Meredith Potts Fourteen Book Cozy Mystery Set

by Meredith Potts

  “That means a lot, coming from you,” I said.

  “Have you seen anything remotely like this?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “That’s exactly my point.”

  “Look. I can’t pretend like I know what the answer is. But I’m sure of this—the truth is out there somewhere. We just have to keep looking for it.”

  Chapter Six

  The hospital had not provided us with answers, but perhaps the crime lab would. Luckily, while Steven and I were at the hospital, the police department’s forensics team had been back at the lab running Jane Doe’s fingerprints through their database. In addition, they had also tested the blood on Jane’s sweater. Just when we needed a break the most, the lab received some results back.

  William Barrow was the head of the crime lab. The fifty-three-year-old was fighting a losing battle against his receding hairline and had resorted to walking around with an awful comb-over that only succeeded in drawing attention to how little hair he had left. The angular-faced man wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses that made him look particularly dorky. The lab coat that he wore over his pencil-thin frame only added to his nerdy nature.

  “Are you ready for this?” William asked.

  “That depends. Do you have good news for us, or bad?” Steven replied.

  “I’ll let you be the judge of that.”

  “All right. Let’s hear it.”

  “To start, I would rule out that theory about this being an animal attack,” William said.

  “Why?” Steven asked.

  “We found no traces of any animal blood.”

  “Okay. So it wasn’t an animal who did this, then,” Steven said. “What else have you got?”

  “I know who Jane Doe really is,” William revealed.

  My eyes widened. I couldn’t resist stepping in. “Really?”

  William tried to keep me from getting overly worked up. “Don’t get too excited.”

  “Why not? What’s the matter?” I asked.

  William stalled in answering my question. “We’ll get to that. One thing at a time.”

  “Great. I never get tired of hearing that some bad news might be around the corner,” I deadpanned.

  Steven grew tired of being patient. “Who is she?”

  “Based on the match that her fingerprints pulled up in the database, her name is Amy Donnelly from Kenosha,” William replied.

  “Kenosha? What is she doing here?” Steven replied.

  “As hard as it may be to believe, there’s a much bigger issue at play than that,” William said.

  Steven scrunched his nose. “What do you mean?”

  “According to our database, Amy went missing a year and a half ago,” William said.

  Steven was in disbelief. “Missing?”

  William was far from done. “That’s not all.”

  “What else is there?”

  “She supposedly drove to the beach one day to take a swim, only she never came back. Local police believed that she may have drowned, but after a month of searching, they weren’t able to find her body. Finally, presuming that she was dead, they gave up searching for her,” William explained.

  “Are you telling me that the woman we found in the woods this morning has been presumed dead for almost a year and a half?” Steven replied.

  William nodded.

  Steven was in disbelief. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

  “You’re telling me. Not only is she very much alive, but how did she get this far inland from Kenosha?”

  William shrugged his shoulders. “That’s a good question.”

  I sighed. “I guess we’ll just have to add it to the questions we’ll have to ask her when she gets her memory back.”

  “In the meantime, do you have any other news for us?” Steven asked.

  William shook his head. “Not yet. I’m still waiting for some test results to come back.”

  “Keep us updated,” Steven said.

  “I will,” William replied.

  Steven then turned to me. “In the meantime, what do you say we do some research on this supposedly dead woman you found in the woods?”

  Chapter Seven

  As my boyfriend looked up Amy Donnelly’s name in the police database, a number of details about her life came to light. The first was that both of her parents were dead. Her mother had passed away nine years ago from multiple sclerosis. A heart attack had killed her father four years later. The second nugget of information that was gleaned was that Amy was an only child. That left Steven with no siblings or parents to contact to try to jog her memory.

  All hope was not lost, however. Steven’s research uncovered a new wrinkle in this case. Apparently, Amy had a husband. According to the database, he was still alive. This husband of Amy’s was about to have a number of questions thrown his way. For example, was it her husband’s blood that was stained on Amy’s sweater? Had he been the one to do this to her?

  Before Steven called Amy’s husband, a little more digging was in order. According to the database, Amy’s husband, Larry Donnelly, was an insurance salesman residing in Kenosha. The word “insurance” sent up a red flag in my mind. What if there had been a large life insurance policy taken out in Amy’s name? Perhaps Larry had tried to kill his wife to collect on the policy. That was a lot of speculating on my part.

  I could easily be wrong. Maybe Larry had nothing to do with her disappearance a year and a half ago or this recent incident. Even so, I wanted my boyfriend to be prepared for any possibility.

  My boyfriend pulled Larry’s phone number from his police database and gave him a call to feel out the situation.

  Disbelief was in Larry’s voice as Steven gave him the news.

  “Amy is actually alive?” Larry said.

  “She is,” Steven replied.

  “I can’t believe it. I thought I had lost her forever,” Larry said.

  “I’m happy to tell you she is very much alive,” Steven replied.

  Larry took a deep breath. “You know, you tell yourself not to give up hope, to just keep believing, but with every day that goes by, it becomes harder to do.”

  “I know you are shocked, but—”

  Larry interrupted him. “Shocked isn’t the right word.”

  “What is, then?” Steven wondered.

  “I don’t know that one word is enough to describe what I’m feeling. I’m so relieved that Amy is alive. Not to mention as happy as can be. But I’m also overwhelmed.”

  “I understand. At the same time, as much as I wish I could tell you that was about to change, it probably won’t. Especially considering what else I have to tell you.”

  Larry tensed up. “What do you mean? What’s wrong?”

  Steven sighed. “Mr. Donnelly, I have some bad news for you.”

  The enthusiasm disappeared from Larry’s voice and was replaced with anxiety. “What is it?”

  “To start, we found your wife in Cedar Falls.”

  Larry was incredulous. “Cedar Falls? How did she get all the way out there?”

  “I was hoping you’d have an answer to that one,” Steven replied.

  Larry was confused. “I don’t have a clue.”

  “That’s unfortunate. How about the day she went missing? What can you tell me about that?”

  Larry became defensive. “I’m afraid I’m not following. What are you asking me for? Why don’t you just ask Amy?”

  “Mr. Donnelly, your wife has been through so much. I don’t want to put any added stress on her right now. You understand, don’t you?” Steven asked.

  Larry eased off. “Right. Of course.”

  “So please describe the circumstances of her going missing.”

  Larry hesitated then answered, “It was a Tuesday when Amy disappeared. That morning, she told me she was going out for a swim. I didn’t think anything of it. That’s what she did most mornings during the spring and summer. Only that day she never came back. The police found her car parked in the lot
right next to the beach, but there was no sign of her. For weeks after, the police and coast guard searched Lake Michigan for her. After a month, even though Amy’s body was never found, the police officially ended their search. In the police’s eyes, this was a case of accidental drowning. I tried to hold out hope as long as I could that one day Amy would turn up, despite how long the odds were of that happening.”

  “And now she has turned up.”

  “Yeah, it’s incredible. Especially given the fact that she turned up in Cedar Falls of all places.”

  Geographically speaking, that was quite a curiosity. Kenosha was smack dab against Lake Michigan. Cedar Falls, meanwhile, was a hundred and fifty miles inland. The story about an accidental drowning didn’t hold water in a number of ways, not just because Amy wasn’t dead, but because there was no way to swim from Kenosha to Cedar Falls.

  There was a piece of information about Amy’s disappearance that was still missing. Steven had a hunch that the key to making sense of this all was dependent on uncovering that information. The question was, how?

  “I wish I had an answer for you,” Steven said. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how your wife ended up here.”

  Larry found that hard to believe. “Why not? Can’t you just ask Amy how she got there?”

  “I have.”

  Larry didn’t follow Steven’s logic.

  “And?” Larry asked.

  Steven filled him in on the details. “That’s the other problem. Mr. Donnelly, your wife has a case of amnesia.”

  Larry’s head was nearly spinning given all the different directions this conversation had pulled him in. “Amnesia? So wait, are you saying she doesn’t remember how she got to Cedar Falls?”

  “Not just that. She doesn’t even remember her own name.”

  “Does she not remember who I am either, then?” Larry asked.

  “Not at all.”

  “That’s terrible.”

  “I’ll say. Your wife has had a very rough go of things lately,” Steven said.

  Steven had decided to remain purposefully vague. By giving Larry only a light sketch of the situation, Steven hoped that Larry could fill in some of the details. Or at least one detail, for that matter. So far, that had not been the case. Larry had given Steven little to nothing to work with.

  Steven didn’t give up. There was no doubt in his mind that Larry knew more than he was letting on. Steven was not going to give up until he found out the truth. In the meantime, he kept digging.

  “Amy is going to get her memory back, though, right?” Larry asked.

  “The doctor isn’t sure. Although, it couldn’t hurt for your wife to see a familiar face.”

  “Let’s hope so,” Larry said.

  “Who knows? Maybe seeing you will jog her memory,” Steven speculated.

  “Only time will tell,” Larry said.

  “How soon can you be here?” Steven asked.

  “A few hours,” Larry said.

  “We’ll see you then,” Steven replied.

  Chapter Eight

  “I know that look,” I said.

  Having been in a relationship with Steven for over a year, I had seen every possible facial expression that he had. Over time, there were some that I was more familiar with than others. The squinty-eyed look that was on his face right then was one he reserved for when something rubbed him the wrong way. A sense of uneasiness permeated from every pore of his body.

  That took me completely by surprise. After finishing his conversation with Larry, I thought Steven would finally have some closure—or at least a look of relief on his face. Instead, I got the distinct feeling that things were about to get far more complicated with this case.

  Steven didn’t appear to be in any hurry to break the bad news to me. As he was busy reeling, I tried to get him to reveal what was going on.

  “I take it things didn’t go as you expected with Amy’s husband,” I said.

  Steven sighed. “Not at all.”

  “I’m all ears. What’s the matter?”

  Steven winced. His mouth wasn’t very expressive, but his face sure was. While he struggled to find the right words to answer with, I could see the gears turning in his head. The one thing that wasn’t moving was his lips. After a few moments, his mouth opened, but no words came out.

  Just as I was about to try to help him along, Steven finally answered.

  “I can’t pinpoint it exactly. I just have a really bad feeling about Larry,” Steven replied.

  “What else is new? I’ve had nothing but bad feelings ever since stumbling upon Amy in the woods,” I replied.

  “I can’t argue with that. It has not been the easiest week of my life. Even so, I have this bad feeling that Larry was hiding something from me,” Steven revealed.

  Before I became an investigator, I was a far more trusting person. I used to have a willingness to take people at their word. It only took a few murder investigations for my views on people to change. With prior cases, suspects had practically turned lying into a new art form. They were so fluent in distorting the truth that it was sometimes dizzying trying to talk to them. Some suspects were so committed to lying that they refused to admit the truth even when it was staring them in the face.

  I wish I could tell you that hadn’t taken a toll on me, but it most certainly had, to the point where I often found myself being overly critical of people in my life who didn’t necessarily deserve it. For that, I was very sorry. At the same time, when it came to unique situations like this, it was not uncommon for everyone involved to have a secret they didn’t want to get out.

  I knew I was not alone in my cynicism. Steven was critical of Larry both verbally and with his body language.

  “I trust your instincts. Your hunches aren’t usually wrong,” I said.

  Steven groaned. “My hunches aren’t usually this vague, either.”

  “Do you have any idea what he was hiding?”

  Steven shook his head. “No clue, but maybe we’ll get answers when he arrives in Cedar Falls.”

  “We’ll see.” I scratched my head. “I just keep thinking that eventually this has to start making sense.”

  “You’d think that. Then again, I thought Larry would be ecstatic to hear the news that his wife was alive. Instead, he was so guarded with me. I mean, he tried to say all the right things, but there was this nervous tone in his voice throughout the entire conversation.”

  That comment begged to be followed up on. “What would he have to be nervous about?”

  Steven raised his eyebrows. “Exactly.”

  “Did he have any idea how his wife ended up in Cedar Falls?”

  Steven shook his head. “He didn’t have the foggiest idea.”

  I corrected him. “Or he pretended that he didn’t have any idea.”

  Steven disagreed with my accusation. “Don’t get me wrong, I still think he’s hiding something. That being said, I think he was being honest about not knowing how his wife ended up here.”

  “If you think he was telling you the truth about that, then what do you think he’s hiding?”

  “I think he knows more than he’s letting on about how Amy disappeared in the first place.”

  I had a feeling Steven was going to say that. In both missing person cases and murder investigations, a jilted spouse was not only the most common suspect—they were also guilty more times than not.

  “Do you think Larry had something to do with her disappearance?” I asked.

  Steven bit the corner of his lip. “It doesn’t matter what I think. It only matters what I can prove, and right now, that’s nothing.”

  That was so true. Suspicion could only take us so far. Without evidence either way, we were flailing in the dark.

  My mind went off in a different direction. “So, if he didn’t know how Amy ended up in Cedar Falls, where did that blood on her sweater come from?”

  Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  That was the
last thing I wanted to hear. I had never known him to be lacking in theories. Even if they didn’t pan out, they at least gave us something to work with. For both me and him to have drawn a complete blank didn’t even leave us with a single crumb to follow.

  I folded my arms. “I’m getting tired of guessing. I want some answers.”

  Steven stared deep into my eyes. “You’re not the only one. Look, Larry will be here in a few hours. Maybe we’ll get some answers then.”

  “In the meantime, I should go brace Amy for the arrival of the husband she doesn’t remember having,” I said.

  Chapter Nine

  My plan was to head over to the hospital and talk to Amy. Steven and I only made it halfway there when my boyfriend got a call over his police radio that drew us back to the woods. Perhaps this was the break we had been waiting for in the case.

  Or perhaps not. When we arrived at the western entrance to the woods, Deputy George Tolliver, a round-faced forty-two-year-old man with a thick mustache, greeted us with a dejected look on his face. There had been an unmistakable enthusiasm in his voice over the radio, so it was jarring to see him looking so dejected all of a sudden. Clearly something had sapped his excitement. I just didn’t know what it was.

  Steven was determined to find out. “What’s the matter?”

  Deputy Tolliver tried to temper our expectations. “I might have gotten a little overexcited on the radio.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I thought we’d found ourselves a major lead.”

  “And now you don’t think so?” Steven asked.

  “It’s still a lead, I just don’t think it’s as major as I once believed.”

  “Let me be the judge of that. Now, is this the car you found?” Steven asked.

  Deputy Tolliver nodded. It was a blue, early model sedan that was parked just outside the western entrance to the woods. That was of particular interest, mostly because I had stumbled upon Amy towards the southern tip of the woods.

  It was also curious for there to be a non-police vehicle parked in any of the lots surrounding the forest. When Steven’s team began searching the area, they hadn’t found a soul in the forest. So who did this vehicle belong to?