Murder on the Hoof: A Mystery (Colleen McCabe Series) (25 page)

“Thank you,” Colleen said. “That’s most generous of you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Hayley said with a wave of the hand. “So, as mistress of ceremonies, I ask you … will we have rain?”

Colleen had to hand it to the theater group. They had been quite clever in sending Hayley to make the request. How could she say no now? “If it’s rain you want, it’s rain you shall have.”

“Wonderful.”

Colleen looked at the laptop. “Maybe you can do me a favor,” she said. “If you were going to create a password and you were a person involved in theater, what words might you use?”

Hayley’s brows rose in surprise.

“I know it’s a strange question,” Colleen said.

Hayley studied her a moment. “Does this have something to do with what happened to that poor man who did makeup for the theater group?”

“Maybe.”

Hayley nodded and thought a moment. “Well, I don’t know. There are so many possibilities.”

“Is there anything that jumps out at you that might be a common theater term or saying?”

“Everyone knows the expression ‘Break a leg,’” Hayley offered.

“No, that doesn’t seem right.”

“Someone might use words that refer to parts of the stage or maybe to a play, or perhaps even a famous actor’s or playwright’s name. I’m afraid I’d need a little more information.”

“It was just a hunch,” Colleen said. “Thanks anyway.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help,” she said, picking up her purse. “I’ll let the group know you’ve agreed to have it rain.”

“Yes,” Colleen said, walking with Hayley to the entrance. “You can report that your mission was accomplished.”

She watched the actress descend the stairs before returning to her desk. She could see why Bill had once thought of marrying Hayley, although she was, for her own selfish reasons, glad he hadn’t. She checked the time. The guys would be waiting for her outside. She shut the computer down, closed her office door, and trekked downstairs to see how ready they were for their tests.

They were only a few minutes into the first drill of lugging hoses when they heard a woman scream from inside the station. Colleen and the men froze for a moment, confused, but when the second scream came a moment later, they all sprang into action.

“Kenny, you and Bobby head around the left side,” she ordered. “Chip, take the other side. The rest of you spread out until we know what’s going on. Jimmy and I will take the back.”

Before she had finished uttering her last words, her men were on the move. She motioned to Jimmy. He opened the back door and they slipped inside. She made her way cautiously through the kitchen, the dining room, and the recreation area, peering around corners as she went. She heard Sparky bark from the garage and hurried to the door leading into the engine bay. On a silent count of three, she and Jimmy went in.

Sparky’s barking echoed in the cavernous space.

“Get away. Scram,” a man said from inside.

She peeked around the engine and her eyes widened. Standing at the bottom of the stairs was Sam, one hand grabbing a scarf wrapped around Hayley’s throat. He kicked at Sparky, but the Border collie was not so easily deterred—he had been struck by a horse’s hoof before, so one human foot was nothing.

“Tell me what you want,” Hayley said, pulling to loosen her scarf. “Money, a picture…”

Colleen signaled Jimmy and he began inching down the side of the engine. She darted to the ambulance and did the same.

“I don’t want anything from you,” he said, and yanked her back.

Hayley winced. Colleen worked her way to the end of the ambulance. With one hand, Sam was now pulling Hayley backward by the scarf; in the other hand, he held what he had clearly come to the station for: Rich’s laptop. Her gut had been correct. Sam was somehow involved with Rich’s death. He must have seen her with the laptop in the funeral parlor’s parking lot. She now suspected that it was Sam who had broken into Rich’s house and that is was he, more likely than Rita, who had murdered Rich. But why? Her conversation with Ruby at the library flashed through her mind. Hadn’t she said Rich was into true-crime stories? Could Rich have discovered Sam had a criminal past? And what could it be to cause Sam to murder him? There would be time to figure all of that out later. Right now, she needed to get Hayley away from him without getting the woman hurt in the process. She took a breath and stepped from her hiding place behind the ambulance.

“Why don’t you let Ms. Thorpe go, Sam?” she said in a calm voice.

Sparky barked and nipped at Sam’s ankles.

“Call Sparky off,” he said, and yanked on Hayley for emphasis.

Colleen locked eyes with the actress. She expected to see fear in her eyes; instead, she saw angry defiance. Good, she thought. Hayley’s a fighter. When the opportunity came, she’d make a run for it.

“Sparky, heel,” she said, and slapped her thigh. He cocked his head toward her but remained at Sam’s back. “Heel,” she said with more force, and he reluctantly obeyed and came to her side.

Sam inched toward the opening of the garage. Kenny peered around one side, Chip the other. Her guys were in place to take him down. Now all she had to do was convince him to release Hayley.

“Why not let her go? No need to make things worse for yourself.”

Sam snorted. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with,” he said with a sneer.

Her eyes narrowed. For the first time, she saw something sinister in his pale blue eyes. No, she thought, I clearly don’t know you at all.

“You’re right,” she said. “But Doris found out your true character when you gave her those bruises.”

“She had some crazy notion I’d leave Rita for her,” he said, as if the idea was preposterous.

She studied his face. There was a coolness about him that surprised her, especially after the waterworks she had witnessed from him in the Food Lion.

“You and Rita … you two are a regular Bonnie and Clyde,” she said.

Sam smiled with smug satisfaction. “Rita’s the best. Corolla was, too, until…”

“Until Rich started figuring out who you really are,” she said, comprehending that the person Rich had been trying to identify through Iannarelli’s system, the person’s whose ears they had seen on Rich’s bulletin board, was none other than grocery clerk turned thespian Sam Riddle … if that was even his real name.

“Rich and his damn accents. Kept asking me where I was from. He just couldn’t leave it alone,” Sam said, backing toward the open garage door.

“Leave what alone?” she asked, trying to keep him inside.

“I’d love to stay and chat, but I got what I came for. Call off your guys waiting around the corner.” He pulled on the scarf to motivate her.

“Kenny, Chip, stand down,” she called.

“No way, Chief,” Chip yelled from outside.

“Do as the chief says,” Jimmy shouted back.

She needed to think fast. Sam was inching toward his car in the parking lot. If he made it there, who knew what he might do. Then she caught sight of Bill and Rodney creeping toward them across the lot. She gently touched the top of Sparky’s head to signal her companion to remain still and quiet. She didn’t want him giving away Bill’s presence. Sparky lay on the ground without so much as a whimper. Good. Now if she could distract Sam a few moments more, it would all be over and Hayley would be safe.

“You’re just going to let Rita take the fall?” she asked, moving forward slightly to draw his attention away from Bill and Rodney outside. “Sounds like a coward to me.”

Rage flashed behind Sam’s eyes. She had struck a nerve. He released his grip slightly on the scarf and gestured with the laptop.

“See, that’s what’s wrong with you people. You think in black- and-white. That woman loves me.”

“The prospect of a life in prison might change that love,” she said.

Bill reached the vehicle parked closest to the building, where he had a clear view of Sam. He nodded to Colleen and aimed his revolver at Sam’s back.

Sam grinned. “Nice try, Chief McCabe. But I know that woman. She’d do anything for me. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Hands in the air!” Bill shouted as Sam moved to leave.

Sam froze. His eyes darted about the garage, looking for someplace to run. Colleen nodded at Hayley. The celebrity yanked hard on her scarf, broke free, and ran to Colleen at full speed. Bill inched forward, his weapon before him. Rodney flanked him on the left. Colleen’s guys rounded the corner. Her heart raced as Bill and Rodney inched toward Sam, and then it was over. Rodney grabbed the laptop as Bill forced Sam to the ground and cuffed him.

“Sam Riddle, you’re under arrest for the murder of Rich Bailey.”

Hayley sighed with relief behind her. Colleen met Bill’s eyes and forced a smile to let him know she was okay.

“You have the right to remain silent,” he said as he lifted Sam to his feet. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” he continued, and walked Sam to his vehicle.

“You two okay?” Jimmy asked Colleen and Hayley.

“Yeah, I think we are,” Colleen said, smiling at the actress. “What were you still doing here?”

Hayley yanked the scarf from around her neck and threw it to the ground. “I forgot my scarf,” she said. “I guess Fawn was right; you did keep me safe from danger.”

Jimmy grinned.

“So,” Colleen teased Hayley, “how do you like shadowing me?”

“I think I’ll stick to acting. I prefer keeping the drama in my work and out of my life,” she said with a wink.

Colleen smiled. Who would have thought when the woman first appeared at the station that they’d end up here?

Chapter 21

Colleen surveyed the growing audience
gathered on the front lawn of the Whalehead Club with wonder. Every white plastic folding chair was taken and the grass was covered from one end of the club to the other with locals and vacationers sitting on a sea of colorful towels and blankets. Excited children ran in front of the platforms that the theater company had erected for additional performance space on the outside of the veranda railing. A blond boy of about nine climbed onto the makeshift stage, turned to the audience, and said, “Ta-da!” with such flair that everyone clapped and laughed in delight. People were clearly looking forward to the theater company’s production. Colleen already sensed that the show was going to be a smash hit.

She checked her watch. The start of the play had been delayed by ten minutes to give latecomers a chance to find seats before the production began, but nobody seemed to mind. It was a comfortable evening with low humidity, and the play was an event, the first of its kind, and one to be savored.

Bill emerged from around the back side of the building and made his way through the crowd toward her. He hadn’t slept much since Rita’s and Sam’s arrests. It turned out that the man they had known for years as Sam Riddle was in truth Mickey Parker, a callous low-level gangster from Youngstown, Ohio, who had dabbled in extortion, money laundering, and bookkeeping before murdering his business partner over a deal gone bad and then going on the run. Once in Corolla, Sam, aka Mickey, had claimed he was from Kansas. Despite his attempt to rid himself of his Youngstown accent, Rich had picked up on it and had begun asking him more and more questions and poking into his background.

To Colleen, one of the most despicable parts of the story was the discovery that Mickey had been using the name and Social Security number of a deceased child, a common practice in the world of identity theft and one harder to detect twenty years ago, when Sam had arrived and established himself in Corolla. Rita, whose real name was Mary Frank, and Mickey had been sweethearts since their teens. One thing Sam had told her had been true: Rita would do anything for him—even take the fall for murder. Fortunately, thanks to the evidence in Rich’s laptop, he wasn’t going to get off that easily.

“This is quite a turnout,” Bill said, joining her at the back edge of the crowd and rubbing Sparky behind the ears. “We had to direct people to park across the street.”

“It is something,” she said, still amazed by the hundreds of people milling about.

The preshow music faded and Hayley emerged from inside the Whalehead Club and strode to center stage.

“Good evening, ladies and gentleman, boys and girls,” she said into a microphone. The crowd quieted. “As many of you know, my name is Hayley Thorpe, and I am proud to be serving as your mistress of ceremonies for the world premiere opening-night performance of
Wild and Free.
”

Cheers erupted from the audience, along with a few whistles. Colleen stole a look at Bill and grinned.

“This performance will not only reveal the incredible story of how the beautiful Spanish mustangs came to make the Outer Banks their home, but it will also help to ensure their continued survival. Every dollar raised tonight will go toward helping the Lighthouse Wild Horse Preservation Society save these magnificent creatures.”

More cheers.

“She really knows how to work a crowd,” Colleen said in admiration.

“She always has,” Bill replied.

Colleen cocked her head toward him. His comment hadn’t been a criticism. More like a statement of fact. She wondered if that had been part of why their relationship hadn’t lasted. Had Hayley’s need for and enjoyment of the spotlight been in conflict with his desire for a more low-profile life? He caught her studying him, smiled tenderly at her, and in that moment everything seemed a little brighter.

“Volunteers with buckets will take your donations at intermission, so, please, give whatever you can. And to kick off the donations, I’m proud to announce that Zeon Pictures, the company making my latest film,
Remembering Always,
has agreed to donate twenty-five thousand dollars.”

Cheers and applause exploded from the audience, with many jumping to their feet. Even Sparky howled approval.

“We love you, Hayley Thorpe,” one person yelled.

“I love you all, too,” she responded, and blew everyone a kiss.

No wonder fans worldwide love this woman, Colleen thought.

Hayley glanced behind her at the club’s door and then back to the audience. “Now, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I’m proud to present on behalf of the Lighthouse Wild Horse Preservation Society, the Whalehead Club, and the citizens of Corolla …
Wild and Free
!”