Caffeine & Killers (A Roasted Love Cozy Mystery Book 3) (16 page)

We fell silent. Neither of us could figure out
what those reasons might be. But at the same time, it felt good to
lay it all out with Daniel.

I held off talking about Ricky Thomas’ recent
arrest, though. It wasn’t the time to bring up how I knew this
Ricky Thomas. And I was still curious about what jail he was in. That
mystery would have to be taken up with Chief Donald Hayes. If he
didn’t know, he could find out – if he wanted to.

I took a bite of my yummy turkey-bacon-guacamole
sub and thought things over. "There is one more thing I need to
tell you, Daniel."

I told him about the prank calls. "I think it
was probably kids who had nothing else to do all night long. Maybe
they randomly dialed a number that happened to be mine."

But he frowned deeply, and concern showed in his
dark eyes. He wasn't laughing now. "Laila, that’s something
that worries me. Did you call the number back?"

"No. Nothing showed up on caller I.D. It was
blocked."

He held out his hand. "Let me see your phone
for a minute." Daniel scrolled through the call logs and saw
where the calls had come in. He tried to call back, but only got an
error message.

He shook his head and handed the phone back to me.
"Hmm, hard to tell anything. It makes sense it's blocked.
Whether it was a prank or something more serious, no one would be
dumb enough to reveal their number. But, if it happens again, try to
call it right back. I doubt you'll get an answer but it’s worth a
try."

"Okay. But I really don’t expect to get any
more stupid calls like those."

"I hope not."

We ate in silence for a little while, just
enjoying a nice sunny day outside in the park.

Eventually we got back to the subject of the
growing list of suspects. "I think you should go have a talk
with Chief Hayes again," Daniel said. "It wouldn’t hurt
to throw out a few of your new observations. You could mention your
visit with Linda while you’re at it. And the prank calls, too."

"I'll make notes. I don't want him to think
I'm disorganized or anything."

"And you could talk about your visit with
Steven at Maxfield." He shook his head. "That's quite a
list you've got going there."

I laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess it is. By
the way – Steven told me that he and John shared the same last
name. It's Wilkins. I'd thought John's last name was Collins."

"Didn't you ask Steven about that?"

"No. I was always too late. The guard told us
the time was up and took him back to his cell before I could ask."

We wadded up the trash on the picnic table and
Daniel threw it into the trashcan nearby. I looked up at the
beautiful azure sky and wished I could spend the rest of the day with
him.

The park matched the sky in its beauty. It had
been recently mowed and there was something for everyone here. We
walked towards the lake and watched the ducks. A young couple rowed a
boat a few yards from us. The warm air was soft on my face. I needed
to get out in the sun more, I thought.

Then Daniel took my hand and suggested we walk a
while on the trail around the water. It was good to get away from the
murder of John Wilkins and the sad, seedy conditions that surrounded
it for a little while, and from the people who were connected to it.

"We should do this more often, Laila,"
said Daniel. "It's times like this that we really connect."

"You bet," I said, and allowed all
negativity to leave my mind.

Unfortunately, our peaceful time was ended when
Daniel’s phone rang. It seemed that the station house was short one
paramedic who had his own emergency at home, so Daniel was being
called in.

We headed back to our cars. He kissed me, and I
regretted that our perfect time together had to end. I saw the same
emotion in his eyes.

While he drove off, I headed back home feeling
relaxed and happy. I hoped it would last a while.

# # #

Back at home minutes later, the calls began again.
I tried Daniel’s suggestion and returned the first call right away.
Amazingly, it seemed to go through, but then was immediately cut off.

No more calls came until around ten p.m., when
they started once more. I turned the phone off. Thor settled on the
floor next to my bed and I made sure my apartment was securely
locked. I drifted off into a restful sleep.

The next morning, I picked up my phone and turned
it back on. It showed that the unknown calls had continued until
around one a.m. After that, whoever it was apparently got the message
that I wasn’t going to pick up and the calls stopped.

Chapter Twenty One

My next goal was to find out where Ricky Thomas
had been taken when arrested. I didn't have to work the next day
until eleven, so I called Chief Donald Hayes and he told me he'd have
time to see me around nine.

We sat across from one another in his office. His
hair was newly trimmed and after he greeted me, he shifted
comfortably in his chair. "I’m sure you want to talk about
your homeless friend, Laila. But I can tell you there's no new
information."

"I don’t have anything new, either," I
said. "What I want to ask you right now is whether anyone in
your department recently arrested someone named Ricky Thomas."

The chief didn’t ask questions. Instead, he got
up and went to his file cabinet in the corner. Without a word, he
came to the T files, thumbed through several of them, and turned back
to me.

"I don’t see anyone by that name in here.
These are the recent ones." He called his secretary and asked if
someone by that name was in her computer files, but I could tell from
his expression that there was no "Ricky Thomas" listed at
the precinct house. "He hasn’t been arrested," he said.

"What about a 'Richard'?" I asked.

Chief Hayes shook his head. "There's no one
with the last name of Thomas listed as a recent arrest." He
looked up at me. "What is your interest?"

"Well – Ricky Thomas is someone I talked to
about John. Homeless John. When I had more questions, I went back
downtown looking for him but I didn't see him. A man on the corner
told me he'd been arrested."

"I’m sure he did tell you that, but they
cover for each other down there," said the chief. "Thomas
could be laying low for a while if he's having a problem with
somebody – especially law enforcement. They won’t snitch on each
other unless there's something in it for themselves."

I nodded. That made sense to me. The people on the
street did seem to stick together down there. "I know what you
mean. Maybe he's just hiding out."

"I take it you've gone down there more than
once," said the Chief. "You can take my word for it –
it's dangerous in that part of town."

I tried to smile. "It's okay. I've got pepper
spray with me. And Thor."

"Thor?"

"My Doberman."

"I see."

Chief Hayes leaned back in his chair. He studied
me, and I got the feeling he was deciding whether to chew me out or
just tell me to stop interfering in police business.

"Laila, I know you aren’t convinced that
Homeless John died by his own hand. But I can tell you that we
haven’t found anything that tells us any different."

He leaned forward and clasped his hands. "He
had taken sleeping pills along with the heroin. That combination can
easily kill anyone."

I opened my mouth to object, but I knew it was no
use trying to convince him again that John was not on drugs. He had
his evidence and that’s what counted.

I took a different tack and told him about my
visit with Steven Wilkins at Maxfield. "Steven swears the drugs
were planted in his apartment. He also told me there was no scenario
where he attempted to sell to an undercover agent."

"If that’s really the case, then his lawyer
should be doing something about proving his innocence," said the
chief.

I sighed. We both knew that Steven’s lawyer was
court appointed. Sometimes when that happened, the client got the
short end of the stick justice-wise. I hadn't thought to ask Steven
about his lawyer. But even with knowing him as little as I did, I
felt the same allegiance to him as I had to John.

Unfortunately, the longer I talked to the Chief,
the more I realized I was like Linda: all hearsay and no proof.

"I won’t take up a lot of your time, but I
think I should report something just as a heads-up," I said.
"Besides, Daniel made me promise I would tell you."

"At least you've got him to keep you in line
with your detective work," said Chief Hayes. He smiled in a
fatherly sort of way. "What else has happened?"

After I told him about the prank calls, he
furrowed his brows. "I’m sorry to tell you there isn’t much
I can do on that. Do you have any idea on who it could be?"

I shook my head. "I thought at first that it
was just some kids who randomly got my cell number. You know, like
they thought up numbers and landed on one that worked. But when it
kept happening, I started to get a little worried."

"I'm afraid that all I can tell you is to be
careful, and let me know if it continues. And change your number if
it does."

"I'll do that." Then, before the time
was up, I wanted to bring up another subject. "Do you know a
woman named Linda Henson?" I asked.

He nodded, watching me carefully.

"She called me out of the blue and wanted to
meet with me."

I filled him in on what Linda had told me. He just
shrugged. "It doesn’t sound as if she gave you any solid
information about Ronald Larch. Did she say he actually admitted to
having something to do with John’s death?"

"No. She didn't. When I tried to pin her down
on that, she took it all back. I’m not sure what her motive is for
telling this stuff to me instead of to you." I took a deep
breath and stood up. "In fact, I don’t know why I’m taking
up your time with it in the first place."

The chief smiled, and he stood up, too. "That's
all right. But my best advice to you is to keep out of that downtown
area. I can promise you I’ll look into Homeless John’s death a
little more. You could be on to something, but matters like this get
too dangerous for someone not in law enforcement."

He rearranged a couple of papers on the desk in
front of him. "If Linda tells you anything factual, I’ll have
a talk with her myself. Unless there's more evidence, I just don't
see Ronald Larch as someone who would break the law so easily. He has
too much to lose as Calvin Carpenter’s campaign manager."

"Well, it's true that I've got nothing
concrete on Larch. He always seems real uncomfortable around me, but
I guess that doesn't prove he broke the law."

"Very true, Laila."

I held out my right hand, and he shook it. "Chief
Hayes, thanks for your time. And please let me know if Ricky Thomas’s
name comes up in the arrest file."

"All right."

On the way out, I asked one more question. "If
Thomas was arrested – where would he be?"

"Well, the main jail for this area, including
downtown, is right next door. He would be in a cell right here until
a judge heard his case."

"Okay. Thanks again."

# # #

Back in my car, I thought once again that I should
leave all of this to the cops. Homeless people, drug addicts and
murderers were their expertise, not mine.

I wish I knew what to do. The problem was that I
had nowhere to turn at this point. Ricky Thomas was in hiding, Steven
in prison, John was dead and I didn’t have a background in law
enforcement.

I had no way of proving any of the things that I
believed had happened.

Chapter Twenty Two

Though all reason told me to leave drug problems
and the homeless to the law, I found I just couldn’t do that. The
memories I had of John wouldn't let me. My gut feeling was stronger
than ever that he did not die at his own hands.

I was also convinced that Ricky Thomas knew more
than he'd told me – probably a lot more. Once I found out where he
was, I could get some answers. I knew I just couldn’t walk away
from this. I kept seeing John smiling up at me as I gave him his
coffee each morning, grateful for such a small kindness.

When I got to work the next day, Jacob was
standing at the counter looking at the headline of the morning
newspaper. "Brace yourself, Laila," he said. "It looks
like they've found the body of another homeless man."

I grabbed the paper from Jacob and stared at the
front page. The story was short, but to the point. The homeless man
had been identified by someone on the street as Ricky Thomas, a drug
dealer.

What?!
I don't get it. Was Ricky released
and then died, or had he not been arrested after all. The last
paragraph of the brief article explained that he was found in an
alleyway in the old part of downtown West River.

The police stated that he died of an overdose
of heroin
, read the next line. So, Ricky’s cause of death was
the same as John’s. I'm more confused than ever.

I placed the newspaper on the counter near the
register. The first customer who came in was Walter. He picked up the
paper after a cheerful greeting to me and sat at one of the smaller
tables for two. Other customers followed him in soon after. It wasn’t
long before I heard snippets of conversations about the death of
Ricky Thomas.

"It’s too bad how some people end up like
that," said a lady sipping a cappuccino. The man who sat across
from her nodded his head in agreement.

The bell on the door jangled again, and I looked
up to see Ronald Larch come in. He was alone. I watched as he glanced
at the newspaper Walter had.

"Do you want the paper?" he asked. "I’m
finished with it." Larch took the paper, thanked him, and sat
down in his usual spot near the window.

Lily took Larch's order and handed it to me. I
waited with my eyes on him before I turned to the espresso machine,
but he only stared at the newspaper and read the article with great
interest.