“The kids probably killed him,” I finished her thought after she paused too long. “I should, but then I’d have to tell him about our little break-in. No, we’ll just have to hope their forensics can put the pieces together after they find the shirt.”
“Thanks, Jake. Margot would kill me if you told White without her lawyer present,” she said before going into the store.
The only other person in the parking lot held the door for her then followed her inside. It was my chance to cover the plates. I didn’t leave any numbers visible because it wasn’t going to fool the police, and I didn’t want any nosy neighbors getting a partial.
***
Bonnie laughed at me when I turned onto Appleton’s road and told her I had heard of cases where they traced a car with only one letter or number by matching it with the make and model. She started to say something about my imagination when we saw several sheriffs’ vehicles and a CBI truck in Appleton’s drive. I kept on going, hoping they didn’t notice the mud on our plates.
“Wow, that was close,” I said after parking around the bend where we couldn’t be seen. I left the engine running in case we had to make a quick getaway.
She had her pack of cigarettes out and was playing with the seal. “Did you see that huge truck? What on earth do you suppose that is?”
“CBI, according to the sign on the door.”
“It took them long enough,” she said.
I put the Jeep back in gear and slowly pulled back onto the road. “Lucky for us. If they hadn’t been sidetracked by the fake suicide, they might have sent the forensics’ team out before we had a chance to wipe our prints.”
***
Neither of us spoke again until I was back at the intersection of 285 and waiting for the light to turn. It had taken a little time to find a road that didn’t go past Appleton’s cabin. I tried using Lucy, my GPS, but would have had better luck asking Fred. I gave up after Lucy couldn’t get a signal, and stumbled on to Highway 74, which I knew would take us to 285.
“Let’s forget about giving any statement today, Bon. Maybe you need Margot’s lawyer after all,” I said, pulling out into traffic when the light finally changed.
She put the pack of cigarettes she had been holding back in her purse. “You won’t get any argument from me.”
I was about to answer but was side-tracked when I noticed a semi-truck in my rear-view mirror barreling down on us. The driver had run a red light, and was about to turn us into road kill. I couldn’t switch lanes because another car was already in the fast lane, so I quickly swerved toward the shoulder and came to a stop.
Bonnie waved a single finger and yelled out a few choice words to the reckless driver when he went speeding by.
I crossed myself before turning to her. “This is one time I don’t care if you smoke the whole pack, Bon. What was that guy thinking?” I asked before turning around to check on Fred.
“Oh, crap. That’s all we need now.” Fred was fine, but pulling in behind me was a State Patrol car with its lights flashing.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
By Wednesday, the three of us were on our way to Bailey to give our statements of what we had seen on Mosquito Pass. I had nearly forgotten about the ticket the cop gave me for driving with expired plates. He said he wouldn’t have noticed if they hadn’t been covered in mud. It seems Bonnie was eighteen days past the grace period of getting her plates renewed.
This time we took my Jeep to avoid another ticket. I waited until we were on the road before telling Bonnie I was going to tell Deputy White about the bloody shirt and our visit to the cabin.
“You should have said something sooner, Jake. Margot will have a cow. You know I can’t do that without her lawyer.” Bonnie fumbled through her purse, looking for her phone. “I better call her and see if Harvey can meet us there.”
It would be useless to try to stop her, assuming she found her cell phone. I had seen her miss more than one call when she couldn’t get to it in time. “Harvey must be far too busy to just drop everything and drive to Bailey, but I suppose it’s worth a try.”
She held a finger to her lips in the universal sign for me to shut my mouth. “Damn it, Margot, answer your phone.”
Her sister’s phone did as it was told and came back with a recorded message.
Bonnie yelled into her phone, “Margot, call me back when you get this. It’s important!” Then she slammed the flip-phone shut and looked at me with real fear in her eyes.
“Can’t we do this later, Jake? Please?”
“Are you forgetting the cops at Appleton’s yesterday? It can only mean one thing.”
She cut me off before I could finish. “They no longer think he killed himself.”
“Exactly, and no matter how clever we thought we were, they are bound to find something to connect us to the crime scene.”
Bonnie looked at her phone again before putting it back in her purse. “Like Fred’s paw prints,” she said. “Okay, Jake, you win. I suppose Margot can always bail me out if she has to.”
***
We rehearsed our story during the forty-five minute ride, so if we wouldn’t be caught in a lie if we got interrogated separately. It was a simple story. It was basically the one we told Wilson, without the part of us breaking and entering Appleton’s cabin.
“Be a good boy, Freddie. We shouldn’t be long,” I said after parking the Jeep and rolling down all the windows.
Bonnie didn’t make a move to get out. “Maybe I should stay here with him, Jake.”
“It’s not even seventy, Bon. He’ll be fine.”
“No. Not the heat. What if they arrest us? Who’s going to take care of Fred?”
“Unless the deputies drive unmarked cars, the answer is no one. There are only two cars in the parking lot, and not one of them is a police vehicle or has county plates.”
***
Once we left the building, I realized my observation had been correct. The only officer at the substation was a clerk, and she was busy with someone paying a ticket. I grabbed Bonnie’s elbow and led her back outside.
“Change of plans, Bon,” I said once we were back at my Jeep. “Let’s just give them a statement on what we saw and did on Mosquito Pass.”
Bonnie looked relieved. “Okay with me. I wasn’t looking forward to spending the night in jail anyway. What made you change your mind?”
“What did you see in there?”
“Nothing. Just someone paying a ticket.”
“Exactly. No deputies. I doubt if they have six in the entire county. They have to be way too busy to bother trying to catch us in a lie, so there’s no need in asking for trouble.”
***
The drive home was quiet, at least our conversation was. Margot called back before we got half a mile from the sheriff’s substation. I became invisible while Bonnie reassured her sister everything was okay, and they went on to talk about nothing that interested me. I waited until she hung up before saying anything.
“How well do you know your Bible, Bon?”
She looked at me wide-eyed. “What?” Then she seemed to understand. “Oh, you mean for church next Sunday.”
“Not exactly. I had something a little more devious in mind. I was thinking of knocking on a few doors in Appleton’s neck of the woods. I could dress Fred as a seeing-eye dog and pretend to be a blind Jehovah’s Witness. Of course, I’d need your help to pull it off.”
“That’s got to be the goofiest idea you’ve ever had,” she said, once she’d finally stopped laughing.
“We need to know what the cops found at Appleton’s. Maybe one of the neighbors would open up to a couple of bible-toting evangelists, especially if one of them was blind. So unless you have a better idea, I think I need to start looking for one of those harnesses guide dogs wear.”