by Nick Bishop
It was close enough to seven, he thought, and raised his hand to knock just as the door opened.
“I was sure I heard you on the landing. Come on in.” Laura motioned them inside and closed the door.
“Once more we apologize for intruding.”
“Nonsense,” Laura said. “Wanting to find Joe’s killer supersedes everything else. And like last time, I’m glad for the company. You know, when someone dies, neighbors, relatives, and friends are there all day long. But then they aren’t. And you’re all alone. I don’t know which is worse, having to deal with your grief with everyone around, or having to deal with your grief and loneliness when there’s no one there at all.”
“I’m sure it’s hard,” Ellie said. “My husband died in his forties of a heart attack. And it was the very same for me. I empathize, Laura. And I mean very sincerely what I’m going to say. When it gets to be too much…when you can’t stand the thought of another evening alone, please call me. Please. I’ll be glad to visit, or we can go somewhere for coffee or whatever you like. And again, that’s not an idle promise.
“Thank you.” Laura led the way to the living room. “Please sit down. I’ll be glad to help in any way I can.”
“Have you thought of any clues or possibilities?”
“Maybe.” She glanced from one to the other. “A few days before… A few days before Joe died, he told me one of his bows was missing. He had a lot of different ones. He went to Mom and Dad’s house to do target practice, and only when he got home did he find it was missing. He didn’t use it that day for target practice, he said, but thought he left it in the car.
“I thought at first it might be at my parents’ house. I called, and Mom said she hadn’t seen it. Later, she had Dad call and say he hadn’t seen it either.”
“So someone must have stolen it,” Ted said.
“I wonder if that was the bow…” Ellie’s voice trailed off. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It could have been,” Laura said. “We’ll probably never know.”
“Any thoughts of who might have taken it,” Ellie said, “if indeed it was stolen?”
“I have no idea. We’re so used to not locking the car, particularly in Sweet River. Anyone could have reached in and taken it while Joe was practicing his archery and Mom was inside or repotting her plants. She did tell me that someone who works for Dad—she didn’t know his name—brought a big sack of potting soil, but that he walked there. She remembers because it was hot and so she offered the man an iced tea. She watched him leave, she said, so she knows he didn’t steal Joe’s bow.
“Mom said she’d have Dad call later to tell me if he knew what happened to the bow. He told me he had no idea. He thought maybe Joe just misplaced it. But that just wouldn’t happen since he always was very careful about his equipment.”
“So it seems that if we find the missing bow, maybe we’ll find the person who’s guilty,” Ellie said.
“But how will we know it’s Joe’s bow?”
“Thank goodness, Joe was always worried about losing his bows, so those he used for regular target practice had his name on them.”
“How is that possible?” Jed asked. “I thought bows were made of fiberglass.”
“The riser isn’t,” Laura said. “That’s the part in the middle, the part that doesn’t bend. It’s made of metal, usually aluminum. Jed always etched his name on the risers so there would never be a question of who owned the bows.”
“So,” Jed said, “that means if the bow was Joe’s, it’s easily identifiable.”
“I suppose even if someone tried to sand off the name,” Ellie said, “you’d be able to tell.”
“I’d think that certainly would be noticeable,” Laura said.
“Maybe we are making a little progress. The thing is, the bow seems to have been stolen at your parents’ house. Who would be able to get to it there?”
“Oh, my God!” Laura said.
“What is it?” Ellie asked.
“You don’t suppose my father—”
“Oh, Laura,” Ellie said. “I can’t believe he would do it. We know he was upset with Joe because of his background and his refusal to work at Briner House, but I’m sure he wouldn’t do anything like this.”
“The argument Joe and I had two days before he died was because I was angry with my dad for pushing so hard to try to get me to make Joe stop teaching. I was very angry with my dad for his refusal to drop it, and I took it out on Joe. So I just don’t know. I hate to think he’s a murderer, but Joe was sure the last time he saw the bow was when he left it in the car at Mom and Dad’s house.”
“We’ve just got to get this straightened out,” Ellie said. “I don’t think it would be that difficult to figure out who could have stolen the bow—if indeed Joe had it at your parents’ house. Just ask your mom who was there that day. There certainly couldn’t have been many people.”
“I suppose not, and Mom would probably have noticed anyone’s tracks.”
“What do you mean?” Jed asked.
“Mom loves to garden and to grow flowers in pots. That day she spent much of the morning outside repotting a lot of her plants. And truth be told, though Mom has a true green thumb, she’s very messy when it comes to her plants. There’s usually more potting soil in front of the house and in the driveway and everywhere else nearby so that you can always see tracks of someone who was there.”
“Laura, there’s something I should tell you,” Jed said.
Ellie gave him a puzzled look.
“When I met with my police detective friend, he said that a vehicle of some sort pulled in beside Joe’s car when he was murdered. Whoever it was drove over high grass, so there were no actual tracks, but there was a lot of residue from the tires or buggy wheels. And the residue was potting soil.”
Laura began to sob uncontrollably and had trouble getting out her words. “Then,” she said, “doesn’t that prove… prove… that my father killed him? My own father killed Joe?”
“No, Laura, it doesn’t,” Jed said. “It could have been anyone who drove up to the house…or to any other place where someone had been repotting flowers.”
“I don’t know what to think. I just don’t know what to think.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jed debated with himself about calling Sam and telling him what had happened. But then he decided to wait. He and Ellie would drop in after school the next day and confront the man. Only then would he talk to Sam. Maybe he was making a mistake, but even though he didn’t like Briner, he didn’t want to make trouble for him if he was innocent.
At any rate Jed and Ellie would visit Briner after school.
Throughout the day Jed kept doubting himself about his decision not to talk with Sam before seeing Briner. If indeed Harry Briner were guilty, it could be dangerous to visit him. Jed and Ellie decided it would be best to drop in with no warning. That way, if he were guilty, he wouldn’t have any inkling that they were going to confront him.
Finally, the school day ended.
Ellie came by Jed’s room.
“Are you sure about this?” Jed asked.
“What can he do? There are two of us.”
“It could be dangerous.”
“You’re right. I don’t mean to downplay the situation. But we have to hope the element of surprise will work to our benefit.”
They’d decided to take Jed’s car, and leave Ellie’s in the parking lot.
Jed felt tense, his entire body prepared for a “fight or flight encounter.” Actually, he hoped it would be neither. Though things looked bad for Harry Briner, Jed hoped he hadn’t been the one who killed his son-in-law.”
Jed parked in front of Briner House, with the gift shop in front, and the processing equipment for making cheese in a building in the back.”
“Ready, Ellie?” he asked as he turned off the motor.
“Don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for this, but I don’t think we have a choice but to confr
ont Mr. Briner,” Ellie said.
“Maybe I should have told Sam about this.”
“No negative thoughts, Jed. We didn’t tell him, and that was our decision. We have to accept it.”
Jed took a deep breath to try to calm his nerves. “Okay, onward and upward.”
“Onward yes. Not sure about the upward.”
Even though Ellie’s comment wasn’t funny, Jed burst out laughing. Get a grip on yourself, Jed thought, you’ve been in lots of tough situations before this. Times you feared for your life. He glanced at Ellie. “Okay, here we go.” The pair of them climbed the four steps to the front porch and went on inside.
Harry was in the gift shop explaining something to one of the employees. He looked up, his face filled with surprise. “Well, well, well,” he said, “if it isn’t the dynamic duo. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“If you don’t mind,” Jed said. “We’d like to speak with you again.”
“I thought we went over everything last time.”
“Some things have come up—a missing bow, for instance.”
“Yes, my wife told me Laura had called about it. I haven’t seen it—” He stopped suddenly and looked Jed in the eye. “You think maybe that’s the bow that was used to kill Joe?”
“It at least bears looking into,” Jed answered.
“I don’t know why, but that didn’t occur to me.”
“If we can trace the bow,” Ellie said, “we have a good chance of finding the murderer.”
“You don’t have any idea who might have taken it?” Ellie asked.
“If,” Briner answered, “it was, in fact, stolen.”
“Yes, there is that. The evidence is at best circumstantial,” Jed said. “Though according to your daughter, Joe was very careful about his equipment. So it’s not likely he would have misplaced it.”
“Indeed, he was very particular when it came to his archery equipment. Almost compulsive, I’d say,” Briner answered.
“So you have no thoughts on what might have happened to the bow?”
Briner hesitated for a moment. “No, not really.”
“Not to sound accusatory,” Jed said, “but your actions seem to imply you might have an idea.”
“No, no. It’s just an idle thought. I’m sure I’m wrong, and I don’t want to target anyone.”
“Someone advised me, Mr. Briner,” Jed said, “that you may know something you haven’t revealed to us about the situation.”
“Now who the hell would do that! And why don’t they just mind their own business?”
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Jed said. “And I’m sorry it’s a matter of confidentiality. I can’t tell you who suggested we talk with you again.”
“Still the reporter, I see. Not the teacher as you pretend to be.”
“That’s neither here nor there.” Jed hesitated about continuing. But he felt he had little choice. “There has even been speculation that you’re the one who killed Joe.”
Briner’s face turned bright red. “Now who in the hell would accuse me of something like that?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
“Not at liberty to say! Now that’s the kind of answer that makes my blood boil.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You come in here accusing me of killing my own son-in-law, and all you can say is that you’re sorry. I think I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“You made it very clear that you didn’t particularly care for Joe,” Ellie said.
“I did no such thing. I told you I was opposed to the marriage because of the difference in background. That’s all.”
“What about the fact that you kept pressuring Joe into working for you at Briner House?”
“So what!? I had his best interests at heart. His and my daughter’s. You certainly can’t condemn me for that.”
“Mr. Briner… Harry,” Ellie said. “No one’s condemning you for anything. We’re just trying to get to the truth.”
“By twisting facts perhaps?”
“That’s not the case at all,” Jed said. “Far from it. You mentioned that you know my work as a reporter. Did you ever catch me in any lie in the stories I covered?”
“What has that to do with anything?”
“I never stretched the truth nor twisted facts in any piece of writing I did as a journalist. Why would you think I’d do that now?”
Harry sighed. “I don’t believe it, and I apologize. I was on the defensive. I want to find out even more than you do who murdered my son-in-law…with what now could very easily be one of his own bows! All right, I had my problems with Laura and Joe’s relationship. I admit it. But I’d never wished Joe harm. My God, he was my daughter’s husband, and she’s absolutely devastated by Joe’s death. In fact, she called my wife yesterday to say she saw no reason for living. I can’t put myself in her place. I can’t imagine losing my wife like she lost Joe. But I’d be devastated too.” He paused. “When a man gets to be a certain age, thoughts of death and dying enter his mind. I don’t mean to say I obsess about dying. I don’t. But I’ve thought that if Helen were to die, I honestly don’t know if I’d want to go on by myself.” He glanced at Jed. “I would never wish that sort of thing on anyone. I would give the world to have Joe back. It’s a terrible thing to witness Laura’s grief and misery. But yet, you think I might be the person who murdered her husband.”
“Yes, Mr. Briner,” Jed said. “You are on our list of suspects. But so are others.”
“But why me?”
“Mr. Briner,” Ellie said. “Try to be objective about it. I’m by no means saying you murdered Joe, but you certainly had a motive or motives. You went on at length about how mismatched he and your daughter were. You also were not at all happy that Joe wouldn’t leave teaching to work for you. You wanted more for your daughter. You even undermined the relationship by giving Laura sums of money.”
“But I never wanted—”
“We’re not accusing you,” Jed said. “Ellie just asked you to consider why we might have you on the list of suspects.” He sighed. “Also, the person who suggested we talk with you said—”
“Please ask yourself why someone may have said that,” Ellie told him. “Do you know anything you haven’t told us? Do you suspect anyone of murdering Joe? Are there any clues or possible clues as to what happened? Do you know of anyone who had the opportunity to steal Joe’s bow?”
“I’ve gone over this and over it and over it. There’s no one.”
“They why do you suppose someone suggested it would be a good idea for Ellie and me to talk with you again.”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Suddenly, his face turned white.
“What is it?” Jed asked.
“I sent someone to the house with more potting soil for my wife. Growing plants and flowers is a passion with her. She called me and asked if anyone could bring her more potting soil. She’d underestimated the amount she’d need to repot some of her flowers. She does that every fall for the ones that are winter bloomers. We have a lot of them. She didn’t want to leave that for the next day since she’d already taken a few of them out of their old pots in preparation for replanting.
“It was a slow time, and a few of my employees were doing little but passing the time of day. I asked if one of them would mind dropping off some potting soil at my house. There was some in a shed out back from when Helen planted the flowers you see in the pots around the front of the gift shop.”
“Who was it?” Jed asked. “Who took the soil to your house?”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know.”
“I don’t understand,” Jed said. “How can you not know?”
“I didn’t wait to see. A new shipment of items had just come in from Switzerland, and I went to the gift shop to price them.”
“Surely, you could find out who went to your house?” Ellie said.
“I’ll ask tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Jed asked. “Why wait
?”
“Work has ended for the day. The cheesemaking part, at any rate. We start early and end early.”
“Why not call?”
“And alert the person?” Harry said. “I don’t think so. If I do that, the person, whichever one it is, will know something’s up. And he’ll figure out that we suspect him of stealing the bow. Wouldn’t it be better not to give the man any warning?” Harry asked.
“Just when are you planning on confronting the employees?”
“When they first come in, I suppose.”
“No,” Jed said, “that’s not a good idea.”
“What do you mean?” Harry asked.
“Let me talk to Sam Branson, a detective with the Dover police, and tell him what’s about to happen.”
“How’s that going to help?” Briner asked.
“You have no idea how your man is going to react.”
“I’ve always trusted them. Most have been with me for years.”
“Harry,” Ellie said, “you may think you know them. But one of them is probably Joe’s killer. Are you sure you want to confront that person without protection?”
“I suppose you have a point.”
“Please wait until I talk with Sam. Okay?”
Briner sighed deeply. “All right. I’ll do as you ask. Now, please tell me who told you I might have more information than what I gave you the last time you were here.”
“I promise I’ll talk to the person and ask if it’s okay to tell you who he is.”
“No! Wait a minute. I’m sure I know. It’s Don Staunton, isn’t it?”
Jed didn’t answer. Neither did Ellie.
“I can see in your faces that I’m right. And I can see why he wanted you to talk to me again.” Briner shook his head. “Don and I go back a long way. He’s the one who set up the computer programs for Briner House.”