Chapter 10 #2
“No. I had no idea at all,” Charley said in obvious shock.
“Yolanda, the latest murder victim, was in a class with Heather and me,” she told him while shaking her head.
“Grace Lightner was strangled a month ago. They think Heather was killed three weeks ago, and now Yolanda was killed two weeks ago. Somebody is killing girls a week apart.”
A knock sounded at the front door, and Charley jumped.
“I’ll get it,” Sully said and got off the couch. He crossed the room and opened the door to a middle-aged man in a white shirt and dark suit. “May I help you?”
“Sorry to disturb you. I’m Detective Burt Groves from the Colorado Springs Police Department,” the officer said and showed him a badge. “Is Charlotte Cooper here?”
“Yes,”Sully replied and allowed him into the apartment.
“I’m Charlotte Cooper,” Charley said, coming forward.
“Miss Cooper, I’m in charge of the cases involving three females, all in their twenties, who have been recently murdered here in Old Colorado City.
” Groves, probably in his early fifties, had a kind face and a crease of concern across his forehead.
“I am also aware of your mother’s murder and an assault on you.
I’m here in hopes you can tell me about those incidents to help us ascertain if there is a possible link between the crimes. ”
“Of course,” Charley said and turned to Sully. “Detective Groves, this is my friend, Sullivan Custis.”
Detective Groves paused to look at Sully and asked, “Is your father, Sullivan Owen Custis, the former sheriff of El Paso County?”
“Yes, sir,” Sully said. “That’s him.”
“Please tell Owen that his ol’ buddy Burt Groves said hello.”
Sully nodded as the connection clicked. “I’ve heard my dad mention your name,” he said, shaking hands with his father’s friend. “I’ll be sure to tell him.”
“Please, sit down, Detective Groves,” Charley said and swung her hand toward the wingback chair. He took a seat, and Charley sat down on the sofa. When she looked at Sully and smiled, he sat on the sofa too.
“First of all, I’m sorry for your loss,” Detective Groves said to Charley. Then he asked several questions and took some notes. “I know you said the suspect wore a ski mask and hoodie, but is there anything specific that could help us identify him?”
“Yes, as I told the police officers who showed up here that day, he had a tattoo of a scorpion on his collarbone.” Charley once again indicated on herself the approximate location.
“Right, I have that in my report.” Detective Groves nodded and listened intently as they told him about the vandalism to Charley’s car, duplex, and shop. “Whether we have one murderer or multiple murderers, you fit the profile of the young women strangled. Be careful.”
“I know.” Charley flinched. “I’ll be careful.”
“Do you have any suspects in the death of Charlotte Fleming?” Sully asked.
Before the detective could answer, a second knock came at the duplex door.
Once again, Sully got up to answer it. A man with freckles and bright red hair, not nearly as tall nor as muscular as Sully, stood on the small porch.
His brown eyes were small, and crescent-shaped lines dented his sallow cheeks framing a thin-lipped mouth.
Sully guessed the guy to be about fifteen years his senior.
“Is Charley here?” the wiry man asked.
“Leon?” Charley called from the living room, evidently having recognized the voice.
“Yes,” the man said, and as Sully stepped back, he entered the apartment. “Hi.” He raised his freckled right hand and stood somewhat gawkily in the living room. “I just stopped by the shop. What happened to it?”
“Someone vandalized it,” Charley said as she and the detective both stood.
At that point, Detective Groves thanked them for their time, gave Charley his card, and said he’d be in touch.
Sully walked him out to his car. When Sully asked again, the detective shared with him that they had no viable suspects in the shooting.
As they spoke, he confided that not only had the three young women in the cave tunnel deaths been strangled, but what had not been released to the press was the fact the victims had stab wounds to the heart.
“Thank you for the information,” Sully said.
“You’re welcome.” Detective Groves handed Sully his card and asked him to call if anything else should happen. “In the meantime, remind Miss Cooper to be careful. As I told her a few minutes ago, she fits the profile of the strangler’s victims.”
“Right,” Sully said, shaking hands with the detective. “Thanks again.” Then heading back to the apartment, he heard the guy named Leon speaking.
“Yeah,” he said to Charley as she stood a few feet away from him in her living room. “Your shop is so messed up, you gotta rename it Little Shop of Horrors.”
With a strained glance at Sully over the somewhat insensitive joke, Charley said quietly, “I’ll consult my business manager about that.”
Seeing Sully, he asked Charley, “You have a business manager?”
“Yes, I do. Leon Lefeld, this is Sullivan Custis, a friend of mine.” Then with a smile at Sully, she added, “Leon works part-time for me.”
Sully gave Lerfeld a dismissive nod and said to Charley, “Let’s go see about putting the new locks and knobs on the doors downstairs.”
“Is that how the bad guy got in?” Lerfeld asked, seemingly becoming more attuned to the seriousness of the situation. “He broke the locks?”
“Yes,” Charley replied. Then turning to Sully, she said, “Leon took a horticulture class with Heather, Yolanda, and me.”
“I can’t believe Heather and Yolanda are gone,” Lerfeld said and bowed his head.
“Neither can I,” Charley agreed softly. “Leon, Sully owns the ranch next to mine out in the country.”
“Oh,” Lerfeld said. “Did you get to look around your ranch the other day?”
“Yes, it’s wonderful, and I met my new neighbor,” she said and smiled at Sully.
Sully smiled back at her and grabbed up the plastic bag holding two new locks with the drill and screwdriver set he’d had in the back of his truck.
He headed out of the apartment, with Charley locking the door and Lerfeld following them down the sidewalk.
In the shop, Charley and Lerfeld got to work cleaning up while Sully tackled the front door.
Sully wondered how it was that Leon Lerfeld just stopped by the shop when it was closed.
“You live around here, Leon?” Sully asked after he’d installed the lock on the front door.
“Yes, I moved back here after spending twelve years near Pueblo, Colorado. I inherited the house of my uncle who raised me,” Lerfeld replied, a broom and dustpan in hand.
“He left me a monthly income as well, so I’ve been taking some long-overdue college classes.
” Then, as if he knew what Sully was getting at, he said, “My house is only a few blocks from here. I was heading to lunch and planned on asking Charley to join me.”
“My mother was slowing down and hired Leon a few months ago. After she passed, Leon stopped by a few times when the shop was closed to see if I’d like to go to lunch.”
“Did you two meet at the university or in the flower shop?” Sully asked.
“The university. That’s how Charley knew I’d be qualified to work here, and she recommended me to her mother,” Lerfeld said. “I attended Charlotte Fleming’s funeral to pay my respects to her, of course.”
Sully frowned. “Of course.” Sully suspected Lerfeld had become interested in Charley at the university and hoped that in addition to the job, the lunches and funeral attendance would be a way to ingratiate himself to her.
“I’m happy to help Charley anyway I can,” Lerfeld added.
Sully clearly saw lust in the red-haired man’s dull eyes as he ogled the gorgeous girl, but Charley seemed oblivious.
Lerfeld was too old for Charley in Sully’s opinion.
But Sully said no more and headed to the side door to remove the old lock and doorknob.
With Lerfeld helping Charley, by the time Sully was finished his work, they had the shop returned to order.
“I’ve lost some inventory, but at least things are somewhat back to normal,” Charley said with a look around. “Thank you, Leon. You’re a lifesaver.”
“My pleasure,” he said. “It’ll be dark soon, I should get going.”
“Do you need a ride?” Charley asked.
“No, thanks. I rode the scooter my uncle bought for me before he died,” Lerfeld said. With a glance at Sully, he added, “I can’t get Charley to take a ride with me. She said she’s afraid of motorcycles.”
“Is that right?” Sully asked and cocked a brow at Charley. They’d ridden for miles and miles out in the country on his Harley.
“That’s right,” Lerfeld said with a somewhat defeated shrug. “Well, it’s Monday, so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Charley.”
“See you tomorrow, Leon,” Charley said and walked him out of the shop. Then returning to the open doorway, she gave him a goodbye wave.
“So, you’re afraid of motorcycles?” Sully teased her as she twirled around to him.
“Thanks for not blowing my cover,” Charley said with a grin and shut the door. “I don’t want to encourage Leon. I think he has a little crush on me.”
“Ya think?”
“I think so. Therefore, I keep distance between us because—” With a flirtatious grin and lifting her left shoulder, she added, “I’m not interested in Leon.”
“Is there somebody else you’re interested in?”
Charley boldly let her blue eyes zip down his body and back up, raised her chin, and started past him. “Maybe.”
Sully caught her arm and pulled her to him. “Who?”
Charley giggled. “None of your business, country boy.”
“Tell me, city slicker.”
“Maybe the guy I slept with the past couple of nights.”
When Sully lowered his head, Charley’s arms slid around his neck.
She stood on tiptoes, between his booted feet, as his mouth came down on hers.
A loud rap on the window of the front door was jarring.
Charley whirled out of Sully’s arms, and they both saw Lerfeld staring at them from the other side of the glass.
“Forgot my cell phone,” Lerfeld said through the door.
“Okay,” Charley said, and letting go of Sully, she spotted the phone on a counter. She got it and walked to the front of the shop. Sully was ahead of her and opened the door.
“Thanks,” Lerfeld said to Charley.
“You’re welcome,” she replied. “Have a nice evening, Leon.”
“Right,” he mumbled, and when Sully closed the door, he caught the envious glare Lerfeld directed at him.
“Yeah, make that a big crush on you,” Sully said.
“Maybe now he knows his interest isn’t returned.”
“Maybe.”
They locked the shop doors and walked back up the hill to the duplex.
Sully asked if the police had taken stock of the other apartment once occupied by her mother on the right side of the duplex.
Charley said they had done so. They had dusted for prints in both apartments to no avail.
She had since packed up her mother’s belongings.
Except for a few sentimental effects, her mother’s clothing and other personal belongings had been donated to charity.
Back in her apartment, Charley gave Sully a bottle of water and the remote to the flatscreen.
“After cleaning up my shop, I need a shower,” she said. “Thank goodness I have a new shower curtain. If you’ll wait for me, I’ll treat you to dinner.”
I’d be happy to wait for you as long as it takes, Sully thought. “Sure.”