Hope Hadley Eight Book Cozy Mystery Set

by Meredith Potts

  Unfortunately, Landon did not follow my brother’s orders.

  Joe didn’t give up. He pounded on the front door again and kept calling Landon out.

  “We need to ask you some questions, Landon. We’re not leaving until we get answers,” Joe said.

  After receiving a healthy dose of silence once again, Joe made another attempt to get Landon to open up.

  “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. Now, answer the door.”

  That didn’t get Landon to come out, either.

  Joe continued. “This is your last warning. I have a search warrant for your property. If you’re not willing to come out, then I’m coming in.”

  Unfortunately, Landon didn’t respond. There was no denying what had to happen now. I had been dreading this moment.

  Joe groaned and began ranting to me. “This punk thinks he can just avoid us.” He turned back to the front door. “Well, you can’t. No matter how much you try, you can’t hide from us. I’m coming in.”

  Suddenly something crucial occurred to me. The whole time, Joe had been focused on Landon’s front door.

  As I analyzed the situation further, a strong feeling came to my gut.

  “Maybe he isn’t trying to hide from us,” I said.

  Joe crinkled his nose. “What do you mean?”

  “What if, instead of hiding from us, he’s been planning on giving us the slip through the back door?”

  Joe’s eyes opened wide. “Stay right here and keep an eye out.”

  I would have asked Joe what he was doing, but I knew his plan. My brother moved around to the side of the house and headed toward the backyard.

  As he rounded the corner, I heard him yelling.

  “Hey. Where do you think you’re going?” he shouted.

  My suspicion had been correct. Instead of staying at the front door, I barreled toward the side of the house as well, following my brother.

  When I rounded the corner, I saw what Joe was so worked up about. Landon was trying to flee the scene. He made a break for it through his backyard and began bolting through his neighbor’s yard.

  My brother gave chase, going into a full sprint.

  Unfortunately, Landon had a head start on him.

  Landon darted through the neighbor’s backyard, jetted through their front yard, and then reached Chestnut Street.

  As Landon reached the street, he looked over his shoulder to see how close Joe was. Much to Landon’s dismay, my brother was keeping pace with him.

  Joe talked into his police radio as he ran. “Detective Hadley in need of backup. The suspect is on foot on Chestnut Street between Vine and Maple.”

  I heard the dispatcher respond over the radio. “Detective Hadley, there is a deputy in the area. They are on their way.”

  Landon had a decision to make. He could have run down the street toward Vine Road, but that would take him into a more commercial area of town with an increased number of cars and traffic.

  Instead, he decided to remain in the residential areas, cutting through various neighbors’ yards.

  For a supposedly laid-back guy, Landon sure knew how to turn on the jets. He barreled down Chestnut Road with Joe hot on his tail.

  As the chase went on, my brother was actually able to start gaining on him.

  As Joe started making up serious ground, Landon looked over his shoulder again and saw Joe bearing down on him. That’s when Landon panicked. He tried to make a move to shake my brother.

  Landon sprinted toward a neighbor’s fence and hoped to scale it in a hurry. That’s when his plans went awry.

  Just as Landon reached the top of the wooden fence, his pant leg got caught. As Landon tried to free his leg, my brother was able to catch up with him.

  Joe reached the fence, grabbed Landon, and then slammed him down on the ground.

  Landon tried to make a move to get up from the ground, but Joe drew his gun on him.

  “Put your hands up,” Joe demanded.

  Landon stared down the barrel of the gun and realized there was no escape.

  Reluctantly, he complied, putting his hands up.

  Joe used his free hand to grab his set of handcuffs. My brother then cuffed Landon while venting his frustrations.

  “What’s the matter with you? Why are you running from us? What are you trying to hide?” Joe asked.

  While Landon remained quiet, the answers to my brother’s questions soon became disturbingly apparent.

  Chapter Thirteen

  A few minutes later, backup arrived. Once a few police deputies were on the scene, Joe loaded Landon into the back of a squad car. Typically, that was when Joe started questioning them. This time, he decided to hold off on that. There were some lingering questions that he wanted answers to.

  Joe, his fellow deputies, and I returned to Landon’s house and searched the place. The minute we entered the front door, we realized why Landon had been so reluctant to comply with my brother’s orders.

  My eyes grew as wide as saucers as I looked at Landon’s living room. We had hit investigative pay dirt. The whole room was filled with stolen goods. Everything was stacked into different categories. There was a pile of jewelry, an area filled with antiques, and a table lined with laptops and mp3 players.

  Andrea Fogerty had been spot on with her allegations. Landon had been doing a lot more than just cleaning pools. While I wondered what else Andrea had been correct about, a slew of deputies went over every inch of the place, not just itemizing the stolen goods but searching for anything that could be of help to solve the murder case.

  Two hours later, Joe and I drove back to the police station with Landon in tow. When we arrived at the station, Landon was booked on charges of residential burglary, possession of stolen property, and resisting arrest. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Joe hauled Landon into the interrogation room, armed with ample investigative ammunition. With these new charges having been brought to light, it was only natural to wonder if Landon was guilty of murder as well.

  ***

  Landon’s demeanor had changed drastically. Gone was the frantic look on his face that we had seen during the chase. Also absent was the laid-back surfer-dude expression that he had sported during our first interrogation of him. He looked defeated now and had no interest in making eye contact with us. Joe and I attempted to grab his attention as Landon slumped in his chair in the interrogation room.

  “What do you have to say for yourself?” Joe asked.

  Landon was completely silent. He didn’t look up or give us any answer.

  “Answer me,” Joe demanded.

  Landon didn’t comply.

  “Fine. You don’t have anything to say? We’ll do the talking. For starters, you lied to us. You sat there in your garage and told us you and Benjamin got along great.”

  Finally Landon looked up and replied. “Most of the time, we did.”

  “You mean, other than when he fired you yesterday?” Joe asked.

  “Well, yeah. Other than that time,” Landon said.

  Landon’s moronic answer just set my brother off even more.

  “Don’t play dumb with me,” Joe snapped.

  Landon kept up the charade. “I’m not playing. Everything was cool between us until he fired me.”

  “That’s a big ‘until.’ Don’t act like it’s not a big deal. It’s huge. Not to mention completely warranted. When you throw in all the stolen goods we found at your house, Benjamin had every reason to get rid of you.”

  Landon became defiant. “That still doesn’t change anything.”

  “Are you high? That changes everything. Are you too thick to realize that you’re the prime suspect in this case?” Joe argued.

  Landon kept playing his fool’s game. “Stealing some jewelry and electronics has nothing to do with murder.”

  Joe went right back at him. “At the time of the murder, you had just been fired. Benjamin had good reason to suspect you of stealing from his pool-cleaning customers. Not only h
ad the man taken away your livelihood, but he may have threatened to tip off the police about the stolen goods he believed that you had in your possession. That’s a killer motive for wanting your boss dead.”

  Landon didn’t give in. “I didn’t kill him.”

  “Do you really expect us to believe that, considering what we just found at your house?” Joe asked.

  I jumped in. “Not to mention the fact that you tried to make a break for it.”

  “That wasn’t about murder,” Landon said.

  “What was it about?” I asked.

  “I was afraid you’d arrest me for all the stolen goods in my house,” Landon replied.

  “Which we did,” Joe said. “Now, back to Benjamin’s murder—”

  Landon interrupted my brother. “I already told you, I’m a thief, not a murderer.”

  We weren’t making any progress. It was time to use the last of our ammunition.

  “You say that, but we have more on you than just burglary and resisting arrest. We know you called Andrea Fogerty a few hours before the murder and revealed to her how many women Benjamin was cheating on her with. Who is to say you didn’t call the other suspects, too?” I asked.

  Much to my surprise, Landon didn’t deny the accusation.

  Instead, he owned right up to it. “I did. Not only did I call Andrea, but I also put a call in to Michelle Dillon, Hank Dillon, and Teresa Loomis.”

  “Yet you insist that you’re innocent of murdering Benjamin,” I said.

  Landon came back at me with a curious defense. “That’s how you know I’m innocent of murder.”

  I scrunched my nose. “How do you figure?”

  “By revealing all of Benjamin’s sleeping around, it means all those other people had killer motives,” Landon argued.

  “True. But you’re neglecting one key point.”

  “What’s that?”

  “How angry you were with Benjamin. Only someone with a serious ax to grind would call all those people up to deliver such awful news. But you wanted revenge. That’s one of the strongest motives of them all,” I said.

  Landon shook his head, vehemently disagreeing with me. “No. My revenge was ruining his love life. I didn’t murder him.”

  “It’s hard to believe you,” Joe replied.

  Landon lost all control of his temper. “You can’t prove I did this.”

  My brother fired right back at him. “And you can’t prove that you didn’t. You have a shaky alibi and a killer motive. That’s a dangerous combination. The way I see it, you’re already a thief. Why shouldn’t we add murder to the list?”

  Landon pleaded his innocence one more time. “Because I’m telling you the truth.”

  “But you already lied to us once,” I argued.

  Usually, when we applied more pressure, a suspect would eventually crack. Landon surprised us by completely shutting down.

  He folded his arms in defiance. “I have nothing else to say to you.”

  Unfortunately, Landon was true to his word. Joe and I tried to interrogate him further, but he didn’t speak to us again. When we realized how futile it was to keep questioning him, Joe returned him to his jail cell.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I sat across from Joe’s desk, overwhelmed with frustration. Things had gone far differently than I had planned. I just couldn’t believe that my brother and I were not able to draw a confession out of Landon.

  Without a confession, we were treading in some murky waters. Sure, there was plenty of suspicion to go around, but we had no conclusive evidence to charge him with murder. The same could not be said for burglary and possession of stolen goods. Thanks to the merchandise that had been found in his living room, there was no doubt that Landon’s new home would be a prison cell for at least a few years.

  That wasn’t to say that my brother had entirely ruled out booking Landon on a murder charge. He just wasn’t prepared to do it quite yet. Joe was the kind of detective that preferred a slam-dunk case, and this was nothing of the sort.

  There was probably enough circumstantial evidence to take Landon to trial, but depending on the defense lawyer Landon hired and the jury that was assigned to the case, the verdict could go either way. My brother liked having far better odds than just fifty-fifty.

  The lack of hard evidence against Landon wasn’t the only nagging concern we had when it came to the murder charge. Adding to the frustration was how vociferous Landon had been in proclaiming his innocence. Typically, after the police exerted enough pressure, if guilty, a suspect would eventually break down and confess. Not Landon.

  Was that because he truly was innocent, or because we needed to dig up more dirt on him? I wasn’t sure what the answer to that question was. All I really knew was that he had motive, means, and opportunity. That usually made for a deadly combination.

  If that wasn’t enough, Landon had already lied to us once, neglecting to tell us that he had been fired. Even so, I wasn’t convinced that he was lying about being innocent of murder. So while I knew that Landon wasn’t the laid-back surfer that he seemed to be, my mind was too murky to determine if he was a murderer.

  Where my brain was foggy, my gut was often crystal clear. Surprisingly, my instincts were abnormally quiet right then. What a time to be given the silent treatment. It was that stupid alligator’s fault this morning. Ever since I had misjudged those gator wranglers, I had begun second-guessing myself on everything. That was the worst mindset to be in when trying to solve a murder case.

  While my internal monologue reached a fever pitch, my frustrations boiled over. As my brother and I walked back to his desk from the interrogation room, I let out a big groan.

  “I second that,” Joe said.

  “I’ll bet you do. Can you believe this?” I ranted.

  “What? The fact that we got no confession out of him?”

  I nodded. “And how we have no real hard evidence against him when it comes to the murder case.”

  “That could change. My team is still going over the stuff they found in his house.”

  As if by a stroke of the worst timing ever, a mustached, pencil-thin deputy approached us in the hallway with a face that reeked of bad news.

  “Detective Hadley, I have an update for you on the Landon Thorpe case.”

  Joe replied with desperation in his voice. “Please tell me you have good news.”

  The deputy shook his head. “Despite all the stolen goods that were found in the perpetrator's house, we found no evidence linking him to the murder of Benjamin Norton.”

  My brother’s frustration spilled out all at once. “Of course. Why can’t we get a break when we really need one?”

  The deputy stood dead silent, waiting for Joe’s next command.

  “Keep me updated if you discover anything else,” my brother said.

  “Will do,” the deputy replied.

  The deputy then headed off while Joe and I finished walking to my brother’s desk.

  Joe took a seat behind his desk and vented. “Great. We’re right back where we started.”

  An uncomfortable thought then entered my mind. “Is there a chance Landon was telling us the truth?”

  Joe scoffed. “The man already lied to us once. Besides, you heard his crazy story.”

  I played the devil’s advocate. “They always say the truth is stranger than fiction.”

  Joe disagreed. “I don’t know. I have read some pretty wacky books in my time.”

  “So have I, but nothing I’ve ever read has been as nuts as seeing that alligator try to break through my doggy door.”

  My brother took a deep breath to calm himself down. “Fair enough.”

  “I guess the question is, where do we go from here?” I asked.

  Joe had an unconventional answer. “I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a donut right now.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised me that my brother let his stomach do the talking for him.

  I tried to get him back on topic. “I meant,
with the case.”

  My brother wasn’t about to listen to reason. “I don’t know about you, but a nice jelly donut always clears my head.”

  I shook my head in disapproval. “You’re a bad influence on my waistline.”

  Joe was the worst kind of junk food enabler.

  “There’s no harm in one donut,” he said.

  “No, there isn’t. The problem is, it’s hard stopping at just one,” I argued.

  “That’s what will power is for.”

  “Says the man going to get a donut,” I joked.

  “Trust me, Hope. You’ll thank me later,” Joe said.

  It was no use to continue arguing with him. The appeal of fried dough and sugar proved too tempting for my brother to resist. His mind was made up, and nothing was going to change that.

  Joe got up to head to the break room. Unfortunately for his taste buds, he didn’t make it there.

  Before he was able to grab a donut, Joe got a call over his police radio.

  “Detective Hadley,” the dispatcher said over the radio.

  “This is Hadley. What is it?” Joe replied.

  I was completely unprepared for what the dispatcher said next.

  “Another body has been found.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  It turned out to be more than just any dead body. The corpse in question belonged to Michelle Dillon. To my investigative mind, this clearly had to be more than just a coincidence. A man and one of his mistresses, both dead within a day of each other. Things like that didn’t happen by accident. At the same time, how interconnected were Benjamin’s and Michelle’s deaths?

  To start, was Michelle’s death even a murder? Had she died by her own hand? Or had her death been a complete accident? My mind conjured so many questions in quick succession that it was hard to keep track of them all.

  Assuming that Michelle’s death was not accidental, one theory took precedence over all others—that the same person had killed both her and Benjamin Norton. That was far from the only theory. There was also the small possibility that Michelle had been the one to kill Benjamin. Then, overcome with guilt and worried that she was about to be caught, she had killed herself rather than spend the rest of her life in jail. The final, and least likely theory, was that Michelle’s death was completely unrelated to Benjamin’s at all. That, in fact, there were two killers on the loose.