Ellie hated feeling stuck, but that was where she was. She’d tried to ring Simone when she’d gotten home from her walk-slash-investigation, but there’d been no answer. She only had the number Simone had left on her book club sign up information so Ellie had little else to go on for the time being.
She’d thought about going back to the shop to help Ma’May get ready to reopen, but Ellie’s feet didn’t listen to her mind. Instead of heading back toward Main Street like she should have, Ellie led Beau down a side street and then down another. Long walks often helped to clear her mind and she hoped that with some clarity, she might be able to think of something – or someone – else that had something to do with Abbie’s murder.
It wasn’t until her belly started to rumble with the first pangs of hunger that Ellie decided it was time to turn back and go home. It was getting late, nearly two in the afternoon, and even then she almost stopped at Mercy’s Diner at the far edge of Main Street. She’d walked for miles with Beau and had found herself at the outskirts of town which meant a long walk back before she could get something to eat.
Ellie was about to walk up to the diner when two thoughts struck her. One was Beau, who was probably just as hungry as she was, but he wouldn’t be allowed inside. It wouldn’t be fair to him for her to go grab an order of fries and keep him tethered outside. She’d had to do that once already today and didn’t feel like doing it a second time, no matter how quick it would take.
The second thought was about the fine piece of silver jewelry in her purse. She’d spent enough money for one day and had absolutely no intention on asking Dave to pay her back for the bracelet. As soon as she found out the reason behind it and confirmed for a fact it wasn’t evidence towards motive for murder, she’d give it back to Dave no questions asked.
By time Ellie made it back to the bookstore, her feet were aching and her cheeks were bright pink from the chill in the air. The shop was still closed and Ellie had to use her key to walk in the door.
“Ma’May?” she called. “You here?”
“Back here!” her grandmother called from the storage room.
Ellie didn’t particularly feel like going back there to meet her grandmother. Not that she didn’t want to talk to Ma’May about what she’d learned, but she wasn’t particularly keen on visiting the backroom any time soon.
“We have to go back there sometime,” she told Beau. “I guess it’s now.”
Once she was in the backroom, Ellie realized it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t that she was scared of going back there, but more worried that going to the place where Abbie had died would bring up a stir of emotions she wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with.
In the bathroom where Abbie Ainsley had died, May Reid was on her knees, scrubbing around the toilet and a smattering of cleaning products were littered around her feet.
“There might be evidence!” Ellie scolded her grandmother. “You can’t clean that!”
“Oh hush,” Ma’May laughed at her. “I spoke to that handsome detective earlier and he said I was in the clear to do a little cleaning now that they’ve finished fingerprinting back here.”
“Oh,” Ellie said, and then chuckled. “Sorry. Is there anything else that needs doing?”
“Nope,” Ma’May told her. “They didn’t mess up much, to be honest. With the bookstore being a store and all, it would have been pretty futile trying to fingerprint any of the shelves.”
“That’s true,” Ellie agreed as she slipped Beau’s halter off. With the okay from the cops, she figured it was fine to let him run around like normal. “What can I do to help?”
“You,” Ma’May said as she looked up from the squeaky clean porcelain bowl, “can tell me what, if anything, you found out from Dave Ainsley. You were gone a long time.”
“Oh right!” Ellie said. “Well, I found out some things, but I think I got more questions than I did answers.”
While her grandmother finished scrubbing down the staff bathroom at the bookstore, Ellie filled her in on the details of her morning. From the bracelet, to the animosity between Abbie and Lilith, to coffee with Detective Will Murphy, she didn’t leave out any details.
But it was when she got to the last point that her grandmother’s eyebrows rose.
“Coffee with the detective, huh?” Ma’May asked her. “And how did that go?”
Ellie felt her cheeks flush again, and this time it wasn’t from the chill in the air. She hated that her body betrayed her in front of her grandmother, but she had to power through and hope that she hadn't noticed.
“I just told him a bit more about what happened that night, now that my head is a bit cooler,” Ellie said. “And I told him a bit of what Dave told me.”
“A bit?” Ma’May asked. “Why not all?”
“Because Dave Ainsley is suspect number one,” Ellie confided in her. “And I don’t think he had anything to do with it. Unfortunately, until I can prove that he isn’t a killer, then he’s going to stay on the chopping block. The last thing I want to do is say or do something that will only add more fuel to that fire, so I only shared the more pressing details.”
That wasn’t the whole truth, and Ellie did regret mentioning the name Paige. She was going to have to find out who Paige was before Will got the chance. If Paige was a lover or an ex-girlfriend, it was only going to make Dave look worse in the police’s – and the public’s – eye.
“I don’t think he did it either,” Ma’May agreed. “But I don’t think you’ll prove that unless you can find the real killer.”
“Then that’s what I’m going to do,” Ellie confirmed. “But first,” she added as she slouched. “I need to get out of these shoes and take a shower. Everything hurts.”
“Go,” Ma’May laughed. “We’ll reopen tomorrow, so take the afternoon to rest.”
“Thanks, Ma’May,” Ellie said as she headed toward the back stairs. “Come on, Beau, let’s go!”
After a snack and then what felt like the longest shower of her life, Ellie slipped into a pair of cozy pajamas and went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of soothing tea. The blend of peppermint, valerian root, and lemongrass was calming and took effect with the first sip, though Ellie knew that was probably mostly a placebo.
With her tea in hand, Ellie moved to her stack of books. And idea had struck her while she was in the shower. She might not have any motive to go on for Abbie’s death yet, but the last couple books she’d read had given her an idea of where to get some ideas.
Instead of one of the books in the pile, Abbie grabbed her e-reader instead. While she was a proponent of physical books, she couldn’t deny her e-reader was a great alternative when she wanted to find things she might not be able to get in person.
With a quick browse of the store, she found another cozy mystery to get her thought process working. A quick paranormal read called Pretty Hexed by a debut author named Sarah Bourgeois. It was cute and fun, with a cool talking cat and a great twist, but the thing that really caught Ellie’s eye was the romance between Belladonna and the new detective in town.
As much as she enjoyed the book, all it did was put ideas about the detective in her own hometown into her mind, which was the last place she wanted him. She debated grabbing another book, but it was getting late and she needed to come up with something before she went to bed.
“You look stressed,” Ma’May said as she entered the apartment. “Everything okay?”
“Not really,” Ellie sighed. “I’m trying to figure out a motive for Abbie’s death and having no luck.”
“Would talking about it help?” Ma’May asked. “You know that saying things out loud often helps find ideas that were hidden before.”
“True,” Ellie agreed. “I’ve been reading some mystery books to try to get ideas.”
“More?” May laughed. “No one reads more mystery books than you, and yes I’m including myself. What motives do you often find?”
“Money is a big one,” Ellie said, but then another idea struck her.
Before her grandmother ask her what she was thinking, Ellie was on her feet and darting into the storage closet. Another minute later she returned with markers and a large sheet of poster board they used for signs in the shop.
“I think I see where this is going,” Ma’May said as Ellie began to scribble ‘MONEY’ in big, capital letters on the board. “Okay, money, what else?”
“Jealousy,” Ellie said as she wrote the word on the board. “Usually over another person outside the relationship.” Beside ‘JEALOUSY’, Ellie noted ‘PAIGE’, which only made both women give a matching frown. Then she added ‘LILITH WHITE’ to their list and her frown deepened.
“You think she could have done it?” Ma’May asked.
“Maybe,” Ellie admitted. “Poison is a woman’s weapon, at least it tends to be. And if she still carries a torch for Dave, then maybe she finally decided to permanently get rid of the competition.”
“Perhaps,” Ma’May agreed. “You should talk to her, get her side of the story.”
“You’re right,” Ellie agreed with a firm nod. “But I want to find out who Paige is first. If she’s a suspect, or if it’s something else entirely. What if Dave was having an affair and Abbie found out?”
“And then Paige killed her!” Ma’May gasped.
“That,” Ellie had to agree. “But what if it was the other way? Abbie was getting ready to celebrate something, at least that’s what I’ve heard. What if she found out about Dave and this Paige person and killed herself instead?” It wasn’t Ellie’s favorite theory, but it did fit into the kind of romantic tragedy found in so many books.
Ma’May gave a nod, but then changed her tune and shook her head. “But why would she do it at the book club meeting?” she asked. “It wasn’t very romantic to die in our backroom bathroom, was it?”
Ellie had to concede she was right. “Maybe she didn’t think it would work that quickly?” she asked. “But then again, if she was trying to commit suicide, she would probably have had an easier time overdosing on pills. Well, I didn’t like that theory anyway.”
“Me either,” Ma’May agreed. “I never want to assume someone did something like that.”
Ellie sighed. “I never want to assume anyone is a murderer, either.”
“You mean Lilith?” Ma’May asked, and Ellie nodded her agreement. “Well, she is a bit of a pain, but a murderer?”
“We can’t rule it out,” Ellie told her. She didn’t like it either, but their pool of suspects was painfully small.
“Do you really think one of the book club ladies could have killed her?” Ma’May asked, and Ellie couldn’t tell if she was horrified by the idea, or simply made more curious.
“If I’ve learned anything from books,” Ellie said as she turned more serious, “is that anyone could be a murderer.”
Ellie hated how true that statement was, but it was one that had to be made. Anyone in Dundurn could be a suspect, she just had to work to find out who those suspects were.