A Sinister Sense (27 page)

“The cops are here,” Stephanie said, waving a hand at the hallway behind her. She walked across the hall, and a moment later, Dan burst through the doorway with Tim, his deputy, hot on his heels.

Tim rushed over to the stage and up the steps, pausing as Tatters uttered a warning growl.

“It’s all right, boy,” Clara said softly, “you can let him up now.”

The dog lifted his paw and stepped away from the mayor.

Dan slowly made his way up the steps to the stage, disbelief on his face.

Carson sat up, running a hand through his hair. “Dan! Thank God you got here. These idiots and their dog attacked me for no reason whatsoever. I’m charging them with assault. I insist you arrest them right now.”

Dan seemed uncomfortable as he looked at Clara, then Stephanie, then back to Carson. “What’s going on here, Carson?”

“He killed Frank Tomeski,” Clara declared. “He’s the one who needs to be arrested.”

“Yes, he did!” Stephanie added, her voice shrill with excitement.

Carson laughed, an unpleasant sound that seemed to echo around the hall. “Listen to them. They’re completely nuts. Wouldn’t surprise me if they killed Tomeski and are trying to blame me.” He sent a dark glance at Clara. “If you’re so eager to accuse me, where’s your proof?”

Dan frowned. “He’s right, ladies. You can’t go around accusing people—”

Clara didn’t let him finish. She held up her cell phone. “Here’s your proof. Frank Tomeski was blackmailing Mr. Dexter. They had a fight and Frank lost.”

“That’s absolutely not true!” Carson turned to Dan. “You’re surely not going to believe these crazies? You know me, Dan. You know I wouldn’t kill anyone.”

Dan’s expression suggested otherwise. He held out his hand. “Let me see that.”

Clara flipped the phone open and thumbed the button to replay the video. To her utter dismay, the screen was blank. She’d totally forgotten that the hall was darkened. The glare of the footlights had over-exposed the video to nothing more than a white mist.

She looked up to see Stephanie staring at her, eyes wide and questioning. “I’m so sorry,” she muttered, “it looks as if—”

She broke off as Carson’s voice spoke from the phone, loud and clear.
“Is anybody there?”

Carson took a step toward her, but Dan stopped him with a burly arm. “Let’s just hear the rest of it,” he said.

Carson seemed to wilt as the entire conversation replayed from the cell phone in Clara’s hand. When it was finished, Dan nodded at Tim. “Cuff him.” He turned to stare at Stephanie.

“What in God’s name did you do to your face?”

Stephanie grinned, making her look even weirder. “I’m supposed to be a ghost.” She nodded at the mayor, whose face was now a mask of resentment. “He thought I was Frank Tomeski’s sister, Amy.”

Dan shook his head as if giving up trying to understand. He looked at Clara.” “You’d better give me that phone.”

Clara handed it over.

“I don’t know how you gals figured all this out,” Dan
said, slipping the phone in his pocket, “but I want you in my office tomorrow to give me a full report. Got it?”

“Got it.” Clara glanced at the mayor as he was led down the steps. “It was mostly guesswork actually, and some research on the Internet.”

Dan watched his deputy lead the man out the door. “I still can’t believe it. After I learned that Stella Wilkins had an ironclad alibi, and then the DNA was discovered, I was so sure it was Sanders. I always thought Carson was a bit shady, but I never would have figured on him being a killer.”

“I know.” She frowned. “What I don’t understand is how you could have found Rick’s DNA on Frank Tomeski’s clothes.”

Dan looked sheepish. “Sanders kept telling me he cut his finger the morning Frank was in his store. He said it had bled on the counter and he thought Frank must have got some on his sleeve when he stole the hammer.”

Clara gaped at him. “Of course! I remember seeing the bandage on his finger. If you’d asked me I could have told you that.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “Looks like I should have asked you a lot of things. Maybe I should recruit you for the police department.”

Clara shook her head. “No, thanks. I’ve had enough detective work to last me a lifetime. From now on I’ll stick to selling books.”

“Good thinking. Well, this should solve the case and
put Sanders in the clear.” He laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Thanks to the both of you.”

“And Tatters,” Clara reminded him. “Without him, we could have been in a lot of trouble.”

“Let that be a lesson to you.” Dan patted Tatters’ head and started walking away. “You were lucky this time. Better leave the police work to those who know what they’re doing.”

“Yes, sir!” Clara watched him go, waiting until he’d left before muttering, “If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn’t have arrested Rick in the first place.”

Stephanie grinned. “Come on, let’s go celebrate. Rick will be a free man tonight.”

Clara looked at her. “If you don’t want to give George a coronary, you’d better go wash off that mess on your face.”

Her grin vanished. “Crap. Now I’ve got some explaining to do.” She raised her hands and let them drop. “How the heck do we ever get into these messes?”

Clara shrugged. “Guess we’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Stephanie headed for the door, saying over her shoulder, “It sure was exciting, though. Like old times.”

From now on, Clara told herself, she’d stick to the new times. It would be a lot safer.

She was alone in the bookstore the following afternoon when the doorbell announced a customer. As she looked
up, her heart gave a little skip when she saw Rick heading for the counter. “I’ve been racking my brains,” he said, when he reached her, “to figure out a way to thank you and Stephanie for everything you did.”

She shook her head. “No need. By the way, Molly helped as well. And Tatters.”

He looked surprised. “No kidding. I’ve got some real good friends.”

“Guess you do.” He was looking at her again with that gleam in his eyes that always unsettled her, and she quickly dropped her gaze. “So you got everything cleared up at the police station?”

“Yeah, and a pretty hefty apology from Dan. I think he was worried I was going to sue him for false arrest.” Rick leaned a hip against the counter and folded his arms. “Can’t really say I blame him. The evidence was piling up against me. Even I would have suspected me if I’d been in his shoes. I was figuring on spending a good part of the rest of my life in jail.”

Clara shuddered. “It scares me how easily innocent people can be blamed for something they didn’t do.”

“Well, it’s all over now, and I’m looking to celebrate—”

He broke off as the door flew open and a shrill voice declared, “There you are, Rick! I was wondering why you weren’t in your store!” Roberta Prince sailed across the floor and came to rest right in front of him. “I’m so happy to see you! I just knew they had the wrong person. How anyone could accuse you of murder is simply beyond me.”

Clara coughed, and Roberta threw her a lethal glance before sidling even closer to Rick. “We simply have to go and celebrate, darling. How about tonight? I know this marvelous little place up the coast—”

“Sorry,
darling
,” Rick said, in a sarcastic drawl, “but I have plans for tonight.”

“Oh.” Roberta looked momentarily taken aback, then she quickly recovered. “How about tomorrow night?”

Rick shook his head.

“The next night?”

Again Rick shook his head.

Obviously uncomfortable now, Roberta began to back away. “Ah, well, we can talk about it later. I have to run for now.” She hurried to the door. “Good to see you back, Rick.” With a flurry of waves she was gone.

Clara watched her stalk past the window and felt sorry for her. Even though Roberta had been readily convinced of Rick’s guilt, Clara knew what it felt like to care that much for someone who didn’t feel the same way. “She means well,” she said, smiling up at Rick. He simply rolled his eyes. “Now, about tonight. I’ll figure out some way to thank the others later, but right now I’d like to show my appreciation to you. I was thinking maybe a northern Italian dinner at my place?”

She raised her eyebrows. “You’re going to cook?”

“Of course. You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted the fruits of my culinary skills.”

“What about Tatters? He helped too, you know.”

“I’ll save him some leftovers.”

She laughed to cover her confusion. It all sounded so intimate. Was she really ready to take the next step with Rick Sanders? Part of her desperately wanted to go, yet another, more sensible part of her was sending warning signals through her head.

Rick was waiting for her answer. She could tell by his expression he was already bracing himself for yet another rejection.

Was it the Quinn Sense warning her, or her own instincts? She decided she didn’t care. Raising her chin, she smiled into his eyes. “I’ll bring the wine.”