by R A Wallace
They were interrupted by Jessilyn who came out after finishing the dinner dishes. She walked to the section of the yard where Seth and Evan were standing. She was wearing khaki shorts and a navy tank top, her blonde hair pulled back in a tail. “Well, what did we decide?”
Seth took another look around the yard. It wasn’t large, but it was a nice size. What Seth didn’t like about it was the emptiness. It was just a yard. There was no deck on the back of the house with a man-sized grill. No swing set for Evan. No shade tree. Nothing. It didn’t even have flowers. He knew he couldn’t fix all of the problems in one day, but he could definitely get a tree planted today. He’d brought one with him.
“We think this is a good spot,” Seth said. “It’ll shade the deck in the afternoon sun.”
Jessilyn’s eyes opened wide as she looked back toward the house. The deck? What deck? Then she looked back toward Seth at his retreating back. He was now walking over to where he’d set his shovel and the young tree. “Deck?”
Seth picked up the shovel and turned to walk back. “House needs a deck.”
Jessilyn had wished for a deck but hadn’t wanted to spend the money it would cost for the installation.
“Are we getting a deck, Mom?” Evan asked. There was excitement in his voice at the thought of getting something new.
Jessilyn looked down at the eager face of her son. “Maybe someday, sweetie. I have to save up some money to have it installed.”
Seth watched Evan’s hopeful face fall, then he turned back to Jessilyn. “I was thinking Evan and I could work on one together.”
Evan started bouncing up and down. “Yeah! We can build the best deck ever.”
Before Jessilyn could respond, Seth said, “We do need a place to put the grill.”
Jessilyn looked back at the house. She really would love a deck. But she needed to speak to Seth privately about his plans and the reality of her money situation. She didn’t want any broken promises to crush Evan’s hopes.
Seth sunk the shovel into the ground and the first layer with the grass intact was moved away from the dig site carefully.
“What is that for?” Evan asked.
“We’ll use some of that and put it back where it was once we have the tree planted. It will help keep the dirt underneath near the new roots moist. We’re also going to add some mulch around the new tree.” Seth kept digging and a mound of dirt quickly built up next to the new hole.
“How big does the hole need to be?” Evan asked.
“We want the roots on the new tree to have a lot of space,” Seth explained patiently.
Jessilyn left Seth and Evan and went back into the house. At the rate Seth was digging, it looked like they would be done planting the tree in no time. Jessilyn wanted a picture of Evan next to the tiny tree to document the event.
After the tree was planted and the pictures were taken, Seth said his helper should get his paycheck now and suggested an ice cream cone for Evan. Jessilyn thought it sounded like a great summertime Sunday evening event and agreed. It didn’t take long before they were at the Teaberry Dairy Isle sitting in the back of Seth’s truck with ice cream. Jessilyn had warned Seth about letting small children have ice cream inside the truck. They sat on the tailgate with Seth and Jessilyn on the outer edges and Evan in the middle.
Evan turned around and looked at some of the landscaping tools in the back of Seth’s truck as he licked at the dripping cone in his hand. “What’s that for,” he asked, pointing a finger at a bin containing various hand tools that they used at some job sites.
Seth glanced over at Evan and grinned at the sticky mess he had turned into before following his pointing finger. “That’s my partner’s tools. He had to leave a job site early yesterday because of an emergency. Trina and I finished the job and I cleaned up after.”
Seth met Jessilyn’s look over Evan’s head. Of course, she had heard about the death of Phil Porter. As the town events coordinator, she worked closely with the town administration.
“How is Caitlyn doing, have you heard?” Jessilyn asked.
“Jax texted me that they were all okay. That’s all I know,” Seth said.
“I guess the man that found Phil before Caitlyn arrived, Ross McMann, is staying with Megan. Jax and Ross knew each other in Seattle,” Jessilyn said as she reached into her purse for wipes. Evan squirmed as she began mopping him up.
“Yeah, I guess Trina did mention yesterday about some friends of Jax being in the area. I guess she ran into one of them at a job site.”
Jax had been beside himself when he’d first heard that his sister had walked in on a murder victim and that the victim had been just on the other side of a wall from his sister. Seth watched as Evan suffered through his mother’s ministrations. He realized at that moment that he’d be beside himself if anything ever threatened Jessilyn or Evan.
Chapter Fifteen
Early Monday morning Megan was busy in the garden. She wanted to get some of the vegetables picked before she left for town and preferred to do it before the heat of the day anyway. Dan had already gone into work. Ross said he would be spending his day with Susan first picking up some things at the store before waiting for his furniture to be delivered in his new rental home. Ross was planning to stay at his new place tonight.
Parker said that he would be returning to Seattle and was packing up his things. He’d originally planned to stay only until Sunday, but with the death of Phil Porter and the controversy surrounding Ross’s role in the death, Parker had stayed an extra evening.
Megan carried another basket of produce towards the house. The sweet onions were ready. They were the size of giant soft balls. The peppers were coming in, both the hot ones and the sweet green ones. Megan would be spending her afternoon canning the hot peppers and freezing the green peppers.
As she entered her kitchen, she found Parker waiting for her. He must have seen her through the kitchen window. “Hello, are you all ready to go?” Megan asked politely. She hadn’t had a chance to spend much time with Parker. For some reason she found herself uncomfortable around him.
“You keep pretty fit with all the work you do on the farm, don’t you?” Parker asked.
Megan raised her eyebrows. “Exercise is good for you,” she said noncommittally.
“A princess like you shouldn’t be slaving away out here. Didn’t you ever want to live in a big city?” Parker asked.
Megan didn’t bother to pretend to consider his answer. “No.”
“Your friend Jax liked Seattle. Until he got into trouble that is. He couldn’t stop harassing the ladies. That’s when he tucked his tail and ran home.” Parker smiled when he said it.
Megan glanced at the clock on the wall. “I’m sure you’ll want to be on your way so that you don’t miss your flight.” She walked through the kitchen and down the hall to the front door. She found Parker’s bag near the door and sighed in relief. Then she opened the door and set his bag on the porch.
Parker took the hint. He stepped through the door and picked up his bag. “I just wanted to say goodbye before I left.”
“Goodbye,” Megan said as she closed the door firmly.
It didn’t take her long to clean up and be on her way into town. She wanted to speak to more people about the sale of the building to see if there were any clues that could tie to the death of Phil Porter. But first, she wanted to see Dan. Especially after her encounter with Parker. She ran into Trina on her way through the feed store as she looked for Dan.
“Hey, did your guests get off on their way okay?” Trina asked. She was dressed for work in jeans and a tank top.
“Yes, the last one just left.” Megan frowned as she thought of Parker.
“I think Dan is out back, behind the building. Is that Jax’s friend that you’re frowning about?” Trina asked.
“How did you guess?” Megan asked.
“I had the displeasure of meeting him myself. Quite the handful, wasn’t he?” Trina said as she fell into step with Megan.
Megan laughed. “That he was.”
“I couldn’t believe he called me princess. I was covered in sweat and filth at the time.” Trina laughed with Megan then pointed. “There’s Dan. I’ll see you later.”
Dan smiled when he saw Megan. “Did I forget something this morning?” He’d just left the farm not long ago.
“No, I just wanted to stop before I do anything else today.”
Dan narrowed his eyes at Megan. “Parker left okay, right?”
Megan nodded and made a face. “Yes, he’s gone.”
“You were happy to see him go?” Dan asked.
“I know he’s Jax and Ross’s friend, but yeah, definitely. I’m gonna go now. I was thinking about stopping at Phil Porter’s car lot and I want to try to visit with his ex-wife. I got a text that they’re going to announce the winning bid for the building this morning, so that’s one of my stops to take pictures and hopefully talk to some more people about Phil Porter’s death. I was thinking maybe I should speak with some of the other people who rent spaces in the building. I’m sure they’ll be there for the announcement. I expect to be home this afternoon, though. I need to process some of the produce from the garden.”
***
Bonnie Fossett dug in the back of her desk drawer making sure she hadn’t missed anything. She pulled out another half-empty box of staples. She was pretty sure she’d paid for it with her own money. Phil had never been one to worry about office supplies. Bonnie tossed the staples into the large brown box she was filling with her personal effects.
She’d been the manager of Porter’s Auto Sales for almost twenty years. Now in her forties, Bonnie wondered what the future was going to bring. She’d made Porter’s Auto Sales her life. Phil was usually out playing golf or something. He’d always said it was business networking. Bonnie knew better. He just preferred to let Bonnie handle everything, knowing that things would run more smoothly without him.
And Bonnie did run a tight ship. She’d been proud of the fact that sales had increased under her managerial helm. Publicly, Phil usually took the credit, of course. But privately, he sometimes told her that he knew she did a better job of running the place than he ever could. Bonnie was proud of that too. She wasn’t sure how much she was going to miss Phil. He’d been mostly an absentee owner. But she was sure going to miss the only job she’d ever had as an adult.
Bonnie was startled from her reverie by a tapping on her office door. She looked at the woman standing at her doorway. It took a moment to put the face with the name. She’d seen the younger woman at various events in town. “Megan, isn’t it? Can I help you?”
Megan stepped into the office. “If you have a minute.” She looked pointedly at the box on Bonnie’s desk. “I can tell that you are packing your belongings. I don’t want to intrude if you aren’t up to speaking with me. I know this must be a difficult time for you.”
Bonnie looked down at twenty years of accumulation. “Sure. It beats seeing that my pitiful life fits in a box. Have a seat.” Bonnie removed the box from her desk and set it on the floor so it didn’t obstruct her view of Megan. She may be out of a job, but that was no excuse for losing her manners.
Megan perched on the edge of a chair on the opposite side of Bonnie’s desk. “I was hoping you could talk to me about Phil.”
Bonnie studied Megan for a moment before answering. “Mind if I ask why you want to talk about Phil?”
Megan explained the situation with Ross and Susan’s request.
Bonnie’s demeanor relaxed. She sat back in her chair. “No, I honestly can’t think of any reason why anyone would kill Phil. This has to be so awkward for Susan. Phil had something of a crush on her, you know. From what I could tell, Susan never encouraged him. But, to be honest, I sometimes wondered if he kept the crush simply because it was easier.”
Megan frowned in confusion. “Easier?”
“As long as he knew Susan wasn’t going to say yes, he didn’t really have to do much. He’d ask her out every now and then. She’d tell him no. He’d go back to living life on his own with his golf buddies and whatnot. He never had to really work at anything. He didn’t work at winning Susan. He didn’t work at finding another romantic partner that did want to spend time with him.” Bonnie looked around her office, through the glass walls of her office into the showroom, and through the windows to the full car lot beyond. “Truth be told, he never worked much here either.”
“Really?” Megan looked around.
Everything she’d seen had the look of a thriving business. Megan turned back to Bonnie and noticed the name plate on her desk that she hadn’t yet thrown into the box.
Bonnie followed her gaze then picked up her name plate. It listed her title of manager below her name. She tossed it into the box on the floor. “He found it was easier to let me handle things.”
“What’s going to happen to the car lot now?” Megan asked.
Bonnie shrugged. “It goes to his ex-wife. Phil never bothered to change his will. I’m sure Carla will sell it. What else would she do with it?”
Megan saw the dejected look on Bonnie’s face. “And you? What are your plans?”
Bonnie sighed, and her shoulders slumped. “I have no idea.”
***
Megan parked her truck in front of a large house. She’d known that Carla had remarried, but she’d had to call Barbara Reynolds to find out what her new name was. Megan rang the bell but didn’t wait long for an attractive woman in her early fifties to answer the door.
Megan explained briefly the reason for her visit. Carla almost looked relieved to have someone to talk to. She asked Megan in and offered her a drink. Megan declined, but took a seat in an attractively decorated room.
“I think I went to school with your mom. You look just like her when she was young,” Carla said as she took a seat.
“I was hoping to ask you some questions about Phil if you don’t mind,” Megan said.
“To be honest, it might be helpful to talk about it. I’m a little conflicted, you know? Phil and I divorced over twenty years ago. I just found out that he never changed his will. Now I’m going to be the owner of that car lot whether I want to be or not.” Carla shook her head. “That man. He never could get around to doing things. I can’t believe that car lot is even still in business. I hope someone wants to buy it. I know I can’t run it.”
“I was just there actually. It looks like it’s doing quite well. I think that has a lot to do with the manager though,” Megan said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Phil was never one to work a lot.” Carla drew her brows together. “What is the manager planning to do?”
Megan smiled. “You might want to talk to her. She seems like she’s really good at what she does. Her name is Bonnie. Bonnie Fossett. I think she’d like to stay there if it were an option.”
Megan spent a little more time with Carla before leaving. Carla assured Megan that she had no idea why anyone might want to kill Phil. She hadn’t been involved with his life for two decades, but she found it hard to believe that Phil had ever gotten around to making anyone mad enough to kill him.
Chapter Sixteen
Ross made it to his new rental house early Monday morning before Susan got there. He knew it wouldn’t take her long to arrive. His new house was in her neighborhood. That had been one of the main selling points for him when he’d made his decision. He was hoping that they would be spending more time together in the future. He wanted to do everything he could to facilitate that.
He thought about the life he had left behind in Seattle. It had been time for a change. He’d made enough money from his earnings and investments to live comfortably. He wanted to give something back now, but at the same time, he wanted something more for his life. He’d never had children of his own. Maybe that was why he’d devoted so much time to mentoring young people starting out in Seattle.
Parker and Jax had been two of his most promising protégés. But between the two of them, Jax was the
one who felt more like a son. Although both young men had been competitive, their personalities and strategies for success were completely different. Even looking at them was like night and day. Jax with the dark hair he’d inherited from his mother and Parker with his blond hair. The two couldn’t be more different both inside and out.
Ross was interrupted in his thoughts by the doorbell. He smiled when he opened the door and found Susan. She was carrying a box overloaded with supplies. Ross quickly grabbed the box.
“Whoa. What’s all this?” Ross stepped away from the door to give Susan room to enter.
She followed him down the hall toward the kitchen. “Cleaning supplies and other things that I had extras of lying around my house.”
Ross peeked into the box. “This should get us started. Do you want to run to the store before the furniture gets here or after?”
“Probably after. That way we’ll know for sure what we need. Like light bulbs for the lamps. I would have forgotten that,” Susan said almost to herself as she looked around.
Ross nodded in agreement. Light bulbs had never crossed his mind. “I know I would have. Maybe we should start a list.”
Susan pulled a pad and pen from her purse. “I have one right here. You’re going to need a coffee pot.”
“I see what you mean. Best to figure out what we need at the store before we go. Want to go room to room?” Ross asked. “We can get started on the list and write things down as we figure them out.”
Susan began opening the cupboards. “Dishes and silverware. Do you want to write or do you want me to?”
“I’ll do it,” Ross said. “Did you have a chance to speak with Caitlyn or Jax since dinner?”
Susan handed the pad and pen to Ross. “I talked to Caitlyn this morning. I think the two of them will be better behaved going forward.”
Ross was happy to hear it. “Maybe I should try to catch up with Jax?”