Fourteen

The visit from King that Megan had been half-expecting came later that day. She had stopped by the café to check on things there before keeping her promise to Bibi and heading over to her Aunt Sarah’s home. She’d found the café busy but under control and decided to stock shelves in the store. The canned foods were running low as was the pasta and rice. Normally she saved stocking for after-hours, but with the café so busy and the farm in full swing, it was a job that had been ignored. And it offered some blessed relief from all the worry.

Megan was placing organic black beans on a shelf next to pinto and kidney beans when she heard someone behind her. She’d been thinking about Chase and was jumpier than usual. She spun around to come face to chest with Bobby King.

“Didn’t mean to startle you.” King grabbed two cans from the package at Megan’s feet and placed them on the shelf. “Can we talk?”

“Sure. I’m almost done here.”

She and King worked together for a minute to finish emptying the case of black beans. When the last can was stocked and the cardboard had been placed in recycling, Megan turned to the police chief who, she noticed, was conspicuously dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt.

“Taking the day off?” she asked.

“Can we talk outside?”

“You don’t want to just use my office?”

“I’d rather not.”

Megan glanced back toward the café. She didn’t recognize half the people. It was a weekday, so it was unlikely to be tourists. Press, she figured—at least some of them. King’s reason for avoiding the office. They’d have to walk through the café.

Outside, the day was hot and muggy. Megan’s linen top clung to her within minutes, and the air felt soupy and smelled faintly of ozone and car fumes. Clouds had gathered overhead, and the angry state of the sky harkened rain. Good for crops, not so good for business.

“Where’d you want to go.”

“Let’s walk down by the canal.”

Megan tried to match the Chief’s long strides. Within a few minutes, they reached the paved canal path. The recreation trail had been one of the positive outcomes of the Historical Society’s attempts to revitalize the town’s center. The canal trail. Historically accurate lampposts. Wooden benches. New cobblestones. Sign restrictions. Winsome’s small town center was attractive—even if the price tag had been daunting. Today she followed King west on the trail, toward the more wooded section of town. She struggled to keep up.

When they were out of site of the main street, King slowed down.

“How are things going with the investigation?” Megan asked.

“The State Police are taking over,” King said. “Even the damn Bureau of State Parks is involved.”

“The murder happened on state park land. I guess that makes sense.”

King kicked at a stone on the pathway. “I figured we’d have some jurisdiction issues, but with all this press, the state guys are being pretty possessive.” He looked up toward the hills in the distance. “The park is still closed while they comb for evidence.”

“All probably normal procedure, Bobby.” Megan knew King was well aware of procedure, but he looked so down, she wasn’t sure what to say.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Then what’s bothering you?”

“The boy, I guess. These state folks, they’re all about closing this case—and fast. We’re working together still, but at some point, they may push us out altogether. I need to be fast and decisive.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.”

King smiled. “Thanks, Megan, but reassurance isn’t what I’m after.”

“Then what are you after?”

“Just the truth.”

Megan laughed out loud. “Good luck with that.”

“Tell me about it.”

Sweat had beaded along Megan’s forehead and the back of her neck. Spying an empty bench under a maple tree, Megan pointed. “Let’s get out of the sun.”

When they were both seated, King said, “What I can’t get straight in my head is the series of connections we have going here. Chase and some of the other BOLD crew are Denver’s long-time friends. He went to college with Chase, Xavier, and Jatin, right?”

“They were fraternity brothers. Barbara was friends with them too.”

“Not Martine?”

“She came later.”

“This group of people from the same company came here not because of a former close friend, but because of a school. And the connection to that school is the boss’s daughter, who was a student several years ago.”

“That’s right. Dr. Harriet Mantra, Barbara’s boss. Her daughter was a student, and she wanted to give back.”

“So she sets up this mentoring program with the aim of helping other Pioneer Village kids go to college.”

“Right.”

“And Eloise’s foster son just happens to be a student at the same school.”

“Right again.”

King watched a hawk circling overhead. “And you don’t think these are weird coincidences?”

Megan considered the question. “If no one had gotten hurt, we wouldn’t have thought twice about any of this. According to Denver, Chase called him to let him know he was coming to town and why. It was only after Denver found out about Chase that Eloise told him Dillon would be on that camping trip too.” Megan paused. “What I didn’t understand is why Harriet’s daughter was in school in Pennsylvania rather than California and how Dillon, a ward of the Commonwealth, was able to attend as well.”

“That’s an easy one to answer. The school is private. It’s a program for children with high IQs and emotional problems. Eloise knew about it because of her medical practice. Presumably this Harriet Mantra found out and chose to send her daughter there in lieu of some state-run school.”

“Yes, that’s what I think.”

King still looked concerned. “I asked Denver why his friends were here, and he seemed oddly anxious. Not like him.”

Megan fanned herself with a paper from her purse. “When we had dinner the night before the camping trip started, Denver was pretty shaken up. Chase was obnoxious. Denver hadn’t seen him in a while. I think he was expecting him to be less…Chase-like. He felt like the trip was a bad idea, that Chase and the others didn’t seem very altruistic. That maybe the kids weren’t going to have a good experience. You know how much Denver likes the outdoors. He was worried they’d ruin it for the teens.” Megan shrugged. “I think he feels responsible. Not because he did something, but because of his connection with the parties. I suspect this would have happened with or without him, though. BOLD wanted its photo ops.”

King was quiet for a moment. “That was why Martine was there,” King said. “To capture this on film.”

Megan sat back against the bench, stretching her legs out in front of her. “Yeah, it was to be a big PR opportunity.”

“Do you know why?”

Megan glanced at King. “I assumed because they could. New pharma company does good in the world, blah, blah, blah. Earn some good will.”

“BOLD isn’t a public company.”

“Maybe they intend to take the company public at some point.”

King didn’t respond right away. His gaze remained on the horizon. Megan could feel the tension coming off him in waves. “BOLD has been around for a few years. Hardly a newcomer.”

“So?”

“Something doesn’t fit, Megan. You and I have worked through enough of these puzzles to know there are no real coincidences. I’m trying to figure out who benefitted from Chase’s death. Who, besides Dillon Brown, would have wanted him dead?”

Same question Megan had posed earlier. She nodded for him to go on.

“The State guys are looking at the kid as suspect number one. His family’s legacy lives on. But that park was full of other people that day, including several of Chase’s coworkers. The murder instrument was Chase’s own knife. Any one of them had access to it.”

“You looked at Jatin?”

“Martine told me about the argument between him and Chase, if that’s what you mean.” King extended his arm, flexed his hand. “Jatin claims he was scolding Chase for getting drunk the night before the event. I have no reason to disbelieve him.”

Megan told King about Clover’s description of an argument between Xavier and Jatin at the café. “Jatin again. What do you make of that?”

“That my girlfriend is holding out on me.”

Megan smiled. “She’s worried about you, Bobby. Says you’re not sleeping.”

“Because I’m not.”

“Wearing yourself out isn’t the solution for solving this case.”

“Tell that to my brain.” He slapped his hands down on his legs. “Jatin, huh? The way I see it, one of three things happened. One, the kid killed Chase. He had access to Chase and the weapon. What we don’t know is what his motive would have been—or if he needed one.”

“He was found with Chase?”

“He was screaming. His screams brought the others running. They found him in the water, doubled over, still screaming. He wasn’t with the body, but he was close enough.”

Megan said, “You couldn’t determine if the splatter on him was consistent with what you’d see if he’d wielded the knife.”

“He was soaking wet. Most of the blood had been washed off. He denies anything other than finding Chase, and right now we have no strong evidence to the contrary. His prints were on the knife handle, but so were a half dozen other people’s. And part of the knife was submerged. Not the best crime scene for forensics. No witnesses. No cameras. And most of the prints gone.”

“No surveillance going in and out of the park?”

King’s eyes narrowed. “You’re thinking of the kiosk where you leave day trip payments.”

Megan nodded. The park had a cheap day use fee and visitors were supposed to place their money and envelopes in a slot in a locked kiosk. “Visitors are supposed to write their license plate numbers on the envelopes. That could provide a clue.”

King smiled. “If only it were that simple. No security—completely an honor system. Shh. Don’t tell anyone. And almost no one includes their license number. We went through them; nothing helpful.”

“Right. And we’re assuming the killer would follow the rules. What’re the other possibilities? You said you had three.”

King said, “Two, it was someone from BOLD. Like Dillon, they each had opportunity. Motive is again an unknown.”

“And three?”

“A stranger. Someone who happened to be in the park and acted because they could.”

Megan frowned. “That was a lot of rage for a stranger.”

“Who knows what goes through people’s minds. Could have been someone with whom Chase had an altercation, could have been a road incident and the person stalked him to the park.” King frowned. “Road rage gone wild.”

“Stranger things have happened.” Megan sighed. “There’s a fourth possibility. That whoever killed Chase followed him to Pennsylvania for the purpose of murdering him.”

“Someone not affiliated with BOLD?”

A child on a tricycle and a woman running beside him were coming toward them down the path. Megan waited until they’d passed before responding.

“They could be affiliated with BOLD—or not. Chase wasn’t an easy guy to be around. Imagining that he had enemies isn’t that hard.”

King nodded. “So I’ve heard.”

Megan watched the Chief as he watched the boy on the tricycle. She and King had been through other murders together, sat vigil through many sleepless nights. She wasn’t surprised he was confiding in her. Besides her connection to Denver, she’d become and unofficial sounding board, a friend. She wouldn’t let him down now.

She said, “Your theories all ring true. If it were me, I’d start with Chase’s life. What was he into? Who did he hang around with? What did he do for fun?”

King looked briefly amused. “Besides work?”

Megan watched the receding backs of the boy and his mom. “There are twenty-four hours in a day, Bobby. No one can work all of the time.”