Mule

Chapter 10: The Body

After receiving the shocking news, the police called the family and Derek in for questioning. Convenient since Ana and he were already down the street. Connor picked up their dad and met them at the station about twenty minutes later. She hadn't quite wrapped her head around the news. Chad Mueller was dead, and if it had been an accident or natural causes, the police wouldn't have gotten involved.

They waited in the Sheriff's office for quite some time before someone came in. Ana had Derek's hand in hers as a way of comforting him. Chad may have been a deadbeat, but he was still Derek's father. They hadn't seen him since Connor kicked him out of the hospital the previous morning. Ana hadn't expected him to take the hint. They'd asked him to get sober, and now he never would.

"Good afternoon, Gordon," Sheriff Sanders said. "It's been a while."

"Yes, that it has." The two men shook hands. "They wouldn't tell me much over the phone. Do they know what happened?"

"We have a pretty good idea." Sanders sat behind his desk and smiled at Derek. "Hello, Mule. It's good to see you're out of the hospital and back on your feet."

Anabelle guessed that Sanders must have been the one to question Derek after he was flown in from Winthrop. Like many other people in town. Sanders had gone to high school with her father and Chad. Their friendship had gotten strained after Ana and Connor started getting into trouble. Once they got out of that phase, it was back to Saturday morning coffee at Bob's Café with the rest of the old-town folks.

"What happened to my dad, Sheriff?"

Sander folded his hand on his desk. "The neighbor heard strange noises and what looked like floodlights. They didn't call it in 'cause they figured it was just gangbangers. This morning, we found Chad Mueller dead in his backyard. He was sitting in his lawn chair on the porch. He was wearing his best suit and he had a picture of Derek in his hand."

"Suicide?" Ana asked. "That doesn't sound like Chad."

"We did say some pretty harsh words to him yesterday," her father said.

"But we're always yelling at him, nothing new there. Derek just got back. He has a second chance to be a father then kills himself? No, that doesn't make sense."

Sanders nodded. "You're right, we're fairly certain this is a homicide. We didn't find any drugs, narcotic or prescription alike and . . . we found something on the body."

Ana held Derek's hand tighter. Her heart told her she already knew what that something was, and she dreaded hearing Sanders say it out loud. If she was right, she would have to fess up about her own issue. This stupid thing was getting out of control.

"What was it?" her father asked.

"A pink rose. It was in his hand with the picture."

"Ana . . ." Derek said. "You need to tell them."

"Tell us what?" Gordon turned to her. "What is he talking about?"

She sighed. "On Wednesday, someone left a pink rose in my locker at work. I found another one in my apartment that night, in the truck yesterday." She paused. "And one in my hand the first night I came back here. Last night, this person rendered me unconscious and put one in my shoe. Officer Daniels was looking into it for me."

"For crying out loud, Anabelle! You're just now telling me this?"

"She's scared, dad," Connor said, coming to her rescue. "She didn't want to worry you."

"Well, congratulations, I'm worried! Ben, this man killed Chad and he had his hands on my daughter!"

"I know. We're just as concerned as you are. There haven't been any homicides like this around here in years. If this man followed your daughter from King County, he may be willing to do anything to get to her." He got out his notepad. "I hate to get morbid on you, but can any of you think of any reason why this guy would want to target Chad?"