The Corpse at the End of the Chapter

by Karen Hayes

  “I told you all about him,” Harve said.

  “No,” said Copper, “you told me what he told you about himself. I think I’ll go pay a call on Louise this afternoon. She may know some things about him he neglected to tell you.”

  ELEVEN

  MONICA SAID SHE WOULD BE FINE BY HERSELF FOR A while longer, so Copper called Louise, who said she would be happy to have her drop by.

  Brandon and Louise Lafferty lived in the only house in Misty Valley that could be considered a mansion. Copper didn’t know how old the house was, but it had been there as long as she had been around. Agatha and Sheldon Lafferty had lived there and, after Brandon had finished his medical training, he and Louise had moved in with his parents and he’d gone into practice with his father. The house had been plenty big enough for all four of them.

  Louise had led Copper out onto the enclosed sun porch at the back of the house. Copper remembered it well. There was a swimming pool out back, the only swimming pool in all of Misty Valley, and Brandon had always liked to invite his friends over in the summer. They’d swim in the day, and when Dr. Lafferty, Brandon’s father, came home from the clinic, he would light up the barbecue and make burgers and hot dogs for all the kids who were there. When the evening chilled, they would come inside to the sun porch and play board games until it was time to go home, most of them walking—Misty Valley was, after all, not a very large town.

  Since it was now fall, the pool was covered and leaves dotted the lawn and the pool cover. All the rain of the last several days was gone, the sun was shining, and the view of the mountains and forest beyond was incredible, especially now when the trees were still ablaze with a riot of reds and yellows. Whoever had built this house had picked the perfect spot. Louise had already made a pot of one of her favorite herbal teas, and Copper was grateful for a cup. In spite of the sun, the air was still chilly outside.

  “I need to know more about Ron Parker,” Copper told Louise without much in the way of preamble. “I understand you’ve known him longer than the rest of us.”

  “Well, I have known Ron pretty much all his life. His mother is one of my very best friends. Surely you remember her from Reed, Copper. Ali Wainwright?”

  “Ali Wainwright?” Copper thought for a moment. “Oh, of course, she was that petite girl with the naturally curly dark hair who was your roommate. My senior year, as I recall. We were always comparing to see whose hair was the springiest.” Copper reached up to touch her own springy curls. “I think it was pretty much always a toss-up. You came together, didn’t you? And wasn’t she just there a short time?”

  “Yes, one semester. She quit to marry Ty Parker. She was pregnant.”

  “Ah, and Ron was that baby.”

  Louise shook her head sadly. “No, she lost that baby. And the doctor told her she would never be able to carry a pregnancy to full term. She was so upset that she told Ty they needed to adopt a baby right away. She’d been expecting a baby and she wanted a baby. Well, she didn’t get her ‘right away’ baby, but, as luck would have it, Ty’s mother had some influence and they were able to adopt Ron right after he was born, which was about a year later. The adoption records were sealed, so even Ali and Ty—or Ty’s mother—didn’t know who the birth parents were. But Ron was always a delightful child. Intelligent, eager to please. His folks wanted him to go into medicine—Ty’s father was a doctor—but he didn’t like the idea of medical school, so he decided to try nursing. Ali was okay with that, Ty less so.

  “Then, when Ron was here that summer on his backpacking trip, he told me he really didn’t care that much for nursing, and didn’t like big cities. He hated Portland. Astoria’s a pretty small town and he’d enjoyed growing up there. He totally fell in love with Misty Valley, which is really small, and wanted to move here but didn’t know what he could do. I suggested that he finish nursing school, come here, and maybe Brandon could hire him. But he didn’t want the nursing degree. When I suggested the EMT thing, he jumped at the idea. I had to do a bit of talking to get Ali and Ty comfortable with the idea, though.”

  “He seems happy here in Misty Valley.”

  Louise nodded. “Yes, I think he is. But Copper, why all the interest in Ron? Surely he’s not a suspect?”

  “No, I don’t know that he is. But, well, did you know Ron has a girlfriend?”

  “I didn’t, but it’s not something that would surprise me. He’s a fairly attractive boy, although I wish he’d do something with his hair. Not that there are many girls his age around here.” She paused for a moment to take a sip of her tea, then turned back to Copper, mouth open and eyes wide. “Copper, I’m assuming you ow about Brandon and Ruby. So, Ron’s girlfriend, it isn’t...?”

  Copper nodded. “Yes, Louise, it’s Cindy Doyle.”

  “It just doesn’t make any sense!” Louise shook her head in exasperation. “So do you think Cindy found out who her birth parents were and told Ron and he killed Ruby? No, no, I can’t see that. Besides, why kill Agatha?”

  “I don’t know, Louise. I just don’t know.”

  “Sheriff Blodgett’s kind of out of his element in this, isn’t he?”

  Copper nodded.

  “Well, then I guess he needs some help. Since it was my husband’s mother and my husband’s former lover who were killed, count me in as a co-sleuth. Brandon doesn’t show it much on the surface, but these murders have upset him a great deal, especially his mother’s. He can’t sleep nights, and I worry about his patients. The sooner we get this solved, the better. I’ll be right back.”

  When Louise returned, she had a laptop with her. She explained that she had wireless internet so she could take her laptop any- where in the house and have internet access. She decided to look for births in Salem about the time Cindy was born.

  “There has to be some way Ruby found out Cindy was the child she had given up. So we’ll go back to the beginning and work forward and see what we can find.”

  While Louise logged in, Copper pulled out her cell phone and called Monica to let her know she would be a little longer than planned. Monica said there was no problem. She’d only had one customer since Copper had left.

  Brandon had told Louise that Ruby’d probably had her baby in prison, so she decided to check out the records of the Women’s Correctional Facility at the Oregon State Penitentiary. She typed in a URL, clicked on a link, then another, moving from site to site, pausing now and then to enter a password which sometimes worked, sometimes didn’t. Copper watched her with a mixture of curiosity and fascination.

  “Louise, how do you know all this stuff—these passwords and everything? Aren’t they supposed to be secret passwords?”

  “Never fear, Copper, no one will ever know it.” She grinned. “I have a nephew who’s now in prison for hacking. Before they caught him, he taught me a lot.” At Copper’s frown, she continued, “But I never used those skills for criminal acts—no moving money from someone else’s bank account to mine, no practical jokes. Just research. If you can’t find the information you need on public sites, you hack into some private ones.”

  “Research? For what?”

  “Well, when you’re the wife of a doctor and don’t have a career of your own, a job to go to every day, you have to do something. I’ve been writing.”

  “Writing? What sort of writing? Are you published? If so, maybe I should be carrying your books at the Book Nook.”

  “I think you already do, Copper.” Louise smiled slyly. “Okay, this has to be kept confidential, Copper. This can’t get out.”

  “Of course. It’s our secret.”

  “I write mysteries under the name Aaron Anderson.”

  Copper’s mouth dropped open and she shook her head in disbelief. “You’re Aaron Anderson? I’ve read every one of your books—and I absolutely love them. I especially liked Blue Butterfly. I read it as soon as I received my advance copy. Your books have taken detective fiction to a new level.”

  “Thank you, Copper. I appreciate that.”

/>   “Louise, I seem to recall that Agatha was looking for Blue Butterfly when she came to the store that morning. I assume that means she didn’t know.”

  “She knew. Agatha and Brandon knew, but no one else–except for my agent and publisher, of course. Brandon doesn’t even read them. Agatha, on the other hand, actually helped me write Blue Butterfly.”

  “She did? Then why was she so eager to find it in the store?”

  “I think she just wanted to make sure you were going to carry it. She was quite proud of the book. The entire character of Minnie was her creation, as was Minnie’s story.”

  “Well she was right to be proud. It’s a wonderful book, and Minnie was a very complicated and realistic character.” She paused for a moment, frowning. “Louise, I hadn’t thought of it before, and, of course, when I was reading the book I didn’t know about the Brandon/Ruby thing, but don’t you think Minnie is very much like Ruby Stone?”

  The question took Louise by surprise. “I...yes, Copper, come to think of it, there are a number of similarities. Although Minnie’s lover was in law school, not medical school. And the story takes place in Idaho, not Oregon. And Minnie didn’t just have a daughter, she had two children, twins. So there are some exceptions.”

  “Hmmm. Maybe.” Copper gestured towards the computer. “I interrupted your search. Maybe we’ll find that part wasn’t an exception.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just keep looking.”

  Louise looked at Copper for a long moment before finally realizing what Copper meant. “Do you really think…?”

  “Let’s find out.”

  Louise went back to her typing and clicking. It took a while, but she finally came up with what she was looking for.

  “You’re right, Copper,” she exclaimed in total surprise. “Ruby had two children. A girl and a boy. I’m sure she never even saw them. They would have been taken away and put up for adoption right after they were born. Ruby may not have even known there were two. She thought there was just one, and she tracked her down.”

  “Cindy Doyle. But there was also a boy,” Copper said.

  “Ron Parker,” Louise said.

  “I’m betting that’s right, Louise. And I’m also betting that he knows.”

  “And, obviously, my mother-in-law knew, too. Copper, does this mean Ron is the killer?”

  “Not necessarily, Louise, but it certainly is possible.” She shook her head. “He just seems like such a nice boy. I don’t even want to think…Well, we’ve got to tell the sheriff.” She reached in her handbag for her cell phone.

  “No. Wait, Copper. Let me call Ali first. Just to make sure.”

  Moments later, Louise was talking to her old friend in Astoria. Ali was surprised when Louise asked if they had ever looked for Ron’s birth mother.

  “As a matter of fact, Louise, Ron initiated the search himself, just a couple of years ago, shortly after he moved there to Misty Valley.”

  “Did he find her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you remember the birth mother’s name?”

  “Yes, it was, let me think, she was a young, unwed mother, in prison for something. It was some kind of jewel name...Amethyst …Sapphire…Ruby. Yes, that’s it, Ruby Stone. The father was listed as unknown.”

  “Thanks, Ali. I appreciate the information.”

  “What’s going on, Louise?”

  “Ali, Ruby Stone lived here in Misty Valley. She was murdered Sunday night.”

  For what seemed like minutes, there was silence on the other end of the line.

  “Louise, did Ron do it?”

  “No, no, no, Ali. Of course not. Right now the sheriff is investigating, but he hasn’t arrested anyone, yet. Did you know Ron was a twin?”

  “No,” came the tremulous voice through the phone.

  “He has a sister. Her name is Cindy Doyle. She’s a paramedic and ambulance driver in Pleasant View, about 30 miles from here. She and Ron are friends.”

  Louise heard Ali begin to cry and she regretted if what she was saying hurt her friend. She and Ali had grown up together, had shared their dreams together. Louise had cried with Ali at the loss of her baby and rejoiced with her at the adoption of Ron. Louise had been Maid of Honor at Ali’s wedding, and Ali had been Matron of Honor at Louise’s marriage to Brandon. And now Louise was suggesting Ali’s son might be a murderer. She decided not to tell her friend that whoever had killed Ruby Stone had likely also killed Agatha Lafferty.

  “Ali,” she said, “the police don’t know anything for sure. I really doubt it was Ron. I mean, why would he want to kill his birth mother? That makes no sense to me at all. I mean, after the work o trying to find her…”

  “You don’t have to soft-pedal the situation for me, Louise.”

  “I’m not, Ali. I’m telling you the truth. And here’s something else I’ll tell you the truth about. Brace yourself, Ali. Ron’s birth father is my husband.”

  “What? Louise...”

  “Brandon doesn’t know that yet. He knows he has a daughter, but he doesn’t know he also has a son.” Louise started to cry. “Here, all these years I’ve wanted a child and couldn’t have one. And now, all of a sudden, I have two. And Ali, I couldn’t want for a better son than Ron. He’s a really nice boy. You and Ty raised him well. You don’t mind sharing him with me, do you?”

  “Louise, I don’t know what to say.”

  “It happened a long time ago, and I’m not going into details right now. Everything’s fine between Brandon and me. Anyway, I’ll keep you in the loop. Don’t worry about Ron. And he has no idea I know any of this, so please, don’t tell him.”

  “Okay. And Louise…?”

  “Yes.”

  “I…I don’t mind sharing Ron with you.” She sniffled. “I just don’t want him to be a murderer.”

  “I’m sure he’s not.”

  “Keep me informed.”

  “I will.”

  Louise hung up the phone and turned to Copper. “I guess now we need to call Sheriff Blodgett.”

  TWELVE

  “TWINS, HUH,” THE SHERIFF SAID WHEN COPPER TOLD him what she and Louise had discovered.

  “Yes,” Copper affirmed. “Ron Parker and Cindy Dole are brother and sister.”

  “I thought she was his girlfriend.”

  “Well, if he doesn’t know who she is, I suppose that’s possible. On the other hand, the boy isn’t stupid. He may know and Cindy may know, too. Do you know if she has come back from Portland?”

  “I talked to Ryan a while ago. He said she’d called him this morning to say she was heading back after lunch. Her father’s doing well and was released from the hospital this morning.” Harve glanced at his watch. “I’m sure she’s back right now. I guess I need to talk to her.”

  “I’d hold off a bit on that if I were you, Harve,” Copper said. “I think it’s more important to know more about Agatha’s connection to Ruby. How did Agatha know Ruby had twins?”

  “She knew that? How do you know?”

  “I can’t tell you that, Harve. I just know that she knew.”

  “Copper, withholding evidence is a…”

  “I’m not withholding evidence, Harve. Just trust me on this, okay?”

  Harve just shrugged. Not that Copper could see the shrug over the phone.

  “According to Louise, Brandon had never told his parents about the mess with Ruby. But then, Agatha was a librarian. I’m sure our library carries the Portland newspapers, so she may have read about it and just didn’t tell Brandon she knew. But the papers didn’t say anything about Ruby having two children, did they?”

  “Not the stuff I read. Okay, here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll give the Warden at the state prison a call and have him dig up whatever he can of the time Ruby spent there. I think it was just a couple of months or so. I’ll run over there in the morning and have a look at it. Then I’ll check out the bartending school Ruby went to and some of the clubs she worked at. I’ll talk to Suds Groga
n tonight and find out whatever he knows about those places. And I’m going to have another chat with young Parker. He lied to me about not knowing Ruby.”

  “Now, Harve, I would say he perhaps lied just by omission. He knew Ruby was his mother, but he might not actually have known her. She, obviously, did not know she had a son as well as a daughter.”

  “Okay, I won’t talk to him yet. But that boy does have some explaining to do. For now, I’m just going to look into Ruby and how Agatha knew so much about her babies.”

  The s phone rang in the sheriff’s office. “I’ve got to run now, Copper. I’ve got a call coming in.”

  It was Toby. He was back in Misty Valley, but he hoped the sheriff didn’t need him right away because he was still hurting a bit from the root canal he’d just had and was on antibiotics. Harve told him he was fine for now, but he really needed to come in next morning so he, Harve, could go to Salem. Toby thought he’d be fine by morning, so Harve called the prison and told the warden what he needed. The man agreed to look out the stuff and have it ready by ten the next morning. Harve wasn’t sure he’d make it that early, but said he ought to be there by maybe eleven. It was a good three hours to Salem.

  When Copper got back to the store, she thanked Monica for covering for her. Monica told her she’d just had three sales all afternoon—and one of those had been a magazine, so it wasn’t any big deal. She even managed to get a good ways into the new book she had just started.

  “I hope you don’t mind, Mrs. Penny,” she said, “but I bor-rowed that copy of Blue Butterfly you had on your desk. I know you said you had finished it.”

  “No problem, Monica. But if someone asks you about it, don’t tell them anything. Just say we’ll be getting it in around the end of the month and they can purchase a copy then. And please, call me Copper. No need to be so formal. Monica, we have internet access on our computer, don’t we?”