Chapter 7
Laura came down the stairs and started searching for Luke. She stopped just outside the kitchen door when she heard voices.
"What are you doing here?" said a voice that she didn't recognize.
"I just stopped by for a visit," Luke said calmly.
Laura cautiously opened the kitchen door just wide enough to look inside. She saw the cop standing with his back to the door. He was holding a gun on Luke. Laura gasped when she saw the woman's body lying on the floor behind Luke. She knew that if the woman was dead, Luke was going to get blamed for it. She had to do something.
"I'm arresting you on the suspicion of murder," the cop said. "Turn around and put your hands behind your back."
Laura saw a large vase sitting on a small table in the hallway. She picked it up and threw it against the wall. It shattered, making a loud noise.
The cop turned towards the sound of the noise. Luke saw his chance. He spun around and grabbed the gun from the cop's hand. "Ok move," Luke said motioning for him to move out the kitchen door. As they entered the living room, Luke saw Laura. "Open that closet," he told her.
Laura did as he asked. Luke motioned for the cop to get in the closet and then locked him in. He put a chair under the doorknob as an extra precaution. "Let's get out of here," he said grabbing Laura's hand.
They got into the rental car and drove to a small motel just outside of Rochester. After they checked in, they walked silently to their room. Luke fell backwards on the bed and sighed.
"Well so much for getting any information out of Theresa's sister," he said
"She was murdered, wasn't she?"
Luke nodded. "She was the best lead we had. Not only did we not get to talk to her, but now we're wanted for another murder that we didn't commit. If only we had found something in that house that we could use."
"Luke…" Laura started to say.
"But that cop had to show up before we could finish searching the house."
"Luke…"
"That trip was a total waste of time."
"Not necessarily," Laura said with a smile. She pulled the diary out of her pocket and held it up for Luke to see. "Look what I found."
Luke stood up and took the diary. He looked through it for a few minutes. He looked at her with a confused expression. "Ok, how does this help us?"
Laura took the book back from him and turned to the entry she had read earlier. "September 5, 1978. It has been a week since my sister Theresa was murdered. I am still afraid to tell anyone that I was in that attic the night of the murder. I'm afraid the young man that killed her will come after me."
Luke walked over to her. "Do you remember anyone else being in that attic?"
Laura sat down and concentrated. "I walked in and Theresa was trying to choke Rick. She saw me and started to come towards me. I froze. I thought she was going to kill me. I saw someone push past me and the next thing I remember was Theresa lying on the floor. A heard a woman's scream come from the doorway. After that all I remember was feeling terrified and seeing Rick coming towards me with a syringe."
"I'll bet anything that Sarah was the woman you heard scream."
Laura nodded. "You're probably right, but who was the person that hit her? Rick was too far away and was still trying to catch his breath from being choked. So it couldn't have been him."
"Do you remember anything about the person that pushed their way past you?" Luke asked sitting down next to her.
"No. All I see in my mind is the back of a yellow rain slicker."
Luke took the diary back from Laura and reread the entry. He turned the page and read the next entry. "Laura, listen to this. September 6, 1978. A young man named Scott Baldwin came to visit me today. He went on and on about how sorry he was that my sister had died. He offered me $5000 if I kept quiet about what I saw in the attic. I took the money. I was afraid not to since he was the man that killed my sister."
Luke and Laura sat staring at each other.
***
Meanwhile Scott sat in his office doing paperwork. He jumped as the phone rang.
"Baldwin," he said.
"Mr. Baldwin," said a woman's voice. "I just wanted you to know that the problem with Sarah Yates has been taken care of."
"What do you mean by taken care of?"
"She's been eliminated."
"You killed her?"
"Let's just say that I arranged her death. Now you can concentrate on helping me. I'll be in touch," she said before she hung up.
Scott sighed and leaned back in his chair. "How did I get myself into this?" he asked.