Linda Crowder - Jake and Emma 02 - Main Street Murder (9 page)

Cheri had listened and considered but in the end had declined to leave her home.  “Life is full of risk, Detective,” she’d told him when he tried to convince her of the danger she was in.  Now, with the dappled light of the summer sun playing through the trees and the laughter of the children on the river, she was glad she’d chosen to stay.

“It’s right there,” she resumed, reaching her hand into the air as if to pluck an apple off a tree.  “I can almost touch it.”

She turned to face Emma, who was still sitting calmly on the couch where she had been since the start of their session.  “What does my crazy brain think I’m not ready to know?”

Emma smiled and reached forward to switch off the recorder.  She would transcribe the session when she got back to the office.

“You’re putting too much pressure on yourself,” she suggested to Cheri.

“I have to,” said Cheri.  She gestured to Officer Sommers.  “I want my house back.  No offence, Katie.”

“None taken,” piped the young officer from her perch in the corner of the room.

“I want you out of danger too,” said Emma, “but sometimes the mind is like a spoiled child.  The more you push it to give up a toy, the more it stubbornly clings to it.”

“Distract the child and she’ll forget about the toy and let go of it,” finished Cheri.  “You have a point there.”

“So go do something fun,” suggested Emma.  “Putter in your garden, take a stroll on the River Walk, watch an old movie that makes you laugh.  You’re right, it’s very close now so if you stop trying so hard to remember, you may find the memory just comes to you.”

“I’ll do it!” agreed Cheri, with some of her old vigor.  She turned to the young policewoman.  “How are you with weeding flower beds, Katie?”

The young woman laughed.  “Don’t know a flower from a weed, but I will happily watch while you weed.”

11

“Boy, have I missed you!” said Jake, wrapping his arms around Emma when he found her in the kitchen. 

She laughed and tilted her head so he could kiss her neck.  “I’ve been busy,” she said.

“Don’t I know it.”  Jake released her an stood leaning against the counter, his eyes never leaving Emma as she bustled about the room making dinner.  “I think I’ve only seen you enough to say hello in the morning and good-night when we go to bed.”

“I seem to remember you saying a few other things the other night,” she answered with a rakish smile.  Then she dodged him and popped a bowl into the refrigerator.   “Pasta salad is done and cooling in the fridge.  Shrimp is on the skewers and resting in the teriyaki marinade.  Ten minutes on the grill on each side and they’re good to go.”

“We having company?” asked Jake, noting the volume of food Emma had prepared. 

“I asked Kristy to come,” reported Emma.  “I’ve been feeling so guilty keeping it from her that I’m working with Cheri.  I just wanted to do something nice for her.”

Jake took a second look at the food and turned to his wife, the refrigerator door still open.  “Kristy eating like a lumberjack these days?”

Emma blushed.  “Oh no,” groaned Jake.  “Tell me you didn’t.”

Emma turned away from him and began making tea to ice for dinner.  “Who is he?” asked Jake.

“Just somebody I thought Kristy would like,” said Emma vaguely. 

“Who?” persisted Jake.

“It’s only one night,” said Emma.

“No, you didn’t.  You did not invite that man to our home,” said Jake.

“You’d like him if you gave him a chance,” said Emma.

“How much more of a chance do I have to give the man?  I see him in court every damned day.  I don’t want to see him…” Jake’s voice was cut off by the sound of the doorbell.

“Just be nice,” whispered Emma.  She kissed Jake’s cheek and went to open the door.  “Could you open the wine?” She called over her shoulder as she left the kitchen.

Jake grumbled to himself as he pulled the wine from the rack in the wine cooler.  He fished in the drawer for the corkscrew and was taking glasses from the cabinet when Emma returned with Kristy in tow.  She wore a pink sundress, with her hair tied up off her neck because of the heat.

His smile faded as a man joined them, following Emma and Kristy into the kitchen.  “Clint,” he said, manufacturing a polite smile.  “I see you’ve met Kristy.”

Clint Taylor, assistant county attorney, smiled easily and accepted the glass Jake handed him.  “We turned off the highway together,” he answered, his voice a little too loud to Jake’s ear.  “She followed me ten miles up the road until I figured we were either going the same place or she was some kind of crazy stalker.”

It was a long evening for Jake, who stopped checking his watch after Emma kicked his shin under the dining room table.  She’d planned to eat on the deck but the Casper wind had forced a quick change of venue.

Finally, after slices of sponge cake topped with strawberries fresh from the farmer’s market, Jake was finally able to say good-bye to his unwelcome guest and watch his car move slowly down the dirt road on the way to the highway below. 

Returning to the kitchen, he took a seat at the breakfast bar and listened to the ladies analyze the evening.  Taylor had offered to follow Kristy back to town to make sure she arrived at home safely, but Kristy had declined, telling him was going to stay to help Emma clean up then pay a quick visit to a friend who’d been in the hospital recently.

Now, the dishwasher churning and kitchen in order, the two were laughing about Taylor over coffee.  Emma set a steaming mug in front of Jake then she and Kristy retired to the sunroom.  He sat in the darkening kitchen, watching the sunset and listening to the women’s laughter. 

By the sound of it, Clint Taylor hadn’t made a good impression on Kristy, for which Jake was thankful.  Had Kristy fallen for Taylor, Jake would have had to put up with having the man over on a regular basis and that would have been a real test of his friendship with Kristy.

On the other hand, as the women returned to the kitchen to deposit their empty mugs in the sink, Jake felt a twinge of sympathy for his odious fellow attorney.  He was going to have to be very careful not to laugh at what Kristy called Taylor’s “Alfred E. Neuman ears” next time he met the man in court.

“I take it our intrepid A.C.A. is not going to be spending more time with Kristy?” he asked as Emma joined him on the deck after seeing Kristy to her car.

Emma laughed out loud.  “Oh my, yes!” she countered.  “I think they might just end up getting married!”

“Bite your tongue,” warned Jake.  “Don’t even joke about a thing like that.”

Emma snuggled against Jake, who put his arm around her as she sat down.  “I’m sorry, honey.  I always thought you were exaggerating about him.”

Jake snorted.  “I do not have enough imagination to make up that man’s faults.  How did he end up being invited to our house for dinner anyway?”

“I ran into him at the market when I was shopping for tonight.  You know I’ve always thought if you just got to know him better - outside of the courtroom - you might actually learn to like him.”  Jake snorted again.  “Ok, ok, but he was buying frozen dinners…”

“Oh not that old ruse,” broke in Jake.  “I can’t believe you fell for it.”

Emma giggled, “I know but he wasn’t hitting on me and I knew Kristy wasn’t planning to bring a date so  I decided it couldn’t do any harm.”

“You warned her first though,” said Jake.

“Of course.  I’m not going to let her show up in sweat pants,” Emma giggled thinking of the comfortable old jeans Kristy wore the last time she’d been over for dinner.  There had been nothing fashionable about the rips in those jeans.

“She had a good time though, don’t you think?” asked Emma.

“Taylor did offer sheer entertainment value, I’ll give you that,” said Jake.  Then, seeing the speculative look in his wife’s eyes, “No more matchmaking.”

“Jake, I think Kristy is lonely.  No, don’t wag your finger at me like that.  I’ve never known her to go out on a date or have a boyfriend.”

“Maybe she has a girlfriend and thinks you won’t approve,” suggested Jake.

“She might,” mused Emma.  “I hadn’t thought of that.  Do you really think so?”

“Hell if I know,” answered Jake.  “I’m just saying that maybe you should let Kristy find her own dates.”

Across town and along the river, Cheri Jackson was enjoying a glass of wine on her patio.  Officer Rutledge sat beside her, tea in her glass instead of wine, Cheri’s security detail for the evening.  A citronella candle burned on the bistro table between the two women, it’s brave flame struggling to keep away what some jokingly call Wyoming’s state bird - the mosquito.

Mosquitoes were thick along the river, taking advantage of the slow summer pace of the water to wreak havoc on those whose homes huddled along the shore.  Cheri slapped at an offending insect that had settled on her leg, just below the hem of her lightweight shorts.

“That is the only think I don’t like about summer,” she said to the officer, whose uniform left little open skin to tempt the hungry mosquitoes.   “Makes me envious of your long sleeves and pants.”

“And here I was just wishing I felt as cool and comfortable as you look in those shorts and that sleeveless top,” responded Ann Rutledge.  “I guess there’s always a trade-off.”

“That’s for darn sure,” agreed Cheri, swatting another mosquito.  “I for one am giving up and going inside where these blood-suckers can’t get me!”

“I’m right there with you,” agreed Ann, who bent to blow out the ineffective candle and followed her charge into the cool of the air conditioned house.

The phone was ringing as the two women went inside and Cheri stopped in the kitchen to pick it up.  Ann had never seen a wall mounted telephone outside of her grandmother’s house.  In fact, she didn’t know anyone of her own generation who even had a land line anymore.

Cheri hung the receiver in the cradle and turned to the younger woman.  “That was Kristy Castle,” she explained.  “She is going to stop by on her way home.  She says she has the funniest story to tell me.”

Ann had been advised by Detective Joyner to regard Ms. Castle as a possible suspect, but she knew Cheri was not aware of the detective’s suspicions.  He had instructed her, along with the other members of Cheri’s security crew, not to leave her alone with Kristy. 

Detective Joyner was concerned that whoever attacked Cheri might try again and that they might become increasingly desperate as time made it more likely her memory of the attack would return.  “Keep your eyes open for anything suspicious,” he’d cautioned the policewomen who guarded Cheri.  Male, female, poison, knives or a gun - we just don’t know who or how the attack will come.”

If it comes at all, thought Ann, as she sat listening to Kristy and Cheri laughing over the hapless A.C.A.  Secretly, she shared Kristy’s assessment of Taylor but her face remained impassive, her body alert for any possible threat.

None came and Kristy rose to leave.  There was a crash outside the house, followed by angry hisses.  Kristy jumped but Cheri assured her it was probably Jonas arguing with the neighbor’s tom cat again.

Ann offered to walk Kristy to her car and check on the noise just to be sure.  She pulled out her heavy duty police-issued flashlight and told Cheri to be sure to lock the door until she returned. 

Kristy was parked behind the patrol car, near the end of the long drive.  As they walked, Ann cast her light methodically side to side in front of them.  They heard the low growl of a cat warning off his foe, then Ann spotlighted Jonas facing off against a large orange tom.

Startled by the light, Jonas broke for the house, the tom in hot pursuit.  Both women laughed at the release of their mutual tension, then Ann watched Kristy unlock her car door and settle herself inside.  Turning, she switched off the powerful flashlight to let her eyes adjust to the moonlit night.

Ahead of her, she saw Cheri open the front door to give a hissing and spitting Jonas safe harbor.  Ann made a mental note to remind Cheri not to open the door to anyone, not even her cat, when her police guard was out of the house.

Her attention focused in front of her, Ann didn’t hear the footsteps approach from the rear until it was too late.  Assuming Kristy had forgotten something, she started to turn when her head exploded in light and pain.  She was dead almost before her body hit the ground.