Deadly Christmas Duty Page 8

  Peterson walked up behind him and watched as Melinda disappeared into the crowd. Noah turned to him. “What happened back there?”

  “I have no idea. This isn’t the first time she’s witnessed a dead body. She’s never had this reaction before.”

  But Noah suddenly understood perfectly what had upset her so much. “It’s the first time she’s ever seen a body that belonged to a friend.”

  Peterson shrugged. “Guess that must be it.”

  “Do you need me to identify the body?” Noah asked him.

  “That’s not necessary. Melinda made the identification.” He slapped Noah on the back as if to say sorry for your loss. It was kind of touching in a way, and he was sure it was the only sympathy this man would give him.

  But whatever the reason or timing, Noah knew one thing. Finding Nikki’s body meant a case could now be built against her husband for murder.

  * * *

  Melinda stumbled into the woods, her heart pounding with fear. She’d slipped on the wet dirt and nearly fallen into the water, triggering a panic attack. As she fought to control her breathing and keep her anxiety from exploding into full-on panic, the image of falling into that dark, murky water kept replaying in her head, and the difficulty of fighting to breathe overwhelmed her.

  She was back on the boat with Sean, then, in the water with his hand pressing down hard on her. She couldn’t surface and she couldn’t breathe, but her heart was crying out why, why at the terrible act. She hadn’t even comprehended at first what was happening to her. She was being held under water by the man she loved, the man who had fathered the child growing inside her, and putting them both in danger. She kicked and struggled, but his grip was too strong, and even then it didn’t occur to her that this man she loved actually wanted her dead. It wasn’t until one of her kicks loosened his grip and she managed to raise her head enough to gasp for air that she saw him coming for her again, deadly intention in his face. He’d wanted her dead, and he’d wanted their baby dead. Finally, it had sunk in, and she’d fought him as he tried again to accomplish his evil deed.

  But she’d had something worth fighting for, and so she had, eventually knocking Sean into the water with her, then watching as blood pooled up around her and he didn’t resurface. She’d crawled back into the boat then looked for him again, but still there was nothing, no sign of life and no indication that he was there. Blood on the edge of the boat told her he must have hit it as he fell overboard. She didn’t wait around. She’d started the engine and hightailed it out of there, back to solid ground. But what she’d done had been unthinkable. She’d killed her husband.

  She’d thought she was past all that, but the fear of plunging into that water tonight had terrified her and forced her to relive that night all over again.

  She leaned against a tree as her breath finally began to return to normal. She’d made it out that night, and she’d had her baby and started a new life with him right here in Daytonville. Seven years had passed with no sign of Sean and no indication that he’d ever made it out of that lake alive.

  And now she owed Noah an explanation for her actions. How would she ever explain this to him without telling him everything? And she couldn’t do that. No one could know the truth about that night and what she’d done to protect herself and Ramey.

  She headed back to the scene. She would come up with something to tell him, some tale that she would make sound believable. Maybe she would simply say she was coming down with a stomach bug and leave it at that. Or maybe he wouldn’t even care what was wrong with her. His only concern tonight would be wanting to know if it was his sister they’d found in the lake.

  She felt sick as the panic began to wash away and the image of her friend’s body filled her thoughts. It hadn’t been Nikki, but she had recognized the heart tattoo on the shoulder. Dawn had proudly shown it off to her when she’d gotten it.

  She was still trying to process what she’d seen when a roaring sound grew closer. She turned to find a set of bright headlights bearing down on her. She screamed and ran, but the vehicle kept coming, following her, swerving as she moved on the road. She darted into a row of trees and felt the brush of metal on her leg as she ran. That was how close the car had come to running her down.

  She heard the scraping of the vehicle as it sideswiped the trees and ripped off the bark. She stopped and knelt beside a group of trees and watched as the headlights continued and the roar of the vehicle filled the air, as if calling her name.

  I’m coming for you, Melinda. I’m coming for you.

  The shouts of the oncoming crowd approaching was music to her ears. The vehicle turned and roared down the road, spewing a cloud of dust and dirt in its wake.

  Noah ran into the woods, and she fell into his arms. “I heard you scream. What happened?”

  She was shaking as he held her. All the panic and anxiety morphed into tears, and she clung to him, telling him in broken pieces between sobs about her near encounter. “He—tried—t-to...run me—d-down.”

  “The car? Did you see who it was?’

  She could barely shake her head before she burst into sobs again. All she knew at that moment, besides the strong protection of his embrace, was that whoever had placed that bomb in her office wasn’t giving up. He’d meant to kill her, and he was still out there.

  FOUR

  Noah sat with Melinda near the ambulance while the police set up a second crime scene by where she’d nearly been run over.

  She had finally stopped shaking, but she still looked so frail and frightened that he couldn’t leave her side. Yet he was bursting to know what was happening. No one had told him what they’d seen at the lake. He wanted to know, but he wasn’t sure she was up to telling him about it.

  “Melinda, the woman that was found...?” She looked up at him, her brown eyes wide with fear. “I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but no one has said anything. The woman that was found. Was it Nikki?”

  Of course it was. Peterson had practically said so himself. Why else would Melinda get so upset at seeing the body if it didn’t belong to a friend?

  She clasped her hands together and sighed. “It wasn’t Nikki, but it was someone I knew very well. It was Dawn.”

  “Your assistant? Melinda, I’m so sorry. When I saw how upset you were at seeing her, I didn’t think of anyone except my sister. Could you tell how she died?”

  “She had bruising around her neck. She was strangled.”

  He glanced around. The police were busy processing two different, but close in proximity, scenes. One group was still working around the body found in the water, while another was processing the scene around where Melinda had been almost run down. Two violent crimes against women in two days. They had to be connected.

  “Chief!”

  Noah looked up to see an officer hurrying toward Peterson. He handed him a note, which caused a grim look to spread across his face when he read it.

  Noah jumped to his feet and rushed over. “What is it?”

  “Someone called in an abandoned vehicle three miles up the road. They saw someone jump out and run into the woods. It appears to have damage in the same place as the one that attacked Melinda. I’m heading over there to take a look at it.”

  “I’m going, too,” Noah insisted.

  “So am I,” Melinda responded, standing.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Peterson said.

  “I’ve answered all your questions, and you said yourself I could leave if I wanted. I want to see if it’s the same car.”

  “How will you know? You couldn’t even give a description.”

  “I’ll look at the headlights and know.”

  Peterson must have seen as Noah did that Melinda wasn’t going to stay put. He nodded, then they piled into Peterson’s cruiser and headed out. A few miles down the road, he pulled over and they got out.


  Noah spotted a car pulled over to the side of the road. A lone patrol car was watching it.

  “Oh no,” Peterson said.

  “What is it?” Noah asked, then saw for himself when he got a look at the abandoned vehicle. It was a red Dodge Charger. “Is that...?”

  “Yep,” Peterson confirmed. “That’s Wayne Lassiter’s car. I’ll run the license plate to be sure but I recognize it as his.”

  Noah glanced at the vehicle. “There’s damage to the bumper that looks like it could have come from trees. No sign of anyone around, or even another vehicle the perpetrator used to get away once he ditched the car?”

  The officer guarding the car shook his head. “I haven’t seen anyone.”

  Noah spotted the hesitation in Peterson. “You’re still not willing to admit Wayne is targeting her, are you, Chief?”

  “I’m headed to Wayne’s house now to question him.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Noah insisted.

  “That’s not necessary.”

  “No disrespect, Chief, but my sister has been missing for four months, and it looks to me like your office has given Wayne Lassiter a pass. I won’t allow the same thing to happen here.”

  Finally, the chief sighed. “Fine. You can come, but I do the talking.” He glanced at Melinda. “I’ll have one of my officers drive you back to the station.” He looked at Noah. “Are you certain you can trust us to do that?”

  “I assume your entire office isn’t corrupt. But if anything happens to her, I’ll know differently.”

  He leaned down to face Melinda. “Are you going to be okay?” He wasn’t a hundred percent certain he wanted to leave her, but he wasn’t going to let Peterson talk to Wayne without him present.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Go. I want you there when he confronts Wayne.”

  He watched her get into a police cruiser and be driven away, hoping he was making the right decision. Peterson motioned him toward his car. “Let’s go. Remember, I do the talking.”

  He wasn’t sure he could agree to that, so he kept silent instead. Peterson drove to the house where Nikki had lived for the past four years. His heart tore when he spotted the garden gnomes and birdbath on the lawn, and he knew that was definitely her doing.

  Peterson parked at the curb and got out. Noah followed him, anger swelling up in him with each step he took toward the house.

  Wayne opened the door at Peterson’s knock. He looked relaxed and comfortable...until he spotted Noah. His countenance changed and he frowned.

  “What’s he doing here?” Wayne demanded.

  “He’s with me,” Peterson declared.

  It was the first time he’d seen Wayne in years, and his initial urge was to jump on him and demand to know where Nikki was.

  “I’m afraid it’s official police business,” Peterson continued before Noah could act on his instinct. “Where were you tonight, approximately an hour ago, Wayne?”

  He looked at Peterson questioningly but answered him. “Nowhere. I’ve been home all night.”

  “What about your car? Did you go anywhere in it?”

  “No, I told you. I’ve been home.”

  “Did you loan it to anyone?”

  Wayne put his hands on his hips and sighed. “No. Lyle, what’s this about?”

  “Melinda Steele was attacked again tonight. Someone tried to run her down.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, but it wasn’t me. I’ve been at home.”

  “Can anyone verify that?” Noah demanded.

  Peterson gave him a look of disdain then turned back to Wayne. “Wayne, your car was found abandoned three miles from the scene of the attack. I ran the plates. It was definitely yours.”

  “That’s impossible. I haven’t driven my car all day. It’s still parked in the garage.” He stepped outside and walked toward the garage, then entered numbers on a keypad. The garage door lifted.

  He was the only one surprised when it was empty.

  Wayne gasped. “It—it’s gone. Someone took my car, Lyle.”

  “Do you really expect us to believe someone stole your car?” Noah demanded.

  “I don’t care what you believe, but it’s true. It was here last night when I parked it.”

  “So you’re claiming that someone stole your car, even though you’ve already stated you were home all day?” Noah gave a disgusted grunt at his excuse.

  “I took some sleeping pills earlier. I haven’t been sleeping well. He must have taken it then.” He looked at Peterson. “Lyle, you know me.”

  “I’m going to have to ask you to come to the precinct with me, Wayne. We need to sort out some things.”

  Wayne looked at Peterson, shocked. “I tell you, I had nothing to do with this.”

  “I still have to ask you to come with me.”

  Noah thought he was going to balk at the request, but he finally nodded. He lowered the garage door, then followed Peterson to his cruiser.

  “Aren’t you going to tell him about the body that was found?” Noah asked. He watched Wayne carefully and noticed how he stiffened at the mention of a body.

  Peterson sighed. “I was going to wait until we were back at the station.”

  Wayne turned to him. “You found a body? Was it her?”

  “She has a name,” Noah insisted.

  Wayne ignored him. “Was it my wife?”

  “We’ll discuss it more at the station,” Peterson said, then waited until Wayne got into the car before turning to Noah. “What was that about?”

  “I wanted to see his reaction when he heard a body was found. He stiffened. He’s afraid it’s her.”

  “Or maybe it was merely shock.”

  But Noah knew better. He saw fear, not trepidation or relief, in Wayne’s eyes. “He killed my sister and he knows where she is. And he knows when we find her body, we’ll be here for more than a stolen car.”

  He rode with them back to the station, noting how Wayne ignored him completely but also how nervous he seemed.

  He should be nervous. Because even once he discovered it wasn’t Nikki’s body they’d found, he’d still be facing charges of trying to kill Melinda.

  * * *

  Melinda stared through the two-way mirror at Wayne as he sat in an interrogation room at the police station. He was calmly playing on his phone as he waited, apparently not worried at all that he was being implicated in attacking her.

  She shouldn’t be surprised. He’d shown very little remorse when his own wife vanished. And he’d gotten away with that. Why should he worry about an attempted murder charge?

  She turned and spotted Noah watching her. This had to be doubly hard on him, knowing that Wayne held the answers to where his sister’s body was located but refused to give it up. She could sense the rage building up inside him, but he kept it in check. He had every right to be angry, yet he’d been nothing but kind to her.

  She took a seat beside him and wrapped her arm into the crook of his. He was shaking and his muscles were tense, proof that he was doing his best to hold everything he was feeling inside.

  “I thought I would be okay,” he said, his voice full of emotion. “But when I saw those lawn gnomes in her front yard...” He rubbed his hand over his face. “She always loved those.”

  Melinda laid her head against his shoulder, knowing there was nothing she could do to comfort him except be there. He’d comforted her during her scares with the bomb, the house fire and the car coming after her, and it felt good to do something to help him.

  “Where is Peterson?” Noah asked. “I thought he was going to question Wayne about his car.”

  “He’s letting him sit for a while. It usually helps to shake up the suspect and get him rattled, but it’s not working on Wayne. He’s just sitting there playing Solitaire on his cell phone.”

  “You should have heard him, Me
linda, trying to claim he’d been home all day but that someone managed to steal his car out of his garage without his knowing it. He was stretching. He killed Nikki, and now he’s trying to hurt you, too.”

  “He must be worried that we’re going to find out what he did to her.”

  “He should be worried.” Noah stood and paced, his hands jammed into his pockets and his head low.

  She wished she had some comforting words to say. She’d always relied on her faith to get her through tough times, but lately even that had been shaky. Besides, he didn’t really look like the “Be still and know that I am God” type. He was used to taking action, and right now his hands were tied.

  Finally, Chief Peterson emerged and headed for the interview room.

  “I want to be in there when you interrogate him,” Noah said.

  Peterson shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You two have a volatile enough history already. You’ll only make a tense situation even worse.”

  “He’s not tense. He’s not worried at all. He knows you’re going to give him a pass again.”

  Chief Peterson grimaced at that jab. “He’s not getting a pass, but I do have to have proof that he did something. We’ve got his car impounded, and it’s being searched by my forensics team. My top investigator is going to interview him, not me. He can’t fall back on our relationship this time. If he was involved in this, we’ll find out.”

  “If he was involved? You’ve already convinced yourself he wasn’t involved, that someone else stole his car and tried to run down Melinda.”

  She stood and got between them. “What if he won’t admit to anything? Is there any way to prove he was the one driving?”

  “We’ll take prints to see if there are any besides Wayne’s, and we’re canvassing the neighbors to see if anyone saw him coming or going in the car all day. The best you can do is wait and let us handle this.” He glanced at Noah. “Find her a place to stay and keep an eye on her. I’ll call you when I know anything else about Wayne.” He walked off and disappeared down the hall.