HAMMERED (Mrs. Fix It Mysteries Book 1) (12 page)
Read HAMMERED (Mrs. Fix It Mysteries Book 1) Online
Authors: Belle Knudson
Why would he be kidnapping her?
He dropped her on a chair. The dizziness became worse, and Kate fought to keep conscious. She couldn’t fight back if she passed out. She gritted her teeth. She couldn’t move her limbs. Couldn’t get control of them.
The person tied her hands behind her and to the chair. When she finally had her senses back, she tugged at the ropes.
“Don’t bother, Kate. You’ll never get them loose.”
Chapter Twelve
Kate froze at the sound of the voice. It was Clark. Had he gone mad? What was he doing?
He switched on a lamp. She realized they were in a stock room at the back of the hardware store. Clark looked weary. As if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Then it all fell into place for Kate. “Why did you kill Jackie?”
“It was an accident.”
“She had blunt force trauma to her head. Did you accidentally bludgeon her?”
She couldn’t imagine any of that being an accident.
Clark rubbed a hand down his face. “I’ll make my confession to you since you’re going to have an accident anyway.”
That chilled Kate. Would Scott come looking for her? Or would she be another dead body on his watch? She tugged at the ropes again.
“I’d hoped you would be my daughter-in-law, but you have this loyalty to that husband of yours. I don’t get it. He left you high and dry with adolescent boys.”
“He left the money,” she said, wanting to defend her husband.
“He still left, and I’m sure for no good reason.”
“Tell me what happened with Jackie. Why were you there?”
“My car was in the shop. I took Larry’s truck because he was out with his regular car. He’s a good kid. You should love him, Kate. He loves you so much.”
That made Kate uncomfortable. She didn’t want Larry to love her, because she didn’t think she’d ever love him back. Scott’s return had illustrated that for her. If she got out of here alive, she would have to make it clear to him that she wasn’t interested in anything more than a friendship. He deserved to know the truth and be free to find someone to love him the way he deserved.
“That’s why Larry didn’t remember being there that day. He wasn’t.”
“No, he wasn’t. I followed Jackie to Scott’s house. She walked in the place like she owned it. That was Jackie. I don’t know what she was doing in town, but I needed to see her. I needed her to give me back that money she owed me.”
Clark truly looked repentant. Not like a killer, but someone who made a bad decision. Now he was regretting it. His bad decision had cost a woman her life. Even if that person wasn’t a good person, she didn’t deserve to be killed.
Kate tried to reach her phone in her back pocket, but she couldn’t. She wanted to call Scott so he’d hear this.
The phone was just out of reach, the way he’d tied her arms behind her. Had he been a Boy Scout? Those knots were tight.
“The money you lost in that deal?”
“That deal? Dudley had told us it had been a sure thing. I sunk a lot of my savings into that deal. I figured I could sell Grayson’s and retire. Maybe buy a boat and go fishing. Seemed like a nice idea.”
“Did the mayor invest some?”
“He did, but a small amount. His loss wasn’t horrible. He has more of it than the rest of us.”
“Who else?”
“Ken and even Larry invested. Larry was smarter than the rest of us. He wasn’t so quick to throw so much money in the pot. Guess he gets that from his mother, not me.”
Kate listened in case she heard anyone outside. No one came by. Dinnertime. Most people were home with their families enjoying a meal. Even Larry was tucked into food at The Rail.
No hope of him stopping by. Guess his father had told him he’d be doing inventory all night.
“There’s no one to save you, Kate. I’m sorry to have to kill you, but you were going to figure it out. Larry asked me if I’d borrowed his truck. I did lie, but he knew the mileage was different. He didn’t know that I’d done anything wrong. I couldn’t risk him mentioning it to you.”
“Did you plan on killing Jackie?”
“No, I didn’t. We got into a tussle and she fell. I was stunned, but she hit her head on Scott’s table then I didn’t know what to do. She was lifeless. I didn’t know what to do so I left.”
“You left her there?”
That was cold. She wouldn’t have thought Clark would have been capable of being that unfeeling. He’d been so good to her. He’d given her advice when she wasn’t sure how to fix something. He’d been a second father to her when hers moved out of state. How could she reconcile that man with the one in front of her telling her he’d killed awoman?
“What if she’d been alive? What if someone could have saved her? You could have called an ambulance anonymously,” Kate said.
“I was afraid, Kate. I shouldn’t have been there. She shouldn’t have been there.”
“So you killed her and ran.”
“That’s it. We’re going out to my truck, and because I love you like a daughter, I’m going to make this quick. I’ll take you out on the state game lands.”
“My kids aren’t going to know what happened to me.”
“Probably not. That’s a shame given that husband of yours ran off, but they’ll get over it. You raised them to be strong.”
She struggled now. She couldn’t let him kill her.
A body flew through the back door and slammed Clark into the opposite wall. Scott and Clark struggled as another officer tried to help in the cramped space.
And then it was over. Clark was in handcuffs, his face down as they led him out. Scott took a knife out of his pocket and cut her ropes. She went into his arms, her heart just now beginning to flutter. She’d been so calm until Clark had said he was going to kill her in a remote area.
She had to call her kids. She wouldn’t tell them what happened, but she needed to hear their voices. When she calmed down. Scott wrapped his arms around her, murmuring that it was all okay.
“How’d you know to come here?”
“Instinct. It just didn’t feel right to me.”
“Did you know he was the killer?”
He tucked her next to him, then walked her out to his car. “Not until I heard him talking to you.”
“I hadn’t figured it out yet.”
“Enough detecting, Katydid. No more. My heart was in my throat thinking that I wouldn’t get to you in time.”
“Walk me to my truck.”
“You going to drive home?”
“How else am I getting there?”
“You okay to drive?”
“I’m a pretty tough lady, Scott.”
“I know. You’re so much stronger than you were in high school. I’m kind of proud of the woman you’ve become. I think you became that way because I wasn’t in your life.”
They reached her truck. “Maybe. Do I need to make a statement?”
“It can wait until the morning.”
“Who gets to tell Larry?” she said.
“I think he’s still in The Rail. I’ll talk to him. I left the pot pies on your porch.”
“You joining me for dinner?”
“Sadly, I have about an hour of paperwork to do. Make sure you turn on your security system.”
“Promise.”
***
Kate stood next to Scott as Jackie’s casket was lowered into the ground. The ceremony had been as nice as a funeral could be. Most of the town had turned out. Now they had all gone for pie and coffee at the Rock Ridge Community Center.
Only Scott, Dean and Kate were left. Dean was on the other side of the grave. His eyes were red from crying. When her casket hit the bottom, they took turns throwing a handful of dirt on it.
Dean skirted around the grave and held out his hand to Scott. “Thanks for providing her with a decent burial.”
Scott shook the man’s hand. What had transpired between them years ago no longer mattered in the face of a murder.
Clark had confessed to the police then signed over his hardware store to his son. Larry wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He could retire as fire chief and run the place. He was doing inventory there now; he hadn’t felt right about attending the funeral of the woman his father killed.
Kate could testify to what Clark had told her. There would be no plea bargain. Probably only a guilty verdict.
The two men stared at each other for a moment. They’d been friends as far as Kate knew. Jackie had come between them. Sad. Suddenly, the two men did that one-arm embrace then let go.
“You heading back to the city?” Scott said.
“Yes. I’m not interested in coffee and pie. I need to clean up our apartment. Her will is going to be read tomorrow.”
“You quitting the force? She had a lot of property she probably left for you.”
Dean smiled sardonically. “I’d live in a cardboard box to have her back.”
Scott nodded. “She was quite a woman.”
Dean walked away without saying anything else. Scott turned to Kate. He squeezed her hand. “Thanks for being here. I have to say this bothered me more than I thought it would.”
“You were married to her. You probably still felt something for her.”
“I would have said it was anger, but I just feel as if it was such a waste. She didn’t deserve to die. She died alone.”
“That isn’t your fault. You didn’t have a hand in killing her.”
“I wonder if he’d called the ambulance, would she have lived.”
“Don’t beat yourself up like that. Let’s go get some pie and coffee,” Kate said.
It had been an hour since her last coffee, and she needed a caffeine jolt. She’d called her boys yesterday, not letting on why. They’d be home in two weeks, and she looked forward to the noise in her house again.
“I need another minute,” Scott said.
“You want me to leave you?”
He took her hands in his. “No, I need you here. Life is short, Katydid.”
“Yes, I know.”
“You need to know that Greg is probably not coming back.”
She knew that Scott wanted her to be free. She wasn’t able to be free. “Let’s not talk about this. If you make progress on finding him, let me know. Otherwise, we are no more than friends.”
He brushed a hair out of her face. “A guy can hope. And I’ll keep hoping and keep searching for him. I promise you that.”
“Fair enough. I need coffee, Scott.”
“That always was your favorite addiction.”
“You remember?”
“I remember many things about you Kate.”
~~~
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