Chapter 4
Trixie slowly lowered her weapon upon realizing the person in front of her was Allen Williams, bank president. She let out a breath she had been holding.
“What happened?” Allen asked. He was in his mid-50s, with graying black hair, dressed in khaki pants and a black shirt.
“An alarm went off,” Trixie said. “But there is no one here. We’ll need you to check to see if anything is missing. Don’t touch anything”
“I’ll get right on it.” Allen moved into the bank. Trixie signaled one of the officers to go with Allen. She sent three of the officers, that had entered the bank with her outside, to check the building for any clues.
She put her gun in the holster and looked around the lobby of the bank. She couldn’t understand why the alarm had gone off if there were no signs, other than the front door being open, and the building had been entered.
Trixie noticed a piece of paper blowing across the floor away from the door. She bent down and picked it up at the corner, not knowing if it was a clue or not. As she stood up, she turned the paper over to read the writing on it. “Glen Road Inn, room 27.”
She wondered if this was a clue or someone’s garbage.
“Belden!” a voice said making her jump.
She turned and saw Chief Molinson coming through the door.
“Yes, Chief?”
“Have you found anything?”
“Just this paper,” she said handing it to him. He scanned it quickly as she told him how three officers were checking the outside of the building and that one was with the bank president who was checking to see if anything was missing.
“All right. I’ll take over now. Go fill out a report at the station.”
“Chief.”
“What?’ he asked. “Do you have anything pertinent to this investigation?” Trixie remained quiet. “Like I said. Go to the station and fill out a report. Then you can go.”
The Chief moved to the bank president and started asking questions. Trixie exited the building and saw a small crowd had gathered behind the two police cruisers. She was angry at how easily the Chief pushed her aside. She had a feeling he still thought of her as a little girl unable to take care of herself.
How could he treat me like that? she wondered as she made her way to the station. I should have realized this would’ve been a mistake. He will never take me serious. I am just asking to be verbally torn apart. Maybe I should transfer to another station. But then Molinson would have a smile on his face as I left. I’m not going to leave just because he thinks he can make my life difficult. I’m going to prove to him that this is part of my life and I can handle it.
*****
After filling out her report and leaving it on the Chief’s desk, Trixie left the police station. She had promised to meet Jim at the Manor House for a midnight ride, but she had one thing to do before she headed out. She wanted to check out the address she had found. She got into her jeep and headed to the Glen Road Inn. It was a mile outside town. She wanted to see if the paper was a lead about what happened.
A short while later, she pulled into the parking lot of the inn. She went inside and tried to get more information about the two men from the desk clerk, but the clerk was adamant that the information could not be disclosed. But that wasn’t going to stop her. She made her way down the hall, and when the desk clerk wasn’t looking, she made a dash to the elevator and made her way up to the second floor.
She went down the hall and found room 27. She was about to put her ear to the door when she saw it was slightly open. She listened and could tell the television was on. There were no other sounds.
Trixie heard the bed creak as someone got to his feet. Footsteps came toward the door from the inside of the room.
“Well, well. Look what we have here,” a voice said behind her.
As Trixie turned, she was pushed facedown to the floor realizing someone had snuck up on her from behind. Her arms were pulled up behind her back. She turned her head to the side, but couldn’t see who was holding her. The person was standing just out of her view. She had a bad feeling.