Chapter Thirteen
Lake waited until the next morning to set her plan in motion. She hadn’t slept well the night before with all kinds of images running through her head. She kept seeing Derrick Kingsley standing over a large hole in the ground, burying a body.
She’d kept it cool with Linus at breakfast. But now at work, with Glynnis covering the front desk, she dialed Greta’s number at home. Another nerd like her, Greta, was the closest thing she had to a friend. “Are you busy studying?”
“No. I’m barely awake. You know all my labs are on Wednesday afternoons. Why?”
She told Greta about what Abby had seen two weeks ago. “What do you know about Derrick Kingsley?”
“Derrick? He helped remodel my parents’ house. Why? What is this about?”
“Abby thinks he might be the serial killer.”
“Derrick? I don’t know, Lake. Derrick’s a mild-mannered sort of guy. He doesn’t strike me as a potential killer.”
“Isn’t that what they said about Edmund Kemper? Personally, I believe Abby’s claim is worth looking into,” Lake said.
“I don’t like the sound of that. What exactly do you mean by ‘looking into’? That sounds like you want to check out his backyard.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s called trespassing. The California Penal Code strictly forbids willfully entering another person’s land or property without permission, especially if it is enclosed by a fence. I happened to know Derrick’s house has a fenced backyard. What’s up with you? This doesn’t sound like something you’d normally do. Did Linus put you up to this?”
“Just the opposite. He’s opposed to checking it out. We sort of argued about it last night.”
“Ah. So you’re dragging me into committing a crime in his place? What if we get caught?”
“We won’t. We’ll be in and out within five minutes. I promise. But if I do find something, I need a witness to back it up.”
“Not to mention a lookout,” Greta muttered. “How do you know Derrick won’t be at home?”
“I called Tradewinds Construction. They confirmed that Derrick is out on a job site today.”
“You did what?” Greta thundered into the phone. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Isn’t that the same thing I said to you when you asked me to help you spy on your ex-boyfriend last year?”
Greta sighed. “I knew you’d throw that up to me eventually. Fine. I’ll go with you. But I’m driving. If we need to get out of there fast, I know my Fiat beats your Volkswagen for speed.”
“Are you nuts? My Beetle has a turbocharged engine.”
“Doesn’t matter. I drive. If we get caught, I’m turning state’s evidence.”
“You’d give me up just like that?”
“The short answer is yes. You’re masterminding this whole crazy scheme. Remember that old saying? Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”
“Fair enough. If you feel that strongly about it, maybe you should take a pass.”
“No. I’ll come with you. Maybe I can get a TikTok post out of it.”
“What?”
“I’m kidding. But if you get arrested, I’m filming the entire thing for my Instagram. I only have five hundred followers on that account, it won’t embarrass you the way it would on TikTok. Also, I could start a true crime podcast. You could do an interview behind bars from the criminal’s point of view.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“I am. I can see it now. Your booking photo goes viral. The headline reads: Miss Goody Two Shoes Finally Gets Caught in Crime Spree.”
“Oh, shut up. I’ll remember this the next time you want me to spy on Henry and keep him busy while you go through his phone.”
The two women arrived at Derrick’s house on Tidewater Avenue—a modest frame bungalow nestled on a corner lot—around nine-thirty.
“Let’s make this quick,” Greta said. “What’s the plan?”
“I just want to get a good look at the backyard,” Lake explained, getting out her phone. “Wait here.”
“Gladly.”
Lake took a deep breath before opening the car door. After glancing up and down the street to make sure the coast was clear, she headed toward the backyard. She reached the gate without encountering anyone in the quiet neighborhood and quickly surveyed the area. She spotted the upturned patch of soil Abby had mentioned near the back corner of the yard. But it didn’t look big enough to hold a body.
Looking around for anything she could use to dig, she noticed a shovel leaning against a metal shed. With a sense of urgency, she ran over and grabbed the spade. As she began to work the soil, she realized how shallow the hole was. After excavating halfway down, maybe two feet, she heard a familiar voice behind her.
“What are you doing?” Linus hissed.
“There’s something buried here,” Lake replied, her heart pounding in her chest. “It smells awful.”
“Yeah. It would. Stop.”
“It’s probably where he buried the trophies.”
“Stop, Lake. I spoke to Derrick this morning.” Linus stilled her digging by putting his hand on the shovel. “Stop. Derrick buried his twenty-pound Flemish rabbit here two weeks ago after she died. He’s had Bella—yes, that’s her name—for ten years. I checked with Cord, who confirmed Bella died of old age fifteen days ago. Derrick’s planning on putting up a marker right where you’re standing. He just hasn’t gotten around to it yet because of work.”
“What? A rabbit? Are you sure?”
He took the shovel from her hands. “Yes, I’m positive. What Abby heard that night was Derrick crying because he’d lost Bella.”
“Oh. So Derrick’s not—”
“A serial killer? No. He’s a broken-hearted pet owner who lost his beloved rabbit.”
Lake looked down at the hole. For the first time, she saw tuffs of brownish fur sticking out through the dirt. “By any chance, was Bella a fawn-colored rabbit?”
“Yep. Litter-box trained, too.”
Lake sucked in a breath. She heard a noise behind her and spotted a laughing Greta holding her phone. “Keep going. This will make perfect blackmail material for at least five years.”
“I can’t believe I spent my morning re-burying Derrick’s pet rabbit,” Linus fumed, standing in the middle of Tidewater Avenue. Greta had already taken off, out of the line of fire. He glared at Lake.
“I said I was sorry,” Lake muttered, her face flushed with embarrassment. “And technically, I reburied the rabbit, not you. Don’t you think I’ve been humiliated enough for one day? I was trying to help you solve a mystery, trying to act on a problem instead of taking my time to think it through.”
“That makes no sense. If you’d listened to me in the first place, you wouldn’t be in this spot. You’ve likely given Greta entertainment fodder for the next five Christmas parties. I can see it now—the video of you digging up that rabbit playing on a loop. Part of me hopes she torments you for the next five years.”
Lake blinked in disbelief. “You want her to torment me? Wow. That’s blunt. What can I say? I got caught up.”
“And I told you that I knew Derrick. But would you listen? No.”
“How did you know I was here?”
Linus put his hands on his hips. “The next time you decide to trespass, try checking to see if your target has a Ring doorbell cam. Derrick called me to ask why my girlfriend was digging up his backyard.”
Realizing the magnitude of her mistake, she let out a sigh. “Crap. I didn’t think of door cams.”
Linus could see the regret in her eyes but chose to remain silent, letting the weight of her foolishness settle in.
So much for breaking free of her self-imposed limitations, Lake thought. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, she finally spoke up, her voice filled with genuine remorse. “I know I messed up. I should have listened to you. I promise I’ll make it right somehow. I’ll apologize to Derrick in person.”
Linus stared at her for a long moment before heaving a sigh. “You could’ve lost your job over this.”
“I realize that. Do you think he’ll press charges?”
“No. Why do you think I’m the one who showed up?”
“What if I offer to pay for a real marker, like the ones at the cemetery?”
“From what Derrick told me, he wants to make Bella one himself.”
“Oh. Okay. I should go apologize and get it over with. I don’t have my car. Will you drive me to his job site?”
Derrick’s job site was the old post office on the east side of town, a once-proud cornerstone of any community that had gone the way of most relics, sitting between an outdated video rental store and a long-forgotten record shop. The entire block needed renovation. The plan was to one day revitalize this section of town, one building at a time, and bring it back to its glory days, attracting more businesses to the area.
Construction crews had torn down the walls and gutted the insides, reshaping the good bones into something that could be repurposed as a commercial enterprise to be named later.
Sitting on the tailgate of his pickup eating his sandwich, taking an early lunch break, Derrick listened to her side of the story. After describing why she had focused on him, she found the guy to be a forgiving soul who found the incident funny.
“I’m sorry about Bella. The meeting on Sunday urged everyone to get involved. I let my imagination run wild,” Lake went on to explain. “It wasn’t until I saw Linus standing in your backyard with a look of absolute embarrassment and, let’s be honest, anger on his face that I realized how out of hand things had gotten. I’m truly sorry, Derrick. Bella is…I covered her up…again.”
Derrick took the information in stride and chuckled, shook his head. “It’s definitely a first for me, having someone think I’m a serial killer, believing it enough to dig up my yard looking for a body. But hey, at least it livened up an otherwise dull Wednesday morning around here.”
Lake felt a rush of relief at Derrick’s good-natured response. She knew she had been lucky this time and vowed never to let her impulsive nature get the best of her again. “Thank you for understanding.”
“No problem. But you know who you should be looking at instead of me? For the serial killer?”
Lake looked over at Linus, who suddenly got curious. He shifted his feet. “Who should we be looking at?”
“Ivan Bassett. He goes out late at night. Every night.”
Linus frowned. “Doesn’t Ivan work the night shift at a San Sebastian manufacturing plant?”
“Ah. I didn’t know Ivan got a full-time job. Huh?” Derrick murmured, scratching his chin. “That might explain him leaving the house every night at eight.”
Linus glanced at Lake. “See how things are so easily taken out of context.”
They said their goodbyes and returned to the truck, but Linus noticed something still bothering Lake. “What’s wrong?”
“You go on back to work. I think I’ll walk.”
“You’re not thinking about questioning Ivan, are you?”
She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “See? That right there is getting old, and it’s only been a couple of hours. I’ll take care of Farley today, but after that, he should probably return to doggie daycare.”
“What? You’re breaking up with me? Why? Because you dug up a guy’s backyard and I got mad about it?”
“Looking for a serial killer,” Lake corrected. “Which you said you wanted to do the first conversation we had over dinner. I apparently took you at your word. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“I didn’t suggest you dig up anyone’s backyard,” Linus fired back. “You did that on your own.”
“Guilty as charged. But may I point out that you went back to the beach and waded through sand and muck, only to find a necklace? It’s okay that you stuck your nose into the case because you found something, and I didn’t. Fine. Let’s leave it at that.”
She left Linus standing by his pickup and headed toward Pacific Street, getting angrier with every step. She needed to calm down. She could take the ribbing well enough, even see the humor in digging up a pet rabbit, but Linus couldn’t seem to let it go.
After taking several calming breaths, she switched focus and let her positive nature take over. The good news was that Derrick didn’t plan to press charges. She couldn’t help but feel grateful that she wouldn’t lose her job. She could only hope this embarrassing incident would serve as a reminder—nothing good ever came from getting carried away when overreacting to wild theories.
As she walked, Scott materialized next to her and moved in step with her. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this mad before.”
“Great observation,” Lake muttered under her breath.
“Looking on the bright side of this whole thing is not a bad idea. After all, you prepared yourself for an angry lecture from Derrick. Instead, he let you off the hook. He was understanding about it.”
“Yeah. And on the other hand, Linus couldn’t shut up about it.” She shoved her hair out of her face and let out a nervous laugh. “Everyone already thinks I’m an oddball. When this gets out, I will have confirmed their suspicions.”
“I see this as the nutty, flip side to you, a part of you completely different from the level-headed librarian with three college degrees.”
“If you’re trying to cheer me up, you’re doing a lousy job. There’s a serial killer out there who will likely go after other women. I simply tried to eliminate a suspect. Maybe I went about it all wrong, but at least I was doing something.”
“Okay. But next time you plan an adventure that includes digging up the dead, maybe coordinate it better. I’ve seen enough zombie movies to know that two heads are always better than one, especially when dealing with the undead. Bella could’ve been a zombie cat.”
Lake tossed her head back and cackled with laughter. “Oh, that’s rich. The irony is that I’m crossing the street while talking to the undead ghost who seems to want to cheer me up. Where were you two hours ago when I got this wild idea to dig up someone’s rabbit?”
“It was so unlike you that I had to watch it play out. There’s one thing about Derrick you should know.”
“What’s that?”
“He does give off a weird vibe. Ask Linus about him. But regardless, the whole thing did liven up an otherwise dull Wednesday morning.”
She shot daggers at him. “I’m so very glad you were entertained. I’ll see to it Greta sends you a copy of the video.”
Scott watched as she marched off toward Ocean Street, mad as a hornet.