Chapter 15

“Did you get all of that?” I asked Phillip after I ended the call.

He nodded. “So, the killer took advantage of those cutters, which means that it probably wasn’t premeditated after all. If that’s the case, why was she up on the roof in the first place?”

“I don’t know, but as soon as we catch her, we can ask her the same question,” I said. “Are you ready to call it a night?”

“Yes, I’m talking to your mother in half an hour, and I want to be back home to make the call. Sorry Jake’s away.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “Don’t forget, I was alone for a long time after Max left and before Jake and I got together.”

“That’s not exactly true though, is it? You still had your mother,” Phillip said.

“That’s true enough,” I answered. “Get a good night’s sleep, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“See you at eleven,” Phillip said. As he got out of the Jeep, he added, “Save me a few donuts tomorrow, would you? While the cat’s away and all of that.”

“Sure. What kind do you want?”

“You know me. Surprise me,” he said with a grin, tapping my hood as he walked around to his truck. I thought about offering him the last dozen in the back of my Jeep, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. If he was going to consume the calories, I at least wanted them to be fresh. I’d chuck the donuts once I was back at the cottage.

After he was gone, I drove the short distance home, glancing over at Grace’s darkened house as I passed it. I wondered how she was doing, and I thought about calling her, but I knew that if she wanted to talk, she knew where to find me.

After I walked in the door, I tossed the donuts, then I flipped on a few too many lights just to make it feel a little less lonely. I even turned on the television and put the Weather Channel on just to hear their voices. This was getting ridiculous. I was a grown woman, and yet I couldn’t take a little bit of solitude. The way I saw it, I had three choices. I could go straight to bed, even though it was too early even for me, I could stay up another hour sitting in the cottage all alone, or I could go back out and be around other people, and not just on television.

I decided to go to the Boxcar and get some apple pie, if Trish had any left. After all, how could that not cheer me up? Instead of driving though, I decided to walk through the park. Not only was it closer that way, but it was a beautiful summer night. Things were finally starting to cool off a little in the evenings, and the humidity had been dropping a little bit every day. As I walked through the park, I passed several places that reminded me of my childhood, from the tree I’d fallen out of, breaking my arm in the process, to my secret place in the shadows where I used to love to hide from the world, to the place I’d first kissed Caleb Green. The park was like a map of my personal history, and what was more important, it felt like home to me as much as the cottage where I now lived with Jake. Above me, the stars were out in full force, at least what I could see of them through the canopy of leaves overhead, and by the time I got to the Boxcar Grill, I was already feeling better.

I didn’t expect to run into the police chief leaving just as I was going up the steps.

“You’re out late,” Chief Grant said.

“What can I say? I’m turning into a night owl,” I answered. “How goes the investigation?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said with a tired grin. The man had really aged since he’d taken over the job, probably more spiritually than physically.

I decided to be completely candid with him, if for nothing else, as a complete change of pace. “Phillip and I have it narrowed down to three women.”

The police chief was clearly taken aback by my unexpected candor. “To be honest with you, I wasn’t expecting a straight answer. Let me see if I can figure out who you suspect. Heather Lindquist has to be there, and maybe Mary Paris, too?” he asked.

“I see we have the same lists. The only name you didn’t mention was Marybeth Jenkins.”

“That’s because she’s in the clear,” he said with a nod.

“What? When did that happen?” That was certainly news to me.

“We found her in Hickory staying with her aunt. Can you believe it? She didn’t even realize we were looking for her. Evidently she decided she needed to talk to someone older and wiser before she spoke with me.”

“You said she was in the clear. What kind of alibi must she have had that you are willing to accept as true?” I asked. It was taking me a moment to get used to the fact that one of my main suspects had suddenly been stricken from my list. “She came right out and admitted to me that she had an argument with Cassandra right before she was killed.”

“Not right before. We’ve got an eyewitness account that saw the last part of the argument. He said that when Marybeth drove away, Cassandra was actually laughing about the confrontation! After Marybeth drove off, he kept on walking his dog. It was a shame he didn’t stick around. He might have been able to stop a murder.”

“Who exactly is your witness?” I asked, curious as to who had seen the confrontation and why I was just hearing about it.

“I’m not going to tell you that,” the chief said, scolding me a little as he added, “and you should know better than to even ask me. Take my word for it. Marybeth Jenkins didn’t do it.”

“Okay, I believe you. Have you learned anything else lately about Cassandra’s last few days?” I asked as coyly as I could. Had Darby spoken with his boss and the mayor yet? It was the most delicate way that I could probe without coming right out and asking him myself.

The chief nodded. “You know perfectly well that I have. Darby told me that you were the one who convinced him to come clean with the mayor and me.”

“How angry was George when he heard what happened?” I asked, being concerned about my friend. “Did he take a swing at Darby when he found out?”

“As a matter of fact, he just kind of melted right there in his chair. I’m guessing he suspected something was going on, and Darby just confirmed it. Poor old George looked absolutely lost. You might want to touch base with him when you get the chance. I’ve never seen a man so beaten down before in my life.”

“I’ll talk to him,” I said, and then I asked a little hesitantly, “Did you fire Darby?” I needed to know, since I’d been the one who’d told him he had to share what had happened with him and Cassandra, no matter how bad it might make him look to his boss, and his boss’s boss to boot.

“Why? For using poor judgment in his personal life? He didn’t do anything illegal. I’m not happy with him, but that’s no reason to fire the man.”

“Good,” I said. “Can you believe Cassandra threw herself at him like that?” I wasn’t asking as idle gossip. I wanted to see if the chief had been as caught off guard as I had been by her behavior.

“Honestly, I’ve seen it before,” he said. “When a powerful woman feels as though she’s lost some of her mojo, she’ll do just about anything to make sure that she still has whatever it was that put her on top. Cassandra was more vulnerable than a lot of people realized.”

The insight surprised me. Apparently our police chief was growing up, and into his job, quite nicely. “Any word from Grace?” I asked him, almost afraid to bring her name up into our conversation.

“No, not really,” he said flatly. “I called her, but she said it wasn’t the time or the place to get into it, and I had to agree with her once I had a chance to think about it. We’re going to talk more when she gets back, and that’s all that I’m going to say on the subject.”

“Understood,” I said. I needed to get us back onto the topic of murder, anyway. “So, do you have any suspects besides the two I’ve named?”

Chief Grant looked around to make sure that we weren’t being overheard. “I can’t come right out and tell you that,” he said as he shook his head. Was he scolding me again, or was it a clue that Phillip and I were in agreement with the police chief?

“So, you’re saying that you can’t say whether we’re close to finding the killer or not,” I asked. That was so cryptic I wasn’t even sure that I understood what I’d been trying to say.

“We’re following all of our leads, and we hope to make an arrest soon,” he said, nodding.

What did that mean? “Seriously? You’re getting that close? What do you know that we don’t?”

The chief of police lowered his voice and stepped in closer to me. “Suzanne, I’m trying to tell you that we’re both on the same page,” he hissed, “but I’ll deny it if you tell a soul I told you anything like that.”

“I get it,” I said softly in reply.

“Now I’ve got to get back to my desk. There are a few leads I still need to track down,” he said as he started to walk away.

“Good luck,” I called out, but he was already gone, striding off with real purpose as he headed back toward his office.

 

So, we’d all started out with a pretty strong list of suspects, and now we were down to the two finalists. One woman, Heather Lindquist, might have done it to revenge her brother’s death in a skewed kind of way, while the other, Mary Paris, could have killed Cassandra for trying to assassinate her good name, which was certainly also within the realm of possibility. I had a feeling that I was missing something though, one final piece that would tell me who the actual killer was. But what was it? I stood there in the darkness outside of the Boxcar wracking my brain, but a direct assault was clearly not going to work. I had to back off and give my subconscious a chance to lead me to what I was missing.

In the meantime, I was going to have myself some pie.

 

Not only was I about to get some apple pie, but Trish’s smile was a bonus as I walked into the Boxcar Grill.

“Suzanne, what are you doing here this late?” she asked with a smile.

“That’s some warm greeting for a customer,” I said, returning her grin. “The truth is, I felt like some apple pie and some company.”

“You’re in luck,” she said with a grin. “I happen to have both. Sit right here and I’ll be right back,” she said as she ducked into the kitchen. Less than a minute later, she returned with two slices of apple pie adorned with hearty scoops of ice cream to boot. “Mind if I join you?”

“Do you mean those both aren’t for me?” I asked as I laughed.

“If we get hungry after we eat these, I can always get more. There are some real perks to owning this place.”

Trish put the plates on the table and sat beside me. I didn’t even need the first bite to know that I was in for a treat. Good food, better yet good dessert, and a good friend were just what the doctor ordered for a bout of loneliness.

“How goes the case?” Trish asked me just as I was taking a bite of ice cream–laden pie.

After I finished it, I asked, “Did you purposely wait until I was eating to ask me that?”

“It’s a skill I’ve acquired over the years,” she said with a grin. “Haven’t you noticed that most servers don’t check on how you like your meal until you’ve got a full bite in your mouth?”

“I always just thought that was a coincidence,” I said.

She grinned at me. “No, it’s how we like to mess with you. You never answered me, though. How is it going? I wasn’t Cassandra’s biggest fan, but being squashed by a giant donut is not a fate I’d wish on anyone.”

“Me, either,” I said, flashing back to the image that I was afraid would be permanently burned into my mind. We were the only two people in the diner. “Are you even supposed to be open right now?” I asked her.

“No, I flipped the CLOSED sign the second you walked in,” she said happily.

“So I’m keeping you here past your regular business hours,” I replied, feeling a little guilty about it.

“Suzanne, I wanted to spend a little time with you,” she said firmly. “You aren’t making me do a thing that I don’t want to do. So talk. Who do we suspect?”

I suddenly realized that there wouldn’t be any harm in sharing our findings with Trish. Besides, it might help me to clarify my own thoughts by expressing what I knew to someone not so closely associated with the case. “Okay, but remember, you asked for it. First off, there’s a woman named Heather Lindquist involved. As a matter of fact, she was in here earlier. You’ve got to remember her storming out.”

“I remember. What’s she got to do with the case?”

“Cassandra got her brother’s killer off from the murder charge, and Heather threatened to get revenge for what she’d done.”

Trish shuddered a little. “That’s a pretty powerful motive.”

“I know. The other suspect left on our list is a lot closer to home. Phillip and I think Mary Paris might be involved.” It sounded odd coming out of my own mouth, but the facts couldn’t be ignored. Mary might not have had as much motivation as Heather did, but if her cleaning service was all she had, she couldn’t afford to lose her sterling reputation. If folks believed Cassandra’s story, they might not use Mary the next time, and I knew better than most how quickly bad news, especially gossip, traveled in a small town.

“Mary?” Trish asked, puzzled by the reference. “Hasn’t she had enough problems lately without you accusing her of murder?”

“What do you mean?” I asked after taking my last bite of pie and ice cream. It had been so delicious that I thought about asking for another piece, but if I did that, I probably wouldn’t be able to fit into my jeans in the morning.

“She’s just gone through a bad breakup, and now you suspect her of killing Cassandra,” Trish said as she stood and cleared our plates away.

That was right! I’d heard George mention the same thing, but I hadn’t put much significance to it.

That’s when I realized that might be the missing piece after all! “Was she dating Darby Jones, by any chance?” I asked Trish.

“Yes, of course. I thought you knew about it.”

“As a matter of fact, I didn’t, and I’m willing to bet that the chief didn’t know, either,” I said as I stood up quickly. “Sorry to eat and run, but I have to go.”

“Why the rush?” Trish asked me as I tried to hand her a ten-dollar bill, which she was quite adept at refusing. “By the way, that was two friends sharing dessert, not something I’m going to bill you for.”

“Thanks,” I said, not even fighting her on it. I grabbed my cell phone as I hurried out of the diner. I had to tell the police chief what I’d just managed to put together. It still wasn’t enough to condemn Mary Paris for murder, but it was certainly a way he could use to try to crack her. Her motive for murder, which had been borderline before, suddenly became pretty strong, especially if she’d heard that Cassandra had thrown herself at her recently former boyfriend.

My call to Chief Grant went straight to voicemail, and I was about to leave a message when I heard footsteps in the gravel behind me.

 

“Put the phone down, Suzanne,” an icy voice said as the woman I’d just been discussing with Trish stepped out of the shadows and into the light from the nearby streetlamp.

It was Mary Paris, and in her hand was one of the biggest, sharpest knives I’d ever seen in my life, now pointing straight at my heart!