EYEWITNESS

by Marc Timms

  Johanna shook her head. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy. There are about three things that need to be explained before we can start to solve this case.” Johanna ticked them off on her fingers. “The locked home, the explanation of why Jessica took another means of getting home and left her car, and the identities of the people who were in the car—the ones I saw.”

  Marnie laughed. “You don’t ask much, do you? Those are three pretty big requests.”

  Johanna explained how she’d met Jessica’s nephew/cousin and how he had offered to find out more about how Jessica had made it home.

  “Do you think he’ll even remember?” Marnie asked.

  Johanna blushed slightly in response, and Marnie laughed again. “So you have a thing for him, eh? You know that means: he’ll be the killer. That always happens in books. The seemingly nice guy turns out to be the villain of the piece.”

  “I want him to introduce us to the niece as well. She’s the person who inherits the estate, and that gives her a good motive for the murder too.”

  The phone rang, and Johanna answered. She didn’t recognize the phone number, but she assumed that it would be about the crimes she’d witnessed.

  “Johanna, hi, it’s Thomas.” The voice at the other end of the phone was cheery.

  Johanna paused for a second and didn’t speak. Maybe Marnie’s words had altered her perspective, but she was wary of the man, especially since she knew quite well that she had not shared this number with him. Somehow he’d come up with the number on his own, and then chosen to use it. She felt a bit queasy at the thought. Perhaps in her zeal to find out who had been killed, she had forgotten that she was putting herself in harm’s way.

  “Hi,” she said, after another pause. “What can I do for you?”

  “I was able to look at my aunt’s phone, and I found the ride app. I have the name of the driver if you have a pen?” He paused after his words.

  Johanna looked around but didn’t see anything to write with. Marnie tossed a pen in her direction, lobbing it lightly since Johanna was on the phone. She caught it and decided to scribble the number on the back of an envelope.

  “I’m ready,” she said, wondering if she was prepared for what came next. Johanna had a sinking feeling in her gut that the offer of information was a setup that could lead her into danger. The situation with the phone number had shaken her trust in this man, who, if she admitted it to herself, might not even be Jessica’s relative. She’d taken it on his word that he was her cousin.

  “The guy’s name is Alexander—no last names on this app—and he picked her up at the parking lot on the day in question. I don’t know too much else, but I wanted to call you as soon as I found out the information.”

  “I hope it didn’t cause you any issues,” Johanna said, hoping to get some information out of him on who had the phone and how he’d obtained the information.

  “Not at all,” Thomas replied. “Let me know how it goes.” With that, Johanna was alone on the phone. She hadn’t learned anything but the name, and now she had a decision to make.

  Marnie could quickly tell that Johanna had a quandary. “What’s up?”

  Quickly Johanna told her the problems with Thomas, the story, and how he’d gotten her phone number.

  “Let’s do this. I’ll call Lilly and ask about Thomas. Then if that checks out, we can try the ride service together. It’s one thing to hijack one person. It’s another matter to be outnumbered.”

  Before Johanna could answer, Marnie had dialed a number on her phone. She spoke with Lilly for a few minutes and then hung up.

  “He’s legit,” she began. “Not well-loved by the entire family, but he’s definitely Jessica’s cousin, second or third cousin, and so many times removed. So now, let’s call the ride app.”

  Johanna shook her head. “I want to call from the park’s parking lot. I want this to trigger some memories for him. If he picks us up here, it’ll just be another ride. From there, I’m hoping we can start a conversation with him—without seeming too much like we’re forcing it.”

  When they returned to the car park, Jessica’s vehicle was gone. Johanna looked around the lot, but she found nothing to ever indicate the car had been here. “I guess they must have towed it home, or someone came to get the car?” Johanna asked of her friend. “I’m just surprised that they left it here.”

  Marnie looked around and said, “Well, just be sure to lock your car. We don’t want any murders in the backseat while we’re on this adventure.”

  “Already done,” Johanna replied. “Now we just have to wait for this guy.”

  Marnie had looked up the driver. She’d found Alexander on the app and specifically requested him. Johanna assumed that the man lived close to the park, which would explain why he would drive to the remote area for a driver gig.

  The car pulled up in the lot, and Alexander rolled down the passenger window. “I’m guessing you two are looking for a ride. It’s an easy guess when you’re the only two here.”

  Marnie took the lead. She approached the car and said, “Our car broke down. We need to let it sit, and I bet it’ll start when we come back. However, we have to be somewhere soon, and we can’t wait.”

  She slid into the backseat and encouraged Johanna with an arm wave. “Get in. I don’t want to be late.”

  Johanna did as she was told to do. She slid in and tried to lean back, not wanting to appear too tense.

  “So you’re off to your place?” he asked. He glanced at the GPS on his phone. “I guess we’ll be about thirty minutes or so.”

  They had decided on Johanna’s place, wanting to have enough time to ask questions and hopefully get some answers from this man.

  “I bet you don’t get many people wanting a ride from a park parking lot. I mean, that’s where your car should be, right?” Marnie laughed as if this was a big joke to her. Johanna gave a small laugh, but her mind was on other things.

  “You’d be surprised,” he said. “I take men down here to cruise the park. I pretend like I don’t know what they’re doing.”

  Marnie looked like she didn’t know what that meant, so Johanna mouthed the word “later.”

  “You two confuse me, though. You can’t belong to that group, so I don’t know why you’d need a ride home.”

  Johanna breathed a sigh of relief that the man was this chatty. “Not many women? I’m sure it’s probably been months since you had a woman coming from the park.”

  He didn’t speak for a second, and Johanna was concerned that maybe she’d pushed too far, too fast.

  Finally, he said. “No, it was three days ago, I think—in the last week for sure. The lady said her car had broken down. She needed a driver to take her to an appointment she had.”

  “Not home?” Marnie asked. “I just want to go home and try to sort out this situation. I think I’d cancel the appointment.”

  This time, he laughed. “She was adamant. The appointment was with a lawyer.”

  Marnie raised her eyebrows at Johanna and gave a little fist pump.

  “Do people tell you their life stories? Like a bartender?” Marnie asked.

  He laughed again. “Sometimes, but this time the old lady didn’t need to. She had me drop her at the lawyer’s office. I’d have to be blind not to see that, and blind is not a good trait for a driver.”

  “I wonder what she wanted? Maybe she was drawing up a will—or maybe someone had left something to her in their will.” Johanna decided to join in and play the game with them.

  He smiled at them in the rearview mirror. “She’s more the type to be writing a will. She was old. If you don’t mind paying, I can drive you past the place. It’s only a turn on Main and then on to Court Street. Say another $20?”

  Marnie spoke first and pulled a bill from her wallet, which had been stuck in a back pocket.

  They drove past a lawyer’s office on Court, and Johanna took great pains to memorize the lawyer’s name. She would be paying a visit to them—or
more likely giving the name to Detective Dempsey so he could ask them questions.

  The driver dropped them at Johanna’s place and gave them a wave. Marnie looked at her friend. “So what comes first? Should we get your car first, or call the police and tell them what we’ve learned?”

  Johanna opted to get her car first, in case the police requested that she come to the station.

  They were dropped back into the parking lot of the park. Even in the midday sun, the lot was shaded throughout. Another car had parked in the far corner of the lot. Johanna took that moment to explain the concept of cruising to Marnie, who shrugged and smiled. “I knew what it was. I just didn’t know that they had a name for it.”

  The car was bouncing up and down. Johanna flashed back to the scene she had witnessed in the parking lot a few days ago. The car was different, but she could vaguely make out the two figures in the back of the vehicle, even though the windows were fogged up.

  “Was this what it was like a few days ago?” Marnie asked. “I mean, the other car and all.”

  “I was closer to the car, so it was easier to see through the windows, or maybe the windows weren’t quite so foggy as they are now.” Johanna stared at the windows, but she could see nothing.

  “What were you doing here?” Marnie asked. “I mean, I’ve meant to ask you that. It’s not exactly like you’re a nature lover, and it’s fairly out of the way.” The two of them opened the doors, got in, and closed the doors. Johanna flashed back to the scene again, and she locked all of the doors with a single button.

  Johanna thought about answering truthfully, but she was saved because the door to the other car opened. A woman’s form fell half out of the car’s door. Johanna expected her to get up, but instead, she lay there in that awkward position, an arm hanging over her head, the head much lower than the body.

  The man from the other car got out. She could see the man’s dark hair and the same facial expression that he’d had just a few days before this.

  Johanna could see him clearly in the rearview mirror. Too clearly. She slammed the car into reverse, backed up enough, and swung the front end around so she could leave. The car jumped forward, and they were gone.

  “What was that all about?” Marnie shouted, as they hit the road, swerving slightly from side to side.

  “That was him. That was the same man I saw here before, and he was killing another woman.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Marc Timms is a creative writer who has loved writing ever since he was a young boy. He has studied the art of writing throughout school and has always had a passion for writing. At a young age, Timms moved from the US and is currently living in Australia with his wife and four kids. He has only recently decided to share his work and publish it to the world.

  Marc recently became an international best-selling author when he published his first book "Shock" which went straight to number 1 in several categories.

  When Marc isn't writing he loves to spend his time watching Aussie rules football and spending valuable time with his family.

  Books by Marc Timms

  SHOCK SERIES

  SHOCK

  SHOCK – The Truth

  SHOCK – The Chase

  SHOCK – The Chaos

  SHOCK – The Capture

  FORGOTTEN SERIES

  FORGOTTEN – The Return

  FORGOTTEN – THE Quest

  FORGOTTEN – The Revelations

  FORGOTTEN – The Reveal

  FORGOTTEN – The Unveil

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