Chapter 10

Brynn was in the middle of brewing iced tea in the kitchen while Wes sat at the table talking on the phone with his father, explaining the recent events.

“I knocked on the door, and nobody answered. But I knew someone had to be home. They were expecting me. So I walked out to the barn and there he was.”

A pause in the conversation.

“She’d run out to the store evidently.”

Another pause.

“No, I don’t need a lawyer, yet. But I promise you if I do, I’ll let you know.” He paused again. “No, Dad, I don’t think the fact that I’m a brown man has anything to do with this. I get it. You’re upset. But I found the body. They had to question me.”

Brynn was glad to hear him talk so sensibly to his father, Nathaniel, who must be freaking out at the thought of his son being questioned by the police. After all, he’d agreed to allow Wes to live in Brynn’s guest cottage as a cheese apprentice, after a terrible first semester at college. He didn’t allow him to come here so that he’d get in trouble. The worst sort of trouble.

Romeo entered the room and jumped up on Wes’s lap. Romeo, it turned out, was a girl, even though Nancy thought she was a tomcat. Romeo had a definite preference for Wes. And Wes adored her, even allowing the cat to sleep in his bed with him.

“Okay, Dad. Will do.”

She poured Wes a glass of iced tea and placed a couple of sprigs of spearmint from the garden in it. She took it to the table. He glanced at her with wet eyes. “Dad is upset.” He took the glass. “Thanks for the tea.”

“You’re welcome,” Brynn said. “Of course your father is upset. He’s in Massachusetts and you’re here. It’s tough on a parent when something happens to their kid and they can’t do anything about it.”

“He’s afraid I need a lawyer. He thinks it’s more serious than we do. He’s afraid they will pin it on me because I’m a Pakistani.”

Brynn paused before she said anything. These were pretty serious allegations. “I’m not going to soft-pedal this. You know that sort of thing happens every day. But you’ve not been charged with anything and you’re in Shenandoah Springs. These people are good. Besides all that, you didn’t do it. You’re innocent. You’re going to be fine.”

He took a sip of his iced tea and set down his glass. “Innocent people go to jail every day.”

Brynn didn’t like the forlorn look on his face, so she tried to lighten the mood. “Not under my watch.” She smiled.

Romeo sat in a curled-up ball on Wes’s lap. He stroked her and it seemed to calm both the cat and Wes.

A knock at the door interrupted.

Brynn walked to the door and opened it to Willow and Schuyler.

“What the hell?” Schuyler said. “Where’s Wes?”

The Shenandoah Springs grapevine was working in fine order.

“He’s at the kitchen table.”

“I’ve never heard so much bullshit in my life,” Schuyler said as she marched into the kitchen, Willow trailing her.

“He’s fine,” Brynn said, following. “He’s going to be fine.”

But neither of the women was listening to her. They were already hugging Wes. They both adored him.

“We know you didn’t kill anybody, Wes. Everybody knows it,” Willow said, and sat down.

Brynn poured more iced tea as Wes explained to Willow and Schuyler what had happened.

“Crazy,” Schuyler said, her amber eyes flashing. “What’s going on around here?”

“It’s like someone has it in for the summer help,” Willow said.

Brynn served glasses of tea to her friends.

“It’s a real scorcher out there,” Schuyler said, and took a long drink of the tea. “Thank you.”

Brynn nodded. “Yeah, Schuyler. You’re on to something. Both of the recent deaths were of the summer helpers. It’s a strong connection.”

“We should brush off our sleuthing skills and figure out who did this to get Wes off,” Willow said.

“Whoa! First of all, Wes hasn’t been charged with anything. And he won’t be. Case closed,” Schuyler said.

Brynn sipped from her glass. “And besides, I’d rather not get involved with another murder case, thank you very much.”

“I hear you,” Wes said. “There is one good thing about this. Josh was nowhere around. They can’t accuse him of this murder. He’s still in jail.”

“He is?” Brynn was surprised to hear it. “Couldn’t he have gotten out on bail or something?”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Willow said. “It was an accident. I don’t understand why he’s still in jail.”

There were a few moments of silence.

“I’m still not sure what happened with the accident,” Wes said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me. Josh certainly didn’t do it on purpose. But how did it happen?”

“I keep going over it in my mind. I was there, and it still doesn’t make sense,” Willow said.

“That’s the nature of accidents. They don’t make sense.” Schuyler drank her tea.

“But Donny’s death was no accident. Someone definitely killed him,” Wes said.

“Which means there’s a someone out there who got away with murder,” Willow said.

Brynn shivered.

“For now,” Schuyler said. “Hopefully not much longer.”

Brynn hoped she was right.