Suspicions (21 page)

“Can I help you?” The woman asked.

“Is this Deanna Everett's apartment?”

“Yes. I'm her roommate, Tina.”

“Oh. Is Deanna here?”

“No.”

“Do you know when she'll be back?” Stacey
asked, wondering where she could be.

“Is Deanna expecting you?”

Stacey hesitated. “No.”

“May I take a message?”

Stacey looked sideways, thinking. “No. That's
all right. Can you just tell me when she'll be back?”

The woman pursed her lips, then apparently
came to a decision. “She just left and she'll be out of town for
the next week.”

Stacey's eyebrows went up. “Oh! Can you tell
me where she went?”

The woman looked at Stacey with distrust.
“Who are you, anyway?”

“A friend of Mark Stone's.”

The woman briefly hesitated then seemed to
come to a decision. “Please come in.”

The small living room held only a couch,
coffee table, stereo and television. Though Stacey expected to see
pictures of Mark and Deanna snuggling on a beach, there were
none.

I guess Deanna doesn't want to advertise her
relationship with Mark, Stacey thought.

Tina invited Stacey to sit on the couch and
offered her a drink. Stacey declined the drink but sat on the
couch.

“How do you know Mark?” Tina asked.

“Valley Health Club.”

Tina nodded. “I'm thinking of joining myself.
How do you like it?”

“It's great,” she said enthusiastically.

“I didn't get your name.”

“Cathy,” Stacey said, getting tired of using
the false name and looking forward to life getting back to
normal.

“It’s nice to meet you, Cathy. Now, what can
I help you with?”

“I have a message for Deanna. From Mark.” She
looked at Tina to see her reaction. Tina looked surprised and
Stacey went on. “You know, with all the media around, it's been
hard for him to go anywhere without being seen. He called me and
asked if I would deliver the message.”

Tina seemed to accept this explanation. “What
is it?”

Stacey frowned. “I’m sorry, Tina. He told me
to give it to Deanna directly.”

“I see.” Tina stood and went into the small
kitchen. When she came out she was holding a piece of paper. “This
is where Deanna is staying.” Tina handed the paper to Stacey.

“Thank you for your time,” Stacey said,
standing.

Tina walked her the short distance to the
door. “I'm glad I could be of help.” She paused. “And would you
tell Deanna things are going well on this end?”

“I'll do that.”

Stacey looked at the paper in her hand as she
sat in her car outside the apartment complex, and wondered why
Deanna had left town. Had she and Mark had a falling out? Stacey
remembered the scene at the park. They had seemed to be arguing.
And what was Tina talking about when she said, “Everything is going
well on this end”? Stacey tucked the paper into her purse, turned
the key in the ignition and pulled out into traffic.

It was difficult to maneuver down her street
with all the reporters there. She wasn't sure, but she thought
there were more reporters there than had been there earlier. Had
something happened?

She went into the house and found Jason
pulling weeds in the backyard. Robby and Nikki were trying to help
him. Stacey smiled as she watched her family at work. After a
moment she eased the sliding glass door open and stepped out onto
the patio. She went over to Jason and the children and said hello,
then turned on the hose and stood on tiptoe to water her hanging
plants. Nikki came running over to give Stacey a flower she had
picked.

“Thank you, honey,” she said, giving her
daughter a hug.

Nikki climbed onto the swing set and began
pumping herself high into the sky. Robby joined her and soon they
were both squealing with joy. Stacey went over to Jason, who was
bent over the weeds, and massaged his shoulders. Looking up at her
gratefully, he smiled and she bent down to give him a kiss.

“Where'd you go?” he wanted to know.

She smiled. “Just trying to clear your
name.”

He stood up and faced her. “I appreciate what
you're trying to do, but I'm sure the police will find out who the
kidnapper really is and then everything will work out.”

Stacey's lips turned down into a frown. “And
in the meantime, we have FBI agents in the neighborhood.” She
looked at him quizzically. “And who knows? Maybe they even have our
phones tapped.”

His eyebrows went up. “I hadn't thought of
that.” He laughed nervously. “I guess I'd better be careful not to
mention my sales commissions. Then they'll know the truth. I'm a
lousy salesman.”

Stacey laughed along with him. “You are
not.”

He put his arms around her waist and pulled
her close. “Thank you.”

She tipped her head up to accept his kiss and
held him close for a moment.

Pulling away, he grinned. “What does
Detective Hunter have planned for this afternoon?”

She smiled back. “Just boring stuff,
actually. I need to do some things in the house.”

He nodded. “Okay. But pulling weeds is a lot
more fun.”

“Yeah, right.” She kissed him again before
going back inside.

She sat at the desk and pulled out the piece
of paper Deanna’s roommate had given her. Written on it was the
address of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco. Stacey didn’t
have any idea why Deanna would have gone there, but she knew she
would have to find out. San Francisco was about an hour and a half
drive away. Stacey decided to go out there the next day.

After making that choice she determined to do
something useful around the house. Because she’d been gone so much
lately, things had gotten way behind. Yet she didn’t feel like
doing the usual cleaning jobs. She thought about the mess in the
linen closet and headed down the hall.

First she pulled out all the towels and then
folded them back up and stacked them neatly on the shelves. When
she was finished, she went into the laundry room and began
straightening things in there. When she got to the junk drawer, she
gave a big sigh and debated whether to tackle this job, but then
decided to get it over with. Pulling the entire drawer out of the
cabinet, she dumped it out on the floor.

After sitting down next to the mess, she
placed everything into little piles on the floor. One pile was for
trash. There were several scraps of paper that had been in the
drawer and after quickly scanning the contents, Stacey deemed most
of them to be unimportant and put them into the trash pile.

When she was almost through, she came to one
last piece of paper. It was folded into eighths and she almost
threw it away without opening it, then decided she'd better check
what was on it, just in case. It was a bill of sale for the old
Toyota. She sucked in her breath as she read the name of the buyer.
The date was from two months before.

Stacey took the piece of paper out to the
backyard and showed it to Jason. The look of relief on his face
would have been comical if it hadn't been such a serious
situation.

“Do you remember the buyer?” she asked.

Jason looked at the name on the paper and
thought for a minute. “Not really.”

“We need to give this to the police.” Stacey
nodded toward the piece of paper in her hand.

Jason frowned. “I do not want to go to that
police station again.”

“You could just take it out to the FBI agents
at the Stone's house.”

Jason sighed. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

Stacey noted his reluctance. “Would you like
me to give it to them?”

“Maybe you should give it to the Detective
that questioned Robby. You said he seemed pretty nice.”

“He was.” Stacey paused. “I want to make a
copy of it first anyway so I think I will take it to the police
station.”

Jason shook his head. “It's really my
responsibility. I should take it.”

“Why? What's the difference which one of us
takes it there?”

Jason shrugged. “I don't know. It just seems
like something I should do.”

Stacey put her hands on his shoulders.
“Jason, let me take care of this. After all, I'm the one who told
them you owned the car.”

He nodded. “That's true.” He looked past her
head. “Okay. If you really want to, I guess that would be all
right.”

She smiled. “Good. I'll be back later.”

Watching Stacey drive away, Jason leaned his
head against the cool front window. He felt discouraged and very
humbled by what had happened. At first he had been angry with the
FBI, but after the fiasco at the mall his bravado was
punctured.

I could end up in jail for kidnapping, he
realized. The thought terrified him. He didn't really believe
Stacey could do anything to get him out of it. Panic swelled within
him as he considered what could happen.

Before she went to the police station Stacey
went to the library to use their copy machine. As she dropped her
change in the slot and waited the few seconds for the copy to come
out she thought about the person who had bought Jason's car and
knew it would be a good idea to keep a copy of the evidence. She
put the original in her pocket and the copy in her purse.

Humming to herself as she drove to the police
station, she smiled at the good feeling that this little piece of
paper would put an end to their problems. She patted her pocket and
smiled, then pulled into the police parking lot and climbed out of
her car with confidence.

She opened the door and walked right up to
the desk sergeant.

“Is Detective Perkins in?”

The man behind the desk did not return her
smile. “Who wants to know?”

“Tell him Stacey Hunter is here and I have
something to show him that will really interest him.”

He scowled at her and told her to go sit
down. She didn't let his apparent bad mood affect her. She sat down
and waited patiently until Perkins came out. He walked over to her,
curiosity on his face.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Hunter. The sergeant
said you had something to show me?”

“Yes. Look at this.” She handed him the piece
of paper.

He looked it over. “This is very
interesting.” He looked up at Stacey. “But I thought your husband
sold this car a while ago.”

“It turns out it was actually recent,” Stacey
said.

He didn't seem convinced. “Something about
this smells funny.”

Butterflies fluttered in Stacey's stomach.
“What are you saying? Do you think it's forged?”

He looked at her steadily. “I'm saying we'll
check it out. But I'm not making any promises.”

Trying not to feel disappointed, she walked
out of the police station and into the blindingly bright sun. She
sat in her car and rested her head in her hands. Sitting up
straighter, she pulled out her copy of the sales agreement. She
read it over again and wondered why it didn't “smell” right to
Perkins. It had the date, the vehicle identification number,
Jason's signature and the signature of the buyer. She allowed
herself a small smile as she read the buyer’s name: Gary
Tomlison.

Once they show Gary the evidence, he's sure
to confess, she thought. And it should be a simple matter to
confirm the signature.

She drove home to tell Jason what had
happened and as she turned down her street and saw all the cars
parked there, she hoped it would be soon that these media people
would leave their street and their lives forever.

Jason was sitting in his favorite chair
watching a ball game on television when Stacey got home from the
police station. At the grim look on her face, he knew things had
not gone as well as they had hoped. She told him what Perkins had
said and he threw his hands up in exasperation.

“I just can't win, can I?”

Stacey knew how he felt. It was as if the
police wanted to believe Jason was the one who had done it.

As she began fixing a snack, her attention
was drawn to the television when, after a commercial, the hourly
news update came on. The weatherman gave the current temperature
and then they cut to the news anchor. “We have breaking news,” he
announced. “Police have informed us that an unidentified man was
found shot to death just after noon. Sources say he was a male in
his early forties. The only identifying mark was a jagged scar
above his right eye. Police are investigating.”

Stacey dropped the pitcher of lemonade she
had been holding. Yellow liquid spread everywhere.

Jason called to her. “What'd you drop?”

“Nothing. It’s fine.” Wiping it up as quickly
as she could, she grabbed the plate of crackers and handed them to
Jason. “I’ve got to run a quick errand. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said, a puzzled look on his
face.

“I’ll be back in a little while.”

On the drive to Gary’s house, she thought
about what she knew about this man who was now probably dead. He
had bought Jason’s car, which had been involved in the kidnapping,
and when she had spoken to him she thought she’d noticed a bit of
animosity toward Mark Stone. Stacey was starting to think he was
involved in the kidnapping. But why did he turn up dead? And who
had killed him?

She drove along the street, periodically
looking at the piece of paper in her hand and eventually came to a
house matching the address Michelle had given her. Parking across
the street, she studied the house, wondering about Gary and
Michelle Tomlison.

Although brown paint was peeling off the
sides of the house, the lawn looked well cared for and the colorful
rows of pansies lining the walk were blooming. A moment later
Stacey got out of the car and went to the front door.