Football is Murder (Bee's Bakehouse Cozy Mysteries Book 4) (Bee's Bakehouse Mysteries) (15 page)

Marvin shrugged. “The thing I’ve learned from doing this job is you can’t always bank on people’s reactions.”

“No, of course not. But that’s a pretty strange one, don’t you think?”

“The guy’s a tight end,” Marvin said smoothly. “What can I say? He’s had his fair share of knocks on the field. Who knows what state the guy is in mentally?”

Jessie sighed. She wasn’t getting anywhere here. And she realized something else. She was stalling. She didn’t particularly want to go see Coach Williams. But it wasn’t like she could put it off forever.

“You visited him,” she said calmly, scrutinizing his face for a reaction.

She wasn’t disappointed. It was hard to see and she might have missed it if she had blinked. But he had definitely flinched before he’d checked his reaction.

He shrugged. “So? I’m a reporter.”

“Why didn’t you mention it last time I spoke to you?”

He laughed. “What are you, my priest? My mother? I’m under no obligation to tell you what’s on my mind.”

“No, but it might help with the investigation. Why so secretive?”

He shook his head. “Jessie. Jessie. The police department is closer to my office than my home. Why’s it so unthinkable that I might go there to try and extract a story? I’m trying to sell newspapers, after all.”

She stared at him. “What’s the story, then? I didn’t see anything related to Chad in the Reporter.”

Marvin leaned across the desk with a sneer on his face. “Because there’s no story. Listen here. You might fancy yourself as Springdale’s number one sleuth, but get one thing straight. Rockfield doesn’t need you.”

Jessie rolled her eyes. She wanted to challenge him; to ask him how that was true when Rockfield PD hadn’t yet caught the real killer. But she stopped herself. He was a journalist, after all. She didn’t want to run her mouth and then find her words twisted in the next edition of the Reporter.

“Maybe so. But there’s no harm in a concerned citizen trying to get to the truth, is there?”

He said nothing. Jessie stood and walked to the door, pausing for a moment beside the painting. She was sure there had been something else there before.

Too bad she couldn’t remember what it was.

* * *

“Chief Daly’s assistant?”

Jessie nodded and shook Coach Williams’s hand, trying to quell the sense of foreboding she felt in the pit of her stomach.

“That’s right,” she said, nodding. “Good memory.”

“How can I help you?”

She sighed. “I’d like to ask you some more questions if I may.”

He sat right back in his leather executive chair. “Sure. You’re not a cop, are you?”

Jessie shook her head. “No.”

“What’s your role in the investigation?”

“I’m just helping out. The truth is, I live across the street from Chad Denver. So you can appreciate how I got involved.”

Coach Williams nodded slowly. “I see. Well, I don’t need to tell you that the team feels the same. We’ve lost two players. Who knows when he’ll strike next. We want to catch this guy as much as you do.”

“You visited Chad when he was in custody.”

For a moment, the coach looked surprised. Then he nodded. “Of course. You’d know that from working with the cops. Sure I visited him. It’d be strange if I didn’t.”

“How so?”

“I coached the guy for years, didn’t I? It’d be strange if I didn’t show up and offer my support when he’s going through a difficult time.”

Jessie nodded. “Sure.”

He shrugged expansively. “Any other questions?”

Jessie took a deep breath. “Can you shed any light on why Chad might suddenly confess to a crime he didn’t commit right after you visited him?”

Coach Williams jerked his head up. Jessie saw anger flash through his eyes.

“Who are you to come in here and make accusations like that?”

She shrugged. “Just trying to get to the truth.”

“You’re making a mistake,” he said, rummaging in a pile of papers. “I’ve got a meeting soon. I think it’s best you leave.”

Jessie shook her head wildly, wondering what on earth she had stumbled on. “Coach Williams. Why are you reacting like this? I only asked you—”

“This is slander, is what it is,” he said, standing suddenly and jabbing a finger in her direction. As he did so, his hip collided with another pile of papers and sent them crashing to the ground. Relief surged through Jessie at the distraction. She wasn’t easily intimidated, but she imagined it was a rare person who wasn’t ruffled by Coach Williams.

She worked hard to regulate her breathing as he bent to pick up the fallen documents. Then she saw it. Or rather, she caught a glimpse of it before his huge hand covered it and he stood again.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing at his hand.

He looked as nonplussed as ever. He glanced down, frowning. Then he shifted his hand and she saw it. It was the same one, alright. Jessie’s heart started to pound.

“It’s nothing. Just some funding documents,” he growled. “Don’t you think it’s time you left?”

* * *

Jessie hurried to the car and climbed in, taking care to lock the doors behind her. She fished her phone out of her pocket.

“Did you get all that?”

“You were a little faint at times,” Chief Daly said. “But I got the gist.”

“Great,” she said, starting the engine. “I’m going back to see Marvin Scott, Chief.”

“Jessie, no,” he groaned. “They’re not going to talk. We tried our best. I don’t like you out there with these people. They’re hostile. Let’s leave it to Rockfield PD. It’s their mess. We tried.”

Jessie shook her head even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “No. I feel like we’re so close. Chief, that paper I saw on his desk. I recognized the crest. I knew there was something about Marvin Scott. And I remember now. There was a picture on the wall of him with Coach Williams in front of this crest. The same one was on the paper I saw in his office. I think it’s from a school. If I’m right, there’s a connection between Coach Williams and Marvin Scott. Don’t you think it’s funny that they both visited Chad that day?”

Chief Daly gasped. “That’s an angle we hadn’t considered.” He cleared his throat. “All the same—I’d feel a whole lot more comfortable if you were back here and away from this mess.”

“Just let me go speak to him again, Chief,” Jessie begged. “You’ll be on the line. If anything happens, you’ll be able to get officers there in a shot.”

He was silent.

“Come on, Chief. You already heard how I got under his skin. If I can do that again, then maybe he’ll slip and tell us something he wasn’t intending to share. He thinks I’m some busybody. He doesn’t see me as a threat.”

“Oh, alright,” the chief grumbled. “But be careful, Jessie. How’s your battery holding up?”

Jessie held the phone away from her ear and checked. “Fifty percent.”

“Okay,” he sighed. “Dial off and call me back once you’re in Rockfield. I’ll call my guy—he’ll be prepped to intervene if I get the slightest hint that you’re in danger.”

“Okay,” Jessie said, navigating out of the lot and throwing the phone on the passenger seat.

She felt a lot more comfortable knowing that the conversation they were about to have would take place only a few doors from a building full of police officers.

* * *

Jessie chewed her lip. The road back from the facility to Rockfield was narrow and winding in places, which slowed her progress.

Typical
, she thought.
Just when I’m in a rush to get there.

She still didn’t know what she was going to say to Marvin. This was more than a coincidence. But what could she do? For the first time, she began to doubt herself. Sure, it was convenient to have someone who could speak to suspects without causing a media frenzy. But she wasn’t trained for this.

Each mile made her doubts grow even more. There were no other vehicles on the road and she found herself wishing for a traffic jam. Anything so that she wouldn’t have to do this.

Maybe he was right,
she thought.
Maybe I am little more than an annoying busybody.

But there’s definitely something there. I just know it. That link between Coach Williams and Marvin Scott.

Suddenly she was jolted forward. Gasping, she glanced in the rearview mirror as she desperately tried to correct the course of the car. Being old, the Camry’s steering wasn’t as responsive as it had once been and she had to fight hard to stop herself from careening off the road.

She was all the more motivated to do so, though, by what she had seen in the mirror.

She hadn’t recognized the big black SUV, but its occupant was all too familiar.

And there still wasn’t another car in sight, she thought ruefully as she lost control and her car spun. He had backed off since he hit her, but she saw him come closer as her car spun again, slower this time.

She didn’t have time to see the expression on his face, but then she didn’t need to. She wasn’t naïve enough to think that Chad had driven her off the road in order to invite her for ice-cream or a pot-luck dinner.

It’s too bad,
she thought,
that the media didn’t do a better job of following him. Because there’s no one out here to help me.

As her car finally came to a stop, she saw that Chad’s had too. Her stomach lurched as she saw his driver’s side door open. She scrambled for her phone, already knowing it was too late.

Chapter 18

He was still several feet away. Jessie’s first impulse was to jump out of the car and run for her life, but then she reconsidered. Chad was a professional sportsman. Trying to outrun him would be pointless.

Then again, that was her only option. Her phone had no coverage out here so she had no way of getting in touch with the chief. She hit the button for emergency services and tore off her seat belt before throwing open her car door.

911 what’s your emergency?

“I… I…” Jessie panted, trying not to slow down as she spoke into the phone.

“Ma’am? I can’t hear you. Please state your emergency.”

“I need the…” Jessie spluttered. If she had needed proof that she wasn’t getting enough exercise, then this was it.

Too bad she’d never get the opportunity to change that.

“Cops. Need cops,” she said, changing course so that she was running in the middle of the road now. There was no way a passing motorist could avoid her.

It was a shame there were no passing motorists.

“I’m—”

A huge arm grabbed her around the waist and another tore the phone out of her hand. Jessie flailed wildly, kicking behind her as hard as she could.

Chad grunted and dropped her to her feet. She spun around and stared at him wildly.

“Careful, woman,” he muttered, before holding the phone to his ear. “It’s okay. It was a false alarm.”

Jessie glanced behind her. There wasn’t a building for miles out there. She looked back at Chad.

To her surprise, he smiled. “I’m sorry about your car.”

“You’re sorry about my car? What on earth were you thinking? No, I know what you were thinking. Well, you listen here. I spoke to Chief Daly. He knows I’m heading back to Rockfield. If I don’t check in within a reasonable time, he’s going to get suspicious and come looking for me.”

Chad shook his head. “We’ll call him and tell him to hold off.”

Jessie balked. She hadn’t thought he might force her to pretend everything was okay. “You won’t get away with this.”

He shook his head. “Jessie, this isn’t what you think.”

“Oh, I know exactly what it is. One of them—Coach Williams or Marvin—called you. Told you I was meddling. So you drove out here to try to stop me.”

“No,” he said with a sigh. “That’s not how it is. I saw you on TV.”

She froze. “What? Wait, I don’t understand. I’ve never been on TV.”

He shook his head grimly. “You can count this afternoon as your first time, then. I saw you. Going into Marvin’s offices. In the background of the news footage. And it’s lucky for you that I did.”

“Wait,” Jessie frowned. “Why were you watching the news? And why’s it a good thing that you saw me? So you could stop me?”

“No,” he said softly. “Not in the way you’d think. Look, Jessie. I saw you and decided I’d better see what you were up to. My original plan was to follow you at a safe distance. But then you rushed out of the Ravens facility like you had a bee in your bonnet and you drove off like a mad woman. I figured you’d discovered something. It didn’t take a genius to work out where you were going.”

“Why stop me? Why is it so important that I don’t find out the truth?”

He sighed and sat down on the ground beside her. “Because the truth could cost you your life, if you’re not careful.”

Jessie weighed up her options and sunk to the ground beside him. There was no way she could outrun him or outdrive him, so she had no choice but to stall him until the chief turned up. She shivered.

“Is that what happened to Johnny?”

He nodded, almost sadly it seemed to Jessie. “Come on. Let’s get back to Springdale. We can go straight to the cops. No point in repeating the same story over and over.”

He held out his arm to help her up. Jessie stared at him as if he was crazy. “Wait. What? You
want
to go to the cops?”

He sighed, sounding pained. “Yeah. It’s something I should have done a long time ago.”

* * *

Chief Daly eyed them warily as they walked into the Springdale police department together. She had called from Chad’s truck as soon as she got coverage. Jessie felt like she’d burst if she didn’t find out what was going on soon.

“This way,” the chief said.

Jessie nodded.

The gray steel door opened and Chief Daly held it open for them. Jessie automatically turned to go to the observation room, but the chief called after her.

“I don’t think that’s necessary this time.”

She followed them to the interview room. She knew she was safe now, but her body didn’t seem to have gotten the message. It was a struggle to walk on her trembling legs.

“Are you going to tell us what this is about?” Chief Daly asked, sitting beside Jessie.