Deceiving Death Read online

  Deceiving Death

  Ruth Logan Herne

  Copyright © 2020 by Ruth Logan Herne

  2nd Edition

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design: Beth Jamison, Jamison Editing

  Interior Format: The Killion Group, Inc.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Dear Readers

  Also by Ruth Logan Herne

  About the Author

  For the many people I know and love who are that “Thin Blue Line”. God bless you all and those you help in their hour of need.

  Chapter One

  The scream caught Sheriff Tony Sanchez off-guard and he had to make a screeching U-turn before bringing his cruiser to a quick halt.

  Hamilton’s hillside setting messed with sounds, and the hot, humid breeze distorted the cry for help. The picturesque, tiered town had its share of background noise on weekends, but it was Tuesday and screaming women weren’t the norm on Tuesday. Or any day, for that matter. That was part of what tempted him back to the Pennsylvania heartland four years before.

  The second scream pulled him in the right direction. He raced across Park Road, hurdled Sam Yoder’s garbage cans, only to realize he wasn’t in Ninja Warrior shape anymore. He didn’t crash into the fence, gave himself extra points on that, and came around the corner of Ash Grove in time to hear a car racing up Warner’s Hill.

  Then he heard a slight sob from the old stoop not far from the Dollar Friendly.

  He cautiously moved that way.

  A woman sat near the loading dock, head down. Her face was in her hands, and the light brown hair spilling across her shoulders was matted with—

  Blood.

  “Hey.” Compassion won out over caution and he squatted by her side quickly. “I’m Sheriff Sanchez, it’s all right. I’ve got you.” He’d called for deputy backup to chase the car racing up Warner’s Hill at the first scream. The peel of Roy’s siren indicated his follow-through above them. Now he hit the mike to add an ambulance to the list.

  “No ambulance. No hospital. Please, Tonio.”

  She dropped her hands and met his gaze.

  Shea Robinson. At least half of her face looked like Shea. A line of contusions scraped what used to be a beautiful second cheek. “Shea. What happened to you? What are you doing here?”

  “I came back to settle my father’s things.”

  Her father had passed away the month before. Tony had been out of town with the kids and had missed Danny Robinson’s early summer memorial. “I was gone for the funeral, Shea, but I’m sorry for your loss. Your dad was a good man.”

  “The best,” she whispered. “At least I thought so, but he did something or knew something and now they’re out to get me, Tony.”

  He must have misheard her because her dad had been Mr. Quiet-and-Unassuming for over sixty years. A town accountant, he’d gotten lifetime achievement awards for his devotion. Yearly audits had never turned up anything, so she must be confused. “Who’s ‘they’?”

  The question bewildered her. “I don’t know. I don’t know what they think I know, because a Virginia hairdresser isn’t privy to small-town financial secrets.”

  She was doing hair? Her snark and humor probably did well in a salon, especially if it was anywhere near D.C. “Your father had secrets?” Tony didn’t try to hide the doubt in his voice. “Danny was about the nicest, most genteel man I ever met. I don’t get a connection between him and any kind of crime.”

  “Because he’d never do such a thing,” she whispered. “Or so I thought.” She leaned closer. Her sigh hiccupped into a half-sob. The metallic scent of blood tripped his protective triggers. “I came back to take care of things and got a phone call.”

  “Here?” He motioned toward Ash Grove Road. “At your dad’s place?”

  She nodded. “A man. A deep voice, like deeper than normal, as if he were trying to disguise it. He told me he knew what Dad had done, and that I better not try to wipe his files because I’d be just as guilty if I did.”

  “Computer files? Paper files?”

  She threw her hands into the air. “Who knows? I thought it was some stupid teenage prankster being a jerk so I disconnected the call and went back to cleaning and packing things. As if dealing with all that isn’t hard enough?”

  He’d had to make a lot of changes when he lost his wife. He understood the pain that went into each and every stupid box. “Yeah. But you didn’t think to call it in? Just in case?”

  “In retrospect, that would have been the right choice.” Grim, she stared up at him. Her shoulders shook slightly and Shea had never been the quivering type. “I ignored it because it made no sense, so I just kept sorting through things. Then someone came to the house. They tapped on the front door.”

  “You went to the door?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No. I hadn’t told anyone but Marilee that I was coming into town and she’d texted me that she was at her nephew’s birthday party tonight.”

  Marilee had been one of Shea’s high school friends. They’d been part of his brother’s class, six years behind him. They’d hung out at his parents’ house all the time, and he wasn’t unaware that Shea had been crushing on him all those years ago, but college guys didn’t go around dating high school kids. It was considered bad form for a lot of good reasons.

  “She said she’d see me tomorrow. No one else knew I was here, so were they watching for me?” She lifted her shoulders. “I don’t know. I stayed out of sight. I thought whoever it was would just leave.”

  “They didn’t.”

  She touched one long, slim finger to her face. “Not hardly. The next thing I heard was the back door smashing open and two men rushed in. I couldn’t get out in time. It probably sounds stupid, but who would expect anything dangerous here?”

  She was right. Another reason to love the town, nestled in the hills of Northern Appalachia. Quiet, unassuming and friendly. His own version of “Mayberry”, a safe place for a widower to raise two amazing kids. It was boring, yes.

  After a dozen years in Philly and doing a stint as a Southwest detective, the molasses-slow flow of Hamilton was like coming to a dead stop after running a marathon, but he hadn’t moved here for him. He’d loved the fast pace of Philly, the chronic rush of assignments.

  He’d moved here for his kids because a single dad doesn’t get to be selfish. Ever.

  “But no ambulance.” She straightened her shoulders. “I don’t want anyone following me into that tiny excuse for a hospital.”

  Hamilton Memorial was smaller than small. The tiny hospital didn’t have a security guard because there’d never been a need for one. Not with the sheriff’s office two blocks away. Hamilton Memorial was nothing like big city hospitals whose security systems rivaled the TSA scanning techniques in municipal airports.

  But this— “You need to be seen, Shea.”

  “Call Sarah. She’ll know what to do.”

  Sarah Murphy was his cousin and a family practice doctor near the outskirts of town. “What if something’s broken?” To see her beautiful face messed up like this...

  He wanted a private five minutes with the horrific slug that did something like this to a woman. Five minutes of not-wearing-the-badge time to show the ape-man what it was like
to be on the receiving end of a full-fledged pummeling.

  “I’m scared, Tony. It’s not like I’ve got a bodyguard looking after me, and I don’t think these guys are going to give up. In fact, they assured me of that before they shoved me down the back stairs and took off.”

  Her appearance supported her words. A person that did this might not stop the next time, and that meant there couldn’t be a next time. “Come with me.” He pointed to the broken door on her father’s back porch. “We’ll get someone to fix that tomorrow. In the meantime I’ll keep you under watch. And I’ll call Sarah.”

  Relief softened the undamaged half of her face. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll still have to file a report.”

  “Of course. But if I can stay where they are least likely to find me, then I can finish my dad’s legal things and get on the road.”

  Not likely to happen in a quick manner. He knew that, but he let her scenario slide. “Except no one is really incognito, Shea.” He took her arm as he walked her toward his cruiser. “The internet makes that impossible. And what could they possibly be looking for?”

  “Money.” She faced him square. “Isn’t it always about money? Somehow they think he has tucked away over a million dollars of embezzled funds and they think I’m the key.”

  “Are you?”

  He asked the question bluntly so he could see her response and since coming face-to-face with the girl who’d hero-worshipped him all through high school—

  He was really hoping she was on the right side of the law this time.

  Chapter Two

  “Like hardly.” She’d scowl at him but the movement would hurt her already aching face. “And don’t be going back in time on me. I didn’t steal the principal’s car. I moved it to the first-floor roof overlooking the ball field. If he hadn’t been such a jerk we would have picked someone else’s car. His bad.”

  “What about your father? Could he have done something like this? It wouldn’t be the first time a person fooled a small, trusting community like Hamilton.”

  “My father has never even stolen a stick of gum,” she replied as they approached the cruiser. “He paid his taxes every year, never fudged on donations to the Salvation Army and even claimed the twenty-five dollars he made every time he called a square dance at the VFW Lodge. The guy was crazy honest.”

  “Of course if you want people to believe you’re honest, you go out of your way to make it seem like you are, correct? At least that’s what the smart ones would do,” Tony mused. “And your father was smart.”

  “He was. And I miss him so much right now.” She tried to bite back the threatening tears, but something about Tony’s empathy opened old floodgates and there was no way she could let that happen. Whoever was instigating today’s scenario, whatever their game was, she had to be at the top of hers. “Tony, are they sure my father died of natural causes?”

  He opened the passenger door for her, let her get in, closed it and rounded the car. “It’s a small town, Shea. No sign of anything awry, but the coroner probably wouldn’t have looked very hard. And your dad was cremated, so there’s no going back.”

  “I know, it just seems weird that he died from an illness that’s generally mild and now someone wants me dead.”

  “Unless this is a warning.”

  She winced as she touched a fingertip to her cheek. “Consider me warned. But where can I go to be safe until we figure this out?”

  “We aren’t figuring anything out.” He shot her a firm look. “You’ll get looked at by Sarah, then I look into this with Chisolm. I’m not putting you out in plain sight where some creep can get the jump on you. I spent enough time in Philly to know that an attack like that,” he indicated her swollen cheek with a look of sympathy, “is nothing to take lightly.”

  He was on her side.

  Thank you, sweet Lord.

  It was hard enough coming back to town and having people speculate about her, how a good man could raise such an in-your-face kid. She’d faced her share of that at the funeral. Keeping her countenance serene and her tongue quiet wasn’t exactly her strong suit, but she’d done it. Not just out of respect for him. But because her life was nobody’s business. Not then. And not now. Her father understood her. Encouraged her. And he’d be outraged by the current status.

  Tony didn’t pull into Sarah’s driveway. He went beyond it to the little strip mall at the intersection. He drove along the back side and parked outside the rear entrance to a hair salon. “This is Candace’s place.”

  Candace Luft had been voted “Most Likely to Do Hair” in high school. She’d also been crushingly beautiful. With curves. An attribute that Shea lacked then, and still couldn’t brag about now.

  “I’m having Sarah meet us here so we don’t involve her family.”

  “Good thinking.” She squinted when the swing of the back door angled a swath of light. Tony’s cousin stood just inside and behind her was Candace. She looked amazing even though they’d surprised her on a Tuesday night. Some things never changed.

  “Candace was nice enough to let us slip in here. Oh, girl.” Sarah frowned. “What does someone have against you, Shea? Because this isn’t one bit pretty.”

  “Can I get her some ibuprofen for the pain?” Tony was behind her. “I didn’t want to assume.”

  “Absolutely. I’ve got some in my purse, Tonio.”

  “I’ve got water in the fridge.” Candace brought back a bottled water. “I make sure I have some for customers. Tea. Coffee. Water. It makes their visit nicer.”

  Sweet. Simple. Drop dead gorgeous. And nice enough that it made hating her impossible. Well. Almost impossible. Shea accepted the water graciously. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m going to wash towels and capes out front. That way things look normal.”

  Trying to help. Bless her heart, it was going to take more than clean towels to pull this one off. Shea appreciated the effort although she was pretty sure there shouldn’t be so many people involved in this. No way did she want someone else targeted because of her.

  “I’m going to flush this area and see what we’ve got,” Sarah explained once she had Shea seated at a hair washing station. “If I advise x-rays, will you go?” she continued.

  “No.”

  “As I expected.” Sarah used a gentle touch to clean Shea’s face and neck. “Not as bad as I thought at first, but nasty nonetheless. Did you see the guy’s face?”

  She couldn’t shake her head with her neck cradled in the washing sink. “Not clearly. I was too busy trying to dodge the blows.”

  “I bet you were,” murmured Sarah as she gently swabbed and cleaned the affected area. “How scary, Shea. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  Sarah had always had a kind heart and a Pollyanna spirit, which probably made her a favorite among area doctors.

  Tony, on the other hand, questioned everything. “Even when he came into the house?” He moved around front to watch Sarah’s progress.

  “They,” she corrected him. “There were two, but only one did the damage. And I was too busy trying to block my face and head to see much.” She made a deliberate face at him. “Sorry.”

  “Tonio, let me finish before you interrogate the poor thing. For heaven’s sake. Anybody want coffee?”

  “No.” From Tony.

  “Yes.” Sleep wasn’t on her agenda for a while.

  Tony stared at her. “How are you going to rest if you have coffee now?”

  “Like curl up and go to sleep and forget that someone is trying to kill me? Because I’ve read how folks will do pretty much anything for a cool million, Tony, and news flash: I’m the target. So sleep is out of the question until I get somewhere safe. But I have no idea where that kind of place might be.”

  Tommy B’s hunting cabin on Duck Lake.

  That’s where he’d take her. Only a handful of people used the rustic place for spring fishing and fall hunting. No one would be in the area mid-summer. It would be dusty, bu
t Tommy kept essentials there. Sleeping rolls in a huge bin to thwart mice and a good-sized cooler for food. “I’ll change up vehicles and tuck you someplace safe.”

  He didn’t say where out loud. If someone questioned Candace or Sarah, he wanted the words plausible deniability to ring true. People who knew nothing had nothing to lie about. “Sarah, how soon can we get out of here?”

  “Five more minutes.”

  “Make it three.”

  “You think someone’s going to figure out you’re here?”

  “It’s not a huge leap since you are my cousin.”

  She acknowledged that with a dip of her chin.

  “I want a head start. I’m going to change up cars.”

  Sarah lifted her brows without looking up. “Not the Mustang.”

  “Only other option.”

  “Lord have mercy on your soul if you so much as scratch your brother’s car.”

  There was no way to get into the lake area through Northern Appalachian woods without the tangles of overgrown branches.

  “Take Boomer’s truck instead. He’s coaching baseball four days a week, so he’s too busy to do much. He won’t care and it’s juiced.”

  Her brother Boomer liked fast engines, and he liked them even better on vehicles that didn’t look like they’d have racing-style pistons. “Keys?”

  “In it. He let me have it this week to move firewood. Leave your patrol car at my place and I’ll run it over to your house later. Are the kids with your parents in the Outer Banks?”

  His parents made an annual trek to the popular vacation spot. They met up with a group of family and friends. Hazel and Ben were being cared for so he could devote time to whatever was going on with Shea. “Yes. And in their glory, no doubt. I’ll be right back. You okay?” He shifted so that Shea could see him from her non-swollen eye.