Chapter 1 #4
“That’s the other thing. We presume the vehicle was stolen. Richard didn’t volunteer the information, but that vehicle has gone missing from somewhere. It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out. I’m just about to town now.”
“I don’t start work for another hour,” she shared. “I went home, got a shower, started some laundry, and all that good stuff.” She laughed. “So, if you want to meet for coffee or something, we could do that.”
“Sure. Whereabouts?”
She named a coffee place in-between the two of them, and he agreed.
“Is it okay to tell Sterling about what you found?” she asked Joel.
“Yes, absolutely,” he replied, his tone casual. “We must ask everybody anyway as to whether they’ve seen this guy or know him.”
“Do you want to come here instead, ask the guys, have coffee here with them?”
“I can do that,” he said. “You’ve got a bunch of Timber’s guys working there anyway.”
“Yeah, a couple of them have stayed on to help Sterling long-term with the farm,” she shared. “It’s like they’re footloose and fancy free.”
“No, they just need a little time out from life,” he clarified, “and helping others gives it to them.”
“Hey, I didn’t mean any disrespect,” she immediately said.
“None taken.” He laughed. “I just happen to be one of the guys who was welcomed here to give people a hand, so I tend to be a little more sensitive. Plus, I’ve just come from talking to Richard and having him ask me specifically what I do for a living, and I don’t really have an answer.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it all up.”
“It’s fine. Anyway, I’m not very far off the path, so I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He ended the call, and soon drove up to Sterling’s farm. He hopped out, looked around, and smiled. Sterling was on the big veranda that ran across the front of the house.
He hollered at him, “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” Joel replied, as he walked closer and slapped him on the shoulder. “Seems you’re doing just fine here.”
“Certainly better than I thought I would ever get,” Sterling quipped, with a grin, “and honestly, something is so heartwarming to know that it was my mother’s home.”
“Absolutely.” Joel gave him a big smile. “I’m really happy for you.” He didn’t quite know how to broach the topic but … “So, I don’t know if you heard the latest.”
“Chelsea was just saying something, but she was pretty messed up. So I didn’t understand all she said. Care to share?”
Chelsea stepped out beside him. “I wasn’t sure what all I’m allowed to tell.”
Joel shook his head. “No need to be worried about semantics. It’ll be all over town very quickly anyway.
” He explained to Sterling that she had seen a vehicle parked off the road and had told Timber, thinking it was hunters.
She’d seen some guy holding something in his hand, so Joel went to check it out.
Exchanging a look with Sterling, he went on.
“Unfortunately the guy was gone, and a rolled-up carpet was in the truck bed.”
Sterling froze, then focused on him a little more intently.
Joel nodded. “And inside that carpet was a body, a man.” Pulling out his phone, he went to the picture from Richard and held it up. “This man.”
Sterling looked at it, shook his head. “I don’t know him.”
Chelsea looked at it, then frowned. “I don’t know him, but—”
“But what?”
“I don’t know exactly,” she replied, then shrugged. “I guess I’ll just stick with I don’t know him.”
The two men stared at her, and finally she groaned. “He looks kind of familiar, but I can’t really figure out why he would.”
“It’s not a case of why he would. Think.”
“I do work at a hospital, you know,” she pointed out, her tone dry.
“It’s possible that he’s been through there,” Sterling supplied.
“That could be,” she conceded. “I don’t really work in the ER, though I did a stint there obviously.
” She shrugged. “I’ve done a series of stints in multiple sections of the hospital.
Part of it was completing my training, but then everybody is short-handed too.
So I keep getting pulled off my schedule to give them a hand. ”
“Of course,” Joel noted. “And that is fairly typical, particularly in small towns, I bet.”
“Right,” she confirmed. “So I don’t really have an answer for you. I don’t know him.” Yet she added, “But—”
Joel shook his head. “I’m okay with all your buts. However, I don’t think Richard will be very pleased.”
She groaned. “I was really hoping to not deal with him anymore.”
“Does he treat you fairly?”
“Sure. I don’t have a problem with him personally. It’s just that whole … cop thing.” She rolled her eyes.
“Understood, and having just gone through that mess with your mother, it’s understandable. I get that.”
“Exactly,” she agreed. “It’s all just made life a little bit more difficult than I expected.”
“Is anybody giving you trouble?”
“No, not at all. Most people have been very good about it.”
He didn’t say anything to that, just nodded. When a noise came from behind him, he turned to see a few other men coming over from the barn. “Hey,” Joel greeted his friends, all from the Haven originally. They all smiled. He held up the picture to them. “Have you guys seen this man around at all?”
They looked at it, recognizing immediately that the person in question was dead. One of them asked, “What the hell? Are you gonna be a cop now?”
“No, not being a cop,” Joel corrected, “but Chelsea here …” He explained the story. They looked from Chelsea to Joel.
One of the guys noted, “Sounds like she’s got a nose for trouble.”
Joel grimaced. “She has a nose for something for sure. I’m worried about her getting into more trouble because it’s likely she saw the murderer.”
At that, every one of them stiffened and turned to her.
“Hey, look,” she began, holding up one hand. “I didn’t really see anything though. He was just parked, some faceless figure standing at the driver’s side door. It’s not as if I know anything or really had a chance to get a good look at him as I drove past.”
“That won’t make a damn bit of difference either,” Joel declared, as he frowned at her. “If he saw you and the vehicle you drove, that’s the bigger issue.” He turned to Sterling.