Barbara Graham - Quilted 05 - Murder by Sunlight by Barbara Graham Page A

leave this guy and risk he’d bleed out.”
    Thinking she’d done the right thing, Tony stepped out of the way, signaling the ambulance crew inside. They quickly freed Sheila from her life-saving job. Information from Mike was negative. “We’ll have to go house to house.”
    Sheila stepped over to the kitchen sink and scrubbed the blood from her hands with dish soap before she followed Tony outside.
    “What happened?” Tony kept his gaze moving, checking for the attacker.
    “Poor guy. From what I could understand, he was in the bathroom, taking a shower, you know, when some guy he’s never seen before breaks in and starts whacking him with this old pipe wrench and claw hammer. I guess the attacker kept calling him Bob. It’s like something out of a movie. All I could get from our victim was that he’s Not Bob. Not Bob’s got at least one good-sized gash on his head above his ear and a broken cheekbone, but most of the blood was coming from his neck. About here.” She touched a place near her windpipe. “Luckily, he made it to the kitchen and got his cell phone.”
    “You got a pretty good description.”
    “Maybe.” Sheila looked uncertain. “He was all but unconscious when I arrived. I couldn’t even get his name from him so I’m not sure how much this guy really saw, and how much he made up to fill in the blanks, you know.”
    “What do you think he saw?”
    “I’ll bet he saw the white shirt, the jeans, and maybe dark hair.” Sheila shrugged. “Maybe he saw everything he reported. He is a big guy and he was standing up when the attack began, but I’m guessing he got hit several times when he tried to dodge away from the wrench. He was blindsided.”
    Tony agreed with Sheila. Often people didn’t see as much as they thought they did or vice versa; not until everyone calmed down were they able to reconstruct events. “Motive?”
    “He said the man was screaming at Bob about payback for his wife,” Sheila said. “Our guy’s in shock but I’ve seen him around, usually hanging out at The Okay, or when he’s at work. He seems nice enough. Not rich, not mean, not married. Just a guy minding his own business when some whack-job comes into his house and attacks him.”
    “And his work?” Tony couldn’t place him.
    “You’ll recognize him when you get a chance to really look at him. He works for the county in road maintenance. He’s usually shoveling asphalt into potholes when I’m driving through the county.” Sheila did smile then. “He wears a battered straw cowboy hat.”
    “That’s why he looked familiar.” Tony shook his head. “What a mess. We better find the guy who attacked him before he finds another Bob.”
    Wade arrived and they divided the street in half. Wade and Tony would work on one side and Mike and Sheila on the other. They’d have to knock on each door and talk to anyone at home, look in every shed, under every tarp, and still watch for suspicious movements. “Sheila, I know you can’t do anything about your clothes, but you might want to see if you can get some more of that blood off your arms. Your hands are clean now but you look like you’ve been swimming in it.” He frowned, thinking of all the blood-borne diseases she could have been exposed to. “It’s on your face too.”
    “I’ve got some heavy-duty antiseptic towelettes.” She walked toward her car. “One second.”
    So the work began. They spent hours taking pictures, talking to the few people who answered their doors, lifting trash-can lids, checking every possible hiding place. No one they talked to saw anything or noticed anything special until the arrival of Sheila’s car caught their attention. Then they watched from the windows, curious about the reason for the deputy to stop. No strangers, nothing.
    They learned Not Bob was actually named Will Jackson and the neighbors thought he was a quiet, but friendly, addition to the neighborhood. He’d lived in the house for about a year.
    By the