Hannah looked hopeful. “Can I sit in on the interview?”
Cooper hesitated and then shook his head. “It’s just going to be the two of us to start. We would have to explain your presence. That’s probably going to be difficult in this particular situation.”
Hannah wanted to argue, but she knew better. “Okay. I guess I should get back inside. I need to keep the remaining psychics happy, right? They’re my only shot for salvaging this event.”
“It’s going to be okay,” Cooper whispered, pressing her tight against his chest. “Don’t make yourself sick over this. Everything is going to work out.”
Hannah wanted him to be right, but her gut told her that was a pipe dream.
MELANIE SANDERS WAS SO PALE Boone was convinced she would disappear at some point during their interview. She sat, ramrod straight, in a wooden chair and answered each question posed to her. She appeared to be in another world, though, and the sheriff wasn’t convinced she actually absorbed any of the information he provided.
“You’ll have to excuse Mel,” Carrie Holden, Velma’s assistant, offered as she patted Melanie’s knee. “She’s obviously in shock. Maybe you could address the questions to me for now, and if I don’t know the answer then ... .” She broke off, casting her former employer’s daughter a sidelong look. “This is obviously too much for her.”
Boone was sympathetic — at least to a point — and he nodded. Eventually, no matter what, he would have to talk to Melanie about her mother. For now, he needed the basics if he expected to move forward, so that’s what he focused on. “Were you aware of Velma having any enemies?”
Carrie pursed her lips, glanced at Melanie, and shook her head. “She wasn’t an easy woman. I don’t say that to be a horrible person or anything, or to speak ill of the dead, but she made enemies everywhere she went.”
Boone was officially intrigued. “How so?”
“Well ... .” Carrie wet her lips and looked at Melanie again. “I don’t want to sound dramatic or evil or anything. You must understand that.”
“I do,” Boone confirmed, bobbing his head. “I also need to figure out who did this. If you have information, I need to hear it.”
“I don’t know that I have information,” Carrie cautioned. “I just ... there was a pattern of behavior.”
Boone slid his eyes to Cooper. The two men were obviously thinking the same thing. Carrie was sitting on a powder keg of information ... and she was afraid to share it because of Melanie. “Perhaps Melanie would like to take a break,” he started.
That was enough to have Melanie stirring. “That won’t be necessary,” she said, allowing a heavy sigh to escape. “I appreciate Carrie trying to protect my mother, but it’s not necessary. Here’s the thing ... my mother could be generous to a fault. She was loyal and protected those she loved with a fierceness that defies explanation.
“She could also be petty, vindictive, and emotionally abusive,” she continued. “Not to me, mind you. I was family, which meant she was loyal to me even when she was angry. If you wronged my mother, though — and she lived her life under the mistaken belief that everybody who ever disagreed with a single thing she said had somehow wronged her — then she never forgot it. Even if she pretended to forgive, she never forgot.”
Boone leaned back in his chair, weighing the information. “Is it possible that one of the people your mother thought wronged her was here?”
Melanie held out her hands and shrugged. “Even I couldn’t keep up with the people my mother thought wronged her. She had a list, though. Somewhere.”
“It was on her computer,” Carrie volunteered. “I can try to find it.”
“That would be helpful,” Boone said. “My understanding is that she had an announcement she was going to make. She told everyone that ... and then twenty minutes later she was dead. Do you have any idea what that announcement was?”
“No.” Melanie let loose a sigh. “Knowing my mother, it could’ve been anything. She didn’t tell me, though. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay. You’ve given us a place to start. We’re appreciative of that.”
5
Five
Hannah was exhausted by the time everyone cleared out of Casper Creek. Police tape remained, cutting the brothel off from the rest of the town, but otherwise things were silent.
“I brought dinner,” Cooper announced as he strolled into the saloon, his eyes immediately going to Hannah.
“What?” She stood in the window, her expression blank, and tried to figure out what he’d said to her. It wasn’t easy. “I ... um ... would love dinner.” Since he was carrying a bag from one of their favorite diners, Hannah assumed whatever he’d said revolved around food. Her appetite was practically nonexistent, but she pasted a smile on her face, even though she felt the exact opposite of happy. “What did you get?”
Cooper carefully placed the bag on the table and regarded her. She had one of those faces that expressed every thought or feeling. Even though she wore the bartender uniform for the saloon — an outfit she absolutely hated — she looked somehow removed from her surroundings. It was a picture Cooper didn’t particularly like.
“Let’s talk.” He held out his hand to her, ignoring the question. He recognized she wouldn’t settle until she talked through what had happened.
Rather than acquiesce, which was her way most days, she made a face. “How about we eat and go straight to bed instead?”
Cooper didn’t miss a beat. “Usually that would be my idea of a perfect evening.”
“Not tonight, though?”
He shook his head. “You need to talk. You’ve been keeping your emotions bottled up all day. I know it’s been hell for you. There’s no reason to be quiet any longer. Just ... tell me what you’re feeling.”
Hannah held his gaze for a long beat ... and then blew out a heavy sigh. “Something feels really wrong here.”
“I’m assuming you mean other than the obvious, right?” He cracked a smile when her frown only deepened. “Hannah, clearly this isn’t right. A woman was stabbed to death on your property and even though the town was fairly busy at the time, nobody saw a thing. That’s ... all kinds of weird in my book.”
“Yeah.” She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. “I don’t understand how this happened. We were supposed to have an easy event, get back into the swing of things. Now, though ... what if this ruins business forever?”
His heart rolled at her earnest expression. “Baby, that’s not going to happen.” He strode directly to her, his hands gentle as he cupped her cheeks. He made it so she had no place to look but in his eyes. “I swear everything is going to be okay,” he promised her. “I won’t let anything bad happen. This is all going to work out.”
Hannah wanted to believe that more than anything. She just couldn’t force herself to ignore the warning siren screaming in the back of her brain. “This shouldn’t have happened. I mean ... how could someone kill a world-famous psychic in our backyard without anybody seeing it?”
Cooper hesitated and then shook his head. “I don’t know.” He rested his brow against hers, moving his hands from her face so he could hold her tight. “We’re going to figure this out, though. I don’t want you spending your time worrying about this. You’ll make yourself sick.”
“I can’t help it.” Hannah didn’t consider herself a weak woman. In fact, bad decisions when she was younger had her toughening up quite a bit prior to moving to Casper Creek. Now, though, she felt helpless. It wasn’t an emotion she wanted to embrace. “I keep running various scenarios through my head. How did this even happen?”
Cooper had been wondering the same thing. “I don’t know. We questioned everyone who was here, although some of those sessions were more cursory than others. Most of the other psychics weren’t even aware of who she was.”
Hannah’s frown was pronounced. “I thought she was supposed to be famous. I mean, I’m not an expert on psychics by any stretch of the imagination, but I
thought she was supposed to be something special.”
Cooper shot her a rueful smile. “Let me rephrase that. The guests knew who she was. That doesn’t mean they knew what she looked like. Boone and I checked. The photo on the back of her most recent book was more than twenty years old.”
“Really?” Hannah’s eyebrows hopped, her mind busy. “That’s interesting.”
“I figured it was just vanity. Women don’t tend to like to admit they’re getting old. They like to pretend the wrinkles don’t exist.”
Hannah pinned him with a dark look. “Not old. Older. Old-er.” She bopped her finger up and down for emphasis. “She was in her fifties. She was hardly an old woman.”
Amused despite himself — and thrilled to see some of the fire return to her eyes — he held up his hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t mean that how it came out,” he reassured her. “I happen to love older women.” He realized how his words could be misconstrued when it was too late to pull them back. “I mean ... I love you. Young. Old. I love only you.”
Hannah fought hard to maintain a straight face ... and lost. “Nice save.”
“Thank you.” He swooped in and gave her a quick kiss. “I didn’t mean for that to come across as derogatory as it sounded. It was simply something Boone and I noticed when we happened to look at one of the books. Even if one of our psychics was familiar with that photo, it doesn’t mean they would’ve recognized her in real life.”
Hannah hadn’t even considered that. It made sense, though. “Huh. What did her daughter say?”
“Oddly enough, her daughter was pretty forthcoming.” He slid his hand to the small of her back and prodded her toward the table. “Let’s talk about this while the food is still warm, huh? It might take a bit.”
Hannah wordlessly agreed. Now that Cooper had managed to take the edge off her mood, she found she was hungrier than she imagined possible. He was a miracle worker that way.
It only took them a few minutes to get settled and dig in. Once she had her first bite of burger out of the way, Hannah turned her expectant eyes on him. “Well?”
He smirked at her impatience. “Apparently Velma was not well liked. Melanie — that’s her daughter — was open about that from the start. She seemed shocked about what happened, but she was pretty matter-of-fact where it counted. She said her mother was the sort who turned people into enemies ... whether it was warranted or not.”
“Meaning?” Hannah dipped a fry into ketchup and shoved it into her mouth, barely chewing before swallowing. She was suddenly ravenous. “Was she paranoid or something?”
Cooper grinned for a beat as he enjoyed the view of her inhaling her food and then returned to reality with a vengeance. “The way Melanie made it sound, Velma was loyal to those in her inner circle. If you were related to her you were in by virtue of blood and if she’d known you a long time she tended to overlook things. Anyone else, though, was fair game.”
“I still don’t understand what that means.”
“Basically it means that if anyone said a single thing about her, even in jest, Velma took it as a personal attack,” Cooper explained. “Apparently the psychic world is full of people competing with one another. Velma liked being on top ... and wasn’t afraid to step on others to keep them at the bottom.”
Intrigued, Hannah cocked her head. “Does that mean she made enemies in the psychic world?”
Cooper beamed at her. “See. I love that you’re not only pretty but brilliant, too. I don’t have to explain things to you. That comes in handy when murder pops up.”
Hannah made a face, but internally she was pleased by the comment. Cooper always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. “I shall reward you for the ‘brilliant’ comment this evening on the second floor. For now, though, I want to know more about Velma. Who did she tick off?”
Cooper offered up an exaggerated wink by way of flirting. “I’m going to hold you to that. As for who Velma ticked off ... well ... I think I need to show you.” He momentarily abandoned his dinner and stood so he could pull a sheet of paper out of his back pocket. “This is what the assistant provided us with. Boone let me keep a copy.”
Hannah had no idea what she was looking at when she first unfolded the sheet of paper. Then she started reading ... and her mouth dropped open. “Is this what I think it is?”
“That’s her list of enemies.” Cooper absently scratched his chin as he watched Hannah scan the sheet of paper. “The assistant said that Velma made up that list herself. She liked to keep track of the people who ticked her off.”
Hannah was completely and totally dumbfounded. “Who keeps a list of their enemies like this?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t help but wonder if maybe that’s the reason Velma is dead. She obviously had no problem ticking people off. From the way her daughter talked, I think she might’ve reveled in it.”
“It looks like.” Hannah counted in her head. “There have to be more than fifty names on this list.”
Cooper nodded. “Sixty-two. Boone is going to see how many he can weed out tonight. Even if he manages to cut the list by half, though — which seems like wishful thinking in such a short amount of time — that’s a lot of people for us to look at.”
“Can’t we just check the list of enemies against the list of attendees for the event?”
“We can and I have a call in to the event organizer to get that list. The problem is, if you were planning to travel to an event to kill someone, would you register under your real name?”
Hannah hadn’t even considered that. “No, but ... you have to show identification to travel.”
“To travel, yes. My understanding is that anyone could register for this event, though, and there’s no identification required.”
“Oh.” Hannah’s eyes widened. “I didn’t even consider that. What are you going to do?”
“Well, for now, I’m going to eat dinner with the most beautiful woman in the world. Then, when we’re finished, I thought we might take a walk around town to make sure everything looks normal, collect Jinx, and then go to bed early. I have a feeling we’re going to have a full day tomorrow.”
Hannah couldn’t hide her surprise. “That’s it?”
“Do you have another suggestion?”
“I ... no.” She frowned. “It’s just weird. She was killed right under our noses.”
“And we’re going to figure out how it happened and ensure it doesn’t happen again. That’s the best I can do for now.”
She held his gaze, her mind busy, and then nodded. “I’m sorry. I know you’re doing the best that you can. The whole thing is freaking me out. I mean ... do you think whoever did this is still hanging out up here?”
Cooper couldn’t answer the question. “I don’t know. We’re going to stick together until this one is solved, though, okay? We’ll figure it out.”
Hannah nodded because it was the only thing she could do. The world was a dangerous place under normal circumstances. Apparently Casper Creek was ten times more dangerous.
MADDIE SLEPT HARDER THAN SHE THOUGHT she would. Given the way Velma’s body was put on display — and that’s exactly how it felt to her — she assumed sleep wouldn’t be an option. To her surprise, her body said otherwise, and she was gone within seconds of rolling her head onto Nick’s shoulder. She was in the exact same spot the next morning, meaning Nick had dropped off relatively easily, too, which was a relief.
They spent their usual twenty minutes cuddling in bed before rising. Nick found he was relieved that Maddie seemed okay. Sure, she wasn’t happy, but he expected nightmares ... or possibly worse. She made herself sick with worry at times and her stomach had been hit or miss over the past few weeks. Other than being sad about Velma’s death, though, she seemed none the worse for wear.
They showered and headed downstairs for breakfast. Even though they both agreed the hotel dining room didn’t look like it had anything they would be interested in for dinner, breakfast seemed like a safe op
tion. There were only so many ways to cook eggs and hash browns, after all.
After ordering, they took advantage of the opportunity and studied the faces scattered around the dining room. A few of them were recognizable, but only because they belonged to individuals who had been at Casper Creek the previous afternoon.
“What do you think?” Maddie asked as she leaned back in her chair and sipped her tomato juice. Nick had a studied eye and he was good at reading people. She was, too, but she always liked hearing his opinion.
“Honestly?” Nick arched an eyebrow and reached for his orange juice. “Nobody seems all that broken up.”
“Maybe they didn’t know her.”
“No, but they knew of her. I mean ... you knew who she was. I very much doubt you were the only one present who was familiar with her books. If she was such a recognizable face, then people have to be aware ... and yet nobody seems to care.”
Maddie hadn’t actually caught that herself but, now that Nick had brought it up, she found she readily agreed. “It makes me sad.”
“That’s because you’re an angel.”
She made a face and flicked his knuckle with her index finger. “I’m being serious.”
His lips curved as he turned back to her. “So am I. You’re my angel and I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She beamed at him. “It still makes me sad, though. She was a well-regarded woman. People all over the world respected her. None of the people here are mourning her, though.”
“I wouldn’t say none of them,” Nick countered. “I saw Cooper and Boone questioning the daughter and assistant in one of the buildings yesterday. They looked shaken up, and I don’t see them down here. It’s possible that the people who are upset about this decided room service was a better option this morning.”
True Grit Spirit: A Maddie Graves and Hannah Hickok Mystery Page 5