“Yes, it was in new inventory that arrived a few days before you came to town. Who did I use it for? Phew, let me think. It’s rather thin, and it tears easily when you try to put it around items that are irregularly shaped.” Hazel thought long and hard. “I know for sure I gave it to Finn. He bought a notebook, and I gave him that particular paper because I thought it was a gift for Isabel, and her favorite color is purple. How come?”
“Finn?” Delta repeated, glancing at Jonas. “You sure it was Finn?” That was bad news. Bad news indeed.
“I must also have used it for other customers, I’m sure, but I don’t recall exactly. Does it matter?”
“No, not really. You two have a good time.”
“Finn isn’t about to sit around for long.” Hazel sighed. “He wants to repair the boathouse where all the Lodge’s boats are docked. He said he promised that to Isabel before he was arrested, and he wants to do it right away now that he’s out.”
Delta said, “Oh, OK. I guess it can’t hurt for him to keep busy. Talk to you later.”
She disconnected the call and told Jonas what Hazel had said about wrapping a notebook in that specific paper for Finn.
Jonas pursed his lips. “It’s a very thin lead, but we can use it to start a conversation. Finn is coming to repair the boathouse, right? We could meet up with him there and ask him about the notebook he bought.”
Delta nodded. “If he did give it to Vera, he can also tell us why. I mean Ray also gave her a notebook. Obviously, Vera liked notebooks, but that doesn’t explain why two men at the hotel where she was staying would give her one. And…” She pointed a finger at Jonas. “You told me that the box in the hotel safe contained wrapped notebooks. Why would Vera White keep her presents in a locked box in a hotel safe?”
“To keep them away from her husband?” Jonas gathered his things and brushed the heads of the dogs. “I don’t know, but maybe Finn can enlighten us.”
He looked at her. “We’ll have to tread lightly, though. He’s just out of the police’s crossfire, and he won’t want to get caught in ours.”
Chapter Fourteen
As they approached the boathouse, they heard hammering coming from within. The wooden structure was painted deep red with white accents, and a year was carved into a lintel.
“1936,” Delta read. “Wow, old stuff.”
“Well maintained,” Jonas said, slapping the side of the structure.
The hammering inside continued. There was a door through which they could enter onto wooden boarding where the boats lay moored. Some were rowboats, while others had outboard motors.
Finn was on his knees, hammering down a board that stood up a little.
“Hello, Finn!” Jonas cried over the banging sound.
Finn shot to his feet, the hammer in his hand posed like a weapon. He blinked at them. Then he lowered the hammer.
“Oh, Jonas. I hadn’t heard you come in.” He smiled wanly. “Nice day for a bit of boating, I suppose. Delta…” He nodded at her and wanted to resume working, it seemed.
Delta said, “We never got a chance to talk to each other really. I had no idea you were living in Tundish. Hazel did mention in the past that you love hiking and all, so I guess this place is ideal for it.” She gestured to the water that rippled peacefully against the boats, carrying a few floating leaves.
As Finn didn’t seem eager to chat about outdoor activities, Delta changed topics. “How was breakfast with Hazel?”
“Nice enough. But she shouldn’t be so worried. The police never had anything against me.” It sounded curt and dismissive, as if there hadn’t been a murder but just a minor misunderstanding about a parking ticket.
“You should have told them about the bracelet right away,” Jonas said. “They thought you were guilty or obstructing their investigation.”
“I just didn’t want Isabel to get into trouble. Rosalyn would have had a fit if Isabel had been dragged to the police station.”
“Well, she has been arrested anyway. West was convinced you set it up together or were covering for each other. He treated her more roughly than he might have done if you had told the truth from the start.”
“I didn’t know that.” Finn brushed back his hair with an agitated gesture. There was a smear of dirt on his cheek. “In hindsight, it’s always easy to say what someone else should have done. Especially if you yourself are not involved in the case.”
Jonas held out his hand with the scrap of paper in it. “Does this look familiar to you, Finn?”
Finn looked at it. For a moment, his expression of annoyance remained, as if the paper meant nothing to him, but then slowly the color drained from his face. “I don’t… What… It’s just a bit of paper.”
“Yes. A bit of paper that was part of a larger piece wrapped around a present you bought at Wanted. For whom?”
Finn licked his lips. “I’m sure Hazel uses that wrapping paper a lot.”
“Did you buy a notebook at Wanted?” Jonas pressed.
Delta noticed he had changed from present to notebook, probably to put pressure on Finn, and added bluntly, “Did you give it to Vera White?”
Finn stared at her. “What are you two after? Getting me locked up again?” He dropped the hammer. It hit the boards with a thud.
The dogs moved back and growled.
Finn spun away from them and jumped into a boat. With a few quick movements, he cast off and pushed the boat away from the dock with an oar. Then he dipped both oars into the water and began to row. Delta had barely time to understand what was happening. She stood glued to the boards.
“Quickly,” Jonas said to her, jabbing her with an elbow. “In that other boat, the one with the motor. It’ll give us an edge.”
“Right.” She jumped in, Jonas followed with the dogs. He started the engine, and they went after Finn, who was rowing fast out onto the lake. The blustery wind grabbed Delta’s hair and flung it back into her face. She brushed it away with one hand, holding onto the side of the boat with the other. Jonas was pushing the engine to full throttle.
“Finn!” Jonas called. “We only want to talk to you and understand what happened Friday night. Don’t make this so hard on yourself.”
“You’re a cop, Jonas,” Finn called back. “You always were, and you always will be. Get lost.”
Delta asked, “Do you think he’s guilty?” The wind drove tears into her eyes.
“I’m not sure.” Jonas steered their boat beside Finn’s rowboat. “Talk to us,” he urged him again. “We just want to understand what happened.”
Finn lifted one of the oars from the water and made a striking gesture in their direction. “Just stay away from me.” His eyes were wide and panicky. Delta wasn’t sure what he might do if they kept pushing him.
As Finn’s boat slowed, Spud tensed his muscles and jumped. He landed in Finn’s boat and pressed himself to the angry young man.
Finn dropped the oars and hugged the dog, burying his face in his fur.
Delta watched as his shoulders began to shake, as if he was crying. Spud rubbed his head against Finn’s and grunted.
Delta looked at Jonas. Her heart was thumping, and uncertain questions raced through her mind. Was she looking at a guilty man who knew the game was up? Would Hazel lose her brother?
Delta couldn’t imagine how she would feel if Greg or Zach got accused of a crime as serious as murder. How devastating it would be to feel doubt as to whether they might be guilty.
Jonas cut the engine and let their boat bob beside Finn’s. He leaned forward with his arms on his knees, his head turned away from Finn like he wanted to give him some space while still staying nearby. In silence, they waited for him to calm down.
The sun streaked across the water, conjuring up rainbows. Gold leaves whirled down from the brush along the shore and landed on the surface, gently rocking as the water
moved.
In the distance, children laughed. A voice over a megaphone gave them instructions. It sounded like a game of hide and seek.
At last Finn looked up. “I made a total mess of everything,” he said in a strangled tone. “Hazel did everything to help me out and… She even risked her shop for it. You probably have no idea what you got into, Delta. The financial…”
Jonas looked at Delta in alarm.
“I do know about the extra mortgage,” Delta said as calmly and confidently as she could. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll make it work.” Her friendship with Hazel was stronger than any problem that could be thrown into their path.
Finn looked up in bewilderment. “Hazel told you? But…”
“She had to, after the murder. She wouldn’t have done so otherwise. But I won’t tell anyone else. I promise.”
Finn exhaled hard. “It’ll get out now anyway. Rosalyn will make sure of that. She never liked me, and now this…”
He rubbed his eyes with his back of his hand. “That White woman ruined everything. She should never have come here.”
“What does Vera White have to do with it?” Delta asked, her heart in her throat. One moment she hoped Finn had no real connection to the victim, the next she couldn’t deny he had been seen with Vera White, arguing at the party. And Rosalyn had even accused him of having an affair with the woman. There had to have been some reason for her to assume this.
Finn sighed. He looked like a broken man as he sat there, his shoulders slumped, the big dog pressed close to him. His hands fumbled with Spud’s ears as he began to speak slowly. “Vera knew about my gambling. Don’t ask me how. I only ever borrowed money off a colleague. My debts weren’t registered anywhere. But she knew. She told me she knew why I had left LA in such a rush. I shouldn’t think I could hide out here, because she would tell everyone about me, starting with the Taylors. She said she was close to them and they would believe her right off the bat.”
Jonas asked, “Did she ever mention the word ‘gambling’ or ‘debts’?”
Finn stared at him. “What?”
“Did she mention your gambling, the debts? Or did she just say she knew why you had left LA in a rush and would reveal it to the Taylors?”
“I just said so,” Finn responded, raking a hand through his hair. “She mentioned being close to the Taylors and them believing her, and I just panicked. As soon as Rosalyn found out, she’d have had me fired.”
“So you never checked what Vera actually knew?”
“Man, I couldn’t think! Ever since I came to Tundish, I had been afraid it would all come back to bite me in the butt. If people were talking and fell silent as I approached, I was sure they knew something.” Finn’s breathing was ragged. “It wasn’t just the job at the Lodge I was worried about. But Isabel.” His features contracted. “What if Rosalyn found out and told Isabel I was after the Taylor money, and Isabel believed her? I’d lose her just like I lost Tamara earlier.”
Delta remembered Hazel had mentioned that a previous broken relationship had hurt Finn deeply, and it had taken him months to recover from the blow. He had been understandably afraid it would happen again.
“Vera wanted money to keep her mouth shut, and I decided right away it would be better to pay up. My instructions were to buy a notebook at Wanted and have it wrapped. Then I had to open the wrapping paper carefully and put money between the pages of the notebook. I had to put the wrapping paper back in place and pass the notebook to her. She’d put it in her luggage like it were a souvenir she’d bought along the way. To keep her husband out of it.”
Jonas looked at Delta. “Clever. He wouldn’t open up a package from a stationery shop.”
“Right. I had to leave it for her at the birding hut. She said she didn’t want me passing anything to her where we could be seen. Around the hotel there’s always someone coming or going. People can look out of windows or… She had the whole idea worked out. I think she has done it before.”
“This could have been her regular handoff place,” Jonas said to Delta. “Remember she went to the hut several times, alone?”
Delta nodded. She said to Finn, “And after you left the notebook with money for her at the hut?”
“I never spoke to her again.”
“That’s a lie,” Jonas said. “You talked to her at the party. The police showed us pictures of it. You talked to her, you pleaded with her.”
“All right.” Finn drew a shaky breath. “She asked me to dance, and then during the dance, she told me she needed more money. She said it couldn’t be delayed. I had to buy another notebook and put money in it and leave it for her. I said I couldn’t get any money on short notice. It wasn’t payday and… I have no savings left.”
He swallowed hard. “She didn’t care, though. She said I should borrow money or even steal it from the hotel. That the Taylors were so rich they’d never miss it.”
“And then?”
“I walked away, wondering what I was going to do. Then later that night when some people were already going home, I saw her go into the bar. I hesitated, as I wasn’t sure it would make any difference to plead with her again, but in the end, I decided I had to tell her I couldn’t raise the money. That I would turn her into the police if she kept harassing me.”
“Firm words,” Jonas said.
Finn looked at him. “You think I would have been too scared to tell her that. But I was desperate. And I’d had a few drinks. I thought it was now or never. I went into the bar and she…was on the floor. Stabbed, dead. There was blood and… I just didn’t know what to do. I saw the bracelet in her hand, recognized it immediately, and I took it away to avoid Isabel getting… I thought she had asked Isabel for money as well and Isabel had given her the bracelet by way of payment.”
Finn rubbed his eyes again. “It was stupid, I know. But I didn’t kill her. I never did anything to hurt her.”
Jonas frowned hard. “Did you see anyone going in or coming out before you followed her into the bar?”
Finn shook his head. “Isabel dragged me outside to say goodbye to a few people she knew. They were flying out of state for an anniversary, so they left early to have a few hours’ sleep before they had to catch their plane. I barely remembered who they were because I was so nervous and just wanted to get back in and confront Vera. Tell her it had to be over. I don’t know who went into the bar while I was out there.”
Jonas groaned. “That isn’t helping at all.”
“I’m sorry. This is all I know.” Finn sat slumped. “How can I face Hazel if she hears I was blackmailed, and I paid up and have nothing left? She believes I’m saving again and building my life.”
“Better than for her to believe you’re a killer.” Jonas nodded at him. “Row around the lake a bit to get that pent-up energy out of your system. It’s not nothing to have been locked up for days. Spud will keep you company. We’ll be at the boathouse. Take your time.”
He turned on the engine and steered their boat away, back to the shore and the boathouse.
Delta asked doubtfully, “Are you sure he’s okay to be alone?”
“Let him unwind a bit. Spud will look after him.” Jonas grinned. “He gave me a start when he jumped into that rowboat. Finn had just been waving that oar around. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do.”
“He’d never hit a dog.” Delta sighed. “He must feel terrible. Blackmailed, cornered, then arrested and accused of murder.”
Jonas said, “Vera White was a blackmailer. It shouldn’t surprise us, since we already knew about that altercation with her sister-in-law.”
“Yes,” Delta said, “Vera must have been blackmailing Amanda as well. Amanda threatened to reveal the truth to her husband, Ralph, but Vera warned her that it would hurt her just as much. Because the truth was something Amanda couldn’t afford to have her husband know.”
Jonas nodde
d. “We know Vera was planning to divorce her husband. Such proceedings can take a long time before they are finalized. As soon as Herb would know his wife was planning to leave him, he wouldn’t give her another dime, perhaps even turn her out into the street. So was this blackmail money meant to support her?”
“Maybe. Her motive might not have been solely monetary. She might just have enjoyed her power over people. Like those writers of poison pen letters?”
Jonas waved a hand. “I’m no profiler, so I don’t know all the ins and outs of the psychology of criminals. I just ask myself: Did we come across any clues, apart from the altercation you overheard, that Amanda has something major to hide from her husband?”
“Concerning Fred Halliday maybe?” Delta suggested. “I do think he’s very familiar with her, like they are more than friends. What if Amanda lied that it was Vera’s idea to come here? What if she suggested it herself, and after coming here, Vera realized that Amanda had wanted to meet up with Fred again, and she used it to taunt and frighten Amanda? Mrs. Cassidy told me that during their visit to the museum, the two ladies were watching each other like they were suspicious of each other and waiting for a move. It all fits.”
Jonas sighed. “Yes, but unfortunately, blackmailers usually have more than one victim and more than one person who might want them dead. You said Ray Taylor also bought a notebook at Wanted. Was he being blackmailed too, and given the same instructions as Finn?”
“I assume that, if we asked him, he wouldn’t confess. He knows Vera is no longer around to tell us the truth.”
“No, and what if he was the one who made sure that she wasn’t?” Jonas docked the boat and fastened it. “We have to ask West to check all stationery items in the victim’s possession for money. There were notebooks in that box she had stashed in the safe. The sheriff probably hasn’t looked closer at them because he was focusing on valuables and the envelope with the information about the divorce.”
Jonas pulled out his phone and started to call. “Yes, this is Jonas Nord. Can I talk to the sheriff? I know he’s busy, but it’s important. Urgent too.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and Delta had to laugh.
Last Pen Standing Page 20