Assault and Batter(61)

I knocked before they could open it, so when they did, it wouldn’t appear as though they’d caught us doing something that we shouldn’t have been doing.

So I hoped.

Lisa opened the door slightly as she said, “Go away.”

“Is your husband at home?” I asked her.

Suspicion quickly crossed her face. “What do you want with Frank?”

“Who’s there?” I heard him ask from inside.

“It’s nobody,” Lisa said.

“It’s Suzanne and Grace,” I said loud enough to be sure that he heard.

“Now you’ve done it,” Lisa hissed at me.

I wasn’t going to let that deter me. “I’m sorry, but I need to speak with both of you.”

She was still frowning at us when Frank came into view. The look of anger and disgust on his face was palpable, and I was suddenly glad that we’d brought George with us. “I don’t know what it’s going to take to get my message across, but words obviously aren’t enough.” He started to roll up his sleeves as he came toward us, and I heard movement behind us. I had to end this before George was exposed and our plans were blown.

“There’s no need to be upset. We came to apologize,” I said quickly.

The movement behind us stopped as Frank halted his forward progress. “Go on. We’re listening,” he said.

“We never should have bothered you in the first place, and we’re very sorry about it. Grace and I just wanted to come say that in person.”

“We accept your apology,” Lisa said quickly as she tried to pull her husband back inside, no doubt so they could slam the door in our faces.

“Not so fast,” he said as he jerked his arm free. Turning back to me, he asked, “Why the sudden change of heart, Suzanne?”

That was the question I’d been hoping for. “We actually just got a break in the case.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“Someone spotted the killer right after they hit Jude Williams with that iron bar,” I said. “They’ve been afraid to come forward up until now, but they’re coming by the donut shop at five tomorrow morning to tell the police everything.”

“How does this involve you?”

“Whoever witnessed the murder won’t say a word unless we’re right there with them,” I said.

“So you don’t even know who it is?” he asked.

“Not yet, but that’s going to be resolved soon enough,” Grace replied. “We truly are sorry for inconveniencing you with all of our questions.”

“You’ve made your apologies,” Lisa said. Was she that afraid? If it wasn’t her husband who had spooked her, someone else had done a pretty good job of it. “Thanks for stopping by.”

This time Frank allowed himself to be pulled back inside. There was an odd look on his face, as though he was still mulling over what we’d just told him. Neither one of them had done anything overt to make them look guilty, but neither did they act innocent.

Once we were back in the Jeep, I drove down the street and then pulled into a parking space. George soon parked right behind me, and he got out and approached the Jeep.

“That was close,” he said. “I thought he was going to come after you, and I wasn’t sure that I could get there in time.”

“It worked out fine, though, didn’t it? That’s really all that counts.”

“You handled him like a pro, Suzanne,” George said. “You didn’t even really need me there watching your back.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Grace said, the relief clear in her voice. “If you hadn’t been there, I would have jumped off that porch the second Frank came out.”

“I’m just glad that I could finally help,” the mayor said, clearly pleased that he’d been able to back us up.

“Two down, and one to go,” I said. “Are we ready to tackle Reggie now?”

“Give me a minute to get there ahead of you,” George said.

“You’ve got it.”

Before George left to return to his own car, he looked at us and said, “I know I shouldn’t say this, but this is kind of fun, isn’t it?”

“It’s actually pretty dangerous,” I said, reminding him that we weren’t playing around. We were baiting a killer, and things could still go horribly wrong for us if our plan didn’t work.

“I know, but I miss the excitement. It’s just not the same presiding over a city council meeting, or sitting in on the zoning board.”

“We’ll try not to stimulate your level of excitement too much,” I said as I fought back a yawn. “If I’m going to get any sleep at all tonight, we need to make this quick.”