by Amy M. Reade
“Can you take me home, Bill?” Mrs. Laforge asked.
“Sure, I’d be happy to take you home. Tighe, want to go with me?”
Tighe hadn’t even taken off his coat since coming in the house. He stood up and offered his hand to their neighbor. “Sure. Come on, Mrs. Laforge.”
“You’re not going to swear at me, are you?” she asked.
“Of course not,” he answered.
“That mouth of yours…”
He wisely ignored her. He and Bill left with Mrs. Laforge; because of the blizzard a trek that normally would have taken five minutes took twenty.
“She’s an old witch,” Tighe said when they were back in the house.
“I have to agree,” Bill said.
“I know, but there are times I feel sorry for her. And we wouldn’t have Barney right now if it weren’t for her,” Lilly reminded them.
“Okay. Now show me the brick.” He withdrew a pair of plastic gloves from his coat pocket.
Lilly shone the flashlight on the brick, still on the living room floor where it had landed. Bill crouched down to look at it. He took several photos with his cell phone camera before touching it. He picked it up in both hands, hefting it as if to determine its weight.
“It’s too bad any footprints or even tire tracks are long covered up by now. You didn’t see anyone?”
“I couldn’t see a foot in front of my face out there. That brick came out of nowhere and scared the heck out of all of us.”
“How’s Mom doing?”
“She was scared. And she doesn’t even know about the dog.”
“That’s probably best.”
“So Barney was unhooked from the blizzard rope and the gate was open?” Bill asked.
“Yes—it was the same person who threw the brick. I’m sure of it. I hooked that blizzard rope to Barney’s collar myself and I know it was secure because I tested it.”
“Okay. Can I see the hook?”
Lilly led him through the kitchen to the back door. He opened the door and bent down to examine the hook where the blizzard rope had been attached.
“Bill, this must have something to do with everything else that’s been going on around here. People just don’t go out and do stuff like this randomly.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Unfortunately, I doubt there’s going to be much evidence for us to go on because of the weather. Everything’s been destroyed.”
“Do you think you could get fingerprints from that hook?”
“We might be able to, but I’m guessing in this storm whoever did it wore gloves.”
Lilly sat down hard on one of the kitchen chairs. “What can I do? The kids are scared, Mom’s scared, I’m scared. And who does something like this to a dog? It’s sick!”
“Easy does it, Lil. Let’s take one thing at a time. First, as soon as this storm stops you need to call someone to come and replace your window. Second, I think you should get Barney checked out to make sure he’s okay. And third, I hope you’re all going to hunker down in the same room to conserve warmth.”
“But what am I going to do until the storm stops? What if that person comes back?”
“I’m sure the person or persons who did this sought shelter immediately and aren’t leaving until the storm stops. I doubt you need to worry about them right now.”
“They were lucky the power went out just before they did this.”
“It probably wouldn’t have mattered. By the time you could have gotten outside after the brick was thrown, the footprints would have been covered up already and the person would be gone. Or hiding. You wouldn’t be able to find them in this storm.”
“I feel like I’m losing my mind.” Lilly ran her hands through her hair.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this, I’m sure. It’s just going to take some time. Sooner or later everyone makes a mistake. And if the same person is behind these pranks and the deaths of Eden and Herb, they’re bound to make one soon.”
“So why did I have to be questioned again?”
“They’re just going back over the evidence they have to see if they’ve missed anything. And, like I’ve said, you have as much motive as anyone else right now. But those two officers don’t think you did it, if that makes you feel any better.”
“I guess that makes me feel a little better.”
“Got anything to eat?”
“Didn’t you eat at Noley’s?”
“Didn’t get a chance before you called. I’m starving.”
Lilly made him a sandwich and sat down with him. While he was eating Beverly came into the kitchen.
“Thank you for coming over, Bill. It’s just been harrowing.” She glanced at Lilly. “I don’t know how Lilly gets herself into these scrapes.”
“I wouldn’t call this a ‘scrape,’ Mom. If anyone had been standing in the wrong place when that brick came through the window, we could be dealing with something much more serious here,” Bill replied. Lilly shivered and Beverly had the grace to look chagrined.
“Mom, we’re all going to sleep in my room tonight to stay warm, if that’s okay with you,” Lilly said.
Laurel joined the group in the kitchen. “Gran, want to watch a movie on my tablet? It’s all charged up.” The two of them went upstairs to Lilly’s room.
“Can you think of anything that might help that you may not have thought to tell the guys who brought you in for questioning?”
Lilly shook her head. “Not that I can think of. If only I hadn’t left that door unlocked on the day before Thanksgiving, maybe none of this would have happened. Or at least it wouldn’t have happened in my store.”
“That’s what we’ve got to figure out—what was Eden doing in your store? The only person who knows that, besides Eden, is the person who killed her. And maybe Herb, but he’s no use to us now.” Bill paused for a long moment while he ate his sandwich, then spoke again.
“Do you remember the last time you and Eden talked before she died? Do you remember what you talked about?”
Lilly sat deep in thought, trying to remember the last time she and Eden had spoken.
“It was the week before Thanksgiving. We had our monthly Chamber of Commerce cocktail party and she was there with Herb.”
“She was? Did you tell us this before?”
Lilly shrugged. “I thought I did, but maybe I didn’t. I’m so confused.”
“Okay, don’t worry about it. So she was there with Herb. Did they both talk to you?”
“Yes. I remember—the three of us were standing by the bar. I had been talking to someone else and Eden and Herb came up together.”
“What did they want?”
Lilly cocked her head, her eyes narrowing, as she thought back to that night. “I wish I could remember. I think I was on my second glass of wine.”
Bill grimaced. “Try to remember, but don’t force it. It’ll come to you when you least expect it.”
“Are you going to stay here tonight?”
“I’m supposed to be at work, but the radio is working and I haven’t had any calls. Do you mind if I crash here?”
“Not at all. You can sleep with all of us upstairs if you want.”
“Nah. I’ll stay down here. Got a sleeping bag I can use?”
“Sure. It’s in Tighe’s room. I’ll get it for you.” Lilly went upstairs to get the sleeping bag. When she came down she brought Tighe with her. He got a hammer, nails, and a sheet of plastic from the garage and while Lilly held the flashlight, Tighe held the plastic over the window and Bill hammered the nails into place. When they were finished, Tighe held the flashlight while Lilly nailed the two tablecloths over the plastic to insulate the room a little bit. Then Tighe went upstairs, exhausted.
When Lilly went upstairs a few minutes later to get Bill a pillow, Tighe was under his own comforter on her floor. She pulled the comforter up to his chin; he groaned and turned over. She smiled in the darkness, remembering all the times she would check on him before she went to bed. Her mother
and Laurel were both nodding off as they watched a movie on the small screen of Laurel’s tablet. They were snuggled up together in Lilly’s bed, so Lilly tiptoed over to the bed, closed the tablet, and made sure both her favorite girls had plenty of blankets.
She grabbed a pillow from her closet and took it downstairs for Bill, along with an extra blanket she had gotten. The living room was uncomfortably cold.
After she gave Bill his supplies for the night, she went into the kitchen and called Hassan to check on him and make sure his family was safe. They didn’t talk for long because she wanted to conserve her cell phone battery, but she was relieved to hear that his family was safe and warm.
She hugged Bill before she went upstairs—she couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have a brother like him. If Tighe turned out half as good as Bill, she would have done her job. She climbed the stairs slowly, exhausted from the stress of the afternoon, and fell asleep almost immediately on the loveseat in her room.
Chapter 52
The storm continued unabated all through the night and through the long day that followed. Everyone in the house was grumpy from being cooped up, from the cold, and from stress. Bill’s radio remained silent except for a few squawks that were answered by other officers already at the station, so he stayed most of the day. He was able to reach Noley on her cell phone, which was a good sign that the cell phone towers nearby were still standing. He passed the phone to Lilly so she could talk to her friend and satisfy herself that Noley was all right.
Finally, around dinnertime the wind began to die down a little bit and when Lilly peered out the back door she was able to make out the faint roofline of Mrs. Laforge’s house. She had let Barney out several times during the day, attaching the blizzard rope to his collar and making sure to stay out there with him each time. He didn’t seem to want to play in the snow as he normally did during a storm—Lilly surmised that the experience of being lost and disoriented in the blizzard contributed to his urge to get right back into the house each time he went out.
It was a welcome sound when the first plow made its way up the street a short while later, and not long after that the lights flickered back to life. Bill left on foot to pick up his car at Noley’s house and get to work.
“Lilly, do you think you’ll be able to take me home in the morning?” her mother asked, coming into the kitchen. She was wearing a parka because it was so cold in the house. Lilly looked at her mom with a pang of sympathy. Poor woman—she shouldn’t have to endure such discomfort.
As so often happened immediately following a blizzard, the temperature was plummeting. Lilly had told everyone that they would all sleep in the same room upstairs again that night. She could hardly wait until the next day, when the man she had called to install another window would be able to come out to the house.
“Sure. I’ll take you home first thing in the morning. Tonight we have to snowblow the driveway and get the snow off the cars.” She called the kids downstairs and told them to get busy clearing snow outside while she shoveled the back porch. She asked her mom to keep an eye on Barney.
“Barney gets an awful lot of attention for a dog,” Beverly grumbled. “My dog is just a dog.”
“Mom, you don’t—never mind,” Lilly said with a sigh. “Barney is part of the family. He deserves all the attention he gets.”
“Hmph.”
Lilly rolled her eyes, not feeling quite so sorry for her mother anymore.
Tighe and Laurel came in about an hour later, ruddy-cheeked and tired. “Do you think there’ll be school tomorrow?” Laurel asked.
“Definitely,” Lilly answered with a smile. “That’s why we’re all going to bed early. You guys haven’t gotten much sleep for a couple of teenagers who’ve had nothing to do for two days.”
As promised, Lilly took her mother home first thing in the morning. She had called Taffy and asked her to open the shop so she could get her mother inside safely and shovel the walk, then wait for the window man at her own house. By the time Lilly left Beverly’s house she was exhausted from shoveling.
The window man was right on time. When Lilly showed him the damage he let out a low whistle.
“What happened here?”
“The window broke.”
“I can see that. How’d it happen?” he asked, glancing at her from under bushy eyebrows.
“A branch came sailing through it,” she lied.
“Are you sure? Must’ve been a pretty big branch.”
“It was,” Lilly answered with a hint of impatience. “How long will it take to get a replacement?”
“I’ve got one in stock,” he said. “I can come back here this afternoon with my assistant and put it in.”
“Thank you.” Lilly breathed a sigh of relief. They agreed on a time for him to return so Lilly would be able to go into the store for a while. After he left she gathered her sketchbooks and left for work. Because the power had gone out she hadn’t been able to do any design work at home.
There were a few customers in the store when Lilly arrived and she was pleased to see that Taffy was handling everyone with professionalism and patience. Lilly hurried to put her books away in the office and went out to the front of the store to help.
It wasn’t long before Hassan came into the store. Taffy greeted him and turned back to help another customer and he headed right for Lilly.
“What an incredible storm!” he said, his eyes bright. “I’ve experienced my first Rocky Mountain blizzard and I loved it!”
Lilly laughed. “I don’t hear that very often.”
“I wish you and the kids could have come to my house.” He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek after making sure no customers were watching.
“I had my mother, my brother, and the dog, too. Believe me, you wouldn’t have wanted all of us.”
He laughed. “What are you doing for lunch?” he asked.
“I was planning on eating here since I came in late and I have to leave early.”
“How about I pick up some stuff from the diner and we eat together?” he asked.
“Sounds good,” she said with a wide smile. She gave him her order and he left. He was gone quite a while before he came back bearing a brown paper bag and two bottles of sparkling water.
“Shall we eat in my office?” she asked. “Taffy, could you mind things out here while we eat, then I’ll take over and you can grab lunch?”
“Sure.”
Lilly’s office was warm thanks to a space heater that she kept back there. She and Hassan slid up to the desk across from each other and opened the bag from the diner.
“So why do you have to leave early?” he asked.
Lilly hadn’t told him about the brick incident during the storm because she didn’t want him to worry and because she didn’t want to discuss it at home where her mother or the kids could overhear.
His eyes grew wider and he stopped eating as she related the story.
“I can’t believe it,” he said, covering her hand with his own. “You must have been terrified.”
“And freezing,” she added, attempting to make light of the situation.
“And freezing,” he repeated. “I am so sorry I wasn’t able to help you.”
“There’s nothing you could have done. My brother walked to the house and stayed overnight, so I felt safer with him there.”
“But the brick wasn’t the only thing,” she continued. “Someone, probably the same person, unhooked Barney’s rope from the wall by the back door and he got disoriented in the storm. Our neighbor found him and brought him home.”
Hassan covered his mouth with his hand. “Oh, my God. How is he now?”
“Okay, but I need to make an appointment with the vet to have him checked out. He doesn’t want to spend much time outside right now. I imagine he’ll get braver as time goes on and he’ll eventually want to go out and play again.”
“Whoever did that should be put away for good.”
“I agree, but it’s not going to
be easy to figure out who did it. No fingerprints, no footprints, no tire tracks. The snow obliterated all the evidence.”
Hassan shook his head. “I cannot forgive myself for not inviting you and your family over to my house.”
“Even if you had asked, we couldn’t have come. Especially after the window broke, I needed to stay in my own house to keep an eye on everything and everyone.”
Hassan stared at her.
“What?” she asked.
“You are an incredibly brave woman,” he said. She laughed.
“I am about the least brave person there is,” she said. “I was scared to death.”
“You can be brave and scared at the same time,” he said, fixing her with an intent look. “You did what you needed to do throughout the storm while taking care of your family and facing your fear. I’m very impressed.”
“Thank you. Now before my ego gets the better of me, I’m going to go relieve Taffy so she can have lunch.” She stood up to go, but he reached for her arm and pulled her toward him and kissed her.
“You know how much I will miss you when I go back to Minnesota,” he said.
She smiled and nodded, suddenly feeling empty and sad. “You finish your lunch,” she said.
Chapter 53
She went back to the front of the store and left Hassan at her desk finishing his lunch. She was sorry she had eaten hers because now she felt sick to her stomach. She had known Hassan would be leaving, but she didn’t want him to talk about it.
Taffy went over to the diner and returned quickly with a container of soup and a soda. She took it back to the office and shortly Hassan came out, holding the remnants of his lunch in the bag.
“Would you like to go out to dinner tonight?” he asked.
“I don’t think I should,” Lilly replied. She was about to lie and explain that she had too much work to do when he spoke.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, no,” she hastened to assure him. “I just have a lot of work to do,” she finished lamely.
“All right. If you change your mind, let me know. I’ll come by tomorrow to see you.”