Page 11 of One Little Memory (Cherry Valley Novella)

“Wait. You’re telling me that the gunshot center mass in his chest didn’t kill him?” Phoenix couldn’t believe it. Jesus, what the hell was it with this case?

Damian Kennedy, the medical examiner, shook his dark blond head.

“No, the gunshot killed him, but see these bruises on his face?” He pointed to the darkened skin around Gus’s right eye.

“And see this pattern here?” He pointed to more bruising across Gus’s thighs.

“These were caused by being hit by a car.”

Phoenix frowned. “So, someone hit him with a car and then got out and shot him when he was on the ground?”

Kennedy scowled. “Someone really wanted Gus Marchand dead.”

Phoenix drew in a deep breath and immediately regretted it.

He hated the smell of formaldehyde. This whole case was turning out to be a nightmare.

In his fantasies, he’d always wanted to get a murder case.

Not that he wanted someone to die, but in the abstract; solving a murder sounded challenging.

He’d always been up for a challenge, but this, this case was a nightmare.

Gus, who really wasn’t Gus, was run over and then shot.

“Jesus,” he muttered.

“Yeah. That about sums it up.”

“Is there anything else you can tell me?” he asked as he looked over at the medical examiner.

Damian was fairly new to Cherry Valley. He’d arrived about ten months back from somewhere in the Midwest. He was near Phoenix’s age, which put him in his early to mid-thirties, with dark blond hair and blue eyes.

He was maybe an inch shorter than Phoenix with a lean build.

It was obvious he kept himself in shape, and if scuttlebutt around town was true, he kept himself to himself.

He was a flirt but hadn’t said yes to any of the single ladies in town.

“There are bits of glass in his clothing, so someone probably lost a headlight when they hit him. Also, some paint chips. I think it’s a dark metallic blue, but I can confirm under a microscope. I’m handing everything off to the state lab. The mayor said they were handling the forensics.”

“Dark blue?” Phoenix’s stomach plummeted to his feet. An image of Jo stuck behind the wheel of a dark blue BMW sedan came unbidden to his mind. There were lots of blue cars out there, weren’t there? This didn’t mean Jo was involved.

“Phoenix?”

“Um…Sorry, I missed that. What did you say?”

“I said that chances were good Gus wouldn’t have died from being hit. His left leg was broken and a couple of ribs. Also, it gave his head a good whack, but he would’ve lived if someone hadn’t shot him.”

“Huh. Good to know. Thanks. Anything else on time of death?”

Kennedy smiled. “His watch stopped at ten fifty-three. You can probably assume it broke when the car hit him. He would have died within a few minutes of that. Liver temp puts that time smack in the middle of the window, so it’s a solid guess.”

“That gives me a place to start. Let me know if anything else comes up.”

Kennedy nodded. “I will. This is a bit of a weird one.”

“Definitely.” Phoenix left the morgue and headed to police headquarters. Halfway there, he changed his mind. He needed to check on Jo, and she needed some food. What would she like? No point in calling her. Not only did she not have a phone, but he doubted she’d know the answer.

Thirty minutes later, he pulled into his driveway, parked his truck, and went out back to the converted garage. He knocked on the door. “Jo?”

A moment later, she opened the door. She looked a bit pale, and her smile was tight.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I guess.” She headed over to the couch.

“I brought dinner. I thought you might like a roast beef sandwich.” Everyone liked roast beef.

It seemed like a safe choice. Unless she was a vegetarian or a vegan.

He hadn’t thought of that. There weren’t many fast-food options in Cherry Valley.

It was this or a hamburger, but a burger introduced the questions of cheese and how she liked it done.

Plus, all the toppings that could be added.

“Roast beef sounds great,” she commented.

Phoenix unwrapped the sandwiches, hers and his, and placed them on plates. When he walked over to her on the couch, he noticed the puzzle book on the table in front of her. “Was Hazel here?”

“Yes. She brought some clothes, puzzle books and stuff.” Jo thanked him when he put the sandwich in front of her on the coffee table.

“How are they going? Are you into puzzles?” He sat down beside her and took a bite of his sandwich before putting the plate on the table.

“Turns out I’m good at puzzles. I seem to be able to do them with no problem. Crosswords, word search, Sudoku. No real challenge.”

“That’s great.” He offered a quick smile before he took the next bite of his sandwich. He wanted to ask her if she remembered anything else, like hitting a man with her car, but that seemed a little aggressive. He settled for asking about her headache.

“It’s still there, but it’s mild compared to what it was. I haven’t remembered anything if that’s what you really want to know.”

He nodded but kept his mouth shut.

“I’ve been trying but just keep drawing a big blank.” She reached over, picked up her sandwich, and took a half-hearted bite.

“It’ll come.” He paused. “I think I might try and get down to your car sooner rather than later. It’s too late today, but maybe first thing tomorrow morning.”

She perked up. “That would be great.”

He took the last bit of sandwich and popped it into his mouth.

There was no need to tell her that he now considered her a suspect in the murder of Gus Marchand.

He had zero proof, and he just couldn’t get his brain around the idea.

Hitting him maybe, but then shooting him and waiting for him to die?

That was just too damn cold for Jo, or at least for the little he knew of her.

And then how did she end up halfway down the ravine? It didn’t add up.

“Oh, I should tell you,” she said. “Someone came by earlier.”

He frowned. “Was it a younger guy? Sort of looks like me?” His brother, Falcon, usually called first, but if he had gotten the results back on the blood tests, then he might have come over, but Falcon would have known he was at work.

“No. Or at least I don’t think so. Not unless your brother has salt and pepper hair.”

“He was older?”

She took another bite of the sandwich and gestured for him to wait until she finished chewing.

“Sorry. I guess I was hungrier than I thought. The sandwich is really good. If I’m a vegetarian, or vegan for that matter, I’m going back to eating meat.

And gluten. This bread is amazing.” She smiled.

“Anyway, it was an older guy wearing a heavy plaid jacket.”

“Must have been Gus’s friend Lloyd Bondy. Wonder why he came here. I’ll catch up with him and see what he needed.” Phoenix narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. The guy just frightened me.” She quickly backtracked, “He didn’t do anything, but I guess I wasn’t expecting him to be standing there, and it just scared me.”

“Lloyd is kind of a scary looking guy.”

She took another bite of sandwich.

He glanced at his watch. If Lloyd came by, then maybe it was time Phoenix spoke to him. He watched Jo finish her sandwich. She looked pale and tired. Her forehead was deeply furrowed, so he guessed her headache was back. There was pain in her eyes. She had to be sore all over after that accident.

He had a crazy urge to give her a hug. Just pull her into his arms and tell her everything would be okay. And it would. As long as she wasn’t the one who ran over and then shot Gus Marchand.

He cleared his throat. “I have to go back to work. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. It’s already six p.m. I should be back by eight or so. Don’t feel you have to stay up. I’m guessing you’re exhausted.”

“I wasn’t, but suddenly I’m feeling exhausted. I thought I might take a shower and then head to bed.”

“That’s fine.” Phoenix stood. “I’ll check on you when I get back. Turn out the lights if you go to sleep, and I won’t disturb you.”

“That’s okay. I think I would like it if you checked in.” She licked her lips. “I’m a little nervous.”

He didn’t blame her one bit considering the circumstances. “Okay, I’ll check in when I get back. I’m sorry I don’t have a phone to give you. I’ll try and pick one up tonight or tomorrow so you can call if you need something.”

“Thanks, Phoenix.”

When she smiled at him, the knots in his stomach eased slightly. There was no way this woman could have killed Gus. It just wasn’t possible. The urge to hold her became more intense, so he stood and cleared his throat. “I’ll see you later.” He left and waited until she locked the door behind him.

He made his way over to the Underground Pub, a dive bar on the outskirts of town.

Lloyd liked to drink there. Oddly enough, Gus rarely joined him there.

He was just always on his front porch. Maybe it was because he had a hard time getting around.

It had always been a mystery why he never left his shack.

Then he had another thought. Was the Underground Pub the place where Lloyd met his cronies?

The ones running guns and possibly doing other things.

Part of him wanted more details from Jagger, but then again, part of him didn’t.

He had to live and work in the town with these people.

If he found out some of them were running drugs or involved in illegal shit, it could be problematic for him.

He didn’t want to blow Jagger’s investigation.

He parked his SUV and headed inside. Lately, his life was complicated enough.

He hated complications. He liked things simple, streamlined.

Too many years of conflict with his parents, and then once they died, his life had been overly challenging with university and looking after his brother and trying to make ends meet.