Bernadine Fagan - Nora Lassiter 01 - Murder by the Old Maine Stream (29 page)

Percy
.

My heart jack-hammered in my chest. I was glad I was on the opposite side of the street in Hannah’s SUV, and there were cars parked at both bumpers, shielding me. I yanked the brim of Aunt Ida’s hat down and turned my head aside as Percy passed.

I started the engine, intending to make a U-turn and follow him, but hesitated, waiting to see if he was doing what I had done. Case the place. I followed his progress in the rearview mirror. Sure enough, he turned and slowly made his way back on my side of the street. I turned away again. Once past me, he paused at the entrance. The cone lady suddenly materialized, this time wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. Incognito? She had to be Percy’s contact. Michelle? Tense, I grabbed my binoculars, sunk down in the seat and focused.

The woman inclined her head slightly at Percy, or at least I thought she did. It could be that she was just being friendly. I watched with sinking heart as she went back to the auction lot and Percy drove on by.

Several minutes passed with nothing happening. I was breathing hard. I was nervous. A green Subaru Outback came out of the lot and edged into the space set off by the road cones. That was nervy.

Then the cone lady herself got out, picked up the cones, tossed them into the back of the car, and it began to make sense.

Minutes later, Percy pulled into the space left in front of the Outback. How smooth. I marveled at the simplicity.

He popped the back of his Expedition and began unloading boxes labeled Air Filter. I reached for my camera, slumped down, and started snapping. At least the sheriff would have this for evidence. I hoped I could get a shot of them opening one of the boxes, and a shot of the contents, which I knew had nothing to do with air filters.

Together, Percy and the woman put them all in the back of the Outback. I checked my watch. It was eleven o’clock. I was right about the number eleven in the code. Nick was right about the date. We made a good team.

I switched to the camcorder, keeping only the lens above the window. I got a clear shot of her license plate. Nick would want that.

It was time to call him. I grabbed my cell phone and hit his number.

“Nick, Percy’s involved in a drug buy. I’m almost positive it’s drugs.”

“What? How do you know this?”

I hesitated, knowing the reaction I’d get.

“Last night Mary Fran told me Percy was driving to a car auction in Gray today. Gray. The name we thought was a last name. Michelle Gray 8011a0920. What it means is: Meet Michelle at the Gray auction at eleven in the A.M. on September twentieth. Don’t know what the eight-zero means. Eighty something? Maybe pounds.”

“You’re just telling me now!” he yelled. “Why didn’t you tell me last night?”

Even though I expected this, I still winced at his tone and his words.

“I couldn’t. I had to be here.”

“Here? You’re there now?””

Before closing the trunk the cone lady, who had to be Michelle, checked each box.

“I’m in Gray. I can see Michelle from here. I think it’s Michelle.”

“What!” he exploded. “Get out of there. Fast.”

“I knew you’d say that. Hold on.” I put the phone down.

I tried to see what she was checking, snapped pictures like crazy. I could hear Nick yelling on the phone. I picked it up and interrupted him. “Michelle just finished looking inside the boxes that Percy gave her. She’s handing him a shoe box tied with a red ribbon. Hold it again. I’ll tape this.”

I turned on the camcorder again, and aimed it at Michelle and Percy.

“Where are you? Exactly,” Nick asked, his voice booming.

Even without the phone to my ear, I could hear him.

“Across from the auction entrance and down a ways,” I said. “Percy’s opening the shoe box. I can’t see what’s in it, but a ten-year old would know it was money. They’re both returning to their cars.”

“What in the hell possessed you to do this?”

“I needed the shots of Percy and Marla. You would have stopped me from coming.”

“Damn straight, I would have stopped you.”

“I’m sorry. But Percy would have been arrested, and Mary Fran would have no case. This was to be their last time together, my last chance to shoot photos. Don’t worry,” I risked saying, “if you don’t get him today, you can get him in Clinton next week.”

I heard Nick talking to someone in his office, issuing orders to get ready to move out.

“They’re getting ready to leave. Percy’s meeting Marla at some motel or hotel or bed and breakfast. I’m not sure. I’ll call you when I know.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this. Stay away, Nora. This is way too dangerous.”

I started the engine and took off after Percy, clicking the phone on speaker phone, and setting it on the console next to me.

“What the hell are you doing now?”

“Following Percy.”

“You do, and I’ll lock you up for withholding evidence.”

“I got pictures of everything.” I gave him the license plate number of the Outback and a description of Michelle.

“A New Hampshire plate. Hold on.” I heard him say something to someone about putting out an APB on the car. “Nora, where are you now?”

“Still in Gray. There are two cars between Percy and me so he won’t make me.”

“Make you? Get out of your damn cop mode, Nora. My God. I can’t believe this. I thought you had more sense.”

I shot through a red light to keep up with Percy. So did the huge white van in back of me. I heard Nick issuing orders to someone.

The cars ahead turned off on a side road and I fell back a bit more.

Percy took a sharp turn. I slowed and the van almost plowed into my back bumper. I hate it when people tailgate. Well, evidently I had taught that driver a lesson. He dropped back.

“These people play for keeps, Nora. Collins got killed because of what they’re up to. Don’t think they won’t kill you, too, if they find out you’re on to them. In a heartbeat, babe. In a heartbeat.”

Okay. So now I was scared. More scared, that is. “I’ll be careful. I’ll leave after–”

“Back off right now. I’m notifying the Gray Police. Tell me what road you’re on.”

“Don’t. I’ll never get the pictures.”

“Pictures? The hell with the pictures. What’s the matter with you?”

“I promised her I’d get them.”

“If you need money that badly, I’ll give it to you.”

“It’s not the money, Nick.”

“Then what?”

“I promised.”

“And what else?”

“He’s been cheating on her. In her own bed.”

I heard his door slam, his engine start, his police scanner crackle to life.

“Like your fiancé cheated on you?”

I felt a sob work its way up and I forced it down. “Yes,” I admitted on a wobbly breath. “Yes. He has to pay.”

“I don’t know what to say to you that I haven’t already said. I can’t remember being this worried about another person in a long time. Or being this angry.”

“I won’t let them see me,” I assured him. “I’ve been super careful so far. I’ll continue to be. I wish I had a gun. I do have mace.”

“Mace? You have to be within eight to ten feet to use that stuff. They use guns.”

“I know.” I slowed a little more, keeping a good distance between Percy and me. “I have Hannah’s Highlander, not my truck. I’m being careful. Percy’s way ahead of me.”

I heard him giving more orders to someone.

Another bend in the road. I lost sight of Percy’s Expedition, but I didn’t speed up. I slowed and moved to the right. The white van slowed, then passed me. Good, I now had another buffer.

When the road straightened, I saw Percy signal a turn, and pull into a driveway. I kept going.

TWENTY-NINE

The bed and breakfast was a two-story white contemporary set back from the road and surrounded by woods. A well-kept lawn, and a garden with dead flowers, fanned out around the front. When I’d passed it, Percy’s Ford Expedition hadn’t been there. He must have pulled around back. Only a small pickup, and a red Honda Civic were parked in the driveway.

The Civic set off bells in my head. I’d seen one like it in the library parking lot. Seen it beside Margaret at Kendall’s Auto Mall. Margaret must be Marla.

About a half mile past the house, I came to a cleared section just wide enough for the Highlander. I pulled off, got as far into the woods as I could, and parked. No one would see the SUV from here.

I wasn’t sure what to do next. The only thing I could think of was to walk down by the bed and breakfast, hide in the woods and wait for Percy and Margaret to emerge. Except, there was a possibility they could both come out separately. No, that was unlikely in a place they didn’t expect to be recognized.

I had to get closer. I wasn’t crazy about going into the woods, home of the animal kingdom, and my least favorite place to be, but I couldn’t see any other way.

I loaded up my saddlebag pocketbook with cell phone, camera, mace, Swiss Army knife, corn chips, ginger ale, napkins. With a light jacket tied at the waist, I set off, my thoughts still on Margaret. Ida hadn’t thought the voice in the library was Margaret’s, but she had been wrong about that. An angry woman can sound a lot different than a sweet-as-sugar woman or a game-playing sex machine. Even I couldn’t identify Marla from her voice, and how long had I listened to that from my post under the bed?

I circled around back of the house, keeping to the security of the trees. After being cramped in the truck for so many hours, it was good to be moving. From here, I spotted two other vehicles in the upper part of the driveway behind the house. One was Percy’s. I figured the other, the white van, belonged to the owner. Maybe he was the one behind me on the road. I came back to the side of the house. Better view. From here, I could see the front and back door. Perfect.

I had to pee, so I moved deeper into the woods to handle that need. Gee, how I hated doing this, but what a relief. I hoped I wasn’t squatting in poison ivy or something just as nasty. Wouldn’t that be a hoot? I chuckled and almost fell over before I finished. Nerves.

I wondered how long Percy and Marla, no, no, I meant Margaret, would stay in the bed and breakfast. I certainly hoped it wouldn’t be overnight. The thought of spending the night in the woods made me shiver. Well, I wouldn’t spend it here. If they didn’t appear before dark, I’d go looking for them. Many of the rooms were on the first floor, and the windows were low. Convenient, but risky. I could shoot pictures through the window. That might be better.

If necessary, I was prepared to go inside. Ask for a room for myself. As soon as I got the shots, I’d run like the devil was at my heels.

I dug into my pocketbook and pulled out the tuna sandwich, hoping I wouldn’t get ptomaine, or worse, when I ate it. I dug out the can of warm ginger ale and dropped it. Great. It hit a broken limb, bounced and rolled down a few feet before it lodged between two protruding roots.

I grabbed it, then froze when I heard a rustling sound. In the next instant, I was scanning the area, my head swiveling and bobbing like one of those bouncy dolls that people with no sense of the appropriate put in the back window of their cars. I didn’t see a thing. But I’d heard something. An animal? A person?

The tree line, the lawn, the back of the house and the woods looked clear. Then I heard it again, from the woods. No mistake this time. Someone or something was near. Scared silly, I scooped up my gear, dropped the soda can in my bag and glanced around. Unsure of what direction to run, I waited, alert now in a way I had never been before.

That’s when I saw it.

A moose.

He was a huge behemoth of a thing the size of King Kong, just lumbering through the woods, his antlered head swinging from side to side. Every moose story I had ever heard, horror stories the lot of them, flew through my head. He stopped about a hundred feet from me. His ears rotated. I froze. Held my breath.

I thought about the mace. No good.

I had to get away. Climb a tree. Hide behind a tree. Slowly, making no spastic moves, I adjusted my saddlebag pocketbook so it hung down my back. Even more slowly, I began to move. Inch by inch, millimeter by millimeter, I stepped toward a large tree with a low-hanging branch. Once I was close enough, I grabbed the branch and swung up. I could do this. I could. I climbed to the second branch and out of reach.

Safe, finally.

I breathed easier. I braced myself against the trunk and straddled the limb, careful not to catch my purse on any smaller branches. For the next twenty minutes, I sat there. I had a good view of the bed and breakfast, so I knew I wouldn’t miss anything.

The moose munched on tree bark and leaves, not even bothering to look in my direction. But I stayed put, just in case.

I managed to open my purse, find the cell phone and call Nick, all without falling out of the tree.

“Are you all right?” he yelled as soon as he heard my voice.

“Sort of. I’m in a tree in back of the bed and breakfast.” I gave him the location. “The Gray cops don’t need to come racing over, so don’t be calling them immediately. I want those photos. Give me some time.”