I parked on the street in front of her place. Like a number of psychics, Terri ran her business out of her house. The parlor at the front of the house was used for psychic readings. Meanwhile, the kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms were all at the back of the house.
I approached the front door and gave it a few knocks, not really expecting her to answer. It was only nine o’clock in the morning, and a woman like Terri didn’t exactly work banker’s hours. When Terri didn’t answer the door, I headed around the side of the house.
That was when I heard some rustling. That was followed by the sound of footsteps coming from the backyard.
“Hello. Terri. Is that you?” I asked.
As I reached the backyard, I spotted a woman dashing away from the house. The forty-eight-year-old brunette was five-foot-two with a slender body, an oval face, and hazel eyes.
She also had no interest in talking to me.
“Hey. Why are you running?” I asked.
The brunette went through the neighbors’ backyard and dashed toward the street that ran parallel to Terri’s house.
I quickly turned to the right and noticed that Terri’s back door was cracked open.
“Hey. What’s going on here?” I said.
The woman just kept running.
I started to take off after her, but I didn’t have any hope of catching her. She’d had too much of a head start on me. I ran after her at full speed, but by the time I reached the street that ran parallel to Terri’s house, the woman had already gotten into the driver’s seat of a green sedan.
I pulled out my phone to get a photo of the woman’s license plate as she drove away, but I was unsuccessful. The car was too far away, and my phone couldn’t zoom in enough to get the information on the plate. I was only able to capture a picture of the sedan itself.
With the sedan speeding away, I gave up my chase. I turned around and ran back to Miss Terri’s house. When I reached her back door, I knocked.
“Hello. Miss Terri,” I said.
I received no answer.
“This is Sabrina Daley, from last night,” I added. “Is everything okay?”
Again, no response.
I decided to head inside. I took a few steps forward into her living room. That was when I saw Miss Terri’s lifeless body on the ground. A bloodstained wooden baseball bat was on the floor beside her.
***
I immediately called David. Fifteen minutes later, my detective boyfriend arrived. A slew of deputies followed shortly after. They were joined by a forensics team.
When David spotted me, he rushed over and wrapped his arms around me.
“Sabrina, are you okay?” he asked.
“Of course I’m not. She’s dead,” I replied.
“I meant, are you hurt?”
“No. I’m fine.”
A look of relief came to his face. “Good.”
“I can’t believe it. Someone…” I couldn’t finish my sentence. “What kind of a person does something like this?”
“There is plenty of time to figure that out. In the meantime, I have to ask, what are you even doing here?”
I took a deep breath. “I just wanted to talk to Miss Terri again.”
David’s forehead wrinkled. “Why?”
“We can get to that later,” I said. “There are more pressing issues at the moment.”
“Of course. This woman you saw running from the scene. Did you get a good look at her?”
“Good enough.”
David pulled out a pad of paper. “Can you describe her for me?”
“I can go one better.” I pointed to a framed photo that was sitting on the corner of Terri’s desk. The photo was of Terri smiling and standing beside the same brunette woman that I had just chased. “That’s her.”
David’s eyes lit up. “Fantastic. I’ll put out an all-points bulletin. With any luck, someone will spot her before she can get too far.”
Chapter Eight
In short order, Miss Terri’s house became a zoo of frenetic police activity. Deputies cordoned off the property while members of the forensics team scoured every inch of the place for fingerprints and clues.
David gave the photo of Terri and the brunette to one of his deputies to make copies of and disperse as part of the all-points bulletin. From there, David headed to his car. He opened up his police-issued laptop and did a search on Terri Baxter.
My story was much different. While a flurry of action took place around me, I found it difficult to even move a muscle. I felt like my feet were stuck in cement. My heart was beating out of control. I had to do some breathing exercises to calm myself down.
The police were trained to deal with the sight of dead bodies. Even though this wasn’t the first murder I had dealt with, I was still really uncomfortable being at a crime scene.
When David returned from his car, his eyes were as wide as saucers.
“This is some crazy stuff,” he said.
“I know. Two murders in three months,” I replied.
“I was talking about what I just found out.”
“Uh-oh. What is it?”
“That brunette you saw running away from the scene is Terri’s sister.”
My eyes widened. “Sister?”
He nodded. “Her name is Erin Baxter.”
I groaned. “Family drama is the worst kind of drama.”
“And in this case, it looks like it turned into deadly drama.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I don’t get it.”
“I know this particular case has to be really hard for you, finding one sister murdered while the other one flees the scene of the crime.”
“That’s not it.”
His eyebrows knitted. “It isn’t?”
I shook my head. “No. I keep going back to the baseball bat that was on the ground next to Terri’s body.”
“You mean the presumptive murder weapon?”
“Terri’s sister was in a hurry to get out of here. So why did she leave the bat next to the body?”
David bit the corner of his lip. “She clearly heard you coming. Maybe in the heat of the moment, she panicked.”
I stared off into the distance. “Maybe. But there’s also the issue of the bat itself. I mean, there are far more effective weapons to use. Like a gun—or a knife even. But a baseball bat?”
“I will ask her all of these things when my deputies are able to track her down.”
“Good. I’m curious to hear her answers.”
“There are a lot of things that I want answers to right now.”
“I know what you mean,” I said.
“Although currently a much different thought is nagging at my brain.”
“I’m all ears.”
David exhaled. “I’ve just been thinking how unfortunate it is that Miss Terri wasn’t really psychic. Otherwise she could have predicted her impending murder and taken steps to prevent it.”
I grimaced. “I wouldn’t be so down on her psychic abilities.”
David’s eyebrows arched. “Really? After what happened to her, I think it’s safe to say that she did not have psychic abilities.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
He squinted. “How do you explain this, then?”
I took a deep breath. “Maybe she was able to predict her death—just not in time to prevent it.”
His face strained. “Sorry. I’m not buying it.”
“Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter which one of us is right. Terri’s gone, and nothing is going to change that—”
As I finished my sentence, Deputy Walter Mitchell approached David and me.
“Detective Carlson,” Walter said.
David turned to him. “Do you have something for me, Mitchell?”
Walter handed David a document.
David glanced at the document and read it aloud. “Last will and testament of Terri Baxter.”
“I found it in the filing cabinet,” Walter said.
“Good job
, Mitchell,” David replied.
My eyes were drawn to the will. “This should be interesting.”
David read the first few lines of the will quietly then looked up at me. “It sure is. According to this, Terri’s money, property, and possessions are to be divided evenly between her son and her sister.”
“The same sister that I saw booking it out of here?” I asked.
David nodded. “That very one.”
“I guess we don’t have to speculate about whether Erin had a motive for wanting her sister dead.”
The deputy spoke up. “You sure don’t. She had a pretty substantial motive.” Walter handed David another document. “I found this bank statement in the filing cabinet as well.”
David’s eyes widened as he looked at the balance at the bottom of the statement. “Wow. That’s some serious money.”
“How much money are we talking about?” I asked.
“Six figures,” David replied.
My jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
David nodded. “Maybe I should have become a psychic.”
“No kidding. Who could have predicted that a psychic would have that much money in her bank account?”
“And that’s exactly why you never became a psychic,” he deadpanned.
“Fair point.”
“Anything else, Mitchell?” David asked.
Deputy Mitchell nodded. He handed David one more document.
David read it aloud. “A million-dollar life insurance policy.”
“Look who the beneficiary is,” Mitchell said.
David looked down at the paper. “Rick Lutz.”
“The mattress emporium guy?” I asked.
“I imagine. Unless there’s another Rick Lutz around.”
“Sounds like Mr. Lutz had a million reasons to want Terri dead,” I said.
David nodded. “Yeah. By the looks of it, a lot of people had a reason to want her dead.” He groaned. “I have a feeling this is going to be a brutal case.”
While I started going over the various suspects in my head, the medical examiner called David over. “Detective Carlson. A word, please.”
“I’ll be right there,” David said.
Chapter Nine
Eric Stewart was a balding, bespectacled, pear-shaped fifty-one-year-old. He had a deep, gravelly voice that would have made him a perfect fit to host a morning radio show. Instead, he had opted for a career in forensic medicine. I couldn’t imagine choosing to spend my work days surrounded by dead bodies.
I know, what an ironic statement, given how I had stumbled upon Terri’s dead body. To me, the difference was that in Eric’s line of work, corpses were inevitable. I, meanwhile, just happened to keep discovering crime scenes by accident. It wouldn’t bother me in the least if I never saw another corpse again.
David glanced at Eric. “What have you got for us?”
“Based on my preliminary findings, the cause of death is blunt-force trauma to the head,” Eric replied.
David winced. “Ouch. What a way to go.”
Eric nodded. “Yeah. There are far less painful ways to go than a baseball bat to the head.”
“Have you been able to pull any prints from the bat?” David asked.
Eric shook his head. “Unfortunately, it’s clean.”
David’s forehead wrinkled. “Really?”
Eric nodded. “The killer must have worn gloves or wiped the bat clean when they were done.”
I held my hand up. “For the record, when Terri’s sister was running away, I noticed that she was wearing gloves.”
David’s eyes widened. “Very interesting.” He glanced at Eric. “Have you been able to determine the time of death?”
“I would say sometime between ten and eleven o’clock,” Eric replied.
My eyebrows knitted. “Wait. You mean last night?”
Eric nodded.
David scratched his forehead. “Not this morning, then?”
Eric shook his head. “No.”
David took a deep breath. “Why was Erin Baxter here this morning, then?”
“And why did she run?” I asked.
Eric shrugged. “Don’t ask me. Criminal psychology is not my area of expertise. I just examine bodies.”
“Right,” David said. “Point taken. Speaking of, when you examined Terri’s body, did you discover anything else that might help us?”
“No.”
“What about the forensics team? Have they uncovered anything noteworthy?” David asked.
“Not yet, but it’s still early.”
David let out a sigh. “All right. Well, keep me updated.”
Eric nodded. “Will do.”
Chapter Ten
My mind refused to be quieted. It certainly wasn’t from a lack of effort. There was just one key problem. I had expected to get more definitive answers from the medical examiner, yet his replies had only provoked more questions in my mind.
Instead of my inner monologue being silenced, I kept lingering on what few details I did know about Terri’s murder, to the point where a migraine seemed imminent. That wasn’t all. The more I thought about the medical examiner’s findings, the more things didn’t add up in my head. Granted, math had never been my strong suit in school, but there was something very important missing in this equation.
My skeptical thoughts were so persistent that I couldn’t keep them inside me any longer. Each of my concerns spilled out of my mouth in a stream of consciousness. “So the killer was meticulous enough to wear gloves or wipe their prints from the bat, but not detail-oriented enough to take the bat with them when they left.” My face strained. “That doesn’t make sense. A smart killer would have grabbed the bat on their way out, even if just to dispose of it later.”
David squinted at me. “I’m going to have to stop you right there.”
“I know what you’re going to say,” I replied. “I mean, I saw Terri’s sister fleeing from the scene. Only—that happened this morning. According to the medical examiner, Terri was killed last night. So why had her sister come to Terri’s house this morning?”
“Sabrina—”
The thoughts kept spilling out of my mind. “You don’t have a good answer for that, either, do you? I don’t blame you. It doesn’t add up.”
“Sabrina—” David started to say.
I scratched my forehead. “What if the killer wanted us to find the weapon?”
David became stern with me. “Sabrina.”
I wrinkled my nose. “What? Do you have an answer?”
He shook his head. “No. What I have is a different question for you.”
“But we’re not done with this one.”
“We are for now.”
“Why?”
“There’s something I need to know.”
As I stared deep into David’s eyes, I saw nothing but uncertainty.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Will you please explain to me why you came back to see Terri this morning?” David replied.
Oh. That.
With much bigger issues at play, I figured that topic wasn’t even worth addressing. I had certainly forgotten about it until right then.
“Does that even really matter now?” I asked.
“It does to me.” He gave me a piercing stare. “Sabrina, I know there’s something you’re not telling me.”
I let out a sigh.
He put his arms on my hips. “I’m here for you.”
I took a deep breath. “All right. Last night, Miss Terri told me that my sister would be found.”
“Where? When? How?”
“Those are all very good questions. Unfortunately, she didn’t have an answer to any of them.”
“What a cruel tease. So she didn’t tell you anything else?”
“I tried getting more out of her, but she told me that she didn’t have any other details.” I groaned. “I came back this morning hoping she could give me a little more to work with.”
My breath sho
rtened as I became choked up.
David pulled me in close. “Sabrina, why didn’t you tell me about this last night? No wonder you were so emotional. It must have been pretty intense hearing Terri make such a bold prediction about your sister.”
I nodded. “It was.”
He gazed into my eyes. “So why am I just hearing about it now?”
“The timing didn’t exactly seem right considering how quick you were to make a joke about Miss Terri on the phone last night.”
A look of shame came over his face. “I’m sorry. If I had known that she had brought up your sister, I never would have made that joke—”
“I know.”
The disturbed look on my face persisted.
David gazed at me with troubled eyes. “Again, I’m really sorry.”
“David, I’m not mad at you,” I said. “The person I’m furious with is Miss Terri’s killer. The murderer didn’t just take Terri’s life. In turn, they also robbed me of a second chance to get answers from Miss Terri. Or to find out if Terri was just putting one over on me. Either way, I wanted the opportunity to talk to her again. Now that will never happen.”
He put his hand on my shoulder. “I wish there was something I could do to clear up the uncertainty about your sister. What I can tell you is that I’m not going to rest until Terri’s killer is behind bars.”
I groaned. “Yeah.”
David had said all the right words, but this was about far more than just my boyfriend’s heart being in the right place. It wasn’t just about whether my sister would be found, either. Miss Terri hadn’t just been murdered. Her killer was still out there. Terri deserved justice.
This had the makings of a wild case. All indications were that David had his work cut out for him. He wasn’t alone. After all that I had seen and heard that morning, it was impossible to get the details of the case out of my head.
The questions continued to pile up in my mind. Not just about who had killed Terri, but why they had done it?
Before I could delve any deeper into my thoughts, David tried to pull my head out of the clouds.
Daley Buzz Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 20
