Walking Straight (The Walking Together Series Book 1)

by T. E. Killian

  Hal didn’t answer but asked another question. “Where’s your gun Matt?”

  Matt pointed at the table behind Hal and the chief turned around and pulled a pair of latex gloves out of his pocket. After putting then on he picked up the gun, ejected the magazine, and looked at it.

  He looked up at the officer with him and said, “9mm.” Then he turned back to Matt. “This the only gun you have Matt?”

  “That’s all. Never been much for guns but on the road you gotta have something to protect yourself.”

  After Hal put the magazine back in Matt’s gun, he replaced it on the table and turned back to Matt. “Have a seat Matt. We need to talk to you for a bit.”

  Matt didn’t say anything but did as Hal told him and sat on the couch. Hal and the other officer sat in two other chairs after turning them so that they faced Matt.

  “Okay, Matt here’s how it’s going to go. I’m going to ask you some questions and all I want is a simple direct answer to each one. And I won’t answer any questions until I’m finished. Got it?”

  Matt nodded. He knew he hadn’t done anything this time so he sat back and waited for Hal to begin.

  “First question. When was the last time you saw Jerry Vargas?”

  Matt tried to think but couldn’t at first. “I’m not sure.” Then he remembered. “Oh yeah. It was the night that note was taped to my door. Jerry was the one who found it when he came to visit me. That was Saturday night wasn’t it?”

  Hal nodded. “Okay, did he give or sell anything to you that night?”

  Matt shook his head emphatically. “No, even if he would have tried, I wouldn’t have taken it. I quit all that, remember. And besides as soon as I saw what the note said, I called you and he hightailed it out of here real quick.”

  Hal seemed to be thinking about that for a minute then he nodded at the officer with him who immediately stood and quietly went out the door leaving Matt alone with Hal.

  Hal cleared his throat. “Okay, Matt, here’s what’s happened. Someone shot and killed Vargas tonight and tore the place apart looking for something that I don’t think he found. You wouldn’t have any idea what that could be do you?”

  Matt shook his head. “No, but it’s a good bet that it was drugs of some kind or money from drugs.”

  “That would be my guess too. You sure he didn’t leave anything here the other night?”

  When Matt nodded his head, Hal said, “How did he seem to you?”

  Matt thought about that for a moment. “Well, my attention was pretty much on that note and I didn’t really watch him all that close.”

  He rubbed his chin. “But now that I think about it, he did seem kinda nervous but he gets that way a lot when he isn’t high on something.”

  The next thing Hal said threw Matt for a loop.

  “How many people know that you and Jerry were friends?”

  Matt knew immediately what Hal was getting at. “I’d say that half the people in town know about Jerry and me. Wow! Do you think the guy might come after me now?”

  Hal groaned, “That’s what I’m afraid of.” He pointed to Matt’s gun where it still lay on the table by the door. “Better keep that thing handy.”

  Matt snorted. “It’s right by my bedside at night and in the cab of my truck with me on the road.”

  After Hal left, Matt went back to bed but couldn’t go back to sleep. Finally, at six, he got up and made some coffee.

  As he sat at the table drinking it, he listed in his mind all the things that were happening in his life right then. Worst of all was the fact that it looked like he now had two crazy men out there wanting to get to him.

  But as he thought about it, the best thing in his life right then overshadowed them all. Betty Sue.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next morning, as soon as Betty Sue arrived at the diner, Trish said, “I’ve already got all the prep work done. Why don’t we sit and enjoy a cup of coffee before the rush.

  Betty Sue really enjoyed it whenever she and Trish sat like this and talked. She’d learned so much from the older woman. She was continually surprised that Trish knew so much about life, and men especially. After all, she was a woman who had been married to the same man for twenty years and apparently hadn’t dated anyone since his death.

  When she turned to Trish and asked, “Why haven’t you found a man to be with Trish?”

  “Oh fiddle. I don’t need a man in my life. I’m doing just fine without one. Besides, no one could ever come close to replacing Richard, So I’ve never even thought about it.”

  “But surely you need someone to share things with.”

  Trish just laughed. “Oh Sweetie. Haven’t you watched as the people come and go in this place?”

  At Betty Sue’s puzzled look, Trish explained. “These people are like family to me. We share things in our lives and I’ve become close to many of them that way.”

  Betty Sue wasn’t satisfied yet. “But don’t you miss having someone to go home to at night?”

  Trish frowned then. “Yes, I guess it does get a little lonely around that big house all by myself sometimes.” She smiled then. “But now that you’re here, I do have someone at home with me.”

  “But, I’ll probably be moving into the manager’s apartment at the motel before long.”

  “Oh Betty Sue. I’ll get along. I’ll still have you right next door here.”

  “I guess.”

  “But Betty Sue. I don’t think you quite understand what this diner means to me.”

  Betty Sue gave her another questioning look.

  “This place is much more to me than just a diner where I serve meals. You see, Dear, lots of people who come in here need to talk and all they need is someone willing to listen to them. And I’ve been doing that for quite a few years now, even before Richard died. They also know that I won’t be telling others what they’ve said to me either.”

  Betty Sue thought about that for a moment then said, “You mean you’re kind of like a therapist to them?”

  Trish giggled. “Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far, but yeah, I think it does do them good sometimes to tell me their troubles.”

  Just then a man around Trish’s age came in and took a table near the door. Trish turned to Betty Sue and said, “Now there’s a real good example, that’s Leland Cooper. He’s a realtor here in town and I’ve listened to him all through his first wife divorcing him and then meeting and marrying his present wife.”

  Betty Sue touched Trish’s arm. “Wow, Trish, I’m impressed.”

  Trish snorted. “Don’t need to be. It wasn’t anything that I did. He just talked things out and figured things out on his own. All I did was to give him someone safe to talk to.”

  Betty Sue was still marveling at that new discovery about her friend while Trish went over to greet and wait on the man.

  Betty Sue had just taken an order out to a table and was heading back to the kitchen when she heard her name. She looked around and saw Trish standing by the man she’d called Leland Cooper. And Trish was motioning for her to come over to them.

  Betty Sue didn’t know what to think. Trish seemed to be upset. But when she arrived at the table, Trish was talking.

  “Didn’t Hal give you one of those photos of that guy?”

  Leland seemed to think for a minute, but then said, “I don’t think so. But maybe he gave it to my secretary and she hasn’t gotten around to showing it to me yet.”

  Trish snapped her fingers. “Wait a minute. I’ve got one back in the kitchen. Let me go get it.”

  Trish took off for the kitchen leaving Betty Sue wondering what in the world was going on. All she could do was smile at the man sitting at the table and wait for Trish to return.

  Trish came out holding a 5x7 photo of Dave and Betty Sue was beginning to think she knew what was going on then.

  Trish handed the photo to Leland. “Is that him?”

  He didn’t take long to look but nodded and said, “That’s him all right.” />
  Betty Sue looked at Trish. “Trish, what is this all about?”

  Trish frowned. “Leland, why don’t you tell her what you told me?”

  He looked up so far at Betty Sue that Trish motioned for her to sit and they both did.

  “Well, I was telling Trish that I had a strange renter in an apartment complex I manage.”

  Trish jumped in then. “It’s the same one that Matt lives in.”

  When she stopped, Leland continued. “Well, this man who looked like he had lots of money from the way he dressed and the fancy car he drove, rented one of those cheap little apartments. And I just couldn’t figure out why he’d be doing that. He wrote me a check for the whole thing and it cleared too. I made sure of that right away.”

  Betty Sue looked at Trish then. “Dave?”

  Trish nodded and pointed at the photo. “He just said that was the man.”

  Betty Sue was sure glad she was sitting down when all the ramifications of what the other two were saying finally hit her.

  “Matt! We’ve got to warn him.”

  Trish pulled out her cell phone. “Yes, we do Dear, but first, let me call Hal. He needs to take it from here.”

  Betty Sue couldn’t sit still while Trish made the call. When she disconnected, she smiled at Betty Sue and said, “Well, that was convenient. Matt is there at the police station with Hal right now and they’re both going to come over here as soon as they can.”

  Betty Sue had a difficult time going about her duties there at the diner now that she knew that Dave was staying in an apartment very near to Matt’s apartment. She was suddenly frightened when she remembered the threatening note that someone, surely Dave, had left on Matt’s apartment door.

  As she was walking back to the kitchen to turn in an order, she had the sudden realization that she cared about Matt much more than she’d been willing to admit before. Now what?

  She didn’t realize that she was just standing in the middle of the diner until Trish came along and taking hold of her arm led her back into the kitchen.

  “Betty Sue, Sweetie, you’ve got to get control of yourself. Matt’s okay. He’s with Hal right now. He’ll be okay. You hear?”

  Betty Sue nodded and tried to smile at Trish. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it and said, “I’m okay, Trish. I think I’ll be all right now.”

  She couldn’t wait now to see Matt and know that he was all right. She had to see him with her own eyes and hear him tell her that he was okay. She couldn’t believe what was coming over her. She was afraid. But this time it wasn’t fear for her own safety. No, this time, she was afraid that Matt would get hurt and all because of her too.

  * * *

  When Matt finally rolled out of bed on Tuesday morning, he felt like he hadn’t slept at all. When he looked in the mirror, he wasn’t surprised to see bloodshot eyes with huge bags under them. He looked like he had a nasty hangover in spite of the fact that he hadn’t had anything for almost a week now.

  He headed for the bathroom. Man, it sure was great to be able to take a shower now. The doctor had given him a bag like thing to cover his cast to keep it from getting wet. It slipped up his leg and closed above the cast. He had to laugh because the doctor had said the bag was made for a full-length cast for a normal height man.

  After he showered and shaved, he felt somewhat better. He had to laugh again though as he was shaving. It was so strange to shave after all those years of letting his beard grow.

  Once he was at the table, drinking a cup of coffee and eating a banana, he was finally able to get his brain to process all that had happened during the night. Did Hal really come into his apartment and tell him somebody had killed Jerry?

  Wow. That was still hard to get a handle on even though he’d never really been all that close to Jerry. The guy had just been someone to hang out with and Matt had always seemed to have a good time whenever he was around him, especially at one of his parties. Now he was dead. Man!

  He went out to his front door and picked up the morning paper to see if there was something in there about Jerry. Once he spread the paper out on the table, he turned through all the pages and found nothing at all.

  Disgusted, he tossed the paper in the trashcan and poured himself another cup of coffee. Once he sat back down, he tried to think of everything that Hal had told him about Jerry last night.

  Okay. Hal said somebody shot Jerry and tore his house apart apparently looking for something. And Hal had also said that it looked like they didn’t find whatever it was that they had been looking for.

  Matt remembered telling Hal that it had to be either drugs or money from drugs. He still couldn’t think of anything else that it could possibly be.

  After eating another banana, Matt decided that he couldn’t just sit there in that dinky little apartment all day and do nothing. He had to get out and do something, anything.

  His first thought was the diner. Maybe he could talk to Betty Sue. Then he realized that he still had questions about Jerry. And Hal was the only one who could answer them. He’d go there first.

  With that in mind, he limped out to the rental car and headed for the police station, which wasn’t very far from the diner and motel. They’d built a new station several years ago, away from downtown.

  After asking for Hal at the front desk, Matt was mildly surprised when a very short time later, a door opened and Hal appeared and motioned for Matt to go through the door he was holding open for him.

  Hal didn’t say anything as he led Matt back to his office and closed the door behind them. Then he turned to Matt and said, “Have a seat Matt.”

  Matt took a chair facing the big desk as Hal went behind it and sat in his desk chair. Hal gave Matt a hard look then said, “Did you remember anything that might help me catch Vargas’ killer?”

  It was just then that Matt remembered something. “No, I hadn’t until just now when you said that. I just remembered that a few weeks ago, I was at a party at Jerry’s house and sometime in the night, I stepped out into the backyard for some fresh air and I saw Jerry arguing with some guy. And by the way they were talking, I figured the guy had to be Jerry’s pusher.”

  Hal leaned forward with a look of anticipation on his face. “Did you get a good look at this guy?”

  Matt nodded. “Yeah, I did. When he lit a cigarette once, the match lit his face up good enough to where if I ever saw him again, I’d recognize him.”

  Hal slapped his hand on the desktop. “Do you think you could pick him out of a book of mugshots?”

  Matt frowned. “Maybe.”

  Ten minutes later, Hal called a sergeant into his office and gave him the photo of the man that Matt had picked out.

  Before Hal could say anything else, his cell phone rang and when he answered it, Matt could tell right away that it was Trish and she sounded excited. Matt’s first thought was that something had happened to Betty Sue.

  When he came up half out of his seat, Hal waved him back with his free hand, covered the phone with it, and said, “Betty Sue is okay Matt.”

  When Hal disconnected, he looked at Matt and said, “We’ve got a big problem though Son. Betty Sue’s ex has rented the apartment over yours.”

  Matt didn’t know what to say and was glad when Hal kept going anyway.

  “Let’s go over to the diner and talk to her and Leland Cooper.”

  Matt didn’t question or argue but stood and followed Hal out of the office. He felt like he was in a daze.

  They took separate cars but it was only a few blocks and they were soon entering the diner together.

  When Matt followed Hal into the diner, he saw Betty Sue immediately. She was sitting at a table with Leland Cooper. He looked around for Trish and saw that she was waiting on one of the two tables that had customers at them.

  Hal walked right up to the table and pulled out a chair between Betty Sue and Leland leaving the other chair for Matt. It was on the other side, which was also between Betty Sue and Leland.

 
; Matt noticed something lying on the table and looked down to see a photo of a man. He turned to Betty Sue, pointed at the photo, and said, “Is that him?”

  She only nodded and kept dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

  Hal spoke then. “Leland.” He pointed at the photo on the table. “Is this the guy you rented an apartment to?”

  Leland nodded. “It sure is. And man did he give me the creeps. He would look at me like he thought I was a piece of garbage or something.”

  Betty Sue grunted. “That’s Dave all right. He more or less treats everyone that way, unless he thinks they can do something for him.”

  * * *

  If the whole situation hadn’t been so serious, Betty Sue would have laughed at the expression on Matt’s face. He looked like he was about to explode. Then she had a sudden sobering thought. She sure didn’t want to be very close if he ever did get ahold of Dave. For some twisted reason, that made her feel good. And she wasn’t even ashamed of the thought.

  Hal was talking now so she shifted her attention back to him.

  “Leland, could you tell me the apartment number that this guy rented?”

  When Leland did, Hal got on his cell phone and called it in. After he disconnected, he said, “I’ve got two officers on their way over there right now. I think I’ll sit right here with you all until they check it out.”

  Then he seemed to think about something and pulled out his phone again. This time when he finished, he smiled and said, “We should have a search warrant pretty soon.”

  He looked at Leland. “If they need to get into that apartment isn’t there a maintenance man living there who could let my officers in?”

  “There sure is. I’ll call him right now and let him know.”

  When Betty Sue stood to leave the table, she noticed a disappointed look on Matt’s face. She smiled to herself and said, “Well, it looks like the lunch crowd is about to hit us. I’d better get up and help Trish now.”

  Hal looked at Matt. “How about lunch while we wait. I didn’t get breakfast this morning so I’m starving.”

  Betty Sue stopped then and took their sandwich orders before heading back to the kitchen.