Small Town Murder: Midwest Cozy Mystery Series

by Dianne Harman

  Blaine and Kat shared a smile. Even though Lacie wasn’t Blaine’s daughter, he treated her like she was. Besides, he was just so happy that Kat was feeling so proud. Tyler looked proud, too.

  “How’s your writing going, Mom?” Lacie asked.

  Kat didn’t want to talk about the investigation – she needed a little break from it - so she was glad for the question.

  “It’s really great at the moment, thanks,” she said. She was not going to tell them about the exploits of Sexy Cissy, but the Kat Denham mysteries were a perfectly sensible topic. “After visiting Deborah in Italy, I’m thinking about starting a new mystery series with main characters who travel a lot, so I can write about all the exotic locations they visit.”

  “And you get to visit them, right?” Lacie asked with a wink. “Research is very important in your career as a writer, isn’t it?”

  Kat grinned. “Yes. You sussed me out, Lacie. I’m stuck on the characters, though. I had thought maybe a couple of women who landscape gardens, but then realized I’d lifted that right out of Rosemary & Thyme, that British TV series. But maybe two friends doing photography? They’ve had their kids, one’s a war widow, the other divorces her mean husband, and they go around the world taking beautiful pictures and solving mysteries.”

  “That sounds pretty fun!” Blaine said, then laughed. “I hope you and Deborah aren’t planning to up and leave me and Luigi to do the same!”

  Kat laughed. “Of course not! Deborah is madly in love with Luigi, and me? Well, I still love you. Just about.” She winked at him across the table.

  He gave her a smile that made his eyes crinkle and her heart melt.

  “Oh, brother,” Lacie said. “We’re the young ones. We’re supposed to be all lovey-dovey and make everyone else cringe, not you two!”

  Kat grinned. “Life doesn’t stop after forty-five, Lacie.”

  “I can see that!” Lacie said. The way she looked at her, Kat could tell that Lacie was just as proud of her as she was of Lacie.

  Tyler poured them all some more red wine, and asked Kat, “So, where do you think you’ll be going next? And make sure you come back with some amazing recipes. This lasagne is absolutely delicious!”

  “Thank you, Tyler,” Kat said. “If I lived in Italy, I’d be the size of a truck. Between the pasta and the pizza and the lasagne and the mozzarella salads… and all that wine! And then what about the tiramisu, the panna cotta, the gelato, and trust me, the desserts list goes on and on and on. It’s all just too tempting for words!”

  “I’ll bet,” Tyler said.

  “To answer your question, I’m not sure where we’ll go next.” She looked at Blaine. “Where do you fancy, honey?”

  “Well, I’ve always wanted to go to Cat Island in the Bahamas. One of my colleagues told me about it a few years ago. They have a beach with pink sand, for one thing. And it’s so safe no one ever locks their doors. There are some historic buildings, but otherwise there’s pretty much nothing to do except snorkel in the turquoise water or go fishing. It sounds like heaven.”

  Kat grinned. “Let’s do it. I can see myself on the veranda of a beach house, tapping away on my laptop writing my next book.”

  “I like it,” Blaine said. “Oh, and it’s where Sidney Poitier is from.”

  “Who’s Sidney Poitier?” Lacie asked.

  Kat and Blaine gasped.

  “You young people!” Kat said. “Sir Sidney Poitier was a famous actor through the 60’s and 70’s. I think he was the first African-American man to win a Golden Globe.”

  “I’ll have to look him up,” Lacie said.

  “Speaking of travel, I’d also like to go to the German Christmas markets,” Kat said. “Apparently the city of Cologne is the best place for it. My friend Lennon took her family there once. She said it was truly magical.”

  “Mom, take me! Take me!” Lacie said, like she was a little kid again.

  Just then, the telephone rang. “Just let it ring,” Kat said. “It can go to the machine. Shall we have dessert now? That tiramisu you brought looks amazing.”

  “Let me help you clear up,” Tyler said, beginning to stack the plates.

  “Thank you,” Kat said.

  “And I’ll dish out the tiramisu,” Lacie said, going back to the kitchen.

  The answering machine beeped, and then a voice blared out into the room. “Thank you for visiting me, Kat. It’s Julian Perkins.”

  Kat froze.

  CHAPTER 16

  “Who’s that?” Blaine asked. “Does it have something to do with Jay’s case?”

  Kat couldn’t reply. How on earth had Julian gotten her phone number? She was frozen over the dinner table, in the middle of stacking the dishes on top of each other.

  “You were really kind to come and see me and buy me the cappuccino.” He laughed. “Like you said, all the best people drink cappuccino. I think you are one of the world’s best people. Don’t get me wrong, I am not romantically interested in you. I never will be. I will never be romantically interested in anyone in the whole world, as my heart is reserved for Jay. Jay Talbot, Jay Reynolds, Jay Perkins, whatever the name is… it doesn’t matter. She is one and the same person to me.

  “The same eternal soul. Every day I think of committing suicide, so that I can be with her, but she urges me not to do it. Sometimes I shout at her, though, and tell her I am so angry with her for leaving me. She doesn’t have the right to tell me not to kill myself. But then I feel so guilty for being so angry with her. It wasn’t her fault she left. It was Reiss’.”

  He sighed deeply.

  Blaine, Kat, and Tyler stood there transfixed. Lacie hadn’t heard the message and she called out from the kitchen. “Small, large or medium portion size, Mom?” But everyone ignored her.

  “What on earth?” Blaine whispered, then looked at Kat. “Who is this guy? What’s going on?”

  But Julian Perkins began to speak again before Kat could answer. “In any case, I just want to talk to you more about Jay before I kill myself tonight by talking myself into a spiral. Bye, then.”

  Blaine’s voice took on more urgency. “Kat, who is that?”

  “It’s the man I was worried about,” Kat said, flopping down on her chair. “The guy I called you about, the visit where I took Rudy with me. I have no idea how he got my number.”

  Blaine paused. “Maybe through the Corporations register? You registered for your writing business, remember. It will have your phone number on there.”

  Kat gulped. “It’ll have my address on there, too. Oh, man. He’s not well, is he? Talking about suicide so much.” She started to feel guilty. “I think I’ve been looking at this all wrong. I was just thinking he was some kind of psychopath that I needed to stay away from…”

  “Sums it up for me,” Blaine interrupted.

  “No,” Kat said. “He needs help.”

  “And you need protection.”

  Kat picked up the phone. “I’m going to call…” She turned around and looked at all of them. Lacie had just come back in the room. “Who do I call about someone’s mental health? An ambulance?” Kat asked in a doubtful sounding voice. “I’m not actually sure. I think he probably needs to be committed.”

  “He definitely does,” Tyler said, “based on that recording.”

  “You can call 911 if you think he’s going to commit suicide,” Blaine said. “I’d start there.”

  Kat’s heart was hammering.

  “You also might want to tell the detective who’s working on the case, Kat,” Blaine said. “He’s clearly unstable. That’s not to say he is the killer, but the police need to know.”

  Kat didn’t want to call Detective Randson Butler, but she conceded that this was becoming frightening. She was getting in too deep. At the very least she wanted the police to be aware that Julian Perkins had her phone number and was calling her, talking about how he was going to commit suicide.

  Right now all she wanted to do was block out the whole world, talk to her family,
and eat tiramisu. She wanted to stay in her safe little bubble, but that would no longer be possible. Julian Perkins had burst it.

  “Okay,” Kat said. “You guys eat without me. I’ll go in the living room and—”

  “Don’t be silly, Mom,” Lacie said, slipping her hand into Kat’s. “We’re here with you. Make the call here, then we’ll all eat together. Okay?”

  Kat smiled at her. It was wonderful to have such a kind grown-up daughter. “Are you sure? It’s the last thing you need after all the stress at your job.”

  Lacie laughed. “Oh, come on, Mom. Give me a break. Just make the call. I’ll go back in the kitchen and fix the tiramisu.”

  She did, and Kat sat down at the table. She looked up the number of the police department where Detective Butler worked, and called him. She was told he was out and couldn’t speak, but when she said she had urgent information about the Jay Talbot case, she was immediately patched through to his cell phone.

  “Detective Butler,” he said as he answered the phone.

  “Hi there, it’s Kat Denham.”

  “Kat, yes I remember you. How are you?” He sounded as slippery as a snake.

  “Fine, thank you. Well, actually a little shaken up.” She wondered where to start. “I found out that Jay Talbot had… an admirer. I don’t know if stalker is too strong of a word to use in describing him. I went to visit him…”

  “You did what?”

  Kat winced. “I went to visit him at his apartment, and he said he didn’t commit the murder. But he’s… not mentally right. He seems delusional. Anyway, tonight he called me at my home and left a message saying how he wanted to talk about Jay, and that he was feeling suicidal.”

  Detective Butler made tsking sounds. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Kat felt a rush of shame wash over her. She felt like a schoolgirl being scolded by the teacher. The answer ‘trying to help’ formed in her mind, but even to her it sounded pathetic. She didn’t say anything.

  “So you have a potential stalker calling your phone now?” he said, as if he were mocking her. “It sounds like you’re trying to run your own investigation. Are you a private investigator?”

  “No, sir. I’m a mystery author.”

  He chortled. “Well, fiction is quite different than real life. I’m sure you can appreciate that, Kat. You need to stop interfering immediately. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir,” Kat said. At that moment, she thought she really would stop. This was all getting to be too heavy of a burden.

  “Good,” he said. “Now, tell me the name of this guy again.”

  Something in Kat’s mind clicked. “So… you didn’t know about him?”

  Detective Butler began blustering. “Of course… of course we did. I’m just confirming the name with you, to make sure it’s same person.”

  Suddenly, Kat didn’t feel so small anymore. She knew Detective Butler wouldn’t admit it, but she’d given him a very promising lead. “It’s Julian Perkins. Really, I hope someone will check up on him. I’m not sure if he killed Jay or not. There’s no way to tell, but mentally he doesn’t seem at all well. He needs help.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that, thank you very much.”

  Kat, emboldened, replied, “Along with mental health professionals.”

  “Yes,” he said drily. “Now, have I made myself very clear? If I find out you’re investigating this case, I’ll have you arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and interfering with a police investigation. Do you understand?”

  Kat’s heart skipped a beat. “Yes, sir.”

  “Good.” Then he hung up the phone.

  Kat turned to the others and said in an emotion filled voice, “He said he’d arrest and charge me if I kept investigating the Jay Talbot murder.”

  Lacie came into the room, delivering the second set of tiramisu. She’d delivered the first set while Kat had been talking on the phone. “Looks like that’s the end of that, then, Mom. I know you like to be involved, but I can’t lie. This one seems too dangerous. I’m glad you can’t investigate it anymore.”

  “You’re not the only one, Lacie,” said Blaine. “This Julian Perkins guy sounds seriously unwell. From the message he left on the answering machine, it sounds like he’s mentally deranged. You’re not trained for this, Kat. I’m glad he told you to back off.”

  Kat knew they were probably right, but what they said annoyed her all the same. She began to eat her tiramisu and said, “Uh huh,” and nothing else.

  “Kat, will you promise me you’ll stay away from this case?” Blaine asked. “You’ve been warned by Detective Butler. If you do get arrested, of course I’ll do everything I can to help you, but I can’t make it all go away.”

  “I understand.”

  Blaine’s voice became more emotionally weighted. “Just promise me you won’t. Please, Kat. I’m worried about you.”

  Kat sighed. “I promise.” She was too tired to fight the world. “I’ll go see Lennon tomorrow and tell her.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Kat had no intention of jumping back into the investigation. But when she woke up the next morning, she felt a little better about the results of her investigation than she had the previous night. Firstly, she’d found a lead the police hadn’t considered. Secondly, she’d been investigating the case and no one had known about it.

  The only reason Detective Butler had a lead was because she’d told him herself. She knew she couldn’t go around talking to Reiss Talbot or anyone else, because then it would be obvious that she was actively involved in investigating the case. But she could think about the murder and who might have done it.

  While she was still lying in bed, she thought of the $1,500 she’d given Monique. She decided to give her a call once Blaine had gone to work. She felt bad hiding it from him, but she wasn’t technically investigating the case. She was just tying up one final loose end and then she’d stop.

  Blaine had a big meeting scheduled for that morning followed by a long lunch, so he didn’t want to have much for breakfast. He wolfed down a bowl of cereal mixed with some yogurt, kissed Kat, and headed out the door.

  When he was gone, Kat called Monique. “Hi there, it’s Kat,” she said. “Have you had a chance to look through the footage yet?”

  “I’m just finishing up now,” Monique said. “That man you showed me on your phone did manage to get in the backstage area, but he didn’t stay long. The other people who went backstage include you, Jay, of course, Lennon, an assortment of Lennon’s children, Lennon’s husband, a woman who I think is Jay’s sister, Marie Claire, EJ Lewis, the other speakers, and a couple of men I don’t recognize.”

  Kat’s mind raced. Could one of them be Reiss Talbot? “Do you know what Reiss Talbot looks like?”

  “Of course,” Monique said. “Didn’t I tell you I know everything about everyone?”

  “You did,” said Kat. “So, Reiss Talbot wasn’t one of the men?”

  “No. He’s tall, dark and handsome. Both of these men were around average height.”

  “Did they go in together?”

  “No. One came in at the very beginning of the show. The other one came in around the time EJ was pulling his prank.”

  “But Monique! That was around the time Jay was murdered.”

  Monique laughed a little. “No, Kat. It was around the time she was found. The coroner said he couldn’t give an exact time of death. It could have been within twenty minutes beforehand.”

  “You’re right.” Kat felt her confidence flagging. The doubt injected by Julian Perkins’ call the night before was alive and well. “Well, could you try to find out who he is and pass the information along to the police?”

  “Oh, Detective Butler and his team have already been here. First thing this morning,” she said.

  Kat winced. “You didn’t tell them I was interested in the footage, did you?”

  “No. That’s none of their business,” Monique said.

  “Did you tell them ab
out the mystery men?” Kat asked.

  “Yes,” Monique said.

  “That’s good.” Kat was really hoping that the police would be able to find the killer and get justice for Jay. It would be better that way, rather than Kat finding out who the murderer was. Even if she did discover who the killer was, she wasn’t sure the police would believe her. And even if they did believe her, she wondered if she’d still be arrested and charged for investigating Jay’s murder. She had no way of knowing. “Well, thanks Monique.”

  She could almost see Monique smiling. “It was a pleasure doing business with you, Kat.”

  Kat hung up the phone. There was something she liked about Monique, despite the fact she was extremely greedy. Maybe it was because she wasn’t shy about hiding her faults. She was very open about the fact she’d take money in exchange for various types of ‘help.’ But Kat wondered how far that would go. Could she have been paid to ‘look the other way’? Or even to be involved in the murder herself? After all, so far Monique hadn’t offered proof of where she was at the time of the murder.

  Kat decided it was all academic anyway. There’d be no more investigating. She paced around in her pajamas, feeling unmotivated. She didn’t feel like writing, and there was nothing else that really needed to be done. Finally, she psyched herself up enough to call Lennon. Lennon was so kind that Kat found herself getting a little upset, which she hadn’t expected.

  “Let me come over and see you,” Lennon said. “You sound like you need a friend right now.”

  “What about the kids?”

  “Rhett’s decided to take the day off. He’s spending quality time with them after they do their homeschool, and then they’re going out to lunch. I was going to work on my blog, but that’s totally flexible. If I’m there in an hour, is that okay?”

  “Sure,” Kat said. She hung up and wondered why on earth she was getting emotional. It felt so silly. She showered and got dressed, which made her feel much better. She had a midmorning coffee on the back deck and watched Jazz and Rudy chase each other in the yard. The morning sunlight filtered through the trees and spilled dappled sunlight onto the lawn. A gentle breeze swept across the deck, keeping Kat refreshed. It really was a lovely day.