by L A Dobbs
Her chest tightened with thoughts of Lucy. Hopefully, she was doing okay out on her own. There was no way Jo could handle having a pet that required that kind of commitment right now. Having a dog would be almost like having a person that counted on her, and Jo didn’t want that. Finn was plenty of responsibility for now.
"Have you looked at any of those resumes that Dupont brought over?" She dragged a french fry through a puddle of ketchup and popped it into her mouth.
Sam took a swig of his beer. "You know, I don’t really feel much like hiring someone. I mean, who could replace Tyler?"
"I know what you mean, but we are shorthanded. Kevin doesn’t want the job." Jo picked at her beer label and looked at Sam out of the corner of her eye. "If you ask me, it might be a good thing he didn’t want it."
Sam leaned back in his chair, his brows tugging together. "Why do you say that?"
Jo didn’t know how much she wanted to reveal. Just seeing Kevin come out of Lago when the mayor and Thorne both were inside didn’t prove a thing. But she couldn’t help the strange flutter in the center of her chest. It was a warning feeling that told her to be cautious around Kevin. Seemed like he was hiding something.
Then again, Jo had her own things she was hiding and wouldn’t want Sam digging too closely into them. Maybe she shouldn’t raise his suspicions about Kevin. His secrets might have nothing to do with their work, just as Jo’s didn’t. "He’s just not as enthusiastic about police work as we are, or as Tyler was."
Sam nodded and hunched back over his beer. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
Mick slipped into the seat around the corner of the bar next to Sam. No sooner had his butt hit the leather chair than a drink appeared in front of him. He really had Billie trained.
Mick leaned toward Jo and Sam. "Did you run the print?"
"Yeah. Bad news. It didn’t match."
"It didn’t?" Mick pressed his lips together and shook his head. "I know there’s something funny going on there. It just adds up. The woman has a grandson into drugs. Drugs are found in the car. There’s got to be a connection." He downed his drink in one swallow. "What about your other case? You guys look pretty down in the dumps. Things not going good?"
"Got a few new leads. But they’re confusing." Sam took another swig.
"Anything I can help with?" Mick reached across Sam and snagged a fry. Sometimes they used Mick when they needed to get information that they couldn’t acquire in their official capacity, but with the Palmer case, Jo knew they couldn’t risk anything that wasn’t on the up and up. Not at this point.
Sam shook his head.
"What about your girlfriend?" Mick asked.
Jo almost choked on a fry. Sam had a girlfriend? She coughed and punched her fist in the center of her chest where a strange pang had surfaced.
"When did you find time to get a girlfriend?" She hoped her voice sounded casual. It wasn’t that she minded Sam having a girlfriend. Not as if she was jealous or anything. But, somewhere deep down inside, she was afraid a girlfriend might change their work friendship. And her work friendship with Sam was about all she had in the way of human relationships. She really needed to get out more.
Mick stood and slapped some money on the bar. "Yeah, she’s a real looker too. Brown eyes, black-and-brown hair, four nice legs. She could use a little shave, though."
"Oh, you mean Lucy." Jo laughed. "Have you seen her tonight? She ran off from the police station earlier today."
"Haven’t seen her, but I’ll keep an eye out," Mick said. "In the meantime, I’m going to dig a little further into this Bartles kid. I know there’s a connection."
"Thanks, Mick," Sam said as Mick sauntered out of the bar.
Sam finished his beer and signaled for another. Jo pushed the basket of fries to him and swiveled her chair to face out into the bar, her elbows on the bar top, feet swinging slightly in front of her.
The bar was mostly empty. Two couples sat in the pews at one of the long tables near the door, burgers loaded up with specialty fixings in front of them. Jo could smell sautéed onions and figured one of them must have ordered the Alps Burger. It was her favorite, smothered in sautéed onions and Swiss cheese.
A couple sat at one of the round tables, their chairs pushed close together. Two tables over, four local guys sat with beers in front of them. Jo knew them all.
"The Palmer case is getting stranger and stranger. Why didn’t Lynn tell anyone she was meeting with Richard? And what about her phone? Did the killer throw that in the river because there might be evidence on it, or did it fall in by accident?" she asked.
"Good question. Maybe if we ever get the information from Verizon, we’ll find out if there was something else on there the killer might not want anyone to know about." Sam ate a fry.
"What if the killer wanted to hide the fact that she had that appointment or hide any calls or texts between her and Richard? They might not have realized she used an online app to schedule the appointment or that we could get her phone information from her cell phone carrier."
"Lots of people don’t know about that. Doesn’t help us narrow things down."
Jo turned back facing the bar and picked at her beer label some more. It had gotten nice and soggy and peeled off easily. "Sure do have a lot of things to puzzle over. There’s the meeting with Richard."
"And there’s Tara seeing Lynn with Noah right around the same time."
"And Noah and Amber were both acting sketchy about where they were the night of Lynn’s death."
"And Lynn borrowed Tara’s bra?" Sam scrunched up his face and looked at Jo. "Do girls do that? And why would she want a fancy bra if she wasn’t having a fling with Noah?"
Jo had never had a girlfriend that she was close enough to to borrow a bra from. "Some girls borrow each other’s clothes all the time. I guess bras would be no exception. But Lynn might not have borrowed it because of Noah. Maybe there was someone else."
"True. And let’s not forget Derek saw someone at Noah’s tent that night. Could have been Noah sneaking out to meet Lynn."
"Or Amber." Jo leaned over the bar and fished behind it for another ketchup bottle, which she found exactly where she knew Billie kept it. She twisted off the cap and smacked the bottom until a blob oozed out onto the side of the french fry basket.
"Julie was the one that said she saw Lynn going to the antiques store, but Lynn never went there. Why would Julie say that?"
"Maybe Lynn just told her that’s where she was going and Julie assumed. Lynn would’ve had to head in that direction, and if she didn’t want anyone to know about the meeting with Richard, then she probably just told them she was going to the antiques store."
"Something doesn’t add up. Why wouldn’t Noah know that Lynn was meeting Richard for the financing? We need to talk to Noah. My guess is he’s smack dab in the center of this."
Jo crunched down on a lukewarm ketchup-covered fry. "He does benefit directly from Lynn’s death with getting the extra shares of the stock."
"Maybe the financing would have diluted his stock," Sam said. "They would have had to give Richard some shares in the company. Maybe Lynn did tell Noah about it. Maybe he didn’t want it. He might really have been meeting Lynn that day and lied about it to cover up that he knew she was seeking financing."
"Seems like he had a good motive, but there might be more to the story, and we need to talk to Lynn’s friends again, because Noah’s not the only one in that group that’s telling lies."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sam drove out to the campground first thing the next morning. The early-morning sun filtered through the leaves, giving the air a golden glow. Just beyond the campground, the river gurgled. Sam battled a swarm of black flies as he approached the campsite.
On the picnic table, Tara was preparing lunches. Jars of peanut butter and jelly sat on the table along with the six waterproof lunch sacks. Something about that bugged Sam. Their friend was dead, and they were going about business as usual. Didn’t seem rig
ht.
Derek, who was backing out of his tent with a backpack, looked around at him quizzically. Tara stopped spreading jelly.
Julie finished spraying her arm with the bug spray and tossed the can to Sam, who spritzed himself.
Noah turned from the makeshift clothesline where he was taking down some pants. "Chief Mason? Have you found who… who did that to Lynn?"
"Not yet. But I have some interesting news." They’d all gathered closer to the picnic table, and Sam put his foot up on the bench, resting his arm on his knee and bending forward slightly.
"Seems that Lynn had seen an investor in town. She was trying to get more funding for the company. Did you all know that?" Sam studied the faces. They all seemed surprised. Thing was, he knew that at least a few of them were accomplished liars, and he couldn’t tell if they had already known and were covering, or if they were truly surprised.
"She never said anything to me, but we didn’t normally discuss company finances. I was just a programmer," Julie said. "Was that the appointment she had?"
Sam nodded then turned to Tara. "What about you? You’re the CFO, aren’t you?"
Tara shrugged, slowly screwing the top back on the peanut butter. "I didn’t know anything about it. You mean she saw someone here in town?"
Sam nodded then turned his gaze on Noah. Amber stepped a little closer to Noah, glancing up at him uncertainly. "What about you, Noah? You guys owned the company together. Surely she would’ve discussed this with you?"
"She didn’t. That can’t be true. I’m sure she would have told me." Noah did look confused, but he could be an accomplished liar.
Sam slid his foot off the bench and stood. "Lynn getting financing could cause a problem, right?"
"Why would it cause a problem?" Noah asked quickly. His posture turned defensive. "We needed money. Nobody’s made that a secret. And what does this have to do with her death, anyway? Why are you acting like you suspect us? We’re her friends—none of us did it."
Sam wasn’t anywhere near sure of that, but it was never good to tip your hand. He simply nodded slightly then looked at Noah. "Maybe it would be better if we talked further over there." He jerked his head toward the Tahoe.
Noah’s eyes darted around to the others, then he broke from the pack and headed toward the Tahoe.
They leaned against the front of the car, Sam placing himself so that he could see Noah as well as the others at the campground. He didn’t know who was lying, and he wanted to see their reactions to him taking Noah out and talking to him privately. If one of them had something to hide, they might show it in their actions.
"Does Amber know you were getting back together with Lynn?" Sam asked.
"What?" Noah’s face scrunched up. "I wasn’t getting back together with Lynn." He glanced back at the crowd nervously.
Amber was watching them, practically craning her neck to be able to overhear. Tara had gone back to making sandwiches. Derek and Jason were sitting at the table, and Julie was stuffing the bug spray into her backpack.
"Really? One of your friends over there saw you in a compromising position with her in the alley in town the day she was killed," Sam said.
"What? Who said that? That’s crazy! I was in O’Malley’s pub with Derek and Josh."
"So you said. But Derek and Josh were playing pool and can’t swear that you were actually in the pub the whole time."
Noah pushed his hands through his sandy-colored hair. "I was there. Why would I meet with Lynn? We broke up a long time ago."
"Really?" Sam said. "That’s funny, because Derek says he saw someone sneaking around your tent the night Lynn was killed. Amber seemed a little uncertain when she verified you had been in the tent all night."
Noah’s eyes shifted to the left, his jaw tightening.
Sam continued. "So when someone else said they saw you with Lynn in the alley, and given the fact that you are benefiting from her death by getting all the shares of the company, I figured you must’ve known she was going for financing. Then I figured maybe getting financing was a double-edged sword for you. It would water down your shares, but your company needed it to survive. Then again, if Lynn was out of the way and you owned all the shares, the watering down might not be so bad."
Noah’s face showed increasing stages of horror as Sam relayed this information.
Sam kept going. He wasn’t entirely convinced Noah was the killer, but Noah was lying about something, and Sam wanted to see if he could scare the truth out of him. "The way I figure it is that you did meet with Lynn. Maybe first you were trying to smooth-talk her out of the financing. But when that didn’t work, you had to take more drastic measures. Derek did see you that night. You snuck out of your tent and did what you had to do to protect your interests."
"No!" Noah shook his head vehemently. Glancing back at the group again, he stepped closer to Sam. "I wasn’t meeting with Lynn. But it is true that I wasn’t in my tent. Don’t tell anyone, but I—"
The radio in the Tahoe squawked noisily to life, interrupting Noah’s confession. Sam had turned his phone off just so he wouldn’t get interrupted. He’d told Reese to call only if there was a dire emergency. He went around to the driver’s-side door to grab the receiver, when Reese’s panicked voice rang out, chilling his blood. "Sam. Emergency. There’s been a dog hit down by the Pembroke Bridge."
Sam’s heart jerked. Lucy? He grabbed the mic and pressed the button. "German shepherd?"
"Sounds like it. Driver said she was still alive. You better get there fast."
Screw Noah. He would catch up with him later. Might be a good idea to let him stew on what Sam had told him, anyway. Better yet, if he told the others, the real killer might do something stupid and reveal themselves.
Right now, Sam’s quick actions might be the only thing that kept Lucy alive. He jumped into the Tahoe, flicked on the siren and lights, and screeched out of the campground toward the Pembroke Bridge.
Chapter Thirty
Sam screeched to a halt behind the old 1970s station wagon that was listing into the ditch on the side of the road with its flashers on. He jumped out of the Tahoe, bracing himself for the worst as he ran around to the front of the car.
There was no dog lying in the road.
"She just came out of nowhere!" a balding man, his belly protruding over his belt, pacing in front of his car with a worried look on his face, said. "I hope she’s not hurt badly."
"Was it a big dog? Looked like a German shepherd and mixed with something big?" Sam asked.
The man nodded and pointed to the guardrail that ran along the road just before the bridge. "She ran off over there."
Beyond the guardrail, the Sacagewassett River flowed by at a fast clip. If Lucy had fallen into the river, she was probably already gone. Sam vaulted over the guardrail and scrambled down the embankment, rocks clattering into the river as he went.
A high-pitched whine sounded to his left. Lucy was sitting next to a pile of debris that had accumulated at a bend in the river. Relief washed over him. She was sitting upright, so hopefully, she hadn’t been hurt too badly. He didn’t see any blood, but the lack of obvious external injuries didn’t mean that she didn’t have potentially fatal internal injuries. He’d better get her to the vet right away.
Sam squatted to her level. "Are you okay?"
Lucy trotted over, her brown eyes looking up at him. Sam checked her over, running his hands down her sides, her legs, and her chest. He didn’t find any injuries except a small tear in her right ear.
"What happened? Did the car clip you here?" Sam asked.
"Woof!" Lucy broke away and trotted toward the debris.
"Hey, come back. I want to take you to the vet to get you looked after."
Lucy whined. Maybe she’d been hurt more than he thought. Maybe he could bribe her into going to the vet. "If you come with me, I’ll get you one of Billie’s burgers."
Lucy trotted up to Sam, nudged his hand, and then trotted back to the debris. She wasn’t hurt. She w
as trying to tell him something.
Sam went over to the pile. There were empty soda bottles, cans, plastic bags, even part of a grocery cart. Sam hated to see the trash. He remembered a time when there was hardly any, but now the more people that came, the more trash there was.
Lucy was sniffing at something in the pile. It was soaking wet and filthy with dirt, but Sam could see it had once been white. The little pink bow on it was hanging by a thread. A jolt kicked his chest. Sam reached into the debris and picked it up. The maker was Plain Jane.
"Sam? What the hell are you doing?"
Sam squinted up at Jo, who was standing at the top of the rock embankment. She must’ve heard the call for the accident and rushed down. She had her sunglasses off and a quizzical look on her face. Her eyes flicked from the bra to Sam.
He turned to face her, the bra dripping from his hand.
"I think Lucy just solved the case."
Chapter Thirty-One
Jo took care of calming down the driver and sending him on his way while Sam brought Lucy to the vet. Lucy had only been grazed by the car, the tear in her ear the only injury. Sam called Reese with the good news and told her to assemble the campers in his office in two hours. He had a few things to check into first.
By the time they gathered in his office, it was just past noon. The campers sat nervously in extra chairs they’d brought in from the squad room. Lucy was out in the lobby, being fed a sumptuous meal of steak and carrots. Apparently, she preferred that to sitting in on Sam’s big reveal.
Jo sat off to the side, her notepad in her lap, the eraser end of her pencil tapping on it rhythmically.
Kevin was in the room too. He stood silently by the door in his blue police uniform, his arms crossed over his chest in an intimidating manner. The campers kept glancing at him. It all added to setting them on edge, which was exactly the way Sam wanted them to feel. He knew the more nervous they got, the more apt they were to turn on each other.
