Chapter 13 #5
I nodded. “We’re at least a quarter mile away. Which makes me wonder if Maydole even heard the shots. We’re surrounded by woods, which would’ve muffled the sound, for sure, so at best, they would’ve been faint. Six minutes to get back from here, even if he hustled, seems quite long.”
Almost in answer, Levi pointed behind us.
“There’s a path through that patch of trees over there, Maddy.”
He then turned and pointed to the right of the only house on the cul-de-sac.
“And it picks up again there. Evansville High is another quarter mile that way. I used to walk this route to school every day.”
“A path through the woods?” I repeated. “You mean, there’s a shortcut?”
“Yeah. It’s right there.”
I pointed to his cell phone. “Hit the timer again and lead the way to the path.”
I couldn’t see the start of the path in the dark, but I watched Levi stroll straight to it, and when I stepped onto the path, I noticed that it was well worn, more like a trail than a path. Even though Levi had graduated a few years earlier, the kids were obviously still using it.
But had it been here twenty-five years ago?
And more importantly, if it had existed back then, had Doug Maydole both known about it and perhaps used it to double back with his dog after hearing the shots?
A short time later, we emerged from the trees, and I was quite surprised to be looking straight across at Wanda’s Diner, just a little way south from where Sheriff Penton had been murdered.
“How long did that take?” I asked.
Levi looked again at his screen, tapping it to end the timer. “Three minutes, thirty-four seconds.”
“Wow. That cut the time nearly in half. And we weren’t even hurrying.”
Levi nodded. “That’s why we use the shortcut.”
“How long has this path been here?”
Levi shrugged. “Ever since I can remember. I used it back when I was in middle school and we had football practice at the high school.”
“Who showed it to you?”
I was hoping some much older steward had showed Levi the path, anchoring my thought that it’d been in use at the time of Sheriff Penton’s murder. Levi’s expression, however, wasn’t what I’d expected. Immediately he cast his gaze to the sidewalk, hunched his shoulders, and simply said, “A friend.”
In that moment, the image of a broken heart floated through my mind. “Luca,” I said. I didn’t know how I knew that, but I knew it.
“Yeah,” he whispered, surprising me with an honest answer.
Levi hadn’t spoken about Luca before. He surprised me even further when he continued to talk about the young man who’d died so tragically.
“Seventh grade was the year I fell hard for him. It was the first time I admitted to myself that I was attracted to other boys. Luca told me he knew it when he was even younger, in like, third grade, when Stacy Johnson, the most popular girl in our grade,
told everybody that she and Luca liked each other. He said that he’d been scared shitless at the idea of being forced to like a girl.”
“He hid it well, it seems,” I said, recalling Cash’s insistence that Luca had only been into girls.
“He did. We were best friends, and good athletes, so nobody thought much about our hanging out together all the time, but by the time we were in our freshmen year, we were making out and exploring our feelings, you know?”
I grinned. I had no idea what my high school years were like. “Nope. Not a clue, actually.”
Levi then realized what he’d just asked me, and he chuckled. “Sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it. Listen, though, back to that path through the woods: I’m just curious to know if it was there during the time of Sheriff Penton’s murder, and if Doug Maydole might’ve used it. But we can’t ask him because he’s been dead himself almost as long.”
“We could ask his sister,” Levi offered.
I blinked at him, not quite understanding. “Who’s sister?”
“Mr. Maydole’s. His sister, Miss Maydole, used to babysit me when I was a kid. She used to tell stories about her brother. They were twins and really close. They lived next door to each other, up until he died.”
I blinked again. This was the kind of inside information that was exactly what I’d hoped Levi would bring to the table when I’d asked him to team up with me. “Can you arrange for us to have a chat?”
“Sure,” he said. “She’s probably one of the only people left in this town who doesn’t hate me.”
“If we solve this murder, Levi, then I’ll be willing to bet that several more people in town will come to your side.”
He eyed me skeptically. “I won’t hold my breath.”
I nudged him with my elbow. “Come on. Let’s head back to the loft. It’s late and we gotta get up early.”
We began to walk in the direction of Wanda’s Diner when headlights lit up the street behind us. Neither one of us paid it much attention, but then the headlights shifted to the right and crept up right behind us. Next to me, Levi stiffened. A moment later, we heard a window being rolled down.
“Hey, Levi!” someone called. “Who’s that with you? I know it ain’t a girlfriend, you sick fuck.”
“Maddy!” Levi whispered harshly, his eyes wide with panic while he grabbed the sleeve of my coat and moved me in front of himself. He then shoved me forward hard, and as I stumbled, I heard him clearly yell: “Run! And don’t look back!”