Chapter 12
The alarm blared at five like it did every morning and Brynn rolled out of bed, slipped on her working clothes, and headed to the barn. When she opened the front door, she was smacked with a wave of humidity. Already. Her cows hated this warm weather. Particularly the new girl, with all that hair. Brynn would make sure there was more than enough water to go around.
She opened the barn door with a hard pull and Freckles greeted her, tail wagging. She crouched down to pet the dog. “How are you this morning?” The Saint Bernard–collie mix always appeared to be smiling because of the way her “freckles” were placed around her mouth. Brynn loved it. After petting Freckles and feeding her, Brynn turned to the cows. Petunia, her most vocal cow, moped a hello. She was ready to go outside, as was shy Marigold. Buttercup was currently the one in milking and Brynn reached over to the milking tubes and attached them. Where was Jewel? Brynn squinted her eyes and looked toward the corner where the Highland cow usually stood. A tuft of hair showed over the stall wall. Was she sleeping?
Brynn walked over to find her curled in the corner, almost like a cat. “Jewel?”
No response.
Brynn crouched down and petted the cow, lifting her chin, gazing into her big brown eyes. The cow blinked and didn’t respond to Brynn’s gentle pulling in trying to get her up.
“Are you okay, girl?”
The cow didn’t move. Brynn sat down next to her, with the sound of the milking machine in the background. Petunia mooed again. She was one impatient cow. But when she mooed, Jewel stiffened and turned her head. Did she not like Petunia?
Brynn’s thoughts turned. This cow had been alone for her whole life. Now she shared a barn with three cows and a dog. Perhaps she craved downtime. Quiet time. Brynn understood.
But then again, possibly Jewel was sick. You couldn’t be too careful with the health of animals. She made a mental note to call Schuyler today.
The milking machine switched off. Brynn stood and walked over to the other cow and detached the tubes. She lifted the milk pan away from the cow, poured the milk into jars, and took them to the freezer. When she came back, she opened the barn door and the cows left the barn. Brynn gazed over at Jewel, who didn’t even look toward the door. Brynn left it open, in case she changed her mind.
In the meantime, Brynn readied herself for a meeting of the CSA. She had thought maybe they would cancel since apparently Josh was still in jail, but they decided to have it, anyway. She showered, changed into something presentable, and was on her merry way.
Just walking from the house to the car, Brynn had started to sweat. Who knew the Shenandoah Valley would be so humid? She longed for a cool, crisp fall day. She slid into her car, cranked up the AC, giving thanks to the gods of modern cooling systems.
When she opened the door to the community center where the CSA held meetings, everybody looked up at her. They were missing their leader, and it showed. Josh was a benevolent leader and kept everybody on an even keel. This meeting was going to be interesting with him gone, especially since the official start to the fair was tonight. The opening ceremony, followed by the annual tractor pull, and pie contest were on the schedule.
“Hey,” Brynn said.
Grunts and groans of greetings were exchanged.
“Who’s manning our booth tonight? Josh was on the schedule.”
“I can’t. I’m at the craft hall,” Willow said.
“Pie contest?”
“Tractor pull.”
“Me too.”
All eyes turned to Brynn, once again. “I can do it,” she said. “Is everything over there that I’ll need?”
“Yes,” Willow said. “The displays have been set up, along with some of our products for sale.”
“Okay. Doesn’t sound too hard. I’ll bring Wes with me.”
The place quieted, which was unusual.
“Maybe that’s not such a good idea,” said Tom. “I mean, he’s a suspect in a murder.”
“Who told you that? He’s not a suspect. He’s the person who found the body, so of course the police are looking at him,” Brynn said.
“He might scare folks off; that’s all I’m saying.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Willow said. “Bring him along. If people have a problem with it, then too bad.”
“Let’s move on,” Tom said. “We’ve got other issues to discuss. How is the renovation of the old community center coming?”
Brynn cleared her throat. This was her ongoing project. “I reported last time that I needed to take a break from it until after the fair. I’ll get right on it the day after the fair is over.”
“Okay, our next delivery is scheduled two days after the fair. Hope to see you all here to help.”
The place quieted again. This was the quietest meeting Brynn had been to.
“When are they going to let Josh out?” someone asked.
“We don’t know,” Willow said. “The accident is still under investigation.”
“I’ve never known the police to keep someone this long because of an accident,” Tom said. “There must be more to this.”
“They think it was on purpose,” Kevin, the Christmas tree farmer, said. “They think he ran that boy over on purpose.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Brynn said.
“I agree,” Tom replied. “What do we do in the meantime?”
Willow cleared her throat and stood up. “We carry on as best we can. We support their family. We answer questions from the police. We support him. He’s done so much for all of us. Everyone knows he didn’t run him over on purpose.”
“But you were there,” Kevin said to Willow. “So was I.” His voice cracked. “And I’ve gotta say it looked . . . like . . . I don’t know . . . odd.”
“It was an accident. Accidents look odd,” Tom Andrews spoke up.
“All I know is if he was sleeping with my daughter, I’m not sure how I’d handle it,” Kevin said.
“Please!” Willow’s voice raised. “This needs to stop. We know him. We know that he’s handled more than one prickly situation with Chelsea and he’s done it with a cool head.”
Brynn took it all in. She was getting acquainted with this community and didn’t know much about Chelsea, but from what she gathered, the young woman had a few issues.
“That’s true,” Tom said. “Sitting here theorizing isn’t doing him any good.”
“Does anybody else consider it odd that both of the young men killed were summer helpers?” Kevin asked.
Brynn had. And had discussed that very thing with Willow.
“It’s a coincidence,” Tom said. “One doesn’t have to do with the other. Necessarily.” He looked around the table with a serious stance.
“It couldn’t. Josh killed Evan, whether it was by accident or not. He was in jail when Donny was shot,” Willow said.
A chill ran down Brynn’s spine. Once again, the thought occurred to her that a killer lurked in Shenandoah Springs. She glanced around the table, realizing that exact concern weighed heavily on the group.