The apparitions of Marie and Camilla appeared in the middle of Heather’s upstairs hallway. They found Heather wearing a black bra and stretch pants, kneeling by Hunny’s side, pressing her wadded-up blouse into Hunny’s wound to stop the bleeding. Heather looked up to the two spirits in relief and then noticed motion behind them.
Clay had figured out that if he moved his body in one direction, he could unroll himself from the confining carpet runner. As he unrolled himself, getting closer to Heather and the spirits, Heather called out, “Turn around! He’s getting away!”
Marie turned toward Clay and promptly used her energy to send him rolling away from them back into the carpet. Clay let out a scream. Without missing a beat, Marie’s energy lifted the heavy trunk Heather kept at the end of the hallway. The trunk moved several feet from the wall. The rolled-up carpet holding Clay lifted into the air and moved toward the back wall, dropping behind the trunk. Marie’s energy pushed the trunk back toward the wall, securing Clay between the trunk and the wall.
Marie turned back to Heather. “That should keep him for now.” She rushed to Hunny. Kneeling by the dog’s side, Marie stared at her. “Hunny’s not answering me.”
“Her heart’s still beating. I need to call the vet. And Brian.” Heather glanced down the hall at the man trapped behind the trunk. “But my cellphone is downstairs.”
Marie pointed to the wadded-up blouse. “Go. I’ll hold that for you. And I’ll keep an eye on him.” Marie glanced briefly at Clay and back to Hunny. “Get your phone.” Marie kept the now blood-soaked blouse in place while Heather ran down the stairs. She hadn’t noticed Bella when she had first arrived, but now she spied the cat curled up next to Hunny’s side. Marie smiled at Bella’s apparent concern.
By the time Heather made it back upstairs, she had already called Brian, unlocked the front door, and was currently on the phone with the vet, begging him to make a house call. The vet agreed, not because he knew Chris Johnson was good for what might be a high medical bill considering the injury, but because of the money Chris and Heather had helped raise for the humane society through the Glandon Foundation.
When Heather got off the phone after calling the vet, Marie told her she should probably go put on a blouse before everyone started showing up. Heather, who had forgotten her partial state of undress, dashed to her bedroom and grabbed the T-shirt she had worn to sleep in the previous night.
Five minutes later, Heather knelt by Hunny, Marie and Bella by her side. “I should have gone to work today. Then this probably wouldn’t have happened.”
“Before you tell me what happened, who’s wrapped up in the hall carpet?” Marie asked. “All I know, Camilla showed up at Edwards and told me I needed to get to your house because you were in danger.”
* * *
Ten minutes earlier, Brian had been filing papers at the police station when his cellphone rang.
As soon as he answered the call, he heard Danielle’s voice. “Camilla’s spirit just showed up at the chief’s house and told Marie she needed to go to Heather’s because she’s in danger. Marie is probably already there, but you need to check on Heather.”
Abandoning the files, Brian left the police station and headed for Beach Drive. He was almost there when Heather called. Brian was just pulling up to the front of her house when she finished explaining what had happened. As soon as they ended their call, he called Joe for backup.
Brian was getting out of his car when Walt pulled up in the Ford Flex. He was alone. Unbeknownst to Brian, Walt had left Danielle at the chief’s house. Together, Walt and Brian rushed up the front walk toward Heather’s front door.
“We’re up here!” Heather called out as soon as she heard the front door open.
Walt and Brian raced up the stairs yet stopped abruptly when they saw the unconscious pit bull sprawled near the top step of the second-floor landing. Heather, once again holding the wadded-up blouse to Hunny’s wound, looked up to Walt and Brian. “She’s been shot.”
“Who in the hell shot her?” Walt demanded.
“Clay Bowman,” Brian answered for Heather. During their phone call minutes earlier, Heather had already told him the abbreviated version of Bowman’s break-in.
Camilla, who had remained silent since bringing Marie to Heather’s, stood off to the side and watched.
“Henderson? Brian Henderson, is that you?” Clay shouted from the other end of the hall.
While Walt knelt beside Hunny with Heather, Brian walked toward Clay. “Yes, it’s me, Bowman.”
“It’s Chief Bowman!” Clay shouted. “And get me out of here! Your crazy girlfriend has done it now! I’m locking her up once and for all!”
Hands on hips, Brian stood over Bowman and looked down. “You shot Hunny.”
“Damn right I shot that animal! It attacked me. I’m suing Johnson, and who knows, the Glandon Foundation might come to his rescue too and pay for the settlement he’s going to be owing me. Now get me out of here! Now!” Bowman shouted. Once again, fighting against his restraints, Clay pushed the trunk out from the wall a few inches.
“We’ll get you out of there in a minute,” Brian said before turning away from Bowman and walking back toward Heather and the others.
Furious, Clay screamed, “Don’t walk away, Henderson! You heard me! Get me out of here now, or I’ll make sure you never work in law enforcement again!”
Joe and the veterinarian showed up at the same time. While the vet went upstairs to look at Hunny, Walt and Marie monitored Bowman, and Heather and Brian headed downstairs to explain to Joe what had happened.
“I don’t understand. Why would he do this?” Joe asked after Heather finished her telling.
As Heather explained, Bowman continued to shout out that someone needed to untie him.
“He confessed to killing Camilla,” Heather said. “I think initially he wanted me to believe I was going to be convicted of the murder, so he tried convincing me I’d be better off taking a plea deal, spending a couple of years in prison, and saving my home. That way, with someone serving time in prison for the murder, he’d be in the clear. When that would not work, he decided I’d commit suicide because I felt so guilty that I killed Brian’s ex. You’ll find the suicide note he made me write downstairs in the living room.”
“Did he say why he killed Camilla?” Joe asked.
Heather glanced up the stairs and saw Camilla standing on the top step, watching the commotion. Heather looked back at Brian. “Maybe you guys should bring him downstairs, and I’ll tell you what I know. I imagine the vet is getting a little uneasy up there with some guy shouting to be untied.”
“I should call for more backup,” Joe said.
* * *
Joe and Brian walked to the end of the hall. Bowman was now on his back, his head sticking out from one end of the rolled-up carpet. “Morelli, good, you’re here. Get me out of this thing.”
“Let us move this trunk first,” Joe said.
Bowman smiled and seemed to relax, believing Joe, unlike Henderson, knew how to follow orders.
“How did Heather get him behind here?” Joe asked as he and Brian slowly pushed the trunk to one side, freeing Clay so that he was no longer pressed between the trunk and the wall.
“She must have used her weight to slide it over,” Brian said, knowing full well Marie had moved the trunk. Once Clay was no longer trapped behind the trunk, Joe and Brian picked him up, set him on his feet, and unwound him from the runner. Once free, Clay demanded they remove the rope from his wrists.
Joe moved behind Clay and untied the rope holding his wrists together. Meanwhile, Clay glared into Brian’s eyes, a smug smile on his face. But the smirk vanished when Joe slapped on handcuffs just as the rope came off.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Clay jerked around to Joe.
“We need to go downstairs and get some answers,” Joe told Clay.
“Have you forgotten who I am?” Clay demanded.
* * *
Furious to be led down the hallway in handcuffs by two of his officers, Clay’s angry gaze fixed on the dog staining the wood floor with its blood. The animal had ruined his plans. Everything had gone brilliantly until the dog appeared out of nowhere. It should be dead—it looked dead—but the man identified as a veterinarian worked to save its miserable life.
There was no way Clay would allow the dog’s life to be saved. One good kick could deliver a final blow. Morelli and Henderson had to walk him around the dog to get to the staircase. He would make it happen so fast, there would be nothing they could do. What was the punishment for kicking an already dying dog? He didn’t care at this point.
But what Clay hadn’t counted on were the observant eyes of Marie and Walt. Clay’s brain told his foot when to kick the dog, but instead of it kicking outward, Clay cried out in pain and stumbled. It felt as if someone had grabbed hold of his ankle just as it moved to kick the dog and then mercilessly twisted the ankle. Joe and Brian kept Clay from falling and walked him down the stairs.
Once they reached the first-floor landing, Brian’s cellphone rang. He looked at it. It was the chief.
“Joe, I need to take this. It’s the chief.”
Joe walked Clay over to a chair and told him to sit down. Reluctantly, Clay sat, yet he found it impossible to get comfortable with his hands behind his back.
Brian moved out of earshot of Joe and Clay, yet kept a close eye on the two, just in case Clay tried something.
“What’s going on over there?” MacDonald asked.
Brian quickly updated Chief MacDonald on what had occurred.
“Is Hunny going to be okay?”
“I don’t know. The vet is working on her, and I didn’t want to bother him with questions. Heather and Walt are talking with him, and I assume know more. I have no idea if Hunny needs surgery, or if she’ll be staying here with Heather. I don’t know when Chris is expected back, and he doesn’t know what happened to Hunny. Joe and I were just getting ready to question Clay. We brought him downstairs. He’s sitting in a chair with Joe watching him now.”
“I don’t want you to question Clay at Heather’s house. Bring him to the station. Danielle’s going to use my car and bring me down there now. Put him in the interrogation room. I want to talk to him.”
“But, Chief, are you up to it?”
“I’ll be there. And tell Heather I want her to come down to the station so I can talk to her. Danielle can drop me off and then head over to Heather’s house to help with Hunny.”
When Brian got off the phone, he walked over to Joe and told him what the chief had said just as two more officers entered Heather’s house. Seeing the new arrivals, Clay reminded everyone that he was the police chief, not MacDonald. Yet his rants went ignored as Joe and the two officers took Clay out to the squad car while Brian sprinted upstairs to tell Heather what was going on.
Heather was already standing on the top of the step when Brian reached her.
“How’s Hunny?” Brian asked.
“She needs surgery. The vet’s on his phone right now, setting up things with his office. Walt will help get her downstairs.”
“I need you to come down to the station as soon as you can,” Brian said. “The chief wants to talk to you. Danielle’s dropping him off at the station and then coming here to help with Hunny.”
Heather nodded and then glanced over to Hunny with concern.
“And I need to gather some evidence before I go,” Brian said. “Like the note he had you write.”
Heather looked back at Brian. “You might want to take his gun, too.”