Small-Town Secrets. Debra Webb

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СКАЧАТЬ and her attention jerked to the left.

      “That is you.” A big burly man stepped into her personal space and crushed her in an embrace. “Lord, girl, how long has it been?”

      The scent of his familiar cologne and freshly chopped wood assaulted her nostrils. Dana’s head was spinning like a top when he released her.

      “The last time I talked to your mama she said you was living in the big city. I’ll bet she’s real…”

      Dana’s brain wouldn’t absorb the rest of what the man said. Every fiber of her being was focused on his face…his massive frame. Carlton Bellomy. Her former neighbor. He’d lived across the street from her childhood home for as long as she could remember.

      He’d found her in the woods…picked her up and carried her all the way back to her house, leaving another searcher with Donna’s body.

      Dana shuddered. She tried to slow the quaking but that wasn’t happening.

      “You all right, Dana?”

      She blinked, told herself to respond, but it wasn’t happening.

      When Spence stepped into her line of vision, she sucked in a ragged breath. He looked from her to the man still hovering over her.

      “William Spencer,” he said as he thrust out his hand.

      Mr. Bellomy, his expression cluttered with new worry, glanced from Dana to Spence. “Carlton Bellomy.” He pumped Spence’s hand.

      “I’m a friend of Ms. Hall’s,” Spence explained. “We’re in for a short visit from Chicago.”

      Bellomy’s wide smile slid back into place. “Why I’ve known this girl and her family since the day she was born. Was their neighbor until they moved away.” He made a pained sound in his throat. “After the tragedy.”

      “Mr. Bellomy,” Dana squeaked out, “lived…right across the street.”

      “Still do,” Bellomy said. “I sort of keep an eye on the place. Tack down a loose shingle now and then, keep the grass cut. Stuff like that. I check in with her mama three or four times a year.” He set his hands on his hips. “Has your mama finally decided to sell that place? Are you here to get the process started?”

      Dana shook her head. Her mother didn’t know she was here. She would be extremely distressed if she heard.

      “I’m certain we’ll see you again while we’re here,” Spence offered.

      “Why sure you will,” Bellomy insisted. “I expect you two to come to dinner. Why not tonight?” He looked from Spence to Dana and back. “Unless you already have plans. The diner’s ’bout the only place around here to get a decent meal, and it’s nothing to compare with the wife’s.”

      Spence looked to Dana for the right answer. “That would be nice, Mr. Bellomy,” she managed to squeeze out. Nice was nowhere near the proper description, but she couldn’t be rude to the man. Not after what he’d done for her—and her mother—all these years. They hadn’t wanted to sell the home that had been in her father’s family for three generations. Her mother paid the property taxes, insurance and utilities while Mr. Bellomy took care of everything else. He’d done so for sixteen years. The least she could do was accept his kind invitation.

      “Right fine,” Bellomy said with a nod. “I’ll let the wife know, and we’ll expect you folks around six-thirty if that’ll work.”

      Spence said something else…yes and maybe goodbye. Dana wasn’t sure if she said goodbye or not as Mr. Bellomy walked away. She could only watch the big bear of a man stride toward his truck. The same one he’d had sixteen years ago.

      He would tell his wife Dana was back in town. His wife would tell her friends. By sundown everyone would know.

      The only survivor of the town’s tragic murders was back.

      And just like sixteen years ago, it was obvious that she still wasn’t right.

      That was another thing Dana hadn’t worked up the courage to tell the Colby Agency.

      Most folks in her hometown thought that night in the woods when her sister was murdered had stolen her sanity.

      Poor, crazy little Dana.

      She wouldn’t ever be right again.

       Chapter Four

      Spence stared into the dusk outside the motel window. The case file had given him crime scene details and backgrounds on the victims but nothing truly useful in the way of suspects.

      All three victims had grown up in the area. All three were thirteen. There was no trace evidence that connected anyone to the scenes other than the victims. A single hair belonging to Dana Hall had been discovered on the clothing of one of the first two victims. That had been easily dismissed considering the victim had spent the night at the Hall home the night before her death. The four had friends, teachers and neighbors in common. But not one of those common denominators appeared to have had a motive for committing the crimes. The girls were simply murdered for no apparent reason.

      But Spence understood that wasn’t the case. No one was murdered without reason. He’d considered the victims’ families and found nothing documented in the way of enemies or recent problems, financial or otherwise. From the reports taken at the time of the murders, each one represented the perfect family. No readily detectable skeletons in the closet. Nothing.

      There had to be something the investigation had missed. The fact of the matter was that small-town murder investigations rarely looked very hard at friends and neighbors. Everyone knew everyone else, just as Chief Gerard had said, and it was unthinkable that anyone would commit such a heinous crime. Therefore no suspects.

      But Spence didn’t know any of these people. Each one was as much a suspect as the other in his opinion. And from what he’d learned so far there was only one way to go about solving this mystery.

      Start at the beginning. Nudge the players and watch for the reactions.

      He gathered his notepad and pen and headed for the room next door. Dana’s room. She had blocked the memories of the events that night. But the memories were there. His goal was to cautiously prod those memories loose from the layers of fear and disbelief that had them buried.

      Cooperation was key.

      To cooperate she had to get past her fear.

      Just like the kids he had worked with for the county. Guide them away from the fear and toward the light of truth.

      They still had more than half an hour before they were to arrive at the Bellomy’s. Time enough to topple that first domino.

      Spence rapped on the door of the room next to his. A moment later, probably after visually identifying who had knocked, the door opened.

      Dana Hall looked tired and pale. Interaction with the chief and her former neighbor, Mr. Bellomy, had shaken her. They’d barely arrived in town. His investigation had scarcely gotten out of the gate. If she wanted the truth, she was going to have to rally the necessary courage to go the distance СКАЧАТЬ