Bound For Hell Page 2

  "Don't tell, but I have a secret weapon." She pulled out a small magnifying glass and showed it to Sady. "We take turns supplying the cards and sometimes the deck is marked and I can see which cards are good. Of course I use it even if the deck isn't marked, so the other girls won't know," she said with a sly look.

  Sady nodded appreciatively, encouraging Carol to talk. Eventually the conversation turned to the fires. Carol snorted and said, "There's no arson here. If someone wanted attention, they would have burned down the town, not just a few little things. Well, except the house- that might have been deliberate but I wouldn't know about that."

  Before Sady could ask questions Carol used her magnifier to look at her watch, then she jumped to her feet. "Time for bingo," she yelled. "I have to hurry if I want to get a seat next to the hot widower that recently moved in."

  "Good luck," Sady called after her as Carol made her way back to the home. Sady bought an ice cream cone before she left Hell and returned to Ann Arbor. As she drove, she thought about Carol and her friends, realizing she had no real friends in her own life. On the pageant circuit any girl nice enough to be a potential friend didn't last long. And anyone else who appeared friendly only disguised their intentions of looking for an angle, a favor, or a way to sabotage the other contestants.

  Sady took that background with her when she became a librarian. Out of habit she didn't make friends with the people who came to the library. Now she realized that not having close friends wasn't normal. Well, she'd have to figure that out, eventually. For now, she'd better concentrate on impressing CJ or she wouldn't have a job.

  She drove back to the office and entered her notes into her laptop. Then she poked her head into CJ's office before she left and asked about some of the programs she'd seen on the computer. CJ smiled and told her they were available for research. Sady's eyes lit up with pleasure. CJ just opened a whole new world for exploration. The next day she would make good use of the research tools.

  When Sady got home she kicked off her shoes and grabbed a beer, then she went out to the patio to make notes. Carol was probably right. The little fires didn't stand out as the work of a person looking to make a statement. She needed to look into the background of the house that burned. Checking into other properties owned by the Powell's was on her list as well.

  Soon the smell of a barbecue grill had her looking through the foliage to her neighbor's patio. To her embarrassment a pair of brown eyes looked up and caught her staring through the bushes. A grin followed along with the wave of a hand. Sady followed her nose like the rats followed the Pied Piper.

  There was no use in pretending she hadn't been taking nose hits off the heavenly smells wafting from the grill. She offered a sheepish smile and held out her hand in greeting to the friendly woman who invited her over. The brown eyes belonged to a pretty young black woman with the most beautiful skin Sady had ever seen in her life.

  Amanda Keller introduced herself to Sady. "I thought I heard activity coming from that direction," she said with a nod toward Sady's patio. "I'm glad to have you here."

  Sady must have looked bewildered because Amanda laughed and said, "My last neighbor was a college kid who liked to play death metal at night for the whole building. The one previous to that was a paranoid old lady with cats who accused me of trying to steal them any time one got loose. You don't have a penchant for death metal and cats do you?"

  Sady shook her head and offered to bring over the beer to contribute to the meal.

  "It's a deal," Amanda said. "Hurry or these ribs will get cold." By the time Sady returned with the beer Amanda had plates loaded with ribs, corn, and potato salad. Amanda frowned and said, "Please don't spoil it by telling me you only eat salads. I don't do salads, vegan, vegetarian, fruitarian, or nutarian. Maybe I should have asked first."

  Sady eyes bulged as she grabbed a plate and dug in while Amanda smiled. "I knew it," Amanda said. "Skinny doesn't always mean no appetite." Then she sighed and said, "Just like big doesn't mean huge appetite." Amanda was a shapely plus size woman.

  Sady shrugged and said, "I don't share society's view of beauty. I've seen runway models who'd knife you in the back so they wouldn't have to step around you." She waved her fork at the plate and continued, "A woman who cooks like this and shares- that's beautiful in my opinion. But I might consider knifing you in the back to get the secret to your amazing skin."

  Amanda looked pleased and Sady thought, I think I just made a friend.

  They exchanged brief life stories over the food. Amanda appeared taken aback at Sady's past until Sady went into detail about life in the spotlight. One look at Sady licking the sauce off her fingers and Amanda believed her when she said she didn't miss it. Sady wasn't even embarrassed when Amanda pointed at her nose- she wiped the sauce with a grin and Amanda relaxed.

  Amanda worked in administration at the college and asked Sady if she liked sports. "I don't know much about them," Sady admitted.

  "Well, you're getting a crash course if you stay here long enough. This is Wolverine country and if you're not a fan, you'd better keep that to yourself," she warned. "Once football season starts, we'll fix the holes in your education."

  The talk continued while Sady helped Amanda clean up and put away the leftovers. It was still early but with a yawn Sady headed back to her place and went to bed early, happy that she made a real friend for the first time in her life.

  CHAPTER 3

  THURSDAY- Sady was up early and ready for serious work when she arrived at the office. There was a cup of coffee in her hand while she looked into properties owned by the Powell's. They owned a vacation home in an upscale neighborhood on Whistler Lake, north of Ann Arbor. The entrance had a gate with a 24-hour guard on duty. So drive by surveillance was out. Sady would have to check it out from the water.

  Renting a boat was out of the question. She didn't want to attract attention, plus she had zero knowledge of how to operate one. The last thing she needed was to beach the thing on the Powell's property. Canoes were available but Sady's one and only experience in a canoe ended disastrously. It seemed a kayak was her best option.

  She called rental place and drilled the bored man who answered on the dangers of kayaking. She wasn't about to risk her life for the sake of a few compromising pictures. The man assured her he'd put her in one that would be safe, so Sady reserved one for Friday. Being Thursday, most lakeside home owners like the Powell's probably arrived on Friday.

  After getting the Powell case on track she researched the house that burned in Hell. The deed was titled to a retired couple who now lived in Arizona. They had been renting the house at the time it burned. The man named on the rental agreement, Tom Archer, didn't have a history with law enforcement. A check into his family background revealed a brother, Tim Archer, who had been in trouble since his teen years. That might be a good place to start since he lived in Ann Arbor.

  Eager to learn anything she could of Tim Archer's activities, Sady decided to pose as a survey taker. She would question his neighbors about their satisfaction with the selection of television stations. Everyone had complaints about the choices or cost of television services, so it seemed like a safe subject that wouldn't attract undue attention to herself. And if anyone was open to blabbing all the neighborhood gossip, she would listen politely.

  Sady created an official-looking document, then sent it to the printer. A minute later she sent a fake ID to the printer too. She'd learned to make them before she was old enough to drive. A clipboard and a quick stop at home to change into a more business-like outfit. Hair pulled into a tight clip, ID pinned to her blazer, and a pair of reading glasses completed her survey taking look.

  She parked her car two blocks away, then worked her way from the corner of Tim Archer's street to his house. She hoped no one called to check her ID, or she'd be in serious trouble. But she didn't see another way to gather personal info on Tim Archer though, so she went with ahead with her plan. The older woman who lived next door wasn't the c
hatty type. "Don't bother stopping next door. He's at work," she said as she slammed the door in Sady's face.

  Sady went to Tim's house, anyway, and knocked quietly on the front door while she scoped the neighborhood. When a group of beauty contestants were on the loose, they always used one girl for the chaperon lookout. Since getting busted brought down the wrath of the whole group it was important to be a good spy. Sady saw nothing out of the ordinary and the house was quiet. She went to the side door and knocked- no answer.

  She took one last look and slipped around to the backyard. Peering through a window, she saw a table heaped with unopened copies of the free local newspaper. It looked like someone put trash in the pile too. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary but she took pictures with her cell phone, anyway. The house gave off an abandoned air, yet there were no papers laying in the front yard or on the porch. Someone was putting them in the house and the woman next door was lying unless Tim Archer was working out of the area which seemed unlikely.

  Feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up Sady whipped around in time to see the blinds in the window next door move. Tim Archer's nosy neighbor had been watching after all. Sady wasn't about to see if CJ was serious about not calling if she got into trouble. She headed for the fence separating the yard she was in from the one behind her, hauling herself over and praying like crazy there wasn't a dog.

  So far, so good. All was quiet in the neighbor's yard. Then Sady heard the siren of the police car give a short blast. Great... nosy neighbor had the law on speed dial. Thinking fast as she ran, Sady pulled her hair out of the bun, and tossed her glasses, blazer, and clipboard under a lawn chair in the backyard. While unbuttoning the top two buttons of her blouse she kicked off her shoes and entered the front yard barefoot as the police exited their vehicle.

  She raced toward them and stammered out a story of a stranger prowling the neighborhood, sending them back to the street from which they had come. While they drove back to the first street, she hustled to gather her stuff and ran to her car parked over one block. Then Sady drove a few blocks and parked in a busy lot for about fifteen minutes before it seemed safe to leave.

  It was a good thing she'd learned all she needed on that one trip because she wasn't going back to that neighborhood again. Tim's neighbor was probably hanging wanted posters on the telephone poles, the nosy old bag.

  Sady drove back to the office and entered through the back of the building, still barefoot and hauling her load. CJ looked up as she walked by but said nothing. Then CJ stood and walked into the hall, checking Sady's bare feet with a smile.

  Sady turned with a small shrug and waved, not wanting to tell CJ about her close call. She spent the rest of the workday trying to dig up information on Tim Archer. There were gaps in his life that made little sense. Then Sady closely examined the details of Tom's life but saw nothing out of place. Well, she could put it on the back burner for now because tomorrow was Friday, and she planned to be at the lake for surveillance on the Powell's.

  Before leaving, she asked Harry about getting a camera with a telescopic lens. He set her up and when he found out she was going to the lake, he made her take a waterproof bag and a tether. Before she made it out the door CJ stopped her and they both lectured her on the dangers of kayaking alone. Sady promised to wear her helmet and life vest. They would have to be content with that.

  CHAPTER 4

  FRIDAY- Sady spent Friday morning getting ready for her afternoon on the lake. The weather was good so she wouldn't need to worry about storms and high winds. She might be a novice when it came to water transportation, but she wasn't foolish. She used public satellite images of the Whistler Lake area to figure how far it was from the boat rental to the Powell's house. There was even a good view of the house so she wouldn't have to spend too much time trying to figure out which house to watch.

  She packed an extra set of everything in case she ended up in the water. Given the amount of jet skis and fast boats on the lake that possibility seemed more likely by the minute. She hoped the man at the rental office wasn't lying about giving her a safe kayak.

  As she left Ann Arbor Sady thought the whole of Detroit was exiting the city at the same time. Traffic was terrible, and she was happy she wasn't traveling far. At the boat rental shop she checked in and sighed with relief when she saw her kayak. It had stabilizers to help prevent unwanted spills into the lake. The kid in charge was happy to give a crash course to a pretty young woman, free of charge.

  Once she got comfortable Sady paddled toward the Powell's. She couldn't get too close to shore and take pictures, but straying out too far in the water was signing a sure death pact with the grim reaper, or boater in this case. Wondering why lakes didn't post speed limits and patrolling cops, she ventured her way along the lake to the Powell house. Paddling by at a normal speed, she was happy to see activity on the shore.

  She needn't have worried about attracting attention. Speed boats, jet skis, fishing boats- the water was peppered with them and Sady kept expecting to hear an enormous crash when the inevitable pile up happened. By some miracle they avoided running over the smaller vessels and didn't annihilate each other. With her kayak rocking in the wake of the lake vessels, she wouldn't linger any longer than necessary. Taking the camera from her bag, and hoping a wave wouldn't jostle it out of her hands she scoped the shore from her drifting kayak and zoomed in on the beach at the Powell's.

  Well, either Mr. and Mrs. Powell had made up, or she had good proof photographs for CJ. Those weren't teenagers making out on the shore that's for sure. Sady took a few more pictures before putting her camera away and paddling a little farther along the shore. Finally, the noise and the activity on the water became so distracting she decided to return to the boat rental.

  She gave the kid from the rental shop a big tip when he came down to the dock and helped her out. Her shoulders and arms were sore from paddling and she prayed she could control her muscles for the drive home. It would be embarrassing to have survived the craziness on the lake only to hit a tree on her way home because her arms felt like rubber.

  Traffic heading south wasn't as bad but Sady let out a breath of relief when she made it safely to her apartment. Then she had a long soak in the tub, before rubbing her aching arms with muscle relief lotion. When she lay down to sleep that night she felt like she was still on the water, bobbing up and down in the kayak. About the time she worried she'd need motion sickness tablets the feeling passed and she went to sleep.

  CHAPTER 5

  SATURDAY- When she woke up Saturday, the first thing she noticed was the sunburn. No wonder she felt so miserable. With brown eyes and brown hair her skin tone was naturally on the darker side and usually she didn't get sunburned. Another lesson learned. She added sunblock to her grocery list.

  By the afternoon she felt bored and called Amanda but it went to voice mail. Deciding to check out her own neighborhood she put on her tennis shoes and a hat for sun protection. She strolled the neighboring streets and waved at her new neighbors. It was a friendly area and Sady knew she'd like living here.

  As she was unlocked her apartment door, something hit the siding next to her head with a ping. The sound surprised her, and she dropped her key. She bent to pick it up and another ping hit the door where she stood a second ago. Sady froze as she in shock and realized someone was shooting at her... shooting... at her?

  She wanted to yell at shooter to stop because they had mistaken her for someone else, but she didn't. Survival instinct sent her crawling through the door. She closed and locked it as another shot hit the door. With shaking hands she dialed for emergency help, hoping that whoever was shooting at her wouldn't come crashing through a window. The police arrived in a gratifyingly short time, examined the door, pulled the slugs, and took her statement. They were finishing up when CJ and Harry came screaming into the parking lot.

  "Police scanner," CJ explained before Sady could ask. CJ sent Harry in to make coffee while she had a word wit
h the officers. She shook her head at Harry when she came back into Sady's apartment. Harry took a flask from CJ's bag and poured them each a strong cup of 'coffee.'

  "You want to tell me what's going on?" CJ asked Sady. Reaction set in and Sady trembled so much she had to set her cup down. She held up a finger to let them know she needed a little time before she could speak. CJ helped her with the cup and about ten minutes later Sady was calm enough to talk.

  "Someone shot at me," she told them pointlessly. Harry put his hand on CJ's arm and she bit her tongue.

  With a meaningful glance at Harry, CJ stood and pulled Sady to her feet. "C'mon. We're packing your bag and you're coming with us. Morrow would kill me if he knew I let this happen. When you're feeling better, you can give us the details." She pushed Sady down the hall and helped her pack a bag while Harry nosed around the apartment. He packed Sady's personal laptop and the equipment she checked out from the office.

  A few minutes later they had Sady tucked in the back of their vehicle and drove her to their house. Harry took Sady's bag to a room on the second floor of their older, beautifully restored home. CJ steered her to the kitchen, made her eat a piece of toast, then handed her a glass of water and a pill.

  Sady looked at the pill suspiciously and CJ laughed. "It's legal. Just something to help you sleep." Sady took it and followed CJ to the bedroom where Harry had placed her bag. CJ pulled the blinds while Sady kicked off her shoes and crawled into bed.

  "If you poisoned me I'm telling Uncle John," she threatened CJ who smiled as she left Sady to sleep.

  Sady awakened with a start of fright before she remembering she was safe. She looked at the clock and saw it was past supper. Her stomach rumbled, needing more than toast, so she headed down the hall from her room and started down the stairs. At the sound of CJ's voice she stopped on the stairs to listen. It took a minute to figure out CJ was talking to Morrow, and from the sounds CJ was making at this end he wasn't happy.