by Kathi Daley
Parker suggested that we talk to the shopkeepers in the shops closest to the Christmas tree lot. While most of the shops didn’t open until nine or even ten, we supposed it was possible that someone had shown up early to clean or stock shelves.
“You said it was the Wednesday after Thanksgiving?” Cain Alderman verified after Parker and I had entered his boot and western wear shop and asked to speak to him about the day of the murder.
“That’s right,” I said. “It would have been somewhere between seven-thirty and eight-thirty. The van was white. It would have been parked in front of the large double-wide gate at the back of the Christmas tree lot where deliveries are made.”
The older gentleman rubbed his chin. “I do usually come in early to get things ready,” he informed us. “It’s been a spell, but it seems like I do remember seeing a van parked at the Christmas tree lot’s back gate. Not a passenger type van, but a delivery type van.”
“Did you recognize the van?”
He slowly shook his head. “I can’t say that I paid all that much attention to it, but I do think I’ve seen a van like that around town. If I had to guess, it belongs to one of the businesses in the area.”
“Was there anything else about the van you remember?” Parker asked. “Anything that might distinguish it from every other white delivery van?”
He nodded slowly. “It looked like the driver might have suffered a flat tire that he hadn’t gotten around to getting fixed.”
“Flat tire?” I asked.
“I noticed that one of the wheels was black, and the others were chrome.”
Parker smiled. “Thanks, Cain. That helps.” She looked at me. “Now, all we need to do is see if we can find a tire shop in the area that remembers repairing a tire on a white van the week after Thanksgiving.”
“That might not be as easy as it sounds if whoever drove the van was from out of the area, but I do agree that if the person who arrived in the van is our killer, then they are more likely than not local.”
Chapter 12
Unfortunately, no one from the diner remembered seeing the van. As Peg and her crew discussed their regulars, they realized there were one or two locals who came in around that time most days of the week, and they promised to ask them. Peg’s crew also promised to let us know if they ran into anyone who might have seen something.
As for the tire and black wheel, there were two tire shops in Gooseberry Bay, but neither had a record of making a repair to a tire for a white delivery van on the Wednesday in question or during the previous few days or week after. Of course, the driver might have been from out of the area, or he or she could have decided to take care of the tire repair at a shop outside of town. We supposed it was even possible that the van was part of a fleet and that the repair had been made in-house. At this point, all we could really do with that clue was keep it tucked away in the back of our minds.
After we left Peg’s, Parker had to get back to work to file a story she’d been working on, and I wanted to get home to check on the dogs. When I arrived at the cottage, I found that I had a text from Coop, asking me to come by his cottage when I returned. I decided to grab the dogs and head over. When I arrived, I found him sitting at the dining table with Jackson.
“Hey, guys,” I said after I entered the cottage.
“Did you find out anything about the van?” Jackson asked.
“Not really.” I shared what I did know.
“If the van had a flat and the temporary wheel was being used, maybe the driver called a tow truck,” Coop suggested.
“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to check with tow services,” I said.
“I’ll make some calls,” Jackson offered. “I know most of the guys in the area who offer a tow or roadside assistance service. I know you said we should keep the fact that we were investigating the van to ourselves, but that’s going to be hard to do and get the information we need.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I ran into Parker and filled her in, and we spoke to a lot of folks in town, so the word is out that we’re looking for a white delivery van. I’d hoped we’d identify the van right away, so we could maintain the element of surprise, but it doesn’t look like things are going to work out that way.”
“What about the traffic cams on the bridge?” Coop asked. “If the van was from out of the area, they would have had to cross the bridge. We have an approximate timeline.”
“Good idea,” I said. “I’ll see if I can talk someone into letting me get a peek at the tapes.”
“Take Josie with you,” Jackson suggested. “She can talk anyone into anything.”
“Good idea. Or better yet, maybe Jemma can hack into the system, and we can get the information we need that way. I’m having dinner with them this evening, so I’ll ask them about it.”
“Jackson and I are going to meet up with some friends in town,” Coop informed me. “If you find anything, text us. We’ll come over right away if we need to.”
After discussing the traffic cams with Jemma and Josie, we decided the easiest way to get the information we needed was to ask for it. I contacted the highway patrol and explained that I was a private investigator who’d been hired to track down a specific vehicle that may have accessed the area via the bridge on the morning of November twenty-seventh. I described the van and provided a timeline. The man I spoke to was hesitant to provide the information, but after a bit of discussion, he agreed to take a look at the tape and call me back. He called an hour later to let me know that there hadn’t been a white delivery van or a white van of any style for that matter crossing the bridge during the timeline I provided or on either side of the timeline by an hour. I thanked him and hung up.
“So that means the van was already in the area,” Jemma said.
“The van must belong to a local,” Josie agreed.
“The guy from the boot and western wear shop said he thought he’d seen it around,” I agreed.
“Okay, so who might have a van like that?” Jemma asked. “Maybe a florist?”
“Or the hardware store or lumberyard,” Josie added.
“The guy who owns the lumberyard was at the Christmas tree lot the day Bradford died. He came in after we found the body, but I remember he was one of the men standing around talking about who might have offed the guy.”
“I know Trace,” Josie said. “I sort of doubt it was him. He’s a really nice guy. A regular at the Rambling Rose.”
“The local nursery makes deliveries, although I doubt they are making deliveries at this time of the year. In fact, I think they’re closed for the season,” Jemma added.
“Of course, that doesn’t mean the owner might not still use the van for personal reasons during the offseason,” I pointed out.
Josie and Jemma agreed that the woman who owned the nursery might very well use the van for personal reasons when the nursery was closed, but they both also agreed that she didn’t seem like the sort to kill a person.
“The big Christmas celebration on the boardwalk would have been really ramping up that weekend,” Josie pointed out. “There are a ton of vendors with carts and booths who must secure their inventory at night. Maybe the van belonged to one of the merchants with a temporary storefront.”
“That’s a good suggestion,” Jemma agreed. “I guess we can go down to the boardwalk tomorrow. We can look for a white delivery van and talk to some of the vendors about it. I know that many of the carts and booths, not just the inventory, are moved on and off the boardwalk each weekend during the offseason, and it would definitely take a van or a truck to accomplish that.”
“Are you both off tomorrow?” I asked.
Both friends assured me that they were, so we made plans to head down to the boardwalk after breakfast. Normally, they did brunch on Sundays, but several members of the group weren’t available this week, so they’d already decided to cancel.
By the time the dogs and I returned to the cottage that evening, it had started to snow again. This time, the snow was
coming down harder, and I was willing to bet we’d end up with more than a dusting. I tossed a log on the fire, turned the tree and mantel lights on, and then turned on an old Christmas movie. It was so peaceful and cozy in my little cottage, watching it snow outside the large picture window while feeling safe and warm inside. I loved having this little space for the dogs and me almost as much as I loved spending time with my new friends in a group setting.
The movie that was playing in the background was one I’d seen many times, so I decided to log into my email during the commercial break. Most of the emails I’d received since I’d checked this morning were junk, but there was an email from someone claiming to have known my dad and asking about paperwork relating to one of his first cases after opening the detective agency. Dad did have some files that I’d stored along with a few pieces of furniture, keepsakes, and personal possessions that I wanted to take with me to wherever my new home might be. I hadn’t brought any of those items with me for my cross-country trip, so I simply emailed the man back, letting him know that I’d stored all the old files before heading out of town for the winter. I suggested that if he wanted to provide me with additional information, I’d be willing to check the computer files that had been on Dad’s hard drive, and I’d since uploaded to the cloud. I also asked him to answer some questions, typed out the questions, and hit send. I really wasn’t sure if I’d ever hear from the guy again, but if he did respond, I supposed I’d look into things even though the case he referenced came before I’d left New York and moved home to help Dad.
Thinking about the detective agency and the cases we’d taken on together got me to wondering if I’d ever want to continue working as a private investigator on my own. Part of me figured that the only reason I’d gone into that particular line of work in the first place was to help Dad, but after getting involved in so many mysteries since arriving in Gooseberry Bay, I realized that I actually did have a knack for that sort of thing. Not that I’d ever be as good a detective as my dad had been, but I did have some skills that I’d picked up along the way, and it might be an option for me in the future. I wondered if Gooseberry Bay already had a licensed private investigator. It might be a question worth looking into. I really did love it here, and the longer I stayed, the more certain I became that I might actually want to settle down and make a life here once I solved the mystery I’d come here to solve.
After I logged out of my email, I pulled up my photos. The photo I’d accessed the most often since my father’s death was of the two of us on the beach in Florida. I guess I’d been around ten and was off school for the summer. My dad had three weeks of vacation time he needed to take, so he rented a house right on the beach near Jacksonville. That summer had been one of the best of my life. My dad had been relaxed and totally present with me, which were two things that never occurred when we were at home, and he was in the middle of a case. We’d rented a boat and spent several days exploring the islands up and down the coast. We’d played on the beach, swam in the ocean, hiked the local trails, ate a ton of fresh seafood, and generally just had a wonderful time.
Probably my second favorite photo of my dad was one my friend, Nancy, snapped as he tried to help me pin up my hair for my first high school dance. Nancy had come over to help with my hair, but despite her best efforts, it kept falling down, so my macho cop dad decided to try his hand at the intricate up-do, and darn if he didn’t actually get my thick hair to stay where he wanted it. The photo Nancy snapped showed my dad hard at work. The look of complete concentration on his face as he worked was priceless.
After a while, I moved to Kai and Kallie’s puppy photos. Gosh, they were cute. My dad hadn’t wanted to adopt both puppies in the beginning, claiming that one giant dog was enough, but Kai and Kallie were the only two puppies in their litter, and it seemed a shame to separate them. It had taken several days of almost constant persuasion to get Dad to agree to adopt them both, but once we got them home and Dad bonded with the little cuties, he admitted that we’d made the right choice.
As I continued to thumb through the photos, I felt the old familiar pain in my soul that seemed to come and go since my father’s death like a gentle breeze through an open window. I’d loved the man who’d raised me, even if he hadn’t been entirely honest with me from the beginning. I guessed there was a part of me that really needed to know why he’d lied about certain aspects of our origin story, but there was also a part of me that really didn’t care. I knew that he loved me, and I knew that both our lives had been enriched by the presence of the other.
Getting up from the sofa, I crossed to the bedroom and fished the photo that had brought me to Gooseberry Bay out of the bedside table. I carried it back into the living room and stared at it. It really was odd that I would have been here in Washington at the house on Piney Point with my sister when our parents hadn’t seemed to have been in the picture. Were they dead? Was that the reason I’d been with the blond-haired woman who I felt more and more had most likely been an aunt? And, if they had been dead at the time of our visit, why had Marilee brought us here? And an even bigger question in my mind was if she had been the one who brought us to Piney Point, why had she left us with Winnie rather than staying?
So many questions. So many unanswered questions. I supposed that of all the questions left unresolved at this point, the one that caused me the greatest amount of grief the past couple of weeks was the question of the eventual fate of my sister, Avery. I had no idea what had become of her or if she was still alive, but I was resolved to find the answer to that question no matter how long it took or who I had to track down in order to get the rest of the story.
Chapter 13
The snow had slowed to a flurry by the following morning, but the snow we’d received overnight caused the landscape to appear as if it had been topped with a layer of whipped cream. Josie had wanted to try out a new diner that had just opened on the tourist strip across the street from the boardwalk, so I joined the roommates at their cottage, and then we headed in that direction. As we drove through town toward the public parking area, I noticed that the various vendors who set up along the boardwalk had shown up with shovels to clear the walkway before setting up shop for the weekend.
“I’ve heard from several of the regulars who come into the Rambling Rose that the special here is a crab omelet with a spicy hollandaise sauce and fresh sliced avocado,” Josie said. “I’ve heard all the food is good, but I love crab, so I’m going to try that.”
“I think I’m going to try the chorizo benedict,” Jemma said.
I glanced at the menu. I wasn’t sure I wanted anything spicy or greasy, so I decided on the bananas foster waffle with a side of fresh fruit.
“I just love this time of year,” Josie said as she stared out the window at the vendors who were setting up across the street.
“When I was here the other day, a vendor was selling adorable handmade Christmas stockings,” I said. “I thought about getting a couple for my mantel to use as decorations, but I didn’t pick any out. If that same vendor is here today, I think I’m going to have a couple made for Kai and Kallie.”
Josie looked at Jemma. “We should have stockings made for Stefan and Damon.”
“We should,” Jemma agreed. She looked at me. “Josie and I will both be home this Christmas. If you aren’t doing anything, you and the dogs should come over on Christmas morning. We can make breakfast and watch Christmas movies.”
“I’d like that,” I said. “But aren’t you planning to spend time with your family?”
Jemma frowned. “No. Apparently, my dad and his new girlfriend are going on a cruise over Christmas.”
“A cruise? Really?”
She nodded. “I’m beginning to think that Jackie is right, and Dad really has lost his mind. We always spend the holiday together. It will be so different this year.”
“Maybe you should still go and visit with Jackie,” I suggested.
“No. She’s really upset about the whole thing. I
guess after she heard about the cruise, she made plans to spend the holiday with her college roommate who lives in Hawaii. She normally loves a family holiday, but she said that with everything that’s going on, she really isn’t into it this year.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sure this is hard on you.”
Jemma shrugged. “I guess change is part of life, and I am looking forward to spending the holiday here in Gooseberry Bay.”
“Will everyone be around?” I asked.
“No, not everyone,” Josie answered. “Tegan and Booker are going to visit Tegan’s sister, but I think Coop plans to come over for dinner, so you should just plan to come over early and spend the whole day.”
“I guess we should check with Parker and see what she’s planning,” Jemma said. “She went to visit her brother last year, but she might be around this year.”
“It’s really nice the way the two of you watch out for everyone,” I said. “I’ve noticed that you always make sure that anyone who needs a place to go has one.”
Josie shrugged. “We love having our friends over. When Bucky first agreed to rent us the cottage, we talked about how lucky we were to have found such a large space, and we pretty much decided then and there that our place would be the hangout for everyone we cared about.”