Chapter Three
Josie looked around as she walked between the narrow apartment building and the house built so close next to it. She hadn’t seen any of this coming. That still surprised her. But since her fall and head injury, she no longer sensed trouble. It had been a relief to “see” nothing wrong.
But because of that she hadn’t thought anything of her sister going to a weeklong class in Billings. She’d actually been happy that Amy Sue was getting back out there after what she’d been through the past year. Sensing nothing amiss, she hadn’t been able to warn her.
“Start at the beginning and tell me exactly what you saw from the time you pulled up in front of the address you’d been given,” the attorney in Josie said.
She watched her sister take a breath and let it out. “It was really dark last night,” Amy Sue said, her voice cracking a little with obvious strain. Maybe it had been a mistake bringing her back here. Her sister was still shaken. “It looks so…different in the daylight.”
As Josie walked, she hated that Amy Sue might be right about the car dealer never standing trial for the murder.
The police hadn’t believed there had even been a murder.
Josie hated to think they might never know who the victim was let alone who had killed her.
Given Jack Marshall’s alibi, it made even Josie question if her sister had actually seen what she thought she had.
Amy Sue had fallen in love for the first time last year and almost died at the hands of a killer.
Because of that trauma, she worried that her sister couldn’t trust her instincts.
But there was nothing wrong with her eyesight, Josie reminded herself.
“I thought I had the wrong address,” Amy Sue said as if reliving it.
“Even in the dark, I saw that the structures weren’t finished.
I felt spooked, but I’d paid good money for the place and…
” She shook her head. “I know I should have just left and gone to a hotel, but I’d seen a photo of this cute little apartment…
You must think I don’t have any good sense at all. ”
“You wanted to believe that the apartment you rented for a week hadn’t been a scam,” Josie said as they reached the corner of the building.
“Completely understandable.” For as long as Josie could remember, she’d encouraged her sister to listen to her instincts.
If Amy Sue had last night, she’d have gone to hotel and missed seeing a murder.
Josie could imagine how scary this place might have felt last night without any street or porch lights or illumination coming from any of the buildings.
She turned to see her sister tense as they went around the back of the apartment house. The rear portion of the house and a large window on the second floor came into view. “Where were you standing?”
Amy Sue moved past the recessed door to the back of the apartment house and pointed out the door and the entry pad on the wall that she’d stumbled into.
“I was digging in my purse. I’d tossed my phone in, and of course it had gone to the bottom of the bag.
That’s when I heard vehicles and then voices before I saw a light come on next door at the house. ”
Josie glanced at the window at the rear part of the house where her sister had seen the murder.
Given the short distance, it was no wonder Amy Sue had been able to describe both of the people she saw—the late twenties to early thirties blonde woman and Jack Marshall, a man in his early forties.
This spot had given her sister a front-row seat to witness a murder.
But what gave Josie pause was that the killer would have been able to see Amy Sue just as clearly after she’d accidentally switched on the back light.
It was exactly as her sister had described it to the police—the room in the house had open studs and was clearly still under construction. The only thing missing was the plastic that had hung over the one visible doorway.
“One more thing,” Josie and, walked over to the back of the house, not surprised to find the door locked and the lockset requiring a key. Unless he’d had someone leave the door open, Jack Marshall had a key that he’d used to get inside.
Turning to her sister, she said, “I’ve seen enough. Let’s go.”
Amy Sue looked relieved as they walked to her car. “He’s going to get away with murder, isn’t he?”
Josie feared her sister was right as they got in the car.
Jack Marshall hadn’t left any evidence, including the body.
“Come on, Sis, let’s give the detectives a chance,” she said as she started the engine “The killer made a mistake last night. He didn’t expect anyone to be around.
” She glanced over at Amy Sue, wanting to believe it.
“He would have been rattled last night almost getting caught, which means he could have made yet another mistake. There is seldom a perfect murder, especially with the latest forensics.”
“But don’t you have to be actually investigating the murder for that to happen?
” There was an edge to Amy Sue’s voice that worried her.
“I keep thinking about that moment when our eyes met. There was surprise, but not fear. I know now what I saw was arrogance. He killed that woman, and he knew he was going to get away with it. I hope you’re right about him having made another mistake last night.
I can’t stand the thought that he might not be brought to justice. ”
It was Jack Marshall’s arrogance that worried Josie. The man had seen Amy Sue. He’d seen her car, might even have gotten her plate number. With his connections he would be able to find her easily enough if he was worried the eyewitness was going to be trouble.
Josie suspected Jack Marshall had gotten rid of one problem and gotten away with it. What would keep him from getting rid of another one if Amy Sue became a problem?
Detective Russell Tate watched the SUV return with the two women.
He’d been on his way to his patrol SUV but now stopped in the shadow of the police station, curious about them both.
It was Amy Sue Brand, though, who had him wondering exactly what she saw last night.
She didn’t seem like the type to make something like that up out of thin air, especially given all the details she’d provided.
Yet Jack Marshall couldn’t have killed anyone in Billings last night.
He had an alibi, not that he needed it since there hadn’t been any sign of a murder.
Nor so far was there a report of a missing woman—let alone a stabbed to death one.
Russ had checked because Amy Sue Brand had seemed like such a credible witness.
It wasn’t like other people hadn’t come in off the street with stories they’d concocted.
Some just wanted attention. Others had a bone to pick.
He wondered if Amy Sue Brand might have a reason to want to see Jack Marshall behind bars.
Wouldn’t hurt to do a little digging. Maybe there was a connection between the two even if it was no more than she’d bought a car from him.
He watched the two women drive away together in the younger sister’s SUV before going back inside. At his desk, he realized that something about Amy Sue Brand had gotten to him. He pulled his keyboard closer. He needed to know about her, because something was definitely wrong about all of this.
What he found was exactly what the woman had told them.
After growing up on a ranch out of Dry Gulch, Amy Sue now lived and worked on the family ranch.
He found a few articles from high school.
She’d been in the business club, belonged to both Future Farmers of America and Future Homemakers of America, and had never married nor had any children.
She helped out with local fundraisers by bringing homemade baked or canned goods.
From what he could see of the newspaper and Facebook photographs, she’d won blue ribbons with her baking and canning at the county fair.
Russ smiled to himself at he studied a young smiling Amy Sue looking shyly at the camera as she held up a blue ribbon for her pickled beets. There was such a clean, innocent look to her. She looked as if she couldn’t tell a lie to save herself.
“What are you doing?” Detective Hanson said as he glanced at Russ’s computer screen.
“I can’t help being curious,” he said.
“Those big blue doe eyes get to you? Or was it her figure?” His partner scoffed.
“You do have a weakness for the crazy ones.” Turning, he said over his shoulder, “I’m going home to get some sleep.
You should do the same. We investigated, we found nothing in that house or on the premises.
Jack Marshall wasn’t there, and no one was murdered.
Leave this and Marshall alone, or you’ll be looking for a new job and me another partner,” Hanson said, and left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Russ sat for a moment, smarting over that dig about the kind of women he fell for.
“Thanks, Hanson, you’re such a compassionate guy.
Really appreciate it,” he said to himself, and sighed as he thought of his ex.
Maybe his partner was right about his last girlfriend, but Hanson was wrong about Amy Sue Brand.
His gut told him that she’d seen what she said she had.
What would it hurt to do a little more investigating?
While he was at it, he wanted to look into Jack Marshall as well.
New to the department and the area, he was more than curious about the man from the television car ads.
He’d never seen an eyewitness’s accusation dropped so quickly by a police department.
Hanson had been clear enough. Marshall was off-limits.
He knew that even as he typed the man’s name into his computer.
Marshall was more than just a car salesman. He was a local legend.