Page 35 of The Aura Answer
“Troy wants to see me? That’s a new one. He usually runs the other way when he sees me coming.” She was wearing a down vest, but she welcomed Jax’s heat as he put his arm around her.
“The reason isn’t good. A customer found Sammy Walker in a pool of blood this morning, and yours was the only car seen in his lot.” He led her toward the back stairs.
Thinking of Sammy’s poor wife and kids, Evie filtered a load of bad language before she finally spoke. “That makes utterly no sense. Sammy Walker never hurt anyone. He’d hand what little cash he had to a thief rather than fight. He wasn’t the smartest man on the block, maybe not even the most honest, but he wasn’t a fighter, and he certainly didn’t own anything worth killing over.”
“Whoever did it emptied the cash drawer, so the sheriff figures robbery. Maybe one of Bertie’s druggie friends? I imagine Troy just wants you to tell him if you noticed anyone around.”
“A morning robbery? When there were no sales yet? Even drug addicts should have more sense.” Evie frowned and nearly tripped on the stairs. “Besides, I wasn’t there. Nick was.”
Jax stiffened. “Nick?”
She shrugged as he reached for his phone. “He wanted to buy Bertie’s sketches, and I gave him the car keys. He dropped me off at Patel’s so I could take a look around, and he went on down the road. Is he back yet?”
“Don’t know, but I’d better have him come in with you. Sheriff doesn’t know Nick except as a relation to a family of killers. And Nick has a juvie record, so it looks bad.”
“Nick’s aura is clear,” she protested. “He has self-esteem issues, but he’s not his family by a long shot. I don’t think he even knew his family reprobates until they hunted him down when they needed a cheap hire for their marketing department.”
“Troy won’t buy auras.” Jax left a message telling someone he’d found Evie and would be over shortly. Then he hit his contact list again. “Nick? Tell the family I’ve found Evie. You’d better meet us over at the courthouse. We can go over to the sheriff’s office together.”
“I don’t like this. Who reported my car? I don’t see how anyone noticed the Subaru and not whoever arrived after.” She dragged her feet as they stepped outside. The back stairs faced the county’s tiny police station. The sheriff’s car was parked out front.
“Reuben and Roark will dig into police reports once they’re filed, but right now, Troy is just starting the legwork. So play nice and maybe he’ll tell you what we need to know.”
Evie snorted. “Don’t pacify me, Jackson Ives. I know Troy a lot better than you do.”
He gave her the smashing grin he reserved only for her. “I like it when you call me names.”
She elbowed him but reduced her anger to simmer. Jax hadn’t known his real name until recently. They waited for Nick, who arrived on her bicycle, apparently unwilling to borrow her car again without permission. “Honest,” she told Jax.
“Broke,” he told her. “Not a farthing to his name, as they say in the books.”
“Smart,” she retorted. “Too smart to kill for morning cash.”
He nodded agreement as Nick locked the bike to the rack and ran up to meet them. “I didn’t hear a thing! I swear. I paid formy sketches and went out the back and never saw anyone except Sammy!”
“Sheriff just needs to ask questions,” Jax assured him. “He needs all his i’s dotted and t’s crossed.”
Given that the sheriff was now sitting on three deaths and an arson, Evie suspected Troy might be inclined to grab any suspect he could just to have someone behind bars. Maybe it might even be safer there, because she was starting to feel like Afterthought had a giant target painted on it.
“You’reboth telling me you were right there in the vicinity when a man was shot and robbed and saw nothing?” the sheriff asked in incredulity.
Jax bit his tongue hard and let Nick and Evie speak for themselves. He hadn’t been there but even he could see the gaping hole in this accusation. Troy was pushing.
“It’s a state highway on a weekday morning!” Evie was the first to kick the hole shut. Nick wasn’t familiar with local traffic. “Everyone and their siblings was on their way to work. Which busybody even noticed my carbehindthe building much less recognized it? And why don’t you ask them why they didn’t see thekiller’scar, which had to be out front since Nick didn’t see it either?”
Jax hid his grin. Evie had no need of his help. It was Nick he worried about. The pretty Brit was looking grim.
The sheriff grimaced. “Philomena told me your car was at the Barn, and you were on the hill. She left before seeing anyone else.”
“Then Philomena is as much a suspect as I am and can bear witness that I was at Patel’s when we talked, not at the shop. She knows that! Did she tell you what time it was?”
“I’m asking the questions here, Evangeline,” Troy retorted sternly.
“I wanted to be at the Barn when it opened.” Nick interrupted Evie’s no doubt tart reply. “I dropped Evie off right about nine. I probably spent an hour working with Sammy on the frames, until he had a customer and went to the front. Evie would have been long gone by then and wouldn’t have noticed anyone pulling in. I didn’t see anyone in front or back when I pulled out.”
“We could see the barn from the top of the hill. Philomena probably saw you park. But anyone coming in from the road wouldn’t notice the Subaru in back.” Evie crossed her arms angrily.
Evie was almost never angry. Jax wouldn’t want to be Philomena, whoever she was. Before she could hex anyone, he stepped in. “Which probably means whoever did this didn’t know Nick was there, or he did it after Nick left.” He knew better than to ask when Sammy was killed. It had to be after Sammy left Nick around ten and before the sheriff started hunting Evie less than half an hour ago. Very short time frame.
