Chapter Twelve: A Parcel and a Suspect
“Trix, we need to do something.” Jim ran his hand through his thick red hair. “Honey can’t stay at the apartment anymore; it’s nuts.” He kept his voice down, not wanting to upset his sister.
“I know,” Trixie said. As predicted, Jim had insisted on visiting his sister at the apartment to see with his own eyes that she really was okay. Dan and a couple of crime scene officers from White Plains had met them there and gone over the place—taking photos, dusting for prints and knocking on doors to see if anyone had heard or seen anything.
It seemed that few people had been home at the time of the attack and those that were hadn’t noticed anything amiss.
“Your friend Brett from downstairs isn’t home,” Dan reported, “and he’s been the one who seemed to be most aware of what goes on around the place.”
“I wonder…” Trixie said, gnawing on her bottom lip.
“What do you mean?” Honey asked from her position on the sofa.
“Well, looking at it logically, all he’s done is steer us in the wrong direction. And,” she continued, sensing her partner was about to protest, “originally, he hadn’t seen anyone acting weirdly, and then he had.”
“I’m not sure that’s evidence of anything sinister,” Honey said. “I didn’t think of the visiting teenager either.”
“We can at least talk to him again,” Dan said. “Throw out some names, like Connelly and Chambers, both have connections with this area even though the former seems to have done a disappearing act—we’ll add the recently released Thompson boys and Honey’s other friend Steve for good measure.”
Honey rolled her eyes. “Why not Kevin Walters, too?” she demanded. “He’s the guy I dated a few times when I was seventeen and Brian and I were…”
“Testing our romantic waters?” Brian offered with a grin.
“He does run an auto shop, doesn’t he?” Trixie said thoughtfully. She shook her head sending sandy curls in all directions. “Don’t try and distract us,” she admonished her best friend.
“Brett’s not home right now,” Dan interposed, “but I’ll leave a card asking him to call me and I’ll check back later if I don’t hear in the next couple of hours. If Trixie’s right, I might pick up on something in his manner, and if Honey’s right, he might have noticed something else he’d previously forgotten about.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Brian said. He sat on the end of the sofa with Honey’s feet resting in his lap.
“And I think it’s time for Honey to move in with Trix and me,” Jim added. “She isn’t safe here, obviously.”
“I won’t pretend I’m not worried,” Honey said, “but I want this to be over and done with, and my guess is if I move out, whoever it is will just go quiet until I come back. Don’t you think so, Trix?”
Trixie shifted in her chair as all eyes turned to her. Jim and Brian, she knew, wanted one answer, Honey another. Only Dan was likely to be impartial. “I think I would feel better if my best friend was sleeping under my roof, but,” she continued, ignoring the looks her husband and brother threw at her, “my partner could be right. There’s been no trouble at all when Brian’s been in town, and the last few things before today have been aimed at me, and the office itself, not just Honey. Brian’s here tonight so I say that we can leave making a decision until…” She looked up at her brother.
“I have to go back the day after tomorrow, but I should only have to work a couple of shifts before I can get back again.”
“Let’s revisit it then,” Trixie said. “Dan might get something from Brett or the crime scene guys might have turned up some useful evidence.”
“I guess that’s a plan I can live with,” Jim said.
*
Trixie unlocked the front door, punched in the code to disarm the alarm that had been a congratulatory gift from Honey and Jim’s father, and opened the blinds, allowing the foyer to flood with light. Her friend had recovered from the attack quickly and had been determined to get back to normal as soon as possible.
Trixie deposited the small package that had been left on the doorstep and went to stow her bag in the lockable drawer in her office. Honey was meeting a known client and wouldn’t be in for another hour or so. She and Honey each used these drawers for their personal items whenever they were working alone or dealing with clients. Once she’d fired up her computer, Trixie headed into the kitchen to put on a pot of decaf. While she waited for it to perk, she went back to the foyer, intending to put the parcel addressed to Honey on her partner’s desk.
As she carried it she glanced again at the address label and a frown puckered her brow. All it said was: Attn: Honey Wheeler, with the address of the agency below, but there was no evidence of postage having been paid. An uneasy feeling stole over her, one she’d learned not to ignore. A suspicious package, that’s what she was dealing with, but was it a dangerous one?
She was fairly certain that a bomb did not in any way track with the behavior of their troublemaker so far. She’d been followed and harassed by a car, and Honey had been hurt at her apartment, but both things could easily have been much worse. Gingerly she lifted the package and turned it around very slowly. Trixie had taken a course that dealt with recognizing letter and parcel bombs, but she knew that the information provided a guide only. The good thing was that the parcel she was examining did not appear to have a lot of the characteristics one might expect.
Knowing smell was sometimes key, she carefully sniffed the parcel and then drew back. Whew! That was not pleasant, but it was familiar. Placing it down again, she pulled out her cell and dialed. She needed a professional opinion and she knew where she could get one.
Dan was standing inside Belden-Wheeler Investigations twenty minutes later. Beside him was an older man, wearing a Kevlar vest and a protective helmet.
“I’d lay odds there’s no bomb,” the man said, “but just to be on the safe side…” He nodded towards the exit.
“But…” Trixie frowned. “If it is a bomb I don’t want to blow up our office.”
Dan raised his brows. “Better than blowing up us,” he said, and she shrugged in resignation, allowing him to lead her outside. She held her breath while the man, with his back to them, opened the parcel. A moment later, he turned around and beckoned them to return.
“Not very pleasant, but…” he said, holding out the parcel.
“Ughh,” Trixie said, wrinkling her nose. “A dead rat—how clichéd can you get?”
Dan shrugged his shoulders. “It’s better than the alternative though. I’m sure glad Honey wasn’t the one to open it.”
Trixie nodded. “She would have freaked.”
Dan held out his hand to his friend. “Thanks, Les, I owe you one.”
Les nodded his de-helmeted shaved head. “Well, what goes around comes around I always say. You’ve got a report in on this, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, we’re not making much headway though.”
“Well, this sort of thing, if it isn’t about giving up your pals, snitching so to speak, it's almost always designed to scare.”
“It would have done that and more if the person it was addressed to opened it,” Trixie said grimly as she took a seat. “Honey hates rodents almost as much as she does reptiles. She once slept in her car when one was on the loose in her dorm room.” It had seemed funny at the time, even Honey had seen the humour, but she steadfastly refused to share a room with “one of those creatures.”
“Then it could be personal, if the person responsible knows how she feels,” Les said.
“And the fact that it was addressed to her, rather than Belden-Wheeler Investigations supports that theory,” Dan said.
“Which brings us back to Evan Chambers.” Trixie folded her arms across her chest.
“The real estate guy?” Les looked from Trixie to Dan.
“You know him?” The latter said.
“He skates pretty close to the law from what I’ve heard. There’s been some intimidation on building sites, talk of money under the table. Not a guy to cross, nasty temper. He’s working on that new development just around the corner. They’ve already had the union in on safety issues.”
“Sounds like I should talk to Mr. Chambers again,” Dan said.
“Sounds like we should,” Trixie corrected.
“There’s no point in me arguing with you, is there?”
“The way I hear it, everyone around here in law enforcement knows not to argue with Trixie Belden.” Les grinned.
“My reputation precedes me,” Trixie said with a wry grin of her own.
“It does indeed, and that’s not a bad thing. I’ll see you round, Mangan.” Les grabbed his recently removed helmet and with a backwards wave of his hand, headed out the front door.
“Are you going to get into trouble using resources for personal reasons?” Trixie asked, looking up at her friend.
“Les is cool, and under the circumstances it was the right thing to do—even if you weren’t my friend.”
“So,” Trixie glanced at her watch. “I’m guessing Honey will be here soon. Can you take care of that thing?”
“I’ll grab an evidence bag from the car.” He saw Trixie’s face and added, “And then I’ll put it in my car. Honey need never see it, but we do have to tell her about it.”
“That’s going to make her day.” Trixie suddenly jumped to her feet. “Dinglebuckles! I forgot about the coffee!”
After Dan had stowed the offending object in its bag and in his car, he made a quick trip to the café at the end of the strip and bought coffees for Trixie, himself and Honey.
Trixie’s prediction proved accurate and although Honey paled and her nose wrinkled in disgust as they brought her up to date, she took the news reasonably well and agreed that Evan Chambers was looking more and more like the one responsible.
“I might have mentioned my feelings about certain creatures,” she admitted. “And the fact that I’ve run into him more than once near home recently and not at all before that, coupled with the project he’s involved in close by, gives him the opportunity to get at us at both places. Not that we have any proof. The coffee shop isn’t the same as the apartment block.”
“No,” Trixie said. “But if he has been hanging around your apartment building there’s someone who may have noticed.”
Honey nodded and then took another sip of her soy latte. “Good idea. We should talk to Brett again.”
“I think I’ll ask him to come down to the station this time,” Dan said. “I agree that he’s a little on the odd side. I know you think he’s harmless, Honey, but you know it would be much easier for whoever’s behind this if they had him as an accomplice. He could sneak up to your apartment at any time. No-one would pay attention.”
“No, I can’t believe that,” Honey protested. “He might be sort of strange but he’s not cruel. I don’t think he’d do anything that would hurt me. And he doesn’t even drive a car, so I’m sure he didn’t follow Trixie.”
“That reminds me,” Dan said. “I asked our guys in surveillance to check out the cameras on the night you were followed, Trix. They were backed up at the time, but they told me they’d get to it this morning. Why don’t you and I go and check it out and call in on Brett, while Honey holds the fort here.” Having made a plan, Trixie and Dan headed out with the latter on his cell as he set things in motion.
*
“To be honest, I think our friend is more than a little spooked.” Dan and Trixie stood together in the observation room where they could view the waiting Brett, but he couldn’t see them. The young man looked around him, his eyes darting from place to place. All the while his hands fidgeted, and he wriggled in his chair.
“I’d say ‘yay’ and rub my hands together if I hadn’t learned that a lot of people with absolutely nothing on their conscience act that way,” Trixie said with a sigh.
“Well, seeing as he came down voluntarily and this is totally ‘off the record,’ we might as well get in there.”
“I appreciate you organizing it so that I can sit in.” Trixie gave her friend an affectionate light punch in the arm.
“You know if we come up with anything that links him to what’s been going on…”
“I bow out gracefully,” Trixie said.
Dan raised his dark brows, and she laughed. “Fine. I’ll bow out, anyway.”
Dan’s pals who’d been going through CCTV footage had found two significant things. Although they couldn’t pick up more than a partial plate, they’d identified a dark-colored Mercedes SUV as the car that had followed Trixie. A vehicle that looked to be identical was seen in the car park of Belden-Wheeler Investigations, just before the offensive package appeared on their doorstep. And an officer was now canvassing the area to see if anyone had seen the package delivered. To top it all off, a vehicle matching that description and partial, was registered to their person of interest.
Brett looked up when Dan and Trixie entered the room. “Is everything okay? Nothing’s happened to Miss Wheeler, has it?”
“Why would you think that?” Trixie demanded, blue eyes flashing.
Brett leaned back, putting more distance between him and the woman opposite. “I heard something happened the other evening. I just hoped nothing else had…” he trailed off, ran his fingers through his lank hair and took a sip of water from the cup on the table. “She’s a nice person, Miss Wheeler is.”
“Yes, she is.” Dan agreed. “So I’m sure if you knew anything about anyone who might be trying to upset her, then you’d be willing to tell us.”
“We need your help, Brett,” Trixie added, realizing that Honey’s tactful approach was probably the way to go with this man.
“I’m sorry. I should have said something sooner. But for a while we, I, really thought that kid was responsible but then I didn’t know about that other stuff.” Brett looked from Trixie to Dan, his expression contrite.
“It’s fine, Brett,” Trixie said, trying to stay calm. The guy was nervous, and getting worked up wasn’t going to help.
“He only came to the apartment once you know.”
“No, we don’t know.” Dan said carefully. “That’s why we need you to talk to us.”
“You see.” Trixie took a seat opposite the young man. “We found this person leaving a package at our agency—” not exactly true, but close enough, “—a not-very-nice package that was meant for Honey.” Trixie hadn’t been very happy over its contents either, but she was glad she and Dan had viewed it rather than her friend. Honey hated rodents—dead or alive.
Brett looked from one to the other. “But she’s okay, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she’s fine, but we think this person has been doing other things and we need help to find out if we’re on the right track.”
“He’s not a nice man,” Brett said.
Trixie agreed completely but that wasn’t going to get them what they needed. “Brett, it’s just a formality, but we need you to say his name.”
Dan shot his friend a look, sat back and waited.
“Evan Chambers,” Brett said. “He used to date Miss Wheeler.”
“Briefly, yes, that’s right,” Dan assented.
“I should have realized,” Brett apologized again. “But I thought everything was covered, that she was protected.”
“What do you mean protected?” Dan asked.
“You know, there were people looking out for her.”
Trixie nodded. Brian had been home more often lately, and she and Dan had both called into the apartment block more than usual.
“But then I kept seeing him around, you know. I was keeping a look out and he was always there. At the coffee shop and near your agency. I saw him hanging around there a couple of times.”
“Near our office?” Trixie was alert. “Do you know when?”
Brett frowned in concentration. “I know he was there early Sunday morning. I was on my way home from the supermarket. I stack shelves at night a couple of times a week.”
Dan and Trixie exchanged another look. That put Chambers in the vicinity for the brick-through-the-window incident too.
“Would you be prepared to make a statement detailing everything you know?” Dan asked.
“Of course.” Brett nodded his head.
“Great. Let’s get you settled in my office. It’s far more comfortable than this.”
Brett stood, relief evident in his face. “So, everything is going to be okay?”
Trixie nodded. “Everything is going to be just fine.”
MPD: MAIN NEXT
Word Count: 2875
Author's notes: More hugs and thanks to Dana, my out of this world editor, for sticking by me. Honey's reaction to having a rodent in her room is a true story from my life. Yes, I see the funny, too. But at the time...Even now, I'd rather face a serial killer (provided I have my oven cleaner and flint gun) I have no experience in law enforcement and have taken liberties here and will take more in the next chapter. I also apologise for the variety in formatting—when I copy and paste I usually have to indent and italicise the chapter myself, this one came out this way. My heartfelt gratitude to those who continue to read and comment. Trixie Belden et al belong to Random House and not to me. No profit is being made from these scribblings.
“I know,” Trixie said. As predicted, Jim had insisted on visiting his sister at the apartment to see with his own eyes that she really was okay. Dan and a couple of crime scene officers from White Plains had met them there and gone over the place—taking photos, dusting for prints and knocking on doors to see if anyone had heard or seen anything.
It seemed that few people had been home at the time of the attack and those that were hadn’t noticed anything amiss.
“Your friend Brett from downstairs isn’t home,” Dan reported, “and he’s been the one who seemed to be most aware of what goes on around the place.”
“I wonder…” Trixie said, gnawing on her bottom lip.
“What do you mean?” Honey asked from her position on the sofa.
“Well, looking at it logically, all he’s done is steer us in the wrong direction. And,” she continued, sensing her partner was about to protest, “originally, he hadn’t seen anyone acting weirdly, and then he had.”
“I’m not sure that’s evidence of anything sinister,” Honey said. “I didn’t think of the visiting teenager either.”
“We can at least talk to him again,” Dan said. “Throw out some names, like Connelly and Chambers, both have connections with this area even though the former seems to have done a disappearing act—we’ll add the recently released Thompson boys and Honey’s other friend Steve for good measure.”
Honey rolled her eyes. “Why not Kevin Walters, too?” she demanded. “He’s the guy I dated a few times when I was seventeen and Brian and I were…”
“Testing our romantic waters?” Brian offered with a grin.
“He does run an auto shop, doesn’t he?” Trixie said thoughtfully. She shook her head sending sandy curls in all directions. “Don’t try and distract us,” she admonished her best friend.
“Brett’s not home right now,” Dan interposed, “but I’ll leave a card asking him to call me and I’ll check back later if I don’t hear in the next couple of hours. If Trixie’s right, I might pick up on something in his manner, and if Honey’s right, he might have noticed something else he’d previously forgotten about.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Brian said. He sat on the end of the sofa with Honey’s feet resting in his lap.
“And I think it’s time for Honey to move in with Trix and me,” Jim added. “She isn’t safe here, obviously.”
“I won’t pretend I’m not worried,” Honey said, “but I want this to be over and done with, and my guess is if I move out, whoever it is will just go quiet until I come back. Don’t you think so, Trix?”
Trixie shifted in her chair as all eyes turned to her. Jim and Brian, she knew, wanted one answer, Honey another. Only Dan was likely to be impartial. “I think I would feel better if my best friend was sleeping under my roof, but,” she continued, ignoring the looks her husband and brother threw at her, “my partner could be right. There’s been no trouble at all when Brian’s been in town, and the last few things before today have been aimed at me, and the office itself, not just Honey. Brian’s here tonight so I say that we can leave making a decision until…” She looked up at her brother.
“I have to go back the day after tomorrow, but I should only have to work a couple of shifts before I can get back again.”
“Let’s revisit it then,” Trixie said. “Dan might get something from Brett or the crime scene guys might have turned up some useful evidence.”
“I guess that’s a plan I can live with,” Jim said.
*
Trixie unlocked the front door, punched in the code to disarm the alarm that had been a congratulatory gift from Honey and Jim’s father, and opened the blinds, allowing the foyer to flood with light. Her friend had recovered from the attack quickly and had been determined to get back to normal as soon as possible.
Trixie deposited the small package that had been left on the doorstep and went to stow her bag in the lockable drawer in her office. Honey was meeting a known client and wouldn’t be in for another hour or so. She and Honey each used these drawers for their personal items whenever they were working alone or dealing with clients. Once she’d fired up her computer, Trixie headed into the kitchen to put on a pot of decaf. While she waited for it to perk, she went back to the foyer, intending to put the parcel addressed to Honey on her partner’s desk.
As she carried it she glanced again at the address label and a frown puckered her brow. All it said was: Attn: Honey Wheeler, with the address of the agency below, but there was no evidence of postage having been paid. An uneasy feeling stole over her, one she’d learned not to ignore. A suspicious package, that’s what she was dealing with, but was it a dangerous one?
She was fairly certain that a bomb did not in any way track with the behavior of their troublemaker so far. She’d been followed and harassed by a car, and Honey had been hurt at her apartment, but both things could easily have been much worse. Gingerly she lifted the package and turned it around very slowly. Trixie had taken a course that dealt with recognizing letter and parcel bombs, but she knew that the information provided a guide only. The good thing was that the parcel she was examining did not appear to have a lot of the characteristics one might expect.
Knowing smell was sometimes key, she carefully sniffed the parcel and then drew back. Whew! That was not pleasant, but it was familiar. Placing it down again, she pulled out her cell and dialed. She needed a professional opinion and she knew where she could get one.
Dan was standing inside Belden-Wheeler Investigations twenty minutes later. Beside him was an older man, wearing a Kevlar vest and a protective helmet.
“I’d lay odds there’s no bomb,” the man said, “but just to be on the safe side…” He nodded towards the exit.
“But…” Trixie frowned. “If it is a bomb I don’t want to blow up our office.”
Dan raised his brows. “Better than blowing up us,” he said, and she shrugged in resignation, allowing him to lead her outside. She held her breath while the man, with his back to them, opened the parcel. A moment later, he turned around and beckoned them to return.
“Not very pleasant, but…” he said, holding out the parcel.
“Ughh,” Trixie said, wrinkling her nose. “A dead rat—how clichéd can you get?”
Dan shrugged his shoulders. “It’s better than the alternative though. I’m sure glad Honey wasn’t the one to open it.”
Trixie nodded. “She would have freaked.”
Dan held out his hand to his friend. “Thanks, Les, I owe you one.”
Les nodded his de-helmeted shaved head. “Well, what goes around comes around I always say. You’ve got a report in on this, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, we’re not making much headway though.”
“Well, this sort of thing, if it isn’t about giving up your pals, snitching so to speak, it's almost always designed to scare.”
“It would have done that and more if the person it was addressed to opened it,” Trixie said grimly as she took a seat. “Honey hates rodents almost as much as she does reptiles. She once slept in her car when one was on the loose in her dorm room.” It had seemed funny at the time, even Honey had seen the humour, but she steadfastly refused to share a room with “one of those creatures.”
“Then it could be personal, if the person responsible knows how she feels,” Les said.
“And the fact that it was addressed to her, rather than Belden-Wheeler Investigations supports that theory,” Dan said.
“Which brings us back to Evan Chambers.” Trixie folded her arms across her chest.
“The real estate guy?” Les looked from Trixie to Dan.
“You know him?” The latter said.
“He skates pretty close to the law from what I’ve heard. There’s been some intimidation on building sites, talk of money under the table. Not a guy to cross, nasty temper. He’s working on that new development just around the corner. They’ve already had the union in on safety issues.”
“Sounds like I should talk to Mr. Chambers again,” Dan said.
“Sounds like we should,” Trixie corrected.
“There’s no point in me arguing with you, is there?”
“The way I hear it, everyone around here in law enforcement knows not to argue with Trixie Belden.” Les grinned.
“My reputation precedes me,” Trixie said with a wry grin of her own.
“It does indeed, and that’s not a bad thing. I’ll see you round, Mangan.” Les grabbed his recently removed helmet and with a backwards wave of his hand, headed out the front door.
“Are you going to get into trouble using resources for personal reasons?” Trixie asked, looking up at her friend.
“Les is cool, and under the circumstances it was the right thing to do—even if you weren’t my friend.”
“So,” Trixie glanced at her watch. “I’m guessing Honey will be here soon. Can you take care of that thing?”
“I’ll grab an evidence bag from the car.” He saw Trixie’s face and added, “And then I’ll put it in my car. Honey need never see it, but we do have to tell her about it.”
“That’s going to make her day.” Trixie suddenly jumped to her feet. “Dinglebuckles! I forgot about the coffee!”
After Dan had stowed the offending object in its bag and in his car, he made a quick trip to the café at the end of the strip and bought coffees for Trixie, himself and Honey.
Trixie’s prediction proved accurate and although Honey paled and her nose wrinkled in disgust as they brought her up to date, she took the news reasonably well and agreed that Evan Chambers was looking more and more like the one responsible.
“I might have mentioned my feelings about certain creatures,” she admitted. “And the fact that I’ve run into him more than once near home recently and not at all before that, coupled with the project he’s involved in close by, gives him the opportunity to get at us at both places. Not that we have any proof. The coffee shop isn’t the same as the apartment block.”
“No,” Trixie said. “But if he has been hanging around your apartment building there’s someone who may have noticed.”
Honey nodded and then took another sip of her soy latte. “Good idea. We should talk to Brett again.”
“I think I’ll ask him to come down to the station this time,” Dan said. “I agree that he’s a little on the odd side. I know you think he’s harmless, Honey, but you know it would be much easier for whoever’s behind this if they had him as an accomplice. He could sneak up to your apartment at any time. No-one would pay attention.”
“No, I can’t believe that,” Honey protested. “He might be sort of strange but he’s not cruel. I don’t think he’d do anything that would hurt me. And he doesn’t even drive a car, so I’m sure he didn’t follow Trixie.”
“That reminds me,” Dan said. “I asked our guys in surveillance to check out the cameras on the night you were followed, Trix. They were backed up at the time, but they told me they’d get to it this morning. Why don’t you and I go and check it out and call in on Brett, while Honey holds the fort here.” Having made a plan, Trixie and Dan headed out with the latter on his cell as he set things in motion.
*
“To be honest, I think our friend is more than a little spooked.” Dan and Trixie stood together in the observation room where they could view the waiting Brett, but he couldn’t see them. The young man looked around him, his eyes darting from place to place. All the while his hands fidgeted, and he wriggled in his chair.
“I’d say ‘yay’ and rub my hands together if I hadn’t learned that a lot of people with absolutely nothing on their conscience act that way,” Trixie said with a sigh.
“Well, seeing as he came down voluntarily and this is totally ‘off the record,’ we might as well get in there.”
“I appreciate you organizing it so that I can sit in.” Trixie gave her friend an affectionate light punch in the arm.
“You know if we come up with anything that links him to what’s been going on…”
“I bow out gracefully,” Trixie said.
Dan raised his dark brows, and she laughed. “Fine. I’ll bow out, anyway.”
Dan’s pals who’d been going through CCTV footage had found two significant things. Although they couldn’t pick up more than a partial plate, they’d identified a dark-colored Mercedes SUV as the car that had followed Trixie. A vehicle that looked to be identical was seen in the car park of Belden-Wheeler Investigations, just before the offensive package appeared on their doorstep. And an officer was now canvassing the area to see if anyone had seen the package delivered. To top it all off, a vehicle matching that description and partial, was registered to their person of interest.
Brett looked up when Dan and Trixie entered the room. “Is everything okay? Nothing’s happened to Miss Wheeler, has it?”
“Why would you think that?” Trixie demanded, blue eyes flashing.
Brett leaned back, putting more distance between him and the woman opposite. “I heard something happened the other evening. I just hoped nothing else had…” he trailed off, ran his fingers through his lank hair and took a sip of water from the cup on the table. “She’s a nice person, Miss Wheeler is.”
“Yes, she is.” Dan agreed. “So I’m sure if you knew anything about anyone who might be trying to upset her, then you’d be willing to tell us.”
“We need your help, Brett,” Trixie added, realizing that Honey’s tactful approach was probably the way to go with this man.
“I’m sorry. I should have said something sooner. But for a while we, I, really thought that kid was responsible but then I didn’t know about that other stuff.” Brett looked from Trixie to Dan, his expression contrite.
“It’s fine, Brett,” Trixie said, trying to stay calm. The guy was nervous, and getting worked up wasn’t going to help.
“He only came to the apartment once you know.”
“No, we don’t know.” Dan said carefully. “That’s why we need you to talk to us.”
“You see.” Trixie took a seat opposite the young man. “We found this person leaving a package at our agency—” not exactly true, but close enough, “—a not-very-nice package that was meant for Honey.” Trixie hadn’t been very happy over its contents either, but she was glad she and Dan had viewed it rather than her friend. Honey hated rodents—dead or alive.
Brett looked from one to the other. “But she’s okay, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she’s fine, but we think this person has been doing other things and we need help to find out if we’re on the right track.”
“He’s not a nice man,” Brett said.
Trixie agreed completely but that wasn’t going to get them what they needed. “Brett, it’s just a formality, but we need you to say his name.”
Dan shot his friend a look, sat back and waited.
“Evan Chambers,” Brett said. “He used to date Miss Wheeler.”
“Briefly, yes, that’s right,” Dan assented.
“I should have realized,” Brett apologized again. “But I thought everything was covered, that she was protected.”
“What do you mean protected?” Dan asked.
“You know, there were people looking out for her.”
Trixie nodded. Brian had been home more often lately, and she and Dan had both called into the apartment block more than usual.
“But then I kept seeing him around, you know. I was keeping a look out and he was always there. At the coffee shop and near your agency. I saw him hanging around there a couple of times.”
“Near our office?” Trixie was alert. “Do you know when?”
Brett frowned in concentration. “I know he was there early Sunday morning. I was on my way home from the supermarket. I stack shelves at night a couple of times a week.”
Dan and Trixie exchanged another look. That put Chambers in the vicinity for the brick-through-the-window incident too.
“Would you be prepared to make a statement detailing everything you know?” Dan asked.
“Of course.” Brett nodded his head.
“Great. Let’s get you settled in my office. It’s far more comfortable than this.”
Brett stood, relief evident in his face. “So, everything is going to be okay?”
Trixie nodded. “Everything is going to be just fine.”
MPD: MAIN NEXT
Word Count: 2875
Author's notes: More hugs and thanks to Dana, my out of this world editor, for sticking by me. Honey's reaction to having a rodent in her room is a true story from my life. Yes, I see the funny, too. But at the time...Even now, I'd rather face a serial killer (provided I have my oven cleaner and flint gun) I have no experience in law enforcement and have taken liberties here and will take more in the next chapter. I also apologise for the variety in formatting—when I copy and paste I usually have to indent and italicise the chapter myself, this one came out this way. My heartfelt gratitude to those who continue to read and comment. Trixie Belden et al belong to Random House and not to me. No profit is being made from these scribblings.
