EYEWITNESS: A Gripping Mystery Suspense Thriller

by Marc Timms

  Her phone had a half dozen messages on it from the rental agency. She responded, and the agent confirmed he was waiting outside.

  “I have a ride,” she said.

  “Don’t let this one get stolen or used in a felony, okay?” he said. The smile was gone from his face now. Johanna was still a suspect, even if he joked with her at times.

  “Sure,” she said.

  The drive home was uneventful, which was good, since she had replayed the scenes in the hospital over in her head. Thomas was married. Johanna was mad at herself, more than him. She knew better. Johanna knew how men were. He’d been married, and he’d just played her because she had information that he wanted. She wondered if Dempsey had already known of the marriage. If so, she could understand why he’d kept her at the station and questioned her about her whereabouts and her car.

  This would have been the second time that Thomas was targeted with a car. The first had been at the café, then the second more successful attack. He would have needed an accomplice to drive the vehicle. He’d been under her watch the entire time, and he’d even taken care of her before he’d saved himself. Had that been a chivalrous act, or had he known that he would be safe anyway?

  Marnie was waiting for her. “I came down to the station, but they said you’d already left. Are you okay?”

  Briefly, Johanna ran through what had happened at the hospital, ending with the addition of four new suspects who might be lurking around the edges of the murder investigation.

  “Wow, married? It’s too bad he’s in the hospital because I’d put him back there. That’s low.”

  Johanna shrugged. “I’d rather find out now than later, and it gives us a good idea of what kind of person he is—who we’re dealing with here.”

  “You’re taking it well,” Marnie said, looking over the list she’d made. “So, how do we go about finding these people?”

  “I have no idea about that,” Johanna said. “They’d have to still be alive, and they’d need to be close enough to town that they could drive here. It would be better if they lived here because they seemed to know the roads well when we were being chased.”

  Marnie shook her head. “We’re still not sure if the two sets of crimes are related to each other. They stole your car and attempted to murder one of the suspects in the other case, but that’s a pretty slender thread to tie the two together.”

  “True, but I seem to be the connecting thread here, and I don’t like it. I’m worried that it’s me —I don’t know these people, and I don’t understand why they’d want me to be involved in this case.”

  Marnie bit her bottom lip. “I was thinking about the cases. The one case seems to revolve around Jessica and her will. We know that she was killed, and we know that the lawyer’s office was set on fire—likely to destroy the will, either old or new, that the killer didn’t like.”

  “Right, that’s why I was trying to follow up with Henry, the niece. She seems to be the only cousin in the case who was close to Jessica, which makes me think she might be involved somehow. I would assume that this would make her the most likely heir, so she would have the most to lose if Jessica decided to change the will.”

  “That all makes sense. So what about the other case—the one with the strangled women in the cars?”

  Marnie sighed. “You said it first. You seem to be the link with all those cases.”

  “Do you think?”

  “Maybe I’ve been reading too many murder mysteries, but you got involved because you saw the man in the car killing that woman. So it could be that this is an elaborate plan to get you . . .”

  “What are you trying to say?” Johanna felt her forehead crinkle.

  “Well, to be honest, the day that we were getting chased—I wondered. That guy could have killed us ten different ways, but he didn’t. He could have shot us that day. He could have shot out the tires. We likely wouldn’t have survived the spinout when the tires went. He could have gone twenty miles an hour faster and hit us harder, making you lose control of the car.” Marnie stopped to take a breath.

  Johanna felt sick to her stomach. The incident was more than just her excellent driving and luck; the man had seemed half-hearted about the chase. The implications scared Johanna. He meant to scare her, but he could have done worse damage. Much worse.

  “You’re quiet.” Marnie was chewing her nail. “Does that freak you out?”

  “When did you start thinking about this?” Johanna asked. “What brought that into your mind?”

  Marnie looked at her friend. “It was when we went back to the car, the first time. We walked out to where you had hidden. It was only one hundred yards or so from the lot. If he’d really wanted to find you that night, he could have.”

  Johanna had to agree. Again, she had thought of that incident as a lucky break. She’d been fast. She’d hid well. Yet the following day, Johanna too, had been surprised that she was still so close to the parking lot. Johanna would have suspected that she had run much farther than that.

  “Is that all?”

  “Not really. Today, the man knew where your car was. You’re not listed in the phone book. You didn’t have the right address on your license or plates. So how, exactly, did he know where to go to jack your car? It can’t be a coincidence.”

  “Okay, so what does that all mean?” Johanna asked, feeling peevish.

  “I have no idea. I just think that the person behind those incidents and the car are closer to you than you think. He knows your home. He didn’t hurt you, or worse, when he had the chance. Why is he doing this to you?”

  Johanna felt a lump in the pit of her stomach. “Do you think that the things I saw were real?”

  “Maybe, maybe not. It feels theatrical. It feels like something you’d see in a movie. A good movie, but not real life.” Marnie was looking puzzled. She had started thinking about this, but had not come to any conclusions as to why these events were happening.

  “But we don’t know why someone would spend all this time doing this to me?” Johanna said. “It’s a lot of work and time spent—to do what?”

  “To make you question yourself. To make others question you.” Marnie stood up. “I’m going to go home. I wasn’t going to bring this up, but we started talking about it, and I couldn’t stop myself. Don’t stay up all night thinking about this.”

  She let herself out.

  Johanna was alone. The mere thought of not having someone to watch out for her and bounce ideas off made her antsy. If Marnie was right, there was a lot more to come before she solved this case.

  Chapter 6

  Johanna woke up the following day to the sound of someone pounding at her door. She remembered the conversations from last night, and she froze. The person had not bothered to identify themself, and she wasn’t sure how best to handle the situation. Johanna wasn’t about to throw the door open and welcome this stranger. Yet even looking through the peephole could be dangerous. The shadows of feet under the door or the change of light at the peephole gave her away. A good gunshot would be the end of her.

  “Open up,” a woman’s voice said. That eased Johanna’s mind somewhat since the man who had been displaying cars with corpses had definitely not sounded like this.

  She still went carefully to the door and looked out. The woman was tall, blonde, and beautiful. She was also a stranger. Johanna had never encountered her during this situation—or any circumstance at that.

  Johanna slid the chain into place and then opened the door as far as it would go. “Yes?”

  “I came to talk to you about the murder case—the one where you led the police to that poor little old woman.” The woman’s face was calm, but her words seemed more inflammatory.

  “You’re referring to Jessica?” Johanna asked. Sadly, she could have been talking about one of three murders. Johanna still wasn’t entirely sure how old the other women were, though she doubted that she would have called them old women.

  “Yes, her. Can I come in, or are we goin
g to talk in the hallway?” The woman sighed. She did a quick spin around and then opened her small bag and showed Johanna the interior. “I’m not packing a weapon. Can I come in?”

  Johanna reluctantly opened the door and let the woman in.

  The other woman pushed the door shut and looked at her. “You’re the woman who was out with my husband—when they tried to attack him the first time. What do you think you were doing?”

  Johanna stammered, realizing that the woman who stood across the room from her was Thomas’s wife, the woman she hadn’t known about. She tried to form an answer, but before she could, the woman burst out laughing.

  “I’ve always wanted to do that!” she exclaimed. “It seems so dramatic and over-the-top.”

  Johanna just stood there. “What do you mean?”

  “I dumped him three years ago. If you like him, honey, keep an eye on him.”

  “That’s rather easy to do at the moment. I don’t think Thomas is going anywhere—at least the last time I saw him.” Johanna flashed back to the scene in the hospital, his face partially covered, broken bones, and eyes closed.

  “So what happened to the jerk?” she asked. “Do you have any coffee? I’m dying for some, and the hotel’s swill was just not worth trying.”

  Johanna led them to the kitchen and started a quick pot of coffee. Since she had just woken up a few minutes before, she’d need coffee to handle this whirlwind who had come into her home to talk about a man she hardly knew.

  She poured two cups of the liquid and pushed one cup towards the other woman. Unsurprisingly, the woman loaded it with sugar and a touch of milk. She drank a long pull from the cup and set it down. “Can I have some more?” she asked, more modulated in her tone this time.

  Johanna poured another cup for the woman and repeated the process. The woman added the sugar and milk, but drank more slowly this time. “Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night. Someone here called me and told me about Tommy, er Thomas. He never did like being called Tommy, but it was so much fun. I guess I should have been a little more respectful at the time. I’m Carolyn, by the way. So what happened?”

  “No one told you?” Johanna asked. “Who called?”

  “Well, it was someone from the police. The officer called and asked me if I could come and identify the guy in the hospital. He didn’t say who it was. He just asked my name and if I could be there. So I get here, and I show up at the hospital. They find out that I’m not married to Thomas anymore, and they go all tight-lipped on me. No details if I’m not a relative. I heard one of the nurses talk about you—and the accident and all. So I bought a newspaper and looked it up. The rest was easy. Apparently this was a second attempt; the first one being when you were at the café.” She took another long sip, pausing her chatter. Johanna wondered how the woman had so much breath in her.

  “So, what else do you know?” Johanna asked. “I can probably fill in a few blanks.”

  “I know he’s in the hospital, and I know you know something about it. That’s it.”

  “Did the newspaper say more than that?” Johanna asked. She realized that she hadn’t read the Bugle in the last few days. Time to sit down and go through the news was not happening just now. She might witness another killing or have someone chase her across town.

  “Just the usual stuff: the police are looking for suspects. They expect a break in the case soon. The sort of thing that makes you want to believe that they’ll find out who did this. I don’t have much faith in them, to be honest. They talk a good story, but that’s it.”

  Johanna nodded. She’d begun to have that feeling as she sat in the interview room at the police station for three hours. The police had suspected her of the car thefts and running down Thomas. In part, she wondered if Detective Dempsey might be a bit jealous. She had noticed him watching her reaction to the other man. At times, Johanna had thought he was merely checking to see if she betrayed her emotions. Still, Johanna could think that he was watching to see if she was interested at different times.

  However, she didn’t have time for that now. Carolyn was asking more questions. “So exactly what is going on here?”

  She took a deep breath. Johanna would be explaining this for a while, and one cup of coffee would not be sufficient. She pointed at the coffee pot, and Carolyn joined her to finish off the first carafe.

  Johanna tried to organize her thoughts as she put together the next pot of coffee.

  “Well, I suppose it all started when Jessica died . . .”

  “The old bat is dead?” Carolyn practically shouted. “The police never told me anything about that. What happened?”

  As best she could—without including anything about her own adventures at the park or with the man killing women in cars, Johanna went through what she knew about Jessica’s death, the people who could be involved, and the arson at the lawyer’s office.

  “That’s not a surprise,” Carolyn said. “She had plenty of money, and she was rather controlling about who gets what and how much they get.”

  Johanna furrowed her brow. “I thought that Henry was getting most of it.” She thought back to what the woman had said about the hospital. It seemed like a sealed deal.

  “She’d like to have you believe that, but it’s never been that simple. She is probably the favorite, but every once in a while, she got too big for her britches, and Jessica slapped her down for the fun of it.”

  “So she might change her will if Henry was too complacent about being the heir?”

  “Easily. That’s why she can’t be left out of contention for the honors of the murderer. If she was worried that Jessica’s decision would be final, though I don’t know how she could think that, then she’d easily kill someone to keep that money for herself. The will confusion made for a family that hated each other, and everyone plotted on how to get the money.” Carolyn practically licked the cup clean of coffee.

  Johanna wondered when the last time Carolyn had slept?

  This time, the other woman poured her own cup of coffee. “I hope you don’t mind, but you’re too slow for me this morning.”

  “So it sounds like we need to know who was in the last will and who was in the will that she was making when she died,” Johanna said. She wasn’t sure how to go about this since she’d already introduced herself to the lawyer as an interested bystander.

  “I’ll take care of that,” Carolyn said. “That old man loves me. I came to town once, and he was wrapped around my finger.”

  “But you’re not part of the family . . .” Johanna started.

  “He doesn’t know that. The last time I saw him, Thomas and I were happily married. I didn’t change my name back when we divorced. Easy-peasy.”

  “You’d do that?” Johanna was shocked at how easily this woman was willing to help her. She had expected more pushback since Johanna had technically gone on a date with her former husband.

  That was an entire topic that would need to be contemplated at another time if Thomas actually improved.

  “Sure. It sounds like I’ve missed all the fun while I’ve been gone. I have to catch up and see what’s going on. Who has Penny?”

  For a second, Johanna couldn’t recall who Penny was. It was one of those mornings. “The dog?” Johanna asked finally.

  “You call it the dog; she called it her child.”

  Johanna laughed. “I know the type. Lilly, the lady next door, is watching her now. They seem to get along.”

  “I’m sure they do. Lilly does whatever Penny wants.” Carolyn tugged on a dark blonde curl that rested against her neck. “I have a favor to ask—a trade perhaps—a negotiation?”

  Johanna froze. This is why Carolyn was here; not because she wanted to help with the investigation, had information that might help, or even to drink all of Johanna’s coffee. Carolyn had a favor. She cleared her throat. “What is it?”

  “Well, first, I was wondering if you wanted to go check on Thomas. I figure I can get us in and do more than you could alone. I�
�m the spouse, after all.”

  “But you’re—”

  “As I told you, I still have the name, and I bet Henry couldn’t remember what my first name was anyway. She was always like that. The family was important until it came time to actually interact with them. I don’t have a car, so that would work for both of us.”

  Johanna released the breath she’d been holding. She had expected a request for a loan or promising to name her firstborn after Carolyn. This family was foreign to her.

  “Sure, that would be great. The police were there when I saw Thomas before.”

  Carolyn rolled her eyes. “Yes, you’ll get to see Thomas again too. For the record, he steals the sheets in bed, and he doesn’t replace a tissue box when he uses the last one.”

  Johanna wasn’t sure if that was intended to dampen her enthusiasm for a new relationship, but it didn’t really work. Those were minor things that she could handle herself.

  “Great, just let me get cleaned up, and we’ll be ready to go.”

  Carolyn followed behind her. “Could I borrow some makeup too?”

  Nearly two hours had passed before they arrived at the hospital. The makeup request had turned into a shower, blow-dry, and complete makeup request. Johanna was beginning to see how this could be more than a small favor. She hadn’t asked her guest how long she intended to stay, but she strongly suspected that her request for a ride would turn into room and board as well.

  Johanna didn’t mind the company. The last few months had given her plenty of time alone, but the way that Carolyn made her requests in stages, where each one asked for more important things, was annoying.

  With Carolyn’s attitude, they had no trouble getting past the information desk and the nurses. The woman had slipped on a ring from somewhere and put it on her ring finger. Johanna was curious if that was the actual wedding ring she’d had or a cheap knockoff. She suspected that Carolyn’s real ring had been pawned ten minutes after the end of the marriage.