Another Chance (A Penelope Chance Mystery Book 2) Read online

  “Just Doug. And Gabriel. No one else close to me. But acquaintances, well, I know a lot of people who drive trucks.”

  “Not much to go on, but I’ll get pictures of the tracks. It’ll help narrow it down.”

  Taking care to avoid stepping on the imprints of the tires, Penelope shined her light into the surrounding bushes while Saunders snapped a few pictures.

  “What do you see?” Saunders asked.

  “A few beer cans. They could have been there already. Let’s bag them anyway.”

  Other than the tire tracks and the beer cans, there wasn’t much to see.

  “No footprints. He . . . or they must not have gotten out of the truck.” Saunders finished scanning the area with his light and clicked it off. “Maybe someone pulled over to take a call?”

  Was that what Saunders thought or was he just trying to make her feel better? It seemed to be a likely explanation. But despite the likelihood of someone stopping to take a call or a teenage couple parking to make out, Penelope had a strange feeling about this incident. She tried to tell herself to stop worrying about it, but the thought remained. She didn’t think it was random.

  “Well, I appreciate you coming out.”

  “You alright, Chance?”

  “Yeah. Just a little jumpy.”

  Something rustled in the bushes as Penelope and Officer Saunders walked back to her house.

  Penelope’s blood froze.

  Saunders took a revolver from the duffle bag and held it low.

  “Who’s there?” Penelope called into the bushes. She pointed her flashlight at the thick undergrowth. The rustling stopped.

  “Police. Come out!” Saunders shouted as he walked toward the bushes.

  The bushes heaved, and Penelope removed her gun from its shoulder harness.

  Twigs snapped as someone, or something, large headed straight for them.

  The next instant a broad-faced Florida panther emerged from the sea of leaves and Saunders fired a shot into the ground in front of the panicked cat. It stopped on a dime and leaped into the air as it hastily turned away from the noise and darted into the forest.

  The whole confrontation lasted less than a couple of seconds.

  Saunders stood motionless, and Penelope used her flashlight to make sure the cat was gone. The gunshot spooked it pretty good. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be back.

  “Saunders?”

  Saunders shook his head and lowered his gun.

  “You all right?” she asked.

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he walked straight to his cruiser, opened the glove box, and removed a pack of unfiltered Camel cigarettes. He had quit months ago. His hand trembled like a wind-battered leaf as he lit one up, and took a long drag.

  “I’m all right, Chance. I sure wasn’t expecting that to happen.” He smiled at her and must have seen something in her expression. “I know, I know. I quit, but I think that encounter warranted a smoke.”

  “I didn’t say anything, Jim.” If cigarettes didn’t make her feel so nauseous, she might have smoked one, too. She let out a giggle. The adrenaline made her feel giddy, and the next thing she knew, she was laughing hysterically and had to lean against Saunders’ cruiser to prop herself up.

  “Aw, cut it out, Chance!” Saunders tried to maintain his composure, but failed and started laughing as well.

  Once the nervous energy burned off, the two were silent for a minute or two as Saunders finished his cigarette. Penelope wondered if the panther was in her neighborhood often. She’d seen panthers before, and she probably would again.

  “You need me to sign your report?” Penelope broke the silence.

  “What report?”

  “For discharging your service weapon. You’ll have to write it up.”

  “Oh,” Saunders looked at the weapon. “This is not my service pistol. It’s my grandfather’s old revolver.”

  “Saunders, you know that’s against the rules when you’re in uniform!”

  Saunders chuckled. “Jeez, this is the thanks I get for saving you from a panther. I’ll remember this next time a wild animal is charging us. You’ll be on your own!”

  CHAPTER 60

  Early Friday morning, Penelope’s cell phone rang.

  She shot up in bed and blinked hard, trying to wake up. She blinked again and glanced at the time on her phone. It read 6:12 a.m.

  “This is Chance,” she answered.

  “Chance. It’s Donny. Sorry to call so early, but there’s something you should know.”

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” Penelope held her breath.

  “Our murder victim,” Donny continued, “was a former patient of Dr. Gordon.”

  Her insides curled and tightened. Another sign pointing to Jacob’s involvement. Could it be a coincidence? An even more disturbing realization hit her . . .

  What if someone was trying to frame Jacob for the murder?

  Donny was silent on the line, waiting for Penelope to gather her thoughts enough to speak.

  “What did Jacob have to say about it?” she asked.

  “He was the one that brought it to our attention.”

  Calm began to flow through her body. “He did?”

  “Yeah. After my interviews with the staff at the Franklin Clinic yesterday I had some follow-up questions for him about Belinda. The doc told me there was something familiar about the victim and not just from the robbery. He looked through the clinic’s records and found a file on Kevin Scott. The doc saw him once a couple of years ago at the Franklin Clinic.”

  “Did he say what he saw him for?”

  “Addiction. The doc had noted that Mr. Scott grew agitated during his appointment when he wouldn’t prescribe methadone. He also thought the patient might get violent. Mr. Scott didn’t come back again.”

  Jacob did not prescribe methadone. There was a methadone clinic between Franklin and Gainesville where most people went for treatment.

  Hungry for information that would help her prove Jacob’s innocence, Penelope asked, “Why didn’t the file show up when you pulled Mr. Scott’s medical records?”

  “That’s the odd part. The file wasn’t in the clinic database. The doc located a hard copy. It had never been digitized. The doc wasn’t sure why. He doesn’t input the forms to the computer. He said the office staff usually takes care of that.”

  “I appreciate you keeping me in the loop, and this is great information, but couldn’t this have waited until I saw you in person this afternoon?”

  “I wanted to catch you before you drove over . . .”

  There was hesitation in Donny’s voice and Penelope braced herself for more bad news. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before she spoke. “What is it, Donny?”

  Another pause.

  “It’s just that, well, I think it might be better if you stayed behind the scenes for a while.”

  “What? Now that you might have found a connection you want to shut me out? Donny, you can’t. I need to clear Jacob’s name and prove that he’s not involved. I need to make sure I’m doing everything to protect Jacob.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized how that sounded, how unprofessional and personally involved that sounded. “And, to help catch the killer,” she added a second later, but it was too late.

  “That’s what I’m talking about, Chance. It’s not that I don’t want your expertise and your help. Believe me, I do. It’s just that I don’t want to compromise the investigation with personal involvement, especially if it involves digging deeper into Jacob’s life so we can get closer to who’s really behind all this.”

  Penelope’s head swam. Donny was right. She was personally involved, and she would have said the same thing if their roles were reversed.

  She tried to approach it from a new angle. “Donny, that’s what makes me valuable,” she pleaded. “I can offer a perspective you wouldn’t otherwise have. I need to stay involved.”

  Penelope gripped the phone as Donny let out a long sigh on the other end.


  “Okay,” he said reluctantly. “Listen, I’ll let you sit in on the hospital staff interviews today. But . . . if it starts looking more like the doc is involved . . . in any way, you’re out. You hear me?”

  “Okay, I know. I don’t want to jeopardize the investigation. I appreciate you sticking your neck out for me, Donny. I promise to stay in the background.”

  Penelope hung up and noticed a text message from Josie, the wedding planner she was meeting for lunch; the message had come late last night, and she had missed it. Sorry for the late notice. Mind if we meet at the Gainesville Hilton tomorrow? I’ll be setting up for a wedding, and you can see me in action.

  Penelope typed a quick reply, Sure. See you this afternoon, and pressed send. She typed Jacob a message informing him of the change, but stopped when she remembered that he couldn’t make it.

  She set her phone on the nightstand, slid out of bed and dropped to her knees. She clasped her hands in front of her as she closed her eyes. “Dear Lord, if it is Your will, please show me how I can help Donny prove Jacob’s innocence and find the person who is really responsible.”

  God and God alone would mete out true justice. Her duty was to protect and serve her community, and she planned to do just that.

  CHAPTER 61

  When Penelope pulled into the Hilton Hotel parking lot at twelve thirty that afternoon, she saw Jacob’s yellow Mustang parked near the front entrance. She parked a few rows back and immediately went into cop mode.

  What’s Jacob doing here?

  Was his meeting at the Hilton? Maybe his meeting was canceled and he was there to surprise her.

  Penelope closed her eyes and said a quick prayer of thanks for having such a wonderful, thoughtful man. She was about to step out of her car when Jacob emerged from the hotel lobby.

  Seconds later, the picture became disturbingly clear.

  Tina Shifflett followed Jacob out of the hotel. If it had been anyone else, a female doctor colleague, or even Nurse Taylor, she could have told herself that this was work-related. But Tina?

  Penelope’s mind raced as Jacob grabbed Tina by the elbow, pulled her close, and twirled her. Tina’s skirt flared as she spun, and the pair laughed. Jacob tangoed Tina to her car, a gray sedan—the gray sedan from the park yesterday. Tina kissed Jacob on the cheek before she got in her car and drove off.

  Penelope hunkered down in her driver’s seat.

  Please don’t let Jacob see me.

  Jacob smiled ear to ear as he walked to his car. He drove off as though he had not a care in the world. He didn’t appear to notice his surroundings at all. He looked happy as he drove right past Penelope’s car without seeing it, or her.

  Her insides tightened like a relentless vise, and she couldn’t breathe.

  Oh dear God . . . what did I just witness?

  Jacob had lied to her about his meeting, and she had witnessed him embracing another woman. And the tango! Jacob didn’t dance. It wasn’t something he enjoyed; he had told Penelope that when they met. Whenever they went out he resisted every attempt she made to get him onto a dance floor, but here he was, dancing with Tina and clearly enjoying it. He had lied about that, too. And Tina had kissed him! On the cheek—but still. She replayed the kiss over and over in her mind.

  The urge to cry hit her like a physical blow. She took several deep breaths, but she had a hard time burying the swell of emotions. She forced her rational side to take over.

  “What are the facts, Chance?” she asked herself.

  This question usually helped her figure out what to think, and how to proceed when things got too crazy.

  “Fact one . . . Jacob told me he had a work meeting,” she said aloud.

  She double-checked her memory. Had he said work meeting?

  Now that she thought about it, he may have just said meeting. That could mean anything. That could mean going to lunch with Tina.

  “Fact two . . . Jacob hates dancing,” she continued. “But it sure looked like he was enjoying it with Tina.”

  Penelope’s thoughts began to work against her. While she enjoyed dancing, she had given it up since she’d been with Jacob. It wasn’t his thing, and that was fine with her. But what if he just didn’t want to dance with her? He clearly enjoyed the little dance with Tina. The twirl replayed in her mind and she cringed. And the tango to the car. That couldn’t have been the first time Jacob and Tina had done that. It was too smooth, too polished.

  A war of emotions raged within her and hot tears streamed down her checks.

  How could Jacob do something like this?

  None of this made sense.

  The logical part of her brain was failing to come up with comforting facts to refute the obvious conclusion—Jacob was having an affair. It was almost too outlandish to believe. Jacob had a close relationship with God, and she couldn’t make herself believe that he was having a fling with Tina. It was out of character for him. But there was the twirl, the tango, and the kiss, and he hadn’t told her it was Tina that he was meeting. He was keeping secrets that involved another woman.

  Penelope looked at herself in the rearview mirror and wiped a hand across her eyes, thankful that she hadn’t worn mascara. She looked at her reflection critically. A few more lines in the face and her eyes were red and puffy from crying, but she still looked pretty good.

  It had been such a long time since Penelope had experienced emotions of this magnitude; she hardly remembered what it felt like.

  The weight was suffocating.

  Her gut said not to give in to negative presumptions. She was jumping to conclusions too quickly. Give Jacob a chance to explain. There has to be a logical explanation—there has to.

  But another part of her was a little girl, crying, watching her house burn to the ground with her parents trapped inside.

  Numbness spread through her body.

  She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, crying silently, and mourning for everything she had ever lost. The tears kept coming long after she thought she had finished.

  Slowly, Penelope became aware that life was moving on outside of her personal space, and suddenly remembered why she was at the hotel. She grabbed her phone and sent the wedding planner a text message apologizing and saying that she had to cancel. There was no way she could meet with her now.

  Would there even be a wedding?

  Fresh tears began to flow, and Penelope quickly turned her mind toward the case. The case was something tangible, something she could focus on until she felt real again. She welcomed the numb feeling and shoved her emotions down deep. They would hit her again later, but if she could get through the rest of the day, she might be okay.

  She brushed her hair and wiped her face with a tissue from the glove box. She turned on the AC and adjusted the vent to blow cold air in her face. If her eyes were still red when she met with Donny, she could blame it on allergies.

  As she regained her composure, she ran through the facts of the case—the ones she could handle now.

  Kevin Scott and his partner robbed the Grace Memorial Hospital early Friday afternoon. Sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning, Mr. Scott was shot and killed in the parking lot of his apartment complex—probably in a drug deal gone bad. His body was later dumped in the Franklin River. Jacob’s—she winced at the thought of his name—and only Jacob’s belongings were returned to the Franklin Clinic Saturday morning. Mr. Scott’s body was discovered Sunday morning. Donny located the primary crime scene Monday evening and searched Mr. Scott’s apartment. He discovered several outdated blank prescription pads with Jacob’s information. Tuesday morning one of Jacob’s missing prescription pads was found in Belinda’s desk along with several of the bottles of drugs stolen in Friday’s robbery.

  What happened to Kevin Scott after he and his partner left Grace Memorial? What happened to the stolen drugs? How and why were Jacob’s things returned? Why did someone keep the picture and fortune slip when everything else was returned? Who planted the drugs in Belinda’s desk?
What was Denise Wilson doing at Kevin Scott’s apartment?

  The unknown outweighed the known. Perhaps Donny’s interviews with the Franklin Clinic staff yesterday would shed light on the situation. She certainly hoped so. She was feeling pretty dark.

  CHAPTER 62

  Penelope trudged into the Gainesville Police Station that afternoon feeling divorced from reality. The surroundings were familiar, but the colors seemed off, as if something was wrong with the fluorescent lighting. The desk sergeant buzzed her in, and she walked straight to Donny’s office.

  She sank into a chair, and with his back to her, he jumped into an update without even a cursory greeting.

  “So ballistics came back on the bullet that killed Kevin Scott. It’s a match to the three slugs we pulled out of the wall at Grace Memorial. Looks like Scott’s partner killed him . . . probably for the drugs.”

  Penelope stared off into space as Donny paced behind his desk. He continued relating facts: “We came up empty on the interviews at the Franklin Clinic yesterday. Dr. Pamela Bishop was working the day of the robbery at the Franklin Clinic. Last Friday evening she was called into Grace Memorial to assist with patients from the accident on State Road 20. She pulled an all-nighter. She was there until six o’clock Saturday morning, well outside of our TOD window. Similar story with Nurse Adam Reed. He worked a full shift at Franklin last Friday and then went to dinner and a movie with his girlfriend. Nurse Genevieve Taylor had the day off last Friday and was visiting her brother in Jacksonville. Officer Watson checked the alibis of three other nurses who work at the clinic and they all checked out. I have Officer Meeks following up on Reed and Taylor’s alibis, but they seem pretty solid.”

  When Donny finally looked at Penelope, his expression of alarm confirmed that she was, in fact, losing it.

  “Earth to Chance. Hello? Have you been listening to anything I said?”

  “Scott was killed by the same gun used in the robbery. Everybody’s alibi checks out. Got it,” she said on autopilot.