Meredith Potts Fourteen Book Cozy Mystery Set

by Meredith Potts

  I looked Larry up and down, trying to get a read on his body language while Steven held up his police badge and got the first word in.

  “Larry Donnelly? I’m Steven Griffin, Cedar Falls Police Department.”

  Larry flashed Steven a smile. “It’s nice to meet you in person.”

  As Larry reached out and shook Steven’s hand, I couldn’t help but be taken aback by the enthusiasm in both Larry’s voice and his gestures. Steven had told me that Larry had been noticeably lacking in verve when they had spoken on the phone earlier.

  While enthusiasm would normally be a welcome sight, the smile on Larry’s face did not look genuine to me. It came across as an act—something that was just for show. As if he had been practicing it on the car ride over.

  Maybe he thought he would be able to fool us. Or perhaps his failure to convince me was due to him being a bad actor. Either way, this ruse of his was too little too late in my eyes.

  I wasn’t the only one who had a hard time buying this newfound enthusiasm of his.

  Steven pointed out the distinct difference in Larry’s moods. “You look pretty happy.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be? My wife is actually alive after going missing all this time,” Larry replied.

  Steven was still having a hard time buying Larry’s actions as genuine. “I meant that you sound a lot happier now than you did when I talked to you on the phone.”

  Larry was so quick with his response that he almost stumbled over his words. “That’s because I was in so much shock about the news.”

  Steven raised his eyebrows and replied with a critical tone in his voice. “Right.”

  Larry became fidgety under the microscope of Steven’s stare. So much so that he tried to change the subject. “Can I see my wife now? I have been waiting a year and a half for this moment.”

  Steven didn’t put up any resistance. “Of course. She’s in here.”

  I had a feeling things were about to get very interesting. Larry ramped up his enthusiasm as he entered the room and prepared to say hello to his wife. Even though there was a big smile on his face, I saw something much different when I looked at Larry from the neck down.

  There was a nervous, twitchy undercurrent to his body language. The same could be said for Amy as well, but she had a good reason to be on edge. What was the reasoning behind Larry looking so uneasy? Whatever was making him so jumpy completely contradicted the smile on his face.

  Steven and I watched with great interest as the husband-and-wife reunion unfurled before our eyes.

  Larry approached his wife gingerly

  “Hi, honey,” he said.

  Amy sat up in her bed and stared him down. A few seconds went by without her saying a word. If Larry was waiting for her to reply, it looked like he would be waiting quite a while. Suffice it to say that wasn’t the reaction he had been hoping for.

  I had a feeling that if Steven and I weren’t watching his every move, Larry would have left right then and there. Since our prying eyes were impossible to miss, Larry took another stab at jumpstarting their conversation.

  “I was so happy to find out that you were alive,” Larry said.

  That comment didn’t thaw Amy’s icy exterior at all. She just sat there completely still, staring out like a real-life mannequin. Was she going to say anything? It was hard to tell. If she was going to speak up, she definitely wasn’t in any hurry.

  Larry made one more attempt to get her to warm up to him. “It’s so good to see you again.”

  Amy’s wide-eyed look said it all. She clearly did not share that sentiment. As a matter of fact, the last time I had seen her look that uncomfortable was when she was running through the woods.

  “I understand this has got to be very difficult for you,” Larry said. “You’ve been through a lot.”

  Words had failed to bring any comfort to the conversation, so Larry looked ahead to his next option. He moved closer to Amy and tried to take her hand.

  Amy wanted no part of that. She pulled her hand back in a panic. “No. Don’t touch me.”

  Larry’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Amy, why are you acting like this?”

  He tried once more to take her hand, only to receive the same negative reaction from Amy.

  “No!” she shouted.

  “I don’t understand what’s going on. Why are you acting like this? I’m your husband.”

  Larry extended his arms looking like he wanted to give Amy a hug. That triggered Amy’s most intense reaction yet. First, she recoiled. Then she began hyperventilating. She began having a full-blown panic attack right before our eyes.

  “Get away from me,” she said. “Go. Now!”

  Larry didn’t know what to do. His eyes widened as his body stiffened up. “Amy, why are you acting so crazy?”

  Steven was done standing off to the side. He didn’t understand why it had happened, but the reunion between Larry and Amy had taken a sour turn and showed no signs of improving.

  Before things got any worse, Steven decided to cut the reunion short. He sprang into action and pulled Larry back towards the door of the hospital room.

  Larry turned to Steven. “What’s the matter with her?”

  “She has been through a lot.” Steven then noticed that Amy was still just as panicked as ever. He turned his focus to Larry again. “You just need to give her some space.”

  While Steven talked with Larry, I instinctively rushed over to Amy’s side in hopes of calming her down.

  That didn’t happen until Steven escorted Larry out of the room and into the hallway.

  I stared deep into Amy’s eyes and talked slowly and calmly, hoping the relaxed tone of my voice would soothe her. “Calm down, Amy. Take slow, deep breaths.”

  Amy put her hand over her chest as she began breathing slower.

  “It’s okay,” I continued. “Just breathe nice and slow. Larry is gone now. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  Thankfully, slowly but surely, I was able to calm Amy down.

  ***

  The same could not be said for Larry. He was all worked up as Steven escorted him into the hallway.

  “What just happened?” Larry asked.

  “I was hoping you would have an answer to that,” Steven replied.

  Larry shrugged his shoulders, looking perplexed as could be. “How should I know? She has never acted like that before.”

  Steven was not quite so convinced. “Never?”

  Being second-guessed did not sit well with Larry. He raised his voice as he replied, “That’s what I just said. I’ve never seen her like that.”

  Much to Larry’s annoyance, Steven kept the questions coming. “So you have no idea why she would react that way?”

  Larry let his exasperation get the better of him as he snapped at Steven. “Are you listening to me? No. She has never acted this crazy before.”

  Larry didn’t realize what a misstep he had made. No one was fond of being barked at, but Steven took particular offense took it.

  Steven exerted his authority and gave Larry a warning. “Do not take that tone with me.”

  The detective’s words put a scare into Larry. He backed off and attempted to explain himself. “I’m sorry. I’m just really confused and frustrated right now. First you tell me that my wife is alive after all this time. Then you reveal to me that she has amnesia. Finally, I drive two and a half hours out here to reunite with her only to have her freak out on me. None of this makes any sense.”

  “I can’t argue with that. I just urge you to put yourself in your wife’s shoes. She has been through a lot the last few days and is on emotional overload,” Steven said.

  Larry made a play for sympathy. “You’re right. It’s just that I was really excited to see her again, then this happened.”

  “I’ll tell you what—stay out here for a minute. I’ll go back in there and see if I can figure out what happened.”

  Larry gave Steven a nod. “Okay.”

  ***

  Steven e
ntered Amy’s room with a slew of questions. I prayed that he was wise enough not to rattle them off all at once to her. I had managed to calm her down somewhat, but she was still in a very fragile emotional state.

  “What happened?” Steven asked.

  The frustration in Steven’s voice did not help matters. My progress in calming Amy down started to erode as she looked at the door, worried that Larry had joined Steven.

  “He’s not coming back in here, is he?” Amy asked.

  “No. He’s staying in the hallway,” Steven replied.

  Amy put her hand over her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”

  Steven’s confusion spilled out. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

  Amy retained the shell-shocked look on her face as she clued Steven in. “I just got this really bad feeling being around him. Seeing him elicited this visceral reaction from me that came straight from my gut. So much so that my skin started to crawl when he reached over to take my hand.”

  “I’m sorry about that. Do you know why seeing him made your skin crawl?” Steven asked.

  “I wish I could explain it better. Something about him just really rubbed me the wrong way.”

  Amy’s vagueness did little to satiate Steven’s yearning for concrete details. She could sense how frustrated it made him to have so little to go on.

  “I know I’m not giving you much to work with, but husband or not, I just don’t feel comfortable around him.”

  “Fair enough,” Steven replied.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Larry was still worked up as Steven rejoined him in the hallway. After what had been revealed to Steven back in the room, a little space would have gone a long way. Unfortunately, Larry didn’t give him any. Larry was breathing down his throat the moment he set foot in the hallway.

  Amy’s husband wanted answers and was determined to get them sooner rather than later. “So, what’s going on?”

  “Your wife just really needs some space right now,” Steven replied.

  “Space? But I’m her husband.”

  “Then you should be more sympathetic to her feelings than anyone. I don’t need to remind you that she’s going through a lot right now.”

  “Trust me, no one is more sympathetic than I am.”

  That statement did not play as well as Larry thought it did. Not just because Amy had expressed her discomfort being around him, but also because the angry tone of his voice made him sound wildly unsympathetic.

  Larry continued ranting as the discontent spilled out of his mouth. “I drove all the way out here just to see her, only to be shuttled into the hallway.”

  Steven gave Larry a stern response but made sure not to take an incendiary tone. “I understand why you’d be frustrated, Mr. Donnelly—”

  Larry remained just as blustery as ever. “My wife needs to be come home with me. It will help her to be back in a familiar setting instead of being cooped up in this depressing hospital.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen tonight.”

  That set Larry off even more. “What are you talking about?”

  “Mr. Donnelly, there’s something you need to understand. Your wife has experienced a lot of trauma.”

  “I have been through a lot, too. I’ve spent the last year and a half thinking my wife was dead.”

  “I don’t doubt that. My focus right now is on your wife. She needs to be monitored and be given the proper amount of time to recover. There’s no way she will be ready to go home tonight.”

  Larry’s grip on his temper continued to slip away. He sneered at the detective’s last sentence.

  Steven didn’t skip a beat as he finished his thought. “Now, if you don’t have any family in the area, there are a number of hotels I can recommend.”

  Larry was outraged. “You want me to stay in a hotel?”

  “For tonight, yes. I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s what is best for Amy. Your wife’s health is what matters the most right now,” Steven replied.

  Larry took a deep breath then slowly nodded. “You’re right. Amy’s health is priority one. I guess I should go find myself a hotel.”

  “Like I said, I can give you a bunch of recommendations.”

  Larry declined. “That’s okay. I’ll figure it out for myself.”

  “Thanks for being understanding,” Steven said.

  “As you said, it’s important to do what’s best for Amy. Well, until tomorrow then, goodbye.”

  Larry turned around to leave the hospital. Before he could take too many steps, Steven stopped him.

  “By the way, does the name Patrick Boswell mean anything to you?” Steven asked.

  Larry’s face went blank. “No.”

  Steven pressed him again. “Are you sure?”

  “No.” Larry shrugged his shoulders as his face contorted. “Should it?”

  Steven couldn’t tell if Larry was lying or if he truly didn’t know who Patrick Boswell was. The answer to that would remain a mystery for another day at least.

  “I guess not,” Steven said.

  Larry resumed walking away until Steven stopped him once again.

  “One more thing,” Steven said. “You being in the insurance business and all, I have to ask, did Amy have a large life insurance policy taken out in her name?”

  Larry shook his head. “No. She had a very basic policy.” An accusatory look then came to his face. “Why?”

  “I was just curious. Now go get some rest,” Steven said.

  Larry continued walking down the hallway towards the front of the hospital. Steven waited until Larry rounded the corner before he reached for his police radio. One thing was sure—after their conversation, Steven wasn’t about to let Larry get very far without supervision.

  If Steven’s previous conversation with Amy had left him feeling perplexed, this latest one with Larry made one thing abundantly clear—Larry was not to be trusted. Even if Steven couldn’t put his finger on the root of his uneasiness, he was determined to get to the bottom of why Larry made him feel so unnerved.

  Steven radioed dispatch and had a patrol car tail Larry. Perhaps a little surveillance would uncover some useful information or at least provide some insight on why Larry was acting so suspicious.

  With the patrol car following Larry, Steven knew what his next step would be—to get some rest of his own. It had been a long day for all of us. A full night’s rest would do wonders for us all, so Steven, Amy, and I each called it a night to grab as much shut eye as we could.

  Chapter Fifteen

  After a full night of sleep under my belt, I woke up refreshed the next morning. There were not many benefits to exhaustion, but one was that it allowed me to sleep like a rock. I had crashed out shortly after my head hit the pillow, and I had slept straight through until my alarm went off in the morning. After hopping out of bed and getting some caffeine in my system, I was ready to dig back in to this case.

  Unfortunately, even though I was ready to tackle the investigation again, I found myself staring down the same old set of lingering questions for which I didn’t have answers to. The next logical step was to head over to the hospital to see if Amy had regained any of her memory. Before I had a chance to do that, I received a phone call from my boyfriend.

  I could tell by the deflated tone in his voice that he was not calling with good news to share.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked.

  “It looks like Larry Donnelly has given us the slip,” Steven replied.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I gave him a call this morning, but he didn’t pick up.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Not even close. After he left the hospital yesterday, I had a patrol car tail him. He ended up getting a room at the Cedar Falls Motel.”

  “Did your deputy check up on him after Larry didn’t pick up his phone?” I asked.

  “He did. Not only did Larry not answer his door, but when the motel manager let him i
n the room, Larry was nowhere to be found.”

  A part of Steven’s explanation didn’t make sense to me. “But if the deputy was staked out in front of the motel all night, how did Larry get by him?”

  “The deputy told me when he went in the room, the back window was open,” Steven said.

  I was in a state of shock. “No way.”

  “It gets worse. The deputy had the manager pull Larry’s file, and apparently he checked in with an alias last night and paid cash for the room.”

  “That’s unbelievable. It makes you wonder why Larry was in such a hurry to bolt.”

  “I wish I could tell you that. All I know is that Larry could have as much as a six or seven hour head start on us.”

  My eyes widened. “That’s a lot of time.”

  “It sure is. I have put out an all-points bulletin for Larry, but he could be in another state by now.”

  I groaned. “Great. So now we’re on the lookout for two people. Do you have any good news?”

  Steven sighed. “I wish I did.”

  ***

  After finishing up on the phone, I headed over to the hospital where I was hit the second dose of bad news—Amy’s memory was just as blank as ever. I briefly chatted with her before hopping into my car to meet up with Steven.

  Before I went into the police station, I sat in my car and said a little prayer. As hard as Steven and I were working to uncover the truth, we needed all the help we could get. In my mind, there was no better place to turn to for that than God.

  While I was always in a hurry to have my prayers answered, it didn’t always work that way. Sometimes my prayers were answered relatively quickly. Other times, they weren’t answered at all. I wondered which would be the case this time.

  Steven and I spent the next few hours at his desk inside the police station going over all the information we had so far, hoping that we might have missed something. Finally, just as I was about to pour my third cup of coffee, Steven got a call on his police radio that would break this case wide open.