Debbie Bowman’s only family was her older sister, Robyn. Their father had died when they were in elementary school, and their mother had passed away not long after Debbie married Clay. It was difficult leaving her sister when moving from Frederickport ten years earlier, especially with the twins on the way. But Debbie understood moving was the best thing for her marriage and for Clay’s career.
One advantage in moving back to Frederickport, Debbie now had someone willing to babysit, and Robyn had agreed to watch the boys while she drove to the police station to take Clay his lunch.
After the incident in the diner at breakfast, Clay had asked Debbie to bring him a sack lunch that afternoon. Initially, he’d intended to visit more businesses and grab lunch then, but after spilling coffee all over his pants, he decided he would stay in his office.
Debbie still couldn’t get the image of Clay’s shaking hand out of her mind, before he dumped hot coffee in his lap, or the way he leapt from the chair, cursing, while grabbing the napkin off the table to wipe up the spill. She had foolishly asked if he was alright, to which he responded, “Hell no, I’m not alright; the coffee was hot!”
When she’d tried to ask him what had happened, he’d shut her down and said he didn’t want to talk about it. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d had a seizure or something. She wanted to broach the subject with him again, but she didn’t want him to get mad.
Debbie parked in front of the Frederickport police station and looked at the building for a moment. She hadn’t stepped foot in the station since moving. But they had driven by the place many times over the years when visiting Fred and Robyn. Once, Debbie had asked if Clay wanted to stop in and say hi to some people he had once worked with. He’d declined the offer, telling her there was no one who worked there he cared to see.
After getting out of the car, Debbie walked up to the station, sack lunch in hand.
“I’m Chief Bowman’s wife,” she told the woman at the front desk, who sat behind a glass window. A few moments later, the woman buzzed her in and handed her a name tag.
While Debbie hadn’t been in the Frederickport police station for a decade, she remembered where the police chief’s office was located. Walking down the hallway, she spied the nameplate on the door. She remembered it originally said, “Police Chief MacDonald,” but someone had taped a piece of paper over MacDonald, with “Bowman” written across it in felt-tip pen.
Debbie was about ten feet from the door when it opened, and a woman stepped out of the office, closing the door behind her. Debbie froze. It was Camilla Henderson.
* * *
Brian turned down the hallway leading to the front entrance and saw Camilla hadn’t left yet. She stood in the middle of the hallway, her back to him. Ten feet from Camilla stood another woman he did not recognize. The two women stared at each other, neither of them moving. While he couldn’t see Camilla’s face, the other woman looked as if she were staring down a grizzly bear who was about to pounce and because of that she was too terrified to move.
Confused, Brian called out Camilla’s name. She turned to him.
“Oh, Brian,” Camilla started walking toward him.
With Camilla’s attention diverted, the other woman continued down the hallway, hastily entering the police chief’s office.
When Brian reached Camilla, he asked, “You’re still here?”
“I was just looking around. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. I wondered what had changed.”
He motioned behind Camilla. “Do you know who that woman is? The one who walked into the chief’s office.”
Camilla glanced from the closed door leading to the chief’s office back to Brian. “I think that was Clay Bowman’s wife.”
“Speaking of Bowman, he’s not fond of people wandering around in the station. He jumped all over a friend of mine who stopped by. He even wanted to arrest her.”
Camilla smiled. “Really? Well, I’m not too worried about it.”
* * *
Across town at Homer Carter’s house, Ted and Lucy stood in the kitchen, whispering, while Flora was in her room down the hall, with the door shut.
“I guess she’s really staying.” Lucy glanced toward Flora’s bedroom. “Cam wanted her out two days ago.”
“Serves our sister right,” Ted grumbled. “Now she can have a roommate.”
Lucy groaned. “This is just so wrong. I don’t know what Uncle Homer was thinking, making a provision that we couldn’t sell the house unless we all agreed.”
“I never thought it would be an issue. Although, back then, I never realized how much I’d count on this inheritance to pull us through some tight times.”
“You and me both.” Lucy started to say more, but stopped when she heard the door to Flora’s bedroom open. Both she and Ted stayed quiet, looking toward the bedroom.
“I need to talk to you both,” Flora announced when she stepped into the kitchen a few moments later. “Before your sister comes back.” Lucy and Ted exchanged quick glances and looked back at Flora.
“What about?” Ted asked.
“On Friday, I received my last paycheck from your uncle’s estate. But it was significantly short. I tried bringing it up with your sister, but she keeps blowing me off.”
Lucy frowned. “Short?”
“What days didn’t she pay you for?” Ted asked.
“I was paid for all the days I worked. I wasn’t talking about that.”
“Then what are you talking about?” Ted asked.
“When your sister first hired me, I told her I had a job offer at a care home in Portland. Admittedly, the pay was not as good as what she was offering, but the care home offered medical and retirement. That’s when she told me that while she couldn’t offer the same benefits as the care home, she would give me something like a severance package after Mr. Carter passed, which would come out of the estate. She would calculate it on how long he lived. If I left before Mr. Carter passed, forcing the family to arrange other care for your uncle, I wouldn’t get anything.”
“I assume you have this in writing?” Ted asked.
Flora shook her head. “No. Your sister said her duties as his trustee didn’t give her the rights to make a legal, binding contract like that. But she said once he passed away, she would make sure the heirs would compensate me for the money from his estate. It would basically be a retirement package for all the years I cared for your uncle, and you didn’t have to worry about him. She said, if I expect her to trust me to care for Mr. Carter, I should trust her to care for me after he passes away.”
Ted arched his brows. “Trust her?”
Flora nodded. “I just figured it sort of made sense. And like I said, the pay was better than what the care home offered, and I would only have to care for one person. And she offered room and board. I assumed the extra compensation she promised would be included in my final paycheck. It wasn’t.”
* * *
It was noisy over at Lily and Ian’s house with all the construction going on. They were adding a second floor to their house and hoped to have the project finished at least a month before their baby arrived. Ian was over at Marlow House, where he and Walt were on a Zoom call with their agent. Danielle and Lily had taken Connor over to Heather’s, where they brainstormed baby names for both Danielle and Lily.
Heather had gotten home from work twenty minutes earlier and had already changed out of her work clothes into stretch pants and a baggy peasant dress. The three women gathered around the kitchen table while Connor sat on the floor, playing with Bella.
“Are they still working over at your house?” Heather asked Lily.
“Yeah. John’s over there with a couple of guys. They should be leaving pretty soon.”
“It’s coming along a lot faster than I thought it would,” Danielle said.
Lily shrugged. “Not fast enough for me. Okay, back to names!”
“Well, I love Addison Marie,” Heather said.
“Walt does too.” Danielle smiled. “But remember, say nothing to Marie. We want it to be a surprise.”
Heather looked at Danielle. “Which also means don’t say anything to Mel or Adam. Because if they start talking about it, little nosy eavesdropping Marie will hear.”
“Which also means I can’t tell Ian,” Lily said. “While Marie’s pretty good at letting us know when she’s around, we never know for sure.”
Heather leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms across her chest. “I used to think seeing and hearing spirits might be scary—or at the very least, creepy. But you know, I’m glad I can see spirits now. Because it would kinda freak me out to know they might be around, but not knowing for sure.”
“Gee, thanks,” Lily grumbled.
Heather gave a shrug, and the next moment her kitchen door opened. The women turned to the now open door and watched as Brian Henderson walked into the house.
“You guys having a party?” Brian asked as he closed the door behind him.
“Just hanging out. Walt and Ian are doing writer stuff, and guys with hammers are over at Lily’s,” Heather explained.
Brian greeted Danielle and Lily, gave Heather a quick kiss, and then helped himself to a beer from the fridge before joining the women at the table. After sitting down, he glanced over to Connor, who rolled around on the kitchen floor with Bella while the cat batted the toddler’s face. Brian cringed. “I still can’t believe that.” The women laughed.
The first time Brian had seen Connor play with Bella, he’d expressed his concern that the cat could scratch the boy. Heather had explained Walt had had a long talk with Bella, and the cat understood that if she did not want to play with Connor, all she needed to do was walk away. But if she wanted to play with him, she could never use her teeth or claws. However, if Connor hurt the cat, hissing and then leaving was acceptable. Fortunately, Bella had never had a reason to hiss at Connor.
Danielle asked Brian how he was getting along with his new boss.
“I haven’t seen that much of him. But the chief stopped in today—the real chief.”
“How did that go?” Heather asked. “Did he say anything about Bowman’s behavior with our little mama?”
“Hey. I’m a little mama too,” Lily reminded her with an exaggerated pout.
Heather flashed Lily a smile and said, “You are the Head Mama.”
“Okay, I accept that.” Lily beamed.
Brian chuckled before saying, “I didn’t see the chief. I only knew he was there because Colleen told me. From what she said, he planned to stay and talk to us, but he got a call from his doctor and had to leave.”
“I hope there’s not a problem,” Danielle said.
“I don’t think so. He said something to Colleen about him forgetting to set up some pre-op test, and he needed to do that. But to tell us hi when she saw us.”
“When we were out to breakfast this morning, we saw Bowman,” Heather began. She then told him about Walt dumping hot coffee on the unsuspecting lawman.
Brian cringed. “That sounds very adolescent and painful. I love it.”
“Actually, Walt felt a little guilty. He said he should have done it when he was drinking water, not hot coffee,” Danielle said. “I don’t like him, but I hope he’s okay.”
“And he let out a wail,” Heather added.
“That explains something Colleen told us. But when I saw him later this afternoon, he seemed to be walking okay.” Brian then told them about his discussion with his ex-wife Camilla.
When Brian finished his telling, Heather asked, “So she wants to be friends?”
Brian gave a shrug, and before taking a swig of beer, he said, “That’s what she claims.”