A Justified Murder (Medlar Mystery #2)(76)

“Nothing that I haven’t already told you guys. But I think there was something he must have found useful because he started laughing. He skidded out of here on two wheels.”

Jack and Kate exchanged looks, then he took his phone out of his pocket and brought up a name. “Answer, oh please answer,” he whispered.

“What’s he saying?” Everett asked.

“Nothing. Gotta go.” Kate clicked off her phone.

Seconds later, Charlene’s stressed voice come over his phone. “Oh, Jack. Tayla is—”

“I want you to leave town now. This minute. Take nothing unless you have some cash. Don’t pack. Go! I’ll get the kids from school. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” she said, then shut down the phone.

For a moment Jack and Kate just sat there, looking out the car windshield. His crew was putting in new windows of the house they were remodeling. Outside the car, everything seemed normal. Inside, the air was full of...of danger.

“What do we do now?” Kate whispered.

“Pray that we were in time,” Jack said.

She nodded. What if Chet got there before they did? What if he saw Charlene? He said he wouldn’t recognize her face, but was that true?

He was so obsessed with the kidnapping, would he bring it into the open again? Had Tayla given up her life to protect her niece for nothing?

“Let’s go home,” Jack said. “Sara...” He didn’t have to say more. Kate knew what he meant. He called Charlene’s husband and told him he was to get the kids, but gave no explanation.

The man didn’t ask any questions. “I’ll take them to my parents in Fort Myers.”

“Good idea.” Jack hung up and looked at Kate. “I think he knows everything.”

“As he should,” she said.

Jack got into his truck and they went home to Sara. They took only minutes to tell her what had happened. Jack said they should ask Everett hard questions.

“No,” Sara said. “He’s a pest but he’s smart. He may put it together. My guess is that right now he’s going through his files to find out what made Chet laugh.”

Each of them called Chet’s number but it went to voice mail. He wasn’t picking up.

“I hope Chet isn’t waiting at the school,” Kate said.

Sara called the principal.

“Oh no,” she said. “Their father took them away over an hour ago. A death in the family. Poor dears. Maybe you could pick up their assignments and send them on.”

“No,” Sara said and hung up.

They settled down to watch the clock. Every sound made them jump. Only Jack was hungry and he ate a bowl of cereal.

At ten, they went to their beds. There was no talk of Jack going back to his own room, but then, Chet’s things were still there. He pulled out the couch in Kate’s suite, stripped down to his underwear and got into bed.

When the doorbell rang at 1:00 a.m., they were still awake.

Jack got there first then waited only seconds until Sara and Kate arrived. “It’s Flynn.” His voice was bleak. What news did the sheriff have that was so urgent it couldn’t wait?

In silence, they opened the door and he came in. He didn’t speak until he was seated on a couch, across from them. They waited until he was ready to tell them what had to be awful news.

“Don’t know how to tell you this,” he murmured.

Sara was in the middle and she took the hands of Jack and Kate.

“Chet Dakon was killed in a car wreck.”

They stared at him, blinking.

“I almost saw it. I was on my way to see Charlene and—”

“Charlene?” Sara said.

“I thought I’d talk to her about Tayla. Not that I could say anything good but—”

“Chet?” Kate whispered. “Killed?”

“Yeah. In Pembroke Pines. Eyewitnesses said he lost control and ran into the side of a building. He was doing about seventy. If he’d swerved left he would have hit oncoming traffic, but he went right and...” The sheriff shrugged. “Poor guy. They had to cut him out of that van but it was too late.”

Sara had strong hands from years of boxing and Kate thought her fingers might be breaking. She had to work to disengage her hand from her aunt’s.

“It was an accident?” Jack asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” the sheriff asked.

“I need...” Sara said. “I mean... Chet was...”

They looked at Sheriff Flynn. “Right. I know you liked him. I better go. Broward takes the murders but leaves me cleanup for this. I got hold of some people in Atlanta and they’ll be here tomorrow to get the body. They’re going to do a full honors burial for him.” He nodded at Sara. “You might want to go.”

When he saw that she was on the verge of tears, the sheriff heaved himself up off the comfortable couch and went to the front door. He paused. “Is there anything I should know about this?”

“No,” Kate said. “Nothing.”

“Sounds like he was going too fast,” Jack said.

“What I want to know is why he was racing to go down south. To see someone? He was only a few miles from Charlene’s house. I know you saw Tayla yesterday. Did she tell you anything?”