The Witching Hour

by Anina Collins

  “Oh, oh, okay,” Craig stammered out, suddenly nervous again.

  I leaned in next to him and whispered, “It’s okay. Remember, you just have to believe in yourself. You’ve got good instincts. Trust me.”

  His big blue eyes filled with worry, and he looked away toward the floor. “I will. I promise.”

  But he didn’t look like he had an ounce of belief in himself. He looked as if he’d just been told by his idol that he was a bumbling idiot.

  I looked over at Alex, who seemed confused by Craig’s sudden insecurity, and mouthed, “Say something.”

  Not that my partner looked like he could cheer anyone up. Alex’s expression resembled one a mourner wore at the funeral of a dear friend.

  But he nodded and in his cheeriest tone asked, “Everything okay, Craig?”

  He didn’t answer and looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words, so I asked, “Is something wrong? If you have any questions, trust me. Alex doesn’t mind. You could never ask as many as I do.”

  My attempt at being self-effacing barely brought out a tiny smile from him. Something was definitely wrong, but what could have changed between our talk at the coffee shop and now?

  “What’s up, Craig?” Alex asked.

  Craig didn’t say anything for a moment, but then he said, “Stephen and I were on duty last night, you know. We were pretty much just hanging around the station here for most of the shift. I spent most of the time looking at Sports Illustrated and he was on the computer nearly the whole time.”

  Alex and I exchanged looks. Where was he going with this?

  Then he continued. “At about nine o’clock, he said he was going to check something out about Mrs. Henderson’s complaint about someone parking in front of her house every night. You know how she calls every single night and demands that we do something about it?”

  Alex nodded and smiled at him. “I’m sure Mrs. Henderson liked that.”

  Shifting from one foot to the other, Craig said, “Yeah, I’m sure she did. But here’s the thing. He was gone until right before the call came in about Amy Perkins’ body being found out in the woods outside of town.”

  Now I understood. Craig was worried that Stephen had something to do with the crime. I looked over toward Alex expecting him to tell Craig that the times probably didn’t work out, but he said nothing like that. Instead, he merely looked at him and nodded.

  “I’ll keep that in mind, Craig. Make sure you get the information on those three women and message me when you do, okay?”

  Craig nodded in return but still looked upset. “Okay.”

  He immediately left, and I sat down and leaned over Alex’s desk. “You didn’t say anything when Craig mentioned Stephen being gone for that time. Why?”

  In a low voice, Alex said, “Because Donny says he can put the time of death between eight and ten last night.”

  I practically fell into the seat next to me. “Is this really happening? Is Stephen really a suspect in Amy Perkins’ murder?”

  “We need to go through every possible suspect in this case. Other than Stephen, I’m counting Tamara as a suspect. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned seems to fit the bill with her.”

  “I think she’s permanently scorned, Alex. I don’t know if I was thinking of her as a suspect, though. Other than that, I think we need to speak to Amy’s current boyfriend, Kellen.”

  Alex jumped at the chance to go do just that. “There’s no time like the present. Let’s get going and see what we can find out from him.”

  He didn’t even wait for me before bolting out of the office, so I ran to catch up to him again. When I finally reached him, I said, “You know, I admit I probably need more exercise, but this constantly making me run to catch up with you today is wearing me out. Maybe we could do this a couple times a day and be good with that?”

  Alex stopped at the car and hung his head before letting out a huge sigh. “I’m sorry, Poppy. I guess I’m stuck in my own head right now.”

  I hated seeing him like this. I reached out and touched him on the arm. “I know how much this is bothering you. It’s bothering me too. For as much as I disliked him, I never wanted anything like this to happen. I’m sure we’ll find out he had nothing to do with the case, Alex.”

  “I hope so. It doesn’t look good now. He’s been suspended until the case is solved. Derek is dealing with the town council and the mayor, and the entire force looks bad. They think we should hand this over to the state police. They don’t even believe in us because of this. I need to get this case solved fast.”

  “We,” I said, correcting him. “We have to get this case solved fast.”

  A look of pain crossed his face and settled into his eyes. “I’m worried it’s only a matter of time before they say you can’t do this with me anymore. Everything’s a mess right now.”

  The idea of the council forcing me to stop working with Alex sent a stab of fear through me. I wasn’t a cop, so they’d have every right to, but I loved working with Alex on cases.

  “Well, they haven’t done that yet, so let’s get this case solved and show them there’s no reason to.”

  A smile brightened his glum expression. “There’s that Irish stubbornness I love.”

  I gently tapped him on the arm for that comment before walking around the car. “Great. I get stubbornness while you got the ability to keep cool on days like this. I think my ancestors gave me a bum deal.”

  Alex looked at me over the car’s roof and smiled in that sexy way I loved. “Maybe, but that Irish lass thing is something that speaks to my Spanish blood.”

  He could be so cute at times.

  “Just make sure the air conditioning is on full blast, Spanish blood. This Irish lass is already starting to melt.”

  After a ten minute ride in pure cool bliss, we arrived at Kellen Martin’s house in the newer section of Sunset Ridge. 489 Lee Drive looked like virtually every other house in this part of town. New construction, two-story townhouse cookie-cutter design with the front door set off to the right with a window next to it on the left and the garage located on the other side of the home’s façade. Every house resembled the one on each side of it, with little variation. Compared to the older section of town, this part lacked style to me.

  Turning to face Alex, I lifted my hair to let the cool air hit my neck one last time before we got out. “It never fails to amaze me that anyone would want to live in a place with so little charm. Say what you want about Victorian Row, but those homes have real character.”

  “With real characters living in them,” he joked, taking a shot at the town’s upper crust who owned those older homes.

  “Well, of course. Any home that contains a conservatory has to have, by law, a unique person living in it,” I said with a chuckle.

  He arched a single dark eyebrow at my claim, leveling his gaze on me. “By law, Miss McGuire? I don’t think that’s true.”

  I let my hair fall back down onto my neck and shrugged. “You know what I meant. Anyway, we know from experience that this part of town has its own set of characters too.”

  My memories flashed back to the case of poor Lee Reynolds, the local shock jock found dead after his on-air shift one afternoon. His house had been just a few blocks away from Kellen Martin’s.

  “Ready to head out again?” Alex asked as he turned off the car.

  I dreaded the very idea of standing out in that heat. Maybe Mr. Martin would be nice enough to invite us in while we questioned him about his recently murdered girlfriend.

  Then again, I’d worked enough cases with Alex to know the chances of that happening were about fifty-fifty. If he had nothing to hide, he very well may invite us in and try to help with the investigation. But if he had anything to feel guilty about concerning Amy, chances were he’d give us very little and make us stand out in the stifling heat on his front porch while he did it.

  “No, but I want to hear what he has to say, so let’s go.”

  A
lex tapped the gold door-knocker twice on the dark red painted front door while I examined the front porch area we stood in. A large green potted plant stood to the left side of us with two cute brown and white rabbit figurines who held a sign that said, “Welcome!” in front of it.

  “I’m thinking he has to live here with his parents. No self-respecting guy in his twenties would have those bunnies on his front porch.”

  Looking down at the plastic woodland creatures meant to greet people, Alex smirked. “Amy didn’t seem to be the type of woman who’d date a man who still lived with his parents. Kellen Martin is supposed to be twenty-seven years old.”

  “Now I have to see this guy,” I said, astounded that the person we’d come to know as Amy would be with someone like that.

  The words had barely left my lips when the door opened and there stood a very attractive man with sandy brown hair, green eyes, and a body that showed undeniable evidence that he spent some serious time in the gym daily. Wearing white shorts and a black t-shirt, both of which accentuated his tanned skin and muscular body, he looked much younger than what a twenty-seven year old man would look like.

  He looked more like a teenage boy. A very good-looking teenage boy.

  “Yeah? What can I do for you, officer?” he asked in a cocky voice that instantly grated on my nerves.

  Two thoughts instantly raced through my brain. First, why would someone like Amy, a woman in her late twenties who lived on her own, date someone like this guy? And second, he didn’t look too broken up by the fact that she’d been found murdered less than twenty-four hours before.

  “I’m Officer Alex Montero and this is Poppy McGuire. We’d like to speak to you regarding the death of your girlfriend, Amy Perkins.”

  I watched Kellen Martin’s face for a reaction to Alex’s mention of Amy’s murder and saw nothing. He didn’t flinch or wince or even blink. Not a hint of surprise moved his expression. He simply stared at Alex like he’d just said that we found a dog wandering the neighborhood and wanted to know if it was his. In fact, he probably would have reacted more to that.

  “Oh, that. Did you find out who did it?”

  “No, not yet. In fact, we’d like to ask you a few questions.”

  I felt the coolness of the air conditioning float through the open door and hoped Kellen would invite us in. Unfortunately, he didn’t react at all to Alex’s explanation of why we were there. Disappointed, I looked to my right and saw confusion on Alex’s face as he took out his pad and pen.

  “Okay, Mr. Martin, when was the last time you saw Amy?” he asked, sidestepping Kellen’s silence as my hopes for a cool interview faded quickly.

  Scrunching up his face, Kellen seemed to think about the question for a moment before answering, “I think it might have been Wednesday night. Yeah, I want to say Wednesday sounds right.”

  Alex intentionally said nothing, letting silence hang in the overheated air as he wrote down Kellen’s answer. After nearly a minute, he looked up and asked his next question.

  “So you didn’t see her at all yesterday?”

  Kellen shook his head so his straight brown hair fell into his eyes. Pushing it back off his forehead, he said, “Nope. Not at all yesterday.”

  Again, Alex said nothing for a long time, trying to get Kellen to fill the empty space in the conversation, but it didn’t work. Curious about his oddly disconnected reaction to the death of his girlfriend, I finally couldn’t help myself from saying something about it.

  “You don’t seem too broken up over losing Amy, Kellen. You know, someone stabbed her in the heart with a knife and left her to die alone in the woods.”

  I didn’t care that my tone sounded indignant. Even if they were only casually dating or had gotten into a huge, relationship-ending fight on Wednesday, Amy deserved more than this deadpan act Kellen Martin had going.

  “Well, she and I were sort of just spending some time together lately. It wasn’t like we were a huge thing or anything. I’m sorry this happened to her, but I was home all night last night.”

  This guy was a real piece of work! I had to hold myself back from letting him have it with both barrels about how callous he was being about the loss of someone’s life. I could only hope that Amy knew what Kellen was all about and was just spending time with him because he was eye candy. I hated even entertaining the idea that she may have really cared about this joker.

  Alex remained calm in the face of Kellen’s dismissal of the gravity of the situation, though. Seizing on his claim of an alibi, he asked, “Is there anyone who can prove you were here all night?”

  That question finally elicited a reaction from Kellen. His face seemed to drain of all color for a moment and he stuttered out, “I…I have to have someone prove I was here? Why? I would never hurt Amy. We were having a good time. That’s all it was. I had no reason to kill her!”

  “It’s an easy question, Mr. Martin. Can anyone corroborate your alibi?” Alex asked flatly.

  Flustered, he shook his head and huffed out. “No. I was alone. My parents are out a lot.”

  “Interesting. Thank you, Mr. Martin. We’ll be back when we need answers to more questions.”

  “Fine. I’ll be here. You can come back whenever you want, but there’s nothing proving I had anything to do with this. I know I’m innocent.”

  I wanted to say he might be innocent but he was a thoughtless clod, but he slammed the door in our faces, leaving us standing in the heat and me wondering how any decent woman would be with that guy.

  “He’s a real prize,” I said as Alex placed his notepad and pen back into his pocket.

  “A real big-hearted guy,” he said rolling his eyes. “I almost hope he is guilty because I think it would be nice slapping cuffs on him and hauling him off to jail.”

  Hearing Alex express any feelings about a potential suspect surprised me, and as we walked back to the car, I said, “It’s so unlike you to comment like that. I think I might be having a bad influence on you.”

  He frowned at what I said, and I realized it sounded like I was saying what Stephen had accused him of not two hours earlier. We got back into the car and its air conditioned splendor and headed back to the station in silence. I wanted to tell him that Stephen had been dead wrong, but I knew Alex well enough to know that he’d talk about it when he was ready.

  The car rolled to a stop, and after he put the car into park, he stared straight ahead. He’d worn a frown all the way back, and now it looked more deeply entrenched in his expression than ever.

  “Nothing you do has ever been a bad influence on me, Poppy. I never want you to think that. You make me a better cop. Period.”

  His anguished expression tore at my heart. Taking his hand in mine, I held it in my lap so no one would be able to see my tender gesture. “I’m sorry this is happening. He had no right to accuse you of being anything less than the consummate professional you always are, Alex. No right at all.”

  He turned to face me and lowered his gaze to our joined hands, nodding sadly. “I know. I just wanted to make sure that you know having you on cases has never compromised my judgment. What you bring to our cases is a different perspective. It isn’t anything that clouds my instincts or anything ridiculous like that.”

  “Is that why you were going to hit him? Because he said that about me being a bad influence on your ability to be a cop?”

  Alex looked up into my eyes and smiled. “No. I wanted to hit him because he’s been a real S.O.B. to you for months and I finally saw how disrespectful he was to you. I’m sorry I didn’t see it for what it was before today, Poppy.”

  I wanted to throw my arms around his neck and give him a huge kiss, but I never wanted to put him in any position that anyone like Stephen could ever use against him to say he wasn’t the professional he so earnestly tried to be at all times he was representing our town.

  Squeezing his hand, I told him what I knew to be true. “I know you always wanted to believe he was the kind of cop you are. It’s just how you
think. But he wasn’t and never will be, Alex. I don’t care if he’s completely innocent in Amy Perkins’ murder. He still could never be the man or the police officer you are. I believe that with all my heart.”

  “Thank you. It means more than you can know that you see the man I really am and the man I strive every day to be. When he said that about you having a negative effect on my ability to be the cop I believe I am, that was an insult to both of us. He was wrong, though. I need you to know that.”

  I looked into those dark soulful eyes of his and loved him even more than I thought I could. “I love you, Alex. You’re the most honorable man I’ve ever known, other than my father, and that says a lot.”

  Alex squeezed my hand and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “I love you too, Poppy. Being with you has made me a better man and a better cop. No matter what happens, don’t ever forget that.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “It’s nearly five o’clock,” Alex said as he sat down behind his desk. “Where’d the day go?”

  I dropped myself into the chair in front of him and rolled my shoulders. “We’ve been working all day on this case. I could go for something to eat. I think we forgot to get lunch in all of this.”

  He considered my claim and nodded. “I think we did. How about this? Let’s see where we are on this case right now and then we’ll go home and I’ll cook you something great that will make you forget all about this day.”

  “It’s a deal! I picked up some chicken and some turkey cutlets the other day while I was at the store, so that’s about all you have to work with. Think you can whip something up with either of those?”

  A sexy grin lit up his face. “Challenge accepted.”

  I knew cooking dinner for us would be more therapy for him than just making something that would fill our stomachs. Alex loved to make what he called his “special meals” for me because they let him escape into a place where he didn’t have to think about anything but what temperature to cook the meal at and how long it should stay in the oven or the frying pan.