Chapter 10
Beth smiled the whole drive to Cripple Creek. She was overjoyed at the prospect of spending a little more time with Tyler and every time she glanced at her sister, Joy, she saw her smiling also. She wondered if Michael and Joy made a good couple but decided it’s none of her business. She learned long ago not to mess with family and affairs of the heart.
Arriving at the casino they wanted to play at, Beth noticed a blue car pulled into the parking lot right after they did.
“You two go on inside. I want to check something out first. I’ll be right behind you,” Beth told her sisters.
“Is something wrong Beth? Lynn asked while she nervously twisted her hair with her finger.
Beth did her best not to worry them, “No…nothing’s wrong. I just want to see if that blue car is the same one that followed us yesterday. I’m going to stand right outside the casino door and watch for a minute”
“Come on Lynn, Beth knows what she’s doing. Let’s go inside and we’ll watch from inside the casino door,” Joy said while she tugged on Lynn’s arm.
After waiting a good ten minutes she saw no one get out of the car, Beth went inside the building. She didn’t have enough nerve to walk up to the car to see who drove it, or maybe she wasn’t crazy or reckless enough to walk up to a strange car.
She almost bumped into both sisters as she entered the casino. “Come on girls. Let’s go have some fun. It’s probably nothing anyway.”
The three laughed and played penny slot machines until Beth’s phone rang, “Hello Tyler. Anything knew?”
“I ‘m just calling to see if you three are hungry yet,” Tyler said in the smiling voice Beth had begun to really like.
Beth laughed as she answered,” Let me ask the others. “
Lowering her phone she asked Lynn and Joy if they were hungry for lunch and of course they both said yes at the same time.
“I guess we all agree we are ready to eat. Shall we meet you at the restaurant?” Beth asked.
“Sounds like a good idea. Michael and I will see you three in five minutes,” Tyler said before hung up.
“Are we ready, girls?” Beth asked her sisters.
“The restaurant is just down the street and around the corner. Why don’t we walk?” Joy suggested.
It was a beautiful day out and a short walk, so the three laughed and joked regarding their casino winnings as they walked. When they arrived at the restaurant they saw Michael and Tyler stood outside waiting.
Tyler smiled as Beth walked up to him and hugged him. Beth told herself, it was so nice starting a new relationship. Although Beth never rushed into anything, she felt natural with Tyler and excited about getting to know more about him, and wanted to move slowly and just enjoy every new aspect they uncovered about each other.
Lunch was very pleasant. Michael and Tyler kept all three women engaged in conversation throughout their meal, but now that the meal was finished it was time for more serious conversation.
“How is the case coming? Did you find out who the button belongs to?” Lynn asked.
Michael shook his head as he answered, “no, we reviewed the security tapes and didn’t see anyone with buttons that matches the one you found. We’re still trying to locate Maggie’s boyfriend.”
“Maggie…. Is that the woman’s name who was strangled?” Joy asked Michael.
“Yes, Maggie Ward…. She’s twenty nine years old and from Manitou Springs. She runs a yarn shop there. She has a longtime boyfriend named Peter Manning, who we can’t seem to locate. So far we can’t find a reason that anyone would want her dead but it’s early in the investigation still. Hopefully when we locate Peter we can learn more,” Michael informed the other four at the table.
“That poor woman…. I keep seeing her face as she lay there,” Beth shuddered as she remembered how the dead woman looked, “I tell myself to picture the way she looked sitting next to me. She was only there for a few minutes and in those minutes I asked her to watch my machine so I could say something to Joy. And when I returned to the machine she was ready to move on. I wish I would’ve taken some time to talk to her. I should have said something.”
Tyler placed his hand over Beth’s hand as he comforted her and said, “You couldn’t change anything. I’m sorry you were the one who had the misfortune of finding her. I hope you can erase that picture and enjoy the rest of your vacation soon.”
Beth smiled weakly at the handsome man who held her hand. Then she blushed a little as she heard Michael ask Lynn and Joy if they wanted a ride back to the casino with him so they could let the two lovebirds have some privacy. Tyler gave his friend a grateful look as he asked Beth if she wanted to walk with him.
Beth looked to her sisters for approval. She didn’t want them to feel that they had to distance themselves from her or Tyler, but both women smiled and agreed to ride with Michael. Joy especially looked forward to the ride, although short it gave her more time with the handsome sheriff.
“I’ll see you both back at the casino in a few minutes,” Beth told her sisters, who still smiled at her knowingly. Beth saw they both knew she felt something for Tyler, and her sisters welcomed a relationship bloomed between her and Tyler, just as Beth welcomed a relationship between Joy and Michael.
After Tyler paid the check for lunch he took Beth’s hand and they slowly walked back to the casino the three sisters played before.
“Beth, I hope you won’t take this wrong but I know you feel this attraction we have for each other. I want to let you know that I don’t jump into relationships recklessly. I’d like to take this slow and see where it goes even when we return to Atlanta,” Tyler said in his very serious deep voice.
Letting out the deep breath she held Beth laughed, “It seems we’re on the same page. I don’t rush into anything either. I would really like to move slow and see where this leads.”
As they walked, Beth felt the hair on the back of her neck rising. She looked around and spotted a man leaned against a post across the street from the casino her and Tyler were walking in front of. Turning towards Tyler she said, “There’s a guy standing at that post across the street and I think he’s watching us.”
Tyler glanced over Beth’s shoulder and saw the person she spoke of and he did look as if he was watching them, “stay right here while I go ask him some questions.”
When Tyler started across the street, Beth saw the man straighten and he quickly ran down the sidewalk and then entered another casino’s front door with Tyler close behind him.
Beth waited for what seemed like an hour before she saw Tyler coming out the casino door with his hand on the mysterious man’s arm. Tyler pulled out his phone before they crossed the street and by the time Tyler and the man he held reached her, Michael and her sisters joined them on the sidewalk.
“Michael, meet Peter Manning. I believe you have some questions for him,” Tyler said as he released his hold on Peter.
“Why don’t we all go to the cafe here and have a talk?” Michael suggested.
“Now, maybe we’ll get some answers,” Joy said.
The waitress sat them in a large booth and brought the sweet tea and soft drinks they ordered then she left them.
“Peter, tell us why you’re stalking Beth and Tyler,” Michael started the question and answer session.
Peter glanced around the booth nervously before he answered, “I don’t like cops. I have a few outstanding parking tickets. I just wanted to talk to her privately,” He said as he pointed to Beth, “I know you’re the one who found Maggie and I wanted to know who killed her,” Peter’s voice cracked as tears filled his eyes, “She didn’t ever do anything to deserve what happened.”
Beth had a question of her own for Peter, “What kind of car do you drive, Peter?”
Picking up a napkin from the table, Peter wiped his eyes and told the group he drove a mustang.
“What color is your mustang?” Lynn asked.
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“It’s black but why do you want to know about my car?” Peter was puzzled.
Michael was the one who answered, “It’s not important now. Why was Maggie here and was this the first time she came here?”
Peter’s voice was stronger when he answered, “she comes here once a month and stays for two days. She calls it her relaxing time. She plays some slot machines and rests at the hotel. She usually comes with her best friend Ann, but Ann couldn’t get away for this trip.”
As he looked through his notebook, Michael asked for Ann’s last name.
“Ann Brady… They share ownership of the yarn shop. Please, do you know who did this to Maggie?” Peter asked pleadingly.
Ignoring Peter’s question, Michael continued with the interrogation, “Does Maggie spend a lot of money gambling here?”
Peter laughed, “no, she usually brings about three hundred dollars for the two days she’s here. She doesn’t have a lot to spend. You can ask Joe if you don’t believe me. He works at that casino. They have become sort of friends, Joe, Ann and Maggie.”
Michael made a note in his black book to find Joe and see if he can shed some light on the situation.
“Do you have any idea if Maggie had any enemies? Is there someone in her past or present that would have a grudge against her?” Tyler joined the questioning.
The group saw that Peter seriously weighed the question before he answered, “Not that I can think of. Most everyone liked Maggie but she did get a couple of strange phone calls the last week. We were eating dinner one night when she answers her phone. She got up from the table to talk to whoever called. I couldn’t hear what she said but she was upset and she slammed her phone down on the table when she sat back down. I tried asking her about the call but she said she didn’t want to talk about it. She said it was in the past and she wants to keep it there. Then the next day, we went for a drive and her phone rang. She looked at the phone screen and put her phone back into her purse without answering and she immediately said she had a headache and if I would mind taking her back home.”
“Is there anything else you can think of that might help catch Maggie’s killer?” Tyler asked.
“No… that’s all I can think of to tell you. Please find who did this,” Peter said.
“Give me your phone number in case I have any more questions,” Michael demanded.
Peter wrote down his number in Michael’s notebook and got out of the booth. “Will you let me know when you find the person?” He asked.
“I’ll try to keep you informed when we get him or her and no more stalking Beth,” Tyler added.
“A mustang is not the car that followed us. So we still don’t know who that was,” Beth said out loud. She wondered if anything else would happen before they got to the bottom of all this. She had a very bad feeling that the worse was still to come.