Goody Goody Gunshots (16 page)

I sat back in the chair and tried to take in what she’d just told me. I’d been so focused on the SUV and Coach Hendrix, it had never occurred to me that John Doe might have had contact with other people in Paradise. “Do you have any idea whose car it was?”

Joyce sat up straight in her chair. “Ooh, do you, Annalisa?”

Pleased by the attention, Annalisa pinned up another section of hair and shrugged casually. “Sure. I saw the man driving it clear enough.” She gestured toward the street and said, “They met right out here on the corner.”

That made me sit up a little straighter, too. “Who was it?”

Annalisa looked at me over her shoulder. “It was Quentin Ingersol.”

“Quentin Ingersol?” I said, making no effort to hide my surprise. “Are you talking about the real estate agent? The one whose picture is on the billboards and benches all over town?”

Paisley led her customer to the register and punched a couple of buttons. “One and the same.”

“What was the dead guy doing with him?”

“I’m sure I don’t know,” Annalisa chided gently. “I only saw the dead man getting into Quentin’s car. I didn’t hear what they said.”

“Of course not.” I smiled an apology. “I’m just a little surprised, that’s all.”

Annalisa picked up a pair of shears and steadied Joyce’s head again. “If some new guy came to town and wanted to buy property, this Quentin guy is probably the first one he’d go see. He’s got his name everywhere.”

The man I’d seen out at Hammond Junction hadn’t looked like your typical property owner, but what did I know? So Kerry Hendrix wasn’t the only person in town with a connection to John Doe. It would be interesting to find out just what Quentin Ingersol knew about the dead man.

Chapter 20

I would have liked to track Quentin Ingersol down
right then and there, but a quick check of my watch told me that I’d already been away from Divinity for nearly an hour. Max and I hurried back, but I had trouble concentrating for the rest of the day.

Between customers, I spent the afternoon making more centerpieces for Richie and Dylan’s dinner party and listening to Karen training Liberty. I had to admit that Liberty seemed bright and eager. She picked up everything Karen threw at her easily, and the questions she asked convinced me that she had processed the information.

The never-ending stream of chatter about everything from Rutger’s favorite restaurant to Rutger’s favorite television show to Rutger’s lucky socks grated on my nerves after a while, but Karen didn’t seem to mind, so I did my best to tune it out.

At seven, I tucked the bank bag under my arm and crossed the street to make the day’s deposit, leaving Karen and Liberty to lock up behind me. The bank had long since closed its doors, but its after-hours window was still open when I got there, and two other people were already in line. I moved behind them and settled in to wait.

At the head of the line, a bulky man wearing a too-tight T-shirt and jeans that sagged from his hips argued mildly with a young teller named Chloe about a problem cashing the check he’d given her. I didn’t intend to eavesdrop, but we were stuck in a ten-by-ten foyer together. There really wasn’t any way to avoid listening.

“I’m sorry,” Chloe said for the third time since I came through the door, “there’s nothing I can do.”

“Sure there is,” the man argued. “Cash the check. I guarantee it’s good.”

Chloe shook her head firmly. “I can’t cash a check of this size. Not from an out-of-state bank. You can deposit it into your account if you want, but I have to put a five-day hold on it because of the amount. It’s the best I can do.”

“That’s bullshit. I’ve been a customer of this bank for most of my life. Just cash the damn thing, and let me be on my way.” Torn between natural curiosity and a reluctance to gawp at someone else’s misfortune, I took another look at the man at the window, and this time I felt a shock of recognition.

Dwayne Escott. He just kept growing more charming every time I saw him.

Chloe’s cheeks flushed pink, but she held her ground. “I can’t cash the check, sir, I’m sorry.”

“Then get your manager.”

The woman in front of me shifted uncomfortably at Dwayne’s tone, and an uneasy feeling traced my spine. What was it with this guy? When had he become such a jerk?

“You’re more than welcome to talk to the bank manager,” Chloe said, “but you’ll have to come back tomorrow. He’s gone home for the day.”

“Well isn’t
that
terrific. Okay, there must be
someone
around here who knows what they’re doing,” Dwayne insisted. “Find them. I’ll wait.”

Irritation began as a low tickle at the base of my stomach and slowly worked outward. I tried to ignore it. I had enough trouble on my plate, I didn’t need to ask for more. But I couldn’t ignore the look on Chloe’s face or the tone of Dwayne’s voice as he chewed her out.

“I know what I’m doing,” Chloe said, but by this time her face had grown beet red. “I can’t cash the check for you, sir. I’m sorry.” She lowered her voice, but it still carried through the small bank lobby. “I’m afraid your account is overdrawn and has been for several weeks. This isn’t the first time, either. I can’t give you cash, but if you’d like to make a deposit—”

“Hell no, I don’t want to make a deposit,” Dwayne thundered. “How many times do I have to tell you that? I want the damn cash. I
need
the cash.”

That niggling feeling of irritation spread through my arms and down my legs. I’ve always hated bullies, ever since I was a kid—especially when they badgered others over problems they’d created themselves. Back then, I didn’t always have the courage to stand up to them, but I wasn’t a kid anymore, and my conscience wouldn’t let me stand by and let Dwayne badger the poor girl any longer.

Swearing softly under my breath, I reached past the woman in front of me and tapped Dwayne on the shoulder. “She’s explained why she can’t cash the check,” I said. “Why don’t you give her a break?”

Dwayne whipped around to face me, and for a minute I thought he might hit me. When he saw who I was, he choked back whatever he’d been about to say and growled instead, “I don’t see what business it is of yours.”

“You’re making it my business,” I said, still trying to sound moderately pleasant. “I’ve been waiting here fifteen minutes while you try to bully that poor woman into breaking the rules of her job. If she can’t do it, she can’t do it. Just come back tomorrow and talk to someone who can.”

Dwayne’s eyes narrowed a little further with every word I spoke. I’d been carrying a mental image of him as a geeky kid, but as we stood there staring at each other, it occurred to me how much larger—and no doubt stronger—he was than me.

To my surprise, he snatched the check from the counter and turned away from the teller window. He rammed into the woman behind him with his shoulder, knocking her off balance, but he didn’t seem to notice.

He only had eyes for me. “You know what your problem is, Abby?”

I refused to let him intimidate me. “No, and I’m not in the mood for you to enlighten me.”

“Your problem is you don’t know how to mind your own business. One of these days, you’re going to get yourself into big trouble.”

In light of the past few days, his threat sent a shiver up my spine. This was the second time Dwayne had said something vaguely threatening, and I wondered if I should be worried. I decided to get angry instead. “Why don’t you can the tough-guy attitude, Dwayne? Nobody’s impressed. Just go home, get a good night’s sleep, and come back in the morning.”

He leaned in close and lowered his voice. “Yeah, I’m going. But you might want to be more careful driving around out by Hammond Junction. Next time you’re out there in the middle of the night, you might not be so lucky.”

Dwayne’s warning echoed through my head even after he slammed out of the bank’s lobby, and so did about a hundred questions. Had he just been trying to act tough, or had he threatened me? I wondered if his attitude meant that he was connected in some way to the strange things happening around Paradise, or if he just had issues.

He lived near Hammond Junction where the dead man had first vaulted into my life. He could easily have chased the limping man into the junction and then vanished. But was Dwayne capable of murder?

When it was my turn at the teller window, Chloe smiled as if she’d just found her new best friend. “Thanks for the help with that guy,” she said. “I just hope he doesn’t decide to take it out on you later. He looked pretty upset.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the sidewalk and turned back with a shake of my head. “Don’t worry about him. He’s just a big blowhard. I don’t think he’d ever
do
anything.”

Chloe unzipped the bag and removed the day’s receipts. “I hope you’re right,” she said as she began to run the numbers on her calculator. “I don’t mind admitting I’ve been nervous ever since they found that dead guy over at Walgreens. I hate working this shift.”

“Are you the only one working tonight?”

Chloe shook her head, and her mouth curved in a sly smile. “No, the night manager is in the back. I just didn’t want to tell that creep.”

I grinned at her, surprised by her spunk. “Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about the murder,” I said, hoping to reassure her. “I don’t think it was a random killing.”

Her dark eyes shot up from my deposit. “Really? Do you know something about it?”

“Not as much as I’d like to.”

Her smile disappeared. “So you’re just saying that to make me feel better?”

“Not at all. I’m pretty sure that whoever killed that guy was somebody he knew.”

Chloe let out a squeaky laugh. “Well, that doesn’t help much. Not in a place like Paradise, where everybody knows everybody else.”

I grinned and shook my head. “You think it’s bad now, you should have seen it twenty years ago. Besides, I think the victim was just in town visiting someone.”

“Really?” Chloe gave that some thought before going back to the calculator. “You might be right, except when he came in here, it sure seemed like he was planning on staying.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “He came in here? The man with the limp?”

Chloe nodded. “Yeah. A couple of times at least. Opened two accounts and everything.” She shot a guilty glance at the door behind her and dropped her voice. “I can’t believe I said that. I’m not supposed to talk about our customers’ business, so pretend you didn’t hear me, okay?”

I nodded, ready to promise anything. “Sure. But does that mean you know his name?”

She nodded again, but she didn’t look at me, and her fingers moved faster on the keys. “I do, but I can’t tell you what it is. I’ve already said too much.”

I couldn’t very well yell at Dwayne for badgering her and then do the same thing myself, so I swallowed all the arguments that occurred to me. “You can tell the police, can’t you?”

“Probably, but I think they already know.” She finished calculating and tapped the checks into a neat pile. “They were in here talking to Frank Ogden for a couple of hours this afternoon.”

The police had talked with the bank president? I wondered what they’d found out and whether Jawarski would tell me. It wasn’t just idle curiosity that made me wonder. After everything these creeps had put me through in the past week, I thought I deserved a few answers.

Chloe returned my empty bag and receipt in the tray. “I wish I could be of more help,” she said with an apologetic smile, “but I can’t afford to lose this job.”

“That’s okay,” I assured her. “I understand. Just one more thing. Did the guy ever come in here with someone else?”

“You mean a friend?”

“A friend, a business associate.”
A realtor
.

Chloe shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so. Mostly he just came in for a few minutes at a time, to make deposits into his account.”

Interesting. “Do you know where the money came from? Do you remember the names on any of the checks?”

“Oh, he didn’t deposit checks,” Chloe said. “He always brought in cash.”

“Nothing but cash?”

“Not that I ever saw. Of course, I didn’t help him
every
time, so I can’t say he never, ever brought in a check. But
I
never saw one.” She tilted her head to one side, and a frantic look flashed across her face. “I can’t talk about this anymore. My manager is going to hear me, and I’ll lose my job.”

I was eager to hear more, but I didn’t want to be responsible for her being fired. Reluctantly, I picked up my bag and receipt and turned away.

Chapter 21

Outside the bank I stood for a minute in the gath
ering dusk, watching streetlights blink on and the tiny white lights in the trees along Prospector Street turn the old mining community into a fairyland—as long as I didn’t look too closely. There were a handful of reasons why I should have just walked across the street and gone home, but Chloe had touched a match to my already smoldering curiosity. I was dying to know what Quentin Ingersol would have to say about his association with the dead man, and I was almost positive that I’d never find out unless I asked for myself.

I checked my watch and realized with disappointment that the real estate office would be closed by now. I had no idea if Quentin would even agree to talk to me, but I probably stood a better chance of getting to him if I showed up during regular business hours.

Forcing myself to do the right thing, I spent the rest of the evening balancing Divinity’s checkbook while Max chewed on a hunk of rawhide bone. I climbed into bed before the nightly news was even over, but I kept reliving my conversation with Elizabeth, remembering John Doe’s eyes as he looked at me through the windshield, and wondering who had been out at Hammond Junction with him that night. Dwayne seemed easily capable of murder, but his only link was proximity to the Junction. Kerry seemed connected, but I had no clue what his motive would be. And Quentin Ingersol . . . I tried telling myself that John Doe was probably just a client, but if that was the case, why hadn’t he come forward to identify him?