AG01 - Washed Away Read online

  JACK PARKER

  Copyright © 2013 by Jack Parker

  Cover and internal design © 2013 by Jack Parker

  Washed Away

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced, in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locations is entirely coincidental.

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 1

  Alexa Graham woke up this morning with a premonition – something bad was going to happen today. Not typically the pessimist, she shrugged off the feeling and got ready for work… shower, feeding the cats, running out the door to work, driving like a mad woman, jumping the railroad tracks, etc. It was a haunted feeling, a slight niggling in the back of her mind, but it followed her all day long. This day was going to be memorable.

  She kept anticipating the worst as she walked from room to room, floor to floor checking on her patients, but the end of her shift came and… nothing. Strange… she was usually right on about these types of things.

  On her way out that evening, one of her co-workers stopped her, "Hey, Alexa! What are you doing tonight? Some of us are getting together after work to relax and watch the game. Wanna come with?"

  "Not tonight guys. I'm having dinner with friends, maybe next time. There's a game next week, right?" Right then, a flood of co-workers came by and grabbed her friend by the arm, dragging her along.

  Hanging half in-half out of the sliding glass door to the hospital, her friend yelled back, "Yeah, ok, we'll see you later. Gotta get there early if we want a table by the big screen. Those high school coaches always grab the best spots. Bye!" And, whoosh, they were gone. Hope they have fun tonight. Should be a great game.

  Alexa worked at a local hospital in Neosho, Missouri as a pediatric respiratory therapist. She transferred to Neosho from Texas almost two years ago to be close to her mother (at the time living in Oklahoma) who had become severely ill. Although her mother had later recovered, Alexa had already fallen in love with "the Flower Box City" and decided to stay put. She loved the small town feel of the place with its natural beauty and tons of specialty shops. Best of all, she was within easy driving distance of her mother as well as a great University where she frequently enrolled in literature classes for fun.

  Ok, tonight I'm going to MOF's house for dinner, wonder what's on the menu. Oh well, she always comes up with something good. Just glad I don't have to stop for burgers, kinda sick of fast food.

  Alexa had known MOF since they were teenagers. MOF's real name was Missy Moffet, hence the nickname. MOF actually stood for "my only friend," which Alexa had dubbed Missy when they were teenagers. When MOF married, she had moved to Neosho and the long distance made it hard on the two friends. They corresponded via email and snail mail for a while, but when Alexa moved up here to care for her mom, MOF was ecstatic that they would be close enough to see each other often.

  Just about everything that MOF and Alexa said to each other was in the form of an acronym – nicknames, favorite phrases, you name it. They had hundreds of these, and although they constantly had to remind each other what some of these stood for, there were certain time-honored ones that just couldn't be forgotten.

  SEOMAC was a great example. SEOMAC meant that they were peeved with whatever they put at the end of the sentence. For instance, if they were peeved at their kids, they said, "SEOMAC bratty kids, SEOMAC brats, SEOMAC kids." Somehow, after breaking down the object of the SEOMAC, they felt a lot better. SEOMAC actually stood for the words of a song they made up long years ago when Alexa and MOF used to go cruising together. The song went something like this, "Se está orinando mi air conditioner." Translation: "My air conditioner is peeing." They used this song frequently when they went cruising because the air conditioner in Missy's 1979 Mustang periodically leaked on Alexa's feet. It was tradition to sing the song each time Alexa almost came out of her skin after feeling the cold water hit her feet.

  Alexa couldn't help but smile when she thought of some of the crazy things that she and MOF had done together as teenagers. We had so much fun together and now we're back together again – the dynamic duo. Oh boy, Neosho, look out!!

  She pulled up in front of the beautiful Victorian house and noticed that her daughter Tara had arrived already. Too bad she can't stay after dinner, that homework is a killer. My baby girl is so smart! But, she works too hard at school. Maybe I'll take her out this weekend for some fun. Maybe shopping at the mall… ICK! Teenagers, mall, Friday night... I must be insane!! Tap, tap…

  Alexa looked up to see MOF standing beside her car door, knocking on the window. "What's wrong with you? You have one of the most pained looks on your face. Come on, get out of the car, woman! We've been waiting dinner on you. Lasagna! Do you know how hard it is to wait on lasagna? A girl has only so much willpower!"

  Alexa opened her door, "Ok, ok, I'm coming. Some people are just too impatient. I drove as fast as I could."

  "That's what worries me. I hope you slow down in residential areas, woman. But, if you don't get in here now, Phil's gonna eat your helping as well as his own," MOF yelled over her shoulder as she headed into the house.

  "You tell him to keep his grubby hands off my lasagna or I'll sick your husband on him," Alexa shouted as she took off running toward the house.

  This should be good. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Alexa mentally rubbed her hands together at the thought of MOF's gooey lasagna, she was already salivating. I could eat my weight in that stuff!

  After the meal, Tara went home to study, but everyone else stuck around to listen to some new CDs that MOF had picked up today. Of course, since most of them had to work the next day, they cut it a little short.

  Alexa had just stepped onto MOF's porch to go home for the evening when, glancing at a nearby creek, she saw a small white pickup floating there. She stared in disbelief… What? A pickup? In the creek?! I better check this out.

  "This is just odd..." she said out loud to no one in particular as she jogged toward the creek. Her manner changed from disbelief to eerie anticipation; after all, she had been expecting something bad to happen all day. When she arrived at the creek, she gave out a loud yelp.

  "Hey, AIG!" Phil yelled from the porch, "What's going on?" He ran down to join the jumping, waving Alexa on the creek bank. His jaw dropped in shock as he took in the scene. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked.

  "Um… yes… I'm afraid it is," said Alexa as she gingerly made her way down the steep bank for a closer look.

  There in the water was a small pickup with the trailer and boat still attached as if someone had accidentally driven off the edge of the bank. Underneath the trailer, which was submerged in the creek, was a body. It was a man, bound and gagged, and tied to the underside of the trailer axle – obviously dead.

  "Call 911. We better get the police down here."

  "Already on it," Phil replied, dialing his cell phone.

  CHAPTER 2

  "This is the strangest thing I've se
en in my entire tenure here at Neosho Police Department," Alexa heard Police Chief Christopher Nettle say to the reporter who was riddling him with questions. "This is a very serious situation. I assure you that we are working very hard to get to the bottom of this, and will keep the public informed of any safety concerns that arise. Our first priority is to catch the person responsible – the second is to keep our community safe from further incidents of this kind. Thank you… no more questions at this time."

  As Chief Chris (Alexa's nickname for him – much to his dismay) walked toward her, Alexa tried to ward off the numbness that was creeping over her. She knew she needed to keep a level head and stay focused for the questions he would ask her, but fatigue was overwhelming her. She had been out here talking to various officers since they had arrived four hours ago. Actually, she had been ordered to stay put until the chief was finished with the media. GRRR! That man!! she thought.

  MOF had chucked it in and headed off to bed after the police had questioned her and her family. Alexa assured her that there was no sense in waiting on the chief, no telling how long he would be and MOF had to get up early. Phil, bless his heart, ducked out as soon as the police finished with him. Lucky dog!

  "Don't look so upset. I only have a few questions right now. I can see you're done for." CC (short for Chief Chris – yet another acronym) said to her.

  "I can't help it, I've had a very long day – and night," Alexa grumbled.

  "I promise to make this as painless as possible. I've already talked to my officers about what you told them. Just a couple more questions. Did you recognize the victim?"

  "No, I mean, maybe a little. I can't place him, but I know I've seen him somewhere, but never as a dead guy."

  "Duh," CC said under his breath.

  "What?" Alexa asked defensively, she couldn't rein in her snappy comments when she felt like this.

  "Nothing. Ok, let's hear the whole story again, from the time you came out of Mrs. Moffet's house this evening. Who was standing where, what was the sequence of events, and which details are you conveniently leaving out? We both know how you LOVE a mystery."

  "Ok, listen CC, you're stepping all over the last nerve I still have intact! I've told you everything I can remember, except… Oh yeah… I forgot… the killer walked up and gave me his signed confession, which I promptly threw into the creek just to make your life harder..."

  CC bit back, "Yeah, yeah… I know… You're just helping me out by not telling me everything; you're just being a good citizen. That makes sense. We police officers just get in the way of true crime fighters like you."

  "Blah, blah, and another blah to you too, CC." Alexa parried as she made the appropriate 'blah, blah' hand signs, tilting her head back and forth each time she said 'blah'. She turned away before he saw the sarcastic smile she had on her face… Can't let the man think he's winning, his ego is big enough.

  The smell of the creek was stronger now because the wind had shifted that evening. It smelled of wet dirt, water, moss, and trees. Most likely, a storm is brewing – in more ways than one. Ah, Mother Nature, gotta love her. I discovered a body just a few hours ago! This is scary… but a little exciting. Man, I am dea-, whoa, almost said the 'd' word. If CC doesn't keep biting my head off, maybe I can go home soon and salvage a few hours sleep from this night.

  Turning back to CC, she caught him with a sympathetic look on his face – at least she thought it was sympathy – she really couldn't read his face very well in the dark. But he does look so cute! Uniforms… there is no known defense against them.

  He quickly slipped his 'chief of police' mask back into place and sighed, "I know you're exhausted, just one or two more questions, and then you can go home and crash. Ok? When you first spotted the vehicle, what was your overall impression?"

  Alexa sat down on a nearby stump thought a moment, "From the way the truck was floating there, it looked as if someone had just run off the road, but there were no tire tracks on the bank, like the truck had been there for a while. I guess that's why I was so shocked to see the body tied to the axle. Usually boat trailers sit pretty close to the ground, so it would be hard to drive the truck along with that guy tied underneath."

  CC moved closer, close enough for Alexa to catch a whiff of his cologne, "So, you didn't see another person in or around the vehicle? Did you notice anyone else around?"

  NO FAIR!! Even after a hard day's work, he still smells good! Unlike me… I probably smell like the fish hatchery down the road. "No, there was no one in the cab, which I thought was weird. I guess I was so stunned by everything that I didn't really pay attention to the surroundings, except maybe that the water seemed pretty clear – clear enough to see the dead guy. Sorry, I can't think of anything else, my brain is mush right now." She sighed and began to massage her temples.

  "Of course, well, thanks for the information. I'll be in touch if I have any more questions. I may want to question Tara tomorrow, I need to know if she saw anything when she left early to go home. By the way, don't leave town…" he winked as he turned to rejoin his officers over by the creek.

  She thumbed her nose at him as she turned toward her car. Can't let him see me doing that, he'll keep me here all night. When he's in the questioning mode, it's impossible to get him off task. She had known CC since the first day she came to town two years ago. He had been on patrol, she had been speeding… She couldn't keep the smile off her face as she remembered the scene that had followed, but it was an exhausted smile. OK, off to bed.

  CC thought as he walked away… She looks a little dejected, and with her hair blowing all over, I almost gave in to the temptation of going over and hugging her so I would have an excuse to smooth it down. She smells so good, like the storm that is blowing in.

  But he had reports to write that wouldn't allow his mind the liberty of dwelling on Alexandra Inez Graham. Her friends often shortened her name to AIG. Phil (the lucky dog!) had unlimited access to her, because of their close friendship. Sometimes CC got the urge to haul Phil into the station to grill him about what they did together, even though CC knew that the friendship was platonic. Maybe someday I'll get up the courage to ask Alexa out.

  CHAPTER 3

  Alexa was dreaming… This is a dream, she thought. How can I know I'm dreaming and still lay here dreaming? Right then, the door burst open and in walked her cat Neosho, except she was wearing a raincoat.

  Neosho said, "Get up and answer the door."

  Someone was knocking on the door – a loud, persistent knock that would wake the dead. Finally, Alexa could stand no more and jumped out of bed…

  She bolted upright in bed, her mind still groggy after her dream. She rubbed her eyes and tried to focus. There IS knocking going on, but it's not at my door. She jumped out of bed (for real this time), ran to the front door and flung it open. There outside her window stood Phil on a ladder nailing the fascia board back onto the frame of the window – her BEDROOM window. GRRR!!

  "DUDE!! Do you not know that today is my day off and I'm trying to get some SLEEP??" she yelled at Phil, who kept right on working as if she weren't there. "Phil?! Yo, Phil!!" she called from the foot of the ladder. Finally, she stood where he could see her and waved her arms.

  He jerked his earphones out of his ears and said, "Hey, AIG! What's up? Thought I would come over here this morning and fix this board, it's been hanging down for several weeks now. Were you calling me earlier, 'cause I had my tunes up to drown out the noise of this hammer?"

  She gave him 'the look', which he didn't get at all, because when she didn't answer, he just shrugged and started hammering again. She thought, MEN!!!

  Phil thought, WOMEN! Moody as always!

  She turned and began walking back toward the porch, her anger fizzling. Might as well let him have his fun, he usually does just what he pleases anyway. Just then, the smell hit her. Sweet Baby James!! There's nothing like the smell of coffee brewing. My kiddo is an ANGEL!

  Phil must have smelled it too because he was off th
e ladder and by her side in about two seconds. He held open the screen door of her house as she walked inside. "Thank thee, kind sir," Alexa curtsied and said sweetly in a really bad English accent.

  "Oh, milady, 'tis my honor and great pleasure. Pshaw! Nothing could delight me more," Phil countered with a courtly bow. Alexa giggled.

  These mood swings of hers are getting bad, he thought. Wonder if the hormone dosage is right.

  Just then the smell of sizzling bacon and baking biscuits grabbed their senses by the hands, led them to the kitchen table, pulled out a chair for each and bade them sit down. They couldn't resist – truly, there was nothing on earth that could possibly persuade them to do otherwise. Tara was making breakfast, and at that moment, Alexa couldn't possibly love her more.

  As she sat down at the table, Alexa noticed her clothes and groaning, forced herself back into a standing position. "I'll be right back," she said. She dashed into her bathroom, took the fastest shower in Neosho, Missouri history, put mousse in her hair, quickly pulled on some clothes, and ran back to the kitchen. "Did I miss anything??" she asked as she skidded to a stop beside her chair.

  "No, weirdo. But, sit down and eat before I grab your plate and go to town." Phil… always the gentleman.

  "If you eat that before praying, it will make you sick," Tara said in a sing-song voice.

  "So, what are you saying, Tara?" Phil asked rhetorically.

  Alexa… always the lady, "Pfff. Shut up and say the blessing, dude." Wait, that came out wrong. Never mind, he's praying.

  "Now I lay me down – OUCH! Ok, I'll say the other one I know," Phil grinned as he said a blessing over the meal and promptly started to scarf down the food, rubbing the tender spot on his ear where Alexa had pinched him.

  After their initial hunger was abated, Phil brought up the events from last night. "So, AIG, what do you think really happened last night? Who was that guy anyway?"