Shelly’s heart dropped. “She didn’t say any more?”

  Juliet shook her head. “Can you come?”

  “Of course. Let’s go.”

  In silence, they drove across town, each one thinking about what might lay ahead. When Juliet turned down a country road and passed the beautiful, huge homes set back from the street, she asked, “What could be going on in this part of town?”

  “Do you think they’ve caught the killer?” Shelly hoped. “Is that what this is about?”

  “Uh oh,” Juliet muttered.

  Up ahead, several police cars lined the road. An ambulance stood at the end of a long driveway. A number of officers stood around talking and keeping an eye on any cars that went by.

  “What’s going on?” Shelly was surprised by the presence of so many members of law enforcement.

  Juliet pulled the car to a stop and when the two friends approached the scene on foot, one of the officers recognized them.

  “Hold up. I’ll contact Jay.” When the officer got off the phone, he said, “She’ll be right down.”

  “What’s going on?” Juliet asked.

  “Jay will fill you in. Why don’t you wait for her by the mailbox at the end of the driveway?”

  Standing in the driveway, Shelly looked for a name on the mailbox, but there was only the house number on it. “Whatever is going on, it’s nothing good.”

  Her face looking pale and pinched, Jay strode up to them and hustled the young women halfway up the driveway towards the house. “I’m glad you got here so fast. The media will show up any minute.”

  “What on earth has happened? Whose house is this?” Juliet asked, her eyes pinned on her sister’s face.

  “Mayor Daniels is dead.”

  Shelly sucked in a breath of air.

  “The mayor?” Juliet’s voice was high-pitched. “What happened to him?”

  “His wife found him on the brick walkway. It seems he left his car in front of the garages and was on his way inside the house. He was hit in the head with something that resulted in severe injuries. The man is dead.”

  Juliet covered her mouth with her hand.

  “Just like Wilson Barrett,” Shelly said softly.

  “I wanted you both to know about it before it hits the news. It’s not something I wanted to tell you over the phone.” Jay looked at Shelly. “Have you had any dreams lately?”

  Feeling almost guilty, Shelly shook her head. “I haven’t. I wish I had. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” Jay’s face took on a kind expression. “It’s not something that should be forced. Let me know if you dream anything, anything at all.”

  “Do you think it’s the same person who killed Wilson Barrett?” Juliet asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “But why? What’s the connection between the men?”

  A wave of dread washed over Shelly. “Oh, no. It’s because of the community meeting, isn’t it?”

  “Why? What do you mean?” Juliet asked.

  Shelly made eye contact with Jay. “You think so, too, right? The killer must have attended the community meeting. He must have heard the mayor say Mr. Barrett shouldn’t have been walking in the park in the dark. He must have heard Mayor Daniels imply Mr. Barrett didn’t take the necessary precautions to keep himself safe.”

  With a look of disgust on her face, Jay gave the slightest of nods.

  Shelly let out a long breath of air. “The killer is mocking the mayor for saying those things. The killer murdered the mayor in broad daylight in the driveway of his own home.”

  “This guy is sick,” Juliet almost whimpered. “The killer was at the meeting? He punished the mayor for what he said about Barrett not being careful enough?”

  Jay put her arm around her sister’s shoulders. “It’s speculation. We don’t know anything for sure yet.”

  “He’s emboldened by getting away with Barrett’s murder.” Shelly looked at the mayor’s home. “When do you think it happened?”

  “About three hours ago,” Jay said. “We’ll know more after the medical examiner has a look.”

  “Did he leave any evidence?” Juliet asked hopefully.

  “The scene is being processed,” Jay said.

  “Was Mrs. Daniels at home when it happened?” Shelly asked.

  “No, she was out until late-afternoon,” Jay told them. “She found her husband when she arrived home.”

  “The poor woman.” Juliet looked like she might need to sit down.

  “Was anyone at home when the attack took place?” Shelly asked. “A housekeeper? A relative?”

  “No one was at home.”

  “So there was nobody to see or hear anything,” Juliet moaned. “Was the mayor hit from behind like Mr. Barrett was?”

  “It seems so,” Jay said and then she gave her sister a hug. “Why don’t you take off now? The news people will be here any minute. I don’t want either of you around when they show up. If they arrive as you’re going to your car, cover your faces. I don’t want any photos published of you here.”

  Jay hugged Shelly. “Go now. Hurry.”

  Shelly took Juliet’s arm and they practically jogged to the car. Once inside the vehicle, Juliet pulled a tissue from her bag and dabbed at her eyes.

  “Want me to drive?” Shelly asked, secretly hoping her friend would say no.

  Juliet shook her head. “No. I’m fine. I’m not going to have you driving.”

  “I’m okay,” Shelly protested.

  “No, you’re not.” Juliet sniffled. “You’ve only driven once since the accident in Boston and you nearly passed out while doing it. You’ve only recently started to ride in my car without breaking into a sweat.” She pulled away from the curb and headed down the road away from the mayor’s house. “I can’t believe this. It’s got me freaked out. We were at that meeting. What if he comes after us?”

  “He won’t,” Shelly reassured her friend. “There’s no reason to come after us. There were hundreds of people at that meeting. The killer isn’t going to pick us off one by one.”

  Juliet took a quick look at Shelly. “Why wouldn’t he? He’s nuts. He’ll make a game of it. He’ll spend the rest of his life trying to kill all of us. We’ll have to be on guard all of the time.”

  “No, we won’t. The killer took what Mayor Daniels said as a challenge. He wanted to make the mayor look stupid for saying Barrett didn’t take precautions.” Shelly looked at her friend. “We’re safe. He has no reason to come after us.”

  “What if he was sitting right next to us? Or in front of us? Maybe he heard our conversation. Maybe he didn’t like what we were saying.”

  Even though she wanted to dismiss what Juliet said, anxiety squeezed Shelly’s throat as she tried to remember what the people looked like sitting around them in the auditorium.

  Juliet’s hand trembled on the steering wheel. “You aren’t saying I’m wrong. You think it’s a possibility.”

  “No, I don’t.” Shelly forced the words from her dry throat. “The killer wanted to embarrass the mayor. Mayor Daniels was a public figure. The killer doesn’t care about us. Killing us would be meaningless for him.”

  “The way killing Wilson Barrett was meaningless?”

  “The person must have had a reason to attack Barrett,” Shelly said. “At least, he came up with some reason that made some kind of sense to him.”

  “You don’t think it was a random attack?”

  Shelly sighed. “I don’t really know why I think so, but I’m definitely leaning that way. But at any second, I could change my mind.”

  “Why is this happening?” Juliet turned down their lane and parked the car in her driveway. “I hope you don’t have anything planned for the rest of the evening because there’s no way I’m going to stay in my house alone today. Andrew must be at the crime scene. He was going to come over for dinner later, but that must be out the window now.” She turned to her friend. “Can I come in with you?”

  Shelly chuckled. “Of course, you can. You know you’re always welcome. Besides, I don’t have any plans and I’m hoping you’ll make me dinner.”

  “I’ll make you dinner for the rest of my life as long as I don’t have to stay alone.”

  The young women climbed the steps to Shelly’s bungalow.

  “Stay over. You can sleep on the pullout sofa.”

  “You don’t have to ask me twice,” Juliet said.

  When the door opened, Justice was sitting in the entryway, her beautiful eyes staring up at them.

  Juliet bent to pat the cat. “You wouldn’t believe what’s happened, Justice. Everything’s going crazy. We’ve got a real problem here in Paxton Park.”

  Justice rubbed against Juliet’s legs and trilled.

  “She trying to comfort you,” Shelly said as she plopped onto the sofa. “She’s very good at picking up on people’s emotions.”

  “She’s the best,” Juliet said and when she sat down next to Shelly, Justice jumped up in between them and started to purr causing the young woman to smile. “I always feel better when you’re around, kitty cat.”

  “We can go over to your house later so you can pick up what you need to stay overnight,” Shelly said.

  “We can also pick up the ingredients from my house that I’m going to use to make dinner tonight.” Justice had curled up on Juliet’s lap.

  “I’m worn out,” Shelly admitted. “Maybe the killer left some evidence behind this time.”

  “Fingers crossed,” Juliet said. “Why don’t you take a nice hot bath after dinner to help you relax and then have some warm milk before you go to sleep.”

  Shelly narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Are you hoping I’ll fall asleep on the sofa and then you can sneak into my room and sleep in my bed tonight?”

  Juliet’s face was serious. “No. I’m hoping you fall into a deep sleep tonight … and your sister visits you in your dreams.”

  11

  The next morning, the first thing Juliet did was to ask her friend a question. “Did Lauren come to you in your dreams?”

  Lauren had not appeared in any dreams that night and Shelly was feeling less than useless worrying about disappointing everyone.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Juliet had said. “She’ll come to you when she has something to tell you. Don’t worry.”

  Shelly did worry and now she was feeling incapable of helping the police resolve the town murders especially since she was sitting in the passenger seat of Jay’s police car on their way to interview someone who was an acquaintance of Wilson Barrett.

  “I’ve talked with this guy before,” Jay said. “He was forthcoming and he really gave my questions a lot of thought.” She and Shelly were following the walkway to the front door of the town high school where they had plans to meet with the security guard who worked evenings during the adult continuing education classes.

  The guard was waiting for them in the school lobby. About five foot-eleven inches tall, the twenty-five-year-old man carried a few extra pounds, had broad shoulders, a thick neck, a round babyish-face, and dark blond hair cut close to his head.

  “Officer Landers-Smyth.” The guard stepped forward and shook hands with Jay. “Nice to see you again.”

  Jay introduced Shelly and then said to her, “This is Donald Chapel, the security guard.”

  Chapel and Shelly shook hands and then he led them to an empty classroom right off the lobby. “I need to start work in thirty minutes. If you need more time, I’d be glad to meet you another day to finish up.”

  Jay assured him the thirty minutes should be enough.

  They each sat at their own desk and chair in what seemed to be a mathematics classroom since math-related posters hung on two of the walls and calculators were piled on a counter near the door. The overhead fluorescent lights were bright and harsh and caused a glare on Shelly’s laptop screen as she brought up an empty document to take notes during the meeting.

  Jay thanked the man for meeting with her again. “I’d like to go over some of the things we discussed at our earlier meeting. It helps to talk about them more than once as sometimes new information comes to mind.”

  “I’m glad to help.” Chapel sat back in the chair with his hands folded in his lap.

  Jay asked, “Could you tell me again how long you’ve been working for the adult evening classes?”

  “It’s nearing two full years. I also work a security job at the social security office in Rollingwood during the day.”

  “And how long have you worked there?”

  “Almost six years. I started when I was nineteen.”

  “And you were familiar with Mr. Barrett?” Jay asked.

  “Oh, sure. Mr. Barrett was a nice guy. He was serious about helping people learn how to save and handle their finances. I worked here in the lobby most of the time watching people going in and out of the school. The front door is the only one open during the evenings. All the others are locked. Mr. Barrett’s classroom was across from this one so I could hear his lectures and discussions pretty easily.” Chapel smiled. “So I didn’t need to sign up to take the course. It’s one of the perks of being a security guard here. I can listen to some of the classes going on.”

  “Did you ever talk with Mr. Barrett?” Jay asked.

  “Sure. He’d get here early to set up. I’d go in and talk to him while he was getting stuff ready.”

  “What kinds of things did you talk about?”

  “All kinds of things. Sports, cars, music. Mr. Barrett played piano. I don’t play an instrument, but I love all kinds of music.”

  “Did you ever talk about finances?” Shelly asked.

  “Sometimes. I had an account at the bank where Mr. Barrett worked. I saw him there whenever I needed to go into the bank for something.”

  “Did Mr. Barrett ever have a demanding student? Or did anyone ever make trouble in his class?” Jay questioned.

  “You asked something like that last time and I got to thinking about it. There were a couple of minor things. One time, a guy came in drunk to his class. He didn’t seem to have been drinking when he came into the lobby, otherwise I would have stopped him. He started arguing with Mr. Barrett about some point he was trying to make about investing. He stood up and went right up to Mr. Barrett, got up in his face. Mr. Barrett tried to calm the guy down. I heard what was going on so I went into the classroom and removed the guy. He never came back. Sorry I didn’t think of it last time.”

  “When did this happen?” Jay was writing in her small notebook.

  “About two months ago,” Chapel said. “Maybe less.”

  “You mentioned there was a second incident?” Jay asked.

  “Yeah, not with a student though.” The guard looked down at his hands. “I didn’t bring this up either when I talked to you the last time. It doesn’t seem very important, but I think I should tell you about it. There’s an attorney who gives a couple of two-evening classes each semester about wills and estates. One time, I was late getting here from my day job. I’m usually early so I can greet the people who teach the courses as they come in and the students who get here early. I think it’s important for people to see me so they know someone is here who can help out if they need anything. Anyway, I got here later than usual and I could hear two guys arguing in Mr. Barrett’s classroom.” He gestured to the room next door. “I waited for a minute to see if things were going to get worse. I walked over to the door and looked in, asked Mr. Barrett if everything was okay. That lawyer who teaches the two-evening seminar was with him. They parted ways and the lawyer left to go to his classroom. I asked Mr. Barrett if things were all right and he brushed off the argument.”

  “Do you know what the men were discussing?” Jay asked.

  “I could hear the angry voices, but I couldn’t really make out the words.” Chapel shrugged.

  “What was the lawyer’s name who was arguing with Mr. Barrett?”

  “Meeks.”

  Mike Meeks? Shelly’s eyes widened at hearing the name of Wilson’s Barrett’s friend.

  Chapel said, “Mr. Meeks isn’t here often and his assigned classroom is way at the back of the building. He rushes in and rushes out. And like I said, he only teaches two evenings each semester so I don’t have a chance to get to know him.”

  “Did Mr. Barrett seem upset by the argument?” Jay asked.

  “Not really. Maybe a little. Or maybe he was just embarrassed by me seeing them argue. I didn’t ask any more about it and he didn’t bring it up again.”

  “And when did the argument take place?” Jay said.

  “About two weeks ago,” Chapel told them.

  “What do you do at your day job at the social security office?” Shelly asked.

  Chapel sat up straight. “Me and another guard handle the metal detector as people come in, we ask them some questions, ask them to put their phones, wristwatches, metal objects in the bins, and then we have them walk through the detector. There are some people who come in every week for different reasons. Sometimes, they get loud or angry over who-knows-what and we have to calm them down, and if they don’t calm down, then we have to remove them from the office.”

  “Do you like working there?” Shelly asked. “It sounds like it could be a hard job.”

  Chapel had a proud expression on his face. “I like it. I like the people I work with. I like keeping people safe. I’d like to become a police officer someday, but it’s really hard to get into the police academy.”

  Shelly gave the young man a smile. “I hope it works out for you.”

  Jay asked another question. “Did Mr. Barrett ever mention to you that he was worried about anything?”

  Chapel’s expression turned serious. “No, he didn’t.”

  “Did he ever seem nervous or anxious when he was here?”

  Chapel seemed to be thinking the question over. “I don’t think so. Maybe lost in his own thoughts or preoccupied once in a while. I wouldn’t say he seemed nervous when he was here. Except for the time that student got up in his face. I don’t blame him for that.”

  “Do you know that student’s name?” Jay asked.

  “I can look it up later,” Chapel said. “We have to log any incidents like that. I can email the information to you later tonight.”

 

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