A Mysterious Mix Up

by J. C. Kenney

  Let the darkness go. I’d collected a lot of it over the past couple of years. It hadn’t been intentional. It seemed that choosing to delve into the netherworlds of societal behavior meant there was no way to avoid it.

  Could the act of forgiveness really be that liberating for my heart and soul?

  “You need to forgive the other murderers, too. Believe me, it wasn’t easy learning to forgive my dad’s killer, but doing it helped me move on. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you should forget about what happened. You do need to forgive, though.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Good.” Sloane gave me a fist bump. “With that settled, finish your breakfast. Matt will be here soon. He needs to go over last night with you. I don’t want my Kickboxing Crusader talking to the police chief on an empty stomach.”

  As I was finishing my last bite of English muffin, there was a knock on the door.

  “Sit. I’ll get it.” Sloane was out of her seat and halfway across the room before I could even move. She opened the door and was greeted with squeals of delight from the twins.

  “Auntie Sloane.” Tristan wrapped his little arms around her.

  “Grandma didn’t say you were going to be here.” Not to be outdone, Theresa hugged my bestie, turning her into a Sloane sandwich.

  “You guys know me. I’m always full of surprises.” With a twin glued to each of her hips, she reached her arms out toward Mom. “All’s well, Mrs. Cobb.”

  “With you in charge, I have no doubt.” She gave Sloane a hug. “Come on, kiddos. Let’s go say hi to Aunt Allie.”

  The twins released their lock on Sloane and raced to me, shouting greetings along the way.

  Ursi, who’d been sitting quietly at my feet, made a dash for the bedroom. She tolerated my niece and nephew, but they tended to be louder than she preferred, so she often hid under my bed when they were around.

  “Come here, you monsters.” I got up, opened my arms wide, and let them take me to the floor in a laughter-filled tackle. My joints shouted their objections to the full-contact greeting, but it was what the three of us did when the twins came to visit.

  I hugged them a little tighter and held onto them a little longer than usual as we rolled on the floor, but they didn’t mind. It wasn’t until Tristan asked why I was crying that I let them go.

  “I’m happy to see you guys, and I love you so much.” I squeezed them both with all my might as I struggled to my feet. “Who wants bacon?”

  In the blink of an eye, they abandoned me and were seated at the table, a strip of bacon in each of their hands.

  “I think you’re going to need some more.” Mom winked at me as she took the final slice.

  “On it.” Sloane skipped to the stove and, in no time, the comforting sound of sizzling bacon filled the kitchen.

  I wiped away another tear with the palm of my hand as the twins started telling me about their upcoming soccer game.

  Mom came alongside me. “Are you all right?” She kept her voice low, no doubt to avoid getting the twins’ attention.

  “Yeah.” I nodded and put my arms around her. I was among family, some of the most important people in my life.

  My visitors reminded me there were forces way more powerful than greed and lust for power. There was kindness, trust, and forgiveness, and one more thing above them all.

  Love.

  In the way a student loved her favorite teacher, I had loved Vicky. Her absence had created a hole in my heart that wouldn’t be filled in a long time. If ever.

  Because of that, I vowed to keep Sloane’s wise words close to my heart, right next to my memories of Vicky. I wouldn’t let that hole be filled with the darkness of vengeance and anger. I’d let it be filled with laughter, light, and hope.

  I couldn’t bring my hero back, but I could use her life, one spent serving others, as a reminder of the right way to live.

  “I’m definitely all right. More than all right.” It was true. I was going to be okay

  A little while later, there was a knock on the door.

  “I’ll get it,” the twins shouted and scrambled toward the door, each more determined than the other to serve as greeter.

  Their efforts were rewarded when the person on the other side of the door turned out to be their father.

  “Hey, kids.” Matt scooped up one in each arm and gave them loud, wet kisses on their cheeks. “You look great in your soccer uniforms. What time’s your game today?”

  He grinned when they told him four. “Excellent. Aunt Allie’s going to help me with some police work for a few hours and then we’ll see you at the game, okay?”

  Once their feet were back on the hardwood floor, the kids exchanged high fives with their father and returned to the couch, where Sloane began reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to them.

  I grabbed my jacket and took a deep breath. “Let’s do this, Chief.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “My memory from last night is fuzzy. What’s this trip for, exactly?” As I climbed into the passenger seat of Matt’s police cruiser, I was ready to help with what was left of the investigation in any way I could. If that meant spending the next few hours in an interview room or revisiting last night’s crime scenes, so be it.

  “First, a quick update.” He started the engine and eased the car into traffic. “Given the case’s potential magnitude with the drugs involved, and with Tommy down for the count, I called the county sheriff for help. We simply couldn’t handle three crime scenes at once.”

  We turned north onto the Boulevard. As we passed the Brown County Diner, he slipped into an open parking spot.

  “Been up all night. I could use some java. Be right back.”

  While I didn’t like being left hanging, the dark circles under Matt’s eyes and facial stubble made it clear he’d been hard at work. It was after eleven. Some serious developments must have occurred while I slept.

  A few minutes later, he returned with two cups of coffee and gave one to me. Once we were moving again, he resumed his report.

  “The sheriff’s office took the lead at the quarry scene, so I got Jeanette out of bed and sent her to the library. Then I went to Freddie’s house with Gabe Sandoval.” He took a sip of his coffee and turned into the library parking lot.

  “I take it you found weed stashed somewhere?” I cringed as I recalled my exchange with Freddie about the marijuana.

  “That, and a lot more. She was also dealing opioids and other narcotics. There was a sizeable chunk of cash and even a cache of weapons.” He shook his head as he put the cruiser in park. “I’ve got the state police going over every inch of her house right now, including two laptops.”

  “Whoa.” My blood went cold when I considered how much more danger I’d been in than I’d realized. “Does that mean there was a lot?”

  “Enough to put a major dent in the distribution of illegal drugs in this part of the state. It’s a huge victory. We’re planning on holding a press conference once we have all of the contraband catalogued.”

  I shook my head as I got out of the cruiser. “All because of a crazy, mysterious mix-up.”

  “Yeah. Tell me again what happened last night.” He took his notebook out of his pocket as we approached the library’s entrance.

  When we entered the building, it looked like business as usual. An employee was checking patrons out, a volunteer was leading a small group of children in a read-along, and adults were wandering around, their arms filled with their selections.

  One glance at Vicky’s office door confirmed things were far from business as usual.

  Once again, a strip of bright yellow police tape was strung from one side of the frame to the other. The door was open a crack. Matt pushed it all the way open with his foot.

  Jeanette was on her hands and knees, collecting scraps of duct tape from around th
e chair Freddie had strapped me into. Yellow evidence markers were scattered throughout the room. A small stack of paper evidence bags sat on a corner of the desk.

  “Almost finished, Chief.” She nodded to Matt then to me. “Allie, when I first met you, I never thought you’d be so good at getting into trouble.”

  “She wasn’t this way when we were growing up.” Matt patted me on the shoulder. “I think her time in the big city corrupted her. So, what have we got?”

  My friend gave her boss a summary of her findings. So far, there wasn’t a lot of physical evidence to connect Freddie to this crime scene, but some footprints and scuff marks would likely yield some results.

  When she was finished, Matt asked me to take them through everything that happened in the library from the time Freddie first arrived. It wasn’t a pleasant exercise, but when I finished, I felt like another weight had been taken off my shoulders.

  “Good job.” Matt patted me on the shoulder again, then turned his attention to Jeanette. “When you’re done here, I want you to pay Marinara’s a visit. Tommy’s there now. When you get there, see what you can find to help us fill in the timeline.”

  With our business at the library complete, the next stop was the quarry. I was dreading going back there, so I decided to keep the anxiety at arm’s length by talking.

  “You mentioned Tommy. How is he?”

  Matt cracked a half-smile. “Physically, he’s fine. He has no recollection of last night’s events. Fortunately, he still had the cup Freddie gave him, so we’ll get it analyzed for traces of Rohypnol. Emotionally, not so much.”

  “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have put him in that position.”

  “You didn’t put him in that position. He put himself there by accepting that coffee. That was a dumb mistake.”

  “But it was just a cup of coffee. There’s no way he could have known she’d put something in it.”

  “Exactly.” He pointed his finger at me. “He didn’t know where it came from or what was in it. As a cop, you simply can’t be too careful. Don’t worry, though. He’ll get over it.”

  I considered the results of my suggestion to set the trap. A long-term member of the community was dead. A cop was in trouble with his boss. One of the most popular restaurants in the area was facing an uncertain future.

  What had I done?

  “I’m sorry, Matt. I never meant for everything to go so horribly wrong. I should have done what you told me from the start and kept my nose out of it.”

  His only reaction was a slight nod. With his eyes hidden behind his dark sunglasses, he was impossible to read. After a few moments, he cleared his throat. “Maybe so. On the other hand, Freddie did a masterful job of framing Porter. An argument can be made that, if not for your doggedness, an innocent man would have gone to prison.”

  “Do you really believe that?” It was a stunning admission.

  And one that left my emotions all over the place. On one hand, guilt from the train wreck I’d caused wanted to consume me. On the other, relief that I’d caught the killer, if not brought her to justice, spread through me. The fact that I’d helped keep an innocent man out of jail lifted my spirits.

  “I do. While I’d prefer you stick to your day job, I can’t deny I read this one wrong. You kept after it, and, because of that, you figured out who killed Vicky Napier and brought a drug ring to an end at the same time. That’s not a bad result.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that, so I looked out the window. The backdrop of Brown County was becoming greener every day. Nature’s annual rebirth served as a timely reminder of Sloane’s lesson.

  I’d stared into the void and almost allowed it to consume me. Instead, my best friend had thrown me a lifeline and pulled me from the brink. Like the trees and plants around me, I had a chance to begin again.

  I’d been given an opportunity to live my life with my focus on things like forgiveness and grace instead of vengeance and payback. I promised myself I’d take full advantage of this new opening. To do anything less would be an insult to Vicky, Sloane, and everyone I cared about.

  And who cared about me.

  A few minutes later, we turned from the highway onto a service road so choked with weeds it was barely visible. A chill went down my spine. Only twelve hours earlier, I’d been brought down this exact road, which was little more than a walking path, in the trunk of a car.

  We came to a stop a behind a sheriff’s department SUV. A deputy, in a familiar brown uniform, was busy collecting evidence as we approached.

  While he conferred with Matt, I wandered toward the cliff. Little yellow flags were stuck in the ground, like flowers, to mark where pieces of evidence had been found. Freddie and I had been engaged in quite the row.

  At the edge of the cliff, I let out a long breath and looked down. The water was dark, foreboding, and unforgiving. The county coroner’s van was parked on the other side of the quarry. Two deputies, one in diver’s gear, were at the water’s edge.

  Matt came up next to me. He put a piece of nicotine gum in his mouth and chewed while we stared downward.

  “What are they doing?” I pointed at the diver.

  “They recovered the body a little bit ago. Next, they’ll search for the gun. If they can find it, we’ll be able to match the bullets to it.”

  I nodded. While Freddie had worn gloves when we were in the library, she’d removed them by the time she opened the trunk.

  “Her hands probably were getting sweaty, so she took the gloves off. Didn’t count on me fighting back.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. We found the gloves on the floorboard in the back seat.” He adjusted his Rushing Creek Police Department baseball cap. “You ready to get to it?”

  “Yep.” Matt wanted me to reconstruct last night’s events here, just like I had at the library. Once again, I thought of Sloane and chose to use the exercise as a cathartic event, to get past what had happened instead of allowing it to fuel more thoughts of vengeance.

  After an hour of me going through what happened, answering questions, and identifying pieces of evidence to the best of my ability, Matt declared our work finished. I shook hands with the deputy and made my way to the car.

  “If I never see that place again, it’ll be too soon.” I buckled my seat belt and took my cell phone out of my pocket. It was easier to look at the screen than the disturbing surroundings.

  “You did great, Allie. Everything you told me today will help us tie up any loose ends. You did great last night, too. You’re a real hero.”

  “I don’t know about that. I was trying to do the right thing. Nothing more.”

  “That’s what heroes do.” He started the car and turned it around. As we bounced down the road, he checked his watch. “Plenty of time to get to the soccer game.”

  “Good. I’m ready for some harmless fun. It’ll be fun to cheer for the kids.”

  “They idolize you. I hope you know that. The last twenty-four hours are why I hope that never changes. I hope they grow up to be just like you, Allie.”

  A lump formed in my throat. I’d known Matt for years. He wasn’t one to express his feelings very often. The fact he’d chosen to share this one with me made me feel ten feet tall. Which gave me an idea.

  “It would be great if they grow up to be like me. Promise me you’ll do what you can to make sure they end up taller, though. Having to use a step stool to reach the cabinets in my kitchen is a real hassle.”

  He laughed a long, hearty laugh that just kept going. It was so full of mirth that after a few seconds, I joined him. When the laughter ended, he gave me a soft punch on my shoulder.

  “Copy that, Allie. Let’s go watch some heroes in the making.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  I scratched my head and stared at the contract in front of me. My palms were sweaty. My heart was galloping away as if it was a
horse racing to the finish line at the Kentucky Derby. The pen to the right of the page mocked me.

  “For God’s sake, Allie. We’ve been through this a dozen times.” Rachel put the pen in my hand. “It’ll be okay. I know what I’m doing.”

  “It’s not that. I’ve looked at the financials and everything checks out. I just never planned on becoming a partner in the restaurant business.”

  My sister snorted. “A partner? An investor. Nothing more. Nothing less. A silent one, at that.”

  It had been a month since my showdown with Freddie. Since then, there had been a lot of changes in Rushing Creek. The library board had appointed a new member to fill Freddie’s vacancy. I was the new member. It had also completed its search for a new library director.

  Porter Rasmussen had chosen to make the best of a trying few weeks. Since his notoriety as a florist had grown, he’d started selling his flowers out of a kiosk on the Boulevard. He also had an eye on an empty storefront across the street from Creekside Chocolates, in case things went well.

  And Rachel had rescued Marinara’s, first by stepping in as a temporary manager, then by offering to buy the business.

  All that remained was for me to sign the contract. It would make me a partner, along with Luke and Mom, in Rachel’s expanding business portfolio. She needed additional capital to close on the Marinara purchase. The cash we were kicking in gave her what she needed. In return for our investment, we were official minority partners in Cobb Dining Services, Inc.

  “Partner.” I flipped to the last page and signed my name with a flourish. “Where’s the champagne?”

  “That’ll have to wait, Boss. I need to talk to you about the mystery manuscript you assigned me to edit.” Calypso took the contract from me and went to the copier in the corner of the room, her Doc Martens clunking against the hardwood floor with each step.