“Just don’t overreact, okay?”
“Again, not making me feel better here, Lilly.”
“Fine,” Lilly said through gritted teeth. “When my mom married Derek we moved down to Pelican Pointe. I spent some of my teen years here. I met Kyle on a trip back to Monterey and married him.” She looked around at the faces in the room, landing on Jordan.
“I remember unburdening my soul to Jordan the first time. Not sure I ever thanked you for pulling me out of that hopeless feeling I had without friends. I’m convinced meeting you that day at Murphy’s Market was what turned my life around.”
Jordan reached over and took her hand. “I feel the same way. You were my first friend here, Lilly. Tell us what happened with Derek.”
“Remember my mom died while married to Derek. But things had been rough for me and the kids back in Monterey. Since Kyle got locked up after I pressed charges against him, I couldn’t afford the rent there anymore though. When Derek found out he offered me a place to stay. He said he had a trailer that me and the kids could live in. I jumped at getting out of Monterey to make a new start without Kyle. I thought it was the perfect solution to my problem.”
“Sounds like it should’ve been,” Wally offered, all the while he jingled the keys in his pocket anxiously waiting for her to get to the point.
Lilly shook her head. “When we got here Kyra was barely three and little Joey had just started walking real good. I didn’t have the money to pay for a babysitter while I hunted down a job in town. It was Christmastime and I was just settling in when I went on county assistance.” She looked for understanding in Wally’s eyes but all she got was a confused line of worry on his face. “Derek started hanging around a little too much after I got here. He got drunk one night and said some things about my mom dying.”
“What sort of things?” Ethan asked. “I remember when she died. The coroner ruled she took an accidental overdose of sleeping pills and that was the end of it.”
“Yeah, but I heard Derek Stovall told the coroner she’d been depressed for some time,” Wally countered.
“At the time, I thought that was true. That she was depressed because I was in an abusive marriage with Kyle and her grandchildren were in that situation, living it every day. That was my fault.”
“But you don’t think that now?”
“I don’t know. But Derek made it sound like he wasn’t surprised my mom took sleeping pills.”
Wally was still staring at Lilly. “But there’s more to this than your mother, isn’t there?” Apprehensive to hear the rest, he watched as Lilly took a deep breath before going on.
“After I moved into the trailer Derek started coming around…uninvited. Dale would, too, sometimes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before now?” Wally blurted out.
“Because look at you. I knew you’d want to go out there and punch Derek’s face in, maybe Dale’s, too. Do you think I want another husband locked up in jail? Do you?”
“She’s got a point there,” Nick said with a grin. “But if it’s any consolation that’s what I would’ve wanted to do.”
“A punch in the face is the way I would’ve gone,” Cord agreed. But when Cord looked over at Keegan, she wasn’t laughing at the joke.
“I think we need to hear what Lilly has to say. Without any more interruptions,” Keegan suggested. “Go on, Lilly.”
“Before he died in that accident, Dale hung around, too, just not nearly as much as Derek did. Derek tried getting real friendly the longest. It got so I wouldn’t answer the door when he knocked. But he had a key, of course. He owned the place. One night I got out of the shower and found him standing in the living room. He had his shirt already off.”
Hearing that, Wally all but exploded in fury. “Damn it! What happened? Please tell me you got out of there.”
“If you’ll settle down, I’ll tell you. I started screaming the house down that night, so loud I’m surprised the whole town didn’t hear me. I was scared, which was no act. My yelling woke up the kids. They both started crying. It was chaos for a few minutes before Derek made like he was there to fix the sink and left. There wasn’t anything wrong with the faucet or the drain. Those two things were probably the only stuff in that old place that worked just fine.” Lilly swallowed hard. “Derek kept coming back though. He’d try to hug me, get me to hug him back. Dale did it too a couple of times before he died. They were both creepy.”
“So the entire time you lived out there, that son of a bitch and his brother, made sexual advances toward you and you never said a word about it to anyone,” Wally accused.
Ethan stood up and got in Wally’s face. “And your yelling at Lilly is making it so much easier for her to tell us about it now.”
Immediately contrite, Wally went over to Lilly, wrapped his arms around her. “Ethan’s right. I’m sorry. But I really wish you would’ve said something to me.”
“On that we agree,” Ethan said. But about that time he glanced over at Keegan who looked like she was about to cry. “Keegan? What’s the matter with you?”
Cord turned his head just in time to hear Keegan admit, “It was Dale who did the same thing to me.”
“Shit,” Cord said. He took a deep breath of his own and reached for her hand. “Recently?”
“Oh no, Cord. Dale died the same year my grandmother died, two years back I guess. You remember, Ethan? That motorcycle accident south of here, out on the 101?”
“I do. It looked like Dale got drunk one night and veered into the path of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler—on purpose.”
“Committed suicide?” Cord said with raised eyebrows. “What the hell? So the guy’s no longer in the picture? Good, because I’m fairly sure I’d hunt him down just to beat him senseless.” He turned back to his wife. “How old were you when this happened?”
“The last time was a couple of years ago, I guess.”
“The last time? How many times did he do this?”
Keegan sighed. “The first time I was about sixteen. Back then Dale used to volunteer at the center sometimes. He’d stop by the house to check on me, or so he said. It seemed to happen every time my grandparents went off to save an animal. A couple of times he tried to hug me like he did Lilly. Once he tried to lure me into his truck. Then when I wouldn’t get in, he got out and tried to kiss me. I pushed him away though and took off. Another time I got lucky when Pete showed up before Dale had gone too far. Lilly’s right, Derek and Dale were both creepy.”
“What can we do about this Derek Stovall guy, Ethan?” Cord asked.
Before he could answer Hayden cleared her throat from the hallway. So far during the meeting she’d been absent because she’d had to nurse Nate, but now, she stood there wringing her hands in the doorway.
Ethan instantly picked up on the vibe and body language. “Not you, too? Why the hell—” He stopped, realized he sounded and acted exactly like Wally had. He took a breath before he asked, “Tell me what happened?”
“Derek Stovall came into the bookstore right after I opened. We weren’t even married yet.”
“And?”
“He asked about several books. I led him over to where they were—” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Before I knew what was happening, Derek had me cornered there. He tried to put his arm around me. Like Keegan said Dale did to her, I pushed him away from me and told him to get out. He never came back.”
Ethan walked over, wrapped his arms around her, and whispered something in her ear before turning back to the others. “I’ll talk to Brent about Stovall. You guys do realize I’m no longer wearing a badge.”
“We realize that, Ethan. But you’ve got Brent’s ear. He’ll listen to you,” Wally pointed out.
“We certainly can’t leave it up to Garver,” Logan added. “He has an innocent man locked up and isn’t about to admit it, especially since we can’t even convince Ethan here that Troy had nothing to do with Gina’s murder.”
“I’m starting to see a patte
rn here. What’s the likelihood that three out of four women in this room encountered Derek and Dale Stovall and they made blatant sexual overtones toward all of them?”
This time, Nick noticed Jordan’s hand shaking. “He never did that to you, did he?”
“Not Derek, no.”
Chills formed along Nick’s spine at the answer. His arms went numb. The words wanted to catch in his throat. “Who then?”
“Kent Springer.”
Nick remembered how Kent had almost set fire to the B & B before it had ever opened. Kent Springer, the sleazy developer had wanted the land. “When? You never said a word.”
Jordan lifted a shoulder. “It was long before you showed up. One day I was outside digging in the front flower bed. Hutton was about six months old, I guess. She was sitting in her baby carrier when Kent drove up. He got out of his car, strolled up to me like he owned the place, started chatting about what a great location I had and asked if I’d consider selling.”
“He put his hands on you.” It wasn’t a question.
“He tried. I pushed him back a full step, told him I wasn’t interested, and ordered him to get off my property. He threw out a slew of insults, warned me he’d more than likely own the cove one day because I’d never be able to make the mortgage.”
“When was this?” Nick asked.
Jordan chewed her lip, thinking. “Scott had been dead about two months. Even then I knew the man was fooling around with Sissy Carr. Everyone did. That was long before you came to Pelican Pointe, Nick.”
And one more reason he should have listened to that little voice inside his head a lot sooner than he had. “You still should have mentioned it before now.”
Jordan squeezed his hand. “Why? You took Kent down…right there in our driveway.” She smiled recalling the middle of the night when Nick had spotted Kent with the gas cans at the corner of the house and took off after him. Nick had caught up with Kent right before he’d reached his car. Brent and Ethan had arrested him on the spot for attempted arson. Those charges were one of the reasons Kent had gone on the run.
“Yeah…well…if I’d known he tried something with you, I’d have given him more than a damned concussion when I tackled the bastard.”
“Okay, so where does that leave us? I’ve got two names that top the suspect list. Sam Turley, the hot head, and now Derek Stovall who can’t keep his hands to himself,” Logan said.
“Hey, ten missing women, and two, no, three local residents, who seem to have a thing for making untoward sexual advances at women, I think that means something,” Kinsey replied. “Which makes me wonder, how many other women in town kept this kind of thing to themselves without saying a word to anyone about Derek, Dale, or this Kent person?”
“Good point. Maybe we should casually, you know, find out,” Wally suggested.
“What about adding people Gina knew?” Nick suggested.
“Everyone knew Gina. High profile job at Doc’s office, meeting and greeting patients, where she came in contact daily with just about anyone in town that needed a doctor,” Cord said. “Could Gina have had another boyfriend no one knew about?”
“Oh God, I hope not,” Kinsey uttered. “That would just point to Troy as being a jealous lover.”
Logan nodded. “Thinking like a good defense lawyer, I like it.”
“But I’m with Kinsey and Wally on this. Maybe we should talk to a few women around town, find out if Derek made advances toward them,” Cord suggested.
“Isn’t it strange this Derek happens to be the only one of the three still alive—” Nick said.
Ethan shook his head and didn’t let Nick finish. “I won’t stand here and sanction amateurs going out asking questions, nosing around, compromising a murder investigation.”
“Well, someone needs to,” Logan pointed out. “It wasn’t much of an investigation already since law enforcement made an arrest so quickly.” Then he narrowed his eyes at Kinsey. “Derek Stovall hasn’t come on to you, has he?”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t even know what he looks like. I mean if I saw him at the remodeling site, I didn’t pay any attention to him. Obviously, he isn’t interested in messing with a lawyer. Or, maybe I just haven’t been in town long enough. But if his track record is any indication, he’ll get around to me…eventually. Maybe I could entice him in some way and we’d have him…you know, on record, or video?”
“Don’t even think about it,” Ethan cautioned.
“About that I’d have to agree with Ethan,” Logan said.
Hayden piped up, “No, Kinsey, you really don’t want to do that. I think Derek’s got cold eyes. When he had me up against those bookshelves, he scared the crap out of me that day.”
“Hayden’s right,” Lilly concurred. “He met my mother over the Internet. I remember cautioning her about his cold blue eyes in the picture he used for his online profile. Do you think Derek might’ve…you know, done something to my mother, Ethan?”
Wally glared at Ethan. “If you don’t take that up with the coroner, maybe Lilly and I should. If the next of kin raises a big enough stink…” He looked over at Kinsey for confirmation. “Maybe Lilly and I should retain a lawyer.”
Kinsey nodded. “I could file a petition to have the case looked at again.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll take all of this to Brent. We’ll check out Derek for prior sexual offenses. I’ll also ask about getting copies of the files on the missing women.”
Logan stared in wonder at Ethan. “Since when? Brent wouldn’t even let me look at Megan’s file that day when I met with him.”
“I know. But I think there’s no better time than the present to crack open these cold case files and go over them one by one.”
“Thanks for that. When?”
“I’ll let you know, maybe over the next couple of days. That’s why I’m serious, guys. I do not want any of you going out that door confronting Stovall or Turley or anyone else for that matter. I’m as angry at what Stovall did to Hayden as any other man in this room. And I intend to bring Stovall to Brent’s attention. But I’m going through proper channels. Now, I suggest strongly that you wait this out for an investigation to run its course. If you don’t, all bets are off.” He pointed a finger at Logan. “Because if just one person tells me that any of you have been nosing around on your own, I’ll file a complaint and have whoever it is thrown in jail. Are we clear on that?”
There were grumbles from every man in the room. But in the end, one by one—Logan, Nick, Cord, and Wally—all agreed to adhere to Ethan’s edict.
At least, for now.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next day, Ethan Cody slapped a thin stack of file folders on his own kitchen table and said, “Brent and I made copies of the ten cases. What you’re looking at, in the order in which they went missing, are the files for Carly Radigan, Angela Fetterman, Janie Shively, Rebecca Linseed, Megan Donnelly, Aurella Gonzales, Penny Hargrove, Kimmie Pederson, Belinda Truitt, and Sandra Flowers, ages fifteen to nineteen. These are the ones reported missing. Who knows if there are more that might have happened in other jurisdictions? But these are ours. A few were labeled runaways. But the end of the line for these files might’ve happened right here in Pelican Pointe. I don’t even want to think about the ones no one bothered calling in to make an official report.”
“No offense, Ethan, but even when someone bothered with it, the cops didn’t do much.”
“I won’t argue with that assessment.”
“Then why are you doing this?” Logan wanted to know.
“I’ll tell you why. The minute Kinsey called me last night to tell me they didn’t find Troy’s DNA on Gina, Brent and I had a serious discussion about it. We went through all the scenarios. Come to find out what was bothering Brent is the same thing bugging me.”
“Let me guess. You want to know why Troy didn’t see Gina’s Mazda parked on the side of the road that night?” Kinsey surmised.
“You got it. Even th
ough that could be construed as trivial, it demands explanation. And I think I’ve got it. ”
“Really.”
“Brent read over Troy’s police interrogation and something popped out. At least to him it did. Troy said he was so jazzed about how his date with Mona had gone he wore his earbuds all the way back home. The radio in his truck doesn’t work, hasn’t since he was in high school. But he has an old iPod his mom gave him for his fourteenth birthday before she died. He takes it everywhere and listens to it in lieu of a radio. Anyway, during Troy’s polygraph he was asked if he saw Gina’s car that night. His answer was a resounding no. The polygraph examiner said he was telling the truth. Troy never saw that Mazda sitting there because he simply wasn’t paying attention to detail.”
“He was high on the successful date with Mona.”
Ethan nodded. “I know it seems minor, but believe it or not, those kinds of inconsistencies bother seasoned investigators,” Ethan explained.
“So what are you saying? Are you saying you believe in Troy’s innocence now?”
Ethan grinned. “You wouldn’t have all these files if I didn’t.”
Kinsey slid out the folder on the bottom of the stack. “So Sandra Flowers was the last one to go missing. When was that exactly?”
Ethan looked uncomfortable. “Last August. She was sixteen. That happened on my watch.”
Logan sorted through the stack until he came to Megan’s file. He spread it out on the counter, began scanning the words. When his eyes landed on Scott’s name in the file as someone a Detective Augustine had talked to, Logan was able to confirm what Scott had told him. According to what was in the police log, Scott had admitted to Augustine Megan hadn’t shown up at their meeting place that night. For some reason, Logan felt relieved it validated Scott’s story. But in a span of minutes, Logan had finished reading the entire case file. There wasn’t that much inside the barebones folder.
Kinsey started to read the one marked Janie Shively and shook her head. “This is it? It consists of two single sheets of paper, one of which is the missing persons report filed by Janie’s mother in Spokane, Washington. The detective assigned to the case made a couple of phone calls along with a few notations about the results, and that seems to be the extent of his investigation.”
Lighthouse Reef (A Pelican Pointe Novel Book 4) Page 24
