Sunshine Hunter

by Maddie Cochere

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  The bed was rocking. Why was the bed rocking? I opened one eye and realized Darby was lightly shaking me.

  “Susan … Susan … wake up,” he said.

  “What? What’s wrong? What time is it?” I asked. I was still tired and felt groggy.

  “It’s eight o’clock. I was going to let you sleep longer, but your phone is in your room, and it’s been ringing a lot the last hour. I thought you might want to know.”

  “I’m tired,” I said. “I don’t want to move.”

  My head hurt from crying so hard in the middle of the night.

  “I’ll get it for you,” he said.

  He walked into my room and retrieved the phone from the nightstand where I’d left it the day before. I remained half buried under the blanket and checked the phone. Six missed calls, all from Samantha. Something was definitely wrong.

  I punched speed dial number two and hit the send button. I didn’t even hear it ring, and she was there. And she was animated. “Susan, you have to come home. Things have changed here. The detective on Jerry’s case wants to talk to you, and it’s serious.”

  I sat straight up. She had my attention.

  “What? Why? What did I do?” I asked.

  “Detective Bentley was at my door early this morning. He wanted to know if I knew where you were. I had to tell him. I couldn’t lie to him.” She sounded unnerved. “I told him you were in Florida, and you would be back tomorrow. He said if I talked to you again, to tell you to come down to the station when you get home and have a talk with him.”

  “But why does he want to talk with me?” I asked. I was starting to freak out.

  “Dick’s been digging around all morning trying to find out what’s going on, and, Susan,” she paused for effect, “they know now what poisoned Jerry.”

  “What?” I asked. She didn’t answer right away. “Tell me.”

  “A large dose of potassium chloride,” she said. “It was given to him in apple juice. Dick said he’s hearing that Jerry was taking more steroids than were prescribed for him, and the autopsy showed he already had an enlarged heart and some heart damage. The potassium chloride didn’t kill him outright, but the overdose triggered the heart attack that did. Susan, you left a glass of apple juice for Jerry before you left Saturday night. Larry said Dick thinks you’re a suspect in Jerry’s murder.”

  I was stunned. “Sam, that’s horrible. I had nothing to do with Jerry’s death.” I could see Darby’s shocked look at my comment. “What about the man from Thursday nights? I thought they arrested him for Jerry’s murder?”

  “There’s no information on him,” she said. “Dick couldn’t find anything about him at all.”

  “What should I do?” I asked. “We’re flying home tomorrow morning. Are they going to arrest me when I get off the plane?” My voice was shaking. I was near tears.

  “Don’t panic,” she said. “I don’t think it’s anything like that.” I could tell she was trying to sound calmer. “The detective is talking to everyone who was at the club Saturday night. It’s just unfortunate you left the apple juice for Jerry. They’re setting up an interview center at the station today to talk with all of the people who were at the Cable Connect party. You aren’t here, so the detective wants you to come in for your interview after you get home. Try not to worry too much about it. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted you to know right away.”

  “Ok, Sam. Thanks,” I told her. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  I was sick to my stomach.

  My mind began to whirl. I had to think. There was something about the party that night. What was it? The Cable Connect employees were a rowdy lot. They had kept me so busy, I hadn’t paid attention to details. Could Wicker have been there? Maybe that was why he seemed familiar to me when I first saw him.

  I pulled the blanket around me again. “Darby, I’m scared,” I told him. “Jerry was poisoned with a glass of apple juice that I might have left for him. The police want to talk to me. I’m a suspect!”

  “Oh, honey, I’m sorry,” he said as he sat down beside me on the bed and put his arm around me. “Everyone knows you wouldn’t hurt a fly. This has to be a big mistake.”

  “A Detective Bentley wants to talk to me when we get home tomorrow,” I said. “I’ll go see him right away, so he can see I have nothing to hide, but there isn’t anything to tell him.” I shook my head and thought about my pitiful story. “I didn’t drink a glass of apple juice, so I told Jerry to drink it or throw it away, and then I left.”

  I needed to know if I had seen Wicker at the club on Saturday. I turned my sad eyes on Darby and said, “I need you to do something for me. Please? I really need you to do this.”

  “Anything,” he said. “Just name it.”

  “Go down to the media center,” I told him. “Go to the Marshall Community Theater website and look up Wicker Barnes. Check his bio and find out where he works.”

  “Ok, I can do that,” he said and started for the door. “Why don’t you order room service? We’ll have breakfast before I leave to meet Johnny.”

  “What do you want?” I asked. “My stomach is flip flopping, and if you’re going to be out on a boat, maybe we should eat light.” I thought for a few seconds. “How about toast, fresh berries, and tea?”

  “That’s sounds great,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

  It would be at least half an hour before room service arrived. I hopped into the shower in my room. The warm water felt good after the chills and shaking during the night. I braced myself against the wall, closed my eyes, and let the warm water fall over me. I didn’t cry. I was cried out. I wished again that I could simply snap my fingers and be home in my own shower.

  As I was finishing blow-drying my hair, Darby yelled over from his room, “Are you decent?”

  “Yep. Come on over,” I called back. I had already slipped into a pair of comfortable denim shorts, a cropped tie top, and a simple pair of espadrilles.

  He came into my room. “It took me a little while to figure out navigating their site, and they really could use a better web writer to get the maximum value from their space,” he said. I shot him a hurry-up look. “But I finally found Wicker Barnes, and you’re right, it’s the same guy.”

  “Where does he work?”

  “Cable Connect.”

  I nodded. “I knew that was what you would find, but I had to be sure.”

  We were interrupted by a knock at Darby’s door. It was room service.

  We sat at the small table in his room to eat our breakfast, but I didn’t have an appetite. I sipped my tea and said, “Help me think this through. This is more serious than we first thought. What if the poison in the apple juice was meant for me? We were really busy that night, and I sent Sam to the back for towels. Our glasses were left unattended at least once that I can remember.”

  “And you think Wicker put the drug in your glass?” He seemed unsure.

  “I do,” I said as I nibbled on a piece of toast. “It’s obvious now I’m his target, but why? Why would Jenny’s boyfriend want to hurt me? Or kill me?” A worse thought popped into my head. “Would she be capable of asking someone to murder for her? But Mick said she was the one who asked for the divorce, so why would she want to hurt me?” I gave up. I shook my head, “I don’t get it. She looked like a nice, normal person.”

  “I agree, none of this makes sense,” he said. “I think you’re right that there’s a connection between all of you, but I can’t see it either. Why Wicker is in Florida is the first question.”

  I started to tick off a list. “He tried to run us off the road, we know that for sure now. He followed us to the boat races, but nothing happened.” I stopped and looked up at Darby with wide eyes. “Wait a minute. You went to get us a beer. Did anything happen when you bought the beers? Anything at all?”

  “Not that I can think of,” he said and began devouring the bowl of blueberries.

  “Concentrate. Think
harder,” I encouraged him. “Where did you go to buy them?”

  He thought for a moment. “The main concession stand was crowded, so I went to a cart vendor by the parking lot. Kids were running and playing in the area, and a few other people were milling around. I only had to wait on one person ahead of me before I could order.” He paused to think some more. “One of the kids bumped me, but that was nothing. I-”

  I interrupted, “Bumped you how? Why did the kid bump you?”

  “It was nothing. Just bumping from running. Maybe they were playing tag.” He concentrated on the memory. “I ordered our beers and nachos. The vendor put the beers on the counter, and as I was getting my wallet out of my pocket, one of the kids bumped me, and I dropped it. The vendor was getting our nachos at the time. I picked up my wallet, paid him, grabbed our stuff, and came back into the stands.”

  “Could Wicker have slipped the poison into one of the beers when you dropped your wallet? What if he was trying to poison me at the boat races?”

  “But he wouldn’t have known which beer you would drink,” he said doubtfully.

  “He doesn’t look like the rocket scientist type,” I said sarcastically. “He was probably just taking his chances. He doesn’t know Jerry had a heart condition, so he still thinks what he put in the apple juice was a lethal dose. It wasn’t, but it could have been enough to give me the symptoms I had that day.”

  “I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head again.

  “Maybe that’s why he drove past me so slowly when I was hanging onto the light post,” I said. “He wanted to see if I was in distress and dying. He wouldn’t care if I saw him because he knew I wouldn’t live to identify him.”

  “I don’t know, Susan,” he said again. “It sounds far-fetched, but it also sounds like it could have happened. I know this much, we should call the police.”

  “No!” I looked at him with disbelief that he would suggest the police again. “Darby, I’m serious. I do not want to be involved with the police here. What if they run my name and find out I’m wanted for questioning in a murder investigation? They’ll throw me in jail!” I was adamant. “We are not calling the police.”

  “Then I won’t take no for an answer,” he said, standing up and staring me down. “You’re coming with Johnny and me today and that’s that. I’m not letting you out of my sight.” He turned and pointed for me to go back to my room. “Pack a light bag with sunscreen, a hat, sunglasses, and whatever else you think you might need on a boat. Johnny said he’ll bring seasick pills in case we need them.” He looked at the clothes I was wearing. “And no fancy shoes. Put on your court shoes with the pink laces. They have rubber soles.”

  “I can’t wear my court shoes on a boat,” I protested. They’ll get fish guts on them, and they’ll get wet and be ruined.”

  Darby smiled, “There will be no fish guts, and you can get a new pair of shoes if they get ruined.” I hated frowning, but I frowned now. My court shoes weren’t cheap. “I’ll buy you a new pair of shoes if they get fish guts on them,” he said. “Go get ready. We’re leaving in twenty minutes.”

  “Ok,” I said. “But I have to call Mick first. It’ll only take a couple of minutes. I have to ask him to try to find out why Wicker is here in Florida.”

  I went to my room to make the call. It went straight to voice mail. He was probably in a meeting or on a job site. I’d have to try him later.