Death Wore Brown Shorts (Happy Holloway Mystery Book 1) Page 8

  Annie left the deck and walked as fast as she dared. No sense turning her ankle and getting stranded out there until morning. Okay, she was being dramatic, but still.

  She broke through a bundle of trees and spotted the flashlight up ahead. The light winked out, but this time moonlight allowed her to see a bit better. A figure who must be Evie moved from tree to tree, pausing at each location to hide and peek out. Annie followed until they reached the end of her property and broke through to Stacy’s street.

  “We shouldn’t be out here,” Annie whispered, knowing Evie couldn’t hear her.

  Evie cut across Annie’s path when she doubled back into the trees. If the woman weren’t so preoccupied, they would have bumped into each other. Annie froze, holding her breath. Evie passed inches away, and Annie spotted the small package beneath her arm.

  What’s that?

  Ahead of her, Evie slid to a halt in the dirt and muttered something that sounded like a curse. She darted behind a tree and waited. Annie leaned around another to try to see what Evie saw. Stacy stood at her front door as if waiting. She danced from foot to foot and then walked inside.

  Evie started to move, but Stacy appeared again. This time, Stacy walked off her porch and stood at the foot of the steps. Robert’s door opened, the retired army sergeant, and he appeared. Was everyone awake in the middle of the night?

  Robert didn’t look at Stacy or speak to her, although it had to be impossible not to see her. He climbed into his car, started it up, and pulled out of the drive. Both Annie and Evie watched him drive by. If he turned his head, he might have seen Annie because she forgot to hide. Instead, Robert kept peering into the rearview mirror.

  Moments later, Stacy climbed into her car and drove out the way Robert did. Annie began to wonder if everyone suspected everyone else, so they were all out sleuthing. She laughed at the thought but then sobered recalling someone was a real killer. This wasn’t a game.

  She waited while Evie seemed to consider if she should proceed. After a few moments, Evie ran from the trees along the side of the road. A straight shot led her onto Stacy’s porch. Maybe on instinct or because she had been there before and knew Stacy’s carelessness, she tried the door and found it unlocked.

  Evie reappeared not five minutes after she entered Stacy’s house, and the package was no longer under her arm. While Annie couldn’t be sure, she thought Evie looked calmer, almost relieved. Before Evie could reach the spot where Annie hid, Annie turned toward her home. Was Evie trying to incriminate Stacy or just getting rid of some terrible evidence that could link her to the murder?

  Annie couldn’t think of any reason for Evie to dislike Stacy. Sure, Stacy said whatever popped into her head, and sometimes she insulted others without realizing it. Her focus tended to be more on romance. Aside from being a horrible gossip—like most of the women Evie knew—Stacy seemed harmless.

  A twig snapped behind Annie, and she froze. She glanced over her shoulder but saw nothing. Too late, she realized she should have allowed Evie to pass her so Evie wouldn’t catch up and suspect Annie saw what she had done.

  Annie tried to catch sight of the flashlight, but she saw nothing but the vague shape of trees. For all she knew, Evie might have elected to go by way of the street to get back home. Should she wait a little longer or pick up her step?

  Another snap jarred her to her core, especially when an odd metallic sound followed it. Annie’s heart skipped a few beats. She swung around and started running. A branch smacked her cheek and stung.

  My imagination—it’s just my imagination!

  She tripped over a root and fell. Thank goodness for grass but not for the dirt in her mouth. Spitting it out, she climbed to her knees and prepared to stand. Something grabbed one of her ankles. That wasn’t a figment of her imagination. She screamed, jerked free, and ran for all she was worth.

  When she reached the back door of her house, she three it wide and leaped inside. Annie could swear she did a shoulder roll to come up facing the door. She locked it and sagged to the floor. Every muscle ached and her throat hurt from running.

  “Exercise,” she panted. “No, forget it. That was enough for the year.”

  A shadow crossed her window shaped like a person. Annie squealed and found the energy to run to her room. She snatched up her cell phone and dialed 9-1-1.

  “Please, send a policeman. I think there’s someone outside my house.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Ma’am, you’re saying someone chased you through the trees?” the policeman asked, looking skeptical. Annie raised a hand to her hair and smoothed it down. No sense appearing to be a wild woman given to fantasies or seeking attention.

  “Yes.”

  “You’re sure?”

  She sighed and folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not making it up. Why didn’t they send Detective Lawson? This might have something to do with the murder investigation he’s working on.”

  An eyebrow rose. “What makes you say so?”

  Annie offered a hesitant grin. “A hunch?”

  The validity of her story plummeted. She could almost see it happening, but she wouldn’t be the one to blow the whistle on Evie’s movements if there was a perfectly good explanation. What the reason might be escaped her, but it could exist. After she spoke with Evie herself, she would decide what to do.

  “I know what I heard and saw, officer.”

  “You said you couldn’t see anything.” He checked his notes as if there were that many. “‘It was pitch black. All I could see were trees. I think they were trees.’”

  Annie ground her teeth. Now she sounded like a four-year-old. “I mean I know what I heard. It sounded like a weapon, a knife, maybe, and someone grabbed me. That I didn’t imagine.”

  “So you imagined the rest?”

  “I mean if you claim I imagined hearing the knife or that someone chased me. I felt the person’s hand on my ankle.”

  “Did it seem like a man’s or a woman’s?”

  “My ankle isn’t trained to know the difference.”

  He glared. “Did it feel big, small, rough?”

  She tried to recall and failed. The truth was her fear blocked out everything except how to escape. Even now her mind refused to let her replay the incident in her head lest she panic and run around the house screaming. Not good for convincing the policeman she didn’t imagine the whole thing.

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “It might have been a man.”

  A knock on the door followed by someone ringing the doorbell brought them both up short. Annie went to answer with the cop trailing her. She had to admit he made her feel safer doing so.

  Flynn stood on the doorstep with his arm in a sling and scratches on his cheek and forehead. Along with the cuts, one eye had swollen and was bruised. Annie gasped in sympathy. “Did you get into a fight?”

  “No. Can I come in?”

  She stepped back, and he moved into the house. His gaze fell on the policeman. The two sized each other up. The policeman spoke first, his voice deeper and demonstrating more authority than it had earlier. Annie suspected despite the badge Flynn with his big build intimidated him.

  You have a gun, Annie told him silently.

  “Flynn Aikens, why are you here at this hour?” the policeman asked.

  “Visiting.” Flynn didn’t elaborate, but neither did he sound hostile.

  The familiarity surprised Annie. “You know him, officer?”

  “I left him at the station earlier,” the man snapped. “If there’s nothing else, Ms. Holloway, I’m going to get going. I would suggest until things die down around here, you don’t go out at night.”

  “Go out?” Flynn almost shouted.

  Annie shrugged, but she saw the officer out of the house before turning back to Flynn. “What happened to you?”

  “First you.”

  She frowned at him. “Well, let’s go to the kitchen. You look like you’ll fall down if you keep standing.”

  They pass
ed the living room on the way to the kitchen, and Flynn glanced inside. Annie ignored the questioning expression on his face and kept moving. When they entered the kitchen, she pulled a chair out for him and indicated he should take it. He didn’t hesitate.

  “Sometime after I left you, someone tried to run me off the road,” he explained.

  Her mouth fell open. “You’re kidding?”

  “No. I might be getting too close to the killer, or they just don’t want me poking around.”

  “Did you get a description of the vehicle?”

  He nodded. “Stolen. They found it not long after, but I was busy getting patched up.”

  “Did you see the driver?”

  “Wouldn’t you know the stolen car had tinted windows? From the little I could make out, I think they wore a disguise to stay hidden. The car was ditched, wrecked along a side road. No fingerprints other than the owner’s.”

  Annie shivered and rubbed her arms. She glanced toward the sink and spotted her bottle of bleach spray, but she didn’t dare start cleaning while Flynn was there in case he thought it weird at three in the morning. Well, it was weird of him to stop by.

  “Why are you here at this time?”

  “I heard the call.”

  “What call?”

  He frowned at her. “The call you made that someone was outside your house.”

  “You have a police scanner.”

  “Yes, so I knew you were awake, but I didn’t think you were crazy enough to be outside at this hour!”

  Annie related what she had seen earlier and her experience of being chased. Flynn listened to everything with a far away light in his eyes. “Are you sure it wasn’t Evie who chased you and grabbed your ankle?”

  “No, I’m not sure, but I don’t see her doing that.”

  “Did you think she would put a package inside Stacy’s house without Stacy knowing it?”

  “Um, no. You have a point. I suppose if any of my neighbors are found guilty, it will shock me to my core. I want to know, and I don’t. I like our community, and I wish this had never happened. It doesn’t feel safe anymore.”

  Flynn reached out as if to rub Annie’s arm, and she leaned back out of reach. He stilled, eyes wide. Annie searched for a spot on the wall to disappear into. Her face burned, and she prayed he wouldn’t ask what her issue was. They sat in silence for a few awkward moments.

  Annie rose and moved to the sink. She couldn’t resist. The bleach spray called her name, and the sponge.

  Don’t do it, Annie. Resist, relate, release!

  She opened a drawer and removed a new package of rubber gloves and another one holding a sponge. Already a sigh formed in her chest, and she pressed her lips together to push down the contented feeling. This wasn’t natural.

  “So what time should I pick you up?” Flynn asked.

  She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Huh?”

  “We’re questioning Evie, right? Before we inform the police? Or did you want to get into Stacy’s house to see the package for ourselves?”

  Annie faced him, placing a half gloved hand on her hip. “Don’t start that again. I’m not breaking into Stacy’s house.”

  He shrugged and then winced in pain. Her heart stirred for him.

  “Did they give you pain meds?”

  “They did. Whiskey would be better. Anyway, I was thinking more of inviting ourselves over for a visit.”

  “Us,” she repeated and rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe after what happened to you, you’re still willing to keep investigating. You didn’t hear of anyone running Detective Lawson off the road.”

  “No, but he has a gun. Now there’s an idea. I should buy a gun.”

  She eyed him trying to figure out if he was joking again. Annie had nothing against guns. She had once visited a firing range to learn how to shoot. The cold steel in her hand felt powerful and satisfying for some reason. However, after the session, she wrote the scene she needed the experience for and never returned.

  “Would you have had a shootout on the road?” Annie asked in disbelief.

  “I would do anything to protect myself or anyone with me.”

  She figured he meant it as encouragement.

  “Besides, Annie, you were attacked as well. Are you willing to keep going?” He gazed around the kitchen. “Do you have a gun in that giant purse you carry around?”

  She waggled a finger at him, calming down a bit. His teasing helped her more than he knew, that and putting distance between them. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Are we doing this?” he insisted.

  Annie hesitated. She had enjoyed talking with him and searching Paul’s apartment together. In fact, she liked people a lot, socializing with them, getting to know them. Men were a challenge on a personal level, and she tended to hold them at a distance. Not that she had that much trouble. They weren’t beating the door down to ask for a date or anything.

  She studied Flynn’s handsome face. This man was not the kind to be interested in her, and she didn’t once think of him as a love interest. Her ridiculous reaction from earlier embarrassed her now.

  “Evie’s likely to lie if we ask her directly,” Annie surmised. “But she did tell me she feared the police would blame her if they found out about her being the last on Paul’s delivery list.”

  “Or she could have lied then, too.”

  Annie’s brows rose. “I didn’t think of that.”

  “Here’s a theory, Annie.”

  “Go ahead.” She tugged the gloves off and placed them with care back inside the plastic.

  “What if Evie was Paul’s accomplice?”

  “That’s preposterous.”

  “Annie, you’re a mystery writer. Open your mind. You can’t close off the possibilities just because your friends are involved. It’s scary. I know, but you have to do it.”

  Annie scowled at him. “Are you my therapist?”

  He waited rather than respond.

  “Okay, fine. I’m having a hard time accepting it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Evie is so anal about money. Everyone knows it. She saves every cent she can, and her husband Gary had to justify each purchase. The day before Paul died, the two of them had a big argument because Evie got onto him about money. If she was selling stolen goods on the side with Paul, I think her household finances would have been better.”

  He rubbed his jaw. “Makes sense, but everything isn’t black and white.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just because a person is worried about money all the time doesn’t mean they have money problems.”

  “You’re right!”

  He stood and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I know I’m right. I’ll be here early. Let’s say seven?”

  “It’s just after three now.”

  “We want to catch Stacy before she leaves for work, and we want to get a hold of that package before Evie has a chance to try to call in an anonymous tip.”

  Annie went cold. Once again, he was right. For a moment, she was temped to call Stacy and alert her. Who knew if Stacy had returned after her middle of the night trip of trailing Robert. She might still be spying on the poor guy. On top of that, where did he need to be at this time? Robert lived off his retirement money from the military, and sometimes he visited his old colleagues.

  Not the middle of the night though.

  “Are you staying nearby?” Annie asked, realizing she had no idea.

  “I was in a hotel, but I’ve moved to Paul’s place. Might as well use it since I paid the bill for the month.”

  “That’s thirty minutes from here. I’ll call you when I’m sure she’s in, and you can meet me there.”

  Flynn agreed and took his leave. At the door, Annie cautioned him.

  “Please, be careful.”

  “I took a defensive driving class once. That’s how I got away with just this arm when my car was totaled. Don’t worry.”

  “You’re only human.”<
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  He grinned and strode to the small car she assumed was a rental then backed out of the drive and rode away. Annie hoped whoever had come after him wouldn’t try again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Stacy squealed like a schoolgirl and linked her arm through Annie’s. “Oh goodie, Annie, you’ve found a beau. I knew Flynn was just the man for you the moment I saw him.”

  Annie pressed a finger to her lips. “Will you shush, Stacy? He’ll hear you. Flynn is not my ‘beau.’ We’re just working together to find out what happened to his cousin. That’s all.”

  Stacy’s eyes insisted on sparkling. “That’s where it all starts. Then love blossoms, and before you know it, you’re picking out patterns together.”

  “What patterns?”

  Stacy’s cheeks pinked, and she ducked her head closer to Annie’s. She made small walking gestures in the air with the forefinger and middle finger of each hand. “Baby patterns.”

  Annie’s eye twitched. “Stacy, please stick to reality, sweetheart.”

  “Oh poo, you ruin my fun, Annie. Well, come on in and sit down. Or we can go out on the back porch. I spend more time out there now that I’ve screened it in. It was worth the investment getting it done. Let me tell you.”

  “Don’t you have to go to work?” Annie watched as Flynn checked something on the body of the rental car. Her stomach tightened thinking he had been attacked again, but he flicked a leaf away. She guessed he missed fussing over his sports car.

  “I took the day off,” Stacy said. “So sleepy this morning for some reason.”

  “Yes, I wonder why,” Annie commented. The inflection in Annie’s tone slipped right on by Stacy as she ushered them into the house.

  Annie scanned the interior of Stacy’s home, but she didn’t spot anything resembling the cardboard box. She wondered if Evie hid it in a cupboard or if Stacy herself had stumbled onto the box.

  Annie met Flynn’s eyes in an unspoken question. Should they ask? He shook his head in a slight movement, and Annie grabbed a seat when Stacy offered.