Page 37 of Peak Suspicion
All in all, it had been a good day. Interesting people, good weather, no breakdowns and good tips.
“Carter?”
He turned and was startled to see Mira standing a short distance away. She didn’t look at all happy. In fact, he thought she might be close to tears. He dropped the water hose and hurried to her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Sheriff’s deputies arrested Mitch Anders this afternoon,” she said. “One of them was your brother Aaron. They said he had something to do with Bryce’s kidnapping.”
“Who is Mitch Anders?”
“He’s a coach at the school. And he’s the man my friend Shayla is interested in. She was with him when he was arrested and she’s terribly upset.”
“And they think he’s the kidnapper?”
“He couldn’t be,” Mira said. “He was at the school that afternoon. I talked to him.”
“If he was there when someone was grabbing Bryce, he can’t be the kidnapper,” Carter agreed.
“He came to tell me and Shayla about the kidnapping,” she said. “He had heard the news from his father, who lives with him. So that was after the kidnapping. And after Bryce escaped, because he mentioned search and rescue had been called out. But I’m sure he was at school before that. He has sports to coach.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to think. He seems like such a nice guy but I’ve been wrong before.”
“Come sit down,” Carter said. He paused to turn the water off at the faucet, then led her to a bench in the shade next to the garage. “Tell me what happened.”
She told him about the barbecue, about Shayla introducing her and Mitch to her mother, and then the deputies—including Aaron—arriving and arresting Mitch. “Shayla had just arranged to go to the movies this afternoon with him,” she said. “They handcuffed him and led him away. She is devastated.”
“I remember Shayla. I met her the day of the bomb threat.”
“That’s right, you did. Can you call your brother and find out what kind of evidence they have against Mitch?”
He shook his head. “Aaron won’t tell me. I don’t think he legally can.”
She slumped over, chin in hand, elbows on her knees. “I feel so bad for Shayla.”
“Maybe if we go to the sheriff’s department, we can find out something there,” he said.
“They’re not going to let us in just because we’re nosy,” she said.
“But we’ll have a reason to be there,” he said. “You can tell the sheriff about talking to Mitch at the school that afternoon. And I got a note today from the anonymous busybody.”
She sat up straight and stared at him. “When? Where? What did it say?”
“It was taped to the front door. My mom found it when she opened up this morning. I’ve got it here.” He stood and retrieved his shirt from the gatepost where he had draped it and fished the folded envelope from the pocket. He handed the letter to her, then slipped on the shirt, but didn’t button it.
She examined the envelope, then took out the letter and read it. “Are you illegally parking?” she asked.
“I’m not really parking, just stopping there a few minutes so people can take pictures.”
She returned the letter to him. “It’s like the ones other people have received—nagging them about something they really have done. Mine is the only one accusing me—or at least insinuating—that I’ve done something wrong when I didn’t do anything at all.”
“I still want to show the sheriff this note. He can add it to his collection. If he gets enough notes to compare, maybe he’ll find something that will help identify the writer.”
He hadn’t expected her to be cheered by his news, exactly, but she looked even more dismayed. “What is it?” he asked. “You don’t want to talk to the sheriff?”
“It’s not that. I got another message yesterday. Not a note, but someone sneaked into my classroom while I was at lunch and wrote ‘kid killer’ in red marker on my whiteboard.”
He sat beside her once more. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t tell anyone—except the deputy who came and took a report, and the principal. I just… I want this all to go away. I don’t want to have to deal with it.”
He rubbed her back. “It’s awful,” he said. “I’m sorry. We don’t have to go to the sheriff. We can do something to get your mind off of this. Go for a hike. Or I could give you a personal Jeep tour.”
