Toss Up (The Toss Trilogy) (18 page)

Phil
Cavalo who ran the computer shop—had he told them the truth about that file?

Mark Hunter owned a local bar and
grill and was one of Sal’s volunteers. As the boss he would set his own hours.

Bob Hendrix, another volunteer who worked at the Lennox
pultrusion factory outside town.

And Daniel Smith.

Daniel Smith who played around with Sally, then left her unprotected. Daniel Smith who was a loner. Smith who was arrogant and not good with clients, who never said why he’d come to York, and who had lived in Oceanside. Where had Smith been Friday morning when he should have been covering the clinic?

As Jim scanned the list, an unmarked panel van pulled up and stopped. A young man wearing khakis and a heavy hooded jacket got out and immediately moved to the back of the van where he unloaded what looked like the tallest black Labrador Jim had ever seen.
Man and dog approached the officers. Getting out of his truck, Jim hurried over to join them and handed Officer Billings the clipboard.

Billings nodded from the young man to Jim. “Mike, this is Dr. D
onovan.”

The young man stuck out his hand toward Jim. “Mike Daniels.”

As they shook hands, Jim looked at the dog. “Nice looking animal. Where’d you get her?”

“The pound. We get most of our dogs there.” Mike rubbed the dog’s coat.

“Mixed breed?”

“Mostly Lab, but those long legs had to come from somewhere.”

“She’s a big girl,” Jim agreed.

“Bigger than expected.” Mike grinned. “We like our dogs on the m
edium side of large as a rule, but by the time it was clear she’d get so big, it was also clear she had an exceptional nose and the brains to use it.”

Jim squatted down. “Mind if I pet her?”

“Go ahead. She’s not working yet. Say hello, Sadie.” The dog sat in the snow and wagged her tail gently, calmly accepting the attention Jim gave her.

“So, she alerts to explosives?”

“Yep. Only a few of our dogs do, and Sadie’s the best. She’s reliable and smart. Has a sixth sense about people, too. She likes you.”

Mike seemed to enjoy bragging on his canine partner, so Jim stood and went on. “How do you know when she’s found something?”

Mike grinned again. “That is an important point. She’s trained to alert by sitting down.”

“So if she sits you figure she’s found something? Couldn’t she just be tired?”

Mike laughed. “She knows when she’s working. We change the lead from harness to collar and tell her to get to work. Then she won’t sit unless she has a reason to.”

“Have you worked with her long?”

“Two years now. She’s a good dog.” He looked at Officers Billings and Demarco. “What are we looking for today?”

“We had a home invasion Sunday, with malicious intent,” answered Billings. “No sign of forced entry. The homeowner stayed elsewhere the last two nights.” The officer nodded toward the snowy yard. “As you can
see from the prints, it looks like our perp came back. He could have done just about anything in there—he had plenty of time. We don’t really expect any kind of booby trap, but wanted to make sure before we start sifting through the place room by room. Appreciate you coming out to give us a hand.”

“No problem, we’re happy to help. Let’s go see what we’ve got.”

Billings looked at Jim. “I’ll have to ask you to stay here, Dr. Donovan, until the place has the all clear.”

The three men and the dog moved off to the front door, as Jim leaned against his truck to watch.

When they reached the porch, he saw the handler unclip the lead from Sadie’s harness and attached it to the collar she wore. “Time to get to work girl,” he ordered cheerfully. They vanished into the house.

Jim pulled out his cell to call Daniel Smith,
then put it back in his pocket, crossing his arms with a frown. He didn’t trust Smith. Smith was from Oceanside, and was new in the area. Really new. He’d moved to town less than a month ago.

Sally said she found the first note at the shelter six months ago. But just because Smith only lived in York a short time didn’t prove he’d ne
ver been here before. He could be responsible for all the notes over the last six months. And the stunt with the computer had happened after he arrived.

Am I only suspicious because he’s been with Sally?
Jim’s lip curled. No, it was more than that. Where was Smith Friday morning when he should have been covering the clinic? And where was he this morning? Jim flipped open his cell phone again.
Let’s find out.

Smith picked up on the third ring. “Yeah, Jim, what is it?” He soun
ded sleepy.

Are you faking it, pretty boy?
“I’m going to be late getting in to the clinic today. Can you cover for me?”

“Hell, Donovan. I pulled those pups Friday night, took the clinic Sa
turday and yesterday. I wasn’t scheduled to be in until one today.”

Like I care.
“Look, something important has come up. I’ll take the afternoon alone today and take your Wednesday night stint on call. How’s that?”

Smith made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a groan. “All right—fine. I’ll take care of it. I’ll see you around noon, then?”

“Yeah. Around noon.” Jim snapped the cell shut. At least he’d know where Smith was all morning.

Friday, when
they’d argued, Smith said the clinic wasn’t what brought him here.
I thought it was just a cheap shot, but maybe it was true. He could have gone anywhere. Why York?
Had his reason for coming here been an obsession with Sally?

The front door of the house opened and Demarco came out. Jim moved forward to meet him. “Well?”

“Looks clean as far as explosives go. They’re doing a room by room, but Mike said even if the stuff was wrapped in plastic, the dog would probably have alerted by now.”

“Well that’s a plus. You taking off?”

Demarco arched his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “Gonna sack out in the cruiser for a bit. They don’t need me in there, but since I came with Billings, I’m stuck for a while.”

This could be my chance.
Jim angled his head toward the young officer. “I can take you back to town on my way in to the clinic—drop you wherever you want to go. You’re off duty now, aren’t you?”

Demarco perked up. “Well, I could be. I’d appreciate that. Let me check with Billings and let him know.” He disappeared back into the house. When he came out again, he climbed into the truck with Jim.

“Back to the station?” Jim asked.

“Please.” Demarco slumped down in the seat and leaned his head back.

“You got it. Say, Demarco, can I run something past you?”

“What?”

Jim hesitated. He didn’t want to sound melodramatic. “I’m thinking Daniel Smith might be the one stalking Sally.”

The officer rolled his head left to look at Jim. “Look, Doc, I unde
rstand why you don’t like the guy, but don’t you think accusing him of being the stalker is a little extreme?”

Not if he is the stalker.
“That’s exactly why I want to run this by you.” Jim slanted a glance towards Demarco. “I don’t like the guy. You don’t have any axes to grind. I want to know what you think. I’m going out of my way to be fair-minded, here.”

Frowning, Demarco fixed Jim with a half-hearted glare,
then turned back to face front. “You should know I can’t discuss an ongoing investigation with you.”

Jim hoped Demarco wasn’t planning to hide behind regulations—he wanted the man’s input. “I’m not asking you to. I’m only asking you to tell me if the way I’m putting what I know together makes sense. I’m not asking you to give me any information.
Just your opinion of my logic. Nothing wrong with that, is there?”

The officer sighed. “This is why you offered me a ride, isn’t it? Oh, hell, go ahead.”

Jim leaned forward, intent on the arguments that had been forming ever since he saw Smith’s name on that list. “All right. First, the incidents got nastier and increased in frequency after Smith moved to town. And he could have traveled here to leave the first few notes.”

He looked at Demarco for a response, but got barely more than a grunt. “Possible.”

“Second, he’s a loner, antisocial, and wasn’t available Friday at the clinic when he was supposed to be. When I called him on it, we argued and he told me it wasn’t the clinic that brought him here.”

That was significant, not just a cheap shot… a slip on Smith’s part.

“Maybe what brought him here was Sally.”

This time Demarco sat up, nostrils flared and lips curled like he smelled a skunk. “All you’ve got there is a personnel problem and your own story about the argument. For my money that’s the report of a very biased witness. I know you don’t like him making time with Mrs. Johnston—”

“I don’t, but it’s one thing that argues against him being the stalker.”

“How so?”

Jim’s head pulled back in surprise. Wasn’t it obvious? “His reaction to Sally is so normal. Any man in their right mind would at least try to make a play for her. Still, it could be some kind of sick game he’s playing. Or a way to cover his tracks.” Demarco needed to take this seriously. “What about checking what he was up to when the house was broken into the first time?”

“You thinking about the writing on the sheet?”

“Yeah.”

“And when do you figure that was done?” Demarco asked.

“Well, she found it Sunday. That seems like it was done Saturday. But it couldn’t have been. She was gone with Smith part of Saturday, but I watched the house all night. Nobody could have done it then. Besides, if they had, she’d have found it Saturday night. So it must have been done Sunday morning—Sally left early. I was here and so was Billings, over at the turn out, because the bastard left that note on my truck. If anyone came across the field we’d have seen them, but someone might have come in the front of the house, and if they did, they might have been seen by someone at the shelter.”

Demarco leaned his head back and half-closed his eyes.

Jim stifled a rude comment. What was the matter with the cop? If he would only get with the program, they might be able to wrap this case up. But the officer was too tired to see it.

“Demarco, Smith was on call for the clinic Sunday, but that doesn’t lock him into any particular location. He could have broken in Sunday after Sally left.”

Demarco picked his head back up and gave Jim a pitying look. “You want to be logical? Then consider this: if it was done Sunday morning,
the stalker must have seen her leave. You were the one watching her house. You were the one hanging around when she was gone. You could easily have put a note on your own truck.”

Jim frowned, taken aback. “Yeah, I could have, but I didn’t.”

“She thinks you’re her friend. You’ve probably had plenty of opportunities to steal or copy a key. You’re interested in her, but she’s not interested in you.”

It sounded even colder coming from Demarco like that. Jim’s frown deepened.

Demarco continued. “Then the stalker stuff starts. It gives you a chance to play the big protector. That makes her grateful to you. But apparently not grateful enough. She starts dating Smith, and now you’re trying to pin the stalker incidents on him.”

This was ridiculous. “Will you stop it, Demarco? You know it isn’t me.”

“Do I? How do I know that, Doc?”

Jim opened his mouth to speak,
then shut it again. He blinked, finally seeing what Demarco saw.
Shit. I’ve stepped right into it this time.

Sally stood by the window in the shelter lobby and
looking at the empty space where Jim’s truck had been and wishing she could call him back. But he’d put their relationship firmly back on a friends-only basis yesterday morning. And she feared she might be losing even that.

All he’d said was, ‘We waited a really long time for your mom to wake up.’ But she had heard the implication…

It’s over
. She wrapped her arms tightly around her waist.
I know now that I love him, and it’s over? I ask him to marry me, and it’s over?

No, she was wrong.
Look at how he turned the bed down for me last night.
Why would he have done that if he didn’t truly love her?

He was being kind.

No! He loved her. He said so. Desperation wound strangling tentacles around her heart. He had to love her.

Mark Hunter wandered over to stand beside her. “Hey, Sally, what’s going on over at your house? Why are the police there?”

Sally stifled a groan. Mark was not her favorite volunteer, but he put in a lot of hours. She had to be nice to him. “It looked like someone broke in this morning. There were tracks in the snow. The police are just checking to be sure everything is okay.”

“Someone was in your house? Where were you?”

“Tyler and I were away last night.” She knew Mark wanted details, but she wasn’t going to give him any. Not that he was a gossip. It wasn’t that. He was just nosy.