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  I was thinking about everything the cop had said. Not once had they mentioned any details about possible suspects or a motive. They surely had the info I had given the hotel upon check in. Of course it would do them little good, but they didn’t even bring it up. Perhaps they already knew it was a dead end.

  I went back to my workout, only by now my pump had vanished and the rest of the exercises bored me. I decided to run some, opting for the treadmill at the complete opposite end from the TV which was still displaying the special report from my crime scene. The group of women never left. They all dragged chairs over and sat, all hopes of burning calories lost.

  I ran for twenty minutes, working up a good sweat and as I stepped off the machine my cell phone went off in my pocket. Minnie was ready to be picked up. I grabbed my gym bag and as I passed the group of woman huddled in front of the television I caught the reporter saying, "The police have just informed us that they have identified the young woman who was killed." I slowed my pace slightly.

  "Using identification found with the victim’s clothing, the girl has been identified as twenty-two year old Heather Morris of Larendale."

  A wailing, high-pitched scream shattered through all other sounds in the gym. I jumped, twisting my head back towards the TV. One of the women had fallen out of her chair to her knees and was sobbing hysterically. The other’s swarmed around her, offering sympathy and hugs. I never found out the relation between Heather and that woman. I didn’t care. We all suffer in life. I’d done plenty of my own.

  I left the gym and went to pick up Minnie.

  Chapter 28

  When I pulled up to the curb outside Minnie’s beauty shop, I watched through the big glass store-front as she got up out of a chair near the door and made her way out. I was expecting her to jump in and immediately start immersing me in the details that she and the beauty shop gals had learned about the murder in their neighboring town, but I got nothing. She got in, causing my Jeep to lean slightly towards the passenger side, and didn’t say anything except, "How was your time at they gym?"

  I told her it went fine and then asked, not so much out of politeness as it was digging for information, how her visit with her friends had been. She said that it was fine, that they were all old and boring, we shared a laugh, and that was it. The rest of the short drive back to the house was mostly silent. I didn’t bring up the news. I’d let the Sanderson's find out on their own. I wasn’t one to go promoting my own work… uh, except for my books I guess, but that’s different I think you’ll agree.

  We drove up the hill and I parked in my usual spot next to the Oldsmobile. Then walking around the passenger side I helped Minnie out and then grabbed my gym bag from the backseat. When we walked in the back door, Ralph was standing in the kitchen with the phone held to his ear. He saw us come in and held up a hand, signaling us to stop. We both stood still in our tracks and I could hear Minnie breathing hard next to me. The couple of steps outside leading up to the door had gotten her out of breath.

  Ralph nodded to himself as he listened. Bobbing his head up and down while Minnie and I stood with curious looks on both our faces.

  "Uh-huh, " Ralph said, nodding again. "Got ya. Well thanks for letting me know, Al. You’re my very own news station." He chuckled and said goodbye, placing the phone back on its cradle on the wall. Then he turned back to us. "There’s been a murder in Larendale. Young girl, they found her dead in the Holiday Inn."

  Good ole, Al. Forecaster of tornados and bearer of homicide news. For some reason I imagine he’d fit in well with Minnie’s beauty shop group, soaking up the gossip and then ringing it out all over town. He probably ended his phone calls with a sign-off, just like the TV news anchors. Something like, "And remember, you heard it from Al first."

  Minnie put a hand to her mouth and let out a gasp, which sounded more emphasized because she was still a bit out of breath. "Oh no. Poor thing. How?"

  Ralph opened the fridge and pulled out two beers, handing me one. Apparently the news had shocked me into wanting to drink. "There’s no official information on cause of death yet, only speculation from what was found at the crime scene. Well at least that’s what they’re saying right now." He took a long sip from his beer and then sat it down on the counter. "I’ve got to make some calls." With that he left the kitchen, leaving me with an unopened beer in my hand, and Minnie with her breathing returning to normal.

  "Minnie," I said, with a bit of unease. "Is it just me or is Ralph a little worked up over this?"

  She walked a few feet to the kitchen table and sat down, digging in her purse and pulling out a peppermint candy. "Well, Dan, honestly the whole town might get a little worked up over this."

  I sat down across from her. "Why’s that?" I knew it was bad news, but come on, this was the twenty-first century and murder wasn’t an uncommon thing to hear about on the news.

  I was wrong.

  "Well, lets see, there hasn’t been a murder in Jacob’s Bluff in… well gosh it must be close to ten years."

  "You’re kidding?"

  "No, last one I can recall is when the father of one of Jacob’s Bluff High School football players ran over the father of a player on the opposing team with his pickup truck. Said the other man’s son had roughed his boy up more than was necessary. They lost the game too."

  I looked at her with wide eyes. "Oh," she said, "but he was just down right crazy to boot. Was on pain pills from a back injury which kept him from working, and drank a lot. Wife left right after the kid was born. Kind of felt sorry for him, but still, they locked him up. That’s the last time I can remember somebody getting murdered around these parts."

  I sat, amazed. Minnie continued. "Larendale is a little different than here, though. Crime rate’s higher--there’s more drugs, and burglaries, and there’s been a few rapes as well--but I don’t think there’s been any murders. A couple of attempts I think, but nobody’s ever died. I could be wrong about that, though. Ralph would know."

  She stopped talking and I opened my beer. I had possibly managed to commit the first murder in the area in years. Talk about trying to get noticed. My luck never ceased to amaze me.

  Minnie sucked on her hard candy and I sipped my beer, both of us just sitting in silence, like it was inappropriate to talk in a time like this. I wondered if Minnie was right about the whole town being upset. If we were to peek into the houses of others in Jacob’s Bluff would we find scenes much like the one we were a part of; solemn faces and closed mouths. Town-wide mourning.

  From the living room I heard Ralph talking, although I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

  "Who’s Ralph calling?"

  "Probably the Police."

  My heart skipped a beat or three and then returned to normal as Minnie continued. "One of Ralph’s best buddies is the Chief of Police, Herbert Bailey--everyone calls him Herbie--they go way back. Herbie started on the force a few years after Ralph did and they hit it off immediately. Worked together all those years and then when Ralph retired, Herbie got appointed less than a year later. Ralph wonders what would have happened if he had stayed on, but he doesn’t dwell on it. I don’t think he’d taken the job if they’d offered it. I think Herbie’s getting close to stepping down soon, he’s getting old like the rest of us.

  "Anyway, Herbie keeps Ralph informed on everything. He trusts him, and often asks his opinion on things. Ralph loves it, says it lets him work a little without actually having to work."

  Wonderful

  I leaned back in my chair and took another swig from the beer. "Whatever keeps the mind sharp. Seems like he could find something a little more pleasant to do though, like maybe a crossword puzzle or maybe Sudoku--that’s getting pretty popular. Ever tried it?"

  She shook her head. "Oh, Ralph doesn’t mind it one bit. It’s what he knows. Plus, like I said, stuff stays pretty quiet around here. Well… until this."

  I nodded. "So tell me something. What kind of info is Ralph going to get from the Jacob’s Bluff police if
the murder happened in Larendale? That’s got to be two different divisions, right?"

  "Oh sure, sure. But those two units are thick as thieves." She laughed, and then followed it by a couple of deep coughs. "I guess that’s the wrong way to put it--calling the police thieves. They’re all friends, and being that both areas are small, a lot of times officers from one division will go over and help out the other when they’re short staffed and whatnot. So with something like this you better believe Jacob’s Bluff knows just as much as Larendale." Her face went serious fast and she looked at me with hard eyes for a second. "Oh, I don’t know if this is public knowledge or not, I just know because Ralph’s told me. Might not want to go spreading police talk around town."

  I made a zipping motion across my lips. "No worries."

  Ralph came back in then, picking his beer up off of the counter and downing the last half of it in two big gulps before sitting down and joining us at the table.

  "What’d Herbie say?" Minnie asked.

  Ralph scratched at the stubble on his face. "Well, the way it stands right now, the girl and the guy she was with had sex--consensual, or rape, they’re not sure--and then he smothered her with a pillow. It was still on top of her face when the maid found the body."

  "Any leads?" You could tell Minnie had spent a lot of years married to a cop.

  "That’s kinda the worst part. The only concrete thing we have is a physical description from the woman working the front desk last night, and that’s not exactly helpful. Male, Caucasian, mid-to-late twenties, maybe thirty, brown hair, average height, kinda stocky. She also said that the girl didn’t come in with the guy to check in, so she never even saw her."

  My heart leapt into my throat. Minnie didn’t help things. "That could be anybody. I mean, that describes every third young guy you see."

  I couldn’t see it, but I bet my face drained of all color. I looked down at the table.

  "I know," Ralph said. "Like I was saying, it’s not exactly helpful. The info he gave at check in was bogus. Gave the name Jackson Barnes. They checked it and found twenty-six in the country, four of which were under forty. They called all four and they all have alibis. None were even in the state. Address doesn’t exist, and the phone number rings to--get this--a Funeral Parlor in Wisconsin. Some of the guys think that part was some kind of sick joke."

  I had no idea, I swear.

  "There’s a surveillance camera in the lobby of the hotel, but it’s a god awful angle--don’t know what kind of dumb ass installed that thing--and it only gets the guys back as he’s checking in. Nothing to be learned that the front desk woman didn’t already verify. They took some hair samples from the room, but being that’s it’s a hotel and all… the only pin-point piece of evidence we have is semen."

  My stomach tied itself into multiple knots.

  "They sent to stuff to the lab upstate, the techs will do their thing and see if they can find any matches. I don’t have high hopes though."

  Ralph sighed and Minnie put another peppermint in her mouth. I remembered Heather’s brother, and the confrontation they had while I waited by the pool table. "Is the girl’s family saying anything?"

  "Her brother is with police right now, she lives with him. He works in Larendale and she went to school. The parents live in Ohio and are on their way. Herbie’ll let me know if the brother had anything to say that might be important."

  I imagined he’d say quite a few things, none of which would be good for me.

  Nobody said anything for a moment. I sipped on my beer, as if somehow it helped fill the silence, then Minnie said, "It’s kinda scary. Ain't it, Ralph?"

  "Well I guess--"

  "I mean, there could be a murderer walking around Jacob’s Bluff right now! Larendale’s only right down the road, you know that."

  "Minnie dear," he took her doughy hand in his and touched her cheek. "Whoever did this is probably long gone. Long gone. I mean, if you just killed somebody would you just stick around and wait for somebody to find you? I don’t think so."

  She pulled her hand away, almost jerked it. "Ralph you have no idea what this guy is thinking, or doing, for that matter. He just killed somebody, do you think he has the same rational thoughts that we do? Do you think that--"

  Her speech stopped abruptly and a quick whistling noise escaped her throat. Her eyes popped open wide and bright and her hands reached up to her neck, fingers splayed. For a split second nobody moved. Then it hit us--she was choking. I remembered her putting the second peppermint in her mouth and I jumped out of my chair, running around to her side of the table. Ralph was moving too, but I was younger, faster, and beat him to it.

  "She’s choking, Dan!"

  Thanks, Ralph.

  "I know, I know!" I yelled back. I reached from behind her and got my arms under hers, barely able to wrap them around her.

  "Minnie, up on three!" I was praying she could hear and understand me. I wasn’t sure I could lift her on my own, muscles or no muscles. "One, two, three!"

  She scooted the chair back from the table, causing an ugly scratching sound on the linoleum, and I lifted at the same time. Once she was up, I wrapped my arms around her and felt with my fingers, looking for her belly button. One thing they forgot to tell you in classes while teaching the Heimlich is that when a person is excessively overweight, and has more rolls than a buffet bakery, its can be quite impossible to find the navel.

  Knowing time was not on my side, I guessed at that position my hands were in and thrusted up and in. On the second thrust Minnie let out a wet, gargled cough and I heard something go Whop! on the table. Minnie doubled over, hands on the table and started wheezing, gasping in large breaths. Ralph rushed over immediately and was hugging her and kissing her, asking her if she was alright. She was still wheezing, her large bosom heaving up and down, but she nodded that she was ok.

  I walked around back to my side of the table and drank the rest of my beer.

  After Ralph and I were both positive that Minnie was ok, and she was seated comfortably in the living room in her chair, the TV on and a bowl of popcorn in her lap, I started to fix myself some dinner. I had a chicken breast on the skillet when Ralph, who I didn’t hear come into the kitchen, put his hand on my shoulder. I turned and met his gaze.

  "Dan, I just want to say thank you and--"

  I help up the spatula I was using on the chicken. "You’re welcome. No more."

  He opened his mouth to say something and then when no words came, he just smiled and nodded, giving me a hard squeeze on the shoulder. He turned then and got a beer out of the fridge, plopping himself into one of the chairs around the table.

  "So where’d you learn the Heimlich?" he asked.

  I flipped my chicken. The truth was all teachers were required to complete the training. Ralph didn’t know me as a teacher, though. "My company makes us all get certified."

  Ralph nodded. It was a good enough answer. He sat there by himself, sipping his beer while I finished fixing my dinner, and once I had my food I sat across from him, opting for a glass of Minnie’s iced tea over another beer. I was halfway through before he spoke.

  "Minnie was right, ya know? It is kinda scary. I mean, I know murder happens everyday in this country, but it sure as hell feels different when it hits this close to home. Do you know what I mean?"

  "Yeah, sure." I didn’t meet his eyes.

  He took another swallow of beer. "Its just… I mean how fucked up does a person have to be to kill a girl and leave her like that?"

  It was the first time I had ever heard Ralph cuss with such ferocity. It caused me to look at him then, and I said the truest thing I had said all day.

  "Pretty fucked up."

  He nodded, as if this was exactly the answer he was looking for. Then he stood up from the table and then pointed at me. "But hey, at least we’re in the business of saving lives in this house, right."

  He laughed and went to join Minnie in the living room, leaving me alone with the rest of my dinner.
/>   My appetite had disappeared.

  Chapter 29

  A few more days passed by and other than a guaranteed piece about the murder everyday in the paper and on the local evening news, life continued on much like usual, which was something that I had come to learn it always did. No matter if you wanted it to or not.

  I tried not to stray from my normal routine, still taking my jogs and hitting the gym, still taking Minnie to run her errands, still playing chess with Ralph and helping him paint the shutters on the house. I didn’t ask for any details that Ralph learned about the murder from Herbie, not ever wanting to bring the subject up on my own, but Minnie wasted no time every day at dinner. It was usually the first thing out of her mouth after she said the blessing. "In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Herbie have anything new to report?" It was practically part of the blessing now that I think about it.

  Ralph didn’t mind telling us what he knew. He trusted Minnie of course, being his loving wife all these years. But I still found it impressive considering I’d seen the way her and her gals carried on at the beauty shop. I on the other hand felt that the trust he had in me was sort of an "I know your secret, so don’t tell mine," type thing. I could respect that much. I was fairly certain he had never told Minnie about my suicide attempt. I wanted to keep it that way. Besides, the stuff he told us wasn’t exactly confidential really, it was just a bit early. Most everything we heard over the dinner table from Ralph found its way to the media usually only a day or two after. We had an express line.

  The Police interview with Heather’s brother had shed only a little more light on the investigation. Apparently he was highly upset during the entire conversation, fighting back tears and repeating over and over again that it was his fault, that he should have never left her there with "that guy in the suit." He gave the same physical description as the woman working the hotel front desk, again doing a pretty good job of describing me, but it was the suit part that interested the police. They found it interesting for the same reason that I had chosen to wear the suit in the first place, other than it was the official uniform of Jackson. It was unique. The police had made a fair amount of appearances in various night-life spots in Larendale and they were well aware that a guy in a suit among the skimpily clad girls and muscle-tee guys would likely stand out. They questioned everybody who worked that night at Pebbles, but again they got nothing that really aided their search. Of course everybody there knew me. I had been there many times, back during my "practice runs", and had chatted repeatedly with most of the staff I came into contact with. But the police wouldn’t learn anything by talking with them. I always used my fake name and I always paid cash.