Hoaley Ill-Manored (14 page)

She shook her head. “He’s asleep and we want
him to stay that way. As you can imagine he’s very upset by what
happened tonight.”

“Yeah. I can imagine.” Adam barely
suppressed a shudder.

“Mr. Hoale, we need to know…” She hesitated
when Adam met her worried gaze. “This isn’t easy.” She seemed to
struggle for a moment and then tried again, “If Mr. Williams did
this to himself we’ll need to put him on suicide watch...”

“No! He would never do this. He was attacked
by someone in my house tonight. I’ve called a friend of ours who’s
an Indianapolis detective. He’s going to meet me at the house and
we’re going to try to figure out what happened.”

She nodded. “I’ll need to report it to the
local police.”

Adam grasped her hand, squeezing it. “Can
you ask them to keep it quiet, please? And can you make sure the
hospital does the same? If this gets out Ashville is going to be
wall to wall media.”

Her eyes widened in horror. “Yes, I’m sure
you’re right. I’ll tell them and you don’t need to worry about my
staff. We’ll be discreet.”

Adam stood. “Thanks. I’m going to the house
to meet Detective Clandestine now. If you want to tell the locals
to meet us there? It’s Bilsworth Manor.”

“Of course. She laughed softly. I hadn’t put
it together. I’d heard there was a contractor rehabbing the old
place. I’m glad.”

“Yeah. Unfortunately it seems that not
everybody shares that opinion.”

DS

CC’s silver Crown Vic was sitting in the
circle when Adam pulled up at the manor. Adam unlocked the front
door and called out to him. CC came to the top of the stairs. “I’m
up here.”

A moment later, Adam found CC standing
beneath the noose, looking up and frowning. “The first thing we
need to do is prove that Dirk didn’t do this himself,” Adam told
him.

CC nodded. “Already done.” He jerked his
head toward the chair.” There’s no way he kicked or threw that
chair all the way over there after hanging himself.”

Relief swept Adam. Until that moment he
hadn’t realized he’d been harboring that speck of doubt that Dirk
had let anger and depression get the best of him.

Walter trotted into the room and headed for
the wall next to the chair, his tail wagging as he sniffed the
baseboard.

“Looks like a couple more minutes and this
fixture would have broken loose.”

“Not fast enough though.”

“Maybe the guy who put Dirk here thought it
would fall…was counting on it.”

“You mean this might have been meant as a
warning?”

“Could be.”

“I’m not buying it.”

CC shrugged. His gaze slid again from the
spot where the rope was tied around the fixture and looked to the
chair clear across the room. “I’d say our guy threw the chair over
there as soon as he knocked it out from under Dirk.”

“How did he get Dirk onto the chair?”

“We’ll need to ask Dirk, but my guess is he
threatened him with a gun.”

“I’d rather get shot than hang to
death.”

“Yeah, but if somebody woke you up in the
middle of the night, holding a gun against your head, you might not
be thinking all that straight.”

“Good point.”

Walter barked, digging at the baseboard.

“Walter stop that!”

The big dog dropped onto his wide haunches
and looked at Adam, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as
he panted.

“There’s blood on the rope.”

Adam’s stomach jerked. “Yeah, that’s Dirk’s.
He was digging with his fingers…” Adam saw stars and he staggered,
nearly hitting the floor at the horror of the whole thing.

CC caught him under the arms before he fell.
“Whoa. How about you take a seat over here.” He helped Adam over to
the cot and lowered him down.

Adam’s face was covered in clammy sweat.
“Sorry. I guess this has really scared me.”

“You think?” CC returned to his perusal of
the rope.

Walter returned to his attempts to dig a
hole in the wall.

Sirens sounded outside the window and Adam
started to rise. CC held up a hand to stop him. “I’ll go get them.
You just stay there and take deep breaths.”

Adam nodded. He wasn’t sure he could make it
down the stairs without passing out anyway.

Scratch, scratch, scratch, whine.

Adam turned to Walter and started to yell.
He didn’t get the words out before the wall above where Walter was
digging fell inward, landing on Walter’s head.

The big dog jumped away with a yelp and
scurried over to Adam.

Adam stared at the spot and felt the blood
draining from his face. “Holy shit!”

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Officer Tim Krepps stared at the hole in the
wall, his ice-blue eyes wide. “Is that a ladder?”

CC stood next to him, hands on hips. “It
appears to be, yes.”

“I’m guessing that’s an old dumbwaiter
shaft.” Adam added. The three men had been standing in front of the
rope ladder for several minutes, amazed. He stepped forward and,
trying not to touch the wall in case they wanted to check for
fingerprints or something, Adam tucked his head inside the shaft
and looked down. The ladder ended a few feet below the opening. He
looked up, but it was too dark above to see where the ladder
originated.

“Can you tell where it starts?” CC moved
carefully around the fallen panel.

Adam pulled his head out. “No. I’d be
willing to bet it goes up to the attic though.”

CC met his gaze. “The squatter?”

Adam nodded. He was aware that Dirk had told
CC about the trunk in the attic.

Officer Krepps furrowed his brow. CC touched
the younger cop’s beefy arm. “I’ll explain on the way up.”

Adam headed out of the room with Walter at
his heels. At the door for the attic staircase, CC touched Adam’s
arm. He stepped in front of him, his 9mm drawn and ready. “Let us
go first, Hoale, in case our guy’s still up there.”

Adam doubted the man who’d attacked Dirk
would be stupid enough to still be in that attic, but he inclined
his head and grabbed Walter’s collar to hold him back while the two
cops went up the stairs ahead of them.

Adam flipped the light switch as they neared
the top and both men trained their guns on the open space above. A
second’s perusal was all it took to assure them the attic was
empty. CC looked down and jerked his head for Adam to come up.

Walter loped up the stairs as soon as Adam
let go of his collar, his thick fringe of a tail sweeping the space
behind him as he ran. Walter’s nails clacked against the wood floor
above as Adam climbed.

A moment later, Adam heard CC call out to
Walter and heavy footsteps running across the floor. When Adam
stepped onto the attic floor, CC was holding Walter’s collar,
pulling him back from something that lay on the floor. CC’s
intense, gray gaze found Adam’s face as he approached. “What is it,
CC?”

“I think our guy left a message for
somebody.”

Adam’s gaze slid downward and he sucked in a
surprised gasp. Lying on the rough wood floor, directly below where
Delf Bilsworth had probably hung himself over seventy years
earlier, a short piece of rope lay loosely coiled. In its center,
nestled against the pale wood of the attic floor, lay a single
yellow daisy, wilted and tinged with black dirt—probably from its
time on the ground of the ancient slave cabin behind Teddy Worth’s
house.

DS

That piece of rope doesn’t look like the
same rope you and Maddy found in Worth’s barn. It’s not as thick.”
CC told Adam. “This isn’t enough to arrest Worth.”

“It’s damn well enough to question him.”
Adam’s whole body vibrated with rage. Not only did Teddy Worth
apparently burn down his gazebo as well as break into the manor and
try to hang Dirk, but now he was threatening Adam with further
violence. “I’m not going to let him get away with this CC, even if
you’re too busy thinking about your vacation to do anything!”

“That’s bullshit, Hoale and you know it. I’m
here aren’t I?”

Officer Krepps lifted a hand. “Just hold on,
Mr. Hoale. We’ll do the police work on this. You just need to calm
down and let us do our jobs. If we rush it we might miss something
and Worth will walk.”

Adam knew the man was right. But that just
made him even more angry. He could barely speak through his
clenched jaw. “Right. Got it. Thanks for the information you gave
me earlier, Officer Krepps.” The other man nodded but his icy gaze
held Adam’s in warning. Adam chose to ignore the warning. “Come on,
Walter.” He stalked down the stairs and outside, to his truck,
pulling his keys out of his pocket as he dragged the passenger side
door open. Walter jumped inside and assumed the position on the
front passenger seat.

“Hoale, wait! Where are you going?” CC ran
outside after him.

“Don’t worry about it, CC.” Adam headed
around to the driver’s side.

“Don’t go near Worth, Adam. I’m serious. You
could totally fuck this up if you do.”

Adam lifted a hand and started to climb into
the truck. He stopped when Mike trumpeted and turned as a small,
bright blue car careened down the driveway. Adam swore. Mink. He’d
forgotten the realtor was coming to give him some potential
comparables for the manor.

Adam stood with a foot inside his truck and
waited for his friend. Mink pulled into the circle and climbed out.
Unlike last time, Mink was dressed normally—at least as normal as
Mink was capable of being. He wore a hot pink, short sleeved polo
shirt and sharply pleated white slacks with cuffs. A pair of dark
brown leather sandals adorned his feet and cotton candy pink polish
covered his neatly manicured toenails.

Mink had his fine, straight hair gelled
straight up from his head and the honey-blond color was streaked
with strands of silver. One earlobe sported a diamond stud. His
gaze locked onto the police car sitting in the circle. “What
happened?” Mink asked, wrapping Adam in a hug.

Adam returned the hug, glad for the show of
support from his friend. “I’ll fill you in on the way. I need to
run into town. You want to ride with me?”

“Sure, no problem.” Mink turned a worried
gaze toward the two cops. He gave CC a weak smile. “Hey, Detective
Clandestine.”

CC inclined his head. “Mink. You keep your
friend out of trouble, you hear?”

Mink glanced toward Adam. To his credit he
didn’t agree to anything until he knew what he was agreeing to.
Flamboyant and fun loving Mink might be, but he wasn’t stupid. Far
from it in fact.

“Just climb in and I’ll tell you what’s
going on, Mink.” Adam glared over the top of his truck at CC.
“Walter, get in the back.”

Adam drove too fast on the way into town,
his hands clutching the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were
white. His mind kept picturing Dirk hanging from that fixture… His
chest was so tight with rage he didn’t think he’d ever take another
unencumbered breath.

Mink sat silent for a few minutes and then
ventured forth into the quagmire. “I brought those comps you asked
for.”

Adam nodded. “Good.”

Another beat of silence throbbed between
them.

“Maddy told me Dirk was in town.”

When Adam didn’t respond Mink reached out
and touched his arm. “I’m sorry, Adam. I know you and Dirk have
some problems…”

Adam blinked, forced from his thoughts of
retribution by the other man’s kind concern. “No. I mean, yeah we
do. But that’s not even an issue right now.” He sighed. “I wish
that was the worst of my problems.”

Mink sat back and crossed his legs, plucking
at the perfect crease in his pants. “Tell me, boyfriend. It’ll make
you feel better to talk about it.”

Adam doubted that, but he filled his friend
in on the events of the night and morning anyway. Mink listened,
horrified, giving Adam all the usual, over-the-top responses Adam
expected from his melodramatic friend. But when Adam was done
reciting events Mink said something strangely sane and sage for
him. “You have to get this guy, Adam. But you can’t work with CC or
the local cops to do it. He’s way too slippery. You need to make
sure he’s caught in the act.”

Adam was shocked into silence. He’d expected
Mink to go with the, “Don’t do anything crazy” line of reasoning.
Though Mink had never taken his own advice he generally counseled
level headed restraint. Adam nodded. “That’s the plan. But I can’t
take this guy head on. I need to come at him from the edges.”

Mink nodded. “Okay, sounds like a plan. So
what do we do next?”

Adam’s cell phone rang and he held up a
finger. “Hold that thought.” He glanced at the screen and accepted
the call. “Hey, Mads.”

“Bud and I just got to the house and CC told
us what happened. First of all, is Dirk okay?”

“He’s fine…”

“And you? Are you okay?”

“I am, I…”

“Okay, then you listen to me you selfish
little prick…I can’t believe you didn’t call me immediately and
tell me what happened!”

“Mads, I…”

“Shut up! I’m so mad at you I could spit!
Dirk could have been killed…you could have been killed…and you
didn’t bother to pick up the phone and call…”

“Mads…”

“You’ve done a lot of selfish things over
the years, Adam Hoale. But this takes the cake. I don’t know if I
can even talk to you I’m so mad.”

“You’re doing a pretty good job talking so
far…or rather yelling.”

“Shut up! I hate you.”

Fumbling sounds ensued and Bud came on the
line. “Scratch all that. She loves you…”

“
I hate you!”
Maddy screamed in the
background.

“She’s just really upset.” Bud’s voice
dropped a few degrees, “And she hasn’t had breakfast yet.”

“
I heard that! I hate you both!”

“Where’s Dirk? We want to go see him.”

“He’s in town, at the hospital. They said
visiting hours were after ten o’clock. Go get Maddy some
food…please! We’ll meet you there in a bit. Mink and I have to make
one stop before coming over.”