Memories Can Be Deadly (Sage Gardens Cozy Mystery Book 8)

by Cindy Bell

  “If he was telling the truth.”

  “That’s a big if.” Walt turned his car down the street that led to Daniel’s house.

  Chapter 15

  Jo walked up to Daniel’s car. She had no interest in being told what to do. She’d grown to respect Eddy, Walt and Samantha, but when it came to breaking and entering she saw no reason to hum and haw. If there was evidence in the car a simple pop open of the car door would tell her everything that she needed to know. In and out in no longer than a minute, and she would redeem herself. It bugged her that she hadn’t thought about the car in the first place.

  Once Jo was beside the car she glanced around to see if any neighbors were out watering the grass or if there were kids on skateboards. When she didn’t see anything she looked towards the house. The curtains were pulled tight and the door was closed. There was no music or noise drifting out from any potentially open windows. Sure, Daniel was home, but he was likely totally oblivious to the fact that a stranger stood in his driveway.

  Jo pulled a thin, flat tool out of her pocket and began to slide it into the lock, however the moment she touched the handle she realized it had plenty of give. It seemed to her that the car wasn’t even locked. She smiled to herself. It wasn’t exactly breaking and entering if the door was unlocked. She lifted the handle to open the door in the same moment that someone shouted her name.

  “Jo! No!” Walt lunged towards her from the bottom of the driveway. Jo stared at him for a brief moment before she heard the click. Her eyes widened and she ran straight for the bottom of the driveway. Walt tackled her onto the front lawn just as the explosion filled the air. He held her down in the dirt with his body splayed over hers. Samantha shouted for them as she ran towards them. Eddy had his phone out to call for help. Jo spit out a few pieces of grass and wondered if she was still alive. Walt’s weight on top of her informed her that she likely was.

  “Are you okay?” His voice struggled to reach her. She could barely hear. What happened? Her ears rung with the force of the explosion. Walt slid off her and she pushed herself up to her knees. The car that she had almost sat down in was nothing but rubble. Even the corner of the roof had been impacted by the force of the explosion. Her eyes watered with the realization that she could have been ash if it wasn’t for Walt distracting her. She would have sat down in that much faster than the time it took for the bomb to go off. Was it a bomb?

  “Walt?” She stared at him. His face was covered in a mixture of soot and dirt. He looked so different when he wasn’t sparkling clean.

  “It’s okay. We’re okay. Everyone’s okay.” Walt offered her his hand to help her to her feet.

  “Are you sure?” Eddy grabbed Jo’s elbow and looked her over. “You aren’t hurt?” His eyes surveyed her from head to toe.

  “Eddy, it’s okay. I’m okay.” She looked into his eyes. “I’m okay.”

  Eddy took a deep breath and looked back towards the car. As he did the front door of the house flew open and Daniel ran out in nothing but his boxers. His hair was wet as if he might have just taken a shower.

  “What is going on here?” He glared across the lawn at Samantha and Walt. “You two again? Did you do this?”

  “No, we didn’t.” Walt held up his hand, but shuddered when he saw the amount of dirt on it. “Oh no, oh dear.” He rummaged in his pocket for some tissues.

  “Eddy, what should we do?” Samantha frowned. “He’s going to have a lot of questions.”

  Eddy narrowed his eyes. “Jo, you need to get out of here before the police arrive. There’s no need for you to be here.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. Get in your car and go.” He tilted his head in the direction of the street. Jo didn’t have to be told again, she took off towards her car.

  “What about us?” Samantha glanced over at Daniel who stared at his car with disbelief. “Do we stay, or go?”

  “Stay.” Eddy stared at the scene. “The police are going to need an explanation and we can give them an eye witness account. But, in our version, I’m the one that opened the car door. We came to check on Daniel. Walt noticed the blinking under the car. I lifted the handle to see if it was rigged, and boom.”

  “Do you think they will buy that?” Samantha asked.

  “They will have to if it’s all that we tell them. Jo not being here won’t change anything about the case, we’re just going to have to stretch the truth a little.”

  “That’s quite flexible of you, Eddy,” Samantha said.

  “I’ve learned a few things from you.” He shot her a brief smile.

  As a police car skidded to a stop in front of the residence followed by a firetruck, Samantha was glad that Eddy was there. He remained by her side throughout the police officer’s questioning. Walt stammered through most of it. Samantha’s ears rang so loud that she guessed Walt also had a hard time hearing the officer’s questions clearly. By the time they were able to leave the scene, Samantha was exhausted. She didn’t overlook the fact that Daniel shot her dirty looks every chance he got.

  “I think Daniel really believes we had something to do with his car blowing up.”

  Eddy put a finger to his lips. “Sh, wait until we’re clear of the crime scene.”

  Samantha nodded and followed him back to Walt’s car. Walt wandered along beside them, almost as if he couldn’t get his balance. Samantha noticed that his hands twitched at his sides, still streaked with dirt. She’d never seen Walt move so fast. When he spotted the blinking light and saw Jo approach the car, he was like a blur as he took off after her.

  “Walt, are you okay?” She touched his back. He jumped in reaction to the touch and pulled away.

  “I will be, Samantha. I’m just a little unnerved.”

  “I think we all are,” Samantha said.

  Eddy frowned and glanced back at the crime scene.

  Once they were all inside the car Eddy looked into the backseat at Samantha. “What if he did it?”

  “What do you mean?” Samantha asked.

  “What if he’s the one that rigged the car?”

  “Daniel? Why would he do that?” She stared at him with wide eyes.

  “I don’t know, maybe you were right. Maybe there was evidence in the car that he couldn’t get rid of, so he rigged the car to blow up when someone opened the door.”

  “Like the police?” Samantha shook her head. “Daniel may be crazy, but to attempt to kill a police officer? That’s just asking for life in prison. He had no way of predicting who would try to lift the handle.”

  “Or maybe he did.” Walt clutched the wheel tight as he drove. “Maybe he thought it would be you, Samantha, after your conversation at the library. Maybe he knew that you were suspicious so he wanted you to be eliminated.”

  “Maybe.” Samantha shivered at the thought. After all, it could have just as easily been her, or any one of them, that opened the car door. “But it would be a huge stretch. He had no way of knowing for sure. Plus, there wasn’t a lot of time between our conversation and when Jo opened that door. He would have had to make a decision to kill me, then decide how to do it, then make and plant the bomb.”

  “Not to mention that Jo’s search didn’t turn up any chemicals or unusual equipment in the house,” Eddy said. “I’m sure she would have noticed if there were the makings of a bomb hanging around.”

  “True.” Samantha nodded.

  “Okay, so if we’re sure that Daniel didn’t do it, who did?” Walt squinted through the windshield. “Someone must have. The killer?”

  “I have no idea.” Samantha sighed. “Just when I start to think I have something figured out, a car blows up.”

  “It was almost Jo.” Eddy lowered his eyes and grimaced.

  “I know.” Walt pulled the car into the driveway of Samantha’s villa.

  “If Walt wasn’t there…” Samantha breathed out her words.

  “I don’t even want to think about it.” Walt looked between his two friends. “I still can’t b
elieve that I managed to get to her in time. It wasn’t likely, and yet I still tried.”

  “Shows how much you care.” Eddy smiled. Samantha climbed out of the backseat. She reached up and rubbed one of her ears in an attempt to hear clearly.

  “How long before all of this noise in my ears goes away?” Samantha asked.

  “Could be a day, could be a few. If it keeps up after that you’ll need to go to the doctor to get it checked out,” Eddy said.

  “Yes, I noticed a bit of a ringing in my ears, but it already went away for me.” Walt turned towards his villa. “I’m going to head home and shower.” He shuddered as he caught sight of a smudge of dirt on the back of his hand. Samantha waved to Walt as he drove away. Eddy followed her up to the door of her villa.

  “If you’re worried about your ears why don’t you have Owen take a look?”

  “I’m not sure that Owen would be able to tell anything. I’d probably have to go to the hospital. Besides, it may clear up soon. How are yours?” Samantha asked.

  “A little fuzzy, but not too bad. It helps that my hearing is already going south.”

  “Is it really?” She unlocked her door and glanced over at him. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Nothing too serious yet, but let’s just say that my old age has been confirmed.”

  “Eddy, you’re not old.” Samantha smiled and kissed his cheek. “Just weathered.”

  “Hm? Is that supposed to be some kind of compliment?”

  “Yes.” She pushed open her door. “You know, experienced, wise.”

  “It has nothing to do with my wrinkles?”

  “What wrinkles?”

  “Now, I think you should get your eyes checked out along with your ears.”

  Samantha laughed and tossed her purse down on the couch. “Believe what you want, Eddy, but you’re the talk of Sage Gardens.”

  “Stop it.” He rolled his eyes. “Even if that were true, I don’t want to know about it. Besides, it’s not what we should be thinking about now.”

  “You’re right, I guess I was just trying to distract myself.” Samantha sat down on the couch and rubbed her fingertips along her forehead. “Do you think we’re ever going to figure this out?”

  “I’m just glad that Jo is okay.”

  “We think she’s okay.”

  “You should probably go check on her,” Eddy said.

  “I think you should come with me to talk to her.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do, Eddy. She went off and did things on her own and obviously she thought we didn’t trust her. All of this needs to be smoothed over. She’s probably terrified, and having you there might help calm her down.”

  Eddy shook his head. “I don’t think that Jo has ever been terrified by anything. She might be a little shaken up though.”

  “She’s not superhuman. She’s a person, and she almost got blown to smithereens. You don’t think that’s a good reason to reach out to her?”

  Eddy looked into her eyes. “You’re not going to let this go are you?”

  “No, I’m not. There’s no reason to. We need to go see her.”

  “Fine. All right, I’ll go.” He growled.

  “How can you be this stubborn? I know you’re more caring than this. Why is it so hard for you to go see her?”

  “You really can’t figure that out?” He snapped at her and then frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to speak so harshly. But can’t you see why I don’t want to go?”

  “No, I can’t. She’s your friend. Our friend.”

  “A friend who wouldn’t have been putting herself at risk if I hadn’t been so pigheaded in the first place. It’s my fault that she was there, alone. It’s my fault that she thought she couldn’t get back-up.”

  “Oh Eddy, you can’t blame yourself for that. Jo does what she does, no matter what anyone says. I’m sure she doesn’t blame you. After all, we were there, even if by accident.”

  “I don’t know, Samantha. I’m pretty mad at myself, so I would expect she would be mad at me, too.”

  “I don’t think she will be. But we can’t know whether she will be or not if we don’t go. So what are you going to do, let her think you don’t care, or show up even if she might be upset?”

  “You’re right.” He nodded. “I’ll go.”

  “Good.” She looked at him. “Listen Eddy. Jo knows that you mean well. She knows that.”

  “I hope so.”

  Chapter 16

  As Samantha and Eddy walked towards Jo’s villa, Eddy noticed that several people clustered around a make-shift memorial to May. His heart sank. In the middle of all of this chaos, they were still no closer to finding out who actually killed her. If it wasn’t for Jo, their prime suspect would have gone up in smoke. Samantha was right. Why would he set a bomb to go off in his own car? Clearly, he wasn’t the killer. Or at the very least, someone else was involved. It suddenly occurred to Eddy that when the blast filled the air it could have been any one of them with their hand on the door. Samantha knocked on the door then pushed it open, just in time to hear Jo protesting.

  “I told you already, Walt, I’m fine. I wish you would just go home.”

  “I’m not going anywhere until we find out exactly what happened at Daniel’s house.”

  “Well, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Hi Samantha, hi Eddy, sure come right inside, no need to be invited.”

  “Just here to check on you.” Samantha smiled at her. “Walt, I thought you were going home?”

  “I was, but I just couldn’t. I needed to see Jo and make sure that she was safe, and that she didn’t have any intentions to go after the perpetrator herself.”

  “It was a little explosion, not the end of the world. It happened, it’s over, and I’m fine,” Jo said.

  Eddy kept his gaze averted.

  “You might as well join the crowd.” Jo rolled her eyes and gestured for them to come in. “I’m telling you all, I’m fine.”

  “I think after what we all went through today it’s pretty normal to be concerned.” Samantha tilted her head to the side. “None of us expected that to happen.”

  “Maybe, but I think we need less focus on me, and more focus on who planted that bomb.”

  “Well, like we said before, we don’t think it was Daniel.” Walt frowned.

  “Unless he was trying to throw suspicion off himself.” Samantha’s eyes widened. “I guess it’s possible.”

  “If that were the case he would have used a timer, not a trigger set for the door handle. Who else did he expect to try to open the car door?” Walt shook his head.

  “That’s a good point.” Samantha tapped her chin. “So someone wanted Daniel dead. Who?”

  “The actual murderer?” Jo sat down on the edge of the couch. “Maybe someone was after both May and Daniel, they are siblings after all. We’ve been focused on only May being the target, but maybe they both were.”

  “Still, someone who goes from using a fire poker to using a bomb, that’s a big jump.” Eddy pursed his lips in thought. “And, it requires skill. You can’t just slap together a bomb. Whoever did this knew what they were doing.”

  “It sounds to me like we need to be thinking about the people he owes money to. Maybe when they realized they were never going to collect, they decided to take him out.” Jo shrugged. “Bombs are more likely to be made by a loan shark than a retiree.”

  “So, you think it’s possible that whoever planted the bomb actually had nothing to do with May’s murder?”

  “I think for a murderer to follow up their crime with a bomb, that’s very unusual.” Eddy frowned. “Nothing about this is fitting together the way it needs to. Maybe we just need to take a breath and give ourselves some time to review the information that we already have. If we do that something new might come to the surface.”

  “I think you’re right.” Walt nodded. “With the blast, we’ve probably all forgotten some important detail. A shock can erase
even the most important memories.”

  “Then we’ll meet in the morning to review?” Eddy looked between his friends. “After breakfast, say about ten?”

  “Yes, I’ll be there.” Jo nodded.

  “Me too.” Samantha yawned. “I could use a break.”

  “Where are we going to meet?” Walt pulled out his phone to make a note of it.

  “How about in the community center? The scene of the original crime,” Samantha suggested.

  “Okay. Good plan,” Walt said.

  As the others left, Samantha lingered.

  “What is it, Samantha?” Jo turned to face her with a steady stare. “I know there’s something on your mind.”

  “Hm?”

  “Don’t act innocent, you’re still here for a reason.”

  “I just need one thing from you, Jo, and then I’ll go.”

  “What?” Jo raised an eyebrow. Samantha held her arms wide open. Jo’s eyes widened and then she embraced her, Samantha folded her arms around her. “All right, it was a little scary.” Jo sighed.

  “Which part? The part with the bomb or the part where Walt tackled you?”

  Jo started laughing and she pulled away as she looked at Samantha. “I didn’t think he had it in him.”

  “For you, he does.” Samantha winked at her. Jo rolled her eyes.

  “You’re seeing things that aren’t there.”

  “If you say so. Are you sure you’re going to be okay by yourself?”

  “Yes, to be honest, I need some time alone. I’ve had a little too much togetherness lately.”

  “Okay, but remember, safety comes in numbers. I know why you did what you did, and I know that it is important to you to work alone, but you need to be aware that we all have your back. You’re not alone in any of this.”

  “I can admit that today taught me not to take my friends for granted. I know I make light of it, but the truth is that if Walt hadn’t shown up the moment he did, I wouldn’t have made it out of there alive. I can’t even begin to think of a way to thank him, to thank the three of you for being there.”