“What’s your brilliant plan, Boss?” Calypso’s eyes sparkled as she joined me at a table in front of the ice cream parlor. The young woman had heard countless stories about my prior investigative exploits. Despite that, she was all in for whatever I had in mind.
To be honest, I would have rather seen fear, or at least reluctance, in her eyes. Instead, there was excitement. The idea coalescing in my head was dangerous. The thought of putting my young friend in harm’s way turned my blood cold. She’d come along this far, though.
It was too late to turn back now.
“I need you to call Jax right now. Say you want him to install shelves in your spare bedroom or a custom bookcase. Something that will get him to come to you.”
“Okay, why?”
“Because I need him out of his house so I can have a look around.”
She stopped. Her mouth was open and her tongue out, ready to take the first lick of her ice cream cone. Her free hand had tightened into a fist.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am. I need evidence connecting him to the crime. Like the rifle he used. While I’m doing that, I need you to get a good look at his arm. See if there are any remains of the tattoo. I’m sure he got rid of it as soon as he could. Maybe there’s some trace ink he missed.”
“Okay, this is getting crazier with every word that’s coming out of your mouth. You’re not seriously considering breaking in, are you? You may be buddies with a lot of cops, but I don’t think they’d be okay with you breaking the law.”
She was right, of course. One hundred percent.
This was one of those times when I needed to think long and hard about whether the end justified the means. Jax and I had a history. It wasn’t a good one. If I went to the police with my concerns, but without evidence, that could open the door and allow him to respond by saying I had something against him and should leave police work to the professionals.
I couldn’t let that scenario come to fruition. I had allies on the force. They believed in me. At this point in the investigation, I owed it to them to bring them something solid. Mere conjecture wouldn’t cut it.
“That’s why I’m not going to do anything illegal. Assuming everything goes to plan, that is.” I looked Calypso in the eye. It was decision time for her. Like Jerry Orbach’s character in Disney’s animated Alladin King of Thieves, I needed to know if she was in or out.
“I don’t think I like the sound of this.” She leaned back, her earlier smile now morphed into a frown. “This isn’t going to turn into some Scooby-Doo scenario, is it? I mean, with them, everything always goes wrong and they all start running around like crazy people.”
“First off, no, this isn’t going to involve some plan as complicated as a Rube Goldberg machine. It’s simple.” I spooned a mouthful of ice cream into my mouth, the sweet taste invigorating me. “Besides, at the end of the day, Scoob and the gang always caught the bad guy.”
“Can’t argue with that, I guess.” She leaned forward again. “Tell me the rest of your plan. With an emphasis on staying within the confines of the law.”
She was in. And despite my desire to see Jax in handcuffs, I couldn’t betray her. No, this had to be done on the level.
“The first step is for you and Jax to confirm a time for him to come by. I’ll station myself close to his house so I can see him leave. When he makes it to your place, you need to keep him occupied for at least an hour. While you’re doing that, I have a particular set of skills that—”
“OMG, did you really say that you have ‘a particular set of skills’?”
“Yes. Because I do.” I wasn’t going to tell her about my lock-picking skills. The less she knew about that, the better. “You do your part keeping him busy. I’ll do my part getting onto the property without being seen and having a look around.”
“And then what? Are you going to have a look through his windows in the hope that he just happened to leave a murder weapon out in plain sight?” She chomped off a large portion of her ice cream cone, as if to emphasize her skepticism.
“No need to be such a contrarian.” I held up my phone. “This baby has an amazing camera on it. I’ll be looking for a gun that fits the profile. If I find one, I’ll take pictures. With a little luck, I’ll even be able to use the zoom feature to get a serial number. Then, I’ll make a stealthy exit and head straight for the police. I’ll be long gone before he gets back.”
She took another bite of her ice cream. Her gaze never wavered while she worked her way through the snack.
I didn’t look away, either.
“What if the guns are locked up somewhere? Don’t tell me that thing’s got X-ray vision.”
“Good question.” It was, so I used the response to give me a second to come up with an answer. “I’ll look for bullets or anything else that might tie him to the scene. He has a pole barn where he does his carpentry work. I’ll check that. Maybe the trash, too. All you have to do is text me when he leaves. That will be my ten-minute warning to get outta Dodge.”
Calypso worked her way through the remainder of her cone. I kept silent while she looked for holes in the plan. Eventually, she crunched down on the last bit. Then, she wiped her hands with a paper napkin. I couldn’t help getting the feeling she was milking the situation.
I needed her so I kept still.
“Fine. YOLO and all that, right? But no lawbreaking. What’s his number?”
While Calypso scheduled the visit, I texted Brent. He and Jax knew each other. It seemed absurd to me, but I needed to know if they’d exchanged any words harsh enough to rise to the level of murder.
Assuming he was the shooter, it was far more likely that he’d had some dispute with Ollie. One that somehow led to him taking the officer’s life. It was dispiriting that so many people seemed to solve disputes these days by picking up a gun instead of picking up the phone.
I was entering some notes into my phone when Calypso signed off on the call.
“All set for two tomorrow afternoon. I hope that’ll work.” She sighed. “And that this doesn’t go sideways on us.”
“It won’t. Promise. Unless his fortunes have changed recently, he can’t afford to turn down business. And you gotta admit, you could use some shelving in your office. One day soon, you’re going to step on those stacks of paper on the floor.” I waggled my eyebrows in an attempt to lighten the mood.
“Truth.” She raised her index finger. “That means this could be a business expense. You can reimburse me when the project’s finished. Or, better yet, pay for it yourself.”
God love Calypso. She was sharp, sometimes too sharp for my own good.
“Sure. I can get on board with that. You realize that if Jax is, in fact, the murderer, he likely won’t be available to fulfill the work order.”
“I’ll get somebody else to do the work. If I’m gonna put my neck on the line, I will get those shelves.”
“In that case, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I got to my feet. “Time to pick Brent’s brain to see if he can think of any reason why Jax would want to harm him.”
“Good luck with that.” She crumpled up her napkin into a ball. “I’m going home to figure out what kind of shelves I want and where I want them.”
A few minutes later, I arrived at the library. Upon entering, the clerk at the checkout counter started humming the tune to “Here Comes the Bride.”
“Hey, I’ve got a few days of freedom left. Know if there are any hot bachelors at the moment?” I couldn’t wait to be married to Brent. That didn’t mean I couldn’t have some fun between now and then.
“There’s a single guy in the director’s office. You might want to check him out. I hear he’s engaged, though.” The woman grinned.
I rubbed my hands together. “I think I’ll do that.”
Strolling toward Brent’s office, I had to admit that my attempt at levity was for my benefit as much as anything else. Tomorrow, I was going to be taking some huge risks, to both my personal safety as well as my reputation. Any humor was welcome.
All possible leads, too.
My fiancé was staring at his computer screen, so I knocked on the metal doorframe. “I’m looking for the man of my dreams. Any idea where I might find him?”
He tossed his glasses on his desk. “I’m actually looking for the woman of my dreams. Take a seat. Maybe we can compare notes.”
“With an invitation like that, how can I say no?” I skipped to him and planted a big wet kiss on his cheek. I wanted to kiss him on the lips but decided I probably shouldn’t since we were in the workplace.
“To what do I owe this most welcome surprise?” God love the man, his cheeks were bright pink. He was in charge of the library. He was getting married in four days. Yet, a harmless peck on the cheek had him embarrassed.
It was adorable.
“I was in the neighborhood, so I wanted to stop by.” It was true. Kind of. After all, the ice cream parlor was only two blocks from the library.
“I appreciate the visit.” He pointed at the bandage covering the tattoo. “You okay?”
“Yeah. It’s a little something I got in the line of duty.” I told him about my conversation with Dix. “I need to do some research to see if Jax and Ollie had issues. To be thorough, I need to ask, have you had any problems with him?”
His cheeks drained of color. It was one thing for Brent to be considered a potential murder victim in the general sense. To be connected with a specific suspect? Well, that had scared my poor fiancé out of his mind.
“No, not that I know of.” Brent rubbed his chin. “He comes in here a couple of times a week to work on one of the computers. One time, I asked him why and he told me the Internet connection is way better here than at his home.”
That seemed harmless enough. And not unheard of. In rural Southern Indiana, one didn’t have to live too far from town for a connection to the Web to be nonexistent.
Jax lived at such a location.
“Anything else? Were there ever any problems with him taking too long at one of the stations or something like that?”
“I don’t remember any.” He shook his head, then stopped. “No, wait. There were a couple of times when some high school students were here to do research for a school project. Mr. Michaels wouldn’t give up his spot even though the kids had signed in and he’d exceeded his time limit for the session. I had to intervene.”
The library had six computer terminals with Internet connectivity that were available to the public. Normally, that was more than enough. From time to time, though, demand exceeded supply and people had to take turns. During those situations, patrons were required to use a sign-in sheet that capped the time of an individual session at sixty minutes.
Mediating a dispute over computer time didn’t seem like a reason for someone to resort to murder, but in today’s world, what did I know.
“Did things get out of control? You know, like tempers flaring or foul language being used?”
“No. Mr. Michaels whined and complained about being a taxpayer, which should give him priority over a bunch of kids, but that was about it. Both sides could have been more respectful toward each other, but it’s not like any threats were made. And definitely not toward me.”
“Hmm.” I tapped my index finger on the arm of the chair. Jax wanting Brent dead made no sense at all. I was missing something, like I was in a dark cave on a cloudy night. I could feel my way around, and something was there, but I couldn’t grasp the prize that had so far eluded me.
“What about outside of working hours. Did you ever cross swords, I don’t know, at the grocery store or the gas station?”
“I’ll be honest, I’ve always gotten this vibe that he didn’t care for me. I’m not the only one he’s grumpy with, though. You should see how impatient he gets when he has to wait in line at the copier.”
I could feel for someone waiting in line at a copier. Back in my high school days, I helped out Brent’s predecessor by completing mundane tasks. Two of those were filling the paper trays and fixing paper jams. Technology was way better now than it was during my teen years, but dealing with a misbehaving copy machine was frustrating, regardless of the year.
It appeared I was at a dead end. My time with Brent confirmed Jax could be as prickly as a porcupine. That didn’t make him a murderer, though. At least not where my fiancé was involved.
“Thanks for the info. I know you’re busy, so I’ll get out of your hair.” I got up to go.
“Any chance I’ll get to see you before Saturday?” Brent grinned. “Alone, that is.”
“You cheeky devil.” In response to his saucy invitation, I gave him a long kiss on the lips. The kind that left him breathless and cross-eyed. “Call me tomorrow night. You might get lucky and find me available.”
I sashayed my way out of his office with a wave over my shoulder. Once I was out of his field of vision, I made a beeline for the computer terminals.
The moment of flirting had given me a much-needed respite from the case. It was time to return to the investigation, though. As I took a seat, I had one goal in mind.
Find a reason why Jack Michaels would want Ollie Watson dead.