Who Invited the Ghost to Dinner: A Ghost Writer Mystery (28 page)

Chapter 35

I
caught Randy before he left the bookstore, and twenty minutes later, he showed up with my car. Regina was right behind him in her car. “Good thing you left a spare set of keys at my store,” Randy said as he handed them to me.

“Thank you so much,” I told him, giving him a big hug.

He looked over my shoulder at what was left of Mike’s truck and whistled. “Good thing you two weren’t in there when it blew,” he said.

“Yeah, thanks for that reminder.”

“Good to see you, Randy,” Mike said, “but we’ve really got to go.”

“I’ll call you later,” I said to Randy.

I tossed the keys to Mike as we hurried over to my car. “You’re going to let me drive your precious car?”

“You know where we’re going; I don’t. I trust you.”

Pamela lived in a new subdivision on the north side of town. The beige-brick, one-story house sat in the middle of the block. Rose bushes lined the sidewalk to the front door, which stood open, the frosted glass panes shattered on the ground.

Reynolds had placed yellow crime scene tape all around the house, and the crime scene unit was already there, taking pictures and dusting for prints.

Mike and I ducked under the tape, and walked over to a young woman dressed in a white protective suit. “What’s it look like in there, Denise?” Mike said to her.

“Like a tornado went through it,” she replied, looking at me. “Hi. I’m Denise Crawford, part of the CSU unit.”

“Cam Shaw. Nice to meet you.”

“I heard you two had a little excitement downtown,” she said.

“Just a bit,” Mike replied. “Right now, I’m more interested in this crime scene.”

“Andrew, could you bring me two sets of booties?” Denise said to a young man standing by the van.

He nodded, reached inside the van, and then brought the booties over to her. “Here you go.”

“This is my partner in crime, so to speak, Andrew Winters. You know the chief. This is Cam Shaw. Hey, check the backyard to see if there are any footprints out there.”

“Will do,” Andrew said. “Nice meeting you, Ms. Shaw.”

“Here,” she said, handing each of us a pair. “Put these on and follow me.”

When we went inside, I was shocked. Furniture was overturned, and there were broken knickknacks and a lamp on the floor. “She put up a heck of a fight,” I said.

“What makes you think that?” Mike asked.

“Oh, come on, Mike. I know the two of you noticed the same thing I did: The way the figurines are shattered all over the place. From the size of the pieces, she throws pretty hard. I wouldn’t be surprised if she hit him with one or two of them.”

“Actually, I hadn’t noticed that,” Denise admitted. “I was paying more attention to the furniture and the busted front door. At least she put up a fight.”

“I’m surprised myself,” I replied. “My first impression of her was that she was very timid.”

“Did you find a note or anything?” Mike said.

Denise shook her head.

Andrew came into the living room. “Hey, Chief Penhall, you might want to come out here and take a look at this.”

He led us out the back door and over to a shed. Opening the door, he allowed us to go inside first. There was a whole surveillance system set up in this small building. “Good grief, you’d think she was guarding the gold at Fort Knox,” I said.

“Sure looks like it,” Denise agreed.

Mike sat down in the chair and looked at the screens. “I don’t think this is just her house,” he said. “Look, there’s Reynolds in the front yard. And on this second screen, it’s a split screen. There’s the living room, and the bedroom. But on the third screen, all you see is one room, with a cot and a chair. Denise, you’ve done a search of the house. Did you see a room like this?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head.

“What if…no, it’s crazy,” Andrew said.

“What?” Mike said. “Don’t be afraid to tell me what you’re thinking, kid.”

Andrew scratched the back of his head. “What if this feed is coming from whoever took Ms. Dimwitty?”

“That’s crazy,” I said. “Why would someone do that?”

“Because they knew that we would eventually find the cameras inside, which would make us look for the main system,” Mike replied. “We’ll set a man up out here to keep an eye on the video. Maybe our kidnapper will make an appearance, or we’ll see Pamela at some point.”

The three of them went outside, but for some reason, I hung back. Sitting down, I looked at the third screen, staring at the cot and chair. Something about the room seemed familiar, but I wasn’t sure why. The room itself looked like it was part of an old hunting cabin, which meant it could be anywhere.

Suddenly, I saw movement, a shadow cast into the room. “Mike!”

He stuck his head back inside. “What?”

“Look,” I said, pointing at the screen. “Someone’s there.”

Mike came and stood behind me. “Are you sure?”

“I saw something move in there.”

A piece of paper appeared in front of the screen. “We have Dimwitty. If you want to see her alive again, then you better arrange for $10,000,000 in small bills for her ransom. We will contact you later to let you know where to leave the money. Don’t get cute, cop, or she won’t see the light of day again.”

“Holy cow,” Andrew said. “Who’s going to come up with the money?”

“Good question,” Denise said.

“We need to analyze this,” Mike said. “Andrew, do you think you can get anything about the room or the building from the video?”

“I’m not sure,” Andrew replied, “but I’ll give it a shot.”

Mike hit the eject button on the recorder, took out the DVD, and handed it to him. “Get busy.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Denise, call down to the station and get Reagan over here. We’ll put her on the first shift.”

“You better put another disc in, just in case,” Denise replied before she left.

“They’re next to you on the left,” I told him.

“Thanks.”

“I wonder if that’s an old hunting cabin or a shed.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, the video makes everything look gray, but the wood looks old, and the window looks like it’s covered with plastic. But that’s just my amateur opinion.”

“I noticed the same thing about the wood,” Mike said. “I’ll let Andrew know.”

We went outside, and started walking toward the house. As we got closer to the back door, I noticed two small dishes nearby. “Did Denise say anything about a dog?” I asked Mike, pointing out the two bowls.

“No, and I didn’t see one inside. Did you?”

“Nope. So where is it?”

“Good question.”

We went inside and found Denise. “Did you call animal control about the dog?” Mike asked her.

“What dog?”

“She owns a dog,” Mike said.

“Look, there’s a picture of her with a dog,” I said.

Pamela was sitting in a chair, holding a little peach colored poodle. “What a cute dog,” Denise said. “The front door was open when we got here. Maybe it ran off.”

“Maybe we should look for it.”

“I don’t have the time or the manpower to look for a dog, Cam,” Mike said. “A kidnapping victim is a little more important than a missing dog.”

I knew he was right, but I still felt bad for the little furball. “You’re right.”

“Denise, I’m going back to the station to put a BOLO on Pamela,” Mike said, taking the picture off the shelf. “Check the shed for fingerprints, too. If we’re getting a video feed from somewhere else, the perp would have had to set it up through Pamela’s equipment. Let’s hope he left some evidence behind.”

“Her car is gone, too,” Denise said.

“Who kidnaps a woman and takes her car?” I said.

“Someone who knows that we would suspect them,” Mike said. “By using her car, we’ll have less evidence to connect them to her kidnapping.”

“Impossible,” Denise scoffed. “Unless they’re wearing an outfit like this.”

There wasn’t much more to say after that, so Mike and I left. He was quiet on the drive back to the station. “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m trying to figure out what the kidnapping has to do with the murders.”

“Remember what Prufrock told us? If Pamela dies, Joey gets control of the company, which we know he wants.”

“But he wouldn’t risk killing her,” Mike said. “He knows he’d be the first person we’d look at.”

“So maybe it’s someone else. Long is only the interim president. They don’t know that Clinton named his replacement in his will. When the news gets out, Long will go back to being just a regular employee. He might find it hard to work there under those conditions.”

“That’s a good point. But what about VanMeter?”

“I don’t know. We need to talk to him.”

“No, I will talk to him,” Mike told her.

“Okay.”

Mike looked at me sideways for a moment. “You’re giving in, just like that?”

“It’s part of your job, Mike. Getting people to talk is part of what you do.”

“You’re up to something.”

“I’m not, I swear.”

“You aren’t planning to go off on your own and talk to one of my suspects, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” I told him. “Truth be told, I’m feeling a bit sore from that explosion.”

“I know what you mean. So am I.”

“I think I’ll just go home and soak in the tub for a little while.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” he said. “Want some company?”

“Michael Penhall! Shame on you!”

He laughed. “Come on, you’re not that offended. Deep down, the idea sounds very tempting.”

“Yes, it does, but no, it’s not going to happen.”

“A guy can dream, can’t he?” he replied as we pulled into the police station.

We got out of the car, and he handed me my keys. “Do you want me to pick you up later?” I asked him. “We could have dinner at my house.”

“That sounds great. I’ll call you when I’m ready to leave.”

“No phone, remember?”

“Oh, right. Why don’t you swing by around six? I think I’ll be free by then.”

“I can do that. I’m going to swing by the bank. I need to order a new card.”

“And a new laptop, and a new phone.”

“A new messenger bag,” I added. “I really loved that bag. It was just broken in.”

“I’m sure you’ll find another one,” he said. Leaning over, he gave me a kiss. “Be careful, okay? Someone’s obviously watching us.”

“Chief Penhall,” someone called from the front door of the station, “there’s a call for you. They said it was urgent.”

“Be right there,” he said. “I better go. Watch your back.”

“I’ll take Randy with me if I go anywhere.”

I started to get back in the car when he stopped me. “After supper, maybe we can go back over to Pamela’s neighborhood to look for her dog if no one has found it by then.”

“You’re a big softie.”

“What did I tell you about trying to ruin my reputation?” He smiled before he turned to go inside.

I stopped by the bank first and ordered a new bank card. I pulled some cash out of my account so I could at least buy a new phone. I was going to have to call the credit card companies to get new cards from them as well.

My next stop was the local electronics store. The only good thing about losing my phone was I could get the newest model.

“Do you want me to transfer the numbers from your old phone?” the young man asked me.

“That would be great.”

“Let me have your phone,” he said, holding out his hand.

“How good are you at jigsaw puzzles?”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s in pieces on Main Street.”

“Really?”

“Blown to smithereens.”

“Wow. Well, I can look up your number in the computer, and create a new SIM card for you.”

“I appreciate that.”

As I was leaving a few minutes later, I heard him telling one of his co-workers what I had said about jigsaw puzzles and my old phone. I was pretty sure that story would be all over the store in thirty minutes.

My next stop was the bookstore. Randy came rushing over and gave me a big hug. “I am so glad to see you!” he said, crushing me against his chest. “I have been so worried ever since you told me what happened.”

“Randy, I can’t breathe.”

“Oh, sorry,” he said, letting me go. “Seriously, you didn’t get hurt or anything?”

“Just a little sore,” I told him. “I’m planning to have a nice, long soak in a bubble bath later.”

“I don’t blame you. So tell me everything.”

“Yeah,” Mac said. I saw him sitting on the counter by the register, “I can’t wait to hear about this myself.”