Free Stalker (9780307823557) by Joan Lowery Nixon Page B

murdered Stella.”
    “Or the person who beat Darryl?”
    “He wasn’t beaten in this house. There were no signs of the kind of fight he’d have been in. No blood. It looks like he came here after his beating.” He glanced toward the grouping of photos on the wall. “You’re also forgetting the missing photographs.”
    “What good is something that isn’t there?”
    “If Bobbie can remember who was in the missing pictures, we might find out who didn’t want to be recognized.”
    “You mean it might be the killer? But with so many pictures missing he covered himself, didn’t he?”
    “You’d be surprised how these things add up,” Lucas said.
    “I just thought of something,” Jennifer said. “Didn’t you call the police? They didn’t come.”
    “That’s because I told them to meet Darryl at the emergency ward of the hospital.” He gave one last look around the room. “That’s where I’m going now. I’ll drop you off at home first.”
    He drove to her house as though he had been there before. Jennifer, wondering if he had checked her out and irritated because he must have done so, couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice. “You know everything, don’t you?”
    “No,” he said calmly. “For one thing, I don’t know the identity of Stella’s murderer. But if we both work hard at the job, we’ll find out.”
    “Sorry,” Jennifer mumbled. “I don’t mean to be rude. I just feel like—Oh, I don’t know how I feel!”
    “It’s stress,” he said, “and you’ve got to learn to handle it.”
    He got out of the car, and she fumbled with her books, trying to climb out quickly. “Where are you going?”
    “To meet your father.” Lucas started up the walk.
    “He’s not home yet. And anyhow—”
    “Then I’ll introduce myself to your grandmother.”
    Jennifer stopped in the middle of the walk, unable to catch up with him. “Oh, Lucas, maybe it would be better if you didn’t talk with Grannie.”
    He looked at her the way Miss Grabel in the fourth grade had looked when she discovered Jennifer was sneaking bites of her lunch instead of working on the history test. He turned and strode toward the front door.
    Without a word Jennifer hurried to join him. She opened the door and Grannie shouted from the kitchen, “Jennifer Lee Wilcox! Come on in here and tell me why you’re so late!”
    Jennifer sighed, then walked into the kitchen, dumping her books on the table. “I had stuff to do, Grannie,” she said.
    Grannie waved a potato peeler like a baton. A cigarette wobbled on her lower lip. “You could of remembered that I’ve got enough to do without fixin’ all the meals around here. At my age, I need your help, and it seems to me that—”
    Lucas came into the kitchen. Grannie squinted to peer at him, and Jennifer quickly said, “Grannie, I’d like you to meet Lucas Maldonaldo.”
    “I’m glad to meet you, ma’am,” Lucas said.
    “You from the school or what?” Grannie continued to study him.
    “I told you about him, Grannie,” Jennifer said.
    “I’m a retired policeman,” Lucas added. “Jennifer asked me to help her friend Bobbie Trax.”
    “How you goin’ to help her? Get her out of jail? Not much chance of that, far as I can see.”
    “Jennifer and I are trying to find the identity of theperson who murdered Stella Trax, and I want to reassure you that Jennifer will only be doing research and investigation with me.”
    “You talk as stiff as you stand,” Grannie said. “My cousin Will stands like you do. Touch of arthritis. Right?” She didn’t pause for an answer, adding, “Just put all that in plain English so’s I can understand.”
    “I’m telling you that Jennifer shouldn’t be in any danger.”
    Grannie rubbed her chin, her eyes widening. “I didn’t like this in the first place. And now you’re talkin’ about danger.”
    “The work I’m giving her is routine. If I thought she’d be exposed to any danger I’d handle this myself. She’d be