Death Waxed Over (Book 3 in the Candlemaking Mysteries) (25 page)

I’d hoped to use Vince’s phone to call, but
either he wasn’t home or, more likely, he was in too deep a sleep
to hear my summons. One of these days I was going to have to break
down and get a cell phone. I ran over to a nearby all-night
laundermat and got the sheriff at his desk.

“
Working around the clock
now?” I asked, surprised to get the man himself.

“
I’m just finishing up some
paperwork and heading home. What’s up?” He sounded like he was dead
on his feet, and I hated adding to his troubles.

As calmly as I could, I said, “I think I
found the man who’s been stalking Becka Lane.”

“
Where are you?” he asked,
the weariness suddenly gone from his voice.

“
I’m close to her apartment.
How soon can you get somebody over here?”

“
I’m on my way home. I can
get there before anyone else can. Harrison, let me handle this.
Don’t try to be a hero and do something stupid.”

“
Hey, that’s why I called
you. Hurry though, would you? I don’t want him to get
away.”

“
I’ll be there in four
minutes.”

We were finally going to do something about
this. “Good, I’ll meet you out in front of the complex.”

“
Go home, Harrison. There’s
nothing else you can do.”

“
Either I go with you, or
I’m going after this guy right now by myself.”

He paused, then said, “You’re a real pain in
my rear, you know that? Okay, you can come, as long as you promise
to stay out of my way.”

Morton showed up three minutes later. He
must have been flying.

“
So where’s this stalker?”
he asked, carrying a long thick flashlight as he got out of the
patrol car.

“
He’s in the bushes over by
her place. Come on, follow me.”

“
Fine,” he said, “but when
we get close, you have to promise to stay back and let me handle
it. Is that a deal?”

“
I’m just here to
watch.”

We moved through the bushes as quietly as we
could, but I still made more noise than Morton liked. There was
enough light around us so that we could see where we were going,
but the details of the landscape were all washed in dark gray. I
found myself silently praying as we walked that the stalker hadn’t
gotten spooked for some reason and left. All I needed was Morton on
my back about creating false alarms.

I thought we’d overshot the stalker hidden
in the bushes, or worse yet, lost him altogether, when Morton
suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. I started to say something
when he shook his head quickly. Pointing ahead to the shadows, I
saw what I had missed on first glance.

Becka’s stalker was still there, hovering in
the bushes, patiently watching for her.

Chapter 19

Morton turned on his flashlight and
illuminated the suspect’s back. “I’m Sheriff Morton. Put your hands
up and turn around. Slowly.”

I saw that the man standing there had
something in his hand that looked like a crowbar. He started to
tense as if to turn and fight or run, and Morton wasn’t going to
allow either action.

“
I said drop it! I’ve got a
gun at your back. You don’t stand a chance.”

The crowbar dropped to the ground and the
man turned slowly around to face us.

It was Vince, Becka’s maintenance man. He
said, “I’m glad you got here. I’ve been watching Becka’s place, but
somebody needs to relieve me.”

“
Come on, you actually think
we’re going to believe you’re here to help?” Morton
said.

“
He has been protective of
her,” I said. “I can’t imagine him threatening her.”

Morton wasn’t buying it, though. “Then why
is he hiding in the bushes? Come on, you’re coming with me.”

Vince’s face got red in the light. “Get that
thing out of my eyes. I told you, I’m here to watch out for
her.”

“
Then you’ve got nothing to
worry about, do you?”

Vince said angrily, “You’re not going to
cuff me. I’d rather get shot.”

Morton said icily, “It’s your call.”

I saw his hand tense on the handle and I
said, “Vince, you’d better do what he says.”

“
Yeah, Vince, listen to your
buddy here.”

All of the fight seemed to go out of him as
Morton put the cuffs on him. As we walked back to the police car,
he kept protesting his innocence, but Morton acted like he couldn’t
hear a word.

I said, “What should I do?”

“
Go home, Harrison. We
caught the bad guy.”

Vince didn’t respond to the bait. I said,
“But what if you’re wrong?”

Morton replied, “Then she’s no worse off
than she was before.”

I watched them drive away, then I remembered
my wallet. That was just what I needed, getting a ticket for
driving without a license after what had just happened. I took a
chance and walked back to Becka’s, not really expecting her to
answer, but not really having much choice, either.

To my surprise, she opened the door before I
could even knock. “What was that all about?” she asked as I stepped
inside.

“
I thought you’d be asleep,”
I said.

“
I should have taken two
pills after all. As soon as you left, I was wide awake again. I
heard voices out here, but I wasn’t about to come out. Was that
Vince the cop arrested?”

“
He was hiding in the bushes
watching your place,” I said. “He claims he was just trying to
protect you, but the sheriff doesn’t believe it.”

Becka shivered. “Is your offer to stay over
still open? I don’t think I’d be able to sleep a wink after
this.”

“
I’d be happy to stay till
morning,” I said. “All I need is a blanket and a pillow and I’ll be
fine.”

“
Thank you, Harrison. For
everything.”

I nodded, and she quickly got me settled on
the couch. After we said our good nights, I lay there wondering if
Vince was a protector or a stalker. If I’d gone after him by
myself, I knew I would have believed his story. He was that
convincing.

I’d drifted off, and Becka’s telephone
brought me abruptly awake. “Hello?”

“
Harrison, is that you?” It
was Sheriff Morton. “What did you do, decide to move in and make
yourself at home?”

“
Becka was afraid to stay by
herself, so I’m bunking on the couch.”

Morton said, “She had every right to be
concerned. This guy’s definitely the one who’s been stalking
her.”

“
He confessed?” I asked,
still shocked that I’d misread the super.

“
Not at first, but after we
ran his prints through the computer, he caved soon enough. It turns
out Vince is really Vance Gregory, a man with two outstanding
warrants in California. Care to guess what they were
for?”

“
Stalking,” I
said.

“
Hey, you got it right on
the first try.”

I took a deep breath, then said, “You were
right. I was wrong.”

“
About Vince? Don’t sweat
it, the guy’s a born con-man. You found him hiding in the bushes,
and that brought him to our attention. You did a good thing
tonight, Harrison.”

Compliments were rare enough from the
sheriff, but I wasn’t in the mood to accept any. I’d completely
misjudged the man. In fact, the only thing I had done right was
calling the sheriff into it.

Still, Becka’s troubles were over. That was
what counted. I thought about waking her up and sharing what I’d
learned, but I finally decided to let her get a good night’s sleep
before breaking the news to her. It was the only way I’d manage to
get any more sleep that night myself, now that it looked like the
threat was finally over.

Becka came out the next morning and woke me
up. “Hey, don’t you have a candleshop to run?”

I glanced at the clock and saw that even if
I were at my apartment, I wouldn’t make it to the studio for my
appointment in time. I said, “Give me a second to get dressed,
would you?”

“
You never struck me as the
shy type before,” she said.

“
Well, I am now.”

She shrugged, then walked back into her
bedroom while I hastily pulled on my pants. I was just buttoning my
shirt when she walked back in again. “Are you decent yet?”

“
Come on out. There’s
something we need to talk about before I go.”

“
Harrison, I’m sorry, I
shouldn’t have been teasing you. I just can’t remember sleeping
that soundly.”

“
You might want to sit down.
I’ve got something shocking to tell you.”

She did as she was told, perching on the
edge of the loveseat that matched the sofa I’d slept on. “What is
it?”

“
The sheriff and I found
your stalker last night. He’s sitting in jail right
now.”

A wave of emotions crossed her face. “You’re
serious, aren’t you? How can that be? Who was it?”

“
I told you we found the
super hiding in the bushes last night. Well, it turns out Vince is
wanted in California for stalking two other women. When the sheriff
confronted him, he confessed to it all, including pushing you off
the jogging path. He wasn’t all that pleased about you coming to me
and not him.”

Becka sat there, as if she was in shock. “I
don’t understand. How did you know to come back?”

“
I thought I’d left my
wallet here,” I confessed. “When I came back to get it, I saw
someone in the bushes watching you, but he didn’t see me. I called
Morton and we got him.” I was feeling a little guilty about taking
all of the credit. “The guy was smooth. I was ready to believe he
was just looking out for you, but the sheriff saw right through
him.”

“
You called Morton, though,
didn’t you? Thank you, Harrison.”

She stood and kissed me solemnly. I broke it
off before it could develop into anything else. I wasn’t going
there again with her. “You’re most welcome. Listen, I hate to run
out on you, but I’m really running late.”

“
Go. I’ll be fine
now.”

If I hurried, I’d just be fifteen minutes
late for my appointment with Mary Fran at the television station. I
couldn’t do anything about my wrinkled clothes, but I did manage to
get my hair tamed before I went in. My wallet hadn’t turned up at
Becka’s. I just hoped it was at Flickering Lights.

“
There you are,” Mary Fran
said as hurried in. “I was about to give up on you.”

“
Sorry I’m late. I
overslept.”

“
No harm done,” she said.
“I’ve got the tape set up in our editing room.”

She led me back through a hallway full of
old equipment, then ducked into a room not much bigger than a
telephone booth.

After explaining how to run the machinery,
she said, “If you want a hard copy of something you see, just hit
the print button and it comes out here. I’ve got to charge you a
dollar a copy, so make sure it’s a shot you want. Good luck. Or
should I say happy hunting?”

“
I’ll take either one at
this point,” I said.

The start of the tape showed the interview
with the mayor of New Conover. I’d seen him around the fair, but he
didn’t interest me a bit. I was more intent on watching what was
going on behind the scenes. I fast-forwarded through the interview,
caught a few candid conversations with vendors and visitors, and
then I saw the camera sweep across the area just behind Gretel as
the cameraman caught an image of the murder scene. Something was
different about the picture, but it took me a second to realize
what it was. I had something, but I wasn’t sure if it would be
enough. I hit the print button so I’d have a copy to check later,
then continued scanning the tape.

In another few moments, I was confronted
with the static of a dead tape.

There were only nine minutes on the tape,
and I hadn’t seen the hint of a clown anywhere, though I had found
something worth exploring. I watched the tape twice more and was
ready to give up finding the assassin on tape when something caught
my eye in the background. Yes, there was no doubt about it. In one
corner of the picture was the clown Evelyn had described to me, the
same man I’d nearly fallen over at the fair. I hurried back to Mary
Fran and said, “I think I might have something, but it’s tough to
see. Is there any way to enhance this?”

She nodded, “There is, but I can’t do it.
Let’s get Tom.” We found an older engineer in the backroom
repairing a computer motherboard. Mary Fran said, “Tom, do you have
a second?”

“
I’m tied up right now.
Sorry.”

I started to say something when Mary Fran
shushed me. To her coworker, she said, “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have
bothered you.” Then she turned to me and said, “He couldn’t have
enhanced it, anyway. The tape’s too grainy. Sorry, Harrison.”

Tom put his soldering iron back in its stand
and said, “What are you talking about?”

She said, “You’re busy, it’s nothing you
need to worry about.”

Tom replied, “If there’s something on a tape
you want to see, I can bring it up for you. Let’s go have a
look.”

Mary Fran was smiling as Tom walked by, and
I thanked her silently. There wasn’t room for all three of us in
the tape editing room, so Mary Fran stood outside in the hallway.
Tom cued up the tape and said, “What are you looking for?”

I pointed toward the screen and he slapped
at my finger. “Don’t touch that. Just tell me.”

“
Do you see the clown in one
corner? I need a better look at him.”