Chapter Twelve Bree #3
He’d ordered a half pound of butterfly root moss two weeks before the first murder, and the shipment arrived four days before the day Shelly White was killed.
He’d paid in cash and had rushed delivery.
Two asterisks were at the bottom with a note that read “strange.” I quickly hit print.
I grabbed the sheet as it exited the printer and shoved it into my pocket.
I clicked back to the original screen as I heard him coming back. I didn’t want to take any chances.
The store clerk set the box down on the counter and opened the lid. “This is all I have left—it’s fifty even.” I handed him my card, and as he ran it, he took note of my name. “Bree Jaminson, sounds like a country singer.”
I tossed my head back and laughed. “If only I had a voice, maybe I could give up my day job.”
He chuckled and closed the box. “I’m supposed to warn you, this stuff is just for planting. It’s not supposed to be used for anything else.” He eyed me and shrugged. “I have to say that,” he repeated. “The less you touch it, the better.” He lowered his voice at that part and winked.
I worked up the nerve to pick up the bag and met Brad at the door.
“Oh, and miss?”
I turned to look his way. “Yeah?”
“You should wear gloves. That stuff’ll stain your hands like you just strangled Kermit the Frog.”
“Gloves it is.” I stepped outside, and Brad took the bag and set it safely in a box in his truck.
We drove around the corner and stopped next to a Jack in the Box food joint. I handed Brad the paper to show that Timothy Ford Jr.’s name was there. “He’s guilty. I just know it.”
“You were incredible! Great work, Bree.” Brad wrapped me in a hug, and we both stilled as we felt that familiar crackle of energy between us.
I slowly leaned back and slid my hands over his shoulders and down his arms, completely engulfed in his scent.
He turned his head into me and brushed his lips by my jawbone as he pulled back.
He let out a frustrated sigh, and I blinked away all the delicious thoughts that came with Brad Stone.
“Now.” I cleared my throat and forced myself to find my voice. “We just need to find the son of a bitch and hope he hasn’t skipped town.”
“Yeah.” He leaned back and mouthed something silently. Then he said aloud, “Let’s go tell Cap.” We headed for the station.
“I knew it. I knew you two would figure this nightmare out!” Cap was beside himself that we had something to bring to the higher-ups. “And Bree, great job on getting the list.”
“I appreciate that Brad let me take lead when he saw the guy wouldn’t respond well to the badge.”
“That was all Bree.” Brad grinned. “Hey, Cap, you should consider bringing her on full-time—we could sure use someone with her talents.” I raised a brow at him, but he wouldn’t look over at me. “Who can step over the line for the right reasons.”
“I’m working on it, trust me.” Cap grinned, over-the-moon excited. He held up the paperwork. “Now we’ve got proof that he bought the plant. I’ll send Kennedy for a warrant, and we’ll get it logged properly so it can’t be thrown out in court. You two go work some more magic.”
“Oh my god.” Adam ran into the room waving a piece of paper.
“You got him. You got him. A guy named Paul Wiseman just called. He said you talked to him in his shop.” He glanced at Brad and me with a big grin.
“He remembered that customer you asked him about, Timothy Ford. He said that he came back—and are you ready for this? He was driving a Ram truck with a giant light bar.”
“Son of a bitch.” Cap jumped up. “This day just gets better and better.” He rushed out and left the two of us alone in his office.
I took a deep, steadying breath. As I focused on the present and checked the time, I saw Maxine had called. We were supposed to meet Patrick and go for dinner. Patrick was going to stick around town to wait for her to get off work, then he’d drive us both home. Maybe something had changed.
“I’ll see you later.” I gathered my things and turned to leave, but Brad stood in my way. “What?”
His jaw ticced, and his eyes narrowed in on me almost as if he were mad. “We need to talk.”
Another call from Maxine pushed through, and I held up my phone. “Can it wait?” He didn’t answer, so I moved around him and headed outside with my phone to my ear.
“Hey, Maxine, sorry I missed your call before.”
“Oh, Bree, I’m so sorry. There was this accident on the lake, and three dumbass boys who thought drinking and high-speed chases were a wise thing to do found out the hard way they aren’t, if you know what I mean.
” She groaned. “I’m exhausted, but I have to help in surgery again tonight.
I let Patrick know. It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation.
I told him you could get a ride home with Bradley. I hope that’s true?”
“Absolutely, I can get a ride. Don’t be sorry! I’m fine to grab something to eat, and I’ll touch base later if for some reason I can’t get a ride home.” I wasn’t concerned.
“You’re the best—rain check on dinner?”
“Absolutely.”
I turned around to see if Brad was still there, but he was gone. I figured he had already left for the rink. I felt my stomach growl and decided to go grab something to eat.
Lonny’s still made the best pastrami sandwiches in town.
When I stepped in the door, I decided on takeout.
As much as I would have liked to stay and eat, the place was packed, so I decided to take it with me and visit the rink instead.
I knew from Patrick that Brad’s usual game was around this time.
I’d often gone there to watch games or practices while I ate when I was younger.
I loved the atmosphere and the camaraderie, and it didn’t hurt that I’d get to see Brad play.
Deep down I knew I hoped to get a ride home with him.
Patrick: Maxine is working Again tonight. I dropped off the keys for her and dad came and got me. She said you can get a ride with Bradley. Tell him I’m sorry to miss his game but I’m spent from waiting around.
I knew he had been looking forward to the three of us having dinner, but Maxine worked at the hospital, and with that came a certain level of responsibility.
Bree: Will do. See you later.
Once I was at the rink and settled on the bench seat, I eyed my sandwich, unwrapped it, and dove in.
I moaned as I bit into the spicy meat. I didn’t care how I looked right then.
I was starving, and the taste of the meat on Lonny’s homemade rye bread with its hint of dill from the half-sour pickle was just what I needed.
“I wish a girl would look at me the way you look at that sandwich,” Kennedy joked as he climbed up and sat next to me and started to tape his stick. I read the label. Savage. I remembered that brand—Brad used to use it all the time.
“She would if you tasted this good,” I blurted, then blushed at how it sounded. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.” He laughed hard, and it drew the look of some of the guys on the ice.
He stood up as the ref blew his whistle and shook his head like he didn’t agree with the call. “So, what brings you here tonight?”
I wrapped the rest of the sandwich up in its tinfoil to keep it for later. “My brother was going to pick me up. We were supposed to meet up with Maxine for dinner, but she got called into surgery. So, I’m just hanging out here. It’s a safe place to be until I figure out my way home.”
“Well, if you still need a ride after the game, I can take you.”
I took a sip of my water. “Thanks, Kennedy.”
“At the risk of overstepping, I have to ask you something.”
I lowered the water bottle from my lips. “Okay.”
“Did you leave town because of what happened at the river that day and you couldn’t get past it, or because Brad asked Sherry to marry him?”
“Christ, Kennedy, ask a girl for dinner first before you jump right in,” I joked, but really, I was stalling until I could figure out how to reply.
“Sorry, I guess you don’t have to answer that,” Kennedy said.
I twisted the top onto the bottle and tucked my cold hands into the pockets of my long coat. “Both, I guess,” I confessed.
“You still care about him, don’t you?”
I lowered my head and felt that pang in my chest that I felt whenever I let myself go there. “Does it matter?”
“Actually, it does.”
“What does that mean?”
His face twisted like he was debating something.
“Fuck it.” He turned toward me. “Brad’s still stuck in the past—he never got over that shit either.
Sherry was there before the murders, and he only married her because he thought she’d help clear the day from his head.
” A whistle from the ref drew our eyes to the ice.
“I can tell ya, Bree, it didn’t work. He spiraled down a darker path, especially once he heard you’d left town without even a goodbye. ”
“Yeah, that’s a bad habit of mine.” I thought about Dale and how I just ended everything without telling him the whole truth.
“I wish you two could see each other for what you are. You’re running toward your future, scared to look back, and he’s running backward, trying to find some kind of hope for what was.”
“Well, two people who run in opposite directions aren’t going to find the same ending.” I shrugged.
“Bree, Brad went dark and stayed dark. Like shut down, barely spoke. He worked out way too much and stayed late at the office every day. The only thing that seemed to bring him any joy was this rink and when he got Ginger. You know when I saw him truly come out of it?” I shook my head. “Recently, when you came back.”
“Kennedy—”
“It’s like this light is back in his face. He’s talking and smiling and—” He wriggled his shoulders as if they were tense. “Look, I don’t know about you, but I miss my friend, and I’ve been seriously worried about him.”
“I get that, Kennedy, and I know what a good friend you’ve always been to Brad, but what about my life and what I’ve built back in—”