Deceived - Laura S. Wharton Page 0,72
was getting ready to leave, so she gathered it all up. Did you find anything at her house?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary.” Chief looked at the wake created by the ferry as it left the dock. “Really, I don’t know what I expected to find. I was just so….” He slammed his fist on the railing.
“Yeah. I would be too if I were duped and used. Sorry. Let’s keep going.” Sam put a hand lightly on Chief’s shoulder. “Tell me what she told you.”
“About what?”
“About anything. How did you learn she was a mule? And how did you find out who her brother was?”
“One afternoon, I walked into the gallery and there he was. She didn’t want to introduce me, but he was ballsy enough to. I watched him hand her an envelope. He said it was for a painting he’d commissioned by one of her artists, but he didn’t look like the cultured type. When I asked her about it later, she couldn’t keep up with his lie, so she said it was for something else, a fancy table she was expecting to be delivered by an artisan who lived in the mountains. Then she started, you know, coming on to me, so I dropped it.”
“So how did you learn she was delivering for Tripp? Seems like something she wouldn’t be too eager to discuss with the chief of police.”
“She wasn’t. I found out on my own. One night, we were supposed to meet at our favorite hideaway in Wilmington. She didn’t show up, so I went looking for her. I drove by her house, and her car wasn’t there. Then I went by the gallery and saw her. I was just about to get out of my car to ask if she was all right, but I stayed put for some reason. Maybe it dawned on me that what was going on between us was wrong. I was thinking I would break it off, but then I saw Andy coming out of the gallery right close behind her with his hand touching her back. You may have noticed I get kinda jealous when I think about her and anybody else. I couldn’t think straight when I saw her hug him affectionately, the way she does…did me. I could feel my palms getting sweaty. I ducked down in my car so they wouldn’t notice me. Then I watched as Andy helped Lisa load several boxes from his car into hers. When he drove off, I followed Lisa. She headed to Wilmington, then out on to Highway 40, heading west to Raleigh.”
“Where did she go?” Sam waited patiently as Chief calmed down enough to continue.
“There’s a rest stop in the middle of the highway where the traffic passes, heading east and west on either side of it. Do you know it?”
Sam nodded.
“She pulled off there. I followed her and parked a safe distance away. I had even got out and snuck around a bush to get a closer look when she waved at this sleazy-looking guy who parked right beside her. He helped her transfer the boxes from her car to his; then they both drove away. I took a chance and followed the guy. His black Cadillac had New York plates. I wrote down the number, then followed him to the interstate and all the way to the ramp heading north on Interstate 95. I followed him for a little ways, then made a U-turn and came back down here.”
“What’d you do with the license plate number?”
“Called it in, of course.”
“And you don’t think he was just an art lover?”
“Not a chance. I checked the sleaze-bucket out with a friend of mine. He’s a bail jumper with a sheet as long as your arm.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah. Me too.” Chief walked to the other side of the ferry’s top deck, close enough to a gaggle of tourists to signal that the conversation was over.
Chapter forty-one
By the time the ferry pulled into the Southport ferry landing, Sam was listing charges against Tripp Johnson on his fingers—murder, attempted murder, assault and battery, trafficking, prostitution. He looked at Chief as they were getting back in the car, lined in a cue to drive off the ferry.
“Think we can expect any help from the boys in Southport?”
Chief shook his head. “I don’t know. These townies are pretty tight. And the Johnson family roots go way back. I can call, but we might be setting ourselves up. Let’s take a look around. See what