Red Julie (An Olivia Miller Mystery Book 2) (3 page)

Olivia wrapped her arms around him. “Me, too.”

“It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay,” Joe whispered, trying to convince them both.

Olivia nodded.

“I’ll see you at five.” Joe turned, but paused before crossing the lawn to his own house. “Liv, you do anything wrong by any chance?” he asked her.

Olivia looked at him puzzled.

Joe cocked his head to his right. Olivia turned to look. A dark car was coming down the lane. “Looks like an unmarked police car,” Joe told her. It stopped at the end of Olivia’s driveway.

A tall muscular man came around the front of the car. “Morning,” he said.

“Morning,” Olivia and Joe replied.

“I’m Detective Michaels.” He opened a leather wallet and flashed his badge at them. “Are you Olivia Miller?” he asked.

“Yes, I am,” Olivia replied.

“Sorry to bother you, but I’m just following up on the accident report you gave last night.”

“You were in an accident?” Joe asked, concerned.

“No, I saw an accident,” she said. “Well, I didn’t see it happen. I came on it afterwards. I was going to tell you about it tonight.”

“Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions, Ms. Miller?” the detective asked.

“No, I don’t mind. Would you like to come into the house?”

“No, thank you.” The man shook his head. “This should only take a few minutes.” He pulled out a notebook.

Olivia recounted what she had told the officer the night before.

“Did you notice anything unusual about the victim?”

“How do you mean?” Olivia asked.

“Did he say anything to you?”

Olivia shook her head. “No. Well…he was trying to say something. Tell me something. But he …there was blood in his mouth.” Olivia tensed up recalling what she had seen. Joe put his arm around her. “I couldn’t understand what he said. It was all just garbled.”

“You’re sure there was nothing you could make out?” the detective asked.

Olivia shook her head again. “Nothing. Sorry.”

The man wrote in his notebook. “Okay then. Thank you for your time. Sorry to bother you so early.” The detective shook their hands and went back to his car. He turned in Olivia’s driveway, backed out and drove away.

Olivia’s face was ashen.

“You okay?” Joe questioned.

She looked at Joe. “The man died at the scene.”

“Oh, no.” Joe looked down. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” He took her arm and walked her to her door.

At five, Joe stood in Olivia’s kitchen while she found her sandals and pulled them on. “I’m starving,” she announced. “Can’t wait to eat.”

They headed out the door. “Wait, I want to get my wallet.” Olivia turned back and grabbed it off the kitchen counter. Joe stood in the open doorway.

“What the hell?” he muttered. He was looking out at the road.

Olivia came up beside him to see what had Joe’s attention.

“Now what?” she asked when she saw what was outside. A police car had pulled up and parked beside her front lawn. An officer got out and started up her driveway. She and Joe looked at each other. Olivia sighed. They stepped out onto the walkway.

“Hello. I’m Officer Chapman. Are you Olivia Miller?” he asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“Ms. Miller, would you mind if I follow up with you on the accident you saw last night?’

Olivia’s face was stern. “Okay. But how many times do I have to answer these questions?”

The officer was polite. “We just sometimes need to follow up. It won’t take long.” He took out a small notebook. “Was the man conscious when you arrived on the scene, Ms. Miller?”

“Like I said to the detective this morning…”

The officer interrupted. “Detective?”

“The detective who came this morning,” Olivia told him.

“What was his name?”

Olivia and Joe looked at each other. Joe shook his head.

“I didn’t get his name.” Olivia thought for a moment. “Wait…it was…Michaels. Detective Michaels.”

“What did he say?” the officer asked.

“He asked about the accident. He asked me what the man said to me. Things like that.”

The officer looked from Olivia to Joe. “Would you excuse me for a minute?” He walked back to his patrol car and got in. He sat there for a while talking into his radio.

“What’s going on?” Olivia asked Joe.

“Not sure. But something isn’t right.”

The officer came back up the driveway. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” He hesitated. “Would you mind coming down to the station?”

“The station?” Olivia’s voice was high.

“What’s this about?” Joe asked.

“No need for concern. It will only take a little while,” the officer said. “The captain would like to have a word with you. Simply precautionary.”

“Precautionary?” Joe repeated.

Olivia looked pained. “Am I in some sort of trouble?”

“No, no. Nothing like that,” the officer responded. He hesitated again, almost said something else but thought better of it. “The captain will explain it all to you.” He smiled.

Olivia and Joe exchanged glances.

“What should I do?” Olivia asked Joe.

Joe looked at the officer. “Guess it can’t hurt to go down there. See what this is about. But I’m going along.”

The three of them got into the police car and headed to the headquarters.

“So much for our early dinner,” Joe complained.

“What do you mean you don’t have a Detective Michaels here?” Olivia demanded.

“It appears that the man who paid you a visit this morning is an imposter,” the captain informed them. “There is no record of a Detective Michaels at any of the departments in the area.”

Olivia let out a breath. “Could he have been a private investigator?”

“He should have identified himself as such,” the captain said. “There are private investigators working in the area, but we know them and have a fairly good relationship with them.”

“Couldn’t he have been from out of the area? Hired by someone not living around here?” Joe asked.

“Certainly possible. But PIs usually identify themselves appropriately. This man who paid you a visit? As far as we know, he is not a legitimate member of any law enforcement agency. And he could be brought in for impersonating a police officer,” the captain said. He directed his attention to Olivia.

“If he shows up again, refuse to speak with him. And as soon as you are away from him, call 911,” the captain urged. “Do not put yourself in danger by confronting him in any way.”

Olivia nodded.

“Ms. Miller…I hate to ask you…but would you be willing to speak with one of the state police detectives on Monday?”

“Is that necessary?” Joe asked.

“It would be most appreciated…because of a turn of events.”

Joe and Olivia looked puzzled.

“What do you mean?” Olivia asked.

The captain hesitated. His expression was serious. He cleared his throat. “The victim…the man who died at the scene. He had been shot.”

Olivia’s and Joe’s eyes widened.

The chief cleared his throat again and continued, “You couldn’t understand him because he…his tongue had been cut out of his mouth.”

Olivia gasped.

Joe shook his head. “Ugh, no,” he said.

Joe and Olivia skipped the restaurant. They picked up a pizza and walked back to Joe’s house. He made a fire in his fire pit and they sat in the yard munching on slices loaded with cheese, tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms. Joe had a beer and Olivia was sipping iced tea. The sun was setting and the sky was a mix of blues, violets and pinks. The slight ocean breeze cooled the air from the unseasonable heat of the day. It was getting dark, but tourists still streamed by on the Marginal Way.

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do with Aggie’s shop?” Joe asked, leaning back in the Adirondack chair. He wanted to talk about something besides the accident.

“Yeah. At first, I was just going to put it up for sale, but now I’m thinking about opening it up. Maybe just limited hours this summer. It will keep me busy and give me time to think about whether to keep it or not. I don’t know a fifth of what Aggie knew about antiques, but I’m willing to learn. And I could definitely use some income.”

“Sounds like a smart plan.”

“I want to keep the house, too,” Olivia said. “It’s my home.”

“I’m sure that will break Magdalene Streeter’s heart,” Joe chuckled. “She’ll be after you about selling it, you know. Visions of dollar signs must be dancing in her head. She’d been barking up Aggie and my trees lately about selling the houses. You know how she is, all sweet when she wants something. Any time we’d run into her, she would pour it on, ‘You two should start thinking about selling those houses of yours. Wouldn’t you like it better somewhere warm?’” Joe shook his head. “That woman is not subtle.”

“That’s her. That’s why she is such a successful real estate broker, I guess,” Olivia said.

Joe rolled his eyes. “Don’t let her bully you, Liv. I’m sure she’ll approach you soon to see if you’re planning to sell.”

“What do you think, Joe? Can I handle owning the house on my own?”

“Of course you can. I’m here. I’ll help you if you need it.”

“Aggie left some money that I can use for property taxes and utilities,” Olivia said. “I think it will be enough until I finish law school.”

“It’s your house, Liv. If you want to keep it, then we’ll make it work.”

“Thanks, Joe. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said softly. After a minute, Olivia said, “I need to talk to you about the accident.”

Joe nodded. “Awful. When I got coffee after my walk this morning, I heard people in the bakery talking about it. I didn’t know then that you had been at the scene.” He took another slice of pizza from the box. “The victim owned the house at the corner of the point. He was some sort of financial advisor…investments, wealth planning, stuff like that. Name was Martin Andersen.”

“I don’t remember ever seeing him around,” Olivia said.

“The guy lived in Boston. Owned the beach house for about three years but didn’t use it that much. Guess he worked a lot.”

“You ever meet him?” Olivia asked.

“No. Never knew his name. Until now. I understand he had a partner but no other family.”

Olivia was quiet for a minute. “So what the hell happened? The accident…he’d been shot…the tongue?” She shuddered.

Joe shrugged and shook his head. “Nasty business. Gruesome.”

“The man…Andersen…he was trying to tell me something. I couldn’t make it out. I thought he was calling for someone else in the car. But the car was empty.”

“Cops didn’t find anyone else. They must have searched around in case there was a passenger. Thrown out of the car or whatever…”

“Andersen was so frantic…I assumed he was just in shock. He was pulling on me…like he wanted me to get him out of the car…or he didn’t want to be left alone…just grabbing at me…pulling my jacket. His legs were all tangled in the metal. It was awful, Joe. I couldn’t help him. I couldn’t understand him.”

Olivia wiped her hands on a paper napkin. “Now I think he was trying to tell me something. Something important.”

“What did it sound like he was saying?” Joe asked. “Could you get any part of it?”

Olivia was quiet for a minute. “It sounded like he was saying something like…‘red Julie’.”

“Red Julie,” Joe repeated. He thought about that. “‘Julie’…Cops said he didn’t have any relatives. A friend? Ex-wife? Co-worker? Pet? But what’s the ‘red’ part of it?”

“I might’ve gotten it wrong. It was hard to make out. It’s just what it sounded like.”

Joe took a pull of his beer. They looked out over the darkening Atlantic.

“There’s more,” Olivia said.

Joe looked at her.

“Andersen started really panicking while we were waiting for the ambulance.” She paused. “He was making these awful noises and trying to roll from side to side. Like he was trying to pull himself out of the car.”

Olivia rubbed her forehead. “I was scared.” Her voice was soft.

“Naturally…” Joe said. Olivia didn’t say anything else. She kept rubbing her forehead and started to massage her temples.

“What?” Joe asked.

Olivia lifted her eyes to him. “Andersen looked over my shoulder…his face was horrified…I turned. There was a man standing so close to me. I didn’t even hear him approach. He said nothing. It was so weird, Joe. He just stared at Andersen. Just glared at him. His face was…mean, like nothing I’ve ever seen. Andersen was flipping out, making screaming noises and grunts.” She shivered.

“So what happened? This man say anything?”

“Nothing. Just staring. I felt…I don’t know…menace…something bad. I felt like I had to protect Andersen. I know it sounds crazy. It was an instinct, a feeling. Like this other man was…evil.” Olivia’s hand shook as she lifted her glass from the grass next to her chair. She sipped. “His pant leg was wet. I think he was bleeding, Joe.”

“So what did he do? What happened?” Joe asked.

“I told him to back off.”

Joe’s eyes went wide. “You did?” He smiled and added, “I don’t know why I’m surprised.”

Olivia swallowed hard. “He looked me in the eye then. It was bad. His look. I thought he was going to kill us both.”

Joe’s face creased with worry.

“Some people pulled over just then. Ran over to us. The cops arrived too…and the paramedics. I …I didn’t see him anymore after that. He disappeared. The officer came right up to me and started asking questions.”

Joe shook his head.

“There’s something else,” Olivia said.

Joe raised his eyebrows.

“I was wearing my tan jacket. After the accident, I was upset, shaking, so I stopped for a coffee. I reached into my pocket for my money.”

She put her hand in the pocket of her shorts. “And found this.” She opened her outstretched hand.

Joe leaned forward. “A necklace? A cross?” He picked it up and turned it in his hand a few times, inspecting it. “Looks valuable.” He saw the engraved ‘S’ and traced it with his finger. “An initial.” He looked at Olivia. “Not Martin Andersen’s initial obviously.”

“No,” she said. “Why would he put it in my pocket, Joe? He’s the only one who could have put it there. Why not just hand it to me?”