Best Laid Plans

by Kristi Rose

  Jenna Miller was drgnbait@techsavvy.com. Jenna Miller had sent Josh the email asking him to take the money and run away to Fiji. She’d always planned on ditching her tracking bracelet and going on the lam. Which means Jenna Miller lied about being done with Josh. She’d been in cahoots with him before and likely never stopped. Kalan Johnson had mentioned the Pay Forward for the Kids IT person, and I had hard money on it being Jenna.

  I scrolled through all the information Toby had sent me on Jenna until I found her parole officer’s name. I gave him a call, explained who I was, and that I was standing in Jenna’s apartment, staring at her bracelet, which wasn’t around her leg.

  19

  Friday

  On the ride home, Precious and I binge ate through our frustration. Krispy Kreme donuts, a family-sized bag of M&Ms, fries from one drive-thru and burgers from another.

  “We’d had her and let her go,” I said for what was surely the hundredth time. I scanned the log sheet Jenna’s parole officer gave me. The tracking bracelet showed one trip to Wind River, the day Jenna stole the briefcase. No other trips. Not that I thought this list was accurate.

  “It’s like I got so caught up with being a PI that I forgot all my life coach training. I know how to read people. I knew she was unstable, but I didn’t do the math.” Precious tossed a handful of M&Ms in her mouth. Some spilled from the side and went in between the seat cracks.

  “Considering I’m the PI here, I feel doubly worse. Is doubly a word?” My stomach didn’t feel so good. Like maybe I needed a salad.

  “We really jacked this up,” she said.

  “Doubly,” I added. I looked at the mug shot of Jenna her PO had provided me. It was more current than her driver’s license photo. “I’m gonna see if the IT guy at the community center can provide other dates that place her in town besides when she went to meet Gillian. At a minimum, if DB thinks he can charge me, Lockett can use all this in my defense.” Ugh, the thought alone made me want to barf. I crafted an email to Kalan Johnson and included Jenna’s image, but sending it gave little relief.

  I asked, “Do you think Jenna knew Josh had returned one of the two tickets to Fiji?”

  Precious stared at me wide eyed. “And if she did, she would then know he planned to go without her, likely taking all the money with him.”

  I nodded solemnly, “Yep, leaving her once again high and dry and primed to take the fall. That, my fabulous friend is motive.”

  “We screwed the pooch here, Sam. Messed up.”

  I rubbed my temples, hoping to stave off a headache. “This case is too much.”

  When my phone rang, I glanced at the screen. Private caller, no number. Rachel. Calling from the ship phone.

  “Hey,” I said. Was I supposed to be with Cora? I wasn’t able to take her to the beach because of the getting-run-down-by-a-car thing. The folks and I were trying to shelter her as much as possible from everything that was going on. In my opinion, we were doing a great job because she hadn’t spilled any of this to Rachel so far.

  “Are you kidding me?” Rachel screamed.

  I held the phone away from my ear. I didn’t need to put in on speaker because she was so loud, but I did because I had no intention of yelling back.

  I said, “What—?”

  “You’re the prime suspect in Principal Josh’s murder? Principal Josh was murdered? What is going on there? I swear to heaven, Sam, if Cora is in the middle of this, I will never forgive you.” She said never with such venom a shiver of fear ran through me.

  The best defense is a good offense. “Uh, did Cora tell you all this?”

  A long pause. “Well, no.”

  What a relief. “That’s because she has no clue. We’ve kept it all from her. Her life is all rainbows and unicorns right now.” Saying unicorns conjured up visions of Unicorn Brew, and my stomach churned. I’d definitely overdone it on the sweets. Even the thought of them made me queasy.

  “I’m trying to catch up on my news. We’ve been slammed here, and I was going through Dad’s paper online when I saw the article.” She was still irritated. “Someone could have told me.”

  “When? When you called Cora? Were we supposed to ask her to leave the room? That’s not suspicious at all.”

  “You could have emailed me.”

  She had me there. Truth was, I’d been hoping Rachel never found out. Now, my next objective was to keep the full weight of the situation from her. “Except is this something for an email? You said so yourself you’ve been slammed. Imagine getting that email and not being able to call home. We were trying to be considerate.”

  She huffed out a sigh. This was a clue I was winning. Time for the final drive down the field. “And soon Dad’ll be posting an article saying I’m no longer the primary person of interest. Precious and I have discovered Josh had an accomplice. My guess is she’ll become the primary. DB will keep me in there because he likes to torment me.”

  “An accomplice? What in the world was he doing? He seemed like such a nice man.” She’d been bamboozled like the rest of the community.

  In full disclosure, I felt smug that Josh hadn’t wooed me. Like maybe I was getting better at reading people.

  “Well, he was not a nice man, Rachel. He was a con man. He was skimming money from people, stealing from Laura Danner and the school board. He was bad, bad, bad.” I shook my finger at the phone.

  “When you say it like that it sounds like you didn’t like him. I can see why DB thought maybe you did it. You’re passionate about your dislike.”

  “That doesn’t mean I killed him. Lots of people dislike lots of other people and don’t kill them,” I said.

  “Who do you think killed him?” Her voice sounded tiny, scared. I supposed I would be, too, if my kid was attending the school where the principal was murdered.

  “Cora’s safe,” I said. “We think the person who did this was the same one who helped him con other school districts. She’s left the country.” I add the last part for reassurance.

  Rachel blew out a slow, steady breath. “I hate this deployment. I hate that there is nothing I can do to protect Cora.”

  “Rach, Mom and Dad did a great job with us. They’ve got her covered. She’s safe and happy. She misses you, but Dad keeps her distracted with football. She’s gonna be a pro by the time you get home.”

  Rachel groaned then laughed. “I still kick butt in my fantasy league.”

  I laughed with her. Glad she sounded more relieved. “I can’t get into a fantasy league around here because of Dad. I have to play anonymously online.”

  A loud pinging sounded in the background.

  Rachel said, “Crap, I have to go. Some fake drill. Tell Cora I’ll try to call on Sunday. Same time.”

  “Okay, take care of yourself. Love ya a bushel and a peck,” I said. This was something that came from our grandfather on our mom’s side. He used to say it to us all the time. Now we said it to each other and to Cora.

  “And a hug around the neck,” she said before disconnecting.

  Precious gave me a look that said we dodged a bullet. “Glad she didn’t know about the drive-by rundown.”

  I closed my eyes in relief. “No kidding. Can you imagine if she’d have wanted to FaceTime? I’ll have to cake on the makeup for Sunday’s call.” My poor control freak sister could read trouble into anything.

  Trouble with Josh’s death was I had the who died and where they died, but I didn’t have the why or how.

  Jenna Miller’s how: dunno

  Jenna Miller’s why: to take all the money

  When we pulled up to my apartment, the day was close to ending. Streetlights were on, and the crescent moon was bright. Leo’s cruiser was parked to the side of the building. We both saw it but said nothing. Precious followed me up the stairs where Leo sat in a lawn chair I’d set out on the landing. He looked beat. His five o’clock shadow looked to be two days worth of growth, scraggy and sexy.

  His legs were out in front of him, crossed at the ankle,
and his eyes were closed. Two bottles of local IP were by the chair.

  I knew he wasn’t sleeping. His hunting skills were too strong to sleep through two loud women clumping upstairs. “Are those the beers from my fridge?”

  “Yup, you’re all out,” he said without opening his eyes. “I ate the cookies you had, too.”

  “There were cookies?” I plugged the six-digit entry number into the keypad that disengaged the lock to the front door. My place used to be my parents’ vacation rental. I might have the luxury of living in a place my parents owned, but I was paying vacation rental prices for it.

  I flung the door open, and from where I stood, I could see the small galley kitchen. A two-person bar was at the end of the kitchen counter. On it was a plate in my mother’s dish pattern with the cellophane pulled back and crumbs. Nothing else.

  “Were they good?” I asked him.

  “Fabulous. Little heavy on the sprinkles.” He sat up with a sigh and stretched his arms over his head.

  Precious and I watched as his back muscles rippled under his shirt. Leo had always been a fine specimen of a man. Even in high school. His dark Native American skin would get richer from the time spent in the summer sun, and he’d come back to school looking like some folklore god.

  “Good thing I ate my body weight in junk food on the way back or I’d be seriously ticked,” I told him.

  “Tell me about Jenna Miller,” he said.

  Between Precious and I, we filled him in on the events of our trip, the tracking bracelet, and the picture she left behind with the Post-it note.

  “I’m guessing she offed him,” I said. “I’m hoping this new information will help DB see the error of his ways and provide a new focus for this investigation.”

  Leo rubbed a hand down his face. He didn’t look happy, and the sense that something bigger had happened while Precious and I were in Seattle settled over me.

  “Just tell me,” I said. “Like a Band-aid, rip it off.”

  Leo crossed his arms over his chest and ducked his head. “The toxicology report came back. The water bottles showed a slight trace of nicotine.”

  A picture flashed in my mind, the image of Josh holding a water bottle with pink water. I said, “Maybe it was those tablets he put in his drink. He had one that day he died.”

  Precious snapped her fingers. “Jenna knew about those tablets.”

  I watched Leo’s face. His expression was impassive.

  “Spill,” I said. “What are you leading up to? Just say it already.”

  Leo sat up. “The nicotine levels in Josh’s system were off the charts. Though the amount in the water bottle was small, it contributed to Josh’s levels, but wasn’t the primary source, after the vaping and patches.”

  “Nicotine?” I said. “Are we back to this mysterious vaping disease? Could the levels in his vial been too much?” Dad’s article had said the CDC couldn’t pinpoint a cause, flavored vape juice being the only common denominator.

  Leo propped his foot against my railing and rested his forearm across his knee. “Yeah, it’s possible. Doc is talking to the CDC to see if nicotine poisoning is a possibility for all those affected.” Doc was the medical examiner.

  Precious said, “I know nicotine is bad, but I never knew it could be used as a poison.”

  Leo nodded. “It can be. A few cases of someone being murdered by nicotine exist, but it takes a lot.”

  “So, we’re back to Josh’s death being a coincidence or possibly part of an epidemic?” I shook my head in disbelief. If either were true, Josh’s karma caught up with him in a spectacular fashion.

  “Maybe,” Leo said. “But there was another vial in his drawer. Rolling around with items like fidget spinners, a few cell phones, a slingshot, and some rocks.”

  “Oooh,” Precious said and raised her hand. “I know. I know. What are things a teacher confiscates?”

  Leo tossed back his head and laughed. When he stopped, he pointed to her and said, “Jeopardy.”

  I grunted from frustration and snatched the beer from his hand then took a drink. “So what’s that mean. That a kid might have something to do with this? That he confiscated bad juice off one of the kids? If that’s true, I quit. I’ll go full time at Click and Shop. No more of this PI gig. Because this is an elementary school we’re talking about.”

  Leo stood. “The vial’s being tested for toxins and fingerprints. As are the flavor water tablets Josh put in his drink. I’m making no assumptions until that information comes back. You’ll know when I know.”

  20

  Monday

  Following my hit-and-run adventure, my parents gave me a gym membership to the local fitness center, a not-so-subtle message that they worried about me and didn’t want me running on the roads. I’d gone to the gym before to do drop-in yoga classes. Now I looked forward to the luxury of going when I wanted instead of when I could afford it. My parents got no complaints from me.

  The gym’s downside was the Hunter Boot Moms. I expected to run into at least one of them at every class. They were exercise fiends, or so it seemed. I’d only seen Mindy and another one whose name I couldn’t remember.

  Today was the first day I braved doing something more than downward dog; I caught an early morning spin class. My hip felt better, though the bruise was an ugly brownish green the size of my head. No one had to see that. The fast pace of the class was exactly what I needed to take my mind off the bomb Leo dropped on Friday.

  I had no idea what the outcome would be from the fingerprints test, but whatever they were couldn’t be good. Either the police would have a new suspect or DB would ransack my life looking for proof the vial belonged to me. And with Toby in my life, the chances of an empty vape juice vial being around were high.

  Toni, the owner of the fitness center, was also the spin instructor. Toni had graduated from Wind River five years before me. She was solid muscles and intimidating. Obviously, she took fitness seriously, and there wasn’t a muscle on her body that wasn’t chiseled. She sported a fake tan, insanely white teeth, and long dark hair that looked brittle. Like a good brushing would snap off strands.

  We were twenty minutes into the class, Toni barking orders for us to kick it up a notch, when we started doing sprints, a sequence that comprised standing to peddle for a count of four then on the saddle for a count of four, then repeat. Toni’s count was quick, and I was panting from the exertion of trying to keep up. On the third cycle of sprinting, I was on the up count when I noticed Leo peering into the class.

  The spin room was large and square with a series of windows that looked out into the weight room. Someone, Toni I assumed, had taped motivational posters over two-thirds of the windows. Only a small sliver of exposed window at the top could be seen. I’d pop up for the sprint, and there was Leo searching the faces of the class participants. I’d drop back into the saddle, and he’d disappear. We did three ups and downs before he spotted me and gave me the “urgent-eye,” a pointed look that conveyed he had something big to say. On the fourth up, he signaled with a nod for me to come out.

  I glanced at Toni. She was the sort who would passive-aggressively berate anyone for quitting halfway. I grunted with frustration and stayed in the saddle for the next pop up, bringing the peddles to a stop.

  “No quitting, Samantha,” she yelled without sounding breathless.

  “I’ll be right back.” I pointed to the door. “Police are out there looking for me.” Why I felt the need to explain, who knows.

  She gave me a narrowed look then inspected the window on her next pop up.

  Outside, Leo was waiting by the door. “Get your stuff. We have to go.”

  I pointed to the room behind me. “I’m in the middle of a class. I’m all sweaty.”

  Leo leaned in closer, and I resisted the urge to lean away. I had pit stains and no makeup on. My hair was in a ponytail that was listing to the side, and I couldn’t remember if I had brushed my teeth after coffee this morning.

  He said in
a low voice, “The results from the vial in Josh’s desk drawer came back.”

  “Did they find anything unusual in it? Too much nicotine?”

  He dragged his hands down his face in exhaustion. “No, standard bubble gum flavored vape juice, but they pulled fingerprints off the vial.”

  My heart stutter with anticipation. “And?”

  “Josh’s prints were on it. But so were Levi Danner’s.” He shook his head in disbelief. “DB has gone out to the Danner’s to bring Levi in for questioning.”

  How would a vial from Levi’s get to a school Levi didn’t attend? Very clever of Josh to hide a vial in plain sight.

  “What do you want from me?” I wasn’t sure how I figured into this picture. Levi Danner was just a kid. A kid with a history of trouble and anger control issues. A kid who was part of Josh’s scam program.

  “I want you to talk to Laura. I can’t imagine Levi doing something like this.” At a closer look, Leo looked flustered. Maybe it rattled his cop senses to think he’d been coaching a kid who murdered a guy.

  “You can’t imagine. You have to stay unbiased,” I said, using his words.

  He pressed his lips together for a second then said, “I know. You don’t have to remind me.”

  “Clearly, I do.”

  “Carl was my friend. He was Cowlitz. And we take care of people in our tribe. I need to help them.”

  “Being unbiased helps them—”

  He interrupted and pointed to the door. “Are we going to do this all day, or can we go? I’ll drive us to Laura’s.”

  I didn’t move. “Maybe I should go to Laura’s. Without you.” The Pilates class was letting out and soon my spin class would end, too. In moments we’d be surrounded by tons of ears.

  He shook his head.

  I snagged him by the elbow and led him toward the front of the gym. “Leo, if you show DB you have a vested interest in this, you’ll be cut from the case. Frozen out. If you want me to help this kid, I need an inside man, and my inside man is you.”