Chapter 40

Shine a light on dark areas of the house. Increase light by replacing dim light bulbs with high-wattage or LED bulbs.

Being enclosed in a vehicle with Detective Spangler proved to be awkward. He vibrated with anger, and I could almost feel it bouncing off me. The vein on the side of his neck began to pulse.

After minutes of stony silence, he cleared his throat and finally spoke. “I don’t know what to make of you. I know you want to help your friend, but don’t you realize when you start asking questions of people who could be connected to a murder victim or involved in the crime you could be endangering yourself?” His carefully controlled tone said more than if he had shouted at me.

“Do you have any idea how lucky you were? If the person who attacked you had been involved in one of the murders, you could now be dead. Why that person only locked you in a closet, I’ll never know. Perhaps it was a warning. But whoever it was took a big chance giving you that warning. Next time you may not be so fortunate.”

“We don’t know for sure what happened today was connected to my asking questions. It could simply have been someone who was looking for an easy target.” Even as I said those words, I didn’t believe them myself.

I shrank further into my side of the front seat, duly chastised. Abruptly I sat up. “Wait a minute. If someone was giving me a warning, that means that person could’ve been the one who killed Ian or Damian, or both of them.”

“If you’ve been asking around about Ian Becker’s murder, perhaps so.”

Several more minutes went by without either of us saying anything. Then we both started speaking at the same time.

“Ms. Bishop—”

“Detective—”

“You first,” he said.

“Thank you for coming to my aid.”

“I’m glad I was available to respond to the call. Can you think of anything, anything at all you remember from the attack? I know it might be painful to mentally relive it, but take your time and think about it. A good technique is to think about it using your five senses.”

I thought about it for a few minutes related to my senses. “I didn’t see anything when I went into the bedroom. And once the blanket came down over my head, I absolutely didn’t see anything. As to my other senses, I can’t remember feeling anything other than the roughness of the blanket and the strong arms of my attacker.

“I didn’t taste anything.” Except maybe fear. “The door slamming behind me was the only sound I heard. That leaves the sense of smell. The blanket smelled old and musty. That I remember, especially since it took me a while to get it off my head.

“Wait. When I walked into the room, I vaguely remember smelling a light scent—spicy like aftershave lotion or cologne. Very light as though the person had applied it hours before and the scent had faded.” I tried to remember anything else. “Sorry, that’s all I remember.”

“Sleep on it. When you’re rested, something else may occur to you.” He continued staring straight ahead as though trying to avoid eye contact with me.

We lapsed into silence again. When we pulled up in front of my house, I looked up to see Aunt Kit standing in the doorway.

He finally turned toward me. “For your safety, stay out of this. Next time you may not be so lucky.”

“That’s why we have to find that person—so there isn’t a next time.”

“There is no we about this.” He nearly shouted. “Stay out of this and leave it to the police.”

I opened my mouth to speak and then closed it again. As I reached for the door handle to leave, he placed his hand on my arm. “Laura, please.”

  

Aunt Kit grabbed me when I walked in the door and hugged me hard. “Are you okay?” She stepped back and studied me closely. I was surprised to see tears well up in her eyes.

“I’m fine.” But I began to shake as I said it.

“Sit down, and I’ll bring you a nice cup of tea.”

I collapsed on the sofa and pulled an afghan over my legs. Inky must have sensed that I was distressed because he jumped on me and curled up in my lap. His warmth and purring helped soothe me.

I thought of Detective Spangler’s warning and then remembered his use of my given name—a first.

“This will fix you right up.” Aunt Kit handed me tea in a cup and saucer, instead of the mug I usually used. It made it feel like a special occasion. “Unless you want something stronger.”

This clearly was an occasion for Harvey’s Bristol Cream, but I decided to stick with the tea. I needed a clear head. Usually, I don’t take sugar in my tea, but since Aunt Kit fixed it for me that way, for medicinal purposes, I decided to say nothing about it.

Aunt Kit took a seat in a chair next to me. “Do you feel up to talking about what happened? Tyrone called to tell me you were okay. He was concerned Nita may have called, asking if I knew where you were and that I would be worried.”

“That was good of Tyrone. He’s always so thoughtful.”

“Do you think you’re getting too close to whoever is responsible for the murders?” She leaned over and tucked the afghan over my legs.

“It might be wishful thinking, but I’d like to think I am—enough to shake up whoever it was that struck out at me. But then, it could have been someone totally unconnected to the murders who lured me to that home.”

“It’s not safe for women to go anywhere alone these days.” Aunt Kit pursed her lips and shook her head.

“It’s important to be careful, but we can’t live in fear.” Although right now I was feeling pretty fearful.

“Of the people you questioned, which one do you think could have attacked you?”

“Any of them—male or female. Whoever it was caught me off guard, so it didn’t take much effort to get me into that closet. Once that blanket went over my head, I was disoriented.”

Someone knocked on the front door, causing Aunt Kit to jump up. “I’ll see who’s there. Maybe I should take a fireplace poker with me in case I have to defend us.”

She returned with Nita and Guido trailing behind her.

“Tyrone said you were okay, but we weren’t going to be satisfied until we saw that for ourselves.” Nita reached over and petted Inky.

Again, I was comforted I had such good friends who cared about me—and came to my rescue.

I ran my fingers through my unruly hair, realizing that I hadn’t brushed it since the blanket did a number on me. “I look a dreadful mess, but I’m fine.”

Guido leaned over and hugged me. “You look great. Any clues as to who attacked you?”

I shook my head. “Detective Spangler told me to think of my five senses to see if they’d trigger a memory. I didn’t see, hear, feel, or taste anything, other than the blanket that was thrown over my head. It smelled awful.” Could it have come from someone’s trunk or Emily Thompson’s barn? “I remembered smelling an aftershave or cologne as I entered the room. Now all I have to do is come in contact with everyone in Louiston to see if I recognize that scent on someone. It could be one used by half of the people in town, so it might not be a viable clue.”

Nita frowned. “I can’t believe someone did that to you. Are we going to have to do a background check on potential customers before we meet with them?”

“We’ll have to be careful about who we meet and where in the future. If in doubt, we’ll go in pairs.”

“If this is linked to one of the murders, you must have riled someone,” Guido said. “Next time you need to go somewhere that might be questionable, call me and I’ll go along. You can’t be too careful.”

“Thanks, Guido, you’re a gem.”

“Laura, have you recorded somewhere everything you’ve learned so far?” Nita asked. “It might be a good idea to list everyone you’ve questioned and what your conclusions are so you have a record of it. That way, if anything—”

“You mean if anything happens to me, you’ll have a record of what I learned?”

“Well…”

“You’re right.” I held up a spiral notebook. “I made a few notes earlier, but I plan to add to it. Aunt Kit, I’m leaving it here for you to find if something happens to me.”

Aunt Kit’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s supposed to comfort me? I knew nothing good was going to come from you getting involved in this. I’m not going to let you out of my sight until this whole issue is resolved.”