A Box Full of Trouble

by Carolyn Haines

  And then she’d been abducted and murdered. Worse than that, he felt she’d been killed because of him. His relentless pursuit of SSK had made her a target. Now he had nothing left to lose. Nothing to care about except his bone-deep need for revenge. He would have that—or he would die trying.

  He crossed the porch and knocked on Tammy’s beveled glass door. It was barely daylight, but he knew she’d be up. She opened her shop at nine, but he’d seen her up there, dusting and arranging displays, at seven o’clock on many a morning.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  He was glad to see she was using caution. “Aiden. I need to ask a few questions.”

  When she opened the door, it was clear she’d been asleep, and he felt guilty for waking her. She wore a robe that dated back to another century, and her hair was tousled. Without her glasses, she looked defenseless. The need to protect her was renewed.

  “I’m running late this morning. I had trouble falling asleep.” She stepped back. “I’ll make some coffee. I need it even if you don’t.”

  Aiden followed her to the kitchen where she brewed a pot of coffee that smelled a lot like the Central American beans he loved. “Nicaraguan beans,” she said when she caught him staring at the coffee bag. “Special order. It’s one of my little indulgences.”

  His answer was a smile. “My favorite.” He looked around for the black cat who was always Tammy’s shadow. “Where’s Trouble?”

  “Sleeping in.” She put a cup of steaming coffee in front of him. “Why are you knocking at my door at daybreak?”

  “I need to ask a few questions about the intruder you saw last night. Can you identify him? Maybe work with a sketch artist?”

  “But I can’t. I didn’t get a good look.”

  “Do you think it could have been the same person that knocked you down?”

  “I don’t know.” She was clearly frustrated.

  He hated to see the panic on her face, but fear would make her cautious. “The problem is that he may think you can identify him. Would you go through the encounter with the man at the bookstore for me again?”

  “I told the deputy on duty everything I could remember. Besides, the guy didn’t make a move toward me. He never had a chance. Trouble jumped on his groin, and if his screams were a clue, he won’t be bothering anyone for a few days, at least. I think you’re making too much of this. The broken light, Trouble’s reaction—maybe I scared myself.”

  He didn’t want to tell her about Beverly Welch, but he had to. “Another young woman was abducted early this morning

  “What?” Tammy stumbled into a chair across from him. “Who?”

  He told her what he knew. “If you can remember any additional details about your stalker, it may help us.” Horror bloomed across her face and he wanted to shield her from it, but he couldn’t. He needed her to be afraid—to be careful and not take any risks.

  “You think I was his intended victim and when he couldn’t get me, he took this other young woman?” Tammy’s face was white, her eyes wide.

  “We can’t know for certain, but I will say Trouble may have saved your life.”

  Tammy grasped his hand on the table. “You know more than you’re telling me. I deserve to have some answers.”

  He considered for a quick moment. “If I give you my trust on this, you have to promise to keep it to yourself. And you must take more precautions.” Telling her the truth was one way to keep her afraid, but it was more than that. Aiden had carried his burden alone for a long time. He wanted to share it. For some reason, he felt he could trust Tammy.

  “I won’t tell anyone. And I will take more care.”

  He nodded. “Before I came to Wetumpka, I was a federal agent. I was tracking a serial killer, the Silk Stocking Killer. The sheriff may have mentioned something to you, but Rob doesn’t know the whole story. Two years ago my wife was murdered by this killer. I’d been on his trail for a while, but he made it personal. So personal that I quit my job and began taking local law enforcement positions in towns where I had a lead and thought the SSK might have taken up residence. So far, he’s been two steps ahead of me in each place. He kills and moves on before I can catch him. I think he’s here in Wetumpka.”

  Tammy’s eyes filled with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry, Aiden. That’s a terrible loss.”

  “Excuse me.” He felt his own throat begin to close and he stood up and went to the kitchen window. Trouble was hiding under a gardenia bush in the garden. He had an ideal spot from which to watch the street. The cat was guarding Tammy.

  Tammy came to stand beside him. Her hand rested on his shoulder. She didn’t say anything, but offered the comfort of her touch.

  “Kayla was a good person,” he said softly. “An innocent. I didn’t warn her. I didn’t want to show her that side of life. She died because of it. Because of me.”

  Tammy grasped his shoulders and turned him to face her. The morning sunlight filtered through the window soft and golden. “She died because a maniac killed her. Had you told her everything, she would likely still have died. Blaming yourself is wrong. It puts you in a position of weakness, and if you’re going to catch this man, you need to be very strong.”

  Aiden had the strangest sensation that a weight had fallen from his shoulders. Not that he could ever forgive himself completely, but Tammy had spoken the words he needed to hear, the words he couldn’t say to himself. “Thank you.”

  “Tell me about this killer. Why does he do these things? Why do you think he’s here? I mean except for the obvious death of Debby Caldwell and the stocking around her neck, what makes you think this is your killer?”

  Aiden refilled their coffee cups and gave a quick rundown of the SSK murders he’d followed. “When we had the first victim in Menton, Ohio where I was working with the Bureau, I was able to dig through old murder files. I realized this killer had traveled across the country killing women and getting away with it. I checked old cases, made calls. Women were missing. We were able to locate six bodies. All young women who’d been strangled with a particular brand of silk hosiery.”

  “This is terrifying.”

  “He insinuates himself into a community, kills until he fears being caught, and then moves on? It’s diabolical.”

  “And no one knows who he is?” Tammy asked.

  “He’s a master at changing his appearance, his occupation. He’s extremely careful not to leave any physical evidence at the abduction site or the body dump, and to be honest, it sometimes takes weeks or months—or years-- before the body is found. I’m certain there are dead women whose bodies have never been recovered.”

  “Why Wetumpka?”

  “It’s the right size, a tight community. The sheriff is great, but he’s had no training in serial killers. Folks aren’t suspicious. The parks are used a lot. I see young women out alone riding bikes and jogging all the time. It’s easy pickings for the SSK. Especially if he’s someone these women trust.”

  “But there are thousands of cities this size.”

  Aiden sighed. “Last year a young woman’s body was found in the Alabama River. She went to work in Montgomery and never came home. Lisa Huett. Do you remember?”

  “Yes. The Montgomery County sheriff’s department worked on the case because the body was found there.”

  “I believe she floated down the river. That she was killed here in Wetumpka.”

  “Strangled?”

  “Yes, but there was no stocking. She’d been in the water for over a month before a fisherman found her. The investigation went nowhere. If there was evidence, it was long gone. The media didn’t cover her death.”

  “And that’s what brought you to Wetumpka?”

  He nodded. “It was a hunch. One I believe was correct, based on Debby Caldwell’s murder.”

  “Do you have any suspects?” Tammy found her glasses and put them on.

  Aiden hated the new intensity in her gaze. If she’d been drowsy when he arrived, she was wired now. Because he’d fr
ightened her. And it was about to get worse. “Your new employee is someone to consider.”

  “Benjy?” Tammy almost laughed. “He’s the biggest nerd around. He reads comic books and loves manga. I don’t think he’s ever even looked at a young woman who came into the bookstore. I hate to say it, but he’s almost asexual. Just not interested.”

  “All the more reason. The SSK doesn’t have sexual feelings for his victims. There’s something else at work. Some desire to destroy relationships. He picks young women who are married and in a relationship, women who are in partnerships of some kind and who will leave behind loved ones.”

  Tammy scoffed. “Then I’m safe.”

  “You may be the exception, because it’s possible that you’ve seen him twice now. If the man in your driveway was the SSK, he might be stalking you because he thinks you can identify him.”

  “Wouldn’t he think I’d be turning him in if I knew who he was?”

  “That’s the thing. You may know more than you think you know. That’s why I need you to concentrate on what you saw both times you were threatened.”

  “Okay,” Tammy said. “I’ll do my very best.”

  “Let’s talk about last night. When you were closing up the shop, did you notice anything unusual. Where was Benjy?”

  “He’d left about ten minutes before. He’d finished his work and I always try to let him go before he gets caught up in the five o’clock traffic.”

  “So he could have remained in the vicinity.”

  Tammy nodded reluctantly. “It’s possible. But this guy didn’t stand like Benjy. He had great posture. He was fit. A man who wears his physicality. Benjy kind of slumps.”

  “You mean like this?” Aiden assumed a slouched posture and walked across the kitchen.

  “Yeah. I see what you mean. If this guy is good at disguises, he could be pretending.”

  “So anything unusual?”

  “I was thinking about the Christmas lights and how much I love them. They came on just before I locked the shop. So I wasn’t paying as much attention to my surroundings as I should have. Trouble was with me, and he did seem a little edgy, but you know he’s always up to something.”

  “After you went to get in your car, what happened?”

  “The light was out. So I started wondering what had happened. Then I stepped on the glass and I knew someone had broken the bulb. I wondered if they’d thrown a rock or maybe shot it out with an air rifle. I would have heard a firearm. But kids with a pellet gun or rocks . . . you know how that happens.”

  “And then?”

  “I started walking to my car and I had this sense that someone was watching me. I turned and he was in the driveway, backlit by the street lights.”

  “What was the man wearing?”

  “Black. Black coat, black or dark navy pants. Everything was black. And he wore a toque or knit cap of some kind. His features were concealed.”

  “Good, good.” Aiden took down the details. “What else?”

  “He was definitely watching me. I don’t think he happened by the drive and stopped because he saw me. He was there because he was watching me.”

  He was glad to see Tammy acknowledged the possible danger she was in. “What else?

  “The light in the parking lot was working the night before. When I left the store it was fine. When I pulled in yesterday after Barney brought my car to me, the light wasn’t broken. I would have seen the glass. So it had to be broken between the time I went in the store and the time I left at five.”

  So the person who broke the light had to be free of a job in the afternoon, or else have a job where he could come and go. Mail delivery, meter reader, law enforcement officer, Aiden made a mental list of jobs that would allow a man freedom of movement. These were the areas he’d begin his search for the SSK. And of course there was Benjy Miller, who’d left the bookstore with plenty of time to throw a rock at the parking lot light and then bide his time, waiting for Tammy to leave.

  “Was there anything similar about the man you saw last night and the person who knocked you down at Rook’s Vantage?”

  “They both wore black. And they both had on some type of knit hat.”

  “Do you think it was the same man?” He asked again. Now that she was in the middle of remembering, she might be able to make a comparison.

  She gripped the edge of the table. “It could be. They were both well built. Physical men. And there was one other thing. The man who slammed into me. He had a distinctive smell.”

  “Like bad breath or body odor?”

  “No, it was sweet. Like roses or sandalwood. That’s the closest I can come to it.”

  “Like incense?” Aiden asked. Benjy Miller ran a yoga and meditation center. It would be logical that he would also burn incense.

  “Yes,” Tammy said. “Like that.”

  The look she gave him told him she’d followed his thoughts exactly. “What am I going to do? I have to work with Benjy today.”

  “Play it cool. He won’t make a move in the daylight hours—too easy to get caught. You’ll be safe. I’ll show up at five. You can tell him we have a date.” The words came out so easily, as if he’d been looking for an opportunity.

  Tammy blinked. “A date?”

  “We don’t want to make Benjy suspicious, but I also don’t want you going home alone at night. We can grab some dinner, if you don’t have plans. Then I’ll escort you home and check the premises.”

  “Isn’t this a little beyond the call of duty?”

  “It’s not exactly a hardship to go to dinner with someone I like,” he said. He’d wanted to ask Tammy out for a long time, but there were reasons he hadn’t. After Kayla’s murder, he’d carried a lot of guilt. He’d failed her, betrayed her trust that he would protect her. And his single focus on catching a killer had set him on a lonely path. One where danger seemed to follow him.

  “Okay.” She pushed back from the table slightly. “It’s a police business date.”

  He was glad to see she’d taken the invitation with humor. “I’m glad you agreed. Otherwise I would have to arrest you.”

  “You haven’t even read me my rights.”

  She was flirting with him! Aiden couldn’t believe his good luck, and for a moment the past receded. “I’ll be sure to do that if I decide to interrogate you further.”

  They both laughed, and he realized it had been a long time since he’d let the playful side of his personality out.

  “I’d better get to work.” Tammy fiddled with the closure of the old robe at her throat, and Aiden realized she was embarrassed. The personal turn the conversation had taken caught her as much by surprise as him.

  “See you at five.” He stood and picked up his hat. “Thanks for the coffee.”

  “My pleasure.” She walked him to the door.

  She was still standing there when he drove away. The black cat sat at her feet. Trouble was on the job, and Aiden was glad for that fact.

  * * *

  Tammy turned on the shower. She was late starting her day, and she hated to feel behind the eight ball from the very beginning. Her tardiness wasn’t the only thing worrying her. Aiden Waters had sat in her kitchen drinking coffee and talking about a serial killer who might be stalking her. And then he’d asked her out on a date—sort of. He’d made it clear he was concerned for her welfare but also welcomed her company.

  And she had lied to him.

  A lie of omission, to be sure, but she’d failed to tell him she was going back up to Rook’s Vantage to retrieve the telescope she’d left up there. She didn’t really have a choice in the matter. She had to return it to her friend—or buy another one. Which wasn’t even a real option. She didn’t have that kind of spare cash lying about.

  She hadn’t told Aiden because she didn’t want him to think she was stupid. And going back to what was a body dump site was pretty dumb. Even she could see that. So why hadn’t she just asked him to accompany her? That would have resolved the whole thing.
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br />   “Dang it.” She dropped her robe and stepped beneath the hot spray of the water. When she got to the store, she’d call Aiden and ask him to accompany her. She’d take the smart option instead of the hard-headed one.

  Twenty minutes later, she and Trouble were driving to the store. She found Benjy in the parking lot, sweeping up the broken glass. One look at him, industriously cleaning up, and she felt her concerns slip away. He wasn’t a killer. He was a gentle man.

  “Someone knocked out our light,” he said. “I realized it last night when I left, but it was too dark to clean up the debris then.”

  “Thanks.” She tried to sound casual, at least. “I wonder how it happened.”

  “Rock.” He picked up a hunk of what looked like local stone. “I found this over by the fence.”

  She wished Benjy hadn’t touched it, but she could hardly say that. “Why would someone break the light?”

  “Maybe they were going to rob our cars.”

  “Books aren’t a hot item to pawn.” Tammy laughed. “I wish I had something valuable in my car.”

  “Yeah, me too. Folks will steal just about anything these days.” Benjy dropped the rock. If he had a clue it might be evidence, he wasn’t showing it. Then again, Aiden had warned her that the SSK was clever at disguise. Playing dumb would be a great disguise.

  “I’ll finish this up and come in to help go through those crates of books from the Boxer estate.”

  “Great. Thanks for taking care of this.” He’d completely destroyed the crime scene, but what else could she say? Rather than deliberately destroying evidence, Benjy seemed oblivious to the consequences of his actions.