Trash To Treasure Crafting 1 - Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel (21 page)

When we reached the old wood shed, Claire Ann
whispered again, “I think she owns a shotgun. Did I mention that?
This is trespassing. Why are we here?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered back. “I just
want to know what’s going on with her.” I stared at Claire Ann.
“Why are we whispering?”

“Because we’re snooping around in your
hostile neighbor’s yard, that’s why.”

I stepped closer to the shed. “There are
always people over here, you know?”

“I told you she was involved with shady
people.”

“Exactly. That’s why I want to know what’s
going on.”

“Why don’t you drop it?” She scowled.

“Maybe you should go back to my house and
wait for me.” I pointed.

She frowned. “Damn it, Rae, you know I can’t
leave you.”

I crept up the narrow wooden steps to the
shed door, then twisted the knob. I wanted a peek inside.

“We shouldn’t be doing this.” She twisted her
hands together.

I looked back at Claire Ann. She gnawed on a
fingernail and repeatedly glanced over her shoulder.

“Oh, pshaw. We’ll be fine. Let’s just have a
little look-see.”

From the opposite side of the shed, a
yellow-and-white cat jumped down from the roof and landed on the
steps beside my feet.

“Oh Lordy.” I clutched my chest.

When I looked back again at Claire Ann her
face was paler than her white tank top. Her mouth gaped. “Claire
Ann, please don’t forget to breathe. Everything is fine.”

The cat licked his paws and began smoothing
out his matted-up fur, all the while watching us.

“That cat looks suspicious,” Claire Ann
said.

I creased my brow. “It’s a cat. Cats always
look like that. He doesn’t seem to mind us snooping around.”

“Hrmmph.”

“Keep an eye out, will you?” I motioned
toward the house.

Claire Ann groaned.

When I opened the shed door, a strong aroma
whirled through the air. I covered my nose with my hand.

“What’s in there?” Claire Ann asked from the
clear-aired comfort of outside.

I didn’t answer—I couldn’t.

Not your typical garden shed. No lawn mowers
or rakes. However, the shed did contain items not usually seen in
an outbuilding, much less together in one place. Claire Ann had
suspected Judy was involved in drugs and based on what I saw, she
might have been right. I didn’t know what exactly all the items
together meant, but I knew Judy didn’t want me or anyone seeing
them.

Coffee filters and paper towels with orange
stains littered the corner shelf. On the opposite wall more shelves
were lined with containers of lantern fuel, acetone, and packages
of cold medicine. On the far shelf straight ahead, lighter fluid
was lined up like little soldiers, next to those were batteries.
This was way wrong and my stomach turned, knowing I needed to get
out of there faster than Scooby Doo could say ruh-roh.

I turned around and eased the door to the
position I’d found it in.

“What’s in there?” Claire Ann’s eyes were
wide.

“I think you were right about the drug thing.
We should call Kent.” I stepped past her.

“I told you.” She wiggled her index
finger.

“But before we do, I want to sneak a peek in
the house.”

The sound that came from Claire Ann was
between a gasp and a moan. “No way!”

She reached for my arm, but I moved ahead
faster. She missed and almost tumbled forward.

I turned my gaze toward the house. “No one’s
home. I just want to look in the window right there.” I pointed to
the back of the house. “Then I promise we’ll call Kent. I think we
should leave until he is finished with them, though. I don’t want
to be next door when this all goes down.”

“I am one hundred percent sure this is not
such a good idea.” She tugged on my shirt.

“What? What happened to your tough girl
façade?”

“I changed my mind. That’s part of being a
girl, remember. Look, Raelynn, these people mean business. They’re
like some kind of crazy mafia.”

I swallowed hard. “They are?”

She nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“Well what do we do? We’ve come this far.
Maybe we should just take a little look-see at her house. It can’t
hurt.”

“You saw what was in the shed and that’s
enough. Let’s go back and call the police, then enter the witness
protection program. On second thought, let’s pretend we never saw
any of this and enter the witness protection program.” She pulled
my arm.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re
overreacting.”

“You can’t let Judy know you called and told
on her. She’ll hire a hit man to find you or something.”

I turned to look at her. “Okay. Good
point.”

“You think? I told you. Let’s get out of
here.” She placed her palms together in a prayer motion.

“I said you had a good point, that doesn’t
mean I’m leaving. Now come on, are you coming with me?”

“You’re going to get me killed today, aren’t
you?”

“Now you’re just being dramatic. Come on.
We’ll have to sneak along the edge of the yard,” I whispered.

When we reached the back of the house, I
ambled up the steps and onto the back porch. Claire Ann shuffled
along behind me like a scared girlfriend following her boyfriend
through a haunted house. I tiptoed and peered through the back
window. Dirt and chipped paint stuck to my arms. My hand flew to my
mouth, stifling my gasp. Fear shook me to my core. In the middle of
the room sat Judy and another woman—I didn’t recognize her. The
woman had an unhealthy pallor and dirty blonde hair which made her
complexion look even sicker. She wore cargo pants and a pullover.
When I saw the bandana wrapped around her head, a little light bulb
went off in my mind.

Judy leaned over and talked to the dirty
blonde as she slumped over in the chair. Based on the use of Judy’s
hands to emphasis the conversation, I knew they were up to
something bad. She pointed, waved her hands around, then pounded
her fist on the chair. I didn’t want to be caught in the middle of
whatever bad things they were into. Just seeing Judy made me dizzy
and nausea overcame my stomach. Sunshine illuminated the room,
bouncing off the dirty white walls, but in spite of that, the place
seemed dark and depressing. Old-fashioned light fixtures were
mounted on the walls and a large soot-covered fireplace occupied
the room’s center. The sparse furniture made the cottage look even
more dated.

Behind me, Claire Ann poked my side. “What do
you see?” she asked.

I turned to her. She must have guessed
something was wrong by the pained look I probably had. My face felt
green. We had to get out of there quick before Judy found us in her
yard.

“Let’s go,” I said through clinched
teeth.

“What did you see?” Claire Ann asked
again.

“You’re going to get us killed. Now come on.”
I grabbed her arm, pulled her down the steps with me, then made a
run for the path.

There was no plan for our escape. Pray Judy
hadn’t seen me? That was all I had. Calling Kent couldn’t come fast
enough. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have gone over to the window.
Like they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty. Or something like that.
I should’ve left well enough alone. But I don’t always make the
best decisions. As displayed by my failed marriage.

We made it back to the path, but as the
bushes at the edge of my property came into sight, Claire Ann
screamed.

Chapter Thirty

I turned around to find Claire Ann face down
on the ground.

“Can you get up? Try to be quiet.” I slipped
my arm around her waist and lifted.

“I think I sprained my ankle. You go on
without me.” She waved me off.

“What? No.” I grabbed her shoulders. “I can’t
leave you here. We can’t let them get by with this. We have to call
Kent.”

I lifted my gaze to span the yard, then I
stopped in my tracks. A brown shoe attached to leg placed in front
of my face stopped me.

“Is that right?” The woman from inside the
house stood in front of me. I stared up at her large frame. She
looked as if she could break me like a twig.

“Get up.” Judy’s voice snapped from behind
me. I whirled around. She scowled. “You heard me.”

I fumbled and helped Claire Ann to her feet.
“You okay?”

“I’m okay. It hurts, but I can walk.”

“It’s a good thing, ‘cause it doesn’t look as
if they’d volunteer to carry you.”

“Come on, you tramps.”

Tramps? I hadn’t heard that word in a long
time. And I don’t think anyone had ever called me that. But I
wasn’t exactly in the position to argue.

“Oh, Lordy, she’s got a shotgun.” Claire Ann
cried.

Only a few white clouds dotted the
cobalt-blue sky. The day would have been picture-perfect if only we
hadn’t been kidnapped by a couple of deranged psychos. A beautiful
summer day had turned into dread and more than likely it would be
deadly for Claire Ann and me.

We inched our way up toward her house. Judy
and the other woman had us surrounded. The gun jabbed into my side
as we walked. I thought about darting between trees and back into
my yard, but like I said, I’d never won a medal in relay. The
buckshot would hit me before I reached the first tree branch. The
large oak trees sprinkled around the yard concealed the back of her
home—no one could see what was happening to us. No hope of being
rescued.

“Maggie, we’ll take them back into the
house,” Judy ordered the woman with the gun aimed at me.

So Maggie was her name, but who was she to
Judy? A friend? She was much younger.

As we neared the house, Maggie paused. “You
sure we should take them in, Mom? Maybe we’d be better off stuffing
them into the shed.”

“Just do as I told you,” Judy snapped.

Mom? That poor girl, no wonder she was
warped—with a mother like Judy she didn’t stand a chance. I
exchanged glances with Claire Ann. She held my gaze for a second,
then looked down. So much for her being a hardass.

The scorching sun beat down on my already hot
skin and I longed for relief. Too bad I hadn’t decided to go for
ice cream instead of going home. But no, I had to solve a murder.
Now look where it had gotten me.

We approached the back door of the small
house. My heart pounded in my ears. I looked around, but not
another living soul was in sight.

Maggie jabbed me with the gun again. “Move
it.”

Once inside, I knew we’d be done for. The
modest cottage style house stood about one hundred feet from my
house. It was the longest walk I’d ever taken. I imagined it was
what it felt like to walk down death row to a waiting
execution.

A porch spanned the entire back of the house.
A couple broken rocking chairs rested on each side, along with an
old ice cooler. I shuddered to think what they kept in there. The
screen door was propped open with an old boot. Not exactly the
decorating type. Pretty sure they didn’t have any copies of Martha
Stewart Living lying around. The place almost looked vacant.

One thing that kept me going was knowing we
were in the middle of town. At least we weren’t isolated and miles
away from civilization. Although location didn’t seem to stop them
doing a little thing like kidnapping and murder.

I walked through the door. Claire Ann
followed on my heels. If she could have climbed on my back, I think
she would have.

Being inside Judy’s house weirded me out more
than I’d imagined. But what other choice did I have? I couldn’t
turn my back on the one place I found solace. I needed the house
and it needed me. Solving the murder was the only option. I was
suffering the consequences now.

Drugs. I couldn’t believe Judy had an entire
operation going on in there. But was Judy capable of murder? Maybe
Nancy had found the drugs, too. My stomach turned. If that was the
case, then we’d meet the same fate.

“Sit down,” Judy ordered.

Considering there were only two chairs in the
room, I didn’t know where she wanted me. She motioned down, so I
squatted to the floor.

Judy glared at us. Her eyes turned even
darker, sending a chill down my spine. Her mouth twisted into an
evil smirk. The wicked expression on her face revealed her true
nature. When I’d first met her I knew she was bad. She’d sent off
an evil vibe.

“What the hell are you doing messing around
my property?” Judy asked without taking her evil glare off me.

She grabbed my arm and yanked me from the
floor, sending a pain all the way to my shoulder as if she’d pulled
it my arm clear off. From the corner of the room, Maggie aimed the
gun at Claire Ann. Panic had set in and I didn’t know how I’d get
us away from this crazy bitch.

Once on my feet, I drew my hand back to get
away from her, but she tightened her grip, twisting with even more
force. Maggie cackled when I yelped. Apparently, my pain amused
her. She was the devil’s spawn. I twisted my arm, but her grip was
too tight. If only I could get in one good punch. She drew back her
arm and landed a sucker-punch square on my jaw. That was definitely
going to leave a bruise. I should’ve listened to Claire Ann and
never came over here.

“I’m going to ask you one more time. What are
you messing around my property for? Getting that house given to you
wasn’t enough, now you want mine too?”

“No. Claire Ann thought she heard a scream.
We were checking on you.” I nodded and looked to Claire Ann. She
nodded.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Judy glared.

She really didn’t want me to answer that
question. Yes, I thought she was stupid.

“Now, tell me the truth or you’ll be
sorry.”

“It’s the truth.”

She drew her arm back to slap me again when
Maggie called out. “Mama, come here, I want to tell you something.”
Judy whirled around, and after a second, walked over to her
daughter. They whispered to each other.

“Do you know Judy’s daughter?” I asked Claire
Ann in a hushed tone while the two weren’t paying complete
attention.