by Patti Larsen
Oh, how she disappointed me when she used one slim index finger to slide the file toward him about half an inch before waiting with her expression never changing for him to do the rest. Which he did with a grumbling mumble under his breath that turned into something more aggressive the moment he had the file in his hands.
“They should all be fired,” he snapped. “Fee, Uncle John, Jill, all of them.” Sullen childishness much, Robertkins?
Vivian’s temper finally cracked open at the seams. “Then solve the damned case,” she snarled so viciously he backed off a step. “And get the hell out of my office. All of you!”
We left. There wasn’t much else we could do, though I wanted to linger and give her a piece of my mind. But, you know what? It just didn’t seem worth it and, from the glare she shot at me as I left, an expression that matched mine, I was right.
She threw me into the lion’s pit to fight or die. I was on my own.
Not exactly. I had Dad, who stood like a towering cloud of doom next to Hugh’s desk, and Jill, her arms crossed over her chest, at my father’s side, Crew and Liz already at the door, whispering to each other. Meanwhile, Geoffrey pointed at them with the smirk I was ready to permanently eliminate from his facial expression repertoire.
“If I find out you two have dug into this case further,” he said, “I will ensure not only that Fleming Investigations is shut down, I will personally sue your company for, well.” He shrugged and laughed. “I’ll find something to sue you for.” And, with that, he swept out of the entry with a nod for Robert and Rose who stood with their heads down over the file.
A moment later, before I could do the childish thing myself and snatch the papers from my cousin (the mental image of him chasing me around, whining like a brat for me to give them back, made me want to throw up and giggle in equal parts), he smiled at Rose like whatever he’d read gave him what he needed. She beamed at him before he smirked (he’d learned that from Geoffrey, clearly) at me.
“Guess you’ll be known as the sheriff who lasted the shortest amount of time in the history of Reading, Fanny.” He walked out, Rose trailing him, nose in the air, the snot.
Crew and Liz didn’t look happy, and that didn’t bode well. But, instead of filling me in on what was in the file, they left.
Seriously?
It wasn’t until, glum and frustrated, I sat behind my office desk with my computer awake in front of me, prepped to do an internet search to start my own background research—too late, why hadn’t I done this first? Oh, right, because I had someone doing it for me—that Dad appeared, Jill at his side.
Both of them grinning.
“I hope this means we’re ahead of Robert after all.” Please, I needed a bit of good news.
“Maybe,” Dad said, taking the wooden seat across from me, Jill standing next to him with her thumb hooked in her gun belt. “Maybe not. But things aren’t as grim as they could be. Sheriff.”
Smart ass father. “Out with it, then, Deputy Fleming,” I shot back.
“Well, you know me and patience,” he said. “I couldn’t wait for you and Jill to get there, so I had Crew and Liz fill me in before you arrived.”
Okay, so normally I’d be pissed because we all needed to know together. But this time?
“Awesome,” I said, leaning forward. “You’re forgiven, you old sneak. Tell me what Robert knows. And that he’s wrong about the killer.”
Dad grimaced then. “I wish I could,” he said. “That’s possibly the bad news, kid.” He perked again. “But, on the other hand,” he fished out a thumb drive from his pocket and slid it across the desk at me, “that fiancé of yours is a quick thinker. Handing over a thinned out version of the file and giving me the full kit and caboodle the way he did.”
Crew. I was going to kiss him within an inch of his life. Well, I would have anyway, but that man.
My man.
So lucky.
***
Chapter Twenty Five
I plugged the jump drive into my computer as Dad gave us the run down on what Crew and Liz uncovered.
“According to Thea’s previous parish, there was an issue with misappropriation of funds. They didn’t think she was responsible, but she took the blame for it anyway.” Dad sounded like he respected that decision. “That gives me reason to believe she was protecting someone she cared about.” He seemed uncomfortable in his chair all of a sudden. “No idea if it’s connected so we shelved it for now.”
Interesting. I chose to listen first and read later, nodding for Dad to go on.
“The real point of interest is Dominic Twigg.” Good to know, though he was my number one at this point, too. “He had been on my radar for years,” Dad said, not even glancing at Jill when he said it. She didn’t respond either, so did my father know about her connection to the choir master? He had to, didn’t he? Or had she kept it from him? “I never made it an official investigation because no one would actually come forward.” There was the side eye I’d been expecting that told me in no uncertain terms that yes, hell yes, Dad knew everything. Not an accusation, just knowledge and the need to act curtailed into buried frustration. I was already over this job. Dad did it for more than thirty years. I had brand new respect for him, let me tell you. “And despite my suspicions, the council wouldn’t listen to me, thanks to the fact he was local and I couldn’t get anyone to bring evidence against him.”
“We’re looking for him now,” I said, “tried to talk to him earlier but he slipped out on us.” I didn’t say he had the chance to because I was trying to distract Jill from murdering him.
“He’s always been a slippery piece of work,” Dad said, his disapproval heavy in that deep voice of his. “Regardless, it’s common knowledge he fraternizes with young women. Might not be illegal, since it appears they are over eighteen,” he also didn’t sound like that made a difference, “but still gives possible motive.”
“Especially if Thea found out he and Katelyn had a thing.” I nodded. “But she’s twenty and it’s not illegal.”
“No, but it looks very bad,” Jill said, speaking up at last. “A man in his fifties with a history of such interactions might worry all it would take would be a single voice to spark an uprising that would mean his downfall.” She sounded like she was a warrior princess in a fantasy novel or something, except I wasn’t laughing because she was super serious.
And Dad agreed. “A man like Dominic Twigg must have worse skeletons in his closet, Fee. Possible indiscretions that could bring him a world of hurt if discovered.
I bought it. “And that’s who Robert is going after?”
Dad nodded.
“How about Alfred Welling?” The jealous little weasel could have had his fill of Thea and decided to do something about her.
My father held out one hand, tilting it side to side with his palm facing the floor. “I thought about him,” he said, “went back and forth, to be honest. He’s been complaining about Thea since she was hired to take the job he thought he was owed.” Dad’s nose wrinkle told me what he thought of that opinion. In my father’s world, you earned your place, yes, but no one owed you anything. “But does he have the guts to kill someone?”
I chewed my bottom lip. “And Ian Rudge?” The kid was pretty broken up over Thea’s death. He claimed he owed her his life. Still, it wasn’t hard to put on an act, was it? Did he protest too much?
Dad seemed to disagree. “I’ve looked into him, Fee,” he said. “And you can check the file Crew and Liz shared. From what I know, the kid was near self-destruct before he came back to Reading and as soon as Thea got her hands on him and stuffed him into her program, he turned his life around.”
Okay then. Good enough for me.
“Andrew Isaac?” We had to get to forensics, the evidence now secured in the bullpen but needing to be delivered.
“I have a line on that,” Dad said, “my own this time. But I don’t have anything solid yet, so I’ll get back to you.”
Argh. I hated it when
he kept secrets. Dad knew it, too, was on his feet, ready to leave, the mean-spirited old fart, so I couldn’t press him further.
“Let’s go talk to Katelyn again,” Jill said, interrupting my opportunity to give my dad a hard time. “She wouldn’t see me when we were at her father’s earlier. But I think she might open up to me if I approach her right.” She glanced at Dad, sighed. “If I tell her what I know about Dominic.”
My father’s big hand settled on her shoulder, but that was it. He nodded to me, to Jill, his expression of sympathy all she’d accept and perfectly delivered, before he left us there, striding out of my office like it was his.
Well, had to be weird for him, too, so I cut him slack and, after a quick look through the evidence from Crew and Liz, joined Jill on another road trip.
***
Chapter Twenty Six
Katelyn didn’t want to let us in the front door, but a flash of two badges and Jill’s booted foot across the threshold was enough to convince her we meant business.
The moment we entered the kitchen, she was on the defensive, her entire body tense, those crossed arms and that bulging chest as a result in clear evidence of her lack of enthusiasm for this confrontation.
“We need to ask you a few questions, Katelyn,” I said. “First, about what happened in Montpellier at Thea’s last church.” She flinched instantly. “Do you know anything about why she was fired?”
The young woman’s face crumpled, her lips, dark and perfectly lined with shiny lipstick, pouting a moment before she tossed her artfully curled hair over the shoulder of her low-cut t-shirt. Was I judging? Yes, I was judging, shame on me. She was allowed to wear whatever she wanted, use as much makeup as she wanted. I wasn’t her mother and, honestly, even her mom had no right to tell her what to do.
But as an investigator and a busybody? Yeah, you bet I noticed how hard she was trying to stand out. For who? I had a guess.
“I have no idea.” She hissed that at us, glancing over her shoulder toward the entry to the garage. “And I’ll ask you to keep your voices down. Dad doesn’t need that dragged up again, not now.”
“And yet,” I said, “it’s vital to our investigation we find out the truth.” Okay, I was stretching, big deal. “I’m happy to contact the church directly for the answers, if you’d prefer. Though I’ll have to have an official report sent to the department so I can add it to your step-mother’s file.” Oh, Fee. You jerk.
Worked though, didn’t it? With one final flash of rebellion crossing her face, Katelyn suddenly burst into tears, covering her reaction with both hands, long fingernails separating her flat ironed bangs.
“Please, don’t.” She lowered her hands, eyes huge, tears making a mess of her mascara and eyeliner. “Dad can’t find out.”
“That it was you who was doing the stealing?” I’d guessed as much. Katelyn nodded, misery clear. “And Thea found out and covered for you.”
The young woman’s arm crossing was getting distracting, one hip cocking defiantly while she pulled herself under control. “It was a mistake. Thea took care of it.” She sounded like she would have preferred jail time to owing her step-mother anything, though I highly doubted that was the case.
“Katelyn?” Andrew appeared around the corner from deeper in the house. She gasped, turned to face her father who stared with shock and disappointment. Apparently she’d thought him still tucked away in the garage, not within earshot of our conversation. Well, as far as I was concerned it was about time this came out.
So much for not having an opinion.
Andrew confronted his daughter, his anger clear but unthreatening so I held my ground, as did Jill, and waited for the drama to unfold without our interference. We might as well have been in another state, for all the notice the pair paid us the next few minutes.
“Daddy, I’m sorry.” Now she was really crying, arms at her sides, tears pouring down her cheeks, full lips quivering. “It was dumb, I shouldn’t have done it. But I did and Thea found out. She covered for me.” Katelyn again sounded resentful and I wanted to shake her. The fact her step-mother chose to protect her should have been a checkmark in the woman’s favor, not a source of bitterness. “She took the blame and paid the money back. That’s why she was asked to leave and why we came here.”
“So the change of scenery suggestion was just an excuse.” Andrew paled, face still and open, as though his whole life had been revealed as a lie and the two women in it the orchestrators of an entire performance he wasn’t privy to.
Katelyn nodded, misery either an excellent act or truth. I frankly didn’t give a crap which. “I didn’t want to leave.” There was the petulance again. “Danny and my friends were there.”
Andrew snapped out of his fugue and scowled at her. “You were supposed to stop seeing Daniel Mission,” he said. “That boy was trouble, Katie.”
She tossed her head, all rebellion again, making me believe the crying jag was as much an act as the rest of it. “I loved him,” she said. “Thea held the money thing over my head, made us move.” Her lower lip jutted, anger in her flat expression that spoke volumes about her character. “I hated her for it.”
Andrew shook his head, mouth open, hands extended toward his daughter. “She loved you.”
“She hated me, too,” Katelyn hissed then. “From the moment we got here she tried to control my life, told me what I could do, who I could see. Why do you think she got me the job at the church?”
Her father blanched. “She wanted you to have direction, something to focus on.”
“She wanted to keep an eye on me.” Katelyn turned her back on her father, petty fury written on what should have been a pretty face. “And then she found out about…” She flinched then, looked at me, Jill. “Well, she ruined everything.”
“About Dominic?” I finished that thought for her.
I might as well have struck her. Katelyn gaped at me, eyes huge, horror in her gaze while Andrew blanched white as a sheet.
“What did you say?” He stared at me as if I’d pulled a rug out from under him and he suddenly had no ground to stand on.
“Dominic Twigg.” That was Jill, her own anger firmly in check, tone flat and professional. “Your daughter has been having an affair with the choir master. We believe Thea found out and argued with him about their relationship. It’s a possible motive for murder, Mr. Isaac.”
The venom on Katelyn’s face could have downed a small horse. “He loves me,” she snapped. “Thea didn’t understand, and she had no right.”
Andrew grasped her arm and turned her around to face him. While I understood his upset, I wasn’t willing to stand by and watch him manhandle his daughter. But she was already twisting herself out of his light grip, doing so easily, while he made no further attempt to touch her so I let them continue.
“You’re only twenty,” her father said.
“Which means I’m an adult, Daddy,” she said, both justifying and negating her own argument with a handful of contrasting words.
“Katelyn,” I said, going for stern and capturing both of their attention, “you realize this gives you motive to murder your step-mother.” There was the lower lip quiver again. Yeah, not buying it, nor the giant crocodile tears welling. “Save it,” I snapped, tired of her game, and she relented, sullen once more. Her father seemed confounded, as if he was only now seeing his daughter for the first time and I had a surge of empathy for him. He was in for a hell of a ride with this one. I’d been a hotheaded redhead, sure, but at least I had morals. I wasn’t so sure that was true in Katelyn’s case. “Not to mention we now have reason to believe Dominic might have been in on it with you.”
She instantly shook her head, reaching for her father who actually brushed her off, adopting her crossed armed stance in response. Katelyn took that in a moment, and I watched her, in turn, realize she’d pushed her dad a step too far at last before she turned on me, vindictive but compliant. “Dominic threatened her,” she said, pouting tone at least honest. “She was
going to tell the church elders about us. It wasn’t illegal or anything, but Dominic freaked when he found out.” Now she seemed real, at last, a bit freaked herself, biting at that overdone lower lip. “I’m actually kind of worried. He won’t talk to me, wouldn’t since Thea confronted him. Says he doesn’t love me anymore.” Were those tears real? Who cared. Sigh. “He acted like it was a huge deal.”
“It is,” Andrew snarled. “I’ll kill him for touching you.”
“Mr. Isaac,” I said, one hand up, Jill’s stance shifting to defensive. “Please. I understand your anger. I share it. And if Dominic had something to do with Thea’s death, I’ll find out.” I met Katelyn’s eyes. “I always get the murderer, did you know that? Kind of a thing with me.”
She blinked quickly several times. “I swear,” she said. “I took the money, I did it for Danny. And I was with Dominic, that way.” She glanced at her father who quivered in anger. “But I didn’t kill Thea.”
Considering poison was a woman’s weapon, I wasn’t entirely convinced. But it would have to wait until I questioned Dominic Twigg.
That was, if I got to him before Robert did.
My phone dinged, a text from Dad making me perk. I looked up from reading it and focused on Andrew who stood next to his daughter, both awkward, neither meeting one another’s eyes. Well, they had their crap to sort out. Maybe this would be good for them. Not my problem, though, was it? And I now had a very serious question to ask the widow of the murder victim that pointed a guilty finger in his direction all over again.
“Tell me, Mr. Isaac,” I said, handing my phone to Jill so she could see the message, catching her eyebrow arching out of the corner of my eye, “why, if you trusted your wife as much as you say, did you hire a private investigator in Montpelier to look in Thea’s past?” I paused for effect. “And then lie to me about your interest in who she used to be?”