Person of Interest (A Celeste Eagan Mystery) (4 page)

“And what? That sounds a little ominous. Is she okay? Did something happen with Daddy?” I might not want to move back to the same state as the woman, but I sure didn’t want anything to happen to her or my father.

“Nothing like that.” He frowned. “
And
...she was curious when she was going to meet this new beau of yours.”

My new beau?
My mind immediately shot to the handsome detective. He could hardly be classified as my beau. I barely knew the man. Not to mention the fact there was no way my mother could have an inkling of his existence. “She said that?” I gaped at my friend like a fish out of water, mouth opening and shutting, no more words more coming out.

Levi shrugged. “Her words exactly.” He topped off his wineglass. “I have to say, I was a little peeved I hadn’t met this new mystery man. But I figured you’d bring him around when you were ready.”

“Shut up. You know I haven’t dated anyone.” I shook my head and mimicked his stance against the counter and snatched up my own wineglass. “Where in the world would my mother get it in her head I had a
beau
? New or old.”

Paige coughed and set down the cookie she was about to shove in her mouth. She pushed back in her chair and stood without so much as “Good meal, Uncle Levi.” Very uncharacteristic for the manners-prone child. She backed out of the kitchen.

“Hold it, missy.” I set down my glass and shoved my hands on my hips. I narrowed my gaze at the spitting image of me. “You spoke with Grammy the other day.”

Paige swallowed heavily. “I did.”

“What exactly did you say that gave her the idea I had a new beau?”

“Exactly?” She looked down at her shoes. To Levi and then to me. “The words I used might have been ‘Mom’s new boyfriend is really great.’”

Levi snorted.

I swatted at my friend and stepped a little closer to my daughter. “Why?”

She waved her hands up in the air and huffed. “She was going on and on again about your cousin Lucy and how great her husband was. How he’d bought her a new car and blah, blah, blah. And how she just can’t understand why you can’t find a man.”

“I’m not looking for one.”

“I know that. And you know that. But Grammy can’t fathom it.”

Fathom? If I hadn’t given birth to Paige I might wonder that someone had switched a fully formed adult with a child when no one was looking. “Hon, don’t worry about what your grandmother thinks. She also thinks Elvis is still alive and well and hiding out on the other side of Topeka until the time is right for a big comeback.” I held my arms open and only had to wait about fifteen nanoseconds before she ran into my embrace. “Now finish your cookie. I think Uncle Levi was trying to sneak a bite.”

The man snatched his hand away from the table. “Nuh-uh.”

“You were.” I waggled my finger at him.

“Whatever. Hey, why don’t I give my guys the next few days off and we drive down to Galveston. For a mini-vacation.” Levi tucked his hands into his pockets. “Paige hasn’t been there in ages, right, honey?”

“In November?” Paige nibbled on the edge of the cookie. “It’s too cold.”

Levi chuckled. “Nonsense. Brisk. Invigorating. And you don’t have to get in the water. The idea is to go and relax.”

“I don’t know.” I scooped my bag up off the floor, looking for my grade book. “Until I know what’s going on with Colin, I hate to run off. Plus, I can get caught up on all my grading. The kids had a major-grade project due last Friday and I haven’t got through more than four of them.”

“Party poopers.”

“Dang it all. It’s not here.”

“What’s that, sweets?”

“My grade book. Can you stay here for thirty more minutes so I can run up to the school to get it?”

“You betcha. Paige and I can watch
The Voice
.”

* * *

It was dark by the time I made my way to Peytonville Preparatory Academy. I’d even had to put my sweater back on to ward off the evening chill. It did little however to combat the goose bumps on my arms from my nerves as I walked up to the school. At the far end of the campus, I swiped my cardkey to get in. That door was the closest to my office, and honestly, I had next to no desire to go near the other end of the building where the administrative offices were still cordoned off. I’d worked hard to get those images out of my head. The last thing I wanted to see was the crime scene tape again...

Clip-clop, clip-clop
.

I’d been in the school many times after hours, but as the heels of my flats smacked on the wooden floor and echoed through the empty halls, I couldn’t stop the shiver that ran down my spine. So what if I ran just a little bit the last few yards to the office for the fine arts department. On my desk sat the grade book. I snapped it up, tucked it under my arm and headed back out the door.

Clip-clop, clip-clop-bump
.

What?

I turned to see what had made the extra sound. The shadowed hall didn’t reveal anything but my own cowardly self. Not one to sit around and wait to spook myself half-silly, however, I hightailed back out of the school. The door snicked shut behind me, but before I could turn to the parking lot I ran smack-dab into a warm mooshy wall.

“Holy hell.” I jumped back and, in tripping over my own feet, fell into a heap on the well-manicured grass along the sidewalk.

“Mrs. Eagan? Are you okay?”

I fought off the instant urge to scream as a gloved hand wrapped around my upper arm and hoisted me to my feet. The only thing that kept me from not cutting loose with the shrill defense mechanism was the fact the man knew my name and helped me up—what would be the point of doing that if he intended to hurt me. I might have been reaching, but the whole thing caught me off guard and there was a tingle of recognition from his voice, not that I could see him well. The man stood under the safety light that hung above the door, illuminating him from behind and half-shading his young face.

“Danny?” I gaped at the gardener when I finally recognized him. “What’re you doing here?”

“Trying to catch up on work.” He waved a wrench in his other hand. “I had a list a mile long to take care of before school got closed. What are you doing here?”

“I have a list a mile long of papers to go through.” I copied his words and waved the grade book in my hand. Not one to overstay my welcome, and frankly a little creeped out by literally running into someone at school, it was time for me to leave. “Um, good night, now.”

As I backed away, he stared at me a little longer than need be. I’d like to think my crown of copper-red hair glowing under the fluorescent safety lighting and my figure shrouded in shadow and mystery was cause for his perusal—vanity picked a weird time to rear its head—but seeing how we’d run into each other at least once a day since the school year began and he’d never once given me a second glance in daylight... I didn’t want to know what had changed.

Finally, Danny nodded and walked around the back side of the building. That was my cue to hustle my butt to the car. I pushed the key fob to unlock my car door when I noticed lights on in the administrative part of the school. Stranger still was the dark form that passed in front of the window.

I snagged the cell from my pocket. I should call 911, but what if Danny was working on something?

“Only if he’s Superman and could fly around the building that fast.” It could be the police, investigating. And I would just be getting in the way. But what if some yahoo broke in hoping to snag a few hundred dollars’ worth of equipment while folks were otherwise distracted?

I moved closer to the school, wanted to peek in the windows and see who it might be, when the light doused. I stopped cold in my tracks and waited. And waited.

I typed in 911 to my cell phone. I had my finger poised over the send button, torn between staying to see who emerged and getting in my car and skedaddling. Skedaddling would have been the smart thing, of course, but my momma always said I was too curious for my own good.

Finally, Kelsey Pierce came flouncing out of the building as casual as you please. She had her blond hair uncharacteristically pulled back in a ponytail and was dressed head-to-toe in form-fitting black with a large bag tossed over her shoulder. Given the peculiarity of her late-night visit, I would almost call it a burglar getup if it weren’t bejeweled with hundreds of rhinestones and dangling gems. Coupled with her usual platform heels, she looked like she was headed out to a club rather than sneaking around the school after hours. Not odd at all. Nope.

“Kelsey?”

“Christ almighty.” She shifted the big handbag on her shoulder and grasped her chest. “Celeste, what are you doing here?”

I lifted the black book from under my arm. “Grade book. You?”

“I, uh...” She glanced back over her shoulder. “I needed to get a few things from my desk. I was a little out of it when I left this afternoon.”

“Yeah.” I reached out and gave her a quick pat on the arm. “How’re you holding up?”

There was much speculation as to what exact kind of dictation the bottle blonde took for the man over the past two years as every one of her memos had a minimum of three typos. In the first paragraph.

Kelsey sniffed. “I’m okay.” Her voice wavered and belied her words. “Wasn’t it just so awful?” She flung herself into my arms and cried. And cried. And cried.

I patted her shoulder. “There, there.” So much for blocking out the images of Chad in his office. In all my years—other than on TV of course—I’d never once seen a dead body. At my grandparents’ funerals, I held back
just
far enough not to see inside the caskets—I’d like to remember them the way they were
thankyouverymuch
. And I’d thankfully never had any cause to come across one elsewhere. Until this morning.

Kelsey continued to cry and I was at a loss as to what else to do. Consoling a grieving coworker wasn’t something they covered in the teachers’ manual.

At close to nine o’clock at night, we stood in the middle of a vacant lot. Only my little Nissan graced the area. While the neighborhood was fairly safe, I couldn’t stay there all night.

“How did you get here? Do you need a ride home?”

As if in answer to me, a car came to a screeching halt a few feet away. Kelsey sniffed and swiped at her eyes. “Nope. Thanks. See ya.” Gone was the inconsolable admin. Kelsey climbed into the dark muscle car and gave me a quick finger wave as it sped away as fast as it had pulled in.

“All righty then.” I shut off my phone and walked back over to my car. A shiver once again danced its way down my spine as I tucked my cell in my pocket. “Nope, not strange at all. And no need to contact the police.”

Chapter Four

I jerked upright in bed at the pounding on my front door. “What the...”

Paige came into my room, rubbing her eyes. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, hon.” I glanced at the clock. It was barely six in the morning—on a day when I didn’t have to be at school. Someone better have a damn good reason to wake me. “Go back to bed.”

My daughter grumbled and followed me down the hall to the front door. I pulled the curtain aside. The sun had yet to rise but under the corner streetlamp I could see a beige sedan at the curb. At the door, all I could make out was a large form. Very large. A tingle of recognition skittered through me.

I groaned and pulled open the door. “To what do I owe the remarkably early honor this morning?”

Detective Muldoon blinked rapidly after I flipped on the porch light. His gaze traveled from my bare toes up to my pink polka-dotted nightie. I was completely covered, but still the man swallowed like I’d flashed him or something. I shifted to hide my saggy boobs behind the door. In a bra they looked great, but in my nightie they were droop city, the drawback of a full figure and no silicone. Things went where they wanted, not where you paid to have them sit on display.

He shifted. “I didn’t mean to startle y’all.”

“Uh-huh.” I glanced sideways at him. Who was he trying to kid? “Pounding on my door at the crack of dawn might make it hard to believe.”

“Who are you?” Paige squinted.

I sighed. “The detective in charge of Principal Jones’s death investigation. Why don’t you go grab your glasses and head to the kitchen? I’ll get breakfast on as soon as I finish speaking with him. Okay?”

Paige narrowed her eyes more for a moment then turned and headed back down the hall.

“Your daughter?”

“Family pet. Cute little booger, huh?” I gripped the edge of the door harder. “Came around one morning begging for food and I decided to keep her.”

The corner of his mouth quivered, didn’t so much move up in a smile as it hinted it could. Did the man ever smile? For a moment, I wondered what it would take for him to tip up his lips. What could make the hard detective break his even harder demeanor and relax?

Whether he did or not though was really no concern of mine. Especially when he showed up on my front porch before the sun did. “Are you going to cite me for not having her city tags up to date?” I motioned in the direction Paige went.

“Are you always so chipper in the morning?” His dark eyebrows arched upward.

“Did you
need
something, Detective?”

He pulled out his ever-present notebook. “I’m wondering where you were between eight forty-five and nine fifteen last night.”

“I, uh. School.” I bit my lower lip. “But I’m guessing you must know that already or you wouldn’t be here. Did something happen?”

“What were you doing there?” There he goes answering a question with a question. Did they learn that in detective school? He did it an awful lot.

“I forgot my grade book.”

A little yappy dog walked by on a leash. My neighbor slowed down and didn’t even try to be discreet as she stared at me, in my nightie, and the detective all sharp-dressed. “If I invite you in, will you promise not to go rummaging through my stuff like you did at Colin’s yesterday?”

“If you don’t give consent, then no, I can’t search.”

“No consent. No searching.” I stood away from the door and held it open for him. “Come in, have a seat and I’ll make some coffee.”

“No need.”

I scrubbed my hand through my hair. “You may not need it, but I certainly do.”

Detective Muldoon nodded and I showed him to the living room.

In the kitchen, I pulled some frozen pancakes out, heated them up for Paige, then started a pot of coffee. The microwave dinged as she came in dressed in a light blue terrycloth robe and matching slippers. “Sit, eat,” I told her when I set her plate and the bottle of syrup on the table. “Detective Muldoon is in the living room. I’m gonna go change clothes real quick.”

I peeked my head around the corner. Muldoon was sitting on my sofa, his elbows on his knees, hands clasped in front of him. He looked over at me, his lip quivering again. “Not touching a thing.”

“Good boy. I’m going to get dressed. Won’t be but a moment, I swear.” I ran to my room and threw on a pair of jeans and a pink T-shirt—so what if I put on my best Victoria’s Secret bra underneath? It made me feel bolder, as well as supported, and the detective was none the wiser.

Muldoon was in the same spot on the sofa where I’d left him. “Coffee?”

“Sure. Black, please.”

“Coming right up.” Coffee I could handle. I doctored mine up with a touch of sugar and a seriously generous helping of pumpkin spice flavored creamer. Before I could face the detective and his questions, I drank half of it down right there at the kitchen counter, then refilled my cup and redoctored the concoction. “Paige, hon, did you get enough to eat?”

“Yes. May I go in there while you speak with the detective? I’ve seen it on TV but never in real life before.” She blinked up at me all sweet and innocently.

I took one more fortifying sip. “Seen what?”

“An interrogation.” Paige said it so earnestly I nearly spit pumpkin spice coffee all over her.

“It’s not an interrogation.” At least I hoped it wasn’t in any official capacity. “He just has a few questions to ask.”

Again, she blinked her khaki eyes up at me. “The difference being?”

“The difference being, I’d prefer that I don’t have little ears sitting in on it.” I wiggled one of her ears before I tapped the tip of her nose. “There’s no telling what he wants to discuss.”

She sighed. “Okay.”

Once in the living room, I handed Detective Muldoon the full mug. “Here.” He stared down into the mug for a long moment.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, I didn’t poison it.” I snatched it back and took a sip. A very hot sip. “Ow.”

“Yeah, kinda why I was waiting.”

“Mmm-hmm.” I sat in the chair across the room, the sofa a little too close quarters to share with the man. I sipped my own drink, way less hot, and waited for him to start. When he didn’t, I said, “We’ve established I was at school. How would you know I was there?”

“The cardkey log.”

I frowned. “Why would you check the cardkey log?”

“Someone broke into the school last night and ransacked the principal’s office.”

I paused with the cup against my lower lip. “Wha...” I set the mug on the table. “You can’t think I’d... I didn’t... What?” I asked when his eyebrows pulled down lower and lower into a tight V.

“What were you doing there?”

“I told you. I went to get my grade book.” I picked up the offender smack-dab in the middle of my coffee table and waved it at him. “Since we’re home for a few days I thought I could get caught up with my students’ projects, but I left this on my desk. I went in, grabbed it and left. I certainly didn’t ransack the front offices.” I settled my head back on the chair. “You don’t
really
think I had anything to do with it, do you?”

“You were there.” He took a tentative sip of his coffee.

“I wasn’t even near that end of the building.” I narrowed my gaze at him. “Besides, I was hardly the only person up at the school last night.”

One dark eyebrow rose. “You were the only one who logged in using a cardkey.”

“That’s impossible. I saw Kelsey up there.”

“The administrative assistant? Inside the offices?”

“Well, no, not exactly. I saw the light on in the main admin office.
Someone
was inside. When the lights went out a few minutes later, Kelsey walked away from the building.”

“Did you see her leave through a specific door?”

“No.” I sat forward and leaned my elbows on my knees and mimicked his stance. It was quick, but I’d swear I saw the good detective dart his gaze down my shirt, checking out my prettiest secret before his eyes met mine.

He shook his head and sat up straighter. “Go over exactly what you did when you got to the school. Please.”

“I pulled into the lot.” I ticked off the items on my fingers. “Went into the building.”

“Hang on.” He set his mug down and pulled out his little bitty notebook. “By which door?”

“The northeast entrance right over by my classroom and office.”

Muldoon wrote something. “Go on.”

“I ran down the hall.” Finger tick three.

He glanced up at me. “Why?”

I shrugged. “It’s a little spooky being in there late at night all by myself considering...” I picked up my coffee and took a long sip. “I unlocked my door.” Tick number four.

“With the cardkey?”

“No, a key key. Only the school entrances have the electronic locks. I snagged my grade book.” I waggled my thumb at him. “That’s it. Well, then I ran back out of the school. Through the same door.” I gave him a long look. “I’d have to be pretty stupid to use my cardkey to gain access, then rob the place, don’t you think?”

“People do any number of things for any number of reasons,” he said off-handedly as he looked down at his notes.

Another non-answer.

“But no, you don’t look that dumb.” He raised his gaze back to mine.

“Thanks. I think.” I leaned back in my chair. “I should mention I did run—quite literally—into the gardener.”

Muldoon tapped the end of his pen on the notepad. “Does he have access to the inside of the school?”

“I don’t know. There’s a separate building out back that serves as his office. I don’t know what his cardkey can get into. Sorry. You could ask—” I started to say
Principal Jones
. Maybe for the first time, it really hit me that the man was dead. It was almost surreal to lose a peer I saw nearly every day.

A sudden chill raced over me. I wrapped my arms around myself, then frowned. I rubbed my hand where Danny had grabbed my arm. “He left a huge grease stain.”

“Who did?” Muldoon frowned and gave a quick headshake. “What?”

“Danny. Left a stain on my pink sweater.”

“You wear a lot of pink.”

My cheeks heated. He’d noticed that? Growing up with auburn hair and hazel eyes, my mother dressed me in all neutrals. Said I clashed otherwise. I always felt a little drab. My answer to that when I got old enough to buy my own clothes was a pop—or more often an explosion—of color. As of late, pink was my go-to pop. And the detective noticed.

Before I could comment—and really, what was I going to say,
aw geez, it’s so sweet you noticed
?—he shook his head and asked, “May I see it? The stain.”

“On my sweater?” Duh. I gave myself a quick mental slap and stood. “Sure.” I ran back to my room and grabbed it off the back of the chair. I’d planned to take it to the cleaners to see if they could get the stain out. It’s my favorite sweater. When I came back, I started to give it to him but pulled back quickly. “Is it because you don’t believe what I’m telling you?”

His outstretched hand still hung there. “Why would you think that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. The skeptical look on your face that pulls your eyebrows down. Or the way you keep staring at me and then jotting down quick notes in your little notebook. Or maybe the fact that you arrested me for no reason yesterday. Take your pick.”

“I had reason to arrest you.”

I harrumphed and shoved my sweater at him. He looked it over, took a couple of notes, looked it over again, took more notes, then set it on the coffee table. “Was the grease on both his hands?”

“I don’t know. The other was holding something so it could have been. I didn’t stop to ask him. Unless you own a dry cleaner on the side, I don’t see why you care about it.”

I was getting snippy. I couldn’t help it.

“Can we get on with this?” I resituated myself in the fat club chair. I started ticking off points with the other hand. “I fell. He helped me up. As I was walking to my car, I saw a light on in the admin part of the building. I got closer and I could see someone walking around.” I finished my tale with Kelsey’s weepy behavior and the awesome car that picked her up. “Do you believe me? That I had nothing to do with the break-in up at school?”

He ignored my questions, used up a few more pages and tucked the notebook back into his pocket. When he finally met my gaze again, he only held it for a moment more, then stood and started studying the pictures that lined the fireplace mantel. “How did you and Cooter, um, I mean Colin, get together?”

I stood and joined him on the other side of the room. “I ran him over with my car.”

He chuckled. His face was hidden, so I missed any smile that might have accompanied it. Dang it.

“I really did hit him.” I edged closer, but when he turned, the same flat expressed covered his face.

Oh well.

“Seriously.” I nodded when he looked at me in disbelief. “It was an accident. I swear, Officer.” I crossed my arms up under my breasts. I didn’t
mean
to shove them up—at least not much.

He swallowed all nervous-like just as he had when I’d answered the door earlier. He opened his mouth to speak when the doorbell rang.

“I’m not usually this popular so early in the morning. Excuse me.” I didn’t even bother to look through the window. I mean, I had a detective standing in my living room. As soon as I unlocked it, the door swung open and Colin waltzed right on in.

“Colin? Where have you been?”

“You will not believe the last couple days we’ve had.”

The first thing that went through my mind was the use of
we
, then Naomi flounced in behind him and gave me a quick I-don’t-want-to-be-here-any-more-than-you-want-me-here smile. Her long, light brown hair was the most unkempt I’d ever seen it, pulled up in a messy yet stylish ponytail. She was dressed for anything from a day at school to a luncheon with girlfriends, making a pair of black stretch pants and a shiny tunic look alluring. Did I mention how much I hate her?

The second thing that occurred to me was Colin was considered a person of interest by the aforementioned detective in my aforementioned living room not twenty feet away. I hadn’t so much as blinked when Muldoon pushed past me.

“Colin Eagan, you’re under arrest for the murder of Chad Jones.”