Carol Ericson - Circumstantial Memories

“Anything dead around here?” Ballard twisted his head over his shoulder to scan the front yard.

Julia cleared her throat. “Not that we noticed.”

Ballard blew out a breath. “Too bad you don’t have any neighbors, Julia. I suppose there aren’t any witnesses. Are the Fourniers your closest neighbors?”

“Closer than Gracie and Charlie, but don’t you think they would’ve called you if they’d seen somebody on my porch spreading blood all over my front door?”

“You have a point, but I’ll drive up the road to see if they noticed anything unusual. We’ll dust for prints here and take a sample of that blood, and then you can clean up this mess.”

“Seems I have a lot of messes to clean up lately.” She shoved her hands in her pockets and kicked her toe at the ground. She wanted to catch this maniac red-handed, literally. Her memories and her old life hovered within her grasp and she wanted to take hold with both hands and banish the fear and uncertainty that had dogged her since the accident. She didn’t need another complication.

Another patrol car pulled in front of Sheriff Ballard’s, and Zack Ballard popped his head up over the open door. “Have you been looking for me…Sheriff?”

“Yeah, I wanted you to run something over here to Julia, but I couldn’t bring you up on the radio.”

Zack hunched over the car door, leaning on his folded arms. “I had it on. Just heard a little static earlier, but no call.”

“Doesn’t matter now. We have another problem. Julia’s secret admirer left her another gift, a gory one.”

“Stalker.” Julia clenched her jaw.

“Excuse me, honey?”

Why did the men in this town always use sweet little endearments for her? Bet nobody ever called Julia Rousseau of Paris honey. “Secret admirers don’t leave gifts of blood. This guy’s a stalker, and I think he’s dangerous.”

“Blood?” And all of the same drained from Zack’s face. “Someone left blood? From what?”

“I’m presuming an animal, but we haven’t found anything yet.” Ballard jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “We’ll take a sample and prints, if we find any.”

Ryder had been slowly moving toward Zack’s squad car, and now he bent over, pointing at the front right bumper. “Is this blood?”

Zack’s head jerked up. “On my bumper?”

“Take a look.”

Julia followed Sheriff Ballard out to the road and leaned over Ryder’s shoulder. A red smear with brown fur sticking to it clung to the chrome bumper.

“What is that, boy?” Sheriff Ballard straightened up and drilled Zack with a steely gaze.

“I must’ve hit that animal.” Zack’s eyes shifted between the three faces turned toward him. “I came down this way earlier on my way to Gracie Malone’s B and B. Some small animal ran into the road in front of my car. I thought I missed him, but I guess not. Must’ve grazed him at least.”

“Where was this?”

Ryder’s lips formed a thin line, and Julia’s heart skittered in her chest. He didn’t really think Zack had a hand in this, did he?

“I don’t know. Somewhere back toward Gracie’s.” Zack waved an ineffectual arm behind him.

“Will you show me?” Without waiting for an answer, Ryder climbed into Zack’s squad car.

Zack and his father exchanged glances, and Sheriff Ballard nodded almost imperceptibly.

As the car crawled onto the road, Julia turned back to her violated house. “Are you going to get your evidence so I can clean up?”

“I’ll get my kit out of the car.” The sheriff grabbed his door handle and hesitated. “You don’t think Zack had anything to do with this, do you, Julia?”

She shrugged. “You said you couldn’t raise him on the radio before. Where was he?”

“I don’t know.” Sheriff Ballard clenched his jaw. “But don’t worry. I’ll find out.”

Zack Ballard didn’t seem like the stalking sort, but what did she know? She’d obviously married a man who turned traitor, a man who hit her, a man willing to threaten his so-called friend and colleague.

She opened her garage door and grabbed a bucket, a scrub brush, some detergent and a bottle of bleach. Once Ballard finished with her porch and door, she’d have to go inside, but the thought made her stomach twist in knots. Had the madman continued his sick pranks in her house?

When she rounded the corner, Ballard was standing back from the porch, clutching two evidence baggies and frowning.

“What is it?” She dropped her cleaning supplies on the ground.

“Someone left you a message in the blood.”

“What’s the message? Leave or die? That’s what he left on Ryder’s truck.”

“No, I think he wrote that message for Ryder.” Ballard scratched his jaw. “This message is for you-You’re mine.”

A chill snaked up her spine, but she shook it off and tossed back her hair. “Yeah, right. That’s the way to a woman’s heart. Don’t say it with diamonds, say it with blood.”

Sheriff Ballard cocked his head. “Are you all right? I’m thinking the next step here is to install a camera outside your house. Next time this Romeo comes calling, we’ll catch him in living color.”

Julia opened her mouth to respond when Zack’s squad car pulled up to the curb, and Ryder hopped out holding a soiled rag. Did he find that in Zack’s car?

“We found the spot where Zack hit the animal on the road, but the animal is gone. I mopped up some of the blood with this cloth, so you can test it against the blood on Julia’s porch.”

Zack walked to the front of his car and leaned against the hood. “Looks like someone came along, scooped up the animal I hit and smeared its blood on Julia’s door. Wouldn’t you say, Ryder?”

Julia told Ryder about the message on the door and Sheriff Ballard’s suggestion to install a camera.

Ryder’s lips tightened and a dark flame flared in his eyes when she told him what the stalker had written.

“You are not going to stay here tonight.”

“Nonsense.” She scooped up the bucket and swung it from her hand. “I’m not allowing some nut who plays with roadkill to scare me out of my house.”

“What about Shelby?”

Julia stopped and the bucket banged against her shin. “I don’t want her here.”

“Exactly. She can stay with my family. You can, too.”

“I think if she’s going to stay with anyone, it should be the Stokers. She knows them better than your parents, Ryder, and I can’t quite imagine your dad being happy with a little girl in the house.”

“Let’s discuss this later.” He tilted his chin toward the Ballards, taking pictures of the mess on the porch. Then he helped her measure detergent in the bucket and fill it with water.

“Okay, we have what we need.” Sheriff Ballard patted the bag hanging over his shoulder. “There’s not much evidence here, but once you get that camera up we’ll nail him.”

“Just look for someone toting a dead animal carcass around. Shouldn’t be too hard to spot.” Ryder pointed at Zack’s bumper. “You might want to clean off your car, Ballard.”

When the two squad cars drove out of sight, Julia turned to Ryder. “Do you think it’s Zack?”

“I didn’t see any blood in his car or on his uniform. If he hit the animal and then picked it up to use its blood to decorate your house, there should’ve been some sign of it.”

“He went missing. Maybe he had time to go home and shower.”

“If he took that much time, you’d think he would’ve wiped the blood off his bumper.” Ryder grabbed the scrub brush from her hand and charged toward the porch.

She laughed. “This is Zack Ballard we’re talking about.”

“I’m glad you can laugh about it.” He grinned at her. “How’d we miss that message on the door?”