Rear-View Murder: A Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery (10 page)

Just as Holly gunned the engine, Gemma spotted Bobcat. A tall, thin shadow with a glint of gold in the darkness of the alley looked threatening. No wonder Sadie was hiding.

They drove back the way they had come. Jolene and her friend were standing on the opposite corner.

“Can we go back? I’m worried about Sadie. Maybe they’ve seen her today,” Gemma said.

Holly made a right turn at the next corner and then another right.

“Cut through this alley,” Gemma said when they came to one about halfway down the block. “I think it’s closer.”

Holly hesitated. The alley was not much more than a dark lane between two tall brick buildings. It was lined with dumpsters and trash cans, some of them overflowing. Water dripped from somewhere above. But the two women were standing up at the other end almost as if they were waiting for them. After some coaxing, Holly eased the big SUV down the alley while Gemma held her breath.

The sun was sliding a bit lower in the sky, making long shadows on the street when Gemma lowered the window.

“Hey, it’s Opal’s friends,” one of them said.

“Have you seen Sadie?” Gemma asked.

They looked at each other and then shook their heads. “Not today?”

“I wanted to ask her a couple more questions about Opal, but really I just want to make sure she’s safe.”

Jolene was about to reply when Gemma saw her eyes grow wide. “Bobcat,” she shouted.

Before Gemma could react, the two women were gone and an angry looking man stalked toward the SUV. He was short, heavy set with a tangled beard, a squashed hat on his head and a dirty, sleeveless t-shirt. Even in the shadows, the tattoos on his bulging biceps were obvious. But what was more obvious was the way the evening sun glinted off of something black and shiny in his hand.

“He’s got a gun,” Holly squealed and slid low in her seat.

Gemma ducked as well but when nothing happened, she peeked up over the dashboard again. The man had moved closer, was in fact less than a foot from the bumper of the vehicle. Now she saw that what he had in his hand was a phone and he had called someone. Perhaps his buddies to help him dispose of their bodies in the trunk of a car?

“It’s just a phone,” Gemma told Holly. “Back out of here.”

Holly stared at her incredulously. “I can’t back out of this alley. I barely got in here without scraping against those dumpsters.”

“Well, I can,” Gemma said.

With some maneuvering they changed places. Once Gemma was behind the wheel she stared out the windshield at Bobcat who was grinning confidently, beefy arms crossed over his chest, practically daring her to run over him. She wanted to.

“There are guys coming up behind us,” Holly warned, turning from where she’d been watching the side mirror, her voice shaking.

Gemma checked her side mirror. There were two guys on her side, skinny, moving fast white t-shirts luminous in the darkness. “Well, they’d better get out of the way.”

With that, she shifted into reverse. Left hand on the steering wheel, at twelve o’clock, just like she’d taught herself, and looked back through the rear window. All she could really see was the bulky shadows of the dumpsters but that’s all she cared about missing. If one of those bozos got in her way, too bad.

Gemma knew that once she started moving, she would stop for nothing. She took a deep breath, put her foot on the gas and shot backwards. Holly let out a little squeal and put her hands over her eyes, but all Gemma really heard were a couple of grunts and some cursing as the men jumped out of her way. The last thing she saw when she cleared the alley and looked forward again was Bobcat standing in the middle of the alley, looking after them and he was not happy. There was a popping sound. Gemma ignored it, put the SUV in drive and floored it.

“We’re good,” Gemma said, finally allowing herself to breathe once they were heading back into downtown Richmond.

Holly slowly uncovered her face and looked around.

“See, I told you I’d get us out of there,” Gemma said. She held onto the steering wheel with both hands so Holly wouldn’t see them shaking. “Not a scratch.”

“Gemma Stone, I swear, one of these days, you’re going to get me killed,” Holly said.

“I would never let anything happen to my best friend,” Gemma said with a shaky little laugh. “Or her beautiful SUV.”

Back in their hotel room, Gemma took a hot shower to calm down while Holly talked to Mitch. She was pretty sure Holly wouldn’t say anything to him about what had happened, maybe for a long time. Holly came into the bathroom while Gemma was drying her hair. She leaned against the door, arms folded across her middle. Gemma couldn’t read the look on her face.

“How’s Mitch?” Gemma asked, almost afraid of what Holly might say.

“He’s good,” Holly told her.

“That’s good,” Gemma said, glancing over her shoulder at Holly.

“Gemma I was really scared back there,” Holly said after a few minutes.

“Me, too,” Gemma admitted.

Holly was silent for a moment and Gemma knew she had more to say. Instead of the expected lecture, Holly simply said, “Senator Dixon is in town.”

“What?” Gemma whirled to face her, brush in mid-air.

“Mitch told me there is a special legislative session going on. He’s working.”

“I’m going to see him tomorrow.”

“You’re not going alone,” Holly said. “I don’t trust you not to get yourself killed.”

T
he next morning, Gemma could barely control herself and was ready long before Holly. They had coffee but she was too excited and nervous to eat anything. At last, they arrived at the capitol building and parked. Following the signs, they found where the senator and delegates offices were located on the opposite side of the massive capitol building. There, they were greeted by a guard and put through a metal detector. Gemma’s nervousness increased with every passing moment.

Finally, they were allowed into the cavernous space with marble floors and a massive domed ceiling. People moved around them, busy secretaries and aides running errands and well-dressed men coming and going. Every once in a while someone would smile at them but mostly they were just busy people running the state.

“Would you know Senator Dixon if you saw him?” Gemma whispered as they took the elevator upstairs to the offices.

“No,” Holly confessed. “Please promise me that you’re not going to just blatantly accuse him of murder.”

“I promise,” Gemma said, holding up two fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

“You were never a scout.”

“I wanted to be.”

The elevator took them to the third floor. There, a small plaque directed them to the senator’s office. And the first person they came face to face with was blond, blue eyed Chuck Miller. He was sitting at a desk where there probably was normally a receptionist. And the name plate on the desk in front of him confirmed that he was, indeed Chuck Miller, not that Gemma needed that to be sure.

“May I help you?” he asked, looking from Gemma to Holly and back again.

“Yes, my name is Natalie Sparrow,” Gemma said, the lie sliding easily from her lips while she watched closely for a reaction.

“We’re from Louisa and we’d like to see the senator if at all possible,” Holly told him.

That got a reaction, quick but well hidden. He looked away from them, pretending to study the schedule on the desk in front of him. Slowly he shook his head, still not looking up. “I’m sorry but his schedule is full.”

Just then a door opened to Gemma’s right and an older man with neatly combed gray hair and thick glasses stepped out. He had a kind, easy going look about him as if he was someone’s grandfather. She pictured him sitting in a rocker on a porch, an old dog by his side, smoking a cigar.

“Are some of my constituents here to see me?” he drawled, slow and easy. He beamed a welcoming smile at Gemma and Holly.

“Why, yes sir,” Gemma stepped forward and offered her hand. “We’re from Louisa.”

“Well, come on in and tell me what I can do for you,” he said, opening the door wide to allow Gemma and Holly into his office.

The last thing Gemma saw was Chuck Miller’s face, nearly purple with rage.

“So, what can I do for you?” he asked, once they were seated in comfortable chairs in his office.

“Sir, this is about a young woman named Opal Sparrow,” Holly began.

“I don’t rightly think that I know the name off the top of my head,” he said, leaning back in his big chair and lacing his fingers across his middle. “Tell me more.”

“Opal Sparrow was a young woman living on the streets here in Richmond. She was originally from Louisa. That’s where her family is burying her,” Gemma said, watching his reaction closely. There was a slight flinch, a flicker of the eyes and she didn’t miss it.

“I’m very sorry for the loss,” he said. “But I’m not sure how I can help.”

“I found her body in the trunk of my car,” Gemma continued, not mincing any words making this sound as cold and stark as she could. “And I also found this ring.” With that she placed it on the desk between them.”

“That’s a beautiful ring,” he said slowly, turning it over in his hands. “She must have been quite petite.”

“I don’t know. She was mostly a skeleton when I found her,” Gemma said.

“How horrible for you,” he said, placing the ring back on the desk.

“Yes, it’s haunted my dreams for the past few nights,” Gemma confided.

“I still don’t see how...”

“This ring is very expensive,” Holly cut in. “We know where it was purchased and who bought it.”

“Your aide, Chuck Miller,” Gemma said. “And I’m kinda thinking he doesn’t make that kind of money.”

The room was silent and finally the senator’s chin dropped.

“Okay, here’s what happened. I didn’t recognize the name because Chuck was the one involved with her,” he said in that slow, southern drawl. “That boy was so love struck. I warned him against it. I mean knowing her reputation and all. He wanted to buy her this expensive engagement ring to show her how much she meant to him. I helped pay for it.”

“End of story?” Gemma asked.

He spread big hands in front of him in surrender. “I think she was getting off the streets, getting clean, moving back to Louisa. I paid for a bus ticket for her as well.”

“Why?”

“Ladies, Chuck had a girlfriend at the time,” he said, leaning forward, forearms on the desk. “He wanted time to break it off with her before he could be with Opal. I was just willing to help.”

So what happened to her?”

“Well, evidently she somehow got into trouble again or she wouldn’t have ended up in the trunk of your car would she?” he said with a little smile.

Gemma shivered. Despite his grandfatherly demeanor, she was pretty sure he was capable of killing someone if necessary.

“Chuck hasn’t mentioned her?” Holly asked.

“I don’t pry into my employee’s personal lives unless I’m invited,” he told her. “Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I believe I have a meeting.”

Gemma didn’t want to leave. She still had questions, lots of questions for this man and his aide. Yet, she couldn’t force him to stay there and talk with them. She would have to have proof and after talking to him, she intended to find it.

Chuck was nowhere to be seen when they left the senator’s office.

“What do you think?” Holly asked when they were back in her SUV.

“I think he was lying through his teeth,” Gemma said flatly.

“Do you think he killed her?” Holly asked.

Gemma nodded. “Or had it done. Maybe even had Miller do it. Not sure of the motive though.”

“Wonder where Miller went?”

“Crawled under a rock somewhere probably,” Gemma said. “Let’s find the bus station and see if Opal got onto that bus headed home.”

“Gemma,” Holly said, a warning in her voice.

“Please,” Gemma said to her friend. “Not just for me. For Opal and her baby.”

The bus station was in downtown Richmond and was not nearly as dark and dirty looking as Gemma had imagined it would be. It was busier though and she was surprised at that. She just assumed people mostly took trains or airplanes or drove when they traveled.

“Evidently, lots of people still ride buses,” Holly said, voicing Gemma’s thoughts.

“Evidently,” Gemma agreed. “Let’s see if we can find out anything about the purchase of a bus ticket to Louisa.”

The ticket agent was tired and agitated and absolutely refused to give them any information He said, in fact that the bus company did not keep records of the sort Gemma needed. And when he discovered they were not police officers, he basically threatened to call the police if they did not leave him alone. No amount of cajoling or begging or threats would change her mind and the line behind them grew longer and longer.

They left the ticket office defeated. And that’s when Gemma saw the tall man with the fancy hat and the gold chains. She pointed him out to Holly. “I’ve seen that guy hanging around Sadie over on Chamberlayne.”

“I thought he was Bobcat, but he’s probably another pimp just like that Bobcat guy,” Holly said, urging her toward the door.

“He may be, but I think he’s following us,” Gemma said, her heartrate quickening.

“You think maybe he killed Opal?”

“Well, I plan to find out,” Gemma snapped. Intending to confront him with what she knew, Gemma marched toward the man who leaned casually against the wall smoking a cigarette.

“Gemma,” Holly snapped, and ran after her.

As she got closer, she saw that he was much thinner than she thought before. He was wearing what looked like a garnet colored velour suit, his fedora cocked on his head at a rakish angle. The gold chains matched the gold in his front tooth.

“Why are you following us?” Gemma demanded when she was close enough.

“I’m not.”

“Every time we go anywhere near Chamberlayne, you’re there. Now, we come to the bus station and you’re here. What do you want from us?”

“If you white ladies would quit running from me and let me explain...”

Gemma nodded. “Explain.”

I live down on Chamberlayne, close to where Sadie stays. I try to keep an eye on her and all the girls,” he said.