Fugitive Filling (12 page)

“No, Bobby missed his shift today,” the manager said after we asked about the young man. “He’s probably still angry with me for firing him the other day. After I cooled off, I called him and told him that he could come back in today, but evidently he’s still upset about what happened. Still, he said he was coming back in, but he’s not here, and that’s really not like him. He’s usually really prompt. It can’t be his transportation, either, because I know for a fact that he just got his car back from the shop, and it’s running fine, at least for now. Now I have to call someone else in to work his hours. Kids, right?”

Jake just shrugged in response, and we walked back out to the Jeep. “Where do we look for him now?” I asked him.

“The plain and simple truth is that we don’t,” my husband said. “We just don’t have the resources.”

“But we know someone who does,” I said. “Should we tell Chief Grant what we discovered?”

“I don’t see what it could hurt,” Jake said. He dialed the chief’s number and then killed the call. “It went straight to voicemail.”

“Why didn’t you leave him a message?” I asked.

“I wasn’t exactly sure what I should say,” he admitted. “Let’s go talk to Joe and Becky, and then we’ll try him again. I’d like to talk with both of them about these roses that keep showing up.”

“I’m pretty sure they came from Bobby Wells,” I said.

“I think so, too, but at least this gives us an opening so we can start asking new questions. We were looking for a new reason to talk to them both, and now we have one. The flower question is just a way to get our feet in the door. After that, we start pressing each of them harder about Teresa and see if either one of them cracks.”

“Swing by the office first so we can take care of that door,” I said. “While we’re there, remind me to lock the back up. I forgot to lock that door in my hurry to get over to check out Bobby’s rosebushes.”

When we got there, someone was waiting for us, though.

“I’ve been looking all over town for the two of you,” Alexander Rose said as we walked up to the front door of my building, which clearly showed signs of the earlier break-in. “Did you know that someone broke into this place?”

“We’re aware of it,” I said.

“What brings you by, Mr. Rose?” Jake asked him.

“I wanted to get inside to look for something that belongs to me,” he said, and then he looked squarely at me. “Suzanne, I understand you own this building. You just keep popping up wherever I go, don’t you?”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you in here any more than I could back at Teresa’s rental house,” I said.

The young attorney sighed heavily before he spoke. “I’m afraid I owe you both an apology for earlier. I should have handled that much better than I did. My only excuse is that I’m so upset about what happened to Teresa that I’m not myself.”

“What exactly is it that you’re looking for?” I asked him. “Maybe we can help you if you trust us.”

“Suzanne, may I have a moment?” Jake asked me.

“In a second,” I said, a response that didn’t please my husband very much. I turned back to the young attorney. “Well?”

“I don’t suppose it will hurt to tell you. I gave Teresa a locket when we were dating, something of very little intrinsic value but that meant a great deal to me. It was my mother’s, and I was fine with Teresa having it as long as there was any hope of us ever getting back together, but now that she’s gone, I’d understandably like it back. That’s why I wanted to see if Teresa had stored it at home. When you thwarted me there, I drove around a little, and then I went back to the house to speak with you again. If you were gone, I was hoping to find someone else there who might be a little more sympathetic to my cause. I was in luck. There was a woman and a police officer there when I arrived, and when I described the locket to them, they both promised to look for it as they worked. I was happy to wait there on the off chance that they found it, but the officer suggested I try here, just in case the locket was at her workplace instead of her home. Trish, was that the woman’s name? She took my number and promised to call me if it turned up there. So you see, my quest is perfectly innocent.”

“Why didn’t you just come right out and tell us that earlier?” I asked him.

“As I said before, you caught me off guard.” Alexander Rose’s cell phone rang, and as he answered it, I turned to look at Jake, who only shrugged in response. The attorney’s face broke into a smile over something the caller must have told him. “Never mind. Trish just found it.”

“May I speak with her for one second?” I asked as I held out my hand for his cell phone.

He was so surprised by my request that he did as I’d asked without question. “Hey, Trish. It’s Suzanne.”

“Hi, Suzanne. What are you doing with Alex Rose? Does Jake know you two are together?”

“He’s standing right here beside me,” I said. “Could you describe what you just found to me?”

“Sure. It’s an old locket with a T inscribed on the front of it. Let’s see, it’s about the size of a quarter, and it looks to be gold, but I’m guessing it’s a pretty low grade. You’d think it would be worth a fortune given the way Alex Rose was carrying on about it, but if it’s worth more than fifty bucks, I’ll eat it.”

So that much of his story checked out. “Can you tell me anything else about it? Does it open up?”

“Let’s see,” she said. After a full minute, she answered, “I had a devil of a time getting the thing open. There’s a photo inside, and another engraving. I might be wrong, but I’d swear there’s a picture of Alex when he was a boy inside.”

“What’s the engraving say?”

Almost at the same time, Alexander Rose and Trish spoke the words together. “To Mommy. I love you bunches. A.”

“Thanks, Trish. Are you going to turn it over to him?”

“I would, but the chief needs to see it first. Do me a favor and tell him that he can pick it up at Chief Grant’s office in an hour, would you?”

“Will do. And thanks. How are you holding up?”

“I’m managing,” she said softly.

“Would you like me to come by and give you a hand? If nothing else, I can offer loads of moral support,” I offered. I knew that Jake and I were in the middle of an investigation, but some things were more important than even that, like my friendship with Trish.

“No, I’m fine. Thanks for the offer, but with two of us already inside, I’m not sure this place will hold anyone else. Bye.”

“Bye,” I said, and then I handed the phone back to the attorney. “You can pick it up at the chief’s office in an hour if he’s willing to release it.”

“Why wouldn’t he be? I didn’t kill Teresa. I couldn’t have.”

“Why not?” Jake asked him.

“I was at a conference in Columbia, South Carolina, at the time,” he said. “I didn’t even find out about Teresa until I got back to my office in Charlotte.”

“Can anyone testify to that?” I asked him.

The attorney frowned. “I can provide an alibi, if it comes to that.”

“For the entire night?” Jake pressed him.

“Yes, for the entire night,” he said. Was he actually blushing? I had a hunch what that meant.

“You were really trying to get Teresa back, weren’t you?” I asked. “Just not enough to pass up a little female company when you had the opportunity.”

“Teresa made it clear that we were through, and I was vulnerable,” he protested.

“I just bet you were.”

“Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m still standing here.”

“Don’t ask me. We’re not keeping you,” Jake said.

Before he could go, I called out, “Did you give Teresa any roses lately?”

“No, of course not. She thought it was a stupid waste of money, so I never would have done it. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious, I guess,” I said.

Alexander Rose shook his head as he got into his car and drove away.

“Can you believe that guy?” I asked my husband after the attorney was gone. “He claimed to be trying to get back with Teresa, and all the while he’s fooling around with somebody else. I feel sorry for her.”

“I do, too, but knowing what we know about the man, I can’t say that I’m all that surprised.”

“Men are such dogs,” I said angrily.

Jake shrugged before he spoke. “I’ll grant you the fact that some men are, some of the time, but don’t paint all of us with that particular brush. Remember, that description fits some women as well.”

I nodded and kissed my husband soundly. “I know. You’re right. Thanks for reminding me of that.”

“That’s just one of the many reasons that I’m here,” Jake said with a grin.

“So, do we buy his story?” I asked him as we walked through the shattered doorframe and Jake got to work securing it.

“We need to tell the chief, but I don’t see any reason that we shouldn’t believe him. It’s just too easy to disprove, and he may be a great many things, but he doesn’t appear to be stupid.”

“So we mark his name off our list until we learn otherwise. That leaves us with Joe, Becky, and the missing teen, Bobby Wells.”

“Since we can’t find Bobby at the moment, let’s go speak with Joe Chastain again. How do you think he’s going to feel about us showing up at his work again unannounced?”

“I’m guessing that he’s not going to be happy to see us,” I answered with a smile.

“I’m going to have to learn to live with the disappointment. How about you?”

“I’ll find a way to cope,” I said.

“There, that should hold for now,” Jake said as he backed up and examined his work. It would take a wrecking ball to get through there now.

“It looks great. Let’s go out the back, and we can get started investigating again.”

Chapter 12

“Y
ou two back again?” Joe
Chastain said with a chuckle as we walked into the shop. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The man actually looked as though he didn’t want to kill us both this time.

“We thought we’d touch base with you again,” Jake said, clearly as surprised by the man’s reaction as I was.

“You got lucky. I’m just going on break,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go in back of the shop. I’m having a bite to eat, but there’s not enough to share. Sorry about that.”

“How about if we just keep you company?” I suggested. I noticed a faded tattoo on his arm. “Is that a rose, by any chance?”

“Nope, it was supposed to be a heart, but the guy that gave it to me had palsy or something. I thought the deal I was getting was too good to be true.”

I couldn’t imagine shopping for a bargain on permanent body art, and I wondered if he’d been drunk when he’d gotten it. “How do you feel about flowers?”

“I like ’em okay, I guess, but not enough to get a tattoo of one. Why do you ask?”

“Did you ever bring Teresa Logan roses?” I asked him.

He looked at me oddly, and then he started to laugh. “I can’t say that it ever crossed my mind to bring my lawyer flowers, but I’ll tell you one thing. If she were alive right now, I’d take her as many as I could carry.”

“Why’s that?” Jake asked him.

“Because she got me off the hook, just like she said she was going to!” he hooted as he took a bite of a sandwich he’d brought with him. “Can you believe it? The night she died, she told me she had something in the works and that I was probably going to be able to duck the charges, and sure enough, I got the call today. They’re dropping everything against me. It turns out the guy I got into a disagreement with decided not to push it after all, and without their only witness, they don’t have squat on me.” Jake and I both must have looked surprised by the disclosure, because he quickly added, “I know what you’re thinking, but I didn’t say a word to him. I know intimidating a witness carries a lot of big-time consequences with it. The beauty of it was that I didn’t have to do a thing. It turns out that he owes a ton of back child support money, and Teresa told him that if he went after me, she’d go after him and make sure that he paid every dime of it. If she was standing right here in front of me here and now, I’d have kissed her.”

“Maybe your adversary killed her instead,” I suggested halfheartedly. I’d been hoping that Joe had done it, not because of what he did for a living or even how he acted but because I thought he was a real menace when he drank, and I had a feeling that he was going to be celebrating with a bottle tonight, no doubt getting into more trouble again.

“Naw, they had their little conversation over the phone. He lives at the beach, and she called him down there to threaten him before he came up today to press formal charges against me. That woman was as good as her word. She told me she was going to make it happen, and I’ll be dipped in tar if she didn’t. It’s a shame something happened to her. I haven’t touched a drop of liquor since it happened, but tonight I’m going to make an exception, and I’m going to drink a beer in her honor. Who knows, maybe I’ll have three or four,” he said with a grin. “You two want to join me?”

“No, thanks. You know, you could always just send flowers to the funeral,” I said. The last thing this man should be doing was drinking, based on his history.

“What is it with you and flowers? I said I didn’t care that much for them. Anyway, my break’s about over. I can’t tell you how good it feels not having that over my head anymore.”

“Does the police chief know about it?” I asked as we started to leave.

“I wouldn’t doubt it for a second,” Joe said, and then he went back inside.

“It sounds as though Teresa helped him rather than hurt him, so he wouldn’t have any reason to kill her, especially not after she got him off,” I said as we made our way back to my Jeep.

“Can we believe him?” Jake asked me.

“I don’t see why not. I’m going to call Chief Grant.”

“To tell him what we’ve found out?” Jake asked.

“Yes, but also to warn him to be on the lookout for Joe Chastain tonight. I’ve got a hunch he’s going to be in trouble again sooner rather than later.”

“I’m just glad that he’s not our headache anymore.”

“And then there were two,” I said.

“If we even have the killer on our list,” Jake reminded me. “It might not be Bobby
or
Becky.”

“I know that’s a possibility, but if I were betting on it, I’d say that it was one or the other of them. Bobby could have easily lashed out at Teresa when she rejected him, and Becky has shown tendencies to display sudden bursts of anger. If Teresa met with her despite what she told us, and she said something to Becky that sparked her rage, she could have killed her on the spot. The truth is that either motive seems a bit feeble to me.”

“Who knows what sets someone else off,” Jake said. “I’ve seen far worse things done for much less reason.”

“Worse than murder?” I asked, wondering what dark things my husband had dealt with while working as a state police investigator.

“You don’t want to know,” he said grimly, and I agreed with him a thousand percent.

“Should we see if Bobby’s made it back home yet?” I asked him.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather take another run at Becky,” he said.

“We might as well.” Something had been weighing heavily on my mind, so I decided to just go ahead and say it. “You do realize at some point that I’m going to need to speak with my mother again, don’t you?”

“Is she even in town? I thought she was joining Phillip right away.”

“The last I heard she was still at home. You know what? I’ve already tried to tell her how I felt. It’s time I talked to her spouse. Phillip is the one I should be talking to.”

“While you’re doing that, I want to ask the chief something,” Jake said.

I pulled over and got out so Jake’s conversation with the police chief wouldn’t interfere with mine with my stepfather.

I needn’t have bothered. I got Phillip’s voicemail, and as soon as I got the prompt, I said, “Phillip, you need to call me as soon as you get this. We need to talk.”

After I hung up and rejoined Jake, I asked, “What did you want to talk to him about?”

“I was wondering if he gave Rose back that necklace. If he did, it means that he doesn’t think he’s a viable suspect anymore, either.”

I knew my husband was doing everything in his power to help the young chief, so I kept my mouth shut as I started driving toward the flower shop. Once Alexander Rose’s and Joe Chastain’s alibis were confirmed, we’d be able to narrow in on our last two suspects once and for all. If the police chief had anyone else in mind, he hadn’t shared it with us. Were we missing something? I didn’t know, and there was no way to tell, so all Jake and I could do was to press on and see if we could make one of them crack.

If we could find Bobby Wells, that was.

As it was, Becky Rusch was going to be getting our undivided attention next, whether she liked it or not.

“I’m sorry, but she went home sick forty-five minutes ago,” the young girl behind the counter told us when we asked about Becky. Her name tag read CINDY, so I knew she must be the boss’s daughter.

“What happened to her?”

“Some young guy I’ve seen working at the grocery store came by an hour ago and started arguing with her about roses. Is it our fault that we don’t have any in stock? She told him to leave, but he wouldn’t do it. Finally, she called me up front and told me to call the police. When I took my phone out, he left, but he wasn’t very happy about it. I asked her if I should go ahead and call them, but she told me not to bother. Two minutes later she said that she had a migraine and that she was leaving. I’ve never been here by myself before. I’m going to call Mom and have her come by, but she’s not going to be very happy about it. Sarah gets a little crazy sometimes when things aren’t perfect here.”

“Do you really call your mother by her first name?” I asked her. I’d known Sarah a long time, but I hadn’t had too many encounters with her daughter.

“She likes me to do it when I’m at work, but sometimes I forget.”

“Do you know where Becky lives?” Jake asked her.

“Sure, but I’m not supposed to give out that information.”

“I’m the former chief of police,” he said. “It’s fine. You can trust me.”

She nodded and said, “Okay, if you say so. Give me a second.”

After Cindy disappeared in back, I said, “She didn’t even ask to see your ID. Do you even know her?”

“No, but I’m guessing that she’s just going to take my word for it. Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt, shall we?”

“You’re just saying that because she’s a pretty girl,” I pointed out.

“No, I’m saying it because she’s young.”

“Are you denying that she’s pretty?” I asked him.

Jake laughed. “Oh, no. You’re not going to get me to admit anything even remotely close to that.”

“So you do think she’s pretty,” I said as I smiled at him.

“Maybe it’s time to just stand here silently while we wait for her to come back.”

“You know what? You’re smarter than you look,” I said, and then I kissed his cheek.

“I’d like to think so, and I certainly hope so,” he said with a grin.

Cindy came back with a sticky note. “She just moved, so I wrote the address down for you.”

“Where’s she living now?” I asked.

“Mom, I mean Sarah, asked her if she’d stay at our place out by our greenhouses so she could be available in case the heater goes out or there’s vandalism or anything like that. She’s acting as kind of a caretaker out there.”

“I hope she got a raise for doing it,” I said.

“Her rent is basically free,” Cindy said. “What more could she want?”

There was no point arguing with the boss’s daughter.

“Thanks for this,” Jake said as he plucked the note from her hand.

We drove out of town toward Maple Hollow, and as we did, Jake said, “You really don’t mind if I notice whether a girl is pretty or not, do you?”

“Of course not. You can look all you want. It’s the day you do more than that we’re going to have a problem,” I said happily.

“I’m married to the most beautiful woman in the world. Why would I jeopardize that?”

I had to laugh at that. “Nobody thinks I’m beautiful, but I know that some people consider me cute. I’ve learned to live with that.”

“You’re beautiful to me,” he said. My husband wasn’t one who was normally expressive like that, and I couldn’t help but feel a warm glow inside.

“You know what? I think you’re pretty peachy yourself,” I said.

“I tell you that you’re beautiful, and you compare me to a fruit?” he asked good-naturedly.

“Hey, I love peaches.”

He laughed and then asked, “Do you want to know the thing I love most about you?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“You’re fun to be with,” he said.

I’d been expecting something a little grander. “That doesn’t sound like much.”

“Suzanne, it’s everything as far as I’m concerned.”

I thought about what he said before I spoke again. “It
is
important to enjoy yourself in a relationship, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely.”

We drove in silence for a few more minutes before I broke it. “I wish I could do it, but I can’t stop thinking about Momma moving away from April Springs,” I said.

“You should call Phillip back and get his take on it,” Jake suggested.

“I tried while you were on the phone with the police chief, but he didn’t pick up. I left a message, but he hasn’t called me back, either.”

“It will all work out for the best, one way or the other,” Jake said, doing his best to reassure me. “You just have to have faith.”

“Do you honestly believe that?”

“I don’t know, but I’d like to,” he said. “I meant what I said earlier. All you have to do is say the word, Suzanne, and I’ll move anywhere in the world with you.”

“I can’t imagine ever leaving April Springs,” I said. “It’s always been home to me.”

“There are other places out there that are just as nice,” Jake said, “and you’d have your mother, too.”