by VC Angell
“Only to say that it was unlikely any of the drug dealers had anything to do with his murder. They wouldn’t bother to drug him before shooting him. They just shoot him and dump the body someplace.”
“You’re back to ground zero then.”
“Below zero. I could see possibilities before, but now I have no idea where to look.”
“Let’s forget the whole thing for now. It’s time for an unhealthy supper,” Carol said.
* * *
When Saturday morning came around, Jim and Carol drove to Duluth. Their shopping went much quicker than they expected, so they played tourist. They drove down to the waterfront to see the famous lift bridge before heading home. Arriving back home, Jim said, “I think that was a good trip. We got everything on our shopping list and something for ourselves.”
“Pray, tell Mr. Waterman, what would that be?” Carol teased.
Jim played along and said, “The smoked fish will make a great snack.”
“That’s truly a disappointing answer. I think I misjudged you. You would prefer food over me?”
Jim pretended to be surprised, “Oh, you must be talking about that little blue lacey thing. Is that correct?”
“You want me to model it for you?” Carol said with a wicked smile.
“Only so I can help you take it off,” Jim said in mock seriousness.
Carol started to say something, but before she got any words out, she started giggling. It was infectious because Jim was soon laughing along with her. Any thoughts of unpacking the Christmas presents they had gotten were forgotten.
Sometime later, Jim and Carol were in bed talking. Carol said, “I’m amazed that I can easily turn you on.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you. I enjoy all of you. I love looking at your body,” Jim said.
“Do you think after we have been married 30 or 40 years that you will feel the same?”
“I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t,” Jim said.
Carol pointed at her bust line, “You know gravity will win. Will you still love me when I am all saggy?”
“I can turn that around. How about if I have trouble getting it up?”
“I understand they have a pill that can fix that. Can anything fix sagging breasts?”
“I don’t care if they are. I love all of you, and I always will.”
“Mr. Waterman, you sure know how to say all the right things to a lady.”
Their talk turned to other things. What they still needed before Christmas was the main topic. The conversation then turned to what it always did, Alex’s murder.
“Since the sheriff didn’t think the story about the drug dealers didn’t get your brother killed, did he have any ideas who it might be?” Carol asked.
“No, but I’ve been thinking about something your boyfriend, Richard Bjorklund, said,” Jim said.
“He wasn’t a real boyfriend,” Carol protested.
Jim didn’t seem to notice her protest, “He said that my brother was a male whore sleeping with some large number of women in town. I don’t remember exactly how he said that, but that was the gist of it. I wonder if he wouldn’t have more names of women I could talk to.”
Carol recognized the talk had turned serious, “I don’t know. He might have.”
“I don’t know if he would talk to me again, but he might be willing to talk to you, and you could ask him.”
“I’m not sure he’ll talk to me either. I broke his heart, and I didn’t mean to.”
“When I got back to Alma, Ted Erickson told his daughter to use her feminine wiles on me to find out what I was doing. Maybe you could do that with Richard?” Jim asked.
“I’m not sure I know how to do that. I tried to let you know that I was interested in you before we closed on this place. You didn’t seem to notice.”
“I didn’t want to let my interest in you screw up any real estate deal. From the first time I met you, I wanted to get more acquainted with you. I didn’t even know if you’re available. You might’ve been married,” Jim said.
“And I was so dumb I didn’t know you were interested in me. I thought maybe you thought I was ugly or something.”
“If tonight is any example, that’s not a problem anymore.”
Carol wanted to shift the conversation back to neutral ground, “I could try talking to Richard.”
Jim didn’t answer right away as he thought. “Only if you think you can
. Richard shouldn’t be hurt by asking questions.”
“You know you’re unbelievable. I know you want to find your brother’s killer, but you put my feelings and Richard’s ahead of finding out something that could help you solve your brother’s murder. That’s what makes you special.” Carol moved closer so that she could pull him close to her in a warm embrace.
Jim kissed Carol, and she wiggled as if trying to get closer. Jim said, “You know what you’re doing to me?”
“Yes, your body is speaking louder than your words.”
* * *
Jim was talking to Will about the last issue before Christmas. “Your ideas for the Christmas edition of the Journal sound good.”
“They aren’t my ideas. They are things your brother and your father did for the Christmas edition of the Journal before that. It’s a tradition. People tell me how much they enjoy it because it’s a piece of local news,” Will said.
“After working for some big newspapers, I find the Journal a real surprise. It’s refreshing. I never read much when I was a kid. When I did the crime beat, I began to think of the city as only relating to its crimes. It became very impersonal.”
“The crime beat is something you did here with the drug story last week,” Will said.
Jim frowned and shook his head, “Not only that but there is my brother’s murder. I can’t think of where to turn next. I even had Carol talk to her old boyfriend. He didn’t have any names, only rumors he had heard about Alex’s adventures with married women.”
“I had heard those rumors as well. I wish now I had asked Alex about them. It finally helped find who killed him.” Will paused a moment before saying, “I didn’t think it was right for me to pry into Alex’s private life.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. You had no idea what was going to happen. Besides, it’s almost Christmas. We should just enjoy the season,” Jim said.
“Merry Christmas,” Will said.
“Merry Christmas to you too.”
* * *
Jim and Carol were preparing Christmas Eve’s dinner together. It was a meal both recognized from their younger days with one exception, cooking the lutefisk in the microwave. About that, Jim was saying, “I remember when we used to put the lutefisk in cheesecloth and boil it. The windows would get all steamed up. We would make a fist out of our hands and hold them against the frosty window and make tiny footprints.”
“I couldn’t wait for the meal to get over so that we could open presents,” Carol said.
“We can only open one on Christmas Eve. The rest stayed under the tree until Christmas morning. The other thing was we went to church on Christmas Eve. It was a midnight service, so when we got out of the church, it was Christmas. Even then, we had to wait until Christmas morning to open our presents.”
“We went to church too, but it was earlier in the evening. I remember people saying that in the old days, it was later, and Christmas had begun when people came out of the church.”
“We will be starting our traditions together. I have kind of drifted away from the church since I had been living in Europe. I tried to go a couple of times, but the language barrier made it difficult to follow, so I stopped going.”
“We stopped going to Christmas Eve services when I was still in high school. I’m not sure why.” Carol said.
“Let’s eat, and then we can decide about what our Christmas Eve tradition will be.”
“Our meal is our first tradition!”
* * *
Christmas morning arrived, and Santa C
laus had visited because there was one gift for Carol. It was small but rather long for its small size. It turned out to be a gold bracelet. Carol said, “I love it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.”
“I bought it in Germany. I didn’t have a girlfriend or anyone in mind. I just knew one day there would be a special person I could give it to,” Jim said.
Carol hugged and kissed him before saying, “I have been thinking. You are a great lover and always try to satisfy me. I want you to take me and satisfy yourself. I want you always to know that you can do that anytime. I thought this would be my Christmas gift to you.”
Jim returned her kiss and reached under her robe to gently squeeze her breast.
Carol softly moaned and then said, “Let us be practical and go back to bed.”
“It’s Christmas morning, and we can spend as much time in bed as you want,” Jim said before kissing her again.
They went back to the bedroom, hand-in-hand. Afterward, Carol said, “I can’t believe how quick that was. You have been thinking of me.”
“I’ve always thought when you make love, do your best to satisfy your partner. I want a bit of a rest period, and then I’d like to do it again.”
* * *
Their calisthenics in bed made both of them sleepy. Carol woke Jim by saying, “We had better get up and get the turkey in the oven if we are going to eat by suppertime.” They got up and showered together. That almost triggered another round of bed calisthenics. They worked together on their Christmas dinner. Jim worked with the turkey. He put the giblets on to boil with some seasonings. He got bread for the dressing and then used some of the water from the giblets to add to the stuffing along with onions and celery that had been cooked in butter. Carol made the cranberry sauce and the green bean casserole. She then made them a salad using romaine lettuce.
After their Christmas dinner, they listened to Christmas music on the radio while lying on the couch together. Carol said, “I think we had a great Christmas.”
“I know I did, and it was all because of you being here with me. I don’t think we could’ve had better first Christmas together.” Jim said.
“I think things will change when we have children. It will be fun to see them excited about Christmas.”
“I think we better get married before we start talking about having children. All the practice sessions we have been having are amazingly good,” Jim teased.
“When do you want to get married? Spring or fall?” Carol asked.
“What’s wrong with summer?”
“You don’t know women’s clothing. I don’t want to be all hot and sweaty on my wedding day. You might want to think about being in a tuxedo on a hot summer day too.”
Jim thought about it, “No, I don’t think I would like that.”
They continued to discuss wedding plans and decided that they would get married early in May. It wouldn’t be too warm then or too cold.
* * *
Between Christmas and New Year’s, Jim thought the paper might not have enough news stories. However, the people visiting Alma and those Alma residents seeing young people living outside of Alma took up a goodly part of the Journal’s pages.
New Year’s Eve brought a snowstorm. Carol and Jim decided to stay in instead of driving into Alma and back for the community dance. They celebrated the start of the new year by making love.
Carol said, “That was great.”
“It had to be because it was with you. Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?” Jim asked.
“I decided I need to lose a little weight. Cooking together and eating with you has got me putting on weight.”
Jim playfully lifted the covers and looked at her, “I don’t see any extra. You look as desirable as ever.”
Carol pulled the cover back over her, “It’s cold. It sounds like there’s a blizzard out there, and you hold the covers letting all that cold air in.”
Jim’s little closer and put his arms around Carol, saying, “I’ll be your Armstrong Heater.”
“Hmm, you are nice and warm. Do you have any resolutions?”
“Yes, it’s over a year that I have been back and that Alex was killed. The Journal and the radio stations seem to be doing well. However, we’ve had absolutely no luck in learning anything about Alex’s killer.”
Carol kind of leaned back in Jim’s hug and looked at him, “I thought you were still looking.”
“I don’t know where to look anymore. That’s the problem. The whole drug thing was a bust. No pun intended. According to Alex’s wife, she knew about his affairs. She might not have approved, but she understood why he would turn to another woman. I’m at a dead end again.”
Carol didn’t answer right away and seemed to be in thought before saying, “You know the book I’ve been reading?”
“The one on salesmanship?”
“No, the other one, which is a murder mystery. The detective in the novel said that people closest to the victim are the ones you look at first. How about Sally?”
Jim thought before replying, “The sheriff told me he thought Alex had been killed elsewhere and dragged into the woods. I don’t think Sally had enough strength to do that. She’d have to have help.”
“If she knew about Alex’s affairs, why couldn’t she have been doing the same. She could have gotten her lover to help her.”
“Yes, I can see that. How do we find out if Sally had a lover? She wouldn’t advertise that fact. The sheriff also said that he knew Sally, and it wasn’t something she would do.”
Carol said, “You are a reporter. Use those skills to look around. I sell real estate, and that would be of no help to you.”
“You help in many more ways that it is more that is interesting and exciting.”
“That look in your eye tells me you want to get frisky again,” Carol said with a smile and then kissed him.
After they turned off the light, Jim lay there thinking about Sally. He would have to find out who her friends, her male friends, were. He would have to be careful because asking the wrong person, and Sally would know he was looking.
* * *
The start of the new year brought a meeting with his accountant, Ralph Hansen. The meeting had already lasted almost an hour going over the Journal’s evaluations and its sister, the Shopper. Then came the radio stations, the AM and FM, and how they were performing. Those are also producing a small profit.
Ralph leaned back and asked, “Now that we are done with those, how is Sally holding up?”
“I don’t know. Sally seems unhappy with me when I show up. Because of that, I try to stay away from her,” Jim said.
“You look an awful lot like your brother. I’d bet you a remind her of Alex.”
“That might be the case,” Jim said, and then suddenly remembering his New Year’s Eve thoughts about finding out more about Sally, he asked, “Do you know if she has any male friends?”
“I can’t think of any. The only person I ever see her with consistently is Karen Johnson. In the last year or so, they seem to have become good friends.”
“I remember Sally saying something the first time I saw her about a friend called Karen, who had helped her a lot.”
“I remember a discussion at church about how much Karen seemed to be helping Sally with her grief. I hate to change the subject, but I’ve got another appointment coming up soon,” Ralph said.
Jim accused himself. He was happy with the information he got about the businesses and that he had found out about a friend of Sally’s. Perhaps she could help.
Back at his office at the Journal, he and Will discuss an upcoming feature. At the end of the discussion, Jim said, “I have been trying to help Sally, but she seems very unhappy whenever I show up for some reason. Ralph mentioned that she was a friend of someone called Karen Johnson. Do you know who that is?”
“She’s a relative newcomer to Alma. I guess it was about four or five years ago when she moved here. She owns the Ye Olde Tea Shop on Map
le Avenue. I never thought it would survive. Scandinavians around here drink coffee, not tea, but somehow she’s making a go of it,” Will said.
“Do you know anything else about her?”
“Nope.”
That finished the discussion, and Will left Jim’s office.
Chapter 16
After Will left his office, Jim worked on his newest editorial until it was time for lunch. He stopped by Helen’s desk and told her he was going to lunch at the Country Kettle. As Jim was driving through town, he noticed Laura coming out of the five and dime. Jim rolled down his window and hollered at her. Jim parked and waited until she crossed the street. Jim invited her into his car to keep warm. They chatted a bit, and Jim said, “I was going to lunch. Would you like to join me?”
“It’s been a while since we got a chance to chat, and I’m hungry,” Laura said.
Without the tourists, because it was in the dead of winter, the Country Kettle had some open tables even though it was the lunch hour. They sat down and looked over the menu, and gave the waitress their order.
Jim said, “Did you know I got engaged, Carol Amundson?”
“I have heard something, but I didn’t know what was true. Have you guys set a date to marry?” Laura asked.
“No, with the holidays and all, we have been too busy. We’ve half-wise talked about it and decided we didn’t want to do it during the summer heat. We talked about doing it in May.”
“Have you decided what day?” Laura asked.
“I’d like to do it as soon as possible, so it looks like it will probably be early in the month. Don’t worry. You’ll get an invitation,” Jim said, smiling.
“Knowing you, I wasn’t worried. Have you talked about kids?”
“We’d like to have a boy and a girl. If that doesn’t work out, we are going to limit our tries to just three kids. Carol has just one brother. She thought that a boy and a girl were an ideal family,” Jim said.
“That’s an ideal kind of family, but you know it’s just the luck of the draw whether you get a boy or girl.”
“What about you?” Jim asked.
“Julie’s been great. With her help and some online help, I can read better. I just read your last editorial about the coming of the wood products plant and what it will mean to Alma.”