Book, Bludgeoning, & Beyond

by H L Bur

  I quickly toweled off and dried my hair, throwing it up into a high bun. I changed into some cozy sweats and curled up in my down comforter. Henri jumped up on my bed and wiggled her way under the covers with me, curling up by my stomach purring. The weight of her against me was soothing and I was feeling better already when I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ξ

  First thing the next morning I drove down to the police station to talk with Chief Kowalski while Quinn headed to the county building to continue our search for Elias Rhodes’s property records. She was then going to meet the insurance adjuster at the store to see about getting the window fixed.

  Lois greeted me with a suspicious glare, but rose from behind her desk to show me to the chief’s office.

  Chief Kowalski looked up from his paperwork when Lois knocked on the door. He glanced at me but showed no surprise at my visit. Fletcher must have already filled him in. He nodded for me to sit, but returned to the paperwork in front of him. What felt like forever, but was likely only a few minutes, passed before he put his pen down and looked up at me sternly.

  “Sounds like you’ve been busy.”

  “Not too busy.” I feigned. “Just the usual, saw my dad this weekend. Birthday dinner.”

  “Cut it, Cadence. Detective Collins filled me in on your gallivanting. What I want to know is why you two felt it was appropriate to go tracking down possible murderers? I don’t care how many times you have read the books, you are not Nancy Drew.”

  “I know, but, it’s not like that…I didn’t know anything for sure. I still don’t! It’s just I knew there was something suspicious going on, but I didn’t have any proof to bring to you,” I rambled, needing him to understand.

  “Ah yes, so instead you thought you would ignore blatant threats against your person and go sneaking about looking for something bad to happen.”

  I had the decency to hang my head as if ashamed, and I was, to an extent. I knew the chief had a soft spot for me and Quinn, though, and I planned on using that to my advantage.

  “I’m really sorry, Chief. I never thought it would put me or Quinn in danger.”

  “Cady, what would I say to your dad if something happened to you? I know you mean well, but you have to stay out of this.”

  “I understand, Chief.”

  There was a pause in the conversation and I was afraid he was going to dismiss me before I got a chance to ask him if he found anything else out about Sofie, so I jumped on my chance before he could squash it.

  “Did the forensic team come up with anything about the victim?” I folded my hands over my lap, trying to look and sound professional.

  His eyebrows knitted together as his eyes narrowed at me. With pursed lips he gave his head an almost imperceptible shake. I knew it pained him to say no to me. Call me evil, but I saw a moment of weakness and I pounced.

  “I won’t do or say anything, I promise. I’m just really scared what with the threats that I’ve been getting and now the vandalism of the store. I just want to arm myself with any knowledge I can use to protect myself and Quinn.”

  His face was turning an angry crimson. “Dammit Cady!” He pounded his fist on his desk.

  I plastered my best ‘I-understand-but-I’m-disappointed’ face and remained steadfast on his glowering gaze.

  He blew out an exaggerated sigh. “She was strangled and bludgeoned over the head. We don’t know what she was hit with yet, probably a large branch or a rock. She had some skin cells under her fingernails, so it looks like she put up a fight. But, it could be weeks before we get the DNA results back and we’ll only get a hit if the assailant’s DNA is already in the system. It’s a far cry from a done deal.”

  I nodded in quiet understanding. “And the bookstore?”

  “There were loads of fingerprints on the door and inside the bookstore and so far two sets on the first threat you received and none on the second. They are probably yours and your cousins on the first note, but I will need you both to get printed so we can confirm. Whoever wrote those notes likely wore gloves. The prints all over the bookstore will be impossible to wade through, given the heavy foot traffic in and out of there.”

  I again nodded in understanding. So, basically we weren’t going to be able to prove who broke the window or left the threatening notes. I figured as much.

  “I understand. Thank you so much for your time, Chief.”

  “Save it.” He scowled. “Cady if you do anything else stupid I will lock you up and give my expert opinion to the courts that they prosecute to the full extent of the law. Do you understand me?”

  I gulped and nodded again. “Yes, sir.”

  “Now go see Lois and tell her you need to get fingerprinted.”

  “Chief, can I ask you one more question?”

  He glared at me, but didn’t say no, so I took it as a yes.

  “Why did you send Detective Collins to the house after Rhodes called us in for trespassing? Which, by the way, is bogus.”

  He was silent for a moment as his focus turned back to his paperwork and I thought maybe he wasn’t going to answer me.

  “Because I couldn’t be there and I wanted to make sure you two were safe. I know he is tough, but I trust him and I can see he cares for you, so he was the only one I was willing to send in my place.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I was touched that the chief cared so much about Quinn and me, but his words stung knowing that Fletcher did not in fact care for me like Chief Kowalski had thought.

  “Why do you think Elias Rhodes claimed we were trespassing? He doesn’t own the sawmill property, does he?”

  “Not to my knowledge, but at the time I didn’t know what property he was referring to and I also wasn’t aware of where you and your cousin had been running around playing detectives. We’re looking into ownership of the sawmill land now. The last I knew it was state owned land which had been purchased from the owners long after the sawmill had closed down.” He sat there rubbing his hand back and forth across his moustache, clearly deep in thought.

  I sat there for a moment thinking about what he had said.

  “Detective Collins told you about the blood on the floor of the sawmill.” I assumed.

  “Yes. Once we establish ownership we will petition for a search warrant. And please don’t tell me we will find your DNA at the scene or any evidence that was disturbed by your doing.”

  “No…at least, I don’t think so.” I winced.

  He sighed again, leaned back in his large office chair, rummaged in his top drawer for a minute and then popped a Rolaid. I hoped I wasn’t giving him an ulcer.

  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do. Work that does not involve you or your cousin, do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, sir.” I rose from my seat and walked back to Lois at the front desk to get my fingerprints taken. She sat with perfect posture, her mousy brown hair pulled back in a taut bun, with her wire rimmed glasses sliding partway down her long pointy nose. She looked like she belonged in a library.

  I tried to wait patiently for an officer to come fingerprint me. I knew I was being fidgety, but I couldn’t help it. I was anxious to get to the bookstore and meet up with Quinn. Fingerprints were taken digitally these days, so at least there was no mess to clean up.

  I checked back in with Lois before I left and promised I would send Quinn in to get hers taken.

  “Mmhmm,” she replied, clearly uncaring.

  I wasn’t sure why Lois hated me, but I wished her a nice day and headed to the bookstore. I hoped Quinn had found Rhodes’s property records.

  I pulled up in front of the bookstore and saw Quinn standing outside with the presumed insurance adjustor. I climbed out of my SUV and joined them on the sidewalk. It was a clear, sunny morning, but there was a cool breeze and the forecast was calling for rain later.

  Quinn introduced me and the adjustor extended his hand to greet me. “We’re just wrapping up. We should have someone out t
o fix the window this afternoon.”

  “Thank you, that would be great,” I replied.

  Quinn signed some paperwork and the adjustor left us. I shivered as we made our way inside. The window was covered with the plywood that Fletcher had put up the night before, but it was still chillier than usual inside the store.

  “He said the new window should be completely covered by our policy.”

  “Good! One less thing to worry about.”

  We each grabbed a stool and sat behind the counter. I grabbed a crossword that was sitting on the counter and absently started filling in some answers as I updated Quinn on my talk with Chief Kowalski and reminded her she had to go get fingerprinted at some point today.

  “So, we know how Sofie died, but we still don’t know why or who did it.”

  “Yep,” I sighed, slightly disheartened, and then remembered about Quinn’s other task this morning. “What about you? Did you find anything at the county building?” I asked excitedly.

  Quinn smiled and I knew this was going to be good. My pulse quickened in anticipation.

  “Spill. Now!” I threw down the crossword and gave her my full attention.

  “Amy is doing great. It was really nice to see her.”

  “And…” I encouraged her.

  “She about died when I handed her a latte. She said she was trying to cut out caffeine, but her eyes lit up when she saw it and she said ‘Screw it’ and happily accepted it from me.”

  I stared at her blankly for a second, before screeching, “Aaaannnddd?”

  Quinn rolled her eyes. “Would you calm down?”

  “Well I’m sorry, but get to the point, you’re killing me here!”

  “Okay, okay, geesh. When I asked her what I was looking for, she tensed up a little. She asked if I would go outside with her for a coffee break so we could talk without being overheard. Once we were outside, she said she would help us, but that she had to wait until after hours.”

  She must have read the confused look on my face and continued to elaborate.

  “Apparently, Joy Rhodes’s fiancé recently got appointed to have a seat on the board of elections and she said that Joy flits all around the county building acting like she owns the place. She didn’t want to be seen looking up records on Joy’s father, so she’s waiting until after five o’clock and then she’ll print off the records. She said she would meet us here around five thirty. Happy now?”

  I thought for a second. “Yes.” I nodded. That was good news. We would find out for sure if Rhodes was connected to the sawmill property, which could mean he is potentially connected to all of this. “But why is Joy’s fiancé on the board of elections? I thought he was a doctor.”

  “As far as I know, Cliff is more involved in administration than actually practicing medicine and you know Rhodes fancies himself a hotshot and has pull with all the higher ups of the city. I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to get his soon-to-be son-in-law into a position that could potentially benefit him later down the road.”

  “Hmm, good point.” I thought for a moment. “But, my head is still spinning at all of the confusion. How does everything connect? We still don’t know who Mystery Man is or what he’s up to and we don’t know where Rose and Dawn have disappeared to.”

  “I know. For all the digging we’ve done, I feel like we are pretty empty handed.”

  We thought about closing the shop for the rest of the day, figuring with the broken window and everything else that was weighing on our minds, we could use another day of free time, but we decided against it. Since we had to stick around here waiting for the window repair and now for Amy, we might as well stay open for business.

  Just as I was thinking how lonely it was around the bookstore without Henri, the front door chime went off. I looked up to see Sam walking in with her bff Zoe.

  “Hey, girls,” I called out in greeting.

  I quickly realized the looks on their faces were serious.

  “What’s wrong?” I moved forward to intercept them and led them to the lounge chairs in the café.

  Quinn came over to join us.

  Sam looked collected, but worried and Zoe looked pale and scared.

  “We didn’t know what to do. My first thought was to come to you guys.”

  “Okay, that’s fine…what happened?”

  Zoe looked dazed and I wasn’t sure she was even hearing me. Sam looked at her friend and then spoke up.

  “We were at the Town Center and decided to walk the trail up the river. We thought we heard something, but didn’t think anything of it. We kept walking until we came to the little park behind the movie theater. There was a girl sitting on the bench by the river, but she was sort of slumped over. We went up to her to make sure she was okay, but when I touched her shoulder she, she, she…”

  “It’s okay Sam,” I encouraged her to go on. “What did she do?”

  “She was dead,” her voice wavered, but she stayed strong.

  “WHAT?” Quinn and I gasped in unison.

  Zoe began to sob.

  “Wait, how do you know she was dead?”

  “When I touched her shoulder, she fell over on the bench. I brushed her hair to the side so I could see her face. It looked blue and she had a gash on the side of her head that was matted with blood. She was cold to the touch and her eyes…her eyes just stared right through me.” She shivered and then pulled Zoe in closer to her.

  “Did you call the police?”

  “No. I’m sorry, I didn’t even think. I just brought Zoe straight here because she was freaking out,” her voice shook.

  “It’s okay,” I reassured her. I glanced at Quinn and she nodded in understanding. She ran over to the counter to grab her phone and called 911.

  “Cady,” Sam said my name warily.

  “Yeah?”

  “It was the girl from the other day.”

  “What girl? What do you mean, Sam?”

  “You know, the two girls at Autumn Fest the other day. I saw you talking to them. One had black hair and one was blonde.”

  I sprang up out of the chair. “Rose? Rose is the girl you found?”

  “I don’t know.” Tears began streaming down her face.

  I gasped, reassured her that it was going to be okay, and ran out of the store. I raced down the block and turned into the alley by the movie theater, my breathing labored with the effort. I ran down the path and came out into the little park clearing. I went quickly to the bench and there she was. Just like Sam had described, her eyes were staring blankly up to the sky, blood matted in her platinum blonde hair.

  It was Dawn!

  My heart sank. I quickly looked around to make sure nobody else was there. Shit! I knew the police would be here any minute and I wouldn’t be allowed near the victim. I could tell by looking at her that she had been here for a while and CPR was pointless. I could see some bruising around her neck and just as Sam had described she had a large gash on the right side of her head and her hair was matted with blood. It was obvious she had been bludgeoned, just like Sofie. I didn’t see any other obvious injuries on her, but knew better than to touch or move her. I scanned the surrounding area to look for a possible murder weapon, but didn’t see anything that stood out to me.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” a harsh voice sounded behind me.

  I whirled around and came face to face with the owner of that voice. Double shit!

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ξ

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Fletcher repeated, his gaze cold and unkind.

  I didn’t respond right away, being caught off guard by his emotionless mannerisms.

  “Answer me, Cady. Why are you in the middle of a crime scene, yet again?”

  Okay, now I was just angry.

  “Sam and her friend found this girl and came to me for help.” I returned his cold stare.

  “Am I missing something? Because I’m still not sure why that means you are in the middle of my crime scene.” He shift
ed his weight, clearly ready to stand his ground.

  I looked away and folded my arms across my chest.

  “You still aren’t giving it up.” He sounded dumbfounded. “You are still trying to investigate this mess on your own.”

  “I’m not, I just…”

  “Stop, just stop,” he cut me off. “I’m tired of your excuses and I’m tired of your senseless risk taking. Get. Out. Of. My. Crime. Scene. NOW!” he said through gritted teeth.

  “I’ll remind you that I was a nurse for a long time. Two teenage girls just told me they found a dead body and you don’t think I would automatically come to see if I could help? What if she needed CPR? I had to see if I could’ve saved her.” I remained steadfast for a moment, but it was obvious he was not going to concede. I bit back the tears that were threatening to build up in my eyes and I stalked away. I knew he had a point, but he didn’t understand my reasoning for being involved. I was the one that found Sofie. I felt connected with her and I wanted to help bring her killer to justice and these scumbags were now threatening me and my family. There was no way I could just sit by and do nothing. If that meant Fletcher and I were over, then that’s the way it would have to be. Not that we ever really started anyway. It’s for the best, I thought as I stomped back up the alley.

  I walked back to the bookstore to find Quinn, Sam, and Zoe all sitting in the café sipping on some lattes. I poured myself a mug of coffee and joined them.

  “Dawn,” I answered Quinn’s questioning gaze.

  Her mouth dropped open, but she recovered quickly and nodded her head in understanding.

  I turned to Sam and Zoe. “Did you guys see anyone else around, either in the Town Center or on your walk to the park?”

  “Well, Mr. Briggs was fishing down by the river with his grandson, but other than that I didn’t see anyone,” Sam answered confidently.