Cut out cookie, p.4
Cut Out Cookie, page 4
There was another siren approaching from a distance away, a slightly different direction. The two sirens together were discordant, making Erin wince and want to cover her ears. But she had her teacup in one hand and didn’t want to put it down. Besides, she was counting…
The sirens cut off as the cars pulled up to the house, first the one, and then, a few seconds later, the other. Erin took a deep breath and let it out. The silence was deafening after the building wails of the sirens. But now it was over and she was safe.
She still couldn’t relax her body. Her stomach hurt and all of her muscles were stiff, tensed in readiness. She waited for the sound of shots being fired. Of shouts and crashes and breaking glass. There weren’t any. She could hear loud male voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. There were no screams or sounds of anyone in distress, no one being chased from her yard off into the darkness of the night.
Eventually, there was a knock on the front door. Erin stayed where she was. The polite thing would be to answer the door. That was what a normal person would do. But Erin was frozen. She was away from the windows and doors and didn’t want to expose herself. Willie had said to stay away from the windows.
There was another knock, more voices, and then she heard a key in the lock of the front door. Terry opened the door slowly and sent K9 in ahead of him. K9 went immediately to Erin and sat down in front of the open pantry door. Terry followed.
“Erin? Are you okay?” He held out his arms for her and Erin stepped into them, carefully holding her teacup so that it wouldn’t splash and scald him. He rubbed her back, then pulled away slightly to look at her face and assess the situation. “Are you all right?”
Erin nodded. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
“Come on out of there, to the table. Sit down. Is that tea fresh? Let’s get some sugar in there.”
“I don’t take sugar,” Erin protested as he sat her down at the table.
“Tonight, you do. Good for shock.”
“What happened?”
“We’ll talk about that. Once I’m sure that you’re okay and you’ve told me what you saw and heard.” He sat down across from her.
“Nothing. I just got up… Willie was outside. I thought I’d make some tea. I turned on the light for him.” Erin was aware that she was getting the steps out of order, babbling to him. But she wanted to know what he had to tell her. “He said to close the blind and stay inside… so I did.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you listened to him. That’s it? You didn’t see anyone else outside? Hear anything?”
Erin shook her head. “No. Unless I heard something in my sleep. I don’t know what woke me up. I think it was a dream.”
“Maybe,” Terry said neutrally.
“What happened? What’s going on out there? Did Willie see a prowler?”
“No. Maybe. We’re still trying to sort that out. There will be an investigation. We won’t have the answers tonight.”
Then it couldn’t be something as simple as someone looking in windows or even breaking into cars at night. A crime like that, and they would have immediate answers. “What, then? Was somebody hurt? What did Willie see?”
“We will be interviewing him about it. We need to talk to both of you separately, in case you saw or heard anything important. Keep your stories from influencing each other.”
“But I didn’t see or hear anything. I only saw Willie out there,” Erin motioned, moving her hand back and forth as if to follow his movements. “Talking on his phone. I guess he must have been talking to the dispatcher? I don’t know. Then you came. That’s all I know.”
“And that’s just fine. It’s okay. A nice, uncomplicated account.”
She looked at him, waiting for the explanation.
“Well…” Terry let out a long sigh. He took her hands in the middle of the table. “Willie called to report a dead body.”
Erin stared at him blankly. The words entered her brain and didn’t register because they didn’t make any sense. A dead body? Whose dead body?
The only other person who should have been in the yard was…
Erin gasped and leaped to her feet, trying to run to the back door. Terry caught her and held her still.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. You don’t want to see, Erin, just leave it to us.”
Erin squeezed his strong arms as hard as she could, trying to steady herself. “Tell me it wasn’t Vic.”
CHAPTER 7
Terry pulled Erin against himself and held her tight. “No. No, Erin. Not Vic.”
Tears of relief sprang to Erin’s eyes and she started to sob. She smacked him on the chest with her open palm. “Don’t scare me like that! You scared me to death!”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you think that anything had happened to Vic. I’m so sorry, Erin. It’s okay. It wasn’t Vic.”
Erin was waiting for him to say, “It wasn’t anyone we know,” but he didn’t. Which meant that it was someone they did know. Erin started to shake violently.
Terry took her back to her chair and sat her down. He picked up the teacup and took it to the counter to add a couple of spoonfuls of sugar to it. He gave it a brisk stir and brought it back to her.
“Drink that. We don’t talk any more until you have at least half of that.”
Erin breathed in the scent of the chamomile lemongrass blend and brought it up to her lips. The first couple of sips were so sweet she could barely get them down. That was how Reg liked her tea, Erin thought inconsequentially. She hated anything the least bit bitter and loaded up her tea with sugar until that was practically all it was. Sugar water, like she would put in a hummingbird feeder.
But Erin drank it anyway. As much as she could. It wasn’t quite half, but she’d given it her best effort. Terry, sitting across from her once more, nodded.
“The body was… Theresa.”
Erin gasped. “Crazy Theresa?”
He nodded. “Crazy Theresa.”
Erin breathed out in a huff, almost a laugh. “Well, hallelujah.”
Terry looked surprised at this reaction.
Erin shrugged, spreading her arms wide. “I can’t say that I’m sorry to hear it. The thought of her always being in our lives, causing trouble and then disappearing like a ghost… Any loss of life is terrible, but… I’m not going to miss Crazy Theresa.”
Terry nodded, a very small movement. “I must confess to a feeling of profound relief when I found out that she was dead.” He looked down at the table and squeezed one of her hands. He had suffered much more at Theresa’s hand than Erin had. While Theresa had attacked each of them, it was Terry who had ended up in the hospital with a head injury and all of the problems that went with that, from insomnia and migraines to mood changes and irritability. It hadn’t been fun for either one of them.
Erin breathed in and out slowly, feeling the same sense of relief in knowing that she would never bother either of them or Vic again.
Erin turned and looked at the window abruptly, even though she already knew that the blind was down and she wouldn’t be able to see anything.
“What?” Terry asked.
“Vic. Where is Vic? Does she know?”
“We’re trying to track her down right now.”
The words didn’t make any sense to Erin. “What do you mean… trying to track her down?”
“Willie says she is out. She’s not answering the door. Didn’t tell Willie that she was going out or where she would be. Not answering her phone.”
Erin put her hand over her pounding heart. “Did something happen to her? Where is she? She couldn’t have been kidnapped, could she?”
“Don’t jump to conclusions. There are plenty of places around Bald Eagle Falls where a cell phone won’t work.”
“She and Willie were fighting last night…”
“Which would explain her not telling him where she was going today. She didn’t tell you her plans? The two of you are always so involved in each other’s lives…”
“No.” Erin thought back, trying to catalog all of the conversations she’d had with Vic over the past few days. Had Vic mentioned anywhere that she had been planning to go? It didn’t make sense for her to be gone in the middle of the night. “I don’t know where she would have gone.”
“I’m sure she’ll show up.”
Erin worried it over in her mind. It was easy for Terry to say that Vic would be fine. But he didn’t know that.
“Was everything okay in her apartment…? There wasn’t any sign that… Theresa hadn’t gotten in there, had she?”
“We haven’t been able to get in there to find out.”
“Willie has a key.”
“Willie isn’t giving it up. He says it is Vic’s apartment and he can’t let someone in there without her permission. Even the police.”
Or especially the police. Willie didn’t exactly have a longstanding relationship of trust with law enforcement. While he and Terry got along most of the time and the police department occasionally called on Willie for his services, there was definitely a breach between them. Willie had a history.
“But what if she’s in there hurt? If she and Theresa—what kind of a bullet was Theresa killed with? Have you ruled out Vic’s gun?”
Terry leaned forward slightly. “What kind of bullet was she killed with?”
“Yes!”
He was silent and Erin tried to figure out what was going through his head. Had she said something wrong?
“How do you know Theresa was shot?”
Erin stared at him, processing the question. No, he hadn’t told her that Theresa had been shot. He hadn’t said anything about how she had died. Just that her body had been found. It could have been a natural death or an animal attack for all Erin knew.
“I guess… I just assumed that was the only way anyone would be able to kill her. She’s so fast and strong, and carries a knife and a gun and who knows what else. I just can’t see… how else she could have been killed.”
Terry nodded.
“And it wasn’t Vic?” Erin asked tentatively. “It wasn’t the kind of gun that she carries?”
She had seen the small gun that Vic had a concealed carry permit for. Vic was determined to be able to protect herself if she was ever attacked or her apartment burgled. But she hadn’t pulled it on Theresa on either of the last two occasions they had seen her on. Whether she forgot about it in the heat of the moment, froze up, or couldn’t bring herself to threaten her old friend, Erin didn’t know. Had Theresa made a fatal choice in confronting Vic a third time?
“We don’t know anything yet,” Terry said. “We’ll have to wait for the Medical Examiner on that question. But… I don’t think she was shot with Vic’s gun.”
Erin let out her breath. “Good.” Her mind circled back around to her earlier concern. “You have to make sure that Vic isn’t in her apartment, hurt, or…”
“Willie says that he checked. She’s not there.”
That didn’t do much to allay the anxiety that Erin was feeling. She took another sip of the too-sweet tea, hoping that it would calm her mind. She needed something to do with her hands other than biting her nails.
“You could let me into her apartment,” Terry suggested. “You’re her landlord. You have a key.”
But Willie was right to worry about Vic’s privacy. The police had been in her apartment once before, and she had not been happy about it. Erin knew that as a landlord, she could enter the premises in an emergency without giving Vic notice, but letting the police in without a warrant was completely different.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“We need to check on her welfare.”
“But Willie already told you that she’s not there.”
“Willie is a suspect.”
Erin caught her breath. A suspect? In Crazy Theresa’s death?
Of course he was. Theresa had been obsessed with Vic. With getting back together even though they had both moved in different directions in their lives. Maybe Vic represented a happier time for Theresa. Maybe it was the only good relationship she’d ever had. If Theresa had come around looking for Vic again, Willie would probably be fully justified in shooting her. Theresa wasn’t exactly well known for her calm and reasonable approach.
Not Crazy Theresa.
“If Willie was protecting Vic, then why would he lie about her being in the apartment? Especially if she was hurt?”
Terry shrugged. “Let’s just say that he cannot always be taken at his word, and I would like to verify everything he says. We have to be careful of appearances. We can’t give people the impression that we are giving Willie preferential treatment because he is a friend.”
Erin considered Willie a friend, but she wasn’t sure that Terry ever had. There had been too many cases where his suspicions had landed on Willie as a suspect.
“Why don’t I go check? Will you take my word for it that Vic isn’t there, or am I a suspect too? Maybe you think this is something that Willie and I cooked up together.”
“You know that isn’t true.” Terry’s mouth turned down. He was clearly hurt by her words.
Erin took a deep breath and blew it out in a stream. “Sorry. I’m scared. And Willie is a friend. I don’t like him being treated like a suspect.”
“You know I have to. Even if you don’t like it. Even if Vic pops me in the nose for it. I have certain responsibilities. If I don’t take them seriously, I’ll end up in trouble. And I’ll be off the case.”
Erin nodded.
“If you would check Vic’s apartment, I would appreciate it,” Terry said. “I’ll take your word for it.”
Erin nodded. She stood up to go to the door.
“Wait a moment.” Terry stopped her. “Let me take care of things out there. Wait until I come get you.”
Erin did as she was told and waited as he went outside to talk to the sheriff and whoever else was there to process the scene. It was a few minutes before he came back inside.
“Okay. Are you feeling all right now? If you’re faint or unsteady, you’re not going up that flight of stairs.”
Erin had been on her feet while she was waiting for him, and the shakiness had passed. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“We can wait if you’re not.”
“No. If Vic was hurt, I would want to know right away.”
She caught the look that Terry gave her.
“And I don’t think there is anything wrong. I don’t think Willie would look the other way if she was hurt. He’d want to get her treated as soon as possible.”
“You’re probably right. And if she was hiding out there waiting for the police to leave because she’s the one who killed Theresa?”
Erin stopped beside him and looked into his eyes. “Is that why you want me to go in there? To see if Vic is hiding from you? You said you wanted to check on her welfare.”
“I do. That’s exactly what I need.”
“So if she is in there, hiding out, you wouldn’t need to talk to her.”
“Of course we need to talk to her. Someone she knew was killed in her front yard. She needs to make a statement. Tell us what she knows.”
“And me too? Because I know Theresa and she was killed in my backyard?”
“You’ve given me your statement already. You were sleeping. You didn’t hear anything. When you got up, Willie was already there, on the phone.”
Erin examined his summary from every angle, trying to see if he could trap her in some way with her own words. But she didn’t see how he could. It was the bare-bones truth. She didn’t have anything to hide.
Erin walked past Terry and out the door. She looked at the stairs that ran along the outside of the garage, across the yard. She could just focus on the stairs and nothing else. Block everything else.
As it turned out, she couldn’t keep her gaze from straying over to where Theresa’s body lay. But apparently, part of the reason Terry had gone back out to the yard before allowing Erin out was to ensure that the body was covered so she wouldn’t have to see it.
“Thank you,” she breathed, even though Terry was still back in the house, waiting for her to perform her task.
CHAPTER 8
Erin gave a brief nod to the sheriff and the other law enforcement officers who had gathered in her yard to investigate and made a beeline for the stairs. She climbed up them, maybe a bit faster than she normally would have, because she found herself out of breath when she reached the top. She paused for a moment to catch her breath. Eventually, there were no other excuses to stall, and she inserted her key into the lock.
Feeling awkward about just walking into Vic’s space when she wasn’t there, Erin knocked first. Unnecessary, of course, since Willie had said that Vic wasn’t there, but Erin just didn’t feel like she could walk in without at least knocking first. It was just common courtesy.
“Vic?” she called tentatively as she opened the door. “Are you home?”
There was no response. Vic’s apartment was dark and quiet. Erin fumbled for the light switch and turned it on.
Her eyes roamed over the interior of the apartment, looking for anything that was out of place. There was no blood. Nothing to suggest that the apartment had been burgled or that there had been a fight. It looked pretty much like it did all the time. Except that Vic wasn’t there.
There was a high-pitched whine, and Erin crouched down to look inside Nilla’s kennel. The fluffy white dog sat there watching her and gave another whine.
“Hey, Nilla. It’s okay. Where’s Vicky, huh? Do you know where she went?”
Vic usually took the dog with her wherever she could. She didn’t like leaving him at the apartment, especially in his kennel.
But Nilla didn’t have any answers for Erin. Erin took a quick look around the apartment to ensure that Vic was not in the bathtub or on the floor beside the bed, and then left. The more she stayed and talked to Nilla, the more he would whine and fuss. Without her there, he would go back to sleep until Vic got home.
Erin left the apartment, turning to lock the door after her. She descended the stairs again, aware that all eyes were on her. She felt suddenly conspicuous in her pink pajamas. Luckily, she didn’t trip.
