"That's right." Again, Vance's mouth smiled, but his eyes remained flat. "He was a whiz with computers back then too. Oh, there's Reed's wife, Lynda, waving at me. I should go and say hello. If you have any further questions, please contact my office." He placed a business card in front of the reporter and issued a small nod before she had time to realize that their interview was over.
The reporter stared after him with a dreamy look in her eyes. "Let's get plenty of photographs of Mr. Maynard and his coworker," she directed her male assistant, who was leaning against a tree, smoking. He shrugged and eased the lens cap from his camera.
Nathan and Cooper followed at a careful distance behind Vance Maynard as he moved to embrace Lynda Newcombe. They were both surprised to that the woman who returned his hug with a pleasant smile was the short-tempered owner of the shaggy poodleing. After making small talk with him for a few moments, she led Vance to where her husband stood, talking to his team as they took a break for the seventh-inning stretch. Reed's small frame, thinning hair, and dark goatee struck a chord in Cooper's brain.
"The newspaper article in Brooke's office!" she whispered aloud and snapped her fingers several times as the memory became clear.
"What are you talking about?" Nathan gave her a funny look.
Cooper pressed her fingers to her lips. "Tell you later."
Reed and Vance shook hands and then Reed escorted his old friend to the pitcher's mound and handed him a microphone. Vance waited patiently for the cameraman to arrange his equipment and then cleared his throat and began his speech. As the crowd of onlookers tittered among themselves, Cooper and Nathan crept, as unobtrusively as possible, to the side of the dugout. The second Reed returned from the infield, Lynda appeared at his side and hissed, "What is your new
secretary
doing here?"
Nonplussed, Reed took a deep drink of water from a paper cup. "I don't know, Lynda. She probably came to see the dedication. She loves her job, that lady."
"Loves her job, huh?" Lynda's stare was so electric that Cooper could practically feel its heat from where she stood. "And I guess all those meetings you've had after work and on weekends have nothing to do with your secretary
loving her job
, right?"
"Lynda," Reed began, his tone exasperated. "Can we do this some other time, like after the game? And in private?"
"Why don't I just ask her right now if she's having an affair with my husband?" Lynda threatened. "I know who she is. She's sitting with that Realtor with the bad hair and the annoying little dog wearing a
costume
. And your new secretary won't even look at me. I find that a little odd, since I met her just last week at your office. Why do you think she might be uncomfortable looking at me, Reed?"
In the infield, Vance was winding up his announcement.
"Please, Lynda." Reed's voice softened. "Don't make a fool of yourself. There's nothing between Cindi and me."
"Cindi?" Lynda seemed momentarily taken aback. "Last time you hung up the phone when I came in the room I could have sworn you said Hazel."
"I'm sure I did!" Reed retorted heatedly. "She's a client. Or
was
a client. See? You don't have to worry about
her
name coming up in my conversations anymore,
dear
."
Lynda's eyes narrowed. "I am going to be watching you like a hawk, Reed Newcombe. We've got four kids and sixteen years together. You'd better be thinking about that, because if there
is
another woman, I'm going to find out. And, Reed?" She jabbed at his chest with her finger. "If we get divorced, I will fight for your very last cent so that our kids and I can live the kind of life we deserve. I will wring you dry. Keep that in mind next time you have an
emergency meeting
." She turned away from her husband.
Cooper and Nathan beat a hasty retreat to the bleachers where Quinton and Bryant waited in anticipation.
"What's going on?" Bryant asked. "Anything interesting?"
"Oh yeah!" Nathan answered. "Apparently the Little League assistant coach for Capital City is also the head of their IT department. He has four kids, an angry and suspicious wife, and is sleeping with Cindi, his new secretary." Nathan turned to Cooper. "Would you like to tell them the most interesting tidbit of all?"
"Please do!" Quinton rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
"Reed knows Hazel," Cooper replied. "In fact, I think he's the one who
dealt
with her when Hazel got on Cin-di's nerves."
Quinton pulled nervously at one of his loose jowls. His excitement was replaced by solemn concern. "So you're saying that that man"--he pointed toward the field, where Reed had his arm around one of his players--"is capable of a serious act of violence?"
"We know he's capable of betraying his wife and the mother of his children," Bryant said quickly and then looked at Cooper. "Do you think that Reed might have...gotten rid of Hazel? Didn't Cindi tell Trish over their manicure that Hazel had been trying to reach Brooke about a problem with her credit card statement?"
"Yes!" Cooper remembered. "And Cindi tried to get rid of her by telling her to call her
boyfriend
at the IT department. Reed is the head of IT. Maybe Hazel knew about their affair." She looked to the bleacher seat Cindi had occupied, but the single mother and her two kids were gone.
Bryant stroked his chin. "In other words, she might have complained to Brooke or tried to hold Reed's affair over his head to try to get her issues with Capital City straightened out?"
"Maybe. Reed may have felt threatened by Hazel
and
Brooke. He might have decided to silence
both
women!" Cooper replied angrily. "Let's head over to where Trish and Savannah are sitting. We've got to figure out
exactly
what he's done."
"A m I missing something?" Nathan asked her as all four of them began to walk. The announcer called out the final game score and the Capital City bench cheered. "Why do you suspect Reed?"
"Because if his bad-boy behavior came out, he might lose his job, his wife, his position in the community. Who knows what lengths he'd go to in order to protect those things?" Cooper glanced across the field at the other bleachers. The game was over and the players had just finished shaking hands with one another. Several of the boys picked up equipment from the dugouts, but the rest quickly gathered around their parents, tired but animated by their evening of physical exertion.
Lynda Newcombe embraced a young boy wearing a black Capital City jersey, handed him the poodle's leash, and then whistled to gain the attention of three other children hanging out near the concession stand. As all four kids raced toward the parking lot, Reed approached his wife. She barked something at him and then turned away to follow their children.
Looking angry, Reed marched back toward the field, where he paused to whisper a few words in Vance May-nard's ear. Cooper and her friends weren't close enough to hear what was being said, but they could see the deep scowl that appeared on Vance's tanned face. However, the intense frown was immediately replaced by Vance's practiced smile and he whispered something briefly in return, clapped his friend on the back, and then headed for his Porsche.
"Cindi must have gone home," Quinton remarked. "No sign of her or her kids."
"Oh, she's still here all right." Bryant snorted. "She just dragged Reed near that big oak tree over there. See?"
Sure enough, Cindi's white blouse glowed in the spring darkness as she stood with Reed in a copse of trees lining the parking lot. Her two kids loitered nearby, kicking at the dirt in a display of boredom. As the Bible study members watched, Reed shouted something at Cindi and her face crumpled. She called back to him, her eyes and outstretched arms full of pleading, but Reed turned his back and walked off. Cindi put her face in her hands and her shoulders shook.
"Oh goodness, did we just witness a breakup?" Trish said, leading Savannah over to where the group stood.
Jake joined them, a bat bag slung over his shoulder. "What'd I miss?"
"Cooper thinks Reed Newcombe, the assistant coach for the Capital City team, may be the villain we've been looking for," Quinton answered.
Several of her friends spoke at once, begging Cooper to explain her reasoning. Cooper turned to Nathan. "Do you remember when you called that shipping store? The place where the threatening faxes were sent from?"
"Yeah," Nathan nodded. "But they didn't know what the guy looked like, so it wasn't much help."
"But Jessica remembered that the man who sent the faxes had blond dog hairs on his sleeve." Cooper persisted.
Trish got what Cooper was implying immediately. "The Newcombes' dog! It's a goldendoodle, you know. A cross between a golden retriever and a standard poodle. That's why it has that unique kind of fur. Curly, red-blond, and apparently untrimmed. goldendoodles aren't exactly a common breed!"
"Cockapoo. Goldendoodle. What happened to beagles and boxers?" Jake demanded. "I've never heard of these wacko dog breeds."
"So," Savannah whispered as though Jake hadn't spoken, her face a sketch of worry. "Based on the dog fur on his jacket sleeve, we have reason to suspect that Reed sent the 'forget about Hazel' faxes."
"Hey! If he can cheat on his wife and send a pile of nasty letters to that nice Brooke lady, there's no tellin' what that S.O.B. is capable of," Jake snarled.
Savannah touched Jake's arm, just below his tattoo. "Though I'd prefer us not to pass judgment on Reed, I think it's time to tell the police of our suspicions. This man could be dangerous."
"I agree," Nathan said. "I don't think Reed's going to confess anything to us and maybe the police need to poke around in Reed's life and find enough evidence to get him thrown in jail."
"Well, I hope they find something on him and that Wesley is set free, don't you, Donald?" Trish sighed and then accepted a barrage of kisses from her tiny dog. "But I have my doubts about Reed being caught. That man strikes me as being rather shifty. I think he's learned how to hide his wickedness."
"So there's nothin' else
we
can do?" Jake looked disappointed.
"If there is, God will let us know," Savannah answered.
The Donald barked in agreement.
14
That is why snares are all around you,
why sudden peril terrifies you,
why it is so dark you cannot see,
and why a flood of water covers you.
Job 22: 10-11 (NIV)
After the game, Cooper went right to bed, but sleep was slow in coming and not as restorative as usual. Images of angry faces, including Lynda's, Cindi's, and Reed's, flashed through her mind throughout the night. It was as though she was viewing these people beneath the rapid, fractured light of a strobe.
In her dream, the Little League crowd watched Vance Maynard walk to the pitcher's mound to make his announcement during the seventh inning, but instead of donating lights and scoreboards, his mouth opened into an inhuman yawn and released a deep-throated snarl. He bared his fangs and curled his lip like a threatened wolf while the Newcombes' goldendoodle and Trish's cockapoo commenced a chorus of frenzied barking.
At ten past six, Cooper jerked awake and lay unmoving beneath the shadows from the poplar tree outside her window that fell on her ceiling. She heard a dog whining, and the crazed barking from her dream returned to her. After checking to make sure that the complaining canine in the yard below was Grammy's three-legged stray and not Vance Maynard in werewolf form, Cooper pulled on yesterday's pair of socks, which she had discarded on the floor next to her bed, and shuffled into the kitchen to make coffee.
Just as she was opening the fridge to remove a carton of half-and-half, the phone rang. Cooper blinked at it for a moment, still spooked by her strange dream.
Who would be calling at this hour?
"Hello?" she croaked.
"Cooper," Nathan whispered. "I'm sorry to call so early, but do you have the morning news on?"
"I don't watch TV in the morning. I'm more of a
Breakfast with the Beatles
kind of girl," Cooper answered, speaking too rapidly to disguise her bewilderment. "Am I missing something?"
"You'd better switch on channel six." He waited for her to turn on her set. "I got up before my usual time to catch up on work and I always put on the local news while the coffee's brewing," Nathan explained. "This morning, I heard one of the anchors mention Reed Newcombe's name and something about him being found in the James River. The full story is coming up next."
Cooper sank down on her couch. "His body? Does that mean--?"
"Shh!" Nathan commanded. "This is it."
"A Richmond man was allegedly pushed from the Willey Bridge overpass late last night." A photograph of Reed Newcombe appeared in the graphic box to the upper right of an agreeable-looking anchorwoman with solemn blue eyes and a layered puff of brunette hair.
"The man has been identified as Reed Newcombe, a department head at Capital City. Newcombe's wife, Lynda, told a CBS 6 reporter that her husband often worked late so she was not concerned when he did not follow the family home after the Little League game they all attended a few hours before the incident.
"Newcombe, one of the coaches at last night's game, was discovered by two high school students who decided to sneak out for a midnight kayak trip on the James. It was fortunate for Newcombe that the young men broke their parents' strict rules against kayaking after dark, for both boys are certified lifeguards. They witnessed Newcombe's fall from the bridge and immediately pulled him from the river. The Godwin High School seniors then took turns performing CPR on Newcombe until paramedics arrived."
