Walk Through the Valley (Psalm 23 Mysteries) (11 page)

If they’d had word about Kyle they surely would have woken her up. She checked her phone. No messages. That was a good sign. She made it into the bathroom and took a quick shower, hoping the hot water would wake her up. Instead she caught herself nodding off. She forced her eyes back open. She had a difficult day ahead of her and she couldn’t start it off by falling asleep in the shower and hurting herself.

Once dressed she called her dad’s phone.

He picked up right away. From the sound of his voice she could tell that he hadn’t slept well either.

“Is there any change?” she asked.

“No.”

“Okay. I have to take care of a couple of things and then I’ll come over later this morning.”

“I’ll call if anything changes,” he promised.

“Thanks. Do you need anything?”

“No.”

She finished getting ready, grateful that he hadn’t asked her what things she needed to take care of. The last thing either of her parents needed to deal with right now was the fact that she’d had her purse snatched. It was the last thing she wanted to be dealing with, too, but what could she do? If she didn’t make a statement the police would have a more difficult time trying to send the man to jail. If he went free then he’d be back on the streets robbing someone else.

She headed downstairs, and made her way to the hotel restaurant to get some breakfast. As she followed the hostess through a maze of tables she spotted a familiar figure seated by himself.

“Martin!” she called.

The man jerked and turned around in his chair, eyes sweeping the room. She gave a little wave and he nodded then smiled. He touched his ear briefly, and then he waved to an empty chair. “Care to join me?”

“Sure.”

The hostess turned and went to Martin’s table. She put the menu down for Cindy, and then headed back to the front of the restaurant. Cindy slid into the chair across from Martin’s.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” she said as she picked up her menu.

“It’s okay. I’m afraid I’m not much of a morning person.”

“I understand.”

“How’s your brother?”

“No change, I’m afraid.”

“Well, if I’ve learned one thing over the years it’s that where there’s life, there’s hope.”

She nodded, and then perused her menu. She was so tired and stressed, though, that all the words just seemed to jumble together and the few she did manage to read she had to re-read twice before they would stick in her brain.

“May I make a suggestion?” Martin asked after a minute.

“Please do,” she said with a frustrated sigh as she set the menu down.

“French toast. I just had some, and it was excellent.”

“That sounds like a winner to me.”

After the waiter came and took her order she slumped slightly in her chair. She really was exhausted.

Martin frowned at her. “You look like you should try to go get some more sleep.”

She shook her head. “I’ve got to go down to the police station. Then it’s back to the hospital.”

“As long as you make it to the police station sometime today I’m sure you’ll be fine. And your folks will call if there’s any change at the hospital. You do have your phone on you, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Cindy said, reaching into her bag to check and see if there were any messages on it. She felt around for her phone for a minute and then realized she’d left it on the nightstand up in the room.

“Dang it.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I must have left my phone up in the room. I’m glad I checked. Now I’ll have to go all the way back upstairs to get it before I head to the police station.”

“You’ve got time to go grab it now before your food shows. That way you’ll be free to head out as soon as you’re finished.”

“I guess I do. I’ll be right back.”

He nodded as he picked up his coffee mug and took a sip.

Fortunately it didn’t take her long to make it back to the room, grab her phone, and get back downstairs. A minute after she sat down the waiter brought her food.

After a couple of bites she admitted, “You’re right, it is good.” She was surprised she could even taste anything with the state she was in. As it was she wolfed down all the food in what had to be record time.

He smiled at her when she had finished. “Feel a bit more ready to deal with the day?”

“Yes, actually.”

“It’s surprising how much a good meal can brighten your mood and give you energy.”

“You’re right.”

“Well, good luck with your day. I’m sure I’ll bump into you later. Now, though, I have to get to a meeting,” he said, rising. “And don’t worry about the check, I already took care of it.”

She stared at him in shock. “You didn’t need to do that.”

He shrugged. “It’s a small thing, but it was what I could do for you.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“Do me a favor and just try to take it easy today.”

She gave him a smile.

Martin left the restaurant, and a minute later she followed suit. Outside the lobby the doorman was able to hail a cab for her and moments later she was on her way to the police station. At the front desk she explained who she was and why she was there. An officer escorted her to a small room to wait for someone to come and take her statement.

She sat alone for almost half an hour, compulsively checking her phone for messages every couple of minutes. She had taken the deck of cards she’d bought the night before out of her purse and kept cutting them one-handed, grateful that she had something to fidget with. Finally an officer came in. She recognized him as one of the ones who had been talking to Lisa in her hospital room.

“Sorry to keep you waiting so long, Miss Preston,” he said.

“It’s okay. Did you find the driver that hit Kyle and Lisa?”

He hesitated slightly before saying, “We don’t have any new information to share on that.”

She quickly picked up on the words “to share”. That didn’t mean they didn’t know anything new, it just meant they weren’t willing to talk about it. She pressed a little harder. “I’m heading to the hospital as soon as I’m done here and I know everyone’s looking for some glimmer of hope that you’ll catch the guy.”

“I understand, ma’am, but there’s nothing I can say at this time.”

“Okay,” she said, frustrated because she knew he was holding out on her.

He sat down across the table from her and cleared his throat. “Now, as I understand it, you told the clerk at the desk that you’re here on a different matter. A purse snatching, is that correct?”

“Yes. I agreed to come down here this morning and give my full statement so charges could be pressed.”

“And who did you agree to this with?”

“The two officers who arrested the thief,” Cindy said.

“So, let me make sure I’ve got this straight. Your purse was snatched last night by a thief. He was stopped, and two officers came and arrested him and told you to come down here today?”

“Well, there’s a few more points and complications to the story, but yes, that’s basically what happened.”

“I see. Did you happen to get the name of the arresting officers?”

“No, but one of them gave me this card,” she said, pulling it out of her purse and handing it to him.

He took it and stared at it with a frown. “It’s just a standard card with the address,” he said.

Alarm bells started going off in her head. “Is there something wrong?” she asked.

He set the card down on the table and finally met her eyes. “I’m not sure what to say. The truth is, we have no record of a purse snatching incident last night involving you or the hotel you’re staying at.”

“You’re joking,” she said, feeling a twisting sensation in her stomach.

“Trust me, ma’am, I wish I was.”

“How is that possible? Two officers came and arrested him. They wanted me to come in last night for a statement, but Martin told them how tired I was, and they said I could come in this morning. Then they took him away.”

“Who is Martin?”

“He’s the man who tackled the guy after he stole my purse.”

“Did he call the police?”

“No, the security guard at the hotel did. The officers showed up really quickly and they said they’d just finished investigating another purse snatching in the area.”

“Ma’am, could you describe the officers?” he asked.

“They both had brown hair and were of medium height. I think I would recognize them if I saw them again.”

“What about the purse snatcher?”

She shook her head. “He was wearing a
hoodie and I never really got a look at his face.”

The officer leaned back in his chair, his brow furrowing. “How about the security guard?”

“He was older, in his fifties, with white hair. He was kind of short.”

“And his ethnicity?”

“He was Caucasian.”

The officer was silent for a long minute. Finally he cleared his throat. “Ma’am, can you tell me what medications you routinely take?”

“What? Nothing, why?” she asked, startled.

“With everything that’s happened to your brother I realize that you’re under a great deal of strain.”

“What does that have to do with anything? What is going on?” she demanded. She could feel her heart begin to pound. Something was very, very wrong here.

“Sometimes when a person is under a lot of stress they can have problems dealing with what’s going on,” he said slowly.

“I don’t understand any of this.”

“It’s possible that you had a dream or perhaps an hallucination-”

She shoved back her chair and stood to her feet, anger flaring through her. “I’m not crazy! Dozens of people in that lobby saw what happened. They applauded when Martin tackled the thief to the ground. I don’t know what’s going on here, but two of your police officers came and took the man away. I’m here to give my statement about the whole incident. Now, would you like to help me figure out what’s going on here?”

He stared up at her, eyes veiled, and she decided that this had to be what going crazy felt like, when you knew something and yet
noone else believed you.

There was a sudden knock on the door. The officer went over and opened it. “I’ll take over from here,” a female voice said.

He nodded and left. A woman a couple of years older than Cindy came in and sat down across from her. She had short brown hair and matching brown eyes. She was wearing a navy pantsuit and she looked like the type of person who didn’t pull their punches. As soon as the door had shut behind the other officer she leaned forward, eyes squinting intently.

“So, are you crazy or an attention junkie?” she asked.

“Excuse me?” Cindy said. “I’m neither, but something is very wrong around here.”

“You know what happened to the boy who cried wolf? He got eaten.”

“I’m not making this up!” Cindy shouted, fury welling up within her. “I have far better things to do and more important places to be.”

The woman nodded and sat up straight. “I believe you. Now have a seat.”

Reluctantly Cindy sat back down.

“I am Detective Sanders.”

“Cindy Preston.”

“Now, tell me everything that happened last night from the beginning.”

Cindy recounted the events with as much detail as she could manage. The detective listened intently, asking the occasional question. When Cindy had finished the woman nodded.

“That’s quite a story. Maybe we can sit you down with a sketch artist and work up some drawings of the guys involved.”

“Okay. I can do that. But first it’s your turn to answer some of my questions.”

“Like what?” the detective asked, raising an eyebrow.

“If everyone thinks I’m crazy and there’s no record of a purse snatching at my hotel last night, why is a detective talking with me? Don’t you save this kind of attention for things like murder?”

“Or attempted murder, yes.”

“That’s what I thought. So, why are you talking to me? Nobody tried to kill me last night. A guy just stole my purse. I even got it back.”

“Because I’m curious as to how your situation might link up with one of my investigations.”

“I don’t understand,” Cindy said.

“Of course you don’t. That’s because you don’t have the pertinent information.”

“And that would be what?” Cindy asked.

“Your brother’s accident.”

“What about it?”

“It was no accident.”

10

“Why are people always trying to kill Kyle?” Cindy burst out. She felt sick to her stomach at the revelation.

The detective looked at her sharply. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” Cindy said, suddenly flustered.

“If you have information you’re withholding that could help us get to the bottom of this that’s not only illegal it’s also a really bad idea.”