacket and went with Harry and Carlow to the car. Harry kept an eye on him as they walked to make sure he didn’t try to bolt.
“This guy’s a creep,” Harry remarked to Carlow out of Reed’s earshot.
She could feel Reed leering at her backside as she walked. She turned around and, sure enough, she was right. Once a creep, always a creep.
Carlow didn’t say anything for a while, then when they were in the car with Reed in the seat behind them he whispered to Harry, “Do you think he’s involved?”
“I don’t think he’s dangerous. But he is lecherous.”
“Are you talking about me?” Reed said.
Neither of them answered. Carlow looked to her for what to say and Harry just started the car.
“You know, it’s not my fault if she’s … if Emily’s dead. It’s not like I could have done anything to save her if those two are as dangerous as she said.” Reed pointed at Harry. He talked as if he wanted to soothe his ego. “Am I going to get a mention or something if I help solve this case?”
“No, sir,” Harry said with her eyes on the road as she left the man’s driveway.
“Then what am I helping you for?”
>
“It’s your civic duty,” she said.
Reed scoffed. “You sound just like Emily. She’s got that kind of attitude too. What’s it called, sarcastic?”
“I like her already,” Harry whispered to herself.
“Do I get witness protection, or whatever it’s called, for talking to you people?” Reed asked.
“No,” Harry said, and Carlow chuckled.
She’d called Nolan from the car before they left to briefly explain what had transpired, but didn’t want to get into too much detail in front of Smith Reed. She couldn’t wait to return to the station and tell Nolan in person about how interesting things had gotten, and she had to watch her driving to make sure she obeyed the speed limit.
She couldn’t see as far as Emily Will’s house from Smith Reed’s place, but if she could have she imagined it would be crawling with forensics and the medical examiner’s people.
Chapter Twelve
It took Harry twenty minutes to drive back to the station compared to the thirty minutes it had taken Carlow to get them to get to Emily Will’s house.
Carlow got out first and opened the door for Reed in the back seat. Reed grumbled as Harry and Carlow walked on either side of him and escorted him inside the building from the parking lot. Harry didn’t know why exactly but she feared that Reed might try to make a run for it now that they were in town. And she wanted badly to get his statement officially taken down because the investigation could then continue to move forward.
There wasn’t an elevator in the building, and so they walked the three flights up the stairs to the town police headquarters in silence except for Reed’s whistling. The rest of the building housed the town’s other municipal offices. Despite the fact that Reed might have looked like a prototype of a TV serial killer, Harry didn’t believe he could be involved with Emily’s disappearance. But could he be involved with Joyce and Albert Fisher in some other way? Possibly. Slightly possible, perhaps.
Carlow glanced at her before she opened the door to the offices but he didn’t speak. Harry believed he disliked her even more now after that remark she’d made about his father. He’d gotten defensive, like he, himself, even doubted whether he’d earned his place. Oh, well. Harry couldn’t help it if some people didn’t like her. She wasn’t a people person and she was fine with that. She was good at her job and that’s what mattered to her.
