Real Murder (Lovers in Crime Mystery Book 2) (10 page)

Chapter Eleven

“Mr. Thornton, are you okay? Can you hear me, Mr. Thornton?”

It all came back to him in an instant. Irving screeching and running away.

Dolly Houseman lying in the middle of her living room covered in blood. The pool of blood forming under her. The streaks of blood across the walls and furniture.

The knife coming down toward him.

Then, the lights had gone out.

Joshua jumped up onto his elbows. He felt a hand grasp his shoulder to ease him down. “Easy, Mr. Thornton. EMTs are on their way. So is Sheriff Sawyer.”

Joshua recognized the voice.

Hunter Gardner.

His vision cleared as he focused in on Hunter kneeling next to him. “Are you okay, Mr. Thornton? Do you remember what happened?”

Joshua looked beyond Hunter to Miss Houseman.

Then, he turned back to Hunter, who was gazing at  him. Spotting the dark hoodie that Hunter was clad in, he   remembered. The assailant’s jacket was identical to the one Hunter was wearing.

“Did you see who did this, Mr. Thornton?” Hunter was asking. “Looks like you’re pretty lucky.”

“Josh?” Cameron called out while running in through  the front door. Carrying his medical bag, Tad was directly  behind her. Cameron practically pushed Hunter out of the way to get to him. “What happened, Josh?”

Instead of answering, Joshua could only look at Hunter in his dark hoodie.

“I was coming to see Tracy when I saw some guy come running out of the house into the street,” Hunter told her. “Irving was attached to his head. I almost hit the guy with my car. He stopped and grabbed Irving off his head with both hands and hurled him down onto the hood of my car and kept on running. Then, Irving ran back in here. The front door was open so I followed him and found  this.” He gestured at the dead body. “Then I found Mr. Thornton under the bookcase. I thought he was dead until I heard him moaning.”

“Did you get a look at the guy?” Joshua sat up to ask Hunter only to find Tad, who was shining his pen light into his eyes, blocking his view.

“No, the hoodie was pulled up over his head,” Hunter said. “After throwing Irving down, he took off down the street and turned onto Fifth toward Indiana.”

“No! Why? Who—” Cameron got up and went over to where Dolly Houseman was laying on her stomach and covered with stab wounds. “Who could do this to an old woman? What kind—”

“What’s going on here?” Curt Sawyer shouted when he came through the front door. “Is this some sort of party?”

“Dad!” Tracy ran through the door.

Curt Sawyer blocked her way to Joshua. “You need to wait outside, Tracy.”

“Tracy!” Hunter got up and went to her. “I was coming to see you when—”

“Tell her outside.” Curt ushered Hunter and Tracy out the door. “Don’t go anywhere until we get your statements.”

Joshua was peering around Tad to where Cameron  was checking Dolly Houseman’s body for a pulse. When  Irving came near her, Cameron scooped up the cat and backed away from the scene. Wordlessly, she shook her head at the sheriff to communicate that Dolly Houseman was dead. She stroked the big cat while they gazed down at the elderly woman.

“Do you hurt anywhere, Josh?” Tad was asking him.

“I’m in better shape than Dolly.” When Joshua pushed the pen light away, he noticed blood on his sleeve going all the way up to his shoulder. Then he noticed blotches going up his leg to his rump where he landed when the killer tackled him. “Look at all this blood.” He pointed out the spray pattern across the wall. “It was a blood bath.”

“She had to have been stabbed in a major artery or vein.” Tad put the pen light away and offered his arm. “Judging from the height of the blood spatter, most likely the jugular.”  He glanced around while helping Joshua to his feet. “Doesn’t look like anything was taken that I can see.”

“Our guy has to be covered in blood, too,” Joshua said. “Between the murder and the fight we got into, he had to have gotten blood on him.” With relief, he recalled that Hunter had no blood on his clothes.

“Well if you got into a fight with the killer, there had to  be some transference.” Tad noted the blood and tears in Joshua’s clothes. “That means you’re wearing evidence. Take one of the crime scene investigators back across the street with you and get processed so that we can catch this creep.”

“Will do, boss.” Joshua took Cameron’s arm. “Are you okay?” he asked her in a soft voice.

She cast a quick glance into his eyes before turning her attention back to Irving, who was chewing on one of his paws while she held him. “I’m okay.” She coughed to cover up the sob in her voice.

“I don’t believe in animals being so smart,” Joshua stroked the top of Irving’s head, “but if he hadn’t come running in here …” He stopped when he noticed Irving shaking his paw before putting it back into his mouth. Something was hanging from his claw that was driving the cat crazy. “What have you got there?” To Joshua’s surprise, Irving  let him grasp the paw to examine it. Long strands of dark hair had become caught in the cat’s claws. “Tad, come here and take a look at this.”

“What is it?” Cameron asked while holding Irving still.

“Hunter said that Irving was attached to the man’s head when he went running out into the street,” Joshua said. “He had the hood up, but I think Irving managed to yank some of the hair out of his head.”

Tad was peering closely at the strands of hair caught on the cat’s claw. “They’re too long to be his own.”  He glanced at Joshua. “And too dark to be yours or Dolly’s.”  He knelt down next to his medical bag and removed an evidence envelope. With a pair of tweezers, he removed the strands of hair from Irving’s claw. As soon as it was gone, Irving shook his paw and uttered a sound that was a mixture between a meow and a growl. Not wanting him to disturb any possible evidence, Cameron tightened her grip on him when he tried to wiggle out of her grasp.

Tad and Joshua examined the hair in the bag. “He managed to get a full lock, follicle and all,” Tad said. “It may be optimistic, but I think we might have his DNA.” He sealed the envelope and marked it.

“Problem may be in proving that Irving got that hair from the killer and not someone who happened to be walking by,” Joshua said.

“It’s still a start.” With a toss of her head, Cameron  gestured for Joshua to step outside of the house to allow the officers to process the scene. “I need to get Irving out of here before he wears out his welcome.”

“Looks like it’s our lucky day.” Tad caught their attention from where he was kneeling near Dolly’s head. He snapped a picture of what had caught his attention.

“What did you find?” Joshua turned back to him.

Still clutching Irving, Cameron waited in the background as close as she dared to get.

Tad pointed his finger toward Dolly’s hand. A gold chain with a pendant was wrapped around her fingers. “The clasp is broken.”

“She yanked it off her killer,” Cameron said.

Carefully, Tad removed the chain from the elderly  woman’s hand and dropped it into an evidence bag. He held it up to the light. “There’s hair on it.”

“Same color as the hair Irving got?” Cameron asked the two men who were studying the find on the other side of the room.

“No,” Tad said, “this hair is silver, like Josh’s.” He turned to Joshua.

“The killer tackled me before I could get close enough to examine the body.”

“I know,” Tad said with a grin. “The hair matches you, but not the pendant. This looks too girlish for you.”

Joshua took the bag and examined the hair himself. ‘”It’s also three times longer than my hair.”

“The hair Irving got off the killer was dark,” Cameron said. “But that hair is silver. How many killers were there, Josh?”

“I only got into a fight with one,” Joshua said. “And  the guy doused the lights so I never saw him. I couldn’t tell you what color his hair was.”

“Well, you two and Irving need to get out of the crime scene.” Snatching the evidence bag out of Joshua’s hand, Tad pointed to the door.

As soon as Joshua stepped outside, Tracy raced up to  escort him home. Joshua got a forensic officer to go with  him and left Cameron to collect as much information as she could from those working the scene. He saw that Hunter was being questioned by Sheriff Curt Sawyer.

Cameron caught up with Tad when he came out of the house after ordering the morgue attendants to prepare Dolly Houseman for transport to his morgue.

“Awful lot of blood on the scene,” she said to him.

Tad’s face was pale. His eyes met Cameron. “I’ve known Dolly my whole life,” he said with a husky voice.

“I’m sorry, Tad,” she said in a low tone. “I’ve known her less than a day, but we did become friends. I promised her that I would find out who killed one of her girls, and now I’m  going to find out who killed her.”

“You’re out of your jurisdiction, Cameron,” Curt said from behind her. “I hate to be territorial, but this is our case.”

“Don’t you find it to be a pretty big coincidence that on the same day that Josh and I came to talk to you about  Ava Tucker’s murder, her madam, who asked for my help in finding Ava’s killer, gets offed?”

The sheriff planted his hands on his hips. “For the sake  of my professional relationship with your husband, I hope you’re not suggesting something, Gates.”

“Just saying,” she replied. “Don’t tell me that you don’t find the timing interesting. Here’s another coincidence. Mike Gardner has been missing for close to twenty years. He told Josh that he was investigating the murder of a prostitute. Dolly confirmed that he was investigating Ava’s murder.  Now, one day after his body is found, Dolly gets murdered  in her own home.” She asked the sheriff, “Was there any sign of a break in?”

“Not that we can see.”

“That’s not such a big clue,” Tad said. “I know for a fact that Dolly didn’t lock her doors.”

“It has to be someone who knew that Dolly had managed to get me interested in the case,” Cameron said.

“Not necessarily,” Curt said. “She was an old woman who lived alone and didn’t lock her doors. That makes her easy pickings for a kid out to rob her.”

“She was stabbed multiple times,” Tad said. “Clearly it was overkill. That points to a crime of passion. Not your usual type of murder that occurs during a break-in.”

“Did you find the murder weapon on the scene?” Cameron asked both of them.

“Yes,” Curt said, “it appeared to be a butcher knife from the victim’s kitchen. Forensics is still working the scene. If we’re lucky, there will be fingerprints on it.”

“Weapon of convenience,” she said. “Or the killer brought his own weapon but opted for the knife.”

“Gates?” Curt asked.

“Yes, Sheriff?”

“Did you hear me say that this is my case?”

“Yes, I heard you,” Cameron replied before turning to Tad. “When will you have the autopsy done?”

“I’ll get on it first thing in the morning.”

“Then I’ll be calling you,” she said.

“Hey, Chief,” one of the deputies trotted up to them. “You’re maybe going to want to see this.”

Cameron didn’t hesitate to follow the sheriff back inside the house. The deputy led them into the living room where Dolly Houseman’s body was now covered with a white sheet.

“The morgue guys noticed it when they started to move the body.” The deputy knelt down onto all fours and pointed under the sofa. “We didn’t touch it. We thought you’d  want to see it. She doesn’t strike me as one to carry a cell phone.”

Cameron knelt down next to the sheriff to peer under the sofa. A smart phone rested on the floor just out of plain sight.

The sheriff cocked his head to ask Cameron, “Is it the victim’s?”

Cameron looked up to see Tad standing over them. “Did Dolly have a cell phone?”

Tad shook his head. “Dolly wasn’t into all that. Look around. No computers, no e-readers, none of that stuff.”

“It’s not Josh’s.” Sitting up, Cameron noticed that the  broken coffee table was directly behind her. “It must have  fallen out of the killer’s pocket while he was fighting with Josh.”

Instructing the deputy to bag the cell phone for  evidence, the sheriff rose to his feet and offered his hand to help Cameron up. “This may be an easy case after all.”

“Unless that phone is a burner,” Cameron said. “If so, we might get lucky and be able to trace it by the serial number to where the killer bought it if he used a credit card.”

“Gates—” The sheriff once again tried to remind her that it was not her case when he was interrupted by a man’s scream from out on the street. “You better take Irving home before Mr. Grant has a stroke.”

The scent of chicken cordon bleu and the light hollandaise sauce wafted into the living room from the kitchen to remind Cameron that she hadn’t eaten her second dinner yet. The grandfather clock in the living room announced that it   was eleven o’clock. Too late for dinner, but certainly a good time for a little snack.

The scent was enough to make Irving wiggle out of her arms. Running, he hit the hardwood floors in the foyer and scurried down the hallway to the kitchen.

Expecting to find Joshua taking advantage of his daughter’s cooking, Cameron pressed through the swinging door to find Tracy and Hunter Gardner at the kitchen table in the midst of a lip lock.

Backing out of the kitchen, Cameron cleared her throat loudly before stepping into the room.

Tracy and Hunter parted like they had been hit with a bolt of lightning. In an effort to put distance between them, Tracy rushed around behind the kitchen counter. “I didn’t know anyone was up.” She yanked open the dishwasher.

“I smelled the chicken and remembered that with all of the excitement none of us ate,” Cameron explained while  noticing that there was a dirty plate in front of Hunter.

“Uh,” Tracy stammered, “some of us did. Dad wasn’t hungry, but … you know Donny. There was only one breast left after Donny was done and I just now gave it to Hunter.  I didn’t think you’d be hungry.”

A hint of fear came to Hunter’s eyes while he looked up at Cameron. “Tracy offered. If I had known it was yours—”

“Actually, I’m hungry for milk and cookies,” Cameron  interrupted him. It was a lie when she uttered it, but once  she got the words out of her mouth, she realized that some Oreos dunked in milk did appeal to her.

Tracy hurriedly took a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with milk while Cameron got the package of cookies. When Tracy tried to remove a few cookies to put on the plate, Cameron refused the offer. Tucking the whole package under her arm, she took the glass of milk. When she turned around, she saw that Hunter was sitting straight up in his seat with  his back to her. He looked afraid to move. “Have a nice  evening,” she said with a wicked grin.

“You too,” Tracy said.

“Good night, Hunter,” Cameron made a point of saying to him.

He refused to look at her. “Good night, Ma’am.”

Upstairs, Cameron found Joshua stretched out on the bed with an ice pack pressed against the top of his head. With his eyes shut, she was uncertain if he was asleep or not. While she had been prying information from the sheriff and his deputies across the street, Joshua was being processed  by the forensics team. They had taken his clothes and scoured his body for pieces of physical evidence. They had even clipped his fingernails and run a fine-toothed comb through his hair in search of anything that might have connected them to the killer. It was a long process. After they left, Joshua had showered, put on his bathrobe, and laid down on the bed to relax.

“Cookie?” she whispered to him. Removing one from the package, she stepped over Admiral’s sleeping form on the floor next to her side of the bed and crawled into it.

Irving jumped up onto the bed. Seeing Joshua, he paused as if surprised before creeping up to take a closer look at him.

“No, thanks.” Joshua opened his eyes, lifted the ice pack from his head, and sat up.

Taking that as an invitation, Irving pressed his body up against Joshua’s side and stretched out against him.

“If we don’t look like an old couple.” Sitting cross-legged next to him, she dunked the cookie into her glass of milk. “The two of us with our concussions.” Her attempt at a smile was weak.

“I don’t have a concussion. Just a bruise.” Placing the ice pack on the nightstand, Joshua offered her an equally weak smile. He even felt sorry for Irving, who was curled up against him and resting his head on his thigh. “I didn’t know you knew Miss Houseman that well.”

“I only officially met her today.” She pulled out the cookie to check on how soft it was from the milk. Deciding that it was ripe, she popped the soggy goodie into her mouth.

Joshua took the glass from her and set it on the nightstand next to his side of the bed. He then reached across to her and eased her down next to him. Welcoming his touch when he brushed her hair across her forehead, she rested her head on his shoulder.

Not enjoying being wedged between them, Irving  scurried to the foot of the bed and jumped up onto the  dresser. He shook out his fur as if to express his displeasure.

“She was a feisty old bird,” Cameron told Joshua, “Just like I aspire to be when I’m her age. It had to be Ava and Mike’s killer.”

“It’s quite a big jump to assume that the same person who murdered Ava killed her son, Mike.”

“Who else could it be?” Cameron lifted her head to peer up at him.

“Why kill Dolly now?” Joshua asked. “Mike was killed eighteen years ago.”

“But his patrol car was found yesterday,” she reminded him. “Theoretically, that woke up the beast from the bottom of the lake. Did Sawyer tell you that the superintendent from the West Virginia State Police, Henry MacRae, came all the way up from Charleston to check on the case?”

“I know Hank MacRae,” Joshua said. “He’s very big.”

“He’s an idiot,” Cameron said.

“Because he brought up Nick’s murder?”

She looked up at him. “Sawyer told you.”

“Jan told me.” He brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I don’t think MacRae knew Nick Gates was your husband.”

“Nick was killed by a drunk driver.”

“Who left the scene and was never caught,” Joshua said.

“Do you—”

“No,” he said firmly, “there’s no connection between Nick and Mike. Mike was shot.”

“Which proves MacRae is an idiot,” she said. “If he was  so brilliant, why did he jump on trying to tie Mike’s murder here to Nick’s in Pittsburgh?”

“Because he is exploring various possibilities to come up with a solution,” he said. “Just like you. Don’t you think it’s a big jump from Mike’s murder to Dolly Houseman?” he said.

“Dolly told me that Mike had met with her to discuss Ava’s murder and told her that he was investigating it.”

“Did she know that Mike was Ava’s son?” Joshua asked.

“That, she didn’t mention.” She sat up. “Maybe Ava told her.” She bent over him where he was propped up on the pillows at the head of the bed.

Joshua shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe … but would Ava have told Dolly if it was a family secret?” He reached up toward her throat to where her shirt was buttoned up.

“Jan said Dolly has been talking about her girl’s murder for years, trying to get justice for her.”

“True.” He unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt. “She kept saying ‘her girl.’ I thought she was senile.”

“If Dolly knew Mike was Ava’s son, don’t you think it’s possible that she initiated his investigation into the murders—especially when she found out that he was a deputy?” She glanced down to where Joshua had unbuttoned her shirt down below her bra.

A smile crossed Joshua’s face.

With a wicked grin, she threw her leg over his midsection and straddled him. “Maybe it was Dolly who told him the truth about being adopted and Ava being his mother. Then, because he was a police officer, he went after his mother’s killer and that was what got him killed?”

“Anything is possible.” Joshua reached up to slip her shirt down off her shoulders. “However, with both Dolly and Ava dead, and Mike, how can we know if that is the link in all three murders?”

“Let me think about that.” She looked down at her open shirt and where he was eyeing her. The corners of her lips curled in anticipation. “What are you doing?”

“Proving that I’m being truthful to you,” he said while directing his gaze at her breasts. He grasped her by the back of her neck and pulled her down to kiss her passionately on the lips.

“Oh, I love a man who’s not afraid of facing the truth.” She reached up to turn off the light.