Confer, Lorelei - Deadly Revenge (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (18 page)

“Was there anyone here when you arrived?”

“No, just the car in the driveway. I assumed it was hers.”

“When you knocked on the door did you hear anything strange, like someone moving around inside, running or slamming or closing a door?”

“No, I can’t recall any of those things.”

“Did you smell anything or see anyone leaving the area when you got here?”

“No, I don’t recall either. I waited on the porch until Dave got here then we waited in the car.”

“What about you Dave? Have you ever met Ms. Wells?”

When Dave shook his head Chief Carr put his hat back on and sighed loudly. Dave turned and hollered to one of the local officers to start canvassing the neighborhood, door to door questioning for anything or anyone they saw in the area, anything out of the ordinary. Then he headed back into the house.

Tory turned around and ran into Laura Peterson, the librarian.

“Hi, Laura. What brings you to this part of town?”

“Just trying to figure out what’s going on. Do you know anything yet?” Laura asked.

“No, we’re waiting to hear something just like everyone else. I can’t imagine what happened, can you?” Tory asked Laura.

“No, but a lot has been happening in this town, so I’m not surprised,” Laura said with a smirk.

“We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?”

“Yes, poor Ellen though, I wonder if she felt any pain?” Laura said as she slowly walked away.

Dave came back from the house and looked at Tory who was looking behind her to where Laura had been standing. She was gone, lost in the crowd that had gathered waiting for word of what happened.

“Why would she wonder about Ellen, if it was an accidental drowning?” Tory asked Dave, who shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as Tory turned again to search the area for Laura.

Dave followed Tory home after the county medical examiner left with the body.

“I need to spend the night with my parents. They’ve been a little concerned about me. Are you sure you’ll be all right tonight by yourself? You remember the rules, right? Don’t answer the door to anyone except me and keep all the doors and windows locked with the poles in place.”

“I understand. But I’m going to miss you tonight. You’re becoming a habit I don’t want to give up.” Tory giggled shyly.

Dave chuckled. “I’ll see you tomorrow and I’ll even call you later and check on you, okay?”

“Of course, but not too late,” Tory said as he walked her to her car. He opened her door for her and helped her inside. He kissed her gently once on the lips. He put his hands around her neck and plunged into her mouth, sticking his tongue in, touching her. Tasting her. He snagged her tongue and sucked it into his mouth. Tory laid her hand on the side of Dave’s face. When they finally came apart, they were both breathing heavily, another quick kiss good night, and Dave closed her door.

He returned the wave from her and walked to his own car. He still had a lot of work to do and knew he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.

Chapter 27

Dave and Chief Carr met early the next morning at the police station to discuss the surveillance operation as well as the hanging victim, identified as Carolyn Robison.

“This is what we know so far. She was an employee of Ted’s Pizza but was last seen at Red’s Hideaway Lounge with Matt Wilson and some of his buddies. She was a former girlfriend of Matt’s. The murderer used the same MO as before—set up to look like a suicide. However, the coroner found rope fibers on her slacks as well as rope burns on her wrists. If you recall, we didn’t find a rope at the murder scene.” Dave leaned back in his chair with the murder file open in front of him rereading the notes.

“But the one thing that bothers me, Chief, is the placement of the chair. It wasn’t under her to be kicked away by the victim. It was off to the side and upright. Something else someone wouldn’t be able to do is push the chair out from under them and have it remain upright. So was she dead before she was hanged and it was only made to look like a hanging?” He rubbed his face with his hands and ran his fingers through his windblown hair.

“I agree that it doesn’t make sense. The chair was needed for the victim to stand on before the hanging, unless like you say she was dead before hanging. Maybe the murderer was cleaning it of prints and accidentally put it back in the wrong place.”

“We’ll have to wait on the autopsy report for this one, I think, Chief.”

“Waiting is tough.” Dave stood, shook his hand, and waved as he went out the door.

* * * *

Tory awoke slowly, reveling in the warmth of the bed, her eyes shut, listening to the sounds of the house. She remembered how uninhibited she was last night and how good she felt this morning. Ashamed of herself, she wasn’t quite sure how to face Dave.
Will he think I’m a slut?
She peeked out under closed lids to where he had slept last night, holding her in his arms. His side of the bed was empty again.

She sat up quickly. Maybe he was making breakfast or taking a shower. She didn’t hear the water running or even smell coffee brewing. He hadn’t spent the night with her last night. He spent it with his parents. She looked at the time. Crap.

It was after nine o’clock. She never slept this late. Not even on weekends.
What’s wrong with me?
She quickly ran to the bathroom and jumped in the shower. She had to get to work. She had an appointment at ten o’clock.

She quickly dressed in casual slacks, a silk blouse, and sandals. As she fixed her hair she heard a key in the door.

Dave soon rounded the corner into the bedroom, saw the empty bed, and immediately looked toward the bathroom.

“Tory, there you are.” He walked to her, leaned down, and gave her a kiss.

She was so relieved to see him and his reaction to her.

“Good morning, beautiful. Did you sleep well?” Dave asked as he pulled them apart to look into her eyes.

“I did. It was very warm an–an–and peaceful. How about you?” Tory stuttered as she stepped back from him, releasing her hold on him.

“The best night of sleep I’ve had in some time. I’m an early riser and had some things I needed to get done.”

She wanted to tell him how afraid she was when she woke and he wasn’t there anymore and how relieved she was when he came back. But she didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t sound clingy.

“I made coffee. Let’s get a cup and we can talk. Okay?” Dave asked as he ran his fingers through his hair.

Was he agitated with her?

Then she remembered how rushed she was and looked at the clock. It was already after ten o’clock. She needed to call Trevor and see if he could take her appointment. She picked up the phone and dialed the office number. Trevor answered on the second ring.

“Hi, Trevor, it’s Tory. I’m running late for my ten o’clock appointment with Mr. Whitman. Would you be able to fill in for me?”

“Sure, no problem. In fact, the paperwork is caught up and we have no more appointments scheduled today, go ahead and take the day off. I’ll see you tomorrow and give you a complete update on Whitman then.”

“Gee, Trevor, thanks so much. See you tomorrow then.”

* * * *

“Dave, I have all day to talk. How about you?” she asked as she fidgeted with her hands.

“What do you want to do today?” Dave asked.

“Let’s go for a drive up in the mountains. I’ll take you to a special place my dad used to take me, and we can relax. I can take some pictures. You look like you could take a nap. There is a wooden walking bridge, mountain streams, and small waterfalls. A lot of the trees will be in bloom now and it‘ll be beautiful. We can enjoy the scenery.”

They both got into Dave’s car and set off toward the mountains. His SUV handled the terrain well and they soon found themselves almost at the top when the single-lane, dirt and stone road ended. Parking the car was easy, just leave it where it was.

“Come on,” Tory said as she opened her door and quickly jumped out. “This is perfect.”

“Where are we going?” Dave asked.

“Just a little farther up the mountain. I’m so glad my dad loved these mountains enough to keep them preserved naturally.” They continued hiking for about twenty minutes before Tory stopped and said, “Listen.”

“What? I don’t hear anything,” Dave said as he placed his hand at his ear.

“Exactly my point. It’s so peaceful here. Sit down here on the bench. Dad and I put it here years ago. It’s a great place for meditation and serious thinking.”

* * * *

It was exactly what Dave needed. So much more she didn’t know. Should he tell her why he needed a nap and his real reason for being in this area of the North Carolina Mountains and jeopardize their relationship as well as his career? He stretched out on the bench, put his head on her lap, and relaxed. He quickly dozed off.

Chapter 28

The next day, Dave and Tory attended the funeral of Carolyn Robison. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” the minister said while Dave looked around at the crowd in attendance to respect the memory of Carolyn Robison. The sadness on the faces of her family and friends was almost overbearing. A young woman dead before she barely had a chance to live and without any kind of justification.

He had learned a lot about the victim from the time she died until the funeral. Carolyn Robison was an old high school friend of many of them, including Tory, Chief Carr, and Matt Wilson. Carolyn had worked as a waitress at Ted’s pizza shop where Tory had stopped the night before Carolyn was found hanging. Tory had always resented Carolyn because Matt had cheated on her with Carolyn and loved to rub it in her face.

Tory remembered passing Carolyn walking out of the pizza shop, along with Matt and some friends, as she was walking in to pick up a pizza for Dave and her to share for dinner just two nights before.

Matt Wilson and his wife Paige also attended the funeral. After short and formal greetings to everyone, they quickly left. Matt’s eyes were red and swollen, obviously from grieving. Paige’s, not so much.

* * * *

“Hi, Pop, what are you up to today?” Dave asked his father as he stepped inside the door and took a seat on the couch.

“Oh, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. You look like you could use a friend to talk to. What’s wrong?”

“All these murders. They just won’t quit and we’re not any closer now in finding the murderer than we were in the beginning. I don’t know what to do. We’ve called in the state troopers and we’re getting a lot of cooperation from everyone, you’d think we’d have a suspect by now, wouldn’t you?” Dave had spilled his guts and felt a heavy burden lifted from his shoulders even though he still had no answers.

“Son, you know as well as I do that these things take time and a lot of work, hard work, and concentration of every fact in the murder books, looking for similarities, etc. You’ll get there, son, you just may not like where or how it takes you there.”

“I know you’re right, Dad, I’m just impatient.”

“I know you are, son, and I also know some of our cases lasted months, sometimes years and years, but we solved them. Sometimes the answer is right under your nose, where you’d least expect it. Everything takes time, son.”

“Dad, unfortunately time is the one thing we don’t have. I’m afraid for Tory. We have to find the murderer before he strikes again.”

* * * *

Dave called Matt to set up a time to interview him. They had things to talk about. They met at Lana’s coffee shop as opposed to the “box” at the local police station. Matt was already at the coffee shop when Dave arrived and parked his car. He was slow getting out, necessary questions mulling around in his mind. He wanted to give the questions the same way he expected to get the answers—straight and forward.

Matt waved to Dave when he entered the coffee house and Dave joined him along with a waitress to take his order.

That done, Dave asked Matt, “How have you been holding up, buddy? I understand most of the murder victims were involved with you in one way or another.”

“I’m holding up okay, I guess. But I think the police think I’m a good suspect when I’m just a ladies’ man. Always have been and probably always will be.”