Page 22 of One Little Memory
Lloyd snorted. “Where’d ya think?” He pointed to the bar behind Phoenix. “Check with Chance. I would never kill Gus. He was a true friend.” The man lurched sideways and corrected as he hurried back into the bar.
Well, that was a waste of time. He’d gotten precisely nowhere with Lloyd. It wasn’t a surprise really. Lloyd was always pretty much drunk by sundown, and now it had just gone eight p.m. He’d been lucky to get Lloyd to talk to him at all. He would have to confirm his alibi with Chance. “Shit.” He put his hand on the door handle of the SUV. He let out a sigh and went back into the bar.
He stood at the end and waited until the bartender came over. He lowered his voice. “Chance, was Lloyd in here last night between nine and ten pm?”
Chance shrugged. “He usually is.”
Phoenix froze. He’d expected Chance to just say “yeah.” Something was off. “That’s not a straight answer.”
Chance picked up another glass and dried it.
“Chance.”
“Look, he came in around seven like he usually does. He was all riled up over something. He sat there for over an hour and downed a few beers. Then he said he had to go to the bathroom. It was almost nine. I noticed because one of the regulars asked to change the channel and it was all commercials because it was top of the hour.” He glanced around the bar. “Lloyd was gone a long time. We got busy. It was Friday night, and the game sucked. Cheryl was off sick, so it was just me hustling all the drinks and JD in the back cooking. He came out a couple times to help me pour drinks but I don’t know what time. When I looked up again, Lloyd was back in his chair, and it was last call. Ten forty-five.”
Well, shit. “Thanks.” He glanced around the bar. JD was the cook, and chances were excellent he wouldn’t have noticed Lloyd’s comings and goings if they were that busy. Maybe Lachlan would. He looked over to the back booth, but it was empty. Lachlan was gone.
Phoenix left the bar. He was going to have to talk to Lloyd again tomorrow even though the man would be hung over and ornery as they come. He was going to have to confirm his whereabouts. Things were not looking good.
He glanced at his watch again and realized he was going to have to drive out to the truck stop on the interstate to get a cell phone. The shop in town that sold them closed at eight on Saturday nights. He quickly debated whether he should wait until morning, but decided he didn’t like Jo being without a phone. Better to go now.
He got into his SUV and started the engine. It was obvious that Lloyd knew something about what was going on, but was hethe killer? The thing was, Phoenix’s gut was telling him that no matter what Jagger said Gus was involved in, he had a sneaking suspicion it didn’t have anything to do with his death. Gus was hit by a metallic blue car.
Phoenix knew with each passing minute that whatever was going to come out during this investigation was going to change lives forever. He just hoped it wasn’t his.
CHAPTER 9
Jo tried to watch TV,but she was so sleepy focusing was difficult and the heavy thudding in her head didn’t help either. She checked the time on the clock on the cable box. Just after eight-thirty. Early still, at least she thought it was, but the pounding in her head and frequent yawns told her it was time to call it a night.
She flicked off the TV, stood and folded the blanket she’d wrapped around her, then went into the bathroom. There were towels in a linen closet next to the shower. Checking behind the mirror, she found a bottle of ibuprofen. She took out two and swallowed them by drinking from the bathroom tap.
She hadn’t looked too closely at the clothing Hazel had brought. Were there pajamas in the bag? She hoped so. Checking the bag, she discovered no PJs included. There was a chest of drawers in the corner. She pulled open the drawers, and in the second one down, found a black T-shirt with the name of the local high school on it. It was probably Falcon’s since this place was supposed to be his. She hoped he didn’t mind her borrowing it.
After grabbing the T-shirt, she went back into the bathroom and got into the shower.
Twenty minutes later, she got out, toweled dry her hair, and climbed into the bed. It had been a long day. Her body hurt more than she’d anticipated, and her head was still aching. She must’ve been running on adrenaline all day because she could only really feel the pain now that she was lying down. Hopefully it wouldn’t keep her awake, but moments later, closing her eyes, she drifted off.
An unnatural sound woke her. She tried to clear the fog in her brain. Where was she? What was going on? Phoenix. Maybe it was him coming in. She listened. The sound came again. It wasn’t a key in the lock like she’d assumed. It was a thump, and it came from outside. She glanced at the clock. Nine twenty-nine. Sliding out of bed, she quietly walked to the front of the converted garage.
Looking through the front window, there was a shadow at the back steps of Phoenix’s house. The shadow seemed to be looking around. Then it moved down a step to open the back door, and the whole steps seem to move out from the house and then drop back into place with a thump. She blinked. They were one piece, made of wood and they weren’t attached to the house so when he hit the bottom step, they moved and then thudded against the foundation. That had been the sound she heard.
Jo stayed back from the window, not that the intruder could see her. It was dark inside the garage apartment. The moon was almost full, though, and outside was almost as bright as daylight.
The intruder was dressed in dark colors. It was a man, or at least she thought it was. Something about the way the shadow moved that made her think male. His head was covered by a black ball cap so she couldn’t see his hair, and he was wearing gloves. He was hunched over slightly working on the lock.
Her heart thudded against her rib cage. What did the intruder want? Stupid time to break in, during a full moon. It wasn’t even late. How did they know Phoenix wasn’t home?Questions ran through her brain as the person fiddled with the back door lock. She had no phone. Should she make noise to scare them off? But what if they were after her? And why would they be after her?
A sudden memory flooded back to her. A man hunched over slightly. Looking in through her broken windscreen. Taking her purse. She blinked, and the image was gone.
A low curse reached her ears. The intruder was struggling with the lock, it seemed.
Had that really happened? Had someone stolen her purse?Yes. She knew it in her bones. That was a memory.
The sound of a vehicle reached her ears. The intruder jerked upright. Lights filled the driveway, and the shadow took off down the steps and lumbered across the yard as if he was stiff or in pain. He disappeared from view. The vehicle parked, and after her eyes adjusted to the darkness again, she recognized Phoenix right away. She unlocked the door and wrenched it open. “Phoenix, there was a man trying to break into your house.”
“What?” Phoenix jogged over and was beside her in seconds.
“He went that way”—she pointed—“when you turned into your driveway.”
