Chapter 33
Cora and Jane walked together to the police station. Even though there was a bit of a chill in the air and the sun was beginning to lower in the sky, it was a pleasant evening for a walk.
Jane’s cell phone buzzed. “Yes,” she said as they kept walking down the red brick sidewalk.
Cora noticed that people were getting their homes ready for Halloween. The folks in the pink Victorian displayed three jack-o’-lanterns on a bale of hay. The next house over was more witchy. Sitting on their porch was a cauldron with a cardboard witch hunched over, peering into it. The next neighbor offered a yard full of inflatables—ghosts, Frankenstein, and Dracula. Cora wondered how they had gotten away with that, given the strict code. Maybe it was set aside for Halloween. She had so much to learn about her new hometown.
“Yes, baby, I miss you, too,” Jane said into her phone. “But are you having fun?”
Cora loved the fall harvest decorations at the next house. Brightly colored fall produce—pumpkins, squash, black-eyed Susans—added a splash of color to the front of the gray house.
“Okay, London, I love you, too,” Jane said and then put the phone back in her bag. “That was my baby. She’s staying at Zelda’s house tonight. I like her mom and dad. They don’t seem to be bothered by everything that’s going on.”
“No person with a brain in their head would be,” Cora said. “It’s all going to be straightened out. And these people who are so rude will be eating crow.”
Jane looked out over the town. “I hope you’re right.”
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Cora said. “I mean, other than the fact that you have a hot guy stashed away somewhere.”
Jane laughed and shook her head. “The rest of my life is an open book. The guy remains my secret until I see where it’s going. Is that okay with you?”
“No,” Cora replied. “I want details!”
Jane just laughed and kept walking.
Awnings were being drawn, lights shut off, and doors locked as the shops were closed for the evening. A group of retreaters were heading into the local diner and waved to Cora and Jane.
“It’s a great group of women,” Cora said. “They seem to be relaxing and fitting right in.”
“It’s great that they’re going out and supporting the other local businesses. That does my heart good,” Jane said. “Maybe that will save our failing reputation. Craft retreat houses a potter-killer.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t get that bad.”
“I should be afraid to enter the police station, given my record here,” Jane said as they neared their destination. “But it’s just so welcoming.”
“I agree,” Cora said. “Let’s hope that Officer Glass has something interesting to say.”
When they entered the station, the woman behind the reception desk smiled up at them. “May I help you?”
“Hi,” Cora said. “I’m here to see Officer Glass.”
“Are you Cora Chevalier? He’s been expecting you. He’ll be out in a moment,” she said and picked up the phone. “Please have a seat.”
“It’s odd, isn’t it?” Cora said. “I’ve been in a lot of police stations. They are usually austere and unfriendly. Usually, kind of dumpy. But not this one.”
“Well, this is Indigo Gap,” Jane said.
When Officer Glass entered the room, he smiled at Cora, then frowned when he saw that Jane was with her. Cashel never returned her call, so she assumed it was okay tag along.
“This is Jane,” Cora said. “I asked her to come along. She obviously has a vested interest in the case.”
“I know who she is,” Glass said, quickly recovering from his initial disappointment. “I, uh, thought we’d go and have some coffee right around the corner. That okay? The only thing better than having coffee with one beautiful woman is having coffee with two.”
“Aren’t you a charmer?” Jane said.
Cora was glad she’d brought her along. Her vibes were never wrong. She had an inkling this married man was feeling out her situation. Wanting to know if she’d be game for an affair—and she was not. With him. Or anybody else. She hoped that by bringing Jane along, she had sent him a clear enough signal.
“Here’s the thing, ladies,” Officer Glass said, after they were situated at a table at the nearby Blue Dawg Coffee Shop. “This is not my case, so some things are not open to me. I’m sorry about that.”
“Is that what you called me here to tell me?” Cora said, after taking a drink of her coffee.
“No,” he said and lowered his voice. “I wanted to say that I don’t think drugs are the issue in this case.”
“What makes you say that? I thought Josh Waters was stoned when I saw him and I’m certain I smelled something odd,” Cora said.
“He probably was high,” he said. “We found out that he was diagnosed with an untreatable cancer. He had a prescription from Pennsylvania for medical marijuana.”
“Wow,” Cora said. “I didn’t see that coming.” She was certain it wasn’t pot that she had smelled. But perhaps it was pot and some other substance mixed together. A wave of sadness rolled through her. “That’s so awful.”
“But what about Becca?” Jane said. “She has a history of drug abuse.”
“She does. But she’s clean. Because of her record, we check her periodically. She has to take regular drug tests.”
“But she seemed very disturbed,” Jane said after a minute.
Ted Glass sat back in his booth and took a drink of his coffee. “She is fragile,” he said. “The loss of her mother . . . she is so torn apart by the way her mom died. And now her dad is gone, too. She must be devastated.”
“What about her sister?” Cora said. “Where is she?”
“That’s a good question,” he replied.
“So,” Cora said. “The two main causes of a murder, statistically speaking, are drugs and domestic violence and it seems like they’ve been eliminated in these cases.”
Jane sighed. Deep and long. “That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear.”