The Star Lake trailer park was tucked back from the lake in a wooded area that reminded me of camping trips with my father when I was a girl. The trailers were seated along a central road, perfectly spaced apart, and neatly kept for the most part.
I strolled down the road, my hands in my pockets, trying to look at ease as I scanned the mobile homes for any sign of my target.
I’d asked Sue what Roxanne looked like, and she’d described her: average height, blonde with roots showing, and tired. Terminally tired.
A single mother with three children, tired? Who would’ve thought.
I passed a man sitting in a deck chair in front of his trailer. He whistled at me, sharp and short.
“Excuse me?” I arched an eyebrow.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” the older gentleman said. “I just wanted to get your attention. You’re not from around here.”
I was pretty tired of being viewed as an outsider. “I’m from Star Lake,” I said, trying not to sound defensive and failing.
“Nah, I meant you don’t live in the trailer park. And I haven’t seen you visiting anybody before. Are you lost?”
“I’m looking for Roxanne Maas,” I said. “The woman who sells jewelry? She’s a friend of a friend.”
“Right, right. Well, why didn’t you say so?” The man, the top of his balding head shining in the morning sunlight, pointed toward a baby pink trailer across the road. “She lives right there. Good luck.”
“Good luck?”
“Those kids of hers… hard to have a conversation with them around.”
I thanked him then headed toward the trailer, keenly aware of his stare burning into my back. Did he recognize me as the woman from the cafe? The one who had been found over Angela’s body? Probably not, given that he’d claimed I wasn’t from around here.
I knocked on the pink trailer’s door.
A feral shriek sounded within, followed by hysterical laughter, and then a child crying “choo-choo!”
“If you don’t stop, I’m going to tell Auntie Dana that you can’t have any chocolates today.” Roxanne’s voice.
I wanted to be shocked, but I figured it was difficult to parent three kids on one’s own. Who was I to judge? All I knew about Roxanne was what Gran and Sue had told me, and I liked to formulate my own opinions about people before making “final decisions.”
The door opened and Roxanne—blonde, petite, and thoroughly worn out—stared at me, one eyebrow arched. Her makeup was immaculately done, and she wore several bracelets along her right arm—fake gold was my guess.
“Yeah? Who are you?”
“Miss Maas?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m Milly Pepper,” I said. “I work at the Starlight Cafe?”
“Oh.” Her expression shifted incrementally.
Yeah, everyone in Star Lake had heard about me now, it seemed. And not in the good way either.
“I was hoping to talk to you about Angela Sampson.”
“Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy.” A tiny girl appeared beside her, face streaked with what I assumed was chocolate but might’ve been mud. “Can we go now? I want to go to Auntie Dana’s!”
“Patience, Charity,” Roxanne said. “Go help your brother get dressed. Now.”
“But mommy, mommy, mommy—”
“Now!”
Charity gave me a doe-eyed look before releasing her grip and rushing back inside.
“As you can probably tell, I don’t have time to talk about Angela or anything else. I’ve got three kids and a new job to get to, so…” Roxanne dusted off her silk blouse.
“Look, it won’t take long. I’m desperate here.”
“Desperate.” Roxanne sighed. “I can sympathize with that. But it’s not my problem, sorry.” She started closing the trailer door.
“The cops think I killed Angela,” I said, hurriedly. “And I didn’t. If I can retrace her steps or figure out what happened that morning, I’ll be able to clear my name. I know she was meant to meet up with you about a business opportunity?”
Roxanne opened the door wider. “Not with me,” she said. “Angela came to see me because she wanted to buy her boyfriend a gift. Peter? She wanted to give him a ring, but I didn’t have any men’s rings in stock so I put an order through for her. That was before she… you know. Before someone… you know.”
“Right. What shoes did she have on?”
“Uh. Weird question. Heels. Angela always wore heels.”
“Do you know what the business opportunity was about?” I asked, opting for rapidfire questioning. “I heard that she was supposed to discuss a business opportunity with someone. I thought it was you.”
“It wasn’t me, and I don’t know exactly who it was, but she did say that she was excited about starting a business.” Roxanne rolled her eyes. “I took it with a pinch of salt because Angela was… well, she was in the habit of bragging about stuff that didn’t necessarily wind up being true. Like the cereal commercial thing and her fabulous acting career.” Another child’s screech sounded and she glanced back into the trailer before meeting my gaze. “She mentioned that it was something to do with boating. But I have no idea exactly who she was going to meet.”
“Boating.” That helped narrow things down, especially since Bob Binkins had been stabbed in a similar manner to Angela. Now, I was sure the two were connected. There were just a few missing pieces I had to put together.
“Yeah.”
“One last thing,” I said. “Did you see which way she was headed after she met with you?”
“Well no. We met here at the trailer and I didn’t see which way she went once she hit the road up there. Sorry. I’ve got to go,” she said. “Good luck figuring all of this out.” She shut the door in my face.
Wait a second. Roxanne and Angela had met here? At the trailer park? Then why had Trinity told me that she’d been headed to the intersection where Roxanne usually sold her jewelry? Something wasn’t quite adding up here.
And I wasn’t sure how much I could trust Roxanne. It was interesting that she’d decided to spend a couple of minutes talking to me after I’d revealed my fear that the cops thought I’d done it.
Was she trying to clear her name? Give me false information?
I retreated down the road, all the way to the exit of the trailer park. I hovered under a tree nearby, waiting. If Roxanne was up to something, I’d find out what it was.