Sloane Monroe Series Boxed Set (Books 1-3)

by Cheryl Bradshaw

“A what?” I said.

  “Scalpel.”

  “Like the kind you use to perform autopsies, right?”

  “Similar. X-ACTO knives are sold everywhere. Except—”

  “What?”

  “The one in the picture you sent isn’t the kind I see every day,” she said. “It’s unique.”

  “How so?”

  “It’s an obsidian scalpel with what appears to be a twelve millimeter blade from what I can tell by looking at the photo you sent me. Most surgeons use plain, ordinary, disposable scalpels, but this one would have probably been used several times.”

  “What’s so special about it?”

  “It’s made from a type of volcanic glass. The cuts made with an obsidian are five hundred times sharper than your average steel scalpel.”

  “How is that beneficial in surgery?” I said.

  “Incisions made with this type of blade heal faster. A surgeon might use it at the request of the patient. In most cases, it would be used whenever any fine cutting action is required.”

  “So I’m looking for someone in the medical profession then?”

  “Anyone with medical training who’d have access to that sort of thing. People don’t just walk around with these in their pockets.”

  Maddie took a deep breath. “Sloane, are you sure you’re all right? Because I can take some time off. I know how hard it must be for you to be back in your hometown again. Say the word and I’m there.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “You’re not yourself, I can hear it in your voice. Look, I understand how it must feel to go back there after all this time, but stop running. Forget about the Sloane from the past and think about who you are now—tough, resilient, a fighter.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I spied a familiar flash of grey. “Damnit, I can’t even get five minutes to myself.”

  “What’s going on?” Maddie said.

  “It’s Jesse, he’s coming.”

  CHAPTER 13

  I slipped into the donut shop, slid across the red vinyl seat until I reached the corner of the booth and placed a call to Trista. Eight minutes later her burgundy minivan rolled into the parking lot. The windows were tinted the lightest shade of grey I’d ever seen on a vehicle, and on the back was a series of stickers of a stick family in white all lined up next to each other. I’d seen that type of thing on so many minivans over the years I’d begun to wonder if it was a free add-on with purchase. One look at Stick Doug gave me a renewed determination to find his killer.

  I sent Jesse a quick text so he wouldn’t put an APB out on me and promised we’d get together later that night for dinner like we’d planned the day before. I hoped to get some information out of him and not have to deal with him again. The more time we spent together, the more uncomfortable I felt. He was aggressive, just like he was when we were younger, but that wasn’t all. He exerted a sort of confidence and determination I didn’t remember him having before. And I didn’t like it.

  When I hopped into the van, Trista swept her sunglasses over her red, puffy eyes and looked at me. “Where to?”

  Good question.

  She pointed at the bakery. “Donuts sound good.”

  “No!”

  It was only after I yelled that I realized the harsh way the word spewed out of my mouth. I placed my hand on her arm. “I’m sorry, I’m a little on edge. I’d like to get out of here if you don’t mind. Anywhere else is fine, just get me out of the center of town.”

  Trista put the van in reverse and wheeled out of the parking lot. Several minutes later we stood in front of a black and white animal that she referred to as a ‘paint.’ The horse trotted forward in his stall and lowered his muzzle. Trista stroked him.

  “This is Duke,” she said. “Doug bought him a few years back.”

  “John Wayne fan?”

  She nodded. “Doug owned every movie the man ever made.”

  “I’ve always wondered how John Wayne got his nickname,” I said. “Figured it was given to him by another actor.”

  She shook her head. “A fireman named him that when he was a kid. He used to deliver papers with his dog named Duke. The fireman called them Big Duke and Little Duke.”

  “Wow. I had no idea.”

  “I didn’t either until Doug gave me the backstory one night on John Wayne’s life. I’m worried about him.”

  “The horse?”

  She nodded. “He’s barely eaten in days. It’s like he senses something’s wrong because Doug hasn’t been here. He used to stop by after he got off work.” Trista angled her head toward the next stall. “You ride?”

  I backed up a few paces and waved my hands across each other. “I haven’t ridden a horse since I was a kid.”

  “Why not?”

  “I got bucked off once. Haven’t had much of a desire to get back on one since.”

  Trista walked over to a pile of hay in the corner, sat down and indicated with her finger for me to sit next to her, but ever since we’d entered the barn I’d squeezed one of my hands over my nose to block the smell. She hadn’t seemed to notice.

  “Would you mind if we walked around outside instead?” I said.

  She shrugged and followed me out of the stable. “I’ve been coming here every day since Doug died. I don’t know why. I never paid much attention to his horse before, but now…”

  “It makes you feel close to him, doesn’t it?”

  “In a way. In other ways I probably make it harder on myself by being here. I don’t know why I do it. I guess I’m trying to hold on to him any way I can.”

  She stopped and leaned over a wooden fence post. I stood next to her. “Trista, I need to ask you a question.”

  She swirled some dirt around with the tip of her rounded boot and stared at the ground. “I know. Heather called me, and you’re right…I should have told you. But he’s dead, and I didn’t want you to remember him that way. Besides,” she shrugged, “he was only with her the one time.”

  I placed my hand on the fence post and watched the horses frolicking in the field next to where we stood. “You don’t need to convince me—one night of infidelity doesn’t change my feelings toward him. It was a mistake. He loved you. I don’t doubt that.”

  Trista grimaced. “I wanted to beat the crap out of her, you know. Not for the cheating—I mean, I hated that part too, but I knew he could talk to her in a way he couldn’t talk to me. I asked him a thousand times to open up and he still wouldn’t.”

  “You understand why, right?”

  She shook her head.

  “He didn’t want you to worry,” I said. “Doug wanted you to see him for the man he wanted to be—if he spilled out all his problems to you, he would have felt like even more of a failure.” I faced her. “So what. They slept together. The way I see it, Heather was more of a counselor to him than anything else. She was someone he confided in so he could get past his issues and back to his family.”

  She frowned. “He turned to her because he couldn’t turn to me, you know. I got sick of asking and getting nowhere. So I became numb—to him, to the kids, everyone. I probably pushed him right into her.”

  “There’s no shame for taking something to help you cope,” I said.

  A look of shock washed over Trista’s face. Obviously Heather hadn’t told her everything about our time together. She gave me a look like I just didn’t get it. “What about when your doctor prescribes one pill a day but you take ten and you have to be rushed to the hospital to get your stomach pumped? What then?”

  I put my arm around her shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with a wake-up call. We all need them from time to time. You’re here, you’re alive, and doing the best you can. You have three beautiful reasons to pick yourself up and move on. Your kids need you now more than ever.”

  CHAPTER 14

  I was poised on a black velvet chair in an Italian restaurant. The décor was similar to most Italian restaurants I’d been in: Dangling vines of fake plastic grapes, bottles of red w
ine, and arched mirrors—lots of them. Jesse sat across from me. He shoveled a load of noodles into his mouth and didn’t seem to mind the Alfredo sauce dripping down his chin. He retained his conversation without missing a beat. I clenched my fists under the table and resisted reaching for a napkin. He was a big boy, he could clean himself up.

  “You don’t know how many times I’ve thought about you over the years,” he said. “Damn, it’s good to see you, and you’re lookin’ fine tonight…wooh-eee!”

  “Let’s talk about Doug,” I said.

  “Always Doug with you. Man you’re tight, Sloane. A hard ass, you know it? You gotta loosen up. It’s like you’ve never been complimented before.”

  I’d been complimented plenty. The difference was always in who was doing the complimenting and whether it was wanted or unwanted. Jesse either didn’t know the difference or didn’t care. I drew in a long breath. “Look, if you don’t want to answer my questions, fine. I can leave.”

  I scooted my chair back, stood up and tossed my napkin in the center of the table.

  Jesse waved a hand in the air. “Oh c’mon, Sloane. Sit back down, woman. I’ll answer anything you want.”

  I stood there, unmoved, and considered my options, mostly for dramatic effect. When I thought it had reached its desired level, I lowered myself into the chair again.

  “How much have you seen Doug over the years?” I said.

  He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “It’s a small town. I’m a cop. I see everyone.”

  “Let me rephrase—how often have you spoken to him?”

  “Pulled him over for drunk drivin’ a couple months back. Guess that’d be the last time we were face to face.”

  “And?”

  Jesse glared at me. “He was drunk, Sloane. I just said that.”

  “Did you arrest him?”

  He shook his head.

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Should have, I guess, but I didn’t. I left his car there and gave him a lift home.”

  “That doesn’t make sense to me,” I said.

  “Why—because I’m a police officer, my only option is to arrest him? I can’t be an officer and a friend at the same time?”

  “Arresting him is part of the job, right? Who knows what could have happened if you hadn’t come along.” I sighed. “Look, I cared for Doug too, but if he was driving drunk one night, he was probably doing it a lot more than you thought. Maybe locking him up for twenty-four hours would have taught him something.”

  Jesse frowned and gulped back some beer. “Nothing happened, and Doug’s not even alive now, so who flippin’ cares?”

  “You don’t need to do this, you know.”

  “What?”

  “Keep things from me.” I reached for my drink and took a sip. “Or maybe you do. You felt sorry for Doug that night, and it kept you from doing your job. The question is, why?”

  “What does any of this have to do with why he’s dead? He wasn’t killed from a head-on collision.”

  My current line of questioning wasn’t working. Next.

  “Trista said they had a daughter in college.”

  Jesse’s face tightened and he cleared his throat. “Alexa. Smart girl. Pretty little thing too.”

  “What can you tell me about her?”

  “Uh, she’s their daughter, she’s in college. I’m a cop, not neighborhood watch. What more do you need to know?”

  “Seems a little strange to me that Doug and Trista would throw away their scholarships to stick around here and raise a kid when they were still kids themselves.”

  Jesse spun his bottle round and round in circles on the tablecloth. “What did Trista tell you about Alexa?”

  “Long story.”

  He winked. “I’ve got all night.”

  I shook my head. “No—she actually said it was a long story. That’s all I got out of her.”

  “Have you spoken to Doug’s parents?”

  “Why would I—what do they have to do with it?”

  “Rosalind might be able to shed some light on things for you.”

  “Doug’s mother?”

  He nodded. “She’s your best bet. I don’t know much. Seems to me you’re goin’ about this all wrong. You should focus on Doug. Why you’re interested in Alexa is beyond me.”

  “So far you haven’t been able to answer any of my questions,” I said.

  He just smiled and shoveled another spoonful of noodles into his mouth.

  “If you can’t help me, why are we here?” I said.

  “I got you to go out with me. I’d say that’s progress.”

  Jesse’s words had become monotone, but it was obvious he was feeling me out, seeing what I knew while resisting my questions and not answering anything directly. He was hiding something from me, but what and why? I rolled my eyes. All this time—wasted. And I’d learned nothing. If it wouldn’t have been for the incessant growl in my stomach, I would have left. But I stayed and we finished dinner and chitchatted about stupid things that had nothing to do with the reason I’d agreed to meet in the first place. My goal was to end the night without it being a total wash, so I tried one final topic.

  “I ran into Heather Masterson the other day.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Fun girl. We dated last year for a while.”

  “What happened?”

  His nostril flared. “Other men happened. She started seeing Nate, and then out of nowhere she developed a thing for Doug.”

  “I heard—although, that’s not how she described it.”

  He grabbed a napkin and wiped two hours of drool and sauce from his face. “Stalker should be that girl’s middle name.”

  Finally, we were getting somewhere. I kept my mouth shut hoping I’d get more. And I did.

  “She was his sponsor in AA.”

  “Yeah,” I said, “I know.”

  “But you wanna know the best part? She wasn’t an alcoholic.”

  I choked on the piece of ice I’d been twirling around in my mouth. “You’re kidding, right?”

  He shook his head. “She only pretended to have a problem so she could get closer to Doug. And she did.”

  “Sheesh, sounds like she attended the Candice school of naughty behavior.”

  Jesse laughed. “She probably did. They’re friends.”

  “Candice lives here?” I said.

  “No.” He did air quotes with his fingers. “Beverly Hills.”

  “As in 90210?”

  “As in an ailing eighty-something-year-old husband who’s ready to kick the bucket and leave his millions to her. She’s been around here a lot more lately and has taken Heather on as a kind of special needs project. At least that’s how it seems to me.”

  “I walked down Candice memory lane on the cruise,” I said. “And I have to say, I hadn’t missed her.”

  He frowned. “Who would? She’s already been with every guy in town, married and single. You wanna know the truth? I always thought she’d be dead by now. A jealous wife, a husband wanting to make sure she kept her mouth shut—it’s crazy to me that Doug’s dead while Candice lives to see another day.”

  Enough talk about Candice for the night. “So…where does Heather work, anyway?”

  “She’s a nurse at the hospital.”

  CHAPTER 15

  “Let me give you a ride,” Jesse said.

  I managed a weak smile and tried to keep the I’m-ready-to-get-away-from-you look off my face. “I’ve already called a cab…so, I’ll see you later?”

  He pulled out his cell phone, dialed and cancelled the cab, just like that. “Looks like you don’t need it anymore.”

  I’d played nice with Jesse since I arrived in town, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could manage being around him without becoming the cause of California’s next major earthquake. But I didn’t plan on seeing him again if I could help it, so what was another fifteen minutes?

  Because of the recent events at the hotel and the shar
p object found lodged in my door, the hotel staff was on edge and practically packed my bags for me. I decided I needed something a bit more private and splurged on some five-star digs that backed up against the entrance to Tehachapi Mountain Park. And the best part was all the rooms were detached into free standing one-bedroom cabins—it was my best chance at privacy. All I needed now was to get there.

  “So how’s Nate?” I said. “He still lives here, I take it?”

  Jesse made a left turn and nodded. “I see him every week at poker night.” He glanced sideways at me. “I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong.”

  “What?”

  “You said before you weren’t sure it was a coincidence two friends in the same clique died within days of each other, but I’m telling you, it’s the wrong direction to go in. The four of us all lead separate lives now; we have for years.”

  “You mean the two of you?” I said.

  He frowned.

  I continued. “I’m more interested in your lives back then, not the lives you lead now.”

  “Why?”

  I shrugged. “I’m not sure yet—I feel like there’s a connection between the past and the murders. I just need to find it.”

  We drove in silence for a time until I couldn’t stand it anymore. “How is Nate?”

  “Single.”

  “He never got married?”

  Jesse laughed. “Yeah, to his cars…he owns Nate’s Automotive in town.”

  “He always was a good salesman. I remember him talking Mrs. Webb into turning his F into an A in History class. I always thought he’d move away from here though.”

  “Didn’t need to—why move when you have an established fan base?”

  “True. When’d you see him last?”

  “Couple nights ago. Poker was at his house this week.”

  “And where would that be?”

  “Stallion Springs.”

  He looked over at me. “Nate is fine, Sloane. I’ll call him if you want so you can put this theory of yours to rest.”

  I shook my head. “I’m sure you’re right. I’ll stop in and see him for myself.”

  Jesse pulled into the parking lot and the car lulled to a stop. I’d already prepared for immediate evacuation by securing my bag over my shoulder and wrapping my fingers through the latch. I tugged on it and the door swung open.