He dialed Steven’s number. After two rings, his co-worker picked up.
There was a groggy tone in Steven’s voice as he answered the phone. “What’s going on?”
David grimaced. “Were you asleep?”
“I sure was.”
“Sorry for waking you up.”
“That’s okay. I was having a crazy dream anyway.”
“Speaking of crazy, I have some news about April.”
“You do?” Steven asked. “What is it?”
“We have her in custody.”
Surprise was in Steven’s voice as he replied, “Already?”
“Not a moment too soon,” David said. “She was headed toward the border.”
“In that case, I’m glad you caught her when you did.”
“Anyway, I’ll let you get back to sleep. I just figured you’d want to know.”
“Thanks for giving me the update.”
“Hopefully now you’ll be able to rest easier.”
“I’m sure I will.”
“You take care of yourself, all right?” David said.
“I’ll do my best,” Steven said.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Once David got off the phone with Steven, my husband stared off into the distance. I knew he needed a little time to decompress. I felt the same way. But when the silence stretched on for nearly a minute, I couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
“Talk about a crazy night,” I said.
David took a deep breath before responding. “There’s an understatement for you.”
“To be fair, there are a lot of other statements I could make about this evening, but I’ll keep them to myself.”
“That’s probably for the best. Besides, I’m pretty sure we’re thinking of the same colorful phrases right now.”
“I’ll bet.”
“I’m just glad this night is over.”
“I agree. I mean, even by Treasure Cove’s standards, tonight was just insane.”
“Do you know what the nuttiest part is?”
I laughed, nervously. “Honestly, it’s hard to pick just one.”
“That’s so true,” he said. “And yet things could have turned out much worse.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Steven could have died.”
David nodded. “And April could have gotten away with murder.”
My eyebrows rose. “I’m so glad that didn’t happen.”
“So am I.” David wiped his eyes. “You know what else I’ll be glad about? Getting some sleep.”
I held my pointer finger up. “I second that.”
“If I wasn’t tired enough before, I’m running on fumes now.”
“Let’s head home. If we’re lucky, we’ll both crash out immediately.”
“That’s the plan.”
“We could certainly use the rest. After all, we both have a big day tomorrow.”
David grimaced. “We sure do.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad that Steven’s case is closed. But Rick’s killer is still out there.”
David gritted his teeth. “I can’t even think about that tonight. I need a night of rest before I can think about the Peterson case again.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “Besides, maybe once we’ve both gotten some sleep, we’ll be able to make some headway in finding Rick’s killer.”
David crossed his fingers. “I pray that you’re right.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
When we arrived home, I crashed out in a hurry and I didn’t wake up until seven the next morning. Even though I had gotten a full night of sleep, I wasn’t quite ready to dive back into the case again. At least, not without some caffeine in my system.
I wasn’t alone. David had woken up groggy. Which meant that he was even more desperate for a jolt of energy than I was.
Luckily, help was just a short drive away. David and I got changed, hopped into his car, and drove over to my family’s coffee shop. When we arrived in front of Daley Buzz, David elected to stay in the car. He was going to place a few calls as I went inside to order our drinks.
Unfortunately, the minute I entered the coffee shop, a wave of emotions washed over me. That wasn’t surprising, given everything that had taken place over the last few days. However, there was another reason I found myself getting worked up.
Typically, Rick Peterson and Stephen Wilson came into the shop at that hour to get a morning coffee. While those days were clearly in the past, the ghosts of their daily routine were haunting me right then.
If I wasn’t so desperate for coffee, I would have turned around and immediately bolted back to the car. Instead, I mustered all the resolve I could and placed my drink order.
A few minutes later, I returned to David’s sedan.
By then, David had radioed dispatch and had placed a few other quick calls. Much to his chagrin, he had nothing to show for his efforts. There had been no new developments in the Peterson case overnight.
I groaned as he shared the bad news with me.
“That’s exactly how I feel,” David said.
“So, where do we go from here?” I asked.
David bit the corner of his lip. “That’s a good question.”
“Do you have an answer?”
“I need a minute to let the caffeine kick in.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “Just so you know, I don’t have an answer either.”
David exhaled. “I suppose we can go over the case file again.”
I nodded. “And I can scour social media to see if any of the suspects posted something suspicious.”
“Who knows?” David said. “We might get lucky.”
I crossed my fingers.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
So much for getting lucky. It didn’t matter how many times David poured over the case file. There was no additional information to glean from it. The same went for my social media search. That ended up being one big waste of time.
In addition, by the time noon rolled around, I was hankering for more caffeine. My stomach was also rumbling.
David leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. “I can’t look at this case file any longer.”
“I don’t blame you. I’m getting a headache from staring at this computer screen for so long,” I said.
“You might as well get off social media. I think that’s a dead end.”
“I could say the same thing about that case file. At this point, you’ve probably read it so many times that you have the thing memorized.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“Let’s not argue then,” I said. “This case is frustrating enough as it is.”
“It sure is. At the same time, did you really expect that one of the suspects would post something incriminating on social media?”
I shook my head. “No. But I didn’t want to outright dismiss the possibility without checking their newsfeeds first. After all, it only takes one foolish mistake to blow this case wide open.”
“True. Although, since none of the suspects have slipped up, I think it’s time that we try something else.”
“Such as?”
David stood up. “Why don’t we get some fresh air?”
“I suppose we could do that.”
My unenthusiastic reply surprised David.
“Do you have a better suggestion?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not when it comes to this investigation.”
He stared deep into my eyes. “You say that, yet there’s clearly something on your mind. What is it?”
“Forget about it,” I said.
“Why? What are you thinking about right now?”
I lowered my voice as I replied, “A sandwich.”
“I’m sorry. Did you just say, a sandwich?” he asked.
I nodded.
David chuckled.
“That wasn’t a joke. I’m seriously hungry here,” I said.
“You must be if you’re thinking about food rather than this case.”
“I’m sorry. It’s my stomach’s fault. I can’t stop it from rumbling.”
David rubbed his belly. “Actually, now that you mention it, I’m pretty hungry myself.”
“Who is laughing now?” I joked.
“I’ll tell you what? Why don’t we head over to Zelda’s Diner and grab some food? I’ll bet we’ll both start thinking clearer once we eat lunch.”
“That sounds like a good plan to me,” I said.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
We drove over to Zelda’s Diner, but in a weird twist of fate, we ended up having to take our food to-go. Just as the kitchen finished preparing our order, David got a call over his police radio. Apparently, the 9-1-1 operator had just got off the phone with one of Vikki Delaney’s neighbors. According to the caller, an angry man was pounding and screaming on Vikki’s front door.
Upon hearing that news, David and I left the diner, got into David’s car, and sped over to Locust Street. We arrived at Vikki’s beige Spanish-style house about six minutes later.
As David’s car pulled into the driveway, I couldn’t quite believe what I saw at Vikki’s front door. More specifically, who was standing there? It was Rick’s grieving brother, Justin Peterson.
How peculiar. What was Justin doing there? And why was he so angry?
David parked his sedan in hopes of getting answers. When David and I got out of the car and approached the house, Justin turned around and gave us a shocked look.
“What are you doing here?” Justin asked.
“The 9-1-1 operator got a call about an unruly man causing a scene,” David said. “So, imagine my surprise to discover you at Vikki’s door. The real question is, what are you doing here?”
“Confronting Vikki,” Justin said.
David’s nose scrunched. “Why?”
“I think she is behind Rick’s murder,” Justin said.
“What makes you say that?” David asked.
“It’s just this feeling I have,” Justin said.
“You don’t happen to have any evidence then?” David asked.
“Well, no. But the feeling in my gut is strong,” Justin said.
“If your feelings were so strong then why didn’t you come to us with your suspicions?” David asked.
“I was hoping to dig up some dirt on Vikki first,” Justin said.
David gave Justin a wary look. “Is that so?”
Justin nodded. “Yes.”
David paid less attention to Justin’s words and focused more on his body language. Justin looked awkward and uncomfortable as he spoke. He was also sweating pretty heavily.
Just as David opened his mouth to reply, Vikki’s front door swung open.
Vikki stood in her doorway and called Justin out. “He’s lying.”
Justin whirled around and stared daggers at Vikki. “Shut your mouth. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Vikki held her ground. “Detective, I’ll tell you the real reason Justin is here.”
Justin’s voice cracked as he replied, “Don’t listen to her.”
David put his hand up. “Let her talk.”
“Justin is trying to intimidate me. He doesn’t want you to know what I saw,” Vikki said.
“Which is?” David asked.
Vikki pulled up a photo on her phone. “This.”
As I looked at the photo, my eyebrows rose.
How could they not when Vikki had captured a snapshot of Justin Peterson and Melinda Bagley kissing?
No wonder Justin had been frantically pounding on Vikki’s door. He didn’t want that image to get circulated.
Suddenly, he found himself on the hot seat.
David turned to Justin and stared him down. “You have some explaining to do.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
David and I decided to pull Justin aside and speak with him privately. We would talk to Vikki later. For the moment, we wanted to be out of her earshot.
Not surprisingly, Justin looked like he wanted to run away. He wasn’t going anywhere, though, until we got the truth.
David folded his arms. “Are you going to answer my question?”
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Justin said.
David scoffed. “You must think we’re stupid.”
Justin shook his head. “I didn’t say that.”
“You are certainly treating us like fools,” David said. “I know what I saw—”
“That photo was misleading,” Justin said.
“Really? In what way? Because it seems pretty clear to me that you and Melinda are romantically involved,” David said. “Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?”
Justin opened his mouth to reply.
Before he was able to respond, David spoke up again. “I want you to think carefully about your answer. I also want to remind you that it is a crime to lie to a police officer.”
Justin took a deep breath.
David waited a few seconds for him to reply. When Justin didn’t say a word, David prodded him. “So, what do you have to say for yourself?”
“I feel like you’re getting the wrong impression—”
David cut Justin off. “Why do you keep avoiding my question? Don’t you realize how suspicious that looks?”
“I assure you, I’m not trying to be evasive,” Justin said.
“I’m going to make this next question as clear as possible. Are you and Melinda dating?” David asked.
“Yes, but—”
David cut Justin off. “That was a yes or no question. Now, how long has this been going on?”
“About a month.”
“Did Rick know about you two?”
Justin shook his head.
“Do you expect me to buy that?”
“Yes. Because it’s the truth.”
David scoffed.
“I’m serious,” Justin said. “We never intended for things to happen this way. It’s just that Rick worked such long hours. And Melinda would get really lonely. Besides, Melinda and I have a lot more in common than she and Rick ever did.”
“You realize how this looks, don’t you?” David asked.
“Melinda was planning on breaking things off with Rick. But she never got the chance to,” Justin said.
“I can’t believe you kept this from me. That was such a foolish mistake,” David said.
“I know. And I’m sorry. I admit that I could have handled the situation better,” Justin said.
David broke into laughter. “Talk about an understatement. As far as I’m concerned, you couldn’t have handled it any worse.”
“Even so, I didn’t have anything to do with Rick’s death.”
David folded his arms. “You’re still sticking with that story, huh?”
“Detective, he was my brother—”
David nodded. “True. Which makes it all the more disturbing that you’ve been sleeping with his girlfriend.”
Justin lowered his head. “I’m not proud of my actions. But I will tell you again. I didn’t murder Rick.”
“It would be a lot easier to believe that if you didn’t have a killer motive,” David said. “Or if you had a verifiable alibi.”
I piggybacked on David’s point. “By the way, since you and Melinda are a couple, why didn’t you spend the night together on the evening that Rick was killed?”
“We had other plans,” Justin said.
“What plans? You said you were at home watching sports,” I said.
“Melinda told me she had a stressful day at work and that she just wanted to go home, take a bath, and call it an early night.”
“Or maybe you two don’t have alibis because you were the ones who killed Rick,” I said.
Justin vehemently shook his head. “No.”
“It’s a shame you don’t have any proof that you’re innocent,” David said.
“By that token, you don’t have any evidence that I’m guilty,” Justin said.
David opened his mouth to reply, but Justin was determi
ned to finish his thought.
“Besides, there’s something else you need to be thinking about right now. You need to ask yourself, why was Vikki following Melinda and me around in the first place?” Justin asked.
“Justin, I know what you’re doing. You’re just trying to take the spotlight off of yourself,” David said.
“No. I’m being dead serious. You can ask me as many extra questions as you want. But none of them will be more important than finding out why Vikki was tailing Melinda and I,” Justin said.
Chapter Thirty
David and I asked Justin a few more things, but we weren’t able to make any headway with him. Unfortunately, with no concrete evidence against him, David was forced to let Justin go. But first, David assigned a deputy to tail Justin and keep tabs on his movements.
Deputy John Mixon followed Justin down the street as Justin drove away from the scene. Once both of their cars were out of sight, David and I turned our attention to Vikki Delaney.
The forty-one-year-old brunette was outraged. She scowled as she criticized my husband. “Why didn’t you arrest Justin?”
David’s nose wrinkled. “On what grounds?”
“How about murder?” Vikki asked.
“I can’t book him without proof. And I don’t have any evidence that he’s guilty,” David said. “Do you?”
“I think that photo I took is pretty telling.”
He held up his hand. “Speaking of that picture, we need to have a few words with you.”
Vikki squinted. “Why?”
I spoke up. “Because I can’t help but wonder what you were doing on Melinda’s street in the first place.”
Vikki narrowed her eyes. “I don’t like that tone you’re taking with me.”
“Will you please just answer the question?” I said.
Vikki put her hands on her hips. “Why do I feel like I’m on the hot seat all of a sudden?”
Mysteries of Treasure Cove Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 62
