The Corpse at the End of the Chapter

by Karen Hayes

  “Such a terrible thing to happen on your opening day,” said one customer. “Was there a lot of blood?”

  “If you ask me, Old Mrs. Lafferty has been asking for it for years,” said another.

  “She was not a very nice person,” one man said, “but I wouldn’t have wished for her death.”

  “I wouldn’t have done it myself,” another man countered, “but I can’t say I’m sorry someone else did it.”

  Copper tried to ignore the remarks, but she was growing more and more upset at the hurtful things people were saying. Perhaps Agatha Lafferty had not been the most pleasant person in town, but to run on so about her when the poor woman was dead—well, that was just too much. She just had to do something. Moving to the center of the store, right by the Relax and Read section, she raised her arms and asked for everyone’s attention.

  “I appreciate all of you being here today to celebrate the opening of my bookstore,” Copper said. “But I do not appreciate the comments I’ve been hearing about Agatha Lafferty. I gather that there are people who didn’t like her; that’s fine. But please, let’s abide by that old axiom and not speak ill of the dead. Just enjoy each other’s fellowship, enjoy the refreshments, and maybe find a book or magazine you just can’t live without. And forget what happened yesterday.”

  “How can we forget it, Copper?” asked Marian Fisher, who had come back for the second day of the Grand Opening, this time bringing Jeremy and Patti so they could enjoy the children’s section. “I was here, remember?”

  “Yes, Marian, and so was I,” Copper said. “And I spent several hours yesterday afternoon trying to clean Agatha’s blood from my carpet. It was not very much fun, I can assure you. But it’s not something I wish to dwell on.”

  “Don’t you wonder who did it?” asked Frances Asbury, who had taken the job of English teacher at the high school after the death of Copper’s husband.

  “Of course I wonder,” Copper told her. “The sheriff and I wracked our brains last night going over everyone who was here yesterday, trying to figure out who might have done it.”

  “So who’s the prime suspect?” asked Dinty Moore, editor of Misty Valley’s weekly newspaper, the Wednesday Gazette. He had been called Dinty for as long as anyone could remember, simply because his last name was Moore. Probably no one in town knew his real first name, which was Zachariah, and he thought that was just as well. He preferred Dinty.

  Dinty was pushing sixty, though he didn’t look it. He was short and a little chubby, his brown hair just lightly sprinkled with gray. What might have been a handsome face was marred by a scar that ran from high on his left cheek down to his chin, the result of a childhood fall up by The Pond. Women seemed to find the scar sexy, though. Dinty had been married three times, and each of his wives had been a tall, willowy blonde. The current Mrs. Moore was actually younger than Dinty’s daughter, Tess, who was married to Jacob Kirkland, an elementary school teacher in Pleasant View.

  The newsman had tried to come to the Book Nook the previous afternoon while Copper was out buying cleaning supplies. He had then tried to get a statement from Sheriff Blodgett, but Harve wasn’t talking. Dinty wanted info on the killing for his newspaper, but no one would tell him anything. Maybe now Copper could give him something useful he could use. “Who is Harve gettin’ ready to arrest for doin’ the dastardly deed?” Dinty had his pad and pencil out and ready, and also hit ‘record’ on his miniature reorder.

  “That’s just the problem, Dinty” Copper said. “We couldn’t come up with anyone we thought capable of such a thing. This is a small town. We pretty much have all known each other forever. It’s hard to think that someone you thought of as a friend or neighbor could be guilty of murder.”

  “But someone is guilty of murder,” Dinty said, “friend or neighbor notwithstandin’.”

  “Well, I certainly didn’t care much for the old lady,” confessed Laura Vincent, the second grade teacher at the elementary school, “but I didn’t kill her. I wasn’t here yesterday.”

  Dinty licked his pencil and prepared to write. “So, tell me, Ms. Vincent, just why did ya hate Old Mrs. Lafferty?”

  Laura looked at him strangely. “Are you writing down what I say, Mr. Moore, or are you recording me?”

  Dinty held up his pad and pointed to the recorder in his pocket with his pencil. “Both,” he said. “Old habits die hard. I would feel I was doing something wrong if I didn’t take notes the old- fashioned way. But at the same time, I want to make sure I get things right, so I record them, too.”

  “A tape recorder is a little old-fashioned, too,” Laura said.

  “I know, I know. But I’m an old man, okay. Gimme a break. It takes time for us old folks to completely embrace twenty-first century technology. Now, you gonna tell me what you had against Old Mrs. Lafferty?”

  “It’s no secret,” Laura told him. “She and I had it out more than once. I wanted more books in the library for young readers. She refused, saying kids that young didn’t want to read. It wasn’t just her, though. I had the same problem with the school board, who said they didn’t have the budget for more age-appropriate books.”

  “Oh my,” said Copper, grateful for a chance to change the subject, “that’s disgraceful!” She turned to the newsman. “Dinty, I think you need to start a drive for books for the school. People can donate either old books they have that their children have out-grown or money to purchase new ones.”

  “And the new ones can be purchased at the Book Nook, right?” Dinty asked.

  “Oh, no,” Copper said. “I believe schools can purchase books directly from the publisher or a distributor at a discount.”

  “That’s right,” Frances Asbury confirmed.

  Dinty nodded. But he wasn’t willing to let the conversation get off-topic for long. “So, back to the murder. There’s really no one you can think of as a suspect?”

  “No one,” said Copper. She picked up a tray of Eve’s pastries. “Have a pastry, Dinty.” And she moved around the store, urging the delectable morsels on everyone who did not already have a plateful. She did not want to mention that there were two people the sheriff would be looking at more closely.

  Sales were quite high that day. Maybe people really found books or magazines they wanted. Or maybe they felt guilty about surveying the scene of the crime without making a purchase. Copper was optimistic that her new store would be successful. The Book Nook was not only a place where people could find books and magazines to purchase, it was a place where they could get together and socialize. Maybe she would get a little case where she could stock some of Eve’s various goodies that customers could purchase to nibble on while they visited and drank the coffee Copper decided she would always have on hand in the Relax and Read section. She would speak with Eve about that and maybe they could work out an arrangement that would benefit both of them.

  Sheriff Blodgett came over just as she was about to lock up for the day.

  “I’ve been doing some thinking, Copper,” he said, “about the people we discussed last night. Being Saturday, I haven’t been able to do a lot of checking, but I got Toby looking stuff up on the internet and he found out a few things. D’you suppose we might get together and talk it out?”

  “Of course, Harve. I still have some spaghetti and pie left over from last night–if you don’t mind leftovers. Why don’t you come on up.” She let Harve in, locking the door behind him. They made small talk while she heated up the spaghetti, then got down to the business at hand once they began to eat.

  “It’s Ruby Stone,” Harve said. “Toby googled her—you know what it means to google someone?”

  Copper nodded. “I’ve never done it, but I believe it means to do an internet search on someone or something. I thought you’d taken Ruby off the list.”

  “I did, but Toby noticed I’d put her name down, so decided to check her out anyway. Well, he googled Ruby, not really expect- ing to find anything, but...” He paused.

  “He found somethi
ng on Ruby on the internet?”

  “Sure did. Quite a bit, actually. Ruby made the papers in Portland.”

  “I’m all ears, Harve.”

  “Okay, do you remember when Ruby left here in the first place to go to Portland?”

  Copper closed her eyes for a moment in thought. “That was a long time ago, Harve.”

  “Twenty-seven years ago, to be precise.”

  “George and I had just returned from a vacation to Victoria, Canada, as I recollect. Ruby had graduated that spring and was working with Agatha Lafferty in the library. She wanted to go to college, but her parents didn’t have the money.” She nodded, remembering more. “George said she came to him once in tears. She wanted to apply for a scholarship, but her parents said they didn’t take charity. He tried to talk to them about it, explaining that a scholarship was not charity, but something students earned because of their grades, but they would have none of it. If Ruby wanted to work and earn money to go to college, that was one thing, although they didn’t see what she needed more education for. She had a good job in the library. Why would she want anything more?”

  “That’s what Toby told me. I don’t remember Ruby much. I was a few years younger. I understand she was a pretty little thing back then.”

  “Yes. And bright, from what George said. She could easily have gone all the way through college on scholarships. When she left early that fall, I thought maybe she was going to college.”

  “Toby told me a little about her parents. Lived in a shack on the edge of town. Didn’t have much to do with anyone, except those Mr. Stone did yard work for. I don’t think I ever saw them. Don’t remember, anyway. Do remember when they died though, a few years after Ruby left. Terrible tragedy.”

  “That dry summer. There was a forest fire and the Stones’ shack burned, with them in it,” Copper said, remembering the tragedy.

  “No, they were actually in their old car when they died. Sheriff at that time tried to evacuate them. They refused to budge–until it was too late. Their burned up wreck of a car was found partly out of their driveway.”

  Copper shook her head in sadness at the memory. “Ruby came home for the funeral. She seemed different. But I never spoke with her at all. Then she left again, right away.”

  “Nothing to keep her here.”

  “But Harve, what does all this have to do with what Toby found on the internet?”

  “Who else from Misty Valley was in Portland the same time Ruby was?”

  “Well, quite a few people left to go to college. Some stayed away, others came back.”

  “Who came back?”

  “Harve, what is this? Twenty questions?”

  “Just throw out some names,” Harve said.

  “Well, there was Eve. I believe she graduated the same time Ruby did. She went to culinary school.”

  “Guess that’s why she makes such great pastries. Who else?”

  “Well...oh, Harve, I can’t think back that far.”

  “Sure you can.”

  “Okay, if you’re not going to tell me...” She took a deep breath. “Well, Marion and Robert–that’s Robert number one, of course, left. But they didn’t stay away long. Bob couldn’t find a job, so they came back so he could work in his father’s hardware store. And I think Brandon Lafferty was off at medical school at the time. He’s a few years older than Ruby, though, more my age, actually, so I don’t know if her knew her.”

  “He knew her.”

  Copper had a forkful of spaghetti halfway between plate and mouth, but she stopped, right then and there, put her fork down, and looked straight at the sheriff. “Harve Blodgett, are you telling me there was something between Brandon Lafferty and Ruby Stone? Something that made the newspapers?”

  Harve took a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. Copper unfolded the paper and read the headline from the Portland Oregonian. Waitress Charged With Assault on Medi-cal Student, Claims He Fathered Her Child.

  Copper looked at Harve in disbelief. “Is this for real?”

  Have nodded. “There was more, too,” he said, “but we pretty much used all our paper printing up everyone’s statements, so I could only print this one article.”

  Copper scanned the article briefly before handing it back to Harve. “So I guess you’re going to have to tell me the rest.”

  The rest was more than Copper could have suspected. Brandon had denied paternity, and this was a few years before DNA testing was readily available, so it was his word against hers. The judge chose to believe him, Ruby was convicted of assault and spent several months in the state prison in Salem. The baby was born while she was imprisoned and given up for adoption.

  “That’s about it,” the sheriff said. “I’m assuming she attended bartending school after she got out of prison. Anything more we’ll need to find out from Ruby herself.”

  “Hmmm,” said Copper. “I don’t know if that would give her a motive to murder Agatha– unless Agatha somehow found out about it and was giving Ruby some grief.”

  “Does it surprise you that our illustrious doctor might have been involved with Ruby Stone?”

  “Actually, Harve, no, it doesn’t really surprise me. Brandon was always interested in anything in skirts. I dated him a few times in high school. In fact, he was my date for the Junior Prom. But I only dated him a very few times. He tended to come on rather strong.”

  “You weren’t dating George back then?”

  “Oh, my, no. George didn’t come along until my senior year—and he was our English teacher. Fresh out of college, his first teaching job. It was love at first sight for me—and for all the other girls who took his English classes.” She smiled at the memory. “I used to practice writing ‘Mrs. George Meyerdierks.’ It was such a romantic sounding name. At least I thought so at the time. But it wasn’t until I went off to college in Portland that I started dating George. He drove to Portland one weekend and called me up. He was a bit shy, but I did go to dinner with him. I dated others, too, at the time, but George had my heart from the very beginning. From time to time, he would drive into the city and we would go out. And when I came home for the summer, we started dating regularly, but we didn’t get married until I had graduated and came back to start teaching here myself. Second grade. And I had to be the one to propose.”

  “You proposed to George?”

  Copper nodded. “We’d been dating for four years, so it was about time, I thought. So I said to him, ‘George Meyerdeirks, if you don’t marry me before school starts in the fall, I swear I’m going to find me another boyfriend.’ I threatened that I would marry Brandon Lafferty. Not that it was a valid threat, mind you. I had introduced him to Louise and they were already dating. But it did the trick. We were married the following week.” She gave a little laugh. “That wasn’t something my mother appreciated. She wanted me to have a big wedding, with all the bells and whistles. But all I wanted to do was get married. And we had a good marriage–a very good marriage.”

  “Well, it’s probably just as well you married George and not Brandon. You know, if you do the math, counting back from the time Ruby had the baby, she was pregnant before she left Misty Valley.”

  Now Copper was surprised. “And was Brandon home that summer? I don’t remember.”

  “Toby says he was,” Harve said with a nod, “for a few days anyway.”

  “And it only takes one night to get a girl pregnant. Brandon was handsome, charming, had a decent amount of money, was going to be a doctor—all things that could easily turn the head of a naive young girl. I wonder if she was following Brandon when she went to Portland.”

  “Hopefully, we’ll find out on Monday. I plan to have Ruby come in for questioning. She’s back on the list.”

  “Well, good luck. Now, how about some of that pie? Would you like it heated? Maybe with a little cheese?”

  * * *

  Copper had a hard time imagining Brandon Lafferty and Ruby Stone as a couple. They came from such totally opposi
te back- grounds. Lafferty was a fairly affluent medical student, son of a doctor who was also son of a doctor. Ruby was a poor girl from the very, very wrong side of the tracks. She had been attractive, though. Copper compared in her mind the pretty blonde high school girl with the frowzy, over-made-up alcoholic she had become. Had she and Brandon really been lovers at one time? She had to admit it wasn’t something she would put past Brandon. Ruby was working with his mother at the library that summer. He could have easily turned her head and taken advantage of her. And had Agatha Lafferty learned of their affair? She shook her head and reached to turn out the light on her nightstand as she climbed into bed. Well, that was something for Sheriff Harve Blodgett to figure out.

  SIX

  BUSINESS WAS SLOW MONDAY MORNING, which was another rainy day. Monica had straightened and dusted the shelves, then pulled out a book and leaned against her counter reading. Copper herself sat in the Relax and Read section with a magazine and a cup of coffee. But she kept on eye on the street outside, watching for the sheriff. He had said he was going to question Ruby first thing this morning. She had seen him drive off in his police car shortly after nine. And about an hour later, just as she came down to open the store, the ambulance had gone zipping by, siren blaring. Another half hour had passed and the ambulance had not yet gone by the other way and Harve Blodgett had not yet returned to the sheriff’s office across the street.

  Copper put down her magazine, got up and starting pacing. It drove her crazy not to know what was going on. Was Harve questioning Ruby at her apartment instead of having her come in? If so, why hadn’t he come back? Where had the ambulance been going? To the clinic? Did Brandon Lafferty have a patient that needed to go to the hospital? If so, why had the ambulance not come back yet? Or maybe the ambulance had brought a patient to Dr. Lafferty? But that didn’t make sense. The ambulance was in Pleasant View. Surely they would take any patient there to the hospital, not bring them all the way to Misty Valley. Unless, of course, it was a patient who insisted on seeing Brandon Lafferty.