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“Does anyone know what happened?” I asked as I stared at the remains of the Timber Talk building. Maddy and I had just been there, and now the place was a smoldering heap of bricks and burning timbers. Three of the exterior walls were still standing, but the front door had been blown off in the explosion, and window glass had been hurled into the street. The smoke rolled off the structure like black steam, and everything smelled like burned plastic. The fire department showed up a few seconds after we did, and the chief immediately moved everyone across the street so his firefighters could work.
“There wasn’t any warning,” Harriet Young said in quiet disbelief. “I was restocking my yarn bins up front, and the next thing I knew, there was a deafening roar that shook my front window like I was in the middle of an earthquake or something. It was horrible.”
Harriet ran a store called A Tall Yarn, and she was one of the calmest people I’d ever met. It was kind of offputting to see her so shaken, but I couldn’t blame her.
“Can I get you some coffee or something?” I asked her.
“Thank you, Eleanor, but I’m afraid it would just add to my jitters. How horrible it must have been for them.”
“Them?” I asked. “Did you see someone go inside?”
She was about to answer when Kevin Hurley showed up, along with two of his officers. “Let’s go, people. Move along. There’s nothing to see here. You need to go about your business so we can handle the situation.”
“We’re not in the way over here,” Maddy said. “Why shouldn’t we stay?”
Kevin looked as though he wanted to say something in response, then he clearly thought better of it. “Suit yourself, but the first person who crosses that street toward the newspaper office is going to jail. Am I making myself clear?”
There were several nods from the crowd, and the police chief talked briefly to one of his officers before coming directly over to Maddy and me.
“You can’t put me in jail for asking a question,” Maddy said defiantly. “I have my rights.”
“Settle down. It’s Harriet I need to talk to.”
“But I didn’t say anything at all,” she protested. “Why on earth would you want to arrest me?”
Kevin was in no mood for the conversation he was having, that much was clear. “Harriet, no one’s getting arrested. I just want to talk to you. Can we go inside your shop?” he asked as he noticed everyone close by straining to hear what he was saying.
“Of course. I’ll lock the door so we’ll have some privacy.”
After they were inside, I looked at Maddy. “Now what do you suppose that was all about?”
“He said he wanted to talk to her,” my sister said. “You were standing right beside me when he said it, Eleanor.”
“I know that, you nit. What I’m asking is, what would Kevin want to talk to her about?”
“It’s got to be the same thing you were asking Harriet about when he showed up. It sounds like she knows who was in that explosion.”
“I wish she’d told us first,” I said.
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Maddy said, “But we’re not going to get that particular wish granted today, are we?”
Greg rushed over to us and said, “There you are. I looked all over and I couldn’t find you. Where have you two been hiding?”
“I hadn’t realized we were that hard to spot,” I said. “We’ve been right here all along. What’s going on?”
He pulled us both aside, and then said softly, “I just talked to a friend of mine. He’s a volunteer firefighter, and when he was coming back out for his ax, I asked him what it was like in there.”
“What did he say?” I asked.
“As far as they can tell, there’s a body inside.”
“Just one?” I asked.
Greg looked startled by the question. “Yeah, he just spotted one. How many were you expecting?”
“At least two,” I answered. “Is it possible your friend missed one?”
“I don’t know, but I can ask him. It might take a while, though. He’s over there now trying to put the last few flames out.”
“If you could find out what caused the explosion, that will be a big help, too,” Maddy added.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Greg glanced at his watch, then said, “I might be a little late coming into work this afternoon.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll handle the dinner crowd. Just get whatever you can out of your friend. If you have to, bribe him with a free pizza or two.”
“That should do it,” Greg said. “Thanks.”
“If you see Josh, send him back to the Slice, okay? That’s where we’re headed now,” I said.
“Don’t you want to stick around a little while longer?” Maddy asked.
“Greg’s going to be here. Besides, we have a pizzeria to run.”
“True,” Maddy said. “But we could always open a little later ourselves.”
“Come on, Sis,” I said as I took her arm. “Trust me. We’ll hear everything that happened soon enough. Where are people going to want to come after seeing something like this? I’m betting it will be the Slice. We’re going to find out plenty if we just keep our ears open.”
As we walked back toward the pizzeria, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Harriet through her shop window. She was still talking in earnest with Kevin Hurley. Her gaze met mine for a split second before she broke our contact, and I had to wonder if the profound sadness I’d seen directed at me had been real, or just my imagination.
I was kneading dough into one of our extra-large pans when the kitchen door opened a few hours later. I’d been expecting Greg to check back in with us, so I was more than a little surprised when Chief Hurley walked in.
“What’s wrong?” I asked the second I saw his face. Kevin looked as if he had something weighing heavily on him, and I had a strong feeling it had something to do with me.
“It might be nothing,” he said as a preamble.
“Or it might be something,” I countered. “Go on, I’m a big girl. I can take it.”
Kevin nodded. “There was a witness who saw two men going into the Timber Talk office five minutes before the explosion. One was Trent Caldwell.”
“Who was the other one?” I asked, not really sure I wanted to know.
“Steve Swift,” he said simply.
I closed my eyes and shook my head slightly. Though Steve and I had gone through our share of problems in the past, he was a part of my family whether I liked to admit it or not, and more importantly, Steve was one of my last ties to my late husband Joe.
“Are you all right?” Kevin asked, standing closer to me than I’d realized.
“I’m fine,” I said, opening my eyes and wringing my hands together.
“There’s some possible good news, too,” Kevin said.
“I can’t imagine what it could be, but I’d be delighted to hear it,” I said.
“They’re pretty sure there’s only one body in the rubble, so there’s a fifty-fifty chance Steve got out in time.”
“How can they have any certainty at all that there’s just one person in there? I saw that building. It was a mess.”
“A canine unit from Charlotte was doing a training exercise tracking in the mountains, so they volunteered to help us out. They assured me that it’s just the one, and there’s no reason to doubt it.”
“But you don’t know which one of the men it was,” I said.
“No, and no one else does, either.” He looked down at his shoes as he added, “It’s going to take dental records to figure it out. It’s not pretty.”
“I don’t know where Steve’s records are,” I said. “Most likely they’re in California somewhere.”
“That’s all right. We’re trying to get in touch with Trent’s dentist. He’s on his honeymoon in Alaska right now, but his receptionist has been working answering the phones, so someone is usually there.”
“Then what’s the holdup?”
Kevin admitted, “We can’t seem to find her right now, but I’ve got my men out looking. I’m hoping we’ll have a positive identification in the next two or three days.”
“I don’t understand why it’s going to take so long.”
“Eleanor, we have to send to Raleigh for a forensic dentist to make X-rays of the body and compare them to what’s in Trent’s charts. They’re swamped as it is, but we’ll get him as soon as we can. In the meantime, you should prepare yourself for the worst. Who is Steve’s next of kin, do you know?”
I considered the question for a full minute, then I finally said, “It’s probably me. His parents have been dead for ten years, and he and Joe were the only ones left.” The thought of my husband’s line dying out was just about more than I could bear. “As soon as you find out, will you let me know?”
“It’s not part of the official protocol,” he said, but before I could protest, he added softly, “but I’ll make sure of it. I am sorry to have to bring you such bad news, Eleanor.”
“Harriet saw them going into the newspaper office, didn’t she?”
“I can’t tell you that,” he said, suddenly official again.
“That’s fine. She hinted at it herself when I talked to her earlier.”
“You’re not going to bother her, are you? The poor woman’s been through enough as it is.”
I frowned at Kevin. “If you won’t tell me everything you know, I really don’t have much choice, do I? Why don’t you do everyone a favor and tell me what she said so I don’t have to ask her myself. Think about it for a second before you say no, Kevin. You’ll be helping her, not me.”
“I guess that’s true, but I still shouldn’t say anything.” I knew well enough that this was the perfect time to keep my mouth shut. If I did, there was a good chance Kevin would tell me what Harriet had said, but if I continued to pester him, I knew from experience that he would clam up out of principle.
“Okay,” he finally said. “You win. Evidently the two men were arguing about something when they went into the newspaper office. Harriet was restocking her yarn in the front window when she heard them yelling at each other on the street outside the building.”
“What were they fighting about?”
“She couldn’t tell, but she did say that it was pretty clear both men were unhappy about the conversation they were having. Anyway, Harriet watched them go inside, then she went back to her storeroom to get more blue yarn.”
“I bet she said Midnight Passion,” I said, knowing Harriet’s penchant for giving mundane colors extraordinary names.
“It was Faded Robin’s Egg, but you were on the right track,” Kevin said with a brief smile. “The next thing she heard was the building exploding. Apparently while she’d been getting more yarn, one of the men got away.”
“It’s natural to think that Trent stayed behind, isn’t it?” I asked. “After all, it was his office, and if he and Steve were fighting, I could see my brother-in-law storming out and slamming the door behind him.”
“Maybe,” Kevin said. “Then again, if Trent was setting him up, he could have told Steve to wait there for something.”
“Do you think he could have killed Steve?”
Kevin shook his head after a few seconds. “Probably not. Usually the simplest explanation is the best. Until I hear otherwise, I’m going to assume that Trent Caldwell is dead, and that Steve Swift is fine.”
“Then that makes him a murder suspect, doesn’t it?” I blurted out before I remembered I was talking to our town’s number one law enforcement officer.
“If the explosion wasn’t an accident, it’s a possibility I’ve got to consider,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” I said. “It’s the only way you can look at it.”
Kevin nodded his head slightly, and I could see the worry creep onto his face.
“What is it?” I asked.
“The FBI’s going to have a field day with this one. Within a week we have a bank robbery and then someone blows up the town newspaper. It doesn’t look good for local law enforcement, does it?”
“Do you think the two events are possibly related?”
“No, of course not,” he said. “It’s just bad timing.” He glanced at the clock over my prep station, then the police chief added, “I’ve got to go. I’m late for a meeting with Special Agent Hannigan. I just thought you should hear the truth from me before the rumors start flying around town.”
“I appreciate that,” I said.
After he was gone, I thought about the possibilities of what might have happened today. A thousand thoughts swirled through my mind. Then I spotted the naked pizza crust on my counter.
I could think just as easily while I made a pepperoni pizza.
Unfortunately, there weren’t enough orders in the world to help me puzzle out what had happened at the newspaper office earlier that day.
“There’s somebody here to see you,” Maddy said as she came back to get one of her orders. “We’re kind of slow at the moment, so I can handle the kitchen if you want me to. That will give you a chance to talk.”
“Who is it?” I asked as I wiped my hands on a clean towel.
“It’s Karen, Hank’s daughter.”
“Sure, tell her I’ll be right out.”
I finished the last order I’d been given, then I walked out to find Karen standing by the register.
“Hey, how are you? Do you want to grab a table?”
“Could we talk outside?” she asked.
Maddy had told the truth. We really weren’t that busy, and I knew my three employees could handle things until I got back. “Sure thing. Let me just grab a jacket.”
Some days it was hard to tell that it was autumn with the noonday sun beating down, but when the breezes came up in the evening, there was a bite to it that no summer could touch.
I put my jacket on, nodded to Greg and Josh as I passed them, and then I walked outside with Karen.
“How are the kids doing?” I asked.
“They’re coping,” she said as she wiped at a sniffle. “Turns out they’re both tougher than I am.”
“He was your father,” I said, putting my arm lightly around her. “You’re entitled to grieve.”
“That feels like all I get done these days,” she said. “Have you had any luck with your investigation so far?”
“We’ve got a few good leads we’re still tracking down.”
“Do you have any suspects yet?”
“A couple,” I said, not sure how much I wanted to tell her. She’d been kind enough to let us rummage around in her father’s files, but I wasn’t sure she honestly would want to know everything her dad had been up to.
“You can tell me,” Karen said. “I want to know, no matter what you’ve found. You can trust me.”
“Believe me, I do,” I said. “But it’s not a matter of trust. Everyone we suspect right now, except the killer, is innocent of murder. It’s bad enough their names are tainted with Maddy and me. I don’t want you looking oddly at someone every time you see them around town just because of something I’ve said. It’s not fair to them, and it’s certainly not fair to you.”
“I guess I can see that,” she said after a moment of thought. “Just do one thing for me. When you and your sister figure out who killed my father, let me know before you call Chief Hurley.”
“Why? You’re not thinking of doing something stupid, are you?”
“I just want to know,” she said.
“I can’t promise you that.”
Her cell phone rang, and she told me, “That’s my son. I’ve got to take this.”
After a hurried conversation, Karen hung up, then she turned to me. “I’ve got to go. It seems like things go crazy whenever I’m gone. Thanks, Eleanor.”
“I haven’t really done anything yet,” I said.
She took my hand in hers. “Don’t kid yourself. You’ve already done more than anyone else has around here. You actually seem to care about what happened to my father.”
“That’s because I do,” I said. “Don’t give up hope.”
“I can’t,” she said. “Right now it feels like it’s all I’ve got left.”
After Karen was gone, I started back toward the Slice when I heard raised voices in the passageway where I walked to work every morning.
Who could it be? I wasn’t sure, but I had time to check it out, and that’s exactly what I was planning to do. Sometimes my curiosity got the better of me, and this was one of those times.
As I got closer, I felt my pulse start to race. I suddenly realized that I knew both voices.
One belonged to Missy Plum.
The other was clearly Doc Parsons.
It appeared that two of my suspects were having a knock-down, drag-out fight.
And by sheer coincidence, I had a front row seat for it.
“Missy, you’ve got to stop calling me at the office,” Doc Parsons said, his voice filled with anger. I was close enough to the corner of the passageway to see them in the streetlight when I eased myself around the corner.
“Fine. Would you rather I called you at home?” Missy replied.
“Don’t call me anywhere,” he said. “Things are bad enough with my wife without you throwing fuel on the fire. Angie’s about to have a stroke as it is.”
“I just want to talk to you,” Missy said, her voice taking on a pliant tone.
I watched as Doc Parsons got close to her, and for just a split second, I thought he was going to kiss her. Instead, he grabbed her arms with his hands and shook her once. “Listen to me. This has to end, here and now.”
“I’m not giving up,” she said.
“You don’t have any choice,” Doc Parsons said.
“Is that a threat? Really? Has it come to that?”
“Missy.” His voice was filled with a raw edge of passion I never would have suspected him of. “I’m dead serious.”
Then he released her and started walking quickly toward me. I didn’t have anywhere to hide. He was going to know that I’d been eavesdropping on him.
To my surprise, Missy was the one who saved me. She grabbed his shoulder with both hands and stopped him just before he discovered me lurking.
“Please, don’t do this.”
“Let go of me,” he said harshly. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
“I don’t care,” she said, her words interspersed with tears.
“I do.”
That was all I could catch as I turned and headed back to the Slice. I’d pushed my luck eavesdropping, but I wasn’t about to get caught by either one of them if I could help it.
When I walked back into my kitchen, Maddy said, “I’ve got two more pizzas to make, but if you want to do them yourself, it’s...”
She stopped the second she really looked at me. “Eleanor, what’s wrong? Is it Karen? Did something happen to her?”
“Karen’s fine,” I said. “One of her kids just called, so she took off.”
“Then why does your face look like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you just found out something you wish you could forget,” Maddy said.
“I overheard Missy Plum and Doc Parsons fighting.”
“In front of the Slice? What were they arguing about?”
I took off my jacket and hung it on a hook. “No, they were in the passageway between the front of the promenade and the back, so I doubt they saw me eavesdropping on them. Not that they would have been able to tell. They were both in the heat of an argument that didn’t leave them a lot of attention for anyone or anything else.”
“What were they fighting about?”
“It sounded like Doc Parsons was breaking it off, but Missy wasn’t going to give up easily.”
“I never would have believed it,” Maddy said. “Even with the files we found. No wonder Angie’s been going around town like a lunatic looking for her husband. She was here two minutes after you left, by the way.”
“She was here? What did you tell her?”
“The truth,” Maddy said. “It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I’m guessing you didn’t see her outside.”
“No, thankfully she must have gone the other way. I’d hate to think what that scene would have been like if she’d found the two of them together there.”
“And you spying on them, to boot,” Maddy said. “It wouldn’t have been pretty.”
“So, either one of them could have killed Hank to hide the truth. The thing that gets me is that Missy doesn’t seem to care who knows how she feels right now. Doc Parsons is the one with the most to lose, isn’t he?”
“Does that mean he’s our prime suspect?”
“I’m not ready to say that yet, but I do think it should move him up the list,” I said.
Maddy took off her cooking apron and put on her waitressing one. “Then I should get back out there. Everyone who’s come in tonight has been buzzing about the explosion. Who knows? I might just pick something up.”
“Don’t let anyone know what you’re doing,” I said. The last thing I wanted to do was put Maddy or any of my other employees in the line of fire if I could help it. If word got out that we were snooping around in this case, it could lead to bad things happening to both of us.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m the soul of discretion.”
I decided to let that one go.
Greg came back with an order, and after he gave it to me, he said, “We need you out front, Maddy. The place is getting a little crazy.”
“I’ll be right there,” she said.
After Greg was gone, Maddy said, “You need to be careful, too. You know that, don’t you?”
“Absolutely. Why the sudden concern?”
“It occurs to me that you’re not the only one who’s nearly out of family,” she said. With a grin, she added, “If you’re not including ex-husbands, of course. If they count, I’m in fine shape.”
After Maddy was gone, I rearranged things at the prep stations back to the way I liked them. After all, it was my kitchen, and while I didn’t mind Maddy changing things to make her work more efficiently, that certainly didn’t mean I wasn’t going to change them back at the first opportunity.
After Maddy and I locked up for the night, we walked through the passageway where I’d seen Doc Parsons and Missy arguing hours before. The pain in her voice had been palpable, and even though she’d been wrong having an affair with a married man, I still couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. That was until I remembered that the description of the bank robber could have fit her as easily as it could have one of the men on my list.
“They really did a fine job decorating here, didn’t they?” Maddy said, pulling me back into the present.
“It’s one of the nicest features of the promenade,” I said. “I just hope what I overheard doesn’t ruin it for me forever.”
“You’re tough. I’m sure you’ll be able to deal with it. After all, you’ve handled a lot worse over the years.”
As we walked toward the back of the buildings, I could see a patrol car parked next to our vehicles. The decal on the side identified it as Chief Hurley’s cruiser.
“I wonder what could possibly be wrong now?” I asked Maddy.
“It’s too much to hope that he’s there to make sure we get home safely, isn’t it?”
“If he is, it will be the first time.”
Kevin Hurley saw us approaching and got out of the car. There was an odd look on his face, one I couldn’t figure out.
“Good evening, ladies,” he said.
“Hi, Kevin,” I said. “What brings you out here at this time of night?”
“I need to talk to you,” he said solemnly, and I felt my legs start to buckle.
“Steve’s dead, isn’t he?” I knew it in my heart, without any real reason to believe it. Maddy was right there supporting me, or I probably would have fallen on the pavement.
“No, that’s not it at all.” He looked at me closely, then he asked me, “Eleanor, are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I said, getting the strength to stand on my own again. I had never been Steve’s biggest fan, but he was one of my last links with Joe, and that made him worth more than gold to me. I just wish that I’d realized it while he was still around for me to show it.
“I shouldn’t be telling either one of you this, and if you breathe a word of it to anyone, and I mean anyone, it will be the last time I ever say a word to you. Am I making myself clear?”
“We understand,” I said.
He looked at Maddy. “You can’t tell Bob, either.”
“Sorry, but I can’t promise that,” she said.
“Then we’re finished here,” Kevin answered.
He started to get back into his car when I grabbed Maddy’s arm. “Come on. You’ve got to promise.”
“I won’t do it, Eleanor. I’m not keeping secrets from Bob,” she said.
“Then why don’t you go on home? I need to know what Kevin’s got to say.”
My sister nodded. “Okay, then.”
I called out, “Kevin, hang on a second. Maddy’s leaving.”
“No way,” he said. “I know the two of you better than that. The second I finish telling you, you’ll be on the phone with her.” He smiled wryly, then added, “I’m not blaming you—sometimes I envy you both having someone you’re that close to—but this could end my career if anyone finds out.”
“Fine. I give in. I won’t say a word to anyone,” Maddy said abruptly. “I give you my word.”
He stared long and hard at her, then nodded. “I appreciate that.”
“We’ve promised,” I said. “What is it?”
“The FBI is wrapping things up. They’re satisfied they know who robbed the bank, and who shot Hank Webber.”
“Steve did it, didn’t he?” I didn’t want to believe it, but something in my gut told me I was right.
If Kevin was surprised by my guess, he didn’t show it. “No, it’s pretty clear that it was Trent. They found a couple of stacks of money from the robbery in the debris of the explosion, and there was a gun by the body that matched the one used in the murder. Trent’s signet ring was on the victim’s hand, and his shoes were on his feet. That’s as close as they’re going to be able to make on a positive ID.”
“What about the dental records?” I asked. “Can’t they use those?”
“Trent’s dentist lost them in a flooded basement six months ago,” Kevin said. “They’re hunting down Steve’s records in California, but it’s going to be nearly impossible tracking them down. You shouldn’t worry about it, though. The FBI is satisfied that Trent did it.”
“And do you agree with that?” I asked. “You knew him better than we have.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Longer, at least.”
Kevin shrugged. “They pulled something Trent was working on off his computer, and it sealed the deal for them. It was a confession to the robbery and the murder, and it sounded pretty authentic. He was going to run it in his newspaper tomorrow, but he must have decided he couldn’t live with the guilt until then.”
“But why did he do it in the first place?” Maddy asked.
“He wanted one good headline before he died. It was the only way he could scoop anyone else, and everyone in town knows how bad he wanted that. It’s all pretty pointless, isn’t it?”
“It’s unbelievable,” I said.
“I don’t know. I’ve heard of firemen who set fires, just so they’ll have something to put out. People are capable of doing the most boneheaded things you could imagine.”
“Trent just didn’t seem like the type to me.”
“You never know, Eleanor,” my sister said.
Kevin nodded, and then said, “I just thought you two should know so you could drop your little investigation. There’s no sense stirring things up any more now.”
“But that still leaves Steve, doesn’t it? Isn’t anyone going to look for him?”
“As far as the feds are concerned, things got a little too hot for him around here, so he left town. They’re marking this one closed. Don’t worry, Eleanor, I’m sure you’ll hear from him soon.”
After he was gone, Maddy said, “Can you imagine that? Trent committed murder just so he could have a headline.”
“I don’t believe it,” I said firmly.
“Which part?”
“Any of it,” I said. “Trent wasn’t that crazy. We both talked to him. Did he seem capable of doing something like that to you?”
“What are any of us capable of? You have to admit the man was obsessed with being treated with respect as a journalist. I’m sure in his mind he justified the robbery. Maybe he planned to give the money back after his story broke. And then Hank came back from his break and things went wrong fast. It could have happened that way.”
“I just can’t swallow it,” I said.
“Eleanor, you’re not just upset because we were wrong about everything, are you? It was a long shot from the beginning, we both knew that.”
“I don’t know. I guess you’ve got a point,” I said. “But it just doesn’t feel right.”
“Murder never does, does it? Can you believe Kevin Hurley told us all of that? He must really trust us.”
“We can’t tell anyone what he told us,” I said.
“You don’t have to tell me. I made a promise, and I’m not going to break it.” She hugged me, and then said, “At least it’s all long over.”
“If it ever is,” I said.
She laughed. “Good night, Sis. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Good night,” I said as I got into my car and drove home. I had a hard time letting it go, but Maddy was right. If the FBI was satisfied with the outcome, there was no reason I shouldn’t be too.
There was only one thing that gnawed at me.
If Steve had indeed survived that explosion, why hadn’t he let me know he was all right? Did he care that little about me that he didn’t even think I merited a telephone call to tell me that he was okay? It just proved to me more than anything else that he was a pale imitation of his brother indeed.
I went to sleep dreaming of Joe, and how much I missed him with each passing day.