Chapter 13

 

 

Dorothy and I made our move toward the car. I held her arm as we hurried away from our hiding spot. Our escape plan was short lived though. At the same time, the men headed around the side of the house. Dorothy and I came face to face with the men.

“Are you Annie Jensen?” the man asked.

I stared at him, momentarily speechless. If I didn’t hurry up he would think that I was Annie Jensen. Whoever that was.

“No,” I mumbled.

Did he believe me? Who was Annie? Was it the woman who lived here? Did I finally have her name? At least that would help me with the investigation. Jake didn’t want to tell me her name, but I had my ways of finding out. Wouldn’t he be surprised?

“Is Annie home?” the other man asked.

“I have no idea. I’m just selling magazines,” I said.

Again I used that line. But hey, as long as it worked why not use it, right? They stood there staring at me for a bit as if they didn’t believe me.

“She can show you her ID if you don’t believe her,” Dorothy said.

What? Why had she offered that? I really didn’t want them to have my name and address. Also, I should ask them who they were before I gave any identification. After all, they hadn’t asked for it specifically yet.

“Who are you anyway? Perhaps I shouldn’t show you my ID.”

At the same time the men pulled out their wallets and flashed badges. That meant nothing considering they’d moved so quickly and I hadn’t gotten a good look at them. Dorothy used her Walgreens shopping card all the time as a badge. Well, I supposed she’d learned that from me.

“My ID is in my car,” I said, hoping that they would just let it go.

“If you wouldn’t mind showing it to us that would be great,” the taller of the two men said.

Dorothy and I set off toward my car. We’d have to leave Dorothy’s car parked along the street and come back for it later. There was no way I’d get in the car with her driving. The men walked behind us. Adrenaline raced through me at the thought of what we were about to do. It would be a miracle if we actually pulled it off.

“I’ll show you my identification too,” Dorothy said with a smile.

The men remained expressionless. When we reached the car, I moved around the front to the driver’s side while Dorothy opened the passenger side door. Dorothy and I opened the car doors at the same time. Signaling to her, I nodded.

We leapt into action. Dorothy slid into the passenger seat and I jumped behind the steering wheel. When they realized what we were doing the men ran toward the car, yelling for us to stop. I cranked the engine and shoved it into drive.

“Go, go, go,” Dorothy screamed.

Until now I hadn’t thought about the fact that the men could just trace my license plate number. They’d know where to find me. I supposed I’d worry about that when or if it happened.

“Are they back there?” I asked without looking in the rearview mirror.

I was almost afraid to find out.

Dorothy strained to see over her shoulder. “They’re not coming.”

Releasing a deep breath, I temporarily relaxed, but I knew it wouldn’t last.

“Thank goodness. Maybe they’ll stay away,” I said. “What do you think they wanted with the woman? Apparently, Annie Jensen was her name.”

“I don’t know, but I’m just glad they were asking for her instead of me.”

“Maybe I should’ve shown them the ID after all,” I said.

“These peppermints aren’t going to cut it, Maggie,” Dorothy said. “I think we need something stronger. We need to stop for ice cream.”

I glanced over at her. “Ice cream? We’ve just been running from strange men. They could be with the FBI for all I know and now you want ice cream?”

“Well, why not?” Dorothy asked.

I sighed. “I suppose it’s a good idea. There’s a Dairy Queen right up the road.”

A few seconds later we pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot. When my phone rang and I glanced at the number, I knew I was in trouble.

“Oh, no, it’s Jake. Maybe I shouldn’t answer,” I said.

“He’ll just come find you. Go ahead and get it over with.” Dorothy moved her knitting needles in rhythmic sync.

I picked up the phone and tried to sound casual. “Hey, gorgeous.”

Okay, that sounded suspicious. I was terrible at this.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

At least I could be honest and say I was getting ice cream. That sounded innocent enough.

“Dorothy’s with me,” I added.

She waved her hands. “Don’t put me at the scene of the crime.”

What crime? There had been no crime. How long would it take before Jake mentioned Abby and the incident with the jacket? And maybe the men looking for Annie Jensen had already tracked down my license plate number. No, that was too soon.

“What are you up to right now? I guess you know I got a call from Abby,” Jake said.

I remained silent for a moment, trying to figure out exactly the right thing to say.

“I assumed she would call you,” I said. “She’s a rat.”

“What were you doing, Maggie?” Frustration filled Jake’s words.

“You know what I’m doing, Jake. Don’t play dumb.” I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel.

“Oh, I know what you’re doing. I just want you to tell me exactly what you did,” he said.

“My client has asked me to look into Luke’s murder. Now I think the second murder is connected.”

“He wanted to confirm his wife was cheating and now he wants to confirm that she didn’t murder her lover? I have to tell you, Maggie, that sounds awfully suspicious. Maybe I should check into your client even more.”

“Maybe you should. No, wait. Don’t do that. He’s completely innocent. He was nowhere near the area where either of the murders occurred. You need to look into the neighbor, Annie Jensen,” I said with a click of my tongue.

Sure, I sounded a bit smug. I was proud that I’d gotten her name. Jake would know that I had legitimate investigative skills. I’d lucked into getting her name, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Annie Jensen seemed really upset about what happened,” Jake said.

“Oh, and you believe that? I could see right through her act. She was into something, Jake. Where was she the whole time we were in the lawyer’s office?” I asked. “She was probably getting rid of evidence.”

Dorothy stretched her hand out, offering me a peppermint. I waved it off. She’d probably force it in my mouth soon.

“Why would she come back if she’d already gone?” Jake asked.

“I think she came back maybe to kill us,” I said.

“She said she ran out of the building when she saw you. If she wanted to kill you she would’ve done it then,” Jake said.

“Well, I just know she’s guilty of something,” I said.

“I know you’re trying to help, Maggie, but I don’t want you to jeopardize this case.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said.

“I’m getting another call. I have to let you go, but I’ll see you soon,” Jake said.

“I knew he wouldn’t buy it,” I said when I ended the call.

“What was that about?” Dorothy asked.

“He doesn’t want me investigating anything. Seems like he thinks I’ll mess up anything they have going on.”

“Well, he has a valid point, don’t you think?”

I frowned. “Whose side are you on, Dorothy?”

“Yours of course, dear.”

Trying to forget the call, Dorothy and I headed into the Dairy Queen. Dorothy would get her usual vanilla and I wanted a chocolate peanut butter something. Dorothy and I devoured our treats in silence. We were too busy to talk. Our treats made things momentarily better, but when the ice cream was gone, the feeling of dread returned. Plus, now I had a huge chocolate stain on my shirt from melting ice cream. It had been good while it lasted though.

“What’s next?” Dorothy asked, wiping her mouth with the paper napkin.

“I think we should visit one of Luke’s friends. I have to know more about Luke and find out any connection between the murders.”

Luke’s friend worked at a horse farm about a thirty-minute drive from where we were currently. Dorothy and I hurried back to the car and headed toward the farm. It was kind of odd that we were so close to town, yet in an area that was full of trees and fields for horses. We pulled down a long gravel driveway. On the left a white house stood back from the road just a bit. I drove down the dirt path toward the house. A black fence with a few horses grazing behind it was on the right.

“Be careful. There are alligators and snakes out here.” Dorothy pointed.

“The alligators wouldn’t come up here, would they?” I asked.

“Look at all the trees. There are plenty of places to hide,” Dorothy said with a wave of her hand.

I pulled to a stop. “Why don’t we just go together to the door and we’ll keep an eye out for each other.”

“All right, but just be careful and keep a lookout,” she warned me again.

We’d barely made it up to the house when I felt someone watching us. I looked to my left and saw a man staring at us. He didn’t offer to speak, but instead he eyed us up and down. This was extremely awkward.

Was I supposed to say something? I guessed I had to speak first since it didn’t seem he was talking any time soon. We both stared at each other. If he wasn’t going to talk, I would. I held Dorothy by the arm and we walked over to the man. He still looked skeptical, as if he wanted us to leave.

“Good afternoon,” I said. “Do you live here?”

“I own the place. What do you want?” he asked with a gruff voice.

I could see this would go well.

“My name is Maggie Thomas.” I gestured. “This is my assistant Dorothy Raye and we’re looking into a murder investigation.”

He quirked an eyebrow as if he didn’t believe us.

“I don’t know anything about any murders,” he said with anger in his voice.

“I know you don’t have anything to do with the murder, but I know that someone who works here is friends with the murdered man.”

The look on his face let me know that he knew exactly what I was talking about. Why he was so angry about it I wasn’t sure. But I would crack him if it was the last thing I did.

“I’m looking for Aaron Dennison. Does he work here?”

I wasn’t sure if the farm owner would answer me honestly or not. If he was this hostile, then why would he offer to give me any information?

“Yeah, I work here,” a male voice said from over my shoulder.

I whirled around to see a young guy standing nearby.

“Never mind grumpy old Davis. He’s still like he was in his drill sergeant days.”

I cast a glance at Davis. Yeah, his stare was still focused on us. Aaron had dark hair that reached to his shoulders. He wore loose-fitting jeans and a white T-shirt. Sweat dripped from his forehead and soaked the front of his shirt.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

“We came to ask you questions about Luke. We heard that you were friends with him. Any information that you can give us would be very beneficial,” I said.

“Are you a cop working on the case?” Aaron asked.

I’d leave out the part about being a private detective, but whatever.

“We’re working the case.” That wasn’t a lie, just avoiding his question. Deceptive, yes.

“Yeah, we were friends. I was surprised to hear what happened to him. He worked for the attorney, Adam Boles. He was killed too, right?” Aaron asked.

“Yes, that’s the right,” I said.

“Do you really think their murders are somehow related?” Aaron asked.

“My guess would be yes considering they worked together. Do you have any idea why anyone would want them dead?” I asked.

The other man still watched us. He seemed as if he was uncomfortable with the questions. Yet he didn’t tell the guy to stop answering my questions.

“I really can’t think of anything,” Aaron said.

“Did you know Brigette Whitmore?” I asked.

“I met her a few times,” Aaron said.

“What do you think of her? Do you think she was involved with the murders?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, they seemed to get along well. Even though I didn’t think they had much in common.”

Not having things in common wouldn’t be a reason for murder. There had to be some connection other than the fact that Luke had worked for the lawyer.

“Did Luke mention anyone following him, or someone upset with him?” I asked.

“As a matter of fact, he said someone was following him. They drove a black car.”

Immediately anxiety rushed through me. A flash of the black car I’d seen popped in my head. I had hoped maybe that was just my imagination, but now after the description Aaron gave, I was beginning to wonder if the person had driven by on purpose. Of course, now that made me a bit panicked. It could have been the killer.

“Do you know anyone named Annie Jensen?” I asked.

He frowned. “The name sounds familiar.”

I wasn’t going to tell him exactly who it was. Maybe he would say no, he didn’t recognize her, just based on the fact that she was Brigette’s neighbor. However, if I told him maybe it would spark a memory. Okay, if he didn’t remember right away I would mention the fact that Annie was the neighbor. With any luck that would trigger something. I was putting too much thought into this. I needed to just go with the first thing that popped into my head.

“It seems as if he mentioned someone named Annie before, but I can’t remember why.” Aaron pulled a rag from his back pocket and wiped his face.

Annie was a common name so maybe it was nothing. I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much.

“Well, if you happen to remember could you give me a call?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure, no problem,” he said, stuffing the rag back into his pocket.

The farm owner watched Dorothy and I until we pulled out of the drive. I hoped to get a call from Aaron, but I wouldn’t count on it.