“Brewer Police Department. May I help you?” a man’s voice said.
Ashley explained what had just happened, and that her friend she had been talking to had already been questioned by the police about the playhouse murder. The man said to hold on.
In a few minutes, a deep voice came on the line. “This is Detective Miller. May I help you?”
“Yes,” Ashley said. “I think an acquaintance of mine up there is in trouble.”
Chapter Six
Detective Miller cleared his throat. “Can you please explain?”
Ashley related the exchange between her and Harley, and that Ashley had just started to tell Harley to go to the police when the line went dead. Also, that her husband Sean knew another actor up there who had been questioned, Grant Trotter.
There was a pause on the line, then Detective Miller spoke, “How soon can you get up here Miss—?”
“Mrs. McDonnell,” Ashley said. “And I can’t get up there now. We just got back from our honeymoon and there is so much work to we need to get done here.”
“Congratulations,” Miller said dryly. “But I really need you up here to answer some questions. This is a very tough murder case. We are in a real bind here. And maybe you can help with your friend.”
“Well, she’s not really a close—” Ashley started to say.
“Can you be here by Wednesday? That gives you a couple of days.”
“Uh, I’ll ask my hus—”
“Please Mrs. McDonnell. A man was murdered and his parents’ lives have been shattered. Hopefully your friend is okay, but maybe she’s not. I just need to talk to you soon.”
“Okay,” Ashley said. She repeated her phone number to the detective and told him she’d see him soon. As soon as she hung up, she got a knot in her stomach. Sean was going to be upset. This was not what she wanted to tell him tonight.
She sighed and looked at Charlie. He gave her a look as if to say, “Can’t help you out Mom. You blew it.” He then jumped up on the couch to curl up with Susie Q.
Ashley pulled a bunch of different vegetables out of the fridge and began to chop them. Then she cut up the chicken she had defrosted into thin strips. She’d make a quick and healthy stir fry for them both. Then after Sean had eaten, she’d discuss with him their trip to Brewer. Or at least her trip.
“Is my life complicated, or do I make it that way, Charlie?” she said. Both cats glanced at her, hoping for a chicken strip or two.
Her cell rang. It was Harley! She grabbed it and nearly shouted into the phone.
“Oh thank God! I tried calling you back, but it went straight to voicemail, and I—”
“Don’t call this number again,” said a deep male voice. “And don’t come up here. Harley is okay now. But she won’t be if you get involved.”
Before Ashley could say another word, the line went dead. Ashley called the detective back immediately to let him know what had just happened.
“Please contact her family and let them know what’s going on,” she told him.
“I asked her for her family information when I interviewed her. She said her parents were deceased and she wasn’t close to any of her relatives, nor had she been in touch with them in a long time,” Miller replied.
“Oh, that’s tough,” Ashley said.
“Can you please verify that number that she called from?” he asked.
Ashley gave him Harley’s number and told him she’d be in touch soon.
***
When Sean got home, she explained what had happened and that the detective wanted them to come up as soon as possible to Brewer. Although he was sympathetic, he cautioned her against running up there in haste.
“Ash, they have a police department and a detective working on this case. Can you at least wait until I can get some more time off and we go up there together to see the plays and investigate then?”
“But waiting until then could be too late! It sounds as if she’s in danger now!” Ashley said.
“Ash, you aren’t even that close to her. She’s more an acquaintance than a friend. Shouldn’t this be left to her family at this point in time?”
“Just because we weren’t close, she’s still a hometown girl Sean; one of us. And I heard from the detective that she told him her parents had passed away and she wasn’t close to any other relatives. That she hasn’t even been in touch with them in quite a while. Someone has to care about her!”
Sean sighed. “Okay. I’m not going to be able to stop you. But I can’t go with you just yet either. Ash, we just got back from our honeymoon. Can you please wait just a couple of weeks until I get the bakery in order until we take off again?”
He looked at her with genuine worry in his eyes. But Ashley noticed something else. He looked deeply tired. And defeated. It was as if he felt nothing he had to say would make a difference in what she decided to do. That struck her in the heart. She was the one who charged into life and even though all her attempts to help other people were well intentioned and good, she had to put him first now at this point in life. He had always been behind her and applauded her strength and courage, but at what cost? He was now her husband, and his worries and concerns had to take center stage along with hers.
“You’re right,” she said softly. “I’ll wait. We’ll go up together.” She gave him a long and tender look. He immediately relaxed his shoulders and his face lost its anxious look.
“I hope she’ll be okay, Ash. I really do.”
“Me too,” she replied. “In the meantime, I’ll see what I can do on the phone from here.”
“Great.” He sighed. “What’s for dinner?”
“Leftovers,” she said.
“My favorite,” he answered as he walked into the living room and plopped on the couch.
Charlie and Susie Q bounded into his lap and fought for a position.
Ashley smiled. “Looks like you’ll have plenty of company while I get dinner ready.”
Sean gave the kitties some rubs. Soon his head draped to the side and Ashley heard soft snores coming from the couch.
She stirred the vegetables and chicken together in a marinade and then quickly stir-fried them. She tasted a few bites but decided to wait and eat when Sean got up from his nap.
Just then the sky opened up and a torrent of rain came crashing down. She made a cup of tea and thought about what she would say to the detective about not coming up right away. Detective Miller would make a good case for it again, but she would hold fast. Sean comes first, she would tell him. But I’ll help you from here, she would say.
Just then she heard a loud clunk outside their door. Had a tree branch fallen? Or maybe the wind and rain had knocked over her planter pot by the door?
Charlie had jumped off Sean’s lap and was on the back of the couch hissing and growling softly. She walked over to the living room window and looked out. The rain was coming down in sheets and it was hard to see anything. The trees swayed back and forth in the spring storm and she could just barely see some limbs down on the ground. It looked like it would go on all night.
“It’s okay, Charlie. It’s just a storm. Don’t be scared.” Susie Q was wide awake too and looking in the direction of the door. “You too Susie. It’s okay.” Ashley walked over to soothe them and noticed Sean stirring.
“Hey, wake up. Time for dinner.” She gave him a kiss on his head.
He reached up for a hug and roused himself to an upright position. “Hungry,” he mumbled.
“Dinnertime,” Ashley said. She padded back into the kitchen and served up dinner for them on trays and brought them back into the living room. They mostly ate in silence and Sean mumbled “good” while cleaning his plate.
Charlie stared at them both as if to say, “Throw your amazing cats a tidbit here won’t you?” Susie mimicked Charlie’s pitiful look and they both managed to get a few scraps.
“I read you’re not supposed to give your pets scraps from the table,” Sean said.
Ashley smiled. “T
hat’s right, but we’re technically not at the table.”
Sean got up to take his tray to the kitchen, then headed for the bedroom. “I’m going to make it an early night, Ash. I have a huge pastry catering order tomorrow and have to review the checklist before I sleep. But I’d love to snuggle up in bed while I go over everything.”
“Sounds good to me. I have to go over a few menus too. I’ll clean up and get ready.”
As she started into the kitchen, she yelled out, “Check outside the door, would you? Something fell, I think it was that pot on the stand I put by the door.”
She bent over to load the dishwasher and heard Sean open the door.
He let out a shout. “Ash, come here, now!”
She ran to the door and saw a soaking manila envelope attached to a large rock. Sean started to reach for it.
“Don’t touch it!” Ashley yelled. “Let’s give it to the police!”
Sean stared at her.
“Shut the door!” she yelled again.
He slammed it shut and they bolted the locks.
Ashley called Detective Nate Thompson at the Comfortville Police Department. Her call went to voicemail. She left him a message and told him to call back as soon as possible.
Sean paced the apartment, checking the back door locks and making sure all the windows were shut.
“Ash! We should call 9-1-1 while were waiting for Thompson!”
“Yes, absolutely,” she said. “You talk to them. I’ll talk to Thompson.”
After Sean got off the phone, they waited for the police to show up. The wind had picked up speed and the rain crashed against the windows and doors. The police arrived quickly, got statements from both of them, and took the envelope.
“Detective Thompson should be in touch with you soon about this,” one policeman said. “Keep your windows and doors locked and call us if you hear anything else.”
“Will do, Officer. But can we have a car here tonight? Don’t know what or who is out there,” Ashley said.
“Sure,” the officer said. “I’ll let Thompson know. I’m sure he will approve. Night.”
“Thank you. Good night,” she mumbled.
***
Five minutes after the police left, Sean got a text from Grant Trotter.
Hey, sorry for the delay in getting back. Lots of rehearsals. Great to hear from you! Heard you had a bakery now, and as you know, I’m acting. A long way from thinking I’d be a famous soccer player! Give me a call tomorrow and let’s catch up. Night.
They both stared at the text.
“Guy’s up late,” Sean mumbled.
“And he didn’t mention anything about the murder up there,” Ashley said.
“Well, neither did I when I texted him,” Sean said. “Thought I should say how are you doing first.”
“Still…” Ashley’s voice trailed off. She was staring around the room.
“Let’s get ready for bed and try and get some shut eye,” he said.
Ashley had a hard time getting to sleep. She wondered what was in the envelope that was tossed at their door. And why it even involved them in the first place. It would be a long night.
Chapter Seven
After leaving another message for Detective Thompson in the morning, Ashley headed to the kitchen to make some coffee. She found a note from Sean. It read:
Mrs. McDonnell,
Didn’t want to wake you after our fractured sleep from last night. Also don’t feel I should text you about all this right now. Good luck talking to Thompson. Stay safe. Everything will be okay. Will be home early.
Love,
Mr. McDonnell
Ashley smiled at the note. Even with the scary circumstances, Sean was trying to make her feel better. The same couldn’t be said for Detective Nate Thompson. When he called her, he was not happy.
“How did you get messed up in something that’s not even in your hometown? And right after you got married? Don’t you want some peace and quiet for a change Ashley?” Thompson said.
“Look, I didn’t even butt my nose in anything this time. I don’t know the poor guy who got murdered. Sean barely knows him and another actor from middle school soccer, but not much more than that. And I only casually know one of the actresses up there. But Detective Miller in Brewer wanted to talk to me to help them with the case even with our casual connections.”
“Okay, so trouble found you. Again. But now it’s more serious than you just talking to them because you got a warning pitched on your doorstep last night. Which means whoever is involved in this case in Brewer knows where you live.”
“I know,” Ashley said. “And this time I’m scared.”
“You mean you haven’t been scared before? That’s not possible,” Thompson said.
“I mean I have more to lose now. I feel even more protective of my life with Sean in it.”
Thompson sighed. “Look Ashley, we started out with you annoying me by interfering with my cases. But you helped me solve them. And now we’ve become friends. I would hate to think of anything happening to you. Or Sean. Or your family or friends. I was just dancing at your wedding a short time ago!” He paused on the line and then pleaded with her.
“Can you please just talk to that detective in Brewer over the phone and then stop getting in involved after that?”
“But we were supposed to go up and see the plays and meet up with Harley—”
“Just drop it. Listen to me.”
“But—” Ashley started to say.
“We’ve got the envelope from last night, and the rock, and we’re testing for fingerprints. We’ll see what comes out of it.”
“What did it say in the envelope?” Ashley asked.
“Heed this! Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself—Henry VIII.”
“Is that all it said?” she asked.
“Isn’t that enough?” Thompson replied. “Sounds like a clear warning to me.”
Ashley got quiet. How would a stranger know about her affiliation for Shakespeare?
“Ashley? Ashley!” Thompson shouted into the phone. “I have to go. Lots on deck. I will get back to you as soon as I have more.”
“Okay,” Ashley mumbled.
She sat down in her living room, anxiously checking the locks on the front door first. She knew the cop car was outside, but that still didn’t totally calm her nerves. Where was her resolve? Was she capable of even helping Harley in this dangerous situation? She put her head back on the couch and rubbed both sides of the temples to alleviate the tension. It had drastically warmed up today after the rainstorm last night, and the trees and streets had been washed clean. The sun dappled across the living room. She normally would have the windows open to let in the soft breezes, but she didn’t feel safe enough for that now.
A loud knock was then heard at the back door. Ashley froze. A few seconds later, there was another knock.
Ashley jumped up off the couch and yelled. “Who is it?”
No one answered. Ashley then heard the sound of footsteps walking away from the door. That was followed by silence. She tiptoed to the back door and looked out through the little window. Nothing.
Maybe it had been the cop? she thought. But why wouldn’t he have walked to the front door?
She glanced outside the living room window and saw the officer sitting in his car. She walked hurriedly into the bathroom.
As Ashley looked at her reflection in the mirror, the woman staring back at her looked old. Anxious. Terrified. And not at all like the Ashley she knew. How did she go from a beautiful happy bride to this haggard person so quickly?
Her cell rang. She glanced at the screen. It was Harley’s number again. She stared at it as it rang three more times. Ashley then clicked ‘answer’ on the last ring. She didn’t say a word, and tried not to breathe in case it was the man’s voice on the other end again.
“Ashley,” Harley said. She was crying softly and sounded desperate. “Can you hear me? Ashley, please listen to the
warnings. Don’t come up here or I’ll be in danger.”
That was followed by a click.
***
What was going on? Just as she was about to call Thompson, her cell rang again. It was Detective Miller up in Brewer. As soon as she answered, he asked her again how soon she would be up. She breathlessly told him what had just happened with Harley’s call.
There was a long pause, then Miller spoke. His voice sounded tight, as if he was as frightened as she was.
“Please tell me everything you know about Harley Dickson. How long you’ve known her, and her last words to you on the phone both times.”
Ashley relayed how the calls went, and explained again that she wasn’t a super close friend of Harley’s.
“I’ve gathered that,” Miller said. “But she keeps calling you. For some reason, she feels the need to reach out to you. We really need your help.”
Ashley sighed. “Could you contact any of her family?”
“When I called the contact number she had on her emergency form with the theater, a cousin answered and said he hadn’t seen her in years, but he would try and pass on the information to her other cousins. He said he didn’t keep in touch with them either. He said her parents were deceased and that she had a brother, but he thought the brother was deceased too.”
“Wow, some family. No one knows much of anything about anybody,” Ashley said. “Poor Harley.”
Miller kept pressing her about a woman she only slightly knew. She wracked her brain trying to recall everything she could remember about Harley Dickson.
“I really can’t tell you much. She always kept to herself, even when we were young. She was on the outside of things, you know? We barely saw each other after middle school soccer. And as soon as high school ended, I heard she took off to the east coast and tried acting in some of the big cities,” Ashley said.
“Seems like that was the year her parents passed away. Maybe that prompted her leaving,” Miller said.
Ashley Crane Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 64