by Jessica Beck
What could happen?
* * *
I had a dozen donuts left, and I wasn’t afraid to use them. I approached the front desk of Duncan Construction and asked for Allen Davis. While I was waiting, Harry Duncan came out of his office. He looked surprised to see me.
“Did you finally bring us some donuts?” he asked.
“Special delivery,” I said with a smile.
Harry rubbed his hands together, took them from me, and then chose a chocolate glazed cake donut. “I love these things.” He took a bite, and then retrieved another before he said, “Sally, take the rest of these to the break room, would you?”
“What about the phones?” she asked.
“I’m not too proud to answer a telephone myself. Go ahead and take one for yourself.”
“I just might,” she said. I loved guessing what kind of donuts folks might like before they chose one, and I had a hunch Sally was a straight-up glazed kind of gal. I was disappointed when she pulled out an éclair, glazed with chocolate and littered with sprinkles. Well, it wasn’t an exact science, after all.
As soon as she was gone, Allen came out of his office and looked around. “Where’s Sally?” Then he spotted me. “What are you doing here?”
Harry said, “Davis, that’s no way to speak to a woman who just brought us treats.”
He lowered his head a little and said, “Sorry.”
“That’s better,” Harry said. “Now, whatever she wants to know, you tell her. Do you hear me?”
“I do,” he said.
Sally came back, and Harry retreated to his office, taking his donuts with him.
“Let’s talk outside,” Allen said, glancing over at Sally.
That was fine with me. I didn’t want her eavesdropping, either.
Once we were out of the building, Allen said, “Sorry about that, but if she hears a word of what we’re discussing, it will be all over the building before I clock out this evening.” He frowned at me as he added, “I don’t know why you’re here. I already told you, I don’t really have an alibi for the night Desmond was killed.”
“You have a gun, though, don’t you?” I asked.
“No I don’t,” he replied.
“Don’t lie to me, Allen. I found out about your permit.”
He shook his head. “You should have kept digging. I sold my gun to Harry two months ago. He must not have registered it yet. If you don’t believe me, go ask him.”
“You could have another gun somewhere,” I said.
“I could, but I don’t.”
“Then if you don’t have an alibi for ten the night of the murder, you’re still a suspect.”
“Hang on, I didn’t know there was a specific time of death given,” he said. “Nobody told me it happened at ten.”
I looked at him skeptically. “Are you telling me you have an alibi after all?”
“Come with me,” he said with a grim smile.
I followed him inside, and to my surprise, we walked into Harry Duncan’s office. Before he could protest, Allen said, “I need you to tell this woman two things.”
Harry looked oddly at me. “You seem to have an affinity for my company lately.”
I took the opportunity to ask what I needed to know. “I’m really sorry about this, but could you tell me if you ever bought anything from Allen?”
Harry nodded. “I got a gun from him a few months ago for protection.”
“Do you know where it is right now?”
The boss went to his office safe, and after opening it, he showed it to me. “I keep it here for protection.”
Jake had told me about sniffing the barrel of a gun to see if it had been fired recently, but there was no need. This one was coated in grease, much of it crusted over after drying out. “It’s a mess, isn’t it?” Harry said. “I really should clean it up.”
“Who else has access to that safe?”
“Nobody knows the combination but me,” he said. “Not even Sally. And that’s more than two questions.”
“Just one more,” Alex said, looking far too smug for my taste. “Do you know the day and time you called me about the missing keys to the gate at the warehouse?”
“I’m not likely to forget it. It was the night that fellow was murdered in April Springs.”
Harry was convincing, there was no doubt about it. “And the time?”
“Ten o’clock on the nose. He made me miss the news, but I had to get in there, and if it meant dragging his fanny down here with me, that’s what I was going to do.”
I had one more chance. “When did he show up?”
“Seven minutes later,” Harry said. “I know, because I timed him.”
I’d just lost another suspect.
That left two, and they both worked at the same company.
“Is that it?” Harry asked.
“It is with Allen, but I’d like to talk to you a little more myself.”
He turned to Allen and dismissed him. It was clear the man wanted to stay, but one look at Harry’s frown kept him from asking.
After he was gone, Harry said, “Your donuts bought you some time, but I believe it’s all used up. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.”
“Even if it means you can help me find a killer? It’s one of your people, I’m sure of it.”
“I just confirmed Allen’s story, and even alibied him. What else do you want from me?”
“An audience with Katie Wilkes, and a man named Chet.”
CHAPTER 17
“Do you mind telling me why?”
“I’d rather not,” I said.
“Why not?”
“The one who’s innocent is going to be tainted in your mind forever if I say much more, and it’s just not fair. I have to ask a few more questions before I’m sure.”
“I don’t think I can let you do that,” Harry said as he stood.
“But it will help you, too,” I protested.
“Only if I believe that one of them is guilty, which I don’t. Ma’am, I don’t mean to be rude, but you’ve worn out your welcome here, and I’ll ask you kindly to leave.”
“Fine,” I said as he loomed over me. I couldn’t really blame him. He had no idea what my credentials were. As far as Harry knew, I was just a nosy woman who made donuts and asked lots of questions.
That didn’t mean that I was going to give up, though.
I walked toward my Jeep, but then dashed around the side of the building the moment I got there. My last two suspects had to be somewhere nearby if they were working today, and if I couldn’t get to them from the front door, I’d just have to use the back.
* * *
The back door was unlocked, so I let myself in. I’d had to pass the gated storage area, but there was no need for a key at the moment. The gates were wide open. Off to the right on the next property was a large field of dried corn stalks waving in the breeze, and it appeared that someone had created a maze of paths in it. Red, yellow, and blue tape fluttered in the wind, and I wondered who had gone to so much trouble.
Sometimes it was just as good to be lucky as it was thorough. Katie’s desk was the first one on the right as I walked in.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t sitting at it.
I approached the woman in the office just beside her and said, “Sorry to bother you, but do you happen to know where Katie is? We were supposed to have a late lunch.”
“She’s probably out in the shed,” the woman said. “Knowing Katie, she’s lost all track of time. There’s an office back there, and she’s been working on dispatch orders all day.”
“Thanks,” I said, just as I heard Harry Duncan coming down the hall.
“May I use your phone for a second?” I asked as I ducked back inside. “My cell’s not on me.” I patted my pockets and realized that it might be true. My phone was missing, and I had an idea where it had gone. When I used it in my Jeep, sometimes I left it on the dash without realizing it. I wasn’t all that crazy about people using their p
hones when they were driving, so I tried to limit it myself, but there were times when I just had to make a call.
“Sure,” she said. I picked it up, got a dial tone, and called the donut shop, all the while hearing Harry come closer and closer.
He was nearly to the office where I was hiding when someone called him from behind. That was my chance. I hung up the phone, told the woman the line was busy, and then peeked around the corner. For the moment, Harry was occupied, so I hurried out the door before he had a chance to catch me. If he had, he’d probably throw me off the property himself.
I hurried out into the fenced yard, hoping that Harry would be busy for quite a while. Looking around, I found the shed’s office easily enough, and there was Katie, working alone.
“What are you doing here?” she asked heatedly.
“I came about your gun permit,” I said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to see your weapon.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but the police already tested it,” she said. “It’s a .38, so it’s not a match to the murder weapon.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t have others.”
She looked aggravated by my questioning. “Why would I kill him?”
“Are you kidding me? He threw you away like yesterday’s trash.” The words were intentionally inflammatory. I needed to break through her defenses and get to the truth. Katie began to cry, though, and I instantly felt bad about the way I’d treated her.
And then I saw her hand go into her pocket, and I wondered if she still had the gun after all.
Something even more surprising happened instead.
A diamond brooch fell out of her pocket and landed on the floor.
I’d never seen it before, but I still recognized it, since it was exactly as it had been described to me.
Katie had the missing brooch, and I had to wonder if she’d taken it from Desmond’s body the night she’d gunned him down.
“Where did you get that?” I asked as she swept it up in her hand and jammed it back into her pocket.
“Don’t get so excited, it’s not real,” she said.
“I’m not stupid. I can tell from here that it’s worth more than my Jeep and your car put together.”
Katie didn’t believe that. “You’re crazy. He could never afford something that nice, and if he could, I can’t imagine that he’d give it to me.”
“You’re wrong,” another voice said from behind me, and I knew that I was trapped. At that moment, just ten seconds too late, it all came together, and I knew who the real killer was.
With Chet in the doorway, there was no way I was getting out of there unless I could figure out a way to get past him.
And then I turned and saw the gun in his hand, and my odds got that much worse.
* * *
Katie reacted before I could. She stood and faced him. “Chet, what do you think you are doing?”
He glanced over at her, but the gun stayed trained on me. “Don’t worry, she’s not going to bother you anymore.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“He killed Desmond,” I explained.
“No, that’s impossible,” Katie said, her voice breaking a little. Had she suspected it herself all along?
“I did it for you,” Chet said, and I saw that he was silently weeping. “I wanted you to love me, but you couldn’t, not with Desmond jerking you around all the time. You’d never give me a chance as long as he was around.”
I couldn’t help myself as I said, “You stole from him to make it look like a robbery, but what were you thinking, giving Katie the brooch you took?”
“He was going to give it to her,” Chet said. “I couldn’t let him do that.”
“He was going to do nothing of the sort,” I said, searching for some way to distract Chet long enough to get away. “He stole it from his aunt, and I’m sure he planned to sell it for whatever he could get out of it.”
“Chet?” A voice I recognized as Harry Duncan’s came from outside the shed.
He pointed the gun at me, and I noticed that Katie was in the line of fire, as well, though I doubted that she was his target. “Not a word, not even a sound.”
“In here,” he called out. What was he planning to do? Shoot all three of us? Well, at least Katie was probably safe. I wanted to cry out and warn Harry, but if I did that, I knew that I’d be the first one to die.
“Get out here,” Harry said impatiently.
Chet frowned, and then wiped away his tears. He said softly, “I’m locking the door, but I’ll be back.”
After Chet stepped out, I heard a lock slide into place.
I moved to Katie. “Give me your cell phone.”
“It’s in my purse in the office, and this place isn’t wired,” she said with a whimper. “Where’s your phone?”
“It’s in my Jeep.” I looked around, but couldn’t see any other way out. I tried to find some kind of weapon, but there was no way I’d be able to catch Chet off guard, and no place to hide.
“Is there another door, by any chance?”
Katie shook her head, but then stopped. “It’s not a door, but there is a window in back. We can’t get out, though. It’s too high off the ground.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to risk it,” I said.
I hurried in back, found the window, threw it open, and looked out. It was at the back of the property, a good fifteen-foot drop.
Katie joined me and said, “See? I told you.”
“A broken leg is a lot better than waiting around to get shot,” I said. If I took too much time to think about it, I knew that I’d never do it. Climbing out, I did my best to hold on to the ledge. I planned to drop down, cutting the true distance of my fall.
My left shoe got hung up on the windowsill, though, and I went tumbling out.
As I hit, I did my best to roll with the impact, but my left ankle was sprained, or worse, as Katie had predicted, broken. I tried to stand, found I could do it without too much pain, and realized that it wasn’t as bad as I first thought. I looked up at the window and saw Katie’s face framed there.
“Come on,” I urged her.
She called down to me, “He won’t hurt me. He loves me. You heard him.”
“Are you really willing to take that chance?”
She just nodded. As much as I hated leaving her there, I had no choice.
I hurriedly limped to the side of the building and peeked around. Chet and Harry were in deep conversation about something, and I almost shouted at them.
Then I realized that if I did that, I’d be signing Harry’s death warrant. I’d seen his gun in the safe, so I knew that he wasn’t armed. Even if Harry had the weapon he’d bought from Allen on him, it wouldn’t do him any good, since the barrel was jammed full of grease.
No, I had to get away so I could call the police.
That left the cornfield, and the maze of dried, brown stalks.
* * *
I wasn’t going to respect the pieces of tape blocking pathways, though. Not caring about the damage I was doing, I forced my way through the cornstalks, fighting for a chance to save my own life.
No matter what happened, it was better than sitting in that room waiting to die.
My progress was slow, and I made the mistake of checking my ankle once. It was swelling up, and fast. If I didn’t get out of there soon, I might not ever make it out at all.
I was buried deep in the stalks when I heard a chilling sound not far behind me.
Chet had found me!
“Suzanne, don’t make this any harder than it has to be. I can hear you.”
I tried to be quiet, but there was no way I could manage it unless I followed the maze’s paths. I could see glimpses and flashes of Chet as I hurried down the nearest pathway, and I did my best to move away from him. He didn’t have to be quiet, though.
“I see you,” he said as I came into a clearing, and he shot at me through the corn.
His aim wa
s bad. That was the only thing that saved me. I looked at my red jacket and realized that I’d be an easy target with it on.
But it gave me an idea.
I moved deeper into the maze, taking my jacket off as I hurried, but not abandoning it. There had to be something there, something I could use to fight back.
But all I could see was corn. At least in my jeans and T-shirt, both faded, I’d be harder to spot.
I turned another corner, thinking I might be able to escape, when I saw that it was a dead end.
* * *
It wasn’t empty, though. There was a mailbox on a wooden stake, and another iron stake made of rebar holding a map of the maze I’d come through so far. I opened the mailbox, but instead of a weapon, I found a great many small squares of paper with the same partial grid laid out on them, along with some of those short pencils that golfers used.
It wasn’t much, but it was the best I could do.
I took my jacket, hung it over the mailbox, and then onto a nearby cornstalk beside it, trying to make it look as much like my rough outline as I could. It was tough, but I finally managed to pull the metal rebar with the map on it out of the ground. I discarded the map, and knew that the only way I’d be able to use it as a weapon would be as a spear. That meant that I had to get close enough to Chet to touch him.
It wasn’t exactly ideal, but I really had no choice.
I backtracked until I found a small blind alley nearby where I could hide, and then I took a real chance. It was time for all or nothing.
“My ankle’s broken,” I whimpered. “I can’t go on.”
“I’m coming,” Chet said. I was counting on him spotting my jacket and not going by the sound of my voice. I could almost touch my jacket from where I hid, though I’d taken three turns to get to my hiding place. If the maze had been made out of bales of hay or something else that was solid, I wouldn’t have stood a chance, but if I got lucky, I might just get out of this alive.
I heard footsteps crashing close to me, and I realized that Chet had taken the wrong turn. Instead of going toward my coat, he was heading straight for my hiding place. I braced myself for his attack, expecting him to come around the last corner any second.
